Surrender Your Data
Surrender your data, and I will give you wisdom. Empty your bank accounts, and let me show you value. Shut your eyes to entertainment, and open them to beauty. Unplug your high-speed connection and I will connect you to the eternal moment.
Come outside. There is a community waiting to stand in a circle with you and raise its voice. Come outside, and we will walk together to a place we have never been, but can remember. In such a place, the oldest things will be made new by the ripeness of your attention, and all the ancient stories we no longer know will be spoken in tongues of fire and emblazoned on your senses.
Have you tried to think your way into life, or out of it? How has that worked so far? But your merciful heart can forgive you, no matter how long it has been packed away. No matter how many times you denied it, didn’t hear, or pretended not to. That is the heart that brought you here. That is the same generous heart that has opened your life to this moment of choice, this palace of surrender, this precipice of love: your heart that was wild enough to be born into your animal form; your heart that will savage all your false domesticity, and sink its teeth into the flesh of human purpose; the heart that feeds on the blood of life; the heart that gives it back—twofold, tenfold, Godfold—renewed, re-vowed, in the rhythm of the drumbeat that invented time.
This is the choice that is both “now or never” and “now and always.” And all that’s asked of you is to say yes. You must say yes in a way you have not spoken any word before. In a way that breaks both language and silence. Say yes, the oldest prayer to the oldest god; the yes that created everything and holds us still; the yes that only you can say, and only you can hear; the yes that ripples through your body with hunger and pleasure and fear; the yes that will echo, and give you no rest, and will restore you beyond measure; the yes your soul has already spoken; the song that has already moved you; the yes of the name you are given at the gates of heaven, for that is where I am meeting you now.
That is the threshold you are crossing.
Michael Quattrone is a singer, songwriter and seeker whose greatest curiosity and most profound learnings are sparked at the threshold between inner life and outward expression. You can learn more at Hearthfire.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What do you understand by the choice that is both 'now or never' and 'now and always'? Can you share a personal story of a time you faced this choice? What is a practice that helps you remember this choice in the midst of ceaseless activity?
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8 Past Reflections
On Oct 13, 2015 Anton Best wrote :
Spot cautioning signs all through the development site for conceivable perils, for example, elusive floors, potholes, electrical wiring and others.
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On Apr 28, 2015 Margaret Hollows wrote :
The last paragraph says it all. Thank you.The only answer is yes here and now.
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On Apr 21, 2015 Priya wrote :
For me, this YES reflects my willingness to embrace the present moment and all that it contains. When I am unwilling, I push away what is and invite distraction or some busyness to shift my attention. If I am truthful with myself, my deepest intent is to live freely and love fully. I find this is only possible when I am fully present in the here and now. So, thank you for the reminder and the inspiration to stand by my deep intent.
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On Apr 21, 2015 Syd wrote :
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On Apr 19, 2015 Abhishek wrote :
Following your heart is a courageous choice - and to me that is the choice that at this very moment is 'now or never' and yet 'now and always'......in that I can choose my heart over my head every single moment, and yet this moment in itself is so precious, it will be lost if the choice is not made here....
Sensing my own body, meditation, reflection and journalling, lots of prayer - all of these are for me ways I connect to my heart and what it has for me....its a tricky and edge slope, for the mind can pretend to be the heart (and all those games!)....
The path of the heart need not even be the path of great joy necessarily (for me) - but it is a path with a heart.....it is a living path, a path I truly own....it is only to be experienced, not described :)
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On Apr 17, 2015 david doane wrote :
'Now or never' conveys to me urgency, that opportunity presents itself now and there is not time to waste, there is no guarantee that the opportunity will stay. 'Now and always' conveys to me that the choice entails crossing a line and there is no going back, as it's a life changing choice that lasts forever. The choice is between data or wisdom, between attachment or freedom, between things or spirit, between control or surrender, between doing or being, between busyness or stillness, between separation or unity, between yes or no. I face this choice ongoingly. For me it's not really a matter of giving up data, things, doing, but a matter of being in control of them rather than letting them be in control of me. It's an ongoing process of being in the world but not of it. Sometimes I make it. It helps me to remind myself of this and abide in awareness of it.
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