in the moon garden,
night jasmine kisses the delicate petals of the wild rose
– an eden,
in the heavens of our hearts,
the eternal beloved
~ poem by Lubomira Kourteva
All things around us are little droplets of God’s love.
A rose, for example, has her precious gift, teaching us with her fragrance, with her grace and greatness of beauty. She shows us of this godly love. Her sweet natural scent rises within us, and a touch of her petals will scent our hands for long after we’ve unheld her. This is the soul of the rose.
Grace too, kindness too, generosity too, scents the hands of those we’ve held with it, even after we’ve unheld them. When someone shows us kindness, it is something we often remember; and hopefully, we too are inspired to touch others with kindness also. For God’s touch itself isn’t bright and grand on world stages, it is often as light as butterfly wings on our shoulders – and yet it moves us forward in often subtle and unseen ways; and it leaves little sparkles of light on our paths, and those for others also.
Nature and wildlife have their own beautiful language; and while it may not sound like ours, nor be as easily understood by us because their words are not shaped as ours by human letters, it is a language longed to be understood by us nonetheless, and it is spoken continuously.
Nature is a like a song of love, prayer of life breathing, a mysterious gospel. It holds a deep wisdom within its own cosmology, weaving its own consciousness within its fabric of time. And all these natural little beauties, such as flowers, snow and little animals, are manifestations of love that lead us to greater love. They open doorways and places within our unique inner physical, emotional and spiritual wildlands; doorways opening our heart and allowing us an opportunity for a deepening. Because love is an inner experience, just as God is an inner experience.
And we can experience ourselves in new ways through the way we allow all this to enter us. We can allow the seas to enter us when we notice them; the flowers to enter us and speak to us when we notice them; the starry skies, the suns and moons, the mountains and the mysterious sands of deserts.
To love means to pay attention, and allow this present moment to enter you. The greatest lovers are the ones who pay attention – the ones who notice, truly notice. The ones who see the worries beyond the smile of their lover and ask, “tell me my love, how do you feel, what worries you, how may I make your day better today?”
The ones who will give to you not in the way they want or is convenient for them, but in the way you need to be given and supported. The one who will learn and re-learn the kissing, the holding, the tending – to kiss you and hold you and care for you not in the way you always did, but in the way you need to right now.
Literalism has no space within the lands of the spiritual. This is why you can’t just interpret esoteric text literally – you need the poetic mind, a poetic soul. Mysticism is poeticism – it is a way of moving beyond the boundaries of the seen and the logic to enter worlds from a time before time beyond time. You can’t shape these worlds through literalism; you will never understand them that way – you can only perceive them through the heart.
We need to become poets. Spirituality is not for the thick skinned, it is for the poetic soul. When we love we become poets. All suddenly begins to seem poetic, all suddenly becomes alive and full of beauty. And we suddenly begin to live in poetry, we become the poem itself. This is the power of love – it returns to love, our heart, and we touch the untoucheable.
Poetic souls are those who can perceive the spiritually pure, and see the worlds beyond words. And that doesn’t mean to literally be a poet or write poetry, no. It means to be able to fall into openness, trust and surrender to the beauty and mystery of life; to go beyond the boundaries of the mind and the need to rationalize everything. Poetic souls are those who can perceive true love, place it in their heart, embrace it and feel it deeply – until it becomes them entirely.
It is so important for our human experience to see beauty around us. And in a world that is becoming increasingly dehumanized, full of falseness, ugliness and shallowness, to see beauty is even more important – because it reminds us of this godly love – it opens our hearts. So take advantage of the beautiful moments, and the beautiful things. They will inspire and predispose the soul to the prayer of love, make it noble, sensitive and poetic. Go out in nature, look at the sunset and sunrise, look at the starry skies and constellations, touch the flowers and smell them, feed an animal; look at beautiful art or visit a beautiful church or temple.
And when you feel that excitement, whatever the cause of it or origin of it has been, do not stop, keep moving and keep feeling it. Go beyond it. Let it rise within you more beauty, more love. If it makes you more generous, more kind, more soft, it is of true love.
Every day is a God; his holiness shapes and unveils through the years. Enjoy it all, take it in, there is much wisdom to learn from everything in life because everything can be enriching to us on our paths.
And it’s not just natural things, it is about the manmade things as well, such as beautiful buildings, art, churches, architecture, cities and small villages, sculptures, traditions and cultures, and stories and fairytales. Stay curious because curiosity is an aspect of love also. Seek the beauty of it; remind yourself of the dedication and love that was poured into it by the hands that made it. Do not remain indifferent.
Even if seemingly ordinary, it was a part of someone’s love story, hope story, story of trust. Everything carries its own soul, its own purpose, and becomes an opportunity for a deepening – to connect to all and everything more closely. And there’s magic in this: to attempt to understand another. To attempt to create a little space within you, when you can touch another’s heart and inner world. There’s magic when people can attempt to understand each other; and while there will always be wild unknown and mysterious spaces with our partners, sometimes worlds touch, and we see each other.
At its essence, spirituality means an expansion of perception and awareness. It means that you can suddenly see so much, and with all senses, all attention, all eyes, all smell. Suddenly all becomes alive and you see how spirit flows through everything. You see the interdependence of it all also. And you hear everything, you see everything, the birds, the flowers, the stones and pebbles, the seas, the hesitations, the hopes, the touch of hands, the love in eyes.
Because God in found in the eyes of your loved eyes beside you; not up there in the sky, it is beside you, it is in the human eyes. God breathes in everything – he experiences himself through it all, through the ebbs and flows, and the winters and summers, the stones and petals, the moving and unmoving; and through each one of your emotions God experiences himself in way he could not have otherwise.
Love comes in different speeds and movements, has various shapes and forms. It is found in curiosity, playfulness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, joy, grace, tenderness, gentleness, generosity – it is in our giving and being willing to contribute of ourselves to another. Love is like bread, it needs to be made and remade each morning, each day, made anew. It is not just an idea in the sky, it needs to be shaped through our hands, lips and ordinary gestures along the circling staircases of life. And no gesture is too small, no feeling is too small, it is all part of the each day is God, his holiness unfolds through the years.
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Photography of me, by me, of our garden, wild roses and little bunny.
