1 :: Sense the authentic vision of your life and work....listen to the inner messages, the ones that you often ignore or bury, and uncover the deeper, core material.
2 :: Water all subtle seeds of your vision...be open to what sprouts that show up and let them all move past the seedling stage into stems, leaves and blossoms.
3 :: Then let it be...don't try to re-work it all or push it into an old pattern of control
original photograph © Elsah Cort
Rumi: Be the moisture in an oyster that helps to form one pearl.
[photo source is google images from an obsure website]
Rumi: Soul keeps unfolding inward.
The body leaves the body.
A wealth you cannot imagine flows through you.
Satellite image via webdesignerdepot.com
courtesy of the USGS National Center for the EROS
and NASA Landsat Project Science Office
Niger River, Massina Mali – Coursing through parched, landlocked Mali in Western Africa, the Niger River skirts the edge of the dune-striped Sahara before turning sharply south to join the Bani River. At the confluence of the two rivers is an inland delta complete with narrow, twisting waterways, lagoons, and tiny islands.
Rumi: Stay together friends. Don't scatter and sleep.
Our friendship is made of being awake.
Digital collage by Robert Mertens, one of The Hatchery artists from Badger, CA
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[While working on this post, I got an email linking to a blog post
titled "Why Do We Sleep?" as my cat was curled up sleeping--and snoring--nearby.]
This morning I watched a large (brilliant blue) blue jay fly to the ground near my house with a big pointy green acorn in its beak. He then pushed away some of the dry weeds that were missed by the weedeater this summer, and pounded the acorn into the ground. First time I have seen my secret gardener in action.
No wonder I have a valley oak growing so close by near the bedroom window, putting me in such a dilemma for the last couple of years. I just could not pull it up, and it tapped down its long root so fast and deep. In five years or so, it will obstruct the view from the window. But, in 10 years maybe it can be used to prop up the house, which is leaning a bit in that direction.
And now, a new tree may be sprouting any day thanks to my secret blue jay gardener.
No, this is not this morning's blue jay, or my own photo. It's from birdwatchingdaily.com.
Rumi: As wind through a field stirs wildflower scent,
by music-light fresh beauties appear.
This is all I want.
Mariposa Lily: a California native wildflower
photo © Elsah Cort
Origin digital collage from a single photograph © Elsah Cort
Rumi: Love is the vital core of the soul, and of all you see, only love is infinite.
The Face of Love: digital collage © Elsah Cort
The Face of Love II digtal collage © Elsah Cort
I've been thinking of the metamorphosis of the on-going "occupy" movements that are spreading all over the planet. It could be that this outer (group) expression is a way for the universe to remind us that we need to "occupy" our own body, our true spirit, our time-space positions as whole, conscious beings.
When we each occupy ourselves fully and honestly, then each and every space on this planet changes. This occupy movement is not so much about taking control, but rather about the "being" of a human being. It is not an accident of group-mind that this is the word that came forth at this moment in time and living history.
I am choosing to occupy here and now.
"Source" digital image from original mandala © Elsah Cort
Available as a greeting card at The Other Shore Market.
"Show Up As You Are"
Digital collage from a single photograph, 8x10 inches © Elsah Cort
from the MindMap Series
[There are imperfections in the layers of this collage, showing up as they are.]
"Listen to the Inner Conversation"
| 8 x 10 inch digital collage from a single photograph |
from the MindMap Series © Elsah Cort
"life is immeasurable"
new collage from the mindmap series © Elsah Cort
[made from one photograph, 8x10 inches]
Rumi: Be relentless in your looking, because you are the one you seek.
[Self Seeking Self, painting by Rein Nomm]
Is this the day I finally wash some windows? For a while now I have been looking at the mountains through a window that is framed with cobwebs on the outside. And I have been feeling the pressure of not having washed this window, just yet. I need to do it when the sun is not shining on it, I tell myself. Another thought comes, more of a wish, that I could have a better technique or use a better window-washing liquid, to get this window finally clean, as I remember how windows never seem clean enough after I wash them. I take some thinking time to try to visualize myself actually getting the window washed. I add some judgment to the thought-mix, admonishing myself for not washing the window yet, more pressure and inertia. The window remains unwashed.
And the spiders? They seem to have abandoned their webs on this window (that's why I can call them cobwebs now) and they are moving house to another window nearby.
The living metaphor of this window-viewing and spider-teaching is telling me about clarity and vision, and seeing beyond, and in spite of, my distractions and procrastinations. And the spiders, they are keepers of the alphabet and writing, and they spin webs with such ease and not much planning.
All this comes from looking out of the window this morning as I write.
[Spider Web by Julie Falk]
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[Addendum: one week later, windows are washed...October 19, 2011]
Rumi: Be concentrated and leonine in the hunt for what is your true nourishment.
[photo by Maradentro via The Big Cat Blog]
Lately I have been personally experiencing a digging in of my heels (with pain in one of them showing up) and I know that, as much as I welcome and long for change, I also resist it in any way I can. It's futile of course. We are all changing each and every second. The universe can't help itself, it's nature is change and more change.
When one of us brings forth that which is in us, then everyone and everything is changed. A commercial comes on TV just as I am writing this post, from a bank who is saying they can make it easier when it is time for a change. Nothing is really easy about change...but when you jump into the stream, you are supported by every wave.
Today's sunrise by Zoe Nishimuta,
who posts her sunrises every morning on twitter and facebook
Rumi: Day and night I guarded the pearl of my soul.
Now in this ocean of pearling currents, I've lost track of which was mine.
Mindmap One: photographic digital collage © Elsah Cort
[table at the Monastery of Alcobaça in Portugal]
Rumi: Consider this metaphor. How you love is the open sky.
These personal selves are the separate roofs of a town.
[image source: asymptotia.com]
Rumi: Wherever the soul came from,
and wherever it goes at night, my roof is in that direction.
Treemind: digital collage © Elsah Cort
Rumi: Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal.
Walk out of your house like a shepherd.
[lamps by industrial designer, Sergio Silva]
Rumi: Silence is the best alchemy.
image source: alchemyglass.com
I am still trying to lean toward the center...and bring all writing, ideas, art and life's mixed media here to this blog hub.
"Leaning Toward the Center" photo taken at the Hatchery on Saturday
© Elsah Cort
[part of a new Hatchery photos series coming to birth this week...]
"Everything mirrors everything."
(digital collage © Elsah Cort)
Be a pearl without a shell, a mindful flooding, candle turned moth,
head become empty jar, bird settling nest, love lived.
Rumi: The streak lightning of our minds comes so we'll weep, longing for our real lives.
:: collage © Elsah Cort ::
"The real way opens only with love.
When that waking comes, we finally understand our dreams."
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:: from The Soul of Rumi by Coleman Barks ::
"No mistakes can be made when your consciousness is in your heart and your love is in God. In that light there are no distractions."
From the Bindu Series © Elsah Cort
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Rumi quote from The Soul of Rumi translated by Coleman Barks
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