Kate Vogt's Blog, page 15

Caterpillar

This moment this love comes to rest in me,
many beings in one being.

Rumi
Trans. by Coleman Barks

It was one of those transformative moments. As I rounded the street corner near my home, my five- and-a-half-year-old neighbor Emma greeted me with a big smile. She held up her palm and said, “Look.” Her younger sister Ali quickly rushed forward, one hand upward, and with delight said, “Meet Magenti.” Teeny, hairless, caterpillars were gliding across both girls’ hands.

Instantaneously, warm...

Full Moon

If God
invited you to a party and

said,

“Everyone in the ballroom tonight will

be my special
guest,”

how would you then treat them when you arrived?

Indeed, indeed!

And Hafiz knows that there is no one in

this world who is not standing upon

His jeweled dance

floor.

Hafiz

There was a long beam of light across the water. It seemed surreal, and even prompted a thought of whether there really was such a thing as extraterrestrial visitors from other planets. Having had a day filled with synthetic...

New Moon Night

There is a desert

I long to be walking,

a wide emptiness,

peace beyond any

understanding of it.

Rumi

I felt welcomed by the still darkness of the new moon sky. All the universe seemed to be in a slumber. The atmosphere was quiet as an invisible cloud cover shielded any light from the stars. The birds and neighborhood dogs had yet to stir. Even the trees were soundless in the quiet, breezeless air.

Although I was far from the Great Plains where I grew up, the boundless night evaporated all the...

Ocean of Love

The Ocean of Love
is a sea
where there is no shore;

And without the soul’s surrender,

there is no hope,
no sand.

Hafiz

The ocean was peaceful. A green sea turtle rested on the warm sand and a young family lounged in the shade with their baby. As I sat on a bench and absorbed the gentle flow of the waves, I let my mind settle on the quiet horizon between the water and sky. It was a seemingly perfect embrace of one blue merging seamlessly into another.

After having been absorbed in that...

Loving-Nature

What must come, comes.

Face everything with love,

as your mind dissolves

in God.

Lalla

The neighborhood where I was walking was quiet. A flock of birds flew far overhead and a pair of doves were snuggled next to one another on a telephone wire. Occasionally, a squirrel scampered soundlessly across a lawn and into a tree.

Just as I turned the corner to a busier street, the silence was broken by the sound of a screen door slapping shut and a patter of footsteps. A woman, who I later learned...

Paradise

The heart has its reasons which

Reason knows nothing of.

Blaise Pascal

The ramp off the freeway was like a parking lot.The road fed into a nearby shopping center, which was a sea of cars, both parked and in motion with drivers who were in search of parking spots.I had forgotten that it was one of the busiest shopping days of the year.Most of those with whom I had spoken over the last couple of weeks had declared a hiatus from shopping, so it wasn’t in my awareness to change my driving route.

...

Waterfall

There is a channel between voice and presence,

a way where information flows.

In disciplined silence the channel opens.

With wandering talk, it closes.

Rumi

It has been sunny and warm most of this fall season. A friend Karen and I like to end our workweek with a walk, and we have found ourselves seeking partially shaded paths. One leads through local neighborhoods to a canyon with a stream and lush vegetation. Even with our lack of rain, water still ripples over a rocky streambed, making its way...

Geranium

I was delighted with myself,

having offered everything I had;

my heart, my faith, my work.

“And who are you,” you said,

“to think you have so much to offer?

It seems you have forgotten

where you’ve come from.”

Rumi

Roots were sticking upward and dirt was strewn all over. Given the overall condition of our planet and the increasing frequency of natural disasters, this upheaval was relatively minor. A geranium plant was dangling over the edge of its pot. Apparently a squirrel or bird had dug into the...

Starlight

Quiet yourself.

Reach out with your mind’s skillful hand.

Let it go inside of me

and touch

God.

Don’t

be shy, dear.

Every aspect of Light we are meant

to know.

St. John of the Cross

The night sky has been clear for the last several days. As the sun vanishes on the horizon, glorious oranges and pinks give way to the purplish vastness of twilight. And then comes the steady radiance of a planet or two followed by the emergence of star after star.

With the moon being new, the stars are literally the...

A Question

Birth, old age,

sickness, and death:

From the beginning,

this is the way

things have always been.

Any thought

of release from this life

will wrap you only more tightly

in its snares.

Dieu Nhan

Some questions are profound. I have come to expect them to be posed by the prophets, poets, or great sages of the world. But it was the three and half year old Eli who looked up and asked me, “Who are you?” Her intonation was such that she was asking from a place of curiosity, not fear or confrontation.

My...