Apiarian III

Were I to be the founder of a new sect, I would call it Apiarians - and after the example of the bee, advise them to extract the honey of every sect. My fundamental principle would be that we are to be saved by our good works which are within our power, and not by our faith which is not within our power."

"The religion of Jesus is founded on the Unity of God, and this principle chiefly gave it triumph over the rabble of heathen gods then acknowledged. Thinking men of all nations rallied readily to the doctrine of one only God [sic] and embraced it with the pure-morals which Jesus inculcated.

Thomas Jefferson

The cosmos is filled with precious gems. I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning. Each moment you are alive is a gem, shining through and containing earth and sky, water and clouds. It needs you to breathe gently for the miracles to be displayed. Suddenly you hear the birds singing, the pines chanting, see the flowers blooming, the blue sky, the white clouds, the smile and the marvelous look of your beloved. 

You, the richest person on Earth, who have been going around begging for a living, stop being the destitute child. Come back and claim your heritage. We should enjoy our happiness and offer it to everyone. Cherish this very moment. Let go of the stream of distress and embrace life fully in your arms.

This poem is from "Call Me By My True Names" The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh

There smiles the Divine Child
among his playthings of unmeaning clouds
and ephemeral lights and shadows.
Thou hast risen late, my crescent moon,
but my night bird is still awake to greet thee.
Trees are the earth's endless effort to
speak to the listening heaven 

- Rabindranath Tagore

Live life in a state of radical amazement . . .
Get up every morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted -

Rabbi Abraham Heschel

"in the midst of our diversity, we share a common spiritual heritage. We are all children of the same God. We are all part of the one spiritual Source, our Creator, our Mother/Father, our God."

Source Edgar Cayce on the Oneness of Spirituality

Kevin J. Todesch