New Year, 2017

Posted on December 31, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“Remember that you are a soul dwelling in eternity. Live in the thought of eternity for a while, and let the world of time rage on.

If you do not see what is wise for you to do next year, what plans you ought to adopt for the coming month, what you should do tomorrow, ask yourself if there is something for you to do today. … Probably you will find more in the living present than you can attend to, and there you were borrowing trouble for next year! When you have settled upon the wisest thing for today, do it as well as you can. Put your whole soul into it, let it be an artistic, philosophical performance. When that is well done you will readily see what to do next.

… When in doubt about the future, when in need of guidance, we can, at least, be true to the best we know now. That is all that any one can ask of us. … Within the breast there is a guide for all. The wise tendency of the present is related to the wisdom of all time. Brush all else aside, discover that tendency and move forward with it, and the way into the future will open.”

 – Horatio W. Dresser, The Power of Silence;
A Study of the Values and Ideals of the Inner Life, 1905

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At home in the universe

Posted on December 24, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“Everywhere we may turn in the great mystical literature of the world, the love of God is the foremost note of interpretation.
…Together with this primary note of love as essential to the life of God, the mystics of history are very prone to couple the self-giving nature of God’s Life. … God’s giving of Himself is … an abounding and joyous outpouring of His Life.

These marks of divine character … tended to eliminate fear from the mystic’s mind.… Awe, mystery and wonder remain in the hushed spirit that has had a vision of Eternal Reality–and the fuller the vision the greater become the wonder, the mystery and the awe. But it is plainly noticeable that mystical experience usually brings a feeling of security, serenity and joy–a sense of ‘at homeness,’ …in the vast spaces of the world and in the background and forward sweep of time. The soul is no longer frightened, like a lost child. It feels that it ‘belongs.’

– Rufus Jones, Pathways to the Reality of God, 1931.
– Jones, Professor of Philosophy, Havorford College, was a highly influential American Quaker, founder of the American Friends Service Committee, prolific writer.

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“There it was; the true Light coming into the world – the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light – that illumines every person.”
…to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority to become the children of God…”

– John 1, from verses 9 & 12

 

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Healing with Church Music

Posted on December 15, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

As a church organist, one of my favorite services to prepare was Christmas Eve, a time of quiet expectation, mystery, and calm. The colors of evergreens and poinsettias, perhaps gold ribbon decor, candlelight and its dancing shadows, a créche setting the stage for birth of an infant who would change history, all pervade the senses. The music was planned to enhance feelings of joy, of peace, of personal introspection and wholeness. As Christmas 2016 draws near, this quotation reminds me of the healing experience that church music attempts to convey year-round.                                                                                                 – mjd

“Church music can become a source of healing. Enter church with the idea of becoming
attuned to the devotional spirit of the music, for this devotional spirit speaks to the soul of the things of eternity and feeds the soul with the bread of heaven, giving it a realization of its eternal life in God.

Close the eyes and the mind to the changing fashions of the time, to the vanities of the world, and with the feeling that you are in a sacred place give yourself to devotional worship -under the guidance of the deep, inspiring tones of the organ.

Rest as though in the Presence of the healing Glory of God and you will feel uplifted into a state of mind where all is peace. The all pervading Spirit of Life will become a conscious possession of your spirit, imparting to you somewhat of the joyous health of the life eternal.

The time is not far distant when the wonderful healing power of music will be so universally known that concerts and devotional services will be held for the healing of the sick, thus calling into activity by united faith and expectancy on the part of the audience all the healing forces stored in the nature of man.

When the healing power of music is recognized and cooperated with, it will immediately begin to demonstrate its great value as a therapeutic agency.”

 – Walter DeVoe, Mystic Words of Mighty Power, 1905

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Quest for Life

Posted on December 11, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“We may … start on our quest for Life with the happy certainty that God is on our side.”
– Thomas Troward, The Creative Process in the Individual, 1915
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–  “with lovingkindness have I drawn thee”
Jeremiah 31:3b

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Powerhouse of the Universe

Posted on December 5, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“The great central fact of the universe is that spirit of infinite life and power that is back of all, that manifests itself in and through all. This spirit … is what I call God. … He is the life of our life, our very life itself. We are partakers of the life of God; and though we differ from Him in that we are individualized spirits, while He is the Infinite Spirit, including us, … yet in essence the life of God and the life of man are identically the same, and so are one.”

“The great central fact in human life is the coming into a conscious vital realization of our oneness with this Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflow.  … In just the degree in which you realize your oneness with the Infinite Spirit, you will exchange dis-ease for ease, inharmony for harmony, suffering and pain for abounding health and strength. To recognize our own divinity, and our intimate relation to the Universal, is to attach the belts of our machinery to the powerhouse of the Universe.”

– R. W. Trine, In Tune with the Infinite, 1899
– as quoted in Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James, 1902.

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Inner Life

Posted on December 1, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“People whose spiritual lives are punctuated by esoteric [transforming, illuminating] moments cannot just turn off what they have felt and known, nor can they satisfactorily explain it to themselves, much less to anyone else. Thus, religion’s esoteric core has built a reputation for secrecy. This is a clever diversionary tactic: It isn’t so much that such things should not be talked about … It’s that they cannot be. There are literally no words to describe them, for they are glimpses of the Infinite, around which no circle can be drawn. … the new state of consciousness feels like the only one ever inhabited.”

– Jesse Jennings, D.D.
Preface, The Hidden Power of the Bible by Ernest Holmes, Tarcher/Penguin Edition, 2006

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CREATION

Posted on November 26, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“Ever on and on the advancing Love moves within and upon us, uplifting, sustaining, perfecting. It pauses not, nor sleeps. It ever watches and guards. Our part is to become acquainted with its presence; and so, dwelling with it, to withdraw all opposition, and be faithful in the least and the greatest to its guidance.”

Horatio W. Dresser, Living by the Spirit, 1900

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Thankfulness

Posted on November 24, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“The thankful heart is always close to the creative forces of the universe.”

  • Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, 1963.
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Peace

Posted on November 18, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time, And i…

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Peace

Posted on November 18, 2016 by thoughtsmjdisler

“Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time, And it makes our life programs new and overcoming. We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well.”

-John Wilhelm Rowntree

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Rowntree was very active in Quaker affairs in England, late 19th-early 20th century.

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