posted January 21, 2008 12:14 PM         

~ Henry David Thoreau

posted January 25, 2008 06:39 PM         

Descending to the earth, that strange intoxicating beauty of the unseen world
lurks in the elements of nature.

And the soul of man,
who has attained the rightful balance,
becoming aware of this hidden joy,
straightaway is enamored and bewitched.

And from this mystic marriage are born
the poets' songs, inner knowledge,
the language of the heart, virtuous living,
and the fair child Beauty.

And the Great Soul gives to man as dowry
the hidden glory of the world.

Excerpt taken from: The Secret Rose Garden written in 1920 by Florence Lederer
Can be read online here at Sacred Texts

Edited To Add:
Sacred Texts has the largest freely available archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric on the Internet. The site is dedicated to religious tolerance and scholarship, and has the largest readership of any similar site on the web. Click Here To Visit The Main Site

posted January 25, 2008 07:13 PM         

about higher realms-

where nature is not quite this "savage garden" we sometimes see......

where the lion will lie down with the lamb,
where crows will take care of kittens......

and so forth

posted January 25, 2008 08:48 PM         

I couldn't remember what book I had read that referenced: "Marraige Of The Soul"

Anyway's I'm glad you will find the site of use

posted January 25, 2008 11:38 PM         

THE MIRROR

YOUR eye has not strength enough
To gaze at the burning sun,
But you can see its brilliant light
By watching its reflection
Mirrored in the water.

So the reflection of Absolute Being
Can be viewed in this mirror of Not-Being,
For non-existence, being opposite Reality,
Instantly catches its reflection.

Know the world from end to end is a mirror;
In each atom a hundred suns are concealed.
If you pierce the heart of a single drop of water,
From it will flow a hundred clear oceans;
If you look intently at each speck of dust,
In it you will see a thousand beings,
A gnat in its limbs is like an elephant;
In name a drop of water resembles the Nile,
In the heart of a barley-corn is stored an hundred harvests,
Within a millet-seed a world exists,
In an insect's wing is an ocean of life,

A heaven is concealed in the pupil of an eye,
The core in the centre of the heart is small,
Yet the Lord of both worlds will enter there.

Excerpt taken from: The Secret Rose Garden written in 1920 by Florence Lederer
Can be read online here at Sacred Texts

posted January 26, 2008 12:49 AM         

The wine, lit by a ray from his face,
reveals the bubbles of form,
such as the material world and the soul-world,
which appear as veils to the saints.
Universal Reason seeing this is astounded,
Universal Soul is reduced to servitude.

Drink wine! for the bowl is the face of the Friend.
Drink wine! for the cup is his eye, drunken and flown with wine.
Drink wine! and be free from cold-heartedness,
for a drunkard is better than the self-satisfied.

The world is his tavern,
his wine-cup the heart of each atom;
reason is drunken, angels drunken, soul drunken,
air drunken, earth drunken, heaven drunken.

The sky, dizzy with the wine-fumes' aroma,
is staggering to and fro;
the angels, sipping pure wine from goblets,
pour down the dregs to the world.
From the scent of these dregs man rises to heaven.
Inebriated from the draft, the elements
fall into water and fire.
Catching the reflection, the frail body becomes soul,
And the frozen soul by its heat
thaws and becomes living.
The creature world becomes giddy,
forever straying from house and home.

One from the dregs' odor becomes a philosopher.
One viewing the wine's color becomes a relater.
One from half a draft becomes religious.
One from a bowlful becomes a lover.
Another swallows at one draught
goblet, tavern, cupbearer, and drunkards;
he swallows all, but still his mouth stays open.

Note: These were actually all written in 1250 or so by a guy named Mahmud Shabistari then adapted and translated fron Persian to English by Florence Lederer in 1920 (Who made them again popular)
Heee...heee... I for one am grateful as I do not read Persian one iota and would most likely have never read this in my life, LOL!

Here's another by him adapted and translated by Andrew Harvey and included in this book:
Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from the Sufi Wisdom

One Light

What are "I" and "You"?
Just lattices
In the niches of a lamp
Through which the One Light radiates.

"I" and "You" are the veil
Between heaven and earth;
Lift this veil and you will see
How all sects and religions are one.

Lift this veil and you will ask --
When "I" and "You" do not exist
What is mosque?
What is synagogue?
What is fire temple?