Anam Cara

Discovery Is the Nature of the Soul

The presence of a person who has stillness and contentment of heart engenders trust. They can sift from the chaff of talk and select what has weight and worth. Sometimes the dignity of their composure can bring the company of those present to a finer level of attention and worthiness. Conversely, you become uneasy in the presence of someone whose stillness and contentment are forced. Their composure only endures because it operates within a very limited frame of self-protection and denial. It is difficult to feel that you can be yourself in the company of such efficiently quelled longing. When you open your heart to discovery, you will be called to step outside the comfort barriers within which you have fortified your life. You will be called to risk old views and thoughts and to step off the circle of routine and image. This will often bring turbulence. The pendulum will fix at times on one extreme, and you will be out of balance. But your soul loves the danger of growth. In its own wise trust, your soul will always return you to a place of real and vital equilibrium.

The very nature of the universe invites you to journey and discover it. The earth wants our minds to listen attentively and gaze wisely so that we may learn its secrets and name them. We are the echo-mirrors of contemplative Nature. One of our most sacred duties is to be open and faithful to the subtle voices of the universe which come alive in our longing. Aristotle said that the reason we can know anything is that there is a morphic affinity between us and Nature; this is the intimate and precise affinity of form. Animals, trees, fields, and tides have other duties. For this alone have we been freed and blessed. Either we are in the universe to inhabit the lovely eternity of our souls and grow real, or else we might as well dedicate our days to shopping and kill time watching talk shows.