November 29, 2025

 A Prayer for Thinking Hearts

Etty Hillesum (click) 

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Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations

 

Saturday, November 29, 2025
Week Forty-Eight Summary
November 23 – November 28, 2025

 

 

READ ON CAC.ORG

 

 

Practicing Gratitude

 

Sunday 
All the truly great persons I have ever met are characterized by what I would call radical humility and gratitude. 
—Richard Rohr 

Monday 
Nothing has humbled me more than to be on the receiving end of someone’s gratitude. At that moment I truly understand the power of gratitude. The recipient has been blessed, and their expression of gratitude humbles and blesses the gift giver.  
—Yolanda Pierce 

Tuesday 
Even in pain, we can find a place of gratitude, a place where alongside the agony of loss we still count and appreciate what remains. 
—Brian D. McLaren 

Wednesday 
When we more fully understand the grace we’ve received, we are able to turn outward in gratitude and generosity. Gratitude becomes “our home in the presence of God.” 
—Christine D. Pohl 

Thursday 
Gratitude is not a form of passive acceptance or complicity. Rather, it is the capacity to stare doubt, loss, chaos, and despair right in the eye and say, “I am still here.”  
—Diana Butler Bass 

Friday 
The only way to increase authentic spirituality is to deliberately practice actually enjoying a positive response and a grateful heart.  
—Richard Rohr 

 

 

Week Forty-Eight Practice

Praying with Ordinary Things

 

Episcopal priest Laurie Brock invites us to reflect on our relationship with the things we use every day and how our gratitude might help us discover the sacred significance they hold: 

We humans need things. We need items, objects, and belongings that we can grasp and touch and grab and even fearfully hold to remind us. We need reminders that we are here and that God is here. Things are always things, and they are also rarely just things….  

Most of us would do well to have fewer things, but perhaps we’d be better off investing more meaning, rather than less, in those items. Because some things are more than things, aren’t they? They hold something of our feelings, our hopes and expectations, our grief and remembrances, even our faith. [1] 

Brock offers this prayer and reflection: 

Almighty God, who creates all that is and gives us all that we possess: I thank you for the objects of our daily life. Grant that I may see in them your holiness, often present in the ordinary and common. Allow me to treasure the things that I forget to notice because they are so present in my daily life. Give me the grace to appreciate them, to see them, to treasure them. Amen.  

What are the ordinary things in your daily life that you often overlook? Sitting in a quiet place in your home, office, or even outside, let your gaze wander, noticing a few items. Slowly allow your attention to rest on one. What task or chore does it help you accomplish? How does it help you in your daily life? What challenges would appear without this item?  

Turning your thoughts toward your faith, what parts of your faith are easy to overlook? Perhaps it’s a prayer you’ve said over and over or a hymn you’ve heard so many times you don’t pay attention to the words anymore. Maybe it’s a routine like seeing the candles lit before worship. How might the object you’re seeing now remind you of the value of the ordinary and routine in your faith? How does ordinariness help you experience God? How might you offer gratitude for this object? [2] 

 

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November 28, 2025

Remember Those Less Fortunate 

November 27, 2025

 

November 26, 2025

The Spirit Behind The Day of Giving Thanks

The Spirit of Thanksgiving is about practicing a daily, intentional attitude of gratitude for blessings, both large and small. Beyond the holiday feast, this spirit involves recognizing good things, showing appreciation for people, and turning your focus away from self to a higher power, which can strengthen your faith and bring joy. It can also be a source of spiritual strength during difficult times by shifting perspective and preventing bitterness from setting in. 

Embracing the spirit of gratitude

Keep a gratitude journal: Regularly write down things you are thankful for to cultivate a more grateful heart.

Count your blessings: Take note of both big and small things, from daily needs to spiritual gifts and personal abilities, recognizing their origin as blessings.

Thank others: Show your appreciation for the people in your life with genuine gestures, whether it's quality time or offering practical help.

Practice thankfulness in all circumstances: The spirit of thanksgiving suggests giving thanks even when things are difficult, which can provide a new perspective and prevent bitterness. 

Religious and spiritual aspects

Honor God: In many traditions, the spirit of Thanksgiving is seen as a way to honor God, from whom all blessings are believed to flow.

Strengthen your faith: By consistently expressing gratitude, you can strengthen your relationship with God and open your heart to His presence.

Encourage others: Sharing your thankfulness with others can give them a reason to trust in God and feel thankful as well. 

 

November 25, 2025

A Video Offering 

Alchemy & Jung

9 part Series

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9bX-qC_zs2-Q0Z1VHdRMHNlLW8?resourcekey=0-X_8ZUZZ7mKG8T-8MmPg9Fw

King of Hearts

Possibly My Favorite Movie

https://drive.google.com/drive//1GlcWQvF_mr_Fdhv5SGBCYKRHxttcZzp3

Stairway to Lenin

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z8Raud_9IwKjd-r_17QrriZXGmYKTspV/view?usp=drivesdk

November 24th, 2025

 

As

Might I share a pondering 

I've found many people who firmly believe in an afterThis Experience of some sort. 

A Return to Source

Heaven

Integrate our Temporal with our Ethereal 

Reincarnation 

Hell

Reintegrate with The Power of the Big Bang, 

The Power of My Heartbeat

To Return Home ~

The Return of the Prodigal Son 

In every instance there is an Understood Ending of this Human Experience and a return to Source. 

So how does the seemingly "pernamence" of this Human Existence actually ~ have a weight or heaveyness when we openly acknowledge 

It's Impernamence as a phenomenon and not as a Lived Life 

You are not in the body. The body is in you.”

 

​🤯 The Startling Revelation

​This statement is startling because it inverts our fundamental, everyday experience of reality.

• ​Our Usual Belief (Duality): We feel like a contained "person" that is inside a body (the subject inside the object). We are the localized consciousness inhabiting this temporary physical form.
• ​The Non-Dual Revelation: Maharaj's quote points to the non-dual understanding that Consciousness (You) is the boundless, unlocatable ground of being. The body and mind, and indeed the entire universe, are merely appearances, or objects, within that infinite Consciousness.

​The "you" (Consciousness) is not a tiny spark trapped in the physical frame; rather, the entire physical frame and the world it perceives are temporary patterns arising within the space of the infinite "You." It shatters the cherished illusion of the separate self.

November 22nd, 2025

May Be Useful 

If it Resonate! 

A audio of chapter 3 perfect brilliant Stillness 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A5oDpStJiUECzQjX7sORX5NNjjAf5EgA/view?usp=drivesdk

"Consciousness is all there is, flowing, streaming through these instruments in a manner which, in accordance with the perfect unfolding of totality, is perceived as discreet individual entities autonomously performing actions, but in truth this is not the case. There is no individual, no entity, no separate self here to do anything or to be anything, awakened or enlightened included."

-- David Carse, Perfect Brilliant Stillness

The Author has decided to release the Book in PDF format for No Compensation. 

Click here to download Book. 

This book, and the thoughts and concepts expressed here, are not copyrighted. They are not ‘mine.’

Understanding or misunderstanding, interpreting or misinterpreting, quoting or misquoting, using or misusing, appropriating or misappropriation, may or may not occur.

All is Presence, Awareness, in which

all apparent thoughts and concepts, events and actions, arise spontaneously.

david carse

2005

 First US edition: Paragate Publishing 2005

November 21st, 2025

Jethro Tull Wind-Up

(click above) 

When I was young and they packed me off to school

And taught me how not to play the game

I didn't mind if they groomed me for success

Or if they said that I was just a fool.

So I left there in the morning

With their God tucked underneath my arm

Their half-assed smiles and the book of rules

And I asked this God a question

And by way of firm reply

He said, "I'm not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays"

So to my old headmaster (and to anyone who cares)

Before I'm through I'd like to say my prayers

I don't believe you

You had the whole damn thing all wrong

He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.

Well, you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school

And have all the bishops harmonize these lines

How do you dare tell me that I'm my Father's son?

When that was just an accident of birth

I'd rather look around me, compose a better song

'Cos that's the honest measure of my worth

In your pomp and all your glory you're a poorer man than me

As you lick the boots of death born out of fear

When I was young and they packed me off to school

And taught me how not to play the game

I didn't mind if they groomed me for success

Or if they said that I was just a fool

I left there in the morning

With their God under my arm

Their half-assed smiles and the book of rules

Well, you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school

Have all the bishops harmonize these lines

When I was young and they packed me off to school

And they taught me how not to play the game

I didn't mind if they groomed me for success

Or if they said that I was just a fool

So to my old headmaster (and to anyone who cares)

Before I'm through I'd like to say my prayers

Well you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school

And have all the bishops harmonize these lines

I don't believe you

You had the whole damn thing all wrong

He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays

November 20th, 2025

 Recognizing Grace

Contemplative author and artist Christine Valters Paintner expands how we understand sacramentality—not only as something we experience in church rituals, but also a way of perceiving the divine presence in all things:  

One of the classic definitions of a sacrament is something that is an outward, visible sign of an inward, invisible grace. In the Christian church there are different rituals that are considered to be sacraments. The Catholic Church has seven sacraments, while other denominations count fewer among their number. However, this idea of sacramentality extends beyond the formal sacraments such as Baptism, Matrimony, Communion, and the Anointing of the Sick. This sense of sacramentality, rooted in the Incarnation, extends our vision out to the world so that everything can be a sacrament, meaning every person, creature, plant, and object can be an opportunity to encounter something of the Divine Presence in the world. Sacramentality is a quality present in creation that opens us up to the Sacred Presence in all things. Sacraments reveal grace.  

When viewed through this expansive lens, we discover that the more we cultivate intimacy with the natural world, the more we discover about God’s presence. All of our interactions with nature can be sacramental, and all the ways nature extends herself to us are sacramental as well. Sacramentality breaks through our surface obsessions in the world and plunges us into the depth of the Sacred at every turn. It is a spontaneous reminder of God’s creative upwelling and expansive love, calling us to love beyond boundaries. St. Isaac the Syrian defines a charitable heart as one “which is burning with love for the whole creation, for [humans], for the birds, for the beasts, for the demons—for all creatures.” [1]  

 A shift takes place when we see life in this way:  

This discovery that every creature and every created thing can be a window of revelation into the divine nature is an invitation to fall more and more in love with the world. To see that teachers of grace exist everywhere means to bring a sense of reverence to the way we walk in the world. When we encounter nature as sacrament, we can no longer objectify it. We can instead create the circumstances that nurture and nourish this kind of vision…. Sacramental vision means not only that we grow in our love of God’s ways in the world but also that we grow in our sense of kinship with creation….  

There is a sense of God’s incarnate presence in creation that shimmers forth to reveal the holiness of all things. Notice how your senses come alive when you walk out in the world aware of its sacramental nature. What do your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin each reveal to you about how God is alive in the world around you?  

 

References:  

[1] See Hilarion Alfeyev,  The Spiritual World of Saint Isaac the Syrian.

November 19th, 2025

Rumi & Rilke 

Rilke & Kabir 

 

November 18th, 2025

 

November 17th, 2025

Your Duty Remains The Same

Our job today and tomorrow is the same as it’s always been—to be good, to be wise, to stand up for what’s right, to resist what is wrong and evil. Nothing changes that. Nothing exempts us from that. Nothing prevents us from doing that.

Random 

The Self is never fully attained, as it is a lifelong process. This aligns with Jung’s view of individuation as a circumambulation towards the centre, an insight drawn from his investigation of the unconscious. As the microcosm influences the macrocosm, and viceversa, knowledge of oneself influences the knowledge of the cosmos. The universe appears not just dead matter but a living organism, intimately bound to the human condition.

In this light, the Buddha Nature evokes the image of a pre-existent realm of unity, from which the soul descends into the bodily vessel. This descent is necessary to experience duality and its inevitable suffering, to reconcile the opposites, and ultimately return to that paradisaical state on a higher level of consciousne

November 12, 2025

A glorious fall day walking through the kingdom of my father and appreciating every step 

Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You’re covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you’ve died.
Your life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon
comes out now.

-Rumi (From “Quietness,” translated by Coleman Barks)

Novem 11th, 2025

 Man must accept the responsibility for himself and the fact that only by using his own powers can he give meaning to his life. But meaning does not imply certainty; indeed, the quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel a man to unfold his powers. If he faces the truth without panic, he will recognize that there is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers, by living productively.

Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher

Man for Himself, ch. 3 (1947)
    (Source)

November 10th, 2025

 

November 9th, 2025

  If you are seeking, seek us with joy

    For we live in the kingdom of joy.

    Do not give your heart to anything else

    But to the love of those who are clear joy,

    Do not stray into the neighborhood of despair.

    For there are hopes: they are real, they exist ˆ

    Do not go in the direction of darkness ˆ

    I tell you: suns exist.

   - Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

 

November 8th, 2025

 Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately.” – 

Elie Wiesel

November 6th, 2025

 Ponderings

Our Lord's prayer in Syria Aramaic Wood Circular lcon

The Lord's Prayer In Aramaic With Translations

The Prayer To Our Father
(translated into first century Aramaic)
Abwûn
"Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes,
d'bwaschmâja
who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
Nethkâdasch schmach
May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Têtê malkuthach.
Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha.
Let Your will come true - in the universe (all that vibrates)
just as on earth (that is material and dense).
Hawvlân lachma d'sûnkanân jaomâna.
Give us wisdom (understanding, assistance) for our daily need,
Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikâna
daf chnân schwoken l'chaijabên.
detach the fetters of faults that bind us,
like we let go the guilt of others.
Wela tachlân l'nesjuna
Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common temptations),
ela patzân min bischa.
but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.
Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn.
From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,
the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amên.
Sealed in trust, faith and truth.

 From The Book "The Lost Sayings of Jesus

("The Lost Sayings of Jesus" refers to teachings attributed to Jesus that are not found in the New Testament's four canonical Gospels and are often compiled from sources like  early Church Fathers, Gnostic texts, and the Q Source. These sayings address a wide range of topics, including a more present-tense understanding of the Kingdom of God found in texts like the Gospel of Thomas, and include sayings on love, hope, and spiritual enlightenment.

These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.

1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

2 Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will rule over all."

3 Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) imperial rule is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) imperial rule is inside you and outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."

4 Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live. For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."

5 Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that won't be revealed."

6 His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"

Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

7 Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human."

8 And he said, The human one is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!

9 Jesus said, Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.

10 Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes."

November 5th, 2025

Remember, remember the 5th of November

"Remember, remember the 5th of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot"

V: “Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. [laughs] Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honor to meet you and you may call me “V”.vg

November 4th 2025

Wind~Up

Jethro Tull 

He said, "I'm not the kind you have to wind up on (Sundays") 

Click above to play song 

When I was young and they packed me off to school

And taught me how not to play the game

I didn't mind if they groomed me for success

Or if they said that I was just a fool.

So I left there in the morning

With their God tucked underneath my arm

Their half-assed smiles and the book of rules

And I asked this God a question

And by way of firm reply

He said, "I'm not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays"

So to my old headmaster (and to anyone who cares)

Before I'm through I'd like to say my prayers

I don't believe you

You had the whole damn thing all wrong

He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.

Well, you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school

And have all the bishops harmonize these lines

How do you dare tell me that I'm my Father's son?

When that was just an accident of birth

I'd rather look around me, compose a better song

'Cos that's the honest measure of my worth

In your pomp and all your glory you're a poorer man than me

As you lick the boots of death born out of fear

When I was young and they packed me off to school

And taught me how not to play the game

I didn't mind if they groomed me for success

Or if they said that I was just a fool

I left there in the morning

With their God under my arm

Their half-assed smiles and the book of rules

Well, you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school

Have all the bishops harmonize these lines

When I was young and they packed me off to school

And they taught me how not to play the game

I didn't mind if they groomed me for success

Or if they said that I was just a fool

So to my old headmaster (and to anyone who cares)

Before I'm through I'd like to say my prayers

Well you can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday school

And have all the bishops harmonize these lines

I don't believe you

You had the whole damn thing all wrong

He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays

November 3rd, 2025

Might not be Your Cup of Mushroom Powder 

Maybe ~ Maybe Not

(See if it Resonares) 

Part 2 of 3

Chapter 3 Audio of Perfect Brilliant

Chapter 3 Text of Perfect Brilliant Stillness

November 7th 2025

Free PDF (The Book is Not Copyrighted) 

SearchWithin.org 

https://www.searchwithin.org/download/perfect-brilliant-stillness-david-carse.pdf 

Sadly out of print as far as am aware (Oct 2025) As its 'copyright free' it would be good to see as a print on demand publication... L, Sid.

Free Audiobook on YouTube (The Book is Not Copyrighted)

https://youtu.be/zPzPmpBcEAk?si=Q5UqJD1gpC7Ek1sy