Monday Morning with Vincent, Mary, and Lao Tzu

Waking early and not wanting to do anything but relax into the written word, I decided to open a book of Mary Oliver's poems (at random, of course), and see what she had to say. Lately, I've been appreciating images with small bursts of color, or words that immediately bring a certain color to mind, particularly in the form of a berry:


"This Morning I Watched the Deer"

This morning I watched the deer
   with beautiful lips touching the tips
of the cranberries, setting their hooves down
   in the dampness carelessly, isn’t it after all
the carpet of their house, their home, whose roof
   is the sky?

Why, then, was I suddenly miserable?

Well, this is nothing much.
This is just the heaviness of the body watching the swallows
   gliding just under that roof.

This is the wish that the deer would not lift their heads
   and leap away, leaving me there alone.
This is the wish to touch their faces, their brown wrists-
   to sing some sparkling poem into
the folds of their ears,

then walk with them,
over the hills
and over the hills

and into the impossible trees.

~ Mary Oliver


After sitting with this for several minutes, I turned to Lao Tzu for illumination on a question I had posed to myself as I lay in bed this morning. The answer came in the form of a poem I opened to, first the book and then my heart:


Thinking and talking about the Integral Way are not
   the same as practicing it.
Who ever became a good rider by talking about
   horses?
If you wish to embody the Tao, stop chattering and
   start practicing.
Relax your body and quiet your senses.
Return your mind to its original clarity.
Forget about being separated from others and from the
   Divine source.

As you return to Oneness, do not think of it or be
   in awe of it. This is just another way of separating
   from it.
Simply merge into truth, and allow it to surround you.

~ Lao Tzu

Both images are by Vincent van Gogh