River of Guidance Library

(+ files are downloadable)

+Self-Compassion Slide PDF

+Self-compassion Mantra

+Self Compassion Resources

+Saint Francis and the Sow

BY GALWAY KINNELL

The bud stands for all things,

even for those things that don’t flower,

for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;   

though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness,

to put a hand on its brow of the flower and retell it in words and in touch it is lovely until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;   

as Saint Francis put his hand on the creased forehead of the sow, and told her in words and in touch blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow    began remembering all down her thick length, from the earthen snout all the way through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail, 

from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine down through the great broken heart to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing

beneath them:

the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

(+ files are downloadable)

+Class 1 Notes

+Wisdom Quotes

+Practices

Self-knowledge is to discover the true knowledge of our beng within and without.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Rumi

“Sympathy is the root of religion, and so long as the spirit of sympathy is living in your heart, you have the light of religion. Now the feeling between mother and child, between God and soul which is called love, or agape by the Christians, Ishk by the Sufis and Muslims generally Karuna by the Buddhists and has other names elsewhere is the great driving power in the Universe. This sympathy is the same force which appears as cohesion, adhesion and gravitation among the physical forces; this promotes all growth-physical, mental or spiritual-and is the principle behind many faculties which appear in the world of creation.” Murshid Samuel Lewis “Bowl of Saki.”

I am so trapped by my pain, I don’t know how to ask how you’re doing. The Bear Hulu TV Series

“Through our awareness of personal pain, gain awareness of human pain and suffering.” Pir O’ Murshid Hazrat Inayat Kahn

“The Cry of Humanity.” “The cure for pain is the pain.” Rumi

Self-Inquiry –Is a spiritual practice that allows us to gain conscious awareness which can produce a shift in consciousness and allow the inquirer to self-correct and re-align with their true nature.

Inquiry is an ongoing transformative practice by which we can encounter a direct experience of release followed by realization. It is a process of following a particular thread or theme in our lives that produces pain and suffering. The inquiry process is what Murshid Samuel Lewis refers to as “Unlearning” and Murshid Hazrat Inayat Kahn refers to as “untying the knots” the false (lifting the veils) to realize the real-our true and authentic nature. We approach the inquiry process with mercy and compassion.

Although this can be a difficult process, to move through, the fruit it bears produces a sense of deep liberation. Gives way to spaciousness and a greater capacity to experience spiritual teachings as a living truth in and through our Being.

Cities of the Soul by Sheik Rafael Rod Birney, is available free as a down load. This book explores from the perspective of an ancient Sufi teaching story that's been modernized the different levels of Nafs and how to work with them.