Ithaca Sufi Center

Something opens our wings Something makes boredom and pain disappear Someone fills the cup in front of us We taste only sacredness (Hafiz)

Winter Solstice Prayer--by Nancy Swisher Dear God, help me embrace the darkness of this day, knowing that from the very deepest dark comes the brightest Light. Help me to feel my own darkness, where fear resides inside.... With your love, I may use the darkness of nature on this day to hold my wounded self close to my breast, letting it tell me all of its fears. I will use this darkness to let me cry; and with my final tear, I will begin to sense the Light. I will use this day to go to the depths of my own dark places because I know you are with me always, and that only by going into the darkness may we see the truth of our Light. Thank you, God, for giving me life so that I may explore the darkness and the Light. Thank you for the cycle of creation.

Does a leaf, when it falls from the tree in winter, feel defeated by the cold? The tree says to the leaf: ‘That’s the cycle of life. You may think you’re going ...to die, but you live on in me. It’s thanks to you that I’m alive, because I can breathe. It’s also thanks to you that I have felt loved, because I was able to give shade to the weary traveller. Your sap is in my sap, we are one thing.’ Does a man who spent years preparing to climb the highest mountain in the world feel defeated on reaching that mountain and discovering that nature has cloaked the summit in storm clouds? The man says to the mountain: ‘You don’t want me this time, but the weather will change and, one day, I will make it to the top. Meanwhile, you’ll still be here waiting for me.’ Does a young man, rejected by his first love, declare that love does not exist? The young man says to himself: ‘I’ll find someone better able to understand what I feel. And then I will be happy for the rest of my days.’ The winter struggles to reign supreme, but, in the end, is obliged to accept spring’s victory, which brings with it flowers and happiness. The summer would like to make its warm days last for ever, because it believes that warmth is good for the earth, but, finally, it has to accept the arrival of autumn, which will allow the earth to rest. The gazelle eats the grass and is devoured by the lion. It isn’t a matter of who is the strongest, but God’s way of showing us the cycle of death and resurrection. And within that cycle there are neither winners nor losers, there are only stages that must be gone through. When the human heart understands this, it is free, able to accept difficult times and not be deceived by moments of glory. In the cycle of nature there is no such thing as victory or defeat: there is only movement. ~ Paulo Coelho from Manuscript found in Accra

"Thy Light is in all forms, thy love in all beings" Hazrat Inayat Khan

Meditation in movement, together as One