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Tara Penry's avatar

Your grain of sand festering a pearl and Merton’s yawning hunger give me a paradox like a koan this morning: how the thing and the emptiness of things are the same, the fester and the solitude. Thank you for this lovely start to the day.

I hope Sweet Petunia stays dry in the coming rain.

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Renée Eli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Tara,

I never cease to be inspired by/grateful for your nuanced reading and interpretation. Yes, it is all right there. And Sweet Petunia is a very fine teacher.

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Patti Petersen's avatar

Beautiful.

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Renée Eli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Patti, Thank you!

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Switter’s World's avatar

Happiness is not Somewhere; it is inside Here.

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Renée Eli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Indeed. Thank you.

It's good to "meet" you here, Switter's World.

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Holly Starley's avatar

Gorgeous. Throughout the piece, I felt this sway I’ll melancholy / joy. We are riding that wave, and you speak to it well. Which is needed, because it’s all there whether we hold it in our hearts or ignore it.

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Renée Eli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Holly,

Your words bring Rilke (from last week) right back to the fore:

"And this is the reason the sadness passes: the something new within us, the thing that has joined us, has entered our heart, has gone into its innermost chamber and is no longer there either—it is already in the blood. And we do not find out what it was."

How so very quick our facility for ignoring.

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Julie Schmidt's avatar

Loved this Renée! Being with tragedy of the fires and delicacy of freshly baked bread. This is our times. Loved the Merton quote: "There are no directions left in which to travel. And this is a country whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. You do not find it by traveling but by standing still." Amen!

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Renée Eli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Amen, Sister!

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

We’re traveling on parallel planes. Just finishing up my latest In Defense of… this time In Defense of Going Nowhere. I think I may need to use that Merton quote!

Your writing always pierces right into the heart of truth. Thank you for your wisdom, always.

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Renée Eli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Kimberly,

It is a passage I have returned to again and again. I have missed "In Defense of" while offlining and VERY MUCH look forward to this upcoming 'installation'.

Thank you, always, for your kind words.

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