Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.

The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

Although its light is wide and great,

The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.

The whole moon and the entire sky

Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

Image above (and on front-page mastheads): Cosmic Picnic: Eve Under the Butterfly Nebula, 36 x 36 inches, acrylic, ink, and fabric, by Elta Marie Wilson.

Words above by: Dogen.

Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.

Image above (and on front-page mastheads): "Peace" by Sharon Mooney Welker.

Words above by Margaret Atwood, from "The Penelopiad." From the free weekly Parabola newsletter.

O HEART, magnified in this silent space,
Rejoice! Bloom, you eye, in this light.
You, who are contemplated by these skies;
Look and see, you lowly soul, immortal.
What remains but singing or mad silence?
You, moment to moment, returning;
Whose echo will remain until the world’s end,
Discovered as you are in this evaporating self,
And witnessed in a holy kiss in death.
For one who has been mercy in fear;
For one who has been borne on sorrow’s wing;
For one whose seed, scattered, has fed;
Be still and sigh deeply!
What breath will come and tear
down thrones and nations?
What breath will come and bear us up
While the world grows weary
of hunger and war?
For, again, we remember,
Now that we are emptied to make room,
One coming as a woman in labor,
Birthing an untold universe of Suns;
A vessel of promise poured out
As a mercy from the stars. For ever.

Image above: "Summer Rain" by Nancy Stoller.

Words above: "Magnificat" by Br. Karekin Madteos Yarian, BSG - a song at "Vespers" from "Breviary: A Poem of Some Reverence"