From John Main, OSB, Self-Will and Divine Will, THE PRESENT CHRIST (New York: Crossroad, 1991), pp. 85, 86-87.
Conversion is commitment to the creativity of love. To be turned towards non-love (egoism) is to be enthralled by the fascination for death. We find this in individuals as well as in societies. In both cases, material prosperity or production is no yardstick for true creativity. The only trustworthy measure is the depth of peace flowing from the centre. . . [. . . .] Conversion requires in all of us significant readjustments in our life, in our angle of vision. These readjustments can be thought of but they cannot be effected by thought. They can only be integrated into our life from the creative power of love that we find in our own heart. That is why we best understand meditation, not as a process of self-improvement, or as a tool we employ for desired ends, but rather as a process of learning and deepening humility. [. . . .]
Meditation is of such importance because we can only come to the truth if we have the confidence to face it. This confidence arises from the encounter with pure love in our own hearts. The really important thing to know in life for life is that God is and that God is love. . . .It is very simple. [. . . .] If we see this clearly, we can see our own spiritual journey, our own religious practice, our personal life, all shot through with the transforming light of Christ’s redemptive love.
Mary Oliver, When I Am Among the Trees, THIRST: Poems by Mary Oliver (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006) p.4.
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out. Stay awhile.
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, as simple as they say,
and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.
