The Harmony Within
The Hours for May 8th, 2023
![The Path (1895).[37][note 9]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!daBo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41637408-445c-41d3-906d-b474cc6c1a15_1054x1351.jpeg "The Path (1895).[37][note 9]")
Good morning. It is Monday, May 8, 2023. Charbel Mablouf, a Maronite hermit known to Lebanese Christians as the “Miracle Monk of Lebanon,” was born on this day in 1828. Yelena Petrovna von Hahn, better known as Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society, died on this day in 1891.
May your day unveil its innermost workings at your gentle approach.
As is customary on Mondays, today’s edition of the Mystic’s Almanac is free to all subscribers. If you enjoy this publication, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
Lauds
Morning Practice
Today, I recommend a morning practice of Awareness. In particular, try to examine the periphery of any objects that arise in consciousness. Where are their borders? What separates them?
Preparation
An Invitatory
“There was not a philosopher of any notoriety who did not hold to this doctrine of metempsychosis, as taught by the Brahmans, Buddhists, and later by the Pythagoreans, in its esoteric sense, whether he expressed it more or less intelligibly. Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus, Synesius and Chalcidius, all believed in it; and the Gnostics, who are unhesitatingly proclaimed by history as a body of the most refined, learned, and enlightened men, were all believers in metempsychosis. Socrates entertained opinions identical with those of Pythagoras; and both, as the penalty of their divine philosophy, were put to a violent death. The rabble has been the same in all ages. Materialism has been, and will ever be blind to spiritual truths. These philosophers held, with the Hindus, that God had infused into matter a portion of his own Divine Spirit, which animates and moves every particle.”
- Helena Blavatsky
A Reflection
Read any journal entries from the night before, then write one or more pages to clear your mind prior to practice.
A Prayer of Intention
Before beginning, I encourage you to compose and set intentions for this session based on your needs, tradition and training.
Practice
Transition
A Reflection in Stillness:
Review your practice intentions. Did your session go as you hoped? What was different? What was challenging? What went according to expectation? Make brief notes in your meditation journal.
A Vow:
May the clarity and stillness I have cultivated in this practice allow me to see the highest possible truths that today may reveal.
A Song for Today:
The Little Hours
Midmorning
A Practice of Noticing
Today’s midmorning is dedicated to a second practice of Noticing, and to deepening your sensitivity to your surroundings.
Midday
A Practice of Being
Let a short midday practice of Being connect you to your presence, just as you are.
Midafternoon
A Practice of Developing
Today’s midafternoon practice is one of Developing. Try to focus on cultivating a virtuous feeling that has been difficult for you today.
Mealtime
A Blessing
“May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all beings be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow.
May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless.
May all live in equanimity, without attachment of aversion, believing in the equality of all that lives.”
- A mealtime blessing from the Nyingma Institute
Vespers
Evening Practice
Tonight’s moon is in the phase of Waning Gibbous. In Christian mysticism, the Waning Gibbous is sometimes associated with John the Baptist, the final “Old Testament” prophet who baptized Jesus.
At Vespers today, I recommend a practice of Recollecting.
Preparation
Invitatory
“I advise you not to use a lot words in prayer. Many words and long monologues are the causes of wandering minds. Instead, hold yourself in prayer before God like a mute and paralyzed beggar at a rich man's gate. Let it be your purpose only to keep your mind in the presence of the Lord. If it sometimes wanders and withdraws itself from Him, do not worry yourself about it. Worry and anxiety distract the mind rather than focus it. The will must bring the mind back in tranquility. If you persevere in this manner, God will be gracious to you.”
- Brother Lawrence
A Prompt for Reflection
Write at least one evening page to empty your mind of the concerns of the day.
A Prayer of Intention
I encourage you to compose and set intentions for this session based on your needs, tradition and training.
Practice
Transition
A Reflection in Stillness
Review your practice intentions and your memories of practice. Make brief notes in your meditation journal about anything that stands out.
For Gratitude
We give because someone gave to us. We give because nobody gave to us. We give because giving has changed us. We give because giving could have changed us. We have been better for it, We have been wounded by it— Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet, Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails. Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too, But we read this book, anyway, over and again: Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand, Mine to yours, yours to mine. You gave me blue and I gave you yellow. Together we are simple green. You gave me What you did not have, and I gave you What I had to give—together, we made Something greater from the difference.
- “When Giving Is All We Have” by Alberto Rios
Compline (Bedtime)
Examination of Conscience
Spend a few moments examining your days’ deeds. What went well? What are you grateful for? What are the ways in which you were blessed by the labor, kindness and faithfulness of others?
What did not go well? Where did you fail? Where did you go against yourself, or compromise your integrity? Where did you slip out of presence, and into unconscious patterns?
What can you learn from today? What lesson will you carry forward, and what will you resolve to avoid or change in the future?
Beditation
Once you are in bed and the lights are out, choose your favorite practice and spend the last few moments of the evening unwinding, relaxing into presence and awareness, and focused on the sacred.
Rest well, friend.
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