BLOG 141
MARCH 17, 2025
SANCTUARY
“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.” (Albert Einstein)
Swimming laps of backstroke in an outdoor pool today, I observed a graphic illustration of what it’s like to go from the calm and quiet of a meditative state to the mental noise of conflicting thoughts and the usual barrage of external “problems”. With my ears immersed in the water I silently enjoyed the view of robin’s egg blue sky, watching the cotton-ball clouds drifting by and allowing myself to relax into the calming buoyancy of the water. I think of how children are able to lose themselves gazing into “outer space” — especially when there’s chores to be done — and wonder if that’s what Einstein was thinking of.
Turning over to do the front crawl was another story altogether; the loud snarling of a nearby chainsaw ripped through the morning quiet and instantly threw me into a very different mood. If that cranky mood is allowed to persist, it will no doubt affect everyone I come in contact with. I learned a quote yesterday that sums up this phenomenon:
“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stuck-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out from your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” (Roald Dahl, The Witches)
With such a suggestion in mind, I spent some time thinking of ways that I can emanate those sunbeam-y rays. I often mentally repeat the words of the St. Francis prayer before settling to bed, or any time I wish to quiet my emotions and set positive intentions:
“Make me a channel of thy peace. Where there is hatred let me sow your love. Where there is injury your pardon Lord, and where there’s doubt true faith in thee.
“Make me a channel of thy peace. Where there’s despair in life let me sow hope. Where there is darkness let me sow your light. And where there’s sadness, ever joy.
“Oh master grant that I may never seek, so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love with all my soul.
“Make me a channel of thy peace. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; in giving unto all that we receive, and dying grow into eternal light.” (End quote)
By steeping myself in such a prayer I believe I have some agency, however small, in making the world a better place.
Seeking, creating and sharing beauty are other ways to brighten someone’s day. A kind word. A small (sincere) compliment. A selfless gesture. An attentive ear when I sense a need to be heard. Honoring others’ right to their own truth, but knowing that there’s often a truth behind a truth keeps me from jumping to conclusions.
In these and other ways I strive to create a sense of sanctuary within and around me. There’s no room in such a sanctuary for ugly thoughts, no matter how justified they seem at the time. Or for lies and self-justifications. Honest self-reflection helps me remove the dust and clutter that dim my inner light, along with the layers of bias and conditioning that no longer serve me.
Last but not least, it takes a profound humility to accept and forgive my own and others’ imperfections. Admit and make amends for my mistakes. And vow to do better the next day.
Oh. And celebrate my victories, however small, with Justin’s organic dark chocolate peanut butter cups.