Tea and Zen at Meditation Sans Frontieres

Arrogance often masks deeper emotional struggles, including fear and grief. Those who present themselves with an air of superiority may be attempting to shield themselves from vulnerabilities that lie beneath the surface.

At its core, arrogance can stem from insecurity. Individuals may boast or belittle others as a defense mechanism, driven by the fear of inadequacy. This bravado serves to create a façade of confidence, but it often reveals a deep-seated anxiety about being unworthy or unaccepted. Nigel Lott teaandzen.org

Run my dear from anything that may not strengthen your precious budding wings. Run like hell my dear, from anyone likely to put a sharp knife into the sacred, tender vision of your beautiful heart. For we have not come here to take prisoners or to confine our wondrous spirits. Hafiz

I have been to every continent on this planet, many major cities, and sat with so many people in this life of mine, and all I ever heard despite the barriers people had built up around themselves, was the profound desire to know peace, to be loved and to love…….just that. To recognize the unity of what it is to be human beyond all forms of separation and its suffering.

To follow that ache and yearning for love to its final conclusion of oneness with all that is, that lay at the heart of every living soul it seems that I ever met, and to follow it in peace, to feel safe and secure, that only love, absolute reality can provide.

May we all be at peace…it is after all…..our birthright.

WeAre notIn pursuit of formalitiesOr fake religiousLaws,

For through the stairway of existenceWe have come to God’sDoor.

We arePeople who need to love, becauseLove is the soul’s life,

Love is simply creation’s greatest joy.

ThroughThe stairway of existence,O, through the stairway of existence,

HaveYou now come,Have we all now come toThe Beloved’sDoor.

Hafiz

What holds significance for me, based on my personal beliefs, is that the journey towards connecting with a love beyond measure is incredibly close, just a fleeting moment away at any given time, a blink of any eye. The path is inherent within each of us, much like the door that leads to this connection, one with what is.

The notion of a stairway and a door is, in essence, a construct of our own minds, influenced by our egocentric selves. However, in ultimate reality, we have always been united with whatever lies beyond that door.

In all truth, there is no literal stairway or door; it’s a realization that can emerge in a singular moment, transcending such physical representations, whenever you are ready to do so, to surrender and transcend into the arms of the beloved. Nigel Lott teaandzen.org

Remember the boundless possibilities that emerge from understanding that love envelops you, resides within you, and that every moment of life is profoundly precious—there is no time to waste. Embrace love fully now, surrendering to its essence and power, for it is at the core of all existence. Infinite in nature, love is the eternal truth—unchanging and all-encompassing. You are a divine message, a mirror reflecting the sacred, so seek within yourself, for everything you desire is already a part of who you are. There is nothing beyond or above this divine truth.

Nigel Lott teaandzen.org

"In serving the heart of another, we serve the heart within us and, the one love that connects us all...simply nothing therefore is left undone." Nigel Lott

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,Break all our teacup talk of God.

If you had the courage andCould give the Beloved His choice, some nights,He would just drag you around the roomBy your hair,Ripping from your grip all those toys in the worldThat bring you no joy.

Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetlyAnd wants to rip to shredsAll your erroneous notions of truth

That make you fight within yourself, dear one,And with others,

Causing the world to weepOn too many fine days.

God wants to manhandle us,Lock us inside of a tiny room with HimselfAnd practice His dropkick.

The Beloved sometimes wantsTo do us a great favor:

Hold us upside downAnd shake all the nonsense out.

But when we hearHe is in such a “playful drunken mood”

Most everyone I knowQuickly packs their bags and hightails itOut of town. Hafiz

The belief that we can control the outcome of events or influence any person, place, or thing is ultimately an illusion. Life’s intricate complexity, the randomness of chance, and our place within the grand tapestry of the universe mean that outcomes are always beyond our direct control.

We do have preferences, and our emotional responses—joy, anger, fear, grief—are shaped by how outcomes align with these preferences. In other words, we have been conditioned to base our happiness or sadness on how things turn out in relation to our desires.

However! The Bhagavad Gita teaches us that the The Great Way to spiritual realization becomes clear for those who transcend personal preferences. Yet the moment we create distinctions, the gap between heaven and earth is set infinitely apart.

Therefore, pursue your intentions with dedication and passion toward a noble cause. Yet, remember that while we can exert effort with all our hearts, the ultimate outcomes remain beyond our control. Destiny unfolds as it will.

Nigel Lott, teaandzen.org

Here are a few short poems by Rumi that for me have deep meaning.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn't make any sense.

Whoever finds love beneath hurt and grief disappears into emptiness with a thousand new disguises.

Things are such that someone lifting a cup or watching the rain,

petting a dog or singing,

just singing,

could be doing as much for this universe as anyone.

This moment, this love comes to rest in me.

Many beings in one being, in one wheat grain, a thousand sheaf stacks.

Inside the needle's eye, a turning night of stars, this moment, this love.