September 19, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Only Being

I am a child of the Universe

There are many religions and paths to journey in this lifetime. Everyone is certain that their way is the right way. I would like to put forth the theory that everyone is right. There is one Divine Being and it makes no difference what we call him/her/it. It doesn’t matter how we contact Divinity.

There is no God of any people who is not his God, no spiritual teacher of any creed who is not his teacher.There is no sacred scripture that he does not accept, since he is a worshipper of light and a follower of love. Yet he is free from all the world’s distinctions and differences.

The diversity of names in the universe to him is a veil of illusion which covers unity, the one life. Only One lives, and all manifestations are to him the phenomenon of that one life.

Sufi’s call their concept of God, the Beloved. They also call this Divinity Buddha, Mohammend and Jesus and Zoraster. Sufi’s are mystics and have contact with the One during meditation and certain practices. This Divine Being is all that is good and ideal in this universe. It is Beauty in its perfection.

Sufi’s believe that as high as is the ideal of a person, so high he rises in life. Then in the end he sees the Ideal was made by himself.

A Sufi does not withdraw from the world, but instead participates in life both by viewing it from above and from below. His holy book is nature and his community is the entire of mankind. So we are all united in love and adoration of the beauty of the Divinity of this Universe.

The Love of the Universe

Raise the level of your life with thinking good thoughts.

July 10, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Time is Here

Time, as we understand it did not begin until the nineteenth century. At that time, people got up and went to bed with the sun. Candlelight isn’t good lighting for reading, sewing or fixing tools. Many other people ordered their lives by the whistles of the factory or by the town clock.

People were often late by fifteen or twenty minutes. Almost everyone was late and it wasn’t considered important because time wasn’t a constant. In 1880, the concept of an appointment was developed. With the birth of “appointments” came the responsibility to be on time. Time was local and not organized.

This all changed with the advent of trains. Trains needed a schedule. Schedules needed standardization. A schedule meant there had to be universal time.

The country was divided into time zones and it was made uniform. In the last fifty years, our sense of time has been completely overturned. A few years ago, one received a letter, you read it and thought about what was in the letter. Then you answered it and posted the response. It took perhaps a week to complete this correspondence. Then we had faxes to speed up the time of correspondence. Now there is social media, texting, e-mail and Skype. Instant answers are expected.

What happens to human beings when the rhythm goes faster and faster? The faster humans run, the more empty they feel. We need to slow down and rediscover our families and friends. We need to give ourselves time for ourselves. We need to go inside for communion with the Divine. It is time to find time for yourself and for renewal of the soul. It is time to take time for ourselves and our families.

An image of time.

July 6, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

There is a Time

A time for everything on this earth. Photograph and copyright by Barbara Mattio 2013

” There is a time to work and play,
A time to eat and sleep;
A time to study and to pray,
A time to laugh and weep;
A time for fellowship that’s sweet,
A time for sacred song;
But never is there time to treat
A human being wrong.

There is a time to lift men up
And help them on life’s road;
A time to drain their bitter cup
And share their heavy load;
A time to bless them with our grace
And boost them all along;
But never is there time and place
To treat our fellows wrong.

There is a time to help men seek.
Our God who saves the soul;
A time to show them that the meek
Shall reach life’s highest goal;
A time to help them turn aside
And leave the wicked throng;
But never did our God provide
A time to treat men wrong.
——–Walter E. Isenhour

For each day there is that which is stable and that which brings change. May we each know when it is our time to stand strong and a time to embrace change. When we can be sure of these times, then we are in atunement with the Divinity of the Universe. We may not always understand but we can trust and follow our Divine intuition. This poem is from a book called “For This One Hour. My father gave it to me when I was sixteen years old. I have drawn comfort from it many times over the years. I hope you will also enjoy this selection.

Forest stream in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Photograph taken and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

May 17, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Balance

A photo of some of my irises, which are my favorite flower.Photograph copyrighted 2013

When life gets hard or you hear or read something disturbing, then balance with what is beautiful to you. Whether you work in a non-profit or an office, you need to create beauty around you to keep your heart and soul from being weighed down by the under side of life.

It is possible to not look away, to even reach out a helping hand by creating a beauty that touches your heart and fills it with love for others. It is easy to love our friends and family, but to walk among the homeless, the hungry, those who have lived through tradgedies takes forming a balanced life.

My garden photograph copyrighted 2013

I have my ways to create balance, you will need to experiment and find what touches you and heals you. Because we must constantly heal ourselves if we are to change our world for the better. Music is another wonderful way to find balance. Meditation and breathing are also good ways to heal your heart and soul.

I have found affirmations to be invaluable. I recommend Louise Hay’s books. I love to listen to them as I go through my day when life has been difficult. And reading poetry aloud is, for me soothing. We each can find our own ways.

“The call of the griefless is from a frozen heart, the call of the grieving one is from rapture.”
” He ( God ) is the merciful and bountiful Lord; both existence and non-existence are in love with Him.” –Rumi

I found these quotes in a book a friend brought back after being in Turkey. It is hard to love those who suffer. People don’t want to get too close yet the close proximity is the only way to make a difference in someone’s life. Why are we here? Perhaps because our strength and love and creativity enables us to make the world a better place.

Forsithia blooming. Photograph copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

The forsythia blooming. Photograph copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

April 21, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

World Wide Commonalities

The art of music

It has been a really painful week for many people in the world. Boston and Texas really have suffered great pain and loss.Our prayers continue for the victims and the families and friends, not to mention the survivors. After surviving any traumatic event, from the events of this last week to the unseen wounds of war, healing can take a lot of time, perseverance and guts. Horrors seen and experienced can leave terribly deep wounds.

I found my husband dead of a heart attack, sitting in the study with his feet propped up on the desk and a cup of coffee next to him. He had been there all day while I had been at work at the American Red Cross and had gone grocery shopping. It was dark and I turned on the desk lamp and found him. The diagnosis was a massive heart attack that I could not have stopped.

I had a diagnosis of PTSD and don’t like the dark to this day. The point is that no matter what your lifestyle is, pain and tragedy can find you. There is a wonderful book called, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” It was written by Rabbi Kuschner..

From my experience running a psych unit, through my husband’s death and after being battered as a child, I have found a prescription of sorts for healing.

Beauty and our love for it is an inborn need and many artistic tastes are universal across the countries of the world. People in most countries prefer water and trees in the distance.From writing music to words, from singing your favorite songs to painting your first tulip; we have a need to express the art that resides in our souls. From looking at Degas sculptures to writing your first book, you are working from the instinct to produce what you relate to as Art.
Miriam, the Jewish Prophetess danced, sang and played the tambourine. KISS wears make-up and stick out their tongues and millions rocks to their music and its message for the soul.

Close your eyes and try to imagine a world where everything is utilitarian, political or for business. No music, dance, no sketching, painting, writing for pleasure, no moments of the day savored because of their beauty.Across the world people find many different things they consider art but it all performs to express the basic instinct. So today, work on healing with the creativity in your heart and soul.

The beauty of music

Art evolution

A profile in color

Horse made from drift wood

April 19, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

I Follow the Religion of Love

A Quote for Positive living.

“My heart has become capable of every form; it is a pasture
for gazelles and a retreat for Christian monks,
And a tenple for idols, and the pilgrim’s Ka’ba,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Koren’

I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take.
My religion and my faith is the true religion.”

——–Ibn al-Arabi
Translated from Thirteenth-Century Arabic by Anne and Christopher Fremantle

Portrait of a Dervish

” O musician of my soul,
play His song
play His song with my every breath.” —Rumi

“I lift my hands to You in prayer.
Grant me strength to stand alone.
You are the one to whom I belong,
I’ll sing my song to You, and give YOu all that is in my heart.” –The Chassid swaying by the Wailing Wall chants a niggun by the great Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav.

” Earth Mother, I honor your body.
Earth Mother, I sing to your stones.
Earth Mother, I enter your body.
Earth Mother, I honor your bones.” —Chant evoked to reclaim the Feminine aspect of the Divine

Sculpture garden in Windsor, Ont. Detroit in background. Photograph copyrighted by Barbara Mattio2009

April 11, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Dalhai Lama and his wise and love filled words.

The Dalai Lama and his wise and love filled words.

Ghazal of Hazrat Inayat Khan

“Thanks be to God, the very world that birthed us
now is bathed by wondrous Nature
in a rapture of her glorious light:
the splendor of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, now revealed.
And humankind, highest of creatures, endowed with Intellect’s might
so that all the beasts, wing’d and hoof’d
are place under his command
And Adam’s veins are filled
with Art, Science, Faith:
he knows the sciences are clear
–but music is the weightiest
as a surging ocean
outweights the very world through which it flows.

If he whose heart’s been moved
by the science of Music’s world effect
Were offered the pleasure of emperorship,
he’s certainly ignoring it
–for Man is not alone in his delight
at that sweet sound
since even animals have sacrificed themselves for it.

More stubborn than a donkey,
he who holds that Music’s “impure”;
Ignorant of beaty,
how clain acquaintance with the Lord?

Creator!

The ocean surges!
Permit my skiff to reach the shore
-King!
I beg what kindness thou canst afford.”

—-Hazrat Inayat Khan, founder of Chisti Sufi Order

what a wonderful gift

Have you heard the music of the spheres?

Open air amplitheatre at Chautuaqua Institute, NY. Photo copyrighted in 2001 by Barbara Mattio

March 11, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Art of Chanting

The secret of chant

The tree and sun connect us with Mother Earth and with the Divine

Joseph Campbell brought to light many years ago, the importance of ritual in the life of human beings. In his opinion, we all need rituals and I agree. Rituals may not be extremely structured and they may be performed every day at a certain time for many years. It has been an important aspect in my life to practice meditation, chanting and prayer.

From the Native American Indians to the Jews to the Buddhists, and Sufis and Muslims, there are practices which when done daily with ritual can keep us connected to our spiritual center and the path we choose to follow. There are some days you are centered and the praise, and the knowing flow between you and The One. My eyes are closed right now as I type and I can feel my center flowing words from my hands to this monitor. Watching the breath is another important practice as it keeps us balanced and within the perfect order.

The beauty of chanting is that it is very easy to reach a state of absorption. Your mind follows you into the chant and you become the chant. Chant evokes the living, vibrational reality of these core truths: devotion, stillness, praise, and oneness.

Radiating energy and light as you meditate or chant

” You’ve been walking the ocean’s edge,
holding up your robes to keep them dry.
You must dive naked under, and deeper,
a thousand times deeper…” ——Rumi

” This is how I would dive into the love I have for you: as pieces of cloud dissolve in sunlight.” —Rumi

Mirabi was a Hindu saint, who gave up her privileged life of wealth and ease to wander in search of the Hindu god, Krishna. She wandered from village to village barefoot singing, dancing nand chanting. When a seeker’s longing is pure, the Divine is always there.

” My friend, the stain of the Great Dancer has penetrated my body.
I drank the cup of music and I am hopelessly drunk.”
” And having tasted the nectar of God’s love, Mirabai is His forever:
Like a bee trapped for life in the closing of the sweet flower,
Mira has offered herself to her Lord.” —Mirabai

Cleveland skyland from Huntington Beach, west of the city.

Cleveland skyline from Huntington Beach, west of the city. Photography copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

January 31, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Creation by Walt Whitman

The beauty of Creation

Laws For Creation

“Laws for creations,
For strong artists and leaders, for fresh broods of teachers and
perfect literats for America,
For noble savans and crooning musicians.

All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of the world,
There shall be no subject too pronounced–all works shall
Illustrate the divine law of indirections.

What do you suppose creation is?
What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free
and own no superior?
What do you suppose I would intimate to you in a hundred
ways, but that man or woman is as good as God?
And that there is no God any more divine than Yourself?
And that that is what the oldest and newest myths finally mean?
And that you or any one must approach creations through such laws?”

——Walt Whitman, Laws for Creation

I found that I am so upset that I had to rely on Whitman’s words because mine must not leave my lips. Not only was another child shot but there wasn’t hardly any news coverage. I guess the story didn’t bleed enough. It is just so wrong. I felt Whitman only could say the right words.