I woke this morning thinking it was 6am when it was actually only 3, and quietly used the extra time to gratefully soak up the pre-dawn’s silent solitude – first while sitting in a stairwell and making some Peace Stones for hospitaleros Alfonso & Raquel & Luis, and then while sitting outside eating a breakfast of previously-gifted bananas & bread under the shimmering stars …

“Therefore, my dear Sir, choose to love your times of solitude and sing out the solace it brings. For these are the moments when those who are near to you are furthest away, and as such these are the moments when the space around you open sup and grows vast. Be joyful in that growing and be gentle with those who remain behind. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with all others, a feeling that doesn’t alter when you yourself change again and again. Sink deep into these moments, and love life in a way that is uncommon yet not your own. Refuse to hope for or expect any understanding of this peace from any nearby; but believe instead in an untainted love that is stored up for you in every instant. And know that in this celestial grace there is a strength and a blessing so large that it needs no company to be exuded, and that you can travel as far as you wish without ever stepping outside the same.” ~ inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019) by Scaughdt