INNER BEAUTY

Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Without going outside,
you may know the whole world.
Without looking through the windows,
you may see the ways of Heaven.

The Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu

The early morning hours are the most peaceful hours for sitting in meditation. Sometimes I walk. I love to find something inspiring to read, then take that thought and reflect on it...the experience comes on it's own. This poem was intoxicating!
I've been amazed by this seemingly constant duality between vessel/space within, body/soul, limited/unlimited, happiness/sorrow. The inward journey of the soul and the outward journey in the world. This is something I read from a book called "Mission of Love" by Roger Cole.

....Returning the smile, I greeted her and sat down. "Margo, you seem completely absorbed in the beauty of your garden." Still smiling through soft grey eyes, she replied,"No, it is the beauty of my self that I am absorbed in." She sighed happily and continued.
In all the years that I have loved nature, I never realised it was my "self" that I was appreciating. I would go to the forest to feel peaceful, the sea to find beauty or the mountains to experience wonder. Every time I went somewhere like this I would become happy and uplifted.
"Only now have I understood why. I have realised that what I experienced in relation to nature was within myself. When I went to these places all the conflicts and problems of my life disappeared temporarily. When I looked in awe at a mountain the sight was free from sentiment, yet I experienced wonder."
I must have been looking puzzled.
"Don't you see," she said. "The wonder was not in the mountain, it ws in me! When we go to these places we become free from all the superficialo things of life. This freedom makes our spirit happy and we experience love, peace and simplicity. If we could only learn to listen to our spirit then we could remain absorbed in its beauty." She paused, slightly breathles from her lung disease.
"For all my life I have been dependent on nature to be happy. At least up until now. It is as if I was searching on the outside for what made me feel good on the inside. You discover your soul when you find and appreciate your inner beauty. We must take peace from the forest and own it, because in truth it really belongs to us. Nature's gift is what it awakens in us."