TEA AND ZEN - THREADS

Do this for the rest of your life, oh won’t you please? Create a sacred space for one another, share moments over tea, intertwine hands, and, for the divine essence that transcends everything, love each other deeply. Regardless of the name you ascribe to it, embrace a love so profound that distinctions blur, leaving only the unified love that binds us together and liberates us, setting us all free. In every human heart, there exists no love other than the one, a shared divinity woven from the same fabric. All souls yearn to rediscover their true nature, to be reunited. I invite you to contribute to this profound ongoing creative process by embodying kindness and love. When faced with challenges, recognize them as opportunities for personal growth, acknowledging that they are your unique journey in this lifetime—your karma, your destiny intricately woven into the cosmic tapestry. Own these experiences, and, if you choose to accept them, hold them close to your heart, for therein lies the alchemy, the magic, always in the heart… in turning darkness to light. Nigel Lott Music ‘Cry’ by Johannes Bornloff. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Being that our atoms in our body were created at the start of our universe during the Big Bang. So if you look at it this way, then you’re about 13.7 billion years old. But your body also has heavier elements like copper and zinc. These atoms were created in the dying stage of an exploding star called a supernova. These elements were flung into space as dust and gas (stardust). Eventually, they coalesced to become part of a new forming solar system and our planet Earth. Because you are made from matter from the Earth, you are made of stardust from old supernovas. So turns out, you are bits and pieces of star and cosmic dust. E.H. SPRINKLE IT ALL AROUND THEN IN THE NAME OF LOVE Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Do what you do with another human being but you never put them out of your heart, for to do so puts you out of your own heart equal measure. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

My favorite poem, that I read and share with myself and others when I am in a place of forgetting., when I am thinking myself separate from Love. It sought of wraps its arms around me and invites me in from the cold, keeps me warm. Nigel Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

May all sentient beings awaken to their own sense of equanimity born out of their hearts longing for peace and re-discover the one true nature that is inherent within them, within us all,…..in the transcendence of all suffering and travail. There are infinite possibilities that are born of knowing that all love surrounds us, lives within us and that all life is so very precious, there is not a moment to lose. Know that in the beginning, as in the end, it is....all that is or ever was or ever will be” …..Nigel Lott….. teaandzen.org Music ‘Transcendence’ ….Johannes Bornlöf Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“Every moment is precious, and every breath we take is a testament to the divine presence that surrounds us. Love is the universal force that permeates all matter, and yet transcends the confines of form and matter. It holds the power to heal the deepest wounds and bring forth transformation. It is the conduit through which truth flows, transforming suffering into liberation”. Nigel Lott (These vignettes are best read, assimilated given a little time and space. Please make tea and sit in a comfortable, safe place and allow the music and the words to resonate, as they are recited straight into the heart space just below the sternum. See it as a gentle mist flowing deep within, reaching places we know not where, no matter they are always of love.) Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

All the Hemispheres Leave the familiar for a while. Let your senses and bodies stretch out Like a welcomed season Onto the meadows and shores and hills. Open up to the Roof. Make a new water-mark on your excitement And love. Like a blooming night flower, Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness And giving Upon our intimate assembly. Change rooms in your mind for a day. All the hemispheres in existence Lie beside an equator In your heart. Greet Yourself In your thousand other forms As you mount the hidden tide and travel Back home. All the hemispheres in heaven Are sitting around a fire Chatting While stitching themselves together Into the Great Circle inside of You. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“Long may your awareness of love and its power abide within you, its undying beauty always to remain. If you should forget its presence in you however, in times of trial and tribulation do not worry, for it will never forget you, its truth forever your guide and friend.” Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive - Hafez Though life’s journey always begins and ends within our own infinite heart space and the LOVE always found there, it is important to be connected with people, places and things that, by their very presence in our lives, bear witness to our authenticity. To remind us of that LOVE within, particularly in those moments of sadness and fear, lest we forget our own LIVING TRUTH, as we are want to do from time to time. Nigel Lott May all love become you. Nigel Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“If It Is Not Too Dark Go for a walk, if it is not too dark. Get some fresh air, try to smile. Say something kind To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by. Always exercise your heart’s knowing. You might as well attempt something real Along this path: Take your spouse or lover into your arms The way you did when you first met. Let tenderness pour from your eyes The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth. Play a game with some children. Extend yourself to a friend. Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants—Why not let them get drunk and wild! Let’s toast Every rung we’ve climbed on Evolution’s ladder. Whisper, “I love you! I love you!” To the whole mad world. Let’s stop reading about God—We will never understand Him. Jump to your feet, wave your fists, Threaten and warn the whole Universe That your heart can no longer live Without real love!” - Hafez Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Sit in silence, let this mantra permeate every cell in your body as it enters the spiritual heart space below the sternum, and infuses itself throughout your entire system……..let it go deep. Nigel Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

You don’t have to act crazy anymore—We all know you were good at that,Now retire, my dear,From all that hard work you doOf bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart. Look in a clear mountain mirrorSee the beautiful ancient warriorAnd the divine elements You always carry inside That infused this universe with sacred lifeSo long ago -Hafiz May all sentient beings awaken to their own sense of equanimity born out of their hearts longing for peace and re-discover the one true nature that is inherent within them, within us all…..beyond all suffering and travail. Teaching the infinite possibilities that are born of knowing that all love surrounds us, lives within us and that all life is so very precious, there is not a moment to lose. Knowing that in the beginning, as in the end, it is....all that is or ever was or ever will be. -Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Now is the time to know That all that you do is sacred. Now, why not consider A lasting truce with yourself and God. Now is the time to understand That all your ideas of right and wrong Were just a child's training wheels To be laid aside When you finally live With veracity And love. YOU are a divine envoy Whom the Beloved Has written a holy message upon. My dear, please tell me, Why do you still Throw sticks at your heart And God? What is it in that sweet voice inside That incites you to fear? Now is the time for the world to know That every thought and action is sacred. This is the time For you to compute the impossibility That there is anything But Grace. Now is the season to know That everything you do Is sacred. -Hafiz Consider that EVERYTHING in existence is sacred and act accordingly…with all your heart. Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“Make of yourself a light,”said the Buddha,before he died.I think of this every morningas the east beginsto tear off its many cloudsof darkness, to send up the firstsignal — a white fanstreaked with pink and violet,even green.An old man, he lay downbetween two sala trees,and he might have said anything,knowing it was his final hour.The light burns upward,it thickens and settles over the fields.Around him, the villagers gatheredand stretched forward to listen.Even before the sun itselfhangs, disattached, in the blue air,I am touched everywhereby its ocean of yellow waves.No doubt he thought of everythingthat had happened in his difficult life.And then I feel the sun itselfas it blazes over the hills,like a million flowers on fire —clearly I’m not needed,yet I feel myself turninginto something of inexplicable value.Slowly, beneath the branches,he raised his head.He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd. Mary Oliver Nigel Lott Tea And Zen Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

I think I just want to be sad today, the way manyare in this world. True, God rides in my pocket,as He does in yours. Yes, I could lift Him out and look upon variousrealms of light and know great happiness. MaybeI will do that tomorrow. The ocean has moods. Have you not seen how itscolor can change, and the waves force and heightscan differ? - Hafiz Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

From ‘Love and Sleep’ by John Crowley Read by Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Love is the bridge between you and everything, and the truth, the ever loving truth can often be seen just beyond the shadows - Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. and you are it! can you fathom that, can you understand that you are, as you are right here in this moment, that you are creation itself, all Love manifesting to the contrary of anything else! - Nigel Lott meditationsansfrontieres.com Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Breathe in through the nose for 4 seconds, hold at the top for four seconds, breathe down your nose four seconds, hold four seconds….repeat the cycle 10 times…gently…so very gently. Let all worldly experience dissolve in the well of the spiritual heart, just below the sternum. Be at Peace. Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“Be grateful for your life, every detail of it, and your face will come to shine like a sun, and everyone who sees it will be made glad and peaceful. Persist in gratitude, and you will slowly become one with the Sun of Love, and Love will shine through you its all-healing joy. The path of gratitude is not for children; it is path of tender heroes, of the heroes of tenderness who, whatever happens, keep burning on the altar of their hearts the flame of adoration.” Rumi Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. - Rumi Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

MAY ALL LOVE BECOME YOU…………………………………………………..MAY YOU BE AT PEACE Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!” It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.” Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Nigel Lott ….teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

‘Tayata Om Bekanze Bekanze Maha Bekanze Radza Samudgate Soha’ Speak this softly, silently within the spiritual heart space in that soft center below the sternum three times. In doing so releasing all darkness and suffering that dwells in you, that you might then see the light and love within….of your true nature. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

There’s not us or them, or me and you. There is ultimately only ONE of us, ONE LOVE that unites the two seemingly separate entities, binding us together, yet simultaneously setting us free in the PEACE that passes all understanding, that all hearts desire. Stop still in silent wonder and consider this please., seeing other as a reflection of self, of that ONE LOVE, nothing more, nothing less, and treat accordingly. Make each thought, word and action, with all forms of life an ever increasing interaction of such kindness and compassion that your whole life becomes an act of service to this end in everything you do. Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

‘Underscore’ Hampus Naeselius Love is the one and only thing we are capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. It is the only thing that permeates all matter, all form, and the absence of any form or matter. It is simply on every breath we take, was there before breath we took and will be there when breath we take no more. It is the conveyor of all truth and as such all suffering is healed in its presence, when laid bare at its feet. Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

In order to be free, to align our will with that of the Universe and what it is wanting to create, there comes a time in any given life when with great courage (whatever the consequences) we are asked to be in integrity with the truth found only within the spiritual heart and its inherent wisdom, and to make a stand there, with our feet firmly planted on the ground. Every thought, word and deed is then taken in kindness and compassion……in the name of Love….all peace be on earth. Is this such a moment for you now? I HOPE so. Nigel Lott meditationsansfrontieres.com Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

‘Silent Scream’ Hushed Any thought, word or deed committed by one affects all others, and oneself entire………there is no escaping this universal truth. What will your thoughts, words, actions be then? What will they support? What will you create today? What will your choice be? Darkness or Light? Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

‘Libra’ Sayuri Hayashi Egnell May we have the courage to fall in love and stay there, this day and forevermore. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“Your own healing process, that creative movement betwixt the accumulated shadows that have surrounded your heart, (out of your suffering) and the light and love of your true nature (always present)…… has the power to change the world……..of this…….have no doubt.” Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Please support my charity non profit at meditationsansfrontieres.com by taking out a subscription here. 501 (C) 3 non - profit, registered charity EIN # 81-3411835 Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

We have to know and believe, even in these most troubled of times that we are being watched over. Hard to imagine that the people in this world who are suffering so much are being watched over, wherever that suffering is being made manifest in this world of ours. Perhaps we can make this poem a blessing then, in that if we believe they are not being watched over, if we think somehow that God has abandoned them to their fate, may we pray that they are again to be watched over and that a holy lamp again be lit within their hearts. Nigel Lott P.S. This of course is for ourselves as well in that whenever we are suffering and believe that we are not being watched over, that we have been abandoned that we know that contrary to our suffering we are indeed being watched over and that a holy lamp be lit again in our hearts. That in all truth, though hard to know at times, the light is always on and we are indeed being watched over, we are never in all reality alone. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

6th Third Eye Chakra Kundalini Breath….369 The truth will have its way sooner or later, and by the truth I mean the awareness and practice of acts of the deepest realms of kindness and compassion , which is what the universe is creating, wanting to create……in its LOVE. ‘Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation’. Rabindranath Tagore We can pull in the other direction, and we often do….which will always be our suffering, or allow ourselves to heal, to surrender. For we will always be drawn, like a tractor beam….pulled back to the truth…..and so it goes…on and on, no doubt an aspect of the creative process. We follow that ache and yearning that quality of grief at the center of our spiritual hearts to its natural conclusion, Love…. of our alignment with the will of the universe, bit by bit, day by day. It all sounds like a long ways away, yet it is less then a blink of an eye away at any given moment. We can do what we can to align ourselves with that will, the will of the universe, or of God, by any other name in this lifetime, or wait which is always going to be painful. We can commit to doing the work now this very day to open our hearts, to surrender to the truth of it all….LOVE If not before, certainly at the moment of our death we fully finally realize our true nature [un-encumbered by any aspect of ego] in becoming one with all that is we realize it has always been about LOVE, it always was, and will always be! In the interests of the sentient beings on this planet, all life forms, will you do whatever you can to surrender to Love and help the universe in its efforts in the name of all PEACE? May all Love become manifest. Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

The greatest act of service that we can give another sentient being is our own work on ourselves, and then it's out of that place, of surrendering and transcending our own suffering places (that movement from darkness to light) that we offer that back out to others for their own awakening, for their own movement towards the light within them…. in its turn setting the whole world free. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning's hush I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there. I did not die. Mary Elizabeth Frye “Who we think we are dies, who we truly are does not, for we are a Love beyond measure, time and space, eternal in spirit, and forever One with all that is.” Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

You are the master alchemist. You light the fire of love, in earth and sky, in heart and soul, of every being. Through your love, existence and nonexistence merge. All opposites unite. All that is profane becomes sacred again. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Hum What is this dark hum among the roses?The bees have gone simple, sipping,that's all. What did you expect? Sophistication?They're small creatures and they arefilling their bodies with sweetness, how could they notmoan in happiness? The littleworker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understandthat life is a blessing. I have found them — haven't you? —stopped in the very cups of the flowers, their wingsa little tattered — so much flying about, to the hive,then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,should the task be to be a scout-sweet, dancing bee.I think there isn't anything in this world I don'tadmire. If there is, I don't know what it is. Ihaven't met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic andread books, I have totake them off and bend close to study andunderstand what is happening. It's not hard, it's in factas instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too,it's love almost too fierce to endure, the beenuzzling like that into the blouseof the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of coursethe sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, overall of us. Read by Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

When we understand that the source of all Love lays within us, and always has been, within all life both seen and unseen, and is on every breath we take and when breath we take no more…..then we find ourselves able to Love without condition or limitation. To Love without expecting anything in return, (for we are already filled with Love) we Love without judgment, and without imposing conditions or restrictions on that Love, because we understand the infinite nature of it all. A Prayer May you awaken to your own sense of equanimity born out of your hearts longing for peace and re-discover the one true nature….LOVE… that is inherent within you, within us all…..beyond all suffering and travail. May you know the infinite possibilities that are born of knowing that all LOVE surrounds you, lives within you and that all life is so very precious, there is not a moment to lose. In the beginning, as in the end…..it is....all that is or ever was or ever will be. Nigel Lott. teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

There is no greater ethical and moral principle than our duty toward the preservation of life, the sanctity of all forms of life, without practicing these principles in all our affairs ….. how then will we survive as a species? Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

LOKAH SAMASTHA SUKINO BHAVANTU lokah: location, realm, all universes existing now samastah: all beings sharing that same location sukhino: centered in happiness and joy, free from suffering bhav: the divine mood or state of unified existence antu: may it be so, it must be so (antu used as an ending here transforms this mantra into a powerful pledge) Please join me in this PLEDGE… May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all. Thank you. Nigel Lott All love be in your heart, and in your understanding. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

From “The subject tonight is Love” by Hafiz 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity TAX EIN 81-3411835 Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

The truth is not to be found within the intellect, within the mind, it is only found within the silent heart, where all Love resides and all kindness and compassion are made manifest. It is within you to come to know, you are not bereft of this truth non of us are, it is all within you……may you find it NOW, may the magic begin. ‘Shaman’ Joseph Beg. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE