Song Lyric of the Day (Toad The Wet Sprocket, on Closing the Heart)

“Nothing's so cold
As closing the heart when all we need
Is to free the soul.”— “All I Want,” written by Todd Nichols, Glen Philips, Dean Dinning, and Randy Guss, from Toad The Wet Sprocket’s CD Fear (1991)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Leonard Cohen, on the Soul and Longing)

“I’ve heard the soul unfolds
In the chambers of its longing
And the bitter liquor sweetens
In the hammered cup
But all the Ladders
Of the Night have fallen
Only darkness now
To lift the Longing up.” —Canadian poet-singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934-2016), “Born in Chains,” in The Flame: Poems Notebooks Lyrics Drawings (2018)

Quote of the Day (Edna St. Vincent Millay, on Letting ‘The Face of God Shine Through’)

“The world stands out on either side

No wider than the heart is wide;

Above the world is stretched the sky,—

No higher than the soul is high.

The heart can push the sea and land

Farther away on either hand;

The soul can split the sky in two,

And let the face of God shine through.”—American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), “Renascence,” in Collected Lyrics (1969)

Quote of the Day (St. Thomas More, on the Soul and Gardens)

“The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don’t want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don’t have a soul."―English statesman St. Thomas More (1478-1535), Utopia (1516) 

I took this photo 2 ½ years ago in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Quote of the Day (Thomas Moore, on the Importance of Ordinary Acts to the Soul)

“The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.”— Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life (1993)

Quote of the Day (St. Teresa of Avila, on ‘Acts of Love’)

“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.” — St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Maxims for Her Nuns, in Complete Works of St. Teresa of Avila: Vol.3 (1963) edited by E. Allison Peers

Quote of the Day (St. Teresa of Avila, on Will, Love and the Soul)

"For if the will has nothing to employ it and love has no present object with which to busy itself, the soul finds itself without either support or occupation, its solitude and aridity cause it great distress and its thoughts involve it in the severest conflict.” —St. Teresa of Avila
((1515-1582), The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself