//podcastplus.net/feed/a-portrait-of-souls~eaac497b Once in a while thoughts on life seeking light. Visit me at jamesfielden.com Thu, 10 Sep 2026 06:03:49 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5ff6830990f0197fa66d6833/1609990945154/Prayer+of+Affirmations.mp3 Thu, 07 Jan 2021 03:47:40 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5ff6830990f0197fa66d6833/1609990945154/Prayer+of+Affirmations.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5fda343a472a3014b875dc77/1608135745858/To+Wonder+Upon+Infinity.mp3 Wed, 16 Dec 2020 16:25:45 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5fda343a472a3014b875dc77/1608135745858/To+Wonder+Upon+Infinity.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f7210c1b27a6b057a048e2f/1601310921166/Thought.mp3 If you take a pencil and draw a curve on a piece of paper, you have done more than any other species can imagine.
And the fact that I have communicated this to you hints at what marvels of mind are at play.Watching language, in all its actions, reveals who we are, our ideas of Self.
It reveals that each person is an artist of thought, a point of light that adorns life with a reflection;On the tip of the tongue, on the edge of eye and ear; the poem, the smile, the prayer.In the space between instinct and intuition, the canvas of language is infinite.
We create and dance between worlds as simply and easily as sunlight wanders across a road.How curious is our earthly song, that we might build and climb and blossom into beauty forever. Mon, 28 Sep 2020 16:38:31 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f7210c1b27a6b057a048e2f/1601310921166/Thought.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f5eac77f54b1d69283d22c7/1600040084413/The+Ground.mp3 How can a person reconnect with the light in their soul when his or her heart is overcome with the madness and noise of the world? How does a person free themselves from the uncertainties of life and root out the weeds that crowd and contaminate their inner path? The conflicts, the negativity, the brutish behavior and the many small sorrows we witness every day, every hour, disrupt and warp the focus of the seeker, but perhaps therein lies the work. It is difficult, I know, to be at peace in this rocky, tarnished, upturned world where reckless claims and incessant outrages bellow out from the screens of the world. But peace is at hand. Peace is always at hand. There is a way to reclaim what is lost. A calm heart is always within reach, if it is sought in earnest. Think on this: Each leaf and stone, each ocean and star, each soul and mind has its place in this wondrous universe. The lion lives on the savanna. The chimp explores the heights of the tree, while the leaf flutters on its branch. Th... Sun, 13 Sep 2020 23:47:26 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f5eac77f54b1d69283d22c7/1600040084413/The+Ground.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f41c8b3381f2c334d3b8f73/1598146766846/Anatomy+of+the+Word.mp3 Words have power, and yet a word read in a strange language is meaningless; in of itself, it has no significance. It is little more than an odd collection of syllables—tones in tempo. Though the cadence of an unfamiliar word can be turned and tuned on the mind's tongue, it has form but no weight; it lacks meaning in the reader's mental and emotional world. But as soon as the sound is clothed with substance, a context, an emotion, no matter how slight or simple or tangential the effort to do so, the word clarifies and comes to life. It begins to breathe, born eternal into the inner life of the person thinking. Calm. Integrity. Presence. Trust. Without a point of reference, without, say, a physical gesture or a raised voice, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs exist in a void, but when a meaning is given to a name or expression, it populates the imagination with all manner of colors, flavors and wide associations. Suddenly the word perches in a person's reality. No matter how subjective or fanciful... Sun, 23 Aug 2020 01:35:17 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f41c8b3381f2c334d3b8f73/1598146766846/Anatomy+of+the+Word.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f31d19998fe1322a8aba3d3/1597100447090/strata.mp3 Some people talk about the dimensions of space and time as if they were the only aspects of the universe, but there are many more dimensions to us, such as memory, emotion, thought, and love. And they are not only spatial, but causal, being interconnected and bound to our whole experience of being alive. We are, therefore we may think, therefore we may feel.We have an instinctual sense, a common sense, and an intuitive sense; we have a sense of beauty, justice, and geometry. It seems entirely possible that many more levels of us exist, each reaching further and further within, concealed inside the small frame that we call ourself. Are these not the essential strata of the human spirit? What else then exists beyond these earthly layers? Are there places and people? If we rise above body, language, and the memories of this short life, who do we become? What happens when we lift ourselves into the voice of conscience? Where shall we find ourselves if we lift into the layers of love to which we are connected? I... Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:05:48 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f31d19998fe1322a8aba3d3/1597100447090/strata.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f19cd4f4212343c94e74de8/1595526483392/Time.mp3 Time, old friend— again, you help me find myself in forgetting, to trace each fault and treasure in my own reflection, that which I seek as patterns of mind in the grand experiment of my Soul.Time, steadfast friend— again, you take my hand in the short moments pledged to walk me as a child along the layers of myself to diffract my soul’s light upon the cold stones and dappled meadows of Earth.Time, sacred friend— again do I swim across your sea of change in cycles of light and love. Though I falter among sights and sounds, scents and mesmerous breath of substance, in your arms of circumstance with tears and laughter I place the causes of my own creation.Time, precious friend— again, I ask, be kind to me. Teach me to discern and dissolve each edge of my heart in patience, unafraid to love where love appears absent, finding rest in what apertures you allow, until it is time to step back into the Infinite, I thank you. Thu, 23 Jul 2020 19:05:02 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5f19cd4f4212343c94e74de8/1595526483392/Time.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5e821396aff3dd28061092b2/1585583018568/Looking+Up.mp3 The many little eyes of Earth look up and search, and open up to the great lights of outer space, perhaps with joy, but certainly with great resolve. With every fiber of their being, each stem strains to trace the sky for light, and for life. The flower gathers the Sunlight, just as a bee collects the stamen’s pollen, and surely held within this simple, sublime exchange is held the arc of Earth’s desire to express itself in hues of love, ever reaching, ever receiving.While the theologian and the scientist attempt to paint our little lives into corners of comparison and conformity, let us allow the example of the natural world to offer a hint to what natural possibility is ours, for we too are drawn to light, though of a higher caliber: the light of spiritual dimension; the inner space of light; the light of the soul. One person might call it love, another, beauty, and another might call its essence Divine, but beyond all words and all thought this Light exists at the fount of a kindly Being. It is here am... Mon, 30 Mar 2020 15:46:39 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5e821396aff3dd28061092b2/1585583018568/Looking+Up.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5e2a1a9469eec55844ca17bd/1579817697047/Meditation+Forgiveness.mp3 This is a meditation about forgiveness.The act of forgiveness can be both powerful and liberating, for the forgiven and for the forgiver. Bound in the wisdom of kindness, forgiveness has the potential to free us from the lingering pain of the past, while helping us to live more fully in the present. By choosing to lessen or remove the burden of uncomfortable memories, strained relationships or guilt for our own shortcomings, we may become more able to develop and sustain a greater harmony in ourselves. Through a simple, sincere act of forgiveness, we may take a step forward in life and nurture a positive insight in how to live more fully and more freely. Let us begin this meditation by adjusting our poise and breathing. Straighten your back and rest your hands in your lap, and take a few moments to settle yourself. Take in a slow breath and allow your body to relax. Close your eyes or, if you prefer, look at a point in front of you and soften your focus. Take another slow breath and encourage the air you brea... Thu, 23 Jan 2020 22:19:45 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5e2a1a9469eec55844ca17bd/1579817697047/Meditation+Forgiveness.mp3 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5df429591bd90e41f91e11c1/1576282474347/Invisible+Forces+Abound.mp3 We move in a world where gravity, magnetism, electrical force and sunlight hold our lives together. Vast, unseen powers sustain the ability of each earthling to live and move, work and play. These universal forces are fundamental to our existence yet are so steady that we are unable to separate them from our ordinary awareness. Just think about what immense, transparent forces course through us while we read, shop, eat and talk. Beyond the reach of our senses we are saturated with radio waves, x-rays, infrared, and radiation from billions of stars that dance and decay across the Cosmos. Vast levels of influence are all around us; invisible forces abound. In a similar way, could it be that we are unable to discern the Source of all life, that most basic fabric of ourselves, until we are quiet and centered in pure thought? It is natural for us to want to know more, and since wisdom and knowledge is the result of life and its experience, we can say with confidence that each of us is guided to unfold this... Sat, 14 Dec 2019 00:19:17 +0000 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ff048af699bbaade4d908a/t/5df429591bd90e41f91e11c1/1576282474347/Invisible+Forces+Abound.mp3