The Restory is a Retreat Centre nestled against Tafelkop, a singular mountain head near Wakkerstroom, South Africa. Here we live a simple life as contemplatives.
It is a place of re-connection: with ourselves, people, Nature, Silence and Creativity. Our retreats are aimed at this. Our conversations, writing and art centre around the univocity of life. We need a place that reminds us that we are all one. The Restory hopes to be such a place and space.
Search This Blog
Vanuit Die Restory - Gesprekke Tussen Reisgenote (54)
“Maar Hy antwoord hulle: “'n Slegte en afvallige geslag vra 'n teken,
en geen teken sal aan hulle gegee word nie, behalwe die teken van die profeet Jona.
Soos Jona drie dae en drie nagte in die maag van 'n groot vis was,
so sal die Seun van die mens drie dae en drie nagte binne-in die aarde wees.”
Matteus 12:39-40
~ ❖ ~
“Josef het 'n stuk linne gekoop, Jesus van die kruis gaan afhaal, Hom in die linne toegedraai en neergelê in 'n graf wat in die rots uitgekap was. Hy het 'n klip voor die ingang van die graf gerol.
Mark 15:46
~ ❖ ~
It is in the darkness, when there is nothing left in us that can please or comfort our minds, when we seem to be useless and worthy of all contempt, when we seem to have failed, when we seem to be destroyed and devoured, it is then that the deep and secret selfishness that is too close to us for us to identify is stripped away from our souls. It is in this darkness that we find liberty. It is in this abandonment that we are made strong. This is the night which empties us and makes us pure.
Thomas Merton
~ ❖ ~
Merton beskryf die oomblik wanneer Christene vanoor die wêreld voor Jesus se graf saamkom, die aand van Stil Saterdag, “watching in the night.”
"The first voice that speaks in the silent night is the cold flint. Out of the flint springs fire. The fire, making no sound, is the most eloquent preacher on this night that calls for no other sermon than liturgical action and mystery. That spark from cold rock, reminds us that the strength, the life of God, is always deeply buried in the substance of all things. It reminds me that He has power to raise up children of Abraham even from the stones. . . .
The fire that speaks from the stone speaks, then, of his reality springing from the alienated coldness of our dead hearts, of our souls that have forgotten themselves, that have been exiled from themselves and from their God—and have lost their way in death. But there is nothing lost that God cannot find again. Nothing dead that cannot live again in the presence of His Spirit. No heart so dark, so hopeless, that it cannot be enlightened and brought back to itself, warmed back to the life of charity."
Die Gesprek
Elemente Uit Die Gesprek
Finding seeds
Whichever spiritual angle you are coming from, there is something significant about this festival season that acknowledges humanity's universal longing for hope.
Situated at the turning of the seasons, we align with an ancient planetary rhythm written in our bones, a deep and rumbling reverence in the background of our hearts that parallels the ebb and flow of the turning earth, sun, moon, planets and stars.
We align with a rhythm that recognises death, followed by life, loss, followed by gain. Our myths and stories tell of renewal, rescue, hope, emergence.
Why do we want things to be better? Because they can be. Seeds tell us that. Despite whatever darkness we are in, be it depression, fear, brokenness or oppression, seeds stay alive.
They guard the future as eager packages of potential, eternal optimists.
They are like little knights in smoothened armour, who defend the grail of life.
I read this in the rivers that flow to the sea and always return to water the mountains. I read it in the rocks that rumble and crumble as sand to the sea then go millennia-journeying into the dark and molten heat-heart of the earth, only to emerge as beautiful crystals. I read it while breathing the very same molecules of oxygen that creatures on the shores of vanished lakes breathed, long before the continents assumed their current temporary shapes.
There are generations of people ahead of us whose clear bright faces are yet unknown; there is a heart-seed in humanity that wants those people to survive, to thrive, to somehow emerge both living and immortal after all the dying is done.
May you and yours know and experience deep peace and fresh hope in the coming days.
Wakkerstroom Klassieke Musiekfees 2025 20 - 23 Maart 2025 “God sprei die hemel uit oor die leë ruimte, Hy laat die aarde hang waar niks is nie. Hy versamel die water in die wolke, en hulle skeur nie onder die las nie. Hy plaas die horison op die see, 'n grens tussen lig en donker. Dit is maar die begin van sy dade, ons hoor net die gefluister van sy woorde. Maar die volle krag van sy dade, wie kan dit verstaan?” Job 26:7-8, 10, 14 AFR83 Dit is weer daardie tyd van die jaar! Herfs is oral sigbaar en voelbaar en daar is die geur van kreatiwiteit en voorbereidings in die lug wanneer jy ons klein dorpie binnekom. Hierdie naweek bied ons ons jaarlikse Wakkerstroom Klassieke Musiekfees aan. Wonderlike, talentvolle musikante van oral, tegniese spanne en die mense wat hulle optredes sal bywoon, stroom na Wakkerstroom. Musiek is nie die enigste item ...
Wat Die Mistici Weet 2) Ons Hoef Nie Perfek Te wees Nie “Kom na My toe, almal wat vermoeid en swaar belas is, en Ek sal julle rus gee. Neem my juk op julle, en leer van My, omdat Ek sagmoedig en nederig van hart is, en julle sal rus vind vir julle gemoed. Want my juk is draaglik en my las is lig.” Matteus 11:28-30 AFR20 Die Gesprek Elemente Uit Die Gesprek ~ ❖ ~ Question of the Day: How does one incorporate imperfection? In a Navajo rug there is always one clear imperfection woven into the pattern. And interestingly enough, this is precisely where the Spirit moves in and out of the rug! The Semitic mind, the Eastern mind (which, by the way, Jesus would have been much closer to) understands perfection in precisely that way. The East is much more comfortable with paradox, mystery, and non-dual thinking than the Western mind which ...
I have no way of proving that God exists. For a long, long time I believed because I didn't think I had a choice. If it is a choice between heaven and hell, you do what it takes to secure your celestial seat. Somehow I never stopped to consider why I so strongly believed in a heaven and hell, but wasn't nearly as sure that there's a God holding the keys to them. Then the sunbirds came. Slowly but surely I am being taught the dialect I need to converse with God. Or rather, to follow on what seems to be a trail that God leaves me. Being just up ahead and beckoning me all the while, it's not a chase after or a search for God, but rather a joint venture with God scouting and reporting back when my spirit runs low on this journey through life. In A Rare Find and Bird on my window sill I touched on synchronicity. I have come to believe that consciously living our moments, awakens us to the fact that there are more things in this life than meet the eyeball. Things t...
Comments
Post a Comment