Connections in the Sacred: Finding Your Meaning in the Ordinary

By pauli hubbard

As I write the summary of this book, I am reminded of a very wise verse from Tao Te Ching, translated by Steven Robert Allen.

Without leaving the house, know all things under the sky. Without looking out the window, see Tao in the world. The farther you travel, the less you know. Wise people know without traveling, see without naming, and finish their work without doing a thing.1

How often do we miss the voice of the Spirit in our fanatic pursuit of the Spirit? All the time, it is present and speaking to us in our daily conversations with a friend or a walk around the block with our pet. How easy is it to be distracted by the urgencies of living that we miss the “ordinary” messages of how to live?

It is my hope that Connections in the Sacred: Finding Meaning in the Ordinary will become a gentle reminder of these divine messages of wonder and instructions we need to live meaningfully in the present.

1. Lao-Tzu translated by Steven Robert Allen, Tao Te Ching, Hidden Park, 2021, verse 47.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hawes & Jenkins Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 6, 2024
• ISBN: 9781637844212

Book preview

cover.jpg

Connections in the Sacred

Finding Your Meaning in the Ordinary

pauli hubbard

ISBN 978-1-63784-420-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63784-421-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by pauli hubbard

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Hawes & Jenkins Publishing

16427 N Scottsdale Road Suite 410

Scottsdale, AZ 85254

www.hawesjenkins.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

A Personal Note

A Look Back and Forward

An Ode to My Thumb

Wrong Pieces or Wrong Puzzle?

Partnering in Peace

Question Me an Answer

Staying Close to the Bone

A Living Journal

One Layer at a Time

Learning from the Trees

Remembering Hank Davis

This or That

Homing a House

Touched

Lean on Me

Centered or Addicted?

A New Way of Growing Up

Part of the Whole

Becoming Real Again

Our Knowing Comes in the Fullness of Time

Buried in the Silence

Ta-Da!

Old Songs and Memories

Part of the Circle

A Different View

Reclaim and Engage

What Is Left Behind?

Catching My Breath

Push, Pull, Glide

Walkabout

Still Processing

Early Morning Wake-Ups

Knowledge, Knowing…Who knows?

About the Author

A Personal Note

If I could focus a mystical flashlight on the importance of our lives, allowing us to see how precious and important we are to others, I would. It is too easy to lose perspective when life is lived as the past, present, and future each day. We are advised to live in the present, and yet the confusion comes when our histories creep into our daily lives, which, of course, affects how we see the future.

You and I, as well as every person, plant, and animal, are part of an immense virtual jigsaw puzzle. We are important pieces of the puzzle of life. Not only other humans but the other parts of living and decomposing nature are connected to you and me, part of our past, present, and future; each is a vital connecter. We are truly related to each other—long-lost cousins just waiting for an introduction.

Consider all the people to whom you feel naturally connected; your pieces fit so well that it seems you were meant to be close. Consider others removed from you who possess a similar connection with others. They, too, are connecters, and all form a bridge to you, creating part of the larger web of humanity.

Each of us is part of the whole, and each is necessary, just like each piece of the jigsaw puzzle is critical to its overall design. Our picture of life continues to grow and evolve with you, me, the natural world, people who lived ages ago, and those who will follow us; all are present and essential. No life is wasted in this grand design.

If I could use a magical scalpel to painlessly pierce our hearts, revealing the hidden injuries of a lifetime, you and I would see how even the most sorrowful experiences have played a part in making you and me critical, connecting pieces in