Altar

In these angry times, full of conflict and despair, it seems a bit old fashioned to have a little altar, consisting of an icon of the divine Mother, an even smaller photo of your beloved Teacher, and a few last roses from the Autumn garden, even if they share the same table with your favorite old books. Yet a little altar can ignite your prayers, illuminate the silence of meditation, and fill the whole room, the whole home, the whole day, with the fragrance of gratitude. An altar is a fulcrum where the sun, moon, and stars can balance their turning. Are the sun, moon, and stars not moved by the same breath? Your breath. Are they not parts of the same body? Your body. Are they not gathered in one presence? Your presence. I highly recommend a little altar. It may be a humble chink in a dark wall, yet it's a window to the Sun in your heart, lifting vast clouds, clearing a thousand storms.