# Faith, Heart and the Return of the Light

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/earth-dreams-zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-the-world-6415534/faith-heart-and-the-return-of-the-light
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/earth-dreams-zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-the-world-6415534/faith-heart-and-the-return-of-the-light.md
Podcast: [Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World](https://stenobird.com/podcast/earth-dreams-zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-the-world-6415534)
Published: 2025-12-20T10:55:00+00:00
Episode link: https://amykisei.substack.com/p/faith-heart-and-the-return-of-the
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/181991234/85da6a7699d25877be58f962747ba9bc.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2107

## Resource

When faith and mind are not separate. And not separate are mind and faith, this is beyond all words, all thoughts. If you have been reading these posts this season, you may have noticed I have been writing about Faith. Writing, reflecting, wondering, wandering through the many expressions of Faith as I returned again and again to this practice poem, Affirming Faith in Mind . There is something both delicious and challenging about coming back to the same teaching, day after day, week by week. Above is the last stanza of the poem. The study of this poem has been part of an autumn practice period I was participating in. The practice period wound down this week, as autumn too is unwinding —turning into winter on Sunday with the solstice. The autumn in the Northern Hemisphere is a time when the daylight hours grow shorter, and night extends her dark embrace. I have found it deeply nourishing to practice and study faith as the earth darkens. It feels seasonally appropriate to contemplate faith as the comfort of the sun’s light and heat diminish. The zodiacal sign Sagittarius, which is where the sun is during this time of year, is often associated with faith, that flickering candlelight that we find in many windows this season. Sagittarius season also is a season of alchemy, art—the ways in which we find light, hope, faith, beauty in the dark. Whatever ways you have been walking through the dark this season or this year, I’m curious how it has offered opportunities for transformation, for unknowing, for faith to deepen in mystery’s obscure light. I offer the questions below, as a bit of a memory walk for the season. Feel free to contemplate them, through journaling, mindfulness or creative expression. * What aspects of life have felt loud during this last season? What has bee…

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