In my research for a new talk about our connectedness to every natural being, I came across this wonderful poem in the book, “The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature” by Stephen Harrod Buhner. I believe he is the author of the poem.

Semen is Latin
for a dormant, fertilized,
plant ovum—
a seed.
Men’s ejaculate
is chemically more akin
to plant pollen.
See,
it is really
more accurate
to call it
mammal pollen.

To call it
semen
is to thrust
an insanity
deep inside our culture:
that men plow women
and plant their seed
when, in fact,
what they are doing
is pollinating
flowers.

Now.
Doesn’t that change everything between us?

Beloved friends,

I have made it through the last classes in my Master’s program and now I’m on the final track to complete my thesis, internship, etc. to graduate (Inshallah) in May!

It is my hope that this blog can be a channel for all of us to continue to remember our connection to the One, to our earth, and to each other. We have much work to do and I truly believe we have the capacity, motivation, resilience, and power to create a new reality.

I love this quote from Terence McKenna – “What is out of control, what is in fact dying is a world that had become too top-heavy with its hubris, too bent by its own false value systems and too dehumanized to care about what happens to its own children. So I say, good riddance to it. … Let’s create a new world.”

In community with all of you, and with the many prophets, thinkers, sages (especially the youth!), we can and will create beauty, harmony, and love in a culture that respects the earth, our siblings, and ourselves as equally deserving of sustainable sustenance, abundance, and joy.

May it be so – may we make it so.

Dear friends,

My work toward a Master’s degree in Social Change and a certificate in Spiritual Direction is moving toward its final phases (thus the dearth of recent postings here!)

As part of my practicum for Spiritual Direction, I am required (blessed!) to offer, free of charge, Spiritual Direction sessions for one person for the next 3-4 months. If you would be interested in trying this out, please contact me directly at drmatthewsusa@gmail.com.

Spiritual Direction is perhaps better described as Spiritual Companionship. It is an opportunity for you to spend time being deeply heard and encouraged along your spiritual path no matter what that might look like.

As Interfaith Spiritual Directors, we are extensively trained in deep and active listening, connecting with the Divine, and a wide and expansive understanding and appreciation for all of the world’s faith traditions as well as the science and belief systems of those who would choose, “none of the above” as their spiritual path.

If this feels like something that would benefit you, please consider helping me toward my final goals and graduation in the Spring.

And be aware that once I have completed these goals, I will be offering Spiritual Direction on a sliding scale basis, so this may be a path we can share in the future as well.

With deep appreciation and love,
Wakil

Gitanjali 35

Rabindranath Tagore – 1861-1941

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
     Where knowledge is free;
     Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
     Where words come out from the depth of truth;
     Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
     Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
     Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action— 
     Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

I am moved (pun entirely intended) to send this blog posting based on several recent premonitions that may or may not manifest. I have felt several times in my meditations that our overdue large earthquake is imminent. I hope that I am only tuning into something more general, but I felt compelled to speak of it here.

What does it mean on a spiritual and practical level to be prepared for such a physical disaster? I’ve been considering that and wanted to share some quick thoughts that might apply to any of us, whether our local threats are earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, or other natural or human-caused events.

Practically we can and should have emergency plans and supplies. There are good local resources in most places and the Red Cross has a great webpage of suggestions in that regard:
( https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies.html ).

Spiritually we prepare by knowing and trusting in whatever is our definition of the Divine. By practicing continual connection and awareness of the sacred spirit in all things through meditation, prayer, mantra, singing, dancing and other types of movement, mindful breathing, and truly connecting with nature.

I believe that if we can hold these practices day by day, hour by hour, with every breath and every step on our precious planet, then if/when disaster strikes, we will be better able to hold our center and be in a position to be of service to all our fellow human and more-than-human relations who may be suffering physically, mentally, or spiritually.

That is my prayer. May it be so.

There is never enough hope and we can all use the remembrance of what author Kate Davies called “Intrinsic Hope” ( https://g.co/kgs/Aqbkon) – the hope of the seed in the frozen winter ground, the hope of the salmon fighting its way upstream, the hope of the womb.

NOTE: I will be traveling quite a bit the next couple of months, so these posts may come out less often. Sending blessings and love for the new year. May it be filled with adventure and learning.

Enjoy this lovely poetry from Lisel Mueller

Hope

It hovers in dark corners
before the lights are turned on,
it shakes sleep from its eyes
and drops from mushroom gills,
it explodes in the starry heads
of dandelions turned sages,
it sticks to the wings of green angels
that sail from the tops of maples.

It sprouts in each occluded eye
of the many-eyed potato,
it lives in each earthworm segment
surviving cruelty,
it is the motion that runs the tail of a dog,
it is the mouth that inflates the lungs
of the child that has just been born. It is the singular gift
we cannot destroy in ourselves,
the argument that refutes death,
the genius that invents the future,
all we know of God.

It is the serum which makes us swear
not to betray one another;
it is in this poem, trying to speak.

~ Lisel Mueller ~  
(Alive Together: New and Selected Poems)

THE WINTER OF LISTENING

No one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.

All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.

All this trying
to know
who we are
and all this
wanting to know
exactly
what we must do.

What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.

What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire.

What disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.

What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.

Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born.

And
here
in the tumult
of the night
I hear the walnut
above the child’s swing
swaying
its dark limbs
in the wind
and the rain now
come to
beat against my window
and somewhere
in this cold night
of wind and stars
the first whispered
opening of
those hidden
and invisible springs
that uncoil
in the still summer air
each yet
to be imagined
rose.

…

The Winter of Listening
From River Flow
New and Selected Poems
©David Whyte and Many Rivers Press

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Signed copies of this new pocket companion available by ordering from David Whyte & Many Rivers Press. Please note your request in the comments field during checkout. https://www.davidwhyte.com/essentials

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Winter Moon
Photo © David Whyte
Kettlewell. Yorkshire Dales
Winter 2019