Sharing this wonderful and important quote that seems especially poignant in these times of such despair and delight :

At our Sufi Saturday meeting this week, our honored elder Mansur blessed us with this lovely poem. With his permission, I share it with all of you.

Hu dat?

This is not my body.
Have I misplaced it?
These shoes do not fit!

This body no more belongs to me
than I belong to it.

I am as much influenced by
this body and
this mind and
these feelings and
this god-ideal
as they are influenced by me.

All are linked and serve together, with
support and suppleness in the mutual interactions.
We all dance.
In the dance I lose myself
And gain my Self.

Breath is the highway.

~ Mansur Rodney Kreps ~ 2020

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.