Perhaps the hardest practice in these distracting times is to simply breathe and remember presence. There is much work to be done, yet we need to be willing to accept where we stand and forgive ourselves when we fall or feel we may have fallen short.
We distract ourselves in our pain. We distract ourselves because we just can’t hear another story of injustice, fear, and horror. We use our toys, our media, our mind-numbing day to day routines, drugs, alcohol, or just not managing to get up in the morning. It is easy to understand why.
In the end the solution lies in the courageous parting of the veils; the willingness to engage despite the pain; the conviction that although the work we do can seem futile and not nearly enough, it is like the intrinsic hope of the seeds floating on the autumn winds, the salmon fighting up the stream to die, the pieces of onion, garlic, and potato we push into the cold, wet soil. If we can allow ourselves space to simply be with whatever is present in this moment, we may step into the next moment a little lighter and with a bit more grace and compassion for ourselves and the rest of creation.
Here are some poems that speak well to this idea:
Forget about enlightenment. Sit down wherever you are And listen to the wind singing in your veins. Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones. Open your heart to who you are, right now, Not who you would like to be, Not the saint you are striving to become, But the being right here before you, inside you, around you. All of you is holy. You are already more and less Than whatever you can know. Breathe out, Touch in, Let go.
By John Welwood
This World
I would like to write a poem about the world that has in it nothing fancy. But it seems impossible. Whatever the subject, the morning sun glimmers it. The tulip feels the heat and flaps its petals open and becomes a star. The ants bore into the peony bud and there is a dark pinprick well of sweetness. As for the stones on the beach, forget it. Each one could be set in gold. So I tried with my eyes shut, but of course the birds were singing. And the aspen trees were shaking the sweetest music out of their leaves. And that was followed by, guess what, a momentous and beautiful silence as comes to all of us, in little earfuls, if we’re not too hurried to hear it. As for spiders, how the dew hangs in their webs even if they say nothing, or seem to say nothing. So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe they sing. So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe the stars sing too, and the ants, and the peonies, and the warm stones, so happy to be where they are, on the beach, instead of being locked up in gold.
On this day that has become a celebration of consumerism and unbridled greed, we choose to buy nothing and to spend the day with our family. In this post, I include some poetry and writings that will hopefully remind us of what is true, what is real.
I begin with this wonderful prose poem from my friend and the amazing and talented director of our Seattle Peace Chorus, Fred West as his Thanksgiving reflection: What is Peace?
And so what is peace?
What do we sing for that is precious and strong like the beat of a baby’s heart and yet fragile And often at risk?
Is it the Peace and Quiet we need to study, to read, to learn, to sing Uninterrupted by a noisy world?
Is Peace simply the type of life where one is free to follow the deep calling of our life’s work And not be obliged to work an exhausting job with little meaning or reward? Is it a stillness of the spirit which seems to be tranquility itself, and if so Would any artist feel the drive to chisel stone, any violinist the need to practice 6 hours a day, any inventor the urgency to develop something so basic and wonderful as a washing machine? Would the genius of human invention be kindled if Peace and tranquility reigned or is Peace a strand in the web of life only apparent in contrast to chaos and oppression. Is it by definition a condition that will be Imperiled by greed and oppression as the tendency of one human to rule over another will always create strife.
In the stories that come to us today about Mostar in Bosnia, the divisions of all basic services flow into certain zones that all people know are either Catholic of Muslim. The fire department from one area may not serve the opposition zone defined by the Yugoslav wars and before. Although there is not now war, we see the legacy of war and the many generations of division that war creates. War is the ogre of life, it is the ogre that even monsters fear as there is no Actual mind at work that can put the pieces back together, but rather mindless consuming paths of destruction.
We have just seen terrible destruction in the element of fire. Fire does not have a will to create misery but it obeys it’s own nature. the fire can warm us and it can humble the rich and powerful. As Paradise California burned, one thing we know is that no firefighter would refuse to respond because of a religious affiliation of the residents. We Take this for granted and yet it is not always so. Is Peace then found in a certain unity where all people will pledge to help each other in times of upheaval and danger? should we then say to each other
“I will help you if your home burns down”
Does Peace include the vast world of animals who enchant our Planet and who are our teachers, our elders, and our inspiration? The Orca who fill us with awe and gratitude Has now shown her dead calf to the world knowing that we, not she, is responsible for the PCB toxins in the water that find their way into her breast milk.
Do we extend our peace to the world of fish, birds and all creatures who walk the land?
Can the elephant, who shows us what size and might and lines of kinship, and subsonic hearing, And prodigious memory can be, apart from humanity: can this elephant find the same peace that we sing for? In this world, an elephant is killed every 4 minutes for its ivory tusks.
We do not need statues of ivory. The keys on our piano play just as well with plastic Compounds and yet someone craves these things and the elephant is too far away to be of concern.
Does the tiger, who may be the most beautiful creature, full of grace and power, to ever walk the Earth, deserve the Peace that we desire, even as it must hunt for its next meal and will never be found sowing seeds for the next crop. does the glorious bird who inspires us To fly and to soar aloft deserve a sky with no pollution? can we make sure that there is a tree to nest in when we have a chainsaw in one hand and a bag of apple seeds in the other which do we reach for.
Is Peace a dream and the real world a rude awakening? if so, it is like a dream of traveling to Mars and will take all the dedication of science and artists to inspire the quest. Where this dream may become real is where We hold our children up to the warmth of the Spring sunlight and their minds and talents grow beyond what is now known.
Is the dream of peace so threatening to those who base their lives on arming for War and guarding their families with weapons,fromtrue and undeniable threat.
Aah, Peace cannot be a fantasy or a refuge of the lazy or those who are always afraid Of the unknown. The peaceful warrior does not offer to become a slave of the conqueror. Peace can be carved only with arms of strength, with hands that have swung a sword in graceful dances, that know the routes to high ground when the tsunami comes. but the strongest arms which assure safety can also be a pillow for your rest And chop the wood to kindle the hearth and gather the harvest for your Thanksgiving feast. the strongest arms offer solace to those who are saddened and alone.
And what is that Peace but in fact not quiet, not tranquility, not a life without disturbances, not a life without problems or challenges, But a world where violent death does not occur. assault and murder do not enter into the mind of anyone, and the most extreme form of violence, the Feared dogs of war, do not roam the land for we know that when once unleashed, these creatures do not obey any master. Only in exhaustion do they return to the cage. these do not exist in our world of peace because all people and animals belong, and all are fed, all are loved and all are seen and lifted up. Our peace is when every conflict is answered by negotiation and dialogue. Plato tells us that all ideas must be tested in dialogue. let us hear what is in everyone,s hearts even as we struggle to understand a different view. our peace is when conflict is prevented by bonds of friendship and mutually beneficial trade which have always been the glue of the most peaceful agreements. Call for gifts and prepare a feast to stay the trigger. Do not pull the pin of the grenade but pull the cork of the bottle for your guest.
do not fire the rocket of robotic and blind destruction but send up the rocket bearing the color and delight of firework displays. .Carve your wood for the gun barrel to hunt your food and for the harp and the fiddle, not for the gun barrel alone. Guard against those that urge isolation for it is in our cultural diversity that we find The answers pondered by our wisest and most distant ancestors. Do not follow those that pull away from the agreements that keep the Peace and protect the environment. We do not have our own bubble which protects this latitude and longitude, As pollution and destruction will cross borders.
the child is sacred. Our peace is revered because all good things flow from the child who is nourished and loved. The Mother and Father, friends, Grandparents, siblings, and all those pledged to raise the child, guard and protect, nourish and defend their child and the children around them. What is good for your child is also good for the child in Yemen. As we feed our children, we are called to open our hearts to any child without food or clothing, medicine or education.
If one wonders How do I serve in the cause of peace, there is much work to do.
What then is the language of Peace?
Nature And all the divine spirits and energies of Creation have given us Songs to sing. Songs to gladden the heart, songs to celebrate freedom, songs to mourn and songs to honor the dead. songs for birth and songs for love, songs to Inspire the struggle for justice and equality, lullabies to sing with one voice which give solace to the child, and Cantatas to sing for the choirs of each land to gladden the soul and cause us to open our hearts to each other.
No one small group of people can protect that precious child from a missile, or From radioactivity, from toxins in the water or pesticides on the food.
It is only a mighty voice that can create this demand, that can create the clamor that is now needed to create Peace, and it is only in Raising our freedoms that we have the power needed. Never before has So much of life as we know it been In the balance.
A mighty voice can Find wisdom in the common ground that we all walk on.
That common ground is not a barren strip between barbed wire, It is a garden, it is a place of life and color, flower and fruit, honey bee and Monarch butterfly. The mighty voice will sing in many languages And always welcome the new people to our shores. the welcome song is our special Talent. it is this that We Are Thankful For
And then my reply to Fred of my thoughts on Peace:
What is Peace to Me?
I think of peace as that still small voice that lives in each of our hearts,
That guides and moves our passion, laughter, creativity, and tears,
That reminds us we are not separate.
And that – when we are blessed – breaks into song:
The whisper of leaves in the autumn breezes,
The whoosh of Raven’s wing,
The rattle of stones in the rolling waves of the Salish seashore,
The delighted laughter of a tumbling brook,
The excited whoop of a playing child,
The passionate sigh of a deeply loved friend,
The perfect resolving chord at the end of a choral masterpiece.
We are truly blessed
And finally, this beautiful poem:
This Is How I Voted Today
by Fred LaMotte with thanks to Monica Winsor
This is how I voted today.
I went to the woods and dug a hole
under
fern in leaf rot and luminous fungi
into
which I pressed my mouth and screamed
a
long hot uncreated vowel containing
the
first and last letters of every alphabet.
I
signed my vote with my tears,
it
was ratified by planetary silence
groans
of Adam’s first wife from far below
heaved
out of the groundlessness
where
she is gowned in seamless glistening mycellia.
Only
then did I realize what I’d voted for
the
abolition of Republicans and Democrats,
the
downfall of spires and hierarchies,
the
dissolution of superpacs and
$50,000
a plate dinner parties
in
Hollywood and the Hamptons,
the
deconstruction of the Constitution into a single
proto-Hebraic
rune,
inscribed
on a cavern wall somewhere under
the
vast and indecipherable border
between
Mexico and Arizona.
The
overthrow of male and female hegemony,
the
annihilation of both capitalism and socialism,
the
eradication of black and white by a rainbow of tears,
the
renaissance of family farms and local small-business collectives
spawning
an exquisite tapestry of bio-regional economies where
no
mention is ever made of “government.”
Where
politics evaporates into folk music story-telling
fermented
cabbage useful tools
and
the gentle heroics of mere listening.
I
voted for the mule that Jesus rode into the city
proclaiming
forgiveness of all debts
which
is the same mule Laotzu rode out
beyond
the wall of China.
Which
is also the mule that Rumi sat backwards on
stumbling
Westward into exile
gazing
Eastward toward eternal loss–
that
mule I tell you will be president!
I
voted to compost and manure the floor of the Senate
entangling
every politician in a web of hemp moss
mushrooms
and deer pellets.
I
voted to turn the dome of Congress all abuzz
into
a giant hummingbird feeder.
I
voted for the reclamation of all human skin
with
musky forests of golden fur.
My
vote was the sound of Yes in every tongue
the
co-whispering of all leaves
the
council of trees
the
un-clink of gold and emeralds returning to veins in stone the echo of a primal
Sigh
Wendy and I are going to be joining some of our Seattle Peace Chorus singers on a trip to the Southwest in January of next year.
We would love your help to support our “Music Crosses Borders” tour! Our all-volunteer choir has about 30 people signed up to bring our unique brand of musical citizen diplomacy to US-Mexico border areas, to inspire refugees & immigrants and the people who are working tirelessly to help them in this difficult political climate, and to learn about the many challenges they face. But many of our singers are hard-pressed to afford this travel and could use your kind assistance to help defray some of the cost.
We’d also like to financially assist the nonprofit refugee shelters we’ll be visiting in the Mexican cities of Juarez and Tijuana. These shelters are already struggling to assist hundreds of refugees and other migrants, including folks, recently deported from the US; and the caravans of thousands of Central American asylum seekers heading for the border now will add immensely to their caseload.
So we’ve established a GoFundMe page to raise funds for this tour. 50% of the funds raised will be used to help Peace Choristers afford the trip, and the other 50% will be donated to nonprofit refugee assistance centers in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana.
P.S. Funds you donate to our GoFundMe page will be routed through “PayPal Giving Fund”, a nonprofit agency that processes GoFundMe donations bound for charities. So you’ll get a receipt for your tax-deductible donation to PayPal Giving Fund; but rest assured, your donation will be forwarded to SPC. Although GoFundMe may charge a small processing fee depending on whether you donate from a credit or debit card, PayPal Giving Fund then forwards the proceeds without deducting any additional service fees.
Trigger warning – there are some horrific and disturbing scenes in this moving music video. But it is worth watching (and there is redemption to beauty at the end), and remembering that this was made over 20 years ago and the things Michael is singing about with such passion have only gotten worse. Don’t go back to sleep.
Lyrics:
What about sunrise What about rain What about all the things that you said We were to gain What about killing fields Is there a time What about all the things That you said were yours and mine Did you ever stop to notice All the blood we’ve shed before Did you ever stop to notice This crying Earth, these weeping shores
Aah, ooh
What have we done to the world Look what we’ve done What about all the peace That you pledge your only son What about flowering fields Is there a time What about all the dreams That you said was yours and mine Did you ever stop to notice All the children dead from war Did you ever stop to notice This crying earth, these weeping shores
Aah, ooh Aah, ooh
I used to dream I used to glance beyond the stars Now I don’t know where we are Although I know we’ve drifted far
Aah, ooh Aah, ooh
Aah, ooh Aah, ooh
Hey, what about yesterday (What about us) What about the seas (What about us) The heavens are falling down (What about us) I can’t even breathe (What about us) What about apathy (What about us) Drowning in the seas (What about us) What about the promised land Preachin’ what I believe (What about us) What about the holy land (What about it) What about the greed (What about us) Where did we go wrong Someone tell me why (What about us) What about baby boy (What about him) What about the days (What about us) What about all their joy Do we give a damn
I have come into this world to see this: the sword drop from men's hands even at the height of their arc of anger
because we have finally realized there is just one flesh to wound and it is His - the Christ's, our Beloved's.
I have come into this world to see this: all creatures hold hands as we pass through this miraculous existence we share on the way to even a greater being of soul,
a being of just ecstatic light, forever entwined and at play with Him.
I have come into this world to hear this:
every song the earth has sung since it was conceived in the Divine's womb and began spinning from His wish,
every song by wing and fin and hoof, every song by hill and field and tree and woman and child, every song of stream and rock,
every song of tool and lyre and flute, every song of gold and emerald and fire,
every song the heart should cry with magnificent dignity to know itself as God:
for all other knowledge will leave us again in want and aching - only imbibing the glorious Sun will complete us.
I have come into this world to experience this:
men so true to love they would rather die before speaking an unkind word,
men so true their lives are His covenant - the promise of hope.
I have come into this world to see this: the sword drop from men's hands even at the height of their arc of rage
because we have finally realized there is just one flesh
we can wound.
~ Hafiz ~
(Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky)
Dear friends, I am forwarding this invitation from my friend Mirabai Starr to what looks to be a wonderful free webinar with one of my favorite contemporary spiritual teachers, Andrew Harvey. Please consider registering. I plan to participate.
From Mirabai: Beloved friends and family,
What if the key to life’s greatest challenges was to approach them like a child… with curiosity, enthusiasm, inquisitiveness… and WONDER?
In the presence of awe, the mind lets go… and opens.
Yet, many of us have grown up in a culture that’s threatened by a direct experience of awe. Scientific fundamentalism sees a world stripped of enchantment and meaning. Religious systems require obedience to doctrine. Social and family systems are often rooted in fear.
In truth, awe offers us a powerful expansion of identity… a release from limited ideas of ourselves and the world…
Awe can heal and transform YOU, according to celebrated mystic teacher Andrew Harvey, when you approach it as a spiritual practice… (It’s also essential to the planet’s survival, Andrew says!)
On Wednesday, November 14, my dear friend Andrew Harvey will show you how to access the healing medicine of awe so that you can embrace openness, flexibility, and resiliency (especially in the face of adversity).
Awe brings us to our knees, and empties us of addictive thinking and the need to control. Surrendered and humbled, we can find our rightful place within the Great Mystery…
During Opening to the Power of Awe: The Transfiguring Path of Wonder, Radical Humility & Ecstatic Celebration, you’ll:
Understand why a direct experience of awe is essential for the evolution that’s required for humanity to survive and thrive
Discover why awe holds the key to unfreezing concepts and fixed ideas that are a barrier to your connection with divine guidance
Understand how to use the gifts of wonder to enter a portal into conscious co-creation with the Beloved
Recommit to the power of playfulness, celebration, and dance as an essential spiritual practice
Open to mystical insights from Rumi and Kabir that rekindle your connection with awe
Some of history’s greatest mystic poets, like Rumi and Kabir, have given us glimpses of the power of awe in their writings — and have pointed to wonder as the portal into a deeper relationship with the Divine.
And now, Andrew Harvey, whose teachings are rooted in Sufism, mystical Christianity, and numerous other lineages, will open this portal for YOU.
P.S. During Opening to the Power of Awe, Andrew will illuminate the healing power of awe as an essential practice that’s medicine for your spiritual path.
This beautiful practice comes from Richard Rohr’s Blog – very appropriate and helpful in these times and really in any time.
Practice: Where to Start
This past week in [Richard Rohr’s] daily meditations we have
been talking about suffering. Through practice we can discover that God is
present with us in our suffering, permeating it with love and compassion and
sustaining us in ways we cannot understand. God’s presence in our suffering
means that our suffering, fear, or shame do not have the power to name who we
are. God’s love names us as infinitely precious in our vulnerability.
James Finley, one of our core faculty members, and Alana
Levandoski, a Living School alum, collaborated on a beautiful musical
experience that can lead us through our suffering to discover our preciousness.
Listen to their words and music and open your heart to taking the first step,
to learn how to be “vulnerable and safe at the same time” in the heartfelt
presence of a trustworthy guide.
I don’t know where to start.
Or how to bare this heart.
But I fear I’ve become what’s been done to me.
Move slowly, move slowly,
move slowly into deep water.
You are safe with me,
no longer thrown out to sea.
Now it’s time to breathe.
Click here to listen to these gentle, encouraging songs.
Today though I am feeling a small sense of relief for the gains in progressive legislators, ultimately I must admit to a feeling of unknowing and frankly some doubt, fear, and despair – that it will be enough to turn the tide in time. There is so much more to do, and our time is up. This small victory seems like another blip on the blip of history that we inhabit.
For this offering, I present something to help us hold our hope and resilience while we must also hold the increasing probability of the self-inflicted extinction of our human species.
A deep and often challenging mystic practice is to hold two opposites and find the divine dance of the mystery that arises. May you find that place, and thrive with new passion for the work that must be done.
The Wish to Be Generous
All that I serve will die, all my delights, the flesh kindled from my flesh, garden and field, the silent lilies standing in the woods, the woods, the hill, the whole earth, all will burn in man’s evil, or dwindle in its own age. Let the world bring on me the sleep of darkness without stars, so I may know my little light taken from me into the seed of the beginning and the end, so I may bow to mystery, and take my stand on the earth like a tree in a field, passing without haste or regret toward what will be, my life a patient willing descent into the grass.
After some discussion with some of you, and some meditation on the best way forward, I’ve decided that the previous format of long monthly blogs may well have been overwhelming for some, and thus ignored or only briefly read.
That said, I will be attempting to create posts more often, and now that I have an email system installed, I will be able to post them directly to you. And, if you want to forward them to others, they can subscribe on this blog site as well.
As the Autumn colors light up our trees, and the darkness settles over us like a warm, gray comforter, I am reminded daily of our precious earth and its exquisite cycles of birth and death that we are so blessed to witness. Today, I saw a bald eagle watching over a calm Salish Sea and right next to it was a small chickadee puffed up against the cold winds, but seemingly unconcerned about its predator neighbor.
Eagle and Chickadee
I am reminded of this lovely poem by Mary Oliver which will be my sharing for today:
In the Storm
Some black ducks
were shrugged up
on the shore.
It was snowing
hard, from the east,
and the sea
was in disorder.
Then some sanderlings,
five inches long
with beaks like wire,
flew in,
snowflakes on their backs,
and settled
in a row
behind the ducks —
whose backs were also
covered with snow —
so close
they were all but touching,
they were all but under
the roof of the duck’s tails,
so the wind, pretty much,
blew over them.
They stayed that way, motionless,
for maybe an hour,
then the sanderlings,
each a handful of feathers,
shifted, and were blown away
out over the water
which was still raging.
But, somehow,
they came back
and again the ducks,
like a feathered hedge,
let them
crouch there, and live.
If someone you didn’t know
told you this,
as I am telling you this,
would you believe it?
Belief isn’t always easy.
But this much I have learned —
if not enough else —
to live with my eyes open.
I know what everyone wants
is a miracle.
This wasn’t a miracle.
Unless, of course, kindness —
as now and again
some rare person has suggested —
is a miracle.
As surely it is.
