What To Do In The Darkness

"Go slowly."

This is superb advice in almost any circumstance.

I'm finding, at this advanced juncture, that even when

I'm late and hurrying so as not to keep someone waiting,

 this counsel is most helpful.

"Consent to it

But don't wallow in it

(I'm holding myself back from adding punctuation)

Consent to it feels different from accept it, doesn't it?

It adds a sense of agency and openness to discovery of something unknown.

It naturally follows to. . .

"Know it as a place of germination 

and growth"

Personally, this is where patience appears 

and asks to be practiced.

"Remember the light"

May our memory be strong enough

to remind us of light filled moments throughout life.

"Take an outstretched hand 

if you find one"

And if you don't, trust yourself. 

Take care of your precious self.

"Exercise unused senses"

Listening comes to mind,

as does feeling what's happening

inside my body...something I tend to ignore.

Find the path by walking it

Feel your way...by touch

and by instinct.

"Practice trust

Watch for dawn"

From time spent lying awake at night,

I want to add patience to the practice of trust.

And watch for dawn like we're watching for goodness.

They are both dependable; dawn being predictable,

while goodness is random and often a surprise.

Namaste

NOTE: I had another post prepared for today and rejected it.Here is the link if you want to take a look. 

 Be forewarned...I would not consider it uplifting. 

 

And Then To Fly Over It

I'm having to sit with this a bit. . .

it brings to mind Betty Midler singing "From A Distance"*

"To fly over is to over look, not to take in the unnecessary...

or fret about what might lie underneath."

It's one way of seeing things.  Sometimes, overlooking is wise.

Other times, overlooking is dangerous and ill advised.

I think we all know examples of each situation, don't we?

"Which might look like forgiveness.  

Which is, of course, another word for love."

If God exists, which is for each of us to decide, 

I would not want to be him or her regarding forgiveness

in these days of heartless cruelty and abandonment 

of truth, decency and justice for all.

If being God means forgiving everything and

in turn loving all, I'm at a loss to understand

how that is remotely possible under these circumstances.

That being said, it is deeply appealing to consider

being forgiven (and loved) despite the unloving and indecent

things I have done throughout my life...in thought, word and deed.

Which makes this a giant, uncomfortable conundrum.

I can feel my defense team coming out blazing 

with an argument about degrees of harm done to others.

This conundrum is so strong, I may have to find something else to share.

*From a Distance

Song by 

Bette Midler

From a distance, the world looks blue and green
And the snow-capped mountains white
From a distance, the ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight

From a distance, there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the voice of hope
It's the voice of peace
It's the voice of every man

From a distance, we all have enough
And no one is in need
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease
No hungry mouths to feed

From a distance, we are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They're the songs of every man

God is watching us. . .From a distance

From a distance, you look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance, I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting's for

From a distance, there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
And it's the hope of hopes
It's the love of loves
It's the heart of every man (every man)

God is watching us. . .From a distance

 

Dark Brightness

Isn't this a beautiful thought; a beautiful activity?

Maybe its just that simple?  

"Turning down the glare becoming a blessing. . ."

Cutting each other some slack...giving the tiny benefit of the doubt.

Seeing past the nonsense to the dignity underneath the bravado.

Chuckling with respect at differences as if only minor inconveniences?

"a caring for a passing stranger to be passed on to someone else,

a blinding light/ [noise] lowered allowing us to see [hear] what really matters.

all of us do, everyone, every one...

May we each turn down the glare and the noise; 

may we see and hear what really matters; 

May we realize and live as if Every. One. Matters.

Namaste

 

Keep Marching

These are the lyrics to a song you can listen to here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPyKqoRKT8g

"If the work is never over, how do you keep marching anyway?

Do you carry your banner as far as you can, 

. . .Til the next stubborn girl picks it up in a picket line?

These lyrics opened my eyes to how long the fight for equality

has been going on and how mistaken I have been to expect

that we will get the job done and it will exist forever.

(I did absolutely believe this when Obama was our President.)

The contrast to what we have now is devastating.

"rewriting the world with your imperfect pen?"

I LOVE this line.

When I consider all the imperfect pens across the globe

doing their best to rewrite the world, I get choked up.

It makes me grateful for independent journalists 

who are laboring to bring us the truth with no where near

adequate compensation or safety.

The same goes for the poets and artists who

inspire us by reminding us of what we are working for.

"Cause your ancestors are all the proof you need

that progress is possible, not guaranteed

Make peace with our incomplete power

and use it for good cause there's so much to do."

When I think of how many young humans

have given their lives in the fight for freedom,

and how many times their sacrifice has been 

taken for granted and misused for power and profit

there is no way I cannot "keep on marching."

"The gains will feel small and the losses too large

You'll rarely agree with whoever's in charge.

Yes the world can be changed, we've done it before. . .

The future demands that we fight for it now."

Knowing what my brothers and sisters of color

have endured throughout history is unbearable.

I am in awe of the resilience, creativity and fortitude

they must have to keep on believing in goodness and joy.

It astonishes and encourages me to my core.

Let us keep on marching for what we believe in.

Equality, truth, justice and decency.

We're in this together and we are doing this!

Thanks to you for being here.

Namaste

 

Breath

"It's the heaving breath of the very earth

carrying along the prayer of all things:

Do all things pray?  I do not know

but I do know all things want to live...

to survive and thrive.

"All giving silent thanks and remembrance

each moment. . .while we hurry past 

heedless of the mysteries...

Some of us try not to hurry past...

some of us take heed of the mysteries...

some of us dedicate our lives in convents,

monastaries, ashrams, caves, homes, tents...

in reverence and gratitude.

And yet, every secret wants to be told,

every shy creature to approach and trust us

if we patiently listen with all our senses.

Trust and patience. Two virtues

I would welcome more of in my world.

Patience has always been puny.

Trust was stronger but diminishes with ripening,

I'm sad to report.  

I would love for them to increase

and strengthen as I believe

they may be the key to a wholehearted existence.

May we be in sync with the "heaving breath of the very earth."

 

The Architecture Of Despair

"How will you ever save the world?  You,

who is made of one voice and many limits?"

How many of us lie awake at night,

asking ourself similar questions? 

"However will you save yourself?

You, who is made of no name and endless trouble?"

Aren't these the type of questions that 

"writhe and twist, making us tremble"?

This is when everything in me recoils

and retreats from gruesome imaginings...

and returns to the mighty miracles

happening everywhere...

Our brothers and sisters of every hue

and shape and angle...marching,

rallying, resisting, witnessing, 

caring, praying, meditating,

singing, writing powerful poems,

essays and stories.

Connecting with neighbors,

watching out for each other.

Shining our tiny lights

as bright as we can to generate one giant beacon.

"Do not let your resignation become their final victory."

We are all in this together and we are

doing everything we can to right the heavy wrongs.

Some people are mistaken about who we are and who we want to be.

We are deep in the process of clearing up the misunderstanding.

We are showing them how truly great America is now...

AND how magnificent America is becoming.

Namaste

 

What Joins Us

"I will. . . walk to the shore with my satchel of questions, 

the ones that writhe and twist in me, 

the ones that make me tremble."

What a blazingly accurate description of the

questions I tend to skirt around without

making eye contact in order to avoid the scrutiny.

The ones I cannot bear to ask out of fear of the answer.

The ones that frighten me to my bones for what they'll require from me.

Why do I expect the answers to always be difficult? 

What kind of inner masochism is this? It's humiliating...ha!  No irony intended.

What if, the most terrifying questions lead to the most awe inspiring answers?

What if there is no test to fail, only a harvest of bounty to explore?

What if the things I fear most, given to the silence,

 boomerang back softly with a gentle nudge.?

Or I'm gifted a key to unlock space I didn't know existed?

I recently learned that atoms are 99% empty space.

Is that where silence operates? 

"No matter where we stand, we can listen to the silence

that crosses all boundaries, listen, together, 

and wade into the current beneath all listening."

I wonder if this "current beneath all listening" is where the unknown resides?

The more I ripen, the more I realize how vast and amazing that is.

This encourages me to keep asking those questions

that "make me tremble". . .to gingerly crack open the window of my heart

to the far side of fear and rage and all I find loathsome believing

that beyond the debris is immeasurably magnificent.