Living On The Planet Earth

"Each of us is just a little part of the Universe,

so versatile and limitless."

This one sentence...

this particular string of words...

and the thought that goes with it...

something to take with us going forward.

I'm entranced by the idea of being versatile and limitless.

Namaste'

 

Life Is An Endless Unfolding

I don't know about you, but exposing myself to 

unaccustomed challenges isn't often necessary.

Life offers them up generously.  No need to go looking for them.

"The purpose is to grow and develop in the dimensions that

distinguish humankind at its best."

This sounds very noble and worthwhile.

Why am I feeling slightly ambivalent about it?

What's amiss about taking your life just as it is.

Embracing every detail and delight, no matter how small?

Opening yourself to everything from amazing ecstasy to utterly excruciating,

without need for fanfare or applause?

Isn't that humankind at its best?

Namaste'

 

Knowing Your Own Darkness

I can't count the number of times I've put this quote aside.

This blog is meant to be uplifting.

(I think that's referred to as denial.)  

Today, I accept reality and share.

Darkness is a term I've come to  think of for the unknown, 

rather than the unwanted, the rejected, the unacceptable.

These days, the latter seems to be everywhere 

demanding attention; forcing me to see

things I'd rather didn't exist.

Here's the thing...I accept that unwanted things exist;

in the outer world and in my own inner spaces.

I'm practicing how to live aware of the mixture.

To acknowledge the unwanted, rejected and unacceptable.

To see the flaws and the failings and find a shred of kindness.

When I'm mean and spiteful instead, I want 

to extend mercy to myself and attempt understanding in others.

I balk at the term terrifying...although excruciating fits...

for "accepting oneself completely".

 I'm thinking that using our energy and attention

to focus on what is enlivening and inspiring 

in equal if not greater measure than what is not

seems a more coherent way to live 

our one precious life, don't you think?

Namaste'

 

Instead of Insight

"A chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain."

This sounds a gong that echoes 

down long internal corridors.

to know nothing for certain,

nothing for certain,

nothing for certain,

for certain, 

for certain.

It tortures and tantalizes 

simultaneously.

Can I be certain of my self?

My "meness"?

My "hereness"?

My "humanhood",

in whatever shape it takes

in this moment in time 

with who and what I love

and long for?

Isn't this a wonder?

Namaste'

 

Beginnings

It's refreshing to think about beginnings

as the winter season of life approaches.

"Our stories aren't over yet,"

 is a statement my sister made recently.

It was a delightful reminder.

I'm taking note of my beginnings; 

relishing them for the "gifts and growth they bring.

May our beginnings be rich and fertile.

Namaste'

 

A Person Is Not A Potted Plant

"a garden abloom with the consequences of chance and choice

that makes us who we are."

Now there's a metaphor for a human with some jazz in it.

What seeds are sprouting in your personhood garden?

What old habits and patterns of behavior are you composting?

These words are worming their way through my inner garden plot,

shifting soil and aerating ground that's settled...

encouraging germination of dormant seeds.

Seeds of delight and quiet joy to crowd out

the weeds of discontent and apprehension.

My current physical garden contains 

two mini meadows of pollinators,

 several pots of happy lilies,

 pots containing plants I cannot name;

and tomato plants that appear healthy (fingers crossed).

What makes me sing is the

quite prolific crop of milkweed thriving

and expanding in various spots

across our landscape;

a landscape becoming wilder each season

 as our capacity for upkeep diminishes.

On this first day of winter's approach

and June's Strawberry/Mead/Honey full moon

I'm raising a toast to inner and outer gardens.

May your blooming be vigorous and your weeds be few.

Namaste' 

 

Toward Peace

"and wonder how to find a living peace right here,

the peace that arrives when we take just one step through the mess

toward compassion..."

No small step that's for certain...

compassion for our companions

here on earth at this time.

I'm convinced this cannot happen without

 understanding and tenderness for ourselves.

I intend to "grow into peace the way flowers grow--

in the dirt.  With blight and drought, beetles and hail."

I also intend to attend to the flowers through every

stage from seed to sprout to bud to blossom to droopy to 

decline to decay to remains on their way to soil.

My wish is for each of us to 

 "become light, become the momentum that is the change."

Namaste'

 

Spirit Animal

 "I am prepared to recast my shadows into fire rings around the moon."

Love that line.  My shadows have been heavy lately so recasting them appeals 

as the full moon approaches.

Think about "moonstruck and soul-footed in animal loveliness"...

the dignity of the wild animals living on instinct, adapting to survive

as humans desecrate their homeland.

and then

"where the river beneath the river softens."

I didn't see the recurring theme of softening until just now.

Pudding instead of peanut brittle perhaps?

I'm pondering my hard places and preparing

to practice the art of susurration.  

Namaste'

Puhpowee

"I love, too, the mystery, the unspeakable wonder of it,

how the brain is humbled into blathering."

It seems ironic that at those times when words 

fall short...when silence overwhelms the desire to speak...

when all you want to do is share your amazement...

yet any words written or spoken sound like gibberish...

those are the times to recognize the mystery, the force...puhpowee.

This computer underlines it in red warning me something's amiss.

The computer doesn't know...it can't because it's not human...

it's missing the vital ingredient, the one that knows

some things are too magnificent for translation.

Namaste'

 

After Watching World News

This poem touches me in the places I want to deny.

It stares straight at what's hard in this world...

it does not turn away from the sorrow.

Yet, "do I really think I'm owed something?"

Causes me to take stock of my personal land of plenty.

and

"if it's still a thing, I'm in the marketplace for gratitude"

letting it glow from the barricaded center of my heart,

spiraling outward beyond boundaries into every corner.

It's how hope stays rooted and resilient.

It's why I believe in the river.

Namaste'

 

We Are Ecosystems That Span Boundaries

There is something profoundly inspiring about

the revelations being made in the study of fungi.

As Merlin Sheldrake states,

"Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways that we think, feel and behave. Yet they live their lives largely hidden from view, and more than 90 per cent of their species remain undocumented." 

Does it matter if they're documented?  Who knows?  But, I'm thinking,

perhaps they can teach us how we can transform the

monumental muddle we've made of our natural world.

I love the idea that something 'largely hidden from view" 

carries such magnificent powers.

Namaste'

 

We Are Ecosystems

This place of softening...releasing long held understandings

and definitions of what it means to be a human living creature

feels like wearing a whole new set of clothes.

On second thought isn't it more like

 shedding a layer of skin?

Disconcerting indeed.  

So much so that it's tempting to skirt around it all together.

Yet, the feeling of being overwhelmed by the dignity

of ecologies existing alongside and within me (and you)

is too marvelous to ignore.

Namaste'

 

Because Organisms Like Fungi

This book has me mesmerized.

It is showing me marvels of a world we're only beginning

to become acquainted with and its turning things topsy turvy.

What does it mean to soften? To let go of the hardened barriers 

confining our thoughts and diminishing our perspective?

Spores that travel with the power of a spaceship?

Fungi that produces spores - equivalent to the weight

of 500,000 blue whales"?

Tell me more!! This feels magical.

Namaste'

 

Walking The Boundary

Several threads are weaving through my mind these days.

I'm hoping the thoughts I share can weave them together

into something resembling coherence.

Lets say I'm "following its edges, 

one foot on each side, straddling no and yes."

"Can a boundary be traversed, 

like the border of a country,

proving how grave a line can be?"

Borders of countries are arbitrary things

agreed upon by humans but not by things

 like roots and clouds, oxygen and sunshine,

storms, sound waves, air currents...

Yet, if a human traverses the arbitrary border

between North and South Korea,

they quickly discover how grave that line can be.

These thought waves I'm encountering 

feel like crossing boundaries, 

until the threads become so entangled,

I'm no longer certain where I am...

in a way that opens inside doors revealing

landscapes beyond my imagination...

until now.

Namaste'

 

We Build Our Own Prisons

 "The individual intent on self-renewal 

will have to deal with ghosts of the past."

Wouldn't it be great if we could wave a wand

and have the ghosts of the past vanish?

In particular, "the accumulated grievances and resentments".

It wouldn't surprise me if those are what lay

at the heart of today's troubles in the world.

"Self-renewal" is worth the effort, don't you think?

Namaste'

No Learning Is Harder

In other words, we all end up dead.

A fact in this life, as we know it.

But what about all we don't know?

What if...?

Namaste'

 

The Supreme Reward

A visitation back to John O'Donohue's words earlier this week.

Isn't it thrilling to know this is possible no matter your age?

What "novel situation that will draw out dormant potentialities"

shall I choose?  What about you?

I welcome the "exhilaration of feeling new to myself;"

 I also welcome the familiar, well acquainted pieces.

 "Tending toward an end" seems inevitable in some respects

as the thought of cascading forward in a succession of beginnings

shifts things into an enticing and exciting adventure.

Namaste'

 

Broken Vessel

I thought this was sorrowfully beautiful 

the first time I read it.

It gutted me to learn she was speaking of Gaza.

I did not know about the famous weavers there.

It still shreds me each time it surfaces in my mind.

How can we mend, patch, knit, reweave 

this invisible cloth that holds us together

in our humanity?

I envision us, too many of us to count,

moving a small step closer to each other, 

drawing the threads connecting us a tiny bit tighter

forming an invincible garment of solidarity...

a cloth as strong as spider webs*...

fragile, yes and also bullet proof.

Namaste'

*https://www.sdu.dk/en/nyheder/edderkoppesilke_2023#:~:text=The%20golden%20orb%2Dweb%20spider,closer%20to%20unraveling%20the%20secret.

 

 

That Which Is Not Codified

In other words, even when you can't explain it "properly"

it's still valuable.

The enchanted, imaginal world is a splendid example.

Some might say this would be where deepest value resides.

Namaste'

PS:  synonyms for codified:  chartered, completed, founded, incorporated, initiated, organized, ratified, set up, settled.

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Beginnings

To begin, start over, reset...

there is comfort in this thought.

Even as time grows shorter, 

it is inspiring to realize 

we are receiving invitations to grow, 

to begin new endeavors,

to start fresh.

Even the end of life as we know it here is a beginning

of something entirely unknown, isn't it?

Namaste'