Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 218 – 7/21/2020

today, our peace pilgrim of light is poised in the unknown, great mystery, great mother with the second new moon in cancer radiating as the sun rises on the new day, the new world with the sacred mountain of light in the background holding the center, transporting us to the great beyond, bridging the worlds, the consciousness of heavenearth…

we’re all on quite a journey into ultima thule for project awakening, the pilgrimage we are all called to saunter along letting go, letting go, suspending certainty for this moment and simply being present in what is, not our ideas of what should be but the true reality of what is without judgement or opinion or denial or repression or projection… the naked now as a gift from the cosmos bringing us to who we truly be by seeing what we want in this moment… for me, it’s peace, love and joy – hallelujah! this is our birthright, our true reality, our true nature…

i know, i know, so many moons of intensity, so much uncertainty, so much overwhelm as we follow the pathless path… let’s take a breath… may we all begin anew with every awakening breath flowing in the rhythm of the cosmic hum, dreaming into being a world of one where we re-member we are free dancing light bodies of rainbow mystery…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 217 – 7/20/2020

only traveling on the path with heart, what a way to live

looking, looking breathlessly, living from the heart

in a field of unity grounded in equanimity…

~

drawing down the energy of the second new moon in cancer, the true home moon of the great mother, are you feeling her call to authenticity, being the true self, living from the heart? when we listen deeply, we can here pachamama whispering the song of the earth… come home to the heart, return to me and live in a sacred way in harmony… her invitation is to sync deeply into love, the most expansive and deepest vibrational frequency of the cosmos… travel into the here and now, the dwelling place of boundless love where nothing else is happening, only love is real… buen camino!

there’s an old prophecy declaring the hypocrisy and lies of our time call forth the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse – famine, sickness, war and death… fortunately, there is redemption coming from a woman, a goddess and earthmother calling to everyone, especially women, to rise up and give birth to the new for the goddess always brings forth the next evolution…

may we rise to the call and venture deep down into the heart to re-imagine a cosmos of courage, of heart, of boundless love…

A Map to the Next World

In the last days of the fourth world I wished to make a map for
those who would climb through the hole in the sky.

My only tools were the desires of humans as they emerged
from the killing fields, from the bedrooms and the kitchens.

For the soul is a wanderer with many hands and feet.

The map must be of sand and can’t be read by ordinary light. It
must carry fire to the next tribal town, for renewal of spirit.

In the legend are instructions on the language of the land, how it
was we forgot to acknowledge the gift, as if we were not in it or of it.

Take note of the proliferation of supermarkets and malls, the
altars of money. They best describe the detour from grace.

Keep track of the errors of our forgetfulness; the fog steals our
children while we sleep.

Flowers of rage spring up in the depression. Monsters are born
there of nuclear anger.

Trees of ashes wave good-bye to good-bye and the map appears to
disappear.

We no longer know the names of the birds here, how to speak to
them by their personal names.

Once we knew everything in this lush promise.

What I am telling you is real and is printed in a warning on the
map. Our forgetfulness stalks us, walks the earth behind us, leav-
ing a trail of paper diapers, needles, and wasted blood.

An imperfect map will have to do, little one.

The place of entry is the sea of your mother’s blood, your father’s
small death as he longs to know himself in another.

There is no exit.

The map can be interpreted through the wall of the intestine—a
spiral on the road of knowledge.

You will travel through the membrane of death, smell cooking
from the encampment where our relatives make a feast of fresh
deer meat and corn soup, in the Milky Way.

They have never left us; we abandoned them for science.

And when you take your next breath as we enter the fifth world
there will be no X, no guidebook with words you can carry.

You will have to navigate by your mother’s voice, renew the song
she is singing.

Fresh courage glimmers from planets.

And lights the map printed with the blood of history, a map you
will have to know by your intention, by the language of suns.

When you emerge note the tracks of the monster slayers where they
entered the cities of artificial light and killed what was killing us.

You will see red cliffs. They are the heart, contain the ladder.

A white deer will greet you when the last human climbs from the
destruction.

Remember the hole of shame marking the act of abandoning our
tribal grounds.

We were never perfect.

Yet, the journey we make together is perfect on this earth who was
once a star and made the same mistakes as humans.

We might make them again, she said.

Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end.

You must make your own map.

~ Joy Harjo ~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 216 – 7/19/2020

yes, i am home tonight after what feels like a long/short, eternal/immediate journey to the great beyond within and without… i come home after being cut off from outer world news to hear disturbing happenings of martial law being mysteriously enforced in the city where i live, a scenario i’ve long felt (since even before day one) as a very real possibility with the current administration… portalandia is rising to this injustice, this affront to democracy with great heart reminding me of another passage that happened over these days of being rebooted… Two of our great civil rights activists moved over to the other side camp…

i will catch up on what’s happening right here and now and i will honor John Lewis and CT Vivian and in this moment on this day of celebrating the astonishing light of being , i’ll concentrate on the true refuge we all share in every moment – coming home to our one heart where we real-eyes i am because you are, we all belong to each other, no one is free until we all are free….

may we all open our one heart wider and wider as we listen more and more deeply to the call of the inspirited soul to live each moment as if it’s our last in a life that goes on forever and ever… boundless love…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 215 – 7/18/2020

today calls for bearing witness, for being with much pain as the fires of purification burn away the inessential,,, such a day asks for being still and entering the rings of fire as hospitably and openly as the better angels of being can emanate… feeling it’s the moment to be like the buddha sitting under the bodhi tree after all the seeking and efforting, to be, simply be trusting the great turning is ongoing slowly, slowly, baby step by baby step… namaste

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 214 – 7/17/2020

in a field of love may we walk
all day long may we walk
through the turnings may
we walk
on the trail of pollen
may we walk
with love in our one heart may we walk
with  love before us may we walk
with love behind us may we walk
with love above us may we walk
with love all around us may we
walk
in any age, wandering on a trail of
love, lively, may we walk
in any age, wandering on a trail of
love, living again, may we walk
it is beginning in love
it is deepening in love

yes, this deep plunge calls for 1000% devotion to walking in the field of love, of wholeheartedly being the transformation we see for the cosmos both personally and collectively which, of course, are the same…

thank you for joining in this healing chant used in the chinese medicineless hospitals of already healed, already healed, already healed…

we are a caravan always moving toward our destiny of re-joy-sing in the field of always being love…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 213 – 7/16/2020

two years ago at this very time, i went off on a deep plunge, a pilgrimage of peacemaking coming from a space of not knowing, bearing witness to whatever arises and taking action… today i take off on another plunge which fro from the outer view looks so different but from the inner, it’s a very similar pilgrimage although this one has an ironic twist… and i so carry you with me in our one heart as i venture off into the unknown… happy trails to us all until we meet again….

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 212 – 7/15/2020

there’s so much to say as we are all poised on the precipice of great turning with some of us filled with varying degrees of fear and some with eagerness and all of us when we are honest knowing we are in such a prolonged moment of unknowing and uncertainty which brings up for me that image of kindergartners hand in hand with their milk and cookies at snack time in-joy-ing the warmth of softened hearts… it seems so very right to honor all beings right now with a practice of peace, a method for generating love and compassion for all… what follows is Pema’s teaching on bodhicitta practice… may we open our hearts and be loving compassion…

The best way to begin this practice is by thinking of a person whose suffering you feel strongly and whose happiness is very important to you. This could be someone you know or have known, or someone you’ve seen on the street or read about in the newspaper. The thought of certain people naturally and easily awakens bodhicitta in us: we care about them and we don’t want them to suffer. Think of such a person and, whether you feel love, gratitude or compassion for them, say, “May they be free of suffering and the root of suffering; may they enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.”

There are two aspects of working with bodhicitta, both of equal importance: one is connecting with the flow of bodhicitta we already feel, and the other is being awake to where that flow is blocked. So you can do this practice not only thinking of people you care about, but also visualizing people you don’t like. It’s important to have an unbiased, compassionate attitude toward whatever is arising.

Think, now, of an area of the world that’s in great turmoil—an area where you know people and animals are suffering a lot. When you’ve chosen the place, think of the men there, and say, “May all the men in that place be free of suffering and the root of suffering; may they enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.” Give yourself time. Take a few minutes.

Then think of all the women in that place, and wish that they too could be free of suffering and the root of suffering, and that they could enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

Then think of all of the children in that place and wish that they be free of suffering and the root of suffering, and that they might enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

Finally, think of all the animals in that place—the mammals, the birds, the fish, the insects and all the other animals—and wish that they be free of suffering and the root of suffering; that they might enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

Imagine, then, all the men in the world who are starving to death right now, and wish that they could be free of suffering and the root of suffering; that they could enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

Then imagine all the women in the world who are starving, and wish that every one of them—starving all over the world at this very moment—could be free of suffering and the root of suffering, and that they could enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

Imagine all the children who are starving at this very moment all over the earth, and wish that they, too, could be free of suffering and the root of suffering; that they could enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

Then imagine all the animals in the world who are starving to death right now, and wish that every one of them, all over the planet, could be free of suffering and the root of suffering; that they could enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

Then bring to mind all the men on this planet—whether you respect them, feel neutral toward them or consider them bad people—and wish that they could be free of suffering and the root of suffering. Wish that they could enjoy happiness and the root of happiness. Because if all of the men on this planet could be free of the root of suffering and could enjoy the root of happiness—if they could be free of all the self-absorption that causes so much pain—we would be at peace.

Do the same with all the women on the earth—whether you like them or dislike them or feel neutral about them—and wish that they too could all be free of suffering. If all the women on the earth could be free of the root of suffering and enjoy the root of happiness, the world would be at peace.

Now do the same with all the children on the earth—whether you like them, dislike them or feel neutral about them. Wish that they could all be free of suffering. Because if all the children on the earth could be free of the root of suffering and could enjoy the root of happiness, the world would be at peace.

Finally, do the same with all the animals on the earth—whether you like them, don’t like them or feel neutral about them—and wish that they too could all be free of suffering. If all the animals on the earth could be free of the root of suffering and enjoy the root of happiness, the world would be at peace.

sometimes when we do this kind of bodhicitta practice, we touch on people who immediately awaken warm feelings in us, other times, though, we just feel numb and then there are the times when we contact the hardness of our heart… noticing this shows us when we’re open and when we’re closed… notice all of these things with compassion and lovingkindness towards ourselves as the more we’re able to feel tenderness towards ourselves, the more easily it flows to others… as the airlines say, put your oxygen mask on first… boundless love…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 211 – 7/14/2020

welcome to Bastille Day and Universal Harmony Day, perfect for celebrating our interbeing as vessels of great mystery shining forth luminously, bastions of living freely…

i’ll share now a brief meditation from Parker Palmer on life on the Möbius strip…

~

“The curious object pictured is a Möbius strip. If you take your index finger and trace what seems to be the outside surface, you suddenly find yourself on what seems to be the inside surface. Continue along what seems to be the inside surface, and you suddenly find yourself on what seems to be the outside surface.

I need to keep saying “what seems to be” because the Möbius strip has only one side! What look like its inner and outer surfaces flow into each other seamlessly, co-creating the whole. The first time I saw a Möbius strip, I thought, “Amazing! That’s exactly how life works!”

Whatever is inside of us continually flows outward, helping to form or deform the world — depending on what we send out. Whatever is outside us continually flows inward, helping to form or deform us — depending on how we take it in. Bit by bit, we and our world are endlessly re-made in this eternal inner-outer exchange.

Much depends on what we choose to put into the world from within ourselves — and much depends on how we handle what the world sends back to us. As Thomas Merton said:

“We don’t have to adjust to the world. We can adjust the world.”

Here’s the question I’ve been asking myself ever since I understood that we live our lives on the Möbius strip:

How can I make more life-giving choices about what to put into the world and how to deal with what the world sends back — choices that might bring new life to me, to others, and to the world we share?”

~

yes to there’s only one of us here, all that is confluing, flowing together, dancing into the stillpoint, dancing out from the stillpoint seamlessly always connected, always interbeing, always flowing in the seasky of love energy empowering luminosity and shining the light so brightly that all our relations see the way home, home to our one heart… and, yes, to the beautiful question that we are all being asked to live in this moment of great turning…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 210 – 7/13/2020

deep within our ancient bloodstream

may we listen for the lost chords’ echoes

of a mystical, ethereal consciousness

where we all swim in an ocean of flow

~

thank you river of life for teaching us that WAre The Eternal Radiance, that Water is Life, that water renews life and is the womb of the birth-death-rebirth cycle we are always flowing in… what a moon of baptism, a month of celebrating plunging into rainbow mystery, into the deeps of the ocean of being, the boundless spaciousness of the stillpoint where there’s only the dance…. and, we are in such re-joy-sing with the water protectors who have accomplished what was considered impossible – shutting down both the Atlantic Coast and Dakota Access Pipelines by listening to the inner call as to how to contribute to the continuance of the world – what a mighty contribution Standing Rock offers sacredly…

~

All meaningful change requires a genuine surrender. Yet, to surrender does not simply mean to give up; more to give up one’s usual self and allow something other to enter and redeem the lesser sense of self. In surrendering, we fall to the bottom of our arguments and seek to touch the origin of our lives again. Only then can we see as we were meant to see, from the depth of the psyche where the genius resides, where the seeds of wisdom and purpose were planted before we were born. We fall in order to find what has secretly carried us all along and would now become consciously known.

In genuine surrender, we arrive at a silent place, a still point within the turmoil of life; the place of baptism and renewal. Baptism is one of the oldest rituals of humanity, one that involves an immersion in the waters of life in order to revive the vitality of one’s being. Baptism requires a symbolic return to the watery womb of the world, a return to primordial origins in order to briefly dissolve the fixations of the personality and renew one’s spirit for life. Such an immersion requires a surrender that can feel like death. In a sense, part of us does die as we let go of our current form of “halfness” in order to feel whole. Baptism repeats the archetypal pattern of birth, death, and rebirth as a “little death” is needed for a greater rejuvenation and resurgence to occur…

Any meaningful descent can be felt by the soul as an attempt to renew oneself by touching the origins of life again. The ego fears that it will die or disappear in the waters of the deep unconscious. But the soul knows that any descent in life can become a potential baptism that will return us to the full potential at the origin of our lives—back there at the beginning; down there near the source, where the underlying unity of life waits to be found and be touched again…

Something ancient in us bends us toward the origins of the whole thing. We either drown in the splits and confusions of our lives, or we surrender to something greater than ourselves. The water of our deepest troubles is also the water of our own solution. In surrender, we descend down to the bottom of it and back to the beginning of it; down into what is divided in order to get back to the wholeness before the split, all healing seeks what alone can truly unify our spirit.”

~ Michael Meade, “The Genius Myth” ~

may we be baptized to live wholeheartedly as if this moment is the last in this incarnation… to love with wild abandon… to laugh from a deep well of joy…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 209/7 Years – 2400 Days – 7/12/2020

THE INNER IS FOUNDATION OF THE OUTER
THE STILL IS MASTER OF THE RESTLESS
THE SAGE TRAVELS ALL DAY
YET NEVER LEAVES HER INNER TREASURE.”

“Empty yourself of everything.  Let the mind rest at peace.  The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.  They grow and flourish and then return to the Source.  Returning to the Source is stillness, which is the way of Nature.” 

~Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching ~

~

on this day of celebrating the astonishing light of our being and honoring the call to come home to the silence of our one heart, i am re-treating in a dark dream cave where a peaceful stream flows… it is as if i’m in a float tank sans outer sensory stimulation… i re-member five decades ago experiencing a great awakening after real-eye-sing original sin is separation and almost immediately seeing a clear vision of true reality as the original blessing of oneness…

five years ago on this very day, i am in a parallel rhythm metaphorically floating in the dark in a flotation tank where i begin a lucid cycling journey following behind on my bike the divine child named bliss and her father on their bicycles… i carry my singing bowl in one of my arms and i come to a space where i must stop… here, i begin a wondrous journey exploring open heart u, a dream i’ve been incubating many moons… how much fun to wander these grounds. to meet people who are drawn to be in beloved community, a sangha of the one heart of boundless love where i connect with so many other dog star offspring here on planet in this moment to guide in the opening of inner vision, intuition, to truly serve as seeing eye dogs guiding the way along the pathless path…

it is done, blessed be, we are on our way to living freely…