Monthly Archives: November 2023

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 349- 11/30/2023

Posted on by

in this moment of eternity, in this moonth of namaste, on this pilgrimage along the rainbow trail and in this life of being in the unknowable, in uncertainty, a moon, a month where we have taken a long pregnant pause in the cauldron of transformation luxuriating in being here now in this powerful portal moment of eternity which asks us to imagine the world anew and choose to walk through it lightly, without past baggage, in an awakened way, let us bless this space between us, this numinous space, this sacred space of vast open spaciousness where the spirit of all that is always flows through us, where we are one heart always being love…

blessing this space, this unified field of the divine, this pathless path of awakening the heart, of cultivating bodhicitta with one small step and another and another, this journey of healing, of becoming more and more whole as we transmute the holes into the holy, the wholeness we always are even if we have forgotten, numbed out to or in denial about true reality…thanks be for it all – every breath, every moment, every relative, every trial, every tribulation, every suffering, every liberation – for everything is the teacher bringing us to this moment of peace, of love, of joy, of harmony,, of wisdom, of compassion and grace…

thanks be for you and your amazing gifts of kindling fire, the inner flame of spirit, of inspiration, of breath, of our breathing together through our one heart and of our real-eye-sing we are one seamless web interdependent on each of our relatives picking up the thread destined for me and thee to re-weave the web into an ever more expansive and boundless tapestry with beauty behind us, before us, beside us, surrounding us, within us blessing us, blissing us, dissolving us into great mystery…

to anchor in our intentions for this moon, for all moons, let’s gather ’round the ceremonial fire on the completion day of this moonth taking each other’s hands to conspire, to breathe together, to let go fully getting down to bare bones, shedding the skins of conditioning, simply breathing into now, this wild and precious moment of presence with nothing to do  and nowhere to go , simply be now here in loving presence…

with our next inspiration, listen to this breath flowing through, animating us, expanding our being and feel the golden light of the cosm showering us, pouring in, hollowing in, flooding all the arteries and veins in the deep river below the river flowing within…

let us take one more breath together in the river of namaste re-joy-sing in the place where spirit lives, re-joy-sing in the space which is of love and light and peace and truth, re-joy-sing in the sun and moon and stars above,  re-joy-sing in the fire and earth and water and air, re-joy-sing in the river below, re-joy-sing in the center within, re-joy-sing in our recognizing ourselves in each other re-membering we are one, onederfilled heart of creative imagination so designed for these challenging days of re-weaving the world with wisdom and wonder thus co-creating a world that works for all relatives…

yes, let us take courage and be of strong heart to awaken the dream of the world we all share and long to real-eyes… a world of peace built on justice and guided by our essence, our essence of love… let us be repairers of the breach finding the way to relate to and listen to each other taking deep breaths and opening ourselves, our one heart to great mystery trusting a greater force beyond understanding is orchestrating the symphony while we play our parts as gracefully as is given to us… a simple task but not an easy one this flowing with unfolding mystery… empty, empty, coming home to our true heart of intending a world that works for all…

thank you for walking this pathless path of heart with me, staying off the bypass, the external to turn within , listening to the core. following your wyrd, your genius, your soul song attuned to perfection with whom and how you are to be… aho!

here’s to our continued and perpetual weaving the world with wisdom as we wander in wonder welcoming our eternal inspirited souls traveling as one with the caravan of re-joy-sing…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 348- 11/29/2023

Posted on by

today, for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, I turn to Mazin Qumsiyeh, a professor at Bethlehem University in Occupied Palestine who I met at a peace circle a few years ago to explain what this day means and i call on the force in the Universe that produces miracles referred to by another freedom worker who worked ceaselessly to free the Indian people from British rule:

“29 November was declared by the UN as an International Day of Solidarity
with the Palestinian People. The date was picked because in 1947 on that
date the UN General assembly under pressure from the US abrogated (in a
first of its kind) the UN Charter by voting to recommend partition of
Palestine to give 55% of the country to a “Jewish state” when Jews were
less than 30% of the population and most of them colonial settlers (5%
native Jews). This abrogated the right of self determination. But the
resolution specifically called for an economic union and NO ETHNIC
CLEANSING. Ethnic cleansing happened and continue to happen with US
support. Thus, on this
day of solidarity, all Palestinains, Israelis and Internationals of
conscience call on all people not yet engaged in this global uprising
(intifada) to expand and accelerate action. Without YOUR collective
actions, the genocide will resume and the war criminals will not be held to
account. Stay Human and Keep Palestine alive.”

Like you, simply hearing of the daily death counts and the destruction of most peoples’ homes breaks my heart and all the children whose lives are snuffed out is too much to absorb – may we continue to wage peace and show the government leaders we will not stop until there is a ceasefire, period.

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 347- 11/28/2023

Posted on by

how i love this quest ion and how often i find myself living it… this koan so perfect for so many of the last moments of eternity and for these times we are in with right action such a pertinent query as dramatic tectonic change floods our inner and outer island home… an ancient question, always relevant, it seems to comes with being human… in this season of chaosmos with so much shedding going on so our new skins and new world can form, i notice how much more patience is needed…

speaking of ancient questions and koans, here is one suitable for now:

A student asked, “When times of great difficulty visit us, how should we meet them?”

The teacher said, “Welcome.”

so many moments of late of coming to a deep space of silence, so many moments of waiting for the transcendent function to kick in, for the right action, the movement of aligning with true self, source, great mystery to arise, so many moments of listening to the sage words of welcoming the moment rather than seeing it as an obstacle, an obstruction, so many moments of surrendering how i envisioned life would flow to go with the true flow…

as we gather together in the boat to cross to the other shore, may we all rest in equanimity keeping the boat steady as we patiently live the question from an openhearted space until the water clears revealing the other shore and the tree of life, the anima mundi rooted and expansive bridging heavenearth welcoming the moment…

deep bows…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 346- 11/27/2023

Posted on by

welcome to the next to last full moon of this calendar year and what a potent dragon moon in gemini conjunct with mars and venus so that you may well be joining me in feeling the electric twins energies of shaking things up simultaneously with the energies of overwhelm as we come deeper and deeper into the culmination of so many cycles in this turn around the sun of transformation moving from death to resurrection…

so, let’s come together in these oh so powerful energies to cultivate bodhicitta, the awakened heart, by joining our hands and feeling the love we are passing from one to another to another and with each passing of this peace passing all understanding, the love quickens and progresses geometrically as we slow down syncing in rhythm with our earth mother as we breathe her deeply into our bellies radiating her unwavering support into all the trillions and trillions of wild cells of our one body…

and now, let us call in and thank all ancestors as we take our seats around the fire with the seven generations that have been and the seven generations that will be tuning into our one heart of boundless love and listening for what our awakened heart wants to tell us in this moment… breathing in suffering, breathing out liberation… breathing in dying to the old, breathing out rising into the new…. breathing in release, breathing out celebration….

and if we are called to do so, release with love any hurts, things that do not nourish any longer into the fire thanking these teachers for all they have contributed… when the last peace is released into the fire, embrace a bit of the sacred fire and bring it to the heart igniting a re-membering of all the love we are and how that is to inform, ensoul our every breath, our every moment of eternity…

may we be filled with lovingkindness and compassion, may we be well, may we be peaceful and at ease and may we be free to be the fullest expression of our awakened heart one with the tides of whatever is…

now that we are of one heartmind, i invite our taking a few moments to gather and collect our attention through the art of inquiry, asking repeatedly the same question ( a la A H Almaas) leaving empty space following the asking of each quest ion for us to listen deeply as our deep breaths through the core of our being take us more and more into the stillpoint, the great silence, the great cosmic womb, birthing circle of creation…

~

tell me a way you experience the deep radiance of the present moment…. thank you…

tell me a way you experience the deep radiance of the present moment…. thank you…

tell me a way you experience the deep radiance of the present moment…. thank you…

tell me a way you experience the deep radiance of the present moment…. thank you...

tell me a way you experience the deep radiance of the present moment…. thank you…

~

as we rest in the vast spaciousness of this moment, the only moment, may we look through the eyes of the stillpoint of creation seeing the beauty and love and gratitude and wisdom and wonder before us behind us beside us below us above us encircling us in an ever-widening ring of compassion radiating out and in in rhythm with the breath…

deep bows to all our relations…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 345- 11/26/2023

Posted on by

in honor of being in a moonth celebrating Native American Heritage, here’s a poem from our (USA’s) poet laureate Joy Harjo entitled Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings…

“1. SET CONFLICT RESOLUTION GROUND RULES:

Recognize whose lands these are on which we stand.
Ask the deer, turtle, and the crane.
Make sure the spirits of these lands are respected and treated with goodwill.
The land is a being who remembers everything.
You will have to answer to your children, and their children, and theirs—
The red shimmer of remembering will compel you up the night to walk the perimeter of truth for understanding.
As I brushed my hair over the hotel sink to get ready I heard:
By listening we will understand who we are in this holy realm of words.
Do not parade, pleased with yourself.
You must speak in the language of justice.

2. USE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS THAT DISPLAY AND ENHANCE MUTUAL TRUST AND RESPECT:

If you sign this paper we will become brothers. We will no longer fight. We will give you this land and these waters “as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers run.”

The lands and waters they gave us did not belong to them to give. Under false pretenses we signed. After drugging by drink, we signed. With a mass of gunpower pointed at us, we signed. With a flotilla of war ships at our shores, we signed. We are still signing. We have found no peace in this act of signing.

A casino was raised up over the gravesite of our ancestors. Our own distant cousins pulled up the bones of grandparents, parents, and grandchildren from their last sleeping place. They had forgotten how to be human beings. Restless winds emerged from the earth when the graves were open and the winds went looking for justice.

If you raise this white flag of peace, we will honor it.

At Sand Creek several hundred women, children, and men were slaughtered in an unspeakable massacre, after a white flag was raised. The American soldiers trampled the white flag in the blood of the peacemakers.

There is a suicide epidemic among native children. It is triple the rate of the rest of America. “It feels like wartime,” said a child welfare worker in South Dakota.

If you send your children to our schools we will train them to get along in this changing world. We will educate them.

We had no choice. They took our children. Some ran away and froze to death. If they were found they were dragged back to the school and punished. They cut their hair, took away their language, until they became as strangers to themselves even as they became strangers to us.

If you sign this paper we will become brothers. We will no longer fight. We will give you this land and these waters in exchange “as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers run.”

Put your hand on this bible, this blade, this pen, this oil derrick, this gun and you will gain trust and respect with us. Now we can speak together as one.

We say, put down your papers, your tools of coercion, your false promises, your posture of superiority and sit with us before the fire. We will share food, songs, and stories. We will gather beneath starlight and dance, and rise together at sunrise.

The sun rose over the Potomac this morning, over the city surrounding the white house.
It blazed scarlet, a fire opening truth.
White House, or Chogo Hvtke, means the house of the peacekeeper, the keepers of justice.
We have crossed this river to speak to the white leader for peace many times
Since these settlers first arrived in our territory and made this their place of governance.
These streets are our old trails, curved to fit around trees.

3. GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK:

We speak together with this trade language of English. This trade language enables us to speak across many language boundaries. These languages have given us the poets:

Ortiz, Silko, Momaday, Alexie, Diaz, Bird, Woody, Kane, Bitsui, Long Soldier, White, Erdrich, Tapahonso, Howe, Louis, Brings Plenty, okpik, Hill, Wood, Maracle, Cisneros, Trask, Hogan, Dunn, Welch, Gould…

The 1957 Chevy is unbeatable in style. My broken-down one-eyed Ford will have to do. It holds everyone: Grandma and grandpa, aunties and uncles, the children and the babies, and all my boyfriends. That’s what she said, anyway, as she drove off for the Forty-Nine with all of us in that shimmying wreck.

This would be no place to be without blues, jazz—Thank you/mvto to the Africans, the Europeans sitting in, especially Adolphe Sax with his saxophones… Don’t forget that at the center is the Mvskoke ceremonial circles. We know how to swing. We keep the heartbeat of the earth in our stomp dance feet.

You might try dancing theory with a bustle, or a jingle dress, or with turtles strapped around your legs. You might try wearing colonization like a heavy gold chain around a pimp’s neck.

4. REDUCE DEFENSIVENESS AND BREAK THE DEFENSIVENESS CHAIN:

I could hear the light beings as they entered every cell. Every cell is a house of the god of light, they said. I could hear the spirits who love us stomp dancing. They were dancing as if they were here, and then another level of here, and then another, until the whole earth and sky was dancing.

We are here dancing, they said. There was no there.

There was no  “I”  or “you.”

There was us; there was “we.”

There we were as if we were the music.

You cannot legislate music to lockstep nor can you legislate the spirit of the music to stop at political boundaries—

—Or poetry, or art, or anything that is of value or matters in this world, and the next worlds.

This is about getting to know each other.

We will wind up back at the blues standing on the edge of the flatted fifth about to jump into a fierce understanding together.

5. ELIMINATE NEGATIVE ATTITUDES DURING CONFLICT:

A panther poised in the cypress tree about to jump is a panther poised in a cypress tree about to jump.

The panther is a poem of fire green eyes and a heart charged by four winds of four directions.

The panther hears everything in the dark: the unspoken tears of a few hundred human years, storms that will break what has broken his world, a bluebird swaying on a branch a few miles away.

He hears the death song of his approaching prey:

I will always love you, sunrise.
I belong to the black cat with fire green eyes.
There, in the cypress tree near the morning star.

6. AND, USE WHAT YOU LEARN TO RESOLVE YOUR OWN CONFLICTS AND TO MEDIATE OTHERS’ CONFLICTS:

When we made it back home, back over those curved roads
that wind through the city of peace, we stopped at the
doorway of dusk as it opened to our homelands.
We gave thanks for the story, for all parts of the story
because it was by the light of those challenges we knew
ourselves—
We asked for forgiveness.
We laid down our burdens next to each other.“

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 344- 11/25/2023

Posted on by

’tis the season of things falling away

of the great turning and looking within

all the while smiling thank you, thank you, thank you

~

with everyday being a day of gratitude on our earth mother, may we all be filled with Wopida Tanka, Great Thanksgiving, every day for the boundless gifts always being showered upon us…

 “Each day has a moment of eternity waiting for you. Each day has a portal, a threshold, a liminal moment in which everything could open up and reveal itself to the eye that can see.” ~William Blake ~

here’s a long moment of eternity for us to share and a onederful practice to begin and end the day with, a wonder-filled way to luxuriate in reverence and devocean in the river below the river, in the deep stillness of the running wave where the dance of life begins…

Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address Greetings to the Natural World

“The People

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Waters

We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms- waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.

Now our minds are one.

The Fish

We turn our minds to the all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Plants

Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.

The Food Plants

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting of thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Medicine Herbs

Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.

Now our minds are one.

The Animals

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are honored by them when they give up their lives so we may use their bodies as food for our people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.

 Now our minds are one

The Trees

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many people of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.

Now our minds are one.

The Birds

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds-from the smallest to the largest-we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

 The Four Winds

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help us to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.

Now our minds are one.

 The Thunderers

Now we turn to the west where our grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We are thankful that they keep those evil things made by Okwiseres underground. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.

Now our minds are one.

 The Sun

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.

Now our minds are one.

 Grandmother Moon

We put our minds together to give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of woman all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.

 Now our minds are one.

The Stars

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to the Stars.

Now our minds are one.

The Enlightened Teachers

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring teachers.

 Now our minds are one.

The Creator

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

 Now our minds are one.

Closing Words

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.”

~

let us close this ceremony with the lotus of gratitude meditation by curling all fingers close to the heart and one by one uncurl a finger like a lotus petal rising from the mud and sound a gratitude for this moment continuing until all fingers are unfurled like a beautiful lotus in full bloom  with its roots grounded in the mud…. now, weave your fingers together and place them on your heart for all of the bounteous thanksgivings to enrich the core of being, our one great heart…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 343- 11/24/2023

Posted on by

there is so much to celebrate in this moment of eternity, this moment of the astonishing light of our interbeing…

the state of aloha is still alive today following day before yesterday’s celebration as many across the planet come to honor Masahisa Goi with Global Peace Pole Day on what would be his 107th birthday… this movement began in the Asaksa district of Tokyo where Masahisa Goi often called Goisen was born in 1916… growing up to be a mystic, a visionary, a spiritual teacher and a great lover of literature and the arts, he was a prolific writer of books and thousands of articles, but most importantly, he is known for authoring the universal message, invocation and prayer:

May peace prevail on earth.

Goi was 28 when the atomic bombs fell on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
which was a pivotal moment that shaped his lifelong mission as a peacemaker…
soon after the surrender of Japan, Goi immersed himself in spiritual studies and healing work and at age 33 he reached the so called enlightened state of being and
real-eyesed that Japan has a mission to send a strong message of peace out to the world…

with much suffering and poverty in post war Japan, his loving presence brought great comfort to the hearts and minds of many who gathered around him; his ultimate teaching was to ask everyone to immerse themselves wholeheartedly in the daily recitation of the peace prayer, may peace prevail on earth, which fosters personal as well as planetary peace leading to the simultaneous awakening of the individual self as well as the conscious awakening of humanity…

his grassroots movement now involves people from 193 countries who have planted over 250,000 needles or peace poles in the earth over the last fifty years to ground and root this lasting peace in the stillpoint of creation…may we take this moment to generate and re-generate waves of brilliant light…

as we close this annual celebration of Goisen and his song of peace that cleanses us and activates our personal and collective nervous system to flow in harmony with all our relations, let us close our eyes and tune into the one cosmic heart where peace prevails for a moment of peace for the cosmos…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 342- 11/23/2023

Posted on by

in solidarity with our brothers and sisters and Mother Earth, we join in spirit with the Native Americans, the first people of Turtle Island on the 54th commemoration of a National Day of mourning real-eye-sing Thanksgiving framed as the Wampanoag people welcoming hapless English refugees at Plymouth—a fictive account promulgated two centuries later during the American Civil War—is extremely problematic… during those two centuries, European settlers invaded Native lands, slaughtered Native families, and destroyed resources needed for survival of the Indigenous inhabitants of what became the Colonies, and then the United States of America… once the Civil War ended, Union generals took their battle-hardened troops westward wreaking destruction on Native populations and herding people onto so-called reservations, internment camps…

it’s a bloody and shameful series of chapters in American history that we have not dealt with nor reconciled… so, the question becomes, should we end the Thanksgiving holiday because of the fictitious overlay of pseudo-harmony and subsequent white-washing of history that it conveys? do we replace it, as the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) have done since 1970, with a National Day of Mourning honoring Native ancestors and their struggles to survive today and educate Americans about the actual history of the holiday? can we reframe this American holiday to include Indigenous Peoples, European “settlers” (itself a problematic term), and the continuing waves of immigrants from around the world seeking a better life on these shores?

as the sun shines on truth truth, let us recommit ourselves to building that “more perfect union” and making a future where all people are respected, appreciated, and provided with the tools for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” we must repair the breach with reparations which are the ultimate way to build power in exploited communities… as we build bridges from the ashes of the racist and genocidal colonial past and present and begin to relate to each other with the understanding we belong to each other, we come into the sacred space of true gratitude for all our relations…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 341- 11/22/2023

Posted on by

“… And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights — the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation — the right to breathe air as nature provided it — the right of future generations to a healthy existence?” President John F. Kennedy, June 10, 1963

today is a special day of re-membering and entering the deep silence of the inner ground and gathering seeds for the almost new moon in sag……

as i till this organic field of consciousness, i am transported to that friday sixty years ago and into my 12 year old self sitting in my 7th grade classroom in a sleepy, backwater town… the world took a dramatic turn when the principal appeared at the door of our classroom with a newsflash: the president has been shot and is dead… i re-member my outrage now as if those words were just pronounced and how i could not believe how cavalierly he uttered them and with a smile… we were shooed out to recess where all of my classmates circled around me knowing JFK was like a member of our family… three years earlier, I had traipsed around the state with my father to his speeches and to his senate office in DC and i can still feel my heart almost beating out of my chest every time i’d get to greet him and shake his hand… and then the inauguration and his address that stirred a nation and now, 1000 days later, we’d be heading back to DC for the state funeral… today, i’m both a 9 year old living in Camelot on the brink of a new world and a 12 year old taking comfort in hearing strains of “We Shall Overcome” rising from the somber and dignified crowds of people gathered to say goodby to our fallen leader…

may we take this moment, this beautiful moment, to salute all poetic peace pilgrims with JFK’s invocation of peace in the quotations above and the video below of the whole speech that is magnificent…   these quotations come from this greatest speech of his ever, a commencement address given at American University some four and a half months before he was gunned down in Dallas… these words live on eternally as a clarion call for a peace for all time…

may we all awaken to the wisdom of this radical (rooted) vision of peace…

“Oh Great Spirit who dwells in the sky,
lead us to the path of peace and understanding,
let all of us live together as brothers and sisters.
Our lives are so short here, walking upon Mother Earth’s surface,
let our eyes be opened to all the blessings you have given us.
Please hear our prayers, Oh Great Spirit.”

~Native American Prayer~

~

“PEACE IS A DAILY, A WEEKLY, A MONTHLY PROCESS, GRADUALLY CHANGING OPINIONS, SLOWLY ERODING OLD BARRIERS, QUIETLY BUILDING NEW STRUCTURES. AND HOWEVER UNDRAMATIC THE PURSUIT OF PEACE, THAT PURSUIT MUST GO ON.”

~JFK~

~

in this creation moment of eternity bathed in the waters of gaia’s womb, may we wage peace…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 340- 11/21/2023

Posted on by

looking all around, we are filled with gratitude

looking above, we are filled with wisdom

looking below, we are filled with compassion

looking within, we are filled  with true nature

living as one  in peace and harmony

always walking in beauty

~

Song of Peace

“We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which
we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times
keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings
and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with
generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature
and control our greed for material things, knowing that
our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being
for who he is, for who she is,
reaching to the spirit that is within,
knowing the power of each individual to change the world.”

~ Jane Goodall ~

may it be so…

~