On the day I die, when I’m being carried
toward the grave, don’t weep. Don’t say,

He’s gone! He’s gone. Death has nothing to do with going away. The sun sets and

the moon sets, but they’re not gone.
Death is a coming together. The tomb

looks like a prison, but it’s really
release into union. The human seed goes

down in the ground like a bucket into
the well where Joseph is. It grows and

comes up full of some unimagined beauty.
Your mouth closes here, and immediately

opens with a shout of joy there.

~ Rumi ~

~

on this third day of celebrating soulstice, of standing still with the sun, of celebrating the return of the light, I hear late in the afternoon that Ram Dass died yesterday… it seems the blink of an eye when Ram Dass at his last annual retreat on Maui was chanting the first mantra he shared from his guru…

shree ram jai ram jai jai ram… over and over again we chant this mantra of grace… later, Ram Dass will go into his signature mantra… I am loving awareness… in celebration of his life, his light, let us join together in loving awareness…

~

let’s take this moment to conspire, to breathe together in gratitude gathering the quintessence re-membering who we truly are… loving sparks of light…

we are not these eyes and what they see, we are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially…

settle more deeply into spacious awareness saying… we are not these ears and what they hear, we are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially…

breathing in and out simply being and saying… we are not this mouth and what it tastes, we are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially… we are not these hands and what they touch, we are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially… we are not this nose and what it smells, we are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially…

now noticing thoughts arising and memories saying… we are not these thoughts, we are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially… we are not these memories, we are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially…

now seeing the whole body and feeling the body from within the body saying… we are not this body, Iwe are the soul of loving awareness quintessentially…

breathing in feeling simply loving awareness… breathing out letting go of everything except resting in the soul of loving awareness quintessentially…

thank you for filling us with lovingkindness

thank you for supporting us in everything

thank you for holding us in peace and ease

shanti, shanti, shantihi…

now, feel this healing light flooding every cell of our being dissolving all rigid, inflexible, habitual ways of being into patterns resonant with quintessential soular consciousness…

let’s pass this gift forward sending the divine light of love through our raised hands… feel the light emanating from your hand and feel this energy of light attracting more and more light, more and more love with every pulse we transmit into ever widening circles…

~

thank you for walking us home…