Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 342 – 11/23/2019

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Named Now! 23 2019 Rumi-Eagle-Cloud-

breathing in, i am home

deepening into lovingkindness

flowing into grace

~

today is a wu wei day… resting, luxuriating in simply being… welcoming, open, nomading, divine, embra-sing, re-joy-sing…

~

loving the endless path we all traverse

thankful for this moment to converse

silently with ocean, trees, clouds, rain, new moon

gracefully dwelling in mother water’s womb

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yes, heart, you are a wonderful bird

flying peace around the world

wings outspread across wide skies

whispering a way of being wise…

re-member, my children, we are all one

breathed into being under central sun

sol reaching beyond the flowing sea

stretching now across eternity

in pitch perfect harmony

~

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 341 – 11/22/2019

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Named Now! 22 2019 PEACE-JFK

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

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as i till this organic field of consciousness, i am transported to that friday fifty-six years ago when we heard  JFK had been assassinated, where i wander through the field and float in the waters under the bridge also re-membering the journey of grace last year  on this day  as i member this day, this moment of cross-pollination of re-membrance and presence in the present moment…

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may we take this moment, this beautiful moment, to salute all poetic peace pilgrims with JFK’s invocation of peace…   this quotation comes from his greatest speech 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…

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

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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 bathed in the waters of gaia’s womb, may we wage peace…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 340 – 11/21/2019

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Named Now! 21 2019 Yosemite-Fall-Reflection-1024x681

with Thanksgiving Day rapidly approaching in the USA and everyday being a day of gratitude on our earth mother, may we all be filled with Wopida Tanka, Great Thanksgiving, for this day that came into being thanks to the compassion of the indigenous for the colonists’suffering… may we all be filled with Wopida Tanka, Great Thanksgiving, every day for the boundless gifts always being showered upon us…

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let us dance and sing these sacred words together…

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Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of your friends and relatives, and look upon them with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of your pledge.

Be fair in your judgment, and guarded in your speech. Be unjust to no one. Be as a lamp to them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, and a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression.

Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all your acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.

Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of humankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility.

~The Blessed Beauty~
(The Spiritual Teacher who revealed this Sacred Teaching, also known as the Ancient of Days)

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let us close 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…

~

being thanks with every breath for gratitude is the greatest and parent of all virtues…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 339 – 11/20/2019

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Named Now! 20 2019 Star Reaching

it’s World Children’s Day today and there’s a very special field  for us to gather in…

“At its heart, “Somewhere,” the latest song from Portland, Maine’s Pihcintu Chorus, is an anthem for universal tolerance and acceptance. The song is soulfully delivered by Shy, an 11-year-old former refugee from Namibia. On the chorus, Shy is joined by the other 33 members of the group and it is clear from the emotion and power that this song is not simply an anthem; the lyrics are the lived experience of all the young women singing. “If we believe, we can achieve / We can be anything on Earth we want to be” they sing.

The song encapsulates the mission and vision of the chorus. Pihcintu is a word from the Passamaquoddy, an indigenous community from northeastern North America. It means “When she sings, her voice carries far” — and it’s the perfect name for this chorus.

Pihcintu is comprised of refugee and immigrant girls from 22 countries who have made Portland, Maine their new home. They come from countries like Burkina Faso, Iraq, Vietnam and El Salvador. Many fled war, violence and persecution, but have found safety in the Pine Tree State’s vibrant refugee community.

“When I hear the voices of the Pihcintu Chorus, I’m filled with such hope for their futures,” said Anne-Marie Grey, Executive Director of USA for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. “Through song, these young women and girls are ensuring their voices are heard in their communities and they are doing it in such a beautiful manner.”

Ensuring that refugees’ voices are heard is what inspired Con Fullam, an award-winning producer, musician and songwriter, to found Pihcintu in 2004.

“From Syria to Central America, UNHCR works tirelessly to provide the helpless with hope. The members of the chorus hope that this video raises awareness of the dire circumstances of so many and encourages those who view it to take action for their fellow world citizens,” said Fullam.

For its members, Pihcintu is more than a chorus. It’s a safe space to make friends, acclimate to their adopted country and hone their language skills. Of the more than 300 young women who have been a part of Pihcintu since it began, 100 percent have graduated from high school and 85 percent have gone on to pursue post-secondary educational opportunities.

How You Can Help…

World Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20 each year to improve child welfare and to promote togetherness among children worldwide. With your help, more children like Shy will have the opportunity to build a peaceful life and give their family a bright future.”

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 338 – 11/19/2019

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Named Now! 19 2019 Peace Pilgrim on Walking

today is Lhabab Duchen, or Festival of the Descent from Heaven, one of the four Buddhist festivals celebrating major events in the life of the Buddha… Lhabab Duchen  commemorates the day that Buddha returned to our world after a period of teaching in the higher realms following his enlightenment and is traditionally a joyful holiday imbued with celebration and rejoicing at one’s great fortune when  auspicious activities are multiplied many times on this day…

so, let us wander, saunter, enter the holy inner ground of deep being, vast groundless sky of timeless spaciousness…

wandering is meditation with no beginning or ending, always new adventuring deeper into great mystery…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 337 – 11/18/2019

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Named Now! 18 2019 peace-in-the-world

the whirlwind has dropped me  today in a space of deep repose and inner groundedness contemplating what my heart, our one heart, has to say in this moment…

how we get there is where we get which is why it is critical for us to come together and stand for love… this path of peacefully saying no to hatred in all its forms in an affirmative, fiercely loving way, speaking truth to power is the way of all successful movements effecting lasting change…  when we use tactics of force, words of denigration and the like, this is what we’ll create…

so, i’ll say again and again, now is the moment to dig deep within right down to the core, to the stillpoint, to our essence, our essence of love and to be impeccable in returning with every breath to the wellspring of source…

this moment as i breathe peace, as we breathe peace together, may we breathe in Alexis’ Letter of Peace written four years ago and still such a timely epistle for us all to live, to breathe with every breath…

~

Dear friends from around the world,

I am writing to you from Montréal. On Friday, I lost my cousin during the attacks in France. Faced with this terrible news, I cried. Eric was the father of a little girl and his partner is due to give birth in two months. So many things are jostling in my mind.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

Eric, you were (and you are in my heart) a being filled with joy. I will pay homage to you by being joyful and mindful to offer joy to others. Today, I wish to carry that joy into this violence, this nameless suffering. You are an example, and I will follow your lead on this path of joy and openness of spirit.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

I have not given into the anger or the desire for revenge. Because it is anger and revenge that brought on these odious acts. Today, I wish only to hold those dear to me, and those whom I don’t know, in my arms and tell them that I love them. Only love will get us out of this circle of suffering.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

In losing a loved one, I am aware of what people go through daily, whether they are from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, but also the United States. Every day, people around the world are killed by gunfires. Today, I have the opportunity to join them, their loved ones, and send them my compassion.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

To hatred, to Mara and to all those who fall into it, I see you. You are nothing but an illusion and I will not identify with you. On my path of peace, there are no exceptions. Facing suffering, I observe and I let go. I do not oppose. I do not identify. I also offer love to these men who kill. Even if I completely condemn their actions, I cannot forget that they are a part of our collective suffering. I vow to work on my own personal sufferings, in order to lessen, in my humble way, our collective suffering.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

Today, people are speaking with one another, opening doors that were once shut, and are in solidarity. Even if this wave is only for now, I do want to see this presence, this support, this love for one another. I am sad that this only occurs in moments of despair, but I am happy to tell myself that it is always present. I vow to maintain this spirit of openness within myself and to accompany others to open themselves.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

Alexis from Wake Up Montréal

~

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 336 – 11/17/2019

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Named Now! 17 2019 Blessing-Magical-Pilgrimage-045-768x1154

on this day of  sharing with you an image depicting the astonishing light of your being, i also want to offer, dear anam caras, soul friends, deep bows and overflowing thanks for your astonishing light that rekindles my own when the weight of the world becomes so heavy and then i feel your beating heart and re-member all is well…

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now some words dedicated to all the astonishing lights shining across the cosmos….

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If

If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it…
[and, you must be an anam cara or a dog or both…]
~ Rudyard Kipling ~
( except for the last line in brackets )
~
thank you for shining brightly

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 335 – 11/16/2019

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Named Now! 16 2019 MLK-Beloved-Community

on this international day of tolerance, these prophetic words, written over six decades ago, give such hope today as we witness and listen the last dying gasps of the old paradigm, the system of  extractive capitalism and patriarchy, while witnessing and participating in the emerging new world of beloved community, partnership society, a new paradigm of synarchy, of governing in concert, all of us coming together and standing in love for love…

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may each shock to our collective and personal nervous systems, jumpstart our one heart into taking courage and right action in alignment with the will of the whole guided by our one true nature of peace…

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today as we walk along the path of liberation, may we commit to the transforming spirit and love of peace, to making every breath a moment of peace built on justice and guided by love…

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may we all live these words of the prayer of st francis…

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 make us instruments of your peace,
where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

 grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

~

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 334 – 11/15/2019

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Named Now! 15 2019 Water-Blessing

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul’s gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything…

~ John O’Donohue ~

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awakening today in the land of my birth, such a current of liberation flows as my daughter and i prepare for the celebration of my mother’s earthly life now transmuted into eternal life…

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a dream of many moons ago foreshadows this moment… i am driving my mother across the long bridge over the sound connecting mainland to the island when suddenly a tsunami appears and we are in the black swirling water… knowing my mother isn’t a strong swimmer, i search and search for her in the water and finally surrender to i’ve done the best i could and in that moment am transported into paradise and in the next to our beach cottage where my daughter is…

i know i must call my siblings to let them know our mother is lost at sea, a call i do not want to make but i must… my daughter stands behind me as I make the call and i hear a rustling and turn around and there’s my mother standing with my daughter!!!!!

what an amazing grace that my mother survived and how interesting that she wears my nightgown and hair and smile…

~

yes, she lives on forever in our one heart…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 6 – Day 333 – 11/14/2019

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Named Now! 14 PEACE Flight

yes, i’m flying across the sky in sync with my mother as she makes the deep seasky journey through the realms…

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breathing infinite gratitude deeply through our one heart,
may we all be safe. may we all be loved. may we all be held. may all be well.
may we feel the support encircling us with a thousand angel wings.
may we rest gracefully in the beauty of this moment…

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“I offer you peace.
I offer you love.
I offer you friendship.
I see your beauty.
I hear your need.
I feel your feelings.
My wisdom flows from the highest Source.
I salute that Source in you.
Let us work together. For unity and peace.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

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