Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 343 – 11/24/2018

Named Now 24 Big Island Wonder and Awe Voyage Mauna Kea 2018-11-24 002

today’s journey of awe and wonder is just that beginning with a pilgrimage to hilo to cruise down banyan tree lane in search of a black sand beach which we find and join in the sunning and bathing with the locals …

when we leave this paradise and head north in one hour we’ve left the dog days of summer for chilly, wintry bluster as we take the long and winding road up to mauna kea to venture into the sacred realms, the heart of hawaii, the home of the akua, creator…

as we pass through the field of cylinder cones, i feel as if i’m in a field of crop circles and transported by spirits into spirit…

we have come to view the almost full moon rise out of the mountain alighting the vast sky sea and it is spectacular and so worth exploring and experiencing and embodying…

we linger mesmerized  by sister moon’s pilgrimage before bowing to sea mountain with aloha…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 342 – 11/23/2018

Named Now 23 Big Island Wonder and Awe Voyage Chain of Craters Scenic Trail 2018-11-23 014

O, Heart, What A Wonderful Bird You Are.

~ Rumi ~

still in the glow of the full moon shining on the stillpoint of creation and the bounteous aloha spirit perfuming every breath, we arise early to explore this otherworldly landscape and begin an ascent along the chain of craters trail guided by trusty sherpas, the nene or hawaiian geese who have transmuted themselves to survive this harsh environment… web feet into claws for moving over the lava fields…

as we begin the descent down to the ocean, we have a panoramic view of the lava flows stirring the imagination transporting us into the timeless zone of  being here now…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 341 – 11/22/2018

Named Now 22 Big Island Wonder and Awe Voyage Volcano National Park Arrival

awaken at 3:33 for quite a day of thanksgiving…at 4:44, floating through a pacific northwest dawn of cold rain… at 5:55, a big bird flies us high into the sky where the sun shines brightly on this potent day of 11-22-11 with a moon waxing full tonight…

while winging our way across the vast sky sea, i re-member today is the 55th anniversary of the assassination of JFK and contemplate his words of peace…

“What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”

as we land in the state of aloha at 1:11, i am feeling such peace and love and joy that amplifies with every breath as we cruise down route 11 hugging the sunny coast and bright blue sea making our way toward the now stillpoint of creation…

rainforest gives way to lava beds as we approach Volcano National Park to watch the sun set in the caldera, womb of creation…

we are at the dawn of creation bathed in the steamy vapors pouring forth from gaia’s womb and kissed by the rays of the full moon and welcomed with flowing aloha by the islanders born of fire and sea…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 340 – 11/21/2018

Named Now 21 Yosemite Blessingway

Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others.

~ Cicero ~

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for everything that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

YES!

on this day of thanksgiving, which is also the eve of the USA holiday by the same name and a mere moon away from the celebration of seven years of occupying the abundance of infinite love and gratitude, every moment is simply that, a moment of gratitude for whatever is,… a very early morning phone call from a dear friend emanating joy, a message from another in sync in great stillness, excitement from another, a wandering in wonder partner, bon voyage from a siSTAR , eyes that are having a hard time seeing while going through a clean-sing process joined by a digestive system in purifying, a spontaneous connection with the newest of  soul friends echoing the love we all are, daily love fix with a furry little buddha, sauntering in cold rain, gathering with fractal family in a space of not knowing, bearing witness, taking the action of being a lotus blooming out of the mud through the grace of gratitude…

did you know these flowers, when surrounded by fire or suffering or another adversity become even more fragrant just as our light, our beauty awakens  in such moments and our compassionate heart shines through… thanks be that our inner light can never be extinguished no matter how dark the times feel… so, gaze into lotus flower, breathe in the sweetness and connect even more deeply in this moment with the lotus lightness of being are evermore…

being thankfulness with every breath is panacea… it has been said that if we could bottle gratitude, it would be the best selling pharmaceutical, since so many health benefits derive from its application and use… i’ve had several spontaneous remissions since beginning the practice of saying thank you with every breath…

may we all awaken to being conscious witnesses to this be here now moment and grateful participants in our one heart’s liberation, the blossoming of beauty suffering, bearing under, inspires…

thank you, thank you, thank you

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 339 – 11/20/2018

Named Now 20 Child

If we wish to create a lasting peace, we must begin with children.

 ~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

may we all  keep alive our child heart of wonder, of pure awareness seeing the beauty and sacredness of this moment, of every moment…

today is universal children’s day, a day established in 1954 and celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare… this year, the day is about building a world where every child in school is safe from harm and can fulfill their potential…

 To every child – I dream of a world where you can laugh, dance, sing, learn, live in peace and be happy.

~ Malala Yousafzai~

isn’t this dream shared by us all? surely we have it in us to create  such a world for the seven generations… yes, let us re-member our child heart and be wise innocents because…

Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

~

“truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God and become like a child… you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. … “

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 338 – 11/19/2018

Named Now 19 Blessing Magical Pilgrimage 045

another day of now november, another day of gratitude, i am so grateful to share the journey with you, anam caras, soul friends…

now, some words dedicated to all our relatives, the  lights shining across the cosmos the ones who change the if to when by serving the whole as beautiful mirrors, serving the whole as great soul…. thank you, thank you, thank you again and again…

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 as we walk each other home…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 337 – 11/18/2018

Named Now 18 Yosemite Fall Reflection

with Thanksgiving Day upon us in the USA and today being the astonishing light of being day, it feels perfectly in rhythm to share the astonishing beauty of pachamama… 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…

let us dance and sing these sacred words together together…

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)

let us close with the lotus of gratitude meditation by curling all our 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…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 336 – 11/17/2018

Named Now 17 Re-TREAT Trappist Abbey Path

yes, the path of presence is calling me just as i call it… being stillness in an interior sanctuary suits me to a tee just as does nesting in a tree… resting in beloved is the perfect space to be…

join me in the space of presence…

~

breathe in, peace in oneself

breathe out, peace in the world

breathe in, peace in oneself

breathe out, peace in the world

breathe in, peace in oneself

breathe out, peace in the world

~

smiling now, we flow

re-membering presence in this moment, in every moment

one with nature’s rhythms

~

may we all be here now in the presence of  vast spaciousness…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 335 – 11/16/2018

Named Now 16 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…

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…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 334 – 11/15/2018

Named Now 15 Peace March.

every breath, every moment is a chance to be and make peace with the world…

almost a half a century ago, 49 years to be exact, i, along with a half a million other people journeyed to Washington for the largest peace march ever… yes, squint your eyes and you can see me in the middle of the crowd standing around the reflection pool…  standing in love for love, calling for peace…

fast forward forty-seven years and once again on the ides of November, i join with thousands all over the world in a day of action… a day of standing in solidarity with standing rock, standing in love for love, calling for our mother waters’ protection, calling for  earthmother’s protection…

 fast forward another 2 years to this moment, where  i stand with you and thousands of our relatives holding hands across the planet, across the invisible cosmic realms in love for love and peace, deep peace of the running wave we are forever…