2018

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Jo Beall

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.

~ Lao Tzu ~

the poetic peace pilgrimage was conceived so many moons ago as a daily breathing practice of sacred activism, a breathing in of the bodhisattva vows to keep returning to the breath until all beings are liberated…

every day is a day of peace, every moment is a moment of peace, sacred september really underlines the collective theme of peace with celebrating it on the 21st just as this prayer of St Francis, a favorite since childhood is the prayer, the intention, the vow of the peace pilgrimage….

may we conspire, breathe together these sacred vows this moment, every moment transforming ourselves and the world as we surrender to the vast ocean of peace…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 261 – 9/3/2018

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Jo Beall

as we celebrate labor today with a pause, more specifically waged labor in the USA and Canada with a day off from work, i find myself taking this day as a sacred pause to expand upon the notion of labor, to reflect upon its essence as a labor of love, as the great work of being pregnant with an unknown creation forming within, a seed we water and feed and sing to as we hold space reverentially for the new and gather with others to support the birthing process, to shelter the labor of love, the great work of and for all our relatives…

~

Song of the Builders

On a summer morning
I sat down
on a hillside
to think about God –

a worthy pastime.
Near me, I saw
a single cricket;
it was moving the grains of the hillside

this way and that way.
How great was its energy,
how humble its effort.
Let us hope

it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.

~ Mary Oliver ~

~

in closing, a few words from Martin Luther King’s final speech when he had traveled to support laborers…

“I would like to live a long life,” he said. “Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr ~

~

the way to get there is every day to continue the labor of love… to intend and act from an energy of compassion and liberation and light, to align more and more deeply with source, the self organizing intelligence of the ever regenerating space we call home…

celebrating our labors of love…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 260 – 9/2/2018

Posted on September 2, 2018 by Jo Beall

welcome to the second day of sacred september and the weekly peace when an image of the astonishing light of being is shared on the sabbath to attune with the mood of bhakti, of opening the heart…

re-member grandmother open sea

return to her, breathe in harmony

our one heart soars with great mystery…

~

may we be filled with lovingkindness

may we be well

may we be peaceful and at ease

may we be joyful…

~

may we live in love in the buoyant sea

planting seeds of peace in the fields of rainbow mystery

kindling the inner light eternally

dancing home together joyfully

flowing as one effortlessly…

~

namaste

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 259 – 9/1/2018

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Jo Beall

welcome to this new moon (month) of sacred september, this new beginning falling under virgo’s tutelage, to be virgin, one-in-her(him)self, more fully an expression of our birthright, more fully committed to serving the whole we are, all our relations…

my intention is to align with the master sculpting force that chisels away the stone of illusion and expectation releasing the spirit held within to take flight and dive ever deeper into the peace passing all understanding, the peace found in the center of the medicine wheel…

and as you listen to the song singing you, what do you hear?

listen with me now to what the inimitable Charlie Chaplin heard singing him on his 70th birthday…

Love Prayer

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering

are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.

Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”.

As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody

as I try to force my desires on this person,

even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it,

and even though this person was me.

Today I call it “RESPECT”.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life,

and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.

Today I call it “MATURITY”.

As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance,

I am in the right place at the right time,

and everything happens at the exactly right moment.

So I could be calm.

Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE”.

As I began to love myself I quit steeling my own time,

and I stopped designing huge projects for the future.

Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness,

things I love to do and that make my heart cheer,

and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm.

Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.

As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything

that is no good for my health – food, people, things, situations,

and everything the drew me down and away from myself.

At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism.

Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF”.

As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right,

and ever since I was wrong less of the time.

Today I discovered that is “MODESTY”.

As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past

and worry about the future.

Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING is happening.

Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.

As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me

and it can make me sick.

But As I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally.

Today I call this connection “WISDOM OF THE HEART”.

~

may we all walk in a sacred way today and every day with each breath a new beginning, each moment a walk in beauty with all our relatives traveling as one along the rainbow trail deeper into great mystery’s sacred web…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 258 – 8/31/2018

Posted on August 31, 2018 by Jo Beall

blessing the space between us

as we journey into great mystery,

the pilgrimage to our one heart

~

in this moment, this awesome moment, may we shower ourselves and each other with lovingkindness re-membering we optimize wholeness for all with the smallest of gestures… a SMILE, hugs, thumbs up, deeply listening, taking healing breaks throughout the day, flowers, a cuppa, coming home to the moment with every breath, seeing through the eyes of awe… like this open hand, being open vessels for life to flow through… every inbreath, inhaling grace, every outbreath, surrendering efforting and striving and pushing against the river… always trusting what is ours to do/be comes to us naturally; we need only listen to our one heart’s song whispering the way of the path with heart…

what an awesome august it has been, indeed, what a blessed space we have inhabited walking each other home in a sacred way through the fires of purification of the lionsgate portal to and through the portal of harmonic convergence when a wave of union, of communion, swept energetically across the planet re-minding, re-heartening all our relatives to our true, shared reality of one source, one body, one heart, one mind, one spirit…

such a potent moment for living the grail quest-ion, what really matters? what breaks your heart? what breaks your heart wide open waking you up each moment to serve?

listen deeply hearing the hum of our one heart re-joy-sing as we walk this path together coming home to our one heart, summoning the courage each moment to simply take one more step into great mystery’s sea of love energy …

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 257 – 8/30/2018

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Jo Beall

as awesome august draws to a close, i awaken on this new day with two words playing through me… maitri and karuna… lovingkindness and compassion… how much we need these nutrients, sun and moon mountain and sea, wisdom and strength… how much we all require these most essential nutrients as we meet each moment fully, as we meet each moment as friend, as sacred moment to attune to the core, the ground of all being… peace…

the more turbulence in the world, the more we are called to be lovingkindness for ourselves and all others… this moment’s turbulence and ruptures also whisper of letting go, of traveling lightly between the worlds of here and now and the great beyond… deeper and deeper into mystery, the silence beyond all words…

may we take this moment and every moment to open our eyes and realeyes the awesomeness of the cosmos as we wander in wonder dancing gracefully in rhythm with the great cosmic hum…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 256 – 8/29/2018

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Jo Beall

i’d love for you to join me now in the field of compassion, the bodhisattva field, the field of liberation and love, the field of infinite openness… and, in this sacred space, let us join in the most essential practice for cultivating compassion, the practice of tonglen, of giving and taking…

truth is we all have an endless supply of compassion available to flow into us through the umbilical cord of our one heart…

so, let’s tune in now with the prayer said by the living embodiment of compassion, the Dalai Lama…

May I Be a Guard
May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and the sky
Until all beings are free from sorrow
And all are awakened.

let us now continue with this trandformative practice of opening compassion, tonglen…

we begin with ourselves by coming into our essence… unconditional love and imagining all limiting forces condensing into a black ball of smoke and coming out of our stomach to be received into the sacred heart of compassion… now witness the black ball dissolving and smile feeling yourself as love, joy, wisdom and liberation…

now, let’s move onto someone we love who’s suffering and witness all their pain coming out of their stomach and coming into the divine heart of boundless compassion… smile at seeing them transfigured…

now, we move onto someone who’s betrayed us terribly seeing all the forces that created their pain condensing into a black ball of smoke that dissolves as it enters the divine heart of compassion…

finally, we see a group of dangerous people and the pain that caused their views condensing into a black ball of smoke and dissolving as it enters the sacred heart of compassion… smile as you witness this group’s transformation…

now, take a deep breath from the sacred heart of compassion savoring this beingness of bliss…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 255 – 8/28/2018

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Jo Beall

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

~

i hold this same dream of all our relatives being free… on this fifty-fifth anniversary of this call to liberation (thank you, Mahalia Jackson for shouting to him to tell them about the dream), may we rise to the challenge implementing the vow of freedom for all…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 254 – 8/27/2018

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Jo Beall

Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.

~ Henri Nouwen ~

what a day of witnessing in awe the mastery of grandmother spider weaving the web of life with exquisite precision… for so many turns around the sun, i’ve been seeding a network of grace, an aboveground railroad of peace rooms all over the planet conducting us into peace with the destination being the journey, the peace pilgrimage we are all walking as pilgrims, poets on a journey…

today, in a surprising moment of deep conversation, suddenly, all the seeds that had been germinating for seventeen years blossomed at once and i looked out over the most beautiful field of sunflowers, a vibrant network of peacemakers smiling beatifically opening the one heart to be filled to overflowing with love real-eye-sing we are one tapestry each thread linked to every other, each thread belonging to each other, each thread an instrument of peace integral for the symphony to be complete…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 5 – Day 253 – 8/26/2018

Posted on August 26, 2018 by Jo Beall

for this week’s edition of the astonishing light of being, we also get to celebrate an important day in herstory/history as today’s the day in 1920 of the certification of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting American women the right to vote—a right known as woman suffrage…

it’s a perfect day to celebrate all women of peace, all people of peace making herstory/ourstory with being peace in every moment…

yes, today is a lovely moment to honor and celebrate the inspiration, the mother of this journey, someone being this peace pilgrimage every moment…

peace pilgrim, in her late forties, committed to walking the planet being peace and in so doing, she planted and spread peace across the world demonstrating that a life lived trusting in a world of lovingkindness reaps an abundant harvest… never once did she lack for a ride or a meal or a place to sleep finding abundant generosity always surrounding her every step, her every breath…

thank you for joining in the peace pilgrimage and making her story, our story, history…

thank you for the astonishing light of your being, a beacon shining so brightly and helping to guide all of us home…

may we place our hands on our heart sending love to our suffering relations…

Abundance Created Together (ACT)

This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love; the more they give, the more they possess. – Rainer Maria Rilke –

Category Archives: Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage