Category Archives: Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 301- 10/13/2023

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“Being a victim of oppression… is not enough to make you revolutionary, just as dropping out of your mother’s womb is not enough to make you human. People who are full of hate and anger against their oppressors or who only see Us versus Them can make a rebellion but not a revolution. The oppressed internalize the values of the oppressor. Therefore, any group that achieves power, no matter how oppressed, is not going to act differently from their oppressors as long as they have not confronted the values that they have internalized and consciously adopted different values.” ~ Grace Lee Boggs ~

“The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, there comes the new life and all that is needed.” ~ Joseph Campbell ~

there seems to be something so potent in the rhythm of the autumnal/vernal web of life, especially around the ides, mid-month… as we continue to experience the outer dark night collectively at the close of this era, i feel the imperative to remind us, especially myself on this day of turbulent outer world energy, that when we listen deeply we can hear the even more beautiful world breathing and to act like a squirrel by gathering the quintessence and calling in Porcupine Goddess to share an ancient wisdom story illuminating the place i and we find myself and ourselves…

long ago, in the coldest winter ever, many of our relations were dying… we of the porcupine council met and decided we’d nestle together to keep warm and stay alive… alas, we were warm but the quills of our neighbors were wounding us, so we decided to separate from each other to relieve the hurts of living in close quarters… although now we were protected from being wounded, we began to die one by one, alone and frozen cold… faced with our extinction or living as wounded porcupines, we chose wisely – deciding to return to being together… we learned to live with wounds caused by being in close relationship to receive the greater benefit of the warmth that comes from others. this way, we were able to not only survive but also to thrive; to flourish in regenerative cycles organically arising from the harmony sung by the implicate order…

may we be as wise as our porcupine relations real-eye-sing, re-membering interdependence, the way of the  openheart, is the way…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 299- 10/11/2023

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“I think that the Buddha is already here. If you are mindful enough you can see the Buddha in anything, especially in the sangha. The twentieth century was the century of individualism, but we don’t want that anymore. Now we try to live as a community. We want to flow like a river, not a drop of water. The river will surely arrive at the ocean, but a drop of water may evaporate halfway. That’s why it is possible for us to recognize that the presence of the Buddha is the here and now. I think that every step, every breath, every word that is spoken or done in mindfulness—that is the manifestation of the Buddha. Don’t look for the Buddha elsewhere. It is in the art of living mindfully every moment of your life.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~

on this day 97 years ago, a being destined to be an exemplar of peace was born and so in this moment of eternity thousand fold thanks for a lifetime of teaching us and showing us the way, of being peace, of walking our talk and being an example for others, for introducing us to the miracle of mindfulness, for always being love and being present in the present moment, wonderful moment… may we all mindfully breathe with you in every precious moment… may we re-member we have arrived and are home in beloved community… let’s anchor this beautiful moment  of celebrating Thay and the astonishing light of interbeing with some of my favorite of Thay’s words from The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra:

“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. “Interbeing” is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix “inter-” with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, inter-be…

If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine inter-are. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see the wheat. We know the logger cannot exist without his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. And the logger’s father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.

Looking even more deeply, we can see we are in it too. This is not difficult to see, because when we look at a sheet of paper, the sheet of paper is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also. So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper. You cannot point out one thing that is not here-time, space, the earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sunshine, the cloud, the river, the heat. Everything co-exists with this sheet of paper. That is why I think the word inter-be should be in the dictionary. “To be” is to inter-be. You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.

Suppose we try to return one of the elements to its source. Suppose we return the sunshine to the sun. Do you think that this sheet of paper will be possible? No, without sunshine nothing can be. And if we return the logger to his mother, then we have no sheet of paper either. The fact is that this sheet of paper is made up only of “non-paper elements.” And if we return these non-paper elements to their sources, then there can be no paper at all. Without “non-paper elements,” like mind, logger, sunshine and so on, there will be no paper. As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it.”

may we all re-member the truth of our interbeing and thousand fold thanks for continuing to walk Thay’s talk by being an astonishing light of our one cosmic heart…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 298- 10/10/2023

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we inhabitants of pachamama consciously and/or unconsciously hear daily of the unleashing of unhealed pain and trauma and are called to contemplate the impact on our island home necessitating our gathering in circle to hear spirit in the gentle breeze and flowing water, in the heartbeat of the drum and the voices of the elders, in the echoes of ancient memories reverberating inside… in this sacred moment of eternity, let us come home to what truly is… we are one people breathed alive through our one singing heart… receiving the knowing of how to freely be… moving fluidly through sacred mystery… let us deepen into that field out beyond, the sacred listening circle of satyagraha meaning in pursuit of truth… let’s gather together drawing down the energy of harmony from the imaginal realms and take in the words of an amazing peacemaker who brings us to membering again the wisdom that there is only one of us here and opens our one heart to greater compassion… as we read his poem, let us re-member our mindful breathing… breathing in, re-member life is without limits… breathing out, re-member that we, like Thay, have never been born and never die, we are children of the central sun that never rises and never sets:

~

Please Call Me By My True Names

“Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow—
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am a mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.

And I am also the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up
and the door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.”

~

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 297- 10/9/2023

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Happy 83rd Day of Continuation, John! and Indigenous Peoples’ Day/Decolonization Day

on the day we honor the birth of John Lennon, we also honor the day of miracles, the  birth of Guru Ram Das and so many more… and, it is also the moment of eternity of celebrating the astonishing light of our interbeing and our ancestors and relatives as it is indigenous peoples’ day… today’s walk on the wild side is resting in an open strawberry field out beyond, a breathing space, a visionary place to commit acts of imagination on this ground of shifting sands, dreamscape of unknowing where we dream our collective dream forward of living in the moment in peace sharing our world as one…

naturally arising from our communal wellspring, the river below the river. is this image as in imagine, imagination of our imagining peace, a world living as one in this moment where there are no countries, no borders, no strangers, no wars, no religions, no possessions, no greed, no hunger, no homelessness… imagine all our relations living this moment in peace, sharing our astonishing light of being with every breath…

as we all come together in this moment to commit acts of imagination, may we live the PPP’s call to intend peace for a moment each and every day at 4:44 wherever you are in the world creating a continuous cosmic peace wave and John’s, ever so relevant for today, call to action expressed in the words of his song echoing the Hopi prophecy that we are the ones we have been awaiting…

“Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And out on the street

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

A million workers working for nothing
You better give ’em what they really own
We got to put you down
When we come into town

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

I gotta ask you comrades and brothers
How do you treat you own woman back home
She got to be herself
So she can free herself

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
Now, now, now, now
Oh well, power to the people

Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

Yeah, power to the people Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on“

~

in closing, power to the indigenous…

The Good Relations Pledge 

A United States Citizens’ Acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Freedom, Territory & Self-Determination 

In Honor of Carmen Baraka 

“The Lakota expression, ‘Aho Mitakuye Oyasin’  is widely used among many tribes within what is now known as The United States of America; It means, “We are all related; all connected.

In the spirit of connection with all beings, where none are higher or lower in the great web of all life, we offer this invitation to begin healing our relations with the Indigenous peoples of these lands.”
~Carmen Baraka, Indigenous Elder and Teacher 

This is a time for healing so we are taking the first steps towards reparations by individuals. The formal reparation process is yet to address the role of the individual, in addition to global and national systemic change called for by Indigenous Nations. 

The inspiration for The Good Relations Pledge came from the Indigenous cultural leaders, scholars and artists from within the community of The Intentional Creativity Foundation, 501(c)3 

We the citizens of the United States humbly offer this acknowledgement as an initial step into a complex, dynamic arena of healing, education and the forming of good relations.

If you are of any descent, other than Indigenous within the United States and you are a US Citizen, then taking this pledge is for you.

If you are an Indigenous person living in the United States, we welcome you to read, to feel, and to know that many of us are reaching to improve our relationship with your peoples and the land. 

The Good Relations Pledge is designed to guide the citizen through a process of acknowledging the nature of injury and the Indigenous People’s lived experiences of genocide by way of land theft, racial oppression and historical erasure.

We wish to move through levels of denial to acknowledge that deliberate harm is ongoing, to Indigenous peoples and their lands by every successive government of the United States of America under the guise of colonial progress at all costs.  

For many Indigenous leaders, scholars and activists, arriving at a ‘Citizens’ Acknowledgement’ has itself been a long coming and has mostly taken place within local organizations, and individual relationships. Many citizens are not aware, nor do they acknowledge how they may be impacting and enforcing the oppression.

This intention of our Citizen’s Acknowledgement is to awaken those of us who aren’t aware, call into action those who are, and provide a first actionable step towards healing. We recognize that we cannot wait for institutions, corporations, society and government to make adequate meaningful reparative actions. We need reparations that work effectively to heal the hearts and minds of individuals. We seek to begin with individuals in the present, working with what we do know and committing to improve our relations with Indigenous peoples in the future. While we individual citizens have limited power or opportunity to create the vast systemic changes Indigenous leaders are calling for, we support their voice and their struggle for justice by accounting for our individual role and responsibilities. 

For those who pledge, sign and share this petition, it is our hope that this will be a beginning that may lead to inspiration to greater levels of awareness and supportive engagement with the Indigenous peoples of United States.

Recognition & Respect

We recognize that there is much to learn about the lands that we occupy and draw our subsistence from, much to learn about and from the peoples who continue to live in relation to these lands ‘since time immemorial’. Our lack of acknowledgement, education and lack of support, willful or not, empowers and perpetuates ongoing land theft, racial oppression, historical erasure, and ongoing genocide of indigenous peoples. 

We also recognize that reparative actions in the USA are late, the efforts to achieve meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples have long since begun in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other places in the world. This struggle is ongoing, and by signing this and acknowledging, I commit to being a part of the reparations so needed here.

In the Spirit of Respect 

We recognize and respect the tremendous resiliency of Indigenous communities and their leadership, who have fought, endured and negotiated tirelessly for their own survival and freedom from colonial oppression since European arrival on this continent. We respect and honor pre-existing relationships that Indigenous communities maintain, with each-other and with their lands, and we respect the memory of the Ancestors of this land. In the spirit of Respect we are stepping forward now to improve our own relations, as individuals and ultimately for healing as a collective.

Reciprocity & Relationship

As a US Citizen I the undersigned, acknowledge the Indigenous people of the lands and water that now nurture and connect me to this earth. I recognize and respect that their civilizations occupied this area thousands of years prior to European colonization. I acknowledge that early American government campaigns wrongfully harmed Indigenous peoples by removing them from their lands – most explicitly via the 1830 Indian Removal Act- which created a legacy of poverty and violence for indigenous. This led to the path of  safe settlement and prosperity for European-American citizens. 

I further acknowledge that Indigenous people continue to suffer the greatest disparity in all aspects of human health and wellbeing, due to legal and geographical isolation and confinement, and that denial of this disparity serves to perpetuate it. 

I acknowledge that widespread education and media on Indigenous peoples and their lands, as generated primarily through a Eurocentric worldview, has often lacked truth or authenticity; as follows, I acknowledge that Indigenous peoples should be the source of facts, historical, fiction and traditional stories, artifacts, arts, fashions, and goods otherwise attributed to their specific cultures.

I pledge to learn more about Indigenous relations via their own sources to improve my understandings regarding Indigenous peoples, (and)

I urge any  leadership or community I am a part of to take steps to improve relations between our governments on all levels of society, (and)

I will share this pledge with others who are ready to begin the acknowledgement process. (and)

I do this work with heart, mind and hope for healing so that we can have good relations.

“When you can hear the stories of the past, the information of the future and the power of the now, understanding that all aspects are in play at all times, this juxtaposition of realities triggers Omni Presence in a way that can be understood. Everything actually isn’t always fleeting, not if you see it as all aspects in play simultaneously. When we can truly understand the depth and breadth, then we can understand that everything that has been and will be, the knowledge of all time, is already within us. We must move through the Corridors – the portals of our timeless mind, body, spirit, the realm of the oneness of creator, of source, the realms of all possibilities.” ~ Carmen Baraka, Indigenous Elder and Teacher

yes, this moment, every moment, let us all commit to waging peace within with every inbreath and peace without with every outbreath… and so it is eternally… blessed bee…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 296- 10/8/2023

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it is time on the clock of the world to live as one in the deep peace of the sacred grove of standing talls and to celebrate this moment of the astonishing light of our interbeing…

as we enter the powerful portal of the eclipse season and the lightning speed of the great turning, let’s take this moment of eternity to slow down and deepen into our roots with our branches outstretched bringing to awareness a tree you love imagining the smell and feel of the tree with branches dancing and bird song singing… greeting the tree as friend, come into communion and check in listening for how this living being is and sharing how you are in this moment… breathe in with this living being seeing what gifts are here for you now…

breathing together again, let us all re-member who we are… light waves born of  the great light weaver tree of life… moments of great suffering and injustice can call forth the re-sources embedded in the core of our being… relatives, let us join together as one with our ears to the ground of being listening, listening to mama gaia’s heartbeat drumming throughout the earth… resounding truth of the Star Goddess, the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven, whose body encircles the universe proclaims:

“I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mysteries of the waters,

I call upon your soul to arise and come unto Me. For I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return.
Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold — all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you.

And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without.

For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.”

may we bathe together in the sacred grove of the standing talls in the illuminated radiance of love lighting every imaginal cell of cosmic being to walk as partners a path of courage, of great heart, of soul connected to source cooperatively, collaboratively, compassionately, wisely and peacefully living the truth that being in harmony, in right relationship with all wild cells of our one body is the way, the truth and the astonishing lightness of being…

blessed bee!

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 295- 10/7/2023

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“I want my life to challenge people to think philosophically. I want people to ask themselves and each other what time it is on the clock of the world.”

~ Grace Lee Boggs, 1915 – 2015 ~

i’m a couple of days late for the honoring of an astonishing light of being, a revolutionary i love re-membering on the day she died, may she continue to rest in power as we reflect on her life of sacred activism… more than ever, this question is the question of the hour – may we all live this question as contemplative quest and re-member some more of her sage words on what time it is on the clock of the world:

“We need to find that balance of life that respects each other, that thinks that the most important thing at this time on the clock of the world is not our accumulation of things, is not economic growth which threatens and imperils all life on this planet including ourselves, that the time has come to grow our souls, to grow our relationships with one another, to create families that are loving and communities that are loving, to bring the neighbor back into the hood.”

what time is it on the clock of the world?

i’m thinking the naming of this moon as oddysea october is quite prescient and what october surprises we have already experienced in the first week… i awaken today to hearr Israel declare they are at war with no mention of their genociding of Palestinians for decades coming after presidential nominees changing course and the speaker of the house in the usa being voted out for the 1st time ever after serving the least amount of time ever… it feels like upside down time on the clock of the world and just as i am experieciencing personally the deepest letting go ever so we are collectively on this little blue marble known as earth…

many see this moment of eternity as the most dangerous situation that humanity has faced which is why it is so crucial for the human family to demand of the power mad warlords of the world that we want peace which is our only security and that we demand all the trillions of dollars spent for blowing up the world be allocated to peace and healthcare and education and housing…

“The Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries have inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless generations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the sacred teachings of humankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last within the reach of the nations and the human family. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planet!”

~ Universal House of Justice ~

in closing, i share a letter from the American Friends of the Palestinian and Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace:

“Dear Friends,
We express our deepest and heartfelt condemnation of the violence in the region. The relentless cycle of conflict has inflicted immeasurable pain and suffering on innocent lives. It is a time of great sorrow, knowing that countless families now bear the burden of emptiness in their hearts and the heavy weight of grief due to the tragic loss of their loved ones.
The toll of violence is not just counted in numbers; it is measured in the shattered dreams, the untapped potential, and the irreplaceable bonds severed by these horrifying actions. The victims, both seen and unseen, deserve our unwavering support and empathy as they grapple with the profound trauma inflicted upon them.It is an undeniable truth that the time has come to change the situation. This region has endured too much pain, too much bloodshed, and too many tears.
It is a moment for all parties involved to reflect on the senselessness of this continued conflict and to recognize the shared humanity that binds us all. Let us remember that violence begets violence, and the only way forward is through peaceful dialogue, diplomacy, and a commitment to finding common ground. It is a call to action for leaders, communities, and individuals alike to seek solutions that prioritize reconciliation, justice, and lasting peace.
We must also acknowledge the vital role of international cooperation and humanitarian efforts in alleviating the suffering of those affected by the conflict. The international community must stand together, united in its resolve to support the region’s path towards peace and stability.
While words alone cannot mend the wounds or bring back the lives lost, they can serve as a reminder of our collective responsibility to end this cycle of violence. It is incumbent upon us to work tirelessly towards a future where the people of this region can live without fear, where children can grow up in safety, and where the seeds of hope can flourish.
In closing, let us reaffirm our commitment to peace, empathy, and the belief that a better, more peaceful, future is possible. It is our fervent hope that this statement serves as a testament to our shared determination to bring an end to this ugly occupation, the violence and suffering that have plagued this region for far too long.”

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 294- 10/6/2023

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today begins with contemplating so many dream images leading me to thinking of the odyssey we are all on and the metaphorical peace train that transports us and transforming our journey into a walk in beauty which leads to more compassion for us as humans real-eye-sing this unraveling time is necessary and this musing leads to my wanting to share once again a favorite image of the old woman who weaves the worlds as a beautiful tapestry which unravels and rather than melting down, she picks up one of the loose threads and begins weaving the more beautiful world we can all imagine and weave into reality and bringing up this image moves me to Mary Oliver and one of her poems i so love:

Halleluiah

“Everyone should be born into this world happy
and loving everything.
But in truth it rarely works that way.
For myself, I have spent my life clamoring toward it.
Halleluiah, anyway I’m not where I started!

And have you too been trudging like that, sometimes
almost forgetting how wondrous the world is
and how miraculously kind some people can be?
And have you too decided that probably nothing important
is ever easy?
Not, say, for the first sixty years.

Halleluiah, I’m sixty now, and even a little more,
and some days I feel I have wings.”

awe so, may we all have more and more moments of feeling we have wings and here is Walt Whitman with more sage words on walking in beauty:

“This is what you should do:
Love the earth and sun and animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people…
reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your very soul,
and your flesh shall become a great poem.”

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Named-Jo-Thousand-Fold-Peace-Bird-Whisperer-1024x621.jpg

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 293- 10/5/2023

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“If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.”

~ Maseru Emoto ~

what a delight to meet with you this transformative moment in the field out beyond beside the spacious and expansive windswept sea and tore-member a beautiful gathering at this time several turns around the sun ago… just as the waves bring me home, being with you brings me home to the interconnected web of our interbeingness… in such a wild and wide open space, such a heart opening place, though our meetings in the outer world may be fleeting and rare, that connection of  interbeing, the meeting in the inner world is now all the stronger with the visceral imprint now encoded in cellular memory …  a day out of time, a day in spirit, inspired by love and the deep peace of running waves…

may we all return with the breath in this moment to our communal home, the watery womb of our grandmother sea’s flowing iridescent streams of love energy…

let us close with the deep celtic wisdom of  Brother John echoing from the depths of the eternal sea:

“Either we are in the universe to inhabit the eternity of our souls and grow real, or else we might as well dedicate our days to shopping and kill time watching talk-shows… Let’s not let our days fall away like empty shells and miss all the treasure… The sacred duty of being an individual is to gradually learn how to live so as to awaken the eternal within you.”

may we all awaken to the eternal within us… thank you and deepest bows for walking home with me through the birth canal catalyzing and inspiring awakening the eternal now moment of the devocean of interbeing…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 292- 10/4/2023

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“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”

~ St Francis of Assisi ~

i am smiling that today is the feast day of the soul of simplicity; so, today’s pilgrimage is one extended moment of celebrating St Francis (and we are co-opting this feast day for another who shares his birth date) and his call to simply be an instrument of peace…

to amplify this celebration of St Francis on his feast day, i turn to a namesake, Pope Francis, who turns to him in the introduction to his encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home:

“. . . I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. . . . He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.

 . . . Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise. He communed with all creation, even preaching to the flowers, inviting them “to praise the Lord, just as if they were endowed with reason.”  His response to the world around him was so much more than intellectual appreciation or economic calculus, for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds of affection. That is why he felt called to care for all that exists. His disciple Saint Bonaventure tells us that, “from a reflection on the primary source of all things, filled with even more abundant piety, he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of ‘brother’ or ‘sister.’”  . . . If we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled.”

may we live in an openhearted way on the soul journey odyssey of simplicity, harmony and compassion with and for all our relatives…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 291- 10/3/2023

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on this wonderfilled day of celebrating the birth of my one and only grandson, i was having the hardest time of narrowing down what i wanted to say and finally (almost), by george, i thought it was settled but that peace will be for another day as today i want to reprise what i wrote on hearing of this miraculous baby’s birth and every living being, all our relations, are miracles…

dear, darling, most precious one,

we have been calling you in for eternity, listening for your soul song to sing us and just as your parents were about to give up on this deepest shared dream, miracle of miracles, you arrive surprising and totally delighting us all in your perfection…

as the mother of your mother, i am forever grateful to you for choosing her, you may never know what a gift you are to us all and most especially to your parents who are so over the moon with the wonder of miraculous you…

what a wise old soul you are and what ecstasy to spend time with you watching your mother so tenderly holding you such a precious bundle of joy so contentedly dreaming and smiling and cooing and making little dolphin noises… we are wondering if we might have met you swimming in the vast pacific ocean…

sweet baby chase, you are exactly the one to restore vitality and promise in the forlorn places of our innermost distress…

may our one heart of all our relations join with us in re-joy-sing as we listen with deep appreciation to the lost chords of awe that you inspire…

thank you also for inspiring our re-membering with every breath we take of why we come to this third rock from the sun – as souls playing the music of the spheres, as holy vessels of rainbow light shining radiantly throughout the night and greeting each day as we walk together in a sacred way…

boundless love, beloved chase….

~