every breath, every moment is a chance to be and make peace with the world; we are so supported in this moment of eternity, in every moment of eternity of celebrating the astonishing light of being inspiring us to be starfire, soul destiny, instruments of peace, love and joy…

half a century plus ago, 52 years to be exact, i, along with a half a million other people journeyed to Washington (DC) 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 joyfully in love for love, calling for peace…

fast forward 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…

“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 ~

yes, let us breathe peace unceasingly, beloveds of the beloved… shanti, shanti, shantihi…

may we be at peace

may our one heart remain open

may we all realize the beauty of our true nature

may we all know the astonishing light of our being

may we all be whole and a source of healing for all our relations

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, surrendered to love 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….

so, welcome, well come to this astonishing light of being awakened into peace, to this astonishing moment of eternity when we re-member that no matter what we can always be at peace in the deep peace of the running waves always flowing within the ocean of our interbeing…

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…

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you

this is the 250th day of the eighth year of posting the Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage daily; on the 250th day of the first year i re-membered, honored and celebrated the inspiration, the mother of this journey, someone breathing and being this walk every moment and it seems so perfect on the 8th year and in this moonth of the astonishing light of being to reprise the honoring of this most remarkable being of light…

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 and history… and, thank you for the astonishing light of your beings, beacons shining so brightly helping to guide all of us home re-membering…

let’s close this celebration with the Essene Communion for Tuesday which is dedicated to all forms of beauty being joyously contemplated to make us conscious of the beauties of nature and the joy within…

THE DEEPENING: The heavens smile and the earth celebrates as the children of light sing the songs of life; and the bodily world of thy Earthly Mother, and the celestial worlds of thy Heavenly Father, give praise to the joyous voices.

MORNING COMMUNION: Angel of JOY I invoke thee. I come before you with the voice of the wind for thy Holy Law is within me. Descend upon this Earth and spread your blessings to ALL living beings. Touch those who walk in darkness so they may see the light, and partake in the Holy Communions, and eat of the fruits of your blessings; And as each morning comes, I shall embrace thee.

MEDITATION: Meditate on the image of a newborn child, seeing the world for the very first time. Experience the newness, be the child.

NOON CONTEMPLATION: Peace with Humanity, Social Peace.
Let thy love be as the Sun which shines on ALL creatures of the earth, and does not favor even one blade of grass for another.

EVENING COMMUNION: Angel of POWER I invoke thee; descend upon my body and help me to direct my thoughts, my actions, my words and my deeds; And as each evening comes, I shall embrace thee.

THE BLESSING: Within me lives the meditating Monk. The builder of the temple. In this season of inner reflection I shall discover the center for I am guided by the light from within.

The Holy Temple can be built only with the ancient Communions. Those which are spoken, those which are thought, and those which are lived. ~Gospel of the Essenes~

To make the human heart a temple, the soul an alter, and the mind a priest. These were the missions of Jesus the Nazarene. ~Kahlil Gibran~

another day of calling for peace, and another day of celebrating the astonishing light of our being, our interbeing ac-know-ledging we are one interconnected being made up of trillions and trillions of cells to the trillionth power with our optimal functioning interdependent on all beings relating as harmoniously as possible…

let us take this wild and precious moment of eternity to tune into our great earth mother for support and encouragement… breathe in deeply from the heart of earth mother filling every wild cell with her warm golden light imagining a bandwidth of luminous frequencies encircling the cosmos holding the wisdom of rainbow mysteries…. as we drink in the golden nectar and fly across the sky painting peace and compassion in the rhythm of the waves, we chant…

looking around, we are filled with gratitude

looking above, we are filled with wisdom

looking below, we are filled with compassion

looking within, we are filled  with true nature

living as one  in peace and harmony

from this space of unitive consciousness, we are attuned to the reality, the true reality, that peace prevailing on earth is not an impossible dream but an i’m possible dream… no, it is not easy and may well be the biggest challenge our souls ever take on and counterintuitively, this moment is the moment – yes, when all is breaking down in the outer world, we have a miraculous moment to do the messy and hard work of birthing, of laboring, of co-laborating to create a cosm of peace and as the song goes it has to begin in each of us so let it begin this moment with me and thee…

~

Song of Peace

We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which
we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times
keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings
and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with
generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature
and control our greed for material things, knowing that
our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being
for who he is, for who she is,
reaching to the spirit that is within,
knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

~ Jane Goodall ~

and so we begin this moment changing the world…

ah, today is the last day of this turn around the sun when, according to the I Ching,  brother sun shines on the hexagram of re-treat and what a moment as we begin the re-memberings of the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki… this picture of Sadako and her thousand cranes is one of my favorites, i resonate so with this child’s wish for peace on earth… after a morning in the healing temple, i’m making the most of today as a day of pause, a day of gap, of dwelling in the unknown, a day of mystery reflecting, a day of packing away belongings, inventorying life, emptying self, detaching from the noisy world, letting go, letting go, letting go, bowing to the deep, joining the council of elders round the fire of purification in sweet surrender melting into oneness…

fires of purification brings me to dreams of fire – is it fires of purification or annihilation or are they one and the same – have been dancing across the consciousness field, dreaming me for days, long before the blistering heat wave and raging wildfires that permeate our days here in the pacific northwest… through burning eyes and sweltering, sedating body heat, i feel the annihilation of all that’s inessential, the burning away of the chaff, the releasing of the rust, the polishing and burnishing the mirror until it reflects pure love, the only thing that’s real, that’s eternal, that’s ever expanding in widening waves of light moving us in deepening spirals into the center of being simply ourselves…

thank you for joining with me in being a pulse that lights up the world with prayers for harmony, conscious evolution and for peace to prevail on Earth…

The Nuclear Prayer

The Beginning and the End are in your hands, O Creator of the Universe. And in our hands you have placed the fate of this planet. We, who are tested by having both creative and destructive power in our free will, turn to you in sober fear and in intoxicating hope. We ask for your guidance and to share in your imagination in our deliberations about the use of nuclear force. Help us to lift the fog of atomic darkness that hovers so pervasively over our Earth, Your Earth, so that soon all eyes may see life magnified by your pure light.

Bless all of us who wait today for your Presence and who dedicate ourselves to achieve your intended peace and rightful equilibrium on Earth. In the Name of all that is holy and all that is hoped. Amen.

~

  may peace prevail on earth, may every thread of the web of life be peace now and may all relatives dance in devocean to love…

i am at a loss today on this day when we celebrate the astonishing light of our being in the echo chamber of another day in the usa when we hear of two more incidents of unspeakable tragedy… so i dig deeply today for the light of our being wanting to be in communion to sing light in the dark, to fold a thousand cranes with you for us to all come together to chant grant us peace in honor of all who die every day re- membering it was 74 years ago today Anne Frank’s  family’s secret hiding place was raided…

i’m going to let the words of the APA president speak for me today…

~

“Our condolences are with the families and friends of those killed or injured in these horrific shootings and with all Americans affected every day by the twin horrors of hate and gun violence.

“As our nation tries to process the unthinkable yet again, it is clearer than ever that we are facing a public health crisis of gun violence fueled by racism, bigotry and hatred. The combination of easy access to assault weapons and hateful rhetoric is toxic. Psychological science has demonstrated that social contagion — the spread of thoughts, emotions and behaviors from person to person and among larger groups — is real, and may well be a factor, at least in the El Paso shooting.

“That shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, as it should be. Psychological science has demonstrated the damage that racism can inflict on its targets. Racism has been shown to have negative cognitive and behavioral effects on both children and adults and to increase anxiety, depression, self-defeating thoughts and avoidance behaviors.

“Routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing. Research has shown that only a very small percentage of violent acts are committed by people who are diagnosed with, or in treatment for, mental illness. The rates of mental illness are roughly the same around the world, yet other countries are not experiencing these traumatic events as often as we face them. One critical factor is access to, and the lethality of, the weapons that are being used in these crimes. Adding racism, intolerance and bigotry to the mix is a recipe for disaster.

“If we want to address the gun violence that is tearing our country apart, we must keep our focus on finding evidence-based solutions. This includes restricting access to guns for people who are at risk for violence and working with psychologists and other experts to find solutions to the intolerance that is infecting our nation and the public dialogue.”

For people who are suffering distress in the aftermath of the shootings in Dayton and El Paso, APA offers a variety of resources, including:

• Managing your distress in the aftermath of a shooting.
• Helping children manage distress in the aftermath of a shooting.
• How to talk to children about difficult news and tragedies.
• How much news coverage is OK for children?
• Warning signs of youth violence.
• Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention and Policy (an expert panel report).
• APA’s Gun Violence Prevention Efforts.

may peace prevail in the usa, may peace prevail on earth may every thread of the web of life be peace now…

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…

holy synchronicity! today is the day of sharing an image of the astonishing light of your being as well as Human Rights Day and the day that the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo…

this long held dream and cause so dear to my heart, peace, seems through these eyes in this moment to be closer to realeyesation…  thousandfold thanks for all beings’ contributions in thoughts, words and deeds to this noble endeavor… thousandfold thanks for lighting the fire and kindling the eternal flame of peace…

~

All the Hemispheres

Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.
Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.

Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.

Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting

While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You.

~ Hafiz ~

~

shanti, shanti, shantihi

for this week’s edition of the astonishing light of being, we also get to celebrate an important day in herstory/history as it’s the day after 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…

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…

welcome to this week’s installment of an image showing the astonishing light of being… and some words to shed more astonishing light on this subject of painting the radiant sunlight of being… breathe in light, breathe out love…

Instructions to Painters & Poets

I asked a hundred painters and a hundred poets
how to paint sunlight
on the face of life
Their answers were ambiguous and ingenuous
as if they were all guarding trade secrets
Whereas it seems to me
all you have to do
is conceive of the whole world
and all humanity
as a kind of art work
a site-specific art work
an art project of the god of light
the whole earth and all that’s in it
to be painted with light

And the first thing you have to do
is paint out postmodern painting
And the next thing is to paint yourself
in your true colors
in primary colors
as you seem them
(without whitewash)
paint yourself as you see yourself
without make-up
without masks
Then paint your favorite people and animals
with your brush loaded with light
And be sure you get the perspective right
and don’t fake it
because one false line leads to another

And then paint the high hills
when the sun first strikes them
on an autumn morning
With your palette knife
lay it on
the cadmium yellow leaves
the ochre leaves
the vermillion leaves
of a New England autumn
And paint the ghost light of summer nights
and the light of the midnight sun
which is moon light
And don’t paint out the shadows made by light

for without chiaroscuro you’ll have shallow pictures
So paint all the dark corners too
everywhere in the world
all the hidden places and minds and hearts
which light never reaches
all the caves of ignorance and fear
the pits of despair
the sloughs of despond
and write plain upon them
“Abandon all despair, ye who enter here”

And don’t forget to paint
all those who lived their lives
as bearers of light
Paint their eyes
and the eyes of every animal
and the eyes of beautiful women
known best for the perfection of their breasts
and the eyes of men and women
known only for the light of their minds
Paint the light of their eyes
the light of sunlit laughter
the song of eyes
the song of birds in flight

And remember that the light is within
if it is anywhere
and you must paint from the inside
Start with purity
with pure white
the pure white of gesso
the pure white of cadmium white
the pure white of flake white
the pure virgin canvas
the pure life we all begin with

Turner painted sunlight
with egg tempera
(which proved unstable)
and Van Gogh did it with madness
and the blood of his ear
(also unstable)
and the Impressionists did it
by never using black
and the Abstract Expressionists did it
with white house paint
But you can do it with the pure pigment
(if you can figure out the formula)
of your own true light
But before you striek the first blow
on the virgin canvas
remember its fagility
life’s extreme fragility
and remember its innocence
its original innocence
before you strike the first blow

Or perhaps never strike it
And let the light come through
the inner light of the canvas
the inner light of the models posed
in the life study
the inner light of everyone
Let it all come through
like a pentimento
the light that’s been painted over
the life that’s been painted over
so many times
Let it all surge to the surface
the painted-over image
of primal life on earth

And when you’ve finished your painting
stand back astonished
stand back and observe
the life on earth that you’ve created
the lighted life on earth
that you’ve created
a new brave world

~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti ~