a vision of “Revolutionary Love”

I highly recommend this Audiobook by Valarie Kaur; 

it is very much in alignment with this Blog (imoe ; )

"See No Stranger is a 
practical guide to changing the world, 
a synthesis of wisdom, 
a chronicle of personal and communal history
— all joined together by a story of awakening. 
Revolutionary love is medicine for our times. 
It just might be our best chance for our collective future"

Some Fruit of Life: Beautiful & Brave

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The quote below is really one big paragraph: I formatted it for emphasis and readability:

We must assume our existence
as broadly as we in any way can;
everything, even the unheard-of, must be possible in it.
That is at bottom the only courage that is demanded of us:
to have courage for
the most strange,
the most singular and
the most inexplicable that we may encounter.

That mankind has in this sense been cowardly
has done life endless harm;
the experiences that are called "visions,"
the whole so-called "spirit-world,"
death,
all those things that are so closely akin to us,
have by daily parrying been so crowded out of life
that the senses with which we could have grasped them
are atrophied.
To say nothing of God.

But fear of the inexplicable
has not alone impoverished the existence of the individual;
the relationship between one human being and another
has also been cramped by it,
as though it had been lifted
out of the riverbed of endless possibilities
and set down in a fallow spot on the bank,
to which nothing happens.
For it is not inertia alone
that is responsible for human relationships
repeating themselves from case to case,
indescribably monotonous and unrenewed:
it is shyness before any sort of new, unforeseeable experience
with which one does not think oneself able to cope.

But only someone who is ready for everything,
who excludes nothing,
not even the most enigmatical,
will live the relation to another as something alive
and will himself draw exhaustively from his own existence.

For if we think of this existence of the individual
as a larger or smaller room,
it appears evident that most people learn to know
only a corner of their room,
a place by the window,
a strip of floor on which they walk up and down.
Thus they have a certain security.

And yet that dangerous insecurity is so much more human
which drives the prisoners in Poe's stories
to feel out the shapes of their horrible dungeons
and not be strangers to the unspeakable terror of their abode.

We, however, are not prisoners.
No traps or snares are set about us,
and there is nothing which should intimidate or worry us.
We are set down in life
as in the element to which we best correspond,
and over and above this we have
through thousands of years of accommodation
become so like this life,
that when we hold still we are,
through a happy mimicry,
scarcely to be distinguished from all that surrounds us.

We have no reason to mistrust our world,
for it is not against us.
Has it terrors, they are our terrors;
has it abysses, those abuses belong to us;
are dangers at hand, we must try to love them.

And if only we arrange our life
according to that principle which counsels us
that we must always hold to the difficult,
then that which now still seems to us the most alien
will become what we most trust and find most faithful.

How should we be able to forget
those ancient myths about dragons
that at the last moment turn into princesses;
perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses
who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave.
Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being
something helpless that wants help from us.
- Rainer Maria Rilke

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The Blessing of Embodiment

Days Like This - Van Morrison

When it's not always raining there'll be days like this
When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need to worry there'll be days like this
When no one's in a hurry there'll be days like this
When you don't get betrayed by that old Judas kiss
Oh my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need an answer there'll be days like this
When you don't meet a chancer there'll be days like this
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit
Then I must remember there'll be days like this

When everyone is up front and they're not playing tricks
When you don't have no freeloaders out to get their kicks
When it's nobody's business the way that you wanna live
I just have to remember there'll be days like this

When no one steps on my dreams there'll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there'll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me

this reminds me of the famus poem in Ecclesiastes, which also became many songs, this one famous

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8, YLT

To everything -- a season, and a time to every delight under the heavens:

A time to bring forth, And a time to die.
A time to plant, And a time to eradicate the planted.

A time to slay, And a time to heal,
A time to break down, And a time to build up.

A time to weep, And a time to laugh.
A time to mourn, And a time to skip.

A time to cast away stones, And a time to heap up stones.
A time to embrace, And a time to be far from embracing.

A time to seek, And a time to destroy.
A time to keep, And a time to cast away.

A time to rend, And a time to sew.
A time to be silent, And a time to speak.

A time to love, And a time to hate.
A time of war, And a time of peace.

I have been speaking to a friend quite a bit lately about how the needs and experience of the body is an important aspect of our life on this planet and our spiritual growth. 

Yes, we are spirit in a body. 

And yes, it is very important to honor our spiritual perspective, our spiritual growth, our spiritual communication, information, senses, abilities and gifts... 

to grow into our spiritual power, creativity and seniority.

In the circles I run in, the spiritual focus gets a lot of 'airtime' as well as practice and focus, as well it should! 

Because the world we live in (our families, our society, our churches, our friends, our jobs, our culture...) 

is almost 100% physically-focused, almost 100% of the time. 

It serves us  to find our spiritual center and hold it, 

which, like riding a bike, is EASY once we get it, 

and looks like falling down A LOT, until until we get it ; )

Personally, I don't know almost anyone who holds that spiritual center easily, yet. 

I am fortunate to play with folks who are, 

(as Paul of the Christian bible says) being diligent (other versions say: earnest endeavour, labour, hasten, strong desire, strive) 

"to enter into that rest".

And amoung us, it is easy to give short-shrift to our bodies; 

even as we focus on being spirit IN A BODY. 

The theory goes, we are here in a body, to learn,to grow, to evolve. 

The end of the evolution is, to become Masters (as our fore-runners, Ascended Masters like Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Jesus...). 

What is interesting to me is, we are ALL spirit, a part of Gd; 

what sets us souls apart: 

we who are still here on the Earth, 

we are not yet experiencing REST as the center of our being. 

I have noticed the Masters have ALL learned what we have not: 

to have the body in alignment - come into joyful, easful alignment with Spirit. 

Each of the Ascended Masters learned to love their embodied life and embody their spiritual path. 

 The Masters mastered the Earth game - so they are onto new games. 

(This makes them AWESOME friends, healers, guides for US, BTW ; )

I don't want to miss this point: 

We are ALREADY spirit, 

all the riches and beauty of all time and space are already ours. 

We are already ONE with Gd and with ALL. 

The POINT of the earth game is not to be spirit, or to be spiritual: 

the Point of being in a body, is to learn to be spirit in BODY. 

To comfortably master:
- surviving and thriving in this reality;
- dancing with our emotions and the flow of our sexuality;
- holding our power and directing our will;
- savoring our connection with the Earth, our relationship between us as spirit and our bodies, our connections with all our relations, our oneness with Gd, All That Is;
- creating the stories we live in and enjoying our communication with all within us and around us;
- being the Light on the Mountaintop: seeing and being seen clearly, staying with the Body as a Light in the world;

- being still here now with - and Knowing God, our Source - our truth, life, light, love, way...

and walking IN this, REALizing Spirit in our World.

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We are not just humans learning to become Buddhas, 

but also Buddhas waking up in human form, 

learning to become fully human. 

These two tracks of development can mutually enrich each other. 

~John Welwood

Open to Spirit, Receive the Desires of your Heart

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Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
- Psalm 37:4

I woke up this morning with this scripture on my mind. In it, I hear:

Delighting in Gd/Spirit for me is consciously opening to the yumminess, wholeness, connection with All That Is.
This delight is always available and showering upon each of us.

I can walk around with a golf umbrella & pea coat and galoshes and resist it, eschew it
OR I can strip-off all that armor and ALLOW myself to be filled and fulfilled in this deep, spiritual relationship and energetic wholeness.

This place of delightful connection with the Universe IS the place where ALL the desires of my heart are met.
The one cannot be separated from the other.

And that is enough - way more than enough.

Meanwhile... when my needs are fulfilled within, I vibrate in a different way. 

When i have what i need within, i resonate with a new way of being 

and I attract a new life around me, as well. 

Striving, effort, trying at this outwardly focused level is counter-productive; 

but fortunately when manifesting from the inside out: 

I can let go of grasping because my needs are already met. 

At the same time, I can ALLOW the desires of my heart to come to me.

I have found this is a process that is very exciting adventure, with no end... 

with many gifts, as well as many challenges

best, 
; ) wendy

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Don't Stop, Believin'

A friend of mine just posted this quote on FaceBook:

No matter how good you are, nobody is going to come knocking at your door. 

You have to take the risk of rejection, and get that material out there. 

Assume, as much as possible, that it might get taken, not that it must be. 

Also, be aware that just because a piece is rejected, it does not necessarily mean that the idea or writing is bad… 

- Elizabeth Berg, Escaping into the Open

It reminded me of a book I recently finished by Piers Anthony: Hasan.
Anthony added a postscript about how the book was conceived, researched, written and sold.
(Honestly, I enjoyed the Author's Note more than the book ; )

He wrote in some detail about how no one would publish the book,
but he believed in it and kept pushing,
and found several innovative ways to get interest in and sale of the book.

After all was said and done, over many years, he tallied the results, he says:

which concludes the most remarkable of my marketing histories: fourteen bounces, five sales, and the first sale the result of a fanzine review of the unsold manuscript. 

The lesson here, I believe is never give up hope. 

My success, in this and in general, owes as much to determination as to talent.

I was encouraged by this - for myself and for all of us.
The work we do, what we creatively birth into the world,
may not be easily recognized by others as the gift that it is.

But when we keep on doing it and sharing it, and shining our Light:
we Will find our audience, our place, our own personal success.

It is vital, for ourselves and the world, that we trust and believe
in ourselves, our calling, and our creations / art / service:
whatever our gifts are. We CAN allow ourselves to Keep Going:

- keep Being who we are,
- keep following our unique path,
- keep opening to our special brand of creativity,
- keep sharing the fruit.

(fill in the blanks, for yourself ; )
No one can sing like you can sing, so Sing Loud!
No one can write like you can write, so Write Often!
No one can love like you can love, so Love Deeply!
No one can live like you can live, so Live Well!

Amen. So Be it.

Overwhelmed by the needs in our world?

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Like many, I used to have much frustration

Sometimes I still do! 

Overwhelmed 

by all the things that I believed needed to be done in our world.

I have some ways of looking at this, I have found serve me. 

I will share some, if you are interested read on.

I believe if I find the thing(s) I am very well suited to do AND 'called' to do,

then my world will move toward wholeness - IN me AND in my World

So my job is to get quiet, listen within, and find my unique path, 

and then do that... JUST THAT.

I believe when each of us do our 'jobs' in our own little corner of the world, 

amazing things happen.

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I see it in terms of cells in a body. 

If i am a liver cell, and i do the jobs of a liver cell well, 

that is what i can do. 

If all the cells do their jobs, 

the body functions well. 

If all all the cells don't function well, 

the body does not do well. 

Unfortunately (and fortunately) 

i cannot do any other cell's job for them. 

Maybe I can do a little more of my job, 

if other liver cells are slacking, and that may help. 

But i cannot run over and do an eye cell's job. 

This illustration assists me to 'keep my eyes on my own page': 

to do my job and not worry about if/how/when other jobs will get done.

I cannot do it all 

and I shouldn't try: 

because i cannot do it 

and because it makes me crazy to try to do it 

and even crazier to worry about it. 

It is more than enough to do my job, 

and if i do it well, others will be inspired to do their jobs well.

This is how I continually manage these issues for myself 

- i hope you find a comfortable journey around this in your life.  

Thanks for reading.
in life, wendy

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Fervor, freedom and leisure - from that comes the artist

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I hope this is useful encouragement for 'artists' as well as all for whom life is a creative act:

I just read an inspiring story in our local paper: Neighborhood Gems: Joe Reno.
This man found his passion, which is indistinguishable from his service / contribution to the world;
and has been doing it steadily for most of his life.

Here is some of his wisdom:

Upon his return to Seattle shortly thereafter, Reno started painting night and day, delivering art to the community and the nation in vast numbers.

Heger said Reno’s works lean toward the tail end of mystique’s tradition.

Reno’s works show mystical leanings because he believes in supernatural powers emanating from our natural surroundings, which is why he loves the Northwest so much.

“Nature is key,” he said. “Composition and character are the most important things in fine arts but you can not teach them, you have to be born with it. You have to grow up with people that are wholesome and develop character in nature, out in the woods.”

Reno said sprawl, environmental destruction and wars are making fine art disappear.

Fine art is crucial because it’s the breeding ground for creative thinking and science, Reno said, pointing out Leonardo Da Vinci who was both, a great fine artist and scientist.

“Fervor, freedom and leisure - from that comes the artist,” he said. “Computers are a depletion of your contact with your natural ways. Genius comes from beaches, beautiful parks and all sorts of creatures. The Northwest is one of the strongest breeding grounds for genius.”...

Reno never married and sees his art as his offspring and the world as his stage.

“Each human being on this planet is my audience. When I paint, I’m writing a letter to every human being telling them to be happy and not be evil...” he said.

Brown said that while you need a whole community to keep fine art alive, Reno is certainly doing his bit.

“He’s the most industrious artist around. You won’t find anyone like him. For him it’s 24 hours a day,” he said.

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They're Singing Your Song

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From a story told by Alan Cohen
in his book: Wisdom Of The Heart:

When a woman in a certain African tribe knows
she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness
with a few friends and together they pray and
meditate until they hear the song of the child.
They recognize that every soul has its own vibration
that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When
the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud. 
Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone
else.

When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her. Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come
together and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.

Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.

To the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community
form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.

The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.

A friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it. Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn't. In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well.

You may feel a little warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you'll find your way home.

Divine Love

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A GOLDEN COMPASS, Hafiz: 

Forget every idea of right and wrong 

Any classroom ever taught you 

Because An empty heart, a tormented mind, Unkindness, jealousy and fear 

Are always the testimony 

You have been completely fooled! 

Turn your back on those 

Who would imprison your wondrous spirit 

With deceit and lies. 

Come, join the honest company Of the King's beggars – 

Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns 

And those astonishing fair courtesans 

Who need Divine Love every night. 

Come, join the courageous 

Who have no choice 

But to bet their entire world 

That indeed, Indeed, God is Real. 

I will lead you into the Circle Of the Beloved's cunning thieves, 

Those playful royal rogues 

– The ones you can trust for true guidance – 

Who can aid you In this Blessed Calamity of life. 

Hafiz, Look at the Perfect One At the Circle's Center: 

He Spins and Whirls like a Golden Compass, 

Beyond all that is Rational, 

To show this dear world 

That Everything, Everything in Existence 

Does point to God.