Category: 2021 spiritual

Mighty old oak, so beautiful and strong,
Beyond this very age you reach and stretch
Branches to the sky and roots in olden depths.

Majestic you stand  your ground so tall
On the very top of this sweet, rolling hill.
Forests and fields grew all around
Like a roaring ocean’s ebb and tide.

Many a deer became your friend
And yes, some people loved you too,
But now at last you may get cut
In spite along with your very hill and all.

Thus I came by with a heavy heart
My hand reached out to touch your bark
And you opened up your heart and spoke
Swept me off my feet and flew
Through a vortex of a gate we spun
And the world fell far away.

“It’s all right the way it is!”
Thundered your might voice
With profound acceptance of it all
Boundless appreciation and deepest love
For all life and everything and all.

“Maybe it’s my time to go, it matters not
I’ve been here for quite a while
I won’t mind somewhere else to go —
And when we’re ready it will be
Definitely a good step after all.
So, why worry? — Let it be!”

“At times you may feel squeezed,
Sometimes crowded, then alone —
Go with the flow, ride the ebb and tide
And all is right, the very best
In everything and all there is
This moment, sweet and sound
We call eternity and love!”

So the tree spoke with silence
Like thunder shaking up my Earth
Then gently put me back again
Down on my little human feet.

“Christina’s Theme” — cooperation of sound and light

About stories and truth

And I asked him if it was true.
“True?” he snapped. “What do you mean by by ‘true’? You want to know if it happened, word for word, exactly as I told it? Makes no difference. You may as well ask me if it’s a good story, because a good story is true, whether it happened or not. And a bad story — even if it happened — is a lie.”
“The question,” he added with a grin, “is not whether the story is true, but whether it has truth inside it… And that is a mystery only time can solve.” — p. 9

As Mark Twain said: “Truth is stranger than fiction… Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” — p. 10

“But telling stories is not about the words you say. When you have a story inside you, and an open heart, you become a conduit — the story flows through you. As for the words — ” he waved a hand dismissively, “they’re merely commentary.” — pp. 93-94

From The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness by Joel ben Izzy

Happy 2022! — Mighty old oak, Luna, and Moon

From being somebody
And relishing it so much
To step or be kicked out
Into the big wide world
To be after all a nobody
It seemed such a loss
When actually it was
The max gain possible
Our spiritual freedom
Self-realization for one
Realization of God for all
While manifesting this life
The present moment now
With all its past and future
Everything in divine love
It embraces you and me
Unifies our very hearts
Carrying no one but all
This current of spirit
Life, light and sound
The flow of the river
The ocean of love.

Dare take the plunge
To be some nobody
No more somebody
As ways and rock fall
From a mountain high
Have no legs but wings
To fly up far out and free.

“The Far Side where Opposites Unite” — and the circles close

The fundamental nature of gifts

“That is the fundamental nature of gifts: they move, and their value increases with their passage… The more something is shared, the greater its value becomes. This is hard to grasp for societies steeped in notions of private property, where others are, by definition, excluded from sharing. Practices such as posting land against trespass, for example, are expected and accepted in a property economy but are unacceptable in an economy where land is seen as a gift to all.” — p. 27

“Many of our ancient teachings counsel that whatever we have been given is supposed to be given away again. From the viewpoint of a private property economy, the ‘gift’ is deemed to be ‘free’ because we obtain it free of charge, at no cost. But in the gift economy, gifts are not free. The essence of the gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a ‘bundle of rights,’ whereas in a gift economy property has a ‘bundle of responsibilities’ attached.” — p. 28

From Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

From being some nobody

In the embrace of love
A quiet space of silence
Not so much doing now
But mainly being here
All inclusive we can live
One experience at a time
From early dawn to dusk
Everything is in between
One day was the very first
That’s what we usually note
Each day brings some news
Firsts in its unique own way
And another day will come
Or not — if it was the last
This we might note later
More likely than before
We have gone beyond
Leave all ways behind
Where we once were
Then letting it all go
To be without doing
In spiritual freedom
While doing all good
Earning the hard way
Still the easiest possible
Is quite difficult enough
As much as any one can
Thus letting it all just be
In the embrace of love.

One more tonality to come: LoReachUpMaj

From Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“The Skywoman story, shared by the original peoples throughout the Great Lakes, is a constant star in the constellation of teachings we call the Original Instructions. These are not ‘instructions’ like commandments, though, or rules; rather, they are like a compass: they provide an orientation but not a map. The work of living is creating that map for yourself. How to follow the Original Instructions will be different for each of us and different for every era.” — p. 7

“In Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as ‘the younger brothers of Creation.’ We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus most to learn — we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way they live. They teach us by example. They’ve been on earth far longer than we have been, and have had time to figure things out. … We need to learn to listen.” — pp. 9 and 10

In the embrace of love and sound

So much stuff
That lasts or not
Comes and goes
From merchandise
To heaps of trash
Better think twice
And do consider
Ramifications
What it can do
In the long run
There’s a future
Of all the things
To flow and serve
Sustain a purpose
Or just fade away
From the new to old
More or less durable
Benefits that last
Or just wash away
With limited aims
A moment or two
Hopeful for more
Look and weigh
What may come
Recycle or reuse
Maybe for burning
In harmony and love.

So much stuff — “Call to Peace”

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