Even a wounded world...

Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.

Lines from "The Journey"

Above the mountains
the geese turn into
the light again

Painting their
black silhouettes
on an open sky.

Sometimes everything
has to be
inscribed across
the heavens

so you can find
the one line
already written
inside you...

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out

someone has written
something new
in the ashes of your life...

Forgiveness has many layers

Many people have trouble with forgiveness because they have been taught that it is a singular act to be completed in one sitting. That is not so. Forgiveness has many layers, many seasons. In our culture there is a notion that forgiveness is a 100 percent proposition. All or nothing. It is also taught that forgiveness means to overlook, to act as though a thing has not occurred. That is not true either.

When She Asked Me About Prayer

I don't know, but maybe
it has something to do
with sitting on the roof
and watching what's left

of the lunar eclipse while
crickets sing silence
into ecstatic buzz
and joy spills into my cells

till the idea of self washes away.
Or, when I'm shucked by loss.
The self in tatters. Raw.
Naked. Unable to know.

Utterly flayed. Then.
That's when I pray.

Prayer has the same inner dynamics as love

Prayer is easy only for beginners and for those who are already Saints. During all the long years in between, it is difficult. Why? Because prayer has the same inner dynamics as love, and love is sweet only in its initial stage, when we first fall in love, and again in its final, mature stage. In between, love is hard work, dogged fidelity, and needs willful commitment beyond what is normally provided by our emotions and our imagination.

To work on your self

One way to work on your self is by being present in the body. Another way is by expanding the heart. A third way is by quieting the mind. The wise person finds a way to work on all three at the same time.

Solitude can be a homecoming

Solitude is one of the most precious things in the human spirit. It is different from loneliness. When you are lonely, you become acutely conscious of your own separation. Solitude can be a homecoming to your own deepest belonging. One of the lovely things about us as individuals is the incommensurable in us.

How to be a Poet

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.

Breathe with unconditional breath the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly.
Live a three-dimensional life;
stay away from screens.

Stay away from anything that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come out of the silence,

The Now

One of the dysfunctional patterns of the mind is the assumption that the Now needs to be filled with something all the time.

Contemplation allows the soul to breathe

A contemplative life is not withdrawal. It is an active engagement born of stillness. Contemplation allows the soul to breathe and to meet the world with presence rather than reaction. Silence is not empty, it is full of answers if we care to listen.

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