Author: Jo Beall

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 323 – 11/4/2022

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one of the highlights today bringing so much joy was watching an almost 90 year old singing This Land Is Your Land in inaugural festivities back in 2009…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HE4H0k8TDgw%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26fs%3D1%26autohide%3D2%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26wmode%3Dtransparent

i write tonight from the prophetic space of outside the camp, outside the contemporary defended encampments of us and them, our side and their side and appeal to our deeper self where we real-eyes we are one whole interbeing with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, where we know a great vision is needed and we are the ones elected to keep the faith and do the work of justice for all… a few days before midterm elections in the usa, i reflect on the pilgrimage of my country; many nights i have shared Langston Hughes poem on letting america be america again… and, just as i would have liked crazy horse to have used a more inclusive word than man, i would have left off the again for i do not feel we’ve tried democracy yet; some of us have had that privilege while many have not… as i write millions of americans are hurting needing us to keep the faith and speak truth to power deeply from our heart making the words of This Land an embodied experience for all…

and now may we tune into the poet’s speaking truth and be inspired to keep the faith and take action daily to heal, make whole, repair the breach for all relatives…

~

“Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.

I am the red man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old World while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That’s made America the land it has become.

O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,

And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came

To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free?  Not me?

Surely not me?  The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we’ve dreamed

And all the songs we’ve sung

And all the hopes we’ve held

And all the flags we’ve hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is free.

The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America again!”

~Langston Hughes~

~

may the inward guide and those who have gone before us—the organizers, the advocates, the peacebuilders, and changemakers—inspire us to persistently speak truth to power as we work for the beloved community…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 322 – 11/3/2022

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in this moment of eternity, all over the planet, life is out of balance and we know deep in our bones we must change the dream we’ve been living… when we listen to the indigenous, the people of the land who listen to the all that is, we hear the clarion call to love our mother and each other… water, air, trees, sun, moon, stars, all our relatives, and we are all relatives woven together intricately, inextricably, interconnectedly…

we can all feel that we are at a tipping point, a sacred space with birth pangs so intense it feels like we are dying; yes, we are to a life that no longer fits, a shell that is too constricting… we are at a moment when we must band together, stand together in love, throw off the illusion of separation, re-member the reality that we are one just as abraham re-minded us that a house divided cannot stand…

yes, let us take courage and be of strong heart, awaken the dream of the world we all share and long to real-eyes… a world of peace built on justice and guided by our essence, our essence of love… let us be repairers of the breach finding the way to relate to and listen to each other taking deep breaths and opening ourselves, our one heart to great mystery trusting a greater force beyond understanding is orchestrating the symphony while we play our parts as gracefully as is given to us… a simple task but not an easy one this flowing with unfolding mystery… empty, empty coming home to our true heart of intending a world that works for all…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 321 – 11/2/2022

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a poem comes to me, it comes circuitously… written as a rituwell celebrating cosmos creation, it seems perfect for numina november, the day following all souls day of honoring the ancestors and sending them back into the night sea to watch over us as we  emerge and see… sounding and re-sounding the words, we breathe in life, this nascent moment of interbeing, and breathe out life, this nascent moment of interbeing, in a seamless circle of birth to death to rebirth to death as one organic whole… join me in simply being, breathing, bowing, dancing and flowing in beauty as the soul of the space wherever we are in this wild and precious moment…

~

Ancestor Prayer

“When you were born,
The earth became your body,
The stone became your bone,
The sea became your blood,
The sun became your eye,
The moon became your mind,
The wind became your breath.
When you passed to the Otherworld,
Your breath became the wind,
Your mind became the moon,
Your eye became the sun,
Your blood became the sea,
Your bone became the stone,
Your body became the earth.
When we were born, you did the same for us:
You called forth the earth and rocks;
The sea arose and the sun descended;
The moon shone down and the winds sang.
For those who come after, we shall do as you did for us
When we are gone, we shall do as you did before.
Ancestors, we honour you.”

~ The Reverend Michael J Dangler ~

~

another delivery today for this moment of eternity, a blessingway for our ancient earth mother…

~

“In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other:
“Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”
“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”
The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”
The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”
The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”
The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one has ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”
“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”
The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”
The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”
Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”
To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”
~ Útmutató a Léleknek ~

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 320 – 11/1/2022

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well come, relatives, to this day of honoring ancestors celebrating all saints/all souls, dia de los muertos in this new moonth of numina november, a moon, a month to take a long pregnant pause in the cauldron of transformation luxuriating in being here now in the present moment of this powerful portal of deepening into the dark when the veils between the realms are thinned with heart openings in the vast sky sea for us to enter and float in the river of re-membering beginning with this auspicious date of 11/1, a trinity of ones, a day when we feel the communion of saints/souls/ancestors, the company of heavenearth, the bright and shining ones who, in reality, are all ways with us just as we are always with them…

let’s take this powerful portal moment of eternity which asks us to imagine the world anew and choose to walk through it lightly, without past baggage, in an awakened way… perhaps you’ll join me in taking up HH’s call to use every moment to expand the heart and be of as much benefit as we can be in service to rainbow mystery…

to anchor in our intentions, let’s gather ’round the ceremonial fire taking each other’s hands in this numina moment to conspire, to breathe together, to let go fully getting down to bare bones, shedding the skins of conditioning, simply breathing into now, this wild and precious moment of presence with nothing to do  and nowhere to go , simply be now here shining our light…

with our next inspiration, listen to this breath flowing through, animating us, expanding our being and feel the golden light of the cosm showering us, pouring in, hollowing in, flooding all the arteries and veins in the deep river below the river flowing within…

let us take one more breath together in the river of the numina re-joy-sing in the place where spirit lives, re-joy-sing in the space which is of love and light and peace and truth, re-joy-sing in the sun and moon and stars above,  re-joy-sing in the fire and earth and water and air, re-joy-sing in the river below, re-joy-sing in the center within, re-joy-sing in our recognizing ourselves in each other re-membering we are one, onederfilled heart of creative imagination so designed for these challenging days of re-weaving the world with wisdom and wonder thus co-creating a world that works for all relatives…

here’s to our real-eye-sing and re-joy-sing in wandering awakened under this 11th moon of the numina inspiring our shedding skins and shining light – cheers!…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 319 – 10/31/2022

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dan-sing in the dark

seeing spirit everywhere

 ancestors guide us home

~

on this very night of all hallows eve, let’s begin with the astonishing light of our inner being/interbeing by opening to the lamp of our one cosmic heart being lit by a thousand fold lights and now that we are feeling the inner light, let’s move on to the dancing in the dark that samhain, all hallows eve, all hollows eve constellates, for on this very night it is known to those initiated in great mysteries that both the souls of the trapped will be freed and that the inverse reality of souls serving the other side of the lower world will  come topside to create their own ability to remain amongst the world of the living… this gateway creates an opportunity to repent, clear karma, raise consciousness and return to love once more…

great homage is given to the ancestors who come and go through the making of potions and preparation of food made for both the living and for those loved ones who have passed and are unable to participate in the physical expression of ingesting the libation offerings…

the celebration of samhain, all hallows eve, all hollows eve and the energies of this profound portal  represent  the veils of consciousness thinning within us, our hollowing, hallowing and our ability to transcend darkness and density into light as we metaphorically bubble in the cauldron of transformation with the potions where we move from death to rebirth in a sangha field, true refuge in the rains’ deluge… sacred space built on compassion, generosity, harmony and lovingkindness with a mission to liberate all prisons… in this place devoted to honoring the ancestors while serving all with every breath as a practice of dharma, every breath an exhalation of love, we arrive and come home to our one heart living with all in harmony…

may we all breathe together, conspire… may we all breathe together more and more loving presence and more and more trust and more and more surrender into the creative process of love where we are all walking each other home into the heart of the present moment, the only moment, the all that is… may we all breathe together in perfect cosmic harmony where all is well eternally…

love, love, love from the waxing moon and this night of the dark portal from whence we all come and will return… tending the fires and stirring the cauldron of transformation are calling us, singing us – may we hollow in and answer the call…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 318 – 10/30/2022

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“Each day has a moment of eternity waiting for you. Each day has a portal, a threshold, a liminal moment in which everything could open up and reveal itself to the eye that can see.” ~ WilliamBlake ~

we are standing on your bones

we are calling you home

we are thankful for your gifts

we are thankful for your songs

ancestors, you’ve waited so long

for us to call you home

thank you for holding us well as we enter the void

~

the pacific northwest provides a perfect backdrop today for  the eve of all hallow’s eve, an ancient celtic fire festival  known as samhain…  a season for leaping into the void and welcoming the oncoming darkness and accompanying reflection cycle while honoring the spirits now present during the thinning of veils between upper and lower worlds… yes, the pacific northwest serves as a perfect backdrop with her blustery winds and earth softened soil ready to receive divination and other worldly communications in this season of letting all fall away, of coming home to quintessence, coming home to the present moment, to the breath of eternal life…

surrendering to this natural movement of our soul can and must bring forth pieces of the personal and collective unconscious, the shadowlands, needing to come into the light for healing as in wholing, evolving, becoming… yes to letting the hallows dance of this sacred life portal begin!

in this liminal space, we prepare the nest for the birth of the new, a sacred space for us to be like snakes or trees… shedding our old skins or leaves and resting in the dark while the fire turns to ash and is spread on the earth to germinate the new…

thanks bee for this portal to reflect on what to die to, what to let go of as we embark on a journey of trust and surrender into the unknown, the deep forest of our interbeing… a portal of connecting with ancestors and the unchanging wisdom of the sages, as they teach the truth of there is no separation… no veils, no closed doors, no locked gates… in this moment of eternity, let us release limitation and loosen the sails of imagination… let us valorously sally forth and stand unconditionally in a gathering of our one cosmic heart of boundless love…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 317 – 10/29/2022

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sixty years ago on this very day when i was a child of eleven years, the thirteen days of the cuban missile crisis came to an end bringing with it a collective sigh of relief that our better angels had prevailed, in deed, fear was reborn as courage, our one heart opened expansively…

today, as everyday, as every moment of eternity, we can choose to presence the astonishing light of interbeing into our lives and welcome this moment as openly as a hollow reed… bearing witness to the viruses of fear, separation, conquest and dominance while mourning the injustices of the world and taking compassionate actions of waging peace and lovingkindness, returning to the cosmic rhythm of harmony and re-membering and celebrating our ability to turn lead to gold, fear to courage… and so today i am walking into the dark, walking on the WILD side and contemplating:

“What in your life is calling you,
When all the noise is silenced,
The meetings adjourned…
The lists laid aside,
And the Wild Iris blooms
By itself
In the dark forest…
What still pulls on your soul?”

~ Rumi ~

today’s call is to silence all noise, adjourn all meetings and lay lists aside to enter the sacred grove deep within the crystalline forest to be with what pulls on my soul when the stream is impeded… what needs grieving so it can be re-leased? What skin needs shedding? what shell has grown too small and needs cracking open?

synchronistically, the young beings i spend the dark night with are in a transition spot as well – so tired and unable to let go so i rock the babes and sing to them until we are in the rhythm of rest-oration and as they sleep peacefully, the stream sings to me, relaxing me into the perfectly choreographed dance of life… in closing this be-wilder-ing moment of eternity ceremony, i re-member the words of beloved ancestor, Mary Oliver:

In Blackwater Woods

“…To live in this world you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.”

thanks bee for this day, this moment of dan-sing in the dark, in great mystery, until we awaken to the light that is always with us, inspiriting the pathless path of our soul song with courage, great heart, to dance one more step, simply one more step, one more breath, simply one more breath…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 316 – 10/28/2022

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All we need is the morning.
As long as there is sunrise,
then there is the possibility
that we can face all of our misfortunes,
celebrate all our blessings,
and live all our endeavors as human beings.
Spirituality is something that has become
necessary in these troubled times.
Yet it is inherently superfluous.
We need it to remind ourselves,
to bolster ourselves,
to integrate ourselves,
to fulfill ourselves.
If we could simply acknowledge
the mystery of night
and the glory of morning,
we would need neither civilization nor spirituality.
At its simplest, life begins with dawn.
That is blessing enough.
All else becomes fullness immeasurable.
At dawn, kneel down and give thanks
for this wonderful event.
We may think mornings are so common
they are unworthy of veneration,
but do you realize most places in the cosmos
do not have mornings?
This daily event is our supreme goodness.
Greet the dawn.
That is your miracle to witness.
That is the ultimate beauty.
That is sacredness.
That is your gift from heaven.
That is your omen of prophesy.
That is knowledge that life is not futile.
That is enlightenment.
That is your meaning in life.
That is your directive.
That is your comfort.
That is the solemnity of duty.
That is inspiration for compassion.
That is the light of the ultimate.

~ Deng Ming-Dao ~

~

experiencing an intense cold in this moment of eternity in the northern hemisphere amplifies viscerally this samhain portal and the deepening into the dark, into the cold … i awaken gratefully this morning because i awaken and i actually feel better; at this point on the pathless path, i take nothing for granted, perhaps more accurately, i aspire to take nothing for granted – enough NDEs lead to that understanding and to the commitment to reverencing each moment as sacred gift, especially in the troubled times, and to be all that we can be to align with source energy to co-shape a world of peace and harmony founded on justice and guided by love…

blessed bee…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 315 – 10/27/2022

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today may be the most intense day of shedding what no longer serves, join me in a long moment of eternity sharing a wonderful practice to begin and end the day with, a wonder-filled way to luxuriate in reverence by being gratitude, a way the Haudenosaunee open every gathering… this is a shortened form that i’ve been given permission to share…

Greetings to the Natural World

“Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.

Now our minds are one.

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms- waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.

Now our minds are one.

We turn our minds to the all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting of thanks.

Now our minds are one.

Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.

Now our minds are one.

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are honored by them when they give up their lives so we may use their bodies as food for our people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.

 Now our minds are one.

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many people of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.

Now our minds are one.

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds-from the smallest to the largest-we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help us to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.

Now our minds are one.

Now we turn to the west where our grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We are thankful that they keep those evil things made by Okwiseres underground. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.

Now our minds are one. 

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.

Now our minds are one.

We put our minds together to give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of woman all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.

 Now our minds are one.

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to the Stars.

Now our minds are one.

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring teachers.

 Now our minds are one.

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

 Now our minds are one.

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.”

blessed bee…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 314 – 10/26/2022

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“Do not be daunted
by the enormity
of the world’s grief.
Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated
to complete the work,
but neither are you free
to abandon it.”
~ The Talmud ~

still in the radiation of the new moon and partial soular eclipse, i awaken today with all of the sneezes from yesterday settling as cold in my head and begin as i love beginning each day with opening the heart and luxuriating in a love that breathes me throughout the day… one of my last communions of the day is attending online the 33rd Annual Salem Peace Lecture…

love the synchronicity of this peace lecture on doing away with nuclear weapons coming right in the middle of the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis and what a gift to spend an hour with a being who’s devoted his life to medicine – the medicine of peace and of listening and dialoging and taking action which Dr Hafland called us to repeatedly as he outlined the perilous place we are in now after a couple of generations of thinking we no longer were in danger of destroying ourselves with nuclear weapons… even though we are in such crisis now, we do have the ability in ourselves and our communities to take action to take us beyond the brink and as the Talmud proclaims, “we are not obligated to complete the work but neither are we free to abandon it.” our lives and the lives of all relatives depend on it…

i’m going to turn in early tonight as rest is such a good medicine, and now, may we all rest in:

SWEET DARKNESS

“When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.
It’s time to go into the night
where the dark has eyes
to recognize its own.
It’s time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you
can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will make a home for you tonight.
The night
will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.”

~ David Whyte ~

~