A saint is one who does not know how it is possible
not to love, not to help,
not to be sensitive to the anxiety of others.
….Abraham Heschel
feeling, sensing, knowing, dreaming…..these soul-gathering ways resonate deeply in the symbolic richness of the seeker in the loveliest corners of life…..the sweet love shadows that draw us into kindness, into the fire of the heart…..no, this is not the sweetness of the innocents, but rather the holy knowing of suffering and the courage to engage its nuance…
I’ve found that whatever I go through opens me to what others have gone through. This is the gut and sinew of compassion. Perhaps the noblest private act is the unheralded effort to return: to open our hearts once they’ve closed, to open our souls once they’ve shied away, to soften our minds once they’ve been hardened by the storms of our day. Always, on the inside of our hardness and shyness and numbness is the face of compassion through which we can reclaim our humanity. Our compassion waits there to revive us. When opened, our heart can touch the Oneness of things we are all a part of. Then, we can stand firmly in our being like a windmill of spirit: letting the cries of the world turn us over and over, until our turning generates a power and energy that can be of use in the world. As the wind can lift the snow off a branch, the cries altogether can somehow lift the sadness off the broken heart…….Mark Nepo
When all here is complete for us,
I pray we’ll join that every-faithed,
endlessly-expanding communion-
that great, ever-welcoming circle of dance,
of room,
of time.
Astonished to find ourselves
in such a place,
in such a Love,
may our hands- black, ivory, brown, white,
male or female-
clasp:
and having shed it,
finally know our common flesh.
Then let us dance in that place beyond time,
until we see,
mirrored on the living Earth,
hand grasping hand
with fervor,
with affection,
as the dance begins.
….Eve Powers
Like the Ghost Dance of the Lakota, as their world was coming to an end, their ceaseless movement in the dance erased the despair brought on by the end of their world, and allowed them to join each other, no matter how remote, in a union of souls, that brought them a sense of peace … Even those who watched had their hearts open up, even if they did not understand … May sacred space find you today …
a beautiful vision of hope and humanity……the idea that we tear each other apart and yet we also hold sacred space for each other is the ultimate, humbling paradox of our short lives……yes, I think a pause and a prayer go a long way……dance, dance, dance g.f.s…..
Yet, another wonderful post. Thank you.
Thanks David……may you be surrounded in a sea of open hearts…..softening the complexities of the day to day (where real life happens)…..blessings….
The imperfections, the brokenness – it is the why of life, every event and precious moment of it. The answer to the mystery of existence is love shared sometimes so imperfectly, for others – for ourselves. To be broken is to have known loss, but losing only wakes us up to a deeper understanding of the beauty that is life. Something I read yesterday –
“The moon is a loyal companion. It never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do. Every day it’s a different version of itself. Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human. Uncertain. Alone. Cratered by imperfections.”
a deep and poignant reminder of how precious our brokenness is……to be cherished in all its human potency……thanks for the moon……we need companions and reflections of all of our endeavors…..the moon in us, as us, delivering us, lifting us……light and a lilt of shadow Bobbie….
senses alight here
shadowed moon crisp as karma
may the nights be long
robins grieve the sun
songs kept under folded wings
heedless of the flight
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