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Issue #1336 - Friday, January 31, 2003 - Editor: Gloria
~~~~~~~~
In
memory of the crew of Columbia,
who saw
that the world is One.
All The Hemispheres
Leave
the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out
Like
a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.
Open
up to the Roof.
Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.
Like
a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.
Change rooms in your mind for a day.
All
the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.
Greet
Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.
All
the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting
While
stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You.
("The Subject Tonight is Love" - versions by Daniel Ladinsky)
(web version at www.panhala.net/Archive/In_Memory.html)
posted by Joseph Riley
~~~~~~~~
Charles Hovartos
"Then
I was standing on the highest mountain
of them all, and round about beneath me
was the whole hoop of the world.
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell
and I understood more than I saw;
for I was seeing in a sacred manner
the shapes of all things in the spirit,
and the shape of all shapes as they must live
together like one being."
From
"Black Elk Speaks",
as told to John G. Neihardt,
Univ. Nebraska Press, 1932,
by Black Elk, Oglala Lakota
~~~~~~~~
Steve Toth
CAGED
BIRD
I'm the canary
the miners won't work without
What happens to me now
will happen to you later
So don't wonder
why nobody told you
I'm telling you now
I'll fly again
~~~~~~~~
Practicing Spirituality with Jews
Day 13
February 1, 2003
BE JOYFUL ON THE SABBATH
Shabbat joy is not to be compared to frivolous enjoyment or
moments of
laughter. It is rather a mood of satisfaction and contentment. It
is the
spiritual joy of having found meaning and purpose in God's
exalted world. It
is the recognition on some modest level of what our Creator wants
of us
during our brief life on earth.
Shabbat joy is the highest kind of joy there is. It is the joy of
a mother
giving birth, an artist painting on the canvas, the teacher
watching a pupil
grasp a difficult subject. It is the joy of having achieved
something
different and unusual -- the joy of working as God's partner in
making the
world better today than it was yesterday.
Cosmic joy is indescribable yet palpable. It opens the heart, it
touches the
nerve endings, it stirs the deepest possible emotion. Whoever
experiences
this kind of joy may not always be happy in the conventional
sense.
Sometimes this joy coexists with struggle and strain, with care
and worry.
But it remains joy about matters that inhabit the highest heights
of the
universe. For such high matters, it is a sublime joy and
unparalleled
privilege to be able to struggle and strive.
*****
"Each
day has its own set of thoughts, words and deeds. Live in
tune."
-- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
~~~~~~~~
Along the Way
` ` ` ` ` ` `
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
There is a way between
voice and presence
where information
flows.
In disciplined silence
it opens.
With wandering talk it
closes.
- Rumi
"The Essential Rumi"
Version by Coleman Barks
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
I exhausted myself,
looking.
No one ever finds this by
trying.
I melted in it and came
home,
where every jar is full,
but no one drinks.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
~~~~~~~~
Gloria
Lee
The Tao
is the law of nature,
Which you can’t depart from,
Even for one instant.
If you could depart from it,
It wouldn’t be the Tao.
Thus the mature person looks into
Their own heart and respects what
Is unseen and unheard.
Nothing is more manifest than the hidden;
Nothing is more obvious than the unseen.
Thus the mature person pays
Attention to what is happening
In the innermost self.
- Tze-Ssu
http://www.dailyzen.com/default.asp
Ikkyu (1394-1481)
Cover
your path
With fallen pine needles
So no one will be able
To locate your
True dwelling place.
I Hate Incense
A master’s handiwork cannot be measured
But still priests wag their tongues explaining the “Way” and babbling about “Zen.”
This old monk has never cared for false piety
And my nose wrinkles at the dark smell of incense before the Buddha.A Fisherman
Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind.
A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.
Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds;
Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night.
more Ikkyu
From Crow With No Mouth, translated by Stephen Berg.
only
one koan matters
you
oh
yes things exist like the echo when you yell at the foot of a
huge mountain
hear
the cruel no-answer until blood drips down
beat your head against the wall of it
the
mind is exactly this tree that grass
without thought or feeling both disappear
not
two not one either
and the unpainted breeze in the ink painting feels cool
go
down on your silly knees pray
for what? tomorrow is yesterday
I
found my sparrow Sonrin dead one morning
and buried him just as gently as I would my own daughter
I
hate it I know it's nothing but I
suck out the world's sweet juicy plum
why
is it all so beautiful this fake dream
this craziness why?
it's
logical: if you are not going anywhere
any road is the right one
know
nothing I know nothing nobody does can you face me
and know nothing know
http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/poetry-stories/ikkyu.htm
~~~~~~~~
I
now have a web site you might like to check out,
thanks,
www.garymerrill.com
Love
Gary
~~~~~~~~
Jerry Katz
Mandela, the movie: Cameras set to roll
http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/fri/jan31w32.htm
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A South African producer is to turn the story of Nelson Mandela into a big screen epic capturing his life from childhood, to political awareness, 10,000 days of imprisonment and finally freedom.
"It's a very prestigious project, but also a very daunting task. Everybody feels -- and rightly so -- about Mr Mandela and his life. People take possession of it," producer Anant Singh told AFP.
"When you have to make a movie out of his life in under three hours it's not easy."
Mandela became the international symbol of resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa. His release after 27 years in jail and eventual transition to the country's first post-apartheid president from 1994 to 1999 is almost the stuff of fairy-tales.
The film will be based on his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom", which carries an emotive account of his first moments of freedom, likely to be at the heart of the new movie.
"I felt -- even at the age of 71 -- that my life was beginning anew. My ten thousand days of imprisonment were at last over," Mandela, now 84, wrote in his book.
"When I was among the crowd, I raised my right fist, and there was a roar. I had not been able to do that for 27 years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy."
~~~~~~~~
Joseph Riley
Dear Friends, We share and discuss words about the divine mystery here, including how we incorporate those words into living our lives. I hope I will not offend anyone and I am not trying to impose or assert my own views, but I wanted to pass along a new web site to those who are concerned about the days ahead: www.poetsagainstthewar.org