What Did I Do? (with thanks to Drew Dillenger)

This was inspired by the poem "Hieroglyphic Stairway. You can check it out on "You Tube". Just search "Drew Dillenger" and it will come up. I also posted in Facebook. In fact, if you spend any time with me at all, you can't avoid this particular work. It was and still is a great inspiration to me.

What did you do once you knew?
Awake aware
No place to hide
Knowledge, blessed but heavy
In the severe light of consciousness

What did I do once I knew?
I loved, all I could
I walked, through hill and meadow
I embraced, even they who despise me
I armed myself with plow shares and pruning hooks

What did you do once you knew?
Joyful terror
A mission in the learning
a long journey
that continues beyond mortality

What did I do once I knew?
Speak out
Anyway I could
In poetry
in action, expression, resistance

What did you do once you knew?
No place to hide
No cleft to shelter
Its laid out before us
no luxury of ignorance

What did I do once I knew?
Break the satin bonds
Cast off the chains of ivory
Trade the gilded cage
For the hard ground of freedom

The Rain

It's raining again. It has been a very wet winter. We all have spent a lot of time confined indoors and our backyard is a quagmire. Every day I seem to have a conversation with somebody along the lines of "God I wish it would stop raining" or "Gee, whats up with this weather?" One can hardly be blamed for being a little stir crazy.

I take comfort in looking at the rain in a different light: Imagine the journey of a rain drop. Imagine how atmospheric moister condenses and forms into droplets which join with other droplets as it free falls towards the earth. Imagine how in hits the ground and soaks into the soil where it is absorbed into the roots of a plant that becomes food for an animal. That animal becomes food for another animal which expels the drop as waste where it once again journeys into the soil. Eventually the drop will evaporate and continue it's sojourn in the wind to once again condenses in another part of the globe and start the adventure all over again.

Each drop of rain is the gift of life. Each drop of rain is a gift of God.It is certainly true that the rain sometimes causes problems like floods and mudslides and the like, but these catastrophes are usually indicators of the folly of man. In our greed, we sometimes build where we shouldn't or try to change the course of nature or otherwise fool around with what is already perfect. The rain can hardly be blamed for our own lack of foresight and caring.

The rain will come and go in it's own time and of it's own authority. How wonderful it would be if we looked at the rain as the gift that it is, not as a nuisance. Get some good rain gear and take a walk in it. Celebrate it, embrace it. The sun will shine soon enough and springs explosion of life and color will be the legacy of the rain. Praise the creator for this wonderful blessing.

Transition

I am a security officer in a high rise condo. It's a thirty story building with 583 units. To put it in perspective, imagine serving a neighborhood of 583 homes in a variety of ways. I have a great many persons to person contacts with a great many people on a daily basis and I am often in a position to observe the full circle of life. I am sometimes in the lobby when newborn residents make their first trip up the elevator and it is procedure for a security officer to escort residents down when they make their last, either to hospital, hospice or mortuary. We try to remain detached and professional because that is what we are paid to be but we are also human. We develop relationships with the residents and it is never easy to see someone you know on a gurney.

Last night was one of those occasions. A resident that I have known nearly twenty years (he's 95) had a serious stroke. I rode down the elevator with him and the paramedic team that was transporting him, as is procedure, but I couldn't help feeling an overwhelming sadness. He has always been so kind to me, greeting me by names and occasionally sharing a joke or story. It is those constant little signs of respect that a service worker remembers. It was hard to see him clinging to life, barely conscious and unresponsive connected to an oxygen bottle. At age fifty-one it was a real moment for me to reflect on the concept of mortality.
By the end of my shift last night, I had heard that he was still alive but had a brain hemorrhage and the prognosis was grim. His wife was with him. I am deeply saddened but, upon reflection, I am feeling a profound sense of gratitude.

I like to think of myself as a very spiritual person. Prayer and meditation are a regular and important part of my spiritual practice particularly when I am in an enhanced emotional state. In times like this I think about others in my life who have transitioned. My parents, my old friend Dana, family and friends whose time in the mortal journey has come to an end. I find myself grateful for the wisdom of life.

My greatest joy in life is walking in nature. I love the redwoods and the boreal forests and the roiling grass covered hills near my home. I love the wisdom of nature. I love watching the never ending pageant of life and death in the wilderness and how it all comes together and makes such sense. Everything and every creature has a purpose and nothing is wasted. From death springs life which ends in death which brings about life.

I am grateful that the loved ones who have passed on have taught me such a valuable lesson. We grieve the loss, that is natural and proper, but we must always remember that we are part of something huge: the universe. We all have are part to play during our time on this earthly journey.

One of the constants of life is impermanence. Life is letting go and to not allow yourself to do so is not love but merely attachment. The wisdom of creation is the ultimate beauty and it is pure love that we are a part of it. Transition is a vital part of the role of beings, let us embrace it. Live to love and love to live and when it comes time to move to the next place, rejoice in the continuing adventure. Peace to all.

The Scone Zone

It was a gray and rainy day at work today so I thought I would take a time out and enjoy a cup of coffee and a raspberry scone from Roya's. My tongue and taste buds cuddled beneath a crumbling blanket of cookie like pastry while the bright flavor of raspberries waltzed throughout. Then, a rich warm bath of coffee washed the entire mixture joyously down my throat into my rejoicing tummy with all of the glee of a child on a water slide. Then, the process repeated over and over again until the scone was gone and only the celebration of it's memory remained. How wonderful life is and what a gift it is to be able to, once in a while, enjoy a really good scone.

Note: Special thanks to Roya's Garlic Garden, the provider of the celebrated scone. Thanks Roya!

Late At Night

Late at night
is when I see her clearly
Colored with blue longing.
When I miss the music of her voice.
Late at night.

Late at night.
When my world is cold.
When my arms are empty.
When my heart is heavy.
Late at night.

Late at night.
When my gardens are dormant.
When I quietly mourn.
When I miss her warmth.
Late at night.

Late at night.
A hole in my heart.
An emptiness unfilled
and desire unslaked.
Late at night.

Values

The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"My husband was killed in the war."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"I have no home."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"I have no job."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
Vote for me because I believe in traditional values.'
The woman in rags said:
"My children are hungry but I cannot afford food."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"My children are sick but I cannot afford a doctor."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags asked:
"What if I don't share your values?"
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Then you have no value."

Resistance is Christ Like

Satan tempted Christ three times in the wilderness. First he challenged Jesus to turn stones to bread in order to satisfy his hunger. Second he took Christ to the top of a temple tower and challenged him to leap so that angles would break his fall. Third he took Jesus to a mountain top where they surveyed all the great Kingdoms of the world and offered them to him if he would worship and venerate Satan. In these temptations we find a metaphor for our relationship with creation.
Temptation I: Turn stones to bread.
In our extraction/exploitation economy we have reached the point where we have harvested the “low hanging fruit” in terms of natural resources. This is especially true of fossil fuels. We have gotten everything that is easy and we are now forced to resort to more radical techniques in order to extract enough supply to meet demand. Some of these techniques are truly mind boggling in their brutality to the environment. In short, environmentally speaking, we are now trying to get blood from a turnip, or turn stones to bread.
In the North Eastern United States they have resorted to “fracking” to extract natural gas from rock. Water and chemicals are injected under high pressure into subterranean rock formations, literally pulverizing them in order to free the gas. The extent of the damage caused by this procedure is unknown but many experts see dire threats to ground water and wells with contamination. This process goes on nearly unchecked by cash strapped local governments seduced by the revenue produced. It seems we have sold ourselves for manna from below.
In the great northern forests of Canada, petroleum is extracted from tar sands. This is done by clear cutting the forest then injecting superheated steam into the earth that literally melts the oil and forces it to the surface. What is leftover is nothing short of an environmental apocalypse; A land naked and poisoned.
In Appalachia, coal is mined with a technique known as “mountain top removal”. This is done by literally bulldozing an entire mountain top into the valley below. In the process, streams and forests are obliterated and all manner of harmful by products and metals are released into the watershed. What is left is an ugly and scarred wasteland that is of no use to anybody. People both indigenous and non-indigenous who have made their way on fishing and tourism for generations are suddenly left without livelihood. The process is highly automated so that very few locals are employed in the extraction.
In the bible, Jesus resisted this temptation and said that man does not live by bread alone. Obviously, our culture is imperfect and falls short of the glory of God. We rose to Satan’s bait and have severely wounded God’s gift of nature in the process and, as is always the case when one cavorts with the Devil, the end result is tragic: the loss of beautiful and valuable natural resources as well as the displacement of a great many people.

Temptation II: Satan challenges Jesus to throw himself from the tower.
Creation is the Temple of the Lord.
As a son of the American West, I have walked the meadows and forests of the High Sierra. I have scrambled among the great rocks of the South Western deserts. I have meditated with the old and venerable Redwoods of California’s North Coast. In all of these places I have been awestruck by the powerful presence of the creator.
When Satan challenged Christ to leap from the tower so that Angles may break his fall, Christ replied “Thou shalt not put the lord your God to the test.
When we so brazenly and arrogantly rape and pillage the temple of the Lord, are we not truly testing the Lords patience? We rely on the earth for sustenance, water and the air we breathe. How long can the planet possibly support us under the weight of such abuse? For every tree felled and every river fouled, we put God to the test. How much can the temple withstand before it collapses completely. Every eco-system, every species represents a brick in the structure. Every time we lose one or the other, a brick is removed. At what point will we remove one brick too many and bring the whole structure down around our ears. With every crime we commit against the environment we tempt fate, and faith.

Temptation III: Satan promised all the great kingdoms if Jesus would worship him.
When Satan offered magnificent kingdoms to Jesus if he would prostrate himself and worship him Jesus replied: “The Lord your God shall you worship and him alone shall you serve”
The industrial extraction/exploitation economy offers us many material temptations. We are promised happiness and fulfillment through material things in a continual barrage of marketing and advertising through every medium imaginable. It has become almost a heroic struggle to remember God at all. The saddest part is this it is a promise that Satan cannot keep. The more we get the more we want and the emptier we feel. We become so embroiled in the pursuit of career and wealth, the kingdoms promised by Satan, that we forget our neighbors, our families and our communities. Riches become the object of our worship and our planet suffers for it. We destroy the environment, exploit our brothers and sisters and even distort the word of God to justify our behavior. Again we fall short of Christ’s example. We have not told Satan to be gone, but have invited him into our hearts by buying into the corporate illusion of “prosperity”. The lust for riches has embroiled us in war, steeped us in greed and has taken us further and further from the kingdom of heaven. This lust has imperiled our very existence on earth with the threat of environmental collapse and nuclear war.
Whether you call it temptations of Satan or just the dark side of human nature, the danger exists. If we don’t start acting for the common good with an eye to the future, we are in great danger. The time has come to start acting out of love for the planet and the human family. We must conduct ourselves with an eye to the future and an orientation of sustainability. We must endeavor to be Christ like.

This is also posted at www.jesusradicals.com

The Theft of War

It's been a week of gentle reminders of just how much I detest war. Firstly, we had a very heartfelt session in the Viet Nam Vets support group that I help facilitate at the VA. They are such tough, brave guys yet they are still in so much pain even these many years after they came home. They are hurt and isolated and it breaks my heart. Thank God they have each other to help with the healing because nobody really understands what they are feeling that wasn't there. They are good people that were forced to do some bad things and because they are good people they hurt because of it.
Another reminder was an article in National Catholic Reporter about women who serve in combat. They come home physically and spiritually maimed as well. War doesn't end for the soldiers just because they leave the battle field. They bleed for years right to the end of their days.
We love to glorify war in this country. We cheer and pontificate about our "cherished way of life" and "democracy" and "Freedom" and all manner of other high sounding hyperbole in order to keep the guilt of causing so much carnage at bay. I really wonder if the wars we fight are really about any of those things. It's a tough pill to swallow when you consider that no matter what the justification for war, somebody always gets rich off the bloodshed. Patriotism is easy when you are lining your pockets and you don't have to fight. Our gated communities and country clubs are full of fat cats getting huge paydays while are kids bleed and lose limbs.
War is the most theft driven process in the human experience. Firstly, look at the military lexicon. The objective of most tactical actions is to "take" something, It might be a town or a hill or a valley. Once taken then the objective is to "deprive". That is to say, deprive the enemy of said town, hill or valley. Consider the common law definition of theft: The taking of the goods of another with intent to permanently deprive.
Then there is the looting. No army in the history of the world refrained from rewarding itself for victory with an orgy of theft, among other things, at the expense of the vanquished. Crops, cattle, household goods, artifacts, possession is determined by the sword. The victorious swords get the spoils. Only war makes this twisted moral lapse lawful and acceptable.
Then of course, there is the taking of life, No human life is spared, men women and children. Today, it is noncombatants that now make up the bulk of wars casualties. Villages are destroyed and civilians killed indiscriminately either by suicide bombers or air strikes or a thousand other instruments of destruction.
There is also the theft of national treasure. No process more efficiently siphons money from public coffers into private bank accounts like war. Oceans of tax payer dollars go to arms manufacturers and support service corporations at a rate that boggles the mind. At no time in our history has war been more privatized then it is today. Food service, transport, security and all manner of other services are being farmed out, at considerable cost, to private companies. These companies are reaping huge profits and the citizenry is footing the bill. Do you really think that it is an accident that this war has gone on for nearly ten years? It certainly is not. US business knows a good thing when they see it and they will keep it going as long as they possibly can. After all. it's not their blood being spilled.
Lastly, there is the theft of our morals. war is glorified, fears are played upon and children are taught from a very young age that to serve the nation as a soldier is glorious. Killing and maiming becomes okay if it is in the name of "National Security" or our precious "way of life". Hate also becomes a virtue, words like "Kraut" and "Jap" evolved into "Gook" then "Towelhead" or "Hadji". Hate is a vital ingredient of war. As soon as a people stop hating "the enemy" then the jig is up. Peace ensues and the corporate gravy train comes to a screeching halt. No more profits for stockholders and politicians lose a golden opportunity to be "heroes". After all, how can you be a "hero" if there is no "enemy" and it is a lot easier to sell military hardware in a shooting war then in peace. In peace time, the people have a nasty habit of thinking of their own communities instead of killing people they don't know.
The time has come to stop this. War is unsustainable militarily, economically and morally. We need to reevaluate what the threats realistically are and examine alternatives in dealing with them besides the deployment of troops. War is the killer of cultures and civilizations and ours is in danger.

This is also posted at www.jesusradicals.com