“Give me everything mangled and bruised, and I will make a light of it to make you weep. And we will have rain & begin again.”
-Deena Metzger
We will. Begin again and again and again. I’ve thought a lot about this lately as our country spirals… every single unkind, uncaring, without compassion, without empathy, without inclusion and without love action/word/thought must be immediately transformed by light. With kindness, caring, compassion, empathy, inclusion and LOVE. Immediate and constant.
These too are resistance.
For anyone feeling mangled and bruised, we have you. I have you. Embraced, cocooned, blanketed, sheltered. Loved. We begin again as many times as we need to, each day, each hour. We will continue to make light in the darkness.
“When darkness surrounds, even the smallest spark can guide the way. It’s not the size of the light that matters, but the courage to hold it through the night.”
Dipendra Tamang
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
“Why would I want to cede any kind of emotional sovereignty to anyone in the ceremony of my everyday life?“
– James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw
I don’t. I choose not to. In this climate of unease and lack of basic civility, kindness, inclusion and honor – of grace – some days this is difficult. I want to react, to explain, to cry, to rant… I have learned better though. These things, these actions, do not one iota of good and change nothing. Better to live the authentic me in these times and not let my energy be dimmed or diminished. Love with fierce passion. Act don’t react my Father always said.
So here we are. And we still, always in all ways, have each other, so much LOVE, and a bounty of blessings of beauty in northwest Montana and all over this magnificent planet. We maintain who we are and celebrate the ceremony of our everyday lives. We honor each soul, and know there is no “other”.
“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy.”
I was asking these very questions and Mary Oliver (as she so often does!) quenched my thirst for answers. It is enough to find the essential overwhelming ecstatic joy in LIFE itself, in witnessing the wonder, in absorbing the sounds, smells, feelings, taste and touch all around us. Acknowledging and bringing presence to the the privilige of the breath, right here right now – always in all ways, enough. Thank you Mary. Thank you World. Thank you LIFE. Thank you breath. Ahhhh….
“Have I lived enough?
Have I loved enough?
Have I considered Right Action enough,
have I come to any conclusions?
Have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude?
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
These words by Silvatiicus Riddle resonated today. Of course not everything is terrible, not even most things, not even a large percentage of things. Perspective. Laying down the learned anger, the fear, the rhetoric, and remembering the love that permeates all, the overwhelming beauty, the magnificence of life, the privilege of it, are all at our fingertips, alive in our hearts,and available for the asking. In this little piece of the world we inhabit, yes, we have everything we need.
“Not everything is terrible.
Read that again. Say it aloud. Know that it is ultimately the truth.
Somewhere birds sing. Somewhere cats play and roll in the grass. Somewhere there is a brand new baby seeing snowfall for the first time. An ocean washes the tired feet of a grandmother with a lifetime of memories etched into her kindly face. Somewhere someone is deeply in love, and falls asleep with their lover’s face still in their eyes. Somewhere there are trees that have seen terrible men rise and fall, that have watched war planes flying overhead, that have felt in the ground and mycelium the distant strike of the ax, and yet…they dig their roots deeper. They reach up proudly for the sunlight, unashamed. They allow the world around them to fall away, or shift with time. Because sometimes, when it is difficult, when it is scary, that is the only way to live.
The flowers will grow. The storms will pass. Life will begin and end and begin again, because that is the way of it. It may not be okay in the whole world, but you can sing. You can pet the soft fur of your animals, you can feel the coolness or warmth of a comforting drink. The touch of a hand. You can recall the survival of an ancestor through trying times, call their strength to you. You can read a good story, or make one up. Tell one about a great adventure –a quest for the precious jewel that gives you life, and how the old witch helped you discover that you’ve carried it with you all along, that it exists inside of you, and you have everything you need right now, in this very moment. Because you do. You really do.
In the little piece of the world that you claim beneath your feet, it is okay. You carry your world with you.
As these summer days evolve, unfold, manifest the very essence and depth of life in radiant, brillant, big love, I am touching the ground with reverence, and looking around with eyes seeing abundance, with my heart feeling awe, breathing in my belonging. Thank you Jess Housty for expressing these feelings into words that resonate on this rain filled precious new Summer day.
“Go out into the world.
Stand or sit or hold your body like a precious thing: hold as much of your body as you can exchanging gentle touch with the ground.
When you look around yourself, name all the ways you see thriving mapped onto your surroundings.
Now, name all the ways that you map the abundance onto what’s around you.
You are intrinsic to the good work happening around you; breathe in your belonging; breathe out the question,
How can I build kinship and community in this moment?”
