poets and scientists

i found this interesting quote today in Autobiography of a Yogi:

"The poet is intimate with truth, while the scientist approaches awkwardly."

the scientist who said this also said, "How admirable is the Western method of submitting all theory to scrupulous experimental verification! That empirical procedure has gone hand in hand with the gift for introspection which is my Eastern heritage. Together they have enabled me to sunder the silences of natural realms long uncommunicative."

to me, scrupulous experimental verification is similar to reflecting upon and examining the process, recognizing the many details and the possibilities and potential that arise from their interactions with one another. practicing this along with the gift for introspection makes me think about the article on trusting intuition that chris corrigan shared. one of the many points that the author makes is that "Constant analysis of your thinking is the only way to winnow genuine intuitive grain from emotional chaff."
sounds like applying the western realm of empirical procedure to the eastern realm of introspection to me.

foundations of community

community has been a favorite pondering of mine lately. i was looking at the conversation between christy and i about community education.

christy said

The Latin root of "education" is something like "e" = "out", and "ducare"="lead"

So I liken "education/leading out" to "invitation" in the sense of inviting someone/something that's already there, to come out...like in play therapy, or the Pied Piper!

The workings (and playings) of community are so fascinating to me--it's one of the areas of my life that has my fullest attention, and at the same time it's one of the parts that is the most challenging and frustrating!

i've been asking around, collecting various opinions on what are the pivitol workings and playings of community? here are a few of the pieces i've received. care to add to the list?

*shared focus/intention/direction
*common goal
*respect
*communication
*understanding
*recognizing others' needs
*listening

knots

and some of my trip, i spent twisted in knots!

a taste of colorado

hi. i'm home!

the first part of my journey was spent in estes park, colorado. ahhhh... the snow and the mountains did wonders for my soul. here's a taste.





to sum it up. . . an angel in heaven!


it's nice to be home.

child on forest road

wynn bullock















chris corrigan

To See a World

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour

~William Blake

i'm parting from the computer waves for a few weeks (so i say, we'll see!)
to wander and to wonder.
feel free to talk amongst yourselves...
to wander and to wonder!

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

Rumi

what is Community Education?

saturn

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awaken celebration

Sleepwalking
------------

If you are awake just because it is day, you are still asleep. The sensation of wakefulness -- that is just the day suspending you above your bed. But the 'you' inside still slumbers.

A Daily Dose of Wisdom from the Rebbe

WAKE UP... that shining YOU inside. invite it out to play. today is such a special day for that. celebrate the full moon, celebrate the lunar eclipse, celebrate this tuesday, celebrate the gift of your life, celebrate the sun and the clouds, celebrate the ones that you love... cel-e-brate good times, come-on. doo doo doo do do dooo do do!!

p.s. computer savy folks, how do i get color into my posts?

Autobiography of a Yogi

Another early recollection is outstanding; and literally so, for I bear the scar to this day. My elder sister Uma and I were seated in the early morning under a neem tree in our Gorakhpur compound. She was helping me with a Bengali primer, what time I could spare my gaze from the near-by parrots eating ripe margosa fruit. Uma complained of a boil on her leg, and fetched a jar of ointment. I smeared a bit of the salve on my forearm.

"Why do you use medicine on a healthy arm?"

"Well, Sis, I feel I am going to have a boil tomorrow. I am testing your ointment on the spot where the boil will appear."

"You little liar!"

"Sis, don't call me a liar until you see what happens in the morning." Indignation filled me.

Uma was unimpressed, and thrice repeated her taunt. An adamant resolution sounded in my voice as I made slow reply.

"By the power of will in me, I say that tomorrow I shall have a fairly large boil in this exact place on my arm; and your boil shall swell to twice its present size!"

Morning found me with a stalwart boil on the indicated spot; the dimensions of Uma's boil had doubled. With a shriek, my sister rushed to Mother. "Mukunda has become a necromancer!" Gravely, Mother instructed me never to use the power of words for doing harm. I have always remembered her counsel, and followed it.

My boil was surgically treated. A noticeable scar, left by the doctor's incision, is present today. On my right forearm is a constant reminder of the power in man's sheer word.

Those simple and apparently harmless phrases to Uma, spoken with deep concentration, had possessed sufficient hidden force to explode like bombs and produce definite, though injurious, effects. I understood, later, that the explosive vibratory power in speech could be wisely directed to free one's life from difficulties, and thus operate without scar or rebuke.11

11 The infinite potencies of sound derive from the Creative Word, Aum, the cosmic vibratory power behind all atomic energies. Any word spoken with clear realization and deep concentration has a materializing value. Loud or silent repetition of inspiring words has been found effective in Coueism and similar systems of psychotherapy; the secret lies in the stepping-up of the mind's vibratory rate. The poet Tennyson has left us, in his Memoirs, an account of his repetitious device for passing beyond the conscious mind into superconsciousness:
"A kind of waking trance-this for lack of a better word-I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone," Tennyson wrote. "This has come upon me through repeating my own name to myself silently, till all at once, as it were out of the intensity of the consciousness of individuality, individuality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and this not a confused state but the clearest, the surest of the surest, utterly beyond words-where death was an almost laughable impossibility-the loss of personality (if so it were) seeming no extinction, but the only true life." He wrote further: "It is no nebulous ecstasy, but a state of transcendent wonder, associated with absolute clearness of mind."

from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda. you can read it for free online (or if you print it out!) by clicking on the name of the title. i just finished chapter one. so what reading do you have at your toilet?!

great news

one of our co-authors here (who's been remarkably quiet lately, what are you doing, putting your life in order?), Rebecca or Becky, has just been offered a dream job at Sperduto & Associates, Inc. located in Atlanta, GA. she and her husband, Bailey, are currently living in Chicago but will soon (most likely) be returning to their previous homeland of Atlanta. What a joy, another score for the southeast!!
here's a taste of some of the companies objectives:

Our Objectives

While every corporate environment is unique and eventual outcomes are determined by many factors, we at Sperduto & Associates, Inc. aim our efforts to achieve the following objectives for our client organizations:

*Enhanced management efficiency and productivity through understanding how the current organizational structure fits or does not fit the skills and abilities of current personnel and the needs of the marketplace.
*Improved selection of high potential candidates who fit in quickly and make a positive contribution to the organization.
*Increased fluidity of succession by key employees as the corporation develops and expands.
*Improved communication between all levels of the organization.
*Improved interviewing skills on the part of personnel responsible for hiring at all levels.
*Reduction in employee turnover.
*Increased employee job satisfaction.
*Reduction of stress encountered by the corporation, as well as individual employees.
*Improved ability of employees to manage stress in all areas of life.
*Improved adjustment of employees to mid-life, pre-retirement, and retirement stages of life.
*Overall enhancement of the organization's ability to solve problems, make decisions, and become optimally responsive to market changes.

congratulations becky and sperduto & associates for your merging with one another!!

moon of liberation

the moon of liberation begins today.
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~Nelson Mandela

we are about half way into the white dog wavespell which began april 28th and ends may 10th. these words are very descriptive of my path right now... so i thought i'd share! this excerpt is from the newsletter i get from www.13moon.com:

The White Dog is a profoundly powerful energy because it asks us to tune into the core of our being - our Heart. Our Heart is an entirely different dimensional universe from our Minds, and can offer us vastly different viewpoints, perspectives, and guidance than our inner mental authority.

Where the Mind's job is to separate, compartmentalize, compare, judge, discern,rationalize, linearize, control, and attempt to figure things out,

the Heart's role is to
unify,
embrace,
allow,
accept,
intuit-sense-the truth of the moment,
feel,
forgive,
rest,
and NOT know--
surrendering to trusting
the ultimate, benevolent omnipresent Mystery
of our very existence,
(the Divine Love which has given us Life)
and the unlimited ways it flows
through and incarnates in ALL of our lives.

Concurrently, our Heart center is the bridge between our connection to the Earth below us and the Heavens above us; our sacred access to the merging of our Primal and Celestial selves, and the truth, knowledge, and energies that they both hold. By integrating these two we become more sensitized to the Wholeness of who we are as living Creatures, and our truly vast capacities.

As a wise woman Intiana once told me: "We use the term 'open your heart,' but in Reality, the Heart is always open - rather it is the Mind that is closed/shut-down to the Heart."

This is helpful to understand because then we know our Heart is always available to us as Portal to experience through; as a sanctuary always inviting us to find refuge in its domain.

Our hearts are paradoxically invincible beyond all circumstances, yet utterly fragile and touched by all circumstances.

It could be said that "broken hearts" can be mended by realizing and experiencing that, beyond all appearances, we are always Cradled by the Love of Creation.

I believe that by allowing ourselves to FEEL as deeply as possible, both the utter pains and suffering that we all experience, as well as the utter glory and joy that we also all can access, that we are strengthening the vehicle of our Heart.

I believe that EMPATHY is our collective destination as an evolving species- that ultimately because we are inter-connected to All Life Everywhere that it is only ignorance that perceives we are isolated from and immune to either the suffering or the ecstacy that others are experiencing.

We can explore and get to know the actual Powers of our Heart by FEELING it as often as possible - by noticing when we are actually operating from mental/mind mode rather than a sensing Heart mode.

Our hearts have access to ancient knowing,
to supreme COURAGE,
to benevolent tolerance,
to utter tender, raw, bittersweet compassion --
compassion that does not turn away from, shield, or deny
any tradgedy or any pain,
compassion that is PRESENT to all -
compassion that does not have a story or a judgement
but that can hold space for ALL to be accepted AS IS,
inclusive of all hurt, fear, confusion etc.

No one knows OUR Heart's truth but ourself. This is why we must investigate our inner Hearts and commit to expressing its uniqueness, its passion, its insights, its sentiment and guidance.

White Dog is also a symbol of Relationships, and a reminder that our relationship with our own Heart as a reference point for our own autonomous connection to the Universe is the most important foundation for relationships between 2 or more people.

We must claim our verticle connection to Source and take that strength into our Hearts so that we can then extend that strength and love horizontally in our day to day relations.

White Dog urges us to seek out and enjoy our companions of destiny - our Kin who fulfill our Heart's longings to reciprocate true Love.

The code of Loyalty also reminds us to pay attention to where our loyalties lie, and to ensure they are congruent with the Truth we find in our Hearts.

We are invited to first and foremost act out of Loyalty to our own truths, before pledging allegiance to any one or any thing else.

White Dog reminds us that LOVE is the fabric of the Universe,
that there are many faces to love,
that love is non-linear,
that love is greater than all else,
that love is true medicine,
that with LOVE, ALL is possible.

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama always reminds us, the most important thing to cultivate in the name of solving the world's challenges is A GOOD HEART.

opening

dave was saying that:

One of the newest, hottest, but still unproven theories in physics right now is string theory. String theory states that EVERYTHING, matter, energy, everything, is made up of vibrating strings of energy. The frequency of the vibration determines what it is that a given string makes. Basically, everything is made of vibration, everything is made of sound.

i love that this is a new and hot theory. especially when i think about vibrations and sounds in this regard:

There is nothing in this world which does not speak. Every thing and every being is continually calling out its nature, its character, its secret; the more the inner sense is open, the more capable it becomes of hearing the voice of all things.

--Hazrat Inayat Khan

so, could i surmise that it is a hot (not so new) trend to continually call out our true nature, our character, our secret? it's the trendy thing to do... open to one's inner sense and hear the voice of all things.

raining

Photo by L. Kral