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A Time to Grieve
You know there are no coincidences. Everything is in flow, in divine order. The other day I wrote briefly about reading “The Smell of Rain on Dust”, the latest book by my most esteemed teacher, Martín Prechtel. This lovely little book is all about “Grief and Praise” – its subtitle. As I said the other day I’ll write a complete review of it when I have finished savoring every word. But in the meantime I am struck that I have chosen the perfect time to be reading it. It is time to remember how to grieve!
It is with humility and the deepest respect that I offer this riff on Martín’s work. These are his thoughts that I heard from his lips as I sat learning at his feet and I read in his marvelous book. And I offer it to you as a way to cope with a world that seems off the rails. It is only love that can right the wreckage.
A Time to Grieve
We seem to drift, as a nation,
Ever more deeply into violence and divide;
More killings; cops killing “innocents” –
“Innocents” killing cops.
There is an emerging frenzy to this senseless,
Escalating violence. It is so much, so intense.
It is maddening.
And it is not clear where it will end; or when or how.
Martín knows how.
He has spoken and written about it over and over.
We as a nation – as a so called culture –
Have lost the ability to grieve.
In fact this ability has been taught out of us!
Go shopping instead!
This is always the remedy. Consume more.
Eat up the world to mask the grief.
Hide our losses and sorrow
And desperate need of relief through grief
In our purchases.
Salve the wounds over with stuff.
Feel better with that latest broach –
Pin it on over your heart as a shield to hide behind.
Pin together the tatters in your broken heart.
Pretend it is whole; mend the tears
And choke back the tears.
For Heaven’s sake don’t embarrass yourself
With any display that would reveal your vulnerable soul.
That will not do!
There is no comfort there; only in more stuff.
How else do we keep the wheels on this economy
That promises protection, plenty, prosperity for all
And that pursuit, so elusive, of a happy life?
Grief is equally elusive as happiness!
We are not allowed to grieve.
Three days off for our dearest family members.
Take your own time for friends. Then back to work;
Produce so you can consume more.
No, we are not eating the world! There is always more.
Oh, and there will always be poor. Jesus said so;
And he was right about everything.
And they killed him too!
Never mind the poor; they are not worth dying for.
They are not worthy of our life style.
It will end in one of two ways:
We may kill one another as the violence escalates
To a new world war – a Global War on Terror
Brought to you by terror. Fight terror with terror –
It is the American Way. Our violence begets more violence.
It matters not how it began – it only has a violent end.
Or, we may remember how to grieve.
We can go to the sea and cry a river to fill it.
Weep for the deaths.
Weep for the brutality.
Weep for a society gone so wrong.
Weep for the wars.
Weep for the enemies “following orders.”
Weep for the loved ones whose bones we stand upon.
Weep for us, victims and perpetrators alike.
We are all in this together;
And we will never get out alive!
And when we have wept that river
Flowing to the sea, it might then be time to
Remember something else:
Remember the love that brought us into existence.
Remember the beauty of the world.
Remember the generosity of the Universe
Offering enough and more!
Remember to offer in return our praise and gratitude.
There is a cycle to the loss and gain,
The constant flow of less and more.
Know wherever we are in this cycle
It will continue.
There must always be time for grieving
Because there will always be loss.
Life is loss.
There must always be time for praising
Because there is always gain.
Life is love.
Live life to the fullest in grief and praise!
©2016 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Love is Health
I am reading Martín Prechtel’s most recent book, “The Smell of Rain on Dust.”
Martín is one of my most revered teachers. When the world is fortunate enough to receive another of his gifts of writing, I immediately acquire the book, and then I savor it, sometime putting off reading for a time knowing I have it, but delaying the incredible gratification I get when I read his lovely words.
I studied with Martín for a few years almost a decade ago now; I sat with him in his Bolad’s Kitchen, cooking in the soup of his stories, his character and his wisdom. Now whenever I get to read one of his books, new or old, I can hear his voice, the cadence and timber, the melody, the harmonies as he speaks with reverence for life, nature, the indigenous soul of humanity.
I am in the middle of this current book, published in 2015 but current to me. When I am finished I’ll post a complete review here. But for now I want to quote the end of Chapter 6: “Paddles of Tears, Canoes Made Out of Old Songs”. This short quote summarizes in a tidy nugget where I am right now in life and what continues to carry me forward into my 8th decade:
The eloquence of our own affection for one another keeps the world healthy. Praise and the depth of our grief expressed for one another keeps the world in love. Love is health.
Words from The Way
Yes, I’m coming “alive” again! Welcome to this magical time of maximum Yang, Summer Solstice; and Full Moon on the same day, yesterday. We are still in this powerful energy so be sure to make good use of it.
I have been absent from this blog for a bit; maybe hiding out from myself and getting familiar with this new and transforming energy 2016 has brought to us. Do you feel it? It is palpable. And we are experiencing it as at no other time; just take a peek at current affairs and this wacky presidential election time.
So, with all of this in mind I read a passage from my latest “medical Qigong” book I was “given” for Fathers’ Day (I ordered it with Rosemary’s blessing!). Here’s the passage:
If chaos is eternal, the order introduced into chaos of the universe has an end, as it has a beginning. This is because slowly names given cease to fit; political systems invented in simpler times cease to function; old irrigation ditches get choked with new vegetation; the waters of chaos begin to mount.
–from J. Lagerwey, Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History (1987) as quoted by Lonny S. Jarrett in Nourishing Destiny, The Inner Tradition of Chinese Medicine (1998)
Maybe you get the idea of why I became motivated to post this today. With maximum Yang energy pouring down on us from Heaven, both from Sun and Moon, the “waters of chaos” seem to be mounting. I don’t have to innumerate all the crazy events we are in the midst of or name them – “names given cease to fit”! But I do want to consider this quote from the perspective of growing up in the ’60s, another time of chaos, anguish, but also hope and dreams.
We were ready for change in the 60s. Some of us worked hard to bring it on. And I believe we did to a degree. And then the “waters of chaos” seemed to subside.
Now the waters are rising again. There is a new movement for change in these ‘teens’ – the “ditches” began to fill in 2012. And now it almost feels like “political systems invented in simpler times” are beginning to come apart, “cease to function.” How will the “revolution” end this time?
I don’t pretend to have answers. I only hope to pass along some wisdom from ancient China. Can we find some answers in the lessons once learned long ago and far away?
Or, “when will we ever learn?”
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Work Toward Wisdom, Not Just Learning
Work Toward Wisdom, Not Just Learning
The Dimensions of Learning are not the same as the Dimensions of Wisdom. With Learning comes Wisdom but the goal of Human Evolution of Consciousness is to access the Wisdom of the Universe without all the painful lessons through which most human beings must pass.
The human realm is an educational realm. The human lifetime is spent learning lesson after lesson and, it is to be hoped, gaining wisdom with each lesson learned.
Not every human being, however, is successful in this endeavor, for many choose to use every lesson as an opportunity to reinforce what they already believe to be true and, thus, they close themselves off from the opportunity to learn something new.
When one learns something new it can challenge one’s deeply held beliefs, or what one wants to believe is true. It is, therefore, easier for some to discard or deny the new truth so that they can cling to the old belief. These people cannot gain in wisdom and will not ascend in Consciousness.
Those, however, who seek Wisdom and see every learning experience as an opportunity to gain access to further Wisdom are ascending to the Dimension of Wisdom and are contributing to the Evolution of Human Consciousness.
Are you ascending? Are you learning to access the Dimension of Wisdom or are you continually encountering the same lesson over and over again?
Experience is not Wisdom.
Education is not Wisdom.
Information and Knowledge are not Wisdom.
Wisdom is the transcendent understanding of the deepest truths of the Cosmos.
Wisdom, when accessed by one who is ascending in the Evolution of Human Consciousness, informs one’s human life and cannot be denied or ignored.
One can only learn that which one is ready to learn. The Wisdom of the Cosmos is unchanging truth that is not incrementally or temporarily true. One can be highly educated on Earth and yet have little access to Wisdom, just as one can access many levels of Wisdom without Earthly education.
Do not make the mistake that an educated person is sharing the Wisdom of the Cosmos. You will know when a person is accessing the Dimension of Wisdom when a part of your Being, your Soul Essence, resonates with the Wisdom being presented even when your personality, on the human level, is resistant because your beliefs are being challenged.
Trust the stirrings of your Soul when you are being invited into the Dimension of Wisdom. The invitation is a Call to Ascend. With each step in this direction you contribute to the Evolutionary Journey of Human Consciousness.
NEW MOON IN LEO: Three Haiku
Three New Moon Haiku
Moon Death
Mourn the losses deep!
Moon death carries them down.
But wait; look west. Birth!
Moon Dark
Rest through the night deep;
No struggle, no pain – Moon dark.
Light returns – renewed.
Moon Drift
Celebrate the gain.
Moon drift carries her beyond.
Light breaks to the west!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Find Something to Celebrate
There is always something you can celebrate, even if you don’t feel like celebrating. Seek it. Be on the lookout for something to celebrate all day long.
When you are looking for a celebration it is difficult to stay depressed or angry or sad. Of course, you can CHOOSE to say to yourself or to others, ‘My life is so bad that there is nothing to celebrate.’ Or you can choose to say or think, ‘I wish she would stop being so cheerful. HER life might have something to celebrate but mine doesn’t.’ And then you can list all the reasons why there is nothing to celebrate.
Well, let me clue you in. No one’s life is so perfect that they are not dealing with some issue in their life. It might be minor at the moment but it was and will be huge at some point.
Everyone loses someone they love at some point in life – a grandparent, a pet, a friend. Some choose to focus on the loss while others choose to concentrate on a celebration of the life that was shared, for a long time or a short time but always a valuable time.
Which kind of person are you? What do you choose to focus on when you experience a loss? Can you find something to celebrate?
I’ve been to funerals that were all about the loss and I’ve been to funerals that were huge celebrations of the person who has died. The second kind is more healing for those who attend.
This is not to deny the grief that arises when we lose someone we love. That grief is real and should be honored in whatever way is healing for the individual.
BUT, and this is a big but, you are always at choice about where you focus your attention, your thoughts, your energy.
Do you celebrate when things are going well for you or do you keep looking for the thing that is not going well and focus on that? Do you have some ‘magical thinking’ about the if/only’s in your life? What are you waiting for that when X happens you will be happy?
Start celebrating something, anything in your life today and watch what happens. Start setting your radar detector to seek that which you can celebrate and notice what starts showing up on your radar screen. The energy that you use for the search attracts that which you are searching for. Search for things to celebrate and you’ll find things to celebrate.
So how are you going to spend today? Choosing to focus on what’s not working or choosing to focus on what you can celebrate?
Celebrate YOU!!! Even if it is not your birthday, celebrate that you woke up this morning. That you can read or hear this message. That the Sun rises in the East every day, even when the clouds keep you from seeing it. Celebrate that you can go to Starbucks and get a ‘hello’ even if you don’t get a cappuccino. Celebrate someone else by contacting them just to say ‘hello.’
Surround yourself with the energy of celebration today and watch how many things you can celebrate tomorrow!
A FULL MOON POEM: Rhythms
Here on the East Coast there is a full moon in Capricorn tonight at 10:22. As some of you dear readers know, Rosemary and I celebrate the cycles of the moon, paying special attention to this nearest “heavenly body” as she moves through her phases affecting the planet and all of life in so many ways. We’ll be publishing the MoonLetter later today (subscribe here) but in the meantime, to lead up to this “big moon” I want to share my poem for the day (and her):
Rhythms
Full moon rising,
Climbing as a goat
Up the mountain of the sky
Riding high, beaming Sunrays
Back to Earth, light for the Dark Way.
Half-year passing,
Fading as a flower.
Ripening fruit-time in full force
Nourishing Earth energy pushing
Life to feed the seed to feed life.
Old man rejoicing,
Vigorous as a stoat,
Living the dream, dreaming life
Back into fading years
Shedding no tears, full force rising!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A Friday Poem: It’s All Just Lies
Yesterday’s post from Rosemary’s Exploration was all about truth and Truth. It seems as soon as we find a truth for our lives we discover a hollowness to it that we then seek to grow beyond, to find a new truth to stand on. And then a shift occurs and we are seeking again.
In pondering this seeking through layers of “truth” today’s poem “wrote itself” out of my musings:
It’s All Just Lies
The stories we tell ourselves?
We make them all up!
What if I told you your stories are crap?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
The illness, the stress, the difficult life?
We make them all up!
The suffering, meltdowns, tales of strife?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
The happy places, the glade, the glen?
We make them all up!
This life, that death, new birth and growth?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
The Qi, the flow, yin and yang?
We make them all up!
Even the Dao, the ground of all being?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
So, where is the truth, what is real?
Keep looking my friend;
Believe nothing you feel!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Happy New Moon in Taurus! Celebrate with Haiku
For this New Moon I’ve written three Haiku. The bull does like his beauty, both light and dark!
Moon Death
Mourn the losses deep;
Moon death carries them down.
But wait; look west. Birth!
Moon Drift
Celebrate the gain.
Moon drift carries her beyond.
Light breaks to the west!
Moon Dark
Rest through the night deep;
No struggle, no pain – Moon dark.
Light returns – renewed!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
And here, from Rosemary, is all the New Moon information for the next couple of weeks, as we move into this waxing moon phase:
“When the Moon is dark it is inviting you to shine your light into the world. Be the beacon of light that is needed to show the way. The light is within you.”
Are you ready to claim who you really are? To claim how you really feel? This is a great time to shed the shells! Be YOU, fully YOU, just the way you are, which is PERFECT!
And if there is anything that you are looking to bring into your life, send out your request now, during the energy of the New Moon. Stay in gratitude even when you don’t control the timetable. Let your gratitude grow while the Moon grows from dark to Full in the sky.
This is also the start of a 3-week period where Planet Mercury goes retrograde – it appears to travel backward in the sky. Mercury represents communications so be careful. Check those emails and tweets before you send them. Read and re-read contracts or, better yet, wait until after June 11 to sign them. Others will be distracted, too, so pay close attention to your driving and drive defensively.
This, too, shall pass. Creative people often find Mercury Retrograde periods to be inspiring so take some time to go inside and explore.
I am so excited about the difference that essential oils are making in our lives! I recently twisted my knee and went right to the oils for relief. Swelling was minimal and I attribute that to swift and frequent application of the oils. We’re still filling the diffuser with a combination that makes dealing with allergies a thing of the past, even though the pollen is so heavy that we’re getting the car washed all the time. If you are living a more natural life then essential oils are the way to go. We’ve replaced our medicine chest with oils and I believe the plants are where our healing energies can be found. Would you like to join me online to learn more about what we’re doing with essential oils? Send me an email and I’ll let you know:rosemary@TheScientific Mystic.com
Are you a spiritually-grounded Conscious Entrepreneur who is not yet making the income that you would like to make? We see a lot of people like that who would like to know how to be spiritual, of service to others and profitable at the same time. And we want to help. So we’re offering a FREE teleseminar on Thursday, May 21 at 8:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time/5:00 pm Pacific. We’ll be sharing ‘3 Keys to Being Spiritual and Profitable.’ We’ll send you the call-in information so mark your calendar and register below!
Set your intention today for the energy of the New Moon to assist you in bringing you into the life of your dreams!
The Hubble picture today celebrates the 25th anniversary of this magnificent “light gatherer.” Here’s more info:
APRIL 23, 2015: NASA and ESA are celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope’s silver anniversary of 25 years in space by unveiling some of nature’s own fireworks — a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars called Westerlund 2. The cluster resides inside a vibrant stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. The comparatively young, 2-million-year-old star cluster contains some of our galaxy’s hottest, brightest, and most massive stars. The largest stars are unleashing a torrent of ultraviolet light and hurricane-force winds that etch away the enveloping hydrogen gas cloud. This creates a fantasy celestial landscape of pillars, ridges, and valleys.
May 20 – FREE Essential Oils Class, Severna Park, MD LINK
May 21 – 3 Keys to Being Spiritual and Profitable, a webinar at 8:00 pm Eastern LINK
June 1-2 – Red Elephant Flight Club, Orlando, FL
Enjoy the energy of this Taurus New Moon. And be aware of the Mercury retrograde period!
Men and The Goddess 