Archive
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Shells
I planted a few seeds in some pots on our deck last week. Now I watch for the sprouts to break through. Spring time is such a wondrous season of birth; it’s the perfect time to consider all the cycles of life!
Shells
The heart does not expand
From an empty shell.
The seed is there inside
Waiting for the moment.
It takes a special love
To break through that shell.
The germ hovers in bonds
Trembling in dark potential.
The light waits calmly
Just outside the shell.
The sprout presses its power
Seeking a weakness and release.
Suddenly love explodes
Through that hard shell.
The tender life wiggles free
Reaching toward the light.
The heart embraces all life
To escape that empty shell.
The community grows
Filling the world with love.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: The Dance of Time
Another Monday. The moon wanes, the month wanes into the third third and time marches on! Shortly we’ll be a third through 2014. With time on my mind here is a Monday poem I wrote in 2011 (about three years ago):
The Dance of Time
The passage of time is a spiral dance.
It weaves
It floats
It rises
It falls.
It is a multi-dimensional wave.
And like a wave it is stationary.
It moves
It calms
It comes
It goes.
It is a mystery beyond space.
The passage of time is music for the dance.
It sings
It plays
It beats
It rhymes.
It is the rhythm of my heart,
The song of my soul,
The symphony of my spirit.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Facing Kalachakra
I have been preparing for the Kalachakra Initiation. As part of my preparation I have been doing some important, and overdue, shadow work. Kalachakra is helping with this. Today’s poem came out of some of this work.
Facing Kalachakra
Face me and burn in my
Blazing fire of purification.
Turn away and see the
Long shadow cast by my Light.
Kneel to your shadow stretching
Into the past, mistakes, wrong turns.
See that shadow shrinking
As ego gives way to surrender.
Prostrate fully along the ground
Offering shadow to Earth.
Rise in newness turning slowly
On unsteady legs just born.
Face me and learn the Truth
In my blazing fire of purity.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Sunday Bright
I wrote this poem a number of years ago on a pretty Spring Sunday in Colorado. Yesterday was a pretty Sunday in Maryland. Rosemary and I spent much of the day with Ken Wilber and company watching the “Fourth Turning Conference” – what a treat, what light was brought to bear on the Integral approach to Buddhism, and how Integral Thought might be brought into practice to help expand awareness and evolve structures of consciousness.
From deep thought to bright day; life flows on and is good!
Sunday Bright
New day, new light
Celebrate the Sun’s Day.
New week, new right
Recognize the week’s way.
Travel on, write a song
Synchronize the rhythm long.
Make a wish, keep it real
Offer it as gods’ own grace.
Ask your heart, “how you feel?”
Step on out at your own pace.
Celebrate throughout the week
You know deep down of what we speak!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Will We Survive?
In Rosemary’s”Exploration” this week she speaks of change and evolution – a frequent theme for both of us. As we move deeper into spring, the season of growth, change, we approach the Grand Cross that has the astrologers buzzing. Everyone is talking about change. Will it bring growth or will it bring destruction? The choice, as always, is ours!
Will We Survive?
The great wheel turns
Through the black cosmos
Always returning to the
Beginning,
Surviving another ending.
The cycles repeat
Monotonously consistent;
Yet each repetition
Carries change,
Signaling adjustment.
We return again
To a place of origin;
One more karmic turn,
Wondering.
Have we changed enough?
Will we survive?
©2012 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
What’s Your Commitment Level? – Richard’s Commentary
Life Purpose; Commitment; the Universe is waiting. And:
I can assure you that no one’s Life Purpose is to play small in the world. Remember that there are a lot of other souls waiting for you to show up to play your part.
This is heavy stuff; a challenge! Am I ready? Am I already living my purpose? How can I know, for sure?
A number of years ago I did a values assessment exercise. I listed out my top five or so values, the usual. And I wrote my “morning pages” on each value across several days. I worked hard on this. Then I reflected on these values and I began to reduce them, to simplify them into a formula I could easily follow. The result is pretty simple:
Practice———>Love
A bit of time after I worked through this exercise, I learned about Scientific Hand Analysis. This approach, to determine things about ourselves from our finger and hand-prints is both fun and pretty amazing. Turns out my fingerprints are all of one kind, loops. And the simple meaning of this is my Life Purpose is Love! I also happen to be in the School of Love and my Lessons revolve around Love.
Now, this too seems pretty simple! (Believe me it’s not!). And it certainly aligns with my values nicely! But here’s the thing: that first word in my “simple” values statement is Practice! Oh, yeah. I’ve got to practice this! Every day, in every way.
And, following Rosemary’s reminder, I have to commit to this 100%. There’s no playing small here. There is no end either; no limits, no boundaries. No perfection!
But then just a day or so ago a poem came to me in an interesting context: on Sunday I had taken a day off, completely off, no practice, no schedule, no thinking, a real day of rest. Then as I reflected on this day off, I came back to my purpose, my values:
Practice———>Love
Values:
Two words,
A gesture.
A flow:
No striving
No stress
No cramming
No rush
No push
No list
No deadlines
No wish
No angst
No want
No grief
No fear
No anger
Only breath!
Rhythm
In time
With All.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEMS: Spring Snow
We have moved into Spring; and yet the report for tomorrow is for a mix: rain, snow, even here in Maryland. I wrote these haiku in Colorado a few years ago; they still apply here in the East.
Spring snow, white beauty;
It falls in clumps piling fast.
It is wet, heavy.
Spring snow, heavy, wet,
Blankets the ground today –
Green grass tomorrow!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Moon Times
We moved through a powerful Full Moon in Virgo yesterday, 1:08 pm Eastern time. Unfortunately by dark and Moon rise we were under heavy cloud cover with the first flakes of snow falling! But I felt her swollen presence even if I could not see her.
In her honor I offer you this poem I wrote a few years ago. The Moon has been our constant companion across the eons; she helps us with time and she helps us remember.
Moon Times
(September 3, 2011)
The Moon waxes
Reminding us of the
Fullness of Time.
The Moon climbs
Reminding us of the
Need for effort.
The Moon appears
Reminding us of our
Inner work.
The Moon sets
Reminding us of the
Need for rest.
The Moon hides
Reminding us of our
Inner dark.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – A Hymn of Praise to Inanna
Inanna is one of the first Goddesses of Human history. She was written about and hymns composed to her in cuneiform preserved for 5000 and more years in clay tablets. I’ve included this hymn I wrote in the Rhythms and Cycles series because she was among many things the Goddess of agriculture and the harvest. She also, much like several later goddesses, including Persephone, spent part of the year in the underworld. She embodied the natural rhythms of Mother Earth. So we praise her:
A Hymn of Praise to Inanna
March 2, 2010
Inanna, Queen of Heaven
We praise your name
Holding it high.
We honor you, Holy Inanna!
Inanna, Mother of Earth
We hold you in gratitude
Praising your grace.
We honor you, Holy Inanna!
Inanna, Goddess of Under
We bow to you in awe
Singing our grief.
We honor you, Holy Inanna!
Inanna, Holy One of All
We offer this song of praise
Lifting our voices high.
We honor you Holy Inanna!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Aligning Breath of Peace
On Saturday I was feeling out of sorts, disconnected, and uneasy. I did notice that the Moon was squaring the Sun, First Quarter. This may have had some influence. And I decided, whatever the source of my unease, to take some action. In writing my “morning pages” for the day I went into a meditation which did help me realign my energies. I wrote today’s poem in that energy to capture my methods of aligning with the environment rather than struggle with it.
I am now practicing with this breath when I feel I need to connect. I breathe this long slow poem and then follow it with three deep breaths, repeating this connecting breath three times.
Aligning Breath of Peace
Inhaling
From the far reaches of the Universe,
Source,
Through the grand curve of the All
To the Galaxy, Solar Ellipse,
Earth, Community,
Village, Home
Into skin, viscera,
Senses, feelings,
Mental mechanics
To High Consciousness.
Exhaling
From that high place
Through the inner curve of Mind
Deep feelings, settling flow
Of gut mechanics to surface;
Out to room,
Neighborhood, town,
Planet, Moon,
Sun, Milky Way
Through the grand curve of the All,
To Source.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Men and The Goddess 