Seasons of Love
- Anthony DeMello SJ
( 10th Anniversary of the birth of the Second Chance Dance - Heart Surgery
August 4, 2008)
“Perhaps the best river runners are Taoists at heart. Taoism considers
someone wise if they accommodate themselves to the rhythms of the universe.”
someone wise if they accommodate themselves to the rhythms of the universe.”
- Christopher Norment, The Journey Itself Is Home, Collector’s Edition:
Ain’t No Man - Avett Brothers
525,600 x 10 vs Vanity and Hubris
There was this point in the minor Odyssey where the anti-pilgrim
was in some kind of black hole. Therapists, scientists and even poets
of all sorts would concur that this dark spinning cycle with no
perceived end was of his own making.This was no Camino de Santiago
or mission to find a new way to paradise. His great Obe Wan
would say “trust the force” as “the Doc” implored the ref for a
time out to crack him open like a lobster to repair his wearied
heart. He advised the pilgrim “ Well played but I think this part
of the game is over for you.” The pilgrim had lost sight of what
he was really after and he feared that he may have missed the
point to everything completely.Afraid that the pre-surgery kisses
would be the last and hugs and those sweet whispers would soon
be forgot and were all signs that his faith in all that was sacred
and in himself had regressed to the point of disrepair. Was there
not a paradise to look forward to or was this existence the heaven
that was promised?It seemed too late for Bocelli and Brightman
dueting a “Time To Say Goodbye” or a angelic chorale singing
Neruda’s Soneto de La Noche. He was aware of how unaware
he was as he never really learned to be still and be mindful.
There were moments of inexplicable unconditional warm tranquil
grace just as well as there were times where he was getting suckered
by the corrupt promises of a greedy self centered world.His soul
and heart knew the right path but it was the vanity and hubris
that distracted him.
was in some kind of black hole. Therapists, scientists and even poets
of all sorts would concur that this dark spinning cycle with no
perceived end was of his own making.This was no Camino de Santiago
or mission to find a new way to paradise. His great Obe Wan
would say “trust the force” as “the Doc” implored the ref for a
time out to crack him open like a lobster to repair his wearied
heart. He advised the pilgrim “ Well played but I think this part
of the game is over for you.” The pilgrim had lost sight of what
he was really after and he feared that he may have missed the
point to everything completely.Afraid that the pre-surgery kisses
would be the last and hugs and those sweet whispers would soon
be forgot and were all signs that his faith in all that was sacred
and in himself had regressed to the point of disrepair. Was there
not a paradise to look forward to or was this existence the heaven
that was promised?It seemed too late for Bocelli and Brightman
dueting a “Time To Say Goodbye” or a angelic chorale singing
Neruda’s Soneto de La Noche. He was aware of how unaware
he was as he never really learned to be still and be mindful.
There were moments of inexplicable unconditional warm tranquil
grace just as well as there were times where he was getting suckered
by the corrupt promises of a greedy self centered world.His soul
and heart knew the right path but it was the vanity and hubris
that distracted him.
It wasn’t until he slowly passed through the preverbal post surgical
fog that his vulnerable spirit was suddenly immersed in a
sanctifying sea of redemption and love. His soul and body
were consoled, comforted and caressed with a peace known
to angels and faith filled pilgrims.The secret sacred songs of
the second chance would not cease and his soul danced with
the freedom he felt when he first entered this world. He then
knew the answer and the answer was love.
fog that his vulnerable spirit was suddenly immersed in a
sanctifying sea of redemption and love. His soul and body
were consoled, comforted and caressed with a peace known
to angels and faith filled pilgrims.The secret sacred songs of
the second chance would not cease and his soul danced with
the freedom he felt when he first entered this world. He then
knew the answer and the answer was love.
Post script: Exiting the the hospital he thought that was that and
all of this may have been a dream. But he knew he was wrong
in this assumption when a somber voice on the phone reached
out sadly informing how the pilgrim’s associate and friend had
given into the vanity and hubris shooting himself and his wife
in complete despair . A flash memory for the pilgrim recalled
night before he had gone into the hospital and how his associate
treated him to a pre-surgery dinner and hugged him as they
departed. The pilgrim thought it odd as the associate never hugged
anyone as he was all business. He would not forget the hug and
knew all of this was real. The associate had bought into
the wrong promise.
all of this may have been a dream. But he knew he was wrong
in this assumption when a somber voice on the phone reached
out sadly informing how the pilgrim’s associate and friend had
given into the vanity and hubris shooting himself and his wife
in complete despair . A flash memory for the pilgrim recalled
night before he had gone into the hospital and how his associate
treated him to a pre-surgery dinner and hugged him as they
departed. The pilgrim thought it odd as the associate never hugged
anyone as he was all business. He would not forget the hug and
knew all of this was real. The associate had bought into
the wrong promise.
- JF Sobecki
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Is This Heaven - Field of Dreams
Learn to be Still - The Eagles
The Holy Longing
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,
because the mass man will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
what longs to be burned to death.
In the calm water of the love-nights,
where you were begotten, where you have begotten,
a strange feeling comes over you,
when you see the silent candle burning.
Now you are no longer caught in the obsession with darkness,
and a desire for higher love-making sweeps you upward.
Distance does not make you falter.
Now, arriving in magic, flying,
and finally, insane for the light,
you are the butterfly and you are gone.
And so long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubled guest on the dark earth.
- Translated from the German by Robert Bly
If it should happen…if this sacred poem
this work so shared by heaven and earth
That it has made me lean through these long years-
Can ever overcome the cruelty
That bars me from the fair fold where I slept,
A lamb opposed to wolves that war on it…
By then with other voice, the other fleece,
I shall return as poet, with other fleece,
I shall return as poet and put on,
At my baptismal font, the laurel crown;
For there I first found entry to that faith
Which makes should welcome unto God, and then,
For that faith, Peter garlanded my brow.
( Paradiso, Canto XXV )- Dante’s Inferno
May I ask who are you- Kundun
“ I think I am a reflection like the moon on water
When you see me and I try to be a good man, you see yourself”
- Dalai Llama
The Buddha's Last Instruction
"Make of yourself a light"
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first
signal a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green.
An old man , he lay down
between the two Sala trees,
and he might have said anything,
knowing it was his final hour.
The light burns upward,
it thickens and settles over the fields.
Around him, the villagers gathered
and stretched forward to listen.
Even before the sun itself
hangs,disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its oceans of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire-
clearly I am not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of unexplicable value.
Slowly,beneath the branches,
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.
- Mary Oliver
You Got the Love - The Retrosettes Sister Band
A time to say Goodbye - Andrea Bocelli Sarah Brightman
Soneto De la Noche - Pablo Neruda
It’s All True
amdg
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