Second Chance Dance: Flow Like a River

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Flow Like a River

"You don't push a river it flows by itself."

- Chinese Proverb

"Become the river."

- Fritz Perls

"Perhaps the best river runners are Taoists at heart. Taoism considers someone wise

if they accommodate themselves to the rhythms of the universe."

- C. Norment

-----

Where Many Rivers Meet

All the water below me came from above

All the clouds living in the mountains

gave it to the rivers,

who gave it to the sea, which was their dying.

And so I float on cloud become water,

central sea surrounded by white mountains,

the water salt, once fresh,

cloud fall and stream rush , tree roots and tide bank

leading to the rivers' mouths

and the mouths of the rivers sing into the sea

the stories buried in the mountains

give out into the sea

and the sea remembers

and sings back

from the depths

where nothing is forgotten.

- David Whyte

-----

River

The river is my savior

She's running to the sea

And to reach her destination

is to simply cease to be

And running 'til you're nothing

Sounds a lot like being free

So "ll lay myself inside her

And I'll let her carry me.

- River J. Isbell

----

-------

Canto Paradiso 2021 : "Flow like a River"

Perchance things work out the way they are supposed to in the end

Maybe if Dante's ghost knew this he could cease his twilight meandering.

Maybe he was never attentive to the rain

Or admired the rivers as closely as he should.

Paradise is not across some finish-line

Where numbered runners gather aimlessly standing.

Desert fathers may have been the first to see

Eden is ever-present in the water.

Some say that the Divine was in the water first,

(Before any other thing was)

Her flow, her nourishment, her life giving force,

Her home to creatures who first made her their home,

Her sanctifying baptismal blessing, her welcome to

Pilgrims who bathe or swim in her

Or just witness her majesty from the shoreline.

Without her runners would never run.

Without her sacramental sustenance no thing is.

Without her Ulysses would never have inspired our own pilgrimage.

She knows her own purpose and abides without doubt

Sentient beings lose sight of her holiness

Taking her for granted while trying to control her,

There are pilgrims though who seem to have been born

With heart tattoos , reading

"You don't push a river, it flows by itself. "

They are possibly the illuminated seekers

Aware that one is always precisely where one needs to be,

Their trust , their faith in the hidden hands,

They fall freely into the generous waters of a eternal life.

Troubadours sing solemnly about the water,

Poets alliterate words of searching souls seeking salvation,

Persistent right minded teachers reach out

To any drowning student of Blake .

"Let go, let go" greek choruses are heard imploring.

"The purpose of a river is to flow

Emptying herself into a majestic ocean of mercy."

The old pre-Homeric myths promulgated

Truer stories as true that can ever be told.

Whispering wind voice wistfully whips through the trees

Sanctifying all she touches, saying for ears who chose to hear

"Rivers flow and the sea she waits.

Become the river, let the gift of the bliss carry you."

- JF Sobecki

-------

Crossing Otter Creek

August sun warms the eddy

Swirling lonely lost feather

Drifting up and downstream

Shadows of hay bales

Guarding muddied banks

on Old Trinity Farm

Faithfully silently waiting

A final harvest

Before the snow

Hand in hand

the two wade

Stone to random stone

one breath

One beat of a heart

separating the now

from home.

- JF Sobecki (1990)

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River Songs

Let It Flow - D. Mason

https://youtu.be/illeTgLbowg

River - Jason Isbell

https://youtu.be/p5bathZEbNU

The Ballad of Easy Rider - The Byrds

https://youtu.be/gKQ0F37LhpM

Take Me to the River - A. Green

https://youtu.be/vGD8aQ2GKr0

Deep River Blues - T. Emmanuel

https://youtu.be/5GE6NeWlFHg

Bliss and Flow

Bliss - Joseph Campbell

https://youtu.be/s28rwnz18j4

Flow TedTalk - M. Csiksczentmihalyi

https://youtu.be/I_u-Eh3h7Mo

Allen McQuarrie R.I.P.

The First River Runner Who taught me

to "flow"

Lawrence Ferlinghetti R.I.P.

Thank you for giving us your words which are your rivers

AMDG

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry

because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with

passion. And medicine , law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and

necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

- Dead Poets Society

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New Blog - Rain and Rivers Revisited: A Journey of a Lost Weekend

Well you may recall I have been working on a piece of fiction for a while now. It is still a work in progress. However, I decided

to release drafts of the first few episodes ( chapters.) Much of the work is completed but I am always cutting and editing.

http://rainandriversrevisited.blogspot.com/

It is difficult to release just pieces at a time as they are created as independent episodes they are also all parts of a larger piece (and picture .) I could share more but I am curious to read or hear your feedback.

I want to thank those friends and supporters who have already provided feedback ...and of course all the folks who have been following my Second Chance Dance Blog ( by the way that will continue.)

The material in the Blog is all copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form. Though, I welcome you to share the link and this blog with others .So please when you have a few minutes take a read and let me know what you think. I expect to be posting a series of subsequent episodes shortly.

Thanks....

News of Death

(This is for Coach)

Last night they came with news of death
not knowing what I would say.
I wanted to say,"The green wind is running through the fields making the grass lie flat."
I wanted to say,"The apple blossom flakes like ash covering the orchard wall."
I wanted to say,"the fish float belly up in the slow stream,stepping stones to the dead."

They asked if I would sleep that night,
I said I did not know.
For this loss I could not speak,the tongue lay idle in a great darkness,the heart was strangely open,the moon had gone,and it was then when I said, "He is no longer here"
that the night put its arms around me
and all the white stars turned bitter with grief.
- David Whyte

What Work is

We stand in the rain in a long line

waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.

You know what work is--if you're

old enough to read this you know what

work is, although you may not do it.

Forget you. This is about waiting,

shifting from one foot to another.

Feeling the light rain falling like mist

into your hair, blurring your vision

until you think you see your own brother

ahead of you, maybe ten places.

You rub your glasses with your fingers,

and of course it's someone else's brother,

narrower across the shoulders than

yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin

that does not hide the stubbornness,

the sad refusal to give in to

rain, to the hours wasted waiting,

to the knowledge that somewhere ahead

a man is waiting who will say, "No,

we're not hiring today," for any

reason he wants. You love your brother,

now suddenly you can hardly stand

the love flooding you for your brother,

who's not beside you or behind or

ahead because he's home trying to

sleep off a miserable night shift

at Cadillac so he can get up

before noon to study his German.

Works eight hours a night so he can sing

Wagner, the opera you hate most,

the worst music ever invented.

How long has it been since you told him

you loved him, held his wide shoulders,

opened your eyes wide and said those words,

and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never

done something so simple, so obvious,

not because you're too young or too dumb,

not because you're jealous or even mean

or incapable of crying in

the presence of another man, no,

just because you don't know what work is.

Philip Levine

On Marriage - Kahil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love:Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loafSing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.And stand together yet not too near together:For the pillars of the temple stand apart,And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

A favorite "Journey" poem from a favorite poet

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-- Mary Oliver

Send or post one of your favorites! They can be lyrics to a song!

Playing For Change

Please see the current music video from "Playing for Change" at the bottom of this page. It is a movement. Enjoy!

"Playing for Change" is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world

Fall in Love

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.” --- Pedro Arrupe SJ

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Flow Like a River

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