Showing posts with label Beck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beck. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Moon Phases

July Buck Moon



"Cold-hearted orb that rules the night,

Removes the colors from our sight.

Red is gray and yellow white

But we decide which is right

And which is an illusion."

- The Lament ( Nights in White Satin), 

   Moody Blues



"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected

on the water. The moon does not get wet,

nor is the water broken. Although its light

is wide and great , the moon is reflected even in a puddle

an inch wide."

- Zen Master Elhei Dogen


"I am but a finger pointing to the moon. Do not look at me;

look at the moon." 

- Author unknown


Inspirations  

A lifetime ago, sitting in the dark night, gazing at the 

magical, mysterious glow of the brilliant ball

illuminating the sky ,  I didn't know what to think-


so I  prayed.


The relationship with the moon began.


He was there at the end of a day of confusion,

a day of stress or grief and even days of peace, love and joy.

Some mornings he was visible through the growing brightness 

of the the dawn. 

Somedays clouds would hide its presence,

but I was learning the truth.


The belief that this orb was more than an accident

hanging in the sky began to grow. 

He was a in me and me in him.


(Astrologists, mythologists as well a theologians , navigators of

the earth and the mind, philosophers, poets and scientists

 have studied and tried to comprehend

our relationship to the moon and its purpose.).


A brief history of the moon.

* 4.6 billions year ago a solar nebula collapsed and much of the material

fell forming a young sun

* Much of the dust became rocks 

* Some rocks were big and became planets (protoplanets)

   - One of these became the earth

* The young earth was struck by Mars-sized protoplanet

* The impact of this collision produced the Earth's moon.

* Over a billion years, a remarkable relationship developed between

   the Earth and its moon.* 

* Their nearly perfect alignment has allowed the moon to

   influence tides, ecosystems and perhaps our observations 

   (including werewolves), while  philosophers, astrologers, poets and scientists 

   continue to study the orb's influence on life on earth.


It is written that  the moon's  distance and the angle of the 

his orbit are finely balanced that even the modest changes could

place Earth's long-term stability in serious jeopardy. 

There are multiple scenarios describing how changes 

in that relationship might affect our planet 

No thing lasts.  


Some suggest that the forthcoming July "Buck Moon" 

carries sacred and psychological significance -

- 'shedding and renewal, 

- regeneration,

- inner strength

and deeper spiritual grounding.


Is all of this really some magnificent

accidental coincidence and speculation ? 

Our earthly and celestial origins - mutual.

Perhaps it is no surprise then that 

this connection and wonder  continues  ....


The Writing: 


Moon Phases


Midnight companion

shining through the black heavenly shroud.

Celestial consoler , 

dark-sky influencer, 

intervener..

Perpetual listener 

and spark igniter -

flame of truth,

 subconscious liberator.


Hemingway's conviction:

  " The night is for rest" 

Debunked!

The "I am" wakes in the dark night

The universe's cathedral illuminated

Waves roll.

The reflection glides-

selfless phases 

for every time,

For every thing .


Who am I without you?

Who are you without one 

to receive your glow 

while guiding the tides?

Without this planet

you would not exist.

Without your presence

 - I am not .


- JF Sobecki

------------

Second Chance Dance Playlist Songs plus

July 1 , 2026 -

For your listening pleasure and contemplation:

Click the link below

( Click on the link below to listen and be )

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB8FrnVEQMJC6dJTMsRGJl3yBWtvRc8MK&si=FtOit8r7YXHB_3k8

Coda:

One more short reflection and prayer

https://youtu.be/S0d9ck3sRw8?si=rq06XF-k3xwBhNM4

Whether you "believe" or not...this might be interesting:

* Research indicates that even with significant differences

the major religions and spiritual practices around the world 

they share the following common perspectives and themes:

- Compassion and love - how we treat others

- promote human welfare and reduce suffering

- Practice loving kindness all ways

- All life ( existence) is connected.

- A good life is measured by your kindness to others

- Seek truth, wisdom and understanding

- Be grateful , present and aware of each moment

- There is a higher purpose in life than materialism

- Service to and care of others, be selfless ( especially those 

   who cannot help themselves) 


"One day I will find the right words and they will be simple."

 - Jack Kerouac 

"If this is well written and to the point , that is what I desired, 

if it is poorly done , it was the best I could do." 

- 2 Maccabees 15:38-39 

AMDG 

Copyright 2026 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved








Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water






 "We are the drop of water rising up , joining with the drops

in a cloud until in a blink of the cosmic eye the drop falls

returning to the expansive sea from whence it came...back home."

- Adapted from a Buddhist teacher





"Every moment and every event of

every person's life on earth plants

something in our soul. For just as the wind 

carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment

brings with it germs of spiritual vitality 

that comes to rest imperceptibly in the minds

and wills of everyone. Most of these

unnumbered seeds perish and are

lost, because we are not prepared to receive them: 

for such seeds as these spring up 

anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.

- New seeds of Contemplation. Thomas Merton


Inspiration :

Waking in the morning can be a most mystical gift.

Sometimes rest and sleep do not arrive as we intend.

It can be restless, filled with passages into rabbit holes

that make Alice's experience seem like metaphors 

while other storylines contain some hidden truths

or fears sparked by exaggerated interpretation 

of the real.

Yet, when the wandering brain and body

signal it is time to return to the world's vibrancy, 

there is no conscious awareness of the science that fuels

the moment of morning's reverie.

Sometimes - just sometimes -the divine 

gift of epiphany

arrives in that dawning without warning or 

prophecy.

    The wonder returns.



The Writing:

Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water

Crickets chirping and morning bird songs

proclaim humble sweet gratitude.

Dark shadows of night evaporate

as the gleam of the forthcoming 

brilliance begins to wash over

resting silent landscape.

The last flowers of summer

submit an offering of one final 

proclamation of blessedness.


Nature's tranquility, evidence 

- of the mystical

caresses with waves of grace.

A rekindled spark of a sanctified sanctuary

gifts the constancy of unconditional love 

with gentle cosmic winds of mercy.


The sound of soft rolling waves on the shore line

sweep away the footprints of authentic

prayer-filled pilgrims, 

gulls and  scampering sandpipers.

A red bead of sun peeks over the horizon illuminating

and warming the waiting third planet

as she moves on in her journey.

 

Yet some insecure sentients deem this sanctuary

imperfect, 

contriving plans to disrupt the grandeur of 

the great cathedral.

The morning matins of wayfaring strangers

as if breathing under water,

conjure tears of deliverance - 

fearing the universe's divine majesty

as it may abandon everything -

starting anew somewhere else in the great expanse.

- JF Sobecki

-----

Poetry (and such for your Contemplation)

A Day

I'll tell you how the sun rose-

A ribbon of a time.

The steeples swam in amethyst,

The news like squirrels ran


The hills untied their bonnets,

The bobolinks begun.

Then I said softly to myself,

"That must have been the sun!"


But how he set , I know not.

There seemed a purple stile

Which yellow boys and girls

Were climbing all the while


Till when they reached the other side,

A domine in grey

Put gently up the evening bars,

And led the flock away.

- E. Dickinson

Sandpiper - E. Bishop

https://youtu.be/y23xgttkUs0?si=qCr2NdnDdY3jlEF6

----

Music: and such for your listening inspiration

(Please click on link below each picture to see video)

Morning Has Broken - C. Stevens(Yusuf)

   (Dawn at White House- Jesuit Retreat ,St. Louis, Mo)

https://youtu.be/e0TInLOJuUM?si=RmHWvT8OKbtn1DoO

Morning - Beck


https://youtu.be/UvKbBkiYN9Y?si=ifkK07uI5rNCcnHn

New Morning - B. Dylan


https://youtu.be/99s-B9YoGPA?si=Qwm_FNQYMI8TEEQ7

Light of the Clear New Morning- Conspirare

https://youtu.be/TkrIQ0XEeFU?si=XpLWYqJivM-0iOkj


-----

Coda: Something extra special for your consideration 

and reflection ( wait until the end)

Intention and Kindness - W. Dyer

https://youtu.be/vmGQev-obBk?si=mKnKJQ7JwTV0DJ8p


AMDG

Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC












Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Of Mornings , Breaking Waves and Purpose

  
There's a reason we are drawn

to gazing at the ocean.

It is said the ocean provides

a closer reflection of who

we are than any mirror.

- R. Rubin



I want to run, I want to hide

I want to tear down the walls

That hold me inside.

- Where the Streets have No Name, U2


The Inspiration :

( There is something to be said when one is present to breaking 

waves especially on the beach at dawn.)


The Writing:

(Sometimes an inspiration surfaces from the most unusual and surprising

events and situations. Sometimes it is the sun peaking over the horizon

casting its glow across the waves, or a chorus in a song or line in a poem.

Sometimes some unexplainable presence casts a light making the darkness

less intimidating if not neutralizing it altogether. )


Of Mornings, Breaking Waves and Purpose


Isn't it enough that we have the sea,

The sand, the shore and the eternal sanctuary 

Where the soul can be perfectly present?

The dramatic arrival of that consecrating illumination

Brings light, color and consolation to the exterior and

Interior without prejudice. 

How are we surprised by the sanctification,

The soul - filled serenity always available ,

Where no cover and no minimum charges are required?

The self imposed busy-ness keeps us distracted

And fooled just long enough to think we 

Just might be in control enough to give birth 

To a great universal cosmic peace within and without.

Shamans indicate that infants and children

Know the secret and even maybe some like minded 

spirits will also know the essence of the truth.

What is it that fuels the spark

Initiating our hearts to pump and circulate

The life giving force through the 60,000 miles

Of superhighway blood vessels?

And, who planted those magical thoughts 

Finally flowing seeping words into the space

Between us or between the lines on some virgin journal

Awaiting patiently to be filled with

Wisdom , hope , love and gratitude?

What is it that causes silence to

Transform tones in music?

Where is that magnificent warehouse of creativity

That inspires a tortured artist to carve stone

Or wood into iconic statues or mix chemical pastes painting

The colors of the universe into waterlilies on canvas?

Gamblers, no matter their motivation,

Know why they show up everyday.

Hungry sailors and shipwrecked souls sometimes have that sixth sense

About the tides and the waves.

Time will tell , that unknown source of the wind

And the holy point of the coastal hills and 

Their sister sacramental dunes, uncovering the absoluteness of the truth.

Hissing rolling surf washes away footprints

Of beach combing wanderers , seekers and sandpipers .

Pilgrim reflections of sacred instances when 

The morning light shinning on the breaking waves 

Lifted the fog clarifying 

That the purpose for us is not to make a living...

It is letting go and letting our life be who we are ...

That is our purpose.

              - JF Sobecki

-------------

The Poems and Such:

( Poetry etc Reflections on the inspiration)


Equanimity means profound

stability, like trees planted by the water

That shall not be moved.

That's the fierce equanimity that

Comes from an open heart, open 

mind, and a clear direction of our energy

toward changing the direct

trajectory of history. 

- L. Ward , Awakening to the Apocalypse


Why I wake early - M. Oliver

https://youtu.be/R4O_QcpJlzc

"For Whatever we lose

( like a you or a me )

It's always ourselves

We Find in the sea."

- e e cummings


The Music:
(Musical reflections on the inspiration)


Morning - Beck

Not Dead yet - Lord Huron


Daylight - Watchhouse ( Formerly Mandolin Orange)

Time Will Tell - Gregory Alan Isakov

Pacing The Cage - B. Cochburn
https://youtu.be/mlnJs4WpUjc


Every Breaking Wave - U2
https://youtu.be/BdVIJNnzNQc

Heaven/Where True Love Goes- Cat Stevens ( Jusuf)







amdg

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC


Saturday, May 1, 2021

May Day! Walk to the Daylight!

Picture - Javier Robles

"A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being   what God means it to be it is obeying. It "consents," so to speak, to creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and    therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree."

        - Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation 



The Big Bang

---------


May Day! Walk to the Daylight!


On the first morning of May the wondering continued -

Someone said a Big Bang started it all.

What caused that bang or made those millions of parts

Blown to pieces scattering across the heavens ro give birth

To planets, stars, and on and on?

Imagine the universe a blank canvas with Jackson Pollock

As the divine creative force splattering colors

And leaving the result to interpretation?

Imagine believing that rolling multiple dice at once

Would lead to some mysterious unpredictable magical jackpot

Of magnificent complex creations interconnecting

With other accidental conceptions beyond simple imaginations.

Calling Mother Nature - "Can we start all over again?"

Who dared to make rivers and mountains borderlines?

Did  the origins of species determine who and what would own how much?

Isn't there a truth woven in-between the lines of the great poems or songs?

Take a look at all the wasted things we thought we've known.

And how little humanity has grown.

Walk into the daylight ,  appreciate spring flowers,

Stopping the counting of minutes and hours.

Sometimes the real existence is being mindful 

To how all is sacred

Leading us to where we need to be.

The oldest living human on earth 

Said her longevity is a direct result

Of giving up worrying years ago while paying attention

To those broken and serving those in need.

Sometimes when hopelessness seems to be winning

Walk to the daylight... It is a choice.

Take off the coat of guesses and defenses

It all may surprise you . Remember how -

Augustine asked from that lonely outpost

"Is anyone out there?"

That ever-present mysterious holy voice responds whispering,

"Yes"

- JF Sobecki

----------

Jackson Pollock


For What Binds us - Jane Hirschfield



Life is a Walking


and some music....

Some Bridges - Jackson Browne

https://youtu.be/Z6GEXPYrb8U

Morning Glory - Subdudes

https://youtu.be/fHRiH6mlBMQ

California Stars - Wilco

https://youtu.be/Mi9l10pzMeI

Morning - Beck

https://youtu.be/unZkASVfF74


Something to smile

The Meaning of Life - Everyone Loves Raymond

https://youtu.be/FZb4jBE0Gr0




amdg



Copyright JF Sobecki LLC all Rights Reserved  2021


Sunday, January 1, 2017

A New Year Articulation




"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."
—T.S. Eliot








ar·tic·u·la·tion
ärˌtikyəˈlāSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: articulation; plural noun: articulations
                                  . 
the action of putting into words an idea or feeling of a specified type
                                                  the formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech
                                                  MUSIC
clarity in the production of successive notes
                                                  PHONETICS
the act or manner of uttering a speech sound, especially a consonant.



Articulation

It was Daybreak
Something was different
Something was new.
It was Daybreak.
The last of the darkness faded away
Like smoke drifting to the heavens
From a burned out fire.
It was Daybreak.
Witness the birth of the new.
It was in that moment
When the promise of a redemption
Was being realized.
It was Daybreak.
New Moment, New day, new month, a New Year!
All that was withdrew with the tide.
Footprints from the journey so far washed away.
And the virgin sand waits.
Gulls glide and soar in delight.
Seeking sandpipers continue
Their Bishop chasing and retreating.
It was Daybreak.
Spirits refreshed by the silent sacred salt air.
Gentle divine breath blesses.
It is this silence that transforms the notes
Sung by the morning birds
And chimes into music
As she transforms the souls.
Time has no meaning here.
On the beach receiving  and welcoming.
Consoled, illuminated and Sanctified,
Purist Peace, Love, Compassion and Hope
Are again articulated.

Dawn around the world with a 360 degrees view...click and see


Morning - Beck



Morning has broken - Cat Stevens




Additional note:

It has been advised that a blog about music might be an appropriate consideration.
Until such a time the following will need to suffice.

It was so sad to experience the passing on of so many excellent singer songwriters in 2016 but witnessing and reading the abundant tributes it became evident that two of this author’s favorites were not mentioned among many of the tributes and remembrances!

Guy Clark and Merle Haggard are two who have inspired and consoled this writer. Their simple sweet songs captured a human essence rarely experienced in contemporary music today. I guess the best way for me to honor their passing is not just to post a sample or two of their songs here but to make sure they show up on my own set list. Thank you men…miss you!

NB: For all you Country Music newbies the real original country music had and still maintains real poetic natural homespun soul and was much more than the slick overproduced Las Vegased country twanged guitars and affective nasal south of the  Mason-Dixon line vocals  with playing three chord rock n roll riffs and beats in disguise you hear on the radio today. Some of that new genre ain’t bad but no matter what the industry calls it “it ain’t country!”


Desperadoes Waiting For a Train


Sing Me Back Home


That’s the way Love Goes





Wishing you all a hope and wonder-filled - blessed New Year!




amdg















Copyright all Rights Reserved 2017 JF Sobecki LLC