Welcome New Year ! Welcome Frances !

                                                       Frances Louise

 The Inspiration :

Is it really as simple that everything is the result

Of a series of coincidental accidents in an atomic 

Speck hiding in a dark corner of a million universes?

Why haven't the wisest of wise sentient beings

Discovered a way to articulate the essence, the rationale

And the most comprehensive yet elemental 

Scientific facts for the most

Innocent simple minds to comprehend?

The latest AI should be able to conjure up something

About all of this, don't you think?.

Ascetics and mystical hermits with a spark that cosmic

genius contemplate how there is an interconnecting of

Every aspect of every thing and every one.

Sanctified  souls secure solace in the salvation stories

Proclaiming mercy, not sacrifice and redemption in the

Sounds of innocence of the cry and laughter of

A newly arrived baby.

Unbroken circle grace is abundantly present

Fueling hope and the most pure love.

It's been said that a love that loves without condition,

No reward, no recognition required and

No reciprocation is expected as a return for your

compassion.The teacher asked ,

"Do you love your children only if they

love you in return? Does your love cease when you 

enter a world of dreams

Or when the one you love is absent?"

With the flash of the mystical light 

It seems when your child of the wind has her own child,

Somehow the meaning of "love all - ways" is no 

longer a mystery.

Enlightenment occurs when a new born infant

Makes her entrance to begin her part in the great play

As you hold her in your arms. 

-----------

The Writing:

My Dearest Frances Louise :

Is it wrong to thinking that we have been waiting 

for you

for a lifetime? Just like that , no warning, no sign , 

no mystical dream

or burning bush as the magnificent mystery 

unfolds .the word is made flesh. Choirs of angels 

can be heard in a silence of seeking hearts. 

The Zen singer poet laments:

"Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in"

We know from grandparents ,parents, siblings, 

aunts, uncles and cousins that the 

illumination has occurred

and everything is changed again. 

It is mystery and some hermits contemplate the wonder.

The natural state of enthusiasm is discovered

in the root "en theos" - in God...of the divine...fervor 

for the zeal for the inspiration (of the spirit) ...awareness 

of the revelation of the truth.

And so it is that you are and you 

have purpose ,

a vocation , listening to that secret 

voice within , 

to be that authentic creation - the 

compassionate one 

who is selfless , generous , merciful and 

peace maker.

Your mission if you chose to 

accept it is to be

making this   a better place

where you let go, trust love and serve.

56 years and one day have been crossed 

off the calendar since the pilgrim pirate first 

caught your mother's mother attention in small 

smoke filled and beer stained bar

saturated with souls seeking serenity. 

Some say that it was providence and others 

suggest it is just an example of a loser getting lucky .

The humbled pilgrim overwhelmed

with the dawns glow and night's fading away 

falls to his knees.

Dreams do come true. How? It's a mystery.

This Camino maybe not as easy as you would like. 

Just be who you are meant to be. If you worry...

worry about being respected and that you 

have the courage 

and wisdom to stay the course . 

There are many who need you-

your love, your help ,your faith , your laughter 

and  your compassion. Allow your talents to flourish. 

Take courage. You are never alone.

Remember how your mother , father and 

brothers have been waiting 

for you and how much they love you no matter 

what who do or wherever you

 go. Your extended family and your friends as 

well as those you meet along

the way wait for your blessing while there are a few 

earthly angels and saints 

will be there to bless and intervene for you. 

One thing that this pilgrim is finally 

learning is that all days and all creation are holy. 

Concern for the common 

welfare of every aspect of this universe includes 

MotherNature . We need the streams, lakes, rivers, the seas ,

the mountains , the clouds , the rain and stars. 

Another teacher reminds us

"No mud, no lotus."

Trust your intuition . connect with good people 

( you will know them when you meet them ) be creative, 

listen and dance to music and 

remember to find some poetry to read as it is t

he window to your

heart and your soul. Be your 'self" -" there is no them there's

only us."

Remember , whether I am close by or on the other side ... I am

with you always. 

Te Viglio bene assai , bene assai  

Nonno 

XOX

______ 

The Poems and Such:

"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. 

It knocks on the doors

 of the heart and the heart opens" 

 - Mirabai Starr

"Poetry is an Act of Peace . 

Peace goes into the making of a poet

as flour goes into the making of bread."

- Pablo Neruda

Everything is Waiting for You - David Whyte

https://youtu.be/MgQf5tx1hi4?si=t1fLQRa9Jv3_oXrY

-E.A. Guest

_____________

-----------

The Music:

Isn't She Lovely - S. Wonder

https://youtu.be/oE56g61mW44?si=5qOCFgORiBLJhPxy

I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack

https://youtu.be/RV-Z1YwaOiw?si=EDfWYYVqF8z993up

Follow Your Dreams - Poco

https://youtu.be/1E8i_nj5W9E?si=IJXyh9APIC2Stoky

Live Forever - Drew Holcombe

https://youtu.be/ntbNQk2Tk7Q?si=bCJB0qyxp5bJMpXi

Forever Young - Bob Dylan ( and The Band)

https://youtu.be/Vz231O7Cw-I?si=uOzUpYAUBpfWPQxW

Videos for Meditation For Readers:

"There Is no them there's only us!...

We are more than we know...body and soul

I am (We are) not invisible..."

Who do you say you/we are?

 

Invisible - Bono and The Edge and Friends

https://youtu.be/HqqDExc8TF4?si=mu7G0NYs-rto85Co

Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills ,Nash and Young

https://youtu.be/EkaKwXddT_I?si=VM_TwRkZjhrzP7Fc

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

"Everything that we preach is what we

 need to hear."

         - Bono

"One day I will find the right words , 

and they will be simple."

- Jack Kerouac

"The most important thing is not why we 

write but how we write.

Write dangerously , Beckett.." 

- James Joyce ( From the new biopic on 

S. Beckett " Dance First.")

https://youtu.be/U_Yk3zSBG68?si=IDInDIeQ039VdYc1

For my girls and their families

                                          

                               

 

                                         

               

                                        

   

                                         

                                  

AMDG

Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Calvin & Hobbes

Questions :An Advent Contemplation

"I will honor Christmas in my heart

and try to keep it all year."

- Charles Dickens

"Mankind was my business. The 

common welfare was my business;

charity, mercy , forbearance,

benevolence, were all my business. 

The dealings of my trade but a drop

of water in the comprehensive ocean

of my business!"

- Marley's Ghost to Scrooge - Dickens

Charlie Brown asked Lucy why she was so happy. Lucy explainers

 how it was "Christmas" and how it was the time of year to 

"Spread joy , caring ,compassion, giving and love , and working 

for peace ." Charlie Brown  wondered out-loud ,"Why do we do 

these things at Christmastime and why 

can't we do these things all year round?" Lucy yells at 

Charlie Brown "What are you some type of religious fanatic?!"

The Inspiration :

In one of the few credible local newspapers remaining the pages in a recent edition were filled with ads as to the best sales for the best products that one really "needs" to get as presents for their loved ones during this holiday season . In between those color-filled pages were pictures and stories of the horrors of war and violence , famine in countries that seem to be from some faraway planet, debates and quotes from public figures who proclaim that they represent the truth about spiritual matters and why their religion is the only correct path, and how elected officials threaten physical harm to others who don't agree with them and on and on. 

Without warning right in the middle of the OpEd pages is an old picture of President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, who had just passed , sweating as they worked at building a home for the homeless their post political office years . The caption on the picture read " Faith in Action."

On the same day as reading a digital world news report there was a short video vignette of an aging great grandfather holding his new born great grand child as the great grandfather wept whispering to the infant, "I am so sorry that I didn't do more to leave you a better world to live in. We really blew it ." 

This pilgrim author wondered , " Have I tried enough ?"

-----------

The Writing:

Questions : An Advent Contemplation

Oliver wondered while Cockburn conjured 

Purpose or rationalization ,

Commandments or subtle suggestions ?

Sometimes confused sheep wander as

A few somehow are lost in the most verdant of valleys

Gifted to every creature hoping for nourishment and serenity.

How is it that some of the most enlightened 

Of the most erudite of the Mensa membership

Not only get off course leading seekers 

Away from the truth as the answer that has

Been burning brightly within all ways?

Have the pieces of the cosmic  puzzle confused

Wandering sentient spirits seeking significance 

Of their place in this mandala ?

Hasn't all of Mother Nature ,the essence of the divine,

That eternal magnificent spark,

Graced every aspect of creation in all ways?

Is not this experience and space

Sanctifying all with the ever-present answers to

The great questions ? 

-  JF Sobecki

__________ 

The Poems and Such:

"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. It knocks on the doors

 of the heart and the heart opens" 

 - Mirabai Starr

"Poetry is an Act of Peace . Peace goes into the making of a poet

as flour goes into the making of bread."

- Pablo Neruda

Some Questions You Might Ask

Is the soul solid, like iron? 

Or is it tender and breakable, like 

the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl? 

Who has it, and who doesn’t? 

I keep looking around me. 

The face of the moose is as sad 

as the face of Jesus. 

The swan opens her white wings slowly. 

In the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness. 

One question leads to another. 

Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg? 

Like the eye of a hummingbird? 

Does it have one lung, like the snake and the scallop? 

Why should I have it, and not the anteater 

who loves her children? 

Why should I have it, and not the camel? 

Come to think of it, what about the maple trees? 

What about the blue iris? 

What about all the little stones, sitting alone in the moonlight? 

What about roses, and lemons, and their shining leaves? 

What about the grass?

- Mary Oliver

 God's Grandeur - GM Hopkins ( Read by Stanley Kunitz) 

https://youtu.be/vpEaCp8iiSc?si=u7YUv8gsN6Y2tond

"Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is no room for him

at all, Christ has come uninvited."

- Thomas Merton

_____________

The Music:

Running To Stand Still - Bono (U2)

https://youtu.be/8EAuep7vUdQ?si=DmW0oIUrA45iIxt6

Getting Ready for Christmas Day - Paul Simon

https://youtu.be/5Q_y4IqeQe8?si=-vClhAIG1HEr-aLi

I Believe in Father Christmas - G. Lake

https://youtu.be/U6-PAKOt7sM?si=WN98L1Kuqhu8u6P2

Do They Know it's Christmas - Band Aid

https://youtu.be/j3fSknbR7Y4?si=KBREFAwqEehkRW1D

Questions - Moody Blues

https://youtu.be/NP9iOqdxS8c?si=dLWlvQRRa9dq7svh

Nothing But a Burning Light - Bruce Cockburn

https://youtu.be/FrhECC6msak?si=hMZXZG8TCI6Vli-o

Videos for Meditation For Readers:

What are we meant to be?

What is our responsibility to our loved ones and the world?

To be or not to be - Alternatives (Shakespeare)

https://youtu.be/sw_zDsAeqrI?si=jlMQhcfIYxL7Gu_P

Scrooge - The Full Movie 1951

https://youtu.be/oPDNKbdW9P0?si=KQUfHaEfYGDi964V

CODA: Something more to consider

As I come of Age - S. Stills

https://youtu.be/BtB6hfvbrsA?si=VTwaQP0PogBEHN8n

How do we share the spirit of peace, love, compassion and mercy?

Have a Blessed and Peaceful Holiday Season.

Two  not-for-profits that keep the spirit alive year round.

Family Promise - https://familypromise.org

World Central Kitchen - https://wck.org

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

"Everything that we preach is what we need to hear."

         - Bono

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

- Jack Kerouac

"The most important thing is not why we write but how we write.

Write dangerously , Beckett.." 

- James Joyce ( From the new biopic on S. Beckett " Dance First.")

For my girls and their families.... 

AMDG

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Calvin & Hobbes

The Kritajna ( Gratitude) Letter

 

"You sanctify all you are grateful for"

- Anthony DeMello

"Keep your attitude of gratitude and take no

thing for granted "

- Henri Nouwen

                                                                  The Harvest Moon

"If the only prayer you said was 'thank you' , that would be enough ."

    - Meister Eckhart

The Inspiration :

Sometimes just sitting in the still silence savoring the sanctifying serenity

of the morning breaking like the very first dawn the waking spirit

is secretly and slowly baptized.

Suddenly a seed begins to flourish within. 

A request by a new friend fuels that flame of gratitude where 

encounters with earthly angels, saints and places surface 

re- illuminating  the scoundrel pilgrim with gratitude.

The soft spoken voice of a local yogi suggests that this mindfulness

of the power of gratefulness is a holy grace. Ego fades as 

humility is restored as the evidence of 

the divine unconditional love is revealed.

 

 The Speech That Broke The Internet

"Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow"

 https://youtu.be/wHRdQVnR3XA?si=WG0hFwF5zfPCt4ji

-----------

The Writing:

The Kritajna Letter

Dear Friends,

The great basilica of the universe nurtures and nourishes

all aspects of creation . Every thing and every creature

has purpose and that purpose is to celebrate the authenticity

of just being as all is meant to be. Interdependence is purpose.

Who is this that has conjured and created this magnificent 

essence of existence ?

How has the interconnectedness of everything evolved?

We have had no say in how we or anything as come to be.

Some ancient poetic prophet proposed that "there is a purpose

for every-thing under heaven."

Inspired, this imperfect pilgrim initiates 

an unrestricted list of all that has graced him.

This "grateful inventory" summons visions

and soul-filled recollections .

The ever beautiful yellowing orange fired red leaves begin

to drift with the help of the breath of the divine

from their seasonal stations blanketing

the earth below waiting patiently to be re-nourished .

Birds' songs cease as they make way in murmuration

to warmer shelters from the forthcoming coldness.

Streams flow, oceans wave , stars pave the way for 

seeking sailors. No thing exists for its own self.

The sentient beings, souls with bodies, seem to intersect,

creating  a majestic mystical mandala,

an intricate billion piece jig saw puzzle. 

An enlightened one once wrote that within the great expanse

of the universe that lines running from millions

of points to seemingly other unrelated points intersect

not by accident but by some greater hand.

A holy one explains that it is the divine DNA  that

resides and connects at different times

and occasions within the aggregate of the universe.

Like a flower bursting through the autumn ground

a question quietly blossoms,

"How does all in the universe experience my gratitude , my humility?"

- JF Sobecki

__________ 

The Poems and Such:

"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. It knocks on the doors

 of the heart and the heart opens" 

 - Mirabai Starr

"Poetry is an Act of Peace . Peace goes into the making of a poet

as flour goes into the making of bread."

- Pablo Neruda

Gratitude - Mary Oliver

What did you notice?

The dew-snail;
the low-flying sparrow;
the bat, on the wind, in the dark;
big-chested geese, in the V of sleekest performance;
the soft toad, patient in the hot sand;
the sweet-hungry ants;
the uproar of mice in the empty house;
the tin music of the cricket’s body;
the blouse of the goldenrod.

What did you hear?

The thrush greeting the morning;
the little bluebirds in their hot box;
the salty talk of the wren,
then the deep cup of the hour of silence.

When did you admire?

The oaks, letting down their dark and hairy fruit;
the carrot, rising in its elongated waist;
the onion, sheet after sheet, curved inward to the pale green wand;
at the end of summer the brassy dust, the almost liquid beauty of the flowers;
then the ferns, scrawned black by the frost.

What astonished you?

The swallows making their dip and turn over the water.

What would you like to see again?

My dog: her energy and exuberance, her willingness,
her language beyond all nimbleness of tongue,
her recklessness, her loyalty, her sweetness,
her strong legs, her curled black lip, her snap.

What was most tender?

Queen Anne’s lace, with its parsnip root;
the everlasting in its bonnets of wool;
the kinks and turns of the tupelo’s body;
the tall, blank banks of sand;
the clam, clamped down.

What was most wonderful?

The sea, and its wide shoulders;
the sea and its triangles;
the sea lying back on its long athlete’s spine.

What did you think was happening?

The green beast of the hummingbird;
the eye of the pond;
the wet face of the lily;
the bright, puckered knee of the broken oak;
the red tulip of the fox’s mouth;
the up-swing, the down-pour, the frayed sleeve of the first snow—

so the gods shake us from our sleep.

-------

"Think about how many times I have fallen

Spirits are using me

Larger voices calling

What Have brought you and me

Cannot be forgotten."

- Southern Cross , V=Crosby Stills and Nash

______________

The Music:

(Musical reflections on the inspiration)

Memory Lane - Van Morrison

 

https://youtu.be/gRbsj2HooGw?si=S4xmvRm42Oi0PBhl

Kind and Generous - N. Merchant

https://youtu.be/XS4XlzYsrH8?si=w4m1dSwFuI0tU2Sw

40 - U2

https://youtu.be/5ba4RqOY0Ck?si=v0DX-3-nCQ0czC9q

Some Musical Pieces/Videos for Meditation For Readers:

Right now - this moment ...'what/who are you grateful for?"

One of these Days - N. Young

https://youtu.be/XtRTA4u5QkU?si=sortkZbahDqwuexz

CODA: Something more to consider

Gratitude - David Whyte

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

- Jack Kerouac

"The most important thing is not why we write but how we write.

Write dangerously , Beckett.." 

- James Joyce ( From the new biopic on S. Beckett " Dance First.")

AMDG

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Calvin & Hobbes