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

https://youtu.be/MQb5g5CISn4

Life is a Walking

https://youtu.be/ZQYPlEoU9ko

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

The Ballad of The Wolf Moon 2021: ( A Post Covid 19 Reflection)

The Wolf Moon 2021

"I heave myself out of the darkness , slowly painfully. And there I am , and there he is."

       - Jean Rhys

"Goodnight room

Goodnight moon

Goodnight cow jumping over the moon."

- Margaret Wise Brown

"...Now the moon is almost hidden, the stars are beginning to hide

The fortune telling lady has taken all her things inside

All except for Cain and Abel and the Hunchback of Notre Dame

Everybody is making love or else expecting rain

And the Good Samaritan , he's dressing, he's getting ready for the show

He's going to the carnival tonight on Desolation Row."

 - Desolation Row, Bob Dylan

----------

 

The Ballad of The Wolf Moon 2021

 It was the first day of the new year

The pilgrim cowboy's lament sounded familiar

A wayfaring stranger's voice in the wilderness

Everything was supposed to be alright

But the changes continued the devastation

The truth it was told

It was bold, going home

No thing really ever lasts

That dreaded contagion deflated the two on their passage

Energy zapped and drained last dreams of deceiving hope

And the feared but expected news had come...

The immortal king was dead

In their quarantine left to their own devices

An isolation even they could not share

Where to go from here?

What is past is past, now is now, and that's that

The rough riders ready on call

The sacred dome under siege

The brown eyed girl and the pilgrim stared at the screen aghast in shock

That which was once forever might be left behind

The sister and the daughters,

Nightingales in deep disguise,

Bert and Ernie and that solo companion too

All on the road to a distant town called Emmaus

Lifelines cast in love

"You can't save another 

If you can't save yourself"

The mystic junkman of the backstreet singing, singing

The lost angelic choir's voices faded

Saying goodnight to the moon

No time for grandchildren playing 

The innocence of discovery lockdown

Their world has been cheated

Do they know what's been denied?

Does it really matter?

Do they care?

The only sound that can be heard

As the last string snaps as it is wound too tight

Is Cinderella and the pilgrim holding onto the sweet sound

Of that grace of what they once had found

Now there's a point to every story

This is what was Homer once wrote

Every life is a soul searching journey

With a secret divine treasure that might be discovered

Some lose faith on the way , Some just get lost in love

First responders watch for raging fires

The truth burning ever present

Where the eternal spark remains

Each decision has repercussions

The hobo soapbox preacher proposed

Not to decide is to decide

Redemption sometimes comes to to those who wait

Is profound eloquence poetry?

The billboard read "writing is knowing"

What do we know as we aimlessly dance along

On the yellow brick road to a  place called Disneyland?

Detectives probe with constant queries ...

Why one life lives a lifetime or why another is cut too short ?

The answers lie in the sacrament of connectedness

So goodnight moon

Until as the morning is again broken and the race returns.

 - JF Sobecki

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

Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens

https://youtu.be/3Rifby1tVE8

Wayfairing Stranger - 1917

https://youtu.be/fp7mdSMNQB0

Desolation Row - Bob Dylan

https://youtu.be/jJxtX8M4UVU

Right Back Where we started from - Maxine Nightingale

https://youtu.be/1gbFfLeHNA4

Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House

https://youtu.be/FTj92GpQABQ

One - H. Nilsson

https://youtu.be/haT8g7oKnns

You Make Me feel So Good

https://youtu.be/ZlnV21PU31s

New York City Serenade - B. Springsteen

https://youtu.be/8EooiBaW1BA

Enjoy Yourself - L. Prima

https://youtu.be/kisr3daNRx0

Midnight Sky - Trailer

https://youtu.be/lwaYSBEiEzs

                                                                 Anton Oliver ( w Otis)

amdg

Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Welcome Oliver

Welcome Oliver Rich - Born November 25, 2018 to Hal and Leigh Rich

“Like a stone on the surface of a still river

Driving the ripples on forever

Redemption rips through the surface of time

In the cry of a tiny babe”

     - Cry of a Tiny Babe, Bruce Cockburn

May God bless and keep you always

May your wishes all come true

May you always do for others

And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung

May you stay

May you stay forever young

   - Forever Young  , Bob Dylan

"Dear Child of God, you are loved with a love that nothing can shake, a love that loved you long before you were created, a love that will be there long after everything has disappeared.”

    —Desmond Tutu

It's no mystery when you can see clearly

Vibrating at a higher frequency

Fill your purpose as you go about life daily

Understanding what it means to clearly see, yeah

Spirit will provide….

Let go and Let God, Spirit will provide

• Spirit Will Provide , Van Morrison

Some say faith is a childish game

Play on, children ,like it’s Christmas Day

Sing me a song, sing me a melody

Sing out loud, you’re a symphony

I want you to live forever…

 - Live Forever , Drew Holcombe

Oliver,

,

Well, here you are. Welcome! Some say that children born at Christmastime get cheated. I believe there is a little extra special blessing when born around Christmas . Ask your Zia Lindsay and cousin Caroline about this. The moment our eyes connected I felt the overwhelming power of the most mystical unconditional love. I wondered if I was about to hear the great truth ,that secret of the universe , the message that all the mystics and saints have understood . A new born baby has come directly from the eternal spark, the source of all life, and being in your presence I was just humbled to behold such a living grace. You came into this world as result of love between and from your mother and father. When I see them see you, hear you, speak to you or hold you you I see and feel their love for you.

I worry about how fast human beings become so distracted, corrupted and detached from the all-encompassing pure love and peace so quickly when we enter this world. I worry about the world of the Herod’s of all origins and types and pray for the innocents, and their parents , they have taken before they even started out on the great journey back home. I worry about the ignorance, greed/self-centeredness and violence that tries to spit in the face of God and undo all the good. I worry about those who cannot help themselves and suffer needlessly. It is said 

“If a problem can be solved…why worry and if problem is unsolvable, worrying will not help.”

Worrying has not helped me much and worry really does not resolve anything does it? So, here are a few things I have learned along the way that you may want to think about :

• We are born out of love and and are loved constantly more than we will ever know;
• “Fall in love , stay in love because that is everything”
• Our purpose is to be genuine , use the talents we have been given to share that love and reflect that natural perfect peace;
• Follow your heart and listen to the great voice within and you will know what to do and what to be;
• Be grateful and humble as you make your way through the calm seas and storms of this great passage;
• Know and nurture the goodness in this world. Admire and help the “good “ people in this world ( You’ll know who they are.) Be one of those good people that others want to be around( They will find you and your parents are good models of this);
• There are those who are less fortunate and need your help and care;
• Nature teaches us a lot if you are present to it’s beauty ,peace and truth;
• Everything is evidence of the sacred …if you don’t get stuck in thinking or worrying too much about it;
• Music, poetry and art are channels of the truth ( don’t ever forget to dance your heart out);
• Trust your intuition always….
• Always be amazed by everything in this world and you will amaze everyone!

( Though your brother may annoy you at times…remember brothers do that and deep down he loves you more than your know. I have a brother too.)

Flourish all ways. 

Te voglio bene assai, bene assai.

Nonno

xox

Forever Young - Bob Dylan

https://youtu.be/Frj2CLGldC4

Spirit Will Provide - Van Morrison

https://youtu.be/EZKnTfVOLmM

Cry of a tiny babe - B. Cockburn

https://youtu.be/YmZlYiMCvSc

Murder in The City - Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/cr420Jwr14U

Remember Me - T. Rundgren

https://youtu.be/z4vJIhv67M4

amdg

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

- Jack Kerouac

“The only truth is music”

- Jack Kerouac

Copyright 2018 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

Chesapeake Prayer – 70 ( Holy Longing)

I Heard the word

Wonderful Thing!

A children's song

A children's song, have you listened as they play?

Their song is love and the children know the way.

 - Surfs Up , Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks

                                        

                                       No Hard Feelings – The Avett Brothers

                            

                                         https://youtu.be/Agc1gc6jqVE

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 root 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

Chesapeake Prayer - 70

Where did that first drop of rain come from?

What was the source of that wind-

That moved the clouds onward?

Kerouac’s rivers filled rush pointing the way

To that promised ocean of mercy.

Am I Goethe’s butterfly insane for the light?

Wisdom says this light at the end of the tunnel

Grows with each step and passing breath.

It’s glow and warmth has been ever-present.

She also says silence is the mystery that miraculously transforms the composer’s notes into music,

Consoling pilgrims seeking the love and laughter

Recalled in the play of the innocence of children.

Song lyrics and poems shine that same light back

On the great mysteries of the universe,

They are the truthful sanctified gifts of all that is divine.

Calendar days are crossed off as if to indicate

Something purposeful has been completed.

Pure beauty and the peace that encompasses and fills

Every living thing speaks with authority and without words

Of the proper purpose and intention.

No beginning and no end for the forever spark of love 

As she continues to illuminate

And we are reminded of where the true treasure resides

And the teacher’s last instruction to

“Make yourself a light.”

    - JF Sobecki

Faith – David Whyte

https://youtu.be/hRhrO97yOMA

Faith

I want to write about faith,
about the way the moon rises
over cold snow, night after night,

faithful even as it fades from fullness,
slowly becoming that last curving and impossible
sliver of light before the final darkness.

But I have no faith myself
I refuse it even the smallest entry.

Let this then, my small poem,
like a new moon, slender and barely open,
be the first prayer that opens me to faith.

- David Whyte

                                                               The Holy Longing

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.

 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Translated from the German by Robert Bly

"I keep traveling around the bend

There was no beginning, there is no end

It wasn't born and never dies

There are no edges, there are no sides

Oh yea, you just don't win

It's so far out - the way out is in..."

 - Any Road , George Harrison

Surfs Up – B. Wilson, Van Dyke Parks

https://youtu.be/R8IfQUyMxPQ

Love is The Answer – T. Rundgren

https://youtu.be/1uCaIuPg-Fk

Hymns to The Silence – Van Morrison

https://youtu.be/3xbvq2c98nY

“One day I will find the right words and they will be simple”

        - Jack Kerouac

“The only truth is music”

       - Jack Kerouac

For our children and our grandchildren
 "you got the music in you!"

You Get What you Give – New Radicals

https://youtu.be/cPAEFnVZVOs

amdg

Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

The Way - A Reflection on Life Journeys

                              

                                      “You don't choose a life. You live one.”

                                                   - The Way (movie 2010)

                       “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”

                                           -  “Beautiful Boy “, John Lennon

“What is it in many sentient beings that compel them to construct elaborate contrivances in order to maneuver themselves to form what they believe to be self- defined actualization? Often the perceived ambitious intention and step by step action plans contain a significant expectation of an achievement resulting in self serenity that in reality is rarely satisfying.”

                                             - Unknown

As a young boy I was asked to write a paragraph on where I saw myself in twenty years. Of course I wrote a few paragraphs. It was first person account of the musings of a truck driver with a job that took him from town to town around the country, a picaresque hero of sorts. Sister Bastinda wrote a note to my mother saying how that I needed a direction, a realistic goal and how I wasn’t living up to my potential, whatever that was.

The only real personal dream I had was when in high school was to play the guitar.I loved playing music. It was and still is a Zen experience for me, losing all sense of time as I played. (I have a similar experience now when I write.) Back then I fantasized that my friend, David, and I would be singing and playing our instruments on some family entertainment program on television, Actually, we asked our reliable Ouija board and it confirmed that we would someday be on TV. Still waiting.

Over the subsequent years I meandered the maze of education and career paths. Half listening to Frost’s choice of travelled roads and half listening to the Cheshire Cat’s retort to Alice’s query I took the path that seemed most interesting and adventurous at the time. It wasn’t until I met my Obe Wan, Kirk, who told me of his own accidental Odyssey that led him to becoming a medical doctor and eventual therapist. His Ulyssian episodes highlighted for me the power of being present and letting go as well as the importance of how we live while on the journey. What really mattered he said, “was how we responded to those we encountered, how we loved and lived with compassion and integrity.” My spiritual guide who advised on the Ignatian way of living as a loving grateful faith-filled contemplative in action complimented this counsel. I then added to my lesson mantra “never take myself too seriously.”

So it is no wonder about how upset I can get at times when I hear or see the great marketers preaching the promise that buying into their special unique goal and how achieving it will result in personal success as defined by them.

Though I never became a truck diver nor did I appear on TV playing my guitar I am grateful for the paths I followed, my family ,  people I have encountered, the places I have been…and the life I have lived…. so far.

Sub note: It is not unusual then that I like journey poems, books, songs and movies. I have often fantasized about taking a pilgrimage on the "El Amino de Santiago." Recently I saw a simple movie called “The Way” about a man’s journey down the El Camino de Santiago. It seemed coincidental that I saw this as I planned this blog post. 

The Journey by Mary Oliver

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.

Edith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien ( Smart phones click on link)

https://youtu.be/fFtGfyruroU

‘Til I Die – Beach Boys ( Smart Phones click on link)

https://youtu.be/46IQu0yuJzU

The Way – Movie Trailer (Smart Phones click on link)

https://youtu.be/o5VZKWcgw6c

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous; 
teach me to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to seek reward,
except that of knowing that I do your will.
Amen.  

 - St. Ignatius Loyola

amdg