For some there comes a time when a second chance is given.That time then becomes a celebration of the unrecognized gifts of the past and humble gratitude for the wonder of present.
This then is a collection of reflections and comments on life,work,love and faith to be sung ,and danced to, in thanksgiving for a second chance.
"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
“ Hope is a great tool when it comes to forming new habits and letting go of
Older, obsolete habits. Hope opens the door to possibility and allows us to
envision change, particularly change that we desire.”
- Andrew Mellen
And so another 12 months are marked off the calendar and someone says
“Here we go again” but the pilgrim with eyes closed senses that this body is just a vessel on this odyssey. He let the music that played during his settling into preparation for inspiration be the reflection today.
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. “
"Contained in Everything I Do There's a love I feel for you Proclaimed in everything I write You're the light, burning brightly Onward through the night Onward through the night of my life." - Onward , "Yes', C. Squire “We were talking, about the love
that's gone so cold and the people,
Who gain the world and lose their soul
Then you may find, peace of mind, is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we're all one,
And life flows on within and without
you”
- Within Without You, G. Harrison
"You say that emotions are overrated.Emotions are all we've got." - Mick, "Youth" Someone
once suggested that that light at the end of this long meandering up and down
tunnel doesn’t get any smaller with the passage of time. At what point did that
original innocence fade from view behind us? What is it that tries and
sometimes succeeds to dampen that once holy flame of enthusiasm? Where did that
trusted lifelong companion go? Was there a specific voice that encouraged or
tempted me to take that one specific path and he another? How is it that some
continue to hold the hands of a loved one while others feel they need to
traverse every step alone? Are we quick to forget the power of touch? Are we
quick to forget the simple songs? Were not the simple songs all we have? Can we
keep our heads up and hearts opened as we move onward through the night of our
lives?
No
thing lasts forever does it? Some trees fall more quickly than others. Broken
barren branches, remnants of a glory that once was, are now strewn across the
field and is fuel for the next pilgrim along the way eventually becoming ashes
to nurture the earth where that roaming fire had burned through the days and
nights. Some giving-trees seem to continue to grow strong and grand with
seasonal rebirth. Others are cut down in their prime becoming trunks of rest
for tired worn out pilgrims. Still, other trees perpetuate constant leaves as
shade source of freedom for launching for Frost boys swinging as they lean
towards heaven. He prayed that he could be one of those branches on a tree of
Merton.
His
meditation “There is no fear for my own last day but the heart trembles with
the slightest consideration of the passing of the one’s I love and for the last
breath of those who may have loved me. “
The
purest innocence of babies and youth at honest play; the intoxicating freedom
discovered in boundless music; the presence of love, and the egoless carefree resilience
of an uncorrupted authenticity are what we need to keep spirits alive while
making way in our time worn weathered vessels. Listen to the larger voices
calling and suddenly consideration that all this is just coincidence and
strictly chance -is proven
to be naïve.
“There once was a simple farmer who lived and
struggled alongside his neighbors and friends, trying to exist and fulfill a
peaceful life. One-day news arrived from far away, that his old loving father
had died. His neighbors gathered to grieve, but the farmer simply said, “Bad
luck? Good luck? Who knows?"
In time relatives brought a very fine horse of
great cost and fine breeding, left to the farmer by his father. All the
villagers and neighbors gathered in delight with him to celebrate his good
fortune, but he just said, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”
One day the horse escaped into the hills and when
all the farmer’s neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the
farmer replied, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”
A week later the horse returned with a herd of wild
horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on
his good luck. His reply was, “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?”
Then, when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame
one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone
thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, “Bad luck?
Good luck? Who knows?”
Some weeks later the army marched into the village
and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the
farmer’s son with his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad
luck? Who knows?”
- Anthony De Mello SJ, Song of The
Bird
“If you
want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.”
“Nature
does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
- Lao Tzu
It seems like yesterday that the pilgrim, who had grown
tired of what was considered an extended and unwanted winter, was dreaming
optimistically about a mystical filled summer season.On the eve of the season and the great sacramental
celebration for his second everything that was dreamed about would change in
the flip of switch. Homebound for weeks great anticipations were altered. It
wasn’t until this season was to make her final bow when the predicted second
great hurricane of the century became a great false alarm the illumination
occurred.
“So is this it? Is
this what it is all about? Is your great plan just one big roll of the dice for
us and then you wait and see how we deal with the outcome? Are you trying to
teach us that our pilgrim egocentric plans are really of no significance in the
long run? Why is it that it takes some of us so long to learn that it is how we
respond to situations and people and how we treat others that matter? How is it
that with all my imperfections that I am permitted to wake to another glorious
new day? Why is it that my heart is not filled with one perpetual feeling of
gratitude for all the tender mercies? How often do I have to be thrown off my
Pauline horse before I hear your voice and trust in just being mindful and
compassionate? Forgive me for not being more cognizant and appreciative of all
those sacred pilgrims you have placed in my path to help me along on this
passage. Though people come and go and things change I hope I remember the holy
presence and that this life is a sacrament no matter where and how I am and
there will be days like this. ”
(He remembered that when feeling blue and in doubt – PLAY Van Morrison!
- Besides he
had been accused of being on the Harrison payroll and a Jersey Boy disciple.)
“The Now is called “The Present” as it is a gift.”
“Time
isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious
is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious
indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the
Now, the most precious thing there is.”
There she was standing on
the shore with the majesty of that sanctifying sea, her feet inviting and
welcoming the christening waters into the great peace and the great journey
ahead. On the horizon the canvassed vessel coasted with the current and wind
carrying her dreams.
The witnessing prodigal
pilgrim wondered:
What knocked me off
course? When did I lose that innocent joy where living in the present wasn’t
questioned and being and living were one and the past was not regretted nor the
future feared? Am I too easy to let storms or even prospective squalls distract
me from being?
On the eve of the eighth
anniversary of the second chance dance the season he had hoped seemed to
evaporate.
However, however… that
vision of the bloodline innocent present on the gateway to paradise
reinvigorated his own spirit with gratitude, humility and commitment to letting
go and being.
It is not
living(Leaving?), it is not living (Leaving?)
So play the game "Existence" to
the end
Of the beginning,
of the beginning
Of the beginning,
of the beginning
Of the beginning,
of the beginning
Of the beginning, of the beginning
* George Harrison questioned whether
Lennon fully understood the meaning of the song's lyrics:
You can hear (and I am sure most
Beatles fans have) "Tomorrow Never Knows" a lot and not know really
what it is about. Basically it is saying what meditation is all about. The goal
of meditation is to go beyond (that is, transcend) waking, sleeping and
dreaming. So the song starts out by saying, "Turn off your mind, relax and
float downstream, it is not dying."
Then it says, "Lay down all
thoughts, surrender to the void – it is shining. That you may see the meaning
of within – it is being." From birth to death all we ever do is think: we
have one thought, we have another thought, another thought, another thought.
Even when you are asleep you are having dreams, so there is never a time from
birth to death when the mind isn't always active with thoughts. But you can
turn off your mind, and go to the part which Maharishi
described as: "Where was your last thought before you thought it?"
The whole point is that we are
the song. The self is coming from a state of pure awareness, from the state of
being. All the rest that comes about in the outward manifestation of the
physical world (including all the fluctuations which end up as thoughts and
actions) is just clutter. The true nature of each soul is pure consciousness.
So the song is really about transcending and about the quality of the
transcendent.
I am not too sure if John
actually fully understood what he was saying. He knew he was onto something
when he saw those words and turned them into a song. But to have experienced
what the lyrics in that song are actually about? I don't know if he fully
understood it.[4 (The Beatles Bible)
With gratitude and love for the First Member of The Band
and our recent reunion on stage.
