Words To Admonish the Age 2020: The Sea, Masks, Mirrors of Holiness, Lock Down and Labor Day

"As if summoned by seagulls , we come back to the beach where we can cast off our shoes and our everyday cares, tell time by the tides and live in the moment. Our search for shells an echo of childhood and the surf's refrain is music remembered"

- unknown

“ I am just a poor boy

Though my tor’s seldom told

I have squandered my resistance

For a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises

All lies and jests

Still a man hears what he wants to hear

Ans disregards the rest”

( * After changes we are more or less the same.)

    - The Boxer , P. Simon

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Words To Admonish the Age 2020: The Sea, Masks, Mirrors of Holiness, Lock Down and Labor Day

1. Waiting , watching , wondering

The beach at dawn - perfection

Gulls stop their flight

Sandpipers cease their sacred scampering

Creation sanctified

Serenity is creation

Red bead peaks over the horizon

Illumination commences

Waves calmly roll to shore

Baptizing witnessing pilgrims

And any creature ready to receive.

2. The dreamer was confused  

Forty winks felt like forty years

Twenty Five million infected 

Debating masks explodes 

Experts consider options

a.Protect others

b.Protect yourself

c.Flatten the Curve

d.Don’t Change/Don’t Do a Thing

“ I have worn masks of all sorts 

For most of my life and most fear to admit

They have done the same.

So why change now?”

3. Attachments and desires

Distract from the essential purpose.

No thing is needed.

The Dalai Llama spoke

Of how he saw the perfect fruit at the market

He admired imagining it’s perfection -

Sweet, soft and delicious

He possessed  the money to purchase the fruit.

Smiling as he passed it by he knew

This fruit was not need 

For him to be happy or experience peace.

4. Contracted wisemen proclaimed we are

How we see ourselves,

Like to be seen and

How others see us.

“ What does it matter?” He recalled

No reward nor approbation desired

Just authentic being precisely

Who we are intended to be.

Locked down or not,

“Love , serve, be compassionate ,selfless

Trust and hope” implored the master to the mystics.

5.  A spokesperson for the divine revealed

“Make your work your prayer

Your prayer your work”

The therapist retorted,

“Unfortunately most humans believe the two most

Important aspects of one’s life are

‘Work and Love’ and in that order.”

“Surfs up - Be careful out there.”

Lifeguards and beach boys chant.

A wiseman mediating the Scallop’s shell,

“The Passage within is this great Camino,

Many paths lead the soul to the center

Of the magnificent universe.”

• JF Sobecki

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Hope - Wendell Berry 

https://youtu.be/2j_r4jb9AYw

If - Rudyard Kipling 

https://youtu.be/mu46bq8ZZHs

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

https://youtu.be/vrBHd41YqTc

Untitled #4 - The Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/zvHiqQfOYFM

The Boxer - P/. Simon, J. Baez, R. Thompson

https://youtu.be/lr1iKrTqa2w

 At The Beach - Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/ZpVmFVzdaq8

Amdg

                                              Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

A Remembrance: Right Now

“Remembrance is a form of meeting”

        - Kahil Gibran

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

A Remembrance: Right Now

 

Closing his pilgrim eyes in morning remembrance

Twelve years have sped by since

The first visit to the great cathedral of Boston

With the first one.

Torrential rain ceased and the clouds opened

As the boys of summer took the field

To signal greater miracles to come.

Within days the “fab four” sat in Giant land

As they were serenaded with thousands by the boss.

Suddenly it was the Solemnity of the Company’s founder when

Fr. Gerry bestowed the Sacrament of healing

While Obe Wan Fr. Tom whispered “You know this works.”

Next thing you know the wayfaring stranger's chest 

Cracked opened like a lobster

And a limited undated warranty was provided.

The great “last” kiss Impassioned him to redefine a purpose..

The sun continued to rise and set

Little victories came and went like a holy wind.

The two escaped to the sea seeking paradise.

The prognosticators failed to predict

That dream where a game show host 

Would be the  leader of the free world.

(Right from a Jerzy Kosinski novel.)

Who would have thought the fictious films

“Outbreak” and “Contagion” would become reality

While the king slept in his new clothes?

Quarantined on a viral retreat

Hope seemed at times a tired construct, 

Prayer disconnected  from the divine.

“Why worry and why the anger?

Knuckleheads and evil have been around for a long time.”

Twelve years gone by since repair of the broken heart

The end of the line bypassed temporarily ,

Distractions and meanderings fading

Storms abated…

The exasperation fades , clouds evaporate -

A gleam illuminates the truth , the heart sees

 …. serenity and love is everywhere.

   - JF Sobecki

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

Wild Geese - Mary Oliver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv_4xmh_WtE

Wayfaring Stranger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp7mdSMNQB0

Love is Everywhere- Wilco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G6Apj7Zj20

Victory - Avett Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inv_ntQkXgU

Little Victories - JD Souther

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe4Z8YV99Mw

A now a little uplifting music so TURN IT UP LOUD ! and Stand up!

All These Things I have Done - The Killers

https://youtu.be/o76MfByFNK0

Ok Now for real....TURN IT UP LOUDER AND DANCE!!!

What are you afraid of?

Louder!

Soul Shoes - Graham Parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWm8RUD4jOE

Pics from 12 years ago

                                          First Trip To Fenway 2008

The Fab Four at Bruce Concert 2008

Post Surgery "Heart Walk" with Family and Friends 2008

Amdg

Copyright All Rights Reserved 2020 JF Sobecki LLC

Independence Day 2020 : Wisdom of a Cigar Man

Your children are not your children

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s

Longing for itself

They come through you but not from you.

And though they are with you yet they 

Belong not to you.

     On Children, Kahil Gibran

____________

Wisdom of The Cigar Man

That Pilgrim couldn’t sleep last night.

Thought dreams and questions swirled faster and faster.

He wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

“What is the point of all this?
How did this all get so corrupted and twisted inside out?

A friend’s father suggested the divine decides

To thin the heard every 20 to 30 years.

Did we ever consider how we may 

Be contributing to these distractions now and those to come?

Sometimes the distractions are much more destructive

Then we could ever dream about.

This is not about you or me.

We are not here for our own benefit and delight are we?

‘Love everyone’ is painted on both church and tenement walls.

The American poet wrote “The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.’

Why do I believe what I believe?

Where is it written that this person or group of people 

Are better than another person or group, or have the right answer ?

One schooled economist analyzed and promulgated how there are

Enough resources on this earth to feed, clothe, shelter

And care for every living being.

A billboard on Dylan’s Highway 61 read ‘Compassion.’

The Yoda settled in his Shaker Mission chair suggested,

 ‘The greatest love you can give your children

Is to love your spouse. Consider the world you are leaving

 to your children and grandchildren.’”

The Pilgrim recalled recently wandering through a deep mysterious fog

Into a Cigar Shop where the owner who once lived in Eastern Europe, lighted him a welcoming cigar , asked him to have a seat

And the Cigar Man began , 

“ I came to America to be free. America is a wonderful place.

Yet , Americans are clueless to all that they have. 

I have experienced how unbridled anger ,

Jealousy and greed leads to violence and war

All because people had different views .

Unfortunately Americans somehow believe all that it can’t happen here.

I thought the American political process would be better than the rest of the world. Whatever happened to coming up with solutions to solve problems rather than spending one’s energy disparaging 

The opponent or their constituents while fueling more anger?

Is the common good of the country not important anymore?

What’s wrong with trying to bring people together?

I wish you all would study more what happened in Eastern Europe and What continues there today.”

Easying into his soft leathered arm chair he concluded , “You know people from all walks of life and opinions gather, smoke cigars and have a little escape from the angst in this smoke shop. It is amazing to be with people who respect each other , talk , laugh and smoke a good cigar.”

Somehow sanctified a smile swept across the pilgrim’s face as he grabbed his lit cigar, waved a grateful farewell saying -

“ I  need to get home .”

• JF Sobecki

——————————————

The Summer Day - Mary Oliver (live)

https://youtu.be/rBPHUE961zI

Where do the children Play - Yusuf/Cat Stevens

https://youtu.be/nBCJhNiKhFE

Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

https://youtu.be/EkaKwXddT_I

America - Simon and Garfunkel

https://youtu.be/3pWK9KASwFU

Locked Up - The Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/lH9_G0z09PA

4th Of JulyAsbury Park - Bruce

https://youtu.be/EiGfB0QBTV4

I Remember Everything - John Price

(The last song he recorded)

https://youtu.be/L21Tc_DtL6M

Blue Bayou - Linda Rondstadt * 

https://youtu.be/XBmIKfm5iz4

And if you have not seen this movie

I recommend it without reservation ****

A Hidden Life

https://youtu.be/LgZIZPOFdME

Happy and Safe Fourth of July

Remember “Wear (a mask) and Care / Social Distancing saves lives”

Amdg

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki

The Lost Recipe

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget

falls drop by drop upon the heart,

until, in our own despair,

against our will,

comes wisdom

through the awful grace of God.

      

            - Aeschylus

Pre-ramble:

The theme selected as the virus effects indicated flattening and knuckleheads celebrated the premature to normalcy seemed to be clear. Topics might include:

No masks.No social distancing. Demanding the opening ore-pandemic status quo activities and enterprises. Some suggested that their prayers were nullified since the holy places of “official worship” remained closed. (It was implied that the divine has difficulty listening to the silence of hearts and  our own receptors are defective outside sacred ground.)

Then the cold rain began to dissipate, and  the sun made a late but dramatic appearance fulfilling fading winter hopes and dreams. Citizens flooded streets, parks and any corners they could find. The prospect that the quiet prayers were answered was ignored for the most part. No gratitude as the crowds moved on. The scientists shouted from the roof tops “Be Careful! Stay Home! Wear masks! There will a spike and a second wave!” Closed minds and some ignorance prevailed as crowds bumped each other coughing on beaches , rivers, parks and bars. “If you are worried then you stay home’ they sang. Now doctors and health officials calculate new cases.

It all seemed like a good theme with supporting topics for a narrative but reality came crashing like a knee on a poor man’s neck and the world changed again.

The lost recipe:

Know Peace. Know Justice.

Fueling the burning embers of late night street fights 

Working on continually slowly ignorantly

building up pascals until the point where something 

Is bound to blow the lid off everything.

Rosa’s ride a simple beginning,

Ghosts of the Tulsa war and Mississippi burning ,

memories of the march from Selma to Montgomery

And Martin’s dream seem to have been swept aside.

41 shots and the so-called inadvertent continuance of the perpetual “bad mistakes’ of killing first 

and second guessing later became the status quo.

Then the knee on the neck.

The world watched over and over how 

A black man took his last breath as his hopes, dreams

And fears were squeezed out of him slowly for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

Take outraged citizens black, white and all colors

add a slight touch of professional firebrands from all sides of the political spectrums -  

A touch of Antifa, a sprinkle of Boogaloo boys

And mix with BLMers and Neo-Facisits and voila

- the perfect bomb !

Musk’s Falcon to the stars has become a second thought blocked out by the smoke rising from American city streets below.

Were MLK and RFK myths?

Are the lessons of Gandhi and Dorothy Day

Voices in the wilderness?

The imperfect but accepted Judeo-Christian ethic and "In God We Trust" seem to be blown away with the winds of change. .

The recent echo of someone proclaiming that he has 2,000 rounds and he is “ready for the animals” frightens me more than COVID-19. My prayers , hopes and dreams shift. 

               - JF Sobecki

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Martin Luther King Shot - Robert Kennedy

( a man , a time and place when wisdom and grace mattered)

https://youtu.be/GoKzCff8Zbs

American Skin - B. Springsteen

https://youtu.be/aQMqWAiWPMs

Peace - Subdudes

https://youtu.be/nWpOUqjBmsU

Change Myself- Todd Rundgren

https://youtu.be/v10gEIUcK70

The Word - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/RfBEqiEhCgM

Song For Sam Cooke - Dion

https://youtu.be/geiaNspk5rY

What’s Goin On? - Marvin Gaye

https://youtu.be/o5TmORitlKk

We Can Work it Out - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/IgRrWPdzkao

The Public - The Movie Trailer - as must see

now streaming on TV

https://youtu.be/6eZtMGM6ya8

The Holy Longing

poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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.

Translated from the German by Robert Bly

The Sermon:

So the priest seemed to repeating the same ole sermon week after week and the congregation elected a representative to speak with the priest about the repetition each Sunday. They met and the priest was cordial in his reception. Well, weeks went by and and the sermon hadn’t changed. So, the representative went back to the priest about the problem sermon. This time the priest was surprised and he asked the representative to kindly repeat the message of the sermon. So the representative gave it a shot “It’s about loving your neighbor as yourself ; serving the sick and the poor; being selfless and kind and patient; respecting nature and seeing the divine in all things, creatures and people.” The priest was surprised and said ,“Wow, that’s really good.” The representative said “Well, the rest of the congregation would respond the same.”

The Priest then shook his said and said “ That’s surprising ,by the way they act during the week and the theme of their confessions I didn’t think they were listening.”

The lesson:

An American Tune - P Simon

https://youtu.be/1wu2teJTHMk

Amdg

Copyright 2020 JF Sobecki All Rights Reserved