The Songs of The Empty Boat - Reflections from Chesapeake bay

Since he judges no one

No one judges him

Such is the complete man

His boat is empty

- Chang Tzu

We are all part of human society

So the purpose of our lives is not to make trouble

but to serve others in any way we can.

We are all driven by self-interest to some extent

but cultivating concern for others is

a wise way of fulfilling our own self-interest

- The 14th Dalai Lama

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

The Songs of the Empty Boat

(Reflections from Chesapeake Bay)

The vagabond's lament of being stuck inside of Mobile

Rings true about the constructs that have been force fed

By the greedy leaders and false soap box prophets.

Still rivers continue to flow filling the sea

Returning to clouds and rain 

To fill the streams and rivers.

Yet the cost to enter that Magic Kingdom

Is one big contrived plot to ensure only wrist-banded souls

Are welcomed through the golden gates..

How does one spend the gifted 1440 ... so many wasted moments.

Madman continue the promulgated commandments

Most which have been found to be redundant.

The Judges tell us not to judge.

Podium and pulpit prognosticators teach right and wrong

And that those who are on the right side are the ones eligible

To have their tickets punched.

Carnies proclaim that ringing the bell

Is only half the battle as the carousel and brass rings await.

Disciples of Mason and Dixon continue to contrive borderlines.

While wanderers and mystics continue to search for monasteries of solitude

In valleys along the razor's edge.

Monastic mantra carried by the loving wind whispers for ears to hear,

"We sweep up the leaves that have fallen but we do not hate the trees

For dropping them."

Leaving the casino empty handed

The troubadour wails

"Whatever ever happened

To ' Love all , Serve All' "?

Settling in as the sun's last blood orange glow rests on the bay

He meditates on the empty boat just off the shoreline,

Sacred serenity soothes the spirit

Being is -  being present , loving all and letting go.

- JF Sobecki

---------

The mayor once was quoted as saying ,

"Why is it that we blame our problems on the poor and marginalized or those who look or believe differently? How can one pick themselves up from their boot straps when they don't have any boots to wear?"

------

The Songs - ( a setlist that played while the blog was pieced together)

" The only truth is music ...music blends with the great universe and we forget the brain beat."

                       - J. Kerouac

" Silence is the canvas for music and the result is evidence of the divine."

Wristband - P. Simon

https://youtu.be/Mp-blnuI3WM

In My Life - J. Collins (Lennon and McCartney)

https://youtu.be/CTEBD9WL5AI

Love and Mercy -  B. Wilson

( So appropriate - Children singing this classic)

https://youtu.be/lr5Pkz7rFKk

https://youtu.be/m6LmXDEs9do

Higher Love - S. Winwood

https://youtu.be/k9olaIio3l8

Watching the Wheels- John Lennon

https://youtu.be/2Kx2PbA8bCI

Murder in The City - The Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/cr420Jwr14U

Memory Lane - V. Morrison

https://youtu.be/gRbsj2HooGw

Wasted Days - J. Mellencamp/ B. Springsteen

https://youtu.be/hHLGZxlBpLA

One Word Peace - Subdudes

https://youtu.be/nWpOUqjBmsU

Here Me Lord - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/oeaXPbTzANo

Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues - B. Dylan

https://youtu.be/3kh6K_-a0c4

Across the Universe - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/BSxOand6pdU

amdg

Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved - JF Sobecki LLC

The Motion

"I'm a dark horse

Running on a dark race course

I'm a blue moon

Since I stepped out of the womb

I've been a cool jerk

Looking for the source

I'm a dark horse"

- Dark Horse , G. Harrison

"We have a tendency to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being.We think when we are not doing anything are wasting our time.

But that is not true. Our time is first of all to be.

To be what? To be alive, to be peaceful, to be joyful, to be loving.And that is what the world needs most"

 - Thich Nhat Hanh

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

The Motion

Some say seasickness is self sabotage.

The perpetual perplexed pilgrim was presented to the great teacher.

"A sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind ( the breath of the great divine),"

Whispered the wonder-filled wiseman.

Sometimes it is not the storms that frighten us

But the constant rising and lowering of the magnificent

Seemingly uncontrollable waves,

Rocking and severely heeling fragile unprepared vessels.

Stomachs churn inside out while scaring the most adventurous of spirits.

Healthy tolerance of ambiguity and reasonable locus of control

Get lost on Homo Sapiens focused on worldly promises of "success"

By abiding to a preprogrammed plotted course - come hell or high water.

The best charted passages and the most scientific analytics

Of future forecasts and anticipations are often at best "wish lists."

Not knowing and the worry about what's next fuel 

The flames of fear and self doubt.

Leading weak egos to the wearing of masks 24/7.

It has never been about what one does,

What one has accumulated or not or one's 

Desires or accomplishing long term goals.

Isn't it about how you do what you do,

Turning the page the message is clear

"You don't need a reason to help people."

A companion once confided that the more love

One gives to others is the best way to honor their own journey.

The experienced navigators and scientific prognosticators 

Sometimes might volunteer and become defensive about their imperfection.

Futurists craft visions in their anticipation

But their calculations and projected forecasts

Are never quite one hundred percent accurate.

Homo sapiens are not as bright as we say they are .

How significant is it that  Hemingway may have reported disdain

About the fog he encountered and getting off course sailing 

From Key West to Cuba?

The tide comes in and out.

No need to get seasick . Panic helps no one.

Be grateful, authentic and precisely who we are

Meant to be.

Savor the sanctifying serenity that is ever-present 

Even if we get shaken by the motion

And remain constant sandpipers .

                             - JF Sobecki

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

Sandpipers - Cathleen Engelsen

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

Just The Motion - R. Thompson

https://youtu.be/QfjdXKitiPY

Wasted on The Way - Crosby,Stills and Nash

https://youtu.be/nWlEsta4xS8

Doctor My Eyes - J Browne

https://youtu.be/BrCLkeYKuEw

Will People Ever See It  - G. Harrison 

https://youtu.be/FxL69A5d7kk

What Makes a Good Life - R.Waldinger

https://youtu.be/8KkKuTCFvzI

Til I Die 0 Beach Boys

https://youtu.be/Qx-taep4NNg

Beware of Darkness - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/VqRRnb4S_6U

A Labor Day Song (  for all who work  - and my dad R.I.P.)

Factory - B.Springsteen

 

https://youtu.be/plaOhNjJeBg

amdg

Copyright JF Sobecki LLC 2021 All Rights Reserved

Caesura and The Enjambments : 13th Anniversary of The Second Chance Dance

  

"My cousin has great changes coming...someday he'll wake with wings.

My cousin as you see

Takes his changes so easily

O happy we

Could take each change so easily..."

- Cousin Caterpillar, Incredible String Band

-------

Caesura and The Enjambments

Well, they say it took Ulysses ten years to get back

To where he once belonged,

Something Sergeant Pepper could not achieve.

For a wandering wounded soldier and unwed father

It would be a year locked down in ascetic solitude

For Ignatius to wake.

Sometimes constant busyness

Becomes the master distraction ,

A rationalization in believing attachments,

Rewards and material worldly goals

As the promised treasures of paradise.

Lives can easily become one big run on sentence.

Lost in the maize of the promise of identifying purpose

Pilgrims and the ignorant wander barren desserts aimlessly

Searching for the lost land of milk and honey.

No oasis discovered , only mirages.

Whatever happened to calm and deliberate?

What ever happened to pausing 

Allowing the peace to wash away the grime

Cleansing the spirit allowing one to become

Precisely who the divine intended ?

One's who preach their own self perfection,

Charlatans in sheep's clothing,

Keep themselves at bay from the barricades of heaven.

No thing stays the same.

No thing is perfect.

No algorithm, navigation system, spread sheet

Or the best laid plans can accurately predict.

Carefully positioned dominoes don't always fall

As designers and players anticipate.

Therapists and patients believe

Personal control is possible.

Can we really learn from the Venetians and

Their belief that the rising ocean can be restrained?

Sometimes the tiniest and grand events alike as well as

People of all types and sizes

Influence which road to take or what rabbit hole to go down.

Sometimes that mystical spiritual energy gives birth

To that caterpillar who might become that butterfly

Flapping her wings, that would start a breeze, 

Becoming the wind moving the chimes to sing,

A song whispering the truth 

While refreshing the pilgrim who had paused

To be mindful while letting go.

Many mystics , poets and a few songwriters appreciate

the power of the pausing , presence and hope.

And so it was thirteen years ago

The Pilgrim's Odyssey

Was about to blow up his plans when

He found himself crippled retreating into a pause.

His true companions lowered him through the roof.

His heart healed and mercy washed across his spirit.

And, he flew away.

          - JF Sobecki

-------

The Way Through The Woods - R. Kipling ( R. Fiennes)

https://youtu.be/Bolzk3MT2yQ

Isn't it a Pity-Take 27  (2020 remix) G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/nFxYsWCT6_k

Cleveland Heart - J.Browne

https://youtu.be/7M4BUIidfxs

Cousin Caterpillar - Incredible String Band

https://youtu.be/B_gZu1xK29s

The Holy Longing - Goethe

https://youtu.be/3xnTdpJyWxI

Hope For the Flowers - Trina Paulus

A story for Caterpillars, pilgrims and children of all ages

https://youtu.be/g6CaBnO5e0Q

July 1 - Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Anniversary of the Pilgrim's Healing 7/1/2008

 

"Teach me to be generous, to serve as you deserve, to give and not count the cost, to fight and not heed the wounds, to toil and not seek for rest, to labor and not to look for any reward, save that of knowing I am doing your will."

 - St. Ignatius of Loyola

(Thank you to the companions - Dan, Lou, Tom, Gerry, Bill, Ed, Bob, Dick, Carolyn, Herb, Kirk and Pete)

AMDG

Copyright 2021 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

Coda: Even Jersey bar bands and their singers need a Caesura

From "Eddie and The Cruisers"

(and Thank God for English Majors!)

https://youtu.be/QUO_E7noTTg

The Green Flash

 

"It is said that once you have seen green flash , you'll never go wrong in matters of the heart"

" Another great difference between our civilization and yours is ...you admire the person who pushes their way to the top in any walk of life, while we admire the one who abandons their ego"

                          - Seven Years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrer

" Often the reason why some do not believe in God is that they have often ceased to believe that God can love them"

  - Thomas Merton

-----

The Green Flash

Consider the turtle and the hare

They say the turtle is calm and deliberate, no rush

Making progress when he sticks his neck out.

Consider that every day has a night,

Every competitive sport has an opportunity for a break-

A time out , a time for the athletes to take a breath.

Long duration competitions give the athletes

A time to recover and get reinvigorated for the next game or race.

Musicians have measures and and rests.

At the close of a composition there is a time for a break.

Notes without silence in-between is not music

Books and poems end, don't tell Joyce

Long distance hikes and solo global  sailors 

Seek the opportunity to nourish themselves.

Eventually sailors seek to secure serenity of a safe harbor.

Le Mans and Nascar drivers consider their fuel

And wear and tear on their vehicle.

Pit stops are critical .

These are the days that can last forever.

Zen monks patiently create sand mandalas 

Then rest and wipe the creation of the colored grains away.

The art is in the doing not the completing.

The constant busyness distracts from the essence , the truth.

Pilgrims seem to learn all this a little to late sometimes.

Slow down, relax , regroup , be mindful,

Listen to the children play ,

Breathe slowly when sitting on the beach at sunset

The blessing of witnessing and savoring the green flash

Is reserved for those who are present,

Those who stop and just be .

- JF Sobecki

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

These are the Days- Van Morrison

https://youtu.be/_lyve_egY8o

Children - Kahil Gibran

https://youtu.be/z8DSOpsNkt8

Murder In The City - Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/cr420Jwr14U

I remember everything - John Prine

https://youtu.be/L21Tc_DtL6M

Across The Universe - Beatles

https://youtu.be/iotagMCkJRE

Daughter - Loudon Wainright III (for Lindsay and Leigh)

https://youtu.be/kgEePOfWMuc

                                           The "Summer House" in The Safe Harbor of Cape May

Copyright JF Sobecki LLC 2021 All Rights Reserved

amdg

In Troibo ad altare Dei: The Continuing Bloomsday Ballad Pt 49

 "We can do no great things; only small things with great love"

 - Mother Teresa

-----------

In Troibo ad altare Dei: The Continuing Bloomsday Ballad Pt 49

"Stately,  plump ..." , so it began

No purpose or map in mind

That mystical GPS guiding gently

As loosed random thoughts and plans meandered

A rudderless boat trusted the sacred wind.

First mates usually know more than they let on.

The sails set and they were off.

June 16 , the day in infamy that changed everything-

Watergate and James' Bloomsday always top of mind, right?

Not being noble the Pilgrim had some perspective

As to the truth about a hill of beans

And  the significance of the problems of pilgrims

As the crazy world was crumbling around them.

Regardless, they proclaimed "I do ." 

Friends, family and themselves

Remain surprised they actually did

And continue to do so. 

Hibbing's homely hobo troubadour reminds those who listen,

" You don't need a weatherman to know

Which way the winds blow."

Navigators and mystics alike ponder

"How did we come up with the idea

To blame poor and sick people

and those of different color or religions

For all the world's problems ?

How many wars , how many acts of violence,

How many pandemics , and how many natural disasters

Before we return to the essence of love, compassion,

Kindness, selflessness, hope, peace and mercy?"

And yet we sail on...

The white collared companion of Jesus pronounced how decisions

Confirm the psychotherapeutic observation how decisions 

Are born from emotions and then justified by the rational.

"Real sacraments are a mystery.

Who knows where this road will take you?

Trust in each other and that great divine essence.

Take a deep grateful centering breath and 

Top it all off with a glass or two of wine."

His voice raised up in song as it should

On holy occasions - 

"To everything there is a season,

Turn! Turn! Turn! A time for every

purpose under heaven"

- JF Sobecki

------

June 16,1972

-------

A Bloomsday Epilogue

https://youtu.be/zspro2od5zY

 

  Until I Gain Control Again- JF Sobecki  (R. Crowell)

                            

  https://youtu.be/4sui9f3ahzw

                                     

 Stolen Moments - John Hiatt

                                                       

 https://youtu.be/16EcHP4mpWc

           No Hard Feelings - The Avett Brothers

 

 https://youtu.be/Agc1gc6jqVE

  

                           

This is Us - Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler

   

https://youtu.be/3DLR7dviLVE

               Farther On - Jackson Browne                                         

  https://youtu.be/JwN_FbwWpjM

                   Family - Joe Walsh                                                                                 

https://youtu.be/XbQLhjOrfmE

                         

               Turn!Turn! Turn! - The Byrds

  https://youtu.be/W4ga_M5Zdn4  

Amdg

Copyright 2021 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

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

Spring Murmurations of The Heart

         

 "The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, 

and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love 

only the reflection\n of ourselves we find in them."

       - Thomas Merton

                                   

                                                 Ok one more time...

Did I mention I gave up worrying for Lent?

....................

                                                                

Spring Murmuration of the Heart

The Cape's Bird Man outlined

The chapters of his forthcoming book,

Of how trench warfare of words and attitudes

Grows deeper and more adverse

Between the right and left 

Leaving the marginalized drowning in the wake.

Yet , he observes how birds come and go faster than people

And how they don't act worried.

Even the the Great Teacher observed how sparrows and other 

Winged messengers don't seem overly concerned 

As somehow they know they are loved.

They say it is instinct for starlings to fly in murmurations ,

Communal constructing of complex spectacles 

Swirling in seemingly aimless wild group flight.

Their secret mission is their common welfare, their communal preservation,

Their collective love and mutual selflessness in unison.

Iconoclastic stragglers and prodigals become vulnerable

To hungry hawks and those mischaracterized predatory eagles.

Other feathered paracletes mimic the starlings .

Who did it first is not of concern nor competition.

Meanwhile sentient beings have possibly devolved to be more lost by being locked down

And  continue less concerned about who really inherited the earth or the wind.

Starlings and most likely most of the divine's creatures may not worry about

Or miss the absence and demise of humans . Many of the Homo Sapiens really

Don't seem to care much about the common good....

Hiding in their own nests, filling them up with this or that.

Or maybe, just maybe these two legged creations forgot their own murmuration

Or maybe they just don't love themselves or each other 

As much as they say they do or

As much as the poets and mystics speculate.

    - JF Sobecki

__________________

What the World Need Now - Jackie DeShannon 

This song is still quite relevant

https://youtu.be/YUaxVQPohlU

Give me Love - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/s-KAvPbO8JY

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding - N. Lowe

https://youtu.be/Oy3LpV0THB0

Change Myself - T. Rundgren

https://youtu.be/dCU4P5EQNFs

We Can Work it Out - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/IgRrWPdzkao

Quote from "The Princess Bride" - Mandy Patinkin

https://youtu.be/s_t3uDVPiRc

                                                            Family Promise - LINK below

                                                         https://familypromise.org

                                                Habitat for Humanity - Link below

                                                          https://www.habitat.org

amdg

Copyright 2021 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

"The Love you take is equal to the love you make"

 - Lennon and McCartney