This is why we come together —we who work and wonder alone.
We come together to ease our isolation —to check our sanity —to share power and our sorrows —to share wisdom and mistakes.
We walk our paths alone —but that doesn’t require loneliness.
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There is no winner in the human race. We cross the finish line together Humans are skilled at splitting more than atoms. Violence creates the split second required to maintain war and detain peace. When we speak about helping people up the economic ladder, what we’re really doing is discussing strategies for laying down [...] Continue reading Everything Depends The year has turned its circle. We celebrate our friends & family. We celebrate the harvest. Are we aware of the hypocrisy, that this holiday is based on warped truths, that it glosses over genocide? Are we aware that the recipients of indigenous generosity would become the agents of their destruction? Oh but [...] Continue reading Holding The Paradox Richard Though the audience wanders, the witness remains. We can pretend our secrets are private, copyrighted, protected, not of public domain. But after the distraction of coming attractions, after the great escape, after we make our mark, there remains the subtle knowing smile which taunts and teases like light from the end of an endless [...] Continue reading Immaculate Deception Simplicity is a quality of heaven, like mercy simply because, within heaven diversity is sustained amidst great unity. The world is not simple. The world is complex. The world subscribes to the notion of merciless progress, progress without thanks, without gratitude. We’re trained to give perfunctory thanks while educated to demand more and programmed to [...] Continue reading Merciful Progress Steve’s Eulogy for Dad My Dad was born in Brooklyn, New York, a tough, Jewish kid from an orthodox leaning family. He always portrayed himself as a fighter growing up, and he continued in that spirit in every aspect of his life until the day he passed away. He believed in hard work and that [...] Continue reading Eulogies for Dad Now what was her child’s name? Lost it, lost it in the conversation, or the attempt at same. His mother had chased him to the sand circle next to the playground. I was sitting on a concrete pier watching my five year old daughter play while pondering the source of friction that had been [...] Continue reading Fundamentally Speaking “Papa, can we play the monster game?” “Not right now, Hon. Why don’t you guys take turns playing the monster for a change?” Monsters are a part of childhood. Every time a big person acts mean to a little person, carelessly tossing their word or weight about, they become a monster in the eyes of [...] Continue reading Both Ends of the Stick …After his revelation, Installation Guy was confident that the latch would be secured in no time at all. Unfortunately, in his earlier zeal to succeed, he’d stripped both bosses (the built-in nuts that received the screws). For our guileless guy, no time at all, often seemed like an eternity. [...] Continue reading Storming Around the Door Within the encircling rocks of our beliefs, atop our crumpled daily news and doubts, worry lays on the kindling of faith, yet hesitates to ignite the fire with the reality of experience for fear the fire will get out of control. Worry is a virus that attaches itself to the site of potential experience, undermining our capacity to reflect and prepare ourself to receive illumination. Worry is wet green beliefs pretending to be true. Worry offers much smoke, but little warmth and little light. Slowly, over time, in a metaphorical and miraculous way, Anna was learning to ignite her experience with the light of perspective, allowing for the healing of her worried mind. [...] Continue reading Bouncing Back Moral authority does not come from success or fame or wealth or status. We cannot accrue moral authority like we would interest on a certificate of deposit. We cannot acquire moral authority through force or know-how or influence. We display moral authority through the choices we make and the actions we take from moment to [...] Continue reading Squeaky Wheels In Aikido, we practice emptying our cup, our mind and body of all strategies of attack and defense. Uke and nage join in the study of openness, fearlessness thereby receiving the way of peace. Through the kindness of practice, we learn there is nothing to fear; not even falling back into mental patterns governing harm’s way [...] [...] Continue reading Sincere Practice Doing what you can to stay alive is necessary. Enjoying your friends is necessary. Taking care of your children is necessary. Acquiring an unkind wealth is not necessary. Being truthful is necessary. Being honest is necessary. Being respectful is necessary. Acquiring an unkind wealth is not necessary. Sharing is necessary. Being kind is necessary. Meaningful [...] Continue reading What’s Necessary There are many avenues, many ways to bring value into the world. Every moment offers an opportunity to share love, truth, vision. If you measure value by money alone, it’s not value you measure; it’s salesmanship. To offer a tired analogy from the world of art: Van Gogh offered value through his paintings, yet even [...] Continue reading Priceless No one owns the earth. We’re all immigrants passing through, pilgrims on a journey. When we think we’re buying the earth, we’re buying lawyers, loopholes and guns. Sometimes in the law, especially constitutional law, the voice of the Holy Spirit can be heard seeping through. Yet most of what we hear is ego driven [...] Continue reading Lawyers, Loopholes and Guns Respect is not a tool or a weapon to be used to control others with at whim. Respect is given freely (not earned) or it is not respect; it is manipulation. Respect is given freely in order to enable honest communication. Respect is given from an open heart to help other hearts to open. [...] Continue reading Respect Will we marinate the glory of victory? or unfurl and flourish! When we narrow our mind to keep our options open, it is easy to do the wrong thing, conflict is inevitable and is rarely peacefully resolved. When we narrow our options to keep our mind open, it is easy to do the right thing, and though conflict may not be avoidable, it is often peacefully [...] Continue reading Inevitable & Avoidable From the beginning, do your best to unify your body and mind as you explore the motions of aikido. Due to our culture, we have a strong tendency to want to figure it all out mentally, to have the particulars first explained so that we can then move the ‘appropriate ‘ parts of our [...] Continue reading Aikido; The Art & The Science What are the ends that are sought by the political movements that guide our Nation? The goals of a Democracy are that the majority rules. It seeks to influence our Constitutional Republic, via the reinterpretation of Constitutional law at a Supreme Court level, and if necessary even have a Constitutional Convention and rewrite the old [...] Continue reading Politics and Relativity Twins Even though scientism hopes that miracles will someday be explained away, I know it will not happen. Every question I’ve ever answered, designed new questions that were more complex than the one I solved. Knowledge and mystery are born twins. My pen seems to discover both in rapid succession. It doesn’t bother me. [...] Continue reading Discovering the Ortho-Para Balance Not much difference between a Democrat and Republican when they’re driven by fear of human weakness rather than faith in human strength: In the public sector: When Democrats fear corporate greed more than they fear government excess and inefficiency; When Republicans fear government excess and inefficiency more than they fear corporate greed. In the [...] Continue reading Returns Every time I hear the term “charity” it evokes a negative response in my gut. “Charity” is something we do from time to time, for any number of reasons but mostly it seems to unburden the conscience. It’s nicer than welfare and it doesn’t carry the baggage of ministry. But charity is still about [...] Continue reading On Charity Children remind us to grow up. They demonstrate how to follow the light, how to allow inner being to bloom. Children know how to be themselves, how to grow, how to see the light in each other. Generally speaking, adults are people who stop growing up, and begin growing sideways. They [...] Continue reading Children & Adults This morning during my breathing time I began to ponder the expanding and contracting of the body and relating it to life. Life itself expands and contracts like some great creature breathing. Breathing and living are inseparable – you can’t have one without the other, yet the quality with which you breathe will determine the [...] Continue reading Breathing With Intention For the organizer (in us all): The way to extend peace is to share the things we need. The way to maintain war is to compete for things we want. What is the wheat? What is the chaff? What do we need? Why do we want? For the religious moralist (in us all): There [...] Continue reading Food for Thought I can be an ogre as a math tutor insisting that the real lessons are patience, and calculating the need of the moment. I resort too quickly to iff statements. Iff you take care of yourself does getting good grades have any value. Iff you take care of real need does having a lucrative job [...] Continue reading Math Ogre Broken pots Fragments of people Crumbled castles Are the memories of museums Churning waves Swirling breeze Gorse and rhododendron in full bloom Are today memories in my heart Sun Mist Rain Sun In rapid succession Soft moss Jagged rocks Shades of green Round gray stones Maker of music Dreamer of dreams Ireland flows on its [...] Continue reading Ireland COMING OF AGE Dandelion seed adrift Hovering, floating gently in the Breeze, shifting weight from Side to side, para Gliding above the terrain Wandering, exploring, searching for a Suitable place to settle and grow. . SPIED A WEB Synaptic threads Quiver in the warm breeze Delivering light Conveying information Connecting leaves of Seemingly separate plants [...] Continue reading Spring Poems R) How long did it take you to craft the story about the dime for Ari? G) 5-10 minutes. I first wrote a longer, detailed version describing the street I lived on, and a more complete version about the woman who found the dime. Then slashed it, timed the new version, slashed again and timed [...] Continue reading Busy Lady |
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