Last night, as I was sleeping I dreamt-marvelous error!- that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.
Antonio Machado, translated by Robert Bly
Bees weave their burden In and out and in between Ahh… Sweet Communion
Beware the Jabberwock, my son,
the jaws that bite and claws that scratch…
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
Through the Looking Glass Lewis Careoll
I awoke to the shrieks
Of an avaricious vulcher
Tweeting a Tornado of Tweets
Each one trumping the next.
“Ahh, the sky is falling,
The sky is falling,”
Said I.
Said Spirit,
“Put the sword down, Alice.
Look inside.
Tend first the vulcher
Inside
And the one outside
Dwindles to a dodo.”
c. Rita H Kowats 7-25-17
NOTE: The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo’s closest genetic relative was the also extinct Rodrigues solitaire, the two forming the subfamily Raphinae of the family of pigeons and doves.
In light of the American news stream these days, I give you a sequel to yesterday’s post, “Tap Dance Dodge or Truth Tango.” “It’s all a circus, kid. A three ring circus.” Billy Flynn has morphed into another character in 2017, but the message is the same fifteen years later.
“Razzle Dazzle” from the film musical “Chicago” 2002
BAILIFF(Spoken)
Mr. Flynn, his honor is here
BILLY(Spoken)
Thank you. Just a moment.
You ready?
ROXIE(Spoken)
Oh Billy, I’m really scared.
BILLY(Spoken)
Roxie, you got nothing to worry about.
It’s all a circus, kid. A three ring circus.
These trials- the wholeworld- all show business.
But kid, you’re working with a star, the biggest!
(Singing)
Give ’em the old razzle dazzle
Razzle Dazzle ’em
Give ’em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Give ’em the old hocus pocus
Bead and feather ’em
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?
What if your hinges all are rusting?
What if, in fact, you’re just disgusting?
Having completed my morning wade through the daily swamp of American news I leave it to place this question before us:
Can we make America great again this way:
Or this way:
Truth Tango
That old familiar tune
Strikes up in the recesses of my soul
Heralding the familiar promenade of pretense.
I cast off layers of deceit
To the tattoo-tune of the Holy Stripper
And the raucous pleadings of my victims,
“Take it off! Take it all off!”
The bright white bones of truth
Step out of their camouflage
To dance La Cumparsita with wild abandonment
Until the familiar tune calls me back
To the stage of my humanity.
There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” …The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by 1 Kings 19:9;11
FORMS OF HOSPITALITY
from Henri Nouwen’s book, Reaching Out
We probably will never be free from all our hostilities, and there even may be days and weeks in which our hostile feelings dominate our emotional life to such a degree that the best thing we can do is to keep distance, speak little to others and not write letters, except to ourselves. Sometimes events in our lives breed feelings of bitterness, jealousy, suspicion and even desires for revenge, which need time to be healed. It is realistic to realize that although we hope to move toward hospitality, life is too complex to expect a one-way direction. But when we make ourselves aware of the hospitality we have enjoyed from others and are grateful for the few moments in which we can create some space ourselves, we may become more sensitive to our inner movements and be more able to affirm an open attitude toward our fellow human beings.
Auroras continue to intrigue…what a lovely afternoon I had meandering around Jupiter and my own soulscape….enjoy.
Photo Credit:
Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere extends up to two million miles into the space around the planet (illustrated) and is thought to be responsible for sending charged particles in the space around it hurtling at high speeds towards the poles
Here is how our spirits look when we make the connections to the divine:
Some thought she slipped into madness for the way she changed. She thought it was madness to live the life she once did.
J.M. Storm
One evening when my little momma was 76 we sat together in her living room after supper and she said, “You know, Honey, there are dishes in the sink and I just don’t give a damn!” This was indeed a healing proclamation for me, as I had begun the struggle to let go of the heightened sense of duty which I had so diligently learned from her.
This new version of Mom reverted to her era as a flapper girl when she loved dancing in the arms of handsome medical students in the best hotels in St. Louis. Once she dropped a smuggled bottle of booze on a bedazzled lobby floor. Call it madness if you will. She knew how to live back them.
I rejoice that by the end of her life she had left the dirty dishes in the sink where they belong.
Life at Midlife
I am no longer waiting for a special occasion; I burn the best candles on ordinary days. I am no longer waiting for the house to be clean; I fill it with people who understand that even dust is Sacred. I am no longer waiting for everyone to understand me; It’s just not their task I am no longer waiting for the perfect children; my children have their own names that burn as brightly as any star. I am no longer waiting for the other shoe to drop; It already did, and I survived. I am no longer waiting for the time to be right; the time is always now. I am no longer waiting for the mate who will complete me; I am grateful to be so warmly, tenderly held. I am no longer waiting for a quiet moment; my heart can be stilled whenever it is called. I am no longer waiting for the world to be at peace; I unclench my grasp and breathe peace in and out. I am no longer waiting to do something great; being awake to carry my grain of sand is enough. I am no longer waiting to be recognized; I know that I dance in a holy circle. I am no longer waiting for Forgiveness. I believe, I Believe.
Be wild; that is how to clear the river. The river does not flow in polluted, we manage that. The river does not dry up, we block it. If we want to allow it its freedom, we have to allow our ideational lives to be let loose, to stream, letting anything come, initially censoring nothing. That is creative life. It is made up of divine paradox. To create one must be willing to be stone stupid, to sit upon a throne on top of a jackass and spill rubies from one’s mouth. Then the river will flow, then we can stand in the stream of it raining down.”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With The Wolves: Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman
A fish cannot drown in water, A bird does not fall in air. In the fire of creation, God doesn’t vanish: The fire brightens. Each creature God made must live in its own true nature; How could I resist my nature, That lives for oneness with God?
Mechthild of Magdeburg in The Flowing Light of the Godhead
Wild flowing light calls Nature to nature responds Human beings blaze
Rita H Kowats
Photo Credit: G. Brad Lewis/ Barcroft Media, edited
My sister shared this photo which she took while on an outing to Alki Beach in West Seattle- our adolescent playground. I responded to it on a cellular level. Not because of conjured memories- it was the jellyfish that pulled me into their light with the enticing movement of their tentacles. They calm me. “What do you want me to learn? I asked them.
A National Geographic/Nova documentary, “Creatures of light” gave me the answer in a query posed by a scientist, “How to survive the dark? Make Light.” The documentary is a study of bioluminescence in more than 200 species of deep-sea creatures and the bioflorescence of many land creatures. Light is the stuff of life for them.
In biofloresencence species take light from an external source and give it back. Watching fireflies on an otherwise stifling summer night. What a gift. As human beings, our spirits catch the light from other beings and store it deep in our souls where it generates more light. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Jn.1:5
In bioluminescence, species create their own light. It is programmed into their genes. My imagination goes to the magic of Pandora, in the film Avatar.
Human beings are body and spirit and spirit is light. Light is as integral to our spirits as it is to the genes of bioluminescent creatures. With light we can make light.
Give-receive–give-receive. I celebrate this interdependence on the weekend when Americans bow to independence.
Spirituality Without Borders: Reflections on Spiritual Practice 