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Your very flesh shall be a great poem

Preface to Leaves of Grass (excerpt) Love the earth and sun and the animals,despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,stand up for the stupid and crazy,devote your income and labor to others,hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,have patience and indulgence toward the people,take off your hat to nothing known or unknown,or to any man or number of men,go freely with powerful uneducated persons,and with the young, and with the mothers or families,re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,and dismiss whatever insults your own soul;and your very flesh shall be a great poem….

October 18, 2007

Perilous Dark Path of True Prayer

“We seldom go freely into the belly of the beast. Unless we face a major disaster like the death of a friend or spouse or loss of a marriage or job, we usually will not go there. As a culture, we have to be taught the language of descent. That is the great language of religion. It teaches us to enter willingly, trustingly into the dark periods of life. These dark periods are good teachers. Religious energy is in the dark questions, seldom in the answers. Answers are the way out, but that is not what we are here for.

October 17, 2007

Fear and Freedom

“Fear is the cheapest room in the house. / I would like to see you living / In better conditions.” -Hafiz “Move from within. / Don’t move the way that fear wants you to. / Begin a foolish project. / Noah did.” -Rumi I smiled yesterday when lucy commented about my journey of fearlessness because this subject of fear and freedom has been on my heart a lot lately. There is something very liberating about living into the freedom I am being invited to and not letting fear dictate the choices I make. Most of the time I am

October 14, 2007

Heavy are the Seas

Fear not the pain. Let its weight fall back into the earth; for heavy are the mountains, heavy the seas. -Rainer Maria Rilke, from In Praise of Mortality My dreams lately have been inviting me to enter into dark and uncomfortable places. We have such a fear of darkness in our culture — a denial of death and a resistance to the work of grief , as well as resisting the gifts darkness offers to us. I am slowly realizing that this is in part what my time at this cottage by the sea is about — moving into the literal growing darkness of the

October 11, 2007

Abbey Bookshelf

***Come visit the Poetry Party here or scroll down to the next post*** What I’m reading this week: Slow Time: Recovering a Natural Rhythm of Life by Waverly Fitzgerald Waverly has a most wonderful website called School for the Seasons where she shares an abundance of resources for living more deeply into each season. She just published her book about Slow Time which is about transforming your relationship to time. Living contemplatively is one of my primary spiritual practices and her book is helping me think even more intentionally about time and how to live even more deeply into my own rhythms.

October 10, 2007

Invitation to Poetry: Wings Spread

Welcome to our Poetry Party No. 5. These are posted every other Monday. I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc. Leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if you have one (not required to participate!) Feel free to post the poem along with my image below on your blog with a link back to this post. Invite your readers to come join the party too. Community poetry is

October 8, 2007

Artists Speaking About Their Art

I am honored to be included in this compilation of quotes by artists speaking about their art as a part of a grant project to explore creativity and spirituality. Some intriguing words for reflection found there, not to mention links to some fabulous artists’ websites. Click on over to find some inspiration. How would you articulate the connection between your creativity (whether visual, literary, movement, music, etc.) and your spirituality? Feel free to answer in the comments below or provide a link back to your blog if you post a response there. I’d really love to hear your responses. -Christine

October 6, 2007

Autumn Day

Lord: it is time. The huge summer has gone by. Now overlap the sundials with your shadows, and on the meadows let the wind go free. Command the fruits to swell on tree and vine; grant them a few more warm transparent days, urge them on to fulfillment then, and press the final sweetness into the heavy wine. Whoever has no house now, will never have one. Whoever is alone will stay alone, will sit, read, write long letters through the evening, and wander along the boulevards, up and down, restlessly, while the dry leaves are blowing. -Rainer Maria Rilke

October 5, 2007

Happy Feast of St Francis

I went back to read what I wrote last year and found that it expresses pretty well what I want to say on this day we celebrate one of my favorite Saints, so here’s a slightly edited and updated version: Francis is known for many things, his life of poverty, his commitment to peace, and especially his great love of animals and all creation. He is often depicted with creatures at his side and this feast day is celebrated with a “Blessing of the Animals.” I remember attending such a service when we lived in Berkeley with our previous dog Duke. There in the pews

October 4, 2007

What Do I Offer? What Will I Leave Behind?

I walked along the beach yesterday afternoon and discovered brilliant white oyster shells scattered across the sand, tumbled smooth by the waves and brought to shore in an offering from the sea. I began picking up the ones that seemed to be calling to me, until my hands and pockets were overflowing with treasure. I brought them home, not sure what I wanted to do with them — perhaps put them on my altar that is slowly growing along the windowsill framing my view of the water. Or maybe use them in some art by incorporating them into a mosaic piece. But mostly I

October 3, 2007

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Your very flesh shall be a great poem

Perilous Dark Path of True Prayer

Fear and Freedom

Heavy are the Seas

Abbey Bookshelf

Invitation to Poetry: Wings Spread

Artists Speaking About Their Art

Autumn Day

Happy Feast of St Francis

What Do I Offer? What Will I Leave Behind?

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