She or he might not be the person she or he was, but she or he is not less than a person.
She or he might not be the person she or he was, but she or he is not less than a person.
:- Doug.
Archive for October, 2009
If this is where I needs must be, this is where I will stay. And work my heart out.
If this is where I needs must be, this is where I will stay. And work my heart out.
:- Doug.
Clouds marching off into the distance/….
Clouds marching off into the distance
Rank upon rank filling the powder blue
Sunlight playing tag with shadows of trees
Greens of the trees melting into golds and reds
This fall calls me from busy to life
:- Doug.
Money and circumstances do not make a difference in whether you do.
Money and circumstances do not make a difference in whether you do.
:- Doug.
invitation economy?
We are proud of our innovation economy. Can we be equally proud of our invitation economy?
:- Doug.
When it comes to Alzheimer’s, is storage really the best we can do for Mom and Dad?
When it comes to Alzheimer’s, is storage really the best we can do for Mom and Dad?
:- Doug.
You are the good heart, good head people:….
You are the good heart, good head people: what shall we do? This is our world to work upon, what shall we do? There are people to meet, there are wells to be dug, there are children to be rescued, what shall we do? Let’s pick what’s to hand and do that, and leave the rest to another day. Small group, large work, now!
:- Doug.
Life is after all met: a going forth, standing in the face,…
Life is after all met: a going forth, standing in the face, and meeting who meets you. It is action and receiving, all at once.
:- Doug.
Footprints in the Windsm # 998
Footprints in the Windsm # 998
How do we find the ground material of the universe in the arms of dementia? The ground material I see as life, as meeting. We then are in the place of meeting ourselves when we no longer have a brain to call our own. This is frightening for those left behind in brains, seemingly unable to follow us. Yet is there a gentle life, a gentle land out beyond the brain where we can meet? What is it like, and how do we find our way?
What does Rumi say?
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.“When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.”We might say, Out beyond ideas and right thinking and mind there is a field. I’ll meet you there. The world is too full of talk: ideas, language, even the phrase each other, do not make sense.
Where is that field? Who are we if we do not have our accustomed mind? What does it say if we are, even without our thoughts? Who is this potentially happy person, whom can we meet? Who are we?
What is that field? We are already there. Now we only need to find ourselves here. Then we will know. We can know now.
This is tough work, incredibly painful blood-sweating labor.
So it is beyond 88th birthday parties and not fussing about scattered playing cards. It is facing the presence. Facing the absence of what we thought was presence in order to face the real presence. Who is Mom or Dad without a mind? Who am I without my mind? Who are we together? Is there a together that is more fundamental than each of us?
Here we are. We can do no other. We. Are. Love.
Please pass it on.
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What could we improve about our experience of nursing homes?…
What could we improve about our experience of nursing homes? Of aging?
:- Doug.
A bird to be set free/perhaps in our tree to sing/….
A bird to be set free
perhaps in our tree to sing
or to chatter at us
or with our hearts
to wing away
here is meeting G*d
:- Doug.
Music throbbing/hearts along/baby gurgles/….
Music throbbing
hearts along
baby gurgles
here is found
G*d’s meeting
:- Doug.
G*d is the background/within which all this/happens/….
G*d is the background
within which all this
happens
G*d is the rhythm
with which our melody
sings
G*d is the pattern
within which our hair gaily
weaves
G*d is the old crate
draped with cloth as an altar us
alters
G*d is action
doing and modifying us who
act
G*d is moving
prayer is moving; here
meets
:- Doug.
You are gods/….
You are gods
You are the salt of the earth
I am there that I am there
Like us
:- Doug.
The wind touches/….
The wind touches
each of us
all of us
from no where
and everywhere
lightly on the face
deeply to the marrow
whispering
sometimes demanding response
in the wind
the footprints of G*d
:- Doug.
You want to change the world—so talk, breathe together!
You want to change the world—so talk, breathe together!
:- Doug.
For you, about what is creating this work? Is it technique? Craft? Losing yourself? Perhaps to state the question is to answer it.
For you, about what is creating this work? Is it technique? Craft? Losing yourself? Perhaps to state the question is to answer it.
:- Doug.
Your writing is not a thing but a space of mind.
Your writing is not a thing but a space of mind.
:- Doug.
