FootprintsintheWind.com

Where is Here? When is Now? My world is beyond my skin, beyond my eyes seeing. Eternity invades my when. Where is Here? When is Now? So I can be with someone leagues away, in another hour of eternity. Not a license to leave, rather an invitation to Now-Here. “Martha,” “next week,” come, meet.

:- Doug.

We think that in the land of truth there will be no contradictions, conflicts, fears nor hindrances. Truth is, truths conflict. Truths do not stand in a line, all pointing one direction. Truth, if we decide to engage it, will require of us work and pain.

:- Doug.

On this foggy morning
Touching us all about
Inviting us to notice
Even the air is full!
Calling for our lights
& all our presence!
On this foggy morning
Divinity is most apparent

:- Doug.

I can host even when I’m not the host. I can be present in meeting: invite, welcome, introduce, converse, notice, offer.

:- Doug.

Have you ever seen differences make a difference? I have.

:- Doug.

If you have no evidence and no logic, root your arguments in bald assertions and faith: there is no global warming; there is no environment; there is no evolution; the world is flat: were it otherwise, some scripture would tell us.

Yet just perhaps our age’s prophets in the guise of scientists and cosmologists are writing words from divinity.

:- Doug.

Three places conversation works for us: Inside, Outside and Among. Inside: conversation rejuvenates us, refreshes us, clears our thinking. Outside: new projects start. Among: we discover our relationships, engage each other in our work. The latter is the spring of continual life.

:- Doug.

First comes love
then comes marriage
then comes Daddy
with the baby carriage
then comes paying
for all their college
then comes working
till the Medicare-age
finally comes
the hearsey-carriage
and we start
all over again

:- Doug.

Poetry is expressing
person
together
community
Expressing is making

:- Doug.

The twinkle of each other’s eyes
Let us find
Let us set loose

:- Doug.

We live most when we live verbally, adjectivally, and engagedly.

:- Doug.

Be adjectives—
modify something!

:- Doug.

Stories matter:
what stories
do you have?
What matters?
We do not only touch
we touch hearts
we touch to love
to say you matter
In two short words
a lesson for
alternative community:
stories matter

:- Doug.

Enlarging us
touching
sharing

:- Doug.

What did I intend by Great Heart of Humanity? A longing? Something beyond one person’s appetites? A verb or adjective, not a noun: the heart is metaphor for doing, modifying.

:- Doug.

Get blood in! Get blood out!
Thumpa thumpa!—Heart’s rhythm—
Get life in! Get life out!

:- Doug.

Keep looking for that great heart, point it out, coax it out: You!

:- Doug.

We deny ourselves any role in repair of the earth because we think we are not large enough, and because it lets us off the hook for what we could have done.

:- Doug.

We need to warm and soften the brittle shell of our thinking.

:- Doug.

Repair of the earth, Kingdom of God, and the beloved community are different wordings for the same thing.

:- Doug.

The fact that there is (however it got there) in our breasts the great heart of humanity means to me that we need to respond. Not just I, but we. I can only invite you, and can only sometimes control myself. But together we can invite each other, remind each other, re-heart each other: of the great heart of humanity.

:- Doug.

Bring forth the next
Say it outright
Or reflect
Grief
Criticism
Amazement
Hope
Not correcting
Not directing
Finding, Creating
Together

:- Doug.

Lost touch
we have
with our
great heart
grieve, grieve

:- Doug.