FootprintsintheWind.com

Mary Oliver writes in What Do We Know pp 44-45 that there are so many things to do in this beautiful world, so many things to be done. I am reading that as two diverging ways we approach the world. Mostly we have to do lists. But beauty is the really real. Experiencing what the world has to give, receiving without taking: this is what we should choose as why we are here. We work the grinding wheel so that we can ride the Ferris wheel. A little work, a lot of thankful receiving.

:- Doug.

Probate is less a box
To hold things away for a time
& more a door
That opens and clears the way

:- Doug.

God is gathering
Togethering
Inviting us all
To participate in
Sweeping cobwebs
Clearing windows
Pulling weeds
Hammering loose boards
Repairing broken glasses
Cooking
Feeding the hungry among us
Healing our infirm
Caring for and listening to our elders
Wholing
All within reach

:- Doug.

To be whole, everyone must have enough. For me to be whole, you must have enough as I must. If anyone is cut off, all are.

:- Doug.

There are brothers and sisters of all of us who are without enough to eat, without enough shelter from the elements, without medical care: because we withhold it from them. You are the man. You are the woman. You are your sister’s and your brother’s keeper. This is the day when you are called to your conscience: What have you done? What are you doing? Are your actions condemning even one of the least among us to suffer want?

:- Doug.

We must participate in the divine great cleanup of the world, cleaning up violence with peaceful measures. It is still a clean-up: we must speak truth to power, we must stand up for what is right for the widows, orphans and poor, we must stand up for enough for all.

The power right now seems to be being wielded by the Tea Party people—this holding the country hostage is in fact violence. They say “We will rip this food and medical care out of the hands of the infirm and least among us.” So it is up to us to speak truth to their power and violence. Speaking truth to violence.

Speaking truth to violence: you shall not storm the gates of heaven, of justice, of righteousness. You cannot take these by force. You must become lambs and children.

:- Doug.

Story is not restricted to history
A story can challenge
And so be true

:- Doug.

We
need our help

:- Doug.

Only life is necessary
Nothing else is

:- Doug.

We can be at play with eldering!

:- Doug.

Who first thought we needed a king for the universe? What if we had asked wandering minstrels? Would we have a merry band? Could we yet?

:- Doug.

If we seek to get ahead in life, we may choose to ask three questions: 1. Of whom or what? 2. Why? 3. What do our answers say about our assumptions and what we most prize?

:- Doug.

We seek to love and be loved. We seek intimacy and a giving of our whole gifts. This is the sacrifice: of our separate and separating egos. When we give our whole self to the one dance, we become as large as we are, as we can be each instant: flowing and flowering.

:- Doug.

If you must know
I am fluid
I am many persons
I am the stream
you cannot twice
You and I share
This dance

:- Doug.

I’m a fluid me
& between you & me
& among he & she
every Now
only a bit the same
only this stream then that
the same

:- Doug.

I and thou can merge
Here amid, one

:- Doug.

Conversation is a gift of ourselves—
persona or essence—
lie or truth
we know which makes the world
which unmakes

Do we give the reality
or the cheap substitute?
Which life do we choose to live?
To give?

In each among
we choose

:- Doug.

Pain inflicted blocks gifts
Remorse digs out the deepest path to the gifts
The most whole living comes in
Giving gifts widely among
Gifts that increase the whole’s interconnections

:- Doug.

If pain serves mainly to stop our gifts, then amonging gets them flowing and flowering. Remorse serves a function of releasing stopped gifts. Giving generates; amonging flowers. Both generate: Giving generates obligation—a need to share; amonging generates opportunities. Giving and amonging are inexhaustible—the more we give among the more gifts and amongs generated. What would you most like to give the world?

:- Doug.

When we inflict (give) pain on another, it creates an obligation on us. When we receive a gift such as life, health, skills, it creates an obligation on us to share it. In the case of pain, we have blocked another’s flow and so we are also blocked. Plus gives forward obligations, Minus stops.

:- Doug.

What do I need to live? G*d nexus, friends, food, clothing, shelter, transportation. Do any of these require money?

But my mind plays tricks. It says I want this home (so I “have to” pay this mortgage, I want my own transportation (so I “have to” have my own car), I must maintain my reputation (so I “have to” pay the bills and fulfill the promises I made in a different era). And on.

What is really necessary? Back to the first question, eh?

:- Doug.

Tell us about your eldering work.

:- Doug.

Elder work is about deepening the participation of families with their elders, finding what generates life among them.

:- Doug.