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Here is a lovely poem/blessing called Beannacht that I recited at the end of Dad’s memorial service.
On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the gray window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colors,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
~ John O’Donohue ~
In his book “The Everyday Work of Art, Awakening the Extraordinary” Eric Booth opens Chapter 1 with this…
Art, like sex is too important to leave to the professionals — too important because of the delight and satisfaction it provides, and too important because of its role in creating each person’s future. This book is dedicated to restoring our artistic birthright: an endless intercourse with attractive things.
Wow, what a great hook for an opening paragraph. I just put this book on my “Wish List”. I already have over a dozen books on my “to-be-read” bookshelf that I have already purchased. In my daily search for the Beautiful, I have been reading a more poetry, watching the long shadows move along the ground, looking at back-lit leaves on spring trees and gazing at post-dusk satellites that float overhead in star strewn space. Watch out for the Beautiful! You will welcome the surprise it brings.
Here is a short poem by my (I-never-met-the-man-but-I-miss-him-dearly) friend John O’Donohue…
I would love to live
Like a river flows
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding
So, what are you reading or seeing that inspires you to be watchful for the Beautiful?
John O’donohue tells us about “thresholds”…
“thresholds”…which comes from “thrashing” – which is to separate the grain from the husk. So, the threshold is a place – you move into a more critical, challenging and worthy fullness.
When someone calls you and says to you that someone you love is suddenly dying, it takes 10 seconds to communicate that information. But, when you put the phone down, you’re already standing in a different world. Because everything that seems so important before, is all gone, and now you’re thinking of this. So the given world we think is there, and the solid ground we’re on is so tentative, and I think a threshold is a line which separates two territories of spirit… and I think that how we cross is the key thing.
Beauty is about more rounded substantial “becoming”. When we cross a new threshold, if we cross worthily, we heal the patterns of repetition that were in us, that had us “caught” somewhere. And in our crossing, we cross on to new ground where we don’t just repeat what we’ve been through in the last place we were. So, beauty is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth and also a kind of homecoming for your unfolding life.
By-the-way, at exactly 4:59pm (PST) On Friday June 20th, 2008, the tilt of the Earth’s axis will be oriented directly towards the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost extreme. The name solstice is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, its apparent movement north comes to a standstill. The term solstice can also be used in a wider sense, as the day that such a passage happens. The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons…they start or separate the seasons…
On Friday afternoon, I will be with my good friend Dr. Chip at the beach. We will celebrate the passage into a new season together. We must think of something significant to mark this with. Perhaps a single malt dripped on the earth, and raised to the sun in celebration of passages, thresholds and moving through them. Perhaps it will be a painting that will be our memorial. The thing about our moving through the valley of the shadow of death, is that we know that we are going THROUGH, and it is not the place to stay for long. Seeing that there is shadow in this valley, we know that we are surrounded by light… the Light of the world, that on Friday, will cause the sun to stand still for us, unfolding the beauty of life that shines before us.
Postscript… It would be exactly a year from this post (June 18, 2009) that I would suddenly receive that phone call that my father was dying. Suddenly I was standing in a different world. Now, months after his passing, the standing is a bit easier and the Light continues to surround. I am still crossing that threshold, that line in the sand… the line of loss.
The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere – in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion and in ourselves. When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming. Some of our most wonderful memories are of beautiful places where we felt immediately at home. We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul. For a while the strains of struggle and endurance are relieved and our frailty is illuminated by a different light in which we come to glimpse behind the shudder of appearances the sure form of things. In the experience of beauty, we awaken and surrender in the same act. Beauty brings a sense of completion and sureness. Without any of the usual calculation, we can slip into the Beautiful with the same ease we slip into the seamless embrace of water; something ancient within us already trusts that this embrace will hold us.
By John O’Donohue – from the Introduction of “Beauty, the invisible embrace”
I want to pass a question on that John O’Donohue asks in a recent interview… When was the last time you had a really great conversation? …A conversation that you overheard yourself saying things that you never knew you knew? …One that you heard yourself receiving words from somebody that found places within you that you thought you had lost? …had a since that it brought the two of you on a different plane? …a conversation that continued to sing in your mind for weeks afterwards.
I am hoping others will re-tell something significant conversation that has happened to them in the recent past. Something that continued to sing in your mind for weeks afterward. Share it with the world… go ahead… start writing!
In some ways, my recent trip to Assisi was a passage into a new realm… a new reality for me. A realm that allowed me to be far away from all of the things that collect my attention. Passages are like thresholds in that it is what you pass over or go through to get past where you have been. Another way to look at it is like being on the edge of the ocean. While standing on the shoreline, you can see the land where you are, yet look out to the distant horizon and visualize all the potential that is unseen… all of the possibilities. We are often too busy doing the things of life that we never go to the shore, or take the time to open the door that is right in front of us. We get distracted by all of the things that one author calls the “Tyranny of the Urgent” which pulls at you from all directions… like Saint Anthony being tormented by Demons we give attention to the thing that is pulling at your attention the hardest at the moment. While having my own demons to wrestle with during my trip away, I was able to take the time needed to rest, and meditate and ponder my existence and wrestle with these angels and demons. I hope that I have returned with a clearer view of who I am and the life God has layed before me. There is still a lot of work to be done ahead, but moving forward, I plan to take more of these retreats to reflect on the goodness of God and take long walks along the seashore to meditate on the wonderful life I DO have, not be distracted by what is “missing” in my life. We all have so much!
So going with the “passage” theme, Here are some images of doors that I took while in Rome and Assisi. If anyone knows a good “passage” themed poem, feel free to post it in the comments section below. For now I insert a portion of a “Blessing for the Traveler” by John O’Donohue…
When you travel
A new silence goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear what your heart
Would love to say.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
           
My head is full of images of beauty and wonder as I listen to John O’Donohue. I hold my friends dear to my side in life and friendship, and I want to share the following interview with you that we may talk about this approach to seeing life and beauty and God in each other.
John O’Donohue was an Irish poet and philosopher beloved for his book Anam Cara — Gaelic for “soul friend” — and for his insistence on beauty as a human calling and a defining aspect of God. He was interviewed on Speaking of Faith. When you have an hour (make the time) to listen… go to http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/john_odonahue/ to hear this safari of beauty… or » Download (mp3, 53:05)
Here is a quote from the interview…
“If you realize how vital and important to your whole being, spirit, character and healthy friendship actually is, you will take time for it. The trouble for so many of us is that we have to been in trouble before we remember what’s essential. Sometimes its one of the lonelinesses of humans is that you hold on desperately to the things that make you miserable, and sometimes you only realize what you have when you are almost about to loose it. So I think it would be great to step back from ones life and see those that hold me dear, truly see me and those who I need. and be able to go to them in a different way. The amazing thing about humans is, we have an immense capacity to reawaken in each other the profound ability to be with each other and to be intimate. There is this a lonelinesses here that is being covered over by this fake language of intimacy that you see everywhere.”
“When I think of ‘beauty,’ some of the faces of those that I love come to my mind. When I think of beauty, I also think of beautiful landscapes the I know. Then, I think of acts of such lovely kindness that have been done to me by people that cared for me and in bleak and unsheltered times or when I needed to be loved and minded. I also think of those unknown heros…I also love music, I believe that music is what language would be if it could.”
Please make time to download this to your iPod and listen as you walk along the beach, or at the edge of a forest, or at dusk in your own backyard. When you do, let me know and let’s have a cup together to reflect on it. At the least… feel free to make a comment below. -Peace, Rich
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A quote I would love to live like a river flows
Carried by the surprise of its own unfolding
~ John O’Donohue
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John O'Donohue reads Beannacht: 
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