www.theburninghand.com
  • Chop Wood
  • This Is Me
  • Rule of Life
  • Meditation
  • Mother
  • Trail 2
  • Contact
  • Thin
  • Book
  • Lessons
  • Dance
  • Maharaj-ji
  • Baba Ram Dass
  • Poppy
  • Quantum
  • Greta
  • Wendell
  • St. Dorothy Day
  • St. Max
  • Sabbath-Day
  • St. Francis
  • Praxis
  • Tribe
  • St. Francis
  • Trail of Days
  • Making It Sacred
  • Sanctuary of the Heart... Daily Prayers

Poetry Is Pulsing Blood

10/24/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture


Poetry is the pulsing blood of civilization: look around you, where poetry thrives, people and culture thrives. Is there hope for peace, for justice, or for equality? Hope arrives with the poets in the streets...

Poetry is the oxygen in the air of religion: read the Song of Songs: you could throw out the entirety of the rest of the Bible, save for the Song of Songs, and you would have both the Revelation of the One and the path of Perfection of our Sacred Humanity... Read Rumi, Hafiz, Kabir, Lalla, Mirabai, St. John of the Cross, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, or Mary Oliver and you will have an entry point to the Essential Sacred... Poets are the legislators of our future...

Poetry is the muscle flexing in culture: when poetry occupies our vision, everything changes: from Standing Rock to Syria the Corporate Profit Machine seeks to continue its reckless exploitation, oppression, and violence in endless pursuit of all that makes for its domination. Poetry mocks the power of the abuser. Poetry snaps off the invading fingers through the creation of alternative lifestyles, careers, economies, politics, cultures, and religions...

When the writer Dostoevsky wrote "Beauty will save the world", he wasn't thinking ahead to Wall Street marketing campaigns, the selling of scantily clad women, or the predatory capitalism of either drug cartels or Big Oil. "Beauty will save the world" is the slogan of the rEvolutionary personalist. While the Corporate Profit Machine is intently digging a deeper and deeper hole, the rEvolutionary personalist has uncovered an ancient truth: we have all been made for each other! 

Poetry is the relaxed pursuit of the gifting of pleasure, both sexual and mystical. Our bodies have been delightedly created for orgasm just as our consciousness has been created exactly for an endless exploration into higher and higher fields of Quantum Consciousness: poetry is the stroked nerve endings that never end, and the Mystery that is always a new morning, a budding flower, a suckling child, and the endless kiss of possibility...

​  
0 Comments

Iona-Thin

10/20/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
The What if? and the Why not?
Primordial Oneness: Tao
Breathing in -- the Unity -- the Source...
Breathing out -- the Energy -- the Creation...
Nonexistence and Existence both
Continues within our every breath...
Awakening is "Only One".

"Iona" is the myth of the "thin place"... an island of Scotland... and heart of Celtic Christianity... Thin: as in our one task as human beings is to unveil the Divine Consciousness within and surrounding each and every one of us... Thin: as in this One Reality is pregnant within us: waiting for our mothering through gracious hospitality, compassion, justice, and nonviolence... Thin: as in our very own personal "what if?" and "why not?"

We are each called to make a pilgrimage of heart: if not to Iona, then at least to the Iona of our Sacred Imagination... in a world being torn apart by the lust of greed, privilege, and power, we have the sacred responsibility to remember who we are and what our destiny is: we are individualized "units" of Quantum Consciousness -- the Thought that imagines the Universe into being -- and to Whom we are returning through all of the practices of remembrance...

"It is.
We are It.
We forget.
We remember"
So teaches the great yogi Rev. Ellen Grace O'Brian through her Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in San Jose, California. "Forgetfulness" is profoundly evident in the politics of Mr. Donald Trump... somewhat less so in Secretary Clinton (less so because of the strength of her commitment to the equality of women with men)... The politics of division and hate are readily fostered by every brand of extremist: but what we are in actual need of is the "extremism" of a global transformation rooted in nonviolence and compassion... 

​One by one, we need to "thin out" our minds and jettison all that would have us think that we are separate from anyone else: or that we are not "of, by, and for this Precious Blue Planet"... We need to remember the Tao -- the Way -- that is the "Love one another" as taught by the Master, the Poet of Nazareth, Yeshua: Love is the "thin place" that really matters... try it with your partner, with a friend or neighbor: engage in the Holy Competition of who can love more than Infinite Love Itself...

Our daily life is the "Iona" of our sacred practice... Living as a gentle flowing stream is the Way... gifting the water of service and kindness... gifting the water of welcoming shelter and safety... gifting the water of equality and justice... gifting the water of imagination and beauty... Imagine the Possibilities already alive within you! 



0 Comments

    Author

    Robert Daniel Smith was privileged to serve the homeless and marginalized for 30 years in California. He is living now almost within shouting distance of the Twin Cities. He is a poet, artist, writer, and long-time  Companion of the Way still dreaming... 

    ​Recommended Reading:

    ​Son of Man by Andrew Harvey


    ​Be Love Now by Ram Dass

    ​Be Here Now by Ram Dass

    The Rebirthing of God by John Philip Newell

    The Hope by Andrew Harvey

    The Return of the Mother by Andrew Harvey

    ​Creation Spirituality by Matthew Fox

    Loaves and Fishes by Dorothy Day 

    Sacred Pleasure by Riane Eisler

    Occupy Spirituality by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox

    Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

    The Self-Aware Universe by Amit Goswami, Ph.D.

    Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

    The Wisdom Jesus by Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault

    ​Living the Eternal Way by Rev. Ellen Grace O'Brian

    Listening For The Heartbeat of God by John Philip Newell

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    September 2010

    RSS Feed

Copyright (c) Michelle Smith   All Rights Reserved  2017
Photos used under Creative Commons from tejvanphotos, heather aitken, PixFav.com, Rennett Stowe, Never Edit, dsgetch, Jeffrey, spiritchasa, red line highway, luciefly, np&djjewell, Milton Keynes Museum, pmarkham, Wonderlane, Flikkersteph -4,000,000 views ,thank you!, KOREA.NET - Official page of the Republic of Korea, homethods, igo.rs, Daniel Dudek-Corrigan, WarmSleepy, MizGingerSnaps, niiicedave (back from AK USA), rachel_titiriga, neotint, mRio, regan76, Chilanga Cement, Goldmund100, nevil zaveri (thank you for 20+M views:), Sasha Y. Kimel, Evoflash, ianmalcm, National Farm Worker Ministry, CapCase, Larry Lamsa, nathanborror, philozopher, iamathis, keepitsurreal, Elvert Barnes, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, *ErinBrierley*, archer10 (Dennis) 85M Views, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, recommendgroup3, normalsanik, philwarren, Rod Waddington, Nic's events, edenpictures, ell brown, Eneas, skugga2shadow, PiConsti, matsuyuki, Lucie Bluebird-Lexington, Christiaan Triebert, Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It., Schwarzkaefer, K. Kendall, satanoid, Rod Waddington, Adrian Thomson, Rod Waddington, Neon Tommy, Javmorcas, EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, hams37, DigitumDei, Dean Hochman, Rob React, Marion Doss, Celestine Chua, Bold Frontiers, Bobfantastic, Daniel M. Hendricks, The National Guard, micadew, Pero Kvrzica, Pan American Health Organization PAHO, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), Abode of Chaos, zugaldia, jorgemejia, 1nativeTexan, A. Strakey, STUART_BURNS1, Jan Tik, erix!, greensefa, Meanest Indian, miketnorton, eliduke, K. Kendall, willthomas7, Southbank Centre London, fuseboxradio, alden0249, Chuckfranky, **** j a z z z i ***, eliduke, kevin dooley, iz4aks, Loco Steve, U.S. Embassy New Delhi, geckzilla, InSapphoWeTrust, PhotoHenning, Miradas.com.br, srslyguys, otterbeintheatre, Sasha Y. Kimel, Dick Thomas Johnson, justin, cattan2011, Rebecca Harms, ** RCB **, jdg32373, thisisjamesj, Glyn Lowe Photoworks., www.ilkkajukarainen.fi, eugenenoodleman, swong95765, WarmSleepy, scazon, albany_tim, hoyasmeg, austinevan, Easa Shamih (eEko) | P.h.o.t.o.g.r.a.p.h.y, Filipe Moreira, Old Sarge, BlatantNews.com, .shyam., puroticorico, Jim, the Photographer, rajkumar1220, mike.benedetti, Lost Albatross, babasteve, Alex E. Proimos, Falling Heavens, cliff1066™, pixiduc, To Tuscany, Space Ritual, Walt Hubis, qwrrty, Geoff Livingston, nyoin, jeffreyw, Cea., tibchris, Friar's Balsam, Pink Sherbet Photography, Trilok Rangan, cscott2006, Kris Krug, spratmackrel, Celestine Chua, Shashank Mhasawade, AlicePopkorn, mhiguera, waitscm, mikekwaan, Lost Albatross, rajkumar1220, Alan Cleaver, philipmatarese, @jbtaylor, Anosmia, ryPix, Illusive Photography, Beverly & Pack, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Paul Lowry, Ben Sutherland, kamshots, National Farm Worker Ministry, k763, Wonderlane, BAMCorp, bm.iphone, QuotesEverlasting, markbyzewski, greensefa, DonkeyHotey, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), VinothChandar, jamarmstrong, Ian W Scott, olcoge, carulmare, eleephotography, rajkumar1220, AlicePopkorn, billy verdin, Melody Campbell, PixFav.com, cyberien 94, symphony of love, Cory Kipa Photography, Mulligan Stu, Jack Heart, creativedc, yummyporky, Liz Henry, beaumontpete, Karen Eliot, Formula_d, cuatrok77, Eneas, Monica Arellano-Ongpin, YIM Hafiz, AlicePopkorn, dalbera, TausP., Song_sing, Duncan~, Ed Coyle Photography, h.koppdelaney, L. N. Batides, oseillo, K. Kendall, omnos, francesco sgroi, akshay moon, popejon2, Waiting For The Word, DeeAshley, rajkumar1220, mira66, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, Jean-Luc Toilet, Morgaine, Јerry, silviostarr, mahalie, jGlidePhotoATL, bixentro, AirHaake, VinothChandar, niyam bhushan, tedeytan, Kıvanç Niş, kevin dooley, secretlondon123, mike 23, christian.greller, OliBac, quinn.anya, goat_girl_photos, yeowatzup, revmags, jlwelsh, doubledareyaa, bberburb, Cea., clkohan, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), garlandcannon (on hiatus), kdinuraj, TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³, Raphael Goetter, omnos, jeet_sen, rajkumar1220, gbaku, Pink Sherbet Photography, payneshut, timmarshall, cutemosaic.com, Balaji.B, Morgaine, sadeog, DrStarbuck, michaelvito, VinothChandar, Emily Stanchfield, ninja 4 life, Carly & Art, The Jewish Agency for Israel, McD22, Ashok666, Zanastardust, grahamc99, Sharon Mollerus, dental ben, WarmSleepy, Flikkesteph, quinn.anya, h.koppdelaney, Katrin Lorenzen, ernenn, Fairy Heart ♥, Spirit-Fire, Lynda W1, Bob Doran, miheco, micadew