Dance into Tomorrow

I'm having fun!
  I'm dancing without thinking about it.
  I'm running, feet off the ground, soaring into tomorrow.
  I'm energized about the happenings and the potentialities and the exploration!

But then I remember,
  I don't have income to pay for the simple process of living.
  My heart shuts down, my mind lurches, my soul retreats into the darkness.
  Thoroughly ensconced in my fear, I stop breathing, forget the potentials, fall into despair.

And without adieu,
  the brilliance is snuffed out,
  eclipsed by the shroud of death that only fear can impart.
  The chi asphyxiated, the potential slaughtered, the exploration terminated.

Turning to the light.
  Letting go the need to hide behind fear.
  Daring again to face forward, to embrace the dance.
  Stepping into the mystery, intention and faith co-creators and bold.

Dancing in the mystery
  is for the courageous, the audacious.
  And, it is for me...reluctant, awkward, regular, uncertain.
  Dance through the fear, even when you forget the steps!  Dance into tomorrow!

Hallelujah

This week, a teacher assigned us to
  proclaim, 'Hallelujah' in midst of suffering.
  This, I believed, is a Spirit-infused response to life.

That was the theory, the inspiration.
  And now, as another 'dark night' descends on
  my soul, I am called to sing, 'Hallelujah', even as I cry.

Through tears, I listen to Leonard Cohen's, 'Hallelujah'
  over and again, because I cannot bring the word to my lips.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Tears cascading, heart breaking, alone...
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Touch my soul.  Hold it gently, for I feel it
  dissolving into the energy from which it emerged.

And then, this 'I' will no longer exist,
  a memory only to those few it touched.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

'You don't need answers, only prayer.'

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

'I hear you.  I feel your pain.  I love you.'

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

'There is no worst case, only love.'

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

'You are beauty.  You are light.  I AM here.'

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

'Your tears are precious, life giving.  You are precious.'

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah...

They are cold.  They are hungry.
 Warm them, feed them, hold the holy
  gift of pristine water to their parched lips.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Reach to the depths of your immortal soul.
  Find there the treasures gifted your mortal being.
  Shower the world with those gifts..with wild abandon.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

I don't know the tune, but I feel the rhythym.
  I don't know words, yet they appear on the page.
  I can't see the path, but each footfall illumines the next step.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Wretched, hopeless, frightened, alone.
  The heaviness of our hearts draws us ever
  more deeply into the dark, the holy dark, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Wealth beyond measure hiding empty hearts.
  The ravenous, bottomless abyss of earthly measures
  turning souls stone cold, collapsing life in on itself, laughing.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

The dark night of the soul.
  Humankind, the scourge upon the earth.
  People, the answer, the Hallelujah, the hope.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

The Dark

The dark is ubiquitous,
  everywhere, ever-present,
  pierced only occasionally by light.

The dark is the mystery.
  It is the hidden, the unknown.
  It is the veil that hides the secrets.

There is more dark than light.
  But dark is not wicked.
  It is not treacherous.

Like the light, it just is.

The light allows us to see with our eyes.
  The dark invites us to see with our souls.
  Our souls open our eyes to the universe.

The dark universe.
  The mystery inside ourselves.
  Close your eyes, witness the All.

for Ryan

There is a young man who
  bears the anguish of faith-aborted
  by religious zealotry and intolerance.

I wish to encourage him,
  'Please don't let religious soldiers
  despoil or hold your faith for ransom!'

'Remember, always, that
  religion is a social construction,
  invented by those who hold power.'

'It will always be imperfect,
  used for both good and harm,
  for it is an invention of humankind.'

'Religion inspires and oppresses.
  It shows people a path to their gods,
  and lays seige upon defenseless hearts.'

'But, religion's most grievous offense
  is tearing asunder souls from the path of
  faith they were meant to journey in this life.'

'Betrayed by religion, grieving souls
  disparage church and turn from spirit,
  mistakenly conflating religion and faith.'

'My friend, don't make that mistake!

'Find in religion that which
  nourishes and leave the rest behind,
  for it matters not to your faith journey.'

'Find spirit in your own heart.
  Allow your faith to come alive to
  the truth that resides deep within you.'

'Rejoice in that faith!  Release your soul to soar!
  That is why you are here.  This is your path and journey.'

A Different Creation Story

This is a poem from my new book 'Spirit Walk: Journey of a Soul Embodied'.  I renamed the poem here because it really is a different way of understanding the Creation Story, a way, I believe, that inspires hope.

The Oneness in Our Separation

The Chief took me to the fire circle.

As I took my seat,

  spirits of my beloved-departed gathered.

  Then more and more joined the circle

  until I could no longer see the land,

  only spirits gathered about the fire.

They put their arms around each other,

  holding each other in pure love.

  And then, he spoke.

‘For many generations, the people lived as one.

  There was joy, harmony, love, compassion.

  Each distinct person was honored as of

  essential value to the whole, the ONE.

  Uniqueness, difference, was celebrated

  as all understood that each was necessary

  to unity, wholeness, ONENESS.

‘One day the Creator

  gifted them with awareness of individuality

  and invited them to be co-creators,

  to consider how they would add their

  unique light to create life.’

The people,

  mistaking the gift as

  a severance from ONENESS,

  became frightened.’

‘They mistook the gift of individuality as a

  disconnection from the whole, not realizing that

  individuality and wholeness are indivisible,

  the essential alchemy of ONENESS,

  the potential leaning toward,

  the energy that creates.’

‘Devastated by the perceived loss,

  they sought to understand the banishment.

  In their confusion, they crafted a story of that moment,

  "The Separation from the ONE."

'Unable to fathom that they were so terrible as to cause it,

  and fraught with guilt created from misunderstanding,

  they sought others to bear the burden of responsibility,

  and they assigned fault and punishment accordingly.’

‘Where once there was joy in being ONE with the ALL,

  there developed a feeling of separateness and isolation,

  and a belief that the others and their differences

  were somehow to blame.’

‘Fear replaced love and the people grew thirsty, hungry.

  Striving to satisfy the unquenchable need,

  they stood on the shoulders of others,

  unaware they were crushing the others into the ground.’

‘An undulating mass of humanity clawed toward the sky.

  Voracious was their hunger, insatiable their thirst,

  gluttonous for more, ever more, but never sated.’

‘Searching, climbing, acquiring, using, discarding;

  leaving behind destruction, death, sorrow;

  creating separation, isolation, aloneness;

  frenzied, frightened, climbing, climbing, climbing…’

‘Never realizing that the hunger, the thirst,

  were, in fact, not hunger and thirst.

  They were the soul’s sorrow, the soul’s inability

  to live in this illusion of separation and isolation,

  the soul’s attempts to reconnect to the ONE.’

‘Unsated, lost and misguided,

  humanity struggled in vain in the

  illusion of separation and isolation.’

‘Drinking water that cannot quench thirst;

  eating into obesity, but never sated;

  blaming others..all to quell the insidious,

  devastating perception of aloneness.’

Gazing at us in compassion, the Chief explained,

  ‘We will never find our way on this path.

  It is ONENESS we seek.

  There and only there, will the

  obsession to fill the emptiness be quelled.

  There and only there, will we find peace.’

‘We need only remember,’ he offered,

  ‘we are ONE…

  unique, different as stars in the sky, but always

  ONE.’

‘In our liberation from the illusion of separation,

  we will discover love, compassion, peace.

  We will witness, once again, the light

  within each and every one of us.’

‘And, we can become that which the Creator envisioned,

  co-creators, givers of life, beings of light and love.’