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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Spread Calm


We can all get really shitty really fast when we’re afraid. I get it. I’m using deep breaths along with my personal mantra: ” Try to be scared without being scary.” Feel free to borrow both - they can help….
Stay awkward, brave, and kind. Love each other. Spread calm.
                                                                        Brene Brown
___________________________________

I sit here
on a snowy March morning
contemplating
ruminating

the snow is a bit like a blanket
covering
isolating
even protecting

because it is an angry world out there

it seems so beautiful and calm here
in the high country of northeast Oregon
where high valleys nestling under
the brooding gaze of high peaks

where stoplights
McDonalds
And Walmarts don’t exist

and yet even here
where we often see people at their best
we sometimes see people at their worst

yesterday noon
after a morning of connecting with
special folk
I was headed home with Sirius on the radio
And the sound of the Troggs echoing

When I was met along the way
by one of those aging, jacked up
little 4X pickups (Toyota)
of nondescript color

and out of the window stuck a
bare, wiry arm
rigid and emphatic
raised in a one fingered salute

I didn’t know the car
Perhaps they knew mine
Perhaps this person really didn’t like me
(I am a public figure, and outspoken
 and I suspect there are people who don’t like me,
 and I suspect I have done things at times to earn disdain,
 I am sadly human)

Or perhaps this was just a random
Act of hostility

But it seemed
Somehow
like both a violation, and a symbol

It kind of felt like that one act
symbolizes America today

We are all just kind of roaring down the road
angry
flipping off the world
as we pass by

we all get shitty really fast
when we are afraid
or angry

when events and leaders
stir the pot of enmity
that exists in all our souls

but it is in these times
as we fear Corvid-19
as we are told to distance
as events were cherish are cancelled
as we are forced into tough choices
as schools and churches close

it is in these time
that we need to find within ourselves
that spark of the divine

that Sacred Presence that transforms
and gives us the capacity
for kindness and generosity
for forgiveness and calm

That presence that allows us to do life
A different way
And enables us to look past ourselves
To others

And do the right thing
The healing thing
The protective thing

So as Brene Brown so beautifully says,
“Stay awkward, brave, and kind. Love each other. Spread calm.”

Peace to all of you!
Stephen


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