nying thak pa nay thuk ji che

the beauty of this one majestic moment cannot be overlooked
for the only honorable thing to do with that which is sacred
is to give it away, freely
do not protest enlightenment
for it serves no purpose to shrink your own brilliance
my own brilliance, I guess
I am to speak only from my own experience.

I experience a cortisol-lowering relaxation in my sympathetic nervous system
that part of my back that doesn't want to bend
as the lamas and geshes and rinpoche come
to meditate over sand paintings
I sit on a soft couch and watch
seeing if i can make my breath as soft as theirs
no, not this time.
they look up at me and smile with recognition, even give me a wave
and i am taken aback
the reincarnated looking at my eyes
what do you see?
I've not met a bishop who can command my every attention
as these can, though their rank I know not
and their faces I can only distinguish at times
molding in my dreams.

thuk ji che, rinpoche
this one mystical moment
a Sacred gift
a Sacred life
and who am I?
on this dark west, turtle island
centuries in the making
infused with the quiet breath
the deepest prayers
the force of positive energy
thrown into water
scattered so it might be shared
for it will flow, slowly, eventually
through rivers into oceans
which connect us all.

Do not be afraid. I am with you. I am here.

Long time, no talk.
Surrender is the opposite of giving up.

Yes, I am living in Milwaukee. Still? Maybe that's the wrong question. Always changing, deepening, and there is no going back to old ways of being.
Working some jobs, but my real work is yoga and music making. I've been writing and co-writing songs and playing them out. Its tremendous fun, and outrageous joyfulness. Real work. Connected to the ground.

I am more myself than ever.

I am traveling to India next week with a friend of mine. A long trip to deliver tea to a old friend of her's at a Tibetan monastery. Time in a rural village with waterfalls and pineapples.


We have thought, for a long time, about the Earth as our Mother. She has nourished us, given us life, cared for us, stayed with us through it all. But what do children do to their mothers? Do we not take everything from them? Do we not drink from their bodies, take away their restful nights, ask for everything they can give and more? Do we not blame them for our pains and demand they take them away? Do we not take and take with no thought of how much we are taking? And, is this not what we have done to our Mother Earth?

Humanity has, like a child, taken everything it can from our Mother Earth, and more.

But for the child, perhaps it is appropriate to take from our mothers. The thing is, children grow up, and this relationship no longer works. Collectively, humanity needs to grow up.

Charles Eisenstein proposes as new relationship to the Earth, understanding it as Lover. When we fall in love, our lover's happiness is our happiness, her joys, our joys, her pains, our pains as well. Co-creation and mutual sharing is possible. A new way of being.

Ahh, we are falling in love, my Lover Earth.