Suzanne Miller is gracing us all with a free gift of her art in words in photographs. It is well worth downloading:
Category: Uncategorized
The Origin of Me
Beautiful meditation by Steve Tanham:
Out of a hidden fear, we seldom examine our personal origins – this sense of ‘me’. Yet, if we let go that fear, the journey can teach us so much, and leave us with an emotion of deep belonging.
We can explore this with a meditation, rather than the intellect; if you’d like a little journey?
Be quiet and become conscious that our everyday lives define us by how we react to the world. Feel all the things, now, that are defining you. Feel the tensions in your body, the worries and concerns about the day ahead. Feel the aspirations that you have; possibly today holds the chance of a furthering your ambitions? Or perhaps many of those have been defined by others… for you.
Feel how all these things resolve themselves into your body. Is the centre of your body in a knot? If so, relax it with kindness…
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The Way-stone #writephoto #SueVincent
Most saw it as a the remains of a tree covered in moss and simply passed it by without a second thought or glance. Others saw it as something more, and those were the ones it watched. Two faces, one above and one below, with a breadth of life in between. Those that linger the longest hold the most memories, and the Way-stone had been there for centuries, cataloging each movement of the grass and the many feet that had pressed down the green to feel the touch of Earth’s body. The Way-stone had seen trees come and go; an entire forest felled for man before roots pushed their way to light once again, as all life will do. Those men had seen the stone and thought it curious. There was one, though, who stopped each day and lingered with his axe in hand, waiting for the others to pass by unaware.
The Way-stone watched him. Noticing his pause of understanding. The way his eyes saw through the green to the life it hid, and how his heart fluttered through memories of a forgotten time. Each day the two faces in the stone watched and wondered if the man would pause just long enough in his daily routine of felling the trees around him. If he would sit, perhaps, or stand near enough to be beckoned.
There are two directions one can go, and an infinity of possibilities in between. So it’s written on the Way-stone’s visage. The man with the axe sometimes looked to the sky and saw the blue expanse and wondered what was above the reach of his eyes. More often, though, he looked below. He seemed to see those penetrating eyes that watched him and studied each action and reaction. He seemed to know he was a guardian to the path held deep inside where most dare not venture, thinking the surface was all there was or could possibly be.
Then, one day, the man with the axe stopped. The others had gone home and the blue above had deepened to indigo. The first stars had broken the veil of darkness and the man with the axe, who had no one to wait for him, drew close to the tree-like stone covered in moss. He laid the axe nearby and sat upon the cool ground. His back was turned toward the well-traveled path into town, his eyes level with the the green eyes before him.
“Show me the way,” he whispered as he reached his left hand to gently touch its soft side where it broke through the ground below.
Waves of heat pulsed through his skin and the lids lowered upon his eyes. The man felt a drawing inward, experiencing a complete absence of light before the entire universe held inside opened before him and he surrendered into its embrace.
My contribution to Sue Vincent’s #writephoto prompt Way-Stone.
Life comes a full circle
Who has not felt ripples
At some point or another
Life comes a full circle
With its curves of ups and downs.
In the course of living
There will be many ups
Where the ego is boosted
And the spirit seems to soar.
And in the same breath
There will be many downs
Of grief despair and loss
Sometimes beyond compare.
As life continues its path
Between the nowhere and somewhere
Between the pain and pleasures
Know there is an art to living.
Call it the wisdom of moderation
To stay clear of tilting in the extremes
Of emotions that manifest
In life and living.
Sense it all, both pain and pleasures
For what is life after all
A little laughter to fill your hearts
And let your tears flow if they must
Just don’t dwell in it for too long…
Move on, learning to flow with life
You are…
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October Promote Your Book Party!
Indies, a wonderful opportunity to share your books offered by blogger and author Charles French:
Hello to everyone! I want once again to offer an opportunity for all writers who follow this blog to share information on their books. It can be very difficult to generate publicity for our writing, so I thought this little effort might help. All books may be mentioned, and there is no restriction on genre. This includes poetry and non-fiction.
To participate, simply give your name, your book, information about it, and where to purchase it in the comments section. Then please be willing to reblog and/or tweet this post. The more people that see it, the more publicity we can generate for everyone’s books.
Thank you for participating!
Celebrate and promote your writing! Shout it out to the world! Let everyone know about your work!
Feel free to promote a new or an older book!
I hope this idea is successful, and I…
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Religious Syncretism…
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“Then, Samson went down to the vineyards of Timnath and a young lion roared against him.
The Spirit of the Lord came upon him so that, with nothing in his hands, he rent mightily the lion as though it were a young goat.”
– Judges 14
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“And then Samson found a jawbone of an ass and he took it and with it he slew heaps upon heaps of men to the number of a thousand.”
– Judges 16
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“You know, I’m not sure syncretism is quite the right word,” says Wen, eyeing the icon of Gilgamesh with some trepidation.
We are in the British Museum doing ‘research’ as Wen likes to call it.
‘Pick up your staff and pen,’ she said, ‘we have work to do.’
Which means in Wen-Speak, among other things, more churches…
“Your doubts are probably well founded. Mr Graves called it ‘iconotropy’ –…
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SOUL CAGES
Titled: Unshackled…An Artwork By Savvy Raj
Born free we truly are, but we learn to evolve, to move beyond the soulcages of our own being!
When we learn to appreciate the freedom that is ours for the taking, we realise its value in deep gratitude!
‘Do not do this…Do not do that …’ often these are the words which are entrenched in our brains in the name of effective and good rearing.
We are told for goodness sake to avoid disappointments at all cost and to stay away from failure.Often our programming is tracked for success without doubt. Superb indeed! A mindful way of being, which acknowledges the good and disregards the bad.
Great, then where is the issue? There should be none at all! However the reverse is the case… and often as well !
For example… a child very lovingly brought up has to experience and grow in…
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Missing the mark
A new footpath has been installed close to the village, running for a few miles through the silent, empty fields. One of its entrances gives onto the road I travel every day and I have watched with mild curiosity as the work has been underway.
The path is part of a walking and cycling initiative to connect the village to the nearest railway station and, hopefully, reduce the need for cars on the road. It follows the course of the old Roman road, which probably followed the course of an older track, thus continuing a tradition of travel along this route.
My interest was caught when I noticed the workmen had installed a sculpture or two, glimpsed through one of the gates and through the thinning leaves on the trees. Aha, I thought, a Pointy Stone! Even after millennia there is something about a standing stone guarding the…
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Why Myth? IV…
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‘Gilgamesh is among the greatest things that can ever happen to a person.’
– Rainer Maria Rilke.
Those of you with an eagle eye will have realised that next year’s Silent Eye, Spring Workshop has a mythological theme.
It is based upon The Epic of Gilgamesh which is a story worked up into its present form over four thousand years ago.
Prior to its re-incarnation as an epic poem it existed as five independant mythological episodes, which, as we traditionally split our April Workshops into five ritual dramas tends to suit our purposes rather well.
But why do we insist on revisiting the past in this way?
It is our contention that drama as we now have it derives from sacred drama as practised in the mystery temples of old where it was used to develop the psyche of the neophyte and initiate them into the sacred and secret…
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#writephoto regulars: Alethea Kehas from Not Tomatoes
Sue Vincent graciously offered to share guest posts from her regular #writephoto prompt participants, so I took her up on the offer:
I asked the writephoto challenge regulars if they would like to come over and introduce themselves. I would like to introduce my friend, Alethea Kehas who blogs at Not Tomatoes.
Without those of you who write and read the pieces inspired by the weekly photos, thewritephoto prompt would not exist. So, if you follow or take part in the weekly challenge, why come over and introduce yourself too? Just drop me a line…
I’ve decided to take Sue up on her offer to write a post as one of her #writephoto regulars. Yesterday, a friend of mine stayed for tea after attending my Tuesday morning yoga class. She’s lived about two decades longer than I have yet to live and she remarked how she has reached the point of her life when she really does not care, at all, what other people think. I replied that I mostly don’t care…
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The Light Behind the Story 