Robert Frost - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

Can You Remember

I have arrived

Glenn Matson Remembered

I knew Glenn Matson for 40 years. He was my best friend. Recently found this photograph taken at Peet's Coffee near Lake Shore in Oakland, California. We maintained contact everyday by phone; even during his yearly travels across the country from California to his summer home base in Minnesota. He was a man of few words, but deep spirituality. Many people where influenced by him. He passed away last year on January 8th, 2017. He was in his eighty's  Still saying goodbye. 

Life Is A Mystery To Be Lived

Life is a mystery to be lived. 
Day by day, the task is to 
stay awake to this present moment. 
Be quiet inside - and notice 
the "sound of stillness". 
Be at peace.  
Now, now, now ...

Eric Burdon and The Animals - Sky Pilot [Video original]

Original https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP0IXOr9O8U  

Real Philosophy

Vast Unknown

Most of life is spent discovering where we are. It’s not easy - parents try to tell us, but we don’t listen. Of course we are is always “here” in this vast universe of details and mystery.

Years pass, our focus changes. When we were a babies, the focus is mother. Later the focus begins to slowly shift to wisdom in preparation for our demise. When young we are building up our life story; when old, letting go. We prepare for the end of the story. Many poor souls continue to hold onto to youth as hair grows gray and muscles weaken. Nature will take us back to the earth. Dust to dust.

Life is mystery presenting the “unknown” to us.

The Second Coming

The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; 
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; 
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, 
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; 
The best lack all conviction, while the worst   
Are full of passionate intensity. 

Surely some revelation is at hand; 
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi 
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   
The darkness drops again; but now I know   
That twenty centuries of stony sleep 
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? 

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (1989)

"Expression" Americ + Red Cardinal + Jw

Writing and Speaking

Spontaneous Mindfulness

Impermanence

turning around

turning around the
world so easy babbling
free in time's eternity
moving here and there
singing of places long gone 

Gold. Seriously, it will change your entire day

Share.

New Words, New Worlds Pt 2

Slow Walking

Everything Changes

Darkness

It's Not How Long You Live

Arising and Falling

The Great Charlie Chaplin

The speech from his movie The Great Dictator hit me like a truck. The relevance is amazing and eerie.
This is the link to watch it!
Click on it and be moved by the words and the music. The passion.

New words, New Worlds pt. 1

Anxiety And Faith

Learning To Talk

Pomorskie Province - Poland

Pomorskie Province in northern Poland

Pulled Over ...

Pulled Over in Short Hills, NJ, 8:00 AM

Related Poem Content Details

BY ROSS GAY

It’s the shivering. When rage grows

hot as an army of red ants and forces

the mind to quiet the body, the quakes

emerge, sometimes just the knees,

but, at worst, through the hips, chest, neck

until, like a virus, slipping inside the lungs

and pulse, every ounce of strength tapped

to squeeze words from my taut lips,

his eyes scanning my car’s insides, my eyes,

my license, and as I answer the questions

3, 4, 5 times, my jaw tight as a vice,

his hand massaging the gun butt, I

imagine things I don’t want to

and inside beg this to end

before the shiver catches my

hands, and he sees,

and something happens. 

 

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Copyright details:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/92118#poem

When you talk

All that is gold

Cat Tax

National Geographic

First Amendment Broken

A great flame follows a little spark.
 Dante Alighieri

Be the Love Generation

Official Version with Music Video

This song is perfect at this point in our drastically changing lives since it speaks about a new love generation, the legacy we want to leave behind for the children. 

Full Version

This version is the one i like the best because he begins to talk more about spirituality then he was able to on his offical radio edit due to the previous time constraints. 

Keep faith and inspire a new love generation

Standing Rock Native Indian Camp

Native American leaders want the protest camp near Cannon Ball, N.D. 

cleared so a major highway can re-open. Credit: Getty Images

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23012017/standing-rock-dakota-pipeline-protest-camp

Rufus Wainwright singing Hallelujah

Live in Concert 2013
Here is the link

I'd heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well, it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to the kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well baby, I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well, maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Lanterns

Time Crisis

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

The Second Coming by Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    

Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know

    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Breakfast for Thought

Sometimes

being lost

is

knowing where 

you are

Being Right is Not Truth

Truth is not “being right” in discussions, dialogues, and debates. Being right is merely feeling like the winner of an argument; or, “knowing” that “they” are wrong. There's that “us” verses “them” feeling. Those who play for money, power, and victory easily forget truth in their rush to win, be on top, or in control. Unfortunately – it pulls societies away from justice.  

Reflection

A lake is a container and a reflector of worlds around and above; at times revealing worlds deep below the surface. 

  Three Spheres II, by M. C. Esher (lithography, 1946)   

Within each of us is a picture, a map of the entire universe. We are living holograms of all that is.  

You Can Relax Now

Exploring songs I loved a long time ago. This one is among my favorites. ~Americ

Multiplicity Is Only Apparent

Oneness of All Things

Coffee House Mediation

Practice meditation for eleven minutes in a coffee house. Put on a timer. Focus on being present to your body, breath, and ambient sounds. Letting go of fleeting thoughts as they arise. Be here: on the spot. Sometimes it's helpful to gaze at your hands on the table holding a book. You want to look normal within a social environment - not calling attention to what you're really doing. Notice when you slip away into "elsewhere". Return. Do this practice until the eleven minutes are up. You'll find this practice carries over into your everyday life. You become more present to your life moment to moment.

Collaborative Intelligence

The "Collaborative Intelligence Laboratory" emerged while teaching 500 students "Introduction to Computers on behalf the the School of Engineering at UC Berkeley.  Students and myself engaged in on-line dialogue using a web-based discussion system. These where the web's early days. The Internet amplified the ability of groups to dialogue, plan, and share information. A world of viewpoints beyond political and geographic boundaries suddenly opened up. Along the way, the idea of a "Collaborative Intelligence Quotient (C-IQ)" emerged. Every group has a certain C-IQ.

Eventually, I let all these ideas pass when offered a position within the Peace and Conflict Studies department; thus dropping the "C-IQ" focus to deal with something far more difficult - the study of war and peace. Still, C-IQ may be what "saves the world". We now live connected to a "net" that includes almost all the world. Time will tell.   

http://collaborative-intelligence.org/images/ciq-compass3.gif

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Explore Collaborative intelligence resources on the Web.

Chaos Within You

"You must have chaos within you,

to give birth to a star."

~ Friedrick Nietzsche

Live Today

Live today

as if it's

the only day.

Live with 

deep full

presence 

here & now

moment 

to

moment

Governor Andrew Cuomo Calls on New Yorkers to Unite in the Fight for Tolerance and Justice

Time, Money, and Love - Magic Trio

"Time, money and love" is a magic trio. Several combinations of "time, money and love" are possible:

• Time on your hands but little or no money.
• Large sums of money but no free time.
• Lots of love but not enough time and money.

Other combinations are possible. Extreme variations throw societies out of balance. Extreme differences between rich and poor are harmful to a society. People stop seeing each other as human beings and start identifying with their particular social class or status. Harm comes upon our relationships when the time, money, and love ratios are extreme. 

Older & Wiser

Invisible Man

Here Now

Live 

here now

no

other place

or 

other time

is

really real

The Paradox of Our Age

listen

just the sound

of the rain

is enough

.

.

.

Things and People

Stopping Time - Alan Watts

https://youtu.be/Bw-_DO-KUQk

Connectivity Dependency

The Internet is our collective global nervous system; thereby creating a serious dependency on connectivity.  Stores often don't sell food unless their cash registers are on the network. Alternative backup systems need to be in place and occasionally tested. 

Here & Now

Can't be anywhere else.

photo by americ azevedo 

Empty Your Cup

Returning

Rainy Day

Wings

Retrospect

Underneath

Neil Hilborn

Hits me in the heart every time. 

Getting Older Wisely

Getting older wisely certainly has to do with accepting the death of one's own body as natural. Not so easy when I was young. Older people who don't accept physical death as natural are sad sights.