When the Night

"When the night comes, the land is dark and the moon is the only light... we won't be afraid... stand by me."

Stand By Me

Performed by Ben E King

LISTEN HERE

These words, or words like them could come from various religious texts. Indeed, this is a central theme in human existence. We aren't always sure, not always ready to respond in any compehensive manner when confronted with the unknown, the dark, the fearsome. And like the song, spirtual texts abound, encouraging that we not be afraid...stand by me.

And often we do just that. The moon is the only light we see before the dawn.

The Eagle Flies

Forgiveness

By Miesen and Groth

LISTEN HERE

I ... I'm a roamer in time
I travel alone
Throughout an endless journey
Home ... where is my home?

Fragments of a love life
I won't surrender
When the spirits are calling my name

And I'll go to heaven with you
I'll lay down my head on your pillow
and ask for forgiveness

Once ... I was just a child
Eyes so wide open
You left me broken hearted

Fly ... now I have to fly
Searching for the light
I won't surrender

When the spirits are calling my name
Then I will have passed all the sorrow and pain
And I'll go to heaven with you

I'll lay down my head on your pillow

and ask for forgiveness

Many when hearing the word 'forgiveness' think of error, wrongs against self or others; they don't quickly or easily think of forgiveness in its full sense, love. The Christ reminds his Disciples that of all the things there are, the greatest commandment is to love one another. And to this end forgiveness fulfills a very important mission.

 When he was given up to death the Lord called to God the father, 'forgive them father, for they know not what they do. Luke 23:18-34
So on this day, the Feast of Saint Valentine, do recall the words of the Christ and live.

Really an Everyday Thing, Isn't It?

Silly Love Songs

by Paul McCartney and Wings

Listen Here

You'd think

that people would have had enough
of silly love songs

I look around me and see it isn't so

some people want to fill the world
with silly love songs

so what's wrong with that?

I need to know b'cause

here I go again

I love you

I love you...

Many of us hear the word religion and all kinds of thoughts and reactions arise. We tend to make it complicated, intellectual, even. We like to think it isn't about politics, it's about god; it isn't about society, it's about spirituality, and so on. Well, it is about all these things and some more.

It's simple, really. Religion in another view is about lives, human lives living day to day. We all have thoughts, feelings and relationships. What and how we think about ourselves and the world which we are part of, vastly influences the style and quality of that human existence. So religion need not be icky or avoidable, because it's just about life. And all of us have some experience with that.

So a little help from others may just be what makes a community; for some, it sure makes an opening for a spiritual experience, like this song. Do we need to have an organ playing a dirge song to have a religious experience, do bells need to ring or incense waft upward? In my experience, I have discovered that most often I get out of something more or less what I put into it. If a church, temple or community doesn't move me, then maybe I haven't given much of myself. Maybe my pre-existing notions circumvent me from connecting. Sure, I didn't get anything out of it. But what else did I expect? Nothing gets nothing.

Can our everyday coming and goings be a small part of the whole of life? If so, then this and many other songs may too. They touch us in some meaningful way. A simple song can create an awareness, an appreciation that we had not the sense of before. It's all religion, and like an artist, it's a part of my day. Everyday.

Farmers and Factors

 "The issue today isn't about 'farm factories,'  it's about factors versus access to land for the production of food." --Simple Mind Zen 

While many today disdain, consider farmers factories, as in 'a factory farm," fewer consider them as the factors that they are by necessity. The word  factory is an interesting one. It comes from the verb, to factor, meaning to actively contribute to the production of a result; in the instance of factory, there is the sense of a place wherein one accomplishes the production, usually in multiples. And that is a farm of any size!

It is becoming more the fashion here in the United States, especially, to toss about this term "factory farm" in a sort of pseudo-intellectualism, and a reaction arises to reject these 'factor-farmers' (those who produce in vast quantity to meet the demands of a population), in favor of the small, local farmer, and farmers' markets. As if these are a key answer; they are not. 
Access to land is far more important. While local food sources are tremendously important, bringing quality, fresh food from these "small" producers to the urban population centers is a challenge. The fact is that not enough of us are farmers. That is to say, there aren't enough producing food to meet the vast need. Thus the "factory farmers" arise to take up the slack.

It is nothing new to raise and produce one's own food; indeed, around the world many do just that as millions have done for centuries. Yet here in the United States, despite the intellectual sentiment against big agriculture, against corporate farming, is one basic fact: too many people who don't or won't produce their own food sufficient to feed themselves and their family. They will literally starve if someone shuts down the "pipeline" to their next meals, and in a short amount of time too. Why? As urban dwellers, those income producers, those with ideas and information, which by the way-- ideas aren't edible, now are paying money for someone else to operate the plantations and farms that supply food to their table. In doing so, these urbanites are extremely vulnerable to any and all disruptions involving food reaching their plates.

Relative to population today, there are about three per cent or less who are food producers for the whopping 97+  per cent of the population who cannot or will not produce their own food. The "small family farmer" can't do it. And if they are, they're not small. Take the example of egg production: Here in Illinois a producer-dealer is classified as "small" if he or she produces less than 600 cases (one case equals 30 dozen eggs of any size) of eggs per year (This level of production requires about 550 laying hens, consuming about 15 tons of feed annually, plus all the buildings to house them, storage facilities for their feed, and other needs such as water resources for the birds themselves and to clean the eggs prior to marketing. Let us not forget not to mention manure disposal of the converted 15 tons of feed on an annual basis each and every year). That's a bit less than a quarter million eggs a year. Some of these "small" producers are selling eggs at your farmers' markets; they are supplying eggs to the local food co-ops, the health stores, the alternative retailers, and many do buy them, thinking this is better agriculture. This consumer sometimes even thinks there is a great conspiracy to manipulate and control the market by "corporate" farming operations...

We groan; we complain; we vilify those who feed everyone else who otherwise cannot feed themselves. For those who are willing, pass up the markets, scrutinize more carefully what is meant by "small family farmer." Know that it varies according to species or crops produced by local, state and federal laws, or it may be completely unregulated. The answer is not factory farms nor someone else's "small family farm" either, if the average person is willing to take responsibility for their own foodstuffs. So in order to produce the best, most local, most organic food at the very lowest price-- the answer lies in the use of your own land! Your own flower gardens are nice; they are beautiful, but like ideas and information, they are not edible. How about  some tomatoes, cabbages, corn or other vegetables added to that "flower" garden? What about swapping those "ornamental trees" for real beauties who likewise flower in spring, then give wonderful fruits later in the season, or going full scale-- tearing out your lawn or parts of it for full scale food production? 
If you own a home, you have access to land. This may sound too silly to consider, but more and more people are returning to what our great grandparents and their parents knew well: producing their own food is a basic responsibility. Not doing so was irresponsible; people risked food borne illnesses, harmful contaminants or even starvation. Municipalities today are again permitting bees and other small animals such as chickens, goats and rabbits for food production. Nearly all permit growing vegetables and small fruits such as raspberries, grapes, blueberries and strawberries.

Don't have any land? Apartment dwellers can consider reducing their dependence on food from commercial sources by container gardening, investing in miniature fruit trees and other potential methods to maximize space. Check in your area for "community gardens," or start one for your community. They allow many people to have access to a plot of land to grow a large part of the food they need. Community gardens are now present in urban centers and in small to mid size cities. Growing one's own food is beneficial both to the body and the spirit. It is a holistic and confident lifestyle. The food one produces from the garden beats anything from a store or market. 

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Listen Here

music and lyrics

by Hoobastank

If we want to be true peacemakers, the most vital and intimate peacemaking begins with each of us as individuals within the human family. We cannot support anti-war movements and turn around to attack our neighbor who happens to support another political candidate, for example. We forgive our selves first and most importantly for our own failings, I'm not personally perfect. None of us are. We are not required to be-- to be effective peacemakers.

What is required is that we give evidence of courage and a braveness to forge forward, that we take what is our own and that we own it. Just own it--it is after all your very own creation, the failing that you have made, I wish I could take it all away...be the one... You can catch your own tears and do the hard work to find a reason to live, to exist. Even if that reason isn't your first try, or your first thought. Blessed are the Peacemakers, they will inherit the earth. Peacemaking, forgiveness is powerful, personally and to the world we live in. Let it begin to change you.

We Three Kings of Orient Are

The quest of the Magi: " who having heard the king, went their way. And behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." --Mathew 2:9-10

We Three Kings of Orient Are

We three kings of Orient are

Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star

refrain:
O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light...

Are we not often questing, looking for something, even if we don't think carefully about it? Observing daily rhythms, noticing what brings us our centered, peaceful feelings; often it is in the process, the search or quest that we find ourselves, in simple absorption of the task. The bible story tells us that the star itself moved! Astounding if so, valuable as a symbol; it has the possibility to inspire and guide us in our daily coming and going.

One other thing: did you, like me, perhaps think the Magi were wise, noble men?
They came from the East. Were they Zoroastrians, were they Kings? What about astronomy as told in the story? The ancients of biblical times celebrated the astral glories as creations of G-d; in these glories were all others, like the glory of creation, of man himself. The response to such a moment was awe and delight. In the Book of Job, astronomy does make a pronounced appearance. But no clear or distinct identity of the Magi is given in the Torah or in the later stories of the christian bible.
And despite their obscure, true identity, their act of worship, of reverence to a new life, a small, undistinguished child,  marks them as both humble and simple; both great and wise. We follow then, that star still.

'Tis a Gift to be Simple, a Gift to Be Free...'

So go the words of the old American Shaker tune, Simple Gifts, written in 1848 by Shaker elder, Joseph Brackett:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free, 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, 'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.When true simplicity is gain'd, To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd, To turn, turn will be our delight, Till by turning, turning we come round right.

The song is described as a dancing song, or a quick song; however I sometimes hear this song in my mind. It comes to me, lighting my way, the simple way, the dharma way into a practice of no practice; the willingness to just be is how it seems to me.