from Songs of Innocence by William Blake

 

Open Road Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue

 

May 15, 2024

 

Katie sent this:

 

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

 

–John Wesley (1703-1791)

*

 

     For so long I wandered in the darkness and stayed from the light, I was safe there, I was out of sight.

     Not knowing what it was that led along in life, a thread pulled on my heart, some would call it luck, I am alive.

     Whatever it is, I’ve always followed my heart and when I’ve not done so…things don’t work out so well for me.

     We all have a passion inside of us; driven by it, great things come from each of us for others, for all we love in life.

     To give to each other the love we have in our hearts, is truly what is important in life, it keeps all of us together.

 

—Rocky Hutchinson  4-18-24

*

 

#16  Embrace Them With Great Tenderness

 

“Do not fight against pain and do not fight against irritation or jealousy. Embrace them with great tenderness, as though you were embracing a little baby. Your anger is yourself, and you should not be violent toward it. The same goes with all of your emotions.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh, from Your True Home

 

Oh how important it is to remember this! I am so glad that Thich Nhat Hanh is here to verify, to validate this aching truth for me.

 

After fifteen years of inexpressible joy with my dear pooch, my dear dog, Lolo (yes, named for Lolo Pass in the mountains, to replace her shelter name of…Tiffany), she is deteriorating rapidly, and I doubt we have six more months with her. Where once not long ago she could hike 10-12 miles with me, now she can walk only a couple short walks around our property. Her kidneys are failing and her hind legs wobble and collapse until I prop her up and give her a little pep talk. 

 

My heart is breaking. Yes, we’ve had 15½ joyful years with her, so true, but now comes what I have dreaded—accompanying yet another dog through the death process.

 

My heart is breaking, and yet I realized that this great sadness is so filled with love that it is beautiful, that I am fortunate to be feeling this sadness, because it is all love for this creature. My heart is full, and whether it is sadness or joy, the important thing is that my heart is full, and alive.

 

—Jude Russell

*

 

     Beauty Blind

 

Have I grown blind to the attractions of the ordinary?

Have I lost the mundane matrix in background weave

of common days, where the blossom distracts me

from the stem’s grace, which distracts me

from the leaf’s holy hue, which distracts me

from earth, essential earth, each crumb of origin?

 

Any bright young face in the crowd can steal

my attention from all beautiful variations

of the human tribe, from the honest old, the brutal

broken, the pluck and persistence of the unseen.

Wake up, sleepy wisdom. See as sky sees,

pouring light in bounty over all of us.

 

—Kim Stafford

*

 

Why should I be unhappy? Every parcel of my being is in full bloom.

—Rumi

 

As is the world right now!

 

—Jill Littlewood
*

 

From the Rubaiyat:

 

The Bird of Time has but a little way

To fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

—Omar Khayyam

 

—J Kahn

*

 

Rhododendrons are in bloom! Our whole neighborhood is a gigantic garden.

 

Under the greenwood tree

Who loves to lie with me

And turn his merry note

Unto the sweet bird’s throat,

Come hither, come hither, come hither.

     Here shall he see

     No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

 

Who doth ambition shun

And loves to live i’ th’ sun,

Seeking the food he eats

And pleased with what he gets,

Come hither, come hither, come hither.

     Here shall he see

     No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

 

[“Who” here means “Anyone who”]

 

This song comes from Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. The play and the song belong to the pastoral tradition in literature, where rural life is imagined as idyllic and innocent. Usually shepherds are involved. William Blake’s Songs of Innocence are in that tradition.

 

This morning I’m thinking about how we live inside the worlds we imagine. In our lives, innocence gives way to experience. And then maybe…I don’t know what…another kind of innocence. Here’s a poem from my book The Nonstop Love-In that may be about that:

 

let’s pretend

 

instead of pretending that we are afraid

that we must improve

that we have enemies

that the future will arrive someday

 

let’s pretend everything is sacred

pretend this is Paradise

pretend every moment is precious

pretend we love everyone

 

pretend our joy knows no bounds

pretend we are the whole wide world

 

—Johnny Stallings

*

 

GRATITUDE

 

“The Hebrew term for gratitude translates as ‘recognizing the good.’ Myriad benefits come to us every day, but most of us find it easy to overlook them and instead focus on what we lack. This trait is an invitation to sensitize yourself to the good and to the gifts that are certain to be present in your life at every moment, even if at the same moment there happen to be difficulties.

 

—AWAKEN TO THE GOOD AND GIVE THANKS

 

PRACTICE: Say ‘thank you’ to every person who does even the slightest thing that is helpful or beneficial to you.”

—Alan Morinis, from Every Day, Holy Day

 

It is easy to obscure my daily Positive experiences or overlook the seemingly-small kindnesses of others during the day. Yet, I know from previous experience (now lapsed) that any effort to see and appreciate these moments only expands my joy and positive experiences throughout the day. I enjoy the mantra for today. Giving thanks is the easy part, mostly. The seeing of good or Positives—thus awakening—is my threshold of challenge. I can’t help but recall the Robin Williams movie, “Awakenings”; noticing how easy it is to fall into a torpor of catatonia for others’ kindnesses—not even “seeing” that which is slapping my face, repeatedly. Like the patients, I need an “L-Dopa” therapy to shock me from my torpor to sharp alert and to fully present experience of my world and life as it is. Here’s to awakenings for even slight helps, benefits or “good” moments Today!

 

I’ve wanted a “new” mindfulness practice: Providence has afforded me this Mussar practice—combining Judaism, meditation and mindfulness into a regular practice. I learned recently in a read on Hasidis that Zen, which I practiced earlier (2014-2020), is very akin to Jewish Kabbalah practices, and now I have Mussar exercises for my meditation moments daily! 

 

P.S. Having an audience for writing is a helpful focus and—THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

 

—Michel Deforge