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SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  1/1/26
DESCRIPTION:photo by Abe Green \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nJanuary 1\, 2026 \n  \nthe Dalai Lama has a busy day today \nhe has to remind everybody \nto be kind to each other \n  \nF. O. Matthiessen coined the phrase “American Renaissance” in his 1941 book with that title. He was referring to the period between 1850 and 1855\, which saw the publication of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Representative Men\, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter\, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick\, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin\, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself. \n  \nI’ve been thinking about the period between 1955 and the present as a “Second American Renaissance.” By an amazing coincidence this period coincides nicely with my own life. I was born in 1951. I’m using the term “renaissance” loosely to mean an exciting time of transformation and new ideas. \n  \nThough Mathiessen’s American Renaissance was short-lived\, like the Italian Renaissance\, it sowed seeds that continued to sprout everywhere. The Italian Renaissance lasted approximately 200 years\, from 1400 to 1600. This Second American Renaissance\, now about 70 years old\, is still going strong. \n  \nWhen I think of the Italian Renaissance\, the first people who come to mind are artists: Michelangelo\, Da Vinci\, Raphael\, Botticelli. But there was more to it than painting. There were the Borgias and Medicis\, Machiavelli\, Petrarch\, Galileo and Columbus. In the same way\, the Second American Renaissance contains all kinds of big ideas and important changes. \n  \nHere are some of the Big Things that have happened: \n  \nCivil Rights Movement\, Environmental Movement\, Peace Movement\, Women’s Liberation\, Gay Liberation\, Humanistic Psychology and the Human Potential Movement\, Eastern Influences: Meditation\, Mindfulness\, Yoga & Zen\, Rock & Roll\, Trip to the Moon\, Whole Earth Catalog\, (return to) Organic Agriculture\, vegan & vegetarian diets\, advances in medical technology\, computers\, cell phones—and a Knowledge Explosion. \n  \nAnd something I’m going to call the “evolution of consciousness.” I am going to put forward the crazy idea that there is even an evolution of love and of peace and of happiness and of wisdom. Sounds New-Agey\, doesn’t it? And the reason is simple: this is a New Age. There was a certain feeling that many of us had between 1968 and 1972 that a Big Change was underway. We were right. \n  \nDuring a “renaissance\,” not everything is groovy. Michelangelo and Da Vinci were rare birds. Not everyone who was living in what we now call “Italy” between 1400 and 1600 were actively remaking the world. The popes and political leaders were horrible people! There was lots of senseless warfare going on—not to mention plagues! So it wasn’t a particularly happy time. But\, as in Periclean Athens\, things were happening in the human imagination that changed the potential of what it means to be a human being. \n  \nThat’s what I mean by the phrase “evolution of consciousness.” In one way\, consciousness\, or awareness never changes. Like Life (with a capital “L”) it just is what it is. But human potential—for understanding and for loving—can change and does change\, both for individuals and for cultures. As Heraclitus and the Buddhists say: everything is always changing. \n  \nEach of our lives is full of possibilities! Let’s make the most of them in the New Year! \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nDriven to Exclaim \n  \nHow can I be so happy! \nThere’s so much bad news! \nInside\, my heart is crying! But \noutside\, the crows are shouting! \nDon’t they heed bad news—ruffians! \nHard times are coming! Hard times \nare here! Everywhere I look\, pain! \nWhy are leaders such angry children! \nI’m such a child I want to stay up \nlate loving the ruined world! \nEven the crows are shouting \nstrange joy! All I can do is crow! \n  \n—Kim Stafford\, Winter Solstice 2025 \n* \n  \nThe Robin and You \n  \nExtravagant in praise he bows to her. \nTells her she is a falcon-ness\, a phoenix \nand in his quiet moments a swan. \n  \nShe knows she is a plain woods robin \nand what matters is her song. \nEarly before the worms\, she practices her art. \n  \nHer flash of red breast a surprise \nonly to those who have no feel for the natural world. \nWrapped inside themselves\, amidst their suffering \n  \nshe sings for them. \nHer beak is the vessel\, her mate the morning dew. \nHer only audience\, the wise and patient yew. \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nThere is still magic in the world\, whether it be natural or man-made. \n  \nAcross the Columbia River from Hood River is White Salmon\, Washington. Every year in early December members of the White Salmon Chamber of Commerce climb in their cherry picker vehicles and head out to Dock Grade\, a half-mile\, one- way road that travels from Highway 14 up the hill to White Salmon. They are laden with close to a thousand Christmas ornaments\, huge ornamental balls and stars to hang in the trees overhanging the road. The ornaments can be 8”-10” in diameter\, and they are suspended 10’ to 30’ up in the bare-limbed trees. You drive up the road and are surrounded by a thousand floating orbs\, spheres\, globes and stars. It feels like you’re floating through space in a spaceship\, with celestial elements surrounding you\, enveloping you. Sunlight shines down and lights each ornament from above. It’s a feeling of magic. The kind of feeling you normally lose as you grow up and become “too old” for magic. \n  \nBut there’s the natural magic—the magic of nature. A terrible wildfire (one of many!) swept through Catherine Creek\, a wildflower lover’s mecca\, and left the entire area blackened\, crushed\, destroyed\, last summer. A friend has been working on restoration there and she told me to head out and take a look—“Just go!” she said. So after the drive up Dock Grade I drove the ten miles out to Catherine Creek and started tromping around: charred\, blackened tree trunks and limbs\, and shrubs nothing more than crusty twigs. Heartbreaking. What am I doing out here??!!? But! I  look down and I  see thousands of tiny blades of green grasses\, and atop many of them\, the soft purple blossoms of the grass widows: the first wildflowers of spring! In bloom! In December!. They hardly ever appear before late February or early March. People make the trek out to Catherine Creek just to see the grass widows in March\, knowing that blossoms mean spring! But here they are\, nodding up at me\, saying\, Yep\, the fires of summer gave us a jumpstart. Thought you’d like that. Like???!!! I love it! The magic of nature. The magic of life. \n  \nAnd this was all in just one day! \n  \n—Jude Russell \n* \n  \n“Know that you are a child of the universe.” \n—Yogi tea bag wisdom \n  \nMusings on a Winter sunny day… \n   \nWhen Winter comes in cold and bright\, after days of rain that have turned Summer’s brown grasses back to green\, I think\, “Oh no\, Spring is coming too soon.” I love the long winter dark\, which is my excuse for reading and being cozy under quilts even in the daytime\, and by the wood stove in the evenings.   \n  \nHere it is New Year’s Eve and Spring is in the air\, coming up all around us in Autumn’s left over leaves—crocuses\, scilla\, hyacinth\, a first pink camellia in bloom\, daphne budding out.  \n  \nThoreau wrote of this wonder in Walden\, about the ponds in Winter\, the first crack of the ice signifying Spring has begun. Frozen ponds are rare in the Northwest\, and snow in the mountains is a month late\, but we have subtle signs. Even in my body that wants to hibernate\, I also want to go out looking for sprouts and buds\, returning birds and bunnies.   \n  \nRecently I read about Thoreau’s extraordinary Kalendar. He had a daily habit of walking and noting what was happening through the season in his Nature neighborhood. His Journal is the record of these practices\, and the Kalendar is their culminating gesture: the final major endeavor of his life.  \n  \nThe charts of general phenomena derived from Thoreau’s long-held sense that ‘our thoughts & sentiments answer to the revolution of the seasons\,’ and his equally long-standing desire to more fully experience and comprehend the complex network of relations—what we would now call the ecosystem—of which he knew himself to be a part. Though Thoreau had for many years been keeping lists and charts of individual observations of the natural world—bird migration times\, the flowering and leafing out of trees—the Kalendar was a discovery: a crystallization of his long-developing ideas about time\, the natural world\, and the nature of perception.” \n  \nReading through this makes me aware of how extraordinary it is to be alive\, to be here at all at such a blip in the planet’s life. I also see this wonder in my puppy’s exploration of Nature. Being a Border Collie\, she is dumbfounded by the squirrels that run up trees\, and by birds and even airplanes in the sky—because these are moving things she cannot herd. She at least has chickens and rabbits and a giant Golden Retriever who visits on weekends. Then there is my granddaughter’s wonder at everything new—mushrooms coming out of the ground in leaves that have turned red!! \n  \nSo\, thank goodness for the seasons that return on their own timeline with no prompting from us. Hopefully we all fall in love with the magic of life and finally save as much as we can for the children and creatures coming along. \n  \nHere is a poem from my friend Barbara\, a gardener and a writer: \n  \nWinter Solstice \n  \nThe long nights recede \nAs the light slowly returns \nAnd my heart lifts up \nStars in the night sky \nYield to an early sunrise\, \nPink and orange sky \nAnd evenings stretch out; \nThe light lingers longer now\, \nWarming the new buds \nI come more alive: \nThe light feeds my hungry soul\, \nStarving for beauty. \nMore revealed each hour\, \nLeaves\, buds\, flowers greet the day \nAs the sun warms them \nWelcome light’s return \nOur gift for surviving the \nDark\, cold winter nights. \n  \n—Barbara Blossom \n  \nSpeaking of watching the wild\, here is a funny aside from Gina Wilson\, who sent this: \n  \nGayle Highpine writes in her book on making friends with wild birds: \n  \n“To survive among us\, they (birds) have to watch what we are doing\, and we are odd and different from the other ground creatures they see. Cows and squirrels and cats and deer are understandable\, and predictable. If you see enough cows\, you have a good idea what to expect from any cow you see. But humans are different. They do different things—sometimes humans do things that nobody’s ever seen. Sometimes a human may change its clothing overnight and yet it is the same human.” \n     \nGina wrote:  Never thought about how we change our “skin”—often numerous times a day! \n  \n—Katie Radditz
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-1-1-26/
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260202
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SUMMARY:An Sceal (The Story) with Will Hornyak
DESCRIPTION:  \nThe Open Road Recommends:  \n  \nAn Sceal (The Story) Will Hornyak joins Portland’s brilliant Corrib Theatre folks to celebrate St. Brigit and Imbolc with dance\, drama\, singing & storytelling. \nThursday\, January 22\,  1 pm \nSunday\, January 25\,  8:30 pm \nThursday\, January 29\,  1 pm \nSunday\, February 1\,  8:30 pm \nT.C. O’Leary’s Pub\, 2926 NE Alberta\, in Portland  \nTickets & info: https://www.corribtheatre.org/tickets \n 
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/an-sceal-the-story-with-will-hornyak/
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260205
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260305
DTSTAMP:20260423T225840
CREATED:20260205T154540Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T011110Z
UID:6043-1770249600-1772668799@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  2/5/26
DESCRIPTION:Bodhidharma \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nFebruary 5\, 2026 \n  \nThe Infinite a sudden Guest \nHas been assumed to be— \nBut how can that stupendous come \nWhich never went away? \n  \n—Emily Dickinson \n* \n  \nBeginning My Studies \n  \nBeginning my studies the first step pleas’d me so much\, \nThe mere fact consciousness\, these forms\, the power of motion\, \nThe least insect or animal\, the senses\, eyesight\, love\, \nThe first step I say awed me and pleas’d me so much\, \nI have hardly gone and hardly wish’d to go any farther\, \nBut stop and loiter all the time to sing it in ecstatic songs. \n  \n—Walt Whitman \n* \n  \nYes \n  \nIt could happen any time\, tornado\, \nearthquake\, Armageddon. It could happen. \nOr sunshine\, love\, salvation. \n  \nIt could\, you know. That’s why we wake \nand look out—no guarantees \nin this life. \n  \nBut some bonuses\, like morning\, \nlike right now\, like noon\, \nlike evening. \n  \n—William Stafford \n* \n  \n“…I believe there is a limit to the number of times a man can profitably inform his neighbor\, or be informed by him\, that the inexpressible cannot be expressed.” \n  \n—Owen Barfield\, from the essay “Imagination and Inspiration” in The Rediscovery of Meaning and Other Essays\, p. 180 \n* \n  \nA man who encountered the Buddha for the first time was impressed by his radiance. \nHe asked: “Are you a man or a god?” \nBuddha replied: “I’m awake.” \n* \n  \nsome thoughts on Zen \n  \nAccording to legend\, one day many people had gathered to hear the Buddha speak. Instead of speaking\, he held up a flower. One man\, Kasyapa\, smiled\, and realized enlightenment. Zen Buddhism traces it’s origin to this “Flower Sermon.” \n  \nThat just about sums it up. \n  \nA thousand years later\, Bodhidharma traveled from India to China\, and sat for nine years facing the wall of a cave. Buddhism had been in China for many centuries by this time\, but this emphasis on sitting in silence was what launched the Zen tradition of Buddhism. Bodhidharma is known as the “First Zen Patriarch.”  \n  \nThe Third Zen Patriarch\, Seng Ts’an\, produced the first Zen text—Hsin Hsin Ming. As an account of what the Zen way of experiencing the world\, it is unsurpassed. Here are 28 of the 73 couplets: \n  \nthe great way (Tao) is not difficult \nit has no preferences \n  \nmake the smallest distinction \nand heaven and earth are far apart \n  \nconflict between liking and not liking \nis the disease of the mind \n  \nif its deep meaning is not understood \nwe strive in vain to quiet the mind \n  \nit is perfect like vast space  \nnothing lacking\, nothing left over \n  \ndon’t get entangled in outer things \nor abide in inner emptiness \n  \nwhen the mind is still \nall views disappear \n  \ntrying to quiet the mind \nis just more activity \n  \nthe more talking and thinking \nthe farther you go from what is \n  \nlook within for just a moment \nand go beyond appearance and emptiness \n  \ndon’t seek truth \njust let go of your views \n  \nwhen the mind is still \nthe ten thousand things do not offend \n  \nwithout an object of thought\, there can be no thinking subject \nwithout a thinker\, there are no things \n  \nthe great way is vast \nto live in accord with it is neither easy nor hard \n  \nfollowing our nature\, we are in harmony with the way \nwandering freely\, without a care \n  \nfixed ideas can’t encompass what is true \nthey sink into darkness\, become unhealthy \n  \nif you want to take the one vehicle \ndon’t reject mental or sensory experience \n  \nto accept everything  \nis to be enlightened \n  \nseeking the mind with the mind \nisn’t that a big mistake? \n  \nprofit and loss\, right and wrong \nget rid of them once and for all \n  \nunderstanding the mystery of one suchness \ndifficulties are forgotten \n  \nno descriptions or analogies are possible \nof this state where relations have come to an end \n  \nempty\, clear\, your light shines \nwithout mental effort \n  \nthought can’t reach this \nbeyond knowing\, imagining\, feeling \n  \nin the realm of things as they are \nthere is no self or other \n  \nno here\, no there \nthe whole world right before our eyes \n  \nthe tiny is as large as the vast \nwhen boundaries are gone \n  \nbeyond words \nno past\, no future\, no now \n  \nLao Tzu’s advice in the Tao Te Ching to do nothing (wu wei)\, and the Zen practice of sitting in silence had a big influence on Chinese and Japanese culture\, and\, more recently\, on the lives of many people in the rest of the world. \n  \nThe idea of sitting in silence seems to many people like a big waste of time. The practice goes back to before the time of the Buddha in India. The Japanese word “zen” is a translation of the Sanskrit word dhyāna\, which means “meditation\,” or sitting silently. Sometimes\, in the quiet\, thought and language fall away. \n  \nI came upon this idea of blissful silence in Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi when I was 19 years old. He called it samādhi. I wanted to get that! \n  \nThe Zen texts which are dearest to my heart\, and to which I’ve returned again and again are: the Hsin Hsin Ming of Seng Ts’an\, Cold Mountain: 100 Poems of Han Shan\, translated by Burton Watson\, Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei\, 1622-1693\, translated by Norman Waddell\, “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman\, Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics by R.H. Blyth\, Zen Mind\, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki & the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh. \n  \nHan Shan lived in China sometime during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He spent the last part of his life living the simple life of a hermit in the mountains\, writing poems like these: \n  \nAmong a thousand clouds and ten thousand streams\, \nHere lives an idle man\, \nIn the daytime wandering over green mountains\, \nAt night coming home to sleep by the cliff. \nSwiftly the springs and autumns pass\, \nBut my mind is at peace\, free from dust or delusion. \nHow pleasant\, to know I need nothing to lean on\, \nTo be as still as the waters of the autumn river! \n  \n  \nThe clear water sparkles like crystal\, \nYou can see through it easily\, right to the bottom. \nMind free from every thought\, \nNothing in the myriad realms can move it. \nSince it can not be wantonly roused\, \nForever and forever it will stay unchanged. \nWhen you have learned to know in this way\, \nYou will know there is no inside or out! \n  \nBankei gave talks to large groups of people. He said we all have unborn Buddha-mind. He said: “Don’t exchange your unborn Buddha-mind for the mind of a hungry ghost!” \n  \nMany of the things Walt Whitman says in “Song of Myself” express what to me is the essence of Zen. Here are a few examples:  \n  \nThis minute that comes to me over the past decillions\,  \nThere is no better than it or now. \n  \nA morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. \n  \nAll truths wait in all things. \n  \nI believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars… \nAnd a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. \n  \n…to glance with an eye\, or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all times… \n  \nZen in English Literature and Oriental Classics is one of my favorite books. I read it slowly. When I get to the end\, I start at the beginning again. Blyth explores the Zen way of seeing and being in the world. We come to see beauty and perfection in ordinary things. \n  \nFor many people of my generation\, Shunryu Suzuki served as a contemporary exemplar of the Zen way. He taught us how to sit. \n  \nThich Nhat Hanh is the most congenial Zen teacher to me. I love his friendliness\, his gentleness\, his sweetness\, his joy. He seems to radiate deep peace and love. His book Your True Home has been for me the most useful guide for how to live my human life on Earth. I’ve given away dozens of copies to my friends. \n  \npeace & love \nJohnny \n* \n  \nIf you want peace love happiness and understanding NOW\, RIGHT NOW\, all I can say\, my friends\, is watch (google\, facebook\, instagram\, etc.) the 18 Buddhist monks as they walk for peace. They are walking 2300 (!) miles from their monastery in Fort Worth\, Texas to Washington\, D.C. They cover approximately 20 miles per day\, and have walked between 1900-2000 miles from October 26th when they began. \n  \nTheir leader is 44 yr old Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara\, and he began this journey in an attempt to foster and promote peace in his fellow man\, in a troubled world. When they began there were a few curious onlookers—a very few. Most just curious to see these burnt-orange robed men walking\, mostly barefoot\, (but booted and bundled when heavy snow began to fall)\, along the roadways\, first through Texas\, then Louisiana\, Alabama\, Georgia… Soon\, however\, there were hundreds\, and then thousands\, tens of thousands followers\, the monks now with multiple police escorts to manage the crowds. Men\, women\, children all lining the roads\, bowing their heads offering prayers and heartfelt thank yous\, shedding tears\, tears of relief\, and peace and joy to witness this moment of beauty\, this moment of peace in a fractured world. This respite from pain. \n  \nThe Venerable Bhikkhu says he has been overwhelmed at the response; he never expected this  tremendous show of peace\, love\, happiness and understanding. Now millions are watching\, witnessing their progress towards Washington\, DC. \n  \nThe peace which passeth all understanding. This is it. \n  \n—Jude Russell
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-2-5-26/
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260214T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260214T160000
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CREATED:20251222T011412Z
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UID:5981-1771077600-1771084800@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Humanism   2/14/26
DESCRIPTION:  \nHUMANISM \n  \nJohnny Stallings will host a dialogue on Humanism on Saturday\, February 14th\, 2026\, at 2 pm (PST).  \nHere’s the Zoom link: \n  \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/82751789337 \n  \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/humanism/
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