The Good Soil

Sunlight Abstraction by Alison Jardine

I like the light in this painting:

'Sunlight Abstraction II Variant I' ~ 50 x 50" oil on canvas pic.twitter.com/m85byZZZYw #art

— Alison Jardine (@alisonjardine) November 1, 2013

Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If art is a creation which captures some deep essence of truth, and in which the whole transcends the sum of its parts, then this masterfully-told story is art of a mythical and poetic form rarely seen in our Western society -- a society in which we tend to focus on the logical and empirical than the equally legitimate range of human experience in the poetic and mythic. Buechner helps draw us back to experience some of that poetic and mythical quality, and even understand some of the jokes that too seriously minded folk might miss from a less imaginative reading of the gospel story. I'm afraid anything further that I could say about this book would fail to do justice to Beuchner's essay, which reads like the yarn of a master story teller and which is framed by the image of a man giving a sermon. Instead of telling the reader "about" the gospel, as a nonfiction writer would do, Buechner leads us to experience for ourselves, and thus to better understand, the elements of tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale, as we ourselves are drawn closer through these interactions to a greater appreciation for the divine. This book is a short read and an easy to read book, but it is one that will both be read more than once and which will profoundly influence how one relates to idea and metaphor in the grand and beautiful story -- tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale, all -- that we call the Bible.

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A Vision of Justice

"Now is the time to make justice a reality 

for all of God's children." 

 Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 2013

Today, on the 50th anniversary of the famous "I Have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Linked without advertising HERE), I ask three questions:

1.  How much progress has been made since August 28, 1963?

2.  What remains to be done to pursue the goal of "justice for all?"  

2.  What can you and I do, today and in our every day lives, to contribute to the answer formulated in question number two? 

Liberation

Chag Pesach Sameah

Happy Passover to my Jewish friends. 

May we all celebrate liberation from bondage into freedom.

The painting is "Splitting of the Red Sea" by Dr. Lidia Kozenitzky

So Live, That When ...

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 

His chamber in the silent halls of death, 

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, 

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 

William Cullen Bryant

Forgiving ...

Forgiving what we cannot forget 

creates a new way to remember. 

We change the memory of our past 

into a hope for our future.

- Lewis B. Smedes

*Photo of Rosa 'Iceberg' at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, taken April 2005 by Stan Shebs

The Magic of Childhood

Today is a big day for me.  On this Epiphany Sunday, marking the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus, the sermon in church was about the question, "Who Is This Baby?"  Good question!  A quarter of a century ago, I looked at my own child and wondered the same thing.

Morley, Be The One

 

BE THE ONE

by Morley

I want you to be the one to find a way out of no way
Be the one to open doors and stand, head held high
Stand! In pointed places and make them round
Be the first in the place over hushed voices to make a sound
Make a sound child

I want u to be the one to feel the rhythm in the room
And never deny what lives inside of you
Be the one to listen, be the one that hears
Possibility without fear, possibility for u my dear
Be the one

(Chorus)

It’s alright alright Take your rightful place
Its alright alright Spread a smile across your face
Its alright alright Believing in you
Bada bada .. feel it like u do

Feel your power in the way u do what u do
I want you to be the one to find a way out of no way
Be the one to open doors and stand, head held high
Stand! Those pointed places, go on and make them round
Be the first in the place where theres no choices to make a sound
Please heal the ground child

Its alright alright Take your rightful place
Its alright alright Spread a smile across your face
Its alright alright Believing in you
Bada bada .. feel it like u do
What if u are one with the one who sends the rain?
What if u are one with the one who turns the page?
What if u are one with the one who sends the rain?
What if u should never apologize?

Never never apologize for the light that’s in your eyes never never
Never never apologize for the dreams in your mind never never
Never never apologize for the love that’s in your life never never
Never never apologize for the gentleness in your stride never
Never never apologize for the light that’s in your eyes never never
Never never apologize for the dreams in your mind never never
Never never apologize for the love that’s in your life never never
Never never apologize for the gentleness in your stride never

Its alright alright Take your rightful place
Its alright alright Spread a smile across your face
Its alright alright Believing in you
Bada bada...feel it like u do…
I want you to be the one, I want you to be the one

Forgiveness (a poem by Ann Weems)

FORGIVENESS

a poem by Ann Weems

(from the book Searching for Shalom: Resources for Creative Worship)

I was wrong,

arrogantly

self righteously

wrong.

So interested in being understood,

I didn’t understand.

So anxious to be right,

I didn’t see your pain.

How is it then

that you’re the one

to bring the flowers? 

Prayer of Thanksgiving

by Ann Weems*

O Lord, you flower the gardens for us

and make green the wastelands

The mountains burst forth with streams of water

The Wind

“He let loose the east wind from the heavens and by his power made the south wind blow.”

Psalm 78:26

Photo courtesy NOAA

The Greek word for “spirit” is the same as the Greek word for “wind.” 

Today, as I dwelt on what it means for us to listen for God, and how we can discern God’s voice, I ran across this YouTube video by the German band Forseti, with haunting music and lyrics.  (Interestingly, according to

Listening to God

“The sheep that are my own hear and are listening to my voice; and I know them, and they follow me.”

John 10:27

(Louis Robbe (attr) Schafherde in hügeliger Landschaft)

These days, there seems to be a cacophony of religious voices, all saying different things. 
In matters of faith, only one voice matters.  How will we discern that voice? 
Psalm 46 says: “Be still and know that I am God.” 
Be still.
We modern folk are such poor listeners.  We label each other, we talk past each other, we judge each other, we jump to conclusions, we stop listening.
We want to be heard, we want everyone else to listen to us, we talk to whomever will listen.
Stop.
Listen.
No, really, I mean it!  Stop talking (mentally even) and … just …
Listen.
This song (linked below) reminds us just to take it in, and to give it back.  Not to tell others or to tell God how it is or what we want, sometimes not even to tell God what we need. 
Sometimes, we are just to
Listen
And, if we respond,  our response is to “lift a hymn of grateful praise.” 
Nothing more, nothing less.

Heather Prusse sings For the Beauty of the Earth

In thought,  word, and deed, let us praise our God.  As it is said in Psalm 19:14:

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Technorati Tags: Heather Prusse,spirituality,meditation,prayer,holy spirit

Landslide

I have a birthday in a few weeks!  Aging is beautiful.  Enjoy this song, as I do:

Welcome 2012: Out With the Old, In With the New!

Attorney and Mediator Victoria Pynchon tells a story of a student who went to study with a guru.

The Master invited the student to have tea.  He filled the student's cup.

Then, a bit later, the Master refilled the same cup.   As he did so, the cup overflowed.

The student exclaimed, "Why did you overflow my cup?"

The Master replied, "To make room for the new, one must first get rid of the old."

As we enter 2012, what old ideas, preconceived notions, habits, and practices must we get rid of, to make way for the new? Have we even consciously thought about what we would like to take the place of the old status quo? What would we prefer to be the new state of being?

New Year's resolutions have a way of being short lived. Short lived, that is, if they are just poured on top of an old cup. To nurture our newest hopes, dreams, and habits, we must first make room for them.

In his book The Power of a Positive No, William Ury frames the issue in terms of a tree.  The roots of the tree are our deepest values, that we tap into to determine our goals and objectives.  The trunk of the tree consists of the major decisions we must make in order to focus on our goals.  One of the decisions we must make, is to “say no” to the things that don’t move us closer to our goal.  By saying “no” to some things, we pave the way to say “yes” to the right things for our lives.  We create a strong trunk that will support our efforts. 

Moving up from that foundation of what we’ve said “no” to, we reach the point where we can focus on what we say “yes” to.  The leaves of the tree are the fruit of our effort, so to speak.  The leaves are the results we see after we make the positive decision to say no to the un-important.   The power of the positive “no” is that it enables us to focus on the things we truly value.  While the book is designed as a text on negotiation, I found this analogy to apply much more broadly in helping me discern what to say “no” to in my life as well as in my negotiations. 

,

In my own life, the past few years have been devoted to developing a law and mediation practice that reflects my unique values.  I decided that I wanted to have a peacemaking practice, a practice that enabled people in relationships to address challenging conflict in ways that are healthy, cost effective, and help them stay out of contested litigation.   Part of my “learning curve” has been to discern what potential clients  to say “no” to. 

Because mediation costs approximately 10% the cost of litigation, I’ve had some potential clients come to me who were only interested in the “cost” aspect of mediation.  They had no interest in finding solutions that were fair to their negotiating partner.   I’ve learned to screen out and say “no” to “cheap” clients on the front end.   For one thing, their mediation is likely to fall apart whenever they realize that my practice does not cut corners on finding measures of fairness.   If a husband earns ten times his wife’s income and she is giving up all rights to alimony, that may be a reasonable decision but I will want to know why.  If the husband has just been seeking a cheap way to dump his wife, the mediation will fall apart right there.   Secondly, a person who is not committed to reasonableness and fairness is just not an enjoyable person to work with.  So, I’m better off without them! 

I’ve also turned away potential clients when it appeared they wanted to seek emotional retribution through an abusive court process.   My bright line rule is that I won’t take a case where the parties want to go to court as a first resort. 

Both decisions have cost clients, and that’s not always an easy decision to make when one is starting a fledgling practice!   

But it has been a good decision.  The decision to say “no” to clients who are not committed to fairness has freed me up to devote my best quality energies to the folk who do care about fairness and who are concerned with finding what is “right”.  

I find that my typical “perfect client” is the person who calls me and says, “I went to see a lawyer, and he told me what to do, and I just can’t do that to my spouse.”  This person – the person who remains concerned what happens to his spouse (or brother or sister, business partner, or fellow parishioner in his church) --  is the person my practice is there to help.   My mediation practice gives this person an option that is simply not available to them in the adversarial system.   If I had never discerned this – if I had failed to say “no” to the “cheap” clients -- then I could never have focused on the “fair” clients. 

And if I had failed to take that step, I would set myself up to be nothing but the “cheap” alternative in a world of cheapness. 

That was last year’s decision, for me.   Now, what will I choose to work on this year?  What will you choose to work on? 

This is a journey I hope we will share together in the coming year.  Please continue to share tea on my blog, and let’s see where the journey leads! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cha Dao! The two Chinese characters on my little tea table stand for the word “tea” and the word “dao”. Cha means tea, and the word “dao” means to arrive. Thus, a literal translation would be, “tea time!”

 

However, there is more to the meaning than this!  My Daoist friends tell me that this character for “dao” is also the word used to connote seeking the correct path, as in “Dao” (or Tao as it is sometimes spelled in English) .   Let us be mindful in this upcoming year, and seek a right path for 2012! 

 

P.S.  If you’re interested in learning more about my law and mediation practice, please visit my web page at http://www.JustMediationLLC.com 

 

 

Technorati Tags: meditation,new year,2012,mediation,dao,new year's resolutions

睡莲 (Water Lily)

This is a rendition of the Chinese song Water Lily, or 睡莲 .   The water lily is a symbol of transformation, growing from the muck of the pond into enlightenment.  The primary stringed instrument in this is the Er Hu. 

Jack Conte Mashup

 

Of course the 50 year old in me says, “I feel sorry for his neighbors” as well as “What’s going on outside his house, is life passing him by?” LOL ;-)

Do You Know Who You Are?

The story is told that Billy Graham was visiting in the lobby of a nursing home.

After speaking with one lady he asked her, "Do you know who I am?"

She replied, "No, but there's a nurse at the end of the hall who can tell you who you are."

:-)    Thank you God for keeping us humble

Translation of Guantanamera from Spanish to English to Chinese

30 March 2009
The song Guantanamera is a Cuban folk song.  It is based on the poem Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca by the poet and hero of the Cuban revolution, Jose Marti.  It's a song of revolution, as well as a song of peace.  Marti wrote:  "Life on earth is a hand-to-hand mortal combat... between the law of love and the law of hate" (letter dated 1881). 
I created this hermeneutic translation a year ago.  I re-post it now for benefit of my Chinese friends who would like a translation of the song from Spanish to Chinese (Zhongwen).  On this 50th anniversary of Chinese rule of Tibet, I post it as a reminder that Revolution can come in many ways, sometimes through cultivation of a white rose. 

   

GUANTANAMERA

Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera
[Guantanamera means a song of Guantanamo
Guantanamo is a town on the Eastern coast of Cuba
Guajira is slang for a peasant from the countryside
Guantanamera]
民歌从关塔那摩在古巴
Guajira
是俗话为一个农民从乡下
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crecen las palmas
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crecen las palmas
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma
Chorus
I am a sincere man from where the palm trees grow
I am a simple man from the land of palm trees.
And before I die, I want to pour out these verses that flow from my soul
我是一个恳切的人
我的家园是棕榈增长的地方
我是一个非常简单的人
我是非常认真的,
我死了以前
我想要倾吐这些诗歌
流动从我的灵魂
Mi verso es de un verde claro
Y de un carmin encendido
Mi verso es de un verde claro
Y de un carmin encendido
Mi verso es un ciervo herido
Que busca en el monte amparo
Chorus
My verses are brilliant green, and also fiery crimson; my poems are clear green, and also flaming carmine; My poems are like a wounded fawn seeking refuge in the forested mountains;
我的诗歌是精采绿色
他们是还火热的绯红色
我的词是软的绿色
我的词是火焰状胭脂红的颜色
我的诗是伤害小鹿
寻找的避难所在树木丛生的山
Cultivo la rosa blanca
En junio como en enero
Qultivo la rosa blanca
En junio como en enero
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca
Chorus
I cultivate a white rose in June and in January; I cultivate a white rose, in June and in January, for my true friend who lends me his steady hand

在6月和于1月
我耕种白色 玫瑰花
在6月和于1月
我耕种白色 玫瑰花
给我的恳切朋友
使用他平稳的手帮助我
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con que vivo
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con que vivo
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo
Cultivo la rosa Blanca
Chorus
And for the cruel one who would break my heart; And for the cruel one who would pluck out my living heart, I cultivate neither thistles nor nettles; I cultivate a white rose

我的心
并且给残暴人拔了出来
我的心
并且给残暴人拔了出来
我不耕种蓟或刺
我耕种白色玫瑰花
Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
El arroyo de la sierra
Me complace mas que el mar
Chorus
With the poor people of this earth, I cast my lot; With the poor people of this earth, I throw my fate, for the brooks of the mountains please me more than the sea

与这地球的世人
我熔铸了我的命运
与这地球的可怜的人民
我一起安置我的命运, 因为
山的小河比的海洋使我愉快
(重覆合唱)
Enjoy: 

 
 
For more, see my Original Post
 

Technorati Tags: peace,nonviolence,revolution,ghandi,liberation

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For more, see my Original Post
 

Technorati Tags: peace,nonviolence,revolution,ghandi,liberation

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For more, see my Original Post
 

Technorati Tags: peace,nonviolence,revolution,ghandi,liberation

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Imagine …

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