TEXTURES OF ALIVENESS:


We will explore and contemplate textures of true ALIVENESS.  What does true aliveness really mean and how do we explore the wild depths of true aliveness?    


One texture of aliveness is living or being in harmony with the rhythm of our own true soul nature rather than living a life that meets the expectations and conditions of those around us.  


Another texture of aliveness is the ability to have the courage to step into the unknown and risk being plummeted by disorientation, uncertainty, change and lack of control.  


Another texture of aliveness is embracing the intensity of our aloneness in this world so that we can continuously discover a deep and true BELONGING to the world, to Creation.  


Another texture of aliveness is walking hand and hand with a sense of WONDER and JOY of our unique presence, beauty and preciousness as well as that which surrounds us and is revealed to us if only we could cultivate being open, spacious quietly present in the moment.  This asks us to suspend the activity of thoughts and judgments so that sacred inner silence becomes a portal through which wonder, beauty and joy may gift us.   


Another texture of aliveness is living a life attuned to REVERENCE and RESPECT for all life and creation.  This can help us to live in richer harmony with all BEINGS.  A last texture of aliveness is COMPASSION.  Can we summon the courage to live with compassion?  Compassion asks us to feel the suffering of others and the earth with all her creatures.


To Learn From Animal Being 

by John O'Donohue


Learn to lean low,

Leave our locked minds,

And with freed senses

Feel the earth

Breathing with us.


May we enter

Into lightness of spirit,

And slip frequently into

The feel of the wild.

 

Let the clear silence

Of our animal being

Cleanse our hearts

Of corrosive words.

 

May we learn to walk

Upon the earth

With all their confidence

And clear-eyed stillness

So that our minds

Might be baptized

In the name of the wind

And the light and the rain.

Nearer to the earth's heart,

Deeper within its silence:

Animals know this world

In a way we never will.

 

We who are ever

Distanced and distracted

By the parade of bright

Windows thought opens:

Their seamless presence

Is not fractured thus.

 

Stranded between time

Gone and time emerging,

We manage seldom

To be where we are:

Whereas they are always

Looking out from

The here and now.

 

May we learn to return

And rest in the beauty

Of animal being,

Mary Oliver:

There are many days and many times 

I go about my business of just being alive 

and I ignore all the wonder 

and music around me.

I walk right past the most exquisite sounds chirping and trilling and speaking to me.

I get in my car, turn on the radio, 

and drown out the morning chorus 

with harsh human songs and human news.

And I miss the daily symphony of Life.  

Invitation

by Mary Oliver


Oh do you have time

to linger

for just a little while

out of your busy

and very important day


for the goldfinches

that have gathered

in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,

to see who can sing

the highest note,

or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,

or the most tender?

Their strong, blunt beaks

drink the air

as they strive

melodiously


not for your sake

and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning

but for sheer delight and gratitude –


believe us, they say,

it is a serious thing

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.


I beg of you,

do not walk by

without pausing

to attend to this

rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.

It could mean everything.

It could be what Rilke meant when he wrote:

You must change your life.