SOLSTICE

I love the moment, the hour, the day when the sunlight starts to come back. The Winter Solstice. St. Lucy's day. Advent. The darkness on the Prairies in December nudges me into the folds of my parka... into the cushions of my sofa in the chilly studio... into the deep caves of my melancholy. Today I breathe easier. Morning comes moments earlier. Time itself inspires... expires & I feel the opening up of possibility once again. Our solar system unfurls the overture of life returning in the lengthening of days. I worry too much. Life is so precious... so beautiful. I have the great gift of days ahead of me. I am releasing the knots from my brow..the kinks in my soul & celebrating the sun rising anew from the cold white fields of Saskatchewan, like the Phoenix lifting  from the ashes. I am so glad to be alive today. Yes. That is my word today. YES! Today & always.... YES!!!

SUMMER OF LOVE

1967 was  a pivot year. Everything changed. I was alive. I was there. It was the end of innocence…. the beginning of what we are now becoming. That was the year of the great American car… the chariot of the American Dream. The car as the machine of destiny… speed, beauty, grace, steel & glass. The Mustang. The Cougar. The Charger. The SS Chevelle. You could fall in love with a car that year. You could fall in love with humanity that year. The fruits of civilization seemed tangible. At the wheel of an internal combustion engine. Power at the tips of your toes. The sky blue and vast. The full moon still unblemished…. virginal.  The air pure. The highways sketched like silver threads out to the horizon. On the Road… born to be wild. It all changed after that…. it all changed. A car means something different now. We are different. The innocence is ended. We are starting to know ourselves as we truly are. The road still stretches out ahead. Does the sun rise?  Does the sun set?

BIG BANG

SOURCE

The Fundamental certainty I return to... the source of the Creation... the underlying field that holds everything in its gaze is constituted of two principles.... Love & Light. The permutations, temporary patterns of the manifestation (especially in the human realm) are transitory & ephemeral like the ripples that shiver across the surface of the still ocean at dawn.  I am often lost in the chatter of the day to day.. the details of my short story. The dark turbulence & tribulations of the history of our entire civilization is hardly more lasting. When I stop & look inward I return to the place I have always been. At the Source.  That Source is Still but it is not empty. The radiance is boundless. Love & Light bathe the distant circumference of all that is.

PRESENCE OF HEART

The ways of the world have always been turbulent, full of discord, hatred & violence. Hatred & violence beget hatred & violence. The response to violence is not more violence but loving-kindness, compassion & a genuine intention to understand & to heal. The still source at the centre of Creation generates the field of love. The field is ever present & is the true nature of this Universe. Like a magnetic field it manifests as living, breathing love when sentient beings (you & I no less) manifest love in their being & becoming...as we approach the field. Evil is the state of being so far removed from the field’s Source there is no effect of the field. It exists as an absence not a presence... a distance not a closeness.  The response to violence is loving-kindness, compassion & awareness. We have just entered the next Age… the Age of Awakening. There are bound to be growing pains. Recognize them… allow them to play  out… enter back into the clarity.

BE KIND TO THE RESTLESS MIND

        Be Kind... Be Kind... Be Kind to the restless mind....

Be Still... Be Still...& know …   then just flow

Just flow… just flow… let go… let go & flow...         Be Kind.... Be Kind... Be         Kind    to      the      restless             mind

I AM THAT I AM

Finally in my 58th year I have entered into a practice I promised myself I would do all along… meditation… insight-oriented mindful meditation. I have done everything in my over-invested,  over-stimulated, busy, busy, busy life to avoid starting the practice I knew all along was the path to true healing. “ Be Still & Know”…. I like to add “Be Still & know… then Flow”  It seems in these troubled times that great chaos & destruction surrounds us. Know that at the centre… at the source…. there is a loving, boundless awareness… it emanates endless light. The creation is perfect… always has been. It cannot be added to or subtracted from. “Be Still & Know”…. “Then Flow”

CADEUCUS

The art, the science, the calling of being a physician….  a doctor…. a healer. The glass sword of reason separates the spiralling snakes of health & disease. Death… the confidante, the consultant… the touchstone. Compassion…. the abiding principle… the sincere dedication to relieve suffering. The redemption of health, of wholeness comes from the balance of all parts… the whole greater than the parts…. the colours of the circling centres of the energy fields rising from red to yellow, through blue to indigo. It is the clarity of awareness…. the certainty of knowledge, wisdom & intuition that allows the precise decision…. the moment of movement beyond contemplation that defines the act of healing. Healing is the deep desire to become whole…. physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually…. Whole.

COMPASSION

“To suffer with”.  If reason is the tool I use to understand suffering, compassion is the medicine I use to ease it. Reason is a precise, cold, glass sword. Compassion is the white bird rising free. There is a difference between empathy & compassion. Empathy involves an energy, an action, an entering into another’s suffering. Compassion eases me alongside… a being with. Empathy can be exhausted. It is a resource. Compassion if truly felt is boundless… oceanic. Illness opens the door to profound suffering. The art of healing is the art of compassion. Suffering is universal. Understanding Suffering opens the path to spiritual freedom. Compassion allows us to know we are not alone on that path.

CLARITY

In the practice of the healing arts I seek clarity. I hope to know with crystalline certainty the steps that need to be taken to restore my patient to health… to all four realms of health… physical, emotional, psychological & ultimately spiritual well-being. This is a profound & often unattainable goal. It remains my ideal. I need to see clearly what needs to be done to move the individual forward into their highest state of balance. To make the diagnosis  I wield the sword of reason. When I am in my calm, centre as a healer I know with the clarity of mountain spring water… with the translucence of the noon day sky what needs to be done. Fearless with that certainty I am able to act… to show my patient the path to abiding health.

CRYSTAL SKULL

In medicine we present death as the enemy…. a foe to be defeated. In fact, death is our ally. Memento Mori. John Donne had himself painted in his funeral shroud as if he were dead. He kept the painting close to where he worked. Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn let people think they had drowned & witnessed their own funeral. There is no defeating the Grim Reaper. In medicine, we need to take the reality of our pursuit in hand. Death spurs us to open up the possibility of health to our patients…  physical, mental, emotional & most important spiritual health. The point of living is to learn how to die. Once we master the art of dying living becomes a breeze.

THE POISON PATH

"Red touches yellow... kills a fellow....Red touches black... Venom lack" Amazing. The King Snake. The Coral Snake. Nature provides poison & antidote in the same colours. The poison path. A construct I can live by. I walk between two polarities. One is deadly. One gives Life. The path winds gracefully & precisely between the two essences. Medicine & poison are one & the same. The secret is to know  much, when & why. This is the Source of the Tao… of the way to walk with the clarity of the abiding Light. The Shadow close at hand. Danger on one side. Protection on the other. Two snakes coiling. Together. Forever.

CAT

Do you have a familiar? I surely hope you do. Or that you did. Or that you will. The love of friends is the highest ideal. If your best friend is from a different species you are blessed indeed. My best friend  is a Bengal Cat, named Botticelli. I call him Botticelli... that is not what he calls himself. My brilliant teacher-friend, the physician Dr. Lalani, names his familiar Whisp-purr. Why we seek intelligent life in distant galaxies is beyond me. There are myriad forms of intelligent life beyond the human clutter pile right here on the blue green rock we are fortunate to live upon. We "two-legs" are walk-on  members of the cast. When you live with a feline you connect yourself to the great jaguar.... to the sabre-tooth.... to  the  Cat-Goddess Bastet to the great co-evolutianary Creation we participate in. Look into the eyes of Nadim's familiar Whisp-Purr. The nobility, the telepathy,  the precognition... the endless sense of play all are there. When a cat blinks at you it acknowledges your existence. Wait for Whisp-Purr to blink. Wait. Blink. Now you can carry on with your day.

DOVE & TWO SNAKES

Oh, in its moment afloat, a flake of snow is so alone. A water drop falls, in  the waterfall & belongs not at all.  Why comply with desire to rhyme in a rhyming line? An atom passes at the chance to act in random matter.

Oh, in its moment afloat... a flake of snow is so all alone. 

BASTET & THE LITTLE WHITE MOUSE

I live with a bengal cat named Botticelli. He hangs with me like my best buddy. When I look into his green eyes I am met with a mystery. He is both calm, reassuring & present & yet he is distant & self-contained. He can be cold-blooded & fully affectionate in the same time frame. He really is like a falcon. A predator who likes to snuggle. My friend Nadim lives with a black & white cat named Whisp-purr. What does Whisp-Purr think of once he has preened his long white whiskers & found the perfect spot on the Persian carpet in the sun? Food is a necessity to cats not an addiction. Play is essential. Napping. Taking it all in. I could go on. In fact Cats live for the pleasures I seldom allow myself. The ancient Egyptians venerated cats. They even had a Goddess to represent them…. Bastet. I think I am a member of that secret society. The secret society of cats.

BALANCE

The martial arts continue to teach me how to be in balance in this most precarious place. Aikido, Tai Chi, Karate, TaeKwon Do, Jujitsu, Ninjitsu. My Sensei Owen taught me how to be a dancer in the dance… a swimmer in the swim. I  thought Speed,Power, Endurance were the highest athletic ideals. He says the goals are suppleness, balance, flexibility. If you think about it those are the highest ideals of human existence. Feel a cat’s muscles… they are soft, pliable,  lean. Watch a sleepy cat awaken from his nap to fall immediately from a height. Is there anything more graceful… more efficient… more in tune with the surrounding world? They land on their feet every time. Two seconds later they are licking their whiskers, watching motes of dust sworling in the sunbeam. Cat’s are naturals. I aspire to embody their                     samurai insouciance. 

Whisp-Purr's World

The great insight I keep coming back to... human intelligence is limited. There are many types of intelligence. If we can get over our arrogance that somehow our intelligence is superior to say the intelligence of an ant farm, or a bee hive, a peregrine falcon, or a rain forest.... maybe just maybe we can harmoniously integrate ourselves into the great, graceful dance of Creation. In particular... I speak of the intelligence of the Cat. Cats live in the sixth dimension... or higher. They live in the world we merely glimpse in our dreams or in those rare altered states of transcendence that approach enlightenment. When  I ease back into my feline sense of felicity I discover clarity, focus, calm ease, sprezzatura, insouciance & the nonchalance of a fully trained Samurai. Cats live in the world i aspire to abide within. Welcome to Whisp-Purr's World.

MY BROTHER'S KEEPER

I met you in the alley way,  your hood pulled low. 

I’m a different kind of cat.... my coat of rainbow hue.

I am of the sunlight... my body indigo.

I am keeper of the single flame,  the one who sent for you.

You told me all your secrets... so now I know.

You’re the painter of empty skies, a seer lost at sea.

You sit within your silence, in your isolation hole.

I am not the keeper of your prison. I hold the slender key.

Am I my brother’s keeper?

Black sheep, Black sheep.... three bags full.

There’s a love that pours in deeper.

Am I my brother’s keeper?

I saw you in the darkness.... I cooled your fevered brow. 

We drank the Merlot of our Saviour, offered free & clear,

My brother of the lonely... the never never now.

I am keeper of our solemn promise, & fear, I have no fear....           

                               chorus

GUIDED & PROTECTED

Tragedy besets us. Our mother Gaia bows breathless & inundated. The Children of Man have lost their way. Cultures of great beauty & wisdom... the Tibetans... the Celts... the Sioux...   eradicated by avarice & concupiscence. Smoke & foul grime befoul the green fields & blue waters. 
Hope seems extinguished & all that remains is the weeping & gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness.  At the moment of deepest despair... Remember.... Please remember... You are being guided & protected. As John Lennon said... "All you need is Love". "It's going to be alright.... alright." At all times you are being guided & protected.... guided & protected.

FORGIVE ME

No, woman, no cry;

No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.

'Cause - 'cause - 'cause I remember when a we used to sit
In a government yard in Trenchtown,
Oba - obaserving the 'ypocrites - yeah! -
Mingle with the good people we meet, yeah!
Good friends we have, oh, good friends we have lost
Along the way, yeah!
In this great future, you can't forget your past;
So dry your tears, I seh. Yeah!

Said - said - said I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown, yeah!
And then Georgie would make the fire lights,
I seh, logwood burnin' through the nights, yeah!
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge, say,
Of which I'll share with you, yeah!
My feet is my only carriage
And so I've got to push on through.
Oh, while I'm gone,
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right, yeah!
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right-a!
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right, yeah!
Everything's gonna be all right!

So no, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.
I seh, O little - O little darlin', don't shed no tears;
No, woman, no cry, eh.

NO WOMAN NO CRY

Bereft. Bereaved. We enter into that  sadness. The sadness of the woman who has had it all taken away. We live in the Garden. This is the Garden. See the image of the little blue globe seen beyond the rings of Saturn from the back looking probe that goes beyond in to the oblivion. Our island home in the vastness of the cold & black. Earth. Terra. We need only accept. To ease back into the serenity & bounty of this beauteous place we have been given as our birthright. What is it we seek? More than enough. The abundance is plainly all around us. No woman… no cry… my prophet said it best. No woman… no cry…..lift your hands to the Grace that abides…. No woman… no cry…. more than enough…. no woman… no cry….

LIVING LIGHT

 Good old Heisenberg..... His equation says it all. The nature of paradox holds that two mutually exclusive truths can pertain at the same moment. I am not my body exclusively despite the tenets of modern psychiatry & the facts of neurobiology. I am not my psychology, my personal identity, my ego. I am not exclusively a spiritual being either. I am both simultaneously. But if I were to be frank I would maintain that once I accept my spiritual identity everything changes. It all unfolds. If artificial intelligence is a reality I maintain my equanimity. It  does not intersect with the divinity of my soul. The realm of the divine is boundless. It emanates right from the source. I am settled serenely at that source. The paradox of my nature.... soul vs. body.... dissolves its own riddle. Once I acknowledge the reality of spirit all other realities diminish. 

FIELD & PARTICLE

In physics we talk about the field… the grid of dark matter… the underlying possibility… the unfolding of probability. All remains possible. The Creation unfurls like lotus petals releasing their daubs of white on the black canvas of night. The grid is a certainty. The fractal kaleidoscope of permutation & manifestation. The ripples interlock & refract. The hand of the Creator opens. The field reveals the shape it adopts for the here & now. We must bless what surfaces. The one premise I arrive at: The Creation is perfect. It cannot be added to nor subtracted from. Let it be. Let it become.

THIRD EYE

I find myself asleep. I nap. I dream. I drift. I am unconscious… lost to the world. The mists of oblivion erase the sharp edges. The fog clears from the lens of my awakening. I  see with the two eyes that anchor my place in the time-space continuum. I am grateful for the clarity. Clarity. That is my word. That is my invocation…. “Give me clarity.” To know the world as it is. This is a great boon. But to open my inner sight… to know the paths of eternity & to see the Immediate Light that emanates from the Source in the here & now. That is the Clarity I truly seek. To be aware in the now & but simultaneously to awaken to the forever. My invocation… “Give me Clarity!"

HIGHER SELF

In twelve step work the goal is to surrender to the higher power. Most religions are built around the edifice & structures of a supreme, distant Divinity who at once is above & distant from us who watches in judgement & wields a sword of salvation or destruction based on a set of precepts & consequences. I discover that my higher power is in fact my higher self… my true or genuine self who knows who I am & who I am meant to be. I stray. I wander. I lose myself. Then my higher self calls to me. I return. I resurface. I enter. I am who I am supposed to be. My spiritual relationship is not with a distant Divine Other but with Myself… my deepest self… my original self. I ease into the awareness that I am at the Source. Always have been. Always will be. My spiritual journey is towards my higher self. I am calling to me. It is time... to become me.

SING THE BODY ELECTRIC

5

This is the female form, 

A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot, 

It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction, 

I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapour, all falls aside but myself and it.....

Ahh Walt Whitman…. he said it best in his long, single breath lines one hundred & fifty years ago. The human body is miraculously beautiful. Delicate, vulnerable, but resilient & resourceful…a creation of sublime, imbricate complexity. & yes… we are electricity incarnate. Photons transfigured into electrons. The past is imbued with deep sadness. The future seems bleak. But the moment… the Immediate…. it crackles with the flow & charge of the divine currents of boundless energy. I am so grateful to be in this body. I sing the body electric.

BLACK BIRD (singing in the dead of night)

Blackbird singing 

in the dead of night

Take these broken wings 

& learn

to fly

All your life

You were only waiting 

for this moment to arise.

Blackbird fly Blackbird fly

Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night.
Take these sunken eyes 

& learn 

to see 

All your life
You were only waiting 

for this moment 

to be 

free.

LILIES OF THE MOON

I must not forget. 

Why do I always forget? 

I am guided. 

I am protected. Even in the dead of night. 

I am guided & protected. 

At all times. Even in the dead of night. 

I am guided & protected.

Even in the dead of night.