Upheaval and Rest

Today, once again, it's time to recall Sunday to a day of rest. It has not been an easy week. In a time of increasing international tensions, a new war erupted as Israel attacked Iran and Iran launched a counter attack. This same past week also brought a very strange tug-of-war of opposing realities in Los Angeles, with sudden escalation of ICE immigration arrests sparking protests in Los Angeles, and the protests provoking conflict between the Federal Government and the State. The tension quickly escalated as unwanted National Guard troops and military personnel set up camp in L.A. If you follow the news, you know that the tug-of-war rapidly sparked further protests and counter protests across the country. The week culminated in Saturday's military extravaganza parade and a huge counter measure--the 'No Kings' protests cross the country. These cumulative events (along with all the other twists and turns of 2025 America) certainly have been unsettling. Time to step back and recover your spiritual perspective.

When I encourage a spiritual perspective, I do not mean, as one friend wrote me yesterday, "a feeling of global hopelessness." There are times, yes, when responsible people feel the weight of the world, but that weight and weariness is your signal to let go. I can add, 'let go and let God', but more than that, let go and 'let God be God'. To me, that letting go is the willingness to accept a reality greater than we can understand, an Intelligence and Beneficence beyond our limited ideas and frameworks. Yet, there are times when we cannot stretch our emotions to touch what seems like an abstraction. Hence, Christianity envisioned the Father God. Today is Father's Day. As you let go, as you rest, that archetype of God the Father may bring you Peace. Consider: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." (Luke 12:32) Even though not all religions name God as 'Father', they do revere the Teachers and Saints that provide guidance and spiritual support. They too can bring us care and protection as spiritual Fathers (and spiritual Mothers). Fathers and Mothers Day are reminders of spiritual support, as well as the traditions of family relationships. As Buddhist take "refuge" in the teachings and way of Buddha, we too can take refuge in spiritual kinship, when we are on overload.

There is one more cultural element to this week that I invite you to add to your spiritual reflection, Thursday, Juneteenth! It seems particularly important this year when so many structures are shifting, that we remember Juneteenth, as not just a political event, but as a spiritual one: the day when slavery in America was actually, finally, ended. It is a federal holiday, recognizing June 19th as the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. If you do not know the history, consider exploring it. Juneteenth freedom is our freedom. And another reason to celebrate June! (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry: https://poets.org/poem/we-are-marching https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2002%252F09%252F27.html https://allpoetry.com/poem/18418270-Stillness-by-Ophelia-Raine

Life as Movement

Today I invite you to consider the larger view of Life as movement; as a continual flow of events. I use the word "larger" view to encourage you to expand your awareness beyond your own personal experiences, or current events, to the vast field of life forms that fill our planet, and beyond that, the Allness of Cosmic movement. For me, the spiritual life is multi-modal. Human consciousness cannot grasp the totality of Life. Hence, we have filled the world of knowledge with varying stories, perspectives, models--interpreting Life from different angles. Insights, sometimes in split-second realizations, may shape and define a life-long path. Faith grows as we nurture it, as well as through Grace, as an awareness that something outside our own doubt and confusion sustains us. This sense of Life as movement, takes us beyond our understanding of ourselves as separate, unique entities. My friend and teacher, U.G. Krishnamurti, put it this way, "You are not one thing and life is another. It is one unitary movement and anything I say about it is misleading, confusing." (The Natural State, compiled by Peter Maverick)

Years ago I took short trip to Palm Springs, to visit U.G., who was living there for a few months. That afternoon, I sat with him and a friend from Germany. It was a warm, rather lethargic day, but outside the wind was picking up. U.G. began to talk about cause and effect as one movement--not two. He repeated a familiar example: There is a knocking sound at the door. You stand up and walk toward the door. Human logic insists that that the knock and the action of walking to the door are two separate, sequential events, and one caused the other. Yet, why assume these are separate happenings? Rather, here is the movement, the flow of Life. We cannot say one specifically caused the other. "The stimulus and the response are one movement." He often gestured as he talked, and as he was speaking of of the flow, his arm fluidly moved upward. Then he paused, arm up, watching the swaying palm tree outside the window. He quietly added, "that tree out there, that branch moving is responsible for the lifting of my arm." Silence filled the room. In a momentary flash of clarity, I knew "oneness" as actuality. We had let the framework of talking about human interactions; the dancing palm tree was with us in the room.

My point here today is that this movement of life is not just about your unique personal life, and yet, your unique, personal life remains a vital component of the whole. We cannot understand that through logic. Logic has it's place, reasoning has it's place, and mystical wonder has it's place. Life is rich with mystery and wonder. We are not separate from "Life", and we are not separate from events happening down the street or across the globe. The task is to open to the larger world of connectedness, when it is time to move with the larger world, and act within our personal framework as we move through our daily tasks, accepting that our lives impact the whole and the whole impacts us. We don't manage the world, but we are in movement with all Life. That expanded life runs in the background. Take some time today, or through the week, to consider it: your life as the flow of Life. Consider the movement you bring to the world and Life's daily exchange. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/157587/i-cannot-dance-o-lord https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/51061/the-decision-56d22e8fc2b07 https://poets.org/poem/treasure/print

June Joy 2025

This week, I invite you to find the Joy of June: "June is the Joy of God!" (Larry Morris) If you are keeping up with the news, I realize these times of uncertainty and dramatic shifts here in America (and the world in general), may eclipse a call to Joy. I confess that my own awareness of Joy is pretty tightly related to weather--when the literal dark clouds roll in--identified in L.A. as "June Gloom"--I'm more prone to retreat to the light of meditation than venture out in the throb of life. But on days of sunlight and more or less blue sky, Joy is awaiting discovery! We don't have to ignore the human reality that life brings times of difficulty. Rather, the task of spiritual upliftment is recognizing the Good, naming the Good, and watching the Good blossom.

A few days ago my son-in-law sent me this photo from his sidewalk cactus garden. A small barrel cactus had suddenly opened with three bright blooms. As I looked at it, I saw the dichotomy of prickly, sharp and wounding needles below, ultimately giving way to burst free in soft sunshiny petals of Joy. I went over to see it myself, shining bright above the rocks sheltered by neighboring succulents. It was as lovely and joyful as birdsong.

I think of the conflicts of our lives right now, the forces of anger, revenge, threats that feed on attention and fear. I think of the forces of nature that humanity has yet to learn to harmonize--in our push for domination and technological power. And then I think, maybe the world is just full of prickly egos, fearful of actually blooming, always in self conflict, that is to say, in conflict with the truth of Beingness, and therefore unable to find harmony with others. Harmony is another path to Joy in a world of differences. As Emmett Fox advised: "Harmony is inevitable when our thoughts are positive, constructive, and kindly."

We cannot force ourselves to feel Joy. But we can give it permission to be. We can recognize it in ourselves, hold it for a moment, recognize it, name it, let it expand within us, let it bloom. That cactus silently bloomed, as people walked by with their kids or dogs, heading up to the park and the mountain trail. Cars, bicycles, and trucks (carrying fire debris down the mountain) passed by. Lizards, and squirrels raced along that sidewalk, maybe even a bear or coyote or two took a look. Maybe the people and wildlife noticed, maybe they didn't, but it seems to me regardless, the cactus was joyful. So was I. "June is the Joy of God"! Have a joyful week. (Susan Nettleton).

for poetry: https://mercedeslane.tumblr.com/post/101716028/first-love-by-denise-levertov https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/B/BashoMatsuo/templebell/index.html https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42710/joy-56d2215426412

Memorial Weekend 2025

Today, I invite you to a spiritual focus on Peace that encompasses this Memorial Weekend. Memorial Weekend in itself is a strange mix. Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the solemn 'holiday' that honors those who have died in American military service. It is particularly meaningful for family members of those who have lost their loved ones, as well as those whose lives were spared through that sacrifice. Collectively, consciously or unconsciously, we reflect on the mystery of life, both grief and gratitude. Some part of us, consciously or unconsciously struggles with the nightmare of war. Over time, this struggle evolved to culturally shape Memorial weekend as the happy beginning of summer. Summer fun is often communal with outdoor gatherings, picnics, parties, boats and swim-fests, or, we head for the open road with a 3 day weekend of travel and get-aways. We set our minds to enjoying life. In a way, we honor the military sacrifices that have given us the peace to truly live. In missing that meaning, we can unconsciously get stuck in a shadow fear that whispers, "Life has (in the past), and does yet (across the globe), and likely will again (in the future) bring war."

I encourage you to shake it off, with a realization of Spiritual Peace. We cannot manufacture such a realization, but we can practice capturing moments of peace, giving those moments our conscious recognition. We can also catch ourselves in frustration, worry, or anger and learn the words, "Peace, be still." (Mark, 4:39) While I sat in front of the computer screen writing this, I heard a bubbling sound, and suddenly remembered my boiling noodles! I jumped up to rescue them, and almost lost a chunk that wanted to slip away from the colander. Not in the mood to deal with a mess, I maneuvered enough to aggressively throw them where they belonged, but it was a fight! I realized the dichotomy of fighting noodles while writing about the practice of Peace. I had to smile as I remembered Chogyam Trungpa's story in his essay, "Meditation in Action". He spoke of the process of reconciling the peace of meditation with the fury of discovering the rice boiling over in kitchen.

“One must not blame one’s surroundings, one must not blame people, one must not blame external conditions, but without trying to change anything, just step in and try to observe.  that is real sampa, real contemplation on the subject.  And when one is able to overcome the romantic and emotional attitude, one discovers truth even in the kitchen sink.  So the whole point is not to reject, but to make use of that very moment, whatever the situation may be, and accept it, and respect it. " Chogyam Trungpa

We can practice Peace. We can experience Peace. We can let the Peace that we touch and that touches us, lift us. This recognition, this acceptance of Peace is not separate and apart from the "greater problems" of the world. We can even name it as our offering to the world, as it is right now, and in honor of those who have sacrificed their very lives for Peace. We each play our part in the unfoldment of Life. May this week bring a new revelation of Peace, (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry: https://poets.org/poem/soldier https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/B/BashoMatsuo/Summergrasse/index.html https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53900/making-peace

Outer Turmoill/Inner Directive--excerpt

Today's post is an excerpt from my Zoom talk this morning on "Outer turmoil/inner directive"

"In my title here today, I am contrasting coping with turmoil through an inner directive, rather than 'herd consciousness'. I want to clarify what I mean by 'lost in herd consciousness', because that too, can have a mixed connotation. At the far end of the herd spectrum, we completely submerge our individual thought and judgment to a larger collective idea or action. That submerging can give way to impulsive choices and behaviors. It can arise from a deep need to belong, to be accepted, and even avoid facing personal responsibility for our choices. The explosion of social media has taken the human herd capacity to a level beyond even our communal past. At the same time, it has given a venue that demands a unique image to become a "leader" who can stoke a financially successful trend. Herds become essential to sales and economics, the stock market, fashion, food fads and of course, politics. On the other hand, humans do have a genuine need for joining groups, this is what society is about: safety in numbers, exchange of ideas, cross use of skills, the power of belonging and identification with a larger, communal body.

By invoking an inner directive, I am turning to the spiritual as our life source, the movement of life that is expressed as an actual unique individual--not as a false image for the media. Yes, we participate in a larger body of humanity. We also participate in a larger body of nature and other life forms. But here I am zeroing in on the unique individual that we each are. You are unique. Consider this for a moment. My basic stance is the point of your life is to express your uniqueness, ultimately harmoniously, and in cadence with the rest of life, although we often feel in conflict with people and things, especially in the midst of turmoil. We express that uniqueness by consciously or unconsciously following the inner directive. Call it instinctual, call it intuitive, call it listening to our hearts, but turning to this inner guidance, naming it, opening to it's larger Beingness, we walk a path of being ourselves. I sum that up as the larger spiritual reality. Name it God or whatever else you want to name it. This inner directive, for me expresses out of meditation. It is in meditation that I recalibrate from the outer turmoil. But insight doesn't always come directly in meditation. I do see insight as the fruit of meditation, because meditation to me, now, simply means clearing the page. It is permission to wipe the day, the moment, the difficulty, the struggle, the falsehoods clean. It is finding a space where there is no turmoil. Breaking the spell, so that Life again can reveal itself in all its wonder. My experience, is that It (the inner directive) finds you. That may involved initiating the interest, the pull. The world, the social structure, our families and community, educational systems, and now, social media--basically culture is constantly dictating how and who we are supposed to be.

I'm doing my best here not to tell you how your are supposed to be, but rather to encourage you to consider the inner directive in the time of turmoil and follow it. To me that involves creating space(s) without turmoil. That might be meditation, or time in nature in nature, or it might be more active with positive companionship. The key element is space without turmoil and an the openness to receive." (Susan Nettleton)

Links to today's poetry: https://allpoetry.com/The-Pillar-of-the-Cloud https://poets.org/poem/reason-and-passion https://thecontemplativewriter.com/2018/04/26/contemplative-profile-st-augustine-and-denise-levertov/

Mother's Day 2025

This Sunday is Mother's Day. Over the last few years, I have written about mothers, the "mothering" that all sorts of people freely give in nourishment to others, to all, to you--women, men, non-binary--human beings who care. I have written about the Divine Mother that serves as the counter-balance to a Father God. But this Sunday, my thoughts have turn to Mother Earth.

Earth Day is formally celebrated around the world on April 22, but this year it seemed overshadowed by a late Easter season, more weather upheaval, and the unrelenting news of ongoing political moves and counter moves. The brightness of May, has led me back to the awareness of Earth as Mother. Indeed, the United Nations General Assembly, designated April 22 as International Mother Earth Day, as it has since 2009. It continues its work in developing countries with the recognition that "only by reconnecting with Nature as our kin and integrating Nature’s concerns do we succeed in advancing and safeguarding societal progress for current and future generations."

The United Nations Develop Program's statement defines our relationship with Mother Earth as one of "kinship". In fact, the UNDP has declared it essential for any document using the word "Nature" to write it with a capital "N" in recognition of the “intrinsic value of Nature or Mother Earth” as evidence that Nature is “not an object or property, but a subject of law with legal personhood." Call it Mother Nature, or call it earth; it has "personhood." In ancient and indigenous religions, this Earth Mother is Beingness itself, the eternal source of all, to whom all returns. Nothing is separate from Her. Alan Watts put it: "We do not come into this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean waves, the Universe peoples. Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe."

For Walt Whitman the kinship dissolves in love: "Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth! Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees! Earth of departed sunset – earth of the mountains misty-topped! Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue! Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river! Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake! Far-swooping elbowed earth – rich apple-blossomed earth! Smile, for your lover comes..."

What about the cosmos, other solar systems, other dimensions and universes? The whole is too vast for human consciousness to absorb. We move from one vision to another, one idea to another, one truth, or one possibility, to another. We cannot contain it all in conscious awareness--the Unknown remains Supreme. But Earth, even with it's microcosms and hidden caves and forest mysteries, is more knowable, more accessible. I can look around this room where I write and find the Earth beneath my feet as stone-tile floor and dust blown through the door sill. Out the window, I see Earth in bloom. Earth as Mother, why not invite her to Mothers Day? (Susan Nettleton)

https://poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/A/AngelouMaya/ABraveand/index.html https://allpoetry.com/Mother-Earth https://www.best-poems.net/mary_oliver/sleeping_in_the_forest.html

May 4, 2025

After a frustrating morning of various interruptions, disappearing passwords, and lost time checking the day's disturbing news, I decided I needed a short break outside. I opted for carrying out the trash and recycling as a symbolic gesture to restart my day. And actually, it helped. The weather was pleasantly warm; the sky clear. May has erupted full-blown in this small, very green yard. Lemon, orange and blood orange, grapefruit, tangerine, avocado, persimmon trees have rebounded from the fires. Along the path to the trash cans, there are flowers: roses (red, pink, white, orange), red bougainvilleas cover the fence, and azaleas, carnations, and peony brighten multi-shades of surrounding green. Two blue-jays suddenly flew across the yard in a stunning display of freedom. Truly the day was glorious. Even if your area now is bracing for storms, spring will come. Even though we live in times of sudden atmospheric shifts, nature still brings its moments of breathtaking beauty. The key is variation. The phenomenal--really unfathomable--variety of life is its glory. Attempts to reduce creation to sameness, leaves it hollow and stale; infinite diversity is the Way of Life.

Spiritually, it's important to consider this principle of life-as-variation in our attitudes--not just toward the wildness of nature and the animal world; we too, as human beings, are born in variation. We classify and name varieties of human beings, like we classify and name other species, plants, microorganisms, planets, galaxies and even possible universes. Yet, in reality, each human being is a unique combination of genetic, physical, mental, and emotional factors, which shape individual health, personality, behavior, and skill sets. Clearly, diversity serves the mystery of ongoing creation.

It is human thinking that assigns labels and meaning to natural diversity. And it is social-political collectives that assign social value. In my first class of undergraduate political science, the professor defined politics as: "the allocation of values for society." With this grand opening, I was hooked, and actually became a Political Science major. Many years down the road, and several other paths passed, before I understood that this 'allocation' includes the value, or lack of value, of the fundamental principle of natural diversity.

Social values shift and divide us, or unite us, just as religions do. Regardless of belief, politics, and religions, the Movement of Life--Creation Itself, God, the Transcendent--however you name it, brings forth a world of multiplicity and diversity. Surely, Life has given human beings the intelligence and care to respect and nurture Nature's fullness of form. Navigating a spiritual path that recognizes the fullness and diversity of Life, ultimately means finding a place of Peace for all forms of life, including those who cannot accept the fundamental principle of variation and diversity. This week, consider you own attitude, reconciliation, and acceptance of infinite diversity, known and unknown. And in that spirit, why not celebrate Cinco de Mayo, too! (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46986/the-mayfly

https://www.poeticous.com/poets/william-carlos-williams/poems/the-locust-tree-in-flower

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/W/WhyteDavid/WorkingToget/index.html

http://www.whereearthmeetssky.com/musings/2013/09/my-work-is-loving-world-poem-by-mary.html

April 27, 2025

This last Sunday in April, I invite you to pray.

As you read my opening, what comes to your mind? I am not just inviting you to pray, but to consider your personal ideas and responses to prayer. Prayer is a vast spiritual field of meaning: longing, need, healing, faith, gratitude, strength, and surrender. Prayer is power, but not personal power. We can recite prayer, which binds us to collective support, layered with repetitive ideas, thoughts and passion across centuries. Or we can pray spontaneously--in the moment--as words and emotions flow. We can pray in a variety of places, postures, and times. Whatever our way, we are reaching beyond our separate, individual, human capacity to bring forth or express a desired condition. Prayer turns our awareness toward "something greater than ourselves" and our own thoughts, fears and pain.

I recently came across one of Emmet Fox's (New Thought, 1886-1951) teachings on prayer as the way to break a chain of repetitive, negative thoughts. Even though he taught and wrote before contemporary research on consciousness and well-being, he emphasized the power of prayer in the present moment as a way to dissolve negativity. Fox viewed thought as simply "vibration". This was an underlying assumption of 19th-century neuroscience, first described by Isaac Newton, whose work proposed that nerves included vibratory, elastic, and electric properties. Fox incorporated additional assumptions that arose out of early exploration of sound and vibration, including esoteric beliefs on higher and lower vibration, i.e., good thoughts have higher vibrations, and hence bring more good into our lives, and negative thoughts have lower and grosser ones, bringing more unpleasant experiences.

While modern research underscores the health and mental health benefits of positivity compared to a pessimistic view of life, "good vibes" and "lower vibes" are really metaphorical. The late 18th and early 19th centuries brought various theories that attempted to link musical and acoustic vibration to early neuroscience exploration of emotions and thoughts. Obviously music effects our emotional range, and vibration of different kinds impact the body, but the mechanism of thought is not in a symmetrical vibration system with sound--at least not one that has ever been proven. Human neuronal functioning is extremely complex. Thoughts arise from synapses, the connections between brain nerve cells. Those connections are stimulated via neurotransmitters, with a flow of chemical substances in and out of the cells, generating electrical impulses that pass signals from one cell to another.

All that said, Emmet Fox's technique is worth your own experiment. Consider his metaphor of a tuning fork. When a tuning fork is vibrating, you can stop it by simply touching it. The sound was a movement and the movement was stopped. Negative, fearful thoughts, self critical thoughts, paralyzing anxiety, however they are generated in our neurons, can be stopped. Thought substitution is one of the techniques cognitive therapy offers to move past the habit of negative self-thought, but Prayer is more than positive cognitive conditioning--it is indeed positive mental conditioning--but it is more than that. Prayer can be an expansion of consciousness that takes us beyond the boundaries of self, our limited frameworks, our mistaken assumptions. In some ways, it is like a koan that simply cuts through logic and mental rehearsals. We enter another realm. Prayer never leaves you where you started. Short, clear, frequent, from the Heart, today is a good day to Pray. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45323/the-higher-pantheism

https://thecontemplativewriter.com/2018/04/26/contemplative-profile-st-augustine-and-denise-levertov/

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/T/TheophantheR/Imageshoweve/index.html https://monadnock.net/gibran/prayer.html

April 20, 2025

Today is Easter Sunday, 2025, celebrated by Christianity for approximately 1, 995 years. Consider the vast changes that have taken place in the world throughout these centuries--wars, cultures/countries, births, deaths, natural disasters and nature's repair, art, literature, science, discovery and loss of species, new theories, new practices.Yet, the Easter story has remained as a relatively newer religion, compared to tribal and indigenous practices around the world, along with the major religions of Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. Even Buddhism pre-dates Christianity. Many researchers of various disciplines view the totality of world religions as a branching tree, over time and through cultures, unfolding, evolving from our deepest needs--and perhaps even collective memory--as distinctive 'limbs' of human spirituality that sprout in different times, places, and circumstances.

Considering this view, what is the need that sustains the Easter story? At first look, it may seem to be the conquering of death through sacrifice and resurrection. A friend of mine wrote recently that she had found herself reading a philosophical analysis of the improbability of the Resurrection; the book asserts that the "whole Christian creed" is based on Jesus' Resurrection as the Christ. In overcoming death, Jesus fulfills the Biblical prophecy that literally establishes the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The author concludes, if the biblical resurrection is not accepted, the whole Christian construct collapses; the story collapses. My stance has always been that there are many ways of interpreting an almost 2,000 year old sacred text, along with Old Testament foreshadowing dating at least 4,000 years, including metaphoric and symbolic metaphysical interpretations. Since resurrection stories were part of religious/mythical stories long before Jesus, it's no stretch to find them as part of the biblical history, in both old and new testaments.  Years ago, I read an article on "mystery cults" and their influence on Christianity written by Martin Luther King, Jr. while he was in graduate school. The last sentence of his paper is "To discuss Christianity without mentioning other religions would be like discussing the greatness of the Atlantic Ocean without the slightest mention of the many tributaries that keep it flowing." His tributary analogy is similar to the idea of a branching Tree of Religion. If you are curious, the link is: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/study-mithraism.

Last Friday, someone else sent a text simply announcing, "It's Good Friday", and I responded, "A day of forgiveness." My friend asked, "Tell me more." I explained, "Jesus forgives on the cross and asks God to forgive his persecutors. That is the relatable sacrifice. The message is not about suffering, but about love; forgiveness is an aspect of love."

Later in meditation, these two different exchanges about Easter coalesced for me. I realized my sense of Jesus was never about the Resurrection--for me, the teachings of Jesus have always been about healing. 'Rising from the dead', is a metaphor for healing, and love is an inextricable aspect of healing. Forgiveness is an inextricable aspect of love. Love and forgiveness heal. Jesus' branch of the Tree of Religion includes: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you... " (Matthew 5, 43-44) and "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9) This Easter Sunday I invite you to reflect on the ways that love and forgiveness open a path of healing. And consider this Tuesday, a larger healing for Earth Day 2025. (Susan Nettleton)

For Poetry: https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/C/CatherineofS/ConsumedinGr/index.html

https://predmore.blogspot.com/2021/05/poem-r-s-thomas-but-silence-in-mind.html

https://poets.org/poem/love-iii

April 13, 2025

Yesterday morning as I woke up, I caught a poem running through my mind. If it arose from a dream, I had no memory of it. I briefly tried to reach for anything that might have triggered the passage--but nothing immediately linked, although I have used it before in a Sunday post over the years. It seemed an isolated recall from the 14th century Kashmir Poet called Lalla (also known as Lal Ded).

"God of the dark blue throat, who drank the poison to save us, You have six powers, and so must I! But I've grown separate from You, and taken on another six ... They deceive me."

(from Naked Song, translation by Coleman Barks)

I considered that perhaps the "message" was simply about personally "taking on too much", and I entered the fullness of the day. Later, I sat to begin the post for today, on Palm Sunday, the first day of Easter Holy Week in Christianity. Growing up in a Protestant Church, I viewed childhood scenes of waving Palm leaves as part of the excitement buildup of Easter brought Easter Services, special choir music, a great meal, and afternoon visits with aunts, uncles and cousins, Easter baskets, and egg hunts. It was many years later before I understood the larger role of Palm Sunday. Yes, the day marks the Biblical story of Jesus entering the holy city of Jerusalem, riding on a humble donkey, as crowds of followers gather in the streets, waving palm leaves in his honor, as he passes by. But, what begins as a great celebration and welcome, will end in betrayal and death, culminating one week later, with the mystery of the resurrection. In essence, the joy of this dynamic entry is meant as an affirmation of Jesus, as the promised Christ, the anointed Savior of Israel, and beyond that, potentially of the entire world. Many though, envisioned this destiny in the context of a political revolution to overthrow the Roman empire, and restore Israel to freedom and power. Instead, Jesus walked a path of total surrender to God's Will, through humility, sacrifice, forgiveness and love. "My kingdom is not of this world." Here, the spiritual supersedes our limited perspective--our dramas, fears, and fights. It is a call to that which supersedes separation, competition, and personal, worldly gain.

As it turns out, my contemplation on Lalla's poem led me back to the theme of Divine Intervention through sacrifice. The poem refers to the blue throat of the Hindu God, Lord Shiva, Hindu mythology tells the story of a time when Gods and demons came together to churn the oceanic waters releasing the "nectar" that lay at the bottom. This collective churning produced minerals, gems, animals and other coveted materials that were divided up and distributed to the participants. But along with these elements, there was a deadly poison--so deadly it threatened all existence. As the only being with the power to survive the poison, Lord Shiva assumed responsibility and drank the poison, saving life and restoring peace. He swallowed all of it, but did not allow it to move beyond his throat, blocking the esophagus until the poison was absorbed. The effort turned his throat blue. Lalla, in her spiritual trials, gives gratitude for this story of intervention as she realizes that she, too, now has powers, and with them, responsibilities. Yet, she has also come to see the temptation to over-extend, and assume personal power that she can no longer hold. The illusion of personal power will only create the self-deception of separation. She, too, must totally surrender.

If all the plot twists and roller-coaster shifts of 2025 disrupt your peace, give yourself a little more time to re-set everyday. Find those points of good, of well-being, of gentle affirmation, and your personal path of surrender to the larger, overriding, spiritual field. Peace is often practice. (Susan Nettleton)

for Poetry: https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/L/Lalla/Playfullyyou/index.html https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/L/Lalla/Tolearnthe/index.html https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/M/MertonThomas/APsalm/index.html