Friday, September 28, 2007

Acts Revisited

It has all culminated in darkness.
Though each impetus for thought was one born
of a past moment … each ripe with positive potential …
They all found their conclusion in an empty void.

The spotlight illuminating their future path
accompanied each participant, at the close of each act,
in my repertoire of life encounters.
As they, each in turn, turned from our dialogue,
and made their exit.

It is not as though I harbor an appetite for recurrent gloom.
For, whilst I am among those applauding
the ascension of each of former leading ladies …
I … even as the very least of Stagehands …
Yearn for my companion at the closing of the day’s production.

John-Michael
28 Sep 07



IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE ARTS

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Namaste

na·ma·ste
EXCLAM. a respectful greeting said when giving a namaskar.
namaskar
noun a traditional Indian greeting or gesture of respect, made by bringing the palms together before the face or chest and bowing
It began with my interrupting my newspaper deliveries by pulling to the side of the road, allowing the driver of the garbage collection truck to pull adjacent to the window of my van. He (having no idea who I was nor what this potentially annoying maneuver was all about) pulled cautiously up to my location. “Good morning My Friend … might I offer you a morning newspaper?” I offered. And as I did so, I looked him directly in the eye that he might see that my intention was to pay him respect, and offer him a kindness as an expression of that respect. His faced beamed pleasure, and he accepted my offer with a statement of appreciation. Which has been our commonly accepted and customary experience after these quick exchanges through the years since I initiated that first contact. (And neither of us has even learned the name of the other … that would be an unnecessary detail.)

Again, this morning, I pulled into his path and extended a copy of the newspaper out of my window … a mute salute and repetition of our, by now, many-times repeated exchange. After a rich, though fleeting moment of mutual recognition and honor (including the embracing of each other‘s extended forearm while exchanging “How are you?”s)… I drove away with an up-lifted spirit accompanied by a smile of satisfied pleasure. It was then that I recalled something learned, from Joseph Campbell’s writings, many years ago. The significance of a “namaste” moment.

Joseph Campbell rendered the definition of a namaste/namaskar moment as an outward expression of “The Spirit within me honors the Spirit within you.” I was moved to a deep appreciation of all that is encompassed by such a sentiment when I first read it. And have since incorporated it into my daily walk. For I am thrilled by the potentials and possibilities that such an attitude makes available to every encounter in life. And (though my gesture and words were not in accordance with tradition) that is exactly what I enjoyed this morning with the driver of that service vehicle. And I am compelled to relate it to you, My Dear Reader, and recommend the practice to the betterment of your personal walk.

I have, many times, offered the traditional gesture to Another … then to make clear the intent … told the recipient the meaning behind the gift. A moment of reflective appreciation is always the result. A seed of mutual respect and honor is planted in the mind and heart of another soul in my world. The cost is quite affordable. And the up-side potentials are inestimable.

So, Dear Friend, to you I offer my namaskar with “Namaste.” For I do, indeed honor that beautiful Spirit within you … which is a pleasurable aspect of loving you (which is, also, a choice that I am delighted to have made.)




IMAGE: The Moderate Voice

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The One Amongst Thousands

With its beautifully stated, yet simple truth ... I offer this poem by Francis William Bourdillon ...

The Night Has a Thousand Eyes



The night has a thousand eyes,

And the day but one;



Yet the light of the bright world dies

With the dying sun.







The mind has a thousand eyes,

And the heart but one;



Yet the light of a whole life dies

When love is done.








IMAGES: (Stars) NASA/ Weekly Reader
(Setting Sun) Triad Mohammad (viewer), BBC News

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Language

Language is what we use to process our thoughts. In fact, our thoughts are made known to us with the Language … the words, phrases, and expressions that we are familiar and comfortable with. It follows, then, that by increasing the depth of our reservoir of Language skills we expand the scope of ideas that we can explore … and communicate … firstly with ourselves, then with others.

It is my desire to introduce the Language of Love … of Intimacy … of Caring … into the world that I touch. In so doing, I hope to awaken an awareness of vistas of affection, respect, appreciation, and adoration for the marvelous Creations that we are. How wonderful it will be when we can look into a mirror … or into the face of another … and say “I love you” with the same comfort and ease that we have in criticizing or discounting the worth of that individual.

To that end … please accept my sincere “I love you” … to You. For, you see, I am convinced that we have shared this brief moment of your reading, not by chance … but as a gift from Life. And that gift is worthy of my love.

This my contribution to your lexicon of Language today.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Expression

From the earliest ... we have had a desire to express our innermost visions ... our perceptions ... our experiences. And to make known, to others, the truths, beliefs, values, and impressions that are ours. That the treasure of our having known Life ... will be theirs.



IMAGE through the gracious courtesy of Jon Sullivan, PDPhoto.org

Bliss

(MARVIN and DAD)

Life’s Pinnacle of Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Bliss



Image: Martina Brandstetter (Photo Contest Winner), BBC

Monday, September 17, 2007

The Good Receptionist

"I'm sorry ... He's busy right now ...
You'll have to come back later."





IMAGE:Felix Wong (viewer) BBC

Beauty

… if eyes were made for seeing
Then beauty is its own excuse for being.


Ralph Waldo Emerson
From The Rhodora




IMAGE: Thor Beverley (viewer) BBC

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Jane Tomlinson

Though I (regretably) did not know of her until today ... I am touched and my life blessed by her and her story. I entreat you to click on this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2585103.stm
and allow yourself the same gift that I have just been granted, courtesy of the fine people of BBC.

Whilst her efforts received scarcely little note during her quest from San Francisco to New York, I offer this moment as a tribute to her from this admiring Yank.


"Thank You", Mrs.Jane Tomlinson, for making my world, and this world of those willing to welcome you into their hearts, a far better place for us all.



All Images: BBC News, UK

Monday, September 03, 2007

Our Soul's Yearnings

It would seem reasonable, to the rational mind, that a man in his sixty-second year if life (having completed his sixty-first year in April, last), would have it all settled, understood, and well in place. (“It” being the emotional “stuff” of life.) But, alas, it is not completely so. For, you see, I have been dredging the depth of my own pit of personal depression and discouragement for a bit of a while now. And … in that state, quite unable to detach myself from the numbing, disabling weight of the experience enough to allow for as much as a sensible defining of my malaise. My belief that I was containing my plight, was proven wrong when a loved friend wrote from New York a week or so ago. She asked why I was sounding so “down.” She could “hear” from that distance, what others in close proximity did not. So, today, I am responding (at some considerable length) to Susan’s caring concern.

I knew that something was “up” when I took my cornet out, and left its case open and the instrument available all day (as it is now.) This is something that was a norm for me during my high-school years. I would return home from a day at school … busy, being the campus “Jerry Lewis” character that I was known to be by students and faculty alike. I was engaged in making everyone’s every moment lighter and more pleasant, from my first step on campus to my departure for home, and my solitary hours enveloped in the playing of the blues on my trusty companion … my cornet. Those who saw me as the “wittiest” of my graduating class (or “class clown” … depending on individual definition) had no idea why I was so compelled to engage my environment in the role that I had assumed. Nor, for that matter, had I. Only now … in distant retrospect and through the lens of much study, reflection, psychological testing, counseling, and much experience … do I understand. It is for the same reasons that I have my cornet next to me now. I was … and am seeking some satisfaction of my Soul’s yearning.

Yearning is a word that I never used … nor heard used … until my discovery of the work of Bates and Keirsey. I was introduced to them through my determination to follow up and fully understand the results of my first Meyers/Briggs Temperament Evaluation. “Please Understand Me” by Keirsey and Bates … and subsequently, “Please Understand Me II” by Keirsey … addressed, for the first time in my personal experience, the matter of the yearnings of each of the different temperament types. I am writing today out of a refreshing of my awareness of those truths.

For, My Dear Reader, I have learned … and continue to deepen my understanding of, the truth, and significance, of my yearnings. And … most importantly … the power that those yearnings have in the core of Who I am created to be. What, then, is that power? What is the relevance, of our yearnings, to the scheme of our lives? This! Our yearnings are our “appetites” for the expression of our Spirits’ needs for nourishment and sustenance. Restated … our yearnings inform us of our particular needs for the strengthening, maintenance, and encouragement of our individual Spirits. And, the good news is that we all are not “fed” by the same aspects of life. We all have different “appetites.” Our diverse and particular personalities, temperaments, and characters require varied forms of nourishment for a healthy level of functioning. What may seem to be superfluous and extravagant “desert” to others of different temperament can be … and most often is, a staple of (and critical to us, as a basic fare for) our unique nature.

Thusly, when I learned that 39% of the world’s population is rejuvenated and restored by satisfaction of their yearning for belonging and another 37% find the same in making an immediate impact on their environs … and that achievement serves that purpose for 13% … then, well … it makes more sense to me to know that the 11% portion of those created with such innate inclinations (the group of which I am a part) find their renewal and restoration of their Self … in romance. This informs my rational mind and makes clear the impulse that I have been, of late, struggling with. That impulse to discount and negate the validity of my yearning for romance in my life, as simply superfluous “desert.” For the majority of the world about me would influence my thinking to be predisposed to the acceptance of Belonging, Impact, and Achievement as worthy aspirations whilst Romance is but a silly exercise in inconsequential foolishness. Not so! For, My Dear One, I have just been reminded that … while culture, religion, society, and politic may not recognize its value … romance is just as valid and crucial to my personal nourishment as the other three forms of renewal and satisfaction are to the other 89% of my world’s population.

So, looking back … and next to me now … that constant Friend, my cornet, has been a source of respite for a soul starved of sustenance as it cries out its need in the form of The Blues played with mournful expression not possible with simple words. But today (unlike those yesterdays) I understand that the making better of life for my friends does not bring the satisfaction that Jerry Lewis portrayed in those old movie roles. For, you see, he always found romance in the person of someone who responded to his loving of his immediate world. And, alas, that part of the story is but a fantasy.

And there you have it. The reason for my absence from writing in the blog recently … and the lack of responses to kind and loving Emails. The Person who does those things is, at present, a bit drained for want of restoration and nourishment. But give me a while … I’ll be back. I promise.






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