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...and they lived happily ever after. Smith & Lady: poets, artists, photographers & adventurers.
Our relationship was forged to the soundtrack of Yoko Ono's magic,
frenetic, love-laden song, "Walking On Thin Ice." ( play song )
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Archive for the ‘Letters to the Universe’ Category
Saturday, May 18th, 2013
Lately I keep thinking about the movie “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” In the movie, they find out that in the future they are worshiped and the whole of future society is based on them. The motto of the society is “be excellent to each other.”
I love 80s expressions like “excellent” and “awesome.” I love thinking about the hearty innocence and doggie gusto of Keanu Reeves. Yeah, he’s kind of bland, but he’s still *excellent.*
I am on a quest. My quest is to be as excellent as I can be in all the little nooks and crannies of the Thomas’s english muffin of my life, the big, most excellent, vegan-butter-and-raw-honey-whole-wheat-toasted english muffin of my life, the english muffin of my life that is delectable yet leaves one wanting more life to live!
So for the past two years I’ve been beating myself over the head with activist efforts without letting myself have the teensiest toe-dip in the actual tangible parts of what it is I would affect positively with my activism.
That’s changed recently. I am working on tangible, immediate results in addition to abstract work.
There are two things we’re picking up: volunteering at the APL doing dog-walking and working on protecting the watershed. So rather than only sitting and talking, Smith and I are out there doing fun stuff and getting exercise and being with each other, helping save the world and being and feeling excellent.
Volunteering at the APL is such a joy–to be with the dogs in the field, being so happy, witnessing happiness. Their walks of temporary freedom also temporary respite for me. It is so nice for the dogs to have the walks–they are treated well and they get out quite a bit, but even so the majority of their time is in the little cages.
I have noticed, though, that some of the dogs who are more shy or who have some physical problems (like Dozer, a sweet, blind dog) have been there for probably quite some time. One dog doesn’t like a leash, so I don’t think she gets to go out very much at all unless someone really pushes her. I’ve been working on a relationship with her and have just sat in her cage to work on keeping her social but she won’t even let me pet her yet.
It makes me think that when I adopt a dog, if that happens in the future, I will adopt one that is shy or has some kind of physical issue, because it will help prevent animals with these problems from having to stay too long cooped up.
This morning we’re going for orientation on the new watershed volunteer gig. This is kind of neat because it’s a new project for the Cleveland Metroparks, a new watershed program in Parma. The more I read the more I read about new programs for reclaiming and restoring the health of land, and I am so enthusiastic about being a part of this, putting my hands into the loam of it, seeing stuff grow and be protected and secure.
~ Lady
Posted in activism, Being, couples, dreams, Environment, ethics, Family, Lady, ladymemoir, Letters to the Universe, Philosophy, Relationships, smith & Lady, spirituality | No Comments »
Thursday, April 25th, 2013
I cannot help my thoughts
I mean, I can help them
but not continuously
not all the time
I don’t have some kind of
thought filter
that works all the time
Mine’s kind of this
wide
open
thing
It lets everything
in
And it operates
by power
of association
Sure, there are habits
Healthy practices
Purification
Grooves I groove
to smoothe
There’s this relationship thing
This relationship thing
I picked up from
Christians
“God is like a husband,” some say, or,
“Take God as your lover…”
I prefer to see my husband
as the worldly manifestation
of my personal interface to
God as fleshly lover
But God is so much more than lover
There’s worldly manifestation
of my personal interface
of God as Mother, my moms and other moms
of God as Father, my dads and other dads
There’s a lot to it
God as friend… I like that…
God as friend.
So I’m hoping this relationship
this friendship with God,
is helping me get through my thoughts
easily
without guilt
just letting them slip by
or using the ones that have good use
We can cherry pick
That’s the thing these aphorisms have
tended to forget
We can cherry pick
We can take the best
from everything
and take the worst cautions
as just cautions
a kind of cautionary scaffolding
as we build the honed reality
everyone would like to see
(There’s discernment
and then there’s discernment
based on new revealed lessons
Don’t forget the new stuff
For me much old stuff
is new stuff
Don’t forget the old stuff
Or forget
only what’s useful
to forget
Or juxtapose
only what’s useful to
juxtapose
What has utility
What lets you
bend
the corners
better)
You know what?
The best thing is
not
just
thought.
The best thing is
how
thought
creates your actions.
Can your actions
create your thoughts?
I mean, that’s where you’ve worked it all out, yeah?
That’s the best way
to express intent,
well-considered action
Sure, I’d like some kind of capacitor
filter, whatever-thingie
to take irritating spikes
out of my mind
But God, ifn we do have this here friendship thingie
I’m-a-thinkin’ that You can be that capacitor-filter
Take this here Advaita
and do some manipulations
so what cascades
is pretty smoothy groovy
Smoothy groovy loving-kindness
~ Lady
Posted in Being, couples, Lady, Letters to the Universe, Poetry, Relationships, smith & Lady, spirituality | No Comments »
Thursday, April 18th, 2013
Adding structure and convention
to my day to enforce
ideals and happiness
Dalai Lama says “bar the door”
to practices that cause one
to feel ill,
make it such that it is not
easily possible to get
caught up in them
I am not a werewolf
but I love them
Men who would be wolfen
scraggly bearded bears
of men
Honey and bread
on the table
Butter on the knife
Crumbs on the floor
The tending of yogurt
Cheesecloth
Fruit in a bowl
These men, their stews &
hermitude
Monks
Barring the door to the
outside world
lest the outside in them
come raging through to meet
the outside out there
knashing of teeth
clashing of bones
In ancient times,
werewolves
sucking the marrow
from sacrificed
virgins
Marrow me,
marry me
Marry me
fill me up
fill up my marrow
am mirror
am wife
~ Lady
Posted in couples, Family, Food, Humor, Lady, ladymemoir, Letters to the Universe, Poetry, Relationships, smith & Lady, spirituality | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013
The sun
can be something
that illuminates
this particular point
and the shadow, then, the skin
or even the shadow passing over the skin
as though to say here is this particular point
and here is the sun, my mind (at this moment)
and here is my thought of this particular point
cast against something, the casting a skin
of thought akin to a reflection of sorts
and here is the sun, my mind
and here I am opening my eyes to see
what I am seeing,
what I am gilding,
what is being cast
from what is being gilt
This shadow not some kind of malevolent shadow–
a shadow that would be the reverse of ideals–
but rather
something swimming in a universe
of ideas
where shadow
being the opposite of ideals
is only a small speck
in a vast ocean
of ideas
about shadow,
most of which are
blessedly good
Thank goodness
When I walk my shadow out across sand
it walks with me, fluid, easy as anything
like air through a hoop, noiselessly,
frictionless at this scale
The sun passes over clouds
and the wind starts up
(noise at that scale)
But me & my shadow walking across the sand
we’re just easy & peaceful, and I think about the metaphor
for Good being with me and the familiar story
about the distressed person being carried
on the beach, one set of footprints
and I know shadows aren’t so bad
are even sought after
so I choose to defuse
the abusive projection
of something that is only
one part of a spectrum
of ideas about this kind
of skin, a part of Good
not apart from Good
a part of Good
inherently within
it
~ L
Posted in couples, Lady, ladymemoir, Letters to the Universe, Peace, Poetry, Relationships, spirituality | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013
I don’t like the idea of foolishness in the sense that someone would be seen as disempowered, disrespected by virtue of having done something stupid. I feel that some sometimes write people off too quickly. I feel that some–many–want solid exemplars to lead in various domains, yet people are people.
It is interesting that everyone seems to be oriented towards acknowledging that personal and professional and ethical and spiritual growth is good. Yet in order to grow from a less perfect state to a more perfect state, one has to have been in the less perfect state to start with. (This being where the meaning of growth is beneficial progress.)
And certainly we want people to be able to change such that they are making better decisions and doing better things.
Quite often I have seen some politician make a good decision only to be decried by some people for having made bad decisions in the past–the people sometimes say, “Well, he or she is just doing that in order to appear good and for political reasons.”
But what would beneficial change look like, what would beneficial actions look like, what would authenticity look like when it happens? Why have so many decried beneficial happenings just because of the person who has done them?
It’s like there are these little stepping planks, and everyone says, “Look, there’s a river we must cross to get into a better future.”
And so there are all these people complaining about no wire being strung across the river, no posts being put down, no planks being put down.
But then someone does put a post down in the river and many of the people demonstrating on the bank say, “Oh, well, don’t fool yourself. He or she’s just doing that because it looks good.”
There’s got to be some momentum when you put down enough posts in that river. Everyone can see the posts. All you have to do is put down the planks then. And then people can walk over it to the other side. Indeed, this has happened on many social issues, and even some environmental ones.
There’s a spiritual component to this. If you truly take to heart the ramifications of physics, of the observer being part of the system that is being observed, then you have to acknowledge your perception helps create this whole big Thing.
So faith comes into this. Faith is applied perception, applied good will, applied openness toward receiving the good will of others, applied openness toward seeing others improve and be good.
So when we see that politician enabling the post being put in the metaphorical river to build a bridge to the better future, let’s encourage her or him.
~ Lady
Posted in activism, Being, ethics, Letters to the Universe, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Relationships, spirituality | 1 Comment »
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