Sunday, December 27, 2009

Meeting the Divine


"Your soul is beautiful.
In order for your soul to become completely free,
it must meet with divinity."
--Courtesy Dahn Yoga

Hope Message

"I brought you today the flower of Tao.

"I give this flower to you.
Although there is only one flower, this is enough.


"When the moon shines upon the earth,
it is reflected in millions of lakes across the planet.
That is enough, also.
The lakes in your hearts and minds
will all reflect the beauty of this flower.

"I want you to receive this flower
not with your hands, but with your hearts.
If you receive it with your hearts,
then this one flower is plenty for all of us."

--Courtesy Dahn Yoga

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Remembering Jacques Cousteau and John Denver

I'm remembering the words to the song "Calypso" that John Denver wrote in honor of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and how important both of them were during my formative years.

To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean,
to ride on the crest of a wild raging storm;
To work in the service of life and living,
in search of the answers of questions unknown;
To be part of the movement and part of the growing,
part of beginning to understand--
Aye Calypso the places you've been to,
the things that you've shown us,
the stories you tell.
Aye Calypso, I sing to your spirit,
the men who have served you so long and so well.
Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you
To light up the darkness and show us the way.
For though we are strangers in your silent world,
To live on the land we must learn from the sea
To be true as the tide and free as a wind swell,
Joyful and loving in letting it be.
Aye Calypso the places you've been to,
the things that you've shown us,
the stories you tell.
Aye Calypso, I sing to your spirit,
the men who have served you so long and so well.










Thank you, John Denver and Jacques Cousteau: you both had such a profound influence on me. It's about time I did something with all that you taught me....


Thursday, December 10, 2009

Embracing Hope

In the words of Sanjayan, a scientist with The Nature Conservancy, "we in the conservation movement have done a spectacular job of demoralizing and depressing people." Unfortunately, our focus on the difficulty, the immediacy, and the extent of the challenges confronting the world's environments this century has convinced too many people that "the world is doomed."

Of course, it's not only because Earth is resilient, but also because collectively, we human beings have the intelligence and wherewithal to make fundamental changes and accomplish great things. If we decide to do so.

What we need is Hope, a belief that what we do as individuals and as a species can make a big difference. Hope that we can find common purpose in ensuring that our Earth remains not simply habitable but also beautifully diverse and life-giving.

Without hope, we wallow in resignation, admitting helplessness without ever really daring to see what we might be capable of accomplishing.

So it becomes important to publicize the good news, to make people aware of what we have done to preserve a species, to protect a natural place, to discover ways to reduce our "carbon footprint" or our impact on nature.
This is my Christmas wish: that we embrace our full human potential, put aside our helpless attitudes, and empower ourselves with Hope. And this is my Christmas gift: I commit myself to focusing on the positive, to doing whatever I can to keep Hope alive among us.

It may take some time, but if we go forward with Hope, we really will be able to accomplish the "miraculous."

Here's the link to Sanjayan's interview with David Letterman on this topic:

Monday, October 19, 2009

Prayer of Peace

Ilchi Lee presented this prayer at the Opening Ceremony of the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations on August 28th, 2000.

I offer this prayer of peace
Not to the Christian God
Nor to the Buddhist God
Nor to the Islamic God
Nor to the Jewish God
But to the God of all humanity.
For the peace that we wish for
Is Not a Christian peace
Nor a Buddhist peace
Nor an Islamic peace
Nor a Jewish peace
But a human peace
For all of us.


I offer this prayer of peace
To the God that lives within all of us
That fills us with happiness and joy
To make us whole
And help us understand life
As an expression of love for all human beings.
For no religion can be better
Than any other religion
For no truth can be truer
Than any other truth
For no nation can be bigger
Than the earth itself.



Help us all go beyond
Our small limits
And realize that we are one
That we are all from the earth.
That we are all earth people
before we are Indians, Koreans, or Americans.
God made the earth
We humans have to make it prosper
By realizing that we are of the earth
And not of any nation, race, or religion.
By knowing that we are truly one
In our spiritual heritage.

Let us now apologize
to all humanity
For the hurt that religions have caused.
So that we can heal the hurt
Let us now promise to one another
To go beyond egotism and competition
To come together as one in God.

I offer this prayer of peace
To you the almighty
To help us find you within all of us
So that we may stand proudly one day before you
As one humanity.
I offer this prayer of peace
With all my fellow earth people
For a lasting peace on earth.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

We Launch from the Sea

"Flying Fish"
A poem by Carl Sandburg


I have lived in many half-worlds myself … and so I know you.

I leaned at a deck rail watching a monotonous sea, the same circling birds and the same plunge of furrows carved by the plowing keel.

I leaned so … and you fluttered struggling between two waves in the air now … and then under the water and out again … a fish … a bird … a fin thing … a wing thing.

Child of water, child of air, fin thing and wing thing … I have lived in many half worlds myself … and so I know you.





Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Prayer for Beauty

"I pray thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within."
--Socrates

Emerson, Truth, and Beauty


"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?"
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Message of Our Times

Let the Angel Trumpets herald the message:
"Equal rights for all!"



It's well past time....

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Four Limitless Meditations

May all beings have happiness
And the causes of happiness.


May all be free of sorrow
And the causes of sorrow.
May all never be separate from the sacred happiness
That is sorrowless.
May all leave attachment to dear ones and aversion to others
And live believing in the equalness of all that lives.