i  have  put  away  childish  things

I have put away childish things

And am become a man.

Hear me now, I have put away all the fantasies,

The make-believe, the dreams—I have let them go—

And the imagined destinations

Of adolescence.

The Lone Ranger and Superman

Are no heroes to me now,

And I am hiring no new actors

For the cops-and-robbers melodrama

That may still perchance play out

In a shadowed back alley of my mind.

But as a man walking the front street

Of my own city,

As mayor, priest and professor

Of my own nationhood,

I am responsible for its events,

For the honest business,

The wholesome enterprise and education,

The practical industry and harmonious art

And the living, changing forms of worship

That infinite in purpose

Proceed within my city and my nation.

I hold all this in fealty

To the Ruler of the city that includes my city,

In devotion to the King whose nation is my nation,

And I do all, speak all, see and hear

And am the very all of all I see and do,

In name and spirit of the King.

So is my state kingly and a fitting home,

A palace and a palace garden

For the coming in and the going out

Of Him I love by His own love

And truly serve by His own truth.

I have put by the childish toys

And left the playhouse of infancy

And am become a man.

Ram  Dass

his life gave many blessings and

it is good when such a life as this is now complete

with thanksgiving for the many gifts

and we are born from womb unto womb unto womb in an everlasting cycle of universal service

— db —

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/ram-dass-dies/

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/23/baba-ram-dass-dies-age-88-lsd-new-age-spirituality

from

Ancient Forests of the Far West

The Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder

How curious it would be to die and then remain standing for another century or two. To enjoy “dead verticality.” If humans could do it we would hear news like, “Henry David Thoreau finally toppled over.” The human community when healthy, is like an ancient forest. The little ones are in the shade and shelter of the big ones, even rooted in their lost old bodies. All ages, and all together growing and dying. What some silviculturists call for—“even-age management,” plantations of trees the same size growing up together seems like rationalistic utopian totalitarianism. We wouldn't think of letting our children live in regimented institutions with no parental visits and all their thinking shaped by a corps of professionals who just follow official manuals (written by people who never raised kids). Why should we do it to our forests? “All-age-unmanaged”—that's a natural community, human or other. The industry prizes the younger and middle-aged trees that keep their symmetry, keep there branches even of length and angle.

But let there also be really old trees who can give up all sense of propriety and begin throwing their limbs out in extravagant gestures, dancelike poses, displaying their insouciance in the face of mortality, holding themselves available to whatever the world and the weather might propose. I look up to them: they are like the Chinese Immortals, they are Han-shan and Shi-de sorts of characters—to have lived that long is to have permission to be eccentric, to be the poets and painters among trees, laughing, ragged, and fearless. They make me almost look forward to old age.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ram-dass-guru-be-here-now-881801/

Winter Solstice 2019

Anne Blaney

published this piece today on her site

anneblaney.blogspot.com

Friend to Friend

it is perfect and delightful to republish it here

to acknowledge and honour and celebrate this day

and every day under the sun

which seems to be about seven times hotter

than it was last year at this time

db

The  Sun  Stands  Still  Inside  Us  Now

Solstice is a direct reminder of our planetary reality

No control over this fading light, no hand in its return

Of this we can be sure ...
Because we can know

that we inhabit a place in space,

we also know
that we are small

and that we are very large

May the Light shine through you and me
Into this world

Into our home among the stars

A

solstice cycle

the sun stands still inside me now

wonder finds rest inside me now

all creation stands transfigured

by the radiance of an inner light
the light within the light
without
the luminous landscape opening

the mountains and the hills break forth before me into singing

and all the trees of the field now clap their hands

now drawing closer
veil thinning
through the darkness walking
reaching light
at the heart of the world
enchantment
by moonlight and by starlight
prayer and incense
by candlelight now turning
graceful turning
turn toward the sun
toward one another turning

drawing close in whispered knowings
listen

the eternal heartbeat

look

the sun stands still

inside me now

wonder finds rest

we journey long and long together

knowing the space within

the space

without

planetary beings in spiral dance

within

the living body of the sacred sun

david barnes

Fukui  Tsuyoki

Japan

Music Forest 森のひびき was invited to perform at the Sound of Samadhi Concert held on 27 Sep 2015

Performers: Tsuyoki Fukui 福井幹 and Yumi Ogawa 小川由美子

Happy to You

Sound of Samadhi is a biennial concert organised by Kwan Yin Chan Lin Zen Meditation Centre to allow city dwellers an evening experience of relaxation and peace, returning to the simplicity and purity of life. The concert showcased intricately choreographed pieces on the flute and harp by Tsuyoki Fukui and Yumiko Ogawa, and tunes depicting the scenery of the mountains performed together with guest musicians, Zen Master Ji Haeng (Thom Pastor), KMSPKS Zen Drum Ensemble and PMT The Music Tree.

fukui-tsuyoki.com

Made  Without  Hands

Jack  Jenkins

I walk this path

around the lake

not every day,

but over the years

I’ve walked it a lot.

I’ve come to think of it

as a day’s cycle,

one rotation of the earth.

It seems the same,

this graveled path

with lots of stones.

I think of these stones

as all the words I’ve spoken

in my seventy years.

What I said yesterday

lies before me,

what I say today

will show tomorrow.

Whether I admit to it or not

the stones all bear my name.

I have spoken a lot of words.

I picked one up today,

a fragment that once was whole

but with sharp edges now.

Maybe this is why we need shoes.

You know God walks this path.

He has to.

It’s the only path around the lake.

He knows the situation.

So if the words I speak

create this path,

I can’t complain.

Maybe one day

we may take off our shoes.

Maybe one day

we will stop casting stones.

the  storm

The  Man  Watching

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after

so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes,

that a storm is coming,

and I feel the far-off fields say things

I can’t bear without a friend,

I can’t love without a sister.

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on

across the woods and across time,

and the world looks as if it had no age:

the landscape, like a line in the psalm book,

is seriousness and weight and eternity.

What we choose to fight is so tiny!

What fights with us is so great!

If only we would let ourselves be dominated

as things do by some immense storm,

we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it’s with small things,

and the triumph itself makes us small.

What is extraordinary and eternal

does not  want  to be bent by us.

I mean the Angel, who appeared

to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:

when the wrestlers sinews

grew like long metal strings,

he felt them under his fingers

like chords of deep music.

Whoever was beaten by his Angel,

(who often simply declined the fight),

went away proud and strengthened

and great from that harsh hand,

that kneaded him as if to change his shape.

This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively

By constantly greater beings.

Rainer Maria Rilke   translated by  Robert Bly

receiving the harvest
 

we are into the harvest cycle now

 how does it feel
in your heart
in your belly?
how does it feel in your whole body

 when you look back to last winter and early spring
the time of sowing
how does it feel
what do you see
do you notice patterns of association
between the seed and the harvest
do you like what you see
what do you feel

 i have found it is best not to judge
what appears to be a weed in the garden
often turns out to be a sacred healing herb

 it is best not to judge

 receive the harvest
be thankful for what returns
sanctify your sons and your daughters
and
deliver the gift

 as it is in you and me
so it is in the world

 the world as a whole has moved into a season of harvest
together
we reap the harvest from centuries of sowing
how does it feel
do you like what you see now appearing in the earth

 it is best not to judge

 in the world cycle
the fire of harvest blends
with the water of new beginnings
this is a newly dawning day
and a fine mist rises up from the face of the land
watering the whole garden
the planting of the lord

 receive the harvest
be thankful for what returns
sanctify your sons and your daughters
deliver the gift

 deliver the gift

 david barnes

Mystic  Voice

Harmony  in  Love  of  Tao

A journey home to Truth, Love and Beauty

Fields of Healing Festival 2018 Bayron Bay, Australia

Unity Earth - Journey of Harmony

Sacred Chanting: Mystic Voice

Keyboard: Kristin Hoffman

Harp: Cecilia Caleandro

Flute: Premik Tubbs

Percussion: Hanuman

Conch: Mindahi Bastida

Film: Casey Bridges

Editing: Oriental Art Vision

Director: Ming Shan

Copyright © 2018 by Mystic Voice

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vnaB8-M9d-dYvmwKXSeAQ