Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Blue Shoulders, Blue Sky

Tree swallows are back on their house.  Looking up at them I see the clear blue sky.  Then I see the clear blue shoulders on the birds.  Mirrors for each other, are the shoulders sky and is sky the birds?  Sky and bird feed each other in their play.  The sky knows itself through bird flight and the bird know itself through sky expanse. 

They each fly without tracks.  Only mind can see their imprints, can feel their clarity and blueness.  Blessed to experience the blazing vision of swallow song and sky with a gentle breeze off the mountains.  Spring morning is full of beginnings.

Posted by michael

Saturday, April 16, 2011

War Is A False Premise

We wage war as an enemy, no different from the threats to our security.  This is an illogical, impossible task.  We are willing to go beyond all boundaries in defense of our boundaries.  We yell democracy, and are unwilling to listen to voices of differing opinion within democracy.  We are afraid of terror and project terror unrelenting in its cloak of justice.  The enemy is us as war can only be waged by threat.  Defense is another word for being afraid to listen to our inner voice.  We shall not kill, except when it suits our defense of the right to be an enemy to all those who oppose us.  

Who came up with these aggressive actions?  It has been going on much too long and it is time to trust; in family, friends, neighbors, and humanity.  There will always be a cause to fear.  Peace comes from a confidence that is in the heart.  Disarm the heart and peace will spread.  War is only the darkness that fear makes in the heart.  Turn on the light of open mind and fear will dissolve in the mirror of enemy face that we project to all our enemies. 

Posted by michael

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Fact And Fiction: The Making Of Myth

Rufous hummingbird (Nan Moore)

A friend told me a story recently.  This time of year the turkey vultures and rufous hummingbirds return together to the Oregon western valley and coast.  We see the familiar wheeling of vultures in the sky, where one day they appear as if summer never left; while hummers appear and feed on the early nectar plants of Spring.  

The story goes.  The vultures and hummingbirds winter in Mexico.  Its a long way to fly north for the hummers.  So the hummers get together with the vultures and hitch a ride north among the vulture wing feathers.  Safe and sound, the hummers arrive in Oregon, rested and relaxed, thanks to the soaring and migrating abilities of the vultures.  Arriving in Oregon, the vultures settle down on a fence or the ground, spread their wings, and the hummers emerge, to fly off seeking nectar.

Summer passes and nesting is completed.  The hummers get together with the vultures again and travel south tucked in among the wing feathers of the vultures, eventually arriving at the winter grounds.  The cycle of migration repeats again and again, confident in the cooperation among species.

Is this story true?  Maybe.  It certainly appeals to our sense of cooperation and makes a heart-warming myth.  Science can test the theory.  Or we can simply enjoy the glow of the image and inspire imagination.  We don't have to prove everything.  We can entertain ideas for the fun it brings, and the world is a little lighter for this.

Posted by michael