By Ric Hudgens
No beginning
is a fresh start.
Our undoing
is a concealed weapon.
Read the manual.
Expect to abandon
much you seek
to gather.
Shed your skins
along the way. Continue reading “The Gift”
The Gift
Category: Art as Resistance
Time To Heal
An unveiling from the legendary John August Swanson, posted on his Facebook page (July 28, 2017):
Today, I am happy to share with you my newest poster (right), on healthcare. The central image of this poster comes from my 2016 giclee print, TIME TO HEAL.
The text is taken from Pope Francis and from RoseAnn Demoro, who is the executive director of National Nurses United.
I wanted to share their voices and their messages of the importance of working together, and caring for everyone. There are complicated and difficult problems in the American healthcare system, and we do not all agree on the best solutions. My hope is that we can all agree to work together to make it possible for all people to get the care they need.
If you are interested, the poster is available on my website at this link: http://temp.johnaugustswanson.com/produ…/time-to-heal-poster
More information on the giclee print edition, TIME TO HEAL, is available on my website, here: http://www.johnaugustswanson.com/def…/PID%3d1.2.30.3-11.html
Art of Listening
Siddhartha listened. He was now listening intently, completely absorbed, quite empty, taking in everything. He felt that he had now completely learned the art of listening. He had often heard all this before, all these numerous voices in the river, but today they sounded different. He could no longer distinguish the different voices- the merry voice from the weeping voice, the childish voice from the manly voice. They all belonged to each other: the lament of those who yearn, the laughter of the wise, the cry of indignation and the groan of the dying. They were all interwoven and interlocked, entwined in a thousand ways. And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world. All of them together was the stream of events, the music of life. When Siddhartha listened attentively to this river, to this song of a thousand voices; when he did not listen to the sorrow or laughter, when he did bind his soul to any one particular voice and absorb it in his Self, but heard them all, the whole, the unity; then the great song of a thousand voices consisted of one word: Om- perfection.
– Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Decolonizing Psalms
By Kathy Moorhead Thiessen, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Delegate
Originally posted in the April-June 2017 CPT newsletter
I co-led the Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights on April 23-May 14, 2017. As I walked–kilometer after kilometer–I listened to music. One song, based on Psalm 23 struck my soul. I know that this psalm is often read at times when people need comfort. I thought about the role of Christianity in colonization of the indigenous peoples of Canada. I imagined that the young children forced into residential schools run by the churches had been forced to listen to the King James version of this psalm- in situations where they were not able to derive comfort. Everything presented was foreign and they were not given space to draw on what they knew to be good and right.
Continue reading “Decolonizing Psalms”
What is History?
Now what is history? It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That’s why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves, that’s why they write symphonies. Now, you can’t advance in this direction without a certain faith. You can’t make such discoveries without spiritual equipment. And the basic elements of this equipment are in the Gospels. What are they? To begin with, love of one’s neighbor, which is the supreme form of vital energy. Once it fills the heart of man it has to overflow and spend itself. And then the two basic ideals of modern man—without them he is unthinkable—the idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice.
― Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago
Life Boats
Another gem from Hafiz, the 14th century Sufi poet:
The great religions are the ships,
Poets the life boats.
Every sane person I know
Has jumped overboard.
That is good for business,
Isn’t it, Hafiz?
Pleasures of Children
The small hopes and plans and pleasures of children should be tenderly respected by grown-up people, and never rudely thwarted or ridiculed.
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Men
Here Come the Holy Fools!
Holy Fool Arts, a theatrical production company bridging the worlds of faith, art, and activism, has kicked off their Summer 2017 tour. They are heading West with upcoming events this week in Kentucky, Colorado and New Mexico and next week in Southern California. Next month, they will head to the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle and then back through the Midwest. Check HERE for tour dates and locations.
As faith-rooted artists of the Judeo Christian tradition, spiritual activists, and justice advocates, Holy Fool Arts is inspired by the ancient vision at the heart of the world’s spiritual traditions of human life in harmony with the rest of creation. While they are most known for producing the Carnival de Resistance, they have a number of programs to offer this summer, including pieces of ceremonial theater that re-contextualize stories from scripture in the light of current ecological issues around resource extraction and water. One of these pieces, Wade Through Deep Water, introduces two prophets, Miriam and John the Baptist, whose water-logged lives kept them swimming in transformation.
Weaving poetry from Catholic mystic Thomas Merton and Jewish feminist Alicia Suskin Ostriker with beautiful storytelling, high energy song and dance numbers, live music, dramatic characters, and large silk props, all are invited into the grief of the divine feminine and journey toward reunion with this aspect of God.
Continue reading “Here Come the Holy Fools!”
Kindness
By Naomi Shihab Nye, Palestinian-American poet and author of fiction, essays and children’s books
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know Continue reading “Kindness”
The Mushroom Hunters
By Neil Gaiman
Listen hear read by Amanda Palmer
Science, as you know, my little one, is the study
of the nature and behaviour of the universe.
It’s based on observation, on experiment, and measurement,
and the formulation of laws to describe the facts revealed.
In the old times, they say, the men came already fitted with brains
designed to follow flesh-beasts at a run,
to hurdle blindly into the unknown,
and then to find their way back home when lost
with a slain antelope to carry between them.
Or, on bad hunting days, nothing. Continue reading “The Mushroom Hunters”
Radical Discipleship 