Resurrection: What Dies, What Lives

There's a dramatic story going down each year on a pagan day.

The day is set like this:
The first Sunday
After the first full moon ( we just had it)
After the equinox ( March 20-22, depending on the year)

So this coming Sunday is that Sunday.
It's called Easter

Does Easter have something to do with the East
with the sun rising in the East
and the day breaking in the East
and the stars and moon rising in the East

I don't know,
but I'd guess so

And it has a lot to do with a man we call Jesus,
but who
was a Jew
and was perhaps called Yeshua back in his day,

maybe

And he taught revolution:

turn within
find the Kingdom of Heaven

turn without
turn outside yourself:
Love your neighbor ( no small job by the complaints so many have about their real life neighbors)
Love your enemy

Love your enemy:
That isn't theory

That's the divorced mate you feel justified in hating because:
they had an affair
they go boring
they watched porn
they trash talked you
they drank
they hit
they neglected
they controlled

they always did something wrong, correct?

The enemy can be horrible.
I've been reading a book about Nigeria.
Half of a Yellow Sun

It's about the slaughter of the Ibbo people in Nigeria

one tribe committing genocide
ugly awful stuff
at least in part,
if not mostly set in motion by the British rulers brilliant use of divide and conquer

( Moshe Feldenkrais talks of how Jews and Arabs
co existed for centuries in Palestine until the British set them
against each other....

and the ease with which one tribe/ nationality/ religion
can be set against each other brings us back to the point

)

LOVING YOUR ENEMY IS A BIG DEAL

and Jesus preached this

and they killed him

This was just too rebellious
loving your enemy

how could divide and conquer work?
how could people stay miserable and easy to oppress?
how could people feel weak and powerless if they could forgive?

ah,
better kill this dude

so they did



and what's the resurrection:
letting go of whatever you haven't forgiven

seeing it's the other person's problem
letting it go

now is now

the kingdom of heaven
is
now

or never

dive in

now

ciao

Corinthians 13: Love is, Love Ain't, 4,

This might be the most famous love passage in the world,
at least the Bible reading English speaking world

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues[ of men or of angels, 

but do not have love, 

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,

 and if I have a faith that can move mountains, 

but do not have love, 

I am nothing. 

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b]

but do not have love, 

I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, 

love is kind. 

It does not envy, 

it does not boast, 

it is not proud. 

5 It does not dishonor others, 

it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs. 

6 Love does not delight in evil 

but rejoices with the truth. 

7 It always protects, always trusts, 

always hopes, 

always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. 

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; 

where there are tongues, they will be stilled; 

where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

  9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 

10 but when completeness comes, 

what is in part disappears. 

11 When I was a child, 

I talked like a child, 

I thought like a child, 

I reasoned like a child. 

When I became a man, 

I put the ways of childhood behind me.

  12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;  ( this is the glass darkly one, I believe)

 then we shall see face to face. 

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, 

even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: 

faith,

 hope and 

love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

Well, that's a pretty good start

A few quibbles:
the ways of a child
can be selfish and petty,
but they also have this remarkable trait,
they meet someone
and instantly,
without background check
preliminary maneuvering, or judgment
they are instantly 'BEST FRIENDS."

That's something not worth putting away

But the me, me, me
give me , give me
of a child
yeah,
that's the death of love

But, let's go now to the juice:

No matter what you've got,
if you've got no love,
your life sucks

Okay.
That's out of the way

except what it says about what love is:

Love is
Core to a well lived and meaningful life

and What is love,
in this accounting:

Love is:
patient
kind
rejoices in truth

What Love Ain't fills a bigger list:
Not envious
Not boastful
Not proud
Doesn't dishonor others
Not easily angered
Not keeping records.


That one
can save many a relationship:
Stop the record keeping:

You done
such
and
such
and
such

to me

Or:
write them down,
and figure out a way to
love each and every one

This passage doesn't say that love
is forgiving
but
without forgiveness
and letting go

love is dead

and what is life
with letting go and forgiveness?

Life in the present.

And what is truth?
Life in the present

There are lots of ways to go from here

Good
We won't

In this present
Can you let go a couple of thoughts that are
holding you back
from loving Reality
exactly as it is

Now?

If so,
are you willing to let them go?

And if so,k
When?


Love is an action.

Play
there

play and play
playing in the fields of love,
where the child and the adult come
to fullness
yes
good

Love and Money and Amercia

The other day, there was something in Austin, called the Big Sing.
A man who leads a world famous choral group in Austin, led a couple hundred
strangers through a series of songs.

He made us work, go deep, let our voices resonate, come forth,
express the fullness of life.

All this in a church with amazing acoustics.

And one of the songs was America, the beautiful.

Which, having been burned in the loving our country
disillusion in ... Vietnam, assassinations, pollution, politics, etc
etc, I didn't want to sing

And loved it when I sang,
and had this feeling like America can just break your heart,
the potential, the land, the people, the good side of our history,
and yet,
and yet...
so squandered and endangered and ...
you know,
it's a mess,
this beautiful country

God shed his grace on thee,
indeed.

we need it


and love's like that, too, sometimes
it can break your heart

and there I'm clear,
there's a way out,
a simple way:
be present
or a difficult way:
be enlightened
or an enlightening way:
learning unconditional love,
and anyway you slice it,
love's pain,
is medicine for waking up
to how to really be human


and money,
ah money,
kind of like America:
so much potential,
so squandered,

and is it possible to be kind
and loving
and conscious
and creative
and do lots of good for the planet
and participate in abundance

I think so.

What about you?

This is my life

River near the house I'm staying in Gunnison, CO


DAY SEVEN: THIS IS MY LIFE, 1
This is my life in gravity, this is my life in…

This is my life right now.

This is today’s game/ exercise/ meditation/ activity. Throughout the day, say to yourself, aloud or not aloud, “This is my life.”

This moment, while you read or hear these words: This is your life. The moments on the toilet, in the shower, getting into your car, getting out of your car, “thinking” about what you are going to or “have to” do, this is your life.

The time spend worrying or arguing or regretting or planning or gossiping or talking mindlessly, or mindfully, on the phone or in the grocery store: this is your life.

At work, you are looking at a computer, talking to someone, pounding in a nail, lifting a rock, soothing a child: this is your life.

And let’s make it bigger and more concrete: as you say, over and over, “This is my life,” sense your skeleton, especially arms and legs and spine, in gravity. And sense your breathing in air. And notice sounds coming in your ears. And light coming in your eyes.

This is our life.

Now.

What is the tone of it, as we say this each time? Shock? Delight? Horror? Gratitude? Fear? Anger?

Those feelings are an indication of something, of a lot.

Don’t analyze them during the day but you might want to journal a bit about your discoveries as you go through the day saying, “This is my life.”

Good.




And what does this have to do with
the Waking up Feldenkrais Work
the Anat Baniel Method work,
the work
of being real humans
on this planet
Earth,
humans in bodies
that can ride bikes
and create gardens
and clean up streams
and make love
and walk to our
neighbor's houses
and sit in a chair
and be happy in our bodies
"doing" nothing?

The question,
posed like that,
more or less answers itself,
no?