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Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sweet Stories
A friend wrote and said that he hoped I wasn't always as depressed as my last poem suggests. He thought that I might want to write a poem about these three sweet deer, because they are too cute to write sad things about.
As to whether or not I am as depressed as one might think, I say,
NO WAY!!!
And if you don't think that I can write a depressing poem about these beautiful deer, you are sadly mistaken! Think Bambi. Think about, well, never mind... I'm trying to prove that I don't always go to the land of Bummersville.
So, the other night, when it felt like hell fell upon me, that was quite hard and I don't really know where it came from, but after feeling like I needed to crawl out of my skin for a few minutes, I just asked myself what the danger was in that moment, and I knew that everything was fine then and there. So I soon relaxed back into sleep.
I think that it is important to be able to contain ALL OF IT, since this world certainly seems to hold it all. I cannot afford to turn my eyes away from the suffering that is going on and only allow the comfortable to hang around me.
Aren't we all the laughter and celebration AND the pain and starvation??? Where do you end and the Iraqi mother holding her injured child begin? And likewise, we all know the serenity of the moment that holds these fawns beside their mom.
"...when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings." - Sogyal Rinpoche
So, the other night, when it felt like hell fell upon me, that was quite hard and I don't really know where it came from, but after feeling like I needed to crawl out of my skin for a few minutes, I just asked myself what the danger was in that moment, and I knew that everything was fine then and there. So I soon relaxed back into sleep.
I think that it is important to be able to contain ALL OF IT, since this world certainly seems to hold it all. I cannot afford to turn my eyes away from the suffering that is going on and only allow the comfortable to hang around me.
Aren't we all the laughter and celebration AND the pain and starvation??? Where do you end and the Iraqi mother holding her injured child begin? And likewise, we all know the serenity of the moment that holds these fawns beside their mom.
"...when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings." - Sogyal Rinpoche
(Photo, once again, by that amazing cousin of mine: Larry G. Blackwood, Hawkline Photography)
Labels: compassion, Hawkline Photography, suffering
posted by Carol at 10:28 AM
2 comments
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Death or Just Changes?
How many years did it take to grow this 60 foot tree? Knocked over in one moment.
During our big rainstorm this week, the mountains and foothills got snow. In the foothills, everything came together - wet snow, wind, and water-logged earth - to create a situation where trees broke and/or pulled up out of the ground. My friend lives on 15 acres, and he figures that 150 trees are broken or toppled over on his land. I HAD to see this.
Like my experience last fall in the desert, I saw once again that everything changes. The way we think things are... well they are only that way in this moment.
Does anything die? Or does it just change?
"Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer." ~Shunryu Suzuki
Labels: broken trees, changes, impermanence, snow, suffering
posted by Carol at 10:17 AM
3 comments