Feast for the Soul (from today's email)

 

Hello Chris, March is here! Though the official Feast may be over, your quest for peace and spiritual  evolution probably goes on. Ours does too.  That's why the Feast's faculty has volunteered to offer meditation gatherings  through the spring! And you are invited! View the free opportunities to meditate together, here.  View the Feast's Free Meditation Opportunities Here It might be an understatement to say collectively we've all been going through a  lot these days. Still and again there are big changes, inside and out. And though  I imagine you prefer the happy, peaceful days, there is some value in weathering the storms and the dark days. Without them, we might not have opportunities to be brave and to beef up our resilience and our spiritual practice.  You've probably heard the saying, "No mud, no lotus." It refers to the  lotus seed's journey from the darkness of the muddy bottom of a pond  toward its blossoming in the light. One's personal desire for spiritual awakening is much like a seed of a  beautiful lotus blossom. The seed of the lotus has all the intelligence  and evolutionary drive needed to blossom beautifully. The same is true  for the seed of your desire for spiritual growth. The lotus seed's tendril grows out of the mud and makes its way through  the darkness toward the light, finally breaking through to the surface. It  floats there and opens its blossom to the sun.  Even when its roots are in the dirtiest waters, the lotus produces  the most beautiful flowers each morning.  This can be analogous to the human condition and one's spiritual journey.  You could even view personal challenges and suffering as essential nutrients  for your growth.  No matter how difficult your life is or has been, what is going on in the  world, what mistakes you may have made, what someone has done to  you, or what you have done to them, you, too, have the ability to rise  above even the most challenging circumstances, trust your movement  toward the light, and bloom in perfection. There is a possibility to come  out of difficulty with grace and ease. As the late great poet John O'Donohue wrote in his poem,  "For a New Beginning",  Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire. Awaken your spirit to adventure; Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, For your soul senses the world that awaits you. Each and every day, each and every moment, begin again, and trust the  journey of your heart and your commitment to peace.  Thank you for creating more peace on this beautiful planet! Sarah, Sue, Suzi and all of us at the Feast www.FeastfortheSoul.org P.S. Join me, Sarah, Sunday for a guided meditation. On Monday  there are two to choose from, and there are more all through  March!  See the event calendar, here.  P.P.S. Check out the recorded Feast meditations on You Tube here P.P.S. Here's a link to a short film featuring the insights on the  mud and lotus from the late spiritual teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. Watch it here.

Feast for the Soul | 5142 Hollister Ave. #110 | SANTA BARBARA, CA 93111 US

Poet's first friends in rural Ontario

I recently received a request for memories of Bob and Joe Hill from a family member who is documenting Hill family history.  

 

It’s been almost 36 years since I hung out for a few months in the summer of 1989 with Joe and Bob Hill in Cordova Mines. I’m 76 now, which I believe is longer than Joe or Bob lived their hard lives in this area, so my memories are fading. It is enjoyable, though, to reminisce about their friendships.   

I bought the old (1905?) Cordova Mines house across the street from Joe and Onalee Sharpe. I believe I moved in on April 12, 1989, and there was a light snowstorm. This city boy didn’t know how to light the wood stove in the kitchen, so Joe came over and helped me stay warm that first night by showing me how. I slept on a cot in the kitchen by the woodstove for a week to keep warm!

Joe and Onalee were great neighbours. I might not have survived my first weeks and months in Cordova without their neighbourliness. Joe soon introduced me to Bob, and they had a brotherly rivalry over who could show me around their area. 

They’d take me fishing at Scott’s Dam, and I’d stuff a mickey of rum in my back pocket to impress them (and to dull the black fly and mosquito bites). I’ll never know which of their stories were about themselves, close friends and family, but told in the third person, and which were more mythical local anecdotes.

Case in point was Joe’s description of the Havelock bank robbery, which he seemed to know a lot about. Back then the roads in the area were more bush trails than roads, and there wasn’t a connecting trail across the lakes. The robbers stashed a canoe in advance of being chased by the cops down the back roads, left their (stolen?) getaway car, and paddled serenely across the lake to their second getaway car on the other side. The cops were left on the shore, scratching their helmets!   

A more minor anecdote about questionable local practices was Bob’s story of a fisherman who’d dump rusted bed springs in Scott’s Dam before bass season. All summer frustrated fishermen would snag on the springs and lose their expensive lures. In the fall the local guy would retrieve the springs with their haul of enough lures to fill his tackle box. 

Joe and Bob were about twenty+ years my senior at forty, and I soon became friends with other Cordovans closer in age, esp. Eric and Morley. Part of the local lingo were Eric’s bad puns - tackle box became tickle box ;  )-      

That first summer I’d sit with Joe and Onalee on battered lawn chairs in front of her house. I’d get a full biography of the passengers of every passing car. Eventually I realized that if Joe and Onalee didn’t know the driver, well, they’d just use their imaginations! Sitting there I learned that in rural Cordova, people mattered, even if you had to create their back story. In Toronto people were to be avoided - no eye contact on the streetcar or subway or you could be in trouble! 

Bob and I were both horse racing fans - standard breds, “the flats”, and we drove to Kawartha Downs several times. I could make small change betting at Greenwood Racetrack in Toronto, but in horse country Bob and I couldn’t outsmart the local horsemen. Not a chance ;  )- 

That’s enough scouring of my memory banks for this morning ;  )-

I moved to rural Ontario to be closer to nature. After all, I'm a haiku poet, and what the heck was I doing living in a world class city like Toronto ;  )-

Mark McCawley published a broadsheet of my haiku from that first spring and summer. Here are a few from Moon City, Greensleeve Publishing, 1989. 

on my birthday

swimming alone

big spiders

share the bathroom

cool

yellow raincoat

crazy eyes:

church recruitment

drinking rye

and writing book reviews

deep blue dusk