“Years ago in Vietnam, people used to take a small boat out into a lotus pond and put some tea leaves into an open lotus flower. The flower would close in the evening and perfume the tea during the night. In the early morning, when the dew was still on the leaves, you would return with your friends to collect the tea. On your boat was everything you needed: fresh water, a stove to heat it, teacups and a teapot. Then, in the beautiful light of the morning, you prepared tea right there, enjoying the whole morning drinking tea on …
My friend Toke Paludan Moller gave me a huge gift at the Practice of Peace conference. He issued a challenge and an invitation to work at a deep, deep level. Since I heard him speak these words, my work has changed measurably. After the conference was over I asked if he could remember what he said and asked him if he could write it down. He did his best to put the ideas in an email, which I have recast as the poem that it is. it is time!the training time is over for those of us who can hear …
I can’t believe how little play the story of the Georgian velvet revolution is getting in the mainstream media. Certainly in Canada the major news outlets are paying it some heed, but this should be a huge global story. Over at netvironments, Laura has been tracking a few of the critical developments, as the people of a country calmly and effectively take their government back. This comes to me as I have just cracked Jonathan Schell’s The Unconquerable World, and so it becomes the next chapter.
Hard on the heels of Thich Naht Hahn’s advice on mindful consumption comes this poem which appeared today at Poetry Daily: On First Looking into Heaney’s Beowulf Anne MacKay A bunch of high class thugs returns in a golden cloud of exhaust fumes and dust, helmets polished bright as maseratis, spears and chain mail clashing, enters to a riot of cheers. The king’s daughter and groupies serve wine, dripping meat and beer while they boast and yell, unable to shut up, telling how the blood spurted like a chain-saw massacre, how sword thrusts blasted guts all over the heath. Then …
Let me be the first to welcome Ashley Cooper’s weblog to the blogosphere. She’s called it “easily amazed”, which should describe her readers as much as herself… Ashley is involved in the Open Space community worldwide and is also a constant presence at the Integral Naked discussion forums, which is a home for conversation on Ken Wilber, and others with an interest in trans-personal psychology. After communication back and forth on the OSLIST, I finally had the privilege of finally meeting her in person and talking at length about a whole bunch of issues from compassion to invitation to homeschooling …