Tag: Harmony

Storytelling

by drbillwooten, posted in Abundance, Change, Hope, Human Spirit, Life, Meaning, Time

One lesson we can learn from pre-industrial peoples is the power of storytelling. I am struck by how important storytelling is among tribal peoples; it forms the basis of their educational systems. The Celtic peoples, for example, insisted that only the poets could be teachers. Why? I think it is because knowledge that is not passed through the heart is dangerous: it may lack wisdom; it may be a power trip; it may squelch life out of the learners. What if our educational systems were to insist that teachers be poets and storytellers and artists? What transformations would follow? ~ Matthew Fox

storytelling02

My heart

by drbillwooten, posted in Abundance, Human Spirit, Life, Meaning, MIndfulness, Nature, Time

“If I keep a green bough in my heart the singing bird will come.”
~ Chinese proverb

There are a number of Passeriformes (perching birds) called "warblers". They are not particularly closely related, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal and insectivorous. The two families of American "warblers" are part of another superfamily, which unites them with sparrows, buntings, finches, etc.
There are a number of Passeriformes (perching birds) called “warblers”. They are not particularly closely related, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal and insectivorous. The two families of American “warblers” are part of another superfamily, which unites them with sparrows, buntings, finches, etc.

Genius

by drbillwooten, posted in Abundance, Human Spirit, Joy, Life, MIndfulness, Nature, Time, Words

“Genius was what they called you in high school
if you tripped on a shoelace in the hall
and all your books went flying.

Or if you walked into an open locker door,
you would be known as Einstein,
who imagined riding a streetcar into infinity.

Later, genius became someone
who could take a sliver of chalk and square pi
a hundred places out beyond the decimal point,

or a man painting on his back on a scaffold,
or drawing a waterwheel in a margin,
or spinning out a little night music.

But earlier this week on a wooded path,
I thought the swans afloat on the reservoir
were the true geniuses,
the ones who had figured out how to fly,
how to be both beautiful and brutal,
and how to mate for life.

Twenty-four geniuses in all,
for I numbered them as Yeats had done,
deployed upon the calm, crystalline surface—

forty-eight if we count their white reflections,
or an even fifty if you want to throw in me
and the dog running up ahead,

who were at least smart enough to be out
that morning—she sniffing the ground,
me with my head up in the bright morning air.”

~ Billy Collins – Aimless Love, 2013.

swans

Saturday morning music

by drbillwooten, posted in Abundance, Human Spirit, Joy, Life, Time

“If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near as it were your own?

It’s a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,
Perhaps they’re better left unsung.
I don’t know, don’t really care
Let there be songs to fill the air.

Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty,
If your cup is full may it be again,
Let it be known there is a fountain,
That was not made by the hands of men.

There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night,
And if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone.

Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.

You, who choose to lead, must follow
But if you fall you fall alone.
If you should stand then who’s to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home.”