So amazing, my journey as a parent. So many layers. A memory stands out for its vibrations in my bones ever since.
Sitting in a listening circle when my son was 10, I heard how huge it was for him to be fully heard by adults. And I heard that it was just as huge for adults to clearly hear his voice. I felt viscerally then the pulsing gift in both directions. The intricate weaving of a spider's web somehow gives me a picture of this. I wrote a poem that might hold a whiff of the web: down through the generations a two way conversation track the elusive shimmer. blow on the web. breathe. no product in mind. where will it lead? the path knows, threshold and heart beckon-- what is there in breathing into it, looking into heart's eye? play sometimes beneath the Web of things. but at the Center. shimmering. hoops of circumference. rays of hope. bounding, holding. radiating. evoked, held, anchored, spun. flexible play back & forth between inner heart & outer form-- the way council holds an outer circle for the Magic that happens within. neither whole without the other. fiber and marrow. hollow bone. hunger in human form. yearning voiced, walked, taking visible form. we bear each other witness. inner & outer. human & Mystery. elder & younger. neither complete & whole without the other. |
Phoenixes Rising began with my father's passing and my inquiry into his legacy to me. I imagined a village where youngers & elders listened to each other, learned with each other.
I expect this notion will continue to be at the core of our Programs, of explorations into Practices that Renew, Replenish and Sustain. I love that I have younger friends across countries & cultures & life work. Nothing gives me much more hope in these wild times than standing together & acting in all the ways we are to make positive differences. There's no telling the weaving we will make, but I feel the beauty of it. |
"We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of the Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations."
from the Earth Charter |