I wrote about paradox in Warrior’s Quest and part of the motivating force was this poem. It takes real courage to accept paradox and hold the tension. The hole in the whole completes the whole.
Thirty spokes
meet in the hub.
Where the wheel isn’t
is where it’s useful.
Hollowed out,
clay makes the pot.
Where the pot’s not
is where it’s useful.
Cut doors and windows
to make a room.
Where the room isn’t
there’s room for you.
So the profit in what is
is in the use of what isn’t.
Lao Tzu
I sat today and was going to post a Lao Tzu poem, The Uses of Not. I typed a short preamble and realized it was a Sabbath poem. Sometimes it is in paradox I find the most sense. It is in questions that I deepen conversations. I am in service of the questions. Earlier this week, I said I spent much of my life chasing answers. This is an echo of Father Richard Rohr who says maturity leads us to stop chasing certainty. I seek eloquent questions with no ready answers: and invite others into conversations. I might have used pirate, but I began reading Shambhala:The Path of the Sacred Warrior by Chögyam Trungpa recently and it offered a new understanding, for me, of the word warrior.
Paradox–
Seemingly incompatible tempest
Space invites space
Forms a spacious meadow.
Deepen conversations–
Without ready answers;
But, eloquent questions
Be open, surprised.
A warrior’s quest–
Lighten the load
Be grateful and receive the gifts
Serve the journey.
Shape paths–
Ready each step
Because it is right
And not fully known.
It was a long day. I just started thumbing through some right brain scribbling and this popped out at me.
From chaos, hope–
Faith springs from community,
Companions bring wisdom,
Symphonic voices–
Harmony of diversity.
Bind together
Mine eloquent questions;
Provides raw materials;
And life polishes–
Rare beauty under pressure.
Hold each other gently
Be unsure together
Be companions.
Break bread
Be safe in this place.
I am in Vancouver International Airport. I am tired, but, I think, I was rewarded these last few days. I am grateful I was able to turn in and reflect. After a tough day, I people around me reached out and seemed to sense my discomfort. The result was gratifying, but it was not the result. Instead, it was the comfort being with people who cared and brought me into the fold.
I wonder what makes me who I am? Is it the moments I drop my shield of invincibility and show a vulnerable self? That is a scary place, but is so rewarding. It is the slowness of a crock pot where the fruit of intimacy is born. Here, I gain identity in the a relational and caring mirror. But, it sneaks up on me without even realizing it is there.
In a wondrous space
One’s most guarded secrets;
Unshared desires;
Find form—
In a carnival mirror,
Is that me?
Vulnerable—
Lie with a lover
An uncertain first time
Truest intimacy blooms;
That is who I am
Revealed in the other.
Stay human friends.
I enjoy the counter cultural nature of Parker Palmer’s writing and the concepts in the Art of Hosting. I write about Parker‘s work often and he describes the listening we need to do to our inner teacher and others as counter cultural. When we invite people into conversation, listen deeply, and ask questions which shake our certainty about the world the same applies.
Today, I walked to the top of Cates Hill here on Bowen Island. It was spectacular. A colleague took this picture as I was writing. Notice I am on high ground and wearing sandals. I got up there of my accord
Perched pensively
Pencil in hand;
My senses alive
I awake–
Aware.
Sounds flow,
A breeze caresses,
Sunlight bathes,
Peaceful moments–
I bask in each.
It was a long day. I was up at 5:45 AM, on a flight at 11:30 AM, and just wrapping up my day in a different time zone than the one I began the day in. Again, I had a great day and will find time to speak about it as the days move on. I am doing an Art of Hosting workshop and the first day was pretty incredible. It speaks to the David Whyte poem about thing coming to life even when unplanned and only need nourishment and nurturing to come to life.
In that first hardly noticed moment in which you wake,
coming back to this life from the other
more secret, moveable and frighteningly honest world
where everything began,
there is a small opening into the new day
which closes the moment you begin your plans.
What you can plan is too small for you to live.
What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough
for the vitality hidden in your sleep.
To be human is to become visible
while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.
To remember the other world in this world
is to live in your true inheritance.
You are not a troubled guest on this earth,
you are not an accident amidst other accidents
you were invited from another and greater night
than the one from which you have just emerged.
Now, looking through the slanting light of the morning window
toward the mountain presence of everything that can be
what urgency calls you to your one love?
What shape waits in the seed of you
to grow and spread its branches
against a future sky?
Is it waiting in the fertile sea?
In the trees beyond the house?
In the life you can imagine for yourself?
In the open and lovely white page on the writing desk?
I ready for my Sabbath break. Yesterday morning, this Bizarro cartoon was in my blog reader. Todd’s posts are short and provocative, so the link is to his site for those who have not been there before. He gives me pause to think.
I shared this cartoon with a circle of acquaintance. We discussed the Most Interesting Man in the World advertisements for an adult beverage. I am an abstainer so the ads are humourous, but there is no chance I will buy the product.
What about a broader message? Instead of closing with “Stay Thirsty My Friends” or “Stay Filthy My Friend”, we could say, “Stay Human my Friends”?
Thich Nhat Hanh reminds me, “find the ordinary in the extraordinary.” I often miss those things which make me most alive and human. I find, in the ordinary so often missed, the extraordinary and live a mindful life.
Stay human my friends
Be one with the universe
Be compassionate.
Last week, I wrote Mojo Gathers Momentum. A gift of my journey to Bainbridge was the realization I had lost the belief I was a good teacher. I have never believed this was my place to speak to that. There is a certain humility a teacher should have and extends beyond patting myself on the back. What I do know and recognize is I am different teacher. I have modeled my approach after teachers I believed operated on the margins and accepted that is their place. It was a place that they could do more good for students and the communities we live in.
false security
when hidden
yet, fully surrounded–
paradox of my humanness.
stand out
reveal blemishes
make them obvious
revel in them.
great teachers
found comfort on the margins
not hidden in the crowd
stepped out with pride.
humanness lived;
so fully
it reveals imperfections
for I am human, after all.
The dominant society or group within believes they control the conversation. What would happen if we trusted each other and made ourselves vulnerable? What would happen if we acknowledged and accepted differences? It takes courage, but it is possible. It takes us to acknowledge the other and reach out. In those moments of vulnerability and courage, we expose our self in ways that take us outside comfort zones.
There is courage in vulnerability
One sits on the edge;
The perimeter
Or margins
Not hidden in the crowd.
Expand boundaries–
Encourage and pull
Do not discourage and pull
Make invisible visible
Give a name to the other.
Create spaces;
Not for agreement
But, where agreement meets
On the edges
Reveal the other in your welcome.
I had some serious fun today with students. I was alone which is not the norm, but, on short notice, the parent helper could not make it. It is extra demanding on those days where I learn alone with the kids, but it is, many times, the most interesting times. While I was away a most interesting question came up: “Do pigs have udders?” Apparently, this was a hotly debated topic and it was brought up again today. I laughed. It was funny and pointed to an irrevocable truth: human curiosity and eloquent questions lead the way as we learn.
A simple question
Eloquently posed
Curiosity fueled;
The energy behind learning.
What does that mean?
Is it true?
Many more queries;
We seek and fill gaps–
Not with certitude;
Uncertainty prevails.
Years later
I am sure I will smile and chuckle;
I recall–
Appreciate the quality
A simple, provocative question–
Do pigs have udders?
As best as we can learn, they do and it was fun trying to figure it out. Adolescent children ask the darnedest things. Laughter is a great cure for even the most challenging moments.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 