Tag Archives: teacher as transformer

Hope (A Zen Perspective)

Posted on June 12, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Mindfulness is being present in the given moment. Parker Palmer speaks about fidelity and faith as being linked together. The faith we have is not that we follow a predetermined, linear path where hope lives. Rather it is a speculative hope and faith born from deep faith that each moment is transient and what exists in each moment comes and go.

Richard Schiffman proposed hope is not an appetite for this or that concocted future. With faith in ourselves, others, and things beyond explanation, fidelity to phenomena never fully explainable and indescribable, the present unlearns the past and the present moves comfortably into an agnostic future.

When we take time, pause and breath, we enter each moment able to let go of fictitious pasts and fantastic futures, living in this particular moment, no this one.

Hope is not about some future meadow.
Hope is not a triumphal march toward some brighter,
bloodless field. Neither is it lighting a candle
or cursing the darkness or calling the glass half full.
It is this half-empty tumbler turning cartwheels
above the chasm. You, for example—
poised above your own private precipice,
bruised and bloodied, sifting through the ashes
of ten thousand burnt offerings.
Don’t scatter those ashes; don’t stuff the corpses
into body bags just yet. Don’t launch a fleet
of skyrockets to cheer up Gehenna. Don’t pretend
that you’re still hungry, like those battle-blind birds
pecking for seeds between the corpses.
Hope is not an appetite for this or that concocted future.
It is the present seeking itself, the present—
unlearning the past, agnostic of the future—
breathing, in its chains, like the sea.

16 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Hope (A Zen Perspective), Mindful Practice, mindfulness, Parker Palmer, poetry, Richard Schiffman, spirituality, teacher as transformer, zen. Bookmark the permalink.

Ode to Enchanted Light

Posted on June 10, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Pablo Neruda‘s final stanza is about the wonders the world sings out to us. We are in the universe and related to all phenomena. When light drops through the latticework of branches and when the cicada sings the light falls on us and the song includes us.

In the busy world we inhabit, it is difficult to elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary. When we pause and take a breath, the world senses us. We are in the extraordinary, overflowing glass. The world enchants us and we enchant it. We sing a rhapsody that is the world as the etymology of enchant suggests. Our lives become incantations and the response is the world’s incantation we can each hear in those momentary, mindful pauses.

Under the trees light
has dropped from the top of the sky,
light
like a green
latticework of branches,
shining
on every leaf,
drifting down like clean
white sand.

A cicada sends
its sawing song
high into the empty air.

The world is
a glass overflowing
with water.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, Ode to Enchanted Light, Pablo Neruda, poetry, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Wind, Water, Stone

Posted on June 7, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

We continuously act on the world and it acts on us. There is a constant interacting shaping us and the world. Sabbath represents a space when we take time, a few moments, an entire day, and try meet the world more fully. We step beyond the busyness and entering a welcoming spaciousness that holds us.

Octavio Paz provided a beautiful metaphor that brings the continuous interacting to life. Humans, similar to water, wind, stone, hollow spaces, disperse their gifts, and provide shelter for each other. We act in ways offering uplifting opportunities to others . As we step into Sabbath’s spaciousness, we encounter the sculptures, the holding spaces, and the transforming that is always happening around us and in us. We take time and sing, whisper, and find stillness in those spaces.

The water hollowed the stone,
the wind dispersed the water,
the stone stopped the wind.
Water and wind and stone.

The wind sculpted the stone,
the stone is a cup of water,
The water runs off and is wind.
Stone and wind and water.

The wind sings in its turnings,
the water murmurs as it goes,
the motionless stone is quiet.
Wind and water and stone.

One is the other and is neither:
among their empty names
they pass and disappear,
water and stone and wind.

11 Comments

Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged community, creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, Octavio Paz, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Wind Water Stone. Bookmark the permalink.

Praise Your Life

Posted on June 6, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Andrea Potos wrote this poem which I suspect has many different meanings. It will read differently tomorrow and the next day. Something new will appear as it finds space in my life.

When I found this poem, the opening lines resonated. It rained hard last night and is a cool day today. I don’t drink coffee, but my tea was the best this side of an oriental tea shop.

The poem impressed upon me the way life unfolds, much like a good book being read and re-read. We take time and find spaces where we can just be and enjoy what that book, that life means. We are called to this particular life, but it is not a given. We live it and interact with the world and its inhabitants in various ways. As a result, we change and the world changes in this living. Each time we read this book, it takes on a newer meaning, but reminds us of the past which is not simply discarded.

When on a June morning heavy with rain,
you can taste the best cappuccino
this side of Rome, in a cafe
with scarred maplewood tables,
a book of Caravaggio splayed open:
The Calling of St. Matthew
that could be set in a tavern,
a gambling den, a dank office where
tax collectors are counting their day’s work,
while in the top right of the frame, a gold-
seared light slices in, and with it,
the figure of a god made man—
a bolt of radiance shoots through
his finger, pointed as if to say: You,
it is you, I have called to this life.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged Andrea Potos, creativity, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, Praise Your Life, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Make the Earth Your Companion

Posted on June 3, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Nature teaches and is always present for us to learn. When we pause and are present with the universe, we can learn. J. Patrick Lewis wrote this poem as a reminder of lessons available when we take time and make the Earth our companion.

We do not live separate from the Earth and its inhabitants, sentient and non-sentient. We live in relationship with the Earth. This suggests the companionship is direct and active, dynamic and energetic. Companionship is about breaking bread with another. When we journey as companions, we are in communion calls on us to be stewards and serving the Earth and the relationships we live in. Communion is fellowship and mutual participation, an exchange of energy which is life-giving and affirming.

Make the Earth your companion.

Walk lightly on it, as other creatures do.

Let the Sky paint her beauty- she is always

watching over you.

Learn from the Sea how to face harsh forces.

Let the River remind you that everything will pass.

Let the Lake instruct you in stillness.

Let the Mountain teach you grandeur.

Make the Woodland your house of peace.

Make the Rainforest your house of hope.

Meet the Wetland on twilight ground.

Save some small piece of Grassland for a red kite

on a windy day.

Watch the Icecaps glisten with crystal majesty.

Hear the Desert whisper hush to eternity.

Let the Town weave a small basket of togetherness,.

Make the Earth your companion.

Walk lightly on it, as other creatures do.

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Posted in Community, Education, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged community, creativity, education, J. Patrick Lewis, Make the Earth Your Companion, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, servant-leadership, spirituality, stewardship, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Not dawdling

Posted on June 1, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Sabbath activities are crossroads where we bump into wonder when we are awake, aware, and attentive. We can walk with clarity and keep a sharp eye. It is in the attentiveness we gain insight, let go, and become enlightened. The wonder is two-fold. It uplifts ordinary acts/events we pass over often and they become extraordinary. As well, we take time and check those things that are different. It is not in sameness we find freedom. It is in opening up and accepting difference that we free ourselves from impenetrable prejudice, prejudgment.

James Broughton used wonderful metaphors and imagery. In letting go, we become intrepid, bold, and fearless explorers. We cut though strings binding us to the familiar and step towards lucent surprises which are always there, but paradoxically block our vision and hide from us.

A paraphrase of St. Benedict suggests we listen with the ear and see with the eye of our heart. In this we elevate the invisible and unheard in Sabbath moments.

Not dawdling
not doubting
intrepid all the way
walk toward clarity
with sharp eye
With sharpened sword
clear cut the path
to the lucent surprise
of enlightenment
At every crossroad
be prepared to bump into wonder

18 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged creativity, James Broughton, Just Dawdling, Mindful Practice, poetry, St. Benedict, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Expect Nothing

Posted on May 29, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Alice Walker is well-known for her novel The Color Purple. I don’t read a lot of fiction, but I her writing is an exception. I did not realize she wrote poetry and found this wonderful poem.

Living frugally on surprise is a wonderful suggestion. The universe is a place of wonder and awe which invites us to look again at its beauty, depth, and wisdom. We often look past the ordinary where the wonder and awe are hidden in plain sight. Being attentive allows us to encounter the universe and all its phenomena, sentient and non-sentient, fully.

By taking available compassion sparingly, is itself an act of compassion. We care for our self and leave for others who will be in need. In taking it, we stop short of feeling sorry for ourselves and understand disappointment is fleeting as are other emotions.

Expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
become a stranger
To need of pity
Or, if compassion be freely
Given out
Take only enough
Stop short of urge to plead
Then purge away the need.

Wish for nothing larger
Than your own small heart
Or greater than a star;
Tame wild disappointment
With caress unmoved and cold
Make of it a parka
For your soul.

Discover the reason why
So tiny human midget
Exists at all
So scared unwise
But expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.

4 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged Alice Walker, community, creativity, education, Expect Nothing, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, servant-leadership, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

why I feed the birds

Posted on May 27, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Richard Vargas’ poem reminded me of one I posted sometime ago called Birdfoot’s Grandpa. We each have those idiosyncratic things that make us who we are. We might save frogs, feed birds, serve meals in a shelter, etc. It is in those moments which are largely unexplainable, but clearly visible that we become who we are.

Something that stood out for me in both poems was the role elders played in the lives of others. Our grandparents and parents do things that we do not understand in the given moment. It is only years later as we experience our roles as parents, grandparents, and pedagogues that we come to understand what it might have meant.

When we take time and make the world a better place, we add something no one else can. In that addition, the world does become better. It is rarely in the large and overtly obvious things, but in the small, less obvious contributions that the world shifts from ordinary to extraordinary. It is giving without any certainty and hope of a return. We do it because it is who we are in our particular humanness which is always being and becoming in relationship with the universe.

And, it make a difference to birds, to frogs, and people in need when we add to the world without expecting return. In those moments, they are small gods in our lives. Those offerings make a difference in our lives without awareness of their importance. They add to our lives enriching them and making them fuller.

i saw my grandmother hold out
her hand cupping a small offering
of seed to one of the wild sparrows
that frequented the bird bath she
filled with fresh water every day

she stood still
maybe stopped breathing
while the sparrow looked
at her, then the seed
then back as if he was
judging her character

he jumped into her hand
began to eat
she smiled

a woman holding
a small god

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Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged Birdfoot's Grandpa, community, creativity, education, Joseph Bruchac, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, Richard Vargas, teacher as transformer, why I feed the birds. Bookmark the permalink.

Variation on a Theme by Rilke

Posted on May 24, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Denise Levertov wrote mystical poetry which applied to daily her life. Her poetry contains qualities similar to Rilke who explored life through the spaces provided in poetry. In a sense, poetry acts as a form of Sabbath.

We read poetry’s words and the silence. In the latter, the former come to life asking questions of our whole self. There is no answer in the strictest sense. What emerges in the silence are new questions and as Rilke said, “We live into the questions.”

The silent spaces are important as they enrich the active moments of life. In those silent spaces, we become present in life which confronts us as a sword striking shoulder sending us honorably forward fulfilling life’s tasks and believing we can.

A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me–a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day’s blow
rang out, metallic–or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

4 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Sabbath and tagged creativity, Denise Levertov, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, Rainer Maria Rilke, spirituality, teacher as transformer, Variation on a Theme by Rilke. Bookmark the permalink.

Prayer of St. Francis

Posted on May 22, 2014 by ivonprefontaine

Kathy and I exchanged vows 38 years ago today. Yesterday, as we drove to Fargo ND, we talked a little about the journey. There are no guarantees in life, but, when you end up with the right person–your soul mate–it seems there is destiny involved. I vividly remember as Kathy and her Dad began walking up the aisle, I stood, and realized I was shaking from head to foot. When Bill gave Kathy’s hand to me, the shaking stopped and it felt right, as it has for all those years.

The priest who performed the ceremony told us we could choose the readings. I asked for the Prayer of St. Francis. At first, he said we could not, but later changed his mind. We have a plaque with it hanging in our bedroom. I printed a copy in Spokane and put it on the wall in my room. It has remained a constant reminder in my life that I make a difference as Kathy has in my life.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.