a buddha was born

 

 

lightning

strikes up out of the earth

stunning the air with sound     the sun falls

flaming into the sea     bright cracks

open in the burning clouds     the sky is broken

this is the season of separation     crossed

and crossing paths

 

oracle of the turtle

 

hevrin khalaf, blessings on her peaceful soul

 

One torch

can dissipate the

accumulated darkness

of a thousand

aeons.

 

Tilopa

 

 

 

The grounds

for hope are in the shadows,

in the people who are inventing the world

while no one looks, who themselves don’t know yet

whether they will have any effect, in the people you have

not yet heard of who will be the next Cesar Chavez, the next

Noam Chomsky, the next Cindy Sheehan, or become something

you cannot yet imagine. In this epic struggle between light and dark,

it’s the dark side — that of the anonymous, the unseen, the officially

powerless, the visionaries and subversives in the shadows —

that we must hope for. For those onstage, we can just

hope the curtain comes down soon and the

next act is better, that it comes more

directly from the populist

shadows.

 

Rebecca Solnit

 

 

Avoid

the bad habit

of domesticating the prophet

of your choice, turning him or her into

a cheerleader for your way of thinking and way

of life. Remember that all the great prophets were courageous

and outrageous folks who railed against the powers-that-be,

challenged self-satisfied piosity, threatened the

prevailing social order, and would find

you falling short in some

significant

ways.

 

Parker Palmer