in your hand. the birth of a new day...or a childhood myth revisited.

sometimes we happen upon the fortune
of waking from
the deadened sleep of adulthood
and
tripping through some portal,we stumble without veiled vision
into the realm of childhood,able once again to
see things with the same magick
that came so easily before
we became numb from hungering only for
the songs of experience
[tempered without innocence - all they can do is leave us jaded]

But again,
now/here
we are
and given respite for awhile
[perhaps after having been driven there by some dark and tremulous storm]
we cast our eyes
into that silvery liquid pool
of memory
chancing to reflect upon our journey
and drawing strength from our own myths.

and so…here it was I recently found myself
considering the tomes of my youth
and offer up to you
like Lewis’ soundless wardrobe
a wondering path home




I considered Bastian’s journey.
Remember that quiet, bright boy?whose childhood crime was one of
wishing for wisdom:
he preferred to spend his days whiling his way
through ancient novels
rather than pursue the rowdy, barbaric bruises of youth
and suffered for it, by bearing the endless torment of bullies.



and then he fell into the Neverending Story…

whose leaves of pages called him to
the mountains and trees
of Fantasia
Causing him, in desperate act, to steal away
and read with shallow breaths the
Hero’s Journey of Atreyu

and with that boy warrior of the Plains people we
confronted
[perhaps for the first time, many of us]
the despondency of despair

oh shed even now a tear, for Artax,
whose spirit gave up
in that dark and murky swamp
only then, remember, was it
that he sunk
[all his hope was lost]
and he died

and still, the Hero journeyed on
though weary
he bore the mark of the Auryn
[it’s labyrinthine significant of the quest]
and understood the sacred call of duty
[he knew any personal sacrifice he must bear was for the good of us all]

again, Great Wisdom
for it is true
we know for certain now:
- we are all interconnected -
and whatever breaks my heart
like ripples

affect

and breaks the heart of Hope and Love



and this is why we journey on
[it is our sacred duty]
Toward wholeness in ourselves,
We heal the Heart of the world.



But still, Fantasia, was doomed
And being consumed by The Nothing,
Atreyu must journey on…

through many hardships and much suffering
unwittingly, he was pursued
all the way by the Servant of Darkness
that would snatch the life breath from him should he stop



he traveled all the way to face his fears
[and through the riddle of the Sphinx]
On his way to the Oracle
he made his way past the questions
we don’t even know need asked

and then, having reached the end
of whatever path he knew he must take,
he reached also
the end of himself
and the Nothing raged on
[vapid dark star of apathy and despair]
devouring Fantasia
[the dream world of all human beings]
eating away at all the goals
and hope for progress of humanity

and it is there at the edge of the precipice
that Atreyu faces the ultimate test:
even after slaying – with warrior skill— the Gmork that sought to destroy him
[overcoming all that would stop him]
he reaches the point where all that is left for him to do is
-to give up-

Surrender

-let go-
Again, the ultimate test



There is nothing more he can do
But acknowledge
His fate resides within the strength of Another



And Dear Reader,
do know
it’s not a place of weakness to admit:
to discover this selfsame truth in the realm of your own journey -
- it is always what seems contrary to rational thought
that reaps real wisdom
and
All Spiritual Truth

Enter Bastian:
the small boy who
has made a lifetime at his young age of
thinking he, insignificant,
reveling in the bold, brave acts of others.

[so too we/here can seem at times so incapable of any good
we could ever hope to achieve]

and the revelation dawns
even as he is reading…
…that he cannot separate himself from the story
even as the life of Atreyu [the warrior]
And the Princess [lifeblood of Fantasia]
Hang in the balance, so too
Does Bastian’s World
[because Fantasia is the dream world of humans, and because thoughts and dreams by their very nature have no boundaries]
so too,
and it is true,
neither does Fantasia,

but the reality is
– and soon we each learn in our own ways –
that the Nothing is real
and exists to snuff out the boundless worlds within us
should we, either for disbelief
or lack of desire for trying any longer
give up and give in to the darkness that would consume us

and in his awareness, so too
Bastian is pushed to the edge
beyond the limitations of skepticism
he is called to leave the rational boundaries of thought behind
to enter the Dream World
[that is indeed, undone]
and in that that moment, the supreme irony resounds
trading innocence for experience
yet wanting Goodness and Light to reign
the child confronts his own dark self
and learns to move toward maturity
in a world shaped by the power of his dreams and wishes
[which as we know is the ever unmarred, unfailing strength of childhood]

only he can give the Princess her new name all it requires is that he
- believe -
regardless of how it seems that
all is lost
[Fantasia was reduced after all to a single seed, that golden grain of sand]





[and please, Brave Heart, take note:]
It is never too late
to begin the world over again.




Again, all we have is now/here

Selah.
Or in other words:
Let it be.

- zenjen -

the alchemy of love - or reflections of the brokenhearted warrior

A relationship that has any depth and power at all will inevitably penetrate our usual shield of defenses, exposing our most tender and sensitive spots, and leaving us feeling vulnerable—literally, “able to be wounded”. To love, in this sense, is to open ourselves to being hurt. The dream of love would have us believe that something is wrong if a relationship causes us pain. Yet trying to avoid the wound of love only creates a more permanent kind of damage. It prevents us from opening ourselves fully, and this keeps us from ever forming a deeply satisfying intimate connection.

Even in the best relationships, two individuals will never fit together perfectly. There will always be rough edges and problems that cannot be entirely resolved. Because we are creatures of this earth, with all the limitations and imperfections that entails, human relationships cannot always manifest the perfect, unconditional love we know and feel in our heart.

When we feel the pain of this contradiction between the perfect love in our heart and the obstacles to its complete realization in earthly form, it breaks the heart—wide open. But this is not so bad. Not so bad at all.

When the heart breaks open, we hurt. Yet in this pain is our basic openness to life.
When we feel raw and tender, we are in touch with the very core of who we are.





Thus the rawness of the broken-open heart, which begins in moments of disillusion, is the transmuting force in the alchemy of love. When we let our heart break open, a certain sweetness starts to flow from us like nectar.

As the Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan put it,

“The warmth of the lover’s atmosphere, the piercing effect of his voice, the appeal of his words, all come from the pain of his heart.”

This is one of the great secrets of love.

Instead of trying to ward off this pain, which is futile anyway, the lover can use it

to transform himself,

to develop invincible tenderness and compassion…and [to become] a heroic warrior in the service of love.

Letting the heart break open awakens us to the mystery of love—that we can’t help loving others, in spite of the pain they cause us, for no other reason than that they move and touch us, in ways that we can never fully comprehend.

Indeed, if those we love perfectly matched our ideal dreams, they would not touch us so deeply. What we love is not just their pure being, but also their heart’s struggle with all the obstacles in the way of its full, radiant expression. Although their imperfections cause us pain, they also give our love a greater purchase, a foothold, something to work with.

It is as though our heart wants to ally itself with the heart in those we love and lend them strength in their struggle to realize the magnificence of their being, beyond all their perceived shortcomings.

So, just as rocks in a stream accentuate the force of the water rushing against them, the obstacles to perfect romance can help us realize the power of our capacity to love.

They force the heart to stretch so that it can embrace all of what we are.

This, more than finding the perfect relationship or having someone give us everything we want, is what can heal us.


from “Journey of the Heart -
Intimate Relationship and the Path of Love” by John Welwood

cultivate love.

"Our personal attempts to live humanely in this world are never wasted. Choosing to cultivate love rather than anger just might be what it takes to save the planet from extinction.

What is it that allows our goodwill to expand and our prejudice and anger to decrease? This is a significant question. Traditionally it is said that the root of aggression and suffering is ignorance. But what is it that we are ignoring? Entrenched in the tunnel vision of our personal concerns, what we ignore is our kinship with others."

- Pema Chodron -

troisième semaine - 7e chose. technology that matters to me.

bearing the rare brand of a native of this transient state, Florida, i've long grown up under the shadow of an architectural invention envisioned by one of my long geek crushes and endless self-study fascination. thing is, when the Epcot center opened at Disney World in october of 1982, i had no idea its iconic golfball-like dome could be the precise shape that someday saves my life.

buckyballs - as the specific arrangement of carbon molecules or Fullerenes are known - were named after the noted architect and futurist Richard Buckminster Fuller, who popularized the geodesic dome.

now, i have long been drawn to the legacy of such an intriguing man who, in his life formulated over 28 patents…and countless other inventions that were scoffed at and never pursued by industry. but what keeps drawing me to him as an orient point in my own bookish, rambling-student-of-life education and exploration is that Buckminster Fuller was a remarkable visionary.



demonstrating a prescient understanding for how things work, R.Buckminster invented and streamlined his inventions from his earliest years. he was such a charismatic tinkerer in fact, that he was expelled from Harvard University twice: once for entertaining an entire dance troupe, and eventually for his seeming lack of interest and general irresponsibility. but it wasn't until 1927 when he lost his young daughter to polio and spinal meningitis that he determined to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world ... benefiting all humanity."



his own tragedy focused his intentions on tackling the question of whether humanity really has hope of surviving on this planet and how to most successfully do so. how fitting then, to return to that image of the dome in consideration of why technology matters to me.

the discoverers of Fullerenes won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1996, but the remarkable trends incorporating their studies have recently been making a lot of noise in the scientific community. seems like buckyballs are transforming developments in nanotechnology to make the most microscopic elements of medicine more stable, improving the eventual success of transplants.

living daily with juvenile diabetes it's eerie to think of how the globe-like dome of a nearby tourist destination could symbolize my hope for a better life. for more about how the physical structure of Fullerenes are transforming the realm of nanotechnology. click here.

seems like the smallest things in the realm of science might just offer me and countless others living with this potentially life-limiting disease the greatest hope. work is already being done to make the practice of daily blood glucose testing more streamlined. and further developments in nanotechnology will only increase the efficacy of experiments to ultimately cure diabetes like those being done at the University of Alberta, Canada.

somehow, i think Buckminster would be honored. his lifetime of renegade scientific vision coupled with humanitarian imperative might exponentially improve the chances for survival on this planet after all.

troisième semaine - 5e chose.

psssst. click and follow the birdy.

purpose.

photo by helen levitt

If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to,
no one with which to share the beauty of the stars,
to laugh with, to touch,
what would be your purpose in life?
It is other life,
it is love, which
gives your life meaning.
This is harmony.
We must discover the joy of each other,
the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.

- mitsugi saotome -

semaine, deux - 4ème chose - blog nombre deux.

per prompting for assignment number 2, i have given some thought to how blogs can be used in libraries. i think it's only a matter of time before professionally utilizing such tools of pop culture is not just an innovative concept, but a necessary function for doing business. looking ahead, how could this kind of progress not be an evolutional track for our industry? we have always been in the business of information technology...from the era in which library pages carved out their living by sleeping in the stacks of the monolithic Great library at Alexandria to the construction of the high-speed information superhighway of today.

what's unique about blogs is they demand a kind of personal investment. all around the globe...it is understood that the thoughts/blogs/twitter that are blossoming daily

broadcasting people's current pontifications...all arise from a set of hands typing away at some keyboard/somewhere.

it's precisely that tête-à-tête reality that makes the medium an important consideration for libraries. let's face it. the simple wonders of technology put the miraculous power of learning into anyone's hands. sure, there is the age-old argument that given the proliferation of detritus, the responsible average Joe researcher should appreciate assistance from the learned librarian professionally trained to sift through and separate the chaff from the wheat. but in reality, how do we continue to build these relationships with the seeking public? i envision the library of the future, much less a simple repository for information [whatever the format], and more a hub for the community.

the realization of need for community is only now dawning with the mass appeal of virtual alterna-realities like Second Life. how exciting would the opportunity be for someone in the library to be so passionate about her interests, that the mere expression of her own discoveries would reach out and draw the public to interact and be inspired toward the same. it's not impossible that, say a love of reading, could ignite a spur of the populace to pursue titles a blogger has reviewed. [the music world sees this all the time with a groundswell of music blogs] and if said blogger were a hip, connected library employee, what a perfect introduction to draw potential traffic to the services the library could provide. it's a formula that's been known to work. In our own system, in fact. i've seen it myself, having worked at Southwest County Regional Library with Stacy Alesi, whose personal blog and website has long been a mainstay of local readers and those beyond [thanks to the universal audience of the internet] looking for a trusted voice and champion of reader's advisory. i have witnessed new patrons wander into the library after having made a connection with Stacy online, and established patrons ramble in waiting to ply Stacy with suggestions for the latest greatest read. she is obviously someone whose own passion has helped to ignite enthusiasm in others. and she regularly bridges the gap between the publishing world and authors and the reading public in one forum. what a community relations powerhouse she could be.

sadly, she remains a cloaked, [not always be-spectacled] library worker by day, blogging powerhouse superdiva by night, as the verbage in her long-held web persona doesn't fly with an [aherm] stodgier set of library system guidelines.



lastly, I've perused some of the following librarian blogs. here's just a start:

the shifted librarian [one of the more renowned]
librarians index
"shift happened."
"play more video games."