In Those Years
In those years, people will say, we lost track
of the meaning of we, of you
we found ourselves
reduced to I
and the whole thing became
silly, ironic, terrible:
we were trying to live a personal life
we could bear witness to
But the great dark birds of history
screamed and plunged
into our personal weather
They were headed somewhere else
but their beaks and pinions drove
along the shore, through the rags of fog
where we stood saying I.
--Adrienne Rich
Valentine hearts, flowers and chocolates signal our annual day to honor love. What is this love that we are celebrating? Where does the circle of love begin and end? Who is included? How do we extend our love, our connection?
After the attacks of 9/11, W.H. Auden’s poem, September 1, 1939, was often quoted, especially these lines: “…no one exists alone…we must love one another or die”. In Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah considers love and marriage, commitment and solitude, private happiness and public good and concludes that “there is a growing understanding that we are all connected. In working out our problems, a sense that we are all part of a common body is above all what we need …It doesn’t overcome the difference in interests, it doesn’t mean we won’t fight, but it gives us the sense that in the end we are all part of each other.”
Is it possible that when we look inward, we begin to understand more than just ourselves? When we truly uncover “I”, do we also find “you” and “we”? We practice love by learning to love our own human, flawed, fragile and beautiful lives and by extending that love to others. Opening more deeply to life, we find all lives. From passion to tranquility, eros to agape, we recognize that life is connection and that its source is Love. Happy Valentine’s Day!
February SoulStudio: Heroes and Heroines
honor the heroes among us. Speaking directly from her heart, Laura Reyes reflects beautifully the earthy and inspiring qualities of a true friend and hero. This profile was originally published on Laura’s blog, http://theaurainlaura.blogspot.com and is reprinted here by permission.
my friend virginia is my hero. she is brilliant. one of the funniest people ever. she will sit & drink champagne, embroider, participate in a crossword puzzle & tell stories about when she was a girl on the farm. she captivates, amuses, makes your heart beat fast & can bring you to tears. she was our executive director at hospice. i loved working (for) with her. she made me feel smart. she raises people to their best.
she curses like a truck driver, her coffee & lunch end up on her shirt almost daily and i would listen carefully when she spoke to a patient & their family on the phone because she always taught me something. teaching moments are her forte. her school picture enlarged mega hangs at my work area. beautiful blue eyes that twinkle & speak of deep compassion.
i don't know if we ever truly know how we affect peoples lives. surely, the attempt to let people know how profound their existence is on our lives must have weight. if i have learned anything while working at hospice, it is that physical pain can really be managed, everyone deserves dignity & it is possible to look someone in the eyes who is dying & fall in love. virginia hired me for this job. i must remember to thank her.
We’ll be making community cards for our heros at SoulStudio in February. I’ll have some images of famous people, and we can use Google image search to find others. Please bring any images, photographs, especially of friends and family, that you may want to use as well. Now is the time to remember those you love and admire and bring them into your own community circle of love.
SoulStudio meets *first Friday* (new time!) February 3 from 6:30-9:30pm and again on Saturday February 4 from 9am-noon at Sara’s home studio, 604 Barbera Place in Davis. Investment is $40. Space for each session is limited to 10. Please reserve early, if possible. For reservations, information phone Sara (530)758-3613 or email sara@abovethedoor.com.
SoulStudio Schedule Has Changed!!
SoulStudio now meets regularly on the *first* Friday of each month with another session meeting on the following Saturday morning. Why the change? Second Friday is Gallery Night in Davis and starting in March, our studio and gallery, T.S.Post, will be open for Gallery Night to showcase new work and monthly exhibits. Look for more information in this space and other local media.
One of My Heroes: Verlyn Kinklenborg
Verlyn Kinklenborg writes from rural upstate New York for the New York Times. His essays combine keen observation of the natural world and we humans who inhabit it. If you don’t know Kinkenborg, you’re in for a treat. Check out one of his recent essays, “January Warm Spell”.
What’s New AboveTheDoor?
Changes everywhere!!! Each section of the website has been edited and revised for 2006 and three new sections have been added. New sections are:
Connecting Above The Door: This page is for communications—books, websites, music, movies. Here is a place to share sources and ideas. Please contribute anything you’d like to add, along with where to access it (website).
Sharing Above The Door: At last!!! A spot for your SoulCollage cards and writing. If you would like to share a card please send an image of your card, your name and any writing that illuminates the card (“I am the one who…”, a poem, a few descriptive lines) for inclusion in this section.
Testimonials: Rob Brezney of The News and Review’s Free Will Astrology, www.freewillastrology.com calls this section of his website “PRopaganda”. I will settle for compliments. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this page!
To contribute to any of these sections, please send information, cards and writing and/or comments to sara@abovethedoor.com
In the garden of mystic lovers
these are not true distinctions.
--Rumi
Above The Door News © Sara Post 2006
