Don't just DO something, SIT there

Today is officially the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the Equinox - equal day and night.  It's also the anniversary of Osho's enlightenment as a young man in 1953.   But why 'a love supreme'?  For lovers of jazz and soulful music,  A Love Supreme is John Coltrane's masterpiece.  I chose this title after last week's live gig by the 'Coltrane Dedication Quintet' in Narberth, Pembrokeshire.  Hearing the four notes by the bass player repeated again and again - 'a love su-preme, a love su-preme'   ("Acknowledgement", Part I) I was transported back to hearing this amazing LP decades ago.  It  is a spiritual work -  Coltrane admitted that he didn’t own his talent but was channelling a higher power. He had the discipline, the tools and the technique, but the actual music seemed to happen by itself.  This is an example of skill combined with 'allowing love to happen' leading to sublime results.  Archie Shepp w...

Since my last blog, we watch as horror descends on the Ukrainian people.  Military aggression and massive displacement of people has been happening around the world for decades, but this time it's on Europe's borders.  How can we presume to talk about it, safe in our homes when others are fleeing or waiting for the next bomb blast? Now, 'don't just do something, just sit there' sounds very hollow.  It is, because the opposite is always true too.   Action is needed -action that is a response or necessity arising from a situation.  Action is different from random and unfocused activities that serve as distractions.  But in this situation, what can we 'do' apart from donating money or signing up as volunteers in a war zone? There's two things we can do - and they bring together the both/and, the paradox of doing and not-doing.  We look within at the same time as looking outwards at our world.  I quote from Marianne Williamson's book 'The Gift of...

Standing under a blue sky yesterday, watching two buzzards circle and dance above the woods, I couldn't believe the wind had stopped.  I don't remember being so battered by continuous winds, speeds up to 80 mph - storm Dudley, Eunice and now Franklin.  Where do they get these names from?   Yes, one day's respite from the wind with a river much faster and fuller, but luckily no trees down here.   In the 1980's we sang a song about wind in our Osho music celebrations.  One of the many devotional songs with dancing.  This one went: Let the wind blow / take it all easy /  Let the wind blow  /  we're still alive......... Now was a chance to really experience this in our exposed house on the edge of the Preseli hills.  I hate strong wind. It's the nights I can't stand, the howling sounds, wooden house creaking, body feeling bombarded.  I get edgy and this time sleepless and jangled.  Still, I haven't got kids to educate at ...