Give Me The Roses While I Live
~R.H. CORNELIUS

Wonderful things of folks are said
When they have passed away
Roses adorn the narrow bed
Over the sleeping clay

Give me the roses while I live
Trying to cheer me on
Useless are flowers that you give
After the soul is gone

Kind words are useless when folks lie
Cold in a narrow bed
Don't wait till death to speak kind words
Now should the words be said

Let us not wait to do good deeds
Till they have passed away
Now is the time to sow good seeds
While here on earth we stay

I think Tim Leary was right. Everyone must create his own religion. You must start your own religion. I have my own religion. Every sadhu has his own religion in India. They say every lama has his own religion in Tibet. Find the way you can genuinely be you. What do you like to do? Find God there. Find out what your special gift is and where you find that connection, what really makes you happy, and follow that way.

The peace that comes from letting go and surrendering is incredible. Again and again it keeps coming back to letting go of our own will to have a plan about where we're going and a goal. It seems that we spontaneously align with the Plan of God for us. I think that's the whole "follow your bliss" thing. It's really Thy will be done, not mine. Jesus said it all. Love the Lord with all your heart and soul, and your neighbor as yourself. That's it. There is no one out there but us. And if we can just put God first, Om first—offer the food up, offer the day up—then there is peace.

Bhagavan Das, It's Here Now (Are You?)

It is so good to remember God every moment.
And if you can't remember God, remember death.
Death will bring you there.
~Bhagavan Das

Knitting a Sweater
By Denny Davis

I spent my whole life knitting a sweater
with no pattern or instructions.
I used dull, bent needles and poor quality yarn.
However I worked very hard
to make the best sweater I could possibly make.

After 53 years I ended up with something
that was not at all like I had envisioned.
It was poorly fitting -
so tight it restricted my movements,
very uncomfortable and irritating,
a dull, dreary color
with many dropped stitches.

I decided I would unravel it just a bit
and try to fix it a little -
pick up some dropped stitches,
improve the pattern,
maybe add some color.


However things got out of hand
and it started to unravel on its own
in spite of my attempts to stop it.

You might think I would be glad
to see such a poor quality sweater destroyed.
However I have very mixed feelings about it.
In the first place it was the only sweater I had.
It was far from perfect, even ugly,
but it did keep out some of the drafts
and it was known and familiar.

Now the only thing to do is to start over.

The problem is that I still have no pattern,
and I still have the same dull, bent needles
and poor quality yarn to work with.
If I try again I might well end up with
the same kind of sweater as before.
And even if I do a little better
I am not sure if it is worth the effort.

Maybe it would be easier just to stay cold.

I was born and baptised Episcopalian, converted to Reform Judaism during my first marriage, reverted back to a not-necessarily practicing Episcopalian, I'm a Christian "pluralist" (I am a follower of Jesus--not necessarily a "believer" in a lot of the myths around him; recognize many different valid paths to enlightenment etc) and I'm not a Scriptural Literalist. I married my Hindu husband by a Unitarian minister, and I've been very interested in Hindu chants and centering/meditation, and have always believed in the "Light Within" that both Hindus and Quakers believe.

I'm all kinds of mixed up!

I don't know what to do as dad's (death) anniversary date is coming up. Do I celebrate All Souls/Day of the Dead? Do I light a yizkor candle and chant the mourner's kaddish? Do I go to a Hindu temple and do whatever they do on the death anniversary of a parent? All three seem natural to me. Do I pick one? Do I do all three?

The death of a parent does not come with a "to do list" or a manual. I'm so lost.

Crumbs on the water
Casting out sins and regrets
Drifting forgiveness

Unfathomable
Succeed and fail together
Our fates are inscribed

To our lives and health
Investing ourselves, earnestly
Ahavat, shalom


9/18/09
Rosh Hashana
(c) S.F. "Maven"