
It Takes Courage



From current Contemplative Christian Mystics:
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Deep knowing and presence do not happen with our thinking minds. To truly know something, our whole being must be open, awake, and present. When Christianity is in any way anti-body, it is not authentic Christianity. The incarnation tells us that body and spirit must fully operate and be respected as one. —Richard Rohr of Center for Action and Contemplation Ours is a God who sneezed and rubbed His eyes when He was sleepy. Ours is a God who knew longing, heartbreak, excitement, frustration—the full range of what it means to be human. A God who knows what it means to live in a body. —Kate Bowler The soul is not simply within the body, hidden somewhere within its recesses. The truth is rather the converse. Your body is in the soul, and the soul suffuses you completely. —John O’Donohue The chasm between the spiritual and the physical is no greater than that between a thought and a word. They cannot be disconnected. And it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins, perhaps because there is no such place. —Cole Arthur Riley In terms of the spiritual journey, trying to find faith with the intellectual center is something like trying to play a violin with a saw: it’s simply the wrong tool for the job. This is one reason why all religious traditions have universally insisted that religious life cannot be done with the mind alone; that is the biggest single impediment to spiritual becoming. —Cynthia Bourgeault |
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From two dancer, choreographers who live in Spirit and not Religion: When you dance, you can’t hide who you really are. ~ Paul Sanasardo of the Paul Sanasardo Modern Dance Company Imperfectly we grow God in every living step we take. Heaven and Earth is about Love not perfection. Living is Love realizing itself. Living is Prayer. ~ Sydney Lynn Haupert-Noble-Lok who danced for Paul Sanasardo from 1971-1972. |

***I can be reached at sydneylynnlok@gmail.com for any questions you may have.
Now, center yourself in stillness. You sit on the still fulcrum of the Teeter-Totter of Duality. Breathing gently, know that you hold within you Source God, Source Love. Know also, that Source Love holds you gently nestled within Itself like a Russian nesting doll. Let your breath bring together your Heart, Your Mind, and your body as One.
Namaste.

Wahatoya, Breasts of the World
Do you see the Golden Bow pulsing from within the twin peaks of Wahatoya?
Note: An ancient culture that embraced the Golden Bow lived along the Eastern Coast of what is known today as China. One of the monks of that time I met in his parallel life as a dancer for Paul Sanasardo and choreographer for his own company, The Manuel Alum Dance Company. He was a man of few words so when he did speak, each phrase formed a simple yet profound concept. He taught me that life energy was most potent and powerful when movement was offered in subtle doses. The Pulse of Life Energy is gentle yet nothing is as powerful. Manuel bid farewell to his incarnation in his 50’s from Aids.

Maybe, imperfection is perfection.
Could Heaven be right here on Earth, my grand daughter
gripping a tantrum of sand in her tiny hands?

Then time dissolves when Source embraces the wrong turn into oncoming traffic.
The Light and the Shadows are ok here.
There is nothing wrong here in this living room.
I look back without turning my head
at what was once the iron bars
of the Jail House of Perfection.
Was Perfection just a virus that overtook a Universe
and then disappeared when we weren’t looking?

by John Roedel: (God, I love this dude!)
this isn’t how I planned for
my life to look like,” I whispered
under my breath as I walked to my car
“tell me about it,”
an eavesdropping cloud
replied to me from above
I looked up and watched
the cloud billow between looking
like a dove and an open hand
the cloud continued:
“I used to be a snowfield in Montana.
I used to be a dewdrop kiss on a lily.
I used to be a puddle in a parking lot.
I used to be a river in Mexico.
I used to be a glacier.
I used to be a waterfall mist in a jungle.
I used to be so many things.”
“doesn’t that make you sad?” I asked the cloud
“it used to – but not anymore,” the cloud replied while wrapping herself around me like a scarf. “I don’t think either of us were created to stay the same form our entire life.”
“I’m not sure I can let go of my old life,” I sighed.
“oh you simply must,” the cloud whispered in my ear.
” because once you release what you used to be
and embrace who you are meant to be now –
something amazing will happen,” the cloud said
“what’s that?” I asked while looking at my hands that were beginning to billow and shapeshift.
“you’ll start to float.”
and with that my feet lifted off the ground
~ john roedel

Photo by Fran Kie

I am dancing with my partner and my partner is Source Light.

by John Roedel
(I wrote this for you & me)
I fell through a hole in
a church pew yesterday
and landed right
in the thick amber
field of a piece of
stained glass
I asked a red saint
who was stargazing
“why must I suffer?”
without looking
at me
he said
“to know God.”
I didn’t like
that answer
so
I crawled through
a mist of royal triangles
and swam across a sea of ovals
and scaled a pointed cusp
until I found a glowing sinner
and I asked her the
same question
“why must I suffer?”
she placed her
green hand on my
purple cheek
and sung
“Because a broken heart
is easier to share.”
suddenly
my hands became
turquoise doves
and my lips became
yellow vines
and my feet became
fat red rubies
and I became radiant
painted glass of the divine
and I became
reflected light
and everything
I touched glowed
and now my broken
illuminated heart
colors the walls
of every room I walk into
~ john roedel


by Becky Hemsley
She sat at the back and they said she was shy,
She led from the front and they hated her pride,
They asked her advice and then questioned her guidance,
They branded her loud, then were shocked by her silence,
When she shared no ambition they said it was sad,
So she told them her dreams and they said she was mad,
They told her they’d listen, then covered their ears,
And gave her a hug while they laughed at her fears,
And she listened to all of it thinking she should,
Be the girl they told her to be best as she could,
But one day she asked what was best for herself,
Instead of trying to please everyone else,
So she walked to the forest and stood with the trees,
She heard the wind whisper and dance with the leaves,
She spoke to the willow, the elm and the pine,
And she told them what she’d been told time after time,
She told them she felt she was never enough,
She was either too little or far far too much,
Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak,
Too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek,
Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,
And she stopped…and she heard what the trees said to her,
And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,
For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.
By: Becky Hemsley
bubbles out of its sub-atomic origins
emerging out of the caverns of the formless
and sits there humming and thumping my form from its lips
the form of my soul piles up in layers around me,
like children crawling
fingers, hands and feet on top of me,
all this within the great big ball of you
they never tire of this
growing of my soul
as I disappear beneath the leaves
of their tiny, sweet
little brushstrokes so green
One Heart
you are breaking out through a door
pulsing between my shoulder blades
It feels like your lips are poised between them
blowing up my heart bigger and bigger
will I burst?
does that even matter?
there is laughter on the lips of children
their eyes swirl in circles
darting and swerving
like silverfish around me
are they forming my soul?
how can I float so weightless inside your Body?
as I let you blow me up and
toss me into the wind
