Welcome to my blog where each week I will post my thoughts musings on things pertaining to my spiritual life or on life in general. All Photos are mine unless stated otherwise. At the bottom of each posting I will include a link to a song or a talk which I know will be of interest, so please take a listen.


     Along the pathways of living in in the present moment we can utilize many metaphors to describe the Journey we are on. Rumi, the great Persian poet, liked to talk about our existence being only a drop of water falling into a high mountain stream which then takes us on to our destiny. Being carried from stream to river, and eventually river to the the ocean, which was for Rumi metaphor for God as Ocean. The trip is one that can take our entire life, or can happen in a short time if God intervenes and carries us directly to union with Our Beloved. Usually though we have a longer road to go on where we will have many stops as we regroup and find our way back to the streams center, where the water of life flows freely. 


   However the journey the important thing for me to remember. That the steps taken all along the way are what the traveling is about. There is no longer any goal, no milestones to reach, there are these days, just the movement forward each day. I am content to allow life to unfold the same way a bolt of cloth is opened on the cutting table of the seamstress. When life is at an end and I am to be called Home, God will cut the fabric, and the unknown will be known. I am not looking to make that final step just yet, but I have lost most fears of the unknown ahead and I am at peace with this day - with this hour and minute. Still there are dark days as I am entirely human and life offers what life offers. 


    Here is a image of how a wonderful, slow stream carries me on a warm summer day through a passageway here in Bangor, Maine. Next stop is the Penobscot river and the thirty of so miles to the ocean.

    
   At the Metropolitan Museum Of Art on our trip last December the new Islamic wing had just opened. One particular surprise was the Moroccan Courtyard which was created in place in the room it now is in. The Met brought Moroccans over who were among a dying breed of skilled craftsmen who could do the most incredible detailed work with plaster and tile. They stayed for months and left an exhibit that was jaw dropping. Here is the link of a short video showing something of how this project was worked. The video is down at the bottom of the page.
  http://www.metmuseum.org/about%20the%20museum/now%20at%20the%20met/from%20the%20director/2011/building%20history%20the%20making%20of%20the%20mets%20new%20moroccan%20court


   A fine two part article from the NY Times on this project -


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/arts/design/metropolitan-museums-moroccan-courtyard-takes-shape.html?_r=1


   And some pictures from the Times -


http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/03/20/arts/design/03202011_MOROCCANSlide.html


    And last some Middle Eastern Music to listen to what another part of the world enjoys. It is called "A Drop Of Water" by Ustad Sultan Kahn. Check it out.


    http://www.box.com/s/7l9147tcovkmr2jd2oxy


   Until next week,  Peace, Bill Lagerstrom

   Be sure to leave your comments below.

   Welcome to my blog where each week I will post my thoughts musings on things pertaining to my spiritual life or on life in general. All Photos are mine unless stated otherwise. At the bottom of each posting I will include a link to a song or a talk which I know will be of interest, so please take a listen.

    As you may know my wife and I live in the Bangor region of Maine which to date has received only a small portion of the usual snowfall. Yesterday, Saturday, we went to Acadia National Park and I hoped for a few pictures of the woods filled with snow. - there was none. The unusually warm weather and the Gulf Stream melted all snow leaving only a very icy carriage road close to the Jessup trail which is one of our favorite walks. So we could have stayed in the car and with me gripping about not getting my way, or doing what we did, put on the Stablilicers - screw studded ice cleats that give traction in even the hardest of black ice conditions - and off we went for a most enjoyable walk.

   The woods here in Maine are always one of the very best places for me to find a return to emotional and spiritual sanity. There is always an exhale into equanimity when I an in Acadia, generally these days walking on the carriage trails which at this time of year are virtually devoid of all but a few people. One of the Gifts I have received over the years is the loss of any fear or loneliness when in off track places where no one else is around. This I believe comes from a trust that God is always with me, and at the same time I know I have acquired enough knowledge to work through any situation that may arrive. These are double Graces which I recognize for what they are even though I have never been tested in places apart.

    Winter can be hard or soft all depending on what is an acquired viewpoint, how it is looked at. I prefer the softer approach which allows me to see the beauty of where I am regardless of the weather. Here are two pictures I took on yesterdays walk to emphasize this point. The first is a hard and cold view, the second is what I saw which translated well into the photo. (Actually both are beautiful to these eyes.)

     Wisdom is bright and does not grow dim . . . and is found by those who look for her.”

                                                          ~ Wisdom 6:12-13

   Wisdom is not the gathering of more facts and information, as if that would eventually coalesce into truth. Wisdom is precisely a different way of seeing and knowing the “ten thousand things” in a new way. I suggest that wisdom is precisely the freedom to be truly present to what is right in front of you. Presence is wisdom! People who are fully present know how to see fully, rightly, and truthfully.

    

   Presence is the one thing necessary for wisdom, and in many ways, it is the hardest thing of all. Just try to keep 1) your heart space open, 2) your mind without division or resistance, and 3) your body not somewhere else—and all at the same time! Most religions just decided it was easier to believe doctrines and obey often-arbitrary laws than the truly converting work of being present. Those who can be present will know what they need to know, and in a wisdom way.

                                    Richard Rohr

    On other sides of spiritual coinage the world is filled with holy people who dedicate their lives to following the Call of God's will for their lives. The mystical branch of Islam are the Sufi Orders filled with people who chose to live their lives looking for union with God here in the world. In all of South East Asia, India, Pakastan, etc. the music of poetry sung as praise and thanksgiving for God's Graces is the largest selling music of all that is available. Most of the songs were written at one time to echo the great poets of the Islamic world, Rumi, Hafiz and many others. The greatest modern day singer of this musical form is Nusrat Fetah Ali Kahn who only lived to age fifty dying of a heart attack prior to a concert in Paris. His popularity in the Islamic world is unparalleled. 

   Here is a remarkable love song to God sung by Shankar Mahavedan who uses traditional and modern instruments in his arrangements. If you go to the Utube link and watch in full screen view may you be as amazed as I was by the wonderful production of MTV India. The Audio can be listened to and downloaded from the Boxnet link. 

       Allah Hi Rehem - (Allah simply means "God" )

              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AKjFMFSiwk

      Audio only:     http://www.box.com/s/pop2ycvcrvett9le4m8r

   Here are the words:

Allah Hi Rahem  (A Sufi Lovesong to God)

God is Merciful, Lord is Loving God is Grace Giving, Lord is Love Outpouring Look how Your Love has adorned my path Since the day I felt Your loving gaze oh God! I have become all Yours With Your showing of grace, we become Your Loved ones Being divinely intoxicated, becoming love stricken, we become inseparable from You In every breath are You, in every soul are You, In every beginning and every end, in every gaze and spoke words - are You God is Merciful, Lord is Loving God is Mercy, Lord is Pure Compassion You are hidden in every recess, in every place Then why this vain search for You? You’re in the warmth and in the cool shade You’re in the near ones and in strangers also are You God, God .. You’re in every fiber of my being You are my love, O my God Every breath I take is a gift from You You are my love, my God There’s nothing greater than receiving You Whenever my eyes gaze at You my heart sings….. God, God .. God is Merciful, Lord is Loving God is Grace Bestowing, God is Love Outpouring                                                    by:  Ustad Rashid Khan    See you next week.     Peace and joy in the knowledge of a loving god,                    Bill Lagerstrom

 

January 23, 2012

  Welcome again to my new blog where each week I will post my some thoughts about my journey through the days. All photos will be mine unless stated otherwise. Be sure to take a listen to the song posted by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post. 

   Occasionally walking in winter here in Maine I receive a feeling of being hollow, empty. I am sure that it is the bare leaves reaching out to a sky almost empty of clouds, along with the frozen ground and below freezing air that brings this sense of loss. Memories from childhood also return reminding me of being alone in a park close to home in Jersey City where the atmosphere was one of barrenness, friends somewhere else, parents I did not want to rush home to. 

   The emotions today last only a few seconds once I remember that I am never alone, God is with me always. This is one of the perks of having done a great deal of my "work" over the many intervening years. Love's Spirit has a habit of nudging me out of all the states of whining, grasping onto the remnants of "poor me's" that  the nafs (demons) are ever ready to activate at a moments notice. Moving into the present moment with each step in the Right Direction peace and equanimity soon return to their proper place in the scheme of the steps on the path I am led to travel. 

    Below is a poem that I wrote which is about moving into the Light of what is Real for me, the happenings of this moment, and this moment, and this........

     - Where The Wind Blows –

 When I try to leave this Holy Space,

God grabs my feet, sits on my head,

And enters again the place within my heart

That is reserved only for Love’s Presence.

The Wind of the Spirit’s storms are raging in this breast;

My heart has lost all its senses, and has no hands or feet

With which to fend off or flee from this soul’s only desire.

My Love’s secrets are being driven into this moonstruck heart.

All my cooing and singing of words and words

Have turned into cries and wailing – such is the longing.

The Beautiful One heard and said, “I am the One you seek.

Come with me. I will show you the road you search for.”

O friend, for so long God has been lost to me –

I have been separated from my heart’s hungers -

This life has been empty, spent looking for God outside,

Until I learned to search the rooms of my own house.

Hope was always there, an ember waiting for some wood;

For Love was always there with me on the journey.

Wherever I have been, this hand was held by God,

And my face was looking ahead all the while.

My dear companion, as we walk, know this –

We look for God with God.

The Grace of intimacy with Our Lover, has been given -

Let us not be distracted by worldly things.

                                                        Bill Lagerstrom

    

                                There are many paths leading to One Path

I Give You My Heart,  from the Australian group Hillsong -

                http://www.box.com/s/dims9o3826jvlb3pcbuu

If you would like to see the video of this song go to:

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uqBxizNZJ4

Here are the words: 

This is my desire, to honor You

Lord with all my heart I worship You

all I have within me

I give You praise

all that I adore is in You

Lord I give You my heart

I give You my soul

I live for You alone

Every breath that I take

Every moment I'm awake

Lord have Your way in me

This is my desire, to honor You

Lord with all my heart I worship You

all I have within me

I give You praise

all that I adore is in You

  Looking forward to hearing from you,

           Peace,     Bill Lagerstrom