October 16, 2012

October 16, 2010

   All the photos in this week's post were processed in a new program for me, Photoshop CS6. I recommend that you look at them full screen which is to double click on any image and when enlarged to use the thumbnail strip at the bottom to toggle between pictures. To return to the main browser page click on any spot or hit the ESC key. These pictures are really a first try at this program which is somewhat daunting because of its size and capabilities. Like the spiritual life growth and experience comes slowly, one image at a time in this case.

   The photos, except for the first one were take last Monday at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in North Central, Maine. Lee and I stopped there on our way back from the Fredericton area in New Brunswick where we went for a long weekend. Some of those photos will appear in next week's post. The first picture was taken at a marsh around twenty miles from where we live in the Bangor Maine area.

   Autumn is already on its way out as this is written as rain and wind for the last two days blew half of the leaves off their precarious hold. The oak trees are next and they will have a wonderful brown color which will be with us for a few more weeks before the first days of winter arrive. 

   All the seasons are a delight here in this part of Maine, one which we take advantage of by getting out as often as possible. Since I had two surgeries over the Summer following a most painful spring with afflictions in both arms and hands we did not get out as much as we would have liked to. I am now well on the road to recovery and a return to getting out every weekend as long as the weather is not miserable will be the order of the day. Even bad days have been worth the drive to Acadia National Park - lunch in the car in front of wonderful views make even such days special. 

   I consider myself to be most fortunate to have Lee as my wife as we share the same enthusiasm for the outdoors and all that brings by way of birds, trees, ocean, weather, and being together whatever the day brings. God has blessed me beautifully and I am ever grateful for the gift that is Lee. 

   

All that Nature has available is available,

All that is required are open eyes

And an open heart.

God will provide the wonder. 

Soon the trees will be bare

but we are not abandoned by the Creator of everything,

winter will bring its own joys -

snow everywhere, a frozen stream, 

trees that wait patiently throughout the days

knowing as we do, that life will reappear

when the cold recedes into Spring.

This is the day the Lord has made

no matter what the day or time of year.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

The island that is is within us all

also has its seasons of change,

the necessary deaths we all have regularly

which clear out the old useless things -

Fall in all its glory and splendor

is to be celebrated and known well

as life moves through any weather with joy.

One leaf. One life,

gives a lesson for all living things -

Pass on with dignity and beauty,

offering ones self as food for what will be born

when Spring comes again.

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Some humor:

In case you were wondering what the Ekert Principle is see below:

   Peace and Serenity until next week,   

              Bill Lagerstrom

October 9, 2012

October 9, 2012

(All photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

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   Consumerism and the current state of men in American society:

    Once upon a long time ago when archetypes were being set in masculine DNA or soul, the hunter gatherer instinct was what men were about primarily - finding and getting food for family and children. This basic component of men's basic nature is still very much in place although it has been redirected along new pathways. In young single men the instinct to provide for others has been replaced by the necessity of getting goods and things for self-gratification only. Selfishness? Yes, yet goods are gathered, tossed aside and regathered in a new version with alarming frequency.

   What is considered the hot newest and greatest today will soon be passe and old before its time, enabling the new and improved models of objects to become that which is desired above all others - becoming the next necessary "animal to be slain for food," so to speak. A strange twist as the old is kept alive until the new arrives on the scene. Sort of keeping the 'animal' in the cave and killing it only when it is deemed ready for the garbage heap. Strange food, "strange fruit" as Billie Holiday sang about the dark sides of love. 

   I was taken with the photo below which shows a modern man being applauded by his tribe after slaying a salesclerk and bagging a new Ipad, Iphone, whatever, his "I,I,I,I" ego now satisfied for a few moments. What is amazing to me is that he is also on his Ipad thingy in his left hand which has a camera and is most likely showing the world on twitter his strength and ability to bring home the bacon. I imagine that the next day at work he will proudly show everyone what a remarkable hunter he is by letting lesser men know that they have a long way to go before they reach anything near approaching his killer attributes. 

   A week later perhaps this man will be lusting for a new kill, filled with expectations of the next modern day prey to arrive outside the cave. 

  So it goes in the wilds of modern day life. 

                                                                                                                                          AP Photo   

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Fall has arrived in Maine and is on its way out fast.

Here are two photos taken last week in Acadia National Park - 

Lee on the Jessup Path

The leaves of Autumn , so beautifully decorated,

are, as we can be in our final hours,

putting on their finest clothes to greet 

the next stage of life.

                                          - A Simple Yes –

Do not fret if you are the first leaf to fall come Autumn,

Soon there will be plenty of company to enjoy.

Let those who let go of the tree first teach you –

If you are first, be the teacher.

These lessons are best learned in Spring and Summer.

Ego always says, "Fuss and worry ! " It wants its way.

Wait. The waves of Divine Love will come soon,

To push you in the Right Direction toward acceptance.

Love comes in a boat with no anchor or sail –

What need can these devices be to the dying?

Once on board, we cannot sail back to known shores,

Nor hold on in place attempting to halt the inevitable.

God will have Love's Way –

The distant island's shores will be landed.

A simple "Yes," eases the pain of resistance

To the unavoidable, the What Will Be,

A Power Greater than all our refusals.

The request from Jesus was, "Follow me."

Stop, look, listen, and go.

                                                      Bill Lagerstrom,  2007           

This picture came from a photograph taken near Mt. Katahdin, Maine.

One of the wonders of the digital age and photo processing. 

Taken two weeks ago.

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   Here is a song by Gary Malkin titled "We Are Not Alone" - Something for the Fall season of all our lives. 

  Click here: https://www.box.com/s/0mh47a84gh6j3vpojeql

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A little humor from today's paper:

Until next week, Peace,

               Bill Lagerstrom

September 24, 2012

September 24, 2012

(All photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

   It has been said in Sufi literature that if a rock falls, "That is the Nature of God." So, perhaps it follows that rocks and have their "nature," the ingrained, never to be displaced essence of their Creator. I, for most of my life have looked at God's wondrous Creations with the view that is more scientific than metaphoric - Rock is ......  formed by the magma from the earth's core ....  many types, granite, basalt .......  named and labeled to fit neatly in the box I placed them in.
   
     To stop, look at anything created with an eye that is both outer and outer and which desires to see what of God is imbued in anything, is relatively new for me. Learning to sit with and allow something to tell me what its seeming secrets are requires a different way of looking than I have spent so many years accepting as the way to understand what is around me. I am learning to stop, take several breaths, and ask for the vision to see what has been in front of me all along - that which is the living presence of the Divine in all and everything. That has become the petition of the present moment's prayer. 

    I do not, however, get down on myself for not having done this new kind of observation before most of my life has passed. To the contrary, I am only grateful for the Gift of sight which I now know has its eyes within my core - where the senses of the heart operate in us all. 

    Bless the Lord. Bless this moment in this day.

All of God's Creation desires to be known -

and will slowly show itself

to the heart that desires to see.

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Look to the heavens and see ......

" I am the Light within you.

My only desire

is for you

to allow Me to be seen. "

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There is a community of the spirit.

Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the street of love,

and becoming scintillating love. 

Bathe in the light of grace.

 Close both eyes to see with inner eyes. 

Open your hands, if you want to receive. 

Open your arms, if you want to be held.

Sit down in this circle. 

Quit acting like a wolf, 

and feel the shepherd's love filling you. 

Be empty of worrying. 

Think of who created the soul 

and who fashioned everything out of nothingness! 

Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open? 

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. 

Live in loving passionately and bloom 

like a beautiful night-queen flower 

that opens to the starry night,

 silently, without any noise. 

                                           ~ Based on a prayer by Cynthia J. Alby

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   A talk on Light and The Inner Senses,

                 By Victoria Austin of The San Francisco Zen Center

                           Click Here

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A gray rainy day is still filled with light

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Some humor: 

Further adventures in "first love"

Peace,   Bill Lagerstrom