Der Ring - Some Thoughts

What is it about this 19 hour epic opera over four evenings that
holds us in such wonder and questioning? I find that hearing some tidbit
opens new thoughts, continues to challenge me and renews something
deep within my soul. Every new production finds something new to explore
and say - even when we disagree with the director's concept, It is indeed
very rich and like most great classic stage works, continually opens new
possibilities and new interpretations and ways to open new meaning.

My quick reference is to the yearly cycle of the church looking at
Holy Week and its events. We re-live them each year and often find
new and deeper meaning and also often just re-hear the story and find
unfulfilled wonder. So it is with the Ring.

It is because myth is so human and invites us to participate in the saga. Story
can be very powerful and redemption lies in our ability to be open and yet
again truly open. Story can transcend time and music more than assist us
in this endeavor.

And so I live into the characters' story. Their feelings are our feelings and the
true response in ourselves is what makes the universality of it allow our response
to be one  based in our own reality. I could discuss the things individually in the
saga that make me feel this way, but the road is one of personal discovery and all
I can ask is that you enter these possibilities for yourself and your own journey. It
is a road worth taking. Time is relative, so the choice is to begin now or perhaps
a little later. With great art, it is being present in the moment that that creates
the possibility.

Begin.

Experience.

And be open to new realizations and possibilities.

It is a lifelong journey without regret.


R

My Marsh Egrets

Funny how that which is beautiful and that we observe becomes a possession.
I live in an auspicious place. I am nestled on two sides by the salt water marsh
and the fresh water marsh. Wildlife abounds, especially the birds. I awake
to a symphony of sound filled with bird calls and chatter. My home affords
the view of the rising sun from my bedside. I take full advantage of this gift.

But the ownership of which I speak is of certain bird life which adorns my
marsh. My spiritual harbinger of spring lies in the arrival of ducks and most
especially of the white egrets. In another post I have spoken of the ducks and
their raising of their young - swimming lessons and survival awareness.

But the egrets hold a very special place in my heart and soul. I feel Godde is
present and beckoning to me when they are present. I love to watch them as
they feed, as they fly in and out, as they pose watchfully and observe all there
is to see. In this we share an unspoken affinity.

Today was somewhat different. Through the growing and ever masking
marsh grass, I spied a white presence. I rushed to my upper floor porch with
binoculars in hand and found one of "my" egrets on a feeding mission in
the still waters. Then my eye spotted something white in a tree several yards
from my feeding friend. To date I had never seen one of "my" egrets perched
in  tree, but today, one was perched on high preening itself in all its beautiful
glory. I could only sigh and watch.

My feeding egret was soon spooked and drawn to flight. Later I spotted it too,
in the same tree as the other egret. On the wall of my family room hangs
a wonderful watercolor painting by my dear sister-in-law of several
marsh egrets, some in the water, some on the sidelines and other in the
trees. So today's life imitated this artist's inspiration.

I felt a spirtual moment in which all came together in a newer way. It was
fleeting as most spiritual moments are, but deeply realized and in some
way present in a sustaining way.

As the seasons come and go - so do my egrets. It is as wonder filled as the
color changes of autumn, ever changing, ever new and ever cloaked in a
glory of wonder.

Ah...................


R

Spiritual Ruminations

Two of my dearest friends are on pilgrimage in Israel. My hope is that the depth
of experience I felt when I was there on pilgrimage in 1994 will be theirs as well.
It may well be more, but it is of an interior realization. The images and landscapes
are still a deeply felt part of my being - life long present and ever re-newing in
their personal journeying and awakening.

Funny that this would be part of a different journey here. I was invited to be a
part of another dear friend's granddaughter's Bat Mitzvah recently. The grounds
were similar. The roots of spiritual experience had common experience. I had
a personal draw of mutually experienced spiritual self knowledge.

Perhaps it was the beloved psalms all our traditions share and the beauty of hearing
them chanted along with prayer. I felt I was in a continuum of shared worship and
liturgical wonder, I belonged in both. The mutuality of it all was both a comfort
and also something new - something trying to define itself in the core of my very
being. It was the oneness I felt, both home and not at home.

Then the reason we were there to be witnesses, a young person was declaring their
citizenship in the temple, the taking on of the adult responsibilities to the community
of faith and the expression that their study and proclamation of faith demanded that
their presence and willingness to enter a higher responsibility be noticed and accepted.

Christian confirmation should do the same thing, but it does not. The community
of faith and tradition in the temple and the support it gives from both family and wider
community is, in a trite way of expression, almost overwhelming to the witness
of yours truly. The assumption and taking on of responsibility in the place of faith
realized is what this ceremony is about. And it is bigger than the casual observer
generally notices or comprehends.

So, true this is to the pilgrim, walking the ancient steps and digging deep to realize
their own place in the bigger picture.

My wonder blooms. My appreciation for rites and their possibilities grows. And
my faith journey tugs my soul into the realm of re-discovery.

R

The Quartet

I recently attending a very good friend's granddaughter's Bat Mitzvah in North
Carolina. It was a truly spiritual experience for me in many ways. But ultimately
it was the people who dominated the blessing I felt.

My dear friend and I could be a duet - endlessly and continually creating new
tunes, reprising old ones and always developing new themes and creating new
textures and melodies. Into this duet a trio reconstituted itself returning to beloved
music and favorite songs. But the trio was emboldened into a quartet with the presence
of the trio's third person's marriage partner who brought new depth and melody
to the music we created in our intertwined relationships. With four songs inter playing,
the possibilities seemed endless until the final denouement.

Others joined this basic quartet as the events unfolded in ceremony and celebration. And
a new symphony of delight and mutuality of expression made its presence known. Life
can be music when ears are opened and hearts freely express their true feelings.

And this is a mitzvah - a blessing - so deeply experienced that the core of one's
being is forever altered.


R

Marsh Sounds at Dawn

Those of us who live near the marshes are blessed by the delightful cacophony of sounds
in the early morning hours emanating from our natural surroundings. Often I have been on
the telly and my callers have asked - just where are you? I think of it as the Serengeti
experience. It is a symphony of sound that never becomes ordinary. It is a  multifaceted
and evolving series and clusters of beautiful sound.

Near six this morning, something quite different occurred. Of late I have had a pair of
ducks quacking and splashing in the tepid waters defining my fresh water marsh. And
their little ducklings have been seen taking their early morning swimming lessons. When
one sees these things, there is an ownership and unexpressed responsibility for their mere
presence.

However, this morning's breaking light was disturbed by the frantic quacking of the
mallard. When ducks fly in there is a certain sound to the splash. Today there was not
only wild splashing but terrified quacking. I arose from my slumber and looked out
from the security of my upper story porch to see what was the matter. Both the male and
the female were swimming erratically in circles, quacking in a disturbing manner
and the little ducklings were trying to stay near the mother. What was going on?

Then from the reeds emerged in a great series of splashes, a coyote on the hunt. I
felt I lived in a quiet, unassuming place where the struggle for existence of the
"lower" predators did not interface. Not so. I wanted to scream to save my newest
friends - the ducks - but could not raise a voice. And would that have been enough to
deter the coyote anyway? So, I took my binos to see what might be happening at
a closer range, only to discover that indeed it was a coyote and that the mallard male
was doing everything to lead the coyote away from his family, quacking to distract
the maneuver and flying off only to return to begin the distraction again and again.

The coyote arched his back to pounce and attain his prey, but seemingly failed.
The other birds chirped and flew in panic about the scene, commenting on the
danger to their fellow mates.  Then all seemed to quiet. Were my ducks safe and the
predator quelled? I know not. My deeper hope is that the morrow will come and I
will hear the playful splashes of my little duck family and that the coyote will
have moved on to more tempting and less allusive prey.

The possibility of this violence in my backyard was alarming, and my inability to
intervene left me feeling helpless. Yes, it is just nature doing its natural thing, but
the question comes to mind - if I were in a similar situation with my fellow humans -
would I have the courage to intervene? Would I be frozen in inaction? And if so......
what would that say about me? What about you?



R

Chasing Goblins

Families are tough. We think all is copacetic, but there are always
unexpressed undercurrents. What do we do about them and more
to the point, what can we do about them? The dysfunctionalality of
family relationships is ever present. And more often than not - totally
undealt with. No one is brave enough or hopeful enough to feel
that they might be effective  in bringing about restoration and
reconciliation. So we quietly, with great trepidation, move
delicately forward and in so doing - do not really move any where
at all. We are stuck.

This is not abnormal, and so - we tip toe onward, unable or more often
than not unwilling - fearfully - to attempt to face the hard work
of mutual understanding. And in so doing we become frozen in our
unwillingness to face the very things that bring us to dysfunction.

I don't know why this is on my mind just now - well actually I do,
but movement is not mine to make and so I feel  a deep degree
of frustration and disconnect.

When family parties can not face the deeply embedded issues
that haunt and cause separation because they can not acknowledge
or "remember" what the root causes are, where is one to begin to
offer a means of healing?

So we remain frozen in the inability to choose healing and change.
We are stuck with the choice of doing nothing and therefore denying
the possibility of new life.

The pointlessness of this choice leaves me in a place of maddening
frustration. It is cruel and not in any way what I believe is what we
are called to be. When we can not choose to effect change, we end up
choosing the status quo and that disallows any potential for reconciliation
or/and forgiveness.


R

What?

I come into some kind of consciousness. I find that I am not alone.
There is a beautiful body next to me. I do not know who it is. I am
unaware of where I am. I can not speak words. The world is not
in control.

I think I am in Boston - near the Common. I rise and enter the world with this
this person at my side. We wander out into a world that is totally empty.
Suddenly, a wind stirs and grows and out of nowhere people enter the
reality. I lose the person I am with.. I wander on.

I am alone and in an unknown world, but yet - in an odd way - still familiar.
Where do I go. Where is refuge? I seem to feel an old hotel is near. Do I have
the resources to stay there? Then, I can not find it. I am in an arcade of shops,
glassed in and very unfamiliar. I flee outside as it appears that it is closing
time and the electrics tell me it is time to move on.

Where do I go? Outside the warm clear day dissolves into bizarre clouds. And
dark clouds emerge from nowhere. Rain begins to sprinkle and I pull this strange
overcoat up over my head. Rain darkens and spreads over me with huge intensity.
I walk on and walk and walk and walk.

The rain turns into snow and I trudge onward. It is the only choice. Somehow,
I find a store front that is open and I enter. There are people there who are
welcoming folks from the reality outside. It is very unfamiliar. But I stay.

Who are these people and why am I here and what is to be? Names are
taken and an unexpressed invitation is present to stay the night for a very small fee.
Few words are spoken, but it seems safe. I stay under my first name only.

I am at risk, but options are few.

Then.......I wake. Was this only a dream? If so or if not I am shaken..............




R