The Gateway [David’s blog on KS Friday]

An unlikely heart. Or, a heart in an unlikely place. Or, a bit of bread crust that brings heart-to-mind.

Tomorrow is a very significant day. Eleven years ago, at exactly 11:11am, we stood before our friends and families, told our story, and said, “I do”.

1111 in numerology is “believed to mean that an energetic gateway has opened. Alignment. Amplification.”

Sometimes, for fun, we try and calculate the odds of our having met. Impossible. Impossible odds and yet, here we are. It is why we refuse to allow ourselves to take for granted our good fortune. It is why we refuse to relegate anything into the box of “impossible”.

Anything is possible. We are the proof. Every day.

Eleven years. 11:11. A celebration of the impossible. Unlikely hearts met in an unlikely place. In such a magic remembrance, even a bit of bread crust brings heart-to-mind. Each day, we mind our hearts, never taking for granted the impossible story that is us. Amplification of all that is good. Alignment as we walk this path together. The gateway opening anew each day.

Kerri’s life’s work is available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about HEART

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Keeping Vigil [David’s blog on KS Friday]

I’ve read that mourning doves are “strongly monogamous and often mate for life.” I’ve also read that, when one of the pair dies, “The survivor often sits in a nearby tree or roof and coos repeatedly, calling for a partner that will not answer.”

Lately, each afternoon, the mourning dove arrives to hold its vigil. It sits on the same wire in the same spot. Each day we watch for it and when it arrives, we hold vigil with it. We watch. We know that its partner will not appear. We wait for it to know. It is silent.

“It’s so sad,” Kerri whispers. I nod.

This dove reminds me of the last time I saw my great-aunt Dorothy. Del had died suddenly and she was heartbroken. It was the first and only time I saw this powerful mountain woman wearing a dress. Emerald green. I almost did not recognize her. As a boy I’d followed her up mountains, unable to keep up. In her grief she was barely standing. She passed a few months later; a broken heart.

I had my annual physical yesterday. The doctor asked me if I had a will. Then, she asked if there was someone who knew my wishes. I thought of Kerri waiting for me in the reception area. I answered easily, “Yes.” For a moment I was overcome with gratitude; I have not always been able to answer, “Yes,” so I repeated my answer, “Yes.”

Yes.

Sitting on the examination table, I shifted my weight, the paper crinkled. I thought of the mourning dove, the weight of grief sitting on the wire. Dorothy. Loneliness. Heart break. Gratitude. Kerri waiting for me. The paper crinkled. The doctor listened to my heart.

Today, the mourning dove did not return. We held our vigil for it none-the-less.

WRITTEN IN YOUR LIFE on the album AS SURE AS THE SUN © 2002 Kerri Sherwood

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE MOURNING DOVE

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Take Heart [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Young Arthur pulled a sword from a stone. He was a boy and his feat was something none of the strong men could achieve. He didn’t know it was an impossible task. His brother needed a sword; he saw one and he pulled it from the rock. An act of generosity. It was the sign: this boy had the character and destiny to be king.

I’ve read that long ago people believed the heart was the seat of the soul. It was thought to be good luck or a positive omen to find a heart shape in rock. A sign of love-on-the-way or an impending soul connection. A symbol that, even when darkness reigned, anything was possible. Light was available. In our home it is still considered good luck to find a heart shaped rock or a heart shape in a rock. We see them everywhere.

A heart-shaped stone is much different than a heart-made-of-stone. A heart of stone implies a lack of empathy. Indifference and/or cruelty.

In this time of spiraling chaos, when madness and sadism hold the reins and those in power gleefully sell the greater good for personal gain, I am daily struck by the wisdom of our guiding stories. The symbols and stories that give us guiding light to follow are available. A score of brutes tried unsuccessfully to pull the sword from the stone. They knew that the person who pulled the sword from the stone would become king. They wanted power. Arthur had no idea or thought of personal gain.. He was a scrawny kid, a squire with a good heart. The sword in the stone was a way for him to possibly help his brother. His pure heart made him king.

I stared at the heart, nature’s etching in the stone. I closed my eyes and hoped that it was, indeed, a sign. Purer hearts are coming. Soon a squire will step forward and with a heart of generosity, he or she will pull the sword from the stone.

“Take heart,” I thought, as Kerri took a photo, “Soul is on the way.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE HEART STONE

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Become Softer [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

If you’ve not yet seen Cooking with Carter on Instagram, youtube…, I suggest you drop everything and find him, this young boy who delights in cooking. His enthusiasm is balm for the weary soul. As Tyler Merritt said in his lovely rant about Carter, in this dark time, this small boy reminds us that there is still joy, “There’s still softness in the world.”

Carter not only reminds us of our better angels, he inspires us reach for them. And my favorite part? Carter is a child. He’s not trying to rack up followers or look good on camera. He loves food. He loves to cook. He is having fun with his dad and mom.

In our mad, mad, mad selfie-and-sound-byte driven world, where everything is a performance, Carter does what he loves to do because he loves to do it. He is not at all concerned about controlling what other people see or think. He’s too young to be lost in his image.

His joy is pure. His purity melts our hard armor and helps us, even for a moment, open our hearts and become softer in the world.

Nap with DogDog and Babycat, 36″x48″ mixed media on canvas

read Kerri’s blogpost about SOFTNESS

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The Blink Of An Eye [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

“What the head makes cloudy/ The heart makes very clear” ~ Don Henley, In A New York Minute

“It’s as if last week never happened,” she said. We’d prepared for weeks for the trip and in a flash, in a New York minute, we were back home. “So much happened but now it seems like I dreamed it.”

We stayed in the same place that we stayed during our previous trip six months ago. Climbing the stairs into the small apartment it felt as if only a few days had passed. “Weird!” I said and she nodded. “It’s like we never left.”

Our recent undertaking has necessitated some serious life review. We’ve reached back decades to find details, we’ve driven the streets and neighborhoods where she rode her bike as a kid, we’ve stood in places that she stood nearly fifty years ago. “Has it changed?” I ask.

She shakes her head, “The trees are bigger.”

It’s a marvelous thing to have fifty years of life to revisit. It is a marvelous thing to be able to reach across decades and touch innocence. Sometimes this task has seemed nearly impossible. Sometimes fifty years of time, fifty years of life, seems like a flash. The blink of an eye. A New York minute.

We stood on the beach. It was an unseasonably hot day. The last time we stood on this beach we needed extra layers. The wind was brisk. This day there was no breeze. We were slightly disoriented because it had been months yet felt as if we’d stood on this beach yesterday. “Something is different,” I said. She agreed. “What is it?” I asked. What’s different?”

“It’s mine, again,” she said. “After so long. It’s mine.”

read Kerri’s blog about A NEW YORK MINUTE

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Their Spell [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Had it been my job to name them they would have never been associated with mourning. Instead of sad or haunting, I find the song of mourning doves reassuring. It is soothing. Calming doves. Reassuring doves.

In the spring and summer their song is often the first thing I hear in the morning. While the coffee brews I let Dogga out; I pause at the backdoor and appreciate the cool morning air and the mourning dove serenade. They are quiet heralds of appreciation for all-the-life approaching in the upcoming day.

This year we have a mourning dove couple in residence. I’ve not yet discovered their nest but they are regulars, pecking in the yard. They are daily visitors at the bird-bath-drink-n-spa. They perch on the wires or the roof of the neighbors garage and sing their siren song, spinning a spell of serenity over us as we sit and absorb the sun. Dogga chases them. They squawk and complain but always return when he settles on the deck for a snooze.

In these disconcerting times I am especially appreciative of their spell, their gift of equanimity. Serenity is slippery in the daily dose of malicious chaos but the mourning doves, our singers of tranquility, always bring me home to my heart, slow my breathing, quiet my troubled mind. Magic doves.

read Kerri’s blogpost about MOURNING DOVES

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Vis-À-Vis The ♡ [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

In relation to the heart. In regard to the heart. Be careful! This heart of mine is made of soft tissue.

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves…” Advice from Rainer Maria Rilke. I find that it is much wiser to take the advice of poets rather than the counsel of politicians. Poets seek truth beyond words. Politicians often use words to obscure truth.

With so much unsolved in my heart I have spent my lifetime developing a love of questions. The same is probably true for you. I admit that there are days that I tire of loving the question and shake my fist at the sky, crying, “For once just give me a goddamn answer!”

Those fist-shaking moments always result in silence-from-the-sky, which inevitably leads to a question, “Is it so hard to give me an answer or guidance or direction?” You gotta love that question!

I’ve noticed that the sky never answers immediately. It takes its sweet time. However, in time, sometimes after years of holding a question, the symphony resolves. A path opens. Or closes. An answer arrives, usually following a surrender.

“Our heart always transcends us.” There he goes again. Rilke. And just what does it mean that our heart always transcends us? It’s a good question. I imagine it will remain unanswered so it’s best not to ponder it too much. Pick it up, give it some love and carry on.

read Kerri’s blog post about VISÀVIS

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And Why? [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

High in the offices of KerriandDavid International headquarters, we stare at photos during our Melange selection process. Sometimes words appear in the image. In this photo the word, “Why” appeared. It’s akin to “Some Pig” showing up in Charlotte’s Web. “Whoa!” we whispered in unison.

“And why wouldn’t nature ask us, “Why?” Kerri added.

It may be that we have stared too long at photographs. It also might be the impact of too much coffee. In any case, we both saw the word in the bramble. It is an excellent and very appropriate question for nature to be asking of humanity. Why?

If we are learning anything these days it is that humanity is largely insane. This will not be the first time that humans have exhausted their resources and thoroughly soiled their nest en route to societal extinction all to make a buck or for the few to stand atop the pyramid.

Never doubt the power of story. Denial is, after all, a powerful form of story.

My WTF headline of the day, a perfect example of denial, is from US NEWS. It’s a report on the Womanosphere’s* continued and rabid support of ICE. The headline? Don’t Let Compassion Cloud You. I kid you not. It’s madness cut from the same cloth that brings us Stephen Miller insisting that Alex Pretti was a terrorist. No, don’t believe your eyes. Don’t let compassion cloud you. Keep your head in the gaslight. Ignore your heart. Gobble the propaganda.

Swear the ship is unsinkable even as it meets the obvious iceberg.

Since the early 1980’s we’ve known – through this magical thing called “science” – that carbon emissions were greatly impacting climate. The predictions from those early warnings were dire and we are, not surprisingly, living those dire predictions today.

The debate we are having is not about what is best for our survival but what is good for business. Don’t let science get in the way.

We are, whether we want to admit it or not, a part of nature. We are not above it even if we like to story ourselves as superior. Here is the lesson of societies long past that waved their superiority from atop the pyramid: nature is not really concerned with our story. Hurricanes are indiscriminate. As are mudslides and earthquakes. Drought does not care who it kills.

People, on the other hand are capable of discernment. People are capable of compassion. People are capable of knowing better. People are capable of learning from their past and their mistakes. In other words, people are more than capable of asking, “Why?” And, if they don’t, they end up making ridiculous statements from the top of their imagined pyramid like “Don’t Let Your Compassion Cloud You” or “Climate Change Is A Hoax,” or “He Was Brandishing A Gun.”

Whatever. Close your eyes if you must. Close your heart if you are capable.

I think I’ll listen to my heart while I pay attention to science. I’ll continue to ask, “Why?” My eyes and heart and brain are not in opposition to each other – and, even more to the point – while fully open and engaged, they are great at keeping me attuned to reality and off of some imaginary pyramid.

*I’d ordinarily provide a link as proof that such inanity exits but I refuse to support the algorithm that makes stupidity and cruelty popular.

read Kerri’s blogpost about WHY

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The Source [David’s blog on KS Friday]

A meme flew by. It used the events of last Saturday to illuminate two different ideas of masculinity. The first as demonstrated by Alex Pretti, a man trying to help a woman who was just shoved to the ground. He stood between the woman and her attacker. The second model of masculinity was demonstrated by the ICE-men who tackled, beat and murdered Alex Pretti.

After the meme flew by I wished that I could amend it. For me it did not illuminate two models of masculinity, rather, it made a clear distinction between a man and a beast, between a healthy human being and a rabid animal. It highlighted the difference between a good intention and a toxic drive.

Most hearts in the nation are heavy. Witnessing yet another execution in the streets by agents of the government – and then defended by the leaders all the way up to and including the authoritarian wannabe in the White House – has left us aghast. John Pavlovitz suggested that our heavy hearts are necessary; they are a sure sign of our humanity. They are fuel for our outrage.

Alex Pretti’s heavy heart required him to step into the streets of his city and video the brutality enacted upon his neighbors. Renee Good’s heavy heart did the same. Service to others is often an action inspired by a heavy heart. It takes a great deal of courage to stand between a masked thug and his victim. It takes great strength to video the abuse as if to say, “We see you and you will not get away with this”.

I opened The Marginalian this morning and read this: “Here is the mathematical logic of the spirit: If love is the quality of attention we pay something other than ourselves and hate is the veil of not understanding ourselves, then loving the world more — the other word for which is kindness — is largely a matter of deepening our awareness and sharpening our attention on both sides of the skin that membranes the self.”

Love is the quality of attention we pay something other than ourselves. Hate is the veil of not understanding ourselves. Hate is self-focused. Love is other-focused.

Democracy is by definition other-focused. Authoritarianism is by definition self-focused.

Our heavy hearts are propelling us into the streets. It just might be that our heavy hearts will be the necessary ingredient that saves our democracy from the rabid authoritarians. It just might be that our heavy hearts will propel us to stand between the self-centered oligarchy currently shoving Lady Liberty to the ground. Our heavy hearts do not make us weak. They are the source of our outrage and fuel for our courage.

WATERSHED on the album AS IT IS © 2004 Kerri Sherwood

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE HEART

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What Goes Around [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

“May you dwell in your heart. May you be free from suffering. May you be healed. May you be at peace.” ~ Buddhist Prayer

I’ve always appreciated this Buddhist prayer because it is inclusive and expansive. The prayer is repeated several times, each time with a change of the pronoun. For instance, it begins with “I”; “May I dwell in my heart…” From the center of “I”, the prayer moves outward as a prayer for the closest “other”; “May Kerri dwell in her heart…” And, then, again, moving outward, “May Dwight dwell in his heart…” and on and on, expanding and including until the outermost ring of the circle is reached, “May all people dwell in their heart…”

And then, the prayer continues, only now it pulls the heart of humanity back toward – and finally arriving at, “May I dwell in my heart. May I be free from suffering. May I be healed. May I be at peace.”

The message of the prayer cycle is explicit: outward peace on earth is the expression of inner peace within each individual.

Horatio echoed Kerri’s belief when he said that all religions can be boiled down to this phrase: be kind. Outward kindness to others is the expression of inner kindness to the self.

I’ve been pondering the root of deep division ripping apart our nation. It seems so simple. As Horatio reminded me, there are two philosophies at loggerheads. “Every man for himself” versus “I am my brother’s/sister’s keeper.” If you live in an “every man for himself” mindset then there is no need for inclusion or expansion. Exploitation is the goal and hoarding is the and the best you can do. We are witness to this philosophy: gold leaf and ballrooms while many in the nation starve. There is no need for heart or peace.

We are also witness to the other philosophy, those who care for the well-being of their neighbors: people marching in protest of the daily abuse power, people racing into the streets to protect their neighbors from ICE, people giving to food banks…

Which world would we rather live in? Democracy is fundamentally the Buddhist prayer. Of The People. Fascism is the opposite: a dictatorial leader using the military, suppressing opposition. No peace. No prayer.

Absolute power or governance by the people? Heart prayer or no heart? Personal gain through the intentional infliction of suffering or striving for peace and prosperity for all? Which will we choose?

In either case, as the old saying goes, “As within, so without.” Or, said another way, “What goes around, comes around.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about PEACE

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