Monday Meditation #041910: The Practice of Prayer

I LOVE to pray. I feel an illuminated sense of peace and well being when I open my heart to speak inside of spirit through prayer. Most times, it only takes me a few moments of quiet meditation and deep breathing to get me to a place of powerful prayer. However, when I'm at a loss for words, I look to the prayer traditions of people from around the world. I am comforted by the fact that no matter what our differences are, an overwhelming majority of the world prays.

Recently, I have enjoyed the utter beauty in Sufi prayers. Led to Sufism by RUMI, one of my favorite poets, I have found prayers that offer some of the most beautiful descriptions of God that I have ever seen. I also find the prayers to be inclusive of all aspects of the Divine without limiting "God" to a masculine model. The prayers are full of sweet surrender. Of late, I have started my day with the following prayer. Enjoy.

Invocation
Toward the One,the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty,the Only Being,United with all the Illuminated Souls, Who form the Embodiment of the Master,the Spirit of Guidance.

Morning Prayers
I. Saum
Praise be to Thee, Most Supreme God,Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All-pervading, the Only Being.

Take us in Thy Parental Arms, raise us from the denseness of the earth,

Thy Beauty do we worship, to Thee do we give willing surrender.

Most Merciful and Compassionate God, the Idealized Lord of the whole humanity,

Thee only do we worship, and towards Thee Alone we aspire.
Open our hearts towards Thy Beauty, illuminate our souls with Divine Light,
O Thou, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, All-powerful Creator, Sustainer,
Judge and Forgiver of our shortcomings, Lord God of the East and of the West,
of the worlds above and below,and of the seen and unseen beings:
Pour upon us Thy Love and thy Light, give sustenance to our bodies, hearts and souls, use us for the purpose that Thy Wisdom chooseth, and guide us on the path of Thine Own Goodness.
Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our life,

until in us be reflected Thy Grace, Thy Glory,Thy Wisdom, Thy Joy and Thy Peace.

Amen.

II. May the Message of God reach far and wide.
(Repeat eleven times.)

III. Pir
Inspirer of my mind, consoler of my heart, healer of my spirit,
Thy presence lifteth me from earth to heaven, Thy words flow as the sacred river,
Thy thought riseth as a divine spring,Thy tender feelings waken sympathy in my heart.
Beloved Teacher, Thy very being is forgiveness.
The clouds of doubt and fear are scattered by Thy piercing glance.
All ignorance vanishes in Thy illuminating presence.
A new hope is born in my heart by breathing Thy peaceful atmosphere.
O inspiring Guide through life's puzzling ways, in Thee I feel abundance of blessing.
Amen.

V. Prayer for Peace
Send Thy peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting, that our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may think, act, and speak harmoniously.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may be contented and thankful for Thy bountiful gifts.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife we may enjoy thy bliss.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may endure all, tolerate all in the thought of thy grace and mercy.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that our lives may become a divine vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish. Send Thy peace, O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we Thy children on earth may all unite in one family.

Amen.

For more Sufi Prayers: http://www.sufiorder.org/prayers.html

The art was found at the following site: http://www.superluminal.com/cookbook/index_gallery.html I may have to look into this cookbook!!

Sunday Sermon #041810: Music, muse & inspiration

Starting the week with a quote & a theme song is my set up for a good week. This week, something short and sweet from Anais Nin and Don't Look Back by Bliss from their album quiet letters. I love the original and the Fug Mix so, I included them both. Lucinda Drayton's voice is enchanting. Now, this is the song I want playing again and again in my head this week.

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

~ anais nin

Don't Look Back by Bliss

Don´t have to question
Everything you feel
It´s in your heart
In your mind
In your soul

Not everything you want
Is what you need
Look inside look inside
And you´ll see

Don´t look back
Take it easy on yourself
Don´t look back
Don´t have to worry
Don´t look back
Take it easy on yourself
this time

as we rise we fall
fall to the ground
but get up get up on your feet
if you look around
there is always someone there
just look up look up to the skies

Don´t look back
Take it easy on your self
Don´t look back
Don´t have to worry
Don´t look back
Take it easy on yourself
This time

Douglass on Haiti. Douglass in the House.

"I regard her (Haiti) as the original pioneer emancipator of the nineteenth century..." Douglass, 1893

I was feeling the spirit of Frederick Douglass & Haiti HEAVY in my house yesterday. I could not understand it. Now I know why.

This morning, I saw my sister-friend's Facebook status: "February 7,1986~ marked the END of Duvalier Regime in Haiti...24 years later, Haitians continue to suffer...Remembering, Praying & Supporting Haiti." The current political landscape made me wonder...What would Douglass say today? How would his eyes see his beloved Haiti during these trying times?

I spent the morning buried in his chest of words. This is not the first time that I have found identity, meaning and solace there. Today, he enraptured me. All I could do was surrender. His lecture given in Chicago 1893 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Haiti's independence is relevant today. It is as if he stood up to speak after the recent earthquake. As an ancestor, he still speaks about our beloved Haiti. He still reminds us that Haiti is not only the birthplace of black liberation in the world - it is the resurrection place of freedom for humanity. Haiti is why we don't accept slavery for ourselves or anyone else. Whether you are black, brown, yellow, red or pink...Haiti is our living proof of why we stand and are willing to die as long is our last breath is, " I AM FREE."

Haiti was born at a pivotal point in history and we forget that. We want to think that slavery was just about black people. It was not. It was about a rape of humanity. It was about the disintegration of the human spirit. It was about the acceleration of power by a very small group of people over the masses. The question of freedom was not a black question. It was a human question. It was an experiment to see if the world would stand for the enslavement of one and therefore welcome the enslavement of all over time.

Haiti reminded us all - black, white, poor, uneducated, privileged, yellow, red, man, woman - that we surrender to God alone. We are here to serve a higher power that exist in each in and beyond everyone of us. Haiti reminded us that if any man denies the God in himself to enslave the God in me then we all must die and I will happily return this body to the earth from which I come...right after yours. And that holds true because I am human. I am spirit. Not because I am black and a woman. My blackness and my womb merely informs the urgency of the matter.

I see these people and I wonder how the same ones who vilify Damballah manage to be snakes themselves. The same ones who claim to drink the blood of Christ are the first on site to slaughter the lamb. The same ones who quote the sermon on the mount are the first to lay Haiti, Congo, Bosnia,Tibet, Anacostia, Appalachia, Susquehanna, etc. flat on their back and I wonder who am I in all of this? I feel them crawling over earth, burning their own history into her face and it sickens me because I wonder...how long will it be before it is my face? How long will it be before it is your face? Or perhaps, by birth, by blood, by breathing - we are already marked. Well, if I am marked, it is so I won't forget and my existence won't let you forget. This mark is a reminder - like Douglass' speech, that we don't lay down under this blanket of snow. We won't surrender our humanity. We fight till the death.

You may not see it in some grand action, but best believe that the few of us left that know that we are marked with spirit of humanity are rising. We go to work every day. We teach your children. We manage your money. We grow your food. We are rising. We sit in your pews. We run your countries. We sort your coal. We sleep under the same sky and from this darkness we are rising and returning to that first light that the Divine commanded and we all are saying are those same first words..."Let there be light." And we are pulling out flashlights, cell phones, lighters, or just our pretty white teeth to let ANY man or woman know that we will not allow death and destruction, the separation of humanity, the pillaging of earth to hide and sleep in the corners of your words, actions, and policies. We will shine that light on you and what you do to Haiti because we know it is merely a prelude of what is to come for us all.

So, I return to my day to day with understanding. Don't see this as a surrender or slumber. I have looked at the history of humanity and turn its pages and seen this cycle of life and goodness. The human spirit is not one to deny. We have never been one to sleep when it is quiet.

I look around me and in my own mirror and watch the divine spirit whisper through those eyes, calling out to me and others those first words..."Let there be light...Let there be light...Let there be light."

For Haiti, for Southeast, for North and Long, for Appalachia, for Crenshaw, for Potomac, for the fertile crescent, for the delta, for the Ganges, for the Thames, for Canaan, for the Inuits, for the bluegrass, for the backwoods, for the rural plains, for the aborigine, for Liberia, for Sarajevo, for humanity...I stand up and say "Let there be light." Shine on these issues, so we truly understand and move forward.

--

Plugged/Unplugged: Hospital Bed Memoirs #1

Saline - drips. Heart machine - beeps. TV - flicks. Paging Dr. Singh...Paging Dr. Singh. The clock - ticks. The respirator - hisses. Florescent light - emits. A man - screams. The nurses - rush. Death - ushers in. Pain - hushed. The lullaby - announces. Baby girl and boy - born. Paging Dr. Coleman.... Paging Dr. Coleman.

Ms. Douglass?"

What time is it...?

"Ms. Douglass?"

Is it still dark outside...?

"Ms. Douglass. I need to check your vitals."

"You don't need any more blood, do you?"

"I'm sorry...we do."

Of course they do...

"My apologies. Good morning," I offered with a sleepy smile. He smiled.

"Good morning to you," he replies. "Very nice pressure, Ms. Douglass. Do you want the lights out?"

"Yes thank you. Am I your last stop?" I suddenly remembered him from last night. Long hours.

"Almost, Ms. Douglass," he whispered. "Almost."

"Well, have a good day. Get some rest."

"Thank you Ms. Douglass." With a quick gesture he turned the light off. I turned my head into the pillow. He seemed to stop under the TV as if he was going to say something. He doesn't. He just reaches up and turns the dancing images off.

I touch the IV in my arm. It's still there waiting for that moment of emergency or dehydration. It feels like an outlet in a wall. At any given moment, they have access to my blood. I put my hand over it and say a prayer. The fears subside and I fall off into a dream.

A woman stands at the edge of my bed. I think I have seen her before. She is not a nurse. But, I have seen her before. The nurse is to the right of my bed. "Ms. Douglass...your not getting enough water. We have to hydrate you." I look at her and she is looking at my IV. I shake my head and cover the IV. "Ms. Douglass, we have to medicate you. Your heart is racing. Please Ms. Douglass, calm down!"

My breathing is heavy. I realize I can wake up. I focus on waking up. It's just a dream. I can wake up. The woman at the edge of my bed calls me with her eyes. I look at her and watch her hands extend all the way up the bed and stop over my heart. She tells the nurse that I am fine without saying anything. I don't know how she does this. It's just a dream...I can wake up. I'm falling...open.

She is doing something to me...but, I soon forget her. My heart is gone. No, its there...I'm just in it. And it is open and clear. It looks empty but feels so full and expansive. Each breathe invites peace. Each beat is just an echo of some other heart beating. I realize that I am sitting on a chair that is not there. I like it here. It feels warm like a hug; yet, there's so much space...

"Ms. Douglass?"

So much space...

"Ms. Douglass."

What time is it?

"I just need a sample of blood and you can go back to sleep."

I open my eyes, sit up and force a smile at the tech trying not to look at her blood basket. Vials, needles, alcohol pads, gauze, and something with the nerve to be named a butterfly. I focus on her face. Another nurse is with her. I see last night scribed on their faces. Long night for everyone, I bet.

"More blood," I exclaim initiating our morning ritual. "The doctor said my blood is low. It can't get any higher if ya'll keep taking it."

"I don't understand it either, Ms. Douglass," she laughs.

"Well...alright. Good morning."

"Good morning, Ms. Douglass."

"Can you find another vein? This one hurts."

"But, it's such a good vein," she laughs. "I can see it Ms. Douglass."

"It won't be good by the time I leave. And what's a a butterfly?"

"A very small needle for people with very small veins."

"Who do I have to talk to get one of those?"

"Next time, Ms. Douglass." She lets out a good chuckle. "Next time."

** 1st Photo is a sculpture by Victoria Fuller entitled Plugged In. Check her out at http://objectartist.com/index.html **

Inside

"The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination." ~Ward Elliot Hour

The silence of winter is full like a lover's sigh beckoning me back to bed. I don't particularly like winter; however, I can appreciate its call to go back in.

Thank you God for wrapping my house in a blanket of snow and keeping me inside with my art and my friends and my thoughts. Thank you for gifting me one more day to work, play, and heal in the comfort of my home.

I appreciate this opportunity to embrace the nature's rhythm. I am glad to be in a space where I am not fighting the quiet or the solitude. There is a lot happening, right here - inside.

One thing about Miles, he was always searching...

“Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.” - Herbert A. Otto

I was leaving a message for a good friend of mine via Facebook and she had this posted on her page. It is such an inspiration to hear artists talk about those pure moments when the art comes down. It is also inspiring to look at the lives of those artist who are brave enough to be in front. It takes some courage to experiment with your own life.

I love Miles for being bold and in front blazing a path sparking fires with each step and shrugging it off with a.... So What!

Today, I am traveling miles. Thank you Dottie.

Morning Rain

102709

Morning rain,

gentle in your delivery

the tears of my rooftop

caught in a bucket.

I will not complain.

I will not complain.

Morning rain,

A delicate reminder

of power

of mercy

of the living

of death.

Morning rain,

emotionally

balanced.

Not angry

today

Just sweet-

enough

For the blades of grass

to bend

beneath

your supple body

without worry

without care.

-MelaniN.

It's strange rain makes me remember Katrina.

Water - such power. Life and death in each drop - and it sounds so pretty now.

Thank you Patricia Smith