John Michael Talbot - Holy is His Name - Quiet Reflections Part 4

Back to Kauai~Pearl Cove revisited!

Thank You Sherita, my Pearl, for asking your mortal remains to be rested on the beach in Kauai where we solemnized our marriage vows. I wish to remake this trip as the opportunity arises, especially the last time. The spirit or physical attributes of that Aloha Spirit so present here is very rejuvenating. As I mentioned earlier on this blog/journal, I am aware that the Peaceful ambiance one imagines when arriving on island is somewhat a symbol or perceived construct. There has been much non Aloha in the islands past and conversely there is an Aloha Spirit almost anywhere in God's creation if we choose to see it and nurture it to fruition. With that caveat noted it is way easier to feel the Spirit here, so Mahalo Nui Loa my Pearl for the touch! I love you with all my heart and I always will. That being said does it preclude the likelihood of my finding another soul mate in this dimension to collaborate with on this circular path of life? I believe not. Just as we love our children equally with all our heart and God loves all His creation equally, without limit or condition, we have an example of how we can love to the greatest manifestation possible with a like minded spirit. You and I were a blessing to each other and to our connections as a couple. As stated in an earlier letter you appear to have been moved forward as having mastered the lessons of life. I'm here with your memory and love to carry on as the Spirit leads. I'm listening! Love! RV

Kauai! ~ The End of the Rainbow

I've been to Hawaii three times in my life. Considering how much I seem to love the place you'd think I'd go every chance I could. Lately Hawaii has been on my mind again and since the weather here is getting wintry this weekend I'm headed back to Kauai for a bit. I believe that the mystery and beauty of that Island is almost a picture of my spiritual journey, especially of late, and especially this trip. More on that to come or as they say in Jamaica, soon come :O). Since I have to leave for the SuperKids program in Jamaica on November 4th guess I can't stay in Kauai too long this time. Gosh this "retirement" thing is hard work! :O) Back to Kauai and Hawaii. Considering the beauty of Creation, The beautiful linguistic use of the same word to describe Love, Hello, and Goodbye (that's not even considering the beautiful job they do with only a 13 letter alphabet)(that may also say volumes about the efficaciousness of the plethora of philosophical, theological, etc works out there at the hand of man), The commingling of so many races over the centuries to give the image of homogeneity. If one is to look closely these are the flesh of many of the parts of the body of thought I'm trying to express. The connectedness of all creation, Love being the center of all beginnings and departures, and the all of humanity being one big family. The thought has occurred to me that Paradox has also been a big part of Hawaii which is also a big part of the Emerging movement in recognizing the non dualistic, non judgemental, balance of apparent opposites in the biggest picture of the "Cosmic Christ". I see that paradox in the beauty born from the relationship of Fire and Water, and Air. I see that paradox in the plain fact that in spite of the image we have today of this Idyllic Paradise one can readily see, in the not so distant past a very tribal and violent lifestyle, not so distant at all if one is to wander off the beaten track into a natives "herb" garden. The same beach upon which Sherita and I were married in 2004 and where her ashes were scattered last year was also the scene of a major massacre in 1796 when King Kamehameha tried to conquer Kauai. It is becoming very clear to me that Kauai is playing a significant part in my growth for the future. It has been the site of Great Love and Great Suffering and possibly Great Love again. Death (the ultimate frontier) and New Beginnings. The "Circle of Life" goes around again. Hang on and keep rowing! Aloha, ALOHA, A LO HA! Mahalo E ka Haku! Roberto Vincente

An Eagle Soaring!

The past couple of months have been very meaningful for my path. During this time I have traveled through the period of the second years anniversary of Sherita's passing, her memorial, both of our birthdays and the ripening of the fruit of the spiritual path upon which I've been of late. Actually that path started so many years ago. I have recently felt an amazing gift of connection with creation and I feel very blessed to be present in God's Creation at this time, if time has anything to do with anything. A close friend stated that "I don't do Old, I just do Happy"! Very profound; In that if we stay as active as possible (mind,body, and spirit) from a cup 1/2 full perspective the negative aspects of mortal life will have a very hard time catching up with us. This perspective of looking at the whole of creation, relating to that creation, gliding forth on our flight with the eddies and thermals (of the breath of God) is very well exemplified with the image of the Eagle in flight. In this part of Southern Oregon that same image could come from the Osprey, which are also very special, but the Eagle is very special indeed. Much more will be posted here in the near future as I am confident of the opening of a new phase of my journey which I choose to record here and hope to share with many. During the balance of the year(there goes that time thing again) I hope to find great joy in experiencing not only the "mentoring of youth" from the local corrections department (via the Foster Grandparents Pgm) but also a revisit to Kauai leading to a fresh direction, a literacy project for "Superkids" in Jamaica, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration with family, and Lord only knows what else, and that pleases me very much. Hope you're along for the ride! !Pax Christi! RV

Balance according to "Calvin" - & Hobbes not John :O)

Last night President Obama announced the primary troop pull out of Iraq. Of course there was a goodly amount of political posturing in the process and then the usual debate on both sides of the "war" issue. Such machinations are expected but it is disturbing to go through the process. Some of the greatest criticism came from the left as Obama tried to acknowledge the "good intentions and patriotism" of then President Bush. This attempt to take a higher road is a problem for President Obama. My confidence in him remains unchanged but I am concerned about his "political" future as he doesn't seem to be pleasing enough people in his own chosen party and the results are all about numbers. In one of the liberal pundents program there is a reference to the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes in which there is a dispute between Calvin and Hobbes about the fair distribution of proceeds of a project. They end up with a compromise but Calvin comments that " A good compromise leaves everybody mad". I believe maybe we need something beyond the idea of compromise as a methodology for finding a beneficial path to a goal. I fear that such a movement is entering into the "transformational" spirit world and will be a very difficult achievement coming from a historical and mind centered posture. That is the reason for the picture above. The Giraffe's seem to be relating much more effectively from a "heart" level than a "head" level. Obviously even if we are able to relate at a heart level, action of necessity will need to come also from the mind. So there does need to be a Co-Operation of the two. Or at least an agreement between the two to work together rather than make it an adversarial conflict. I don't always agree with the writing of Jim Wallis of Sojourners. His column is titled "Hearts & Minds" which seems to be just what I'm referring too above. And I do agree with his latest article "Time to End This War". It is referring to a substantial reframing of our presence in that part of the world, a whole new approach. I agree and will close this post with a couple of excerpts from that article.

"How might we reduce and defeat the causes of terrorism in the first place? Nonmilitary strategies should lead the way, with the focus on humanitarian assistance, sustainable economic development, and international policing. It should be led by civilian nongovernmental organizations, both faith-based and secular, that have been in the region for years, are locally rooted, and are more trusted by the people than the U.S. government using aid as an adjunct to military operations.....Effective development needs security. We should start in areas that are secure and then grow to additional parts of the country, providing only the security necessary to protect the rebuilding (think international here, my words). That kind of peacekeeping would be more likely to gain the international support we need in Afghanistan, from Europe and even from Arab and Muslim countries.

The current strategy will only lead to more casualties--U.S. and Afghan--while strengthening popular support for the Taliban as an anti-occupation force. It is a strategy of endless war that is ultimately doomed to failure." Success in that area of the world will come only with co-operation not occupation! Pax Christi! RV

Eat! Pray! Love! Center!!

Very idyllic morning here at home. Rained last night after a day in the upper 90's. Very cleansing and as far as I know no forest fires were started from the lightning. Today, after attending Grace, I'm going to go see the new movie "Eat Pray Love". Borrowed the book from Veronica and just finished reading it. The first third was a bit hard to get into and I suppose the whole thing is kind of a "chick" book and probably the same could be said about the movie. There are some well stated parts of the book and thought I'd share a few of them here before I return it to my daughter. The poles in our lives still seem to be such a hurdle in the path toward understanding. Why must it always be "male or female", "liberal or conservative", "republican or democrat", "this religion or that", "my way or the hi way"? A man should be able to read and glean from Elizabeth Gilbert as a woman from Clive Cussler. Anyway the parts of Gilbert's book which I appreciated were mostly centered in the spiritual realm of understanding who and where God was, and how to most authentically be in touch with the divine. No surprise there I should think. I need to return the book to Veronica so I will post some excerpts on this site. One very important point to be made however is the disclaimer Elizabeth made regarding the nature of Paradise. She calls Bali a Paradise and then proceeds to explain the history of that country as being anything but Paradise. The point is that regardless of the blessings nature has given us to live in we as human beings, in our early stage of transcendence, can really mess up God's Will. The same point can be well stated about the bounty and blessing which we as Americans have squandered so much of the time. Just watched a PBS special on 1968 and the assassinations of Martin and Bobby. I know we are, as a society, better than the world of the 60's but is is sobering and tearful to realize how little we've come and how far we have to go. Suppose it's only going to happen one person at a time. How many more martyrs will it take?

So the first excerpt from the book in question was not noted until she was in India and concerned the nature of God. Most other faiths, the monotheistic ones, refer to the Hindu faith as a polytheistic pagan religion. This passage kind of sheds another light on the subject. "...Yoga is about self-mastery and the dedicated effort to haul your attention away from your endless brooding over the past and your nonstop worrying about the future so that you can seek instead, a place of eternal presence from which you may regard yourself and your surroundings with poise. Only from that point of even-mindedness will the true nature of the world (and yourself) be revealed to you. True Yogis, from their seat of equipoise,man see all this world as an equal manifestation of God's creative energy- men, woman, turnips, bedbugs, coral: it's all God in disguise. But the Yogis believe a human life is a very special opportunity, because only in human form and only with a human mind can God-realization ever occur...."Our whole business therefore in this life," wrote Saint Augustine, rather Yogically, "is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen.""

I saved this post before finishing. It's now Monday and I have seen the movie. As I expected it was a very pretty love story set in a very pretty part of the world. After reading the book I know that this "Love" story should be capitalized due to the transformational journey Ms Gilbert took that year. However the movie kind of left me as a little "l" love story. Very Hollywood. Anyway there were some important parts to the book I'd like to relate to a bit. In the Indian Ashram Liz is still tormented with her "failed" marriage and subsequent love affair. Her new friend Richard seems to give her some wise council regarding mortal love and its role in our transformational journey. He calls a "Soul Mate" (which Liz considers her love affair, and maybe her husband at some point, to be) a "mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life." I'm not sure I agree with his definition entirely but I would agree that you do see yourself more clearly in the eyes of your soulmate and this may very well be of help in transforming your life. The most interesting part of this chapter is how he equates our physical, mortal Loves in this life, soul mate or otherwise, with being doors and sometime blockages to experiencing a greater level of Love, even to "someday love the whole world. It's your destiny." How I see it is that the capacity of Love is limitless, boundless, and our realization of that vastness is very much a progression. Love is divine and as such is not finite. I believe that a "soulmate" can be a channel to this realization, even beyond this dimension.

One of the better parts of the movie, sophomorically deals with Liz's episode of forgiveness on the roof of the ashram. "The rules of transcendence insist that you will not advance even one inch closer to divinity as long as you cling to even one last seductive thread of blame. As smoking is to the lungs, so is resentment to the soul; " In separation/divorce counseling we say that forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. Liz puts it this way. "From that place of meditation, I found the answer - you can finish the business yourself, from within yourself. It's not only possible, it's essential"

I have said and done many things in my life which I would reverse if possible. We as human animals tend to overuse this gift of speech and one of the suggestions of "mystics" in many persuasions tout the benefits of silence as a practice. Ms Gilbert puts it "Learning how to discipline your speech is a way of preventing your energies from spilling out of you through the rupture of your mouth, exhausting you and filling the world with words, words, words instead of serenity, peace, and bliss." As Liz is leaving India she laments the departure and is presented with the following phrase, from God, which restates the fact that the answers are within us. "You may return here once you have fully come to understand that you are always here." Pax Chrisi! Roberto Vincenti

The Beauty and Blessing of Music!

Thank You my God for giving me this day! I am doing my weekly volunteer stint at the Ashland Community Hospital in the Health Resource Center (Library). I was speaking to an old friend of mine, Donny, who was waiting for his wife, Kate, in surgery. Donny is what I would call a troubadour for God. He sings, whistles, plays guitar, and other instruments in service to the elderly of our community. He has a very good voice but a beautiful spirit within. It occurred that in an earlier post a few days ago I referred to the examples of Gods touch or presence within His creation. Among these were living water, rainbows, flowers, newborns, smiles, forgiveness, labyrinths and other forms of spiritual art. In this last mention could be considered Music but I believe that it is very deserving of its own mention although it is also truly art and in many cases spiritual. At the out set I would say that music is a gift from God which really sets humans apart from much of creation. I believe this to be true but at the same time it is important to remember the natural beauty of the music of birds of the air, whales of the deep, and many other of our partners in the beauty of Gods creation. The written word can also be an example of this gift. Probably the field of poetry is even more special as one could say that it is a melding of the written word and music. In our conversation Donny suggested a book of spiritually diverse but common themed poems called "Love Poems from God". by Daniel Ladinsky. Some of the authors I'm familiar with and some not but all seemed very worthwhile reading. Poetically Yours! RV