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Since early childhood nature, the wild, has been my sanctuary. I have never really questioned anything about it, just immersed myself in it. No matter what season of life I’ve found myself in, whether joyful or traumatic, nature has remained a steady presence, a grounding place. So it should come as no surprise that my entire adulthood from college to career to retirement, has been closely associated with the land and all of my relatives there. As for fish, and nets, and water, my first job as a fisheries biologist took me high into the land of the Mokolumne (fish net people) a high Sierra branch of the larger Miwok nation. Human concepts (and nonsense) dissolve in this water, but nets and even pole and line and hook are useful if one wishes to eat.

A Reminder During The Wolf Hours …a letter from prison As is often the case in these days of the reign of the orange menace, I was awakened and went to prayer after midnight. My immediate response to (and in) the Spirit of LOVE, “Lord have mercy.” That, and then the prayer that Jesus gave his disciples before his death on a wooden cross, known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” After a time I was reminded of the apostle of Christ named Paul and his letter written to the people of Philippi during the time of the Roman Empire. It is notable that this letter was composed by Paul while he was in prison in Rome. My favorite passage from that letter has become one of my “go to’s” during prayers of intercession and surrender. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 4:4-7 Years ago I read through Jan Karon’s Mitford Series of novels. Father Tim and his exhortation, “Philippians 4 for Pete’s sake!”, became favorites. So it is that I return to this passage, and verse 8 as well, as part of my prayers not only during “the wolf hours” but throughout the day as well. Yes, I am a follower of Christ. No not “that” kind. 😉🙄 I also identify with other faiths and traditions wherein I “see” Christ. I am an unabashed Franciscan Buddhist Lakota Celtic German Lutheran Sufi and more. 🤣

Aho.

Thay and Tenzin Gyatsu (DL14) have a delightful and whimsical way of telling such stories. And of course such telling is best in intimate personal settings so that the listener may see, hear and engage. Therein true delight for the teller and the listener.

A simple yet cosmic hope and faith enables me to embrace both transitions and endings, including the ultimate one.

If love is indeed the highest form of acceptance, what does that say about the acceptance of evil?

Know thy true self and be free… }:- a.m.

The older I get, and more humiliatingly frail, the more open I seem to be toward others no matter how different or comfortable they tend to make me?! Oh not the dark, evil ones, but the quirky, lovable in spite of themselves ones…like me in that regard I hope. }:- a.m. anonemoose monk

I am an old (very old) fan of Kent Nerburn going back to Wolf Not Dog, including the film version. I am also of both Irish and Lakota ancestry…much of my own history is wrapped up in Wolf Not Dog. And here too is the essential, life-giving need for both acknowledgment and forgiveness if any reconciliation and reparation is to happen. Lakota people say, “Mitákuye oyàsin,” which translates to “All are my relatives.”

Why I go on walkabout often in our local urban park. One instance is the foraging of beautuful Western Bluebirds that I often encounter, but there are many more every day.

I go on “walkabout” in our local park, wandering, yet not aimlessly… }:- a.m. anonemoose monk

I have found (now in my 8th decade on the planet) that one must first be quieted before any good can be obtained. The notion of emptiness, kenosis, is the “practice before the practice” for me in this season. The contemplative life calls one to silence and solitude, and in turn to allowing the mind to empty and “drop down” into the “heart”. This idea is common to most good religions and faith traditions, even indigenous vision quests include the emptying…

Thank you, mahalo, wopila tanka…

Service Space is for me, in my mind and heart, a “Universal Christ” community without naming itself at all…and yes, Mr. Rogers would also agree that we are all “perfect imperfection” in Divine LOVE. Hoofnote: Don’t you just love that the author here is named Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”

We had a resident Pond Turtle for years. Ticky the kids named her. She was always around and kept our snail population in check. The dogs never bothered her and she was happy to let the kids hold her. Every winter she would bury herself beneath an old clubhouse next our majestic Oak (Aidan). When that old clubhouse was torn down years later there was Ticky’s intact shell minus her body. Now that shell is a sacred rattle because of course all turtles are sacred. Mitákuye oyàsin, hozho naashadoo, beannacht. [translation: All are my relatives (Lakota), therefore I will walk in harmony/beauty (Diné), blessed to be blessing (Irish).]

Discovering (meeting) Howard Thurman late in my own life (70’s) is like embracing a long lost brother.

In times such as these Thomas Berry and others offer perspective beyond the brokenness and violence by discovering wisdom in nature. }:- a.m.

It has been said that all of life in this broken, violent world is holding great suffering in and with Greater LOVE. }:- a.m.

As a scientist and man of faith as well, this resonates with my own heart. It is truth that both of my sons, cosmologist and ecologist respectively, embrace as well.

Chelan is delightful in poetry and though a bit young in The Journey nevertheless a budding mystic in her own right. I hope to hear more when she arrives at the place of double her current age.