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Aloha- This was a rather "heady" article to read in my very early morning. When I think about my community and the current news in our world, it seems that new paradigms in education are probably the number 1 mode of change that we are lacking. Being from the United States of America and growing up in public school system that was "plagued" by a variety of political, religious, and " bigoted" agenda of what I judge as " misguided" "adults" I am first of all grateful that I have been blessed to not only have survived as a spiritually oriented humanist who continues to learn interactive community building and health tools at the age of 76 but has thrived while constantly avoiding information that " mainstream" sources attempt to feed me. I have been volunteering in schools here in Kauai in past 10 years and am extremely concerned about our future based on how little our educational system has progressed in the last 70 years. In fact, in my opinion, the typical public elementary school has lost much of the bit of heart or emotionally centered aspects that seeped through the teachers who understood that each child and each human being is unique in learning all types of skills and knowledge. Encountering bright beautiful home schooled children and parent/ teachers who recognize the importance of doing something very different from the " banking system" is stimulating me to0 be part of this revolution for my continued learning and for children and adults in my community. I am working with Adult Literacy as well as mentoring groups for boys in middle schools. I find that in my work as volunteer educator as in my career as a wholistic physical therapist that listening first to the needs of another is key to selecting what i may have ability to "teach". And my "belief " system is that we are all learners and teachers and that the most important ingredient in any learning is love and respect.

" Every day , I think as I wake up, I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive, I've got this precious human life. And I'm not gonna waste it! whoa ohh ohhh!" The Dalai Lama I see the trees utilizing my out breath and giving me their oxygen release. I look into the eyes of the being in front of me and know that we are one in the spirit. I play peek a boo with little ones and we smile. I dance and sing and swim and eat and bathe and love the caress of all that touches me and see and hear and smell and taste beauty.

Wow! this song is my life right at this moment. I am up in middle night preparing a dance camp retreat beginning tomorrow. So for me this is literal as well as a deep metaphor of the wild burn in my heart that gives me energy with little sleep and erratic eating to create a sacred space to dance with beloveds.

Wow!!!! I love this piece. I will respond with a couple of my poems- Foolishness is my superpower! I no longer condone boundaries walling off love, joy, or grief. Hiding for life times was no fun. The call to Dance was a line thrown to this drowning man. I was not careful at all piecing together my crazy quilt cap that I am proud to display along with the emperor’s new threads. Any street corner you can glimpse me waltzing or doing the tango. And I need no concert hall or even a barbershop to croon my healing heartsong. Wandering griot on hieronymous honey moon, no shame riding into the village sitting backwards on a donkey spouting love songs to the mother of us all. Sure, I sat on that hill perfectly still foolishly praying That if we can learn to live together as fools we might not perish as brothers and sisters. ----- YAWNING SAINT I once had a following. I was known as the yawning saint. once seen, I inspired crowds to relax and oxygenate their brains. after a few years, we all drifted off. I was a well known and well- loved performer. People who heard me sing said that they heard several harmonies just from my solo voice. There was a high part like a sea of crickets, a low rhythmic sonority like the sea itself, and melodies reminiscent of a million song birds in the dawn chorus. Eventually, everyone went out to view the earth moving toward the morning bathed in bird song, walked on the shores and wandered into the fields and trees to sleep and hear the crickets themselves. And I was left All alone once again. ------ There was Some Thing There was something that discovered something that wanted somethings. It got somethings it wanted and not others. It began to believe that it could not get everything it wanted, that it was not good enough, that something was wrong with it. It lived anyway until it remembered that it was no thing and had ... [View Full Comment] Wow!!!! I love this piece. I will respond with a couple of my poems- Foolishness is my superpower! I no longer condone boundaries walling off love, joy, or grief. Hiding for life times was no fun. The call to Dance was a line thrown to this drowning man. I was not careful at all piecing together my crazy quilt cap that I am proud to display along with the emperor’s new threads. Any street corner you can glimpse me waltzing or doing the tango. And I need no concert hall or even a barbershop to croon my healing heartsong. Wandering griot on hieronymous honey moon, no shame riding into the village sitting backwards on a donkey spouting love songs to the mother of us all. Sure, I sat on that hill perfectly still foolishly praying That if we can learn to live together as fools we might not perish as brothers and sisters. ----- YAWNING SAINT I once had a following. I was known as the yawning saint. once seen, I inspired crowds to relax and oxygenate their brains. after a few years, we all drifted off. I was a well known and well- loved performer. People who heard me sing said that they heard several harmonies just from my solo voice. There was a high part like a sea of crickets, a low rhythmic sonority like the sea itself, and melodies reminiscent of a million song birds in the dawn chorus. Eventually, everyone went out to view the earth moving toward the morning bathed in bird song, walked on the shores and wandered into the fields and trees to sleep and hear the crickets themselves. And I was left All alone once again. ------ There was Some Thing There was something that discovered something that wanted somethings. It got somethings it wanted and not others. It began to believe that it could not get everything it wanted, that it was not good enough, that something was wrong with it. It lived anyway until it remembered that it was no thing and had all it ever needed! [Hide Full Comment]

Aloha and mahalo John for monarch butterfly metaphor- I have been spending time with Monarch caterpillars and mature flyers here on Kauai lately where the plant is called Crown flower. I pick the white or light purple flowers to use in leis. The particular trees I have been visiting are near where a dear friend who was quite a nature lover recently left her body and she has been very present in the delightful flittering and aromas. I have been experiencing my gooiness a lot in past year which some times feels like a horrible messy glob of anger always covering grief that regularly turns into miracles of loving blessings and unimagined beauty. I used to live in Santa Cruz California where the monarchs came to a tree and hung looking life less for months in colder weather until warmth reignited them into a healing cloud of gorgeous energy. Before those individuals participated in end of life seeding of a new generation of hungry crawlers devouring leaves and sap to energize their gooey phase in their spectacular retreat temples they went thru 3 generations flying from Canada transmitting thru generations the exact location of the tree. Life is amazing and I am reborn today and know that this is much more than a metaphor. It is a message of blessing. War and violence are old stories. Change is happening in our goo.

I love to walk. In the forest. On the beach. City streets. Holding hands with my lover. Holding hands with my child. In sacred places. I have been lost and always obviously found again. I am a peace pilgrim. I try on different walks and experience various aspects of my soul and my personality. i have been with a dear friend lately and i guess desired deeper connection which i was not experiencing , empathy for my grief, and she was needing respect and awareness of her sensitivities that she was not getting and we both felt hurt and angry even. then we sat and connected our hearts and are back on our pilgrimage to safety, friendship, growth, support. there does not seem to be a destination when our hearts melt i am just here.

Ahhhh- can't respond intellectually to this sweet story- just crying with joy and grief- mahalo

Aloha- To Love is to be happy with- I love this reading because it was a sensual connecting with mama gaia which is a major part of my spiritual path and life- I humm and sing into the stream and pohaku- walk barefoot most of the time- breathing with the universe, feeling the freedom to laugh and cry knowing that there is immense beauty in the web of life while also seeing immense horror mostly perpetrated by some sort of disturbance in human brains- I bathed in waterfall, spring, mud, salts, tears, greening, sensuality , frustrating relationships, and joyful healing this morning- Grateful for being alive and waking up- E Ala E

Wow!!!! this is a fascinating concept and discussion. I certainly can not summon a time when I felt "faceless". It seems that even in my infancy I had taken on fears, sadness, related to my mother and ancestral emotional stuff. I remember hiding a lot in my life. So concerned about how I might be seen that being seen felt dangerous. It is an ongoing process for me to really love myself regardless of how others see me. Just yesterday, Maronda and I did tachlich ceremony of releasing beliefs or habits into the stream and my need for outside validation was one of the things I released. I am very involved in community work and have not found a way to be "faceless". I feel that I am much more authentic and accepting and in love with my current " masks" then any time previously in this life.

Aloha- I had a significant segment of my life where I saw myself in the grip of time. I was neurotically always early and then always running to something else so I did not give myself the opportunity to experience a relaxed relationship to anything, anybody and most significantly not with my self. My life was not working and after quite a few wonderful teachings, mostly nature experiences like vision quests, silent retreats, Mens initiations , and some traumatic dissolutions of relationships both personal and business, I changed my experience of time. Now, I listen and am comfortable waiting and find that there are daily magical mysterious joys and deep connections.

Aloha- I am a wholistic physical therapist. Much of my career was based in helping other beings resolve physical pain. I learned from being with others experiencing pain and thru my own that relaxation is a first step. Being in the sympathetic nervous system reaction of anger , fear does not allow healing to occur. Getting into parasympathetic and getting out of the way allows my or our natural innate to bring circulation of what is needed to heal and to eliminate what is needed to release. I have a few pains on physical level at the moment. A knee, a wrist, a tooth. There are possible medical or wholistic treatments and techniques to pursue . I am aware that the first thing for me is to accept and feel, allow grief or any underlying shadow beliefs that are holding on to surface and flow. I know that there are always Psycho emotional and spiritual aspects of all physically experienced pains even if mechanical or chemical cause is clear. If I can feel it, I can heal it. And loving is the ultimate cure.

Wind Song Blow Kamakani , blow! Take away my fears and worries, take away these pains. Oh great spirit of the East, elemental air, breath of the universe refresh this body, breathe me leave me with only your lightness of being expand my cells, expand my mind, expand my soul. just “ as pieces of cloud dissolve in sunlight” ( Rumi) let all that is not love die and allow this eye that is I to see and experience the only reality , this vast expansive oneness of the cerulean sea of bliss. Blow Kamakani , Blow!

When I was a teenager I was teased alot, I guess they call it bullying now. I also was hit by my father a few times, slammed up against a locker by a coach, punched and knocked out by an older boy from opposing town after a basketball game, chased by a gang of catholic boys calling me a christ killer because I was Jewish and other instances of being treated "unjustly" by authorities ( in my humble opinion). And of course I was aware of horrible acts of violence in the world such as slavery, wars, genocide, etc. And I would explode every so often and fight someone physically or break something. At some point in my 20's I recognized that I had " an anger problem" and then after trying to direct my " righteous anger" more constructively and less destructively or in vengeance I learned that when ever I felt anger it was covering up Fear and Grief. Now, I know that I am free to choose what I feel. If I notice anger arising, I ask myself what I am afraid of and what am I grieving. If I can get down to the grief I can transform the anger and channel my energy toward creating peace in myself and my family, my community and world. Thanks for asking these questions.

In my experience there is no reality other than an infinite miraculous oneness which is without any doubt incomprehensible and that would be synonymous with Mystery. I have witnessed rescues of humans in immanent life threatening danger by angels and healings inexplicable by medical science. These experiences collapsed my previous beliefs.

A lot to ponder in this story. I was seen as overly sensitive and easily cried and had a very hard time accepting any thing I felt was injustice. So, I interpreted that as me being a "weirdo" or something wrong with me. My sensitivity , emotionality, and caring for justness are certainly what shaped me to be the human I am and love. It may have been wonderful to have had a happier childhood and found others that appreciated the qualities that I hid. I eventually was drawn to and chose teachers who demonstrated compassion and self awareness.

Hmmmm! from Dalai Lama , " Everyday , I think as I wake up, I am fortunate to have woken up, I am Alive , I have this precious human life, And I'm not going to waste it" . Just, breathing and feeling, seeing planets in the evening sky, laughing at the antics of toddlers, my partner bringing me tea , typing these words and knowing that they are going out into a world wide web, I feel the vastness. " Effectiveness is the measure of truth" ( what works is true) . Experiencing a mysterious alive vastness works for me.

I have always heard and said that the only thing in life that is certain is Change. Not knowing what will happen is what makes life exciting, surprising, not boring, and at times nerve wracking. Probably most most significant personal story is how forlorn or depressed and helpless I felt after my first marriage partner and I divorced. I began really focussing on the partner I wanted and got more and more specific when I did my daily intention setting rituals. I also realized that I had to be the partner that my ideal partner would want. And miracle of miracles, we found each other and have a love relationship that is far better than any thing I ever imagined. AND, the best part of it is that we live in awe of The Great Mystery and have no idea of what is to come.

Mahalo Victoria from bringing both sensory and emotional connection into this reflection on softness. Reading your reflection helped me to soften a hard place in my heart.

Oh wow! the message 0f this article is synchronistically amazingly timely for me. It came in the same batch of emails with a message from a man who has been " ghosting " me for it seems over a year. My initial emotional response felt "hard" ( I guess defensive). Now, I am beginning to pay attention to my reactiveness and return to my breathing and my mantra of " I forgive myself, I forgive everybody and everything else" and I will take the time to "soften" more today, to allow myself to find what my heart and soul really want to say and discover what I really want from this man and more significantly what I need from this interaction. So, I am grateful for receiving Richard Rudd's article and for the other reflections I have read. Mahalo

Hmmmm- Maybe, "I" am just in a mood, but there is real work to be done and this seems like to put it politely a bunch of mental gymnastics. It is not hard to find a mirror in the physical sense or other humans who are willing to reflect. "I" am not trying to find any thing. I do desire love and peace and know that it is up to me to choose my experience and " I" am baffled by not only the phrase but the meaning of " intrinsic selfness of consciousness". My personal story is that I find myself reflected by others as acting selflessly. I will continue to look/dive deeper into what part of my shadow may be seeking validation.