Howard McQueen's Blog (436)

(C) 2011 Howard McQueen

In the end,

we are born to experience.

We are trained and indoctrinated

to judge,

rather than just observe

and witness

and be in awe

of this magnificent existence.

(C) 2011 Howard McQueen

This creek that constantly flows,

feeding all life,

quenching thirst,

whispering its language

 that also smooths sharp stones.

The language of perpetual flow,

around obstacles and impediments,

joining other flows,

making the long journey back

to the merging with Source.

(C) 2011 Howard McQueen

May the Stillness

 concentrate and focus within you,

and then radiate outwards

 to bless whatever is manifest.

[1] An approximate phonetic rendering of the Buddhist chant, followed by a personal interpretation.

(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

Before any action,

before any thought,

the Stillness ... exists.

Accessible to all,

to dip your ladle,

to stir your pot

or

to let it all come to rest

 and discover the clarity

 contained in the Stillness.

The Stillness remains completely unchanged

 however much your own personal pot

 may boil over

 or become agitated and…

From the Don Miguel Ruiz Daily Archives 

Today use your awareness to see how this message is true in your life:

We don't need to escape from life; we don't need to deny our own nature. What we need is complete awareness and self-acceptance. We need to learn to make our own choices and finally control our will from the inside. That is what makes us a…

© 2011 Howard McQueen

It is when people stop talking and start plotting,

that we begin to feel we might become harmed,

that we then consider the option of taking up arms.

Why is it we give up keeping conversation alive,

and are willing instead, to let parts inside shrivel or fry,

and on the outside, we let our sons and daughters die?

What could be more important

than encouraging our voices…

© 2011 Howard McQueen

As we capture and focus our attention

  into the service of navigating toward unity,

  we begin to meet in the vast field [1]

  where compassion and love dwell.

As we learn to nourish family and community,

  we begin to tend to the soil

  fertilized and nourished by our shared, core values.

As we learn to heal ourselves

  and hold this healing space and environment for…

This below posting from a Heron Dance email.  See  http://www.herondance.org/subscribe-renew/past-reflections.html 

Some Joseph Campbell (no relation) thoughts on the subject from various sources, including Michael Tom's interviews of him and Diane Osbon's A Joseph Campbell…

(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

Why is it we become stuck and mired in circumstances?

I've noticed that there are occasions when my agendas for how life should unfold assert themselves.

When unfolding circumstances don't appear to support my agendas, I have this uncanny ability to put on my cheerleader outfit and begin lobbying on their behalf.

We all do this from time to time.  It is how we learn to navigate through the world, and how we learn…

(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

Winter strips the landscape

 of all the annual beauty and camoflage.

The naked limbs and branches of trees

 reveal their exoskeletons,

 rooted in nothing but thin air.

Such stark contrast to the verdant

 flora and fauna blossoming in Spring.

Ah Winter,

 a time to rest and reflect,

 a time to draw inward and concentrate the essence

 for another ride around the…

Version 2.0

© 2011 Howard McQueen

Feeling deeply what is running inside us

 opens us to mystically knowing the We-ness,

 the immensity of shared interconnectedness,

 the infinite richness of experiencing

  and expressing

 heart-felt sharing with fellow beings.

To be human is to be, at times, overwhelmed and fragmented.

We are all on a journey to uncover, to rediscover wholeness.

We recover our wholeness…

© 2011 Howard McQueen

For so many years

 in a self-imposed isolation

 I’ve been going it alone

I’ve tried staying stoned

 spent many years as a work-a-haulic

 stressed and regressed

 in my self-centeredness.

And then, my hyperbolic journey as a comet

 is captured in the gravity of the father sun.

What is left of me plummets towards home.

Surprisingly, the booster fuel of…

© 2011 Howard McQueen

Much emphasis is place on personal self-enlightenment.

OK.

Fine.

So why is it Thich Nhat Hanh

and the Dalai Lama

believe that Embodied Wisdom

will coalesce,

will manifest

within and across Community?

(and not, this time around, as a singular enlightened Buddha)

Give me your hand

 and I’ll give you mine.

Lean into me

 as I lean into…

(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

When we make the investment to be fully in the service of relationship,

 be it friendships/stewardships with fellow humans,

 be it friendships/stewardships with animal companions,

 be it connections/stewardships with nature

And,

 the nature of the relationship is a balance of giving and receiving,

we actualize our capacity for connectedness.

When we honor this connectedness,

 by being…

(C) 2011 Howard McQueen

Friction in life is essential.

Stressing over one's various forms of friction brings suffering.

How we are in relationship with friction, i.e.

how we interpret friction places us in an adversarial or ally relationship with friction.

Do we use friction to navigate our experiences?

Do we use friction as an aid to centering ourselves inwardly?

Are we dedicated to uncovering the peace and harmony carried within…

Version 2.0

© 2011 Howard McQueen



Many of us

 are seeming blessed with:



  intelligence

  good looks

  the gifts to gab and entertain

  parents and/or elders who invested in their dream for us

  a skin color and features well-suited to mark the check-box “white”

  born to live in the plentitude of the US of A



Many of us

 with a modicum of effort and struggle:



  navigated into the safe harbor of a rewarding career…

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(C) 2011 Howard McQueen

As we learn to contain our experiences with this world

 we also learn to harness the abundant life force

 and direct this force through us,

 into the service of our evolution.

When we acknowledge that living with others

 brings certain frictions,

 threatens boundaries,

 pushes buttons,

 we release ourselves from the role of servants,

 in service to the surface…

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(C) 2011 Howard McQueen

When we grasp for things, we sometimes clinch,

 and pull ourselves off center.

When we shrink and hide, we become adrift,

 out-of-touch with our center.

When we realize we are over-indulging

 the ten thousand arising thought forms,

 we realize we've been robbing ourselves of our presence.

When we hold ourselves in contempt,

 through repetitious…

Excerpts from Douglas E. Harding's book "Open to the Source".  Mr. Harding founded the "Headless Way" as a way, using direct experience, to connect to source. 

My comments are not bracketed, while Mr. Hardings are within brackets [ ] 

The personal ego can be so full of need to do, so anxious, so churning [Yet, what's needed is coming up form the depths just when it should.  In Heaven you discover the quiet upsurge from the Abyss.]

[If we wish…

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(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

Deep within,

our demons snack upon our essence.

They are the quantum parasites taken up residence within our being.

This breath of essence we refer to as I

has the challenge to remain present and fully consciousness,

or trip off and vacate our body, loosing our awareness in the quantum distortion.

Welcome to the home of the Parasite.

It has the nickname - Fear.

It's reactor and…