Endymion: Book I

by John Keats (1795-1821)

-------------------------------------

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.

Nor do we merely feel these essences
For one short hour; no, even as the trees
That whisper round a temple become soon
Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon,
The passion poesy, glories infinite,
Haunt us till they become a cheering light
Unto our souls, and bound to us so fast,
That, whether there be shine, or gloom o'ercast,
They alway must be with us, or we die.

Therefore, 'tis with full happiness that I
Will trace the story of Endymion.
The very music of the name has gone
Into my being, and each pleasant scene
Is growing fresh before me as the green
Of our own vallies: so I will begin
Now while I cannot hear the city's din;
Now while the early budders are just new,
And run in mazes of the youngest hue
About old forests; while the willow trails
Its delicate amber; and the dairy pails
Bring home increase of milk. And, as the year
Grows lush in juicy stalks, I'll smoothly steer
My little boat, for many quiet hours,
With streams that deepen freshly into bowers.
Many and many a verse I hope to write,
Before the daisies, vermeil rimm'd and white,
Hide in deep herbage; and ere yet the bees
Hum about globes of clover and sweet peas,
I must be near the middle of my story.
O may no wintry season, bare and hoary,
See it half finished: but let Autumn bold,
With universal tinge of sober gold,
Be all about me when I make an end.
And now at once, adventuresome, I send
My herald thought into a wilderness:
There let its trumpet blow, and quickly dress
My uncertain path with green, that I may speed
Easily onward, thorough flowers and weed.

Upon the sides of Latmos was outspread
A mighty forest; for the moist earth fed
So plenteously all weed-hidden roots
Into o'er-hanging boughs, and precious fruits.
And it had gloomy shades, sequestered deep,
Where no man went; and if from shepherd's keep
A lamb strayed far a-down those inmost glens,
Never again saw he the happy pens
Whither his brethren, bleating with content,
Over the hills at every nightfall went.
Among the shepherds, 'twas believed ever,
That not one fleecy lamb which thus did sever
From the white flock, but pass'd unworried
By angry wolf, or pard with prying head,
Until it came to some unfooted plains
Where fed the herds of Pan: ay great his gains
Who thus one lamb did lose. Paths there were many,
Winding through palmy fern, and rushes fenny,
And ivy banks; all leading pleasantly
To a wide lawn, whence one could only see
Stems thronging all around between the swell
Of turf and slanting branches: who could tell
The freshness of the space of heaven above,
Edg'd round with dark tree tops? through which a dove
Would often beat its wings, and often too
A little cloud would move across the blue.

Full in the middle of this pleasantness
There stood a marble altar, with a tress
Of flowers budded newly; and the dew
Had taken fairy phantasies to strew
Daisies upon the sacred sward last eve,
And so the dawned light in pomp receive.
For 'twas the morn: Apollo's upward fire
Made every eastern cloud a silvery pyre
Of brightness so unsullied, that therein
A melancholy spirit well might win
Oblivion, and melt out his essence fine
Into the winds: rain-scented eglantine
Gave temperate sweets to that well-wooing sun;
The lark was lost in him; cold springs had run
To warm their chilliest bubbles in the grass;
Man's voice was on the mountains; and the mass
Of nature's lives and wonders puls'd tenfold,
To feel this sun-rise and its glories old.

Now while the silent workings of the dawn
Were busiest, into that self-same lawn
All suddenly, with joyful cries, there sped
A troop of little children garlanded;
Who gathering round the altar, seemed to pry
Earnestly round as wishing to espy
Some folk of holiday: nor had they waited
For many moments, ere their ears were sated
With a faint breath of music, which ev'n then
Fill'd out its voice, and died away again.
Within a little space again it gave
Its airy swellings, with a gentle wave,
To light-hung leaves, in smoothest echoes breaking
Through copse-clad vallies,--ere their death, oer-taking
The surgy murmurs of the lonely sea.

And now, as deep into the wood as we
Might mark a lynx's eye, there glimmered light
Fair faces and a rush of garments white,
Plainer and plainer shewing, till at last
Into the widest alley they all past,
Making directly for the woodland altar.
O kindly muse! let not my weak tongue faulter
In telling of this goodly company,
Of their old piety, and of their glee:
But let a portion of ethereal dew
Fall on my head, and presently unmew
My soul; that I may dare, in wayfaring,
To stammer where old Chaucer used to sing.

Leading the way, young damsels danced along,
Bearing the burden of a shepherd song;
Each having a white wicker over brimm'd
With April's tender younglings: next, well trimm'd,
A crowd of shepherds with as sunburnt looks
As may be read of in Arcadian books;
Such as sat listening round Apollo's pipe,
When the great deity, for earth too ripe,
Let his divinity o'er-flowing die
In music, through the vales of Thessaly:
Some idly trailed their sheep-hooks on the ground,
And some kept up a shrilly mellow sound
With ebon-tipped flutes: close after these,
Now coming from beneath the forest trees,
A venerable priest full soberly,
Begirt with ministring looks: alway his eye
Stedfast upon the matted turf he kept,
And after him his sacred vestments swept.
From his right hand there swung a vase, milk-white,
Of mingled wine, out-sparkling generous light;
And in his left he held a basket full
Of all sweet herbs that searching eye could cull:
Wild thyme, and valley-lilies whiter still
Than Leda's love, and cresses from the rill.
His aged head, crowned with beechen wreath,
Seem'd like a poll of ivy in the teeth
Of winter hoar. Then came another crowd
Of shepherds, lifting in due time aloud
Their share of the ditty. After them appear'd,
Up-followed by a multitude that rear'd
Their voices to the clouds, a fair wrought car,
Easily rolling so as scarce to mar
The freedom of three steeds of dapple brown:
Who stood therein did seem of great renown
Among the throng. His youth was fully blown,
Shewing like Ganymede to manhood grown;
And, for those simple times, his garments were
A chieftain king's: beneath his breast, half bare,
Was hung a silver bugle, and between
His nervy knees there lay a boar-spear keen.
A smile was on his countenance; he seem'd,
To common lookers on, like one who dream'd
Of idleness in groves Elysian:
But there were some who feelingly could scan
A lurking trouble in his nether lip,
And see that oftentimes the reins would slip
Through his forgotten hands: then would they sigh,
And think of yellow leaves, of owlets cry,
Of logs piled solemnly.--Ah, well-a-day,
Why should our young Endymion pine away!

Soon the assembly, in a circle rang'd,
Stood silent round the shrine: each look was chang'd
To sudden veneration: women meek
Beckon'd their sons to silence; while each cheek
Of virgin bloom paled gently for slight fear.
Endymion too, without a forest peer,
Stood, wan, and pale, and with an awed face,
Among his brothers of the mountain chase.
In midst of all, the venerable priest
Eyed them with joy from greatest to the least,
And, after lifting up his aged hands,
Thus spake he: "Men of Latmos! shepherd bands!
Whose care it is to guard a thousand flocks:
Whether descended from beneath the rocks
That overtop your mountains; whether come
From vallies where the pipe is never dumb;
Or from your swelling downs, where sweet air stirs
Blue hare-bells lightly, and where prickly furze
Buds lavish gold; or ye, whose precious charge
Nibble their fill at ocean's very marge,
Whose mellow reeds are touch'd with sounds forlorn
By the dim echoes of old Triton's horn:
Mothers and wives! who day by day prepare
The scrip, with needments, for the mountain air;
And all ye gentle girls who foster up
Udderless lambs, and in a little cup
Will put choice honey for a favoured youth:
Yea, every one attend! for in good truth
Our vows are wanting to our great god Pan.
Are not our lowing heifers sleeker than
Night-swollen mushrooms? Are not our wide plains
Speckled with countless fleeces? Have not rains
Green'd over April's lap? No howling sad
Sickens our fearful ewes; and we have had
Great bounty from Endymion our lord.
The earth is glad: the merry lark has pour'd
His early song against yon breezy sky,
That spreads so clear o'er our solemnity."

Thus ending, on the shrine he heap'd a spire
Of teeming sweets, enkindling sacred fire;
Anon he stain'd the thick and spongy sod
With wine, in honour of the shepherd-god.
Now while the earth was drinking it, and while
Bay leaves were crackling in the fragrant pile,
And gummy frankincense was sparkling bright
'Neath smothering parsley, and a hazy light
Spread greyly eastward, thus a chorus sang:

"O THOU, whose mighty palace roof doth hang
From jagged trunks, and overshadoweth
Eternal whispers, glooms, the birth, life, death
Of unseen flowers in heavy peacefulness;
Who lov'st to see the hamadryads dress
Their ruffled locks where meeting hazels darken;
And through whole solemn hours dost sit, and hearken
The dreary melody of bedded reeds--
In desolate places, where dank moisture breeds
The pipy hemlock to strange overgrowth;
Bethinking thee, how melancholy loth
Thou wast to lose fair Syrinx--do thou now,
By thy love's milky brow!
By all the trembling mazes that she ran,
Hear us, great Pan!

"O thou, for whose soul-soothing quiet, turtles
Passion their voices cooingly 'mong myrtles,
What time thou wanderest at eventide
Through sunny meadows, that outskirt the side
Of thine enmossed realms: O thou, to whom
Broad leaved fig trees even now foredoom
Their ripen'd fruitage; yellow girted bees
Their golden honeycombs; our village leas
Their fairest-blossom'd beans and poppied corn;
The chuckling linnet its five young unborn,
To sing for thee; low creeping strawberries
Their summer coolness; pent up butterflies
Their freckled wings; yea, the fresh budding year
All its completions--be quickly near,
By every wind that nods the mountain pine,
O forester divine!

"Thou, to whom every fawn and satyr flies
For willing service; whether to surprise
The squatted hare while in half sleeping fit;
Or upward ragged precipices flit
To save poor lambkins from the eagle's maw;
Or by mysterious enticement draw
Bewildered shepherds to their path again;
Or to tread breathless round the frothy main,
And gather up all fancifullest shells
For thee to tumble into Naiads' cells,
And, being hidden, laugh at their out-peeping;
Or to delight thee with fantastic leaping,
The while they pelt each other on the crown
With silvery oak apples, and fir cones brown--
By all the echoes that about thee ring,
Hear us, O satyr king!

"O Hearkener to the loud clapping shears,
While ever and anon to his shorn peers
A ram goes bleating: Winder of the horn,
When snouted wild-boars routing tender corn
Anger our huntsman: Breather round our farms,
To keep off mildews, and all weather harms:
Strange ministrant of undescribed sounds,
That come a swooning over hollow grounds,
And wither drearily on barren moors:
Dread opener of the mysterious doors
Leading to universal knowledge--see,
Great son of Dryope,
The many that are come to pay their vows
With leaves about their brows!

Be still the unimaginable lodge
For solitary thinkings; such as dodge
Conception to the very bourne of heaven,
Then leave the naked brain: be still the leaven,
That spreading in this dull and clodded earth
Gives it a touch ethereal--a new birth:
Be still a symbol of immensity;
A firmament reflected in a sea;
An element filling the space between;
An unknown--but no more: we humbly screen
With uplift hands our foreheads, lowly bending,
And giving out a shout most heaven rending,
Conjure thee to receive our humble Paean,
Upon thy Mount Lycean!

Even while they brought the burden to a close,
A shout from the whole multitude arose,
That lingered in the air like dying rolls
Of abrupt thunder, when Ionian shoals
Of dolphins bob their noses through the brine.
Meantime, on shady levels, mossy fine,
Young companies nimbly began dancing
To the swift treble pipe, and humming string.
Aye, those fair living forms swam heavenly
To tunes forgotten--out of memory:
Fair creatures! whose young children's children bred
Thermopylæ its heroes--not yet dead,
But in old marbles ever beautiful.
High genitors, unconscious did they cull
Time's sweet first-fruits--they danc'd to weariness,
And then in quiet circles did they press
The hillock turf, and caught the latter end
Of some strange history, potent to send
A young mind from its bodily tenement.
Or they might watch the quoit-pitchers, intent
On either side; pitying the sad death
Of Hyacinthus, when the cruel breath
Of Zephyr slew him,--Zephyr penitent,
Who now, ere Phoebus mounts the firmament,
Fondles the flower amid the sobbing rain.
The archers too, upon a wider plain,
Beside the feathery whizzing of the shaft,
And the dull twanging bowstring, and the raft
Branch down sweeping from a tall ash top,
Call'd up a thousand thoughts to envelope
Those who would watch. Perhaps, the trembling knee
And frantic gape of lonely Niobe,
Poor, lonely Niobe! when her lovely young
Were dead and gone, and her caressing tongue
Lay a lost thing upon her paly lip,
And very, very deadliness did nip
Her motherly cheeks. Arous'd from this sad mood
By one, who at a distance loud halloo'd,
Uplifting his strong bow into the air,
Many might after brighter visions stare:
After the Argonauts, in blind amaze
Tossing about on Neptune's restless ways,
Until, from the horizon's vaulted side,
There shot a golden splendour far and wide,
Spangling those million poutings of the brine
With quivering ore: 'twas even an awful shine
From the exaltation of Apollo's bow;
A heavenly beacon in their dreary woe.
Who thus were ripe for high contemplating,
Might turn their steps towards the sober ring
Where sat Endymion and the aged priest
'Mong shepherds gone in eld, whose looks increas'd
The silvery setting of their mortal star.
There they discours'd upon the fragile bar
That keeps us from our homes ethereal;
And what our duties there: to nightly call
Vesper, the beauty-crest of summer weather;
To summon all the downiest clouds together
For the sun's purple couch; to emulate
In ministring the potent rule of fate
With speed of fire-tailed exhalations;
To tint her pallid cheek with bloom, who cons
Sweet poesy by moonlight: besides these,
A world of other unguess'd offices.
Anon they wander'd, by divine converse,
Into Elysium; vieing to rehearse
Each one his own anticipated bliss.
One felt heart-certain that he could not miss
His quick gone love, among fair blossom'd boughs,
Where every zephyr-sigh pouts and endows
Her lips with music for the welcoming.
Another wish'd, mid that eternal spring,
To meet his rosy child, with feathery sails,
Sweeping, eye-earnestly, through almond vales:
Who, suddenly, should stoop through the smooth wind,
And with the balmiest leaves his temples bind;
And, ever after, through those regions be
His messenger, his little Mercury.
Some were athirst in soul to see again
Their fellow huntsmen o'er the wide champaign
In times long past; to sit with them, and talk
Of all the chances in their earthly walk;
Comparing, joyfully, their plenteous stores
Of happiness, to when upon the moors,
Benighted, close they huddled from the cold,
And shar'd their famish'd scrips. Thus all out-told
Their fond imaginations,--saving him
Whose eyelids curtain'd up their jewels dim,
Endymion: yet hourly had he striven
To hide the cankering venom, that had riven
His fainting recollections. Now indeed
His senses had swoon'd off: he did not heed
The sudden silence, or the whispers low,
Or the old eyes dissolving at his woe,
Or anxious calls, or close of trembling palms,
Or maiden's sigh, that grief itself embalms:
But in the self-same fixed trance he kept,
Like one who on the earth had never stept.
Aye, even as dead-still as a marble man,
Frozen in that old tale Arabian.

Who whispers him so pantingly and close?
Peona, his sweet sister: of all those,
His friends, the dearest. Hushing signs she made,
And breath'd a sister's sorrow to persuade
A yielding up, a cradling on her care.
Her eloquence did breathe away the curse:
She led him, like some midnight spirit nurse
Of happy changes in emphatic dreams,
Along a path between two little streams,--
Guarding his forehead, with her round elbow,
From low-grown branches, and his footsteps slow
From stumbling over stumps and hillocks small;
Until they came to where these streamlets fall,
With mingled bubblings and a gentle rush,
Into a river, clear, brimful, and flush
With crystal mocking of the trees and sky.
A little shallop, floating there hard by,
Pointed its beak over the fringed bank;
And soon it lightly dipt, and rose, and sank,
And dipt again, with the young couple's weight,--
Peona guiding, through the water straight,
Towards a bowery island opposite;
Which gaining presently, she steered light
Into a shady, fresh, and ripply cove,
Where nested was an arbour, overwove
By many a summer's silent fingering;
To whose cool bosom she was used to bring
Her playmates, with their needle broidery,
And minstrel memories of times gone by.

So she was gently glad to see him laid
Under her favourite bower's quiet shade,
On her own couch, new made of flower leaves,
Dried carefully on the cooler side of sheaves
When last the sun his autumn tresses shook,
And the tann'd harvesters rich armfuls took.
Soon was he quieted to slumbrous rest:
But, ere it crept upon him, he had prest
Peona's busy hand against his lips,
And still, a sleeping, held her finger-tips
In tender pressure. And as a willow keeps
A patient watch over the stream that creeps
Windingly by it, so the quiet maid
Held her in peace: so that a whispering blade
Of grass, a wailful gnat, a bee bustling
Down in the blue-bells, or a wren light rustling
Among seer leaves and twigs, might all be heard.

O magic sleep! O comfortable bird,
That broodest o'er the troubled sea of the mind
Till it is hush'd and smooth! O unconfin'd
Restraint! imprisoned liberty! great key
To golden palaces, strange minstrelsy,
Fountains grotesque, new trees, bespangled caves,
Echoing grottos, full of tumbling waves
And moonlight; aye, to all the mazy world
Of silvery enchantment!--who, upfurl'd
Beneath thy drowsy wing a triple hour,
But renovates and lives?--Thus, in the bower,
Endymion was calm'd to life again.
Opening his eyelids with a healthier brain,
He said: "I feel this thine endearing love
All through my bosom: thou art as a dove
Trembling its closed eyes and sleeked wings
About me; and the pearliest dew not brings
Such morning incense from the fields of May,
As do those brighter drops that twinkling stray
From those kind eyes,--the very home and haunt
Of sisterly affection. Can I want
Aught else, aught nearer heaven, than such tears?
Yet dry them up, in bidding hence all fears
That, any longer, I will pass my days
Alone and sad. No, I will once more raise
My voice upon the mountain-heights; once more
Make my horn parley from their foreheads hoar:
Again my trooping hounds their tongues shall loll
Around the breathed boar: again I'll poll
The fair-grown yew tree, for a chosen bow:
And, when the pleasant sun is getting low,
Again I'll linger in a sloping mead
To hear the speckled thrushes, and see feed
Our idle sheep. So be thou cheered sweet,
And, if thy lute is here, softly intreat
My soul to keep in its resolved course."

Hereat Peona, in their silver source,
Shut her pure sorrow drops with glad exclaim,
And took a lute, from which there pulsing came
A lively prelude, fashioning the way
In which her voice should wander. 'Twas a lay
More subtle cadenced, more forest wild
Than Dryope's lone lulling of her child;
And nothing since has floated in the air
So mournful strange. Surely some influence rare
Went, spiritual, through the damsel's hand;
For still, with Delphic emphasis, she spann'd
The quick invisible strings, even though she saw
Endymion's spirit melt away and thaw
Before the deep intoxication.
But soon she came, with sudden burst, upon
Her self-possession--swung the lute aside,
And earnestly said: "Brother, 'tis vain to hide
That thou dost know of things mysterious,
Immortal, starry; such alone could thus
Weigh down thy nature. Hast thou sinn'd in aught
Offensive to the heavenly powers? Caught
A Paphian dove upon a message sent?
Thy deathful bow against some deer-herd bent,
Sacred to Dian? Haply, thou hast seen
Her naked limbs among the alders green;
And that, alas! is death. No, I can trace
Something more high perplexing in thy face!"

Endymion look'd at her, and press'd her hand,
And said, "Art thou so pale, who wast so bland
And merry in our meadows? How is this?
Tell me thine ailment: tell me all amiss!--
Ah! thou hast been unhappy at the change
Wrought suddenly in me. What indeed more strange?
Or more complete to overwhelm surmise?
Ambition is no sluggard: 'tis no prize,
That toiling years would put within my grasp,
That I have sigh'd for: with so deadly gasp
No man e'er panted for a mortal love.
So all have set my heavier grief above
These things which happen. Rightly have they done:
I, who still saw the horizontal sun
Heave his broad shoulder o'er the edge of the world,
Out-facing Lucifer, and then had hurl'd
My spear aloft, as signal for the chace--
I, who, for very sport of heart, would race
With my own steed from Araby; pluck down
A vulture from his towery perching; frown
A lion into growling, loth retire--
To lose, at once, all my toil breeding fire,
And sink thus low! but I will ease my breast
Of secret grief, here in this bowery nest.

"This river does not see the naked sky,
Till it begins to progress silverly
Around the western border of the wood,
Whence, from a certain spot, its winding flood
Seems at the distance like a crescent moon:
And in that nook, the very pride of June,
Had I been used to pass my weary eves;
The rather for the sun unwilling leaves
So dear a picture of his sovereign power,
And I could witness his most kingly hour,
When he doth lighten up the golden reins,
And paces leisurely down amber plains
His snorting four. Now when his chariot last
Its beams against the zodiac-lion cast,
There blossom'd suddenly a magic bed
Of sacred ditamy, and poppies red:
At which I wondered greatly, knowing well
That but one night had wrought this flowery spell;
And, sitting down close by, began to muse
What it might mean. Perhaps, thought I, Morpheus,
In passing here, his owlet pinions shook;
Or, it may be, ere matron Night uptook
Her ebon urn, young Mercury, by stealth,
Had dipt his rod in it: such garland wealth
Came not by common growth. Thus on I thought,
Until my head was dizzy and distraught.
Moreover, through the dancing poppies stole
A breeze, most softly lulling to my soul;
And shaping visions all about my sight
Of colours, wings, and bursts of spangly light;
The which became more strange, and strange, and dim,
And then were gulph'd in a tumultuous swim:
And then I fell asleep. Ah, can I tell
The enchantment that afterwards befel?
Yet it was but a dream: yet such a dream
That never tongue, although it overteem
With mellow utterance, like a cavern spring,
Could figure out and to conception bring
All I beheld and felt. Methought I lay
Watching the zenith, where the milky way
Among the stars in virgin splendour pours;
And travelling my eye, until the doors
Of heaven appear'd to open for my flight,
I became loth and fearful to alight
From such high soaring by a downward glance:
So kept me stedfast in that airy trance,
Spreading imaginary pinions wide.
When, presently, the stars began to glide,
And faint away, before my eager view:
At which I sigh'd that I could not pursue,
And dropt my vision to the horizon's verge;
And lo! from opening clouds, I saw emerge
The loveliest moon, that ever silver'd o'er
A shell for Neptune's goblet: she did soar
So passionately bright, my dazzled soul
Commingling with her argent spheres did roll
Through clear and cloudy, even when she went
At last into a dark and vapoury tent--
Whereat, methought, the lidless-eyed train
Of planets all were in the blue again.
To commune with those orbs, once more I rais'd
My sight right upward: but it was quite dazed
By a bright something, sailing down apace,
Making me quickly veil my eyes and face:
Again I look'd, and, O ye deities,
Who from Olympus watch our destinies!
Whence that completed form of all completeness?
Whence came that high perfection of all sweetness?
Speak, stubborn earth, and tell me where, O Where
Hast thou a symbol of her golden hair?
Not oat-sheaves drooping in the western sun;
Not--thy soft hand, fair sister! let me shun
Such follying before thee--yet she had,
Indeed, locks bright enough to make me mad;
And they were simply gordian'd up and braided,
Leaving, in naked comeliness, unshaded,
Her pearl round ears, white neck, and orbed brow;
The which were blended in, I know not how,
With such a paradise of lips and eyes,
Blush-tinted cheeks, half smiles, and faintest sighs,
That, when I think thereon, my spirit clings
And plays about its fancy, till the stings
Of human neighbourhood envenom all.
Unto what awful power shall I call?
To what high fane?--Ah! see her hovering feet,
More bluely vein'd, more soft, more whitely sweet
Than those of sea-born Venus, when she rose
From out her cradle shell. The wind out-blows
Her scarf into a fluttering pavilion;
'Tis blue, and over-spangled with a million
Of little eyes, as though thou wert to shed,
Over the darkest, lushest blue-bell bed,
Handfuls of daisies."--"Endymion, how strange!
Dream within dream!"--"She took an airy range,
And then, towards me, like a very maid,
Came blushing, waning, willing, and afraid,
And press'd me by the hand: Ah! 'twas too much;
Methought I fainted at the charmed touch,
Yet held my recollection, even as one
Who dives three fathoms where the waters run
Gurgling in beds of coral: for anon,
I felt upmounted in that region
Where falling stars dart their artillery forth,
And eagles struggle with the buffeting north
That balances the heavy meteor-stone;--
Felt too, I was not fearful, nor alone,
But lapp'd and lull'd along the dangerous sky.
Soon, as it seem'd, we left our journeying high,
And straightway into frightful eddies swoop'd;
Such as ay muster where grey time has scoop'd
Huge dens and caverns in a mountain's side:
There hollow sounds arous'd me, and I sigh'd
To faint once more by looking on my bliss--
I was distracted; madly did I kiss
The wooing arms which held me, and did give
My eyes at once to death: but 'twas to live,
To take in draughts of life from the gold fount
Of kind and passionate looks; to count, and count
The moments, by some greedy help that seem'd
A second self, that each might be redeem'd
And plunder'd of its load of blessedness.
Ah, desperate mortal! I ev'n dar'd to press
Her very cheek against my crowned lip,
And, at that moment, felt my body dip
Into a warmer air: a moment more,
Our feet were soft in flowers. There was store
Of newest joys upon that alp. Sometimes
A scent of violets, and blossoming limes,
Loiter'd around us; then of honey cells,
Made delicate from all white-flower bells;
And once, above the edges of our nest,
An arch face peep'd,--an Oread as I guess'd.

"Why did I dream that sleep o'er-power'd me
In midst of all this heaven? Why not see,
Far off, the shadows of his pinions dark,
And stare them from me? But no, like a spark
That needs must die, although its little beam
Reflects upon a diamond, my sweet dream
Fell into nothing--into stupid sleep.
And so it was, until a gentle creep,
A careful moving caught my waking ears,
And up I started: Ah! my sighs, my tears,
My clenched hands;--for lo! the poppies hung
Dew-dabbled on their stalks, the ouzel sung
A heavy ditty, and the sullen day
Had chidden herald Hesperus away,
With leaden looks: the solitary breeze
Bluster'd, and slept, and its wild self did teaze
With wayward melancholy; and r thought,
Mark me, Peona! that sometimes it brought
Faint fare-thee-wells, and sigh-shrilled adieus!--
Away I wander'd--all the pleasant hues
Of heaven and earth had faded: deepest shades
Were deepest dungeons; heaths and sunny glades
Were full of pestilent light; our taintless rills
Seem'd sooty, and o'er-spread with upturn'd gills
Of dying fish; the vermeil rose had blown
In frightful scarlet, and its thorns out-grown
Like spiked aloe. If an innocent bird
Before my heedless footsteps stirr'd, and stirr'd
In little journeys, I beheld in it
A disguis'd demon, missioned to knit
My soul with under darkness; to entice
My stumblings down some monstrous precipice:
Therefore I eager followed, and did curse
The disappointment. Time, that aged nurse,
Rock'd me to patience. Now, thank gentle heaven!
These things, with all their comfortings, are given
To my down-sunken hours, and with thee,
Sweet sister, help to stem the ebbing sea
Of weary life."

Thus ended he, and both
Sat silent: for the maid was very loth
To answer; feeling well that breathed words
Would all be lost, unheard, and vain as swords
Against the enchased crocodile, or leaps
Of grasshoppers against the sun. She weeps,
And wonders; struggles to devise some blame;
To put on such a look as would say, Shame
On this poor weakness! but, for all her strife,
She could as soon have crush'd away the life
From a sick dove. At length, to break the pause,
She said with trembling chance: "Is this the cause?
This all? Yet it is strange, and sad, alas!
That one who through this middle earth should pass
Most like a sojourning demi-god, and leave
His name upon the harp-string, should achieve
No higher bard than simple maidenhood,
Singing alone, and fearfully,--how the blood
Left his young cheek; and how he used to stray
He knew not where; and how he would say, nay,
If any said 'twas love: and yet 'twas love;
What could it be but love? How a ring-dove
Let fall a sprig of yew tree in his path;
And how he died: and then, that love doth scathe,
The gentle heart, as northern blasts do roses;
And then the ballad of his sad life closes
With sighs, and an alas!--Endymion!
Be rather in the trumpet's mouth,--anon
Among the winds at large--that all may hearken!
Although, before the crystal heavens darken,
I watch and dote upon the silver lakes
Pictur'd in western cloudiness, that takes
The semblance of gold rocks and bright gold sands,
Islands, and creeks, and amber-fretted strands
With horses prancing o'er them, palaces
And towers of amethyst,--would I so tease
My pleasant days, because I could not mount
Into those regions? The Morphean fount
Of that fine element that visions, dreams,
And fitful whims of sleep are made of, streams
Into its airy channels with so subtle,
So thin a breathing, not the spider's shuttle,
Circled a million times within the space
Of a swallow's nest-door, could delay a trace,
A tinting of its quality: how light
Must dreams themselves be; seeing they're more slight
Than the mere nothing that engenders them!
Then wherefore sully the entrusted gem
Of high and noble life with thoughts so sick?
Why pierce high-fronted honour to the quick
For nothing but a dream?" Hereat the youth
Look'd up: a conflicting of shame and ruth
Was in his plaited brow: yet his eyelids
Widened a little, as when Zephyr bids
A little breeze to creep between the fans
Of careless butterflies: amid his pains
He seem'd to taste a drop of manna-dew,
Full palatable; and a colour grew
Upon his cheek, while thus he lifeful spake.

"Peona! ever have I long'd to slake
My thirst for the world's praises: nothing base,
No merely slumberous phantasm, could unlace
The stubborn canvas for my voyage prepar'd--
Though now 'tis tatter'd; leaving my bark bar'd
And sullenly drifting: yet my higher hope
Is of too wide, too rainbow-large a scope,
To fret at myriads of earthly wrecks.
Wherein lies happiness? In that which becks
Our ready minds to fellowship divine,
A fellowship with essence; till we shine,
Full alchemiz'd, and free of space. Behold
The clear religion of heaven! Fold
A rose leaf round thy finger's taperness,
And soothe thy lips: hist, when the airy stress
Of music's kiss impregnates the free winds,
And with a sympathetic touch unbinds
Eolian magic from their lucid wombs:
Then old songs waken from enclouded tombs;
Old ditties sigh above their father's grave;
Ghosts of melodious prophecyings rave
Round every spot where trod Apollo's foot;
Bronze clarions awake, and faintly bruit,
Where long ago a giant battle was;
And, from the turf, a lullaby doth pass
In every place where infant Orpheus slept.
Feel we these things?--that moment have we stept
Into a sort of oneness, and our state
Is like a floating spirit's. But there are
Richer entanglements, enthralments far
More self-destroying, leading, by degrees,
To the chief intensity: the crown of these
Is made of love and friendship, and sits high
Upon the forehead of humanity.
All its more ponderous and bulky worth
Is friendship, whence there ever issues forth
A steady splendour; but at the tip-top,
There hangs by unseen film, an orbed drop
Of light, and that is love: its influence,
Thrown in our eyes, genders a novel sense,
At which we start and fret; till in the end,
Melting into its radiance, we blend,
Mingle, and so become a part of it,--
Nor with aught else can our souls interknit
So wingedly: when we combine therewith,
Life's self is nourish'd by its proper pith,
And we are nurtured like a pelican brood.
Aye, so delicious is the unsating food,
That men, who might have tower'd in the van
Of all the congregated world, to fan
And winnow from the coming step of time
All chaff of custom, wipe away all slime
Left by men-slugs and human serpentry,
Have been content to let occasion die,
Whilst they did sleep in love's elysium.
And, truly, I would rather be struck dumb,
Than speak against this ardent listlessness:
For I have ever thought that it might bless
The world with benefits unknowingly;
As does the nightingale, upperched high,
And cloister'd among cool and bunched leaves--
She sings but to her love, nor e'er conceives
How tiptoe Night holds back her dark-grey hood.
Just so may love, although 'tis understood
The mere commingling of passionate breath,
Produce more than our searching witnesseth:
What I know not: but who, of men, can tell
That flowers would bloom, or that green fruit would swell
To melting pulp, that fish would have bright mail,
The earth its dower of river, wood, and vale,
The meadows runnels, runnels pebble-stones,
The seed its harvest, or the lute its tones,
Tones ravishment, or ravishment its sweet,
If human souls did never kiss and greet?

"Now, if this earthly love has power to make
Men's being mortal, immortal; to shake
Ambition from their memories, and brim
Their measure of content; what merest whim,
Seems all this poor endeavour after fame,
To one, who keeps within his stedfast aim
A love immortal, an immortal too.
Look not so wilder'd; for these things are true,
And never can be born of atomies
That buzz about our slumbers, like brain-flies,
Leaving us fancy-sick. No, no, I'm sure,
My restless spirit never could endure
To brood so long upon one luxury,
Unless it did, though fearfully, espy
A hope beyond the shadow of a dream.
My sayings will the less obscured seem,
When I have told thee how my waking sight
Has made me scruple whether that same night
Was pass'd in dreaming. Hearken, sweet Peona!
Beyond the matron-temple of Latona,
Which we should see but for these darkening boughs,
Lies a deep hollow, from whose ragged brows
Bushes and trees do lean all round athwart,
And meet so nearly, that with wings outraught,
And spreaded tail, a vulture could not glide
Past them, but he must brush on every side.
Some moulder'd steps lead into this cool cell,
Far as the slabbed margin of a well,
Whose patient level peeps its crystal eye
Right upward, through the bushes, to the sky.
Oft have I brought thee flowers, on their stalks set
Like vestal primroses, but dark velvet
Edges them round, and they have golden pits:
'Twas there I got them, from the gaps and slits
In a mossy stone, that sometimes was my seat,
When all above was faint with mid-day heat.
And there in strife no burning thoughts to heed,
I'd bubble up the water through a reed;
So reaching back to boy-hood: make me ships
Of moulted feathers, touchwood, alder chips,
With leaves stuck in them; and the Neptune be
Of their petty ocean. Oftener, heavily,
When love-lorn hours had left me less a child,
I sat contemplating the figures wild
Of o'er-head clouds melting the mirror through.
Upon a day, while thus I watch'd, by flew
A cloudy Cupid, with his bow and quiver;
So plainly character'd, no breeze would shiver
The happy chance: so happy, I was fain
To follow it upon the open plain,
And, therefore, was just going; when, behold!
A wonder, fair as any I have told--
The same bright face I tasted in my sleep,
Smiling in the clear well. My heart did leap
Through the cool depth.--It moved as if to flee--
I started up, when lo! refreshfully,
There came upon my face, in plenteous showers,
Dew-drops, and dewy buds, and leaves, and flowers,
Wrapping all objects from my smothered sight,
Bathing my spirit in a new delight.
Aye, such a breathless honey-feel of bliss
Alone preserved me from the drear abyss
Of death, for the fair form had gone again.
Pleasure is oft a visitant; but pain
Clings cruelly to us, like the gnawing sloth
On the deer's tender haunches: late, and loth,
'Tis scar'd away by slow returning pleasure.
How sickening, how dark the dreadful leisure
Of weary days, made deeper exquisite,
By a fore-knowledge of unslumbrous night!
Like sorrow came upon me, heavier still,
Than when I wander'd from the poppy hill:
And a whole age of lingering moments crept
Sluggishly by, ere more contentment swept
Away at once the deadly yellow spleen.
Yes, thrice have I this fair enchantment seen;
Once more been tortured with renewed life.
When last the wintry gusts gave over strife
With the conquering sun of spring, and left the skies
Warm and serene, but yet with moistened eyes
In pity of the shatter'd infant buds,--
That time thou didst adorn, with amber studs,
My hunting cap, because I laugh'd and smil'd,
Chatted with thee, and many days exil'd
All torment from my breast;--'twas even then,
Straying about, yet, coop'd up in the den
Of helpless discontent,--hurling my lance
From place to place, and following at chance,
At last, by hap, through some young trees it struck,
And, plashing among bedded pebbles, stuck
In the middle of a brook,--whose silver ramble
Down twenty little falls, through reeds and bramble,
Tracing along, it brought me to a cave,
Whence it ran brightly forth, and white did lave
The nether sides of mossy stones and rock,--
'Mong which it gurgled blythe adieus, to mock
Its own sweet grief at parting. Overhead,
Hung a lush screen of drooping weeds, and spread
Thick, as to curtain up some wood-nymph's home.
"Ah! impious mortal, whither do I roam?"
Said I, low voic'd: "Ah whither! 'Tis the grot
Of Proserpine, when Hell, obscure and hot,
Doth her resign; and where her tender hands
She dabbles, on the cool and sluicy sands:
Or 'tis the cell of Echo, where she sits,
And babbles thorough silence, till her wits
Are gone in tender madness, and anon,
Faints into sleep, with many a dying tone
Of sadness. O that she would take my vows,
And breathe them sighingly among the boughs,
To sue her gentle ears for whose fair head,
Daily, I pluck sweet flowerets from their bed,
And weave them dyingly--send honey-whispers
Round every leaf, that all those gentle lispers
May sigh my love unto her pitying!
O charitable echo! hear, and sing
This ditty to her!--tell her"--so I stay'd
My foolish tongue, and listening, half afraid,
Stood stupefied with my own empty folly,
And blushing for the freaks of melancholy.
Salt tears were coming, when I heard my name
Most fondly lipp'd, and then these accents came:
‘Endymion! the cave is secreter
Than the isle of Delos. Echo hence shall stir
No sighs but sigh-warm kisses, or light noise
Of thy combing hand, the while it travelling cloys
And trembles through my labyrinthine hair."
At that oppress'd I hurried in.--Ah! where
Are those swift moments? Whither are they fled?
I'll smile no more, Peona; nor will wed
Sorrow the way to death, but patiently
Bear up against it: so farewel, sad sigh;
And come instead demurest meditation,
To occupy me wholly, and to fashion
My pilgrimage for the world's dusky brink.
No more will I count over, link by link,
My chain of grief: no longer strive to find
A half-forgetfulness in mountain wind
Blustering about my ears: aye, thou shalt see,
Dearest of sisters, what my life shall be;
What a calm round of hours shall make my days.
There is a paly flame of hope that plays
Where'er I look: but yet, I'll say 'tis naught--
And here I bid it die. Have not I caught,
Already, a more healthy countenance?
By this the sun is setting; we may chance
Meet some of our near-dwellers with my car."

This said, he rose, faint-smiling like a star
Through autumn mists, and took Peona's hand:
They stept into the boat, and launch'd from land.

Let there be many windows in your soul that all the glory of the universe may beautify it.

Not the narrow pane of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays that shine from countless sources.

Tear away the blinds of superstition; let the light pour through fair windows broad as truth itself and high as heaven.

Why should the spirit peer through some priest-curtained orifice, and grope along dim corridors of doubt, when all the splendor from unfathomed seas of space might bathe it with their golden seas of love?

Sweep up the debris of decaying faiths, sweep down the cobwebs of worn-out beliefs, and throw your soul wide open to the light of reason and knowledge.

Tune your ear to all the wordless music of the stars, and to the voice of nature, and your heart shall turn to truth and goodness, as the plant turns to the sun.

A thousand unseen hands reach down to help you from their peace crowned heights, and all the forces of the firmament shall fortify your strength.

Be not afraid to thrust aside half truths and grasp the whole.


~ Ralph Waldo Trine

From "A Dancing Star" compiled by Eileen Campbell.

Are you ready to be really free?

No, really. Beyond this usually cliché phrase, beyond the obvious, are you really *ready*?

I'm talking about a truly unrestrained life where you can powerfully create all that you desire.

Are you ever finding yourself wishing you had more time or money?

Are you ever wishing you had more energy or better health?

Do you ever feel the compression of mundanity squeezing the light out of your soul?

Do you ever want *more*?

Do you know what you *really* want?

Are you totally satisfied with your career, relationships (with family, friends, lovers), and accomplishments?

Do you have one or more beautiful visions that remain frustratingly beyond your actualization?

Do you find yourself or others raining on your parade because what you want to be or achieve or have is labelled "unrealistic", "unreasonable", or "too much ahead of it's time"?

Do you ever feel like saying "SCREW ALL THAT -I'M GOING TO DO THIS!" -but eventually get sucked back in by the seeming necessities of convention and mortal thinking?

Well I'm here to invite you to put all that nonsense of unfulfilled dreams and restrained expressions of Self and Life to the side.

I've been exploring ways to streamline the actualization of people's greatest aspirations, and I believe I have found it.

And the best thing is, it's absolutely free! -And you know what's said about the best things in life, right?

Not only that, no matter where you're at in life, no matter what your time restrictions are, this is a reality you can totally access -and I would love to show you how.

Want to know more? You'd be crazy not to wouldn't you?

If you're *really* ready to step into that world you have been dreaming of walking into, and you're ready to give up all the things that have kept you away from it, then take the time to really lay out the things you most desire -and then send that beautiful vision to me.

I'm here to help you take that Next Step.

Are you *ready* for it?

May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.
May all beings be free.

Two Forms, One Soul
Happy is the moment, when we sit together,
With two forms, two faces, yet one soul,
you and I.

The flowers will bloom forever,
The birds will sing their eternal song,
The moment we enter the garden,
you and I.

The stars of heaven will come out to watch us,
And we will show them
the light of a full moon –
you and I.

No more thought of "you" and "I."
Just the bliss of union –
Joyous, alive, free of care, you and I.

All the bright-winged birds of heaven
Will swoop down to drink of our sweet water –
The tears of our laughter, you and I.

What a miracle of fate, us sitting here.
Even at the opposite ends of the earth
We would still be together, you and I.

We have one form in this world,
another in the next.

To us belongs an eternal heaven,
the endless delight of you and I.


by Rumi

~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~. ~ . ~ . ~. ~ . ~

~ . ~ . ~ . " PURE LOVING DEVOTION " . ~ . ~ . ~

~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~. ~ . ~ . ~. ~ . ~


I honor my body as a Sacred Vessel.

I give and receive Love with my Heart. 



When two bodies join, there are hormones released, energies awakened in every cell, and a transference of one person's essence onto the other person. Energies, past histories, entities, frequencies, and even denials are exchanged, plugged into and mixed up with the other person. 



I choose to honor my body, my Sacred Space, and my partner in such a way that this precious electromagnetic exchange is not scattered or polluted by the energies of others. 



It is in this, that I find the deepest and truest intimacy, honoring, and vibrationally nourishing exchange... ...that is in alignment with the new paradigm of Self-Love and one's own energy containment.....that creates the capacity for two people to join in a depth that is not clouded by distractions, unwanted (and potentially parasitic) energies or addiction... 



* * * 


Deep love for each other, gives us the opportunity to model for others, including our children, commitment, respect, affection and beauty that comes with living a life together of integrity and trust. 



With deepest gratitude and humility, I acknowledge my Beloved's choice to place her sacred love and trust in me, in turn, granting me the opportunity to offer mine to her, that we may co-create a garden of wisdom that bears the luminous fruits of awakening to nourish ourselves and all those seeking Liberation.

Throughout my life I have felt a connection with the Planet that I began to understand on a profound level over the past decade. While there have been many books and practices that have contributed to this deeper connection, the most grounded and holistic means I've found -which embraces the whole of Humanity with a vision of sustainability and mutual-benefit with our common mother, Gaia*- has been by partnering with the Amazon Herb Company.

~~~ We honor nature and indigenous culture, working in partnership with rainforest communities using a thriving model of eco-prosperity that is committed to personal health and lifestyle goals -creating a unique and sustainable Circle of Benefit**.

The Amazon Rainforest is the most concentrated source of life on Earth, and we bring those bio-energetic benefits directly to you as the finest, purest and most nutritionally dense food on the planet. We use our profits to preserve the rainforest and support the tribes of Amazonia in maintaining their dignity, culture, and herbal lore, so you can access the full power of these botanicals***. Ecologically wild harvesting native herbs has produced an incredible and valuable new income source for the region.

Using these herbs not only benefits your well-being by cleansing and regenerating every organ and body system on a cellular level... but also makes you an active, integral partner in the conservation and restoration of one of our planet's greatest treasures. Moreover, the living synergy of these potent botanicals gently guide the consciousness of those who seek a deeper relationship with Nature -both within and around them.

Just to highlight a few of the remarkable treasures we offer:

☆ Rainforest Treasure Tea- An organic, master blend of the Rainforest's greatest botanicals. It contains anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti- inflammatory properties and provides a feeling of clarity and grounded, sustained energy without caffiene, sugar, or stimulants.

☆ Rainforest Matte Tea- This is the Treasure Tea mixed with wild-harvested Mate which boosts your energy, focus and reduces your appetite. It contains matiene, which is similar to caffeine, but does not cause dependency or jitteriness.

☆ ChocaMaca- A delicious, organic, dark chocolate that contains several natural Rainforest botanicals that provide clarity, focus, energy, stabilized blood-sugar levels, appetite control and powerful anti-oxidants!

☆ Amazon Liquizons- A concentrated spagyric herbal liquid in a veggie capsule. These come in 8 different formulas, have a complete profile of natural bioactive compounds that deliver their benefits immediately!

☆ The *AMAZING* all-natural Lluvia skin care system. This system was ten years in the making-- with organic botanicals and essential oils from the Rainforest that deliver the vital essence and life force of the Rainforest right into your skin! They are the only skin care products in the world without any chemicals, preservatives, alcohol, detergents, waxes, mineral oil, or artificial colors and fragrances.

~~~ If you are interested in experiencing the unique taste and life changing benefits of these whole foods, or to find out more about the visionary eco-commerce opportunity we offer to create more personal freedom and choices for yourself and those you care about, please visit my website at gaian.amazonherb.net

* Learn more about Gaia at: www.tdf.it/2005/db_gaia.htm

** See how AHC goes Beyond Good Business to create a new future for Amazonia: gaian.amazonherb.net/RS_1_1_...fit.aspx

*** Learn more about the Spagyric process at: www.nutritional-therapy.org.uk/sp...asp
and see how AHC uses it here: gaian.amazonherb.net/Liquizo...ure.aspx

For the Wellbeing of Our Planet and All Our Relations :)

The Gaian Project is a venture for advancing the sustainable evolution of humanity by merging Science, Spirituality, Art/Media, and Activism to generate integrated pathways towards harmony between Humanity and Nature while offering visions for what Humanity can accomplish today as well as beyond.

You can visit the website at www.gaianproject.org
_____________________________________________________

This project is the fusion of my affinity for visionary creative culture, the fringe of human and technological development, and responsible, peaceful planetary stewardship.

The project needs help with the following:

- Graphic & Web design
- Branding & Marketing
- Conceptual development
- Content
- Business Development / Strategy
- Contacts & Sponsors

I support the well-being of All My Relations in this World.

I ask all those in military service to conscientiously retire from it -for how can wars be made without militaries, and how can militaries exist without the people who choose to join?

How does the cycle end? People join the military under the belief that they are going to protect the innocent and do the work of the righteous. But violence and fear only beget more of the same. One neighbor sees the other stocking arms and building defenses, so they do so in turn out of fear.

True courage would be to object to violence and war. True courage would be to look one's supposed enemy in their eyes and tell them "I love you, and want to live in mutual peace, understanding, appreciation, and to thrive together as One People Diverse & Beautiful".

Imagine the impact it would have across the world if the U.S. made a global apology for all atrocities and announced the dissolution of their entire military? As the single military force that outsizes all others in the world combined, this kind of motion would shock the world into a revelation that I feel would make the notion for peace and forgiveness truly felt by all.

But how can this be accomplished when there are interests in the perpetuity of war -and the fear-mongering and enemy-building required to engender war? Political interests and economic interests are complexly intertwined in a dimension of spiritual and material impetus that goes all the way back to the instinct-driven roots of our species.

What is required is a leap of consciousness combined with the clearly communicated intent to commit to a vision of peace and prosperity that embraces all peoples, faiths, and cultures of the world we share and live in together.

What Fundamental extremist can ignore the obvious fact that their God must love and tolerate All People, regardless of differences, given the diversity and balance immediately apparent in Nature?

On the more pragmatic level, closer to home, if it's a matter of making a living, and getting funds for a higher education, there are *plenty* of alternatives to the military -ones that don't require sacrificing one's body and mind to the agenda of power-hungry, fear-driven, war-mongers.

Hundreds of millenia later, how is it we have not learned any different as a species? How is it so many can know that you can't shed blood to create peace, yet war continues in perpetuity? How is it that others have not learned from the suffering of *billions* throughout history? How is it that they think that their choice to join the service will somehow make the difference *this* time? How is it people have not learned that no one faith or belief supercedes others when history and Nature proves that there is value in such diversity?

I support the well-being of All My Relations. All personal truths are the gift we each have to offer to each other -not for enlightenment, but for enrichment. I support the troops of all nations by asking them to come home, now, whatever their fears, in trust that their intention to express their acknowledged oneness with all Peoples will be vindicated in the eyes of the world -if not their government.

May All Beings Be Safe, Happy, and Free.


Awaken, and escape the Matrix:

9/11
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video.google.com/videoplay

www.pentagonstrike.co.uk

www.wtc7.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IRS

video.google.com/videoplay
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a perfect moment. It’s a perfect moment because I have been inspired to say a gigantic prayer. I’ve been roused to unleash a divinely greedy, apocalyptically healing prayer for each and every one of you—even those of you who don’t believe in the power of prayer.

And so I am starting to pray right now to the God of Gods ... the God beyond all Gods ... the Girlfriend of God ... the Teacher of God ... the Goddess who invented God.


DEAR GODDESS, you who never kill but only change:

I pray that my exuberant, suave, and accidental words will move you to shower ferocious blessings down on everyone who reads this benediction.

I pray that you will give them what they don’t even know they need—not just the boons they think they want but everything they’ve always been afraid to even imagine or ask for.


DEAR GODDESS, you wealthy anarchist burning heaven to the ground:

Many of the divine chameleons out there don’t even know that their souls will live forever.

So please use your brash magic to help them see that they are all wildly creative geniuses too big for their own personalities.

Guide them to realize that they are all completely different from what they’ve been led to believe about themselves, and more exciting than they can possibly imagine.

Make it illegal, immoral, irrelevant, unpatriotic, and totally tasteless for them to be in love with anyone or anything that’s no good for them.


O GODDESS, you who give us so much love and pain mixed together that our morality is always on the verge of collapsing:

I beg you to cast a boisterous love spell that will nullify all the dumb ideas, bad decisions, and nasty conditioning that have ever cursed the wise and sexy virtuosos out there.

Remove, banish, annihilate, and laugh into oblivion any jinx that has clung to them, no matter how long they’ve suffered from it, and even if they have become accustomed or addicted to its ugly companionship.

Please conjure an aura of protection around them so that they will receive an early warning if they are ever about to act in such a way as to bring another hex or plague into their lives in the future.


DEAR GODDESS, sweet Goddess, you sly universal virus with no freaking opinion:

Please help all the personal growth addicts out there to become disciplined enough to go crazy in the name of creation, not destruction.

Teach them the difference between oppressive self-control and liberating self-control.

Awaken in them the power to do the half-right thing when it is impossible to do the totally right thing.

Arouse the Wild Woman within them—even if they’re men.


DEAR GODDESS, you riotously tender, hauntingly reassuring, orgiastically sacred feeling that is even now running through all of our soft, warm animal bodies:

I pray that you provide all the original sinners out there with a license to bend and even break all rules, laws, and traditions that keep them apart from the things they love.

Show them how to purge the wishy-washy wishes that distract them from their daring, dramatic, divine desires.

And teach them that they can have anything they want if they’ll only ask for it in an unselfish way.


And now dear God of Gods, God beyond all Gods, Girlfriend of God, Teacher of God, Goddess who invented God, I bring this prayer to a close, trusting that in these mysterious moments you have begun to change everyone out there in the exact way they’ve needed to change in order to become the gorgeous geniuses they were born to be. Amen. Awomen.

- Rob Brezsney

In humility is the greatest freedom.

As long as you have to defend the imaginary self
that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart.
As soon as you compare that shadow
with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy,
because you have begun to trade in unrealities
and there is no joy in things that do not exist.

- thomas merton


Do you believe there is someplace
That will make the soul less thirsty?
In that great absence you will find nothing.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body.
There you have a solid place for your feet.
Think about it carefully!
Don’t go off somewhere else.

Kabir says this: Just throw away all thoughts of imaginary things
And stand firm in that which you are.

- Kabir

~ ~ ~

There is nothing which is intrinsically enjoyable. What one person enjoys, another person will despise. Enjoyment comes from your attitude toward a particular situation, not the situation itself.

Too many people search in vain for enjoyable activities, enjoyable relationships, enjoyable environments, enjoyable entertainment. A much more successful strategy would be to stop searching and start enjoying.

The enjoyment is not in the activity. The enjoyment is in you. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, find a way to enjoy it. Sure, it's great when you aspire to bigger and better things. But don't fool yourself into thinking that they'll come pre-packaged with their own enjoyment. That is up to you.

Perhaps you didn't choose to be where you are, and it's great that you're committed to getting somewhere else. Yet while you're here, accept it and enjoy it. Enjoying where you are right now will take you a long way toward wherever else you wish to go.

(Krsna Moorthi)

Samgacchadvam samvadadhvam samvomanansi janatam
Devabhagam yathapurve samjanana upasate
Samanii va akuti samana hrdayanivah
Samanamastu vo mano, yatha vah susahasati

Let us move together
Let us let us sing together
Let us come to know our minds together
Let us share like sages of the past
That all people together may enjoy the universe
Unite our intention
Let our hearts be inseparable
Our mind is as one mind
As we to TRULY know one another
Become ONE

Experience this beautiful universe as the innermost hidden treasure of you heart. Let the river flow to the sea - it has to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space. ~Unknown

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't believe me, don't believe yourself, and don't believe anyone else. By not believing, whatever is untrue will disappear like smoke in this world of illusion. Everything is what it is. You don't need to justify what is true; you don't need to explain it. What is true doesn't need anyone's support."

Don Miguel Ruiz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The only time you can actually grow is when you are outside your comfort zone."

-- T. Harv Eker

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a parable...


One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people stared - how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought?

The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges - - giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side. How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart.

(author unknown)

It seems that human beings, having gained the ability to symbolize their experience, have often lost themselves in the symbols and have often lost touch with the intuitive feeling that directly seizes the reality for all things. The Buddha taught people to remain in not knowing until you know. Realization flashes across the mind when we truly understand something. Until then, we can uproot all conditioned beliefs, all outside opinions, until our own understanding dawns inside us. From this agnostic place, without any pressure to believe or disbelieve anything, we can accept where we are, and grow from where we are.


The Kalama Anthem

Through Tenabah, copyright 2007


I choose to learn about reality through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose not believe anything unless I have verified its truth
Through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose to not believe any miracle working saint
Unless I have verified his or her truth
Through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose to not believe any spiritual, scientific, or political authority
Unless I have verified his or her truth
Through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose to not believe any sacred book, research report, or scientific study
Unless I have verified its assertions
Through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose to not believe any peer group, family, church, or tribe
Unless I have verified their beliefs
Through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose to not believe anything that any media says is true
Merely because it is repeated often
Or spoken with sincerity and conviction
Unless I have verified their statements
Through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose to not believe in anything
Merely to conform to a political or religious group
Unless I have verified what has been believed
Through my own reason, intuitive feeling, and experience.

I choose to be very clear
What has been merely heard
What makes sense as a theory or hypothesis
What has been deduced from experience
What has been directly seen within my experience

And what I have deeply and intuitively realized
In the depths of my inner being,
The Heart of Living Awareness.

I choose to walk away from all the voices
For and against every belief
And be agnostic to every opinion.

I choose to neither believe or disbelieve anything
Letting all opinions be where they are
Forming no judgment about anything
Until my own experience, contemplation, and insight matures
Without outside pressure trying to shape it.

I choose to look beyond all words
To the experience that they point to.

I choose to rest in the wordless depths
Observing all inner and outer phenomena impartially
Looking at what is without imposing my idea
Of what should or should not be.

I choose to uproot all ungrounded conditioned thoughts
Absorbed from my social environment when I was a child
Or imposed by those who wished to brainwash me
Or given through clever arguments
Which do not lead me back to my own realization
Of what is true.

I realize I must empty my mind of all opinions
In order to have room to see.
I let all confused opinions float in my mind
Seeing their groundlessness,
Until clarity dawns.

I choose to walk alone and blaze my own trail through life.

I will learn through my own eyes and ears
And find my own way back to Reality
And directly realize from my own heart
The One who is All.

Whether you're still "coming down" from the Playa, or trying to get your bearings in life, here's some "Been There, Done That" love to help you find your Way.

Whether you're feeling up or down, sideways, or somewhere maddeningly in between,

{{ just be with it }}.

Acknowledge it.
Allow yourself to feel it.
Don't try to change it, run from it, or hang on to it.
Don't even try to put your finger on it.
Just (( BE )) with it -for as long as you can stand it,
and THEN go ahead and knock yourself out with
trying to put it into words or music or dance or whatever.

Mastery, like all things takes practice and has no ending.
No "Master's" work is ever complete.
No one who is "Enlightened" will say that they are such.

When you feel like things are wrong, or unsatisfying, look to what is RIGHT in your life. Acknowledge what you DO have, and what IS making you happy. The more you do that, the more you will have MORE of that. --That's the Law of Attraction. --If you haven't seen it yet, plug your head into the movie, "The Secret" (www.thesecret.tv).

On a more physical tip,

BE in your BODY!

Your body is your connection to the world -to LIFE.
So hydrate, eat nourishing foods, do yoga, practice Mindful Breathing, Mindful Walking, Mindful Eating. Walk, run, swim, bicycle, dance, fuck your brains out -whatever you can do to get your heart rate up and sustain it.

Don't eat late at night -so you can get the best sleep you can get. Give yourself at least 8 hours to sleep, even if you don't sleep long -that way you can have the extra time when you wake to dream journal, do yoga, meditate, masturbate, make love to your partner(s), make a great breakfast, or do whatever you can to start your day off mellow and nourishing for body and soul.

And Pray.

Pray for your needs.
Pray for Inner Peace.
Pray for Global Peace.
Pray for the Wellbeing and Happiness of All Beings including your friends, your family, your *enemies*, and most importantly, without shame or judgement -your Self.

Give thanks for every little thing you can think of -from the food on your plate and the safe shelter you sleep in, to the freedoms you have and the colors of Nature.

Ask for Guidance and Power and Clarity to commit every action towards your Destiny -for the Good of All Beings. For you are Everyone, and Everyone's suffering is yours as yours is theirs -so do not be afraid to take what you need from the Tree of Life -which gives selflessly and indescriminately to All Beings. The Universe doesn't think in terms of "Good & Bad" rather than simply "What Works" -like a river flowing down the path of least resistance from the melting snow on mountains down to the ocean.

Picture yourself a Tree, by a river, with roots sinking deep, giving you sustainance from the mineral-rich Earth, balance and security, while your branches lift high and wide, with infinite patience and acceptance, shamelessly blossoming flowers and fruits that drop without resistanced or fear to the Earth to return to your own soil, and to feed any who choose to eat of your fruit, or beautify themselves with your flowers, as your rich-green leaves replace withered ones that drop occasionally like random thoughts of this and that, falling down to the river where they pass away, beyond your reach, as you live only in the stillness, fullness, and completion of the Present.

Doing all these things will help you get back to YOU,
so you can BE your best with the rest of US
-who in our heart of hearts want the same happiness
and fulfillment that you want.

Your Happiness is OUR Happiness.

Your Liberation is OUR Liberation.


Namasté Sisters & Brothers


by Dr. Becky Natrajan, M.D.
---------------------------------------------------------------

1) Strengthen Your Immune System

 2) Love Your Liver

 3) Support Healthy Brain Chemistry

 4) Restore Antioxidants

 5) Free Yourself From Stress

 6) Maximize Absorption Of Essential Nutrients

 7) Aid Digestion

 8) Rejuvenate Your Cells With Ionic Minerals

 9) Support Your Vital Organs

10) Lose Weight and Feel Great

11) Eliminate Unhealthy Cravings

12) Enhance Cellular Communication

13) Build Muscle

14) Address Diabetes

15) Beautify Your Skin

16) Create Abundant Energy

17) Balance Your Hormonal System

18) Slow The Effects of Aging

19) Address Cancer

20) Enhance Elimination

21) Never Diet Again!

Watch the video "Are You Toxic?"
at sunyata.isagenix.com

This be my gratitude list, intended for eternal manifestation and growth:

I am thankful & grateful for being blessed in my life by~~~

~unconditional love
~inner peace
~abundance
~financial wealth
~spiritual wealth
~emotional wealth
~utmost physical health & wellbeing
~my loving family
~my extended universal tribe & kindreds
~the support I receive from my community
~knowing my soul mate/life partner is here on the Planet, and will enter my life at the right time
~my beautiful home
~my talents, gifts & abilities
~my ability to laugh and share laughter with others
~my artistic sense
~beautiful Mother Earth/Gaia & the support she gives me
~the unlimited happiness I experience
~my capacity to *FEEL* and *EXPRESS* myself openly
~My Path
~the sacred
~the profane
~the Mystery
~my constant growth & evolution
~the divinity within me
~the divinity in others
~my guides & their support
~my Inner Wisdom & Guiding Intuition
~Great Spirit & the guidance Spirit gives me
~my ever-expanding knowledge & wisdom
~the support I receive from the Universe
~the beauty in my life
~the beauty all around me
~the beauty being enjoyed by others
~all of the amazing people I am yet to meet
~all of the amazing people I have met
~places in the world I've been
~places in the world I'm going to
~the freedom to travel
~my freedom of religion
~my freedom of expression
~MY FREEDOM!
~MY BREATH!
~MY LIFE!
~my abundant imagination
~my success in all work I do
~my beautiful body that gives me pleasure through the senses
~my blessed car that gets me where I need to go (faster)
~all of the wonderful people on the Planet working toward a better now and future
~all that inspires & nurtures me
~ALL THAT IS
~my awareness
~my ability to be grateful
~my ability to forgive
~my ability to LOVE
~SEX! (yes, made by the Divine for a *damn* good reason!)
~my ability to manifest!

Amama***Aho***Elohim***It Is SO!!!

(((((((I give great thanks)))))))


Create a list of your own now, and see how it feels!
It's really amazingly wonderful ;)

you'll be given love
you'll be taken care of
you'll be given love
you have to trust it

maybe not from the sources
you have poured yours
maybe not from the directions
you are staring at

trust your head around
it's all around you
all is full of love
all around you

all is full of love
you just aint receiving
all is full of love
your phone is off the hook
all is full of love
your doors are all shut
all is full of love!

all is full of love
all is full of love
all is full of love
all is full of love
all is full of love
...

~Bjork