Mary Oliver interview

Krista Tippett interviews the poet Mary Oliver on the radio show "On Being".

 Wild Geese

 You do not have to be good.

 You do not have to walk on your knees

 for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

 You only have to let the soft animal of your body

 love what it loves.

 Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

 Meanwhile the world goes on.

 Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

 are moving across the landscapes, 

 over the prairies and the deep trees,

 the mountains and the rivers.

 Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

 are heading home again.

 Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, 

 the world offers itself to your imagination,

 calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting  

 over and over announcing your place 

 in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver 

published by Atlantic Monthly Press

© Mary Oliver

Prayer for Our Earth

Prayer as Power Pose

After watching this Ted Talk given by Amy Cuddy, I find myself think of prayer as my power pose whenever I get into position (seated on a cushion, on the floor, legs crossed, eyes closed, shoulders and arms relaxed, hands resting in my lap, in front of a window facing east, feeling the morning light warm me).

 

A Fathomless Reservoir

Do you ever imagine that deep in your heart
There might be a fathomless reservoir?
Something that's ancient and hidden and pure?
For our country, that's no metaphor.

-Lyrics from "Ogallala Aquifer" by McCarthy Trenching

McCarthy Trenching performed at an outdoor prayer service that was hosted by the church I attend.  A stanza from the song "Ogallala Aquifer" was so beautiful that I had to share it.  (The link above will take you to recording of the complete song.)

Sometimes during prayer it does feel as if I have tapped into something fathomless and pure.  I'm always on the lookout for ways to communicate what a spiritual experience feels like.  If I use the Ogallala Aquifer as an analogy, would that help others to understand what I'm experiencing when I pray?

Confession during the High Holy Days

Confession is where E. Stanley Jones was heading.  After the section on self-examination questions, Victorious Living moves on to a section on confession.

Confession in the Jewish tradition is the topic of a recent On Being interview with Louis Newman.