Summery Passions

I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time, at peril of being judged not to have lived. — Oliver Wendell Holmes We long to live passionate lives. There is a mega-industry that cranks out nothing but juicy … Read more

As we say farewell to 2008…

From one of the most dangerous, subversive books in print, Rob Brezsny’s manifesto: PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA:How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings LIBERATE YOUR IMAGINATION Let me remind you who you really are: You are one of the chosen ones. You’re a luminous being. A primordial miracle. A … Read more

Sunday Poetry

from Song of Myself By Walt WhitmanI am he that walks with the tender and growing night,I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night. Press close bare-bosom’d night — press close magnetic nourishing night!Night of south winds — night of the large few stars!Still nodding night — mad naked summer night. Smile … Read more

Panthea

Sunflower Mandala © Lloyd GrotjanPanthea(an excerpt) by Oscar Wilde We are resolved into the supreme air,We are made one with what we touch and see,With our heart’s blood each crimson sun is fair,With our young lives each spring-impassioned treeFlames into green, the wildest beasts that rangeThe moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and … Read more

Bliss – no kidding!

It’s good to be just plain happy, it’s a little better to know that you’re happy; but to understand that you’re happy and to know why and how and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well that is beyond happiness, that is bliss. — Henry Miller Bliss is so many … Read more

Hedonism makes the world go round

The Lovers – © Sharon RussellSweet days of SummerThe jasmine’s in bloom.July is dressed up and playing her tune…Seals and Crofts – Summer Breeze What is bliss? What exactly, for that matter, is pleasure? James Olds was the chemist who first located the brain’s pleasure center, while he was experimenting with rats. He dubbed it … Read more

Love and Bliss

Let us roll all our strength, and allOur sweetness, up into one ball;And tear our pleasures with rough strifeThorough the iron gates of life.Thus, though we cannot make our sunStand still, yet we will make him run.from To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell (1681) What perfect synchronicity! Now, in the height of the fertile, … Read more

What is bliss?

Every word of every tongue isLove telling a story to her own ears.Every thought in every mind,She whispers a secret to her own Self.Every vision in every eye,She shows her beauty to her own sight.Every smile on every face,She reveals her own joy for herself to enjoy. –– Fakhruddin Iraqi (1213 – 1289 C.E.) When … Read more