Archive for February, 2012

Earth’s Caretaker

February 27th, 2012, 5:02 am

Not confined by space or time, Paul Goodberg sends a loving message to his students about trauma, its roots and its impact on our planet, our psyches and our relationship to the Earth. Sitting with Paul, one feels in the presence of someone who sees beyond the veil. With a pulse on energetics, Paul can clear an area to restore its balance returning harmony to a land and its inhabitants. At Ratna Ling on that bright and clear August morning, could we really sense that there was an energetic shift? We could, indeed!

Trauma resonates in many forms, and without a clearing, takes root. What was once pristine becomes encumbered holding memories of past misdeeds. Paul has made it his mission, his commitment to heal the Earth. Trained at an early age, Paul understands both the subtleties and the complexities of our native land. Put simply, Paul listens as the Earth speaks.

Passionate about his life’s work and compassionate to those who share his calling, Paul is student and teacher, vessel and vehicle. He walks a quiet line over a narrow trail along a steep ridge and in his footprints leaves his healings. ~Sdukes

Image: Courtesy of Helping Heal the Earth

Posted in Healing, Mastery | No Comments »

Life’s Song

February 20th, 2012, 2:25 pm

In reading Jack Kornfield’s newest book, Bringing Home the Dharma, I came across a passage that I would like to share:

There’s a tribe in West Africa whose members count the birthday of a child from the day the child is first a thought in its mother’s mind. On that day, a woman goes out and sits under a tree and quietly listens and waits until she can hear the song of her child. When she has heard the song, she returns to the village and teaches it to the man whom she has envisioned as the child’s father so that they can sing the song when they make love, inviting their child to join them. The expectant mother then sings this song to the child in her womb and teaches it to the midwives, who sing it when the child is born. And the villagers all learn the child’s song so that whenever the child cries or hurts himself, they pick it up, hold it in their arms, and sing the song. The song is also sung when the young man or woman goes through a rite of passage, when he or she marries, and then for the last time, when he or she is about to die (p.42-43).

Imagine being known by your community for your own sweet song, not your accomplishments, your status or your commodities. At the core of your being: a melody, a melody that your mother heard while she sat waiting patiently to hear you sing.

Posted in Mastery | 2 Comments »

The Eventual Eats the Immediate

February 5th, 2012, 4:43 am

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freddie deBoer’s article, The Resentment Machine, speaks of the monetization of human practice, specifically, consumption as achievement. Caught in valueless times, products of competitive households, the current Internet generation having nowhere to go, seeks solace in investing consumptive cultural goods with meaningful importance. Could it be true that they have gifted away their passions and with that, any hope of revealing a true self?

Just recently, my son called to say that he was dropping a theory class to join a salon for poets. Prior to reading this article, my response would have been quite different. I would have hedged on the side of resume, grad school, and job possibilities. Only now can I recognize the urgent need “only to create for the sake of creation, to build something truly your own for no purpose and in reference to the work of no other person.”

Of course, I gave him my blessing. ~ Sdukes

Image: Tdukes, 2011

Posted in Clarity | 2 Comments »