Love

"For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation. That is why young people, who are beginners in everything, are not yet capable of love: it is something they must learn. With their whole being, with all their forces gathered around their solitary, anxious upward-beating hearts, they must learn to love. But learning time is always a long, secluded time, and therefore loving, for a long time ahead and far on into life, is solitude, a heightened and deepened aloneness for the person who loves. Loving does not at first mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person (for what would a union be of two people who are unclarified, unfinished, and still incoherent?). It is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world, to become world in himself for the sake of another person." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
That loving is, in great measure, a solitary experience, goes against our desire for it to be a union of spirits. No doubt Love calls us to become both more human and more divine. Though we may hear its call, we too often rush to the comfort of the merging, instead of bravely facing that aspect that urges us to learn by, for and with Love in and of itself, and often by ourselves. When we meet others on our way, we can each respond to this higher calling, or we can respond to the wounded parts, in ourselves or in each other, that keep us from getting to the true harvest.

Pumpkin

"Pumpkin," who was a pumpkin, came to live with us in the autumn. This was the mid-1970's, and I am not sure which year...some of them kind of blend together in my memory. It must have been a lean year, because the house was cold enough that winter for Pumpkin to stay fresh and clean. We were amazed by how long Pumpkin stayed, well,pumpkin-like. We grew quite fond of Pumpkin the longer Pumpkin stayed. It was not until late the next spring that Pumpkin finally began to show signs of decay. We gave Pumpkin a decent send-off at Camp Columbia in Litchfield. We left Pumpkin beside the big tree there. I did keep the seeds of Pumpkin inside a wooden box. All these years, the box has been inside a storage container that I have lugged hither and yon. Once in a while, I have come upon the box, opened it and smiled. Today, I did just that once again. It was so good to see Pumpkin's remains, and delight in the good memory of Pumpkin.

Peace Prayer by Lama Gangchen Rinpoche

Peace to the inner and outer environments.

Peace to the five elements within and without.

Peace to this body.

Peace to this mind.

Peace to this huge ocean of emotions and feelings.

By the power of the truth and for the happiness of all beings,
may we have a culture of peace,
a society of peace, a world of peace,
where we can have days of peace,
nights of peace, sleep with peace and dreams of peace.

By the power of the truth and for the healing of all beings,
may we have peace in all moments
and in everything.