Journal of Sacred Work

5 responses to “What Interests Us: The Static & Kinetic”

1. 

   Karen York

   November 9, 2007

   To me, spiritual well being arises from the internal quest for the divine. Our spirits are housed temporarily in this shell of flesh, to carry out a specific purpose. I have been spending time with Rilke in his collection entitled “Rilke’s Book of Hours, Love Poems to God”. Here then is one selection that has found its place in me.
   “All will come again into its strength:
   the fields undivided, the waters undammed,
   the trees towering and the walls built low.
   And in the valleys, people as strong
   and varied as the land.
   And no churches where God
   is imprisoned and lamented
   like a trapped and wounded animal.
   The houses welcoming all who knock
   and a sense of boundless offering
   in all relations, and in you and me.
   No yearning for an afterlife, no looking beyond,
   no belittling of death,
   but only longing for what belongs to us
   and serving earth, lest we remain unused.”
   Imagine a world like that. Perhaps each of us, in our own way, can make it so.

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2. 

   liz Wessel

   November 9, 2007

   Karen your meaningful reflection and this poem speak to my heart. Thank you for this sharing.
   ~liz

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3. 

   liz Wessel

   November 9, 2007

   As I took my leave from the origins of my mothers gentle kiss, I drove off alone. Aware, I breathed in the changing colors of life, grateful to be a tiny splash of color within a kaleidoscope of time.
   The leaving surges up as grief
   Swells in my throat,
   Lingers, wells up
   Misting my eyes
   Spurs me forward
   On a river of hope
   ~liz
   And here is something meaningful to me that I’d like to share with you.
   To Go Its Way in Tears: Poems of Grief by Edward Hirsch
   “We live in a superficial, media-driven culture that often seems uncomfortable with true depths of feeling. Indeed, it seems as if our culture has become increasingly intolerant of that acute sorrow, that intense mental anguish and deep remorse which may be defined as grief. We want to medicate such sorrow away. We want to divide it into recognizable stages so that grief can be labeled, tamed, and put behind us. But poets have always celebrated grief as one of the deepest human emotions. To grieve is to lament, to mourn, to let sorrow inhabit one’s very being.
   Robert Frost liked to distinguish between grievances (complaints) and griefs (sorrows). He even suggested that grievances, which are propagandistic, should be restricted to prose, “leaving poetry free to go its way in tears.” Implicit in poetry is the notion that we are deepened by heartbreaks that we are not so much diminished as enlarged by grief, by our refusal to vanish–to let others vanish–without leaving a verbal record. Poetry is a stubborn art. The poet is one who will not be reconciled, who is determined to leave a trace in words, to transform oceanic depths of feeling into the faithful nuances of art.”
   Carl Phillips said, “Reading a poem is an act of faith and that involves abandoning oneself to something irresolvable.”
   (From Poets.org website)

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4. 

   liz Wessel

   November 9, 2007

   I wish to honor my brother’s memory today, as it was on this day in 1948 that Philip Peter Sorensen was born. He lived all of 29 years, served in Vietnam, the eldest son who held my fathers namesake. He helped pave the way for us younger siblings, trail blazed so to speak. I spoke with mom today and we both have a candle lit for Philip. We laughed and we reminisced and we keep the light aglow.
   Although I’m no poet, I do so Love to share what’s in my heart with you.
   ~liz

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5. 

   Victoria Facey

   November 12, 2007

   Right now Frank, my husband is in need of healing; my responses below relate to him.
   Practice focusing your full attention on a person or thing in your life. = This would be Frank, my husband.
   What does it mean to do this? = Much like meditating, emptying my mind and fully concentrating on him, his health and welfare.
   How does your engagement of your senses lead to engaging your soul?
   My senses are tied to my heart, my heart is linked to my soul.
   My husband is not very spritual; I know that God led me to him to care for him and help provide the spirituality that he is missing.

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