Solstice
from Pat Jones
~*~
Ram Das
Left the Planet
(photo from his return to St. John the Divine post stroke)
from Pat Jones
~*~
Ram Das
Left the Planet
(photo from his return to St. John the Divine post stroke)
This from Jack Kornfield
December 23. 2019
"I have known Ram Dass for 48 years, as master teacher and inspiration and role model, as a dear friend and benefactor who helped me begin to teach, as a companion on the path, as a truth teller and prankster, as a profound healer and whisperer of souls, as a kind of prophet for a generation. Out in public with him across the years, over and over people would come up to him and speak lovingly, tentatively, urgently, offering thanks, “Ram Dass, I just want to let you know you changed my life!” And he did…for so many of us. Yes, his book “Be Here Now” changed countless lives. Yes, his work with Seva Foundation cured 5 million people of blindness. Yes, he taught almost nonstop for 50 years, spreading wisdom and humor, wild devotion and love and a vast timeless mystical perspective across the world. His obituaries will be filled with his many other accomplishments. For me he is family and Sangha, even now still spreading his playful, tough, delicious love everywhere, connecting with our hearts. “Yum, yum,” as he would say.
He was so ready to leave the wheelchair and skinny and broken body, to go home. Home is not somewhere else.
It is here, in life and death, in the eternal dance of consciousness, weaving together form and the formless mystery from which it all comes. Ram Dass is the vastness reminding us that in the end, there is only love."
~*~
'Jamie'
My dear Little Brother left the Planet. I've been looking through family photos and processing feelings for weeks. Grief comes in waves. Memories are deep. Now William James Slater image sits on the main Altar at my Zendo with Ram Das and others we remember together.
December 23. 2019
"I have known Ram Dass for 48 years, as master teacher and inspiration and role model, as a dear friend and benefactor who helped me begin to teach, as a companion on the path, as a truth teller and prankster, as a profound healer and whisperer of souls, as a kind of prophet for a generation. Out in public with him across the years, over and over people would come up to him and speak lovingly, tentatively, urgently, offering thanks, “Ram Dass, I just want to let you know you changed my life!” And he did…for so many of us. Yes, his book “Be Here Now” changed countless lives. Yes, his work with Seva Foundation cured 5 million people of blindness. Yes, he taught almost nonstop for 50 years, spreading wisdom and humor, wild devotion and love and a vast timeless mystical perspective across the world. His obituaries will be filled with his many other accomplishments. For me he is family and Sangha, even now still spreading his playful, tough, delicious love everywhere, connecting with our hearts. “Yum, yum,” as he would say.
He was so ready to leave the wheelchair and skinny and broken body, to go home. Home is not somewhere else.
It is here, in life and death, in the eternal dance of consciousness, weaving together form and the formless mystery from which it all comes. Ram Dass is the vastness reminding us that in the end, there is only love."
~*~
'Jamie'
My dear Little Brother left the Planet. I've been looking through family photos and processing feelings for weeks. Grief comes in waves. Memories are deep. Now William James Slater image sits on the main Altar at my Zendo with Ram Das and others we remember together.
~*~
12.24.2019
Noted on a walk about
(In the lobby of a new hotel in the neighborhood)
Poems should be written
~*~
12.25.2019
Church bells nearby
Back to my First Christmas
and
A Thoughtful gift
from long time Neighbors hanging on the apartment door
Just in time too. Woke with my head cold renewed in full blown attack. Fortunately, I'm at home with supper warming (home made beef stew from Sensei Chodo at our last zendo session-Steamed broccoli-lemon Loaf from my Massachusetts friend) plus plenty of doses of EmergenC and Umka homeopathic for colds on hand. There's enough heat in these rooms and most neighbors away elsewhere. Actually, after such a stressful month, I welcome the ability to laze around watching old sitcoms and sleeping.
All's well.
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