Be Good Do Good Be One
Be good and do good means
to be able to do good,
you must be good in the first instance.
Being good means good in thoughts,
word and deed.
God is all goodness and innate in all.
Be friendly with everyone,
be kind and compassionate.
See goodness in all around you
including even those who hate you.
God is all love, love all,
serve all and do good to all.
God made man.
All mankind is one.
Man is ensouled body –
bearing labels of different social bodies.
As men we are all one,
born the same way
with equal privileges from God.
As soul we are of the same essence
as that of God,
a drop of the ocean of all consciousness,
and controlled by the same Power
which we all worship –
calling by different names.
Unity already exists,
we have forgotten.
Be One!
~Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj
(1894-1974 Mystic Adept, Spiritual Teacher,
Organizer of World Conference on Unity of Man,
President of the World Fellowship of Religions,
and Sant Satguru of Surat Shabd Yoga)
Vast Love
I greet you from the other side
of sorrow and despair
with a love so vast and shattered
it will reach you everywhere.
~Leonard Cohen
(1934 to 2016 Canadian singer,
songwriter, musician,
painter, poet, and novelist)
UNIFORM CORN-ROWS IN HIGH-TECH ISOLATION
UNIFORM CORN-ROWS IN HIGH-TECH ISOLATION
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
I live in the lush green farm country of upstate New York, in a town that likely has more cows than people. Most everyone I know grows something: apples, hops, grapes, potatoes, berries, and lots of corn.
As I carry my seeds to the garden, [I remember that it was] a gift from heritage seed savers, my friends at the Onondaga Nation farm, a few hills away. This variety is so old that it accompanied our Potawatomi people on the great migration from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. Holding the seeds in the palm of my hand, I feel the memory of trust in the seed to care for the people, if we care for the seed. These kernels are a tangible link to history and identity and cultural continuity in the face of all the forces that sought to erase them. I sing to them before putting them into the soil and offer a prayer. The women who gave me these seeds make it a practice that every single seed in their care is touched by human hands. In harvesting, shelling, sorting, each one feels the tender regard of its partner, the human.
My neighbor bought his seeds from the distributor. They are a new GMO variety that he can’t save and replant but must buy every year. Unlike my seeds of many colors, his are uniform gold. They will be sown with the scent of diesel and the song of grinding gears. I suspect that those seeds have never been touched by a human, but only handled by machines. Nonetheless, when the seeds are in the ground and the gentle spring rain starts to fall, I suspect he looks up at the sky and prays. We both stand back and watch the miracle unfold.
As spring progresses my neighbor’s sprouting corn inscribes glowing green lines against the dark soil, drawing the contours of the land, like isoclines on a living topographic map. Its hypnotic evenness makes it look like it was planted by machine, which of course it was. I smile at the occasional deviation where the lines go askew for a few yards. Maybe the driver was distracted by an incoming text or swerved to avoid a groundhog. His distraction will be written on the land all summer, a welcome element of humanity in a food-factory landscape.
My garden looks different. The word “symmetry” has no use here, where mounds of earth are shoveled up in patches. I’m planting the way I was taught, using a brilliant innovation generated by indigenous science: the Three Sisters polyculture. I plant each mound with three species, corn, beans, and squash—not willy-nilly, but just the right varieties at just the right time. This marvel of agricultural engineering yields more nutrition and more food from the same area as monocropping with less labor, which my tired shoulders appreciate. Unlike my neighbor’s monoculture, Three Sisters planting takes advantage of their complementary natures, so they don’t compete but instead cooperate. The corn provides a leafy ladder for the bean to climb, gaining access to more light and pollinators. In return, the bean fixes nitrogen, which feeds the demanding corn. The squash with its big leaves shades the soil, keeping it cool and moist while also suppressing weeds. This is a system that produces superior yield and nutrition and requires no herbicides, no added fertilizers, and no pesticides—and yet it is called primitive technology. I’ll take it.
Across the valley, the uniform corn-rows in their high-tech isolation look lonely to me.
Robin Wall Kimmerer (1953 to pres., Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry)
Wake Up
The reason we are in pain and sorrow
is that we are living at the level of the senses.
It is like living in a dream state.
Everything in the world seems real.
Unless we awaken from the dream,
our physical existence seems to be real.
It is like we are Sleeping Beauty.
Until Prince charming comes
and arouses her from sleep with a kiss,
she remains unconscious.
We, too, are sleeping.
We need to wake up from this dream
and experience the reality of our soul.
When we do so, we will then be
in a state of perpetual bliss.
The supreme bliss can be reached
when we stop identifying
with the body, mind, and senses,
and instead live at the level of the soul.
We need to withdraw our attention
from the outside world and focus it within
in order to connect with the state of bliss.
Then we can find ourselves
free of pain and sorrow.
~Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
(1946 to pres., Author, Scientist, Mystic,
Leader of Science of Spirituality and
International Movements for World Peace)
Presence of Love
When we persevere
with the help of a gentle discipline,
we slowly come to hear
the still, small voice
and to feel the delicate breeze,
and so to come to know
the presence of Love.
~Henry Nouwen
(1932-1996, Dutch Catholic priest,
writer, theologian, psychologist)
Scarcity
There is no scarcity.
A seed can keep going forever and ever.
The impact that a ripple
of generosity can have,
you never know
when you use your will
to be of service,
to do an act or a word or a thought.
Yet that word or gesture
can live on forever in its impact.
You are not trying
to create the ripple
but the ripple ends up happening
and sometimes you will never know it’s reach.
~Robert Bengston
(photographer, earnest seeker, creative curator)
Choices
As I get older,
the more I stay focused
on the acceptance
of myself and others,
and choose compassion
over judgment
and curiosity
over fear.
~Tracee Ellis Ross
(1972-pres., actress, producer)
