Writing

Dharma Talk at Upaya Zen Center with Natalie Goldberg

“But I can say one of my favorite books about writing is Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and she is a poet. Her website is https://nataliegoldberg.com/. Also the Poetry Foundation has a great list of writing prompts they release each April for National Poetry Month. You could work through last year’s prompts on your own here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/library/prompts, and then sign up to receive new prompts via email each week in April. They also hold online poetry workshops that appear to be free? https://www.poetryfoundation.org/events” – Kristina Aikens

The mysterious universal vibration rings me to a misplaced email exchange with Kristina. This was followed by an aspirational miscommunication that led me to receive a gift of inspiration and some pondering on an awesomely cool message on meditative writing. I started browsing Natalie Goldberg’s website but was not perused until I watched this video. Her modalities seem to be constitutionally intense but with lukewarm wisdom. I zoomed into her poems and her read – what a fascinating coincidence for a place I felt so intrigued to cross-pathed in my unfolding consciousness. I prayed one day, if I get a chance, God will lend me a hand to visit the 10,000 Lakes. I am longing to see from my own eyes, despite the meandering pathways on how I would go about making that come true. Let alone mention the full spectrum of an interfaith adventure. I made a wish, and may mindsight drop into my inner sanctum. Perhaps the deeper truth is, simplicity is the only antidote that can keep the discomfort comfortably in-between where the spirit rests assured and in sync with.

…time to get down to business…

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.” – Khalil Gibran, The Prophet