Meditative Alternative to Stillness
Communing with Nature and Spirits in the Material World
A tanka-haiku-prose poem (haibun) meditation of mindfully walking in nature with awareness of synchronicity
Sun shining. Songbirds sweetly singing. Gaia goading Greg to get out of bed. The calendar reads winter but Goddess guides him to spring and greet seasonal rebirth. Walking out his front door, mindfully taking notice of nature, ah, see bulbs starting to emerge from hibernation, wondering whether his Sanskrit star’s single pink tulip among the narcissus will soon speak to him as she did last year.
Single pink tulip Rose gloriously apart From Narcissus flock Dancing and waving to me Third eye knew not just the wind
Irony. Such irony. The Narcissus flower symbolizing rebirth, renewal, and the coming of spring also brings to mind the worst aspects of human nature. A reminder to us all of the dualities within Oneness.
What direction shall he walk? Left being north, right being south, only because east he faces. Closes his eyes, inhales, exhales, seeking connection to his inner navigation system — the pretechnological GPS we all possess. Intuition. Einstein knew the true source of genius, misattributed quotes notwithstanding, of which poet too is culpa.
Synchronicity compass points south so right he turns. Only nature shall fill his ears with the sounds of music the hills are alive with today. Mesmerized by the sight of yesterday’s rain emerging as groundwater from the farm’s hillside. Ants must perceive this natural wonder as people see the power of Niagra Falls.
trickling waterfalls fed field’s thirst now runs downstream manna from heaven
Further down the road, the lubricant of life speaks to him again and again as he ambles seemingly without aim, hearing brooks babbling from within the thickets, sourced from those trickles water-falling downhill, calling him forth. The sound soothes him. Only later shall subconscious streaming synchronicity be revealed.
Passed away yet here Hawk or bald eagle in flight Silence says listen Messages you’ll see and hear Our loved ones holding our hands
A Few Poet’s Notes to Augment Your Experience
I woke this morning to my dear friend from college, who owns the house in which I live in rural PA and is here from time to time, cleaning the kitchen while streaming our favorite radio station, WFUV (Fordham University’s (Bronx, NY) station). I emerged from my bat cave to eat some breakfast and the deejay started speaking about a new song she was about to play, Cardinal by Kacey Musgraves. She spoke about how Kacey’s mentor and friend, country music icon, John Prine, who died from COVID in 2020, inspired the song.
The deejay said that John believed that cardinals signify the presence of angels. My eyes rolled. I know angels exist but I have come to realize that no animal or number is connected to any particular meaning. However, if a person connects meaning to them (whether personal or read on the internet), our guides will utilize them to deliver messages through meaningful coincidence (that’s why my lead spirit guide, Rama, presents himself to my psychic medium, Anne, as an elephant — that has special meaning for me that I would notice).
Then the deejay said shortly after Prine passed away, cardinals began appearing on Kacey’s doorstep. Take in these few lines of her song:
“Cardinal Are you bringing me a message from the other side? Cardinal Are you tellin’ me I’m on somebody’s mind? Don’t leave me behind”
I smiled inside and out and immediately knew I needed to write what became this poem. Those lyrics also brought tears to my eyes because as I wrote for the introduction to this ballade:
Infinitely deep are the pain pockets of grief — these voids cause and fill with tears at a moment’s notice no matter how much time has elapsed, yet as that salty water continuously almost drowns drains, the infinite darkness of despair makes space for infinitely greater amounts of Light to enter our domains.
Intuition. Einstein knew the true source of genius, misattributed quotes notwithstanding, of which poet too is culpa
In a few of my essays, I have included the following quote that some across the Mediumverse and the rest of the, if it’s posted on the misinformation net it must be true crowd, have attributed to Albert Einstein:
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Turns out, he never said that but he likely believed it.
Quoteinvestigator.com, which is an excellent resource for practicing information literacy, determined that he never spoke those words, and provides this within its findings, “Albert Einstein died in 1955. The earliest evidence known to QI linking Einstein to this expression appeared in the 1976 book “The Metaphoric Mind: A Celebration of Creative Consciousness” by Bob Samples. The author did not claim he was quoting Einstein; instead, Samples was presenting his personal interpretation of Einstein’s perspective.”
Factcheck.org, PolitiFact.com, and snopes.com are also good resources.
pretechnological GPS we all possess
That honors this story from he who should be legendary, White Feather, may he rest in peace:
Only nature shall fill his ears with the sounds of music the hills are alive with today
hearing brooks babbling from within the thickets, …. The sound soothes him. Only later shall subconscious streaming synchronicity be revealed
On Sunday, March 17th, the fourth anniversary of Lindsey’s passing, I had a channeled-by-Anne session with her (Sitara, Lindsey’s soul’s name (means star in Sanskrit (Marcus is my soul’s name)), other dearly departed souls, and my spirit guides. Sitara described how while I sleep, she visits my room and sits beside my bed and holds my hand, and often sits and talks with Marcus beside a stream in the realms, and how what she says to Marcus, Greg cannot know. Anne asked me if that resonated. I said that I felt there was more than meets my eyes and ears to my fascination with the sound of water I hear on my walks — to how it soothes me — to why I feel the sound of the streams speaking to me.
Silence says listen
I wrote this line as a tribute to Brooklyn Muse, who often points out in her work that the same six letters form the words silent and listen.
Enjoy Kacey’s beautiful song:
Note as to Form:
“Haibun is a poetry form that combines a haiku with a prose poem. Haibun prose is usually descriptive. It uses sparse, poetic imagery to evoke a sensory impression in the reader. The section of prose is then followed by a haiku that serves to deepen the meaning of the prose, either by intensifying its themes or serving as a juxtaposition to the prose’s content.” — Source
I utilized both haiku and its cousin, tanka, to amplify the prose poem sections.
In Rama I create, with soul energy surging through my body, inspiring me and breathing wind into my sails,
