Dayle in Limoux – Day #71

Barns in France

I saw this barn earlier, in August, in Alet-les-Bains.

So much potential. Just need some input from Chip and Jo.

And then, I noticed another barn, not far from where I’m living in Limoux. After seeing the structure in Alet-les-Bains, I recognized it as a barn, too.

It must be ancient, in that other buildings are for residents in Limoux. There’s an address over the archaic door, thinking, again, about the potential for renovation.

When I returned from Rouen, look!

This is going to be so fun to watch being renovated.

A peek inside…

A loft and skylights, right?

This is a photo I’ve saved for, gosh, I don’t know, I think three years now.

L

O

V

E

Same basic structure as the barns in Alet-les-Bains and in Limoux.

Oui s’il vous plaît. ღ

From Queen Elizabeth II’s cortege today in London.

[Image from the BBC.]

7 Reasons The Queen Loved France

(and why France will always remember her)
The Queen was very much the “friend of France” that French President Emmanuel Macron referred to in his tribute.

by Zoë Smith

From choosing Paris for her very first overseas trip to visiting the Elysée more times than any other foreign sovereign in history, The Queen was very much the “friend of France” that French President Emmanuel Macron referred to in his tribute.

Here are seven special reasons why The Queen loved France and why France will always remember her.

1. Queen Elizabeth’s first ever trip overseas was to France

2. Her Majesty made six state visits to France during her reign

3. The Queen is also the Duke of Normandy

4. The Queen and Prince Philip vacationed in France

5. The Queen inaugurated the Channel Tunnel

6. France gifted The Queen a horse for her Platinum Jubilee

7. French was The Queen’s second language

[Full piece: https://francetoday.com/culture/7-reasons-the-queen-loved-france-and-why-france-will-always-remember-her/?utm_source=France+Today&utm_campaign=c898565112-LPJ_10_02_2016_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_48663ae590-c898565112-295618390&mc_cid=c898565112&mc_eid=5280d28ccc ]

Forget Me Nots

Center for Action & Contemplation

‘I am sorry. Forgive me’

The English ‘I am sorry’ wraps the plea in the logic of individuality and the English ‘Forgive me’underlines the same. What I have done was done only by me and thus is only my responsibility. This ‘I am sorry. Forgive me’ is all about me.

‘Ndicela uxolo’ means ‘I ask for peace.’ It is an ubuntu apology and it is about we. ‘I ask for peace’ sees our interconnectivity.

Ubuntu peace is peace between us and peace within each of us. Ubuntu forgiveness is peace that heals.

‘Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.’ -Kahlil Gibran

Bonne nuit.

✿`*•✿ ✿`*•✿

Saturday morning.

Respite from the tilt toward darkness our planet collectively shares.

Peace.

Compassion.

Love.

Our spiritual compass.

‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

[My thesis.-dayle ❀]

From poet Pádraig Ó Tuama:

“Friends, there are many things that crowd your attention. And many things deserve your attention. May you find the space to pay attention to what is important, to feel the feel of feelings, and to find ways to respond with action, care, justice, kindness, time, and whatever else is needed. Beir bua.” [Bring Victory]

Sharing a beautiful curation from journalist and author Dan Rather and his writing partner Elliot Kirschner. They title their compilation, ‘Smile for Saturday’ featured on their ‘Steady’ published on the Substack platform. Subscriptions are open. -dayle

https://steady.substack.com

Blackbird

Music has a way of speaking to us, across genres, across performers, and across the years. It is a conversation that builds from what was said before and evolves over time. All these thoughts flooded forth when we discovered a video of the brilliant musician Jon Batiste performing his version of the Beatles song “Blackbird.”

The occasion for the 2016 performance was the 52nd anniversary of the Beatles’ television debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and Batiste was appearing on the very same stage as they had. As many of you likely know, the Ed Sullivan Theater is now home to “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where Batiste serves as musical director.

https://youtu.be/H46yXW4qR_M

Batiste plays “Blackbird” on the piano, whereas the song’s co-writer Paul McCartney (John Lennon shared the writing credit) played his version on the guitar. The musical style also differs, and so does the delivery of the lyrics. But there is a kinship of evocative musicality linking this version to McCartney’s that brought a big smile to our faces. Batiste’s Juilliard-honed abilities as performer and arranger are on full display. So, too, is the genius of the original.

At a time when we are fractured, this song made us feel whole. At a time when we are unmoored, this feels rooted. At a time when we see far too many acts of hate, this feels like a tribute of love.

Left in awe of this performance, we decided to dig a little more into the history of “Blackbird.” And things got even more interesting. It turns out the lineage of the song goes back well before the 1968 White Album on which it first appeared — as in centuries back. “Blackbird” was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach — more specifically, his famous “Bourrée in E minor.” We will let Sir Paul himself tell you the story.

Bach’s piece was originally written for the lute but has since become a staple for classical guitar. If you are still with us and want to continue this musical journey, here is a performance of the piece on its original instrument.

Through our research we became a bit obsessed with Batiste, his story, and his music. We encourage you to listen to more from this remarkable talent.

‘Innocent bystander.’ Thomas Merton: I am no longer smiling … for I do not think the question of our innocence can be a matter for jesting, and I am no longer certain that it is honorable to stand by as the helpless witness to a cataclysm, with no other hope than to die innocently and by accident, as a nonparticipant. ♀︎

only peace

2021’s last day. Exhale.

She isn’t letting us go gently as she finally releases her grip. Colorado. ♡ -dayle

From Marianne Williamson:

“I embrace each moment as an opportunity for a miracle. 

Infinite opportunity is built into the nature of the universe.

It is not lack of opportunities, but rather the ways I have sabotaged them, that has obstructed the flow of miracles into my life.” 

December 31, 2021

A Revelation of Heaven on Earth

“We return today to CAC teacher Brian McLaren, who illustrates how one of the Bible’s most challenging books—Revelation—can be a source of wisdom and hope for us today:

There’s a beautiful visionary scene at the end of the Book of Revelation that is as relevant today as it was in the first century. It doesn’t picture us being evacuated from Earth to heaven as many assume. It pictures a New Jerusalem descending from heaven to Earth [see Revelation, chapter 21]. This new city doesn’t need a temple because God’s presence is felt everywhere. It doesn’t need sun or moon because the light of Christ illuminates it from within. Its gates are never shut, and it welcomes people from around the world to receive the treasures it offers and bring the treasures they can offer. From the center of the city, from God’s own throne, a river flows—a river of life or aliveness. Along its banks grows the Tree of Life. All of this, of course, evokes the original creation story and echoes God’s own words in Revelation: “Behold! I’m making all things new!”

Rather than giving its original readers and hearers a coded blueprint of the future, Revelation gave them visionary insight into their present situation. It told them that the story of God’s work in history has never been about escaping Earth and going up to heaven. It has always been about God descending to dwell among us. . . . God wasn’t a distant, terrifying monster waiting for vengeance at the end of the universe. God was descending among us here and now, making the tree of true aliveness available for all.

Earlier in the year, Richard shared the shocking hopefulness of the Bible’s apocalyptic literature:

God puts us in a world of passing things where everything changes and nothing remains the same.

The only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. It’s a hard lesson to learn. It helps us appreciate that everything is a gift. We didn’t create it. We don’t deserve it. It will not last, but while we breathe it in, we can enjoy it, and know that it is another moment of God, another moment of life.

People who take this moment seriously take every moment seriously, and those are the people who are ready for heaven.

Brian offers this final encouragement:

What was true for Revelation’s original audience is true for us today. Whatever madman is in power, whatever chaos is breaking out, whatever danger threatens, the river of life is flowing now. The Tree of Life is bearing fruit now. True aliveness is available now. That’s why Revelation ends with the sound of a single word echoing through the universe. That word is not Wait! Nor is it Not Yet!or Someday! It is a word of invitation, welcome, reception, hospitality, and possibility. It is a word not of ending, but of new beginning. That one word is Come! The Spirit says it to us. We echo it back. Together with the Spirit, we say it to everyone who is willing. Come!”

-Brian McLaren

-Father Richard Rohr

~

‘We’ve been studying war for centuries, we must now study how to create peace…conditions for a deep and lasting peace.’ -Brian McLaren

Plan for U.S. Department of Peace

Ending the scourge of violence in the United States and across the planet requires more than suppressing violence. Lasting peace requires its active and systematized cultivation at every level of government and society. The U.S. Department of Peace will coordinate and spur the efforts we need to make our country and the world a safer place. Nothing short of broad-scale investment and government reorientation can truly turn things around.

Both domestically and internationally, we must dramatically ramp up the use of proven powers of peace-building, including dialogue, mediation, conflict resolution, economic and social development, restorative justice, public health approaches to violence prevention, trauma-informed systems of care, social and emotional learning in schools, and many others.

“I believe our country’s way of dealing with security issues is increasingly obsolete. We have the finest military force in the world, however we can no longer rely on force alone to rid ourselves of international enemies. The planet has become too small for that, and in so doing, we overburden our military by asking them to compensate for the other work that we choose not to do. We are less effective, and less secure, because of that,” said Williamson.

As its mission, the U.S. Department of Peace will; hold peace as an organizing principle; promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights; coordinate restorative justice programs; address white supremacy; strengthen nonmilitary means of peacemaking; work to prevent armed conflict; address the epidemic of gun violence; develop new structures of nonviolent dispute resolution; and proactively and systematically promote national and international conflict prevention, mediation, and resolution. In short, we must wage peace. “Large groups of desperate people,” said Williamson, “should be seen as a national security risk.”

The Department will create and establish a Peace Academy, modeled after the military service academies, which will provide a 4-year concentration in peace education. Graduates will be required to serve 5 years in public service in programs dedicated to domestic or international nonviolent conflict resolution.

The Secretary of Peace will serve as a member of the National Security Council and will be empowered to coordinate with all Cabinet agencies – including the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Justice, and State, and the new Department of Children and Youth. 

In 2022, let’s pledge to making this our reality. -dayle

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be free from disease.

May auspiciousness be seen everywhere.

May suffering belong to no one.

Peace

Shanti~Shanti~Shanti

Dissolve into the shift.

We can not, we must not, return to what we were before.

Let us embrace and dissolve into a global shift as we begin to settle into what it is we are needed to become.

Pandemic

Traumatic

Stress

Experience

P T S E

‘For the inequities this pandemic has exposed, kindle in our ♡’s a new commitment to justice. For the ways in which our ♡’s have been broken & put back together differently, be softer & more attuned to the needs of the vulnerable, mindful of those most in need.’ [Salt Project]

#OneYear

I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”

-Martin Luther

 S U R R E N D E R

INSHVARA PRANIDHANA

“TO DEDICATE YOURSELF…AND SURRENDER…THE ALL-PERVADING CONSCIOUSNESS, OR DIVINE ESSENCE, IS THE IDEAL OF ISHVARA PRANIDHANA. SURRENDER DOES NOT MEAN GIVING UP OR FEELING DEFEATED. IT MEANS GIVING YOURSELF OVER TO A HIGH PURPOSE, SEEING THE ‘BIGGER PICTURE,’ GETTING OUT OF THE WAY IN ORER FOR THE SOUL TO EVOLVE. IT REQUIRES THAT YOU SURRENDER TO THE MYSTERY AND TRUST THAT THE UNIVERSE WILL PRESENT WHAT YOU NEED, WHEN YOU NEED IT. IT MEANS THAT YOU MUST DEDICATE THEIR MERITS OF YOUR ATIONS TO SOMETHING BIGGGER THAN YOURSELF. EVERYTHING YOU DO MUST IN SOME SMALL WAY TO BENEFIT ALL LIFE.” -Seane Corn

PEACE.

A new journey around the sun.

As we leave a reckless and tragic year, I wish you for you all three, Love, Strength, & Courage.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be free.

May all beings be healthy and well, realizing potential and possibility.

jai

On this final night of 2020, may our hours be deep, meaningful, quiet, and tender (Seane Corn).

P

E

A

C

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🕊

What does it look like?

What does it feel like?

“I know that deep within each person the Divine Paternities of perfect peace is already implanted. I now declare that in each person and in leaders of thought everywhere this Divine Pattern moves into action and form to the end that all nations and all people will live together in peace, harmony, and prosperity forever.”

-Ernest Holmes

“As far back as we can remember, people of the oldest tribes, unencumbered by civilization, have been rejoicing in being on earth together. Not only can we do this for each other, it is essential. For as stars need open space to be seen, as waves need shore to crest, as dew needs grass to soak into, our vitality depends on how we exclaim and rejoice, “I see you!” I am here!”

-Mark Nepo

🤍

“Midnight on New Year’s Eve is a unique kind of magic where, just for a momet, the past and the future exist at once in the present. Whether we’re aware of it or not, as we countdown together to it, we’re sharing the burden of our history and committing to the promise of tomorrow.”

-Hillary DePiano

The year brought lessons, challenges and opportunities to grow in unanticipated ways. Good or bad, devastating or productive, we navigated our way through the challenges, surprises and revelations that came out way. We dealt with circumstances the best way we knew how. We are here today, poised and centered, ready to leave the year behind and move into newness, fresh ways of living and greater connection to ourselves, each other and the Divine.

-Rev. Dr. Edward Viljoen

And from Marianne Williamson on this New Year’s Eve 2020:

The final Sun Valley sunset in 2020.

Only ℒℴve❥❥☆҉

True love…and peace.

Now, more than ever, peace, peace,

P

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-Cathie Caccia

Buddhist Monk, Thích Nhất Hạnh, celebrates his 94th birthday on October 11th. It is reported today that he has stopped eating, and very frail.

The Plum Village Monastery in Southern France is sharing that, in his spirit and life, there is hope the next Buddha will not be only embodied into an individual, but into the sangha…community.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. -Thích Nhất Hạnh

“The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring that person joy.”

May your transition be peaceful and calm, surrounded by love and grace. -dayle

In the 1960s, Thích Nhất Hạnh played an active role promoting peace during the years of war in Vietnam. ... During his years in the U.S., he met Martin Luther King Jr., who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 
1967.

grace.

‘I lack the peace of simple things. I am never wholly in place. I find no peace or grace. We sell the world to buy fire, our way lighted by burning men, and that has bent my mind and made me think of darkness and wish for the dumb life of roots.’

-Wendell Berry

[Sun Valley, Idaho]

Friends Committee on National Legislation

‘In dangerous times like these we have to produce generations of dedicated, courageous, and creative contemplative activists who will join [the conscious collective] to bring radical healing and change to this damaged world, before it’s too late.’ -Fr. Richard Rohr

We are Quakers and friends changing public policy.

Peace.

“The solitary is, first of all, one who renounces arbitrary social imagery. When his nation wins a war or sends a rocket to the moon, he can get along without feeling as if personally had won the war or hit the moon with a rocket. When his nation is rich and arrogant, he does not feel that he himself is more fortunate and more honest, as well as more powerful, that the citizens of other, more ‘backward’ nations. More than this, he is able to despise war and to see the futility of rockets to the moon in a way quite different and more fundamental from the way in which society may tolerate these negative views. That is to say, he despises the criminal, bloodthirsty arrogance of his own nation or class as much as that of ‘the enemy.’ He despises his own self-seeking aggressively as much as that of the politicians who hypocritically pretend they are fighting for peace.”

-Thomas Merton

To our future.

Cat.

Vulnerable communication.

‘You and I should form the habit of taking definite time each day to pray for peace with justice, for there is not peace possible without justice. […] We should not only pray, we should act, each contributing the best they have to the common purpose, each willing to make any sacrifice necessary…for there can be no individual self-preservation without the preservation of all.’

-Ernest Holmes

︶⁀°• •° ⁀︶

In this current cultural climate and in my new position as a social justice minister, I’ve found myself continually pondering what it is that motivates us to take a stand for the rights of others. How do we do this ethically and not paternalistically? I’m discovering that my spiritual path deepens greatly when I’m connecting my own identity to the identity of the whole, realizing that who I am extends far beyond the cones of this ego self. I am the Oneness that Holmes spoke of above: Self-preservation does not exist without the preservation of all. The wellness and dignity of the whole is an inextricable truth of Oneness.

Taking action on this belief can be difficult because to be a presence for healing and equity, we must become aware of what needs to heal in us and the unconscious ways we may be perpetuating inequity without meaning to.

There are many ways in which I have been sheltered from the inequities of the world because I have grow up in a society that unconsciously perpetuates systems that benefit some to the detriment of others. In other ways, as a person of color, I have experienced what race – and ethnicity – based inequity feels like.

To be in a place where I am genuinely present to creating a world of peace and prosperity for all means that I also am invited to be in a place where I get to explore my own privileges and inequities. I get to be in conversation with people who also want to heal and be agents of helping. These conversations can be uncomfortable and painful, but they are also medicine.

I think as we strive to create a world that works for all, we are being offered an invitation to heal and to be medicine in this world through vulnerable communication with folks who have different experiences than we do.

-Re. Masando Hiraoka

Albuquerque Center for Spiritual Living in New Mexico

Save the world. Or savor it.

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it.

-E.B. White

Bodhisattvas live in compassionate service to humanity.

Bodhisattva is a Sanskrit word for those who are committed to the spiritual awakening; we postpone our personal enlightenment to aid others in reaching it first.

Living in compassion and service is is in ‘complete contrast to the excessive individualism of some cultures.

Bodhisattvas believe happiness comes from tending to those who are suffering, helping them overcome their despair.

[…]

What can we do when we hear the news of poverty, inequity, war, terror, injustices or environmental destruction? It is easy to slip into despair and go numb.

Bodhisattva philosophy and living invites us to turn toward instead of turning away from the pain.

To begin, we learn to quiet our mind and find the peace that resides in our collective hearts. Only when there is peace on the inside can we bring the benefit of this to the outside world. We are not separate, but are interconnected and interdependent with all beings. 

Life is suffering. (Buddhism) And happiness often comes of being devoted to the well-being of others.

We need not be a Kuan Yin, a St. Francis of Assisi, a Mother Teresa or the Dalai Lama. Simply, being congruent with our outer actions in alignment, or balance, with our inner desires, we able to be a blessing to the people we are with, and situations we find ourselves living in.

jai  ☀

[Science of Mind Magazine/November]

Cat.

‘Poverty eradication is definitely a way to peace.’

Yusef Islam

‘One of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time releases his
latest studio album, The Laughing Apple. The Laughing Apple features original songs and covers, though the covers on this album are Yusufs own. He celebrates some of his earliest material, with new presentations of the songs. Conceptually, The Laughing Apple returns to the journey of the Tillerman, as he recalls his travels and life lessons to a younger generation. The album’s cover features Yusufs own illustration, the first time he has designed one of his covers since 1972. Yusuf has drawn additional works of art for each of the 11 songs on The Laughing Apple.’

“Slowly let me tell you a story of a tree
An apple tree,
Once in a summertime garden lived a little apple tree
And the man who owned it wanted it to be picked
So he sent forth to hire me
Well, I’ve traveled the mountains, and I’ve traveled the sea
But a never in my traveling days
Have I ever seen a little apple smile at me!
Laugh, oh laugh a little apple
Autumn is waitin’, you’d better be careful,
For it will bring you down
If it ever sees you wearing a frown
So laugh, laugh a little apple
Well all the apples were hidin’
Frightened that they might be plucked
And everytime that somebody passed
All except that one little apple ducked
Well, I’ve traveled the mountains, and I’ve traveled the sea
But a never in my traveling days
Have I ever seen a little apple smile at me!
Laugh, oh laugh a little apple
Autumn is waitin’, you’d better be careful,
For it will bring you down
If it ever sees you wearing a frown
So laugh, laugh a little apple”

Be the peace.

Science of Mind

“Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ Let’s use that same formula and say, ‘Be the peace you want to see in the world.’ When we are the peace in the midst of the turmoil, we open up to receive the gifts of the Spirit.

In this peace we are divine instruments through which the all good of God flows to us, through us, and as us.”

Love softens the process and peace slows it down.

When a plate breaks, we call it an accident. When a heart breaks, we call it sad. If it is ours, we say tragic. When a dream breaks, we sometimes call it unfair.

It’s not that we moan, but that we stop living to hear ourselves moan.

Still, stars collide and histories begin. In our world, something is always letting go and something is always hitting the Earth. 

Often that which lets go survives by releasing, by not holding on until what needs to go is ripped from it. 

As humans, we take turns letting go and being hit. Love softens this process, and peace slows it down, until in moments that are blessed, we seem to play catch with what wee need.

-Mark Nepo

☆

Happy Christmas, friends…

Wendall Berry.

Peace.

‘We often wonder if peace really exists anywhere.  In a world distraught with so much confusion and chaos we deeply need an inner, abiding sense of calm and tranquility.  Peace of mind really is what the world is searching after because without it we have only a sense of insecurity and loneliness.  Without peace, deep and abiding, there can be no happiness or contentment, no sense of security, no confidence.  For God/Spirit is not met though confusion but only when the mind is tranquil, and, like an unruffled body water, reflects the Divine images of peace and perfection.’

-Science of Mind