Endless Now

Mindful footfalls on the shore
sift the sands of time and trial,
shifting thoughts from forward back,
then forward again
to beyond the scope,
where time may bend
and slow, to revel as
endless now.

Counting breaths,
like grains of sand,
like counting glittering music
as it dances away in the wind,
a less than linear movement
that finds completion
glorying in new pathways
to trace endless now.

Thoughts flitter, flutter and flow,
flowering as freely as the wind;
even as thought is tied to form
within all repetitive motions
that construct the sentient world
and feed the conscious flesh,
this free flight is full autonomy
in endless now.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Question Mark on the Face of Tomorrow

Life: A straight line, or a haphazard zigzag? This is a question many people don’t consider.

Most people assume that life is a straight line, punctuated by arrivals at goals. We are so goal oriented, in fact, that we probably miss a lot of opportunities that life could afford us, if we would but look up, out and around more frequently.

We don’t consider that even a stream of thought is a valuable process, one that starts somewhere within our consciousness, either to find completion, or punctuation by pauses, lapses or gaps—perhaps to be taken up at a later time, or not.

So many people grab at the quick answers. There is nothing wrong with asking for direction(s) or guidance. But sometimes blindly accepting answers is an abdication of experiencing a formative path.

What are we doing when we faithfully accept the guru’s pronouncement that the world is coming to an end? Giving up? Selling up? That is abdication. What happens when we purchase the latest fad herbal diet product? Giving up exercise and proper diet? That is abdication. When the world monetary fund fails to safeguard world economies, enriching a few at the expense of the multitudes, that is criminal abdication of responsibility.

On the other hand, what are we doing when we reject the ready answers provided by fallible people? It is possible that we are being foolhardy. It is also possible that we are embracing the haphazard zigzag that is the question mark on the face of tomorrow.

There are people who set out their goals, following a linear path toward achievement so closely that they never stray from their path long enough to notice the flower garden they pass everyday. There are people who allow their technological tools to be their only true friends, eschewing the multiple opportunities for connection with real people who surround them in their daily lives and work. When such people, due to unforeseen circumstances, become dislodged or derailed from their plotted course, they don’t know what to do.

Life is not about finishing, winning, or landing. It is not about permanence, security or roots. It is not about swift and empty answers.

Life is about the journey, and being present in the journey wherever you are, at any given moment of any given day.

Do you want to take the journey? The way is not to be found on the straight highway, the leveled mountain, or smooth plain. The way is found by engaging the question mark on the face of tomorrow. You can ask for directions and for guidance, but chances are, you will have to pull out your compass and find your own way, even if that means stumbling around some and losing your way. Not many people will know anything about the way that you are going, and the satellite photos don’t show what the landscape of life will reveal.

That’s the way it is supposed to be.

If there is one wish I have for you, it is this:

Please be sure to enjoy where you are while you are there. And send me a postcard, when you can.

More Things

First, a call: sounds giving ideas and desires musical wings;
Next, a response: potential rising from nothingness into form;
A complete transaction, resulting in creation.

Imagine what more things might rush to become,
Were we to enter into deeper conversation with infinity.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Voice Lesson

Breathe in,
breathe out.

Vibrations come from the heart,
Strength rises up from the earth
through the feet and legs,
supporting the ball of energy
just below the diaphragm.

The supported diaphragm
meets the vibrations of the heart
with loving intensity.

Part the lips,
freely, easily;
let the jaw hang,
be open.

Breathe in,
engage support,
sing out.

Once this mastered,
shape the tone,
then shape the words
then shape the phrase,
then shape the song,
then shape your being,
then shape your life.

Singing is
a practice
not a perfect;
not a destination,
but an exploration
of God’s creation
via sonic expression.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Draughting

unhampered by outcome
the vanishing line becomes
freedom for new
perspective &
dimension.

uninhibited by form
the mind flows toward
the vague and distant
presence,
seeking coalescence.

unencumbered by conformity,
the spirit gathers itself
for omni-linear
exploration &
expansion.

uninhabited,
the foreground
represents every
convention
left behind.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Scorecard for the Coach

Dear Coach,

Now that the season is well and truly over, I thought you might like a little feedback.

Training: I thought you and the other coaches provided good solid training, with kindness and humor, and I thank you for that. The boys could have used more batting practice. And less rain.

Communication: Well, sometimes the messages came late. (Yeah, we don't blame you for that one that never came. Everyone has a bad day.) Would have been helpful if specific times could have been mentioned. “Have your boy on the field at 3pm” doesn’t seem like too long a message to get the point across and avoid confusion.

Timeliness: When you say that you will hold players to being on time, it is good to be there to meet them at the appointed times, once these have been adequately communicated.

Strategy: Particularly when the season has gone so badly, why not shake things up and try kids in different positions? To keep with the same playbook, even and especially when it is not working, is why the government is failing our nation.

I know that you don’t have to care about this, your job is over for the season and you may never see my son again, but here’s the thing: my son never played baseball before last year. He started out in AA division with no experience. By the end of the season, he was one of the more valuable players on his team, which came in 4^th. He was regularly playing the infield at third, shortstop and second. As a batter, he was pretty good, for a newbie; more importantly, he has a good eye. As you know, when he gets on first, he is quite a base thief. He went on to play Berkeley Summer League, and his team, which started out having to forfeit games, because they did not have enough players on the field, came from behind to play the championship game, and come in 2^nd. Again, he played infield. Quite a result, for a boy who had never played any sport before. 

Because my son was given so little play time this season, and in a remote part of the outfield, he had little opportunity to hone any of the skills he had acquired last year.

My boy is no superstar, but he is a solid and consistent team player. Burying him in right field, when your infield was consistently so piss poor, was a crime. My son kept coming home saying “I wish I could help my team where I play well.”


We thought jumping to Majors was a stretch, and almost tried to hold him down to AAA. But we thought the older boys would help pull the younger ones along, and that he would get valuable experience. HA! What a joke! We’ll never make that mistake in judgment again (now that the situation will never recur). We should have said something, but were trying to follow the rules and not interfere. As it was, we don't know if it was a stretch or not, because he really wasn't tested.

Minimum Play Rule: B.S. ('Nuff said.)

Injured Players: What kind of tomfoolery is it to rush injured batters onto the field? I don’t care how valuable that player is, you invite aggravation to the injury, even further injury, and compromise the competence of your defense. Why can't they warm the bench and rest for an inning, to come back fresh later?

Sportsmanship: I never saw a group of boys with such a bad attitude. The older ones, who bragged about their ability especially when they did not deliver the goods, blamed the younger kids for their own errors. Sad commentary. My son was blamed for the loss of many games, even when he had been sitting on the bench while all the mistakes were being made on the field. Cute. Meanwhile, when he tried to be encouraging to teammates from the bench, he was rewarded with derision. I had to give him pep talks after every practice and every game. He was doing his part; where were the others in this thing called team effort? 

Responsibility. Sportsmanship. Courage. Character. Isn't that supposed to be part of the Little League experience?

The interesting and unique thing about the human species is that it takes 20 years to nurture an individual to full adulthood. The critical thinking function of the human brain is not capable of development until an individual is 20-22 years of age. There are a lot of bipedal animals roaming the streets of America because hundreds of thousands of adults turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the behavior of young people, and decided it is not my job to teach them what is right. But you and I know it takes hundreds and thousands of teachers, over an entire lifespan, to form a good, solid human being—one who has a good character, self-control, self-esteem and compassion.

In conclusion, I hope my son will shake off this disappointing experience (on so many levels) and want to continue playing. I hope he will decide to tryout again next Spring. And, just so you know, it does not matter to us that the team didn't win! Sure, they could have done better. My boy knows it is not about winning. He knows it is how you play the game when you show up at the field. That is what we have taught him about life. (Too many people have the mistaken notion that life is about winning. But life is really about living, isn't it?)

Maybe, next year, my son will have a real opportunity to play.

Best of luck in your future endeavors.

The Legacy of Time

It has been interesting, over the course of the past few years, to see the downfall of some of our politicians over their sexual infidelities. Here is a partial roll-call:

Newt Gingrich

John Ensign

John McCain

John Edwards

Gary Hart

Jim McGreevey

Elliot Spitzer

Gary Condit

Rudy Giuliani

Mark Sanford

David Vitter

Bob Livingston

Mark Foley

Jesse Jackson

Barney Frank

Tim Mahoney

Mike Duvall

Gavin Newsom

Arnold Schwarzenegger

… and many, many more!

Notice anything about the list? No, they are not all Republicans… They are all MEN! Power is, evidently, an aphrodisiac. Power also seems to provide access to a wider range of folks than one might find at home.

It is interesting that one doesn’t see women politicians similarly implicated. Perhaps this is because the field of female politicians is smaller than that of their male counterparts. It has also been suggested that female power is a turnoff to men; that may well be true.

What I find interesting is that all these folks are involved in policy making, and a lot of the time, while they have talked about family values and morality, the policies they have advocated do not support families, family life, children, or the environment. And then we find out the truth of their family values and moral fiber.

We elected these men (perhaps they should no longer be called gentlemen), sometimes based on speeches made during campaign tours, posing with spouses and children. Like homes that are professionally staged before being put for sale on the market, this is an advertising ploy. And we fall for it, in a big way… in fact, almost every time. Part of the “marketing” and “packaging” of a candidate is called Moral Credentialing, whereby a person establishes (or has established for him) a moral image. Once someone (male or female) has an established moral image, studies have shown that person may subsequently feel free to behave less ethically.

Now, let’s take a look at religion for a moment. Here again, there are a lot of men at the top of the heap of religious leaders. Many of these leaders have helped to maintain male domination over women in matters of work, culture, politics and religion. There seems to have thousands of years of mythmaking around the notion of a male god who created everything at the beginning of time. This, even though it is clear that there were ancient female divinities. Future generations, moving forward from the beginning of time, of male leaders were evidently turned off by the idea that feminine power could create, and so these ancient myths about female divinities were hijacked or obliterated, as far as possible.

Many people don’t realize that a universal element in creation stories is family. Everything may have been created by something divine (female or male of inclination, or both), but after that, there are children who procreate. We are a human family, however it was our species was created and has evolved—and isn’t it interesting that most of the stories have humans listed as the last of the creations?

Life is about family, revolves around family, promotes family. God should be firmly about family and about life, shouldn’t it?

Yet, we continue, as humans, to be embroiled in the constant need, even desperate desire, to have pecking orders and supremacy and authority and control over others (whomsoever others may be). And, I hate to say it, because there are a lot of terrific fellows out there, but the major players in this are men.

There is this moral image being pushed at us all the time, and over it is superimposed the false notion that the Divine is male only. To which I reply, if the Divine had been male, rather than female or even androgynous (which circumstance does appear in some creation myths), then why would there be the any need at all for female energy? If the male energy were so important and so special, why create two genders?

But, ladies, I'll let you in on the joke. The men can't handle the awful truth that women bear the children. Men can talk any kind of game they want to about creation and about the divinity being male, but they cannot change the fact that women bear the children and women hold the family together.

Women bear the legacy of time. Men have never been able to compete with that.

Maybe if men start getting pregnant, the landscape of things will change. I don’t see this happening, in either the foreseeable future or beyond.

But here is another question: What if the Divine were male and as unfaithful as some of our politicians and our religious leaders have been? Would or should anyone follow an unfaithful god? Taking it farther, would or should anyone follow policy made by unfaithful leaders? Further, should nice people (men or women) follow unfaithful men (or women)?

If the answer is not clear, then there is something wrong. 

Meanwhile, a better focus for one’s attention and energy might just be the notion that human beings, male and female, were created to be. The human family universal ought to honor the family, in all gender presentations and combinations, and in all children. Why? Because family is the evidence of the continuance of life, and life is the Holy Divine (male and female and neutral), from generation to generation. Family is the most inclusive group in the world, not that that always makes it an easy group to be in—but the point is you cannot choose your family; you come into it, whether it is your nuclear family, your community family, your regional family, your continental family, your world community. However you got here, you came into this world—to be—and wherever you are in this large picture, you have a place and a role to fulfill within this family, and that is holy!

I firmly believe that if we, as a species, could have faith in our human family as evidence of the sacredness of life, the landscape of attitudes, ethics and morals, religion and politics would truly change. Who knows, some of it might be rendered useless and go away forever. And wouldn't that be nice?

Meanwhile, the end of the world is supposed to happen on Saturday.

But, this is the way of enlightenment: I will be among the cleanup crew on Sunday.

(sigh)

Someone has to bear the legacy of time.