Doesn't everyone ask themselves that question hundreds of times a day? (Though surely, in mostly subtle ways.) Is there really any action or sound we make that somehow— has not in some ways— gone through that process? And then, a decision was made.

This blog entry may not get posted for a while, but today is November 6, 2024, the day after the presidential election in the USA that I had been following closely— for I felt so much was at risk & vulnerable. So much suffering could be created in this world (and in millions of lives in America) with any kind of insidious, ignorant, selfish, short sighted (really dark) forces in power.

To be frank: I feel the results of this election are a real kind of suicide for America. It deeply saddens and shocks me. And any who voted a certain way— helped pull the trigger on some severe consequences to myriads in the world, and of many species, and probably for years. A great and once so beautiful giant— as a country can be— now has a lethal bullet in its head. And for now, it is still standing, but it will begin to stagger and fall; and as said— so many things in the world will suffer.

Soooo: What To Do Now? How best to keep your heart alive? (As everyone really does, the best they can.) No matter how one last voted for anything— we really try with all our wits to know all the freedom we can. But a person's actions can sometimes seem unintelligent, and can undermine what one really wants.

But back again to: What To Do Now?

"The kingdom of heaven is within,” so it is said. Aka: wherein the party might get most cranked up, being there, mining more gold from the wonder of yourself. Knowing more of the— magnificent luminous sovereignty... I think every soul is evolving toward. 

So affected by the external world of forms most everyone is—and the seemingly real events there. The myriad husks over God one could say, or the myriad husks—veils— over the kingdom of the paradise within.

Seems a greater independence (awareness), a greater sovereignty, will be required for many to dance as much— to love as much— to laugh and give as much as they may have in the past, and is vital to our future as a whole, and as an individual. 

I can see myself being more kind now to all my kin— all my kin— with fins and wings and hoofs and feet and hands like mine. And with branches and stems. Yes dears, more kindness now for ourselves and all others things, all others, is now part of: What To Do Now? It really always is: more caring! More honoring the miracle of existence, no matter how the petals on the Rose unfold.

There is a line in the book: The Purity of Desire, 100 Poems of Rumi that goes: 

There have been thousands of things for you to pick from to put in your backpack on this journey!

Yeah, that journey of really every hour and day— and especially in times of need. I feel my every blog entry here is an attempt to offer something that might help, as surely are all my books, and my two CDs, and that wonderful Hafiz Wisdom Deck. For…

Who is not in labor, holy labor, every creature is!

That is another Rumi line from the poem: “The Body Is Like Mary” from that same Rumi book. And of the some 1000 poems I have published with Penguin, it is one of the ones I have most worked on, gone over and over, honed the best I could. You can see that poem here, that I feel is so well presented.

About two weeks ago, I asked a lovely young woman I have known about two years— a charming waitress in a restaurant I go to a couple times a week: What helps you get through the day? What plugs you into something you want & need to feel?

And she said: 

It is my art, and the art of others; and friends I love; and the beauty in nature. My need to paint is a blessing, & digging music so much. I write poems that can make me cry or laugh, and unfurl my wings. I act in local plays. And my dog, O my dog, we have a beautiful love affair; she kisses me so sweetly. And the wonders on the earth and in the sky and I are a ménage à trois; like I bet lots of gods know.

Sure an easel and a dog, & all the wonders of the sky & earth and lots of poems— can all fit into a backpack, if you know how to pack them; and a picnic blanket.

And didn't a dinner bell just ring, that sang: it is time to know and eat more deeply from the body of the Christ; from the body of Buddha; from the more sacred wonder of our own, of our own very self— that is really independent of all affairs but that vital dance within. And love & freedom. And more laughter! And thanks. Yes, still thanks to some maybe too Wild, Crazy Cosmic Cowgirl-Cowboy (God) … who dished everything out into our ken that will ultimately be for our best!