write love on your wings

i will write love upon your wings and set you free
(i read something like that on a tibetan prayer flag recently.)

leonard shlain says in sex, time and power,"homo sapiens sapiens - the doubly wise human (as we used to be called) is at present undergoing a metamorphosis."

he says an apt example of the process of metamorphosis is the life cycle of a caterpillar, a notoriously rapacious and greedy insect which morphs into an entirely new organism after a period of turning inward. as a butterfly it is utterly transformed to destroy nothing while pollinating the flowers.

marion woodman said in the august sun magazine that she felt there was a new consciousness emerging. "all the selfishness and judgement, the religious posturing that says, "anyone who doesn't believe exactly the way i do and have the same god that i do is inferior to me" - all of that is dying a violent death. we are being driven by the earth itself to begin functioning with a world consciousness."
shlain writes, "in buddhist parable, an ordinary person may behave in a selfish and self-serving manner until (s)he becomes "awakened". to achieve this state, a person must withdraw temporarily from the world and turn inward (chrysalis). the transformation that is occurring within his (or her) soul is not visible to anyone observing him (or her) from the outside upon achieving enlightenment.

yes, it is difficult to see transformation amid the violence in the middle east...or in my middle aged self. but this is my mantra these days. 4 aspects of love from the buddhist tradition. 4 angel butterflies. i write love upon their wings and set them free to fly around the world.

maitri, karuna, mudita, upeksha
kindness, compassion, joy, freedom
maitri, karuna, mudita, upeksha
maitri, karuna, mudita, upeksha


in shlain's book he says ontogeny is the short rapid recapitulation of pylogeny (gestation mimics evolution).
i believe that the creative process mimics evolution too.
so this week i've made butterfly benevolence, chanting my hopeful love chant and claiming that this is not stupid but doubly wise to believe homo sapiens sapiens can be transformed to love!

we got to perform in haifa israel last year. our friends are o.k. one of them emailed saying he moved his family from near the border where he had just purchased a home and is hold up in tel aviv which is unusually quiet, for now. in the midst of trying to find safety for him and his family, he feels so bad for the "living hell" his country is creating for the innocent people of lebanon. i can so relate to feeling bad about and even responsible for what governing bodies are doing!

wishing for the fighting to stop, for the armies of caterpillars to be transformed...for those wielding power to have an awakening !!

smile gently inward at yourself,
at the wounded places here and abroad.

xoxoxo