In 2020, words came for a book I'd been tasked to write by my teacher, Hyemyhosts Storm, seven years earlier. It became Yin, Completing the Leadership Journey. I was 75. Might I share it with you? We say many of the same things.....
Thank you for today’s thoughts and sharing. It brought to mind a poem I like, by Jack Gilbert, on the subject of balancing joy with everything else. Maybe others would like it, too.
-Diane
A BRIEF FOR THE DEFENSE
Jack Gilbert
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
A nerve is touched, yet again, by your words and the personal experience you share. The Old Woman's words resonate sooooooooo deeply! I am thankful for you and the conatiner you create for deep sharing that allows for so many to be seen, heard, and held. A healing balm for the Soul :-)
Beautiful, Satya. This: " vitriol is performative and sick, an indication of unwellness, not strength".... I have been thinking and feeling so much about the cancerous nature of divisiveness, and you articulated it in a way I needed to hear. And more importantly you offer an antidote.
Oh, synchronicity! This morning, while writing, I was moved to ask my Tarot cards about my family, my ancestors. I wondered if I carry any heavy stuff, any burden or ‘sins’, I might need to process in my time, or any special gifts to claim.
The cards showed me the Emperor for the ‘burden’, and the Chariot and 3 of Cups for the gifts.
My grandmothers, both of them, had very tough lives, dispossessed, and had to work really hard in ways that weren't fair.
The gifts I saw in the 3 of Cups and the Chariot cards together, from a beautiful Tarot Deck called the Spirit’s Keeper by Benebell Wen, spoke about bonds that activate memory, social intuition and the power of empathy. Themes of speaking our truth.
These reflections made me realize that I possess something they never had—the chance to stand up to our times, to exercise our determination and choose a path together. I'm 50. What exactly am I waiting for?
I've been feeling a bit low, sad, and lost in melancholy lately. Probably, I'm also just tired of the dreary winter.
Thank you, Satya 💖 I enjoy your writings very much.
Thank you for this, Jasmin. I love that you were thinking of your grandmothers too. And I love Benebell Wen! What a genius. Her I Ching book is extraordinary.
Beautiful, and so necessary to hear the old woman’s voice after marinating with incomprehension at Senator Katie Britt’s baby voiced response to the President’s SOTU. Imagining that she was selected, scripted and staged to appeal and advertise a political perspective fills me with rage. Perhaps she and her handlers could use a copy of Claire Douglas. Thank you for the antidote.
as she looked at me through the screen of my smart tv… I knew immediately NOT to listen. My soul would cringe… and so using the technology at hand I quickly pushed the mute button. It was even difficult to watch her face as she mutedly spoke her truth.
In 2020, words came for a book I'd been tasked to write by my teacher, Hyemyhosts Storm, seven years earlier. It became Yin, Completing the Leadership Journey. I was 75. Might I share it with you? We say many of the same things.....
I'd love to see it, Lisa! My apologies for the delay in responding here. Do you have my email address?
Hi Satya,
Thank you for today’s thoughts and sharing. It brought to mind a poem I like, by Jack Gilbert, on the subject of balancing joy with everything else. Maybe others would like it, too.
-Diane
A BRIEF FOR THE DEFENSE
Jack Gilbert
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.
Thank you, Diane. XO
"We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world."
Thank you Satya, always a blessing to spend time with your thoughts, sentiments, experiences, and depth of understanding!
Much love to you my PGI cohort.
And yes what a blessing PGI experiences are to my Soul.
How deeply grateful I am.
🩵🙏
A nerve is touched, yet again, by your words and the personal experience you share. The Old Woman's words resonate sooooooooo deeply! I am thankful for you and the conatiner you create for deep sharing that allows for so many to be seen, heard, and held. A healing balm for the Soul :-)
Thank you, as always, for reading and for your reflections. ❤️
Beautiful, Satya. This: " vitriol is performative and sick, an indication of unwellness, not strength".... I have been thinking and feeling so much about the cancerous nature of divisiveness, and you articulated it in a way I needed to hear. And more importantly you offer an antidote.
Unborrowing ~ Gifting
Shaking ~ Waking
🕸️🚪🪷
Dearest Satya!
Your passion and clarity in this piece have ripped away at the weakening of my soul.
I am wearied by the intellectual, analytical, diagnostic perspectives of “What is happening”.
You are a woman whose “life/voice/passion” is medicine for our global stupor.
I have been working with Colin Campbell. His definition of “Sobriety”= “Empathic Engagement”, is posted on my bathroom mirror.
A reminder, everyday, of what is necessary!
Your lines:
“We need to unlearn this division that we have imbibed as fact when it is fiction, an invention from a few of us that has made all of us drunk”
Articulates the depths of the malaise we have sucumbed to.
Thank you Satya!!!!
Your passion, deep knowing, articulation and spirit ignite the fires needed to bring life forward.
With love and gratitude always!
Oh, synchronicity! This morning, while writing, I was moved to ask my Tarot cards about my family, my ancestors. I wondered if I carry any heavy stuff, any burden or ‘sins’, I might need to process in my time, or any special gifts to claim.
The cards showed me the Emperor for the ‘burden’, and the Chariot and 3 of Cups for the gifts.
My grandmothers, both of them, had very tough lives, dispossessed, and had to work really hard in ways that weren't fair.
The gifts I saw in the 3 of Cups and the Chariot cards together, from a beautiful Tarot Deck called the Spirit’s Keeper by Benebell Wen, spoke about bonds that activate memory, social intuition and the power of empathy. Themes of speaking our truth.
These reflections made me realize that I possess something they never had—the chance to stand up to our times, to exercise our determination and choose a path together. I'm 50. What exactly am I waiting for?
I've been feeling a bit low, sad, and lost in melancholy lately. Probably, I'm also just tired of the dreary winter.
Thank you, Satya 💖 I enjoy your writings very much.
Thank you for this, Jasmin. I love that you were thinking of your grandmothers too. And I love Benebell Wen! What a genius. Her I Ching book is extraordinary.
Beautiful, and so necessary to hear the old woman’s voice after marinating with incomprehension at Senator Katie Britt’s baby voiced response to the President’s SOTU. Imagining that she was selected, scripted and staged to appeal and advertise a political perspective fills me with rage. Perhaps she and her handlers could use a copy of Claire Douglas. Thank you for the antidote.
Thank you for this, Donna. I feel the same.
as she looked at me through the screen of my smart tv… I knew immediately NOT to listen. My soul would cringe… and so using the technology at hand I quickly pushed the mute button. It was even difficult to watch her face as she mutedly spoke her truth.