The Lark Ascending

When you are overcome by visual beauty, it can take your breath away. People say that it was "breathtaking." But when you are overcome by aural beauty, it may actually give you breath - to fly  upwards or soar.  This must be the feeling closest to love. Listen to "The Lark Ascending" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Does it not make you admire the beauty in this world - nature, music, the sky and the gorgeous birds - even more?

   
 The lark sings as it flies, unlike most other birds, who only sing when perched. Its song symbolizes hope and good fortune.


Shakespeare wrote about the lark at the break of day in Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,—and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
    For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
    That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 

This sonnet has been set to music by Rufus Wainwright. His version is very refreshing and powerful.

Two Acorns

"He planted an acorn on the spot where she first said,  'Yes'."  (from the movie "The Big Wedding.")

  In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono planted two acorns for peace at England's Coventry Cathedral, then mailed additional acorns to a variety of leaders with a letter reading, "Enclosed in this package we are sending you two living sculptures - which are acorns - in the hope that you will plant them in your garden and grow two oak-trees for world peace."
   John Lennon wrote about the acorns in the Beatles song "The Ballad of John and Yoko."  Now Yoko has released  a book called "Acorn", a collection of thought provoking short messages,  that illuminate life, like Haiku.

  Imagine if you planted two acorns on the spot where you first met your true love. Perhaps, years from now you would see the beauty, strength, and love in every leaf and branch. That oak tree would be a perfect symbol of your love.

Farmer Creates Heart-Shaped Meadow

Love Is

Almost three years ago, an 18 year-old Rutger's college student named Tyler Clementi  committed suicide, a victim of cyberbullying and homophobia. Rutgers today is a much different campus with supportive dorm living for LGBT students and a group of student allies called Rainbow Perspectives. There is also a Tyler Clementi Foundation to provide students with education against ignorance.
     To live in this world you need to have a philosophy. Philosophy means love of wisdom.
Plato 's philosophy on love was this:
   Plato talks about three levels of pleasure.  First is sensual or physical pleasure, of which sex is a great example.  A second level is sensuous or esthetic pleasure, such as admiring someone’s beauty, or enjoying one’s relationship in marriage.  But the highest level is ideal pleasure, the pleasures of the mind.  Here the example would be Platonic love, intellectual love for another person unsullied by physical involvement.

   Wisdom eventually gives us the knowledge that all  humans are created equal and that love is universal and a form of self-realization, that is, you create it... Listen to this poem called "Love's Philosphy" by Percy Byssse Shelley and the song below:

I will go with you where stone meets the ocean
I will go with you when the moon is high
When the night is still and you reach to find me
I will go with you

I will be with you as the dawn is breaking
I will be with you in the morning light
Hold you in my arms, feel you lie beside me
I will be with you

In the hush of my voice
In the touch of my hand
In the salt of my tears andLove is

I will stand with you in this hour of witness
I will stand with you with an open heart
Trusting in this love, all we are creating
I will stand with you

                                                  ("Love Is" by Emma's Revolution)

All I Need

    

"How can you really love somebody when you're dependent on them for things you need? That isn't love, that's just manipulation to keep the needed stuff coming your way."  ~Michael Crichton

  If you think about what you really need in this life, it should be simple desires. The songwriter/singer/actor Tituss Burgess (above) makes that clear and moving. What are your simple desires?
For me, I  guess you could say to be with the one I love, sitting in a room, holding hands and watching the homemade "friendship brownies" disappear. Calmly sitting and focusing on your own breath, peace and quiet, and your simple needs can help to not only relieve stress, but also improve brain function and emotional health. 
    And God Almighty, who had everything, first planted a garden. When you are in love, your creativity needs no other inspiration. You make your special garden, and love grows and flows from you.

Nothing Changes Love

                                    Kaori Kobayashi (sax) - Nothing's Going To Change My Love For You

                                                        I Don't Want Anything to Change   


     Change is inevitable. Our hair turns gray, people can drift apart and love changes across the years.
But these two songs wish for the impossible. They are each beautiful in their own way. It would be nice to believe these words.
  And yet, as Diane Ackerman said, if hearts are wedded, then nothing can change, not stroke, not age, not fear of loss. Maybe these musicians are right after all.

Magic and Love

In the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Harry was once told by his Potions master Horace Slughorn, "that there is no spell that can create actual love".
But Harry Potter doesn't need to turn to magic to have his heart stolen as he falls in love the first time with the girl of his dreams. Harry is called "the boy who lived". He lives  because his mother sacrifices her life to save her son. Anybody with the ability to love cannot go down the path of evil.
    Since magic is depicted as a natural force that can be used to override the usual laws of nature, love is like magic. Fortunately, you do not need to be a witch or a wizard to find love. Even non-magical Muggles can create it. You just have to be willing to let the forces of nature collide, so that  you and the other person will fit together.

Heart on the Mountain

"The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed."  ~Krishnamurti


   In the summer, the mountains offer a peaceful coolness and calmness from the heat. The beauty of the mountain lets us remember the love that has transformed our lives.  Listen to this mountain stage performance by Lucy Kaplansky called "Sleep Well"
Even a cold mountain in winter can elevate your delight. If you can't make it to the mountain , put a mountain of pillows under you and imagine Lucy is singing you to sleep. Sleep well and remember the extraordinary love you have been given.
    

Make It Beautiful

Some people make this place on earth beautiful. They paint, create a garden, they write, invent, they sing.

When you walk in the room, do you make the day more beautiful? Blake Shelton sings and transforms a small room into something beautiful.

The spiritual teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan asks us to think of transforming a place into something beautiful. With his music he tried to harmonize the teachings of the East and West.

 Where would you start to make this place beautiful? Would it be your home, your job, or your community.

 Or would it be first within your own mind and heart?

Connecting Hearts

Flower Carrier -Diego Rivera

    In this painting by Diego Rivera, an abstract yellow band of cloth connects his heart to her heart. She is gentle and strong as she uses her body to try to ease some of his burden. 
  When you wake up in the morning, the world is new. It's a brand new day and if someone can ease your burden, isn't that the greatest measure of love.
   Perhaps some of the flowers will find their way to a dinner table for a couple out on a date. Maybe other flowers will be for a bridal bouquet or wrapped in an arrangement for a special occasion.
    Wouldn't it be great to imagine that your flowers were picked by this man and woman?
   I hope this loving couple sell all their fresh flowers.  Both are starting a new day and carrying a  heavy load can only be accomplished if you have a supportive partner.
    Enjoy this song by Joshua Radin called "Brand New Day".  It's a beautiful message about making a fresh start.

He Was My North

   I met an old woman today, who told me she has been a widow for 35 years. Somewhat, perfunctorily, and automatically, I said, "I'm sorry to hear that."
 She said, "So am I ."

  Is it possible that for some people, there is only one special person in this world for whom there is only one soulmate?

Certainly, in this elegy by W.H. Auden called "Stop All The Clocks", we feel that sense of loss when a loved one dies and also we feel lost, without direction, especially when the poet says:

   He was my North, my South, my East and West,
   My working week and my Sunday rest,
   My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
   I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

Everything beautiful in this world becomes meaningless when you lose a loved one. The grief is imponderable and time seems to stand still, because your memory stands still. You can listen to the poem being read aloud here

Stop all the clocks

                 W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

   If you have experienced the depth of that love, then it is not unimaginable that some will never marry again or love another person in the same way.  Listen also to Savage Garden's song about love that is forever.