The life-raft

 Some thoughts, starting with waking.

We're all in life rafts.

What if there's a leak in my/our raft?

OK, deal with the feeling, go back to the image.

Patch is needed. Much as all my medical issues - some of which have patches, some just lead to bailing the water, so I don't drown. With lungs my primary week link I think drowning is likely as a legitimate worry.

Then I realize my skin represents my raft...somewhat impervious to the environment, it allows me to float along in this sea of life.

Mmmm, I'm my own life raft.

My nebulizer each day is a saline solution, which is like the salt in the ocean, in our blood. It helps clear out mucous, and my sinuses benefit first...along with coughing which is good in this case. The air in my small apartment is then saturated for about half an hour. I have a couple of medicines which I can also inhale. They don't seem to change my ability to breathe, so I just do them and wonder if they are really helping. (I'll check with my pulmonologist again in a week.) I now have an air-purifier which has different colored lights indicating when the saline and other chemicals have been cleared from the air.

I'm also looking forward to that doctor's visit to obtain his opinion of the CT scan I had last week of my lungs. The Bronchiectasis leaves damage, as well as pneumonia which I had last year in September. I want to see what my lung-status is now before I can consider some major changes in my life.

 sometimes this is the feeling I have

The feeling I want to have

Listening to stars

 

 “In The Lost World of the Kalahari, Laurens van der Post writes about living among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert and describes how shocked they were that he couldn’t hear the stars.

At first they thought he must be joking or lying. When they realized he really couldn’t hear the stars, they concluded he must be very ill and expressed great sorrow. For the Bushmen knew anyone who can’t hear nature must have the gravest sickness of all"

Have you watched "The Gods Must be Crazy" lately. I think I'm going to look for it now. I need to see this perspective on life again.

Considering my Online Life

Some interesting things to consider, thanks to  "Online Rhythms" Slowing Down the Quick-Step of Social Media, by Eline Kieft's Substack newsletter, which she announced she's dropping for now.

Reflections for Living Well with Digital Time

When you are online…

1. Before you open an app or your inbox, take a moment to tune in what you are actually looking for in that moment. Distraction is fine, but usually not so nourishing…

2. What happens in your body while you are scrolling, reading or replying? Check your breath, jaw, shoulders, eyes, chest and your emotions.

3. Do you stop when you have had enough, or do you keep going out of habit, fear of missing something, or because you’re engrossed without realising?

4. Afterwards, does it feel like you found what you were looking for? More spacious, alive and connected, or… more drained, frustrated or fearful?

Applying the Archetypes

1. What kind of content inspires and nourishes you? Call on the distinguishing energy of The Warrior, who protects what is sacred. Say no to what you don’t want. Only invite what feels live-giving.

2. What happens if you let unread posts or messages accumulate without turning that into a story about failure or lack of discipline? Call on The Healer if you need to re-weave a story.

3. Whose rhythms are you really living inside, and what kind of rhythm would feel more truthful for you right now? Call on the Mystic, who bridges times and worlds, and who knows all is connected, also when you aren’t online!

4. If you were choosing your online life for nourishment rather than visibility, productivity or consumption, what would you do differently this week? Call on the energy of the Mother for nurturing creation.

------------------

My comments as I copied this, wanting to consider it further...

I have to concentrate beforehand to find the thing I want to accomplish...to add something, to find something, to express something. 

I often do become aware of my body when reading on line...usually to protect my eyes from sunlight on the side which triggers migraines. Today I became aware of how I hold my mouth.

I'm definitely engrossed, and enjoying reading here. Blogs provide not only windows into others' lives, but sometimes they comment on my blog, and then I can reply if there's something interesting said. This has allowed it to become social media for me.

On the other hand, I read Facebook for more news stories, videos, and keeping track of several interests...like the Buddhist Monks Walk for Peace. There I am much more careful what I read.

Most of the time I do feel more connected, inspired, and educated when I move away from the internet.

-----------------

I'll consider the Archetypes in the future.

Tonantzin - Our Lady of Guadalupe

Here's a wonderful description of this Goddess turned Madonna. In  Mexico, and much of the United States wherever Hispanic people live, this story is well known. December 12 is her feast day. Her images are depicted with her standing on  a crescent moon, with Juan Diego raising his hands in celebration  of the miracle of roses that she gifted him to have her sacred temple rebuilt.

Catholics have carried forward the stories of goddesses by continuing them as Saints in their own rituals...as this one indicates.

**The Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe ** **December 12** **

The Story of Tonantzin-Guadalupe

** **by Licha Witcha** **

Each section is to be read before a decade of the rosary, for 15 decades in all*

1. In the history of the indigenous people of Mesoamerica, there is a Mother who is so great that life is impossible without her. She is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. And while is she is known by many exalted names, she is also simply called Tonantzin, “Our Mother.” This is Tonantzin’s story—when she became known as Guadalupe.

2. The most powerful titles are reserved for her. She is: Mother of the Gods Mother of the Giver of Life Mother of the Lord of the Near and Far Mother of Heaven and Earth .

3. In 1521, Spanish conquistadores invaded the lands that are now known as Mexico. The Spanish invasion was brutal and decimated the indigenous population. Not only did the Spanish invade with the intention of taking control of natural resources and land, but they strove for complete cultural domination. Within decades innumerable plant and animals species disappeared into extinction. A hundred million would be left dead on the American continent. Outside of present-day Mexico City, the Spanish encountered the temple of Tonantzin on the sacred hill of Tepeyac. They demolished the temple, leaving only rubble. The soldiers killed the bodies of the people, the priests tried to kill their soul.

4. In December 1531, ten years after the Spanish invasion, a Mexica man named Cuauhtlatoatzin (whose name meant “Talking Eagle”) walked near the hillside where Tonantzin’s temple once stood. Through Christian baptism under Spanish rule, the man had been renamed Juan Diego. That day, on his morning walk, Cuauhtlatoatzin heard the voices of many birds singing from a nearby hilltop. The songs suddenly ended, and in the silence that followed a voice called out his name.

5. Juan climbed to the top of the hill and there met a beautiful young woman whose clothing shone with the radiance of the sun. She immediately put the young man at ease. Juan was so moved by the tenderness of the lady. He asked if she had a request of him. *

6.* The lady asked Cuauhtlatoatzin to travel to the Spanish Bishop and instruct him to rebuild her temple at Tepeyac, her sacred hillside. “*There I will listen to the cries and lamentations of your people, in order to cure all their various pains, miseries, and sorrows,” she said.*

7. Juan pointed out the futility of the request, but the lady sent him on his way. He made two attempts to convince the Bishop, but he was not believed. For a Mexica man to approach the Spanish Bishop with such a request would be an act of unimaginable courage.

8. On the third day, Juan’s uncle was gravely ill and dying. Juan was desperate to find a holy man to help his uncle. Concerned that he might be detained by the lady’s request again, he took a different route around her hillside. He tried to avoid her! Despite his efforts, the Lady intercepted him on his journey. After all, how could he ever be lost to her? Juan urgently explained that he could not fulfill her request and that he needed to tend to his dying uncle.

9. The lady assured Juan that she had already cured his uncle. She then calmed him with these words: *Am I not here, who am your Mother?* *Are you not under my shadow and protection?* *Am I not the fountain of life?* *Are you not in the folds of my mantle—in the crossing of my arms?* *Is there anything else you need?*

10.She asked him to make one last trip to the Bishop and gave him an armful of roses miraculously growing in the dead of a dry winter. She instructed him to deliver the roses to the Bishop and to ask the Bishop to build her temple. Juan filled his tilma—or outer robe—with the roses.

11.Juan went back to the Bishop the third time and waited all day to be seen. He was finally granted an audience. When he entered the chambers, he dropped the roses at the Bishop’s feet. As the roses fell to the ground, the Bishop dropped to his knees, as did all the other men in the Bishop’s company. There, on Juan Diego’s tilma, was the image of the Lady herself—just as she had looked when she was speaking to him.

12.In the twentieth century researchers were able to magnify the eyes of the Lady in the Tilma. Although their dimensions are microscopic, the iris and the pupils present the highly detailed images of 13 people. The same people are present in the left eye and the right, with different ratios, just as images are transmitted by human eyes. The reflection transmitted through the eyes of the Virgin of Guadalupe is thought to be the scene in which Juan Diego brought the flowers given him by Our Lady as a sign to Bishop Zumarraga, on December 9, 1531.

13.The Lady’s instructions were followed by the bishop. The temple was built for her on the hillside of Tepeyac. Later, a larger basilica was built near Tepeyac. Nearly 500 years later, the original tilma worn by Juan Diego with the Lady’s image, remains intact and on display at the basilica. Every year, the basilica is visited by over 20 million people. They are there to see the Lady. The shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world.

14.The sash around Our Lady of Guadalupe’s waist indicates that she is with child – one of the rare depictions of the mother of God as pregnant. She appears pregnant reminding us that life will continue even at this moment when it seems unlikely, if not impossible. The genocide and ecocide that began with the European conquest of the Americas continues to this day and brought on the sixth extinction of life on this planet. But the mother will find a way to birth new life into the world.

15.The Catholic church gave the lady the name Guadalupe. They named her after a Black Madonna worshipped in Spain. The name stuck, yet the people of Mexico recognized her as their own. Regardless of name, she was their Great Mother. When Mexicans battled for their independence from Spain, they carried images of Tonantzin Guadalupe on their banners. The Mother of all Mothers had not disappeared. She was still the one whose roots extended deep into the land, living proof that she was alive and never abandons her children. She was not destroyed when the Spaniards flattened her temple. She had returned. She is here.

Thanks to Linda Heisel from FB page The Way of the Rose

 

This person's thoughts after a dream

 I think it's the stop sign of death.

The falling off the cliff of life.

Nothingness.

So how do I deal with it? Think about it? Feel emotional about nothing?

I have a new sense perhaps from my recent dream. In it I saw my son Marty carry a huge stack of magazines and newspapers from a coffee table out of the house. That was it. I had spoken with him earlier the evening before. But that was just about as much reality as the dream had. I have no coffee table. I have no magazines or newspapers.

But I have thoughts of how my family will have the burden of clearing out my apartment after I die.

I have only that emotional sense of duty, to try to do more to lessen that burden.

But this morning, as I felt again the dream, I realized my after-life (whatever it might be or not be) is actually also something besides that  last burden to my family. It's not final. The stop happens. Then I can continue on whatever road might be before me.

So I've got more choices after death.

Of course they (these choices) are all in the same imagination of my day to day life now. But it gives me something more to consider than the dread "final arrangements." Which I haven't made yet.

See Robertson's nice piece about his life as an Elder which I just posted earlier.

A few years ago, Marty and myself in St. Petersburg, FL

An Elder speaks

 From my friend Robertson Work - his Substack post

An Elder Awakens on an Autumn Day

Relieving suffering by embracing impermanence and interbeing

Robertson Work

Nov 03, 2025

(painting deleted)

I am suffering and aware of suffering. I know that this is true for all sentient beings, but this is my suffering. I also know that “my” includes everyone and everything.

At eighty-one, I am experiencing loss, loss of friends and family members due to death, illness, or lack of contact, loss of some of my mental and physical capacities, as well as the loss of a country and world which I have loved and have come to understand.

My ego, identity, and pride are under assault. I have always seen myself as strong, capable, caring, and hopeful. Now I am experiencing weakness, limitations, grief, and depression.

This is all natural and to be expected but is also new and disorienting. How can I accept and embrace these changes and transformations? What can I do to care for myself and others at this time in my life and the life of humanity and planet Earth?

I can accept and embrace these changes by contemplating the realities of impermanence and interbeing. Everything is in a state of perpetual arising, changing, falling apart, returning, and transforming. Everything embodies, and is interconnected with, everything else.

I can recall what I am grateful for at this moment. I am grateful to be living with my wise, loving wife, being near my children and grandchildren, living with kind neighbors, having a body and mind that are still active. I am grateful to be writing to you, and caring for family, neighbors, and friends.

Something is awakening in me. Have I been arrogant? Have I believed that taking compassionate actions justifies ones existence? What is karma? What is “just being?” What is it to love being alive just as it is as an unearned gift? For now, I can still keep writing, waking up, and taking actions. Gratitude.

Throughout my life, I have tried to be useful. Having the family name “Work” has been a symbol of what my life was about. Now that I am no longer facilitating, consulting, training, giving policy advice, traveling, managing projects and organizations, teaching grad students, giving keynotes, and making podcasts, who am I? I have not walked the dog for six months.

I used to say that when I could no longer be useful, then it is time to let go of this life. Is that still true? I did not ask to be born, to struggle, and to die. What a mystery this life is! How can I live each moment in gratitude and humility?

Am I narcissistic? Am I jealous of others wealth and fame which I have never sought? How do I care for myself as the unique being that I am? How can this “I” care for others?

Why am I often in despair? Did the heart ablation traumatize my body? Is it that my writing is not flowing? Is it that I am not sure about publishing my 114 new essays? Is it the cold weather with winter coming? Is it the uncertainties around the neighborhood workshop?

Is it my tiredness, floaters, difficulties balancing and walking, not getting out of the house much, not being with other people often, not having a lot to look forward to, worrying about BMT’s health, uncertainty about our future location, the harm being carried out by a fascist oligarchy, my belly, my old face, knowing that aging will continue, that climate disasters will increase, and that death awaits?

I am happy being with BMT, being with son Christopher and his family, staying in touch with son Benjamin, being able to see and hear, being with Chickabee the cat, being at home, being in touch with friends, posting on social media and Substack, having some income, savings, and a house, having caring neighbors, having a career serving people around the world, having five published books and contributions to thirteen other books, having no atrial fibrillation for one month, the daily shining of the sun-star, and anticipations of the coming of spring.

I can embrace and accept the real as the good. I can embrace impermanence and interbeing. I can learn how to suffer less. I can let go of ego, pride, jealousy, craving, and attachments. I can create new initiatives of thinking, creativity, and caring. I can continue to wake up.

Disasters of climate change and oligarchy are waking many people up around the country and the world. We the People are being called to create compassionate, ecological communities, networks, nations, and planetary society.

We can care for each other and for all ecosystems of water, air, soil, fungi, plants, and animals. We can vote and help get out the vote (GOTV). We can contact our representatives. We can write, speak, and organize for social justice and democracy. We can get food to the hungry. We can call for peace in Sudan, Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and around this world.

After the bleakness and dying of winter, spring will appear with new life, new colors, and new hope.

Let us continue to awaken in truth, love, and humility. Let us overcome vertigo with calm, confidence, and patience.

May it be so."

Carlos, myself, Hannah and Robertson at Earth Day celebration 2024

On life and death - consider this

 A video with things to consider...

The Egg Story by Andy Weir Animated by Kurzgesagt A Big Thanks to Andy Weir for allowing us to use his story. The original was released here: http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/thee... Visit his website here: http://www.andyweirauthor.com/