Love and Humanity; Apathy and Dehumanization

Artwork by Delphina Raven,
lifeismymentor.com

They say love is a powerful thing. But…it’s becoming clear to me how few people actually really love, or know what love is, and most importantly, how fragile love also is. 

The pain of heartbreak is pretty much the only way for people to wake up to that realization, if they ever do; only after which can they hope to be diligent and disciplined to practice deliberately. Likely one of the saddest things in life. 

Hate and apathy are much easily accomplished than love. Trouble is, for some people, upon heartbreak, they descend into the pit of despair, hatred, or apathy. 

Love is also the strands that weave us together into a cohesive and mutually cooperative web of humanity via humanization. Hate and apathy dissolves that, via dehumanization. 

Into the Woods; Out of the Woods

Artwork Credit: Delphina Raven, lifeismymentor.com

Having gotten lost
And entangled 
Into the thickest of woods
Having to find the meandering but
Deliberate way out

Choosing the forward step
In one’s own Hero’s Journey
No matter how small…

Accompanied by, and 
Cultivated from within oneself:
Integrity
Truthfulness
Personal authenticity
Loyalty
Morality
Courtesy
Careful speech

Using one’s internal mirror
Cleaned often
To reflect 
To examine one’s own life
Often

Knowing one’s own shadows
And darkness in abyss
Come face to face
With evilness within
Each one of us

Calling forth from within oneself
The spear of:
Valour 
Right Action
Indefatigability
Vulnerabilities
Personal power
Benevolence 
Honour

With mastered emotionality
And ruled by reasons and logic
Get intimate with that malevolence
Within oneself
And combat that

Keep walking forward
No matter how small the steps 
Guided by one’s intuitive power animal
And one’s own North Star
No matter how obscured by the 
Dark clouds

You always have a
Choice
When embroiled in 
Unimaginable pain and 
Uncertainties

Move forward
Into purpose
Illumination
Harmony
Love
Living

Or move backward
Into misery
Stagnancy
Waste
Malevolence
Harm

There is always
The opportunity
To pause
And make the
Wise Choice
No matter how dire things seem to
Envelope you

The Choice
Your North Star
Reasons and Intuition
Seek within yourself
Always on the ready
At your command 

The Educated Heart

Photo Credit: Delphina Raven, Grand Mesa, CO, USA

An educated mind, without an educated heart, is a heartless and narcissistic menacing machine that manipulates, exploits, and tyrannizes. 

A heart that is truly educated from life experiences and daily practice, not merely wearing of a cloak or badge of empathy, is the real deal. 

It is what we do every day to nurture and foster in educating the heart that creates an outcome of an unpolluted, educated heart. Merely expecting that outcome is only a shell, a cloak, a badge, with zero substance, similarly to wearing an object or putting on an act merely serves as an empty symbolism of an empty heart full of mere weightless words. 

When the heart is truly full, such is the meaning of living mindfulness, because the origins of this word “mindfulness” come from the Chinese word, 念. The top component of the character means “fully in now”, and the bottom part means “heart”. In essence, mindfulness means “Heart fully in the Now”. In that vein, the mind is actually in the heart, not divorced from the heart. The heart is where love resides. 

When an educated heart is nurtured via daily practice, it won’t need grandstanding with moral superiority or a sense of righteousness or entitlement. Morals and ethics will simply be side effects or necessary consequences. Instead the educated mindful heart would be full of true and real humility, opening the path to true compassion. A truly compassionate and educated heart does not weaponize victimhood mindset, which in effect disempowers others; instead it continues to see people with different (and even opposing) viewpoints as human first, not dehumanize them, and it actually empowers the powerless. 

To continually nurture an educated heart is a daily practice in mindfulness. It is not for the lazy nor is it convenient or a wave of a magical wand. It is hard work. Everything that we do each day builds the groundwork for tomorrow, no matter what it is. So why not put a full heart into educating the mindful heart, toward building the web of humanity, instead of burning the bridges of humanity? 

Stepping Into the Unknown

Photo Credit: Delphina Raven, Balfour, BC, Canada

Stepping into the unknown
Through that crack of your psyche
Into the deep, dark abyss
Soon enough
You find that you are all
Alone

To find your way through
You find that you have to 
Dig deep
For that well of courage
Clarity
Stillness
Gentleness

When you do emerge
You’ve come face to face
With skeletons
Demons
Darkness
Shadows
That were hidden
But now familiar

Bit by bit
You invite them in
One at a time
To have that
Raw
Honest
Talk of revelation

And reach as much resolution
Understanding
And forgiveness
As you would 
And could allow

Until next time

Grab Life By the Horns

Photo Credit: Delphina Raven, Fletcher Falls, Kaslo, BC, Canada

Sometimes it takes
Aloneness to reflect
On the past—
Lessons, memories, pains, gains

To think and feel
To live and transform
Discard the spent
Embrace the growth

From darkness of abyss
You find
Blessings in disguise
Can’t find it? Look harder 

In stillness of the mind
Eased by spontaneous
And natural movement
Of the body

Bottomless pit of
Forgiveness
And love
Is discovered

Untethering
Non-attachment
Releasing 
Letting it all go 

Comes forth the greatest gift 
Freedom is tasted
Impermanence called life
So...hold onto
The greatest ride

Grab it by the horns

Reason Never Fails You

Reason, not Rationalization

Nurture Your Reason

Guard Your Reason

Reason Never Fails You

Fleeting Moment

Photo Credit: Delphina Raven, Harrop, BC, Canada

When the moon is bright, amongst scattered clouds
When the gentle breeze waltzes through the chilly autumn night 
You know that the rain and wind are coming tomorrow

And so right now, at this fleeting moment
I gaze at the ripples
Breaking up the icy moon in the water
Absorbed in the rhythm of the waves
Ebbs and flows

It is alive

And so am I

The Greatest Gift of Life

Photo Credit: Delphina Raven, Monica Meadows, Purcell Mountains, BC, Canada

The Greatest Gift of Life
Is the Magic of the
Multiverse planetary cosmos
The Blue Dot
Aka Mother Earth

In our relentless pursuit
For more of 
The materialistic and mechanistic
The pretension and incapability of playing Creator
Of the Dead and Undead

We forgot how to
Listen, Feel, Look, Sense, Breathe
The Magic, Mystery, and Meaningness of Life
That is within us
That surrounds us

We forgot our
Deep Connection via
Roots to the planet earth and Water of Life 
Beneath our bare feet
Reach to the Skies above our heads

We have divorced from
That Exquisite Balance of Mother Earth
Our Ultimate Teacher and Elder
While we burn in the Hell
Of our relentless, mindless pursuit for excess

Blind to the Ultimate Gift of Life
We are the walking blind
The walking dead
Obsessed with
Living within four walls of artificiality

Yet

It’s all there
If we dare to cultivate 
Humility
Open our eyes, ears, senses, mind
To connect deeply 

With the Greatest Gift of Life

Surprise, Surprise, Such is Life

The ticking clock is
About to strike
Midnight of the final day
Of yet another year

Out in the cold
Covered in white
Icy crystals
Fractal art of nature

Surrounded by
Old beings that
Have roots deep into hell of earth
And arms reaching into heaven of sky

Oh
The Silence of Snow
Intermittent with sound of skis sliding
On the white blanket of fractal crystals

A cabin at a distance
Inside, a warm fire glowing red
Thick white snow covering the roof
Smoke beckoning from the chimney

Here lies in wait the first surprise
The red lace embellishing
The warm glowing body
Under the thick white coat

Surprise, just awaiting
For the special one
To discover
And to be embraced

And comes the next surprise
Upon arriving at the cabin
There was no fire, no red, no warmth
But charred cold coals and dusty white ashes

Life is fleeting
Just when you begin to live and grasp life
It has already slipped
Through the trembling fingers

Gift of a Giving Heart

Photo Credit: Delphina Raven, Balfour, BC, Canada

A heart
No matter how brittle
How broken, how scarred
Somehow heals up

When she gives the gift
Of giving
Of nurturing
some more

At the same time that she gives
While the gift of giving
Is unwanted
It pains the most

Yet

When she stops giving
Is also when the heart
Breaks some more
And tears start flowing again

No amount of tears shed
No amount of self-rejection
No amount of self-depreciation
Can patch that up again

Until she gives the gift of a
Giving Heart
That it begins healing again
Creating the telltale scars

Hopefully received this time
And the gift of the giving heart
Heals the pain around
One earthling at a time