MIRACLE FAIR
The commonplace miracle:
that so many common miracles take place.
The usual miracles:
invisible dogs barking
in the dead of night.
One of many miracles:
a small and airy cloud
is able to upstage the massive moon.
Several miracles in one:
an alder is reflected in the water
and is reversed from left to right
and grows from crown to root
and never hits bottom
though the water isn't deep.
A run-of-the-mill miracle:
winds mild to moderate
turning gusty in storms.
A miracle in the first place:
cows will be cows.
Next but not least:
just this cherry orchard
from just this cherry pit.
A miracle minus top hat and tails:
fluttering white doves.
A miracle (what else can you call it):
the sun rose today at three fourteen a.m.
and will set tonight at one past eight.
A miracle that's lost on us:
the hand actually has fewer than six fingers
but still it's got more than four.
A miracle, just take a look around:
the inescapable earth.
An extra miracle, extra and ordinary:
the unthinkable
can be thought.
~ Wislawa Szymborska ~
We must turn inward and destroy in ourselves all that we think we ought to destroy in others.
Etty Hillesum
An Interrupted Life
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The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
- Barbara Kingsolver
Ritual is the conversion of essences into acts.
from Kaddish
by Leon Wieseltier
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.
Vaclav Havel
The trouble with the profit system has always been that it is highly unprofitable to most people.
E.B. White
When we truly discover love, capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary.
Will O'Brien
"What's the sign of someone knowing God?"
Dear, they have dropped the knife, the cruel knife they use upon themselves and others.
Hafiz
The way that can be described is not the way.
Lao-Tsu
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Greetings!
This Sunday I have the privilege of giving the message from the platform at the beautiful Unity Center in San Diego. Some of you know this as giving the sermon from the pulpit. Others know it as delivering the homily from the altar. In essence, it's the opportunity to crystallize one big thought into a story in which others can find themselves. It's to stand in front of a group of people and be a mirror to their own light, so that when they leave they have a deeper understanding of their own truth and beauty. Tony DeMello, the great Jesuit retreat director, once said that "the only way someone can help you is in challenging your ideas." It was his belief that our ideas don't need to be fixed, they need to be understood. If we understand them, they'll change.
So I'm doing a talk called Calling God Home to challenge our ideas about our relationship to the Divine. The spiritual shift of these times, at least in my experience, is the shift from the transcendent to the immanent, a shift in our sensibility of the Creator from up there, out there to in here, of me. As Catherine of Siena put it, "All the way to heaven is heaven." If you tried to find heaven with your GPS, it would probably keep repeating "you have arrived at your destination." Same with the Divine in all regards. There is nowhere else we need to go, nothing more we need to know, just the awareness that the All is in the one, the Whole is in this part, the Beloved is in this body.
The other day when I was scrambling around trying to find my keys, a friend was there watching me in stress mode going from room to room in the big search. I finally found them and a resounding "Thank you God!" echoed out of my bedroom. Her one question when I returned, "Would you have thanked God like that if you hadn't found your keys?" A great question and I'm still thinking about it.
I'm back to the lake and Muse Lodge in the fall for a great photo retreat (there's one opening left) and a sketching workshop by the brilliant teacher Jane LaFazio. Lots of wonderful workshops coming up in the Midwest, the Northeast and here in sunny southern CA. If you can't get to any of these, email me and we'll make something happen in your community.
Love and light to you all,
Jan
P.S. Here's the sign my brother made...
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 Upcoming Jan Phillips Workshops
Sept 4, Springfield, IL 9-3 pm
The Art of Original Thinking - Connecting the Dots Between Creativity, Commerce and Higher Consciousness
Friday, September 5, 2008 - 6pm to 9pm Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 8am to 4pm Retreat
Tools for Transformation-Creativity, Spirituality and Social Change (weekend retreat)
Please contact Sister Marilyn Jean Runkel at Info@CreatingANewWorldNow.org or 217-787-0481 ext 5108. More info
September 7, 2008 Springfield, IL
The Art and Soul of Transformation
12-4 pm_Rev. Leslie Bradshaw; Unity Church of Springfield, IL
unityofspringfield@sbcglobal.net; 217-523-5897
Sept 19-20 House Springs, Missouri
Tools of Transformation:
The Word, the Image, the Story
Rockhaven Ecozoic Center; 7621 Rivermont Trail
call 636-375-3159,contact jan@rockhavencenter.org
More info
September 25-28 Reboot and Shoot Photography Workshop, Lake Bonaparte, NY (90 miles north of Syracuse, NY) only 1 slot left; 858-571-1417; Limited to 6 people; lots of shooting and editing assistance; a beautiful time to photograph fall in the Adirondacks!
More info
New Workshop at Muse Lodge!
October 4-5, 2008 Adirondacks in the Fall: Sketching and Watercolor in your Personal Journal
If you've always wanted to learn how to draw or sketch, you couldn't have a better teacher than Jane Lafazio. You'll go away amazed at how talented you really are!
Taught by Jane LaFazio Email Jane at plainjanestudio@earthlink.net, More info on Jane
October 17-19 Facilitator Training in San Diego-for
people who are ready to start leading their own workshops:
what you need to know to harvest your wisdom, identify and attract
your audience, get paid for your expertise; expand your circle; live
more creatively. $475. Register early-limitied to six participants. contact jan@janphillips.com
October 25, San Diego, CA- Getting Past Your Writer's Block Once and For All;
Saturday 9-5 pm $85 (includes lunch) a workshop to help you dissolve your obstacles, awaken your genius, and bring your writer's voice out of hibernation.
jan@janphillips.com for details.
November 7-9 Reboot and Shoot Photography Workshop in San Diego
· experience the healing power of photography
· expand your photo-creativity
· learn what you need to know about shutter speeds
and aperture controls
· improve your framing, composing and editing skills
· get feedback on your current body of work
Friday evening through Sunday afternoon-$295. 858-571-1417, or email jan@janphillips.com to register
NEW CLASS FOR WRITERS! San Diego (Clairemont)
November 4-December 9, 6:30-9 pm
Getting Your Story Straight-Turning Memories Into Memoir
This is a 6 week class that will provide you with the tools you need for transforming your life experiences into a memoir that will be exciting to write, useful to read, and ready to market. $295, call 858-571-1417 or jan@janphillips.com to rgister
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Because the pelicans circle and dive, the fish
Because the cows are fat, the rains
Because the tree is heavy with pears, the earth
Because the woman grows thin, the heart
Jane Hirshfield
The Lives of the Heart
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Wheelchair dancing is now available in California! Absolutely DanceSport Dance Studio, located in Mission Hills, has received certification from American Dance Wheels Foundation, to teach physically challenged individuals how to do Ballroom and Latin dancing!
The physical benefits of wheelchair dancing is to assist with the maintenance of physical balance, flexibility, range of motion, coordination, and to enhance respiratory control. The psychological effects of ballroom dancing is social interaction and the development of relationships. For information about available programs contact: William Valencia, Absolutely DanceSport (619) 379-2200 or visit our websites:
For more info
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