According to an ancient Jewish mystical legend the world will continue to exist as long as there are a minimum of thirty-six people who recognize the Divine Presence (Shekinah) in all things, and respond unconditionally with compassion to the suffering of others. They are called Lamed Vavs because the numerology for the Hebrew letters Lamed and Vav equals 36.
These Lamed Vavs are wellsprings of lovingkindness, pouring goodness and compassion upon the world. It is said that if at any time there are fewer than thirty-six such people, the world would implode under the weight of human greed, ignorance, selfishness, and anger.
The intriguing twist is that nobody knows who they are. They themselves don't even know. They are called "hidden saints"—hidden to themselves and to others. Some say they need not be the same thirty-six people at all times. You, me, any one of us, at any moment, might be one of these thirty-six upon whom the world depends. And so it calls us to act as though we are.
I bow to the ground in gratitude for the life and work of the monumental spiritual leader and paragon of peace Thich Nhat Hahn, whose bodily form passed at the age of 95.
His words, his actions, his earth-walking, gentle, fearless, poetic presence, have been extraordinary teachers to me and countless others. He transformed philosophy into poetry, complexity into profundity.
Many years ago, when first reading Being Peace, I came across this indelible sentence: "Interbeing: If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper."
He breathed with the world.
One day a young man on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he ponders for hours how to cross such a wide barrier.
Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue the journey he sees a great sage on the other side of the river. The young man yells over to the sage, “Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river”?
The sage ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, “My child, you are on the other side”.
Nature Empty
(of hard edges and self-validating absolutes)
Everything Pure, Naturally Pure
(no matter how clouded the view)
This is what I Am
(no matter how deep the forgetting)
Happy New Year
Let Us Be the Light We Are
Acceptance is a quality of being I've been contemplating quite a bit in recent times. Reflecting on the transformative nature of acceptance, an experience with my father came to mind.
In 2010, the last year of my father’s life, he was hospitalized several times in close succession. One night after we brought him home from one of these hospitalizations, and got him into bed, I was alone in the room with him. Kneeling next to the bed my heart full with the grief of what I sensed was a nearing loss of him, I lay my head on his chest. He placed his warm hand on my back.
We were silent.
After some time he spoke. “We’re lucky because we know how to accept things.”
Yes, I thought, my father's acceptance of his life as it is, and not his circumstances which were quite difficult, is why he felt lucky.
He included me as one of the lucky ones, though I wasn't sure I had earned it.
But that moment deepened my aspiration to be lucky no matter what.
I had a wide-ranging interview/conversation with Richard Whittaker of Works and Conversations and Pavi Mehta of the Daily Good a few months back. The transcribed interview is now available on both their sites. Although the interview is the same, I share both links below so that if you're not aware of these portals, you have an opportunity to explore both.
https://www.dailygood.org/story/2824/aura-glaser-a-moment-of-beauty-richard-whittaker/
https://www.conversations.org/story.php?sid=701
rainbow body irises,
enfold me in
a velvet embrace.
we meet,
we touch,
we fathom.
subtle emanations
coming and going—
a melody of unwavering space.
(The name Iris originating from the Greek for Rainbow inspired this verse)
