"Waging Peace" #22

Featuring William Stafford and Alicia Keys

Jan 30, 2024

REMINDER

Join me and a SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST
for a closing Zoom on February 1!

6:00-7:00PM Central (7:00 ET, 5:00 MT, 4:00 PT)

Let’s close “Waging Peace” with a time of voluntary sharing. (It’s fine just to listen!) Come and reflect with other Rafters on this Deep Dive.

Registration is required for this celebration.

(Note: Minimum of five people must have registered for the Refuge by midnight, January 31, in order for this Zoom to take place. Thanks!)

Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

Receive the music

Try to refrain from judging the music as “good” or “bad” or forming an “I like it” or “I don’t like it” opinion. For a few minutes, cultivate curiosity and openness. If resistance arises in you, be curious about that too.

Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading of the poem, perhaps with your eyes closed.

1×

0:00

-1:23

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published


A VALLEY LIKE THIS
William Stafford

Sometimes you look at an empty valley like this,
and suddenly the air is filled with snow.
That is the way the whole world happened—
there was nothing, and then . . .

But maybe some time you will look out and even
the mountains are gone, the world become nothing
again. What can a person do to help
bring back the world?

We have to watch it and then look at each other.
Together we hold it close and carefully
save it, like a bubble that can disappear
if we don’t watch out.

Please think about this as you go on. Breathe on the world.
Hold out your hands to it. When mornings and evenings
roll along, watch how they open and close, how they
invite you to the long party that your life is.


(from Poetry of Presence II)

Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

Reflect/write/create in response to this stem: “Breathe on the world your _______.”
The poet encourages us both to “help bring back the world” and to attend to “the long party” of our lives. What does this suggest about the spirit with which we might wage peace?

Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

Leave a comment on this post using the button. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment.)