Tag Archives: society

Sacred Ground

Fiercely I protect
the place within
that cradles my
brightest dreams
and deepest truths,
that precious locus,
where my soul
whispers wisdom
of lessons learned,
eternally echoing
across all of time.

My heartaches,
and yes, heartbreaks,
over many lifetimes
hammered and
tempered the line,
beyond which now
none are allowed
to trample upon,
or desecrate my
hard won ground, my
sanctuary inviolate.

Caves are Sacred

And this is a repost from August 1, 2021, on preserving your own inner sacred ground:

Today I tip my hat to the wisdom of men, and one in particular who taught me (with much head bashing on my part) that “caves are sacred”.

Do you have a designated place where you can go to claim a quiet interlude, far away from the fray and anger of the world? Our modern world is always a noisy place, but the volume got turned up full blast in 2020. The mental discouragement and emotional processing of negativity just feel like too much to bear some days.

People often equate the word sacred with church, but have you considered that the term should encompass protecting your own internal landscape? If you do not honor and protect your own peace of mind, if you do not recognize that it comes first and foremost, sooner or later the current craziness of life will take its toll.

If you have not already done so, establish a sacred place where you can find some quiet and cultivate peace within yourself, where you can hear your own voice.

I have noticed that men (at least the ones I have known) are particularly good at this. They call it “going to my cave”. When the big problems feel overwhelming, going to a quiet place and working in solitude on a smaller solvable project allows them a) time to process their thoughts, and b) restores their sense of mastery over their environment. They emerge feeling more in balance.

On a humorous note, a girl friend’s husband emerged from his cave on one of my visits, sporting a T-shirt that read, “What happens in the shop stays in the shop”.

Hmm… It did make me wonder what exorcisms those walls have seen.

“Your sacred place is where you can find yourself, over and over again. ~ Joseph Campbell

Rejuvenate

When city voids me,
I flee to garden refuge.
Hummingbird dances.

Happy

True, real, enduring,
happiness is being at peace
with who we are.

Sacred Ground, Rejuvenate, and Happy are excerpts from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life.

The haikus are also included in my Hart Haiku Vol. 1 collection from my original blog. A collection of the 100 best on photo art cards, it is for sale here.

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All writings © Susan L Hart 2024

Humanity’s Dance

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Humanity’s a
wallflower, sidelined,
waiting for a dance.

Worn shoes, shabby frock,
her sad eyes have seen too much.
“Who would dance with that?”

The crowd parties on,
make-busy taking selfies,
tries to ignore her.

She’s irritating,
that girl waiting for her chance,
hoping for a dance.

Overindulgence,
the laughter now rings hollow,
the clock strikes brittle.

Someone looks over,
overcome by compassion,
can bear it no more.

Extending their hand,
Humanity stands to dance.
(Crowd’s silent snicker.)

Slowly, gracefully,
wisdom learned, eons shine in
Humanity’s moves.

The tired crowd watches.
Perhaps there’s something to that
girl who wants to dance.

Mesmerized, new thoughts
energize the soul-weary,
move them to the floor.

Humanity’s dream!
She just wanted the chance to
teach them how to dance.

Humanity’s Dance is from Humanity’s Lament: Poetry for Our Times. | Download it free.

Eternally

Just a Stone’s Throw Away

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Our love was
so strong that
we were just
a stone’s throw
from reconciliation,

but the stones
already slung had
so badly broken
the glass house
of our trust that

fragments seeded
a stone wall over
which no stone
could ever be
thrown again.

We were so close,
and yet so far.

Stone’s Throw © Susan L Hart 2024

Recently a friend posted her dismay that she had been attacked for being too nice. That’s right, too nice! I suppose the world has arrived at a place where we must always choose a side, no matter the issue. If you’re too nice, clearly you’re not on the side of the haters.

Beginning in 2020, suddenly we were deluged with extreme fear over disease. But the worst disease of all may extinguish humanity in its entirety, if we don’t put a stop to it.

The disease is called “my ego need to be right”. As long as we force each other to choose sides and then attack each other for those choices, there will never be any meeting ground for healing and building. We will constantly be stuck in a state of tearing down, doomed in a fatal downward spiral to a black void.

Imagine a time in future when aliens visit Earth, a beautiful place lush with flora and fauna, but strangely void of other life forms. And in their exploration of this lovely planet, they come upon a huge headstone that reads, “Here lies Humanity. Sadly, they killed each other with their need to be right”.

Personally this is not a future vision that I want to see manifest. As the poet Rumi said,

“Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.”

Yes, we could make the choice to create a meeting place. Imagine everyone with a unified commitment to constantly see, evaluate, and discuss many points of view, without judgement or a need to “have it all my way” or attack.

It would be a beginning… We’re just a stone’s throw away from getting it right. But first we must stop throwing stones at each other.

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Is Our Love Enough?

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“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.” ~ Carl Sagan

Think about it. Has the Earth ever been without conflict between one faction and another? This jewel of a planet is a prize, but to whom? Do we honestly think it is merely humans that want possession of it? Or is there a much bigger story unfolding than we imagine? Is full possession of human beings also the ultimate prize for the power hungry?

When you think of human, do you think humans are capable of the sort of cruelty that you see before your very eyes? Perhaps a few, but most human beings do not wake up in the morning thinking, “Gee, I think it would be a really great idea to destroy people in another country today”. We simply don’t. We’re thinking about our work, our families, how to build a life within all of this madness. We love. And there’s the crucial difference. We love.

It’s our love for our families, our love of life that keeps us sane and going. But will love sustain us through all of this forever? I suppose in the higher realms, yes. But what about here on Earth, right now? While madmen are threatening each other with atomic weapons, and building robots that they hope will overtake human civilization, how do we factor into the equation? To those “inhumans”, we are mere cannon fodder in the pursuit of their domination.

Carl Sagan was right. We are too caught up in the minutiae of our lives, and not paying attention to the bigger drama unfolding before us. Yes, I think our love has the power to save us, but not in some fairy tale, Pollyanna way. Spiritual warriors love, yes, but they are also prepared to defend and protect that which they cherish.

Choosing to turn a blind eye to the potential devastation nuclear war could wreak is complicity on the part of humanity, and one we can ill afford. There is a very good word, it’s a very short and powerful one, but very underused. That word is “No”.

Divided We Fall

“Together we stand,
divided we fall”,
a lofty premise
that has never
really taken hold,
at least not with
humanity.

See how easily
we are divided
by self-serving
leaders and media
who know how
to manipulate
our fears.

“Sticks and stones
may break my bones,
but names will
never hurt me”,
a child’s retort
for behavior we
never outgrew.

See how easily
we label and
judge each other
with broad stroke
assumptions and
misperceptions,
rolled into hate.

We can blame
the leaders if we
want to, but,
we need to look
at the behavior
we accept
and perpetuate.

From Humanity’s Lament: Poetry for Our Times. Download it free.

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