One Billion Rising

Discover more at One Billion Rising.

Feb 14 – One Billion Rising

One Billion Rising on 40th Anniversary of Roe v Wade in San Francisco (Photo credit: Steve Rhodes)

Today, on the planet, a billion women – one of every three women on the planet – will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. That’s ONE BILLION mothers, daughters, sisters, partners, and friends violated. V-Day REFUSES to stand by as more than a billion women experience violence.

On February 14th, 2013, V-Day’s 15th Anniversary, we are inviting one billion women and those who love them to walk out, DANCE, RISE UP, AND DEMAND an end to this violence. One Billion Rising is a promise that we will rise up with women and men worldwide to say, “Enough! The violence ends now.”

Discover more at One Billion Rising.

One Billion Rising- Korin Deanna by officialkorindeanna

This is a song we did for The One Billion Rising Movement! Check the link below for more info!! http://onebillionrising.org/ On February 14th, 2013, V-Day's 15th Anniversary, we are inviting one billion women and those who love them to walk out, DANCE, RISE UP, AND DEMAND an end to this violence. One Billion Rising is a promise that we will rise up with women and men worldwide to say, "Enough! The violence ends now." Song Written By: Korin Deanna Produced By: Bakah

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Flash mob to end violence against women

04/02/2013

A Different Walk

Benicia Harbor

Sunset

A few blocks away from where I am housesitting there is a church.  Curious to look inside. No one was present, but it had that special vibration that makes one feel like his or her inner self is at home.  I felt inclined to pranam to some of the statues and the alter.  Fun to sense the universality of this new inner state.  Reflecting on some of these Beings who have shown up in my meditations.

Fire Of Love

"The time has come to turn your heart
   into a temple of fire.
   Your essence is gold hidden in dust.
   To reveal its splendor
   you need to burn in the fire of love."

    Rumi

Ashram flower

How lovely to leave the Divine Soup unattended and when upon returning and giving it only a small stir, the tears, the joy, and the intoxication all reappear.

Dear Heart...

The view out my window.  Missing meditation time as I deal with the list that was waiting for me, but the state of inner peace is holding up.  Found a little book on Rumi.  Yet another beautiful story of a mystic.

"Dear heart, where do you find
  the courage to seek the Beloved
  when you know He has annihilated
  so many like you before?
  I do not care, said my heart,
  my only wish is to become
  one with the Beloved."

  Rumi

"Are you searching for your soul?
  Then come out of your prison.
  Leave the stream and join the river
  that flows into the ocean.
  Absorbed in this world
  you've made it your burden.
  Rise above this world.
  There is another vision..."
 

" You are the cure hidden in the pain.
    Concealed in anger and betrayal
    is Your compassion and loyalty.
    You are not only in heaven,
    I see Your footprints
    everywhere on earth."

(short video below)

What Next?

Restoration at the ashram continues

From one container of grace and beauty to another.  One day I am sitting at the feet of the Divine in a body and taking bucket baths.  A few days later,  I am meditating in the Divine's nature park and taking a streaming, hot shower.  The transition was seamless this time. Only the scaffolding looks different.  The inner peace is the same.  No particular relief, but ease and convenience yes.

When I first asked Gurudev if I could return to India to work towards an inner state of equanimity, he said yes and that it was possible.  I had allotted 10 years, so it is remarkable to reach something far exceeding what I could imagine in less than 2 years.  Guru's grace.  I am curious now.  It feels like I have just woken up in some ways and that I am rubbing the sleep out of my eyes in preparation for a deeper unfoldment.

As I type and reflect in the silence and stillness, there is a welling up of profound joy and love.  What next?

Morning in Sonoma County, California

Surprising

The focus with the blog has been to be transparent and share my observations/experiences from Sue's truth. There was a recent point that I was willing to stand alone (ok, not completely true since now I have God) with zero friends, completely un-liked, and unsuitable for socialization into humanity.  The motivation was the truth.  Can the "collective we" act in a way that encourages honesty, integrity, and directness for the moment at hand and not offend anyone?  It may not always be pretty or pleasant, but can the beauty come from the honesty?  The rawness on the streets of India have opened me to this variety of beauty.  I have grown to appreciate the nauseating smells, the sea of land-garbage, the struggling animals/humans, and more because of the vitality in it.  As a kid, I had to keep everything organized in my sock drawer and here I get to dump the contents of the drawer on the floor if I want to. 

I have made a lot of mistakes and continue to do so in my attempt to be in alignment with  "my truth." Yes, many times it would appear to be at the expense of the others, but in honesty it comes from a passion to be authentic.  The texture of realness is invigorating and feels alive like a dancing flame. I grew up in a household with submerged passion and I would even go so far to say sterile.  When I would have creative outbursts, show emotions, and take action it was viewed as an upstart, rebellious, and problematic.  As I reflect, it is a texture that has been a theme for me and probably an unskillful way to touch the resonance level of realness.  Will I ever grow up and act socially correct?  I know how to if it required. I can eat with a knife in my right hand, a fork in my left, fold a napkin on my lap, consume soup without slurping, chew without smacking my lips, and the list continues on how to play the game.  But would I have found what I now consider the gems?  I wanted to go to a cave to discover these, but the Divine appears to have insisted I find them through the vehicles of scratchiness, (and I am a big contributor to the scratchiness.)

I have never made a request for forgiveness from others. I have been willing to accept the bumps, bruises, and scars of my search.  I do apologize for the marks I have left on others. Surprising, some people appear to still like me, call me their friend, share heartfelt stories, explore the meaning of life, stop me on the street to chat when we don't share a language, offer to help me navigate living in two widely separated homes, and more ingredients of friendship for the sake of being a caring human being.

If I had a bookcase for life, nature/nonhuman animals have been on a shelf above the one for humans.  Now, the shelf contains all three side-by-side.

Has the risk to be standing completely outside of my human tribe been a sacrifice?  Maybe for some, but for me it has been the path.  With the current game plan to live at the new  "zero point", it will probably organically start to curb my course, ruffian, axe-wielding nature, but that is okay;  the machete action in the jungle has led to the essence of Absolute Love and Truth.  As I observe all of the varieties milling about the airport and loading onto the plane, I feel a sense of inner peace, joy, and an absence of scratchiness. People are ok and this affords a lot of freedom for one viewed as an alien.

My parting tears to Gurudev were unleashed from the depth of a gratitude well.  And with his unwavering alignment to Absolute Love and Truth, he made a request.  It caught me off guard, since he never asks for anything.  It was to commit to an unbreakable vow of friendship with another person.  In my heart it had been no other, so it was an effortless request to fulfill.  Jai Gurudev!

What Is More Perfect Than This Moment?

So what am I waiting for?  Why not experience every moment of living as a moment of Absolute Love and Truth?  What else really is there and why would I want to separate myself from what Is?  Everything else is the game and how does my ego want to play the game!  Is there really sacrifice involved with living that level of truth?  Or does it only look that way from the outside?  The outside is the distraction and every time I stop to acknowledge the outside, it draws me back into the game.  And my-oh-my how the inner thoughts accumulated from outward observation want to create the strategy for the game.

While I have a body, the game will need to exist, so this is how I am going to play for now.  Still chasing my tail, but the bar for presence has been raised considerably--the new zero point.  The state experienced when my head touches the ground in pranam to Gurudev's feet and everything becomes blank; touching the flame as a speck of humility, gratitude, and selfless love. As I rise, the body comes back into focus and the game begins. The new rules, how little can I move off the zero point while still living in a body.