The poet W.H. Auden wrote in a review of the final book in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, “Evil, that is, has every advantage but one – it is inferior in imagination. Good can imagine the possibility of becoming evil – hence the refusal of Gandalf and Aragorn to use the Ring – but Evil, defiantly chosen, can no longer imagine anything but itself. Sauron cannot imagine any motives except lust for domination and fear so that, when he has learned that his enemies have the Ring, the thought that they might try to destroy it never enters his head, and his eye is kept toward Gondor and away from Mordor and the Mount of Doom.” You can see the attempt to consolidate power in the president, as supported by the conservative six on the Supreme Court, and by the surrender of Congress’s powers by the Republican majority, as an attempt to create a one-ring level of power in radical opposition to the checks and balances and ideals of democracy and accountability that have been central to this nation’s official ideology, however imperfectly realized.
I had to choose between a vigil and a protest today. I chose the protest at the Manzanita parking lot near where I live. It was inspiring, All the cars honking as they passed and waving – not everyone but most, and now I know there is a huge variety of horn honking, different sounds, patterns, and lengths. Wonderful signs and people. And there are younger people now which is great, and more ethnicities. I walked back to the car with a woman from Minneapolis. She said she knows the cold in which all those people protested and are protesting. There’s no way to wear enough to warm the feet. It’s not like where I live. Unfortunately I’ll miss next Sunday as our family celebrates the business my husband started here in our home forty years ago. Forty years!
Unity in Diversity Look withinFluidity in cultivating Peace, Generosity, Morality, and Love
I’m struggling today with the execution of Alex Pretti, an execution carried out in plain sight and recorded, and yet, again, we are told to deny our own eyes.
I come to David Whyte’s poem “The Well of Grief” for solace, and these words of Albert Camus: In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
We can’t look away and we need to trust even more deeply what we see and feel. I understand the term “bleeding heart”. My heart bleeds.
Look into our heart as deeply as we look into a flower.Bud, branch, blossom, and connect!
In my meditation these days, I keep seeing and feeling the daily growth of my two Amaryllis plants. Each has its own rhythm, and reach. One is now two feet tall, and the other has settled gently in at one. I’m struggling with the photo of five year old Liam Conejo Ramos in a blue knit hat with white bunny ears and pompoms. I can’t believe I live in a country where this is happening.
I’m also with a poem by Ilya Kaminsky, “Psalm For the Slightly Tilted”.
I live in a county with a high percentage of seniors, and I’m struck by this last stanza of the poem as it feels so true of the protests I’ve attended.
You can watch Governor Walz speak on YouTube as he defends what this country is about and what Trump and his cronies are working to destroy. Go to YouTube and watch “Governor Walz addresses ongoing federal presence in Minnesota”. Tragic!
The aftermath of the funeral march on Sunday at the Marin Civic Center is still with me. Over 1500 people gathered the to protest the deaths by ICE.
Robert Hubbell today: Since the first day of his second term, Donald Trump has refused to follow the Constitution. This month, Trump is asking Congress to continue his lawless reign by passing a “continuing resolution” that will fund the government at its current levels—including its current levels of lawlessness.
Congress should refuse to do so. Instead, Congress should:Defund Trump, Defund and abolish ICE, Defund and abolish the Department of Homeland Security, Defund Trump’s ability to invade sovereign nations and NATO allies, andDefund the corrupt DOJ that investigates the victims of crime and protects the out-of-control thugs wearing facemasks and flak jackets.
Is it “radical” to suggest “defunding” major agencies in the federal government? Hmm. . . let’s see. What did Donald Trump threaten to do today? He threatened to “defund” every state that has a “sanctuary city” —which means Trump will “cut off” federal funds to states representing 37% of the American population.
To be clear, Trump. has no authority to “cut off” funding to any state or city. Congress controls appropriations and the president is obligated by law to carry out those appropriations. But Trump has been violating his obligation to “faithfully execute the laws” by refusing to spend money as directed by Congress.
I just read James Rebanks book, The Place of Tides. Rebanks writes of a summer he spent on a remote Norwegian Island where he learned from 70 year old Anna Masoy, known as the Norwegian “duck woman”, about the ancient tradition of collecting eiderdown from eider ducks. Her dedication has brought the ducks back to these islands, ducks threatened by the introduction of minks and other predators. It shows the power of one woman, and right now, we have thousands of people across the country demonstrating against the policies of Trump.
Today in Heather Cox Richardson: On Sunday, David Marcus of Fox News warned that “organized gangs of wine moms” are using “Antifa tactics to harass and impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.” He claimed that those people organizing to protect their neighborhoods from ICE may be “criminal conspiracies.” He complained of “self-important White women” protesting “with a weird and disturbing glee.” He seemed to threaten them by warning: “if we simply allow these cosplaying would-be revolutionaries to do whatever they want…, Renee Good will not be the last to needlessly die.”
“Organized groups of wine moms”. Wow! I do love my glass of wine, but I can tell you there was no “weird and disturbing glee” on Sunday. It was a funeral procession, and my heart is still heavy with the weight and sorrow of the experience.
A stump the ocean carried in on which to sit at Rodeo BeachThe Amaryllis now has three flowers and continues to delight!
Yesterday I attended a protest/vigil in Marin County. We gathered at the Veteran’s Auditorium, and walked in a long and winding line around and through the Civic Center leaving flowers in front of the sheriff’s office and next to photos and names of the 33 people killed by ICE. Our sheriff’s office cooperates with ICE and we want ICE out of Marin. We were told to wear black, and bring a flower and did, so it was a sober line that stretched before and behind me. Six coffins had been made of cardboard and painted black and covered with flowers were carried along the route. It was a sober and quiet group. The event began with twelve minutes of speeches, most of that a prayer, so we began walking after saying Amen. Volunteers carried recorders repeating the names of the 33 people killed. Tears come enough now as I feel the immensity of the event, the power of people gathering to silently speak for empathy, morality, and Truth.
I’m awake now, up in the night. I’ve been sitting outside with the stars and a sky streaked with light wondering, receiving, embracing what might be as we come to Peace and walk with others in quiet and love.
Six coffins were carried along the winding and quiet route.And so we walkWinding up and around with police stopping traffic as the line crosses streets and passes the Farmer’s Market, a huge gathering on Sunday morning.Signs handed out to carryMy Amaryllis opens and blooms
Like so many of us, I am sobered, stunned, shocked, and suffering with the continuing onslaught of horrific political news. And yet this morning I experienced the gift of coming together with a group of 72 people from around the world led by Russell Delman to celebrate our personal embodiment as well as to be part of a field of people who unite in the cultivation and sharing of Love and Compassion.
Today we grieve the murder of Renee Nicole Good, murder by ICE agents as she attempted to comply with their orders. She was a legal observer volunteering to help protect vulnerable immigrants, a mother of three children and an award-winning poet. Her youngest child, 6 years old, is now orphaned.
Both Pam Bondi and Donald Trump defamed her immediately following her death, labeling her a domestic terrorist and making gross misstatements about what actually took place. The facts are available for all to see. Their lies are exposed.
As we grieve, we unite and fight, with “effortless effort” as Dogen, the founder of the Soto School of Zen in Japan, put it, with the ease with which a bud rises, emerges, and graces the world.
My Amaryllis this morning as it continues its rise to emerge
The news of our country is staggering, and it is December, a time of gatheringand celebrating what connects us with nature and the seasons, the nature in each of us.On Tuesday, I was at Cavallo Point and yesterday took the ferry to San Francisco for our yearly book club gathering at The Waterfront.One half of the restaurant was closed because the ever-increasing winter tides came flooding in.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration said it will dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, one of the world’s leading Earth science research institutions.One reason is that their research shows climate change. The other is that the Colorado governor won’t obey Trump in pardoning former Colorado election official Tina Peters, convicted by a jury for state crimes in facilitating a data breach in her quest to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump has granted her a “full pardon”, of course, but it needs to be Governor Polis who pardons her since it is a state crime.
And so we approach the Solstice, a time in the northern hemisphereto honor the richness in the dark and return to the evolving expansiveness of light.
My eye is caught by the beauty and dignity of a Great Blue HeronHunkering before take-off and flightA Kingfisher
I rise at four, meditate and open Arthur Sze’s poetry book, The Glass Constellation, to these lines in the poem “The Flower Path”.
You must learn to see a pond in the shape of the character mind,
Walk through a garden and see it from your ankles;
Wondering what the shape of the character mind is I ask AI who responds:
The primary Chinese character for “mind” is 心 (xīn), which looks like a stylized, simple drawing of a physical heart, with a central vertical line, two curved strokes on the sides, and a dot at the bottom, representing the ancient belief that the heart is the seat of thought and emotion, often translated as “heart-mind”.
And then I wonder if AI is a who, which brings me to Dr. Seuss’s book Horton Hears a Who!, and the words “a person’s a person no matter how small”, and as the mind curves in the shape of a heart, I think of how tragic it is that we have people leading our country who’ve never read Dr. Seuss.
Cathy's Blog! 