He notes that the title of the poem could just as easily be called "To Make a Promise." He notes that making and breaking promises: “involve exactly the same combination of absolute presence and radical letting go.”
Thanks for your soulful words and reflections on the difficult topic of knowing when to dig deep and stay the course, and knowing when to bend the path towards something more generative. Either way, we are asked to stay with the trouble; to leave behind some former identity that doesn't fit the shape of the world that is being given to us. And either way, a new world beyond our imagination is waiting to meet us in our new shape and texture. But man, my mind sure wishes there was a clear manual to discern what the hell to let go of and what to give life to :)
HAHA I'd say let's write that manual, but that kind of defeats the point :) We all figure it out for ourselves. For me the key is FEELING, less thinking or strategizing with the paranoid mind :) I absolutely LOVE this line you write: "Either way, we are asked to stay with the trouble; to leave behind some former identity that doesn't fit the shape of the world that is being given to us." WOW. Thank you for that blessing. And I'm also inspired by David Whyte. I had forgotten about this poem. Nice to revisit. Thank you!
i was on the verge of quoting the final line/sentence: "But man, my mind sure wishes there was a clear manual to discern what the hell to let go of and what to give life to :)"
and responding simply with;
if only
but yeah, you're correct Schuyler -- were there actually a manual, the compression (a la the newest Apple commercial) and oversimplification would remove most if not all of the beauty from life -- in that the messiness, chaos and complexity really do make for true wealth and riches in experience and presence, even if so much suffering, terror, grief, and anger come along with the ecstacy, peace, grace, and grounding...
AHHHHHHHH Holly, it's YOU. Of course that's why the brilliance, the brilliance shimmering through is so familiar! Ah haha. It's like meeting you at a masked ball. Can't wait to read your pieces....
Your words ring out with force! These reflections resonate with a poem David Whyte wrote about breaking promises. For context, I'll share it here:
TO BREAK A PROMISE
Make a place of prayer, no fuss,
just lean into the white brilliance
and say what you needed to say
all along, nothing too much, words
as simple and as yours and as heard
as the bird song above your head
or the river running gently beside you.
Let your words join
one to another
the way stone nestles on stone,
the way water just leaves
and goes to the sea,
the way your promise
breathes and belongs
with every other promise
the world has ever made.
Now, let them go on,
leave your words
to carry their own life
without you, let the promise
go with the river.
Have faith.
Walk away.
from
THE SEA IN YOU: Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love
© David Whyte and Many Rivers Press
He notes that the title of the poem could just as easily be called "To Make a Promise." He notes that making and breaking promises: “involve exactly the same combination of absolute presence and radical letting go.”
Thanks for your soulful words and reflections on the difficult topic of knowing when to dig deep and stay the course, and knowing when to bend the path towards something more generative. Either way, we are asked to stay with the trouble; to leave behind some former identity that doesn't fit the shape of the world that is being given to us. And either way, a new world beyond our imagination is waiting to meet us in our new shape and texture. But man, my mind sure wishes there was a clear manual to discern what the hell to let go of and what to give life to :)
HAHA I'd say let's write that manual, but that kind of defeats the point :) We all figure it out for ourselves. For me the key is FEELING, less thinking or strategizing with the paranoid mind :) I absolutely LOVE this line you write: "Either way, we are asked to stay with the trouble; to leave behind some former identity that doesn't fit the shape of the world that is being given to us." WOW. Thank you for that blessing. And I'm also inspired by David Whyte. I had forgotten about this poem. Nice to revisit. Thank you!
i was on the verge of quoting the final line/sentence: "But man, my mind sure wishes there was a clear manual to discern what the hell to let go of and what to give life to :)"
and responding simply with;
if only
but yeah, you're correct Schuyler -- were there actually a manual, the compression (a la the newest Apple commercial) and oversimplification would remove most if not all of the beauty from life -- in that the messiness, chaos and complexity really do make for true wealth and riches in experience and presence, even if so much suffering, terror, grief, and anger come along with the ecstacy, peace, grace, and grounding...
one thing that did come up recently (and i'm not going to quote exactly, but instead add my own twist) which i heard in a very different context:
the time i really need to let go is when i find i'm at the end of my rope
AHHHHHHHH Holly, it's YOU. Of course that's why the brilliance, the brilliance shimmering through is so familiar! Ah haha. It's like meeting you at a masked ball. Can't wait to read your pieces....
Lol. Surprise! 🎭 That masquerading metaphor is so great. I appreciate all you do, Skye, to remind us that we gotta feel it to heal it. 💕