Haiti, Los Angeles 2010: You and I Are All That Ever Was, and Will Be

All forces of nature 
are used to colliding,

reflecting, resisting 
and redefining themselves -

as they reinvent themselves, 
with passion into sensation.

All events are natural 
to the forces of Nature –

it is just that some times 
humans judge Life, 
judge each other,
and govern their Self

according to the full forces of emotion.

Feeling every thing, 
and giving free reign to all feelings -
is one way to live a Life in fullness,
yet all that is, and all that is all around,

means during some times we channel.
We channel energy through us,
breathing deeply, then deeper.

Breathing, living through thin walls,
alveoli feeling the sensation of every thing -

all sentiments that have ever been,
energetically directed alive spinning through Space.
We exhale carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen,
but it is within the Water 
We respire that memory stored.

We unintentionally orchestrate 
all things to come alive -
and sit in the back seat 
while We let other energy 
drive our personal power.
In sum, these given moments
add up to not surrendering our crown.

Our head space, our throne, 
can only be powerfully governed 
by no one other than our Self.
If We lose our balance, get lost in space, 
We forsake our day dreams,
to act out our worse fears -
a type of slumber unconsciously navigating 
our Life through living out, acting out,
our most challenging nightmares.

Heart centered growth 
is the evolution 
of compassionate kindness -
freely given to all, 
as charity bestowed 
naturally upon people.
A global examination 
of world humanity,
and individual pride 
tested by the faith you have
in your own choices.

Faith you have in your human need 
to trust stranger's inhumane assistance,
then forgive, accept and make peace,
over and over again make peace,
within cycles of humanity's human existence.

Human heightened humility will always be
challenged to be urbane, exist in kindness,
be creative and destructive by recreating 
feats that create and challenge the courage of unity.

A worldly examination which globally tests 
what We feel about our Self and each Other.
This is Life, 
an obstacle course of leaps and bounds,
global movements,
moving deeper into our heart space -
to see what was not seen,
and to dare to speak what was not heard.

We live the questions not yet asked.
We live the questions not yet answered.
We live the questions always asked:
What do I feel about my Self?
What do I feel? What do I need? What do I want?"
Difficult times beg each individual to ask 
and answer the practical questions
of Self-faith in Self-perseverance.

Salvation is close at hand
whisper all humans while still,
while witnessing themselves travel 
at in-urbane speeds faster than light -
yet slower than the ecology of urban sound.

We are all living through times
when morality is inhumane to be human,
and quite human to be inhumane -
yet within polarity between these dualities 
exist more of us
than We can infinitely imagine.

Moments of Life are given 
to rise above, move around all that is - 
be smelt, tasted, touched, seen and heard,

rise above all that is not Self.

To know reality from illusion
is to smile when a frown is easier,
and to be your Self when being
your own worst enemy comes naturally.

The spirituality of Self-reflection
illuminates the science of mirroring the living
while they are living the Life
not yet known to them,
living the Life of the enlightened still unknown -
the great mysterious aspects of Self,
human's divine humanity undefined.

For all the world to see,
carved on ancient tablets
and etched on stone walls,
are the signs of Life that can be read -
so read the traffic signs
carefully gifted by our ancestors.
They left us guidance, 
a map of their time, and ours, 
reflecting our present direction.

Our ancestors left us support 
a future ways and means.
Our ancestors left respect for us 
to navigate our own way in our own time.

All that which was in the Beginning
is all that which is now, 
and is that which ever shall be:

world without end.

Relax as Earth moves the earth, 
and ashes transform into more ashes, 
and dust changes into more dust.

Transfix the veil of all that 
which is during the light of Day.
Transduce the veil of all that 
which is resurrection during the dark of Night.

Life living the world to come, 
which is fashioned anew, each moment.

From the body of humiliation 
form is light reconformable,
moment by moment transformation -
a glowing body of time and space
glory revealing the character 
of the inner world revealed 
as revelation made by mighty 
inner organic workings -

whereby, all things within, 
within, our will, 
are subject to our will, 
our commands at will.

Flowers close up at night to sleep 
the senseless eternal sleep,
and reopen during the day 
to wake the senses' nocturnal action.
There is a time to be still and be silent,
there is a time to be still and speak out -
make noise in a voice so personal,
so loud, to be silently heard within -
within every recess and heart felt fold.

Shouting whispers of be, still and know
That, I am - I am here, 
I am just here, just like seeds 
yet to flower and seeds already sprung 
into life, from beneath the rubble 
and debris of life, make your Self known, 
raise your voice proudly and make your sound;
Be Still Know I Am Here  
Know I Am That Eternal Always Present.
It is not a answer or question of religiously living, 
it is a Life question answered 
by conscientiously breathing.

In a little while 
when the world will see me no more,
though you will see me, 
because I live with you, I will see you -
and so, you also live because you are seen.
I will not leave you, orphan you;
I will come to you –
yet for a little while, 
if the world wills to see no more of me,
you will still see me because I live 
within eternity, still and so do you 
live eternally, still.

On that day, 
within, still, moments, 
you will know -
that you are eternally of me,
I eternally of you,
and eternally you and I
are all that ever was, and ever will be.

~ Other People's Fingerprints ~
Sometime around 1967 Leonard Cohen wrote;
“I’m not looking for another as I wander in my time,
Walk me to the corner our steps will always rhyme,
You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
It’s just the way it changes like the shoreline and the sea,
But let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.”

"You and I Are All That Ever Was, And Will Be' by Karin Lisa Atkinson

"Sister Brother" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

Vietnam 1992: Create, Feel, Speak, See, Hear, Be and Act My Peace

Half way on our drive to see the Holy See,
my attention is drawn from the highway 
to roadside, where two multilines form one
column of white cloak hooded people.

My eyes follow the procession; 
they leave the road, 
move in, to a forest clearing, 
gather around a table, 
under a roofed open-sided hut,
over a white shrouded body laid at rest.

The white clan mourners, 
at once surround the lifeless form,
whose spirit deepens it's quiet state, 
as respects are paid and whispered songs sung.

We park our slowed vehicle 
to observe the funeral rites.
We are immediately surrounded,
and welcomed like family,
who has come from afar.

The wife of the man who had passed away 
considers our materializing as auspicious.
It is a sign of great healing, 
to attract other worldly presence, 
garner respect from strangers -
mourners who have traveled vast distances, 
to pay their respects by standing alongside, 
together, with, the Transitioned One's family.

I stand to one side, nervous.
My friend translates and tells me that,
"For many here today, I am the first
foreign Women they have seen
in this part of the world since
the French left Vietnam in the 1950s.'

I remain respectfully quiet.

A Woman shares with me, 
"The only other Women from away,

seen in these parts were Canadian nurses."

These female healers were sequestered to work
in hospitals during the USA - Vietnam War.

Another Woman approaches me, 
takes my hand and leads me 
to a table laid with food and drink. 
She sits me down on a bench.

I become the center of ceremonious attention.

All the Women are excited to see me, 
despite the solemn occasion still surrounding us.

These Women generously overwhelm me.
Tea and pastries are thrust in front of me.

In return, I have nothing to give except my smiles, 
and praise for the abundance with which they share.
These Women share everything they have, 
offer everything within their hearts,
which is their's, and their choice alone, to share.

The Women love my eyes,

and motion to the blue sky, 
which today matches my eye color.

Speaking in rapid joyous enthusiastic hyper bursts,

the Women reach out, touch my hand, 
embrace me, caress my fingers, gently trace 
my circumference of my fingerprint patterns.

A Woman takes the lead and departs from the group 
to return moments later with a new Lady she introduces.
More humor is added to our expanding congregation.

Everyone laughs, as the Leader takes my hand and lays it 
on the table beside the newly arrived Lady's hand.

Giggles explode, similarities are pointed out -

our hands match exactly in size, shape, finger length.

Everyone is all smiles, fascinated and amused
by the Leader’s observant sense of extraordinary detail.

Our amusement increases in volume of sound and size,

as the Leader, who first took charge of me, rises - 
moves to my side, reaches out to touch my nose, 
my cheek, and then outlines the map of my freckles.

Conversations quicken, two Women are brought forward -

one with an identical size and shaped nose,
one with freckles to match mine in number and dispersal pattern.

This ceremony of Life embracing our common features, 
has already lasted an hour as Woman after Woman, 

with same or similar commonalities to me 
are sought, found, and brought forward one by one.

Words spoken to me when I first arrived,
echo within me, reverberate inside my head.
My language translator from the city whispers; 

"Here, during the USA - Vietnam War,
more bombs were dropped than all 
of Europe during the second World War."

I am quiet with respect for the Healing 
these Women have passed through,
and continue to share with their children, their future.
Here, people lost family members -
over seventy-five percent of their family members.

I feel Hope burn a hole my humanity,
my armored chest melts and opens dimensionally.

I grow more compassion, I understand more.
The importance of choices to Heal 
win over choices to destroy.

These open hearted Women 
choose to Heal through awareness,
being present, and by focusing 
attention on similarities, not differences.

My Spirit aches from the pain 
that rises from my womb.

I feel sorrow, I have seen my sorrow before.

My sorrow feels like betrayal,
a series of calculated woundings. 

This feels similar to when I have witnessed
already wounded people, be bombarded 
even more, by media blitz of intense criticism
of their domestic affairs.

I have seen many times, the intimate damage 
media can cause, when focused on upholding
the ruling law, the current elected political agendas.
Media encouraged to create separateness, exclusion -
to create a fearful world view of "them" versus "us".

Wars begin with media playing mind games,
playing games with the minds of people,
toying with people's heads to convert their hearts -
destroy trust, topple fate, make friends into enemies,
and twist the heartstrings of faith into interfaith competition.

I feel lost in the dizzy spell being cast 
by the supernatural attraction 
of humans judging humans -
using fighting words over ideas,
battling over speeches that preference separateness.
I have seen humans exploit their trust,
our world's natural resources we caretake,
and choose to make a living by killing our planetary soul.

Everyday in the international newspapers,
I read the long list of differences between citizens -

people who live in one geographical area 
versus people who live in another geolocation.
Eventually media sentiment overwhelms me 
into feeling an attitude of hopelessness -
but I do not surrender to hate, since I prefer to trust.

Unable to defend the differences in human hearts, 
I survive by focusing on commonality.

I see world media sell humanity short,  
sell fear, so that humans will learn to fear -
sell humanity a sort of never ending story 
based on world woe and moral decay.
I surrender to what fears I fear most.
I decide to not believe and invest
in the frightening prospect of strangers -
that what is strange, what is not familiar,
is not enough to encourage waging wars
to estrange each one of us from our global family.

Advertising judgment,
propagating being critical,
of each other’s developmental change 
creates growing pains.

Political campaigns which speak about limits,
frame humanity as something need saving,
are more about the fear of the person speaking
and less about the billions of souls thriving.
Nature's sense of natural human ability,
is all for one and once for all,
an encompassing love for all Life living.
True nature does not strive to convince people 
to diminish their natural rise beyond daily destiny.
Beings are renewed by their ability
to daily create more personal faith in universal fate.

Information is different than news.
Heart evolution requires mindful awareness.

I know in my heart I have been slow
to accept some, to be accepted by sums, 
instantly trust others and sometimes reject my oneness.
These Women, of the Mekong Delta, act
as if they are grateful for presence -
my presence, their presence, all presence.

These Women could choose to hate me.

They could choose to perceive me as the enemy,
see through eyes full of pain, see me as a symbol 
of all who destroyed their all and everything.
I believe they value their all and everything -
so meaningfully, that they choose to instill more
meaning to their loss by not devaluing Life by hating.
If they do not hold onto hate, then what they hold dear
increases in value, the more these Women invest in love.

I clearly see that when given the choice 
these Women choose commonality -
the unity of similarity, natural acceptance 
for love of humanity, theirs and mine.
Their humanity, their meaningfulness, 
their love for humanity, their Self-love for
their humanity values my humanity, and so, 
there is no need to Self-destruct to destroy others.

I feel my throat dry, 
become raw from emotions rising 
from every cell in my being.

We are all healed, 
and time passes 
creating more 
opportunities to see 
our constant wholeness.

Time reveals 
to those who want to see,
the vision of those who are Healed -
those who are healing and leading.
Healing by living one's own true value,
and those who lead by living within 
Nature's wholly holistic cycle of life.
This innate love of life is shared within being,
shared with each other through the air we breath - 
sharing breathes life into the art of sharing love of being.

By expanding ourselves, 
during disparaging change,
we gain awareness, we gain choices. 

We can choose not to withhold, to not contract -
to not diminish ourselves by diminishing others.
It is a choice to pull away and feel powerless. 
It is a choice to separate Self from optimism.
It is a choice to feed hate by rejecting love.
Life is simple you either love or you hate,
if you love then you practice love to increase love,
if you hate then you practice hate to increase hate.
Embracing differences tend to illuminate,
so all that needs increased awareness grows.

I know we all want to create 
the peace and harmony needed 
to keep humanity power full.
Our planet does not belong solely to humanity,
Life is simply not always and all about us.
These Women taught me by example to expand,
and trust that careful choices create a caring Life.

I want to expand, I want to see myself more clearly,
I want to grow, so I create my own opportunities.
I am my own opportunity to create, 
feel, speak, see, hear, be and act my peace.

~~ Other People's Fingerprints ~~
Sometime in the 7th Century 
Empress Yamatohime said;
“Others may forget you, but not I.
I am haunted by your beautiful ghost.”

Sometime before October 5, 1785 
Otomo no Yakamochi wrote;
Now to meet only in dreams,
Bitterly seeking,
from sleep,
Groping in the dark
hands that touch nothing."

"Urban Heart Flame" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

"Welcome, All Strangers are Friends" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

"Community Greeter" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

"Everyday, Women's Day" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

"Everyday, Feminine" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

Cuba 1986, Silicon Valley 1998: We All Have in Common Idolizing Something Outside of Ourself

"We reap what we sew, and when we reap what we sew,

all threads embroider together into a stronger tapestry of inter-reliance."

When I remember Cuba
I recall Lucille’s strong voice clearly speaking these words.

Some days it is as if the wind brings
the song of her inspiration to whisper in my ear.
I met Lucille in a window, her window,
of the bookshop she managed with her husband Albor in Cuba.

They stocked the shelves with their favorite literature,

and all day on their phonograph
they freely played music of their own choice.
I loved to listen to Cuban jazz, Afro-Cuban blues,
and the folk music of the farm laborers and state factory workers.

Lucille spent much time in the window, 

sitting in a chair rocking the Sun to rise, 

then passing the day by talking,
and rocking the Sun to set in the evening.

She often remarked that it was her duty to the world -

she is the one who holds the responsibility
of rocking the sun awake and to sleep,

because she is the one who knows, 

the importance of warmth on the flesh 

that in turn heats the blood flow to the heart.

Her husband, Albor was my cultural teacher.

He took pride in tutoring me in the history of Cuba -

its roots diversely on display in their national literature and music.

I remember how softly his hands held affection for each book,

and how they gestured life into the stories he knew of each writer.

As Albor empathically lectured,
Lucille rocked his words into worn grooves in the floor.

Albor often pursued his line of thinking out loud;

"The world seems divided
into the accidental with intentional results,

the intentional with unintended results,
and the unintentional with unintended results.

It sounds like the same game, but it is far from the same aim."

He would look me in the eye to punctuate his sharing, 

and touch my shoulder lightly when emphasis was necessary.

He always spoke with quiet intelligence to complete his thoughts,
and for my part I always thought about what he said.

Now, years later, more than a decade after he spoke his peace, I recall;

"The world seems divided into the accidental with intentional results,
the intentional with unintended results,

and the unintentional with unintended results.

It sounds like the same game, but it is far from the same aim."

On that day I first heard these words I wondered if the world had any aim, 

and if the games we lived out were created from our own challenges.

Today I complete my own thoughts
by playing along with my own inner dialogue;

"It is not if you win the game,
but if you play games ...
and if you play games,
how do you stop yourself from playing? ...
... with other people's emotions and lives ...
trifling with your own life and feelings."

Over the course of time we spent together

I bought four books from Albor and Lucille.

It was a small price to pay for all the knowledge

they freely gave to enrich my inner world culture. 

They were thrilled with the sale,

it was the most books they had sold in one year.

In their small town most people were literate, 

they all loved to read, 

but no one could afford the price of a book ...

so people paid what they could
to take books out on loan ...

read them aloud or individually quickly
then return them so other friends and neighbours 

could share the wealth openly displayed on each page.

One day, while Albor was hand grinding coffee beans in the kitchen,

I asked Lucille if she ever wanted some of the new technology -

like what they often showed on TV 

broadcast over the sky and ocean from Miami ...

the only television in town was in the one local hotel for foreigners.

Lucille slowed her chair rocking,

edged her big toe into a beam of sunlight, 

smiled and replied;

"Coffee would still taste like coffee,

and sunbeams would still warm the souls of my feet just the same.

Even if some new technology made coffee faster to make, 

tasting the coffee would be the proof of any real progress."

I thought deeply about what Lucille imparted.

In the 1980s, when I lived in Canada
I was working on some new holographic technology...

it certainly would not make coffee taste any better,

nor the coffee bean harvest any easier work for the farm labourers.

My thoughts were interrupted by the silence,

the sound of Lucille's rocking chair had halted.

Lucille was deep in intuition tuning into the Lucille Channel.
She began rocking her chair again and announced;

"Technology-less-tribes 

seem to build on humanity not idealizing technology,

while technology-full-tribes 

build on technology seeming to marginalize humanity ...

yet those humans with technology,
and those without,
share a common sense of madness -

we all have in common the romantic habit
of idolizing something, anything outside of ourself."

~ Other People's Fingerprints ~

Sometime after 1872 Sri Aurobindo wrote;

“Remember you are at an exceptional hour in a unique epoch,

that you have this great happiness, 

this invaluable privilege,

of being present at the birth of a new world.”

"Jazz Cubano" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

"Jazz Man Cubano" by Karin Lisa Atkinson

"Relaxing Natural High" by Karin Lisa Atkinson