In the Shadow of OZ

My earliest experience in the land of OZ was as a child in an old Midwest farmhouse surrounded by woods.  It was there in the early 1960’s that I sat with my sisters and brothers around a small black and white television with our grandmother.   It was then I stepped out of a reality of space and time and into a place called OZ.    And like OZ itself life began to unfold in front of me throughout the course of my years.

 

In the beginning my childhood was set in a place where like the televisions of the 1960’s  life was playing itself out in black and white.   We were poor though as a child I did not know it; I only knew that it was a remarkable thing to be growing up in a land where creatures  came out of the north woods at night and where when the wind blew trees would bow to the ground for mercy.   Like Dorothy’s Kansas there were also distant rainbows with dreams of a world filled with color and adventure.  

 

Somewhere in the next few years with color television I saw the real colors of OZ for the first time, and as OZ was unfolding its adventures with a green witch and a multi-colored horse so was my life.   With the new adventures also came the mixed messages from the people and places that I came into contact with.   Life laid before me a yellow brick road with signs pointing in every direction; and I did not want to miss any part of it.  There were good witches and bad witches and bad witches that turned out to be good and good witches that turned out to be bad after all.  With all this adventure I began to miss those who I loved the most and longed for the comfort of an old farmhouse.

 

Yes, going back home, that was always my first instinct when being headed off my flying monkey’s or isolated in a wicked castle without my dog or favorite friends.   Going home was always an option, but then I would remember that there was where it all began, back there life was still black and white which was good for me as a child, having only the choices given to me in everything from food to my beliefs, but I was no longer a child.   After living life in full color I knew I could not go home.   I had to face my demons, gather their broomsticks and return to that place within myself that always knew I had the power to overcome my life’s obstacles.  For that I have to thank the Wizard of Life for not being so easy on me and allowing me to stumble on the yellow bricks and skin my knees once or twice

 

Many of us face all the same obstacles; all the same monkeys and witches at our door or in our minds.  These are the challenges of  living in a land of adventures with real life experiences; but we also have Scarecrows and Tinmen and Lions that assist us and good witches that come to our rescue when needed; and let us no forget the Wizard.

 

For most, our lives are never the same when we leave a black and white existence, we are forever changed and with that change we have to meet the moments we are given with clear Minds, open Hearts and the Courage of our convictions knowing that our Creator placed us here with purpose and with promise of  what lies just beyond the rainbow.

OZ

carry me back to OZ
I have been away too long
my home maybe Kansas, but
OZ is where I belong

not since ’39
have I heard the Munchkins sing
the Lion he must be lonely
how I miss that cowardly King

the Tin Man must be rusted
the Scarecrow lost his mind
so, carry me back to OZ
my childhood I need to find

the Wizard he is waiting
I know I heard him call, to
free the Horse of Many Colors
shackled in his stall

the Wicked Witch does not scare me
nor monkey’s flying on the wing
good Glinda will be there to greet me
and protect me from everything

in Kansas the wind is blowing
everything still black and white
and, yes it may be my home
but let me walk that Yellow Brick Road
tonight

bkmackenzie

Are you Saved or Enlightened?

There is a lot of talk today about being enlightened. It seems whatever the faith or belief we find someone asking, if we have been enlightened, saved, found the way, been to the mountain, awakened, or seen the light?  The list at times seems endless and so does the asking.

 

Many faiths seek the same inner peace for the soul.   There are writings and prayers available to all who seek them.   Below one from Taoism – one from Christianity - each invites us to look at ourselves and not others; because it is only there we will find what we are looking for.

Taoism:

The Ego is a Monkey catapulting through the jungle;

Totally fascinated by the realm of the senses,

it swings from one desire to the next,

one conflict to the next

one self-centered idea to the next

If you threaten it, it actually fears for its life

Let the Monkey go

Let the Senses go

Let Desires go

Let Conflicts go

Let Ideas go

Let the fiction of life and death go

Just remain in the center watching

And then forget you are there

 

 

Mother Teresa:

“If we were humble, nothing would change us – neither praise nor discouragement.  If someone were to criticize us, we would not feel discouraged.  If someone were to praise us, we also would not feel proud.”

To Bill Maher on Hatred

This last weekend my husband had Bill Maher on TV in the other room.  As always I listen as when something interests me my ears tune in.   Bill was talking with his panel of quests about the news of the week, like the pope’s visit and the election and the war.   I have always been able to take his comments with a grain of salt; some I can understand and others seem just a little off the wall.  But that night I heard some words that have played upon my mind for the rest of the week.  Bill said, “I hate all religions” and after the words were spoken the audience cheered.  It was this that caused me to question his purpose and use of the word hate. 

 

I understand that it is his business to get a reaction from his audience or he would not have his own show or be on Larry King, or do standup in Reno and Vegas; I understand that he may firmly believe that the warring in the name of God is a horrible side effect of fundamental religious cause but to state that you hate all religion is a heavy proclamation.  To say he isolates religion would be unfair for he carries his disgust to politics equally, distributing his feelings among different parties and politicians.   But of course this is his line of work, this is now he makes his living, this is what he stands for and this is his message to those who listen.

 

When that audience cheered as he spoke the words, “I hate all religions” his ego was placed in the position of positive validation.  With the belief that the audience must believe the same way or they would not have cheered.   He should keep in mind that he too is also in a position of leadership, he may be not in front of a church full of people or in a hall of congressmen or in a temple in Tibet leading prayer,  but his is still in a hall of minds that are coming for communion just the same and listen to his thoughts and words.  He is now the example to be followed by his success alone and therefore holds a responsibility to the masses his influences. 

 

When his words moved from dislike to hatred, then hatred of every religion, and disgust for government where do you go from there?  Words written unread are silent, words written and read start to take meaning, words stated out loud take on energy- and words backed by energy can change the world; and to take it further they change the life of the reader and speaker.    A vessel for hatred has a long way to go to be placed in a state of balance, especially if the ego is filling that vessel with positive validation.   Introspection of ourselves is always good practice for our own inner peace.

 

Words are thoughts - written – Words are thoughts – Spoken – Words written and spoken have changed the world – Some for better – Some for worse -

The Soul is the keeper of thoughts — it gives them wings – and they become WORDS

The Spell

What if Plank’s Constant was not constant?

What if Einstein’s God really did play dice?

What if space did not exist and time was no more?

 

then telling time became a chore

for it stood still and was no more

no more,

what hand could open this timeless door?

its latch frozen from unsweetened tears,

waiting on un-passing years

waiting by the frozen door -

 

“Not only does God play dice but, …sometimes he throws them where they can not be seen.”

 Stephen Hawking

 

in dream I fell,

I fell away

to a place not known -

where day moved into night,

and night gave birth, to warmth

to warmth and light

 

“— the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”     Genesis 1:2

 

seasons passed

and waters flowed,

flowed

to a land called Long Ago-

to the time

that was no more, no more -

 

“There is a sacredness in tears.  They are not a mark of weakness, but of power……”

Washington Irving

 

light warmed

the unsweetened tears,

sweetening

the passing

of the un-passing years

 

“What really interests me is if God had any choice in the creation of the world.”

A. Einstein

 

freeing the latch,

the Spell was broken,

with  the Spell  broken -

 

Time began -

          and the door was opened

 

bkmackenzie

My Mother – My Self

In the morning I awake to the sound of my Mother’s voice — it is soft, it is gentle, it is rain.  I stop midway between dream and physical reality to ponder my existence on this planet called Earth. 

 

She calls me again with the sound of the wind in the trees outside my window and I rise to meet the day that she has placed before me.    I walk to the kitchen and pour my coffee and sit to rest comfortably on the living room couch.   All that I can see, all that I have she has provided for me.    I get up and head to the shower to start my day – I stop as I always do to glance in the mirror.   There before me is an image; an image I call myself, but this too is a gift from my mother.   I can not separate myself from her I was born from her matter and when my life ends I will return this material body back to her womb.

 

For years we as humans closed are ears to the sounds of her voice.   The words she spoke came to be regarded as the folklore of the native peoples of the land.   With the approch of the 20^th Century came the age of industry and combustion and her voice was regulated to a whisper beneath the sounds of factories, automobiles and commerce.  

 

There have always been a few who continued to listen for her voice and sought the shelter of isolated lands and ocean beaches.   They continued to listen throughout the 1970’s and 80’s and in the process they continued to speak out for her.    “She is sick”, they said, “She is very sick.”   Some listened but few took them seriously.  Then with the achievement of manned space shuttle flights her cry became real and science said, “She is very sick, in fact she is dying.”   Her cries were now being heard across the planet and many have taken note.   In recent years she has been given her own day –Earth Day – in a desperate outreach to the world to save her.    She is no longer just the Mother of Legends, she is no longer just the Mother of Native Peoples and tree huggers she is the Mother of All Life on this planet as we know it and without her we too shall all perish.  

 

It is up to all of us to listen, and do our part in her recovery.   In our awareness and enlightenment to who she is  — we will find enlightenment and awareness of ourselves.        Carl Jung wrote:

 

               “I am fully committed that the human existence should be rooted in the earth.”

 

Our physical form is rooted in the earth – in the morning ritual of various beliefs the believer arises to the day which begins with cleansing their face with water and praying of purification in their thoughts and deeds in the day before them.    This is their sacred connection to their mother the earth and their father the life force within them.    But what if that water is now black with pollution what happens to the sacredness of the ritual, what happens to our connection between father and mother?   

 

 We hold a great responsibility to ensure the life of our Mother; we hold a great responsibility to ensure the sacredness of our lives.