The Dawn of the Integral Age

Please Bring Strange Things 2010-Jul-21 at 11:05 PDT

A dear soul I know in Seattle posted this on Facebook, where she got it from a mutual friend’s post on another web site.

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Please bring strange things.
Please come bringing new things.
Let very old things come into your hands.
Let what you do not know come into your eyes.
Let desert sand harden your feet.
Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.
Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps
And the ways you go be the lines of your palms.
Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing
And your outbreath be the shining of ice.
May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.
May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.
May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.
May your soul be at home where there are no houses.
Walk carefully, well-loved one,
Walk mindfully, well-loved one,
Walk fearlessly, well-loved one.
Return with us, return to us,
Be always coming home.

— Ursula K. Leguin

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How does it feel to read that?  It feels really solid to me.

And… I have cool friends who would post something like that, right?

Which is to say… I have allies.  I have a network of friends in Seattle who are all supporting each other on this path.  All doing their own things, all starting to trust the emergence, all backing each other up, all offering love.  There’s something very special going on here.

Obviously, I have friends elsewhere for whom I’m grateful, but I’m just pointing to the size of the group we’ve got going on in Seattle now.  It’s getting fun over here.

This poem is spoken to someone who needs a little support, and a little reminding; in other words, it’s spoken to your own voice of doubt.  The part of me that feels solid when I read that is my own voice of doubt, which is, temporarily, reassured.  That voice is just doing its job, whether it’s reassured or not.  It’s not in control.  Doubt is not in control.  You are.  You who knows that doubt is just one voice among many, that none of them describe the true nature of reality, and that each of them represents only a fraction of the total view… you are.

This path to wholeness feels lonely at first, but know in your heart that you’re far from alone – I promise you that with the right people around this life becomes a beautiful experience – and that you’re only headed for home.  And please bring strange things.