Heartoween

Heart cloud over full moon

Into Knowing

 

Water on spider web, front yard Heather shrub

This image captures a current experience for me, that from a misty sort of unknowing into clarity and revelation. And what could be revealed in that knowing except Love? Everything in the universe returns to Love - all that is constricted, misaligned, painful, lost, or broken. Thank God. I feel it's why I'm here, to help reintegrate this returning and knowing and to share it by being the truth of who I am. It is the truth of who we all are, this endless Love, all appearances to the contrary. Glorious and beautiful Love to you, right from the full knowing of the infinite splendor of your soul. Shine on, beautiful beings. I love you.

Refuge

Nest in tree near the UC, Willamette University campus, Spring and Fall

 

We look for safety in many places – relationships, finances, professional endeavors, and physical comfort, to name a few. Ultimately the only safe place for any of us is inside of ourselves, in the expansive and infinite dwelling of our own hearts. When we come home and stay home in ourselves, we become the very Love we yearn for. We come home to the heart of the One.

The Color of Change

 Capitol grounds, Salem, OR

I'm struck by the incredible beauty of this leaf's passage from life to death. 

Every color of the rainbow, with the sweet touch of a rose-colored heart. Amazing.

Way Out of Line

October Rhododendron blossom, next to Fine Arts East, Willamette University Campus

This little beauty doesn't seem to know what season it is. I know Rhodies as spring bloomers, but this plant has a reality season all of its own, as I snapped its portrait just last week. As I did, I wondered what was with the creases in this petal. Is that where the blossom had to fold in on itself to slip through the wormhole from April to October?

Many scientists and mystics find themselves on common ground when it comes to the time/space continuum, i.e. in agreement that it isn't linear. In a letter to the family of a close friend who had died, Einstein once wrote "...for us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one."

I had this demonstrated to me in fine fashion about two years ago. I had grossly miscalculated the time needed to get from Salem to the Portland airport for a flight to LA. This was after living here for 12 years which included countless trips to the airport... I'm not sure what happened to my linear brain. For some reason I thought I could teach until 12:30 and catch a 2:30 flight. The drive to the airport is an hour and 15 minutes with no traffic. During class when I suddenly realized I had allowed only 2 hours to drive to PDX, park, take the shuttle, get through security, and board the flight, I knew I had a problem. The issue was compounded when I ran into complete gridlock on I-5 due to an accident ahead. The freeway was a parking lot. At this point I did a very bad thing and backed up an entire mile on the shoulder of I-5 to the previous exit. Yes, I did. I hope my children never emulate me. I took a couple of wrong turns before finally getting oriented toward Portland. On the way toward the small town of Canby, I looked at the clock in my car. 1:34. This was not good. 

So I put in my angel assistance order. I asked that, with time not being linear and all, could they just rearrange it a bit, or at least stretch it for me. And just like in a restaurant, I figured once the order was in there was no need to keep saying it again and again. About 5 or 6 minutes later I looked at the clock once more, at which point it read 1:29. I thought, "Now I know time isn't linear, but that is crazy!" 

I continued on, crawling through Canby with all of the other diverted traffic. I even sat through one particular stop light in town 6 long times before getting through. After several more delays I finally found myself on I-205. The final stretch! When I got to the remote parking lot at the airport, there were cars in both of the lanes to get a ticket stub, so I pulled up behind one. It just sat there and sat there and sat there. The other car moved on, and I thought, "Oh my gosh, do I really have to back up again?!" I did, then drove through the lot guided by instinct, found a spot, and looked up to see the bus coming.  I hopped on, hopped off, dashed through the ticketing counter area yelling toward an agent as I went, asking which gate it was for my flight. She yelled back the gate number to me, along with "Do you have your boarding pass!!!???" "YES!" I sprinted to security, where I discovered yet another gridlock. BAAAAAAH!!! I asked the little man at the A-list aisle if I could please go through. He in turn asked me if I was a gold member, or a this or a that, and I said "No, I'm not, but..." "I'm sorry, Miss, but I can't let you through." "But if I get in that line," I said, pointing to the slowly snaking mass of travelers, "I'll miss my flight!" "I'm sorry Miss, there is no way I can let you through." I slumped, dejected and amazed that after all of this, I was going to miss my flight after all. It was 2:15, which seemed like a linear miracle, but I couldn't make the final step from point A to point B. And then, randomly, he looked up and offered this afterthought: "Unless you are flying to Seattle." "I am! I AM! I AM flying to Seattle!" (that was my connecting flight). So through I went in record time, having a chance to stop at the restroom (thank God!), and when I got to my gate at 2:20 they were just beginning to board the puddle jumper to Seattle. I waltzed onto a completely full flight just in time. Completely full, that is, excepting the two seats on either side of me.

In the ultimate sense, everything is now: past experiences, the future, the present, other lifetimes, lifetimes to come. Rhodies in spring, summer, fall and winter. The 15th century's minutes ticking in tandem with the 22nd's, with the idea of "century" just being one of those very convincing illusions. Makes me happy to think about it.

Useful Hearts

        

                                                 Inside of washing machine                                  Garage door hinge

 

 Electrical outlet in plaster, staff flats, Maua Methodist Hospital, Maua, Kenya

 

Water blob inside of measuring cup looking down on kitchen mat

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others

       Foliage, Mara Serena Safari Lodge, Masai Mara, Kenya

One thing I’ve noticed about Love, it doesn’t much conform. True Love is free. It isn’t a system or a theology, and no one can own it or have its answer. It simply expresses itself uniquely in every moment – free of judgment and without concern for appearance. Many of the great Lovers of the world (Jesus, Ghandi, Mother Teresa) were non-conformists in their systems. They were compelled to be Love in the world, however it landed.

Heart Song

Hydrangea blossom, neighbor's yard

The Willamette choirs sang in a concert this evening. It was so beautiful, all of their voices lifting together in heart-felt sound. I have the privilege of leading the women's group, and they created magic tonight on Randall Stroope's Two Strings, One Voice, a setting of a wonderful Rilke poem (see below). I came home thinking, "What is the most beautiful heart I have photographed that might capture their sound in an image, sounds that were like ribbons of light?" And then I saw this one from last summer. Its many petals, shapes, angles and tones all form one sweet and voluptuous shape of love. Yes, that is what they sounded like tonight. Oh sweetest of songs.

 

Love Song

How shall I hold on to my soul, so that
it does not touch yours? How shall I lift
it gently up over you on to other things?
I would so very much like to tuck it away
among long lost objects in the dark
in some quiet unknown place, somewhere
which remains motionless when your depths resound.
And yet everything which touches us, you and me,
takes us together like a single bow,
drawing out from two strings but one voice.
On which instrument are we strung?
And which violinist holds us in the hand?
Oh sweetest of songs. 

translation: Cliff Crego                              

Pain, beauty, peace

Telephone pole, NW 23^rd street, Portland, Oregon

I don’t usually think of pain as beautiful, or of Love being present there. But this picture sure struck me as beautiful, even in the midst of its owie-ness. My most frequent, reflexive response to pain in my life (either emotional or physical) has been to try to eradicate it as quickly as possible, to find what's wrong and then fix it. Let's just say that approach has proved less than satisfactory, :) so now I'm discovering what it's like to be more of an explorer than a patch master. Pain is information. If we move directly to erasing it without passing Go (passing through) or collecting $200 (the information and therefore the blessing), we likely will miss what it is that our world (body, mind, heart, God, universe) might be trying to tell us. And not only that, resisting our uncomfortable experience actually solidifies it in us further, increasing the length and intensity of our suffering. I am finding that often the most revealing and healing way through pain is first to give it my full attention, to really see it and experience it, and then to soften into it without resistance. Then it lets go. When we move into and through our experience this way, we can move beyond it into peace. 

On the Way

Cracks in sidewalk, downtown Salem, OR

  

This was the heart that found me today on my 47th birthday. I noticed the greenish moss growing in the middle of it, and how the lines meet the heart. They could be arriving, or departing. Maybe they are converging or diverging, depending on which trajectory you're following. But turn around and it could just as easily be the opposite - like paths in life, in ourselves, in the eternal flow of things.

Lately I find myself less invested in outcomes and more interested in simply aligning with the flow, whatever that may be. I'm noticing the divine order in life, and it seems the task is simply to be aware of it within and without, and to come into ever finer alignment and resonance with that flow. It makes me tear up a bit thinking about it. Bullseye. :)

Love to each of you wherever you are on this amazing, beautiful planet spinning through our splendid universe. I'm glad we're on the way together.

Loveburst

Crushed cracker on pavement, Goodwill parking lot

  

I’ve gotten used to people thinking I’m a bit wacky with my heart photography. More than once a well-meaning passer by on foot or in their car has stopped to ask if I am okay as I squat over some minutia on the ground. They usually look at me askance when I say, “Oh, I’m fine, thanks. I just like taking pictures of hearts!” My answer doesn’t seem to satisfy their curiosity, or maybe it does, but also confirms their suspicions that I’m probably not okay - or at least not normal! What will you do today that is crazy for Love?

Surprise!

Mushrooms in parking lot median

There is no limit to the ways love can show up in our lives, even in forms or places where we think it simply can’t or won’t be. This plump little mushroom looks like a rising roll of dough that apparently missed the memo it was supposed to be round. Bursting with so much life, it just couldn’t help but be love! Be delighted by the surprise of love today, by the way it defies the patterns and positions we have prescribed. Release your heart into the unexpected, surprising nature of love.

Water View

Window in Goudy dining hall, Willamette University

Part of the fun of heart photography is just snapping the shot and then later discovering what is there. I thought the water streaming down this 25 foot window was so pretty (though I wasn't too cheerful about walking across campus through that same water). I expected I might find a heart in the darker portions, or maybe in the larger, light areas, so the tiny, bright one on the upper left sure was fun to see. Then there was the added surprise of the face in the top center. I have often discovered faces in water patterns, and I like to imagine they are water sprites or fluid beings whose presence slides in and out of visibility with the flow. "Come with me__ and you'll be__ in a world of pure imagination, what you see_ will defy expectation..."