Podcasts about hours love poems

Solomon sets out to build a house for God, as people across time and place have done over and over again. But even in the dedication prayer, Solomon acknowledges that God cannot be contained by a building, regardless of size or grandness or even how delicious it smells. Just as Pastor Megan's delicious-smelling cedar chest could never contain her bounty of beautiful quilts, so too Solomon's cedar temple could never contain the enormity of God. Houses for God have never been about or for God, so much as they are for a people, seeking to create sacred spaces for living in relationship with one another and God; a people seeking to recharge their spiritual batteries.Sermon begins at minute marker 5:421 Kings 5.1-5, and 8.27-30, 41-43ResourcesBibleWorm podcast: Episode 609 – Dedicating the Temple, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, JrRainer Maria Rilke, “Ich bin, du Ängtlicher. Hörst do mich nicht,” from Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, trans. Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, 66.Image: rendering of quilts stacked at SMC during our Jubilee celebration, 2018.Voices Together Hymn 647 There is a Balm in Gilead. Text & Music: African American Spiritual (USA) Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, license #A-726929. All rights reserved.

The poem quoted in the first half of the podcast  is by Rainer Maria Rilke it is in Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God - the opening lines are 'You are not surprised at the force of the storm'. Here is list of Adrian's Lessons Learned with the quotes from his poems. Lessons Learnt from my Breakdown Breathing Advice to Myself in Anxiety ‘Breathe slowly into this, Don't run; stay, You are moored more firmly than you know. There is a constancy in you not your own.' Talking Anxiety Diary ‘My Jungian therapist said, right at the start, that this breakdown was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I thought it was she that was insane, and I wanted to stop right there and then. I think now, she may have been right.' Walking Rivelin Valley Vespers ‘By walking this same path, with a slow and monastic doggedness, I behold tonight's road by low sunlight, all made meaningful and prelude by the merle blue devotion in my collie's gaze.' Writing  Writing as Therapy ‘Now here I am, sitting in a round of delivery, speaking lines gleaned from a dark and no-mooned night, when only my pen knew its way.' Seeing  Afterword to a Traipsing  ‘Laura Page has walked me around the streets camera slung, capturing Sheffield with f-stops and the right shutter-speeds for a city caught in the headlights of forces it is yet to grasp.' Sharing Writing as Therapy ‘In the morning session I had spared no detail of my breakdown, all the colly-wobbled, jelly-bellied quaking of it all.' Volunteering We are Bodies ‘We have turned sixty Volunteering, cooking the cafe Good soup, vegan and lentil Aching knees, aching nerves Bruised by the bruising lives we are Bludgeoned into, but brightened By the fellowship of fellow sufferers' Trusting A Night Sea Journey ‘This is what the mythologists call a night sea journey. I am on a gurney bark sailing through the dark into an uncertain dawn.' Loving  Birdsong on Long Line ‘A sleek throat sounds against the early dusk a last verse to these long lines of walking, and my heart welcomes this reckless chorus, hopefulness beyond my walk's ending.'   Thanks to Andy Selman for his wonderful accompaniment to the Birdsong poem - the whole Album Made I Sheffield can be heard on Spotify here Made In Sheffield - Scott & Selman You can buy Adrian's books here www.adriangrscott.com  If you want to Adrian and Andy perform with the band Dusk Over Rivelin on August 15th in Sheffield click here for tickets.  https://www.wegottickets.com/event/623931 Come along it will be a great evening.  And finally Adrian would like to thank all who have listened and made the 9000 downloads and counting. Bless you all.                                   

Of the many invitations for mindful self-improvement that landed in my inbox at the turn of the year, one piqued my interest — a daily sensory incantation from . The instructions are simple: set a timer for five minutes and record, without interruption and preferably with pen and paper, “close, meticulous, external” notes on your immediate surroundings. No interpretations, no personal commentary, no embellishments allowed.Now here's the twist —Once the timer goes off, look over your fragments and find the five that are the most interesting, the most unique, the most jagged, the strangest. Imagine the paper is on fire and you can save only five fragments before it burns. Put a star by those. Now, read them out loud with the words “I am” in front of them (I am the morning light on the carpet, I am footsteps on the porch, I am rain splattering on the window, I am a baby crying).The primary aim of this practice is to translate sensory impressions of the particular onto the page. But it also points to a deeper incantation of ourselves as dynamic, mosaic creatures. It's a nod to the irreducible reality of who we are.Authenticity is a worthwhile study in this strange new world. Consumer research points to a longing for sincere human connection. Skepticism of the public arena is at an all-time high while our private lives have frayed from isolation and siloing, resulting in a degrading mistrust of those we identify as other.We are a culture sick of being sold and challenged to assess what's vital and honest behind everything and everyone we encounter. But what exactly is authenticity? Among researchers, it's a debated concept. Back in 2000, psychologists Michael Kernis and Brian Goldman distilled decades of scholarly work into a roadmap Authenticity Inventory. Their research landed on authenticity as “the unimpeded operation of one's core or true self in one's daily enterprise” as operationalized by four contributing factors: awareness, distortion-free (or unbiased) mental processing, ways of behaving, and relational orientation.  Despite the bumper sticker platitudes of pseudo-spirituality — follow your bliss! Speak your truth! You do you! — an important caveat about “relational orientation” must be made: authenticity is not an unalloyed good. If the goal were for everyone to express absolute congruence between their outer behavior and whatever developmental, psychological, and circumstantial access they might have to their “core or true self” at the current moment — well, God help us. Let's keep our most primal, unfiltered instincts and perspectives to ourselves, thank you very much.In my clinical training as a therapist, I often turned to the research of Brene Brown, who famously explores the emotions that make us human. Brown speaks here about authenticity as radical participation in our felt experience of life.“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle; and nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough. Authenticity demands Wholehearted living and loving—even when it's hard, even when we're wrestling with the shame and fear of not being good enough, and especially when the joy is so intense that we're afraid to let ourselves feel it. Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives.”― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You AreBrene's words feel germane to the creative frontier on which many of us stand. Perhaps this is because being ourselves is an antidote to the erosive superficiality of our times; sorely, obviously needed, and yet too often relegated only to the safest harbors of our emotional lives. We feel orphaned from a sense of moral and social belonging. Yet authenticity remains among our most formidable teachers, demanding steadfast discipline, the maturation of vulnerability, courage, and forgiveness, and the grace of our mutual wholeheartedness. Many years ago, in the first season of our relationship, in an outstretched moment of indecision on my part, my now-husband, exasperated, exclaimed: “Will you please just say what you want to do?” I was startled by his question, even agitated. After a relatively successful launch into adulthood (I had a real job, after all), the truth was I had no idea what to do with an un-pressured Sunday afternoon and a considerate man asking about my desires. Knowing ourselves, much less being and expressing ourselves, is not our default. It hasn't been since we were very young. To study the origins of our estrangement, we begin with a tender revisit to that young part within us for whom the existence of magic was disproven. We review how our innate experience of wonder was truncated by loss, trauma, or neglect — or simply by the systematic message of our too-muchness. In a gradual and largely subconscious process, we learn to prune the unique signature of ourselves. First, we sense our social context. Then, we compartmentalize and subjugate the parts of ourselves we internalize as undesirable. We become adept at making bids for approval (a process of influencing others' perceptions that sociologist Erving Goffman aptly coined “impression management”). Over time, the Edenic qualities that might otherwise have ushered us into authentic expression dry up on the stalk, and we abandon the luminous wholeness with which we arrived.In other words, we adapt. It seems a matter of survival. A pleased teacher or parent, a nod from a boss, a compliment from a new acquaintance – any small gesture of allegiance can make us feel secure and optimal. Our nervous systems seem to approve of preserving and promoting only those parts that the world deems worthy of praise. Perfectionist values become our unacknowledged norm, subtly affirmed by those who groom us into adulthood.Underground go the needier parts, the messier parts — the brilliant, irreducible parts. “The only antidote to perfectionism is to turn away from every whiff of plastic and gloss and follow our grief, pursue our imperfections, and exaggerate our eccentricities until the things we once sought to hide reveal themselves as our majesty.”― Toko-pa Turner, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves HomeSelf-exile serves us for a while. We become palatable and productive and we reap the benefits. Eventually, though, those long-forgotten, chthonic parts begin to emerge. By some subconscious hand, they are unearthed and delivered like a pile of soiled bones to the back porch in early Spring.[I recently spoke with poet about revelation through a geologic lens.]We begin to test and taste the tin of our words and all we've left unspoken and feel the fatigue of triangulating around our native energies and desires. We realize the irony of shaping ourselves around implicit expectations only to earn enough caché to be ourselves. We recognize the limits of pleasing others as a currency of well-being, suffer the grief of inner scarcity, and feel the shame of chronic self-abandonment — and, ultimately, we feel our hunger for the true and holy gravity of belonging. “…The budstands for all things,even for those things that don't flower,for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;though sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.”― Galway Kinnell, “Saint Francis and the Sow”Sometimes it's necessary to re-teach a thing its loveliness. It took years for my nervous system to relax enough to perceive my instincts for a Sunday afternoon. A slow cup of tea, a hike with my family, a cooking project, listening to Nina Simone while organizing a pantry… It took a gradual incantation of myself to myself and to those who cared enough to keep asking, season after season.Coming home to ourselves is a dedicated practice with the promise of profound alignment and personal agency. Classical yoga philosophy offers svādhyāya (a compound Sanskrit word composed of sva (स्व) "own, one's own, self, the human soul" + adhyāya (अध्याय) "a lesson, lecture, chapter; reading") as the fundamental study of our unmasking. It's a gradual process of yoking back to our most integrated, dynamic whole.“You see, I want a lot.Perhaps I want everythingthe darkness that comes with every infinite falland the shivering blaze of every step up.So many live on and want nothingAnd are raised to the rank of princeBy the slippery ease of their light judgmentsBut what you love to see are facesthat do work and feel thirst.You love most of all those who need youas they need a crowbar or a hoe.You have not grown old, and it is not too lateTo dive into your increasing depthswhere life calmly gives out its own secret.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to GodAuthenticity is an essential kind of remembering. It's the art of coiling our attention inwardly, through layers of anxiety, fear, and shame, to the shelter of our original ownership. To author our way home, to make a song of this being human, first, we get in touch with our want to be ourselves – “to dive into [our] increasing depths.” Then, we commit our oar to the waters of radical self-honesty and become an authority on the subject of rowing against the current of our conditioning. We nurture ourselves courageously through the many mistakes and missteps along the way, making regular visits to the dirt altar of a forgiving heart. “Anyhow, the older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I'm far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.”― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond FearAuthenticity has a quiet resonance that never fails. We feel safest with those who are themselves in our company. Those rare friends who “need [us] as they need a crowbar or a hoe,” who reflect to us our worthiness to be beholden, become our particular kin. Gradually, like St. Francis' sow, we relearn the distinct manner of our loveliness. And thus, the life that's here can once again become a refuge of belonging.Today —[I am] freckles sprayed across an aging hand.[I am] the long-bodied breath of a sleeping dog.[I am] the small animal rustling in the arroyo.[I am] steam rising from a mug.[I am] the thick leaves of a fig in a clay pot. Get full access to The Guest House at shawnparell.substack.com/subscribe

In our final podcast of the year, a special selection of Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry offers nourishment for heart and spirit. Twenty-five years ago, Buddhist scholar and eco-philosopher Joanna Macy collaborated with award-winning poet Anita Burrows to translate Rilke's seminal collection of poetry, The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, which explores the nature of God through divinely received prayers. In this reading, excerpted from the album Be Earth Now, produced by Fletcher Tucker at Gnome Life Records, Joanna and Anita recite some of these poems, reminding us of the ever-urgent call to love the world into being. Sign up for our newsletter to hear more stories as they are released each week. Cover artwork by Claire Collette. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil asking, ‘Who is this?'” Mt. 21 Matthew 21:1-11 Isaiah 50:4-9a Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 26:14-27:66 What is God like? And how will we respond? Give me your hand and we will see. In December 1945, halfway up the Egyptian portion of the Nile River, a farmer named Muhammad ‘Alī al-Sammān made an extraordinary archaeological discovery. Thirty years later he told his story. Not long before he and his brothers avenged their father's murder, they were digging for soil to fertilize their crops when they found a three foot high red, earthenware jar. Wondering if it contained an evil spirit, at first they hesitated to break it open. Then he had the idea that it might contain gold, so he smashed it with his axe and discovered thirteen papyrus books bound in leather. [i] At home he dropped the books on a pile of straw by the oven. His mother used much of the papyrus along with the straw to kindle fire. A few weeks later, after killing their father's enemy ‘Alī worried that the police might search the house, so he left the books with a local priest. For years experts tried to collect the manuscripts. In the end they discovered fifty-two texts at Nag Hammadi. Carbon dating of the papyrus used in the bindings places these Coptic translations sometime between the years 350-400 CE. Some scholars, including my New Testament professor Helmut Koester, believe that these are translations of Greek manuscripts that may be even older than the gospels of the New Testament. One of the first European scholars to discover the texts was startled to read the following line, “These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke, and which the twin Judas Thomas, wrote down.” [ii] This is the opening of the first complete copy of the Gospel of Thomas ever discovered. We had fragments of it in Greek but suddenly we had the whole thing along with pages of other sources we had never dreamed of. My favorite quotes from the Gospel of Thomas describes the kingdom of God as a “state of self-discovery.” That ancient papyrus says, “Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the sons of the living Father.” It says, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” [iii] For years all we knew about the Gnostic Christians in the first centuries after Jesus' death came from the orthodox Christians who called them heretics. Now finally, to some degree, we can hear them speak for themselves. I first encountered these ideas at the age of twenty-one when I read Elaine Pagels' book The Gnostic Gospels. I am attracted to their thought primarily because Jesus has changed my life and I long to learn more about what people in the first centuries thought of him. I am also sympathetic to the Gnostics' respect for wisdom. We are often trapped in stories that make us miserable. Great thinkers can lift us into a truth that frees us. The Greek word gnosis means a kind of knowing by experience that differs from rational or scientific knowing. [iv] It also describes an ancient faith, a family of religious convictions that shaped what we believe today. This year on Palm Sunday as we enter Holy Week rather than trying to tell the whole story of Jesus' passion, I want to talk about this ancient faith. We cannot be a Gnostic in the way that third century people could. But studying these ideas give us a way of talking about our tradition's value and how we experience God in our own lives. On this Palm Sunday I am going to talk about three central gnostic ideas. But first I need to say a little more about what Gnostics believed. Gnostic groups differed from each other but mostly they believed in a kind of dualism between the spiritual which they regarded as good and the evil material world. They held that the spiritual human soul is part of the Divine and is imprisoned in physical existence. They believed that the soul could be saved by coming to realize its greatness, its origin in a superior spiritual world. For Gnostics an inferior god or demiurge (sometimes called the god of the Old Testament) made the material world. In their upside down interpretation of the Genesis creation story, the snake was the hero. Many Gnostic Christians (the Docetists) believed that it only seemed as if Jesus suffered, or was mortal. 1. The first idea that I would like to criticize is the Gnostic belief that there are secret teachings for the elite that are not available to everyone else. The Gnostic believed that, in the words of an ancient manuscript, he was, “one out of a thousand, or two out of ten thousand.” [v] This contrasts with Christians who believe that everything we need to know about God and Jesus is public. There is no hierarchy of secret knowledge, or spiritual wisdom. We can all read the Bible and with help, draw our own conclusions. Christians go further than this. In Paul's Letter to the Galatians he writes, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). This may be one of the most difficult ideas for us to assimilate. It is the basis for our democracy. We are all equal before God, and before the law. As humans we naturally form groups and are drawn into conflict based on our identity. For instance, it is very difficult to avoid the culture war tension between liberals and conservatives. The philosopher Agnes Callard spoke about this recently at Harvard. She pointed out that the science journal Nature endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. It's editors wanted to speak out for science and objective truth. She pointed out that in a world where everything becomes ideological this had the unintended outcome of making some people distrust science as political. Callard said that people on the left use the same tactics as those on the right. “We bully people without knowing it. Not bullying people is harder than it appears.” Her answer is to take a Socratic approach. We should ask people to explain their position rather than trying to beat them in an argument. She says that Socrates is, “not trying to win. He's trying to find out.” [vi] 2. A second Gnostic belief is that we should focus on overcoming illusion through introspection rather than worrying about sin or morality. The important thing for the Gnostic is a relation with our true self not our neighbors. In the second century Irenaeus rejected the idea that knowledge is enough to save us. He insisted that participating and growing in Christ is a “practical, daily form of salvation.” [vii] In the third century Clement of Alexandria writes that God became human so that humans can become God. Every day we improve. He writes about choosing to live joyously so that, “all our life is a festival; being persuaded that God is everywhere present on all sides we praise him as we till the ground, we sing hymns as we sail the sea, we feel God's inspiration in all that we do.” [viii] 3. Finally, Gnostics taught that the material world is evil. In contrast, Christians believe that God created the world and that it is good. We have a responsibility for nature. We see God through the material world. It gives us opportunities to care for each other. Over the next seven days we will experience the implications of this belief. We will follow Jesus through the exultant crowds, witness his poignant goodbye at his last meal with friends. We will see his betrayal, abandonment death and finally his triumphant resurrection and reunion with his loved ones. My friend Matt Boulton says that we cannot take all of this in at once. These events require time and space for us to adequately feel and understand them. [ix] Last night I received an email from one of our readers who feels overwhelmed by the passion narrative. My friend writes, “the most powerful moment that stands out for me is Jesus' response to Judas' kiss.” Jesus says, “Friend do what you are here to do” with no blame or shame, just a sense of love and grief. This idea that God is present to us in the material world gives us the hope that we can change some things for the better. In an interview the poet Maya Angelou said that believing in God gave her courage. “I dared to do anything that was a good thing. I dared to do things distant from what seemed to be in my future. When I was asked to do something good, I often said, yes, I'll try, yes, I'll do my best. And part of that is believing, if God loves me, if God made everything from leaves to seals and oak trees, then what is it I can't do?” [x] What is God like? And how will we respond? There is no secret religious knowledge or a spiritual elite. Introspection will not bring us as close to God as care for those around us. The material world matters and the presence of Jesus in this world then and now is a message of hope and salvation. All our life is a festival, so bring forth what is within you and may God bless you as you walk with Jesus this week. I would like to close with these lines from the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). “God speaks to each of us as he makes us / then walks with us silently out of the night.//These are the words we dimly hear. // You, sent out beyond your recall, / go to the limits of your longing / embody me. //Flare up like flame / and make big shadows I can move in. // Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. / Just keep going. No feeling is final. / Don't let yourself lose me. // Nearby is the country they call life. / You will know it by its seriousness. // Give me your hand.” [xi] [i] Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (NY: Random House, 1979) xiff. [ii] “These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” The Gospel of Thomas, translated by Thomas O. Lambdin. https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/Gospel%20of%20Thomas%20Lambdin.pdf [iii] And later, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and female one… then you will enter [the Kingdom].” Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (NY: Random House, 1979) 152, 154-5. [iv] Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (NY: Random House, 1979) xvii. [v] Ibid., 176. [vi] Clea Simon, “In an era of bitter division, what would Socrates do?” The Harvard Gazette, 27 March 2023. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/03/in-era-of-bitter-division-what-would-socrates-do/ [vii] Margaret Ruth Miles, The Word Made Flesh: A History of Christian Thought (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005) 33. [viii] Ibid., 38. [ix] https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2020/3/29/palms-and-passion-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-palmpassion-sunday [x] https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/2/6/maya-angelou-on-being-christian [xi] Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God tr. Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy (NY: Riverhead, 2005) 119.

Notes:The Verbivore references a Ted Talk video by poet Pages Matam. That video is titled “Pages Matam | Looking for Your Voice? A Poetry Slam Champ Shows You How | TEDxZumbroRiver.”Here are some of the Slam Poetry videos we touch on:Pages Matam, Elizabeth Acevedo & G. Yamazawa – “Unforgettable” Elizabeth Acevedo - "Afro-Latina"Darius Simpson & Scout Bostley - “Lost Voices” Grand Slam Poetry Champion | Harry Baker | TEDxExeter Fable talks about poet Anis Mojgani's spoken word poetry performances. His most recent Ted Talk is titled “The music of growing up down south | Anis Mojgani | TEDxEmory.”The Verbivore talks about Nikita Gil's fairytale and Greek goddess retellings. She performs two of them in a Ted Talk video titled “Why I'd rather be the Wicked Witch than Snow White | Nikita Gill | TEDxLondonWomen.” Her poetry is also shared on Instagram @nikita_gillThe Verbivore discusses Morgan Harper Nichols' poetry, art, and spoken word performance. Her poetry and art are also shared on Instagram @morganharpernichols. Fable reads two of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems from The Book of Hours. They are as follows:I love you, gentlest of Wayswho ripened us as we wrestled with you.You, the great homesickness we could never shakeoff,you, the forest that always surrounded us,you, the song we sang in every silence, you dark net threading through us,on the day you made us you created yourself,and we grew sturdy in your sunlight…Let your hand rest on the rim of Heaven nowAnd mutely bear the darkness we bring over youI am, you anxious one.Don't you sense me, ready to breakinto being at your touch?My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.Can't you see me standing before youcloaked in stillness?Hasn't my longing ripened in youfrom the beginningas fruit ripens on a branch?I am the dream you are dreaming.When you want to awaken, I am waiting.I grow strong in the beauty you behold.And with the silence of stars I enfoldyour cities made by time.The Verbivore references a Ted Talk video by Amanda Gorman. That video is titled “Amanda Gorman: Using your voice is a political choice | TED.” She is on Instagram @amandascgorman. The spoken word poem performance we reference can be found here: Amanda Gorman's “Earthrise”We referenced several of our previous episodes as part of our conversation. Here are those episodes:Episode 22: Imitation as a way to find your voiceEpisode 134: Poetry OverviewMasterclasses Mentioned:Billy Collins Teaches Reading and Writing PoetryBooks & Movies Mentioned:The Poet X by Elizabeth AcevedoWild Embers: Poems of Rebellion Fire and Beauty by Nikita Gil The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton Transformations by Anne SextonTo Bedlam and Part Way Back by Anne Sexton The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John KoenigHow to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) by Barbara KingsolverAnimal Dreams by Barbara KingsolverThe Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition by Emily DickinsonAllegiant by Veronica RothAll Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living by Morgan Harper NicholsRilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria RilkeLetters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda GormanMusic from: https://filmmusic.io 'Friendly day' by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

As we approach the longest night of the year, we invite you to find a few moments of quiet to tune in to this re-broadcast of recitations from Rainer Maria Rilke's The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God. In his seminal collection of poems, the great twentieth-century poet explores the nature of—and his relationship to—God through divinely “received” prayers. Twenty-five years ago, Anita Barrows, an award-winning poet and translator, and Joanna Macy, a Buddhist scholar and eco-philosopher, collaborated to translate this collection. On the album Be Earth Now, produced by Fletcher Tucker at Gnome Life Records, Anita and Joanna recite a selection of these poems. Through their potent recitations, they bring the spirit of Rilke's words fully into our time and remind us of the ever-urgent call to love the world into being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though we think of manna as the bread that God rained down on the wandering Israelite community in the wilderness, “manna” was first a question. “What is it?!” The Israelites draw near enough to the strange flaky substance on the ground to ask “Manna?” and in so doing encounter the answer “Manna!” How might this story, along with the crowd asking Jesus for a daily dose of “bread of life”, inform our curiosity about seeking spiritual sustenance for our own lives?Sermon begins at minute 04:06Scripture: Exodus 16.1-18Image: “Manna,” folio 6, from the Augsburger Book of Miracles (f°6), ca 1552 Hymn: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah; Words and Music - Public Domain; Text: William Williams; Music: John Hughes. [Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-726929. All rights reserved.]Additional Resources:Bibleworm podcast: Episode 306 - Manna in the Wilderness, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr.“Ich bin, du Ängstlicher,” Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours: Love Poems to God - I,19; trans Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy (1996), 66.

A new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet has been released in a world in which his voice and vision feel as resonant as ever before. In ten letters to a young person in 1903, Rilke touched on the enduring dramas of creating our lives — prophetic musings about solitude and relationship, humanity and the natural world, even gender and human wholeness. And what a joy it is to delve into Rilke's voice, freshly rendered, with the translators. Krista, Anita and Joanna have communed with Rainer Maria Rilke across time and space and their conversation is infused with friendship as much as ideas.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.Joanna Macy is a philosopher of ecology and Buddhist teacher, and the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects. She's the author of many books. Our previous On Being episode with her is “A Wild Love for the World.” That's also the title of a lovely book of homage to her published in 2020.Anita Barrows has translated three books of Rilke's writing with Joanna, in addition to Letters to a Young Poet: Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; In Praise of Mortality; and A Year with Rilke. Anita is a psychologist and poet. She was a voice in the On Being episode, “The Soul in Depression.” Her most recent poetry collection is Testimony.

A new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet has been released in a world in which his voice and vision feel as resonant as ever before. In ten letters to a young person in 1903, Rilke touched on the enduring dramas of creating our lives — prophetic musings about solitude and relationship, humanity and the natural world, even gender and human wholeness. And what a joy it is to delve into Rilke's voice, freshly rendered, with the translators. Krista, Anita and Joanna have communed with Rainer Maria Rilke across time and space and their conversation is infused with friendship as much as ideas.Joanna Macy is a philosopher of ecology and Buddhist teacher, and the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects. She's the author of many books. Our previous On Being episode with her is “A Wild Love for the World.” That's also the title of a lovely book of homage to her published in 2020.Anita Barrows has translated three books of Rilke's writing with Joanna, in addition to Letters to a Young Poet: Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; In Praise of Mortality; and A Year with Rilke. Anita is a psychologist and poet. She was a voice in the On Being episode, “The Soul in Depression.” Her most recent poetry collection is Testimony.This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows — ‘What a world you've got inside you.'" Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org. 

In Rainer Maria Rilke’s seminal collection of poetry, The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, the great twentieth-century poet explores the nature of—and his relationship to—God through divinely "received" prayers. Nearly twenty-five years ago, Anita Barrows, an award-winning poet and translator, and Joanna Macy, a Buddhist scholar and eco-philosopher, collaborated to translate this collection. Now, on the new album Be Earth Now, produced by Fletcher Tucker at Gnome Life Records, Anita and Joanna recite a selection of these poems. Through their potent recitations, they bring the spirit of Rilke’s words fully into our time and remind us of the ever-urgent call to love the world into being.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 - When you feel stuck in a loop: One of the reasons why we often feel stuck on a loop is because in many ways, in life, we are in an actual loop of sorts. Even though every day is different, we go through cycles of life in the same way we cycle through nature’s seasons. Even though no two winters are exactly the same, we come to know winter every year. The same is true for every other season, including the seasons of our lives. Perhaps the best way to work through this feeling of being stuck is to slow down and pay attention to what season we’re in. Are we in winter? Summer? Fall? Spring? Some seasons are longer than others. Some seasons are filled with more adventure and time in the sun. And sometimes, our internal seasons don’t seem to correlate with the external ones. Perhaps, the sun is shining outside, and yet, on the inside, you’re in the dead of winter. If you are living through an internal winter, I hope you can begin to find peace with where you are in the cycle. I hope that you can find the support and the worth you need to travel through this inner winter with peace. “Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.” - Katherine May 2 - When you’re frustrated by limitations: If you felt restricted or restrained, now could be a good time to ask yourself this: "What remains boundless?" Here are some examples: Love remains boundless. Grace remains boundless. Hope remains boundless. Allow yourself to fill in the blank, every single day: ______ remains boundless. Allow yourself to be intentional about breathing deep and remembering what remains abundant, even if it seems small. Of course, there may be areas of your life where you are having to wait. Unforeseen circumstances have radically changed your plans. And at the same time, even here, there is room to look above you and be reminded that you have not seen all there is to see. There is room to look out on the ocean waters that remind you that beyond the limit of what the eye could see, that ocean goes on and on. Hold on to what is boundless. Hold on to what is beautiful and true and has no end. “I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.” –Rainer Maria Rilke 3 - When you feel stuck creatively: Whenever you start to feel uninspired to create, remember: you don’t have to. It is just as important to take time to listen and engage with the world around you. Welcome those uninspired moments as moments to simply be. Be gentle with yourself. Take time to process things. Listen. Observe. Take time to take things in. Let the quiet moments fill you up. Let that be enough. There is a well of life inside of you. There are ideas and dreams ready to be visualized and put on paper or brought into the conversation. But you might have to dig to find them. You might have to spend years doing a lot of ordinary things to find the extraordinary. Work your way into the extraordinary. Do the digging. Do the searching. This is all a part of the journey. There is all a part of your becoming. Your actual daily life is just as much a part of the creative process as anything else. Not all things have to be photographed. Not everything has to be documented or understood in real time. Creativity is a powerful force that will continue to find you even when you are not working. Give yourself permission just be and let that be enough. “At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.” – Toni Morrison Sources mentioned in the episode: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke, Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

1 - When you feel stuck in a loop: One of the reasons why we often feel stuck on a loop is because in many ways, in life, we are in an actual loop of sorts. Even though every day is different, we go through cycles of life in the same way we cycle through nature’s seasons. Even though no two winters are exactly the same, we come to know winter every year. The same is true for every other season, including the seasons of our lives. Perhaps the best way to work through this feeling of being stuck is to slow down and pay attention to what season we’re in. Are we in winter? Summer? Fall? Spring? Some seasons are longer than others. Some seasons are filled with more adventure and time in the sun. And sometimes, our internal seasons don’t seem to correlate with the external ones. Perhaps, the sun is shining outside, and yet, on the inside, you’re in the dead of winter. If you are living through an internal winter, I hope you can begin to find peace with where you are in the cycle. I hope that you can find the support and the worth you need to travel through this inner winter with peace. “Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.” - Katherine May 2 - When you’re frustrated by limitations: If you felt restricted or restrained, now could be a good time to ask yourself this: "What remains boundless?" Here are some examples: Love remains boundless. Grace remains boundless. Hope remains boundless. Allow yourself to fill in the blank, every single day: ______ remains boundless. Allow yourself to be intentional about breathing deep and remembering what remains abundant, even if it seems small. Of course, there may be areas of your life where you are having to wait. Unforeseen circumstances have radically changed your plans. And at the same time, even here, there is room to look above you and be reminded that you have not seen all there is to see. There is room to look out on the ocean waters that remind you that beyond the limit of what the eye could see, that ocean goes on and on. Hold on to what is boundless. Hold on to what is beautiful and true and has no end. “I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.” –Rainer Maria Rilke 3 - When you feel stuck creatively: Whenever you start to feel uninspired to create, remember: you don’t have to. It is just as important to take time to listen and engage with the world around you. Welcome those uninspired moments as moments to simply be. Be gentle with yourself. Take time to process things. Listen. Observe. Take time to take things in. Let the quiet moments fill you up. Let that be enough. There is a well of life inside of you. There are ideas and dreams ready to be visualized and put on paper or brought into the conversation. But you might have to dig to find them. You might have to spend years doing a lot of ordinary things to find the extraordinary. Work your way into the extraordinary. Do the digging. Do the searching. This is all a part of the journey. There is all a part of your becoming. Your actual daily life is just as much a part of the creative process as anything else. Not all things have to be photographed. Not everything has to be documented or understood in real time. Creativity is a powerful force that will continue to find you even when you are not working. Give yourself permission just be and let that be enough. “At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.” – Toni Morrison Sources mentioned in the episode: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke, Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

We’re increasingly attentive to the many faces of depression and anxiety, and we’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication. But depression is profound spiritual territory; and that is much harder to speak about. This is an On Being classic. Krista opens up about her own experience of depression and talks with Parker Palmer, Anita Barrows, and Andrew Solomon. We are putting this out on the air again because people tell us it has saved lives, and so many of us are struggling in whole new ways right now.Anita Barrows is a psychologist, poet and translator. Her most recent poetry collection is We are the Hunger. She has translated several volumes of the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke together with  Joanna Macy, including Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God.This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "The Soul in Depression." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.

We’re increasingly attentive to the many faces of depression and anxiety, and we’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication. But depression is profound spiritual territory; and that is much harder to speak about. This is an On Being classic. Krista opens up about her own experience of depression and talks with Parker Palmer, Anita Barrows, and Andrew Solomon. We are putting this out on the air again because people tell us it has saved lives, and so many of us are struggling in whole new ways right now.Andrew Solomon is a journalist and writer of epic books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist  The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, and Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity.Anita Barrows is a psychologist, poet and translator. Her most recent poetry collection is We are the Hunger. She has translated several volumes of the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke together with  Joanna Macy, including Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God.Parker J. Palmer is a teacher, author, and founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. His many books include Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old. Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.orgThis show originally aired January 17, 2003

Poetry can be an amazing source of courage, a company, a way to get stronger and a way to get comfort.This episode invites you to join in a poetic journey. You will listen to:"Ecclesiastes" from the Old Testament, but found in The Poetry Pharmacy Returns, by William Sieghart,"You darkness, of whom I am born" from Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, by Rainer Maria Rilke,"All will come again into its strength" from Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, by Rainer Maria Rilke," The Facts of Life" from the book Sorry for your troubles, by Pádraig Ó Tuama,"Everything is going to be all right" by Derek Mahon, in the book The Poetry Pharmacy by William Sieghart.The piano improvisation is by Alê Prade. Insta: @vitalkompass.comTwitter: @vitalkompasswww.vitalkompass.comMusic and edition: Alê Prade

In this episode we talk about the nature and practice of open marriage as opposed to monogamy. Are open marriages more trusting? Is monogamy outdated and out of step with human nature? Hear what we think. If you want to contact us, hit us up at therilkeanzoo[at]gmail.com. Also, find us on Patreon at patreon.com/therilkeanzoo. Text: Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, trans. Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy (New York: Riverhead Books, 2005), 43.

We are in a unique time in human history. We can order an item from around the world and receive it at our doorstep in a few days. We can live our entire lives indoors. We can exist without interacting with other humans. Unfortunately, this separation from each other and from Nature makes it easier than ever to exploit and destroy nature for our own purposes. The good news is...we are actually in a position to salvage what few wild areas still exist on the planet. There is however, an expiration date on that offer.   Ayana Young is a podcast and radio personality specializing in intersectional environmental and social justice, deep ecology and land-based restoration. Young has a strong academic background at the intersections of ecology, culture, and spirituality. Young lives among the coastal redwood and salmon habitat in Northern California. She established a native species nursery and research center, spearheading the 1 Million Redwoods Project, the most backed farm project in Kickstarter history. Young is also a budding filmmaker. Her debut film, When Old Growth Ends, is an ode to the irreplaceable Tongass National Forest during its last stand as a distinctly wild place in Southeast Alaska. Young is the Founder and Executive Director of millennial media organization and nonprofit For the Wild. Her podcast, For the Wild, has featured over 100 guests, including Chris Hedges, Sylvia Earle, Vandana Shiva, Jill Stein, Winona La Duke, Terry Tempest Williams. Young approaches the mission of "For The Wild" with critical thinking, deep reverence and artistry.   Standing up and speaking out for the Earth is not the easy path...but no one is going to lay on their deathbed regretting caring about and working to protect the Earth. Devoting ourselves to something outside ourselves is what makes us truly worthy.   In this episode... Ayana's experience creating a farm and a food forest Soil building Shattering her own conditioning and the origin of For the Wild Podcast The connection between the human inner landscape and Earth's landscape Taking responsibility for what it means to be a modern human How modern human disconnection from Nature makes it easier to exploit Nature Being wary of greenwashing solutions and token consumerism as distractions from the ecological disaster that is happening now Addressing our own addiction to consumerism and entitlement is the first step Buffers that keep us satisfied and distracted from processing what is actually going on in our world right now It's okay to slow down and not "do" something. It's the times when we are quiet, especially in Nature, that we can hear our inner voice If we want clean water, if we want clean air, if we want a future for our children...we have to act, and expect to be engaging for the long haul. We need to be in relationship with each other and with the work of standing up for the Earth, rather than only focusing on getting to the finish line. Strategies for sustainable activism   Resources forthewild.world (info on For The Wild Podcast, 1 Million Redwoods Project, Tongass Campaign) Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: @for.the.wild connect@forthewild.world Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California by Laura Cunningham Terry Tempest Williams Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria

A Buddhist philosopher of ecology, Joanna Macy says we are at a pivotal moment in history with the possibility to unravel or create a life-sustaining human society. Now entering her 90s, Macy has lived adventurously by any definition. She worked with the CIA in Cold War Europe and the Peace Corps in post-colonial India and was an early environmental activist. She brings a poetic and spiritual sensibility to her work that’s reflected in her translations of the early-20th-century poet Rainer Maria Rilke. We take that poetry as a lens on her wisdom on the great dramas of our time: ecological, political, personal. Joanna Macy is an activist, author, and a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology. Her 13 books include translations of Rilke’s “Book of Hours: Love Poems to God,” “A Year with Rilke,” and “In Praise of Mortality.” She is the root teacher of the Work That Reconnects, a framework and workshop for personal and social change. Her new translation of Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet,” together with Anita Barrows, is upcoming in 2020. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Joanna Macy — A Wild Love for the World.” Find more at onbeing.org.

A Buddhist philosopher of ecology, Joanna Macy says we are at a pivotal moment in history with the possibility to unravel or create a life-sustaining human society. Now entering her 90s, Macy has lived adventurously by any definition. She worked with the CIA in Cold War Europe and the Peace Corps in post-colonial India and was an early environmental activist. She brings a poetic and spiritual sensibility to her work that’s reflected in her translations of the early-20th-century poet Rainer Maria Rilke. We take that poetry as a lens on her wisdom on the great dramas of our time: ecological, political, personal. Joanna Macy is an activist, author, and a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology. Her 13 books include translations of Rilke’s “Book of Hours: Love Poems to God,” “A Year with Rilke,” and “In Praise of Mortality.” She is the root teacher of the Work That Reconnects, a framework and workshop for personal and social change. Her new translation of Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet,” together with Anita Barrows, is upcoming in 2020. Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

In this episode, On Being Project founder and CEO Krista Tippett reads “God speaks to each of us as he makes us” by Rainer Maria Rilke. She shares how the poem gave her courage and resolve during the creation of her public radio show, Speaking of Faith, in 2003. In the years since, Speaking of Faith has grown and evolved into The On Being Project, a media and public life initiative exploring the intersection of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, community, poetry, and the arts. Tippett’s latest book is Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. “God speaks to each of us as he makes us” by Rainer Maria Rilke appears in the collection Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, and published by Riverhead Books. Keep up with Krista Tippett on Twitter and onbeing.org. We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Subscribe on RadioPublic, iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher. https://radiopublic.com/interesting-people-reading-poetry-60aNDL/ep/s1!1e3d8#t=2

Krista Tippett is the host of the award-winning radio show and podcast On Being. In 2014, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama. For good reason. She's created, over decades, something rare in American life: spaces where people of different faiths, disciplines, and ideologies discuss divisive questions without becoming more divided, without losing sight of each other's humanity. Tippett comes from a political family, and spent her early adulthood working on Cold War policy in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. She was a wonk who talked SALT treaties and nuclear policy for a living. But she left that life, believing that there were harder, deeper questions that language wasn’t allowing her to explore, much less answer. I've been wanting to talk with Tippett because I think this is a moment that challenges our humanity as we engage in the daily thrum of politics. Trump makes everything he touches a bit Trumpier, he calls on our worst selves, he makes it seem more acceptable — even more necessary — to act more like him. And he degrades all of us in the process. It has never, to me, felt harder to keep hold of decency in public life than it is now. This is something Tippett has rare skill at. Here, she both offers and models an approach all of us can learn from. Walking the Pastures of Wonder by John O’Donahue Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows Let Your Life Speak, by Parker Palmer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Holy Writ, Carla talks with Victoria Peterson-Hilleque from Minneapolis, MN. During their conversation, Carla and Victoria discuss Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, slam poetry and mindfulness.

"When the inner and the outer are wedded, revelation occurs." - Hildegard of Bingen Kim Rosen is the author of Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words.  Combining her devotion to poetry with her background as a spiritual teacher and therapist, Kim has touched listeners around the world with poetry's power to awaken, inspire, and heal.  She gives poetry concerts, lectures, and workshops in the U.S. and abroad.  You can learn more about her work at kimrosen.net.  You can also connect with her on the Saved by a Poem Facebook Page, and on Twitter at @savedbyapoem. Some of the poems, poets, and books Kim mentions during the interview are: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath David Whyte Mary Oliver Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye