To Him

To Him

TO HIM THAT WAS CRUCIFIED

MY spirit to yours dear brother,
Do not mind because many sounding your name do not understand you,
I do not sound your name, but I understand you,
I specify you with joy O my comrade to salute you, and to salute those who are with you, before and since, and those to come also,
That we all labor together transmitting the same charge and succession,
We few equals indifferent of lands, indifferent of times,
We, enclosers of all continents, all castes, allowers of all theologies,
Compassionaters, perceivers, rapport of men,
We walk silent among disputes and assertions, but reject not the disputers nor any thing that is asserted,
We hear the bawling and din, we are reach’d at by divisions, jealousies, recriminations on every side,
They close peremptorily upon us to surround us, my comrade,
Yet we walk unheld, free, the whole earth over, journeying up and down till we make our ineffaceable mark upon time and the diverse eras,
Till we saturate time and eras, that the men and women of races, ages to come, may prove brethren and lovers as we are.
 
-Walt Whitman
Bus Song

Bus Song

The Bus Song

Well, as I was standing at the bus stop

Waiting for the bus

The bus was so long coming

I began to fret and fuss

When at last the bus rolled up

And I stopped in to pay my fare

I’d forgotten where I was going

And what’s more I didn’t care

I said to the driver: Mister –

Where does this bus go?

The driver he said: Baby –

Do you really want to know?

This old bus goes anywhere

It depends on how you feel

And tonight this bus is traveling

Because Love’s Behind The Wheel

Uptown, Downtown, Everywhere, All Around

Uptown, Downtown, Everywhere, All Around

Cella Coffin

Pondering Love and Time and Space

Pondering Love and Time and Space

I have noticed that being fully present in the moment frees the mind from conventional senses or constraints of time and space, opening oneself to profound states of loving kindness, timelessness, and receptiveness to having profound insights. In the experience of being fully present, one can experience a profound sense of “flow” –  simultaneously feeling in the now as well as a sense of conventional time and space being suspended or placed into flux. In my experience, such moments untethered by thinking or the ego-mind being in control can seem luminous and unfettered, often coupling the experience of loving kindness with timelessness, and paradoxically (or integrally?) creating a space for profound inspiration, unconditional love, and vision into the future. 

In macro physics, objects seem to be separate, and time and space seem to be linear and distinct, while at a molecular and submolecular level, the “rules” don’t seem to apply: particles are also waves, things are here and there, time seems to be a subjective matter of perspective, etc.

Is there a correlation in science? If space and time are linked; some argue that we can’t treat them as separate or absolute (ancient traditions support this) To quote Hermann Minkowski, “Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a union of the two will preserve an independent reality.” In theoretical physics, the problem of time appears to be a conceptual conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics “in that quantum mechanics regards the flow of time as universal and absolute, whereas general relativity regards the flow of time as malleable and relative.” 

Attempts to quantify unconditional love in scientific terms are rare, at least in my investigations, but perhaps there is some parallel with the time conundrum in that some believe that “unconditional love is love that will not change according to any information, as it was not built on the basis of information in the first place,” while others argue that unconditional love is malleable and evolutionary.

Love’s Apostle

Love’s Apostle

Love’s the name of every game, the aim of all we do.
You are love’s apostle, and you know that this is true.
Love can open every door, brighten every day.
Love’s the gift we bring to life, and we take away.
Love is born in each of us, Love comes with our birth,
Love’s the source of happiness, center of self-worth.
I love you for who you are, not just what you do.
When I see you smile at me, I think you love me, too.
Love can always lift us up, to make our joy renew:
Love is her and him and them and love is me and you.
 
written for Wolfram Alderson by Lyn Coffin, on the occasion of Wolfram’s 60th Birthday, July 30, 2018