"thank you David for being a friend to you. Love Light and Joy"
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David Sparenberg
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David Sparenberg posted a blog postLIFE IN THE AGE OF EXTINCTIONS: Love Song...
Hello to all friends! It was 2 months ago today that OVI published my LIFE IN THE AGE OF EXTINCTIONS volume one as a free ebook download. In this brief 2 months there have been 30,000 downloads. If one of those is yours, thank you and a sincere wish that you and the book have made a healing and creative bond. If not yet: when? Below is a link. Presently, let me share a composition from the book as both invitation and enticement to read more. After all, it is about the Earth, the present &…See More
David Sparenberg posted a blog postIN THE AFTERMATH OF SANDY HOOK
Any control or even reform of guns in society is significant. But in the bigger picture and fuller dynamics, we are a society and culture of violence, greed and multiple addictions. Gun control is a step, but only a step, a starting point, in a long and challenging process. The process to move on needs democratization. The American people need to become involved in the dynamics of committed, diligent compassion. The involvement must become sustained, ingrained, integral. As a nation, we…See More
David Sparenberg posted a blog postgifting free ebook
Hello! You are invited to claim a free ebook copy of my new book LIFE IN THE AGE OF EXTINCTIONS: Episodes of a Sentient Soul by David Sparenberg, at the OVI Book Project.. This is an important spiritual & cultural text addressing our increasing ecological & humanitarian crisis. Please claim your free ebook copy using the following link: http://www.ovimagazine.com/cat/56 There is no cost and no obligation; the book is a…See More
Mike Molyneaux commented on David Sparenberg's blog post SUSTAINABLE RETREAT: A Guided Shift into Green Gestalten - review by David Sparenberg"
A parable of the death wish of earthlings:-
“Just give me one more drink. I have no doubt this abstinence and sobriety ideal is a great principle. But whiskey and wine tastes so much nicer than a principle. So let me forget what I…"
Mike Molyneaux commented on David Sparenberg's blog post SUSTAINABLE RETREAT: A Guided Shift into Green Gestalten - review by David Sparenberg"Many great ideas expressed here. Numerous wise, insightful, caring and responsible people have been saying the same for thousands of years. How will the people of the world today get to hear about it, see it happening and decide it's a good…"
David Sparenberg posted a blog postSUSTAINABLE RETREAT: A Guided Shift into Green Gestalten - review by David Sparenberg
THE NEW SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY READER edited by Ervin Laszlo & Kingsley L. Dennis, A Worldshift Book from Inner Traditions, 2012, 180pp, $14.95Look folks—we, the human species and the entirety of Earth and Earth’s dwindling diversity, are in trouble. This is serious, even dire trouble, and denial, no mater how often repeated or how insistently reinforced, does not reduce the magnitude of the trouble that is real and which we are.To say such is not to descend into fear mongering. Rather…See More
Kingsley Dennis left a comment for David Sparenberg"Thanks David - good to see you here & all you're doing...!
Wishing you well...and in your own writings too.
Kingsley"
David Sparenberg posted a blog postTHE TRUST TO RESIST - Book Review by David Sparenberg
A SPIRITULAITY OF RESISTENCE: Finding a Peaceful Heart & Protecting the Earth by Roger S. Gottleib, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 205pp, $24.95.Whatever moves me out of pain is felt profoundly in my body, a filling up that precipitates tears. Whatever I love is loved with passion, also a filling up and the desire for intimacy, recurrence, return. Whatever is shared out into the worldly realm of dynamic, living otherness is shared with ardor—and breathes outwardly the warming and…See More
David Sparenberg posted a blog postPRAYER OF HUMILITY
Our fatherwho art in heaven our motherwho wanders among usholy and homelesshallowed be your names(vesselsof essence, seedbedsof archetypes and angels). May your dream of usbe fulfilled in theearth-sphere as it isin the creative imaginationand revealed to ushere within the miraculouswork of this living earth:a prophetic promiseof reverence for lifeand of peaceand of justice. Give us this daythe maturity of simplicitywean us lastinglyfrom crimes against creationeven the addictionsof violence and…See More
Stephen Quinto commented on David Sparenberg's blog post WE ARE THE STONES DANCING - book review by David Sparenberg"Both Ruth and I recently read Thomas Berry's 'signature' work: "The Great Work" - he was an astute analyst and commentator on the fulsome crisis man has brought upon himself. His appreciation of the breadth and depth of it…"
David Sparenberg posted a blog postWE ARE THE STONES DANCING - book review by David Sparenberg
THOMAS BERRY DREAMER OF THE EARTH: The Spiritual Ecology of the Father of Environmentalism, edited by Ervin Laszlo and Alan Combs, A Worldshift Book published by Inner Traditions, 144 pp, $14.95What Arne Naess is to the foundations of Deep Ecology, Matthew Fox to Creation Spirituality and Theodore Roszak to a popularization of Ecopsychology, so is Thomas Berry to Environmentalism and Eco-Theology. Berry stands forth as a beloved uber-champion of the Great World—the eco-shamanic, holistic,…See More
David Sparenberg posted a blog postLOVE SONG
Awaken, o my beloved: rise up and do not be afraid. Find peace in affirmation of life and the gentle strength of abiding with this Earth. Suffering cannot be avoided. Ignorance invites the storms of cleansing. And there is a fire in the heart of creation that lives and longs to grow. You have chosen the path of purity; although it is not possible to always be pure. Still you come walking in humility and courage. And Earth is everywhere an honest place, welcoming footsteps and the…See More
David Sparenberg commented on David Sparenberg's blog post MOUNTAINS (& VALLEYS) BEYOND JUNG – Book Review by: David Sparenberg"Helllo Billy. Thanks for sharing your reflections. I am not a member of the Baha's Faith but have some little knowledge of it; respect and appreciate the good that path offers and your thoughts on the "embrace of…"
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- Do you believe we're now in a global emergency?
- Yes. Unfortunately, it is an urgent and increasingly dangerous reality.
- What does climate change mean to you?
- A GULL BLOWN INLAND
All things of Gaia—the magnificence of Mount Rainier, the flow-dance of encircling ocean, ring of fire rounding the Pacific Rim, plankton in the salt dependent sea, metamorphic migrations of Monarch butterflies and congregations of earthwise crows—may someday be reabsorbed into the mystic godhead. Or
re-enfolded into the Sefirot strange dialectic structure of divine potencies or moved hence back as subtle imagery into astral parallel places of dimensions without seasons. Or even
recalled into the spirit houses of eternal ideas of fixed unchanging symmetry.
These heavy schools of human thought provide small comfort to the panic stricken human heart before the raging voracities of death geared technologies and destruction. But asymmetric nature is not consulted. No council of all beings has been convened; no parliament of biotic democracy ever chartered.
The proud and powerful towers of disembodied philosophies present a bitter ending to the evolutionary narrative of creation. To Earth-forgotten of God’s excesses that we have long since failed to know befriend and heal or lovingly defend. Around
midday today this day in calendar year of mere human measurement 2011 I stopped to watch a gull blown inland on high wind and stood reminded by instincts of my natural self that the alternatives to global warming nuclear winter worldwide madness and tipping toxicity begin in openness and widening rhythms of echoing hearts with many re-Earthing relationships and many souls alert with open eyes in motive second naivety.
In a future already near at hand we humans will not be encrypted urbanites or techno-addicts. We will not remain self-referential (if we care to remain at all). But will either become a mature species in process of eco-anamnesis and sanity or primitive survivors in the aftermath of all consuming chaos and the black hole of global dead.
This is not prophecy, although there is in the depths a truth of words. This is of choices. Of mountains and rivers of forests and coastlines of lands and waters. Of gulls blown inland on high winds and of the feeling sense of coming rain and coming changes.
And it is not that this is merely black and white, but rather that the gray is twilight and it is to be decided yet which is which—the emerging of rejuvenating dawn or “progress” descending into lasting night.
20-21 Jan. 2010
from forthcoming THE WAY OF THE GREEN TROUBADOUR, Musings on an Ecozoic Way by David Sparenberg
- What does peace mean to you?
- BEATITUDE
Blessed indeed are the poor and the wild things of the Earth, although pushed to the edge of existence and extinction sniffs and looks into our eyes with deadly indifference, day after day and minute by minute. For the wretched of the Earth and the wild are made homeless in common. And without habitation, multitudes are driven by the betrayal of greed into the abomination of desolation.
Yet One there is who watches. And after much suffering, the scales out of balance shall rise with a mighty ringing. And justice will abide everywhere. For there is no mending but by preserving unity through diversity; no healing but in the bestowal of dignity. And there is no salvation, except by the wayside, in the ghettos of the forgotten, where the vulnerable await the unfulfilled promises of welcoming love.
Blessed indeed are the peacemakers. For such shall teach and lead us out of the terror and confusion of deception and destruction, and away from the wars of men against men, and the warring of men on nature. But the day of peace will come with the dismantling of walls and the dissolving of boundaries and borders. And the gentle and visionary—whose palms are as their souls, and both are without bloodstain—will surely show us the shade of a life-bearing tree and seat us among lions and lambs. And we will come to share of who we are in harmony and without hatred.
Blessed indeed are the innocent and pure of heart. And those who time cannot stoop and wither into bitterness; and who are not skillful with the wiles of shallowness and success, but for whom both prairie stars and daybreak star remain embracing miracles. And for whom the pattern of a spider's web in autumn garden is a form of scripture. And for whom a cloud of yellow pollen blown over the desert in springtime is a breath of mystery. And for whom the soaring flight of an eagle is the utterance of a holy word.
For all such are of the Kingdom of God and are beloved of creation, even as children are loved in the eyes of elders.
Blessed indeed are those among us today and tomorrow who walk the good talk and who are Earth-walkers. For such have seen with the eyes of the soul and know in the knowledge of experience that soul-seeing is truth. And this truth is simple and belongs to life.
Blessed indeed are those disciplined and profound with silence, and respectful in their measured words. In the chaos of upheaval and in the ordeals of betrayal, still they value honesty above profit and integrity, which bestows freedom, above possessions and enslavement to things.
Blessed indeed are the myth-singers, who have gone down into the ancient and recovered the medicine of sanity, and the storytellers and poets, and those who re-enchant us and initiate our bodies into dancing with the rhythms of the Earth.
For such celebrants give bone and living tissue to the dreams of God, but shake off disfiguring shadows and blow away, with chanting breath, the dun smoke of nightmares and misdirecting lies. For those who are deep are collectors of power. And beauty is most precious among the gifts we come giving.
Blessed indeed are you who have prayed with these words. And are pregnant now and are nurturing them inside, as words of your own. For you shall drop upon the Earth in your seasons as seeds of the Tree of Life. And the fruit that ripens from your roots shall be the food of salvation.
In those days, even angels will enter your orchards, smiling the smile of grace, and with the open hands of holy beggars. And you who are but of the Earth will feed them and satisfy the hunger of Heaven.
from THESE ARE THE WORDS by David Sparenberg
- What does community mean to you?
- CHILDREN OF THE EARTH
Something happens here, this perpetual—the Earth. Call it God-seeds, seeds of light, the miracle of life; call it love or call it magic. It fills our veins, yet teems beyond us.
The squid, the jellyfish, the sea lion, the orca, the elegant ray, the humpback whale; dove, raven, hummingbird, robin, the heron, eagle and the jay;
butterfly, dragonfly
fire ant and bee; the wolf, the fox,
white tiger, black panther, tree toad, desert tortoise, the panda and the polar bear. Then there is us. Human. Question mark.
The unanswered asking that snakes through everything; screams terror, dreams in ecstasy. The ones who
boast of speaking with God—God interpreters—who cast thick shadows of destruction and amplified death. Listen now.
Say with me: Roundness all around. This perpetual—the Earth. Scurrying in the grass, humming on the wind, whispering melodies along motive water; sun on the colors of flowers, the carnival benign of pollen down flanks of praying mountains, out over meadows, into the humility of valleys. The swish of frogs and fishes among rushes; rattling reeds.
The reverent are amazed and will forego explanation. Goodness is to abide. Thanks, an antidote to violence, gladly given. Wisdom is to be still at certain intervals along this pilgrimage and observe with godlike laughter gutting, though yet demure. Look now. Listen.
Say with me: Behold the interplay intimate of angels and trees. Prophet,
what will you tell your lover when asked to recite the psalms of creation? And as you were held tenderly in dreamtime of childhood, how do you forget
the children of the Earth
30 December 2008
from THE GREEN TROUBADOUR SOURCE BOOK by David Sparenberg
- What does politics mean to you?
- MAKING REVOLUTION
Let’s become an experiment. Let’s see how we can change our inner landscapes, seascapes, dreamscapes, focus and projections. Let’s keep it small—small and simple. This: this one step, this paradigmatic turning point, for example.
Instead of “F-you” being the main content of the script, let’s try Thank you. Let’s see if we change the world by being the change we seek, with this little contagious about face—this humble and utterly courageous facing. Thank you for getting in my way, getting up into my face, blowing that smoke, like a much needed smoke signal, to bring me to the place of choices, to my choosing kindness instead of cruelty, compassion rather than violence, sanctity and not obscenity.
And giving us both a new possibility to explore our lighted fuses, our lightless faces, our angers, fears and frustrations and what may, after all, be yet behind each. And for this chance to find if we are not matchsticks after all, but might be an oasis of the heart, shared vulnerability, the miraculous power of listening, and the pathway up the mountain to the promise land of mutuality, reverence, biotic democracy, respect.
So let it start here when and where we don’t eat the tainted meat of hatred, bigotry and betrayal, but might become the eucharist of love and change this troubled, tormented world from war in our eyes to peace between our souls.
Consider: Thank you is no bigger than a mustard seed. But when the mustard grows it spreads out like contagious freedom over the entire land.
I still do not know what to call the making of this revolution, unless to name it transforming vileness into beauty, bringing the invisible into generosity, giving prayers and dreams flesh, and healing the encrusted wound and rupture between what we say and do and how we cradle what we cradle and who we are. For while I cannot speak for any, all, or even you, for myself within this context of place, being yet alive, I have grown tired of lies, compromise, and how it is. But long to be instead the truth within me, to embrace the urgency of openness between us, and be touched by the truth that is you. This deep ecology of kingdom wild and holy.
There are three ways of making that which might yet complete the circle—Earth—howsoever hurt and broken: One, that we are all vulnerable. Two, that the vulnerable may be hallowed. Three, that we belong.
18 August 2010
from forthcoming THE WAY OF THE GREEN TROUBADOUR, Musings on an Ecozoic Way by David Sparenberg
- What does money mean to you?
- "To live simply, so that others may simply live." To be dedicated with honesty, courage, humility and passion to ecozoic acts of beauty and pathfinding ways to freedom from addiction to consummerism.
- What makes you truly happy?
- Creating and putting into the world soulful and ecosophic work... sharing with others, participating in change and being part of an emergent, sustainable, "green" shift in Earth relationships toward a future biotic democracy.
David Sparenberg's Blog
NEW FREE ECO SHAMAN/ACTING EBOOK
I am honored to announce the publication of yet another new book: THE GREEN TROUBADOUR SOURCE BOOK. Eco-Shamanic Writing for Actor Training & Public Performance. It is now available as a free ebook download. Here is the link:
http://www.ovimagazine.com/cat/56 (Same as before; scroll down to second new title. My first ebook remains available—keep scrolling!)
Please do not let the subtitle put you off. This book can be of…
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:14am
LIFE IN THE AGE OF EXTINCTIONS: Love Song...
Hello to all friends! It was 2 months ago today that OVI published my LIFE IN THE AGE OF EXTINCTIONS volume one as a free ebook download. In this brief 2 months there have been 30,000 downloads. If one of those is yours, thank you and a sincere wish that you and the book have made a healing and creative bond. If not yet: when? Below is a link. Presently, let me share a composition from the book as both invitation and enticement to read more. After all, it is about the Earth, the present…
ContinuePosted on January 30, 2013 at 9:12pm
IN THE AFTERMATH OF SANDY HOOK
Any control or even reform of guns in society is significant. But in the bigger picture and fuller dynamics, we are a society and culture of violence, greed and multiple addictions. Gun control is a step, but only a step, a starting point, in a long and challenging process. The process to move on needs democratization. The American people need to become involved in the dynamics of committed, diligent compassion. The…
ContinuePosted on December 18, 2012 at 8:09pm
gifting free ebook
Hello! You are invited to claim a free ebook copy of my new book LIFE IN THE AGE OF EXTINCTIONS: Episodes of a Sentient Soul by David Sparenberg, at the OVI Book Project.. This is an important spiritual & cultural text addressing our increasing ecological & humanitarian crisis. Please claim your free ebook copy using the following link:
…
ContinuePosted on December 1, 2012 at 5:40pm
Comment Wall (4 comments)
- At 4:55pm on February 18, 2013,
Dimitris Tsinganis said… thank you David for being a friend to you. Love Light and Joy
- At 3:50am on September 17, 2012, Kingsley Dennis said…
Thanks David - good to see you here & all you're doing...!
Wishing you well...and in your own writings too.
Kingsley
- At 9:41pm on May 14, 2011,
Barry Hesperus said… Hi, David,
Thanks for inviting me to be your friend.
Best wishes and blessings,
Barry
- At 7:49am on May 10, 2011, Vesna Radovanovic gave David Sparenberg a gift…
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