A PATH WITH HEART

Just returned from dinner with my dear longtime friend David Guc. Who, strangely I had not seen in 20 years. He has always been a model to me of great listening. Someone who always has made the time to listen to others. For a moment, we sat together on a little island of conversation, where we found a common ground having to do with "heart." And, it stayed with me for the rest of the night, came home, found and blogged this:

"Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path, and there is not affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition.

I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old person asks. My benefactor told me about it once when I was young, and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it. Now I do understand it.

I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart?

All paths are the same, they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactor's question has meaning now. "Does this path have a heart?" One makes you strong; the other weakens you.

The trouble is nobody asks the question: and when a person finally realizes that they have taken a path without heart, the path is ready to kill them. At that point very few people stop to deliberate and leave the path.

A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.

For my part there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length.

And there I travel looking, looking, breathlessly."

- Don Juan
from: The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Casteneda

David also brought to my attention this great organization, Search for Common Ground, a path with heart.

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

A POETICS OF PEACE

And so, in putting together a CV, which I’ve not done before, for a class that is in development based on the Youand approach, for a school that must remain nameless at the moment, I came across the text version of an article that my friend David Barton inspired and I wrote, that was published in the Salt Journal, in 1997. (Please scroll down. The first page is coverage of an award won and a quote from one of the City @ Peace participants.)

In reading this article over today, ten years after, I see how it expresses, faithfully, the ethos of a Youand approach.

Though it’s about work with teenagers, it is really about work that can be done by most people with each other, if instead of imposing our will on others we stay open to their humanity and begin by simply listening deeply to where they are coming from, and honoring them in some way. Even if, to respectfully disagree and present one’s own point of view. - Your point of view, and mine.

Here it is: A Poetics of Peace (Yes. I did miss putting an accent over the "e" in my name.)

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

WHAT MY FRIENDS SAY

A few days ago, I posted a letter by Ryan Stevens, published in the Tracy Press, because it moved me a great deal. Here is that post: youandblogSpace. I also sent a letter to ALL my friends (below) with Ryan's letter. Many of them in phone conversations and in person have mentioned Ryan's letter to me, about how moving yes, and prescient his letter is.

Others sent me their impressions via email (below).

My letter to friends: Not intended as a political statement.

I don't know how many of you have seen this on the blog, and I mean that not to encourage you to go there, but because if you have already seen this, excuse me. This is for those who have not.

After a year of development of my work, which as you know I call "Youand," having made quite good progress, this "thing" still keeps me up at all hours of the night, when I should be resting. I get up at 4am each day to exercise. And as it's 12:55 now, and it will be another while before I get this email off, I'm moving behind the "8 ball" once again early in the week.

But why?

For some reason I think these matters are of utmost importance. I guess there is a part of me, that can not accept that we as a nation by and large sit by while our leaders take the world down the path to destruction, and I, for some reason that escapes me, feel the need to do a little bit to avert that.

Here is the reason I'm up late tonight; sensing unfinished business I got out of bed to send this, and to make sure everyone I care about in some way receives it.

On the blog I wrote about reading this, "Today I feel less alone." I don't usually say this, but perhaps it (Ryan Steven's Letter) should be passed on.

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Here is some of what my friends say:

"thank you josé!

when we talk next time i have to share a quick story with you - an interaction between me and a perfect stranger on the little bus - which fits right in to this conversation and the way of thinking about what is happening to us, what is going on in the world and how we all so separated and isolated in our own little internal worlds... julia bernadsky"

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"my friends and I were having a big debate about art, and being an artist, and the problems of the world and how they can be addressed. It is comforting to read this email and the message of action and hope that Youand brings.
Thank you
Luke (Humphry)"

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"reminds me of a conversation i had with my 10th grade English teacher in 1968 when i was 16 & on the way to the state one-act play festival. i remember the dismissive look on her face as i expressed my belief that world leaders could sit at a table & resolve differences without resort to war, that indeed all conflicts could be resolved without such resort. i could not believe the look on her face, how she turned to the other chaperon as we crossed the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel & asked if she could believe how naive i was. she wouldn't say anything else.

that conversation is still with me nearly 40 years later.

sad thing is, we were both right.
violence & peacefulness
woven into the fabric
like shadow & light

now how do we honor the violence
without liberalizing it

how do we remember the gods
without the blood

these are the questions

we do not need a monotheistic bond
(Ryan's plea founded in the great Unity idea that inherently has schism as its shadow) your youand idea recognizes the polyvalent nature of the human experience: the bond would be the cold war idea of mutual self-destruction i suppose: how do we avoid that & still not skulk thru the night with our assassin mentality trying to get our way without seeming to break the "bond"

distrust is as deeply organic a human trait as is the hydra-headed impulse to love.

the only thing of value that Ronald Reagan ever said was "Trust but verify."

it is a very complex world & the pleas of St. Francis have been with us a very long time.

so too the works of Machiavelli. -- Richard Lance Williams"

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"here's what this prompts me to remember:that which I have been taught..the never ending lessons. the challenge and responsibility to be as whole and loving in life,in the world as the world is no judgment;seems to me, to remain the same as it has been forever. to be moderate,kind,patient and compassionate.. to be tolerant,to take action as one 's heart moves one. to have courage,to be accepting and to be right acting ,thinking ,doing. all seem to remain the same. the challenge that we can be self charged,to think for ourselves, which is constant and that the nature of human being is what it is and continues. learn by observing,teach by example.work hard and play close attention. It's like a game and perspective is essential. like a samurai. it's not easy...but it's simple.

it's not that we don't have thoughts and feelings...but it's the actions we take;big or small -- Michael Garfield Levine"

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"Flaws? What flaws?

I thought we were all perfect...?

Jose, what kind of excercises do you do at 4am?

What are you "benching" these days?

Come live in Europe.....it's a flaw thing...maybe?

New York always seems to stand alone..no? - j."

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"I agree with you about the world- but I can't look at it until this weekend. (Ryan's Letter) That sounds ridiculous doesn't it?. . . (but) I don't have time for blogs. I don't have time for computers. i only have time for oil, turpenoid, and pencils and charcoal. "

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"Yup.....I do understand, I've been up late/early myself lately....trying to listen for the next step through this most rapidly escalating of interesting times....Bless you!! -- Samantha Bonavia"

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"wonderful letter. love -- joan scott"

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"Jose,

Thanks for the letter. If I knew Ryan Stevens I would tell him not to give up hope. Things have been much worse. In World War II, 400,000 American soldiers died, and maybe 50 million people from other countries. In the Cuban missile crisis, which we lived through, we were incredibly close to an all out nuclear war. Today we're almost friends with the Russians, and the Chinese are more interested in selling us stuff than in hitting us with either their ICBMs or their little red books.

More people have freedom of speech (and freedom of blogging) than ever before. More people have enough to eat today than ever before. I could go on and on.

Sure it hurts to hear of the shooting at Virginia Tech or of one more car bombing in a marketplace in Iraq. But we should also keep things in perspective.

Yes, we have to reach out to others. It doesn't always work, but we've got to keep trying.

Best Wishes,

Steve Marick"

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

MR. EMPATHY

BRANDO AGAIN TONIGHT: CLICK IMAGE FOR TCM BRANDO

How much time did you make today to listen to someone?

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

HOW ABOUT: LISTEN TO SOMEONE TODAY?

BRANDO TONIGHT: CLICK IMAGE FOR TCM BRANDO INDEX

How much time will you make to listen to someone today?

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut