This is one of those mornings where a story doesn’t come to mind. Normally I would go on to other things and wait until tomorrow to try again. This is a bit ironic since I have been asking you to write your own stories.
And then I came across the phrase “go with the flow”. So that’s what I’m doing now. I’m going to just express what comes to mind this morning, disjointed as it probably will be. This is really uncomfortable. I like things to be organized. To have a plan, but that’s where we increasingly find ourselves in these troubled times.
And yet my spiritual practice is to try to be open to leadings of the Spirit at all times. So this is a source of conflict in my life.
As it says below, “go with the flow” is more than a metaphor. It is a spiritual practice and a way of life.”
The theme that is emerging is water.
Perhaps the most important message of water is change itself. “Everything flows,” said Heraclitus, “You can’t step twice into the same river.” The human body, like the body of the earth, consists mostly of water and is therefore in a state of constant flux. The intellect creates an illusion of permanence; we freeze the changing processes of life into concepts. But for health of body and mind, we must learn to flow with life, to ride the currents. We discover that the Buddhist principle of “impermanence” presents not a reason for despair but an opportunity for more sensitive and intelligent living. Taiji Quan can help us to, in the words of the Diamond Sutra, “Awaken the mind without fixing it anywhere.” Through Taiji Quan practice we discover that “Go with the flow” is more than a metaphor. It is a spiritual practice and a way of life.
Taiji Quan: The Wisdom of Water by Kenneth Cohen, syndicated from qigonghealing.com, Aug 17, 2020
Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.
Lao Tzu
The most important lesson I learned from the beginning of my involvement to cut off the head of the black snake, to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, is this work is not protest. It is protecting water. This came from those who were praying at Standing Rock.
This is part of the transcript from the video below. As powerful as these words are, the video shows how difficult and dangerous it can be to pray, to protect the water. “We protected our water, and we did a good job at doing it. Thank you”
On September 3, the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they protested against the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction. If completed, the pipeline would carry about 500,000 barrels of crude per day from North Dakota’s Bakken oilfield to Illinois. The project has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and members of nearly 100 more tribes from across the U.S. and Canada.
I got maced twice, I got bit by a dog I was [at the] front line.Where did you get bit? I got bit on the ankle over my boots, so I told him they needed to leave, but the the guy didn’t believe me, so he don’t want to listen. He, uh, stuck his hand out, and he maced me, this other guy, and I think he maced a lady, too.
Then, they tried getting the dogs on us. I was just standing there, I wasn’t really doing nothing. That dog ran up on me and it bit my – around my ankle.
You pushed them back, though? Yes.
Why is this such an important fight to you?
Because, water is life. Like I said, without water we all wouldn’t be here, these plants wouldn’t be here, there’d be no oxygen, we’d all die without it. I wish they’d open their eyes and have a heart to realize you know if this happens, we’re not going to be the only ones that’s gonna suffer, they’re gonna suffer too. What tribe are you with? I’m Oglala Sioux, full blood. From? Pine Ridge Reservation.
No one owns this land! This land belongs to the earth. We’re only caretakers. We’re caretakers of the earth.
Do you feel like you won today?
We win every day when we stand in unity, we stand and we fight.
How do you feel?
Feel great.
What did you accomplish today?
Protecting our water. That’s what we were here to do, and that’s what we did.
Where are your horses from? Coal Creek, South Dakota. And you came from there? Yes, ma’am. And so, describe the scene to us.
We protected our water, and we did a good job at doing it. Thank you.
Katrina Coravos asked that this be shared.
Amidst the turning of violence yesterday, we recognize that we must pray more- we must pray for peace, for truth, for love to prevail. We are behind the warriors here as they stand strong against the machines. WE are behind them with love, prayer, and calling in the ancestors that walk with us to help and guide us.
Make no mistake: the construction company unleashed the dogs on the people. This was an act of violence- both on the people and on the dogs.
So today, we were part of a water ceremony with water drums. We prayed to spirit. We prayed for the women, for the men, and for the unification of the people. We prayed for the construction company to wake up and recognize that this is their water too.
We are coming together. WE must remain in peace and love. No matter what.
Please continue to pray for us here, and for the warriors on the front lines that they do the right things when faced with violence.
Our prayers and our love is our greatest force. May we open inside of ourselves to shine out stronger and stronger…
All natural things curl, swirl, twist, and flow in patterns like flowing water. Thus we sense something similar in clouds, smoke, streams, the wind-blown waves of sand on the beach, the pattern of branches against the sky, the shape of summer grasses, the markings on rocks, the movement of animals. Even solid bones have lines of flow on their exterior and in their spongy interior. Spiders build their webs, caterpillars their cocoons in water-like spirals. The rings in an exposed log look like a whirlpool. And looking up in the night sky we can see a river of stars. Alan Watts once remarked to me, “In nature, the shortest distance between two points is never a straight line, but a wiggle.” One need only follow a deer through the woods to verify this; animal trails meander like dried stream beds.
Taiji Quan: The Wisdom of Water by Kenneth Cohen, syndicated from qigonghealing.com, Aug 17, 2020
“Thanks so much to all who were there! It was beautiful to watch, even from afar. My little baby girl was running around all day once again saying ‘Water Is Life!’ She even guilt tripped me by asking why we weren’t there! I’m finally getting my little sister to divest from US Bank. She just ‘never got around to it’ but got tired of me talking to her about it and after seeing the actions live on Facebook was finally inspired!”
Anonymous response on Facebook related to water protectors going to Minneapolis Super Bowl weekend. From <https://www.facebook.com/groups/StopDAPL/?multi_permalinks=181910842572503¬if_id=1517933115151932¬if_t=group_activity&ref=notif>
water protectors 
Joshua Taflinger and Brandi Heron 
Jpeg 
#noDAPL 
#NoDAPL
Quakers, social justice and revolution 