Trust and Surrender

Richard Rohr on “the Soul’s Foundation”

The following by Franciscan friar and ecumenical teacher Richard Rohr is from his 2019 book, The Universal Christ.

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From the very beginning, faith, hope, and love are planted deep within our nature – indeed they are our very nature as children of God (Romans 5:1–5, 8:14–17). Yet we have to awaken, allow, and advance this core identity by saying a conscious yes to it and drawing upon it as a reliable and Absolute Source.

Our “yes” to such implanted faith, hope, and love plays a crucial role in the divine equation. Human freedom matters. We matter. We have to choose to trust reality and even our physicality, which is finally to trust ourselves. How can people who do not trust themselves know how to trust anyone or anything at all? Trust, like love, is of one piece.

In the practical order, we find our Original Goodness, the image of God that we are, when we can discover and own the faith, hope, and love deeply planted within us:

A trust in inner coherence itself. “It all means something!” (Faith)
A trust that this coherence is positive and going somewhere good. (Hope)
A trust that this coherence includes me and even defines me. (Love)

This is the soul’s foundation. That we are capable of such trust and surrender is the objective basis for human goodness and holiness. It almost needs to be chosen again day by day, lest we slide toward cynicism, victim playing and making, or self-pity. No philosophy or government, no law or reason, can fully promise or offer us this attitude, but the gospel can and does. Healthy religion shares a compelling and attractive foundation for human goodness and dignity and shows us ways to build on that benevolent foundation.

Being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27) gives everyone an equal and inherent dignity. However, in every age and culture, we have seen regressions toward racism, sexism, homophobia, militarism, ableism, and classism. This pattern tells me that unless we see dignity as being given universally, objectively, and from the beginning by God, we humans will constantly think it is up to us to decide. But our tragic history demonstrates that one group cannot be trusted to portion out worthiness and dignity to another. Our criteria tend to be self-referential and thus highly prejudiced, and the powerless and disadvantaged always lose out.

For the planet and for all living beings to move forward, we can rely on nothing less than an inherent original goodness and a universally shared dignity. Only then can we build, because the foundation is strong, and is itself good. Surely this is what Jesus meant when he told us to “dig and dig deep, and build your house on rock” (Luke 6:48). When we start with a positive vision, a resounding yes, we are more likely to proceed with generosity and hope, and we have a much greater chance of ending with an even bigger yes, which we would call “resurrection.”

– Richard Rohr
Excerpted from The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality
Can Change Everything We See, Hope for, and Believe
Convergent, 2019
pp. 66-68

For more of Richard Rohr at The Wild Reed, see:
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Richard Rohr (Part I)
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Richard Rohr (Part II)
• Meeting (and Embodying) the Lover God
• Celebrating the “Color of Spring” . . . and a Cosmic Notion of the Christ
• Richard Rohr: Quote of the Day – July 22. 2010

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Trusting God’s Generous Invitation
• Giving Thanks: A Spiritual Act of Trust
• The Art of Surrender
• Love As Exploring Vulnerability
• The Longing for Love: God’s Primal Beatitude
• Surrender Yourself
• Jesus and the Art of Surrender
• One Overwhelming Fire of Love
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Marianne Williamson
• Autumn: Season of Transformation and Surrender
• Soul: The Connecting Force in Life
• Thomas Moore on the “Ageless Soul”
• The Soul’s Beloved
• Awakening the Wild Soul
• Soul Deep
• The Soul Within the Soul
• The Source Is Within You
• Spiritual Caregivers as “Soul Companions”
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• The Soul of a Dancer

Image: Calvin Royal III and João Menegussi of the American Ballet Theatre rehearsing Touché, “a passionate male pas de deux,” at Silver Bay Retreat Center, NY. (Photographer unknown)

Awakening the Wild Soul

To become consciously embodied is to awaken the wild soul that sleeps wthin you and to evolve into higher states of consciousness and expanded worldviews. It means exploring non-habitual rhythms and ways of moving and responding. No matter where you dwell in the world, you must discover and liberate the wild, erotic stranger that is your body: the sacred, passionate soul that moves freely, sings loudly, and dances naked in thunderstorms. The one you are afraid to meet . . . but secretly hope to.

– L. R. Heartsong
Excerpted from The Bones and Breath:
A Man’s Guide to Eros, the Sacred Masculine,
and the Wild Soul
White Cloud Press, 2014
p. 74

See also the previous posts:
• Flexibility and Flow
• Thomas Moore on the “Ageless Soul”
• The Soul’s Beloved
• The Soul Within the Soul
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Andrew Harvey
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Gerald May
• The Body: As Sacred and Knowing as a Temple Oracle
• Joan Timmerman on the “Wisdom of the Body”
• Resurrection: A New Depth of Consciousness
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Meeting (and Embodying) the Lover God
• Beloved and Antlered
• Real Holiness
• No Altar More Sacred
• An Erotic Encounter With the Divine
• The Gorgeous One
• Sufism: A Call to Awaken
• Don’t Go Back to Sleep

Related Off-site Link:
The Divine Masculine Principle – The Leveret (September 15, 2018).

Images: João Menegussi and Calvin Royal III of the American Ballet Theatre rehearsing Touché, “a passionate male pas de deux,” at Silver Bay Retreat Center, NY. (Photographer unknown)

Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One

The following is an adaptation of Lesson 245 of A Course in Miracles – Volume II: Workbook for Students.

The original text uses the metaphor of father for the Divine Presence. I use the metaphor of lover as expressed in the phrase “Beloved One.” As with the previous adaptation I shared, if this one resonates with you, feel free to make it even more meaningful by using your preferred images and words: “God,” “Allah,” “Lord,” “Jesus,” “Holy One,” “Mother.” I trust that they all serve as different pathways leading up the same holy mountain or, to use another metaphor, different gateways leading inwards to our center, the deepest part of which we all share. For as Henri Nouwen so beautifully reminds us: “In the depths of my being, I meet my fellow humans with whom I share [all things].”

Your peace is with me, Beloved One. I am safe.

Your peace surrounds me, Beloved One. Yes, wherever I go, it is there with me.

Your peace sheds its light on everyone I meet. I bring it to the desolate and lonely and afraid. I give Your peace to those who suffer pain or grieve for loss or feel bereft of hope and happiness. Guide them to me, Beloved One. Let me bring Your peace with me.

And so we journey on. With You beside me I radiate to all the world, through my actions of body, speech and mind, Your transforming peace, the Voice of Love.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Meeting (and Embodying) the Lover God
• The Soul’s Beloved
• Be Just In My Heart
• Beloved and Antlered
• “Here I Am”
• Sometimes I Wonder . . .
• Vessels of the Holy
• No Altar More Sacred
• To Be Held and to Hold
• An Erotic Encounter with the Divine
• Spirituality and the Gay Experience
• The Holy Pleasure of Intimacy
• The Many Manifestations of God’s Loving Embrace
• Prayer of the Week – July 6, 2010
• Clarity and Hope
• Cultivating Stillness
• Cultivating Peace
• Andrew Harvey on Radical, Divine Passion in Action
• Ahmad Joudeh: Dancing for Peace
• Guidelines for the Advent of a Universal Mysticism

Images: Calvin Royal III.

Flexibility and Flow

A balanced, healthy masculinity is less about force or brute strength, the hypermasculinity that our society currently regards as “manly.” Instead, it’s more about flexibility and flow. The Sacred Masculine is akin to a dancer’s lithe strength as opposed to the inflexible mass of a bodybuilder. It’s a different sort of muscle, a different way of being in the world.

– L. R. Heartsong
Excerpted from The Bones and Breath:
A Man’s Guide to Eros, the Sacred Masculine, and the Wild Soul
White Cloud Press, 2014
p. 32

See also the previous posts:
• Vulnerability Is Power
• A Fresh Take on Masculinity
• Manly Love
• Rockin’ With Maxwell
• What a Man! – Connor Beaton
• Reclaiming the Power of Male Touch
• A Warrior’s Heart
• Beloved and Antlered
• The Soul of a Dancer
• We All Dance
• And as We Dance . . .
• The Art of Dancing as the Supreme Symbol of the Spiritual Life
• To Dance . . .
• “I Came Alive With Hope”

Related Off-site Link:
The Divine Masculine Principle – The Leveret (September 15, 2018).

Image: Calvin Royal III, photographed by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory.

Dancer Calvin Royal III: Stepping Into His Light

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Where does the time go? . . . I meant to write this post much sooner than now! And yet here we are, and so here I go . . .

The cover story of the July issue of Dance Magazine celebrates Calvin Royal III, a dancer I've come to greatly admire.

In her piece entitled “A Royal Arrival: The Singular Elegance of American Ballet Theatre's Calvin Royal III,” Marina Harss writes, in part, the following about Royal's dance style.

Royal – tall, lanky, with a silken, elegant way of moving and a gentle and open stage manner – would seem ideally suited to play Romeo [groundbreakingly paired with Misty Copeland's Juliet]. There is a quiet persuasiveness to his dancing. He doesn't show off. Instead, he imbues each movement with an aura of beauty and lyricism. As Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), puts it, “Calvin has an inner light.” . . . His ascent [in the dance world] has been gradual, even painstaking at times. You get the feeling he has earned every role, every opportunity through determination and the integrity of his dancing, but without ever losing that grace that makes him such a joy to watch onstage. He is hungry without being driven by ambition.

Harss also makes the following beautiful observation on how the professional and personal aspects of Royal's life come together in a very special way.

The poetry in Royal's dancing is related to his deep, subtle musicality; music flows through him. It's not surprising that his partner, ABT pianist Jacek Mysinski [pictured with Royal at left], is a musician. Their work spills over into their downtime; Mysinski practices at home, and they talk about the ballets in the rep. When Mysinski is playing from the pit during a performance, Royal can feel his presence, he says: “It's almost like having him at my side, almost like a partner.”

Interestingly, the metaphor of light in relation to Calvin Royal III was used by the dancer himself, as quoted in Gia Kourlas' October 2019 New York Times piece on Royal in the lead role of George Balanchine’s Apollo. (above).

“For Calvin,” writes Kourlas, “the ballet – which Balanchine considered to be his turning point as a choreographer – resonates with his own artistic journey. 'It’s this young god that goes from adolescence to stepping into his light,' says Calvin. 'As a dancer that’s something that I see for myself: I feel like I’m really just stepping into my own domain and embracing that.'”





Following, with added images and links, is more from Dance Magazine's recent cover story on Calvin Royal III.

Royal didn't get his start in ballet until age 14, at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. Before that, he had been a serious piano student. It was his grandmother Linda, a social worker and a lover of classical music, opera and dance, who first encouraged his artistic tendencies. When he was 10, she bought him a Yamaha electric keyboard for Christmas. “I'll never forget it,” she says. “He called me one Sunday morning and said, 'I want you to listen to something.'” On the other end of the line, he started to play Beethoven's Für Elise. He had learned it by ear.

Royal excelled at his piano studies, but also loved to move. For a few years, he took part in a local production called The Chocolate Nutcracker, which included hip hop, West African and other styles of dance. One of his fellow participants encouraged him to audition for the high school dance program. Without ever having taken a formal dance class, he was accepted.

There was so much to learn, he sometimes felt he might never catch up. “I think it intrigued him that ballet took so much effort,” says Suzanne Pomerantzeff, his main teacher at Pinellas. The intellectual challenge drew him in as much as the physical.

That focus carried him through some difficult times at home. In his sophomore year, he injured his back in a car accident and had to sit out ballet classes for several months, excruciating given he had only just begun to make progress. He would take notes on the side, “visualizing dance in my mind,” as he puts it. Dance became a lifeline, a source of steadiness and hope.

In his junior year, he competed in Youth America Grand Prix, where he was spotted by Lukens and Franco De Vita, of the JKO School. “I was immediately struck by his elegance, his musicality and his coordination,” remembers De Vita, who offered him a scholarship.

After a year in the school and two and a half in ABT II (now the ABT Studio Company), he got into the main company, initially as an apprentice, at 21. He was still getting his technique where he wanted it to be — quick footwork and beats were a challenge for his long, lithe physique. (“I wanted to move like those little guys,” he says, “but it wasn't easy with these legs.”)

But he also wondered whether he fit the typical mold of a principal dancer at the company. “It was only when I came to New York that I started to become more aware of race in ballet,” says Royal. In Florida, his ballet classes had been mixed. In New York City, less so. When he first joined ABT II, he overheard other dancers from the company making snide comments about a fellow African-American dancer there. “Oh, well, I guess they needed a black girl,'” he heard one of them say.

He began to wonder whether he might never be given the chance to prove himself as a leading man by McKenzie and the rest of the artistic staff. “Will they see me as Romeo or Albrecht? Not only because I'm black, but also because I'm gay?”

At the time, he says, the company culture was different: “There was this sense of machismo, and this idea that the guys had to look sort of like football players.” Ethan Stiefel, José Manuel Carreño and other powerhouses in that vein were company stars. Just a few years earlier, in 2003, the company had put out a video, Born to Be Wild, that depicted its male dancers as testosterone-driven guys who rode motorcycles and posed as matadors.

Since that time, much has changed. Fewer international stars come through ABT; a new generation of home-bred principals has risen to the top, and they are anything but cookie-cutter. (Only one, however, is black: Misty Copeland [pictured with Royal at left].) Rigid notions about what Romeo or Siegfried should look like have finally begun to relax, to the benefit of the dancers.

– Marina Harss
Excerpted from “The Singular Elegance of
American Ballet Theatre's Calvin Royal III”
Dance Magazine
June 11, 2029

Related Off-site Links:
Michaela DePrince and Calvin Royal III Are Changing the Face of Ballet – Gabe Zaldivar (Sports Illustrated, June 16, 2020).
Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III Become the First Black Couple to Dance Lead With the American Ballet Theatre – Ashleigh Lakieva Atwell (Blavity, January 16, 2020).
Misty Copeland, Calvin Royal III and the Rarity of a Black Couple Dancing Lead Roles – Laura Bleiberg (Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2019).
Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III Discuss Cancelled Romeo and Juliet Production With ABT – Broadway World (June 1, 2020).
Standout Performances of 2019: ABT's Calvin Royal III in Apollo – Margaret Fuhrer (Pointe Magazine, December 24, 2019).
One Year With Soloist Calvin Royal III – American Ballet Theatre (via YouTube, September 2, 2020).

For more of Calvin Royal III at The Wild Reed, see:
• Our Bodies Are Part of the Cosmos
• A Prayer for the Moment Between
• O Dancer of Creation
• A Blessing for the New Year
• A Prayer in Times of a Pandemic
• When Spring Returns

See also:
• To Dance
• And As We Dance
• A Prayer for Dancers
• Not Whether We Dance, But How
• "I Came Alive with Hope"
• Aristotle Papanikolaou on How Being Religious is Like Being a Dancer
• The Art of Dancing as the Supreme Symbol of the Spiritual Life
• The Soul of a Dancer

When Spring Returns . . .

. . . a festival of life abounds

This past Thursday (March 19) saw the spring equinox take place in that part of the world where I live. Also called the March equinox or vernal equinox, this event marks the astronomical first day of spring here in the northern hemisphere.

Given all that's going on in the world, especially in terms of the coronavirus pandemic, it seems all the more vital to be reminded of and celebrate the return of spring and all the hopeful things it signifies, both in nature and in our hearts.

For as my friend Andrea so beautifully writes: “When it seems as if nothing is the same, that everything is changing, as if there is no solid ground beneath you, take a deeper look. The birds are coming back to their summer homes, the lake ice is melting, the sun continues to rise and set in a predicable rhythm of grace. Regular life is still happening. Look beyond your (very normal) fear into the depths of your own heart. There you find stability. In that place, find peace. See grace. And out of THAT heart space of stability, peace and grace . . . live.”

And so in this spirit of invitation to live from the heart space of stability, peace and grace, I celebrate the return of spring today by sharing an excerpt from Joyce Rupp and Marcrina Wiederkehr's wonderful book, The Circle of Life: The Heart's Journey Through the Seasons. Accompanying this excerpt are images of dancer Calvin Royal III, photographed by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory. Enjoy!

When the season of spring returns to the land, a festival of life and light abounds. Suddenly, there are longer days of sunlight, earlier dawns, later sunsets. Earth sails along in her faithful rotation. With each cycle, she leans in closer to the light and heat of the life-giving sun. What once appeared dead begins to stir. Each wintered thing wakes up, raises its drowsy head, and stiffs the air to confirm the truth of spring's arrival. The slow pace of winter is left behind and there is a surge of invigorating activity for humans, creatures, and vegetation. . . . Vibrancy and fresh beginnings of growth are what dominate spring. These lively energies awaken and move through the heart of creation.

The human spirit also experiences seasons of springtime. The periods of depression and discouragement that visit our inner landscape do not last forever. Like walls of sunlight breaking through storm clouds, currents of hope flow through the dark walls of despondency. Blessings arise as new growth takes place.

. . . In the heart's springtime, the inner self awakens. Seeds of growth, hidden in the midst of winter's bleakness, germinate and sprout. That which has been longed for and greatly desired is gradually brought forth and heralded with gladness. Visions, dreams, and yearnings for the future unfold. The gray moods, the frozen love, the sorrow and grief, the overwhelming angst, the dread and depression, all this slowly slips away as trust and enthusiasm rejuvenate the wintered spirit. Like the springtime land, so the inner land is thawed and re-energized. A sense of loving and being loved warms the interior places that were cold and dormant in wintertime.

The emotional clutter and the old debris that prevented clear thinking are cleansed. Spaciousness and openness expand like the wings of a great swan. Inner freedom is discovered. Confidence returns. Creative endeavors begin to emerge. Like the songbirds chirping as they return from the south, the heart begins to sing again.

. . . In this season of the soul, there is awe and wonder at the changes taking place. Spring generates surprise, delight, unmitigated joy, and newly found optimism. Now is the time to enjoy what is emerging from within, to savor the taste of hope, and to trust in what the future promises. It is the time to believe in growth and to give oneself to it wholeheartedly.

– Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr
From The Circle of Life: The Heart's Journey Through the Seasons
Sorin Books, 2005
pp. 65-67

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Day Both Holy and Magical
• Following the Footprints of Spring
• O Dancer of Creation
• Spring: Truly the Season for Joy and Hope
• Welcoming the Return of Spring (2018)
• Spring's Snowy Start
• The Spring Blizzard of 2018
• Celebrating the Return of Spring (2017)
• A New Day
• Dreaming of Spring
• Waiting in Repose for Spring's Awakening Kiss
• Let the Greening Begin
• Green Destiny
• In the Footsteps of Spring

Images: Calvin Royal III, photographed by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory.

A Prayer in Times of a Pandemic

May we who are merely inconvenienced
remember those whose lives are at stake.

May we who have no risk factors
remember those most vulnerable.

May we who have the luxury of working from home
remember those who must choose between
preserving their health or making their rent.

May we who have the flexibility to care
for our children when their schools close
remember those who have no options.

May we who have to cancel our trips
remember those that have no place to go.

May we who are losing our margin money
in the tumult of the economic market
remember those who have no margin at all.

May we who settle in for a quarantine at home
remember those who have no home.

As fear grips our country,
let us choose love.

During this time when we cannot
physically wrap our arms around each other,
let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace
of God to our neighbors.

Amen.

– Cameron Bellm

NEXT: Hope and Beauty in the Midst
of the Global Coronavirus Pandemic


Related Off-site Links:
The Shape of Love in a Time of Contagion – David R. Weiss (Full Frontal Theology, March 12, 2020).
Pope Francis: Do Not Forget the Poor During the Coronavirus Pandemic – Courtney Mares (Catholic News Agency, March 12, 2020).
Psychologist Offers Tips to Calm COVID-19 Anxiety – KARE 11 News via Allina Health (March 11, 2020).
Managing Stress During Coronavirus Outbreak – Shai Plonski (via YouTube, March 13, 2020).
Lizzo Leads a Mass Meditation Amidst Growing Coronavirus Concerns – Sandra Song (Paper Magazine, March 13, 2020).
Coronavirus Offers a “Blank Page for a New Beginning” Says Li Edelkoort – Courtney Mares (De Zeen, March 9, 2020).
This Can Be Our Finest Hour – But We Need All Of You – Gretchen Schmelzer (Grown and Flown, March 11, 2020).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• An Infectious Disease Specialist Weighs-in on Covid-19
• A Prayer for the Present Moment
• Move Us, Loving God
• You, O Comforter, Are Ever Near
• Prayer and the Experience of God in an Ever-Unfolding Universe
• Prayer of the Week – October 30, 2012
• A Prayer for Compassion

Image: Calvin Royal III. (Source)

A Prayer for the Present Moment

Dear God,

Please take my past and take my future.
Transform them both
through the miracle of Your power
into healing energies of Love
and Love only.

May I know this present moment
as You would have me know it.

May I see only You in everyone and everything
so that I may be transformed by Your Love,
lifted up by Your Love, given joy by Your Love,
and made new by Your Love.

Release me from my past
and deliver me to my future.

In You I trust; nothing else sets me free.
In You I have faith; nothing else sustains me.

And so it is that I am where I belong,
within the transforming power of Your Love.

I am home. May I feel this and be at peace.

Amen.

Adapted by Michael Bayly from a prayer by Marianne Williamson in her book, Illuminata: Thoughts, Prayers, Rites of Passage (1994).

Images: Calvin Royal III. (Source)

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A New Day
• Anew
• A Prayer for the Moment Between
• Move Us, Loving God
• Andrew Harvey on Radical, Divine Passion in Action
• To Dance
• And As We Dance
• A Prayer for Dancers
• Not Whether We Dance, But How
• "I Came Alive with Hope"
• Aristotle Papanikolaou on How Being Religious is Like Being a Dancer
• The Art of Dancing as the Supreme Symbol of the Spiritual Life
• The Soul of a Dancer

A Blessing for the New Year

May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.

May your hurts turn to healing;
Your heart embrace feeling.

May wounds become wisdom;
Every kindness a prism.

May laughter infect you;
Your passion resurrect you.

May goodness inspire
Your deepest desires.

Through all that you reach for,
May your arms never tire.

– D. Simone

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Blessing for the New Year (2019)
• Let Us Be “Energized by the Beauty That Is All Around Us”: Jane Goodall's New Year Message (2018)
• A New Year (2017)
• Move Us, Loving God
• Andrew Harvey on Radical, Divine Passion in Action
• For 2015, Three “Generous Promises”

Related Off-site Link:
For 2020 and Beyond: “Keep Hoping Machine Running” – Randall Amster (Common Dreams, January 1, 2020).

Images: Calvin Royal III. (Source)

O Dancer of Creation . . .

. . . the earth awakens
to an urgent call to grow.

In the hidden recesses of my wintered spirit,
I, too, hear the humming of your voice,
calling me, wooing my deadness back to life.

My soul yawns, stretches, quickens
as the energy of spring
revives my weariness.

I sit with wonder,
observing the steady activity,
savoring the colors and shapes
of earth's loveliness.

For a while my doubts, anxieties, and worries
become like chapters in some ancient book
whose text no longer claims my full attention.

– Joyce Rupp
"Springtime Prayer"
(from her book, Anchors for the Soul:
Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance
Sorin Books, 2018)

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Day Both Holy and Magical
• Spring: Truly the Season for Joy and Hope
• Welcoming the Return of Spring (2018)
• Celebrating the Return of Spring (2017)
• Waiting in Repose for Spring's Awakening Kiss
• Let the Greening Begin
• Green Destiny

Images 1 and 2: Calvin Royal III. (Photographer/s unknown)
Image 3: Michael J. Bayly.

Our Bodies Are Part of the Cosmos . . .

. . . We are made of its matter – its water, its carbon, its electrons, protons, and neutrons. We have mass and we experience inertia. The electricity within our nerve fibers, for example, is part of the electricity of the cosmos. The atoms in our bodies, like those in the substances that chemists study, are held together by bondings. The core of each of our atoms, and also of those in materials apart from ourselves, is held together by mysterious nuclear forces. The breath of our life depends on the atmosphere that provide us with oxygen atoms. Yet we do not own our atoms. We borrow them to use throughout our lives and surrender them at death.

– Henry A. Garon
Excerpted from The Cosmic Mystique
Orbis Books, 2006
p. 29

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Body: As Sacred and Knowing as a Temple Oracle
• To Dance . . .
• A Kind of Dancing Divinity
• A Prayer for Dancers
• We All Dance . . .
• Not Whether We Dance, But How
• Move Us, Loving God
• Unique . . . Yes, You!
• Divine Connection
• The Soul of a Dancer
• Corpus Christi

Images: Dancer Calvin Royal III. (Photo 1: The NYC Dance Project. Photo 2: Photographer unknown.)