I AM

(inspired by our trip to Belize in January, 2019)

I AM

I am the brightest of mornings, I am the cloudiest of days,

I am the silent night altar upon which mankind prays and preys.

I am the Olmec and Mayan of times old, recent, and new,

I am all civilization’s ruins, and I am the ever-evolving life that regrew.

I am the bird’s call, I am the wind beneath its wings,

I am the music and its spirit that joyously lifts our hearts up to sing.

I am the water, I am the lagoon and the bay,

I am the infinite ocean where my children are birthed, live, love and play.

I am the blue sky, I am the gathering of clouds,

I am the lightning storms that are now appearing so dangerous and loud.

I am the wind, I am the warm soothing breeze,

I am even our cold’s most raucous cleansing sneeze.

I am the dolphin and manatee, I am the mangrove lined shores,

I am waves crashing against rocks, that photographers adore.

I am the mind, and I am the end to its lonely thoughts,

I am the heart’s loving web in which we are miraculously caught.

I am the boisterous protests, and I am the crowd made quiet,

I can be even be found witnessing the white supremacists’ riot.

I am the wealthy, and I am the hurt, oppressed and poor,

I am your heritage until we all are no more.

I am the Sanders and Pelosis, I am the Putins and Trumps,

I am love’s warriors, and I am also hate’s chumps.

I am the Christian, and the Hindu, I am the Muslim and the Jew

I am the Atheist and Buddhist who you never thought that you knew.

I am the cancer, and I am the movement towards health,

I am the healing balm that works mysteriously in stealth.

I am the grief, and I am the pain and the sorrow,

I am the deepest well of hope from which we eternally borrow.

I am the life, I am the body and its breath,

I am the blessed last moment before each of our deaths.

I am the death of self that leads to the only true heaven,

Our denial of this truth brings the hellish news on channel two at eleven.

I am the sacred, and I am even the profane,

I am the source of all that we treasure, resisting me only adds to life’s pain.

I am not the movement of our thoughts, while we cling to concepts of time,

I am the emergence from all shadows, we all must reach for the sublime

What is my name, and where is my place?

Being ONE is seeing Me on every smiling and suffering sentient beings’ face.

Bruce Paullin

In honor of all of the innocent oppressed, bullied, victimized, traumatized, gassed, misogynized, persecuted, marginalized, neglected, abused, murdered, alienated, and institutionalized human beings overrun by the principles of toxic masculinity in it’s almost infinite varieties of forms..Toxic masculinity, toxic fatherhood, and toxic religion are cultural and historical impediments to achieving and maintaining happiness and good health.

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46:10

Set out, pilgrim. Set out into the freedom and the wandering. Find your people. God is much bigger, wilder, more generous, and more wonderful than you imagined. – Sarah Bessey