The poet Hafiz once said,

Light will someday split you open,
...even if your life is now a cage.

Love
will surely burst you wide open
into an unfettered, blooming new
galaxy.

—Hafiz

Chief Seattle's One Condition

Chief Seattle of the Duwamish Tribe in the state of Washington told the United State government, in 1855, that he would sign a treaty with them under one condition. He knew at the time that his life and those of the tribes he represented would be forever changed whether he signed the treaty or not.


Here is what Chief Seattle told President Franklin Pierce:


“If I decide to accept, I will make one condition. The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. I am a savage and I do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairies left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and I do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive. What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beast also happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life: he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

We did not come here to be common...

“We did not come here to be common… We did not travel this great distance to give up, give in and lie down. We came here to wake up and be joyful; to stand up and be powerful; to open up our hearts, our minds and our eyes as we expand our knowledge and our perception. You are extraordinary and you are powerful beyond belief!” —Heather K. O’Hara

Rumi Inspiration

The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,

they're in each other all along.

From Essential Rumi, Coleman Barks translator

Light Breeze

As regards feeling pain, like a hand cut in battle,
consider the body a robe you wear.

When you meet someone you love, do you kiss their clothes?
Search out who's inside. Union with God is sweeter than body comforts.

We have hands and feet different from these.
Sometimes in a dream we see them.

That is not illusion. It is seeing truely.
You do have a spirit body; don't dread leaving the physical one.

Sometimes, someone feels this truth so strongly
that he or she can live in mountain solitude totally refreshed.

The worried heroic doings of men and women seem weary and futile
to dervishes enjoying the light breeze of spirit.

From Soul of Rumi by Coleman Barks


Birdsong brings relief to my longing.
I'm just as ecstatic as they are,
but with nothing to say!
Please Universal Soul,
practice some song or something through me.

From Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks

Nature Happenings for July

Thank you Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop

• July 11: New Moon, July 25: Full Moon
• July 28 - 29: Delta Aquarids Meteor shower peaks.
• July 29 - 30: Capricornids Meteor shower
• July: NABA National Butterfly count
• Our longest days bring our highest average temperatures, and all those thunderstorms make for our second wettest month.
• Rufous Hummingbirds visit this month on their southbound leg of the longest migration distance of any bird for its size.
• Calliope Hummingbirds, our smallest bird in North America, also visit on their southern migration.
• Black-chinned Hummingbirds, recently found nesting in the Denver area, spill over from the mountains and visit feeders.
• American and Lesser Goldfinches are our last birds to nest, waiting for mature thistle plants to provide nesting material and food for their young.
• Robins have finished nesting but will readily visit yards in search of worms and berries. Plant berry-producing shrubs or offer cranberries and raisins to help robins feed their young.

Are you a puppet? by Puppetji