Zen Master Caterpillar

I am so excited about this. The other day D & I spotted a large yellow with black spots caterpillar, all legs stuck to the underside of a branch on our lovely cassia. I thought he looked very like he was ready to start his transformation. The next day we saw that, indeed, he was beginning his morph. He hung upside-down, tail touching the skinny branch, and head suspended by his silky thread making. This pic if from today, and we’re so sorry we missed taking a before pic. But here he is now- all wrapped up in a cocoon so like the leaves of the cassia, I can hardly believe it. Oh! The Universe it its mad array of wonder and delight! Surely this is just the sort of thing that inspired stories of a Creator who ever so carefully and gently crafts each and every detail of Maya in Its cosmic workshop. The Creator who dabbed with Its brush just that last little brown spot on the tip of my cat’s nose before It sent her down from the celestial expanses to me. And easily, perhaps even more so overflowing with awe, and filled with wonder, is the cold and desolate vacuum of both All and Nothingness.- the random beauty and terror of everything evolving, alone, interdependent and One.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006
I had a dream I was writing or listening to a great poem I was working on…wanted to capture it in the dream, but could not.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” – Martha Graham