This invitation to open to purpose, higher purpose, is bringing us to discussions of life and death.
Years ago, I felt purpose come in for me when I sat in the Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey. I told my friend I had no words but I felt something settle in, and on, me.
She just sent me this:
Epitaph from Poets' Corner:
"The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living"
- Epitaph on the memorial to T.S.Eliot.
Today my friend Annie says of some of the Native People she met in Alaska:
The elder women are beautiful and full of wisdom and soul.
In reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist, I saw how clearly we in America are not seeing ourselves as we are, are not seeing what we are doing in other countries, how we go in and incite war. I think we need to honor poetry here, and we need to honor our elders, especially our women, who are told they need cosmetic surgery to be beautiful. Instead let's encourage a cultivation of wisdom and soul. We need poetry to connect the language of life and death, to prioritize and wake.
Yesterday friends of mine put their dogs in a dog show in the parking lot at Whole Foods. I really couldn't get enthused about judging the "beauty" of one dog over another. When I saw the photos hanging up in the store, and was supposed to judge, I knew how much each one meant to their owner. I couldn't judge or choose one smiling, or perhaps panting dog, over another.
Now, I read of this, a program to ensure no one dies alone.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/27/MNEF1KRESM.DTL
We live in a country that celebrates life, at least for we Americans, over death. Perhaps we could combine, and better transition the two.