Nine Steps to Interbeing*

Struck.

With news.

Of terrible loss.

How can this be?

Pain, fear, doubt, guilt, shame.

Deeply entwined in so many lives.

I awoke thinking myself an individual being.

Now drawn into a reality larger than myself. 

I cannot escape my part in this complex world.

——————————————————–

I am a co-creator of this vast, complex reality.

And this reality continuously pours into my life.

I move around receiving life’s free offerings.

Today, life gives; today I experience

Pleasure, love, safety, joy, gratitude

Freely given, humbly received.

My turn, again.

To touch.

Life.

~Bob Patrick

*I made up this poetic exercise. I invite you to give it a try.  The nine steps are nine lines that grow in number. The first line has one word. The second two, and so on until you reach a nine word line. Then, you reverse it, down to one, again. What are your nine steps into interdependence, into the interdependent web of existence?

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One Response to Nine Steps to Interbeing*

  1. Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones says:

    Wow!! Thank you for sharing this exercise! With your permission, I’ll weave it into the Writing as a Spiritual Practice auction offering I’ll share later this year! Beautiful, powerful work. How creativity grows when we offer it a container, boundaries that prompt invention.

    And yes. Waking to news of the pain of the world, and re-membering ourselves into the parts of this one great interconnected body.

    Love. First and always: love.

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