In the story, an old man is dying and calls his people to his side.
He gives a short, sturdy stick to each of his many offspring,
wives, and relatives. “Break the stick,” he instructs them. With
some effort, they all snap their sticks in half. “This is how it is
when a soul is alone without anyone. They can be easily
broken.” The old man next gives each of his kin another stick
and says, “…put your sticks together in bundles of twos and
threes. Now, break these bundles in half.” No one can break the
sticks when there are two or more in a bundle. The old man
smiles. “We are strong when we stand with another soul. When
we are with another, we cannot be broken. – Clarissa Pinkola
Estes

I love the dark hours of my being
in which my senses drop into the deep.
I have found in them, as in old letters,
My private life, that is already lived through,
And become wide and powerful now, like legends.
Then I know that there is room in me
For a second huge and timeless life.

— Rainer Maria Rilke, Selected Poems, Robert Bly translation

Respect the elders.
embrace the new.
encourage the impractical
and improbable,
without bias.

-David Fricke

You left me with nothing much to say.

Then he gave me a little meditation: “Where are you between two thoughts?” That is to say, you are thinking all the time, and you have an image of your self. Well, where are you between two thoughts? Do you ever have a glimpse beyond your thinking of that which transcends anything you can think about your self? That’s the source field out of which all of your energies are coming.

– Joseph Campbell, on meeting Swami Atmananda

nothing comes from nothing,
The darkness from the darkness.

Pain comes from the darkness 
And we call it wisdom. It is pain.

• Randall Jarrell, from 90 North

Don’t judge a life by the way it ends
Losing the light as night descends
For we are here and then we’re gone
Remnants to reel and carry on

Endings are rare when all is well
Yes and the tale easy to tell
Stories of lives drawn simplified
As if the facts were cut and dried

Don’t judge a life as if you knew
Like you were there and saw it through
Measure a life by what was best
When they were better than the rest

Reserve your wrath for those who judge
Those quick to point and hold a grudge
Take them to task who only lead
While others pay, while others bleed

Tapping the keys in a life of rhyme
Ending the tune and standard time
Silence fills the afternoon
A long long way to gone too soon

Don’t judge a life by the way it ends
Losing the light as night descends
A chance to love is what we’ve got
For we are here and then…

We’re not.