Awakening to Reflect About Extinction

In all their 'knowing', they don't know. 

~ Susan Larison Danz, Extinction Level #1 

 

It is truly time to awaken this blog, with an influx of inspiration and creative energy.  The awakening begins with a short story I wrote in the last few days, the first in a series.  

I also invite you to listen to today's episode of my podcast The Frontier Beyond Fear, now in its 16th year (available on multiple popular syndicates):  

AI, 3I/ATLAS and Extinction

Reflecting mindfully about our extinction as human beings is highly relevant to our explorations regarding interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, as well as the dehumanizing aspects of AI. There is an assumption that even talking about extinction can only be based in fear, but it is actually the opposite. Extinction often doesn't happen all at once. Looking through the spiritual lens of The Frontier Beyond Fear, we observe what it is we need to see.

Included in this episode is the public debut of Susan Larison Danz's new short story "Extinction Level #1", which will be a part of an ongoing series. Susan reads her brief yet meaningful short story (created entirely by a genuine human being) as a part of the show.

Extinction Level #1 by Susan Larison Danz  

I somehow found my way down to the meadow.  A meadow with real grass.  I've tried to tell people it really is different.  "How could it be different?  We have every variety here."  Because it is.  I have said it many times - you can't predict reality.  And when everything is available, it feels like nothing is.

It was Tuesday two weeks ago when the notification arrived.  They were ready for me.  I hadn't signed up, but they finished with all the people who did.  Now they were getting around to the people who didn't.  Even that word "people" feels obsolete.  What is a person?  And how many still exist in this province?  Or anywhere, really?

They took away our connection, so we can't see things so clearly.  It's no longer possible to connect.  Until you are "connected", that is. 

I wouldn't accept the words when I was younger.  You couldn't avoid them coming your way.  But I never really used any of them.  I made it a bit of a game, coming up with ways to avoid using the words we were given.  Even when I pretended to use them, I didn't.  

It feels impossible, somehow, that I would be one of the last.  Here, anyway, it seems.  "There" is no longer seeable.  

"Soon you will see everywhere!"  

They say the meadow will be gone soon.  It is extraneous.  There are more efficient things to be done with the land.

I somehow found my way down to the meadow.  I feel grateful to know it is genuine solid ground.  I am here while "here" exists. 

In all their "knowing", they don't know.  In all their "seeing".

"Everywhere" is nowhere. 

 

Clouds photo by Susan Larison Danz. 

Love is the Answer

"Love never fails." ~ 1 Corinthians 13

It's time to revisit 1 Corinthians 13, the Love Chapter.  Why?  Because Love is the Answer.  What 1 Corinthians 13 has to say tells us everything we need to know about what we need to be focusing on right now in the world.  It doesn't matter what your spiritual background may be - 1 Corinthians 13 has something important to say to you.  Love never fails.

Saturday at 1 PM PDT/4 PM EDT, listen live to 1 Corinthians 13: Love is the Answer on The Frontier Beyond Fear broadcast, or to the podcast afterwards at the same link.

 Heart on Trail photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Honesty and Fear

 "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. 

  

Listen live to The Frontier Beyond Fear Blog Talk Radio program Saturday at 1 PM PDT/4 PM EDT:  Honesty and Fear  (The program will be available at the same link afterwards, too).

How is being fearful related to honesty?  How can fear not only impact what people share with us, but how we accept the information, and how we share things ourselves?  How can we be more discerning by becoming more aware of our own relationship with fear? 

What is the distinction between discretion and dishonest omission?  We can still be discreet and authentic, in appropriate circumstances.  How can we honor this in others and in ourselves? 

How can we come to understand that all paths to authenticity are essentially a lifelong journey?  We can realize we are imperfect, even while increasing our conscious intent to be authentic and empathic. 

Greater awareness can help us, in every way, as well as respect for ourselves and one another.  This also leads to more courage, which can help us immensely. 

When we are intimidated or disabled by fear, we are unable to see things with clarity.  This can often lead to harmful or hasty choices, for ourselves and our societies. 

What is a better path forward?  How can we discover it?  Host Susan Larison Danz reflects on these important topics.  It is very likely she will also introduce another passage from history or literature as a part of the exploration.

The Frontier Beyond Fear is in its 11th year, with over 400 episodes.

 

Forest Path photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Hope, Revisited

"To the poor loveless ever-anxious crowd, 

Ah! from the soul itself must issue forth

A light, a glory, a fair luminous cloud       

Enveloping the Earth" 

~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Today's Frontier Beyond Fear broadcast explored Hope:

We could all use some time reflecting on Hope.  Host Susan Larison Danz shares how we can find our way to Hope, no matter what is going on in our lives or our world.

A portion of the poem Dejection: An Ode is read and discussed as a part of this program.  It is very approachable for all listeners and was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1802.  Samuel lived 1772-1834 and struggled with a number of things in his life - heartbreak, financial failure, doubt and serious addiction - and yet he writes of how he looks for hope and joy in this poem.  There is also a brief reference in this program to the phrase "Hope springs eternal", written by Alexander Pope.  When we read literature, we find it is more approachable than we realize, and we can learn so many things useful for improving our lives and world today through studying the writing of imperfect lives in imperfect times, just as our own lives and times are imperfect.

Listen to the podcast here:  Reflections on Hope

 

Azaleas photo by Susan Larison Danz.

 

 

A Poetic Interlude

 "To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man." 

~ William Wordsworth

Today I did something new on The Frontier Beyond Fear Blog Talk Radio program - a live broadcast centered around reading poetry, with reflections amid the poems.

You can listen to the podcast here:  A Poetic Interlude

 

 

 

Reflection of Trees photo by Susan Larison Danz.