Great poetry Josh! There’s so much here said beyond the words. I love the commentary in this thread as well. It’s a question we’ve been all living into whether we’re conscious of it or not. Like Shelly somehow I don’t need to set an alarm any longer. I always wake up about the same time and on the few occasions, I do set the alarm, I seem to wake up just ahead of it. Like Perry I am up before the light and welcome it as a ritual. Poetry finds me there, and never leaves me where she found me. Maybe somehow “I Am” watching it all from a different vantage point- a Being aware of Being? Once awakened can we ever go back?
Thank you for the comment, Jamie. As I replied to Perry, I'm not an early-riser - possibly because I still have a latent rebellious streak in me left over from boarding-school days then 'the bell' ruled the day's routine - with the bell-monitor clanging a loud hand-bell in one's ear at 7.15 a.m as one buried oneself further under the meagre sheets, and eventually got up in a freezing cold dormitory.
But also, if I do have to set an alarm occasionally, I too wake up just before it goes off; an interesting phenomenon. With you and Perry as examples, I am wondering if not being an early riser, is to my detriment. When I get over my current flu-bug, I'll revisit this. :)
Get well soon! For me early rising was just a way of life when the kids were younger and I needed to get up and get things going. As they’ve grown up, are gone, and I’ve gotten older, it turned into a deeper ritual of me meeting myself every day. I don’t think what’s important is the time of day may be more so the ritual of meeting our self. Poetry asks me for that testimony. 🙏❤️
Hmmm. The sun has just come out after much rain - think I'll go for a walk and see if I can blow away the cobwebs of this flu-bug - and gift myself some important meditative 'me-time'. Better than going back to bed mid-afternoon (which was plan-A).
I love this poem, Joshua. For me, it reclaims the importance of “awakening” that has been denigrated by gaslighting against “wokeness.” Your poem also sits in such good company with the poem “A Ritual To Read To Each Other” by William Stafford:
The line
“For it is important that awake people be awake, or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give—yes or no, or maybe— should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.
These days I rarely set an alarm because my hungry cats demand that I wake up to feed them. When I do set the alarm for an early appointment, I often wake a few minutes before it goes off. I like to think that’s proof of the soul, or maybe angels, keeping an eye on the clock, so to speak, to bring me back from beyond. Do you know David Whyte’s poem, What to Remember on Waking?
Thank you Shelley; and happy new year for 2025. I have just listened to Stafford read his poem on youtube - I was not familiar with it; intriguing, and timely. The David Whyte poem I was vaguely familiar with, and nice to read it again with renewed attention. Also timely.
I used to do shift-work and hated the alarm-clock. Then regular work, also needing a clock. But since 1998 have managed to do without; and what a blessing that is. I like to wake up slowly, and capture that moment Whyte speaks of. Most of my poems spring from that space, and I get a line or two; or an intense thought which I then follow up.
As for our one ageing (16.5 years) cat, well, her bio-clock is all over the place since having a stroke - but mobility-wise she's fully back up to speed.
I love knowing your poems arise from words you bring back from that moment upon waking. I like to notice what song lyrics are playing in my mind when I wake. I'm glad to know your cat is still up to speed despite her stroke. Happy poeting to you in 2025! I look forward to more of your brilliant words.
Interesting. I also often have a song-line wurbling around in my head - out of nowhere, it seems - and nowadays I take note id it's just one of the many ways the universe might be 'guiding' my day. Of course, for me it's usually 70s/80s/90s songs :) {I confess though to being a bit of a BGT fan, so that gets me more up to date}
I understand the gist of the poem. Some people will ignore the alarms, no matter how loud they are. This includes Nature's warnings to awaken from a deep slumber. The crows, ravens, blue jays speak an language older than humanity. They communicate something life-affirming.
Here is something else to consider, Joshua. What about persons such as myself who awaken before sunrise, before twilight? Who enjoy the early morning (or is it late night) calm before the daily storm of progress.
I'm not a morning persion -- and would love to naturally wake up earlier, refreshed. Even 7.30a.m is early for me, never mind before dawn. Having on occasion been up at that time though, I do remember its particular stillness, offerings of clarity, and special gifts of the sky's first rays of a new day. Meanwhile, "in the bleak mid-winter", our old farmhouse is freezing until I get up and light the wood-burner. When it comes to Spring however, I will have no excuses.
I too was not much of a morning person. That changed when I was receiving chemo for cancer, in early 2013. It affected my sleep cycle; I would awaken early. So, I did not fight it. I adjusted. I went to bed early and woke up early. I still get my requisite 7.5 hours of sleep.
Adjusting to necessity, well done. No use fighting such a deep-seated change and the knock-on changes it brings with it; and I'm glad you are still with us, Perry. I need 9 hours a night but the 'waking hour' is a precious transition. If I'm jerked out of bed from a deeper sleep, I'm disorientated for the rest of the day.
Equating "Awake" with "knowing what's what", is of course a fatal combination - especially when wielded by those in power. I have a feeling though, if/when it all comes crashing down, a few might see their own role in it all - but history shows many will find somewhere else to put the responsibity/blame - and will carry on as before.
Well, that was great! Thank you Joshua. Waking up, whether others or ourselves, can be a profound journey. I guess true awakening only comes from within. Sure, external prompts (alarm clocks) might spark a little awareness, but real change requires a readiness and willingness to engage. For me it’s often about listening out for those quiet inner "alarms," (instinct, intuition, dreams, muses) and creating enough stillness in my life so that I can turn the volume up to deeper truths. Hmm, perhaps some sleepers are never meant to awaken, or their time for awareness has not yet come. Some things can’t be hurried keeps coming to mind, I refer to often this in my last post. I guess this is why your poem resonates so deeply. Thanks again.
Thank you for reading and commenting. "perhaps some sleepers are never meant to awaken, or their time for awareness has not yet come." -- with family and friends I have had to come to the conclusion that this is so for them in their lifetime. Without wanting to make a judgment, but trying to understand, societal change always has a vanguard, a rearguard, and those in between who with a range of awakened states provide necessary stability in the process of change. Too much change too fast and you get a chaotic revolution.
A long time ago I went on a week-end course to connect with my power-animal, only to discover it was a sloth. However, on further consideration, I discovered sloths are actually highly efficient and amazing creatures :)
Thank you. Perhaps the shadows are fleeing the growing light. But that does not mean the shadows have gone. I guess the principle of 'enantiodromia' is at work (as to one extreme, so the opposite equally to the other extreme). A fierce light goes hand-in-hand with a fierce darkness.
In the current phase of history, I keep looking for where the new and more vibrant light is emerging. Part of the answer, I believe, is that deeper and more resilient light is to be found in deeper and more resilient relationships, communities, and sharing
Yes, the shadows are always there, perhaps they are for contrast, perhaps they are of the light and acceptance builds resilience. I too believe, central to our purpose is community.
I like the way you phrased that. The idea of shadows, or darkness, holding a vitality for light and life could be said to put a more wholesome perspective on things.
I think evil is evil, anti-life and 'anti'-light, but perhaps dark plays a role as an element of contrast, so light is more easily recognisable. The idea then is not to 'kill' evil, but to always walk towards the light (and then maybe evil fades, is less)
I am not a fan of claiming to be 'awake'. It needs defining carefully as well. It is confused with people who are very confident in "knowing what's what", and they equate this confidence with being 'awake'. Words, and their definitions, can cause so much trouble and confusion.
In politics especially, we live in an era where words are being stripped of meaning, leaving us mere digital-data, and unable to have meaningful conversations and debate. Since when did suggesting a 'ceasefire' (whether in Gaza or anywhere else) cause so much polemic and be considered 'controversial'
"A violent war begets a violent peace" (Gandhi) (means and ends are one thing) so Gaza's future does not look peaceful to me. So-called 'conspiracy theorists' who tackle 'the Jewsh question' will no doubt be proven right on several things, but that does not mean power-relations will change. There's plenty of evidence for the 'Covid-con' but Big Pharma still has an iron-grip on the masses.
I don't have much to add about enantiodromia. Wikipaedia places the idea with C.G Jung but it goes back to at least Plato (and further back to Heraclitus (c.500BC)
Plato defines enantiodromia as “Everything arises in this way, opposites from their opposites.”
Carl G. Jung called enantiodromia “the regulating function of opposites.”
These definitions are quite general, and one could draw a spread of meanings and relevances from them.
Thank you. And I think you are right, Wendela. Something, somehow has to act as a trigger. Often it seems it's a negative experience ("I've had enough of this!!") and one reaches some inner point of "enoughness". I have it various times with ending jobs, and certain relationships.
Much rarer I think is the experience of an inner 'positive reinforcement' trigger, where we suddenly tap into a deep desire to do something ("I have to do this now"), something creative maybe, or just giving oneslf time and a bit of softness and nurturing that some how we have believed 'we don't deserve' - and which has held us back until we 'allow' ouselves the good things in life.
It reminds me of one of Mary Oliver's poems (Wild Geese) which I am currently learning to recite: "You do not have to be good / you do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. / You only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves."
The bit of the Mary Oliver poem is only the first few lines. It struk me because I had a 'religious phase' (as in ego-relgiosity) and it took a lot of effort to break free from the fear-guilt-shame that religions so love to burden people with.
I was brought up on a diet of 'sayings' like "God helps those who help themselves" and "Tell the truth and shame the devil" and "The devil makes work for idle hands". These things make a deep impression on a young mind. So it's been a journey to unravel the truer/deeper meaning of such statements.
"What matters is that we evolve towards the absence of harm in all its forms..." yes, this is so important to always have in our minds as we journey through life. If humans are in a 'game' and the 'game' is to clear away all the untruths, then I am sure we are equipped to do that.
Great poetry Josh! There’s so much here said beyond the words. I love the commentary in this thread as well. It’s a question we’ve been all living into whether we’re conscious of it or not. Like Shelly somehow I don’t need to set an alarm any longer. I always wake up about the same time and on the few occasions, I do set the alarm, I seem to wake up just ahead of it. Like Perry I am up before the light and welcome it as a ritual. Poetry finds me there, and never leaves me where she found me. Maybe somehow “I Am” watching it all from a different vantage point- a Being aware of Being? Once awakened can we ever go back?
Thank you for the comment, Jamie. As I replied to Perry, I'm not an early-riser - possibly because I still have a latent rebellious streak in me left over from boarding-school days then 'the bell' ruled the day's routine - with the bell-monitor clanging a loud hand-bell in one's ear at 7.15 a.m as one buried oneself further under the meagre sheets, and eventually got up in a freezing cold dormitory.
But also, if I do have to set an alarm occasionally, I too wake up just before it goes off; an interesting phenomenon. With you and Perry as examples, I am wondering if not being an early riser, is to my detriment. When I get over my current flu-bug, I'll revisit this. :)
Get well soon! For me early rising was just a way of life when the kids were younger and I needed to get up and get things going. As they’ve grown up, are gone, and I’ve gotten older, it turned into a deeper ritual of me meeting myself every day. I don’t think what’s important is the time of day may be more so the ritual of meeting our self. Poetry asks me for that testimony. 🙏❤️
Hmmm. The sun has just come out after much rain - think I'll go for a walk and see if I can blow away the cobwebs of this flu-bug - and gift myself some important meditative 'me-time'. Better than going back to bed mid-afternoon (which was plan-A).
I love this poem, Joshua. For me, it reclaims the importance of “awakening” that has been denigrated by gaslighting against “wokeness.” Your poem also sits in such good company with the poem “A Ritual To Read To Each Other” by William Stafford:
The line
“For it is important that awake people be awake, or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give—yes or no, or maybe— should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.
These days I rarely set an alarm because my hungry cats demand that I wake up to feed them. When I do set the alarm for an early appointment, I often wake a few minutes before it goes off. I like to think that’s proof of the soul, or maybe angels, keeping an eye on the clock, so to speak, to bring me back from beyond. Do you know David Whyte’s poem, What to Remember on Waking?
Thank you Shelley; and happy new year for 2025. I have just listened to Stafford read his poem on youtube - I was not familiar with it; intriguing, and timely. The David Whyte poem I was vaguely familiar with, and nice to read it again with renewed attention. Also timely.
I used to do shift-work and hated the alarm-clock. Then regular work, also needing a clock. But since 1998 have managed to do without; and what a blessing that is. I like to wake up slowly, and capture that moment Whyte speaks of. Most of my poems spring from that space, and I get a line or two; or an intense thought which I then follow up.
As for our one ageing (16.5 years) cat, well, her bio-clock is all over the place since having a stroke - but mobility-wise she's fully back up to speed.
I love knowing your poems arise from words you bring back from that moment upon waking. I like to notice what song lyrics are playing in my mind when I wake. I'm glad to know your cat is still up to speed despite her stroke. Happy poeting to you in 2025! I look forward to more of your brilliant words.
Interesting. I also often have a song-line wurbling around in my head - out of nowhere, it seems - and nowadays I take note id it's just one of the many ways the universe might be 'guiding' my day. Of course, for me it's usually 70s/80s/90s songs :) {I confess though to being a bit of a BGT fan, so that gets me more up to date}
I understand the gist of the poem. Some people will ignore the alarms, no matter how loud they are. This includes Nature's warnings to awaken from a deep slumber. The crows, ravens, blue jays speak an language older than humanity. They communicate something life-affirming.
Here is something else to consider, Joshua. What about persons such as myself who awaken before sunrise, before twilight? Who enjoy the early morning (or is it late night) calm before the daily storm of progress.
I'm not a morning persion -- and would love to naturally wake up earlier, refreshed. Even 7.30a.m is early for me, never mind before dawn. Having on occasion been up at that time though, I do remember its particular stillness, offerings of clarity, and special gifts of the sky's first rays of a new day. Meanwhile, "in the bleak mid-winter", our old farmhouse is freezing until I get up and light the wood-burner. When it comes to Spring however, I will have no excuses.
I too was not much of a morning person. That changed when I was receiving chemo for cancer, in early 2013. It affected my sleep cycle; I would awaken early. So, I did not fight it. I adjusted. I went to bed early and woke up early. I still get my requisite 7.5 hours of sleep.
Adjusting to necessity, well done. No use fighting such a deep-seated change and the knock-on changes it brings with it; and I'm glad you are still with us, Perry. I need 9 hours a night but the 'waking hour' is a precious transition. If I'm jerked out of bed from a deeper sleep, I'm disorientated for the rest of the day.
The trouble is, some of those fast asleep, despite all the alarms, insist they're AWAKE! Because that's what it feels like to them.
Even worse ~ they might set themselves up as leaders. They may call on others to follow their guidance (while sleepwalking themselves)...
Perhaps they'll awaken eventually when all come crashing down falling over each other...??
Equating "Awake" with "knowing what's what", is of course a fatal combination - especially when wielded by those in power. I have a feeling though, if/when it all comes crashing down, a few might see their own role in it all - but history shows many will find somewhere else to put the responsibity/blame - and will carry on as before.
Ah this is brilliant Josh! So true. Love it. 💜
Thank you
When will we wake up?
Will it be in time for our
species survival?
Thank you for commenting. I think a remant always survives, and 'starts all over again'. Meanwhile, there may be huge suffering for the majority.
What matters, transcends?
Matters matter, also change.
What persists, remains?
Quite Rumi.
Thank you.
Well, that was great! Thank you Joshua. Waking up, whether others or ourselves, can be a profound journey. I guess true awakening only comes from within. Sure, external prompts (alarm clocks) might spark a little awareness, but real change requires a readiness and willingness to engage. For me it’s often about listening out for those quiet inner "alarms," (instinct, intuition, dreams, muses) and creating enough stillness in my life so that I can turn the volume up to deeper truths. Hmm, perhaps some sleepers are never meant to awaken, or their time for awareness has not yet come. Some things can’t be hurried keeps coming to mind, I refer to often this in my last post. I guess this is why your poem resonates so deeply. Thanks again.
Thank you for reading and commenting. "perhaps some sleepers are never meant to awaken, or their time for awareness has not yet come." -- with family and friends I have had to come to the conclusion that this is so for them in their lifetime. Without wanting to make a judgment, but trying to understand, societal change always has a vanguard, a rearguard, and those in between who with a range of awakened states provide necessary stability in the process of change. Too much change too fast and you get a chaotic revolution.
I’m definitely more tortoise than hare - a perfect pace for this slow-living, reflective life of an introverted poet.
A long time ago I went on a week-end course to connect with my power-animal, only to discover it was a sloth. However, on further consideration, I discovered sloths are actually highly efficient and amazing creatures :)
Sometimes upon waking, l see darkness and looming shadows in the coming of the light, for there will always be a shift to the breaking of a dawn 😊
Thank you. Perhaps the shadows are fleeing the growing light. But that does not mean the shadows have gone. I guess the principle of 'enantiodromia' is at work (as to one extreme, so the opposite equally to the other extreme). A fierce light goes hand-in-hand with a fierce darkness.
In the current phase of history, I keep looking for where the new and more vibrant light is emerging. Part of the answer, I believe, is that deeper and more resilient light is to be found in deeper and more resilient relationships, communities, and sharing
Yes, the shadows are always there, perhaps they are for contrast, perhaps they are of the light and acceptance builds resilience. I too believe, central to our purpose is community.
I like the way you phrased that. The idea of shadows, or darkness, holding a vitality for light and life could be said to put a more wholesome perspective on things.
I think evil is evil, anti-life and 'anti'-light, but perhaps dark plays a role as an element of contrast, so light is more easily recognisable. The idea then is not to 'kill' evil, but to always walk towards the light (and then maybe evil fades, is less)
I am not a fan of claiming to be 'awake'. It needs defining carefully as well. It is confused with people who are very confident in "knowing what's what", and they equate this confidence with being 'awake'. Words, and their definitions, can cause so much trouble and confusion.
In politics especially, we live in an era where words are being stripped of meaning, leaving us mere digital-data, and unable to have meaningful conversations and debate. Since when did suggesting a 'ceasefire' (whether in Gaza or anywhere else) cause so much polemic and be considered 'controversial'
"A violent war begets a violent peace" (Gandhi) (means and ends are one thing) so Gaza's future does not look peaceful to me. So-called 'conspiracy theorists' who tackle 'the Jewsh question' will no doubt be proven right on several things, but that does not mean power-relations will change. There's plenty of evidence for the 'Covid-con' but Big Pharma still has an iron-grip on the masses.
I don't have much to add about enantiodromia. Wikipaedia places the idea with C.G Jung but it goes back to at least Plato (and further back to Heraclitus (c.500BC)
Plato defines enantiodromia as “Everything arises in this way, opposites from their opposites.”
Carl G. Jung called enantiodromia “the regulating function of opposites.”
These definitions are quite general, and one could draw a spread of meanings and relevances from them.
I found this 5-minute youtube clip that relates enantiodromia to trauma healing, as a Jungian process. { https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UOFWq6unrU }
Thank you. And I think you are right, Wendela. Something, somehow has to act as a trigger. Often it seems it's a negative experience ("I've had enough of this!!") and one reaches some inner point of "enoughness". I have it various times with ending jobs, and certain relationships.
Much rarer I think is the experience of an inner 'positive reinforcement' trigger, where we suddenly tap into a deep desire to do something ("I have to do this now"), something creative maybe, or just giving oneslf time and a bit of softness and nurturing that some how we have believed 'we don't deserve' - and which has held us back until we 'allow' ouselves the good things in life.
It reminds me of one of Mary Oliver's poems (Wild Geese) which I am currently learning to recite: "You do not have to be good / you do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. / You only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves."
The bit of the Mary Oliver poem is only the first few lines. It struk me because I had a 'religious phase' (as in ego-relgiosity) and it took a lot of effort to break free from the fear-guilt-shame that religions so love to burden people with.
I was brought up on a diet of 'sayings' like "God helps those who help themselves" and "Tell the truth and shame the devil" and "The devil makes work for idle hands". These things make a deep impression on a young mind. So it's been a journey to unravel the truer/deeper meaning of such statements.
"What matters is that we evolve towards the absence of harm in all its forms..." yes, this is so important to always have in our minds as we journey through life. If humans are in a 'game' and the 'game' is to clear away all the untruths, then I am sure we are equipped to do that.