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Silence & Counting To Twelve...

MARCH 23, 2009

Visiting with Isabel at her "[A Room of One's Own](http://a-room-of-one-s-own.blogspot.com/2009/03/counting-to-twelve.html)" was the invitation to all count to twelve and post this beautiful poem by Pablo Neruda... So... if you are so moved, I too invite you to count to twelve and let his words find their way through your silence...
_Keeping Quiet (A Callarse)_
_Extravagaria, Pablo Neruda_
_Now we will count to twelve_
_and we will all keep still._

_For once on the face of the earth,_
_let’s not speak in any language;_
_let’s stop for one second,_
_and not move our arms so much._

_It would be an exotic moment_
_without rush, without engines;_
_we would all be together_
_in a sudden strangeness._

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives movin,
and for once could do nothing,

perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

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By Lea Goode-Harris • 15 Mar, 2024

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The Retiring of a Labyrinth

By Lea Goode-Harris • 05 Aug, 2023

Labyrinths provide us with a path to practice change. Some labyrinths have withstood the passage of time for thousands of years. Others are here for just an afternoon, drawn in the sand at the edge of the ocean. Many modern labyrinths were meant to last for years, but because of unforeseen circumstances their time is shorter than intended. And they once again help us to practice letting go and giving thanks for the time they are with us. The Labyrinth of Life at the Sebastopol, California Teen Center reached such place of letting go and is at the end of one chapter and the beginning of another chapter that is yet unknown.

Making A Three Circuit Labyrinth

By Lea Goode-Harris • 05 Aug, 2023

Sometimes... a labyrinth can take years to become a physical reality. In 2018 I met with my friend Deb, to discuss her desire to have a labyrinth on the beautiful land she lives on. Despite our plans and several meetings, listening to the land and finding the right spot, the labyrinth did not come to fruition. Fast-forward five years and in the blink of an eye... it happened!