Writings
By
Suzanne Duarte
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The Pacific Ocean from Manhattan Beach, CA © Suzanne Duarte |
Creating Space for Nature: a wilderness solo
By Suzanne Head (now Duarte)
from Dharma Gaia: a Harvest of Essays in Buddhism
and Ecology
Allan Hunt Badiner, ed.,
Parallax Press, 1990
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains shoot
straight into the sky out of bedrock buried 30,000 feet below the San Luis Valley
in southern Colorado. Most evenings the sun's last rays bathe the precipitous angles
of the range in the sanguine alpenglow that inspired their name, Blood of Christ.
At least that is one story. Another links the blood-of-Christ image to the startling
red tint of the streams during spring runoff. In any case, vivid colors - sunset
scarlets, midday blues, and twilight purples - are part of the palpable magnetism
that has earned the Sangre de Cristos their place in the mystique of the
American Southwest.
My Bush Soul, The Mountain Lion
from Listening
to Cougar, Marc Bekoff and Cara Blessley Lowe, eds., University Press
of Colorado, 2007
This is
a follow-up to, or continuation of, the story in “Creating Space for Nature,”
including some excerpts from that story.
Over the years many animals,
both wild and domestic, have called and spoken to me in countless dreams as
well as in "real life." I have been blessed to have lived in the Rocky Mountains where encounters
with wildlife are frequent. But the
dreams of powerful "fierce creatures" of the wild were the ones that
got my attention and focused it on the transformative significance that animals
have had in my life.
Conversation with a Mountain Chickadee - I immediately wondered whether the mountain chickadee looking at me through the window was the one that I rescued from freezing to death while in shock. I realized that I would have loved to think that it recognized me and was trying to communicate with me. However, because I would have liked to think that and because I thought it improbable, I discounted the possibility. I would have needed solid proof that it was the same bird . . .
Demons
in our Midst: Facing the Tyrant Inside and Out
first published in Awakened Woman e-Magazine,
December 22, 2004, revised May 2008
It
cannot be an accident, or mere "coincidence," that the movie trilogy
of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings became box office hits during the George W.
Bush’s first four years as the U.S. president. We needed those images of
leathery-winged monsters with huge teeth and claws, of the pathetic Gollum with
the vicious shadow, of the goodness of fellowship and the evil of greed for
absolute power over the world. Why did we need them? I think we needed those
visual images to remind us of the nature of evil and the existence of demons
because, in our secularlized, mechanistic world, we had forgotten about them.
We thought we were safe.
Power and
the Collective:
by Henny Rückert and Suzanne Duarte
Published originally in The Mountain Astrologer (12/04 -1/05).
Focusing on the power issues of the Pluto-in-Leo
generation of power holders, this article provides an astrological overview and interpretation of the
archetypal energies that are pressing our species to take the next evolutionary
step toward responsibility and maturity.
Shambhala: The Outer Tradition
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|
Cathedral Peak © Suzanne
Duarte |
This is a revised version of the
first of three talks I gave in March 1995 at the Shambhala Center in São Paulo,
Brasil
Shambhala is said to have been a kingdom
in Central Asia that flourished somewhere along the old Silk Road. It was said
to be a place of high culture and learning where the ideas, merchandise, and
spiritual practices of many traditions and cultures intermixed in an
inquisitive and appreciative atmosphere of peace and prosperity. Their way of life joined Heaven
and Earth in harmony. There was wealth as well as a high level of spiritual
realization among the inhabitants. It was a sanctuary for the highest human values and traditions, free
from strife and jealousy because the people had what they needed, including
their own dignity. Their rulers
were enlightened kings who were just, powerful, and merciful. The sacred arts and scriptures of many
religions were placed in the libraries for safekeeping for the future. Shambhala regarded itself and is still
regarded as the repository for the spiritual wisdom and power that would be
needed to save the world from the darkness and depravity that would threaten to
destroy all civilization in the future.
Waking
Up in a Former Empire at the End of the Industrial Age - Or: Is
It ‘Mean’ to Tell Someone Their House is on Fire?
May 15, 2009
Published
in various versions on Culture
Change, Carolyn Baker’s Truth to Power and Dandelion Times.
Dearest Ones of Future Generations, I thought you might
find it interesting to hear what I’m observing of those people I know about who
are just waking up to what the state of the planet is. Last week was Earth Day, an
international day of observance for the Earth. For nearly 40 years, it has been a day when
environmentalists have had a chance to provide a reckoning of the damage that
industrial civilization has been inflicting on the natural world. It is usually a time when print media
make some obligatory gesture of recognition that humans live on a planet that we
depend upon and that needs our attention. This year the statements were a little more urgent than usual,
especially about climate change, which is increasingly referred to as ‘climate
emergency.’
Deception,
Corruption and Truth
July 16,
2009
Published
on Radio
Free Shambhala
Two dharmic values that Chögyam Trungpa embodied, which
were reinforced in me by his example, are consideration and concern for future
generations and the importance of being truthful, which are related with each
other. After he died, I began to
understand that our personal adherence to the truth – or honesty – in
the present is essential for the sanity and wellbeing of future generations, and thus for the continuity of the dharma. I cite the example of
the Bush II years to illustrate the relationship between deception, corruption
and collective suffering, which is the converse of the relationship between
truth (dharma) and the wellbeing of future generations.
Holocaust
Of The Orangutans – a poem
April 1998
Their forests are burning.
Vietnam vets dump
water from helicopters
on
forests like tenderboxes
dry
from drought
nine
months long.
Rainforests without rain,
only home of these primates,
sweet
arboreal herbivores,
ancient
redhaired cousins.
Realizing The Significance – a poem
March 2002
Realizing the Significance
of Our Time in History
makes all the difference
between acting on behalf
of the future
or not.
All written materials on this page are copyrighted by Suzanne Duarte. Requests for permission to reprint may be sent to mailto:earthling@dharmagaians.org.
© 2009 Suzanne Duarte