The New Year-2011

We have entered a new year full of both promise, and now, peril after the events in Tucson, Arizona. Clearly our society is under stress and the fissures are there for all to see. In light of this, I am reminded by Rumi to step outside the "fear-thinking" of the present moment into some other mode of knowing and seeing.

Outside there is the freezing desert night and the blast of wind.
But there is this other night inside growing warm and kindling.
Though the outer landscapes may be covered with thorny crusts,
we have this soft garden here inside.
The continents may be blasted, cities and little towns,
everything becoming a scorched, blackened ball,
and the news we hear be full of grief and concern for the future.
But the real news is here inside
and it is that, this is no news at all
for some other world is forming.