Art, Nature, and Cultures

I only went out for a walk,

and finally concluded to stay out till sundown,

for going out, I found,

was really going in.

John Muir

The heaviness is removed

when the wall is broken down.

It is then that you are uncomplicated and true.

Inca Legend tells of a time when the world is turned upside down, and a new consciousness emerges from it because we go within to know ourselves and heal the wounds of the past.

Put your hand over your heart and

 recall a beautiful feeling or time in your life.

Each must discover in himself that which is capable of a beautiful expansion, which will be a protection and blessing to others, the means of releasing the light in himself.

N. Sri Ram

In so many ways, we are the same.

Our differences are unique treasures.

We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts

To nurture, to offer, to accept.

We need to be.

Just be.

Mattie J. Stepanek

The Guitarist

plays upon the instrument

the sounds of

the world...past, present

and future.

As in all the arts,

the artist shows us

where we have come from,

who we are, and what

we are to be.

It is so with

Music and The Guitar.

Craig Smith

Roots and Community

Like many Americans, I have been displaced from my genetic roots for a variety of reasons including the need for work and a livable income, but communities all over America are made up of the human family as well.  I think about our humanity a lot...our humaneness to each other...and the important role it plays in solving some of our biggest problems...like healthcare, education, human rights, and the environment.

I inherited an active appreciation for music and dance, songs and stories from my father's Irish-American side of the family...and from my mother's English and Dutch side, an appreciation for fine art.  I was raised with an awareness of many cultures.  Because my Dad was a Navy pilot and later became an international airline pilot, he would return with stories and gifts from many nations.  I always thought "how wonderful" that was, and wherever I go, they are part of the roots I take with me.

I have lived in and visited many towns and communities, and the ones that seemed to be most infused with life and spirit had a tremendous diversity of people and walks of life and there was something intrinsic in each person that made them truly care about their town and what it meant to live there...people allowed to be who they are, coming together with all their diversity present as a community.  There is just a feeling of more fun, acceptance and caring in places like that...there's more kindness, tenderness, mercy, and sympathy...the qualities of humanity that are the heart of civilization.  Communities nurture the opposite of greed, corruption, and obsession with power...which always lead to violence and destruction.  In a community, each person's individual roots become part of the fabric of a healthy thriving whole and that respect makes all the difference.  All of us need roots for our nourishment and for our stability.  A community that honors that, allows each individual to grow and be truly alive.  Each person with their own unique roots and gifts is a building block for the whole community.

America was originally founded to insure that democracy would flourish in equality and liberty for all people who came from all parts of the globe to settle here.  The greatest power is Love, not fear.  America is a nation of immigrants and that makes all Americans multi-cultural.  I look at that as something to enjoy and celebrate.

Patty Ann Smith

From the hills and valleys of Ireland to the hills and valleys of Nashville, Tennessee comes music like "Wild Mountain Thyme"...  telling stories of the lives of country people that lived and worked in harmony with the land.  Many of them had to leave Ireland and sail across the sea to America in order to survive, but they brought their traditions and roots with them.  In American country music today, you can still hear the melodic sounds and rhythms of Irish-Americans ancestors from another part of the world long ago.

The ordinary people who built America were from cultures all around the world.  All of our multicultural ancestors knew suffering, but...oh how they must've known joy because they had stories and songs that were timeless and they heard the music of the earth.  Therefore, I'm sure, they could often dance the rain away!

Patty Ann Smith