{"id":11501,"date":"2016-07-18T15:10:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T19:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=11501"},"modified":"2016-07-18T19:25:27","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T23:25:27","slug":"whales-and-buddhists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2016\/07\/whales-and-buddhists.html","title":{"rendered":"whales and Buddhists ~"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"via<\/a>
via creative commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘Whales Weep Not!’<\/a>, by D. H. Lawrence is amazing. I like Lawrence’s poetry — many don’t. But who knew he did a whale poem? And that it would so beautifully illustrate all we have in common with all the life around us.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0know whales are sentient, of course. But this poem, written with Lawrence’s famous (notorious?) sensuality, reminds us that love is part of sentience. And thinking of love makes it difficult to excuse whaling.<\/p>\n

I love the ocean, in part because it’s a completely different world. The beings beneath its silvery surface go about their lives with little visible to me, up here on the land-locked prairie. But as always, a piece of art ~ a poem ~ can be a window. Or even a kind of submarine, allowing me to ‘see’ whale love. Allowing me to see my own fist love longlimbed swimmer\u00a0<\/em>in the images the poem draws. It’s what art does best, open us up. Crack holes so the light gets in…<\/p>\n

That’s pretty amazing, I’d say. \u00a0Love between sentient beings just isn’t all that different, the poem says. And it offers a lovely, gentle nudge to be more mindful of the web that connects us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Whales Weep Not!’, by D. H. Lawrence is amazing. I like Lawrence’s poetry — many don’t. But who knew he did a whale poem? And that it would so beautifully illustrate all we have in common with all the life around us. We\u00a0know whales are sentient, of course. But this poem, written with Lawrence’s famous…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1393],"tags":[1181,262,1395,454,1394],"class_list":["post-11501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-web-of-connection","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-d-h-lawrence","tag-the-web-of-life","tag-whales"],"yoast_head":"\nwhales and Buddhists ~ - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"'Whales Weep Not!', by D. H. Lawrence is amazing. I like Lawrence's poetry -- many don't. But who knew he did a whale poem? 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Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. 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