I’m in the Omaha airport currently, about to take off for the English Lakes District northern England for some much-anticipated study-leave.  A dozen or so people are rendezvousing with poet/philosopher, David Whyte.  This gathering is focussed on being a time to deepen one’s commitment to the direction one’s professional or artistic life is taking, or loose it toward a new direction (Don’t worry: I’m in the FORMER camp, not the latter!).  For further inspiration we will spend every afternoon amid the mountains and lakes that surround us, walking the hills and arriving at small pubs and hostelries for the evening meal. David will lead the morning sessions, bringing poetry to bear on the insights he has gained through twenty years of examining the necessities of work, career and relationship. Our accommodation is in a manor house nestled in the foothills of the North Pennines, one of 40 classified areas of outstanding natural beauty in England and Wales. 

If you’ve never heard of David Whyte, a wonderful introduction to his work is The Heart Aroused: Poetry and Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America.  That’s the book that got me hooked.  Now, after reading a stack more of his books, I’m looking forward to finally being able to experience how his brilliant mind works (Don’t count on me coming back with any of his brilliance!).  

Yesterday I visited Best Buy and drooled over a Flip Video mini-camcorder which is popular with video bloggers thinking I might take some video of David Whyte and others on the trip and perhaps post a few video reflections on what’s happening there and potentially on the Phoenix Affirmations.  I decided against it … and then rushed out this morning to purchase one … So for better or worse, you’re going to get some video entries in the coming week, should you care to watch them.  They’ll be posted on YouTube with links provided on this blog.  If you’d rather go straight to the YouTube videos and not go thru the blog, you can type “eelnes” in the search engine and find all my video blog posts (including some videos I’ve posted previously).  However, I do plan on writing a little here, too, not just doing video.  

My first entry is cheesy, and says nothing important, but it’s my very first video blog, shot at the airport in Omaha, so for those who wish, you can click here to view it.

But not to leave you with empty vapor, I thought I’d share one of David Whyte’s poems for your enjoyment:

“In the Beginning”

         by David Whyte (From Fire In the Earth)

Sometimes simplicity rises

            like a blossom of fire

                        from the white silk of your own skin.

You were there in the beginning

            you heard the story, you heard the merciless

                        and tender words telling you where you had to go.

Exile is never easy and the journey

            itself leaves a bitter taste.  But then,

                        when you heard that voice, you had to go.

You couldn’t stay by the fire, you couldn’t live

            so close to the live flame of that compassion

                        you had to go out in the world and make it your own

so you could come back with

            that flame in your voice, saying listen …

                        this warmth, this unbearable light, this fearful love …

It is all here, it is all here.