I am simply one man living his own wild, soulful, unpredictable and divinely unreasonable existence. My project is to swim deeper and deeper into the felt experience of what it means to be human in a continuous surrender to the truth of the present moment, and what it means to exist, and to often share this exploration with others. My questions currently are ones such as “can I live healed?” “can I follow through with a detachment from my own suffering?” “what are my callings in life?” “why aren’t there any soft persimmons this season?”
My life is guided above all else by a call to service. I’m a poet, athlete, gardener, wilderness guide, yogi, ceremonialist, musician, activist, change-maker, rabid sports fan, reader, teacher, student, and at the same time I am none of the above. I am in continuing training as a Coyote Master.
I was initiated as a man on June 10th, 2011 after a 4-day, 4-night solo vision fast, and I’ve now become involved in wilderness rites of passage work. I have trained and quested at the School of Lost Borders and I would say that they are worth checking out (if you like getting your mind blown and that kind of thing…).
This blog was created as a way to offer my writings and musings to the world, in case anyone is interested enough to read them. Please comment!
you’re a damn liar
No you’re not a liar
But I know how much you care about grammar so technically it’s a “damned” liar
You forgot a lot
Darn good golfer
Loving brother and son
Devastatingly competitive board game player
I love you Brian! I’m so proud of you and I’m blessed to have you and Kevin for my big brothers
i love you, wild man!
Hello Brian,
Merry Christmas! You are a good poet. I just wanted to leave a comment on your questions of “can I live healed?” and “can I follow through with a detachment from my own suffering?”…Yes, you can live life healed, but I don’t think anyone is 100% (in this life). What kind of healing? and Healing from what? are related questions.
As for the second question, it seems this stems from a Buddhist-worldview understanding of suffering.
THERE IS MEANING IN SUFFERING. Everybody suffers, that’s a fact of life. What I do with my suffering, how I respond to it, is another question. Being a Catholic religious brother, what gives me hope in suffering is that God makes good come of it; whether for myself or others. There is always a certain mysterious element to suffering. What Jesus Christ shows us is that God suffered for us, He is with us in our sufferings. For someone experiencing a catastrophe–that makes them feel as though crucified–there is the hope of the resurrection.
It is love that brings meaning to suffering. Knowing that I am loved by God, I am able to love others. WHEN I LOVE SOMEONE, I AM WILLING TO SUFFER FOR THE BELOVED. Look at the example of a mother suffering and sacrificing for her children. Love makes the sacrifice a joy.
Alrighty then, I would like to hear of any comments you have. (I had recently written a paper in my philosophy class that touched upon suffering, and so a lot of what’s written above comes from Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris, On The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris_en.html
God bless you and thank you for your writings and sharings on the experience of life and existence.
Merry Christmas again!
-Br. Antonio Maria, CFR
My brother. Your words continue to inspire and move me. “The Island” gave me goose bumps–the kind you get when you remember something so deep and comforting that it makes you want to cry. Your poetry is a simple relfection of your own beauty. I am a fan–so I encourage you to continue this experiment.
I just read your poems to the dear friend I am staying with in CT–a fellow yoga teacher, a fellow seeker. She is amazed by your talent, as am I. She wants to meet you. I know that one day you will make it out here and I will get to introduce you. And we will practice yoga together. How fun will that be?!
Brian Burke we have heard a lot about you in the intern office here at Cal Athletics. Your buddy Palia and I share an office and we love when you call cause he says your name so fast it sounds like one word. He introduced us to your website today and it made my morning! Go Bears!
Am I your best friend?
I don’t believe in singular best friends, but you are definitely one of my best friends. Also please let the record reflect that I believe I scored highest on your Facebook quiz about yourself back when I had a Facebook, thank you very much.
Hey Brian,
Here’s a quote I thought you might like, it’s along the vein of some of the things you’ve been writing about on existence:
“Thus, the fundamental intellectual vocation of every mind-endowed being, and hence of human beings as the only intellectual beings we know of in our material cosmos, is to unveil being, bring it into the light of consciousness and speak it out in a logos, or meaningful word. As Heidegger has put it, “Man is the spokesman of Being,” planted in the midst of it (Dasein) to listen to it with reverence and speak out its name and meaning truthfully. Thus, a human being can be defined as the being called to raise the question about being and accept his responsibility for listening to it with reverence and speaking out its meaning in a recreative human logos” – Jesuit Father W. Norris Clarke in his book “The One and the Many A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics”
It seems to me that you are doing (or rather being) precisely what the quote states.
- Br. Antonio
You should hook this up to facebook so that it’s not a bunch of shadowy avatars commenting on your posts. You should also allow for comments on every one of your blogs and poems.
Ok, I’ll ask Kevin about it and hopefully get it going soon, but not til I get home from the wilderness probably. I think you can comment on every poem and post. Are you not finding the link to comment?