Wonder Streams of the Soul

By Craig Carpenter Downer

Wonder-Streams of the Soul is a beautiful inspiring collection of poems and philosophical passages accompanied by exquisite images-all reaped from a lifetime of vast, diverse and treasured experiences and insights! Its conceptions confront life's most crucial dilemmas and are soul-liberating. They draw upon profound lessons of the past while sim

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: Jul 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781954371361

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WONDER STREAMS OF THE SOUL

Copyright © 2022 by Craig Carpenter Downer. All rights reserved.

Published in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

ReadersMagnet, LLC

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Cover photo by Craig C Downer from shore of northern Lake Tahoe, CA. April, 2005.

PRELUDE

Wonder Streams of the Soul arose from a beautiful desire to share the best and highest in life. Since a tender age, I have experienced thoughts and feelings that seemed beyond the ordinary and bursting to be expressed. One such I call life’s spiritual evolution taking place both individually and collectively. With the blessings of an extensive arts and sciences education at some of the world’s finest universities (loving thanks to my dear parents) and through intense and sweeping introspection, in my book I have combined diverse knowledge with personal insights that are penetrating and even transcendent.

As a student I started jotting down major points during lectures and field trips and this habit continued throughout my life. Through long practice, this habit of copious note taking led to a heightened awareness of my experiences, both outward and inward. I have become increasingly aware of a rhythm of thoughts and feelings, a web of interrelations, and a great melodic onward flow within my own as well as all interrelated life. Repeatedly revising my verbal expression has allowed me to more perfectly conceive the brilliant spiritual evolution that unites all and fulfills us all.

Wonder Streams of the Soul and the inner awakening it impels ties in with all Life’s salvation. I see my unusually varied poems, passages and illustrations as lifebuoys thrown out to my fellow humans too many of whom seem to be sinking into a dark sea of meaninglessness. If these poems stir you deeply and serve to elevate you to a finer attunement to life’s true beauty, then I shall rest content that my purpose has been achieved. If my book can do this even for a few fellow souls striving forth here on planet Earth, then it shall not have been written in vain.

Coming from a family of avid readers to whom words have been like daily food and drink, I highly recommend as a lifetime pursuit learning to read better and more, for rightly combined and appreciated, words can provide the very keys to salvation. And the reading of them is inextricably linked to the generating of them. Furthermore, they must be complemented by actions that effect certain enlightened changes that words foretell. Words are an integral part of life’s equation. To paraphrase Poe in his The Poetic Principle: ‘by achieving in words a more perfect expression of those greater truths one awakens to in one’s ongoing experience, one gains a more clear and perfect realization thereof’. So, let us commence our journey. Freely received and freely given, with Charity for everyone. Welcome!

Table of Contents

Prelude

Table of Contents: General Subjects of Poems, Writings and their Illustrations

Adventure

Animals, Wild Horses, Andean Tapirs, Etc.

Autobiographical

Beauty, Nature, World

Christmas

Dance

Dreams

Ecology, Conservation, Global Warming

Friends, Relations

Genius

God, Love, Unity

Halloween

Human’S Relation to Great Rest Of Life

Humor

Inspirational

Love, Romance

Music, Melodies, Art

Morality

Nature

Philosophy, Life’S Meaning

Inspirational, Inspirational Places, Etc.

Poetry & Poets, Writers

Politics

Progress

Reverence For Life

Spiritual

Supernatural

Time

Tragedy

Triumph

Woman

Words

Time, Evolution, and Work

Words, Language, Books, Libraries

Concerning Music and Beauty

Intelligence, Wisdom, Genius, and Inspiration

Dreams, Desires, Prophecies, Et Cetera

Animals, Including Wild Horses

Freedom

Reverence For Life, Conservation Of The Natural World

Life and Death, Life’S Meaning

Individual Expressions

Unity, Universe, and Relation

The World, Society

Thought, Ethical Life, God

Love

Truth, Universal Principles, Dimensions

Eternity, Wonder

Morality, Ethics, Justice, Good and Evil, Virtue

Life’S Heavenly Ideal, Goal, Peace

Trust, Belief, Faith

Excerpts from The Spiritual Evolution: A Book on Reincarnation and Evolution (1981) by author. Prologue

Selections from Craig C Downer’s Ecuadorean notebook 5/15 – 6/14, 1995, some revised, June, 2020:

The End of Book

ADVENTURE

Photo of author on left and his Puruhaes guide Roberto Casquillay atop the 5,230-meter-high Sangay Volcano in the center of Ecuador's world heritage Sangay National Park where the author conducted his endangered Andean tapir study. Photo by biologist Armando Castellanos taken December 9, 1991.

The Adventurer (2010)

The adventurer

Dares to go where

No man hath

Ever dared!

Born on wings of pure belief

And also desperate for relief

From dire straits

He striketh out!

Seemingly against all odds

Of making it through,

Of making it over the pass

Unto that new

Land of future promise

Flowing with milk and honey.

Whose fragrances he has

From time-to-time

Perceived in the breeze

That mighty winds

Have over great distances

So tantalizingly delivered,

Seemingly against all odds.

Finally compelling him to deem:

Now is the time!

Carpe Diem!

Urging him to make

That do-or-die, all-out effort

For blessed change,

For advancement …

Unprecedented since the Fall.

Yet, born this is of a whole chain

Of similar desperations

Indispensably married to envisioning

– Alas!– some say that came

To utterly no avail.

But don’t believe them!

They remember not

From where we hail.

Each individually and all collectively,

For truly homeward bound are we,

As step-by-step and rung-by-rung.

Each and every unique one

Proceeds upon his or her own

Special path in life …

As, indeed, that Earth-shaking Adventurer

Who dareth to go where

No man hath yet dared!

Venture Within! (2011)

Adventure’s pure and it’s for sure

Life’s spirit to reveal

When ‘pon some mighty yonder lure

Attention’s fixed with zeal!

How can we know which way to go

When many faces dawn?

Which one is friend? Which one is foe?

Or both? Which one’s dead-on?

Here’s where, my friend, you must just dare

To trust your inner guide,

Avoid false lures, of lies beware,

God’s truth affirm inside.

Concerning all the universe,

Do not Spirit deny.

Discern essence, with all converse,

Just know life’s end’s On High!

ANIMALS, WILD HORSES, ANDEAN TAPIRS, ETC.

Photo of valiant mustang stallion from northern Pine Nut Mountains wild horse Herd Management Area, western Nevada. Photo by author ca. 2014. This stallion shows Shire lineage.

Twilight of the Gods? (2011)

What a miracle

To find you here!

What vast ages

Have together brought us now!

Your valiant struggles to survive.

– Oh! Ancient horse lineage!

… To see you all together here

In this day and age,

When mankind seems

To have obliterated all wildness

– And sane order! –

From Earth’s face,

Gives inspiration and hope

That all is not yet lost, undone,

And that so much

That matters most

Like you wild horses living free

Still blossoms yet higher

Than ever before

Since All Life’s Fall.

So humbly I do give

Homage to you,

Oh! nameless horses,

As well to all your kind,

your soul group.

Long may you live

In freedom thrive upon this Earth

That we call home

From time to time

Upon our great undying

Journey forth.

And may we humans learn

To share this wondrous land

And precious freedom

With such as you

- Oh! blessed, still proud

And independent band!

Long may you shine!

Praise God! Amen.

Photo courtesy of United States National Parks Service. Poem conceived by author after visiting this national monument in March of 2015.

Hagerman Horse (2015)

He walks upon the Earth

Since ancient times.

An electric current

Connects, passes from ground

Up throughout his limbs,

Energizes him to walk,

To run – to gallop on!

And he gives back energy in turn,

Both to Earth and fellow beings —

With each new leaping bound!

Run on, oh horse, both ancient and new born!

Surely you shall reach your goal,

Each one of you and together — all!

Photo by author in South Steens Mountains Wild Horse Herd Management Area, southern Oregon, ca. 2015. This HMA is known for its colorful pintos.

Mustangs in the Clouds, a true experience (2020)

Peering over Pine Nut Mountains

On a blustery midsummer afternoon

Back in roaring ‘90’s,

Beheld I seven wild horses

Exquisitely sculpted as white cloud forms.

Spanning a thousand feet or more,

Aligned with rumps and flowing tails to West

And gallant heads and bristling manes to East,

These marvels arched over

The 9,000-foot, windswept,

North-south mountain spine.

They leapt in graceful unison

And with the blessed ease

Of pure and liberated spirits!

Though dashing in for camera,

When I returned

They had vanished

Into thin air.

Presences manifest from higher plane?

I have observed these incarnate wonders

For many years since childhood.

Their flesh and bone,

Hide and mane, et cetera,

Marvelously go together …

Most subtly express

Beautiful inner states.

To these despise, mistreat,

Begrudge their natural place

Upon our shared home Earth

Abomination is!

Through many ups and downs:

Brutal roundups, shootings,

Water and forage deprivations

Perpetuated by selfish,

Devil-may-care men and women,

They have endured,

Retained their never-dying

Ever renewing and wonderful poise,

Their optimism to live!

And if ever a group of beings

Deserved to here dwell,

It’s these whose ancestry

Dates back millions of years

Right here where they stand!

Deeply rooted natives,

Living symbols of freedom -

By many names we call them:

These shiners forth

For all to see.

And it is so that by

Allowing their right themselves to be

With ample land and freedom we

From curse of petty selfishness

Shall ourselves wrest free!

Photo by author at Palomino BLM Holding Corrals, north of Reno, Nevada, ca. 2016.

Old, Brown Horse (a Septain poem 2016)

Horse seen at edge of field at dusk, northeastern Great Basin, 10/14/2016.

Old horse,

Deep, burning brown,

Standing alone I spied

Late in the day, somber and grave.

His image, this charmed scene,

Subtly bespoke,

Impressed.

How can

I explain the

Feelings, the thoughts, the sense

Of this horse’s unique presence?

Are there the words? – Listen!

Hear with an ear

Attuned.

See with

An eye open

To Light of Relation,

Comprehending something more than

Mundane, humdrum surface.

Behold the Soul!

Believe!

This horse,

Though swayed with years,

Purely meditating

The panorama of his life …

All Life’s meaning, summing

Up and Future

Glimpsing.

Special

Honor, this sense

Of horse’s state of mind.

– Reason – for this, you ask? I know

Sounds out there, but in here

Treasure’s secure

… Brown horse.

Pictured are Dutch, Black-and-Tan Hound, on left, author’s mother Alice, and Brandy, russet wire-haired dog on right, at country home in Carson Valley, Nevada. Photo by Robert C. Downer, author’s father.

The Reviving Hound – Still There for Me! (2020)

I’m not one to dismiss

Anyone …

Not put-down artist

And now upon

Awakening

There comes

Vision of Forlorn Hound

From recent dream.

Though long cooped, neglected

Yet still he sprang up to greet me —

Ready to go and blossoming

With sudden spirits reviving,

Eyes re-glistening,

Tail wagging,

All signaling his readiness to go

Again for desert walk,

As was so oft our wont.

– Beautifully loyal,

Non-judgmental companion,

You seem to look into

My very soul!

What fresh discoveries

Shall we today together make?

Surely some for us await!

God has these in store

Especially for us …

Unique perspective

And, with it, special message

That will be transforming to all our lives.

So Happy Earth Day! is my salute to you

And all similar animals this beautiful world over.

You have always been there, are now and ever will be

As I for you, my Black-&-Tan Hound Dutch,

Dachshunds Gretchen, Max I & Max II,

Springer Spaniels Favorita & Sugar,

Dear Border Collie-Cocker Spaniel Treasure,

Who had a hundred puppies over the years.

All went to good homes thanks to dear

Mother Alice who schoolteacher and

Fine pianist was —

And so much more and yet still is —

As were they all – so much more …

All have been and still are there for me!

Loyal hound, you remind me

Of this truth concerning life

This fine spring morn.

So I will be there for you as well.

Still in Spirit you’re here,

Though not in body.

Happy Earth Day and

Happy Heaven Day!

Sincerely I say

With Love to You — and All!

Photo from website: mazatlanpost of The Mysterious Mexican Bigfoot.

Thoughts on Bigfoot (2020)

Methinks Bigfoot is a superior man

who liveth out in the wild

as no modern man can …

who liveth here and asketh nothing

other than to be left alone

with the pure air to breath,

clean water to drink,

healthy soil to sustain

all fellow wild species

from which he derives

his sustenance

and, in turn, gives back.

Bigfoot bides his time,

cherishes all the wondrous

living creatures who him surround …

plants who photosynthesize and flower …

animals who consume and pass along …

decomposing organisms who recycle and till the soil …

and all living, spirit-imbued creatures who spring therefrom …

as from the crystalline waters

flowing upon and within the land

and evaporating then again condensing …

and the lofty airs

that keep it all

moving along as well

and with the whole starry

universe out there

keep us in contact

– oh! blessed marvel we call

Life on Earth.

As opposed to modern humans,

Bigfoot is not out to get them …

meaning all fellow creatures …

to transform them …

to select those who are to remain

according to worldly selfish dictates

and those with whom to do away

and by whatever means —

many cruel, gruesome and horrid!

No! Bigfoot is not out to

re-engineer life.

All that Bigfoot wants

from his/her fellow species

is just live and let live

with all this beautiful complex,

so marvelously and intricately

interrelated and interdependent,

amazing system

and just to be left in peace,

allowed to live serenely,

thus, to come to more keenly

appreciate and harmonize

within the whole

of this beautiful

evolving, unfolding,

harmonizing togetherness …

this Unity in Nature and Under God,

Who brings us all together

and for each and every one of us

does care … even for Bigfoot

way, so far out there!

And in this great Unity

there is such Great Splendor!

Praise God! Forever and ever.

NEW SOURCE OF HIGHER CONFIRMATION ( 2/20/2020 )

Amazing

what can be seen

on TV these days!

Take program on Travel Channel:

Paranormal Caught on Camera.

Here a few weeks ago

I witnessed a most

faith-restoring phenomenon.

Now, If you have ever driven

through the northern

forests, particularly during Autumn,

you may, as I, have noticed the — mayhem —

the slaughter of the innocents

that goes on …

deer and other critters

can be mangled beyond recognition,

struck by cars and trucks that whiz by

through deep, mysterious forests, et cetera …

automobiles manned by oblivious people

who scarcely seem to give a care

for all the resident inhabitants

they pass by … and in more ways than one.

Well, one dark and stormy night,

one driver with iPhone armed

did finally take notice –

up close and beyond –

witnessing and recording

a car colliding with an elegant

white-tailed deer, one graceful doe.

– How horrible it was to see and hear

as her slender, exquisite limbs were broken,

ribs crushed and head smashed in –

abruptly decommissioning this being

as for her present life

– such violent impact against which

she seemed to have no chance!

– So tragic was it to see

her last frantic jerkings

to right herself and carry on astride,

from metal monster to escape,

but limbs flopped and flailed,

yet escape she did!

For here’s the Splendor of what transpired!

Remarkable, yeah, wondrous

was it to see

this deer’s blithe spirit

emerging as a subtle glow –

a subtle body all a-flow

who leapt from her car-mangled

mortal remains then stole

away from this unbearable scene

and back into her sheltering forest home.

This violent so-called end,

as iPhone proved,

was not the end

but some dramatic Transition,

a casting off the mortal shell,

a Return to Life’s Purer Plane

wherefrom at birth it came …

as Heaven this special Spirit regained.

… Reason for hope restored?

– Yes! This momentous event

we witnessed was …

Glimpse of Higher Dimension

whereby Life’s Spiritual Essence

conquers contradictory worldly adversity

– emerges the Victor not just over

but with the Greater All!

Praise God! Hallelujah!

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL

Photo entitled A quiet moment at the reflecting pool, U.C. Berkeley by Steve McConnell, U.C. Berkeley Public Affairs.

CHEMISTRY CALLED BERKELEY (1966-72)

My years at Berkeley

Had their amusing side …

Aspects there were so novel, so freeing,

So stimulating, amid others difficult,

But required to abide.

Berkeley’s great relief

Was being delivered

From narrow-minded beliefs.

The cowboy’s yoke was severed;

And like an Indian in the free Nature,

I too was freed to evolve

Beyond normal’s prefecture,

Many binding ties to dissolve

Within that Chemistry called Berkeley,

For all God’s Universe became my University!

Photo from https://encounterwalkingholidays/beach-path-cornish-coastal-path-uk-trekking-holidays-map:Radstow to St Ives.

Cornwall’s Recalled – A Cornish Sonnet (2020)

The Cornish coast that I have walked upon

– Aye! ‘T is a wild place e’en in times modern!

A certain hum pervades the air from dawn

to dusk – from Plymouth, Truro to Land’s End.

And then another sound, one more nocturne,

distills the thoughts and consciousness extends …

To grasp august legends like Arthur King,

Queen Guinevere and Knights of Table Round

in dreams that seem so real and can upspring

the greater wealth that lies within one’s reach.

Aye! ‘T is worth more than over cov’ted Pound,

for these sublime lessons to all can teach.

So when confused, forlorn – chased to wit’s end,

Cornwall’s recalled – forebears’ secluded beach.

Photo by author of male Mountain, or Andean, Tapir at southern escarpment of mighty Sangay volcano, Ecuador. ca. 1997.

Chai! Chai! Chai! Chai! (6/9/1999)

Chai! Chai! Chai! Chai!

Chai! Chai! Chai! Chai!

          in these Andes so high

is how in Quichua,

          Puruhaes stoically cry Cold!

And I’m one who’s here

          as a foreigner, extranjero,

precisely to prick the conscience,

          for noble sentiment’s no fool,

to awaken the frozen heart

          even in places quite cool

– and this is also practical, for sure! –

          for this living fossil tapir

is disappearing from the Earth,

          because la carne es rica

and because blind traditions to boot

          devastate its cloud forest

and paramo habitats

          like there’s no tomorrow:

cattle cultures and meat eaters who

          egotistically don’t give a hoot

that the highland’s living sponge

          by their gross appetites is being undone,

that the precious and life-sustaining

          soils are sliding down;

and that this ancient seed disperser,

          and master of balance,

this mythical bringer

          of dance and good cheer,

the mountain tapir,

          by ignorance and brute cruelty

made victim is

          —by such dire disregard!—

that as a consequence,

          without this special, animating spirit,

the forests, the soils,

          the gentle, pure breeze,

the clear mountain streams

          – all this Paradise

To oblivion descends

          … and the Earth’s

Left with a fatal hole

          In its heart

Where once so gracefully

          The mountain tapir was wont,

As in its ozone layer

          To be scorched by the Sun

And frozen by the Moon!

Chai! Chai! Chai! Chai!

Chai! Chai! Chai! Chai!

Sister of author, Catharine Roberta Sanders, commonly called Kay. Photo taken by author in her garden in northwestern Reno, Nevada.

Tribute to a Kind and Thoughtful Lady, my dear Sister Kay (2019)

Yesterday (11/18/2019), my dear sister Kay Sanders (nee Catharine Roberta Downer, Reno, NV, Aug 6, 1935) passed away at around 1:30 PM at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Reno. She was the last member of my family of five, having been preceded by our dear brother Robert Gottschalk Downer (8/31/2009), dear mother Alice (nee Alice Marie Gottschalk) Downer (5/21/2008) and dear father Robert Carpenter Downer (12/21/2000). Kay was a very special lady with an extraordinary capacity for kindness and thoughtfulness toward others. And she was definitely my best friend who was always there for me to lend an ear, take an interest, listen carefully, lending not only an ear but such wise counsel and a truly helping hand when and for what was most needed at the time. It’s so hard to believe that she’s actually gone. This just seems not possible! But I encourage everyone to simply let this very special, saintly lady go back home to that wonderful reward that awaits her in Heaven, for a full life well lived that touched and elevated so many lives around her. And just know that the inspiring example of her life lives on and will not be erased.

As I meditate upon that beautiful gift we called Kay, some salient points emerge: She possessed a great concern for the natural world and all its wonderful plants and animals who share this planet Earth as home and was ever supportive of my work for the magnificent wild horses here in the West as well as for the endangered Andean Tapirs. At the University of Nevada-Reno, where she began studying Journalism and ended up with both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in Education, she worked for many years, to become the Director of Correspondence Study for the Department of Continuing Education. Here she initiated some very valuable, timely courses concerning Ecology and Conservation, because she genuinely cared about the future of all life on this beautiful planet. She was also a vital part of the Nevada Woman’s History Project, where for many years she wrote and oversaw revealing tributes to many of Nevada’s pioneering women, including our dear mother Alice, grandmother Martha, great-grandmother Mary, aunt Gertrude, as well as the Native Paiute legend Sarah Winnemucca. Her editorial skills were amazing, and she possessed a broad and well-rounded knowledge and grasp of current affairs in relation to that greater history from which they emerged. She loved hiking in the natural world and organized some exciting hikes into the high Sierras where she delighted in identifying its splendid birds, blossoming flowers and eminent peaks. Frequently accompanied by family and friends, she took some fascinating trips both in the U.S. and abroad, including Costa Rica, Guatemala, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Spain and Russia. During her childhood she lived in diverse places throughout Nevada when our civil engineer father Robert worked for the Nevada Department of Transportation. I remember Kay’s vivid descriptions of how she, mother Alice, younger brother Bobby, and father Bob had to endure a particularly icy, windy winter in Tonopah and other ordeals in remote parts of our awesome home state in order to keep the highways clear and intact. These early experiences cultivated a profound appreciation of Nevada that gave her a genuine compassion for Nevada’s admirable pioneer women and their families. Kay also enjoyed both downhill and cross-country skiing, particularly on beautiful Mount Rose and worked for several years as a professional journalist-reporter for the Nevada Appeal and The Record Courier during the late 1950’s and 1960’s. She also did social surveys visiting remote areas here in our awesome state. She was an avid reader and lifetime learner who took up

Reviews for Wonder Streams of the Soul

[CC Downer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an extraordinary book. Its author is truly gifted, and we are blessed that he has shared his wonderful messages of enlightenment. These are very important for our critical times. This book and its eloquently expressed poems and writings, as well as beautiful illustrations, will awaken so many people to what matters most in life and is like a lifebuoy thrown out to whoever has the wisdom to grab hold.