on The Open Hand

Bruce Cockburn’s (BC) comments about his song are in quotation marks

BC: “Everything is bullshit but the open hand” (from bruce’s song, “strange waters”)

What is this open-handedness you're referring to?

BC: I could have said open heart. It's openness, period, the willingess to share what you have and to accept what others are willing to share with you, and what God or the universe is willing to share with you, and you back. Defensiveness or defendedness can become an impediment to love, obviously. Since it's love that makes the world go 'round, defendedness keeps the world from going 'round.

- from "Fire in an Open Hand" by Susan Adams Kauffman, The Other Side magazine, November/December 1999. Submitted by Nigel Parry.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Mahatma Gandhi