As we’ve read tributes in celebration of Yoko Ono’s 90th birthday, we’ve been thinking about her too and of the many amazing things she has put into the world. She has lived through so much and never stopped putting herself out there, making her art, speaking up, working to antidote the violence of our age. The mindshifts her work catalyzes remain refreshing, heartening, helpful.
Here are a few of our favorites:
We find this full page ad that Yoko Ono took out in the global edition of the New York Times a few years ago a lovely thing to imagine first thing in the morning or in the course of the day.
As are her words written on the 50th anniversary of her “War is Over” actions with John Lennon:
The days of one hero building a castle for all of us are over. Our world is getting too complex for that. Now we need each of us to be a hero. The human race realized its dreams and innermost desires by wishing together. Sometimes, we got sidetracked and listened to destructive powers within us. When you read the history of the last century, you wonder how we ever survived its violent events. We did. And I am sure we will. They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
The road to Peace has been longer than John and I hoped it would be, but sitting here today as I write this, I can still see it waiting for us just over the horizon. Waiting for us to realize it’s already there.
We’re thinking about some of the big questions Yoko asks in her tiny potent book Acorn…
Tell us if there is any story that helped you survive.
We like to keep in mind this potent instruction from Acorn:
Watch a hundred-year-old tree breathe. Thank the tree in your mind for showing us how to grow and stay.
We were surprised by the new version of Imagine she released in 2018.; it’s as though we heard it for the first time. Her spare voice gives her “anthem and song of prayer” enduring power and resonance
Happy Birthday, Yoko Ono!
(wait there’s more….)
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