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Ultimate Humility
May. 12th, 2008 | 01:37 pm
“How can I set free anyone who doesn't have the guts to stand up alone and declare his own freedom? I think it's a lie – people claim they want to be free – everybody insists that freedom is what they want the most, the most sacred and precious thing a man can possess. But that's bullshit! People are terrified to be set free – they hold on to their chains. They fight anyone who tries to break those chains. It's their security…How can they expect me or anyone else to set them free if they don't really want to be free?”
What Jim didn't fully realize when he said this quote, and I think he was realizing near the end of his life, when he began to become more God-conscious, rarely being seen without his cross around his neck, and making his last book of poetry "An American Prayer", was that it is not the "I" that sets anyone free. It is when one can let go of the "I" at key times, and take the stance of the Absolute, that we can help others free themselves. As Jesus says He is the son of God, he shows us the necessity for strength when we know we are in a state of Absoluteness. At the same time, Jesus knew that He was nothing with the Father, and He does nothing without the Father. This is the ultimate duality of humility, nailed very precisely by don Juan when he describes the humility of the warrior.
"A warrior takes his lot, whatever it may be, and accepts it in ultimate humbleness. He accepts in humbleness what he is, not as grounds for regret but as a living challenge."
"The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn't permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor for anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than his scrape the floor for him.
"That is why I told you earlier today that I didn't understand what masters felt like. I know only the humbleness of a warrior, and that will never permit me to be anyone's master."
Then he provides the ultimate key to mystical freedom in the Absolute:
I was involved in those deliberations when the same strange tapping noise jolted me out of my thoughts. Don Juan smiled and then began to chuckle.
"You like the humbleness of a beggar," he said softly. "You bow your head to reason."
Isn't it the ultimate arrogance to think that our reason, based on our subjective, tiny, finite awareness, could provide answers above the ultimate Truth of experience and feeling, of the One, of God?
Freedom is a mindset of determination, of single pointed focus! Hare Krishna!
What Jim didn't fully realize when he said this quote, and I think he was realizing near the end of his life, when he began to become more God-conscious, rarely being seen without his cross around his neck, and making his last book of poetry "An American Prayer", was that it is not the "I" that sets anyone free. It is when one can let go of the "I" at key times, and take the stance of the Absolute, that we can help others free themselves. As Jesus says He is the son of God, he shows us the necessity for strength when we know we are in a state of Absoluteness. At the same time, Jesus knew that He was nothing with the Father, and He does nothing without the Father. This is the ultimate duality of humility, nailed very precisely by don Juan when he describes the humility of the warrior.
"A warrior takes his lot, whatever it may be, and accepts it in ultimate humbleness. He accepts in humbleness what he is, not as grounds for regret but as a living challenge."
"The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn't permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor for anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than his scrape the floor for him.
"That is why I told you earlier today that I didn't understand what masters felt like. I know only the humbleness of a warrior, and that will never permit me to be anyone's master."
Then he provides the ultimate key to mystical freedom in the Absolute:
I was involved in those deliberations when the same strange tapping noise jolted me out of my thoughts. Don Juan smiled and then began to chuckle.
"You like the humbleness of a beggar," he said softly. "You bow your head to reason."
Isn't it the ultimate arrogance to think that our reason, based on our subjective, tiny, finite awareness, could provide answers above the ultimate Truth of experience and feeling, of the One, of God?
Freedom is a mindset of determination, of single pointed focus! Hare Krishna!
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I fled Him, down the nights and down the days
May. 11th, 2008 | 12:07 pm
This poem makes me sob every time I read it. I know it is long, so if you are low on time or patience, I recommend stanzas I, II, and VI the most, but they are all awesome:
I
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying pace,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat- and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet -
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."
II
I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwining charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followed,
Yet was I sore adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside.)
But, if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to.
Fear wist not to evade, as love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clanged bars;
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o' the moon.
I said to Dawn: Be sudden- to Eve: be soon;
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover -
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He sees!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged his chariot 'thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet:-
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat -
"Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me."
III
I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of man or maid;
But still within the little children's eyes
Seems something, something that replies,
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
IV
"Come then, ye other children, Nature's - share
With me" (said I) "your delicate fellowship;
Let me greet you lip to lip,
Let me twine with you caresses,
Wantoning
With our Lady-Mother's vagrant tresses,
Banqueting
With her in her wind-walled palace,
Underneath her azured dais,
Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring."
So it was done:
I in their delicate fellowship was one -
Drew the bolt of Nature's secrecies.
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face of skies;
I knew how the clouds arise
Spumed of the wild sea-snortings;
All that's born or dies
Rose and drooped with; made them shapers
Of mind own moods, or wailful or divine;
With them joyed and was bereaven.
I was heavy with the even,
When she lit her glimmering tapers Round the day's dead sanctities.
I laughed in the morning's eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all the weather,
Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
I laid my own to beat,
And share commingling heat;
But not by that, by that, was eased my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heaven's grey cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
These things and I; in sound I speak -
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drought;
Let her, if she would owe me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
The breasts o' her tenderness:
Never did any milk of hers once bless
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noised Feet
A Voice comes yet more fleet -
"Lo! naught contents thee, who content'st not Me."
V
Naked I wait Thy love's uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenceless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihead of my young powers,
I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o' the mounded years -
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now even dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is They love indeed
A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own mount?
Ah! must -
Designer infinite!-
Ah! Must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering shower i' the dust;
And now my heart is as a broken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, split down ever
From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
Round the half-glimpsed turrets slowly wash again.
But not ere him who summoneth
I first have seen, enwound
With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether man's heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest, must Thy harvest fields
Be dunged with rotten death?
VI
Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
"And is they earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all thing fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught" (He said),
"And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited-
Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'st seek it in my arms.
All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp my hand, and come!"
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
by Francis Thompson
I
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying pace,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat- and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet -
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."
II
I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwining charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followed,
Yet was I sore adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside.)
But, if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to.
Fear wist not to evade, as love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clanged bars;
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o' the moon.
I said to Dawn: Be sudden- to Eve: be soon;
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover -
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He sees!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged his chariot 'thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet:-
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat -
"Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me."
III
I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of man or maid;
But still within the little children's eyes
Seems something, something that replies,
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
IV
"Come then, ye other children, Nature's - share
With me" (said I) "your delicate fellowship;
Let me greet you lip to lip,
Let me twine with you caresses,
Wantoning
With our Lady-Mother's vagrant tresses,
Banqueting
With her in her wind-walled palace,
Underneath her azured dais,
Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring."
So it was done:
I in their delicate fellowship was one -
Drew the bolt of Nature's secrecies.
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face of skies;
I knew how the clouds arise
Spumed of the wild sea-snortings;
All that's born or dies
Rose and drooped with; made them shapers
Of mind own moods, or wailful or divine;
With them joyed and was bereaven.
I was heavy with the even,
When she lit her glimmering tapers Round the day's dead sanctities.
I laughed in the morning's eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all the weather,
Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
I laid my own to beat,
And share commingling heat;
But not by that, by that, was eased my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heaven's grey cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
These things and I; in sound I speak -
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drought;
Let her, if she would owe me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
The breasts o' her tenderness:
Never did any milk of hers once bless
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noised Feet
A Voice comes yet more fleet -
"Lo! naught contents thee, who content'st not Me."
V
Naked I wait Thy love's uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenceless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihead of my young powers,
I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o' the mounded years -
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now even dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is They love indeed
A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own mount?
Ah! must -
Designer infinite!-
Ah! Must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering shower i' the dust;
And now my heart is as a broken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, split down ever
From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
Round the half-glimpsed turrets slowly wash again.
But not ere him who summoneth
I first have seen, enwound
With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether man's heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest, must Thy harvest fields
Be dunged with rotten death?
VI
Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
"And is they earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all thing fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught" (He said),
"And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited-
Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'st seek it in my arms.
All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp my hand, and come!"
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
by Francis Thompson
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Mercy
May. 8th, 2008 | 04:26 pm
Part of the struggle I have been going through lately is incorporating an attitude and lifestyle of Love in my old areas of life, such as with family, or with old friends. The last two nights I spent hanging out with my old friend Lucas because our mutual friend Peter was in town from the East coast. Peter is an amazing soul who simply has a bad view of the term "spirituality", but is incredibly spiritual, without even realizing it. Anyways, hanging out with them was alright, but I felt a little deader, or at least that is the way I described it at the time.
Usually when I have this sensation, I do one of two things: decide this is not a good place for me to be spending time, or decide the opposite, that I have to force time spent here in order to be in complete high vibrations even there, you know, like, spiritual practicing.
Today after reading an e-mail from my friend Joseph, I realized something. He was describing the difference between beauty and Love, using the example of giving a flower.
Beauty is usually what most people experience when they get a flower from a lover. But the flower itself is not love, it is beauty. The love is the one who did the service to produce the flower. Love is action in this sense. This is also where many relationships fall apart because they live in the beauty of the beginning of the relationship. Even if the beginning is for a few years. Yes Love is there always. You are Love so we can never truly say that Love was not there. That would be incomplete. At the same time the distinction between Love and Beauty is there. Before growing a desire to plant a garden one must first experience beauty in abundance to develop such a desire to harvest love out of the hard grounds of the world. Once enough beauty has been experienced through the love of those that planted, the individual entity can see nothing else in doing other then to continue the cultivation of such Love so that the beauty may emanate. It is in the action of planting Love in ourselves in others and in the world that most get lost and give up the task. You see cause to plant a beautiful garden is about 90% trials and momentary material hardship. The 10% is what people look at when they take in the beauty of the garden and say ,oh I love gardens". Hmmm. Interesting the response when you ask them to participate in growing the garden. Most would rather stay in the moment of the beauty.
I realized that I was addicted to the Beauty of the moment. Upon further pondering, and some stuff from another e-mail of his, I combined this realization with the concept of how this world is basically purgatory, half-heaven and half-hell, and always will be: that is its raison d'etre, so to speak. The higher vibrational states may feel great, but the One is the One, and includes all.
I was getting upset somewhat with myself being in these circumstances because I thought, well, isn't there some way to comfortably bring a more alive vibe here, or to at least be unaffected? I am starting to see now though, that I feel bad if I am not sharing the highest conscious Love. I realize that if the person is not in a place to receive that Love, I have no obligation to give it. The decision to remain or to leave such situations has to be completely dependent on how you feel. So I hung out, and ended up getting a chance to share some real honest Truth and Love with a brother there. Much of the time was small talk, and yet I did not engage to the point where I lost myself in it: I could not, because it no longer appeals to me at all. So I ended up being quite silent most of the time, but still at peace, and at calm, and happy. When the appropriate time came, and the mundane conversation taking place exploded as they often do into a deep emotional journey, I was there, and this person specifically gravitated towards me, and did so on numerous occasions throughout the night, opened up to some deep pain, let some tears flow, and came to a better sense of peace. What struck me was out of the blue right before all of this, he says, "You know, Don, you are the most zen of everyone here." It was my silence and remaining in presence that gave this impression. Zen is irrelevant: everyone has a different concept of the spiritual presence. Some people only open up when they are drunk, and so, I thank God I am Irish and can hold my liquor and my relationship with God at the same time! I now realize that the moments of Beauty I get usually are from gardens I did not help grow, and when I do help grow or plant seeds, there is a good chance I will never get to see them sprout. This does not mean there is no connection between these two.
Looking back this entire post is a little spotty and uncentered, and it is because I wrote part then had to do work here at work and came back about an hour later. Just gives me an idea of how many different Dons exist each day!
Peace and Love,
Don
Usually when I have this sensation, I do one of two things: decide this is not a good place for me to be spending time, or decide the opposite, that I have to force time spent here in order to be in complete high vibrations even there, you know, like, spiritual practicing.
Today after reading an e-mail from my friend Joseph, I realized something. He was describing the difference between beauty and Love, using the example of giving a flower.
Beauty is usually what most people experience when they get a flower from a lover. But the flower itself is not love, it is beauty. The love is the one who did the service to produce the flower. Love is action in this sense. This is also where many relationships fall apart because they live in the beauty of the beginning of the relationship. Even if the beginning is for a few years. Yes Love is there always. You are Love so we can never truly say that Love was not there. That would be incomplete. At the same time the distinction between Love and Beauty is there. Before growing a desire to plant a garden one must first experience beauty in abundance to develop such a desire to harvest love out of the hard grounds of the world. Once enough beauty has been experienced through the love of those that planted, the individual entity can see nothing else in doing other then to continue the cultivation of such Love so that the beauty may emanate. It is in the action of planting Love in ourselves in others and in the world that most get lost and give up the task. You see cause to plant a beautiful garden is about 90% trials and momentary material hardship. The 10% is what people look at when they take in the beauty of the garden and say ,oh I love gardens". Hmmm. Interesting the response when you ask them to participate in growing the garden. Most would rather stay in the moment of the beauty.
I realized that I was addicted to the Beauty of the moment. Upon further pondering, and some stuff from another e-mail of his, I combined this realization with the concept of how this world is basically purgatory, half-heaven and half-hell, and always will be: that is its raison d'etre, so to speak. The higher vibrational states may feel great, but the One is the One, and includes all.
I was getting upset somewhat with myself being in these circumstances because I thought, well, isn't there some way to comfortably bring a more alive vibe here, or to at least be unaffected? I am starting to see now though, that I feel bad if I am not sharing the highest conscious Love. I realize that if the person is not in a place to receive that Love, I have no obligation to give it. The decision to remain or to leave such situations has to be completely dependent on how you feel. So I hung out, and ended up getting a chance to share some real honest Truth and Love with a brother there. Much of the time was small talk, and yet I did not engage to the point where I lost myself in it: I could not, because it no longer appeals to me at all. So I ended up being quite silent most of the time, but still at peace, and at calm, and happy. When the appropriate time came, and the mundane conversation taking place exploded as they often do into a deep emotional journey, I was there, and this person specifically gravitated towards me, and did so on numerous occasions throughout the night, opened up to some deep pain, let some tears flow, and came to a better sense of peace. What struck me was out of the blue right before all of this, he says, "You know, Don, you are the most zen of everyone here." It was my silence and remaining in presence that gave this impression. Zen is irrelevant: everyone has a different concept of the spiritual presence. Some people only open up when they are drunk, and so, I thank God I am Irish and can hold my liquor and my relationship with God at the same time! I now realize that the moments of Beauty I get usually are from gardens I did not help grow, and when I do help grow or plant seeds, there is a good chance I will never get to see them sprout. This does not mean there is no connection between these two.
Looking back this entire post is a little spotty and uncentered, and it is because I wrote part then had to do work here at work and came back about an hour later. Just gives me an idea of how many different Dons exist each day!
Peace and Love,
Don
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Freedom
May. 5th, 2008 | 02:53 pm
Death is slow, and painful. Freedom from its sorrow comes from living as the warrior lives: complete dedication, impeccable in his actions and feelings. He does not believe out of some whimsical imagination of a happy and wonderful existence: he accepts the existence and lives now, believing because he has to. Death is right next to him.
As the "I" dies, we experience it's swings and cries to a higher extreme, just as the drowning man grabs others to pull with him to the abyss. At times the "I" is desperate, hopeless, lethargic, pessimistic, and resigned, and at others it is excited, ecstatic, joyous, energetic, passionate. Whatever. Let it do what it does. Find the essence, the feeling, the still infinite within: that is you. That is eternal. This doesn't mean don't feel the "I", you are him/her as long as him/her still exists, which will in one form or another be forever. But he/she is a construct, a form of perception, an expectation, a judgement, and a limit and a boundary. That is all. Feel it, feel it all. Then let it go. Find the ultimate vision of reality, the inner divinity, the spark of life, the core essence that is present in all states and all moments: this is evidently the only real you, which is only a collective focus of seperate feelings and awareness, joining together to form a unifying life force: you. This world is a call to will. Realize this, and begin to will. Manifest. Create. Be a sacred presence in this world. Don would like to add, Hare Krishna!
Peace and Love
As the "I" dies, we experience it's swings and cries to a higher extreme, just as the drowning man grabs others to pull with him to the abyss. At times the "I" is desperate, hopeless, lethargic, pessimistic, and resigned, and at others it is excited, ecstatic, joyous, energetic, passionate. Whatever. Let it do what it does. Find the essence, the feeling, the still infinite within: that is you. That is eternal. This doesn't mean don't feel the "I", you are him/her as long as him/her still exists, which will in one form or another be forever. But he/she is a construct, a form of perception, an expectation, a judgement, and a limit and a boundary. That is all. Feel it, feel it all. Then let it go. Find the ultimate vision of reality, the inner divinity, the spark of life, the core essence that is present in all states and all moments: this is evidently the only real you, which is only a collective focus of seperate feelings and awareness, joining together to form a unifying life force: you. This world is a call to will. Realize this, and begin to will. Manifest. Create. Be a sacred presence in this world. Don would like to add, Hare Krishna!
Peace and Love
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Crazy Christians
May. 3rd, 2008 | 10:54 am
Man, what is up with the crazy Christian vibe I have been getting the past few days? Or maybe it was there all the time and I am just recognizing it and being recognized by the crazy Christians now (we will them CC's for short). Three days in a row now: starting with the Jesus-is-the-only-savior guy and his friend with the your-going-to-hell-with-satan banner calling me over and asking me if I am a Christian, and condemning me and yelling at me for being an idol worshipper, claiming I don't know what God is Love really means, and by the way, "you're going to hell." Then I come to Mother's and get ripped into by this idiot who also sees my beads (it must be the beads, I should either get rid of them or get a few more sets to put all over my body, I'm not sure which I would rather at the moment...) and starts telling me, "You know, chanting is evil, cause do you know Freddie Doe? Well, he chanted, and he was a cannibal..." Hey, do you know the Pope? He walked around Bible thumping and killed thousands in the crusades buddy. Or how about our great Christian friend Hitler? How about you actually talk about the chanting, and not some random ass guy...
"Well, it says in the Bible, repition of prayer is condemned by Jesus!"
"Oh, please show me good sir! Let me read the Bible for myself and I'll consider your proposition..."
So he goes to his car, comes back with his little bible package, busts it open.
Matthew 6:5-8:
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
I began to explain to him that I chant, not pray, there is a difference, as it says in the exact passage he is quoting, "For the Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."
Praying is asking, chanting is worshipping, asking for naught, simply loving the name of God. This wasn't good enough for him though. So I got a little nastier.
"Do you understand what the word "vain" means? Because this passage clearly says "vain" repitions, not just repititions. Vain," I continued, making stronger eye contact with him, hinting at a possible problem that might be present here at this very table, "is when your worship is done for the eyes of others, and your prayer is done to be seen praying by others, for their praise. If he meant repitition period, he would have said that. The entire point he is making in the passage is not so much focused on repititions, but on the vanity, as you can see. The repitition he is speaking of comes about when you are praying simply for the ears of others, and when you do that, your prayer is not in the moment, it is frozen in whatever dead concept you have of what they want to hear you praying, so it becomes a dead repition of prayer. This is much different from chanting."
At this point the conversation was over, actually, much before this point, because I was tuned out the moment I started with my interpretation of the verse.
"What Jesus says is quite clear, and simple, no repition! It is logic!"
"No, it is your logic. I read the same words, I heard a different Truth. Can we agree to disagree on this one?"
"No, what you are doing is Satanic! It says right there, repition!"
"AND IT SAYS RIGHT BEFORE IT, VAIN! Maybe you should really ponder this passage quite a bit, because your condemnation is no longer addressing my logic, but is sounding quite repititious..."
Well, it got worse from there, and thats that.
Now today, I am in my store, in comes in Mr. Christian savior of the world, except clearly a drug addict of all sorts, with a nice big Mary Jane belt buckle on to compliment his big ole cross necklace, coming to by Frankensence and Myrth incense, and yelling at me cause we only have one pack. It is hilarious! It reminds me of a Mother Rytasha passage, where a religious leader is out walking one day in the park, and he sees the devil sitting under a tree just hanging out.
He asks the devil, "Devil! What are you doing here, shouldn't you be out causing mischief?"
The devil replies, "Well, frankly, now that we have all of you religious leaders around, there isn't much left for me to do!"
Hare Krishna!
Don
"Well, it says in the Bible, repition of prayer is condemned by Jesus!"
"Oh, please show me good sir! Let me read the Bible for myself and I'll consider your proposition..."
So he goes to his car, comes back with his little bible package, busts it open.
Matthew 6:5-8:
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
I began to explain to him that I chant, not pray, there is a difference, as it says in the exact passage he is quoting, "For the Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."
Praying is asking, chanting is worshipping, asking for naught, simply loving the name of God. This wasn't good enough for him though. So I got a little nastier.
"Do you understand what the word "vain" means? Because this passage clearly says "vain" repitions, not just repititions. Vain," I continued, making stronger eye contact with him, hinting at a possible problem that might be present here at this very table, "is when your worship is done for the eyes of others, and your prayer is done to be seen praying by others, for their praise. If he meant repitition period, he would have said that. The entire point he is making in the passage is not so much focused on repititions, but on the vanity, as you can see. The repitition he is speaking of comes about when you are praying simply for the ears of others, and when you do that, your prayer is not in the moment, it is frozen in whatever dead concept you have of what they want to hear you praying, so it becomes a dead repition of prayer. This is much different from chanting."
At this point the conversation was over, actually, much before this point, because I was tuned out the moment I started with my interpretation of the verse.
"What Jesus says is quite clear, and simple, no repition! It is logic!"
"No, it is your logic. I read the same words, I heard a different Truth. Can we agree to disagree on this one?"
"No, what you are doing is Satanic! It says right there, repition!"
"AND IT SAYS RIGHT BEFORE IT, VAIN! Maybe you should really ponder this passage quite a bit, because your condemnation is no longer addressing my logic, but is sounding quite repititious..."
Well, it got worse from there, and thats that.
Now today, I am in my store, in comes in Mr. Christian savior of the world, except clearly a drug addict of all sorts, with a nice big Mary Jane belt buckle on to compliment his big ole cross necklace, coming to by Frankensence and Myrth incense, and yelling at me cause we only have one pack. It is hilarious! It reminds me of a Mother Rytasha passage, where a religious leader is out walking one day in the park, and he sees the devil sitting under a tree just hanging out.
He asks the devil, "Devil! What are you doing here, shouldn't you be out causing mischief?"
The devil replies, "Well, frankly, now that we have all of you religious leaders around, there isn't much left for me to do!"
Hare Krishna!
Don
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Thank U
Apr. 28th, 2008 | 10:24 am
The moment I let go of it,
Was the moment I got more than I could handle.
The moment I jumped off of it,
Was the moment I touched down.
Thank you India,
Thank you terror,
Thank you disillusionment.
Thank you frailty,
Thank you consequence,
Thank you clarity,
Thank you nothingness,
Thank you, O thank you, silence.
Was the moment I got more than I could handle.
The moment I jumped off of it,
Was the moment I touched down.
Thank you India,
Thank you terror,
Thank you disillusionment.
Thank you frailty,
Thank you consequence,
Thank you clarity,
Thank you nothingness,
Thank you, O thank you, silence.
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Determination
Apr. 21st, 2008 | 01:32 pm
Determination is what I have been developing lately. Divine bliss often comes in waves, but for what seems like the past month for me, it has been almost constant, with only brief moments of slacking. Incredible syncronicity, and absolute freedom... There is no way to describe the feeling, the experience, except as ecstacy, or Love, with absolutely everything. The past few days though, it has been missing, and what seems to be reality, but which I know by knowledge AND experience to not be, has been swallowing me up. What is amazing me though is my response to it this time around: I couldn't dive back into hopelessness if I wanted to, and at times I have, because at times hope is hard, and painful. As I watch myself go through this, I see it is triggered by my own desire: I asked God to remove my ties and attachments, and give me free reign to glow and live as light and Love. In doing so, he has brought me to places and experiences that I could die happily in, and right after, brings more growth and testing. I thought I was free: then I read Gian's post about Rebecca being back in town. I was amazed as I watched myself react: part of me was ecstatic that I was FEELING the pain and despair so completely, and in that respect, I have come far. This is a despair I have denied, and therefore, kept with me. I see now it is an acceptable despair: we were close friends, and she was the first person I trusted in a long time on such a deep level. Now she is back in town, and will not even speak to me. This I know is because she fears me and how I will react, and she is right. There is a side of me I have not been tapping into lately, a powerful, masculine side, that is capable of almost anything. It was the Objectivist side of me, the get-what-you-can and you can get anything side of me, the side of me that made me fearless warrior in paintball games and in everyday dominance. The side of me that made me a powerful musician, able to assert my vibe no matter what. I need this side, yet I fear this side. This fear is reflected back at me. This is where I am now, and I thank you God, the Supreme Personality of Love, for the depth of experience I am now in. I know I cannot and will not fail, yet I know it will hurt and be hard. Thank you guys for being reflections also of me, and my first pod of friends I could trust openly, even if I didn't. Hare Krishna.
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The Path, The Dream
Mar. 30th, 2008 | 11:18 am
Never betray your True heart, no matter what fear or thoughts come to mind. Then life becomes a divine dream! So surreal, you will think you might have already died and gone to Heaven! Heaven is truly on Earth! Everything you ever could imagine, and more than you ever have, manifests for you, by you, is you. The only enemy here is ignorance: the source of all fear, of all anger, of all the suffering of all mankind. Feel every feeling you have, and act as you know you must. You know your own path. If you have forgotten, find a practice that reconnects you to you! This is a never ending process, and a beautiful one! It is like an unfolding of a flower, but it feels like an unfolding of dimensions, expodentially increasing until the reality you knew just a moment before feels like a pale 1d picture of the explosion of life you find yourself in at the next moment, and it doesn't stop, until you let it, by surrendering to fear! Hare Krishna! Allah! Lord Jesus, Buddha, Aba Father, Great Spirit, Eternal endless Love, Love, Love, Love, Love!
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Power of Chanting
Mar. 28th, 2008 | 09:16 am
3. Reciting a Mantra
A third technique, used a great deal in Tibetan Buddhism (and also in Sufism, Orthodox Christianity, and Hinduism), is uniting the mind with the sound of a mantra. The definition of mantra is "that which protects the mind." That which protects the mind from negativity, or that which protects you from your own mind, is called mantra.
When you are nervous, disoriented, or emotionally fragile, chanting or reciting a mantra inspiringly can change the state of your mind completely, by transforming its energy and atmosphere. How is this possible? Mantra is the ssence of sound, and the embodiment of the Truth in the form of sound. Each syllable is impregnated with spiritual power, condenses a spiritual truth, and vibrates with teh blessing of the speech of the buddhas. It is also said that the mind rides on the subtle energy of the breath, the prana, which moves through and purifies the subtle channels of the body. So when you chant a mantra, you are charging your breath and energy with the energy of the mantra, and so working directly on your mind and subtle body.
Recite the mantra quietly, with deep attention, and let your breath, the mantra, and your awareness become slowly one. Or chant it in an inspiring way, and rest in the profound silence that sometimes follows.
-The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Sogyal Rinpoche
I have studied most all forms of mysticism, especially in the New Age arena, and had deep experiences therein. Many forms of meditation, of prayer, of communion with the spirit, including shamanism, alone, desert vision quests, Tarot cards; I have been to the faery realm, seen the toa, communicated with alien races, astral traveled, and a few other things probably that I don't really remember right now. The deepest mystical experience I have yet to find, as far as actually experiencing the depth of our existence, would be the chanting, especially when done on a regular day to day basis. The others were amazing, and incredibly interesting, but it came to a point when I decided how much more do I need to see? I believe. How much more do I need to learn? I know what I know, and my struggle lately has been to overcome the deep state of lack of self worth that has lately arisen by a strong realization on a level I had never thought possible that I do actually know absolutely nothing, not even myself, the last part being the most depressing. Except this time, I have the chanting, allowing me to go this deep without loss of hope, and even in the moments of despair a little chanting pulls me back into my core essence. Chanting is also the easiest way, which is why I probably never put any value in it for so long, and many never will, not in this lifetime. Hare Krishna!
Peace and Love,
Don
A third technique, used a great deal in Tibetan Buddhism (and also in Sufism, Orthodox Christianity, and Hinduism), is uniting the mind with the sound of a mantra. The definition of mantra is "that which protects the mind." That which protects the mind from negativity, or that which protects you from your own mind, is called mantra.
When you are nervous, disoriented, or emotionally fragile, chanting or reciting a mantra inspiringly can change the state of your mind completely, by transforming its energy and atmosphere. How is this possible? Mantra is the ssence of sound, and the embodiment of the Truth in the form of sound. Each syllable is impregnated with spiritual power, condenses a spiritual truth, and vibrates with teh blessing of the speech of the buddhas. It is also said that the mind rides on the subtle energy of the breath, the prana, which moves through and purifies the subtle channels of the body. So when you chant a mantra, you are charging your breath and energy with the energy of the mantra, and so working directly on your mind and subtle body.
Recite the mantra quietly, with deep attention, and let your breath, the mantra, and your awareness become slowly one. Or chant it in an inspiring way, and rest in the profound silence that sometimes follows.
-The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Sogyal Rinpoche
I have studied most all forms of mysticism, especially in the New Age arena, and had deep experiences therein. Many forms of meditation, of prayer, of communion with the spirit, including shamanism, alone, desert vision quests, Tarot cards; I have been to the faery realm, seen the toa, communicated with alien races, astral traveled, and a few other things probably that I don't really remember right now. The deepest mystical experience I have yet to find, as far as actually experiencing the depth of our existence, would be the chanting, especially when done on a regular day to day basis. The others were amazing, and incredibly interesting, but it came to a point when I decided how much more do I need to see? I believe. How much more do I need to learn? I know what I know, and my struggle lately has been to overcome the deep state of lack of self worth that has lately arisen by a strong realization on a level I had never thought possible that I do actually know absolutely nothing, not even myself, the last part being the most depressing. Except this time, I have the chanting, allowing me to go this deep without loss of hope, and even in the moments of despair a little chanting pulls me back into my core essence. Chanting is also the easiest way, which is why I probably never put any value in it for so long, and many never will, not in this lifetime. Hare Krishna!
Peace and Love,
Don
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Personal or Impersonal? Mostly for Alex H.
Mar. 20th, 2008 | 01:30 pm
Hey, I was reading the Bhagavad-Gita today, you know, opening up God and checking out his pages, and I came across a part that had deep significance, especially for Alex. Hey Alex, remember when we got into that discussion over God being balls of light and stuff or God being a person or a seperate conscious entity, perhaps in human form? Well, I came across the section in the Gita that really covers it quite well. It is chapter 3, Devotional Service, in the discussion between Krishna and Arjuna. I thought I would post it just because it helps me learn it better (I seem to learn more every time I read or say the verses) and I want to be able to quote the more potent verses, and the more I do it, the more naturally it will come, so those who I encounter needing to have some book confirming Truth that comes from within, can do so. Life is a training grounds...
Chapter 3
1. Arjuna inquired: Of those who are properly engaged in Your devotional service and those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested, which is considered to be more perfect?
2. The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: He whose mind is fixed on My personal form, always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith, is considered by Me to be most perfect.
3. But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, fixed, and immovable - the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth - by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed everywhere, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at least achieve Me.
4. For those whos minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that unmanifested discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.
I find all the Truths we talked about on the phone that night (Alex) are reflected, and more, in these verses. I pointed out how we are human, and so Loving the personal form of God is always going to be more natural and beautiful to us than the impersonal, all-pervading, etc: The balls of light, so to speak. I tried that route, and it was exactly as described: very troublesome, hehe, as you guys well know. I Love the words, The Supreme Personality of Godhead: showing that yes, it is still those balls of light, but you are now interacting with The Personality they also possess, just as you would with those balls of light which we call other humans!
Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:
The group of transcendentalists who follow the path of the inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord are called jnana-yogis, and persons who are in full Krsna consciousness, engaged in devotional service to the Lord, are called bhakti-yogis. Now, here the difference between jnana-yoga and bhakti-yoga is definitely expressed. The process of jnana-yoga, although ultimately bringing one to the same goal, is very troublesome, whereas the path of bhakti-yoga, the process of direct service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is easier and is NATURAL for the EMBODIED soul. The individual soul is embodied since time immemorial. It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not the body. Therefore, the bhakti-yoga accepts the Deity of Krsna as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied.
So for the devotee there is no difficulty in approaching the Supreme immediately and directly, whereas for those who are following the impersonal way to spiritual realization, the path is difficult. They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme through such Vedic literature as the Upanisads, and they have to learn the language, understand the nonperceptual feelings, and realize all these processes. This is not very easy for a common man.
A living entity is eternally an individual soul, and if he wants to merge into the spiritual whole, he may accomplish the realization of the eternal and knowledgeable aspects of his original nature, but the blissful portion is not realized.
-Simply by chanting the names of the Lord, one can come again to bliss in Krsna consciousness.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare!
In closing, so as not to seem biased to the Hindu faith, just because I Love them all, another passage from the Bhagavad-Gita! hehe:
Chapter 18:
66. Give up all varietes of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall protect you from all sinful reactions, Therefore you have nothing to fear.
Really, absolutely nothing to fear. It is wonderful!
Mercy Aba, Mercy Aba,
Aba Father, Have Mercy,
Mercy Lord, Mercy Lord,
Lord Jesus, Have Mercy!
Chapter 3
1. Arjuna inquired: Of those who are properly engaged in Your devotional service and those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested, which is considered to be more perfect?
2. The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: He whose mind is fixed on My personal form, always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith, is considered by Me to be most perfect.
3. But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, fixed, and immovable - the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth - by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed everywhere, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at least achieve Me.
4. For those whos minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that unmanifested discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.
I find all the Truths we talked about on the phone that night (Alex) are reflected, and more, in these verses. I pointed out how we are human, and so Loving the personal form of God is always going to be more natural and beautiful to us than the impersonal, all-pervading, etc: The balls of light, so to speak. I tried that route, and it was exactly as described: very troublesome, hehe, as you guys well know. I Love the words, The Supreme Personality of Godhead: showing that yes, it is still those balls of light, but you are now interacting with The Personality they also possess, just as you would with those balls of light which we call other humans!
Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:
The group of transcendentalists who follow the path of the inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord are called jnana-yogis, and persons who are in full Krsna consciousness, engaged in devotional service to the Lord, are called bhakti-yogis. Now, here the difference between jnana-yoga and bhakti-yoga is definitely expressed. The process of jnana-yoga, although ultimately bringing one to the same goal, is very troublesome, whereas the path of bhakti-yoga, the process of direct service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is easier and is NATURAL for the EMBODIED soul. The individual soul is embodied since time immemorial. It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not the body. Therefore, the bhakti-yoga accepts the Deity of Krsna as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied.
So for the devotee there is no difficulty in approaching the Supreme immediately and directly, whereas for those who are following the impersonal way to spiritual realization, the path is difficult. They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme through such Vedic literature as the Upanisads, and they have to learn the language, understand the nonperceptual feelings, and realize all these processes. This is not very easy for a common man.
A living entity is eternally an individual soul, and if he wants to merge into the spiritual whole, he may accomplish the realization of the eternal and knowledgeable aspects of his original nature, but the blissful portion is not realized.
-Simply by chanting the names of the Lord, one can come again to bliss in Krsna consciousness.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare!
In closing, so as not to seem biased to the Hindu faith, just because I Love them all, another passage from the Bhagavad-Gita! hehe:
Chapter 18:
66. Give up all varietes of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall protect you from all sinful reactions, Therefore you have nothing to fear.
Really, absolutely nothing to fear. It is wonderful!
Mercy Aba, Mercy Aba,
Aba Father, Have Mercy,
Mercy Lord, Mercy Lord,
Lord Jesus, Have Mercy!
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Lamentations
Mar. 9th, 2008 | 09:32 pm
You get to the point where the things that cause you pain are quite clearly not a real part of your reality beyond your own attachment to them. God is amazing: the first musician I ever loved, at age 5, wrote the deepest, most perfect songs for the deepest, most profound shifts in my conciousness through suffering: as real as suffering gets. He comes in whatever form you Love, for He is Love, and He lets you see, if you look deep enough, that HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE, WAITING! Literally, just waiting, smiling, laughing and crying, sometimes with you, sometimes in spite of you, always, the purest, deepest Love we experience, and in EVERY SINGLE MOMENT. I truly understand the phrase from The Peaceful Warrior now, there are no ordinary moments. Absolutely none. My God...
I was in a mood of lamentation tonight, but so peacefully, I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. I cried watching these videos I looked up today, each one perfectly tailored to periods of growth in my life, from my first true priest, Jackson Browne. Didn't listen to any other music after listening to him until midway through highschool, when The Doors got me, and round the same time, Coltrane. I guess Jackson Browne is kind of like a combination of both, with the soft, sweet yet intense Love that Coltrane had, and the deep truth and vision that Jim had, and a certain peace about him that neither of them had. I will never forget these men, these songs, and the people that inspired them in my life, and continue to do so. I am hesitant to post these, then I ask why. My ego is screaming, "What the fuck are you doing? You can't show them that! You can't tell them that!"
"Why not?"
"They'll judge you, they will criticize you, they will know your a weak, sick mother fucker!"
I promised I would never live by fear again, and while I fail at that every day, it is a constant battle. I am reminded that the original meaning of the word sin was for archers, when they missed the mark, or the bullseye. I just aim again, and shoot, no matter what. The more open I am to you, the more permanently open I am to me, and I am just a soul, just like you. I want to be able to remember that in every moment.
For my Mother, who showed me the meaning of unconditional Love, and showed me how Love is the one thing in the world worth living for. Unfortunately, she only found it in one source: me, and when I was gone, couldn't stay off the sauce, so to speak, from the sorrow and self pity therein. She never left a homeless man she passed without at least 50 cents though, and was always known for being the one in the family others could connect with on a deep soul level, and talk about their most humbling embarrassing things. This was probably because of her quite humbling situation as the family drunk. She may have been a drunk, but spiritually, she was a master compared to most my family, and they are so lucky to have known her, as am I.
Sky Blue and Black
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYufGhft
For A Dancer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU1rZa8U
For my first real Love, who did what my mother could not, and through action, taught me the importance of true love, self will: of boundlessness. That Truth is something found within, not without, and that I have no obligations but to myself in this life. That desires are divine, and there is nothing more important than self Love, and then the sharing of this beautiful experience with others, and for those who can't experience it, doing everything we can to express it to them purely. Who got me out of my head and into my heart, pried it open, and left it thus: now I find myself falling in Love with everyone, and it is a more beautiful experience than I ever could have dreamed (I guess metaphysically that is not true... hehe...), although at times is a bit of a roller coaster. I mean, I will meet someone, anyone, any age, not speak a word to them, and be sad when they leave the store. I can watch someone for five minutes in my store, stuck inside their own prison of pain: hate and anguish and anxiousness written all over them, and it makes me cry! I don't even "know" them! This reality is amazing!
I Thought I was a Child
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUylDbT
Late for the Sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhUH_XrF
For my spiritual warrior who fought by my side for so long, until we realized we need to watch our own backs. The first person who actually shared an interest in the depths of this world with me, and the first person with whom our relationship was about growth, adventure, facing obstacles and fears, and not running from them, or pretending they didn't exist. What a living experience! We never fully trusted each other, and I think we both knew deep inside that our own dependence on each other was a sure sign of our later separation: we will always be friends, but nothing again like what we were before, at least probably not in this life, although I have hopes for the new age...
Two of Me, Two of You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXasPGO
For Joseph, the first person I met in this life whom I know I can trust absolutely to the end of it. The man who taught me how to take boundlessness and self will, and use it for Purpose: To find not only peace and contentment through seeing the separateness from suffering, but then to bring that to divine ecstacy by showing me how it was all SO perfect to get me to where I am now, how it was all just a beautiful Love relationship with God. Who showed me how to keep True vision of life as a constant growth experience just for me, that fully and absolutely includes everyone and everything else, in one amazing flow of divinity. The first person who said to me the Truth, no matter what, without a second thought, and without any feeling of guilt, shame, or worry at all: simply as a matter of Love! My guru, my brother, my best friend. The first person to actually take the full blast of my Love, and hit me back harder! I understand why the Hindus, and Jesus' disciples, and probably all other major traditions bow and kiss the feet of their masters in tears of divine Loving ecstacy. The songs for him were not on youtube, but I think that paragraph sums it up. Plus, I don't think anyone is listening to these songs anyways, hehe, I am just a Virgo, so I am picky about details, and do things complete, most the time. Or at least this Lovey Dovey stuff. Now that I think about it, I don't do things complete so much, at least not by common standards...
Looking into You
http://www.metrolyrics.com/looking-i
For the World,
Thank God for those of you who are hungry for Truth, for yours is the kingdom of Heaven. I found out the hard way, you have to desire Truth above all else before you find it. We live in the lowest age of spirituality of mankind, where miracles are commonly laughable concepts, when in other times, they would seem only natural. Where hatred, disdain, and anger are expected, when in other times, would be absolutely baffling. Where Love in its True form is nearly unknown, and those who do know it, can forget it if they are not careful, and don't hold it above all else, when in other times and times to come, Love was and is all there is. The times are a changing though, slowly but surely. It is funny: I sound like the people I called idiots for so long, people living lives in their imagination, avoiding "reality"! What an arrogant fool I have been! This life was just waiting for me to let go, like a child who sucking on his pacifier finally lets it go for the real breast: Thank you God for this! My Lord, thank you so much for your touch, your Love, your understanding, your freedom, your beauty, your endless grace, and for the sorrow that brought me to this Heaven.
Before the Deluge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNWzu7pU
Rock Me on the Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZosAh0Xv
I was in a mood of lamentation tonight, but so peacefully, I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. I cried watching these videos I looked up today, each one perfectly tailored to periods of growth in my life, from my first true priest, Jackson Browne. Didn't listen to any other music after listening to him until midway through highschool, when The Doors got me, and round the same time, Coltrane. I guess Jackson Browne is kind of like a combination of both, with the soft, sweet yet intense Love that Coltrane had, and the deep truth and vision that Jim had, and a certain peace about him that neither of them had. I will never forget these men, these songs, and the people that inspired them in my life, and continue to do so. I am hesitant to post these, then I ask why. My ego is screaming, "What the fuck are you doing? You can't show them that! You can't tell them that!"
"Why not?"
"They'll judge you, they will criticize you, they will know your a weak, sick mother fucker!"
I promised I would never live by fear again, and while I fail at that every day, it is a constant battle. I am reminded that the original meaning of the word sin was for archers, when they missed the mark, or the bullseye. I just aim again, and shoot, no matter what. The more open I am to you, the more permanently open I am to me, and I am just a soul, just like you. I want to be able to remember that in every moment.
For my Mother, who showed me the meaning of unconditional Love, and showed me how Love is the one thing in the world worth living for. Unfortunately, she only found it in one source: me, and when I was gone, couldn't stay off the sauce, so to speak, from the sorrow and self pity therein. She never left a homeless man she passed without at least 50 cents though, and was always known for being the one in the family others could connect with on a deep soul level, and talk about their most humbling embarrassing things. This was probably because of her quite humbling situation as the family drunk. She may have been a drunk, but spiritually, she was a master compared to most my family, and they are so lucky to have known her, as am I.
Sky Blue and Black
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYufGhft
For A Dancer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU1rZa8U
For my first real Love, who did what my mother could not, and through action, taught me the importance of true love, self will: of boundlessness. That Truth is something found within, not without, and that I have no obligations but to myself in this life. That desires are divine, and there is nothing more important than self Love, and then the sharing of this beautiful experience with others, and for those who can't experience it, doing everything we can to express it to them purely. Who got me out of my head and into my heart, pried it open, and left it thus: now I find myself falling in Love with everyone, and it is a more beautiful experience than I ever could have dreamed (I guess metaphysically that is not true... hehe...), although at times is a bit of a roller coaster. I mean, I will meet someone, anyone, any age, not speak a word to them, and be sad when they leave the store. I can watch someone for five minutes in my store, stuck inside their own prison of pain: hate and anguish and anxiousness written all over them, and it makes me cry! I don't even "know" them! This reality is amazing!
I Thought I was a Child
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUylDbT
Late for the Sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhUH_XrF
For my spiritual warrior who fought by my side for so long, until we realized we need to watch our own backs. The first person who actually shared an interest in the depths of this world with me, and the first person with whom our relationship was about growth, adventure, facing obstacles and fears, and not running from them, or pretending they didn't exist. What a living experience! We never fully trusted each other, and I think we both knew deep inside that our own dependence on each other was a sure sign of our later separation: we will always be friends, but nothing again like what we were before, at least probably not in this life, although I have hopes for the new age...
Two of Me, Two of You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXasPGO
For Joseph, the first person I met in this life whom I know I can trust absolutely to the end of it. The man who taught me how to take boundlessness and self will, and use it for Purpose: To find not only peace and contentment through seeing the separateness from suffering, but then to bring that to divine ecstacy by showing me how it was all SO perfect to get me to where I am now, how it was all just a beautiful Love relationship with God. Who showed me how to keep True vision of life as a constant growth experience just for me, that fully and absolutely includes everyone and everything else, in one amazing flow of divinity. The first person who said to me the Truth, no matter what, without a second thought, and without any feeling of guilt, shame, or worry at all: simply as a matter of Love! My guru, my brother, my best friend. The first person to actually take the full blast of my Love, and hit me back harder! I understand why the Hindus, and Jesus' disciples, and probably all other major traditions bow and kiss the feet of their masters in tears of divine Loving ecstacy. The songs for him were not on youtube, but I think that paragraph sums it up. Plus, I don't think anyone is listening to these songs anyways, hehe, I am just a Virgo, so I am picky about details, and do things complete, most the time. Or at least this Lovey Dovey stuff. Now that I think about it, I don't do things complete so much, at least not by common standards...
Looking into You
http://www.metrolyrics.com/looking-i
For the World,
Thank God for those of you who are hungry for Truth, for yours is the kingdom of Heaven. I found out the hard way, you have to desire Truth above all else before you find it. We live in the lowest age of spirituality of mankind, where miracles are commonly laughable concepts, when in other times, they would seem only natural. Where hatred, disdain, and anger are expected, when in other times, would be absolutely baffling. Where Love in its True form is nearly unknown, and those who do know it, can forget it if they are not careful, and don't hold it above all else, when in other times and times to come, Love was and is all there is. The times are a changing though, slowly but surely. It is funny: I sound like the people I called idiots for so long, people living lives in their imagination, avoiding "reality"! What an arrogant fool I have been! This life was just waiting for me to let go, like a child who sucking on his pacifier finally lets it go for the real breast: Thank you God for this! My Lord, thank you so much for your touch, your Love, your understanding, your freedom, your beauty, your endless grace, and for the sorrow that brought me to this Heaven.
Before the Deluge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNWzu7pU
Rock Me on the Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZosAh0Xv
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Love Letter for You
Mar. 6th, 2008 | 07:04 pm
I humbly implore your sweet, naked Love. It seems to be lost in tides of thought, of conscious doubt, of fearful fleeing from unseen waves of tense pain, and in the despair of the unknowing, you have dropped your anchor at the first shore you have seen, not knowing, that the isle of Gold lies on the horizon, where you have been before, but forgetting, have chosen now to ignore its call. Look within. The way seems dangerous, the direction, unknown by us: how thence can we hope to fathom such a journey? It is a place to which all winds blow: they must, and not knowing is the freedom that it allows us, if we only Trust. Let go of the things on which you have chosen to place your lips, sucking semi-sweet nectar from indirect, polluted sources of the eternal divinity we have within, simply because you can label their meaning in the eyes of others. Our own knowing is bounded as such, and its chosen boundaries are guaranteed to be too narrow for the unlimited, eternal, timeless desire burning in our very marrow, beyond the bone. No wine is sweeter than thine own, no heart more True than the one that you have been given to follow on this voyage home. Guilt and shame are nothing but the pain given by others who have denied the innocence of this game. The sweet embrace of Nature’s face and breast is waiting for you to acquiesce, to let go, to the flow, that will take you where you want to go, if you but brave the vast unknown, beholden to no final word but your own. It is right behind you, like a endless ghost, death itself, for death is the ultimate fear, and fear, my dear, was never really here, and you will never see it before you believe it, but it is All. Let go, and let fall, for in falling, you will find yourself to finally land, draped in beautiful, soft pillows of grace, and drowning in peace and contentment, once the battle with fear has ended, and you let go of resentment. Go now in Peace, Love, Compassion, Truth, Joy, Passion, and divine Ecstasy, taking your words with thee, for these words, they are your own, they are in Truth, never lost to the heart of youth, that lies within each and every soul. We all here the Call, some just have forgotten that it is the All, the one and only, the meaning of life, the eternal strife, the divine heart unfolding. And, in closing, Love and Service will save us all.
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Life is Endless wonder
Feb. 27th, 2008 | 09:34 pm
I was thinking, what is a word that kind of sums up the universe? Love is everything, but then I thought about it, and two words I found came to mind that seemed perfect both in meaning and in spelling: Mom and Wow. Both are reflective, and MoM implies unconditional Love and care, and WoW implies utter fascination, ecstacy, and amazement. Anyways, life has been so real lately. I have no moments of waste, and time is such an illusion! Every moment is so universal in ways I cannot describe, and the process of growth, of birth and death, is so clear every moment and every day, that I am excited everywhere I go. Synchronicity started as something that happened when I tripped, then began to happen once every few days or so (large scale), and now it is finally a constant flow, as I always knew it was, or could be, depending on your perspective, and the only problem left is sometimes reality is so alive and so real, I think I wish I could take a break from it and go back to mindlessness for a while (or mindfulness, either description works depending on your definition). These moments always turn out to be when I start to learn a lesson that I don't want to learn from life, and when I embrace what my ego tries to hide, and go through the process of allowing myself to die to my memories and past, I come back to the moment, and my small amount of time away from it makes me crave it again so much that when I am once again free it is almost worth the pain, because it is so exciting to see it again! The arms of God are so amazing and wonderful, and His living, acknowledged presence, when one allows oneself to be aware of it... Oh man... I'm home. I'm back, and cleaning off the dirt of ignorance. I thought I woke up so many times, what a fool! It is infinite, and I have surrendered, finally! That is the update on me, I felt like sharing with some of my beloveds! Hope Love is treating you guys well, and if it isn't, don't worry, it knows what it is doing! This reminds me of my favorite poem I just have to quote the part that seems to say exactly what I just said: it is the best! I only recently fully understood it, but it has been my favorite poem since I started my spiritual path. Thank God for Brother Aquinas! God is so timeless -it is amazing!
Give All to Love,
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good-fame,
Plans, credit, the Muse -
Nothing refuse.
'T is a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent;
But it is a god (or the God to me),
Knows its own path
And the outlets of the sky.
-There is more, but that is enough for this post. Peace and Love!
-Don
P.S.: I'm in Love with Bjork....
Give All to Love,
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good-fame,
Plans, credit, the Muse -
Nothing refuse.
'T is a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent;
But it is a god (or the God to me),
Knows its own path
And the outlets of the sky.
-There is more, but that is enough for this post. Peace and Love!
-Don
P.S.: I'm in Love with Bjork....
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Sai Baba
Jan. 31st, 2008 | 01:08 pm
Sai Baba is absolutely amazing! God is here, and I'm going to India sometime soon!
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One of those nights...
Jan. 26th, 2008 | 11:17 pm
Do you know what it is like to crave death-
But find it nowhere?
Someone stab me, rend me:
Useless hours, powers
No aim or goal in sight.
Someone appease me,
release me.
Scum of the Earth I have become,
Futile effort, blind screams,
Unheard by holy things.
What have you built me for?
Frustration, cold touchlessness,
To watch perfection surround me laughing?
I try so hard just to serve,
To be for you, and you, and you
In Truth:
But it's a taunt:
A sherade of hope, just to cope,
A laughingstock of madness.
Give and you get:
But I get no Love.
I must not know,
But it is that that cannot be known.
I must not be,
For in being I might find (so they said) -
Love -
Is an illusion of the mind.
Tenderness, I would but could never trade
For the masculine masquerade,
And so I suffer in spades.
I run from the gates of Hell,
To find Heaven but a dream.
Running back to the gates I see,
Even the devil won't take me.
I sit in quiet circles,
And try to sing when I am able.
I feel like the Fifth element,
At the moment of Truth, I cry:
Love? What is Love? I don't know Love...
But I receive no kiss to open me,
And the Earth is destroyed, no matter what I do.
A kiss I might miss,
So I get nothing.
Hard to miss what you've always got.
God, have mercy on me:
I pray so hard, I cry,
And how could me you deny,
A simple embrace, a loving face,
That does not fear me, nor lie?
Take my life, take my heart,
Take my spirit and my spark,
But don't leave me in this dead sea!
Oh God I need thee! And I don't know exactly whom I'm talking to anymore...
She never shows.
Hello, you've reached the universe. I'm not here right now, but leave a message, and then you will have to wait, and wait, and wait... Until you're dead and the ringing buzz in your ears slowly fades...
You would think if it is a test, trial, or challenge, I would see a point, I would gain strength. Nothing comes, yet I ask and ask and ask, look and look and look: And I wonder, is it all a joke? Am I here alone for good to taunt myself?
I went from being a Light to people, to being a psychic vampire in a matter of hours:
To seeing Joy, and in my attempts to spread it, losing it all...
I am empty. There is nothing left. Break me open if you can, but I've asked everyone I know, and they all fail, or are too afraid to try... This is either the start of something huge, or the end of oblivion.
Where is my shaman? Someone show me my shadow! I must have forgotten something very important, and nothing seems to remind me, no matter how hard I ask...
But find it nowhere?
Someone stab me, rend me:
Useless hours, powers
No aim or goal in sight.
Someone appease me,
release me.
Scum of the Earth I have become,
Futile effort, blind screams,
Unheard by holy things.
What have you built me for?
Frustration, cold touchlessness,
To watch perfection surround me laughing?
I try so hard just to serve,
To be for you, and you, and you
In Truth:
But it's a taunt:
A sherade of hope, just to cope,
A laughingstock of madness.
Give and you get:
But I get no Love.
I must not know,
But it is that that cannot be known.
I must not be,
For in being I might find (so they said) -
Love -
Is an illusion of the mind.
Tenderness, I would but could never trade
For the masculine masquerade,
And so I suffer in spades.
I run from the gates of Hell,
To find Heaven but a dream.
Running back to the gates I see,
Even the devil won't take me.
I sit in quiet circles,
And try to sing when I am able.
I feel like the Fifth element,
At the moment of Truth, I cry:
Love? What is Love? I don't know Love...
But I receive no kiss to open me,
And the Earth is destroyed, no matter what I do.
A kiss I might miss,
So I get nothing.
Hard to miss what you've always got.
God, have mercy on me:
I pray so hard, I cry,
And how could me you deny,
A simple embrace, a loving face,
That does not fear me, nor lie?
Take my life, take my heart,
Take my spirit and my spark,
But don't leave me in this dead sea!
Oh God I need thee! And I don't know exactly whom I'm talking to anymore...
She never shows.
Hello, you've reached the universe. I'm not here right now, but leave a message, and then you will have to wait, and wait, and wait... Until you're dead and the ringing buzz in your ears slowly fades...
You would think if it is a test, trial, or challenge, I would see a point, I would gain strength. Nothing comes, yet I ask and ask and ask, look and look and look: And I wonder, is it all a joke? Am I here alone for good to taunt myself?
I went from being a Light to people, to being a psychic vampire in a matter of hours:
To seeing Joy, and in my attempts to spread it, losing it all...
I am empty. There is nothing left. Break me open if you can, but I've asked everyone I know, and they all fail, or are too afraid to try... This is either the start of something huge, or the end of oblivion.
Where is my shaman? Someone show me my shadow! I must have forgotten something very important, and nothing seems to remind me, no matter how hard I ask...
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One of those days today...
Jan. 26th, 2008 | 10:10 pm
People are strange,
When your a stranger,
Faces look ugly,
When you're alone.
Women seem wicked,
when you're unwanted,
Streets are uneven, when you're down...
When your a stranger,
Faces look ugly,
When you're alone.
Women seem wicked,
when you're unwanted,
Streets are uneven, when you're down...
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Love and Truth
Jan. 25th, 2008 | 11:03 pm
"It is enough if Love is cultivated - the Love that knows no distinction between oneself and another - because all are but limbs of the one corpus of God Almighty. Through Love alone can the embodiment of Love be gained. Here no scholarship is needed; in fact scholarship breeds doubts and the desire for disputation and the laurel of victory over others preening themselves as learned!"
On Bondage
"In our country, there is a peculiar method of trapping monkeys. This process consists of bringing a big pot with a small mouth and keeping some material which is attractive to the monkey inside the pot. The monkey will put its hand inside the pot and catch hold of a handful of the material. It will then not be able to pull out its hand from within the pot. It will imagine that someone inside the pot is holdingits hand. Then it makes an attempt to run away along with the pot, but the monkey is thus trapped.
No one is holding the monkey. the monkey has trapped itself, because it has taken in its hand such a lot of material. The moment it lets the material in its hand go, it will be free.
In the same manner, in this big pot of the world with the narrow mouth of the family, man is tempted by the pleasures of the world, and when he gets lost with involvement in these pleasures he thinks that someone or something is binding him down. No other person is responsible for this bondage. The moment he gives up the pleasures and detaches himself, he will be free. That is the way to free himself from the imagined bondage."
- Sai Baba
On Bondage
"In our country, there is a peculiar method of trapping monkeys. This process consists of bringing a big pot with a small mouth and keeping some material which is attractive to the monkey inside the pot. The monkey will put its hand inside the pot and catch hold of a handful of the material. It will then not be able to pull out its hand from within the pot. It will imagine that someone inside the pot is holdingits hand. Then it makes an attempt to run away along with the pot, but the monkey is thus trapped.
No one is holding the monkey. the monkey has trapped itself, because it has taken in its hand such a lot of material. The moment it lets the material in its hand go, it will be free.
In the same manner, in this big pot of the world with the narrow mouth of the family, man is tempted by the pleasures of the world, and when he gets lost with involvement in these pleasures he thinks that someone or something is binding him down. No other person is responsible for this bondage. The moment he gives up the pleasures and detaches himself, he will be free. That is the way to free himself from the imagined bondage."
- Sai Baba
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The Festival of Love
Jan. 21st, 2008 | 10:22 pm
http://myspace.com/festivaloflove
The time has come, has come I say,
For me to bid farewell,
To wasted time, and wasted dime,
and the dream under the spell,
To fulfilling expectations,
Of any friends or foe,
And to living for God's graces,
For Love, Love of all.
So I ask for help,
Help in works of Love,
To spread charity and freedom,
Truth and Joy, from above.
If you are not pulled into these words of which I speak,
Then please feel no guilt, nor worry over me,
For I am trying to be meek, and I understand the lack,
Of fire for such things, and the need to watch your own back.
When you feel your back is safe,
Because God is on your side,
And you remember the Love,
That here you did find,
Get in touch with me then,
And in Love, abide.
Forever, Amen!
"Festival of Love is a gathering dedicated to bringing people together to exist for a moment as one common family. Trying to understand the common goal that is in all Spiritual Teachings as well as all the great music from around the world. We who are organizing this event are not its leaders, rather its servants. Our core mission is that people will leave with a sense of love, connection, and understanding."
"Each year we will be bringing the Festival of Love to a new location. In July 2008, it will be in Peru. We will be doing an eye camp, tours of historical landmarks then completing the journey with a music festival. We are asking for donations to pay for the doctors and medical supplies. If you can please help by donating and passing this on to anyone else you know that may have an open heart for helping the poorest of the poor. Only $30 dollars can help someone see. The more money we can raise, the more people we will help while we are there. Thank you! All donations go directly to the poor."
You can contact Joseph or Suraya at (714) 855-9697 (this number may be out of date, I will refresh if it is), or by e-mail at festivaloflove@gmail.com
http://myspace.com/festivaloflove
If you would like to donate to the Festival of Love, send a check to:
25422 Trabuco Rd. #105-194, Lake Forest, CA 92630
"Each Festival of Love will close with a musical theatrical performance to open, awaken and fill our soul. Festival of Love is inspired by our Spiritual Teacher Mother Rytasha and Moontribe."
The time has come, has come I say,
For me to bid farewell,
To wasted time, and wasted dime,
and the dream under the spell,
To fulfilling expectations,
Of any friends or foe,
And to living for God's graces,
For Love, Love of all.
So I ask for help,
Help in works of Love,
To spread charity and freedom,
Truth and Joy, from above.
If you are not pulled into these words of which I speak,
Then please feel no guilt, nor worry over me,
For I am trying to be meek, and I understand the lack,
Of fire for such things, and the need to watch your own back.
When you feel your back is safe,
Because God is on your side,
And you remember the Love,
That here you did find,
Get in touch with me then,
And in Love, abide.
Forever, Amen!
"Festival of Love is a gathering dedicated to bringing people together to exist for a moment as one common family. Trying to understand the common goal that is in all Spiritual Teachings as well as all the great music from around the world. We who are organizing this event are not its leaders, rather its servants. Our core mission is that people will leave with a sense of love, connection, and understanding."
"Each year we will be bringing the Festival of Love to a new location. In July 2008, it will be in Peru. We will be doing an eye camp, tours of historical landmarks then completing the journey with a music festival. We are asking for donations to pay for the doctors and medical supplies. If you can please help by donating and passing this on to anyone else you know that may have an open heart for helping the poorest of the poor. Only $30 dollars can help someone see. The more money we can raise, the more people we will help while we are there. Thank you! All donations go directly to the poor."
You can contact Joseph or Suraya at (714) 855-9697 (this number may be out of date, I will refresh if it is), or by e-mail at festivaloflove@gmail.com
http://myspace.com/festivaloflove
If you would like to donate to the Festival of Love, send a check to:
25422 Trabuco Rd. #105-194, Lake Forest, CA 92630
"Each Festival of Love will close with a musical theatrical performance to open, awaken and fill our soul. Festival of Love is inspired by our Spiritual Teacher Mother Rytasha and Moontribe."
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The Meaning of Life
Jan. 21st, 2008 | 08:55 am
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Dreams
Jan. 2nd, 2008 | 02:50 pm
I notice my life has been taking a turn toward the dreams lately, as I have been incredibly active in that dimension consciously, as well as many other dimensions, since my desert experience. Dreams are when your subconscious self is active. Dream yoga, or the practice of integrating conscious waking life with dream life, is not only fairly easy to practice, but one of the most important steps one can make in a lifetime, for it prepares one most strongly for death, and makes one aware of the timeless nature of our existence, allowing for much more faith in the universal plan. I don't remember many of my dreams from long ago, but the few ones I do were quite visionary at first, eventually leading into dreams that seemed like me working out my desires and attachments in my own mind. Now my dreams are much different. I am not going to describe the way they are now, that could imply a reality check that would be too far out for the average person to take. Not that I don't like blowing minds open, but I don't like people to get the wrong ideas, and most of all, I don't like to cheapen spiritual experience for others. The best ones I have had take me by complete surprise, and that keeps the energy of it between me and God. When I said Dream Yoga is easy to practice, I meant it in the sense that you don't have to do much conscious exercising, but you do have to be free. Fortunately, if practiced well, you become free. Sounds like a contradiction, I know, but it is kind of a right foot left foot thing, like walking. The easiest way to do it: Only get a few hours of sleep at night, and have 2 or 3 naps during the day, usually about 45 minutes to one hour, but I mean, don't set your alarm, just nap. This breaks the night and day barrier we have created in our minds, and makes dreams a part of DAILY experience so to speak. Then your mind has to start integrating it more strongly with waking life, and actually the result is vise versa as well. The subconscious is the key to this stuff man: I recommend, especially those being naturally pulled into it, the practice of dream yoga. Life becomes much more real actually, as contradictory as that sounds.