Sunday, October 30, 2011

Continue to study, contemplate and meditate upon the wisdom sayings of Jesus and the Way; talking through associatively some of my ideas on the "unknowablity of the God-head" with Michael this past week coalesced some of my thinking and showed me some of the areas in which I "missed the mark." Such insights serve to teach and therefor are to be regarded thankfully. Also, discerned a crucial pattern in my dreaming, a recurring theme that has come to me to tell me something about where I need to seek help. Pressing life-concerns have pre-empted any efforts at music or a creative life, but I found great resonance in some paintings Vasken Kalayjian recently posted. I have a desire to paint, but lacking materials I do nothing. I feel this is an area where I can do the most useful (inner) work at the moment, where I can delve deeper into meanings. I need to acquire the time and the tools. Mulling book idea of the wisdom sayings, a "collection" with commentary from an inner point of view. More and more I am convinced, however, that Jesus' coming to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Jubilee) has very little to do with any esoteric inner work per se, and more about true jubilee as expressed by the living desire of YHVH (יְהֹוָה) for his people; a restoration of justice and a return of 2nd Acts mentality (sell your "property" and share all things in common so that no one wants) which is playing out in the Occupy movement worldwide (an intuitive prophetic spontaneous arising from the spirit); which takes us back to the idea of the unknowability of God and the surprising ways He speaks to us.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Guitar with Dan Tellez

Got together with Dan Tellez last Saturday and played some guitars; had a great visit, Dan has a whole bunch of nice tunes and a great guitar tone on his amped-up acoustic guitar. Great playing with him again (looking forward to more soonage!)
Some of today's readings/insights...inspirations: From Joan Halifax... moderated mind and life meeting today. very intense atmosphere. went well. dalai lama very engaged. karmapa gave a powerful talk in the late afternoon. getting ready for tomorrow's session, which i also will moderate. dekila chungyalpa..... and this (also from Joan): Compassion is due to those of us—and there are many of us—who are so dependent on our devices that we cannot sit still for a funeral service or a lecture or a play. We now know that our brains are rewired every time we use a phone to search or surf or multitask. As we try to reclaim our concentration, we are literally at war with ourselves. Yet, no matter how difficult, it is time to look again to...ward the virtues of solitude, deliberateness, and living fully in the moment. We have agreed to an experiment in which we are the human subjects. Actually, we have agreed to a series of experiments: robots for children and the elderly, technologies that denigrate and deny privacy, seductive simulations that propose themselves as places to live. We deserve better. When we remind ourselves that it is we who decide how to keep technology busy, we shall have better. --Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (Basic Books, 2011), Kindle Edition, 296 Finally, a little Tao: Eighty The world is full of half-enlightened masters. Overly clever, too "sensitive" to live in the real world, they surround themselves with selfish pleasures and bestow their grandiose teachings upon the unwary. Prematurely publicizing themselves, intent upon reaching some spiritual climax, they constantly sacrifice the truth and deviate from the Tao. What they really offer the world is their o...wn confusion. The true master understands that enlightenment is not the end, but the means. Realizing that virtue is her goal, she accepts the long and often arduous cultivation that is necessary to attain it. She doesn't scheme to become a leader, but quietly shoulders whatever responsibilities fall to her. Unattached to her accomplishments, taking credit for nothing at all, she guides the whole world by guiding the individuals who come to her. She shares her divine energy with her students, encouraging them, creating trials to strengthen them, scolding them to awaken them, directing the streams of their lives toward the infinite ocean of the Tao. If you aspire to this sort of mastery, then root yourself in the Tao. Relinquish your negative habits and attitudes. Strengthen your sincerity. Live in the real world, and extend your virtue to it without discrimination in the daily round. Be the truest father or mother, the truest brother or sister, the truest friend, and the truest disciple. Humbly respect and serve your teacher, and dedicate your entire being unwaveringly to self-cultivation. Then you will surely achieve self-mastery and he able to help others in doing the same. From The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu - Hua Hu Ching by Brian Walker

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Out in the studio the other night, working on some ambient soundscapes for Will's Buddha Mash-up project I am reminded of the joy involved in just creating, and the great gift I have here in my small, little out-building, having my own space in which to create. Looking forward to fall and cooler days so that I can spend more time out here... in the meantime, appreciating the joy in the simple things

January: Pausing and Giving Thanks

Today I pause for a moment to remember to be grateful, and give thanks for my body, my being, my loved ones. Too often I seem to be so busy ...