4 November 2006

I spend the night in a chair
Thinkin' she'll be there
But she never comes
And then I wake up
Wipe the sleep from my eyes
And I rise...
to face another day without her
(Harry Nilsson)

Blue Skies

OWNTOWN EARLY this morning, at the Farmers' Market, it was a super-beautiful day. Nothing over Hilo Bay but the purest blue sky you could ever want to see. Heading back to where my bike was parked, I passed the old guy, the trumpet player, who always sits on his folding chair outside the screen-printing shop. He really is quite old -- white hair, craggy face, nearly-skeletal body, old beat-up straw hat -- and he sits there on Market days and plays memories on his trumpet, and people passing-by drop dollar-bills into the metal can he sets out for them.

It was early enough, no one seemed to be around yet -- though there were several dollars in his can already, ahead of mine. He wasn't playing at the moment, and I stopped to exchange a few words with him: How are you? Beautiful day. That kind of stuff. He made some comment about the blue sky ... and then, when I got a few steps past him, he started playing "Blue Skies" on the trumpet.

It really was a spectacular morning, especially for Hilo in November, as we're going into the rainy season! Or, into what would normally be the rainy season, if there were any such thing as normal anymore. Who knows? -- maybe we'll have blue skies all winter!

The music in my head was Bob Dylan, though. Ancient Bob Dylan -- but ain't it funny how history does repeat itself, how everything old becomes new again!

Come gather 'round, people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'....

Living on an island, it's easy to take those words about rising waters very literally. Especially here, in the center of the Ring of Fire. Especially after our recent earthquake (right-hand column).

The Dylan song had been in my head already; what really gave it the literal twist for me was a call from my friend on the other side of the island. He had called the previous day and, during the conversation, I had asked if he was still feeling earth tremors. He said yes -- he had been feeling them every night since the quake! EVERY NIGHT! For 19 days. Usually nothing big, he said, just that the earth was "wobbling" (he lives outside and sleeps on the ground, so he has some authority in these matters).

He's been feeling a little nervous, he said -- with the earth wobbling beneath him every single night; and because of a dream he had, a month or so before the big quake; and because of what someone told him, a year or so ago.

His dream was that he was swimming in the ocean ... and suddenly everything was just water! There was no shore, he said, anywhere -- and the waves were going every direction at once! This dream fitted right in with something he had been told the previous year, by someone who considered himself a prophet of sorts. This guy had had a "prophetic" vision that the island of Hawai'i would be totally submerged by a tsunami, in March or April of 2007.

My friend, being an extremely logical person, and stringing these events together in his mind, was beginning to consider moving off the island. We talked about the fact that, both of us living so near the shore, we would have maybe 5 minutes, at best, to outrun the wave, if a tsunami-producing earthquake happened nearby. And he informed me that a tsunami moves at something around 700 miles per hour. No need to be a mathematical genius, to figure out that one!

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'....

Anyway, my friend said the guy who had prophesied the submerging of Hawai'i was himself not planning to leave; going to stay and "go down with the ship," he said.

I agree with him. Que sera, sera. The bullet that has your name on it, you can never outrun. When your time comes, "it's a good day to die" (of course, we never die really, we just change dimension).

Can you imagine trying to outrun a 700-mile-per-hour tsunami, given a 5-minute head start? No, thank you; I'll just wait for it.

My friend said he had seen a photo, taken during one of Hilo's previous tsunami, of a man just standing, deliberately facing the wave and waiting for it (and the photo made it clear he didn't have long to wait; the wave surely must have been the photographer's final sight, as well).

I thought about that a little, and I felt great admiration for anyone who could do that. If I'm ever in that situation, that's exactly the way I would like to face it. Plenty of Wise Ones have said that our attitude and state of mind at the moment of transition is extremely important in determining what comes next for us. Instead of spending my last 5 minutes in terrified, futile scrambling, I would so much rather use the time to get myself centered and peaceful, if I possibly could. Just to be fully present, and to face the wave (or whatever else it may be) with total peace....

Blue skies smilin' at me
Nothin' but blue skies do I see
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothin' but blue skies from now on....
(Irving Berlin)

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Laj C. Mathew - 05:59 AM 11/15/2006

I have one small doubt here: If I know there are landmines in one piece of land at concentration of one in thousands of square feet, I choose not to walk on it. According to your blog entry, there are at least some people in Hawaii who know it'll be submerged, but no one is trying to escape. Why? It appears a lot more likely that Hawaii may get submerged, than that I would get killed or hurt by a landmine.

I'm NOT finding fault - just wanted to know why. Is this about reliability of source?

1 November 2006

A New Pledge of Allegiance

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you cain't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command....
(Bob Dylan)

ECENTLY, thanks to one of my neighbors, I got to experience something I would never have imagined myself experiencing: a breakfast meeting of the local Rotary club. I would never have imagined it because ... well, it's the Rotary club -- super-mainstream America, of which I've never felt a part! And because these guys and gals meet at 7:00 a.m., to chow down on scrambled eggs and potatoes and sausages! (As I told my neighbor, when he first invited me, generally the only way I'm up at 7:00 a.m. is if I haven't been to bed yet -- and generally I don't eat anything more substantial than a banana, before noon.)

Anyway, I mentioned the invitation to my 2 spiritual advisors -- a renegade Buddhist priest (designated a "non-person" by the official Buddhist organization); and a Tarot-card-reader / hair-cutter / piano-teacher / sex-therapist / hypnotherapist -- both of whom advised me to go. So I went.

Funny thing: both my neighbor (whose name I'm not using, in order to protect him from public association with me) and I got up at 3:30 that morning! How's that for cosmic synchronicity? He got up then, to fire up his computer and check the opening numbers on the Stock Market; I got up then, to fire up my computer and answer emails for a couple hours before showering and shaving and putting on my most mainstream-America gray pants, and a white shirt (though the shirt was of Indian design, with little, black, sanskrit OMs decorating it).

Funnier still: when we got to the breakfast, I dutifully dived into the scrambled eggs and potatoes (the breakfasts were $6 each and my neighbor was paying; I wanted him to get his money's worth!) ... and then my neighbor surprised the heck out of me by eating only a container of yogurt and a few cubes of melon and pineapple!

The meeting was just what anyone would expect from super-mainstream America: held on the 10th floor of a big hotel, overlooking Hilo Bay. And, as my neighbor assured me going in, we were "gonna hear a heavy-hitter today" -- Kitty Lagareta, Chairperson and CEO of the Board of Regents of the whole University system for Hawai'i. A "heavy-hitter" -- though my neighbor was quick to point out to me, afterward, how Ms. Lagareta had "danced around" a serious question asked of her 3 times, by him and 2 other Rotarians!

One thing I liked about the Rotary club, besides the general friendliness I felt there, was what they call The Four-Way Test. They had the words of it displayed on a big easel; and, before the talk by Ms. Lagareta, they picked one of the members to stand and lead us all in reciting The Four-Way Test. It goes like this:

"Of the things we think, say or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

This Four-Way Test was originally created as a statement of business ethics, in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor; and it was adopted by Rotary in 1943.

I like it a lot. And it may have been there to teach me something. It may, in fact, have been the whole reason I was advised to be there (even though my advisors themselves probably were not conscious of that).

It may have been there to teach me the value of building goodwill and better friendships -- and the importance of doing only what is beneficial to all concerned. My own code of ethics, for years, was overly focused on the single aspect of Truth; I would blurt out the truth of anything, and "let the chips fall" where they would. But, as my friend Steve has just recently pointed out, my Truth may not be someone else's Truth, and yet both may be True! In fact, that's a realization I've been coming to myself, over a period of years. And I've been learning to be more meticulous about Fairness, also. But maybe I still need some work on building goodwill and the benefit of all....

SOMETHING ELSE that has recently come into my life, which seems appropriate to this contemplation, is a new biography of Mokichi Okada, the founder of Johrei. The book is titled Sincerity and Truth -- which it says were the foundations of Okada's life. These are encompassed by the Japanese concept of makoto. The following is taken from one of Okada's teachings, presented in the book:

The key to the solution of the world's problems -- both the problems of the individual and those of the state -- can be found in two words. These words are sincerity and truth. ... I speak to people everywhere: there is only one solution to your problems. There is only the key, which is sincerity and truth.

From another of his teachings -- "How to Find Makoto, True Sincerity, a True Heart" -- the book quotes him as writing: "A person who has makoto will keep his promises whatever happens."

Another aspect of makoto, it says, is the daily practice of gratitude. More words from Okada: "Gratitude breeds gratitude; discontent spawns discontent. These are true and honest words. For a grateful heart rises straight to God, while a discontented heart finds only the evil spirits of Hell."

Okada also devoted himself to pleasing others. "From my earliest days," he wrote, "I have always liked pleasing others, to the extent that it could be called my favorite avocation. I am constantly thinking of how others can be made happy and fortunate...."

I, too, have always liked pleasing others; the challenge for me is in doing it the right way! For most of my life, I was such a people-pleaser, I was letting people take great advantage of me. Some would say I still am. Some would say I'm not pleasing enough. It's a difficult line for me to walk: the proper balance between pleasing others and being true to myself. Even defining Self and Other is becoming an elusive thing.

THE ONE thing I did NOT like about the Rotary club meeting was the pledging of allegiance. I hadn't done that in so long, I'd forgotten it even existed! Talk about a perfect example of the dilemma between pleasing others and being true to Self!! How can I possibly stand up and "pledge allegiance" to the flag of some nation, any nation? And, on the other hand, how can I knowingly insult a roomful of Rotarians -- who are expecting me to make the pledge, and who would indeed feel insulted if I refused...??

So ... I stood up and halfway mouthed the words, while the voice of Truth inside me was saying, Not really, just kidding!! I'm sure that was not a good display of makoto. I didn't feel good about it, and I still don't; and yet, it seems to me, it was the best option I had.

HERE'S A PLEDGE I like infinitely better. It was written by a woman named Suraj Holzwarth, head of the Whirling Rainbow Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska. She has done a lot of impressive things -- and the Foundation has, as its mission, to help create "a world of unity, love and peace...."

One of the things she was inspired to do was to build a 7-foot-diameter "grandmother drum" and to tour the world, doing drumming ceremonies with it. I recently met a new friend, who told me about this, and about having taken part in the ceremonies when the drum was in Portland, Oregon (thanks, Brian!).

So ... here's the pledge I like so much better:

I pledge Mother Earth as my one country.
I pledge Humanity as my one people.
I pledge Life as my religion.
I pledge Love as my prayer.
I pledge Peace and Freedom as my birthright
And the birthright of all humanity.
My heart beats one with all my Relations.

(click photos to enlarge in new window)

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Mom - 01:54 PM 11/2/2006

Hope you won't consider this as garbage BUT I would really like to know why you cannot accept the Pledge of Allegience. It really makes me sad to hear this.

I like your pledge too, but am curious about the one we have had for years.

22 October 2006

The Greatest Thing You Will Ever Learn

SN'T IT beautiful how, sometimes, absolute gems of enlightenment are waiting for us in the most unexpected places...! I was recently with some friends who started watching a video of Moulin Rouge, and I sat down to watch it with them. I had seen it before, and I remembered the basic story, and I remembered that they had incorporated pop music into it ... but I had completely forgotten the gem of the whole thing!

Raise your hand right now, if you remember it.

If you don't remember it, here's a hint: It's 2 short lines of a song, recorded in 1947 and released in 1948. It was a #1 hit for Nat King Cole that year -- #1 on the Billboard chart for 8 weeks! It was also recorded by Frank Sinatra, Sara Vaughn, and Dick Haymes....

It's from a song called "Nature Boy" -- written by a guy who called himself eden ahbez (no capital letters; he felt those should be reserved for the Divine). Here's a pop-up picture of him:

SpaceAgePop.com says this about him: "Born a good Jewish boy [Alexander Aberle] in Brooklyn, he ended up cultivating a Christ-like appearance and reputation among the fruits and nuts of sunny southern California.

"Just what brought him from Brooklyn in 1908 to Los Angeles in the mid-1940s awaits a better biographer's investigation. He claimed to have been raised in an orphanage, and [to] have crossed the U.S. on foot eight times by the age of 35. He settled in L.A., married a woman named Anna Jacobsen, slept with her in a sleeping bag in Griffith Park, claimed to survive as a vegetarian on three dollars a week, and stood on street corners in Hollywood lecturing on various Oriental forms of mysticism."

He got Nat Cole to perform and record "Nature Boy," even though Nat recognized the Yiddish melody of it (from a song called "Schwieg Mein Hertz," the publishers of which also recognized it; and, after "Nature Boy" became a hit, they reached an out-of-court financial settlement with ahbez).

More from SpaceAgePop.com: "Ahbez was a legend in Hollywood for his unusual life style. Even after he and Jacobsen had a son, they kept on living out under the stars, with not much more than a bicycle, their sleeping bags, and a juicer to their name."

ALL VERY interesting.... Of course, the MOST interesting thing is the aforementioned gem of enlightenment. Ready? Here it comes:

"The greatest thing you will ever learn
is just to love and be loved in return."

- The End -

((Ah, but there's more --
please see this very important addition!))

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20 October 2006

Making Things Right

There'll be a change in the weather,
a change in the sea
And from now on there'll be a change in me....
(Billy Higgins, W.B. Overstreet)

N THE Hawai'ian language, the word for it is Ho'oponopono. It's more than a word, it's a whole process, in the Huna tradition. It's a certain way of praying, asking the Divine Creator to forgive our mistakes and to re-establish the original blueprint for our lives.

Here's a beautiful quote (taken from this article) about Ho'oponopono, from Morrnah Simeona, a renowned Kahuna who specializes in healing: "The main purpose of this process is to discover the Divinity within oneself. The Ho'oponopono is a profound gift which allows one to develop a working relationship with the Divinity within and learn to ask that in each moment, our errors in thought, word, deed or action be cleansed. The process is essentially about freedom, complete freedom from the past."

What I like especially about the Huna concept of Divine Creator -- at least the one of which I know anything at all -- is that it matches a realization I've only recently had myself. For a while now, I've been talking about the concept of "the Source within", and about "Source-energy" -- and, what I've just recently realized is that the Source cannot really be separated from that of which it IS the Source! So, now, instead of praying just "Dear Infinite Source within" ... I also pray "Dear Manifesting Universe". The 2 are 2 sides of a single coin. This is recognized in the Huna concept of Divine Creator as "the totality of all that is and ever was or will be" (in contrast to the Christian concept of God as separate from His creation). This Divine Creator is also seen as the totality of the 3 parts of our Self: The Aumakua, the Uhane, and the Unihipili as One.

ANYWAY, this process of "making things right" -- Ho'oponopono -- was brought to my attention, quite a while ago, by my friend Steve in England. He sent a link to this page of a site called www.ulbobo.com (where, I discovered, ulbobo is a word in the ancient language of the Marshall Islands: a word meaning "magically lucky" -- how beautiful is that?!).

As usual, I read the page really fast, and wrote back something like, "Hmmmm, pretty cool...." -- and then went back to my standard, nose-on-grindstone position.

Then, a fairly short time ago, I heard more about Ho'oponopono, from my friend Nina (also in England!). She had read an "article by Dr. Joe Vitale about Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len and ho'oponopono" -- and she started incorporating a few very simple phrases into her Reiki treatments: such as, "Thank you, I'm sorry, I love you."

"I don't believe that the order of the words or even probably the exact words matter," she says. "I have come to believe, feel, that it is the intention and love behind them. I keep repeating them while focussing love, I also tend to ask for any erroneous or divisive thoughts within me that have caused any problems for the client to be forgiven." She merely thinks these words, silently -- at least 3 times, and often more -- as she gives the Reiki ... and remarkable things are happening with her clients! For instance, one of them, who had spent 7-1/2 years in pain, undergoing physiotherapy and chiropracty for damaged vertebrae, is now pain-free after only 6 of these Ho'oponopono Reiki treatments!! (not to mention, no longer needing medication for high blood pressure, which she had been taking for 5 years -- and just feeling super-energetic! : ^ )

Hmmm.... I was beginning to pay attention to this Ho'oponopono. In fact, I developed my own form of it. What really inspired me was having a friend far away, in a difficult situation, whom I wanted to help. I received the email from Nina ... and then somehow the Paul McCartney song Silly Love Songs came into my mind ... and, whenever I would happen to think of this particular friend, I would start singing the "I love you / I love you" part of that song.... I sang it and sang it and sang it -- just those words ... just feeling the vibration of them in my own body, and "becoming" my friend ... so that HER body was actually singing them to her.... And, from there, I just started singing them to everyone and everything: wherever I go, that melody is running inside me. I sing the words aloud whenever I can; otherwise I just hum the tune, and sing the words to myself, inside....

Then, just yesterday, I got another email from Steve, in which he mentioned Ho'oponopono again. He's been using it in his own life, and finding it "surprisingly effective." This time, he sent a link to the website of the same Dr. Hew Len that Nina had mentioned: www.hooponopono.org.

All this was in the context of responding to my 2 most recent entries here on BEYOND -- and I so much like what he said, I'm posting his comments here. He started with what may be the most beautiful and perfect description of "magic" that I've ever seen:

AMEN, Brother! ... and thank you for your beautiful words....

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liz - 11:55 AM 10/23/2006

hi don , weeks ago i read the same articles about Len etc and tried ''im sorry , please forgive me , i love and respect you .Thank you (x3)Amen '' It sure works and includes some of the eft set up stuff and more so one could tap on any of those also !
Nothing like mixing matching and integrating the best stuff and then waiting for ones own divine finishing touch .Love liz

Vicky Warren - 07:33 PM 11/2/2006

Hallo Don,
am responding with regards to Ho'[op]onopono.... may I ask? WHAT? are you doing in MY head/brain!! I have been doing something similar....... and am not even an Hawaiian! nor live there!!

I am noticing for a very long time now, that people who seem to like me? also seem to move into my brain!
anyway, am enjoying your matter as usual! Hugs and selamets from Vicky/brush

Vicky Warren - 07:47 AM 11/3/2006

Hi Don!
nice to hear from you about this.. What I have been doing is?
at every hand movement, on the chakra or my heart, I have been sending and giving to every one on my list for Reiki also to myself the following.

at every position thus? I say first to myself: I am sending you: forgiveness, love and peace. Not the world's peace, not the world's love and not the world's forgiveness, but the forgiveness and love and peace of "I" , for ever and ever, always without end.

I am finding out, that it is even starting to removing some blocks of my own and sigh sigh, as I go along my list seems to be getting longer and longer.

Even including people who have done me wrong in the past. And here I thought I had forgiven them long ago.. but then, unlike the past, they are now also receiving love and peace.

The other amazing thing issss. that some voices are coming through to me, saying: I am not receiving anything Vicky!!!!!! and so, I have to stop a moment to think? WHOM I have missed or not stayed with mentally long enough!

The funny part is also? That some voices are coming through with words in Dutch and others in English!!

17 October 2006

Do You Believe in Magic?

And when the mornin' light comes streamin' in
we'll get up and do it again....
(Jackson Browne)

HIS DAY, I'm up before even the morning light. Just me -- and, outside, a few last, desperate, coqui frogs, croaking their hearts out, in search of a mate. Gotta be the nerdiest of the nerd-frogs, the last ones left alone, the ones no girl-frog is ever going to choose. My kind of guys!

Just me ... and the last of the frogs ... and my new best friend, Chocolate (no, not a black "exotic dancer" [shucks!] -- chocolate, as in cacao: the dark stuff, 88% cocoa, from the health food store). Did you know that the genus of the cacao tree -- Theobroma -- is named from the Greek words theo ("god") and broma ("food"), meaning "food of the gods" -- and that chocolate contains a certain alkaloid, theobromine, which is considered an entheogen (a psychoactive substance, literally "generating the divine within")...?

I know a woman, became a wife
These are the very words she uses
to describe her life
She said a good day ain't got no rain
She said a bad day is when I lie in bed
and think of things that might have been....
(Paul Simon)

SO. I'm out of bed, waiting for the sun. Didja hear about the big earthquake we had Sunday? 7:07 in the morning. Whole lotta shakin'!! Went for a long time. The earthquakes here have such an interesting character: not like things are being shaken up-and-down, but horizontally, in a bunch of different directions; and "shaken" is not even quite the right word, it's something gentler than that....

Anyway, after the quake, and after a brief power outage, Sunday seemed like a normal day to me. I went about my Sunday business; had no idea the rest of the world was in a panic, until I got a phone call at noon, from a friend in Maine: Been tryin' to call ya for hours, she said. Couldn't get through. Finally took the cell phone and hiked out to the cemetery, where I could get a signal....

Then I didn't hear from my mother, who was supposed to call at a certain time; so I called her and found that she was freaked-out! Been watching the TV all day, she said. Got it turned up real loud, so I can hear it all over the house. Terrible-sounding news! Biggest earthquake in the history of Hawai'i! Terrible mudslides and who-knows-what-all! She said she had called me earlier, and the phone had rung and rung -- 20 times, she said! I told her it hadn't rung here....

Then, Sunday night, a call from my phone-less friend on the other side of the island, near the epicenter of the quake. Good to hear from you, I said, I've been wondering how it was over there (couldn't call him, of course, because he doesn't have a phone). How did it feel there? He said it had felt like "the end of the world"!! Said there was indeed a lot of damage there! He was very surprised when I told him I had felt in no danger here; taken aback that there could be so much difference in the effects of the quake, with only 40 miles between us!

Maybe it is a strange thing. My feeling is that, here in Hilo, we're protected by The Mountain, Mauna Kea.... I said a couple prayers of thanks for that....

My friend was also amazed that I hadn't been listening to the radio (he knows I don't have a TV). I told him I had not turned it on for a second, in the whole time since returning from the mainland in August (in fact, I moved it to the storage room). I can't bear even the thought of hearing the radio these days. I came home to the beautiful sound of the frogs, and they're all I care about listening to! They're peaceful and soothing and real; What do I need the lies and exaggerations of the radio for? My whole time on the mainland was one lie after another. I got fed up. I came home and, just now, after a month and a half of nightly froggie-serenades, the pieces of the jigsaw-puzzle that was my life this past summer, have begun to arrange themselves in some kind of meaningful pattern.... Illusion morphing into Reality....

ANYWAY, what I was intending to write about was last Tuesday, the 10th of October: 10/10/2006, what a great set of numbers! And it was a spectacular day for me! I woke up and was lying in bed, wallowing in agony. I was remembering a beautiful experience -- and the memory was making me feel horrible, because the experience was gone and I was feeling only the loss of it. I was feeling such a longing, to have it again....

And then, in the blink of an eye, my agony turned to joy and inspiration! Without a moment of additional wallowing, I jumped out of bed, put some clothes on, grabbed a pen and paper, and wrote a letter ... to replace the much longer and more somber one I had written on Sunday; the one I had intended to mail on Monday -- and then had been prevented from doing so, because Monday was Columbus Day, a postal holiday (I couldn't mail the letter without the help of a clerk, because I wanted Delivery Confirmation with it).

It was one of those beautiful instances of pure, intuitive knowing: no inner dialog, no deliberation, no uncertainty. Just instant knowing, followed by doing. Get up, write the new letter, tear up the old one, race off to the Post Office! Boy, was I thanking dear Mr. Columbus that day! Had Monday not been a holiday, I would have mailed the other letter ... and I would have regretted it. I would have soooooo regretted it....

What turned my wallowing agony into joy that morning was that I suddenly saw the perfect -- and the only -- solution to a situation that had been driving me crazy for weeks. A situation I had come to believe was insoluble.

As always, the solution was right there, staring me in the face, just waiting for me to see it. DUHHH.... It was a solution that a 2-year-old would have seen immediately! For those of us much older than 2, it was almost impossible to see -- inconceivable, unimaginable -- because we tend to forget the limitless, magical nature of Life! We become hypnotized by our dead (and deadening) illusion of what Life is, and we fail to see the magical possibilities all around us.

The solution, in this case, was definitely a magical one. Most people would say impossible -- but no, it's a thing that's been done plenty of times, just not by many people (just like winning the lottery!).

BAM! came the solution ... and then the words of dear old Sherlock Holmes: "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in The Sign of Four : ^ ) And then, the knowing (remembering, actually) that every problem comes with its own solution; there's no possibility of an insoluble problem, not in this dualistic universe. "Problem" and "solution" are not even 2 things, they're 2 aspects of a single thing. They're inseparable: the "problem" is a box of Cracker Jack, and the "solution" is the prize inside the box! It's always in there, we just have to devour the Cracker Jack in order to find it....

This brings up something else: one of my pet peeves. Remember how some people used to be "manic-depressive" ... and now they're "bipolar"...? Just another example of our timidity (a.k.a. "political correctness") leading us to abandon a perfectly functional description in favor of a totally meaningless one! Of course people are "bipolar" -- aren't we all? Everything in the manifested universe is "bipolar"! Do the words "yin and yang" ring a bell? "Day and night"? "Hot and cold"? "Up and down"?

In the good old days, we said "manic-depressive" to indicate the extremes of the bipolarity; but nowadays we don't dare even hint at anything extreme. Everything has to be made as bland and empty as possible. In 1984, Orwell introduced us to the concept of newspeak; but we have transcended even that, we've created neutralspeak: the art of saying absolutely nothing.

And that sounds like my cue to shut up for now : ^ )....

Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart?
How the music can free her, whenever it starts?
And it's magic, if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I'll tell you 'bout the magic, and it'll free your soul
But it's like tryin' to tell a stranger 'bout rock & roll....
(John Mellencamp)

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8 October 2006

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl!)
(Smokey Robinson)

What is This Thing Called Love?

Y MOTHER once told me, after one of my failed romances, that I had not been in love with the other person, I was merely in love with being in love.... It was an idea that had not occurred to me -- and I had to admit, it was true! I had not been in love with the other person, because she had not been in love with me (even though I thought she was). I had been in love without her!

Even so ... was I any less in love?

It seems to me that all of us (if we're ALIVE, anyway) are in love with being in love -- because we ARE love, and we NEED love in order to exist. And, how beautiful it would be if we could feel about EVERYONE the way we feel about our special loved-one! The oneness, the no-separation of it, the seeing-of-divinity in the other. Think how different the world would be!! We would all truly be in Heaven!

And it isn't that way only because, for some reason, we are so unable to see and feel that oneness with most people. Instead, we see so many differences between them and ourselves, we don't feel much affinity, we don't feel comfortable with them, it's very hard to understand or identify with them. In a whole lifetime, we are LUCKY if we find even ONE person we can truly be in love with! And, surely, feeling this way about one person is meant to help us understand and feel similarly about other people -- but most of us never seem to reach that point. It seems to me, the only ones who do are the true Sages, the true Source-erers -- who can KNOW everyone they meet, instantly, at the deepest level, and truly love them, and even change people instantly by that loving....

Anyway ... what about the rest of us? What about our being in love with being in love? Does it even matter whether we're in love with someone or without someone?

Obviously, if we're in love with someone, then the other person shares the "high" with us. But, for us, is there any real difference between being-in-love-with and being-in-love-without?

I've had a couple being-in-love-with experiences ... and several being-in-love-without experiences ... and I can't think of any difference between the two, in the way I felt! WOW -- I had the same euphoric, walking-on-air, super-human feeling in both situations!! Hmmm.... What does that tell us?

Something I read, from Neale Donald Walsch, comes to mind; where he said, "It has to do with the simple truth: There is no one else in the room. ... There is only one of us."

ONLY one of us, and it creates its own reality, via thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. If it believes that there is "someone else" who loves it, then it experiences the benefit of that love. If it believes that "someone else" has withdrawn their love, then it experiences the agony of loss.

As Jackson Browne put it:
I want to know what became of the changes
    we waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
    of some greater awakening?

Maybe so. The awakening that we are the only one in the room -- and that all love is actually self-generated....

If Cole Porter had understood that, I reckon he wouldn't have written this:
I was a hum-drum person
Leading a life apart
When love flew in through my window wide
And quickened my hum-drum heart
Love flew in through my window
I was so happy then
But after love had stayed a little while
Love flew out again

What is this thing called love?
This funny thing called love?
Just who can solve its mystery?
Why should it make a fool of me?

It shouldn't make a fool of us, Mr. Porter; we shouldn't allow that! We should realize that the only real source of love is within us, and that no one can take it away. We should lighten-up a little, about the whole subject of love. If we happen to be lucky enough to find our perfect match, our "other self", in this world of illusion -- then we should hold onto that person, not because we can't live without them (even though it feels that way), but because our life is so much more enjoyable and fulfilling if we can spend it with them! And because, together, we can bring out abilities and talents, inspirations, realizations, and accomplishments that we cannot do alone.

Listen to Jackson Browne, Mr. Porter...!
I'm gonna find myself a girl
    who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
    in each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put our dark glasses on
    and we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the mornin' light comes streamin' in
    we'll get up and do it again
A-men!

I don't mean to suggest that love is not a serious matter; just that we can approach it in a playful way. I would definitely never say love is silly! Right, Sir Paul...?

Love doesn't come in a minute
Sometimes it doesn't come at all
I only know that when I'm in it
  love isn't silly, love isn't silly
Love isn't silly at all....
(Paul McCartney)

What do you say, Mr. Porter? We'll give you the last word....

Night and day, you are the one
Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Whether near to me, or far
It's no matter darling where you are
I think of you

Aww, Geeez....

Day and night, night and day, why is it so
That this longing for you follows wherever I go
In the roaring traffic's boom
In the silence of my lonely room
I think of you

Okay, go for it, Man, full-tilt! You're sending shivers through me!!

Day and night, night and day
Under the hide of me
There's an oh such a hungry yearning
    burning inside of me
And this torment won't be through
Until you let me spend my life making love to you
Day and night, night and day...!

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9 September 2006

Back to Basics

Pools of sorrow, waves of joy, are drifting through my opened mind,
Possessing and caressing me
Jai guru de va
ommmmmmmmmmmmm
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world....
(John Lennon, Paul McCartney)

ACK in dear-old Hilo, after 3 months on the mainland: 3 months on an emotional roller-coaster, mostly. New people, new experiences. A new friend or two. A few of the most wonderful, beautiful, and fulfilling moments of my life so far -- and a lot of wild ups and downs. A lot of excitement and worry and fear, at breakneck speed.

Getting back to Hilo -- the slowness, the gentleness, the friendliness; the ocean, the Mountain, the jungle; the rain at night, and the chorus of frog-songs -- is like returning to reality after an excursion to a topsy-turvy universe.

I've been back for a week and a half, and still don't have my clothes unpacked or the apartment cleaned -- mainly due to answering a flood of emails generated by a radio interview I did, just before returning, on the subject of my Reiki/Johrei book.

Now that I'm calming down, getting out of warp-speed, finding my center again -- and realizing how crazy it was to have taken on such turmoil and worry -- I wonder: How could I have forgotten the most basic thing of all? -- just BE HERE NOW! BE. HERE. NOW. So forgettably simple. No matter what happens, ever, the best thing we can do is to Be Here Now, with maximum awareness, making the best decisions moment-by-moment, and trusting Life to do the rest, all for the best!

Worry and fear and anger are the greatest enemies of Life! And the greatest atrocity is that they are the prevailing forces in the world at large. We need to constantly remind ourselves not to let them prevail within us; that only by healing ourselves of these forces can we heal the world.

So, here I am in Hilo, starting to heal my personal world again. And here's a poem, so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes; written by a friend of a friend, inspired by the friend's visit to Hilo this summer, while I was away....

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23 July 2006

Armageddon Has Been Canceled!

Let's close our eyes
And make our own paradise
Little we know of it
Still we can try to make a go of it
(Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler)

EMEMBER that old saying, "What if they gave a war, and no one came?" I would still LOVE to see that happen....

I would also love to see the following announcement posted everywhere: ARMAGEDDON HAS BEEN CANCELED! I'd love to see it on billboards, magazine covers, movie marquees, supermarket tabloids, wall murals, maybe even a crop circle -- and hear it on the radio and TV.

Maybe something like this:

ARMAGEDDON HAS BEEN CANCELED, due to an unexpected outbreak of sanity among humankind. Governmental and Religious leaders, around the world, have been flipping their wigs, upon discovering that their former hypnotic power over the masses has suddenly evaporated.

Sufficient numbers of people, in all nations, have simply lost their tolerance for death and destruction, it seems -- and this very surprising trend is causing consternation (to say the least!) among the High and Mighty everywhere! One Religious Pooh-Bah (who insisted on anonymity) said, "Holy Smoke, this is the worst day of my life! It used to be, just waving our apocalyptic prophecies under people's noses would set whole continents of the suckers against each other, like rabid dogs! And our investments in the weapons industry gave us a great income! But not any more, it's TERRIBLE, it's turning us into beggars, and our flocks are LEAVING!!"

The Armageddon story, of course, is the granddaddy of all prophecies! The final curtain-call! Right now, as I write this, the Israeli army is poised on the Israel-Lebanon border, seemingly about to invade Lebanon, with the stated goal of eradicating Hezbollah forces there. Both sides have been attacking each other for days, with bombs and rockets (and, of course, the greatest destruction is always to civilians!).

For so many generations, we've all been steeped in this myth of Armageddon, the ultimate horror movie. We love to scare ourselves ... and there are those among us who have used that peccadillo throughout human history (at least the portion that we know of) to terrorize and enslave us with these "Religious" concoctions -- to the point that most people have come to believe they're true! That Armageddon is a foregone conclusion, a done deal!! So now we have warriors on both sides who believe it, who actually believe their divine purpose is to bring it about, the sooner the better!

WHAT CAN WE DO, the rest of us, those with a shred of sanity still remaining? We can hold a feeling of peace in our hearts, and love -- and we can make connections with others who feel the same, and our combined energies will emanate to everything around us. Our peaceful and sane vibrations can put out the fires of Armageddon before they progress any further!

Here's one example: right now, as the bombs and rockets are falling -- as the Militarists and Religionists are locked in their hypnotic dance with their perceived "enemies" -- numbers of sane, everyday Lebanese and Israelis are sending messages of peace and compassion and support to each other, via the internet (and, no doubt, plenty of prayers are flying back and forth even faster)! Somehow, somehow, I keep feeling, our vibrations of peace and love and humanity shall erase the road to Armageddon.... One of these days, our self-styled puppet-masters will announce a war, and no one WILL show up!! Then what will they do? Maybe just die of broken hearts : ^ )....

NEXT TIME someone gives you the spiel about the infallibility of Biblical prophecy, ask them if Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy when he made his ceremonious entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey; was he fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9? And, when they say yes, you can tell them to pull out their trusty Bible and actually READ Zechariah, starting with Chapter 3 ... and they will discover no such prophecy there! They will discover that Zechariah (in 9:9) was merely describing a person of his own time period (hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus!), a messiah ("anointed one") named Joshua the son of Josedech, who had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey at that time! (If you need more confirmation, see www.messiahliar.com/JoshuaTheKing.php.)

Then you can ask them, if Jesus was truly who they believe he was, how is it that HE could have mistaken Zechariah 9:9 for a prophecy, which he made such a deliberate effort to "fulfill"?

If they are honest enough to actually contemplate this, they will see that the entire foundation of their "Christian" belief-system has suddenly disintegrated, right before their eyes! And maybe -- MAYBE! -- they will have to concede that the foundation of their belief in Armageddon is a delusion also. They will have to concede that there is nothing Divine about the prophecy of it, and that, if it does fulfill itself, it will be only because of the suffocating weight of a couple thousand years of human expectation!

I would prefer to close the door on the whole Armageddon scenario, and to start expecting a world in which Government and Religion crumble like sand castles in a rising tide of personal awareness and responsibility. Where Government and Religion are simply not needed, because "we the people" have become responsible enough to govern ourselves, to treat each other with fairness and compassion, and to stay connected with our divine Source!

Wouldn't you?

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