Coming Home - Part 1

The spiritual, emotional, psychological goals we seek – of love, peace, trust, wisdom and so on – need time and the space to ‘arrive’ in our lives. It is in the silence, the gaps, the waiting, the ‘not knowing’, the reverence for the ‘Other’, that we have a chance to connect ourselves to something more than our wandering minds and anxious hearts. ~ Philip Carr-Gomm

Much has passed since I last checked-in here. The Gregorian Calendar year has passed, the Celtic and Druid year has passed, and we’ve moved through the dark of winter near Imbolc, the first light of Spring. My beloved Katy Grace and I traveled to the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, and Ireland - for our belated honeymoon, we attended our first OBOD Gathering, and America has elected and inaugurated a new president. I’ve also been caught in a loop of what is perhaps the busiest work schedule I’ve ever lived through, and have been struggling to maintain sanity, let alone remain grounded in spiritual and musical practice.

I have so many tales and thoughts from these past few months that I scarcely know where to begin. But here I’ll offer a brief overview of the honeymoon, with some follow-on posts that delve more deeply into the openings, awakenings and synchronicities of these past few months.

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Because we were made to dance.

May all beings drink from the well of unreasonable happiness. ~ Satyen Raja

Matt Harding is a dancer. He’s also a world traveler, and used to be in the world of making video games (the career world I currently occupy). Estimates suggest that over 17 million people have viewed his video, Where The Hell Is Matt. I’ve watched the video many, many times, and nearly every time I am brought to tears by its simplicity and beauty.

I can’t really explain why, other than to say that I am moved by the beauty of wanton joy that is expressed in each scene. The schoolchildren laughing and tumbling, the young men and women dancing in the rain, the austere tribesmen joining in the fun.

I think perhaps it is that in watching these videos I am reminded that we are not meant to struggle. We are meant to lead lives filled with joy and beauty. Because we were made to dance, to sing, to play, to learn…

Meditation: Let Me Enter This Day

Let me enter this day
As The One who is untouched by all of life’s burdens
The pure manifestation of love
The infinite being and consciousness
That is already breathing me, living me.

Let me enter this day
As a mirrored reflection - better still
A unabashed source
Of Love, moving out
Toward each and every moment I meet
Along the way.

Beyond whatever limits
Being present in this particular form
May seem to impose,
Nothing ever really
Slows the pulse of Love.

Let me enter this day
Willing to receive and to offer
The beating heart of Love.

Letting Go Of Labels - Part 2 of 2

When all in the world understand beauty to be beautiful, then ugliness exists. When all understand goodness to be good, then evil exists. The Tao-Te Ching

The power of the human mind, body and spirit is magnified when energy flows freely through each, unencumbered by division, definition, categorization or constraint. When we allow ourselves to live in a world of definition, of labels, of preference, we restrict the flow of life energy through our bodies.

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Letting Go Of Labels - Part 1 of 2

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. ~Emerson

Synchronicities abound. I’ve observed over the past few years that the lives, learnings and wins of my closest friends often parallel my own. In his blog, my friend Clayton writes about his recent return to an omnivorous diet. I, too, was vegetarian for many years, up until about 2 months ago, when I allowed the label of ‘vegetarian’ to pass through me. The choice for me was not one made for health reasons. Nor was it made because I felt compelled to consume flesh once again. Instead, my choice was made because I recognized that by identifying myself as ‘vegetarian’, I was closing myself off, energetically and spiritually, to other realms of experience.

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