Great model inspires great photo

The spectacular Ms. Diane Lien gracefully illustrates the principle
"As Above, so below."

Real Tweet

I've been exploring the Twitter phenomenon. Walking into my building today, I heard a real tweet that was mind-blowing. It was a sweet reminder of what is real and what is construct. It is easy to find websites with recorded birdsong. I don't know what bird I heard this morning, but here's a nice one, the spring song of the Rock Wren:


http://www.naturesongs.com/trogpeuc.html#trog

Smart commercial minded Tweeters are going to find a way to use this as a marketing tool, no doubt. Oh well, go for it. Just don't forget to listen to the real sounds:)

Its funny and apt that when I Googled for copyright free bird images the first one that came up was the mockingbird:)

Conscious One

I discovered a delicious new website with many treasures. The first thing that I saw was a very well produced little video on the subject of the Inner Child that really touched and moved me. They call these little videos WisdomFlash and I checked out several more that were very good, but not quite as profoundly moving as that first one. Here's the link to the site:

http://www.consciousone.com/

Cutting through to to the truth on the economy via R. Maybury

Richard Maybury is a remarkable author and speaker on the Economy. Here is a recent talk that he gave called "What Obama Does Not Know". Thanks to John Houlgate for listing this on Facebook!

http://www.chaostan.com/bulletin-050209.html

Evening view

Practice

I read two articles today on the theme of Practice and wanted to share them with you. The first was in a New Dimensions Newsletter. Thanks to Michael Toms for this. Here it is:


The Best Spiritual Practice: Does Practice Really Make Perfect?
by Jonathan Ellerby, Ph.D.

It seems almost silly to have to say it, but to improve at anything practice is almost always essential. Right? Even if you want to get good at doing nothing, you still need to do a lot of it! Most people know that if you want to be physically fit, you need regular exercise. If you want a university degree, you'll need to study and apply yourself. If you want to be an excellent musician, actor, doctor, parent, friend, boss, or carpenter, you have to be prepared for a process of trial and error, constant intention, and practice, practice, practice.

Why then do people not realize that this same rule applies to our spiritual life? These days I find that many people expect spiritual growth to come ease. Of course, I am more than happy to recommend my new book or my new CD set to help people on their spiritual journey –but, I'd be deceiving you and myself if I thought that one book, one CD program, or even an article or blog could change a person completely and forever. Could it make an impact? Yes. Could it make a change completely and forever? Not likely, you need to practice what you've learned for that to happen.

Did you ever notice how people who do yoga or meditation or even prayer on a regular basis call it a "practice"? That's because they know that while each individual session has power, a long series of individual sessions add up to more than the sum of the parts. We have "a practice," because in the moment we are experiencing it, it teaches us and gives us an experience of peace and connection. We also know that the real work happens when you get up and head into your day – that is when you practice what you learned in your practice! That's why we need to go back to the practice again and again. Athletes have the off-season to practice; that is their time out. Happy, balanced, loving people have a spiritual practice, and that is their time out from the busy demands of life.

Remember, spirituality is an experience – not just an idea or a belief. It is not enough to have the right concept, you have to be able to live it. That is spiritual growth. It's a way of being, and that requires a practice. A practice is a regular activity that helps you connect with your highest intentions: inner peace, compassion, a feeling of interconnectedness, joy, pure consciousness, or union with God. It could be prayer, going to church, meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, singing in a choir, walking in nature, helping others, going on retreat or studying with a master. In my book Return to the Sacred, I highlight and explain twelve practices that seem to be universal to all cultures throughout time.

This is where lots of people get confused. "How do I pick a practice? What if I don't like my religion of origin? What if my friends all love yoga and I hate it, what is wrong with me?" The best spiritual practice is the one that works for you. The foundation of my CD set "Your Spiritual Personality" is the idea that we all have different spiritual personalities. The same way some people love to read and others love to run; some love chocolate and some love vanilla; not every practice is for everyone. What matters is that you pick something that makes a difference for you, and stick with it! In time, a spiritual practice will not make you perfect, but it will give you the wisdom and grace to manage all that life presents.

---

Jonathan Ellerby's work and training has taken him deeply into the worlds of Indigenous Healing, corporate culture, and Integrative Medicine. He has traveled the world to meet and study with spiritual teachers from more than 40 cultural traditions. With a doctoral degree in Comparative Religion, and ordination as an Interfaith Minister, he is the spiritual Program Director for the acclaimed Canyon Ranch Health Resorts and the author of Return to the Sacred: Ancient Pathways of Spiritual Awakening (Hay House 2009) and the CD set, Your Spiritual Personality: Finding the path That's Right for You (Sounds True 2009)

The second one was in a NY Times Opinion page recommended by Brian Johnson of Philosopher's Notes. Thanks Brian! I will just provide the link; the article is titled "Genius: the Modern View" Just to let the cat out of the bag, the author suggests that Genius is more likely due to extensive practice rather than inborn genetic gifts or talent or other factors. Its worth reading. I would love to read your feedback too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/opinion/01brooks.html

Maverick Moneymakers

This young man by the name of Mack Michaels has made over 2 million dollars online and he has created a website to teach you how. His website has been number 2 on Clickbank in its category for quite a while, so they must be doing something right!

I have spent the last few hours checking into his methods; he does know his stuff, he is very thorough and enthusiastic. I do believe you could make some serious bucks by learning his methods. Check 'em out:



http://huzone.maverick66.hop.clickbank.net/

Pharmacuticals in Fish

Remember that Simpson's episode where they find a three-eyed fish in lake Springfield and present it to Mr. Burns for his dinner? I just got through reading an article by the intrepid Health Ranger, Mike Adams that sort of reminds me of that. The culprit this time is not radiation but pharmaceutical pollution: http://www.naturalnews.com/025933.html

Something like this could ruin my first spring fishing trip! I won't let it, but we do need to fight these big Pharma bastards that are ruining our health care system, polluting our bodies and our environment, the list just goes on and on.

Almost Spring!

I want to relish this image taken behind my building on March 12. The icy pond, the brown grass. This is the before picture, soon we will have the after! And you know what that is:) Green grass, flowing water reflecting the sky and the trees, trees agreen and oxygenating the air, yum!

Now

I have been thinking a lot about what is going on now, particularly the economic turmoil in America and around the world. People of good will everywhere want Obama to succeed but I think we make a mistake expecting political solutions to the current mess.

Obama is charismatic, has great good will, but the one guy in Washington who might have some real viable long term solutions probably doesn't have his ear. Ron Paul summarized the situation quiet succintly and poetically: "You can't unburst the bubble".

America needs to get back to integrity. We need to return to the Gold standard, both metaphorically and literally. The Fed, which has been making so much noise, is one of the real causes of the problem. We need to get rid of it altogether. Imagine how immediately the problems of inflation, deficit spending, etc. would be solved if America was not paying interest to a private corporation for every dime that is put into circulation.

But it is easy for a lowly blogger like myself to make these grand statements. What is the likelyhood of these things happening? Things will have to get a lot worse before these kind of radical solutions are even considered, if even then.

Which is why I have mixed feelings about recoveries now. America has lost its way, and Obama is a leader with intergrity whose heart is in the right place. But he doesn't have the profound understanding of how things work to really make the necessary changes.

It is up to us to adapt to the current realities. What is called for is for us to have integrity in our own lives. It comes back to what Gandhi said about being the change you want to see in the world. That's it!

I appreciate the winds of change that are blowing because we all do need to reexamine our values and get back to basics. That's a good thing. Life is simple and if our current difficulties motivate us to reduce the noise in our life and do only what we need to do, then they are serving their purpose spiritually.

Life is about learning to love. All the rest is distraction. Hard times may require us to reduce our distractions just so we can survive. If we have families, we want to take care of them. So we readjust our priorities and take care of business first.

Its all good:)

Easy World

Having a rough day? Ease on back into easy world:)
http://www.iliveineasyworld.com/

25 Random things about me

1. I just celebrated 40 years on my chose spiritual path in January. The resonance of this anniversary is still being felt.
2. Mary Carroll Moore and Lloyd King doing this exercise was the direct inspiration for me jumping in. It just hit me we are all three Aries. I have been working on a memoir for years. It amazes me that Mary has published so many good books. I want to know how to finish and publish one!
3. I have officially been married five times although I only had kids in one marriage.
4. The only ex-wife I maintain steady contact with is Sheila, the mother of my kids. Most folks know she is also known as Omnec Onec from Venus.
5. The most memorable year of my childhood was 1954. I was 11. I spent the summer at Circle Pines Center in Michigan. Big Bill Broonzy was the second cook, my mom was his boss. He interpreted his job to mean Resident Blues Singer; I often got called on to substitute in the kitchen for him. I love revisiting my memories from that year. My mom gave birth to my wonderful little sister that October.
6. I lived in Berkeley and Big Sur, California in the early 60s. I still dream about Big Sur all the time and I love to look at the web-cam Nepenthe has online:`http://www.nepenthethebigsur.com/ The house I lived in was right over the hill from Nepenthe.
7. I spent most of my working life driving a cab on the streets of Chicago. I usually loved this work, it rarely felt like a job. I had a zillion cool experiences, met and chatted with countless interesting people, and got many important life lessons.
8. I also met many famous people. I picked up Studs Terkel and his wife Ida and established a relationship with them. It helped that they knew my mom from their work together in progressive politics. Ida was a sweetheart and Studs was always his awesome self. Lloyd, one of the folks who inspired this list, also was quoted in Stud's book on Race. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-studs-terkel-dead,0,2321576.story?page=1
9. Probably my favorite random cab experience was picking up Ray Brown and Milt Jackson, two of my jazz heroes. I had been thinking about going to their show but had to work. They insisted I come to the gig and how could I refuse? They signed my sketchbook and I did a cool sketch of them playing at the Showcase.
10. I also picked up Sid Caesar a couple of times when he was in town doing a show at the Briar Street Theatre with Imogene Coca. He was very gracious. My mom was still alive then and he autographed my day-timer with a personal note to her. I told him about watching “Your Show of Shows” when I was a kid, one of the first things I remember watching on TV. Sid had a certain nobility to his presence.
11. John Belushi fell into my lap when I was sketching one night at the Earl of Old Town. He was drunk. People had been elbowing each other when he was up on stage singing the blues but I didn’t know who he was. I hadn’t had a TV for years and so I didn’t see his early work on SNL until much later and I missed him at Second City too, even though it was right across the street. I just thought he was a mediocre blues singer:)
12. The most important person I ever met in my life was Paul Twitchell. Meeting him was a life changing event that is still resonating. I met him inwardly after reading his biography and finally in the physical in 1969. He claimed to be the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master and when I found out it was true and who that really was, my life was never the same.
13. Back in the 60’s I hitchhiked around the country twice. I have visited all 48 contiguous states although not all hitchhiking. I have never crossed an ocean in the physical, hitching or otherwise:) I have been as far South as Oaxaca in Mexico and just a few miles into Canada North. I would love to do more physical traveling although I satisfy my travel jones in the dream state which allows the ultimate freedom and the price is right:)
14. Back in the 60’s I had a minor motorcycle accident coming back to Berkeley from San Francisco State college on my Puch cycle. A guy in a car made a left turn, caught my rear wheel and knocked me down. I got a small puncture wound in my knee. Some friends came and picked me up. When I realized how vulnerable I was, this permanently cured me of my desire to ride motorcycles.
15. The one other memorable incident that happened on this same bike was crossing the Golden Gate bridge into Marin county. There was a strong cross wind, I hit an expansion joint, flew up and literally came down a lane over. Fortunately there was no one in the other lane. This should have cured me of my motorcycle mania but it took the incident described in #14 to do it.
16. I’m a pretty decent cook. Although I never was formally taught, I made a great soup from scratch without a recipe the first time I tried. I’m sure this came from watching my mother in the kitchen. She was an amazing cook and I guess I just learned without realizing it. I never asked her to show me how.
17. I went from being homeless to living in a million dollar house in Lake Forest, IL within the course of about three years. I should add that the house wasn’t mine, I was just house sitting for a friend who owned it and wintered in Florida. This is the subject for a much longer piece. It mostly has to do with the power of attention.
18. I recently moved into a low cost housing facility in Round Lake Beach, IL. It’s the first time in my life I have ever lived in a building with an elevator. I am grateful for this apartment now although I resisted the idea of living in a county housing facility. Its actually quite nice for the most part. The rent is based on 30% of your income so its dirt cheap, clean and quite livable. Not like the housing projects in the city. This is Northern Lake county, a whole ‘nuther world.
19. One of the old men I met yesterday is named Ernie Forester. He is 84, was a gunnery officer in the Pacific theater during WWII. I want to introduce my video game-loving grandsons to him. This guy shot down real planes with real shells, kids.
20. I have already started a blog about my new digs. I call it Lamb’s Lambs. The resident manager’s name is Pam Lamb. I couldn’t resist:)
21. I love all color. It is one of the gifts of life that makes it worth living.
22. I have had a blessed life. I still am working on giving back as much as I have been given. It seems hardly possible although I love the effort. Yea Yoda, I know, there is no try, only do:)
23. Contemplating the gift of the present moment always inspires me.
24. My last wife passed in ’02 and I often wonder if I will find another suitable partner. I miss that a lot although I really love and relish my solitude and won’t give it up unless its really, really right.
25. It is so cool to contemplate the community of friends that inspired this and is going to read it. I love you all.

hot dog

Beth Tyler posted this picture on Facebook which is the very definition of viral. It required sharing! Mustard, no Ketchup!

Stop Fluoridation!

I would like to stop buying bottled water, but from the research I have done, filtration and other processing can remove everything but Fluoride from tap.

Fluoridation is a big scam perpetrated on the public. Christopher Bryson in his book The Fluoride Deception says:
“Fluoride science
is corporate science,
fluoride science is DDT science,
it’s asbestos science,
it's tobacco science,
it’s a racket.”

The organization that is fighting the good fight is the Fluoride Action Network. Go to their website, take some action! Let's get our tap water drinkable again:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/

Miso: Soup part two

When one writes his personal experience, what ends up on paper/the screen is always just the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more that passed through my consciousness in that hour of soup preparation that what you have read is truly the tip of the iceberg. I trust you got that from my last sentence in part 1.

I wanted to mention Miso. This is another key ingredient in my soup. I learned about Miso from Dodie Bellamy many years ago when we had a brief life together. She is a very good cook and she taught me about adding Miso to soup. Thanks Dodie!

Our little live-together ended suddenly when I asked her to leave. We're talking 35 or so years ago. I often felt like I had been cruel and brusque.

Who should request friendship on Facebook recently but Dodie. She is married and living in San Francisco and doing poetry still and looks happy. It was so cool to be reconnected; basically I always loved her and was glad we could again be friends. Of course virtual friends are not real friends, at least in my experience, but they can be, and in this case we have such old karma together its nice that it feels all healed.

To say these are extraordinary times is to repeat the obvious. But I am amazed and excited by what is happening now that the winds of change are blowing so hard and cold. I am so grateful for all the years I have studied the spiritual life.

I know how to live on nothing and be blissfully content. I don't need anything that I am not provided with and I feel such gratitude for the way my life is going.

Sure I need to lose weight, etc. etc. but on balance I am a happy camper. Here, have some soup!

Soup

I had a great day. I signed a lease on a new, better, cheaper apartment. I got my heater fixed on my old Honda, although that didn't hold. I spent most of the day with my ex, and we always enjoy each others company. It was a remarkable coincidence that she had an appointment at a medical clinic at almost the same time and in the same area as my new building. Yes the universe conspired:) So I drove her and we spent the day together.

I got home fairly late and pretty much feeling exhausted. I realized that I had bought soup ingredients and I had scheduled myself to make soup also. I could have done it tomorrow, but I decided to go ahead, it only takes an hour.

I normally love making soup. It is a familiar ritual and allows me to contemplate as I work, since I have done everything many, many times before. Tonight was no exception.

My mother was a great cook and although she never formally taught me, I guess I spent enough time in the kitchen watching her that when I decide to start making soup from scratch many years ago I just went ahead. I don't think I ever consulted a cook book, I just followed my nose.

The first soup I made turned out pretty decent. I remember when she was still alive I asked her to sample my freshly made soup. She tasted it thoughtfully and said, "Its good but it needs tomatoes". I had forgotten to put in a can of cubed tomatoes which is what I have done ever since.

Except tonight, I realized I had forgotten the tomatoes again! I could blame it on Mercury retrograde, but never mind. I forgive myself and I was somewhat amused at making this same old error.

I was very conscious of the fact that I was cooking vegetables. I know the chicken and barley need the processing of heat, but I kept thinking of all the enzymes I was killing by cooking these beautiful organic mushrooms, onions, peppers, broccoli, garlic and yellow squash.

The raw food folks are definitely on to something. My making of soup was so much governed by habit and tradition. I though of that story about the woman who cut off the top half of a pot roast and threw it away. When asked why, she said, that's the way my mother did it. As you probably know, her mother did it that way because she didn't have a pan big enough to fit the whole roast.

Consciousness has been brought to the task. I love that there are always variations on the ingredients.

Food can be a great metaphor. What ever we put our attention on is food for us. Does it truly nourish or is it poison? I have been watching TV too much. I think of giving it up like some artists I admire, but all I really want to do is just be much more discriminating in what I watch.

After I made my soup I sat down in front of the TV and caught the rebroadcast of Chicago Tonight. Phil Ponce was doing a wonderful interview with a literary academic about Blagojevich's use of poetry in his recent press conferences. The man was very, very insightful. I loved it. I don't want to give up this kind of TV!

Mostly today with the warm Leo moon I was just feelin' the Love. I am blessed and grateful for every moment of this life. I would like to do a better job of being of service, and now I know how.

Spiritual Lessons and Growing from Hardship

Normally I sleep in on Sunday morning. I woke up around 6am this last Sunday and realized that this was the day I should finally get back to the Rogers Park Eckankar center and attend a Worship Service. I hadn't been to one in a long time and not only that, I was supposed to be the manager of the center so I was way overdue for a visit.

I especially wanted to see the remodeling job that had been done, supervised by my old buddy Ellen O'Keefe. Ellen is a great artist and I really wanted to see what she had done with that modest little space.

An amusing thing happened when I looked up and found what the topic was going to be for this particular worship service: Spiritual Lessons and Growing from Hardship. I had to chuckle; I may know a bit about that, I thought, no wonder I need to go.

I had experienced homelessness for the first time a few years ago. I had moved more times in the last few years than I care to count. Been broke? Sure. It is pretty hard to go hungry in America so I never had that problem, but I certainly had my share of what many would consider hardships in the last few years especially.

Experiencing close up the death of my mother and a few years later my wife was no picnic either; all that had happened recently enough that I could relate spiritual lessons learned.

This is how it happens with the ECK (Spirit). You get a nudge and if you're smart you pay attention to it. Trust me, there are times when I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep but fortunately, this wasn't one of them.

The Rogers Park Center is a tiny two room storefront right on the lakefront. Ellen had done a magnificent job transforming the place. As the room filled up, I saw a lot of familiar faces. In fact I knew everyone in the room except for one person. I should add that the average age of the 15 or so people there was in my rough estimation close to 50.

Vicky, the clergy was walking with a cane, Rosy sitting next to me had just had a hip replacement, and just by the age of the group there was no doubt that everyone had stories to tell that could relate to the subject.

So after Vicky made some opening remarks and read some quotes from some ECK books, the topic got opened up for discussion. She had hurt her knee when she was dancing with her students; thus the cane. The first question that was asked was something to the effect; Have you experienced any hardships? What have you learned?

After Vicky asked the question there was this silence. I had to laugh, and so did everyone else. Yes, how much time do you have?

So we talked about how we had dealt with the issues that had been dealt us. Afterwards, I thought about that pregnant silence. Eckists are taught to find the spiritual lessons in their life experiences and the folks in this group were used to doing that. Perhaps it was modesty that kept people from speaking.

Most of the session was spent listening to one very sincere man who was trying to overcome a tobacco addiction. He got lots of good advice from the group which essentially can be summed up thus; It may not be easy but you gotta tough it out and do what you have to do to get through it. Persevere.

He was advised to call upon the Mahanta, which is the Inner Master that works with each individual chela (student) in ECKANKAR and listen to and follow whatever inner instruction he is given. You gotta walk that lonesome valley by yourself, as John Jacob Niles used to plaintively sing. With a little help from your Friend, WahZ..That's the spiritual name of the Master.

People talked about using the "as if" principle and imagining oneself as a non- tobacco user. This guy chewed, he didn't smoke. He gratefully took it all in.

I think the other reason that not much was said by the experienced folks there about their hardships was that they realized that essentially we were all very fortunate. Rosemary who had the hip replacement talked about experiencing discomfort before hand and she got advised that the only way she was going to be able to function normally again was to get this major surgery. She said she had to train like an Olympic athlete just to prepare for the surgery. But she wanted it so she did what she had to do and so she got through it and now she could look forward to gardening again in the spring, playing with her grand kids, etc.

Rosy didn't say it but she knew that she was fortunate to be living in circumstances that allowed her to have the option of having that hip replacement. Everyone living in America has more good karma than they realize.

Seeing the challenges in our life as opportunities for spiritual growth is a powerful perspective to have. It transforms everything.

I mentioned experiencing homelessness. I should also mention that a year later I was living in a million dollar house in Lake Forest. How did that happen? In the first case I was worried about being homeless and after putting so much attention on it, it was inevitable that I experience it.

In the second case, I had a long time fascination with Lake Forest. When I was in the limo biz I spent a lot of time driving its beautiful streets, dropping off and picking up folks there. I put a lot of energy and emotion into wondering what it would be like to live there. Again, the common denominator was attention.

Where attention goes, there energy flows. Or as Dr. Bernard Jensen put it, your attitude is your altitude. Where are you flying?

Zen Habits

I just subscribed to this very cool and practical blog. Lots of clean design, good suggestions, well communicated.

Great attitude too! Here is a post title: Open Source Blogging: Feel Free to Steal My Content.

Here's the link: http://zenhabits.net/