we’re more similar than dissimilar

hi world,

do you recognize yet how much more similar all we humans are than dissimilar?

we are One

we are One

these days i’m thinking about the warm inside feeling i get when i think about behind human, particularly at this auspicious time in human history.  things are in such flux, aren’t they?  the world is quickly changing.  people are becoming awakened in record numbers than any other time, and ancient prophecies of “the time of reckoning” is quickly approaching (2012, I believe has been mentioned by many sources, as being pivotal to earthly existence).  things will never be the same again after 9.11, i knew that the day it occured.  that heart-stopping black tuesday.  i was not there, but it felt like i was.  i had visions of the event in my meditations that have greatly influenced my thinking, and the purpose of my life.

and now, less than 40 days before the november election, everyone here in America is all heated up with the passions of choices and preferences!  yes yes yes, now is the time to be heated!  yes yes yes.  get out there and do whatever you can to ensure your choice gets elected … speak, shout, argue, implore, poll, canvas–do whatever it takes. 

but–and this is the difference between spiritualized peole and non-spiritualized–when the tally has been counted and the new president has been elected, please commit to supporting whomever is elected.  whichever party ends up in power (it is a party thing, not an personality contest, right?), it is the Spiritually Correct (SC instead of PC, ha ha!), the humanly right thing to do, to support an elected official that has been chosen by the democratic process we honor in the U.S.A. 

after 9.11 a lot of people started to bad mouth our current president, George W. Bush.  to tell you the truth, i wasn’t any happier than the next guy about what was going on, but i nonetheless felt it was my spiritual duty to support him.  why?  because things are never what they appear to be.  i feel very strongly that i, as a private citizen (even though pretty well informed, compared to some) can never know what the insiders, the diplomats, the elected representatives of the citizenry knows.  how could a private person possibly think they can know what the politicians, the military, the professionals in charge of information-gathering and decision making know.  it’s simply not possible.

we don’t know how to perform brain surgery, most of us, but we do allow a surgeon to do his job without interfering in his methods.  similarly, i have determined it’s the spiritually correct thing to do to support our leaders, once they’ve been democratically elected, which mr. Bush, for better or for worse, was.  the time for dissention is over, in my SC committed existence, once the election is over.  and with bush, the time to bitch was over late in Nov. ’00, then then again in ’04.

so…be it wrong or right…i have learned to make a decision based on my spiritual “correctness” gauge (what would my teacher do…in any particular case? i ask myself) and have since the beginning of his term, decided to give Bush the benefit of the doubt, and not voice dissent, even though in my heart i was no more certain of his methodology than the next guy (hey! does that brain surgeon have to use that scapel, need to take that tissue sample? right then? over there?).  deciding to support our legally-elected leader doesn’t mean my confusion was cleared away by my decision to do the spiritually correct thing.  no, it simply means that i remain silent when others gather to discuss and usually end by dissing the current administration, for daring to do what they did.  i’m quite sick of the ugly dissention and hope this upcoming election will end it.  it probably won’t.  it seems human nature is for people to bitch.  that’s why political ads, just as toothpaste ads, love to put down their competitors.  it’s base, ugly, non-spiritualized human nature, and unfortunately, that kind of half-asleep-ness is still the majority of the population throughout the world.

YET…the consciousness of all is awakening.  the time for awareness–the real CHANGE–is happening. 

is it wrong or right to support an unpopular leader of a nation that elected him, when so many others seem to delight in dumping on g.w.?  even though many feel he stole the election from gore?  who am i, to be so presumptuous, to think i know more than the tens-of-thousands of people involved in the presidential decision, to think what he’s done is wrong?  how insanely presumptuous that thought is, to me.

but for the answer to my inner questions, i have to go within. 

going within in times of turmoil

going within in times of turmoil

when in doubt, i always find my true answers within.  not by listening to the conflicting opinions of intellectuals, fast-talking political pundits, or even the opinion of my friends, associates and the vastly popular, majority opinion.  i go within to discover what my heart-mind says is true–for me–and i listen to no one when i go within.  i listen to the Source of All.

going within, resting in the heart-mind

going within, resting in the heart-mind

this is the process i call “awareness, acceptance, action.”  i use this three-part process for each and every tiny or large step i’ve taken, in my journey to undo my childhood hang-ups, neurosis, mental tendencies and obstructions, or any other challenges that have blocked my ability to live a happy peaceful productive life.  whether it’s political, personal, or universal concepts i need to figure out, i do so with “awareness, acceptance, action” and have thus learned to function at an amazingly high happy level of inner peace…most of the time.

like the Dalai Lama said in a book i read by him recently, “i’m not perfect.  i just keep trying.  i recongize my mistakes, and try to do better the next time.”

the above painted screen is my way of trying to render in imagery, and humbly duplicate the extremely calmly experience of becoming aware…and once aware, simply sitting in the feeling of that new awesome state, so expansive, so honey-rich with wellness, blissfully full.

this screen (two-sided) is my weird way of trying to say “the acceptance of awareness” feels awfully damn great!! beautiful enough to create fine art about.

when i’ve accepted something (like higher consciousness), i no longer have any inner (or outer) dialogue of dissention.  it simply is.

how to connect with the state of awareness: take long, deep breathes somewhere quiet, alone, serene, clean.  put any issue, situation, person, etc. into that center of quietness, once you have reached the place (through continued deep breathing) where disturbing thoughts no longer pierce the emptiness of pure awareness (within us all).  then… just listen.  listen to the Truth that emanates from the heart-mind (of all).  serenity fills (all).  Truth is pure love (in all).  Truth is pure awareness (for all).  Truth is “seeing” things that you cannot discern in “ordinary” states of consciousness (awake, sleeping, thinking, analysing, etc.).  Truth is also God speaking, but one must be very quiet in order to hear this, and have already gone through the stages of purification (no addiction, no neurosis leftovers, no inner chatter dissention) in order to “hear” this pure voice of the Divine that awaits us all … in emptiness.

often i receive answers to the questions i put out to the Universe.  sometimes they’re as clear and as loud as inner “billboards.”  sometimes i just receive a “feeling” — something like being allowed to bathe my aching hurt (mental, physical, or spiritual) in pure soothing Love.  surrounded by the sea of Truth, the ocean of Love, the atmosphere of pure Bliss, the solution to problems becomes quite clear, quite simple, quite obvious.  quite Right.  learning to do this kind of discerning is called viveka, “spiritual discrimination,” in yogic scriptures.  Truth is here all the time, if we can all learn to quiet our “monkey mind” as the buddhists call our inner chatter (also known as the “freight-train” mind in other circles), and learn to go within to tap this incredibe Source of wisdom.

once i realize my Truth i can take action.

inner wisdom as inspiration for worldly action!

inner wisdom as inspiration for worldly action!

and thus…the process of

  • awareness
  • acceptance
  • action

can easily take place within us all.  but we must go within to do it.  most of us are too lazy to go within, but–i’ve learned it’s so delicious that i actually look forward to the time when i can meditate, go within, and relax in my inner Self. 

being human is about having choices.  we all can go within and listen to our inner “guide,” that wisdom within, the Source that is innate, pure consciousness that’s available to all of us, which represents Truth.  this inner Truth is more reliable than any politician’s campaign promise, or presidential decision.  the inner Truth is, in fact, subliminally influencing our ever expanding grasp on evolutionary possibilities, more than any organized group or culture, be they religious, political, scientific, social, or philosophical.

i know that you are just like me: that we are One, that we all are connected by our inner consciousness.  that is the Truth i have discovered in my quest for knowledge of what this life is all about.

the connectedness of all

the connectedness of all

truthfully, i trust no politician.  democrat or republican.  but i am voting, and my vote will be the best i can do.  but whomever wins i will support wholeheartedly.  i hope each and every one of my fellow americans will also support our newly elected leader. my wish is that we can leave this time of dissention behind us, and enter a phase of healing and growth that will help the entire world to come together as One.

in the Light, lord flea … sending gleaming banners of joyous, energizing white Light around the democratic process of election

how it looks, how it feels

everyday i do a little bit of what some call yoga, but i prefer to describe what i do as how i’ve learned to pray with my body. it all started with PAIN. excruciating, nerve-clamping PAIN. in childhood i developed scoliosis in the sacrum area. pain became my “invisible friend” like other kids had angels, little elfs, or fairies (no no no to satsquatch!). i was in college when i taught myself how to do simple poses. there were no teachers back then (oh did you guess i’m no generation x-er?). first i did simple things…then…gradually…i relaxed …. 

Just as this person looks doing the tree pose:

this is how it looks...

this is how it looks...

 but THIS …. this is how it feels … inside!!! … to do that same pose ….

how it feels... power-full, out-of-this-world connected to ALL, throbbing energy, Oneness with Breath, with the Pulse of Being

how it feels... power-full, out-of-this-world connected to ALL, throbbing energy, Oneness with Breath, with the Pulse of Being

and so, my friend, this is why lord flea adores not only singing the calypso song of the day, but, as often as i can, to merge with my physical, visit the temple of my body, and allow my Self to become something i can’t in ordinary ways: by going into these (both simple and complex) strange poses, stilling my breath, concentrating on the energy pulsing through my consciousness, my sinewy muscles, my elasticizing tendons, my strong bones…and … holding IT!

in this way, my body has gradually become my greatest teacher. just as i’ve learned that our humanity is the greatest praise of the Divine. does that sound corny? sorry. that is exactly how i feel, after years of “doing” yoga.

oh, and i should mention here that i’ve taught hatha yoga for years to incarcerated juveniles. the very “baddest” of the bad in our so-called civilized society, that are in teenage lock-ups everywhere. i take yoga to them, and guess what? they LOVE it! those who have the guts to appear in yoga class, to the hoots and disses of their bros and sistahs of the hood, that is. but…that’s another subject for another day. they love it because with their own bodies, these kids learn how to tap into the Power Within, and … instantly … they are FREE. Truly. Remarkably. Utterly…FREE. Even while they’re there, in prison.

the pose i’m working on mostly in my practice these days is the handstand. i’m still chicken about getting away from the wall. courage is still not one of my fortes. so i’ve created my own vision to inspire me, help me relax, give me strength to connect both to the earth (with my invisible roots) and to be lifted by the ineffable Source, by holding me up up up to the Ideal–that ideal of successful connection!

getting help with handstand

getting help with handstand

i really wanted to talk about relationships today. i had something entirely different in mind, like love-relationships, parent-child relationships, person to Planet-relationships, too, when i started writing. but i guess all relationships start with that particularly intimate one each of us either has, or doesn’t, or is in the process of cultivating–that relationship with our own bodies. to be at peace with our mind; our physical self; and our Inner Self, the Spirit–that’s the basis of how we relate to the world around us.

lord flea by the red sea, rightside up

lord flea by the red sea, rightside up

this is why i do yoga. of all the methods of getting-in-touch-with-Truth i’ve experimented with (and believe me! i’ve tried a lot of ’em, not all, but hey–enough to know when a good thing’s a good thing, when you finally hit the jackpot), hatha yoga, the concentrated physical movement of coordinated breathe and muscular poses done with mindfulness, is where i find the most benefit, the best place to worship, and…get relief from any pain–mental, physical, or spiritual–in the meanwhile.

yoga, by the way, translates from its sanskrit as “discipline,” or, more precisely, “that to which one yokes oneself to.”

who, you ask, do i regard as good teachers?

well, above and beyond all my teachers is my beloved meditation master, the living saint, Swami Chidvilasananda, to whom i dedicate this blog. if you’d like to know about the ancient traditions of yogic wisdom that i study, under the tutelage of Gurumayi (Chidvilasananda’s nickname), please check out the traditional yogic philosophy, of which Gurumayi is the current teacher in the lineage of Siddha Yoga. www.siddhayoga.org

but the physical hatha yoga (hatha  translates as simply “physical”) that i do is very diverse. here’s a list of some of my favorite hatha yoga teachers.

john friend www.anusara.com

ana forrest www.forrestyoga.com  

shiva rea www.shivarea.com

rodney yee www.rodneyyee.com

baron baptiste www.baronbaptiste.com

all the great teachers they bring to kripalu www.kripalu.org

and in my own community, St. Augustine, FL www.discoveryyoga.com and Didier Razon and Ann Kiyonaga-Razon:  www.didieryoga.com

most importantly, for those of you interested in exploring the yogic way of living, is to be in touch with your breath. don’t forget to breathe! and try to be aware of your breath whenever you can. right now, in fact.

carter in warrior, and he's breathing!

carter in warrior, and he's breathing strong!

a wondrous moment, a glorious day to you.

much love, lord flea