Why Oh Why Go Anywhere?

flies waiting at the john

flies waiting at the john

Stuck here at JFK airport for friggin hours, on our way back from Carter’s 50th HS reunion at Phillips Exeter Academy the last four days. It’s madness here in delta wing. Flight now delayed and maybe we’ll remain vagabonds wandering the aisles forever and ever and ever.

Plus we had a sleepless night when, after returning from a great Evening out with old time friends to find a next crises surrounding our daughter’s newly-divorced situation. All is well in that category now but carter the consort Had to expend great deal of energy to rectify. We’ll be home Past midnight — and it’s times likes these that one feels like never Going beyond ones own comfortable palace. Oh, did I mention the airport colds we’re nursing? The delayed-by-9 hours flight (never fly anything but direct!), and … the lost luggage we’ll no doubt shortly discover (yes, we did!). But Lucky Us to have such palaces, our homes! I’m rushing back to my desk and drawing board, anxious to finalizE my book — and have plans for the next and the next ones as well.

While in Exeter I got to visit my old
Cambridge-pal, the artist who lived on top floor of me when I was barely 20 — where I first met you. We hardly ever see each other but when we do it’s sweet. She still smokes pot every day and admittedly is a daily 1-2 glass wino, and I can tell she’s stuck in that lack of direction because of that. Last time I saw her she said the same things,”why do I keep doing this?”.
I didn’t wanna tell her she’s an addict, even though she has a sweet house In the country, a pothead-environmentalist husband, an well regarded following and active-with-students studio And extensive organic garden. Makes me appreciate my sober life even more Than ever. Besides, traveling consumes energy. Sustainable living means staying put. I’m planting myself next to my tomatoes. Except for that occasional fling in Costa Rica.

Couldn’t get good internet in Hampton inn we stayed at so
Will check out that video you sent me
Tomorrow. Big hug from
Tired teZ aka Lordflea
Ps. Remind me never to go thru
JFK
Ever
Again. Amen. Helpme
Not
Kill the
Next
Screaming
Kid.
Ha fucking ha

Listen to your Inner Wisdom

Sing the praise of Oneness

The World as We Create IT

Traveling in paradise, literally, because Costa Rica is not only a beautiful jungle dream land but also a country that has no army, so therefore all its resources, economic and humanitarian, are devoted to making life better for all its citizens and the entire world. Their motto is “Pura Vida”—pure life—and that is what it feels like being here. Decades ago the government decided to concentrate on eco-tourism instead of other industries, so many people are here interested in Nature, and that´s just great! These are the kinds of people I like to be around, those who think of the Earth as part of their own lives, not separate, not different from their humanness. Yes, here in Costa Rica you feel the Earth is alive!!!  i´ll post whenever i can get to an internet cafe. love and light from Lordflea

A Great Idea!

hi friends, first of all, in honor of my new Skype spanish tutor from San Jose, Costa Rica, whose internet name is “gringuita” I am putting up something that i blogged about many many moons ago, but she found so interesting that she requested it. so here goes! Some of you who read Lordflea know that I’m big time into xeroscape, in which grassy lawns are removed and nice artistic plantings are created instead. Well, when I moved to our new home …. this is what we had to start with:

lawn and only lawn---everywhere!

lawn and only lawn---everywhere!

so…much to my neighbors’ amazement, i set out to KILL the LAWN (okay okay I used chemicals, I admit….but you have to get kid of the root system so isn’t that a good use of otherwise “bad” things our modern world created? I think so!). And then I designed a native grasses, timber bamboo, exotic tree-fern, giant Floridian elephant-ear jungle, in which my consort Carter and I thrive happily to this very day. Here’s what the new xeroscape looked like after just ONE YEAR’s growth! I kid you not!

a temple of nature---everywhere!

a temple of nature---everywhere!

Now, a second topic …. i have good news! thanks to my friend pam, the wondrous sculptor and artist of magical beings her own Self….

made by Pam, NOT pam

made by Pam, NOT pam

this is Pam the gentle soul yogini artist wife-mother-daughter-friend healer and healed and healing-to-others ….

Pam the GREAT

Pam the GREAT

anyway …. Pam just finished reading my novel and she suggested i create a separate blog and bring the book to all of YOU with daily (or … knowing me, more like weekly) excerpts. So I am …. already have! I am working on the “look” of the blog, but soon, very soon, you will be able to start reading Dharma Brat, and find out for yourself the skinny about Lordflea. I’ll announce here on Lordflea when Dharma Brat the Book is ready to be visited. Complete with illustrations of course.

She says I should Twitter, but good heavens! i ain’t got time for that shit! i barely get my bed made some days har har.

have a good ‘un today, my friends in spirit and laughter. Remember to keep breathing!

in Love and Light, lordflea

Never Give UP

hi friends,

it’s a gorgeous day here in st. augustine, florida! the ocean is warming up after such a harsh nino-driven winter. the damaged plants are beginning to unfurl their bitterly bitten faces to the once again benevolent sun. trials, test, storms, continuous harshness–we have survived! just like the plants and animals in nature, we humans will survive just about anything put out to us—if we never give up!

learning lessons from nature

learning lessons from nature

bio-mimicry is a scientific study of how we can “copy” and learn from observing how nature has so magnificently maintained its steadfastness through these millions of years of Earth’s existence. Take the drawing above, for instance. This is a place in Costa Rica called “the whale’s tail” in English, “playa de ballena” en espanol. The first time I saw it, and understood its “bio-mimicry” significance, I was awe-struck. Allow me to share with you the impact it had on me, and how i think it relates to all of us, each person, as we try to compassionately share this spinning blue planet in the middle of space.

The “tail” you see projecting into the Pacific Ocean is a very long, about half-mile long, sand bar. It gets completely covered up with each high tide, and with each low tide, the shape of the whale’s tail is revealed! People walk out to the very end of it during low tide. However, during high tide it would be difficult to even swim out due to the dangerous rocks and currents.

The most amazing thing about this natural land formation is …. THIS is where whales come to mate! THIS is where they are somehow, mysteriously, alluringly, attracted to come, and they feel safe enough to join in union. Here is where of all places on earth, whales are drawn to relate to the land as if it were an extension, a replica in more basic ways than just “the physical shape” of their own watery existence.

Truly, this place speaks an immeasurable, unknown “bond” between one type of life (land) and another (sea).

How does this relate to my life? to yours? to the entire world’s ability to persevere and work for raising our consciousness until one day—yes, it will happen!—we will ALL realize we are a true family of man sharing this gorgeous garden planet of ours?

land and sea, air and you and me--we are ONE

land and sea, air and you and me--we are ONE

have you ever been to a place, or met a person for the first time, and felt instantaneously “at home”? As if you’d been there before, known them before, felt safe and unthreatened where, and with whom you were at? This is the “message” of “the whale’s tail.” The uncanny, ineffable reasoning that, for some of us (like the whales in their centuries-old relationship with playa ballena) we “see” the places, the beings with whom we can feel the interconnectedness of all life. Someday soon, people will elevate themselves to understand this, and we must always work for that goal, keeping it in plain sight. This is the expansive “psychic side effect” of practicing meditation on a consistent basis. By sitting quietly and allowing your mind to shut off (for at least a FEW minutes!) one is….like the whales attracted to the whale’s tail beach close to the equator….we feel “at home” for some unknown, unexplained reason. We know we are safe. We trust our inner connection to something much much bigger than our little ol’ life.

When we stop trying to figuring everything out, when the discussions of politics and religions, and the endless intellectual reasoning ceases, if only for a little while….what is left is….everything! Everything is connected. And to “feel” this one must exercise a “new muscle.” Your newly developed, invisible “muscle” is the psychic ability everyone has, but very few people take the time to develop, that allows us to perceive unity consciousness. Oneness. Just like a person who wants awesome abs, if one wants to feel as related to all of life as the whales feel to this unusual land formation on a sandy shore in Costa Rica—learn to follow your breath. Breathe in, and watch how the breath stills your mind. Breathe out, and observe the intrigue of the life force, your breath’s opening an inner gate within you. Continue following your breath, slowly, purposefully, reverentially, in and out. If a thought comes along, just observe it….as if your “idea” was merely a cloud passing through the “blue sky” of your mind. Just watch it. You don’t have to “catch it.” You don’t have to “talk to it.” You can just …. watch it disappear. And what is left when your thoughts disappear?!!?

your true nature, connected to all

your true nature, connected to all

Ahhhhhh….that is when you wil see for yourself the never-endingness of us all. How we have a safe and secure place inside us, just as the whales have found offshore of playa ballena. Go within, watch your breath, follow your breath to the cave of your heart, and relax. Live a little! connect with the highest there is, and then, when you’re ready to resume your “life”….go back to work, hang out with your friends, feed and clothe and raise your family….you’ll be strengthened by this connection we all have. If we only TRY to find it inside. Never Give UP. Oneness is there, waiting for us to discover. Follow your breath. Watch the clouds of your mind drift away, revealing the magnificence of you.

we are all interconnected

we are all interconnected

in Light and Love, lordflea singing with you!

The personal touch

back at my desk after two weeks in costa rica, and days of catching up and dealing with… life!

where it all began ...

where it all began ...

i first went to costa rica four years ago, and took with me my first digital camera and the above notebook. Once there, I decided to do what I’d been told to do in a dream years before—to draw very small. In fact, my dream had shown me to make “stamp-size” paintings…but i decided that would be too difficult. And hence began my journey into miniature black and whites, which i’ve been sharing on lordflea sings for the last year and a half.

giant horsetail

my eyes became a microscope. i drew up closely to look more preciously, at every aspect of nature, of my companions, of the world around me. AND … this is what I usually saw:

the wonder within

i spoke to a woman, a stranger to me, yesterday and she visited my blog. she thinks i shouldn’t be anonymous. she thinks my readers need to know who i am, in order to relate to me as a person….not just the ideas and the art that i set forth in lordflea sings. i thought i’d put it out to you, who visit here, about this.

Question: do you think lordflea needs to be a “real” person, with a “photo” and an “identity” other than what I’ve been putting out to you? Also, she think I write too much. I agree. I’m going to make my posts shorter from now on. I promise. But i have so much to share with you!!! oh well, i’ll just have to blog more often. please leave a comment and tell me if you want me to “come out.” If i hear enough “yes” replies….I’ll seriously consider it.

in the Light, lordflea

a delicious meal from T Lord;s kitchen

 

a quiet moment to speak from the heart to you

a quiet moment to speak from my heart to you

 

i am on the last leg of my journey to costa rica, and am presently staying with our good friend, the mystical landscape painter tomas sanchez. using his computer is the first opportunity i;ve had to quietly and … peacefully share what;s been going on with lordflea. please excuse the peculiar typos, as i;m using a spanish keyboard with small  differences (i wonder where the question mark is, sorry, can;t find it¡).

a little taste of love...from another place altogether

a little taste of love ... from another place altogether

 

because i;m not at my own computer i can;t give you any of the photos or drawings i usually embellish my sharings with. but the above are borrowed. the first is from the photo collection of tomas, a tiny detail of one of his meditation-on-nature paintings, which no doubt you;ve seen in previous lordflea;s posts if you;ve been following my writings. and the second was just sent to me from elsbeth, my good friend who lives in the wild, the most third-world of the Caribbean (next to poor Haiti) island-country of dominica, in the west idies. she thought it was funny that she ran into this portable kitchen, completely unexpected, and totally transportable, as she traveled on a dusty unpave back road of dominica, where she lives. many years ago i also lived there. elsbeth thought this T Lord;s Kitchen bus was a fitting tribute to my spirit which still hovers around the verdant green hillsides of that lush island, nestled in between guadeloupe and martinique, smack dab in the middle of the antillean chain of tiny islands. i;ve not written a thing about the tragic earthquake in Haiti, dear readers, because it happened just when my travels began but i will talk about this later, believe me. something of such impact cannot be overlooked. it affects us all. when one part of Mother EArth suffers, as Haiti and her citizens do, we all are deeply touched. Just as the tectonic plates all touch and rub up each other, and one moving here affects another on the compelte opposite side of the globe, so too does one tragedy affect all of us on Gaia, our earthly home.

but here and now, i am in costa rica. this country is like dominica in that it is filled with mountainous terrain and is surrounded by water water everywhere. in Costa Rica you see a waterfall everywhere you turn. On one side of the coast is the pacific, while on the other is the Caribbean. My consort carter and i love this place. We have not been here for several years, so it was a delight to reconnect with all of costa rica;s many variations of climate and terrain, to join hands with all her smiling children, the ticos. The people here are soon going to the polls and expect to vote in the first female president of Costa Rica, Laura, currently the vicepresident under Oscar Arias, the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize some years back for his work in democratizing latin america.  we have been spending most of our time in the hot humid jungle hillsides of the southern central area around San Isidro de General (Perez), where we climb rocky cliffs and listen to the sounds of the congo monkeys as they swiftly travel among the treetops. i have gotten quite superb in imitating their primordial call. the first time i heard the congo call, i was reminded of the unrecogonizable sound that dinosaurs must have made, thousands of years ago, and how freaked any human would be to hear such a thing–today¡ So you can imagine how delighted i was when I found out that this sound came from the deep throated, big-mouthed howlers, who are never a threat but always a constant reminder that there ARE places on this good magnificent earth where we can still be One with Nature.

Next time I write i will continue my story of travels in costa rica, and any other thoughts that pass through this wide-opened mind i have been blessed with.

Last night was the first time we;ve seen television in weeks. we turned it on—and there was Obama giving a speech, i guess the state of the union, although i;m not sure. hope he;s doing okay, i pray for all our world leaders to not mess us up too badly. is that a futile prayer (question mark). I think not. If all of us sent our thought-seeds, our carefully directed mind-energies, to creating harmony, and stopped with the endless conflictual discussions–i think this world would be a better and more safe place in which to fulfill all our destinies.

sending you lots of love and friendly embraces, i am lordflea singing the song of Oneness—for all of us¡

divertido en paradaiso–having fun in paradise!

hola mis amigos,

my consort carter and i are on our way to the capitol of costa rica, to join our yoga friends for an evening of chanting and meditation, our favorite pasttime no matter where we are. whether in the city or the idyllic jungles of central america, nothing makes us happier than to chant the many names of the One, and to tune into our abundant energy cells, manifested by other people, nature, and our own attitudes.

this country of smiling hearts and sweet tropical fruits is surely a grand display of ¨pura vida¨—the pure life. Here one can still greet a stranger without feeling suspicious of their intentions. Here, a howler monkey can come right up to our rooftop and send their primitive greeting to the strange two-leggeds who have intruded into THEIR territory. Carter and I love to climb the vertical hillsides, spend time talking with the poetic souls of these gentle Tico people, share with other travelers we meet along the way, and plan our next contribution to humankind´s endless endeavors.

when i return to my desk i´ll share pictures and stories of people places and events that have happened these last few weeks while away. till then, rest in the awareness that we are One, that we share an interconnectedness that is real, and proven in so many visible, and invisible ways.

in the Light, lordflea

Hola de la Pura Vida—hello from the Pure Life

Friends, here I am in Costa Rica, surrounded by the primoridal sound of howler monkeys waking me up, the toucans chirping me to sleep, and the smiling faces of the people, los ticos, greeting me wherever i go.  After working hard on first a novel, and then a nonfiction proposal, my brain needed nothing but total disconnect from the world of putting words together.  Now is the time for rejuvenation, relaxation, and refreshing my commitment to helping others with my experiences. Everything is about connecting with the bigger picture, my friends. Nothing interests me more than the Mystery of Life, the magic moment of the Now, and the fact that we are all participating in an energy that connects us all—no matter where we are, or what we´re doing.

when i return to my own computer i´ll upload some nice pictures to share with all my readers. until then, please enjoy the past writings on my blog…there is a lot to share deep in previous entries of Lord Flea.

stay in the Light of Truth, enjoy the moment!

live, laugh, love, with your friend lordflea

a picture is worth a thousand words—and then some

hot off my drawing table

hot off my drawing table

today…after finishing a nonfiction writing proposal, getting it in the mail to the editor, i choose to fly off to Costa Rica for the next two weeks. Have fun with whatever you’re doing in life, my dear friends. Me! I’m going to eat lots of fresh fruit, listen to the howler monkeys, and practice mi espanol.

in the Light, with abundant love, enough for ALL,

lordflea

gathering community, the sangha

Friends,

The importance of whom we hang with is the utmost for those of us on the spiritual path. The Vedic scriptures (the Upanishads) say, “choosing to live with knowledge of the Self is like walking the edge of the razor.” What does this mean?” It means every single thing we do COUNTS. What we choose to talk about, think about, do at any given moment, even the websites we visit, the comments we make, the emails we write when we’re on our computers. Everything counts. That’s why I believe it is my sacred duty, my dharma, to offer this blog to you, as my gift.

things are not what they appear to be

things are not what they appear to be

At first glance, this blog called “Lord Flea Sings” may seem this or that to you … but if you keep coming back, go deeper, let your mind expand and open up to the offering, the sharing, the “meaning” behind the words, the art, the stories — the intent — then you’ll come to realize that this place is about what many of us are doing these days — we are part of the SANGHAM (plural of one sangha, a Sanskrit word), the “community of spiritual seekers,” whose sole purpose is to celebrate Spirit and to help awaken the rest of humanity.

the living organism of seekers united, the sangha

the living organism of seekers united, the sangha

some might ask: Why bother?

Some people don’t think they need awakening. Some people are already awake (yeah!). Yes, both statements are true. But many people whom I speak to are so very happy and grateful that here we share the inspiring stories that oftentimes make just the special difference to a person, between having an “ordinary” day and quite an “extraordinary” one.

playa baleena, "the whale's tail" ...

playa baleena, "the whale's tail" ...

For an example, let me just describe what the drawing above represents, because, as those readers of lordflea know, we use art a lot to “speak” what can’t be said. At first glance this little black and white drawing is a weird, abstract design, with squiggles and shapes…and what’s going on? Yes, this is what art often does to us. It makes us question. We start asking ourselves, “what’s going on?” “what could this possibly mean?” “Is the artist trying to tell me something?”

In this case the drawing is of a natural phenomenon, drawn from the vantage point of a flying bird (bird’s eye perspective) of a National Park on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, called in English, “The Whale’s Tail,” in Spanish, Playa Ballena. When the tide is in there is only water. When the tide goes out, ahhhh, this is when the magic starts peeking its head quite literally out of the sand. The long stretch of sand slowly reveals itself, and the “tail” of the long white sandy beach (a permanent sandbar, actually) spreads out, for quite a distance on either side, resembling the shape of a HUGE whale — which can only be seen from above. And — here’s the phenomena — whales are attracted to this spot and travel looooong distances to this specific spot each year to do their mating ritual. The “connection” between the way the land is shaped (not “seen” by the whales) and the very animals the land resembles, who make their long voyage every year to frolic in its waters for the specific purpose of rejuvenating their species — well, this is nothing short of the kind of “connection,” phenomena, magical occurence, the “Secret” — whatever you call it — the inter-connectedness that ALL of us have. But in this case we’re speaking of the very land we live on, Planet Earth, “being connected” to the largest species that resides upon it, the Right Whales.

We are All One. Playa Ballena is a clear “message” from Mother Earth that this is true. We all need to pay more attention to this, and all the messages from Planet Earth, our Mother. Thus … spread the word about lordflea, and urge people to devote their time to learning about the spiritual connectiveness of this “earthly life.”

we are all ONE

we are all ONE

Now …. just think about this “connection” we all share for a moment. Does it not fill your mind with wonder, like a glowing white light illuminating your mind, that comes each and every time we are reminded of the possibilities of our human lives? And doesn’t it bring a smile to your lips, to think what endless spiritual achievements awaits the family of humankind?

Ahhhhh….now THAT’s living spiritually. And that’s what we try to do here, at lordflea. thanks for visiting my blog.

Big Strong Angel spreading the Word

Big Strong Angel spreading the Word

in the Light, your friend lordflea, singing the song of Oneness for ALL of us