Ahhhhh, “I Understand …”

August 2, 2017August 2, 20172 Comments

The seven chakras

We’ve been journeying together up the different levels of human consciousness, step by step. From the very first awareness of being alive, the 1st chakra … when we’re aware of our breath, and the basic ways we take care of ourselves (eating, protecting from the elements, etc.). Then comes the arising awareness of our urge for creativity (both procreative and spiritual) which is the 2nd chakra energy. Next we become aware of, when we embrace our own Power, the 3rd chakra energy being utilized fully. Then, our Big Heart region expands and we feel love for all, starting with our own Self: this is 4th chakra awareness. Now comes our throat region opening, the 5th chakra and after this energy-center’s opening. we can only speak and serve that which is “Truth.” Each of us gets to explore what, exactly, our own “Truth” is. And, in LordFlea’s last post we discussed how it is when we arrive at the 6th chakra, the Third Eye.

The more we allow our “Eye of God” (our 6th chakra energy-center) to open, through accepting that we are One — we become familiar with the sublime state of Oneness, also known as bliss. Or, in yogic terminology: awareness of Oneness is Satchidananda (see last post for a detailed explanation of this Sanskrit word). Some of us, mostly seekers, people who have come to accept that “something more than what we can see is going on here in life,” accept this state of Oneness when they experience it, usually in meditation. Oneness is more than a “state of mind.” Some people deny Oneness, or go through their life not believing this mind-set, expansion of perception is possible. Oneness really is a “state of being” — the sensation, or actual experiential knowledge — that everything in existence is connected energetically, through consciousness.

The more a person accepts that we are ONE, tests it, revels in its glorious ubiquity, the more a person is allowing their energy field to become transparent, and … in time for some, yet for other people, one lightning-strike of awareness is all it takes to become immersed in this state of Oneness (that has no second). This spontaneous kind of awakening, of the spiritual awakening, when the veils of denial are ripped aside and Truth is revealed — is called a Kundalini awakening. It can happen at anytime during a person’s life, but always occurs, like clockwork, at adolescence. Not nurtured, the spiritual urge goes back dormant, where it lies until awakened again. Hopefully, before a person’s final moments here on Earth.

allow our Kundalini energy to arise up to … embracing that … we are ONE

Oneness, my friends, is the state of experiencing there is no separation between anything. Oneness is the condition that naturally happens when we allow our spiritual energy to arise (“spiritualizing” our lower chakras) and work its purifying magic in all the chakras, up to the 7th chakra. The more we visit the 6th chakra, the more we are likely to glimpse the magnificence of the 7th. The 7th chakra is the level of perception of totally understanding we are ONE even when we’re in our so-called “normal” everyday state of consciousness.

In ot6her words, we can feel Oneness when we drive our car, shop in the grocery store, or feed our kids when we have become familiar with 6th chakra energy, and it has become a part of our “normal” consciousness. This is how the 7th chakra Oneness awareness can work in everyday life.

holding the Light of Oneness in our mind’s eye focus

Most people, myself included, have no desire to be in the state of All-Oneness continually. It’s too much! It’s too — too much! A continual state of immersion in Oneness simply doesn’t “fit” well with a family’s demands, most people’s work-necessities, and most of everyone’s modern, so-busy, multi-tasking responsibilities. But some people can manage to function in the “busy world” and still cultivate this state, pretty remarkable, but they do. Usually, it happens to parents after the kids have flown the nest, or after a person’s work-goals have been dealt with. My father-in-law, a successful businessman, chose to remain in the state of Oneness continually in the years before he died. He was then in his nineties.

In yogic scriptures, this 7th chakra state is called Samadhi. This heightened level of perception is all-clear, all-seeing, all-knowing: it’s true understanding. Not the superficial “I know” stuff.

When a person says, “I know, I know,” don’t you usually find out that person is, well, a know-it-all? That they really “think” they know, but … do they? In actuality, I’ve found in my experiences that this kind of person is so filled with their particular idea of “knowing” that they really don’t know at all. They just want you to think they do.

My teacher(s) all say the same regarding spiritual awareness.

“Those who (say or think they) know, don’t know. Those who don’t know … know.”

This is a very common aphorism used by spiritual teachers. I believe it originates from a certain Vedantic sutra, but don’t ask me from which of the Vedas because I don’t know. When I first heard this saying I was stunned, and thought, “Wha…??” I simply didn’t get it. But as time went on, and I kept returning to the ancient teachings (from where this saying originates) … I got it! As one of my teacher explained (I’m paraphrasing here):

“When we stay in the deep peace of our inner self, we are connected to the all-present Self that is everywhere, and everything. There is no longer any separation. No right or wrong, no good or evil. There simply is … Beingness. A person who thinks they know what is right or wrong is coming from their own judgement. Their life-values might be entirely different from yours, or that person’s over there. So, spiritually speaking, any person who says ‘I know’ is only demonstrating what they don’t understand, because a truly understanding gesture would be for a person to say, ‘I want to know more.’ There is always more to know. More to grasp. More to include in the total picture.”

Whenever I meet people who claim they have answers, the kind who make proclamations instead of asking more questions about the situation, I run in the opposite direction. The hasty remark, “I know,” we all know, only stops a conversation short. Here’s how I remember what my main teacher said about this, again paraphrasing.

“To know, is to deeply understand something. There are so many levels of understanding, that for one to honestly say, ‘I know,’ about anything, is really one person’s way of cutting another person off, not wanting to know what the other has to offer about that subject. To presume that one’s ‘knowing’ is better than another’s is highly presumptuous. That, my dear Ones, is not knowing at all. That is, in fact, a demonstration of ego-knowing. And this person who thinks she or he knows, knows not.”

knowing, without truly understanding … is false knowledge

The more we visit the 6th chakra (by meditating, scriptural studies, keeping good company) we learn to think unbiased thoughts, without pre-judgement. This is how we become familiar with the state of “I understand” deep within us. We don’t boast of our understanding aloud, unless we’re asked. Then it’s our duty to help others who have less understanding.

True understanding is a state that leads to pure contentment. Oneness consciousness has no need to boast, no need to be “the best” or “the smartest” or most “popular” or “really spiritual.” The person who happily resides in their 6th and 7th chakras, jumping back and forth from wanting “to see and know as clearly as I can” (the 6th) and “understanding” (the 7th level of awareness) have lives that are filled with contentment.

The mantra “Om” (or Aum to be more Sanskrit-correct) applies to both the 6th and 7th chakras. The color of the “crown chakra” the 7th, is usually described as clear lavender, blue purple, or sparkly violet. It emanates from the crown of the head but encircles the entire body, like a flowing waterfall, refreshing, healing, protecting our body’s entire aura — reaching outward for several feet from our physical selves. I prefer to describe the color that appears in “my mind’s eye” when deep in meditation, as either complete nothingness … which is not “solid” black but motion-filled, energized, shimmering shades of pewter luminescence.

In my experience, I “internally see” sparkles that bubble up from my inner Self, like the way an amethyst crystal throws off combined Clear White Light & Brilliant Lavender-y sparkles. Yes, that’s more of what it feels like to me, when I visit the state of Samadhi (which is the goal of deep meditation, by the way).

everyone experience Oneness differently

The rare person who resides in their 7th chakra at all times usually has a support system around them to attend to worldly matters such as eating, paying the rent, driving the kids to school, etc. Or … they have chosen to live away from the stimulus (and demands!) of the world. There are great teachers who are blessed to be surrounded by adoring students and caretakers who do all that’s needed for them, so their energies can be devoted purely to spiritual matters. Such is the case of great spiritual teachers today, the same custom its been throughout human history’s yearning to know Spirit.

In my experiences I’ve met only a few individuals who, in my humble opinion, truly live in the state of Oneness consciousness all the time. At least the times I’ve been around “enlightened” teachers. Only one teacher (out of those I’ve studied with for extended periods of time) exhibited this trait of seeing-God-in-All consistently.

From what I’ve seen of the Dalai Lama, only on screens, he appears to also be in this state, which I, and many others, call “sainthood.” I appreciate these people, these great beings. I’m glad they are here to help us all; teaching us who are bungling our ways through the maya of earthly conflict and confusion. Many of us wish to be as happy as we can, here on our challenged, toxic planet Earth. But for me, I’m happy to once in a while visit this state of deep meditation, the 7th chakra, every now and then. I have no desire to reside all the time in the highest state of samadhi. I have no desire to be a teacher. I am happy being an artist who writes.

my role in life is to share my spiritual journey via verse n’ vision

By the way, in yogic tradition, when someone dies we do not say “He died.” We say, instead, “He took mahasamadhi: maha (the highest) samadhi (the state of Oneness.” Isn’t that a wonderful way of putting death? Truly, when we die our spirit returns to that state of Oneness (Spirit IT-self) from which we came when we were born. I know this from my personal experiences (We Are ONE, my book for more). Our spirits get “recycled” so to speak. When I first heard this philosophy (reincarnation in a nutshell), this is the main reason I instantly fell in love with the yogic way of life. It suits me. It makes me smile, and for me, incorporating in my Western life the concepts of Eastern mysticism, the yogic way … makes sense.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our journey up from the 1st to here, the highest state of awareness, the 7th chakra.

Drop me a note below and tell me how what we’ve shared these past weeks makes you feel. Or this post, today! Have you taken the time, lately, to examine your “own life” and … discovered where on the ever-upward journey of awareness, you are? If you haven’t, why don’t you take a few moment now, out of your busy day … or later, and reflect upon this question. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Self-inquiry is an excellent topic … for our next post together!

Love All Ways,

LordFlea aka teZa Lord

We are Much More Similar than Dis–

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017Leave a comment

As human beings, everyone of us has basic similarities. We must breathe air and eat food to stay alive — that’s number 1. Next, some of us crave to propagate, or not. I’m a non-breeder, for the record, but I had fun being a full-time stepparent, calling myself Angel Mom to two very needy children, for whom without my guidance life surely would have been more challenging.

who am I, really? What’s my … role here?

We each have various number 2 traits, after our survival is assured. For me, as an self-acknowledged spiritual soul experiencing this particular human “suit” I wear — my next most important core-value is to experience the heights of what’s possible here on Earth, right here, right now. My life goal has always been to be as HIGH, as happy, as fulfilled, as expanded as I can get. Okay, call me a glutton, a junkie. I admit it. The spiritual connection I’ve discovered within myself, and with all in existence is what flips my Bic, floats my boat — puts me in bliss personified.

Obviously, I don’t “do” politics. Spiritual politics is an oxymoron, let’s be clear. Yes, I vote, but … that’s private, just like sex with my sexy consort Carter, is. I’m into outrageous and all-in, all-stops-barred spirituality, not peripherally. Just like an extreme wilderness skier is with their passion, or a transgender is with their raison d’etre — I am a radical revolutionary who will fight to the death, that’s right! — to spread the value of living in an awakened, aware, all-is-One state of being. This consciousness is All-inclusive, and has no judgment or diss-ing in its agenda. Believe me, I’ve worked hard to get here. And I ain’t about to let go of this outtasite ecstasy that’s the reward, the end result of the journey I’ve been on. It’s a daily workout, this being spiritual, folks! A workout that gives peace, understanding, and acceptance as its guaranteed abs of steel.

let’s work our spiritual-psychic muscles!

Lately lots of my friends are dis— about a lot of things. Dis-gusted. Dis-concerted. Dis-combobulated. And … now, with the political cry of mass dissenters, whose gatherings I herald as our democracy’s treasured right of free speech — they are dismissing the fact that Divine Order might, just might, be more behind what’s happening in society than the current fight in our country between the Reds and Blues, hardcore conservatives and unbending liberals. (We all need to be a little more of what the other guy’s about … and more about that on a later post.)

The way I see it, during these tumultuous times, this is the crisis some of us have needed in order to realize that nothing — absolutely NOTHING — on the outside is ever going to fix a disastrous assessment of what’s happening in the world. So — What Will?

Turning within. Tuning into our universal connection with not only each other — soul-to-soul, heart-to-heart, person-to-person — but also our universal connection with the energy of consciousness that vibrates at a much higher level than when we diss something.

Some call this consciousness of acceptance — the Sacred, others the Divine — still others call it Presence or … simply … Being at Peace with what is.

being at peace with … what is

At this time when so many people feel unease, I invite you to take more seriously your connection to the inner experience of life. Go within. Roam the Divine within your Big Heart. Spend time assessing how similar you are to every single person, even the newly elected President of the US. If you continue focusing on how dis-connected you feel with what is, how dis-avowed you are from what the political leader of a country does, dis-claiming his position as a respectably and legitimately elected official — you are in for a very unpleasant time for the next period of time. I’d say, about four years at least, or more, while he’s in office.

The time of political arguments is over. The presidential election within the States is over. Now is the time to go deep within your own incredible Inner World. That’s where true peace resides. Only there will you find the ability to accept. Going within your heart and letting your soul-Self be in charge, that’s how you can reap the greatest rewards of your humanness. If you cherish the small amount of time you’re allowed here, in your human Being-ness, you just might have a good time if you decide to re-focus from negatives. Unite your own lower with the Higher Self within, forget about so-called social divisiveness. What’s done is done. Put your placards away until next election time. For now, dive into the ever-expanding world that has no boundaries, no differentiation of any kind. This inner world, the Light of positivity, abounds within your own Self. When you choose to dwell on the infinite similarities between all humankind you discover peace within — no matter what happens on the outside.

Let go of your small-minded dis-similarities. Division is only an illusion, it’s not real. The real connection between all humans is our spirit, our expanded consciousness, found in our Big Heart within.

To me, each person I meet is a manifestation of the Divine. That’s right! Even the bad guys & gals, even the crass, the rude, the unholy, even those whom people call despicable or deplorable. Every person has been created by the Divine Force of the Universe. They have as much a role here as do those who people deem wonderful, eloquent, civil, smart, or spiritually evolved. Every single cell in our body has a purpose, too, making our different systems (nervous, respiratory, digestive, etc) work as a cohesive whole, letting our entire body live as an interdependent, healthy unit. All our cells create a Oneness within our own bodies. Why can’t we humans try to see every other person, for better or worse, as another cell in the fabric of our united human society, and allow them to serve their role like you regard (and respect) your own liver cells, your lung cells, your toenail cells?

the ripple effect creates the tipping point

each of us is a cell within the ONE

Even if someone’s role is to irritate the shit out of you — they’re forcing you to become more spiritual or — you feel like you’ll bust! Maybe, ahhhh, maybe that’s their role. To irritate you into — changing! Better to change than to listen to Madonna’s (I’m a fan, but hated her #womensmarch rhetoric) confession of wanting to bomb the White House, or tweet or post on Instagram or Facebook more nauseating nonsense of dis dis dis. Use your limited energies to … Go Within. It’s better to kill your lower neanderthal self than want to someone else, don’t you think? Cultivate your higher Self and rise above the ever-lowering vibration of out-of-season implacable politics. Wean yourself from talking-head TV pundits, your addiction to News, and any other negatives that mess with or destroy your well-earned peace of mind.

I was there once. I wanted to do harm to those who offended me — it was during the Vietnam days. That’s when I left America and traveled the islands of the Caribbean Sea, sailing on boats and climbing volcanic mountains and — after a decade away as a happy ex-pat (and months in a Third World prison as a falsely-accused political prisoner) — I learned how blessed, how very blessed I am, to live in a country that constitutionally allows all people the same rights as the next guy.

A granddaughter of immigrants from Lithuania on my mother’s side, a descendant of Pilgrims on my father’s, as an American I welcome this controversial time now. So what’s after the shock of Trump’s presidency? The dis-cordance abounding now I see as a Great Opportunity. The current dis-sent is sprinkling fertilizer on the garden of enlightenment all Americans, and people globally as well, are being challenged to sow and cultivate, in order to move forward and embrace our race’s evolutionary possibilities. Within each person’s own awakened hearts first, plant a garden of Love and Acceptance. And then … the insights of this higher perception of Oneness permeates all of society. This, then, will be the “political” benefits from our inner realizations — ammo to be used for the next election.

Consciousness is the weapon of mass illumination.

People of our beloved planet Earth! — Now is the time to Wake UP! This life here is not about who wins, who loses, or who’s in control. This time we have here is how connected YOU, yes, I mean YOU! are to the majestic, unlimited power within each and everyone of us, an inner state that’s as real as apple pie. This power resides within your own Being-ness, as consciousness. It’s higher understanding than dissing what you happen to not like.

The exploration of our inner realms is what keeps me inspired and excited, as a person, an artist, and a writer.

Sometimes we need a crash, a SHAKE UP!, a SHOCK! in order to regroup, reframe, refresh our lives.

I hope everyone who reads this is inspired to dive deeply within their own inner selves, and starts to explore their spiritual side. Expand. Embrace the fact that, as a spiritual soul wearing a human “suit” you can have a really astounding experience when you choose to be en-lightened instead of dis-illusioned . You haven’t got forever, y’know. Better get started!

Check back often or see previous posts here on Lord Flea if you want some hints about how to go about spiritualizing your life. Also, read Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of NOW” and “The New Earth.” And if you wish you can order my meditative artbook “We Are ONE” using the Amazon button here on my blog, on the left sidebar.

Be well my friends! I love each and every one of you! LordFlea aka teZa Lord

Art and Soul — We Are ONE

August 30, 2016Leave a comment

I am sooooo excited to announce that my beautifully bound coffee table art-book is HERE!

It’s being delivered (with full-on hurricane-aftermath wind and water, yeow!) in my driveway today. This book is the culmination of years of work, my friends. I want you, my faithful followers here on LordFlea, to be the first ones to know, and to have …

I’ve created a brand NEW website … tezalord.me … dedicated to dispersing my art and writing. If you’d like to order one of these gorgeous books, the limited edition is $35 each book (plus $5 @). You can easily order at my new site using paypal or credit cards. I think you will be simply AMAZED at the experience of We Are ONE… an intimate experience, sitting and diving into my book’s images … with minimum prose to help you “dive into” the experience even more deeply. This book is sturdily stitch-bound (not glued), its cover is in linen, all the photos have a glossy glaze that make them STAND out from the matte background.

This is a gem for generations to come. Share the visual experience of Oneness.

If you have any questions please write me: dearlordflea@gmail.com

Love to you all!

Your pal LordFlea aka teZa Lord

Ready, Set — COURAGE!

August 22, 2011August 22, 2011Leave a comment

Chapter 1: Ready, Set—COURAGE!

Pretend that today is the first day of the rest of your life. Pretend that everything you ever thought true, isn’t, and that for the sake of experimentation only, you’re willing to try something new in your life. Why? Well, the payoff I’m promising is stupendous. You’ve heard of peace of mind. You’ve even met people who seem content with whatever life has brought them. You suspect some people, even if you haven’t met them, are not destroyed with bouts of seething anger or crippling anxiety every time things don’t go their way. You actually believe that some fortunate people in our stressful world get by without taking drugs, either prescribed or recreational. But … up till now … you haven’t been one of these types of people.

To you, life seems fraught with perils, dangers, exploitative people, oppressive governments, and toxic situations. You may feel powerless a great deal of the time. For these reasons you may have the tendency to drink, smoke, eat, shop, exercise, work, create drama, or some other unhealthy action in excess. But you don’t believe you have a problem. You just think “This is the way life is.”

You’re probably the type of person who believe that true happiness is rare, and probably just a fairytale. Or for airy-fairy types. Maybe you’re a hardcore realist and don’t believe in God. The first type of person usually doesn’t give the possibility of cosmic consciousness a nod of the head, and the later just hopes they’ll not mess up and get thrown in eternal damnation. Either type, neither one lives in a state of openness and is ruled by fears, whether disguised by intellectualism, philosophy, or religiosity.

Well, I can tell you right now that just by being interested in the subject of this book, “Maya’s Book of Change,” that you’re intrigued with the possibility of being transformed. Change is change. You wouldn’t want to stay the way you are if you’re reading about change. You may not believe change is intrinsically possible, but you’re willing to try that thought on for size and thus, you’re here, with me, reading these words.

getting ready to fly!

Maya is my very sick, terminally ill friend whom I’ve dedicated this book to. Ahhh, but maya is also a Sanskrit word that means, loosely: The illusion this world is, this reality in which we live, the one that is only a play of consciousness, and not what we truly are.

And I’ll tell you right here what we really are.

All beings, living or dead, animate or inanimate, mineral, plant, vegetable, each and every thing in existence: we are all tiny cells within the fabric, the body of a much larger, almost incomprehensible matrix called the Universe. Whether you like it or not, my favorite analogy of what we truly are is … don’t laugh!… like microscopic flea-like critters that live upon a dog. The dog being the Universe in this ridiculous scheme, and the fleas are … well, you get the picture. It’s a stretch, but this is my experience and I’m trying to express something totally ineffable using lame words. Sorry.

Stick around and I’ll share best I can how I came to have this perspective, that is, by the way, not unique. The Oneness, or unity consciousness I speak of, is a very ancient approach to life, one that is recorded in much more esoteric and poetic (but almost incomprehensible) language in the yogic scriptures called the Vedas.

Don’t get me wrong! It’s not a smelly, low-existence being a flea-speck on a dog’s back. No, no no. Being a mere cell in the vastness of the One-that-Is, is what I lovingly, respectfully call being aware of The Big It. On the contrary, it’s quite a relief to know we’re all so connected, so familiar with everything in existence that we—whether “we” is another human or another life form, a plant, an animal, or another spinning gaseous galaxy lights years away—we are all connected. We are All One.

I have proof of this. And you will arrive at the same conclusion too if you stick with this inner journey I’m leading you on.

I know Oneness to be absolutely true, and all other beliefs are … just that. Other people’s beliefs. They just don’t hold up for many of us. Oneness is before religion was invented by man. Oneness will remain if and when humanity destroys itself, either over religious differences or crass indifference to our fragile ecosystem.

a vine of Oneness

By the end of this book you will experience Oneness for yourself. I promise that if you follow all my suggestions and be willing to try, that your life will evolve into one with the daily experience of Oneness that is beyond your wildest expectations of what fulfillment can mean. Better than the most far-out aphrodisiac or euphoric formula for happiness, this Oneness stuff. Guaranteed you’ll throw away your anti-depressants, those anti-anxiety pills, bottles of booze, pizza and doughnuts, and relieving smokes. All your fears and hurdles that keep you from being the most significant person you can, in this lifetime you’ve been blessed with, will melt away when you start experiencing Oneness as your true reality.

The goal of this book is, nothing more and nothing less than to share with you the secret of life, and why life itself is such a gift, and how we can best use our time here, whatever length it might be we are granted to be alive.

One thing we can start by agreeing on:

Life is a gift.

Let’s not waste it.

(This is the 4th installment of “Maya’s Book of Change”)

We are the Microcosm of the Macrocosm

August 10, 2011August 10, 20111 Comment

Over and over I’ve seen and witnessed—and many others have as well, with our own eyes, ears, and mental capacities—that life is filled with myriad instances of unexplained phenomena. It’s as if, once we become awakened to this other realm of perception, a caption becomes visible when a stunningly realistic, panoramic snapshot of Life on Earth is shown to us, and we can then see it has, all along, clearly read … things are not what they appear to be.

Woodpecker Warrior

There’s more to life than our physical surroundings, our bodies, and what our sense of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and linear-rational thinking can show us. In Maya’s Book of Change we will discuss what our higher perceptions make known to us, we who choose, and are open to perceive, ether little by little, or wham! right away—in one huge epiphany of awareness—like a billboard message in a meditation session.

Usually, for most of us, the door opens to the other side of human perceptions when death lingers close by. Then, the obscured but completely understandable is revealed, when otherwise it’s veiled by incomprehension, doubt, fear. This is what happened in my own life. My awareness of these truths presented here, were opened at the time when I comforted my father at his death, twenty-seven years ago.

Why wait? Dwell on these life-altering matters right here, right now! Your present life will expand as a result.

Life is a Mystery. We are all interconnected in one huge, boundless, cosmic fashion that, to me, is best described by how Chief Seattle, the 19^th Century Suquamish Native America leader succinctly recorded for all posterity, when he described the Mystery with these words:

“We are all a part of the Web of Life. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one strand within it. All things are bound together.”

We are, each one of us, connected to an indescribable source of intelligence and energy. When we trust the Big It, as I affectionately call the Mystery, and learn to work with this It that is our very Source, our Life Force, our … God, to some (another name, in other words) … our lives become what they were intended to be: boundless in possibilities, radiant with health, wealth, and filled with love of our higher Self, our lower self too, as well as all other beings and objects. Even if bad things happen, which they will, we will not be destroyed by them if we commit to live In Spirit. This is what I mean when I say “I believe in It, the Mystery of Life, the Web.”

Origins

When we stop trying to overly control ourselves or others, when we can say No to being controlled by others, the opportunity arises for each of us to spiritualize our lives. Take that step now. Join me and countless others already committed to higher consciousness. Believe that Love-for-All is the state of living consciously and compassionately: This is how we live In Spirit.

It is our birthright to experience true happiness, no matter what’s happening, right here and right now. No matter what life’s bumpy road has brought us or what’s to come, we can accept everything and any one thing with utter peace, and yes, we can feel fulfilled. We can embrace our being a magnificent part of the Web and enjoy this sometimes erratic, sometimes ecstatic Dance of Life. We can learn to joyously move with its syncopated rhythm, not resist or feel powerless in face of life’s foibles, or crushed by unforeseen steps life throws us along its unknown path, which it will. Again, we are part of Nature and Nature is part of us. We are microcosms of the macrocosm. Nature is, logically, the macrocosm. We are the microcosm. But both parts: macro and micro, are the same. We all operate from the hub of It being the Source, the unifying denominator of all existence.

We can enjoy every nuance of the Dance, every single moment of It, even when we face our own death.

This book is dedicated to my pal Maya and all who wish to experience life to its fullest, highest potential, in all ways possible.

May we all live harmoniously within ourselves and with each other, and always treat each other as we wish to be treated. Please join Karen Armstrong’s inspired movement that will surely change our world. Check out http://www.charterforcompassion.org and join the heart-full spiritual revolution. Become a captain in the Army of Love.

My heart’s throb to yours, teZa Lord, aka Lordflea

Reflections

October 26, 2009October 27, 2009Leave a comment

hello friends! those of you who visit lordflea might wonder “what the heck happened to lordflea?” Well, life happened, that’s what. I’ve been immersed in many more duties away from the computer than usual, and today i’m making it my first priority to write about what’s happening. First Things First for me, today, is to share the waves of life that have come in duos, trios, quads too! and yet—no, I don’t feel overwhelmed.

contemplating the never-ending mystery of LIFE

Most importantly, my 91 year-old mom had another stroke, not too bad so don’t worry about her imminent demise and no, she’s not sitting like a lump slobbering on her front. I was up on my sailing trip a few weeks ago, sitting at anchor off the coast of Provincetown, Mass. when I got a phone call that what we thought was the flu, or food poisoning, when Mom was throwing up just as I left Florida, was actually one of the symptons of her having a mild stroke.

So here it is—daze later—i jumped ship and cut my sail short and flew home just as mom was being discharged. The only side effect of the stroke, it appears, is a small loss of vision in one eye, in one tiny spot of her peripheral vision. BUT a crucial place for driving, so mom is now in need of a chauffear and you-know-who has been filling that bill. Many doctors’ visits, acupuncture and reflexology sessions later, not to mention grocery shopping—thank heavens she’s not into hairdos or silly manicures—i must say it’s a pleasure to be here to serve my mom. That’s the feeling i have, through it all. What a gift that, after a life so wildly lived as I have (soon to be published in the book I’m showing agents and editors at present) I am grateful to have this quiet time to—okay, i’ll say the word—make “amends” to my mom for having been such a worry to her.

The Family Puzzle

And…true to her fisherwoman form (she was up on the fishing pier of St. Augustine when she had this last “attack” that eventually was diagnosed as a slight occipital infarction)…the FIRST thing mom wanted done after getting out of the hospital was to go out and throw the castnet to catch small mullets that she uses for bait throughout her winter fishing. Which, by the way, is her way of meditating and a good one at that. So that’s exactly what we did. And let me say right here, I’m a pretty lousy castnet-thrower, so you can imagine how funny that must have looked, lordflea throwing net after net into a phalanx of swarming fish that came in sweeps thick as biblical locusts, and…coming up with one lousy mullet in my half-opened net. Praise the angels watching over me because I was standing right next to Bob the Fisherman out on Velano Beach, with huge tarpon flopping in the air eating all that mullet, and an occasional dolphin showing off their spins and whistles, as they tend to do on Porpoise Point.

like-minded friends cruising nearby

Ol’ Bob saw my misguided attempts at throwing, and probably figured mom was a little wobbly when she neatly threw her perfectly opened net once (and got 12 mullet right off!). So…all it took was Bob’s golden retriever, named Cash (yes, for Cash Money) to stick his head in our bait bucket and come out with a seven inch mullet happily chewed in his mouth, its tail hanging out of his slobbering jaws, smile on Cash Money’s canine face, and for me to say, “Hey that’s pretty cool—a protein-eating lab lovin’ raw fish!” for Bob to come sauntering right over, grateful to meet another dog lover, and offered to help fill mom’s bucket. In no time at all, we had the damn thing filled with perhaps 200 mullet and mom was pleased as punch.

sometimes ya just wanna jump out of da window...and into some FUN

We’ve just come back from ANOTHER trip to Boston, this one for one reason only—to honor the wedding of our two gay friends, Gene and Nat, which i hope i can get someone to send some photos about, because in my glee and joyous celebration, and sacred relief over this most special event, i forgot to snap the two happy dudes. Duh….. and the camera was right there with me. Ah well, we can’t get ’em all. So here’s another vision of miraculous wonder, in place of my two gay friend’s wedding shot—soon to come on lordflea, i promise.

goddess Nut...signifying eternal life...the path of the sun from one horizon to the other in a day's trip

Back home today in St. Augustine, the weather feels good on my skin, moist yet cool, fertile yet hushed, waiting for the winter that soon will descend upon this side of the globe.

A sad thing happened this morning, that i’ll end with. My iPhone rang by my bedside where it was charging. It was only 7 a.m. and we hadn’t gotten back from Boston till after midnight, so i wasn’t about to answer. Yet I checked to see who it was. I recognized the name, Annie: a woman I’d not heard from for several years. In one brief flash of life’s happening-right-before-my-eyes, I KNEW why she’d called. It was that simple. There could be no other eason for her calling, like THAT, so early, so out of the blue.

Annie and I have a mutual friend named Michelle. About two months ago was the last time i spoke with Michelle, who is a British woman that somehow ended up in the most incongruous lackluster town in Central Florida you can ever imagine. Why? Because she has an alcohol and drug problem, and “life” took her there. She’d been trying to get sober, for years. That’s how I met her, because I’m active in AA, and I take on those that others too often give up on. She asked me to sponser her which i gladly did, as i do anyone who asks, in the best way i can. But after a couple years of working with Michelle i moved to St. Augustine, and her phone calls came less and less. She had a toddler to take care of, she had college courses that ran her ragged, she had a job about which she prided herself on how efficiently she managed those properties: she had this, she had that …. she had a life!

Well, no more.

Yesterday Michelle, either intentionally or accidentally, died of an overdose—alcohol with pills on top, a lethal cocktail.

I dedicate this post today to my friend Michelle, who couldn’t make the journey: learning to live in the Light. It’s a very sad thing, losing someone who struggled so hard with addictions. For any of you struggling with life-threatening traits, please read the “page” on the right hand side of my blog: look for “Letter to a Friend who Still Suffers”…..and maybe you’ll find some solace, or a bit of inspiration.

For me, I’ve picked out a crystal that I shall call “Michelle.” It’s very small, a hazy amethyst color with obfuscations, yet it has clearly delineated facets. Kind of like my friend Michelle, who was sharp and smart in so many ways, yet cloudy about her ability, or her “right,” or her “need” to embrace the Light in order to combat the darkness that haunted her. Instead of polishing her rough spots, and accepting that she wasn’t perfect (who is?) she….couldn’t bear it.

She was actively “trying” but….trying isn’t enough! In order to survive addiction, in order to immerse ourselves in the concept of “living in the Light” we must just THROW ourselves into the LIGHT, and live according to the rule that: for every action there’s a reaction. It’s that simple. But Michelle, God Bless Her, just didn’t believe it, couldn’t “get” it….and we’ll never know why. She was going to meetings. She even was sponsoring someone. She had the “Talk”….but talk is cheap. She just couldn’t jive her walk with her talk, and couldn’t be honest—not with those who tried to help her—not with her own self either. Inside her heart, I know, Michelle never stopped racing around, trying to succeed, be the best mom, be the smartest college student, and think it out, feel it out, sit with life long enough to really, honestly, truly believe she was capable of living in the Light. In Spirit. She allowed the dark to overcome her, because she couldn’t trust her higher nature. The same nature we all share, as spiritual beings living a human life. I mourn for Michelle’s weakness. But her tragic end is a warning to all of us who don’t believe how very important it is to live the Highest that we can—and work for whatever happiness or spiritual fulfillment we desire. It’s ALL possible, if we want it.

My mother, at 91, is alive, and will continue expertly throwing her castnet even with her newly blinded vision. Michelle—barely 40, with a four-year-old toddler wondering how the world will ever be safe again—took herself out, unable to bear the pain of her humanness.

I will cherish this crystal that I hold in my hand. It is symbolic of Michelle’s soul. I feel how that part of her being is now merging back into the Source from which she, and you, and I—and All come from. And then, after a few days of infusing this crystal with my thoughts, my prayers, my intentions, I will walk to the ocean’s edge and toss it as far as I can into the waves of the Atlantic as they burst upon the shores of this glorious earth we live upon.

the continuation of life....the aurobouris

the continuation of life....the ouroboros

And this, is life.

in the Light, lordflea, singing the song of Oneness, and I hope you’re joining me wherever you are. Take a moment and breathe in the Light….and exhale, and join your breath with all. We Are One.

Oneness Messenger

Oneness—spread the NEWS!

October 9, 2009October 9, 2009Leave a comment

Hello friends,

our Mother, the Sea .... holding her sailing children tenderly in the palm of her gentle hand

I’m back from sailing because….lo and behold….life happens! My 91 year-old mom had a minor stroke while i was away, so i cut my sailing adventure short to rush back to help out in anyway i can. Fortuneately the stroke, called an “occipital infarction” event….where DO they get the names for these things?….left her with only a small impairment, a blurring of part of her vision, which we’re told can be remedied with exercises.

I’m calling my post “Oneness” today because, not only is it one of the nearest and dearest subjects to my heart, but it appears to be ONE of the themes I’ve identified in Dan Brown’s latest book:”The Lost Symbol.” Just yesterday I successfully downloaded Brown’s book into my new iPhone, after about 4 or 5 tries. This new Kindle technology is something else! I got completely hooked on it while sailing with Dani and Jens, my German friends. They get their local German newspapers and magazines downloaded automatically to their onboard Kindle, plus any books they’re interested in, plus the manuals, the “how-to” instructions for all their complicated equipment, like the engine for instance, and navigation gear, etc. They virtually have NO BOOKS onboard, except a few precious personal ones. Dani has, in German, “The Artist’s Way” and Jens, well, I don’t know if he has any hard copies at all, seeing as he’s the techi-wizard onboard the good ship Arwen, which I left in Provincetown just two days ago to return home to St. Augustine.

Sea as goddess: fanning the waters in Benevolent Sorms, entertaining us humans who venture upon her tumultuous liquidy skin that covers the entire world

Oneness is a major theme of my book, just finished, and now being reviewed by a person who, if he continues to be as thrilled about the story as he says he is so far, will present it to an editor on my behalf. I’m so excited!!

So….no more words about Oneness….here’s a drawing about it. Look deeply into this visualization, and see if you can understand what so many sources, including ancient scriptures and both modern day scientific nonfiction writers, visionaries, great teachers, and novelists alike, all attempt to describe with words. I think art does a much better job of conveying the concepts considered “abstract” to our human comprehension. Let me know how you like this drawing, and if it “speaks to you.” Thanks.

Oneness---we are all tiny cells in the collective unison....the Universe

on more helping hand, in the LIght, your pal Lordflea

will WONDERS never cease ? !

May 12, 2009May 12, 2009Leave a comment

while driving through the busiest square of downtown Santiago, Chile recently, i saw something quite extraordinary. i didn’t have my camera ready when we whizzed by, in a taxi, and almost missed the sight, had it not been for our friend, Angel, an actor, to say, “Wow, look at that!” and point, so i turned just in time to see . . . at the lovely fountain that ordinarily looks like this, on any other given moment in the day . . .

Neptune and Aphrodite, Santiago, Chile public art fountain

. . . but as we rushed by in a high-speed cab, i promised myself i would HAVE to draw this scene, which i couldn’t capture with my camera (ah, the delight of being a good, however primitive, draw-er, all those hours at my desk with pen in hand paying off finally, never interested in that conceptual crap some other artists do) . . . here’s the moment of moments I just HAD to record, for my sake, for the sake of WORLD EVOLUTION, the ah-ha! moment of moments of our recent trip to South America . . . the surreal fountain scene i didn’t get on camera as our taxi whooshed by :

an ah-ha! moment, for sure!

friend, may the sights you see, and the feelings you choose to center on today, be just as wondrous as this naked old man’s taking a bath in this public sculpture-fountain, his clothes neatly folded next to him, ignoring all the commotion around him in this busy, i mean BUSIEST street corner of bustling downtown Santiago, Chile. talk about ah-ha, ha ha! NOT something we’d see in America without police sirens going off instantaneously, and people scowling, instead of the Chileanos smiling, laughing maybe, but leaving the poor man be in peace, to bathe. I think we should petition for MORE NUDE BATHING . . . it will help all of us to get to know each other better, and rid us of ostentatious cultural disparities, BIG TIME!!! what do you think ’bout that, you Taliban creeps? HA!

stay tuned for more lordflea spiritual art!

in the Light, your pal who sings a song of ONENESS

oh, and did i mention…?

February 21, 2009February 22, 2009Leave a comment

Here it is, lordflea readers! the FIRST EXCERPT of my new book, “Dharma Brat” a nonfiction narrative, soon to be at your favorite bookseller.

the deep secret revealed

As I look up at the constellation Orion, here in my new home in St. Augustine, where we moved after seventeen years in Lackland, I remember that I forgot to tell you about how much I love these stars, and how I used to stare at Orion’s belt, in the middle of the giant formation of stars seen all over both hemispheres, the most reliable of ancient forms of navigation methods, which I too, used during my night watches, when my boat was harnessing the stiff breezes of the Caribbean and I wanted to stay on course.

Oh, and did I tell you how steady and sure I felt, guiding my boat using these stars, the ones that make up Orion’s belt? They stay permanently affixed in their position, up there in the bowl of the cosmos we see as the night sky above, and they hardly move at all, for the entire night’s length. So, naturally, humanity discovered this and has been using stars, and especially Orion’s belt to guide sailboats to our destinations, through currents and winds, as long as we can keep our gaze fixed upon them. When clouds cover them, or people use motorized vessels, the compass or the GPS is the favored instrument. But in ancient times and with keep-it-simple sailors such as myself, I much prefer using Orion’s belt to steer my boat by. Then I’m reminded that we, as mortal men and women, and boys and girls also, we’re forever growing in our quests, finding out what we want, then accomplishing our desires. Some of them as simple as harnessing the winds through the invention of a boat that sails, then finding our way along the latitudes and longitudes of this glorious planet using the stars, the most basic way to find our way that the ingenious ancients discovered. And it’s right up there, still—Orion’s belt—every night, seen from every angle, useful on sea as well as on land. I look up at it now to remind myself I’m still on this journey, this life of discovery.

Oh, and did I mention how I used to daydream about leaving my humanness behind? First I would paint it, without a pre-imagined sketch or anything, and then I’d stare at my painting, finding myself wanting to jump inside it, or at least try to imagine what it felt like—to be what I’d created on paper, to become the image I’d fished out of my deepest, most profound wants. My humanness. The first time it happened to me, I was a teenager. After I’d finished the painting, in which a woman was turning into a tree and a man was chasing her, reaching out but not able to touch her, someone came up from behind me and said, “Oh, you’ve painted the myth of Daphne and Apolllo.”

There it was, on the paper, me not knowing where it came from until it was out. And the unlikely images came forth after that, like a gush of needs, the entire mythology of our human condition, there on sheets of paper, canvas or board used by young artists-in-training: haunting images of some man becoming a horse (the centaur), dragons with many human heads, all at odds with each other’s basic natures, following whatever whim grabbed them; a woman happy to merge her beautiful face into some gelatinous glowing sea creature that only floats through life (weird fairytale that), or…the recurring one that comes over and over to me, even now, the idea of swimming with other shadowy forms, but like them…I’m a dolphin, romping and roaming the watery byways without the encumbrance of being a frail, and foible-prone human. Laughing at humanity’s being so stuck on itself we don’t recognize our first cousins, the smart cetaceans. Ahhh, what joy to paint such adventures.

Didn’t I mention these things?

Oh, sorry, Guess I didn’t because I figured you felt the same too.

Because in the interior parts of all of us–the secrete we hold to ourselves, in which we’re a sea-floating jellyfish tentacled woman, or a horse-legged blue man astride a high mountain–we’re all the same, aren’t we.

Following our truth.

Lord flea feeling your love, bro' and sistah

An open letter from a priest in Cuba

February 10, 2009February 11, 20091 Comment

this was published by the blog DESDE CUBA (www.desdecuba.com in Spanish, and www.desdecuba/generationy in English) I’m reprinting here, because this is the TRUTH about what’s happening inside CUBA, for those of my readers who have been following my views, since my recent trip to habana. forget MY opinion…this one is the real deal. lordflea sending good wishes to all, especially to the oppressed .

COMMENTS WELCOME, click comments at end of this post. thanks.

guardian of the sky forsakes the cuban people

Open letter from Father José Conrado Rodríguez to Raúl Castro

Written by Fr. José Conrado Rodríguez

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Catholic priest José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre, pastor of Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús (St. Therese of Lisieux) parish in the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba, issued this Open Letter to Army General Raúl Castro Ruz. The Web site DESDE CUBA is pleased to share it with its readers, noting there are no objections to its being reproduced in any medium in or outside Cuba.

Open letter to Army General Raúl Castro Ruz

President of the Republic of Cuba

Dear Mr. President:

Fifteen years ago, I dared to write the then head of state of Cuba, Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz [J.D.], president of our country at the time. The direness of that moment imposed on me the duty to do so for the good of the nation. The direness of this moment compels me to write to you to share my present concerns. Do I need to describe to you our country’s condition? The economic crisis affects every household and makes our people spend their lives wondering anxiously: What I am going to eat? How am I going to clothe myself? How am I going to meet my family’s most basic needs? Daily struggles have become so overwhelming they keep us mired in sadness and despair. Insecurity and a widespread feeling of helplessness lead to amorality, hypocrisy and two-facedness. Everything goes, because nothing matters, nothing other than survival at all costs, which we later discover means “at any cost.” That is why the dream of Cubans, especially of the youngest, is to leave the country.

It would seem our nation is at a dead end. As a man of faith, however, I believe God never places us in totally hopeless situations. I firmly believe that our journey as a nation and as a people will not end in an inevitable precipice, in a situation of irreversible disaster. There is always a solution, but you need courage to seek and find it. In your recent urgent calls for us to work with tireless determination, I believe I discern a particular and accurate perception of the gravity of the moment, but also that you believe the solution depends on us. But, as the old slogan-turned-joke went: “It’s not enough to say ‘onward’; you have to know where you’re headed.”

We have spent our lives blaming the enemy, and even our friends, for our situation. The collapse of the bloc of communist countries in Eastern Europe and the United States’ trade embargo have become the scapegoat that bears all our sins. And that is a convenient but deceptive way out of the problem. As Miguel de Unamuno said, “We tend to occupy ourselves counting the hairs on the Sphinx’s tail, because we are afraid to look her in the eye.”

It is not enough, General, to solve the problems, certainly serious and urgent, of food, and of the homes that so many of our countrymen – “with their meager belongings: fears, sorrows” – have just lost in the recent hurricanes. We are at such a critical moment that we must undertake a thorough examination of our beliefs and our practices, of our aspirations and our objectives. And here it would be appropriate, with all due respect, to remember the words the apostle of our nation, José Martí, wrote to [Cuban independence army] Commander-in-Chief [Máximo] Gómez in a somewhat similar situation: “You do not found a nation, General, the way you run a military camp.”

The world is changing. The recent election of a black citizen to occupy the presidency of a country formerly known to be racist, and a violator of the civil rights of blacks, tells us something is changing in this world. The commendable and fraternal concern of our brethren in exile in the face of the weather phenomena that recently struck our people, and their generous, disinterested and immediate aid, are a sign that something is changing among us. The Cuban government that you currently head should have the boldness to confront those changes with new ideas and new approaches.

Our country has reacted with courage when a foreign government has tried to meddle in our domestic affairs. Nevertheless, where the violation of human rights is concerned, not only governments, but even individuals, ordinary citizens, at home and abroad, have something to say. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” We must have the tremendous courage to recognize that in our country there is constant and unjustifiable violation of human rights, which manifests itself in the existence of dozens of prisoners of conscience and in the damaged exercise of the most basic freedoms: of speech, information, press and opinion, and in serious limitations on religious and political freedom. Failing to recognize these truths in no way benefits our national life and makes us lose self-respect, in our eyes and in the eyes of others, friends or foes.

The cause of peace, domestic and international, and the nation’s very prosperity, are rooted in unconditional respect for those rights that express the supreme dignity of the human being as a child of God. And remaining silent about this truth places such weight on my conscience as I feel unable to bear. And this is for me my way of serving the truth and being consistent with the love I feel for my people.

I confess, General, the distress and sadness it has caused me to learn that our government has rejected – apparently for reasons of ideology or political differences – the aid that the United States and several European nations wanted to send the victims of the hurricanes that lashed our homeland. When misfortune strikes (and that can happen to anyone, even the powerful), it’s time to accept whatever help is offered, because that help reveals a stock of good will in response to suffering, of human solidarity, even in those whom we considered our enemies. Giving our opponents the opportunity to be good and to do the right thing can bring out the best in us and in others, making us change old attitudes and heal harmful resentments. Nothing contributes more to peace and reconciliation among peoples than this giving and receiving. St. Francis of Sales’ dictum, valid as to interpersonal relations, is also valid where nations are concerned: “You can catch more flies with a drop of honey that with a barrelful of vinegar.” As His Holiness John Paul II said during his visit to our country, “Let Cuba open up to the world, and let the world open up to Cuba.” But if we keep the doors shut, no one will be able to enter, no matter how much they want to. For me, a hopeful sign is the larger role and room CARITAS has been given in the task of helping our people. That deserves special recognition and constitutes positive and encouraging change.

Believe me, Mr. President, I am not writing to offer a list of complaints and grievances regarding our country’s condition, even though if I did, that list could be very, very long. In truth, I have endeavored to speak to you Cuban to Cuban, heart to heart. A good friend of mine, a priest who is now deceased, used to say, “A man is worth what his heart is worth.” At your wife’s funeral, seeing you surrounded by your children and grandchildren, moved to tears, I sensed that you are a sensitive man. And I believe there is more wisdom in the heart of a good man than in all the books and libraries of the world, because, as the song goes, “What feeling can do, knowledge cannot, nor can the highest behavior, nor the greatest thinking…” That is why I am appealing to your sense of responsibility, to your kindness, to tell you not to be afraid, to be bold in setting out on a new and different path in a world that is showing so many signs of changing for the better. As I told your brother 15 years ago, all of us Cubans are responsible for the future of our country, but because of the office you hold, because of the power you now wield, that responsibility falls especially on you.

If you decide to set out on that path of hope, you can count on me, General. You will find me at the front of the line, ready to offer Cuba, once again, all I have: my heart; and to offer you my honest hand and my disinterested assistance. That way, we will realize Marti’s dream of building a nation “together with all and for the good of all.”

I would like to close with some words our current Pope, Benedict XVI, said in 1968: “Above even the Pope, as an expression of the binding nature of ecclesiastical authority, is one’s conscience, which one must obey first and foremost, even, if necessary, by going against what ecclesiastical authority says.” If that applies to ecclesiastical authority, whose source I believe divine, it applies to all other human authority, no matter how powerful.
Best wishes,