my random dispatches

my random dispatches http://ericdozier.com/blog.cfm Tue, 11 May 2010 23:30:00 GMT http://bandzoogle.com untitled... http://ericdozier.com/blog.cfm?feature=799783&postid=280444     what is this Life... a Divine tease veiling true ecstacy. what is this Dance... a rhythm which playfully eludes me(i seem so clumsy at times). what is this Song... a humming in the wind heard only with hearts, guts, marrow, bones and such. what is this Path... unseen, well worn...visible, illumined. what is this Life...this Divine tease that tickles, entices, and tortures me... i know.

what is this Life...
a Divine tease veiling true ecstacy.

what is this Dance...
a rhythm which playfully eludes me(i seem so clumsy at times).

what is this Song...
a humming in the wind heard only with hearts, guts, marrow, bones and such.

what is this Path...
unseen, well worn...visible, illumined.

what is this Life...this Divine tease that tickles, entices, and tortures me...

i know.

]]> Tue, 11 May 2010 23:30:00 GMT 4859BC023D0426D459729BC0486D57A2 filters... http://ericdozier.com/blog.cfm?feature=799783&postid=268504 O SON OF SPIRIT! The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes. (<a href="http://www.bahai.org" target="_new">Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words) I was walking down the street in Victoria British Columbia a while back and saw this sign in the window of a Chinese medicine shop. Just in case you can't see it, it says, 'Neti Pot: Ancient Yoga Tool for Cleansing the Sinuses….as seen on Oprah.' For those of you that don't know what a <a href="http://www.neti-pot.com/" target="_new">neti pot is and it's association to the ancient practice of yoga, here is a brief history. The practice became popular with practitioners of yoga in India and was later adopted by those practicing Ayurveda. Yoga practitioners were trying to develop clear and expanded consciousness on the basis of a strong, healthy and energetic body, and found that a key was the taking in of “prana” the "life energy" which comes in with the breath. That led them to develop techniques to ensure that their breathing apparatus was functioning at optimum efficiency and power, and eventually, to the use of nasal cleansing techniques. What struck me at the time that I saw the poster in the window was the tagline. Yoga is said to have it's origins rooted in the Indus Valley civilization (ca. 3300–1700 BC)…quite ancient beginnings. I found it interesting that the shop would see the need to have such an ancient and proven practice be validated by Oprah who is neither ancient nor a yogi as far as I know. That seems to be the way of our world now. Every interaction with the present and with ancient times seems to have to be mediated through our media or technology to be deemed as 'true' or worthy of consideration. Our religion is filtered through our clergy, our 'friend'ships through social networking on the internet, our music through ipods and videos. We prefer the virtual over the real in more cases than not. I recently started reading a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Authenticity-Hoax-Lost-Finding-Ourselves/dp/006125133X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272925192&sr=8-1" target="_new">The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves by Andrew Potter. In his introduction, he recounts a story he read about a small group sitting on top of a hill waiting for a solar eclipse. He writes: " 'The sheep lay down, the street lights in the nearest village in the distance across the moor came on automatically. It was a moment of almost spiritual doubt.' Doubt, perhaps. But all in all a very real experience, the realness of it spoiled only by a man watching the BBC coverage of the eclipse on a portable television, afraid of what it wold be like to experience life unmediated by technology." He goes on to write, "It is almost like we'd rather be any place other than where we actually, really are. And if we have to be there, we'd prefer to see it mediated through technology." We swim in a sea of delusion and estrangement where our values have become so mixed up and disjointed from our reality. Neil Postman alludes to this in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-Surrender-Technology-Neil-Postman/dp/0679745408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272925304&sr=8-1" target="_new">Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology when he states an eerie fact: we live in a world of humans that need to be 'deprogrammed' and computers get 'viruses.' This thin veil or virtual 'interface' that separates us from our true selves and others prevents us from experiencing the joys and pains so integral and necessary for human development,community growth, and social progress. This 'filtering' out of the real and preference for the virtual leaves us numb, distraught, and longing for connection…wandering in paths of delusion. Now I am not saying that technology is a bad thing. I personally believe that it's development falls squarely in the context of our Divine Inheritance as children of Spirit. However, anything in excess can be harmful. There is a fairly simple way out… Find a living, tangible friend in your area and spend some time with them…actually share some space…some oxygen. Turn off the t.v. or computer and instead of watching nature shows, go touch, even hug, a tree or stick your feet in the ocean. Study, sit, and meditate with your sacred text without the aid of a mediator. I would be willing to guess that they possess their own power to speak across time. I would think that God would welcome talking to you directly and not to your pastor, imam, or guru all the time on your behalf. Hug your kids. Kiss your grandmother. Bounce a ball…you get the point. And as you are doing this, do it! Stay there, be in that moment and do just that with the awareness that YOU ARE ALIVE…what a miracle. Free yo' self…Ascend! e

O SON OF SPIRIT!
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

I was walking down the street in Victoria British Columbia a while back and saw this sign in the window of a Chinese medicine shop. Just in case you can't see it, it says, 'Neti Pot: Ancient Yoga Tool for Cleansing the Sinuses….as seen on Oprah.'

For those of you that don't know what a neti pot is and it's association to the ancient practice of yoga, here is a brief history.

The practice became popular with practitioners of yoga in India and was later adopted by those practicing Ayurveda. Yoga practitioners were trying to develop clear and expanded consciousness on the basis of a strong, healthy and energetic body, and found that a key was the taking in of “prana” the "life energy" which comes in with the breath. That led them to develop techniques to ensure that their breathing apparatus was functioning at optimum efficiency and power, and eventually, to the use of nasal cleansing techniques.

What struck me at the time that I saw the poster in the window was the tagline. Yoga is said to have it's origins rooted in the Indus Valley civilization (ca. 3300–1700 BC)…quite ancient beginnings. I found it interesting that the shop would see the need to have such an ancient and proven practice be validated by Oprah who is neither ancient nor a yogi as far as I know.

That seems to be the way of our world now. Every interaction with the present and with ancient times seems to have to be mediated through our media or technology to be deemed as 'true' or worthy of consideration. Our religion is filtered through our clergy, our 'friend'ships through social networking on the internet, our music through ipods and videos. We prefer the virtual over the real in more cases than not.

I recently started reading a book called The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves by Andrew Potter. In his introduction, he recounts a story he read about a small group sitting on top of a hill waiting for a solar eclipse. He writes:

" 'The sheep lay down, the street lights in the nearest village in the distance across the moor came on automatically. It was a moment of almost spiritual doubt.' Doubt, perhaps. But all in all a very real experience, the realness of it spoiled only by a man watching the BBC coverage of the eclipse on a portable television, afraid of what it wold be like to experience life unmediated by technology."

He goes on to write, "It is almost like we'd rather be any place other than where we actually, really are. And if we have to be there, we'd prefer to see it mediated through technology."

We swim in a sea of delusion and estrangement where our values have become so mixed up and disjointed from our reality. Neil Postman alludes to this in Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology when he states an eerie fact: we live in a world of humans that need to be 'deprogrammed' and computers get 'viruses.'

This thin veil or virtual 'interface' that separates us from our true selves and others prevents us from experiencing the joys and pains so integral and necessary for human development,community growth, and social progress. This 'filtering' out of the real and preference for the virtual leaves us numb, distraught, and longing for connection…wandering in paths of delusion. Now I am not saying that technology is a bad thing. I personally believe that it's development falls squarely in the context of our Divine Inheritance as children of Spirit. However, anything in excess can be harmful.

There is a fairly simple way out…

Find a living, tangible friend in your area and spend some time with them…actually share some space…some oxygen. Turn off the t.v. or computer and instead of watching nature shows, go touch, even hug, a tree or stick your feet in the ocean. Study, sit, and meditate with your sacred text without the aid of a mediator. I would be willing to guess that they possess their own power to speak across time. I would think that God would welcome talking to you directly and not to your pastor, imam, or guru all the time on your behalf. Hug your kids. Kiss your grandmother. Bounce a ball…you get the point. And as you are doing this, do it! Stay there, be in that moment and do just that with the awareness that YOU ARE ALIVE…what a miracle.

Free yo' self…Ascend!

e

]]> Tue, 04 May 2010 03:20:00 GMT 0405FF69C0AAD9BAFB39599949521527 why we sing... http://ericdozier.com/blog.cfm?feature=799783&postid=228739 For me, singing is just what I do. There is nothing abnormal or anything about it that brings me any level of fear or dread. However, in my travels as a choir director and workshop facilitator across the planet and in my many visits to <a href="http://www.bahai.org" target="_new">Bahá’í communities and churches I have found a general reticence in people when it comes to singing. That’s something that is reserved for the choir…the professional. Now I am not talking about soloing in front of hundreds of people in Carnegie Hall. I am referring to a few people sitting in a familiar room surrounded by familiar faces and being asked to join in singing a familiar song of praise in a very relaxed community setting i.e. no pressure. In many instances, I have seen the mightiest lion reduced to a purring pussy cat, the most charismatic turned to a mumbling mess, and the brightest light in the room muted in a matter of moments when asked one simple request: “Please, won’t you all join me in singing….” It almost seems that that one teacher…you know the one, Ms. So and So, who put little Johnny in the back row of chorus, is haunting the majority of people in our communities. How many times have I heard this story over and over. Why is this? I feel that the reason we find this fear of expression in our midst is not because of our ability or how we sing. I truly believe that if you can speak you can sing. As a matter of fact, I have worked with people all my life in community settings and inevitably we have been able to move to a concert level performance in less than a 3 day period (see <a href="http://www.ericdozier.com/ohfchoirs.cfm">www.ericdozier.com/ohfchoirs). That’s what I do. Everyone has a song in them. What I have observed over the years, however, is that when I do a workshop, it is not the song that I am trying to uncover in a person or group. It is their joy, heart, and happiness that we are collectively trying to release in that moment in time. Release those spiritual emotions and the song will follow. For true joy knows no fear. Love has no limitation. And true happiness is a roaring river of life for a community of friends. So in essence, we do not sing just to make sounds, or money, or win grammy’s and be admired. We sing because “all art is a gift of the Holy Spirit.” We sing because “melodies bring animation and happiness to the world of humanity(<a href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/" target="_new">1).” We sing because God “has made music as a ladder for your souls”…a means whereby our communities may be “lifted up unto the realm on high.(<a href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/" target="_new">2)” Bahá’u'lláh lovingly says to us, “Let your joy be the joy born of My Most Great Name, a Name that bringeth rapture to the heart, and filleth with ecstasy the minds of all who have drawn nigh unto God(<a href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/" target="_new">3).” and thus says the Psalmist… “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things…Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/" target="_new">4) If this truly is the source of our joy, the question posed in the title of this post has now become all but irrelevant. Even as I was writing my eyes were turned to the more pressing dimension of the issue at hand which is: Knowing what we know and believing what we believe… How can we not sing? Free yo'self...Ascend ~e ______________ 1. Abdu’l-Baha, cited in The Importance of the Arts in Promoting the Faith, comp. The Research Department of the Universal House of Justice [Thornhill: Baha'i Canada Publications, 1999] no. 23, pp. 10-11 2. Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 39 3. ibid. 4. Psalms 98, King James Version Bahá’í communities and churches I have found a general reticence in people when it comes to singing. That’s something that is reserved for the choir…the professional. Now I am not talking about soloing in front of hundreds of people in Carnegie Hall. I am referring to a few people sitting in a familiar room surrounded by familiar faces and being asked to join in singing a familiar song of praise in a very relaxed community setting i.e. no pressure. In many instances, I have seen the mightiest lion reduced to a purring pussy cat, the most charismatic turned to a mumbling mess, and the brightest light in the room muted in a matter of moments when asked one simple request: “Please, won’t you all join me in singing….” It almost seems that that one teacher…you know the one, Ms. So and So, who put little Johnny in the back row of chorus, is haunting the majority of people in our communities. How many times have I heard this story over and over. Why is this?

I feel that the reason we find this fear of expression in our midst is not because of our ability or how we sing. I truly believe that if you can speak you can sing. As a matter of fact, I have worked with people all my life in community settings and inevitably we have been able to move to a concert level performance in less than a 3 day period (see www.ericdozier.com/ohfchoirs). That’s what I do. Everyone has a song in them. What I have observed over the years, however, is that when I do a workshop, it is not the song that I am trying to uncover in a person or group. It is their joy, heart, and happiness that we are collectively trying to release in that moment in time. Release those spiritual emotions and the song will follow. For true joy knows no fear. Love has no limitation. And true happiness is a roaring river of life for a community of friends.

So in essence, we do not sing just to make sounds, or money, or win grammy’s and be admired. We sing because “all art is a gift of the Holy Spirit.” We sing because “melodies bring animation and happiness to the world of humanity(1).” We sing because God “has made music as a ladder for your souls”…a means whereby our communities may be “lifted up unto the realm on high.(2)”

Bahá’u'lláh lovingly says to us,

“Let your joy be the joy born of My Most Great Name, a Name that bringeth rapture to the heart, and filleth with ecstasy the minds of all who have drawn nigh unto God(3).”

and thus says the Psalmist…

“O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things…Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.(4)

If this truly is the source of our joy, the question posed in the title of this post has now become all but irrelevant. Even as I was writing my eyes were turned to the more pressing dimension of the issue at hand which is: Knowing what we know and believing what we believe…

How can we not sing?

Free yo'self...Ascend

~e

______________

1. Abdu’l-Baha, cited in The Importance of the Arts in Promoting the Faith, comp. The Research Department of the Universal House of Justice [Thornhill: Baha'i Canada Publications, 1999] no. 23, pp. 10-11

2. Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 39

3. ibid.

4. Psalms 98, King James Version

]]> Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:20:00 GMT FF9E7C5FCDAADCBEE24EAF5ED7F4D3D2 soul searching... http://ericdozier.com/blog.cfm?feature=799783&postid=225654 ?O son of love! Thou art but one step away from the glorious heights above and from the celestial tree of love. Take thou one pace and with the next advance into the immortal realm. ~Bahá’u’llah As of late, I have found myself in a mad search to connect. With what I have yet to determine. I imagine that it ultimately will be with myself. But what I have discovered on this journey in the meantime is that one has to listen. One has to be observant…be quiet so as to be able to hear the promptings of the Spirit. The state of search is a fascinating and even daunting world in which I have found myself alone for the most part. It requires detachment from the ways of comfort and convenience. It calls for courage and a willingness to be adventurous…to have all of your notions challenged. At times I find myself confronted by my own presumptions about how things should be and my vision of and for myself is radically altered. Why would I want to do this you might ask? It is because it is time for me to take inventory. To break the habits that I have become so comfortable with over the years and seek to live a life full of vitality…fully self expressed in the world…saying “no” when I mean “no” and “yes” when I mean “yes.” I was recently listening to the music of Donny Hathaway (check him out when you get a chance). Even in his tragically short time on this planet, he burned with an intensity that many artists only dream of. In his music you hear all of who he was and when he is done singing you are emotionally exhausted after him having taken you to church, to the slums, or to the most intimate and dark recesses of his heart. This I believe is the result of a life examined, reflected upon and lived. In his music you feel the pain of love. You see the shattered dreams haunting the ghetto. You drink from the heavenly fountain of life as he weaves all of himself colorfully through his compositions. He was a seeker of soul…an adventurer, artist, and mystic. This is what a little time in the Valley of Search can produce. It is worth the painful, lonely trip through the cave of rigorous self examination to come out on the other side refreshed, purified, clear…fearless. I leave you with a few words…. One must, then, read the book of his own self, rather than some treatise on rhetoric. Wherefore He hath said, “Read thy Book: There needeth none but thyself to make out an account against thee this day.” [1] [1 Qur'án 17:15.] The story is told of a mystic knower, who went on a journey with a learned grammarian as his companion. They came to the shore of the Sea of Grandeur. The knower straightway flung himself into the waves, but the grammarian stood lost in his reasonings, which were as words that are written on water. The knower called out to him, “Why dost thou not follow?” The grammarian answered, “O Brother, I dare not advance. I must needs go back again.” Then the knower cried, “Forget what thou didst read in the books of Sibavayh and Qawlavayh, of Ibn-i-Hajib and Ibn-i-Malik, [1] and cross the water.” [1 Famed writers on grammar and rhetoric.] 52 The death of self is needed here, not rhetoric: Be nothing, then, and walk upon the waves. [1] [1 The Mathnavi.] (Baha’u'llah, The Four Valleys, p. 51) Free yo’ self…Ascend! ~e www.ericdozier.com www.myspace.com/ericdozier www.facebook.com/ericdoziermusic www.twitter.com/ericdozier ?O son of love!
Thou art but one step away from the glorious heights above and from the celestial tree of love. Take thou one pace and with the next advance into the immortal realm.
~Bahá’u’llah

As of late, I have found myself in a mad search to connect. With what I have yet to determine. I imagine that it ultimately will be with myself. But what I have discovered on this journey in the meantime is that one has to listen. One has to be observant…be quiet so as to be able to hear the promptings of the Spirit. The state of search is a fascinating and even daunting world in which I have found myself alone for the most part. It requires detachment from the ways of comfort and convenience. It calls for courage and a willingness to be adventurous…to have all of your notions challenged. At times I find myself confronted by my own presumptions about how things should be and my vision of and for myself is radically altered. Why would I want to do this you might ask? It is because it is time for me to take inventory. To break the habits that I have become so comfortable with over the years and seek to live a life full of vitality…fully self expressed in the world…saying “no” when I mean “no” and “yes” when I mean “yes.”

I was recently listening to the music of Donny Hathaway (check him out when you get a chance). Even in his tragically short time on this planet, he burned with an intensity that many artists only dream of. In his music you hear all of who he was and when he is done singing you are emotionally exhausted after him having taken you to church, to the slums, or to the most intimate and dark recesses of his heart. This I believe is the result of a life examined, reflected upon and lived. In his music you feel the pain of love. You see the shattered dreams haunting the ghetto. You drink from the heavenly fountain of life as he weaves all of himself colorfully through his compositions. He was a seeker of soul…an adventurer, artist, and mystic.

This is what a little time in the Valley of Search can produce. It is worth the painful, lonely trip through the cave of rigorous self examination to come out on the other side refreshed, purified, clear…fearless. I leave you with a few words….

One must, then, read the book of his own self, rather than some treatise on rhetoric. Wherefore He hath said, “Read thy Book: There needeth none but thyself to make out an account against thee this day.” [1]
[1 Qur'án 17:15.]

The story is told of a mystic knower, who went on a journey with a learned grammarian as his companion. They came to the shore of the Sea of Grandeur. The knower straightway flung himself into the waves, but the grammarian stood lost in his reasonings, which were as words that are written on water. The knower called out to him, “Why dost thou not follow?” The grammarian answered, “O Brother, I dare not advance. I must needs go back again.” Then the knower cried, “Forget what thou didst read in the books of Sibavayh and Qawlavayh, of Ibn-i-Hajib and Ibn-i-Malik, [1] and cross the water.”
[1 Famed writers on grammar and rhetoric.] 52

The death of self is needed here, not rhetoric:

Be nothing, then, and walk upon the waves. [1]
[1 The Mathnavi.]

(Baha’u'llah, The Four Valleys, p. 51)

Free yo’ self…Ascend!

~e

www.ericdozier.com
www.myspace.com/ericdozier
www.facebook.com/ericdoziermusic
www.twitter.com/ericdozier

]]> Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:06:40 GMT EC0191CE6415C3E87DFABE72E102FA26 beginnings... http://ericdozier.com/blog.cfm?feature=799783&postid=47849 It has taken me a while to get up the nerve to put myself out there in this way. However, there is so much to say and our time on this planet is so brief that to not share ourselves is a disservice to our own spiritual development, belittles the significance of the Journey, and robs our fellow wayfarers of our contribution to the collective wisdom. So here is my humble submission to you…my family. While on a plane going from somewhere to somewhere else, Spirit spoke the words “mobile soul”. The voice was soft and subtle but at the same time hauntingly clear. So I decided that i should take this intimation seriously and not toss this quiet revelation aside like an unsolicited invite to another worship service or the latest menu from Domino’s…here goes. The metaphor of the soul as traveler and life as journey permeates the air we breath. It is timeless and has traversed the bounds of culture and lives with us almost to the point of universality. Recall the words of those black and unknown bards that moaned the words of the old african american spiritual “ I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger.” Who of us has not felt like the “motherless child a long way from home.” You find this metaphor in the writings of many of the Eastern mystical poets as well. Take for instance the words of Rumi recorded in the Mathnavi when he says, “Up! Soul, and travel in search of eternal wealth.” Reflect on the sentiments of the psalmists, musing on a walk in green pastures, by still waters, and even “through the valley of the shadow of death.” The pervasive nature of these images is the foundation informing the notion of the mobile soul. We exist in either the state of progress or regress but never still. Seemingly there is always a restlessness even in our times of peace. Just this thought may seem daunting and even overwhelming at times. However, if viewed in a different light, this reality can breathe a new sense of hope and even adventure into every day of our lives. Our very nature testifies to fact that we should never dwell too long in a state of sorrow or grief, nor should we rest in the temporary moments of apparent bliss but keep striving to become, for the only thing that is constant is change…evolution…movement. Exciting huh…tiring yes but the reality of things nonetheless. This presents a challenge to us all, in every moment existence on this plane of decay, to see the eternal. To move past the mundane to the profound and draw a new strength from the knowledge that our puniness is mere mirage…a fleeting shadow and that our true Self is filled with power and potential. “Dost thou reckon thyself a mere puny form when within you the universe is folded.” This stands in stark contrast to the materialistic world view that most of us have been inundated and bathed in since our entry onto this plane. However, therein lies the task…the heart of the journey…to free ourselves from the illusions that keep us caged in selfish pursuits and a temporal fantasia surrounded by our toys…still wandering aimlessly. This is not an easy thing to do when everything around us encourages us to take and not give, to guard ourselves and not embrace, or to consume and not nurture or replenish. It was once said that he who owns the gold makes the rules. I don’t know about that. There have been many throughout history that have come up short on the gold but have manifested an abundance of soul. And personally I tend to lean toward the philosophy of the Godfather…of Soul that is who said, “ What we need is SOUL POWER. Gotta have it!” I hope you can get more than a little bit here and that it can help you along your mystic journey… Free Yo’ Self and ASCEND! Peace ~e It has taken me a while to get up the nerve to put myself out there in this way. However, there is so much to say and our time on this planet is so brief that to not share ourselves is a disservice to our own spiritual development, belittles the significance of the Journey, and robs our fellow wayfarers of our contribution to the collective wisdom. So here is my humble submission to you…my family.

While on a plane going from somewhere to somewhere else, Spirit spoke the words “mobile soul”. The voice was soft and subtle but at the same time hauntingly clear. So I decided that i should take this intimation seriously and not toss this quiet revelation aside like an unsolicited invite to another worship service or the latest menu from Domino’s…here goes.

The metaphor of the soul as traveler and life as journey permeates the air we breath. It is timeless and has traversed the bounds of culture and lives with us almost to the point of universality. Recall the words of those black and unknown bards that moaned the words of the old african american spiritual “ I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger.” Who of us has not felt like the “motherless child a long way from home.” You find this metaphor in the writings of many of the Eastern mystical poets as well. Take for instance the words of Rumi recorded in the Mathnavi when he says, “Up! Soul, and travel in search of eternal wealth.” Reflect on the sentiments of the psalmists, musing on a walk in green pastures, by still waters, and even “through the valley of the shadow of death.”

The pervasive nature of these images is the foundation informing the notion of the mobile soul. We exist in either the state of progress or regress but never still. Seemingly there is always a restlessness even in our times of peace.

Just this thought may seem daunting and even overwhelming at times. However, if viewed in a different light, this reality can breathe a new sense of hope and even adventure into every day of our lives. Our very nature testifies to fact that we should never dwell too long in a state of sorrow or grief, nor should we rest in the temporary moments of apparent bliss but keep striving to become, for the only thing that is constant is change…evolution…movement. Exciting huh…tiring yes but the reality of things nonetheless.

This presents a challenge to us all, in every moment existence on this plane of decay, to see the eternal. To move past the mundane to the profound and draw a new strength from the knowledge that our puniness is mere mirage…a fleeting shadow and that our true Self is filled with power and potential. “Dost thou reckon thyself a mere puny form when within you the universe is folded.”

This stands in stark contrast to the materialistic world view that most of us have been inundated and bathed in since our entry onto this plane. However, therein lies the task…the heart of the journey…to free ourselves from the illusions that keep us caged in selfish pursuits and a temporal fantasia surrounded by our toys…still wandering aimlessly. This is not an easy thing to do when everything around us encourages us to take and not give, to guard ourselves and not embrace, or to consume and not nurture or replenish.

It was once said that he who owns the gold makes the rules. I don’t know about that. There have been many throughout history that have come up short on the gold but have manifested an abundance of soul. And personally I tend to lean toward the philosophy of the Godfather…of Soul that is who said, “ What we need is SOUL POWER. Gotta have it!” I hope you can get more than a little bit here and that it can help you along your mystic journey…

Free Yo’ Self and ASCEND!

Peace

~e]]> Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:00:00 GMT A8E1C0D7FFAF0F3C2C4282D47DAB0325