Personal Tao Musings

Hawi

2008-08-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Landed in Hawi Hawaii yesterday.

In a few weeks will be north of Hilo and starting to find a place.

I am home.

Soon to meditate a week off to dreams. But first just sleep. Blissful grey under the sounds of birds and wind and over Pele churning out her tales to share.

peace

Leeeeettttting go

2008-08-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Back in Oly

A breath, a dash of magic, a pinch of old times and mixing it all together

to be back on the road Monday...

Peace in your own travels.

recording passage

2008-08-13T13:36:00.001-07:00

A few hours ago:

I wandered near the mountain range called "The crazy mountains" (isn't that an awesome name?) I had some thoughts to write... Profoundly deep ones of course.

Now:
A few hours later I am sitting down at some wireless cafe and those profound thoughts are all gone.

Don't try to hold on to what is profound... to be more, to connect, to become....

It's whimsy for me. Some moments to become poetry, other times shift into passages for a book...
In the end, I let go so much more, let it roll off around as a breeze of ideas and connections... To move through life. So much wonder in my life and 99.999% flows on with the moment.

If I were to tell you a story of wonder, would I need the wing of the angel to prove I flew? Of course not, to do so, would kill the angel, end the dream...

In relaxing, in smiling , in letting it pass to become, ever more, ever growing.

oh yes now I remember...

I was thinking about the little fossil I picked up on the river yesterday...

Bone, scale and form recorded in a rock from past to now... That is what so many people try to do, record profound thoughts... which end up as fossils... not us at all, simply us in reflection.

Which is better: to become a fossil or to change, roll on to become ever more?

Life is change...

So many places this path can go, but, now, already I am letting it go, go, gone and away to rolling on again.

peace

Wandering

2008-08-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

In North Dakota

As a wanderer, it feels best to be a wanderer here, but the painted canyons are priceless.

peace

Gratitude

2008-08-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Do you wake up with feelings of Gratitude?

If so, then embrace your :) and live fully to that life.

If not, then embrace change fully. Let the winds of whimsy lead you to a new life. Every day is a new life, if you are open to the possibilities.

Seriously, think about this for a moment.

Why not wake up to gratitude? Live fully in your breath and actions. If you wake up in pain, in misery, in not wanting to move forward, Then step sideways, step in a new direction.

I place colorful cloth - Sarongs- over my windows so when the sun comes in, it's a rainbow of images, light and shadows dancing over and upon me that is my greeting to the day. I keep the window open so fresh cool breezes can sneak in to wake me with playful swishing of air. Here is the poem that mixes that image to a fresh morning to a new life, I teach to others.

A window
Sarong draped across
Air slips, flutters into the room
Cool cool air slinking around
Mixing into breath
Coolness merging into
Morning

Light filters thru
Green, purple, blue fabric
Playing across, stirring into first sight
Coolness of colours merging to
Day, waking, becoming…
Alive once again

Are we always alive?
Or is it an inspiration, upon each waking
Each day
A Doorway

You have to understand when I wrote this poem, I woke up every day in extreme pain, every day I went to bed wishing to fade away to grey becuase the pain would be so extreme the next morning.

Everyday, I lie to myself
"I can leave whenever I wish"

Everyday I say this.
Everyday I stay
Beaten bruises should push me away
I stay
hiding tears, pain, truths
Hide it in lies, smiles and fantasy

It doesn't matter
Everyday losing something more of myself
Everyday laying a little longer,
picking myself off the ground, slowly,
to continue this play

Every night I lie to myself.
Going to sleep, it feels so easy
maybe the gray, the midnight dark
will stay, keep the day away

It doesn’t, it never does.

leaving me to morning, another day
saying: "I can leave whenever I wish"

Could have, should have, would have left
living, living free, not beaten, to be true to life, is who you are
is what calls, howls in my dreams
No!
as much I want to flee
truth, true to my life, means to love others...
more than even myself.
It's returning love in my children's eyes
who cannot leave here.
Its helping friends beaten to the ground
with my hand so they may, walk again.

Silently unknowingly
these love ones
pick me up off the ground everyday

I wont lie
I will leave someday
It just won't be today

I know pain better than many, that it's always possible to start in wonder, in joy. Even when in pain, the option exists for everyone to embrace gratitude , in wonder , in joy even. It's just 8 out 10 people choose to embrace the known over the costs of release and braving the unknown.

I have been a Taoist all my life, I always embrace joy and wonder, and I have had hard times in my life also. I never reject my life or the times of pain when they do occur. I embrace it all and move on with my life into new things. Even in the worse times, those times gave me what I needed to become ever more, to write and help others, to do things in my Taoist practice which many would considered impossible.

The point is you have to be strong enough to move out of the pain also. Otherwise it becomes the only thing in your life.

I have moved out of the pain portion of my life a few years ago now, it served its purpose to teach and show me : myself.

As I transform again now, I wish to others the strength to hold true to their life, even when it means to be brave enough to jump into the unknown.

peace

Transformation and Movement

2008-08-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

I will be a bit scarce the next two weeks.

I am in the middle of being on the road and moving to Hawaii now and the next two weeks will be very chaotic and blissful: so just a moment to let everything be and flow with the change instead...

So no worries about holding together blogs and other mediums in the mean time :)

Love to all

PS Angela give me a holler, I will be in Hawi starting the 19th :) and then the next three months will be poking about the big island.

me

Staying the Same

2008-08-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

Taoism is embracing the change of living.

Comfort and Society is all about staying the same: status quo

That's a major problem. For example

If you want your relationship to stay the same... then over time it will break as you and your partner naturally change
If you want your lifestyle to stay the same... you have to work harder and harder to keep it the same as you discover new things you rather do.
Etc .. fill in with examples with what you find in life around you.

I said in today's earlier post:

People work , work, work, and work some more at it every day to save for the price of sameness...

That is the price of a modern lifestyle, that is the trap!

If life is hard. Chances are you are working too hard to keep it the same.

Think about it

If you want Freedom, Taoism, Acceptance, Heart, etc... then let go to change and flow with life rather than resisting it to keep it the same. To do so is easier, simpler and lets you grow... rather than being diminished in trying to stay the same.

peace

meandering

2008-08-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

A Busy busy week

Watching the world spin around in the financial markets...
So what

Taking the afternoon off to drift in inner tubes down the Mississippi river.
Just floating

Looking ahead, fine tuning our next leap. Getting ready to get back on the road to drive to Olympia and then further.

If I were to live by society, I should be working my arse off right now, to save, to stash away for the chaos roiling about...

How can one ever save enough to fulfill chaos?

I have no future right now, only having enough to live now and a few weeks ahead at the most. Working a simple technical job to keep a balance relative to society, teaching retreats to help others and connecting to seekers with simple Taoist guidance.

That's enough to live now.

Now is enough.

A person I teach, just gasped when seeing it: "That is so easy!"

Yes it is.
Based within: trusting your heart.

I take it a day at a time and soar along with the eagles,
along this river.

It's my life,
A families life,
To enjoy.
To have stock in it by embracing the beat of my life
by being my life : being true to my own heart.

I change to this fact everyday.

This isn't a lifestyle about staying the same. If you want that... well:

then you work , work, work, and work some more at it every day to save for that sameness...
That is the price of a modern lifestyle, that is the trap! Shhhhh that is the secret people try to sell you! Not your freedom but what is bought at a price: your sameness.

Or you can change and flow with your life to be free.

This is the truth to letting go and being free.

and i wonder
how many people get what I am trying to say here
how many people cannot let go of someone else's dream

If you get this, then why not take the full step? why not make it simple, as it can be?

I cannot answer this directly, for I have my own answer in being free. Your answer is your own life, any answer I give would be my dream...

peace

Retreats and Monday

2008-08-04T10:07:00.001-07:00

Good Morning

I enjoy and embrace teaching Taoist / Transformation retreats. It's always an amazing process to help a person fulfill into their own life.

I teach a person to only come in with one expectation: to smile. Since every retreat always goes far beyond what a person will imagine can happen. It's a deep process of finding new ground to explore.

In transformation retreats, most seekers have some fear coming to the retreat, since deep down it's about change and connection. I won't take a person in unless they are at the right point to embrace their own change. As a result about half of the people I help before the retreat actually jump out of the retreat before it happens. For those who are brave enough to embrace transformation, after the retreat begins, it then all flips around. The retreat gives so much heart, they fear leaving the retreat, the fear loops around to cause anxiety over losing all the wonder, hope and connection discovered within the process. So we gently wind down into the right place for their transformation to safely grow from.

As a professional this is why I don't map out a retreat before it happens. To do so, would create a trap of expectation for the person to get lost within.

To help give some key perspective, form and direction. It's never the same twice, since each time it's about matching to the person what they need in the journey now. It's art since its all about expressing soul and spirit.

:) it's an amazing time that is for sure!

But afterwards, for myself, I always plan for a sleep day. A simple retreat will only be 3 days, but it packs in 6 days worth of living into that time. After all when you do accept time: It's all about relationship and connection.

peace

In Retreat

2008-08-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

I am Teaching a Taoist / Transformation retreat the next 3 days.

Guiding a person along in a retreat is a wonderful experience helping them connect towards acceptance.

A strange word retreat...

To go away in order to fulfill oneself spiritually. It's too bad it isn't called "fulfillment" or "embodiment"... something which more captures the true essence of the process.

However, many people are running away from something, so the word "retreat" can appropriately capture the initial "feeling" of what is desired in finding change.

Funny thing about the word retreat, it implicates "lose", "to fall back", "pull away"... again a strange term when in reality it's a process of moving into one's own hidden light.

At first it's a "retreat" as one falls back into their hidden nature. A retreat away from one's inner resistance to becoming more.

So many different angles to view it all from. :)

Peace

Helping others and Freedom

2008-07-31T10:42:00.001-07:00

It's strange to discover how much impact we can have in the most simple actions.

I usually only hear or see the effects of what I did long afterwards. Today I just talked to someone I helped back a few years ago, within a few hours of conversation, that ended up forming whole new work groups and ways to do business, that then rippled out to helping countless others in substance abuse treatment...

As a Taoist I assist in very simple ways, as quietly as possible and to move on quickly. Never to guide others beyond what fits their life. Striving always to Wu-Wei. It's strange after 10 or 20 years how people will bounce back into me and inform me what I built, did or said is still in use or growing...

The point being: you can make a difference, just don't get trapped by ego or desires to make it more than what it needs to be.

Our ego, likes to fool us into thinking it's "Us" that is required to make a difference.

Truth is: "I" never make any difference in the help I share: What made the difference was just sharing the simple acts of kindness at the right moments. It had nothing to do with me, even when being the messenger.

It's possible to look at this in many ways, but within the Taoist style you have the most freedom to explore unhampered the larger world, while still assisting others.

While I am happy I helped, if I let myself be defined to that process, The very definition would force me to be back to continue fulfilling the endless shapes formed by the empty space of need.

Instead, I help as I can, moving with life as my life flows. So instead: I am now freely watching wild turkeys cross in front of me, embracing the wet morning rain and having the warm sun wrap around me in blissful peaceful moment. I still make a difference, while fully living my own life, defined by my own wonder, rather than being defined by the problems I solved in passing in kindness.

I hope you catch the difference!

This is an important Taoist lesson about how to be free and assist in kindness at the same time.

Peace

Silence

2008-07-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the edge of the wood, silently.

Rains came down for a few hours.

Now it's all becoming morning steam.
Jumping, no walking, in a drifting lazy manner.
To go back into the sky...
as directed by the sun.

Two mother wild turkeys and 10 young walk pass me.
we reflect no worries
each going our own way.
Other birds chime in
I have nothing to say.
The world speaks enough.

Life passes by.
Without care
In being together, it's being aware.

I might be homeless, but I am at home

---------------------------------------
My morning notes/journal as I move on with the day...

Peace

Some Poetry on the road

2008-07-30T06:40:00.001-07:00

Twilight started in the middle of a storm.
Raging clouds, thunder, wind all roiling around the car.
We slept. Waiting for the calm.
Until morning broke free
To a running start, we drove towards the sun.
Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa...
States pass by on Highway 76

Sunflowers now stand sentinel
splitting the highway divide
being witness to nothing, like us, also moving to the sun.
The highway
leaves me alone.
Pushing, driving me, without stopping.

Being Homeless and on the road

America you have broken your own dream.
Jack tells me to listen to the road.
A speech in ricket tone,
our car calling out the road's truth:
chu bu chu buh bhum bhuuh bum bumm Bum BUM...
... To be a bum.
The exit comes and goes in this realization.
I go on and on and beyond stopping...

We think answers should appear.
Such as a convenient exit to a new home
So we wander and move on
in hope.

Somewhere, in acceptance of movement
it just becomes... motion itself
as miles count off, to numbers I will never remember
In Nebraska and beyond
The sunflowers will still be standing here
tomorrow.

--------------------------------------------------
Started to write this 7/22/2008 while on the road
wandering

Second pass edit.

I suppose the feelings of the words are my home

peace

Path of Life: Part II

2008-07-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

In change,
In transformation,
In finding yourself on a spiritual path.

The question becomes: What is the best route to take?

Many people take a long path, which is the hardest on a person, since it breaks you down from the outside. Yes this is the most painful path, since it involves are getting beaten down by others. However, it's easier for most people, since the world is doing all the work to break you down. So it ends up being the long path as you resist the change and beatings. For many people it's the path they take, since they don't know any better way. This is the path of crisis.

Very very few people take the shortest path. However, this is the hardest path, as you voluntarily do most of the work of letting go and breaking out of your own expectation traps. But it's hard and full of dead ends and exploration into the unknown. This is the path of transformation.

Finally, many people look to spiritual teachers, religions or established systems as a path in life. This works since hopefully you find a guide to short cut you around known problems. This could end up either as a path of crisis or transformation depending on who you find to help you.

The trouble is: what if the guide is taking you to a place, you don't want to go? Many people avoid this path since they distrust many spiritual practices as being false.

So this is a very tricky path since finding the right guide to match your style and needs can be difficult.

However, there is another problem with finding a guide in life. The trick is realizing you still have to work, even with the guidance, otherwise your life's path just reverts back to the longer path with no personal involvement of direct action. That's the deeper pattern we have to break out of.

Which comes around back to heart. Be true to your heart in this process to help guide you towards personal truth. Your heart is a guide and outside resource, already built within you, to help direct you towards completion of spirit.

Learning that, trust of heart, is often the part of any spiritual practice that takes years to master. This is what I teach first to any traveler in spiritual practices.

All Taoist teachers use the heart-mind to reflect upon as the true guide in spiritual life. We use many terms and fancy symbols to represent this truth, from many angles. However, in short hand: discover trusting your own heart as part of the guidance for your life.

If you know this up front, it can make the journey more enjoyable along the way.

peace

Path of Life

2008-07-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

In the path of life we are all equal

It's just a matter of perspective and possibility of where you can go.

I mention this, since many spiritual teachers are placed high, as if their wisdom and words are the only truth. To be taken over one's own personal truths...

It's not

Which gets me back to heart.

I spend quite a bit of time teaching people how to connect to their own heart. This is only possible when a person accepts their own words and actions equally to that of what is given to them by "spiritual" teachers. Something to consider if you are starting a spiritual quest.

Peace

What is Heart?

2008-07-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

:)

So I talk about heart, over and over the past few posts.

So the question then becomes:

What is heart?

Taoism teaches to give a definition would also limit your nature.

Personally this means: how I live, is "heart". For myself this means it's defined by

my actions every day
guidance of possibilities I aspire toward
the interchange within sharing life itself

What words could ever fully cover this? :)

Smile and let that be your guide in possibility.

peace

Why A Personal Tao?

2008-07-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

Why this blog? Why A Personal Tao?

As a Taoist, I spent most of my life hidden and as a hermit. Most people never saw my practice or the depths to which I practiced it. Taoist's do not go out of their way to tell others how life should flow. As a Taoist I am most happy to stay upon a personal path and not in sight of others. Taoism doesn't preach much or go out of its way to be public.

However, Taoist practice is such that: no absolute rules exist.

We must live to the times as the times happen.

We are entering a warring period states period which, to some degree, makes it appropriate to be a bit more pro-active.

The current times represent a major point of change. Where conditions are malleable to many different possible outcomes. We are at a similar point in history as when the Taoist sages in the past came out to write the Tao Te Ching to help Chinese society find new direction.

Right now, we can join in to give shape to society during a time of "chaos" to help sway it towards something better to live within.

It's time to impress upon society our own heart. In flux, society listens to everyone's actions!

Taoist wisdom teaches a sage cannot make chaos orderly.

We should not try to prevent what is happening at all. Instead it's a time to mix in our very nature with society. Not to dictate what might be, but to add in possibilities of what could be. This is an important distinction!

So in teaching Taoism to current times, the purpose is not to reinvent it, not to re-translate it, but rather place it in terms the current culture can (1) accept and (2) connect to and (finally) embrace as part of its nature.

From Taoist practice this means

We live to our heart.

We listen to our heart.

This is the key to understanding what the sages of old taught.

Many people have asked me time and time again how to live as a Taoist. In how many ways can I say : Acceptance of heart? Kindness within action? Quite a few ways it turns out.

A Personal Tao is a simple lesson to help others discover Taoism in terms of modern life. In terms of the heart. Taoism isn't a difficult or complicated message to write about. What's hard: is living to your own heart. People think the message is hard to understand becuase of difficulty of embracing their nature. The message is very simple. What is hard: is finding what acceptance means to live to your own heart!

In reality: what matters is being brave enough to be part of the process which is unfolding around us: as our own life.

If this seems simple: it is. Strangely, when it appears too easy, then people make it hard for a challenge.

As example

I have watched people scream for decades: it's your right to vote, so vote! Make change happen by voting... You must vote to make a better change for the world...

Voting for another person is bullshit when you are assigning your action to another person. This is giving away one's heart of action to another. This process actually can make many people powerless when voting carelessly or in a rigged system. Yes you can vote to help "dictate" a society... HOWEVER:

If you truly want to make a difference:

Vote by action of your own action, to the beat of your heart!

This is the reason I write here. To remind people, it's not about the past, it's not about the future, it's not about politics, it's not about fear, not about others or what they dictate to you... It's not about anything outside of your life!

It's simply about living your life as your life, to your heart.

If you do that, you are as wise as any Taoist sage. Yes it's that simple.

That is what A Personal Tao is all about.

Re-discovering heart.

Remember what's hard: is how to fulfill this truth. Yet it's as easy or as hard as you make it to be.

Peace

American State of Solutions: Part Three

2008-07-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

I stated earlier:

Be careful don't get trapped by reasons, or large scale solutions...

This is very important to understand.

Something about myself first: I have been quietly working for years working with all the states in the United States towards implementing Drug and Alcohol Treatment systems. I was one of the grandfathers responsible for starting a system called WITS many years ago, the first integrated treatment tracking system which is use by a dozen states and political entities to consolidate and make the process of Substance Abuse Treatment more easily shared so states could have more money to help those in need.

I have lots of experience trying to get states to work together and share. All of this very quietly and patiently over the years. I work in such a way that very few people know I even exist, since it makes it easier for me to be effective. Even today, I am working in charity with a small non profit called NDIIC to help the states share and communicate with each other. It's hard work and very slow work. Soon I will leave this work, since it's my time to hand it over to newer and more excited individuals to keep the energy high in the process of sharing.

I have spent decades pondering how best to help people, and putting into practice how to live to kindness.

So I am not being a couch quarterback just sharing ideas hoping to make a difference. I live to my statements becuase I know it works.

So here is some wisdom on solutions on how to make our society a better place.

(1) People are all visionaries, we have the capacity to see final results.

Don't mistake the vision to be the path of the solution.

All effective solutions are those that start simply and grow into final results.

(2) The larger the solution, the less effective it becomes

(3) Communication is key to making any solution work.

(4) It takes simple solutions which evolve over time to meet the needs of many people.

I must stress all complicated systems are all systems with simple rules that evolved into complicated relationships over time. If you try to create complicated relationships at the start, you will fail due to the complexities. Start with simple actions and let the following interactions over time define the more complicated final solution.

This is a very very fine point and why most visionaries fail in making their dreams come true, and why it takes many generations after the visionary to make the dream come true!

(5) Ii takes INVOLVEMENT, the active desire to make a difference, in order to make a difference. Wishing doesn't work, nor does handing off the problem to someone else to make it work.

(6) It takes very very basic local actions to make a difference.

(7) You can never dictate a solution. Rather you must embrace it from the heart, and let it change with the heart of others for it grow into a solution.

If you take all of this, it means the solution is very simple

you start with:

your own heart, your own actions

reach out in simple kind actions and share.

Repeat

Thats it. Really! Seriously... That's it!

Over time this can and will evolve into a solution into that will make our society a better place.

Is it easy? No, since you have to be persistent.

Does it work overnight? No since you work over your whole life in making life better!

Does it save everyone? Not directly, by your own hand. Since we each can only interconnect with a few people. Yet as a community, we can share relationship and assistance to all willing to be in that relationship. Remember: not everyone desires to be saved.

Does it work and can it make our society into a place wonder and peace.

Yes! Provided you truly place your heart into this process.

or you can let go of heart to live upon the couch called "comfort".

We all have that power of choice.

Just a question of what world you decide to live in : within your own actions.

peace

American State of Mind: Part Two

2008-07-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

What was made clear the other day by my interaction with the police, is a large scale fundamental shift in the United States culture.

I have been watching this change slowly since 1970's when it first crossed my awareness.

The tactic of using fear to control others.

This is something that has been evolving for a long long time, going back to the turn of the previous century. However, Mr Bush and his war of Terrorism has refined the practice of isolating people with fear to a fine art.

In terrorism, we all have become targets of terror from our own society.

First understand this very basic truth about fear:

In becoming "targets of terror", everyone then becomes a suspect : always!

In a Fear base society everyone becomes a minority.

No one can stand out in such a system for fear of being attacked.

Over the last few years, many many people have been outspoken about the dangers of such a society. I am not going speak over why it has happened or point fingers. That just adds to the problem.

The only way to resolve such fear, is to open up your heart and live to kindness.

My encounter with the police the other day was very important to me. It showed how far down in the pit of fear the heart of the United States has fallen.

This isn't something that will get fixed overnight. It will take brave work of the heart to make a difference.

Right now to be a freedom fighter is to be a lover, to love those who live around you. To be a person who lives from their heart and kindness.

Be careful dont get trapped by reasons, or large scale solutions... The large scale solution is based on the smallest and simplest of actions: Being kind, discovering love in sharing. But those actions have to be fully part of your life, not something done for show or only for others..

It must fully be of and come out of the heart.

If you have a dream of a better world for your children, then place your heart into that dream so it might become reality.

Now is the time....

Now is always the time.

to reach out and reconnect to the world in kindness.

If you claim you want to have the solution, Then take this most simply of solutions to heart to actually be it! Otherwise it counts for nothing and you just reinforce the fear based culture of division and minority we have become.

Peace

How to Save the World

2008-07-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

About today's social problems.

I Posted this on Bill's Blog yesterday, I am sharing it here since it's important. It's basic 101 on how to truly make a difference, when you see others in need on the street or passing by your life.

There are no perfect solutions, and yes things are bad right now getting worse.

In all my years of helping people, what makes a difference is kindness.

When I have a home, I share it with the homeless. When on the street, I share laughter and hope.

It's not complicated. Except, people are unsure about what is in their own heart, uncertain about sharing. Right now fear is being used to control people since it keeps us apart. Until this tactic changes, the homeless situation and other problems like drug use will get worse.

If you want to make a difference right now: it is very simple

Give up the fear and work towards kindness.

It doesn't have to be all at once, and it does start simply and grows from simple acts.

It really is that simple. Not perfect, but simple.

You can't help everyone, and you can't help those who are not ready for help.

However, many people , decent people who can use help abound. You would be surprised how a smile at the right time can turn a person's world around. You would be surprised how easy it is to share time with another person on the street, just to talk and to share a moment.

While money is nice at times, its not about throwing money about either. This is about "Time" about relationship where you connect to another person, just talk and share what is needed at that moment.

You can't Directly save the world, you can't save a nation, a state, etc

But you can save the occasional person, child and others who happen to cross your path.

Yes it also takes practice to learn who you can help and who you have to let wander. That has taken me years to learn. So I know how hard this can be. This is why fear wins out so often... fear is an easier path, why risk reaching out when it's all too easy to only embrace personal comfort.

The process of helping others might be simple, but it's never ever easy. But so often what is worth doing is not easy :) that is part of the joy of learning and becoming more in the sharing.

If you do this then ironically you can save the world. Simply in acts of kindness.

It is that simple, when opening up the heart to make it so.

peace

American Police State of Mind

2008-07-23T07:44:00.001-07:00

I spent a good half hour in a police car yesterday as they recorded me and tried to discover all the dark and dirty secrets I might have becuase I was speeding 7 miles over the limit yesterday... ( I thought I was only going 3 over the limit when it turns out I was in a 70 mph zone not a 75 mph when I crossed the state line)

I was searched for weapons, drugs and any thing that could be wrong. At one point the police officer got all excited over the possibility my cell phone could have been a concealed weapon. ( I kid you not, his body re-action was one of getting ready to kick my ass for having a semi hidden cell phone. I have done martial arts long enough to know the signs of a person ready to fight.)

I learn quite a bit today. Things are shifting indeed.

It's a long story, for what should have been only a few minutes of a traffic ticket. I will say the Mid-West is most assuredly getting a bit over zealous in the cops.

Zen style of mind does come in handy as the performance of the whole bad cop good cop went down... seessh! The police most assuredly don't like homeless folks on the road now a days.

It was fascinating as I got crossed grilled in all the questions to find dark truths. It was very clear if I said something wrong, I was going to find my self in jail (for only a speeding offense, mind you). It was also very clear, the cops are no longer just working to help people. In fact I am finding the police are now going far out of their way to discover something wrong with anyone they pass. In this half hour I had no innocent until proven guilt, I had to prove I was innocent instead! They were looking very hard to boot my ass to jail: Just because I look and act outside their normal expectation.

Remember expectations are just a lie in the end. If the police work to expectation then they work to a lie. That is very dangerous when supposedly the police work towards truth and most policemen are both armed and on a hairs trigger to bust you!

If you start assuming others are guilty, the road towards truth becomes a much more difficult path. More often than not that destination will end up guilty! Since most people are lazy and don't want to work too hard. It's easier to find something "wrong" with any situation...

This is a very very bad sign indeed!

That's a major shift in America if you ask me. Yes I know, this is has been the case for a long time. However, I am finding it's much worse now. I watch this and I am telling you its going deeper. As I travel around the country I am disturbed at this fundamental shift into ever more aggressive police tactics.

I got out of all tickets yesterday afternoon, despite the lengthy incarceration. I was let off with a few warnings. While I am laughing over the incident, it was actually very serious and the policeman's body language was telling me he was fully expecting me to be guilty of something. I was very close to being hauled off to going to jail for no offense other than being different.

So many different disturbing truths rose out of the encounter, about currently being homeless and how that made a police officer over react. About how in being out of the ordinary, I was a major threat. About how hard he worked at trying to make me slip up in my statements and use it against me in the recordings. About how he work at a half hour to find something to arrest me on. How how easy it would have been for him to just take me to jail to sort it out later. I suspect having my children in the car helped stopped him from doing just that. I make no joke how serious this event was despite it just being "kicked off" by speeding a few miles over the limit.

Being different is a unwritten crime in a nation that lives to fear!

First and foremost: I have no dark secrets.. So they can pry all they want. I only speak truth and stand firm in who I am. I know how to connect and work with everyone. So I had no problems enjoying the experience, playing my role properly, learning from the temporary incarceration, and then working my way out of his prison of "expectations". I thanked the officer in the end for everything he taught me and gave him a small blessing, which shocked him.

Yesterdays experience was very disturbing, since it represents a deeper trend in the way police procedure is working in America. The way I was shuffled into the car, the way I was being recorded and grilled. The way it was clear, that I was going to going to get my ass busted to jail if I step a hairbreadth in the wrong way or even said the wrong thing. The way it was clear: I was guilty not innocent in that Cop's mind. While I was able to stay true to my innocence... I can see: if this is the way Police are acting in America, a lot of people who are innocent are going to find themselves compromised into false police action. That this has been evolving for a while and with all the damage already done, the police's job has transition into enforcing the social problems rather than being peace officers.

No, America is in for some serious problems judging from that encounter yesterday.

I wrote on another blog how I felt something wrong as I traveled the country. I now know what it was I felt and this doesn't bode well at all in my mind, as we enter more chaotic times.

Please be careful out there, but stay true to yourself.

peace

Back on the road...

Graffiti

2008-07-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

:) I love this! Tricked up snail.

Just playing this morning

2008-07-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

I am just playing right now... Don't expect anything.

It's not about seeking, nor destination

Rather discover:

Whimsy, Possibility, Heart, Reflection............ Awareness

within

Dance, Release, Pause, Merging................ Acceptance

In defining time: it limits the very practice.

Are you trying to

Break on through to ... ?

Of yourself? This make me laugh :) but now that is progress and a key of sort.

To releasing all pre-definitions.

be nothing for a change of pace: rather than any limitation or definition...

This is the secret to full Transformation

peace

Time and Roads

2008-07-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Time

A little bit more about time.

Time does exist and it doesn't.

Time when it exists, is a definition of relationship. When it doesn't exist, it's absence defines unity.

Use that as you will, if you find yourself fighting against time.

Speaking of relationship.

I will be back on the road again for a week. Driving to the state of Minnesota for 3 weeks to be with family. Taos was fantastic. A very spiritual and peaceful community. I met with many other spiritual teachers, had a chance to chill, took the time to truly share life with new and old friends.

To anyone who has read my book, the art on the Dance page 45 is rooted in Taos and a thanks to that spirit of movement which one can connect to in this place.

My respects, love and friendship to everyone in Taos.

And most respectfully thanks
To the mountain and sister spirits
for opening the space by being available in acceptance .

Peace

Time of Nothing

2008-07-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

A friend of my mentions:

So much work, so little time. Is it the same everywhere?

Time doesn't exist,

Perhaps that is why there never seems to be enough as we try to make it more than nothing.

Peace