Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Wetness

Saraswati

She is playing me, through me
and I pretend this all is of my doing…

Flowing down from the highlands, born
of the snow shower and sun drenched peaks
there are miles of stretching on before
we unite. We are the water, drop by drop
we realize until once again we pool by green
meadows and merge with our ocean- lover.

We dreamed along our way of our separateness,
and veered into divided streams and stagnated puddles.
We transformed into the invisible, falling again on fields
and city pavement, never once losing our essence.
Our wholeness, our nature is to merge again with that
which we already are.

So these polished words by the grace of Saraswati
meet you and intertwine us as they may.
My only instrument, my being bowing to
your being pretending I am playing, all the while,
flowing river of her essence keeps promises made
before time.

We are one again and I dreamed we were two.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. May we all see the many, many blessings we possess and give from this perspective.

"And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!"

from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens

Friday, December 15, 2006

Moon River Productions

The past few weeks have been spend starting up our very own entertainment agency and special event production company. Going in to this venture I intended all aspects of the start up to run smoothly and for the most part, everything has.

I'm crafting the mission statement right now and again, I choose to intend words with meaning that will convey not only our commitment to outstanding service but also our understanding that it is not by chance our clients come to us for service. Be it our years of experience and the many benefits attached, our commitment to serving others, our level of involvement in the communities we serve- whatever the case may be, it is by no accident that our clients and Moon River Productions come together. By a conscious decision we agree to be on purpose together and we are thankful for the opportunity to be of service.

Some pretty amazing coincidences have occurred since intending this business into a reality. We have been offered free rent of our office in Savannah, GA with a former associate there. We have also been offered assistance from a friend who wants to operate her own business, doing business as Moon River Productions in Beaufort, SC and has free office space in a historical antebellum mansion in the heart of the historic district.

So now, Moon River Productions has three locations: Savannah, GA, Bluffton/ Hilton Head Island and Beaufort, SC. I have been preparing myself for such bewildering instances and although they do come as a surprise- I know they were intended into reality and there's more where that came from!

I hope to catch up with all my friends soon. In the meantime, keep writing...I'm reading, just not able to comment as much as I wish.

Whatever it is that you think is missing in your life, right now take a moment to be thankful for all that you do have and realize whatever you desire will happen as soon as you intend.

Peace & blessings this Holiday Season. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Eid.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

12 Years Ago



We were gathered on Hilton Head awaiting your arrival. Christmas time 12 years ago was so special because you were to be our most precious gift ever. At 5:15 pm you came into this world as Silent Night played softly in the background.

Thank you for choosing us to be your parents and for every gift you bring. We love you so much.

Happy Birthday Tommy.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Perfection in Groundlessness


Last night while watching the PBS special, Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason featuring an interview with Ani Pema Chödrön, which you may view online, here- I said to my wife as she was reading, "did you hear what she just said?"

My wife, being one of my Master Teachers (my son is another of my Master Teachers) replied something along the lines of, "...but I don't understand, you don't practice anything of what you preach. "It was the most perfect thing she could have said!! It was in fitting exquisitely with what Pema Chödrön was saying, which is: "one can't know one's true self, until there is groundlessness beneath one."

At first, Cathy's words cut me, because as a Master Teacher she often holds nothing back in telling it like it is. But then I realized, "Tommy, this is one of the many experiences of "groundlessness." The rug's been pulled out from under you and you have nowhere to stand. It's true...there are many instances of you not practicing what you believe."

But that's precisely why I am so drawn to the spiritual teachings that I am...because they do express all that which I feel to be perfect and true- all that, which "I am, too" yet, can't quite perfect within myself.

There will never be perfection equal to what I desire. I want to be perfect in my spiritual practice but, I will always get in my way- until I choose to learn the lessons of groundlessness and realize... "It’s all good- it's all perfect as it is, here and now." Even feelings and thoughts that matters aren't perfect are in order; it is a "perfect" opportunity to choose and align myself again with higher awareness. Any opportunity that allows us to realize where our awareness is and to be drawn back into alignment with that which is perfect- is a blessing.

All this time I've been searching for my true Master Teachers. What perfect teachers I have, my wife and son, for they show me the way...when I choose to see.

Awareness

Things I don’t have, don’t possess, who I am not- I can choose to focus on these things and create a myriad of imaginable, minute dramas each portraying why I don’t have these things, how I can get them, how I would feel owning them- and still, I’m no where closer to what I desire. Sometimes I fall in love with the drama, the play of consciousness most rewarding; that which I choose to feed.

Things I do have, tangible or intangible, and who I truly am- I tend to overlook, and here is where I am becoming more aware- I am in possession of all that I need, as I am. Desiring more, results in resistance and that guarantees more of what I don’t have. But even desiring to not desire brings about a resistance, which offers its own paradoxical guarantee. Becoming aware of where my head is at and seeing desire for what it is: a thought process composed of lower energy seeking attunement with highest energy, is enough (what is highest energy but a realization that all is perfectly fine, here & now- even thoughts that things are not.)

It involves a most peculiar navigation into something profoundly mysterious where I must, must lose my way- even my very self, to arrive at the end, which is where I began. My “wayward” expedition into the mystery is a journey shared by every living soul. I know I am never alone. We are collectively on this journey, each of us trading turns showing the way.

Sitting around the fire last week, Trev Diesel played an original song called “Sharptooth” which is “a retelling of an ancient Indian tale about a tiger being raised by goats (thereby believing he himself is a goat)” in which he sang the following lines,

“Lift your voice and let out a shout, you’ll see the limits you’ve lived with, you’ll know the power you’ve lived without.”

We are destined to own the paradox of being both tiger and goat, which is the same as the journey into the mystic. Each of us while on the same path feels like we are alone, that there is something we are missing, something we are or we are not holding us back, but this is a falsehood which is in place so that at our weakest, we can call forth that which is always already in us- that will save us. Only when we’ve seen the limits we’ve lived with can we know the power we’ve lived without.

“At any moment in time, all Spirit is concentrated at the point where we focus our attention.” Wayne Dyer

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