Click thru for the tracklist...
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Live on Sub.FM May 1st 2013 (2 hour mix)
2-hour DJ set mixed live on www.Sub.FM May 1st 2013, a deep excursion into warm blends of dubstep & bass. Fat trimmed, minimal chatter.
Click thru for the tracklist...
Click thru for the tracklist...
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Convergence
From The World's Religions, Huston Smith, 1991
"We hear that East and West are meeting, but it is an understatement. They are being flung at one another, hurled with the force of atoms, the speed of jets, the restlessness of minds impatient to learn the ways of others. When historians look back on our century, they may remember it most, not for space travel or the release of nuclear energy, but as the time when the peoples of the world first came to take one another seriously.
"The change that this new situation requires of us all - we who have been suddenly catapulted from town and country onto a world stage - is staggering. Twenty-five hundred years ago it took an exceptional man like Diogenes to exclaim, 'I am not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world.' Today we must all be struggling to make those words our own. We have come to the point in history when anyone who is only Japanese or American, only Oriental or Occidental, is only half human. The other half that beats with the pulse of all humanity has yet to be born.
"To borrow an image from Nietzsche, we have all been summoned to become Cosmic Dancers who do not rest heavily on a single spot but lightly turn and leap from one position to another. As World Citizen, the Cosmic Dancer will be an authentic child of its parent culture, while closely related to all. The dancer's roots in family and community will be deep, but in those depths they will strike the water table of a common humanity. For is the dancer not also human? If only she might see what has interested others, might it not interest her as well? It is an exciting prospect. The softening of divisions will induce borrowings that sometimes produce hybrids, but for the most part simply enrich species and sustain their vigor.
"The motives that impel us toward world understanding are varied, [but] ...The final reason for understanding one another is intrinsic - to enjoy the wider angle the vision affords... Without two eyes - binocular vision, there is no awareness of space's third dimension. Until sight converges from more than one angle, the world looks as flat as a postcard. The rewards of having two eyes are practical... But the final reward is the deepened view of the world itself - the panoramas that unroll before us, the vistas that extend from our feet.
"But the greatest gains need no tally. To glimpse what belonging means to the Japanese; to sense with a Burmese grandmother what passes in life and what endures; to understand how Hindus can regard their personalities as masks that overlay the Infinite within; to crack the paradox of a Zen monk who assures you that everything is holy but scrupulously refrains from certain acts - to swing such things into view is to add dimensions to the glance of spirit. It is to have another world to live in. The only thing that is good without qualification is not (as Kant argued) the good will, for a will can mean well in cramped quarters. The only thing that is unqualifiedly good is extended vision, the enlargement of one's understanding of the ultimate nature of things.
-Huston Smith
"We hear that East and West are meeting, but it is an understatement. They are being flung at one another, hurled with the force of atoms, the speed of jets, the restlessness of minds impatient to learn the ways of others. When historians look back on our century, they may remember it most, not for space travel or the release of nuclear energy, but as the time when the peoples of the world first came to take one another seriously.
"The change that this new situation requires of us all - we who have been suddenly catapulted from town and country onto a world stage - is staggering. Twenty-five hundred years ago it took an exceptional man like Diogenes to exclaim, 'I am not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world.' Today we must all be struggling to make those words our own. We have come to the point in history when anyone who is only Japanese or American, only Oriental or Occidental, is only half human. The other half that beats with the pulse of all humanity has yet to be born.
"To borrow an image from Nietzsche, we have all been summoned to become Cosmic Dancers who do not rest heavily on a single spot but lightly turn and leap from one position to another. As World Citizen, the Cosmic Dancer will be an authentic child of its parent culture, while closely related to all. The dancer's roots in family and community will be deep, but in those depths they will strike the water table of a common humanity. For is the dancer not also human? If only she might see what has interested others, might it not interest her as well? It is an exciting prospect. The softening of divisions will induce borrowings that sometimes produce hybrids, but for the most part simply enrich species and sustain their vigor.
"The motives that impel us toward world understanding are varied, [but] ...The final reason for understanding one another is intrinsic - to enjoy the wider angle the vision affords... Without two eyes - binocular vision, there is no awareness of space's third dimension. Until sight converges from more than one angle, the world looks as flat as a postcard. The rewards of having two eyes are practical... But the final reward is the deepened view of the world itself - the panoramas that unroll before us, the vistas that extend from our feet.
"But the greatest gains need no tally. To glimpse what belonging means to the Japanese; to sense with a Burmese grandmother what passes in life and what endures; to understand how Hindus can regard their personalities as masks that overlay the Infinite within; to crack the paradox of a Zen monk who assures you that everything is holy but scrupulously refrains from certain acts - to swing such things into view is to add dimensions to the glance of spirit. It is to have another world to live in. The only thing that is good without qualification is not (as Kant argued) the good will, for a will can mean well in cramped quarters. The only thing that is unqualifiedly good is extended vision, the enlargement of one's understanding of the ultimate nature of things.
-Huston Smith
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Everything Cycles
From "Planning Ahead Can Make a Difference in the End" by AARON FREEMAN (via NPR)
"You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.
"And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.
"And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.
"And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly. Amen.
-Aaron Freeman (more here)
"You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.
"And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.
"And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.
"And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly. Amen.
-Aaron Freeman (more here)
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Seven Secret Sayings of God
From Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown, Alan Watts, 1973
1. Before the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, God said I AM THAT. And it is so.
2. Also, being in eternity which is neither linear nor sequential, where all is nowever, God said, YOU MUST DRAW THE LINE SOMEWHERE. And it was drawn.
3. But it was no dreary straight line or flat wall, for God then said, HAVE A BALL. And there was a ball, in the image whereof all stars and planets came to be formed.
4. Thereupon God said, THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERYTHING. And there are: the inside and the outside, the dense and the spacious, the right and the wrong, the left and the taken, for, as it is written, One shall be taken, and the other left.
5. And God said, IT MUST BE IN TIME. And thereafter it was, is, and will be, for as it is written again, 'As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, through all ages of ages. Amen.'
6. And forthwith God said, SPACE IT OUT. Whereupon it came to pass that, beside this and that and now and then, there is also here and there.
7. And God beheld how firm a foundation this was and said unto himself, GET LOST. And there you are.
1. Before the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, God said I AM THAT. And it is so.
2. Also, being in eternity which is neither linear nor sequential, where all is nowever, God said, YOU MUST DRAW THE LINE SOMEWHERE. And it was drawn.
3. But it was no dreary straight line or flat wall, for God then said, HAVE A BALL. And there was a ball, in the image whereof all stars and planets came to be formed.
4. Thereupon God said, THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERYTHING. And there are: the inside and the outside, the dense and the spacious, the right and the wrong, the left and the taken, for, as it is written, One shall be taken, and the other left.
5. And God said, IT MUST BE IN TIME. And thereafter it was, is, and will be, for as it is written again, 'As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, through all ages of ages. Amen.'
6. And forthwith God said, SPACE IT OUT. Whereupon it came to pass that, beside this and that and now and then, there is also here and there.
7. And God beheld how firm a foundation this was and said unto himself, GET LOST. And there you are.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Two Years, Two Steps
A knock at the door, and you must answer its call. Ignore it and it knocks again, stronger this time. Compelled, you open the door just a crack and take a peek, the brilliant light immerses all it can. It is our choice how we open the door, but nevertheless we must. Metaphor or not, this is the truth. Gowiththeflow. Think not, act only. This world is built in circles and so are we. Open yourself to it, and it opens to you. After all, it's all you. You are the perceiver and the receiver, the process of observing and absorbing is the nature of existence. We don't have to know everything to be everything; we are bits of conscious and unconscious. Sub-conscious and self-conscious, for better or worse. Open yourself to it, and it opens to you. This is a meditation. Call it a mantra. Call it what you want.
Strangers in a strange land, we find ourselves here. In a world you didn't create or ask for, a product of the wheels of time grinding on with remorseless relent, consistent intent. Catch your breath now, speak while you can, before the big sleep, the bigger dream, and the next rise from our deep slumber, spinning around the wheel, throwing up images against the blank canvas, the dancers playing their parts, spirits clad in veils, donning translucent masks from time to time, step to step. All in balance, all in rhythm, always. Never skipping a beat, churned from the great furnace's heat. Embraced by none, embraced by all, these are the multitudinous and complex, the large and the small, the many and the numbered. Wisdom springs from virtuous action, and this is what we all know how to do best, despite our best efforts to act the part we suppose we're meant to play: calm, cool and collect, but fuck the Oxford comma. In our blip along the line, a hiccup in time, the wise who embrace movement and dance unabashedly show their color and sound, for better or worse, speaking to the Now, from the heart, from the source, the bottomless lake, the underground river that flows, round and about back unto itself, never repeating. When we tap in and draw from it, it is never exhausted, as the water always finds its way back to the source, one way or another, sooner or later. We all have our time in the sun, and our time of sleep. Wake each day in knowledge of this and you will find the bliss we all seek, the truth that it is our freedom to play the cards we are dealt, to play our hand, or draw another card from the mysterious deck. Turn the page and you're there. On razor's edge Brahman sits, ever and always. On the line between existence and re-cycling, we are the survivors. Nothing is wasted, everything is perfectly imperfect, and just exactly on time. Here and now we are arriving, cell by cell, moment by moment, revolution by revolution, spinning and expanding unto infinitum. Each day we rise and arrive, each moment we taste and touch, observing and absorbing Our many creations with our own eyes: this is our Experience.
These days I try to channel the essence of the Student striving in service of the world. Make an offering, advises the Oracle. In this time, offerings are not judged by their content or merit, each is valued equally just as it is, an offering, forged in the kiln of time and effort in pure intention. Actions and creations are offerings in the spirit of service to the world. My offerings are expressions of a time and space made through my own perception, a moment in time, a breath in and a breath out, not lingering for too long in any one spot so as not to lose the rhythm and momentum of creation. Let me worry about the quantity, and let the quality emerge on its own.
And so, from this mindset it is easy to see how we have collectively created the world of ten thousand things, the macrocosm of proliferation everywhere we look, different things to experience, each unique in their own moment of time and space, a flicker in the expanse we inhabit now.
It was two years ago that I left New York City. It's taken me this long to feel I can make some small assertion about what this move has all been about, yet at the same time I am certain I have only begun to realize its meaning, to experience its manifestation. I do know that the longer I am here, the more certain I am that it is the right place to be. Often we don't notice changes because they creep and evolve under the surface, below everyday perception, but in a moment of reflection it couldn't be more apparent. Acting from the heart, we always bring ourselves exactly where we should be, our "home". It is said that home is where the heart is. Just as much so, I say heart is where the home is. Home is not a place, but a feeling. If we can find it, we can live there forever, wherever, whenever. In this way the entire world is our Home, paths to and from unfolding in the moment, guided by the compass of our heart, our gut. "Follow your bliss"...
Over the last year I've spent most of my free time building and developing what I like to call my Temple. It is made of neurons and binary bits, a personalized and highly streamlined physio-musical interface between my Self and the vibrations of sound. Much like the universe, this temple is always a work in progress, with a clear and driven direction. My Temple's goal is to develop one thing: the power to turn ideas into reality. With ever-increasing speed and abundance, the result is a mutual enhancing and arising of more ideas, and more results. The Process itself enhances the clarity of its conception and expression, a symbiosis of metamorphosis and mitosis, with the ultimate, fleeting utopia of equally qualitative and quantitative growth. By releasing our grasp from the results of action, free of judgement and second-guessing, the Creator is bound by nothing, truly free and unhindered by the fruits of one's labors just enough to see an idea through to completion and move on, swiftly escaping the entanglement of the human ego's prickly snares.
This Temple, to me, allows energy to move from Source to mind, mind to fingertips, fingertips to technology, technology to sound, sound to ears, ears to neurons, neurons to Source, and back again. A custom-tailored interface empowering and facilitating the birth of offerings to the world and recycled back into the River, one way or another, for better or worse, for now and for ever.
The tarot card of The Tower tells me that anything built on an unstable foundation is doomed to topple before its potential is fully realized. All towers must fall, as must all universes collapse, but as we know, the one we find as our Home is only one: that in which we find ourselves. I wish to live in a strong and tenacious Tower, so I intend to build my foundation the best way I know how.
Look at any ancient civilization's cities and I do not doubt you will find a Temple at its center, its core, its most cherished, protected, and essential structure. As such, I have spent the past year training my mind, streamlining my workflow, and nurturing the conduit of the human body.
In this way, as I have begun to see the fruits of my labors only in the last month, I have learned to take greater joy in the process of creation itself; not discounting, but far outweighing the joy gleaned from a single fruit, a fruit I formerly may have clung to and sucked dry, in hopes of finding endless bliss in its inherently limited supply.
These days, I try to look at creations as merely offerings; I care not whether they travel any further than the comfortable space of my studio. I see myself planting seeds and pouring into them the time, care and energy needed to blossom into whatever they may become. These batches, when ripe, are dutifully released from the nest to meet their fate, however the world sees fit. I hope the best for them, but am unshaken by the outcome, allowing the sheer excitement of the future seeds' mysterious potential to reach far beyond my own imagination.
Finding bliss in the process, and likewise relying on one's creative power, rather than the creations themselves, the artist finds sustainability. In vain, trying to build a concrete stairway from one's prized, yet static results, one finds only stagnation, as if a lily pad would support one's weight forever. Instead, the Creator flits by tip-toe from one to the next, finding lightness in motion, his swiftness and speed empowered by his ability to cast new steps, temporary Homes, in any and all directions, revealing unexplored pathways to undiscovered realms.
If 2011 was about rebirth, the casting off of my "New York DJ" veil and starting back from the heart; then 2012 was about development, examining notions and conceptions that no longer serve me and laying them to rest, if only for now, emptying my cup of the old so it can be filled with the new, finding out what (and who) really matters, holding them (and her) close, nurturing them, and allowing them space to flourish, forming a strong base to build on. 2013 must be about, as Hexagram 47 says, "being tested in the fire of life, the Universal force that endlessly shapes and alters you until you come to realize who you are in relationship to the rest of the Universe and learn to act accordingly."
Whatever happens next is up to me, to my ability to let go and act with pure intention, to not look back, but firmly forward, regardless of the results. We don't know what's in the Ocean until we dive in head first. This ain't no "wade in and test the water" business. This is pure, unadulterated action, from the Center. With every Inhale, comes an Exhale. Catching momentum and moving in step with the Rhythm, surely and steadily, fearlessly, for better or worse, never skipping a beat, never losing sight of what truly matters: Now, creating our own worlds, every day. Let us Play.
With the beginning in rear-view, the uncertain path ahead with no end in sight, in each time-space moment, WE are steps along the WAY...
Strangers in a strange land, we find ourselves here. In a world you didn't create or ask for, a product of the wheels of time grinding on with remorseless relent, consistent intent. Catch your breath now, speak while you can, before the big sleep, the bigger dream, and the next rise from our deep slumber, spinning around the wheel, throwing up images against the blank canvas, the dancers playing their parts, spirits clad in veils, donning translucent masks from time to time, step to step. All in balance, all in rhythm, always. Never skipping a beat, churned from the great furnace's heat. Embraced by none, embraced by all, these are the multitudinous and complex, the large and the small, the many and the numbered. Wisdom springs from virtuous action, and this is what we all know how to do best, despite our best efforts to act the part we suppose we're meant to play: calm, cool and collect, but fuck the Oxford comma. In our blip along the line, a hiccup in time, the wise who embrace movement and dance unabashedly show their color and sound, for better or worse, speaking to the Now, from the heart, from the source, the bottomless lake, the underground river that flows, round and about back unto itself, never repeating. When we tap in and draw from it, it is never exhausted, as the water always finds its way back to the source, one way or another, sooner or later. We all have our time in the sun, and our time of sleep. Wake each day in knowledge of this and you will find the bliss we all seek, the truth that it is our freedom to play the cards we are dealt, to play our hand, or draw another card from the mysterious deck. Turn the page and you're there. On razor's edge Brahman sits, ever and always. On the line between existence and re-cycling, we are the survivors. Nothing is wasted, everything is perfectly imperfect, and just exactly on time. Here and now we are arriving, cell by cell, moment by moment, revolution by revolution, spinning and expanding unto infinitum. Each day we rise and arrive, each moment we taste and touch, observing and absorbing Our many creations with our own eyes: this is our Experience.
These days I try to channel the essence of the Student striving in service of the world. Make an offering, advises the Oracle. In this time, offerings are not judged by their content or merit, each is valued equally just as it is, an offering, forged in the kiln of time and effort in pure intention. Actions and creations are offerings in the spirit of service to the world. My offerings are expressions of a time and space made through my own perception, a moment in time, a breath in and a breath out, not lingering for too long in any one spot so as not to lose the rhythm and momentum of creation. Let me worry about the quantity, and let the quality emerge on its own.
And so, from this mindset it is easy to see how we have collectively created the world of ten thousand things, the macrocosm of proliferation everywhere we look, different things to experience, each unique in their own moment of time and space, a flicker in the expanse we inhabit now.
It was two years ago that I left New York City. It's taken me this long to feel I can make some small assertion about what this move has all been about, yet at the same time I am certain I have only begun to realize its meaning, to experience its manifestation. I do know that the longer I am here, the more certain I am that it is the right place to be. Often we don't notice changes because they creep and evolve under the surface, below everyday perception, but in a moment of reflection it couldn't be more apparent. Acting from the heart, we always bring ourselves exactly where we should be, our "home". It is said that home is where the heart is. Just as much so, I say heart is where the home is. Home is not a place, but a feeling. If we can find it, we can live there forever, wherever, whenever. In this way the entire world is our Home, paths to and from unfolding in the moment, guided by the compass of our heart, our gut. "Follow your bliss"...
Over the last year I've spent most of my free time building and developing what I like to call my Temple. It is made of neurons and binary bits, a personalized and highly streamlined physio-musical interface between my Self and the vibrations of sound. Much like the universe, this temple is always a work in progress, with a clear and driven direction. My Temple's goal is to develop one thing: the power to turn ideas into reality. With ever-increasing speed and abundance, the result is a mutual enhancing and arising of more ideas, and more results. The Process itself enhances the clarity of its conception and expression, a symbiosis of metamorphosis and mitosis, with the ultimate, fleeting utopia of equally qualitative and quantitative growth. By releasing our grasp from the results of action, free of judgement and second-guessing, the Creator is bound by nothing, truly free and unhindered by the fruits of one's labors just enough to see an idea through to completion and move on, swiftly escaping the entanglement of the human ego's prickly snares.
This Temple, to me, allows energy to move from Source to mind, mind to fingertips, fingertips to technology, technology to sound, sound to ears, ears to neurons, neurons to Source, and back again. A custom-tailored interface empowering and facilitating the birth of offerings to the world and recycled back into the River, one way or another, for better or worse, for now and for ever.
The tarot card of The Tower tells me that anything built on an unstable foundation is doomed to topple before its potential is fully realized. All towers must fall, as must all universes collapse, but as we know, the one we find as our Home is only one: that in which we find ourselves. I wish to live in a strong and tenacious Tower, so I intend to build my foundation the best way I know how.Look at any ancient civilization's cities and I do not doubt you will find a Temple at its center, its core, its most cherished, protected, and essential structure. As such, I have spent the past year training my mind, streamlining my workflow, and nurturing the conduit of the human body.
In this way, as I have begun to see the fruits of my labors only in the last month, I have learned to take greater joy in the process of creation itself; not discounting, but far outweighing the joy gleaned from a single fruit, a fruit I formerly may have clung to and sucked dry, in hopes of finding endless bliss in its inherently limited supply.
These days, I try to look at creations as merely offerings; I care not whether they travel any further than the comfortable space of my studio. I see myself planting seeds and pouring into them the time, care and energy needed to blossom into whatever they may become. These batches, when ripe, are dutifully released from the nest to meet their fate, however the world sees fit. I hope the best for them, but am unshaken by the outcome, allowing the sheer excitement of the future seeds' mysterious potential to reach far beyond my own imagination.
Finding bliss in the process, and likewise relying on one's creative power, rather than the creations themselves, the artist finds sustainability. In vain, trying to build a concrete stairway from one's prized, yet static results, one finds only stagnation, as if a lily pad would support one's weight forever. Instead, the Creator flits by tip-toe from one to the next, finding lightness in motion, his swiftness and speed empowered by his ability to cast new steps, temporary Homes, in any and all directions, revealing unexplored pathways to undiscovered realms.If 2011 was about rebirth, the casting off of my "New York DJ" veil and starting back from the heart; then 2012 was about development, examining notions and conceptions that no longer serve me and laying them to rest, if only for now, emptying my cup of the old so it can be filled with the new, finding out what (and who) really matters, holding them (and her) close, nurturing them, and allowing them space to flourish, forming a strong base to build on. 2013 must be about, as Hexagram 47 says, "being tested in the fire of life, the Universal force that endlessly shapes and alters you until you come to realize who you are in relationship to the rest of the Universe and learn to act accordingly."
Whatever happens next is up to me, to my ability to let go and act with pure intention, to not look back, but firmly forward, regardless of the results. We don't know what's in the Ocean until we dive in head first. This ain't no "wade in and test the water" business. This is pure, unadulterated action, from the Center. With every Inhale, comes an Exhale. Catching momentum and moving in step with the Rhythm, surely and steadily, fearlessly, for better or worse, never skipping a beat, never losing sight of what truly matters: Now, creating our own worlds, every day. Let us Play.
With the beginning in rear-view, the uncertain path ahead with no end in sight, in each time-space moment, WE are steps along the WAY...
Friday, December 28, 2012
Enclosed Tree
My hexagram for the new year:
47 - K'un - Adversity
A Dead Sea, its Waters spent eons ago, more deadly than the desert surrounding it:
The Superior Person will stake his life and fortune on what he deeply believes.
Triumph belongs to those who endure.
Trial and tribulation can hone exceptional character to a razor edge that slices deftly through every challenge.
Action prevails where words will fail.
Once you have developed yourself and formed your character, you will be tested in the fire of life.
The fire of life is the Universal force that endlessly shapes and alters you until you come to realize who you are in relationship to the rest of the Universe and learn to act accordingly.
This is the realm of the Shaman.
You have exhausted every alternative, spent yourself completely, taxed body and mind beyond your former limits.
Survival and salvation lie beyond your reach now.
Only transcendence to a new existence - a higher plane of being - will see you through.
The Old You is just a dry husk.
You can't return to it.
Metamorphosis is the only grace offered.
You can only return to your homeland as a New You.
47 - K'un - Adversity
A Dead Sea, its Waters spent eons ago, more deadly than the desert surrounding it:
The Superior Person will stake his life and fortune on what he deeply believes.
Triumph belongs to those who endure.
Trial and tribulation can hone exceptional character to a razor edge that slices deftly through every challenge.
Action prevails where words will fail.
Once you have developed yourself and formed your character, you will be tested in the fire of life.
The fire of life is the Universal force that endlessly shapes and alters you until you come to realize who you are in relationship to the rest of the Universe and learn to act accordingly.
This is the realm of the Shaman.
You have exhausted every alternative, spent yourself completely, taxed body and mind beyond your former limits.
Survival and salvation lie beyond your reach now.
Only transcendence to a new existence - a higher plane of being - will see you through.
The Old You is just a dry husk.
You can't return to it.
Metamorphosis is the only grace offered.
You can only return to your homeland as a New You.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Instinct, not Intellect
Hexagram 16
There is a rhythmic force, a world music, that lives deep in the Unconscious of each of us.
It's a primitive drumbeat, a shaking rattle, a tribal chant that invokes the primal self to rise up and join the dance.
This is the enthusiasm that is generated now.
Not rhetorical persuasion, not a play on the emotions, but a charismatic, irresistible Call of the Wild.
Confucius said that the person who could comprehend this could 'rule the world as though it were spinning in his hand.'
This is a time for instinct, not intellect -- the Thunder from Beneath.
There is a rhythmic force, a world music, that lives deep in the Unconscious of each of us.
It's a primitive drumbeat, a shaking rattle, a tribal chant that invokes the primal self to rise up and join the dance.
This is the enthusiasm that is generated now.
Not rhetorical persuasion, not a play on the emotions, but a charismatic, irresistible Call of the Wild.
Confucius said that the person who could comprehend this could 'rule the world as though it were spinning in his hand.'
This is a time for instinct, not intellect -- the Thunder from Beneath.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Ice Nine
"In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.
And God said, 'Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done.'
And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud-as-man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud-as-man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. 'What is the purpose of all this?' he asked politely.
'Everything must have a purpose?' asked God.
'Certainly,' said man.
'Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,' said God. And He went away."
-Bokonon
And God said, 'Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done.'
And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud-as-man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud-as-man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. 'What is the purpose of all this?' he asked politely.
'Everything must have a purpose?' asked God.
'Certainly,' said man.
'Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,' said God. And He went away."
-Bokonon
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Expansion & Growth
Hexagram 42: I / Expansion
Whirlwinds and Thunder:
When the Superior Person encounters saintly behavior, he adopts it; when he encounters a fault within, he transforms it.
Get ready to ride a tide of accelerated growth toward self-actualization.
A joyful awareness of the best within you, coupled with an acceptance of your Shadow, will provide a greater repertoire, a much bolder vision, and new depth and clarity that will compel you to expand your horizons.
Hexagram 53: Chien / Gradual Progress
The gnarled Pine grows tenaciously off the Cliff face:
The Superior Person clings faithfully to dignity and integrity, thus elevating the Collective Spirit of Man in his own small way.
Development.
Adaptability mixed with integrity will bring a calm, steady progress.
Move from your center, always faithful to your principles, yet with the flexibility to weather any tempest.
Yours is not a meteoric rise to the top, but the solid, confident footing of one who has a clear vision of what can be, and who is willing to climb the distance to reach it.
The oracle foresees companionship along the way -- a Divine comfort on any journey.
Whirlwinds and Thunder:
When the Superior Person encounters saintly behavior, he adopts it; when he encounters a fault within, he transforms it.
Get ready to ride a tide of accelerated growth toward self-actualization.
A joyful awareness of the best within you, coupled with an acceptance of your Shadow, will provide a greater repertoire, a much bolder vision, and new depth and clarity that will compel you to expand your horizons.
Hexagram 53: Chien / Gradual Progress
The gnarled Pine grows tenaciously off the Cliff face:
The Superior Person clings faithfully to dignity and integrity, thus elevating the Collective Spirit of Man in his own small way.
Development.
Adaptability mixed with integrity will bring a calm, steady progress.
Move from your center, always faithful to your principles, yet with the flexibility to weather any tempest.
Yours is not a meteoric rise to the top, but the solid, confident footing of one who has a clear vision of what can be, and who is willing to climb the distance to reach it.
The oracle foresees companionship along the way -- a Divine comfort on any journey.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Phase Transition
Hexagram 63: After Completion.
"Nature knows nothing about fixed order like man does. ‘Everything in its place and stay there’ as if he is training his dog. Nature knows equilibrium, an organic interplay of all creatures, things, climates, everything. When one thing changes, everything moves toward a new equilibrium.
People who have a mind like nature are healthy, happy and good. When they are disturbed, their mind moves toward a new natural wholeness. They are not rigidly organized inside, they have an inner symbiosis of all aspects of their personality. It is a mind of Chan, of Zen." (from here)
I suppose it depends on how you interpret the result: "After Completion". The completion of one phase implies the beginning of a new one. So here I am. The essential thing to remember from this reading is that there is no such thing as true order: only points in time when things are more ordered than other points. In other words, you can spend all day cleaning your house and it will never be 100% clean. In fact there is no such thing as it. Only relative levels of dirtiness. Ordered perfection is a concept, not a reality. There is however, equilibrium. In all of the universe's natural chaos: this is true wholeness, ever-changing and shifting. I feel that I lean too heavily on ordered rigidity sometimes, but this is okay as long as it has a purpose that leads back to its opposite: raw creativity. Beautiful works of art, in truth, embody aspects of both. The best works, in our eyes, embody raw creativity. But in truth they arise filtered from a pool of raw works, just as a beautiful sound from a synthesizer comes filtered through a raw waveform. No artist made 100% masterpieces. As their receivers, we are only shown and only remember the best works.
"Nature knows nothing about fixed order like man does. ‘Everything in its place and stay there’ as if he is training his dog. Nature knows equilibrium, an organic interplay of all creatures, things, climates, everything. When one thing changes, everything moves toward a new equilibrium.
People who have a mind like nature are healthy, happy and good. When they are disturbed, their mind moves toward a new natural wholeness. They are not rigidly organized inside, they have an inner symbiosis of all aspects of their personality. It is a mind of Chan, of Zen." (from here)
I suppose it depends on how you interpret the result: "After Completion". The completion of one phase implies the beginning of a new one. So here I am. The essential thing to remember from this reading is that there is no such thing as true order: only points in time when things are more ordered than other points. In other words, you can spend all day cleaning your house and it will never be 100% clean. In fact there is no such thing as it. Only relative levels of dirtiness. Ordered perfection is a concept, not a reality. There is however, equilibrium. In all of the universe's natural chaos: this is true wholeness, ever-changing and shifting. I feel that I lean too heavily on ordered rigidity sometimes, but this is okay as long as it has a purpose that leads back to its opposite: raw creativity. Beautiful works of art, in truth, embody aspects of both. The best works, in our eyes, embody raw creativity. But in truth they arise filtered from a pool of raw works, just as a beautiful sound from a synthesizer comes filtered through a raw waveform. No artist made 100% masterpieces. As their receivers, we are only shown and only remember the best works.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
