Band of Spirit Blog

Bill Callahan Sings of Memory and Longing

"All Thoughts are Prey to Some Beast" is a beautiful, penetrating song which takes nature and turns it into human emotions of loss and remembrance, written and sung by Bill Callahan from his album of the same name.

Avatar and The Cove are a Warning From Our Collective Unconscious

I am very grateful that some recent films have cast a light on our present ecological predicament. Man is destroying our natural world for money and profit and in the process, killing his spiritual self by loosing his connection to all things.

How can we step out of our interconnectedness and destroy what we are connected to without going insane - as individuals and as a society?  

In the destruction of the natural world, we will destroy ourselves. It is very clear. It is very evident. Are we so sick as a culture that we are unable to see past our greed?  Is time running out for our natural world and in so doing, Humankind?

There are many apocalyptic films out now and more coming out. Are we on "The Road" to become blood thirsty cannibals because of our present path?

Are these films a message from our collective unconscious?

I saw "Avatar" again this time in 3D and "The Cove" on DVD.

"Avatar" just won the Golden Globes and "The Cove" won best documentary at the Critics Choice Awards.

We are sending visual patterns past our egotistical mental perimeters. Reminders, that we are loosing it. We are going insane.

How can we rehab our culture? What will it take? What intervention?

I think a concerted spiritual energy from all corners of the world.

 

Intro To Apocalypse Now -The End - The Doors

The Heart Sutra

How can we step out of our interconnectedness and destroy what we are connected to without going insane - as individuals and as a society?  

In the destruction of the natural world, we will destroy ourselves. It is very clear. It is very evident. Are we so sick as a culture that we are unable to see past our greed?  Is time running out for our natural world and in so doing, Humankind?

There are many apocalyptic films out now and more coming out. Are we on "The Road" to become blood thirsty cannibals because of our present path?

Are these films a message from our collective unconscious?

I saw "Avatar" again this time in 3D and "The Cove" on DVD.

"Avatar" just won the Golden Globes and "The Cove" won best documentary at the Critics Choice Awards.

We are sending visual patterns past our egotistical mental perimeters. Reminders, that we are loosing it. We are going insane.

How can we rehab our culture? What will it take? What intervention?

I think a concerted spiritual energy from all corners of the world.

 

Intro To Apocalypse Now -The End - The Doors

The Heart Sutra

My Daughter Rachel Was Born Today

 Raising a daughter who is very independent, intelligent and as you can see very beautiful was not easy task for my wife and I.

As a parent, I learned, after a time, to allow my children to grow to be who they would become, even if that journey was filled with many adventures a parent might cringe at.

We all have different learning cycles to go through. We make mistakes, learn and grow. 

A parent might want to control - who would admit to that - or guide our children, based on our experience and our culture. We, of course, know what is best for them.

Our children have their own path to experience. One that is imperative to their wholeness.

 Pick your battles, may they be short and end with a hug.

My daughter has grown into a loving, caring, compassionate human being and I am proud of her.

happy birthday

Tom Waits Reads Charles Bukowski and OFFERS US A Beauty

 

I'm thinking life can get tough - mountain after mountain. But we do have light available if we can keep our eyes open and clear our hearts to make some room.

Rumi on Love

 
     “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barrier within yourself that you have built against it.”

I will be doing more exploration of Rumi, his poetry and thought.

One place I am going to start is by reading "The Essential Rumi" translated by Coleman Barks.

"The message Barks conveys is of Rumi's ecstatic poetry, which, as Barks said to Bill Moyers, PBS journalist, is "trying to get us to feel the vastness of our true identity . . . like the sense you might get walking into a cathedral . . . what Jesus referred to when he said, 'The kingdom of God is within you.' "

Everyone Do the Namaste

 

Namaste - I have god within me and you have god within you - I can never disrespect you if I acknowledge that divinity within you - so powerful to get to that place.

Palmer Shaw, an artist, craftsperson and chef sent me this New Year's thought.

 

The Root of War is Fear

Thomas Merton in describing the Vietnam War could now be speaking of the present Mideast War and its continuing escalation. When events turn into their opposite it's time to re-think the strategy. We have been in a long fight - years of retribution. 

BRING HOME THE TROOPS

" The present war crisis is something we have made entirely for and by ourselves. There is in reality not in the slightest logical reason for war, and yet the whole world is plunging headlong into frightful destruction, and doing so with the purpose of avoiding war and preserving peace. This is a true war madness, an illness of the mind and the spirit..." More

Buddha Carved in the Mountain

This is a beautiful photo of a thousand year old Buddha carved into a mountain in Lhasa. The townspeople paint the Buddha each year and leave prayer shawls. 

A combination of spirit and nature.

 

Photo: Margaret Mendel

It would be lovely to see some beautiful work of spirit carved into one of our sprawling homogenized malls - radiating peace and love.

Oh wait....

 

John Coltrane's A Love Supreme is a Vehicle of Spiritual Discovery

 

 

John Coltrane wrote " A Love Supreme" as a testament to his devotion to god. It was, as if, Coltrane's higher power played through him and he was no longer playing his saxaphone - Music as Spirit.

Varied musical sounds have the ability to help me transcend my everyday life. I can go to a place past my logical self and ego -  a spiritual territory within myself, that does not judge but acknowledges life with more understanding.

Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris bring The Maker to Mind

When the holidays roll in and a New Year comes upon the horizon, there is a tendency to judge my life - finances, relationships, family, my emotional state and come up on the negative side.

I can think I walk this earth alone and there is no comfort.  

In moments of deepest despair, there is always "The Maker" to guide me if I allow him.  I wait for his guidance and where I will be led.