Enlightened Artist/Writers's topics - tribe.net

Declaring Our Independence, Creating the Next Society

2008-07-02T20:35:07Z

In honor of Independence Day, I think it's appropriate to begin a thread focused on the kind of society that we, the people, would like to replace the American Empire after its inevitable collapse. Let's attempt to do our best at keeping the comments constructive, limiting the criticism to the ideas, without moving into ad hominem attacks. What kinds of Revolutionary Ideas do you propose, and can begin to implement, as we turn the corner on the end of an era?

Here, to get us started, is an interesting article I found well worth reading that explores some of the reasons and suggestions for the Next Society:

http://rinf.com/alt-news/activism/creating-the-next-society-your-revolutionary-ideas-needed-now/3988/

>>> It’s fairly obvious to anyone paying attention that the American Empire, as currently configured and operated, is simply not sustainable. Financial collapse is inevitable (and accelerating, it seems), and even mainstream America can no longer deny the obvious signs that things have gone terribly wrong: Skyrocketing fuel prices, unprecedented inflation in food prices, rampant epidemics of preventable degenerative disease, plummeting real estate prices, an increasingly-worthless national currency, disastrous war failures, rampant dishonesty in Washington, and accelerating climate changes that are causing flooding, crop failures, droughts and worse. It is becoming increasingly difficult for even the Pollyannas of the world to argue that the United States of America has a bright future. <<<

<snip>

>>>>Now, those are just my ideas. You may not agree with them all, and in fact I hope you don’t! What we need are YOUR ideas (and other people’s ideas) to be part of the conversation in creating The Next Society. It will soon be time to put the new ideas on the table, throw out the old ideas, and create a new society. Consider: What hasn’t worked? What has worked? What makes sense today that didn’t make sense in 1776? (Like internet voting, for example, which eliminates the entire need for the U.S. Congress, since the whole idea of “representatives” was based on the need for remote representation of people living in far-off places without connectivity…) Does our tax system currently work? Do you like the IRS? If not, what would work better? (The Flat Tax, perhaps?) Does voting work? Not very well. Instant Runoff Voting works much better. Why not implement that in the Next Society?<<<<

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 0 replies

~ Change ~

2008-06-26T14:50:10Z

As it is said this path is not hard to know but that what is
hard is to carry it out. What is meant by being able to
"preserve primal reality and not be damaged by acquired
conditioning." I ask you where is the harm in striving to
conquer the ego, where it has been said that
"the sun of the self is truth."

Interesting the thread of hope
that is dashed upon this
dark island of dispair
of redemption unfulfilled
change that is trapped
in this cycle of return
awakening and rebirth
how interesting the things
we might set out to achieve
upon a promise and a dream

~ * ~

Whether illumination is inside or out
matters little when it is all the
same illumination whether in striving
or in nonstriving where or whenever
true sense or true nature appears
that is where truth is - impresonal
nature or unemotinal sense each has
it's own time and place of emergence
premanently incorruptible gold
or restoring the celestial true
nature of humanity this is likened to
producing wood in fire without
smoke or flame or gold becoming
bright when refined by fire...

use the true fire of the orignal spirit to burn
away the mundane polluted substance of our human
temperment so that we might one day return to the
reality of our true nature... By changing the old we have
illumination on the inside free of arbitrary feelings ,
whereas once the new has been obtained illumination
is outside and can be used in the cultivation of virtue
and character

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 12 replies

mindful of the Tao

2008-06-09T14:59:27Z

In this moment every moment exist
practical Tao images of yin and yang
what remains unchanging
is the eternally real...

Perserverance and swiftness
constancy and sensing
gentle without being weak
active without being aggressive
neither rushing nor lagging
mindful of the Tao
sensing is spontanious
long perserverance is striving
from striving to nononstriving
sensing of the original mind
inwardly still outwardly joyous
one senses by openness
and by openness one is fulfilled

Between upheavals and tragedy
there comes a time of meger security
where after so many years
your house becomes a home
and no longer the next step
in a never ending journey
to some other greater destination

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 3 replies

Iguana Night

2008-06-04T12:02:00Z

Everything is new, at least once.
I think it's something else, some want,
not some ideal, or idea,
something solid, touchable,
real, here; now,
nothing promised, something delivered,
something repeatable,
anything that will last longer than the time
it takes to forget.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

CHOOSING LOVE INSTEAD OF FEAR (the only reason we're here)

2008-06-02T15:06:44Z

The only reason we incarnate is to learn how to choose love instead of fear. It does not matter what you do for a living, where you live, or who you marry, etc. The only purose you have is to extend love to everyone you come into contact with, including yourself. This is how you BECOME what you already ARE: LOVE. The only way to restore perfect inner peace that is stable and unwavering is to choose to be willing to extend love to everyone you come into contact with, including yourself.

By "love" I mean unconditional acceptance. And by "unconditional acceptance" I mean God. By "you" I mean me. And by "me" I mean you. We are all ONE and we are all LOVE. And by "we" I mean GOD. And by "God" I mean LOVE...You get the picture!

The most amazing miracle has transpired in my life over the last 24 hours as a result of my own sincere willingness to be a vessell for love, to be a vessell for that which I AM, which is God. I wanted to share...

I put a profile on My Space about a month ago. I saw a woman on there named Joni Ellen Jenkins. This is my name. I almost asked her to join my friend list but hesitated and then did nothing. I had a very stressful custody hearing scheduled with my son's father yesterday. When I got home from the courthouse yesterday there was an e-mail from Joni Ellen Jenkins who lives in Pennsylvania. Her e-mail address is jonijenks@gmail.com and mine is jonijenkins@gmail.com. She had suspected that her insurance company had sent e-mails meant for her to me. Sure enough I had the e-mails in my box that day. We started to breifly chat and make small talk through e-mails. She invited me to join her friend list on My Space. One thing led to another and she told me she had cancer and is only a 40 year old mom. I am a 39 year old mom. I started writing to her from a spiritual perspective, and then suddenly I realized what was going on!

Here is the last e-mail I sent to her; this is incredilbe!!

************************************

Dear Joni Ellen Jenkins,

Oh my God, I think that meeting you has been the greatest gift God has ever given me!

I have been trying to release all my own walls to self love, with perfect inner peace being the goal. I have made much progress but there was still a little bit of work left.

I went through a traumatizing custody trial with my son's father yesterday, but won. However the experience made me more aware of my own walls to love. When I came home from the courthouse I got your e-mails.

I know why I hesitated when I first saw the My Space profile. There was a timing issue. I was meant to make contact with you right after court when my own fears were so triggered and my walls to love were easy to see.

When you told me about the cancer my heart was flooded with so much love and compassion for you. It is always easier to see someone else's perfection and divinity than your own. It is always easier to see someone else's wall to self love than it is to see your own. As I was loving you and contemplating that we have the exact same name, Joni Ellen Jenkins, the reality that we (all of humanity) really are ONE permeated my consciousness. I had the profound realization that by deeply loving and forgiving you (Joni Ellen Jenkins) I was deeply loving and forgiving myself (Joni Ellen Jenkins).

The truth is that you are love, you are God, and you are soooooooooo powerful and perfect. All you need do is forgive yourself for forgetting the truth. That is always easier said than done. And all I need do is forgive myself for forgetting the truth. By loving you so deeply I have let down yet another wall to self-love and that is the greatest gift I have ever received. When I love you I love myself becasue we are, in truth, ONE. The fact that we have the same name is just a coincidence, but has aided me in dramatically shifting and healing my perception.

You truly are God--you knew exactly when the right time was to contact me so that the highest form of healing would take place for both of us.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU MY DEAR SISTER OF LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Joni Ellen Jenkins

*********************************

I hope that Joni Ellen Jenkins inspired you as much as she has inspired Joni Ellen Jenkins. I hope that LOVE inspired you to remember that you are LOVE. I hope that God is willing to allow God to remind God that God cannot be anything but God.

I LOVE YOU.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 6 replies

Activation

2008-05-16T12:31:41Z

Old wounds spun away;
Christ energy flowing in.
Feeling every stage, every dimension,
as energies dance with my being.
I burn with light
DNA pulsing in goodness; love.
So excited, so ignited.
Ancient memories surface,
long-forgotten codes remembered,
disabled functions activate.
Eternal being am I,
forever young, self-renewing;
perfection in my bodily form.
Quantum flowing, ever growing
infinite poetry in breathing, being,
living light.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

Hard Work

2008-05-09T15:19:56Z

I've never been afraid of hard work
and I've never had much want or
need for money... but this year was
different. Although I did get this new
leg approved through Duke University
Hospital after that whole long and drawn
out battle with UNC Hospital... seems
even still there was some level of
frustration towards the end of the process
where the final casting would be made
out of carbon fiber and then decorated
with the image of my choice, out of my
old tee shirt collection I chose a
dragon of oriental descent, and they did
such a magnificent job in putting it all
together i just didn't have the heart to
tell them it just didn't fit.... it seems
many things have changed since my
first and only fitting at Duke University.
They did things differently then but as
times change methods and structures
must change with them... now everything
is outsourced and although my prosthitisis
has nearly 25 years of experience there is
not the level of expertise and prestiege as
once commanded under the University domain
So rushing through to the final process some
major alterations were misapplied and the
leg still falls off after a few hours exertion
and the dynamics are all wrong. Two things
the majority of limbs constructed today conform
to latest technology of using a flexible liner...
i had this once and didn't trust or like it... primarily
it leaked air like a sieve - no good for bicycling
up Hill and since the last two places I've lived
in gives reference Hills within it's pronunciation
I prefer to stick to the older tecnology where
i have been accustomed to bicycling as much
as 60 or 80 miles in a single day without any
fear of my leg falling off... With a flexible socket
the material extends further up the side of the
hip region - the thought being that this increases
stability in the leg allowing for a more fluid sense
of control. However, the old hard sockets had far
different and more rigid guide lines for retaining
suction, stability and control. The leg, rather than
expanding above the hip, forms more of a clamping
in at key presure points just below the hip and
forms a long narrow but gradually expanding
ledge along the seat for long hours of use. The
problem is no one appears to remember how these
old hard sockets are supposed to be constructed
and the tendency is to transpose elements of the
new technology for soft socket construction into
the old hard case design, but with disasterous
results. Apart from falling off after only a few hours
use, the other most disconcerting difficulty with the
new and improved design, is that in diminishing
essential pressure points once i break a sweat the
whole leg begins to rotate inward so that it is like walking
up hill constantly wearing me down. But other than that
i sure like the way it looks, and hate to trash all this
beautiful work and go back to square one - though it
does seem that now i have a little better understanding
of the process having endured this for so long.

But that isn't even the reason for this post, only some
background information so that you might better understand
how the past few months came about. Yeah, technically i do
qualify for disability and i think it is fair to say that i earned it.
Had it not been for the wellfare and happiness of my cat
i could have moved into government housing 2 years ago.
She has always been free to come and go as she pleases
indoor or out and it has been an ideal neighborhood for her to
roam free. So in order to keep this roof over my head quite
a bit of supplimental income is necessary and i don't mind
telling you landscaping is a difficult physically demanding
job even for a man with two good legs. Don't get me wrong
i am damn greatful to have the work, it's just been hard going
with all the complications that have accured over the New Year.
Perhaps some of you will remember my initial plan to invest
more of my creative energy into the production art, commissioned
or otherwise. But it seems the added effort to hard labor has
in some ways increased this clarity of purpose. More books are
the way and soon the pain of purple painful prostheic ill fitting
suction will be a thing of the past. The leg just never has a chance
to heal and some days appears nearly necrotic. Some days every
step is excruciating pain at least until the numbness sets in (or not).
The few commissioned connections i had seem to have fallen through
for now, but there is a street fair every last friday in this sleepy little town
and almost have enough jewery and wood carvings to make this
worth while might even lead into future portrait commissions
although last year there appears to have been a fairly competent
artist there sewing up that market. Never hurts to try. Nothing
would please me more than to continue this research i have been
conducting, uninterrupted towards the publication of this book.

For all the years of hardship and struggle everything now comes
full circle back to being an artist.

May the wind always be upon your back and your path through
life reasonably unimpeded...

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 11 replies

Want!

2008-04-08T12:18:23Z

Want to look into the eyes of others
and see a side that isn't hidden;
open faced
not so misplaced
that they can't be found
and let that look
penetrate;
so they too can
see.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 2 replies

censored ideas? My critiqe of "The Artist's Way"

2008-04-01T14:50:35Z

i think this is the "full text" of my original critique. i don't know if i include the pages of the section to which i am mostly referring, but i think it was page 43-49 (in the "crazy maker" section).

i am re-posting this as apparently it has gone missing from the various places i posted it...hmmm...curious but not surprising.

Engineering opinion department: The Artist's Way

=============
'artists are the antennae...' --Ezra Pound
==============

(re-edited for clarity, January 2008)

The following were posted in a forum promoting the artists' workbook entitled "The Artist's Way" by Julie Cameron. i've edited it in a way to make it more readable for those who weren't on the forum.

For those of you unfamiliar with this book, it became *very popular* quite suddenly a few years ago amongst many creatives in the business art "community" (or lack thereof), and was touted as especially allegedly "helpful" for those whom have, for some supposedly "unknown" reason, found themselves experiencing the phenomenon called "artists' block" and related challenges to making more money and living the materialist life we've all been socialized to think is just dandy and even "responsible".

One might assume that this isn't *such a big deal* until you begin to understand that the naive artists whose attention is hooked by this book are *also* being hyped-up to separate themselves from fellow artists whom are labled in destructive ways like "crazymaker".

Typical of "self help" books that get plugged in mainline society as being "exceptional" these days we see a certain pattern where:

A) Contexts for situations can never be more thoroughly explored much less found to lie within the institutions and their constructs that we're to uncritically subordinate to, but only in those who are having a hard time adequately assimilating (for reasons which escape most well-indoctrinated folks in our thought-control-oriented suiciety).

B) Rational explanations for why others, say "Crazymakers", do as they do are not to be adequately understood; they are to be labeled, reduced, and excluded!

My original reply to one of the happy promoters of the book:

My response to D, a happy promoter of the book on the forum mentioned above who posted various links to help sell it... She asked what my specific problem with the book was, and whether i had actually read it. Here's what i said:

D, i had a big problem with the way [Julie Cameron, the author] reduces and labels a group of artists who are exhibiting the *very real* (and crucial) symptoms of living a colonized (i.e. systematically alienated) life. (Yes, I'm saying that *all of 'society'* is a colonization attack on all whom are put through it in compulsory or otherwise duped ways, i.e. "the manufacture of consent").

Further, the author labels as "bad" (i.e. "crazymaker") the most potentially threatening group (to the social order) and seeks to further separate these very sensitive *social antennae* from those creative people who are even less in touch with their intuitive rebellion (from the "normalized" situations of artists working to enhance the social order).

Instead of promoting deeper thought about how some people can become "crazy" in the face of art cult-ure and all of its superficialities (which act as tho this is completely "normal") Cameron works to isolate these folks she has labeled and the reader with various cheap shots. Of course, by that time in the book, everyone reading "The Artist's Way" has already been bedazzled by the formula that *fills a void* (which virtually no one adequately demystifies) so they quite easily go along!

Thus a Bandwagon effect is put into action, and rebellion --especially that which is not yet even close to being articulate--is blocked from even coming to the veritable surface!

No wonder her book was allowed to shoot quickly up to the "Best Seller" list! No wonder all the commissars of the art industry LOVE this book! This is what propaganda is all about! This is classic thought control hoodwinking a majority (of often mediocre artists, hence their ability to fit into the business at all) while scapegoating a minority!

Consider Noam Chomsky's remarks in the preface of his book _Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies_ (http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/ni/ni-preface.html ):
"A large part of this task is assumed by ideological institutions that channel thought and attitudes within acceptable bounds, deflecting any potential challenge to established privilege and authority before it can take form and gather strength. The enterprise has many facets and agents."

And only adding to divisions and alienation! Same old story!

Of course, such labeling and discrediting wouldn't have happened in communities, say, where intense folks are interpreted as *Gift givers* (i.e. shamans). Communities not fully "developed" like in Africa or other Native/indignous communities world-wide. Hadn't the Western Civilization art ghetto been already so deeply corralled (i.e. sensitives not being given any frame of reference to articulate their dissent from a profit-oriented, consumer art society, thus drinking away their pain), this wouldn't have so easily slipped past! (There may be challenges in the margins, but no "Art Magazine" "worth their salt" would publish serious dialogue amongst artists! No!)

And so thought control continues hardly challenged. And dissidents told to "get therapy" or be labled with these increasingly hostile reductions (let's not forget "Oppositional Defiant Disorder", now reportedly being used on adults as well as kids).

Every institution --including "the art world"-- which wants to continue having "a seat at the table" of *privileges* has to play this meta game. And it's no biggie scapegoating those minorities whom can't fight back. That's "normal" in thought control societies like ours.

i'm a working artist as well, yet my face has been repeatedly slapped with reality to a point where i was "lucky" to begin stumbling upon various subjects around institutional analyses which have similar patterns between them. Not a far stretch, then, to apply such to the art "community", especially when one sees the very real politics happening!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "As domains of experience become more alien to us, we need greater and greater openmindedness even to conceive of their existence."--R.D. Laing in _The Politics of Experience_ from: http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 2 replies

Tribe is now selling our art!!!!!!!!

2008-04-01T00:42:19Z

Just found this on my photo page:

New! Order prints of these photos
Tribe has partnered with Qoop.com to let you easily make
prints, photobooks, posters, and more from your Tribe photo album.

So no matter what the copyrights on your work say, anyone has access to order a print, with no payment ever being seen by us the artists for our work. Instead it goes to some .com corporation!

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 7 replies

Looky what i got! A most curious rejection slip!

2008-03-31T20:00:09Z

Looky, i got the following semi-recently:

Unfortunately for you I am familiar with your posts in another Artist's Way tribe and I don't like the way you attack/insult people, so I am not going to allow you to join this tribe. thanks for the interest - this is not the place for you.

Artfully,
b
-----=
Someone's protecting by restriction. Gee, i wonder how they got to that place?

A teensey background:
i *guess* i had asked to join a certain artists "helping other artists" group, as i see myself in that capacity (we are *all* arting all the time, after all!)...but someone...cannot appear to yet see.

Oh well. Too bad for dem.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 0 replies

True Alchemy...

2008-03-28T15:52:46Z

"Gold becoming bright when refined by fire"

Using fire to refine gold...

"Change means getting rid of the old and not using it."

Restoring the celestial:

"The arbitrary feelings of people are mundane gold,
the true sense in people is celestial gold."

"Using the true fire of the original spirit to burn away the
mundane gold of arbitrary feelings, when arbitrary
feelings are gone true snese appears..."

"gold becoming bright when refined by fire"

Gold on the top there is fire down below...

~*~

"A cauldron is that wherein something is refined to obtain
the new."

Mirror images of one another
now there is fire on top
and wood down below...

Perfecting wood in fire
changing its polluted
substance...
returning to reality

"Human temperment is mundane wood,
the true nature of humanity is celestial wood."

"Using the true fire of the original spirit to burn
away the mundane wood of temperment,
when the temperment vanishes, the
true nature appears..."

Wood without smoke or flame
impersonal nature
producing wood in fire

illumination inside or out:

"Change and renewal, the false departing and the new arriving,
is the uniting of nature and sense, returning to the origin and
going back to the fundamental. However, it is necessary first to
change the old, in the sense of refining the self, emptying the
mind and biding the time. After that, the cauldron obtains the
new... so as to form the elixir."

One illumination pervades both striving and nonstriving...

Walking the circle
we are like
the forces of nature
active when it is
appropriate
to be active
Still when it is
approriate
to be still
sincere within
active without
action is not
to be divorced
from stillness
gradually
one advances
to the realm
of profound
attainment
of self-realization
stopping in the realm
of utter goodness
without evil...

not staying in a lowly position

"So in the path of practice of the Tao, it is not a matter of the
level of people's talents or qualities, but of whether or not
they have determination. Without determination, even talented
and intelligent people are incapable of attaining the Tao; with
determination, even ignorant men and women are capable
of attaining it. As it is said, those who realize it immediately
ascend to the rank of sages, while those who miss it sink
in the stream forever."

The Taoist I Ching

Going through the changes....

"When it comes to the great matter of nature and life,
one must know the appropriate moments to advance
and withdraw, to sustain and negate, one must know
the principles of filling and emptying, effacing and
fostering - since even the slightest miss can result
in an enormous loss..."

where there is thunder
over a mountain
the mountain is still
while thunder is in motion
this is action that is
carried forth
by means of stillness

return from confusion to order
from effort to spontaneity
correcting instability
stabilize what is correct
cautious by day
working by night
carefully preserving
sane energy
in the mysterious pass
refining and maturing
the correct standpoint
the proper position
no external energy
is allowed
to contaminate
the cauldron and furance

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 5 replies

Conspiracy History compilation DVDs torrents

2008-03-15T14:19:00Z

**************************************************

Greetings to all my relations.

This is the last step of our project History Watch. If History is
defined and known by the texts, we can now add to this definition the
recorded events of the filmed archives. Animated images are harder to
deny than printed words. Our objective is to spread out freely some of
the little broadcast, even hidden informations about our collective
History.

We put online a collection of 391 documentaries and other selected and
recut videos, to offer to a wide public the best of the infos
available on the net in english and in french. If you are interested,
you have the time, the right equipment and connection, all you have to
do is open the joint document and decompress it if needed (but normaly
your system should do it automaticaly). You'll find therein nine links
that will open the torrents for the nine DVDs we compiled (around 4.6
Gig each, for a total of a little over 41 G, being over 100 hours of
videos).

Otherwise, you can go directly to btjunkie.com and search for these titles.

11 Septembre 2001 - 9-11
Bush family & friends
Capitalist & Communist regimes
Capitalist conspiracy
Mind Kontrol - Secret Programs
New World Order - Secret Societies
Secret services - cover up - covert ops
Secret weapons - UFO
Terrorism Theories propaganda

Torrents are a system of peer to peer data transfer. The more people
download a torrent, the faster it spreads and the longer it stays on
the net. If you don't have a bittorrent software, we suggest that you
download uTorrent on utorrent.com. If you want to participate in
facilitating the diffusion of these infos about our collective
History, download these torrents on as many computers as possible,
whether it is in cybercafes. It takes one or two minutes to open up
the links and the downloading will keep proceeding on its own.

Please spread this out, take part in this action for social education
on a planetary scale. Thanks.

For more info: watch.history@gmail.com History Watch

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

Fragments of Being

2008-03-06T13:46:13Z

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair. "

Blake

look all around tell me what you see
and how the world remains
perfect just as it is....
break yourself upon it
or bend with it like the wind
within the sea of change
that of the mind, that of heaven
and that of the sages
all change consist of three phases
investigate the principles
that consist of methods and
representations of transformation

But it is this journey together that makes
all of the difference going through the
changes not getting caught up in mis-
communications living this dream as it was
meant to be secure in our own example as
we do the things that must be done one day
this work won't depend on self limitation
or the whims of bitter circumstance there
is a door that is always open and through it
we all must venture into our greater tomorrows
as we live them here today - i know that
it is possible to turn this lead into
gold as i saw this in a dream last night
what the future holds - this body this day
this life stepping into a new day
doing what is most needed but rare
in this world... standing up in the light
pointing a way into the Way
as you have seen is not always
as it seems... it is said that a
great hermit might well live in the city
dare we forget our roots the place of our
birth or rebirth as the case may be
to remember who we are?
there comes a time in every persons
life when this choice must be made or
forever forgotten...
What is the happiness of harmonious action?
reaching effortlessness my means of effort
when the mobilization of the army is in accord
with the people's hearts, then the troops are
complete... it is beneficial to rectify the mind
to train the body like the ruler and his general
the path of producing happiness is the consummation
of harmonious action... firm as rock not procrastinating
the happiness of preserving rectitude in gaining
good fortune being the source of joy not lookking
up to others for one's own happiness overcoming
confusion by unity yang energy ever florishing
yin energy transmuting spontaniously having no greed
nor ambition happy with the knowledge of the
celestial order not letting external artificialities
injure internal reality able to act in accord
with the time yang enrgy is expansive like thunder
going out of the earth rising up into the sky
the life-giving potential continually increases
as the whole world blooms with golden flowers
from yellow sprouts of spiritual potential...
or at least something to that effect
correct awareness always present
reaching being by nonbeing
appropriating yin and yang taking over
creative evolution transcneding the ordinary
and entering the holy rising from lowliness
to the heights going from the shallow to the depths
to arrive at fulfillment through emptiness...

If there is nothing in the whole wide world to prove,
is it not enough to be responsive to everything
in an adaptive way?
resolving disintegration seeking blessings within
injury, and life within death unfathomable spiritual
transformation "When the character is good, all the
accumilated influences of mundane feelings disappear,
turning into true sense, without hypocricy or decite,
so that customs return to goodness... Once the real
is restored, the false evaporates of itself. The real
is thus within the false, and the false is not outside
the real." the celestial mechanism that is finally
revealed, being fulfilled but dwelling in emptiness
transforming the artificial into the reality
resting in the ultimate good unwavering
the mind of Tao that is ever present
when yin and yang are scattered it is always
because of using the human mentality and
abandoning the mind of Tao
not knowing where to stop at sufficency
the path of progess through obidience
if you go one way, obeying invading conditioning
yang is dispersed, while if you go the other way,
obeying primordial energy - yang is fostered - yet,
being strong and complacent unable to prevent mundanity
sitting idly by watching how things turn out
trouble arises creating obstructions
mundanity arises through heedlessness
suffering damage not knowing how to prevent
negative mundanity it is fortunate if one is
strong yet can mantain rectitude it is then possible
to avoid the fault of damaging the celestial by the mundane
in the middle of the body of stillness close to yang
true yin will appear causing all yin to follow yang
the phenomenon of admitting true yin within
allows for the presevation of yang...

"One's patterns of activity and passivity, absense and
presence, are indiscernable to others; one is like the
sun, which is bright when it rises, but also bright in
serect when it has set."

This path of no worry is at the penacle
of spiritual transformtion. 'It's nature
is harmonious and joyous. Being harmonious,
it can relax; being joyous it can trust.
Being rlaxed it can go gradually; trusting,
it can endure long. Able to relax and trust,
powerful practice unrelenting, it is thereby
possible to advance to the stage of
indestructable firmness and strength, to
again see the face of heaven, and not be injured
by false yin and false yang... having a way
of development and growth."

"What is correct is only a matter of what is right
and true; sentiment changes, while truth nas no
change."

"When practioners of the Tao reach the point where
yin and yang are balanced, strength and receptivity
are unified, and the spiritual embryo is formed,
then they can merge with the ordinary world, hiding
their illumination, to cultivate advance practice."

"But to mix with the ordinary world, concealing one's
own light, requires great impartiality and impersonality.
This is a matter of being selfless."

"When one is impartial and also lucidly aware, there is
no one in the world one cannot be the same as, and there
is nothing in the world that is arbitarily consideded to
be the same as something different."

sorry to be matter of fact but this joy of being
is never any less than who we already know ourselves
to be... so many think of spiritual development as
endless sacrafice when in fact within decrease
of our tempermental conditioning there is increase

"Innocence dwells with Wisdom, but never with Ignorance. "

William Blake

Movement and stillness
knowledge and action
spirit and potential
substance and function
waxing and waning
expansion and contraction
correcting oneself
openness and calm
understanding the time
eternity and images of change
the accomplisments of sages

Where Do We Go From Here?

Climb the ladder of selves
employ the all seeing eye?
or give our power away
within some web of lies
unquestioned agreements
where do we go from here?
where awakening exist
do we remain locked away
safe in our comfort zones
so many ways of getting here
none more present than this
true sense is impersonal nature
yang must pump the bellows
employ yin to forge this metal
the sword of truth the tools
of wisdom solving confusion

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 3 replies

.::Only His::.

2008-03-05T14:20:15Z

His shoulders are like tabernacles,
laden mosques, forever solid
under the wait of my architectural prayer -
erected piece by piece ('bye peace)
under fading moon,
'neath watching skies,
near the core of my flailing religion...
atop sacred ground.

There -->
I've been lost, not wanting to be found
like inlaid parables, bound;
placed inexorably by the root
of the original poet-tree, pretending
virginal postures, sweetly sinning
as he curves me in softest soliloquy
'til I am wrapped 'round his wildest philosophies,
bidding adieu to every agnostic tendency
I've ever had -
(making me kneel, unexpectedly
right near the tear in his soul
shamelessly fondling love
in the palm of my seeking hand...)

admiring his lips
his...
only HIS lips
they way they slit
(so wet) in an "ohhh.."
when I do
this...

but,

it is his back...
only HIS back, split by a Roman spine
that commands my eye to wander
west of collarbone; riding lateral w-i-i-i-nd
to the temptation of its expanse -
my hands, faltering near his ink,
my pink, pulsing,
pulsing
in eager greed
as I follow him down the rabbit's hiding hole,
we, in sync,
linked by lust, locked
together in trusting tether; bold

his body calling me...

beautiful

~A.J.A~
@2007@

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 4 replies

The trail of breadcrumbs

2008-02-28T16:59:35Z

À la recherche du geai bleu

I sit by my little window every day, looking out at the wide world,
Scattering seeds and thoughts out my window in hopes to blossom tender gardens and to watch those who hold the sweet flower of life pass by.

One day in sheer wonderment I saw the flight of a exquisite bird
every loop and dive across the sky spoke of a freedom and fluidity
that was the embodiment of immanence a perfect counterpose to my transcendent being it gave wings to my heart to soar and laugh again in realms long forgotten in the frozen tundra of isolated society.

And then one day I heard the little chirping sound at my window up poped my window
and this blue jay was on my ledge in all its shimmering radiance, nervous excited and delighted an eruption of thoughts spilled out of my being, so swift was its move that the gentle bird flew away.

I now spread bread crumbs wherever I go in hopes again that some day I will hear that sweet chirping at my window pane.

Come sweet wings fly near me I do not seek to place you in gilded cage, but only to honor your flight so pure so free, let me again hear the enchanting melodies of your song.
Come to awaken the mystery of flight within me, to remember the pure candor and abandonment my childlike soul once soared so long ago.

I will not hunt but in stillness wait, watching your flight from afar and spreading breadcrumbs wherever I go.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 4 replies

As An Artist

2008-02-27T13:33:17Z

Thought I'd bring this discussion over from another tribe - Art//Life.
Thanks to AllanO.

As An Artist, Where Are You On The Scale Of Self-actualization?
topic posted Fri, November 23, 2007 - 6:58 AM by AllanO'

"Psychologist Abraham Maslow has written, 'A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write--if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be.' The question for many would-be creators is simply how to get to "must.

Maslow spent a lifetime researching mental health and human potential. He emphasized the study of healthy minds and successful systems rather than the abnormal and the ill. He was particularly interested in the hierarchy of needs, meta-needs, self-actualizing persons, purposeful play, and peak experiences. Leader of the humanistic school of psychology, he
referred to his ideas as a "third force"--beyond Freudian theory and behaviourism.

Maslow saw human beings' needs arranged like a ladder. The most basic needs, at the bottom, were physical--air, water, food, etc. Then came safety needs--security, stability, comfort. Then psychological or social needs--belonging, love, acceptance. At
the top were the self-actualizing needs--the need to fulfill oneself, to become all that one is capable of becoming. Maslow felt that unfulfilled needs lower on the ladder inhibited a person from climbing to the next step. For example, someone dying of thirst is not likely to write or paint. People who managed the higher needs are what he called self-actualizing people. These folks, he found, are able to focus on problems outside themselves, have a clear sense of what is true and what is phony, and are spontaneous, creative, and not bound too strictly by social conventions.

Here are a few of Maslow's ideas for artists wishing to further evolve:

Systematically study, understand and neutralize the effects of lower needs. Accept the world in all of its complexity, mystery and ambiguity. Take cues from the winners in this world, not the losers. Keep the company of the doers, not the talkers. Play your personal game on as many levels as you're able. Fall in love with your processes, innovations, dreams and higher ideals. Be sensitive to and welcome the arrival of peak experiences. Have no guilt when you see yourself becoming compulsive and proactive. Allow yourself to be swept up in your personal "must."

PS: "Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? A good question might be not why do people create, but why do people not create?" (Abraham Maslow, 1908-1970)

Esoterica: Peak experiences are profound moments of love, understanding, happiness or rapture, when a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient and yet a part of the world--more aware of truth, justice, harmony and goodness. Maslow found self-actualizing people have many such peak experiences. Acts of art can be structured so an individual sets himself up for a series of them. He feels good, becomes habituated and demands their repetition. Maslow was not a snob about his conclusions. "A first-rate soup," he said, "is more creative than a second-rate painting."

~From Robert Genn bi-weekly newsletter

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 14 replies

Peace Love and Understanding

2008-02-01T16:55:36Z

Endless techniques and methods,
one thing can not encompass
all things or can It? That is what the
Tao is supposed to be... and yet
to each system for which it is
applied the results are invaribly
the same there are no contradictions
How can this be? If indeed it is the
Mother of the Universe older than
God free from moral catagories
yet keeps to the low places
both humble and great
perhaps it is a path
to enlightenment...
a way of being'
both illusive and
ever present or eternal
it is said you cann't know it
but you can be it at ease
in your own life... so many
forms cloud the mind
in the apparent quest of
this simple empty nothingness
liberation revolution evolution
spontanious state of self mastery...
So do not presume the obliteration
of individual identity is all it's cracked
up to be, mystery schools or monasteries
ashrams or christian universities
promises of the unseen
presence of god
believe it or not there is common ground
yet it is said the closer we get to it the deeper it is
hidden secrets in western alchemical text
eternal fountain of youth yet again
promised but somehow out of reach
so simple every child
knows and comprehends it
but for complicated minds
drastic measures are necessary

Be receptive yet advance like the wind...
Using openness to seek fulfillment
the true yin within becomes manifest
there by seeking the yang
of the other to the benefit of all

"Practioners of the Tao are cautious and wary, and do not
let any yin energy reside in the heart."

"The human body is like the home; the human vitality, spirit,
soul, psyche and intent are like the people in a home. "

"When you refine the human mind and produce the mind of Tao,
the vitality, spirit, soul, psyche and intent each rest in its own
position and each dischargers its own affairs; joy, anger, sadness
and happiness are all harmonious and balanced."

transformed into guardian spirits of truth

"Spiritual clarity works silently, swift without being hasty, entering
by sincerity, functioning with flexibility, penetrating the barrier
between yin and yang, producing light in the openness within."

"From observation of the spirit reaching observation of the great,
a black pearl hangs in the void, illumining the whole world as
though it were in your palm."

"When gathering the medicine, it is necessary to use the bellows;
when refining the self true lead is needed."

"It all requires the true aspiration of the real mind, applying
effort with every step, so that the power of the Tao will
eventually be correctly centered and balanced."

I Ching

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 13 replies

return to the source

2008-01-30T16:04:39Z

"When the primordial is gathered together, essence is stabilized
and life is solidified."

"If you know but do not act on it, it is the same as not knowing."

"The value of knowledge is only in its application."

"But the way to make a great sacrafice and bring about good fortune
cannot be accomplished by a moment of emptiness; it is necessary
to tread the ground of reality step after step before one can achieve
it."

"Correcting self and correcting others, inwardly thoughts do not arise,
and externals do not enter: Inside and out are one single rectitude -
benevolence, justice, courtesy, and knowledge are all based on
truthfulness."

"A great person is one who corrects self and corrects others. Cor-
recting self, there is no ego; spirit and energy do not dissipate, and
rectitude becomes the self. Correcting others, there are no
personalities; character and constitution are sublimated, and
rectitude becomes people."

"When negative, weak, indecisive, not distinguishing right from
wrong, sometimes believing one thing, sometimes another,
people become disorderly and form into mobs, believing what
they shouldn't, rallying around what they shouldn't..."

"If you know disorderly mobing is of no benefit, 'cry' in regret,
and approach true teachers, once one is guided by them and
given direction in the darkness, you will understand that the
Tao is not far from people, but what people do for the Tao
estranges people. First you cry, then you laugh. Directly attain-
ing understanding, you need not grieve; going right ahead to
assemble the five elements and combine the four signs, why
worry that you will not reach the state of impeccability? This
is gathering in the sense of reforming error and returning to
what is correct."

And yet, "when activity enters into stillness, creative energy
temporarily rests, and repose is necessary."

The Taoist I Ching

Retreating into darkness
resting when it is time to rest
at the hour of darkness
when the killing force is strong
using stillness to nurture creativity
awaiting the proper time to emerge
not daring to act arbitrarily
when the vivifying force is weak
first be still before you act
the active following the passive
the passive then follows the active
taking over this mechanism is
imperceptible to anyone...
return to the source

Prepare the tools of wisdom
guard against the unexpected
dissolve the influence
of personal history
once the primordial
has been congealed
the jewel of life undamaged
autonomous presence of mind
silent operation of spiritual awareness

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

Learning to be grateful

2008-01-29T14:28:54Z

I have for so long taken life for granted.
The small parts would fly by unnoticed and unappreciated.
Stop!
The world will hold me still
and still is where I find gratitude.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

between love and desire

2008-01-26T18:02:43Z

What is this hidden gift?

The Spark of Love Eternal

that bears the fruit

of deep rejoicing

spiritual love...

that is shared by two

mindful of achieving

one's own transpiercing

vision of reality

free of sentiment

emotional insecurity

or feelings of embalance

transcends imaginary love

which last only for a moment

like the fallen petals of a flower

out of season never meant to last

Love has a delicate nature

to love is to be gentle

free as a blowing wind

enduring as a flowing river

like the spring that feeds a well

true love can never run dry

the enlightenment of love

exist in every moment

it can not be possessed

nor held on to, denied

nor brought into disgrace

this is love that is fulfilled

beyond the web of emotional needs

Love is a beautiful passion

when it is guided

by the principle of balance

if we lose this balance

in the name of love

then our love has

become unhealthy

do we distinguish

the differnece

between love and desire?

the delicate nature

of true love gives pleasure

whereas the desire of stormy love

creates only pressure...

tender love is truly benficial

"Love is the golden light of the sun rising within your being.

It is the rose which has just opened its eyes. It is the

freshness of dew or the caress of a wave on the shore - all

within you.

"But the dawn becomes noon and finally evening. The early

morning dew evaporates. The rose reaches its fullness and

its petals fall. A wave reaches its crest and returns to

the sea. Then, does love die also? If the love within us

is living, does it also die when it reaches fullness? Can

one hold that certain moment of the sun's first appearance

on the horizon? Can one make love endure? At what point does

joy of love's presence become the need for its possession?

When one fears it will go away or die is when the need for

its possession aries. At this point love becomes contaminated

with emotion and need, and its original harmony changes to

dissonance. Love then reverts to the realm of duality, and

the presence of the Tao within our hearts is missed.

"When our inner treasure is inexhaustible, we can provide

limitless love and still remain independent and nonpossessive."

"Entering The Tao"

Master Hua-Ching Ni's - a mother's advice to her child

in the matters of love

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

Angel Heart Ruby

2008-01-16T15:14:35Z

Hey folks -

I've been working like crazy, getting together my Heart Art Gallery -- images in Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaystoner/2195344742/ and my Imagekind gallery (http://kls.imagekind.com/HeartArt) which makes high-quality giclee prints of my fractals available in multiple formats, for a variety of prices. I've also got a Cafepress store (http://www.cafepress.com/kaystoner) for notecards and greeting cards with these images. I'm just amazed by them. I'll post samples in the files/photos section, so you can download them and use them as wallpaper for your desktop, if the spirit moves you...

Peace

Kay

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

Wow I love this place!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-15T14:26:30Z

I mean, I'm surfing minding my own business and then here comes this site with all of you very cool and intellegent people on it.
WOW!! I must say though after giving it some thought that . . .
. . .well. I was attracted to this particular tribe through ~*Sunnely*~ (Jessica) 's profile because it said "Enlightened Artists/Writers" which translated to me as "Student Creators". In my mind I guess the best teachers are those that remain a student because there is always something more to learn. Also, I don't know if I will ever call or consider myself "Enlightened" because once an individual concludes, or claims mastery then that individual ceases to learn. Well, at least as my eye sees it. Once you give a person places a title on oneself, that one ceases to change, to grow; that one ceases to move forward.

Well, anyway I'm here to share and gather data for analysis so lets get to it. Below is a link to some of my work. I must tell you that this is my attempt at sharing openly so I must ask that you take off the kid gloves and respond genuinely. Then again if I didn't expect that then I would not be here.

This is for the blog containing by Field Training Guide:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=108233539

My blog also contains some of my work. You can check that out until I finish building my profile here on Tribes.

Also, for some of my music ((none of it is mastered and is very raw, yet I feel it does not lack the basic form of my intention))
http://www.myspace.com/mauriuz

I am a Way Shower I give to you a light
I am the the Wise Protector
I stand atop Mount Phoenix
Amid the Fire Winds

The Fire winds are my winds
As I flap my wings of fire
I am eternal
I am the Golden Phoenix

Heretic Mind/ Heretic Saint

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 4 replies

Practice of the Tao

2008-01-04T17:26:44Z

By practicing the Tao
one can attain the Tao
strength and flexibility
are as one - truthfully
unified without division
correctly oriented
strong yet also balanced
benevolence, courtesy,
justice and wisdom
all return to the mind
feeling, essence,
vitality and spirit
return to the center
yin and yang coincide
fully integrated
with natural principle
within the celestial design
all entanglements are void
the Path of joyful accord
with unfailing benefit
and good fortune
thereby perfecting
essence and life
entering from stiving
into nonstriving
not mistaking
the spurious
for the genuine

there is also faith
that takes
the false to be true
faith becomes enmity
attempting forced
manipulations
finding enemies
first believing in
one thing then another
vain and insubstantial
the false distorts the real

"It is easy to work with what is of the same species,
hard to work with what is not of the same kind."

"The crossing of great rivers is that whereby inner nurturance
and outer effectiveness is accomplished."

I Ching

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 9 replies

Remain Alone...

2008-01-03T16:44:22Z

An interesting turn of events
being reminded
never to forget
who we are and
where we come from...
once here all alone
those who give to get
always remain alone
but for those who
get to give
blessings never end
transmission is the key

we learn we live we grow we give
we fill the contents of our head
but deep inside something
innocent remains unchanging
and this is most feared
and hated in the world
this world of crime
lies and decite
but here we are
in it up to our ears
the low drone of the mundane
conditioned mind filled with
attachments built
upon personal history
growing forever more complex
how can there be anything more
than what we think we know
in our bid for power
and supremacy
for personal identity
to make a difference
everything changes
but personal effectiveness
remains the highest
art form there is
living in the moment

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 9 replies

Happy Christmas

2007-12-24T16:55:40Z

It is a time for family and friends
of whatever faith or persuasion
a time for thoughtful reflection
and the hope of a New Year
All good things they say
come to he or she
who shall but wait; grasping
the ineffable beneath
this flow of conditioning

Happy Christmas EveryOne

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 0 replies

Tarot and Fine Art for X-Mass!

2007-12-11T14:13:01Z

Hello Fellow Enlightened Artists!
Just a quick note to let you know that the latest 2008 updated Limited Edition Signed Tarot of the Pomegranate decks are available now:
www.tarotofthepomegranate.com/Tar...html
Visit my BAZAAR page for gifts too, and not just Tarot decks but prints, readings, original paintings and merchandise:
www.tarotofthepomegranate.com/baz...html
Blessings,
An-Magrith
P.S. Feel free to join my "Tarot of the Pomegranate" tribe for more Tarot fun!
http://tribes.tribe.net/tarotofthepomegranate

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 0 replies

Ode to a Friend

2007-12-05T17:35:05Z

New zion iron lion
songs of freedom
rivers of babalon

Night born of chaos
gives birth to day
sister of the dawn
breath new life
into all things
this tribe of dreams

Ponos Moros
Thanatos Hypnos
Hesperides and Keres
Apate Nemesis of fate
Philotes and stife
that fall victim to age
embrace the Goddess
of night...
whose offspring
are many
Nyktelios nocturnal

Kronos dreams
as cymbals clash
Adrastea moves
the entire Universe
to the beat
of her tymponon
within the rhythm
of chanting Nyx

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

Fire and Water

2007-12-03T04:34:34Z

It is said that illumination that is not revealed
is better than illumination openly employed
This is the power of practical application
penetrating reality embracing unity
nurturing the true fire that returns to the origin
of all things, the path of constant recollection
Upright in difficulty having no form or trace
open awareness without obscurity
returns to formlessness
Strength that is used with flexibility
is the sign of tranquility
Within the alchemical process
water flows downward
fire flames upward
with fire water is not cold
with water fire is not hot
celestial and earthly combine
the creative innate knowledge
and receptive innate capacity are as one
vitality and spirit cleave to each other
retrieving the primordial within the temporal
not bound by creation the real person emerges

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 7 replies

Thanks Giving

2007-11-25T21:42:24Z

Blessings to all on this day of Thanks
travel safe and remember our
friends and family no matter
how distant or difficult
they might appear be...
In Spirit
tl

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 2 replies

Introducing "Strange Bedfellows" - A Cautionary Tale for Times of Global Change

2007-11-13T14:00:37Z

Greetings all -

I'm not sure I've posted here, yet, but I've been lurking for some time. Lurking and writing and thinking and drawing. Now, I've got something tangible to show for my work...

It is with deepest gratitude that I now announce the publication of "Strange Bedfellows - A Cautionary Tale for Times of Global Change". It is the retelling of an amazingly detailed, epic dream that came to me unexpectedly in 1992. Dreaming this story was like watching an intricate and fully developed feature film -- it was awesome, even a little intimidating. And I've worked on and off, for the past 15 years, to manage to get it into print in a format that fully conveys the breadth and depth of the story behind it.

It's an epic tale that belongs to us all. I am simply the steward of its message, and I give thanks for all the assistance I've had in making this into a reality. The work of women everywhere, the lives of women everywhere, the great sustenance and power of Mama Gaia, have all made this task as much play as it has been work -- but it has been work. No doubt.

A preview of the book can be viewed here: http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=66612

-----------------------------------------------------------
About Strange Bedfellows (from the book cover)

Everything is going great for Paul and Christina. Their careers are fast-tracking them to success, they're moving up in society, and their future prospects are excellent. They take what they desire from the world around them and live life to the fullest. Everyone and everything around them reinforces their entitlement, and they have no reason to question their right to do what they please, when they please, to whomever they please.

But when a strange and horrifying incident takes place in their home, their lives are turned upside-down. In the blink of an eye, everything they've worked so hard for is at risk.

What will they do, when a grisly guest appears out of nowhere? Will they have the courage to make the changes necessary to restore right relationship to their world? And how will they save themselves from a horrible fate they have helped to create?

"Strange Bedfellows" is a cautionary tale for our times, a retelling of an epic, intricately detailed dream Kay Stoner received in 1992. This is a story of truth and consequence... entitlement and impoverishment... conscious choice and change... and the hazards of being motivated by self-centered fear and short-sighted ignorance.

"Strange Bedfellows" can be purchased online here: http://www.lulu.com/content/66612

Proceeds from these sales benefit the Red Tent Movement and Daughters of the Earth.

I hope you'll pay a visit to "Strange Bedfellows" at Lulu -- http://www.lulu.com/content/66612 and consider the messages within. This is a story we all need to work through -- for the good of our planet and the hope of our children.

You can also read more about the journey at my site www.kaystoner.com

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

The Fallen

2007-10-30T10:11:52Z

The Fallen

Once sleep walking
oblivious to the maze of old
i began to fall
Now i'm digging even deeper
reaching down i open up
and it flows within
into the thick of it now
i realize i'm right where i want to be
where i've longed to be
where i belong
right here right now
within this secret world around me
once hidden
it now surrounds me
has tested and accepted me
i can see in the dark now
i can feel my way through the maze
i know what whispers to you
in your waking sleep
what glitters in the shadows
why some secrets are best to keep
in the dark
and the door is there
if you could only see
to reach deep inside
digging even deeper
into the thick of it now
you find the key
waking up
Now you can see

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 5 replies

Of Laws and Freedom

2007-10-20T02:29:06Z

"Then a lawyer said , But what of our Laws,
master?
And he answered:
You delight in laying down laws,
Yet you delight more in breaking them.
Like children playing by the ocean who
build sand-towers with constancy and then
destroy them with laughter.
But while you bulid your sand-towers the
ocean brings more sand to the shore,
And when you destory them the ocean
laughs with you.
Verily the ocean laughs always with the
innocent.

But what of those to whom life is not an
ocean, and man-made laws are not sand-
towers,
But to whom life is a rock, and the law
a chisel with which they carve it in
their own likeness?
What of the cripple who hates dancers?
What of the ox who loves his yoke and
deems the elk and deer of the forest stray
and vagrant things?
What of the old serpant who cannot
shed his skin, and calls all others naked
and shameless?
And of him who comes early to the wedding-
feast, and when over-fed and tired goes
his way saying that all feasts are violations
and feasters lawbreakers?

What shall I say of these save that they
too stand in the sunlight, but with their
backs to the sun?
They see only their shadows, and their
shadows are their laws.
And what is the sun to them but a caster
of shadows?
And what is it to acknowledge the laws
but to stoop down and trace their shadows
upon the earth?
But you who walk facing the sun, what
images drawn on the earth can hold you?
You who travel with the wind, what
weather-vane shall direct your course?
What man's law shall bind you if you
break your yoke but upon no man's prison
door?
What laws shall you fear if you dance but
stumble against no man's iron chains?
And who is he that shall bring you to
judgement if you tear off your garment yet
leave it in no man's path?

People of Orphalese, you can muffle the
drum, and you can loosen the strings of the
lyre, but who shall command the skylark
not to sing?"

"And the orator said, Speak to us of Free-
dom.
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I
have seen you prostrate yourself and wor-
ship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before
a tyrant and praise him though he slays
them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in
the shadow of the citadel I have seen the
freest among you wear their freedom as a
yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me: for you
can only be free when even the desire of
seeking freedom becomes a harness to you,
and when you cease to speak of freedom
as a goal and a fulfilment.

You shall be free indeed when your days
are not without a care nor your nights with-
out a want and a grief,
But rather when these things gridle your
life and yet you rise above them naked and
unbond.

And how shall you rise beyond your
days and nights unless you break the chains
which you at the dawn of your under-
standing have fastened around your noon
hour.
In truth that which you call freedom is
the strongest of these chains, though its
links glitter in the sun and dazzle your
eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own
self you would discard that you may become
free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish,
that law was written with your own hand
upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law
books nor by washing the foreheads of your
judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone,
see first that his throne erected within you is
destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the
proud, but for a tyranny in their own free-
dom and a shame in their own pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that
care has been chosen by you rather than
imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the
seat of that fear is in your heart and not in
the hand of the feared.

Verily all things move within your being
in constant half embraced, the desired and
the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherihed,
the pursued and that which you would
escape.
These things move within you as lights
and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no
more, the light that lingers becomes a
shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its
fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater
freedom."

Kahlil Gibran

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 0 replies

Poetic piece for the unveiling

2007-10-16T19:09:33Z

This was a piece written for a dance performance, so the writing flows around the performance, to support it. The performance starts with me being wrapped in cloths and slowly unveiled, then dancing to several different types of cultural music, kind of the journey of culture through dance. Hope you enjoy

Emergence, stripping back the cultural wrappings, the cloth of sameness that seeks to hide us in the shadowed masses.

I arise from these veils
in infant awareness, mottled in the perplexing confusion.
I seek to remember the essence of our vital energy to reawaken the flow of primitive life force so I dance.

Dance, it seeks to find the hidden rhythm that congruent pulse
That cadence that finds its way through every cell of my being
in uninhibited abandon.

I release myself to it.

I dance within the genetics streams that express
their rich textures in the music and beat of their tribe.

I dance the platitudes of joy,
the soft sensual rhythms of life,
thus I gently brush the inner passions of each people,
of each race,
of each age.

Till at last I dance across the threshold,
that is not limited by race,culture and time.

I find the rhythm behind all rhythms
that primordial symphony that gives birth to all music

that eternal rhythm that transcends the boundaries of time.

Therefore I dance
and dance
and dance untill,

You join me in the one song that shares a multitude of expressions
Yes dance with me

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 3 replies

..but for a moment...

2007-10-12T11:30:22Z

..but for a moment...

sitting in a circle
by a tree of broken mirror
a stranger speaks my mind
with more clarity than i can behold
my thoughts dance forth on his voice
unhindered by my mind
with a smile he falls silent
when i perceive that i can hear no more

during a time of sharing
with a kindred soul
her words spoken as a guide on a journey
i see the eye of another
with colors as true as the green of this earth
and in realizing such sight i can behold
i forget my way
when i perceive i can look no more

a night full of meaning
with friends forever found
as the dawn light pours through a window
meeting the shadow it shows a door
when i look closer i move closer still
my thoughts dance forth into the unknown
with a sigh the light shifts from my eyes
when i perceive i can walk no more

for a moment
all circles align
within my sight
seeing into the infinite
golden spirals unfold around me
the universe is here and now
with a gasp i slip back into time and space
when i perceive i can see no more

Harumi *~

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 3 replies

freedom

2007-10-07T12:46:21Z

Je vois une telle beauté à l'intérieur de votre âme pourquoi ceci a été lié et enchaîné ?
Pourquoi est ce sur un autel de
No. de douleur !
ce ne peut pas être lumière d'mille coupures riantes d'enfants ces bandes de cuir et d'acier.

Et laissez-vous danser encore parmi les jonquilles où l'amour est offre de doucement s'est senti riants ces bandes de cuir cassent d'enfants et d'acier.

Ahh vous un senti s'est d'est offre de doucement de l'amour d'où de jonquilles
de les de parmi de bis de danser de laissé.

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 2 replies

Resting Naturally

2007-09-27T20:15:53Z

I'm sure I have already questioned whether or not an enlightened artist would describe themself as so... what if we're all enlightened, we just have to accept that we don't actually have to let anything piss us off. Ever, easy to say, easy to do, harder to remember...

A poem http://people.tribe.net/knowledgeispower23/blog?topicid=45251795-6bb0-4bbd-93ee-6b296b31c9ef

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 2 replies

.::Left 7, Right 3; Release::.

2007-09-20T22:18:26Z

With a twist, I turn...
soul yearning for what's inside
this telling scribe;
ALL

...no less than all
of every dream I've willingly conjured or
each hymn, I've softly heard,
I want the whole of what occured
in the text of prewritten love,
inked by hands above
I

want it

all!

No splicing edits nor icing credits
that seek to conceal the wise of fate's inner eye,
I wanna know the "why's"
& all that they convey.
Take

my hand, this day
& walk with me through the valley of death's arch
'cause I am parched
for a friend,
lend me your ears, and
if you can...
I will lift you above all other mortal men

Can you

save
me

from myself ?
...sip me like top-shelf chardonnay,
tasting me like I am the only desert-swish
on your agenda
then spit for me the truth, in a searing hip-hop-groove
or to a tune I'll hum all day?
May
I

feed your greed
for the wrongs of right-eousness,
heaping spoonfulls of semi-conscious bliss
& wipe your chin of the juice you fail to swallow whole?
Oh,

allow my soul
to flutter, fly
parallel with your oath's collide
with --- > Him.
Yeah,

I selfishly,
unobtrusively,
want what's behind door number TOO
& ...
I'm turning the lock of promised tides,
<--- counter clock wise 7 times;
left to right ---> three more turns,
then
all is well
as heaven burns...
with the waiting.

Will you release me?

~A.J.A~
@2007@

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 7 replies

Metaphors of Truth

2007-09-19T05:23:42Z

"find eternal
joy with
Jesus' word"

or so the advertisment goes...

"Blessed are the pure in heart.
For they shall see God."
-Matthew 5:8

the newly enhanced
Christian Bible Study
course... pluke down
your money
and sin no more...

but unfortunately
the right wing
fanatics who put
this idiot in office
'the American Taliban'
has not only insured
the downfall of this
once great nation
within the eyes
of the world by
senseless agression
in the name of God?
and country; Cowboy
politics... it is
hard now for the
otherwise spiritually
articulate to disassociate
this image of the ignorant
ugly American promulgated
by this administration...
it is difficult for any
reasonable person not
to acknowledge all the
negative connotations
attributed to this
nation within the
world community
and then presume
to call ourselves
a Christain nation?
what about the
freedom of religion?
and separtion of
church and state
when there is this
ground swell once
known as the so-called
Christian coalition
that got this idiot
elected in the first place
Pitting the proverbial
'us' against 'them'...
on articles of faith -
no less... gay bashing
hippocrites and
weapons of mass destruction
if that is what it means
to be christian - to stand
in judgement and ignorance
of true principles
of virtue... finding
fault rather than
similarity between
comparative religions
is to go blindly
into this world...
i want no part of it
nothing more than
social clubs with
myopic tunnel vision
standing in false judgements
sanctamonious and self-righteous
protestant reformation back
in to the dark ages of inquisitions

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 10 replies

Depth-questions for depth chargers::re: indigenous pathways towards action and freedom

2007-09-18T19:33:19Z

A-hey, all my relations!

The following comments come from pages 32, 35-38 of _Wasase: indigenous pathways of action and freedom_ by Taiaiake Alfred a Kanienkeha (Mohawk) depth-charger, (published 2005 by broadview press). The book is an articulation of the idea of *decolonizing* ourselves (with an emphasis on indigenous folks in canada) from the mentality that colonizes indigenous peoples globally, both in exterior and interior ways. Tho Taiaiake doesn't go much into the idea of *settlers* (or long-colonized indigenous folks originally from other portions of Mom Earth) also taking up these ways of seeing and being, he does touch on the idea here and there, and keeps doors open to all whom are moved to participate.

To Note:
i want to share these in case anyone may be inclined to such a discussion, or want to be possibly inspired in their own inclined paths of resistance. You can hear Taiaiake speak on his website videos and read various indigenous, resurgent-oriented depth speakings here: www.wasase.org Notably i am *not* indigenous (to this side of mOm Earth), yet i feel a deep comradery with folks who speak their hearts, and practice decolonizing ways; a way i myself am practicing (to mostly isolated extents, so far) and finding meaning where meaning has seemed nonexistent.

Feel free to join in and point out what you may see as any blindspots in my thinking!

Taiaiake (herein called "You") said, page 32:
"European languages, [Leroy Little Bear] explains, centre on nouns and are concerned with naming things, ascribing traits, and making judgements."
--
i note how such facilitates the machinery of colonization, how such reflects the fundamentally "in formation" society, the chain-of-command/hierarchical structure that keeps the bottom line (which most of we settlers practice ignoring and denying until we cannot avoid it any longer).

You said, page 35:
If non-indigenous readers are capable of listening...
--
i say we usually stumble upon such due to the pervasiveness of thought control not only from the state/business nexus, but also vanguard control desires of those engaged in so-called "alternative" political endeavors.

You said:
Onkwehonwe have always fought for survival against imperialism and its drive to annihilate our existence.
--
i figure you're speaking of indigenous people, generally, so i want to add that *so do we settlers*! We have always fought, except our fighting has largely, in my view, been atomized and unarticulated, drawing on intuitive rebellion rather than radical consciousness. We no longer have the memories you have, yet everywhere kids "rebell" and are thus labeled "attention deficit disordered" or "oppositional defiant disordered" (re: via the DSM IV, *the* oft quite unscientific psychiatrick bible); and everywhere workers get drunk out of their minds; and so on.

You speak of "self-termination" movement, page 36
--
Is this a formal movement, or informal? i know of various indigenous friends who are caught up in this informally (so it seems to me). It sounds pervasive in a formal way in canada...is there evidence of this formality elsewhere? Can you give me any examples i can look into?

You mention "...the Settlers...", page 37:
Why not articulate/demystify further and better say what you mean, at least sometimes? Like: *the formalized formation* we are tooled and manipulated into participating, or otherwise going along with, while our settler politics systematically *DOES NOT* pay any attention to these things (and R.D. Laing's idea called "the meta game" continues unabated).

Am i making sense to you here at all? i'm wanting to identify and at the same time demystify the situation, and bring out the truth that we settlers are *more* than this categorization; by saying that, by allowing for grey areas in the language used, more of us may (?) feel free to speak our privated-away "opinions" and avoid the familiar habit to entrench ourselves in "settler" identities.

Do you see what i'm getting at here?

You say, page 37:
"...I am with the warriors who want to beat the beast...and teach it to behave."
--
Me, i wanna radically "kiss"/massage and art it (when i'm forced to experience it, that is), as an enchanted "prince" of radicalized, non-passive, depth peace, and turn it from its present form and back into its original heart (re: kidhood heart, before the FEAR enfortressed entrenched beliefs). (recall the euro story of "the frog prince")

You say, page 37:
"It is because [young people's] identities, their cultures, and their rights are under attack by a racist government."
--
Why not attempt to demystify this more deeply? Because i see (and i recall you also saying, later in the book) that racism is only one card played in *the severely alienated mentality of statecraft*. Why not say something like this? (i figure you're trying to reach out to those whom have been so mobilized around that word, yet still, don't you think it makes more sense to more deeply demystify?)

You said, page 38:
"Some people may find it shocking and absurd for me to suggest that an Onkwehonwe community is a kind of war zone. But anyone who has actually lived on a reserve will agree with this tragic analogy on some level."
--
i see varying levels of war truths (i.e. usually covert, such as deployed via the social "sciences") THROUGHOUT "civilized" societies across the spectrum!!

Shall i back this "shocking and absurd" notion up for you, or do you already see what i'm saying?

And i want to say that i think this is a way to speak to we settlers! And find our commonalities!

Well, i'll stop for now (okay with you if i go chapter by chapter, and keep things short?).

to radical's radical sanity!
cosmic-ly crazy mutt
www.angelfire.com/folk/magixnartz/flouggindex.html

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 1 reply

.::Alchemy::. (1 + 1 = One)

2007-09-15T11:44:40Z

the square root of 'we'...
is determined by the correlation of individual entities,
multiplied by possibility;
infinite equalities, summed by an innate ability
to fuse you to me
(times two) seamlessly
without carrying the one

succinctly.

In quadrivium theory,
'us'
could metaphysically be
some reincarnated hypothesis
bled from the a-rhythm-atic memory
of a sleeping Socrates;
repeated in the lusty language of our biological chemistry &
the calculated plea
of heaven's heart-shaped geometry...

i.e. Orestes...

spelled into belief of evolutional decree,
fell not-so-easily, scandalously,
whilst formulating Heron's hybrid hieroglyphics;
slipping upon the hymen of Hypatia's haughty complexity
& treading numbers
against the insurmountable odds of her fluidity -
was locked inside Alexandria's cabinet of curiosity,
while Maric wept "E=mc²!"
into the lapel of Faraday's electric potency.

Such

ingenius madness to the method
of their acoustic alchemy...

(or most relative sense of science)

~A.J.A~
@2007@

posted in Enlightened Artist/Writers - 3 replies