May, 2009

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Ode to Joe Cocker

Friday, May 29th, 2009

I want to live the way Joe Cocker performs.

Like the Song of life is being rendered from me.

No matter how the many Selves contort or reel against exposure, I want the Song to be lured from me like a charmer coaxes electric snakes from straw baskets.

A higher life drawn, pulled and ripped from me.

Urged on like some rogue daemon, sick to tears of backseat driving, shreds out of the skin in a wild attempt at free-creation without me (the slack meat puppet) to contend with.

I want life to crack me open wide. Unbridled and wild - the way the soul is driven right out of Cocker’s body.

Like he’s thunderstruck by the message he channels.

Seems like a good way to live life.

Watch him for yourself on the footage below (circa 1969, Woodstock). Maybe this post will make sense after watching. Maybe not.

Posted in Personal Observations, Uncategorized | 4 Responses »

Trick Backs and Pulling Strings on Pain

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Pain can be Symbolic

I’ve got a trick back.

It’s a trick back because sometimes my body moves a certain way, and my back decides to move a different way. Tricky indeed, but it’s not magical, and it’s certainly not entertaining.

So what the hell is a trick back good for?

Herding Awareness.

Pain lassos our awareness and seizes our attention fully.

What’s so great about that? Pain can be a useful tool for focused awareness and it works like a double-edged sword.

On the one side, pain localizes our attention. Consider, you’ve got a sharp pain in your back, and suddenly your awareness is a laser beam on that one spot. You’ve pounced 100% on that pain. If your attention were fireflies, you could bottle them all up in a giant mayonnaise jar at the site of your pain because that’s where it’s all hanging out.

That kind of localized attention is invaluable to the spiritual developer. Pain makes awareness tangible because it causes our attention to get compact, tight, narrow and finely focused. It’s priceless because it shows us what focused attention feels like. Now that we know what it’s like to have all our fireflies of awareness shining brightly in one centralized spot – we can direct that attention in any way we choose.

And we all know, awareness is the key to – well, just about everything. It’s certainly the key to reality.

What’s the other side of the sharp sword of pain? Well, it’s awareness too, but of a symbolic kind.

I contend the body is a puppet whose operation is wholly reliant upon a vast network of energetic and spiritual strings.

A string of thought is pulled, the body twitches. A string of faith is plucked, the body dances. Pull a spiritual string often enough, over time, the body is going to heave-ho.

What’s this got to do with my trick back? I’m glad you asked.

I frequently pull thought-strings about control issues that can make a caffeine-narcotic-addled banjo player look sedated.

Every back problem I’ve had can be traced back, at the moment of injury, to some illusory thought/belief over how much control I want, need, or think I have.

I’m taking this a step further by saying different body pains are a result of specific emotional strings being pulled.

Backs and spines happen to be symbolic of core nervous issues which stem from the illusion of control.

Feet address foundational issues, a deep emotional need to feel stable, grounded and secure.

Eyes are symbolic of our perception, how we view the world, and our vision on a spiritual/intellectual scale.

You get my drift?

Take my trick back as an example of how pain can be a significant and symbolic tool for our personal growth. If you’ve got pain, take a deeper look into it. Try to trace the spiritual/emotional/thought strings connected to the pain.

What strings are you yanking that are triggering pain, and localizing your attention?

Here is where I offer further reading on the subject. That’s another trick, because I haven’t written much in this vein.

Maybe I’ll write a few pages on symbolic body parts.

If you have issues with your hands, you might want to check out my meaning of hands page here.

Anyhoo, thanks for reading.

Oh, and by the way: You know I’m not advocating pain as a path to enlightenment, right? Nope, just offering some thoughts on how pain (when it pops up, not self-imposed) can give us a new perspective on things.

Posted in Personal Observations | 9 Responses »

Seeking Wisdom

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Different ways to seek Wisdom

Last week, a brightly lit, inquisitive mind focused on a statement I made on my Tarot site .

I wrote:

In our own ways, in our own time, we will all find the answers we seek only to realize there was never a need to search for them at all.

And, in response, Ed asked me: “Isn’t it through searching (questioning) that we gain awareness?”

I love philosophical fodder like this….more than I love crunchy organic peanut butter with bananas and really good coffee (trust me, that’s a lot).

My statement wasn’t arbitrary, but my friend’s question made me reevaluate its consequences.

He’s right. It IS the searching through darkness that leads to the light.

It IS the question asked that reveals the answer.

Without the question, exploration isn’t launched.

But, there is a little caveat. Actually, a gigantic one. A mammoth loophole that often hides from plain view.

That loophole is this: We are all cradled in a matrix of infinite wisdom, love, and acceptance.

All knowledge breathes in our midst and we can inhale it by right, or by might.

I wrote that statement on my Tarot site from a place that knows I am (“IAM” – the greater “I”) a vital integration of the cosmos. As such, all knowledge is inherent to me (and you, and everybody else).

More and more I come to realize that KNOWING is more about the process of BEING rather than seeking.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much a seeker.

Nevertheless, when submerged in the idea that all things are available without the need to grapple, paradoxically, wisdom begins to roll up onto the sandy beaches of our awareness.

In this manner of being, full, burgeoning waves of wisdom may press themselves upon us. Voluntarily, that wisdom surfaces to our suspended perception – with no prompting from the seeking mind.

I’m not sure I’m explaining this very well.

Here’s another stab at it: It’s when I can simply BE and KNOW my beat in the pulse of life – this is when the wisdom comes…unbidden….fluid…and so clear….moreso than if I had ever asked a question.

To be frank, I’m still playing with this concept (lucidity, it seems, is elusive) And, I’ll admit, it can be a ”foreign” way at looking at the experience of learning and growth, but I suspect this mode of learning is quite natural for humankind.

My thanks to Ed, for his question, and allowing my ruminations in response.

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in: Well, humph – I haven’t publicly written anything like this before – so I don’t have any related posts to link (I’ll have to remedy that :-).

What are your thoughts? Shoot ‘em off in the comment section below.

Posted in Personal Observations, Uncategorized | 9 Responses »

Dream Meaning and Self-Communicating

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Dream Meaning and Self-Communication

I get a lot of requests to interpret dream meaning and symbolism. Of course, I always have impressions to share, but I continue to stand firmly in the knowledge that dreams are personal oracles.

What do I mean by that? I mean your dream is a message for you and only you. Dreams are a form of self-communication. Dreams arise when certain aspects of yourself are reaching out to contact other aspects of yourself. That sounds redundant, but it’s not, really.

I contend humans are a sum of many, many parts (aspects, personalities, motives, heritages, etc), and dreams are a means of communication amongst these parts.

For example, a deep-rooted aspect of myself that moves from a place of insecurity may send a prophetic dream to a higher, more sure-footed aspect of myself whose job it is to interpret the dream. The dream meaning in this context holds a key to soothing or healing that insecure aspect.

If this sounds confusing, don’t let it. Here’s an analogy:

We are each an ocean. Our waters rise and fall in cyclical rhythms that are at once natural and mystical. And, within our waters stirs ancient life in infinite varietes. Some of this life we know intimately. Others lurk more deeply, and our knowledge of these life forms is slight.

Dreams churn our energetic waters, move the silt, and bring deeper aspects in contact with more familiar waters. This allows us to pick up new treasures and discoveries (in the form of personalities, tendencies and behaviors) that have surfaced in awareness.

Should we fear the unknowns in our watery depths? Not at all.

There is nothing in the grand body that does not know itself. There is nothing within the totality of the ocean that is excluded – all is known – all is accepted.

Making an effort to contemplate various dream meaning is a form of self-acceptance as well as self-communication.

In the end, we must swim in ourselves, and do so playfully – as a child would splash in the waters of the sea, fearless, unabashed and exilerated by the experience.

Better yet, be adventursome in the pursuit of determining your own dream meanings. There’s something empowering and alluring about self-discovery.

Go exploring. Approach your energetic waters like a saucy pirate lustily stroking the crest of a wave as if it were a lover by your side.

I digress…

Succinctly put, dreaming meaning and self-communication boils down to the grand tennet:

“Temet Nosce.” Know Thyself.

Sleepwalk through my other pages on dream meaning:

Common Dream Symbols and their Meanings

Common Dream Animals and their Meanings

Dreaming in Colors and their Meanings

Posted in Dream Symbolism, Personal Observations | 12 Responses »

Sky Dogs and Horse Helpers

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Tags: Animal Totems | Native American | Horse Symbolism

My Great Grandfather, Bronze Medalist of 1932 Olympic Equestrian Events

For me, the symbolic meaning of horses is compelling because it points out the value of partnering with our animal kin for guidance, wisdom and growth.

That admiration was confirmed last week after spending hours with my dad going over his lineage. Simply put, we’re horse people.

Generation after generation the hands of my bloodline have held firm on horse reins (and mane hair before the advent of the bit).

What’s this got to do with you, who are seeking relationships between symbolic meaning and your personal life path?

Plenty, because horses, more than most creatures, exhibit a brand of stoic patience for humans and a willingness to help us in our pursuit of freedom.

Over the years, horses have stood by our sides, helped us in our plights, facilitated our goals, and offered us a kind of mobility we would have otherwise never known without their graceful countenance.

Native Americans knew this.

Sky Dog was the name given to horses by Plains tribes because prior to the mid 1600s (when visiting Spaniards accidentally let loose a few horses which eventually fell into the savvy hands of Northern American native folk) dogs served as helpers in daily work. They helped carry heavy loads by means of the travois, and facilitated an intensely nomadic way of life.

Horses effortlessly usurped these roles from the dogs, and much more. They afforded Native people freedom and opportunities as vast as the sky.

When Sky Dogs came on the scene, they shifted the entire paradigm for the Native way of life.

Most notably, horses showed a willingness to accept mankind’s dependence upon them.

For centuries, mankind has asked for their strength, and horses have nobly and generously provided.

With that in mind, I invite you to ask yourself: “Who are my Sky Dogs?”

By this I mean:

Which animals communicate with you?
What animals share and carry your burdens?
What animals offer you mobility and facilitate your highest freedom?
What kind of gratitude and acknowledgement do you extend to these animal helpers?

If you happen to be “horse people” too, you might enjoy my page on the symbolic meaning of horses here.

You may also find my page on Knowing and Communicating with Your Animal Totem intriguing.

Posted in Land Totems, Personal Observations | 8 Responses »