I hear the Titans in the distance

The Titans on the freeway

The Titans trampling violently

Where they say they go

They do not go

Lost souls on the freeway

Luna above

-Stag

Near the day of purifcation

Near the day of purification, when the energy of the Son shall be released into radiant Spirit from the fatherly Heavens, two things will survive, cockroaches and iPods.

(I mean fatherly Heavens).

Necessity (Essay)

There are two opposing forces clashing to cause the entire spectrum of pain, fear, and all matters of evil.  Both opposing forces are vital for the growth of sentient beings.  It is ironic that they should be at such odds with each other.  But they are so because of the ignorance regarding their true nature.  The friction between these two forces are what causes all hate, war, jealousy, anxiety, fear, anger, ...the list goes on...

They are:

1.  Desire for inner peace, security, and novelty.

2.  Desire for material wealth.

See they both are necessary, we want things to help us towards a good livelihood, meaning one that causes inner peace, security, and novelty.  However, the second desire must be supplied before we can get to the first desire.  The reason for this is because we can hardly be happy or at peace if we are starving to death, or being eaten by bears.  We need the bear minimum, clothes, food, water, and shelter.  Everything else is just extra, and the extra can make many woes if you let it.  Why?  Because we become attached to it and assume that if we loose any of it, then we loose our livelihood.  This is what Buddha meant when he said, "He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes."  Here you might want to replace the words people and "no one" with the word things and/or the word love to the phrase, "has attachment to."

However, there is a reason this is a problem.  We get deceived while trying to put too much energy in securing a material world.  We start to think that the more we have, the more peace and security we have.  Why?  Because we make a mistake when we believe that the very process in securing wealth is what makes happiness (meaning peace and security).  This is false, however securing material goods is what allows us to live a life of freedom of spirit.  See the difference?  Gaining material things will allow us a platform to exercise our spiritual selves on, however it will not make us happy.  We have to do this for ourselves through spiritual and novelty venture.

Now, we can deceive ourselves for a little while.  We might say, we are happy when we do drugs, watch TV, or go to the club.  But the lack of spiritual fulfillment will catch up to us because underneath the distraction, there is still the fear that results as a lack of that bear necessity for peace and security.

Now, people will fight to no ends to secure more and more stuff because they believe that it will make them happy.  The irony is that all they need are the essentials, any excess stuff is just more to worry about.  Clinging to this stuff is what causes suffering more than anything else.  Not to mention the wars we go to, to secure this stuff.

Finally, what sounds smart when trying to secure the needs for one of these forces, is not smart when trying to secure the other one.  This is why Lao Tsu often talks about people's tendency to see the ignorant as smart, the wicked as righteous, the knowledgeable as wise, etc...

Consider:

We always say that saving money is the "right" thing to do in American society, we rarely ever question this, because we equate becoming more wealthy to a good livelihood.  So, we come up with a plan.  To save money, we stop giving to charities, we become stingy about where we put our money, we invest billions on fighting criminals and drugs, never invest in art or things that are materialistically meaningless like "Chicken Soup For the Soul" type books.

For a person considering the spiritual life, this would only be smart up to an extent.  He sees that by saving money, we might be able to get more with it but we only cause ourselves more worry when it is inevitably going to be taken from us.  The destitute might pursue crime to gain our riches, which in turn just brings about more worry, something that could perhaps be avoided if we were generous with our wealth in the first place?  People will become more desperate for drugs to escape a crazy world.  This is partially why giving up material wealth is a near Universal spiritual practice.  They realize that the only way you can enrich a society is to be generous.  This more than anything else is why I practice giving to the poor and being "nice" not because I expect something in return but because it makes my society, an extension of me, stronger.  If we don't share our wealth, then we can never further receive.  This is the Universal law of giving and receiving (or if you must replace the word "receiving" with "taking").

See, if in trying to gain security, we elect a president who "saves" money, rather than spending it on good and valuable services, or even worse one that actually spends money, but mostly on things like war in a misguided attempt to get more peace and security (getting more stuff).  Then all we are doing is accumulating riches and getting nothing for it.  We then might go on to boast that we are the riches people in the world to boost our Ego, but then we realize that we are unhappy beyond belief.  I mean compare us to some of the poorer countries like Mexico.  They generally don't use many anti-depressants or anxiolytic drugs, but I remember a good friend of mine went on a trip to Mexico to build a house for a unprivileged family.  They were so happy and thankful just to get a nice small shelter from a community.  If it were America the same family might be complaining that they did not get a bathroom and then sue for mental damages.  Be grateful for what you do have, the rest will come with intention.

So what I mean is, aim for love and peace.  Get what you feel you need, but then don't worry about it.  Live in love and peace.

Sage Dog Clad in White

Ok I know that it is long overdue for a blog update, but I have been real busy.

I left the 4th of June on to what is soon to be a month long, 31 day, stay in Pacific Grove, California.  Before I left, my Tibetan Buddhist dog named MacDougal (apt name because he is from Scotland like 1/4 of my genes) told me a few things.  First off, he is the cutest white dog you ever did see, that I can assure you.  He is a good boy, he gives love, he doesn't voice loud mouth, angry opinions, he does only what is appropriate for the situation at hand, and like a traditional buddhist monk, he begs for his food.  He is a true love giver, he is never in a bad mood.

I have learned tons from this selfless creature.  But, be cruel to one innocent sentient being, then you do a crime to your spirit.  Once upon a time when worldly passions reigned free through my soul, like a poison that never left me, and thoughts consumed me (you know that devil, fear begotten greed and passion).  Whenever I cried my dog cried with me, whenever I got angry and stormed madly, he got afraid and hid.  I am extremely glad that I have gotten rid of my moods at the most profound level.  I have removed their very root.  I've always loved my dog more than anything in this world, what was unspeakably painful to me was seeing him suffer for my unconsciousness, something I felt I could not control.

Before I left, one day, he propped his head up sagely with his white fur hanging like the beard of a wise man, he told me:

"There is a sickness in your soul fed by a mad world.  Its only cure is an answer, to that one question.  This answer you must find for yourself, by yourself.  This is why you must Sojourn."

The question he meant of course is that question that cannot be put into words, but Neo from The Matrix stated perhaps its best interpretation, "What is the Matrix?"

He continued, "Stag, my son, understand that there are all sorts of people out there, many are perfectly friendly and pose no issues (this fact I have understood only recently).  But there is much pain and suffering out there as people spin gold out of hate, goods out of sweat and tears, oil out of American lives, and, most painful of all, evil from our souls.  This pain causes people to be greedy, snide, and ignorant.  Always remember that you are loved here at home.  Now, venture forth."  He left me with a message that he had dug up from the yard, it was a message from the Earth.

Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money. - Cree Indian Saying

This is my dog presenting me with an honorary gift of Manhood:

On the rubber ball was written my mission: "To see clearly with eyes unclouded by fear." (Roughly analogous to Ashitaka's mission in one of my favorite movies of all time, Princess Mononoke, which was "to see with eyes unclouded by hate."

Going on this mission, I have delayed my Cross-Country training substantially, however it is nothing that cannot be made up, especially while I am down there.  I also said no to some quite promising jobs, but I don't give an Orc's love interest, about any boring job.  Plus I mean I have enough money, and jobs come and go anyway, and now is a time for my soul to gravitate towards love.

So I set out in my car, named Yakul after Ashitaka's loyal elk.

Taken from The Portable LIFE 101 by John-Roger and Peter McWilliams:

"Who are you?"

"Nobody can be exactly like me.  Sometimes even I have trouble doing it." - Tallulah Bankhead

Life in Love: A Stag's Sanctuary

Life in Love: A Stag's Sanctuary:

This day I am lost.  Lost in a paved parking lot that stretches out mercilessly as far as the eye can see.  The moon above shows wisdom that is so subtle yet so True, refining a bombardment of sunlight to a gentle sheen.  Having only a loving message of 1 Truth, minus the one thousand lies of a hectic life, Maya.  Confused and distressed, wishing desperately for the false sense of security promised to me by the sun, I came to a high black fence enclosing, perhaps 500 feet by 300 feet of thick old growth forest was within.  All this amid a paved parking lot unfolding continuously in all direction as far as the eye can see.

  Within this enclosure a deer, a wise and keen stag, drinks from a river amid a luscious green forest.  Being of divine source, the river appears to feed from a cosmic void.  It flows to the edge of the enclosure, to the fence, there by it morphs into yet more pavement like magma morphs into rock.  I was in a hurry and did not see the stag's sanctuary.  With eyes filled with deep love and compassion, like jade, the stag rose his head to call out to me in the night.  I looked towards him, everything within the enclosure seems to glow from a light whose only source is from within the very substance of the sanctum.  The moss, the grass, the river, and even the stag glow brightly and iridescently.  I walk to the fence, a mighty fence with no gate, stretching 108 feet in altitude.

 Coming up against the gate, he composes himself with his full stature, in natural pose his antlers top him off at 27 feet.  He says to me, "Be like a jasmine flower in a river always flowing with the current but never against.  Striving backwards, towards the formless, to create from anew is impossible and it only generates fear and suffering, the source of all negativity.  It is our plight in our time allotted to be but a humble part of the rivers evolution towards Truth, to think otherwise is to deceive ourselves."  He smiled in a way that only a creature of true purity can smile, a smile without form.  He continued, "Now, my son you are in a dream, awaken from this dream and I ask only that you tell people of my story, you can do this through speech, but your actions are far more powerful.  In a field of sunflowers be the Lotus whom never yields to illusion, in daytime it blossoms effortlessly and at nighttime it surrenders life just as easily.  I give you my power and guidance."