Meditation Versus Prayer

I am beginning to realize the greatest spiritual practice is mediation. If prayer is sort of talking to God, I would characterize meditation as listening to God. Calming the restless chatter of your mind is key to tuning into the bigger picture of who/what we are, and escaping the selfish demands of the Ego.

A friend of mine asked me to pray for her. And while I am inclined to oblige her, I tend to question its true usefulness. I do think prayer can be powerful because I put in the same category as "think good thoughts." It puts out a good vibration. But I shy away from the idea of God as some sort of magic genie there to respond to transitory requests of favor. I think perhaps the most appropriate prayer is not for external events, but for inner peace, wisdom and understanding.

I might add, though, in the interest of full disclosure, that I am apt to ask this friend to pray for me. I guess because this makes her feel that she is helping out, and doing what she believes is the appropriate response in the situation.

But still, as Jim Morrison says in the intro the Soft Parade, "You cannot petition the Lord with Prayer." To me this means, that the divine is not some sort of magic genie ballot counter, as if prayers were votes or signatures on a petition drive.

Your comments?

Movie Madness

Well, we can see that the box office is in a slump. I think that is just fine. In fact it is quite a come uppance for this industry, which has exploited movie goers for years. Who among us is not tired of being gouged at the snack counter with $2 cokes, $3 popcorn, and $5 hot dogs? $7-$10 the price of admission?

In the age of Clarkanomics (Yes I'm a big Clark Howard Fan) doesn't it make more sense to give a new film a few months to go to video and then it rent it. You do the math. A movie costs how much per person in the theater? Contrast that with what you will pay to rent it multiplied by however many people want to see it. Store bought popcorn, sodas and snacks, even full blown meals!

Yes, this is welcome news indeed!

Elbop's Quail Mandala

Me and The Gang

Ten Days Later ...

Well, it's a good thing I'm not getting too many hits, because as you can see not much is happening here. It's hard to find the time to do this right. Still, I am resolved to make this a good blog and a launching pad for something really cool.

Focus on the WRITING!!!!

I've got stories to tell and things to write. Check back soon and check back often.

Meditation

Really, there is no comparison to mediation, and no more important practice. It all comes down to that. Because you really must have these insights yourself, and not get them second hand from the neighborhood church, mosque, temple or 12 step group. It cannot be taught very well, and when it's tried, it tends to fail and produce all sorts of baggage.

Work in progress

The Problem of Evil.

Life is evil. It is evil to live. The very nature of being alive is in fact evil. Our selves, animals, plants, beings, all competing and working within boundaries to feed off the other, either for each other or against each other. But make no mistake. There is a food chain. There is pleasure and pain. Winners and losers. The eater and the eaten.

Ever wipe out an ant hill. Squashed a bug? Guess what? You’re evil. You’re Hitler to a a bunch of ants. You gassed whole populations to death in your apt. Somehow because we have all these senses and we’re self aware, we are special; better than all the rest. And that is the argument
for moral relativism. There is always moral relativism.

That’s how you understand a killer. Just imagine your own sense of detachment towards killing a bug. I don’t understand killing. I couldn’t ever. Kill a person. Never. But I can eat a steak. Step on a spider. No problem.

I find myself thinking that all religion looks really stupid in many ways: it’s like its
My fairy tale versus your fairy tale mentality. I mean do you Christians really think you’ll walk through the clouds to shake the hands of a bearded, glowing-man with a magnificent robed Old Man father by his side. Do Muslims really expect umpteen virgins? So, is that heaven then? Pussy.

And I know that’s what the Middle East needs. A little lighter on the religion. What they need is love. They have their religion. There’s something about the state of a man in that religion. Makes him prone to a life of desperation. Of being in need of a woman’s touch, an open touch. Their physical nature is buried under cloak and veils. The flesh is imprisoned. Is shameful. They come home to their empty homes. No electricity. Little food. All they have is their religion; their hope.

We are successful in the West not because of Chistianity so much, but because of freedom. Because we our free to satisfy our needs; therefore really, we are less belligerent. Capitalism, free enteprise and freedom of speech. Less sublimating our frustrations into Jihad. There’s an old expression: be nice to your lizard i.e. be nice to your nature, your animal needs, but with a measure of self-control.

I think this repression of sexuality, which I believe Wilhelm Reich wrote about in a box I once read called The Murder of Christ , is symptomized in everything from the Catholic Church Priest Sex Scandal, to the brutality of the Islamic Jihadist.

Two kinds of evil?

Are there not two kinds of evil in the world? There is the evil of desire; of wanting things: love, sex, good fine food, luxury, drugs, ego trips, power. A wickedness characterized by wanton disregard for how your consumption and power trips affect others.

And there is hatred. Pure hatred. Hatred of self and hatred of others. Fear. Spiritual pride.
Obedience, but a bitter obedience; a fearful one.

I happen to believe that God will look different than anyone really realizes. It’s like hearing about a person you've never met and you’ve constructed this mental image of him or her in your mind, and when you finally meet them, while you feel like you still know them, you’re very surprised by what you've discovered. It’s like we’re all walking on this road, towards God, and none of us have ever been there before. Every now and then, someone shouts, I’ve been there; I’ve gone ahead and had a vision of what we’ll encounter when we get there.

But really it will all just depend upon your angle. And since every single one of has a unique perspective of God, our own, that by its very nature, by its very definition, is unique to us, to you and me and you alone. So don’t be surprised if you’re idea of God is different from your neighbor. Just remember: he has a different perspective of you. To some God is Jesus, or a White Light, or the Force, or Buddha, or the Tao, or Allah. Or then there are some who say God doesn’t exist … well that’s their perspective. Maybe there’s a bush in their way. Maybe, they are right. It is said with utmost humility.

Sometimes I think there is No God, and this is THE God. A seeming contradiction, but then its based upon the void I experience when the world and it’s concerns and pressing issues and needs fall away, and there is this fullness, that isn’t preoccupied with anything, but content and one, and not in conflict with it’s environment or itself. It’s like I’m invisible, but higher than a kite.

Meditation. Good mediation brings it on. Sometimes I’ll wake from a dream and I’m there before the World sets in. Infinite joy. Wisdom. Bliss. Unity with God that is love.

And that love is like a void because it is not material; it’s spiritual. It’s a spiritual fullness that seems empty only because it’s not corporeal. And so that is the natural progression of things.
Back in the old days, the pagans and indians saw spirits in the animals and trees, or the early Greeks with their panthenon of gods. And then came the monotheists, and it wasn't many Gods,
but One God. And after that: no God? 3, 2, 1, 0

You realize that all the world is sending you all sorts of images and you’re like this bio chemical bio- automaton person with electrical currents, waves, processes, fluids, systems all working to produce a sense of self. But then you realize you’re sheer awareness that is feed all this information. That’s all you are: Awareness. The awareness of awareness and when you’re not bombarded with the world, then you just are the awareness with the illusion of a life, linear time, history.

You realize how amazing really this all is, that we happen to be here, alive on this planet. Your life; your experience is a unique one of a kind historical event. There will never be another one like you!

The Duchess's Birthday

June 7th, like December 15th, is a day I'll always remember and note because it is my mother's birthday. My mother, Marilyn Rossi, the duchess of P.S. Kiss The Duchess For Me fame, died December 15th, 2001 after a long battle with cancer. I think the Duchess would be delighted to know her first grandson -- Jerry Anthony Rossi-- is featured in the Van Zant video Help Somebody, now ranked number 16 on the Country Music Television channel. You can see the video at vanzantmusic.com or at launch.com. Jerry is one of the two little boys representing the Van Zant brothers as boys playing with their grandparents.

The Twelve Pathways

1. I am freeing myself from security, sensation, and power addictions which make me try to forcefully control situations, thus destroying my serenity and keeps me from loving myself as well as others.

2. I am discovering how my consciousness dominating addictions create my illusory version of the changing world of people and situations around me.

3. I welcome the opportunity, even if painful, that my minute-to-minute experience offers me in order to become aware of the addictions I must reprogram in order to liberate myself from robot-like emotional patterns.

4. I always remember I have everything I need to enjoy my here and now, unless I am letting my consciousness be dominated by demands & expectations based on the dead past or imagined future.

5. I take full responsibility for everything I experience here and now for it is my own programming that creates my own actions and influences the reactions of people around me.

6. I accept myself completely here and now and consciously experience everything I think, feel, do, and say as a necessary part of my growth into higher consciousness.

7. I open myself genuinely to all people by being willing to communicate my deepest feelings since hiding in any degree keeps me stuck in the illusion of separateness from other people.

8. I feel w/ loving compassion the problems of other people w/out emotionally getting caught up in their predicaments which are offering messages which they need for growth.

9. I act freely when tuned-in, calm, centered, and loving, however if possible, avoid acting if emotionally upset and thus depriving myself of the wisdom that flows from love & expanded consciousness.

10. I am continually calming the restless scanning of my rational mind in order to perceive the finer energies which enable me to unitively merge with everything around me.

11. I am constantly aware of which of the seven centers of consciousness I am using and feel my peace, love, energy and effectiveness grow as I open all my centers of consciousness.

12. I am perceiving everyone including myself as an awakening being here to claim his or her birthright to higher consciousness planes of unconditional love & oneness.

Moving Right Along ...

Undergoing for the most part, a remarkable transformation. Feel positively focused on creating here in this blogspace and on my site. I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Byron, who kept much of my old site, including my novel and Duchess, when I gave up my own domain years ago.

Amazed that my CD is still there out. And available for download in places I can't even imagine. I haven't heard from Orchard in years. Haven't received any money in a long time. *Shrugs* It's Saturday. Not much work today, so I concentrated on this web site, and my site. And so moving right along ....

UPS Special OPS

Really, I'd like to pour myself into this blog, but hell there just isn't enough time. As long as I'm special operations for UPS--an endeavor that brings in good money, writing just isn't worth it.

Still, I'd like to get back into writing. Among my big projects still pending:

• Self publish P.S. Kiss The Duchess For Me
• Self publish Double Down
• reignite my career as a free lance writer
• film my own reality show via digital cam corder called "Austin Courier."
  
  

Really, I am enjoying the courier work. I say UPS Special Ops, because in the realm of what UPS does most--delivering packages--the sonic air shipments I deliver are the most expensive and the most time sensitive. Still this blogging could be fun. In the future I plan to comment more on UPS Sonic Air, current issues, life, love, God, Iraq, and the like, so stay tuned.