Changing Times

The Times are:

Oh soothsayers and madmen are happy as can be in these times. As we live in a time where it's all coming back around to …

OK drop all thoughts, predictions, 2012, doom, rapture etc for a moment please.

We are in a period of change, and all the past patterns help us get ready for possibilities. So we can learn from predictions, we can learn from patterns in history.

However, in a time of chaos: anything is possible. Put predictions to the side and instead work towards what you would wish to happen. The predictions are used to help caution our own action, but we still must be bold enough to put faith into our own actions: otherwise you just give your time and energy helping make other peoples predictions possible.

Yes we are repeating history again in many ways right now. However, that doesn't mean it will repeat in the same manner.

Don't define yourself to what was. The truth is we must make the times our own. Otherwise we are just reliving history. What good does that do: its been done before… So be brave and make it your own time

In the Now

I teach people how to live and work through midlife crisis. However, we are all living in a time of crisis on the world stage. The lessons I teach in Midlife change apply equally well here:

Crisis just means: that it's a time where "forced" change has occurred. We can live it as a crisis now... and have our own actions forced by events...

OR

We can turn all that around... Accept change is happening: and choose our own change. Live as you want and not as one is shown. It then becomes an opportunity to become more. :)

These are the best times of all to be alive... since the events now actually empower us to live to our own change.

I wish everyone peace within their own change. This is just a friendly reminder not for you to give up upon your own change in these times of change...

peace

Skeptics and Taoism

I love skeptics.

Deep inside their very core they are very spiritual.

Why do I say this? Because, they move to seeking truth... Anyone who seeks truth within their core is a spiritual person, since it's part of the spiritual path.

Of course this puts many skeptics at a position of angst since many skeptics are busily tearing down various spiritual practices in order to discover truth. So on the outside it would appear they are not spiritual in this practice.

When I teach Taoism. I divide it into three areas to make it easier for people.

The second area I teach is: awareness. Awareness is when a person is also seeking of truth. Defining the world to both inner and outer truths.

The skeptic has issues, since, often times they are trying to find absolute outer truth... when in fact truth from human perspective is inner truth... To have outer truth, is to let go into the Tao... Something a skeptic would be unwilling to release into as it means accepting to no final definition.

The only absolute truth is no truth: the undefined, in this spiral of searching:

The Tao is the only absolute truth.

As a result: It's a long path for the skeptic as they work to resolve the differences between inner and outer truth. However, in the end all skeptics as pure Taoists also. In the end they are embracing the un-defined as their truth for the ultimate definition. That's the Tao.

Since Taoism is all about the path, the skeptic's path is also very welcomed in Taoism and I come full circle.

I love skeptics :) they make my life as a Taoist Teacher a joy, as they ask and prod in ever circling questions... It's their Quest. Most people should be so lucky to have something to fulfill their life in the search of their own harmony.

Peace

Stardust

My poem from yesterdays post. I couldn't help but play in the stardust. This is the third draft.


Stardust
-------------------------------------
From stardust and back into stardust
Shifting in dreams and form

From birth to grave
Humanity: Yearning towards the light
Revealing prismatic glory

Kaleidoscopic

Human nature

ever changing ,
ever shifting
in spirit,
in shape

Defining itself by

Peering to the stars
Into heaven
desperately charting boundaries of life.
Yet when stretching the drum thin
we find instead
a heartbeat of Harmony and Rhythm

To look outward: is to look inward

Fueling transformation
Centering upon acceptance
Kindling into enlightenment

This is our music
as the seeker pulls it together

By beating upon and playing with... their own heart.

Back into stardust and from stardust
our supernova song
--------------------------------
6/26/2008


So dances my poetry tonight

peace

Comfort and Shape

(Please note: I have been polishing and refining this entry over a series of several days due to its complicated nature.)

What do you desire in life?

For the majority of people: the answer given (not in words, but by action) is comfort.

Comfort...

Unfortunately, because of this fact, comfort is used to create psychological prisons in the United States to control people.

As example:
Zoo's use this tactic on some types of animals: They create psychological cages where the animal cannot see where they can leap (most animals will not jump to the unknown). Then they make sure the animal is very comfortable in its zone, so it has no need to jump to the unknown. It's a very effective cage that requires no physical bars. It doesn't take much to see how similar tactics are used upon the population in the United States.

Psychological cages and chains are the highly refine tools that preachers, politicians, CEO's and dictators now use, along with fear as the whip to use when a person strays too far from a comfort zone.

This is why fear is such an effective tool to control people: it causes discomfort. It literally tears apart the person's very shape when they are defined to their comforts.

However, make no mistake: you don't need to run a government to be a dictator, nor a pulpit to be a preacher. I know many parents and spouses who do a good job at ruling with morality and iron fists. Then manipulating comfort levels about to force one's will about.

As a Taoist, I pay attention to this because:

Comfort actually shapes people and it's used as a tool to shape others.

I bounce into this issue in my line of work since I teach people how to transform.

Transformation is usually not a comfortable event, in fact it's often painful and a messy business. However, I have found a balance in how to make the transformation process more powerful and focused. Part of my teachings turn around perceptions of transformation, making it more "comfortable" to work through. I also show how transformation doesn't have to be a leap into the unknown. It's surprising how simple shifts in perception make a huge difference in helping a person accept change.

It makes sense, since Taoism is all about transformation, as a result I have the benefit of a huge set of history, practices, tools and experience to aid others in transformation.

What do I desire?

In reality I desire nothing,

I don't even desire to be. Comfort is a non-issue and instead: I simply am.

I explore life at a personal pace. I enjoy that, so I live that. Practicing Taoism, transformation, shape-shifting and evolving along in these processes as I meander.

For example: I was healing a few people last night.

They considered me as a healer because of these actions. I don't consider myself as healer, but I do heal others. I make this distinction, since, I help others along the way, not to be a healer, but because it's weaved into part of my nature. In the process of change, our own transformation actually ripples out to help shift others into a better state of being. More pertinent to this post: Healing provides comfort and it's a tool to help others relax into a shape of being they desire to be within.

People assume, we must heal the world, that we must embrace enlightenment to fulfill the universe with peace... To flood the world in a rapture of belief and bliss... To make and fulfill into a "comfortable" happy heaven for us to meld into. In effect take the shape of an outside comfort rather than accepting and freely exploring the variations of our own form.

This is the Hollywood version to the tale of enlightenment.

Others make a mistake thinking that they should heal others, to be an active healer. Many healers do this so they can heal themselves in reflection of the process. Hence the saying: Healer, heal thyself first... The healer is actually personally reshaping to outside action and others, instead of exploring their own form. It's a path, but not my path.

A larger truth, is in the way (the Tao), helping some and pulling away to leave others alone... In it all to be and move as oneself, to tumble within the tides of transformation... Leaving the process undefined, without the comfort of "knowing". All of this simply because change represents a person's full nature...

It is who I am... The shape of my being.

I wish you happiness in your shape.

Even if it happens to be in a form fitting Barcalounger couch...


So the real point in all of this long winded post:

Life is transformation.

Comfort represents a shape out of the many we can fulfill in this transformation.

Every human is a shapeshifter
from birth to grave,
ever changing
in spirit and form

From stardust and back into stardust
as we shift in dreams and form

What shape do you desire your own transformation to take?

Do you take a pre-defined shape within comfort

or

Do you let go into the undefined: To taste the potential of possibility?

I mention all this, because there is no "right" path. Instead this is the path of exploring our very potential of what to become. People desire comfort: but how many people understand what comfort ends up being? That it's actually defining their form. That's pretty powerful stuff.

peace

Working with Karma and Kindness

I am currently helping a friend work through some Karmic relationship issues.

Much of my work revolves around kindness. This means teaching people various aspects of how to be both kind to themselves and the larger world around them.

Interestingly, when dealing with Karmic issues, much of that also focuses on kindness: especially when we are talking about karmic relationship issues.

When you bounce into a person you feel a Karmic connection to: often times people fall into the trap thinking that it should be a deep, romantic relationship that transcends time.

While a Karmic relationship transcends time: it also usually shouldn't end up in a romantic relationship: instead the connection more times than not: means working with each other in kindness, to help each other resolve problems and work towards a more peaceful acceptance of life itself.

Karmic relationships are so powerful, that as a relationship people assume that it should follow a traditional romantic path. You feel an attraction and the attraction is so powerful that it can easily be mistaken for romantic relationship.

Any relationship that becomes Karmic means a deeper lesson exists to be learned between two people. That in order to learn this lesson, kindness is required to help each person work towards resolution of answers. Unkind actions just push the lesson out to go further down the Karmic chain of resolution. Kinder actions help work towards acceptance and understanding.

I will get into this more in future posts, but first I want you to ponder your past and current relationships and consider if you have ever encountered a Karmic level relationship and what it meant to you.

Of course I would love to hear from you and your own experiences in this also.

peace

To be a Seer

Is learning to let go of knowing.

Simply embracing in acceptance of what might be...

We think knowledge defines what can be. It doesn't. It merely focuses how a person defines their world.

As a result knowledge also limits and restricts how a person embraces the world to be.

Powerful yes, but very limiting also in how that knowledge gets focused...

peace

Patience Part II

The last post illustrates a point about patience.

People want answers NOW.

Patience in Taoism is embracing the "empty" space fully.

That is something that requires a life time. Yet pain, problems and pressing concerns from the outside : force the issue of patience.

I teach patience, with kindness. I know that while much of what I teach in Taoism takes 10, 20, 30 even more years to master, that most people don't have the patience to let go in that style of exploration.

So I mix the Taoist teachings in layers so that, its possible to begin learning, have some smaller key advancements early to support the longer term process of inner transformation.

It's not about curing all ones problems at once: to do so would create a vacuum in one's inner space, a vacuum which people would tend rush ahead unconsciously to re-fill with new problems.

To have a miracle cure, to have one magical solution, to take away all the pain and edges of life: in a flash would mean not living to your life truly or fully.

It's very easy in our culture to medicate, or to follow others in such a way: to "televise" one's life away. That's a choice

All Taoists live on the mountain, and that mountain is your life.

The real question is:

• Are you trapped in fast answers and eternally re-living the same mistakes in a style as Sisyphus?
  

OR

• Do you have the patience to explore life to live and fulfill it with your exploration in wonder?

From this point its possible to take the conversation in many many interesting ways... The point is to take it where you find your own wonder,

To have the patience to fulfill one's life.

peace

Patience

How to Play

I teach people how to play. This is very strange from a Taoist perspective.

Since Play doesn't require "Form" in fact play is exploration of possibilities. If you pre-define play you reduce the potential of what might happen.

I was asked this morning: "How do I play?"

the Taoist answer is

you just play with what feels "right"

If it doesn't feel right, you stop and look and try something new

experiment : play never requires form: in fact play defines form later

For example: I played in martial arts over 25 years. But it took 20 years of playing: trying different styles before I found the style I consider to be my baseline.

That doesn't mean I spent a full 25 years just practicing. It meant every few years I would drop in and try a new style and when that style didn't feel right, I would drift again to wander. Eventually I wandered into what worked for me... Along the way I also discovered so much more with playing in the other styles: even if briefly in the fling of experience.

If I forced my Play to be only one style, one form: I never would have found the style of martial arts which fit my personality and needs.

To play is to be "Free"

Many people who cannot play cannot do so since they are "not" free.

Most people who ask me how to play, are those who are trying to learn: how to be free.

peace

Transformation and Play

One aspect of transformation which people ignore

Play is a critical part of any transformation

If you look at Taoist Master's for example, they are a very playful bunch, always experimenting and using play to explore life with.

I know too many people who can't play, or who stop playing because they are an "adult"

Wotever... seriously play is about testing and exploring possibility. When you are transforming, you are changing, becoming something new. If you don't play while in the middle of transformation.. then chances are you will revert back to what you already were... since you didn't take the time to play and work out new options of being.

I had a long wonderful conversation about play last night. Some people assume play is a light happy thing. Play also can have dark aspects to it. If you ever watch children play, sadly they can be quite cruel at times in their play. When exploring life, a person needs to explore various dark and light aspects of their being in order to be whole. Play can cross these boundaries and play can often touch safely the darker places compared to actually acting out the negative aspect of one's nature in real life. Think about how violent some sports can be in their "play". Perhaps this is one reason why Western culture has such a high crime rate: people are not given enough safe ways to explore life in play as adults.

This is not a post about how to play. Instead it's to point out some basic aspects about transformation and play: which people bury, repress or forget about.

The bigger problem is when a person gets older and yet gets caught in a crisis or transformation.... their adult shape and society: forces them to forget the most important aspects of life. The exploration of play to become more.

This might appear to be too simple, too basic... However, this is often the most critical part of life missing in a transformation and then later when a person lets loose... like buying that red sports car or performing an more extreme action... it gets channeled in ways which really aren't that helpful as far as truly exploring life within play.

peace

Transformation and Awareness

One trap of transformation is the following:

Humans desire form so much, that when in the middle of transformation, people fumble and grasp out to the nearest form that seems to fit. They then apply that form to be their new template for living.

In reality: transformation is freedom to re-shape yourself. It isn't required to use another form to overlay on top of yourself. It might be easier to do so, however, this carries the risk of shaping yourself into something you won't be happy with later.

So be careful when reading solutions to a life crisis, whatever it might be, since, it also has the potential to force you into changes you may not want or need to go through also.

In reality I would say the steps of Transformation as I teach it are

1. Acceptance
2. Awareness
3. Practices to explore one's nature
   
   
4. repeat 1-3 in several iterations (which equals patience)
   
   
5. Relaxation into self
6. You are now in a place where you worked most of the issues holding you back.
   
   Please note: Never try to solve all your problems at once, otherwise new problems will creep in to fill the void
7. Move ahead with yourself in wonder and enjoyment

However, this path I teach is very Taoist: most people will choose and have an easier time of just grabbing a form and running with that. Not many people are interested in taking the time to fully explore their life: that scares them.

I help people work through midlife crisis. This is a process of turning the crisis around and using that energy to become your potential: over some pre-define consumer fling event.

It's a choice everyone has.

Ultimately what I teach is to discovering your personal magic and
be able to freely shift into your nature over just experiencing a mid life crisis.

Awareness is very important for this process. without awareness people just grasp the closest pattern / form that fits their life and then move with that. Sadly for too many people this represents the various "flings" which in the end hurt more than heal.

peace

Awareness

Welcome

I notice quite a few new readers in the feeds of late so Hi.

Normally I would ask if there are questions or such, but years of public speaking and helping others have taught me only to ask the question as a formality. To let others know it's OK to speak up and ask what is on their mind.

---

I write this blog as part of my routine to be aware. It's a mental Qi-Gong practice really.

Much of advance Taoist practice revolves around transformation. What this transformation means, ends up being different to each person.

Before a person can successfully explore transformation they need to:

(1) Reveal oneself in acceptance
(2) Relax in Awareness (balancing inner truth to outer truth)

What would you like to transform into?

Before making this wish

• First accept your current nature.
  
  This is part of the process of experience and fulfilling one's nature. If you cannot accept yourself now, means any transformation you experience will merely mirror your current form. This will happen to repeat the experience until you understand your current nature. Karma is Karma, everyone will loop and repeat their form and problems until accepting their nature.
  
  Acceptance is the hardest lesson to learn. Be patient learning acceptance is key to making the journey wondrous over being arduous.
  
• Then discover awareness:
  
  This opens up possibility, understand form and truth (to understand your inner truths and see the boundaries of the more universal outer truths )
  
  Without awareness, transformation occurs in a blind manner, with little control of final form.

Peace in your own exploration.

Patience

Patience is interesting.

Once figuring it out, one might think they have it down...

Until starting something new... only to discover oneself rushing again without it.

So what is the trick: how to grasp patience all the time?

I am sure many practices exist. Mine is to embrace time: as being now and eternal in no time.

In the now, time isn't an issue, so patience comes by default.

To a non-Taoist this won't make sense so lets change the words to explain it in another way:

It's only when connecting "now" to "future expectations/conditions" that lack of patience becomes an issue.

If a person can remove expectation: then they will also discover patience.

A person can just let go and be present in the now: That is patience.

Not wanting in the now, but being present in the now. Of course other ways to finding patience exists, this is just my path.

Just rambling as I explore a few new practices and discover that I wasn't being patient with myself. At which point I dropped the connection of future to now and it all sorted itself out immediately.

The hard part is awareness of one's state of being. It's all too easy to lose touch with oneself, if rushing into the future.

Peace

Monday

What does one say on Monday?

Yay? perhaps

Doesn't matter to me, up on this mountain today, blogging of all things, time, Monday or Friday really doesn't make a difference.

It's all Yay and hay and even in the end horse manure to boot.

If living in the moment, it's all connected and the same : It's how we live it that makes the difference between those supposed days of business yokes and lore.

peace

Tumbling

Time to move on again

to tumble is | to live

Even when too tired ,
and
at this moment I am bone tired.

It's no wonder why we shed our bones in Taoist practice.

Later

peace

Taos

We are now in Taos NM for the Summer.

Settling in and getting things set up at the moment.

Nothing interesting to report: just creaky and stretching out to the higher elevations. Just re-connecting to the land and sky and then back into my own self.

Who we are is more than our body, mind and spirit: A person fits into the community, into the land they reside in. For me it's as shedding skin when moving into a new place, feeling out everything, letting go of what I just was, to newly expand again by taking in and then joining into the chorus that we sing as life itself.

One thing about living at one place for too long , is forgetting to reach out to take in what might be new.

In the end, is it isn't an end or destination : it's about awareness and being part of the flow of where we are.

Wondering
If the rain feels the same way
after being picked up at the sea
Flying with the wind
Only to be slammed against the mountains
to begin running again to the sea?

I can feel the water here: it has memories of just being in the sky: it's cold and has the icy edge of having just been running in the sky still.

On to my own running now

peace

Exploring

You don't have to travel the world

to see the world.

It's always a choice,

when being out in the day and embracing it all.

:)

It is always all there and fully assessable if you are open to it. Funny how many ways this is taught, shown and revealed... And yet how many open up to the experience?

peace

Moving

Our entire house, home and life has just been packed up into 230 cubic feet (4' by 7' by 8'). Not bad. Even then that's just fluff realistically not even worth worrying over. It's too easy to confuse the stuff with your life. Thinking we are the shell of what we wear over who we are.

It goes into portable storage tomorrow, then we shift every few weeks to a new place.

Off to Taos, then to Saint Cloud then to Olympia then to...hopefully Hilo, but realistically who knows. It will be as it will flow to.

We are not doing this because we are letting go: we are doing just because it's time to move about. Don't force your life into thinking you should live like others or should reduce down just to be non-attached... That's the big mistake I see many people make. Dropping everything and then being sad, since they let go too soon.

Too often people live by example over than living to what is important to their expression. Trying on lifestyles to fix the problems in their life. This never works: lifestyle follows how you live, you don't follow a lifestyle, you flow with your life.

Right now Julie and I are flowing from place to place: not because we want to be wanderers, but simply because that just happens to be best for us in the now. Eventually this too will switch and will will find a spot to build a simple Taoist / Dance temple to share with others.

Live simply and it becomes much simpler to be yourself and enjoy your life. This doesn't mean to lose everything or to live as a wanderer: it just means to enjoy life and not get overburdened.

Many many lifestyles abound: just embrace yours lightly and discover yourself in that embrace.

Namaste