Religion v. Spirituality

Spirituality is inclusionary and unbound, religion is exclusionary and confined.

Most humans are drawn to religion in the earliest stages of their spiritual curiosity. Confrontations with confounding or confusing events and information usually provoke the awakening of what is called "divine discontent." Divine discontent is the nagging and persistent desire, or need, to seek answers to recurring questions to confounding areas of ignorance or confusion. The group energy and "proven" history of many religions is an easy and quick entry to access answers to many of the most common, generally confounding ontological questions. The politicized manipulations of religious organizations with their fear-based teachings and tactics, and even of religious dogma, however, can lead some people to question the motives of, and then, the information dispensed by their usually ancient texts. The content of these texts have quite often been adulterated and manipulated during the process of passing them down through generations and across language and cultural barriers. Thus the interpretations of various versions of source materials as provided by authoritarian and often-self-intersted religious leaders, pundits, and 'experts' can be suspect. Also, we humans are not forever blind to the hypocritical and duplicitous foibles and facades that people "with religion" try to hide; once an individual has discovered the flaws in religious group participation it is not difficult to find oneself noticing other fresh, new, or enticing ideas coming from people, groups, books, etc., outside of one's affiliated religious group. Once curiosity is awakened, it is only time before one finds new ideas, beliefs, values and ideologies that one feels drawn to, feels more comfortable with. Or their new ideas and beliefs make them feel less comfortable with their current friends, and organizations. So, they stop showing interest. They stop attending events. Eventually they stop attending altogether--often creating, consciously or unconsciously, new interests which keep them "busy" enough to give them excuses for disengaging from their former group.
    This phenomenon can be attributed to a molting, a cracking and peeling away of a layer of old thought and belief patterns, as curiosity--the Divine energy of the "divine discontent"--creates a demand for an increased flow of spiritual energy. The presence of this increase in spiritual energy causes a nudging reminder to the Ego/Personality of the True Reality, a reminder of the fact that the "reality" that the Ego/Personality attaches itself is just a cumulation of layers of illusions. This reminder, in turn, causes "cracks" within your current belief, value, and attention patterns. The bodymind begins to shed some of its old beliefs and mental constructs in order to make way for new ideas, expanded consciousness. It's like the adjustments that the Department of Transportation has to make in order to accommodate an increase in traffic in an area experiencing a growth in population: at the very least main roads will have to be widened and some new roads may have to be created. Old structures will have to be torn up to make way for greater demand in flow.
     Unfortunately, as religions become organized, they take specific forms. At first those forms are flexible and changeable as they adapt to changes in the world, changes in leadership, changes in the makeup of membership populations, changes in perspective, changes in the number of new and different ideas encountered. The religion assimilates and accommodates all of this new information, eventually choosing to include the ideas that seem to support and strengthen its form and shape--and which encourage its growth and perpetuation. But then it also chooses to reject many ideas--ideas that are judged weakening to or in conflict with its foundational beliefs and values. Eventually, the religion's forms and structures become so layered and so reinforced that they become less able to adjust to and accommodate change. They become recalcitrant and inflexible in thinking that they have been so tried and true, so well tested and established, that their structures and rules become self-defining and, they come to believe, of necessity, self-perpetuating. Unfortunately, this just means they've also become stiff and self-confining. To be a member of the religion, you have to either take it all on blind faith and try to live with the accumulation of guilt that comes from the lies you try to hide with the accrual of missteps and hiccups in your human behavior, or you leave and either wallow in your own self-pity and drown your sorrows of isolation and separation with addictive behaviors. Or you find another "fold," another religion or group.
     Independent thinking and behaviors create independent beings. At first this can be quite scary and worrying. Eventually we tend to attract the ideas, information, and experiences that will best support our growth and progress. We begin to meet books, and art and people and ideas that strengthen and reinforce our new path. New groups, new organizations, new traditions will cross our paths. We may allow ourselves to be drawn into new commitments to learn from immersion and head-on "harmony through conflict." Stop the car, get out, and walk into the store or bar. Or we may dabble in a wide variety of groups and ideas--play the field, so to speak--stay on the road of travel and adventure.
     Along the way we will invariably meet and feel attracted to follow people and ideas that feel "powerful" and teacher-like. This is quite natural. So we stop and study with them. For a while. Eventually, with continued growth and progress, with continued expansion of our access to Spiritual energy, we outgrow these relationships--they get used up. Some people get caught in patterns of loyalty to people or a cause or ida, or patterns of devotion to ritual, or logic and science. These are the people who then find it hard to let go, to 'risk' going outside their comfort zones. Their thought and behavior patterns become so ingrained, so familiar and comfortable that they've built their identity and self-definition upon them. This, again, is an indication of the strength of Fear that the Ego/Personality holds onto. Remember, the Ego/Personality is built, constructed, brick by brick over quite a long time. Starting with the culture of the family, the human bodymind is molded and shaped in ways that are very difficult to change as one attains self-awareness and the notion of self-control. The Ego/Personality is already quite strong by that point. Every change a person makes "bucking the traditions" it has been conditioned by takes tremendous will and effort. Society doesn't always help. Often the patterns and paradigms coming from "outside" us are the most restricting and reinforcing of our Ego constructs. Again, we Monadic Beings created quite a clever quagmire in which to try to achieve Self-awarenss, Self-realization, and Self-actualization. But create it we did. And we created it with an infinite number of ways--and every intention--of being able to figure out how to extricate ourselves from it.
     Thus, the Ego/Personality has trouble with change, with remodeling, and especially with starting new. It is most comfortable with its old familiar shapes and forms--even when faced with their flaws and their crumbling materials and structures. It is that Inner Voice, that constant hum of Spirit, that is crucial to taming and overcoming the Ego. Every day, every minute, we are bombarded with reminders of the Truth. The Modern Ego is constructed to block out and ignore those messages. It is the essential element of our foundational choice to participate in the Illusion of Separation--that core belief that allows us to feel as if we are alone, as if we are different, as if we are separate from others, separate from our Divine Source, and even separate from our power. The Ego has to be exposed to experiences that shake this core belief--experiences of unity, of comradery, of joy, beauty, truth and love, in order to show it the flaws in its thinking, the flaws in the Illusion of Separation. And, again, these experiences are bombarding us daily. It's just a matter of time before the proverbial "straw that breaks the camels back" hits us and causes a crack in the Ego's constructs.
     For some of us, the exposure to social, familial, educational, media information has been greater than for others. For these people, your Ego constructs will be stronger than someone who was exposed to less of the "civilized world's" indoctrinations. Thus, your Ego will be tougher to overcome. You will find yourself more in tendency to continually build upon your protective layers with stubborn or addictive habits which serve to further cloud and numb your bodymind to the inputs of Spirit. It is such an ingenious system that we have created! Again, though, I will remind you: We will all get There; we will all re-discover our True Selves; we will all experience ever higher, ever more inclusive, ever more Illusion-disabling forms of Beauty, Truth, Joy, and Love, until, finally, we will re-discover our God-ness and become re-united with all things; we will find release from the Game of the Illusions of Duality and Ignorance.
     Religion is but a stepping stone in that process. Spirit will take what it can get but I must caution you:  Spirit is infinitely more patient than religion . . . because Spirit has an Infinite Infinity with which to work!  

So Much Beauty!

Many times during this lifetime I, Drew Fisher, have been overwhelmed by my perceived awareness of the presence of so much Beauty around and within me. My typical autonomic reaction to this is the welling up of tears. I have succumbed to profuse and seemingly uncontrolable gushes of tears more times than I could possibly count. And this reaction has seemed to increase over time. And what's even more bizarre is that this has occurred many, many more times for the appreciation of Beauty than for sadness or sorrow. I guess I'm just a sucker for the amazing and surprising diversity that we've made available for this Earthly amusement park.
     I have also noticed that the instigators of these uncontrollable overwellings come more often from contact with our human art forms--though the wonders of Mother Nature rank a close second. I cry (often sob) during almost every film I watch, every ceremony I attend, every speech I hear. Many times I'll choke up and tear out while reading--or writing--books!
     Common triggers for my pathology seem to include my kinship with a flash of Beauty that I happen to catch in the World around me:  the the infinite variety of interactions that people have, the creative acts that come from within me. It is my belief that these events are actually examples of the occasion of my Higher Self catching a glimmer of its own True Nature in something or in the perception of something in or around me. The Joyful recognition of this reminder of my own True Nature is so profound, so different from the murky weightiness of wading through daily human life, so unEarthly and Beautiful that it overwhelms my simple, immature human nervous system. The fullness of Spiritual energy, Spiritual Love, Joy, Truth and Beauty is so much beyond the capacity of the nervous system of these current human hosts that we can usually only deal with glimpses, samples and small doses. These unexpected breakthroughs of Spiritual recognition are now quite familiar to me because they are so reminiscent of the tremendous flood of Joy and Love I experience when I engage with life beyond the Earth School in the Spirit World during my Life Between Life experiences and flashbacks. Experiencing the full Beauty and incredibly liberating lightness of the Spirit World is overwhelming when coming from the four-dimensional emotion-laden Earth School. These emotional overwellings I've been experiencing as the Drew Fisher human feel like they must be glimpses into the unbound Beauty, Joy, Love, and Truth of the Spirit World.
     There are many humans who have attached a value to these transcendent experiences to such a degree that they disciplined themselves to seek out and somehow learn to access this raw, unadulterated Spiritual energy. They may become seekers, students and/or devotees to methods and practices which purport to help provide humans with a means to "handling" or accessing more of this Spiritual energy or who have earned a reputation for doing so. These practices may take form within religions but are almost always found to be highly personal and situational. That is, each individual will be attracted to the next greatest tool for its use in the desired goal of reaching the next version of the greatest vision of the self that they are able to imagine. If that's what they desire most, that is where they will choose to focus their time and energy.
     Though ultimately the end will be the same for each and every one of us, the path to Spiritual awareness, Spiritual awakening, and restored use of Spiritual power will be different for every individual. Some may consciously choose to seek it. Many will "accidentally" stumble upon revelatory events and transcendent experiences. I have had strains of both in my life. As Drew Fisher there have been more synchronously revelatory events than I could enumerate, while I have consciously chosen several paths in the often unconscious effort to explore and develop my spiritual self. Achieving altered states of consciousness has been quite easy and natural to me. Whether dreaming, daydreaming, listening to music, driving or walking, or in meditation or under hypnosis, I seem to have no difficulty get out of and leaving behind my human senses and interactions with my surroundings.
     The Buddha is purported to have said that the enlightened being lives only in the constant Here and Now and that 'regular' people caught up in the illusions of space-time are always living in the past and the future. I believe that altered states of consciousness are examples of Mind escapes from the four-dimensional space time confines, visits to Here and Now 'places.'
     While I have been enamored and engaged with the alluring patterns, beliefs and values of the four-dimensional human experience as much as the next person, I have been blessed with enough "glimpses" through the windows of the Soul to know that there is more. Yes, I am very much a sucker for the amazing variety of combinations and permutations that Duality provides, but I have also come to recognize the illusory nature that participation in dualistic Creation involves.
     I know I keep saying that we humans are always in choice, that every moment of every day offers an infinite number of choices. But me and my human host body seem to be hard wired for exceptional sensitivity to Beauty. Truth, Joy, and Love as well, but Beauty more than the rest. (But then:  Aren't the Four actually one in the same? Don't we gush Joy at the recognition of the Truth of the fact that the Beauty we can see in all things is as a result of someone's expression of Love?) Beauty in Nature. Beauty in Nature's egalitarian treatment of all things. Beauty in my own species: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I have come to understand that the physical, emotional, and mental expressions that I recognize as beautiful are most often the result of the domineering presence of Truth and Love in a person's being. When the truest expression of Spirit, which is Love, is flowing strong, then Beauty is evident, is obvious, comes "shining through." And we who are privileged and open to seeing this Beauty, cannot help but gush with Joy--for this is a reminder of our own Divinity, a reflection of our True Essence.
     The recognition of Beauty, which is then converted into Joy, is a fuel for Life and living. The more Beauty we recognize, the more Joy we feel, the more in Love with Life and with others we become. The more in love with Life and others we become, the more engaged with living we become and, the more active and successful we find ourselves in achieving progress and growth for, as with all things in the World of Duality, the Law of Attraction dictates that what you give you will receive. If you are giving enthusiasm, Joy, Love, activity, movement through your bodymind then you will receive more of it, that is, you will continue to attract these things into your consciousness, you will continue to grow in your recognition of these things.
     Ever notice how "beautiful people" (and I intend this to mean more than just physical beauty) seem to find and hang out with each other? Beauty attracts beauty. Positivity attracts positivity. Paranoia attracts paranoia. Cruelty attracts cruelty. Et cetera, etc.
    I often find myself noticing the "Beauty" of ironic situations in which, for example, beautiful, strong, truthful people are "stuck" in relationship to things that present the very opposite traits as their own, like obstacles to their own free flow. I believe that they have somehow attracted these people, events, and obstacles into their world for the express purpose of testing themselves, of challenging their ability to stay on course, to grow, to remain detached from things that are opposite to where they intend to go. In the end, they are all trying to remember, to be reminded of, the fact that this is all a Game and with the Game comes its Illusions.
     I know that I, Drew Fisher, have remarked throughout my life how easy and effortless my road has seemed, how "charmed" and blessed my life has been. Part of this is, of course, attitudinal. I have achieved a certain perspective which allows me to see the "good" in people, situations, and even obstacles. I am able to see the advantages to my own growth and progress that virtually every and any "obstacle" offers me. They are just test items. I have multiple choices as to how to deal with these test items. If I get them "wrong" (even though I know that in the Grand Scheme of things there is no "right" or "wrong") I can rest assured that I will get the same test "item" again--in a slightly different form--and that I will have every chance I need to get it "right"--"right" here being the sequence of choices that yields the best growth opportunities for others with whom I have made Soul Contracts but also for me and Journeyman Paul in accordance with goals of The Soul Plan that Paul and his Spirit Community put together for this "Drew Fisher" adventure.  
     Believe it or not, all of this ties into the realization I have made that I love people! When I find myself among people I am very often overwhelmed with a welling up of emotion (and tears--of ecstasy)--over the amount of Love I feel pouring from my heart toward the people surrounding me. It's so difficult to explain. It's a combination of appreciation for the infinite varieties of Beauty, the deep felt intellectual connection with and/or emotional recognition of the unifying commonality--the Oneness--of all of us, and the profound Love I have for this Human experiment of which I am a (proud) co-creator and participant. Would that everyone else could see the Beauty and experience the unbound Joy that I have for Life, people, creativity, my experiences, and the infinity of surprises that this Earth School can provide.

Music

I am inspired to write this blog because of the recent death of Japanese "pseudoscientist," Masaro Emoto, author of a book that has been important to me entitled, Messages of Water. Messages of Water offers the results of Emoto's studies of the observable effects of thought, prayer, words and language, music, and other forms of energy on the crystalline structure of water molecules. Though his research and findings have been challenged and never corroborated by the scientific community, the power of thought, of intention, of placebo, is inarguable--even within the scientific community. To me, that is what Masaro Emoto's contribution to the world dialogue on cause and effect, disease and health, and mind over matter has been: the emotional content or intent of language and/or artistic expression has a very direct effect to the health and condition of the life and reality within its sphere of proximity. Also, his work helped to add to the "proof" that atoms and molecules are a part of the community of living, reacting things.
    Sound, especially in the organized form of music, can have extraordinary, powerful effects on humans . . . on all life forms. In Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird's The Secret Life of Plants, we witness the positive and deleterious effects music can have on the health and vibrancy of plants. Extrapolate this a bit and it makes sense that all life is equally affected by sound and music. It should go without saying that chaotic, aggravated, mean-spiritied, frenzied, frenetic, dissonant music can have the same effects on mood, health, and well-being. This should be intuitive truth. And yet such musics exist and even proliferate. Why? Why do humans feel drawn to create and/or expose themselves to distressing music? Because music can be used to express as well as to affect emotional states. Emotions that are hidden or repressed as well as those that are recognized and proud can be given vent through music. Expressing one's "shadow" elements through art can be therapeutic. The art form allows flow, diminishment, and processing of such sticky, weighty, congesting conditions as anxiety, pain, suffering and fear. This connection to internal states of health is the reason art and music can play such an important, even necessary, role in health and healing.
    Though our shadow elements are viable and valuable means to growth and process, I believe that the expression of Beauty, Joy and Love as Spirit knows it usually has a more uplifting, evolution-enhancing effect on its participants. Music especially has the ability to directly affect spirits. According to British composer and author Cyril Scott, many Theosophic writers, and Life-Between-Life hypnotherapist, Michael Newton, the "language" of music is most expressive of and similar to the underlying language and structure of the Spirit World. Scott extolled the virtues and effects classical music has on the human psyche. In fact, according to Scott, (who was writing in the 1930s), Handel's Messiah is the highest achievement of human expression and is, therefore, for humans, the most uplifting call to Spirit.
     Many tribal, cultural and religious traditions have used music to divert human individual and group consciousness from the Earthly physical. The Bible and mythological traditions claim that sound was the first creative force. (Remember all the quotes from Genesis describing God's steps of creation: "and God said . . .", and "In the beginning was the word and the word was the beginning" or something like that.) Individuals and groups experiencing music- and rhythm-induced altered or heightened states of consciousness seem to enjoy health benefits like stress reduction and improved immune function. It seems only fitting, then, that a musician or musical instrument can be attributed very powerful and even sacred status in many cultures. Many tribal musicians are given 'medicine man' status and the list of instruments that are sacred to many cultures is as long as that of any orchestra: drums of many names as well as many other percussives, lute, lyre, flute, voice, gong, horns, bowls, cymbals, etc., etc. Western musicians like Glen Velez, Carlos Nakai, Mickey Hart, Peter Gabriel, Coyote Oldham, Peter Kater, Jim Wilson and many others have tried to bring native healing musical traditions to light for our modern Industrialized public with the intention of encouraging not only awareness and appreciation but for health and healing.

     Alfred Tomatis and the Institutes that bear his name used a scientific approach for the exploration of the use of sound for therapy and healing. The Tomatis Institute is particularly noteworthy for being the first to recognize and extoll both the superior effects certain types of music and the human voice (especially the mother's) have on ameliorating human dysfunction, dis-ease, brain development, and in the treatment of things like trauma and stress management. They were among the first to study and outline the effects of classical music in comparison to those of rock and roll. Within classical music, The Tomatis Institute was able to discover the superior effects that Gregorian chants, Baroque music and the compositions of Mozart (especially his concertos) have over other classical musics. Also, they were able to bring to light the power of one's own voice in the healing process. Through a technique called "toning," they have documented improvement in many conditions and ailments from learning disabilities to nervous tissue damage--including brain injuries like stroke-damaged areas. Since the 1950s, Audio-Psycho-Phonology has been able to establish replicable treatment methods and protocols, called "Tomatis Method," which has allowed thousands of patients to experience varying degrees of healing from a broad spectrum of conditions. 

     In the effort to explore consciousness and expanded awareness (in preparation of "a Global Awakening for Humanity"), Robert Monroe and The Monroe Institute have experimented with sound and music in relationship to brainwave activity since the 1960s. They have experimented with and discovered various means intended to help induce varying states of consciousness. Like The Monroe Institute, places like The Listening Program with its Advanced Brain Technology and The Deep Listening Institute have been researching and creating sound and music recordings that target specific therapeutic effects, both physically and psychospiritually. The Learning Program in particular has posited its opinion that all musics are mere partial and inadequate efforts to replace the full spectrum sound that is naturally present in and from Nature.
     British rocker Brian Eno (Roxy Music, 801) began to explore the effects music can have on the human psyche in the early 1970s. It is largely from his "Ambient Music" albums and sound systems that the New Age Music phenomenon took wave. Originally intended to create stress-reducing relaxation effects, later, New Age artists like Deuter, Steve Halpern, Steve Roach, Alain Eskinazi, Dean Evenson, David Darling, Peter Kater, Andrew Weil, and the Gordon brothers, (to name a few), incorporated studies in brainwave technology to create and back their music compositions with therapeutic intentions.  
     Robert Gass, Jonathan Goldman and Olga Kharitidi and have spent their lives trying to educate the Western mind to the spiritually uplifting or spiritually accessing effects of trance-inducing musics like chant and repetitious group musics. They use both recorded and live music from Eastern or non-Western song traditions in group or individual settings to demonstrate the mind-altering effects music can have on the humans--and life in general.
    In the late 1980s Don Campbell caused quite an international stir with his The Mozart Effect books and tapes. Based primarily on the work of Alfred Tomatis, The Mozart Effect has had a dramatic effect on the way the public has come to use music during the brain development of children--both pre- and post-natally. Since then, music tapes targeting specific desired outcomes such as "relaxation," "creativity," and "concentration" have become ubiquitous in homes, schools and daycares, pediatric, pre- and peri-natal care facilities, as well as in the adult workplace.
    Many other research institutes, musicians, music therapists, musicologists, and ethnomusicologists have spent countless hours exploring the effects music has on the world and its millions of species. On an interesting side note, I found it interesting to read that whale musicologists claim that since about 1964 the song of humpback whales--and whale song in general--have lost the upbeat, "happy" feel it had previously had. Scientists theorize that this is due to significant increases in the ambient levels of white noise in the oceans since the mid-20th Century caused by the increases in human shipping traffic.

     My wife and I just watched a documentary film that makes an almost irrefutable case for the power of music. Alive Inside: The Story of Music and Memory shows how music is used to bring human beings affected with neurological disorders like Alzheimer's, dementia, multiple sclerosis, and even schizophrenia into states of full engagement, full memory recall, and full mental and even physical capacity. It is nothing short of miraculous to watch despondent, angry, disengaged or even catatonic humans come fully back to life (and Love) as a direct result of being stimulated by music. These broken down humans are quite suddenly and unexpectedly able to have conversations; they regain motor function where they have had little or none; they are able to retrieve and retell the stories of their lives--all due to the (re-)introduction of music into their world. It is truly miraculous to see how music not only bypasses the damaged neural networks of the brain, but seems to overcome and repair them--if only temporarily.
     This is, to me, yet one of many examples that illustrate the magical way that music bridges the physical and emotional tar pits of the human experience with the boundless, limitless Joy, Beauty and Love of our Source in the Spirit World. I think that music is a medium, a language, which quite naturally opens the flow of Spirit and Spiritual energy into the so-called physical and emotional human--through its neural network, which is, according to spiritual traditions, the interface point between Spirit Energy and the much denser four-dimensional matrix of human physiology.

     The current number of Alzheimer sufferers in USA numbers over 5 million. This number is expected to double over the next ten years as the population bubble of "Baby Boomers" continues moving into the ranks of the elderly. Music and music therapies could be critical for both quality and dignity of life during the end-stages of many of these lives.

Psychologist Michael Newton has been working with hypnotherapy as his primary treatment tool since the 1960s. Very traditional and conservative in his approach, it was almost by accident that Dr. Newton began to hear stories from his patients of life outside of or beyond the ones we know here on Earth. Fascinated, he opened himself and his practice up to more of this work. It was not long before he had accumulated thousands of hours of recordings from sessions in which his patients had revealed copious amounts of evidence of life outside and beyond the typical human Earth lifespan. Dr. Newton has since gone further to recognize and document the existence of an entire "world" in which Souls or Spirits thrive without contraction to the effects of physicality or time. This Spirit World, or "inter-life," is what he addresses in what he now calls his Life Between Life hypnotherapy sessions--as well as in his first two books, Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls.
     Within the thousands of hours of Life Between Life sessions Dr. Newton has stored on tape, there are many accounts which shed light on the place music plays in the Spirit World. It is revealed that music is very much constant in the Spirit World and that harmonic, melodic musics are key means to conveying messages and information between Spirit beings and among the Spirit World. It is also interesting to learn that music performance--particularly vocal music (usually choral) and dance--are very much enjoyed, practiced, and pursued in the Spirit World. Apparently, in the Spirit World music has a much broader spectrum, much more harmonic dimensionality, than it does here on Earth--and it is very much constantly present. Music can even be a primary pursuit of beings while in the Spirit World--both instrumental and vocal, solo, collaborative and choral. It is very much a source of great Joy in the Spirit World. I think it is intended to have that same effect in the Earth School World as well.

I don't think anyone here will argue the amazing effect music can have on the human spirit. What I have tried to do here is give the reader many resources with which to support your own personal beliefs and claims with regards to the uses and impact of music. Whether or not you choose to espouse my own personal belief that music can be a direct link to healing spiritual energy is of no import to me. I am merely trying to serve as a provider of information--information that is, of course, intended for you to test your own beliefs, understanding and comfort zones.
    You may wish to try a little experiment for yourself to demonstrate the effects of music. Try journalling your mental, emotional, and even spiritual states (and changes in these) as you listen to a wide variety of musical types. Try a piece by Mozart, Handel or Bach next to a piece by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky or Prokofiev; live jazz versus studio jazz; thrash metal, doom metal or punk rock versus Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra or Neil Diamond; angry rap versus smooth Soul/R & B like Nat King Cole, Marvin Gay, or Whitney Houston; Gregorian chant or church music versus opera (try Mozart, Verdi, or Puccini) or Broadway music; Gregorian chant or 18th century church music versus a piece by Jonathan Goldman, N. Carlos Nakai or Ravi Shankar; a piece of African drum music versus The Grateful Dead; Arlo Guthrie or Pete Seeger versus Hank Williams, Jr., Johnny Cash, or Waylon Jennings; a classical piece presented by solo instrument (e.g. piano, guitar or harp) versus a fully orchestrated piece; etc., etc. The combinations and permutations are endless.
     If given the chance, live music is always preferable to recorded music due to the fact that recorded music is but a fragmented sample of the full energetic and sound effect of live music. If recorded music is all that is available to you, try comparing analog, digital, and compressed MP3 versions (of the same songs, when possible). Also compare music listened over headphones to the experience of listening with various different speaker systems and even a variety of speaker arrangements. The point is to try to really pay attention to how the music affects you. Differently. Emotionally. Physically. Positively or negatively. And then make music an important element in your personal health care program. Use it as you would a shower, exercise, or meditation. Use music as you would a nutrient; like food and drink, music comes in all forms: junk food, comfort food, healthy food, and poison.
     Learn to use music as a central part of your life. You won't regret it.

Love Is The Answer

My wife and I went on a trip recently on which we really had no agenda other than to get away from the temptations of farm and house chores so that my wife could take it easy and better heal from her surgery. On that trip we seemed to encounter people . . . everywhere we went! And what's more these people were nice! Even the much-maligned South was full of people who, we discovered, were just like us! Every single person that we met, that we gave our full attention to, it turned out, was nice, lovely, friendly, accommodating, genuinely pleasant to be with. And that same pattern has followed me (and us) everywhere I've gone! I think what I've discovered is that people are nice! People seem to genuinely want to be liked, they want to be friendly, they want to be nice! I don't think that the whole "Fear thy neighbor for they might want your stuff" mantra that's drilled into us by the media 24/7 is true! They're lying to us! I think people genuinely want to be liked--they want to get along. To steal a quote from one of my favorite movies, I do, in fact, think that Love, actually, is all around.
     As our own species continues careening at breakneck speed on its path toward extinction, as the world as we know it comes to an end, the tendency will be for attitudes like regret, anger and fear to take over. And yet my message--in fact, the primary reason for me doing this blog posts--is to tell you that Love is the real answer--to everything, every question, every quandary and conundrum, every choice. Choosing Love in full consciousness is the most liberating and uplifting choice. Love is, after all, the true essence of our being, of our Spiritual Selves, of all of Creation. When we separate ourselves from our Spiritual power, from the flow of Love throughout our being, Fear arises. The more Spiritual flow we are able to establish while in our human bodyminds, the more we will find ourselves choosing Love and its pals, Beauty, Joy, and Truth for our perceptual context. Love is the essence of our Spiritual power.
     The problem comes, however, when you are confronted with your reality. Whether you like it (now) or not, somehow we have all made the choice to be here on Earth, occupying human bodyminds, during this 21st Century chaos. With this choice we knew we were diving about as deep into the Illusion of Separation as we could possibly go. With very purposeful planning, we have chosen to submit to the mind (and spirit-)numbing effects of Ignorance and Fear. We have fallen under the spell of the Illusion of Separation to such a degree that we're afraid of our neighbors, afraid to go outside, afraid of the dark, afraid of Nature, and we are especially afraid of death. We do almost nothing in public except for herding up for passive entertainment or seeking the quickest fix to feed our anxiety-numbing addictions.
     On the one hand, it is sad that in order for the powers-that-be to feel good they have to have we, the people, enslaved to their will and power. And they've done a pretty good job at achieving their ends! Whether we know it or not, it is very easy to prove the fact that we are enslaved to proscribed patterns--patterns of thinking, patterns of behavior, patterns of feeling. For example, we may be fortunate to discover that we are unconsciously guilty of having feelings and beliefs like "there isn't enough," or "I need this new thing," or "I wish I looked like that," or "I wish I could have (or be or do) that thing." We've allowed ourselves to fall into the pattern of thinking that we're somehow inadequate or insufficient if we don't have the latest and greatest thing or style or interest. Looking at this from a different perspective one can see that the "powers-that-be"--that is, our helpers in the co-creation of this extremely confining and murky tar pit of psychological overload--have served in the very important role of helping to provide the best conditions possible for we Spirits to move as far away from God, Our own Divine Nature, and our True Selves. But, I am here to remind you, you don't have to stay there. As a matter of fact, it is an expressed goal of Ours--all of ours--that we somehow figure out how to rediscover and re-awaken our True Selves, our Divine Nature, despite the dross and distraction of our four-dimensional clutter.

There is a phenomenon in Creation called the "self-fulfilling prophesy" or, as it is called in the famous book and film, The Secret, the "Law of Attraction." What this entails is if you think a thing then you create something--even if it's just the energy of that thought. That thought does not 'die.' In fact, it lives on forever. And the fascinating thing is, if you think it again, it starts to grow, to build upon itself, to accumulate more presence and power. Given enough power it will begin to make itself known, to influence the Field around it, to attract more "things" that will make it even more powerful, more likely to come true. The problem with this phenomenon is that it works for everything. Every thought you think--every thought that you birth into Creation--no matter if it's nice or destructive, self-affirming or self-deprecating, amusing or depressing--it all gathers energy, attracts things of like nature to it. So if your thoughts throughout the day are 45% positive, loving, nurturing, forgiving, joyful, and truthful, yet 55% of your thoughts are on the negative side, then, guess what? You're going to gradually attract more negativity to and around and within you. You get what you give (create).
     This is the reason affirmations are so helpful--and important--if they are worded correctly. A lot of people have great difficulty with wording their affirmations. A true "affirmation" will never use a subject other than your self and will never use a negative. Why? First, it's because saying an affirmation about another person or thing is errantly filled with arrogance thinking that you could possibly control another when in fact it is only your self that you can control and should seek to control, and, secondly, because a negative fills your sentence with doubt. You want your affirmation to be as strong and positive as it possibly can be and you want it to be directed to the only person who controls your destiny:  you.
    For example, which of the following three sentences do you think most likely to attract Self-improving information and experiences to you:
     "I hope I don't screw up again today."
     "I hope Michael is nicer today."
     "I am strong."
     The first sentence only asks for the possibility of not screwing up (by using the word "hope") as well as placing all of its energy in the phrase "screw up"--which, being a negative, self-destructive term, will only increase the attraction of negative, self-destructive "buddies" to it.
     The second sentence again only asks for a possibility--which is not assertive and confident enough to show your own power--while it gives all of the power to "Michael" and none to your self.
     The third sentence is perfect. It is simple. Basic. Straightforward. Unwavering. Wholly self-empowering, and gives you this power in the always present (remember:  there is only the present) here and now, not in some distant future or untouchable past. "I have..." and "My (self-describing noun of choice) is..." are also very effective ways to phrase affirmations for their greatest impact. Anything that has simplicity, clarity, and immediacy.
     You've heard the phrase, "You are what you eat." Well, I'm here to tell you that you are what you think. That is, you attract to your attention that which you give the most energy to. If you are fearful you attract more fear. If you are feeling isolated and alone then you will attract more isolation and aloneness. And can you guess why this relationship occurs? Because we are creators! We are the primary creators of our own reality, of our own experiences, of our own opportunities, of our own feelings and beliefs, of our own growth and development. Ultimately, no one else chooses that which you pay attention to. No one else chooses the places you choose to be. No one else chooses the people you choose to be with. No one else chooses the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and patterns you have. In the end (and at all times) your thoughts, feelings, beliefs and patterns are all a product of your choice-making. And, believe it or not, you are free to change any of the patterns, places, people, occupations, beliefs, thoughts or feelings that you experience! At any moment! At any time! Your body, your mind, your feelings are all merely tools for your use. You can re-train, re-educate or re-orient them any which way you wish--at any time you wish. And you know what I recommend? I recommend that you practice choosing Love! and Beauty! and Truth! and Joy! Why? Because the feelings that you experience while experiencing Love, Beauty, Truth, and Joy are gushy-wooshy, fun and lovely. And after practicing choosing Love, Beauty, Truth, and Joy you will find that you will experience even more Love, Beauty, Truth and Joy! It will become a self-reinforcing, self-perpetuating loop: Feed Love, Truth, Beauty, and Joy with Love, Truth, Beauty and Joy and you'll find it to have a snowball effect. You''ll be attracting and surrounding yourself and filling your self with nothing but Truth, Joy, Beauty and Love. And before you know it you'll find that it's so easy, so natural, that you'll figure out that you ARE Truth and Beauty and Joy and Love. And then, guess what, you will become Truth and Joy and Beauty and Love and you'll find that everyone around you starts becoming more truthful, joyful, beautiful, and loving. It's the Law of Attraction in action.