The Making of The Prophet

I did this project a few years ago.  It came out really well. The person who made it happen is Dennis Lind-Beery.  I met him because I was looking for carpets for a dirt floor in an Earth Ship and he had some really amazing handmade Indonesian hemp carpets that he was allergic to. We became friends and at some point he told me he'd been wanting to produce an audio version of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, would I be interested in reading the part? Dennis is a Musician and Recording Engineer so he had the tools to do the recording. 

Dennis lived about an hour's drive, and I went to his studio every week for nearly 3 years to read.  Dennis worked on the studio acoustics and made a really great setup with zero noise. Dennis also directed me.  I would read and he'd give me notes.  After nearly three years we did a reading and recording that we were both happy with.  

I had the master files from Dennis and was tasked with the editing.  We also needed a second voice for the part of The Priestess/Narrator.  I did the edit and a couple of people read for the part but were not right for it, so it sat for about 8 years.  I don't remember how I got the idea for Starhawk to read the part, but it was the perfect choice.  By now Dennis had moved back to Alaska and we were out of touch.  I contacted him and he said "Run with it!" so I asked Starhawk, and she agreed, I booked recording time at the legendary Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. Starhawk did the reading in one sitting! Her voice is perfect for the part and she brings her Priestess self to the part. That gave me the material needed to finish the piece.  

Those files sat for another couple of years, and then I decided to publish the audiobook. Alternatives made a beautiful website with original artwork commissioned from Marie Davis and through Lantern Audio it was published.

It has barely sold at all, which is too bad.  I had no PR budget, and proper promotion is costly. I was hoping it'd be a vehicle to bring funds to the folks who worked on the project and also some non-profits I admire.  So it goes.  But The Prophet is out there, it's a good piece of work, and perhaps more people will discover it over time.

Jimmy Carter and Robert Redford

 Thinking about lots of things, but I was recently reminded that the flags were NOT flown at half mast for Jimmy Carter, so I am honoring him here.  And Robert Redford. Both cut from similar cloth in terms of being altruistic, believing in service, and humility.

Jimmy Carter was human, he never claimed to be perfect, and he wasn't.  My beef with him was over nuclear power, he was in favor of it and as President supported the development of nuclear power. Other than that, as US Presidents go, he was a mensch.  He brokered Peace in the Middle East.  That has since been sabotaged and now Israel/Palestine is the site of genocide, but Carter did good work in that regard. He understood that we needed to care for the Earth, and put solar panels on The White House. Reagan subsequently took them down.  He was married to one woman and from all accounts they were very devoted to each other. None of their offspring are sleazy drug addicts. They lived modestly.  The Carter's spent decades building houses for people who otherwise would never have a house. 

Redford, arguably the epitome of the handsome movie star, was so much more, he was a Person.  He had values and stood by them. He was wise enough not to be ruined by his stardom.  He defended the Earth, he encouraged creativity in others. He was not scandalous. He was an artist. I have never heard a bad word said about him.

Both of these men behaved responsibly in that they responded to the challenges they faced, and they both chose to undergo significant challenges on behalf of the greater good. They both endeavored to leave the world better than they found it. Alas, not everyone in such positions has such aspirations.  

Life and art

It is said that "Life imitates art" and also that "Art imitates life."  Classic chicken & egg question, but the answer is...it doesn't matter which came first, we respond to/are affected by the gestalt.

Case in point; as protests in Los Angeles are now being met by 300+ National Guard, which means more violence and further erosion of Democracy, we are fed bread and circus. So I looked at the circus.

The movies coming out this summer are pretty much all violent, murderous, rife with humans being cruel to other humans in many contexts, from the personal to the political.

What was the last movie made in Hollywood about people having transformational personal psychological spiritual (not religious) experiences?

We humans love story. Telling, hearing, reading, seeing, story is part of most people's lives in one way or another. Stories are vehicles for communicating values, beliefs, history, and aspirations. A story can enlighten, doom, inspire, discourage. We are affected by the stories we ingest.

The old saw about "violent games do not encourage violence" even though brief commercials do encourage behavior, often trotted out when the violence in media is pointed out, is so tired, so I am preemptively saying this...the idea that humans are not affected by what they see and hear, by what's on the screen, especially in the US where average screen time keeps increasing, is idiocy. More people ingesting more media, more and more of which is violent and designed to stimulate fear and anger, affects the collective psyche. Prove me wrong.

To the media producers who produce all this violent content, please stop. Start producing material that encourages people to grow, not to become murderous psychopaths. If you have a conscience then you must value a healthy society over your own profits.  If that is NOT the case, you are a psychopath and should stop producing any content and go into therapy ASAP. If you'd rather be part of the problem than part of the solution, something is wrong with you.

Radical Acceptance?

 It means to accept what is so, noticing how one feels about what is so, as a state of being, while not engaging in futile actions trying to "fix" but instead, offering what one can, to help.

Those who are here causing harm are as much a part of the equation as those who are here to reduce the suffering.  Accepting that can be challenging to the mind that is focused on helping. A mental challenge.

Wrangling one's mind, kindly and with purpose, is also part of the equation.

❤️

65 laps around the sun

Today I finish my 65th time circling Sol. Well, tomorrow afternoon actually. Tomorrow is my 65th birthday.

I took the day to reflect a bit, and to nap a lot because life has tired me out.  I was hoping to feel elated and connected with everything as I "be" with this, but that's not what I feel.  

The place I am in is beautiful and offers endless awe.

The information about what is happening with humanity brings so much sadness and frustration and disgust.  The utter insanity of the greedy violent oligarchic class, their cruelty and violence, must be stopped.  They must be contained.  Enough is enough.  It is ridiculous to allow these people to cause so much harm, and that they do it for money and ideology is just proof that they are insane.

Today on the eve of my 65th anniversary of being here in this body I call out to all of humanity to say "no" and to stop cooperating with this madness. Soldiers put down your weapons!  Stop being tools used to kill innocents for the profit of insane people. Just stop.  Every one, every cop, every ICE agent, you too are just being used.  You are sacrificing your humanity in order to be part of something that is truly evil.  Stop! All of us, unplug from the businesses that profit from all this killing and cruelty and oppression. Find creative ways to disconnect from and to not cooperate with the forces that are also bent on owning and/or killing us all. It's not too late!

Happy Birthday!

❤️

Looking at what humans have constructed our world to be, all of it, it would be easy think that we are trapped and there is no way out of this mess, but it isn't true!  All we have to do is behave differently.  Be kind. Be honest. Hold each other accountable and when someone is not kind and honest, name it! And those who presume to lead, if they are not kind and honest then they are out! It's not complicated.

A cell in the body

There's a body awareness exercise that I learned from somebody years ago in Vermont and they learned it from some great teacher whose name I can't remember at the moment. But what it is is that you move across the space focusing on a particular body system for instance, walk across the room, just being aware of your bones or your blood, or your nervous system, your skin, your muscles, your organs, etc. Each awareness is different and then at the end you bring them all together and move in space with awareness of all of them together and it's a powerful experience.

Often I have images of people around the world and what they’re experiencing, the people being bombed in so many places, all the distress. And today I thought well what if I just focus on the kids for a moment? Think of all the children in the world at once, and what so many of them are going through that's horrendous and should be completely unacceptable. Think about all the women in the world all of the women and what their lives are like all the different lives. Think of all the men, all the men in the world. We are each part of this Humanity. 

In my spiritual tradition, one of the things we say is that the work is to love yourself in all your parts. So what if we loving all those people, and hold them all in awareness with love. We are each a cell in the body, right?

What will it take for Humanity to stop hurting ourself?  If Humanity were my therapy client they would be considered to be profoundly disturbed. Humanity is traumatized and keeps traumatizing ourself. It is possible for this cycle of self abuse to come to an end, and not only by our extinction, but by facing our collective mental illness. The models of leadership currently pervasive in human societies are psychopathic because they do not value life above all, and quality of life as essential for the common good.  Amassing power for it's own sake is psychopathic, lacks conscience or empathy or a sense of connection to others. 

As long as Humanity continues to embrace this model of power and organization, whenever we feel our Humanity by doing the exercise above, we will encounter suffering and brutality. Don't be afraid to face it and feel it.  How else will we change it unless we all feel that to the point that it becomes intolerable?

Ugh...today...

 I awoke in despair.  Right now people are being brutalized, tortured, murdered, for money, religion, political ideology. I am so disgusted.  The VAST majority of humans would say no to all of this, but it keeps on going.  No one stops the monsters who are steering the ship and so they keep taking us into these insane killing sprees. It's been thus for such a long time.  I can't wait to leave this planet and I am never coming back.