"No matter where I roam
every single soul
is a poem
that is written on the back of God's hand."
--Michael Franti
In the past, you may have read some of my words railing against the modern-day museum and the perpetuation of an art that isn't allowed to live and die. Paintings, like the Mona Lisa for example, are prized possessions, yet what is its inherent worth? In comparison, Michael Franti's Stay Human album rocked my world wide open ten years after it was produced, giving life and breath to the feelings and thoughts that held my anti-all-systems-of-oppression body captive. Truly, DANCE AND SONG IS THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF FREEDOM & UNIVERSAL HARMONY. So, I 'fell hard' for Franti - visiting the Bay Area the same weekend of his FREE 'Power to the Peaceful' Concert held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park as well as purchasing a DVD about his trip to Iraq where he brought the healing power of music to both the soldiers and the innocents on the streets. Swoon....
Today, one of my newest housemates asked me how I was feeling. Caught in an early morning, mid-act of sweeping the tiled, upstairs rooms, I held the broom in my hand up and declared, "THE WITCH IS BACK." Yesterday, after spending the morning in bed (unheard of for this early bird), I decided enough was enough and went to my special park for my personal practice. Upon my return, my other housemate mentioned that my bug moved through me quite quickly. "I simply decided that it was time to move on," I told her in response.
Along my stroll through South Park yesterday, I was reflecting on this bug of mine and I guess I was hoping that I was expelling the years of cowardice that had taken up sick space inside of me. So, along my walk, I celebrated the ten years it has been since I first moved to the downtown SD area and all of the successes that I have reveled in since. It's a SUCCESS that I have defined for myself and, I think, the crux of it is this: More than anything, it is how I have peeled back years of layers and senses of Self, dozens of personalities and characters, that have formed walls around my heart, and I've been able to really see, feel, taste, touch, experience and BEE my essence (which I beelieve to bee all of ours) - which is SWEETNESS.
I also reflected on all of the hard edges, the painful collisions, the pitfalls, and the seeming 'darkness' and 'destruction' and as to how all of these play their parts and their roles perfectly, too. Truly, this is the equanimous state of 'no right or wrong,' no bad or good. So, it beecomes then not a question of whether or not war can bee eradicated but rather whether or not FORGIVENESS can bee cultivated. Because right along with all of the successes over these past ten years, there has also been many 'failures' - falling into a pit of anxiety and depression; car wrecks; mindless borrowing leading to overwhelming debt; spiritual bankruptcy; refusing to act and do what needs to be done to truly take care of myself; co-dependency and allowing for abuse; and more. It's been a WILD ride, to say the least, and
I bow down and honor all of it.
"Say, I ain't trying to bother you
so why you gotta bother me?
What goes on in your bedroom
What goes on in your bedroom
ain't no mess to me.
You say your God don't like my God
'cause you don't like my friends
but your friends tryin' to kill a man
and I don't understand,
cuz it aint' about who you love
it's all about DO YOU LOVE.
DO YOU LOVE?"
