Halloween

Halloween

Halloween cometh. All Hallows Eve. 

A great festival of pomp and celebration enjoyed by many in different cultures over a three day period  of October 31 through Nov 2 known as Allhallowstide. Dating back to antiquity the dead are remembered as they struggle to make their way to the heavenly realms. The significance is forgotten and lost amongst the commercialization of costumes, candy and treats and decorations of ghastly fake monsters to portray the scariness of the season when in fact it is a far gentler festival to be enjoyed and rejoiced with love and affection. 

There are many traditions that are uniquely particular to Halloween yet are replaced with the rituals of pumpkin carving, trick and treats and the dawning of costumes. The fear of halloween has been portrayed in movies and television depicting that the "evil " is out to get us. And in return so many of us wear masks to either scare off the ghouls or at least not let the nasties see our face and so move on. Yet the purer we are within, we innately are able to see past the masks and look into the hearts of others. The ancient idea that on this one night the veil of the good and evil is so thin that evil can cross over and walk amongst us is some what obsurd. The sense of evil is what lies within and is acted out by us when we succumb to our darker nature on our human spectrum and it is not something lurking behind tree trunks on the sides of every road. 

Yet the spirit of Halloween is a time of reverend remembrance to the ancestors of old who have passed and wishing them success on their journeys. With love, respect and ancient rites and  offerings they may pass to the other side comfortably. Or so we are told. The magic of the Halloween is the same as the magic of Christmas. It is in the believing in something bigger than who we are as individuals and recognizing the existance of our future as spiritual beings just as those who came before us.  

Wishing you a happy haunting from the other side. 

A haunting of love.

#metoo

#metoo

I am compelled to acknowledge these 5 letters not as a symbol representing that I was abused. I was not. Far from it. Yet being a man I must pay homage to the suffering of  the fellow co-inhabitants of the species. It would not seem complete if the other side of the coin not understand its counterpart, as then how can a coin ever be whole. It is an unfortunate tragedy that we as men have cultivated the culture that women are inferior or the "weaker" sex and so treated them unfairly and abused them and now to our own peril. These 5 letters represent transparency. Will these letters wash way generational abuse, or the hate that women have been subjugated to and demeaned and degraded for our own lustful pleasures through physical or sexual abuse? Hardly.

The victim here  is not just the girls or women,  yet it is also the perpetrators. The men who abuse are also victims. How you may ask? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Hurt another, then you tear and injure your own soul. Just because we didn't see the "punishments of abusers" in the past does not mean to say that it never was juried out by damaging the male psyche. And hence over time the  generational consequences have weakened mens' true nature and abilities yet strengthened women to regain equality. The balance of nature must always be restored. With the transparency this will come to pass. 

#metoo is not a platform to go " guy bashing." It is an elevated state of awareness and consciousness to the systemic problem of humanity. Yet without abuse or hate how can one learn about innocence and love? With out good how do you define bad? Opposites exist in nature to be experienced and so known. I hope to  and will work always with the idea that we will learn only by experiencing. And in this way having experienced the nature of this systemic generational blasphemy we may begin to unfold the healing and understanding of love and respect, not just for each other yet moreover for ourselves.

Respecting another cannot begin without respecting oneself. Such is the tragedy of an abuser. With venomous words, thoughtless actions, a stern look, a deceitful deed is committed to another person yet fragments our own psyche irreparably. Do we not care enough about ourselves to avoid this consequence? So i ask my fellow man. Brothers, fathers, sons alike to begin the healing of a world with your own healing. Girls and Women are not dolls of pleasure to be discarded, nor are they conquests to be remembered by notches in a belt. They are the sisters, mothers and daughters of a planet long since begging for the balance of harmony to be reassembled. 

Let's try a little experiment of fun in a bad way. I wonder if this #metoo can be colored on a global social media map of the world. Pick a color. I choose red. Lets expand the #metoo to include a more truer comprehensive definition of abuse to include verbal, mental, emotional abuse and trauma and not just physical or sexual abuse. Imagine how this would look on this map. Now lets expand this to children ( male or female) abuse. Let's call it  #kidstoo. Let's pick a color. I pick yellow. Taking it a step farther. #canestoo. This will be the category of the elderly who have been neglected, abused, beaten and treated unfairly. ( This happens a lot more around the world than we care to consider). Lets pick blue. Can you picture what this rainbow of red, yellow and blue will look like across the globe? Any place not effected? Is there any home that has not been touched by abuse? NO. 

Again, respect for gender, age or size of person begins with respecting oneself. Acknowledging the darkest nature of our humanity only serves to liberate us enough to embrace the lighter side of our divinity. Experience, and know. The emotional inheritance of hate, anger and abuse has been experienced and known. Time to understand its opposite and let it go. It is time to acknowledge new words of love and respect and foster these in every relationship regardless of it being with a different gender, same gender, a child or an elder. 

Our basic design was never  to over power the other member of the species. Men over women or women over men. One creates, the other implements. The yin and yang of divinity was made stronger by keeping the bond strong. It was always a simple design of mutual respect, love, equality to afford the ascension of humanity. Fear,shame, blame and guilt have upset this accord. So the next time we decide to verbally abuse another being, or strike them down sexually, or physically, pause but a second and recognize the fear, or hate or anger that generated the thought of perpetration. Sown deep within those thoughts are the seeds of ancestral fears and are more than likely not yours. Easy to do? Not at all. But necessary.  Bigotry and hippocracy  all begin somewhere. Conditioned responses can be broken.  It has been done. Time to rinse and repeat.

An ancient heritage of love awaits our reclaiming. Are you brave enough to reclaim yours?

Meeting deaf ears

Meeting deaf ears

I came upon a very heart warming story. Thought I would share it with you. 

There was once this young deaf man who had just moved into a new small town. The only person he knew was his long time college friend who was fluent in sign language and so could help him communicate with his surroundings at  this new relocation. 

He walks down the street with her and enters a bakery. His friend informs the baker that they need a loaf of bread, and upon paying, the owner turns to this man and signs back " thank you have a nice day"! He immediately was surprised and pleased and replied back the same in sign language, and exited the store. 

They carried on down the street, and a passerby traveling in the opposite direction makes eye contact with this young man and signs " good morning hello". Again he smiles and signs back the same and  is a little astonished. 

They continued their morning walk and he wanted to buy her flowers so they stopped into a florist store and picked out the flowers and went up to the cashier. As he was leaving the cashier signed " those are beautiful flowers, hope you enjoy them". He replied in sign " Thank you and good bye"  

He asked his friend " Did you see that? How did that person and the last few people know how to communicate in sign language ?"

She shrugged, and smiled and they returned on their journey. 

A lady up ahead had dropped her keys and he picked them up and ran over to her to give it her. She was grateful and then signed back " Thank you for your help. " He was totally beside himself and bewildered that surely as a foreigner to this new town with a " handicap"  how are there  beyond a coincidence a number of people who could use sign language. Again he asked his friend, who shrugged and smiled. 

They reached the bus stop where he and his friend got onto the bus and suddenly the  bus driver greeted him in sign language and communicated to him the fare and destinations. He was astonished and teary eyed. He paid the fare and sat down confused. Suddenly from behind his seat an older man put his hand on his shoulder. He jumped with a start. The old man smiled and signed him " Welcome" He was now totally shaking with bewildered happiness. 

Another person on the bus also turned and signed to him " Dont worry"

He looked over to his friend in shock and fear. That is when she grinned and signed to him." I told the town a few days ago that you were coming and were deaf and could only sign and so each and every member of this town thought the best way to make you feel at home and welcome you, was to have everyone learn basic sign language as fast they could in a short period of time before your arrival. "

So here it is folks. You make a difference in peoples' lives by making a change in your own first. You reach out with love across any barrier of race, color, gender, creed, religion, equality, age, disability, or any possible difference. The offering of a single smile to a stranger you meet on the street, changes the path they were on. You do not know if that stranger was having a bad day but that your simple acknowledgment of their humanity perhaps changed their course. 

Reach out. Extend yourself. Lend out your heart. If you never do, you will never know if you are capable of more than you have ever dreamed. 

And I know you are. I have seen it. I have felt it. In your eyes. In your hearts. 

Welcome to the planet. It's not all that bad as you have been told. 

Magic is everywhere.