October 21st 2009 - Yosemity

I just arrived back from a trip to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. I want to share this poem that I wrote on the plane ride home about my experience at Yosemite, which is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. I couldn't stop taking pictures.






Yosemity

The rain makes streams in the forest
Water running over rocks
And sliding over trunks of dead trees
And into little pools in the holes in the ground
Creating that sound that fills me with calmness
And gently transmutes all of my negativity into Love
Just meditating upon that sound brings such joy and peace
And for that I truly love the rain

The rain also feeds the river flow
Cleansing everything it passes
Making a melodious rushing sound
Showing it's art in the white water rapids, the whirpools, and in
countless little stirrings and churnings, here and there
Though your eyes are wide open, you can not catch them all
So relax and catch those that you can

The Sequoias will never die
They are more real than reality
Because they live in complete Truth
Their looming presence touches the forest with a beaming hue
Unmatched by any flower upon which I have cast my grateful eyes
A luminous, radiating orange-red that permeates the air around them
Invigorating my body beyond head to toe, with the slightest inhalation
It is so delicious, that I cannot help taking the deepest breaths of my life
Praying that some of that Grace will leave the forest with me
For I will leave, despite my Heart's protestations

Have I lived here before?
I feel mysteriously at home, in the home of the Great Sequoias, though
this body has never known this place
I have been in their midst and have been transformed by their godliness
I have been healed by their Love
And I love them truly
I am grateful for the friendship of these Eternal giants

There is Green Life emanating everywhere
Even from long dead trunks and lifeless rocks
Be it moss or lichens
Or forms existing beyond the breadth of my ignorance
I recognize this as a very pure Love form
With little distinction
Blending the symmetrical and asymmetrical attributes of art
And bleeding into the Dream through many portals of perception

I could certainly Love this Dream more
I could discover more Love or create some where I perceived none
I could leave the Lie and go to the forest
Sit amongst the Great Sequoias and cry for joy
I could stay there or decide to leave again
I could listen to the subtle trickle of the water dancing across the
rock face and into the puddle
And consent to leave my worry there
Right in that hole
So that the next time I decide to leave my home in the Lie
and visit my home in the Truth
I wouldn't be quite so burdened
Or shall I carry the portable Truth with me like a lantern I light
with the Love of the forest
And let the Lie dissolve away?

Enchanted,
Alan

October 7th 2009 - How Small Is A Cigarette Butt?

Last month, an annual beach clean-up was held along the entire coast of California. It was held over a single day, and over 1 million pounds of trash was collected. It was estimated that 40% of the trash was comprised of cigarette butts. That's about 400,000 pounds of cigarette butts.

I bring this up not to beat up cigarette smokers, but to illustrate the power of the "One Small Step" concept. Each person that discarded his or her cigarette butt thought that it was such a small thing, that it would not make a difference. After reading the tally above, we can say that the cigarette butts certainly made a difference. It wasn't the individual act that made the difference. It was the fact that so many people, individually, decided to do the same, small act. All those individual consciousnesses doing something small, created a large, collective impact.

So many people decide not to do something that would be BENEFICIAL to the world, because they think their small act won't make a dent in the global scheme of things. That could not be further from the truth. Every action has an impact. Every cause has an effect. Often our actions have unseen consequences, and affect others in ways that we may never become aware of.

Next time you think that your small, positive action will not make an impact, do it anyway. Remember the cigarette butts. You don't know how connected we are. It is totally concealed from us. Your decision to take action could somehow impact 10 other people who were on the fence to take action, too. Your small action could be the grain of sand that tips the scale to create a massive, global change for the better.

Changing The World One Small Step At A Time,
Alan