NOW I THINK IT'S WEDNESDAY EARLY AM IN INDIA.....

Well, nothing quite so exotic today except we slept til noon
which was great
and then there were two gals with birthdays and
by taxi and ox cart
they brought two great big cakes
and the Chinese sang and danced and
the Brazilians samba-ed and bayed at the moon with the guitars
and the German lady in the office sang an Octoberfest song
and the Americans did Bob Dylan and
in the background the lights of the
homemade altar twinkled and shone.

Wet , muddy, oddly thick.
The few hours it was okay to speak the Chinese chattered like little crows
and the Brazlians --who never kept silence anyway-- fluffed their lips
and checked their hot rollers
and the new gal from Texas said, "It's hot as hell in here, dammit!"
to which everyone howled with laughter.
And... so it goes.

This weeks focus is on to the real deal.
Setting aside all the hocus pocus and the Indian ritual study
the real season for all of this
is the basic old saw TIKKUM OLAM ,
for the Jews,
SAVE THE PLANET for the hippies
and doing God's work for the missionaries
(who, we know,so often did entirely more harm than good.)

This ONENESS UNIVERSITY study is all about
trying to find a way to reconnect
to each other, the relationships, the families
the societies  the planet and the universe and so it goes.
It's no joke we're in trouble.
And "can't we all just get along" is NOT going to do it this time.
So, the work is to become as aware as possible of who we are are and are not,
what sets us off, how we can get simple and clear and responsive and
empathic and empathetic....
and not only in the small and petty conflict zones
like the Board room of EST
but in the larger perspective. Take a look
it's all around you.

We've lost touch somehow with what allows us to function together.
As individuals, citizens, lovers, voters, readers, trucker drivers...
We have nothing to allow us to embrace anymore...
Call it a lack of the divine
Call it what ever you'd like but it's real....
I am attracted to this work as it is the essential work of  artists.
Artists channel from above the clear 
and connected moment that creates
connection in front of an audience 
who are then connected and 
who experience catharsis together (even in an art gallery or a music event)
and then who are moved together
and are thereby connected to the world they live in 
and go out
and notice things
a little more closely and carefully.......
and like that..

I'll say that again:
I am attracted to this work as it is the essential work of  artists.
Artists channel from above 
the clear and connected 
moment that creates
connection 
in front of an audience 
who are then connected and 
who experience
catharsis together 
(even in an art gallery or a music event)
and then who are moved together by some kind of real truth
which has been channeled by the artist
and the viewers are thereby connected 
to the world they live in 
and go out
and notice things
a little more closely and carefully.......
and affect everyday transactions, which affect the way a guy feels on the way home
which affects whether or not he makes love with his wife or rapes her
which affects whether she loves the child or resents it
which affects.... 
welll you get the picture.

Hocus pocus may not cut it for the many
but we who create art have a REAL RESPONSIBILITY to LISTEN and
RECEIVE and give clear and connected response to what is REAL.

Not to some trigger or charge that has had us running round in circles for entirely too many years.
It is not enough to sit with dysfunction.
This is a crisis that has grown to a worldwide threat.
And retreat may seem possible but hiking the hills
surviving in caves  or finding that last remaining bomb shelter form 1959...
well.... really? Get REALLY brave.

The basics.
Love. Self worth. Respect,
Listening clearly and not through our own filters of fear and restriction.
Enough.... Get to work. Scrub the debris and stop winning campaigns.
It's much harder to start with the smallest inch of being IN THe MOMENT
with the other person.
Uta or Sandy Meisner or Stanislavsky or.... whoever your particular guru is.

Do the work. Drop the baggage. Start listening again, stay put and make it worth it
recognize that you are part of something bigger and when you love
you are loving more than just your lover
you are loving that real spark that allows us to be here in the first place.
and being with each other, simply
and without judgement.
How's that for being a warrior?

Sure, let's want things but does that craving have to define us?
Okay okay... enough enough
but this is not indulgent pie in the sky.

Sarah Palin is actually being considered seriously as the leader of the free world.
Start small, start personal, have no goal except what naturally emerges .

Have you stopped reading by now.?
So simple and so very very difficult...

Not really.. just love like a beggar and ask what is real of each other.
I dare us all.