I believe

I believe that the body and spirit are not in conflict, that the physical world and its rich sensations are an expression of the Divine and can lead us back to the Divine and to unity. I also believe we can easily get lost in the pursuit of pleasure and worldly things, like fame and fortune, and forget our true home and aim. But i have seen that in our lives tragedy seems to take care of itself, happen without needing our help, whereas pleasure, celebration and joy are things we need to cultivate and are among the most worthwhile things to cultivate.

I believe all people have within them an inner guidance to lead them wisely and in their own perfect way towards health, balance and the expression of their gifts in the world, and to guide them through life's challenges. I believe no one knows better than you what you need, but that your guidance can easily become clouded over by habit, fear, other voices inside, etc. I believe our guidance comes from our heart and from spirit and that the mind is a terrible decision making tool, contrary to what most of us have been taught. I believe that most people in this culture have not been raised to hear or follow the voice of their own heart and are clouded by fear and mental projections so that they are partially or greatly cut off from their true selves and their inner guidance.

I believe life is set up so that we also need one another to heal and to find our way and that real healing only takes place in the presence of love.

I believe that what we give is what we get to have in abundance.

I believe men and women have unique and remarkable gifts and that our understanding and expression of the nature of the genders in this culture is impoverished and hurtful in many ways, but that an amazing flowering is possible, which would allow for a great deal of variety of expression of masculine and feminine energies in each of us and a beautiful, powerful, creative dance of those energies that is mutually beneficial and respectful.

I believe the aging process is a deep mystery we have yet to really explore as a species.

I believe that each person is here for a purpose, and that we need the contributions of each person, that our journey is to find and express what we are here for to the fullest extent possible.

I believe fun is a key to life, and our passions, joys and interests are important clues or signposts to lead us where we need to go.

I believe happiness is sacred.

I don't believe in a punishing God.

I believe in the inherent Divinity in all things.

I believe that even the inanimate world is alive, and that listening is one of the most useful, important and powerful tools we can cultivate.

I don't believe in the virtue of hard work; I believe in loving what you do and doing it with passion and doing everything you do with love and as an offering.

I believe that artistic talent and inspiration come from something much greater than ourselves, and they get distorted when we identify with them from our egos.

I believe in the sacred power of play.

And as Keats wrote, "I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of the imagination."

The quagmire of questions

Well, i admit it: i've been stumped about what to write. I write in my journal nearly every day, but a blog is different, and suddenly i'm not sure what this one is about, what the purpose is. The idea of blogging appeals to me, to share some more of the seemingly endless stream of words i typically generate in a week with others. Keeping it all to myself definitely doesn't feel good or right. But the question arises what to share here, what to write, and suddenly i'm in a familiar philosophical quagmire.

How is this blog different from my journal? Well, it's very different. There's a whole lot of personal stuff in the journal i have no intention of sharing publicly, even in this semi-anonymous way. And there's no doubt a whole lot in there no one would want to slog through anyway. When this blog was a record of the separation in my relationship and how i was dealing with it, i had a specific purpose. Now i've lost that purpose. So what's relevant?

Given that i have virtually no readers, you wouldn't think i'd care about such questions, but that only heightens the question of why do this at all? Then what is it in me that wants to? I guess it's the writer self that longs to share something with "the world." But what is that something worth sharing?

You see the quagmire. This is the very quagmire that once stopped me from writing music, stopped me cold after many years of happy productivity. And yet these are questions that need asking, aren't they?

So, if you're reading this and you want to share with me thoughts on what you enjoy reading, what i might write about, etc, please do. . .