i am everything • i am nothing
therefore • i can be anything
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 24th, 2011 at 1:03 am and is filed under wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Comments are closed.
Something is always happening.
But when it happens, people don’t always see it,
or understand it, or accept it.” Â
- Fallen, movie
Hopi Elders Statement
“You have been telling people that this is the eleventh hour.
Now you must go back and tell people that this is the hour!
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your Garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to yourself.
And not look outside of yourself for a leader.
This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing very fast.
It is so great and fast that there are those who will be afraid.
They will hold on to the shore.
They will feel that they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know that the river has its destination.
The elders say that we must let go of the shore,
push off into the middle of the river,
keep our eyes open,
and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time we are to take nothing personally,
least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do,
our spiritual growth comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones that we have been waiting for.”
- The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation
I enjoy cooking. When I’m in the kitchen, I feel the love from the food move through me, through my hands and into my heart. The love goes back from heart, into my hands and into the food. This love then finds its way into those who eat what I’ve labored to prepare.
Chopping onions, scallion or potatoes is soothing. Cooking jasmine rice in vegetable broth delightful. And seasoning a tender and sweet chicken flavored in a tangy orange sauce exhilarating. The many smells that float through the house draw visitors from their conversations. Each one inquiring with an I-hate-to-bother-you tone, “Is dinner ready? Everything smells so good.” I smile, satisfied that their senses are keen and my meal smells appetizing.
When all is done and ready to be served, it is with whip in hand that I am forced to ward off the savages that threaten to eat everything in a single sitting. But order prevails and the meal is enjoyed, with barely a drop left to serve sleep over folks lunch on the morrow.
Another successful meal. “What is the recipe?” I hear several times over. I answer, “I can tell you, but then, I’d have to kill you.” The laughter closes out yet another wonderful dinner that leaves friends remembering not only the food, but the love shared between us.
I saw him across the black sands,
Under the cherry lit night sky;
His skin as dark as blackberries
And as smooth as the still dark ocean
On a warm night.
His body rippling
Like the dunes of the Sahara,
Rising and falling with majestic mounds
That play over the soil
Like a mystery about to unfold.
His eyes pierce through me
Like onyx melting in snow,
Waiting to penetrate the essence
Of the earth below.
He moves toward me
Like a Black Panther
About to devour its prey.
Slowly he approaches
And a sense of fear and pleasure
Erupt in my body and mind
My Nubian God embraces me;
I come alive with passion,
Exploding in a fog of inner peace.
I’ve read a lot of books over the years. The one thing that usually surfaces for me is, what was the purpose of the story? What was the author trying to convey and did they do that effectively?
Every story should have purpose. It should be well thought out and dissected prior to prologue or chapter one. When I decide to create a piece, it is always something I have been tossing around in my mind for days. Notes follow, with little points that serve to unfold the story. I consider the outcome and the message it will send to the reader. For me, there must be purpose behind the pen or it is wasted ink—this purpose must be realized on the page.
A purpose driven pen is an effective pen. It is a pen that creates worlds, believable worlds that submerge the reader in his imagination. A purpose driven pen takes you on an adventure. It will put on a broom that will fly you through the cosmos or plant you in the heart of ancient Kemet to show you what it was like to live in the old way.
A purpose driven pen does not falter, and will never leave the reader unsatisfied.  It is the elixir of life, the panacea. It is the pen of truth, which transforms our experiences and splashes them onto the page in a way that opens us up, gives us hope or gives us strength.
When I read certain books, I can always know if the author’s pen was driven with purpose.  Every page and every sentence is alive. The world around me fades and the new world comes into focus. The experience, in the end, is magical.
Let the pen have purpose.
Start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.
Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.
As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result-
All the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon, when a monkey tries to climb the stairs,
The other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, put away the cold water.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.
To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack,
He knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.
The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm!
Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth.
Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.
Most of the monkeys that are beating him
Have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs
Or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing all of the original monkeys,
None of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water.
Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.
Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done!
THE END
Ponder this deeply friends. Think about what you believe in life to be the truth. Think about your daily actions. Are you acting based on what you’ve chosen? Don’t react. Think on it.
Being spiritually awake means to see the world as it is, in all its glory and gore. Being alive is a beautiful experience. It is only made dismal by those who are joyless and must impose their joylessness on others.
It isn’t an easy thing to be awake and still find joy in the world. It takes a lot of spiritual strength and intellectual fortitude to maintain, even as the world seems to be falling into an abyss of madness.
There is something sinister on the horizon that threatens to extinguish the life out of us. Some are so caught up in this age of manipulation they cannot see beyond the material world that stifles our creativity, intellect and spirituality. Beneath it all, there is still some semblance of joy to be found. It hides underneath.
Joy is a powerful healing tool. Awareness is equally as powerful. Yet in this world filled with unspeakable suffering, these two truths compete. Awareness now becomes a burden upon the soul, because of what we are be awakened to. And the fullness of our joy is diminished, even as it sits deep within us, making us smile or laugh from time to time.
I choose joy and awareness today. Because to live without one, would be to live without air in a world that threatens to keep us away from truth…the truth about beauty and about pain. Smile with me in this hour. Because tomorrow may bring tears.
Some of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in life have been through adversity. These most challenging times were what forced me to take stock of my life, and think deeply about my needs and desires. Unexpectedly, these were the moments when I grew the most.
A lot has been going on lately. Each new event has been gently nudging me toward making yet another change, or move to the next level of my life. I find myself fighting it, but it seems to be inevitable. The more I try to hide, the louder the chatter from my inner voice. And lately, it’s been getting pretty noisy.
All said, I will listen. I need to. Time waits for no man, just as the lotus flower will not wait for gentle grounds to grow. I will grow too.
No one is an island. Everything in the universe works together in some way. We create and we are created. Everything we are as men and women is through a force within us AND a force outside of us. We cannot separate our existence from our parents, our friends, our neighborhood, our city, our country and the world. If we could, then 90% of America would believe in and practice Buddhism, or some other religion that is not major in this country. But by virtue of where we are born, to whom and under what conditions, we are guided in a particular direction–outside of our will. Although many of us would like to believe it is our will. If you were born in a muslim country, without any information about another way of life, you would be muslim. This is a fact of life that cannot be escaped.
Therefore, what and who we are as men and women is a direct result of not only our thoughts and actions, but place in time and location. To deny that fact is rather shortsighted & naive. Yes, we are all responsible for our destiny, but that limited destiny is still determined by factors that will forever be outside of our control–it takes a special person to step outside of themselves and see things differently from their only known environment. We were born here, or there–that fact cannot be changed. We are inevitably a product of our interactions and surroundings. We believe what we are taught to believe, and can only discover something new through experience or reading. Even then, breaking the bonds of where we were born is not an easy task. Our culture guides our thinking in many ways.
People, then, are affected by what others do, regardless of what decisions we wish to make for our lives (or THINK we make on our own). If we could merely think or believe ourselves out of a predicament, then this post would not be necessary and we wouldn’t be having all these discussions about who is at fault, who is responsible…responsible for this, that, or the other–the creator of this or that. I’m sure many cultures in the past, who had no inkling to the insanity that would be thrust upon them, believed strongly that their higher consciousness or power would save them from their future. But no amount of belief in the potential goodness of humankind saved these cultures. The will of others was thrust on them. Remember, we cannot usurp the free will of another. Especially if they decide to impose themselves physically on us. It is only through reasoning and the hope that someone evil will respond to reason. One can only hope that their free will driven by imposition can be transformed into something positive.
Nothing in this world is without an influence of some kind. Not humans, not animals, not plants, not rock, nor soil. One thing affects another, and this happens more often than not, outside of that things will. An antelope cannot will itself to not be food for a lion. It can only succumb or fight for its life.
I believe in the power of taking responsibility for our actions as humans in general. But I think it is rather shortsighted to think that any one person, male, female, culture or race, is the sole creator of their situation. EVERYTHING plays a role (because everything influences us). And no ONE thing can be pinned down as the reason for how we interact and respond to interaction. All the universe is cause and effect. And the complexities of such cannot be thoroughly dissected in a lifetime, nor can it be dismissed with a mere, I agree, or disagree.
Let’s go sailing on the orange waters of Mangil;
where the sky is green and the land is purple.
We will ï¬sh for Plaribs and hope
to catch some rare Jorabs too.
We’ll swim in the beautiful water as
it reflects the bright green sky.
I can hear the wind humming through
the PlumPlum trees and the birds
laughing from atop a Blurble bush.
When the hot triangle sun begins to set
over the pink horizon we will
know it is time to head for land.
The indigo sand feels warm under
our feet. Sitting on the ocean shore
we watch the sun go down.
Seadribs fly overhead,
seeking their last meal of Tippy ï¬sh
before spending the night ashore.
Beautiful orange waters of Mangil.
If only the world could stop now so
this moment could go on forever.
Life is dancing when you have no reason to dance
Life is singing when you have only tears to shed
Life is loving when there is no one to love
Life is giving when there is nothing to give
Life is running when you’re all worn out
Life is climbing when you’re too old to climb
Life is planting when the land is barren
Life is harvesting when the harvest is scarce
Life is being, when there are no answers
Life is…living…when you don’t feel like living anymore
by zaji
Each day I chant my matra, ‘live in the moment.’ It is part of a new way of life I believe will free me from unreasonable life expectations. Of course, certain expectations are, well, expected. But so often the things that hinder me most, leaving me feeling disappointed, are those things I expected, which were outside of my control. I’ve come to realize that anything outside of my control, should not have a condition placed on it. There is no way to determine what will happen. The future of the majority of things are unstable and unpredictable.
Releasing myself from the habit of holding an expectation of unpredictable things is difficult, and a habit most of us have developed. In small ways I’ve already begun to see the rewards of living in the moment. It is liberating. I no longer have to hold my emotions hostage in anticipation of something good, or something I desired.
Living in the moment frees my spirit, allowing me to see the beauty of now, with the knowledge that today could be my last day. Recognizing that all the possibilities of my life exist in this hour, this minute–this understanding raises my appreciation of life and its fragility. Now is all that’s promised to me–I will embrace it, and be thankful I had this moment to share a part of me with the world, and receive a glimpse of the beauty that surrounds me.
This moment is all I have and ever will.
(om) omniversal rights 2005-2011 zaji. all omniversal or universal natural rights reserved.
designed and customized by creative-ankh.com
PDF 
