This will be my four hundred-twentieth post. I think it appropriate to look both back and along the timeline. Realize that we have eclipsed time by circumnavigating our reality. This may be the unified field that Einstein proposed, a matrix, if you will, of beliefs shaping reality as much as looking into the physics of our universe have proven happens already. There are certain interactions on the sub atomic level that only occur when we are looking for them. Why not envision a multiverse of these occurrences taking place amongst infinite numbers of beings, each having a single thought or expectation? I know this is heavy, but perhaps I could approach things from another angle.
Five years ago this month, I set myself down in front of the keyboard to share an intimate look into my reality, hopefully share something that could be reciprocal, a love affair with words that could potentially reach every soul on the planet. In the digi-world time and space have been eclipsed by a new reality. A reader, so inclined, could read all five years of my love-missals in a week. If I did not love everyone, I could never sustain this level of commitment, nor would I spend the time I do sharing my reality with you. sometimes, time is required to digest, but even at one post a day, it could take a year and a half to read through this blog. I recently inherited a book called 365 Ways To Save The Earth. It was twenty dollars. I have written every post to be a guidebook to healing not only your physical form, the planet and your mental and emotional self as well, but ultimately your soul. It is the job of the shaman to heal the fabric of being that we can never shake off or separate completely from. We are caught in a neural net of understanding and experience. If there are holes where your sould needs to be, my writing attempts to be a salve. If nothing else, a touchstone and respite from your own travels. I will always be 'here".
Take my name...something simple right? I knew my name as a child to be Tony, like Tony Tiger, the animated character whose image graced cereal boxes. Later, I grew to learn that there were people who would guess that the name meant that I was a boy, that they would associate me with their ideas about being Italian and as I grew, I not only met others with that name, but started to understand that my version was unusual because "real" Catholic Italians were named Anthony, but just called "Tony", for short. All of these aspects were real and present before I became aware of them. The reality of the future is being born of experiences in the now, but what we are finding is that more and more of what we 'discover" has been alive through the ages in shamanistic and native cultural life. These things, no matter how much we logically dissect them can never become alive in our culture until we adopt their practice, heart and rhythm.
I have had repeated messages about Jazz players and the extreme paucity of amazing young players. it is because we "teach" them all about what they are doing and instill them with formulae of old approaches so they can hone skills that have become known, familiar and deemed desirable. The true masters go beyond into a realm of BE-ing the music, throwing all manner of convention to the wind, then wafting and writhing within the smoke trails created by the dissolution of form to spirit. The same transformation takes place in all effective shamanistic practice.
Let me explore the surname, Saladino. It too is part of my name. Little Saladin, has led me through amazing territory in and of itself. Learning about Sicily, and the many occupiers who traipsed through. Beginning to understand the culture and lives of those who lived upon that vast rock in the middle of the Mediterranean was the start of the creation of a whole world, complete with a viable pantheon of ghosts and spirits. The stark reality of the concept of oppressor. In my studies, I found that my kin are from the middle of the high country of the island. Pretty much as far as you can get from the coast where raiders frequently came ashore.Yet somehow my family had come from Saladin, theinvader who made his way to the center of the island in their time. Honored as I am to have his name, it is funny what I have been able to uncover in my research.
Saladin showed up during feudal times, where the deck was stacked much like it is today. The ultra wealthy had virtually all of the wealth, land fortune and privilege, they also had a small number of administrators, associates and friends who divided up whatever seemed inconvenient to the 1%, then there was a vast underclass, barely above livestock, who did the lion's share of the making of things. Anyway, Saladin would inevitably find a hovel full of poorly dresses peasants and he would ask, something along the lines of "...I'm trying to decide whether or not to sack this town...How much do you pay in tribute? how long will it take for the King's men to get here?" then after letting those questions sink in, he would offer to take half what the king did and defend them if they ever needed it. We was truly a socialist. Lord and Lady both know that there is no need for a wealthy class.
I occasionally wonder about issues of nature versus nurture, but never for long, it seems that trying to tease out any real detail would require ruining the fabric of our lives. Of my association with Saladin, I may be proud, but in my actions, I must decide how much other people's freedoms matter to me. I try to err on the side of liberation and many times I hear, sometimes many years after the fact..."your words back then moved me." or "I didn't believe it when you said," such and such, "but you were right." I don't mind hearing I guess, but I don't need that affirmation to thrive. What I say is based on a lifetime of paying excruciating attention to many subjects that make the average person's eyes glaze over. I want everyone to hear the truth at least once and I would be honored if it were me. Beyond mere knowledge lies a territory known as wisdom which is a bit of an art and terribly difficult to master. Those things I do not know I make clear as much as practicable. I guess there are plenty of things that I do not know that I don't know, but at least I'm honest when the new territory unfolds before me.
Five years ago this month, I set myself down in front of the keyboard to share an intimate look into my reality, hopefully share something that could be reciprocal, a love affair with words that could potentially reach every soul on the planet. In the digi-world time and space have been eclipsed by a new reality. A reader, so inclined, could read all five years of my love-missals in a week. If I did not love everyone, I could never sustain this level of commitment, nor would I spend the time I do sharing my reality with you. sometimes, time is required to digest, but even at one post a day, it could take a year and a half to read through this blog. I recently inherited a book called 365 Ways To Save The Earth. It was twenty dollars. I have written every post to be a guidebook to healing not only your physical form, the planet and your mental and emotional self as well, but ultimately your soul. It is the job of the shaman to heal the fabric of being that we can never shake off or separate completely from. We are caught in a neural net of understanding and experience. If there are holes where your sould needs to be, my writing attempts to be a salve. If nothing else, a touchstone and respite from your own travels. I will always be 'here".
Take my name...something simple right? I knew my name as a child to be Tony, like Tony Tiger, the animated character whose image graced cereal boxes. Later, I grew to learn that there were people who would guess that the name meant that I was a boy, that they would associate me with their ideas about being Italian and as I grew, I not only met others with that name, but started to understand that my version was unusual because "real" Catholic Italians were named Anthony, but just called "Tony", for short. All of these aspects were real and present before I became aware of them. The reality of the future is being born of experiences in the now, but what we are finding is that more and more of what we 'discover" has been alive through the ages in shamanistic and native cultural life. These things, no matter how much we logically dissect them can never become alive in our culture until we adopt their practice, heart and rhythm.
I have had repeated messages about Jazz players and the extreme paucity of amazing young players. it is because we "teach" them all about what they are doing and instill them with formulae of old approaches so they can hone skills that have become known, familiar and deemed desirable. The true masters go beyond into a realm of BE-ing the music, throwing all manner of convention to the wind, then wafting and writhing within the smoke trails created by the dissolution of form to spirit. The same transformation takes place in all effective shamanistic practice.
Let me explore the surname, Saladino. It too is part of my name. Little Saladin, has led me through amazing territory in and of itself. Learning about Sicily, and the many occupiers who traipsed through. Beginning to understand the culture and lives of those who lived upon that vast rock in the middle of the Mediterranean was the start of the creation of a whole world, complete with a viable pantheon of ghosts and spirits. The stark reality of the concept of oppressor. In my studies, I found that my kin are from the middle of the high country of the island. Pretty much as far as you can get from the coast where raiders frequently came ashore.Yet somehow my family had come from Saladin, theinvader who made his way to the center of the island in their time. Honored as I am to have his name, it is funny what I have been able to uncover in my research.
Saladin showed up during feudal times, where the deck was stacked much like it is today. The ultra wealthy had virtually all of the wealth, land fortune and privilege, they also had a small number of administrators, associates and friends who divided up whatever seemed inconvenient to the 1%, then there was a vast underclass, barely above livestock, who did the lion's share of the making of things. Anyway, Saladin would inevitably find a hovel full of poorly dresses peasants and he would ask, something along the lines of "...I'm trying to decide whether or not to sack this town...How much do you pay in tribute? how long will it take for the King's men to get here?" then after letting those questions sink in, he would offer to take half what the king did and defend them if they ever needed it. We was truly a socialist. Lord and Lady both know that there is no need for a wealthy class.
I occasionally wonder about issues of nature versus nurture, but never for long, it seems that trying to tease out any real detail would require ruining the fabric of our lives. Of my association with Saladin, I may be proud, but in my actions, I must decide how much other people's freedoms matter to me. I try to err on the side of liberation and many times I hear, sometimes many years after the fact..."your words back then moved me." or "I didn't believe it when you said," such and such, "but you were right." I don't mind hearing I guess, but I don't need that affirmation to thrive. What I say is based on a lifetime of paying excruciating attention to many subjects that make the average person's eyes glaze over. I want everyone to hear the truth at least once and I would be honored if it were me. Beyond mere knowledge lies a territory known as wisdom which is a bit of an art and terribly difficult to master. Those things I do not know I make clear as much as practicable. I guess there are plenty of things that I do not know that I don't know, but at least I'm honest when the new territory unfolds before me.
No comments:
Post a Comment