Category: Earth Journey

Our current world is seen by many to be on fire — not only at the molten core of the planet itself, but also close to our physical home bases on Mother Earth, as well. Her “skin” (the earthen surface on which we live and breathe) is presently inflamed due to intense, “psoriasis-like” human doings and misdoings — toward which the Earth Mother has her own kind of natural, inherently powerful “autoimmune” responses.

Such is pictured (above) in this mural that artist Red Hong Yi created out of 50,000 matchsticks. It represents how the global climate crisis connects all of us. Hence, it leads our imaginations toward the vast global scale where the pandemic could well lead us to a better, greener world. 

In that same vein, on this week’s cover of TIME magazine is a large-print title, CLIMATE IS EVERYTHING. And on the attendant topic line, it observes that “As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s becoming clear: In every aspect of what comes next — how we plan, build, sell, educate, legislate, move, and create — our unified work is to address climate change.  

The lead query in a similar article in the latest edition of Sierra (the national magazine of the Sierra Club) is this: “Will a Circular Economy Save the Planet? — The vision of an industrial society in sync with nature may have us spinning in circles.”

That perception, as best I can decipher it, draws a picture of a “circular economy” that is inspired by nature’s capacity to eliminate waste by transforming it into renewed fodder for its naturally integrated ecosystems. For one huge example, redesigning industrial manufacturing where the lion’s share of materials are used and continuously reused can dramatically lessen harmful environmental impacts.

Yet meanwhile, amidst the omnipresent Macrocosm, Earth orbits around one of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy. Although our planet is, by no means, at the center of the cosmos, there is cause to think of Earth and its myriad life forms as being singularly special. 

Supporting evidence comes from the details of our planetary circumstances, as well as from observations of certain fundamental constants in nature that appear to be “fine-tuned” for the existence of life.

Is Earth’s Life unique in the Universe? To know, in the end, whether Life exists beyond Earth, one must come to terms with the nature of one’s own significance here and now. Hence, any of Creation’s primeval elements like Climate, are essentially “closer than hands and feet” in the experience of us, each and all.

That, as a matter of course, begs the fundamental question, “What is the nature of my own personal “climate”, one moment to the next? Is my life’s every element part and parcel of the manifest expressions of Love, Truth, and Life?”

Living full-throated answers to such compelling questions is my full time occupation and deepest desire. 

All the while, the Ever Unfolding Journey of All Journeys Continues …

An “everyman” (or every-woman) is one of the many people on Mother Earth who think of themselves as ordinary. And an “adventure” is an exciting journey or activity on which “ordinary” people can and will enjoy quite an extraordinary experience.

And the relatively small number of people who have gained specialized knowledge, expertise, and/or interest in “The Esoteric” can also be quite accomplished adventurers themselves …

The word, “Esoteric”, is widely and arbitrarily used by many to identify several diverse fields of inquiry and rarefied pursuits, distant from the lives and concerns of many ordinary people.  

Are such impractical elements far removed from your experience?

If they are not that distant from you (in fact, they might even be “closer than hands and feet”) — Then you may want to ask yourself: Are you, by chance, so self-consciously reticent. or otherwise ill at ease, that you shrink away from identifying or associating with them — let alone practicing in such fields? Well then … 

Please relax, and be fully assured that any of your close-kept secrets are safe here. (And to be clear, this specialized “note to oneself” was once smack dab in my own wheelhouse!)

Another exploratory question to ask is: “When did I last read something that was almost impossible for the mind to grasp? Recently?” (Food for thought, perhaps …)

I have had some intriguing experiences of late. They tend at times to appear at around 3am-ish — when I (like most other locals) am more asleep than awake.

It seems to be a prime time nowadays when I entertain a recurrent set of dreams where I adventure into a foreign land, whilst trying on a new language. At certain times, I recall (with sublime indifference) that newly foreign tongue being my earthly “everyman” vernacular.

All the while, I deeply feel at home with the ineffable vibratory currents which I perceive perfusing my soul like a fine oil. There, I am gratefully aware of a new “Knowing” that is “Me” — beyond any acquired knowledge, academic logic chains, subconscious instincts, or persistent habits of concept.

That inner “home base” of the Soul is mine alone; It is solely for me to tend, keep, and encompass. Self-judgment just does not exist there — where it would have zero time & space to breathe & breed, when it certainly has no need to do so.

Then, when I awaken for “real” — relatively early, amidst another morning’s fresh new dawning (on earth) — I find myself freed from memories that chronologically defuse back in time (starting with yesterday’s work memos scrawled on bits of scrap paper, now destined for the recycle bin).

Now fully cognizant, spiritually awakened, and deeply refreshed, I behold Myself as a humble & inherently kind Everyman on Earth — having been royally treated to an esoteric adventure … 

All in a Creative Day’s Play amidst the Eternal Present Moment … What a Blessing Life Is

When I was a singer decades ago — performing opera roles, musicals, and concertizing wide ranges of classical vocal repertoire — “performance anxiety” (i.e. “stage fright”) was common among several of my performing-artist friends.

At times, they would tell me that their stage fright was becoming a matter of course almost every time they presented themselves before an audience.

Performance anxiety

In the decade when I was in my 20’s, and in the midst of various stages of my performing arts training, distractions like stage fright just didn’t exist for me.

I was busy studying music in college, composing in grad school, then honing my vocalism at Cleveland Institute of Music, while incessantly singing in public for any audience within earshot (big or small –“cultured”, or not so much).

While I was living and learning in an especially supportive world, there were precious few external distractions. I felt so self-assured in expressing myself — Right up until the day when I had a powerful awakening:

I had boldly ventured from a decade of stringent tutelage into the “real” world of professional music-making. From that first moment when I passionately envisioned myself being paid handsomely to provide “Artistry” (a subjective “product” intangible to many), I could not stop my own visceral “performance anxiety” from infusing this, my newborn experience, with self-doubt.

Out of concern for my friends and myself, I sought to learn all about “performance anxiety”. Subsequent research showed me that “stage fright” is often experienced as an unnerving apprehension vaguely sensed before or during one’s appearance in front of an audience.

It can affect self-conscious people, each in different ways. For example, it can beset even veteran professionals: musicians, dancers, politicians, athletes, public speakers — Anyone.

Symptoms are observable in specific ways that affect the human capacities:

1. Physically: Sweating, altered heart rate, headache, upset stomach, chills or nausea
2. Mentally: Confusion, disorientation, memory lapses, or avoidance of failure and ridicule
3. Emotionally: An urge to escape from the situation, distress or agitation

Well, that sort of scientific research on stage fright is all well and good, and with regard to each of the elements of Soul depicted, we could tell each other stories galore! 

And yet I, for one, can see larger implications attending the words, “stage fright” — More than a performer’s personal unease over being seen, judged, devalued, or discredited. 

Even that term lends itself to wordsmithery. For example, the “Stage of Life” sounds grand in scope with vast and varied terrain. Then…

The Stages of One’s Life on Earth have ages and stages amidst the Eternal Present Moment.

So, what was all that sudden self-doubting tribulation in me really about? Self-doubt amidst performance anxiety may include a number of emotional questions and cognizant perceptions — Perhaps some like these:

• My assessment of what would be expected of me: Was it realistic, or not so much?
• My new, assertive employer’s original opinion of me … Was it in fact overestimated?
• Is my listless self-doubt giving me frets because I underestimate my capacities? 
• Am I racked with insecurity over the possibility that I will be rejected, then dejected?

Bottom-line:
Living is filled full with both stage fright and glorious flights of Destiny in the making! Hence, we find that — if we relax and allow it — every stage of “performance anxiety” makes way for an awesome performance of SourceEnergy powerfully manifested and artfully expressed.

So May We Let the Divine Performance of Life Begin & Never End

I have lived and worked in the company of greatness for decades. In my 20’s (as covered in last week’s blog post) I was the chauffeur and concierge for a Russian-American master pianist, world-famous in her day — Madame Vitya Vronsky Babin. Then, In my 30’s and 40’s, I served the role of Performing Arts Director for a network of humanistic communities headed by Martin Cecil, England’s 7th Marquess of Exeter.

These days, I and one of my close, longtime friends, Joseph Antell, are still in consistent touch. And we sometimes find ourselves reminiscing about times past.

In that vein, Joseph recently sent me some of his wise, eloquent thoughts on my recent blog entry about Madame Vitya. (The post is titled “Light in the Shadows of Greatness”). He recalled essences of our common experiences in close proximity to Greatness in others, and how our own greatness is summoned in these unprecedented days of intensity for mankind. He said:

“We have rejoiced in the richness of their personal character and suffered the inadequacies in ourselves just being near their velocity of focus. Nowadays, it is our responsibility to be examples of leadership in the outer world that was set in motion.

“The work now at hand requires us to remain steadfast in those currents of greatness, knowing that our actions, while seemingly quiet, simple and obscure from outer world appearances, are actually of cosmic magnitude.”

I agree. And I take special note of the cosmic power with which Source Energy creates Worlds.

Such a creative energy is powerful enough, by far, to deftly actuate the resonant fields that enfold Mother Earth and all the ranges of Life Substance that dwell therein.

And I also know that one’s caring thoughts and loving feelings are powerful; And transparent enough that they ably clothe Greatness in “seemingly quiet, simple and obscure” ways. 

More often these days, I observe phenomena reflected in my experience which unfold like this:

First, during my quiet meditations, a lively energy “makes an entrance.” Perhaps it is inspired; or it has an innovative freshness to it; or it may summon a distant memory from some other time. Then soon thereafter, I am made aware (from media, word of mouth, or even a dream) of other people who are manifesting, in obvious fashion, what I have already discerned from its essence.

That “essence” is, by its nature, invisible (not seen) or perhaps “ineffable” (beyond words). Whatever the case, it fits Joseph’s description; it’s “seemingly quiet, simple and obscure.”

Hence, I delight in that unspoken yet coordinated wonder. It is free and efficient, to say the least. Moreover, it proves that we each are able, if willing, to work in one accord — with all the blessed benefits that such a state of Oneness bestows. It is (and always has been) there for the asking.

So, back to Generations of “Greatness”. The word, “generations” often refers to collective waves of human beings who “arrive” on earth in rhythmic time/space sequences, called ”age ranges.” 

However, “Generations” of Greatness can also herald the energetic generating of Life Essences that imbue the minds, hearts, and hands of incarnate human Beings. In the view of such pristine generations — ones that rhythmically power each unique moment in which any of us lives — No division or discord exists between one another or within any of us.    

There was a time in my young life, when I thought that I was totally ignored by others, I truly felt that I was invisible. Moreover, I sensed that energies of my Soul were so weak and “porous” to numbing discords that I had to protect them from a psychic state of non-existence on Earth.

Obviously, that was then & this is Now: A time so radically different and life-changing for me: I have discovered anew that, amidst a now-stable “porosity” (a high sensitivity to vibratory rhythms and currents), I now abide in a deeply peaceful and assured knowing that my every positive emotion (followed by clear, accurate thought) radiates pure Joy that is light as a feather – as effortless as a summer breeze.

And at the same time, creative Currents running through my living, breathing Soul bestow an amazing quality and quantity of Abundance of all sorts for me and the people close in my world. THIS is the Emanation of Source Energy Actuating the Resonance of Greatness in Abundant Manifestation.

To requote Joseph’s proclamation:

“The work now at hand requires us to remain steadfast in those currents of greatness, knowing that our actions, while seemingly quiet, simple and obscure from outer world appearances, are actually of cosmic magnitude.”

THIS is the Emanation of Source Energy Actuating the Resonance of Greatness in Radiant Expression.

Onward We Go …
Warmest of Regards — PenDell

Last weekend, our son, Evan and his lovely wife, Isabel, joined us for a beautiful late afternoon amidst the golden meadows of Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park (west of our hometown, Fort Collins, Colorado). We knew we would want to be there at times when the sonorous bugling of elk herds, led by the long-antlered bull elk, would be present in full concert!

As soon as we arrived there with our picnic dinner in hand, we witnessed the elk herd “family” ambling closer — bugling all the while to other more distant herds — an experience that does not occur every year. Hence, our being there and then was a blessed rarity! 

In the evening, the setting sun brought dancing light and shadows to the valley floor; then later, the Dusk made way for a clear, naturally moonlit sky. A vista on the horizon framed the park’s two distant snow-capped mountains, Longs Peak and Mount Meeker. 

Rocky Mountain National Park includes some of the highest mountains in the continental United States. In those high elevations, a windswept land above the trees provides expanses that bridge both sides of the Continental Divide. Therein is tundra, alpine lakes, and forested habitats for a wide range of acclimated plants and animals. 

The Four Elements — Water, Air, Earth, and Fire — are in full force there:

Yearly cycles of iconic summer thunderstorms and persistent winter winds continually shape a majestic mountainous landscape on this one-of-a-kind place on Earth.

And not to be forgotten, Fire — this year, in Colorado, as well as various other places, fire is forcefully impressing itself on all of Mother Earth’s Realms: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, and the multi-faceted Realm of Humanity. 

Closer to home for us here in Northern Colorado is Horsetooth Reservoir, just west of Fort Collins. It collects in the foothills above the town, on the western side of the Dakota Hogback, which borders the reservoir along its eastern side.

Overlooking the reservoir from 1800 feet above, and just to the west, is Horsetooth Mountain — a summit in the foothills of the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies. The 7,259-foot peak is located in the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, a distance that puts it 7 miles west of downtown Fort Collins, and at an altitude high enough for Melanie and me to gaze at it every evening from the front yard of our blessed home!

And much closer to me, closer than anything else, is a view — not of a mountain, but from a Mountain — A metaphorical Mountain view that feels “closer than hands and feet”.

This Mountain view is an internal process that involves a conscious outlook on Life — one that is available, ready, and waiting for any one of us who chooses to be self-governed enough — in heart, mind, and soul — to see, sense,  recognize, and acknowledge… What?

… The Many Mountains of Blessings — The Opportunities, The Successes and Abundances — The beautiful and empowering Gifts given to One from Others, And One’s Uniquely Precious and Absolutely Needed Gifts meant to be Given to Others.  

In this wise, I have found from personal experience that such an undertaking is so much easier to engage than one might think. Yet, having it intact and safely in hand will take a steady and assured persistence to maintain it.

A first step for me moving forward was to commit — step by step, moment by moment, day by day — to Doing my very Best with the various Things that come up for me; And Giving my Best to the Ones who venture close to me. 

And thankfully, I have discovered that my Best — nothing more, nothing less, moment by moment, day by day — is indeed what is perfect all around!.