Monakhos

Falling off the cliff
Floating higher and higher
Falling then rising

Haiku are fun (is the plural of haiku ‘haiku’ or ‘haikus’? I don’t know.)

I’ve been reading a bit lately. A lot of Wikipedia and random Internet postings as on the Tarot, astrology, and occultism. I’ve also been reading a book by some sketchy character named Zolar and am starting The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley. It an interesting rabbit hole. Lots of numbers and letters and random connections. I wonder where the rabbit hole goes in the end.

I mostly started this exploration after reading up a little on Danny Carey, the fantastic drummer of Tool. Their album 10,000 Days is quite amazing. So anyways, Danny Carey is big into Crowley and occultism and what not and then I started reading. And then I found about 10,000 articles on Wikipedia that I had never found before… It went downhill from there.

I started my first day at a new job today. It was somewhat of a relief to get out of the atmosphere of the last days of my former job. Not because I didn’t like the job or because I didn’t like the people, but because the company had decided to merge my division with a recent acquisition, and as a result, our entire product line was being thrown away. The product line I had spent countless hours working on. So, rather than find another job in the company, I moved to an ad agency in town.

So far it’s a really nice encouraging atmosphere. It’s a small team with big dreams. It seems like the sky is the limit and that is very encouraging. I’ll post some once some of my work goes live.

On a spiritual note, I’ve been re-reading a great book on Feng Shui named “Clearing Your Clutter with Feng Shui” by Karen Kingston. It’s a great book (as is the other one on Feng Shui by the same author. It really makes you think about simple ways to make your area a better place to live. I would recommend reading it even if you don’t consider yourself a clutterholic.

This evening I looked in the mirror and saw a stranger. It puzzled me for a second until I realized it was me. I stared at my image for a few minutes and pondered the idea that I am encapsulated inside of this shell. It was a weird feeling. I’ve been thinking about it sense then. It made me remember the form of meditation that asks the question “what am I?” I really felt for that moment that I understood that I am not my body or any of its attributes. I simply am.

I have been listening to a lot of jazz lately. Mostly avant-garde and free jazz. It’s interesting, the connection between music and spirituality. Playing and listening to improvised music opens up a whole realm of being that you can’t get to normally. I think I will write more on that next time.

Anyway, I’m trying to start an avant-garde/free jazz band. I play drums, and I would like to have at least a bass and piano, though any instruments would work, I think. Influences include the Coltrane Quintet, Joel Futterman Trio, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, and The Bad Plus. Leave a comment if you’re interested in playing, listening, or just reminiscing about great music.

What is it about the Way that is hard for religious people to understand? Why is it that the greatest force against the mystical path seems to come from those seemingly steeped in religion?

The film ОÑ?тров (The Island in English) made me think a bit about these topics. It takes place in an Russian Orthodox monastery on an island in the 1970s. The main character Antoli lives at the monastery as a hermit and works shoveling coal in the boiler room. While he is not an official monk (though he lives in the same way), the people from the surrounding villages always come to see him first when there is a problem. He is rumored to be able to heal the sick and cast out demons. He has visions and prophetic answers to people’s questions. Father Antoli is also quite the rebel. He doesn’t always pray in the right direction during ceremonies he is invited to attend and *gasp* drinks tea with sugar! Despite all this, he is the most spiritually connected person on the island.

I don’t want to describe too much of the movie, because I don’t want to give much of it away. But it really made me think. How many times do I ignore people because they looks or act strange. How much wisdom could I be missing out on? And am I compromising by being too normal?

So check out the movie and let me know what you think. You’ll have to go to an artsy type rental store to find it probably, but it will be well worth it!