THE BEST OF MOYO AFLAME 2011: The People in Your Life Are There For You To Help Them. That Is One Reason They Are in Your Life...

This piece originally appeared in Moyo Aflame on October 6, 2011


...and vice versa. And The people in my life are there for me to help and vice versa. We are our brothers and sisters keepers. Do not believe those who tell you otherwise. They are lying to you. They are trying to deceive you. I believe this with every fiber of my being. I believe that once we reach a certain level of personal, psychological and spiritual maturity, this idea of being our brothers and sisters keeper becomes a natural awareness that also becomes all but impossible for us not to gently move into. This awareness is available to anyone. It is not reserved for saints and martyrs and mystics and gurus and people "The Empire" consciousness will label as having poor boundaries or poor ego strength or poor self esteem or a poor locus of control.

Some people will immediately allow themselves to move into a place of defensiveness after reading the above paragraph. They will automatically and reflexively go to the place of  immediately thinking, "but what about taking care of myself first." Or, "but what about putting on my own oxygen mask first." Or, "I can't really do anything for someone else until I get my own house in order first, right?" I understand the impulse to go there. This however, is not an either/or situation. It is a both/and situation. This is where a high number of people lose their way. It is in this black or white thinking. And to be honest, it is also probably fueled at least to some extent by a certain degree of selfishness as well. Lets face it, it is extremely difficult to be a part of American culture and not be selfish and considerably so. Much of advertising, pop culture, television and politics is filled with both overt and subliminal messages that encourage selfishness of every ilk. This culture also teaches us to be hyper aware of and concerned with being taken advantage of by others or being manipulated by them or being hoodwinked by them, etc. So what needs to happen is that people have to actively work to suppress or ignore all these messages or to at least put them in some sort of rational contextual reality. Doing so will inform us that not everyone in the world is out to take advantage of, manipulate and hoodwink us. These are all meme's placed in our consciousness by "The Empire" consciousness.

I am an optimistic person. However, I am imagining there are huge numbers of people in America who are not really open to suppressing or ignoring these messages in their lives. They don't see any reasons to do so. Or they do not have the consciousness necessary to have the awareness that doing so is an option and a very beneficial option at that. That statement is not one borne out of arrogance. It is a statement that comes out of watching, in the last several years, the growth in movements such as The Tea Party movement, the rise in bias based crimes in America and the steady move to the extreme right in the American Republican Party. I am highly encouraged by the outpouring of support Troy Davis received, The breadth and reach of The Occupy Wall Street Movement and the Rebuild the Dream movement. I just don't know if the people who are participating in these movemenst are the same progressives that have been working for social change in the last decade or if there is significant new blood in the mix. I hope there is in fact new blood and lots of it. Those of us who have been doing this for years will welcome in, with open hearts, anyone who sincerely wants to join us.

But its easy to talk in abstracts. Lets get less abstract. Look at the people in your immediate lives who are hurting. Look at family members, friends even acquaintances. Who among them really could use your help--spiritual support and help, financial help, psychological help and healing? Who needs help getting some place or another? Who could use your help baby sitting? Who needs some food in their refrigerator? Who needs help balancing their checkbook? Who needs some simple companionship? Who needs financial assistance. Now is the time to act. And I'm not asking people questions I'm not asking myself as well. I'm reviewing my family, my friendships, my acquaintances and asking myself, WHO NEEDS MY HELP? Don't be shy. Don't be afraid. Don't let your sense of scarcity or judgment or entitlement or privilege derail you. Open your heart and let that same open heart guide you. You will not be led astray. No one who truly follows his or her heart ever is. And that's the truth.

THE BEST OF MOYO AFLAME 2011: Addicted to Our Narratives: Choosing Romantic Partners Very Similar To Us

This piece originally appeared on Moyo Aflame on February 21, 2011. Me and my partner John are still a couple (it will be clear soon why I added that little caveat).


Several weeks ago I caught part of a television program my partner was watching. I rarely watch TV. I didn't have a TV for the 12 years before we met. John, on the other hand, is an avid lover of television. On this program, when I walked in the room, there was an interview being conducted with a fairly renowned pit master, as in BBQ Pit Master, who earns his reputation and makes his very good living grilling very large pieces a meat on various grills every day. He also owns a BBQ restaurant where again, grilled meats are the house specialty. At one point the interviewer asked this man a question about his, the pit masters family's, assumed enjoyment of his carnivorous creations. This is the point where we the viewers as well as an obviously surprised interviewer find out that this particular grill master has a wife and two children (all the couple's children) who are all vegetarian. A famous BBQ grill master with an entirely vegetarian family! I smiled a knowing smile.

I have noticed something in the last couple of years, that is quite intriguing to me. I have noticed that a number of my good friends and myself as well have taken romantic partners and life partners who are extremely different from ourselves. I am not speaking of basic every day, run of the mill differences that are par for the course. I am talking about really dramatic, night and day completely different sets of values differences-- the kind of stark differences that have people asking, with serious bewilderment-- what do you two talk about? Indeed, I have gotten that question several times in reference to my relationship with John.

I have written extensively about my belief that what I call, "the healing potential" is the principal and fundamental reason for any and all romantic/intimate relationships. I do not know anyone who is consciously aware of every single thing that can potentially be healed within them. I do not have that information about myself either. Some of what can be healed within us can be healed by being in a relationship with someone who is very similar to us, has many of the same values and is a wonderful mirror to us. That is the call to healing that most coupled people seem to be called to at this time on the planet. I also imagine that someone who is very different from us, has very different values and is not a mirror in the traditional way we have been taught to understand that concept, can help us on our healing journey tremendously. I am noticing numerous people, myself included, who seem to be called right now to this path. It is not a particularly easy path, conventionally speaking. It requires a very specific and developed type of openness and surrender on the part of both participants.

Mass marketed and popular psychological ideas have been helpful to so many people on the planet it is now really quite difficult to just dismiss all of it out of hand. That would be like throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Still, even with my great respect for psychological thought and all the many benefits I have received from it, I can honestly say I am unaware of any system--even among the deepest and most integrated psychological systems--that are able to anticipate every possible nuance of every souls healing journey. Some of this is simply beyond the conceptual limitations of such systems. No system can tell us with absolute certainty what our specific soul's journey is. Many of these mass marketed and popular systems pretend to know the answer to every potential relationship problem imaginable. They don't. Dr. Phil does not know nearly enough, even if he had you on his show 500 times, the perfect prescription for the attainment of your perfect relationship. Many pop culture self help gurus assume from the very beginning that being with someone with "very similar values" is an absolutely fundamental requirement for a successful relationship. My answer to that assumption: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 

And so perhaps we are in one of the ages where there are some among us whose soul journey, for whatever reasons, includes a path that is minus the comforts and predictability that come with having a partner that is so similar to us.

Let's explore a little, shall we. 

What could possibly be gained by having a partner who literally has extremely different values from us and on so many multiple levels? What would such a couple talk about? Aren't intimate relationships supposed to be built on things the individuals have in common? 

John and I are coming up on our second anniversary as a couple. It seems like we've been together much longer. The main reason it feels much longer is because we are so different. For the first several months I fought many of those differences intensely. Eventually however, I began to understand the very special gift we had been given, I had been given. Much of our time together feels like two people who speak two different systems of speech--like one of us speaking a phonics based language and the other is speaking a tonal language and neither of us having a clue about how to understand the others system. What can two people possibly learn in such a situation?

The biggest lesson I have learned through this experience is to absolutely give up the idea of being right even around issues I absolutely know I am right about. I believe that is really a very unusual human experience--giving up the idea of being right even around things we have gotten very use to believing we have great knowledge and information about. It's really a very deeply spiritual experience. There's really no other way in which to even somewhat accurately speak about this. Its not that my knowledge has somehow slipped away or that my confidence in what I have learned in life has weakened any. No, what has happened is that by being in a close, intimate relationship with someone whose worldview is so different from my own in so many ways, I have come to truly see that everything in life is merely perception and/or projection. I have preached that for years--the idea that everything is either projection or perception. I now see that all those years of speaking to this was little more than intellectual and mental calisthenics. I now have a life experience that has made it all much more than a mental/intellectual exercise. I don't yet have the words to fully express the intensity of this experience. To some extent my entire life seems like a dream as a result. Much of the life around me, outside of my relationship, watching other people interact with one another, seems like a dream.

I have come to see that so much of popular psychology and the self help culture and to some extent the reality show culture that has sprung up from it, is built around finding pathology in everyone and giving people overly simplistic guidance about how to direct our lives, especially regarding romantic relationships and our relationship with ourselves. This relationship with John has been the primary impetus for my engaging on a serious project of re-languaging how I speak of life, situations and experiences with others. I am primarily re-languaging and eliminating many of the pathology laced words I have learned in both my professional psychology study and career and/or that have found their way into the popular fabric of this country and the world. I am speaking of words and phrases like codependent, passive aggressive, fear of intimacy and many others. These now appear to largely be the potentially arrogant labels used largely by individuals and groups of judging people who believe their worldview is the correct one for everyone and then that is projected out by way of pathology based assessments of others. It is the worldview of people who have perhaps not seriously been emotionally connected to someone who comes from a very different worldview--so seriously connected that it prompts one to question the assumptions that form the foundation of so many of those worldviews. How do we really know if someone is truly fearing intimacy or not? How do we know what codependency really looks like for every single person and every single spiritual journey and earth walk on the planet? Really, how do we know? How do we know whether what looks pathological, isn't in reality something of subtle yet stunning beauty and perfection? We do not know and that is the point here.

Inspiration That Soothes The Soul Like a Long Cool Glass of Sweet Ice Tea Soothes The Body On a Warm Southern Eve: Necia D. Harkless

This is a woman I am happy and proud to call my friend. She is Necia Desiree Harkless. She is 91 years young. This is a very recent photograph. She lives in the town I was born in, Lexington, Kentucky. Although she had known my family for many years, we only formally met about thirteen years ago. We were both attendees, delegates and speakers at a spiritual conference being held in Kentucky. My maternal grandfather was a university professor. Necia is also a retired university professor. Back in the day, university professors of African Descent throughout the state all knew one other. That was for a number of reasons. Necia is truly a phenomenal woman: Educator, writer, pianist, piano instructor, published author (in the photo she is selling her book on Nubian Pharaoh's, an area of study and research that she is particularly knowledgeable in), social worker, Donovan Scholar, researcher, etc. Consider this post as an introduction to Necia on this blog. I am going to be composing numerous posts in the coming weeks about her. She inspires and encourages me just that much! I love you, Necia! Thank you for being born. Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for all your gifts

What is the Purpose of My Life?

The People in Your Life Are There For You To Help Them. That Is One Reason They Are in Your Life...

...and vice versa. And The people in my life are there for me to help and vice versa. We are our brothers and sisters keepers. Do not believe those who tell you otherwise. They are lying to you. They are trying to deceive you. I believe this with every fiber of my being. I believe that once we reach a certain level of personal, psychological and spiritual maturity, this idea of being our brothers and sisters keeper becomes a natural awareness that also becomes all but impossible for us not to gently move into. This awareness is available to anyone. It is not reserved for saints and martyrs and mystics and gurus and people "The Empire" consciousness will label as having poor boundaries or poor ego strength or poor self esteem or a poor locus of control.

Some people will immediately allow themselves to move into a place of defensiveness after reading the above paragraph. They will automatically and reflexively go to the place of  immediately thinking, "but what about taking care of myself first." Or, "but what about putting on my own oxygen mask first." Or, "I can't really do anything for someone else until I get my own house in order first, right?" I understand the impulse to go there. This however, is not an either/or situation. It is a both/and situation. This is where a high number of people lose their way. It is in this black or white thinking. And to be honest, it is also probably fueled at least to some extent by a certain degree of selfishness as well. It is extremely difficult to be a part of American culture and not be selfish and considerably so. Much of advertising, pop culture, television and politics is filled with both overt and subliminal messages that encourage selfishness on every level. This culture also teaches us to be hyper aware of and concerned with being taken advantage of by others or being manipulated by them or being hoodwinked by them, etc. So what needs to happen is that people have to actively work to suppress or ignore all these messages or to at least put them in some sort of rational contextual reality. Doing so will inform us that not everyone in the world is out to take advantage of, manipulate and hoodwink us. These are all meme's placed in our awareness by "The Empire" consciousness.

I am an optimistic person. However, I am imagining there are large numbers of people in America who are not really open to suppressing or ignoring these messages in their lives. They don't see any reasons to do so. Or they do not have the consciousness necessary to have the awareness that doing so is an option and a very beneficial option at that. That statement is not one borne out of arrogance. It is a statement that comes out of watching, in the last several years, the growth in movements such as The Tea Party movement, the rise in bias based crimes in America and the steady move to the extreme right in the American Republican Party. I am highly encouraged by the outpouring of support Troy Davis received, The breadth and reach of The Occupy Wall Street Movement and the Rebuild the Dream movement. I just don't know if the people who are participating in these movemenst are the same progressives that have been working for social change in the last decade or if there is significant new blood in the mix. I hope there is in fact new blood and lots of it. Those of us who have been doing this for years will welcome in, with open hearts, anyone who sincerely wants to join us.

But its easy to talk in abstracts. Lets get less abstract. Look at the people in your immediate lives who are hurting. Look at family members, friends even acquaintances. Who among them really could use your help--spiritual support and help, financial help, psychological help and healing? Who needs help getting some place or another? Who could use your help baby sitting? Who needs some food in their refrigerator? Who needs help balancing their checkbook? Who needs some simple companionship? Who needs financial assistance. Now is the time to act. And I'm not asking people questions I'm not asking myself as well. I'm reviewing my family, my friendships, my acquaintances and asking myself, "Who needs my help?" Don't be shy. Don't be afraid. Don't let your sense of scarcity or judgment or entitlement or privilege derail you. Open your heart and let that same open heart guide you. You will not be led astray. No one who truly follows his or her heart ever is. And that's the truth.

What Sometimes Happens to People Who Dislike Engaging in Small Talk

People who strongly dislike small talk are people who are often and erroneously labeled as self centered, arrogant and egocentric.

Here is how it works.

I absolutely despise small talk. I always have, even as a child. I likely always will. Usually, when I am engaged in a conversation with someone and particularly if the conversation is with someone I don't know well or is someone I have just met, I have very little interest in the ordinary details of such peoples lives—where you were born, what foods you like, where you went to college, whether or not you have children, what kind of job you have, what kind of vehicle you drive, etc. What I want to know is what you believe the meaning of life to be, what your understanding of the cosmos is especially from a spiritual perspective, what type of relationship you had/have with your parents and how you believe this has or hasn't impacted or shaped how you perceive the world around you, do you believe in ghosts or spirits or angels, what you think of socialism, etc. I imagine most people reading this will see the potential and inherent problems there:

A. Many people feel uncomfortable sharing with people the types of things I eagerly want to discuss. They are uncomfortable discussing these topics with people they've known for years much less someone they don't know very well or have just met.

B. Many people just don't approach life from this angle at least not as much as I do. At the very least, many don't seem to have the time to devote to it or don't take the time. 

Most people are completely engaged in the day-to-day details of their lives and do not venture past that baseline much at all. 

If you have a blog and are on the blogger platform, there will be a toolbar at the top of your blog page that will prompt you to peruse the “Next Blog.” One week, not too long ago, I spent many hours over the course of several days clicking on that prompt. I literally checked out hundreds and hundreds of personal blogs during the course of those several days. Do you know what I discovered and to my utter amazement? The vast, vast majority of personal blogs are essentially living journals of the lives of heterosexual married couples chronicling their everyday lives and the everyday lives of their children. That's it. There was no analysis of those lives. There was no juxtaposition of those lives against the backdrops of homelessness nor the recession nor world poverty nor the unequal distribution of wealth in the world nor the AIDS pandemic nor overpopulation nor anything beyond anything that was not an extremely direct part of their nuclear family world view. None. It was simply Jim and Sally Smith and their three children and their lives as a family and what happens in their everyday lives replete with photos of round faced smiling cherub like children, family vacations and their seemingly Stepfordesque existence. I am not judging any of that. I am simply being the reporter here. I am certain there is much more to the lives of these individuals than what I saw. I want to believe that at least. However, that “more” never showed up on these people's blogs.

C. Boundaries are generally a good thing in life. However, discussing the kinds of things I want to discuss, especially with people I've just met, is viewed as a “boundary issue” by more than just a few people. So there is this built in cultural ethos consciously or unconsciously designed to justify most people's approach to this kind of thing and to vilify my approach.

D. People often view people like me, who want to discuss the type things I want to discuss as “strange,” “weird,” “crazy,” etc.

So what I often end up doing when I meet someone is sharing one of my many life stories, one that seems appropriate or relevant—I have a million stories. I've had a very interesting, full, unusual and dynamic life. I have also paid very close attention to the equally interesting, full, unusual and dynamic world around me. 

So I'll tell one of my brief stories in a sincere attempt to draw the person out or to give them permission to do the same with me or to set the level of discourse I want which is almost always very far from the shores of the islands of small talk. I am very interested in people and what makes us tick. I was a psychotherapist for 20+ years. You don't do that kind of work for that long if you're mostly interested in yourself, especially with the kind of clientele I had—members of the homeless population, triple diagnosed people (severe substance abuse + so called serious mental disorder + living w/AIDS), people with so called “personality disorders,” etc.

So when sharing that brief story doesn't work—and it often doesn't work, I'll tell another story and then another and before I know it I'm entertaining myself—because I admit it, I do love to hear myself talk. But I also love to hear other people talk. 


Often, when I tell these stories, the other person has also been entertained as well, which is often very obvious, even if they simply view themselves as just being entertained by a crazy person. 

Unfortunately, by now the other person has become intimidated by their belief that they don't have equally interesting stories to share or they were never comfortable with anything more than small talk to begin with or the person turns out to be “shy” or shallow or superficial or they're now completely overwhelmed or they think I'm “crazy” or—wait for it—they've decided I'm self centered, arrogant or egocentric to boot.

Almost everyone knows that “asking questions” is a very good and sound way to send the message to the person you are speaking with that you are interested in them. The problem for people like me is that the questions we naturally want to ask are the types of questions a whole lot of people don't want to answer for whatever reasons. 


I spent a number of years during a particularly strange period of my life asking small talk questions to people I had just met in an attempt to meet people where I believed most of them wanted to be met. I felt like a total fraud. It was a disaster. I made few lasting friendships. I was miserable. The main lesson from that experiment? Be yourself Sage, live with whatever the consequences of that are and shame, shame, shame the devil, baby.

Once in a very infrequent while I have triumphantly managed to have connected with a kindred spirit and after my 1 or 2 stories have concluded, they then launched into their own incredible stories and we spend the next 10 hours laying the groundwork for a lifetime friendship.

This is the exact way I have met the 10-12 people on the planet I view as my very closest friends. I met my two very closest friends in this life at the exact same Summer Solstice party in 1990, in Frankfort, Kentucky. One is a beautiful, very counter cultural, other worldly woman. The other is an amazing and extremely counter cultural and anarchistic gay man. And I guess that's the point. The people I'm going to be the most attracted to in this life are going to be the “freaks,” “misfits” and absolute rule breakers among us and the people who are going to be most attracted to me in this life are likely going to be the same because I am one of them as well. I don't need no stinking neo-normative approaches to life and life situations.

Anyway, the woman I met at that party came up to me and her first words to me were, “Hello there beautiful, and what do you think is the true meaning of life, beautiful new man in my life?” and later in the evening the man came up to me and said, “I just love your look. Tell me, what is your definition of love?”

Yes!!!

Happy Monday Everyone!

What Are We Doing? What Are We Teaching? (The Blog Series) Part I

When I grow up I want a job I don't really like, sitting at a desk in a cubicle I get to decorate except with porn, but I can watch that anyway on the computer the company loans me. I want superficial relationships with most of my co-workers with whom I attend boring and mandatory meetings. I want free dental and an HR rep who's really a company spy all so I can buy stuff I don't really need and then die.

~Sage Mahosadha

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Addicted to Our Narratives: Choosing Romantic Partners Very Similar To Us

Several weeks ago I caught part of a television program my partner was watching. I rarely watch TV. I didn't have a TV for the 12 years before we met. John, on the other hand, is an avid lover of television. On this program, when I walked in the room, there was an interview being conducted with a fairly renowned pit master, as in BBQ Pit Master, who earns his reputation and makes his very good living grilling very large pieces a meat on various grills every day. He also owns a BBQ restaurant where again, grilled meats are the house specialty. At one point the interviewer asked this man a question about his, the pit masters family's, assumed enjoyment of his carnivorous creations. This is the point where we the viewers as well as an obviously surprised interviewer find out that this particular grill master has a wife and two children (all the couple's children) who are all vegetarian. A famous BBQ grill master with an entirely vegetarian family! I smiled a knowing smile.

I have noticed something in the last couple of years, that is quite intriguing to me. I have noticed that a number of my good friends and myself as well have taken romantic partners and life partners who are extremely different from ourselves. I am not speaking of basic every day, run of the mill differences that are par for the course. I am talking about really dramatic, night and day completely different sets of values differences-- the kind of stark differences that have people asking, with serious bewilderment-- what do you two talk about? Indeed, I have gotten that question several times in reference to my relationship with John.

I have written extensively about my belief that what I call, "the healing potential" is the principal and fundamental reason for any and all romantic/intimate relationships. I do not know anyone who is consciously aware of every single thing that can potentially be healed within them. I do not have that information about myself either. Some of what can be healed within us can be healed by being in a relationship with someone who is very similar to us, has many of the same values and is a wonderful mirror to us. That is the call to healing that most coupled people seem to be called to at this time on the planet. I also imagine that someone who is very different from us, has very different values and is not a mirror in the traditional way we have been taught to understand that concept, can help us on our healing journey tremendously. I am noticing numerous people, myself included, who seem to be called right now to this path. It is not a particularly easy path, conventionally speaking. It requires a very specific and developed type of openness and surrender on the part of both participants.

Mass marketed and popular psychological ideas have been helpful to so many people on the planet it is now really quite difficult to just dismiss all of it out of hand. That would be like throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Still, even with my great respect for psychological thought and all the many benefits I have received from it, I can honestly say I am unaware of any system--even among the deepest and most integrated psychological systems--that are able to anticipate every possible nuance of every souls healing journey. Some of this is simply beyond the conceptual limitations of such systems. No system can tell us with absolute certainty what our specific soul's journey is. Many of these mass marketed and popular systems pretend to know the answer to every potential relationship problem imaginable. They don't. Dr. Phil does not know nearly enough, even if he had you on his show 500 times, the perfect prescription for the attainment of your perfect relationship. Many pop culture self help gurus assume from the very beginning that being with someone with "very similar values" is an absolutely fundamental requirement for a successful relationship. My answer to that assumption: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

And so perhaps we are in one of the ages where there are some among us whose soul journey, for whatever reasons, includes a path that is minus the comforts and predictability that come with having a partner that is so similar to us.

Let's explore a little, shall we.

What could possibly be gained by having a partner who literally has extremely different values from us and on so many multiple levels? What would such a couple talk about? Aren't intimate relationships supposed to be built on things the individuals have in common?

John and I are coming up on our second anniversary as a couple. It seems like we've been together much longer. The main reason it feels much longer is because we are so different. For the first several months I fought many of those differences intensely. Eventually however, I began to understand the very special gift we had been given, I had been given. Much of our time together feels like two people who speak two different systems of speech--like one of us speaking a phonics based language and the other is speaking a tonal language and neither of us having a clue about how to understand the others system. What can two people possibly learn in such a situation?

The biggest lesson I have learned through this experience is to absolutely give up the idea of being right even around issues I absolutely know I am right about. I believe that is really a very unusual human experience--giving up the idea of being right even around things we have gotten very use to believing we have great knowledge and information about. It's really a very deeply spiritual experience. There's really no other way in which to even somewhat accurately speak about this. Its not that my knowledge has somehow slipped away or that my confidence in what I have learned in life has weakened any. No, what has happened is that by being in a close, intimate relationship with someone whose worldview is so different from my own in so many ways, I have come to truly see that everything in life is merely perception and/or projection. I have preached that for years--the idea that everything is either projection or perception. I now see that all those years of speaking to this was little more than intellectual and mental calisthenics. I now have a life experience that has made it all much more than a mental/intellectual exercise. I don't yet have the words to fully express the intensity of this experience. To some extent my entire life seems like a dream as a result. Much of the life around me, outside of my relationship, watching other people interact with one another, seems like a dream.

I have come to see that so much of popular psychology and the self help culture and to some extent the reality show culture that has sprung up from it, is built around finding pathology in everyone and giving people overly simplistic guidance about how to direct our lives, especially regarding romantic relationships and our relationship with ourselves. This relationship with John has been the primary impetus for my engaging on a serious project of re-languaging how I speak of life, situations and experiences with others. I am primarily re-languaging and eliminating many of the pathology laced words I have learned in both my professional psychology study and career and/or that have found their way into the popular fabric of this country and the world. I am speaking of words and phrases like codependent, passive aggressive, fear of intimacy and many others. These now appear to largely be the potentially arrogant labels used largely by individuals and groups of judging people who believe their worldview is the correct one for everyone and then that is projected out by way of pathology based assessments of others. It is the worldview of people who have perhaps not seriously been emotionally connected to someone who comes from a very different worldview--so seriously connected that it prompts one to question the assumptions that form the foundation of so many of those worldviews. How do we really know if someone is truly fearing intimacy or not? How do we know what codependency really looks like for every single person and every single spiritual journey and earth walk on the planet? Really, how do we know? How do we know whether what looks pathological, isn't in reality something of subtle yet stunning beauty and perfection? We do not know and that is the point here.

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Re-post of some of my favorite blog posts from 2010. "The Joshua Bell Experiment." First posted on 1.10.2010

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007.

The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

Findings:

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro Station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and people's priorities. The questions raised: "In a common place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?"

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?

This story was shared with me (and others) by my friend Steve Ahnael Nobel.
www.stevenobel.com

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Wisdom and Beauty from an Unknown Source (Re-post)

When I was 5 years old my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy." They told me I didn't understand the assignment. I told them they didn't understand life. --Unknown

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My Song of Freedom

One day my heart and eyes just opened up and I woke up and realized a few things. I realized I am a 50 y.o. Black gay man in America. I realized a generation of my gay male brothers succumbed to AIDS in the 80's and 90's. I realized a generation of my Black brothers were incarcerated in the 80's and 90's. I realized I am very wise and very intelligent and... very lucky and that many people cannot deal with that. And I realized, I don't care anymore.

One, just one way I can look at my life is through this lens: A good deal of my adult life has been comprised of people, mostly men but not exclusively so, having significant issues with "things about me," letting me know it and then trying to run a big ole trip on me because of it. And for a long time it worked.

Some Black, straight people have tried to run a trip on me about being gay and smart. Both of those are somehow seen as "trying to be White." Oh Lord have Mercy don't let me go there. Some White straight people have tried to run a trip on me for being Black and smart. Many Asian Americans have just tripped and didn't know what to think about me. But since I was smart I got some respect. But most of them still wouldn't want me to date their son or daughter, sister or brother. Some White gay people have tried to run a trip on me for being black and smart and for not believing my gay identity is the most amazing and wonderful thing about me. Christians have tried to run a trip on me for not being "one of them" and for being gay. Alternative spirituality people have tried to run a trip on me for being Black and smart and wise and learned and confident and happy and not needing their guru nor teacher nor their teaching to reach the awarenesses I have reached.

A different neo-Advaita person or student of Ramana Maharshi defriends me on facebook almost every week for God only knows what reason(s) because they never say why. At some point I had to just look at all of that; laugh, cry, then laugh some more and then cry some more and finally just realize-- you know what, this isn't really about me. This is their stuff. And you know what else, I'm not going to carry it anymore. I have enough of my own stuff to carry.

And for those moments I liberate myself from all the knowledge of everyone being one and everything being good and nothing existing and nothing being real and I simply celebrate my Black, Gay, Smart, Wise, Lucky Self. That's right-- Self, Myself, I, I, I, I... I love me, just the way I AM... Me , MySelf and I, baby. Now, you go deal with that! (big gay black, finger snap in a circle!)

This is my Song of Freedom... And I have realized that too many people have died so that I may be free. And Free I am. And Free I shall remain... Now, I'm not talking about no political freedom nor freedom from social constraints nor freedom from an enslavement created in and enforced by the minds of men. I'm talkin' 'bout freedom with a Capital "F" y'all. That's what I'm talkin' about. And when I got me a taste of that Freedom. Well, whew, there may be valleys and peaks; there may be good days and not so good days. But this is not a Freedom that can ever be threatened by the pull of the moon nor the threat of war or not even by death. This is a Freedom that can only be known about from the inside out. And once it is known, there ain't really no talkin' to be done anymore. This Freedom is beyond all that; its beyond words and concepts.

But you know what? I'm gonna talk about it whenever I can, because I can. And when a whole bunch of us are talkin' about it, then a song will be raised to the heavens. And like Bob Marley says, whom I share a birthday with...Hallelujah...when that happens--- it will be a Redemption Song. It will truly be a song of Freedom...

Yes, the guards were all imagined, the prison gates are no longer locked and all our attorney fees have been paid in full. Come join me in Rumi's field that is beyond right and wrong and where we will look into each others eyes forever and know that there is nothing more beautiful than either the other who is looking nor the reflection we see, nor the field itself...

© Raven/Sage Mahosadha

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Forever

Underneath all this noise is...the quiet. Let's meet there and look at the flowers. Then let's look at each other...forever...

sage mahosadha

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Wisdom and Beauty From An Unknown Source

When I was 5 years old my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy." They told me I didn't understand the assignment. I told them they didn't understand life. --Unknown

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The Joshua Bell Experiment

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007.

The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

Findings:

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro Station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and people's priorities. The questions raised: "In a common place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?"

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?

This story was shared with me (and others) by my friend Steve Nobel.
www.stevenobel.com

Giving Thanks In A Time of Uncertainty, Little Money and Possible Depression and Anxiety

I am going to make this short. That alone is enough to give thanks.

Earlier this week I made a decision to pay one important bill and let another important one go. I wasn't able to see a way to pay both. So right now my cell phone is inactive. More such decisions are likely on the horizon for me in the coming weeks. Such are the realities sometimes of living on less than half of what I was living on just 13 months ago. Hopefully I will make those coming decisions with the calm, ease, certainty and lack of anxiety I made this weeks decision with. I believe I will. I believe I will because I have arrived at a place of surrender and letting go in my life that has brought me an unprecedented level of freedom and peace of mind.

Still, its not always easy or exactly automatic. Today, for just a moment...a moment, I was tempted to feel a little sad or anxious or something. This was related to the realization that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and that I'm almost broke and I can't afford to do things the way I like to. As I said, this only lasted a moment. What helped it last only a moment? In the next seconds I realized a flood of things: I am breathing. I have my eyesight. I have the comfort of knowing no new war has broken out in the world in the last 24 hours that I'm aware of. I live with three amazing cats. I went out and about later today and the weather was splendid. And more specifically I have a wonderful partner (who is also unemployed and has less money than me) who has found a way to buy ingredients to prepare not just one but two absolutely amazing Thanksgiving Day feasts for us--one for just the two of us tomorrow and one for us plus several friends on Saturday.

The Holidays are something this man lives for and he was determined to find a way to make them as beautiful for us as possible. This is such a blessing. Tomorrow I will get to call all my family members because both my partner and a friend have offered the use their phones in order to allow me to do so. Sure tomorrow is a free day for such calling. That however, is not what matters. the generosity of the offers is what matters. I could go on and on.

If you are living with the realities of decreased resources this holiday season, I truly hope you have some people in your life who you can trust will lend you love and support. If you are breathing, have your eyesight or general health, that is wonderful. And if you are reading this, you also know you have my love, support and that I am sending you healing and the courage to let go of fear and to surrender to a bliss that awaits you in spite of whatever challenges you have. Happy Thanksgiving! I Love you! raven

© Raven/Sage Mahosadha

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Celebrating Those Who Have What We Don't

There are a lot of seeming dichotomies in what we might call the spiritual life. In reality the term "the spiritual life" is just a more specific description of life itself. The spiritual part is completely superfluous.

Now back to some of those apparent dichotomies--for example, we tend to receive most fully when we most selflessly give to others. We tend to open ourselves up to the most amazing forms and expressions of freedom when we most fully surrender to "what is." We tend to draw the most complete types of love to us when we are able to be vulnerable and love more fearlessly ourselves and without concern for it being returned to us. And we tend to experience the most abundance when we celebrate the abundance of others.

I have spent a lot of the last year or so re-framing this thing that many are calling the global economic recession. I do not deny that something is happening. I have no objection to it being called a recession. I acknowledge that people’s lives are being impacted in ways that conventional wisdom might choose to call “negative” or “bad.” I am no Pollyanna. I cannot however, deny my pedigree, even if I wanted to. The fact remains, I am a child of the so-called New Age era. I believe the greatest gift this era has given to us is easy access to alternate ways of experiencing and understanding life. It, unfortunately has also given rise to many charlatans, con-artists and many false teachings. So one has to do a little legwork to find the authentic teachings that have come out of the New Age phenomenon.

I am not an adherent of those aspects of the New Age movement that would have us deny our emotional pain and instruct us to essentially get over it because it isn’t real. I understand that pain is real in the way I choose to define the word real. I also understand that pain does not have to be permanent. It is transitional. It is a teacher. And we have a lot of control over how much pain we experience and for how long. We can decide if we want to transform pain into the more oppressive thing called suffering.

Many people are losing or have lost their homes right now. Many people have lost or will soon lose their jobs. I am in that category. I was laid off more than a year ago. Many people have gone through their savings. I am in that category as well. So I am not some blissful person looking in from the far distant sidelines of security and economic prosperity. I am on the front lines of economic challenge and uncertainty.

Even though we are in a deep "recession," the everyday traumas and losses that occur during non-recessionary times don’t take a vacation. So while dealing with economic related challenges, many people have also simultaneously seen their primary relationships end either directly or not at all related to economic reasons. Some people who have retained their jobs still have to contend with micro- managing bosses and/or highly dysfunctional work places. Many have to contend with increased workloads and pay cuts as a result of lay-offs and the economy . Friends, family members and romantic partners continue to die, get murdered, get mugged and assaulted and everything else as well.

Scream if you want to. It might truly help. But then the reality will remain after the screaming. Earlier, I wrote an essay in which I discussed how understanding and applying the Buddhist concept of impermanence may help us deal with all aspects of the global recession. Here I am going to present another tool: Celebrating those who have what we don’t.

I spend a lot of time on public transportation. I also spend a lot of time walking the streets of two major California cities—San Francisco and Oakland. When I engage in both these activities, it is very apparent that many people are on edge. I can feel the angst, the smoldering anger, the anxiety, the depression of many I casually come in contact with in these arenas. I am able to sense their pain. I am also able to sense the same states in some of the people I know well and who I am close to as our paths cross either frequently or infrequently.

Misery Loves Company 

I have found that the above adage is far truer than I would like for it to be. At one point it played a very powerful role in my own life. No more. Still, it seems like every day I witness or become aware of at least a half a dozen examples of how powerfully true this axiom is in the lives of so many people.

Once I lost my job I became aware of a number of support groups for people who had recently been laid off. There were numerous reasons why I decided such a group was not for me. The main reason was that I was (and remain) in a state of joy around this unexpected blessing in my life and found it difficult to imagine how any support group could improve on that fact. Another of those reasons is that, as a trained therapist myself, and one who has lead or co-lead many support groups, I was very aware that such groups, even those with a highly skilled and aware group leader, often become little more than collective gripe sessions. It is very easy to fall into that type of consciousness whether one is in a support group or not.

So very specifically, if you have lost your job, celebrate those in your life who have not. If you have lost your home, bless those in your life who have consistent, reliable and safe housing. If an important love relationship has failed, send your blessings and support to those who have found love or who remain with the love of their lives.

And there's more. If your former love has found a new love, celebrate that as well. If you are depressed, silently sing along with the ever bright and cheerful ones you know. If you are anxious, take some solace in the knowledge that many people are not and praise God/Goddess/Universe for it. If you have experienced any other kind of loss of late, smile in recognition that others around you are in a state of bliss, a bliss that you too may once or once again know. And if you do not have peace of mind right now, be thankful for those in the world who do. For I tell you, and not just from a place of intellect or wishful thinking—from a place of experience and knowing as well, this is The Way. It is the only sane Way.

© Raven/Sage Mahosadha

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30 Days of Kindness and Beauty: The Completed Experiment

30 Days of Kindness and Beauty.

On August 31, 2009 I wrote the following note and posted it in my "Notes" section on my facebook page:

Several hours after adding my Sunday status update, I was thinking about many things. I was thinking about how most purveyors of news primarily view news items that consist of death, destruction, murder and mayhem as truly being newsworthy. I was thinking how that is incredibly insane. I was thinking about how this is also one of the many reasons I have not owned a television in more than 10 years and why I rarely read a newspaper. I was thinking about all the large and small acts of kindness and beauty that occur with impunity and unknown frequency all around the earth everyday. I was thinking about how jaded most of us have become, how ravenous we are for the next big scandal or large scale human tragedy to whet our appetites for melodrama and general rapaciousness. I was thinking of how children today grow up in a world where negativity and chaos are considered the norm. I was wondering how I, in any small way, can affect all of this and create a new simple and daily type of consciousness around it all.

As all of these thoughts were beginning to settle in I decided on the “30 days of kindness and beauty” project/experiment. This is what I am going to do for the next 30 days: For the next 30 days I am going to use my keen sense of observation. I am going to notice and record acts of kindness and beauty I experience personally or observe in the world around me. One of these acts will then become my status update for that day. I will do this for the next 30 consecutive days. Because of some events occurring in my life over the next several weeks, I may not be able to update my status on a daily basis, though that is my ultimate goal. Still, if I am unable to update my status daily I will still record the acts of kindness and beauty in my special daily kindness and beauty journal and will place them on my facebook page at the earliest opportunity I have.

May all Beings be Free!
Raven Mahosadha
08.31.09



Over the next 30 days I created a kindness and beauty journal and made it a point to observe any acts of kindness and beauty I happened to observe or became aware of and recorded them in the journal.

This process ended up taking me 2 months. That was not because there was any poverty of kind and beautiful acts to observe or become aware of. Rather, events in my life that were already scheduled sometimes prevented me from being out and about to observe such acts. Also, there is the fact that there were a number of days during this period where the days were spent mostly in solitude and meditation-- again, preventing me from being out and about and observing.

A few notes:

I don't want to be overly analytical about this project. I will say that it has brought me great joy to conceive, engage in and complete. This exercise was not designed to deny that troublesome things occur in the world and on a daily basis or to deny that people can sometimes engage in some very harmful and destructive acts and behaviors. Rather, it desires to be a testament to the power of the beauty of the human spirit and a testament to the fact that occurring simultaneously with the disturbing actions of humankind and I believe in far greater frequency, are all kinds of acts that attest to the inherent kindness and beauty of the Human Being.

Of the 30 acts recorded here, two are news stories other facebook friends brought to my attention. The first appears as #17. I usually credit friends whom I re-post from. This is one of the rare times I didn't. This is probably because I was so moved by the piece that I forgot to do that. So sadly, I do not remember who I got it from. The second appears as #27. My beautiful friend Kym K. brought that one to my attention. There is also a French short film that serves as one of the acts of kindness and beauty. It appears as #29 and is also a YouTube video. Beautiful friend Celia B. brought this to my attention. Number 11 is from President Obama's address to Congress and the nation on healthcare. Numbers 18 and 24 are from the lives of two friends of mine here in Oakland and when I became aware of these things I knew they needed to be included in this project. The remaining 24 items are all events I either directly observed or directly participated in.

I started out paying particular attention to the ethnicity and/or gender identity of people. That is because this began during a period where there was lots of craziness going on about President Obama being a racist and such and I wanted to bring some healing to this--to all the "otherness consciousness" that seemed at a fever pitch at that particular time. I believe that after #9 I don't make such references or at least do so with significantly decreased frequency.

So without further delay, here is a recap of the events I recorded in "30 Days of Kindness and Beauty." I honor all the Bodhisattva's whose actions are recorded here. Thank you for being my teachers.

11.03.09



1. I was waiting 4 a MUNI (San Francisco Municipal Bus/Transit Service) at its first stop last night. It was quite cold outside. The MUNI driver was taking a break several yards away before beginning his route. He stepped off the bus and walks to me and invites me to come sit on the bus for the rest of his break. He cited the cold as his motivation for his compassionate actions. He was an Asian American man. Random acts of MUNI kindness. May All Beings Be Free. 08.30 09

2. I was sitting by a window at a coffee shop in the Castro. On the other side of the window were two older white, gay men sitting at a table talking. A young African American man came up and asked them for a quarter. One of the men gave him a dollar. The young man said, "I have something for you too." He opened his backpack and handed one of the men a book. The book was "Peace is Every Step" by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. May All Beings Be Free.

3. I was on a bench in downtown San Francisco. An elderly Latina attempted to cross a very busy noontime Market Street intersection with two apparently very heavy suitcases in tow. The light changed. She had only made it halfway across the street. Traffic however, still stopped. And a blue and orange haired young woman got out of a nearby parked vehicle to help the elderly woman cross the street. May All Beings Be Free.

4. I saw a man with his young daughter, walking. And I saw a man walking with a seeing-eye dog. They were walking in opposite directions on the same street. At one point the daughter got away from her father, ran to the dog and hugged and kissed it on the nose. The father, embarrassed, apologized profusely. The man with the dog said, "Dogs and children belong together." May All Beings Be Happy. May all Beings Be Free.

5. I was on an extremely overcrowded city bus. Many people were standing. Somehow, near the front of the bus, a second grade white boy with his mom recognized a schoolmate standing near the back, a little black girl with her parents. They wanted to talk. There was no room. Three people gave up their seats so they + mom could be together. May All Beings Be Free.


6. I was sitting at a table. There was a newspaper on the table that I was not reading. A man came over and wrote a message on part of the newspaper and then left. The note said, "I love you Raven." The man was my partner John and we were at home. I love you too. May All Beings Be Free.

7. I boarded a long escalator at a BART station when I dropped my laptop (in its carrying case). I saw it continue to tumble down several moving stairs and then disappear from sight amidst legs, high heels and large pieces of luggage. Gone. Vanished. When I finally made it to the bottom, I was greeted by a broad smiling dread-locked brother who handed it back to me without a word, just a smile. May All Beings Be Free.

8. I saw a man giving a young boy drum lessons. This was occurring in a public space. A small crowd gathered. It became a performance of sorts. The young boy gained more confidence. The crowd enjoyed the young boys performance and applauded his efforts. The young boy was smiling from ear to ear. May All Beings Be Free.

9. I received pink and red roses from someone as a nice surprise. I hear they were purchased from an older Mexican woman in downtown San Francisco who obviously has at least one purpose in life of bringing smiles to peoples faces and more warmth to people’s hearts. May All Beings Be Free.

10. I witnessed a mutually loving encounter between a hummingbird and the white and purple flowers of a Meyer lemon tree. May All Beings Be Free.

11. I listened to someone speak these words yesterday: "that concern and regard for the plight of others – is not a partisan feeling. It is not a Republican or a Democratic feeling. It, too, is part of the American character. Our ability to stand in other people's shoes. A recognition that we are all in this together; that when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand." May All Beings Be Free.

12. I walked a nervous friend to the carpool location in Oakland heading to SF. This friend has had many negative experiences in the past with "strangers." Who one gets at the carpool is the luck of the draw. Who this friend got was a woman social worker who was going to the exact city block my friend was going to; miles from the regular drop off location. May All Beings Be Free.

13. I was in a Facebook discussion in the early morning lasting 3 hours with a total of 7 participants across the U.S. and a total of 173 comments made all commencing on my friend Caiomhin's Facebook page and that was civil and non-combative with vastly different opinions shared and maintained and all inspired by Caiomhin's simple question: "Why are humans here?" And without anyone ever exclaiming, "You lie!" May All Beings Be Free.

14. I sat on a downtown bench in San Francisco wanting to be alone. It was quiet. It was serene. I was content. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a person approached carrying a stack of "Street Sheets," the homeless newspaper. I begrudgingly prepared for the sales pitch. It never came. Instead came a Dharma talk about the beauty of the day. That's it. Oh, and a sparkling smile. Angels come in all types of packaging. May All Beings Be Free.

15. I was talking to a friend. I was talking about my grandfather. I talked about his gentleness. I talked about his support while growing up. A woman from a nearby table approached. She was teary eyed. She had overheard our conversation. She said it had made her day, given her hope. Her father and ex-husband had been abusive toward her. She was glad to hear there were still loving men in the world. May All Beings Be Free.

16. I listened intently and without the need to defend myself, argue or to make excuses as a trusted friend shared with me something I do in our relationship that he experiences as hurtful and not so much fun. And he is right. May All Beings Be Free.


17. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89164759

18. I am aware a young couple in Kaua'i, renting a condo on the island, had some wonderful food this week because as they were arriving, another couple who were about to depart the island, noticed them arriving and passed onto them their surplus food. May All Beings Be Free.

19. I know of a Chinese owned and operated restaurant in an upscale neighborhood in S.F. that ever so discretely passes out free meals to homeless persons. May All Beings Be Free.

20. I was walking in Oakland. I passed a house just as the owner was placing a beautiful box of fresh vegetables from the garden on the sidewalk for anyone to take as they wished. May All Beings Be Free.

21. I was crossing a busy intersection in Oakland and a car turning left onto the street I was crossing stopped and waited very patiently for me to cross and with no, absolutely no signs of "hurry up and cross" anxiety. May not seem like such a big deal. In urban centers, this is a big deal. May All Beings Be Free.

22. I had the absolute pleasure of being in a Safeway store in Oakland and being in Herman's checkout line. I do not believe I have ever encountered a grocery store checker who so thoroughly understood that providing good service to customers is a spiritual practice. Thank You, Herman. May All Beings Be Free.

23. I witnessed an Oakland Police Officer get out of his patrol car, go to a restaurant
and come out a few minutes later with his take-out order. On the way back to his patrol car he passed a seemingly homeless man. The police officer stopped, turned around and handed the food to the man, who seemed very surprised. The police officer then went back into the restaurant, came out a few minutes later with another container of food and got into his car. May All Beings Be Free.

24. I know of a woman who attended her first support group meeting only to be faced with another group member who was so distressed he was seriously considering ending his life. She had never met him before. After it was agreed he should check himself into a psych. ward, the woman asked and it was agreed that she could accompany him to give support and comfort to him while he awaited admission. May All Beings Be Free.

25. I was at a downtown San Francisco BART station when a blind woman appeared
close by, walking with a stick. Perhaps she got disoriented because she
edged perilously close to the edge of the platform. Most people watching this unfold seemed to be caught off guard/many of us just froze. Then a young girl approached her and guided her to safety, then offered her the extra piece of candy she had. May All Beings Be Free.

26. I went to a well known moderately priced eating establishment in Oakland. I wanted and ordered three very specific things from the menu, all favorites of mine. They had just sold out of one of the items so they gave me the other 2 items free of charge. Total savings = $6.45. May All Beings Be Free.

27. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/clerk-recounts-alleged-robbers-dramatic-change-heart/story?id=8887628

28. I was in a store in Oakland. A woman needed help reaching an item. I helped her. Several days later I ran into this same woman at a pizza place. She recognized me. She offered to buy my 2 slices. I let her. Later that same day I ran into a friend in a store. I paid for all his items. Some days later I ran into this same friend again. He told me that a few days earlier he had bought an ice cream for a young child whose mother couldn't find her money. All of these businesses were on Lakeshore Ave in Oakland, CA. Paying it forward on Lakeshore Ave. over 11 days. May All Beings Be Free.

29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jedd2FiZTqM

30. I watched a Bodhisattva in costume at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. He was amidst the many hustlers aggressively competing to see who could relieve tourists and others of their money the quickest with all sorts of gags and tricks. He was different. I watched him for a very long time. He just wanted to share love and laughter with anyone who came. Many came to him. I saw no money exchanged. May All Beings Be Free.

Amen, Namaste, Ase, mitakuye Oyasin/All My Relations, So Mote it Be, Shalom, Asalaam 'Alaykum. Om Shanti, Hari Bol, Blessed Be.

11.03.09

© Raven/Sage Mahosadha

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Namastè , Namaskara or Namaskaram

Here is my favorite interpretation of that Sanskrit word. It comes to us from Ram Dass: I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light, and of peace. I honor the place in you where, if you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us. Namastè

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