Oh, I haven't forgot about this place. I've just been swamped with work at my job and at school. Yeah, no time for nothing anymore.

Lately, though, I've been thinking. I know, what a dangerous thing to do! Seems not everyone really thinks anymore. At least not all the way through. I am beginning to observed impartial thought-processes (or at least not hearing the completed process), and I am beginning to wonder what's stopping it. Mainly, I speak of common people with everyday lives who normally would not know of this community nor share in our optimism. Oh, they would smile--maybe--and say, "Right on!" And then leave.

Big issues are popping up everywhere, which I deem worthy of every mind. Issues that could determine the future of our national society (US), and perhaps even the world. The shock of the loss of the old paradigm echoed everywhere, and off we marched to War. On Terror, on the Middle East, on Islam, on everything NOT US, and thereby ourselves. Amazing how much effort went into controlling perceptions, swaying opinions, convincing the people that a war of this size, magnitude, and disastrous nature was needed. Clinton pulled it off with a few tactical bombings and sanctions.

I cannot speak for the rest of the world because I live in America. Which is an odd thing to say. Not so long ago I said proudly--and arrogantly, I now realize--that I was a "global citizen" and not American or Cuban. I was wrong. I am so darn American it frightens me, though I tend to smile ruefully at the idea of it and shake my head... in acceptance.

Perhaps it is because there's nothing wrong with America itself. Perhaps because it takes so much goddamn effort to change what has, by now, been so deeply ingrained into my consciousness. But I am working within to change some of that.

Florida is a hell-hole. Things here seem bleak, hopeless. Laws and procedures keep blocking progress as it should be, and I am afraid we'll soon sink. If not under the rising sea levels, then perhaps under the morass of sordid idiocity. It could be so much better. This whole immigration issue should not be an issue at all. It is plain to see that Central American immigrants are simply the next wave to come along, to bring fresh blood to the Empire. I try to help as best I can. Which more or less consists of exercising my electoral rights and speaking my mind---quite aloud. They have stripped the common Joe of so much power--domesticated our species. Shameful, really, very shameful indeed.

Is it like this all over the world? Are people beaten and demoralized, crestfallen and stripped of power and rights, hopeless and denying their own power to change the world? Shoot... I know we can't make Eden/Utopia. But dreams/fantasy contain kernels of truth. Even the wildest ones.

With that I leave ya.
Merry Meet Again,
Dayan

Two springs lined up in congress after a particularly difficult and trying, dry time.

Old Spring brought with it talking pebbles, smoothly polished by long years of speech-making. It spoke of its dissatisfaction, of its sadness at the deafness of the two-leggeds who, too near for comfort, had polluted its waters to the point of destroying all life within. "And now they plan to dam my waters. To bottle up the flood!"

New Spring was listening raptuously to the Old Springs' melodious monologue. It felt most saddened that beings with such power should chose to be destructive rather than creative. But it did not know the answer to the Old Spring's problem, for it was very young and flowed only a few miles from its source. It had not the experience and the collected wisdom of the years. New Spring spoke with rushing words of heartfelt sympathy: "I am sorry for your loss, but I know not how to remedy this tragedy, and fear it might occur to me too, one day."

"There is one who knows. The Great One upon which we flow, whose rocks we tumble, and whose life find haven in our fresh, flowing waters." Old Spring said, but he was no longer sure of it. The Great One had not communicated with them in a long, long time. Though they tread their courses through Her, there was no soft murmuring, no music emanating from her soils, and rocks, and tree-roots.

"She is quiet even now," New Spring replied sadly.

And so the two springs parted ways, inmesurably saddened by their loss and their inability to speak with Mother Nature, and the human's deafness to their murmuring waters.

~*~

No happy ending, boys and girls. None has been written yet. It's up to us.

I am at the place of transition. Messges from Divine sources swoop low to herald new things--transformation is at hand! The Judgment Card was dealt not long ago and it still casts a shadow where some trees might grow--potential. I look ahead and see only a merging--of body and mind? I cannot tell, for now the powers of Fate to veil the future is stronger than this Sight that was gifted to me. I am walking, blind, into oblivion--and reawakening!

Halloween/Samhain seems to be an important date to mark in the calendar, but Yule is even more beconing--can't wait for the rebirth of the sun! It seems my inner sun went below the horizon, seeking rest for a few months, along with the switch in the natural world. The Goddess swallowed up Her sun! I hope Apollo wakes up in time...

The sky is an ocean of blue, an infite confine, a breath, alive.
All things contain life, for life exists in every place:
Every mountain, every stream, and yes, even deserts are alive.
Teeming, multiplying, complex and, endless;
Life is the perfection of all states,
Life is the goal and the accomplishment
Of a benevolent Mother that has gone unnoticed,
Unthanked, unregarded, and unloved, for too long.
She calls out to me, now, on this eve of waking,
And I see Her reflection in the smooth pond,
In the lofty clouds, and even in the air.
She is in everything, and everything is in Her.
I rise my face and lower my arms,
I welcome all her wonders, all her lives--
A million reincarnations in this world alone--
She weaves a web of endless form.
Oh, Mother, Queen, and Empress--Goddess!
You are without doubt the only truth
At the end of the journey, and I cling to you
For firmness and assurance that my path
Is not devoid of life, that I have not strayed
Outside of your emerald/saphire kingdom.
I sink my feet deep into the sands of time
And borrow wisdom lost to all record,
And find you, there and everywhere
Crowned in flowers, branches or thorns,
Crowned with life and stars so glorious
As to lift my heart from this meaningless assumption
That I have been alone, when indeed
You have been and are always with me.

I was in a lush forest, on a platform high above the foliage. It was built around the trunk of the highest, richest tree. And it was the home to a witch/wise woman very skilled in the Arts. I had here to this spot, climbed the tree and all, to seek her out. My soul wanted to see her, though the intangible me-within did not say why. When I came into her hut, built around the tree trunk, she sat on a stool facing a raised stove, swirling a ladle into a cauldron--possibly brewing a potion, or cooking lunch? She felt me enter, and turned around to look at me in hard scrutiny.

She said, "Boy, why haven't you grown up into a tree yet?"

"Because I chose not to," I was a sappling, an animated tree no higher than a few feet, my body was covered by fresh bark, my branches barely sprouting green leaves.

"Because you're scared of it!" She bit back and came pacing towards me, then turned right a few feet, and gathered more ingredients to her potion--certain roots are never used for lunch, no matter who you're serving to.

She was an old woman, stooped and graying. Though she must have been near 100, her hair still retained much of its auburn quality, while stray grays showed everywhere--it was as if she was fighting a losing battle with aging, and I wondered why. Her stocky frame ambled from place to place, as if she wobbled on two feet, rather than properly walked. She was human, alright, but too wild now after all these years. Not one in the forest, save perhaps the oldest trees, remembered her life story. The middle aged tree-wives often whispered darkly: "Maybe it is best no one remembers where she came from, or who she used to be. She's mad, you know, mad!"

She did not seem so mad now, but wise, infinitely wise. "You need to put your roots into the ground, sweetie. Too long to wait for just the right moment, just the right soil, just the right water."

"Then, why do I wait?" I asked saddened. But, this was what I wanted. This was why I had come to her.

"Because you hope for better things," her voice was soft, kind. "We all hope for better things, and wait and wait for them till we're old dried up husks." She looked at me, deep into my soul with those lidded, burrowing eyes.

I understood, she did not have to speak. I dashed out of the door and jumped down from the height into the ground. She nearly flung herself out with me, but stopped at the edge and yelled: "Where are you going!?"

I yelled back, "To the forest where I can finally grow!"

Somehow, meshing words together seems very appealing to me... perhaps it reveals a bit about thought... who knows?

Anyway, into the kosher meat of the argument:

Today I went to Barnes & Noble and sat cross legged on the floor of the New Age section, my FAVORITE section, and meditated for a while--something I haven't done in a great while. Immediately I felt the difference, the relief, and the surreal reality of Inner Mind one enters, it was very refreshing. I decided to channel some energy from Mother Earth up through the chakras and out towards the Universe, like a tree--one of my favorite meditations. I did not realize how much I missed meditating and doing this! I was in Heaven, almost literally. Then I quieted my mind, which took less effort than I consciously expected, and listened to the Earth energy for any messages.

A memory of a post I had made on another forum came to my mind. It was a memory (it IS a memory) of my desire to bring spirituality and spirit-energy into the common earthly relam and experience. Then, I realized, as I listened to Mother Earth's quiet humming energy that I was not thinking about it right. It works totally the opposite way around!

Mother Earth provides the raw energy in the form of Matter which is taken in by lifeforms in order to undergo the chemical processes of metabolism and turn it into protein which is digested by cells and in part offered to the brain, which does not only coordinate the functions of the body, but creates a pathway that maps experiences, thoughts, emotions, memories, and knowledge learned in life. The more complex the brain of an organism, the greater the reality it can create based on the sheer amount of perceptive, cognitive, and memory power it is equipped with.

Humans have an exceptionally large and complex brain. Not that we're special in any way, because She considers all her creatures/children equally special, and some more than others (hint, not us!). Mother Earth is an indescriminate provider to all Her children. We just happened to come along, almost by error. Human evolution, however, is not meaningless--it is our ancestor's unique adaptations to their environment. Big, complex brains capable of cognition, were chosen over arboreal or ape-like lifestyles. It worked, it flourished and complexified as all things in Nature do.

However, with our large brains we are capable of so much that previous life forms were not quite able to do! It is here that our cycle manifests itself. The base chakra receives the raw energies from the Earth, transforming it into finer energies according to the capabilities and predispositions of one's mind. As it reaches the crown chakra, it explodes into another world or plane of existence--a burst of spiritual brilliance and transcendance.

There is a subtle change in this philosophy that makes all the difference. In the previous (bringing spirit into matter) it is assumed that Spirit exists as complete, and that it must come into matter to "animate it" with life and brilliance. It necessarily casts the Earth as lacking and empty/lifeless. Yet, with my new philosophy, I understand that it is the Earth Herself that is complete and radiant--Matter is the starting point, the origin. Spirit is as of yet incomplete, for if we must "refine" the raw energy of the Earth into the brilliance of Spirit, then, through our bodies, this higher plane of existence evolves.

Put this way: the more complex the brain/mind, the more capable it is of higher cognition, the greater the forays into the spiritual realms we undertake. Necessarily, as life forms, we come to exist not only rooted on Mother Earth, but also with our heads in the lofty clouds of the Heavens. Through our random evolution of the mind, something that cannot be stopped now or ever, we slowly grow as tall as trees, reaching into the metaphorical sky--we become transdimensional beings inhabiting so many different levels at once!

I do not claim that this is true above all else--that would be fallacy, for if it is true at all, then ALL things are true. Now that I explore this into deeper terrain, as I write this, it seems to tie in so many random thoughts and revelations I've experienced throughout all these nearly 7 years of spiritual searching. But most importantly of all, it satisfactorily ties in my chosen answer of "Why we're here?" The answer: to grow, to evolve, to transcend. It does not involve negating the physical in any way, for the physical is the foundation, and indeed, the physical is the Source from which we'd draw our vast imagination (since all works of creativity are just immitations of Nature). Furthermore, our eventual destiny does not lie in a higher realm far off from this one, at the zenith of our evolution, we will not leave this world of sensual pleasures. We will, however, simultaneously inhabit a loftier world of Spirit.

We've been moving in that direction for such a long time, and ever since civilizations started up, we've made leaps and bounds--progressing far faster than our ancestor species, and our animal kin. One can only guess that we're spiralling on a Fibonnaci spiral, speeding towards a point of "Singularity"--except, that I would call it the Second Big Bang. And, except that it will be more like a soft, soft whimper--a glorious realization that we're here, there, and everywhere!

I have realized, that without quote noticing, I have found myself on a different path. I have been energized by this wonderful place, changed--and electron added or taken away? I feel:

Happy
Accomplished
Satisfied
Deeply,
Lovingly Inspired

And quite ready for anything.

Around my neck I'm wearing a Buddhist prayer bead necklace I bought at a local Wiccan store on Saturday. I've always wanted to get one, but being poor, and their prices being rather steep, I was never able. Saturday, I found my favorite one (mahogany, or dark red-brown smooth beads) at half the price it usually is. No mistake, no discount, it just was. So now it is hanging around my neck. I've spent all weekend either holding it, wearing it, or hanging it around a Buddha statue in my room. Charging it up!

Now I feel like I am able to take some small, but consequential steps in a long road to fulfillment, if not Enlightment. I feel so ready that it is almost crazy that I have to go to class today and not travel abroad learning from all sorts of people.

People are important--facts are lifeless without them. People! If you do not account for the human component, no plan is complete, no story real.

Ok, I'll stop rambling ;).

Blessings to ALL!
Dayan