What Do I See?

 What do I see when my mind has locked onto the seed of judgement? 

Better to change the channel of my thinking, rather than darken the being of another with old formations not based in the present nor within reality.  Rather than to darken my own being too by piling up more misinformation.   Fracture the habit by listening to another instead of entertaining my judgements.  But oh the lock of habits can have me in cuffs before I'm aware.  By fostering my awareness,  I may have a chance to twist away from the grip of habit and turn towards the dawn of awakening.

Slow my thinking and thwart the arising of judgement.  In other words - Pay attention.  See the flower before me, not my imagined illustration.

Photo by Peter James

Why What Where ... When

Where is the boundary when light becomes dark?

What
           is
                 being
                            defined
                                                                               here?

As the dictionary states:

in a manner so as gradually to approach indefinitely near, though never to meet.

                                What then is the act of the approach?

Why?

Knot?

The whorl of the world

resembles a non-self-intersecting closed curve in space,

while a patterns volution is notional.

Nascent deflections edge asymptotically

 where?

                                                  when

Photo by kawabexmleka

Reflection and Gratitude

 Music is a benevolent presence constantly and readily available to all.

 Guitar Craft Aphorism. 

 I am ever so grateful for those moments when music has been available to me.   Ever so grateful when musicians have been available to me and even more grateful when someone listens.  What a gift that has been bestowed upon me through the guitar.

May my work reflect a portion of that gratitude, a portion of the love and benevolence that has been extended to me.   May I do the work needed to be open and available to the Presence.  May I remember my debt and be diligent in my offerings.  Life is short, isn't it.  Time to play, while I still can.

Photo by David Ohmer

Remembrance

August.  Always a challenge for me.  And an opportunity.  Spread out over decades I lost my Mother, Sister and Brother in the first 9 days of August.  A time to be close to those I love.  A time to remember.  Music helps me to remember and to connect.  Songs from my youth that were family favorites.  Specific pieces playing on the radio that bring back special times, special smiles.

There are pieces that arrived in my heart and hands as I have mourned them.  Two actually for my sister Elegy and Forgive Me.  Matka Boska for Mom and Forget-Me-Knot for my Brother.  On each of their respective days I play for them, play for me and my wife.  I am Blessed to have known them, to have been loved by them and to love them.  Life goes on, the losses mount as do the memories.  Keep the good ones.

Photograph by Peter James

Raef

raef

That's fear backwards

Philippe Petit

What is music without an audience?

I have learned that the audience is the Mother to Music.

Fortunately I tended not to fear my Mother,

but oh I how I feared an audience.

Now I know this fear of an audience is backwards.

And the way I learned it was through.

With guitar in hand, notes in mind and hope in my heart, (along with various iterations of fear)

over and over.

The mirror reflecting my fear

and the act of performing becoming my path.

Now the fear is I not find a suitable venue to perform within.

The path continues ...

Necessitate the Impossible

What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible.

Theodore Rothke

And then some.  

I never thought it was possible for me to perform music with out fear.

Let alone to perform my own music.

Even more so that anyone other than family or friends would care to listen.

In Guitar Craft I have seen that the impossible is possible.

Once seen, one can do the work to approach the impossible.

What are you doing Now?

Photo courtesy of NASA