THE GASMAN COMETH

I awoke to brilliant Sunshine! The Sun comes up at 5:30 AM this time of year. I was up at 4:30 [bathroom visit] and noticed it was already getting light. I was a little surprised, that it began to get light, a full hour before dawn. You would think, at my age, I would have all those things nailed down. I don't. I see wonders every day that should be old hat. But then, everything is new. Every time we open our eyes, our perception treats us to something different. We live in a marvelous, ever changing, beautiful world.

I am waiting for the gas man. I need to assist him, running his hose through the flower garden, and pay him. We have a Wolf restaurant style kitchen range that runs on propane. We have a one hundred gallon tank that we fill in late Spring and late Autumn. I kept checking it these last couple months and there was always plenty left. These last two weeks, it came to my mind several times, but I was doing something else and I didn't check it. Monday, I looked at it and there was less that two percent. It was Memorial Day, so they were closed. Fortunately we have crock pots we can use.

I don't like running out of gas because the pilot light is a bear to light. I learned a new trick, but I used to have to lay on the floor, and insert a long match or a lighter through a small hole, and heat up a thermo-couple, while depressing a button until the pilot light would ignite and become steady. I did not like doing this and my old bones no longer like laying on the kitchen floor, not to mention getting up and down.

Last year we had the repairman out [to replace that very thermo-couple] and he took out the bottom of the oven and lit the pilot light from the above. Since then, the pilot light did go out for some reason, and I was able to replicate his procedure. Wow- that was a lot easier on the body. However, it entailed several steps. I still don't want to run out of gas!

I don't feel like writing more about the mind today. It is an amazingly beautiful day, and I just want to go out on the deck, and drink my coffee, and wait for the gas man.

I might say, we need to realize, that the vast majority of thoughts we have, serve no purpose. They are often vaguely disguised judgements. It is possible to go through the day with a quiet mind. Our minds do not have to comment on everything we perceive. A sunset, is just as beautiful, without our minds commenting on it. A flower is just as wondrous. In fact thinking often detracts from the beauty of what we perceive. When we are not building something or trying to figure something out, we don't need thoughts. Even while doing a creative project, ideas and guidance, often comes to us without thought.

Peace and love are experienced with a minimum of thought. We can use our minds constructively or destructively. And that is where thought and the creation of our reality stands.

More on Friday.

Love and Peace, Gregg

OUR MINDS V and MEMORIAL DAY

With temperatures in the 50s F and cloudy skies, it doesn't seem like the Holiday that introduces Summer. Memorial Day is always somewhat iffy in the weather department. I love Minnesota even with its undependable seasons.

I love Holidays too. My first memories of Memorial Day were going to a large park-like cemetery and after visiting some graves we would have a picnic. We would go with my grandparents, I assume the departed were relatives on my Grandmother's side. I was quite young and this was before World War II started. I was five in 1940, perhaps it was around that time.

I think it is great, that we honor those who have fallen in War. It troubles me when some aspects of the celebration become an advertisement for war. War has never solved any of our problems. We need to be careful we don't justify war, because otherwise, we may feel a loved one died unnecessarily. It is a time when patriotism blossoms. Patriotism, as love and respect for one's country, is wonderful. Patriotism meaning, we are better than everybody, else is dangerous. Sometimes patriotism morphs into a justification for war.

Haven't we learned by now that going to war with our problems doesn't solve anything? How successful was the War on Drugs? How about the War on Poverty?

It troubles me, that people of good faith may deal with our problems, by jumping into a Cause. There is nothing wrong with Causes, simply as an idea. In practice they often postulate enemies [those opposed to their idea]. They create good and bad people. Folks are seen as evil rather than mistaken. Those in the Cause, buy into beliefs that they don't examine, so they don't know if they are the mistaken ones. A group can develop, a powerful belief, that they are in the right. A groups function, often, is to reinforce each others sense of correctness.

If we pay attention, we will see, that attacking another's position, generally makes them more stubborn in the adherence of their belief. Rarely, will accusing others of being wrong convince them.

We want to change the world. We can only do that with love and respect. If we are sure we have the most loving position, we hold to it, and express it as best we can. If we are truly loving and peaceful, the others will see. We will gain nothing with ridicule and demonization.

We are going through a major chaotic period on the National and World stage. Are we going to solve our problems, with opposition and war, or are we going to solve them with Love and Peace? Let us extend love to those outside of our tent. Those outside will not be able to resist love.

Love is the only power that will bring the changes we want. Paradise beckons.

Love and Peace, Gregg

OUR MINDS IV

It is almost 1:30 PM and I am just sitting down to write. I had some things I needed to do this Morning. Well, here I am, what should we discuss.

It is a beautiful day. Summer is back and it is a very surprising 80 F. It wasn't supposed to be this warm.

I will continue discussion of the Our Minds next week. Today I just want to look at one aspect, belief. I have mentioned, many times, we must give up our beliefs if we are to 'see'. I am going to discuss Causes in a future blog. Today, I want to mention one pitfall. Most of us, who embrace Causes, do so because of an assumed injustice or need, and we tend to have open hearts, and are very earnest about doing the 'right thing'.

However, when the right thing makes us feel righteous, we need to be aware. Righteousness is a function of ego and it can have almost a narcotic effect. We want to be good and we want to be helpful. The feeling of righteousness can compensate for fear that one is not worthy.

When we join in with others, in a good Cause, we may be blinded to the belief systems [or just the little beliefs] we take on without full examination. We may not notice, being involved in the Cause, requires we judge other people. We may accept information, as well grounded, that we don't really understand. I will examine Causes further at some later time. I am using it as an example today, to point out how we can take beliefs on, without even being aware we are doing so.

Once, we accept a belief, it is religion. We don't question it, regardless of how ridiculous it may be. It creates a block to future learning.

We need to become seekers and not believers. Belief always blocks learning. I always say, “The only belief is the belief in love.” But, even that, need not be a belief; it is a discovery. We discover that love is the only thing there is. I have been finding that out every day.

I wasn't going to label this as part of my OUR MIND series but I guess it is. Or I could have named it, BEWARE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

I have yet to do my dishes. It is a small job, but I have to get on with my day.

Have a Happy Friday! 
 

Love and Peace, Gregg

OUR MINDS III

 

We are going through a cool period. We should have highs in the 70F this time of the year and we are lucky to have highs in the low 60s. Well it is Minnesota and we have lived through this before; at least it isn't snowing.

We have lots of Hostas in our perennial gardens, over fifty I am sure. We have had chickens for the whole time we lived here. Why do they pick this year to eat them? They don't pick at every plant, but they have damaged several, and one would have been eaten to the ground if I didn't protect it. These things come and go and we wonder why? I have an area where I raise apple trees. For over twenty years the deer didn't bother them. Then, suddenly, two years ago they started eating them. They especially enjoyed a Honeycrisp, to the point, where every new bud and branch were quickly pruned. I finally protected it with a wire screen. It will take years to catch up with trees planted the same year. When do I dare remove the screen? The deer population seemed to be stable during these years; although, I wouldn't know that for sure. I know the same number seem to visit our yard every day throughout the year. So it isn't like they just stumbled across them.

Life on this planet seems to go like that. Things change and we don't know why. Perhaps they go in cycles and my apple trees will experience another twenty year period without deer feasting on them.

I have been going through a period of intense learning. I have become keenly aware of how my thoughts create my mood and affect my perception. I don't know, if my decision to blog about the Mind, triggered this off. I think it has everything to do with my intent to get my act together. I don't want to be crazy. I want to be peaceful all the time. I am becoming more tuned in to how I entertain destructive thoughts; which is any thought, that leads to our lack of peace, or the lack of peace of others.

We can identify triggers that will encourage negative thinking and we can, also, find keys that help us escape negativity when it happens. I have developed an array of things, I say to myself, when I find myself in a bad place. More helpful, is finding a key, that will help us empty our minds of all activity. Transporting ourselves to a quiet place inside is most helpful. I think we will learn to do this even when we are in the midst of a dark or chaotic episode. As a practice, it is useful to seek that quiet place inside, at least, a couple times a day. Imagine the core of our being is unconditional love [Oneness], imagine taking our little self to meet with the One Self. Just sit in peace with the One Self for a few minutes. It is healing. It is energizing.

I know there is evidence of the awakening all around; part of my craziness is I haven't been seeing it as much as I could. The allure of the craziness of the world is very alluring, indeed. No, I don't take my own advice. I stare into the idiot box way too much, or should I call it the tell-lie-vision. Believe me there is no truth to be told in the main stream media.

Lets look at our minds; what encourages constructive thinking? What encourages destructive thinking?

We will continue this discussion on Friday.

Love and Peace, Gregg

OUR MINDS ll

I awoke to blazing Sunshine; a great relief after several rainy days. It has been cloudy off and on but mostly Sunny, since arising. Jamie and I celebrate 44 years of marriage today. We often, don't remember, until the day has worn on. I sometimes get confused, because May 22^nd is also the birthday of my favorite Aunt and mentor. At the time, we got married, I wasn't remembering it was her birthday. So I wonder, is our anniversary the 22^nd or the 23^rd? In six years we will have a big celebration.

The confusion of the mind. Speaking of which; [the mind not the confusion] I would like to use the next few blogs talking about our minds and how we think. I have been aware lately of the danger of causes to our thinking process and consciousness. Later this week I plan to address this. Of course, I never know what I am going to write, so one must take my planning with a portion of salt.

Today I would like to talk more about that simple concept I brought up last week. It is so easy to talk about having no thoughts and only constructive thoughts etc. Wow, simple but so hard to do. Yes, I have been practicing for forty years. Don't take that as discouraging. I don't. I have made progress. Once we accept the idea intellectually, that our thoughts create our reality, we need to experience it, again and again, to convince ourselves at all levels. Then, when we try in ernest, our egos seem to get charged up and begin their attack in earnest. The ego does not want to relinquish control. Thoughts that generate, fear, doubt, worry and anxiety are the egos favorite method of control. This is an ongoing struggle but we can learn to deal with this aspect of our thinking. We can say, “this is not my thought” and let it go. Our teachers remind us not to give feeling to one of these thoughts. Adding feeling gives it some reality or at least invites the thought back to try again. Make no value judgement of the thought. We are not, good or bad people, because we had the thought.

Certain thoughts have persistence over time. They usually come from blocked off places in our consciousness that are caused by encysted hurts that we have not full dealt with. They may be hurts from our childhood and not readily accessible. When we find ourselves being plagued by a repeating negative thought, we can let ourselves feel the thought and sink deeply into our consciousness to remember the occasion that originated it. Whatever, the trauma, we then forgive all participants, especially ourselves. This is the only time, when we should allow feelings, to be attached to negative thought; when we are seeking its origin, to rid ourselves of the negativity.

Regardless of where the destructive thought comes from, it will eventually stop repeating if we can avoid giving feelings to it. If we can just let the thought float through our mind, it will drift harmlessly away. This takes practice as we often judge a thought as bad, hence giving it energy to torture us.

We like our thoughts, and we can get addicted to following them, where ever they go, even when they take us to hell. It is hard to be convinced, that no thoughts are truly neutral, and if the thought is not constructive, it is destructive. It is a great help to have, some emptying of the mind experience, to realize how blissful no thoughts can be. Folks, who have had good meditative experiences, are a leg up in learning how to control the mind.

Many of us are plagued by thoughts of the past, whether they are negative or positive, they are the past. Even positive thoughts, from the past, can lead to thinking we don't want if pursued. I have been saying to myself, “I only allow love, from the past, to come into my present”, whenever an image of the past comes to my mind. It seems to help.

Everybody needs to create the strategies that work for them. We all make up different things we will say to ourselves. Once we realize, that our thoughts are what make us unhappy or happy; that it is our thoughts that color our perception and determine what we see and experience; we are at the threshold of taking control of our mind and thus living life.

I have touched on this subject many times before. I need the reminder.

I need to get the dishes done and go to town with Jamie.

Love and Peace, Gregg

OUR MINDS

It is gloomy out. I am not! I had an excellent sleep and woke up, raring to meet the day. I have been struggling lately, but that is behind me, for now. Jamie ran across a posting on the internet that reminded me I had to get back to the basics.

Here it is verbatim:

It doesn't take a Buddha, rocket scientist or genius to discover and understand three basic truths- three levels of living life.

TRUTH ONE, LEVEL ONE

No Thoughts

TRUTH TWO, LEVEL TWO

Constructive Thoughts

TRUTH THREE. LEVEL THREE

Destructive Thoughts

EVEN SIMPLER

What a person thinks.......... he is

Most people eventually learn that living on Level One [no thoughts] and Level Two [constructive thoughts] serves them best.

If you want to enjoy all that is life you'll spend most of your time on Level One [no thoughts] and on Level Two [constructive thoughts] [as needed] and never sink to Level Three, EVER.

IF YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL OF YOUR MIND and its thoughts, who is?

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Nem.

End of posting.

I don't know who to give credit for this. He/she gave the name of Nemesis. I tried to find who it was and couldn't. I have seen postings by this person before.

Most of us know this. We have seen this information given in various ways, many times before. However, the succinctness of the message appealed to me and it came when I needed a reminder to pay attention to how I was thinking.

It helps, especially when were going through this period, when it seems like craziness is the dominate force in our world.

Yes, we can keep our peace. We can keep open and loving hearts and minds. We can bless all we meet. We can bless the world.

Happy Friday! Celebrate!

Love and Peace, Gregg

GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO

We were expecting rain last night and didn't get a drop. I could hear low, constant rumbling from the South, for an hour or so, before I went to bed. The noise was very far away, I assume it was thunder. It was supposed to rain most of the day. It doesn't look like it is going to, and they have lowered the forecast to only a 30 to 40% probability. It is somewhat disappointing. We are not desperate for rain, but it is good to get the ground well charged up this time of year. I can't complain because we got about an inch and a quarter over the last three days.

I noticed that somebody was reading some of my blogs from a couple years ago. Somebody from Russia, I believe. I read a few of the blogs, they looked at, and was impressed at how wise and learned I was. Good writing too. But then, I am aware that I struggle with the same things. When do we become sane? Reminds me of the song, “Still crazy after all these years.” I am not really discouraged, just acutely aware that 'growing up' is a life long process. In my 83^rd year it would be nice to say, “I am all grown up!” But I am not. So much we know intellectually, we find ourselves failing emotionally.

It is obvious if we value patience, we need to be patient. If we want peace, we need to be peaceful. Et cetera, et cetera. Yet I find myself being impatient, with somebody else's difficulty, with being patient. Or, getting riled up because they are not peaceful; we often find ourselves matching what we see as irritable in others.

If we really, really value ourselves, and know that we are okay; we don't need to look for validation in those around us. We know nobody can hurt us. When someone throws verbal slings and arrows, we can know it is their problem, and not ours, and it is the only way they can call for love, at this given time. All we need to do is embrace them with love in our minds.

We need to practice with the little stuff. As we go through the day, and we feel somebody has an irritable tone in their voice, we don't have to react to it in kind. We can catch ourselves and say something peaceful or even soothing. {It has to be genuine or it would sound condescending} The principle is, that we can always meet a positive with a negative. We can maintain our center; we can radiate peace, we can radiate love. We don't need to be knocked out of the circle of self-regard we have. We never have to doubt, that we are lovable.

The closer the relationship, the more difficult it is to keep an even keel, when we feel an arrow has been thrust in our heart. If we really, have no doubt of our worthiness, the arrow will not penetrate or it will dissolve. The more we become comfortable with who we are, the less likely we are to react to someone else's drama.

It is possible to make an intent not to react to incoming negatives, except to answer impatience with patience; anger with love; discord with peace; and always remember we are love. One is calling for love, in their pain, the other can give it. We are both love.

I do practice this and I know I have made progress and I have seen the possibility of major discord being prevented; yet 'growing up is hard to do'. That isn't a song, is it? No matter how much progress we make, we sometimes find ourselves backsliding. Sometimes we still get our feelings hurt and act like idiots. When that happens, lets just remind ourselves, we have more to learn and more practice to do. We can only go forward. We know we are loving beings and we know we are going in the direction of realizing it fully, we cannot fail. A loving universe surrounds us. We are One; with each other and the Universe.

Love and Peace, Gregg

A MARVELOUS MONDAY

 

Wow! We have had a succession of beautiful days here on laughing water Farm! Spring was in brilliant display for the few days and Summer made it's debut yesterday. It was over 80F.

Naomi, Elijah and Noah joined us for a Mother's Day celebration. We ate out on the deck [homegrown roasted chicken, sweet potatoes and asparagus] and stayed out until dusk. We had a great time.

The Morning didn't start out great for me. Have you ever had one of those days where you step into a hole? Suddenly everything looks bleak. I was fine when I awoke, but suddenly, I catapulted into a pit of [what?] despair. Perhaps. I am not sure. I think the recent events triggered some concern for my mortality. Not death. What leads up to it. The physical deterioration, the mental lack of acuity. At my age, just moving the body around, reminds us of the time limits we are dealing with.

I have learned that happiness is a decision I make. Some of you folks know that already, the rest will learn it. No matter what, we can find something to be thankful for, and bring our consciousness out of the muck. Sometimes we don't want to, we just want to wallow around in the muck [self-pity?] for awhile. That is where I was at.

Elijah arrived and I decided I would do some grandpa things. That would brighten me, right? I called Elijah and took him out to where a bleeding heart was blooming. I selected a flower with the proper back curl and we sat on the deck and I begin to show him the magic of this flower. I opened it up and showed him the two bunny rabbits, then the pair of slippers and finally the baby bottles. He looked at it without expression and then said, “I already know about that.” Well, paradoxically, this lightened my mood better than if he had been enthusiastic. Yes, only I am in charge of my happiness.

I learned, the bleeding heart flower magic, from my Great Aunt Grace, she would be around 115 if she were still living. If you haven't seen it, then you need to ask an old friend, relative, neighbor, maybe a Grandpa; somebody of your acquaintance knows it.

I will be happy this day! I hope you are too!

I have a pile of dishes to wash and a kitchen to clean. Have a marvelous Monday.

Love and Peace, Gregg

GETTING READY

It is Donna's Memorial Service today. I am not going to address the emotions of the last few months. I hope the service is a celebration of Donna's release and I hope joy can be seen shining beneath the tears.

In this short note I am only going to deal with the mundane. Off and on, I thought, what am I going to wear to the service? For years, I wore a tie and jacket to work. It was the uniform. I had about six sport jackets and huge collection of ties. I have been retired for 17 years. What do I have up there in my closet?

It turns out, not much. Where are all my ties? “You don't remember?” asks a significant member of the household, “We gave them to the thrift store.” “Oh” I reply. I vaguely remember. A quick inventory discoveries two shirts, one tie [that Noah had borrowed so it escaped the thrift store trip] and a blue blazer, with a small but discernible hole, that looks like it might be a burn mark. Or perhaps a moth?

Well, I guess, this old man in his 83^rd year, will not be dressed in fine raiment. That same significant member of the household says, “You always look good.” Well, I hope she is right!

The trip is about an hour and one half. We need to leave shortly after Noon. I have got a few chores to do. See you on Monday!

Happy Friday! Celebrate Life!

Love and Peace, Gregg

DEMONIZATION

We have had a series of beautiful days on Laughing water Farm. Today it is cloudy but it is still great. It is nearly 70F. I finally got the sticks picked up in the yard, so I can mow when the urge strikes me. Our lawn is large and varied. Some areas won't need mowing for a couple weeks, other places could use it now. We have lots of trees and there are places where the grass has been shaded out. I had made the job, of picking up the sticks, bigger in my mind than it actually was. However, we did have more branches come down through the Fall, Winter and Spring than we ever had. We have several Soft Maples and they love to strew twigs and branches.

I expected some comments on my last blog. Climate change has become a litmus test for identifying as an intelligent liberal. I was hoping I was both. Can we be skeptical too? I didn't think, it was an issue, that one needed to believe or not believe. Clearly, the government had no plans to do anything about it. And, the idea that, what was it, 97% of scientist agreed that climate change was man made, struck me as a little ridiculous. In real life it is hard to get any two to agree on something. But the point of my discussion here, is that, the discussion got shut down before it could start. It was stated as a terrifying fact, and any attempt to discuss it, was demonized and any dissent from the gospel labeled one as a denier and beyond the pale. So things, become so polarized, that the believers never get to see the other possible explanations. The simple examination of the Planet's climate history gets lost.

When did we start demonizing those we disagree with? We certainly have become successful at it.

Being old, I have the benefit of some historical perspective. I was in the Air Force when the idea of UFOs became widespread. In 1954-5 I had a good friend whose father was a physicist at Los Alamos. His son told me his father saw a UFO and it was an open discussion among his colleagues. I remember discussions, about the presence of aliens, was common over dinner. Unlike the discussion about climate change, the demonization of UFO believers was gradual. I think it was still okay to bring it up in a conversation in the '70s, although there was a danger of being labeled a kook. It took a while, but most discussion in polite society, has been squashed.

We have become better and better at demonizing. The current measles outbreak reminds me of another situation. I spent the latter half of my career in Children's Mental Health. I was the supervisor of a children's mental health unit for a large metropolitan county and I finished up my career as the Program Manager for the Family and Children's Services. When I first began in 1962, I worked with a caseload of disturbed and disturbing children [the agencies labeling not mine]. Autism was unheard of, it was a classical disease known mostly to scholars. I don't think I worked with a child, so diagnosed, until much later. In the late seventies and eighties autism began showing up in schools. During the eighties we had regular meetings with special education teachers and their supervisors trying to find ways to deal with the increase in this diagnoses. We all wondered, what is this all about? What is causing this? When some researchers linked the mercury, used as a preservative, in vaccines as the cause of autism. Many people listened. But not for long; the demonization, of the offending researchers, was quick and their believers were labeled anti-vaxers. I didn't get a chance to hear any open discussion about the matter. Soon, I began to hear, the research was debunked. Nobody said, how it was debunked. I never had a chance to make up my mind. If vaccinations have nothing to do with autism, that would be great, but where is the reassuring research? Am I just suppose to accept the fact that it has been debunked?

This has been happening with greater frequency and we as a society have been getting better and better at demonizing those who think outside the box. We love that expression -but we don't want anybody to do it.

The dark have successfully herded us into pens labeled with various political and ideological descriptions. We are told what we are to believe, and don't you dare escape your pen, or visit in somebody else's. We are constantly being pitted against each other, so we don't see what is going on.

We don't need anybody to tell us what to think. We can train ourselves to see.  

When we finally give up our beliefs, it will be like fresh air, wafting through, our minds and hearts. If we have to believe something, let us just believe in Love. We will see the truth.

Love and Peace, Gregg 

Note: Early readers may have noticed I spelled demonization wrong. My spell check said so. I used their substitution which was an entirely different word. Hmmmmm I didn't trust myself. 

BELIEF SYSTEMS

It looks like Spring has taken a firm hold in Laughing Water Farm. It is cool in the Morning, but it is bright and Sunny and there is such promise of life and new beginnings.

I want the world to look like that to me. Sometimes it does and sometimes I am counting the maggots on the rotting corpse. We cannot usher in a new world by having negative attachment to the old one. On the other hand, we can't really slow down the emergence of the new world. We can only delay our joy, at the realization of the new, by focusing on the old.

Part of our awakening is realizing what a fraud the old world is. So many of the causes we have embarked on, both us liberals and conservatives, have been engineered by the dark, as a way of keeping us divided, and seeing what was really going on. Some of the causes, that have been most precious to us, may be contaminated by this manipulation.

I just read that George Soros gave millions of dollars to Al Gore's foundation to create, an idea in the mind of the public, that global warming was an imminent danger and was created by man. I would need to do further research to know if this is true, but if it is, it has been enormously successful. It has been an extremely divisive issue. It has created tremendous turmoil in many groups. It has focused the minds of environmentalist on this issue and created a camouflage, so that industry could go on polluting as usual. Everybody was focusing on carbon, an essential and harmless element, while pollution of our air and water went on unabated.

Two other things that bother me about this issue is: one; where is the realistic plan to do anything about it. Why not pass legislation outlawing the suspected pollution? I did not see any effort in congress to do so, even when it was controlled by the Democrats. Cap and Trade is a fraud. Follow the money, it just makes the rich richer; thus does carbon taxes, it takes money from the ordinary citizen who is struggling to survive. How is that going to reduce carbon emission? Whose day dream is that? The second thing, that bothers me, is the way data is collected. It is not convincing, and manipulating data with a computer, is not necessarily science.

I do not know if global warming is a reality or not. I do know we have been programmed, to believe something, with the fear of a global catastrophe. Fear has been the main driver. We were programmed to believe, that if we were not afraid, we were irresponsible. None of us want that. Fear is always the best manipulative tool. Most of us do not have the background or scientific ability [interest/curiosity] to make our own determination. We trust authority. Trusting authority is a dangerous game in this dying world of corruption.

Awakening means we give up trusting authority. We have to give up beliefs. We tend to cherish our beliefs and they become a religion. Once we do that, we defend them without questioning them.

I use global warming as an example. We have many, many other beliefs we must examine if we are to be free of manipulations. We are going to wake up whether we are ready or not. Are we going to open our eyes willingly or are they going to be wrenched open?

Anytime, anyone, is trying to convince us of something using fear. We cannot trust it. Anything worth believing can be presented with love.

Love and Peace, Gregg

SPRING IS HERE

Good Morning! What a good Morning it is! Our bedroom faces East, so the Sun shines brightly on my face, when I am not quite ready to get up. I don't mind though, if it bothers me I just role over. This Morning I loved it. It feels like Spring is back for good. The local forecast is for 73 F. It is time to take my amaryllis out to the front porch, on their first step to be planted in the garden. They can take a little frost, so I am not worried if it dips down to freezing for a little while.

It is going to be time to mow the lawn soon. Many in our area are already doing it. I am never in any hurry to begin that ritual. This year, I have many branches to pick up, before I start. We had a very windy Fall and Winter. This old body starts to complain at just the thought of it. I tell it to 'buck-up' it will be good. I wonder where that expression comes from?

What are we going to talk about today? I wish I could take all of humanity in my arms, and carry them forward, until we breakthrough to the light. For some reason, I have faith that everything will be fine and a period of love and peace will occur soon. But, I don't know how 'soon' is and I think the near future might be hellish. The death throws, of the rotting corpse, will not be pretty. It is made worse by a media that is controlled by the dark ones. They promote separation and violence. They attempt to create enemies where they can and promote war, war, and more war.

We will get through it okay. I have the same advice I aways have, take your head out of the idiot box and don't give any energy to your negative thoughts. I know it is hard, the idiot box is very seductive, and we all want to know what is going on. Of course, we will never know what is going on by watching television.

We are on the threshold of discovering, that everything we thought was true, is either totally false or partially so. It is a great adventure and it may be mildly disturbing, for a short while, but will bring much peace and joy as a result. We know nothing about our past or how we got here. Archaeology, anthropology and history have been distorted to fit the beliefs of the time. Some distortion was well meant, some was ego driven, some economically influenced; I suppose there are a myriad reasons why it happened. Religion, of course, played a major role.

We have no idea, the power money has had in our everyday affairs. We are only beginning to see how our version of capitalism has influenced everything. Can we imagine how education, medicine, science, agriculture, etc. would be without any concern for money or profit? Can we imagine, being able to express ourselves, by sharing our gifts with each other, without concern for survival?

Yes, we will get through this rough spot. In the meantime. Let us get reacquainted with our Mother Earth. Let us pour our love out to Her and feel the love that returns. For those who can garden, thrust your hands in the soil, hold a ball of earth and marvel; know that everything we need comes from that Earth.

The love that we send out, to each other, is reflected back to us, giving us a sense of well being. Know that only Love is real. All else is passing.

Happy Friday! The best day of the week!

Love and Peace, Gregg

MOURNING

Monday we had snow on the ground when we got up; it only lasted a few hours, but yesterday a switch turned, and Spring returned! It was Sunny when we awoke and there were only wisps of clouds, occasionally, all day. At 5 PM [when I thought to look at the thermometer] it was 65 F. It was still 55 at Sundown. It was warmer here than it was in the Twin Cities, some 50 or more miles South of us. They had more cloud cover, early.

We are definitely having an extraordinarily beautiful day at the moment. It is supposed to cloud up and rain and that is great too. I spotted my mystery hen running across the front yard, this Morning, while the other chickens were still locked up. I guess it has been about a week she has been out. If she is setting, she should be appearing with a flock of fuzzy balls in about two weeks. I hope that is the case. The sheep have remained in their pasture. All is well on Laughing Water Farm.

We are going through a Mourning period following Donna's death {for those who might be reading about this for the first time – she was the Mother of my first four children- we were married for 14 years}. I have been thinking about death and our response to it.

I had my first confrontation with, the fear of, death when I was in my thirties. I had various periods of anxiety that I knew were related to this concept. One was the realization that life was like jumping off a high building and death [the ground] was coming at you. Time was the only difference. This experience actually helped me get over some fear. However, it has been a gradual process. I don't identify any fear of death right now, but I don't flatter myself, into thinking, I won't have some reservation when the time comes.

When I retired and looked around at all of my friends, I thought, we should be discussing this subject, most of us were in our sixties at the time. I never tried to get a discussion started. I felt resistance without ever bringing it up. One of the crucial points seemed to be the belief in what death was. If one believed that there was death and then nothing, that was quite different from thinking death was just the end of one life experience. And, there are many nuances of beliefs.

Religion had spoiled the idea, of life after death, for many of my friends. They were very loving beings and they sought some idea of continuation through Buddhist ideas etc. Some confused ideas, of life after death, with some kind of religious orthodoxy. I once was discussing a book, by Alan Watts, with one of my colleagues. I was exploring his idea, that our essence joins, the existing creative energy at death; becoming one with all. My colleague responded with force, “You are just denying death.” I was taken-a-back. I didn't think I was. I was still in my atheistic/agnostic phase and I was merely supposing. This person couldn't see that having a belief, 'that there was nothing', was just as denying of life, as believing 'there is something' is denying of death. That is the trouble with belief, it locks up your mind, and blocks off some 'seeing'. In that sense Atheist are just as religious as Catholics or Baptist. They use belief to cut themselves off from seeing what might be.

While we are in these bodies we can only explore and keep our minds open. I have reached a point where I can't imagine not being. I don't think of myself as a body. I don't experience myself as a body.

At one point, I believed, to be comfortable, folks needed to decide one way or the other. We were having dinner at my parents house. My Father was half Norwegian and had that trait, that some had, of hiding the inner self from all. I had no idea if he believed in God or in life after death. I broached the idea that it would be good to have an idea about it. He said, “I will find out.” Well that shut me up. Maybe, people don't have to make up their mind to be comfortable, or maybe he thought it was none of my business.

I have come to the idea, that we are here, to learn what love is. This planet presents, both negative and positive, choices to us. I think we keep coming back until we can can make predominately positive choices. When we reach the point, that we see that love is all there is and all else is illusion were done with this phase. However, this has to be a heart oriented conclusion, not an intellectual concept. Many can say the words but have difficulty walking the walk [me for example].

So when one of our loved ones leave, it is because they have finished, what they felt they needed to accomplish. They may have more to do. But they will put it off for the next life. We need to honor their decision and celebrate their freedom from the limitation of these bodies. We will meet again.

Of course we miss them. Of course we have periods of sadness. Mourning takes many forms, we all do it differently. I know people who felt guilty, when they discovered a moment of happiness, as if they were being unfaithful to the one who has passed. The person who leaves, is radiant in their happiness, of completing another life. We can be happy for them. And when we miss them, we can call on them. We will find comfort.

Love and Peace, Gregg

FURTHER ADVENTURES ON LAUGHING WATER FARM

 

We awoke to a dusting of snow; not bad, since the prediction was three to five inches. I am blogging late; it is already 11:15AM and the snow is all melted.

Yesterday Morning, it was just getting light, I saw a chicken running from the direction of the coop. I didn't investigate as I was making a bathroom visit and was not ready to arise. I haven't been able to figure anything out. I lock them up at dusk every night. She must have been out roosting somewhere or she is setting on eggs. We used to have hens surprise us by appearing with ten or twelve fluffy offspring. It hasn't happened for a long time.

Then when I got up, Jame said, “There is a sheep out!” It was about the last thing I wanted to hear, because we were going to the theater in St Croix Falls, and we needed to leave Noonish. I had a quite a few things to do first. I went out and counted and recounted the sheep. They were all in the pasture. I questioned Jamie, hoping I could get her to agree, she might be having an optical illusion. She convinced me she wasn't. Hmmm, two mysteries.

We returned home from the theater about 4:45, in time for me to gather the eggs. A short time later Jamie said, “I just saw a sheep run through the front yard!” I gathered this was no hallucination. I went out, and there was one of our wethers, racing around the fence in a panic to get in, and join the flock. I was able to use, the rattling corn in the bucket trick, to lure him from the other side of the fence to the gate where I could get him in. I checked a part of the fence, that was recently constructed, to see if there was a place he could have got out. I found none. I suspected this might be the case, because earlier, I discovered a part of the fence down, because the lad, we had do it, missed wiring a spot to the post.

Now it is close to six, I am involved in creating a libation, when I looked out, and saw, not one sheep but six, in our front yard. Thank God, they were trained to the corn in the bucket trick, and they were only feet away from a gate. It didn't take long to get them in. But, my libation would have to wait, we needed to find where they were getting out. I walked along the fence one way, Jamie went the other. I found nothing. Jamie found a low place and there were tufts of wool on the wire. It wasn't terribly convincing a place, where that many sheep would get out that quick, but we couldn't see anything else. I double checked the new areas of fence, there were no places they could get out. The sheep, that I had lured into the gate in the North pasture, now had come around to the south pasture to see what we were up to. They were all congregated in a spot. I walked over and could clearly see where they were getting out. They looked like they were disappointed that I found the spot. Yes, sheep can look disappointed. Part of the fence, that had been stapled to a wooden post, about 30 years ago, pulled away, allowing a slot the perfect size, for a sheep to exit. They're not so good about getting back in. It was the most unlikely place for a breach in the fence to occur, and if the sheep hadn't helped me by rushing to the place, we would have settled on the low spot, as the place they got out. We would have had fresh adventures this Morning. We put new [large] staples in the fence post and that should be it.

One mystery solved. I still don't know the story about the hen.

I did get the libation.

Take life as it comes to you. It is all great!

Love and Peace, Gregg