SUMMER CONCERT SPECTACLE WITHDRAWAL

These two photos have absolutely nothing in common.(lol)......or do they?





SUMMER CONCERTS ARE ON MY MIND. KEEP IN MIND I AM JUST AN AUDIENCE MEMBER AND DON'T SEE MYSELF SECRETLY AS A PERFORMER. NOT EVEN BEHIND MY SHOWER CURTAIN.




One of my favorite concert stories I remember is about a concert of Michael Jackson's........(Saw Michael in concert in the mid 80's as well as with the Jackson 5 in the 70s)



NOTE: (I apologize to the close friends over the years that had to wade through all my Freddie Mercury QUEEN concert stories that opened with my "sweaty palms" and "jailhouse rock" ..("Keep Yourself Alive" to 60,000) ...stories of Springsteen and Streisand ....and to Elizabeth who went to see Michael Jackson with me 25 years ago..I really blew it, I am sorry.



Concert Moments:


The Amnesty International show from the first row was an intense experience......Lets not go there now. Well, ok i will say......Biko and meeting Kris Kristofferson, and the Cadillac Ranch that closed Maple Leaf Gardens for good. Interesting moments. I don't want to fade away.


To Recap....The Amnesty Show at MAPLE LEAF GARDENS.....Opened with KD LANG who was followed by TRACY CHAPMAN....who was followed by PETER GABRIEL.....who was followed by STING....who was followed by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN....UNREAL entertainment for a great cause. (Like I really cared)



A concert that I attended as well was the WHO's Farewell concert. It was alot of hype and tension, and quite frankly the concert wasn't their best.. They delivered a few more Farewell shows over the next couple of years. Daltrey's screaming on "Won't get fooled again" will never be equaled however.



It's about openings. The insane moment of a good opening. My friend Marc told me about an ELO opening at exhibition stadium with a SPACESHIP slowly prying itself open and LASERING the crowd to the song.."TELEPHONE LINE"...Sounded wild.



Anyway, back to Michael.


Michael Jackson was playing Wembley Stadium and was about to meet Lady Diana before the show...He met her briefly back stage and she told him that her favourite song was DIRTY DIANA....a song that Jackson had just removed from the performance in reverence to DI... He didn't know what to do. He couldn't possibly play this song. He told her that he was sorry that he didn't feel comfortable singing it that night. She was slightly disappointed but carried on with a smile and took her seat.


So when the lights dropped down on 70,000 screaming fans. Jackson opened the show....With a thumping rendition of DIRTY DIANA...The crowd and the princess were firmly placed in the palm of his glove. (Forgive me)


Two of the most powerful alternative concert experiences occurred in Toronto with my friend Cory... Philip Glass doing Koyanisquatsi live with the film projected in the background...and Tangerine Dream live...Both had me stumbling out of their metaphysical world in a daze. Could have been the Marijuana, but I believe it was the Art.



Throw in Billy Idol and The Cult in there, LENNY KRAVITZ, PRINCE and INXS and I am getting you briefly up to speed. Did I mention STYX's Paradise tour.


I don't go to alot of live shows anymore, but am considering going to see Pearl Jam this Summer. It will probably be the last opportunity to do so.



What is it about the Summer and the need for a spectacle?..I have spectacle withdrawal I think....A concert event, not just a show. I still get that itch. I never did see Pink Floyd with those giant Pigs.


I hope this old heart of mine can still take it. Might be interesting to pass out as Eddie Vedder delivers a soulful rendition of Jeremy though.

YOU ARE SO CLOSE TO BEING GONE

From a story buried deep in my mind:



I slept in the night and you were there...I was startled by the ferocity of your image.




I was at some sort of a performance when I saw you. It was you. The real you. Your eyes lashed onto mine immediately and watched, holding them. I could feel what you were thinking. You were angry, but wouldn't let me go.



You actually joined in the play as an actor at one point, I believe you were swimming. It was dark... you were one with the water.


I tried to move, to get closer. I didn't want to let you know that I had not even considered your prescience in such a very long time. Yet you were here ... and a force. I kept shifting around, mesmerized.



I moved closer, to see you, to feel your energy again. You were still you. Strong, wild and utterly amazing. Yet...........


I was frightened by what you had to say..What you could say.


I have moved on so far in my life..It's all so impossible from here..The powerful new direction, the new woman ,the daily affirmations and collaborations, and then there was you. Just you.


You are but a distant bus stop now that I always pass, but refuse to look at...


...I do look............once in a while... My heart tells me to.



You are so close to being gone. I saw the tights that you wore, a style I didn't recognize, and the way your toes hung from them onto the bare floor. Was that black makeup around your eyes? Had you been crying? I may have imagined it...


I have moved so far. So far over our line. I know you would understand...But you didn't tonight, tonight while I slept. You wanted to tell me something. I would have listened... But I couldn't hear you...


It is all far too late. If you read this.......you know I speak only of you.

My Immortal Beloved.



How did it all become so?


In the end I lost my favourite new shirt as someone was playing a trick on me.....I needed to wake up....When I just did, I was confused, confused to see my shirt hanging on a chair beside the bed. You......you were just gone.


You are so close to being gone....and completely wiped from my memory...Sad really.


Now it's back to sleep to try to recapture the feeling. I will erase all of this in the morning......


RL

DO YOU MANUFACTURE A PSEUDO CHARACTER?

Remember Andre Agassi uttering the words "Image is Everything" on the Canon camera commercial from the 90's?




(Speaking of the 90's, did anything culturally significant actually take place in this nebulous decade?)



"Image is everything".................almost as iconic as.. "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins"....how did that grab you in the 80s?.......a little Brooke Shields and Andre Agassi tie in.




Because I used to create advertising for a living and understand the basic Wilson Brian Key tutorial behind the stuff...I wanted to talk a little about Facebook and image.



If we really are "the sum of our actions" (Aristotle)...... do we manufacture a social facade on the net that is so surprisingly complex, it actually acts as a giant pseudo replacement character.

It has the time and perspective carefully built-in and represents that side of us that we wish was our real projection in face time.


Is it like putting on a public mask that doesn't quite fit?



What i am getting at in my pedantic little way, is that you can inheritently feel the plethora of untruths when you look through certain peoples profiles on Facebook. You can feel them trying to project confidence, and twist expertise in areas that you sense that they are at the very best...slightly insecure in. (I think it is just human nature to want to look well rounded)


On the other hand....one gets the feeling that some people just naturally understand the best way to manipulate their image in a way that would be interesting to others. They massage it......just a little bit towards accomplishment one day.....and then....just a little bit towards whimsy the next.


What is identity? Is it your perception of the sum total of all your experiences or is it something more? Surely, what other people see...is generally leaps and bounds away from what you perceive yourself to be. Ego or no ego. Lets move on.


Do you really want to post.... that you are sitting at home eating your second bag of potato chips, farting and watching a show based on a group of Addicts that go out to night clubs and get obnoxious. It may save you the physical pounding of doing it yourself, but it may not be the picture of self-determination that you really want to share.



In real life.....perhaps there is a guy who doesn't see himself as being a great ladies man for example..Other than in cyberspace...he certainly has never really picked up that model or actress and taken her back to the hotel.(I pity him..lol)..


The experience was just been synthesized by watching a movie.... All of a sudden, you will see a series of photographs on Facebook that intimate that this kind of adventure has actually taken place, with this guy and an entourage,(of many) under a blood red sky... in Monte Carlo...I am reaching here, but you get the idea. Why not?


I noticed that I recently included a photo of myself with my famous second cousin on my profile. What kind of insecurity was that born out of? It doesn't particularly wreak of self-confidence and modesty. More work needs to be done Lynn.


Is it alright to manipulate your image? We are all really tuned into the station of "I hope I am admired and look youthful in the process"...............Heaven forbid if I get too many people telling me what a great guy I am..........I will immediately need the meditation chamber and a good kick in the ass......That's my reality.



On the bright side of life. Some people are just genuine..You sense their honesty on all levels. They are not scared to show you their insecurities and shortcomings, whether it is on Facebook or in person. They wouldn't think of manipulating the PR machine.



They are not really that self involved, every conversation is really not about them... they are good listeners.. The thing that intrigues me about these people is the easy way they get lost in their own quests for new experiences and the shared joy along the way. They are wonderfully infectious. I love these people. There is a refreshing simplicity in their honesty.



I could name a few of these people, but I don't want to embarrass them..Perhaps I will just tell them in person, the old-fashioned way.



The last thing that was resonating with me today was this idea that we create this image and put it out there for old friends and new acquaintances to see. It will stay out there now, electronically, as posted, for years to come..(Energy is neither created or destroyed)



Will we look back and be completely disgusted by what we were trying to achieve behind the transparent walls of our own maniacal insecurity?..........or will we say........yeah...that was me.....I love the furniture I am sitting on in that profile picture..........It really articulates the way I was feeling back in 2011.



"Image is everything" and then there is me.


Rick

THE CHAOS OF THE BIG BANG THEORY

Do you ever have those thoughts? Does anybody out there actually know what the hell is really going on? Doomsday predictions that are at best an insult to our intelligence, whatever that might be. Ridiculous.


Maybe those atheists are right? Can there be absolutely nothing out there at all and yet can there still be some sort of moral order in the world? Does morality really matter?



Cause and Effect does exist for sure but why do people say......."everything happens for a reason?" To what extent do we actually have free will over any given situation? What do any of us actually understand about this process?.


Could it really be possible that if you wish for something every spare moment of your day...........you will actually manifest it? I want a red bike.......a red bike.....a red bike.............My god it's a red bike.



If the big bang is a given.............what came before the big bang........and what caused it? What was the first cause?


Will the Toronto Maple Leafs actually win the Stanley Cup again before I become fertilizer?




Let me address this idea about the Big Bang theory briefly.



Here is an interesting quote from Alan Guth, a physicist at MIT.




Try to take this in even if you don't understand all the concepts. (Optional)

The idea behind it is that the venerable "Big Bang" theory with all its intellectual backing, is as far fetched as any creationist story from the Bible, the Koran or the works of L. Ron. Hubbard.


Here is the quote:



"If you believe in the Big Bang Theory....you believe that, once upon a time, all the potential of the cosmos------all the potential for a firmament of 40 billion galaxies at last count---was packed into a point smaller than a proton.


You believe that within this incipient cosmos was neither hyper compressed matter nor superdense energy nor any tangible substance. It was a "false vacuum" through which coursed a weightless, empty quantum-mechanical probability framework called a "scalar field". You're probability not clear about what a scalar field is, but then neither are most PhDs.


Next you believe that, when the big bang sounded, the universe expanded from a pinpoint to cosmological size in far less then one second---space itself hurtling outward in a torrent of pure physics, the bow wave of the new cosmos moving at trillions of times the speed of light.


Further, you believe that, subatomic particles began to unbuckle from the inexplicable proto-reality, both matter and antimatter formed. Immediately, these commodities began to collide and annihilate themselves, vanishing as mysteriously as they came. The only reason our universe is here today is that the "big bang" was slightly asymmetrical, its yield favoring matter over antimatter by about one part per 100 million.


Because of this, when the stupendous cosmic commencement day ended, a residue of standard matter survived, and from it the galaxies
formed.


That is to say: You believe that a microscopic, transparent, empty point in primordial space-time contained not just one universe but enough potential for 100 MILLION UNIVERSES.


It is wise to take the "big bang" hypothesis seriously, since considerable evidence weighs in its favor. The galaxies are expanding away from one another as if they had once been in the same place, then hurled outward; the interstellar void is slightly warmer than absolute zero, suggesting the universe was once super-heated by something much stronger than the output of stars; the earliest nebulae appear to be composed of precisely the mix of elements that "big bang" calculations suggest.


"For sheer extravagant implausibility.........nothing in theology or metaphysics can hold a candle to the big bang. Surely if this description of the cosmic genesis came from the Bible or the Koran rather than MIT, it would be treated as a preposterous myth."



That is a ton of information and theory, but the point I am seeing is that again, the most prestigious evaluation of how we all got into this predicament..........is at best............OUTRAGEOUS SPECULATION.



Don't even get me started on these Commandments being handed down by God on a mountaintop to a man with a speech impediment. This is simply ludicrous.



I believe that there is something magical and unexplained manifesting in our world from every cell to every cell phone.



As chaotic and random as it sometimes feels, it is not that far fetched that there is an intelligence or an energy.. far beyond the scope of what we can imagine. Duh Rick.


It is not simplistic enough to be included in some parable about goats and sheep and you can't use it to satisfy every personal need and whim that floats into your head.



An intelligence...... not somebody with a beard that intervenes for baseball players when they need a home run. Something that caused an implosion of matter.



What is the intelligence that existed before the BIG BANG? If you are a believer in the theory.



We are all so self important and narcissistic though, nobody really cares in the end. We just want to know where our next pat on the back is coming from. (This idea doesn't exactly make the reader want to stand up and give me a spontaneous pat on the back now does it)




Then there is WOMAN...What is going on there? There is the real miracle.



So, in the end, I feel slightly comforted knowing what I really don't know.


I am not sure if I can end this on that note because i am not really making a point of any kind. Ok.




Rick

BIRTHDAY BOYS AND FLYING BEAGLES

There is so much to be thankful for in my life right now. I will spare you the Rick gratitude list, but it is a long one man.


I am very happy to be healthy, connected and going forward without any reservations or regrets.


I just came across a poem that I wrote about a year and a half ago. It reveals a state of mind that is just plain desperate and beaten down. Here it is again, for your personal torture:



LIBERATION

SPACES
Between subordinate sunshine
CHANCES
Mixed
The Rain dance Missed
Grace and Humility
Purples and Greys
FLYING

Dirty Waterfalls
Hopelessly
Media free
Hyperbolic Honesty Suspended
Nourishment Abandoned
GLORIOUS BARREN BRAVERY

Digging In
DIGGING THROUGH
Excavating a beautiful young SPIRIT


A Kiss
My Death
Your sweet sweet REBIRTH
Simultaneous and Joyful release

Then FINALLY
The indefinable
TIME
The other, the STRANGER
Spaceless Touch
BURNING and MYSTERIOUS
Forever
On the TIP of our Tongues


RICK LYNN
Jan 22/10




Wow, what a MONUMENTAL PRETENTIOUS DOWNER...HAHA.



I think I was getting some big kick out of a huge pity party for one. Huge ego seems to be floating around between every laboured word. You would think that my whole family had just been eliminated by David Duke or something. Oh well.


Moving back to the glorious NOW.



Took some great Videos and b/w photos of my Cousin Cassandra's beautiful son Ruben tonight. It was his 4th birthday and it was really just a pure delight to be anywhere around his wide eyed joy.


I am very fortunate that he is letting me into his little world and considering me somebody he wants to be around. Near the end of the night, he sheepishly confessed to me that he wished he could wake up tomorrow and it would be his birthday all over again.......Maybe it can....Maybe it can be mine as well.



When I wake up tomorrow, I just want to keep infusing the same positivity into my sometimes wondering soul. The results have been very satisfying, and somewhat remarkeable.



I think it is ok to mention now that I have met a really wonderful interesting woman Julie, with a great big heart and beautiful eyes.etc.......and I suppose she wouldn't mind if I said that we were in the beginning of a new relationship.. How did this happen exactly?


(We are in the Honeymoon phase... she said to me tonight....Yeah...What a truly great place to be I thought...Lucky)



Spiritual elements that I have been working hard on this year and putting out there into the universe.........well I suppose that this connection came back to me as a result of those efforts? (It would seem that way)



So...alright!!No more morose poems for now...... I also want to mention that I got an enormous kick out of sending a 40 year old T2000 tennis racquet (used by Jimmy Connors) that I bought on Ebay....to my old friend Adam who was also celebrating his 40th birthday today. I know he got the inside message and had a huge laugh. To me...the act of sending it in the mail was a genuine blast....



To close tonight.....I also am minding my friends Beagle as she flew off to England today for three weeks with her father.(He won't ever be returning) Kind of strange to have her move there with him, but that's how things work in my life these days I guess.



Change is good and shouldn't be feared but embraced. I hope they are happy there. I know I am going to really miss this cute gentle dog when I have to put her little Beagle face on a plane someday soon.......Do I really have to give this little Asian snoopy up? I suppose I do.



She is a great comfort to me tonight though, as we both sit here, braving the future together. Looking good little doggie.



Rick

PURE POTENTIAL AND YOU

greedy, angry, egotistical and selfish






Lately, within a few
laboratories, it was found that consciousness, or at least
the act of paying attention, influenced the behavior of particles.
More so, it was deducted that particles are not tangible if
someone is not paying attention to them. Particles seem to
remain in states of absolute infinite potentials until some
attention is given to them, where they then collapse into a single
form of their innumerable possibilities.



What is a particle?
par·ti·cle/ˈpärtikəl/Noun
1. A minute portion of matter.
2. Any of numerous subatomic constituents of the physical world that interact with each other, including electrons, neutrinos, photons etc.



In an experiment that was done. A man was told to ejaculate into a vile...That particular vile of semen was then taken down to another floor and observed under a microscope.. Back at the ranch, the man started to become aroused again by watching a video that was set up for him..The strange thing that happened however was that as he was becoming aroused, the semen that was under the microscope on the other floor was visibly moving and dancing around and definitely reacting.



What does this all mean and why do I find it so interesting?


Simply, the idea that we as humans are all connected on an energy level with each other and with nature..... seems to be widely accepted by the majority of people out there now. (I would hope so Southern Man)



Nobody however seems to know what to do with it. So what if we are all connected. Does that mean that I have to love the Moron that lives next to me playing the Judas Priest music at 2 am on a Saturday.....It aint going to happen bro.



That telemarketer that calls you on a Saturday night and that guy pissing on your apartment building right now............Congratulations, you are intimately connected to them...Even if they will never give a rats butt about you.



I am playing around (struggling sometimes) with the ideas of Buddhism and Kabbalah and Quantum science and am trying to figure out some sort of cogent simple approach that I could use for a better daily existence, and that I might pass on to my friends. Meditation and smiling most certainly go a long way, appreciating the moment..... and I liked the facebook site i saw the other day that focused on Random Acts of Kindness. Is there really someway to eliminate egoism? There is alot to consider.



(My brain might be a tad too small for this undertaking, but it is growing....or is it shrinking....that is Entropy..the second law of thermodynamics I think?)



I know that behind every effect there is definitely a cause...When I see an event as random...it is actually just something that is reacting to a set of circumstances that my mind can't comprehend at the time, within the limits of my 5 senses.



I know that we humans are built to "receive" on every level..We are constantly striving to receive more and more and to avoid any pain and the accompanying fear of the unknown along the way.



Obviously the trick somewhere in there is to.... receive for the sake of sharing with others and then everybody can be happy.......or the other alternative would be to cut down the pathway of the need to receive, by trying to let go of our attachments... to our numerous creature comforts and the enormous egotistical need to look good for others.



The bottom line for me is take responsibility for myself (it must start with me) and how I deal with others. Words are powerful. Gestures of caring are powerful. Positivity is powerful. Restriction is powerful.
A quiet mind and reverence for nature and the perfect system is softly powerful.



IN MANY WAYS WE ARE PURE POTENTIAL AND PURE ENERGY....TRANSLATION: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF WE REALLY WANT IT.

Is there anybody that really doesn't like this idea? Who knows if it is actually true, but it sounds simply fantastic.


They say that all real change has to take place first on an individual level...the problem with that is that it has rarely been shown to work if you look at History..we
are much more interested in the I in... what can I get, then the We in... where are we going.




Recently the Japanese culture showed some startling signs of being a society that was much more evolved than the West in many ways. They are truly an inspiring and amazing people. (I always did love the Geisha and the Tea ceremony)




I also recently saw a video on these Buddhist Yogis that said they fully forgave all of the Chinese soldiers that came into Tibet and massacred hundreds of thousands of their beautiful, spiritual, peace loving people..Incredible to me.



If we are all connected, it should be fairly easy to care more about your fellow human being and our shared humanity.....However,my gut feeling is that things are obsessively going in the opposite direction and I am just trying to figure out what gives and why?.



Maybe everybody has just given up....That really could be it. Too many people and too much desire to receive. The collective consciousness may have just evolved into one of failure and the resolve to accept it as easily as possible. I just came up with that, and I hope that it is way off.



My friend Stephen might have it right when he said to me that maybe everything is just "waves of energy"..... and who cares if
there is a GOD behind the Big Bang....maybe there is...maybe there isn't.


There is still alot of room to live altruistic, moral and creative lives any way you look at it.



In any case, cause and effect teaches us that we should be good to others in general if we want to live semi-happy lives. If we marginalize, condescend, and constantly criticize others, we will receive the same treatment from the universe in return. This is hardly a new concept but is still one that rings true.


Your negative thoughts about another individual could be directly affecting you and them in ways you never considered. Think about the PARTICLES.


On a lighter note....there is obviously no intervening God that is going to make everything better any time soon, (whats taking so long?) so it might be nice to figure something out for ourselves. (No I am not an atheist ..I am more of a sports enthusiast)



To be continued.


Rick

THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY........

The problem with "loving thy neighbour as thyself" * is that there are millions of very selfish messed up people out there....and they are not that easy to like....never mind love.


*Or in laymans terms..."treat other people the way you want to be treated".



I find it very challenging to read the words of many self help and new age gurus that pound home this message and don't really live in the trenches with "these people" on a daily basis. I do understand that "tolerance and patience" are the key, it's just hard to do it..Hard for me, and I practice being tolerant.


Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer are not riding the subway systems of the world dealing with aggressive, disenfranchised, self-involved, myopic humans on a daily basis. Hey but I am ...Apparently we are supposed to cherish these types of opportunities...


They... are sitting back in their Beverly Hills mansions with servants and masseuses.
No envy there, just the truth. The only time they really get a taste of the real urban culture is when they put on a seminar in New York or in Chicago. This isn't quite the same reality actually.


The people that come to see Deepak and Wayne live are already trying to be better people and are looking to change and to take notice of their flaws. The guys in the subway, couldn't give a flying xxxx about world consciousness and laughing yoga etc, they only care about themselves and anything that can bolster their ego and their anger and their daily fix of ...me...mine....and more.


Its my personal challenge on a daily basis and many others as well. I could tell you stories about people muttering to themselves incoherently, or sitting
directly beside me and proceeding to directly apply a sandwich to their entire face and hair.


Men degrading woman in packs (this disgusting event has been going on forever)or girls systematically and hysterically screaming about some pathetic party at the top of their lungs.


Senior Citizens not being given a seat by some selfish young guy with his headphones on. I have had to personally intervene in a couple of these situations(dangerously)which was a royal pain, but had to be done.


People are constantly pushing and shoving the weaker and older out of the way, just for a perceived "better seat" on the bus to nowhere. It really is too much. Dig the metaphor here.



Where I am leading here is: People have to change on an individual level or we are finished on the Global scale. You may say..."I don't see the link"...but it plainly is right there...



The bigger issue isn't so much about shifting global consciousness today. We sadly may be milleniums away from that. (If we make it and it is not looking good)



In my opinion...there has to be a simple bit of self awareness, restraint and good old fashioned love injected back into the world.



Somehow, we have got to get this across to people....... and I think in this monumentally selfish society, the only way to do that is to get people to change their actions based on the bigger idea that it will somehow "benefit" them in the long run. Sad, but how?



I don't want to come across as "Mr spiritual" either, because the moment I portray myself as that person, that is another personal trap for me that is lingering out there in egoistic hell.


I am simply a person that is very concerned on a base level about what is going on out in the steets. (It's chaos, anger and depression run rampant) Any groundbreaking ideas out there?


We can all see what is transpiring in the world as a whole with the environmental collapse, starvation, disease and middle eastern tensions. It's awful, that's obvious to everyone, it has to be changed somehow. But I get the feeling that only about 1 percent of the population really care deep down. (I am not talking about the odd passing thought, I am talking about the need to take some kind of action to help change it)



Some kind of a movement needs to be born.


The honest truth is that I don't think that great movements like Buddhism will ever be totally accepted by the masses because for one it is too Eastern, and more specifically.... the average person would have to consider relinquishing their need to have "more things" and in this age of egoism and consumerism as God, I don't see that happening.


Kabbalah is also a fantastic spiritual technology with many answers. It is based on proven ideas about energy and mathematics and cause and effect and bringing down the curtains of ego with transformative sharing and restriction..The problem is that it will never be accepted by the masses either. It is too Jewish....and that stigma unfortunately is not even close to being overlooked.


I don't want to head down this road too much further when talking about solutions. Obviously the mainstream religions have made some massive failures with their violence and persecution of woman etc.... and are now irrelevant on many levels and really more about tradition and culture, than inclusion. (The actual teachings themselves I am not saying are irrelevant at all)



The Hippie movement(smile) had some real good ideas, and it was quite beautiful actually. If they could have dropped the mind expanding drugs(although I liked them when I tried them) and learned how to achieve that state of openness and unity in a natural state, they might not have all ended up as drug addicts, alcoholics or stockbrokers.. Slight joke.



There has to be a solution and it must start on an individual basis.



If you have to pick and choose ideas and doctrines that make sense to you, it's a little like choosing Chinese take out. It's difficult to sift through, though in the end at least you are a thinking being making some actual informed decision.


How exactly we move forward to change the millions of selfish, egoistical consumerists before we blow ourselves up, sounds like a monolithic challenge. Something has to give though. Taking some responsibility on a personal level might be a good start.


Another area to take a look at would be how to get through to people that notoriously have a very short attention span with this "multitasking" mentality out there now. People have a tough time 'finishing what they start' as well.



Eckhart Tolle has some powerful and very useful ideas. "The Power Of Now" and "The New Earth" are both very important books.....(although some of the philosophical purists despise his "borrowing" ideas from many different sources approach)


The issue with Eckhart is that I am not sure there is a world changing movement there that is not just academic in nature...but easy and palatable for the average joe to be able to make sense of in his life with his family. That is the key I think..It has to be able to be practiced daily with tangible results by the average guy in British Columbia or Kansas.


Maybe some of Eckharts ideas can be borrowed for the sake of some more coherent movement. Sorry Eckhart. (Can that face be the face of a worldwide movement? Oh my, lets not go there)


In the meantime, what I am really saying is that I am am just a normal frustrated guy with some strong concerns as the world falls apart around me. On a personal level though, I have never felt more tuned in and whole and semi-together. The problem is that I am now picking up the frequency of global chaos and individual arrogance and decadence on a hourly basis.


Then there is good old Bob Marley. I have always liked this song. "So much trouble in the world". Seems appropriate tonight. Something to lift me up. Music is great. Words are great, but Music is often much deeper and faster)



Here are the lyrics.

So Much Trouble In The World lyrics
So much trouble in the world
So much trouble in the world

Bless my eyes this morning
Jah sun is on the rise once again
The way earthly thin's are goin'
Anything can happen.

You see men sailing on their ego trip,
Blast off on their spaceship,
Million miles from reality:
No care for you, no care for me.

So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world.
All you got to do: give a little (give a little),
Give a little (give a little), give a little (give a little)!
One more time, ye-ah! (give a little) Ye-ah! (give a little)
Ye-ah! (give a little) Yeah!

So you think you've found the solution,
But it's just another illusion!
(So before you check out this tide),
Don't leave another cornerstone
Standing there behind, eh-eh-eh-eh!
We've got to face the day;
( From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/bob-marley-lyrics/so-much-trouble-in-the-world-lyrics.html )
(Ooh) Ooh-wee, come what may:
We the street people talkin',
Yeah, we the people strugglin'.


Now they sitting on a time bomb; (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Now I know the time has come: (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
What goes on up is coming on down, (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Goes around and comes around. (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)

So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world.
There is so much trouble (so much trouble in the world);
There is so much trouble;
There is so much trouble (so much in the world);
There is so much trouble;
There is so much trouble in the world (so much trouble in the world);
There is (so much in the world);
(So much trouble in the world)



Back in real time, my days of riding the subway are coming to an abrupt end. That might not really scream of ...solution.....but can I say......... Thank the lord.


Rick