Friday, November 30, 2007

The Now Moment

Living in the now moment has little to do with time, believe it or not.

The Eternal Now Moment is not like a really long time - it is more like the absence of time.

It is more like "an awareness" within which time and space and etc "take place"...

Relative Ideas like past and future should not really be confused with Absolute Ideas like Now, or "living in the moment".

Absolute Ideas are, to me, best not discussed as though they have "opposing sides", or "either/or sides" - as though the past and present conflict with each other. (Remember, there are no conflicts in the Absolute...)

That being said, of course it is a wonderfully fun Relative Life Experience to learn more Now about our past lives, and we can even look into our future lives Now if we choose. It is not necessary, but certainly an option to place one's focus Now intently on past or future lives.

We wrote about the idea of Exchanging Gifts below, and this reminds us of that.

It is totally cool to Exchange Our Gifts of Time, Talent, Love and whatever else we perceive Life's Gifts to be for further knowledge of things we have already done, or may do one day.
In the same way it is fun to Exchange Our Gifts so we can explore a foreign language, or how to better pilot a racing motorcyle, or take "better" photos. Simply because one enjoys these things, and wishes to know and experience more about them.

All of these are things we do and experience in Relativity. That, to us, is Life!!

Robert Monroe wrote great books on out of body experience, and the direct, conscious exploration of past and future lives, and that "spirit family" concept you mention he also touches on. The Monroe Institute is near where we live, although we have never visited - but we have read many of his books and experienced a great deal of that which he discusses - great, great stuff, and wildly fun!

Finally, some Now find that their deepest most directly rewarding Relative Life Experience is to delve deeply into the Absolute Experience of the Eternal Now Moment.

This would be to focus our Now Gifts on the Now Moment of the Now Life. Not better, just another way.

This arguably, theoretically, merges the Relative and Absolute perspectives - the Relative is observing the Absolute, and the Absolute observing the Relative. Sort of "locking eyes with The One as one goes through the day".

Often some sort of transcendent thing is reportedly experienced.

Best regards,

Alice & Greg

Can the Law of Attraction Repel?

The Law of Attraction (L of A) is a hot topic these days. I frequent the Conversations with God web forum known as The Messenger’s Circle, and it is an extremely hot topic. It is also a well-misunderstood and sorely overanalyzed one.

First and foremost, the word Law is misunderstood. The Law of Attraction came after the fact. It does not determine how things are caused.

A Law such as the L of A simply clarifies a consistent observation. You do something over and over and get the same, describable result, and you can call it a Law. This is not a big deal, but it is a truth. As we know trees stayed put and apples did not fall into the sky long before Newton described the Law of Gravity. The Law is secondary to and subservient to the Observed.

Hence, the possibility for so many beautiful exceptions… ;^)

The idea of any Spiritual or Self-help principle is, for me at least, the experience of it. I understand the L of A to produce desirable results, and that is my experiential goal – the “right” results. Thus it strikes me as odd that the L of A has become such an incredible cause for discussion and concern over just “how” to actually “do it”. There is a great fear of “doing it” wrong and attracting undesirable results even as we repel the desirable ones. As though it were some big magnet that we could turn 'round the wrong way and pull the devil right into our living room.

There is an infinitely greater amount of talk about this fear, and how well justified it is, and how to avoid the "repulsive side" of this L of A.

It is worthy now to recall that the L of A is purported to be an Absolute Principle, a Universal Law. It should thus strike one as odd that it is then immediately considered to have Relative Opposites – “good” and “bad” results, and should thus be thoroughly understood prior to actually giving it a whirl.

Like dynamite, there are a great many books to read and movies to see and seminars to attend and classes to go thru and tests to take prior to actually messing with the stuff and blowing something up. L of A is like that – you could blow your Life up…

Sadly, this widely held idea is a harmful point of view that basically ignores the fact that Absolute Principles do not have Relative Opposites of any sort.

**

Keep the Principle Simple.

In Richard Bach’s wonderful short book Illusions, he is encouraged to attract something into his life, as he and the “Messiah” character Don Shimoda, are talking. “Keep it simple” says Shimoda. “Nothing fancy or too big at first.”

“Okay. A blue feather.”

Shimoda then evokes from Bach a brief but clear description of the blue feather being visualized, and they go on about their day. Soon enough the two are having coffee and the waitress sets down a creamer carton and there in the artwork is a blue feather, part of the milk company’s logo!

That’s L of A. Simple. I hear your argument – “Oh for crying out loud. He used that creamer fifty times and never noticed the silly feather. Then he noticed. So what?”

Precisely. Good point. One of two that are missed.

1) It IS that simple – the "blue feathers" - the things we desire to bring into our lives - are everywhere, we just do not notice them because we have claimed no commitment to bringing them into our lives - we have yet to state that they are of interest or concern to us. Until we state clearly that they are, perhaps they are not, Intentionally speaking? Hmmm…

This means that our “dream Life” is right there as well, every aspect of it everywhere. We just do not notice it because we have not stated clearly what our dream is; our vision.

If I ask you to jot down something about bringing a blue feather into your life, you would oblige me for it would take but a couple minutes. Yet I bet a nickel most of us could not in a few minutes even clearly summarize a well stated, well thought description of our “Perfect Life” – heck, how about even a day in our “Perfect Life”?

Could you do it? Have you done it? Is it in clear simple actionable terms of What It Is? (Not “What It Might Be”, or “What It Would Not Be”)

2) Describe and Document YOUR Vision. Your Statement simply must be made. In writing. In a format that allows Evolution through updating as you go; as needed.

Computer is nice for evolution, and can be printed and posted/reviewed. It can be well-honed by reading it aloud until it makes sense to you, and "speaks easily" from you…

a) be clear – razor-clear, electron micro-clear, Hubble-clear

b) remember that the basics, compounded, result in the “bigger experiences”

c) Come from the simple basics always, as you dream beyond grand!!

d) Come from the simple basics always, but do not confuse this with thinking small. Apply the basics to doing dishes as you do to your craft, and your caring for, and your loving, and your living... Baseball hitters practice the basics endlessly, moreso than hitting home runs. They know that home runs come from brilliant, consistent execution of the basics.

**

And now you ask “Alice, what are the simple basics?”

Indeed, these are something you can and perhaps "should" determine as you go – they will likely come to you as you write and read aloud and ponder that which you are Describing and Documenting. They are already there, waiting to be nudged.

We encourage you to begin by Describing and Documenting your “blue feather” – that small thing you are going to attract into your Awareness. Describe several of the feathers you dream about. Soon enough we can describe the birds, and how they fly, and where...

I hope you’ll share something here about your "blue feathers"!

Dance In the Moment,

alice & greg
**
Great Gift Idea!!

if you like what you read and want to support our efforts please visit CD Baby and buy tales of the uneasy writer with greg and alice's lyrics for living... thanks! new CD to be released March 15, 2008

Greg Allen Music

SongSharing

Rebellion of Thought – the movie

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Exchanging Gifts

Greetings,

I have been reflecting on the idea of Exchanging Gifts - the gifts we are given and bring to Life.

There are a variety of different "currencies", things or forms of value, that we spend a lifetime exchanging our gifts for.

Most of us focus on cash currency to a large degree, and vaguely dream that "everything" we do will have cash currency attached to it, and a great deal of it. Then we can exchange it perhaps for other forms of value that reward us in other ways.

As a musician, I have realized that the primary currency that motivates my musical and non-profit professional endeavors is what I now call Transcendent Experience Currency (tm). Musicians hope to have that experience where the self and other melt away and the One is experienced, lived. Musicians hang their heart and soul very plainly out there for the audience to do with as they will. So they tell me, and I know I do.

Clearly the primary motivator would seem to be rewarding Currency.

For the last dozen years I have put Transcendent Spiritual Currency as a necessary factor in all of my musical and SongSharing endeavors. I was doing it rather unaware, and the other day a musical friend showed me that I have come to be able to create musical situations where all of the elements necessary for the possibility of that experience are present, and the experience is there for the taking.

"That is valuable to musicians", he said.

Of course, all of us hang our souls out there - not just musicians or artists. Every single one of us. The message is - be sure to create situations where Soul Currency stands the best chance of being earned. If caring for pets, flowers, and/or human beings brings you deep Joy, gobs of Spiritual Currency, then do those things. Monetary Currency WILL follow.

That is my experience, and the possibilities are magnified and multiplied these days...

Dance In the Moment,

Greg Allen - and Alice!

Greg Allen Music

SongSharing

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Allowing Gratitude

There, I said it...

Today is the day to express Thanks to Your Self, first and foremost.

We woke up this morning wondering why humans are taught from day one to look up to people and ideas and accomplishments outside of themselves.

Why are we not taught to look up to ourselves, from day one? Why are we not busy writing letters to ourself from the time we learn to write?

Why are we taught to give our power away, and not empowered to give our love away?

"We will love you if you give your power away, young child."

Why not: "We will empower you to love, young child."

Eventually one day we figure out that this entire exercise is about us, in the broadest and most human sense.

Why not just begin with that understanding?

Today, give thanks to your self, for your self, and love your self!!

Dance In the Moment,

Alice & Greg

Sunday, November 18, 2007

The Idea of Absolute Truth




My copy of Rebellion of Thought arrived in Saturday's mail and I've been watching it today. It seems to me there have been some changes since the version I saw screened a year ago here in Charlottesville. Great film! I am thrilled to have Story of Our Lies, the included in the soundtrack. The soundtrack rocks - I am in some fine company. I'm not sure when the Soundtrack CD's will be available - they sent us advance copies for now.

The Rebellion of Thought DVD has the entire Soundtrack and all of the Artist Bios as one of the Special Features.

I've watched the pre-release version about 4 times, and in viewing Rebellion of Thought again I was struck this time around by the attitude of most of the "experts" in the film toward the idea of Absolute Truth. The term is tossed around quite a bit in the film. Most of the religious experts view Absolute Truth as an idea which has the polar possibility of an "Absolute False". The idea that there may be a God is either Absolutely True or Absolutely False.

As though Absolute means a Duality with a great deal of space between the Extremes, but no Continuum of Ideas within that Space. Along the way from Hot to Cold we find an abundance of warmer, warm, cool and cooler. There is no such continuum of ideas with respect to the Truth or Falseness of God. There is no partial truth about God or Not God. So goes the argument.

That seems odd. Anything with the possibility of a polar other, or opposite, is a Relative Thing, not an Absolute Thing. Even the filmmakers cite the idea that "We will all die" as an Absolute Truth. It is not. The fact that all humans will ultimately stop being human is a Relative Truth. We will be dead humans compared to living humans. Even Christians acknowledge the continuation of the conscious life of the spirit, albeit in the continuing Relative Imagery of "heaven" as opposed to "hell".

The idea of an Absolute Truth having the possibility of a polar "other" is odd to me. It misses the point entirely I am certain.

The concept of Absolute is not "part of" the concept of Relativity. Nor is it "other than".

The concept of Absolute Anything is a concept that has no other side; no relative other.

It just IS, and is accepted as such in polightened** company.

One cannot say what The Absolute IS. One can however refer to The Absolute by saying what it is not, or what it is like.

And one can know The Absolute, up close and personal, for it's simply and gloriously the "Christ" within***, to use one reference point. The knowing within that manifests Relative Truths like The Golden Rule. It's what theologians should mean when they talk about "accepting Christ" personally, but mostly it is not.

An Absolute Truth would be more along the lines of "all humans and the planet and universe originated in the same creative moment that continues to unfold". No matter what your creation story, there is "no other side" to this simple obvious truth.

The Absolute Truth, sadly for the religious experts is indeed One's Own Truth. It is indeed that simple, that glorious, and that scary if one has no faith in the Creation Story they claim, and perhaps even their Awakening - or Evolution - Story.

***

The other odd manifestation of the experts' misunderstanding of Absolute and Relative showed up in their claim that "Relativism" is when each of us has our own truth. When we put Truth into God's Realm they claim, then we will know Absolute Truth.

Flat backwards.

Placing God in a position of "Other Than" man is the very (obvious) basis of Relativism, at least Spiritual Relativism, which is what we are on about here. This view states that God created us, we are separate, God has the truth and we do not. Yet.

When each of us possesses the Truth of God within ourselves, we are instantly United with God, Unified - the very basis of Absolutism. No Other Side. No Other Source.

I Am. It.

Of course this scares the crap out of theologians...

The brothers Williamson on the other hand seem to be getting it. They are asking some crazy good questions. The experts seemed to miss the point, which I think is the film's point. That's my analysis so far anyway... ;^)

More importantly, the brothers Williamson seem to be living their questions!! That is impressive, promising and radically threatening to the church structure. The idea of living the questions is one I highly recommend. (The idea is presented in the song Grasshopper on my upcoming CD It's Time That Time Was Overthrown.)

The Rebellion of Thought DVD has great special features, with over an hour of unedited interviews from many folks in the film - stuff that got cut from the final mix, but rounds out many of the perspectives very nicely.

Check It Out!

available at Amazon dot com and Barnes and Noble dot com and others...

website: Rebellion of Thought

Dance In the Moment,

Greg Allen

footnotes:

*The Absolute can indeed be seen as a Duality with No Continuum between the Extremes; however there is No Continuum because there is No Space between the Extremes; for they have merged into The Absolute...

**Polightened = Polite Enlightened (copyright me 2007)

***Hint: Not the Jesus within...

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Rebellion of Thought


The movie Rebellion of Thought has been released today on DVD.

It's a great movie about faith and the role of the church in post-modern times.

I'm thrilled to be a small part of the moivie, having my song "Story of Our Lies" included in the soundtrack.

It's a great movie to share with friends, discussion groups, churches, etc.

www.RebellionofThought.com

Acceptance and Apathy

I told my friend I accepted the world the way it is, and they said "How can you say that? There is so much that needs to be fixed in our world."

So I said to my friend...

You know what - in a beautifully dreamy sense something truly does "need" to happen in our world. But it is a "waking up" that needs to happen. That is what many of us dream, and have been dreaming all along. It is why we came. It is the dream we brought with us.

I can totally relate to that strong "need to wake them up" tug inside my heart.

But remember, the world may be asleep, but it is not broken. It needs not fixed.

Once Awake, it is gloriously mine to do my part of the gentle waking up, and ALLOW the rest of the waking up to happen.

It is mine to ACCEPT that God is not slacking off; indeed, once I awaken I know God has never ever been slacking! And it is mine to enjoy God's work as I do mine and whenever I rest from mine.

Rest is acceptable, and perhaps even more crucial when doing God-work.

Remember in CwG?**: "Your soul's purpose is to wake you up. God's purpose is to wake everyone else up."

In that sense, you and I are NOT God - we do NOT have to wake everyone else up.

Primarily ourselves. Once Awake, we do not (it is unthinkable in the most beautiful sense) just say "Hey this is cool - thanks Soul. Hey, keep up the good work God" and then be all lazy and not help wake folks up.

Waking our friends up IS big in the dream. It IS the dream perhaps.

Once Awake, we know our role and how we interact and co-create with God; that we are to lighten up on ourselves, and in so doing, lighten up the path for others. The beacon unto others idea.

Don't you see? Going into the holidays with any sort of "dragging down" idea about the world is counterproductive to God's work, and ignores the very sacrifice Jesus made. It is counterproductive to the co-creation of the Holiday Spirit!!

It ignores and minimizes the spot that awaits each of us "basking in the glow of the AWARENESS of our part of God's work."

Basking in that glow, one still empathizes with the needy and have-nots, but it is all good. Every time I "check with God", it is all good as it is, and even better that we are working together to wake others up.

Even those who want to keep napping.

Enjoy the day folks - enjoy the holidays, whatever you call them.

Enjoy, for your own sake.

Greg



**CwG refers to one of Neale Donald Walsch's books called Conversations with God - Neale has a wonderful series of books that I highly recommend.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Where Does the Time Come From?

Today is the first day of my next 50 years. It's kind of strange thinking that I have been around for a half-century.

Wonderful family, wonderful friends, wonderful dogs and cats, and a wonderful life filled with wonderul opportunities.

I am grateful for all.

http://graspingatlaws.net/music-13.html

So much to share... Time to keep beginning.

Dance In the Moment,

Greg

Friday, November 2, 2007

Zoe Mulford

Last night Zoe Mulford, a wonderful singer-songwriter from Manchester, UK performed at The Colonnades for a group of seniors in Assisted Living. It was magical.

Zoe plays banjo and guitar, presenting her songs with a wonderfully rich voice. She is from the States, but living in the UK now. During this tour she is traveling with her mother acting as manager-roadie, keeping them straight on where and when to be.

We spent a good 45 minutes after the show talking to the seniors. Zoe was so very gracious, patient and warm. She gave every minute that those folks requested of her. Listening, Smiling, Laughing.

We went to dinner afterwards and I once again learned what an incredible experience this is for seasoned musicians. Zoe and her mom could not stop talking about what a wonderful group it was, and how it seemed to have been Zoe's best performance of this tour! They asked about SongSharing and my motivation, and experiences I'd had, and that sort of thing. I recall telling them that I finally understood why these performances mean so much to me, and why I think they instantly struck folks like Zoe. I said something along the lines of "It's because people are a Gift to US. We are not doing them a favor with our music and our sharing. They are Our Favor! They are an opportunity for us to share The Gift of Love that we know we have been Gifted. And the Sharing is the most powerful Experience of that very Love. I've discovered that this is THE simple thing that Life is about."

We agreed that this was akin to Life's Simple Secret, and then Zoe gave me a copy of her wonderful CD called Roadside Saints. I gave her a copy of my soon-to-be-released CD, and SongSharing's Studio Series CD.

Merrily Merrily Merrily Merrily
Life is but a Dream...

Dance In the Moment,

Greg

www.zoemulford.com - and you can listen to some songs at www.myspace.com/zoemulford (I really like "Nobody Knocking" and "Elegy: Crystal Glasses")

Thursday, November 1, 2007

The Gift Identity

I Am The Gift.

The Gift is Infinite, Eternal, Absolute Love. - Love with No Other Side.

Keep It Simple.

Know that You Are The Gift, and that The Gift is Absolute Love.

Absolute Love is Eternal, Infinite.

An Awakened Life is about Living the Gift, Being the Gift, Giving the Gift in one's own unique way.

One Thus Has the Opportunity to Live Life as The Gift That Keeps On Giving, in a multitude of wonderful ways.

***

The Gift is Love.

I Am Love.

Expressed In the Manner I Choose.

A Unique Individuation of Absolute Love.

Keep It Simple.

The Gift is Love.

The How is Up to Me.