Art in the Schools

I rather wonder what would happen, Gregory, if all of the "artists" in our community volunteered two hours of their "art" into area schools every quarter.

It seems that so many of your self-proclaimed artists lament the loss of "art in the schools", then get stuck pointing fingers and trying to affix blame for the problem, and responsibility for the solution. Yet another manifestation of your Other-based perspective.

If every artist in this area gave two or three hours of art instruction every three months of the year, there's a good chance your schools would be overwhelmed. In a good way of course, but they would initially be overwhelmed if such an outpouring materialized as quickly as it could.

Imagine - musicians, sculptors, crafters, painters, those who draw, computer artists, and on and on. Just two hours every three months.

Look Again, Gregory. There is only Opportunity.

Lt. Dan Choi

"I am not asking anymore. I am telling."

Those are Lt. Dan Choi's words. He's trying to get President Obama's attention on the subject of Don't Ask Don't Tell and gays in the U.S. armed forces.

His words inspire me, for I have been asking and asking and asking for folks to embrace the idea of Audience Inclusion. But lately I have felt like telling people, not asking.

I've lately grown tired of asking, because lately I recalled the definition of insanity - to continue doing the same thing repeatedly and expect different results. How naive of me...

I realize of course that there is a balance to be struck here - a balanced way of shifting from asking to telling. And I also realize the risk I run.

A couple weeks ago I played at nursing home in Orange, Virginia, where I have been entertaining the residents monthly for about 8 months or so. We've run the gamut of inconsiderate staff behavior - from loud personal conversation to being displaced from the performance room so they could clean the floors. I've been very nice, and very patient. I even went for months without saying anything.

One day I spoke up about the incessant chatter and interruptions - the total disregard for the fact that a musical performance for the residents is taking place. I was promised that the staff had been reminded about courtesy.

Then came the "floor buffing incident" - the first one. Midway through a show staff members walk in and start moving the audience out of the room. Right in the middle of a song. They're chattering away, and then one of them noisily wheels in the floor machine. Someone announces that the show will now move into the hallway - THE HALLWAY!! They line the residents up there, where the closest is two feet away and the furthest about 45. Then they leave the doors open, turn on the machine, and increase the volume of their personal chatter so they can talk over the machine noise.

Perfect for an acoustic performance, eh?

Well, I brought it up with the lady I work with, and she brought it up with the nursing home representative, and again I was promised it would not happen EVER again. And it didn't. For a whole two or three months...

The other day they were lining them up in the hallway when I arrived. "Gotta do the floors" they smiled.

I smiled too, and said "Okay."

Again they left the doors open, negating any Opportunity for an enjoyable listening experience. After a few songs I asked the staff "monitor" could she please at least shut the doors.

"Can't do it. Fire code. We're expecting the Fire Marshal today." Great - we operate out of fear.

So I smiled, and again said "Okay."

Then another staff member came to apologize. "Wednesdays are really hard," she said. "So much to do," she said.

"What day is it not hard?" I asked.

"Wednesdays are really hard," she repeated.

"What days are not really hard?" I repeated.

"Wednesdays are really...", and I smiled, and lost it, with composure.

I lowered my voice, pasted a big smile on, and proceeded to tell her that my observation has been for the last fifteen years that staff members forget who pays their salary. I told her thatI found it interesting that Dolly Parton, Billy Joel and REM understand end encourage performances for seniors, but that local musicians, facility staff and administration, and local media do not.

I was being nice. I never swore. And I was being honest.

Within minutes the doors were shut. According to them in clear violation of fire code.

But the honesty, the speaking up on behalf of the residents, promptly earned me the label of "ugly". She went to the Activities Director and said I was "very ugly" to her.

So be it, I reckon. So much for asking.

It's Time.

To quote Lt. Choi again...

It's time to Tell.
It's time to Stand.
It's time to Fight.
It's time to March.
It's time to Love.

Thanks Lt. Choi. If you need some music for a rally, let me know...

Dear Folk Star Manager

Greetings,

Thanks for bugging me for the last seventeen weeks over and over ad infinitum, trying to secure a booking for your self-proclaimed folk star artist. Sorry I have not gotten back to you sooner, but frankly I was hoping you'd leave me alone awhile, since I am engaged with a project at this time.

I do understand that since I did not communicate this, that you have been persistent, and I am fine with this.

However, when I did finally respond, I asked a question of your self-proclaimed folk-star, a question that is rather important to me with respect to the audiences I represent.

It's an easy question, and of course there is no "right" answer. I don't expect anyone to invest a ton of time in it. Seems to me it adds a spark of fun, a refreshing spark.

You wrote back to say how silly it was for me to ask a question of your super-busy-important folk-star, and what a waste of your time it would be to play this "guessing game". The funny thing is though, you took a stab at answering it for her. The even funnier thing is, when she wrote to call me a liar, she gave the same answer you gave. Weird, huh? She said, basically, this is a stupid game, here is my answer, I don't want to play at your venue, go away.

Now frankly, I cannot imagine why it is silly or inappropriate for me to aska question of someone who would like to be hired for a gig. I understand it is not a traditional question, but I am not sure why that makes it a waste of time. Both of you found time to answer it while you were chastising me for not simply booking or dismissing an unknown performer.

Anyway, the reason I asked the question is that frankly I do not want to hire a performer that puts the money before the spirit of music. Our audiences deserve better. All audiences deserve better, for every audience is the best.

Anyway, I liked your answer - that the "best" audiences, in your opinion, are attentive. Had you been able to answer in some sort of positive spirit, the next question would have been about your minimum fee - that is, how much do we need to pay you to book you? You see, we run on a non-profit basis, and our work and our approach to Making Music More Accessible(tm) has been supported by the likes of REM/Athens, Billy Joel, Dolly Parton and the Dave Matthews Band. To name a few. David Wilcox, Andrew McKnight, Dave Crossland and many others have played our venues.

And we do not charge the audience for a ticket. We raise the funds, and pay musicians to help us Make Music More Accessible(tm). We encourage Audience Inclusion(tm), and we help make it economically feasible for artists like your folk-star, that make their living with their music.

In her message, your folk-star said to me that she was not sure why I had gone to such trouble to "make up" a story, or something like that. Well, Miss Manager, dialogue is how humans clarify, when they are interested in the spirit of communication. Either of you could have asked. Of course this means you would have to possess a certain level of respect for someone like me, and for an unknown. You would have to possess a certain curiosity; a certain understanding that things are not always what they seem, and things are always always changing, evolving, growing, becoming... You would have to understand that This is precisely what Time is for.

I would guess that if those big stars whose names you like to drop had asked the question you would not have come back so negatively.

But maybe you would have. Maybe, in the end, it is like you said in your message to me: "I do not do this for altruistic purposes..."

Thanks for sharing.

I love that part. It's like saying "I write and sing altruistic songs, but I do not do this for altruistic purposes."

This folk star thing, I don't get...

Best of Now, always,

Greg

Life. Always Getting in the Way of Sleep....

Alice said it this way the other day, observing my grumpiness when something interrupted an afternoon nap.

Life is like this Gregory. Always interfering with somebody's desire to sleep right thru their Dream of a LifeTime.

She pointed out that, according to the stories our culture tells about Life, it is a Gift, and an Opportunity to come to know OneSelf. An Opportunity to Awaken into the Expression and Experience of our Dreams.

And for some silly reason, Gregory, you often get quite irritated when Life comes to play, and calls for you, Here Now.

She mentioned someone that had called into Oprah the other day, singing the blues about their situation, and how the recession was getting to them. She said Oprah had asked something like "Can you breathe without the aid of a machine?"

The point being Gratitude of course.

Alice suggested when I wake up - whether on my own or by virtue of perceived interruption - that I Express my Gratitude for something.

Some things. Every Time I wake up: Express Thanks. Sincere Gratitude. Feel it.

This is the easiest task I've ever had...

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice the Canine Messiah

www.gregallenmusic.net

Was or Is?

When Neale Donald Walsch posted Candy Chand's "Christ Was Love" story at beliefnet this past month we were right away struck by the fact that he was promoting a story in which the supposed-to-be-heartwarming-message is that Christ WAS Love.

Was. Used to be. Not any more, man.

And this of course makes sense, for so many Christians have the idea that the term Christ refers to one historical figure. This is the basic idea to which they cling and fall back upon when the going gets tough.

Christ WAS love, and in the future, when we finally get away from This wretched Here Now, Christ WILL BE Love.

But Not Now. Not Here Now. Come on...

**

We wonder what ever happened to the idea of the Christ within each of us? The idea of Christ as a basic "spirit", accessible to us all in any and every Given moment of a LifeTime.

Given moment. Notice this. Gift. The Time of One's Life is a Gift. You knew this.

So, what ever happened to the idea that Christ Is Love, Here Now, in the Opportunity of an apparent Problem?

**

Yes, we noticed when Mr. Walsch got all warm and fuzzy about a story saying Christ WAS Love.

Y'know, Mr. Walsch and Ms. Chand, the Spirit of Christ IS Love.

The Spirit of Christ available to you and each of us Here Now is Understanding as well. Compassion, a Peaceful Approach.

(This Peace is based in a Peace that passes all understanding mind you, so don't look for human explanations that will allow the Golden Rule to, um, rule. This is where Faith comes in. Faith that is not underscored by doubt and fear, this is. Absoulute Faith.)

And the Spirit of Christ is Kindness, dear fellow writers.

The Spirit of Christ Listens, Smiles, and Blesses God's Fellow Children. The Spirit of Christ does not judge and insist upon righteous punishment.

The Spirit of Christ has little concern for the effect another can have on one's "credibility" among mortals.

Oh, ye of relative Faith... ;^)

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice the Canine Messiah

http://www.gregallenmusic.net/

www.cdbaby.com/cd/gregallenmusic2

The Thing About the "Spiritual" Thing

I've taken a little - not much - flack for my stance on the Neale Donald Walsch situation, with some folks pointing out how "serious" this all is.

Apparently Ms. Chand - whom the NY Times labels "a Christian writer" - feels some very important principle has been violated. She feels that even though Mr. Walsch did not gain in any direct financial sense, he has cast a pall on writers everywhere, and somehow jeopardized the trust a reader might place in a writer.

As though Ms. Chand's credibility is somehow dependent upon Neale Walsch, she said "How many people have heard him telling people that it’s his own?” she said. “There goes my credibility again." (We won't even ask why she threw in the word "again"...)

We won't argue for or against the probability of Mr. Walsch having this sort of power over Ms. Chand - who does not even seem to have her own website, based on a Google search.

But we'll observe... that always, always, always, the religious and spiritual people have a tendency to identify and evoke principles that are higher than, and thus must supercede, The Golden Rule.

This is only possible of course when One holds a basic view of the world of Humans as being separate from the "world of God", or "spiritual world".

It's only possible for people that begin by seeing Division. You know, Divided We Fall. That sort of thing.

I got a chuckle yesterday when I had the sense that people are busy spanking and scolding their fellow beings because they are afraid that Later, when they are all dead, their fellow beings will not "be there for them" - they will not have qualified for entry into "the Good Thing".

The fact that they are Here, Now, in Time, Here to Celebrate Life, to Express and Experience what we know of this "Higher Love" can rather go hang, to these people.

For Life you see, is about Later. And That. Over There.

Sad-funny...

**

Again we offer Alice's evolution of the Golden Rule, a clearly tired Other-Dependent Rule based in and dependent upon Other and the challenges they bring to our sense of right and wrong.

From Digging the Whole: the Canine Book of Play* Alice offers

An Absoulute Attitude: I Am with My Fellow Beings As I Am with MySelf.

**

It's clearly Self-Reliant. We like this aspect very much.

For Here Is Only The Self. Here Is No Other.

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice the Canine Messiah

http://www.gregallenmusic.net/

*Digging the Whole, & An Absoulute Attitude are copyright Greg Allen 2008/2009

All Rights Reserved

Neale Donald Walsch and Opportunity

We sent this to Neale via the "contact form" on his CWG website a little while ago, in support. The so-called "spiritual community" never ceases to amaze us...

**

Neale,

So very sorry to hear of the turmoil, and particularly sorry if this is causing you any personal suffering.

It's odd to us, though, in a "This Here Now" sort of sense that there is so little room for forgiveness of one's "humanity at the human level" by a Christian author and a website called "beliefnet". Of course we understand the "earthly" gravity of what has occurred, and how it can be construed, but it seems that such a perfect "heavenly" Opportunity has been missed. By the "heaven" people...

The Opportunity to walk the talk. To Forgive in Real-Time, at the Speed of Life. The "What Would Jesus Do" sort of Opportunity.

Life is actually sort of like one had been sitting round chatting with God and God asked "What would Heaven be like, in your version of it?" And One began to respond with all the things that Others would and would not do in Heaven, and of course we all have scads to say if asked about this one...

But God raised a finger and smiled, and said "No. Show me."

And suddenly you find YourSelf Here Now, and we are all waking up in Time with our Fellow Beings...

For sure Neale, we hope that you have utilized the CWG principles your books showed us to forgive yourself quickly and proceed from Self-forgiveness as you move through this Experience.
We appreciate all you have brought to the world Neale, and we hope you will see nothing but Opportunity, as one door closes...

Best of Now, always,


Alice the Canine Messiah and Greg Allen

http://www.gregallenmusic.net/

http://www.timeoverthrown.blogspot.com/

The Funny Thing About Psychics

In the wake of the local radio show fiasco we mentioned over the weekend Alice and I went to the local psychic who was on the show Sunday, for an Animal Communication Consultation. $50.

I admit, I initially signed us up with a bit of an attitude, and in hindsight am glad I did. It seems fair to try to get some sort of gauge of what is going on with the radio thing. I figured a visit to the psychic that is of such high "community interest" that he has on on the show 3 or so times a year would help me get some perspective. It's long been a bit perplexing to me that the Audience Inclusion effort born in C'ville is of no interest to the community radio station. So...

By the time we got there I was well past my sense of frustration, and was truly looking forward to hearing what a psychic would say, firsthand, about a canine messiah. $50 seems fair, to me. I hoped the show host had not tipped her off to the canine messiah thing after I called in...

Also by the time we got there we had been laughed at and called crazy by some friends. Oh well. Expected.

And then not long afterward I told a "spiritual" sort of friend about it. It didn't go over well, although the friend was gracious.

The concensus among all of the detractors is basically that (a) I already knew what the psychic "revealed" to me about Alice and, (b) she simply told me things I "needed to hear" and, (c)they could have told me the same things.

I've been pondering this, and I realized that indeed, she did tell me things I already felt pretty confident of. And yes indeed, in a sense I did need to hear them.

I needed to hear them because I don't, often enough. Perhaps my friends could have told me these things. But they haven't. They don't.

I gotta work on that, from the Giving end. I realize it is a reflection...

Yup, it was worth it.

Every penny!

**

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice the Canine Messiah

101 Spiritualists in Support of The Now Exspirientuality

Wow.

The other night we had some new folks show up at The Now Exspirientuality gathering at Not the Same Old Grind in Orange. One of them mentioned Mike Dooley and his website. Mike was in The Secret. Impressive guy. I looked around his site, and it's impressive.

I signed up for his Notes from the Universe. Oh my...

The first one came this morning. Apparently The Universe is very concerned with other people, what will come later, and - get this - gloating! Here's what Mike's Universe sent me:


It's the exact same for me, Greg. My love goes unreturned, I feel completely unappreciated, or some clown starts telling me what's wrong with the world (my world!). And so, I have to remind myself that I am the Universe, that this is an adventure, and that one day they will come to know the errors in their thinking. And, not that it matters at all, but I secretly hope that on that day I just happen to be carried past them, sitting in my processional throne, followed by throngs of admirers, with all the Angels singing, "We are the champions, my friends..."

**

Now honestly I had never said that I felt my love goes unreturned, and I did not say that I felt completely unappreciated, so I am not sure where the "exact same for me" thing comes from as an opener.

And honestly I don't find myself needing to remind myself of all of "Their" flaws in thinking.

And for sure I had no idea the Universe - or Mike, or Mike's Universe... - is poised, ready to gloat when the appointed day comes and all of "Them" experience Their "error" by virtue of My Rightness, as I am paraded around on a processional throne (did he really say that??) with throngs of followers.

Um, that's pretty ill Mike. You can hang on to your Universe's ideas.

I know I am not the only one struck by the resemblance to certain popular religious ideas.

Uh, Mike. Huh? Do you know what is being sent out here?

Mike Dooley hosts a website that is underscored by the message that "thoughts become things". What a sad consideration - that the sort of thoughts he sent me this morning might actually become realities in my Life.

I have no need nor desire to fashion my sense of who I Am and how my Life shall proceed based on an attitude of complaining about my Now and longing to gloat in my Later.

I just don't get these spiritual gurus.

Except when I recall what Alan Watts said - that a guru simply picks your pocket and sells you back your own watch.

**

These are the sort of spiritual messages that affirm my decision to immerse myself fully in Joyful recognition of The Now Exspirientuality.

Like Time Overthrown, it is not really a movement, it is a stillness. Or, as Alice says, It's a stillness-movement.

This morning we had to rewind a few times and listen to Michael Stipe sing to this idea in the song Low, from the Out of Time CD, "Moving through the still frame. How, we do not know."

Alice and I have no desire to pick anyone's pocket and sell them back their watch. We are however more than happy to share Now ideas about how Time really works, and what Time is really for...

**

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice the Canine Messiah

Taught, Learn, Choose

There's a wonderful evolution about the choruses in the Pierce Pettis song Legacy.

The song is about racism, and the first chorus says "What we're taught to believe, we never question these things..."

The second chorus observes that "What we learn to believe, we never question these things..."

And finally, the third chorus: "What we choose to believe, we dare not question these things..."

This evolution directly relates to the chat I have been having with my friend regarding the idea of "Loving What You Hate". She responded to me yesterday by saying that People are taught to hate, and that is what shackles them.

And our point is simply that at some point we are choosing.

To point back to our childhood and blame the teaching for our current behavior is childish, and in my mind rather ridiculous.

**

I went back and looked at my posts from a year ago - the Holidays 2007. I found that this is about the Time I announced that I was giving up spirituality, and I recalled that this sort of attitude is precisely why. Spirituality likes to focus on That There Then. And on Them. Other.

Spirituality has little regard for its own obvious teaching that This Here Now is all there is, and that Life is a journey of Self. In deepest truth, there is no Other.

There is simply The One Thing going on, and on and on and on....

And we are blessed to Be, Here Now.

And we should act like it.

Now.

Dance In the Moment...

Happy Holidays!!

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice the Canine Messiah

Assuming Form Empowers Divinity

As a followup, we have been dialoguing with the friend that sent the "Love What You Hate" thing, and she has been pretty adamant defending her right to choose to hate first, and then love it. Of course we never argued against her right to do so. We just offered a choice.

She basically cites her "inherent human weakness" - the idea that humans are flawed, and oh so challenged and disempowered and so forth. The idea that we tend towards hatred and the negative, and we must struggle to overcome ourselves.

Alice has pointed out before that the very act of Being, of assuming human form, does not hinder divinity. Indeed, taking form is the only manner in which "What Is" is empowered to do, or be, anything.

The only way One can Express or Experience (which are the two constituents of Existence) is in some form of form.

You can't take flight without taking form, points out What Would Dog Do?: the Canine Messiah's Handbook.

**

Ultimately it's all good of course, but it is rather sad-funny that so many spiritual paths lead round and round and back again to the same old grim dim outlook of humanity - that we are flawed, that we must struggle and struggle to get to the Good Thing, and it is never assured.

The idea of being doomed to a life of hateful things and situations that one must learn to love hardly seems spiritual to me these days. It seems anti-spiritual somehow.

I'm reminded that it was the Walsch Messenger's Circle board that first prompted Alice to show me The One Exercise and introduce me to The Now Exspirientuality.

Hmmm...

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice, the Canine Messiah

Instant Here and Now

An online friend I met thru Neale Donald Walsch's "Messengers Circle" last year sent an email a few days ago, forwarding a spiritual sort of thing she had received. I guess it came in the spirit of the holidays, which I must say seems more and more odd to me these days...

The writing was about "Loving What You Hate", and offered this as a method of "transformation". In fact, it claims that loving what you hate is the great transformer.

I read it a time or two, noting peculiarities such as the idea that love is the best tool available to "combat hatred".

I noted that it says hatred is very hard to overcome because it reinforces itself. This appears from the writer's view to be an advantage that hatred has over love.

Alice and I got together and responded to our friend:

Hi T,

Happy Holidays - hope you and yours are doing well!

You know, we are advocates of the idea that It's Time That Time Was Overthrown. Time is never going to get us to the good thing...

Loving what one hates seems a "long-way around" sort of idea to us these days, for it simply gives Life and longevity to the idea of hatred. It adds more Time in order for the Good Thing to arrive. It states once again that This Here Now is not the good thing - it's less than acceptable.

"Thanks God, but No Thanks! I hate This Here Now crap, God. How dare you. But (sigh...) okay. I'll pretend to act as though I 'love' this thing I hate."

By simply adopting what Alice the Canine Messiah calls An Absoulute Attitude we move into the Joy of Being, akin to that elusive "peace that passes all understanding"...

By choosing to See One Thing we move beyond the possibility of hatred, Here Now. Instantly. No Time, nor transformation, needed.

You see T, folks like to believe that Time is going to eventually get them to the Good Thing. They like to believe that This Here Now sucks, and eventually, in Time, we'll get to the Good Thing of which we Dream.

But This Here Now is precisely where we have long Dreamed of Being. Being, Here Now, is the original Dream Come True.

And Here Now, in Time, we can Experience and Express Becoming Dreams.

This is how we Experience it, these days.

We wish you Peace.

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice the Canine Messiah

www.gregallenmusic.net

This Is It

This is it.

We can’t be more sincere.

This Here Now is The Now Exspirientuality - you are indeed having the spiritual experience right now. You are in the presence of God, so to speak.

The Old Man is looking out thru every set of eyes you encounter, with a smile and a wink. It’s all good.

That’s a funny thing to consider, for yesterday's experience had a decidedly “Old Man” sense to it. I used to work with a baker in a restaurant whose nickname was the Old Man. He was such a presence. It’s an experience I am long familiar with, of being watched. I know it now as Jewel describes it when she sings “God is watching us… from a distance.” It’s a gentle watching – detached but not disinterested; accepting; allowing.

But I wonder why, for me, it seemed yesterday a masculine sort of presence, instead of simply a presence…

Now, to be clear, yesterday was an experience while I was alone, in the van.

It must be attributed - something I attribute. I can see that I ascribe these traits – even to the canines, and imagine the girls to be girly…

And so it is simply the yin and yang of The Now Exspirientuality – that it will have dualistic qualities in the Experiential / Expressive plane of Existence. And sometimes they have the grandpa feel, and sometimes the grandma...

Yes.

This is it.

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice, the Canine Messiah

an Alice poem

Know No Know.
No it is and isn't so.
Know enough to let it go.
When No is Yes and Yes is Know.
Now Go.
Go. Go.
Yo.

**

Alice the Canine Messiah

Questions

When we Ask Questions we receive Verbal Responses.

When we Live Questions we receive Life Answers.

Alice shared that last night as we were preparing for a meeting with some young students later today.

Best of Now, always,

Greg and Alice

Being Floats

At dawn we find Her, floating Her Being gently along the stream of Time.

She is Becoming Every Dream she ever Dreamed.

As She Becomes She Awakens To Dreams She never Dreamed She had been Dreaming.

On She floats, into the sunset of Dreams She has yet to Dream of Dreaming.

We lose sight of Her, and we wonder. We rest, and we Dream of Her.

And at dawn, we find her...

--

from Alice, the Canine Messiah

Being Becoming

BEING * * * * * * * * * * * * * BECOMING

Absolute * * * * * * * * * * * * * Relative

Now * * * * * * * * * * * * * * from past, thru present, into future

Unity/Unification * * * * * * * * * Duality/Multiplicity

Joy with No Other Side * * * * * * Happy/Sad and all in between

Love with No Other Side * * * * * * Loving/Hating



.... and so forth.

On Enlightenment, Enlightening and Enlightened

Alice points out that the "quest" is not necessarily to attain an enlightened state in which one lives.Life is a process - of Enlightenment and of Enlightening.Enlightenment has to do with sharing the Now space (in which Relative Time unfolds) with, and basking in, the light of other souls.Enlightening has to do with the fact that our souls bring our light into the Now space (in which Relative Time unfolds).

**

In one sense, there are no enlightened humans*. Only enlightening ones, experiencing enlightenment.

A common spiritual pitfall is to believe that some people are enlightened, and to aspire to one day be like them. Lately, with writers like Tolle, it is kind of sadly humorous, as he is telling these seekers to live Now, not for some imaginary future condition.

This is the mindset that also believes that "I am now awakened and my friends/family/lover/boss/neighbors/countrymen/world citizens are not. What is an enlightened soul to do?"

What you are looking for Gregory is the simple fact that Humans are Equal in the very fact of their Being.

The things perceived and labeled as differences among Human Beings are actually differences in Becoming.

Becoming occurs through the process you know as Relative Time, and naturally all folks are at different points on the "Becoming scale" so to speak. But you are all pure perfect equals at the level of Being.

Until you see that, and look out from this Being space of Pure Equality, you will look "above" you to ones you call enlightened, and "beneath" you to ones you call "lesser than", and you will never experience the simple Joy of This, Here, Now - Being. The Soul's prayer is to Be, it's Dream is to Become.

**

This has a lot to do with (Grasping At Laws of) Attraction actually... enlightening folks are Attractive to those experiencing enlightenment...It is why we are awakening into This, Here, Now.

Every awakening one of us!!

Peace everyone,

Greg & Alice


*In another sense, the idea of "Being enlightened" simply means a mental "load" has been removed - Life is not perceived as a burden. Life begins to be perceived as an enlightening experience of enlightenment. Thus, in this sense, an enlightened Being is one who proceeds to engage Life from an unburdened mental state. Being unburdened, this Being moves into Becoming, fully - sharing the light and basking in the glow... We are all doing this - sharing our light and basking in the glow of others' light. However, many of us are mentally burdened by our idea of Life - and even our idea of what it means to be "enlightened".
That's a little ironic - that the idea of "losing the burden" becomes a burden to some of us... But hey, that is part of the fun of the Game we signed up for...

On "Getting Through" Life Situations

From Alice the Canine Messiah:

The centering element of Relative Time (a past through a present into a future) is Absolute Time - the Eternal Now moment in which all experience occurs.

That simply means Beginning with and maintaining an attitude of "This, Here, Now is precisely where I want to Be."

When you ask the question "Is it always going to be this way?", it indicates that perhaps - just perhaps - you do not enjoy Being the experiencer of your current This, Here, Now Experience - whatever it may be.

Perhaps you do not perceive this Experience as a Gift of the Universe. one you long ago expressed a Desire to Experience. Many of us do not perceive any, or many, of our LifeTime experiences as Gifts, as Opportunities we have - ahem - Attracted to our Human form...
What, exactly, IS your Time for, when an Experience arrives? To Dance With It, Live It, Be It, Experience It, Run With It - to allow IT to Dance With You, Live Through You, BE through You, Experience You, and Run With You???

Or are you looking for a way to "get through" this Experience that you don't quite understand, that seems painful or unpleasant?

Wishing you peace,

Alice

Alexis, Row Your Boat...

Last night was so cool.

Tom Proutt showed up with his electric guitar, Braxton brought percussion equipment, and the three of us played music at Dr. Ho's Humble Pie in North Garden, VA. Great Great Pizza!

A couple and their young daughter Alexis come in and sit at the front table, right in front of us. Alexis was very much enjoying the music, and she made sure we knew that with her applause. We had fun interacting for awhile.

She got a real kick when I spoke of Alice the Canine Messiah, and showed the stickers and t-shirts with Alice's picture - she had seen the back of the van when they pulled in.

Just before they left Alexis showed the paper plate she had been coloring to her mom, and her mom smiled and encouraged Alexis to show it to us. She did. It said "You Rock", with a heart drawn between the two words.

A couple minutes later she came up and held the plate out to me, as a Gift. I took it, and thanked her, and then asked if she would please sign it for us. She did.

I gave her a couple of Alice stickers... She seemed pretty thrilled about that.

And then... I said...

"Alexis, do you know the song Row Your Boat?" She nodded.

Dr. Ho's had about 20 customers, and the place fell strangely quiet.

"Alice showed me that song is true Alexis." I glanced at her parents, a gentle fierce glare suggesting they pay attention. They were. Smiling; gratitude in their eyes.

"You have come to Life with your own little Boat Alexis, perfectly prepared to Row thru the Dream of Your Life." She was really tuned in, eyes locked to mine.

"Row Your Boat Alexis. Gently, merrily, downstream - with the flow Alexis. This is It Alexis. Have fun!"

She smiled. Her folks smiled.

As they got up to leave they all said "Thanks!" and I said "Thank You!" and her dad lost his smile, looked me sternly & gently, in the eye and said "No. I mean Thanks. Thank You."

I think he meant the Row Your Boat discourse...

What a night. I have the best job!

Peace,

Greg & Alice