We CAN Create Weather

Written on September 10th, 2012

Have you ever heard these words from a loved one that you have visited, "You brought such amazing weather with you."  Well, maybe that is exactly what you have done. 

The more and more I dive into a "more connected" life, the more I see the connection to the whole of existence and the more I see our power as human beings to actually work in harmony with nature to create various weather patterns.  It may seem a bit far-fetched huh.  But let me give you a few interesting examples that have happened in my own life.

I tend to be a bit of a tree hugger, not the over the top kind that regulates life down to the sole of the shoe for sustainability ( I may be there soon though), but, more so I like to commune with Nature, respect her and sing to her for healing and to create dynamic change in my world.  So I am constantly speaking to plants, thanking the sun for shining, playing with creatures from the smallest ants to the huge moo moo cows that cross my path daily and practicing sustainable living by using biodegradable products and services.  Each tiny little act I believe makes a difference and makes me feel holistically better.

My first witnessing of the power of the human soul to move nature was at the Art of Living Ashram in Bangalore, India during Navaratri.  During this 9 day festival, ceremony, or puja, is done daily as an offering to Mother Earth and the Gods.  By the 6th day of the events something strange began to unfold.  Every night that the ceremonies took place a trend came along with it, RAIN, and lots and lots of it!  As soon as the ceremony was finished, the rain would stop.  Interestingly enough, when you would ask someone in the city, only 15 to 20 KM from the Ashram, if they enjoyed the rain last night, they would retort with a befuddled reply of "what rain?" 

When I began to ponder the amount of heart - based, well intended thought energy that was going into the ceremonies, it was easy to come to the conclusion that we were collectively creating this abundant weather pattern.

The next instance I was not a part of, but was deeply moved by and inspired to write the song "Blue Water Rise" off of my latest album "Brave New World - The Time is NOW!"  In this instance, I was told that a giant drum inlayed with thousands of crystals was brought to Israel to perform ceremony for various reasons, one being to aid in bringing more water to the surface of the drying country.  In one of the various ceremonies, more then 200 people came together to bang the drum with the intention of springing water northern part of Israel.  The next day, it was told that a fissure sprang up from underneath the ground, bringing more life to the country!

Now for my own direct experience that happened just over the last few weeks.  We had the pleasure of working with a group of Young Leaders in Mumbai and we conducted a workshop on the multitude of powers in music.  Now, for the 3 month Monsoon season here in Mumbai this year it has been more like a Mo then a Monsoon, only bringing occasional drips and drizzles but no consistent rain.  These rains are the life blood of the country and necessary for the sustainability throughout the year.  A light monsoon season could be seriously detrimental to the livelihood of millions and millions of people.  So we decided to use the healing powers of the song "Blue Water Rise."  A song which was composed with the intention using our human powers to WORK WITH NATURE and transform our environments into favorable ones. 

We had the young leaders close their eyes and call into their hearts the importance of continued rain for the people of Mumbai and beyond.   We invited them to hold that intention throughout the song and to call more rain into Mumbai and its surrounding areas. 

We finished with a smile and a sing along and then we all parted and went our own ways.  By nightfall, the rains began, and, here I sit more then 10 days later, and we continue to get more then 6 hours of steady rain EVERYDAY.  Now we could probably call this coincidence or just the way that it is this year, which is probably true in some respect, but I also believe that we have enormous constructive and destructive powers as a human species and I was working with the youth, which has tons of power and youth leaders ….. well …. I think there is something to it!. 

I believe we have the powers to turn livable land into arid ones as well as dry desert into tropical paradise.  But we must travel into the depths of our hearts and collaborate with our deepest self, the one in which we feel connected to everything, most importantly to the Earth that we inhabit on.  Most of us are running around actually believing that we are ABOVE nature, killing species after species, chopping down the trees that assist us in breathing, and over consuming only to feed our own desires and needs and then we cry and shout and scream when our loved ones are displaced or even killed by natural disasters.  How else to we expect her to clean up the mess.  It is just like our human bodies, when it gets polluted by over consumption and waste, we have to clean it out using various means and this causes storms of output which include violent movements and foul smells.  Do we really think the Earth is any different?   Maybe, just maybe, if we start seeing our great big ball as one that we MUST respect and collaborate with, we will create a more harmonious existence with her, much like the ones that are going on with indigenous cultures all around the world.  Study up and read the power the leads us to create a reality in which we are in harmony with everything we see.  For me, I am devoted to this journey and am now seeing results clearly through my own experience.  For that I am extremely grateful!

OH, and One last note on this before I go with this one.  During this entire 3+ month stretch that has been the monsoon season, We have traveled outside almost every day.  We ride a motorcycle!  I have to tell you honestly that I can only count a handful of times in which we were poured down upon and usually when we were, we were free from my valuables and were happy to get wet.  It is as if the clouds temporarily part when we go shopping or have to travel with our computers and guitar.  Sometimes I get freaked out by the notion, but most of the time I just well up in gratitude and pray for the all important rain to come right back as soon as the journey culminates, and, lately, it has done just that.  Again, GRATEFUL!

In the Grey? Enlightened? Or is it Time to Grab A Bucket of Paint?

February 10th, 2013

Something eerie is happening on a global scale right now.  I first noticed it in Israel and now I am seeing the same manifestation out here in Thailand and it is a bit worrisome to say the least.  Almost all the cars on the road now are colored in some dull color.  Whether it is grey, faded blue, black, white.  I literally looked down a street in Modi'in Israel one day that had about 100 cars on it and did not find one car with an expressive color.  And now, here in Thailand I am seeing the same.  I remember the days when a persons car was a part of how they expressed themselves and many of those cars were enhanced in color modifications that occasionally got you to think that the person might be insane, like myself, with my bright canary yellow VW Corrado (in the photo). But, I loved those days.  There were bright reds, blues, purples, teal and so on.  It makes me wonder what could possibly be going on in the world.  Are bright cars simply not available anymore or has the human psyche been so dulled out by fear that one will not dare to step out of the norms of societal conditioning and show up in the world bright and alive, inside, outside and all sides.  Have we lost our ability to express ourselves?  

I know in India, this is not the case.  People show up in every color and even make up colors to express themselves as loudly as possible and it is quite a beautiful and stunning experience to be a part of that high vibrational expression. 

The one last enlightened conclusion that I have to this scenario is that maybe, just maybe, the whole reason that the majority of people around the world are riding in blank forms of expression is because they have become so evolved and unattached that it does not matter how they express themselves on the outside because their inner life is so full of radiance and vibrancy that there is no need to care about that outer reflection.  I wish I could believe that, maybe in a few years I will, but right now, it does not seem to be the case.

So my plea to the world is, grab a bucket of paint and go to town on your automobile, shine it up in luster and appeal.  clean up the inside and decorate like they do in India.  If you are like many people in the world, you probably spend a considerable amount of time riding in this dulled out people mover, so why not brighten up your days by brightening up your means of travel.

Fair and Proper Exchange

I just read a post about a musicians struggle with charging for their music or not and this was my comment that I left.

The first thing I want to put out there is the fact that I see the music "coming through" me into the world.  It is constructed and edited (probably not always for the best :) by my conscious mind, but most the melodies appear like magic and as a witness I capture it and put it out into the world.

Now, being a conduit for that magic to come through takes awareness, discipline and courage to attach enough to get it out, but detach from the outcome knowing that it will reach exactly whom it is meant to reach. 

Which leads to the Materiality of the matter as we are still "living in a material world ...."





I believe in proper exchange so I offer my entire collection of music ONLINE on a "Pay as you wish" basis as I cannot even conceive of putting a specific value on the conception (which comes from places I could never dream of) to the multiple years of production, arranging, sweating, takes and everything else that goes into a record.  Sometimes I give the music away for free when I am inspired to do so.  I do charge for my performances, again, based on exchange, if I am playing for Cancer Patients, Underprivileged or the like, I will do if for free, If I am playing to low income, the rates will change across the board all the way up to the super fancy and pricey shows.  We all come from different financial backgrounds and we all have different amounts that we feel comfortable giving.  I truly believe my music can touch all walks of life so I choose to conduct my business in the way of "Proper Exchange" knowing that our hearts will lead us to the exchange that feels right with everyone involved.  As time goes on I am less and less co-operative with people attempting to take advantage of this and cheap me out of what I am worth when they have the material abundance to give.  First and foremost I show up to the world in service and I know the real value of what I offer is far beyond most peoples budget or any budget for that matter, art is priceless, so I work from the heart so that each and every person on this entire planet has the ability to experience the GIFT of this music.  There may come the time when I will have a HIGH TICKET show, but believe me, the next day I will be out there in a school, rehabilitation center or in someones living room offering MY deepest gift in Proper Exchange.

With Love and Gratitude

STAGE OR NO STAGE, OUR ART IS REACHING THE WORLD

This is an important download (I Feel :) for all my fellow artists out there in the world riding the train of belief over desire ....

STAGE OR NO STAGE - OUR ART IS REACHING THE WORLD.

The last eve of the Full Moon I had another one of those strong epiphanies.  The Full Moon always tunes me into the highest frequencies and when I listen clearly, I get the some of the greatest visions (i.e. The Full Moon Rising Collaborative music project and Brave New World Album Visions both came on Full Moons)  Anyways, back to the most recent one.  I decided to listen to Brave New World - The Time is NOW! while taking a moon lit stroll in the open field across from my flat.  When I listen to the record I usually get quite expressive and sing out loud, so best to go out into an open area where everyone can hear but nobody can actually see clearly who you are so I can really live out loud.  During the 4th song of the album it came …. 

The song "Searching" is a modern progressive rock track that touches on the subject of man's search for an absolute truth and has quite eye opening lyrics that lead us to see the infinite possibilities of every moment.  At the height of it I started pondering how I could get the world to really HEAR this track, how I could get on a big enough stage, how to promote, how to market and then how to get people to give up their separation and surrender into the collective ONE that is humanity.  And that was it!  The collective ONE …. AAAAHHHHAAAAA.  So, for the remaining 2 and a half minutes of this song and the last half hour of the album I felt deep into my heart connection with every single being on this planet -human and non- and in my mind, the whole world was a stage and we were all on it, transforming together.  It was more then the lyrics that I was sharing, it was an essence of love, compassion and gratitude for every single life form on the planet.  There was so much power, so much connection, IT WAS and IS REAL.  Everyday since that point, when I am practicing I get into that same space, sometimes it is focused on a particular group of friends and family, maybe the slums outside my window, or the war mongers or maybe just the forest and I exchange this energy and offer my art in reflection with the intention of EVOLUTION.  I cannot explain the energy that I feel, it is like I am performing a concert for millions everyday!

So I ask my fellow musicians and artists to reflect deep into the reason why we create art.  It MOVES US. and most of us spend our lives searching for opportunities to move others in the same way.  Well, here is what I say:  WE are moving people in every moment we create.  We are moving people when we sing in the shower and if you think big enough, we can move people all over the planet without actually being in front of them.  We can surround the world in our essence, sing out our messages in any capacity and they are having an impact.  If all the metaphysical stuff is true and a flap of a butterflies wings in Brazil causes an earthquake in Africa,  then with or without a stage, with or without a gallery, with our without a studio, every moment we create we are moving people all over the world.

Now, I am not saying this because I want us artists to give up the drive to share our dreams in a huge way in the physical world.  Dream big and I am SURE it will come.  But, with this notion, I feel we can focus clearly on being of service and be able to let go of a lot of the pressure and Ego that comes with that fight for recognition. With that state of mind, we can relax into the knowing that we artists are a great service to this world and we will always be taken care of in every moment, and with a little bit of vision and strong intention, we can move the mountains that we know we are capable of through the power of our hearts and the strength of our minds and at the end of our days, when we reflect back, whether we reached the physical success of Bono or stayed in the close confines of our bedrooms, we can rest assured that we truly made a difference.  Really, the only thing that we will not see when we practice giving in this way are the Ego inflating praises and deflating criticism of the masses that actually believe they are separate from us.   I pray that we all can see beyond this limitation!  THE TIME IS NOW!

I LOVE YOU!

With Peace and Gratitude.