The Seeker’s Manual

Of the all-abiding oneness we might say there are three primary divisions: Nature, Culture, and Spirit.

Spirit is the foundation.  Spirit brings us past the sensible form we are used to thinking of as “reality,” and into the hidden energetic realm within all forms and beyond all forms. Spirit is the essence of matter, of all things.  It is the ocean of vibration, the waves that continue despite our attempts to particularize, to define, to control and limit.  Our access to spirit comes most fully through the practice of meditation, as meditation trains us to go beyond habitual boundaries of thought, emotion, language and action; to taste oneness firsthand, and to dwell within it.

Nature is the sensible and material realm we live in, despite our persistent attempts to wall it out, to tame and exploit it for our private human benefit.  Though we have taught our kind to fear it, to escape it and to master it, Nature remains our constant home, our ever-forgiving Mother. Perhaps the chief characteristic of our true and sustainable relation to Nature is a sense of belonging.  Only with the attitude of belonging can we heal our dangerous split with Nature and begin to resurrect the symbiosis that all life shares, by practicing survival strategies grounded in respect and care of the Nature that sustains us.

Culture is the outer layer of skin on the earth, the sum of practices we bring to our biological and psychological survival.  Human culture, though in large measure it appears to have divorced itself from underlying Nature, is itself but a phenomenon of Nature.  The social animals, whether termites or lions, provide a clear example to us that to survive and flourish in a state of Nature requires cooperation and bonding within one’s own species.  Our practice of culture, whether “primitive” or “civilized,” entails the honing of craft … making arrows or learning piano scales.

To ground our scattered contemporary lives more fully in these essential realms – Spirit, Nature, and Culture – requires first of all seeing the necessity of all three in a healthy human life.  Lacking sufficient connection with either one results in the impoverishment of our health and quality of life. Yet we are programmed from birth (in modern Western society, at least), to discount spirit in favor of material values; to spurn Nature in favor of the clever works of man; to enjoy culture as passive consumers instead of creative participants.

To overturn these paradigms means replacing toxic body-memory with direct connection, expanding identity from self-concern to mindful presence and engagement with the whole, through all three of these primary channels and practices: Spirit, through meditation; Nature, through a sense of belonging; Culture, through our chosen craft.

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To apply these principles to my own life (by way of example), I might cultivate these practices as follows:

Meditation: daily routine, spontaneous awareness, journal writing, reading, music improvisation

Belonging: nurturing relationship, food strategy, outdoor time, exercise, sun, attention to natural health

Craft: writing, editing, music practice, composition, publishing, social sharing

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To go further in implementing these practices, I might follow a schedule such as:

Morning: meditation and yoga, music composition and practice, writing and publishing, editing and promotion

Afternoon: improvisation, food gathering and preparation, outdoors/sun, exercise, relationship

Evening: relationship, social sharing, music, journal, reading, relaxation

further reading: Eco-Culture

The Well

There is a well, and in it lies clear water.  At the bottom of the well is a lot of sediment.  When removing the sediment by means of a bucket on a long rope, it gets stirred up and muddies the water.  Was it better to leave it there, building up gradually?

In meditation, the sediment is emptied out, and over time the water settles into its clear, pure state, with clean rock on the bottom.  During the day’s worldly activity, new dirt is shoveled into the well, clouding the water and adding to the sediment at the bottom.  Each day requires removing that sediment to open and clear the well so the water can run clear and pure again.

bamboo flute:
click to play

Life, like music, love, and baseball, is a series of tests and lessons, punctuated by seasons of inspired bliss.

The power of intention is indeed powerful – but to put all one’s eggs in that basket is to risk falling into the trap of attachment to results in the world.  The wheel of fortune may bring success where efforts are applied … but as the wheel turns round we are met with transience, decay, and insistent sand blowing in the gears of progress.

On the heels of apparent success, comes obstruction, new challenge, and the shadow of the hungry ghost. Suddenly I understand, as the page I open in the Tao Te Ching (trans. Colin Mallard, p. 149) reveals:

To act with intention brings failure.
Grasp something and it slips through the fingers.

The sage has no intention
So he cannot fail
Since he grasps nothing
Nothing is lost.

Into the midst of depression over that unintended failure, a germ of understanding comes to sprout.  Nurtured by meditation, it reveals a glowing orb of joy:

“The more we can feel a spiritual happiness within and the growth of wisdom, the more courage we will have and the less empty we will feel within.”  – Rosemary and Steve Weissman, a little inspirational book, p. 113

Going deeper, I revisit the field of action with fresh motivation to refine, engaging with clarified intent – not simply to attain or achieve, but simply to express from the heart of what is, dancing to the only song I am granted to sing.

more audiovisuals with flute…

Mystic Beach | Thetis Lake | Danya’s Pools | Daily Prayer

Heartsongs: flute improvisations

Flutes Jam – Learn to improvise on flute or pennywhistle