Summer solstice, rainbow, and beyond!

So, the last several weeks since my stay in the Jemez mountains have been very fruitful.

After the fire @ Casey's land, I went and stayed in Taos for two weeks, working at a farm at the Hanuman temple, meeting lots of good folks, eating well, and grounding intensely. I finished covering the head of the djembe I started back in March, sewed up 2 pairs of shoes (one of which is lost to me now), and got lots of good rest, physically & psychologically. I had a little money to spend while I was there, and decided to invest in a copy of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell. This really helped me to re-contextualize my intentions for this blog and my life in general, which I will come back to in a moment. For a now, a brief summary of adventures and doings.

After my Taos tenure I went to a yoga retreat up in the Jemez mountains near Espanola, NM. I was on the set up crew for the retreat, so I was there for 10 days before the retreat began. It was quite nice to be able to get to know so many wonderful people, connect to the land, and have a little peace and tranquility before 2000 people showed up. It was at this retreat that I decided I would complete a yoga teacher training as soon as possible, and thanks to a gracious donation from a very good friend I met there (Ms. Monique Decker from Luxembourg, a veritable angel), I will be beginning my training starting July 16th in Nevada City, CA.

After the retreat ended July 28th, I headed to the Santa Fe National forest for the 2009 National Rainbow Gathering. If you aren't familiar with the Rainbow phenomenon, check online through wikipedia or a like source for deep details. For now, I'll just say that it is a family not connected by blood, race, ethnicity, or creed, but rather by the universal commitment to world peace through creative/alternative lifestyles and community. The "Rainbow Tribe" has been gathering all over the world for about 40 years now.

The gathering was quite a wonderful experience for me. I worked at a raw food kitchen (which is convenient, as I started a raw food cleanse/diet (Live-it) around June 18th at the beginning of the yoga retreat), took nature walks collecting wild edibles, played lots of music, did a lot of walking, bathed in a nice creek, and just soaked in the peace of the mountain atmosphere. I met so many amazing people, and connected with two fellas, Dean & Chris, who are also on there way to CA. I write right now from Sedona, Arizona, and the three of us will soon make our way towards Nevada City. We have been munching on greens we collecting in the mountains for 2 days now, really just taking our time to enjoy the trip to CA.

And now, back to the Tao Te Ching... Buying a copy of the Tao in Taos (go figure Tao-s), as well as talking to several people about the book/philosophy/way of being, as well as many experiences I've had since Feb. have given me a lot of clarity about my original intentions for this website, and the ways in which I can activate the wisdom gained from this blog, the Tao, and my life in general.

Here are some brief insights that I am beginning to integrate on a day to day basis:

The world is perfect. People have lots of ideas and concepts about the how lost we are, how are ecological systems are spiraling out of control, how darkness has fallen over humanity, etc. And that's all very fine and nice for them. But I no longer want to live my life through ideas about the way things are. More and more I am beginning to feel that people's (or my own) judgements about the conditions of external reality have in fact, nothing at all to do with the external world, but are merely a reflection of the reality of each individual, projected onto the "external world."

When people say that George Bush was an insane president, or gay people shouldn't be aloud to get married (side note: should/need to/have to are in the process of being eliminated from my vocabulary), or that pizza tastes really good/bad/fluffy, it has nothing to do with reality as it truly is, and has everything to do with the stories people are addicted to telling about the world around them. The judgement that GB is insane is only reflecting the inner insanity of the judge. The judgement that gay people shouldn't get married is only reflecting the fears/homophobia/discomfort of the judge. Good/bad/fluffy tasting pizza isn't in the pizza, it's in the person eating the pizza.

These are my feelings. This is the reality I would like to embody. It's okay to eat pizza and just be eating pizza, being present with the pizza, appreciating each flavor and bite without trying to figure out the meaning of pizza, or attach ideas to pizza. It's okay to observe Bush and then go on about one's day without a thought about how _______ he is and how X person would do ____ & _____ in a much more ______ way.

I've related to the world around me most of my life through ideas/ideology/conceptual thinking. I suspect the same is true for many others as well. Well I'm done with it I tell ya! Pizza is pizza. Pizza is. George Bush is as real to me as Darth Vader. He's just a character in a story that I've seen on TV a lot. He really made people lose their center, lose their peace. Yet like me, very few people had any real, first hand experience of GB. They just related to the idea of him as portrayed through media coverage. GB just is. He isn't good or bad or any one thing. He's always in a state of change, in a constant flux. Why would we try to pin him down with qualifiers?

I've written a lot already in this blog posting, and there will be another posting very soon to be sure. I have a lot more to say about the ways the Tao has begun to shape my life, and the experiences and journeys that have been highly influential to me in these last months. For now, I will say that I hope for people to realize all the things in their own reality that are blocking the flow of serenity.

The Universe is always changing in a beautiful dance of experience. There are many ways we can relate to the dance. All of them are perfect, and each individual can choose their favorite way at any point and time. We haven't done anything wrong--not one of us. Things arise and things pass. People kill people, people help people, dogs chase cats, hurricanes happen, buildings collapse. All of it is just perfect, right where it needs to be at all times. See the perfection within & the perfection without will necessarily unfold. I love you all!