Song of the Day: Dying to Live

Johnny Lang can sing it, and that's there all there is to it.

Early to Bed

Sleeping Beauty, by Roberto Innocenti
via Fairy Tale Mood

I'm a night owl. If I could, I would stay up later and later each night, because my internal clock seems to have thirty hours in a day instead of the real twenty-four. The truth is, I can never quite believe that I've done enough in a day. Thus, I'm beginning a new practice—intentionally going to bed early—to affirm that I've spent my day well and that all I can do is honor each moment as it comes.

Our Friend, Death

Madonna of the Sacred Bones, by Laurie Lipton
via Phantasmaphile

"My parents were atheists. We had no ceremony, no goodbyes, no "closure". My father instructed the hospital to cremate my mother and dispose of her ashes. She was gone, disappeared, zapped out of existence. I was left with Nothing... literally and metaphysically. Friends & family treated my mother's death like an embarrassment. They awkwardly murmured Hallmark platitudes before slinking uneasily away. Death is as forbidden a topic in modern society as sex was in Victorian England. 

When I visited Mexico in order to see The Day Of The Dead festival some years later, I couldn't help feeling envious of their approach to mortality. Families gathered on graves and picnicked, whole villages turned up with food for households in mourning. Death was treated as normal, even silly. Candied skulls grinned in their hundreds and skeletons danced in a fair-ground atmosphere. I decided to rebel against my heritage and create drawings inspired by the mood and atmosphere of the Mexicans. I decided to get in-touch with my bare bones. My culture runs from death, screaming. We worship youth, beauty and the illusion that we have all the time in the world. We frantically face-lift and botox, and throw pills, creams and money at death. We fool ourselves into thinking that death only happens to other people & only losers die. Skulls always look like they're laughing. Maybe the joke is on us?"

    —Laurie Lipton

Amen. Let's take the opportunity today to see death in a new way.

Happy Halloween!

I Wanted It Thus

I wanted it thus, by yours truly

Here's a little drawing I did last year around this time. I think it suits the Halloween season. With all the imagery of death and living dead, I think it's a good time to ponder the "eternal return" . . . can you affirm that you would relive this moment exactly as it is?

"For all joy wants itself, therefore it also wants heart's agony! O happiness! O pain! Oh break, heart! You Higher Men, learn this, learn that joy wants eternity, 

joy wants the eternity of all things, wants deep, deep, deep eternity!"

    —Thus Spoke Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche

Fancy Dance

Powwow season is winding down, and news sources like Indian Country Today Media Network have fantastic videos of the dancing that went on all over the continent. It's absolutely breathtaking.

Here's a video I found of the women's fancy shawl dance. The fancy dance is a relatively new dance that started when other religious dances were outlawed in the early part of the twentieth century. Despite its sad origins, I can't help feeling joyful whenever I watch these dancers. They seem to fly over the ground, and yet they are also so connected with the ground and the beat of the drum. 

May we all find ways to dance in the face of adversity.

Inner Work, Body Work

Saint Margaret and the Dragon
via Orbs of Zenith

"One who has conquered the mind, senses and passions, thought and reason, is a king." . . . or queen . . . "He or she has Inner Light."

    —Light on Yoga, by B. K. S. Iyengar

I'm not sure how I feel about the word "conquered" . . . I might choose a word like "befriended," but anyway I think this is a good reminder of the process of integration. More to come on this!

Song of the Day: My Sweet Lord

I've had this song in my head for a while now, thanks to Cup of Jo. 

I love George Harrison. When my mom asked me which Beatle I thought was most handsome, I chose him without much hesitation. (And of course she was shocked I didn't say Paul.) I swear some people just look like they have a lot going on inside them, you know?