Great Lyrics for Your Friday

"It was love that set our fragile planet rolling,
Tilting at our perfect twenty-three.
Molecules and men infused with holy,
Finding our way around the galaxy.
And Paradise has up and flown away for now
But hope still breathes and truth is always true.
And just when we think it’s almost over
Love has the final move,
Love has the final move."

[from "The Final Move" by Chris Rice]

More from Mr. Watts

"The practice of Zen is not the true practice so long as it has an end in view, and when it has no end in view it is awakening - the aimless, self-sufficient life of the 'eternal now.'"

"The relevance of za-zen (sitting meditation) to Zen is obvious when it is remembered that Zen is seeing reality directly, in its 'suchness' ... It is simply a quiet awareness, without comment, of whatever happens to be here and now."

"Because the world is not going anywhere there is no hurry. One may as well "take it easy" like nature itself, and in the Chinese language the "changes" of nature and "ease" are the same word. This is a first principle in the study of Zen and of any Far Eastern art: hurry, and all that is involves, is fatal. For there is no goal to be attained."

"...every stage of the way is both the beginning and end."

[all quotations from "The Way of Zen" by Alan Watts]

Tats with Tommy

...ok, Amy and Cathy were there too, but "Tats with Tommy" just had a nice ring to it.

Blogger friends Tommy and Cathy went with my wife and I to Savannah, GA on Friday ... so that I could get inked. Believe it or not, the tat was Amy's 5-year anniversary gift to me.

It's on my left forearm and is the greek spelling of my daughter's name, Kalliopi.

It's still a bit swollen in this picture, but you'll get the idea.

Peace Out

I will most likely not be doing any posting until Tuesday, June 27th due to vacation. We will be at Amy's mom's again in South Carolina for the week. Until then, my friends!

Welcome to the Jungle!

A few months ago Frankie Valens called me.

Now today, since Mr. Axl Rose is from my small town of Lafayette, IN, GQ magazine JUST called the church office (where I work) and asked if we knew in which church he sang as a Choir boy.

None of us knew... but that's a pretty frickin' weird phone call to get unexpectedly!

Hilarious

I know this has been floating around for a while, but since I think this is just rediculously funny, watch this clip if you haven't seen it yet:

Darth Vader Calls Home (a.k.a. Darth Vader Calls the Emperor)

Osho

I picked up some OSHO on Friday... never knew much about him, except that he's known as being a rascal, troublemaking, rogue spiritual teacher. There are a handful of chapters and sections that I'm enjoying, however, I find much of it objectionable especially...

• He outright says that he's the only teacher to ever have the "courage" to marry the worldly w/ otherwordly, physical w/ spiritual, sensual w/ mystical. Uhm, sorry pal. You may be one of many, but don't flatter yourself.
• He speaks about accepting all of life, enjoying the lows as well as the highs, not rejecting anything, and then spends much of his time (a good 3/4 of the book) bitching about the various religions and wishing them a timely death. Seems pretty inconsistent.

That being said, there are a lot of good teachings in the book and I appreciate where he's coming from on his various topics. Iin particular his chapter on finding the beauty and joy in being absolutely ordinary (therefore not always striving to "be somebody") is especially noteworthy.

Five Years

June 9, 2001 - June 9, 2006

Today is our Five Year Anniversary. Somehow I nabbed 'the Hot Chick' and she still hasn't found out how big of a dork I am.

Here's to remembering the last 5 years and looking forward to the next 50. Cheers, sweetheart. I love you more today than ever before.

Connect the Dots! La La La La!

My mom sent me this link. It's proof that there's a God that loves us:

Network to Rerun 'Pee-wee's Playhouse'

On an extremely related note, I also just found THIS VERY COOL LINK to the Official Playhouse website.

Sesame Street Vedanta?!?!?!

The following are lyrics from one of my daughter's Sesame Street DVDs. Is it just me or does this sound like something out of the Bhagavad-Gita!?!?!?

My hair is black and red
My hair is yellow
My eyes are brown and green and blue

My name is Jack and Fred
My name's Amanda Sue
I'm called Kareem Abdul
My name is you

I live in southern France
I'm from a Texas ranch
I come from Mecca and Peru
I live across the street
In the mountains, on a beach
I come from everywhere
And my name is you

We all sing with the same voice
The same song, the same voice
We all sing with the same voice
And we sing in harmony

Sometimes I get mad and mean
Sometimes I feel happy
And when I want to cry, I do

When I'm by myself at night
I hold my teddy tight
Until the morning light
My name is you

I have sisters one, two, three
In my family there's just me
I've got one daddy
I've got two

Grandpa helps me cross the street
My cat walks on furry feet
I love my parakeet
My name is you

We all sing with the same voice
The same song, the same voice
We all sing with the same voice
And we sing in harmony

Transitions

Three pretty big endings/beginnings this week:

1.) We reach the end of our first five years of marriage and enter into year FIVE on Friday.

2.) My boss of 5 years (and very close friend) ships out on Sunday. Get a new boss on Monday.

3.) My 6-month loan for my album is due Thursday. Since I'm not fully paid back, I renew that as well (Hint: buy my album!) :)

"We should not complain about impermanence, because without impermanence, nothing is possible." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

EuroTrip

A small group of my buddies left on Monday for Europe to spend the next three months backpacking, camping and visiting their way through the continent. Their plan is to blog their progress as they move from here to there.

Follow up on their wacky adventures at Josh Dexter's 'Words of a Genius' and David LaSuer's 'A Skip Across the Pond.'

Ralph Waldo

[photograph by Kevin Schnepp]

Looks like Mr. Emerson was quite the spiritually-deep fellow:

If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.

They recon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
I am the hymn the Brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

[BRAHMA by Ralph Waldo Emerson]