Spiritual Friend

When meeting someone for the very first time, the mind will automatically move into "judgement mode."

'She's this or that, good-looking, attractive, but a little too small; she more than likely hates men; she's mad as..." These so-called 'first impressions' sometimes turn out to be partly true, other times not.

The other night, playing guitar and singing on the stage, my set finished, and deftly moving in and out through the crowd, outside to have a smoke -the brisk air compared to the lights and noise of the pub was like two different planets. A full moon, alone, I looked upwards and noticed the moon, bright, clear and emanating an energy. (The moon has always intrigued me since a a small child.)

That first drag of my cigarette felt like a reward well earned.

Suddenly a tap on the shoulder: A new musician friend, "How did you go, mate."

"Not bad, at least they applauded to "Blue on Black".

"Cool. By the way this is C. C, this is Craig."

She wore a cute little wollen hat, gloves with the ends cut off - not exactly pretty, but I found myself startled. She seemed only 5 foot tall, nothing superfically outstanding, but there was 'something', the first word that came to mind: she's a very Spiritual Being - a quality of uniqness, someone special.

Not saying a word, I listened while her and my new friend talked about Bach.

For me there felt to be a strong feeling that I knew this being once, a long time ago.

"Nice to meet you, Craig."

The little creature then walked off alone into the darkness of the night.

J and I re-entered the pub and I asked him who she was. She had known J for 6 years and are very close.

"J? She is a deeply spiritual person, someone you're lucky to know."

"What do you mean "spiritual"?

An individual whose material, physical needs fall far below to their kindness, care for other people, sensitive, awareness of her surroundings and curiousity about the world. A different kind of love for the world than your average human."

Knowing they were close, asked, "Would you mind if I asked her to have coffee?"

J laughed and said, "You know she is of the other persuasion."

Interestingly, this did not bother me in the least.

Later the next week, we had coffee, and my intuition of her spirituality was duly confirmed.

A new friend.

Beauty, Treachery & Eternal Punishment.

"The Danaides" by J.W. Waterhouse, circa 1903.

Since the first viewing of this painting, "something" disturbed me. The painting depicts beautiful young women pouring water into a caldren with the face of a demon.

These young maidens are certainly committed to their task, but they know not what they are really performing...innocence in the midst of evil?

The Danaides is an ancient Greek myth.

Danus, the king of a territory in Egypt does not want his twin brother to take away his kingdom. Thus he makes a deal : because you are so infatuated with my lovely daughters'. fifty in all, you and your princes may marry them, but you must leave my kingdom and never come back. Danus' brother, enamoured with these beautiful young women agrees to the deal. However, Danus orders his fifty daughter's to kill their husbands on their wedding night. Loyal to their father, the weddings' are done with fanfare and joy. When returning to their respective chambers to consumate the marriage, all the men, including Danus' twin brother, are murdered in their sleep.

Suddenly consumed with guilt, fear and remorse, Danus gathers his fifty daughters and sets sail for other lands.

The punishments in their physical lives and the Hereafter are said to be the most terrible any mere human could imagine.

To read the entire story, Google, The Danaides, and the details you might find interesting.

It is the intense colours and attention to detail including clues as to the scene depicted is pure Waterhouse and striking in every sense.

A beautiful painting.

The Kindness of Strangers.

As a friend once told me: 'this is a pain planet'. After the last two weeks, this proposition seems like a good contention...a good argument.

Met a woman last weekend who had been slammed into by a tram (straight-on) and lived...when all observed, 'they' said the woman would never walk again; she's out there every day, in pain, getting that damn leg to work again.

And its only been a month!

The power of the Will over the Body IS astounding! (It is the following individual who has made it possible).

On the same weekend, met a man, whose taken upon himself to ensure those around him survive, do well despite the pain in their particular lives...

He's gathered a small group who are loyal and know he would do everything in his power to help them.

How can I describe this individual?

A man who has decided to live life minute by minute and ensure those around him LOVE life...like he does.

Liven on a prayer.

Loving everything but there is a difference, he's been there...living in one's car for six months, playing guitar, singing...to eat, will and does change one's view of the world.

Giving and receiving when one's life really depends on it.

This great dude is now living his dream...creating a place where people can love and be merry.

I guess this is a 'pain planet', but there are those around that make us see the minute by minute happiness of this existence; the simple pleasures of life itself...is ten times worth the pain.

'The Kindness of Strangers."

PASSION, "IT"

To Feel Life and see the World as it is in all its abundance and Strangness, can be for some, a one time experience.

To see a person excited about something, and doing that 'thing', is extremely inspiring.

As a school teacher of gifted, confused and at times, hyper teenager's, this 'passion' is part of their evolution; part of growing up.

As a teacher, this is what keeps me going.

Then most grow up and the passions' fade: love, work and their world.... the world of cyberspace. mobile phones, later, office gossip, affairs - a desperate reach for something that feels REAL, something that goes beyond the routine; without a true Passion, this energy turns negative, inverts, and life turns to hell.

It has become a cliche' over the last too many years, that our appearance is what's important: false beauty, losing weight, looking 'young', being part of the action.

To be sure, one should feel good about themselves, but the difference between the body focus or one's "looks", more often than not, leads no where because Death or old age is a fore gone conclusion. There's nothing worse than seeing people spend money on Botox, breast implants, hair replacement, in order to feel alive because it never lasts. (A quick fix.)

Meeting someone with a true Passion like music, cooking, painting, teaching, philosophy, theology, the mysteries of God; writing, helping the unfortunate; the care for the environment, science...yes, and even Love; one's looks makes no difference because there's a light in their eyes, a presence of being....that X quality that makes their presence light up a room.

To be passionate is to be alive despite life's vagaries because Passion can and will eventually over come the vagaries and obstacles that our live's on this planet seems to be designed to do... a system of barriers to push through, over or what ever it takes to do so.

Sigmund Freud, a pioneer of human behaviour and the mind, wrote that ultimate happiness is impossible, but to experience Love and Work, in their many forms, will and can move one closer to a semblance of happiness.

Pesonally, I have found this to be true.

Meeting people with a particular passion is a joy and very contagious.

To have Passion for literature, carpentry, music, et al, is one of the keys to a life with meaning.


Ultimately, however, it is the passion of love and a little joy in one's work that moves us closer to this vague and ambiguous feeling so-named 'hapiness'.

If you are not Passionate about something, life will pass by with bordom and regret in the blink of an eye...because, without focus and interest, Passion, life is like a haze, a cloud, a sorrow...a waste.

If you do not have it, find it!

But Now it's Gone.

You are the poet in my heart.

Now it's gone, it doesn't matter anymore.

Wait a minute, love?

Did we not drown in a sea of love?

We felt it would last forever.

But now it's gone.

To feel so deeply and go anywhere with you meant more...a sea of love,

"where everyone wants to drown."

It doesn't matter anymore, you don't call me, feeling like a wing has been broken.

My heart feels sadness and memories of utter love and beauty.

But now it's gone.

It doesn't matter anymore.

Call me because you are the poet in my heart.

But now it's gone.

A beautiful and a deep sadness.

Oh no, here I go again, remembering our love slipping through our hands like so many grains of sand.

A beautiful sadness covers me like a cloud where all I see is you.

But will that last grain of sand hold fast?

All I want to hear is that you love me.

But now it's gone.

And Im falling, falling into a sadness, a strange and beautiful one...and so it goes.

But now it's gone.