Subtraction and Addition or Learning the Native American Style Flute

It sometimes seems to me that learning to play the Native American flute is more a matter of subtraction than addition. I don’t seem to be adding knowledge about how to play the flute. What I have been doing is subtracting all the faulty psychological programs that stand between me and freedom from fear. It is the fear of failure, of not doing it right, of what others may think that inhibits my playing. These fears keep me from allowing the flute to express itself in whatever way it chooses.

I intuit that these fears were implanted early in childhood. Unrealistic expectations. Demands to do it the right way. Testing and the fear of failure. These anxieties come between me and the freedom to play with absolute abandon. When due to some combination of intent and divine good fortune I enter the zone, playing becomes a truly creative experience. It is an experience where sounds I have never heard before are manifesting. And feelings that I seldom experience are rising to the surface.

Some of us will take our flute playing to places that others will not. This is natural and perfectly OK. Each of us has their own individual lessons to learn and songs to express. This diversity is what makes life so fascinating. How dull if we were all the same. Or how dull if we were all striving for the same goal. Perhaps there are an unlimited multitude of goals. Each one tailor made to allow the individual – you and me - to reach his fullest potential. If we let go of goals to be reached will we find that there are no goals? Will we find there are only roads to travel on? Are we each a traveler on one of an infinitely varied number of roads? With each road being a unique exploration of the evolving Universe of sound.

Why do we have to measure ourselves by some external standards of achievement? Is it not more enjoyable to simply let go and play with our flute.

432 Hz Tuning for the Native American Style Flute

I have noticed since I became involved in making Native American style flutes that I have a natural affinity with what is called 432 Hz tuning. Even before I became aware that there was such a thing as the lower 432 Hz tuning I felt a natural aversion to bringing my flutes up to the standard 440 Hz when I was tuning them. My ear and heart seemed to intuitively prefer the lower – some would say slightly flat – sound of a flute that was tuned around 432 Hz. When I discovered that others were also more comfortable with this slightly flatter sound I was relieved to know that I was not abnormal.

The tuning of musical instruments in western societies has, like most things in our highly regimented society, become standardize. The standard that has been established is 440 Hz for the note called A above the middle C on a piano. All the other notes are tuned in relationship to this A.

This standard of tuning is rather recent in origin having been established in the late 1800s and then formalized by the American Federation of Musicians in 1917. Around 1940 the United States introduced 440 Hz worldwide, and finally in 1953 it became the ISO 16 - standard.

Before 440Hz became the standard a variety of tunings were used.

A = 432 Hz, known as Verdi’s ‘A’ after the renowned composed Guiseppe Verdi who advocated for is use, is an alternative tuning standard that many propose as mathematically consistent with the natural vibrations of the physical universe. Music based on 432 Hz transmits; it is believed, beneficial healing energy because it is a pure tone of the math fundamental to nature.

According to Brian T Collins, a musician and researcher, the standard pitch (A=440 Hz) does not harmonize on any level that corresponds to cosmic movement, rhythm or natural vibration. The greatest musicians, such as Mozart and Verdi, based their music on the natural vibration of A = 432 Hz. It is believed that earlier composers such as Bach wrote for an even lower tuning.

I have discovered that there is a growing musical and metaphysical movement for recovering optimal integrity in the music industry and in spirituality through changing back to the 432 Hz tuning.

According to Richard Huisken, music tuned to 432 Hz is softer and brighter, giving greater clarity and is easier on the ears. Many people experience more meditative and relaxing states of body and mind when listening to such music. Researchers and musicians, such as Coreen Morsink (pianist and music teacher), report that they feel calmer, happier and more relaxed when playing music at 432 Hz.

It is believed that music based on this natural tone is more transparent, more marked, gives an obvious musical picture and the overtones and undertones moves more freely. Music based on 440 Hz represents stuffed emotions and blocked energy. By lowering the pitch by just 8 Hz, you become more flexible and spontaneous. It is said that the 432 tuning releases your energy and takes you into a beautiful state where relaxation is natural.

The 440 Hz tuning is well established and if you are going to be playing with other instrumentalists you should have a flute that is tuned to the 440 standard so that you are in harmony with the other instruments. However when you are playing solo as long as the flute is tuned to itself – that is consistent through the scale – it does not matter to what standard the flute is tuned you will sound fine.

The ultimate truth is in the individual flute players’ ear and heart. I encourage you to do your own research and learn about and listen to music in the 432 Hz tuning. If it appeals to you I can tune one of my Native American style flutes to 432 Hz for you. I think you will be pleased with the result.

Winter in the Desert

Winter time in the desert. The most startling thing about winter is that I don’t hear birds singing. Many species have migrated south. The ones who stay are focused on finding food and staying alive. In winter they don’t feel those rising urges to claim a space and proclaim a territory; a piece of the whole out of which they can derive sustenance for themselves and the family they expect to nurture.

In springtime the competition will begin for the best places - a combat of songs and occasional skirmishes that end in a sort of a truce between rivals. Territoriality, one of the primary laws of nature - the territorial imperative.

But now it is winter in the desert. Winter when the plants draw energy back into their roots. The roots that reach deep into the earth. The roots that search out the nurturing bounty of the earth itself. From the earth, the sun and the atmosphere the plant takes all that it needs to grow and thrive and support the next higher level of life. The plants that support those creatures roam across the ground and fly up over the land. Living, mobile creatures seeking out new sources of information and new experiences to manifest and explore. Free roaming creatures eternally moving outward. Out into the farthest reaches of the known edge of the physical dimension and reaching beyond. Living beings inexorably seeking to push the envelope of life just a little bit further. Seeking to encourage and incorporate into themselves more and more beauty, light, understanding, and love in the ever-ongoing search for perfection.

Perfection, the unachievable goal, the never attained resting place. The place that would mean the end of this outward, expansive breath of creation. Completion, the end of that expulsion out and the beginning of the drawing back in again of all things and all experiences into the One. Who can fathom the depth? Who can fathom the depth?

Time to play my flute.

Song of Life

We measure space by the six directions – North, South, East, West, Up and Down. We measure time in years, days, hours, minutes and seconds. With this mental construct we give order to the space-time continuum. We experience ourselves within space and time as a conscious awareness. I am. I am finds itself emanating form a material form we call the human body. This body, we now know, has taken billions of years to achieve its present configuration. We find ourselves to be a locus of experience within the form of a living, mobile, organic being capable of speculating on the source of its existence.

With our body we move about on the surface of a ball of matter we call a planet. This spinning ball is itself moving through something we call space at an incredible speed. This planet is one of a whole family of spheres of matter rotating around a huge ball of energetic activity we call the Sun. This Sun, a star, is one of an inconceivable number of other stars.

Time, space, matter, awareness. To what end, to what purpose, have these come into existence. I sit at my computer and you sit at yours. We don’t know each other. But we are asking similar questions. What is this experience of Life for? Am I here for a reason? Is there purpose in Life? Toward what end have billions of years of careful, patient evolution been moving? Idle questions – No!

Pick up your flute. Play a tune. Wonder at the perfection of sound filling inner and outer space. Feel the joy of being alive and having the divine opportunity to express your life as music. With your music sing praise to the Power that has brought into being this wonderful world. Give thanks to the Power that sustains you, me and all the wondrous forms and feelings that are the Universe.

Summer Solstice Song

The Love flute song is constantly changing. Discovering new pathways of sound through the confusion of life. Pathways that are clearer by far than anything I have ever experienced. Pathways that light the way to a better tomorrow. If the tone is sharp or flat relative to some artificial standard – what do I care? Do the birds care? How boring to be always the same. Let freedom ring and come out of the Native American style flute. May it reach into every crevice of conventionality. Not measuring or judging anything according to some external yardstick. Knowing, always, that every note is enough in all places and at all times. My song unique. And yours as well. Gently blowing forth creative notes into the unknown. Not expecting to hear that same sound again – perhaps ever. Letting our life unfold and our own music go out into it. Playing our part in the grand symphony of the Universe as it is continuously transforming and discovering itself anew. The music says that in spite of every dark cloud and feeling of pain there is I – the music – I help heal all discomfort.

I play for the birds as they wake in the morning. I listen to their reply. The birds are the great, indefatigable singers. My Love flute song joins theirs. Together we sing a song that has been unfolding for as long as there has been the earth under our feet and air for us to breath.

The bright, clear morning of the Summer solstice. The yearly circle has turned and the sun is going to start back south again. May the summer sun bring blessing to all the Brothers and Sisters and the plants and animals of this divine creation. May it bring Peace on Earth and good will towards all men. May our enemies become our friends. And may light and healing flow out through our music to a waiting world.

Let's Play

I was listening to a flute CD that someone had sent me. It was an exuberant, openhearted expression of pure joy. To the discerning – might I say critical – mind it did not conform to the established standards of ‘good music’. But it’s limitations in that respect was more than compensated for by its enthusiasm. The Native American style flute is helping to liberate many of us from our habit of evaluating and criticizing everything. Especially as this behavior applies to self-criticism.

Why can’t we just relax and have fun? Why are we so hard on ourselves? The pervasive culture of correctness and perfection has taken the fun out of life. Playing the flute or expressing our selves in any way must be based on freedom from fear of criticism, especially self-criticism. Otherwise we’re perpetually caught in the spot light. It’s a spotlight where everyone is looking at us. And we feel that if we don’t do it right there will be a price to pay. Holding ourselves up to impossible standards or other people’s standards means that we are always setting ourselves up to fail. We live under a dark cloud of our own creation. Actually, we didn’t create it.

It started when we were children. Constant criticism of our performance. We were always doing it wrong. But who doesn’t? Life is a learning process in which we will inevitably make mistakes. We must have the freedom to make these mistakes without fear of criticism. Nobody gets if right all the time – or even most of the time. Practice, practice, practice - until we end up hating what we are doing. We may become good at it but we’re not having fun anymore. So what’s the point?

In tune? We can become so devoted to being in tune that we are dead to joy. Making a fetish out of playing it right is like wanting the sun to shine the same way every day. ‘That’s the way it should shine’ say the purists. Not too bright. Not too dull. Just this way and this way only. What if I like it a little brighter? What if I don’t care? Who dares set the standards for what is the right amount of sunlight for a sunny day?

When we whole-heartedly grant others the right to play any way they please and any way they are capable of we will be released from our own self-criticism. Life is a Circle of such diversity that there is room for every individual and every song. Let the breath of life go out through your flute into a loving, receptive world. You can change your own life and perhaps the whole world one song at a time.

In an Instant - Eternity

The expansion of consciousness. The expanding of awareness beyond the self-imposed limits of the socially conditioned mind. Expanding consciousness in order to see new things and experience new feelings. Expanding in order to come in contact with the living wisdom of God as it permeates every atom and every vibrating string of creation. To listen as every vibrating string is humming with love, the love that creates and sustains and guides this manifestation we call life. This manifestation we call earth; that we call heaven, Call it by any names you choose. The meaning is in all ways the same.

No words can never come close to describing life in a way that will bring expanded consciousness into being in a person’s life. They can only point the way. The choice to follow and find is up to the individual. Then the new discovery comes into being in a person’s life spontaneously. And then we, in turn, search for words to describe what we have experienced.

A search for words that will describe what cannot be described. Because words are always just words – sounds that point. In the full realization of this situation some lapse into silence and are, perhaps, never seen or heard from again. Others are fascinated by the different paths and the men and the women walking on those paths. They are fascinated by the challenge of finding words to describe the indescribable. They strive to walk the dharma path wherever it may lead. They strive to use that path as a learning tool. To walk the path of meditation and to live the life of activity and engagement as if they were a hand in a glove.

Experiencing the tantra of life at play. Dancing on the edge of the world, looking out into the stars. Into the stars and the breaking dawn. Realizing and being shaken by the transitory nature of it all. Here, in front of my mortal eyes, caught for an instant of time - Eternity.

Honey Is Gone

Our dear, sweet Honey is gone. She died last night while I was sleeping. Gone is that velvet muzzle that I loved to stoke gently as I watched the glow of appreciation in her eyes. Gone is the happy smile and the loyal company that brought so much peace and solace into my life. Gone too is the joyful companion that walked so many miles with me through the desert that we both loved so well. Gone forever from this world, never to be seen or touched again. The dull, aching pain rises in my heart and throat and I choke back a sob as I write these words – gone is my beloved friend, my Honey Dog.

She lived the wonder full, fulfilling life that only a dog that lives with children can know. The first big snowfall, going for walks together, chasing after balls. Always there as the constant companion, protector and friend of two growing children. Sharing all of our experiences, being part of the amazing fabric of life in a family. Honey was always there to be hugged and loved and talked to. An integral part of everything that took place in the lives we have shared together.

Now Honey is gone forever from my sight. Buried deep in a grave I dug on a little hill behind the house. Wrapped in a shroud of white cotton and laid to rest in the earth that will accept us all into its embrace without distinction – man and dog, side by side, sharing that ultimate commonality – death.

Eternity

I grew up in a different age than most of you who are listening to this. In an age of small stores, family-owned, neighborhood barber shops, shoemakers, a pharmacy, a little A&P grocery store staffed by a man in a white apron. I remember the A&P store had boxes of animal crackers selling for five cents a box. There was a long handled pair of grabbers that the clerk could use to reach the high up shelf to get something down for the person who needed it and could pay for it. A time when clerks went around and shopped for you in the grocery store, and put stuff, one by one, in a bag or a box for you to take home. Long, long ago, it seems. Small town America, as they call it now. A small town with a couple of gas stations where kids could go and, for free, fill up the tires of their bikes. I used to love to watch that pressure gauge.

“How many pounds you got, Jimmy?”

“Oh, I’m gonna do twenty-eight, Johnny.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna do twenty-eight, too.”

Friendly guys working in the garage and pumping gas, fixing cars, talking to people and cleaning their windshields, taking care of their cars, take it apart and put it back together. Simple machines, they knew every piece, all the pieces of the different brands were basically the same.

Different times. Gone now, forever. The last faint vestiges of that way of life disappearing before our eyes. Disappearing as Wal-Mart and the other multinational big box stores drive them out of existence. Watching as it all becomes corporate, and the people are all just employees - employees instead of owners and small businessmen. Employees in a rapacious economy whose sole concern is to maximize the amount of return that can be squeezed out of whatever game it is that they’re playing. People’s lives being the source of their profit.

The expanding of consciousness - of awareness. Consciousness expansion. Expanding beyond the self-imposed limits of the conditioned mind. Expanding to see new things and experience new feelings. Expanding to come in contact with the wisdom of God as it permeates every atom and every vibrating string of creation. Every vibrating string is humming with love, the love that creates and sustains and guides this manifestation we call life. This manifestation we call earth; that we call heaven. Call it by any names you choose. The name is not It.

The word can never come close to describing It in a way that will bring It into being in a person’s life. It/love/truth/joy comes into being in a person’s life spontaneously. And then we search for words to describe It. A fruitless, futile search for words to describe the indescribable. No such words exist. In the fullness of this situation some lapse into silence and are, perhaps, never seen or heard from again. Others are fascinated by the different paths and the men and women walking on those paths. Called by the possibilities of the dharma road as a learning tool - a road where meditation and the life of activity and engagement proceed hand in hand. One without the other doesn’t seem to work very well.

Experiencing the tantra of life at play. Standing on the edge of the world, looking out into the stars. The stars and the breaking dawn. Realizing and shaken by the transitory nature of it all. Here, in front of my mortal eyes, for but an instant of time - Eternity. 

I think I'll play my Native American style flute and dance to the dawn. Come join me.

Pain and Fear/Feeding Loves Desire

Pain and fear, fear of pain. Several years ago I took a bad fall off of my mare Sheeba. It was early in my horseback riding experience with my daughter Serena.

Ages ago when I was a young man I lived for a short time in New Mexico. While there I learned to ride horses for the first time. I rode like the wind and did things on horses that are duplicated possibly no place else in the universe. Being on a good horse and zooming through time and space as only a horse and rider can. In those days I experienced a oneness with the horse. I had absolutely no sense of fear when I was in the saddle.

But I took Sheeba out one day when my wife Cathy and Serena had gone on some errand. I thought to myself ‘I’m going to take her out and see what we can do.’ When I saddled Sheeba up I didn’t pay sufficient attention to re tightening the girth that holds the saddle onto the horse. So out in the desert far from home as I was galloping into a  turn I put pressure on my right sturrup; if the cinch had been set correctly everything would have been perfect. I would have completed that turn with Sheeba and ridden away into a completely different kind of horse and rider experience than the one that started right there. As my body shifted weight into the stirrup the stirrup gave way as the saddle began to slide sideways off the horses back. In a matter of a second or a second and a half I had to make the decision as to how I was going to hit the ground. I landed on my right side - most heavily on my right hip and when I did I messed my hip up good. Then I had the wonderful experience of being out in the middle of nowhere watching a horse galloping away as fast as she can run. By this time the saddle is completely underneath her and she’s scared because that's not where a saddle is supposed to be and she’s heading for home which her internal compass tells her is somewhere far away.

So I’m there picking myself up and testing my hip and thinking I’m in the desert and I’ve got a seriously injured, perhaps broken hip, and no cell phone so I’m going to have to walk or crawl my way out of there. What would you believe could happen under a circumstance like that? Well I’ll tell you. I limped over to a road and started towards home when a car drove right up and stopped. Inside the car were two very nice ladies who were looking for a piece of property which happened to be right across the street from my little house. They were happy to take directions having been lost previously in a maze of dirt roads and they gave me a ride over to my house.

The upstart of all this was that I could never get on a horse again without a sense of foreboding and fear. This was something I had never experienced before. I healed up and rode with my daughter for another several years but never again was I able to get in that space where I was on a galloping horses back and that horse was running as fast as it could over everything and anything and I was one with the horse. Instead I was able to experience something that I had not anticipated - that something was an intimate relationship with fear. It also gave me the opportunity to spend three years in my yoga practice working my hip back into a condition where it feels normal to be walking without being worried about the hip going out or my hitting a spot where the pain just throws a lightning bolt through my whole body.

Experiencing and learning about fear, I feel, was more important at this juncture in my life than the more adolescent experience of playing with a horse. It also worked well in another way because my daughter Serena was not the type who was going to let a horse run its heart out while she was in the saddle - it's not an experience that is for everyone.

I learned, as we all do, from this experience that I encounter on the road of life. Some experiences are quite pleasurable. Others at a certain stage in the journey - the early, rocky ascent out of drowsiness into awareness - are often difficult. After this stage it seems that the experiential territory levels out and you have beneath your metaphorical feet a firm sense of the truth: of the justice, love, abundance, fecundity. A clear sense of the god-self that we are a part of. And an intimate relationship develops between us and our experiences. A relationship that is closer than that between mother and son, closer than that between father and daughter and husband and wife. There, in that space, we rock in the cradle, secure once again in the arms of the divine mother that brings to birth worlds, suns, souls. A sun soul, a shining soul, a bright and loving and warm soul. Searing in intensity at times - such is the nature of brightness. Love always there, always ready to give life under any circumstance. The experience of mind is just one of those lovely petals on the flower of life. The experience of mind, to take that soul light and embody it in a human form on a planet under a sun. To watch it grow and see material life through the eyes of an inhabitant, through the eyes of a traveler. A traveler reflecting back all that is seen and experienced and done. Feeding loves desire.

Harmony in Life

Love expresses itself as harmony. Harmony in relationships, in physical form and in sound. When many voices or instruments blend together to create a beautiful sound this sound communicates joy and fulfillment to all who perceive it. When something happens that distorts this harmony then this event darkens and corrupts everything around it - harmony turns to cacophony. We witness in the world around us many such cacophonous phenomena taking place. They result primarily from the thoughts and actions of human beings. We see around us social phenomena that bring pain, distress and alienation into the lives of every man woman and child on this planet.

That part of our collective reality, which we call the economy, has been distorted to the breaking point. And with it everything it affects: health care, education, transportation, trade, government. We must not react to this as a bad thing. It presence is an indication of an evolutionary process at work. It is an indication that we are in a transitional stage. We are witnessing the disintegration and break up of an antiquated order of society. It is a stage that is necessary in order to progress to the next higher stage in social evolution. The disintegration is an expression of harmony re asserting itself. It is a process of historical realignment as the universe reestablishes a harmonious relationship between people and between people and the natural world of which we are all a part.


We are moving towards a working, co creative relationship wherein all participants share equally. Sharing because we know that we truly give to ourselves in giving to others. Sharing as we do when we play music together. In our collective lust after material forms we forgot this most important principle - love one another. When we love one another we create harmony. Instead of seeking fulfillment and peace in concert with all beings, we threw ourselves at the feet of a false god of our own creation. A god that is referred to in the Bible as mammon.

Instead of thinking and acting for the mutual benefit of ourselves and the world that is our home we took everything we could extract from the world and from others for our own individual satisfaction. In doing this we were attempting to fill our inner emptiness with material objects and selfish experiences of pleasure. In lusting after the power and wealth of material reality we have created a disruptive, cacophonous situation.  There is extravagant wealth for only a few individuals at the expense of the rest of the whole.


The wealth of the world, when shared equitably, can provide abundance for all. We whose eyes and ears are being opened stand witness to the degrading inequalities in society and in the environment around us. We witness that this disintegration is taking place at an accelerated pace. We can see this as a phenomena that will eventually bring all of creation back into a harmonious relationship with all of its parts.


But being here on earth at this time presents many challenges. We need to cultivate great strength and flexibility to face the challenges of the time and place. What does not adapt and contribute to the solution will perish. What does not strive forward will fall behind.




The sun has moved another few degrees South since I was here Wednesday morning.  The full moon descends towards the horizon in its ever-progressing journey across the skyline of my life. Storms come and go, and the rainbow of peace follows the storm. I may not live to see that rainbow in its full glory, but it is a constant presence in my inner vision. It calls you and me to action. We have a contribution to make to this process of realignment. We are not here as simple observers and we cannot afford the luxury of freezing up with fear and dismay in the face of what may seem to be overwhelming obstacles. The fear of failure and loss is a distortion in our own hearts and minds.

The human body itself is just a temporary affair that spiritual warriors are ready to lay down at any time knowing that life does not end when the physical body begins its journey back into stardust from which it came. We are a focus of conscious energy. We have been sent out by that great power of which we are all a part to become servants in these material fields of our lord. We cannot allow ourselves to be crippled by fear because it would hamper our ability to serve.


For most of us - for myself - relinquishing fear is part of a process that takes time. Fear does not lend itself to being wished away. The ego related programs that foster fear are rooted deep in the fundamental patterns that we picked up as a consequence of our entry into form.


The sun rises as the moon slides inexorably toward the horizon. The snow on the mountaintop catches the first rays and reflects the orange tinged hue of the rising early morning sun. Shadows begin to define themselves across the land. The first warm rays of radiant energy melt into the skin of my face. The cold, freezing air surrounding me causes my fingers to experience that physical sensation we call pain. Cold hurts. That's the word we use to describe that tingling alarm signal. My body is being chilled below the comfort level. The signal says I am in the danger zone. Nothing to fear there - I’m prepared.

Winter in the Desert

Winter in the desert. The most startling change is that I don’t hear birds singing. Many species have migrated south. The ones who stay are focused on finding food and staying alive. In winter they don’t feel those rising urges to claim a space and proclaim a territory; a piece of the whole out of which they can derive sustenance for themselves and the family they expect to see.

In springtime the competition will begin for the best places - a combat of songs and occasional skirmishes that end in a sort of a truce between rivals. Territoriality, one of the primary laws of nature - the territorial imperative. But now it is winter in the desert. Winter when the plants draw energy back into their roots and into the core of their being. The roots that reach deep into the earth. The roots that search out the eternal bounty of the earth itself. From the earth, sun and air the plant takes all that it needs to grow and thrive and support the next higher level of life. The plants that support those creatures that romp across the ground and fly up over the land. Living, mobile creatures seeking out new sources of information and new experiences to manifest and explore. Creatures eternally moving outward. Out into the farthest reaches of the known edge of the physical dimension and beyond. Creatures inexorably seeking to push the boundary of life just a little bit further. Seeking to encourage and incorporate into itself more and more beauty, light, understanding, and love in the ever-ongoing search for perfection.

Perfection, the unachievable goal, the never attained resting place. The place that would mean the end of this outward expansive breath of creation. Completion, the end of that expulsion out and the beginning of the drawing back in again of all things and all experiences into the One. Who can fathom the depth? Who can fathom the depth?

Time to play my flute.

Harmony in Life

Love expresses itself as harmony. Harmony in relationships, in physical form and in sound. When many voices or instruments blend together to create a beautiful sound this sound communicates joy and fulfillment to all who perceive it. When something happens that distorts this harmony then this event darkens and corrupts everything around it - harmony turns to cacophony. We witness in the world around us many such cacophonous phenomena taking place. They result primarily from the thoughts and actions of human beings. We see around us social phenomena that bring pain, distress and alienation into the lives of every man woman and child on this planet.

That part of our collective reality, which we call the economy, has been distorted to the breaking point. And with it everything it affects: health care, education, transportation, trade, government. We must not react to this as a bad thing. It presence is an indication of an evolutionary process at work. It is an indication that we are in a transitional stage. We are witnessing the disintegration and break up of an antiquated order of society. It is a stage that is necessary in order to progress to the next higher stage in social evolution. The disintegration is an expression of harmony re asserting itself. It is a process of historical realignment as the universe reestablishes a harmonious relationship between people and between people and the natural world of which we are all a part.

We are moving towards a working, co creative relationship wherein all participants share equally. Sharing because we know that we truly give to ourselves in giving to others. Sharing as we do when we play music together. In our collective lust after material forms we forgot this most important principle - love one another. When we love one another we create harmony. Instead of seeking fulfillment and peace in concert with all beings, we threw ourselves at the feet of a false god of our own creation. A god that is referred to in the Bible as mammon.

Instead of thinking and acting for the mutual benefit of ourselves and the world that is our home we took everything we could extract from the world and from others for our own individual satisfaction. In doing this we were attempting to fill our inner emptiness with material objects and selfish experiences of pleasure. In lusting after the power and wealth of material reality we have created a disruptive, cacophonous situation.  There is extravagant wealth for only a few individuals at the expense of the rest of the whole.

The wealth of the world, when shared equitably, can provide abundance for all. We whose eyes and ears are being opened stand witness to the degrading inequalities in society and in the environment around us. We witness that this disintegration is taking place at an accelerated pace. We can see this as a phenomena that will eventually bring all of creation back into a harmonious relationship with all of its parts.

But being here on earth at this time presents many challenges. We need to cultivate great strength and flexibility to face the challenges of the time and place. What does not adapt and contribute to the solution will perish. What does not strive forward will fall behind.


The sun has moved another few degrees South since I was here Wednesday morning.  The full moon descends towards the horizon in its ever-progressing journey across the skyline of my life. Storms come and go, and the rainbow of peace follows the storm. I may not live to see that rainbow in its full glory, but it is a constant presence in my inner vision. It calls you and me to action. We have a contribution to make to this process of realignment. We are not here as simple observers and we cannot afford the luxury of freezing up with fear and dismay in the face of what may seem to be overwhelming obstacles. The fear of failure and loss is a distortion in our own hearts and minds.

The human body itself is just a temporary affair that spiritual warriors are ready to lay down at any time knowing that life does not end when the physical body begins its journey back into stardust from which it came. We are a focus of conscious energy. We have been sent out by that great power of which we are all a part to become servants in these material fields of our lord. We cannot allow ourselves to be crippled by fear because it would hamper our ability to serve.

For most of us - for myself - relinquishing fear is part of a process that takes time. Fear does not lend itself to being wished away. The ego related programs that foster fear are rooted deep in the fundamental patterns that we picked up as a consequence of our entry into form.

The sun rises as the moon slides inexorably toward the horizon. The snow on the mountaintop catches the first rays and reflects the orange tinged hue of the rising early morning sun. Shadows begin to define themselves across the land. The first warm rays of radiant energy melt into the skin of my face. The cold, freezing air surrounding me causes my fingers to experience that physical sensation we call pain. Cold hurts. That's the word we use to describe that tingling alarm signal. My body is being chilled below the comfort level. The signal says I am in the danger zone. Nothing to fear there - I’m prepared.

Cloud Time

How long will the sun stay hidden behind that bank of clouds on the horizon? Will the sun rise above the clouds? Or will the clouds disappear? An unclouded sun will make it to hot to stay out in the desert.

Thank you for the house that provides me with shelter from the burning sun. Thank you for the wondrous people in my life. Thank you for the fellow beings with whom I share my life - my dog Honey, my son's dog Merlin, my wife’s cat Blue, my daughters two horses, Sheba and Rio. Here I stand by the grace of God, and that bank of clouds shading me from the sun. The sun is already five degrees high in the morning sky.

Perhaps the clouds will expand and cover the sky, buying me more time to wander in the desert. Or perhaps the clouds will recede and dissipate, leaving the sun as the soul object in the turquoise blue ocean of the sky. The Sun King beating on the anvil of the earth below with all his strength. His radiant energy driving me into my shelter as with all the other inhabitants of the desert.

There we will wait in the shade for the approach of night to bring us scurrying out again, out into the cool, soft, lovely night. When the deserts inhabitants come out to work and play, foraging and hunting, fighting and mating, living their nocturnal lives out of mans steely gaze.

I can feel the anticipation of the ending of summer stirring in my bones, far bellow my weary thoughts. The approaching fall, coolly seeping through those last clouded rays of the Summer sun.

Yet for now a new day of glorious adventure is dawning just for me. Ahh the shades of blue and gold in the sunrise - the optimism of a brand new day. The rainbow rayed sun, shedding life in the form of light onto the world. Sun, oh great, mighty, sacrificial one. Sun burning hot and bright that we might see and live under thee for all our days here on earth.

Mister Coyote Takes a Walk

Mr. Coyote, I can hear him in the near distance - he's yipping' and yapping'. He's not chasing anything; he sounds like he’s talking to himself. This is a feat that only humans, and a few animals are capable of. Mr. Coyote is going on and on as I'm walking down this dirt track running through the desert. I'm wondering what's going on in his head. I keep my eyes open - because the sounds are getting closer and I would like to meet my Coyote friend, desert wanderer, and self-examiner. I'm watching, and then sure enough he comes around the corner not too far away, maybe 50 yards. Mr. Coyote is wagging his head side to side and yipping' to himself. Just like a person who'd gotten pissed off at missing a shot in a critical game.

So I think 'how long is it going to take this guy to realize that he's walking straight into the arms of a human being?' Not that I'm going to do anything bad to Mr. Coyote. But I don't want to blow his mind either. So I keep walking and watching, walking quietly in my moccasins. He doesn't hear me, or anything. His eyes are turned inward, examining the material that he was reviewing in his mind - the way people do sometimes, to excess actually.

He's like a comic on stage, he's talking to himself real fierce, his head going from side to side as he picks up both characters. The best I can understand of what he's saying is "I missed that rabbit, I had him and I missed him. And I missed him because my foot slipped; I missed him because I was trying to get two steps ahead of him instead of just one. Thinking too many moves ahead and then losing track of the now. Then Mr. Rabbit runs off and I start walking down some dirt road with an empty stomach."

Then he looks up and sees me. Of course he's got that semi mind blown holy shit I'm suspended over the hole that leads to hell and my next second on earth may be my last as a bullet pierces my flesh look on his face. Then all in the same process of a split second as he scopes the thing that's standing in front of him out, he sees it doesn't have a gun in its hand. So immediately he's like chilled behind that - because he knows that he won't get hurt now, he's too fast. He takes a hard look at this guy standing in the road.

So Mr. Coyote takes a look, not very interested in me. Except I catch a little whiff of embarrassment on his part. He's been caught with his pants down admitting to some flaw in his character in front of a complete stranger. This is something that he would never ever do with another pack member. With his friends he puts on his favorite front and nobody knows his inner workings and feelings. This is because he's holding onto his position as number one dog. And you don't stay on top by being stupid. Or by behaving in ways that other people may perceive to be stupid. If you do then you can get kicked down the hierarchy of respect.

Mr. Coyote, taking his time, shifts off to my left into the desert. I don't chase him and I don't vibe on him. I'm just happy to be alive. To be alive and to have witnessed the similarities, the glory of the Creation, manifesting in these diverse forms. Animals like ourselves, plants, the air, the spirits who give life to every speck of that stuff including what we call dark matter and dark energy. Stuff about which we know practically nothing! No words were ever truer spoken than these. We know practically nothing. We walk around pretending that we're the greatest thing God ever made - we're a human being. Yippee!

We can do this because we have forgotten that everything is the greatest thing that God has ever made. And everything is expressing itself to the fullest in complete harmony. A dynamic dance of energetic interchange in which all are equals. Brothers and sisters with the same inner purpose. Enjoy

Timeless Raindrops

A raindrop sliding down the windowpane. A few snowflakes drifting in the morning air. The moss on the rock outside my window transformed overnight from black to emerald green. Time passing without pressure or direction. Remember? Remember the magical space/time of childhood? When we were suspended in a spell of wonder. Time without limit or direction. Sufficient unto itself in every way.

We can capture again that feeling when we play with our Native American Flute. Play like a child for the simple enjoyment of it. Because it is there and we are there. There is always time for us to enjoy. Time enough for everything. Time enough for Love. Time enough to relish life and the treasures it reveals with every falling raindrop.

To be a fisher in the sea of life requires patience. Calmly waiting for inspiration to surface into life. In the meantime we can gaze out at the sea. The endless sea of life spread before and around us as we journey in our little boat. We can feel the wind in our hair. And feel the heaving ocean carrying us forward on a journey without end.

We have our Love flute with us in our boat. We can play any time we want. Native American style flute music is the music of the sky and the winds and the sea. It flows through us without effort and shows the way. The timeless Way that always Is.

Some Desert Ramblings

I’m just trying to get a grip on it. So much is happening, wife and kids, friends and business. My son Robert and all the things that are going on in Robert's life. Serena, and the wonderful things that are going on in Serena's life. My relationship with Cathy my wife. To be perfectly aware of her needs, attuned to her so that I interact to the best of my ability as a friend and a grateful companion.
And my Native American style flute business and all the wonderful people coming and going in my life, getting new flutes, having flutes repaired, sending emails and answering questions. I'm occupied dawn to dusk with this stream of happenings. Situations that need to be addressed, questions and conversation that needs to be taken part in.

But then there are the morning walks, when I can put on my moccasins, get my water bottle, set out across the street and then straight into the most glorious landscape on the Planet Earth. Broken ancient granite rocks a hundred million years old jutting out of the earth like the bones of dinosaurs. Glimpses of a snow capped mountain so blissfully near with its shining white cap, and yet so gratefully far with its freezing winds that don't reach me here in the desert.

My young Springer spaniel Merlin (Honey is laid up with a bad shoulder) racing across the landscape. Seeing him is like watching the most incredibly talented ballerina dancing across the worlds most intricate and exquisitely designed playground as he bounds and leaps over the rocks. A young spirit completely in harmony with itself, and enjoying the experience of life on a planet we call Earth.
Up into the broken rocks now, stepping from one to another - perfect balance.

What an experience, Avatar times a thousand, a thousand thousand. 3D real life adventure in the most beautiful of all worlds called Planet Earth. In the midst of that timelessness we call Creation. Incarnated into intimate close association with a physical body of glorious proportions and abilities. Abilities as yet unexplored by man. And in this body I stride across the desert on my moccasined feet feeling this Being, monstrous, unbelievable, mothering, gentle, loving, dynamic, self sustaining, almost immortal....almost immortal. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of years of life continuously exploring and unfolding into a new dimension called time.

And to realize that in the midst of my everyday world I often lose track of the significance of time and get caught up in my petty worries about my business, about the situation with my family and others. The great other, the outside world, the Pinda world as my teacher called it.

The human world of illusion, the passing dream-like world of mans own mind. So that world exists. It goes on. But it is outside the confines of what is True and Holy. The human world, an insane manifestation of ego and greed coupled together bringing destruction to all the other life forms on earth - suffering and destruction. The human minds own manifestation of what we call, somewhat ambiguously, reality.
But this human reality is not in line with what makes possible a harmonious, fruitful, cooperative, collaborative, co creative manifestation of thought and action that we call Love. The love that is evident in every bush and tree and bird and animal and everything down to the most minute life form that is spontaneously graciously embracing the opportunity to manifest itself as a part of an evolving dimension.

Man long ago separated himself from that Eden and walked a path of mind centered, social creativity. A creativity involving patterns of interactive behavior and thought that manifests as the human derived world around us. It is embodied in the actions and creations of our fellow human beings.

I must accept it for what it is without judgment or despair, or anger, or even confusion and reaction. This human creation is perfectly obvious, it doesn't try and hide itself in fact it extols itself through every possible means available. The great and glorious creation of man. The wonderful world of what is called capitalism and somewhat disingenuously called free markets. A human world with its accompanying exploitation, wars and destruction, lies and deceptions, secret information held by only a select few. Information that the populous at a large is not deemed worthy or fit, or capable of seeing and understanding.

So this old man with his feet treading on this beautiful, wonderful, unbelievable planet has somewhat of a disconnect. Time to take out my Love flute and play away these thoughts.
To Be Continued

Around the Bend

I know that there is a place somewhere down the road, not to far away. Perhaps just around the next bend, or over the next little rise in the rocks. It is a place whose horizon has no end, and the space above my head reaches to infinity. I will stand in that field as the sun is rising, as its rays are beginning to illuminate the outlines of the rocks and trees. I will stand erect with my eyes gazing in front of me. Then I will make a slow 360-degree turn and pan the horizon with my eyes for the last time. I will say goodbye to the mountains, I will say goodbye to the clouds, I will say goodbye to the moon, I will say goodbye to the sun and its rising majesty. I will say goodbye to all the lovely sights never to be seen again.
As I stand there I will apologize to all the people I have hurt in my life through my ignorance and my pain. I’m sorry. I let that go. Then I will remember all the people, all the wonderful people who have helped me along my path. Each one contributing something immeasurable, indefinable, beyond limits, to my life. Wonderful people who have broadened the horizon of my consciousness. Thank You. Though you know not who you are, you carried a message that was important for me. Thank You.
I will embrace the people who I have loved here on this earthly plane. For the last time I will feel their body press against mine in an ecstasy of trust and love. Thank you, I love you dearly. Perhaps I have not touched many. But that was not mine to decide, nor mine to judge what is beyond my understanding, far beyond, far beyond. Each and every one is an important member of my family. Playing their role to absolute perfection in this fantastic experience we call the evolution of human consciousness.
I will look again at the rays of the rising sun and at the moon overhead. I will see the mountains waiting patiently to catch the first rays of the sun. I will say goodbye with all my heart, to the glories that are life on this planet Earth.
But that must wait for another day, for there are many miles yet for these aging legs to wander, people to meet, wonderful conversations to have. Insights with all their brilliant beauty flashing here and there. Insights bringing messages of love and truth and joy. So I tarry awhile, look around at that wonderful field, and then go back into the desert. I climb back over a hill and re-enter the world of men again, one more time to say "Hello, what's going on?"

The Rising Sun

The age of the warrior is almost over. The bloody sunset of this era of violence will soon fade from our eyes and memories. Already dawning is the age of Peace. The age of the singer, the dancer, the player of flutes. The age of the beater of drums, the lovers of women and of men, the lovers of the world, the darlings of creation, the hope of the future. A future when the sons and daughters of man will live in harmony with the earth. The days of death dealing are coming to an end. Oh blessed end to the millennia of strife and violence. The days, months, years, centuries, millennia of the bloody warriors were many. To long violence and the fear of violence held sway over the minds of hearts of humanity.
Soon the days of fear, want and exile will be over for ever. The doors are open wide to a new and glorious future. A future in which even the memory of violence is erased from the soul of mankind. We descended into the pit and toiled on the earth. Sweat poured from our brow and blood from our wounds. Man lived in fear, and died in pain. The wheel of time turns slowly, slowly, slowly on the axis of the Universe.
Everything we need is always and ever at our fingertips. When we are free of fear and give openly and generously to each other, there is no longer want. Children no longer experience poverty. Parents no longer experience fear and anxiety for the welfare of their children. In the world around us we see a social system that condones the suffering of children. A system that allows hunger to fill their bellies with pain and their eyes with tears. This system is Evil to its very core. It will soon be erased forever from the face of this beautiful, generous, loving, supportive planet we call Earth.
Oh glorious days of the rising sun with its gentle, nurturing rays. God given Sun radiating equally to all the energy of life. Spreading its wings of light across the sky. Blessing us with its abundant glory. Manifesting for us through every second of our lives its generosity and power. Hear us oh Sun, we are bringing your truth and light and strength into the world. We carry in our hand a piece of your torch. We carry in our heart the truth of your love. We too, each in our own unique way bare gifts of light to share and illuminate the hearts of our brothers and sisters. And they in turn do the same for us. Oh glorious day of the rising sun. Hope of mans liberation and fulfillment, in concert with the mothers and the fathers and the brothers and the sisters and the sons and the daughters singing a new song. Filling the air with joyful triumphant music, playing the drum, playing the flute, shaking the rattle, moving the feet dancing ecstatically, celebrating the dawn of a new age of Peace.

Honey is Getting Old

I watch Honey now, she's changing... She's been changing all along. Life is just a long series of changes, and possibly transformations. Honey's days of running, and skipping across the desert, almost like a bird touching the ground, have passed. She will never experience that again. Now she walks slowly and prefers to stay in my footsteps.

If she explores ahead, she may go down one path and I'll choose another. Then Honey will have to backtrack to catch up with me. In her genes she knows that she can no longer expend that extra energy. So she follows dutifully and quietly at my heels.
Watching Honey age is a painful but enlightening experience, Because in her, in my dear Honey, I see myself. I feel things now in a rather alarming fashion - in pains that I have never experienced before. Once I had a body like the young Honey. It was the body of the young John. I also ran across the desert and my feet barely touched the ground. My body never said no, never said tired, never said pain; that is over for me as it is over for Honey.

But unlike Honey I choose not to go down the path of limitation, of progressive decline of changing behaviors, the new behaviors becoming ever limited in scope. If I listen to the messages of pain and begin to restrict my movements and activities in response to my body saying "No don't go there, No I'm tired, No don't do that" I’ll do what Honey is doing. Honey without thought follows the path of limitation. Her body says "be careful take it easy" and she obeys. The human mind, my mind, is different in one sense, I can tell my body what to do; I can override its genetic program, the one that slowly shuts down activity and spirals ever more rapidly toward death.

It is not because I fear death that I choose not to allow my body dictate to me. It is because I know that the natural progression can be changed through the simple act of will. "Yes I WILL take that step, I WILL except my pain as a messenger, as a gentle friend, as a new level of consciousness". I find these changes to be an interesting new sensation of awareness and fullness in my body. Because the pain shows me so many new places that I never knew existed. It helps in the visualization of my skeletal and muscular structure; like a light being shown into a dark corner. These new sensations light up areas of my body awareness which until this point had been totally unconscious.

The Sun is about to rise over the rocks. It's journey South into Winter progressing day by day. Will Honey and I be here to witness the winter solstice? Will we be here to watch the Sun reverse its course and begin to climb again towards the North and arch higher and higher across the sky? Will we see its rays becoming ever more intense and vivifying until they begin to bake the desert?

Now a cooler wind is blowing down from the mountains. October, more clouds in the air. Not a single bird singing this morning,. The mating season, that great pull of life to reproduce and expand itself is over. The Earth is going back to rest, the plants going back to rest, the birds moving further South to more abundant climes, to warmer winds.

The Blue Jays remain but they are silent now. Their last feeding frenzy of the Fall when the pinion pines opened their cones and exposed the tender seeds within is over. And now a Jay comes by to take a look at my strange presence in the middle of his world. He doesn't say a word. He doesn't cry in alarm. He just looks. We share this fall/ winter approaching landscape in silence.

Ahhhh the sun, peaking its burning corner above the rocks.