Got the front porch hand rails up on Friday - none too soon...Saturday it snowed a bit and the temperature dropped. God is great. The picture above was taken this morning - maybe 1-3 inches fell.

Last night public radio had a show dedicated to cowboy music. It was great; I recently wrote a song about how getting this ashram property was, in one way, fulfilling my childhood dreams of being a cowboy (and my adult years of being a mystic cowboy). Of course there never was any cow branding or carnivorism in my visions. To be sure, the real cowboys had a real hard life. My vision of a mystic cowboy , however, is one who lives at nature’s pace. Learns life and spiritual lessons from nature, animals, and neighbors...living in sadhana 24/7 - that’s the real tech support - God is available 24/7 - and it’s a toll-free number.

Peace, quiet, nature, whoopin’ up joy just because it spontaneously erupts from within. Yes, some hard work too; some of it physical like deck building, log chopping, hut building; and some of it mental - monitoring thoughts for harmony and shifting from discordant thoughts (eg, doubt, excuses, complaints, fears, angers). To be free from these thoughts controlling one’s beliefs, words, and actions is to know mental peace and feeling the freedom of your soul.

It’s surprising that hearing a show about cowboy music, seeing my first snow in the new ashram - these experiences are sooo great that I cannot put it into words. Yet I find the inner experience, one of marked peace and silence and purity - meaning, very subdued appreciation. Maybe it is fall reclusiveness that tints the experiences towards toning down the gratitude.

But it seems to be more than this - there is a lightness that exists - quietly lying beyond a happiness or dissatisfaction - it is more a simple recognition of what is existing at this moment, and it seems right - but there doesn’t seem to be any personal benefit gained from the experience - and this is enough. It seems God is saying, I’m giving you all the peace and joy you wish - just relax to experience it...excitement (at least at times), blocks the subtler joys. Again, it may be of the season. I’ll let you know in the Spring.

This blog began on the back porch, and shifted to the front porch when I had to build a railing. So here is a view from the back porch for those longing to return to the beginning...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace & Paradise