International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

My intention with this blog has been to comment upon whatever comes up in daily life from a metaphysician's heart and eye. Of course, so much comes up in any given day that I'm always selecting a slice of the whole. And sometimes, like tonight, because I'm in a demanding graduate program, work and give many hours of sacred service (seva), especially at Center for Spiritual Living, Davis, CA on Sundays, all I can do with the energy I have left is to pass on some information that I consider important. To do that, I try to follow the hints that come during my days.
Recently, I had conversations with two separate women in which I mentioned the 13 Grandmothers' Council. In each case it seemed potentially empowering to bring these great-hearted and wise women into the discussion. Neither of the women I was speaking to had heard of the 13 Grandmothers. I was surprised.
So, for anyone who reads this blog and has not heard of the 13 Grandmothers, the following is their mission statement, pasted from a recent press release I found at their website. By the way, all I had to do at Google was type in '13 gra' and the first option that came up was the 13 Grandmothers' Council. I am glad to know that they are attracting so many 'hits'.

Grandmothers’ Mission Statement:

We, The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children. 

Eddie Izzard for God?

We were in line at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California waiting to get in to see and hear the marvelous British comedian, Eddie Izzard, and talking about our appreciation of his gifts and his being. She said, "I'd vote for Eddie for God" and I concurred. After all, he so aptly describes the human condition while brandishing his heart on his sleeve. What more could anyone want in a divine being? We laughed and parted, wishing each other a great show.
During the show Eddie declared his new atheism, having abandoned agnosticism, and for the next hour or so worked through a bunch of reasons why - very funny and intelligent stuff, as always. I recommend Eddie's comedy to all progressive thinkers and open hearts. He won't offend your mind or assault your sensibilities, this high energy angel of humor with a conscience. Check out his website. I love borrowing his DVDs from my local library. And,  there is a new bio documentary called Believe I look forward to seeing.
Oddly enough, based on the depictions of God he gave, I too am an atheist, which is interesting since I'm in ministerial school, The Holmes Institute School of Consciousness Studies. It no longer seems odd to me though. Most depictions of God I come across do not represent my belief at all. I honor the Father in the Sky model of God for those for whom it resonates in the soul. And, I honor a different view of the divine for those of us who feel that difference to the core of our being. People need a version of the Something Greater that speaks their hearts into life and we are each unique in brain wiring and life experience. How could we not believe in different views of the Infinite? It is infinite, after all.
More than anything else, while listening to Eddie gleefully skewer the idea of God as a guy lost in the clouds of his own making or witnessing Bill Mahr morosely and futilely search for an idea of divinity intelligible to him in the film Religulous, and at so many other times, I feel left out. "Hey," I want to say, "what about New Thought ideas of God? What about the brilliant synthesist of the world's wisdom traditions, including modern science, Ernest Holmes, and his philosophy called The Science of Mind?" We are usually left out. Guess we need better marketing or something.
So, for the sake of balance, here's a brief introduction to the God I believe in. No need to use the word God; Life will do, or Infinite Creative Intelligence or Omnipresent Consciousness or Quantum Foam for short. All that exists is one infinite field of possibility which constantly expands information; all that exists is consciousness lavishing itself upon the physical manifestations which naturally spring from its own creativity.
What does that mean to us humans? We are as much God stuff as mosquitos and glaciers are AND, unlike those God forms, we have a level of conscious mind able to understand that. One infinite mind includes the mind I am using. That means...
There is a power in the Universe that you use day in and day out to shape your life experience. Why not use it consciously?

Message from the Edge

My original title for this blog was Messages from the Edge but, on further reflection, I wasn't sure what edge I meant. I am a metaphysician in training with 40 years or so of self-directed practice and study while the past 4 years have been school training. I am earning a second Master's degree. The first one was in Sociology. This one is in Consciousness Studies at the Holmes Institute School of Consciousness Studies, a ministerial school with regional centers dotted throughout the US.
The Messages from the Edge title seemed to reflect my experiences in school. There is the edge or boundary between academic effort and surrendering to Infinite Intelligence. On the academic side of the experience I read books, write papers and exams, do internship projects, and check my grade on everything I do. Yet, and it is ideally all the time, I am aware that I am a unique expression of the Infinite Source and my task is a very Taoist one, to go with the flow and surrender to that vibrant power of Spirit.
There's the edge or precipice of my awareness of the absolute singularity of the Cosmos - One Infinite Mind/Heart/Consciousness expressing Itself innumerably as forms of matter and energy. Each of us is a unique creation of that singular Consciousness which pervades all matter; each of us is one with the One. But everyday life continually insists that we are separate beings. It seems self-evident. So, my awareness of being one in the One comes and goes in me. I walk that edge.
The common theme here might be paradox rather than edge. Certainly, the ideas above convey it - doing school while going with the flow, being one in the One while being one among many. I am learning to dance between meanings and hold my beliefs more lightly than I used to.
Let's embrace the paradoxes we see and develop a more flexible mind and heart.

Phish and Metaphysics

Sublime is the word for this moment and this one too, ahhh, so many. I am currently listening to the sublime being expressed as heart-expanding improvised music, creativity fueling expanded vision freely and happily given away. Phish are live online.
I am witness to the creativity of the four musicians exuberantly soaring upon the edge of physical ability in service to awesome visionary joy. Of the creativity of all those who continually refine the technological miracles which allow a live concert in NY to be heard on any ordinary Internet hook-up.
Freely given away to any listener. Phish always have, just like the Grateful Dead before them - record the shows you get to, trade them and sell them and now hear live performances from anywhere in the world. These men seem to understand the law of reciprocity/abundance/attraction. The more they have given permission for anyone to record their shows the more folks want to go see them. One festival a few years ago attracted 800,000 people to Seminole country in FL. I did not get to that one.
I'm back to the sublime as they hit the end-of-jam crescendo of the song Golgi Apparatus, a song that goes back to their high school years. Ah, on to The Beatles A Day in the Life. Gotta go!