Collaboralchemy

Sara Deutsch says we each have gifts. A magic happens when we create art together in a playful way. She calls it collaboralchemy.

She convenes groups to do art in collaboration. They may dye colorful silks as a group; "one will make nice splotches, someone else great stripes, and another makes squiggles. At the end when the fabric is dry, everyone's part will have dripped in together, making something beautiful and unexpected."

We learn from each other. Sara's workshops are conducted in silence. Without words to separate us, we pay good attention to the way each person paints. "After painting together for an hour, each person knows how to do what each one else does. You absorb their skills."

It is about harmony that naturally emerges when we collaborate. In this complex world, we each hold different pieces of the puzzle. Sara also uses resonant singing together in circle, or toning. Group mind maps are another game they play, building a tree of shared lines of thought. She sometimes has a game of collage, in which everyone picks out pictures they each resonate with, then the group collages them into one big picture, assembling it like a puzzle.

Then there is the one to one spontaneous co creation, in which she simply finds some interesting way to do art with another artist, as above.

It is about harmony and synergy that naturally emerges when we collaborate. In this complex world, we each hold different pieces of the puzzle. Everyone has pieces missing. It is about coming into relationship.

(All of the paintings featured here are Sara's)

"I think collaboration is a good idea. As long I'm the one who is in control."- Wisecracker

Sun

“Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.” 

― Roman Payne

I am a sun worshiper. The sun is in my art. My band is called Sunheart. Where I live, the sunshine is finally strong enough to make vitamin D, and soaking it up feels so good! I love to bask in the radiance of my beloved daystar.

The sun helps us heal and be healthy in so many ways, too many to list. In old lore, sunshine is particularly good for the nerves. But I get a wonderful feeling of well being even seeing that the sun is out, here in the rainforest. 

We are beings of earth and sun, matter and energy, body and spirit. Even as we need to eat food, we also need to take in the sun's light by being outside during the day. (On Sungazing:)

The sun powers most of what we consume, from energy use to food growing, sometimes more indirectly, in the form of fossil fuel. The solar energy that makes it to the surface of the earth in less than one hour, equals the total energy consumption of all the world’s people in a whole year! 

We could power most of the worlds needs directly with solar if we wanted to. We just have to want to. We are so smart.

This is a painting about the Sun's love for the Earth:

In Praise of Cleaning

“Mindful living is an art.  When you do the dishes after dinner you can practice mindful breathing, so the time dish washing is pleasant and meaningful. You do not feel you have to rush. If you hurry, you waste the time of dish washing. The time you spend washing dishes and doing all your other everyday tasks is precious. It is a time for being alive. When you practice mindful living, peace will bloom during your daily activities.” 

― Thich Nhat Hanh

 "Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy." ~Unknown

(From How to Do What You Really Want While Saving the World At the Same Time:) 

Basic chores are the stuff of everyday enlightenment. When you leave a big mess, everyone notices. But when you clean, setting things clear and bright, pick up that bit of litter, the place is as it should be. 

So naturally, nobody notices. This can be a good tonic for the ego. And a blessed practice of karma yoga, service to one another. 

Cleaning need not be thought of as a dirty job. Soil is sacred to us Earth dwellers. Children brought up in sterile cleanliness may develop allergies because their immune system is bored and has nothing to do. So let's all get down and dirty at cleaning time.

Nor do we need poison anyone to keep our spaces clean. A little castile soap and water will often do fine. A great natural solvent? Plain water, and soaking time is all you need. Bleach? Sunshine is an effective bleach for many purposes. Air freshener? Try opening windows, hanging things out in the wind. Even in big cities, indoor air is usually worse than out door. 

Kitchen cutting boards with the exposed wooden end grain surface naturally clean themselves. Dry your dishes in the air! That gets them cleaner than wiping. (One must note that most types food poisoning germs, of course, are not found in vegan kitchens, and that raw plant food dishes can be cleaned without hot water or soap.) What is the doctor recommended method of hand sanitizing in this age of superbugs? Plain old soap and water. 

Wow, all this natural free cleaning stuff- water, air, wood, sun...Even earth can clean: think of the pumice stone that scrubs the toilet, and filters, natural and constructed, that clean our water. Plus, nowadays there are many fine natural cleaners for any specialized purpose, plus recipes and tips on the interweb for common household substances such as vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice which can be used.

It is no wonder religious communities devote so much time to performing simple chores. A clear clean space just feels better to be in. When we give this gift to each other with a loving intention, it is a real blessing.

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity may suggest."- Thomas Moore

Tantric Eating for Love and Peace

“The more you eat, the less flavor; the less you eat, the more flavor.”  ~Chinese Proverb

You can eat in a way that is natural, highly pleasurable, fun, good for others and our environment, (and very much good for you!) It is so easy, it becomes almost instinctive, once you learn how to do it in your life.

The trick is to figure out what you need in terms of your own body's approximate requirements and proportions of the basic things like protein, carbs, sugars, and fats, then begin to up level the quality. Shun all but the highest quality, freshest, most local, organic, least processed form of whatever calls you. Go for colorful, natural packaging- a peel! And lots of green.

Speaking of green, what I am describing is the best buy for your money. You need less food when you eat better quality food. Then you do eat less food, which gives the body a rest from doing all that work digesting. This gives the added bonus of some of the benefits of regular or periodic fasting. 

Finally, you are supporting renewable organic methods of farming or local cooking and food making. This is actually an investment exactly like buying stock, that you are buying. You will absolutely get back your money's worth in terms of personal and planetary health and true wealth. You will own stock in a future for everyone that can support peace and love!

And oh oh oh, now comes the sexy part. Enjoying the food! Do it with loved ones, make food for others, learn about the connections from the farm to your plate. Relish and cherish this relationship. A new consciousness will circulate through this awakening network, growing into new kinds of nourishment and love in communities.

“The part can never be well unless the whole is well.”  ~Plato

Environmental Restoration

In the future, repairing the shredded ecosystems will be one of the important great works to accomplish. Young people close to me have earned environmental science degrees. When we speak of environmental restoration, the question always arises, restoration to what, and when? 

In the spot where I live in the great northwest rainforest, ice sheets carved out our valleys in the last ice age. When they melted, the floods sculpted the hills. Later, a nearby volcano, Mt Mazama, blew its top off, becoming Crater Lake, and deposited a ten foot deep layer of hard pan ash residue on the valley floor, creating a bowl of wetlands. 

The local native people did not live here, but rather managed it, for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. They built their lifestyle and spirituality around an edible flower bulb, the Camas, traveling through every year to harvest and process the plant. You have to dig them in the spring while they are flowering because the occasional white flower is poisonous. You can only eat the purple ones.

The Indians kept the valley clear of trees by regularly burning the forest underbrush back so the Camas could flourish. Big trees survived this process, and the meadows full of flowers stayed open.

Then an invasive species took over and farms and fences popped up all around. Dams, bridges, and interstate highways followed soon after. Where I live there existed a four hundred acre farm with strawberries, pears, and cherries. The now five minute drive to town for supplies took all day round trip by horse and buggy. Twenty years ago, the farm became many five acre plots, including the one where our house now stands. 

So, after a century of fire suppression by the settlers, the forest here is dense and 'fuel loaded', and the pressures of disease and global warming have set the stage for mega forest fires. The function of which will be to change out the dominant tree species to a more dry hot climate tolerant type of trees.

Now what? The only escape, as Terrence McKenna put it, is a forward escape. Sustainability would be a good start. But I aspire to a more beautiful vision. How about the flower child's garden planet? Garden planet Earth. We have already changed the face of our planet so radically there is no going back, only forward. Not factory farm earth, but an intensively cared for, ecosystem minded, garden planet managed on a grass roots level, by the smart monkeys for beauty, nurturance, diversity and yes, sustainability. At this point, a park won't do. We want the whole world to play in.

Guru-p and Sangha

The spiritual path can be lonely. Not everyone feels the urge to seek at the same time. You look around and it seems no one else can relate to how you feel. We may want to retreat from acknowledgement of all those deluded people out there, by feeling smug. Judging them less enlightened. 

Or we may fall into despair. We look around and notice we are aboard a sinking ship of Earth, and no one seems to notice or care. 

Sometimes we get the idea we must walk alone. There is a place for solitude and quiet contemplation. And to look in the heart and ask what your part in the whole thing is. No one can know this for you. But this question does not arise in a vacuum. Is is embedded in the context of the whole situation. 

Our modern society gives us the opportunity to isolate ourself. This is a wonderful privilege and achievement, but a not viable way to live all the time for most humans. We are deeply tribal creatures. Solitary confinement is a punishment and even a torture.  

So, reach out. Don't be shy. Get help. The spiritual wisdom of the ages is available to anyone with access to the interweb. The spirit world abounds with entities who wish to assist. And lonely people are everywhere, not realizing they have what you need and you have what they need. Or maybe they just feel shy. They have received the message from our culture that, baby, you are are your own, or else you are weak and 'co-dependent'.

What you need is a Sangha, or supportive spiritual community. Thich Nhat Hanh says, "The next Buddha will be a Sangha." Enlightenment is a group project. Instead of a guru, maybe you need to find a guru-p!

“Two thousand five hundred years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha proclaimed that the next Buddha will be named Maitreya, the ‘Buddha of Love.’ I think Maitreya Buddha may be a COMMUNITY.”

–Thich Nhat Hanh

The Best and the Worst of Times

“The elders have sent me to tell you that now is like a rushing river, and this will be experienced in many different ways. There are those who would hold onto the shore… there is no shore. The shore is crumbling. Push off into the middle of the river. Keep your head above the water, look around to see who else is in the river with you, and celebrate.” Choquash - a Native American storyteller

The confusion here is strong. Exponential changes converging defy predictions. Dark rumors and conspiracies boil below the surface of chaos and are overtaken by sheer numbers of actors with various agendas. Great movements rise and fall, barely noted in the din and foment of the information tide.

Yet daily several billion humans and innumerable sentient creatures scrounge around and make it to the next day. Aggregated flows of supply slosh around as creatures negotiate for their daily bread. It is hard to make out patterns. It seems to be the best of times and the worst of times, simultaneously.

Sometimes I want to reassure you that we will be fine, this is a generous, abundant universe. All is working out for the best; we will not only muddle on through this crisis, this is the dawn of a golden age of beauty, harmony, and love. I am impressed by the goodness and deep integrity of my fellow beings, and filled with optimism, hope, and even joy.

On the other hand, at times I want to scream, wake up! We are headed over the cliff, emergency, all hands on deck! Alarm! The sense of helplessness I feel as I look around at the oppression of beings everywhere, and the forces of destruction eating away at the fabric of the web of life we all depend upon.

I guess that is why we have two hands. Two sides of the brain, two sexes. And two feet, to move, albeit in an unbalanced way, toward a better place. Every step is out of balance. We careen from one foot to the other as we walk, never really in a state of balance. Without forward movement standing on either foot is untenable. 

It is as if we are crossing a raging stream, hopping from one sinking stone to another, each one holding our weight just long enough to make it to the next. It is like the story of the king who commissioned his wise counselor to inscribe in his ring a saying that would cheer him up when he was down, and keep him from being arrogant when things were going well. The ring simply said,"this too, shall pass".

What can you do? Just take the next step, from where you are now.

Flower to Fruit, Spring Meditation

"Each flower is a soul opening out to nature."  

-  Gerald De Nerval

When is the moment when flowering turns into fruiting? It is said all of the Buddhas are conceived in the spring. I once experienced conscious conception. It is a moment out of time.

In the sacred tree moving meditation, this is a holy moment, the fullness of flowering, the potent magic of the zygote dance. Which flowers will be followed by good fruit, as 'by their fruit they are known.' 

If our flower shows our hopes and plans, then our fruit is what we make. The flower is our wanting, the fruit is what we create, with our thinking and wanting working together.

It is a labor of love. Spring colors swirl and dance, flirt, envision, tryst, enchant, and play. In the 'be a tree' meditation, spin around, reach out your flower fingertips and be tickled by the sunny warm breeze. Stand in beauty one moment. Leap with joy into the sky the next. Catch a partner by the hand, and dance. Meditate in silence by the water. Watch butterflies.

"Flowers are love's truest language."  

-  Park Benjamin 

Dance to the very rhythm of your soul and you will have true love. Only thus can your true love recognize you.

Follow the rhythm of your soul to know to when to choose. For choose we must, not too soon or too late....

(From the Be a Tree Moving Meditation book)

"The Earth Laughs in Flowers."

-  Ralph Waldo Emerson