Birth

Clouds rest on a verdant haze of greenish blue - seated in the foothills of tomorrow.

I love accountability that comes with small towns.

You know, I picked this up the other day and as I read it, I can't help but compare it to some of the gestalt of today.  

Is this not the cutest face you've ever seen?

For the first time ever, Ysabella truly let me photograph her.

Of course, there were strings attached.  I in turn had to let her photograph me. 

The results were not as charming.

We're working on it.

You know - 

Decidedly no longer an urban cliff dweller.

As is the case in almost all religious wars, there is no clear victory to be had.

Stand back from the fridge.

Sitting on my front porch watching the world pass by. 

Blissfully out of town, meandering small byways and shaded paths...

You just never know what will be happening in my neck of the woods.  

Maybe now more than ever, it is time to remember something that Helen Keller once said - Security is just an illusion - it doesn't really exist in nature.

Gosh I miss you all!

Truth be told, Dharma lives upstairs in the penthouse - one of them anyway.

The world is silent but for the beating of my heart.  And then I listen.  And then I hear.

 

Rhythm.  And sound.  We are all comprised of the same building blocks, molecular structure, DNA and vibrational harmonics.

 

Do you believe in the collective unconsciousness, the knowing that we all have genetic memory that serves tobind us to humanity?   Is it a stream,or perhaps a river, or an ocean of thought, another, perhaps a higher consciousness?  Is it creation? Who was it who said, “Tocreate is divine, to reproduce merely human?” (1)

 

Rhythm.  The flow, the sound of a breath, a heartbeat, the last eternalgasp, the cadence of humanity.  We arecreatures who live and thrive from the stimulation derived of our group.Singularly we exist, within the context of the right nurturance, we soar to theheavens on the wings of divine ability. Stimulation from nurturance, from positive challenge, from abstractthinking allows expansiveness in our conceptual thinking, our ability to solveproblems and to be productive members of society.

 

Beginnings.  Babies tender and full of the possibilitiesof life.  All infants have musicalability. 2 We are moldable plastic individuals.  Brains formed, each of us born with 100billion brain cells/neurons. 3 Learning is a lifetime of possibility, alifetime event if we choose it to be. Did you know that musicians have a 5% greater capacity in theircerebellum?  This is thought to be dueto the structural plasticity of the brain.4  It seems, according to Dr. NormanWeinberger, Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at the University ofCalifornia, that “playing music seems to be the ultimate form of brainexercise.”2

 

Rhythm.  We areborn with it.  We move to it.  Deep within our genetic structure, our de-oxy-ribo-nucleicacid (our DNA), we can establish relational models.  We can map it; photograph it with infrared light using a devicecalled a spectrophotometer.  And throughthese images, through these pictures of our selves, in the most core sense,these frequencies are resolved down to a mathematical relationship, one that iscoincidentally like the science of music. It replicates the linear relationshipof musical notes, the building blocks of musical theory from which thefoundational theories are laid.  Thatstarting place from where we begin to bend and break the rules.  The harmonics of our DNA can be synthesizedand played.  It is not dissonant nordiscordant, it is harmonic in the sense that with these notes, we feel anoverwhelming sense of comfort.

 

Rhythm.  Relational.  Music is thehabitation of relational tone and structure and sometimes even dissonance.  Cultural dissonance.  Do you know that we compose mostly in C?  The drums and bells and gongs of theEastern world are for the most part tuned to C as well.  “Could it be that we are all as a planet trying to tune to the same vibrational harmonics?” Could this be the beginnings of ourunderstanding of the collective unconsciousness?  Vibrational frequency. Nature or nurture?  In what waysdoes this serve to define and describe the ways in which we see things differently, to the beat of another drum? What is the explanation for being attuned to a different harmonic scale?  Surely future science will help to informus.

 

Rhythm.  The neonate.  Theinfant.  Full of possibilities, to be somuch determined by nurturance and love. To love a child, to touch a child, to sing to a child is to mold theircircuits, the synapses of their being to be able to accept love and to givethem the gift of critical thinking.  Itis the programming of the computer, the laying down of the foundation; it isthe beginning of their own circle of life.

 

Math and music are processed inproximate areas of the brain. Abstractions, critical thinking, pathways laid down to solve andresolve, critical thinking.  One ofthose abilities that helps to define the tools of man.

 

Rhythm.  And music, yes music is transcendent.  Who among us has not been transported to the divine?  In the world of technical parlance, musichas been linked to the areas of the brain reserved for biologically relevant,survival related stimuli.  And thoseshivers down the spine of ecstasy.

[6] It expands beyond our conscious space andinto the world of possibility and hope and dreams.  To hear the chanting of the monks high atop the mountain, tolisten to the choir in St Paul’s cathedral, it is to be like a bird and soar tothe heavens on the wings of God.  It isto connect with that most beautiful part of humanity, the divinity ofcreation.  And so, even with theknowledge of the power of creation and destruction, man’s inhumanity to man,music restores us in our relationship to self, to our higher power, to thebeauty that is life as we are allowed to experience it unfolding.

 

Rhythm.  It is the beat, the autumnal cadence, the fire of spring, it isbeginnings and endings, the circle of life. If all constructs are based upon the premise of a healthy brain is onethat is utilized and maximized, the extrapolate from this:

 

A child’s most critical point inlife, the time when these neural connections are laid down is from 0 to 3 years– maybe even conception to 3 years, but as yet, we do not know thoughpreliminary testing does seem to validate the importance of prenatalstimulation.7 Music and math require the same abstractionsof thought.  Through PET(positron-emission-tomography) scans of the brain it has been shown that thecortex area of the brain is stimulated while listening to complex musicalforms, such as Mozart.  Testing scores,such as the SAT are demonstrating the ability of children exposed to the artsas being more able to engage in critical thinking.  In  1995 children who hadstudied the arts for over four years scored 59 points higher on the verbalportion of the SAT and 44 point higher on the math portion as compared tochildren with no such coursework.8 And we are never too old to learn, tostimulate our brain, to continue to maintain these neural pathways.

 

It has been said that from thetime of the ancients, Plato and Aristotle to name but a few, that the healingpowers of music have been recognized. Since post World War I and II we have used music as a healing tool inthis country.  The beginnings were withthose men that we sent out into the world to be our warriors and ourprotectors.  They came back home fromhorrors that most of us will never, ever imagine.  Mustard gas, cries of the wounded, the living/breathing fury ofbattle.  And music, yes music was usedto touch these men, to show them that even through where they had been and whatthey had seen; there was still the possibility of beauty and healing in theirlives.  For what they now witnessed wastheir ability to still be touched most deeply and profoundly through theprofound lyrical beauty of music.  Thatsoul connection that music inhabits.

 

And so forward we havemoved.8  In 1950 the National Associationfor Music Therapy was founded. The possibilities for music in healing seemto be limitless.  We have found thatstroke patients who have lost the ability to speak can often more easily learnto sing their words, sentences and thoughts – thus allowing them “improve thefluency of their speech.” Thinkof it as a sort of rewiring of the brain, the temporal house of our soul.

 

Rhythm.  In healing.  It is our“big external clock.”9 Take it back to the images of our DNA, tothe linear relationships, to the synchrony of movement with the beat, with therhythm, into patterns and shapes and forms. A hand keeping time. A reigning inof emotions to a positive realm for an adolescent living beyond despair – thatmoment to connect back to a self evoked with the aid of music, to happiertimes.  Beneath the layers of what wecan consciously detect, it is possible to see the changes reflected in the PETscans.  A consciousness layered beyondthat which we can discern.  We are trulycomplex creatures capable of processing vast amounts of information.

 

Rhythm.  The underpinnings of music. To put us in the mood, to fuel our desire, to calm us down and toestablish our belonging to the tribe of humanity.  To witness the depths of mans’ inhumanity to man, the firstbreath of a newborn or the last whisper of our beloved. At core, we are allbuilt with the same materials.  It ishow our neural pathways are laid down, our ability to think, to create, toproblem solve and our relationship to the world that makes each of us uniquelygifted.

 

The world is silent but for the beating of my heart.  And then I listen.  And then I hear.  Rhythm.

 

 

Dear President Obama,

I have a simple idea that would put money directly into the hands of some of the people who could use it the most.

I live in California.  It is not uncommon for me to be somewhere on the streets in the San Francisco Bay Area and to hear the conversations of people who have just lost their job, their home, their healthcare – essentially, all that they had worked so hard for.  You hear these all the time, I know.

I see lone women living in parked cars in public areas.  A few years ago when I traveled to India and saw the poverty, I remember thinking to myself, “There but for the grace of God or an accident of birth go I.”  And now my empathy and compassion deepens even further as I see this suffering coming to our own country in unthinkable proportions.

I live in an area where the unemployment was already at 15.5% in April 2009 – I’ve recently heard it’s over 25% in my neighborhood.  I’ve read many stories of people who have just given up hope – I see it in their faces as I walk down the streets.  What I see is more desperation, more homelessness and more resignation.  Yes, stimulus is coming, but it has to trickle down through the corporations that have put us in this stranglehold to begin with.

In my view, this whole meltdown began as a debt crisis.  Credit was being given out hand over fist and foisted on everyone.  Yes, it was not wise to accept what could not be repaid, but as we are painfully aware, far too many people did just that.  The American Consumer just filled up on debt never thinking that a growth cycle may turn to a contraction cycle. 

And now, when so much Federal money has been directed to credit markets to ease this credit crisis, the credit rules are so stringent that many businesses have no access to money.  One local green builder just went out of business because though they had plenty of work, none of the projects could get bank loans.

It seems to be that certain industries charge fees that have no substantive relationship to the services provided.  Yes, some new credit card regulations were recently passed, but did you know that one of their latest schemes around the legislation is to say the credit card has been compromised by fraud, reissue a new card and then begin charging a 25% interest rate even though the old card had a much lower rate?  When did bank fees become profit centers to the banks and an ever-larger drain on the American pocketbook?  The problem with all of this is that the people who can least afford it are those who are charged the highest fees.

I have digressed.  These are larger issues than I believe I can solve here.

Right now, here’s how we could really make a difference to some of the people who really need help:

Create a temporary waiver of the penalty for the early withdrawal of retirement funds.  Further,  apply it retroactively to the point at which this crisis began.  This will give back money to the people who have already had to raid their savings.  This way, they receive all the money that was theirs to begin with.  For those who’ve already paid the tax, give them an immediate refundable credit.

Mr. President, I would submit to you that these are extraordinary times.  I agree with you that we don’t want people to cannibalize their retirement savings, but for many people, this has been their only option to survive.  If an individual has been brought to the point of desperation and forced to cash in their 401K (or other retirement accounts) – shouldn’t we waive this penalty in these most difficult of times? Do we really want the United States Government to benefit from this most desperate act?

With all that we have given to the corporations, can we not do something for the common man and woman in America?  It is my belief that this would be a stimulus package that would truly help some of those who need it most. 

In case you missed it, here are a few of my favorite things from this year's Maker Faire:

Conjuring up the past...

Chai Tea, home brewed and organic of course...

Fresh ginger sliced thinly

Cardamon pods pounded

Finest cinnamon stick

Peppercorns

Cloves
 
and Fortnum & Mason Organic Assam Tea of course...

Brewed and steeped on the back burner of the stove - aromatic...

The meaning of is...

To Be...