Too much YouTube lately...

I really gotta lay off the YouTube tarot reader channels....lol

But seriously it's just far too easy to hear what you want to hear.  To read reality into fantasy.  I've gotten to the point where I am seeing more "product" than "message" in so many of these people.  Often there's no real message just a PayPal link....

But when we need to hear something, when we need an answer that isn't forthcoming: it's not out of the question to find it in a nontraditional way.

Even if it's just affirmation of something you already knew, sometimes it's helpful to hear someone else say it. Although it would be better to come from a friend, often that's not an option.

If it seems "spooky" it's only because we're hearing what's buried deep inside.  Airing of our own deepest fears, hopes and dreams.  It can be jarring to have to face that which we've shoved down into dark forgotten places.

Very seductive stuff this mysticism but ultimately seduction is just pretense to something that is ultimately fleeting and temporary.  Treat it accordingly.

I do believe there are things we don't understand and forces without name but I don't believe anyone has any special communion with them.

They just are...

Some people are just more in tune is all.  

All religion is superstition.  A tool to keep you interested in the underlying message while regaling you with tales of great floods, fire from the skies, virgin births and impossible magic.

Learn to separate the message from the performance.  

Tarot readers frequently use the word "resonate" when beginning their readings.  That's both a disclaimer and an admission that what you find there isn't a message from the stars.  Rather it's a message you've already received but hadn't heard.

You just weren't listening yet.  You had to find (pardon the pun) a suitable medium. 

What do we do when the reading doesn't "resonate?"  We move on to another until we find one that does.  So where is this message truly coming from?  

The answer is the reason why there are so many different religions in the world.  So many belief systems that resonate only with that which aligns with what you already know deep inside.

Believe in that which sustains you but never allow belief to rule you.  Belief is more guardrail than steering wheel.  The path is always your own.

If's fun to think that there's some chorus of angelic beings invisibly guiding you into romance and fortune but the reality we know says something far more mundane is at work.

Putting your life into the hands of practitioners of mixed mythology can only lead to dark ends.

We have to admit to and live with the consequences of our own actions.  No, the devil didn't make you do it rather your own devilish tendencies did.  Own your actions and you own your power. 

Spirituality in all it's forms is a great tool.  I don't deny that civilization could not exist without it.  A grand performance to deliver otherwise dry material.  A narrative to keep us from each other's throats and lesser angels for fear of repercussion from God Almighty.

I have no problem with that.  I have no problem with anything that leads someone to a more positive path.  I just don't let the message get lost in the packaging.  

I'd just hope that at this point in mankind's evolution we wouldn't be so dependent on the narrative.   

Money

"Get a good job with more pay and you're OK"

That's what it's all about.

Money

Solver of all the tribulations of a civilization.

Fame, friends, flattery....

All bought with the stuff.

I lust after it too.  I need things otherwise out of reach without it.

Things needed to continue the chase for it.

I'm denied life in its absence.

I'm judged by my accumulation of it.

My happiness a function of it.

So wrong.

Not a tool, a master...

So many promises, so many possibilities, so easy for some.

Never easy for me.  

Sociopath, Greed, Selfishness,  all kindred to it.

Communist?  Hardly, the stench of the beast without benefit of the struggle.

But the struggle.

My value defined by it. 

My simple desires outstretched by the need to retain my soul.

My idealistic philosophy beaten down by its lack of a listing on the NYSE

Do your best and the rewards come naturally

Naive

The rewards come only to those undeserving, without conscience.

I've known rich people...They give nothing without a profit motive.

More is all that is enough.

Modest desires, modest means, meaningless dividends.

Altruism, humanity, love....

Stained with the prerequisite of liquidity.

Peace of mind never a reality.

Even those with more can never rest.

Those with less never rest for want of more.

My value my own.

Meaningless to the rest.

Something's wrong here.

Generosity of spirit subjugated by generosity of wallet.

That I had riches to transcend us above this petty thing of paper.

That I could bring joy without a profit/loss statement.

That I could be so right but so wrong to survive in this.

That you didn't mock me for the truth.

Money.

Money,

Chains of gold, Diamonds and excrement.

My freedom has a price, so does yours.

We, all of us, commodities...Human resources.

Denial of the truth only at a price.  

What's your soul worth.

Mine, whatever they pay by the hour.

Is this what God intended?

You say no but you can't deny the game all the same.

 

Destination Unknown

  

Destination Unknown...

More fun that way.  I'm not looking for answers or worried about long term plans.  I almost killed my present by letting my past dictate the future.

I was none the wiser...

Take the step and just let the journey unfold.

Things have been strange the past few days having shook up what was my version of normal.  Not that I was that happy with it.  Not that what I've been doing the past few years was that fulfilling.

The more we try to isolate ourselves the more we fail.

I know this...I know nothing about a lot of things and slowly rediscovering that which I'd thought I'd never learned.

Is the Formula fixed? 

No, still on the side of the garage.  Still gonna cost a mint to fix.

Did I get a raise? A cool new job?

Nope, just an opportunity to practice what I preach and I'm glad I could be true to it.

So...

Is anything exactly as I wanted it? No...

But I see evidence of the divine in the way things have unfolded lately.

Credit where its due.  Thank you

I'm finding more reward in loosening the reigns a bit.   The desire is the same but the path is its own concern.  

Let the destination remain unknown.  The journey teaches.  I've been on this path for awhile now I just strayed off it for a bit.

Tomorrow is its own.  

Destination unknown.

After Christmas - A post mortem for the soul

Twas the week after Christmas lights still on the tree sadly now shining less brightly 

At once made perfect with all due care now those lights a nuisance, a tacky cross to bear

The excitement of the season fades to past as the day of reckoning for bills made comes fast

How quickly we forget why the season is so bright or perhaps we never really knew as we bought all in sight

The 26th comes, the world again severe.  Good will toward men and kindness in arrears

The baubles now tattered, broken and dark as the joy of the season fades to gray and stark

Now approaches the shiny new year with expectations rising and reality drawing near

Soon we'll return, marching to another's tune all the time hoping our turn will come soon

Ahh but that reality, the ogre that looms.  A plague on the heart, dogged foe of joy fast friend of doom

Life is what you make it or so they say but those who proclaim it rarely enter the fray

So as your impending hangover this New Year's Morn you dread

Let me pound this one simple message into your soon throbbing head

The lesson of the season isn't about lights on a tree

It's about the light kept inside year round shared freely

Priorities be damned, you've got them wrong anyway

Give of yourself shining with the light of Christmas each and every day