Art of God

There is young lady, a musician, that I know. About a year ago she asked my husband, who owned a recording studio at the time, if she could play him some of her songs. Once she did, and once Christopher recovered from his amazement, he asked her if she'd like to make a record. She did, and they started working together.

She was so shy that she could not sing in front of anyone, she had trouble doing it in front of Christopher.

Year later, just yesterday, I saw the same woman playing at the Ventura Theater, and she was absolutely amazing. Up there, on a big enough stage, with pretty sizable crowd - she was relaxed, confident and all together fantastic. Or at least appeared to be :)

A friend sent me photos of some prehistoric art the other day, one of the famous cave paintings. They were quite spectacular and he was amazed that something this sophisticated was created so many centuries ago. He wanted to share it with me and thought it would be a good inspiration for a post - and so it is.

I was thinking about it that day, my feelings and reactions were floating around and I couldn't quite grasp it and express it clearly in words, until I went out that night to see a friend perform at a cafe. There were other artists performing as well, the first one was ... well, terrible.

I just came back from a rather lengthy walk across the hills that are green with grass and bursting with flowers. Everything is SO ALIVE, there are furry little creatures frisking in all directions and wonderful old oaks with new leaves - it's just an absolute wonderland.

I did all I could to open to it and be part of it as completely as I could manage and I realized that there are no barriers and no separations. When I opened to nature the only barriers were in my mind, once I lowered them there was nothing. And there was everything. I realized that it is all one, one ... energy, being, god, whatever. No matter what it's called - it is one. And it is unique, it expresses itself uniquely in different shapes, forms, colors - but uniqueness does not mean separation. Difference does not mean a separation. It is different, but in essence the same.

Did you ever wondered how animals just "know" things? They know when a danger comes, when earth is going to move, when weather will change. We can explain it with instincts or sharper senses or whatever - but the truth is: they know, because there is nothing that could stop them from knowing. There are no barriers between one being and another, between one expression of God and another. We, humans, are part of it too, it is only our mind that says we aren't.

Trees have no mind. I know, cause I talked to them this morning. They are what they are, who they are, without the extra baggage. They are themselves and everything else, God as it expresses itself in nature. Trees do not have to struggle and overcome obstacles to get enlightened, to wake up, to realize who they really are. They are nothing else but who they really are.

So what do they do, one might ask? They are what they are already, does anything change for them, or do they just ... blissfully exist?

Did you, those of you who practice some form of spirituality or another, ever wondered what happens after you get "enlightened"?

They grow

It just occurred to me: we, humans, with our complicated schemes and ideas about what our life is for... we all can learn something from trees.

I visited a desert yesterday, completed with dusty, sun bleached rocks, Joshua trees, dried, scrubby bushes and majestic mountains surrounding the valley. Some of them looked like they were floating few inches above ground - random rock formations or nearly symmetrical cones emerging from the flatness which, at a distance, seemed incredibly smooth. On the other side the mountains were high and capped by snow.

The first impression I got after emerging from my car was that this is not a place for people to live. There are some settlements there, not really towns. There is a supermarket, some houses, and they are all in the wrong place. The "civilization" does not belong in the desert.

I read an article yesterday about a new computer game which, apparently, is quickly becoming extremely popular among French and British teenagers and children. The game is called "miss bimbo". A player creates an avatar (a sort of a digital representation of themselves) and the object of the game is to make the avatar-bimbo as popular, as fashionable, as famous as possible. To achieve that goal players can take their bimbo shopping, give her various fancy haircuts, keep her appropriately slim using various diets, diet pills , etc., keep the bimbo young and tempting by applying appropriate plastic surgery: facelifts, breast implants, etc. To take care of the bimbo player must also find her a "sponsor" — rich boyfriend who can pay for her.

In Great Britain 200.000 girls join the game within a single month, in France within a year the game had almost a million and a half of players. Players range anywhere from 9 years old to 15 years old.