The Gospel

Listen, all ye tasty motherfuckers…
The demon rises, the angel descends… and what do they do upon impact, when they centrally converge upon Earth? Why, what all Earth-bound creatures do! They fuck. They create. They create a new being through their union.
A being born of light and dark both, whose role shall be to broaden the spectrum of consciousness. This new being we shall call “Ron.”

Ron’s work is to encompass the limits of human consciousness. He is to do so with his hands. God tells him that as far as he can span the reach of his hands, so far will the consciousness of mankind grow.
But Ron’s reach does not satisfy the needs of a growing world awareness.
So he calls upon his parents, and commands them each to cut off each of his hands. He bestows one upon his angel mother, who he dispatches back to her realm of heaven. He tells her to fly higher, higher with this hand, raising one end of the spectrum in which human consciousness may expand.
He takes the other, and gives it to his demon father, who he sends to hell. Deeper and deeper the father must descend, forging through rock with fire, and expanding consciousness in this direction.
The two parents keep at their mission, and never stop making progress on either end. So long as people are born, the collective shall have greater and greater space into which to expand their hearts, minds and souls.
Now then, collective: we set to work. Expand with purpose, unity and intent. A fuller world awaits us, only one moment away… and then another… and then another. We have only to enter these moments with assurance, knowing the promise that there will be room to grow. Sow the seeds, and we will be given bountiful growth.
And Ron? He uses his brain to monitor the progress of his far-away parents, as his hands transmit radio positioning signals back to him. And he feels with his heart, and he fucks his with his cock, for he is, after all, a creature like us; of this Earth.

When a gardener trains a bonsai tree or other plant, they first determine the way in which they want the plant to grow. They train the branches accordingly, and then must be patient, waiting for the plant to grow into place at it’s own organic rate. Think also of the gardener who landscapes his garden perfectly toward his vision, yet must wait for the seeds of flowers to fill it in and make it real.
The same is true with our spirit. Our spirit is constantly expanding and growing in time. When we send out a prayer, we are programming directions for the continuing growth of our heart and soul. Our unconscious mind gets to work while we live out our daily lives. It looks for clues, hints and insights that we may not see; it helps to guide us into situations that may aid the process; and, it pushes through blocks within us in order to manifest our wishes for growth. The results will not be immediate, or exactly how we anticipate, but surely we will be liberating ourselves toward that which we desire. The soul reaches; it seeks, and we may train these branches in a direction of our choosing, letting the soul, then, work it’s magic in creating our futures.
Prayers that ask for insight, understanding, access, consciousness expansion, spiritual enlightenment, creative potential and personal enhancement are all of the highest order, as the keys to these doors are held within. If truly “The Kingdom” as we have come to perceive it is within our reaches, just beyond our own blocking perceptions, then prayer is a useful tool for finding it. Our creativity comes into play in the way that we ask for it, phrase it, and perceive it. We should have no reservations in asking for the deepest of spiritual transformations, the brightest infusion of light, and the fullest manifestations of our spirits here on Earth. Envision… the next step awaits, within your heart’s imagination.

May you reap everything that you sow, and may all your prayers be answered.

How much of our love is lost by trying to make sure it is properly “received” by another?
Love is a precious thing.  It is the true, unprotected soul essence of who we are at our core.  It is the divine, pouring through us as expression.
And yet, our instincts want us to direct this love at others, and then to have them know it- see it- feel it.  We seek for others to know how much we love them.  We want to share the feelings we have, not so much for our own sake, but for the other to “feel” loved, to know it, and to see our great capacity to love them.
However, the world around us may not be full of such openly loving creatures as we seem to be when we are in the throes of passion and caring.
When we love unconditionally, we are looking at our experience from a higher, more expansive level, one that discards all of the limits upon the heart.  It does not include the demands of pain, anger, fear and that we often insist upon in relating to others.  We may be willing to set aside limiting factors in order to celebrate and revel in unconditional love…  But that does not mean that our partners (or the world if we are choosing to send our love to the planet at large) is prepared to let go of the same limitations.  It is all too easy to place demands upon the heart, upon each other and our relationships.  Others may even be capable of letting go, but the timing may not be right for when we approach them with our own open hearts.
As a result, we try to box our unlimited love potential into smaller cases so that it can be properly received by their “shipping department.”  In the process, however, we are placing limits on our love, defining it, and shrouding an emotional energy that can only be described as light.
If we can love openly, without asking that our love be “received” or “reflected” back to us by those with whom we seek to share it, we begin to take off the containing limits on our own experience of this emotion.  Truly, our capacity to love is a gift that we bestow upon ourselves.  An open, unconditional heart is a blessing to our health in every way.  Once we decide to love this way for ourselves, we may then take the necessary precautions to protect this gentle creature; our heart; from harm, not by placing limits, but by guarding it, moment by moment, with care.  We can acknowledge the feelings of anger or pain, but they do not intrude upon the expansive essence of our ever-present love.  These feelings serve as guardians, not captors, of our love.
Not only will living with an open heart attract those who can best respond to it, but it will allow us to see clearly what and who we desire at core.  The possibilities to which we can liberate our love are limitless, bound only by our imaginations.  A new world of expansion awaits us, in which no limitation shall contain our light, and nothing can hurt our open hearts.  Love fully, bearing the loss, pain and fear that rests within, and the heart shall be home.

What can keep us from being our true, inner selves?  Everything, man!  Fucking everything…  Fear and insecurity, which closes down our inner light, can grab a ride on any circumstance that comes into our lives, giving us something to use against our free expression of creativity and light.
We are caterpillars, awaiting the removal of our cocoons, that we may take flight as liberated creatures of spirit.  This truth is not only a hope; it is a reality toward which we all deserve to strive.  It is not a duty to demand of ourselves, or a far-out concept from which to distance.  It is something we all “get,” which resonates with truth and hope.  This hope is a gift that we can offer ourselves: faith that a type of “Kingdom” awaits us, here, now, if we can summon the courage and freedom to engage it.
Our grip on this world is so fucking tight…  Mankind’s communal experience is like a massive waterway, in which currents of fear, insecurity and anxiety can powerfully carry us away from peaceful waters.  At times, when there is an energy shift, I find it downright terrifying…  I am swept up, trying to get above water.  I may want to go backwards to a moment of clarity, or forwards into something better.  Instead of allowing the fear to simply pass within me for the time being, ungrounded, I can harness it, and seek to grab onto some issue with it, actually anchoring myself right in the current that feels so bad!  I become aware that I am enmeshed once again in a painful game of imprisonment with the outside world.
These “energy shifts” present a major challenge.  They may occur from the outside, like the way the climate changes to a new pressure and precipitation.  Or, they may be the result of internal triggers that stir old emotions, overpowering our bearings.  In any case, a sensitized individual may find themselves completely thrown off course, and in the worst case, bound once again within a dark space.  This dark space usually feels especially bad if we are returning there after feeling free and weightless, and it seems like a step backwards.  It can feel like eternal damnation, and there is no wonder that the Hell concept was created to explain this very real type of fear-based and pain-based experience.  In fact, eternal damnation is living as a prisoner here on Earth, aware of a Kingdom of light, a free soul expression, yet unable to reach it from the depths below.
How the fuck, then, do we pull ourselves out of such a desperate experience?  The Kingdom does take residency on Earth- within each of our physical bodies.  It is a feeling.  The spirit seeks to blossom, and allow energy shifts to simply pass through, like water through the riverbed.  When we cling to issues that allow fear and anxiety to ruminate, we anchor ourselves in rough waters, and can unwittingly remain there.
What issues bear upon our hearts today?  They are not true issues, they are only illusory concepts which serve to dampen our light.  Solving them as problems only comes when we are unattached from them.  Seeing them as tools we use against ourselves is the first step toward removing them, and placing them elsewhere.  We take care of our delicate souls by protecting a sanctuary where this inner light may radiate outward… even if only as far as the ice cream parlor on the corner, which now awaits me.
These issues, and the fear they hold, are not the true us.  We deserve better.  By letting go of who we are trying to be, these pieces will also fall off and drift away…
Knowledge speaks: our light is ever-resent, and never truly gone.  The issues we cling to in fear do not truly fit us, and it’s why the anxiety can feel so tormenting.  It is not us.  It is not a right fit.  And only the true us will fit this new world we seek to create for ourselves.  The old shell-self of fear, pleasing others, and a fractured person that is not whole cannot abide here.  Do not demand it of yourself.  Give yourself permission to begin to expand in light, from the heart, for no one other than yourself.  If we each free up, the massive river current of humanity can flow forward, and know no limits.  Instinct will guide us there.

Was there ever a city, raised of upward flowing water, which stood uncontained? Fluid buildings which opposed the laws of gravity and nature? Yes, this city surrounds us now.

And once it was revealed as such, did not this city fall in a rush of flooding fury, and become the sea where it stood? No… it remains standing still, electric in it’s disobedience. As we men and women pass through it’s streets, many are silent, lest the water fall and drown them. But fear not, for our hearts shall be vessels upon the flood, and light does pass through water as well.

Raise these poles
Which are your voices, pillars upon which a roof shall be set
And a house for many built

Summon strength to turn your back on the world, and the Kingdom shall appear before you
Summon strength to speak from within, and the house will appear in wood and wire upon the earth

Inhale
& the spark of fire that is life ignites within the body; upward it radiates through the crown

Exhale, and see the Kingdom appear; For your breathe of fire does singe a hole within the illusory screen of this dead world. And through this clearing, a city awaits
Continue to breathe, and as you exhale, speak clearly of what you see. Thus, the tongue brands Paradise upon the palette of the dead
Paint here the truth, that the city may be reflected until the dead take residency there and become the living

Your breath collects fog upon the window to the cold dead world; see now the barrier, and break it down

Creating art is like sending a message in a bottle from a deserted island… Will any fucker ever receive it, and if so, will it be in time for rescue? Creating can feel like a repeated call sent out into the night with no response, echoing forward into time and beyond the limits of our own lifetime. And we make this call completely alone. And this is our work.

As artists, we seek an inner vision that is as pure a reflection of our own experience as possible. Often, this means separating from the “tribe” in order to more clearly distinguish our own inner voice from all of those around us. Once we create from this pure place, the eagerness to now share our personal work with the tribe can be very strong indeed, and can even feel like an emotional need.

We all know the disappointment that results from not getting a response we desire. Sometimes we’re not noticed at all, and sometimes a response is completely wrong. Motherfuckers may attempt to shut down our spirit or diminish our inner light and love. This can be so disorienting that we may even attempt to cater to these lesser tastes, and diminish our inner voice ourselves in hopes of better reception from others!

Truly, we must come to terms with the process of creation as an end in itself, regardless of the existence of feedback. At it’s worst, this can feel like pure terror… crying out in the dark with every fear, hope, heartbreak, and desire that makes up our heart… Speaking with the voice of a person we believe ourselves to be, but are still never sure… Vulnerably suspending ourselves without footing, adrift in the water without a shore upon which to set foot… Wanting to grab onto anything to keep us afloat, and then knowing that we cannot hold onto these anchors, and must let them pass.

But in this process, we come to sense ourselves as we never have before. Completely independent, unbound, unencumbered, weightless, free. Once we are in this place, the voice we use is clear, crisp, from our core, and represents our singular essence. We are ourselves, and that is all that is required of us. The voice we now use to create our work truly reflects our soul.

The challenge is to soothe our sensitive souls through this process of suspension and uncertainty, and yet still encourage ourselves to speak and create. It is faith that allows us to continue with this work: Faith that someday we will achieve a type of homecoming or safe harbor, even if it does not feel that way now. Continue to envision, express, and manifest a world of your own. Eventually, you will arrive upon it’s very shore.

When someone dies, who is left behind? Do the dying leave behind the living as they transform from those who are not yet ready to pass on to the next level? Or, do we as the living leave the dead in the past as we move forward through the gateway of time?

In any case, death represents transformation. The Christian Bible’s story of Christ’s Resurrection is perhaps it’s best example of a figure negotiating spiritual change. Christ first ascends to a higher spiritual level through death. He then returns to Earth to, among other things, eat meat. And who can blame him?

But he also returned with a powerful message of consolation: Peace be unto you.

In this way, we can relate to an emotional impulse in the Christ-figure’s action. When we change as people, and depart from a world that is no longer right for us, that we have outgrown, how we wish to share our notes of transformation with those from the old world! How separation highlights our love and allows us to forget the debilitating restriction we felt. It’s like the hermit crab who outgrows a shell and stands naked upon the sand. The vulnerability of being without protection invites us to retreat to the old shell that is no longer a fit.

For those who seek to serve mankind as creative artists, or in any other sensitive capacity, the desire to reach back to nurture those from whom we departed is strong.

But transformation is a time for personal discovery, for the new life of spring. It is a time to disrobe old patterns in order to integrate new ones. It can be a solitary experience in many ways, discovering oneself in a new world, the way Christ must have truly found himself upon his arrival in Paradise.

In this advancement, the old world concepts must be set aside so that we can fully feel the new energies at this higher rung of the ladder. As we undergo change, it it is our job to remain full in our new world while refusing old energies seeking to re-attach. We cannot return to an outgrown body, as Christ was able to do. Our new language will no longer translate.

Instead, we must accept the challenge of growth and channel the new energies that emerge with the spring, remaining alone in the delicate light of loss, self-nurturing and possibility of a new self through transformation.

When the community undergoes a transformation like the current recession, the values of the old consumer world are tested. How disorienting to let go of that old world & the old identity & purpose that grounded us within it! It demands nothing less than a shift in consciousness, with trust and the ability to wholly let go. Now especially, mankind is more integrated than ever before, with the media and online communication affecting us all on a larger, more holistic level. It means we are all experiencing together.

In such a time of darkness, it is easy to falter and become stagnant. What is needed are clear visions for our future to inspire us toward action and creation once again.

This is where the artist must heed the call of creative duty. One must be brave, go inward, summon the power of their unique vision, and share it clearly for all the world to see. The life of an artist requires the spiritual devotion of a monastic buddha: protecting oneself, creating an inner sanctuary, and honoring it’s truth above the noisy demands of the modern consumer world. It demands great sensitivity, and the expression of unconditional love (at least for self) in the face of this often-times repressed and disconnected culture.

These visions shall illuminate, as if voices of the angels, providing light in the darkest of hours; offering hope, initiating movement, and providing new values toward which we may transform into a more promising, integrated human race. Choose the values you wish to see embodied tomorrow- love? unity? peace? creativity? hope? Now, in the darkness, call these words out so that we may begin feeling our way toward one another. Now is the time of change when any dream or possibility can come true. Believe, and express your truest self.

With love, gather all people.
xoxo, gabe