Last Night (An Evening With Patti Smith)

I feel like last night was an historic event.

Well, it was. For me.

What is that, when the pure unabashed humanity of another person allows you to tap into that deepest part of yourself? Not your soul. Nothing so lofty as that. Your raw wounded compassionate loving funny poignant beautiful authentic self just the way you show up in this world- flaws, foibles, warts and all.

That was An Evening With Patti Smith. Her black jeans, scrappy t-shirt peeking out from under her black vest and man's suit jacket, slightly over-sized. Unafraid of her age, nothing to hide, censoring nothing as far as I could tell...

She read, mostly from Just Kids, some from her new "little book" Devotion (which is small) (and which she said could possibly be read in one sitting on a bad day in the bathroom) and she sang a few "little songs". Right. Earth-shaking, from the core of her being, reaching into mine and most of the other 1200 people's in the audience as well, I am sure. Maybe there were a few who didn't get it, didn't get her- who knows. She is a simple powerful force- kind of like a tsunami. Her writing had already struck me that way. Her music too. But there was something even greater in her presence that kept my attention glued to her, all the while with a huge smile on my face and tears streaming down my cheeks much of the time. I couldn't take a picture or record a song because I did not want to break the trance for a second. I actually thought to myself that if I died last night I would be totally satisfied. That is how powerful it was for me.

I was with four friends. I was speechless afterwards. I pretended I could talk. But I felt like I was in another universe. It wasn't anything. It wasn't because I am somehow starstruck. More like awestruck- by the impact of total presence.

There is a line in M Train that made me feel like if I only read that one line I could be totally satisfied by the experience of reading something extraordinary. She is describing having fallen asleep for a while on her bed in a hotel room in the early evening in Mexico City. She is awakened by someone speaking through a distorted megaphone. "Disembodied words carried by the wind and landing on my windowsill like a deranged homing pigeon."

That may be my favorite line ever. Whose mind thinks this way? It's genius.

Here's a little clip from her show last night- I am so happy that someone has already put this up on YouTube.

Team Entrainment

It's bedtime- past my bedtime in fact. I was so tired two hours ago and happy that I would be getting to bed early... not! Too much to do, too little time!

It's also a full moon, the Strawberry Moon. I didn't know that until tonight but it so happens that I found a patch of strawberries in my woods a few days ago that look like cultivated strawberries as opposed tot he wild ones. It looks very much like at one time someone had planted a strawberry patch there which is now quite overgrown. This afternoon I went out and dug up a few of the plants and transplanted them into my garden. I hope they do well- the leaves are huge!

I saw my post about my inspiration experiment that I embarked upon after reading Patti Smith's book M Train. How long did it take me to forget all about it? The intention was to do one thing each day that inspires me. What did I do today? I gardened. I transplanted strawberries.  I also accidentally turned on a piece of music on my phone when I had my earbuds in. Team by Bon Iver. My immediate reaction was to turn it off- unlike 40 years ago, I have no interest in listening to music with headphones or earbuds any more. But it came on... and before I could turn it off it grabbed me. And I was moving to the music within seconds. This is it. A lesson in rhythmic entrainment. It seems a little abrasive to me listening to it this way- it was great with earbuds!

God I AM

This morning I saw a post from my friend, sound healer and yogini Alessandra Montana, which spoke of the power of mantra and read "I am Divine Love." I was reminded of a dream/vision I had some years ago when I was reading Gary Renard's book The Disappearance of the Universe. I was told at the time, in these exact words "Remember only this: God I AM Divine Love."

There are times it is easy to remember- and there are times it is easy to forget. Lately I have been forgetting a lot. I had a series of pretty major day-to-day issues in the beginning of this month that I needed to deal with and resolve which threw me a bit- all of which had a specific deadline which happened to be the same day for each. I don't tend to be an anxious person but I literally found myself having frequent heart palpitations and taking a lot of Rescue Remedy!

And now we have the upcoming election- sounds ridiculous, right? When we are talking about Truth and Divinity... but on the mundane level these things (and this one in particular) become so big and so highly charged and I have found myself so distracted and reactive- and not liking the way I feel at all. On top of it, I have actually gone on the computer to write in this blog several times in the last few weeks and suddenly found myself totally derailed by the emotional environment surrounding the current issues.

So I was very grateful for this morning's reminder. I have been working on sort of an experiment lately which relates to all of this, but having minimal success with my commitment. It began after reading Patti Smith's book M Train which blew me away. I felt, after reading her book, that she is someone who lives and is guided by her inspiration. She simply does the things that inspire her, whether it's buying a ramshackle cottage on the beach in Rockaway or sweeping and planting flowers at the grave of Haruki Murakami or one of her other beloved authors, philosophers, musicians or daydreamers. I loved that this is how she lives and was so touched by it that I decided to begin my own Inspiration Experiment and do at least one thing every day that inspires me. (Inspire (v.) in Middle English also was used to mean "breath or put life or spirit into the human body; impart reason to a human soul." ~Etymology Online~)

The truth is that this is how I try to live my life. I do work that I love and I have a radical gratitude practice but even with that... I forget. I just plain forget and I am off trumpeting against Trump, railing against divisiveness and inequality... but when I am railing AGAINST, what am I doing? Am I in gratitude? Am I in appreciation? Am I in remembrance and commitment to the truth? No. Really, no. I am in just plain old forgetfulness. So I will thank Trump and the Trumpeteers for reminding me to remember- that all the attack I perceive around me comes from MY MIND and when I remember to change my mind the world around me changes.

"True learning is constant, and so vital in its power for change that a Son of God can recognize his power in one instant and change the world in the next. That is because, by changing his mind, he has changed the most powerful device that was ever given him for change." (A Course in Miracles, Text, Chapter 7, Paragraph 7)

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