Love is..?

Originally published in Huffington Post (feel free to comment there or here):

Krishnamurti defines love as the intense will, resolve, and determination for liberation from samsara (the round of births and deaths), and for union with God. And Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition, defines love in one instance as "the expansion of the self to include others" in the viral YouTube video "The Revolution is Love" (which I highly recommend viewing in its 5 minute entirety below). Tying these two definitions is a love predicated on the dissolution of the self, the me, the I, a "perfect unselfishness" (as Krishnamurti called it)---whether it be in the service of and gifting to others or the will to be one with God. It is interesting then, when we look at the cultural manifestation of romantic love---in movies, music, poetry--- that we would be compelled to possess and own the other, or a depend on the other to provide that love one must build within to gift to others..."Baby I want you," "I can't quit you," "I need you," "Please come back to me, I NEED you. I am alone without you," etc...These "yous" that are NEEDED by "me" are usually humans, sometimes, as in the case of Rumi, Hafez, and others, they have been metaphors for that will to be one with God. And as one of my spiritual guides reminds us "Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love." So what is the appeal of associating love with possession and ownership? How have we come to be compelled with this application of "love"? Can this even be love?

There are no shortage of definitions of love, so why did I think to put the two in conversation with each other? For me, these two definitions do not just create a crossroads of meaning when intersected but more so, the saliency of the connection is that one is a mircocosm standing in for the macrocosm. How can we hope to perfect that consummate unselfishness to merge with One, if we can't first practice that with other humans? Why should we even be qualified to receive to the peace, love, mercy and grace of God, if we cannot even be that for the other? Krishnamutri closes his section on love (one of the four qualifications on the Pathway) by asserting, "For if you yearn to be one with God, it is not for your own sake; it is that you may be a channel through which his love may flow to reach your fellows."

Deepak Chopra on "Science, Consciousness & God"

DEEP. 

"Consciousness explains physical laws but physical laws do not explain consciousness."

"Selective attention and intention is an attribute of consciousness."

"What is the most primal experience of life that we have? It is our subjective experience of reality. and this reality is within consciousness."

"Pure consciousness is infinite possibilities."

Prince's Dance Party for the People

I thought Sting was out of his "got damn mind" for coming back for a third encore after a 3 hour set at the Hollywood Bowl last year. But then there was the Purple One, His Royal Badness, the High Priest of Pop, the artist known as Prince, who came back for 5 ENCORES!

Prince's concert at the Forum in Inglewood last night was preceded by chitter-chatter around the uniqueness of the LA part of Prince's national tour. Announced last week on the George Lopez show (who coincidently opened up last night's show by imploring the packed house to "welcome Prince to our hood"), Prince's series of dates in Los Angeles were to all take place at the Forum in Inglewood, not at the Staples Center in the bustling, emerging locus of "new Los Angeles cool," not in the suburban haven of the Hondo Center in Anaheim, and tickets went on sale two days before the first show for $25 (that's even after exorbitant ticket master processing fees were added). 80 percent of the tickets sold went for that amount, while the floor seats hovered in the hundreds. But that still didn't serve to exclude the party people from joining in the dance party.

Although my friend who purchased our tickets struck the ticket master que "best available" seat lottery, meaning we started out with an incredible viewing experience, we somehow ended up in the FRONT ROW by the night's end. The series of pictures will demonstrate our progression.

Performing for a total of 3 hours plus with an outstanding band (the bass player was ridiculous!), a trio of thick curvy, powerhouse female singers, a ballerina and of course, Sheila E., Prince thrilled the crowd with favorites (preferring them over "B sides from the 2000s"), rocked out to guitar solos, jumped up on his purple piano, and of course invited guests to the stage to join him in this dance party for the people (thankfully kim kardashian was no where to be found). Experiencing a Prince concert like this, and finally emerging from my doctoral program cocoon to enjoy art as a spectator and, yes DANCE my hips away into the wee hours of the evening, sparked so many thoughts in my head about the role of the artist, the role of the entertainer, the therapy of dance (collective dance as well), and the power and gift of experiencing creation, the exhibition of an artist's creative gift to the world. Perhaps this will be unpackaged in a future post, but for now enjoy my spectacular view of the purple one as caught by a iPhone 4 lens:

Things that make me happy (Part I)

Kids that maintain a vivid imagination marked by precocity-one that does not let the visual cacophony of our everyday lives encroach on its boundaries. I was reminded of such gloriousness when I stumbled upon a short story written by my youngest brother at age 7, BVG (before video games):

Once upon a time there was a snake named Dalegman meaning “one with two legs”. Dalegman was hated among his snake tribe, he was an exile. The reason of his exile was because he had a birth defect that made him grow 2 legs. Dalegman thought that the other snakes were jealous of him having 2 legs. Dalegman lived on his own ever since he was exiled from his tribe. He hunted, fought his own battles, built his own snake burrows, and gathered his own resources. He had the ability to survive and he learned to be clever and sly. He now realized over 7 years why he was exiled when he had found the snake sanctuary’s special writings, the writing states: “…Snakes who are two legged due to the fact that the first snake was different and two legged tried to change us all but failed….” Dalegman would show the tribe that two legged should be respected as others should be to. He was planning an invasion against the tribe. One year later Dalegman appears among the village hills with an army of other snakes from other parts of Snaky-Planet. Dalegman charged forth killing no one but showing how indignant he was because he was an exile. After the invasion, Dalegman convinces the tribe about respecting not only others but different types of snakes. Soon Dalegman is promoted to King Snake and makes sure no one hates one another because al snake has two legs.