The Image of Our Friends

What does the face of Truth look like? Is it the face of a specific individual we can plaster on a T-shirt or billboard, or is the image of divinity by definition a mental construct, a fuzzy blend of friend, lover, teacher that doesn't translate to the solid, specific easily?

Certain written works or movies or paintings we may automatically look at and love, say to ourselves, yes there it is, there He or She is, the face of Truth. And when that happens we know we've witnessed an alchemy via the artist. He or she has taken the divine and made it palpable, corporal, real.

When we are physically hungry, or tired, or in pain we can get distracted from what is real. Even the smallest irritations can become huge, pressing, demanding our attention, and we think to ourselves, "if only this scrape, or broken limb, or annoying individual were solved, I could appreciate God then. But right now I've got to argue this parking ticket, reschedule my flight, and by the way that pulled tendon in my knee is really hurting."

Sometimes I can't get to the mental reality for the physical exigencies yanking at me! Until I realize the truth is in those moments of suffering the same as it is in everything else - the key is to remember its presence, the divine in everything. And then the distractions are no longer distracting.

I have an image of my Grandma Carpini that can get me through anything: I see her as energetic, luminous, ageless and glowing. When I conjure that image in my mind's eye I know that I am never alone. If I could put that vision of her on a T-shirt with the mantra "love, love, love" under it, I would be conjuring a physical picture of Truth.

The big idea is to see everyone and everything that way: unencumbered, real, here now.

Lies and Cleansing

It's easy to lie when our physical system is clogged and grimy. Lately I've been overindulging in junk food; don't get me wrong - there are times when licorice and chocolate and cheeseburgers and fries are the perfect food. At those times, we can and should eat to our hearts content and we won't hurt ourselves or our bodies. A problem arises when we allow ourselves to become mentally and physically clogged.

Then the same french fries that are in the right moment comforting become toxic, tripping up our whole system, sitting too heavy in our collective gut.

When we allow ourselves to become spiritually heavy, weighted down by negativity and false perceptions of other people or groups we open ourselves up to a series of "lies" about what is going on around us. We mis-perceive actions others may take and our own situation as threatening and limited. Other people are potential competitors, out to get us from every possible angle; they might use up limited physical resources like food and water, they might steal the affections of those we love away from us. Everything and everyone is perceived as a potential threat.

The extreme of living the lie of these perceptions is death. Death by definition is the cessation of movement, the repetition of conditioned habits as its own, ultimate destructive habit. It is the opposite of the ongoing life obviously around us, and it holds a sickening glamour of its own making - we can get stuck on it like a hamster in a wheel.

Recognizing the grime and grit we've let build up out of habit is the first step toward cleaning out the system - the entirety of all we are and all we can hope to become from a more nutritious diet, one based one the truth that is.

This was one of the free form songs from yoga class today.

Check out the video - it's so fun.

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