Dear President Obama,

What is going on? I don't even know where to begin. Why are you so blatantly turning your back on the people that got you elected? You promised change. You instilled hope in everyone, after the 8 years of hell we went through, and it's just turning out to be more of the same. Politicians for years have said the same things that you had said during you're campaing, but we thought there was something diffrent with you. We belived you. You brought people out in droves that had never voted before in their lives, all because they had some hope that you would be diffrent. They saw something in you. If you continue on the path that you have been taking the past year then you will be letting alot of people down. They will never vote again.

It is beyond sad to me that you cannot get REAL health reform to pass, with a majority in the house and senate and the White house. Please explain how this is possible. The senate bill that is to be voted on christmas eve is NOT health reform. And to claim victory in it's passing is unconcionable. Did you actually think that republicans would work with you? You've let them and the insurance companies step all over the bill and beat any form of a public option out of it and you want to claim this as a historic vote? Single-payer? gone. Public option? gone. Medicare buy-in? Out of here. What are we left with Mr. President? What are the people of this country left with? The people who came out and voted for you, the poor, the young, the minorities. A mandate?! A mandate to give these corporations even more money?! Thats health reform?!

"With liberty and justice for all..." Really? Those words ring hollow to me now. I cannot have any pride in those words that Ive repeated so many times in school as a kid, when we deny a segment of our society the right to marry or serve in the military. We as a nation OPENLY discriminate against people for their sexual orientation. Sounds really bad and hypocrytical when you say it to yourself. You've done nothing as of yet to address this.

You've adopted the bush doctorine and escalated the war in Afghanistan. In you're speech on Afghanistan you said that you "saw first hand the terrible wages of war". Im sorry Mr. President but you have not. You've seen bodies coming back in caskets but you have not experienced war. YOu haven't seen the millions of innocent people we have killed in our "crusade" against terrorism. Solving violent actions with more violent actions is not the way to go. America is a bully Mr. President. If we follow the bush doctorine with any sense of fairness then we should be invading ourselves for all of our secret sponsorships of terrorism that we have engaged in when it suits our interest. But I won't go into that. That'll be another post. All I will say is to just look at our Foreign policy history with Latin America....


You're going to let the people who took this country into the ditch take it further into the ditch because you and the democrats don't have a back bone. Bush and the neo-cons got 2 wars through with far less then you and with no problem at all. Ill just say it again President Obama...Whats the deal?

Great speech on Marriage Equality

As some of you may know the New York State Senate recently voted down a bill to ensure marriage equality for same-sex couples. The vote came to 38-24 with no republicans voting for it (what a suprise). The people at the Human Right Campaign recenlty sent this great speech by Senator Diane Savino in an email and I wanted to share it with everyone too. Enjoy

Zen Koan: Temper

A Zen student came to Bankei and complained: "Master, I have an ungovernable temper. How can I cure it?"

"You have something very stranger," replied Bankei. "Let me see what you have."

"Just now I cannot show it to you," replied the other.

"When can you show it to me?" asked Bankei.

"It arises unexpectedly," replied the student.

"Then," concluded Bankei, "it must not be your own true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you. Think that over."

Speak Easy

If there's a scream inside of you
Just let it go
You're beating yourself up baby
Don't you know
You've got to get through
And lift the roof off your soul

It's like the pain locked
In the part of your heart
It's never gonna leave it
Unless you start
To warm it up
Be wise and be smart

Out on the ocean
There's no one around
No one to hear a sound
It's just us out here
Out on the ocean
Speaking free

Away from the city
Away from the ears that
Bug us and judge us
It's so liberating
To be free
And my heart slows down

Nice and easy
And your breathing will be pleasing
Just speak easy
And say what's on your mind
I search for something
to compare you to
Thought long and hard
For a simile true
Now I'm suddenly aware
End the quest you're beyond compare
So speak easy

If there's a shadow in your life
Then there's sunshine
Things turning inside out
All the time
Just rewind
It's all in your mind

Oh so speak easy
Out here we're floating
Late in the night
And the only light to guide us is a
Full moon that's glowing
On the sea

Nice and easy
And your breathing will be pleasing
Just speak easy
And say whats on your mind
I search for something
To compare you to
Thought long and hard
For a simile true
Now Im suddenly aware
End the quest you're beyond compare
So speak easy

- 311

Tao Te Ching: Verse 7

The Tao is inifinte, eternal.
Why is it eternal?
IT was never born;
thus it can never die.
Why is it infinite?
It has no desires for itself;
thus it is present for all beings.

The Master stays behind;
that is why she is ahead.
She is detached from all things;
that is why she is one with them.
Because she has let go of herself,
she is perfectly fulfilled.

Tao Te Ching: Verse 6

The Tao is called the Great Mother:
empty yet inexaustible,
it gives birth to infinite worlds.

It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.

Please Call Me By My True Names - Thich Naht Hanh

I have a poem for you. This poem is about three of us. The first is a twelve year old girl, one of the boat people crossing the Gulf of Siam. She was raped by a sea pirate, and after that threw herself into the sea. The second is the sea pirate who was born in a remote village in Thailand. And the third person is me. I was very angry, of course. But I could not take sides against the sea pirate. If I could have, it would have been easier, but I couldn't. I realize that if I had been born in his village and had lived a similar life - economic,educational and so on - it is likely that I would now be the sea pirate. So it is not easy to take sides. Out of suffering, I wrote this poem. It is called "Please Call Me By My True Names," because I have many names, and when you call me by any of them, I have to say "Yes."

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow --
Even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: Every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a spring branch
to be a tiny bird, with still fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, inorder to laugh and cry,
to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of a river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve year old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his "debt of blood" to my people
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter all at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart,
can be left open,
the door of compassion.

- Thich Naht Hanh

Tao te Ching: Verse 5

The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.

The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the center.

Don't worry people nothing has happend

But I really feel like I could just drop out of society right now and not be the least bit saddend at all. Actually I feel as though I would do better. Ive felt this way for the longest time and I don't know whats stopping me from doing it. Maybe fear? I don't know. People take my boredom with life as depression but it's not. Im just tired of the games and trips that go along with this lifestyle. Because it's like "is that all there is?" I find myself constantly saying to myself that there's gotta be more to life than this. And it's not just one general game that Im talking about. It's games that people and I have played with relationships, education, friends, achievment, goals, etc etc. Whatever it is there always seems to be a game that goes along with it, but for what? It just seems so empty to me.

Now really the only time I don't have that empty feeling is when Im doing something with unattachment or doing whatever Im doing in complete surrender. But as you can imagine thats hard to do when you live in a place like Long Island, which is always go go go and material material material and achieve achieve achieve. It's easy to forget the thing that makes you feel whole and get caught in the trap of feeling like you don't have enough. So what do I do? Do I stay here and try and cut through it all? Or do I finally say Ive had enough and drop out and find a cave in the Himalays. I dunno, but hopefully the answer comes soon.

Karma!

You are bound by karma! You are a slave to it! Ironically the more I say that to myself the more free I feel. There is no such thing as good or bad karma! Karma is just the unfolding of cause and effect, or aka your life! Just about an hour ago I was feeling depressed and frustraited and angry about my "situation" with not having a job and not knowing where Im going, etc etc. But sitting in meditation for an hour I burned all that away. I was able to see that I was feeling trapped by my situation at the moment and that Ive always felt trapped no matter what situation I was in. Wether it was school, or working at depot or not having anything to do at all like it is now. And Ive always fought the feeling of being trapped. I realized that if I was a millionaire I would feel just as trapped as I would if I were a bum on the street. And thats because you are! So intstead of fighting my karma I GO with it. But it's not just rolling over and submitting to whatever it is your dealing with. The whole game is about bringing CONCIOUSNESS to it. If you bring conciousness to your predicament you free yourself from it!

Burn it all away! Everything! Just burn it away! It's a battle between you and your ego, but you need that struggle inorder to create the fire to burn your shit in! Thoughts of self-conciousness arise? BURN IT! Feeling depressed? BURN IT! Thinking about someone that said something you didn't like? THROW IT IN THE FIRE! Even throw yourself in it! You CANNOT carry anything around with you because then you get defined by it and god is undefinable! The ego is very tricky and does not want to die. It will hang on to anything it can to not lose it's identity, and I mean anything. It is desperate for your attention and to make it as important as possible. Don't fall for it's tricks!

Realize that wherever you are in life right now, young or old, rich or poor, "successful" or not, you are playing your part in the drama PERFECTLY right now. Let go of EVEYTHING and you shall gain EVERYTHING

Tao te Ching: Verse 4

The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It's like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.

It's hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God.

Words of Mahler

Never let oneself be guided by the opinion of one's contemporaries. Continue steadfastly on one's way. - Gustav Mahler

Getting deeper...

Spiritual practice is beginning to open myself up again to the world. Im starting to feel the restrictions that Ive put on myself all these years, with my mind, become less and less of a handicap. They have not completely fallen away yet and maybe never will, but what used to be crippling is just a fascinating part of the dance now. You see quieting yourself down and being one with it all, for me atleast, has taught me more about myself and this life then I could have ever imagined. But if you do meditation or spiritual practice or praying or whatever for that reason then you're not going to learn anything at all. Meditation is not done to become a healthier person, or to become enlightened, or to be able to see it all, or because it's the hip thing to do now. Meditation is done because thats all there is to do, it's done just because. If you bring a goal or you're ego in with you, your not going to get anywhere, nor is there anywhere to go anyway.

At this point in my journey Ive come to realize that I reside in a place, right on the edge, where everything is manifest, a place of total fulfillment. Good and bad, pretty and ugly, bitter and sweet, etc etc. I am in form but formless, I am here but not here, I am doing something and not doing anything at all. Right in the center between yin and yang. And as you become more able to extricate yourself from your structures of mind, emotion, feeling, personality, you start to see it all as perfect and harmonious. Thats the whole game is trying to get back to that place where we all came from of emptiness, spaciousness and love. The formula seems to be that emptiness = total fulfillment. Odd formula isn't it? But as soon as you try and inject the ego or some other frame of mind into it, you lose it. And when you're at that place you see everything and accept everything for the way it is with total love and compassion, the good and the bad, because thats all you can do. You can't accept the good times and recject the bad times it's impossible, and the people who try and do it are the ones that are constantly running into problems all the time, wether it be big or small. Because part of it is the perspective of which they are looking at the situation which is the ego. The universe isn't fighting against bad things happening to it, it's just letting it happen. Neither is the universe wasting itself worried about it's inevitable demise, it just is. And as you get deeper and deeper, you start to love the highs and lows just as equally becuase you see the perfection in it all, and to do otherwise just creats more suffering and is hypocrytical if you really think about it. It's like what maharaji said to Ram Dass "Don't act like christ, become christ"

All of your fears and worries and stresses are just creations of the ego. As it is said "Only the unattached mind can really see how it all is" Your attachments and your ego are creating your universe.

Tao te Ching: Verse 3

If you overesteem great men,
people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions,
people begin to steal.

The Master leads
by emptying people's minds
and filling their cores,
by weakening their ambition
and toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything
they know, everything they desire,
and creates confusion
in those who think that they know.

Practice not-doing,
and everything will fall into place.

8.14.09: Meadow's Music Theatre - Hartford, Ct

Yes, my first phish experience and what an experience it was. The second night of the final four night run of the summer tour. This show had it all and is being hailed as one of the best shows of the tour. The scene was beautiful, the music was beautiful as was the entire night.

After a longer than expected drive to the venue me and my friend arrived there about an hour and a half before the show was supposed to start. So we walked around the parking lots and just took in the scene (and to look for a person to sell our extra ticket too). All around were people tail-gaiting, listening to music, throwing a football, selling various handmade products, etc etc. It was a very calm atmosphere, with all the diffrent concerts Ive been too, Ive never gotten a vibe like I did that night. Well after some wandering about and finding someone who was looking for an extra ticket we headed onto the lawn, it was still early so we found a nice spot on the lawn where we had a great veiw and just laid on the lawn for a while listening to some Coltrane that was on the house music. Then as the hour progressed more people started coming in (obviously) but it was 8:00 alreay and still no PHISH! What were they trying to do to me?! Another 45 minutes had past with the occasional false alarm and the crowed clapping in reaction when FINALLY...ahhhhh the four guys from vermont.

The lights went down, the place FILLED with smoke and the first note of the night came out which was "Punch You In the Eye" Great first set opener. The night continued on with a little trip to gamehenge with "AC/DC Bag" and an "NICU". After that we got a great "Colenel Forbins Ascent>Famous Mocking Bird" Usually some type of story is told during the song but there was none to be had, the night was still young though. Famouse Mocking Bird was very well played by trey for an 09 show. After the stellar excecution of Mocking Bird they whipped out a dark meniacle "Birds of a Feather" I was never really a fan of this song in the beginning but it's starting to grow on me now because I realize how much jam potential there is with this song. After the first psychedelic jam of the night page decided to come out and serenade us with the always fun jazz interlude of "Lawn Boy". With a shout out to the people on the lawn! Wooooo! After that, another psychedelic journey, this time with "Stash". The first set was very jammy, which I like because Im a big fan of when they just go off. Alot of risk taking in the first set and we still had another one to go! Ending the other worldly "stash" they brought it back down again with "I didn't Know" where fishman plays his vacuum solo! After that came a song that I love love love called "Middle of the Road" It's a new song but it's so fun and I can't stop listening to it. To end a great first set they topped it off with the blues based "Character Zero". My first set of phish had been completed and I was not disapointed.

After the fifteen minute break the boys came out again and the night was back on! They came right out of the gates running with "Down with Disease." This song has been the jam vehicle of the tour and I was excited to see how it would pan out tonight. It's always a great song to get the crowd moving too. This "Disease" was going fantastic! The song was really being shaped nicely and toward the end it was getting serene and beautiful! I was so into it! and then....trey kills it by starting "Wilson". What?! There was absolutely no grace in the segue what so ever. The disease jam was beautiful and then it was just BLAT! Totally brought me back down to earth.lol I guess trey decided he had had enough and just wasn't feelin it anymore. Oh well, had to move on, atleast "wilson" sounded great. After the great but structured "Wilson" they segue into "slave to the traffic light" ahhhhh back to my euphoria. "slave" sounded beautiful and again trey was shaping the music much better then the beginning of summer. Now at this point I had this HUGE dude, spun out on something or another, dancing like a manic right next to me! But it's ok he was being cool about it and didn't bother me, but I was thinking that if he hit me I would be going down the lawn.lol He was a big dude, but hey he was enjoying himself. So as the "slave" ended they went into a fantastic, very well jammed out "piper" It even got me moving. From "piper" it segued into "water in the sky" ahhhhhh another fun song. I love those blue grass tunes as did the guy next to me.lol

HIm and his buddy started to do a hoe down. Nothing like a blue grass song to lift every body's

spirits. After that "Psycho Killer" which was on the house music before the show that alot of people were singing along too, so I guess they got the idea to play this song from the reception it received. The "Psycho Killer" was short and then changed into this weird, futuristic, video game rythm to which I said in my head "YES!" They were really going out on a limb here! This is why we love this band! They kept that going as trey started to goof around and try and dance to the music.lol Which was undanceable. Then he told fish to come and try the best dance he could. Keeping the strange rythm going trey started reciting their poem "Catapult!" WOOOOOOOOO!!! CATAPULT! OMG This was going to a whole other level. With the rythm STILL going trey started telling us how "we kids" are so involved with our technology with our video games and ipods. Then he remarked how he was around for the invention of PONG to which he started to immitated it to the strange music, which was extremely fitting.lol Going on about our technology and "kids these days" he started a rarely played song called "Icculus" This is where the story came in! Then to finish the night off and the set they came with "You Enjoy Myself"

Just an epic night with and epic setlist and EPIC playing. I will never forget it for as long as I live

Tao te Ching: Verse 2

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

Tao Te Ching: Verse 1

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.

The sun isn't busy shinning, it just IS

So Ive started my spiritual practice again along with meditating and why I keep stopping is absolutely stupid but atleast I know why now. And the reason why is because, like many of us, I got caught in the trap of the mind. I got caught up in the whirlwind of thought process and through deep meditation I was able to see how truly tragic that is. I would rationalise my way out of doing meditation because "I felt fine" or "Ill do it tomorrow" etc etc. When all along I was suffering and didn't know why. Until I finally forced myself to sit down one day and do it.

At first I saw my mind going at a million miles a minute. It was taking me here, there and everywhere. That happens for a good long while. Then I started to get figgety and I didn't know why. I thought I was doing everything right, key word "thought". Then I realized that for some reason I felt like there was something I needed to be doing, like that because I was just sitting here I should be feeling guilty. I would ask myself "shouldn't I be listening to music" then say "No there is nothing that needs to be done" or "shouldn't I be applying to jobs?" then say "No there is nothing that needs to be done." "Well shoudln't I be going to the gym?" then say "No there is nothing that needs to be done." After asking myself about 15 questions of the same nature and giving the same respone I finally dropped all my attachments and was like "yeaaaa, thats it"

You see the truth is that there is nothing that needs to be done, how about that? "But what about my taxes? what about my work? what about my schedule? Those don't need to be done? What kind of rational person says there is nothing to be done when I have all this weight on me!" Well that just exactly it, you're to much in the mind. Because those don't need to be done either, they'll be taken care of regardless of how much you stress over it or attach yourself to its outcome. God, tao, the seat of conciousness, whatever you want to call it moves all things and they will be moved too and when they are moved something else will take it's place and so on and so on until your karma finally runs out. And thats the point of the title of this post "the sun isn't busy shinning, it just is." Do you think the sun has anxiety or is stressing over having to provide light to the earth everyday? No it's not. Because without a mind it can't get caught up in it's tireless trips. It's just filling it's role in perfect harmony with the rest of the universe

Wow!

Did you see that last post I wrote? It's chock full of anxiety! Just look at the space my head was in! I started meditating after my whole anxiety trip and just saw where I was! I had the anxiety filter on! Wow! Really just wow, what a trip. My ego had me bound, I was totally emersed in it. Hopefully as I progress with my spiritual practice Ill be able to do what Im doing now as the emotion is happening! Wow anxiety? Yeah, cool! What a feeling it is! And how lucky I am to be alive to experience it!

We are both the experiencer and the creator

I've been doing so well

This week has been one of my best and now I feel like shitty not normal adam again. And it's because my sister is having a suprise party right now for jeff for his masters and there's a whole bunch of people downstairs. I don't understand, this aspect feels like it's never going to get any better...Im shying away from it up in my room cause I just don't have the energy for it. I was working in the city today and that almost always fries my stimuli for the day, but thats not all of the reason why im not down there. I wana be down there Im not a party pooper, Im really not. Ive been feeling like myself again I dunno why something like this is setting me back. Ive been full of energy and got the zest back in my life and i shouldn't be up here shying away from people. Sure part of it is because over stimulation of people, noise, movement gives me a headache and makes me panic. But it's also where my head is at too. As I got older I realized and saw alot of the fakeness of people, especially in social situations (like parties). They act one way with a group of people and put on a face and then act another way with others and it just makes me sick. Ugh I don't know how some of these people do it, it drains me. I feel like I have to entertain people and i hate it. And people say "you don't have to entertain people" YES YOU DO! You have to keep a conversation going because if you don't people will make fun of you cause your quiet. So Im constantly thinking of what to say next and it puts alot of pressure on me and when I can't think of something and the convo falls apart then there is an awkward silence and I HATE THAT! Im not very good with conversation Im sorry, so either I just keep my mouth shut and people say things about me or I try and it's hit or miss. And I also hate when Im in a group of people and they're having a convo and then i can have a breather cause Im not the one holding it together, but then people get up and leave and then Im stuck there with one or two people and I have to say something! and it's always awkward, always! I just feel like I have to dance the entire time Im in a social situation and I just don't feel like it, it drains me. It just feels so fake and boring to me, peopel sitting around conversing. thats supposed to be fun? I mean little sandwiches wrapped up, nice music in the backround, cakes and napkins, it just feels like such a production and a display and I hate displays. and I feel horrible that im not down there right now but i don't know what to do. I feel trapped up here. I hope I can get past this one day and it doesn't haunt me forever. People just annoy me, Im sorry but they do. They're either rubbing their ego in your face, correcting what you say all the time, making you feel stupid, making some observational comment about yous physical features to make themselves feel good, making any comment about you to make themselves feel good, putting you down, etc etc. Im tired of it, I really am. Thats why when even one person makes a comment about me being tall or skinny or quiet I walk right out infront of them, I don't care, I just can't take it anymore. Ive heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and I don't want to hear it anymore. Im 21 going to be 22 and already Im tired of it. Im tired of all the convo shitters actually, Ive heard them all quite a bit. The im gunna wait till you slip up and make a mistake so I can jump on it and correct you. the im gunna point out something about you thats less then perfect to make myself feel better and throw all my insecurities off on you. The Im gunna get the whole group together to laugh at you about something. The your always wrong. Ive heard it all and Im done