So Who is this God of Good Cheer?

Well I'll tell you what I know.  

GoGC is an Idea that exists happily far beyond the trials & tribulations of so-called normal life.  It resides as a thought in a mind (in your mind) where there is no threat of any kind because it is everything, surrounded only by itself.  There being no threat, there is nothing to be afraid of.  And where fear is inconceivable, only happiness remains.  It's the foundation for the idea and experience of perfect love, eternal well-being, irrepressible joy.  It's Heaven folks.  And it's within your reach because it's in your mind.  And who's mind is it anyway?

What did you just say?  That's some high-fallutin' crazy dumbo-jumbo.

OK, Take two:

I spent a large portion of my adult life irritated or angry, resentful, remorseful, depressed and grumbling.  On the outside I'd usually appear smiley and A-OK. 

You may know what I am talking about.  You know, all those opportunities that make you say F-you to someone for a slight or insult or just because they're a stupid so-and-so (that's my grandma speaking).  Despite the old adage reminding me that two wrongs don't make a right, I'd say, " Who cares, they deserve it."  But I was the one doing the heavy lifting.

Somewhere along that rough and rugged road I began a-thinkin' (long blade of grass sticking out of my mouth, patchy jeans, you get the picture), "They ain't gonna change and nothin' ever gonna change what happened, so why am I going on and on about it?  Is it because I needed to have some excuse for being who I thought I was? (blade of grass falls to the ground).  In condemning them, it occurred to me, I was really just condemning myself.  The next thought is, this is playing stupid.  I was making up the movie as it went along.  It's a form of hallucination, of seeing what is not there.

Queue the preachy bits:

Reality doesn't care if we believe in it or not. Truth doesn't alter itself based upon our needs and desires.  Thank GoGC.  Yet we can elect to experience joy or not, to let truth be what it is or demand it be something it is not. 

It doesn't matter what is going on around us now.  It doesn't matter what just happened or what happened decades ago.  We're not that important.

All that matters, all that "causes" our experience to be what it is, is on who's behalf do we act.  Who's your Daddy?

Think about this...if you are upset, who are you upset with?  That person or event is the who in "on who's behalf we act". 

Put it this way, if your experience were really what you wanted it to be, on your behalf, why would you choose pain?  What is accomplished when we suffer?  What good comes from punishing ourselves or someone else?

Answer is...No Good at All!!!

That's what I am finally understanding.  Life sucked because I gathered together all the bloody evidence.  Like lining the inside of a mask with no eye holes, I walked around the world blind, thinking I was resolutely facing the truth.  I was a fool.

So, what does all that have to do with this super-sensational spinning solar-bound sinking ship of fools?  What does this have to do with art?

Well...since we decide wherein to invest our thought, aka our reality, we can, if we choose, think about that Place, God's crib.  All we really need to do is be willing to think about It and It comes to us.  The more time we spend visiting this idea of Peace, the more we realize it in your own personal experience.

The more time an artist paints or dances or whatevers while attending to this thought of....yes, Love, the more it finds It's way into the work itself.

Just as the more time we want to think about how messed up everything seems to be, the more we embrace anger, fear, and depression, the more we "let the darkness" take us over.

We are the bridge and we are the gatekeeper to ourselves.  We can extend ourselves and we can separate ourselves.

This is nothing new and always new.  It's now, if we want it.

Right now, what is going on?  Is there any good reason not to be happy?  What reason do we need to be happy?

Here's the kicker:  Once you get a taste for joy, see how long you can hang with it.  It is humbling for me to see how quickly I want to get back to "reality", how willing I could be to fall from Grace just to get myself back to familiar territory.

What's on your mind?




Coming soon...an investigation into the silent spaces within the creative experience.  Expect some tantalizing podcast interviews with mysterious beautiful women.