Crickets

In fading days of endless light

Gone under

Wheeling stars and last cricket

Keeping the faith

The Near Death Experience: Coming to Life

Most folks these days know what you're talking about when you speak of the N.D.E.- the tunnel towards the light, floating up out of the body, (poor thing! people often think looking down), the spooky as hell Life Review- where an entire lifetime can be re-lived from multiple perspectives and intense detail in no time at all, meeting dead loved ones, feeling the presence of complete unconditional love......

Yeah, this is some strange stuff. I mean, really, WTF.

But thinking people want to know: is this just the fireworks of a dying brain, the last desperate fantasies of a sputtering flame? The final longing moves of a pathetic losing game?

Doesn't look that way at all, after 30 years of scientific enquiry. It really doesn't. Something very real and very profound is going on. Now, I'm not going to make this case. If you're interested get any book by Dr. Raymond Moody or Dr. Pim Van Lommell.

All I want to say is this: most of us know that our world is in extreme crisis. In many ways, we are hanging by a thread. Death may be very near. (And it's always on its way anyway) We need some real comfort, soothing, love. Guidance. Faith in something higher, and the courage that comes from this faith- not the faith of fevered hopes and dreamy Utopias, but something tangible, grounded, embodied even in it's dis-embodiment. (NDEs as koan!)

And of course traditional religion is of no use anymore to anyone except maybe my aunt. And even the 'cool' Eastern stuff- talk of non-duality and lofty concepts like emptiness, however profound, are too abstract and heady for most- (What? I don't exist!?)- and they're difficult to practice in such a chaotic environment. This approach can even in the short term can cause bewilderment and be misinterpreted quite easily. Resulting in exististential ennui and big spiritual egos and nihilistic 'nothing but' Absolutism- a bunch of traps litter that venerable roadside....

This Heroic Quest that drives great men and women to live in caves turning green eating nettles or doing without sex (right!) is the transcendent path, the Father wisdom. Get out da bed, wash yo ass make some noise in the kitchen with them pots and pans.....and get on that meditation bench- we got an agenda here. Somewhere to be. Metaphysics to chew on. Things are a mess! With the Masculine side of things, Reality always has a point (get it? actually you can define masculine as anything that has a point) and that point is to make everybody free in one way or the other.......Get 'er Done! (Nothing to do with actual men and women here- we're all bi-gendered)

So much for the necessary, but not sufficient, Masculine side of spirituality. But, when yer freakin' grandma meets you at your death bed- and every one else in the room shares that experience- yeah, that's some visceral shit indeed and a horse of a different color. More real, in the sense of this relative world, as we live it- just as we live them, today, as fucked up and unenlightened as we may be- yet suffused by almost unspeakable love in the N.D.E.

Now we're seeing the Feminine side of divinity- the connections, the relationships, the heart-bonds, the personal and deeply shared- the sometimes terrible beauty but always deepening nature of this world, this life. The journey is the goal- as sacred, intended and loved in all it's chaos as any Perfect Garden in its well worked symmetry, or a mountain yogi's well earned bliss. Of course, the Feminine and Masculine are two sides of the same coin. They not only need each other, they are each other! How are yours getting along?

But I digress. What the N.D.E. tells us about reality is so much more powerful than any kind of concept- which includes any kind of aim or goal, any linear process- however profound. In the N.D.E, Science meets Spirituality and Religion meets Science. Spirituality even might meet Religion! Well how do you do and where the hell have you been? Nice- now they're all communicating. For once! Naturally, organically- not like some awkward blind date. This is the beauty of the N.D.E.

It's technically called a 'crisis apparition' when Granny calls- and as a metaphor, I can think of none better for this world right now. Granny is calling- and we're beginning to listen.

If NDEs point to a Bigger Universe, and I think they do- then what better road to take in understanding that universe than actually listening to what these experiences are telling us?And here's a key point- as N.D.E.s are known all around the world, people around the world now have a common language- we can talk about the Bigger Universe, happily including modern science, and avoiding religion. Because we're talking about people's experiences here, with cold hard science backing up the claims- not a-priori beliefs, or ancient revelations filtered through the generations in pre-modern cultures.

Nothing wrong with them- they work for many- but they won't speak to most.

Ah, yes you say- but what if the NDE experience is itself a product of cultural or religious conditioning, or New Age expectations?

What then?

But here's the cool part- atheists and christians all have the same experience, more or less. Around the world, the basic pattern is the same.

And that's the final beauty of the NDE. It cuts through all the bullshit, falling towers and all- and reveals something so Human, and yet at the same time Divine, that words cannot express what people feel and know through this experience- and even reading the stories can directly transmit some of that connection that we all have, and will all follow. That's my experience anyway.

I tell people N.D.E. stories a lot, just bring it up to strangers anywhere. "oh, I just read this cool story- want to hear it?'

Yes. They always do. And it always stirs something deep and beautiful in each of us. Connects us, because we each feel eternity radiating out of that story, a crack in the door....

And I didn't say one fucking word about religion or even 'spirituality'!

And that's a good thing. Concepts tend to be divisive, as thought is necessarily so. Stories tend to bond, and the Universe is indeed a Story, first and foremost. Quite a tale indeed......

Interested? Go here and read for like a half hour. How do you feel? Let me know!

http://www.nderf.org/Exceptional%20Accounts.htm

Subduality

I’m not trying to be abstract in the least when I say that I am a man who ponders duality daily. The gorilla in the room and there’s no reason not to ponder such a beast. Of course, in this day of lightning global whirls, mad knowledge and girls gone wild, someone’s always willing to spill the beans and cream still rises to the top, mostly- and here I mean the best stuff the planet’s come up with so far, grokked mightily by her most grokkable- Buddha, Lao Tzu, and when you pan it down to the richest ore you get teachings that tackle and characterize the nature of actuarial tabla rasas.........the very basis of a ‘you’in the first place.

Welcome to nonduality, friend, and watch your step- in step or out of step as it might be....watch your step because, when it comes to nonduality, you’re going to need both feet.

Seems funny, I know. To talk about something like nonduality at all, one’s mind must balance on the head of a pin and dive off backwards into a crystal pool forever falling. The serum that is Truth Lives burning anguish all else beside. There is no forward gone with no way home. All comfort rides this wind of swift razors cutting through- the colors in the wings of wild birds. Altogether, collaboration equals zero, yet everyone is here. A party ensues.

People come to the party and ask. Who subdued the dual? Where did I go? Am I doubley dual when I play the fool? The nature of the Known is always- always- the Unknown, and every great Truth, as for those, take a look at its opposite- another great truth. Damn.

Thus, I propose ‘soft duality’............the new duality with half the hassle; one less problem: Big You. ‘ you’ would still exist, but no Capitals, only far side ranges of snow mountains clear and present.

Or maybe Subduality- where the Big Bulb is wholly part of the show, or even better- the show of all shows, cut to the chase, making your own movie on the slipstream of the Edge, feeling the Beauty of the Bulb all the while...........

Slipstream the currents of soft duality. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath! And getting back to that party? Duality is where all the action is baby! But, sometimes he goes too far..........ah, the Devil. Keep an eye on those car keys!

Oh and here's a bit on duality writ weird and cool.

Next time: The Prodigal daughter

Of the Forests

Of the forests
Tendons dark rooted
Drawing towards dusk,
Retreating in blue haze-

If there is little to say
Then they will not speak-

If there is little to speak
Then they cannot say-

The ground lies under,
Always-

As night turns to day.

Winter's Pain

In my parlour of Winter
Pianos never played
Black keys covered with clear ice
Hammers nuzzle still to space
Lonely in undrafted air
Each silent note
Keening, lovely-

Oh, even you, Winter,
Struggling to speak,
Wanting your answer!

The Plan

O.K. Here's the deal. I've been riding Eyes in the Pine for about 5 months. I started early with about 25-40 hits a day. I now maintain an average of 25- 40 hits a day.

Hmmmm. So, I've come to accept that Eyes in the Pine is not destined to be the mega chart busting internet phenom I never dreamt of.

So, I'll get more myself, more and more unedited. We're talkin' Crazy Town, Big Time USA. Soon the numbers will fade, ebbing down to one. One last viewer, loyal to the sinking ship of Eyes in the Pine. Come what may. A viewer that cannot be alienated, nor bored in any way.

A reader who truly loves me.

Then I will ask You, my only reader, to marry me. I won't know who you are, but will know it is you. Since all you Others have found blog-lovers elsewhere……….

Oh yeah- one really important point: As long as your not my Mother! Ex's are free to give it a shot. Yeah, we do change.

Oh my God it's beautiful here. Took this shot, with the new mini-van of cameras I'm toting, of what I see as a Quan Yin shrine.

Look for Her. She's right there.

Plus some dude. He's the one with the camera…………………..

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Tagged with: eyes in the pine, archaic revoloution, Celo Community, Soul, Integral, feminine principle, nature, shamanism

Another Day, Another Holler

It's a jungle in here……..up in the Holler.

Shoutin' out big time to you folks. Been tuning in, and coming up with some interesting developments. Developments almost out of the closet, the labiatory as it were.

'Coz, now, I'm going to tell you what Life is made out of. Only two things. If ya boil it all down.

And those two things are:

NOVELTY starring Henry Habit. And a Duck

and

HABIT. Featuring Nova Novelty. And a Coke.

And of course,

BJORK! She leans toward Novelty- maybe just a tad. Remember that giant white swan she wore to the Oscars or something? That was different.

Now if a Duck bought a Coke humming Bjork, that would be novel- but a Duck buying a Coke driving a Hummer- that's just sad.

Dig. Choose. Balance.

Take a chance……….

Above's a boring shot with my new boring regular camera! I want my Moto! Wah!

Two Tips For Survival as EarthChange Continues:

Stop watching mainstream media. Stop watching mainstream news. Stop watching alternative media. Stop watching alternative news. MAKE YER OWN DAMMIT! Dont' feed fear with complicit reaction to fear. Which is fear! Make friends with fear!

YOU ARE BEING BRAINWASHED YOU ARE BEING BRAINWASHED YOU ARE NOT BEING BRAINWASHED.

Hey Kids Here's my alternative Eyes in the Pine website Don't it look all shiny an' perty an' all?

Blogspot Eyes in the Pine

Take yer pick. I'll keep 'em both running like Wolves.

Meanwhile, I will speak in paragraphs

complete

soon.

Bye!

Here's Venus- check outside in the West, just after dark. So lovely!

Venus

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Tagged with: personal discursiveness, nature mysticism, nature, polarity

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty!

by T

Lost my cell; bought a regular camera with like 8 mega pixies- too much torque? I took lots of pictures yesterday with the thing, up in the unspeakably beautiful country here in Celo, and only came up with a few I like. Whereas with that cheap-assed cell phone, perhaps gone now forever, I keep about every other one!

What gives?

Anyway, here's one worth looking at. I'll keep working on it!

This one's called………………….

Kitty.

Lappin' up all that good ol' country water boy!

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Tagged with: eyes in the pine, archaic revoloution, Celo Community, Soul, Integral, feminine principle, nature, shamanism