The Difference a Title Can Make

I've been reading a couple books by a guy named Tom Brown Jr.  He's an incredible man who grew up in the Pine Barrows of New Jersey learning ancient tracking methods from an Apache elder named Stalking Wolf.  Brown is a fascinating man with a fascinating story and a near incomprehensible skill in the woods.  However, it is neither Brown's story nor skill that I'd like to discuss...

Tom Brown continually refers to "The Spirit that Moves in All Things" throughout his book and I can't help but be pleasantly energized by this theological expression. 

See I was born and raised Catholic and always viewed "god" as the christian God: an old, all-powerful, loving man that presides above us all... watching, waiting, commiserating (#blink182).

But the more I think on the issue, the more that I am drawn to conclude that this "Fatherly God" is a very incomplete and potentially misguided view of what god is and could be.  I think it is a dated personification that appeals to the masses because it gives each of us a set place in the spiritual hierarchy.  This reflects how society is structured.  The king rules the lords, the lords the workers, the workers the peasants and so on...  God is above us.  We must do what we can to better ourselves and ultimately rely on his unending mercy.  It's an easy idea to grasp and works.  

Now, I am fairly certain that I/you/we all exist.  None of us are nothing.  The opposite of nothing (I think we can agree) is "something".  The Christian and many other religious expressions of God is as the ultimate existence or "something."  So, so far, God is the ultimate something, and we people, are just something.   

Now, if you take the opposite of the God (ultimate something), you get the ultimate nothing. Buuut, if you take the opposite of us (just plain old something), you still get absolutely nothing. Therefore, everything that is not nothing is a part of the same existence.  

So whether it's a rock, camera, person, idea, or sound, the fact that it exists means it is a part of the ultimate existence.  

The "Spirit that Moves in All Things" is an incredible articulation of that concept.  I can't help but find it extremely empowering and humbling to view god in this nature.  It places an emphasis on the idea that all existence is connected.  Everything together is god.  It removes the hierarchical structure.  Instead of God as all-powerful, all-knowing, the judge, decision-maker, and ruler, we all become god.  It places the responsibility for our well-being on each other.  Every other piece of existence is worth caring for.  

Don't really know of any of that made sense... but it's a little bit of the things I think I'm thinking...

Under the Bridge - 1991

Killer acoustic version of one of my all-time favorite songs... the year I was born.

 Interesting note about Under the Bridge: 

        Anthony Kiedis wrote the lyrics of the song as a poem in his personal journal after he'd been on a long Heroine binge.  He'd missed multiple band practices and (rightfully so) the rest of the band ostracized him for a time.  The opening lyric "Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner, sometimes I feel like my only friend, is the city I live in, the City of Angels, lonely as I am, together we cry." was written as he was driving home from the practice the other members wouldn't let him participate in.  It's a hauntingly beautiful glimpse of Kiedis' sensitivity and lonliness.  

       Kiedis never thought anything of the poem/lyrics.  It wasn't until years later when he let producer Rick Rubin page through his journal that the lyric was "discovered." Rick encouraged Kiedis to show it to the band (he was too embarrassed to).  The band took to the lyrics immediately and one of the greatest songs of all time was born.  

Swag Butter Drippin So Hard

Now watch your step because that much swag butter dripping can make things a little slick.  

New Beginnings

So it is time to finally say good bye to my previous website.  I built her from scratch. No squarespace, no wordpress, nothing.  Nothing but Sublime Text Editor 2 and a Heroku App domain name. My time as a full-time computer programmer was brief but I learned the basics of a skill that I truly believe will be the literacy of the future.  

After building this website I have to say that Squarespace is quite amazing.  I was able to configure a website in a couple of hours that looks astronomically better than the one that took me weeks to create myself.  I have a very strong and sometimes irrational sense of "doing it for myself" and never considered using a website template.  Today I caved. I'm happy I did. Sometimes you gotta know when to outsource and allocate your time on what matters most to your business. No more tinkering in CSS when I can be writing songs or performing.