September 29th is Michaelmas Day, the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, when everyone with the moniker of Michael will feel the roots extending from our favorite saint. Continue reading
Tag Archives: seeing
Creativity flows from a true act of defiance
When the Good Lord created the Universe, He created order out of chaos. He instilled Free Will in earthlings, something he withheld from the angels of whom He created first. Continue reading
Dissolving Pain through seeing differently
I’ve opened my mind to a new way of seeing and I am free as long as I can keep my peripheral vision on anything but the object of my focus.
What I do is distract myself from looking at the car in front of me when I’m cruising on the highway. I set my gaze off in the distance, where I take in the beautiful blue skies interrupted now and again by a while cloud.  Continue reading
Psychic Powers Arise When You Believe!
Psychometry – the art of visualizing an energy force or spirit from a token or an object – really does work.
I recently took part in the practice and discovered insights I never believed possible until I realized I had developed some sort of psychic ability.  Continue reading
Diving like a Mermaid to Discover Life
I love my cousin Betty Ann. She’s a few years older than me but I warmed up to her just as my adolescent hormones started to bubble up as I visited her at her farmhouse in New Jersey years ago. Continue reading
Meditation reflections help heal the worst
Reflections opened a new world of understanding today. Years after a traumatic event, I can look back and see things in a totally different and healing fashion.
I couldn’t do it when the shit was happening. It hurt too much.
Even five or ten years after the trauma, I’d get sweaty palms and a sped-up heartbeat when thinking about the worst day of my life. I couldn’t dwell for too long without having to relive the God-awful experience.  Continue reading
Who had the biggest impact on your life?
A Person of Spiritual Growth and Guidance
The person who had the biggest impact on my life was my second wife, Wendy Wright Contos. She had a 157 IQ, but never once acted as if she was better than me. She easily got angry at injustices and would, on occasion, lash out against the hypocrisy of politicians, while helping the underprivileged and the rights of women in a male-dominated society. Continue reading
Mystery key opens door to new adventure
Missing Keys Reappear Somewhat Mystically
A spirit touched me today. Or, rather, the spirit touched the pair of jeans I had worn the day before and left on a chair after removing them before going to sleep. When I awoke and put the jeans back on, I got the surprise of my life.
Healing others starts first with healing self
Words of Another can help in Your Healing
I felt a lot of healing when I read the following quote from the feminine deity: Moor Jani:
“We all have the capacity to heal ourselves as well as facilitate the healing of others. When we get in touch with that infinite place within us where we are Whole, then illness can’t remain in the body. And because we’re all connected, there’s no reason why one person’s state of wellness can’t touch others. Elevating them and triggering their recovery. And when we heal others, we also heal ourselves and our planet.
Ithaca Insights Serve Up Peace & Calm
How May I Serve You?
That’s the key to a happy life, you know. Learning to serve others selflessly with no expectation of a reward other than the knowledge you are doing unto others something you’d want them to do . . . unto everyone else.
‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’t’s’ of Radiating Wisdom
Today’s meditation showed us that we all have a profound and innate wisdom. How have you experienced this in your life? Write about a time that you spontaneously said the right thing at the right time to someone. What did that communication feel like for you? — Deepak & Oprah 21-day Meditation Experience.
Wisdom Flourishes from Deep Within
As I struggle to come up with a satisfactory answer for this question, let me focus instead on what Deepak had quoted William Blake as saying in reference to wisdom. Wisdom is “organized innocence.” What a concept! In order to have or to cultivate wisdom, I know that I must be in awe of something; I must see that thing with wonder, with the eyes of an innocent child.
Hoping for a lofty goal, I write a lot & often
(Question 2 on Hope)
You may also have experienced this kind of hope, (See https://contoveros.wordpress.com/?p=12505&preview=true) but not thought of it in those terms. Think of a time when you felt sure you were going to attain a lofty goal, even though the path to the goal was not apparent. That is the hope that comes from your being. Describe this feeling of certainty in your journal. – Deepak Chopra 21-Day Meditation Experience (Feeling Hope) I was a buck private in training as a soldier in Fort Dix, NJ, when I had a vision, or what Zen Buddhists call a “satori” or moment of clarity of what I needed to do with my life.
Hope to One Day Write a Book
I was a buck private in training as a soldier in Fort Dix, NJ, when I had a vision, or what Zen Buddhists call a “satori” or moment of clarity of what I needed to do with my life.
I needed and wanted to write a book.
Truly Living May Just Be Worth Dying For
The thought of going to prison never bothered me. I’d survive and flourish behind bars, where I’d have more than enough time to reflect and write which I have found is my true love in life.
No, I could kill without worrying about the consequences. It would be my first offense. I am certified as a Vietnam veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and I don’t see any judge or jury putting me to death for the crime.
Don’t let me believe in all my thoughts
I’m so scared because I don’t know what to do, nor who to turn to. Flashes of insights, intuition, and a “knowing” that borders on the Psychic have arisen in me and I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse.  Continue reading
Greet your road with love and compassion
Seeing a Veteran’s’ History Never Repeats
Do all of us & yourself a favor.
Keep an eye out for a Veteran.
Actively seek out someone in your church, synagogue or temple and befriend him so that what happened in Philadelphia last week never happens again.  Continue reading
No where to go but ‘up’ after looking down
The damn branch broke my concentration. I had not planned for an overhanging tree limb to block the pathway, walking three-quarters of a mile from my home to the train station, with my head facing my feet the entire time. But I was ordered by an eye doctor to lean my head all the way toward the ground for 50 out of 60 minutes of each hour for seven straight days.  Continue reading
Counting to ONE the ‘thought-less’ way
No matter how hard I try, I can never count to 20 before an unbidden thought arises from inside of me. I get to three or four while meditating, and images pop up on an internal screen, capturing my attention. I dare not try this counting method until my body and mind are both well-settled and I can “Let go.” Continue reading
Kabbalah To Mingle With Buddhist Jaunt
What do Israel and India have in common with Istanbul and Amsterdam? Other than all starting with a vowel?
It’s where this Philadelphia lad is heading from Nov. 6 through Nov 18, creating a pilgrimage that will touch base with five of the World’s largest religions: Christianity and Judaism, as well as the Muslim and Hindu faiths, ending at the land where the Buddha gained enlightenment.  Continue reading
Acupuncture: ‘Dragon drives out Demon’
A Dragon entered me and drove away a Demon last night.
A student at the WON Institute performed acupuncture, penetrating into my psyche as well as my epidermis. More importantly, she opened her heart with such compassion I wept, feeling her healing spread throughout my body and soul.  Continue reading
Kabbalah pulling here, there, everywhere
I heard some familiar words spoken in a foreign language by two women and a man sitting at the table next to me, but what drew my attention was something that sounded like “Kabbalah.”
Something or Someone got to me!
Nature changes its rhythm just in time
Denise serves up memories at gas pump
I saw you as a little girl with a smile as bright as Shirley Temple, a chocolate-haired “Annie,” a young Rosie Perez.
‘Give Something Back’ starts from within
“I Want to Give Something Back.”
How many times have you heard this? How many times have you said it? “Give something back.” Not sure what that “something“ is, but you know you got it, and you got a “need” to share “it.”
Compliments lift spirits, ages you nicely
Compliment someone today. Tell ’em how nice they look.
Better yet, tell someone you meet what movie star they look like.
Who needs glasses to see your self within?
- I wear glasses. Well, I don’t wear ’em, even though I should.
They pinch me. At the bridge of the nose. Cause an irritation to my left ear. Make me feel less good-looking, less acceptable. (As if I really need to be more acceptable nowadays!)
Utopia Exists in a Mere Change of Focus
Another Reality exists within the here and now, if I can disengage and step out of the World that I am sleep-walking in.
Dance with Achilles Contoveros again
“To Dance with My Father Again.”
What I wouldn’t give, to dance with my father again. Or, more likely, watch others — what seemed like the whole Greek nation — dance with him. My father was a dashing man on his feet. Could pass for the brother of the actor Errol Flynn, always taking the lead for what I called the “Greek Snake Dance (See you tube).”
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Can A Wrong Ever Serve Into A Right?
“Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman.”
Never thought an affair I had with a married woman before turning 21 would qualify for “conduct unbecoming,” but looking back, I see how conflicted parties to such an act could become.
Truth once hidden usually surfaces later
“State Trooper Using Hypnosis for Investigation“
That was the headline for one of the strangest cases I ever reported.
The Great Awakening can be hard on a guy
Ashamed. Impure. Dirty.
All these feelings flashed through me as I slowly came out of what seemed like a trance, halfway between sleep and wakefulness, only to notice growth at a part of my body where there was none before.
You’re ‘Over the Hill,’ Once You Hit Forty
Requested a dollar coffee at a Burger King last night and the Gidget-like youngster asked if she could serve a “Senior.”
No, I replied, not wanting anything more or less then what’s on a “dollar menu” for cup I could refill, if need be. I handed over $1.06 in change, placing it carefully on the counter in front of the short blonde teenage girl. “It’s 50 cents,” she quipped, all bright and full of sunshine. “It’s a senior cup.”
Living like I’m one of ‘All God’s Creatures’
I dove into a World of Make Believe, changing from one past life to another while underwater and on land yesterday.
Forgive warrior’s defense of the sensitive
You invited me to your House, and I broke confidence in you.
Walk a Labyrinth full with love & no desire
All I want to do, is Give. Not Take.
Give without seeking a thing in return. Oh, I’ll get pleasure out of the deal. But I’ll put a lid on it. Screen out the joy that can overwhelmingly fill me, and direct the bulk of that feeling to another. Deflect it to one needing nurturing that only a mother’s love could offer her youngest child.
Love Streams in All Good Consciousness
St. Michael strikes and heals all at once
I felt like Alice falling in the hole after chasing a White Rabbit. But, falling “upwards” defying the laws of Gravity and Rational Sense.
I See You for the Very First Time, Don’t I?
I see You more and more each day. All I need do, is look for You. Kinda scrunch up my mind a bit, squint, and let my Self go.
Try to “feel” You. And I do! All Blessed You. In just the right amount to fill a soul that wishes it were bigger, larger to contain more and more of Your Love that’s omnipresent, all around me. And in me.
I ‘intend’ nothing but positive bestowals
How do you explain “unexplainable” events?
Pain endures from struggles in a ‘Back’ Life
The pain feels like someone thrust a spear in my back. That I was in battle. At the city of Troy. Fighting with fellow Greeks for the foolish prize of a minor King’s run-a-way, but lovely, wife, Helen. She with a face that will launch a thousand ships.
Hawk carries HSPs to their highest ideals
The hawk glides across the sky, soaring high above us as the first person to notice shouts, “there’s one.” Like children, we stare toward the heavens, at the beautiful blue sky. A normally humid August has graced us with a mild and glorious summer day, blending light breezes and the scent of flowers that drift our way from below the wooden platform we look out from.
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Unexplained ‘Pull’ leading me back Home
A gentle “pull” manifested in my Life recently. I noticed it last night while driving and wanted no more than to live in each passing moment.
‘I confess!’ I cut school with Franny O
I’m going to confess. I played hooky in seventh grade and refused to “squeal” on the kid I stayed out of class with that day.
Nature Provides Bird’s Eye View of Living
There’s a true “pecking order” that’s developing in my back yard. And all I have to do is be patient and watch it unfold moment by moment.
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“Start Over’ the instant you feel a need to
Start over. That’s all I gotta do . . . Say it to myself and simply “START OVER!”
Lying in bed with one crazy, mixed up thought after another, I told myself to “start over.” Did not know what I meant. But I did mean it.
Concealing & finding Self –a life-long effort
Hello! Anybody here? It sure is dark inside. Like a huge cavern with hardly any light.
Falling in love with the Love of Your Life
Fell head over heels in love the past few weeks. Didn’t want to do it. Had always gotten “hurt” in relationships, knowing from the start they’d come to an end one day. Love seemed to change that way. To peter out. End not with a “bang,” but with a “whimper.”
Angels re-enter when you’re open to ’em
I started seeing angels again. No, hold off on the straight jacket, don’t reserve a room at an asylum. I’m not totally crazy. Yet.
‘Open your eyes’ to journey of Lifetime
The snake slithered along the bed of the forest, winding its way beneath a pine tree. Climbing upwards, it twirled around the trunk, moving ever so slowly, centimeter after centimeter, as it sought the “higher ground” where it could shimmy onto a tree branch and make its way closer to my eye level.
My ‘Power Animal’ from the Spirit World was a Snake
There it was. My “power animal.” The one I entered the spirit realm to discover more of myself and my so-called guide. I didn’t care for him. He was a snake, for Christ’s sake. Tempter of Eve, manipulator of all manipulators, who was commanded by God Himself to forever crawl on his belly because of his part in getting two human beings ejected from Eden. What’s there to like about one of his kind?
But then the snake took on a different form. Still a reptile, it wound its body around a staff-like pole. You know, the one that doctors have as a symbol to help all persons in need of care. It might be called a “Rod of Asclepius,” or a “Caduceus.”
The snake worked its charm on me. Felt more comfortable with him, knowing he would assist in bringing comfort to others through what Buddhists ask all to do with “loving kindness and compassion.”
On a Shamanic Journey to the Lower World
The next thing I know, I was transported to the Middle Ages with trumpets blaring and banners of all colors flowing in the wind. Oh, I forgot to mention. I was on a Shamanic journey. Five of us Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs) from the Philadelphia area got together on Friday for a trip led by a woman who was herself a Shaman in a previous life. She brought shakers to shake, sage to burn, and gave us papers to write our thoughts immediately upon coming out of our journey into the “Lower World.” Shamans tell us there are three worlds one can visit: the lower, the upper, and, I think, the middle, or the present, where one can kinda transport his or her spirit on our real-time plane.
After our “space” was cleared of any bad spirits with the burning of the sage, we were instructed to visualize a hole in the trunk of a tree. It’s better if you can focus on a real one, which I did, having read a book and being on the lookout for such an “entry door.” Had no idea the trunk in a tree I saw on Butler Pike between Ambler and Conshohocken, PA, was going to play such a prominent role.
Couldn’t get into it. The visualization trick, not the tree. Well, actually, the tree, also. Never did anything like this. Could not see the texture of a wall I was asked to look at. Damn. Couldn’t even see a wall. But I didn’t quit, and just as I “let go” I found myself coming out of a long tunnel, and “seeing‘ the exit hole behind me. Looked like a Hobbit hole, but one big enough for two or three guys to walk through abreast.
Trees Awaken a Mystical Feeling About the Snake
Backing up, I saw a forest with lots of greenery. So many trees, I felt I was outside the Land of OZ, where you’d expect trees to start talking to you and throwing red apples your way. Brown pine cones covered the ground beneath a tree. I could smell the richness of grass and the pine as if dew had just settled.
That’s when I saw movement. A slithering on the ground, which I paid no attention to at first, until I looked up and saw the snake twirling itself around a branch, awaiting my undivided attention. This was my power animal, the one that will guide me in the lower world? But, I don’t like snakes! Don’t think they like me, either.
———-
Didn’t have time to anguish over the partnership. We were paired up, and I felt the snake open up a valley where troubadours sang and minstrels played harps and other musical instruments. Music sounded from everywhere, behind every bush, tree, and small stream in this spacious land of my mind. Soon, ladies and their lords rode by me on some of the strongest and largest horses I had ever seen! All covered with colorful clothes; some with matching headgear. These were the horses I’m talking about. You can just imagine what the lords and ladies were decked out in.
Saw the King Gesturing that All Was Well!
And there came the king. Riding alone while raising his hand in a kingly gesture to assure his subjects that all was well in the land he ruled. But he wasn’t really a king. More like a Prince John from the days of Robin Hood. He was a usurper, one who tried to capture the crown while his brother, Richard the Lion-Hearted, was held prisoner in some Moorish jail near Jerusalem and the site of the latest crusade.
I became a doctor to the prince. An Advisor. One who could ride alongside this man, of whom I was wary and could not trust. We talked. I planted an idea in his mind. Suggested that what he was presenting to the people was not for their good. That there was a better way for all to live. That he needed to “open his eyes” to see it. I knew the path he should take, but for the rest of humanity to follow, the one in power must realize this Truth himself. He must see reality without the blinders imposed by the make-believe world.
“Come back,” I heard a voice call gently. “Return to the tunnel.” It was our Shaman recalling us to our world. I found the entrance and zipped right through, remembering subconsciously to “bring back” the rod or staff the snake had changed into. All was part of a dream, the creation of, perhaps, an imaginative mind. But, I am using that staff right now to bring you this tale for all to remember to “open your eyes.” There is another reality to live in and with.
Women Elevate all our Desire for God
Did Creator make a mistake in His design of women’s “purpose?“
Are they on the earth to simply guide men to the Light above and share in the Love such a man might bring back with him to our earthly plane?
Can ‘spiritual indigestion’ be all that bad?
Thought I was dying Monday morning.
Just finished eating a plateful of scrambled eggs, bacon and home fries, topped off with a honey bun, and had started in on a second cup of coffee when: “BAM.”
Weekend Euphoria Needs Time to Set
The Greatest Weekend — No. II
* Uncertain if my true love would ever be mine, I fell to my knees . . . praying for her affection. It was . . . a Sunday.
When coincidence occurs, look out & in!
Uncanny coincidences kept cropping up yesterday as I attended a gathering of one of those “Meet-Up” groups.
Got eerie, downright mystical-like, if you know what I mean.
Conspiracy of Love to Heal Us All, Now!
Glenda “laid hands” on me; I lost track of who I was and why!
I had stubbed my two helping three guys move a heavy piano from one section of the room to another, when a leg got too close to the big toe, and I yelped like an injured animal, but held onto my section, maneuvering the mahogany-framed instrument to the center of this place of worship.
‘Five Jaunts’ create a life-long harmony
The bottle of Listerine spilled, and the car smelled of antiseptic. A ’57 Chevy should never suffer such an indignation.
Monkey see, and, alas, Monkey will do
The fool showed up uninvited to the Wildwood, NJ, beach house and created a mess good folk hardly talk about now-a-days. He sat “Indian-style” on the living room rug with Billy Kane, both about the same age, 18 to 19. There were two or three other guys drinking beer as Billy passed ‘em around. And then Kane “barfed” on the fool. Threw up onto the fool’s bare legs uncovered by the summer shorts he wore. “Kanie,” as we called the one who “likes his brew,” smiled a devilishly Irish grin, before offering a fake apology. The fool said nothing. We thought he would take offense by Kanie’s antics, something he had done for laughs before among those who liked his raunchy sense of humor.
Spiritual wars should end at a dinner table
Psalm 46:
9 — He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 — Be still and know that I am God.
Looking for Self among all the wrong cards
Who am I? Am I this body, this mind, this soul? Perhaps, all three?
Body changes all the time, I’m told. Don’t have the same one I did a month ago, and it’s definitely gone through scillions of changes in the seven years I grew a completely new epidermis. That’s a new skin for any who’d like to compare man to a snake.
Even on bad days, music can lift me higher
“The Crossing” filled me with sounds of the Rapture last night as I surrendered to the harmonies some 25 voices offered me on entering Heaven.
I left my physical body and merged with music that only God could have imagined when He “thought” Creation into being.
Won’t let go until animal instinct tells me to
My jaws clamp down, insuring I won’t let go of what I just uncovered. It’s taken me for what seems forever to get my teeth around it, and I won’t give up without a fight. Even if I get kicked. Again. Square in the face where it hurts, but I’ll get over it.
Hello! What would God do if He was you?
Wouldn’t it be great to make a phone call and ask a receptionist to put you through to the Creator? The next time you have a problem, and you want to do the right thing, you could simply dial “G . . . O . . . D” long distance.
I delete persons withholding ID from me
Unknown Writer Gets Kicked Out of My Mail
Unconditional love; language we all know
(The baby looked up and, for the first time, acknowledged the Presence of another Being, staring into the full face of a Grandfatherly type of person who smiled back. Couldn’t help but notice the unconditional love beaming toward the infant. It was almost palpable that’s how the feeling of Goodness filled the vacuum of space between the two. I saw it in the love He said we all experienced as newborns. No matter what we did or didn’t do, we were loved. And we knew it, perhaps, knew it from the inside out. And that’s when I got insight from interviewing that Grandfatherly type [‘G’d,’ for short] in the small hamlet of Nirvana, a little way’s up from Philadelphia.)
Animals feel freed after Rooster’s absence
An eerie silence greeted me as I opened my bathroom door, stepped inside, and looked at the window facing the yard. I had just woken up. This, the first morning without a rooster in my daily life.
Always keep an eye out for mean roosters
He flew at my head and clawed at my eye. Blood seeped out the left side of the nose, cheek, and the right ear, where the rooster attacked, getting in one last “lick” at me.
Reading and writing open different ways
Step into a reality governed only by ‘Now’
Imagine there were Two Realities.
The one you see, hear and experience daily. And another one, where you pass through a veil that causes Amnesia once you step all the way through. You no longer have a past. You have no concern for the future, since you’ve accepted the fact that all you really need in this “New” world will be provided.
Goin’ to farm; pick blueberries barefooted
Cousin Rosemarie Lieb.
You opened my heart to something I closed years ago.
Not ready to look inside. Almost, but not just yet.
Your words touched me with a warmth I haven’t felt in a long time. They caressed me, and I liken it to a mother’s love and pride I couldn’t handle at the family reunion last Saturday.
Spirituality’s fun, whether you like it or not!
Something’s wrong. I shouldn’t enjoy this much fun in Life.
Laughing so hard, the five of us had to hush up, quiet down to prevent diners at the other restaurant tables from staring at our ruckus.
What caused all the belly laughs and guffaws? God. Well, let’s say the Spirit of God. How about something ‘Spiritual, but not Religious?’ Would you believe “Mystical?”
A Hagel/Westergom union fits my granny
The only grandfather I ever knew was a hobo.
He rode the rails from East to West Coast, eating chicken and other foods he’d “gather” during the years crossing this great land, even ending up in Alaska, where he prospected for gold.
Don Quixote battles PTSD in Philly courts
I never felt more like Don Quixote than when I represented a woman charged with a crime.
And while I didn’t want it, I’d feel called to “champion” her, even when it cost me my reputation, my sanity and my very career as a trial attorney.  Continue reading
‘Evidence for Mister God?’ Look Around
Vivienne, you asked what I liked about the book “To Mister God, this is Anna.” All of the following are the direct quotes of the author Fryn, also known as Sydney Hopkins:
“Mister God wants you to be ‘I Am,’ like he is.”
“This is the curious nature of Mister God: that even while he is at the center of all things, he waits outside us and knocks to come in. It is we who open the door; Mister God doesn’t break it down and come in; no, he knocks and waits. Continue reading
The Gospel According to Bobby Darin
Wasn’t sure a Gospel Song would fit in with Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs) at a music appreciation meet last week.
Still can’t understand why I chose Bobby Darin, the “Splish Splash” originator, to represent my musical taste. We were encouraged by the hosts, a young couple, to bring music that meant a lot to us, perhaps meditative offerings and/or those pieces that represented a special time in our lives.
SPCA Agent Ensures Care for all Animals
The SPCA Raided my Property Last Week.
Their probe followed closely on the heels of a police officer who paid us an unsolicited visit.
A neighbor complained of the Sombitch Rooster, who could not keep crowing to a minimum and has raised such a ruckus, so we have to find him a new home, away from the Philadelphia area, and some less dense place like New Jersey.
Answer is Within, 2nd Coming Proclaims
“The Gospel Writers got it All Wrong!“
Those are the words Jesus said on reappearing in public in 2012.
The Kingdom of God is Within, He added.
But each of us must seek it ourselves through ourselves.”
‘Divine Madness’ Reaches Out To Me Daily
“Divine Madness.”
When I first saw the term, I thought of Zorba the Greek, played by Anthony Quinn, who embraced the fullness of life through robust emotions and actions. To laugh in the face of hardship and spit in the face of death, enjoying that special moment of life as if it was the last, and to hell with what anyone thinks.
To hell with negative thoughts. Live Life with the smile God meant us to project outwardly as well as within.
Go Within & Awaken the Meaning of Life
I found the Meaning of Life while meditating with a group at the Resiliency Center in Ambler, PA this morning.
Felt like I was in a cave, where ten of us, seven women and three men, sat cross-legged before a fire. We had just “offered” prayers to a Spirit — a Being — high above us, and I was about to leave the security of the clan when I spoke aloud, breaking the silence.
Connect to ‘Mother’ for Enlightenment
I saw the “Observer” of my Thoughts the other day.
Watched from within. Saw “me” facilitating and acting on all the senses. “I“ nudged away a thought, then focused on the feeling of breath at the top of my nasal passage. Tasted the slight chemical taint of eye drops I had placed in my left eye minutes earlier. And, I listened to the soft sounds of a budgie chirping in the distance.
City differences create a variety in my life
Cherry-Chocolate
Soda
I’d give anything to taste the flavor of a that drink again.
Not the ones from a bottle. A soda fountain drink! Nothing compares to the delicious mixture of “realchocolate” and cherry syrups combined with that seltzer-like substance that produced a drink that could have originated only in Paradise.
Continue readingAl Brown Taught me a Lesson of a Lifetime
I always looked up to Al Brown. I met him when I was only eight-and-a-half years old in the 1950s. Nowadays, I guess you would call him a “community organizer,” someone in the neighborhood a person could turn to with questions about the block, the new and older people who lived on your street. Like that section of Brewerytown where I grew up in North Philadelphia.
Bliss arises in cherishing of another’s woes
An African American woman showed me how to take on the suffering of the world during a five-day retreat on perfecting perpetual peace in my soul.
‘Do the right thing’–do what’s right for you
Part II from Escaping-Brewerytown
The moment of truth came down to one question: “Who else was with you?”
I looked to the floor and didn’t answer until the head of a juvenile aid panel from Philadelphia Family Court asked me to speak up.
Escaping Brewerytown in 1 piece not easy
I never took my eyes off the gun. The man’s hand shook. I was afraid it would go off. Raising my own hands, I prayed that he would not shoot, and said “I’m coming out,” slowly climbing out of the window, placing one foot on the ground and then the other as I exited the ACME supermarket warehouse building two blocks from my home. Continue reading
Love generates within for no reason at all
I Tasted Love before I ever “Entered” an Age of Reason.
I had not reached 7, but I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was attending a birthday party for a friend of my brother, John, who is two years older than me. Her name was Carolyn, and the love I felt came from her sister, Regina Gross, who the older kids enjoyed “fixing up” with me, her school classmate.
‘Garlic’s imprint’ holds many limitations
A friend dreamed she could not swim well in water and had to return to the shore or face peril. It seems the dream reflected her real life. (See “To Be Me.”) She said she was not a very good swimmer, and she wondered why — even in one’s dream — we impose such limitations on ourselves?
‘Sound Bath’ Calms & Heals us with Love
I feel a healing begin, as tears form, and I am so grateful to release what’s building inside — something so wonderful it becomes too good to contain.
I wish I were bigger. I’d have a greater capacity to handle the joy that’s flowing to all parts of my body. It’s like a liquid, this healing I feel, almost palpable like an elixir that cures each and every doubt, concern, and thought from one’s past or future.
Love & compassion’s for all God’s creatures
Did not know what a Buddhist sangha could mean to me, until four of us aspiring students focused on a multi-colored insect at lunch, discussed its past and future life-aspects, and showed compassion to a sentient being whom we might have swatted away before gaining our insight on Sunday.
I’m heartily sorry for having offended Thee
“Michael J,
The biggest lie you ever told was that you could say something about sexual orientation and not hurt someone whose way of life might be different from yours. You said you lied when you told an ex-girlfriend that you were gay to avoid having sex with someone you were not ready to have a long-term commitment.
Courtroom awakens karma understanding
One of the most humbling times in my life occurred in Court.
Philadelphia Police Sgt. Washington motioned to me that he wanted to talk. This was odd, I represented the “other side” as a public defender whose client was the defendant charged in an auto theft case. Washington was the arresting police officer whose testimony would ensure a conviction.
Hit upside the head provides a life lesson
The detective hit me across the face with a back hand, and I knew I was in trouble. Blood formed on my lower lip. I let it flow, not taking my eyes from this man who gained my immediate attention with a force he evidently knew how to use on some wise-ass kid not being straight with him.
Dream of Smith’s Playground Inspires Me
Childhood long gone, I’d dream about the “monkey swing” at Smith’s Playground whenever I wanted to achieve something worthwhile in my life. I’d see myself climb from one achievement to another, always going forward as I stretched out an arm to grab one metal ring and then the next one on down the line.
Remember to enjoy the ride getting ‘there’
I entered the “Twilight Zone” yesterday.
Drove full of gusto to complete a task before visiting a doctor in the early afternoon. Only to realize by the time I turned onto the major road, I forgot where I was going.
And worse, why!
Cock-Sure Rooster Leads in Race to Hades
They stood eye-ball to eye-ball, only inches away.
One stretched, only to see the other match the move immediately, with nary an eye blink, nor a muscle flinch.
There was a meanness in their beady eyes. And if looks could kill, both would be lying dead where they stood.
‘Awake’ Now from the War of Thunder
The Outcome Doesn’t Matter
Jump at Chance to Finally Let Your Self Go
John 13. Verses 3-4 says:
“So during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.”
Writing clears up the ‘clogged up’ space
Always Look Within, To Now See Outside
A long red light usually gets on my nerves while sitting in traffic, but time went so quick just now. I’m exploring the World of a Mystic.
And fit right in!
Skype opens the world of tomorrow today
The Future is Now.
I spoke from the USA to a woman in Scotland Monday and felt my world leap ahead a full millennium as I “saw” her on my computer screen at the same time I spoke to her. I had never experienced this before. Never knew society had such technology.
‘Letting Go’ Requires Faith and Hope
Cont’d from Seeing is believing in the ‘letting go’ process 1-30-10
“Letting go” is a process I thought I had completely bought into when I “gave up” trying to control things and had surgery done on my eye.
‘One-Eyed Jack’ provides more meditation
Originally Cont’d from Steroids Pushed as Far as the Eye can See 2-5-10
I’ve developed a fear of changes I’ve been forced to make and have a concern with the almost constant pain in the bad eye. It’s a low threshold of irritation, but a pain, nevertheless, that is taking more of a toll on me. Like headaches. Nothing acute, but a numbing sensation that increases as my blood pressure rises, or as my heartbeat increases, creating a throbbing pain.
Contoveros 
