what is the work?

the purpose is clear...but what is the work...if your purpose is to be a carpenter, is your work to build whatever? to fix things? to make cabinets? to build houses?

what is it? if you are a musician, do you just whip out your guitar and play? do you get a job as a musician? do you try and join a band?

hmmm...what is the work? i guess this quesiton becomes fortified with doubt when pupose is lost, when it is not part of the equation...as a friend of mine on the Path once told, medicine man is your purpose but that''s not the deeper purpose. the deeper Purpose is One-ness (ALLAH), is to be in a state of Surrender, of letting go, of releasing...of being so humble that, of being so aligned that, stars and orbits...

the Purpose for all of us is the same, and manifested uniquely, just as all rivers lead back to the ocean...

the Purpose is to die before you die (the prophet muhammad)...the musician, robert ester marley, played music, wrote music, lyrics, played guitar, bass, and spoke out against injustice, spoke for love, for unity...of course...these are part of the math of Spirit...

speak out, make medicine, join other healers, your music is to spread Love through medicine, spread community, village, ancient mathematics through medicine...it is not, has never been to be a solution to people's problems, never has been a quick fix, never has been a cult of personality, never has been competition, never has been deceit and duping, and consumerism, and product, and ancient himalayan herbs robbed from the sacred mountain...it has been to spread Love, to build community, to be of service...to be a medicine man...

...i am not here to prove to you that i am better than...that i have the answer to it all, that i am the One...if you are seeking glory, know that Glory belongs to ALLAH alone - The Recitation (al Qur'an)

nusrat fateh ali khan sang...he traveled with 20-30 other musicians, some who clapped their hands as their instrument, and they performed. he sang his lungs out. he was only 49 when he passed away...wow...i thought he was much older...his songs were in Surrender, in complete devotion to One...

the artist next to me, at the cafe here is painting in his sketchbook. i ask him if he's working on a comic series. he says no, he's just doing it. but i work as a cartoonist, he says. it's not easy. i also teach in an afterschool program as a teaching artist. so his path is clear - illustration. he draws on his own time, paints, sketches. for work, he does cartooning in a studio and he also teaches...

so...what is the work of the ancient-mathematics medicine man? to make medicine, to work with herbs, to treat the sick, to heal, to support the healing process, to work with the sick, to keep the healthy healthy, to be a medium for healing, to support and partake in ego-death...

in practical terms - he does yoga as therapy for healing, for increasing compassion for Self, he makes medicine, he sells his medicine, he does workshop on medicine making, he teaches holistic health - nutrition, yoga therapy, ayurveda, herbalism...he sees clients, and does group healing circles...detox reset elevate.....

like nusrat, hamza el din, robert marley...i am making medicine, writing formulas, designing sequences...all for healing...all to heal...all to support healing...all in Surrender to ONE...

97 syrians, 319 iraqi's, 23 palestinians, 82 yemeni's, 219 afghanis, n charlie murphy - all in one day

tempted to release this from the shadow state i'm in, the one in the shade of pine trees in mohawak country, meditating before a sweat...before releasing this body, shedding this uniform, becoming renewed...it's time...

every word i say is a potential cause for 99 to 2 life sentences...not because of the brown of my skin, nor the curls on my head, nor the shade on my face - even beards are commodity-trend in babylon - but because of the ancient mathematic equations i walk in as taught by the guru muhammad (pbuh)...

...this is the reality of those who walk in the indigenous way, who are so deeply engulfed in spirit, that the binary of black and white, the entanglements of racial, identity politics is absent...

...been thinking bout ancient egyptians, about the ways of the ancients who spent so much time preparing for death, almost their whole life time was in preparation for what was to proceed...what did they know?

...and what does it mean that the modern world does the opposite? the babylon we are engrossed in, is constantly vying for our attention to get us to buy something, to bait and switch, to follow the tunes of shopping shopping shopping, consume consume, more sneakers, more women, more information, more degrees, more bigger more better. the so-called free world tells us to be completely immersed in the material world, in the here and now and graduations, and weddings, and valentines, and christmas....???

what does it mean?

idk. i know that death is inevitable. death from this body. death from our understanding of reality, of what's real. we come to pass. your teenage years passed. twenties might have passed. 30's might be passed, have passed. 40's are passing. 50's coming to a close. 60's are an end in sight. 70's are at the cusp of 80's....90's eclipsing...

if you make it this far...if you make it to any of these stages, you are certain that it passes. there is no holding on.

so with that knowledge, know that the only fear is fear, that if you can Be who You were meant to Be...how would you be?

i return to this thought often. return because i forget. because i get caught in the glue of babylon. get caught into the shuffle.

without a thought, with complete belief in the Infinite, i am not trying to sell a product, or persuade people/anyone into purchasing anything. nor am i trying to prove a point, not trying to convince the medical establishment and those with degrees that i know more than them. no. instead i am doing the work, i am doing the work as set forth by the ancients...the work that has been done by medicine men for generations since time immemorial...

... i am in a smoky room of sage and banyan leaves. i am seeing people who come in, doing intake, and then proceeding with the work - doing bodywork, gheera bastis, vasti's, head massage, putting together herbal medicine, giving smoke therapy, doing yoga therapy, holding yoga classes...and then doing house calls, facilitating creative writing workshops for healing, for ascension, for depth...

...i do this around the world...living life like a traveler, with my grave besides me (-the prophet)...

...i do this for a few weeks at a time, setting up shop in a place where i see those in need of healing...they book ahead of time...they book with my manager...they book and schedule from the time blocked out, and i give a talk, do workshops, in that town...

...but i return to family, always....we have a village...we are in a village, we grow herbs and food, we live mostly off the land...we are amidst generations, babies and elders, teens and middle aged, ancient trees, and saplings...

...between You and me, there is only me (al-hallaj)...

full moon april 2017

bright. glorious. that was it...speechless. the full moon left me here, again...been meditating on it all week...al praise is due for it...generations, it goest through running men like me, comes up slow,, knows the orbit, is in Surrender to it, shines its lights, and sees us, me, as a toddler, a child, a teen, an adult, middle aged, elder, soil...sees us me become soil...and keeps Quiet...

...although there is no judgement there, the moon lives by example, tells me there is no need to run, no rush, that each day passes, will pass, whether you want it to or not, whether you do nothing or something...

...our days pass...and we decide on our choices, to an extent...we have the opportunity to be manifest in Essence, through moment to moment actions...

this is what i ask myself at the end of a month on letting go of looking at the glitter of plans to become someone, and instead, align plans to values...

...my values are 7 generations, Surrender, Love, in orbit, to bring homeostasis, to live in community, to be in a state of commune, of being dissolved in the Infinite...to walk in the footprints of the prophets isa and muhammad...all praise is due...la illah teri shan shan shan...la illaha...

this past month, the greatest value i learned is that there is no scarcity, the One is Infinite...so give, let go of material, of what you feel you have, what you feel you own, and give, the giving is the return...give...forget the sense of lacking, of not having, of not knowing about rent, bills, food...give...even if you don't have, you have, because giving isn't just cash, isn't just being generous in tips, and exchange, but also in sharing what you have...

all praise is due...

...this month, i let go of a million directions and focus all energies on health - on sharing the value of detoxing for the purposes of resetting and elevating...i do this by way of the course i am working on developing with a friend, by living this in my asana practice - going deeper on the edge, in the work, in food, getting flesh out of my diet again...doing a detox on myself...of sharing these practices through video, through teaching, through putting together a package and toolkit that can support others in this detox, reset...by seeing 5 people through paid people through it...starting now...because the One is Infinite, and the moon comes to Know, through focused orbit

alright

all right...it's alright..you know the nod, the head float, the smile, the eye contact...yeah...alright...it's alright...still here in life and appreciating the moments of flow, of the journey, of the float...

community...place yourself in it, allow the circumstance to create it, with all that you do...it's good to pray by yourself, it's better t pray in community...bow down, surrender together...all praise is due...it's nice to write alone, to zone into words that make meaning out of dictionaries written by reptilian presidents who rule hush hush like drugs pushed through traffik...

the communities are there...come together like sand castles in the city, and float on...already, yeah, floating on...

for everything you do there is a community, and you get jobs and connect with others through others...it's always been who you know...use your who you Know...

...currency here is money, is investing in, is putting in to get out...sure there's time and floating back into chattaranga with steady practice, but then there are spaces to partake in community. do it...

spring boards

it's spring...what do you already Know...?

the apple trees know apples, the cherry trees know cherries, the bees know pollen, the herbalists know herbs, the alchemists know metals...

go with what you know to spring board into greater depths of what you don't. keep building. and if you want to go somewhere new...then go, but you need to eat. you need to pay bills, rent, support your family, so do your duty. serve. work. have an exchange for maintenance, even if that's not your sustenance, even if that's not your path, it is...

the journey is the destination. whether you are driving a cab, selling oils, cd's, working as a teacher, at amex, at a non-profit, and these gigs are unfulfilling, do not serve you, then go deeper. go. let go. apply your deeper path in all paths. be present. and in the process, build towards what you want, what will serve your soul, what you believe your Purpose to be...

teach, herbs, yoga, workshop, nutrition, write, massage, cook. these are what i already have. these are what i can continue to build on. even in compartments. atleast while i'm working it out. my value is to be a productive member of society, to have exchange.

do it. do it now. Quietness is the surest sign. it's math. like the dao.

hudson late march april showers

it was a trip to flee. to listen to the calling of a mojave line i heard in the desert driving 110 miles an hour with no other car to merge into, nor a shoulder to flip over. 40 degrees and rain made kingston into portland, and hudson into a seasonal affective disorder that deranged beaver and left me holding space in my palms like a glass bowl desperately looking for guidance or a witch to tell me something crazy that i need to do before...and that's the thing...in the absence of being in the noose of 9-5, 5-midnight, graveyard shifts, you have to dig your own path through the microwaves and sad of isolated hudsonites that are on the brink of suicide or mass killings or just plain meth and booze like gin and juice...i have neither and beaver tells me that he knows things, and i believe him, he tells me about planets he's traversed, and i nod...what is impossible in the Surrender to One?

that's just it too...the path is to focus, to have a clearing, to walk that clearing and keep macheting the jungle concrete out of the way, and walk. the walk is work. no quickies to handstands and press-ups - it's work. or maybe you choose complacency. maybe you choose to stand still and do nothing and wait on a couch for death, but then what was life worth without effort, without struggle, hence the centrality of struggle in the path of Surrender to ascension, to the spiral into coalescence...

this is what i learned...to aim High, real High, so High that i walk in the footsteps of isa n muhammad n musa...that i walk without beating my chest, but breathing the breath of Infinite and Knowing this, Knowing no one but One in All, then there is no scarcity, there is only wealth, only abundance, and in being so, give. let go of trying to grip, hold tight. allow the fall. get the meal you want not because it's expensive, nor because it will feed your sensory salivation, but because it is sattvic and grow you. give freely to your barrista's and cousins and strangers. give of your Self and it will be returned, even if it isn't, even if there is not return. give, becuase the One is Infinite, because you Know this. give in every way - smile, warmth, touch, Love, money, things, intangibles - Give...

that was the main takeaway, the lesson...give, and live...give because ALLAH is Infinite, as abu bakr told omar, and the other companions when they learned of the death of the prophet (s.a.w)...and they mourned, and omar disbelieved, and threatened to lash whoever decried these words...the prophet is dead, abu bakr said. but ALLAH is Infinite. all praise is due for the teachings of the prophet that inculcated this belief into a culture, understanding deeply that we, that i too will pass (in this form), but the ONE-ness continues...

the message is to give...to let go of this attachment to money and poverty, and instead shifting this paradigm by shifting the belief that has been cultivated through a life on the brink of economics - that i must save for another day, that i must hold on tight to what i have because otherwise, that i must walk in the line of professionalism that babylon has defined...rather than walk the Way...

the Way is clear if you stop looking for some destiny. the Way is in the Giving, in the giving is the letting go, is the Surrender, the suspense of disbelief, and in whole belief. Be holistic in belief and let go and in the letting go, give and in the giving is the Light, the Way in...