A Living Magazine - Day 132 - Working on All Souls Day

I woke up very well rested. The large catalpa leaves worked to lessen the cold of the ground, but not quite enough. Eventually, I just pulled the winter coat I'd used for a pillow out of the hood of the sleeping bag, laid it outside-down with the soft flannel under me. Problem solved. I still needed a pillow, so I took out my plastic bag of shirts and stuffed it in the hood. Pillow solved.

I wanted to beat the rain that I thought would be coming that day, so I packed up before sunrise. I saw the catalpa leaves and remembered how long I'd spent gathering just the right ones. If it rained they would be soaked and I'd be back to square one. Even if they didn't stop the cold, they did prevent that sand from getting all over the base of the tent. So, I gathered them up...

...and put them in a plastic bag, which I then hung upside down in a nearby tree. When I returned that night I could just lay them back down again on what I presumed would be very wet sand.

I knew I wouldn't have time on this day to do very much exploration. There was a story about the Shadow Man from the night before that would be perfect to publish on this Halloween. I did resolve to take some shots whenever I could though.

When I'd gotten to the Starbucks under the Sheraton, I ordered the usual: Tall dark roast and a cup of ice water (with extra ice). Just to bore you with some details... I put sugar in the coffee and let it dissolve while I drink the water. Then I fill the ice-cup about 1/3 full half and half. I sip the coffee, black and swish the half and half in its cup until all the ice is covered then pour the hot coffee in to make iced coffee, adding more coffee as needed. Ha!

While I was self-baristaing, I caught a flash of pink in the corner of my eye. It was the start of a Halloween parade called "Making Strides" - a breast cancer awareness march, featuring survivors of the disease - and naturally, I had to venture outside to see it...

I love the guy with the tutu!

Since breast cancer affects everyone in a woman's life, all races, ages and genders got into the act.
There was a celebratory feeling in the air; lots of cheering for the survivors, with strength and support for those who are still suffering with it...

I had arrived at Starbucks at 9:00 am and, besides taking the photos above, worked continuously on my post for eight hours--until the store closed, but still was not done. I was tired. As I've mentioned many times, writing is by far the most exhausting part of all I do. When I finish a post and have edited it as best I can, it is like I've completed a thirty mile walk. I simply pour everything I possibly can into my writing. Because it isn't physical exercise, my body thinks there is no break needed. I sometimes have to set my watch to remind me to go outside and rest my mind.

I love to work, because I love my job. That is why I can do what I'm doing. I use aspects of my work day - which is about 16 hours of exploring, taking pictures and writing - every day as my "play" time--seeing the beauty and variety of all these places, being in hundreds and hundreds of restaurants and coffee shops, having amazing conversations with the fine people with whom I meet and occasionally visit or stay. Only rarely do I do something purely for "entertainment", for "fun". In the last 135 days (I'm writing this post from three days after its events), I have rested - not worked at all, beside taking pictures - one day; my birthday, hanging out with Susanne and her husband in Newport, Oregon, where we just talked and relaxed, even enjoying a glass of very fine Tequila!

I am in a unique position. I can work whenever I want. And, since I want to work all the time, I nearly always get what I want. If I wasn't able to work all day, every day, this blog would be impossible to maintain. Hell, I am three posts behind, because it already is barely maintainable. Yet, that just means I can work more!

When I was a child, I was told by a relative that "...work isn't supposed to be fun." And, therefore, whenever I wrote, recorded and performed music, drew or researched things, I thought I wasn't "working". I always felt guilt about if I liked to do my own projects. Now, it is only the most profoundly ignorant person every now and then who barks at me, "Get a job!...and WORK!, like everybody else!" That kind of attitude is a mental illness of the weak-minded. The future will be filled with people who are happy about what they work at--or, THERE WILL BE NO FUTURE.

A pirate, a "something", Elvis and German Hiker, off to trick or treat for adult beverages.

I left and walked back up Meridian to McDonald's, bought a cheeseburger, finished the post in that next hour and published it. I felt good about, though it has not received as many reads as I thought it would. It was still worth an entire day of work. Why? Because it made ME happy, as work should.

I took the sticker off from my Apple iPod Shuffle and made myself look classier!

Amazingly, the rain had held off all day. The first drops began to fall when I walked out of McDonald's. By the time I'd reached the campsite, it was steady. Thankfully, those large leaves above me diverted the coming downpour long enough for me to erect the tent and climb inside. Where I sat peacefully... 

The foot end.

The head end.

I wanted a way to watch the rain without having it drip into the tent, and devised this setup...

Stick provided by the Fall Creek riverside.

Now, I had a window and plenty of space between the tarp/fly and the tent itself. I still am so impressed at the design of this tent (The North Face Particle 13), at 4.14 pounds and small enough to fit in the front pocket of my backpack (with poles), has no part touching the rain tarp/fly. The tent remains completely dry from condensation on the inside and from rain on the outside. The fabric is SUPER tough. The screen allows air flow, but even the tiniest critters cannot penetrate it.

I thought for a long time silently--meditating. And here is what I thought about, and then said...

On this day--All Souls Day, as it is every day, all the souls of our departed friends and family were able to look from wherever they were stationed now, across the one-way veil and watch us. There is a separation still. But the Sparks are not separated. They communicate with our Sparks as if there had never been a birth or a death, working together to be personalized by their hosts (us), in joy and harmony throughout the vastness of time and space, always thrilled to be participating in the dramas and adventures of the experiential plane.

We are here for about a hundred years each, to be soaked through with experience--enough to gain the will to want to go on to higher and higher octaves of reality and increasing planes of perfection.

If we choose, we are also here to expand and improve upon our earthly experience, through loving each other, even as the Spark so dearly loves and treasures us. It does not force its will upon us. It does not pressure us, nor make us feel guilty, nor make us hate ourselves for our sometimes irresponsible and self-destructive behaviors. Only WE hurt ourselves. It works with us, it looks for every chance to bring us happiness, to feel good about ourselves, to love ourselves in the same way it loves us. It does NOT judge. It adjusts. It does not condemn--no matter what. It teaches us and builds a kind of counterpart that exists between our material bodies and it's own spirit nature--the SOUL. Once that soul becomes consciously willing to work with its builders (the material human mind and the Spark), nothing can harm or destroy it--forever more.

These social religions in general often seem to work to do all the things that are antithetical to the efforts of each of our Sparks (hate each other, feel guilty, require us to believe only what human authority says, and punish us when we step outside their ideologies, make us hate ourselves and this potentially beautiful existence that the Universe has offered us, hurt others for no reason, take and expect to be given, fill ourselves with hubris when our material lives allow us more comfort than our sisters and brothers, and on, and on...) are in league with a social system that rewards and glorifies such anti-Spark behaviors. It has lasted for thousands of years.

As a species we are now impacting the planet itself. We are NOW dangerous to the very world we depend upon for our material existences. The imbalance or material power vs. spiritual power is tipping us off the edge of history. We WILL find our way. I am quite confident about that. But, it is a matter of how much pain, hatred, greed and mental anguish we are willing to foist upon ourselves, our friends, and our families in the process of blindly poking around in the dark for the answers. The answers ARE there. It is WE who provide hiding places and the darkness that disallows their discovery.

It amazes me that with the Spark's infinite knowledge, along with its connection to all other Sparks, we remain so willfully ignorant, hardheaded, material minded, hungry for political, scientific, corporate, military and socially religious power. The Spark barely even registers in our thoughts, and thus our words, and thence our actions. It amazes me, because I've found a personal way to send and receive communication with my own Spark, easily. There is nothing special about me. I am in the right place and the right time. And, I have the unique opportunity to share what I am going through with all of you.

However, it should be permanently kept in mind that my way is not your way. You have so many things to offer the world that I could never give it or even imagine. You have a belief system of your own. If you are living a life that you are unhappy about, that darkened and hidden answer you seek, is but one light ray away from you! It's difficult to say these things without sounding like I'm giving advice. I would rather you reject what I say and find the answer to your own unhappiness for yourself. But I am compelled to say this: ACT--Do the things YOU want with your life, regardless of the pressure and expectations of others. And, suddenly, the wheels for change will break free from the rust of your tears, becoming more and more polished with every revolution they make. WILL this (make it a Will Act), and the Spark inside you (whether you believe in it or not) will lay down a road of extraordinary traction and clarity before you, for those wheels to move along.

If your happiness is then spread, through service - first, to your friends and family, and then to your neighbors and finally to strangers - you will Know that your soul is approaching the outside world. This only leads to more happiness for you and all of the people around you. But it is not religious ecstasy and emotional bliss that one feels with the kind of happiness to which I refer. Rather, it is intellectual clarity, calm clear-mindedness, rational and thoughtful, caring and selfless. Instead of wondering when you are going to get what you want, by giving to others, even more than you could have ever asked for will come to you. I know, because even though I'm only at the beginning of this kind of happiness, I am feeling a peace inside myself, a strength, a confidence, a satisfaction which I never believed I deserved before setting out on these Journeys.

Don't do what I've done. Do your own thing. Don't do it the way I have. Do it in the way that works best for you. Don't believe what I do. Believe in YOURSELF and the forces that you must name within you. When more people realize the incredible power they have this world will be transformed. It is on track to be so, but at a maddeningly slow rate. WE - our generations - can change this rate.

There is nothing dangerous at all, for the individual or the society, to immediately CHOOSE to serve others, and thereby find happiness in one's own life.

Anyhow, that's the monologue I spoke out into the damp air on this night, in partnership with the Spark, actually letting it speak through me and to me, via my own voice.

I wasn't ready for "bed" yet, so I set up my "flat screen TV" and watched a video, then listened to some space music before finally drifting off to sleep...

The sound of the rain outside no longer brought me anxiety, but peace of mind.