About G

From earliest childhood I have had an almost uncontrollable interest in things of the spirit. Many early experiences of a psychic and "out there" nature pointed my interests in that direction and held them there. Not that I did not have the interests of any other boy growing up in the Midwest of the US; baseball, music, hanging out, girls. But there was always a palpable sense of observing. Like I was there and not there at the same time.

By the time I had reached 20 my path was pretty much set. At that time I began the first of my spiritual practices and spirituality became a way of life. I have been learning, teaching, studying and sharing my discoveries ever since. Not that those discoveries all came from the mount of revelation. No, mostly they came from hard lessons and stupid mistakes, with enough revelation and insight thrown in to make it bearable. I learned slowly that spiritual insight, however deep does not eliminate the need to live fully as a human, embracing all of it, even the ugly and the painful.

I have no degrees, am entitled to no letters trailing my name, hold no title of lineage. I channel no disembodied masters and possess not a shred of esoteric knowledge, no spells or incantations here I am afraid. I was not born of a virgin (as far as I know). My origin was neither lofty and noble or tragic and colorful. It was hopelessly mundane, a white boy from the suburbs of Chicago. All this is to say, I have no authority whatsoever.

I have done many things over my life; musician, composer, writer and poet, voice talent, software developer, teacher, entrepreneur, gas station attendant, janitor, mail carrier, roofer, clerk. During all of that one thing has truly captivated my heart and engaged my interest and passion; the question "Who am I?"

All humanity asks that question, all the time. It may wear various disquises but it is the one question that all questions eventually return to. But here is the kicker. It cannot be answered in words. Theories, concepts, ideas, no matter how beautiful and elegant will not cut it. Why? Because you are not a concept, you are not a theory, you are not an idea. You are real.

Life itself is the answer, Your Life. Not some great capital 'L' life or the life of some super being, benevolent or malevolent. Your life, this life, this one right here.

So why should you believe anything I say. Well, you shouldn't. And you shouldn't even if I did have a ton of letters after my name. So to make that as clear as possible I got rid all of the letters I did have. All except one, 'G'. I would get rid of them all but you have to call me something. So now, you all have more letters than I do, which means you are the authority. The ONLY authority and rightly so. If someone tells you something patently false and you take it in, who suffers? Not the one who told you. You do! So you MUST be the vigilant gatekeeper for everything that would enter your consciousness as "truth".

Weigh what I say using the highly sensitive scales of your intuition. The path to the ultimate discovery is not really taught. It can't be. A map of a territory is not the territory, only a guide to it. You are and always will be the ultimate arbitrator and the only traveler. I point out what I have seen along the way. I only want to make your journey quicker.

And now my first pointers.

"The mind that seeks the Way is the Way" - Dogen Zenji.

If you want to find the truth, stop looking. It will find you.

G

Blog One: Not This, Not That, Not Both, Not Neither

Many will recognize this famous saying from Advaita. In this blog I will endeavor to shed what little flicker of light I have on the subject of self realization, self awareness, enlightenment or whatever you would like to call it. I am not really concerened with terms, except to the extent that we agree on them enough to communicate. I borrow liberally from Advaita, Zen, Christian Mysticism (yes there are some non-dual flavors of Christiantiy), metaphysics, quantum, psychology, mythology and anything else that crosses my path and looks like, sounds like or smells like self awareness.

After several decades of a passionate interest in all things spiritual, compassionate and life-promoting I have decided, for better or for worse, to share what I have found with others who are on a similar path. Being new to blogging I was surprised to find so much on the subject. It is encouraging... very encouraging.

Suffice it to say I believe that humanity is at a cross roads. We have come to a point where we will have to either participate in evolution voluntarily or perish. Mind you I am not one who bemoans what humanity has become. It is, if fact, our incredible success that is now threatening us. The world in which the capacity to survive evolved as it did no longer exists. If we continue to behave as though it does we will die of our own success. Success now means developing the self awareness to reign in our own natures and recognize our inter-connectedness. Survival of the connected-est is the new law of the jungle. It is not just a cute ideal, some new age axiom. It has become a necessity.

But let me say I am optimistic. When I see the amount of interest in the subject of self awareness I am vastly encouraged. While some is trivial, some poignant, some downright stupid and some inspiring it is not so much the actual content that has me so moved. It is a miracle that it is going on at all. Considering that not that long ago spiritual viewpoints were pretty much dictated from on high, the present cacophony is refreshing, if not a little staggering.

Self awareness for me is THE issue of our times. It is my hope that I can connect with, encourage, teach and learn from others who see that the future of us all rests not in the hands of governments, institutions and economic entities, but in ours. It is to this end that I commit my energies and my words.

G