New Spiritualibus Blog Posts – Excerpts – Page 19 of 67

May 13, 2024May 27, 2024

Life, love, and the divine

Life, love, and the divine
Is my lineage of teachers
Yes, it’s possible to be free
Of personalty ties as such
Though exchange is helpful
If not even necessary for all
To make steps in unfoldment
But then comes measurement
That does become more or less
And questionable what is real
Or personally just perceived
Wishes give one past focus
And future realizations too
Thou all that matters now
Is life, love, and the divine
Personalities, characters
Beings of various kinds
Humans claim to know
And observe ourselves
Every day and moment
Learning another lesson
From each other I hope
Life and love for sure
Ultimately the divine
Give it faces for ease
For a stretch of the way
Manifest to better relate
And again let go completely
As life, love, and the divine.

“Querencia” — the place where one’s strength is drawn from

Lydian on C# (276 Hz) — 8-string guitar, big gong, tanpura — 7:05

Is a path helpful and liberating for you?

Criteria “according to which one could judge whether a path, a practice was helpful and liberating or not. At that time, as today, there are numerous gurus who claim to have the truly liberating, the only, or at least the fastest way. [Someone like a] Buddha suggests that one should not believe what is taught simply because it comes from an ancient tradition or because the person teaching seems to be an authority or because their speech sounds poignant and convincing.

“Rather, one should proceed in the same way as when testing gold: it must be scratched, rubbed, and tested with acid and fire. What ultimately withstands all these tests can be regarded as genuine. This means that we ourselves must seriously and thoroughly examine what is right for us by applying what we have heard and finding out whether it is wholesome and leads to blessings and well-being. This is an invitation to self-responsibility and requires interest, courage, independence, self-confidence, and great honesty, especially towards oneself. Of course, it requires more from us than listening to a few teachings or attending a few meditation evenings. We have to really tackle the practice and apply it consistently over a prolonged period of time. Then we will know for ourselves whether it can take us where we want to go.”

Buddhas tausend Gesichter, Fred von Allmen, pp. 39-40

Life, love, and the divine reach heaven

May 6, 2024May 6, 2024

Ganesha caught fire

Ganesha caught fire
Given enough space
To be and to look at
Noticed just in time
But one leg burned
Gave enough room
For the small turtle
Become snowed in
Too steep this hill
Requiring to tow
So first remember
An attaching hook
Not in the middle
Adding challenge
As pulled around
In slippery snow
Approached limits
Of what’s possible
With cooperation
It could succeed
Back on the road
Among red tails
Chirping merely
One leading ahead
Others all around
Down the slope
To everyday life
From a retreat
Closer to heaven
A gentle introduction
For beginners here now
Of what’s done all life
Late without lineage
But still with frames
Wishing for realization
Framing attitudes of soul
Language learned as such
Contracting and expanding
Like breathing in and out
What or who’s perceiving
Thinking, feeling, naming
But why label things at all
When it’s just pure being
All unlimited and free
Just let it be what it is
The experience’s open
For learning kindness
No need for labeling
Limiting in any way
As loving acceptance
Keeps open all doors
Always another lesson
At times bump heads
Or really need a tow
Continue present now
Embraced by the divine
Relishing life and love
Here it all is what it is!

“Ever forward into the open” — blue destination

PentaMin/PentaEol based on D# — Christina Braun: voice — Ulrico: singing saw, bass, 6-string guitar — 4:15

Life as a story…

[Questioning exchange after hearing a detailed rendition of incredible past events…]

“But for the purposes of our investigation, we would like to know what really happened?”
“What really happened?”
“Yes.”
“So you want another story?”
“Uhh . . . no. We would like to know what really happened.”
“Doesn’t the telling of something always become a story?”
“Uhh . . . perhaps in English. In Japanese a story would have an element of ‘invention’ in it. We don’t want any invention. We want the ‘straight facts’, as you say in English.”
“Isn’t telling about something — using words, English or Japanese — already something of an invention? Isn’t just looking upon this world already something of an invention?”
“Uhh . . .”
“The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn’t that make life a story?”

— Life of Pi, Yann Martel, p. 302

Ganesha caught fire to melt snow or be towed

May 2, 2024December 17, 2025

Breath of life chant – the single

Tonalibus single release — “Breath of life chant”

“Breath of life chant” — the answer within — appears globally on May 4, 2024 as new Tonalibus single on:

Amazon, Anghami, Apple Music, MediaNet, Boomplay, Deezer, Instagram/Facebook, Adaptr, Flo, YouTube Music, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, iTunes, Joox, Kuack Media, NetEase, Qobuz, Pandora, Saavn, Spotify, Tencent, Tidal and TikTok & other ByteDance stores.

“Breath of life chant” — the answer within — PentaMin / PentaEol on G# (207 Hz) — whistle breath, fretted vichitra veena, tanpura — 8:03

During extremely soft mantra chanting, so soft it is more breathing than chanting, in a flowing transition from the syllable HU to OM, a faint, largely involuntary whistle sound can become apparent, whistle breath! This is very subtle but powerful and can aide in finding one’s fundamental pitch. The piece “Breath of life chant” is based on whistle breath.

April 29, 2024December 17, 2025

True freedom

True freedom
Why qualify?
Is there such
A big thing as
False freedom
Like any illusion
Right and wrong
Or just whatever
One makes of it
Twists ‘nd turns
Until it may fit
For one or all
One’s illusion
All is freedom
To take some
Honest effort
For tuning in
Gradually
Ever more
In time here
In space now
Consciousness
So being soul
In the human
Body ‘nd mind
Welcome thus
To this species
On our planet
Free to love!

“Pebbles in the pond” — a touch of a raga

Bairagi Bhairav raag based on C# — Christina Braun: voice — Ulrico: 8-string guitar — 5:38

A brief for the defense — wood and fire

“Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything…”

“We think the fire eats the wood. We are wrong. The wood reaches out to the flame. The fire licks at what the wood harbors, and the wood gives itself away to that intimacy, the manner in which we and the world meet each new day.”

— from Refusing Heaven: Poems and Collected Poems by Jack Gilbert, Goodreads.com

Biting or chewing through obstacles to true freedom

April 26, 2024December 17, 2025

Tonality of the month: Lydian

The tonality of the month is Lydian — a regular diatonic heptatonality.

Lydian on C# (276 Hz) — 8-string guitar — April 2024 — 3:16 — as loop on a separate tab (or via right click, if available)

Lydian, a partially anchored regular diatonic heptatonality and Pro(gressive) tonality, is the tonality of this month of May 2024. It differs by only one pitch from the well known major scale by including the triton instead of the quart. This gives it a very distinct and somewhat lofty feel. On piano keyboards, it corresponds to the white keys with F as fundamental. This tonality is one of Gregorian or church modes. However, it appears in many different musical styles, not just in Gregorian chant, ancient Greek and medieval, but also in romantic and modern music, including jazz and popular tunes. Because of its wide spread use in Polish folk music, some refer to it as Polish mode.

You may enjoy a sound sample or tonality loop as sound mantra for contemplation or meditation. This can help with upliftment, purification, and focusing. Or it could simply be used as soothing background sound for relaxation and regeneration. If you care to hum, chant, or sing along, you could use a spiritually charged syllable like Ōṃ / Aum ॐ, or HU, or another mantra syllable that suits you.