Mix done for Summer Tide FestivalDuclos, Quebec, CanadaAugust 20 – 22, 2021 Catapulting our spirits into a supernova of spontaneous freedom, a full moon ritual to See, Hear and Know that the Spirit is alive and well. “The shaman cultivates a neural map based on symbolic external cues in his environment and current cultural worldview …
Mix done for gathering @ Sur Les Toits du Monde Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada February 8, 2020 Soundwaves manifest(o) for a psychedelic bodhisattva society — from polychromatic heart-prayers to the kaleidoscopic colours of our thoughts. “The bodhisattva vow is the commitment to put others before oneself… perfecting the qualities of generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, …
New favourite album of the moment. Unusual Cosmic Process is based out of Ukraine, and has been producing electronic music (psychedelic chillout and progressive) since 2006. Best track is Inner Silence (Phantom Sentinel Remix) — can you hear those triumphant universes?
Dusk arrival at the top of this mountain. Night descends after wending slow, roaming lonely kilometres of scars – barely healed – bloodless paths of trucks long gone, stubborn pines arising, unspoken witness. A whole plateau, freshly headless and accusatory. Nightstealers linger, patient sleepers in the amethyst-brush. Somehow we’ve made ourselves known to entire empires …
I’ve got a new book out. I’ve been writing about small space design for several years now, documenting and showcasing wonderful space-saving ideas and charting the general evolution of tiny houses and the mortgage-free housing movement. One of the most interesting developments in the tiny house movement thus far are vehicle conversions — people converting vans, …
“The universe is an oracle, an instantaneous feedback loop that is a living revelation of itself, and it is speaking symbolically, just like a dream. Literally.” — Paul Levy Another thought as to why we need to pay close attention to the details, the insignificant-looking ones, the ones that require our full presence of mind …
Pauline Oliveros was an American composer and an early pioneer in the development of post-war electronic music. I don’t know about you, but listening to this album above (a collaboration with Stuart Dempster and Panaiotis) sends chills down my spine and calls to something deep within. In developing a new musical theory of “sonic awareness”, …
“You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes.” — Alan Watts, philosopher
Originally trained as a doctor, early 20th century spiritual teacher Swami Sivananda taught a number of disciples who then went on to continue the lineage of teachings, founding well-known modern yoga schools around the world, such as Integral Yoga, Sivananda Yoga and the Bihar School of Yoga. Written below is one of Sivananda’s pamphlets about yogic …
Sometimes the process of change rolls molasses-slow, and one needs an infusion of inspiration to keep the soul tuned in. So in the grand old tradition of setting resolutions for the coming year, this storyteller is going to try things from another angle: posting one hand-picked, graphically re-interpreted inspirational quote or meme every day week (or …
I will admit this: I’m rather partial to monkeys. I suppose it is because I am born in the Year of the Monkey, according to the Chinese zodiac. One of the most famous Chinese legends is that of the Monkey King, one of the main characters of the Chinese story Journey to the West. The Hindus have …
The beginning of yet another year, yet another present moment in this holographic emanation of time. How we come back again and again to the infinite Here Now. What is revealed…? From Wikipedia: Ancient and medieval Indian scholars have referred to Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as a foundation to discuss psychological theories, the nature of psyche, and how …
Indigenous activist, poet and writer John Trudell passed away last week on December 8, 2015. His voice will be missed around the world. I previously wrote about his courageous activism, encouraging us to act in non-cooperation with a capitalist system that is slowly killing the planet — and our humanity. Once again, in my daily …
The Internet has overtaken many of our lives in ways that were impossible to imagine a mere two decades ago. Many of us have some kind of online “presence,” be it through a social media file, or as data recorded through our Google searches. There is so much data out there that we now have …
The ancients of India believed that all existence arises from sound vibrations. There is a lot of fascinating literature on this, and the bija mantra (seed sound) of AUM is a well-known one. It may seem like some esoteric tidbit, but there is science underlying this ages-old tenet. A relatively new field in modern science, …
Most of us don’t think much about advertising. Granted, we find most ads annoying, but on a certain level, they get under our skin and seem to colonize our awareness in the strangest of ways, unbidden and unwelcome. like that jingle we can’t get out of our heads. I became most aware of this after spending …
Our built environment is a kind of manifestation of our consciousness, our awareness of our place in the world, and a statement of our relationship with others, the world at large, and our selves. The ancients understood this, hence the mystic forms of the Egyptians, Mayans, Druids, as well as other old civilizations like India, where …
Changing course in the middle of a slowly unfolding disaster is no small feat. Our society is a great system of systems, all of which work against the self-realization of the individual toward freedom, true community and happiness. Even worse, it commodifies everything. Everything. Not just the air, water, land and animals, but is this mindset …
I first heard about Cocteau Twins via Chinese singer Faye Wong. Ethereal and otherworldly, a kind of rhapsodic glossolalia from the higher dimensions. Of course, in reality, there is another story behind the music. Betrayal, broken promises and denial, via The Guardian: [Lead singer Elizabeth] Fraser’s decision to pull out of the reformation was made …
Art and architecture are repositories of memory, the stories we tell ourselves as a culture. I came across a mention of French art historian Henri Focillon, and the impact of his thinking on art history. Most people may think of art history as a flowing continuity, where one style “progresses” into another. But Focillon envisioned history …
Addiction is a hotly debated issue; is it a brain disease as some contend, or is it a collection of compulsive behaviours that arises from a psychological process, a forging of maladaptations to deal with emotional or psychological trauma. Others, like Canadian psychology professor Bruce K. Alexander, posit that the rise in addictions of all kinds …
Our inculturation as “moderns” sometimes leads us to view unconventional people in a misguided light. Portrayed as a tree-hugging radical, Julia “Butterfly” Hill is a well-known environmental activist and writer, best-known for her two-year long “tree-sit” occupation of a 200-foot tall ancient redwood tree in Humboldt County, California, to save it from being cut down by loggers. …
Mathematics is a beautiful language that helps us describe nature and her inexorable laws. For the layman (or laywoman in my case) this means a garbled bunch of indecipherable symbols, Greekery and equations, but it need not be the case if you would like to comprehend some concepts intuitively. One person that I’ve come across …
Stories of survival are irresistibly captivating. They speak to the strength, courage and resilience of the human spirit, and is something that inspires us to wonder, what would we do in a similar situation. The story of Agafia Lykov is one such tale. (After a long Canadian winter, I was especially drawn to her story.) Born …
What happens when you fold a circle, over and over? Amazing discoveries about the truths behind the universe, apparently. Author and sculptor Bradford Hansen-Smith of Wholemovement describes what happens when a circle is folded, allowing us to observe the “information stored in the flattened sphere (circle) which becomes uncompressed by moving the circle plane through all …