Songs,poems and life

   I happened to come across two posts that I shared this week. One was a begrudging acknowledgment that the Ukraine war might not be as black and white as the Biden folks tried to claim. The other was a horrible abuse of power and false imprisonment perpetuated by the Trump administration. As a US citizen I can tell you that these days you risk losing friends and family and being branded whichever political view you claim. I personally don't do politics anymore mainly because of that. Everyone has a reason to justify  their hatred and it gets nasty. So to cleanse my mind of Donnie and Joe, JD and Bernie and all the rest I go to my love of music, comedy and the paranormal. 

With that being said I wanted to do a blog on song's that have influenced me or made me think. Now music doesn't always have to make me think for me to enjoy it. From my youthful stoned enjoyment of KISS to my drunken partying to Hank Jr. singing "Family tradition." a song is often just a good beat a loud guitar or a memory of teenage angst. Nothing especially deep. But some songs stay with me because of lyrics or the story they tell. They may or may not be my favorite. Because with songs and me it depends on my mood and time and place. So I really can't say that any one song is my favorite.

I'm also a little odd because there are times when I really don't want to hear music at all. I love to get quiet and as an introvert I can tell you that there is a difference between privacy which I enjoy and loneliness which I certainly don't enjoy.

But these are some songs that tell a story. That paint such a vivid picture that I see the scenes both of the songs and my own life that they evoke. So, this is a hate free zone. No politics, religion or hate speech. 

1. Willin by Lowell George. This was covered in the seventies by Linda Ronstadt and her cover has always stayed with me. These lyrics and her heartfelt  belting out of this song captivated me in my youth. Warped by the rain. driven by the snow. Drunk and dirty but don't you know that I'm still. Willin. It causes me to remember my mispent youth. When I would wake up after a night of crazziness and even of having suffered some abuse in a bar or an argument and still I was standing. The weed, whites and wine part just paints a picture of a long night and an early morning hangover. No, I'm not saying those are good things. Drunk, Stoned and stupid is no way to go through life. I'm just saying it paints a picture.And in my youth I could feel these lyrincs. 

2. I'm so lonesome I could cry. Hank Williams. My mother loved country music I grew up with a step dad who played the guitar and a mother who sang country music constantly. I didn't love country music. I rebelled against it. But, it still stuck As a matter of fact when arthritis isn't acting up and you hand me a six string I can play almost any song from that era From Hank to George to Merle to Loretta to Patsy Cline. But I'm so lonesome I could cry is easily the best and most vivid story song ever written. At least I think so. Just this verse alone "The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky. And as I wonder where you are. I'm so lonesome I could cry." Or this "I"m never seen a night so long. and time goes crawling by. The moon just went behind the clouds to hide it's face and cry. And this one reminds me of a night in Altoona, Alabama back in my youth in the country."Hear that lonesome wipporwill. He sounds too blue to fly. The midnight train is whining low. I"m so lonesome I could cry."  Maybe it's because I'm Southern or maybe it's just the imagery of a lonely night. But it sticks man. 

3. Midnight Train to Georgia. Gladys Knight.

Ah Gladys Knight.Hearing her belt out this song is perfection,. "Said he's going back to find. What's left of his world.: "The world he left behind. Not so long ago." Gotta say that the thought of gong back is something we all think about and rarely if ever can do. But this man is tired. Been through enough. Wants to get back home. This woman has got to be with him. So, she's getting on that train too. I always said I wanted this song played at my funeral. For some reason this always filled me with hope. Even though I might find my body old and failing one day. I'm gonna get on that train and get back home. To where I can be who I really am. Maybe I"m reading it wrong. But art is always a personal thing in the end. so maybe I can't be wrong. 

4. When you are Old. W.B. Yeats. 

This of course isn't a song. It's a poem. Now I"m not a poem person. But this one has always spoken to me. I first heard it even though it's an old poem in the 1980's during a "New Twilight Zone" episode titled "Her Pilgrim Soul." It involed technology and research and reincarnation. The poem was read at the end and it was always spiritual for me. Some say it isn't uplifting. That it's about loss. but I don't think so. I  think it's about optimism and the passage of time which really doesn't effect love or the soul. So I'm going to type out the full poem here. It's a short one. And it's my absolute favorite.

"When you are old and grey and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire,take down this book and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace, and loved your beauty with love false or true.But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you. Ad loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars ,murmur a little sadly, how love fled and paced upon the mountains overhead. And hid his face among a crowd of stars...W.B. Yeats

Now I admit that sounds sad. But I always thought the face (soul) is eternal and will be revealed in all it's glory as will the face of the pilgrim soul once we are beyond the stars. Beyond this temporary world.

Welp with that I'm done with this one. It wasn't quite what I was expecting to write about today. I'm really not in a melancholy mood. But, it's always a release for me to write things down. If you read all my blabbering I thank you.

Peace!

Prayer & coffee ☕

 Coffee & Prayer from an exile

I have a life long friend who told me he never has prayed much. It got me thinking about myself. Looking at my upcoming 68th trip around the sun i realized that i have always prayed. It's certainly changed over a lifetime. From a childhood raised “in the church” as we say in the South. To a more mature evangelical and then a more progressive faith. And finally to a “religion is stupid” meditative everything is one type of faith. I'm a more “Autobiography of a Yogi” type person than an “Acts” of the apostles type these days. But at 67 years old i find my focus i is just not there to sit in meditation. So a quiet walk and earnest prayer either in my own head or softly out loud works best for me. I just hope the people i see assume i'm on my phone via Bluetooth. If that doesn't work i can always play the “ eccentric old man card.”

I think about the folks who laugh about thoughts & prayers. Even the bible says something about the pointless prattle of saying “be clothed & well fed.” Instead of taking action.

Still prayer centers me. I no longer think there's an angry old man getting his blood pressure up everytime i look at a woman or say a cuss word. But I still feel heard and valued.

A few years ago i had an experience between meditation, sleep & coming up out of a hypnogogic state. I was in a place of pure white light. Brighter than the sun but soothing and no harshness. I was in the light and i was of the light. Everything that ever was, is or will be is in the light. My ancestors, family and all that is were in the light.

It is another sign along the journey for me. I don't try and define God,Goddess,Source. I know that i’m a being of light. I know we all come from that light and i don't think religion,atheism, or anything else matters. Except to the extent you find it helpful.

The coffee was good this morning. So was the prayer 🙏 ✌️

Aliens or gathering of Angels

 A gathering of angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said...Styx

As i grow older i become less inhibited about letting my freak flag fly.

I was talking to a friend not long ago about UFO's and other mysteries. I mentioned that i have always been fascinated by accounts of alien abduction and lights in the sky. She had a personal reason for not being comfortable with UFO stories and i respect that. 

I said if a UFO landed i'd run up to it and take off. My friend was horrified at the thought. But i was thinking.

I've grown old. I've had heart surgery and i'm developing some twinges in my hands and legs. I'm well into my 60's. I'd take my chances on one awesome adventure at this stage in life 

"I thought that they were angels. Much to my surprise. We climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies....Styx"

It's funny because i'm not a bolts and nuts science fiction fan. I remember not being able to keep my eyes open during the movie "Alien" it was so slow and dark when it started.

But thinking of craft from another dimension. Of worlds and wonders beyond the same old,same old is fun.

"Hey Mr Spaceman. Would you take me along. I won't do anything wrong. Would you take me along for a ride...The Byrds

I follow the thread on UFO'S on X formerly known as UFO Twitter. I innocently thought it would be full of starry eyed folks like me discussing how awesome the universe is. 

But it's full of people worrying about demons, false government conspiracy and debunkers who act like any wonder or hope about the universe has to be squashed immediately in the name of rationality and their own view of what constitutes science.

I just want to walk out under the stars and put an old Art Bell Coast to Coast radio show on in the background and star watch and wonder. Did i just see that star move?

Peace!

While going down the rabbit hole of UFO'S and aliens and maybe time traveling humans. After all what if the Grays and Nordics and other alien species are our own future humans trying to prevent an apocalypse?

Well anyway while thinking of stuff i ran across an old Brownsville Station song called the Martian Boogie.

I'm too lazy to write out the lyrics but if you do a little youtube,google research it's not hard to find. 

One line mentions some martian cigarettes. Maybe it's the rock and roll and memories of youthful nights of my misspent youth in a haze of beer and wacky terbacky followed by a run out to Walnut Grove Alabama on 278 to get a greasy burger basket at Scruggs Truck Stop. 

The 70's were a little bit more unenlightened about driving while under the influence.  But the song lyrics took me back.

After all old men like to think of long ago blonde haired women in halter tops and dark haired women at the bar. how cold the beer tasted and the warm smell of colitas rising up through the air. It's all harmless memories as long as you remember being drunk and stoned is no way to go through life. 

But every once in awhile i forget the arthritis in my hands and grab my guitar. 

Then i travel back somewhere between rural Etowah County and Gadsden. The stars are bright and the moon is full and i swear if they ain't serious those aliens better not land. Cause I'm climbing aboard! 

"Come sail away, come sail away. Come and sail away with me...Styx"

Rock&Roll

 

So. I hear the world as we know it is ending Tuesday unless he or she gets elected! I hear life as we know it will be forever changed. Well as an old boomer my life has already changed. So send in the clowns.

That doesn't make sense? Well neither does rooting for a politician. 

When i was young i would sometimes have trouble falling asleep. So i'd choose major league baseball all star teams position by position until i fell asleep. 

I later in life started meditating and if you google Yoga Nidra i highly recommend it for getting to sleep. 

But i also like to think of stuff i enjoy and am thankful for whenever the world seems unstable. 

You have to be a certain age (old as dirt) to remember. But back in the day we had rock stations that would play complete albums at night. I was thinking of that today.

Birmingham, Alabama had one that was written up in Rolling Stone Magazine. Back before google, tic tock and Facebook magazines were a big thing and when it came to rock there was none bigger than Rolling Stone!

I can still hear the DJ late at night talking about the albums calling them restaurant menu style:

Tonight we have some Skynard followed up by some Zeppelin with a little Sabbath. Later we're serving up some Queen and some Heart. Then we're going deep into some Floyd and following up with Rondstat and a little Wet Willie. 

It was a great time to be young and to be into music. So i'm going to list some of my favorite albums. I wish i could hear that B-ham "pilot of the Airwaves" counting them down one more time. 

1. One of These Nights...Eagles

Why i love it: the last great classic Eagles album. They were leaving some of the early 70's California sound behind and heading towards Hotel California. This one has Randy Meiesner and Bernie Leadon still blending perfect harmony. Don Felder solidifying the changes that were coming. My favorite album from my favorite band.

2. Rumors...Fleetwood Mac.

Why i love it: Stevie Nicks bet ya saw that one coming. But also Christine Mcvee and her piano doing "For You " along with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie putting their marks on the band. Fleetwood Mac was a really Good deeper and more serious British band. But the addition of the 2 Americans and the more energetic pop sound lit a fire.

3. Queen...News of the World.

Why i love it: Freddie Mercury. Wow! He is in full throated talent which this album. He does a piano solo called "Melancholy Blues" that is unforgettable.

4. Styx...The Grand Illusion 

Why i love it: This album has one of my all time favorites "Come Sail Away."

There are also songs i remember loving and certain places and people i associate with them. 

"Day after Day"...Bad Company 

Why i love it: a middle school gym and a childhood friend that i suddenly realized was a good looking girl. 

Slow Ride...Foghat

Why i love it: A hot Southern night, beer and a certain blond haired crush.

Witchy Woman...Eagles

Why i love it: did i mention blond haired women and Pony Miller's?

Sunday Morning Coming Down...Johnny Cash

Why i love it: Way back before the internet and satellite TV and Walmart. Sunday hit different. And if you were a young man who had imbibed a few too many on Saturday night. Sunday could be a long dry soul searching day.

Honorable Mention: Steve Miller Band "Fly like an Eagle." I once traded this 8 track after partying to much for the legendary piece of crap "Frampton Comes Alive " Talk about buyers remorse the next day. People shouldn't take advantage of young men who stupidly drink themselves silly. Another good reason to stay sober.

Albums and artists i hate. 

1. Frampton Comes Alive...Did i ever mention i hate this album?

2. Bruce Springsteen...Dear Bruce,

I hear you're a pretty good dude. It's not personal. It's just that your music makes me want to lose my hearing until you shut up! You're the most depressing artist i've ever come across. You should go on a long slow lifetime cruise to China.

PS: please take Peter Frampton with you. 

Peace!

Relationship in Autumn

 I found a leaf in the yard today.So, I looked at this Leaf. Thinking about, How fast life has gone. And I'm walking out. By my car that needs some work. In a body that probably needs some work. And there's this orange leaf. Turned by the Fall. And it's beautiful. I look at it  the reddish orange colors blending with black.

It's got holes in it. It's tattered. It's brittle. But it's still beautiful.

That's kind of what old age is feeling like to me.

A little shaky 

A little more fragile. But sometime when the light hits just right. The colors hit just right. It's still beautiful. Life is a gift. I think it's part of a long journey. I've come to feel, there's nothing but being And we get in these vehicles, these bodies. And we travel through a lifetime.

And the one thing that I have found, That I have held on to is relationship. I think that's all. That's what it's about. Relationship. And sometimes you find somebody from your tribe. You just light up. Sometimes you see somebody or you, miss somebody, you haven't seen for a long time.

The very Consciousness that Produces that leaf. The source of life. Doesn't die when the leaf does.

And that leaf, maybe produces and mingles with more life as it deteriorates Into the ground. I don't know. I'm not a Philosopher.

And I'm not a theologian.

But that's just one of the things I have found on my journey. I've seen a lot of beautiful People. Even people I didn't know were beautiful at the time. They're beautiful in my memory. And there's part of me that Because I do feel strongly life is an eternal journey see it all as a Continuum.

Sometimes I can't wait to drop This body I inhabit. Get to the next phase. But if you put a gun to my head right now, I'd beg for my life, this life

But if you said, what's it all about, That would be my answer. Relationship.

I've blown so many and was oblivious to even more. I lived with my head up my butt most of my life. But now in the Fall with Winter coming. I like to think about the Spring. When the leaves will be green again and relationships thought lost will prove to be found. 

I don't much follow religious dogma these days. But i follow the hope that all religions at their best point towards. The healing and finding relationships and the journey home. 

Autumn of life

 This started out as a meditative walk and talk with my maker. Then I decided to turn on my recorder and do a verbal vlog. So it might read a little oddly in places.

Fall. It's a different time of year.

The bluish Blues. The greenest greens. Are about to fade. In the South, some of the Intense heat. Is also about to break. And breathing will be a little easier outside. Kind of a trade-off, I guess.

I Have come to a place in life. Where I'm pretty sure. That we are beings of light. But I just watched a documentary on YouTube that reminded me of how dark humanity can be. The murder and the sexual attacks on children and And it's hard to believe that a being who could commit such a thing. Has anything at all to do with light. Or spirit.

But I tend to still think that. Because of my own experience in life that we are beings of light at our core.

I think about, Angry atheist, Fundamentalist Christians. Because those are the only two  types that I really have experience with. The Christian, because I was born and raised a Christian. The atheist. Because Growing up. That was always the opposite. But they both have a peculiar world view to me. They see God. As an old man in the sky.

That has temper tantrums and anger, and is responsible for, Either all the beauty or all the darkness in the world or both.

I think they Have this Just so story. The Christians that Jesus will pull him out of tribulation (what do they think this is) and They'll be able to escape torment. The fact that others will be tormented, it just sucks to be them. The atheist that it's all a fairy tale and a sperm Lottery. Since they're not a child in a cancer ward, or A baby getting molested or a woman getting raped? Hey, it just sucks to be everybody else live for today.

 My worldview has changed a lot over the years.

I no longer see God as an old man in the sky. That gets angry at me for something as silly as looking at a woman's shoulder or saying a bad word when I stubbed my toe.

But I don't. See life as being meaningless or blind. Good Lord, Evolution isn't even blind. It has purpose.

Everything on Earth appears to have purpose. I'm talking about species and Bodies and planets. And, you know, they all seem to serve A purpose. The smallest insect appears to have a purpose.

But, The reason I feel that I'm a being of light. That everyone is light. And i could be wrong. But I had an experience after meditating and falling asleep in between waking and Coming fully awake. All of a sudden I was in pure white light.

It was the most brilliant light I've ever seen. Brighter than the Sun and yet, it was so soft on my eyes. And I remember, Feeling like this was the beginning of everything that is, was and ever will be. "Let there be light "

I feel in that light. My loved ones that have passed were in that light. It was a beautiful feeling and it didn't last long, But for me, it was another signpost along the highway.

So now it's fall. And I'm in my 60s. Looking hard at my 70s. I sometimes wonder, and I don't want to be put me in a padded room but I generally wonder if time has speeded up somehow. 

I understand The concept of physics on that level, and I know it can't have speeded up but man, it feels like it. Because this life has gone so fast. And who knew that I'd be so young when I was so old. Wow. I was 19 yesterday I'm telling you.

When it Turns to fall and it's not Fall in Alabama, yet. There's just a hint of it every once in a while. In the mornings and late at night. It takes a while for fall to come to Alabama.

But I'm outside and look at these green trees and the grass. At the blue sky. If you've never been to
Etowah County, Blount County, Alabama. In the spring and summer, you have no idea. Just what I'm talking about. The greens and blues are just Vivid. Even though Tuscaloosa County is about 120 miles Southwest of where i grew up. Today brought some memories.

Of course, I guess everybody says that about their experience In their own part of the world. Because it's true. I'm sure.

But it is amazing. And now,  the leaves will turn and First, they'll turn colors and that'll look nice and the grass will get sparser and less High.  But then, come around November, December. I'll really start missing the Greenery when I can see the bare ground the bare tree limbs, and The sparse leaves.

And It starts getting cold sometime in December. Or so, and it will. As I watch a hummingbird right now, It will be a different world.

And I think about life and death a lot, I think about how fast it's gone by. You know, I think about For instance. My uncle way back. In Altoona, Alabama. He was a tremendous Alabama football fan. He would have been Happy if he had of lived through the Nick Saban years.

And now, I look at Alabama, about to get a new coach, they have a new coach actually. I hope not about to have another one for several years. And I think this could well be the last one of my lifetime. Coaching change i mean. I know it's silly but many guys from my state use college football as a marker through life.

 I remember the prettiest girl in Altoona, Alabama.   And I know how fast life has gone by. And we're all getting old.

It's just an odd feeling.

You know. If I had a regret. And I have a couple. It's mainly the way I've treated other people in my lifetime. The way I'm treated creatures. Dogs cats.

Wanting to be sure that I've treated people Well and I know I haven't always And you want to go back and fix it, but, you know, you can't. 

We're all given much Grace at the end of this journey. I truly feel that's so.

Tolkien wrote "Does Everything sad become untrue?" 

What a wonderful thought to have and hold.

I'm at that age where Politics doesn't bother me much anymore. It really doesn't. 

If I didn't have a son. I wouldn't be that concerned because i'm So old it won't matter to me not many years down the road. And yet that's not quite true. I'd still care. 

But it no longer really feels like My My world anymore. I feel more like i'm just renting space. I'm just  passing through and I don't mean that in a religious sense like those old hymns I grew Up with. I just mean it. Period. I close my eyes and Prayerfully, meditatively  look up. No list, no gimme this or do that. Just listen. Just Be!

Feel the presence. Try to listen. I have a list of things I want, but I try to listen. 

Because when you've had heart surgery, And you felt,
That muscle. That's beating your whole life. Start to slow down or speed up. And you realize how fragile the rest of your life is going to be it puts it in perspective. You don't stop being human. You don't stop looking at Pretty people of the opposite sex. I could use some money to pay a bill. Win a lottery, but you quit. Looking at it as Be all end all.

 I have said before. There is a book that I read later in life. Called autobiography of a yogi.

And in that book chapter 43,  It takes about an hour to listen to it on Audible. I think it's a long chapter. Or maybe 45 minutes. But it's called the resurrection of SriYukeswar. Excuse my spelling.

It's had a big impact on me sometime When I meditate, I listen to that. While I meditate. Or listen to it before, or when I'm going to sleep, I don't do it a lot. But sometimes. Because it feels to me, you know, some thing's resonate with you. There are things that you hear or you see. And it just feels. Like it belongs to you that chapter Is one of those things for me.

Not because I think that it's the gospel truth. No pun intended. But because the concepts of it, Feel right to me.

In my Christian Upbringing. The hardest thing for me. Was to finally admit. That while I believe that. Jesus indeed appeared. After his death, I didn't believe that. Physical bodies. Molecules and sexual organs knitted back together. Came out of Graves. But I've always actually had a feeling. Of spiritual reality.

And in that book, Chapter 43. It talks about The gross physical body,  the astral body that we're connected to. And the casual body which is just pure Consciousness and it rang a bell with me. I think it's because I've got or I've always had A little snippet of memory of a past life and You know, I I don't go around trying to convert people to anything.

Because I don't think it matters. I think all that matters is that you see the light in other creatures and people And try to be as kind As you can be. At any given time.

But that chapter helped me to articulate at least for myself. Some of the reasons. That I have hope. As I approach. The seventh decade of my life on Earth if I should reach that decade.

So that's why chapter 43 is so important to me. Does it mean that I Agree with every inch of the philosophy in it? Of course, not. Am I going to become a Hindu? No, no. Not today. I'm not gonna renounce My faith that I was born in. No, I never have. I have left the dogma. But other people.Pretty much told me, I have to believe in this and this in order to be What I was brought up as but I never really was good at taking direction from other people.

So, here I am. I think I'm playing with house money. I thought that ever since I Had the heart surgery. Everything later is just gravy. That Uncle who I always loved still do. He didn't get past 65 on Earth in this life. My mother recently passed at 84. And my dad is In his 90s. 

But I had a feeling. Before my surgery that I might not make it out of my 60s, After surgery, I felt like i might Indeed make it out of my 60s but I can tell you When you had that kind of procedure. You don't know how you'll feel when you wake up and it was Rocky and it still is sometimes.

But I've come to a place where I think it's all one Eternal moment. And it's not quantity. It's every day.  Day by day  And every day of being able to Pray or Meditate or just be It's a gift. I don't always use it right and I gripe and I Grumble and I cuss and I wish I'd done this and I wish I'd done that, and if I'd have only done this or that, But ultimately, I feel like I'm surrounded by light.

So, In the words of Yogananda.

I'm immersed in Thine Eternal Light.

It fills every particle of my being.

I'm living in that light. The Divine Spirit fills me within and without.

Peace!

Yoganda and me

I don't do gurus. Except for Willie Nelson. I find the occasional times i've heard him touch on religion, politics or life that i've agreed with most of it. But, i keep my own counsel and maintain my right to my opinion. 

I have found that most people including myself bow or search for some outward authority and demonize our actual spirit until it succumbs to the "authority." 

I was talking to an old friend via Facebook. I told my friend how much i had always admired her and her family and how i honored those old relationships in my old age. But all my friend heard was that i no longer followed the old fire and brimstone myths i was raised in. 

It hurt my feelings because it was a cold religious answer that had absolutely nothing to do with what i was trying to say. 

I honestly respect anybody's right to their religion or politics. I have my own inner life and view of God/Goddess/Mother/Father/Holy Spirit. I also respect those who don't have any "beliefs." 

But here's the thing. No. I don't fear the source of all love. I have a child. I promise you that be he good or evil. I would NEVER turn my back on him. He could blow this world and all that's in it to smithereens and i still couldn't eternally turn my back on him.

So no! I don't believe that the Source of all love will ever completely obliterate or stop reaching into hellish or any other conditions for his/her children. I'm not going to throw bible verses with you. I don't look at the bible as one book. 

But I'm not going to try and explain all the Greek, Babylonian and other ancient influences, scriptures or translations to you. I'm not qualified and it ain't my business. But if you do a deep dive into Christian Universalism you'll find that i'm not really all that heretical. 

 I have recently come across the Indian (dots not feather's) Sorry i couldn't resist. But the Indian or Hindu practice of Vadenta. I won't try to explain it because I don't know that much about it and I'm not converting to any one religious path. But, i find the meditation and the union of everything with the Divine resonates with me.

I came across Paramahasna Yogananda via his classic "Autobiography of a Yogi." I was pretty much ready to completely turn away from my Christianity. There was just so much i disagreed with. Especially the old testament crap of ripping babies from their mother's and dashing them onto rocks. That kind of "god" would never be something i could worship. Also the new testament had some holes. At least for me. 

But this Indian Yogi gave me reason to reconsider Christ, resurrection and the wisdom that faith divorced from fanaticism can have. I found chapter 43 "The Resurrection of Sri Yukteswar" by itself the most incredible explanation of the afterlife and reincarnation that i had ever read. There are nuggets there that once you shift through the religion and open your heart through meditation that i find invaluable.

 So i've found much inspiration from Yogananda. I don't consider him my guru in the religious sense. But i have connected with his spirit in a consciousness/spiritual sense. 

I have no religion these days except the Golden Rule of Jesus. "Do unto other's as you would have them do unto you."

I have no religious test. No political view and no conditional love or friendship. If i ever loved you then i always will. If you treat me with respect and offer friendship then i treat you with respect and offer friendship. 

Prayer and meditation are how i stay balanced. My hope is in the pure light of God. That i've come to feel is where we begin and where we belong.

"I am immersed in thine Eternal Light. It permeates every particle of my being. I'm living in that light. The Divine Spirit fills me within and without." ... Paramahasna Yogananda.

Peace!