Cosmic Joke

We are Mankind.  The most arrogant and cocksure species on the planet, and yet, we know pretty much NOTHING.  This is high comedy.

If we're honest, all our words are little more than small mouth noises.  All our biggest ideas and grandest concepts and buildings and monuments are relative Lincoln Logs when compared to the wonder and awe inherent in nature.  

Lighten up.  Life is a movie.  And we don’t know how it’s gonna end.  No one does.  Not the End-Times-Christians or the Strip-Mall-Palm-Readers.  

No one knows, even though EVERYONE is pretending to.  

Life is a comedy-suspense-drama-sci-fi-political-espionage-horror-mockumentary-thriller.  

RELAX!  Enjoy the show.

The most important thing we can do as human beings is learn how to transform pain into joy and laughter.  

Laugh more.  Laugh at yourself.  But, please, don’t take any of it seriously.  How can you?  You don't know enough.

Now listen to my song “Cosmic Joke” at high volume, and the whole thing will become suddenly clear. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l2gybwisc5vaz1j/05%20Cosmic%20Joke.mp3?dl=0

Beauty is all around us.

Beauty is all around us.

I've been going out for walks on these warm early fall nights listening to the crickets and cicada sounds.

I tend to feel better when I connect to nature.

Have a great one.

American Dream (Plan B)

Tom Petty is still doin it.  

He reminds me how stale and lame most music sounds these days.  

No songs.  No poetry.  Like having Lunchables for dinner.  Yuk.  There's a reason why most of my musical heroes are old or dead.

Tom Petty was sure alive and well last night at the local enormo-dome (Bridgestone Arena) here in Nashville.  The sound of those places is always shit, but it don't matter.  The songs are there.  And the Heartbreakers always deliver the goods.  

One of my earliest heroes, Tom Petty is still relevant after almost 40 years!  His career is as long as I am!  And the new album sounds rich and inspired.  Ageless.  My favorites from the new album, Hypnotic Eye, upon first listen:  Red River, Fault Lines, Forgotten Man, Sins Of My Youth, U Get Me High

Unlike many of today's rock stars, Tom Petty has a gift for crafting songs that move you, wherever and whoever you are.  He’s one of America’s great poets, so his songs don’t age, they mature like fine wine.

That’s what I've always aspired to do; write songs with that timeless quality.  It’s a long road to get your writing chops to that level.  You have to have some natural ability, sure, but mostly it’s just a whole lotta work, for a whole lotta years.  

But the music industry fleas won't tell you that.  Most labels and publishers don't believe in artist development.  They believe in cash grab-velopment.  

It's up to us (everyday people) to chip in and support the next Tom Petty, the next Bonnie Raitt, the next Bruce Springsteen, the next James Taylor, however and wherever we can.  They aren't being developed by the music biz anymore.  They're left to fend for themselves.  They're busking downtown.  They're working for peanuts in a coffee shop or bar near you. And corporate giants like Spotify and Viacom are skimming their hard-earned tips from the tip jar.

To all the hard-working, developing artists out there:

Don't ever give up on your dream.  Dig your heels in and keep pushing, keep creating, keep moving.  The mainstream ain't the only river that leads to the sea.  

Us Versus Us

Look at US.  There is no THEM from this point of view.  

We're in this together.  That's not a pithy little Hallmark greeting.  That's a fact, Jack.

It's time we stop blaming others for our own individual problems.  We, as individuals, have to take ownership of our own lives.  It all starts at home.  We have to become aware of what we are contributing with our thoughts and minds and hearts.  It's not what we do, it's what we INTEND by doing it.

It's time to wake up and create more than we destroy.  I know there is a certain amount of destruction inherent to Life.  The point is: Pay attention to what you're doing.  

It seems every generation leaves the world a little more confused and sad than the one before it, and I'm here to say it, that's just not good enough anymore.  It's time to stop the cycle of fear and war.  Stop the cycle of negativity and indifference.

Certainly, if there's a problem on the pale blue dot in the picture, it's MY PROBLEM.  It's not something I can blame on anyone else.  And it's no longer something I can ignore.  

There's no pill for what ails you because what ails you is you.  You have to accept this fact and learn to forgive everyone, including yourself.

When you look in the mirror and take ownership of your role in this experience called Life, something strange and beautiful may happen.  You may actually begin to care.  Not because you were conditioned to believe "good people help others."  But because you realize your inborn nature is to love and to share who you really are with this world.

Thanks.  We need you.

Do What Scares Ya

I was at the Americana Music Association’s annual awards show Wednesday night at the Ryman Auditorium here in downtown Nashville.  As they kept saying that night, The Ryman is the “Mother Church” of Country Music, and there were some real memorable performances.  Taj Majal was explosive.  Loretta Lynn singing “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was timeless.  You could hear the years of experience in their voices and it was tremendous.  

Jason Isbell represented the younger generation well when he sang his full heart out on "Cover Me Up."  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaUCDqWzy1k  

During one of his award speeches he said it scared him to death to sing this one for his wife, whom he had written it for.  “Do what scares ya,” he said as he held up his guitar-shaped award.  That pretty much sums it all up in 5 words or less.  Do what scares ya. 

(Re)Discovering Love

Check out the little kid in this photo with his doggie.  They are just in the present, playing in the living moment.  

That's where love lives.

In our fast-food culture, we like to twist love into a game of Monopoly.  "See how much I can collect."  "See how much I can win." "Let's see what I'm worth."  That's something else.  That's not love.  

Love is not a winner or a loser.  Love is a dance.  Love is a song.  

Its nature is simply to give and give and give and give.  To play and to sing.  No approval is needed.  No grades.  No judgement.  

The Sun shines everyday, unconditionally.  It doesn't bother about whether or not we deserve the life-giving energy it shines!  No!  The Sun doesn't wait for our encouragement or applause.  No!  Its nature is simply to give.

The Sun doesn't discriminate.  The Sun doesn't know an Israeli from a Palestinian, neither does love.  It can't tell gay from straight.  It just shines on.

Love is a gift and you can't earn it, so stop trying.  Love is free!

And if you don't understand this, you won't understand love.

I have learned from personal experience that until we sort out our own definition of love, we will never be happy.  We will never have enough.  We will always feel frustrated and fearful, under-appreciated and mostly lonely.  

But, like the Sun, weren't we created to give light?  To give love?

We were all created to share who we are with the world.  

Shine your light as brightly and consistently as humanly possible everyday. 

That's what love does.  And that's all that matters.

Taking The Leap

When you make a decision to take the leap from ego to Love, from fear to surrender, you begin to worry about how far that gap really is.  

It’s just like when I was 4 years old.  I was a little daredevil and I wanted to jump off the high dive at the local pool.  My grandpa Torben dove in and was treading water beneath the 12 ft. high diving board barking at me, “Come on kid, that’s it, climb up and jump in with me.  I gotcha!”

I still remember climbing those concrete steps, my little knees knocking all the way up.  Lifeguards were blowing their whistles at my Grandpa and me.  This was a violation!  And it only added to my excitement.  When I reached the top my 4-year old bravado ran out and I was really scared.  I walked to the edge and looked over.  There was Grandpa.  “Come on!  Jump in it’s easy!  I’ll catch yah!”

The lifeguards with their sunblocked noses were standing up on their elevated thrones now whistling like mad.  I think they, like me, were unsure what to do next.  

I caught my breath, looked around at all the gawkers below, then looked down at Grandpa one last time.

KERPLUNK!

I hit the water with a splash, bubbled up to the water’s surface flailing and coughing, and there was Grandpa laughing.  “I got yah, I got yah.”

The leap into Love is like this.  You work hard to get up the nerve.  You climb the steps.  Your knees really do start knocking.  Then you get to the edge and you want to call it all off.  “The leap is too much,” an inner voice nags.  But then you listen and the voice of Love is laughing saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you, come on!”

But for what seems like a lifetime you are frozen in fear stuck high up on that platform.  And the so-called lifeguards are blowing their obnoxious whistles like they don’t have any other idea what to do.  So you finally just go ahead and jump.  Love catches you and you feel exhilarated. 

In our lives, this climb up the steps, the insecurity, and the ensuing doubt and fear can last for years or even decades.  Love will catch you if you just surrender.  But you can choose to hang up there on that ledge forever, waiting for someone to push you off or rescue you, but it never happens.  Because it's your leap.  And it’s a long way down.  

But Love will catch you.  You just have to take the leap.