Buddha is NOT a personal name. Buddha is a state of consciousness. When one awakens from the cultural matrix into which one is born and ceases to react robotically to environmental circumstances, one instantly attains Buddhahood. Contrary to popular expectations, most humans today are closer to Buddhahood than they realize.
On Vesak Day, celebrated as the Buddha's birthday, awake and claim your own Buddhahood!
One can be a Buddha regardless of one's religious or non-religious affiliations.
Being Buddha simply means you are fully conscious - and therefore fully accountable for whatever happens within and around you.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was a massive musical influence during my teen years. I was introduced to this brilliantly eccentric Russian composer by Duncan S. Catling - a Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to teach English literature in Batu Pahat High School from 1964 to 1965. I'll never forget the day I visited Duncan in his rented terrace house and he put on TheRite of Spring for me. I was never the same again. Stravinsky had the same transmutative effect on the young Frank Zappa.
The recording of Rite of Spring Duncan played for me was conducted by Ernest Ansermet, a Swiss colleague of Igor Stravinsky and only a year younger than the composer. Ansermet was a highly regarded academic conductor who could be relied upon to render technically consummate interpretations of any score.
Many years later I heard a recording of Rite of Spring conducted by Seiji Ozawa and was completely blown away by the raw, primal feel Ozawa succeeded in capturing, especially with the percussive sections. If you'd rather listen to an X-rated interpretation of Rite of Spring, go for the Ozawa recording!
[First posted 3 January 2011, reposted 27 September 2018]
"What's truly funny is that something momentous is happening, and it's so real that the media can't see it. Here it is, the biggest story of all time, and it goes unreported. If you're continually focused on this and that media event, the latest celebrity scandal, the scattered wars of duality, the deceitful maneuverings of selfish politicians, and the shifting state of a false world economy, you just might miss the greater story. And this greater story is why we are hereand what gives our lives meaning."
- Solara, How to Live Large on a Small Planet, 1996
Here are a few questions you could ask (If you haven't already done so ages ago): How old is the New Age? Is it really NEW? Huh? WHAT New Age? Isn't it always "A New Age" every time a century turns? How about a stiff shot of HISTORY (while it lasts)? Because serious rumor in the mystery circles says History ends when we break through the Veil of Time And find ourselves (our True Selves, I mean) Beyond Euclidean Space.
TWENTY TWELVE, the Daykeeper nods, consulting his cosmic Calendar, the Mayan Tzolk'in. (Turn the world around and you'll See Linear Time's expiry date: 21 DECEMBER 2012.) And then what? GALACTIC SYNCHRONIZATION! We reconnect to the core of the Milky Way, Though what that means I cannot say.
"Excuse me, Sir, I am begging to differ," declares Mr Thambyvelloo, "Actually our Tathu Year will be TWENTY FOURTY-THREE." But Mr Gopala Das interjects: "Nonsense! MY calendar says 5113!" "FOURTEEN THIRTY-THREE is how WE put it," smiles Professor Haji Abuhasbin. "Nevertheless we conduct business by the International Calendar." "In other words," Pope Gregory grins, "you mean 2012 A.D."
Doesn't matter WHEN, it's happening NOW! Though it may not be happening to everybody At the same time. Or in the same way. But as the Beatles say: "Having been some days in preparation A splendid time is guaranteed for all."
[A QUICK SCROLL DOWN THE SCREEN TO SEE HOW LONG IT'S BEEN...]
A New Age might have been in sight When Pharaoh Akhenaton ruled Egypt, Thirty-three hundred and seventy-nine years ago (If historians are correct) in 1370 B.C. But alas it was not to be, For the King was poisoned in his palace By ruthless generals and greedy priests Before his mission was complete. Akhenaton's task was to prepare the world For the arrival of Lord Sananda, The Cosmic Christ foretold.
And so, fourteen centuries down the line, Another attempt was made in another land To restore Love as Law and the Path of Light Upon this Earth: Palestine under Roman rule, Where corruption and hypocrisy reigned supreme. Some middle-class Jews were put to shame When the Messiah came and castigated The merchants in the temple. "Oy vay, don't rock the boat!" they pleaded, And as their pious petitions went unheeded, They charged him with subversion and Crucified him with unholy haste. And once again all hope of a Golden Age Was brutally laid waste
(Even if, as some aver, the Crucifiction was
Just a Catholic joke in very poor taste).
However, the Christ Seed had been planted In the human gene pool - though it must have felt unwanted.
Rewind the tape of time five centuries or so To ancient China, where "Old Boy" Lao-tze (Archetypal wild sage of the mountains) Successfully summed up reality in 81 verses Called the Tao Te Ching.
While in Greece Pythagoras held the Beam With his mathemagickal mystery school, Using tools like the Golden Mean And hypotenuse rules, even as he danced To the Music of the Spheres.
In India Queen Maya bore a Prince: Siddhartha was his name. Instead of fortune and fame He sought enlightenment and freedom from the game Of personal karma. As Buddha he taught us the dharma, That this illusory world is just 4D melodrama.
Rather than beat an ignominious retreat Sweet Socrates (that old pederast) Took his hemlock neat (and his die was cast); To his health we shall drink eternally.
All these heroic individuals have been named As Keepers of the Sacred Flame That came through the Sun From beyond the stars: they were Beacons of truth and harbingers Of an approaching New Aeon.
Bold troubadours in post-Arthurian tales Sang to us about the Quest for the Grail: How the valiant Knights of the Table Round Sought the greatest treasure to be found - That pot of gold at the Rainbow's End - The descent of the Dove And the Rule of Love, As enemies turn to friends.
The most fleeting glimpse was all we were shown As we drew the sword of intelligence from the stone; And then the vision of the Holy Grail Vanished behind a misty veil Of nightmarish mayhem and massacre. Rival factions plunged the world into bloody war, Screaming, "Dominion over others by fang and claw!"
Meanwhile in the Middle East the stage was set For yet another crusade on this poor planet. The portals of belief saw heavy traffic. As images of love turned pornographic. The Spanish Inquisition was thrown in purely for luck, To ensure that the status quo didn't come unstuck. "Nine Hells have arrived," Aztec priests cried, "Exactly as Quetzalcoatl prophesied."
Came the Renaissance, a brilliant flash Of inspiration, giving rise to a dream Of a world reborn through Alchemy, Science and Art. The Word now passed from ear to eye As scriptures were read instead of heard. The past age of spiritual darkness and doubt Gave way to Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo - Who advocated logic, reason and laboratory testing As the most reliable method of finding out What Life on Earth was all about.
Angels and demons filled the atmosphere, And spoke to Michel Nostradamus the famous seer. They told him of the long dark night Of humanity's soul in its headlong flight Towards the final Apocalypse.
Mountebanks and sorcerers, mystery men and mages, Took their turn upon the stage of history: Cagliostro and Saint-Germain, Eliphaz Levi, Messrs Kelly and Dee Held sway in the courts of Europe, Hinting of a New Jerusalem and the Rebuilding of Solomon's Temple.
Christian Rosenkreutz published the Rosicrucian Manifesto, Heralding the advent of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality; While in 1776 Adam Weishaupt of Ingolstadt Founded the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria - Whose illustrious members, apparently, Included the likes of George Washington, Tom Jefferson, And Ben Franklin - progenitors of the American Dream Of Novus Ordo Seclorum - a New World Order, no less: A New World for a New Age - Governed by a global Freemasonry!
Another page turns in the Book of Changes: America the Dream goes to Hollywood, Gets hijacked and featured in National Geographic, Serialized in Reader's Digest; And now the movie rights are owned by Walt Disney, While the Bill of Rights waits at the Gates of Heaven.
In Persia the Bab was born: and in May 1844 proclaimed The imminent approach of the Imam Mahdi, Ultimate prophet of God - but the Shah had him shot For disrespect towards Worldly Authority. Then his followers established the Baha'i movement, Which advocates world government on a Unified Earth, And a new age of Universal Justice.
Newton, Darwin, and Faraday were an ad agency for Progress through Science: understand how the universe works And a New Industrial Age begins. It all started with a Big Bang and everything since Has been winding down like a clockspring.
At the height of our collective infatuation With Machines and Automation, Blavatsky, Leadbeater, and Olcott - NOT your typical firm of Chartered Accountants - went to India and Tibet where they met Ascended Masters of the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood, And were assigned the task of introducing Ancient wisdom to the modern world. Proclaim the advent of a New Aeon, they were told, And groom Jiddhu Krishnamurti for the role Of planetary savior.
Their Theosophical Society was inaugurated In 1875 and found an eager following in the West, While in the East the Sun still rose And shone upon the sleeping millions.
Secret Societies sprouted like mushrooms In the moldy moral ground of Victorian times, and Ritual magic enjoyed a fairly brisk trade. Messages from the Spirit World And all varieties of psychic phenomena Caught the fancy of bored housewives and Wayward intellectuals.
The Who's Who of arcane knowledge and esoteric lore Included names like W.B. Yeats and Claude Debussy, Victor Hugo and Conan Doyle, Bulwer-Lytton and Liddell Mathers, Aleister Crowley, the Marquis de Sade, and many more. "Practitioners of Evil, Satanists, Lucifer's Friends, and The Antichrist" were epithets flung at some of these pioneers. But the tide of evolution was rising fast: It spawned the glamorous Order of the Golden Dawn And magickal offshoots like the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis) and Argenteum Astrum (the Silver Star).
Some followed Rudolf Steiner into Anthroposophy, And joined the tug-of-war between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. Others were captivated by G.I. Gurdjieff and his school Of Modified Sufi Dance, but found themselves bewildered By his Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: a rambunctious and Somewhat Rabelaisian dissection of the human experiment Seen through the extraterrestrial eyes of a former Colonial Administrator of Earth.
Adolf Hitler and Company had their ill-fated Third Reich: Hoping to govern the world by high-tech voodoo and A fanatic belief in Aryan supremacy. But the Fourth Reich (propounded by Wilhelm, Psychoanalyst and discoverer of Orgone energy Who authored Function of the Orgasm) Might have been a lot more fun If Dr Reich hadn't been hounded out of Europe By his erstwhile colleagues in the psychiatric profession, And finally assassinated in a US prison by What he called the HIGs - Hoodlums In Government.
(We're not talking ancient history here: This happened in the 1950s!)
Anyhow Reich tried to alert the US Air Force To the suspicious activity of UFOs - only to be subjected To intense harassment by the FBI and the MIB Who, for some reason, wanted to see Reich discredited or dead. In retrospect, it appears that Reich was perceived As a threat to the Military-Industrial Complex's covert program Of "scientific collaboration" with the Zeta Reticulan Greys - A technically advanced but spiritually retarded race, Desperately seeking a cure for terminal infertility Before their species became extinct.
Which brings us to the era of Star Trek, Star Wars, Close Encounters, ET, X-Files and Virtual Reality. Also crystal gazing, holistic healing, Wheeling and dealing gurus, Group meditations, Earth activations, Celestine Prophecies and TM levitation, Swift mutations and transmutation... Hey, are there any experts left with reputations? When there are more Channels than TV sets, You find more confusion than the United Nations. What you believe is what you get; Anything goes these days.. who knows? Anything can happen yet!
"Oh, the Sirians will save us!" some Brethren shout. "No, only Jesus Christ can!" the Born-Again spout. Others laugh: "It's the Pleiadian Plan - a total rout!" "Save our streams before there are no more trout!" The angelic anglers scream. So is the New Age just a dream From which Old Age awakens With a terrible hangover?
Wait and see, nothing will change - That's what the so-called Realist thinks. Life will always be unfair, You gotta be quick and grab a chair (Let the rest drop dead, it's their affair!) Money, not love, makes the world go round - Excuse me, can I convert my ringgit to pounds? - Gotta ride that crazy merry-go-round Till you're six feet underground. Let me ask you: is there any proof at hand That God can also be a Man? You say every woman is the Goddess, But all I care about is the size of her bodice. And I wanna know just how many Harmonica Virgins Blew their minds at Harmonic Convergence!
Don't talk to me about Tectonic Plates, Electromagnetic Grids, Pole Shifts, Zionist Plots, Precessioning Equinoxes, Photon Belts, and Why your paternal grandma was a Celt. Do you wanna know when I last cried? It was the day my pet canary died.
Well, well, well, what have we here? Keep your mind and heart open And have no fear. The worst that could happen is... NOTHING.
What the New Age really means is a Quantum Leap - From Global Village to Local Galaxy at the sound of a beep. Better get ready or go back to sleep... Carry on, Mr Accountant, Count your sheep.
[Written in June 1996. First posted 2 August 2009, reposted 1 July 2014
One of my all-time favorite musical icons is Daevid Allen (from the planet Gong), who celebrated his 70th birthday in Byron Bay, Australia, in January 2010. Few fit the description of Wizard better than Daevid. When my hair turns to white, I'd like to be doing pretty much something like this...
Gong's beautiful song "Wise Man in Your Heart" from their Zero to Infinity album (2000). The original version of this song was on Daevid's 1976 album Good Morning.
Daevid Allen / vocals, guitar, piano, Mike Howlett / basses, Didier Malherbe / saxes, flutes, Gilli Smyth / voice, space whisper, Chris Taylor / drums, percussion, Theo Travis / keyboards, saxes, flutes.
Wise Man In Your Heart (D. Allen, M. Howlett. P. Moerlen)
I met a man, a wise old man, the day I lost my pride. He told me he belonged to me but from me he would hide. And that I would not hear his voice until I learned to sing. Now every time I sing I know that I belong. belong to him. Singing O why... Singing O why...
He told me he would teach me everything I tried to know. He made me see that you and me are dreamers in a show. And when the days were darkest then he lit them with his moons. And then we crossed the rainbow bridge but we came back... Came back too soon... Singing O why... Singing O why...
He showed me where he was Atman that man I could not see. He pointed to the sky until a ladder I could see. I climbed for many lives to find the secret golden flower. And then I woke and found I'd slept for less than half... Than half an hour. Singing O why... Singing O why...
He brought us back together then when I was all alone. He made me see I was not just of earth and skin and bone. Well it makes you feel so beautiful you can tell your Self apart. Every time you listen to the wise man in your heart. Singing O why... Singing O why...
Live 1988 at London Wembley to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday. Dire Straits at their best with a bit of help from Eric Clapton.
Mark Knopfler - guitar/lead vocal
Eric Clapton - rhythm guitar
John Isley - bass
Guy Fletcher - keyboard
Terry Williams - drums
Alan Clark - piano/keyboard
I would support any move to replace our present royal houses with charismatic and truly talented musicians.
Why? Well, musicians have an innate sense of melody and harmony, excellent pitch and rhythm, they're experts at inspiring and uplifting rather than bringing people down... and the vast majority are savvy enough to get off the stage before their audiences start yawning.
Apart from that, I find that most musicians get along fine with each other once they get jamming, regardless of what sort of music they play, and wherever musicians go in the world it's real easy for them to make friends and communicate with other musos.
Our new rotating "Sultans of Swing" can get together a few times a year to do a spectacular nationwide tour to keep all Malaysians dancing and celebrating life and jumping for joy.
This is my personal tribute to Malaysia's TRUE kings and queens. Well-loved performers like (to name but a few at random) Amy, M. Nasir, Ning Baizura, Ramli Sarip, Paul Ponnadurai, Rafique Rashid, Julian Mokhtar, Amir Yussof, Sahara Yaacob, Ella, Jamal Abdillah, Khatijah Ibrahim, Zainal Abidin, Sheila Majid, Sharifah Aini, Ito, Michael Veerapen, Josie Thomas, Francissca Peters, Zainal Razak, Jaclyn Victor, Andy Peterson, Gary Gideon, Albert Sirimal, Vijay David, Azmyl Yunor, Joe Kidd, Poe... the list (which hasn't been updated since 2009) goes on and on but I'm sure you get the picture!
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was a massive musical influence during my teen years. I was introduced to this brilliantly eccentric Russian composer by Duncan S. Catling - a Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to teach English literature in Batu Pahat High School from 1964 to 1965. I'll never forget the day I visited Duncan in his rented terrace house and he put on The Rite of Spring for me. I was never the same again. Stravinsky had the same transmutative effect on the young Frank Zappa.
The recording of Rite of Spring Duncan played for me was conducted by Ernest Ansermet, a Swiss colleague of Igor Stravinsky and only a year younger than the composer. Ansermet was a highly regarded academic conductor who could be relied upon to render technically consummate interpretations of any score.
An epic freestyle poem by Antares
