Caregiving

I'm not the only person who cares for a disabled loved one at home, but sometimes it feels that way. As I read about the wounded veterens returning from two failing wars, my heart breaks for those family members who were just getting by and now have lifetime responsibilities dealing former soldiers with brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, or other conditions that will prevent them from having a normal life themselves with those who love them.

Folks here know that I'm rarely away from home for more than a few hours at a time. In fact, if my wife's daughter hadn't agreed to spend the weekend at our place, I'd never be able to do something like DemFest. I also have a unique form of therapy for myself for when the stresses of caregiving overwhelm me. I can take my guitar into the subway and scream at the world for a couple of hours, and this has kept me balanced through the years.

I've heard about the ways that our veterens are being screwed nine ways to Sunday by the greedy cowards that sent them off to fight their war crime. Men and women who have sacrificed so much are being screwed out of their rightful benefits. They return home and for many, their middle class existence is a thing of the past and a wife or husband, parent or sibling is now faced with the double hardship of caring for a severely disabled person at home and trying to keep the roof over their heads, or their children in school.

If only this great nation could provide for these caregivers with the same benefits we afford to foster parents, we could lift some of the burdens that they bear, and even help to keep these families in tact. The cost to the system for home care by a family member is far less than care in a nursing facility, and far less than that of sending someone from an agency. A way should be found to share the cost saving with the overstressed, burned out and forgotten people who are in fact on the frontlines for those who cannot otherwise help themselves.

H/T Time Magazine

Jackie "Mom's" Mabley used to say that you should never say anything about someone who died, unless you can say something good.

Well, Jerry Fallwell's Dead.

Good.

(Doesn't the Bible say something about being judged by our "Fruits?")

Planting a Seed

Back in 2003, someone had an idea for a get together called "DEANSTOCK," which was billed as "Three days of music, fun and Howard Dean." This crazy idea later morphed into DemocracyFest, and although I didn't get to the first one, this year I'm going, and I'll be performing at The Blogger's Breakfast.

Last night I ordered the T shirt pictured above for the event and I hope that it will plant a seed in the minds of the party activists: Put these two men in the White House for eight years and America has the chance to reclaim it's rightful place in the 21st Century.

That would be a Deaniac dream come true.

Influence Peddling

Many years ago, around the time I started performing in the subway, I began an experiment to see if I was able to have any effect. After all, I was playing music in one of the the world's great cities, and thousands of diverse people from all over the world were hearing me every day. In fact, a fellow performer noted to me once that just performing three hours a day downstairs, one could easily be heard by a million people a year.

When I heard this I began to see this street music thing as something that could make a difference. To test my theory, I would close each set when the trains arrived by saying "Have a wonderful day." Several years later, Dan Rather was saying it at the end of his nightly newscast. I have no way of knowing how the phrase made it that far up the food chain, but I was floored when I heard him say it.

My work often has me in diverse parts of New York City. From the financial district of Wall Street, to as far North as East 96th St in Manhattan, and as far south as Park Slope and Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. Prior to 9/11 I performed at least once a week at Prince St in Soho. Many times over the years folks have come up to me and declared that my performance 'made their day' or that I had sung their favorite song just when they needed to hear it.

I'll probably never know the extent of the influence I've had on my audiences over the years. However, while playing with my new Gizmo this week, I discovered that the heart adjusts its rhythms to the tempo of whatever music a person is listening to. I've probably known this on some instinctual level all along, but it was fascinating to see it proven right here on my computer screen, and it affected how I view the work I do. For now I know that just by singing Love songs I've changed the rhythms of millions of hearts from all around the world, if even for a couple of minutes.

When Pope John Paul II visited here and said mass in Central Park, he quoted St. Augustine when he said, "To sing once is to pray twice."

To quote Dan Rather quoting me, "Have a wonderful day!"

Gizmo, Whizbang and Me: Week 1

I've learned a lot this week in my studies, and I'm going to try to relate it on a personal level without it sounding like a commercial. I have called my new gizmo the "Bliss-O-Matic" and there is no point in recommending it until such a purpose is realized. Yet this is a journey of self discovery and it seems fitting that I chart my progress.

During the past eight days, I've not been able to play the game as much as I would have liked, and I've been slowly trying to adjust my schedule so that I could have more time at it. I've been hooked up to the game controller for a total of two hours, and frankly it's kinda like using a HAM Radio to contact someone speaking another language.

I have never been good at things like Transcendental Meditation, because whenever I'd try to quiet my mind through the use of the mantra, it would be flooded with the most obscure thoughts. Just when I thought I was making progress at finding that inner stillness, I'd hear that small voice:

"Did you lock the door?" "Remember that day with your cousin when you were a kid?"

Fuggeddedaboutit.

Geez, no wonder folks have to sit in caves for years just to try to turn the mind off long enough for the heart to provide any kind of insight. So the first thing I learned about playing the game was that watching and concentrating on the butterfly on the screen tended to be the mind distraction that I needed. I've learned to simply follow the butterfly as it moves. In this way I can let my heart guide my meditation as if it were my own private Guru, and in just a short time I was beginning to feel the subtle changes that begin when I 'follow my heart,' so to speak.

This week, I've been concentrating on what the inventor calls "Harmonic Inclusiveness." I've learned to follow the peaks on the graph and how to increase the peaks when they occur. It is said that as you increase the height of the peaks, you are opening yourself up, so that the same harmonic frequencies can enter from outside of yourself, creating a kind of vortex of concentric waves folding in on each other.

Yet probably the most profound thing that happened this week, was that as I was out doing my normal routines, I was slowly becoming aware of the peaks that I see on the screen, even when I'm not playing the game, and I can also feel myself trying to increase them.

This is what the inventor calls "Recursion" or "Self Referencing," and it will be the focus of my studies in the coming week.

One more thing: I typed this post while hooked up to the game and in spite of the movement of my hands, the program continued to display a 'clean' reading. I'm impressed.

Wow

Well, of all the time I've had my gizmo up and functioning, I've spent about 3 dedicated hours with the electrodes on and looking at the screens. The most important of which is the "Internal Coherence" measurement that powers the 'Butterfly Game.'

The game is based on the premise that the harmonics of the heart tend to rest in one of three emotional ratios. The Ratio in the area of .6hz on the scale indicates touch receptiveness. This is the frequency that one gets when experiencing a hug, for example.

At the other end of the emotional scale is 1.16hz. When your harmonics are rested here you are said to be more 'concept inclusive' and less 'touchy-feely.'

In the center of these is .8hz. Resting your harmonics here is said to indicate a 'peaceful balence' between the others.

The first object of the game is to find out where your harmonics naturally are on the graph, and after a few moments mine rested at about .7hz, with the peak moving up and down to indicate the overall strength of the signal. The first thing that I learned from this is that if you see a subtle emotional peak coming on you can try to catch and increase the peak, like a wave in virtually real time. This was quite a revelation.

The second part of the game is where the wellness training starts. I was amazed that my .6hz peaks were almost off the scale, and I feel really good about that. But the second point of the game is not only to learn to move the butterfly up and down at your favorite resting place, but also how to move the the butterfly from left (.6hz) to right (1.6hz). The ability to move left/right is what the medical community calls Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and is widely recognized as a remarkable indicator of overall health.

So it seems as I begin my studies in earnest, as I learn HRV I will also be learning to turn Compassion into Concept.

Finally, as you can see in the picture, two people can play this game at the same time, and when the their butterflies touch, their hearts are singing in unison.

I find this all fascinating.

Happy Birthday Al

The Amazing Alex Grey

There is a very special museum space here in New York City called The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. It presents the mind of a unique artist named Alex Grey. As I wait to open my research next weekend, I invite you to explore this amazing website.

Namaste

Subway

Obama Gropes Hillary

This recently released AP photo shows the Presidential Candidate from Ill Noise seizing the right breast of the clearly enthralled Candidate form Liebermanville at an unknown event.

While both of their campaings are trying to distance themselves from the encounter, sources close to Hillary's camp have quoted her as saying, "Once you Barak, you'll never go back!"

The iRack

BEWARE MY POWER!

My Power Battery ...um... Dharshanitron... um... Bliss-O-Matic ...um ...Heart Tuner arrived on Friday evening (batteries not included) and I have sent away for the authorization codes which should arrive Monday Morning. The wrist and head bands which the manufacturer forgot to include will be here in a few days.

So this is the first update of my new journey. Having gone through the instruction manuals, I've concluded, and the inventor seems to concur, that Heaven on Earth is going to simply be a change in perspective from mind based thought, to heart based coherent emotion. It sounds really simple when all that needs to be done is to teach the children (and adults) how to find their inner "EUREKA!" (and learn to sustain it)

Imagine if you will, an EKG machine in your doctor's office that is so sensitive that it can not only tell when you smile, (by reading the harmonic frequency) but how deep the feeling was that caused the smile in the first place (by reading the amplitude of the frequency).

On Monday, when I get to open the programs for the first time while hooked up to the pre-amp, I'm going to try this simple experiment:

I'm starting by listening to two distinct pieces of my favorite music through headphones. One piece is very romantic and usually brings me close to tears whenever I listen to it. The second will be selections from a concert by The Who on "The King Biscuit Flower Hour" from 1973. I get a distinct rush whenever I hear Keith Moon on the drums that is quite different from the compassion rush I get listening to love songs.

I have no doubt that the gizmo will record the differences in harmonic frequencies between the two feelings. My experiment will be repeating the process to see if I can conciously increase the peaks of the rushes, like a surfer trying to catch just the right curl of an incoming wave.

Beyond this initial experiment, just learning to use the software will be interesting. I have to learn all of the readings of the main screen for my clinical studies. Then there's the Heart Music Synthesizer, six cardio-feedback games and something that teaches a breathing method that helps the heart re-learn to sing at it's full harmonic range. Not to mention music that replaces missing harmonics in the heart, lost to depression or despair...

Once upon a time I was an ocean
But now I'm a mountain range
Something unstop-able
Set into motion
Nothing is different
But everything is changed.
-Paul Simon-

Subway

White Powder Mailed To Edwards HQ

ANTHRAX!

Kinda Says It All, Ya Think?

(h/t Firedoglake)

WASHINGTON, NYTimes March 14 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a “remaining military as well as political mission” in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced but significant military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military.

Gee, and I thought we were liberating Iraq so that they could be a free and sovereign nation, capable of standing on their own and taking their rightful place in the world. I thought we went into Afghanistan to catch Ossama bin Buggin'. War without end for oil? I think they should all drive out to Phuqem Mall and have a big frosty mug of STFU.

Tacoma Police Gas Peaceful Protesters

America the Beautiful? As if The People aren't pissed off enough by that pack of war criminals in the White House, now police in riot gear are gassing our neighbors for refusing to put up with this war crime any longer.

Ya really don't want to make gentle people angry. It foments violent revolution.

Hillary's Campaign Responds:

"NOT OBAMA!"

Vermont Votes To Impeach!

"We the people have the power -- and the responsibility -- to remove executives who transgress not just the law, but the rule of law.

The oaths that the President and Vice President take binds them to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." The failure to do so forms a sound basis for articles of impeachment.

The President and Vice President have failed to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" in the following ways:

1. They have manipulated intelligence and misled the country to justify an immoral, unjust, and unnecessary preemptive war in Iraq.

2. They have directed the government to engage in domestic spying without warrants, in direct contravention of U.S. law.

3. They have conspired to commit the torture of prisoners, in violation of the Federal Torture Act and the Geneva Convention.

4. They have ordered the indefinite detention without legal counsel, without charges and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention -- all in violation of U.S. law and the Bill of Rights.

When strong evidence exists of the most serious crimes, we must use impeachment -- or lose the ability of the legislative branch to compel the executive branch to obey the law.

George Bush has led our country to a constitutional crisis, and it is our responsibility to remove him from office."

-The People of Vermont-

Merry Fitzmas to All!

In all their deeds
Spin spin spin
There is a Treason
Spin spin spin
And assigned
to when they usurp us
Obfuscation

Ram-Alam-Obama-Lama-Ding-Dong...

You saw it here first.

Update:

Demitrius saw this and added:

Who put the "Rock" in Barak-arack-arack?
Who put the "Bam" in Obama-lama-ding-dong."

lmao.

Update II: Hillary's campaign responds...

When Inner-Space Meets Cyber-Space

I have a friend at HowardEmpoweredPeople who goes by the blog name of 'listener.' Last week she asked me to define what I mean by Ascension, and pointed out that to many people, Ascension has religious overtones that are apocalyptic.

The Ascension of which I speak is a global Awakening to a potential that humankind, for one reason or another, has so far kept deeply hidden. The cynic might say that Religion has kept this potential away from the rest of us for selfish gain. They barred the door to the treasures of Eternal Knowledge and suffered not even the willing to enter in. Though I would say that most religions have simply forgotten over the span of time.

Today higher states of awareness seem to come to those with the time to meditate in the ancient traditions. These folks spend years and even lifetimes seeking the Bliss that comes from touching the Unconditional Love of the Universal Heart.

One of the things I'm looking forward to when I get my new gizmo is joining one of the several 'user groups' that have sprung up recently. Serious experiments are underway to "link hearts in a phase lock, in a chat like environment." I have no idea how something like that works, but I guess I'm about to learn. When it can be demonstrated on a wide scale that hearts can be linked in this way, I think folks are going to sit up and take notice.

It kinda takes me back to "Star Trek The Movie." In the end, all that we learned of the physical Universe merged with the heartfelt focused intent of Consciousness and created a new, transcendent life form. In the next decade, it seems to me that the lines between the Inner-Space of the HeartSoul, and the Cyber-Space of ones and zeros will begin to blur.

Most religions speak of profound change in these times. Christians say that Jesus is coming. I think it would be a nice surprise if we met him half way.

For your Sunday morning relaxation, Radio Sri Chinmoy presents music by Shindhu.

Namaste,

Subway

Love One Another As Love Has Loved You.

(h/t watertiger)