Trust the change.

[manitou]

So I'm sitting here on my rocking chair on my front porch in Ohio; the wind is gently blowing a new storm in, an old storm out. The temperature is about 75 though - one of those wild and unpredictable days that you're never sure what's going to happen next.

 

I hear the trees whispering to me (they surround my little acre of land; most are pines) and the cardinals are singing songs I've never heard them sing before.

 

I put my feet up and opened up a brand new book I just got in from Amazon. Master Zhongxian Wu's 'Seeking the Spirit of the Book of Change'. I opened it and started to read the Foreword, written by a Daniel Reid. My heart stopped at the first sentence.

 

Life is essentially a verb, not a noun.

 

Those combination of words, at that particular moment with the wind blowing just the way it was - it sent me onto a journey where I FELT the changes from moment to moment, felt it in my body, felt it in my mind. I felt the hologram. I felt the mosaic pieces glinting in the sun, as if on a stiff fabric being folded.

 

I don't know why I had to get up from the rocking chair to tell you this. I guess it's because you're the only souls I know that would understand the mindblowing nature of an experience like that, lol. Actually, I'm rather glad you're here.

 

Perhaps the enlightenment we all seek is to trust the change, and know it's not really us skinwalkers doing the changing. It is the force within us, and it knows what it's doing.

Edited May 23, 2011 by manitou

[Marblehead]

 

Life is essentially a verb, not a noun.

 

 

Yep.

[Otis]

Excellent!

[Birch]

Neat!

 

Unfortunately for those of us not living in windblown countryside with whooshing trees and immanent storms, "change" might be a bit more subtle to apprehend obviously. I guess I wish books like this would be written for the "technological" age. But so far I haven't really come across any.

 

Ideas for apprehending change if you're concrete-bound?

[doc benway]

So I'm sitting here on my rocking chair on my front porch in Ohio; the wind is gently blowing a new storm in, an old storm out. The temperature is about 75 though - one of those wild and unpredictable days that you're never sure what's going to happen next.

 

I hear the trees whispering to me (they surround my little acre of land; most are pines) and the cardinals are singing songs I've never heard them sing before.

 

I put my feet up and opened up a brand new book I just got in from Amazon. Master Zhongxian Wu's 'Seeking the Spirit of the Book of Change'. I opened it and started to read the Foreword, written by a Daniel Reid. My heart stopped at the first sentence.

 

Life is essentially a verb, not a noun.

 

Those combination of words, at that particular moment with the wind blowing just the way it was - it sent me onto a journey where I FELT the changes from moment to moment, felt it in my body, felt it in my mind. I felt the hologram. I felt the mosaic pieces glinting in the sun, as if on a stiff fabric being folded.

 

I don't know why I had to get up from the rocking chair to tell you this. I guess it's because you're the only souls I know that would understand the mindblowing nature of an experience like that, lol. Actually, I'm rather glad you're here.

 

Perhaps the enlightenment we all seek is to trust the change, and know it's not really us skinwalkers doing the changing. It is the force within us, and it knows what it's doing.

Beautiful - thank you for sharing that.

 

I feel the same way about my experience of Qi.

It's a process, not a quantity.

[Otis]

Ideas for apprehending change if you're concrete-bound?

Here's mine:

[doc benway]

Neat!

 

Unfortunately for those of us not living in windblown countryside with whooshing trees and immanent storms, "change" might be a bit more subtle to apprehend obviously. I guess I wish books like this would be written for the "technological" age. But so far I haven't really come across any.

 

Ideas for apprehending change if you're concrete-bound?

Spending time with little children if the opportunity presents itself...

[doc benway]

Here's mine:

Very nice to watch you move Otis!

Bravo!

[manitou]

Otis, that was amazing. It is evident from your posts that you've done much inner work and the reflection of that is your child-like quality.

 

I'm sure I don't have to even mention this to you - did you happen to see the wonderful happy manitou of the fire plug you were dancing on?

[Otis]

Very nice to watch you move Otis!

Bravo!

Thank you, Steve!

[Otis]

Otis, that was amazing. It is evident from your posts that you've done much inner work and the reflection of that is your child-like quality.

 

I'm sure I don't have to even mention this to you - did you happen to see the wonderful happy manitou of the fire plug you were dancing on?

Thank you Barb; you're very sweet.

 

I know you've posted what a manitou is, but I'm not remembering right now.

[Marblehead]

Here's mine:

 

 

Watching your feet caused me to think of James Brown.

 

I got tired just watching you. Very nice.

[manitou]

Thank you Barb; you're very sweet.

 

I know you've posted what a manitou is, but I'm not remembering right now.

 

 

Manitou is the indigenous concept of seeing through nature to the soul, to the Oneness. Manitou is the face we sometimes see on a tree, or a cloud that looks like a donkey.....it's a rather child-like thing, but aren't all the really profound things rather childlike? When we are lucky enough to see manitou (maybe a smiling or winking face) on a tree, we are actually relating to the soul of that tree, because our eyes see something they can 'identify' as a door to get into the soul.

 

If you were to look manitou up in the dictionary (some dictionaries don't have it, I've noticed) it would say something like 'the spirit that underlies everything'.

 

As to the manitou of the fireplug, he just had the cutest little happy face. He was thrilled that you were playing on him. Check the video again!

Edited May 24, 2011 by manitou

[suninmyeyes]

manitou thanks for sharing,Ive enjoyed reading it.

 

Otis nice to see you moving about,dancing!

[Eric23]

Here's mine:

 

Really cool! The imagery that I recognized was a young kid just having fun, pure play, burning off energy. Also had the visual quality of the skateboarding videos I see on FuelTV.

[Birch]

Here's mine:

 

Awesome!

Especially the rolling down what looks like concrete stairs part. Man one would have to be very relaxed for that not to hurt

[Otis]

Manitou is the indigenous concept of seeing through nature to the soul, to the Oneness. Manitou is the face we sometimes see on a tree, or a cloud that looks like a donkey.....it's a rather child-like thing, but aren't all the really profound things rather childlike? When we are lucky enough to see manitou (maybe a smiling or winking face) on a tree, we are actually relating to the soul of that tree, because our eyes see something they can 'identify' as a door to get into the soul.

 

If you were to look manitou up in the dictionary (some dictionaries don't have it, I've noticed) it would say something like 'the spirit that underlies everything'.

 

As to the manitou of the fireplug, he just had the cutest little happy face. He was thrilled that you were playing on him. Check the video again!

Ah yes, I was thinking it was something like that.

 

Although I had not noticed the "cutest little happy face" (you're right; it's definitely there), I sure like to relate to physical objects, as if they were my friends, and my dance partners. So yes, definitely, it is the manitou that I dance with.

[Otis]

And Marblehead, suninmyeyes, Eric and Kate: thank you very much for the kind words.

 

This environmental dance play is very much one of my spontaneous practices, that my body has called me to. It's beautiful for forgetting the "right way" to do things, and instead just find what's available. It's a great work-out, too, because it's always new, always specific to the terrain. It's global, 360-degree, balance-oriented, joyful, body-kind, non-repetitive exercise (that also gets me to face physical and social fear).

 

That vid was back when I was creating bigger exploration videos, but now, as I'm starting to get back into that environmental play, the vids are simpler, just "what happened today".

 

Yesterday I did my first collaboration with my two roommates, around our own neighborhood. Following is the first part of that (Barb - the guy in red is Nick, the even-more-playful buddy that I was hoping you could meet).

 

Edited May 26, 2011 by Otis

[Eric23]

Otis- YouTube is blocking the video

 

Barb- Your OP was wonderful. Those "ah ha" moments are priceless.

[Otis]

Otis- YouTube is blocking the video

Whoops. Copyright music issue.

 

Music replaced, and I've replaced the video (above).