What Is It?

As of late I have been to busy writing on the subject of “Spirit and Matter”, and the Harmony of. A subject I’m sure would interest about three people. Nevertheless I came upon this little gem while researching Spiritualized Matter and thought I would share it with you.

It was written by a very insightful George Washington Carey, a gentleman who’s ideas of human chemistry are still being studied and verified today, almost a hundred years after he wrote “Man’s body is a chemical formula in operation and there can be but one law of chemical operation in vegetable or animal organisms.”

A CHILD brought to its mother a piece of ice and asked: "What is this?"

The mother answered, "It is ice."

Again the child asked, "What is there in ice?" The mother answered: "There is water in the ice."

The child desired to find the water in the ice, and it procured a hammer, pounded the piece of ice into little bits and the warm air soon changed all the ice to water. The child was grievously disappointed, for the ice that the child supposed contained water had disappeared.

And the child said, "Where is the ice that contained this water?"

And so it came to pass that the mother was compelled, by the child's persistent questions, to say, "ice is all water; there is no such thing as ice; that which we call ice is crystallized or frozen water."

The child understood.

A student brought to his teacher some water and asked, "What is water? What does it contain?"

The teacher answered, "Water contains oxygen and hydrogen," and then explained how the two gases might be separated and set free by heat.

The student boiled the water until all of the molecules of oxygen and hydrogen had been set free, but he was surprised to find that all of the water had disappeared.

Then the student asked of the teacher, "Where is the water that held the gases that have escaped?"

Then was the teacher compelled by the student's persistent questions to answer, "Water itself is the product of oxygen and hydrogen. Water does not contain anything other than these gases. In reality, there are no such substances or fluid as water; that which we name water is a rate of motion set in operation by the union of two parts of hydrogen with one part of oxygen and, of course, the phenomenon disappears when the union of the gases is broken."

The student understood.

A devout scientist presented himself before God and said, "Lord, what are these gases men call oxygen and hydrogen?"

The good Lord answered and said, "They are molecules in the blood and body of the universe."

Then spoke the scientist, "Lord, wilt thou tell me of the kind of molecules that compose Thy blood and body?"

The Lord replied, "These same molecules, gases or principles, compose my blood and body; for I and the universe are one and the same."

Once again the scientist said, "My Lord, may I ask, then, what is Spirit and what is Matter?"

And thus answered the Lord:

"As ice and water are one, and the gases and water are one, so is Spirit and Matter one. The different phases and manifestations cognized by man in the molecules of my body—that is, the universe—are caused by the Word; thus, they are my thoughts clothed with form."

Now the scientist felt bold, being redeemed from fear, and asked "is my blood, then, identical with Thy blood in composition and Divine Essence?"

And the Lord said, "Yea, thou art one with the Father."

The scientist now understood and said:

"Now mine eyes are opened and I perceive that, when I eat, I partake of Thy body; when I drink, I drink of Thy blood; and when I breathe, I breathe Thy spirit."

So-called matter is Pure Intelligence and nothing else— because there is not anything else.

Pure intelligence cannot progress or become better. There is nothing but Intelligence. Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Omniscience must mean Intelligence; therefore these terms are all included in the word.....nice.....

Have You Ever Met a Bodhisattva? Meet Harry Chapin.

Have you ever met a Bodhisattva?

One of the many gifts of age is wisdom, not necessarily intelligence, although that can be a gift if used properly, wisdom in the sense that if you see a need your ego disappears long enough for you fulfill that need.

Allow me to clarify what I consider need, the need that is outside ego.

The ego is like that little Pac Man gobbling up everything in its path while avoiding the pain that sneaking up behind him.

Close your eyes for a few minutes; try to gently focus on your breath, that pesky little distraction which will assuredly pop up is Pac Man.

Now once you notice that distraction, Pac Man, try to shut him down.

Pac Man is smart enough to ward off attacks, he knows if he can stay out of the present you won't be able to shut him down. He knows that zipping into the imaginary future, at the same time feeding his desires, that which is coming up behind him won't find him. What makes the Pac Man in our head so smart is that if his desires are not met in the imaginary future like a time traveler he'll seek refuge in the past.

This pesky little Pac Man is truly the master of deflect, divide, disorientate, a true genius.

Now back to the Bodhisattva.

For those unfamiliar with the Bodhisattva, allow me in my simplified way define what is usually overly complicated.

A Bodhisattva is one who has attained enlightenment, whose Buddha nature has found peace, but who has renounced Nirvana for the sake of helping others in their journey to liberation from suffering.

Remember now, I have simplified the definition to spare my reader the often overcomplicated interpretations that certain individuals tend to place on symbols.

I guess it would be easier for me to make my point if I introduce you to a Bodhisattva, one I met many years ago.

Meet Harry Chapin, singer, songwriter, and in my world Bodhisattva.

Many years ago, in my adolescence, Harry's song “Taxi” hit the airways as my own wanderlust struck. In this marijuana anthem of the early seventies I found Harry talking to me of following your muse. Although the muse Harry metaphorically follows in the song is getting high, one can easily see the dangers Harry sees of not breaking free of craving.

Although I really recommend you listen, for now let me share the story in the song.

In the song it’s given that Harry plays himself, a cab driver that picks his last fare of the night. Harry being the gentleman apologizes for her wet gown, she just she asks to be taken to her home at 16 Parkside Lane.

Harry finds the woman familiar at first, but she doesn't seem to recognize him until after she looks at him in the rear-view mirror and at his license. It is then revealed that she is Sue, Harry's old love.

In flashback, Harry remembers how he "used to take her home in his car" and also how they "learned about love in the back of a Dodge". Sue had wanted to be an actress, while Harry was going to learn to fly. Their relationship ended when Sue "took off to find the footlights" and Harry "took off to find the sky".

In the middle of the song you'll come across a very insightful sentence, “There's a wild man, wizard, He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind.” only to be followed with “I've got something inside me, Not what my life's about, Cause I've been letting my outside tide me, Over 'till my time, runs out.”

I would love nothing better than to attempt to explain what Harry meant by what was inside, but I would only be guessing, but I assure you it was probably not the little pesky Pac Man we discussed, the ego is never illuminating.

Now back to the song, Harry arrives at Sue's home where she offers to get together with him sometime, although Harry knows "it'd never be arranged". Sue pays him a $20 bill for "a $2.50 fare" and says, "Harry, keep the change".

He stashes the twenty in his shirt; Sue gets out and walks into her "handsome home". Harry finally realizes that both had gotten what they asked for such a long, long time ago: Sue is now "acting happy", after all she got everything she wanted but it didn't really live up to the fantasy. Harry drives away satisfied, his mind soaring, "I go flying so high when I'm stoned", not earth bound seeking the illusion of materialism and ego.

Harry released the song “Taxi” when his was at the young age of thirty; I was to meet him up close and personal eight years later, and in all places in Italy.

Before I enlighten you as to why I believe Harry was a Bodhisattva, please indulge me for a few moments to share how it came about I was to meet this compassionate singer.

Nineteen seventy eight and I was just finishing up my last year in the military. After eight years of being a medic in the Navy I was pretty burnt out with the whole restrictive routine of the aircraft carrier I was stationed on. I had a few days of shore leave, which I knew would be spent in a much deserved alcohol haze staggering through the overly crowded streets of Naples Italy.

True to my purpose it was during my fine Italian wine buzz that I found out Harry Chapin was playing a concert on the outskirts of Naples.

When I arrived I'm pretty sure my staggering wasn't from sea legs, a common wobble caused from to many days at sea, no my sway was from wine.

Front row dead center, you couldn't get a better piece of earth. The crowd gathered, the wine was shared, and Harry took the stage.

Harry was playing alone, for reasons I would learn much later, but he was just as good with out accompaniment. He would sing, interact, and sing some more. During one particular song Harry had his very young son come out from side stage and dance a slow back and forth step to a song he had written for him named “Dancing Boy”. It must be remembered that most of us sailors had families at home, and many of us had very small children, all our hearts were heavy as Harry's son danced.

Shortly after this song Harry prepared to sing the song that started it all for him “Taxi”. Without a backup band Harry sought volunteers from the audience, two to be specific. Before you could blink the sailor beside be grabbed my arm, threw me in the air and before I knew it I was standing on the stage drunk, bewildered, and in heaven.

Poor Harry, any other time I would have been able to remember the words, but here I was standing in front of the dude that took me “flying so high” so many times all I could do was stand there in awe. To make matters worse, even though I had heard the song a thousand times, I never really knew what the backup singer was singing; his voice was so high I just mumbled when ever I sang the song over the years. Back then we didn't have the internet to look up lyrics, if you didn't know them you just made up your own.

But Harry was cool, he had me get real close and whispered every word to me, with the biggest smile.

After the song was over, and I knew I was a star in my own mind, Harry allowed us to remain on the stage till the show was over, only a couple more songs, but long enough to feel the love emanating from the audience. Not for me, for Harry.

After the show I bought a soft cover poetry book Harry had just released, he signed it for me, and I returned to the streets of Naples a happy drunk.

I was to see Harry one more time after that, but the experience paled without me up there on the stage, or so I thought, still Harry was a God for another day.

Harry died exactly three years to the day after I had seen him for the last time. Little did I realize at the time of his untimely death the lasting impact one singer songwriter could, and continue to make in the lives of those he knew, and especially in the lives of individuals that never knew or even heard the sweet voice of Harry Chapin.

Some stories are better left for biographers, which I'm not, but I can tell you something happened in Harry that affected him deeply, Harry saw a need and he became the means to help stop hunger in the United States. His daughter Jen is to have said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America". He co-founded the organization World Hunger Year with legendary radio DJ Bill Ayres, which continues to this day under the name “Why Hunger”, which has gone global in its amazing outreach.

Harry walked the walk often playing for free and donating the proceeds of his concert merchandise, including the book I bought, to support World Hunger Year.

Chapin's social causes at times caused friction among his band members. Chapin donated an estimated third of his paid concerts to charitable causes, often performing alone with his guitar to reduce costs, which is why I suspect I saw Harry play alone in Italy, and he had to put up with my drunken off key voice.

One report quotes his widow saying soon after his death, "only with slight exaggeration Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away."

Despite his success as a musician, he left little money and it was difficult to maintain the causes for which he raised more than $3 million in the last six years of his life. The Harry Chapin Foundation was the result; its mission has stayed the same, to help make a positive difference in communities around the country. Over the years, the foundation has made over 379 grants worth over $1.5 million.

On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, particularly his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the United States. His work on hunger included being widely recognized as a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977, he was the only member who attended every meeting. He was also the inspiration for the anti-hunger projects USA for Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Chapin's manager. Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."

The reason I started this off highlighting the little man in our head, the one I called Pac Man, who is a metaphor for ego, I believe Harry had the ability to escape the ego when he saw need, and when he felt love. I'm not saying Harry was the perfect Buddha, although he could be, but as far as being a Bodhisattva, I say yes. Harry once said, “I am a greedy, selfish bastard. I want the fact that I existed to mean something”, guess what Harry, it did!

He knew love and passed it on, he saw need and attempted to alleviate it. The world is a better place because of Harry!!

Is Charlie Sheen An Unbalanced Alchemist?

Budding Alchemists take notice, if you want to see what happens when your elements are not balanced, you just may become Charlie Sheen.

Before we begin, do you think Charlie could be an Alchemist? Sure I ask this in jest, but think about it, first he drinks tiger blood, maybe an allusion to the reddening phase, and what about him saying he rides a “mercury” surfboard, you can't get more alchemical!

I also like the way he says he has a 10,000 year old mind, cool, transmigration, a follower of Pythagoras!

Alright, it's not fair to pick on poor Charlie; his elements are out of wack.

Allow me to explain the elements, and then share the cure.

Just to enlighten those that haven't a clue what I'm talking about, here's a mini primer on the four basic elements, I'll keep the fifth I'll keep to myself.

For the sake of this discussion we have Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, the four elements. Each of these elements does have these wonderful little imaginary creatures, or what some alchemists would call correspondences: Fire is symbolized by the Salamander, Earth is symbolized by the Gnome, Air is symbolized by the Sylph, and Water is symbolized by the Undine.

A salamander is a being that lives in fire. It also refers to a being that can stand a lot of heat. The word is used for an inhabitant of the element fire who performs world-building tasks related to the element fire.

A gnome is a "mythical" being that lives in the ground in caves. They are reputed to guard buried treasure. Not surprisingly, the word is sometimes applied to international bankers. The word is used to refer to beings of the earth that perform tasks related to the element earth.

Sylphs are creatures of the air, sometimes called nymphs of the air. The word is used to refer to inhabitants of the element air who perform world-building tasks related to the element air.

Undines are creatures of the water, and are said to live beneath the waves. They are sometimes called water nymphs. The word is used to refer to the inhabitants of the element water who perform tasks related to that element

If we make it really simple, the fire signs all have some element of "forcefulness" in them, the Earth signs are "practical and down-to-earth", the Air signs are "thoughtful or intellectual", and the water signs are "emotional.

In the case of Charlie, sadly he visibly shows his element dysfunction, as do most of us but we don't even know it.

Dear Charlie, Here's the recipe to correct your visible imbalance:

“Reduce your stone to the four elements, rectify and combine them into one, and you will have the whole magistery. This One, to which the elements must be reduced, is that little circle in the center of the squared figure. It is the mediator, making peace between the enemies or elements”....The ``Tractatus aureus,'' in the Theatrum Chemicum