Blank Page

Blank page. Openness. 

All possibilities still here. 

Add a line, mark, letter or word

and infinite possibilities fade

into finite actualities.

Feeling God's Presence

Feeling God is easy, once we recognize what it is; it's everything and nothing. God is simply all-in-all as-it-is. God is so obvious that we mostly don't notice God's presence; like the air all around and within our lunges. You don't notice air until you feel the absence of air; you don't notice God until you feel absence and separation from God. Sometimes if feels like God talks to us - be sure that its a divine message beyond you - and not the voice of your ego. The best part of learning to feel God's presence is that it provides good company. 

Root of the Golden Rule

"The world's religions are rooted in experiences of cosmic consciousness. Often these experiences came after long periods of isolation and fasting. By looking at this common root, we can come to greater understanding of the unity within the diversity of religions."
Americ Azevedo - Voice & Thoughts 
Josh Williams  - drum programming, sounds, electric guitars, synths

Greatest Illusion

The greatest illusion
is that this moment
is static -
even the deepest
silence is pregnant
with dynamic power.

So our given
situation is transforming
even as we feel
totally frozen and
trapped.

What Do I Know?

One of those moments when reality humbles. 

Recorded while walking around in the early morning.

Stillness

Stillness is like an old friend at the core of our deepest Self. My first glimpses of deep stillness happened during childhood and adolescence. Those moments seemed more important than the rest of life. Perhaps everyone encounters stillness but few talk about and share its power and beauty. Among places and situations where I found deep stillness:

• A freshly painted room in my parents house. I was maybe 4 or 5 years old.
• Walking home from school looking and feeling each step along the way.
• In my room, as an adolescent, slowly watching the twilight turn to night.
• By the ocean shore looking toward the horizon.
• First formal meditations sitting on the floor.

Cultivating stillness, which is also called "meditation" or "mindfulness" is an important medicine for the ills of our times. Why not take a few minutes, now, to be still? Mind quiet, body motionless, breath steady. Neither grasping nor rejecting what is happening all around, just let it all "pass through you". Stillness. Stillness. Upon returning to activity - one may be blessed with a sense of greater ease in life.

Unreleased poem written by Americ and Diane

Diane: "We wrote this poem jointly (the parts are labeled with our initial), and he really liked the idea of a collaborative effort. He came home one day from a short walk and had written the first part and I responded in poem. The last part, which I mostly wrote, tells of our meeting/relationship."

Flickers and Reflections

a poem at first sight

a spider web of words

catching beams of memories

and feelings from somewheres

far and close flickers.

-A

far & close

feelings flicker

long forgotten

yet so near

the eyes cannot

focus to see

but the poem

reflects

more accurately

than any memory

could possibly

be.

-D

a lake is full

of water and light

below flickers of heaven

the ores pushing waves

into sounding resounding

splashes of memory.

-A

our memory:

what was that beautiful day we first met

in the reception area of that loosely-run office?

ah, but that was gradual--

a glimpse

turning to a word

turning to gazing

but what about that first day

we sat on the park bench

and kissed

as minutes rolled by

our work day

opened

by the stoppage of time

where love lives

in eternity

yet managing to return back to the desk

in time to keep our jobs in tact

so our meetings would continue

until the crises that life often brings

broke in

and

shattered eternity

back into time

and our lives

split

now returning again

after decades 

that never happened

slipping back into love

eternally 

… and flowing in the window 

from the backyard oak

the birds sing

“yes…

yes, yes.”

  -D, with A