People don't believe what you tell them.

They rarely believe what you show them.

They often believe what their friends tell them.

They always believe what they tell themselves.


..from Seth Godin's blog

We'll head to Charleston, WV tomorrow for Grandma's funeral. My Aunt Martha asked us to play a tune, so we will play 'Amazing Grace'. I know it was one of her favorites. We had a chance to stop and play for her a few times when we were traveling through Charleston. The music always brought a spark back to her eyes. I'm really glad we had those visits.

Jenn and I saw 'Lady in the Water' last night. What a fantastic movie. M. Night Shyamalan ( the writer) has a wonderful sense of weaving important ideas and elements into a story, without getting preachy. The acting was also fantastic. Check it out.

My Grandmother died yesterday. She told me during our last two visits that she was ready to go. I am glad that she has found peace. Jenn's Grandfather passed earlier in the year. It is remarkable how unromantic the event can be. It simply is...finality, no one on this planet can change it. It has forced me to examine everything. Today I stumbled across these words from a site called Wind Horse Zen (http://windhorsezen.org)

“Great is the Matter of Birth and Death.
Life slips quickly by.
Time waits for no one.
Wake Up! Wake Up!
Don’t waste a moment!”

These words, traditionally inscribed on the han, or
wooden block, go right to the heart of the spirit of Zen train-
ing. To grapple with death-- the inevitable death of those we
most deeply care for and the inevitability of our own death,
of this body-mind—this slices right through all our superfi-
ciality, all our triviality; straight to the core. It cuts right
through to this Black Hole of wonder, of mystery in our
depths-- not just some negation, but a living, unnameable
Nothing-something beyond all words and thoughts. Grap-
pling with This directly, we tap into the force within us to
truly fulfill our vows to liberate all beings. Can we keep this
keen edge in our lives and in our practice? This can be our
greatest ally, this inescapable fact of death.


-Jon

Click the link below for a free download of the the Title track from our new CD "LIFT".

LIFT - FREE DOWNLOAD

You can also pre-order the CD for only $8.99, plus get an instant download of the entire CD. Click Here for more info

PS>> Jenn is playing a Steinberger (6 string) electric Cello on this track.

Also from OTTMAR

Wired Blog-Autopia
The Europeans just enacted a carbon tax on air travel. The auto carbon tax won’t be far behind if we are to have any chance of preventing the melting of polar ice caps. Try selling Expeditions, Yukons and Hummers when you’re paying $5.00/gallon plus a carbon tax. It’s coming, folks. The writing is on the wall.

PS:

EDrive FAQ
Plug-in hybrids offer the best chance of transitioning away from fossil fuels towards a renewably powered transportation future. Full sized electric vehicles suffer from limited range and may require up to 3 times the battery capacity of an EDrive equipped plug-in hybrid and still not be capable of satisfying 100% of a person’s driving needs. At present, hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles suffer from astronomical cost (over $500,000), limited range (80-180 miles), low efficiency (compared to batteries) and most notably a lack of economically priced and widely available fuel. Plug-in hybrids however can be built today and provide a no-compromises solution that moves us away from fossil fuels.

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Jenn and I also fueled up many times last year on our midwest tour with ETHANOL made from corn. This should also provide at least a temporary alleviation to fossil fuel consumption and contribute to our economy to boot.

Also, here's an interesting .pdf about the rising cost of gas. Click Here.

Today Jenn and I ran the peachtree Road Race. 6.2 miles of pure bliss (with 60,000) other people. We have been working up to this for a while and although it was pretty tough, thankfully, it was not anywhere near as hard as I had imagined.

As we trained for the race we ran some courses that wound through woods and natural places, which made me think more about the current state of "modern" life. This excerpt from Ottmar Liebert's blog articulates it well.

Thoreau says “give me a wilderness no civilization can endure.” That’s not difficult to find. It is harder to imagine a civilization that wilderness can endure, yet this is just what we must try to do. Wildness is not just the “preservation of the world,” it is the world.

The Chinese spoke of the “four dignities” - Standing, Lying, Sitting, and Walking. They are “dignities” in that they are ways of being fully ourselves, at home in our bodies, in their fundamental modes. I think many of us wold consider it quite marvelous if we could set out on foot again, with a little inn or a clean camp available every ten or so miles and no threat from traffic, to travel across a large landscape - all of China, all of Europe. That’s the way to see the world: in our own bodies.

Imagine a world in which technology (roads, building etc.) are not imposed on the landscape but seamlessly integrated.