Birthday Totem Meditation: Roll On John / Watching the Wheels / Here and Now

I've always been struck by the fact that, in this song, John didn't say that he didn't believe in God.  What he did say was what he did believe in. He believed in himself. He believed in himself and Yoko. He believed in reality.

"All of us are apprenticed to the same teacher that the religious institutions originally worked with: reality."

(Gary Snyder)

I can't find any documentation for this, but my memory is that on the album where the song first appeared, John's song was titled "god" with a small "g."

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali begin with the word "atha" which could be translated either as referring to "God, the root of all things" (not in the Jewish or Christian or Muslim sense of the word, but in the Native American sense of a mystery at the root of all things) or which could be translated as "here and now."  My perception is that John was saying that he believed in "here and now."

Reality.

Of interest to me is that, among many other spiritual traditions that John was curious about,  he looked into Hindu thought.  The song "Instant Karma" was a result of that.  "Karma" is a Sanskrit word meaning action, work or deed. Yep. There are consequences to our actions.

The concept of "wheel" or "turning" is contained in the word "chakra," a concept of Hindu thought that John was likely familiar with, although he chose not to align himself with any religious or spiritual tradition, which is also my choice and a choice that many of us make.

Born: October 9, 1940, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Happy Birthday, John!

You would have been 74 years old today. 

Thank you for singing about god/God so eloquently.

You were my favorite Beatle from the instant I first saw you singing on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964 when I was 14 years old. You are dear to so many of our hearts.

"You burn so bright. Roll on John."

(Bob Dylan)

Here and now.

Addendum:  See October 10 at whiskey river!

MEDITATION FOR MY NEPHEW

Happy Birthday!

Today is my only nephew's birthday. I haven't seen him since the day after my father died in 2003. My nephew was born on the day that in Christian tradition is called Epiphany. My nephew shares his birthday with Alan Watts, Carl Sandburg and Khalil Gibran. He is a musician, a singer, a baseball player and a self-described "computer geek" whose favorite color is green.

The quote from my Zen Calendar today is:

"God made the senses turn outwards, man therefore looks outwards, not into himself. But occasionally a daring soul, desiring immortality, has looked back and found himself."
-- The Upanishads

My nephew was born around noon on this day in January. When I received the news of his birth, I drove to Seattle where I stayed until late in the evening after everyone else had gone home. At that time, I was working as a medical transcriptionist on the evening shift and didn't go to sleep until the early morning hours. As my sister slept, I held my beloved sleeping newborn nephew as I sat in a chair and looked out the window at the full moon and stars shining on a snow-covered Seattle. I remember driving back to Bellingham after midnight in full moonlight and starlight that was almost like daylight because of the snow-covered landscape, feeling awe and love in the wake of my nephew's birth.

My wish for him today comes from the words of Bob Dylan. May my nephew grow up to always see the lights surrounding him:

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.


(Today's drawing, "Child with Gift," was done in 2005 on my iBookG4 using the Appleworks6 "Painting" program)

I can't find the quote by Sherman Alexie which I'm looking for and which I wanted to place alongside the photo below, but I recall reading somewhere that he said something to the effect that he was just as moved by the story of Mary and Jesus as he was moved by the stories told by his ancestors.

I did find an interview where Sherman Alexie says:

The concept of forgiveness—not just forgiving others, but forgiving oneself—seems really central to this movie. How did the concept of forgiveness shape the story?

It’s funny, I don’t get talked about much in these terms, but I’m very Catholic: grew up Catholic, Catholic father, still am vaguely Catholic (I’m not very good at it anymore). So I think Catholicism and forgiveness and that aspect of Christianity is a really strong influence on me. And then once you place Catholicism in the context of me being tribal and the ways in which the church horrendously oppressed Indians, there is a serious amount of guilt. So, I think it’s a combination of guilt and irony and contradiction and forgiveness that mix up together and become a dominant theme in everything I do… And I didn’t call it Catholic in the movie, but I think it very much is. Seymour’s conflict is very religious and very spiritual, and that’s the way I approached it. Evan [Adams] and I talked about that very much: that, in some ways, [Seymour]’s a pilgrim.
.

Painting from Memory / Evolution of Forgiveness (2006)

People Listening (1984)