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Perception is an instrument. When we master this instrument, we can find mastery of self. What is mastery? It is to be an alchemist, a magician, with whatever instrument, craft, practice, purpose of choice - To take a practice, whether speaking, cooking, making music, drawing, building… when one has played and practiced enough to make sense of the senses in new, inspiring, or otherwise illuminating directions. The alchemy of mastery takes both the use of our own will as well as the complete surrender to the unseen which guides us in decisions that defy a logical explanation. To be able to oscillate between both, with sovereignty in the senses as the guide. No matter what, the result is a creation.

To be able to alchemize with our perceptions requires us to be able to play with new perspectives, which is always a dance of will and surrender. Not a struggle, not a power play. Not a win-lose, but a flow.

I am happy to know so many who are committing to the journey of self mastery. I know that I have, from the number of times I have been humbled on it. There is no mistaking that once you are on the path, you are on it, even when circumstances, or the mind, or even one’s own actions seem to reflect that you are off. Whatever proof the mind creates of loss, lack of commitment, can be loud. And to make matters stickier, the ego is proud. The art of surrender is refined in this dance between worlds of the seen, the unseen, the dream, and the earth…

To be humbled is Empowering. It is Empowering because it brings one down to earth. Literally. Earth is where the tools, information, and strength of all creation exists in. The soil is perhaps the largest and most infinite wellsprings of information communication.

Imagine it - the soil, the dirt. The ground, it is the zero point. Mountains and hills and valleys, trees and plants and buildings and structures, these are reflections of thoughts and actions manifested into creations. But the earth, the soil, is where it all stands on, and flows from. More importantly, the soil contains all the information, nutrients, bacteria, viruses, for these things to be created and sustained in the first place.

Now, does being ‘brought down to earth’ have the same connotation?

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I feel lucky that everyone in my close orbit, who I speak to these days, reflects to me their journey inward and their hopes for the future. I know I am not the only one trying to figure out the different dimensions of self that have appeared this year.

Where did these concepts of self, of love, and relations, come from? Was this always here? Now that I see them sharply, will I continue to allow disempowering thoughts to rule how I relate to others and carry myself in the world? How can I transform these things so that I am helped by them, rather than hindered? All these questions lead to the ultimate one…

How can I/we best empower ourselves?

I think one way we can empower ourselves is to dance with new perspectives. I’ll give you a prompt that comes to me right now as I write this, a prompt which is the at the core of my thoughts here - is there a duality to our sensorial experiences? The information at the source of what we touch, taste, hear, feel, smell, can be processed by the physical body, and then carried to other sources of our mental and physical processes… but what if we receive and process that information from other places? What are we doing with that information, and what is it doing to us? I am speaking about our imagination, our thoughts, and the energetic path that they lead us on.

No judgement is needed on the answers - but what has it created? What has it transformed? What is reflected from it? What is it offering to you - is it a question, is it a problem, is it a solution? Most of all, what new waves of perception can you open yourself up to, that are your own? What can you imagine to empower yourself?

While right or wrong is relative and different approaches are needed at different stages of overcoming, I do know that the mind can be a bully. Any voice, especially one’s own, which speaks with a mission to cripple and destroy one’s fortitude, is a bully. It can seem necessary to berate yourself into commitment, especially if it feels as though you need more of it. And we all have grown up with the idea that ‘tough love’ is the mature, grown, strong, absolute key to success. But what if ‘tough love’ as part of coming ‘down to earth (reality)’ is simply a misinterpretation of what it means to be in the soil, where an infinite amount of live-giving properties exist and are in constant movement and communication to fulfill that purpose?

See what is before you. See all the possibilities. Open yourself to new perspectives on your present circumstances, and be committed to seeing the reflections as answers that are empowering.

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In the illuminating liner notes of John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’, he describes a time where, after he experienced a life changing awakening, he found himself in a state that felt, once again, away from that path. What follows is a testimony on Grace, and I think it is exemplified in his story: he never really was off of it - every experience is a part this art - coming back to one’s self, illuminating the Divine within, and knowing it is all part of the Divine Path, which is self-created, and which always leads to the same source… The One.

Tracklist: 

Flora Purim - Transitions - Conversation

John Handy - Young Enough to Dream

Minnie Riperton - Return to Forever

Joni Mitchell & Charlie Mingus - Sweet Sucker Dance

Tania Maria - Come with Me (Live in San Francisco)

Bernard Wright - Music Is the Key

The Emotions - How Can You Stop Loving

Sade - Fear

Ashford & Simpson - The Debt is Settled

Conjure - Running for the Office of Love

John Handy - Hard Work

Mulatu Astatke - Muscaram Setaba

John Handy - Didn’t I Tell You?

Betty Davis - Game is My Middle Name

Labelle - Are You Lonely?

Aikido - Psychedelic Baby

Jimi Hendrix - Get Down

Aikido - Midnight Lady

Conjure - Petit Kid Everett

D’Angelo - Betray My Heart

Joni Mitchell & Charles Mingus - The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines

Joni Mitchell & Charles Mingus - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

Ahmed Sirour - Soothe Our Souls (S.O.S. 432Hz healing)

Santana - Transcendance

Stanley Cowell - Lullabye