first aid

i have tried a couple times to write about the california fires but i have no words for it. wifey was evacuated from del mar, cousin alice had to leave fallbrook (take the brownie recipe and run!), and big jeanne cant leave her home without a serious asthma/sinus attack from the smoke in the air. the los angeles area has been host to natural wild fires since before there were people here to lose their homes... and the fires will probably be here long after people are gone. if we are going to live in a place where nature is sometimes inhospitable, we will need to find some kind of peaceful relationship with nature to appreciate the occasional inhospitality. even the best friend is sometimes cranky. there are native plants that only germinate and flower after a fire. hopefully there will be a flowering after this disater. blesstheworld.com always sends the blessthebody.com spiritual remedy first aid to disaster sites to help those in need. how do you help the hundreds of thousands of people directly affected by the fires? you start with what is right in front of you. what i can do is this: every person who shows up to sunday evening meditation class at the blessings center los angeles this week will recieve a free bottle of first aid for himself and another to give to someone affected by the fires. come, meditate, heal.

for spiritual remedies: http://blesstheworld.com

dear god

my daughter is six years old and doesnt believe in god. she does a father proud. not because of her beliefs (which are different than mine) but because of her consideration of her beliefs. she doesnt blindly accept the notion of god without consideration... she is even prepared to go against the conformity of her peers: she asked every child on the playground if he believed in god and each said he did. that didnt sway her from her conviction. and she made no attempt to sway the other children. she just let it be. what a blessing to the world, tolerance! she told me she doesnt believe in god because hes dead. i couldnt be more proud! my baby is an existentialist! and shes not even a teenager yet! the idea of atheism is interesting though. an atheist is someone who defines god in his own terms and then denies the application of those terms. an atheist considers himself logical and yet the defining of and then denying god is illogical. it is an ego-centrical closed circuit with crossed wires. i think atheism is really a vocabulary problem. the definition atheists give to god is too small. and a small field yields a small harvest. the definition atheists ascribe to god is akin to a teapot in the sky or the historical moses. neither is a practical definition of god and so is very easy to deny. in reality, atheists do believe in god just as they believe in the chair they sit on because the chair they sit on is god (my definition). the car they drive is god ~ they must believe in it because it certainly takes them to the "im superior because i dont believe in god" meetings. the leaves changing color in autumn, the laugh of a baby... im so damn syrupy! everything is god! everything. so only a complete denial of existence, a complete denial of self, would allow for the validity of atheism. and atheists are too arrogant to deny themselves... so obviously god exists! and as for my daughter, well shes the best existence there is!

good god

yahweh started his career as a local tribal god, a country bumpkin deity. he was an anger-and-revenge god who specialized in certain tricks: hellfire-and-brimstone, plagues, etcetera... not very spiritually elevated but he was a good businessman. yahweh parleyed the jews into a western-worldwide community and they took him along with them. this is exactly what the old testament of the bible is about. but like jersey mafia, yahweh could wear an expensive suit and have a high rent office but he would always be a thug. he hit the big time with jesus and the christians put him in power over as much of the planet as they could. always, as are his methods, the power was held by fear, violence, and subjugation. it remains so to this day. the muslims have the same god as the christians. he loves the anger energy so much he gets them to hate and fear each other for the mere excitement...

radio head

the radio show went well i guess. everyone raved about it. and i was asked to be back on the show again in december. i think i shouldnt have said i was sitting in my bathrobe wearing a string of pearls... but it was a zen moment and so it shall remain in the archive for all eternity. despite the pearls from the supermarket in hawaii where i had a wonderful vacation with my daughter, there were other pearls... the zany mystic let the show ramble in an interesting freeflowing of ideas and at some point we talked about the presidential candidates and gay marriage. quite an amusing topic actually. amusing because of the ridiculousness of how the smallest minds in the country dictate how the greatest minds will behave. at least politically... but on marriage, these are my ideas: marriage is a contract. on the physical level, that contract is the merging of the assets of two people. on the emotional level, that contract is the commitment to love the other person until one is dead. and on the spiritual level, that contract is the appreciation of the witness of god in the lives of the married couple. usually one or more of those three aspects of the contract dissolves quickly (if it existed at all) but that is another matter. the idea that a government that allegedly has a separation between church and state would have anything more than a voice about the legal details of marriage (such as how old one must be to enter the contract of marriage) is absurd. and yet, like negroes had been in this country, gays are not considered human beings and are not afforded the same rights. it should be that any two people of adult age and somewhat sound mind (because how clear can someone be who actually wants to get married???!!!) could go to an attorney and draw up a legal contract of marriage. it should be the business of nobody else (except their mothers of course who will always have something to say). the emotional and spiritual aspects of the contract do not apply to the government and should be attended to by the marrying couple. if that involves other people (friends, family, minister, etc) that is the perogative of the marrying couple. but for the legality, the government has declared that gays do not deserve the same rights as others to enter that contract (even convicted felons on death-row can marry as long as it is man-to-woman). and the great minds of our polical generation allow the small minds of the christians to rule our country. high absurdity! especially if we actually do have a separation of church and state! the zany mystic said he gets about 10,000 listeners to the radio show each week and a guest could get 7000 hits on his website. i got two and i think one of them was me! obviously my pearls were cast before swine.

to hear the radio show, go to (blog link): http://royanthonyshabla.com

liar liar pants on fire

the better business bureau notified me that power volvo of cerritos replied to the second inquiry regarding their poor business practices with the basic statement that i lied. they refuse to take any responsibility for the situation. the entire exchange will be public record for anyone who requests information about power volvo. my only recourse now is a lawsuit.

peace pot

it was announced this morning that al gore won the nobel prize for peace. i am sending him congratulations and best wishes... but a little begrudgingly. i have worked for peace. i put posters up on my house ~ did al do that? his house is probably presentable. i sell t-shirts ~ does al do that? he only wears old man shirts and we all know old men got us into this mess... sometimes i have nine people in my class and i always talk about peace... peace peace peace, im all about the peace. but i dont have leonardo di caprio to introduce me ~ he wont be seen in public with me anymore! but thats his issue... and i dont jet all over the world to talk about peace, well i was in ohio but that wasnt peaceful... but i do send out newsletters all the time encouraging people to buy my peace products ~ yesterday in fact ~ maybe aol didnt deliver it to the nobel committee... anyway al, congratulations on winning. ill get ya next time!

to participate in the peace movement, (t-shirt link): http://royanthonyshabla.com

celebration

in honor of rumi's 800th birthday, i re-read my book eating God. i expected to be unfazed, unimpressed. i expected to regret the plainess of the language, the simpleness of the idea. i expected to find errors. but what i was greeted with was an epiphany of hope and joy and clarity that completely enchanted me. it is a celebration! and i am delighted to be the utter fool who wrote it! my dear friend patrick who lives in portland visited this weekend. the front cover of eating God showcases his evocative painting of a buddhist monk in meditation and i am blessed to be able to use it there. patrick was in town for the funeral of another artist ~not me~ someone he hadnt seen in twenty years. her husband told patrick that his work had meant so much to them all this time... well of course he had to come for the funeral. it was nice to have him for a quick visit, exchange ideas and support, and live. the weather was beautiful but i never expect anything else!

to purchase my book eating God: http://royanthonyshabla.com

poet poet where art thou?

i have talked about the burning of the book, revolution rapture, by fanatics in oregon. free-thinking is not alive and well in america. it is the 50th anniversary of the first reading of "howl" by allen ginsberg, arguably the most important american poem of the 20th century. the trial for pornography that resulted from its publication changed the face of literature forever... though not necessarily for the better. now, fifty years later, that same poem being read on the radio would elicit so many fines the radio station would be put out of business. literary-nazism has stuck this country in the sanitary mud of the mccarthy era. producers of the tv show, family guy, admit the restrictions for broadcast media are getting tighter. on the other hand, it is the 800th anniversary of the birthday of rumi, the most published poet at this moment in time. celebrations to commemorate his birthday are planned all over the world. if you have not experienced the work of rumi AND the work of ginsberg, get yourself to a literate bookstore now. i am producing a small handmade book of poetry called body of water. it will be letterpress printed in berkeley and assembled with original art and fine details. the edition of 50 will presale for $100 each. reserve your copy now. i will also be on the radio ~ internet radio where you can say whatever you like ~ this saturday evening at 7 pm. bbsradio.com, station 1, a fireside chat with the zany mystic. tune in to liberate your mind.

to purchase my books: http://royanthonyshabla.com