Steve Jobs and Jerry Garcia in India!

It’s been well documented that Steve went to India in 1974 in search of enlightenment. I have no idea if Jerry Garcia ever went. This is post is about neither. Rather, it’s about how I just met both of them on my recent trip to India.

Upon my departure I loaded up my iPad with 10 or so books that I thought would be essential reading while in Rishikesh and Vrindavan, two very holy cities where the bhav is plentiful. One of which was “Steve Jobs” by Walter Issacson. Also on my iPad were your basic go-to spiritual manuals like The Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.

Sunset on the Ganga, Rishikesh

On the plane flight over I was well into the Steve Jobs book and found myself getting more and more sucked into the story of how two guys started a company in their garage that later became the worlds most valuable technology company. Even as I arrived in India and was settled into my daily routine I just couldn’t seem to put it down. I was occasionally going back to the Gita but time and time again the Steve book seemed to have all the instruction and inspiration that I needed while enjoying my own spiritual meanderings in India.

The new agers and touchy feely types decry the Steve story as a downer because he often times wasn’t such a nice guy. He was brash, rude, insensitive, sometimes dishonest and didn’t display behavior of that of a counter culture infused guy from Northern California. All that is true. However, that’s not what his story is about. If you’re reading the book to try and find value in him as a model human being that’s missing the point. Rather the book is about one mans ability to manifest the things he held dear to him, without compromise. It’s the story of one mans dharma. What more appropriate thing can you read about while in India?

Steve has the ability to strip out the clutter and distractions that got in the way of realizing his vision for creating products that fused together technology and the humanities. He was not the best programmer or engineer or even business mind around, but he had a vision for how human beings could build relationships with digital interfaces. Those interfaces had a variety of applications over the years that changed the way we live and behave on a daily basis. Indeed, our entire persona of life in the digital age has roots that go back to something that Apple did within the last 30 years. Steve was a modern avatar who slashed and burned his way to success but through it I found that he was also a shining example of someone who found what he loved to do and then did it. That is discipline. I can’t think of too many modern examples who had such a clear vision of how they saw their little slice of the world and had to share it with people no matter what. In life it is about adding all the things that make you a better person but it’s also about getting rid of the extraneous clutter that is preventing you from realizing potential. Just as Steve slashed most of the Apple product line upon his return in 1996, I look to slash most of my personal product line that no longer serves any purpose. Simplify.

That’s the end of the first part. On to my second story.

After Rishikesh I went to Vrindavan. While there, I did get the typical bug that shut me down for 24 hours. It was about my 12th day on this trip. I was laying in bed not able to hold anything down and feeling really distant from why I went there in the first place. I was sick, it was dirty and noisy. Temple life was rigid and predictable. And most importantly I was losing site of the person I wanted to be. Embarrassingly, I thought I was doing this for all the wrong reasons like fashion or because it felt “cool”. I kept asking myself why did I have to go half away around the world to get closer to my guru when I could have just as well found him in the cozy confines of my Culver City home. I just didn’t know what I was really doing or why I was doing it. It was a dark night.

As I was laying there it occurred to me that I hadn’t listened to any western music in nearly two weeks. I thought that perhaps a nice way to distract myself from feeling lousy inside and out was to listen to some music. So I got out my iPod, hit the shuffle button and just took in what was to unfold and once again reshape my experience. The first song to come up was Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s song “Isn’t this a lovely day?”. The soothing subtle nuances of Ella and Louis immediately warmed my heart and took me back to my childhood home in 1989 where I could see my parents just hanging out being in love by the fireside. They loved Ella and Louis and no music epitomizes their love more than that. Getting warmer, cozier…slowly feeling a manifestation of spirit. I was feeling love for my parents together and how it used to be, which doesn’t happen too often.

The next track to come up was by the Grateful Dead, it was a 1973 version of “Eyes of the World.” More than any other music the Grateful Dead really is the soundtrack of my life. I think you can guess what happened next. Less than 2 minutes into the song I got the chills from the familiar strains of Jerry’s guitar and the music then set forth in motion a complete overhaul of my attitude, thinking, perception and overall happiness. It all made sense. I knew exactly why I was India and I loved it!

Now it’s funny that the intangible can produce a tangible physical experience. What is it about sound that can trigger emotions which can then trigger thoughts which can then shape your experiences? By merely listening to a performance of a song the seemingly confusing state of my spiritual emotions suddenly went away. The music fixed me! One could add another fascinating tangent to this discussion – how matter and energy is really connected to the same “stuff” which leads to a realization of how the material world and the spiritual world may not be as far apart as we may think.

But this non-dualist probing will be saved for another post.

It’s funny that I traveled so far to be in the presence of such mystical and wonderful places and traditions but in the end the things that were already nearest and dearest to me are what brought me closer to those mystical and wonderful things! That really speaks to the point of what being a seeker all about. It’s so important to remember to not get caught in the trap of searching for something outside of yourself in hopes of attaining some goal. The external things that you may be investigating as methods or tools are really just conduits to bringing you closer to what’s already dwelling inside. That familiar love is always right there. Trying to avoid traps along the way…

I found Jerry Garcia in Steve Jobs in India!

The Revolution will not be Televised – 5 simple steps

Maybe Gil Scott-Heron was on to something after all. It doesn’t take a very sharp mind to acknowledge that the Occupy movement was one born of frustration but lined with the inherent hope that the American dream offers. We saw thousands of thoughtful young people taking arms in a sea of troubles only to have the authorities eventually extinguish the gatherings. The problem was that Occupy was a collection of ideas that were articulated by a vocal minority (that represented a majority) who were essentially leaderless. But who can say that they really learned what Occupy was about from watching TV? Very few.

After the first month Occupy was hard for most people to get their heads around because the ideas were so broad and lacked a central hub where the casual Occupier could go to learn more. Sure there were websites and various viral notions floating out there but most people couldn’t tell you more than “it’s about the “99% vs. the 1%”. If you didn’t watch The Daily Show or were a member of Move On I just can’t imagine how you even knew what Occupy was really about.

Because of that I’m suggesting that we compliment the Occupy movement with some simple steps that can help us create change now. Away from the TV. I offer these 5 simple rules for starting a revolution. We can not wait around for politicians to change our laws or for a crowd to gather in the streets again. When those happen, great. But in the meantime let’s turn within and act locally and pragmatically. There are so many tangible simple things we can do on a daily basis that will change the physical and economic landscape and open up the revolutionary change agents that are dwelling inside of all of us.

Five steps to spark change:

I preface all of these by saying that I merely strive for these, it’s not perfection, just awareness and progress.

1.) Change what you buy – if we call collectively bought hybrid cars, didn’t shop at Wal Mart and chose eco-friendly products it would make a small difference. Even if it’s only incremental, it’s a start. The fabric of the American dream is small business, self realization and self determination. This is crumbling fast. Because of cheap prices and convenience we’ve given the power back to the elite few. The big corporations are becoming bigger and more powerful because they’ve created the illusion of convenience. Short term satisfaction over long term sustainability. Shop small, shop local, buy eco friendly and try to minimize your support of the 1%. This is a very complicated topic in itself and could warrant a massive discussion – but to learn more about how a certain aspect of how the 1% operates and takes advantage of you watch “Inside Job.”

2.) Change what you eat – do you realize that if we all ate organic, GMO free, High Fructose Corn syrup free healthy living foods that the entire Monsanto corporate food structure would crumble? Everyones first response is “I can’t afford it.” That is a problem but I offer the idea that it’s sacrifice. The super cheap mass Alternatives are a trap. Do you know how much harm is done and energy is expounded to get a McDonalds hamburger to cost $.99? Spend the extra $2 and eat some local fruit and nuts instead. It might seem expensive in the short term but in the long term it will equal out because our collective supply and demand structure will change.

3.) Become vegetarian – I won’t deny the facts that show us that human beings are omnivores. We eat whatever is around us in order to survive. This is a simple fact. However, we have evolved to the point to where we can question the sustainability of choosing to deplete what’s around us. And as far as suffering goes, there really is no reasonable need to make any other living creature suffer in order for us to thrive. At the very least, if you do not agree with that philosophy (or if your body does not) at least eat organic, free range animal products. The environmental, health and karmic damage that the institutional meat industry causes is a crime and shutting this down will be a small revolution in itself. People will be healthier, less obese, the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries would dramatically change as a result. Watch “Food Inc.” or “Forks over Knives” to learn more.

4.) Develop a method – the problem with being fanatic about a personal growth method is that it becomes a trap. You start to see the whole world through that method and then judge those who aren’t on the same trip. With that said, if we all collectively develop a consciousness expanding method with some flexibility and open mindedness to others methods we’d be in better shape. Practice Yoga, do meditation, become spiritual and God conscious, chant the names of God, do community service (seva), become a member of a loving non-zealot based local church, take psychedelics consciously after you do the research, play music, make art – do any of these things. Do something that takes you out of the selfish routine of self gratification, greed and the desire to amass more “stuff”. Opening our hearts and minds to new ways of thinking naturally makes us question the world around us and causes a revolution that begins within. The best part of the 1960′s was based on this notion. Question authority but do it with mindfulness. Can you imagine what would happen if the majority of Americans started the day with a form of Yoga? Can you imagine how thoughtful we’d be if we all sang and danced every day?

5.) Use media wisely – this is perhaps the one that is easiest for everyone to participate in. We’re all on Facebook everyday anyway so why not use it wisely? There is an immense power in this. Please stop posting about your morning coffee and post about ideas that are worth spreading (thanks TED). The proof is there – when good ideas spread they work. See #Occupy or Arab Spring for evidence. Of course, it’s ok to have some fun and to keep it light – not everything needs to be some heavy message all the time. I get that. But let’s find a balance. Except for the Kardashians – there is a zero tolerance policy on that one. Don’t post about them, ever.

On God…part 1

In 1988 I started following the Grateful Dead pretty heavily. I immediately became transfixed with the idea that on any given night something magical could happen. The far out part was that it wasn’t every night. Some nights the band would mine for gold and come up dry. The juxtaposition between conjuring up magic on some nights and just trudging through the chord changes on others was remarkable. It was so interesting to me that a band of this size would risk so much to find the essence of magic, of God, by engaging in a musical dance with each other and the audience.

The addition of LSD was like adding jet fuel to an already burning house fire. It took me from 60 to light speed without a seat belt. There I was, a young impressionable teenager, being thrusted into a vortex of sound, vision and community. To this day I believe that Jerry Garcia was a great sorcerer. Casting chants and spells hoping that one of them would catch fire and set our minds ablaze. That happened often. Even then I knew it was an expression of God.

The problem, of course, was that there was no operating manual for life outside of that sacred arena. Well…if there was no one shared it with me. Perhaps I was too quick to be searching for the peaks and I forgot to cruise in the valleys. Insert metaphor here. Strong was the quest to “get there again” that I wasn’t aware of any discipline that could help me integrate this living and breathing magic into the daily mundane. Life went on.

Cut to May of 1996. My dad died on May 31st of that year. Many people were gathered around his bedside kinda just watching him take fewer and fewer breaths, it was all happening. I had never seen anyone die so naturally I was caught between the sadness of losing my father and the fascination of watching the transition. When he took his last and final breath a burst of energy flew into the rooming filling it with a beautiful glow and transcendent vibration. Just as quickly as he was there breathing in one moment, the next he was floating above me in a vibrational form having left his body temple. The energy dissipated quickly (so I thought) and there he was lying there, an empty vessel. The hyper awareness that his body was now just an empty physical form with no life force in it was without question the defining moment of my life at that point.

Where did he go? What are we made of anyway? What defines life – body or soul? How can a soul manifest as a personality?

So the words weren’t as defined as I now know them to be, but from then on it was my feeling that a supreme love intelligence body of energy permeated throughout the universe. Everything had so much in common with everything else. Energy moves from one place to another manifesting in leaves, trees, dirt, the ocean and human beings. And sometimes that energy can cary so much supreme intelligence that it manifests in magic or realized body temples such as Yogis or supreme personalities of Godhead. And our journey avails us to many tools and paths that can help us get in touch with that sacred field of energy. That’s the sadhana, the work, that is required of us – to seek our own relationship.

To be continued…happy Jerry week.

Let Us Begin Again

The good thing about life is that you can always begin again. I had a friend once tell me “it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” That’s not really where I’m going but I love the sentiment.

I’m firmly committed to keeping this blog current even if it broadcasts to audience of one. I feel grateful to have been granted some form of what I feel to be a clear perspective in what’s going on in the world that’s surrounding me. Why not share it? Or at least rif on it if it’s feels right. It’s never too late to begin again.

Ram Dass Now! A blog project.

I’m delighted to have been selected to take part in this blog project, Ram Dass Now that is exploring the various themes surrounding the 40th anniversary of Be Here Now. The Cyber Soul satsang is in full effect. I kicked it off with the first post – check it out!

Sacred Cows

Freshly returned from Kainchi. I’m not sure where to even begin. For such a short trip (10 days) we packed in so much of India’s delightful and chaotic mystic love. Being in the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram with Siddhi Ma had a sublime dance to it. It helped me to understand the power and significance of Ram Dass’s original 1967 journey even more.

This picture was taken right outside of the temple with a new friend. More soon…

On 2008 – a round up of sorts (part 1 of 2)

Writing about myself is a laborious exercise that I do not wish to engage in. I’ve often found that while I have many good tales to tell that actually putting them down into a digestible bits of sentence structure is tricky. Someday I will seek guidance from the gods and take another whack at it, until then I’m going to keep the self indulgence down to the bare minimum and write about things that interest me.

2008 was generally a very good year. Professionally, I found myself unceremoniously jettisoned from the advertising world into the music business. Much to my surprise, it’s worked out nicely. It seems that the music business has room for someone who thinks about branding, campaign ideas and how audiences are spending time in the digital world. There are still dozens of others who make sense out of the touring business, how labels work (or don’t), PR, radio promotion and the other tactics that music relies on to make it into ones earbuds. How it all works together is anybody’s guess. I keep saying that if anyone has the future of the music business figured out they are lying.

I’ve just returned from Sao Paulo, Brazil and San Francisco, CA. Sao Paulo is where I’ve, more or less, called home for the past 15 years. I do reside in Los Angeles but my family house slipped into mythic status some years ago while leaving no physical proof that any of it actually happened. So by default, the lovely home in Sao Paulo where my mother and her companion live is my closest thing to “home.”

San Francisco was home to the two night New Years run of Bob Weir’s Ratdog and Phil Lesh and Friends. No matter how old they get or how far away Jerry seems, I have to attend as many of these dead relics as possible. It’s just so great to hear the songs! Perhaps, a more detailed review will follow. Until then, I’m psyched for The Dead’s 09 run.

People often ask me about the state of Timothy Leary affairs. Unfortunately, this is a slow moving process that I have no answers for. Most hasn’t changed in the past year – there is no update on the archives, there is no update on a feature film project and many of his books are still out of print and hard to get. The good news is that there is perhaps a glimmer of hope with the leary.com site. It seems that the ever passionate Denis Berry and Joi Ito have enlisted the help of one Lisa Rein to direct the proceedings of that site and another more archival effort into reality. Leary.com has only a minor update at this moment but there are some talks with Chris and Joey to give it a decade long needed jump start. We’ll see. The archival site, http://www.timothylearyarchives.org, actually exists and is quite fun. In order to get really deep and sticky it requires a hefty investment to digitize all of the archives in order to get them into a web friendly form. Many avenues are being pursued on that front. If you want more concrete information on any of this you can contact Denis Berry at denisberry1@juno.com.

Culturally, my round up is as follows:

Shows I went to – some more than once and in no particular chronological order. Festival sets are also included.

Radiohead, Kings of Leon, Metric, Vampire Weekend, Duffy, Coldplay, Santogold, Sweetwater, Jenny Lewis, Nine Inch Nails, Jay Z, Death Cab for Cutie, AC/DC, Roger Waters, Ted Brown, Jon Brion, Nick Cave, Cat Power, Spirtualized, The Secret Machines, Prince, Kraftwerk, Gnarls Barkley, M83, School of Seven Bells, Portisehead, Aphex Twin, Kate Nash, MGMT, Minus the Bear, Gogol Bordello, Tom Petty, The Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, Ratdog, Phil and Friends, Animal Collective, Serj Tankian, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Return to Forever, Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell, Motorhead, Testament, Beck and Spoon.

There might be a few others that I’m forgetting…

Albums I loved – in no particular order

TV on the Radio “Dear Science”, Santogold “Santo Gold”, Metallica “Death Magnetic”, M83 “Saturdays = Youth”, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals “Cardinology”, My Morning Jacket “Evil Urges”, Kitty Daisy & Lewis “Kitty Daisy & Lewis”, Fleet Foxes “Fleet Foxes”, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!”, Of Montreal “Skeletal Lamping”, Coldplay “Viva La Vida”, Jenny Lewis “Acid Tounge”, The Raconteurs “Consolers of the Lonely”, Stephen Colberts “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!”, Apes and Androids “Blood Moon”

And about a dozen others that I can’t recall at the moment…

Products and Trends

Amazons Kindle – I myself do not own of these but i was tasked with bringing one down and loading it up. I give it 8 out of 10 stars. The digital paper screen is extremely readable and as non digital as could possibly be. Something about the quality of it adds an analog texture to it that is certainly conducive to reading books. I would guess that Amazon took some cues from Apple – the opening of the box is quite rewarding, the set up is extremely easy and the product design is elegant. However, Amazon has no Jonny Ives and some of the devices flaws are within the product design itself. There is no reason why the alpha-numeric keyboard needs to be slanted like that, its extremely annoying. Also, there is a “next page” button on the left that does not need to be there – it fucks up the equal weight distribution of “previous” and “next” that should exist. This is a first generation attempt – it will be really interesting to see where this product lands 2 or 3 generations later.

It is a small miracle when you turn it on and it instantly connects to the Sprint 3G network for speedy downloading. That alone is worth the price of admission and the back order wait time. Kinda makes me wanna become a reader.

iPhone apps: Fieldrunners, Bloom, Smule Ocarina, Amazon, Google, MLB at Bat, Shazam, RjDj, Style.com

To be continued…