The Digital Dispatch

From NOEBIE.net

Video

The Lokah Peace Prayer

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After completing the recording of the Cowboy Mahamantra I asked my wife, Claudia, what we should record next. Without any hesitation, she chose this ancient Sanskrit invocation of compassion and peace.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

“May all beings everywhere be blessed. I devote myself to this goal.”

I set to work on the melody, and have been fiddling around with it for a few weeks now. This morning I did an impromptu Facebook livestream with what I have so far.

I’m still not very comfortable with the Spanish Guitar. 🙂

Look for a full recording of this one in the next couple of months.

In the meantime, here is my wish and blessing for you. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live in safety. May you be free.

Be That One Accepting Person for Somebody

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My youngest child sent me the link to this video, saying “I cried when watching this video, man.” I watched it and replied “Me too.”

There are a lot of things about how we humans experience and express gender and sexuality that I still do not understand. Here is what I do understand.

People have a right to live authentically, in accord with their own sense of the deepest truths of their being.

People have a capacity to choose love, kindness and acceptance for one another. This is something that I believe we ought to do.

Help to Gaza

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My kid came up to me this morning expressing frustration with the conversations on social media concerning the current crisis in the Middle East. I think a lot of us are feeling that way.

I have little interest in politics. For me, the important thing at this point is that innocent children and their families are suffering, and there are simple things we can do, if we choose, to help them.

My own donation this morning went to Zakat Foundation. I would encourage you to help as well, by donating what you can to whatever charitable organization suits you.

Pilgrims On The Road

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Several years ago, I first heard about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. The idea of backpacking 500 miles across Spain to arrive at the burial site of an Apostle caught my imagination, but it was not something that I thought would really be possible for me to undertake. I filed it away as another pleasant thing to dream about.

A few weeks ago, we ran across Stefanie Hurtado’s marvelous documentary of her trek on the Way of St. James. It inspired me to reconsider, and it looks like it may be feasible after all. Claudia and I are still in very early discussions about the possibility, but are thinking we may attempt at least the portion of the pilgrimage from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela some time in 2025.

I’ll be posting more here as we continue to plan. In the meantime, the video above is highly recommended.

Here’s a link to the English version of the official website for the pilgrimage.

https://www.caminodesantiago.gal/en/inicio

Louis Theroux in India

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A friend in our work chat this morning shared this video after a short exchange about Hindu and Buddhist practices. It’s from the BBC program Weird Weekends with Louis Theroux.

Theroux is, I think, a sincere and light hearted skeptic. The video presents a mostly amusing look at some Westerners who have gone to India seeking enlightenment, their practices, and the Gurus that they follow, from OSHO to Prabhupada.

Toward the very end of the program, we witness Theroux’s encounter with Amma, and it is a moment of beauty and truth.

Preventing School Massacres

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With each new school massacre, there is a predictable pattern of reactions that has come to seem almost performative. Much of what is said and written seems little more than hurling insults towards political opponents, utterly without value to either grieving or prevention.

There are some actual, practical, well-researched and replicable steps that our communities can take toward prevention though, and they do not require shouting obscenities, or writing your representatives in Congress, or tilting at political windmills.

Mark Follman is the author of Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America. He appeared in April on Democracy Now! to discuss the book, and they recently featured the interview again after the massacre in Uvalde.

You can read an excerpt of the book at the link below from Mother Jones.

Here’s How We Can Prevent the Next School Massacre – Mother Jones. Inside a growing method that experts are using to thwart disasters like the recent Oxford High rampage.

Chanting With The Tanpura

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We added a Tanpura/Swarmandal to our collection of instruments last week, so I’ve been spending a great deal of time getting it under hand, and using it in my daily meditation practice. It works really well for japa with shorter mantras.

I’m hoping to make it through 108 Gayatri repetitions during this month’s Key City Kirtan gathering.