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What I'm Reading

What I’m Reading: Came the Lightening

Brian K. Noe · March 23, 2023 · Leave a Comment

Came The Lightening Book CoverLast evening, I finished reading Olivia Harrison’s Came the Lightening – Twenty Poems for George.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that my fascination with the Harrisons’ relationship stretches back nearly fifty years now. During the early years of his solo career, I happened on an issue of People magazine with a story about George, and it included a photo of him and Olivia. They looked so incredibly joyful. To my teenage mind, I could not imagine a life more vibrant or exciting than the one I pictured them leading. For quite some time seventeen-year-old me did his best to emulate George’s style and manner, and I was more than a little smitten with this dark eyed beauty who was his new love.

George Harrison was, and is, one of the great heroes of my lifetime. I remain a huge fan of his music, and his philosophy. When the Dark Horse album came out in 1974, I listened to it constantly, fumbling around trying to pick out parts on guitar or bass, singing along “It is He, Jai Sri Krishna!”

I still have that original vinyl record. On the sides of the record itself, the labels with the track listings have a photo of George on side 1 and Olivia on side 2. The smiling eyes are still just as captivating when I look at them today.

Side 1 Label Side 2 Label

Watching the Scorsese documentary Living in the Material World for the first time a few years ago, I was struck by how much deeper and more exciting and vibrant – and tragic and difficult – the Harrisons’ life together had been. Besides George’s musical brilliance, and the incredible balancing act he lived out (maintaining a lifelong dedication to the spiritual path while burning off worldly karmas like Sherman’s march to the sea), what struck me most about the film was Olivia’s grace, poise and intellect. The love they shared shone through every word she spoke.

So I was delighted to find this book. She wrote these poems in part to make sense of their life together, and to make sense of his passing, and her grief. As a result, the book presents a more intimate portrait than a memoir likely could.

Fair warning that it is painful to read some of these poems, particularly Heroic Couple (about the nearly deadly attack on the Harrisons in their home by a crazed intruder) and Came the Lightening (about the moment Harrison left the body).

This is a must read for any George Harrison fan, but it would also be of interest to anyone who is trying to come to grips with loss, the power of love and marriage, the meaning of life itself.

One who is graced to live life (and face departure) on their own terms, as Harrison did, is lucky indeed. We who remain are lucky to find inspiration in his story, and in the loving memories so boldly set to the page in this book.

Filed Under: What I'm Reading Tagged With: Bookish, Books, George Harrison, Memories, Olivia Harrison, Poetry

What I’m Reading: An Essential Guide to Kriya Yoga Practice

Brian K. Noe · February 23, 2023 ·

Kurczak Book CoverRyan Kurczak is one of the foremost teachers of Kriya Yoga in the world today. He is the author of numerous books on the subject, he hosts the Kriya Yoga Podcast, and his Kriya Yoga Online YouTube Channel has tens of thousands of subscribers. Ryan teaches in the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar and Paramahansa Yogananda. His own teacher, Roy Eugene Davis, was a direct disciple of Yogananda from 1949 until the great yogi’s passing, and Ryan was authorized to teach by Mr. Davis more than a decade ago.

I finished this latest of Ryan’s books a week or so ago. In addition to step-by-step instructions in Kriya Yoga meditation techniques, he presents a concise history of the lineage, along with a survey of essential teachings relevant to the practice from the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.

The book is well-titled. It covers pretty much anything someone would truly need to know about Kriya Yoga. Although these practices are best learned under the guidance of an experienced teacher – and they usually take many years of daily effort to learn to do well – there is certainly enough in this book to begin learning, and it will also serve as a reference guide for reviewing philosophy and technique throughout one’s life.

The lineage and teachings of Kriya Yoga is a deep well, and one could spend a lifetime of study and still find something new to learn. An Essential Guide to Kriya Yoga Practice is one of the most thorough, practical, and authoritative works currently available on the subject. I highly recommend it for curious newcomers and seasoned meditators as well, though some of the content may be just a bit dense for someone who is not at all familiar with meditation or similar spiritual practices.

Filed Under: What I'm Reading Tagged With: Bookish, Books, Kriya Yoga, Meditation, Reading, Ryan Kurczak, Yogananda

Books Read in 2022

Brian K. Noe · February 2, 2023 ·

Book CoverI’ve been making a special effort these past few years to fritter away less time in front of the Television, and spend more time reading.

Here are the books that I read in 2022, listed in chronological order of completion.

Just Kids
Patti Smith

Strength in Stillness: The Power of Transcendental Meditation
Bob Roth

As Time Goes By
Derek Taylor

Ramayana (Tulsidas)

The Big Reboot
Mike Motor

An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life
The Dalai Lama

Words of Wisdom
Ram Dass

Hariakhan Baba Known, Unknown
Baba Hari Dass

Transcendental Meditation: The Essential Teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Jack Forem

Wouldn’t It Be Nice: Brian Wilson and the Making of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds
Charles Granata

Kriya Yoga: Continuing the Lineage of Enlightenment
Ryan Kurczak

Whisper In The Heart: The Ongoing Presence of Neem Karoli Baba
Parvati Marcus

The Holy Science
Sri Yukteswar Giri

The Yugas: Keys to Understanding Our Hidden Past, Emerging Present and Future Enlightenment
David Steinmetz and Joseph Selbie

Paramahansa Yogananda As I Knew Him: Experiences, Observations, And Reflections of a Disciple
Roy Eugene Davis

The Longest Cocktail Party
Richard DiLello

As you can see, it’s an odd mix of music memoirs, scripture, spiritual philosophy and inspiration, with one book on the history of soccer in my hometown mixed in.

So far in 2023, I’ve followed that same pattern. 🙂

What have you been reading?

Filed Under: What I'm Reading Tagged With: 2022, Bookish, Books

Just Kids

Brian K. Noe · January 4, 2022 ·

Just Kids Book Cover

A Memoir By Patti Smith

My wife had given me Just Kids by Patti Smith as a present quite some time ago, and I had not gotten around to reading it until now. Smith’s 75th birthday on December 30th prompted me to pull it off the shelves. Once I started reading I could barely put it down.

This book was written as a tribute to her first great love, Robert Mapplethorpe. All I had known before of Mapplethorpe was the controversy surrounding NEA funding of a retrospective of his work titled The Perfect Moment that was exhibited shortly after his death (from complications of HIV/AIDS) in 1989. I’m thankful to know more about about this unique and gifted creative spirit, who was instrumental in lifting photography to the status of fine art that it only attained during his lifetime.

Over the course of 200 and some pages, we learn about Smith’s own early life, and her journey from Suburban New Jersey to the center of the mid-1970s Proto-Punk scene at CBGB and beyond. We also learn about Mapplethorpe’s youth, and gain some insight into the sexual and artistic sensibilities that informed his career. Just Kids is so much more than simple biography, though. It unveils the complexities of love and art – and lives that are devoted to love and art.

Poetic, inspirational, joyful, sad, informative, direct and starkly honest, this book was a delight, throughout even the darkest moments of its story. Like much of our greatest literature, it offers glimpses into the universal mystery of the human condition by presenting a deeply personal account of a particular life and time.

The edition I have (with the cover pictured above) is a beautifully bound paperback, with lovely leaves, sig configuration and design. Just Kids is most highly recommended, especially to those who are pursuing a creative life, those who value literature, art, photography, poetry or Rock’n’Roll, and those who dream of friendship and love that endures a lifetime.

Just Kids Quote

 

Filed Under: What I'm Reading Tagged With: 1960s, 1970s, AIDS, Art, Biography, Bookish, Mapplethorpe, Memoir, New York City, NYC, Patti Smith, Rock'n'Roll

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