Brother Zachary

(Originally posted on 7/10/19) It has been over two months since a surprise encounter with Rajendra Singh, but time has done little to dim the inspiration of that meeting. On Thursday, May 2, of this year, Hailey and I arrived in Port Townsend, WA for the Global Earth Repair Conference, a gathering of a few hundred well-intentioned, Mother-Earth loving souls from all over the world, to discuss, share, and hopefully inspire each other in the effort towards healing the earth. That evening, as we were setting up our Ananda farm table in the main hall, an Indian man walked over to introduce himself. The hall was mostly empty, save a couple volunteers doing final preparations for the event set to begin in the morning. "Rajendra Singh," he introduced himself to us. He and a friend were trying to find his accommodations for the night, as he had apparently just arrived, from India. We spoke briefly, and cordially. He asked us what we farmed. And then he parted, with my own inter...

  8-sided Chapel in the making; Jan 13, 2024  These words came to me in morning meditation on Jan. 12, 2024, and was shared with the resident brothers and sisters at the ashram. Willingness and Faith - Two sides of the coin, for a happy, successful life. Willingness is essential. Without willingness to take action, to meet life head on, to pick up the sword and fight, we simply have no chance to be happy, or achieve anything worthwhile. Stuck in a muck of unwillingness is like swimming in a sea of weeds. For every stroke forward we spend just as much energy clearing away the kelp in order to just take another stroke. All too often, we ourselves grow the weeds of bad attitudes, through simple unwillingness to keep swimming, or put out the necessary energy to find a solution. Willingness, however, isn’t merely a kind grim determination; it is positive; it is energetic; it is enthusiastic. Without such qualities, it’s not actually willingness yet, even if you m...

(Originally posted on 4/15/2024) Last night at the farm house, a few of us watched for the first time, the 1960's film, The Reluctant Saint . Despite some initial reluctance, two of the three of us made it through the movie awake. It is about the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino, a 1600's era Franciscan brother who became renowned for levitating and going into ecstasy during his devotions. While the film was enjoyable, my own experience was greatly benefited when it was pointed out that it was more like a play, than a movie, and therefore I started to view it as more of a theatrical production, and less of a polished film; such are the dramatics of the characters and script. And yet, by the end, it had a distinctly uplifted quality, and a helpful, if not powerful message. The movie portrays a young Joseph (Giuseppe) bumbling through his early life, quite unable to fit or function in this world, and failing in his initial efforts at becoming a novitiate of a monast...

(Originally posted 5/5/24)  Do you have a friend that is really hard to get a gift for? A gift they will actually like and appreciate? I have known a few over the years.  Perhaps this is as innocent as the fact that they simply have superior personal magnetism to attract whatever it is, whenever they wish. But also, there are those who simply accumulate whatever they desire, to a point of excess, and with a consequence of increasing aridity towards anything new - like a child with so many toys that he can’t possibly play with all of them, much less appreciate them beyond a one-time fling.   An immoderate disposition towards life leaves almost no space to receive anything new, or of any special meaning.  This image of the friend whom you can’t find an appropriate present for, came to me in meditation this week. Because in so many ways, this is the game that we all play, with God.  So too does this apply in our own daily, mundane existence, like w...

 (originally posted 10/5/24) Sometimes statements are presented to us by others as ‘facts’, or ‘truth’, which don’t seem to quite resonate as such. Often these are important clues for us individually, as we learn to follow the path of wisdom, born of our own experience in life. Why doesn’t a certain teaching or statement resonate as true for me, even though this other person is so certain of it?  Instances of such variance are often a gracious guide for our own introspection and realization; to not judge or criticize the person who made the statement, but rather to reflect upon the realized variance, with equanimity. In this we find the opportunity to go deeper into the subject, and discover our own truth from within. One such example for myself, has come through an oft repeated refrain, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it.” For many years I’ve observed this statement used in a certain way, and with a particular organizational agenda attached to it.  In...

Babe and friends  (Originally posted on 11/24/24) Recently at the farmhouse cinema, a group of us watched the movie “Babe." The showing corresponded perfectly with the evening of the weather man’s purported “bomb cyclone” arriving in western Washington. As Pooh would say, “It must have been a Windsday.”  Sometimes, movies are simply the right choice, at the right time. Which is gratifying -  to enjoy the evening's entertainment with a calm, joyful expectancy for Ram's special motive in His movie selection.  About a half hour into the movie, the incoming bomb cyclone officially downed the power on South Camano. This brought about an early intermission in our movie-viewing, before we arrived at huddling around the laptop, with about 60% battery remaining. As we became more intimately invested in the story of this wonderful little pig, the storm began to blow through the farmstead of the movie as well. It was not unlike the scene we were enjoying at t...

Master and Disciple, Yogananda and Rajarsi  (Originally posted on 2/22/25) Yogananda is often quoted as saying that ‘ Loyalty is the first law of God .”  What is loyalty, and to where and whom does our loyalty belong?  A dictionary defines loyalty as faithfulness or allegiance to a person, cause, ideal, or institution. For myself, it has been helpful to relate my own idea of loyalty with the people and things to which I am devoted; that which I honor and love, because I know God has put them in my life. From the beginning of life, we learn to apply the principle of loyalty. First, most often, to mother and father, then to siblings, family and friends. As we get older, to teachers, team, town, church, job, and more intimate relationships, as well as to ideas and causes, which give meaning to our lives .   We find that in the need to go deeper in any arena of life, there is a corresponding, fundamental need to practice loyalty to it; how coul...