The Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale celebrate Discovery Day today. Most of the world, especially here in America, recognize this day as Columbus Day. But, seeing how the human spirit's need for discovery knows no political or geographical boundaries, we the humble Founding Father's of KMSA deemed this day Discovery Day.I was reading my latest edition of Rolling Stone at La Sombra Coffee Shop in downtown Newburgh yesterday, which was filled with a lot of political commentary as you can imagine, when breaking through the clutter was a gem of an article about Carlos Santana. The article dealt with his struggle with a recent divorce that had him contemplate suicide 7 times, and how his seeds of faith brought him through this trying time.
Of course, I could relate very well with his pain, struggle and seeking ways. But, what captured my imagination was how, if you truly bare your soul and break away all the baggage that we tend to carry, there is beauty in the struggle and the release. It appears to me that the Seeds of our Destruction, as a nation, a people, a culture, etc., is our lack of Discovery of our Seeds of Faith.
I'll let Carlos take it from here in excerpts from his interview in Rolling Stone, Issue 1063, October 16, 2008 (Wow! I discovered the future by the way!)"The theme of this tour is 'live your light'. I want the audience to be reminded that before they had all this stuff, this DNA and flesh and bones, they were made out of light. And that fighting and doubting and all that shit separates you from your light. And that the real light comes when you forgive and forget. And so what we want to do is not blind people but illuminate people. We are the architects of a new dawn!"
"I'm not sick of what I do, but I find that God gave me the gift of communication even without my guitar and with the ability to get people unstuck with certain sections of the Bible having to do with guilt, shame, judgement and fear. The God of that stuff is retarded, demented and not real. The real God is beauty, grace, dignity and unconditional love."
"It's like my manager Bill Graham once said to me: 'Carlos, you have to accept that your music is very sensual and stop apologizing for it. People want to have sex to your music, and that's just the way it is.' And once I accepted that, I wasn't so much in conflict with my Catholic upbringing and thinking it was dirty or against God to have an erection."
"I'm discarding things. It feels like an incredible blessing from God, that he's telling me my life is wide open more than ever. The thing I learned is, you have to go through the darkest night of the soul to get to the brightest light of the day, and that's what I did last year."
"I'm still with the dark night of the soul. I'm still with the 40 days and 40 nights. And I don't know how it's going to unfold. There is no clock, no script. What happens happens on God's time. But who am I to myself? That's the question. I am a child of God and God is not done with me. Nothing more needs to be said."
I leave you with another quote, which happens to be today's quote from my Positive Thinking Every Day book by Norman Vincent Peale..."Fear is the most powerful of all thoughts with one exception, and that exception is Faith."
Sir Hook the Cosmic Discoverer of Warrick
WOW -- what an awesome post.
ReplyDeleteThere is a not to digest here, so I'll probably print it out and keep it with me for a few days.
My first thought is something I read a long time ago: The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discover, but a process of creation.
This post has got me thinking that it's both. Albert Einstein contributed these five simple words to mankind: "Nothing happens until something moves."
I think people stand on the shore looking out on the seemingly infinite water and discover that seed of faith inside that gives them the courage to take a risk (thought), then they say it or write it (word) and then take action (move) -- that's when things really happen.
The staring at the horizon and wondering does nothing. The thought that something rewarding is "out there" does nothing. "It is action," as Robert Ringer writes, that cut the umbilical cord and brings an idea out of the womb."
I think we have to have faith that we can become The more we are, the we can become -- we create or Self.
I don't think we're ever, ever separated from the "light," we just sometimes forget that we're one with the light.
Maybe it's not "dust to dust," but light to light?
Sir Bowie "going to get moving" of Greenbriar
Change that first line to read:
ReplyDeleteThere is a LOT to digest...
Yes this is a multi-layered posting... and i kept tuning my sympathies in and out...mostly out...
ReplyDeleteFrom what i can see, his " 7 suicidal" moments were not due to lack of faith, more that he was getting divorced, and all the, percieved failure, Big Empty Bed, my woman's now maybe dating other guys, and the Male loses control of his mate and finds out in doing so that he is nothing more than a big kid who has lost his teat, and can't live by himself, that that entails...
i also tune out when i read that someone is actually counting the times they were suicidal, especially 7 times ...seems to me that he is not exactly serious about killing himself...so is not suicidal...just feeling sorry for himself and wanting attention.
Believe me, if you get in a car and drive off a cliff, that is serious self destruction, not, I hope somebody finds me and spends hours of their valuable time pumping me out when they could be saving some accident victim.
I am always impressed by people who checkout first go, simply because they want to. Way to go and see you on the other side.
You can tell here that I am a hard hearted so and so really. But speaking as someone who knows that in the time that it takes me to write this comment ( about 15 mins ) over sixty small children will have died of contaminated water, in Africa alone.( this is a fact ).. when i read of people who have lived in a Bubble of fame for way too long, start to whine about the Imponderables, I feel like giving them a damn good slap.
In an ideal world Carlos should have all his money and his brazilian Rosewood guitars and even his talent...taken away for a year...and made to live in poverty in a Mexican ghetto... to realise how freaking Lucky he really is.
Then if he wants to do something useful and Uplifting for his soul.( and this is where i heartily agree with Bowie.."DO SOMTHING")..after the year is up....he should go out and play concert after concert,of his wondrous playing, where all the ticket reciepts from every stadium he plays...goes towards, poverty stricken ghettos and villages the whole world over...Put some smiles back on a few faces.
You can tell that i have had a week of fuming at talk of the sums of cash Governments are prepared to throw around to save Banks but not to save Communities..
As we all know really....God....or the feeling that feels like we want to give it a name like God...but is most likely something else... is gained through work, and creation. All the Cathedrals in England were built in the Medievel period when workers and artisans simply chose to create these things because they thought it would get them closer to "God".
Sir dayvd ( i've lost my train of thought now, and i've finished the cup of tea I sat down here with, and sixty kids have still just died ) of Oxfordshire.
In defense of Carlos I didn't share the whole article, where his reason for suicidal thoughts were more connected to him being sexually abused by his father's friend as a child and how it effected his intimate relationships and self-inflicted guilt brought on by Catholic formal teaching.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a red flag that flies up when someone can count the times they've toyed with facing death. I can vividly recall twice in my own life. I believe that is when you truly feel alive and choose life. It's a, pardon the pun, a life changing experience you never forget.
Finally, he also shared that at age 67 he is hanging up his guitar and funding his own church on Maui where he will devote himself to ministry and helping those in need.
Just thought I should share these facts from the article and my insight so that we can be fair in our judgment of Cosmic Carlos.
It appears that the subject of faith causes many to grow hard, either hard of heart, hard headed, or a spiritual hard on, the eternal erection. I always prefer the later, of course we are all entitled to our humble opinions.
Ah well there you go...gotta know all the facts or i'll go wading it and grab the wrong end of the stick and hit them with it. LOL...
ReplyDeleteStill thats the beauty of the KMSA site and the comment posting...its a site for all opinions to be chewed over, dismissed or embraced or cross pollinated with your existing ideas, and modified and we're all friends and beer drinkers at the end of the night..:))
Sir Dayvd ( ready to give anyone a good slap who needs it ) of Oxfordshire...