Casi Cielo Salon

share your watercolor journals in Salon too

art credits: a journal page from luscious PaPaYa! Cards and Gift's Anahata Katkin

There are always flowers for those who want to see them. - Henri Matisse

Everything is holy Wholeness. There is sacredness in the mundane.

"When it comes back to teach you
or you come back to learn
how half alive you've been,
how your ignorance and arrogance
have kept you deprived --
when it comes back to you
or you yourself return,
joy is simple, unassuming.
Red tulips on their green stems.
Early spring vegetables, bright in the pan.
The primary colours of a child's painting,
the first lessons, all over again."  -  Thomas Centolella

"... engaging the unseen through the written word... to welcome the invisible back into your life." - Patrice Chaplin

"What we see and don't see may just be a matter of perspective, like the ladybug who sees the leaf on which she sits, but not the tree the leaf grows on, or the person sitting beneath it. And the person beneath the tree may or may not see the ladybug, depending on where he focuses his attention. Still, all of these things, whether seen or not seen by the person or the ladybug, exist in reality. Some people are more gifted at accessing that which we cannot see, but given an open and willing heart, anyone can tune into the invisible realm and begin to find their way.

Human beings have always done this, and it is only recently that we have fallen into distrusting the existence of what we can't see. If you have lost touch with the unseen world, all you have to do is resolve to open your heart to its existence, and it will make itself known. Closing your eyes in meditation and visualization, or engaging the unseen through the written word, are just two ways to welcome the invisible back into your life. Whatever you choose to do, cultivating a relationship with that which you can't see is a time-honored human practice that can greatly enhance your life." - Patrice Chaplin, The Portal:  An Initiate's Journey into the Secret of Rennes-le-Chateau

art credits: Findings of a Voyager, by Dan-ah Kim

"The act of seeing this deeply...is also the act in which originality and creativity can be born." - David Bohm

"But, after all, for thousands of years people have been led to believe that anything and everything can be obtained if only one has the right techniques and methods. What is needed is to be aware of the ease with which the mind slips comfortably back into this age old pattern. Certain kinds of thing can be achieved by techniques and formulae, but originality and creativity are not among these. The act of seeing this deeply (and not merely verbally or intellectually) is also the act in which originality and creativity can be born." - David Bohm, On Creativity

art credits: Hilary Pecis, untitled collage

"a gift in a supportive place where we can explore what we want and who we are..." - Derrick Jensen

"The people in my class [creative writing students at Eastern Washington University], including me, do not need to be taught. We need simply to be encouraged, to be given heart, to be allowed to grow into our own large hearts. We do not need to be governed by external schedules--by the ticking of the ubiquitous classroom clock--nor told what and when we need to learn, nor what we need to express, but instead we need to be given time, not as a constraint, but as a gift in a supportive place where we can explore what we want and who we are, with the assistance of others who care about us also. This is true not only for me and for my students, but for all of us, including our nonhuman neighbors. We all so want to love and be loved, accept and be accepted, cherished, and celebrated simply for being who we are. And that is not so very difficult." - Derrick Jensen, Walking on Water: Reading, Writing and Revolution

art credits: Hope comforting Love in bondage, by Sidney Harold Meteyard

Casi Cielo Salon: 40 Days of Wholy Inspiration, March 8 - April 24, 2011

""What are ten or fifteen years?" asked the Mother Superior serenely. "Think of eternity."

I made no answer. I knew that eternity is each minute that passes." - Nikos Kazantzakis

Here, now, what if you as you are-were-am perfect, whole--right now, here?

Casi cielo means "almost heaven" in Spanish. We're always (seemingly) falling short of that bar, huh? Rustling underfoot is an unquestioned assumption that goes something like this: "Somewhere, sometime in the future--of course--we'll be fine when and if ___ (fill in the blank with infinite items or just one) happens or is attained or is accomplished or is grasped or is purified or is....."

What if we were to perceive and witness reality as it is? Perceive who we are; who we are, really?

Join me for 40 day Lenten (oh, there's an ulterior motive) Salon from Mardi Gras to Easter 2011 (Sundays excluded) where we delve into the sheer rapture of streaming our attention to the here and now, and then writing and sharing our observations in an intimate, online gathering space.  And, a haiku will do--no pressure, this is for the delight of it.

The focus is on current inspiration--not memory or memoir writing. If you have a flashback in the present, so be it.

The best time of my life (thus far...) was a period in 2006 where I kept a journal for forty days and wrote  in the present tense and of the present moment. It was subtitled "40 days of Ordinary Rapture."

I was 'stuck' in the further suburbs of San Jose, CA without a functioning car. Although I had a roof over my head, I was having trouble putting food on the table. I was whining to a local friend, "I am getting tired of tea and toast everyday."

She put me to a challenge. What if every time I ate a piece of bread to view it with fresh eyes and senses as if, "You have never tasted a morsel of bread before that moment."

So the journal became a way to record my daily ritual of tea and toast at dawn and tea and toast in the twilight. I was also "playing" with Jesus' intent of forty days of fasting in the desert, and this sentence: "Man does not eat by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God."

There are no adventures of ice-climbing across New Zealand or marrying a rock star in that journal.  Yet I saw magnolia trees in my neighborhood for the first time. Before I just drove by them on the way to something else without a second glance.

The scent of roses blooming was richer, and one day I understood their voice. I strolled to the local park and felt the glee of children at play. As I walked everything shimmered as if in an enchanted fairy tale; and yet, nothing changed externally.

Soon, I could afford more than Earl Gray with bergamot and sourdough. I enjoyed white peaches that dripped with sensuousness from the farmer's market. I fell in love.

There was none of my typical ennui. A subtle and sublime joy suffused my daily life, just as it was. I suppose one can call it mindfulness, but it was more like Wholeness.

I don't care if you write your diary, your screenplay, spiritual autolysis or your business plan (alright, maybe not the business plan unless it's spontaneous and morphing each day). Express what you care.

There will also be "clearing" exercises to flash flood out the logjams of reinforced conditioning around whatever the heck you believe is holding you back, creatively and livingly. 

The Intensive Casi Ceilo Salon runs for 40 days (Lent doesn't count Sundays) from March 8 through April 24, 2011. (It'll also be a continuing gathering space for living and sharing our art with each other for those that wish to partake.)

Shared writing among participants will be private, and sent via email to a private blog (no technical knowledge of blogging necessary). If you have more questions, check out the Frequently Asked Questions, or leave a comment and I'll answer.

Free to all Encanto subscribers. (Subscribe to Encanto at $25/month.)

The fee is $40 for access to the private Salon during the 40 day Casi Ceilo Intensive. Note the inspiration prompts related to guidance, inspiration, living in the moment, awareness, awakening, clearing blocks, creativity, etc. are globally public, and your support helps me provide an open, freely available option.

Register for Casi Cielo below:

"Every moment is fresh and unconditioned--until we believe otherwise." - Adyashanti

DETAILS, AGAIN?

WHAT: Facilitated Intensive Salon of peers interested in living in present awareness, ordinary rapture and sharing their writing based on daily happenings and musing. Loose and structured. Loose in that you decide on your topics of rapture and length and style of writing--erotica or renku or brochure or video game or watercolor sketch....; structured in that there are optional daily prompts (excepting Sundays) and I'll nudge you to submit something in writing if we don't hear from you in a while (i.e. no spectators.)

WHEN: Seven weeks March 8-April 24th.

HOW MUCH: $40 covers all daily prompts, feedback, facilitated online group (private just like most writing circles are) for seven weeks. Register above by clicking on the big yellow BUY NOW button.