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To support the development of this site and the work of soul friendship you are invited to express your appreciation through the spiritual practice of Dana
--------------- Hotel California
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night There she stood in the doorway; I heard the mission bell And I was thinking to myself, 'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell' Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say... Welcome to the Hotel California Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place) Such a lovely face Plenty of room at the Hotel California Any time of year (Any time of year) You can find it here Listen here on Youtube Click on graphic
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In a 2009 interview, Plain Dealer music critic John Soeder asked Don Henley this about the lyrics: On "Hotel California," you sing: "So I called up the captain / 'Please bring me my wine' / He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.'" I realize I'm probably not the first to bring this to your attention, but wine isn't a spirit. Wine is fermented; spirits are distilled. Do you regret that lyric? Henley responded, "Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention—and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages.
It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes."
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'The Briar Rose:
The Rose Bower' by Sir Edward Burne-Jones Here lies the hoarded love the key To all the treasure that shall be. Come, fated hand, the gift to take And smite the sleeping world awake. (William Morris)
Other Articles Click on Graphic to Read
The Mystical Heart As a storyteller I sing, listen too and contemplate songs for the mystical heart. This often makes me dance with joy and weep for the sorrow of the world and this experience of separateness from Love called Tony Cuckson tramping the world of Boogie Street.
Dark Night of the Soul "You cannot find the Light unless you enter the darkness. " Dark night of the soul, spiritual crisis, spiritual madness, spiritual emergency, divine madness, holy madness... these are various phrases that have been used to describe a unique experience - a profound test of faith and spiritual endurance - that seems to be a necessary part of walking the path home to God.
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Finding the Keys
Edmund
Blair Leighton The Keys
As a storyteller and singer one of my all time favorite songs is Hotel California by the Eagles. I have my own interpretation of this song. For me it is a song about crossing a threshold place. We leave the dark of the desert highway and are called toward the light and into a place that we can never leave. This place is the timeless. It is the place where we can find the keys to living a life of real happiness. On a dark desert Highway, Cool wind in my hair, Warm Sweet smell of Colitis Rising up through the Air. Hotel California The Eagles. See the full lyrics and listen to the song on links to the left The keys are old. They have lain in the sand by a dark desert highway for time out of mind. On one key are two words in an ancient language. On the other key are two other words written in the same ancient language. The keys have a name and while everyone out on the dark desert highway is looking for these keys all but a few have passed them by. The ancient language was forgotten and with it the search went on.
An Anamcara (Soul Friend) is one who has found the keys by the highway far out in the desert. These are keys that they are trying to give away but that no one really wants. They want what the keys will open but not the instructions that are to be followed and that give the keys their true power.
The Anamcara will tell you the words written in the ancient language. The words are old but the instruction is forever new. It is an instruction that aligns you with the flow of Creation that created you. You may still travel the desert highway but you will travel in a way that allows you to recognize the power and beauty of such a desert highway.
The name of the key that most everyone passes by on the desert highway is the key to happiness. Many have held the key in their hands but could not read the instructions. This is because the language on the key is the language, not of logic, but of paradox, riddle, parable and storytelling. So the key is thrown away. Except that it leaves a mark. The fact that it has been found, but not fully understood, means you will come back to it.
When you are able to see with the eyes of the heart the language of the key reads on one key
"To serve" And on the other key "Is happiness"
Creation created you to serve creation. This is not some kind of punishment. It may feel like a punishment when you or I resist the call to be a servant. The ego has its own agenda and your soul has another. One is limited and the other is not. Your soul has its own agenda beyond that of your ego. Your ego might drive your life but it cannot override your soul purpose. On is written in time and the other is timeless. One rushes down the highway looking for the key which the other is the peace of the key itself.
To follow your soul purpose is the meaning of the Biblical phrase "He who would be first shall be last." The one who is able to read the key knows (and not just in an intellectual way) that service in the name of Love is the key to happiness. It is not a popular idea. It has never been a popular idea. Except that this is the experience of the flow of Life and the experience of life eternal.
To serve conjures up the idea of meekness and not of success. It suggests one who is a loser. There is a paradox here. The meek shall inherit the earth not because they are weak or second rate but because they allow their inheritance, which is their birthright, to flow through them. The meek know the power and beauty of the feminine way. This is true empowerment but taken by the ego to epitomize disempowerment. This power is eternal while those who would be first serve the power of the temporal.
An Anamcara will tell you that you cannot find happiness. It finds you if you are willing, rather than willfully, pushing some life goal out on the desert highway going in a linear direction to a predetermined end.
When you serve the instruction of Love you are going to cross over to that part of the desert where there are fewer and fewer people. You are at some point going to have to go off into the desert alone and allow the invitation of Love to enter deep within you. When you do so you are not going to be the same.
You will, if this invitation has entered you deeply, begin to become a Lover. You will love who you are and why you are. This does not mean that you stop having distinct character traits that you may well judge not very spiritual. Such character traits will remain. These are away of keeping you humble (meaning close to the earth). You will in no sense become a perfect person. In fact the more the person disappears the more the flow of perfection and imperfection can express.
Out in this so called dessert you will laugh at the idea that to serve is a form of meekness. Serving from an ego sense is narcissistic. It puts the focus on what's in it for 'little me.' You spend time with your own personal reflection and you miss beauty waiting patiently until you give up your sense of love of self (which tends in part to be self loathing) for you true Love who is your Self.
Service means embracing your purpose, passion and your true prosperity. It means allowing Love to use you for its own purpose and not for the purpose of self-service. You align yourself with the infinite power of Creation that you are not ever apart from but are a part of. You get to dance on the Highway of life rather than the race track of "my life." You relax and let Creation take you dancing.
To be a servant of Love is to recognize that you are a unique wave on this ocean of life. Your happiness is to flow with the ocean and not try to fight it. It is creative intelligence manifesting you in form. You are here because it wants you to be here. It does not ask anything of you because it does not see you as separate from it. It knows exactly what you are here for an how you are to be here. It isn't interested in achieving. It is the dance of Love in form. The dance is the dance for no reason other than Love which needs no reason.
An Anamcara invites you to ask power questions. Ask each day, with openness and humility, "How am I to be of service to Love today?" Then be still and wait. The key here is to trust what arises and not be a wave pushing the ocean. Don't set an agenda. Be patient and allow. The power of the feminine knows exactly what you need to be and do in order to be happy. Trust this. Don't dictate and learn to listen to the still small voice that knows how to guide you home. It was given to you to listen too. This voice is a friend you cannot do without.
Then pay attention to recurrences that you normally ignore. Pay attention to the times you ignore something that happens three times in quick succession. This is the voice of Love (although it isn't actually a voice) calling you, saying Go this way. Love never forgets. It cannot forget. You are the one looking for the key but you have to come off the racetrack that is "my life" and that is your perpetual thinking about and let the key find you. © Tony Cuckson 2009
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