Friendship

As a new week prepares to launch, one last look back on the lessons of the last. More than anything, it seemed to be a study of friendship. Commitment and compassion, more than convenience seemed to win my warmth, regardless of distance, drama or disability.
A quick look at the word;
Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behaviour between two or more social entities. This article focuses on the notion specific to interpersonal relationships. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in ..fs24field behaviour, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective behaviours. Yet for many, friendship is nothing more than the trust that someone or something will not harm them. Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating on a consistent basis:
the tendency to desire what is best for each other.
sympathy and empathy.
honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth.
mutual understanding.
I think the ability to wrap our minds around the true meaning of friendship has been a bit warped, ironically by sites like this. Perhaps there really should only be a top4 on myspace. Or, maybe they should call it a potential friend list. However, as in all things there is a beauty in the guidelines that constitute friendship. When you keep close the ones who commit to this criteria, you are never truly alone. You will never truly be in need. You will likely never be sad for very long. And, you will always have at least a few who will rejoice to hear of your recent accomplishments and revelations.
When I was 21, a wise older friend imbued in me that it is a mistake to strain against a door of friendship that fights with you to close. We are no longer friends. But, what she said stayed with me. I didn't want to agree. But, the point that if you spread yourself too thin, you end up being a real friend to noone, and none will know you well enough to be there for you. And, if you choose to waste time on those who haven't the time or will to waste time on you, you miss the opportunity to initiate new connections with those who will. I started to get that when I turned 27 and integrated all the segregated groups of friends in my life. I think I get it more this week, to see who's stepped in to the light to lend an ear, a shoulder, an idea or even just a smile. I witnessed the importance of living in the present and not the past when it comes to friendship while watching my friend Liz battle through the emotions of a long time friendship dissolving before her eyes. I saw that "commitment" to friendship when an entire group was ready to give up their night to follow home a friend who'd been kicked out of a club, with no care for the cost of admission already paid. I saw it in a friend who saw my desire to bring the music and creativity back to my life, inviting me into his world to begin the creative process.
And, most of all I found the joy of friendship at its peak, when a far off friend heard a melancholy whisper in my words and without prompting, brought a smile back to my face and reminded me how wonderful the world can be when you hold close the ones who desire the best for you, offering sympathy, empathy, honesty, truth and mutual understanding.
Thanks again, my friend. Don't forget to take that shoreline walk at dawn. In twilight, lies the magic and answers to so many things.
Billy

Letters to Shyloe!

I've been on holiday this week. Not the kind of holiday where one sips margaritas on a beach or skiis the fresh powder of Whistler. That's coming in April. But, this round of time off, the sleep-ins, the fresh perspective, all of it has uncluttered my mind and recharged my soul. I seem to be charting a new course these days... looking for fulfilling direction and finding it. The most recent example of this was my introduction to "The Secret". A good starting point. It's kick started a struggling engine and set me back on the path toward enlightenment. Clues and puzzle pieces keep floating down around me from Chris and Franco, Tammy and like minded individuals who've randomly appeared in my life.
And, then came Shyloe. It's like sharing the highway with someone at the same speed in the same direction for a few hours and then both pulling in at the same rest stop. Or, taking the Bus with the same stranger on the same route for more than a year and then you just decide to say hello. Well that's how it went. And, I'm really glad I opened the door. I've been presented with a wonderland of new worlds to explore. hopefully he won't mind me sharing some of the insights I've gleaned from our correspondence.
If you've seen and liked "the Secret" or "What the bleep do we know", you must get your hands on the Elegant Universe, a PBS special on the potential mind blowing possibilities suggested by the newest branch of physics, String theory. A huge light has come on in my brain. And, I can't step back into darkness.
My mind has been tripping on the mathematics since I watched it, going to all kinds of places....like what if consciousness is massless energy, like graviton particles that can move from brane to brane (between membranes or universes). That could explain new thought, inspiration, random thought, deja vu, the nagging feeling that someone is calling out to you from somewhere unseen. Maybe there are some of us who are sensitives to other universes, already trying to send messages through graviton encoding. colliding particles like a giant set of symbols, setting the frequency of the "graviton practical enclosed strings" with a resonance that can be interpreted by those with receptive open ended strings at the subatomic level in their brains. Maybe those open ended strings have broken loose from their subatomic grounding through shock or trauma or random mutations. Maybe we are moving towards enlightenment because we are being called or drawn there. It could be the greatest story of awakening ever told, following an inner voice to what is really a call from the other side of space and time.ok...can you tell I did my thesis in script writing? But science or science fiction...there is something very powerful on the horizon.
There was a time in my life that I got the very real sensation that my bubble of space and time had the ability to flux like a murmur in a heart. It only happened three or four times. But, accompanied by this sound that resonated like a whale song, everything would seem to slow down around me...as if I were speeding up. I’d look around and everything would just pulse almost in slow motion...twice it happened prior to an exam..twice just randomly. After 16, I never experienced anything like it again. But, when I was about 22, I had the most incredible experience. I went for a cappuccino with friends at a local coffee shop. We were walking back to my buddy's apt where he needed to do some laundry. All of a sudden, I felt like I was a conduit for all of time and space. I felt like a black jazz musician from the 20's, a house wife, a roman soldier, on and on and on....it wasn’t like I thought I was them...it's just as though they were all passing through me with a collective memory... like all of time and space was squeezed into a thread that was passing through the eye of a needle. I felt like the needle. And then I got it. Everything made sense. Absolutely everything. It was all housed in the two words "I am" which I didn’t even clue in at the time translates into Yahweh or God. I was fully immersed in this sensation for a good half hour, maybe a bit longer. I went back to my friend's and as he did laundry, I sat on his couch staring out the window repeating "I am" and it all made sense...everything. I tried to explain what I was experiencing. But, he simply said he wish he'd ordered a cappuccino too and said he'd be back. I was pretty naive to drugs at the time. But, I am certain this was not the result of a spiked coffee. After that half hour-hour passed, the awareness faded gently, dissipated, moved off into space. I was left with the memory of the experience...an understanding of its power, but not the ability to recall the exact bliss or full awareness.
In my teens, I also had the most amazing experiences with Lucid dreaming....where I'd wake up inside dreams, fully aware I was dreaming. I would then set the course for the most amazing adventures, reminding characters I met in a dream, that I knew I was dreaming and was therefore unfazed by their strangeness, unnerved by their ferocity. I could simply change scene if I chose.
The last 5-10 years have been peppered with interesting moments, strange coincidence and strong intuition. But, I think I've let the routine of living glaze over the magic of living the mysteries of life.
There is a definite pull again towards something bigger and more meaningful. I, too, think I'm undergoing a transformation of sorts, pulling off the carpet to reveal the hardwood, spreading wide the heavy curtains to reacquaint myself with the wonders outside. The voice I mention in my blog is undeniable...a beckoning whisper... to find the music and the bliss. Clues everywhere, and new friends to help piece them together.
I too, am still searching for the perfect balance between paying bills to survive and directing energy towards fully living. I try to tackle the little things I think I'd be stronger without on a one-at-a time basis. I keep searching for clues. And, doors keep opening. I'm someone who tries to help rid friends and acquaintances of their negative thoughts if they are controlled by them. But, in the end we must accept that the path to enlightenment is one that can only be embarked on by the willing hiker. I've learned that cutting ties does not mean a door slammed forever. But, not everyone's ready for the walk. In their time they catch up... Soo much more has been bouncing around in my head. but, I'll leave it here for now. Have a beautiful and creative day.