tag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:/blogs/contemplations-blog?p=3Contemplations Blog2019-06-07T12:43:08-07:00Scott Reichfalsetag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/58033082019-06-25T09:56:42-07:002023-12-10T09:31:43-08:00The Way of the World: From the Inside Out<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/ed74b043656c43000ec3adf778b325b14bb48c22/original/from-the-inside-out.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">The hope for the world resides within us, within our willingness to believe. Believe in yourself. We need you. We need each other.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">It is a dynamic symbiosis that makes this world of ours work. The insects need the flowers to bloom, and the flowers need the insects. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">We are gradually becoming more knowledgeable of this "interbeing" in the realm of ecosystems. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Gradually, we are also becoming more aware of this in the realm of human relationships.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">When I give blessing to you, I give blessing to myself.</span></p>
<p>All good to you,</p>
<p>Scott</p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/57838382019-06-07T12:43:08-07:002024-02-14T03:34:28-08:00The Wonder of You<p><span class="font_large">If you can listen to this - for just one minute - and you can love yourself just a little more as a result, then the healing of the world will have begun, anew. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The ancient words are true: the healing starts with ourselves.</span><br> </p>
<p><span class="font_large">Music by me. <br>Video editing by Shantal Freedman </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Love, Scott</span></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="wKL_qR8BkC8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/wKL_qR8BkC8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wKL_qR8BkC8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/57498232019-05-10T08:41:50-07:002024-02-14T03:34:28-08:00Becoming Beauty<p>The word "becoming" has within it an intersection of concepts. It includes the idea of emerging into being, as well as the idea of being clothed in an attractive garment. The word "beauty" also brings with it many of these same associations. </p>
<p>If you can spare one minute, or perhaps two if you like words, I would like to offer two, 60-second portals to beauty. You are busy. A minute or two is an investment of life. So you will need to decide if you want to take the time. But, before you do, I will just ask this question: What if this experience would allow you to become more beautiful? </p>
<p>The first is music and video only. The second adds a narration. Music is by me. The video editing is by Shantal Freedman. The words and narration (on the second video) is by Tzvi Freeman. </p>
<p>My blessing to you is that you become beauty, even more fully than you already are.</p>
<p>Video with music (click on image):</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="KzGoGGPlT4c" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/KzGoGGPlT4c/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KzGoGGPlT4c?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Video with music and narration:</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="QEBFGuaNQes" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/QEBFGuaNQes/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QEBFGuaNQes?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/55914362019-01-11T09:05:36-08:002023-12-10T10:48:42-08:00All of My Love<p>How to express the love within us? Sometimes, a simple arm around the shoulder of someone, or a knowing, understanding locking of the eyes, or a few words just telling someone that you are listening and you are there for them. Then there is the love that cannot be expressed by a simple physical action. For some, prayer or meditation can be a medium for this.</p>
<p>Then, there is music. I think that when I write, I am attempting to encode a love for delivery to others that cannot find another means of expression. Whether or not I have been successful at this, depends entirely upon the listener - you.</p>
<p>Instar, my first album with Heart Dance Records, has been released today. I hope that the love there reaches you, that we may both create, together, a new place of kindness, light, and aspiration. If you have access to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or Google Play, click on the link below. Otherwise, you can listen on the website.</p>
<p>And don't forget, if you have Facebook, you can see more of my thoughts, and share your own, by Liking my music page, <a contents="Scott Reich" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/scottreichmusic/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/scottreichmusic/</a> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Blessings, Scott</p>
<p>Apple Music: <a contents="Instar on Apple" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://apple.co/2M6vaTS" target="_blank">https://apple.co/2M6vaTS </a></p>
<p>Spotify: <a contents="Instar on Spotify" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://spoti.fi/2H2y1yq" target="_blank">https://spoti.fi/2H2y1yq </a></p>
<p>Amazon: <a contents="Instar on Amazon" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://amzn.to/2CcWqfd" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/2CcWqfd</a> </p>
<p>Google: <a contents="Instar on Google Play" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://bit.ly/2sgSrts">https://bit.ly/2sgSrts</a></p>
<p>iHeart: <a contents="Instar on iHeart" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ihr.fm/2Rpe21O" target="_blank">https://ihr.fm/2Rpe21O</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/d4db50dbcb4a3082f968c9c5f808480df4d369a4/original/instar-album-cover-final.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/53965992018-08-21T19:07:27-07:002023-12-10T10:48:42-08:00The Uniquely Human Contribution<p>If you've read the post title, and you're feeling a bit cynical, you might think of things like wars, discrimination, and pollution. Well, firstly, I'm not really sure those things are uniquely human. But, more to the point, I was referring to something wonderfully positive. Watch to find out what:</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="A-NFTLp-qow" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/A-NFTLp-qow/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A-NFTLp-qow?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes, you get so swept up by the beauty and magic that you you know you are witnessing something much larger than yourself. But it is not just witnessing - it is receiving. It is becoming part of something awesome. It is Magic, Love, Nature and Beauty, all merged into one presence. You have been blessed.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Fn88CV54K6w" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Fn88CV54K6w/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fn88CV54K6w?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/53802362018-08-08T20:43:24-07:002023-12-10T10:52:02-08:00The End of the World<p>I returned to my former home: the Big Island of Hawaii. It <em>is </em>a big island, certainly in comparison to the other Hawaiian islands. But what's really, really big, and expansive is the way my heart feels when I'm there. It reminds me of the spaciousness described by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche when he refers to the feeling you have when you look at a clear blue sky, or when you first enter an enormous quiet space. It is the place in which i feel most limitless (as you'll see below).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>BTW, if you like these emails, and you have a Facebook account and you are not following me first, you are missing a lot of content you might like. You can either go to <a contents="&nbsp;https://www.facebook.com/hearherepeace/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/hearherepeace/" target="_blank">Scott Reich Music</a> and "Like" the page, OR you can go to <a contents="https://www.facebook.com/scottreich2" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/scottreich2" target="_blank">Scott Reich</a> (my personal page), then click Add friend, and then click Follow and choose Follow First.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the meantime, back to the End...of the World....</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Luv8Cwz-kGo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Luv8Cwz-kGo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Luv8Cwz-kGo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/7a978031c67fbecf9b7d0e11ade1f2d06cbafd49/original/relative-term.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/53475702018-07-15T18:15:05-07:002023-12-10T08:46:41-08:00Being There, Without Understanding. Perfect.<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/6a74eef9042e1f53e6cc225b4e21e8bc75535ad1/original/definitive.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Sometimes it's better to understand. Sometimes it's not. My blessing to us all: May we all feel more beautiful in our hearts - without explanation, without justification, without understanding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="aQZxihvtsGc" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/aQZxihvtsGc/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aQZxihvtsGc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/53248632018-06-29T14:48:23-07:002022-04-11T04:08:06-07:00Moving With The Source<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/e67fa0c3a2740b24718e44b2c1a2d6c5d9b628bb/original/sparkle.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="JdjdwriwcAc" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/JdjdwriwcAc/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JdjdwriwcAc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/53154122018-06-24T20:53:11-07:002022-05-10T12:01:02-07:00A New Beautiful Every Day<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/d32f354374c9af9e4857c3056f9ef5f7f2780b0b/original/every-day-beautiful.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>There are those of us who are adventurous in a way that provides a motivation to explore new horizons and experiences. There are also those of us who are adventurous in an inner way, exploring how <em>they</em> are different from moment to moment - because all that is alive is constantly being renewed, replaced by a new self that presents itself differently for each occasion.</p>
<p>Thich Nhat Hahn puts it this way: "It is because of impermanence that everything is possible. Our hope lies in impermanence."</p>
<p>Or, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe explains, continuous newness represents a fusion of time and timelessness. So one can do the "same" thing many times but - with the right energy - it can be new and vital each time.</p>
<p>The sun is not bounded by our ideas of ourselves and - here's the good part - neither are we. Whenever, wherever we let go of those self-limiting ideas, we have an opening through which we might enter the state of "continuous newness".</p>
<p>Like a new beautiful, every day.</p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/53037002018-06-18T21:08:54-07:002022-08-26T11:46:14-07:00Beauty, Scaled<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/0716190c5704d300362a178f8170e5d7d240d7d2/original/beauty-scaled.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Nature is beauty, scaled. Which is to say that it is beautiful at all levels, from the sub-atomic, to the the inter-galactic.</p>
<p>Pretty amazing...</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/52924052018-06-12T21:07:09-07:002022-05-10T22:56:19-07:00Branching Out<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/e13e6d4b21d983d7ff17595f80e2c1a647b6a3d6/original/branching-out.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />This brings to mind a Woody Allen quote from Annie Hall: "A relationship, I think, is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark.” Similar sentiment, except here we are essentially taking about your relationship with yourself, and what it takes keep moving forward. Perhaps it's good to remember that the new branch of the tree also helps bring new vigor to the older branch, the trunk, and the root. </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/52902562018-06-11T20:51:00-07:002022-03-10T23:46:41-08:00A Gathering of Love<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/f586cbee7517fcf15585cefa71590b71086f1b2e/original/love-gathers.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>As many of you know, my son recently was married. I could say many, many things about the wedding, but I won't - at least right now. Except to say that it was one of the happiest times in my life, only rivaled by a few other experiences, such as the wedding of my daughter or the births of my children. But one of the fantastic things about a wedding in good spirit is that many show up with an overwhelming desire to wish the newly married couple well. This feeling often just wells up in the guests and grows so quickly at the time that the bride and groom are showered with a great outpouring of love and joy. </p>
<p>Perhaps we do that because we sense the hope and the tender vulnerability of the fledgling couple, like a ship cast upon, as yet, uncharted waters, en route to unknown lands. I think that behind all of that is our realization (perhaps only unconsciously) that all of the great undertakings in life take faith - in prodigious quantities. To do all of the important things we have done, or will ever do, requires a belief that, from a dispassionate point of view, is manifestly foolhardy. But we also know that our meaning and purpose in life cannot be reached without traveling right through the center of that "Bermuda Triangle" of unknown outcomes.</p>
<p>We know the vulnerability of the new couple. And we know that where they are going is the way of the future. So we love them for having the courage to venture forth and we want to fill them with all of the love and support that we have inside us to give them some extra "provisions" for the journey.</p>
<p>What does all of that have to do with the above-pictured tiny flowers gathered in the shape of a heart? Life requires hope and faith - even if you are the tiniest flower or the simplest little plant on the side of the trail. And all for what? To express the love within us, and dream of what we can be.</p>
<p>I think: If that tiny, tiny flower can believe enough in itself to blossom, then maybe so can I.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/52731082018-06-03T11:11:36-07:002021-09-22T17:20:21-07:00NO ESCAPE - YET.<p><span class="font_regular">NEW VIDEO. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">From my album, <em>Nothing Less Than Everything.</em></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>There's always an escape. At the right time. If you're willing to go.</p>
<p>Sometimes that means trusting your guide (external or internal) and following it into terrain that is totally uncharted for you.</p>
<p>It is my perception that God's ability to create unexpected situations will always exceed our ability to project, protect, or even imagine. This is, of course, by design, to place us in relationship with the unknowable. This, if accepted, is the port of entry into the Present, whose only natural predator is our expectations.</p>
<p>Some of the beats in this music take unexpected twists. Some of the sections lead into unexpected musical territories. </p>
<p>All of us encounter situations that become uncontainable. Then, the question becomes: with how much peace can we meet it?</p>
<p>My blessing to all of us is that we find that our reservoir of peace is deep enough to allow us to travel through the uncharted territories, and even the unknowable ones, when called to do so, to enter the Present, which is always and everywhere uncontainable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Painting by Shantal Freedman <a contents="www.creationsbyshantal.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.creationsbyshantal.com" target="_blank">www.creationsbyshantal.com</a> </p>
<p>Video editing by JG Official</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="IZd9INpIZ6E" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/IZd9INpIZ6E/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IZd9INpIZ6E?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/52248022018-05-09T10:14:35-07:002021-04-21T10:07:09-07:00Impermanent, Unconditional, Eternal<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/0ab4858a8034c746f6cdaaaec03396a81413ec30/original/impermanent-unconditional-eternal.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So I believe the above is totally true - but there is a complication. </p>
<p>For a person for whom love of themselves is conditional, it will be more challenging to love or <em>be</em> loved unconditionally. Such a person (which is most of us) might ask, "Will I let this conditionality (which, most likely, was never carefully evaluated) stand between me and eternity? Does that even make the slightest bit of sense?"</p>
<p>----</p>
<p>The shots, above and below, are at my home away from home, Ocean Beach. Perhaps it's the rocky coastline just south of the beach or the small town feel surrounding the beach that reminds me of the place where some large part of soul continues to reside - my former home of Kona. Then there's the ecstatic, romping joy of the dogs on Dog Beach, at the northern tip.... Whatever it is, I greatly appreciate coming here for its own presence, and the way it renews my soul within me.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="rROPU_3I2EE" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/rROPU_3I2EE/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rROPU_3I2EE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="wqWNNHejRw4" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/wqWNNHejRw4/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wqWNNHejRw4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/52128192018-05-01T21:45:38-07:002021-04-21T10:07:09-07:00Flows of Time, of River, of Heart<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/384b279510133a08e12ac416a510ec59482256ce/original/returning-the-love.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>T<span class="font_regular">ime flows from one day to the next, like a river flowing from source to mouth. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_regular">If we speak the truth, the same might be said about our hearts, ourselves.</span></p>
<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/9a6734e6ba39c2bf0aebea1885a045b996da4440/original/following-your-heart-2.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/51896602018-04-18T19:40:38-07:002021-09-15T02:06:33-07:00Trees, Presence<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/ed7c263f57229e8e7a6e418f13cbb3f1abb9a9db/original/here-alive.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Mg-GbicYxwA" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Mg-GbicYxwA/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mg-GbicYxwA?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/51771892018-04-11T21:04:18-07:002021-09-17T03:04:32-07:00Peace From Within (with a little help from its friends)<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/7683594147f76ce33f48499f6dba8951a79008db/original/going-with-the-flow.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Be0dBBW2pjw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Be0dBBW2pjw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Be0dBBW2pjw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/51434722018-03-22T22:49:52-07:002018-03-22T22:49:52-07:00Heart in the Sky<p>Hi, Everyone. </p>
<p>I added a song to my music page today. I won't try to tell you about what kind of music it is, because it is only a click away for you to hear it: <a contents="Heart in the Sky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hearherepeace.com/track/1353249/heart-in-the-sky" target="_blank">Heart in the Sky</a> </p>
<p>There is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek tone to the words but, ultimately, the song talks about a "solution" to a something many of us feel from time to time - that our dreams and aspirations don't always readily fit within the circumstances of our lives. In retrospect, I think it taps into the same imagery behind the line from the song from My Fair Lady: "When all at once my heart took flight...", though the attendant circumstances here are quite different.... </p>
<p>Here's hoping that all your heart's flights are pleasant excursions. --- Scott</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/51434502018-03-22T22:44:38-07:002018-03-28T20:15:50-07:00New Track Added: No Escape -- Yet. BeBop Chill Hop? Maybe not.<p>Here's the new track, added to the "Jazzy Music" page: <a contents="No Escape -- Yet" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hearherepeace.com/track/1369711/no-escape-yet?feature_id=462022" target="_blank">No Escape -- Yet</a> </p>
<p>As a jazz drummer, here is what I know: The listener’s job is to always know where “1” is (the downbeat of the measure), and the drummer’s job is to make the listener lose it – or at least make it difficult enough that it requires a heightened level of alertness. Jazz has a great and long tradition of demanding this type of acute listener participation, though there are also many examples of this that stretch back to Beethoven, Bach and even earlier. </p>
<p>From time to time, I’ve heard a strain or sub-genre of Hip-Hop that uses a kind of “glitch” beat. Of course, it’s not a glitch. It’s just a rhythm that is syncopated in a non-traditional way. This calls to mind the syncopations of jazz as they developed. If you listen to Be-Bop jazz now, you will certainly notice the syncopations. But it’s hard to imagine what these rhythms sounded and felt like when they were new – and aggressively pushing the envelope of what existed then. (Ditto for many of the harmonies and melodies.) So Hip-Hop is the new Be-Bop? I’ve no idea (though the phrase does sound good…). </p>
<p>Well all of this has just about nothing to do with why and how I wrote No Escape – Yet. But, as after-thoughts, these ideas seem somehow to be connected to something I find very intriguing: the idea of seeing Music as its own creature, with its own evolutionary agenda. </p>
<p>People use music for many purposes, including political, cultural, mercantile, or functional (such as falling asleep, staying awake, setting a mood for an activity, etc.). But from Music’s own “point of view”, these purposes are little more than a means to spread out its influence, like those burrs that hitch a ride on animals to spread out. In its way, Music eventually rebels against being confined to a particular purpose because it has its own life and agenda that transcends any purpose to which it may be put. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that, ultimately, Music will serve its own purpose: to express itself and grow, and evolve – like any force of Nature. </p>
<p>I just aspire to be a good servant. And this is my latest offering.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/51319752018-03-16T09:27:50-07:002018-03-16T09:27:50-07:00Voices of the Earth<p><span class="font_regular"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ueL9f5tNqOs" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ueL9f5tNqOs/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ueL9f5tNqOs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></span></p>
<p>Sometimes, life brings you mysterious things, things that you know are much larger than you are, maybe even larger than your ability to comprehend. But sometimes we also feel that we belong in that inexplicable realm, that somehow it is more in our true nature to be there than in the everyday, logical, everything-has-a-reason world that we try so hard to rationalize. This music and this striking artwork (Shantal Freedman) and this brilliant video (JG Official) invite you into that world where experience takes precedence over reason, where things are right because of a knowing that precedes and supersedes explanation. Perhaps, you might even hear echoes of your own voice in here somehow. I hope you will enjoy your stay. Come back any time. You are always welcome here. -- Scott</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/51084022018-03-02T15:11:30-08:002020-12-27T00:36:18-08:00Truth Rings Out<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/40f7729572289910611ce62d222e8f082789fc0f/original/facts-change-truth-doesnt.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50924792018-02-21T18:49:55-08:002022-04-09T03:56:23-07:00Flexibility<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/2b5a4a078c8c07f4f6b4e1204efbae25a7bb51f4/original/flexibility.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50856802018-02-17T22:32:58-08:002018-02-18T10:23:58-08:00All That We Love<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/d0c8177da9685a632f256508eda40bf5c3af6bd6/original/all-that-we-love.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I took this pic during one of my trips to the Big Island - I was driving from Kona to Waimea, ultimately on my way to Upolu Point. (In fact, my very first blog on these pages expresses a bit of my impressions of my time there. You can see that <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hearherepeace.com/contemplations-blog/blog/1-pololu" target="_blank">here.</a> ) I was so invigorated and elevated by what I felt and saw, I just had to stop the car and take a picture to "capture the moment".</p>
<p>In fact, the moment was already captured by my soul (although the pic does make it a bit easier to share it with you now). The soul is no fool. It has wisdom that comes from being eternal. It knows what is important and records it all. The question is: What do we do with that "recording"? If we stop our racing minds (or cars) long enough, we can bring that awareness to our consciousness - and then it becomes much more accessible to us.</p>
<p>Echoing the words of Rabbi Tzvi Freeman on my track, <a contents="Purify Time" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hearherepeace.com/track/1312292/purify-time" target="_blank">Purify Time</a> , each day has something of beauty and value unique to that day alone. If we can try to recognize when it presents itself to us, the experience just might not be relegated to the deep stacks (remember when deep background books in research libraries were relegated to the "stacks"?) of our archives. Then we might have more ready access to those wonderful gifts of beauty.</p>
<p>It's almost like this. Say your dearest, most beloved friend gives you a gift, all wrapped up with lovely colors and bows. And then you take that gift, unopened, and put it in sub-basement six. </p>
<p>So I ask you - and I ask myself - the question: Can we stop just long enough to behold what gift of beauty (or love or kindness or happiness) we are given today?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50782892018-02-13T20:59:00-08:002022-07-20T06:18:15-07:00Slowing It Down<p>Sometimes, the simplest things become so much more beautiful, just by slowing down your perception of them. It just allows us to notice so much more. Yes, I guess this is the opposite of multitasking, or dividing your attention between several things at once. Instead, this is an attempt to look deeply and notice more by trying to fully "tune in" to whatever is before you. Of course, there might be certain times when you feel more inclined to do that than others, but I think the key is just to try to do it more often. </p>
<p>For me, a funny thing happens when I'm able to connect more with the time and place I am in. I wind up becoming more connected with and accepting of myself. I guess that makes sense since I am a part of the time and place I'm in so, as I connect with that, I connect more with myself too. And that process of connection tends to dissolve some of my boundaries. So, in effect, my sense of myself expands.</p>
<p>Well that's my idiosyncratic way of thinking about it. More important is just to experience it. So I offer here a very short video that attempts to capture in its own way an experience I recently had along these lines. I hope you'll enjoy.</p>
<p>(BTW, the music is an excerpt from Paths of the Heart. The full version is <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hearherepeace.com/track/1317392/paths-of-the-heart" target="_blank">here.</a> )</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="MKoaUeChQIM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/MKoaUeChQIM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MKoaUeChQIM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50743122018-02-11T22:16:35-08:002021-04-21T10:07:08-07:00Maybe That's Enough<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/ca8542feabb87579b020016f21cc590c5e3230a6/original/maybe-thats-enough.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />This view was from my deck. But the sky - it belongs to all of us. It is God's canvas for His art. It is here on display for all of us to see and love.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50551362018-01-31T20:48:56-08:002021-04-21T10:07:09-07:00Cycles, Renewal<p>We tend as people - particularly those of us under the influence of Western culture - to place great emphasis and value on the "up cycle". But, as the name implies, a cycle is an oscillation, or a vibration, between the low and the high. Nowhere is this clearer than in the cycles of the moon. The waxing and waning from New Moon to Full Moon - and back again - is a pattern writ large for all of us to see, perhaps so that we can apply it to our own lives. </p>
<p>The Super Blue Blood (Full) Moon that we experienced last night was like a cycle within a cycle: a short, three-hour light to dark to light cycle within the regular 29 1/2 day cycle. (It was made more extreme by the great brightness - the "Super" part of it - before and after the eclipse.)</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/8c62f1711efb4f891e5cccc1404e2c184b86d810/medium/blue-blood-moon.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" />This rare event (the last time this happened was 1866) coincided yesterday with another cyclical event: Tu B'Shevat, otherwise known as New Year for the Trees. {I have no idea how rare it is to have a Super Blue Blood Moon <em>coincide </em>with Tu B'Shevat, but that must be even more extraordinary.} This holiday occurs when the sap of wintering trees starts rising in the first preparation for Spring. In the yin/yang of the the trees' life cycle, this marks the nadir. That means that it also marks the beginning of the up cycle.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/fa99f38773223730a12cc28ca1c545278dc5691c/original/bare-birches.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>These bare white branches belie internal processes that are readying a new burst of life. Some branches of other plants couldn't wait, and new leaves have already begun to displace the old dead ones.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/01d9902ce29c70f5bece3ed54101a3e62ad13f03/medium/new-shoots.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" />So today has clearly brought with it the theme of cyclical renewal. For me, this presents me with two lessons. First, birth and death are not more and not less than the up and down slopes of the wave we call life. Second, at any given time, there are parts of me in descent and parts of me in ascent. Both are good and beautiful and part of a whole. The best use of my will might just be to let go of the parts that are descending (like the dead leaves) and to invest my energy in the parts that are ascending (like the new shoots).</p>
<p>Perhaps a simpler way of stating it all is this:</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/7a376e1ea7db32938a4fa45c0d8f516f009ce558/original/green-shoots.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50510742018-01-29T20:15:24-08:002021-04-21T10:07:08-07:00When Your Heart Speaks<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/5e3a90c86a022920d1e244a0104b56a0666cc4af/original/heart-speaks.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="GYH5pGk7QeU" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/GYH5pGk7QeU/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GYH5pGk7QeU?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50444352018-01-25T19:53:09-08:002020-02-07T09:47:54-08:00Can We All Get Along?<p>What do Rodney King and a bunch of birds on a lake have in common? </p>
<p>Watch to find out...</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="nwcCXbfd6EE" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/nwcCXbfd6EE/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nwcCXbfd6EE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? … It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice … Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out." -- Rodney King, May 1, 1992</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50443462018-01-25T19:37:08-08:002018-01-25T19:37:34-08:00Invited Guests<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/e61944f785ca45139c238652de8e9348faf48ff5/original/invited-guest-2.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I think that God made each and every one of us capable of becoming embodiments of the most amazing blessings and the most lovely kindness. We are, in fact, beautiful creatures - at least in potentia. This gives us all very great importance. But the world that we live in is so much bigger than us, and wiser than us. The earth has lived far longer than we have. We've all been invited to spend some years here to enjoy, to grow, to be. But we don't own the place. We must share it with many others that are also trying to live their best lives and express their nature. And they, also, have wonderful and important contributions to make.</p>
<p>We have such prodigious brainpower. Maybe we all can just try to spend a little more time thinking about ways we can keep ourselves from hurting this magnificent world that nourishes us and sustains us.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50331142018-01-19T15:12:31-08:002018-01-19T15:15:18-08:00The Next World<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/1c695aec9cd3eb3427c92c11c01a16bed73805ff/original/next-world-2.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50120302018-01-07T22:26:33-08:002022-05-26T04:05:01-07:00#23 Nature is Kindness<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="cZPLREEiWlQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/cZPLREEiWlQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cZPLREEiWlQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/b1ff31a4a542f93fa1494a4b4c9e3b9e275b9c6b/original/nature.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/c6d3f20a8817c03df71724775b37224c06feb45d/original/nature-is-kindness.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/e324b9381fa92cde3b211145539077593ab83471/original/nature-is-kindness-packaged.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50092392018-01-05T13:26:46-08:002022-04-24T23:46:34-07:00#22 Something More Important<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="DOWlCG3LgFs" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/DOWlCG3LgFs/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DOWlCG3LgFs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Please tell me: who in the world is doing something more important than this mother, bringing new life to the world, and caring for the young life she's already brought?</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/7c9980b4c74e1660729216d659581329cfc461aa/original/lovers.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Or this couple, who have stopped long enough to notice and take in the peace around them, and then share it with each other? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I know there are wonderful people that are making extraordinary efforts, even super human efforts, to save others from illness, or oppression, or hunger, or heartbreak. I have no end of love and admiration for these people for their work and dedication and sacrifice. </p>
<p>But, when life gives us the opportunity to exult*, why would we turn away? Isn't life also there just to love and be happy with? We need to know when we were sent to a place in order to try to fix it, or make it better. We also need to know when we were brought something just to behold, just to love. For its own sake. For our sake. For God's sake. And sometimes a place is made better, just by loving it. Loving our place, sharing our love sounds like an awfully good start.</p>
<p>*P.S. Whenever I use the word "exult" (which isn't often), I always think of the portrayal of the ecstatic Snoopy. Something like this flashes in my mind:</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/3e413eb4fb5cb5eb4bf99fe5f6696c669843d57c/medium/snoopy-exulting.gif" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>It usually brings a little smile to me. I hope it does for you, too.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/50005182017-12-30T20:18:36-08:002017-12-30T20:53:38-08:00#21 Completion<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/2336d7bf106cbebfd0fdaf1ddc1a1bfdb860d943/original/shalem.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<h2> </h2>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49931652017-12-25T13:38:23-08:002021-04-21T10:07:08-07:00Celestial Song<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/3bb6877ec24370b7351a2174ea07743aaf517ceb/original/2017-12-25-photo-00000065.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49924792017-12-24T15:11:50-08:002022-02-20T04:30:18-08:00#19 Visiting the Inexplicable<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/365ea3767107809ae3bf2c03ed97578fdb901001/medium/rebbe.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>Some things are very difficult to share. Which is why I guess we have poets and storytellers and artists and musicians to create vehicles of expression that can contain such things in transferable form. Still, we don't really know how much we can share until we try. So I will try to share something remarkable that I experienced yesterday. </p>
<p>Yesterday I visited, for the first time, the ohel, or the gravesite, of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The visit was sandwiched between visiting my mother in her nursing home in Philadelphia and visiting my son in NYC . I've read and studied many of the Rebbe's writings over the years but I never met him while he was alive. Somehow, however, when I entered this place I felt reunited with my own soul. </p>
<p>Why did this happen? And how did I become "separated" from my soul to begin with? </p>
<p>Well I'll start with the second question first, because I think I have more understanding of that. (And, just maybe, if I answer that well, the first question will answer itself.) I think that, as I live my life, I start off with motivation that is generated from my soul trying to express itself in the world as part of realizing its mission here. (I believe that this is basically true for everyone.) But as my mind gets involved in this and tries to figure out how to help do that, my mind also starts developing goals, agendas, requirements. It also develops expectations, both of myself and of the world. It's this last that might be the most problematic in "keeping mind, body and soul together". That's because these agendas and expectations develop a life of their own which are no longer answerable to anything else - including the soul. These schemes can then become my "identity". And that's the genesis of the "separation" I referred to earlier. Nothing evil here, nothing nefarious. Just a basic misunderstanding of how to use the mind and what it can, and cannot, do. </p>
<p>The mind is the seat of execution, implementation. It is a fantastic and greatly talented tool of construction, and functions well as an operational control center. But the mind is not the native seat of inspiration, nor of aspiration, passion, or love. All of those are rooted in the soul and they are essentially <em>not</em> rational processes (which makes it easy to see how the mind working alone might get disconnected from these).</p>
<p>And that is precisely why the inexplicable can have such a powerful effect on us. </p>
<p>And that gets me back to the ohel. Coming up with "reasons" it affected me so deeply probably would be disingenuous, because I don't really know and so I'd probably be wrong. More likely, it is inexplicable on a rational plane. What I <em>can</em> say is that the experience helped me remember who I am and, perhaps, more of who I can be. </p>
<p>So now what? And why have I labored here to share this with you? For me, it is a dramatic but benevolent reminder to try to stay connected. To stay connected with my inspiration, my aspiration, my passion, my love. In short, to try to stay connected with my soul. </p>
<p>And here's what I hope for you - and why I am writing this. I hope that next time something inexplicable happens to you, you will see it as the world reaching out to you, to give something to you of great value: a vehicle that might just be able to take you to a place of reconnection with the part of yourself that is beyond reason, the part that is beautiful just because it is, just because you are.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49745702017-12-12T19:41:09-08:002017-12-12T19:41:09-08:00#18 Clarity<p>Is Clarity connected to veracity, like the moment the truth of the matter emerges from its attendant ambiguities?</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="v1gCByJYZK4" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/v1gCByJYZK4/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v1gCByJYZK4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49710262017-12-10T13:52:12-08:002017-12-10T13:52:12-08:00#17 Simple Things<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="WdUoI8oS4ts" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/WdUoI8oS4ts/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WdUoI8oS4ts?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49574172017-11-30T21:39:13-08:002021-05-07T20:14:50-07:00#16 View From The Top<p>It was unseasonably warm, there was sun in abundance, and lots of happy souls around - couples, kids, athletes, dogs. All were going up, coming back down, or just hanging out at the top for a while to enjoy the view. (Well, maybe the dogs weren't enjoying the view, but they were probably enjoying the water bowls up there.) </p>
<p>My thoughts and feelings responded in kind... I hope you enjoy. -- Scott</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="9xDkoAb4Aw8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/9xDkoAb4Aw8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9xDkoAb4Aw8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49490112017-11-25T21:26:08-08:002021-04-21T10:07:08-07:00#15 Hope Springs Eternal<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I went for a hike in the Cuyamaca Mountains the other day. One part of the hike looked like this:</span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/85a585bcef662c242096a2f16d930cbd80e19498/original/2017-11-22-11-30-07.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>- a formerly green meadow, now looking considerably less vibrant, though still beautiful. Then, just ahead one sees this:</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/5b3c8138a81fe74f86b1c21caa75de7eb54bef52/original/2017-11-22-11-21-56.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />It made me wonder why these trees are able to continue looking so green and alive in their place with most of their immediate surroundings looking so dried out.</p>
<p>And then just up ahead, appeared the answer:</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="RqadDcsCu58" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/RqadDcsCu58/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RqadDcsCu58?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I came across (literally) Dyer Spring. It is very beautiful here, but it is quite small and doesn't seem like much of significance. But this spring, like springs in general, is just the small visible part of a long artesian system that is mostly underground. But the effects of underground springs are often far more visible. They make it possible for trees to grow in places that they otherwise would not. The trees then provide the context for birds, insects and various other aspects of the local ecosystem.</p>
<p>Often, the springs/aquifer/groundwater systems will eventually make their way to creeks and then on to rivers, lakes, or even the ocean. (In Hawaii, these artesian systems often end in the ocean and, in the process, also add to the ecosystem near to shore that might include coral, sea plants, fish and turtles.)</p>
<p>So, while it might seem small, it is not insignificant. It just does most of its work in ways that are largely hidden from view.</p>
<p>According to Rambam (Maimonides, 1135-1204), the highest level of charity is helping someone in a way that enables them to provide for themselves. The second highest is to give without knowing to whom you are giving and without the recipient knowing from whom he has received.</p>
<p>A spring seems to embody both of these. (Think not only of the tree, but also of the birds and insects - the tertiary beneficiaries of the "invisible" groundwater.)</p>
<p>Some people are like a spring: they give hope to others quietly, in a way that supports their own strength. </p>
<p>In this way, hope springs eternal.</p>
<p>May it be that all of us become a conduit of hope.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49409842017-11-20T11:27:31-08:002017-11-20T11:41:47-08:00#14. Peace Through Strength, or The Other Way Around?<p><span class="font_regular">For political leaders, it is common – and has been for many, many years – to use the idea of “peace through strength” to galvanize the populace behind the idea that a strong military/assertive foreign policy is actually the most effective way to achieve peace. From Ronald Reagan to George Washington to Roman Emperor Hadrian, this concept has been invoked many times over the years. As you probably know, hearherepeace does not generally pursue political topics because we want to look for unity in the world and often politics result in some kind of divisiveness. I am in no way belittling the validity or importance of political action. But we are just doing different work here. So, I will not explore this concept very much more on a national level. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">But I would like to talk about this on an individual level. And I want to explore turning this concept on its head and actually consider the reverse idea: strength comes from peace. I stumbled on to this idea last week when studying a passage (actually the last line) in Psalm 29: “God will give strength to His nation; God will bless His nation with peace.” In the last words of the last book of the Mishnah there is a comment on this very verse that says that when God wanted to bless, “He could find no vessel other than peace” to contain that blessing. This makes it seem to me that the main element is the peace. The strength is just the byproduct of that blessing. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">But what is meant here by “peace”? Most definitions highlight the idea of peace being the absence of conflict or disturbance. But the Hebrew word used here for peace, Shalom, means far more than the absence of something. It is a positive presence that includes a sense of completeness and wholeness and harmony. So it’s actually an inner state that’s being described by Shalom, one that carries with it great blessing, perhaps the greatest of blessings. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">There’s also a practical aspect to this. If you believe that your peace lies in your strength, you will be quite keen on building fortresses around you to protect your interests. But the larger the structures you build, the more maintenance they require because, the larger they are, the greater area of interface with the world – and the world will always be eroding them. And since the fortresses never seem to be big enough to fully protect you (because they are not really capable of doing so), you will want to keep building. None of this sounds like a recipe for peace, even in the common sense of the word. In other words, strength of this sort does not bring peace. The flip side of this is that, if one has inner peace, one can more readily focus all of one’s energy and concentration on the matter at hand. This will effectively increase the deliverable strength. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I believe that Eckhart Tolle was pointing to the same idea when, in The Power of Now, he wrote: </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"> “The ego believes that in your resistance lies your strength, whereas in truth resistance cuts you off from Being, the only place of true power. Resistance is weakness and fear masquerading as strength. What the ego sees as weakness is your Being in its purity, innocence, and power...” </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">All of us want to be strong. All of us want to know peace in our lives. But as it turns out, these things may only come in a certain order. One might plausibly argue that what holds for individuals doesn’t necessarily hold for nations. That may be true, but it is interesting to note that the verse from Psalm 29 does speak specifically of a nation. I'll leave that for others to decipher. My only observation here is that a perhaps a nation can reach the strength that comes from unity not only from fear of a perceived common threat, but also from the embracing of shared ideals and beliefs.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I will close with another quote from the Hebrew prayers: "Hope to God, strengthen yourself and He will give your heart courage, and hope to God." What I hear in that is a reminder that our strength and courage come from our connection to our Godliness. The trick is to remember this after we have gained the strength, to remember that the source of that strength is that connection. Hence the repetition of the imperative to hope to God. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">My hope is that your connection is always strong, and peaceful.</span></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49035952017-10-23T17:01:00-07:002021-01-08T20:08:42-08:00#13. Song of Return<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="TAvo_QOHxZQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/TAvo_QOHxZQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TAvo_QOHxZQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="583" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">There are few things more humbling, and inspiring, for a composer than a simple bird song - especially that of a bird so (apparently) delighted to be back at her winter home. </span></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/49018052017-10-21T22:22:28-07:002017-10-22T03:33:07-07:00#12. The End of the World. The Beginning of Another.<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/e3feaa0cdfc62bdd76c73ed4d2250f13b764c3dc/medium/5e8d660c366d24ef719ecf69fdbde461-pot-of-gold-rainbows.jpg?1508648932" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I listened to the Torah being read earlier today. It was the second portion in the Torah: Noah. It is interesting that this is probably the most often told and illustrated Torah story in children’s books. Perhaps that is because of something we sense about children’s natural affinity to animals and/or their intuitive sense of the connectedness between us and them, between our fate and theirs. Perhaps there are also other reasons… </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">In any case, as I listened to the story again today, some beautiful imagery came to me. First, there was this beautiful way in which the ark was readied to be sent off on its journey: After Noah assembled his family inside, “They came to Noah into the Ark, two by two of all flesh in which there was a breath of life. Thus they that came, came male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And God shut it on his behalf.” </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">If I try to see this from Noah’s point of view, what I see is the total destruction of his world, but also safe passage (along with other designated passengers) to a new world somehow cleansed of the ills that led to the destruction of the first one. We know that the new world which all of the Ark’s passengers eventually reach is different because God tells us explicitly of the new, cleansed world, “I will never again strike down all life as I have just done. Continuously, all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” So in the new world, balance has been restored and this will continue, without interruption. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Seen from Noah’s point of view (as I imagine it), the entire sequence of events seems like an analogy for life, death, and continuation. In this analogy, the destruction of Noah’s world is like a person’s death. The animals that accompany Noah represent a person’s deeds while he was alive. (In this analogy, the matched pair of male and female creatures perhaps represent, respectively, the revealed and concealed aspects of a person's actions.) These come to him, along with his family. God then seals the Ark door shut to provide safe passage to the future, insulating all within from the destruction all around. After the necessary cleansing is complete, all aboard go out into the new world to live on. So, in my analogy, the person who has died has his deeds and his family live on in a world that will continue and not be destroyed. What I’m saying is the person dies, but his deeds live on and he lives on through them. (Noah also reached the new world alive.) </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">This is consonant with an idea expressed by Thich Naht Hahn in his book “Fear - Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm” (a subtitle well-suited to this topic!): </span></p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">“Think of a plum tree. In each plum on the tree there is a pit. That pit contains the plum tree and all previous generations of plum trees…Inside the pit is an intelligence, a wisdom that knows how to become a plum tree…It cannot do this on its own. It can do this only because it has received the experience and adaptations of so many generations of ancestors. You are the same. You possess the wisdom and intelligence to become a full human being because you have inherited an eternity of wisdom, not only from your blood ancestors but from your spiritual ancestors too.” </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font_regular">Might this be another reason that children are so naturally drawn to the story of Noah and the Ark? When a child is born, she is pure inheritance, with no other element. As time goes on, we become amalgams of our nurturing, the world around us, and how we react to all of that. The birthing process is also a destruction of a watery world in favor of another, with more light, more challenges, and one which will require much more effort. After some time, children begin to feel more at home in the new world, but they are still (relatively) close to their own experience of transition from world to world - from whatever world they inhabited prior to conception, to the “Ark” of their mother’s womb, to this world, which we all currently share. So maybe the story of Noah and the Ark resonates more with them. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">We are the continuation of what came before us. But we also have our own mission here. And then, when that is done, we will pass on all that we have given and all that we have become to the future generations. None of it is lost. All of it survives, in a new place, and in a new form. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">After God says he will not destroy all life again, He then guarantees this decree with a sign: The rainbow, a beautiful expression itself of harmony and balance in the world. Light is broken out into its component parts and spread out against the heavens. We are made up of many colors that have come through many storms. They are there so that they can shine in this world. And the next. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Pass it on.</span></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48922472017-10-14T21:50:14-07:002017-10-14T21:50:14-07:00#11 Release. Regain. Return.<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="5_IrZEnH_Pc" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/5_IrZEnH_Pc/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5_IrZEnH_Pc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48827412017-10-08T17:02:40-07:002017-10-11T10:41:21-07:00#10. PEAK EXPERIENCE - AT SEA LEVEL<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="p4Zzf8vJPXQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/p4Zzf8vJPXQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p4Zzf8vJPXQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I so love being at the ocean. Any weather there is beautiful, but a bright, sunny, slightly breezy, slightly cool day is some version of perfect. </p>
<p>I so love being with my son. No matter what he is going through, whether he's happily advancing through his life's journeys (most of the time), or whether he's being challenged or buffeted by events that are difficult to navigate, I always love being with him. There are few other times that I feel more certain about why I am alive.</p>
<p>To experience both at the same time was for me one of those moments that I want to last forever. </p>
<p>Somehow, I think that might just happen...</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48827342017-10-08T16:40:51-07:002022-06-01T18:03:16-07:00#9 GERDA, THE JUDGE, AND THE FEMININE PRESENCE<p>I had a few follow-on thoughts relating to the previous blog. (This will make far more sense if you read #8 first.) I was thinking that Kai, the boy that gets a piece of the trolls’ distorting mirror into his heart, is brought back to himself through Gerda’s tears. But, even more fundamentally, Kai is brought back through Gerda’s unwavering pursuit of him. </p>
<p>Since we are now still in the High Holidays period (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah), my thoughts naturally gravitate toward spirituality. So I thought of the Snow Queen story as a kind of analogy, with God being Gerda, Kai being us, and the trolls essentially playing themselves (the devilish things that distort our view of the world and deaden our heart). In fact, I could go one step further and see Gerda as God’s feminine presence with us - also known as the Shechinah. </p>
<p>In any case, the key takeaway from this would be that God pursues us. No matter how far we have gone from our true heart, God stops at nothing to reach us. It also seems to imply that God might cry in some sense, because He misses us so much and wants so very much to be with us again with a full heart of love. I am not aware of many traditional references to God crying (if anybody knows of any, I'd love to hear...), but there are many references to Him suffering with us as we have been dispersed from our natural home with Him. And there are references to the Altar crying, and to an angel crying, and to Rachael’s spirit crying for her displaced children. Also there is a reference to God being close to the brokenhearted and that He wants us to love Him with all our heart. So I am inclined to believe that, in some sense He (or perhaps I should say “She” since this is the feminine presence) cries. (And no, it is not important to this understanding if the tears are in any way what we could recognize as physical tears). </p>
<p><strong>So, if this is true, how come there are so many instances of God being portrayed as angry at us or as a King judging us? What happened to the tenderness, the kindness, the love? </strong></p>
<p>For myself, I saw a potential answer to this question in the final scenes in the story of Joseph and his brothers (in Genesis). Before Joseph reveals to his brothers his real identity, he appears to them as an angry, tough, capricious ruler who is being seemingly arbitrary and unreasonable with them. In reality, Joseph is trying to help them see for themselves where they have gone astray in their thinking (thinking which led, among other things, to their selling Joseph into slavery and almost killing him). There are some signs that Joseph’s plan is working and they are re-examining their actions, but it is very very difficult for Joseph to do this because he loves them and doesn’t want to see them hurting. It is so difficult for Joseph that twice he needs to remove himself from his brothers because he cannot hold back his tears. He composes himself these two times but, after some more progress is made in the brothers’ self-realization, he then breaks down with open tears, revealed himself and kissed all his brothers with great love. </p>
<p>This, to me, is also an analogy for how God interacts with us. The tough ruler, the Judge, the King – the decidedly masculine side - does what He does only for our benefit, to allow us to reflect, to learn, to grow, to look inside and discover for ourselves where we went off track and find our own way back. This is done this way because this is the way in which we will benefit the most and have the greatest opportunity to find our own goodness. But as the King judges, the Shechinah cries, and suffers. She wants to reveal the true love at the core right now for all to see, just as Joseph wanted to reveal himself. But She knows that by waiting, we will come to understand more on our own and then, with that wisdom, we will be in a better position to truly know ourselves and then be able to help and be kind to others. And that may just be the greatest gift we can receive – the ability to help others. </p>
<p>I know I have not answered here the age-old question of how a loving, omnipotent God can cause, or even allow, horrendous things to happen. But I am just sharing my thoughts with you because you are my valued friends - and maybe some of it will be of value to you in some way. Or maybe you'll share some of your thoughts that will be of value to me.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48647962017-09-25T17:31:21-07:002021-01-01T21:04:18-08:00#8 Rosh Hashanah and the Snow Queen<p><span class="font_regular">Those of you that have spoken to me about authors know that I am very fond of the work of Rebecca Solnit. I am currently reading <em>The Faraway Nearby. </em>Those of you that know something about my spiritual life, know that I have a very deep connection to my Jewish roots, particularly with regard to its mystical teachings and perspectives. Recently, I experienced a wonderful interface between the two that, in the end, made me understand my role in the world more clearly. I'm going to try to share that with you.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">First, please allow me to start by referencing the passages from <em>The Faraway N</em><i>earby</i> that set things whirling around in my mind and, eventually, in my soul. Solnit is talking about her take on on a fairy-tale: </span></p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">"The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tale masterpiece "The Snow Queen" opens with the tale of a distorting mirror made by a troll who is the Devil. The mirror shows the trolls their own ugly view of the world, and they fly up above the earth to force the angels to see themselves in it, but drop the grinning mirror when they are en route, up high. It breaks into innumerable sharp fragments. The scattered splinters of glass find their way into people's eyes and make them see the world as the trolls see it, and some 'even got a little piece of mirror in their heart, and then it was quite dreadful. The heart would turn into a lump of ice.' It's a narcissist's and cynic's mirror that freezes the heart and distorts the world."</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font_regular">Just a couple of days ago was Rosh Hashanah. Most know this as the beginning of the Jewish New Year and, according to Jewish tradition, a time when God judges what kind of new year we will have coming to us. In fact, it represents much, much more. According to the mystical interpretation, it is also a remembrance of the beginning of the world and the reason why He created the world in the first place: Because "He desired kindness". So actually, the holiday is a time for us to remember who we really are at root and why we are here in the first place. The little pieces of cynicism and narcissism that enter us and obfuscate our vision and our mission and confuse our heart, and hide our goodness from us. So this a time to clear that all away, and it is a time for renewal of, and return to, our untainted selves. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">But how?</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Solnit continues the tale, telling of a boy named Kai that gets one of these distorting pieces in his heart, and then becomes totally entrapped by the Snow Queen and becomes lost to the world and those who knew him. But there was a girl named Gerda that loves Kai and misses him and weeps for him, and she sets out on a fantastical, impossible journey to rescue Kai. When Gerda finally catches up with Kai he is at the palace of the Snow Queen:</span></p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">"...the frozen Kai is playing the Ice Game of Reason with flat shards of ice. If he can organize them into a pattern that spells out 'eternity' he'll become free, but he never can. It's not reason or pattern but emotion that will free him, in the form of more tears from Gerda, whose grief makes him remember, so that he weeps out the speck of glass and is himself again. Weeping like ice melting, like winter snow turning into spring rivers, a spring that comes as grief, as waking up to suffering that is the beginning of doing something about it, weeping tears of affection and loss that are always hot and sometimes make roses grow."</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font_regular">I did a lot of crying the first day of Rosh Hashanah, particularly when I heard that clarion call to the heart we call Shofar, which pierced through every layer of my indifference, my coarseness, my resignation, my ego - and then went on to reach my heart, the Gerda within me that would not abandon me or write me off as a captive to the world of cynicism.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">What I understood - both from Solnit's rendition of the story, as well as from my own internal experience - was this: I want to be neither a cynic nor a narcissist. I want, more than anything else, to weep out all the distortions that have entered my heart and warped my vision. I want to be pure again to see with eyes of innocence, and love with a full and open heart. I want to be whole and pure.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I know that there is no one-time fix. But I just might be able to find a process that can regularly, periodically clear the obstructions away, like a windshield wiper pushing aside newly fallen snow. As long as it doesn't get a chance to freeze onto the windshield, the wipers can do a pretty good job of clearing the snow and maintaining visibility. So what I am trying to find are those daily practices that will help clear things before the build-up even occurs. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I know that different people have different practices in this regard from painting to meditating to running to hiking to writing and many others. They are all good. For me, music is a very close friend that has always been there for me, to allow me to transcend myself. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">And, if the build-up does occur anyway, I can remember. I can remember Gerda's tears, I can remember the cry of the Shofar. And I can try to remember the reason I was put here in the first place. Perhaps we can help each other remember what is good inside us.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48542692017-09-17T16:19:25-07:002017-09-17T17:50:14-07:00#7. One Thing I Asked<p><span class="font_regular">If you could have one request granted – <strong>any</strong> request, but just <strong>one</strong> – what would it be? My guess is that few of us would ask to be able to “contemplate”. But, then again, none of us is David. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">In Psalm 27, David appears to distill all that he seeks into just one thing. (You can see the line I’m referring to in the picture below.) And at the core of it is something he wants to envision (“behold”) that is tied to a transcendent, yet tranquil, delight (no-am in Hebrew) that is manifest when he visits the sanctuary of a God’s inner sanctum, His private chamber. Perhaps, in this most rarified of places, the only aspect of humanness that can make it that far is our power of contemplation, the aspect of deep reflection/meditation by which we can go beyond our physical limitations. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Seen this way, it makes perfect sense to me that this would be David's highest aspiration. For to me, it refers to a reality that resides in the realm of pure contemplation because it is beyond the domain of words, defying (at least at this point in our history) all attempts at concretization. It can be contemplated, meditated upon, but not rationalized. It is the perfect music, the harmony of harmonies, the universal music, the music of the spheres. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">This is precisely the place at which my music is aimed, sometimes through peace, sometimes through exuberance. In this way, I ask for the same thing, to have the music (and any part of me that can come along for the ride) reach that place of "transcendent tranquil delight". Because it would mean that my music reached its intended destination, even if much of me remains back here within my rationalizations/limitations.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">So David's compositions have done again in this case what they are known to do generally - follow and describe archetypal journeys of the heart, blazing a trail which we can later follow.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">For now, it may be that this place of perfection is only reachable within our inner sanctum (or His). But it will not always be so. Maybe we will be the generation to bring it out into the open.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/3f968a08933d28dfd3dc365b5499de6b70d6d2f2/original/2017-09-17-14-12-48.jpg?1505688189" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48542572017-09-17T15:12:12-07:002018-05-17T13:55:03-07:00#6. Peleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary<p>For you to fully understand this next blog, I'll need to tell you something I've kinda been avoiding. I got mugged during my recent trip to Kona. It happened early in my stay, just a few days after I arrived. It occurred in the parking lot of the hotel I was staying at (Kona Sheraton). I won't go into too much detail except to say that it was violent, I was knocked on the ground, bruised up, and some things were stolen. I am so grateful to God that I did not appear to sustain much in the way of lasting damage. But it was a real body blow to my state of mind and, as of this writing, I am still trying to absorb/integrate/process, or whatever one does to come to terms with an experience of this sort. </p>
<p>In the early stages of this process, I discovered the existence of a place I had never heard of before: Peleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary. Just reading the name appealed to me. (In fact, it was the discovery of this name that inspired the name of this website.) Plus I saw that it was in a part of the island that is very beautiful and lush and fruitful and quiet. So I paid a visit. This video was taken there. I will apologize in advance that the axis of the primary shot is stable, but the orientation isn't quite straight. Then again, I, too, was somewhat out of balance at the time...</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="VyJU1aZR7KM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/VyJU1aZR7KM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VyJU1aZR7KM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48542562017-09-17T15:11:34-07:002021-03-03T22:38:44-08:00#5 Mahaiula Bay<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="hQSfcTyZhOM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/hQSfcTyZhOM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hQSfcTyZhOM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>A moment of repose. </p>
<p>I've spent so much of my life in a mode of intense, sustained effort focused on achieving (or avoiding) some outcome. The main exception for me has been my musical world, which has so far resisted and repelled every effort to use it for something. Even in the case of the film scores I've done, which clearly had a purpose, I let the music find its own expression on its own terms. </p>
<p>There was no virtue in what I did (or what i continue to do) in that realm: I really don't have a choice. I don't know how to do it any other way. </p>
<p>So this lazy late afternoon, previously cloudy, but now with the sun sparkles dancing from the shoreline all the way out to the horizon - this moment seems musical to me. Not because of the soft rhythm of the waves, or even the grace and elegant harmony of all the natural elements (the trees, the sky, the clouds, the rocks, the sand....). </p>
<p>For me, the musical element is the way the moment rests in its beauty, the pointless, useless and perfect beauty that just is. </p>
<p>It asks nothing of you. </p>
<p>Nor does it want anything in return. </p>
<p>Except, perhaps, to be held and cherished in your heart.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48542552017-09-17T15:10:52-07:002023-12-10T08:54:26-08:00#4. Whatsapp Conversation with my Kids at The Place of Refuge<p>This is what she told me: </p>
<p>"If you go to your love, you go to your life. </p>
<p>"In fact, if you go to your love, life will come to you. </p>
<p>"I will send you out with this message. There is here and there is now. And there are also an endless flow of things that pull you away from that. But they will also pull you away from your essence. </p>
<p>Come back. </p>
<p>Keep coming back. For it is your home and the source of all that sustains you. Just know where your home is. </p>
<p>And keep coming back. And then, maybe one day, you will not need to leave." </p>
<p>David: Where is this from? Sounds great </p>
<p>From my "mother". The one that lives here and gave birth to me about 35 years ago (in the sense that that was the first time I became who I am now). She helped develop further what Bubbie (your grandmother) and my father set into motion. I can't show you her picture, but i can show you where she lives. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="zi_y-vgwKVc" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/zi_y-vgwKVc/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zi_y-vgwKVc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>David: Ohhhhh. Gorgeous ? </p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48542532017-09-17T15:09:50-07:002022-05-27T03:27:02-07:00#3. Kahaluu<p>I was so richly rewarded. </p>
<p>I don't think there's ever been a time of the hundreds of times I've gone snorkeling here, that I didn't feel that I was greatly blessed to be able to receive the gifts I received here. </p>
<p>But today was unusual. I went to my usual area (a bit South of the area people usually go) and it was truly splendorous. Small, swimming works of modern art ( with eyes) on a background of a living, breathing "stone flower garden". </p>
<p>This is happiness for me. </p>
<p>Pure and simple. </p>
<p>Then I encountered a smallish turtle. And that's also happened to me many, many times. But this was different. </p>
<p>At first, I thought he might be caught by something because it seemed he kept trying to squeeze himself between two coral arms that clearly did not offer enough space for him to get through. So I watched to see if he might need my help. </p>
<p>Then, I understood that he was carefully rubbing all parts of his head, neck and fins (all of his skin) against the coral, as one might use a pumice stone. </p>
<p>After a while, he came up for air and then swam toward me, within a couple inches. I didn't experience this in the past, so instinctively i backed away a little bit. But I continued to watch very nearby. </p>
<p>He returned to his former place and activity. Soon after, another, somewhat larger turtle showed up. She looked carefully at the (not trapped) turtle, looked at me, seemed to decide all was good, and then swam off into the distance. Her cameo appearance seemed to contain infinite grace, her exit more like a flying off into the mist on slow-motion angel wings. I felt, in fact, visited by an angel. </p>
<p>After a while, my friend came up for air again, and again swam toward me. This time he touched my arm with his fin. In my imagination, this was a benevolent expression of some kind of friendship, perhaps even kinship in that we shared this wondrous, beautiful, benevolent planet together. </p>
<p>So I felt doubly blessed. </p>
<p>I'm sharing this with you in the hopes that you will feel this blessing, perhaps just a bit more, next time you "rub elbows" with any goodness, or any benevolent living being. </p>
<p>We are all angels, in that we are all messengers of God. </p>
<p>May you find your message. </p>
<p>And be able to hear the message of others.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48542522017-09-17T15:09:26-07:002023-12-10T09:10:09-08:00#2. Hapuna<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="tbokT172cII" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/tbokT172cII/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tbokT172cII?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I think that people sometimes think that I'm too serious. It's true that most of them are people that don't understand me very well. But you know what? They are actually right. </p>
<p>I returned to Hapuna Beach today. It was a picture-perfect day in a picture-perfect setting. And since this is in August, the water was deliciously, delightfully warm. The waves were very gently lapping the soft sandy shoreline. As I lay on my back, it was almost like an undulating message in this partly weightless environment. </p>
<p>Every so often, there was a larger wave, whereupon I took the opportunity to do my impression of a breaching whale. It was no less an instinct for me than it might have been for a humpback, since we both first learned it in our early youth. In an instant, i hadn't just returned to Hapuna, I returned to my family summer vacation when I was seven and my father showed me how to jump over the waves. I hadn't a care in the world in that moment, or in this. All else in my life was totally moved aside to make space for pure happiness, joy and love of life. </p>
<p>One of the many things I love about Hapuna is that it's a favorite place for parents to bring their keikis (children). I don't know which is greater - the joy of the keikis or the joy of the mothers and fathers. But the overall feeling is so clear, so simple: all is right with world, this is the way we were meant to live, to experience life. We want, perhaps more than anything else, to show our kids how beautiful and lovely and exciting and joyous life is. </p>
<p>But why just at the beach? Why just with young kids? This is something we want our kids to know and experience about life. But are we tricking them? Or is this really the essence of life? If it is the essence, how could it be so narrowly restricted? </p>
<p>I have no answers. But, just for a little while today, it didn't matter at all if i could our could not figure It out. It was just the sun, the waves, and me - with my occasional breach simulation, just for comic relief. So maybe that is my answer - a playfulness that is not answerable to anything except itself. </p>
<p>This makes me recall a phrase that i encountered in my college days, penned by Vladimir Nabokov in Speak, Memory: "Art for Art's sake". </p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>Life for Life's sake.</p>Scott Reichtag:scottreichmusic.com,2005:Post/48542512017-09-17T15:08:27-07:002021-04-21T10:07:09-07:00#1. Pololu<p><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="7-P8dLpPgr8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/7-P8dLpPgr8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7-P8dLpPgr8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I came to a place of great love and peace and beauty and tranquility. </p>
<p>I asked God, "Please, dear God, give me another chance" </p>
<p>"A chance to do what?" </p>
<p>"A chance to find Your peace and love within me and then to try to connect that with my life." </p>
<p>He continued:</p>
<p>"I can do that. But there's some things you should know. To really do what you say, you will have to be willing to give up many material things that seem like comfort and security to you. Many around you will not understand. </p>
<p>"Also, even if you were able to do that. You still would not be able to do it completely. </p>
<p>"But there's something else. Whenever you <em>are</em> able to do it, the value of that moment is in no way dependent on what comes before our after. Plus, each of those moments are eternal and indestructible. </p>
<p>"One more thing. You can find your own way to those points of light or, as you develop your ability to do this, you can go to them with others. Either way, you will find more of them more easily if you also try to find ways of sharing the goodness you find with others. Many times, this will be through some transmission or transmutation that will make itself available to you unexpectedly. When you have the chance to do that, take it. </p>
<p>"In so far as your question is concerned: with every breath, you have another chance." </p>
<p>I took in a few slow, deep breaths feeling a warm and happy gratitude. As I looked around, I felt the calm but vibrant energy of this verdant valley, teeming with life, renewal (because life is renewal). </p>
<p>Then I realized something about myself. The valley, as transcendently beautiful as it is, was not what allowed me to see these things. It was that the transcendent beauty triggered the deep gratitude in me. And that's what created the portal. So actually, that opening is not dependent on the place. It is dependent on me, my state of being. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/260268/045125afbd45b40bf544306cabbc35abdbbda4e5/original/2017-08-16-photo-00000113.jpg?1504305755" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>At Pololu Valley trailhead. Rocks will fall on your head. The ground will give way under you and you will fall to your death. The sharks will eat you. And you will drown. And oh, by the way, you won't be able to call anybody for help. </p>
<p>Have a nice hike!</p>Scott Reich