On the Spring equinox, Neurosis released a new album on the streamers, titled “An Undying Love for a Burning World” with physical copies being available in May. And, boy, in this shittiest of times in which we live in, did I ever need an album like this. Hit the link for more info.
Just know that of all the artists I love, there is but a handful of them in which I buy everything they put out. Led Zeppelin has gotten most of my discretionary income in this life, but right there is also Neurosis. I ADORE this band. I won’t bore you with recounting their history and my long relationship with their music. Just go to Neurot Records and go down the rabbit hole.
So much has happened this month. Multiple murders at the hands of The Proud Boys…er… ICE. Journalists arrested, civil liberties trampled, our “leader” behaving belligerently, children being victimized by government agents and used as bait. It all makes me feel spiritually dry, hopeless, ashamed, saddened, ANGRY!
I struggle to live the words that so many of my spiritual guides teach. Love my enemy (Jesus), have unconditional good-will to all (Buddha), be an instrument of peace (Francis of Assisi). It all feels incredibly unattainable. I want to follow the examples set by all the spiritual leaders and thinkers I have spent years learning and admiring. But it all becomes so unreachable when I see, as an example, Stephen Miller, The White House Deputy Chief of Staff, telling obvious lies with a smug bitterness that makes me want to act violently. I find it impossible to have any love towards the man who is largely responsible for unleashing of the present government-sanctioned racist violence. I genuinely despise this man and his boss.
I can feel that anger eating at me, taking away any peace. Despair and anger exhaust me.
BUT…..
I’m reminded that I alone will only have despair and anger in the face of such negativity, that I need help. This is the message Jesus said about loving the enemy when he predicated all he did with prayer, that it was prayer that provided the means to love the enemy. And the Buddha reached the understanding of METTA after much error and reflection. And St. Francis didn’t just become an instrument of peace. He prayed to become that instrument. And that is where, when I find myself so spiritually dry and brittle, I realize I can’t do anything good or noble on my own. I need to foster that spiritual connection. And when I do, I’m less angry at Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the rest of the people currently causing so much pain and fear. That is not to say I’m ready to love them yet. I’m not a saint. But I see the connection between a spiritual relationship in the form of prayer and meditation with a Higher Power and the hard work of agape. That, in fact, is what makes Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. so remarkable in my eyes.
SO…..
I’m reminded that, when I feel so spiritually dry, I need prayer and meditation for guidance, strength, courage, and love. In the words of St. Francis of Assisi:
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
I’ll have more to write about Mr. Weir when I return from my upcoming travels, but I will say that his music meant a lot to me in my older years. That is ironic as I used to despise the Grateful Dead (close minded Heavy Metal elitist that I was). But in the last 10 years, his music, be it with GD, Dead and Co., the Wolf Brothers or with whomever has truly become foundational to my music listening life. Again, I’ll write more when I get back but….
God bless Bob Weir and thank you for the great music.
In spite of all the anger and fear that bombards us daily, I have hope. Not a naive hope which is more a desire. Rather, a hope that is anchored in the belief that light is always present and always prevails. True, the ugliness is real. Yes, fear and anger create the conditions in which great harm is done and is being done. Yes, there is more anger and fear than I realized a few short years ago. But I remain hopeful that love will prevail
That being said…racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia and any exclusionary and divisive stance are abhorrent to me. If you disagree, I shall still love you as best I can, but from a distance. In a word: boundaries.
And speaking of love, the best definition of love I have heard of is “the non-possessive delight in the well-being of another”. I heard it from Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis which she attributed the definition to Dr. James E. Loder
The older I get, the broader my spiritual “touchstones” become. I’m less and less likely to identify with a particular religious tradition and remain curious about people, traditions, and practices beyond my cultural “home” (whatever that means). I believe in “The Perennial Truth” and its manifestation throughout time, cultures, and traditions.
To paraphrase the late, great Tom Petty, music is the greatest magic I have ever encountered.
I wish you all a blessed 2026. May peace and every good be yours. Cheers,
Ace Frehley was my 1st guitar hero. Kiss was my first musical love. They were my 1st obsession. Kiss Alive was the 1st album I ever bought with my own money. It was the 1st album to hook me and haunt me. They filled my childhood, which was at that point filled with fear and anger, with excitement and joy.
My obsession for Kiss long since diminished but I’d be remiss if I didn’t honor the passing of Ace Frehley who passed away 16-Oct. 2025. His death does sadden me as yet another pivotal figure of my life moves on. He joins Ozzy, Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Neil Peart, Harold Budd, Vangelis, Lemmy, Prince, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Charlie Watts, Pete Way…and on and on…as people that meant so much to me, whom I never met but who contributed to memories and moments as real and as important and any attributed to my friends and family. Their departure from this life hits me in a very real way, perhaps not as acute as a loved one but no less real. Their departure is a reminder of the passage of time and a closing of a door to further contributions from their artistry to impact my life further. Yes, I still have the contributions from when they were alive and those contributions will live on in a way, but there will not be another Sabbath album or a VH show to go to, or an entertaining story about Ace Frehley. The door is now shut.
Thank you, Ace, for giving a scared, angry kid a joyous outlet that provided so much joy. May your soul be at peace.
This is a rhetorical question but also the title of a just-completed piece of music that will be part of a future album release, outlet to be determined. I hope to have enough pieces for an album release in 2026. Stay tuned….
As to the rhetorical question “How Have We Come to This?”, it is something I’m saying to myself more and more as I watch what I’ll call the myths of a stable society teetering and collapsing. I see the nightmare in Gaza playing out in what is by any definition a genocide and people being verbally eviscerated for being critical of the inhumanity on display. I see the predictable dichotomies and binary arguments that are always used to defend atrocity and historical injustices. I see power being exerted beyond what had long thought to have been “normal”, revealing the fragility of agreements that structure society. I see what I had hoped to have been archaic modes of thinking towards race and identify remerge, angrier and uglier than ever. I see all this and ask, “How Have We Come to This?”.
But surprisingly, I also have hope. It is not a flowery or sentimental hope. It is a hope based on something I really can’t properly describe as it is rooted as spiritually experiential. It is a hope born of prayer and meditation and not one that is unshakable. To be clear, I have great moments of fear and anger. I can experience despair with the best of them. But when I am deliberate in my prayer practice, I find hope that no matter how bad things get in the world (and I expect things to get much worse before they get better), there is still goodness. There is still kindness. There is still compassion. There is still love. That sounds flowery and perhaps it is. But I do believe that love prevails always. And I take solace in words of people I admire throughout history, like this guy….
On July 22, I shed tears for someone I never met for the 2nd time in my life. The 1st time was for Edward Van Halen. Of course, this most recent moment was for the passing of Ozzy Osbourne who was already on my mind with renewed, albeit nostalgic focus as a result of his very recent farewell concert on July 5th. I think many felt it was truly a farewell but were equally shocked that his death would be so soon afterwards.
I can’t do justice in memorializing Ozzy. Its clear by what has already been said by so many on Socials that I’m but one of many who feel like a dear friend has departed. I’ll just say that his life made a difference to mine. He wasn’t a saint, but he was inspirational.
