Ah, the autumn breeze, it reminds me of the fair, the rides, the wonderful food smells, and the livestock, then the museum like exhibits, and never will I forget the games. “Everyone a winner!”, the carnival workers would shout. The carnival always beckoned me, as if it was my destiny.  Short-lived was the fascination of the huge generators on trucks, with the monstrous cables I could barely step over.   I would step over them with a slight apprehension, wondering what power they must possess to make all these carousels go round and round.

Quickly my attention was brought to the flashing lights, the newness of the loud dance type music being played, with “Faster! Faster!” being shouted over large PA speakers.  The excitement tingled my insides as I would double check my tickets I was clenching. Then strapped in, round and round I would go, the world spinning around me, hearing the somewhat calming screams of others enjoying the ride.

Too soon the ride was over, myself a tad dizzy, would trample through the noisy crowd to the next ride. Beginning to hunger for the delicious state fair corn dog, I would recount my tickets to be sure I had enough for the glass house in which I couldn't wait to get lost. Then sitting down to eat my cotton candy, I smiled, knowing there a piece of heaven on earth. Rybird

 "I have a great big hole in my heart"  someone told me before.   I also have had this big hole and found a solution.
The hole is filled by having a relationship with a power greater than yourself, as in God or higher power, and being of maximum service to God and others. EVERYTHING else is just circumstance. Circumstances do not dictate our spiritual well being,or this hole that needs to be filled, but being of service to others will make circumstances irrelevant, and in most cases better. But regardless, life happens, like a ship at sea, there are storms, loved ones die, or leave, sickness comes, life happens,
But when we are at least on the road to recovery from self, then our journey can have some joy, but more importantly patience, love and tolerance, along with humility. Is this easy?, No, but it is simple. and willingness and honesty are the key ingredients. This is my experience and it has worked for me and many others. Simply by practicing rigorous honesty, "being true to thyself" the path will be made. Rybird

Shaman Nalis is master of the cardinal virtues. He explains they only come by  the way of the spirit and experience.  He says find someone who has what you want and have them share their experience with you. And what you learn from your own experience share with those willing to learn.  When growing along these lines, these virtues just appear with no direct or additional effort on our own. He continues, I cannot tell you what these virtues are, for the words will have no meaning, until virtue has been attained.

The social construct of man.
Femininity is assigned to women and masculinity to man. We are socially constructed to maintain ourselves within these banners. This is irregardless of sexuality. From wiki “While the defining characteristics of femininity are not universally identical, some patterns exist:  gentleness, empathy, sensitivity, caring, sweetness, compassion, tolerance, nurturance, deference, and succorance are traits that have traditionally been cited as feminine.“
 Do not men have the same social right to these traits? How about any boundaries in expression? In fashion a man wearing pink has been social constructed to open a debate any time a man wears pink. Is he confident in his sexuality? Is he gay? It seems now even attractive to many women that a man love nature, the birds and the flowers. But what about when it comes to art? If a man uses pink and purple to paint a flower is he now feminine or gay?
I feel men are just as emotional as women and feel just as much, but have been constructed by society for such a long period time that fear regulates that behavior. I say let men be men and women be women. Does this mean that men have to dress like men and act like men? It means that men should know they are men and are not bound to these limits.
If a man wants to paint butterflies or write poetry, or knit or learn yoga, they should, because they are men, they can do this and need not flinch, nor make excuses. Because it is character that defines us outside of sexual preferences and neither a woman or a man in their purest form has any character flaws. Styles, tastes and color choices have absolutely nothing to do for character but reflect the power and true confidence of a man, or a woman if the case may be as these same principles apply to women.
Rybird

Tux the Butterfly fine digital art by Rybird. For more like this see the Art Flies Collection at Dabble Bird HERE

Tagged: masculinity, femininity, man, woman, sexual, constructs, social constructs, confidence, pride, fear, society, norms, perspective, attitude, art, poetry, feminine, masculine, acceptance, style, character, personality, traits

     Spirituality must be one of the most misunderstood phenomenons as expected since everyone's path to spirituality seems unique to them. However, the end result appears to be the same once a person has reached this higher plane of thinking, It is a spiritual awakening,which I will explain more about later. When I arrived at this higher plane of thinking, I discovered it was nothing I achieved by direct will, but it was rather something that happened, It happened, I found out later, to internal events that took place and I found that continued growth results not from direct effort, but rather from doing the right thing, then as a result of that, problems become non existent. After I did reach this 4th dimension, the spiritual awakening, I found I can related to other peoples who have experienced this and they claim to relate to mine. And I can relate to those that have not had this experience, even though they, not having a spiritual awakening cannot relate to my experience. Thus I feel that when sharing anything about spirituality, I should only share my own personal experience as my experience is my truth and people are also more receptive to it. Removing the “you”, “they”, and “we” out of the story makes sharing comfortable and refrains from judging. Either the person that is inquiring will identify or not, and they can take away some experience that is useful and not have to worry about the rest. It is for this reason that spiritual advice is never offered, only my experience shared when approached. continued below...

     I have learned the way many people think does not apply to me and I should refrain from correcting them as I cannot determine nor decide if a different way works for them. The never give up, you can win, you can do anything you want believe system did not work for me. I followed that path into insanity and nearly death as I did achieve everything I wanted through sheer willpower and determination.....so I thought. I was in a total delusion, never realizing that I had never been in control, I was just manipulating reality to suit me and me to suit reality, a type of rationalization, and thus I never was growing or changing. I felt at times that it was my job to make the world a better place and my life would not be of value if I didn't at least try. Conquering battles, never giving up, always winning was my way. And I never reached enlightenment until I abandoned these ideas.

     Along the way people tried to share their enlightenment. It was hard for them to tell me what it was, yet people tried and I thought I knew what it was and I wanted it. But I didn't want to do anything for it. I found later that there was nothing that I could do for it. I could not change the path I was on and the harder I tried to change it, the more futile and desperate it became. Finally it was too much, yes it was more than I could take and now I was going to die. I seemed to lose all hope and at the time I was sure I had no hope, and I did give up. I did not care if I lived, if I died, or if I was going to Heaven or Hell or just ceasing to exist. This is when it happened, It was my point of hopelessness, my point of surrender, but I would not realize it until later, I knew there was a change, but what the changes would be were revealed to me later. My experience is that more is always revealed later about the moment I am in.  continued below

I ran into a big problem. It's the ice cream. I have three big bowls, well, one is big, then I have a big big bowl and a big big big bowl. So, I had a big bowl of ice cream, but I wanted a big big bowl. But the big big bowl was dirty. I could have gotten the big big big bowl, but that bowl is too big. So I just got the big bowl.

Now I still want ice cream but now both the big big bowl and the big bowl are dirty. So now if I want more ice cream I have to get the big big big bowl. But then that is too much ice cream....

See? I have a big big big problem!
Update. Now the big bowl, the big big bowl and the big big bowl are all dirty. But I am happy. :)

Someone asked, ":Do you believe in life after death?"  What do I think?

First I contemplate the maturing transmission of holistic energy.  Yes the  isomorphic resonance of an interstellar awakening of being that will tap into the quantum matrix itself.  Yes, embellish the new age aura of nonsensical whizdom.
And now the story.

Our Friend, having a near death experience, contemplates his life of sin and anxiously awaits his fate in the next world.

An escort meets him at the boundary of hereafter and with a welcoming smile says, “You’re not ready yet friend; you still have another chance. But you’ll return soon, so let me show you what goes on here on the other side.”

Together they enter a great hall where a long candle-lit banquet table is laden with bowls of steaming, fragrant soups, succulent roasts, perfectly cooked vegetables, aromatic loaves of bread, the finest of wines, fruits of every kind, and a dazzling array of cakes and pies. Diners fill every chair, but shockingly, amid luxurious bounty, the scene is one of pain and anguish. Skeletal forms are twisted and moaning in starvation, with barely the strength to strike at each other with their spoons.

Looking closer, our Friend sees that all spoons have long handles—longer than the diners’ arms; too long for the diners to feed themselves. “So this is Hell,” gasps our Friend. “Anger and misery amid abundance. Where’s the Devil?” “Evil resides in the hearts of men,” says Escort, “But, come, let me show you something else.”

The two enter another great hall. And in that hall there is another long, candle-lit banquet table, covered with a similar incredible spread of delicious foods, drinks and sweets. Here the sounds of laughter, chatter and song fill the hall while healthy and happy diners are enjoying the company and the bounty before them.

They, too, have long spoons, but they are feeding each other. “And this,“ the Escort tells our Friend, “is heaven.”

I heard that on Christian radio driving home from work almost twenty years ago. It made perfect sense then and and it still does now. Rybird

Welcome to the new Rybird website, and the new year. This is a new first post.  I hope you have a joyous and beautiful new year for 2017.   I will be posting  things I believe to be interesting whether it is a short story I have written on spiritualy or personal experiece, or I may give sneak previews of things to come, or go behind the scenes to demonstrate how something is created.   This site, Rybird Music is my personal art and music portfolio and my writing ill have a personal feel to them too.  Practically everything I post on the site is completely original or derived in a way that it becomes original.  I love it when people share, or comment on the work, otherwise, I am just posting it without knowing who and why people like it if at all. I try to keep the site clean, although it may have cookies, I don't plan to track people or run ads.  This is my way of giving back to the world wide community.  However all the work, being created as myself, is copyright, so sharing is great, but please give credit, so I can take the blame for the works you see. :) Again, have a beautiful new year.  Ry