Sharing The Journey

It's all about sharing our journeys with each other.
Our trials. Our joys. Our lessons. Our weaknesses. Our fears. Our darkness. Our light. Our power.
It is about letting ourselves be seen, and seeing each other.
Truly seeing each other. Accepting each other. Forgiving each other. Understanding each other.

This is what I hope to use as inspiration for sharing my life through my music and art.
To bare my soul and let myself be seen. Let myself be seen and felt and accepted and appreciated and understood. Let myself be seen and thus connect with others and see others who choose to open up as well.

Understanding that we are all here with the same basic purpose and desire - to experience as much happiness and peace as possible and to avoid as much pain and strife as possible.
We all want the same things in the end. We all encounter different versions of the same obstacles.
Pain. Fear. Loss. Anxiety. Despair. Doubt. Sadness. Aloneness. Suffering.
Yet, we also get times of light. When all is well. When all is good.
Joy. Love. Abundance. Freedom. Light. Happiness. Connection. Peace.
This is the cyclical nature of existence. Constant flux from one pole to the other.
The question is... is it ever possible to transcend this constant swing of the pendulum from peace to suffering, light to dark,
and experience a state of existence that remains steady and ever-peaceful, free of all darkness?
In a word: "enlightenment"? "Liberation"?
That is what we all seek, in some form of another. Freedom from pain and misery.
Because we all experience it. Deeply.
So we arrange things in our life so that they are pleasing to us and provide us with as much joy and solace and comfort as possible. Whatever path we take in life, whatever decisions we make, we usually do so on some level hoping that this path or decision will prove to be pleasant to us, and hoping that it will help us avoid pain and suffering.
Everything from what kind of lifestyle we choose to lead, what kind of relationships we choose to have (or not have), what activities we spend our days doing, how we choose to think and act, what things we aspire to, what things we try to avoid.
Ultimately, though, many of us discover that no matter what we try, no matter what we cling to in our lives to bring us that lasting happiness, inevitably those things and conditions change, dissipate and eventually disappear. "All things all impermanent." Clinging on to that which is impermanent for our permanent happiness and satisfaction is destined to fail.
And thus, many of us go through life and "lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in [us], as Henry David Thoreau once put it.
We go through life, expecting to find happiness from this relationship, from this career, from making this amount of money, from being this amount of popular, from having this many friends, from whether or not this team wins the game or not, on and on, and yet we inevitably find that these conditions constantly change and do not last. And thus, our "happiness" tied to them does not last either, and once the relationship ends, or the job turns out to not be what we thought it would be, or we move to a new place and suddenly don't feel popular and important anymore, then our happiness fades as quickly as the setting sun at dusk, and we experience the darkness of suffering, of pain, of sadness and despair and bitterness and fear. Then we desperately try and find some other external condition to cling to for our peace, but inevitably the same thing happens, those conditions change and fade away, and we once again find ourselves back in the darkness. Constantly cycling from temporary happiness to pain, temporary happiness to pain.
This is the human condition.
Is there a remedy? Is there a solution to fix this seemingly endless existential angst, darkness and suffering that plagues our human lives and experience? Is there a state beyond the darkness, liberated once and for all from the suffering and pain that exists in human life?
The wise ones, sages and so-called "saints" and women of all ages in human history have all answered with a unified answer: yes.
Yes, they say, there is a state of existence free and beyond the suffering and unsatisfactory experience of mundane existence. There is a liberation - there is a bliss - there is a nirvana - there is a heaven on earth - there is freedom - there is enlightenment.
They know because they experience it themselves. And anyone observing them and their lives could see that yes, such freedom from suffering is in fact possible and attainable, for these people are living and breathing examples of it.
What, do these wise and liberated ones have to say as to how to attain this elusive lasting happiness that we all truly seek?
Is it in living a certain way? Doing certain deeds? Arranging life in a certain way?
The wise ones say that, yes, arranging the external conditions in your life does in fact bring one some measure of pleasantness and happiness is one's experience,
but most important, "The kingdom of heaven is within". In other words, ultimate freedom from suffering starts and ends with the Mind. It is all about the Mind and the Heart.
If the mind and the heart and pure, free of ignorance and delusion and all the negative mind-states resultant, then one speaks and acts from a pure heart within, and thus only good comes of his actions and thoughts and deeds in the outer world.
The kingdom of heaven is really an inward state - a state of being.
When one's mind is present, quiet, still, and alert. When one is non-grasping. When one knows his oneness with all, and thus feels connection and compassion with all (open heart), then one naturally speaks and acts with pure heart and good intent. Thus, what is returned back to him is pure and good. The universe, being essentially a mirror, reflects to one what one puts out.
This is the law of karma, essentially.
All actions have their reactions, all causes have their effects. All actions have their corresponding consequence.
They tell us that by spending our days in ways that we would optimally enjoy, serving others, connecting with and being good to others, relaxing, calming and stilling our minds, resting in pure present moment awareness, refraining from negative, harmful actions and doing only beneficial, loving actions, and by seeing through the delusion of separation and duality and life/death, and thus letting go of our grasping onto the ever-changing flux of the universe, then we can gain lasting peace and happiness, for there will no longer be anything to cause us grief or pain or suffering anymore. When we have conquered our own mind and established it in truth and purity, then we are free from the grips of suffering which only arise from an untamed mind which becomes wrapped and trapped in delusion and ignorance and impurity.
"The Kingdom of Heaven is within".

Thus, through my music, I will share my journey. Share my life. My ups. My downs. My good times. My bad times. My joys and my struggles. And, most importantly, what I have learned from my struggles. How I have grown. What I have had to let go of and accept. My quest for truth and freedom and enlightenment. My quest of inward transformation and purification. My never-ending journey of growth, transformation, change and evolution.