JazzCreativityAndBeyond

An interpretation of the Lord's Prayer by Rob Levit

2008-04-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is my interpretation of this very moving prayer, try your own, it is a revelation to oneself and will connect you to the Spirit! Plus, it's creative. You may use it freely, anywhere, anytime (just gimme a little shout). Joy in your day, joy in your journey!
______________________________________
Our Creator, who dwells within the depths of the heart and is all life –

We rejoice in your spirit and presence!

In this moment, all that you are is manifest throughout creation.

Your love flows and the word lives – living water, bread of life.

Feed us the gifts of spirit – faith, hope and love.

As you forgive us completely, we forgive ourselves and brothers and sisters without condition – we ask nothing in return and are glad.

Show and teach us the path of compassion and patience so we do not behave compulsively and without regard to our neighbors.

Remove the veils of darkness and bigotry and other silent patterns of destruction we use to block your light.

The world you have created is beyond words in its magnificent possibility – all is light, all is love.

You are the visible and invisible, now and forever

The light, the spirit, the peace – deep gratitude.

______________________________________

The Original, still beautiful!

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

[For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.]

What is healing? Some thoughts.

2008-03-12T11:16:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine and I had an exchange on what healing is. I wrote the following:

Healing is not about the healer or necessarily the person being healed in the individual sense. Healing is often the lifting of our perceptions so we may see the unseen -- that which we have consciously or unconsciously denied. There is no blame in healing -- veils of perception are gently lifted so we can see and experience our own value and the value in others. In fact, our value cannot be revealed unless we offer ourselves completely to the healing process -- that means seeing and activating the value in others through listening, teaching, acting, being.

Music and the arts, which are "living compassion" are conductors of that energy. As healers, we are mere conduits for that energy. There is nothing special about what we do. Healing energy is available to all and in all -- some folks just somehow get connected with it and therefore seek to give it away sooner so that all may have. When we give that energy up, God instantly replenishes it. There is no hoarding or withholding of creative energy -- it is ever-renewing living water. It's a river without end, an ocean without bottom: healing energy.

Healing is the continuous sharing of creative and positive energy at any/all levels with or without the outcome we desire. That's why there's no fault or blame in sickness -- as long as we love and share joy then that is in and of itself healing. We can call illness or hurt a blight or we can call it an opportunity -- physical healing is one manifestation of success but so are renewal of family relationships, inner peace, revelation of personal gifts and expression. Let's not limit what healing can be or mean with our limited understanding.

No sooner do we heal others we are healed ourselves. No sooner that we are healed then we can heal others. The healed become the healers instantaneously.

One body, one mind, one community, one world, one Universe, one beyond . . . a divine dance! Illusions of separation -- vanish.

2008 so far . . .

2008-02-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

This year so far has been mostly quiet -- but a good quiet -- as a calm sense of peace and purpose overflows and pervades my life. This year has been spent mostly in personal prayer and meeting with people to build a community vision.

As I move into late winter and then spring, I know the days will become crazy and hectic again on the outside but the center holds -- rich, fertile, deep. 2007 was a big, bold, bright year and I expect nothing less from 2008. It's just I was extremely fatigues at the end of the year, more than I realized and I am enjoying some time at home now -- watching less television, reading more books, listening to music and being more helpful to my wife.

The Holy Spirit, The Life Spirit is indeed preparing me for something special, I know that. That path will be in service, in building and sharing my talents on a wider level. That is why I am not rushing anywhere and am paying attention to what that "still small voice" is telling me. 2008 will be and has been fantastic and yet I absorb each moment with adoration and patience. Spring will arrive soon enough!

Enjoy The Music

2008-01-27T12:27:00.001-08:00

Find more music like this on Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Creatives

Rob's Artist Statement

2008-01-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

Artist’s Statement

I. These paintings came in two massive heaves – virtual paroxysms of creative energy. The smaller size batch was created over a two week period at the end of Summer 2007. The large size batch was created between Christmas 2007 and January 3, 2008. I’m glad it’s over because the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual focus required to paint this way isn’t exactly Big Fun. I paint on the floor and it’s actually exhausting. When I go to bed after a day of painting I see lots of bizarre lines, colors, and squiggles that keep me up. My body is sore.

II. So what’s the point? Because I love the way colors dance and flow! Because I love the way what I thought was going to happen didn’t happen. There is no plan here. I have no idea what the paintings will look like and often, when I feel I am getting comfortable, I will destroy what’s on the canvas. Our garden hose was a frequent tool – several of these paintings were amply sprayed down. A sprayed down canvas will often reveal new and exciting textures – a place to start over. Renewal, destruction, resurrection of an idea.

III. I love water. Water is life and so somewhere in all my paintings is water. The little paintings are first soaked with water. I use watercolors. I use blues, greens, and purples. Water replenishes and refreshes. Water heals. Water is life. Living water.

IV. Painting is making the invisible visible. Painting is translating thought into action and back again.

V. When I was in elementary school my art teacher sent me to the principal for making a colossal mess with glue and paint and getting the counters messy. Things haven’t changed much – I still make a huge mess and usually I don’t get into trouble, except with my wife from time to time because of the paint stain on the carpet in our basement.

VI. To me, these paintings are landscapes – but of what? They are interior landscapes. They are the topology of my mind and spirit. Each of us has an interior topology. My goal is to share that topology and map with you. I do that through my music, art, words, and actions. That is my life. I am interested in your topology, too.

VII. Tools of the trade: Acrylics and watercolors – all are mixed directly on the canvas or paper. There is no pre-mixing. Paper towels, hose, scraping tools, brushes, Modge Podge, heart, soul, and lots of water.

VIII. My paintings are music: color first, energy and motion second, form third. I’m interested in: How does spontaneous creation, aka improvisation, become a composition? The great composer Schoenberg described composition as “frozen improvisation.” This is action frozen in time, unlock.

IX. These paintings are about process. Engaging the materials as if for the first and last time. Nothing is rejected. Everything is useful. All is good.

X. When I improvise music I remind myself – finish the line. Let it run its course. I feel the same way when I paint. Get out of The Way – let the painting paint itself, let it run its course.

Rob Levit January 2008

The Compass Metaphor

2008-01-10T05:07:00.000-08:00

The Compass Metaphor – What guides you?

North – Your highest aspiration(s)

What is your vision and ideal in terms of connection with something greater than yourself?

South –Your connection to the present moment

What, more than anything, keeps you grounded and centered?

East – Your connection to the future

What will be your greatest legacy and contribution to the positive growth of humanity? Does what you do now positively shape the lives of others?

West – Your connection to the past

What story from your past would best describe who you are and what you offer as a compassionate and caring human being?

©2007 Rob Levit

Teaching Music

2008-01-10T04:59:00.000-08:00

Teaching Music

Teaching a student is a balance between creating a structured environment and freedom to explore. Two questions that are useful with my students are:

1. What can this information or skill be used for now?

2. What could this information or skill be used for in another context or later on?

One question asks for application thus stressing skill-building and technique. The other question asks for creativity because the application is broadened. I ask students to keep both of these questions in mind as the two pillars of learning.

A music lesson is a microcosm of the larger community.

The music community a microcosm of the world. Teaching concepts must apply to what a student is interested in now in order to maintain interest but also contain seeds to grow and expand into something greater – something the student may not see as valid or useful (yet). Learning must be applied creatively and practically beyond the lesson and music community to be considered successful in the long run. We are preparing musicians but we are also preparing artists and citizens: People that can help transform lives.

It is imperative for students to develop performing opportunities in diverse contexts. Even if a student does not endeavor to be a professional musician, performing in many contexts creates confidence, adaptation to environments, and the ability to plan and practice for many life situations where conditions may be less than perfect. Developing the "performance mentality" is excellent training beyond the arts arena. In a liberal arts environment, musical studies add value to the broader context of a student's life. As a private instructor who has prepared students for college and life beyond music, I am keenly aware of this – I want to add value to a student's overall education.

As a studio teacher with over twenty years experience, I look for opportunities to capitalize on what a student can already do well and build from there. I do not have a remedial approach to instruction but rather a method of inserting necessary learning (theory and reading music for example) into a familiar and comfortable context. That way learning isn't a form of struggle or punishment. A student can learn difficult new tasks without even knowing it sometimes. We are taught that in order to learn difficult things, we must struggle. That isn't necessarily true but we need perceptive teachers to point the way. Basically, difficult learning tasks – sight-reading, ear-training, theory etc. can become effortless when made fun! Rote repetition, while having a place, is the weakest of methodologies. Repetition can still be a musical and deep experience.

I give students the opportunity to explore their creative side and also provide a clear set of benchmarks and criteria for artistic excellence. What is it that they hope to accomplish? What are their dreams? Now, how do we relate that to the tasks at hand – the mechanics? Start with the heart, the inspiration and work outward. Creativity and expression without the solid foundation is useless. Creativity without a way of directing it is wasteful. My main mission as a teacher: Identify what a student excels at and create the resources to nurture that excellence. Then, teach the student to self-educate and self-diagnose because they won't always have a teacher. A great teacher transmits his/her learning tools to the student so that the student takes the crucial first steps toward self-sufficiency.

Repuation and Credibility

2008-01-09T13:31:00.000-08:00

Reputation and Credibility

Building your reputation and credibility is the most important thing you can do for your business yet it really has very little to do with business. Reputation and credibility are personal and are built from the inside out. So how do you build credibility? Here are three strategies to build on what you have and repair what you may have lost:

1. Know your core principles. Each of us operates on three or four inner principles that guide virtually every decision we make. A great exercise is to articulate them in no uncertain terms – clearly and unequivocally. Write them down and analyze them. Are they principles that you can truly live by? Some of the things you may want to think about: How do you want to treat people? How do you want to be treated by people? What do you think people say about you when you aren’t present? What would you like them to say? Write a one paragraph description of how you would like people to describe you when you aren’t around. Then choose to live by that description, without exception. If someone questions why or why not you chose to do something share your core principles with them. Explain to them that your decisions and actions are based on principles not on mood or whimsy. This will earn their respect even if they don’t agree with you.

2. Commit to excellence. Committing to excellence involves two steps. First, it means taking your core principles and making sure that your entire life is organized around them. Each activity you engage in either fits your core principles or they don’t. If they don’t eliminate them. That’s the great thing about having rock solid core principles – they enable you to make in the moment decisions that will have long term impact on your reputation and credibility, for better or worse. The second step of committing to excellence involves accepting total responsibility for what happens to you. People that have low credibility always have someone to blame for why things go haywire, but not you! By taking full responsibility for things that go haywire followed by tangible actions that rectify the situation you will gain instant credibility.

3. Apologize sincerely when you make a mistake or don’t live by one of your core principles. Words and deeds have a long shelf life. Over the course of my career I have said and done some things I am not proud of. At times, I felt that there was nothing I could do about a past mistake and became disheartened. However, I learned the value of a sincere and action-oriented apology, even for things that occurred years ago. A powerful and authentic apology is the best possible way to restore your reputation and credibility to a damaged relationship. Don’t expect things to be perfect overnight. Make the apology followed by an action and then let it go. All it takes is one person to damage your reputation and credibility so if you are able to offer a sincere apology to someone you have wronged followed by an action – like referring them for business, taking them out for lunch, or providing them with a contact you may just end up with a stronger relationship than you had prior to the incident. A sincere apology followed by a helpful action is the most powerful way of restoring your reputation and credibility. Make a list of anyone you need to apologize to. Why do you need to apologize? If you explain it well to yourself then it will be clear with them. Then, pick up the phone and schedule an appointment with that person. Showing a wronged party that you are vulnerable and open to change is an instant credibility builder.

Remember when Britney Spears used to be funny?

2007-09-25T11:20:00.001-07:00

It used to be we laughed at people like Britney Spears but it is our society that creates spectacles like this by building up individuals to be valueless and to provide valuelessness to our society. I think of all the teachers, social services providers and artists who endlessly toil to make our world a better place yet we, all of us, me included, spend our time rewarding those with financial prosperity and empty recognition only to sit back and be amused when their lives inevitably fall apart. Isn't that hilarious? The wasting away of our "celebrities" in public speaks much more of us than of them. After all, they are only humans and subject to the same fallibilities, dreams, desires, and temptations as we are. Yet, how tempting and how sickening to take joy and judgement at the writhing in pain of another human being, no matter who they are, no matter what level of income or ease they live at.

Death and Life on Lawler Street July 4th 2006

2007-08-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

Death and Life on Lawler Street July 4th 2006

Picture of Marion Pickett and July 4, 2006

http://jorgevismara.net/appex/2006/20060704

Death and Life on Lawler Street

Human beings are like planets – we live in our own world, inhabit our own ecosystem, all the while not realizing that our lives are orbiting other lives and influencing them. Perhaps these planets never seem to align and only in the distant reaches of the galaxy can a relationship be charted and a merge point in elliptical orbits be determined. Other times the planets align perfectly, spiritually if even for a few brief moments. It is in those moments that one realizes that every planet, every ecosystem, and every inner and outer motion is intimately connected to a power far beyond our ability to define. Each ecosystem is part of one larger, infinite, and healthy system.

On July 4, 2006, I was invited to participate in a block party on Lawler Street in Los Angeles. The invitation came by way of Judy Mitoma, Director of CIP – Center for Intercultural Performance – the group I was with was to meet at her home and then join her neighbors in their annual custom of celebrating our nation's independence in the most community-oriented of ways – dining together in potluck fashion and enjoying each other's company. I was in Los Angeles as a fellow in the APPEX program, a program that brought together 18 of the finest dancers, musicians, and choreographers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Thailand, and the United States to live, collaborate, and perform with each other. The 4^th of July block party was one of our first times spent together.

As we enjoyed the food and the company on Lawler Street, Judy Mitoma asked me if I would play guitar for two neighborhood teens who were jamming in their garage. To be honest, it wasn't my idea of a good time – I was enjoying spending time with the APPEX fellows and neighbors but sure enough a few minutes later I felt a tap on my shoulder and there was Judy standing with my guitar case. So, I went to the garage and hung out with the fledgling musicians and actually it was pretty cool – they didn't know what jazz and improvisation was and I showed them. I also remember having the drummer play with his hands so he could really feel the drums and pulse rather than just bang away mindlessly with sticks. We also played very quietly, introducing him to the concept of dynamics.

When I came back out to Lawler Street, I had the feeling that we should be jamming, and sure enough as soon as I cut into some rhythmic riffs, Somnath, a percussion master from India, joined in and then it spiraled into a full-fledge jam with all the musicians joining in most notably, Greg Acker on flute and percussion, and Olivier, a friend of our program from Burkina Faso took wave after wave of solo while fellow APPEX participants danced in the streets to the delight of the neighbors. Judy Mitoma later told us that nothing like that – an openly festive and raucous life celebration – had ever occurred on that street. That was a defining life experience for me – once I started jamming with my guitar, my sound was completely swallowed up by the percussion but I could have cared less. I was able to help light a fire by being a creative spark and then just sit back and enjoy the moment. Often in our lives, we hear "live in the present moment" and this was truly an example for all of APPEX. Through sound and motion we were all present in our bodies and released our spirits in sharing and giving – moment after moment of perfect moments.

After the big jam, the party was rapidly winding down and I noticed that most of the neighbors were packing up and heading inside. I, too, began to pack up my guitar and percussion instruments when out of the corner of my eye I saw an elderly woman sitting with two friends enjoying the evening. For some reason, I guess the high of feeling joy and connected to what had just happened, I walked up to the woman, Marion Pickett, and asked her, "How would you like a private concert?" She said, "Sure, I'd love one" and I proceeded to sit down and play several jazz classics very quietly – All the Things You Are, The Days of Wine and Roses, and a blues. After I finished playing, Marion and I started talking and lo and behold, she herself was a long-time guitar player, knew a few of the chords I was playing, and even recommended the local guitar store, McCabe's.

The evening was perfect – beautiful fellowship and community followed by connecting with one of Judy's neighbors through music. As I packed up my guitar and walked away, I turned one more time and looked at Marian and her friends, and said to myself, "this moment will never be here again. This is a moment I will cherish forever."

My memory is hazy now, but several days later, while meeting in the parking lot of Hitch suites, the APPEX dorm, for a scheduled trip to see Indian dance at Cal State-Northridge, Judy Mitoma approached me in the parking lot. She said, "Rob, the woman you played guitar for, Marion Pickett, has passed away. She had been ill for some time and she passed the day after the 4^th of July party. I was dumbstruck – to me it seemed that Marion, while elderly, was healthy, happy, and radiant! I could not contain my sadness and thank God that Emiko, Judy's daughter, and Judy were there, as I felt very alone.

I can barely remember, but apparently Jorge, our official APPEX photographer, had taken photos of me playing music for Marion, and the profound expression of joy and appreciation on her face was staggering! In that moment in the parking lot, I knew that even if nothing else came from my APPEX experience, that the simple and honest sharing of my gifts with a stranger was the mission. To assist this wonderful human being in transitioning from one plane to the next through the gift of music galvanized what I had always known about myself – that despite some of the outer turbulence and conflict that sometimes is in my life, that the core of my being, that the core of all of our beings is calm, radiant with life, and deep compassion. No matter what happens on the surface, we have the ability to share that gift and move beyond personality to the deeply personal.

On our way to Northridge, I was crying, and perhaps other could see that. I felt so alone yet one with Marion and God. I knew that God put Marion into my life for a reason and I knew that she was in my life for the same reason. For 15 minutes, a complete stranger became a teacher and eternal friend. As I listened to some music in headphones on the trip, I switched to a song that I had copied from the CIP office music library – it was a beautiful vocal version of St. Francis of Assisi's "Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace." Tears streamed down my face.

Later in the week, I talked with Judy about playing music for Marian's memorial service. It was decided that I would perform "The Days of Wine and Roses" as I had the previous week at the 4^th of July event. I had never looked at the lyrics to the Henry Mancini tune but a hunch told me I should. They lyrics are as follows:

"The days of wine and roses laugh and run away like a child at play
Through a meadow land toward a closing door
A door marked "nevermore" that wasn't there before."

"The lonely night discloses just a passing breeze filled with memories
Of the golden smile that introduced me to
The days of wine and roses and you."

"The lonely night discloses just a passing breeze filled with memories
Of the golden smile that introduced me to
The days of wine and roses and you-oo-oo."

Judy Mitoma had the lyrics printed in the program.

The day of the service, I felt anxious. However, when I arrived two things gave me clarity of purpose. The first was that the photos that Jorge had taken of Marian were now displayed prominently on the memorial table of the church. Seeing her radiant face again reminded me of why I was there. The second reason was that while preparing for the service I could see and sense that one of Marian's sons was agitated and in fact, was sitting alone. I remember him struggling to set up the slides that showed Marion's life and the many wonderful things that happened on Lawler Street. I remember taking a risk and walking up to him, putting my arm on his shoulder, and saying, "Hey don't worry about this! This is your mother's day and your family's day and everything is going to be OK." It seemed to work because he was able to get the slide projector working and settle down a bit. Once the service started I played the song and spoke briefly about how I met Marion. I also had the opportunity to accompany Emiko on a song which calmed me down, too. Viewing Jorge's pictures and helping Marion's son gave me strength and clarity of purpose. After the service, Daniel, my cousin, was waiting on the parking lot, and it was over. The family invited me back to the house but I was clear – it was time for this brief yet incredible chapter of my life to close so that another one would open. I am grateful to Marion for giving me the gift of connecting with her spiritually, to Judy Mitoma for gently prodding me and basically insisting on playing the guitar on the 4^th of July, to Jorge for his amazing aura-revealing pictures, and most especially to Greg Acker, a fellow traveler on the journey, who noticed I was playing for Marian and had Jorge shoot the pictures. I'll always remember July 4^th 2006 as defining Independence Day.

Gary Zukav's Heart of the Soul

2007-08-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

On my summer reading list is Heart of the Soul by Gary Zukav. It is a well-written, easy to understand exposition of emotional awareness. It is "New Age" without being wishy-washy and compassionate without being touchy-feely. This is one of the finest books I have read. It allowed me to examine my actions and motivations on a very deep and profound level.

Quotes

2007-08-07T17:20:00.001-07:00

Quotes

2007-08-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting quotes I compiled for American Literature when I was Artist-In-Residence at Severn School Spring 2007, enjoy!

Quotes by American Authors compiled by Rob Levit, Artist-In-Residence

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”

Henry David Thoreau

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

Henry David Thoreau

“In wildness is the preservation of the world.”

Henry David Thoreau

“Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.”
Emily Dickinson

“The brain is wider than the sky.”
Emily Dickinson

“Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far,

so you shall com back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.”
Arthur Miller

“I think it's a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one's self.”
Arthur Miller

“You specialize in something until one day you find it is specializing in you.”
Arthur Miller

“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.”
Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
Langston Hughes

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

Herman Melville

“Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it.”
Ralph Ellison

“There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.”
Ralph Ellison

Squam Lake Meditation

2007-08-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

Just finished this "animated" video of photos and footage I took while at Squam Lake. The music is from my album Touch The Spirit :

http://cdbaby.com/cd/roblevit4

2007-08-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Here is one more picture from my recent trip to the Squam Lake region of New Hampshire -- these are lush blueberries from Green Acres Farm near Ashland, NH. They tasted as good as they look!

New Art and Creativity Video On You Tube

2007-08-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a brand new video of my art and some prose. The music is from some new stuff I am working on using Ableton Live 6 electronic music software.

Enjoy!

Flowers in front of Meredith, New Hampshire Public Library

2007-08-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

Squam Lake Sunrise

2007-07-31T07:36:00.001-07:00

Here is a gorgeous picture taken by my wife at Squam Lake outside our cabin this morning at 545 am. This is the same lake where On Golden Pond was filmed with Katherine Hepburn and Jane Fonda. Imagine the loons singing in the distance and the cool New England air to complete the picture!

MATI

2007-07-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from MATI -- Maryland Artist Teacher Institute -- at the University of Maryland. I had the pleasure of being a Teaching Artist for a week working with elementary school teachers form the state who are interested in using arts integration and infusion as a powerful way of connecting the curriculum in unique ways. I'll have some pictures soon and will post them.

9/11

2005-09-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday September 12, 2005. I intended to spend more time Sunday thinking about 9/11. I didn't. I think that is dangerous. For me, it is a priority to reflect on the spiritual impact of this event, the human toll, and the world ramifications. I was on the NJ turnpike toward NYC the morning of 9/11 on the way to record a CD with my band. Turned around and made it home just fine and the band was fine too. A couple of weeks later, I went back and could still smell it in Brooklyn from across the river.
---------------------------------
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you:I have called you by your name, you are mine. Should you pass through the sea, I will be there with you; or through rivers, they will not swallow you up. Should you walk through fire, you will not be scorchedand the flames will not burn you...Do not be afraid, for I am with you. —Isaiah 43
--------------------------------------------
http://www.journeyofhearts.org/jofh/kirstimd/911_prayer.htm

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace
Saint 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,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.

Prayer for Peace
Reverend Mary Omwake
With each kind thought, each choice for nonviolence,
we plant a seed that shall bloom to bring forth rich fruit in its Season.
Together friend, we till the soil and plant the seeds that all creation may
sing for joy and dance in the Garden of Peace.

May our prayers and practices during this Season
be but the beginning of a new culture of peace, security and joy
that shall endure unto our children's children's children.

Islamic Prayer of Peace
Oh God,
You are Peace.
From You comes Peace,
To You returns Peace.
Revive us with a salutation of peace,
And lead us to your abode of Peace
Sufi Prayer for Peace
Send Thy peace O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting, that our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that we may think, act and speak harmoniously.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that we may be contented and thankful for Thy bountiful gifts.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife, we may enjoy Thy bliss.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that we may endure all, tolerate all, in the thought of Thy grace and mercy.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that our lives may become a Divine vision and in Thy light, all darkness may vanish.
Send Thy peace O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we Thy children on Earth may all unite in one family.
Amen
Jewish Prayer for Peace
Rabbi Nachman ben Feiga of Breslov, 1773-1810

Lord of Peace, Divine Ruler, to whom peace belongs!
Master of Peace, Creator of all things!

May it be thy will to put an end to war and bloodshed on earth, and to spread a great and wonderful peace over the
whole world, so that nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Help us and save us all, and let us cling tightly to the virtue of peace. Let there be a truly great peace between every person and their fellow, and between husband and wife, and let there be no discord between people even in their hearts.

Let us never shame any person on earth, great or small. May it be granted unto us to fulfill Thy Commandment to
"Love thy neighbor as thyself," with all our hearts and souls and bodies and possessions.

And let it come to pass in our time as it is written, "And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. I will drive the wild beasts from the land, and neither shall the sword go through your land.

God who is peace, bless us with peace !!!

Ancient Sufi Prayer
I offer you peace.
I offer you joy.
I offer you friendship.

I hear your needs.
I see your beauty.

Our wisdom comes from
a Higher Source.
Our wisdom comes from
a deeper source.
I honor that Source in you.

A Hopi Prayer
Hold on to what is good
even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe
even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do
even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life
even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand
even when I've gone away from you.

From a Prayer Book
There is more light than shadow;
There are more smiles than cares;
More grass grows on the meadow
Than brambles, weeds, and tares.
There is more song than weekpin;
There is more sun than rain;
There is more golden reaping
Than lost and blighted grain.
There is more peace than terror;
There is more hope than fear;
There is more truth than error;
More rights than wrongs appear.
On the long road to glory
We climb more than we fall;
And by and large the story
Comes out right after all.

The Art of Conversation/ Two Poems

2005-09-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my paintings -- chalk dust, modge podge and acrylics. Enjoy! (Click it to enlarge)
-------------
One of my absolute favorite books is Leadership and the Art of Conversation. Author Kim Krisco (male) details how essential awareness and listening are to conversation. Moreover, he defines and details how conversation, both internal and external, creates reality. If you are looking for a very deep book that is easy to understand and that will change your life, buy it! I have now read it three times and this morning completed taking notes on it in my steno pad system. Warning: This is a deep book. It will challenge you to think differently about time, personal "problems", success, etc. This guy knows what he is talking about.

My own creative tip to you -- be an active reader, just as Kim says in his book we must be active listeners. When I read I am actively looking for subtle things, deeper meanings, and concepts to ponder. I underline critical points. I pay attention to detail while grasping the whole. After I read the book, I copy the notes, by hand, into a steno pad. I am still an advocate of copying things by hand -- it registers deep into the subconscious when you see your own individualized handwriting on the paper and when you feel your own hand moving across the page.

There are three results from being an active reader:

1. You can actively recall the salient points of any book for a longer period of time, thus utilizing the book as an active resource rather than something to be shelved, literally.

2. Your subconscious imprints the key points of the book and thus you act on what you have read on an automatic and instinctual level.

3. I have an easy access library of inspiration on my book shelf whenever I need it (which is frequently :)

http://www.targetlearn.com/documentation/PFCN000.pdf Notes from a Kim Krisco workshop

www.kimkrisco.com Kim's homepage (not much info but it's there)

http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_02/profile/index.html?krisco31 More info/interview

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are two of my poems from the archives:

The Joy Of Books

A book I see, a book I spy, a book beckons me
With her many illustrations all hand-drawn
I realize I hold the very key
To open another with her detailed art by
Michaelangelo, Chagall, Matisse, and Giacometti
Still more and more I view, their inner worlds I behold:
Louis Quatorze, Henry VIII, The Pope, Madonna
Alexander The Great -- giant figures, small figures, figures that don’t matter at all
The history of the world -- its music, sex and violence
Beauty and Truth, virtue and vice
On cooking, wining and dining, conversation and Gaul.
These are all things I desire to learn about. To soak them in like an endless sponge.

When I pass by a book I cry out, despondent that it might not be mine to love
To cherish, to honor the words, to learn them and live them
To share with my friends the wisdom that reading brings:
A sense of peace, wonder, and joy though sometimes sorrow
For characters like Ahab and Hester who’ve been harmed
Or worse, the poor Albatross from Coleridge’s yarn.

In any event, what I long to say is real:
Read a book, poem, or novel and let them tell a story be it Milton’s allegory or
Neruda’s love -- it’s all succulent and best of all free.

october

late august has finally fled in drought ridden angst
a heartless month (most unwelcome guest) – gone
september: poor kissing cousin to summer and fall
trapped in the middle of a family squabble –
cool or hot, rainy or dry?

that’s why I long for october when it begins to be clear –
the season has changed except for those bonus days of intermittent warmth
that somehow are welcome amidst the howling cool and jack o’lanterns
but i never minded the empty trees (despoiled of leaves) and windswept streets
harbinger of cozy times when the teapots come out (last years stains still very much there)
steaming beacons that beckon friends and when naps on the couch are most appealing
after the dog gets her last swim in the river before it’s too cold.

Rob Levit
9/03/02

My Creative Ancestors

2005-09-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a collage (I call it a coolage) of my creative ancestors. Each one has influenced me in some way to be bold, adventurous, ruggedly individualistic while contributing to the whole. The original is on my door at Maryland Hall where I am artist-in-residence www.marylandhall.com

Miles Davis
Louis Armstrong
John Coltrane
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ayn Rand
Frank Lloyd Wright
Jimi Hendrix
Wallace Stevens
Leonardo da Vinci

Who are your creative ancestors?

2005-09-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

As usual Craiglist proves to be one of the most useful tools on the web. The web at its best:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/about/help/katrina_aid.html

Immediate action: On the news, I heard that the armed service retirement home in Gulfport, Mississippi has been ruined. The retired veterans are being re-located to DC and they need lamps, blankets, etc.

Here is the link: http://www.afrh.gov/DWP/afrh/afrhhome.htm

I would like to say, I know I am not alone knowing that my brain is having a hard time wrapping around something like this. This disaster is just too huge to comprehend on a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual level. Ughh! :(

410-481-2222 ABC 2 Red Cross Line for Balt/DC region

More info on armed forces home:

Protecting a Promise. Renewing a Trust.
The Armed Forces Retirement Home is the premier retirement community for military
retirees and veterans with locations in Washington, D.C. and Gulfport, Mississippi.
HISTORY
Congress established a home for destitute Navy officers, sailors and Marines in
Philadelphia during the War of 1812. Forty years later, Congress established an asylum
for old and disabled soldiers in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Naval Home eventually
moved from Philadelphia to Gulfport, Mississippi and the U.S. Soldiers and Airmen’s
Home stayed in Washington. For many years, they operated separately. Congress passed
a law combining the two facilities into the Armed Forces Retirement Home 13 years ago.
KATRINA
Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulfport campus leaving 416 veterans homeless. These
vets will be brought to Washington where the Home is preparing to formerly shuttered
buildings for their use. The veterans will come by bus. They will leave Gulfport this
afternoon, remain overnight in Atlanta and arrive on the Washington campus on
Thursday.
The Gulfport facility has suffered $1 million worth of hurricane damage in the last three
years and Hurricane Katrina damage will cost millions of dollars and take months to
repair. Some buildings were literally knocked to the ground. The steel and concrete
perimeter fence is gone. The vets rode out the hurricane on the campus but they cannot
remain there without running water or electricity. They will stay in Washington
indefinitely
MISSION
The Armed Forces Retirement Home provides an affordable, comfortable, beautiful home
to America’s heroes. The facility provides a continuum of care including outpatient
dental and medical services, hospital and long term nursing care, three meals a day,
private rooms, and extensive recreational facilities including a state of the art gym, a
nine-hole golf course, artists’ studios and a wood working shop. The Home guarantees its
retired enlisted men and women a caring and secure home in their old age.
FINANCES
The Home is an independent federal agency funded by a permanent Trust Fund. The
fund is made up of the 50 cent per month payroll deductions of active duty military
personnel, fines and forfeitures from the Armed Forces and investment income.
The Armed Forces Retirement Home is self-sustaining. It does not receive an annual
appropriation from Congress. Several years ago, expenses outstripped revenues and
began depleting the Trust Fund. In less than ten years, the Trust Fund plunged from $156
million to $94 million. Congress recognized the state of the Home’s precarious finances
and approved legislation as part of the 2002 Defense Authorization Act, granting
permission to the Secretary of Defense to sell or lease land as part of an overall fiscal
strategy. Congress instructed the Home to replenish the Trust Fund and put finances on a
sturdier footing by leasing unused buildings and land to compatible tenants. Further,
Congress required the Home to modernize and improve operations and hire professional
and experienced retirement facility administrators.
FINANCIAL PROGRESS
The Home sold 49 acres of under utilized land on the Washington campus to Catholic
University of America for $22.3 million and two beachfront properties in Gulfport for $1
million in 2004. This gave a boost to the Trust Fund which increased to $118 million in
2005. But those sales are a one time benefit. The Home must find savings and generate
revenue in other ways. To that end, the new administrators began to implement new
business processes to unify the operations of the two campuses, reduce staff redundancy
and outmoded positions and new cost effective ways to deliver services. For example, the
Home is now using the Bureau of Public Debt to provide accounting, property
management and web site services and has transferred its payroll and personnel work to
the National Finance Center. It has made changes to realize significant savings in
transportation and refuse removal, grounds and facility maintenance, security and dining
services. The Home is moving ahead with development of a Master Plan for use of
surplus property on the Washington campus.

Rob's original painting for new solo acoustic guitar CD Touch The Spirit

2005-08-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

2005-08-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my jazz, creativity, and beyond blog . . .

The goal of this blog is to share with you some of my basic ideas on creativity, why it is important, and bring to light people that you may have never heard of that are doing cool and creative things all over the world.

You have just what you need

I know a painter who gave up his studio because when new windows were installed they had a green tint to them. He paints by natural light and apparently this was a disaster. Intellectually, I understand his plight – his beautiful mastery of color is based on a certain light. From the point of view of creation though, I thought of the cave painters at Lascaux. I doubt they said, “Dammit, these aren’t the right berries, we quit.” Somehow Michelangelo finished the Sistine Chapel by candlelight working on his back. Somehow Helen Keller learned to communicate despite being blind and deaf. Somehow Gandhi led a nation of millions to freedom without use of violence.

You must trust that you are being provided with all the resources you need in any given moment or you will always feel that you are lacking. The ego is always seeking to trick you that you don’t have enough. If the ego let you realize that you already had everything you needed to create, there would be nothing left for it to do.

When I feel highly creative, there is nothing I need other than the power of my spirit.

If your entire spiritual creation rests on material perception then how can you succeed?

When have conditions for any endeavor been perfect? We can’t wait for the optimal moment – the optimal moment is now!