Comment of the Moment: From "Winterlong" to "The Big Shift": The Illusion Shatters

"Winterlong"
"After time has passed away, things we thought of yesterday..come back now..come back now..." Neil Young - Boston circa 1971
Photo by Elliot Blinder on SAN FRANCISCO ART EXCHANGE
Last week -- on Inauguration Day -- we launched a massive post here on Thrasher's Wheat.

It was rather epic and did not come off entirely as planned. In retrospect, we did need to tighten up the editing, but we did want to get the post out before 12:00 Noon, January 20 and the beginning of the latest new regime to march into Washington, DC.

The concept was that this was the centerpiece between two end pieces: Donald Trump Discusses Neil Young and vice vesa, Neil Young Discusses Donald Trump. Naturally, we caught flack from all sides, so once again proof that we must be doing something right to have managed to piss off folks front, back and center.

This was even after we cautioned folks at the top of the post that there was heavy sledding ahead and readers should proceed with extreme caution. Fortunately -- for many -- the warning was heeded, however a few brave souls made it to the bottom and managed to share a few thoughts which we tried to gently respond to and try and clarify with the usual uneven results vacillating between sincere appreciation and thinly veiled sarcasm.

The Comment of the Moment is on From "Winterlong" to "The Big Shift": The Illusion Shatters by Ian:

@Thrasher: I'm gratified to see that post of mine resurface here. It's definitely one of the more heartfelt messages I've ever written here, and although I don't like to think I write for attention, part of me is glad that it hasn't gone unremarked.

As far as The Big Shift, I have now seen several posts of yours that refer to this concept. For my part, when I refer to participating in the illusion, working through the illusion, and so on, I don't imagine an "Us vs. them" dynamic, where there's some nefarious force out to get us, some enemy that is consciously perpetrating the illusion for ulterior reasons. The bigger picture, for me, is that there's no "Us and Them" but rather "us and Us". All of us are, whether we realize it or not, at some stage of the struggle with our own confusions and misleading perceptions. The point is that our brains tend to perceive things at a surface, sensory level that obscures a deeper understanding of what, where, and who we are. Just like optical illusions, when our eyes play tricks on us, our brains get confused and play tricks on us in the attempt to make sense of the overload of information we're trying to process in this, our chaotic, overstuffed world full of all kinds of sensations and experiences. Paradoxically, we continue to over-stuff our material and sensory world, at least partly because of the power of illusion to confuse us into building further confusion. Confusing, eh?

All of which is to say that misguided politicians, or people in some of the less reputable media organizations that spread misinformation and outright dishonesty, are--whether they realize it or not-- struggling with this same illusion. The Sanskrit word, found in Bhagavad Gita, is "Maya", or "That which is not". We each have a differing level of awareness or consciousness of the fact, but we are all embroiled within this struggle. My hunch is that the illusion, as I've taken to calling it, manifests or appears in different ways to different people, but that all of these individual illusions are manifestations of the same underlying problem and search for solutions. "Up in the rainbow teepee sky, no one's looking down on you or I/That's just a mirror in your eyes".

In other words, there's no "us vs. them", because we *are* them. They *are* us. As the Earth Family, if you will, we are all in this together. So I think it's important, even if difficult, to make the effort to approach every person--regardless of their possible misjudgements and mistakes--with compassion and love. They need to be freed just as much as we do, and as a collective whole, will not, cannot be free until they are free. The idea that our fellow humans could conceivably be our enemy, that they are causing the distortion and confusion out of pure malice or evil, is perhaps the most insidious, most vexing part of this self-deception that hides ourselves from ourselves.

I realize I've been a bit verbose here, but in context of this remarkable post of Thrasher's, in which my words have been used, I felt it was right to clarify my own take on things. I don't at all object to being quoted, but I do want the record as straight as I can make it about what I mean when I say stuff.

I'll end with the lyrics of George Harrison's Beware of Darkness. One of the verses gets back to Maya, which I alluded to earlier, but I think the words are also timely in other ways and the neatly encapsulate much of what I've been trying to say here. I look forward to continuing to discuss big shifts, peace trails, and all things Neil on this unique celestial body floating out in cyberspace. Something new is always growing.

*Beware Of Darkness*

"Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of Maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While Weeping Atlas Cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness."

---

Ian, thank you so much for the thoughts and lyrics. We'll definitely go back and re-listen with new ears.

You've definitely hit on a few points that we really would love to explore further, especially the Bhagavad Gita's "Maya" reference. (Also, see JUNG NEIL: Love and Only Love from the Baghavad Gita (It’s All One Song).)

Every day since we started Thrasher's Wheat 20 years ago (if not longer) has been another step in consciousness expansion amongst our fellow Neil friends and families.

So we're just going to conclude with a few summaries of something that is so simple that it still confounds us why so many make it so hard and bemoan their confused and troubled state of mind.

Take a look at the sign the woman is holding at the rally at the bottom of the post -- the final image: "We're The Ones We've Been Waiting For".

Think about that real hard. She's not waiting for Obama. Or Trump. Or anyone.

And once you cross that mental bridge, than you can truly live by the only irrefutably proven truth: The Golden Rule. Or put another way -- Love & Only UNCONDITIONAL Love.

Got wheat? No? Then just be the wheat.
peace