DLM # 106 Freedom From Addictions

Wow, I get a little hot under the collar in this week’s sermon, but as always, I let the energy of the gods and goddesses who speak through me come out in whatever way they want and need. I’m reminded of those fiery sermons given by backwoods tent revival ministers and it’s somewhat exciting. After all, inspiration is real and emotions provide the power which the words carry and convey.

Check out Shoshana Zuboff’s video below. In it, she gives a good synopsis of what the tech giants—Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple—are doing to us without our awareness and without our permission. Let me give you a hint, the words “harvest” and “render” are involved. For an in-depth study (that I highly recommend), get her book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

In my view, very few are educated enough on this subject because even though the creepy feeling is there, people are just too addicted to their devices (like the monkeys in Elon Musk’s lab!) to take it in and then actually do something about it.

But again, to me, this is the central crisis of our time. Not race, gender, politics, economics, or climate change—this. Because surveillance capitalism is destroying human freedom itself—one click at a time—and no one is paying attention to it. People are too busy using social media to assuage their addictive behaviors or fool themselves into thinking that if they are sharing messages of love then it’s OK.

But we (all of us, regardless of our intentions) are frogs being boiled alive, friends. Take a good look.

DLM # 105 Gratitude, Greatness, & Mother-Love 💗

Thank you, Mom, for always supporting me. I love you.

I know these words are being spoken by so many people today.

We can honor our mothers also by trying to be more like them toward the people and situations we encounter in the world. We can be selfless like them, taking less, giving more, and not complaining all the time about our lot in life.

The music this week is so perfect, I just recorded his whole album and posted it. I hope you like it as much as I do. Makes me want to go on a road trip and experience all the different archetypal frequencies, especially of longing, that his music evokes.

DLM # 104 The Peace of Emptiness

Sermon 104 is pure silence.
Bach does the speaking this week. Next week, we begin again on Mother’s Day with the first sermon of year three. Until then, listen to this music and let it heal your heart (which, if you are alive and breathing, is almost surely broken a little bit).

DLM # 101 Fate & Fear

I’m obliged to upload this week’s sermon on a day other than Sunday as I will be off-grid for a week starting tomorrow. It throws my orderly weekly posts into disarray but there you have it: life requires us to compromise sometimes and to preferably not get too uptight about it when we do.

DLM # 100 Finding Happiness

So as I was recording this sermon this morning I saw two wolves on a ridge nearby walking along. I’m traveling in California for the month of April and am loving the natural environment here. Hope your Easter Sunday is filled with the energy of rebirth and may the beauty and love of springtime cascade all over you.

DLM # 99 Prima Vera 🌷

Early springtime—such a magnificently auspicious time to clean out all the debris from 2020 out of our heads, right? We can let the music energize us on our cleaning spree. The mix from this week is Evans Pyramid, I can’t stop listening to it, hope you like it, too. Big love to all with wishes for a strong start to the year.

DLM # 97 What's Up With Our Fathers?

So much of our thinking requires reexamining and I would argue that the role of fathers in society is definitely one of those things.

DLM # 96 Wisdom From A Shaolin Monk

Master Shi Heng Yi gave a Ted talk about the five hindrances to total awakening. I thought they were fascinating because of their psychological specificity. All of the hindrances begin in the mind which is why I often talk about how liberation (for ourselves, for our species, and for the planet) must begin with an internal and personal struggle for freedom.

DLM # 94 The Intelligent Response

It’s been a rough few weeks for me, especially since I’m studying about climate change. I feel like we all need to really start making serious changes in how we live our lives and rethink the worth of the expectations we have for our lives. Serious changes would mean things like selling our big houses and buying smaller ones, downsizing and downshifting into a smaller life so we can spend less, eat less, consume less. If enough people did this, the tide would really turn.

DLM # 90 Escapism

I’ve turned a corner with these sermons and am now less concerned with urging you to better yourself. Instead, I am simply recounting experiences and knowledge. As always, I hope it is helpful to you.