I am currently writing to you from a strip mall in Palm Coast, Florida. I am settled into “my” chair at a local Dunkin Donuts. An iced coffee sits on the table beside me as the happy chatter of two nearby nursing students and the whir of the latte machine buzzes in my ear.
I can feel the energy that swoops around the patrons as we place our orders, nibble on donuts, and talk to our friends. It’s an incredibly bland and ordinary scene and yet simultaneously cosmic. I’m beginning to wonder if this specific Dunkin might just hold the wisdom of it all!
We think we’re all so separate - a bunch of individuals having our own experiences, but I think this may be a partial illusion. We've been led to believe that we are all islands, disconnected from the vast waters that connect us all.
And while yes, on one level we are separate beings with very different life experiences, the more people I meet in my life, and the more I get to know myself, the more this story of separation dissolves.
Case and point these guys:
This group of men come to Dunkin every day and sit in the back corner. They drink their coffee, talk politics, and gripe about the state of the world. And although I'm not fully onboard with their perspectives (they're self-proclaimed, passionate Trump supporters) I love the weird way they're part of my life. With genuine affection, they call me “the resident hippie”, smiling and welcoming me when I arrive. I love the soft and tender energy these men have for each other, the way they watch out for each other and me, and greet all the regulars who come in.
Since my twenties, I’ve been fixated, or dare I say obsessed, with dissolving the walls that divide us - both the internal walls that keep us from knowing our true selves and the external ones that keep us from knowing our fellow humans.
Thus as part of my life journey, I've assigned myself the bold task of hosting forty-two conversations about life. These will be conversations with people who pique my interest, fellow travelers on this life journey. Through these connections, and by sharing them with you, I hope to reconnect some of those shattered shards of separation that make us feel so alone.
This week I talked with Baba Ananda Myers. Ananda (Aka Jeff Myers) spent his younger years touring with the Grateful Dead and attending Rainbow Gatherings across the country. He's since settled with his family in Taos, New Mexico where he works as a church choir director and is an active member of the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram, a Hindu-based community in Taos, New Mexico founded by Be Here Now author Ram Dass.
In this conversation, Ananda tells a funny story about finding the ashram and getting his spiritual name. We also discuss the notion of “cult”, and dive deep into what it means to be human.
You can listen to my conversation with Baba Ananda Myers - HERE.
As I go on this venture, I continue to maintain my belief that within each of us exists “God-Matter”. It's an innate, intoxicating beauty that is woven into our very being. It is us! And while I don’t quite know why we’re here, I know for myself life feels most “right” when I allow the walls of disconnection to crumble, making more and more room for the light to shine in. The more I do this, the more I can see the magic of it all.
PS. Forgive the watermark on the video. I'm still working out the kinks.