Thoughts

Images:
Mosaic Peace Sign Ashtray 1969
Silver Collar and Cuff from Mexico 1979

Cycles

Innocently, at the age of ten, I made this mosaic tile
‘Peace sign’ ashtray,
rebelling against the world, from what 
I deciphered from conversations my parents had about Vietnam.
My parents sent my brother and me to Chicago
with two hip babysitters to see HAIR performed.
I felt I had some context of what was happening with the war and draft.

So the Peace sign mosaic sat on our living room table, for years.

Ten years later, 1979,
my parents took my brother and me to Mexico,
just over the border from Arizona.
While there, my dad (he loved to shop)
asked if I wanted anything.
I had spotted the cuff and collar at this 
little silver shop the day before but hadn’t said anything.
They weren’t very expensive and he was happy to get me something
as a holiday gift.
I recall thinking how warm and friendly everyone
was on this trip, in this rough and tumble little town,
and how scary it felt crossing the border.  
Even back then. 

This week in Atlanta, teaching,
I discussed the Vedic worldview on the three evolutionary forces
at play, which govern the way Nature unfolds.  
Everything starts as some form of creation,
moves through a time of being maintained
and is ultimately destroyed.  
Spring planting yields flowers and veggies,
Fall maintains the garden
and Winter destroys the garden, (at least up north). 

I realize, in looking at the ashtray made years ago,
that I wanted to create a path to end the suffering,
by reflecting on Peace. And then,
ten years later, to give to the economy in Mexico, that was in need.  

I’ve maintained, over all these years, a call for peace
over killing, and I stand with those that feel the same. 
I got my silver jewelry out recently and had it 
all buffed up in solidarity with the innocent people
being mistreated in this world. 

We are living in such unprecedented times,
that I can wish that the cycle of peace will prevail, write postcards, and desire that the people in need are protected by the laws of nature. 
That our world can only maintain what is going on for so long, 
and I can only wonder now, what more destruction looks like.

I rest in the cycle that CREATION Always follows destruction.  
And we will unite to Let the Sunshine In.
The Age of Aquarius is upon us.

07.27.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Images:
White Washed 37″x 6.5”
Warp: Sheath Core Fiber
Weft: Recycled Drycleaning hangers

Weave Studies 2 and Weave Studies 1
Warp: Sheath Core Fiber
Weft: Sheath Core Tape

The Fundamentals

The fundamentals of weaving are the core of 
any sequential process. 
Selecting the Warp and the Weft materials are
essential. 
In the three studies I share, there are combinations of 
neutrals.  White, Black and White.
Gold warp in White Washed with Recycled Drycleaning hangers and
White and Black Warps in the Weave Studies series, 
using a new development at the time that could never
be produced. 
Each time, weaving different structures to see what 
we will get.  
It’s always the trialing that paves the way to new ideas. 
It’s seeing the kinks in the road that tell us the story.

The same goes for our meditation practice. 
If we start with the fundamentals that we have affluence,
unboundedness and abundance as our natural state…
Say that’s the warp. 
And for the weft we add, restoring the memory of what we know 
already.  (Like…”I remember times feeling like that as a child.”)
We move past all of the destructive thoughts, emotions, fears, anger and news reels that jar our core.
And do our practice twice a day.  
We trial all these emotions and let them go…
We don’t follow these thoughts in our mind…
We trial them and then let them go, as stress release.
(that is all that thoughts are anyway)

And after meditation, we go back to creative endeavors.
Our trials in life would be better served… 
Tap into your creation operator and feel the fundamentals.

07.20.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Images:
Sunset over Great South Bay from Dunewood Beach 
Moonrise on Guru Purnima over the Atlantic Ocean
Tossing the Puja flowers and remnants from yearly teachings and ceremonies

Stellar Awareness

This week was filled with celebrations over the once-a-year
Full Moon of July…
In the Vedic Tradition, called Guru Purnima
(also known as the Buck Moon).
As Thom Knoles, my ultimate teacher, has taught us,
this is the highlight of the Vedic Calendar. 

So fortunate to be able to spend time at the beach
and experience Sunsets and Moon Rising with friends and family all week.
 
Under the light of the moon, both during the waxing moon
to the fullness on the 9th and the 
waning moon on the 10th after fullness,
I spent time tossing remnants of the various Puja ceremonies
from this past year into the ocean under the purview of the great full moon.

Asking for the Guru (Gu-remover Ru-darkness)
Purnima (Full moon) to remove any cloudiness or darkness
for any of my students and friends and family.

We can access the removal of darkness by 
our simple natural effortless technique of Vedic Meditation.  
As simple and easy as admiring the sunset and the moonrise each evening.  

Images of Emerald Glimmer, 2025
Warp: sheath core fiber
Weft: Recycled Mylar balloons
Dry cleaning hangers


Emerald Glimmer

Installation this past Monday brought about challenges… 
You never know what the site conditions are unless,
as an artist, you are there 
at the beginning to set the conditions for hanging.  
In this case, the best wood was used in the foundation of the building.
Making it slightly harder to attach the Griplock system,
with the closeness to the wall.  

As we learn in meditation, our awareness (consciousness)
conceives, constructs and governs
each and every situation.  

As my installation partner discussed the site conditions,
he Conceived we might run into a certain challenge…
and he was correct…
We Constructed a game plan for the circumstances and completed
the install, which was Governed by the conditions of this site.
It took us longer but it was beautiful at the end.

As I looked at Emerald Glimmer, a 6′ wide by 41″ weaving
made with recycled Mylar Balloons 
and recycled dry cleaning hangers —
(I had never tried weaving in this width and configuration) —
I realized that the sequence of how our awareness conceives, 
constructs and governs is applicable in every situation.  

And that each year, each weaving,
using new and different materials in new 
and different ways is all about growing in these precise sequences. 

In our meditation, we start as settling into our inner state or being,
then move to thoughts bubbling up,
which we disregard as having no meaning.
If there are resentments, it’s stress coming 
up and out of our bodies.
We let it go…
thoughts of fear… the same,
what I’m getting for dinner… gone.
And then, when we have completed our practice, we take action.  
With clear head and heart.  
Calmer then when we started. 

Emerald Glimmer rests in this room and
brings in the greens from outside
and glistens day and night.
It reflects the other materials and paintings in the room
and is full of all kinds 
of stories found in the balloons from the beach.  
How consciousness works:
Conceiving, constructing and governing. 

Images: Photographs of the Five Elements, Illinois

Nature’s Beauty

Spending time in the surroundings I grew up in. 

It had been 46 years
since being here on my birthday.
Thank you all for the wonderful wishes.

The five elements stood out so proudly.
 
The elements so much more evident now, after training in Vedic Meditation. 
The subtle cues of Nature’s natural reflection.  Always giving and providing.

The EARTH so proudly displaying
the abundance of corn and soybeans, thanks to the rain,
the coolness and the sun.
The rich earth so nourishing.
The trees rooted in the earth, so strong and shade-providing. 

WATER as refreshing as ever and enjoyable to jump into.
Watching the children splash and share their skills in swimming.
In fishing, in catching turtles.
Forever entertaining.
Its reflection at night’s end, the beautiful ripples
and textures, the endless entertainment. 

The SUN heating the air and providing hours of beauty and engagement.
The sunset where my father and I would go each summer evening
as a child to watch it set.
Every evening different than before.
Its brightness and vision. So consistent,
always on time. Reliable as you rise and as you set.

The WIND with the subtle breezes
coming over the wheat and corn fields.
Cooling us down and keeping us refreshed. 

And the SPACE above, around and over the lake and land,
so elegantly executed by Nature’s natural beauty.  
Over the fields. It shows us expansion,
it shows us symmetry and asymmetry and diversity.  


The combination of all 5 elements at one time
is mesmerizing…
as the sun reflects on the water
underneath the canopy of the trees
creating a visual rhythm of beauty
as the trees gently move in the breeze
in the space around us.
So precious and engaging.  
The immensity of sounds from the birds chirping,
the train in the far distance
and the woodpeckers pecking.

As peaceful and magical and forever changing, as time rolls by us.
Each moment precious.
So take the time. 

Grateful for the abundance of beauty in what Nature provides. 
Sharing some soothing time not listening to the news.
Soaking up Nature’s beauty for a minute.

06.29.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com