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