My second new CD release of the month. This time it is the “Sound Of The Universe”, Om or Aum. Complete with musical backing track and once again recorded, edited and mixed at DB Studios in Stroud, Glos, UK; just about ten miles from my front door! Here is the cover; just click on the link for all the info.
If you take a close look at the statement “Nothing Has Changed” you will see that it is not simply declaring that “nothing has changed”; it actually contains a much deeper and profound message. If you now read the same statement as “nothing HAS changed” you will be well on the way to understanding the hidden meaning.
In the early 1970’s rock guitarist, Pete Townshend penned a song called Let’s See Action. Within that song is the line nothing is everything, everything is nothing is. Pete is a life-long devotee of the guru, Meher Baba and many of his songs over the years have had spiritual overtones; and for me, that lyric in Let’s See Action is one of the most significant lines ever written. You see, everything REALLY is nothing is. The world of form (everything) emerged from the formless (nothing), and will one day merge back, thus completing the cycle. Because all form is ultimately an illusion, all that really exists is nothing (or particles of nothing), hence everything is nothing. Which brings me back to where I started…
Because creation, as particles of nothing, is constantly in motion, its very nature is change. So we can safely say that nothing most certainly HAS changed. In fact, nothing is in a constant state of flux.
Life has a way of being so completely and utterly mind-boggling; but in such a truly wondrous way.
The coast at Mandria, Cyprus
April 16 saw the release of Damaged Girls II by Author Janice G Ross. Janice is no stranger to reader’s of my blog and I am proud, not only to welcome her back, but also to showcase her wonderful books. Janice’s latest book is the follow-up to Damaged Girls I and you can check out both books via the links below.
Janice was born in Guyana and has lived in the US since 1980. Although now a US national, Janice considers herself a “citizen of the world”, and to quote her own words “sure I have not physically been around the world and back, but I have travelled in my mind and in my dreams”. She enjoys writing about social issues and personal experiences and her debut novel series, “Damaged Girls” is about emotional, physical and sexual abuse. It is about the type of life many of us might not know exists, and the type of life many of us might not want to admit exists. Janice has been asked whether of not the novel is based on her own life; she says, “no, although some of the characters have traits that were found buried inside of me at some point in time. However, the experiences are not real to my life, but they are to someone else’s life”.
SYNOPSIS TO DAMAGED GIRLS II
Get excited, cry, curse, hate, love, and despise! If you’ve already read Damaged Girls I, then these emotions should be familiar. The Damaged Girls Family & Relationship Series began with an introduction to the complex love triangle of Steven Briggs, Jillian McConnell and Jessica Rodney. In the second book of the series, Damaged Girls II, get pulled deeper into the trauma and gain valuable knowledge of why Jillian and Jessica might be such easy targets for a womanizer such as Stevie. Jillian has to come to terms with the crumbling idea of love that she desperately needed to find in Stevie. And Jessica is forced to grow up and away from the man she so badly wanted to keep forever. Stevie even realizes that he needs to get a grip on the drama he created years back; while his decisions and behaviors continue to spiral deeper into selfishness. Unfortunately, Stevie’s insatiable appetite has not diminished, only causing him to become less likeable. Will the three ever learn? As life progresses, we must confront our past, move into our present and plan sensibly for our future. How will Stevie, Jillian and Jessica cope, when life just can’t seem to smile in favor of their original desires? Damaged Girls is not a romance novel outlined in love. It is not pleasant and idealistic, but very cruel and extremely unsavory. In fact, it is deep and rather dark at times. The story focuses on emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and how easily its effects can cause some to own the title of Damaged Girls.
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Check out Damaged Girls I
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Off to Cyprus. Back on the 19th……
The Vedic sound of Om, also known as Aum and Pranava, is considered to be the most powerful and significant of all mantras. It is The Sound Of The Universe, The Holy Spirit of vibration holding the entire creation together. It is pronounced in the same way as the “om” in “from”. Even though it is a single syllable, it has what I can only describe as three sub-syllables; A – U – M. It is for this reason that Om is sometimes incorrectly chanted as “orm” or “awm”. The letters A – U – M are, in fact, highly sacred and symbolic in that they represent the three “states” of being for humans encased in flesh, having a physical experience; namely waking state, dream state and deep-sleep state.
“A” represents waking state; because it is considered in the Vedas to be the first state of consciousness. “U” represents dream state because the “U” is next to the “A” in the order of sounds and dream state is considered to be the second state of consciousness; lying in between being “awake” and “asleep”. “M” represents deep-sleep state because it is the closing sound of the Om and deep-sleep is said to represent the final stage of the mind in rest. When chanting the Om there will inevitably be a slight pause between each single chant, and it is this brief period of silence, known as the “turiya”, that completes the cycle and does itself have a highly sacred and symbolic meaning.
Om represents the “Self”; encompassing the Self as a whole. The A, U and M represent the realm of the relative, the world of form or the illusion, whilst the turiya represents the formless, The Universal Absolute or God. Because all is God anyway, the Om as a whole represents the totality, the Oneness and the simple truth that “All and Everything is God”. Sound only exists because of silence, so the Om emerges from the silence, moves through the sub-syllables to the M where it reaches its peak. It then subsides into the silence; the state of perfect bliss; thus symbolising the world of form merging once again with the formless.
Since ancient times the Om has been used as an aid to meditation and medium with which to connect the spiritual aspirant to God. It is also called ‘Pranava’, meaning, that it is something that pervades life, or runs through prana or breath. There is a passage in the Vedas that states “In the beginning was the word and the word was Om (Aum)”, thousands of years later this ended up in the Christian Bible as “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God”. Om (Aum) is also the origin of the Christian “Amen”.
We can never understand life unless we understand death, and we will never understand death until we see it for what it really is. Death is an illusion; only existing within the mind. Like all illusions it will only hang around for as long as we give it credence. The dissolving away of the illusion of death will represent, not a door closing, but a door opening; revealing a previously forgotten truth. The truth that there is indeed no such thing as the afterlife; there is only life itself. Life in all its glory; experienced in one single and equally glorious eternal moment.
I was very humbled to find this wonderful review of my book on Amazon and just had to share it with you.
This review is from: The Amazing Journey (Paperback)
Life has hurdles, is sometimes painful and also demoralising. And it’s how we choose to move forward whilst being wounded by these emotions and issues that grows us, or destroys us. Richard Holmes book ‘The Amazing Journey’ was instantly captive and though I found myself at odds with some beliefs (human nature sometimes blinds us…) his words sank deep into my subconscious, making me realise just how much of a ‘closed book’ I had become. Richard is a special person who has opened his heart to others and though he regularly admits to his failings and the negativity that challenges him; with Spirituality inside his being it seems he is led upon a continuous journey. And it was ‘The Amazing Journey’ that carried me along with him…
In reviewing this book I found myself challenged also; as I don’t feel that I have read a book but that I have listened to the Authors gentle, sometimes pained and sometimes humorous voice and been guided to Prasanthi, India to see ‘A Little Indian Man with Fuzzy Hair’. You cannot fail to be in absolute awe of one who gives so freely and evidently touches all who turn to him with such a powerful all-encompassing love.
Richard was dragged to the depths of exhaustion both mentally and physically and each time he felt he could no longer bear it, he would be embraced by a sign from the fuzzy haired little Indian man, Sai Baba. Thus serving to reinvigorate his mind and body with such a feeling of warmth, that Richard would find himself smiling wildly or even laughing. It was here that I battled with such belief, surely we all sink to such levels and we either pick ourselves up and carry on, or give up on life? And maybe we see the signs that we want too when we reach such levels? But read on because to get to one’s destination you have to travel the whole way and the balance Richard talks about; of ‘pain to feel love’ will suddenly make sense. For years I had felt the pain of each hurdle and had risen up and carried on but felt no love. The reason I had not felt the love is explained quite simply in Sai Baba’s Surrender Prayer (Pg 132) ‘Never think: How is this going to end? What is going to happen? If you give into this temptation, you demonstrate that you do not trust Me?” And its in these words that I realised that my own lack of trust in others had led me to an existence that was often painful yet offered little rewards; little love.
There were occasions when during his weakest moments Richard would find himself at the mercy of many an unlikely character whom upon sensing his distress would go out of their way to assist him and it is here we are sent a valuable message that we should all adhere to; ‘Never judge a book by its cover!’ And in the case of it being Richards book, you don’t need to be spiritually focused to wise up and to realise that in continuing to close the doors to others and safe-guarding your own interests, you limit yourself to feeling the loneliness of pain and experiencing little joy…
To sum up: Do yourself a favour go on a literal journey with Richard Holmes…
See it on Amazon here http://ow.ly/jGzbP
Think about this…
It is considered wrong to commit suicide, say by hanging yourself or taking an overdose, and it is illegal to assist someone in taking their own life. However, the society in which we live seemingly thinks it’s OK to kill ourselves as long as we use a slow method. What I mean is, humans knowingly poison their bodies by smoking cigarettes, taking drugs, drinking alcohol and consuming food that has been contaminated with chemicals.
In truth we cannot die because there is no death. I just find it mildly amusing that sanctimonious, self-righteous society deems it OK to subject ourselves to a slow and often painful demise by abusing our bodies, but, dare to get a gun and blow your own brains out, and boy, are you in trouble!
PS Before I get accused of saying that society says it’s OK to take drugs…
I was actually referring specifically to the act of taking one’s own life. If you think about it logically; quick or slow, it’s all suicide.
Organised religion has got such a lot to answer for, and for so many reasons, but one of the biggest confidence tricks ever pulled by religious leaders in the entire history of the human race, is that somehow, they have managed to convince the great unwashed that the mythological character we affectionately know as “The Devil”, actually exists. It is truly incredible how many millions of people over the centuries have succumbed to this ridiculous notion. The word devil comes from the Spanish “diablo” which means “little devil”. Over time, many other names have been coined for this mythical character, such as Lucifer, Beelzebub and Satan; to name but a few. In truth, the word “Satan” is actually a symbolic term used to describe anything that causes us to stray from our spiritual pathway, such as the ego, the mind and the senses. Many centuries ago, religious leaders brainwashed people into believing that there really was a character called The Devil who would lead them to eternal damnation in the flames of hell if they were not careful. The character was eventually written into the Bible as a means of controlling the ignorant by their own fear.
In truth, heaven and hell are not places that we go to; they are places that we create for ourselves, and our heaven or hell will be anywhere we want it to be at any time we want. It would be accurate to say that “hell” is what we experience in the mind whenever we believe that we are separate from God. This feeling of separateness occurs when we are experiencing something that is not in line with who we really are. By the same token, “heaven” is exactly the opposite. It is the inner bliss we experience when we are One with God. If we examine the whole concept of hell, what it actually states is that if we do not behave in a certain way we will be separated from God for eternity. This is actually impossible. If we are individualised particles of the whole that we call “God”, how can we ever be separate? Why would God banish a part of himself to eternal damnation? It simply does not make sense and can never happen.
The ultimate reality is “All That There Is”, which in its natural state is empty space, or particles of emptiness that stretch to infinity and beyond. The astral and physical worlds are simply “All That There Is” manifested as form. So in reality there is nothing; nothing is all there is. But as individualised souls we have the power to create, and this is why we have a habit of creating sub-realities, like hell for instance, for ourselves whilst we are experiencing the physical world.
Yes, hell may not exist but it sure can be a little devil at times.
I would like to refer you to my previous article “Authors Supporting Authors” (see link below) and at the same time issue an update.
https://richardfholmes.org/2013/02/28/authors-supporting-authors/
The criteria are mainly the same except that now authors of virtually any genre are welcome to participate. The only genres that will not be considered for promotion are: organised religion, porn and anything that glorifies violence. So if you write in the genres of Romance, Chick-Lit, Adventure, Historical Drama, Science Fiction, YA, Fantasy and basically anything that does not cross over into the three aforementioned taboo genres, you will be welcome to join this alliance of authors supporting authors.
Please refer to the original article for details of the required criteria and feel free to contact me via the contact form below.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Author - Richard F Holmes 