IN QUIETUDE
in quietude,
the madding crowd does fall away.
alone one stands; no more, no less.
no words arise within this silent land.
yet laughing, dancing eyes say all,
and understand.
in quietude,
a blanket thick descends so soft
and slows but all unto a graceful stop.
all moves; yet one still point retains the center.
yes, this quietude remains.
this quietude
descends unasked,
and bids each one to dance unto her tune.
a silent bird may pass ahead,
a gentle flame may flicker on the wall.
yet in her graceful presence
all is nothing,
'not' at all.
Available on spotify, music radio platforms, itunes and amazon worldwide.
Available from itunes and amazon worldwide
I’m really excited to share with you all my most mysterious project to date.
To be honest, I have no idea where these poems came from. They descended in moments of deep silence (blessed times where a, "blanket of quiet, thick yet soft ", simply appeared in my life without any warning).
And these poems came, in what felt like a ‘ready made form’. Like a cosmic pop up message - ‘You got mail’… and hey presto there they were.
When I read back what had just appeared, I was amazed at what was being said. They seemed to come in an archetypal voice… something ancient yet wholly present and ‘now’…and though the messages seemed at times veiled, I understood exactly what was meant.
It was clear these lyrics were not destined for songs and at first I had the feeling to make them into a little book, along with some of my paintings, to give as a gift to my closest friends.
However, something was pushing from deep within and a strong, what I can only call, message came that they were to be spoken and set to a canvas of soundscapes.
It was something I’d never really done before and I felt quite nervous at first. Talking the words out loud felt strange and uncomfortable and I felt even a little ashamed and could only do it alone when no-one was around in the house.
However, the power of the poems and all they contained magically took over and I found myself, slowly-slowly surrendering into the words and the message and allowing it to be spoken as it wished.
As I melted more and more into the poems and the journey of bringing them into form, I experienced they had the power to bring me back to the very space of quiet from where they had first come.
It it is truly my wish that in listening to these poems and soundscapes, you too, may fall into this silent space of quiet and blessing and thus doing so, experience a taste of the mystery that lives within us all.
Apart from simply enjoying the musical journey as you would a normal CD, there are two other ways to use these meditative soundscapes.
The first is to treat the whole CD as a meditation. Find a quiet dark place where you can be uninterrupted for an hour.
Make yourself comfortable, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, relax… and then allow the words, the sound of the voice and the music to carry you. The words especially are mysterious and I suggest not trying to think too much about what they mean. Simply let them flow into and over you - rather like you would listen to a language you don’t understand but like the sound of.
By-passing the conscious mind, you may find yourself led to a space of deep and silent quiet.
At the end, allow yourself 5 minutes of silence before moving back into your life with your feet strongly planted on the ground.
The second method is to choose only one piece and put it in a loop.
Again, close your eyes, be comfortable and melt into the sounds. I have found through my own experimentation that each song takes you on a certain journey and you may even find you pick one out that seems to deal with a certain issue.
Rather like hypnosis, you will find the words and space coming back to you when you need them most.
Parijat for love and listening; Kaveesha for silent whispers; Martin and Tanisha Hermann for reflecting the deepest parts of me back to myself; Johary A. for gently pointing to the essence in my spoken voice; and… Kathleen Renish, movie actress and drama coach extraordinaire, for giving me the thumbs up to continue.
Inspired by my beloved Master Osho and the ‘Walled Garden of Truth' by Hakim Sanai
POEMS AND PAINTINGS FROM THE HEART OF QUIET
I'm really happy to share this book with you all. Alongside the poems featured in my new album 'In Quietude', you will find the paintings that came to me in the same space of quiet.
For more information, drop me a line...