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A Morning Walk in Desert Silence
On a Morning Walk
Sounds of feet on soft gravel,
birdsong celebrating new day,
and doves calling out
as mountains reach
into brilliant blue sky.
My jacket feels heavy
in the cool air
of this desert silence.
Copyright 2011, by Dennis Lewis
David Hykes & Dennis Lewis: A Celebration of Music & Poetry
Dennis Lewis
For my 65th birthday celebration, which took place in 2005, I wrote a poem about my life and presented it, along with some of my favorite poems, to those who gathered to celebrate with Dasha (my wife) and me in our former home in San Francisco.
My good friend and spiritual brother David Hykes–award-winning composer, singer, founder of Harmonic Chant, and long-time contemplative practitioner–traveled to be with us, and sang before, during, and after the readings. David’s singing was amazingly beautiful and especially relevant to the poems I read.
Besides my own poem, “These Passing Years,” which ends the reading, these poems include “Four Tao Philosophers,” by Robert Francis; “What if You Slept,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge; “I Live My Life in Growing Orbits” and “You See I Want a Lot,” by Rainer Maria Rilke”; “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost; “Are You Looking for Me?”, by Kabir (translated by Stephen Mitchell); “I Came Out Alone on My Way to My Tryst,” by Rabindranath Tagore; and “Guest House,” by Jelaluddin Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks).”
David Hykes
“It was quite a special evening! We all shared a real sense of attuning, and attunement, gathered together for the joyful birthday celebration for my friend and spiritual brother Dennis Lewis. The evening reminded me that we’re all brothers and sisters on the path to Awakening, the manifestation of our true nature.
The ‘music of the spheres of listening’ I offered –selected compositions of Harmonic Chant– were drawn from my albums ‘Hearing Solar Winds Alight’ and ‘Harmonic Worlds,’ which are available at www.cdbaby.com. Information about the music and related contemplative practices is on our website, www.harmonicpresence.org.” –David Hykes
Pommereau, Autainville, France 41240
http://www.presenceharmonique.org
Tél. +33 9 52 56 74 69LISTEN TO DENNIS LEWIS’ 65TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, WITH DAVID HYKES
Out of Touch with the Earth, With Never a Glance Toward the Sky
Out of Touch with the Earth, with Never a Glance Toward the Sky
So many of us today live unconscious, fragmentary, disharmonious lives driven by fear, guilt, anger, anxiety, and tension. “Out of touch with the earth, with never a glance toward the sky,”* we rush away from the past and into the future in pursuit of progress and “a better life” with little appreciation of the miraculous gift of now, the only time and place we can truly live.
This anxiety-filled rush into the future, fueled as it is by our belief in our habitual thoughts, concepts, judgments, and reactive emotions, creates a myriad of so-called problems that we think we can solve with the very same mind that created them in the first place. And as we search for solutions, spiritual or otherwise, our lives become increasingly narrow and constricted–unable to manifest the mystery and miracle of our innermost being, unable to manifest the intelligence, kindness, love, and compassion that lie at the heart of the breath of life being breathed into us at every moment.
Going Beyond the Boundaries of the Conditioned Mind
My work and the work of The Center for Harmonious Awakening is to help us see and go beyond the boundaries of the conditioned mind–the habitual constellation of thoughts, emotions, sensations, beliefs, and judgments that each of us calls “myself”–and to help open us to the vast breadth of the life force as it manifests through us at this very moment. My work is to help us explore and awaken, in a harmonious way, to who and what we really are in our essence, to the freedom of real presence and consciousness–the freedom to see and say “yes” to the miracle of what is.
Whatever noble aims we may have, paths we may be on, or necessary efforts we may make, our only real freedom is to awaken now, this very instant, to the mystery and miracle of being, to the spacious awareness that we are. It is only this immediate awakening to the deepest levels of ourselves, to the conscious source that connects us all, that will enable us to experience and manifest real harmony, intelligence, kindness, love, and compassion in our lives and bring about the transformation in the world that we all wish for.
*From Kenneth Patchen
Copyright 2011 by Dennis Lewis. From the introduction to my website.
The Work of Chanting, Vocalization, and Listening
Free Your Breath, Free your Life
In all the major spiritual traditions of the world one finds some sort of chanting—the vocalization or intonation of special sounds, words, mantras, or prayers—to uplift, to heal, and to transform. The prayers and mantras are often intoned on a single breath, which, among many other benefits, has the effect over time of lengthening our exhalation, increasing the strength and movement of our diaphragm, and expanding our breathing capacity.
Though it is seldom approached in this way, the Lord’s Prayer is a good example of a prayer that can be chanted during a single breath. It is said to have very different physiological and spiritual effects on us when it is chanted during a single breath than when it is interrupted by the need to take another breath. The sacred sound om is a good example of a mantra that is chanted during a single breath. The ancient scriptures of both Tantric Buddhism and the Upanishads speak of the power of the chanted om to enlighten us and free us from our karma. These traditions tell us that by chanting om and attuning ourselves to the vibrations of pure being that it awakens, we can experience ourselves as part of the cosmic symphony.
The work with sounds, sacred or otherwise, is intimately related to meditative work, especially to the effort of listening to the vibrations and harmonics of the sounds as they resonate both inside and outside of ourselves. Such work quiets and harmonizes the breath and has a calming influence on the brain and nervous system. Such work also brings us new, more global perceptions and experiences of who we are at all the various levels of ourselves. It can even bring boundless, transformative feelings of joy and happiness.
Copyright 2004-11 by Dennis Lewis. This passage is from my book Free Your Breath, Free Your Life
Learning to Let Go: A Movement into the Unknown
A Larger Perspective Can Help You Let Go
“Learning to let go, to exhale completely, is in fact a movement into the unknown. When we truly let go, we do not know what will happen next or where we will find ourselves. In letting go, we give up, if only for a moment, a sense of controlling our lives. And even though we know in our heart of hearts that such giving up of control is vital not only for our breath, but also for our inner growth and our happiness, many of us are afraid of allowing it to happen.”
Free Your Breath, Free Your Life, Dennis Lewis
Exposed by a Tie–An Experience with Lord Pentland
Lord John Pentland
About two weeks later, Lord Pentland came to San Francisco and asked to see me in the panel room. At our meeting, he said that he would like me to read from Beelzebub’s Tales to the entire group the next evening, which was Thursday.
When I got home that evening, I thought about what I would wear at the reading. To understand my dilemma, it’s important to know that the readers for Thursday evenings, who happened to be men at that time, always wore a tie with either a suit or a sport coat and a nice pair of dress pants. Being somewhat of a rebel, or so I thought, and also hating to wear ties, I intentionally decided not to wear one, and arrived the next evening tieless, wearing my favorite sport coat and carrying my copy of Beelzebub’s Tales.
I spent about an hour in the library going carefully over the reading and then went down to the foyer and was standing there waiting for everyone to go in and sit down. Lord Pentland saw me, came quickly over to me, looked me up and down, and then, zeroing in on my neck and shaking his head sadly, said, “Oh no, that won’t do.” Of course, everyone stopped in their tracks, knowing something of import was about to happen. Lord Pentland told me to stay where I was. He then headed off to his room. The foyer was filled with silence.
A few minutes later he came back conspicuously carrying a very conservative looking tie. He then slowly and carefully in front of everyone lifted my shirt collar and proceeded to put the tie around my neck, tying the knot as though I were incapable of doing so, which I may well have been at that moment. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me. I felt like a foolish, helpless little child, on display for all the grownups to see. I saw myself! When he finished with the tie, he stepped back, looked at his handiwork. and said softly, “Now you’re ready.” Yes, I was. Thanks to this shock, an entirely new level of sincerity was alive inside me, though it was only later that I understood. Shortly after that evening, I was told by someone from the planning team that I would also be one of the regular readers on Sundays.
Without saying too much here, I will say that reading out loud to others in the context of the Gurdjieff Work helped me see and understand myself in ways that might not have been possible, or at least would have taken much longer, had I not had that wonderful and very challenging opportunity. What’s more, it brought me an entirely new understanding of what it means “to listen,” beginning with listening to my own deepest wishes and expanding outward to listening to the ever-changing tones and nuances of my voice in varying circumstances; the thoughts, emotions and sensations my own voice manifested and aroused in me; and how my voice influenced others. I know for a fact that Lord Pentland heard those wishes and that they were in harmony with the ways in which he believed I might be useful not just to myself but also to the Gurdjieff Work.
Copyright 2011 by Dennis Lewis
Real Presence
A Walk at Dusk, The Center for Harmonious Awakening, Rio Verde Foothills, AZ
Do you suppose the sun is influenced by that upon which it shines its light and gives its warmth? Real presence, loving consciousness, does not arise only when the mind is peaceful and content. What good would that be? No, it offers its light and warmth right in the midst of chaos and turmoil and agitation and what we call our troubles. But I need to welcome it. I need to pay attention. I need to listen.
Sensing the Welcoming Presence
Dennis Lewis
When we experience our breath at the deepest levels in ourselves, we are experiencing our own deepest identity. In the Old Testament we find, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). In all the spiritual traditions we find chants, mantras, and sounds to bring us back into attunement with the cosmic symphony, a symphony in which each one of us is a note consisting of many harmonics.
Our breath, if we can but follow it inward as it flows through us in its many forms, beckons us toward the miracle and mystery of the silent, creative source of all life, the welcoming presence that we can sense when we look quietly within. Can you sense this presence now? Close your eyes and take a few minutes to experience this welcoming presence, this inner vibrant space and silence that includes within it everything that is happening without conflict.
Copyright 2009, by Dennis Lewis. This passage is taken from Breathe Into Being: Awakening to Who You Really Are
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
A photo by Warren Grossman
May your Christmas and Holiday Season be filled with peace, joy, and love! May you experience the great mystery and miracle of heaven and earth, and of being itself!
Sunrise: A Welcoming from the Heavens, by Dennis Lewis
Harmonious Awakening 