Lance Kurland

What is education and how do we acquire knowledge?

We have many schools of various types available to us in many parts of the work. Some teach trades and vocations. You could learn to become a plumber or mechanic. I would like to speak breifly of another form of learn and growing. An attitude of education.

I have been blessed throughout my life to have had the opportunity to learn and grow thanks to many who have been kind and knowledgeable. Many have taught me professionally in schools and Universities, but my greatest learning has come from being with those who have grown in wisdom and consciousness. They have taught me values which are not taught in schools. The wisdom has come by books, and teachers I have sought out in my growth and the good fortune to have been born into a family which valued wisdom and personal freedom.

In college I created my own degree by using the University, taking courses I choose in my path to knowledge. Not many I have met approached their education in that manner. I was not concerned with graduating but was focused on growth. Each of us have a path which though obscure at times, can be viewed only as a process of becoming. Before your eyes glaze over and you feel I am losing you think back for a moment on your own journey. How people who have influenced you have come into your life at a particular time and made a difference in the quality of your life? What if you had actually focused on your outcome and sought out any and every hint of obtaining this new understanding? You may feel you were particularly lucky or blessed that you ran across a particularly fortunate book or acquaintance that gave you insight. That piece of the puzzle suddenly appeared, or maybe you had a dream that had deep meaning. Maybe it was a particularly valuable relationship with someone who changed your life in a marvelous way. Our mates can teach us very valuable lessons and present us with valuable lessons when we choose to be open to them.

There is a consistent pattern we all fall into of what is comfortable and familiar. We feel safe and secure when we are not challenged or confronted by truths we would rather not face. These patterns are all based on the past and keeping certain patterns in place which prevent change and growth. It is said that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. Perhaps it is more more accurate to say when the space is open the Universe fills it with the most appropriate means to evolution and growth.

We are in a time now when the present is pressing us to evolve in an accelerated fashion. When we will be given unprecedented opportunities for transformation. It is our challenge to adopt an attitude which brings us forward and enhance ( and expand ) ourselves in ways we can only dream of. It is our calling to become something new and to do this we can only use the past as a springboard to become fully present.

We each have a unique path and journey to our growth. We can help each other only in so far as we can drop our predilections to remain static and rooted in the past and become fully aware in the present. It is a gift to each of us we overlook at our peril. We also each have unique gifts and talents we can share that can inspire and propel other and aid the Shift in it’s transition.

Give your light freely and by guiding others you may find many that help you on your own journey. Keep in mind we are all connected.

Be in joy!

Live our Love

Lyrics : Lance Kurland

I wish I didn’t judge so much, what I do not know,

I think that if I did this, I could more quickly grow,

I wish that I could embrace each day open, clear, and new,

That I could just accept myself, just letting you be you.

I wish I could let anger, pass through me and be gone,

I know by being gentle, it’s the key to being strong,

I wish I could see clearly, not clouded by my fear,

I could live each day more fully, show people that I care.

Sometimes things are simple, I know what I can be,

Sometimes I see so clearly the very best of me,

I know we have our choices, we each walk different ways,

Our burdens can be lighter if we live our love each day.

I wish I always treated you how I feel in my heart,

I know I’d feel more peaceful, not so easily fall apart,

I don’t need life’s distractions, for me to feel complete,

If I treated myself kindly, share with everyone I meet.

I wish I could bring laughter, to brighten all your days,

I could find solutions to all your troubled ways,

I know that I don’t know sometimes and tell you that I do,

It seems that when I love myself I can at last be true.

As the Shift continues it is easy to look outside yourself for answers, especially in trying times. We all have ways of dealing with stress and disappointments. Some are more effective than others. Meditation and centering yourself draws you back into yourself. Breathing exercises can calm the mind and help connect you to other aspects of your being. It is valuable to see sides of yourself which enhance your own talents and abilities. We are always only expressing a part of what we are. Maybe at work you are a salesperson, in relationship you are a mother or sister, you may also be an artist or sports person. These are all aspects of what you are and the Shift will press you to change and enhance certain parts of what you are while others fall to the side. Constantly you will find  time is channeling you into some avenues and you find you just don’t have time to pursue other interests or businesses you may begin. Welcome to the new changed life you are being presented with.

You are entering the change, yet it may require stretching and a new perspective. I can only offer a a few options I have found helpful in the paths on your journey. Here in the School of Life, we are involved in, and your degree will be  measured by progress you evaluate in your growth. There is no outside gauge of your progress except by non-tangible transformation. Although your change may require you going back to further your education in a school to get a diploma to pursue your inner prompting. I would like you to be aware of another side of learning which appears when you are ready to grow into it. More than that it may even be that life itself molds and changes to bring elements into your life, bringing people and experiences, which enhance aspects of your life.

We are mysterious and magnificent beings. Capable of miracles and a depth of being needed by many in our lives. We each have gifts to share with others. Sometimes this has little to do with the job we are doing, but who we are doing it. It may even more have to do with what we are than who are, doing what we do. I just finished doing a festival with friends and the connections going on around me were magic. I could not possibly have created the talent and the events of the day, yet as it unfolded I created the space for peoples lives to be enhanced. I did not even create the festival, but merely set my intent that this day would be special in many lives to uplift those around me. I decided this particular class in the school of life reflect my inner growth, being also a space for my learning. We each have talents, we each are connected to each other, and our thoughts as well as our actions are connected to the whole of Life. The Shift only intensifies these tendencies and brings people and events into our lives for Life’s unfoldment and being in the flow can enhance the lives of ourselves and others. It is time for us to become all that we are, and bring that into the world. Each of us brings our own unique melody and wisdom which others need, and bring the greatest joy into our lives.

Take the tools you use, allow other learning to come into your life becoming the person you can be through your intentions to make life the greatest expression of your desires and hopes. You are worthy and needed as the Shift proceeds. Welcome to the Great School, you will find you are as much a teacher as a student.

Slow Down

Music & Lyrics: Lance Kurland

Slow down and give yourself space, and a quiet space. There’s plenty of time for your lessons in growing,

Slow down your rushing around, what have you found, and where are you going?

Think of your dreams your hope and your schemes, they brighten your day, and keeps you alive,

Does your life make you whole, does it lighten your soul? Are you going to Heaven, or have you arrived?

Slow down your missing a chance, In the now… to share in the dance, and be in the sun,

Slow down, there’s kindness in time, in the seasonal rhyme, in the unfoldment of the One.

Slow down there’s no need to hide, from what’s deep inside, allow each person, their own unique play,

Slow down the journey is all, heed the inner call, Celebrate every special day.

Don’t push the waves, there’s no one to save, There’s only the joy we can give,

A moment’s a gift, a feeling that lifts, as all of life drifts in a love to be lived.

We all face challenges and pain in our lives. One great teacher proclaimed all life is suffering. I feel there is great joy in life yet the same nerve endings that allow us to feel pleasure can also cause pain. Pain exists not only physically but extends to all levels of our being. The passing of a friend or relative can cause emotional pain and many of us move through this shift will also experience Spiritual pain as the structures we have depended on and even our world view is shaken. This is sometimes referred to as the “dark night of the Soul”. This being one phase of growth on our journey to greater awareness.

It is common to consider surrender as being a failure. It is connected to loss and in a militaristic society there really are only 3 outcomes… victory, defeat, of surrender. These simplistic perspectives do not take into account the true nature of the situation. Sometimes the victory is at such a cost that you lose aspects of your character, or resources, that though you vanquish the foe, you have in fact lost. Not seeing the long term ramifications of the cost your battles. Likewise when you are defeated there is often a greater wisdom learned, a greater society to be built. We could uncover a recognition of false aspects and descriptions of our world that resolve conflict and result in greater wisdom and understanding. A major misconception has to do with surrender because culturally it is equated with failure.

In the lives of all Saints, Prophets, and Healers there is always the recognition of surrender as a rite of passage into a deeper level of being. Not only does surrender enhance the transformation it signals a release of the old and receptivity to a new world. When we hold on so tightly to the old ways, or our past, there is no room to perceive ourselves and the world differently. Change is impeded and progress inhibited.

The Shift, by it’s very nature, is a massive change as we are witnessing and will continue to for the foreseeable future. We will watch the financial markets ebb, flow, and collapse. Our agricultural methods are harmful, ecologically unsustainable, and nutritionally bankrupt. As we see the medical systems of the US challenged so will the energy and associated industries grasp for redefinition and become decentralized as new emerging technologies and innovative approaches become apparent on the world stage. As without so within. Our inner changes will be a reflection of the outer transformations. Those screaming the loudest against the changes will be defining themselves, to a large extent, while calling attention to the how dangerous these changes will be. When in fact doing nothing or following the corrupt ongoing course are doing greater damage, and fear only insites the mind and heart doing nothing to further resolution.

Surrender is a key in that it opens up space for the new to express itself. In her landmark work “on Death and Dying”, Elizabeth Kubla-Ross gives 5 stages that we pass through when a dear one passes from our lives. The last is acceptance but before that comes surrender. Surrender is a conscious or unconscious release of a pre-ordained mindset of what should be. We build our world psychologically by our descriptions of it which are often incorrect and always incomplete. Life is much more vast than and internal or external description, and further negated if we accept that everything is connected. When we let go of these perceptions or are forced to by inner realization or external events, we allow something greater to emerge. Thus do miracles take place around us, and can we consciously create them.

One last consideration on your personal journey. Surrender is not giving up as much as accepting what is without condition. “Not my way Lord but Thy way”! Yet this can also be channeled by intent and focus. We may not know what that new job will look like, but the clearer we are on what we desire in our hearts the more aligned the manifestation. Love is the greatest creator in consciousness, it transcends all boundaries and creates perfect life if we surrender to “It’s” infinite capacity.

Usually I start or end with the lyrics of one of my songs. This month instead I want to invite my friends to a celebration. The largest celebration of it’s kind in the Southeast. It is the 8TH annual Organicfest on Sunday September 13TH in downtown Asheville, NC celebration everything organic. For more information check out www.organicfest.org. If you come by about 1:00PM you will see our Bug Parade and hear me play a few songs. You can check our my hub page on the organicfest.

You can also check out my new new hub page on Z’ism, my information of a Spiritual philosophy.

For aspiring songwriters check out songwriting made easy.

Dreme’s Journey

Music & Lyrics: Lance Kurland

I’ve searched around inside myself for a path to lead me home,

A feeling carried in the night wherever I roam,

Like a whisper carried on a cloud or the wind upon my face,

A texture so familiar, and yet some how unknown.

With Love, love, love…

Like a drop of dew in the morning light or a child’s smiling face,

The shimmering sun upon a lake,my heart seeks out the place,

In the shadow of simplicity my movements carry strength,

My mind cannot conceive the thoughts, that my actions take.

With Love, love, love…

A vision arises in silvery silence it ceases me,

carried by song, I travel along my way,

Like soft supple ripples I ride waves and dips till I know it’s Source,

A mystical, magical light, I know the part I play.

In a dream or a drama we dance to the rhythm of beating hearts,

In a minuet moment reflect… and seem to forget the pace.

If we open our eyes and learn how eagles’ fly we can reach for the clouds,

and be carried by currents of Mind each soul finding it’s place.

With Love, love, love…

In difficult times we tend to always seek the easiest path and either cling to outer sources of comfort or our inner light and hope. The Shift is occurring on many levels, emotional, physical, social, and Spiritual. It challenges our perceptions and facilitates change. It is therefore not surprising that the winner of the last presidential campaign was promoting “change”. This was a direct reflection of the dynamics we recognize on a conscious or unconscious level. How we respond to this new awakening defines us as individuals and changes the world as a result.

I have a personal Spiritual philosophy I call “Z’ism”. It is based on information I have received and basic truths. As opposed to many religious traditions, I ask no beliefs of any kind. You can believe in Jesus, Mohammed, or the Buddah with only one basic tennent. One must recognize ” that everything is connected”. If you don’t know this than nothing else works and this blog has no value to you. If this is acceptable or even appearent then everything else falls into place and as that realization deepens we are transformed and therefore the world is changed.

When this concept is embodied than there is no other, no them, there is just “us“. We can also begin to recognize our definition of other is more often a reflection or projection of ourselves into the outer world. To the degree we accept our part in the unfolding life around us and take responsibility for our actions and conditions, we can grow as individuals. As we become more knowledgeable of our natures and we can share that light in the world and “enlighten”it. We bring our unique perspective and can more easily share our gifts colored by the our dreams and experiences. It is amazing how life changes when we understand that all our actions are seeds which we daily plant even if we never see the result that these seeds produce. If the flap of the wings of a butterfly can create a storm in China later, what can an act of kindness create in the world when it is free of expectation or anticipation. When it is given freely and offered with love it liberate all in that field of influence.

Besides writing songs I have also worked for 25 years doing natural healing modalities. I have seen some very miraculous experiences take place when the timing is correct and people are open. I have thus learned that we are creatures of energy, which is being realized by science. Our thoughts create fields of energy around us, like magnetism which attracts situations into our lives, and creates conditions in our bodies for our learning and to create balance, the very description of health. We are the accumulation of these patterns we create and our desires. Hatred and fear are inharmonious creating a world which continues as a loop to come back to us causing unhappiness on many levels eventually fixing in the body as well as being expressed in the physical world. Angry people can always justify their anger because their world is truly unfair to them. It is always “their” fault. Sometimes it seems that these people really do have material success. Yet many of these people do not find happiness in their wealth and find their lives empty and lonely. Full of fear of loss. The result of the Shift will be the true second coming because the energy is shifting and their fear and desire are coming back to them. This is not a judgment, simply the result of the “rendering”, and the energies which are now flooding the planet and apparent to those sensitive to it.

Why is it happening now? It has to! The planet, like our bodies are seeking balance and cleansing. It is a time of greater transparency. When financial markets and political events are seen in their nakedness it will cause great pain and challenge. We will all become the recipients of the change inherent in this unveiling. There are many who will not be able to accept this new truth and through their anger and fear will choose ( consciously or unconsciously) leave the planet. There is a greater reality than we see physically and those that can’t be helped here will be helped elsewhere.

This leaves the choices we have before us now. We can give into the fear and anger, or transform the energy into caring and desiring to transform the world into balance. This is rarely a single transformative event, but a process of change. Like an alcoholic we take one day at a time, one step at a time. There is just more help available now in transforming. The choice is always yours, and your change effects all of us because indeed we are all connected . There is the hundred monkey phenomena where when a critical mass is reached it is like a wave and is easier for others to reach the same conclusion. All roads do lead to Rome… you just want to go to Rome! I just want to tell you that Rome, or enhanced awareness truly exists and as we reach it it changes everyone and everything.