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thoughts

~ The Drum In The Deep ~

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~ The Drum in the Deep ~

“Often in this life, if you listen carefully, you hear a faint noise beating somewhere distant inside of you. It is not your heartbeat or your pulse, but rather a haunting sound which beats occasionally, and beats louder at certain times. It beats louder when you are passively drifting through the days and weeks. It beats louder when you are surrounded by people who make you feel alone. It beats louder when every ounce of your being knows you are living a life that is false to your real self. That beating noise is the entire universe shepherding you away from the swamp of a sterile existence and guiding you toward the shores of your own destiny. It is the drum in the deep; the call of the wild summoning you into the lands where your true purpose and fate reside. The sound is unpredictable and can come at any time. Sometimes the drum can beat early in the morning; sometimes it can beat in the middle of the night. Sometimes it can beat when doing the dishes or the grocery shopping or staring out of the window of a train on the way home from work.

I believe that as human-beings we all recognise that internal call into the wild. There are many people out there who ignore the sound their entire life – who stick their fingers in their ears and suppress their natural instinct towards doing what they were undeniably born to do – in going to the places they were born to explore. And it is clear to me that the more it is suppressed and ignored, the more it drains and decays individuals from within. One only has to walk the sidewalks of life to see the people who have totally ignored their innate calling, and as a result have become bitter and jaded individuals with eyes empty of any lust or wonder for life. For me, I could spot that sad look from a young age, and consequently I knew that as soon as that drum sounded, it was time to put on my boots and chase down the sound ferociously over the horizon.

Because the truth is once you are called there is no way to ignore that drum in the deep without letting it gradually destroy you from within. The only way to deal with it is to follow it curiously over the horizon; to venture into those unknown lands and search for the source of the sound. You have to accept it is your master, and that you are its slave to be summoned. Sure, the journey it can take you on may be dangerous, tiring – even painful – but to ignore it totally is to commit some kind of spiritual suicide; it is to starve and suffocate your soul slowly to certain death. Such a fate was never an option for me, and I guess that is why I sit here alone tonight: writing these words, plotting my next adventure – still following that haunting noise ferociously wide-eyed through the universe. The drum has called me into the wild for many years now. It has been an epic adventure – an epic voyage into the unknown. And yet I have still not silenced that drum in the deep. But, truthfully, as I continue this magical journey toward the source of the sound, as I feel my veins burn with adventure and passion – as I look back on a path that has set my soul on fire and made me fall in love with the overwhelming beauty of existence – a part of me hopes that I never do.”

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 (taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

thoughts

~ The Migration ~

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~ The Migration ~


“After a long day of walking on the trail, we stood by the river in a small, sleepy town in rural Spain. Barefoot and drunk, we shared a smoke and a bottle of red wine as the sun set below the hills of the valleys around us. As the river and wine flowed down, he told me his reason for walking across the country. Eyes transfixed to that reddened sky, he told me of his sixty-hour working weeks, his stress and utter disarray with how his life back home had become so jaded and devoid of life. He spoke of the pain, the emptiness and, finally, the decision to leave it all behind with a one-way plane ticket into foreign lands. In that moment I could feel the relief and freedom emanating from my fellow human-being. Clearly these were things he had bottled up inside of him for too long – things that had secretly tortured and broken him down over many years. Now out here walking across Spain, he had decided to make his stand against the absurdity of it all. It was a shifting position that I recognised from myself, where my journey into the wild had begun a few years previously. Like so many people caught, chewed up and spat out by the cultural machine – he had finally been pushed too far and now his response had begun.

    It is true. In this life there comes a time when a man can no longer accept a situation of existence which has belittled him for so long. The breaking down comes gradually over many tickings of clocks and traffic jams and deadlines. There’s more to life than this, his heart demands ever more loudly. After the days of emptiness have been endured too long, a snapping point is reached. It is at that moment when the spirit is unleashed and a great migration begins. Outward he moves beyond those cubicles of pain. Into the night of the unknown, beyond the security – beyond the bickerings of fools and preachers and bosses and politicians. Beyond them and their soulless advice. He moves into the hazy dreamlands where the mad and mystics wander, where the eyes blaze bright like stars – where the traveller stands barefoot and bewitched under skies of freedom and nothing is certain but the pure fleeting transience of life. It is there where the spirit is cleansed. It is there where the ships of the soul set sail toward the shores of destiny. It is there – in those lands of the living – where the world shines clear and life is finally experienced in all its chaos and beauty and mystery and magic.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

thoughts

~ A Thought From The Wind ~

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~ A Thought From The Wind ~

“Watch the sunrises. Watch the sunsets. Walk barefoot when you can. Stand tall against the storm and laugh in the face of stupidity. Soak in the sunlight and don’t feel guilty about devoting time to your passions. Travel if you get the opportunity – even if it’s just to another town or neighbourhood – travel. Explore your surroundings. Explore your creativity and express yourself. Even if your audience is just one person, share the contents of your soul with another. Practice mindfulness and don’t bother wasting money on lottery tickets. The illusion that happiness can be bought with money is just there to keep people toiling away in a hollow rat race. Listen to those starry-eyed children – they have more wisdom than you think. Also listen to the elderly, teachers and gurus, but never forget that true insight and knowledge comes from walking your own path. All the books in this world cannot ever replace the authentic experience of one person rescuing their truth from the wilderness. Believe in your own voice and don’t allow yourself to be marginalised by any institution, culture, religious book or writer. At the end of the day, your very flesh contains the fundamental fabric of the universe; you are the entire cosmos expressing itself as a human-being for a little while. Your skin is literally made of stardust so don’t be afraid to shine, don’t be afraid to dance – don’t be afraid to live your life with such blazing brightness that the stars above you weep with envy.”

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(taken from my book The Thoughts From The Wild, available here)

thoughts

~ Infected ~

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~ Infected ~

“One day in this life you realise you are infected with the condition of being an outsider. The symptoms are revealed to you gradually. As you walk the neighbourhoods of normality you realise your heart yearns for something else. Stability and security only give you a feeling of sadness. You have no interest in the contract of life offered to you. As you stare at the rows of houses and green lawns and shiny cars, as you look up uninterested at career ladders before you, as you stare wistfully into space in the supermarket queue, you gradually begin to realise that something isn’t quite right about it all. Every ounce of your being rejects the things you were told to desire. What gives you fulfilment simply isn’t available in their stores or on their menus. You have no interest in material riches or status. Their television shows and newspapers are toxic poison to your mind. You are allergic to their conventions and expectations. The suits and ties don’t fit you. What is important to them, to you seems utterly meaningless and trivial. In your world adventure and exploration and art rank above all else. Yes, accept it: you have the alien madness – the condition of being an outsider. You are infected. Do not trouble to even try and cure yourself, it will only make you worse. No, no, no: forget the therapists, forget the sensible advice, forget trying to fit into a society which doesn’t fit you. Do not trouble yourself. Here is what you shall do:

    Let the infection take over. Let your eyes become bloodshot with blinding passion. Let your skin be shed, let your soul be set on fire – let that heart of yours become filled with poetry and madness. This is it: you were never one of them anyway, and the sooner you accept you never will be, the more powerful your mutant soul will become. You will liberate yourself from society and walk those streets with a rare strength and joy – a feeling of freedom not known or understood by those who define themselves in groups. The world around you will glisten with magic – you will see things they can’t see; do things they can’t do; go places they can’t go. You will attract strange glances and stares – sometimes in secret admiration, sometimes in fear. You will terrify some and inspire others beyond belief – and as the infection spreads further, you will grow stronger and stronger – fiercer and fiercer. Nothing will be able to hinder you. Things like isolation and rejection will only fuel your desire further. No cage or poacher will be able to capture your wild heart. You will be unstoppable like a storm; you will be impenetrable like a mountain. You will live the life of a fearless adventurer and go to the grave knowing that your life was lived with absolute fullness. The flowers around your grave will blossom with an exotic beauty; the birds will sing songs about your adventures at your headstone. You will have been totally consumed by your passion. You will have stayed happily infected till the end of your days. You will have died knowing that this world could never find a cure for your beautiful madness.”

(taken from my book The Thoughts From The Wild, available here)

infected

short stories

~ Rebel Flower Rising ~

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~ Rebel Flower Rising ~

“Another day of bohemian madness was unfolding and there I was on the trail, wandering through the countryside somewhere in Spain, hopelessly lost in the dream of what it is to exist. I was deep in thought when I lifted my eyes toward the field beside me and was suddenly stopped in my tracks. I put my backpack down and stood there in silence staring at it. Amongst all those hunchback pieces of wheat with their slouched shoulders was a singular red poppy standing tall and proud. In its stark simplicity, it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. It stood out courageous and beautiful; it rose without fear or regard for what everything else around it was doing. Captivated by the sight, I stood there for a few minutes in the midday heat, watching that flower sway in the summer breeze. At the time I couldn’t really say why, but the simple wonder and majesty of it moved me beyond words; it was a sight of nature that said something deep and meaningful to my soul.

Later on that day, I was sat in the hostel courtyard thinking about it when I got speaking to a fellow hiker on the table beside me. As we talked about life and the walk over some red wine, I gradually began to realise that I had just met the sort of person I had hoped existed for a while. We shared the same esoteric views on life; we both had crazy and chaotic minds; we both wanted to live a life of travel and exploration. However, unlike me, she was unashamedly different – letting her weirdness shine bright and not hiding the fact she would pick up dirty bits of string on the road to use as bracelets, or that she spent her time popping people’s blisters while working in a homeless shelter back home.

Feeling an instant affinity with one another, we walked together for the next few days, sharing the contents of our minds, walking through fields of bohemian bliss, listening to music under the shade of trees. As the midsummer sun beat down, I looked into her eyes and remembered that I wasn’t entirely alone in my madness – that there was another one of me out there wandering with the wind. Finally right in front of me was the sort of person I’d searched for in the eyes of strangers on streets, the eyes of strangers on trains – the eyes of strangers in bars and clubs and restaurants. Now that we were together every second was a fountain of joy and inspiration.

When I reflect back upon that day, it made so much sense why that flower in the field had such an impact on me. All my life I have hid the fact I was different, but hiding my true colours has slowly suffocated me from within. Like that girl had also shown me, it was always better to just embrace your differences and be totally unafraid to stand out from the rest. After all, it was that very thing that allowed me to spot her so easily from the crowd. It’s so important to let your unique madness blossom because somewhere out there is someone like you looking for someone like them; out there someone waits silently in the crowd, waiting to be inspired to let their soul sing out in all its glory. So don’t be afraid to stand up; don’t be afraid to shine bright. In a world where everyone tries to fit into the same mould, don’t be afraid to be that rebel flower rising in a field of wheat.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here )

poetry

~ The Lion’s Roar ~

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~ The Lion’s Roar ~

“There is a new age coming
I can feel it in the air
The winds of change will soon lift
A million minds out of despair

There is a new dawn beginning
I can see it in their eyes
The wilted flower will now blossom
And the caged bird will finally rise

There is a new adventure calling
I can hear the dying of the fear
The suppressed voices of silent souls
Will soon sing out loud and clear

Because now is the turning of tides
When the water cannot be beaten
Now is the time of great hunger
When the lions have not yet eaten

And the hearts of fire will see no more clouds
As sunlight returns to their kingdom
And the wild ones will roar out loud
As they claim back those lands of freedom.”

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