~~~~~~~~~Just Desert~~~~~~~~~

   "Why are you going there? It's just desert." This is what the convenience store clerk told my brother~~~when he said~~~we were heading for Yuma, Arizona~~~and so we left that Tucson quick stop parking lot~~~going onward~~~going west. Just Desert~~~was what we were all about~~~what we had planned~~~as we headed towards Pichaco State Recreation Area, California~~~an old mining area accessible by The Colorado River in the old days~~~and a twenty mile dirt road~~~that was cut through and follows all the paths that water makes through the wilderness~~~arroyos~~~& arroyos are all~~~Mother Nature's Highways~~~and that's what gets you to Pichaco SRA~~~these days. But it was~~~Just Desert~~~and we wound around the desert southwest~~~in the dead of winter~~~down I 25 from Santa Fe to Hatch and over to I 40 to Tucson and Yuma~~~up to Pichaco SRA for a couple of nights~~~and onto Palm Springs~~~then Baker, California~~~through Death Valley~~~to Tonopah, Nevada~~~down The Extraterrestial Highway~~~and on to Vegas. All to the tune of 2,500 miles~~~for~~~there is more open land in the western united states~~~than one can ever imagine~~~and we covered only~~~a small fraction of all of it.

   Barren~~~ & way too hot in summer~~~most life hides underground~~~lives in the night~~~or~~~in trees. The biggest shot of adrenalin i got all vacation long was not on the highways~~~where the monkeys drive to win their crazy races~~~but in a hollowed out tree that i peeked into~~~and saw~~~a little face staring back at me. He was ready to make a run for it~~~the little critter~~~knew two monkeys had invaded his campsite~~~his home was that tree. I had dropped a small pebble into the hollowed out trunk to see if something was living in there~~~and he headed for~~~the escape hatch. So why do things live in the desert? May be the same reason we incarnate on this earth~~~it's a seeming spiritual desert~~~you know. I guess in both cases it's just where you need to be~~~to play~~~the good old game of~~~Spiritual Hide & Seek.

   Reincarnation. Is that the game around here? Our world is so illusory~~~and real~~~but all that exists is~~~impermanent. All things must pass. Death is at the end of everything~~~it walks hand in hand with life. So as for reincarnation? It must die too~~~for there one day will be nothing to return to. The only thing that's going to last around here is That Which Is Timeless~~~and isn't That at the core of everything? Creation? Doesn't that mean there is a creator~~~and apparently~~~this world is not his home.

  Oh~~~the western monkey~~~is so full of~~~Whitewashed Jesus ~~that reincarnation is a subject never broached~~~never considered~~~never even thought of~~~even though Jesus said that he and John The Baptist were~~~Elijah and Elisha~~~you can read it in The Bible~~~Matthew 17: 9-13~~~in a conversation that came down~~~right after what happened on The Mount of Transfiguration. Theoretical physics so mirrors eastern philosophy~~~these days~~~that one day~~~we may see that what goes around also comes around. But as for me~~~i was never even introduced to reincarnation~~~it was something outside the western box of thinking~~~pictured as a heathen cartoon. So i ask myself~~~is reincarnation real~~~or~~~an illusion?

  Well my brother and i spontaneously began this dialogue on the subject of~~~reincarnation~~~not to seek to become better and better people through many lifetimes~~~or~~~to excuse bad behaviour because we'll make up for it later~~~but~~~in order to let  the spirit do it's work fully in people's lives~~~must it not take more than one lifetime to wake up? God's love wouldn't even leave one stray sheep to die alone in the wilderness~~~and so~~~with the short stack that all of us are born into~~~well? How can we realize~~~what life is~~~from this our whacked out perspective~~~our fractured conditioning? Some of us die too young. Some aren't born with a full deck. Some are whacked by their families. Some just by society~~~itself. We all fall through the cracks~~~somehow~~~so to speak. No one~~~gets everything right~~~gets it like they want it~~~ 'cause there are no perfect monkeys~~~on this planet~~~period. Reincarnation would give the spirit an ability to get it done~~~over many lifetimes~~~and the people that I've met that think they they know it all? Well~~~they're the ones that need reincarnation the most. One lifetime? Look around you~~~the people that i see aren't getting very far spiritually. These days are dark. It's a Spiritual Night~~~here within the confines of~~~The Great American Spiritual Desert. It seems as if~~~we all need more time~~~in the oven.

   Everything has a life cycle. Everything dies. Impermanence reigns in space time~~~it even trumps reincarnation. But what holds it all together? I mean all that has been created? There is a timeless consciousness that permeates all that exists~~~and the timeless does manifest itself~~~in time. What creation could exist without a creator? That's the game~~~spiritual hide and seek. God's lost and found. Maya and illusion are forever the essence of all the stories told within space time~~~our lives we live~~~deep within the confines of Plato's Cave. I mean that~~~the most important thing in all of Life~~~seems hidden and missing~~~'cause thought just can't seem to see the creator~~~and therefore~~~God~~~seems missing.

  I guess it's like UFOs~~~you can believe in them~~~but if you happen to see one? Then it's quite a different thing~~~then all belief is irrelevant. So really it's all in the seeing~~~not thought and it's flawed constructs.

   So i guess you're wondering why i would put a picture of Las Vegas Boulevard~~~taken from the 63rd floor of The Encore~~~atop this story of desert and reincarnation. It was the hotel room that i got for the both of us~~~but i really got it for him as i am pretty sure that this would be~~his last night in Vegas. He's not dying or nuthin' but god knows David is no fan of Sin City~~~Las Vegas, Nevada~~~it is what Dr. Hunter S. Thompson referred to as~~~The Savage Heart of The American Dream~~~a place where you're never too far from a mirror~~~and it's hard to find out what time it is. As i looked down upon all the invented environments and their lush trappings~~~and saw what mankind could have created~~~beautiful and adorned spaces with artistry and unique structures~~~and here in Las Vegas, Nevada~~~they had even sprung from the desert floor. Too bad that their foundations have no intrinsic value~~~they are all based on illusion, greed, individual competition, and a bunch of silly monkeys that think that they are so special that they can defeat the Laws of Probability~~~it's like fighting off death~~~and we all know how that one ends~~~but they all try to win what's never been won and do what's never been done~~~and don't you know~~~like they said in Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life~~~when a bell rings another angel got their wings? Well~~~every time a horn blows~~~it's just another monkey like Rodney Dangerfield~~~getting no respect~~~and~~~every time a light blinks in Vegas? It means another monkey~~~just lost a bet. Vegas~~~i look out the window and think what might have been~~~all my brother could say was: "They're all Monuments to Stupidity". May be one day we all will have reincarnated so many times that we all can see this~~~and that through such virtue~~~we can see~~~what is~~~and be free~~~of it. I'm not like my brother~~~i did gamble~~~and dug myself a hole at every sit down~~~poker, roulette, and a few machines~~~but it was not like it usually is~~~as i climbed out of every hole~~~seeming to walk away winning 70 bucks or so at every thing i did~~~but i tired of it~~~got tired of the hole. Like gambling or that critter in the tree~~~may be we keep reincarnating until? We tire of the holes we get ourselves stuck in. 

   So~~~at the end of the 3rd day~~~after~~~my brother flew out of Vegas~~~on my last night in town~~~i went to Larry Flynt's Hustler Club~~~& there  a sweet young woman picked me out of the crowd to make some money~~~and we enjoyed each other~~~and our time together~~~so much so~~~that at one point she looked me in the eyes and asked: "Did we know each other in a former life?". I said that i didn't know about those things~~~but? Who knows? All things timeless are related~~~and may be we did~~~but before we went up to the private rooms i asked her if she~~~had any rules~~~'cause i liked her and wanted to stay inbounds. Her reply? "We're gonna break all the rules!". And that's the best thing a woman has said to me in years~~~for underlying such a statement is trust~~~and a hint of~~~what real relationship~~~is all about.

   Me? Reincarnation? What with all the stories of people dying and flying above the operating table~~~and seeing a bright light? With my brother's son's presence appearing to him~~~before he was born~~~telling him his name and that he was going to be a part of his family? I gotta go along with the existence of The Timeless Soul and Reincarnation~~~but what i really long for~~~is the time when All of God's Creatures~~~great and small~~~are as~~~One~~~and return Home~~~into the loving arms of their Creator~~~and~~~i'll take as many lifetimes as it takes~~~on the face of this earth~~~this spiritually barren desert~~~or whatever oven~~~whatever hell~~~that i have to go~~~to get~~~There. 

   And it is my hope~~~that one fine day we will all together~~~pass through the sun~~~each one finding their own way and walking their own path~~~all following the timeless road~~~back to our creator~~~and back to our~~~Timeless Home.