Here's Common Ground playing at Idaho State University this year. Hope you enjoy.

The cameras weren't up really close, so we did what we could with it, but the sound is still pretty good all things considered.

Hi Mark and friends,

The recording of the interview came out good. I uploaded it here http://all.lightandlife.us/downloads. Give it a listen. I think the sound quality came out just fine.

Peace,
Bob

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Original Message -----

From: "Mark Austin" Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 2:43 AM Subject: Re: Calling ALL with Common Ground

tonight this is the part of the U book I was attempting to refer to in the phone call paper 100 sec 3 - "Man may manufacture a machine but it's real value must be derived from human culture and personal appreciation"....also before that it says really what we want to do which is "supply favorable conditions for growth" just thought of it, hope I didn't butcher the idea too bad on the phone hope the editing went well

it's late, gotta go -m

Letting
Others
View
Eternity

through you
in you
with you

Solitary Soldiers

If living a life of love

was as easy as talking about it

the world would be a better place

with all the preaching going on

Instead it seems we languish,

fixated on all the ideas

while seldom realizing the ideals

Potato flakes without water

eventually grind themselves to dust

but when moistened

something else entirely occurs

One day I saw them

screaming at a soldier,

angrily, spitefully, crying for peace

Something about it struck me as odd

so I asked what they were doing

and they said,

"Peace is something worth fighting for."

I pray for the solitary soldiers

battling with windmills

and yet nothing that holds us together

Fighting for peace seems like hating for love

But then again,

if living a life of peace

was as easy as talking about it,

the world would be a better place

copyright 2006, Simeon's Journey

Sometimes we just don't get it
how would things be
if we were free
no one watching to say we're wrong
but living life and letting live

but instead so many are ready to pounce
if a hair's out of place
jumping on one thought like it means more
than what it is
a thought, just a thought...

but we live like thoughts mean more
we think too much
act too little
dream like little escapists
and forget to just be

present in our own reality

staring at my girl and boy
sleeping like angels on a pillow of dreams
realizing their sheer innocence

in danger from the distorting mold
of trying to be like everyone else

will I think too much while they grow
forget the importance of nurturing soul
with time to be free
able to lean on me when necessary
without confounding my goals with theirs

will I forget to be there with them
as I attempt to find my own way
lose myself inside of me
while they're pulling on my shirt sleeve
too busy to hear their dreams
too caught up in thinking about the way things should be

trying to be free
but bound
dotting I's and crossing T's
when I should be...
should be...
should be...

Just be
outside of mind
in a present place
living for the joy
of what is real here and now
this moment

and they breathe
a chest rises
and falls
and rises
and falls

It's perfect.
Life's good.
right here
right now
not yesterday
or tomorrow
but now
right now

-----------------------------------

(C) 2006, Simeon's Journey
www.myspace.com/simeonjourney

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance..."

Robert Francis Kennedy, 1966 in South Africa

In life, so many of us spend a lot of time dancing, twisting, maneuvering, just trying to get to the place where we can get the other people -- the love interest, the wannabe friends, and on and on -- to just let us know it's okay for us to be who we are.

And we wear ourselves out, only to find at the end of all that maneuvering, that most aren't all that interested in who we are... and those who are, turn out to not be all that great... and we wonder why.

It struck me once that when we have to posture, pretend, puff ourselves up and talk about ourselves, do things we wouldn't normally do, that most often we lose sight of who we are, and end up something else that isn't all that desirable.

Those who like that stuff aren't all that great because they're the same way, and those who don't like that and leave us behind are the people we were trying to befriend in the first place, but in becoming unreal and fake we lose out, because those who are real want others in their lives who are real also.

Ever stop to think that if we all just be who we are, without all the pretending, then we will naturally meet people who like what is real about us and choose to hang with us for who we are, rather than who we are pretending to be?

It might mean letting go of unrealistic desires and chasing after all of the people we think we would like, to find those who are all around, waiting to be connected to something real.

Today I choose to be real.  You can too, and know that you have at least one friend waiting.