METTA MIND JOURNAL: CARBON-BASED ANATOMY TOUR MEDITATION #23 AND #24: VIENNA AND BUDAPEST
Cynic are currently on tour in Europe, so vocalist/guitarist Paul Masvidal has decided to revive his Metta Mind Journal MetalSucks column in the form of a tour diary. Yesterday we published the first group of entries from the U.S. portion of the tour and the first few European dates, and today we have longer meditations from Vienna and Budapest. More will follow in the coming days.
Meditation location #23 – CBA tour. Vienna – Woke up feeling melancholic. Maybe it’s my sensitive, organic nature interacting with the dark, grey weather I saw from my bunk window. I brushed my teeth, had some fruit, and meditated in an open field across from a stage for, I’m guessing… summer concerts. I’ll be an intentional airhead today and sink into my body. I walked, and walked, and walked. On my way back to the venue I came upon a mall, and walked to the end of a long corridor on the 3rd floor where I found a music store. Some kid in the back was playing Nirvana’s Teen Spirit and then went into Aerosmith’s Dream On. Just by viewing the back of his body and how he held the guitar I could see he was a natural player. I mentally wished him happiness on his musical journey and left the store.
This day marked the 1/2 way point for our 19 shows in 19 days tour. 19 in numerology adds up to the #1. I’m trusting in the auspiciousness of 19 today. And even if that’s not worth holding onto, I’ll let it be my number for today. When I got back to the bus, I noticed everyone was a bit grumpy and irritable. Tour busses form their own field around them like a single organism. They collectively think and feel together over time. I realized being the human sponge that I am, I was just absorbing the vibes of our collective muck, and with just that one insight I could now play with the yucky energy that was floating around. Likes / dislikes, the game of good and bad. It’s a parade of arguing with reality and believing that our argument is of any good. So I come back to this moment and just breathe deep, for this moment is all I really have and all I really need. It’s that simple.
Once I stepped onto the stage, the entire day fell away and I let the music lead the way. Thank you Vienna for gifting us with your presence and holding a safe container. It was a pleasure performing for you and meeting so many warm and kind spirits after the show. The giver and the gift are one.
Meditation location #24 – CBA tour. Budapest – Sunlight, yippee! …for a moment at least. Having chosen my birth place to be on a small island in the carribean, I realize my body gravitates towards warm climates. Today’s venue has a Native American theme. I have an old friend who won $250,000 at a Miccosukee Indian tribe casino in South Florida years ago. That’s some killer $ karma in action. A mutual friend agreed he must have busted his ass in a past life. The wise Miccosukee Indians’ trajectory in the US is another story; even the casinos the US Government helped erect to ‘recognize them’ had a lot of interesting results. Certainly lucrative. The purest of Americans are of the native ilk, the rest of us being primarily some hybridized medley of a Euro or Pan-Asian immigrant culture clash.
I meditated upon a stairwell near a back door of the club. I could see in my peripheral vision trains going by. I liken to the metaphor of a thought being similar to a train that appears on the mind screen. I can either hop on the train and go for a ride and or pass on the ride by staying in the moment. If I take the ride, I realize I’m in an actual body when I get off at the next stop and come back to the breath. Touch and go, touch and go. Those train rides are the stories constantly being regurgitated by an active mind and can be quite transporting… they run on and on and on… I used to really enjoy the picture show, and being completely swallowed up by it. These days the real fun is training in being here. It’s riding a fine line between concentrated precision and total relaxation. The body and mind get in synch and voila, the conscious flow state emerges. Intuition and other ‘natural wisdom processes’ drive the way, if we’re fortunate. You know those days when you just seem to be ok, regardless of what’s happening?
A local friend picked me up and we headed to dinner. We drove down the Danube and passed all those gorgeous bridges spanning the split between Buda and Pest. The ‘twin-cities’ of Central Europe. Speaking of, I made it back just before showtime to warm up on Jim from Chimpspanner’s 8 string. What a beast of an instrument! The show was fantastic. I’m getting better at the marsupial and finding tremendous pleasure in simply delivering the songs to an appreciative collection of Cynic family. I was nurtured throughout the performance by an abundance of Hungarian smiles, mouthing the words to our songs in my sight line. Last time we were here we performed in a gigantic arena supporting Dream Theater. Many of tonight’s folks were at that show as well. The gig felt intimate and fun and I quietly honored the native Americans in spirit. I dig the diversity of a Cynic audience and Hungary was a great example of a real mix. Thanks also to those who made the trip from Serbia as well. Enjoyed meeting all you sweet folks after the show. Till next time, give yourself a hug, from me ;-)
