Strawberry Fields Forever Music Festival

Dearly Beloved Friends,

I just got back to Petaluma after an incredibly healing week at the Strawberry Fields Forever Music Festival, held at the Living Miracles Monastery in Fruitland, Utah.  The Festival was sort of like a "Course in Miracles Woodstock"... with a full sized outdoor stage, and lots of incredible musicians gracing us with their beautiful music.  Such joy!

For me, the most healing aspect of the Festival was in allowing myself full permission to stop trying to be a "good musician" (or a musician at all), but to instead allow myself to just be!  As many of you know, I've been spending a lot of time these past several months sinking inward in prayer and meditation, learning to hear that "small, still Voice" within and letting go of past self-concepts of the ego.  My self-concept as a "good musician", for example, has been falling away, and in fact, prior to the Festival I was unclear as to whether I was even Guided to go to it, since I wasn't really feeling much inspiration around my music anymore.  Still, all the signs and symbols seemed to be pointing towards me going to the Festival anyway.  And so in order to feel at ease with it, I decided to simply give myself full permission to play music ONLY when it felt like it was truly coming through me from the Spirit of Inspiration, and not out of any sense of trying to please an audience or meet someone's expectations.  For those of you who are familiar with the "no people pleasing" principle, this was going to be about a specific form of that called: "no audience pleasing".  ;-)

And so when it came time early in the week for me to go up on stage to play an hour-long set, I was given an unprecendented opportunity to practice this full-on and face one of my biggest fears: to be in front of a large audience who are expecting me to play music, and yet not feeling inspired to play!  And this is actually what began to happen about a third of the way into my set!  Fortunately though, I stuck to my principles, relaxed through it all, and it turned out to be quite a healing and interesting experience to say the least.  :-)  It was more of an "unperformance" really...

I started off the set by playing a few songs I had been planning to play ("The Wind" by Cat Stevens; "Peace of Mind", an original of mine; "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles; and "Just Relax", another original) but then felt the wind just come completely out of my sails!  It began when I started having trouble tuning my guitar, and then noticed that I really felt like just meditating rather than playing!  (This was what I had been afraid of might happen.)  I didn't, however, feel completely comfortable with the idea of just closing my eyes and inviting the audience to go inward with me, and so instead of panicking, I simply tried to be as authentic with them as I could.  I basically just shared about what I was experiencing in that moment.  Gradually, the awkwardness began to dissolve a bit, and the audience and I ended up having some playful banter back and forth about my "unperformance".  Then finally, after a bit of that I finally told them that I didn't think I was going to play any more music.  Lol...

I thanked them and walked off stage, and was greeted by a big hug from David who, with much childlike enthusiasm, said, "That was GREAT!"... which I probably desperately needed to hear in that moment!  If I had been anywhere else, I probably would have had lots of angry fans rushing me to ask for their money back.  But at this "Festival of Forgiveness", it was nothing but love and hugs of gratitude!  It gave me a certainty that there really isn't ever anything to fear; that I need not ever fall to the temptation of "audience pleasing", and that so long as I am being authentic and following my heart, it will be healing for all.  Many of the musicians, in fact, came up to me later to thank me for "facing their fears for them".  So that was very reassuring.

Although I didn't play much music on MY set, I did end up playing lots of lead guitar and doing some back-up singing for OTHER musicians at the Festival... including of course, Armelle.  Her set was absolutely beautiful, for it was also a pure demonstration of transcending fear being that it was the first time she had ever sang on a real stage!  She started off by singing her first song a capella ("Remember Who You Are"), and for perhaps the first time ever (in my perception, at least) she sang the whole song perfectly on key with such grace that it literally made me cry!  When she invited me up on stage as planned to play the rest of the set with her, I just became totally overwhelmed with emotion and had to take a few moments of silence before being ready to start playing.

(As an aside, I just gotta say here that in my experience there is NOTHING more exhilarating than being totally raw and shamelessly "naked" in front of many sets of eyes!  From my perspective, this is really what the whole Festival was about.  It was about nothing more than developing the willingness to drop the mask of self-importance, and be completely authentic regardless of how it may look.)

For the rest of Armelle's set, she and I sang four more songs which we'd played and sang together before, and it was an experience of such Joy for us both!   We sang her songs, "Trusting You", "You Can't Be Perfect (Hear Me)", "Only Love", "No Need for More", as well as a beautiful cover song from the movie Once called "Falling Slowly".

From what I hear, the sound engineering team there in Utah is now working on putting all the music from the Festival into a professionally sounding CD, but if you're interested in hearing a rough recording of our sets now, I've embedded the recordings for mine and Armelle's sets below, which David Hoffmeister had graciously recorded on his iPhone.  The sound quality of these recordings is not exactly what the world would call "good" - it's what you might expect from an iPhone recording at a live concert - but if you tune into the FEELING that's present behind the sounds, you will certainly be able to capture a glimpse of the profound Love that was shining through us!

The first one below is the recording of my performance (or "unperformance", if you will), and the one below that is Armelle's, which begins with the end of Lisa Fair's M.C. speech just before introducing Armelle.    Both recordings are approximately 45 minutes long.

Also, if you'd like to hear more of David's iPhone recordings from the Festival, not only of the other musicians, but also including the spirituality talks which David gave each afternoon at the Festival (which were quite deep and profound), you can find it all by visiting his Soundcloud page: http://soundcloud.com/david-hoffmeister.

May these recordings lift your Spirit and remind you that there is no need to try being "perfect" in this world.  Our true Self is already Perfect in Eternity, and has never been tainted in the slightest bit by our comical dreams of separateness.






With Love Eternal,
Erik

Armelle's Sunday Service on the theme of "Listening"

Enjoy this beautiful Sunday Service which Armelle gave on April 29th at the Monastery in which she spoke on the theme of "Listening". Just click on the link below, or "right click" to save it to your computer.

With Love,
Erik

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18949318/Sunday_service_April_29_2012_Sunday_Service.mp3

Follow Your Heart!

An incredibly inspiring classic from 1938 about the timeless and most basic lesson of life: FOLLOW YOUR HEART (your Joy, your Bliss, the Holy Spirit, your Intuition, Higher Self, or whatever you prefer to call it)! I just watched it for the second time and cried tears of joy! :-)

You Can't Take It with You (1938)

A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.

http://www.imdb.com/rg/em_share/title_web/title/tt0030993/

Sharing Music at the Oneness Festival

Well after a beautiful three-month hermitage experience at my parents' house in Petaluma, I finally felt a strong inner Calling to go join in with Armelle, David, Jason, Lisa, Suzanne, Jenny, and many more of my "Mighty Companions" over in Fairfield for the Oneness Festival last weekend.  It was a bit overwhelming at first to be around so many people after such a long period of being mostly in silence, but it turned out to be such an incredibly miraculous experience.  It was beautiful to reconnect with so many of those with whom I have such deep vibrational connections.  I could literally feel the Spirit moving through me in a new way as well.  It was almost as though I was a new person, having shed so much of my old self-concept during the prior few months.  And very shortly after I arrived at the Festival, I was given a perfect opportunity by the Spirit to extend this newness!  I was invited to collaborate with my friends Skye and Ken to share some music of ours for the afternoon session, and it was so much fun!  I played a few classic songs (Hallelulah, Let it Be, Imagine), as well as a few of my own songs (Rhythm of the Soul, Peace of Mind, This Disguise) during the session.

A few days after the Festival, I was checking out David Hoffmeister's Spreaker page where he and his tech team regularly upload new audio recordings, and I discovered that the entire music session was recorded and uploaded there!  Therefore, I am happy to be able to share the recording with you here!

It's broken into two parts, which you can listen to below.  In part one of the session, I started off by sharing a bit about my journey, and then played the following songs by request: Hallelulah (Leonard Cohen cover), Let it Be (Beatles cover), Imagine (John Lennon cover), and then Rhythm of the Soul which is an original of mine.  After that, Skye sang a few songs, followed by Ken doing some of his own music.  Simply hit the play button on the audio player below to hear this session:

http://www.spreaker.com/user/davidhoffmeister/oneness_festival_music_session

In part two of the session (below), I sang a couple more originals: Peace of Mind, and a relatively new song I wrote several months ago called This Disguise.  Then Ken finished off the session with a beautiful song to lead us into lunch.  Enjoy!

http://www.spreaker.com/user/davidhoffmeister/oneness_festival_music_session_2

Love,
Erik

A Course in Miracles Song: It's Only Me

The spiritual journey guides us inward and inward toward a final recognition... an Experience of Awakening to our Divine Nature as the Holy Child of God, first by having us recognize that we've been a slave to our own dream of separation, and then by having us learn to take responsibility for our own state of mind... realizing that everyone and everything that appears to be external to us is actually a projection of our OWN mind's wish to remain separate.  Therefore, I wrote (was Given, rather) this song a while back as a means of expressing these ideas as clearly as possible; reinforcing and maintaining awareness of the fact that no matter who or what I THINK is the cause of my experience... it's only me! 

May this song be an inspiring reminder to you that healing is truly possible through the willingness to take 100% responsibility for our state of mind.

With Peace and Love...
Erik

P.S.  Scroll further down if you want to see the lyrics.




It's Only Me

Everyone that I see… and everything I perceive… is me.    
And now I’m Free.       
And anytime that I believe... that somebody else is the cause of my grief...
I need... to stop and see I am deceived.

Cause it’s only me.   I am the dreamer of this dream. 
I've just gotta learn to see... it’s only me. 
And when I’m afraid, it’s only of thoughts that I have made. 
There’s no one outside to blame… it’s only me.  And I am Free!

Everything that I perceive… are the projections of my false memory. 
There’s no need to ever take any of it seriously.  :-)
Cause all that’s ever seemed to be of time was just a foolish, fictional storyline. 
But I’m learning that it never really happened... except in my mind!

Cause it’s only me.   I am the dreamer of this dream. 
I just gotta learn to see... it’s only me!
And when I’m afraid, it’s only of thoughts that I have made. 
There’s no one outside to blame… it’s only me.  And I am Free. 
Free... in the Innocence that I see!

And everyone that I see… is just a part of myself who longs to be free…
and I know in my heart, yes I know in my heart we can be!
Cause nothing’s in the way… except an insane thought that says I’m full of shame.  But forgiving You is showing me the Innocence in me.  And I'm Free!
I'm Free… in the Innocence I see!

Yes, I’m free to love and I’m free to shine, I’m free to share this Peace of Mind!
'Cause I’m one with you and you’re one with me and we share same Soul eternally! 
But I fell asleep and I dreamed this dream and now I’ve got to take responsibility…
finally!

Cause it’s only me!   I am the dreamer of this dream. 
I just gotta learn to see... it’s only me. 
And when I’m afraid, it’s only of thoughts that I have made. 
There’s no one outside to blame… it’s only me.  And I am Free!

Free… in the Innocence… I see…        

Cause everyone that I see… and everything I perceive… is me.   
And I am...
I Am..
I Am Free.
:-)

Undoing the Belief in Linear Time

This has got to be the deepest and yet clearest talk on spiritual truth that's available on the planet.  It blows my mind WIDE OPEN every time I watch it and take in the ideas deeper and deeper...

Enjoy!

Dear Prudence (one of my favorite Beatles songs)

The Beatles wrote MANY remarkable and inspired songs, but this one always stood out for me as such a loving and gentle wake up call to the listener... "Come out to play!  Open up your eyes!  Let me see you smile!  You are part of EVERYTHING!"  Ahhh... may we all heed its words by letting our mind sink into our Heart and let It guide us throughout all of our days and in all of our ways.  It doesn't always seem easy... but it is truly ALWAYS quite simple.  It requires nothing more than that we honor our own heart above ALL ELSE, trusting that what's in our own heart's best interest, is ALWAYS in the best interests of EVERY heart... for it is a living Fact that we are all One...  We share one Heart, one Mind, and one Spirit. And when we choose to trust in our own heart, we are trusting in the One Heart that we all share, and so it is a gift, quite literally, for everyone!

So practice honoring your heart above ALL ELSE, trusting that your mind does not know your own best interests, but that your heart DOES!  You are a precious one, and the choices you make in honor of your Heart go out like a ripple to subconsciously affect EVERYONE to honor their own Heart as well.  I am grateful to you always for these wise choices you make, and know that you cannot fail in reaching the ultimate Goal of awakening to Reality, for it is quite literally... inevitable. 

Love and Blessings to you all forever!
Erik

A "Tear-Jerker"!

I was bawling my eyes out throughout this entire video! There is something so DEEPLY touching about people beginning - for the first time perhaps - to give themselves permission to share what's on their heart without holding back. Especially in China, where the society is so repressed that the government even censors the internet! In this video, David Hoffmeister holds a nonjudgmental space for people to open up their heart and share with him their deepest private thoughts, secret desires, hidden shameful memories... as a way of releasing them once and for all. Divine Innocence is then remembered in the hugs and laughter that follow!
Thank you David, for being such a powerful demonstration of Divine Love and Forgiveness in this world! I love you forever...

A Love Song from Jesus...

This is a song I learned several years ago called "The One Who Knows" written by a very talented female singer/songwriter named Dar Williams. I believe she wrote the song for her daughter, but whenever I sing it now, I think of it as somewhat of a Love song from our elder brother, Jesus, or just from the Universal Spirit... to all of us, God's precious children.

 

Silence is golden...

This is one of my first original songs, which I wrote back in college, called "Peace of Mind". In this video, I was going to share a little bit of the song's background and personal meaning, but apparently the Spirit had other plans... :-)