Stepping into Grease

While this intensely involving ascension/descension is documented more fully in other acoustic and electric files, Extra Curricular Sav enjoys the distinction of encapsulating my whole experience of life since meeting Athena in seven (now eight) brief entries. What begins with one of my typically voiced ruminations shifts year by year into an ever-deepening sense of energies within that really put the physical into what is usually called metaphysical. All the old dualities have been upgraded thanks to Mantak Chia - fire and water at the top of that list - but this additional intuition-in-overdrive remains problematic. I may as well have worded my status of this and that as attention/detention.

In the first couple of entries there's a delight in being able to say whatever I damn well please. All cyber-space newbies must get that high, whether they go by their true identity or not. But as this drama of shadow lives has unfolded I have had to work vigilantly not to be presumptuous in order to satisfy some clever literary humor, but rather to use silence to protect people's dignity, including myself and her husband. I do not visit their websites and I am not on drugs; clearly nobody could hold so much palpable weight in my internal space without her assistance. Silence is the friend to the writer interested in truth as well as the musician interested in rhythm.

Taoism according to Mantak Chia is an excellent place to deal with eternal dualities like yin and yang or life and death. Then there are dialectics conceived totally by the human mind, like the tug between sincerity and irony. This multi-colored weave of meaning and non-meaning threads the fabric of all our modern struggles to make something of life. Mantak teaches refinement of virtues (gentleness, kindness) quite specifically in relation to strengthening organs (kidney, liver) - clearly he represents sincerity, not just in moderation, but to the extreme! Others called to the task of marrying ancient Eastern wisdom to Western ambition have a much harder time not getting tripped up in the ironic. Egos are slippery, they are lined with human oils. Stepping into grace means stepping into grease. That's not a bad thing. I had no idea stepping into grace would mean stepping into greece. I was only trusting a hunch, long before I knew anything about her. I did not expect this hunch - althought it was a big one - to plunge me into such prolonged exile. Whenever I center myself and just breathe, that's when I feel her the most. Which can make me cry. Now I avoid going to yoga classes. Tears are manageable in a home practice.

Waiting for the Rain

I have no more sense of longing, I have only come to doubt
The scenes of love I always dreamed were true
But it's love that keeps me guessing
And love keeps me confessing
That I can't take my mind away from you

Waiting for the Rain
will it ever be the same
in memory and pain
Waiting for the Rain

I was dreaming of an island about a million years ago
Where the women held the fire in their hands
But war they say is endless
And armies are defenseless
Against the limitations in the minds of men

Waiting for the rain, will it ever be the same
In memory and pain, waiting for the rain

When I saw you for the first time I knew I'd not forget
The grace with which you moved across the sand
You're running with your shoes off where the winds have turned to grass
And all I want is to take you by the hand

Love tonight and rain today
If only it could be this way
Deliverance is far away
Patience is the time you pay

Waiting for the rain, will it ever be the same
In memory and pain, waiting for the rain

Waiting for the rain, in memory and pain
Will it ever be the same?
Waiting for the Rain


Words and music by John Savlove; published by SaveLove Music (ASCAP)
The chorus and all the music to this song have been in my stack for years, but I didn't get the verses right until Januray 2008. It turned out to be the standout track among a set of piano/vocals recorded November 08 collectively entitled "You Must Be Joking".
For reasons of presentaton, these tracks are only available upon request.