Chris Duel

Broadcaster, Soul Provider

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Archives for July 2016

The World is Not As It Seems, The World is As You Are

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The world is not as it seems The world is as you are

The world is not as it seems

The world is as you are

 

Like attracts like

Vibration attracts vibration

You are living in Heaven

Or you are living in Hell

 

As Albert Einstein said,

“There are only two ways to live your life

One is as though nothing is a miracle

The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

 

The beauty of life is that this choice is yours

 

To quote Jesus from the Gospel of Thomas,

“The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the Earth

But men do not see it.”

 

Some women do

Some men do

They are those who choose

To pull back the veil

Open to the miracle

And realize

This is the sacred moment

 

 

Brothers of The Sky

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Chris & The Total Eclipse 1991

The longest total solar eclipse of the 20th Century – July 11, 1991

Twenty-five years ago today, at high noon, I watched day turn to night in the ancient Aztec village of Ixtlán de las Garzas, Mexico.

For nearly eight minutes (the longest total solar eclipse of the 20th Century) I was bathed in the dark, fleeting shadow of the Moon.

The Sun disappeared. The stars sparkled in the eerie twilight sky at midday as the temperature fell several degrees.

It was an experience so cosmically profound that its mystical echo reverberates through my psyche all these years later.

Within minutes, the Sun emerged from behind the Moon and daytime returned across Mexico.

For human beings to be directly in the shadow of the Moon is a very rare event. You must either find a way into the path of a total solar eclipse or have been one of the 27 Apollo astronauts who circled around the dark side of the Moon in the late Sixties and early Seventies.

While viewing a lunar eclipse (the Moon moving into the Earth’s shadow) or a partial solar eclipse (the Sun not fully obscured by the shadow of the Moon) is relatively common, a total solar eclipse is one of the rarest celestial events to be witnessed from this planet.

This transcendent moment was especially meaningful because I shared it with one of my dearest friends, Henry Iglesias, a singer-songwriter and Renaissance man.

Henry and his family were originally from Mexico, so were watching this eclipse from his native soil.

Henry was my guide into his ancestral homeland and into the shadow of the Moon.

1991 Mexico Eclipse

With Henry, hours before the Total Solar Eclipse – July 11, 1991

Those moments in the Moon’s shadow with Henry were among the most magical moments of my life.

Henry In The Shadow of The Moon

In 2007, much too young, Henry left this Earthly existence.  He was taken by a brain tumor nine months after his diagnois.

Every July 11th, I think of Henry and I think of those few moments in the shadow of the Moon.

In honor of the Henry and the Eclipse, I offer you two expressions of art.  The first is a poem of mine and the second is Henry’s quintessential offering, the last song he wrote and produced before his passing.

First, my poem…

A remembrance of our time in the Moon’s shadow…

With Henry, In The Shadow Of The Moon”

Another time

Another century

Another life.

But the time

And the century

And the life

Were mine.

And his.

Planets were aligning

Celestial spheres inexorably drawn.

Eleventh of July, 1991.

When the heavens offer a gift

You must be present to receive.

He led me into Mexico

The land of his birth

The land would birth me

To transcendence

To bliss

To awe.

I knew he was my friend

I know he was my shaman

Guiding me to the light

And the shadow

Where few have truly been:

Astronauts orbiting the lunar dark side

And fortunate few on the planet

Or dreamers like us

Who seek the shadow.

We arrived on hallowed ground

On ancient Aztec soil

Eyes cast skyward

The shadow rushing toward us

We felt it coming

The animals, birds, insects, trees felt it coming.

All became still

Temperature dropped

Time fell away

And then, oh, so suddenly

It… all… merged…

Sun, Moon, Shadow, Earth

Moon, Earth, Shadow, Sun

Earth, Sun, Shadow, Moon

Sun, Moon, Shadow

Moon, Shadow

Shadow

Shadow

Shadow

Here.

Now.

Day turned to night.

I.

I. See.

I. See. Stars.

I. See. Stars. At. Noon.

Henry, look at the stars!

And the Sun eclipsed by the Moon

Oh!

My!

God!

Rapt.

Bathed in the splendor

Of the cosmic dance of spheres

In holy, holy, holy communion.

Eternal

My friend, my shaman

Thank you for guiding me there

Years fly by.

You find true love

You write and sing

About the Smile of God

And Brothers of The Sky

And then, oh, so suddenly

Your body eclipsed by a brain tumor

Henry, look at the stars!

They shine with you among them.

The shadow lingers

Your spirit lives.

Another time

Another century

Another life.

If I go back

To seek the shadow

Will you meet me there?

Years before Henry died, he told me of a vision for a song titled, “Brothers of The Sky.”

It was about your ultimate brother or guide or guardian angel who will fly you from this world to the next.

The idea resonates with me, having lost my older brother Greg at a young age and more recently, having lost Henry and other dear friends and loved ones.

In the final months of his life, although he was battling a brain tumor and all of the debilitating challenges that come with it, Henry managed to record and produce his farewell song as the final track on his last album.

I see it as the culmination of his life’s work as an artist, a father, a son, a husband and a human being.

Here it is…

“Brothers of The Sky”

Words and Music by Henry Iglesias

I am the voice inside of you

A whispering constant in your life

Everyone fears the letting go

Until they glimpse the other side

 

I am the voice from far away

I have the ears that hear your prayer

A guardian angel sent to say

Someone out there really cares

 

I’ll take your hand

When it’s time to walk into the night

Please understand

I am your brother in the sky

 

Traveling across the Universe

Children of the stars that burn so bright

Voyaging to foreverness

You and I are brothers of the sky

 

Everyone finds me their own way

In every land and everywhere

Some take a lifetime, some a day

Seeking a piece of Heaven’s share

 

I am the shining star above

I am the glimmer in the light

I am the power of your love

I am your brother in the sky

 

Just take my hand

When it’s time for you to say goodnight

And we will fly

A wondrous journey deep into the light

 

Traveling across eternity

Going to the place we all have been

Going to the place where souls are free

Beyond the timeless stars are friends

 

Traveling into the other side

The universe is all inside God’s eye

Children of the stars eternally

You and I are brothers of the sky

 

Do not fear your own mortality

Cause there’s more to life than meets the eye

In the end all of us will be free

Don’t be afraid to say goodbye

 

I’ll close your eyes

Softly close your eyes

And we will fly

Like brothers of the sky

 

The Universe

The Universe

The Universe

Is all inside God’s eye

Traveling With Henry

Dedicated to the eternal spirit of Henry Robert Iglesias

My Brother of The Sky

The Summer of Our Discontent

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American Summer 2016

American Summer 2016

How do we make sense of the senseless?

Beheadings and car bombs on the other side of the world.

Civilian “soft targets,” from Paris to Brussels to Istanbul, suicide bombed by “martyrs” in the name of their God.

A slaughter in an Orlando nightclub.

Over 2,000 gun deaths in Chicago this year.

Cell phone video of highly questionable shootings of African Americans.

And now, the ambush and assassination of Dallas Police officers during an otherwise peaceful protest.

Ironically, this most recent national tragedy occurred very close to Dealey Plaza, the site of America’s most notorious assassination.

How do we make sense of the senseless? 

We cannot.

But there are things we can do.

We can affect our own individual spheres of influence. 

Our family, friends, neighbors and communities.

It starts small.  It starts organically.  It starts with you.  And it grows.

We can choose reason over insanity.

We can choose light over darkness.

We can choose love over fear.

We can increase the peace. 

In our communities, in our state, in our nation, in our world.

The good people in this world vastly outnumber the misguided, vicious ones.

I am convinced that in the end, love wins.

We just need to consciously, actively intend the light and the love a little more.

 

Happy Mid Year! – 183 Days Down, 183 Days To Go

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Happy Mid Year

Happy Mid Year

We are halfway through our yearly circle around the Sun.

While we celebrate the New Year by ringing it in, making toasts and singing Auld Lang Syne, are you taking the time to celebrate the Happy Mid Year?

Shall we make Mid Year’s Resolutions like so many do on the New Year?

This is no longer a new year, but a middle-aged year. It’s day 183 of the year with 183 days left, we are perched upon the year’s midpoint.

If we compare the phases of the Moon to the progression of the year, we start at a New Moon (New Year) and the midpoint would be represented by the Full Moon.

The midpoint is now.  With maximum fullness, light and reflectivity.

After the Moon is full, like the year, it will wane, retreating from fullness into inevitable shadow, death and rebirth.

So will our lives and the lives of all whom we love and will ever know.

The circular cycle of birth, growth, fullness and disintegration mirrors every aspect of our lives, our years and the heavenly bodies in the sky.

If we choose, the midpoint of the year – like the fullness of the Moon – is just as appropriate a time to reflect, take personal inventory and begin again.

While you can certainly choose a New Year or a midpoint or a Full Moon as the auspicious moment to make changes in your life, you can also choose any day, any moment, any moon to grow, to evolve, to do the right things.

A day or night like this one is a reminder for us to look at our calendar, look at our lives and look into our souls.

Sometimes the New Year or the mid year or the Full Moon whispers to you that your time is now. And like the year and the ever-changing Moon, your days are full, but also waning.

Perhaps now is the time to choose to become more of the person you came here to be.

Ring it in.

Raise a toast.

Sing Auld Lang Syne.

Even in July.

Happy Mid Year!