By Limin Hong
I have in my hands two boxes, Which God gave me to hold. He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black box, And all your joys in the gold." I heeded His words, and in the two boxes, Both my joys and sorrows I stored. But though the gold became heavier each day, The black was as light as before. With curiosity, I opened the black, I wanted to find out why; And I saw in the base of the box a hole, Which my sorrows had fallen out by. I showed the hole to God and mused, "I wonder where my sorrows could be!" He smiled a gentle smile and said, "My child, they're all here with me." I asked God, why He gave me the boxes; Why the gold and the black with the hole? "My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings; The black is for you to let go." Harry Chapin routinely performed charity concerts, giving his money away to rebuild this place or that; feeding the hungry here and the hungry there. But Harry's social causes at times caused friction among his band members. He donated a third of his paid concerts to charity, often performing alone with his guitar to reduce costs.
After Harry's death, his wife Sandy said, "Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away." Despite his success as a musician, he left little money and it was difficult to maintain the causes for which he raised more than $3 million in the last six years of his life. The Harry Chapin Foundation was the result, which works to support organizations that have demonstrated their ability to dramatically improve the lives and livelihood of people by helping them to become self-sufficient.. As of September of 2012 the Foundation has distributed over 1.7 million dollars to 413 organizations. Oh if a man tried To take his time on Earth And prove before he died What one man's life could be worth I wonder what would happen to this world Harry showed us what would happen. And so will I. Who wants to join us? Today I received an email from Jeff McBride. It contained a message from Jordan Wright, a talented artist, both as magical performer and filmmaker.
Judging Success How do you judge yourself and your success? Do you look at your career and see completion or do you see room for growth? Many magicians might choose to measure their success by how many shows they have done. Others might choose to measure only by the amount of money they make. The tendency is to dwell on the work we have in the moment or have had in the past. But there are those times when we feel like we are working just as hard yet we are getting very little “work”. It is easy to get to feeling down and to feel like we are not a success. We might receive a bad review, and suddenly our self-doubt creeps in. In the end, it all comes down to our attitude in how we judge our success. If we judge how great our work is by what we have done, or the feedback we receive, then we are only looking at the end result rather than the passion we had doing it. One of my favorite types of art is conceptual art. In its origins, conceptual art challenged the belief that the purpose of art was to create material objects. Conceptual art is never focused on the result, or the product that is produced. Instead, the focus is placed on the process, the creation of new concepts and ideas. Relating this to magic, think of magicians who are always striving to develop new techniques and skills to accomplish an effect. A lay audience might never see much of what they come up with, yet they are always generating new ideas. Perhaps we can learn from this “concept” to measure success by our passion to attempt something new. After all, we have to be willing to create something beyond what has been done in the past in order for our art to evolve. Our work is not just about the end result, it is about the creative process. The end result will look good if the process felt good. It doesn’t matter what I do so long as I do it.
Seek first the Kingdom of God. Then all prayers will be answered. Seek the inner, rather than the outer. Seek first to love and understand. What matters now and forever is the spirit. What matters now is Life and that I do it as my soul wills. I’ve natural abilities that are to serve this mission in Life. To honor God and all that is I must use my talents, sharing them with others. In this way I will be God’s moon, reflecting His Light into the darkness for others to follow. They in turn will become my moons, reflecting God’s Light to even more, until one day his Love is set up as a tent over the entire world. We are God’s campers, blanketed by his Love. Some do not see and even those that do do not fully understand. But if we continue to listen and follow our Hearts, the promptings of our Spirit, we will know our Lord’s Peace, Love and Joy. I have a dream. In this dream my talents allow me to support myself and my family. My talents are as a resource magnet; all that I need is supplied to me in abundance. If I need food, it is given. If I need clothing, it is given. If I need shelter, it is given. If I need transportation, it is given. If I need nurturing, it is given. If I need a favor, it is given. If I need forgiveness, it is given. If I need help, it is given. If I need Love, it is given. If I need Hope, it is given. If I need prayers, it is given. If I need guidance, it is given. If I need council, it is given. If I need opportunity, it is given. If I need experience, it is given. If I need a friend, it is given. If I need advice, it is given. If I need wisdom, it is given. If I need strength, it is given. If I need perseverance, it is given. If I need knowledge, it is given. If I need warmth, it is given. If I need a cool breeze, it is given. If I need Light, it is given. If I need a sign, it is given. If I need my Heavenly Angles, They are given. If I need my Savior, He is given. If I need my God, He will carry me Home. And in this dream, with these talents that support my well-Being, they are also shared with others, so that they too may be supported. That all that they may need is given unto them. My dream is to be God’s moon. To reflect His Love unto others. To shed His Love all across this beautiful Earth. “It is a magnificent feeling to recognize the unity of complex phenomena which appear to be things quite apart from the direct visible truth.” – Albert Einstein
The wall calendar of my high school sophomore Biology class had that above quote from Einstein printed on it. I had no idea what the heck it was supposed to mean. At the end of the school year I asked my teacher, Mrs. Higney, if I could have the calendar. Ever the gracious teacher, she agreed to it. From 1999 to 2009 that calendar hung on my bedroom wall opened to that quote. I kept it open there so that it would be constantly there, ever present in my daily life to incorporate it into my reality. It was taken down from my wall in 2009 for I no longer had walls. That November I left on a bicycle ride in fulfillment of my mission. I quit my job, got rid of all of my possessions, sold my car, left my apartment and got on a bicycle and headed to California from Massachusetts. The ride lasted five days before I turned around and came back to nothing but Love and a Clean Slate. Despite the fact that I didn’t make it to California didn’t concern me, for that was not the real destination. And in many ways, even though it has been over a year since the return, I know that I am still on that bicycle ride. I just don’t happen to be on the bicycle right now. So what, then, is the real destination? Perhaps it was the Clean Slate. Perhaps it was to Discover Love. Perhaps it was to take a break from Life. Or perhaps to take a break from what others call the World. And perhaps it was a means to an end. The ride didn’t really start in November 2009. Perhaps it started that spring when a tree spoke to me and told me that I was on a Journey of Discovery. Or perhaps it was the summer before when my fiancé passed away. Or perhaps it was when we met in high school nine years earlier. Or perhaps it all started my sophomore year of high school, sitting in Biology class, looking at the walls. And wondering what it means “to recognize the unity of complex phenomena which appear to be things quite apart from the direct visible truth.” In the time since I left everything behind to go on that Faithful ride I became broke. I became homeless. I slept on my friend’s floor for six months. I let go of all that was holding me back. I became a Mormon I read “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse I became a school teacher. I met a wonderful woman and fell in Love instantly and asked her to marry me. She said yes. All of these things I could not see going into that bicycle ride yet all of these things prepared me for what was to come next. And what is coming next is preparing me for what I still cannot see. Yet what I can see is the unity of the complex mystery of Faith that is the Universal Plan. And I am enjoying every moment of this Journey of Discovery. The Study of Life is a worthy endeavor for all Beings. Last night was stressful.
I work eight and a half hours a week at Fresh Acres in Springfield, MA and last night there was a threat of an upcoming inspection by headquarters. The inspection would test the quality of my work according to sanitation requirements. All night I was checking and double checking that my work was completed flawlessly so that no marks could come against me. I felt like I was trying to prove something to them when I know with my Being that I’ve nothing to prove. My words are my words. My deeds are my deeds. My no means no and my yes means yes. Surely I understand that these inspections must be done for quality control but I just don’t appreciate the pressure. Yet once I reminded myself that the inspection will happen whether I get stressed out or not I calmed down and just did what I had to do. Worry and anxiety has never added a single minute to life. After work I drove to the Hampshire Mall to see ”Hereafter” at Cinemark but when I arrived at the theatre and walked to the mall doors I knew that I would not see the movie. I knew that I had no right in my current financial state to give any amount of money to see a movie, regardless of my interest in it. And regardless of the fact that I just drove forty minutes to the theatre just to see the movie. But I approached the ticket window anyway, knowing I would only reject the movie. I saw the movie time. Only a half hour wait. The window attendant didn’t even acknowledge me. Then I walked away, got in my car and drove the forty minutes back to Springfield to spend time with my friend Dave Halfpenny. I do not see this trip as a waste of time and gas, rather I see it as a lesson. A lesson revealing to me what I must do the next time I want something that I do not deserve. That night I dreamed that my loved ones had been here before. Many times before. We left the other side of the veil at different times throughout the span of time and all eternity and would arrive safely on Earth and then back again with new faces and experiences. Yet even with the new faces we knew who we all were. We knew that we so loved each other. We sat quietly in our living room, like the Simpsons upon arriving home after all their doings and responsibilities were done. We came home to be with each other again. I have decided to sell my fiancée’s engagement ring so that I may make good on the many debts I accumulated when she passed away just a day after I picked it out for her.
I have not made this decision lightly for this is the ring that I promised to give to her but never did. I just could not bring myself to do it after that unimaginable Sunday afternoon after stepping through the unfathomable door at the funeral parlor and walking the impossible walk across the room to stand over her lifeless body lying in the casket. One week earlier from that very moment we were playing mini-golf at Lake Winnepesaukah and just four days before that we were lying together in her bed staring into each other’s eyes, our souls were talking to each other you see. She was willing me to ask, and I that I hadn’t a ring yet, and she that it didn’t matter. And so I asked. And so she smiled. And so she nodded. And so I smiled. And so I said, “I always wondered what that would feel like.” And so she asked, “What?” And so I said, “To ask the woman of my dreams to marry me and to have her say yes and to have that woman be you.” And yet there I was with ring in hand and finally ready to give it to her seeing in my heart that the woman lying in that casket was not Stephanie. No. It was not my best friend. No. It was not her. No. It was most certainly the body her soul inhabited during her time as Stephanie but no that was not Stephanie. And so I couldn’t give Stephanie’s ring to a lifeless body that was not her and so I carried that ring with me anywhere and everywhere I went in search of her from appletini to appletini yet anywhere and everywhere I could not find her. I drank all my work. I drank all my possessions. I drank all my money. I drank all my hopes. I drank all my life away and still I couldn’t find her. And so time went on and time went by as I did not and just when I all but gave up I did find her again and I will give you a hint as to how I finally did: She was found in letting go. No job. No car. No home. No possessions. No anything nor no everything. No nothing no never no not no none no no. Once I let go of life I found that I could have all of life and it was in all of life that I found Peace of Mind. And it was in all of life that I found Love in my Heart. And it was in all of life that I found Joy for Life. Yes, I have finally found Stephanie again. Yes, I have not made this decision lightly to sell my fiancée’s engagement ring that I promised to give to her but never did but I have found Stephanie again and I have also found I no longer need to carry this ring anymore nor do I need to hoard it anymore for this ring is of this world but is not for this world and my work is for this world but is not of this world and my work for this world needs the money that this ring holds. Transferring this money to my work for this world will finally allow me to give to Stephanie her engagement ring that I promised to give her but never did to make good on the many debts I accumulated when she passed away just a day after I picked it out for her, this modest trilogy diamond ring that has an inscription that reads “P.S. I Love You” It is with a heavy heart that such a moment has come but it is with a heavy heart that all moments of this world come. With Abundant Peace of Mind, Love in Your Heart and Joy for Life -- Jonas Cain Late one night, as I walked across the railroad tracks on a dark lonely road, a tree spoke to me. I thought it was odd for a tree had never spoken to me before. Because of the special circumstances I listened closely to what the tree had to say. "You are on a journey of discovery," said the tree. "But where am I to journey to?" I asked, "And what am I to discover?" The tree never answered my questions. I don't believe the tree was trying to be rude, rather I believe that the wisdom of the tree knew that I had it within me to answer these questions myself. That was the day I consciously began my Journey of Discovery.
I visited my best friend yesterday. It's been sometime since I visited her last. I think I've only been there once since the return from my bicycle trip. I didn't plan on going there and I was a little hesitant when the idea popped into my head. I've been doing really good lately and I didn't want to stir up emotions that may still be laying dorment in my mind.
It was my first official day working with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Since they hired me as their "Musical Petting Zookeeper" I've been fixing the instruments, getting the cleaning materials organized, making phone calls and emails to clients and preparing my presentation script. But yesterday was the big day to see if all my work would pay off. I visited two schools in a row, for preschool and kindergarden aged children, and taught them about the different instruments from an orchestra then they got to play them. It was so fun seeing these little kids playing the cello and violins, the tuba and trombone, banging on the glockenspiel and triangle and waving the conductors baton around. Since I've taken my new direction in my work with magic I've had little interest in performing magic for children. I've rather moved the focus of my work to inspirational programs to motivate the participants to go after the life they were born to live. But this music program perfectly into my new vision, allowing me to do the magic I want to do instead of the magic that I have to do. In 2007 when my best friend and I got engaged I decided that I wanted to be with her more than I wanted to be a magician so I decided that I would pursue a career in music, as a teacher first then become a conductor of a symphony orchestra (a man has a right to dream!) When she passed away soon after all dreams died and that's when I became acquanted with my dark night. Inspired by the desire to leave the darkness I slowly began to heal and have been in the Light for over three and a half months now. Interestingly it coincides with the release of my book which details my experinece in the darkness. Now, nearly three years later, I have my job with the symphony and am able to inspire young people by teaching them about music and no longer have to perform magic to support myself. Instead of marrying my best friend I have married my two passions, enabling me to maintain artistic integrity with all my work while helping, teaching and healing those around me. That is why I went to see Stephanie yesterday. It used to be that when such wonderful things happened I would call her or go to her apartment and share with her my excitement. So I just had to go and, for the first time in such a long time, share my joy instead of my sadness, grief and despair like all my former visits to her grave. I am so happy that I have her. I am so happy that she is my Guardian Angel. I am so happy that we get to do great things now, things that we wouldn't have been able to do if it worked out any other way. For I carry her heart with me (I carry it in my heart). With Abundant Peace, Love and Light- Jonas http://www.jonascain.com i carry your heart with me by ee cummings i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) On a walk
Today Recognized the true nature of the phrase “I Love You.” For such a small phrase it holds such profound meaning. It is an expression of gratitude, an apology, forgiveness, a promise, a prayer and a declaration. When I say I Love You I’m saying is thank you for being a part of my life. Thank you for all that you do and all that you are. Thank you for who you were and who you want to be. Thank you for your Vision. I Love You. When I say I Love You I’m saying sorry for all that I have done in the past to have hurt you or dishonored your trust. I’m sorry for any pain that I may have brought you now and in the past. I never meant to hurt you and I am so very sorry. I Love You. When I say I Love You I am saying that I forgive you for anything that you have done now and in the past to have hurt me. I know that you never mean to cause me pain and recognize that we all make mistakes along our journey through life. I trust you and forgive you for all your missteps. I Love You. When I say I Love You I am saying that I promise to do all that I can to help build you up. Whatever you may need along your path to spiritual advancement I will do all that I am able. That is my promise to you. I Love You. When I say I Love You I’m praying that all of your Hopes and Dreams come true. What you think, say and do matters to the world. I value all that you are and pray for your vision to come to life. I am routing for you. I Love You. When I say I Love You I’m recognizing the connection between us. By verbalizing this recognition it is acknowledging as a declaration for all to know that we are truly the same and not as separate as so many believe. I declare that the Divine in Me recognizes the Divine in You. I Love You. Three simple words; so often so hard to say. “I” and “Love” and “You.” A world so blessed with all recognizing the true nature of Love would be a much more peaceful world indeed. Until then, let me say this: Thank You for being a part of my life and for all that you are. I am sorry for anything I have ever done to hurt you. I forgive you for anything you have ever done to have hurt me. I promise to do all that I can to help build you up to become the person you were born to be. I pray that all of your Hopes and Dreams come true. And I understand that you and I, despite our differences, are truly the same; United by the Divine in each of use. In other words: I Love You. After two and a half years of writing, editing, rewriting, re-editing, sharing and setting aside and writing some more and editing some more, my book is finally finished…and published! “It Just Happened the Other Day: A True Story” began on a quiet park bench late in the evening one mid summer night as the air turned purple and a storm flashed lightening in the far off distance. My best friend and I were talking about all the adventures her and I had shared over the years and we decided to write about them together in a book. We had shared a similar promise to do a play together, but at that time I didn’t keep that promise. Perhaps in the back of my mind I thought maybe this idea about the book wouldn’t stick either; that maybe it was just a dream that two people so often fantasize about while sitting on park benches in the summer. Turns out it was much more than a fantasy, for today it is a reality. But the book is not the only promise I kept. Back in the fall of 2008 I made good on the play promise too, premiering the multimedia theatrical production of “It Just Happened the Other Day: A True Story.” It is my hope that these accomplishments will serve as inspired proof to others that whatever you can dream, if you truly want it with all of your heart and soul, never give up and are willing to ask for help along the way, then you can achieve it.
This book is based on my experiences with my best friend, and is the book that we had originally decided to write together back on August 3, 2007. It reveals my personal secrets, the stories behind my magic, the obstacles I've faced, and the questionable decisions I made along the way. “It just Happened the Other Day: A True Story” reveals a new way to live life; offering a fresh perspective on the experiences life gives us enabling us to dream freely and to live those very dreams. In short it is an important read for everyone looking for the inspiration and motivation to live the life they want to live. In honor of the release of this book I am holding a dinner party on Sunday February 28 at Abruzzo’s Restaurant at 2589 Boston Road in Wilbraham and I invite you to attend. The party begins with a social hour and cocktails at 5PM followed by buffet dinner at 6PM. At 7PM there will a performance of my show “The Meta-Illusion Experience” with live music by The MaGenies featuring percussionist Matt Skowyra, singer/songwriter/acoustic guitarist Mike Barone, and yours truly on saxophone. The party is $30 per guest and you can receive their own personal copy of “It Just Happened the Other Day: A True Story” for just $20…but if you reserve your seat before February 21 you will get both the autographed book and dinner with entertainment plus be entered to win a $60.00 cash prize all for only $40.00. To reserve your seat call 413-364-4862 or email jonas@jonascain.com This is truly a very special event for me and I hope to have you there in support to share it. Peace -- Jonas |
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