Author: Gary Merel

• Why I decide to become a Bar Mitzvah at 69?

  

  The first question that might come mind when reading the title of this blog is, why become a Bar Mitzvah at 69? Why initiate myself into a life I am already living? That doesn’t make sense. I actually became a Bar Mitzvah when I was 13. The traditional age when a Jewish boy or girl…

  Gary Merel

  December 11, 2022

  Blog

  acccountability, aelf acceptance, archetype, authentic self, Bar Mitzvah, group of men, hero's journey, Iliad and Odyssey, initiated into adulthood, initiation rituals, integrity, Jewish, Jewish boy, Joseph Campbell, loved by men, Man Kind Project, mythology, New Worrior Spirit Adventure, right of passage, self discovery, unconditional love

• My Intimate Connection with Psychedelic Medicine

  

  My sophomore year in high school was a time of spiritual awakening. I don’t actually remember that moment when I realized that there was more to life, my life then could be seen through the eyes of a 15 year old teenager. I just had a growing awareness that there more something more to my…

  Gary Merel

  December 3, 2022

  Blog

  awakening into a deeper sense of being, Buddist, Buddist texts, experince integration, Grace, heroic dose, Hindu, Hindu texts, Huichol Indains, Kallawaya, ketamine, lost sense of time, mescaline, mind disolved, mystery of life, oneness, profound sense of oneness, psilocybin, psilocybin mushroom, psychedelic medicine, psychedlic, psychedlic medicine, psychedlics, rainforest, Shyar, spiritual practice, Spirtual awakening, Terrance McKenna, universal intelligence

• Saving the World with a Bagel & Cup of Coffee

  

  One of my Monday morning rituals involves stopping at a very specific bagel store on the way home from my girlfriend’s house. I have been there often enough for the counter help to know my name and what I order. On this particular Monday the man ahead of me was placing a large order. Two…

  Gary Merel

  November 19, 2022

  Blog

  7 billion people, acceptance, begining of out lives, being human, caring, charity, children, climatge change, compassion, envirnment, expression of being human, feed the people, foundation of beliefs, generoisty, genetics, gesture of charity, gun violence, human bain, human nervous system, human species, humanity, impressionable children, impulse of fear, impulse of love, kindness, love, minds take over, natural disaster, nervous system, Open heart, our minds take over, paradox of life, persoanl stories, politics, seven billion people, show compassion, show love, species, spontaneous kindness

• Digging My Way To China

  

  When I was about 9 or 10 my dad built a sandbox in the backyard of our home. Nothing real big and certainly nothing fancy. But it all a young child needed to ignite his imagination. To this day I am not sure where this idea came from, but I was certain that I could…

  Gary Merel

  November 14, 2022

  Blog

  10 year old boy, awe, China, coming into being, conversation, creative, distinctively, distracted, family, freind, future, future of my life, Grace, grace ignites, growing old, imagination, impulse, intelligence, loving way, our lives, process of creation, pure being, realm of ego, rhythm of life, significant conversation, spontaneous, understanding, unfolding

• Spiritual Awakening & the Mind

  

  I spoke to a dear friend this morning. I called to connect with him. To hear his voice. To schmooze and ponder. He said something that really registered with me. He said that “we are all on the spectrum.” Please understand I am in no way diminishing the daily struggles of anyone who lives with…

  Gary Merel

  November 1, 2022

  Blog

  anti-abortion, attorny, compassion, confusion, different, different opinion, duality, ego, egoic dilemmas, embodied enlightenment, emotions, emotions of life, empirical world, gun hater, gun owner, hate, inter-connectedness, jews, kindness, mind, mind at rest, mishega, mishegoss, misunderstanding, muslim, not grounded in reality, opinion, paradox, People of color, point of view, precision of science, pro-abortion, reality, relationship, schmooze, seperation, spiritually awake, structures of seperation, understanding, understandinng, white supremacist

• A Bit About My Spiritual Journey.

  

  My spiritual journey is and continues to be the focal point of my life. I did not follow a specific path tied to a specific linage or teachings. My journey is specific to me and has been unfolding over the last 54 years. One of my favorite movies is the Razors Edge with Bill Murray. …

  Gary Merel

  October 24, 2022

  Blog

  Andes, Be HEre Now, Bhagavad Gita, Bill Murray, Buddist monastery, community of freinds, daughter, divorse, freinds, granddaughters, Herman Hesse, Huichol Indians, India, married, mediation practice, mescaline, messiness of life, Napal, plant medicine, put your attention, rain forest, ram dass, reality of life, reality of my life, Sidhartha, spiritual awakening, spiritual teacher, The Razors Edge, yoga, yoga ashsram

• Restoring My Sense of Wellbeing

  

  It is fairly accurate to say that we live in some very stressful times. There are influences that feel outside our control that can have a direct and sometimes immediate impact on the outcome and quality of our lives. There is a lot of uncertainly in the world we live in. Financial uncertainty. Inflation. The…

  Gary Merel

  October 18, 2022

  Blog

  agenda, anxiety, bicycle, bike, challenges, doom, ear in Ukraine, ego, egoic, fear, fight or flight, financial, finanial uncertainty, fire circle, freinds, human beings, illness, inflation, left leaning, love, Man Kind Project, meal, nervous system, news, outcome of our lives, pending doom, perpetuate fear, physcial body, psilocybin muchrooms, pushes agenda, release fear, right leaning, ritual use, ritual use of psilocybin, safety, sense of safety, share meal, spiritual teacher, stress, stressful times, Ukraine, war, wellbeing, withdraw, withdraw from life

• Being OK With Fear

  

  This blog post is about fear. My experience of fear. Something I have been become very familiar with in the last few weeks. It’s not like I haven’t been afraid before. Sometimes very intensely. Lately, it just seems that fear has taken over my attention and is demanding some consideration. Fear is one of the…

  Gary Merel

  October 6, 2022

  Blog

  all of you is welcome, basic emotion, being afraid, change I signed up for, deeper sense of being, dessert washed me clean, doom, evoking fear, fear, friend, friend who loves me, future, future without any promise, greater possibilities of life, human experience, ignore fear, life change, mind runs amuck, nervous system, pending sense of doom, regain sense of self, released fear, resonating, resonating throughout my nervous system, Sabino Canyon, sense of doom, sense of doom slough off, Sonoran dessert, stuck energy, turbulence, ungrounded, untethered, washed clean, what if's

• Can you really speak to God?

  

  On one of my trips to Ecuador, I was relaxing in a hotel room my friend Craig.  Two days prior we had landed in Quito the capital of Ecuador.  A good place to start most trips to visit the country. It was the beginning of a two-week vacation. We were feeling the need to take…

  Gary Merel

  September 26, 2022

  Blog

  7.7 billion beings, awakening, co-creation, conscious intelligence, creation, creative intelligence, Ecuador, Grace, human mind, humanity, intelligence, Machu Picchu, mind dropped away, operating sysytem, public interface, public interface of god, Quito, spiritual teacher, unknowable intelligence

• Chop Wood. Carry Water.

  

  Chop Wood and Carry Water. This saying resonates with me. It is an old Zen koan. It is simple, yet profound. It reads, Before enlightenment, chop wood & carry water. After enlightenment, chop water and carry water. Although it appears nothing has changed on the outside (doing), everything has changed on the inside (being). It…

  Gary Merel

  September 21, 2022

  Blog

  burn out, career change, Carry Water, changing employment, Chop Wood, Chop Wood Carry Water, earn a living, employmenr, employment, Grace, illunination, lean into my life, life, movement in the world, pay bills, preconceived notions, risk for happiness, risk taking, synchronicities, synchronicity, unique expression, universe, work, Zen koan