ETHOS…Utopia Lost ~ Utopia Found

~ethos:  beliefs, customs or practices of a group, the fundamental character or spirit of a culture, the moral element which determines actions, dominant assumptions of a group…an immersion of soul into the universal current of life

For me, divinity takes form, that resonates in me, with Michael.”

Siren

~Sharing our gifts and our talents with the world is the most powerful source of connection with God~

Brene Brown

Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder

Help someone’s soul heal

Rumi

Between the notes, beside the rhythm, within the dance, beyond the moves…we share Michael in every way we can, without seeking anything else.  What will come, will come.  The point is to do the work.  “That desire to do something is God inside, talking through us.”  Michelle Shea’s words shed light on our moving beyond the choreography of Michael’s last moments on earth…into the dance of his life.  It is the thought patterns we choose, and the persistence we give to affirming them.  When confronted with media ignorance and agenda-ridden myth, biopics filled with misinformation and lies,  we step back and say…We have been blessed with the truth and we are transformed.  With an emotional shift, there is no going back.  Throughout time, there have been those who have helped define divinity; Jesus, The Dali Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela.  Michael, too, was a chosen one.  His balm heals, soothes and helps to mitigate our pains.  We are empowered to make decisions that change everything.  We do the next right thing.  We feel a pathos to understanding.

~I believe in the sun, even when it’s not shining~

~I believe in love when I cannot feel it~

~I believe in God, even when he is silent!

*words written on a wall during the Holocaust

We are reminded…THAT’S JUST THE WAY IT ENDED.  IT  WASN’T A MEASURE OF THE EXPERIENCE.  As the calendar page turns to June, we feel waves of profound sadness, and often find it hard to accept these words.  History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.  June after June, we suffer through tabloid media and extortionists inviting our anger.  We have learned to use anger, acting upon it to point us in a direction worthy of Michael.  We are rewarded by our risk taking…empowered to continue to educate the world.  Learning from Michael strength and persistence, we refuse to allow our freedom to be sabotaged.  Writing is one way to share the truth.  Through the lens of Michael, our fight is with a pipeline of ideas, telling his story.

Respecting our biologically programmed need for play, we deal with difficulties.  Play provides a sense of expansiveness and promotes mastery of our work…an essential part of the creative process.  It is PEOPLE POWER, winning and losing…never a spectator sport.  In a time where the ugly stew of racism comes from those in power, where money is its only goal,  Michael’s words enlighten our souls, more precious than jewels.  We have been told:  When in sorrow, the light is closest to us~Hazrat Inayat Khan  We know that what has been said is not enough.

Michael Jackson is aesthetically and spiritually significant.  We return to his artistry day after day ~ as I have done for eight years since that seminal moment that pushed me into the light~ with a feeling of wonder and excitement.  We move from fear to love. 

Shmhm~to hear or listen

This ETHOS, this universal current of life, is UTOPIA FOUND.  Because we feel deeply, we use what we have learned to express ourselves.  Beginning with the moment that made a difference in the trajectories of our lives, we live:  There is a legend that says…Once in your lifetime something happens and changes your whole life forever.  After this turning point, your life will never be the same.  Often, we may feel  the weight of subtractive art; thinking about what is this vast universe called Michael Jackson, isolating the essence of what the theme is for today.

“Do not wait for someone else to come and speak for you.  It’s you who can change the world.”

Malala Yousfzai

There is a moral DNA that Michael brings out in us all as we march toward ourselves.  Our connectedness to God expresses itself with Michael as our Guide.  We are held and comforted, even learning to metabolize pain as energy.  As Albert Einstein said:  In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.  With our connection lies our voice.

CRY

You can change the world (I can’t do it by myself)

You can touch the sky (Gonna take somebody’s help)

You’re the chosen one (I’m gonna need some kind of sign)

If we all cry at the same time tonight

Michael Jackson

People need to run with God

People need to dance for God

Turn the music on

Peyton

Age 3

~I promise to use this platform, as we all should.  I will use my voice to speak for the voiceless and to fight for the rights that every one of us deserves.  Every woman that walks this earth, every mother, every sister, every daughter, and every lover, every member of my fellow LGBTQ community, every immigrant, every child, every animal and every plant.  The glamour is awesome, the fashion, everything is cool but, there’s so much more, there are so many important things we need to be using our voices  for…and, everybody in this room has the power~

Paris Jackson

LA Fashion Daily LA Awards 2017

Teen Vogue May 2017

Paris Jackson

“I honestly used to have no motivation whatsoever to be in the public eye; it scared me.  I’ve seen what it can do to people and plenty get hurt.  But after a long time of thinking, I started to really see the kind of impact I already have on people, how I was born with a platform, and I didn’t want to waste it.  There are so many people who work their entire lives to create a platform and mine was just handed to me.  Why not use it for something important.  So many people right now are so focused on what kind of shoes  a person has, the designer purse they carry, what car they drive or whether they wear the same outfit more than once.  I want to use my platform for something other than that.  I want to actually make a difference.  So everything that I’m doing, the acting, the modeling…it’s all just to grow my platform so I can use my voice for things that matter.”

Voices in this worldwide choir come from all walks of life, cultures, countries, religions, ages.  Voices are heard from Michael’s family and Fan family in crescendoes of melody and harmony.  We no longer accept a Utopia Lost.  “This is a place you choose to be with me when you thought you could be in another world.”  Michael told us Neverland represented the totality of who he was…this Utopia we have been gifted represents our totality.  We slow our pace, taking time to live and learn from each moment of the universal current of our lives.  And then, we share this ETHOS with the world, for we truly know Michael’s life and legacy matter.

~BE WITH ME AND FEEL THE POWER OF LIFE TOGETHER AS ONE CREATURE HERE ON EARTH~

~I take this gift only to give it again~

Michael Jackson

When working on Michael, I work on my life!  Jude