mt athos proskenema

this weekend, my father and i visited the monastery of paul just underneat the 6000 ft summit cone of mt. athos in n. greece.

the abbot is a spiritual guide to my father, and I have grown to enjoy deep conversations with him.

it is very difficult to convey the experiences of visiting those monasteries and the remarkable monks that hold donw a version of harmony for the soul unique and unknown to most.

this picture is from departing.

we were blessed with impeccable weather, and the place showed us her divine beauty.

Abode of the Gods

Yesterday I flooded with mental loops and knew I had to break away from the concrete city's confusing energy (Thessaloniki) and head out to mamma...

luckily the day was so crisp that across the Thermaykos Bay, Mt. Olympus was crystal clear. This is an unusual thing, as the bay attracts and emits a lot of haze that keeps Greece's hightes peak (at 2,919m / 9,570 feet) hidden away.

Standing only 45 miles in front of this massive mountain rising from the Northern Aegean sea is breathtaking, especially since the view is to the West and the sunset was more than gorgeous. The double peak - Mythikas on the left and Stefani on the rigiht - has been dubbed "the throne of Zeus." I climbed this mountain in my senior year in my greek-american high school, and later with friends during a wild summer adventure.

I felt calm and grounded.

I felt supported and loved.

The beauty of our planet is our ground zero for figuring out our purpose here. I highly recommend that when in doubt, get away and go see beautiful places. I am sure that as long as we go beyond any traces of our "civilization," everything is beautiful and harmonious.

Peace to all

Aris

Introducing the new OrbitalMonkey!

EveryONE, please acknowledge my dear brother Mr.Z as a full partner in OrbitalMonkeys.

Zach and I met at the FourC Full Moon Gathering, and we have since been shown great adventures of creative vision and deep care for our community that we love so much.

We will join forces to advance the vision of harmony.in.tension, spaceshaping, lucid imaging, and sound creation.

he is a twin soul with a huge heart, positive attitude, relentless devotion to what moves him, and a all-round nice guy.

I am so happy that the OM idea is growing in this new direction.

Honoring the past, and being true to our present, we activate a brilliant future.

Blessed Be!

Aris
OM

fly away

as the wings lifted us off pdx and over the gorge, she - wy`east - was whispering to me that i will return, for she loves me. this mountain helped me so much, helped me recover my fearlessness and my courage to leap into my fear and learn to ride my path - both literally on skis and figuratively in my mind's realm.

this departure has been the most difficult ever. i weeped and weeped with no stopping.

now that i have been to the other places that shaped my life, i know that this, this lovely portal~land, is my hOMe. This is the place i discovered the path to the Self, where I trained my mind and my heart to be the galactic goofball that i am, and the very place my creative voice was heard.

i love everyone so much that i can only cry.

i cannot say how much I will miss this place and all of you.

i think those of you who are tuned in, know.

please hold space and sooner than later we will reunite.

the universe wishes me to accomplish another away-mission, so I will humbly oblige.

till the next time i land back here, please know that i carry all of it and all of you in my heart.

blessed be.

aho.

ar¡is

arizona

it is always humbling to experience the arizona sonoran desert...
I am visiting my alma mater and it is gorgeous - albeit dry.

"the desrt is a spiritual cathartic"
—Frank Lloyd Wright

e e cummings

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for eachother: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

phos

to the chosen brotherhood of phos )light( I surrender my ego fears until 10sion pulled it all away from center only to connect to other tight endings - for the ultimate resolution that brings harmonization of tension > spatial harmony.

what part of me is it that gets restless when I feel more tensioned than the rest of my brotherhood? the center? the endings? or is it an illusion all together?

patience - in Greek "hypomony" means to hold something UP - or to position yourself underneath something very important so that IT maintains its position, while YOU serve it humbly.

this is my lesson.