New York, New York!!!!!

The past three days I have had the fortunate chance to visit this great City on the Island of Manhattan.  This island is surrounded by water by the Hudson River on the West side and what New Yorkers call the East River, but in actuality, the East River is just an estuary of the Hudson.  At this close point to its mouth, the water is completely salty like that of the Atlantic Ocean.  Everything you eat or drink has most likely been imported onto this islands by a network of trucks.  Before the invention of the automobile, boats provided the necessary foods and service that this grand island enjoyed.  If you decide to come here, you should come with the New York City Pass which is an easy pass you can purchase over the internet with extensive discounts for this very expensive city.  However, If I were you, I would suggest to keep away from the Empire State Building as Security is at its maximum.  If you look the least suspicious you will be pretty much strip searched in front of the tens of thousands of others who are also coming to visit.  But many of the other sites offered by this citypass are easily accessible, with just the right amount of security.
Some of the impressions I got being a very empathic and spiritual person, is that those six million that live here on the island are extremely lonely.  So if you ever need someone to send healing and prayers, send it to the city-dwellers of the New York.  I found it very difficult to maintain solace, and peace, while I visited here.  Because of my strong sensitivities, I was often distracted from the essential joy, and happiness that I am usually fairly able to feel and maintain.  Many of these city-dwellers need a greater sense of inclusion and acceptance then what they are getting currently in their lives.  When you walk around a city of so many lonely souls, yet they share, sometimes very tightly the small space of this island, it can get to be very depressing.  After I have explored for the days that I visited I go back to my hostel and go to bed and sometimes feel like crying, completely worn out with the sadness that I am feeling from the six million souls that live here.  I am looking forward to flying home this afternoon where I can once again, enjoy the large and open spaces of the Pacific Northwest.
It is no wonder New York City has such a high rate of suicide, whether it is trying to jump off the Empire State building or the many high-rise bridges that are here.  Maybe it might be better for many of you sensitive types to go and ride the subway trains, as you are closer to the core of the earth, and can ground much easier than up above on the streets of New York, but I must say, this is a very important city to visit at least once in your lifetime, just to have a sense that there are so many people living here who might have similar inward feelings as yourself. 
The Lights and advertising at Times Square and on Broadway are exciting to watch, and if you still want to see the city from above, go instead to the Top of the Rock observation deck as you will still get the same glamourous feelings, and views had you gone to the top of the Empire State Building.  So many of us desire to be and feel important like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and in love, that at some deep level, you seek to be there at the Empire State Building, but “Sleepless in Seattle” is a movie and the characters are an idealized facade of romantic love.  I think there are elements and levels of an even greater and higher love that is more fulfilling, peaceful, and compassionate that you will not find in New York City that the Human race needs to reconnect with.  I have talked to but a few New Yorkers in which I had intelligent conversations, but everyone is trying to get to their job, or to Broadway, and that my friend is the only thing that matters to many of them.  Another interesting thing, is that there is some ascetic man, who has decided that the world will end on May 21, 2011, and because this New Yorker believes this so strongly he has spent his life-savings buying advertisement, on the metro transit system, and other advertising sources telling people that it is time that they figure out what they are going to do on Judgement Day, May 21, 2011.  He has spent I think upwards of 140,000 $ or more promoting his message.  He stopped buying food, and services because this man “knows” that the world will end on this day, and there is nothing more he can do, except to accept the consequences of his actions for the lives of the six billion humans that are living on Planet Earth, so his message is to say your prayers, stop sinning, and ask for god’s forgiveness so that you can go to the place called heaven at world’s end instead of to hell, or even worse,  “limbo”.  Another New Yorker said, these type of people professing the end of the world come through every couple of years or so spending lots of money to promote their message, only to end up broke.  I went to church on Sunday May 15, 2011 at the St Patricks Cathedral in New York, NY.  The church was packed, close to 30000 or more.  It is one of the largest Catholic Cathedrals in the world, and when I finished the Mass, I said to myself, “I was expecting something exciting, after all  this church has history, related to some of Our Presidents of the United States”.  This wasn’t a spiritual event for me but seemed just like any other boring Catholic Mass I have ever attended being brought up Catholic as a baby. And I thought, “How Blaaaaah?  No wonder I left the Catholic church almost 30 years ago.  When I was a child, Mass was special, even sacred. Not today, no more.  That is one of the greatest things you can expect from the Catholic Church wherever you attend Mass, it is like your hometown church, the ceremonies, and rituals never change, completely and entirely everywhere in the world.  This is a good selling point for the Catholic Church and that is what is meant when I talk about this aspect of the Church.  I think the Catholic Church is still pretty oriented around what the Jones’s are doing not only here in the United States but everywhere around the world.  So if you like regularity, the Catholic church is for you.  I think it also helps us with those issues like constipation.  The very next day after I went to church with these 30,000 churchgoers, I had a great release, and feel very empty today if you know what I mean.  So if you need some regularity, just go to your local Catholic Church, and that should help you with any existing problems you might have. 
But, back to the loneliness of the New York People.  When you are next in New York, NY, say hi to a stranger, smile, say thank you.  They carry the burden of 300 years of the settlers who have come here and to the United States over the course of this period.  Being the first settler establishment, they have had their ups and downs, wars, and mini-wars, gang wars.  So because I am saying this instead of going to Liberty Island or Ellis Island just take the three-hour tour around the Island of Manhattan, You will be able to see all of the symbols and archetypes of this great city from inside the Hudson River, and East River, and you won’t be strip-searched.  But if you decide for some reason to go on the rock and platform that Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty reside, be prepared for the same type of strip-search had you gone to the Empire State Building, I cannot say I am entirely sure about that, but I would expect it just to be on the safe side, as the City of New York, Liberty, and Ellis Islands are still big targets for those who don’t appreciate our compassionate and loving American way of life as the police nation of the world..
On that note, order cannot come from chaos and chaos does not come from order, but they both exist together in the world today, and are in a sense dependent on one another as balancing different sides of the same coin.  The world that John Lennon is envisioning in his song “Imagine” is also a glamourous facade. I believe as the human race, that we will never seek out and destroy the darkness and evil that exists in our world. I believe these moral extremes are natural and innate in everyone, the question is where do we find the essential balance in our own lives with a quality of consensus, openness and compassion for one another and ourselves?
So, if there are any New Yorkers who wish to comment on my blog, I welcome your comments.  This has been a positive and growthful experience for me visiting your grand city, customs, and people.  Come see us on the West Coast of the United States, you might be surprised how similar our beliefs are.  You would be extremely welcome on our side of the coin, as I was and felt welcome on your side of the coin.  The only suggestion I might give you, is to ease off on the strip-searches.  Osama bin Laden is dead!!!!!!  The United States is the Greatest Nation on Earth!!!!!!!!  With the introduction to a more liberal form of Government that our President, Barack Obama has brought to our Grand Ole Country, we once again have allies, who care so very deeply about you, me, the world, who still have dreams hinted at by John Lennon in his song “Imagine”.  Thanks to Great Britain for sending us the Beetles when they did.  If you want to really feel in touch with the world, come to the Chelsea International Hostel, in the Chelsea District of New York, and you might be surprised how loved the great Nation of the United States is, and cared for, by our international allies.  Let us not alienate them with another stupid and unneeded war as was started by our former President George W. Bush in Iraq.  He did not have the support of many of the American People or of the world and it cost us Billions and the world even more, because of the lack of international responsibility and dependent needs on our International Imports, and Exports.  Today, I am writing this blog in the heart of New York’s fabulous Chelsea district.  Come join us when you want to see New York, NY.  Blessings and Love, Namaste,  Greg Garceau