Curiousity Spark Newsletter

🔥 What is "The Curiousity Spark”?

The Curiousity Spark is one perspective gathered by one individual, and proposed as a helpful lens to peer through at life, from time to time, or even all the time.

The Curiousity Spark is an invitation to peek at the world with a particularly finely focused lens.

The Curiousity Spark is a book about how I explored my view on life and how I invite you to consider doing the same with your self.

In the book I go so far as to offer possible steps to begin or continue your own self exploration and discovery.

✧ Hi! Alex here… 👋

Isn’t it strange how life has a way of “messing up” a perfectly good plan.

The plan I had selected was to complete a weekly newsletter, every Monday. But doing so with sincerity, heartfelt presence of mind, and personally sculpted words was proving near impossible to accomplish. Forcing all this into such a rigid routine was never destine for success.

Allowing for the mood of inspiration to rise and recede as the tide is far more fair to the human creative spirit. At very least, my own creative process. 

So we will hence forth be moving this newsletter to a more inspiration based distribution calendar, rather than a definite schedule.

I want to share with you what is in my heart and on my mind, not just for the sake of it, but because it’s time has come.

The last two week I feel as though my objective was to send the newsletter out, and that would be enough. But then this week the subroutine of “just send the newsletter” would not initiate. I found myself to be tired and uninspired, when  true inspiration would have easily energize my body to action.

I had all the excuses to not open my computer and do the editing. It should literally be the best part of my day. Yet every excuse was valid as the one before it.

What was happening in me?

Some part of me, not so deep down inside, desired to set aside more time for this, to craft these words here. But now I have found myself with less time available.

Part of me a bit deeper inside had developed a ting of resentment towards myself for missing the self imposed, fictitiously created Monday deadline. It could have theoretically been done. Sent. but it wasn’t. And for good reason.

And on a deeper level I had a resentment towards the system I had setup, I was being unreasonable with my expectations, or more precisely, the emotional substance of what I wanted to share was not to be found. It was missing.

I was mechanically achieving the goal as a vocational procedure, instead of dancing my way through it as a gesture of “offering”. A commission of sacrifice.

I was subconsciously relaxing. For this to work, I would have to be dedicating more time and care to my words.

These words.

The “just get it done” attitude would not be enough in this regard. My heart would need to be included.

So, what to do? 

Instead of rushing to meet my weekly deadline, going forward i’m going to establish a more artistically inspired cadence, while still seeking to meet a loose 7 to 11 day send rate. I may even start writing more frequently. Anything is possible.

The goal, so we are all in agreement, is to send out 33 Curiousity Spark newsletters in calendar 2024. But each of them will be written by me, given the time they each deserve.

You can always help me keep track by sending a “hi bye” reply or forwarding the newsletter to a friend. A simple “Hi” and “Bye” in the subject line is enough for me to know you noticed. The analytics may lie to me, but your direct engagement is always the truth.

One love,

Alexander J. Burgess

✧ Retreat?

Why do we call them retreats? We should deeply consider updating the descriptive vocabulary for these events. Denotatively speaking, to retreat is a different thing from a retreat, but the connection must nonetheless be overlooked.

A retreat is an opportunity to advance.

This retreat happens to be taking place in Spain.

✧Excerpt from The Curiousity Spark

The following is a passage from Book Two of The Curiousity Spark. The title of the passage is “Not Alone”

Not Alone

There is no need to seek out others who are on their journey as well.  You will find anywhere you go, is an undocumented, underground, unorganized, organization of people living in plain sight, who are also figurative card-carrying members of this more vast and connected mindset. You won't need to seek them out. You will naturally notice each other, as if long lost friends, through simple comments, gestures or remarks.  

The language of the initiates of this conscious community is distinctively different from most societal members. It's more carefree and generally optimistic, not ecstatic or overbearing, but with an air of supreme confidence that the story is being written precisely as it is supposed to be written, and could not happen any other way.  

They may find the coincidental nature of the encounter to be intuitively inspired rather than an event of a random choosing or random chance.  This is my aspiration for the reader of this book.

This is my faithful purpose in writing these words.   Once the mind starts to ask a few more outside the box questions the sub conscious will naturally start the process of freeing its own mind.

The shock of my revelation when I tried to explain my experience to my friends only to discover they has already gone through what I was now dealing with. I felt as though they should have clued me in (or maybe they were trying and  I couldn’t pick up on the hints), but it doesn't work that way.  The experience is deeply personal, and each person must find it for themselves.

✧A Brilliant Lecture

My friend Lauren shared this lecture with me a couple weeks ago. As I was pondering what to share this week and looking at some of the books and lectures I had been consuming lately, nothing seemed appropriate.

This recording of Baba Ram Dass came back to mind. I sincerely hope you take the time to listen. In your car while driving, or while you prepare your dinner. Any place you have idle ears that may be filled with good words. It is my deepest hope you endeavor to listen.

Listen to Who? Why Baba Ram Dass of course.

Baba Ram Dass, Neem Karori Baba, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerburg. These men are all mentioned within adjacent breaths. I bet you know at least two of the names. I would like to introduce you to a third.

Me interviewing Myself about Ram Dass

When did you first discover Ram Dass?

Let me think. The first time, I cannot know for sure, but the first time I noticed was hard to miss. A fellow student of ashram during my time in Rishikesh gave one of his books to me as a personal gift. For some reason I didn’t read it. So silly. I was so open to all the signals of the universe and this was handed to me and I skimmed it and added it to my pile of books.

Who is Baba Ram Dass to you?

He was a piece of the puzzle that was handed to me and I put it on the shelf. A shelf that had a growing many books to choose from. Each time I would finish one I would look over at Ram Dass to over look him and select another book. It got to the point where I carried it with me on a journey to Ram Dass’ Guru’s temple in the Himalayan Foothills.

Still, I did not read his book.

When I finally opened the book the words exploded off the page like confetti being shot into my face. It all made sense… well not quite ALL. But a definite aw struck epiphany sensation came over me.

A connection delayed was finally established.

The kink in the tube being released, giving way to a torrent of ah ha moments I imagine as synaptic neuron thunderstorms bathing my person in fresh new awareness.

Baba Ram Dass is a teacher to me.

What can You say about Ram Dass?

He embodies the essence of “Bhakti”, which in the Hindu ideology is described as worship through devotion or in other words “Free Love”, (not to be confused with the hippie peace and love mentality).

Bhakti is about demonstrating true self love as an act of surrender to your higher expression of self, which, at a point becomes the person sitting across from you. Every person you ever talk to. All is you, and you are all. Unity of relational awareness of there being no other. So to love, or hate another, is to be loving or hating oneself.

I know, It takes some time to adjust to the idea coming from the West. I admit, mental gymnastics must be done to unlock the current mental contortions which grip the conventional Western mentality. I am resolute, it it’s worth the effort.

✧Infinite Intellect Podcast is Back

Episode 3. What is there to say here?

Geovanni and I are having far too much fun talking about humanity and it’s flirtatious dance with insanity. The plot only thickens with us.

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See you next week!~ish