Charlie Dunlevy

"..only compassion.." my daily prayer

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About Me

Singer, songwriter, musician.

To hear some of my songs go to my website: charliedunlevy.com

Having talked my self out my last regular employment (computer programming) a number of years back, and spending much of my IRA on looking to find new ways to survive and getting some education in them (massage for Judy, my wife, qigong for me - hers being the more reasonable choice for survival) we came to a crisis. Judy was doing well in massage, but had to quit because of breast cancer, and hopeful opportunities to teach qigong fell thru for me, and with a lot of our money gone (education, travel, medical bills), we moved back to my home town in southwestern Minnesota to help my mother take care of my father and of course, to cut back on our expenses. My father died later that year, but we stayed on so that my mother could keep the house and to help her and ourselves to survive. Judy has made a full recovery, no sign of returning cancer. She is now a respected massage therapist with a good clientele base up in the Twin Cities where we use to live. She commutes up on Tuesdays, back on Fridays.

I have returned to what has long been an interest and love of mine, the most consistent one since my high school days, music. I have dabbled over the years, writing occasional songs, mostly singing in choirs with some solo work, years of voice lessons, student teaching, and a year of choral teaching in a young women's high school (the position was in a school where I had been teaching religious education for 10 years and the previous teacher was on leave. But when the year was up, I was fairly burned out with teaching, and had no prospects for a music position, (that was a year where many music educators were being "downsized?")). In the last few years I have taught myself to play accordion and organ, the first to carry around to entertain, the second for the local Catholic church. My voice is my best instrument and has been probably the best opportunity opener for me.

Meanwhile, staying at home with my mother while Judy commutes has given me time and opportunity to explore integralnaked and spirituality, revive my meditation practice, take up integral practice as well as write some music and deepen my skills. Meditation has also been a long time interest for me. The only formal direction in it was way back in my Catholic seminary days during novitiate (a year of living like a monk). There was a taste of "lectio divina" as Thomas Keating speaks of, but little background or guidance in it. Meditation was more of wordy prayer than anything. Our required "spiritual reading" was not helpful. However, I did pick up St. John of the Cross, read all I could find by him and loved it, even though a good deal went way over my head and left me somewhat confused. I also read a little book called "The Cloud of the Unknowing", which I did feel that I largely understood and which has probably been the basis of my meditation practice ever since. That practice has been off and on over the years, but periodically stimulated and renewed with some book on the subject I would run across and try some of the methods explained there in. The books were from many traditions, from well grounded teachers to fly-by-look-what-i-just-discovered-ers. I never ran across a teacher or opportunity for formal education that attracted me. That probably was also partly because I felt protective of what I had discovered and come to believe. Now, I hope to have the opportunity to better experience especially some of the teachers I have read and heard on integralnaked.

I should also like to mention that I live in "amberland", a small 99% Republican town, with several churches (it once had the highest national ratio of inhabitants to churches, pop. 5000, churches 27, I guess they highly individualized their christianity). The Catholic church I attend and am cantor, chorister, and organist for is quite well into mythic religion. I basically try to keep my opinions and thoughts to myself, and act and react with as much understanding and compassion as I can muster. It probably is a good self-learning practice, but leaves me wanting in the area of communication (and probably other ways). So you might see that I am very cut off. I survive thanks to Judy, a close friend I see occasionally, my sister in NY who phone chats about integral and related topics with me on a regular basis, and the internet and books. So if get a little over the top, please forgive and bear with me. I think this is a great experiment and have found what I am reading here, from all sources, most rewarding. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

May you always be aware of the Presence, rejoice and cry in the Spirit, find beauty in the Many. May all blessings be yours.