I believe there is more to the universe—and to me and everything I can see—than what I can see.

I happen to believe that time is going in both directions.

I believe there are alternate universes.  I don’t believe that this is the only world.

I believe in the Big Bang, but who lit the match?

Where do we get the progression from sitting in a cave to flying to the moon?

What, or who, is the engineer, the architect?

There is a television program called Bones, and one of the main characters is an atheist and calls religion a shared delusion.

As with everything that I espouse, we are each individual.  I see white, you see black with a white smudge.  I see white, you might see purple.  We have different gene structures, and we see the world differently.

It’s perfectly within the human being to exist in the same time and the same place, thinking exactly the opposite thoughts.

We as human beings have not reached the pinnacle of where we can go, in my expectation, until we learn how to accept the unacceptable, to love people that have nothing in common with ourselves.

That goes to the question of:  How did we get here, and where are we going?

All rationales can be put in pails and carried around with us.  We can switch hands and switch pails.  An atheist becomes a religious person, a religious person becomes an atheist.  We have the ability to change.

That seems inconsistent with a theme running through the world:  Shouldn’t we all have souls, or shouldn’t we be part of a species that is imprinted with:  Must we do this?  Is this some grand design by an intellect we can’t even comprehend, who did it just to see if he or she could put these strangers called human beings in a pot and say, “What’s going to happen if we give them free will?”

I have a lot of ideas, but when all is said and done, it’s probably because of my being born in a funeral home and people always looking for answers to the unanswerable.  I was always within a culture that believed there was a God.  For me personally, living in my eightieth year, I still believe it.

It’s a much different belief than when I was ten, but the central theme of that belief is that there is some prime moving force, and that because we must label everything, we call it God.

How this plays out, I have no idea.  I hope I’ll find out from some force that’s a heck of a lot more powerful and smarter than I am, but if I don’t, I won’t know the difference, because I will have rotted away, and who gives a damn!

If I were still drinking, I would give a shot and a beer to that!  Instead I’m going to have a pizza!

Matt

It really occurs to me as I’m lying here, how much we take for granted the things from everyday life:  walking, moving, talking:  the simple things in life, which are not only the spice of life, but the reality.

We don’t really appreciate them until we lose them.

In everything there is a message and a lesson, and it is probably very simple:  Love what you’re doing.  If you don’t like your situation and you can get out, then get out.  But if you can’t, then learn to love it.  Hold your nose, parade along, and you’ll get used to it! 

I’ve been having a good week.

People come and visit me...  We have time to sit and talk.

Rose is here, sitting right next to me now.

My sister came and brought chicken noodle soup...

Our daughters are in and out, and friends of ours have been coming over, telling old stories.

I’m very fortunate.

I’m never alone.

Life is good!

Matt

Here’s a photo of one of my paintings in the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Germany, being presented by Mandy Ali, the Executive Director of our programs in Kuwait.

Thanks to everyone who works so hard for peace and art in Europe, the Middle East, and all over the world!

Matt

I believe we as artists should do what our inner voices tell us to do.

My modus operandi is to take an idea, do something, spin it, tear it apart, work on it until it drives me crazy, then continue—maybe on another project—then come back to the original one, which at that point I see as a long-lost friend.

I go at it with a fresh approach, and then I keep at it until I think I really got it—then put it away, come back and look at it again, and think:  How can I really screw this up?

That becomes the genesis of the next step in wherever the hell I’m going.

No matter what you paint, I believe you should always come back, look at what you did, an ask yourself why you did it.

You know the perception, the reality, and the rotation...

When I get to that point in my mind, and my creative powers are stretched to the limit, I then get a blender, throw everything in, turn it on, pour it on my head, and start over again!  It’s quite refreshing!

Matt

Here’s a photo taken today of my daughter Sheila and me giving the peace sign.

I had a great visit today with my grandkids.  Tomorrow I’m going to have a massage, which will be like going to heaven!

Sheila just came in and brought some of my old Diary Page books, along with Crayons, pencils, and all kinds of paraphernalia, and I’m going to start sketching those while I’m lying here.

There’s a blessing in everything...  You just have to look for it!

I’m sitting in a nice, light room, with a great view of Lake Michigan.

We have a great staff of people here, around the clock.

What more can I ask for?  If I have to be in this position, it’s the best place to be!

I want to thank you for all your prayers.  I love you all.

Matt

It’s great to be home!

My minders are here, my nurses are here, we just got done meeting with everyone.

Now I’m getting ready to go to bed.

I want to thank the whole system of health care that’s practiced at University of Chicago Hospital in Hyde Park, Illinois.  The treatment at the hospital was excellent.  The people are so dedicated.  From the doctors to the nurses to the people who sweep the floors, nobody’s afraid to bend down and pick up a piece of paper off the floor or open a window.  People just do what needs to be done, without being asked.  They see something that needs to be done, and they just do it.  Everybody’s happy, everybody knows your name, and they treat you as a patient but also as a person.  So here’s a shout-out and a “Hooray!” for them.  Thank you, thank you, love you all!

When I’m sitting in the hospital or here at home, staring at a blank wall or one of my paintings, that gets me into what I call “the empty room.”  What’s really in the empty room?

I have dreams all the time, and for three days in a row, I dreamed I was in a white room with no windows.  Over against one wall was a closed black casket.

So on the fourth night I dreamed it, I asked the spirits:  “What the hell is it?”

They kept saying, “You know...  You know...”

The last time, they said, “It’s okay, idiot!  Why are you wasting your time thinking about foolish stuff!  How much time have you wasted on bullshit?  Figure out what’s important, and act on it!  It will make your current life and your future life more happy.  You don’t leave this world alone.  You take with you all the flowers and all the B.S. from your life!  Hopefully you need a teacup for your B.S. and a battleship for your flowers.”

Impossible goal?  Don’t know, do care!

Someone asked me if life has been more precious to me these last few days.

Life has always been precious to me in a subconscious way.  But this is like all of a sudden getting hit by a bull!  When you get a horn up your ass, you know you’re not an unstoppable object!  There’s a higher force that can kick your ass any time they want!

What advice do I have?  Beware!  Be prepared!

Matt

I’m home from the hospital and feeling better!

Thank you for your encouragement and prayers!

Matt

I’m going home today or tomorrow.  I’m going to die sometime, but that’s up to the Lord.

I really appreciate all of the good wishes you’ve sent me on Facebook and the Blog.

The tests that they’ve been doing on me in the hospital are just reconfirming that I do have the lung condition that I already knew I have.

So today or within the next couple days I’ll go home, and I’ll be on what they call “hospice lite,” which sound like “Coke Lite!”  Maybe we should call it “Life Lite!”

I’ll be able to go downstairs and have lunch with Rose in the hotel, meet with people, scoot around in my Power Chair...

As far as I’m concerned, it’s all good news!

Angels come in many shapes, sizes, languages, and customs.  I look on all of you as my guardian angels.

Just remember:  Together, through our message of peace and the umbrella and the audacity of the peace-seekers, we will change the world!

Why?

Because we will not endorse the idea that it cannot be done.  It is being done!  We are fulfilling the prophesy!

Thank you, not only from me, but from my family and all the great spirits that surround us.

So here it is from the horse’s mouth, like “Simon says...”

Lamb says:  Lamb is alive and well, residing in Chicago, looking forward to going downstairs and having lunch with Rose.

Simple goals, simple plans, simple solutions!

Matt

I’m in the hospital now in Chicago.

I would ask you all to pray for me now.

More updates to come.

Matt