Adventures of a Gravestomper

Want magic? DO something!!!

2011-10-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

A quick stomp to remind everyone that magic, hope and dreams only come to those who seek actively seek them!

Want magic? DO something!!! by GraveStomper

Perfectionism Sucks the Life out of Living!

2011-01-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

The latest video stomp by the Gravestomper that discusses the dangers of Perfectionism...

Kicking Life in the Ass in 2011!

2011-01-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, this is Corin White, The Gravestomper. First, I’d like to start by wishing you all a Happy, hopeful, healthy and prosperous New Year!

With that in mind I’m really excited to tell you about a new phase of the Gravestomper project! For those of you who don't know there is a new Gravetsomper website: http://www.thegravestomper.com/. It's full of pictures, links and articles.

Now, as for the latest video stomps. I guess you thought I was a sleep at the wheel? No way. We're launching a whole new series of extended stomps that're just too long for youtube.

So, follow this link http://www.thegravestomper.com/SpecialStomps.html to the Gravestomper website and you'll be able to join me on one of the coolest stomps yet: a tour through Chicago's Acacia Park mausoleum and columbarium. This vivid and mesmerizing stomp is part of a series of four extended stomps designed to help you get off the couch, take action and really live your dreams. You’re sure to find something in all of these to inspire and motivate you to live life more fully.

As always: Keep stomping!

Corin White,
The Gravestomper

Hungry Ghosts

2010-09-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

A stomp through a small catholic cemetery in Lake Forest, IL inspires a discussion of Stockholm Syndrome and the Tibetan view on hungry ghosts.

(The picture above is of a "preta" or "hungry ghost")

Healthier Inspiration.

2010-08-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Part 5 of this stomp through Lake Forest cemetery that suggests that maybe we need a new image to inspire man...

What Do You Desire?

2010-08-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Join Corin White, the Gravestomper, on this 4th installment of a stomp through Lake Forest Cemetery in Illinois. This one asks: are you as strong and in control of your life as you think you are or does something else manage you?

Cynicism Will Kill You!

2010-08-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

What happens when cynicism sets in and destroys the wonder in our lives? Take a stomp through Lake Forest Illinois cemetery with Corin White, The Gravestomper and find out...

The Answer Really Is Sharing...

2010-07-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

A second installment to the Lake Forest, IL Cemetery stomp that explores why people are having so much trouble now. Can't get a job? Struggling with money?....this stomp may help you understand why... Side note: when I talk about the port town North of Lake Forest I meant to say: Waukegan, not Wauconda...

Identity: It'll Hang You Up Every Time!!

2010-07-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

A stomp thru an incredible Chicago area cemetery that inspires questions about identity that will motivate you to get off the ouch. Get out there. And get stomping!

Who Says You Can't?

2010-07-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

An inspiring stomp through a small Wisconsin graveyard that makes us question what we believe we can and can't do. This one's got one of the most inspiring stories I've ever seen in a graveyard.

What are YOU missing out On?

2010-06-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

What people are saying about the book Adventures of a Gravestomper and its author, Corin White:

Corin is a massive action taker!
--Dave Lakhani, Author of the national bestselling phenomenon, Subliminal Persuasion

“I love your style. You've created an amazing persona and are doing great things, keep up the good work, more people need to go gravestomping!”

--Dave Lakhani, Author of the national bestselling phenomenon, Subliminal Persuasion

I have [read it], within a few hours of its arrival. I'm inspired to get out and visit graveyards more…

--Matt Hucke, Author of Graveyards of Chicago and Graveyards.com

Corin. I went to my Grandson Grade 8 graduation last night and I made it. As you know I don't leave my home very often. I keep your book close to me and it has helped me more than you will ever know. Thanks

--Patti Cameron

"Apparently your book rocks! Staff will not send to me until all done reading; they've hijacked my book - I am furious - should have next week - they're so annoying."... --Anna, owner of Erzulies Voodoo, New Orleans

Your book is outstanding! Far beyond what I had thought & so you know - "No angry dirt here, no way sir, no way!" "Motivational, inspirational, and a "must" read for anyone." --Jennifer R Bernard, Photographer

Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed the book and will probably read it at least once more. I appreciate the motivation without all the airy-fairy-touchy-feely.

And, I took a risk today. I sent a CD to a famous local songwriter. Maybe nothing will come of it, maybe she'll end up using it as a coaster, but I had to at least make the effort. So, we'll see.
--Kim Caudell, Traditional Folk Musician

What an absolutely AMAZING blog you have here. I feel completely inspired and in a fashion that is not the usual condescending, speaking to the lowest common denominator, boiled down fashion, that completely disconnects me from the message. Wow! Utterly awed. --Chris Davis

“This book kicks ass!” Ricki Linnenkohl:

“Do you think you will ever come out to Salem Mass?? I Love the Cemeteries out there and would LOVE to stomp thru them with you.”
--Cindy Walker Herring

“You inspire us” --Wayde Kissane

This is my goal & I WILL achieve it! I'm getting older & don't have that much time left to... do ALL the things I want. I have to be selective. That's my beginning anyways! Sort & free up my life! THANK YOU for putting it in terms that spoke to me!!!! --Ann Bruner‏

“I devoured, enjoyed and digested the book! You certainly gave me just what I needed to push forward with an important project! Your amazing, thanks!’ --Gigi Driggers

By the time I was done watching the video about the five dead Thomas children, I was ready to jump up out of my seat and add another 50 things to my already giant (but getting smaller minute-by-minute) to-do list.
--Leigh Clements, owner Shot in the Dark Mysteries

Wisdom and knowledge comes from many sources. One that I recommend is The Gravestomper. so enjoyed his writing, blog and tweets.
--Chris Love

What are YOU waiting for? Life is too short to hesitate--LIVE YOUR DREAMS!!!!!!

Call to order your copy from Dorje Publishing: 1-800-682-4950 x2 or click on the secure PaylPal link below:

Independent Booksellers: Rest In Peace?

2010-06-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

A gravestomp that explores what it means to be "independent", an entrepreneur or creative. Any independent booksellers who feel this stomp doesn't reflect your experience, who'd like to open up a dialogue and tell us your stories of how your stores have inspired people: please, we'd love to share them. Call us about it: Dorje Publishing at 1-800-682-4950 x2 Indie artists: what are your experiences?

What Prevents Success?

2010-06-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Out on an adventure exploring the roads of Southern Wisconsin, I came across this little roadside cemetery that inspired an exciting Gravestomp!

Don't Give Up!

2010-06-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Join me, Corin White, the Gravestomper, in a little Graveyard stomp that'll remind you why it's so important to never give up on living the life that showcases the best possible you...

One of the Gravestomper's Secrets: Subliminal Persusasion by Dave Lakhani

2010-06-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been asking me how I've accomplished so much with the Gravestomper Project so quickly. In this video I'm gonna let you in on one of my many secrets : Dave Lakhani's Subliminal Persuasion.

Bloody Mary

2010-05-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

Join me, the Gravestomper, on an adventure through one of Illinois' most haunted cemeteries, old St. Patrick near Wadsworth, IL. The site is famous for a haunting legend known by school children all over the country, and this legend, plus some other rumors I've heard about the place have some very interesting lessons to teach about getting out there and living life to the fullest! My thanks to Richie D for his story about his experiences with the infant's tombstone.

Get off the Couch, Get out There and Get that Stomping Book!

2010-05-21T13:26:00.001-07:00

You’ve seen the Gravestomping videos. You’ve joined me on my stomps through some of the smaller more intimate graveyards in the Chicago area. But what about the big spooky ones? What about the haunting legends? The gothic romance? The enormous statuary that makes Chicago graveyards so infamous? What about the famous Rosehill Mausoleum, where a just few steps into the place sends shivers down your spine? What about the statue of Death in Graceland Cemetery and the creepy old legend about it that every Chicago school kid knows? Or Bachelors Grove, considered one of the most haunted spots in America? And the bizarre museum of punishment at Queen of Heaven cemetery? Or the burial sites of Chicago gangsters at Hillside’s Mount Carmel?

Need more of that Gravestomper motivation you get on this blog? Every line of this book is designed to motivate you to get out there and make your dreams come true. Like the interview with a funeral director in Chapter 10 in which he reveals what being around death for 24 years has taught him about living life to the fullest.

Adventures of a Gravestomper, the new book by Corin White is available now. And it’s packed with motivation to end all your excuses and go kick life in the ass! It'll be on amazon.com soon but order it directly from me now and you'll be out there stomping even sooner!. Just $20 plus $3.99 shipping.

Read a PDF excerpt from the book here: http://gravestomper.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/137

Make a Bold Statement!

2010-05-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

Take a break from your worries, your fears and your daily concerns to join me, Corin White, The Gravestomper on a mini adventure. Let's take a Gravestomp through an obscure North Chicago cemetery called North Shore Garden of Memories that teaches us the power thinking big...I know you'll dig it!

When You Don't Feel Like Stomping...

2010-04-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

So, what do you do when you don't feel like getting out there to stomp? This video stomp is in response to some of the interactions I've had with blog viewers who've talked about how they want to make some changes in their lives but don't know where to begin.

The cemetery on the corner of Main and Washington is called, simply, Lombard cemetery. It was originally called Babcock’s Grove Cemetery and it’s smack in the middle of a neighborhood of houses.

The Mystery of The Thomas Graves

2010-04-22T01:41:00.000-07:00

When's the last time you set out to discover a mystery?

A friend of mine called me a couple weeks ago to tell me about a small graveyard that she remembered from her days of working at Glacial Park in McHenry County, Illinois. According to her, The Thomas graveyard was nestled in the middle of this enormous state park and you had to hike to get to it. The prospect was too cool for words, so I put on my hiking boots and set out to find it, which we did.

This video caused quite a stir among my family and friends who viewed it a couple of weeks ago. They thought the details of the family's lives might unnerve people. I also began to be concerned that people might freak out when they saw this stomp. You see, the Thomas family moved to the area in the 19th century from New York to do some homesteading. They took an incredible risk and paid an unbelievably high price for it, as you'll see in the stomp. To leave the stomp at that just wasn't enough. The mystery of what happened to the Thomas family and the question, "Was the risk worth the price?" are left looming at the end of this video. So many people are afraid to take risks because they fear the consequences. Many will tell you to follow your bliss and everything will always be smooth sailing, and you will always be protected. I'm not going to insult your intelligence by saying anything like that because, as we all know, that's not always the case; as this video shows. But that's not where the lesson of this stomp lies. The price for never taking risks is to shamble like a zombie through a life half-lived and to keep from making a lasting impact.

Unfortunately, no one knows what happened to the Thomas family after they moved out of the area. There is no record of where they went. But I want you to consider this as you watch the video: two descedents of the Thomases have been found. One in Northern Illinois and one in California. If the Thomases had not taken the risk to move out here, those descendants would not be here today, nor would they be situated where they are. I think if you asked those descendants and their loved ones was the risk their ancestors took worth it, they would say, Yes, it most definitely was.

My thanks to Ricki Linnenkohl for directing me to this graveyard and to Kim Caldwell from the Priairie View education department for the background on the Thomas family.

Remembered, Part II

2010-04-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

Since the last Gravestomp got such strong reaction, I had to do this follow up stomp in Fort Hill Cemetery. People were very effected by the question, What will you be remembered for? and I can understand why. It dredges up a lot of stuff that we're very attached to: things like identity and how we see ourselves. This stomp pushes the subject further.

What Are You Going to Be Remembered For?

2010-04-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

A Gravestomp through Fairfield Cemetery in Ela township, Lake county IL which begs the question, what do you want to be remembered for? My thanks to Sandy Coffell who watches the video blog regularly and who asked me to stomp this particular cemetery. The statue that looks like a little mole is actually a small lamb that has decayed. Sign of an infant's grave.

Curiosity and Action

2010-03-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

I found this Graveyard during a moonlit drive last night. The huge church was lit with green light and it looked so eerie in the distance that I followed a hunch that there would be a graveyard attached and drove towards it. My curiosity was rewarded when I pulled up to the church and discovered this cool little 19th century cemetery. It looked so eerie and weird at night that I had to go back and stomp it during the day. The whole thing inspired a discussion of following your curiosity and exploring things that give us a sense of adventure.

The video starts when I'm still on my Harley and the wind is deafening for about 30 seconds. It dies down for the rest of it though.

You Give it Meaning.

2010-01-06T10:36:00.001-08:00

Calvary Cemetery. A haunting legend. The question of what gives your life meaning...

Make Your Life Extraordinary!

2009-12-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

Join Corin White, The Gravestomper, on a mini tour of the rather unusual Queen of Heaven Mausoleum In Hillside, Illinois. The mausoleum houses 20,000 corpses and is three stories. The space is filled with a strange collection of images relating to punishment and suffering--a reminder that life is short, and that we needen't make ourselves suffer any more than we already do.

Be open to Surprise

2009-11-12T13:17:00.000-08:00

Adventure through this wonderful little cemetery in Lake County, IL with Gravestomper, Corin White, who encounters a surprise when he arrives...

It's Halloween...Face your fear....

2009-10-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the neighborhood of Rosehill cemetery. Since I had my camera, I just had to do an impromptu stomp thru this largest mausoleum in Chicago. In 1914 construction began on this massive mall of death. It houses one of the largest collections of TIffany glass anywhere and has some wonderful haunting history attached to it. Notabale Chicagoans John G. Shed, Aaron Montgomery Ward, Richard Warren Sears, Jack Brickhouse et all are buried here.

Part 1 of this stomp starts in a dark, black corner of the crypt's basement which brings up the subject of facing your fears. Some very interesting glass windows are illuminated in this dark crypt. I filmed it this way for a reason...it's only dark for a minute or two before the halls are very visible. Parts II and III follow. While in the mausoleum I noticed that the camera batteries were drained very quickly or I would have filmed at least three more parts. Happy Halloween: Enjoy!

Vision

2009-10-14T10:59:00.000-07:00

Why let excuses stop you? Why not think bigger?

Seek Adventure!

2009-10-07T15:31:00.001-07:00

Join Corin White, The Gravestomper, as he explores a Lake Villa, IL graveyard that looks like something straight from a fairytale and considers the importance of seeking out adventure .

Seize the Day

2009-09-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Join Corin White, The Gravestomper, as he takes you through a most remarkable little cemetery in Lake county, IL. Small and secluded yet so full of atmosphere. The cemetery inspires the question: why don't we seize the day then get out of our own way?

Life is Short

2009-09-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a little excercise to remind yourself why it's important to value your life and the opportunities you have here. Find a tombstone with your name on it and take a picture of yourself sitting next to it. Put the photo somewhere where you can see it all the time. It's a potent reminder that life is short and there is no reason to ever let fear stop you from doing anything that you want to do. For a close-up of my gristly reminder, click on the photo.

Entitlement Mindset

2009-09-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

A small family Graveyard inspires the question: What are we entitled to?

Clan Mentality: a Gravestomp Through Long Grove

2009-09-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

A fall afternoon, a Harley, a camera: sounds like the recipe for a visit to a small churchyard cemetery that felt a bit unwelcoming.

Video Gravestomp St Joseph's Lake County, IL

2009-08-26T18:15:00.001-07:00

Like what you see? Leave a comment here. Have questions or know a space that's haunted that you'd like to see me visit, or know any stories about these cemeteries that need to be told? Please, email me.

Video Grave Stomps of Milburn Cemetery in Wadsworth, IL--Parts 1 & 2

2009-08-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Part II:

The Orb at Millburn Cemetery.

2009-08-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

I took this picture two years ago at Millburn Cemetery in Wadsworth, IL. This orb (in front of the pine tree; NOT the bright reflection on the tombstone, but up and to the right of it. Click on the picture to see it more clearly.) appeared after I stuck my phurba in the ground. Milburn is one of the next cemeteries I will be shooting a video stomp for.

The Time I Met John Wayne Gacy (No Foolin')

2009-08-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

It was summer at my neighborhood block party on the northwest side of Chicago. I had to have been seven because he was arrested in December of '78. We lived a mile or two from the house where he killed all those young men. The neighbors who organized the block party hired him as a clown to amuse us kids. I heard he was making balloon animals at the end of my block, over by the bouncy house. I was fascinated by balloons when I was a little kid and I'd never had a balloon animal. It sounded cool.

He didn't really look like a clown and he didn't carry himself like one. He looked like some tired, fat dude sitting on the street in an old metal folding chair.

I stood in line while he twisted balloons into the shapes of horses, dogs, ponies and giraffes. (Catching the trend here?) But my favorite animal was the monkey.

When it was my turn I stepped up to him. I remember thinking there was something about his make-up that was weird. His mouth looked strange. Everyone always talks about how he painted this big gaping mouth on his face and how it accentuated the fact that he was such a monster. But that's not how I remember it. His make-up actually made his real mouth stand out and look smaller. I remembered clowns from the circus with these big, silly mouths, but his didn't seem like theirs. It wasn't really “clownish” if that makes any sense. Like I said: he just looked like some tired, fat guy in some messed-up red and white face paint. He didn't talk like a clown either. In Chicago we grew up with the Bozo Show: we were used to quirky clowns with crazy voices. He sounded like: well, like some tired, fat guy.

He asked me what kind of animal I wanted.

“A monkey,” I said.

And like every other adult I'd ever met, he gave me fifteen reasons why what I wanted just couldn't be done. Then after telling me how it couldn't be done, he told me about some guy on the other side of Chicago who could make a balloon monkey for me.

“On a stick!” he added, gesturing like he was dangling a monkey from a stick. As though this was somehow suppose to make everything better.

Yeah, I thought, I'll run and ask my dad to set down his beer and drive me across town to buy me a balloon monkey. “On a stick!” I'd add and gesture the way Gacy had. Surely that would motivate him.

“Then make me a frog,” I said. And he gave me fifteen more reasons why frogs and monkeys where not in his ken.

I tried one more time, but this time I don't remember what I asked for. All I remember was he yelled at me and told me to, “Get out of the line and see how it's done!”

He pointed at the kid behind me who dutifully stepped up and asked for a horse. He blew the balloon up, tied it then started twisting it into the only shape he knew how to make. I shrugged my shoulders and walked away, the sound of rubber squeaking behind me. I'd heard someone on the other side of the block party was handing out helium balloons. It seemed like it would be a lot less trouble. Screw this guy and his dog-horses.

At that moment when he yelled at me, Gacy had 27 bodies buried under his house (Or close to it, considering that was what they'd dig up four months later in December). Every night when he went to sleep and the heat kicked on in his house he could smell them through the vents. One of the cops who finally found them said he could smell it when he went into Gacy's house to use the bathroom.

I could take this moment to say that looking back I knew there was something seriously wrong with that clown. That something seemed “off” about him. That he was a fiend who gnashed his teeth at me and that I was afraid of that terrible red grin on his face. But that's not how it was. He was just like every other adult I met back then: tired, impatient, tense, angry, boring, gruff and completely devoid of imagination. As far as I was concerned he was no different from my father, my teachers, the Corner Tap owners, the librarians, or the pastor of the Catholic church my parents dragged me too every Sunday. (Who, by the way, is currently in jail for molesting young boys.) They all seemed the same to me. All of them had horrible problems they wore like messed-up face paint, that made some part of them look "off".

We found out about Gacy that winter. It was all anyone talked about. All that was on the TV and radio. They were all so shocked but I don't know that I really understood it one way or another. So, the guy who yelled at me about a balloon monkey had killed at least 27 young men and turned his crawl space into a graveyard. I heard them. I understood what they were saying. But I didn't get that it was unusual. Adults seemed so crazy. I figured it was just the sort of thing they all might do.

When I was a kid I swore I'd never stop playing, never stop having adventures and I've never let go of that vow. It bothered me too much that adults grew up to be killers.

When You Meet a Zombie on the Street

2009-08-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

Last night, around eight, I walked a few blocks down from my house to buy some cookies at the corner store. It was dark, overcast and in the 60's. It had been raining all day and it was misty and cool. Not really sticky-humid either, the way this time of year usually is. August 7th and 60 degrees. Could've worn my leather but I was in shirt sleeves. I don't ever remember an August like this in Chicago before but I can't say I dislike it. It was like late September. Gray and Halloweenish.

In the store there was Halloween candy and autumn decor. Apple and pumpkin scented candles. Cheap scarecrows. Back to school notebooks, rulers, pencils and pens. I bought my cookies just before a crowd assembled at the register. Cramming together to buy their junk. Carts full of cheap junk. Crap that won't be buried with them, but might bury them.

On the way back, walking down Cedar Lake road, just across from the Funeral home, I saw this older guy decked out in a black suit stumbling towards me. Red tie matching the red carnation in his button hole. Not something you see walking down Cedar Lake road. On Cedar Lake Road you see kids with baggy pants and backwards baseball caps, ears plugged with headphones. Or Chicas in flip flops and tight jeans throwin' it out there for the boys who drive past. Or people on bikes carrying crinkly plastic bags. Or mothers pushing carriages. Not red carnations in button holes. Not middle-aged gentlemen in three-piece black suits.

Hair impeccably combed. Graying temples and mustache. He was staggering when he walked. Looked like he'd been dressed for his own burial. For a minute I thought This is it, someone's actually raised the dead the way the old Tibetans used to. I thought he might be blaming me for it because he was stumbling towards me. I laughed a little because it was a wondrous sight. He just kept getting closer, zig-zagging down the sidewalk.

He staggered past me, smelling like a Catholic wake: no shit, that's the only way I can say it. He smelled like flowers and embalming fluid. I guess he was drunk. I said, 'Hi,' to him. He stared at me like he was trying to focus, slurred a greeting, then stumbled on.

Keep in mind the sky was dark, overcast and the air was cool. The light was all inverted: everything looked weird. Like black-lit death, you know, the way it is in Autumn. Light that makes the colors garish and wild: like green and purple. And black. Like the guy's suit. Black. With just that bright red carnation, that splash of bloody red in the middle of all that dark.

I stopped for a while, looked back, and watched him stagger down the street until he was just a black smudge in all that gray mist. Was one of the creepiest things I ever saw.

I went home and popped Night of the Living Dead into my little portable DVD player lay down on my bed and wondered if the zombies would rise up soon...

Birth of a Gravestomper...

2009-07-31T17:33:00.001-07:00

This is Corin White, The Gravestomper, and I’m going to take you on an adventure…

Maybe it all started that afternoon when I was wandering through the St Francis Borgia grammar school library looking for something to read. Those days reading bored the hell outta me. I preferred being outside: running, biking, lying under the hundred-year-old silver maples in my front yard making up adventures. There was life outside in the open air and things were so stagnant in that Catholic school. There was little of interest to me within it’s beige walls and filthy asbestos ceilings. So much so that in second grade I asked one of the nuns to let me go to the bathroom and I simply walked out of the school and ran away. It took my father throwing me to the ground, beating me and kicking me to make me agree not to leave it again.

But anyway: back to the library. I was looking for something that would excite me. I’d already read the only book the school had on Greek mythology about fifty times. I loved the stories of the Gods. They were so much more interesting than the battered crucified curse we had to face above the chalkboards every day. That was a constant reminder that there was no way to win. If the Catholics didn’t lobotomize me with their our fathers and hail mary’s, then someone else would sling me up on a tree and nail me in. Their philosophy sucked. A point I reiterated years later in Catholic high school to a gym teacher who then dragged me into his office and beat me up. Another curse. They were all about curses, these people. But the old Greeks knew the Gods weren’t infallible. They were like us only bigger and more powerful. This seemed important to me. But there was only one book about them in that Catholic library. Looking back now, I admit, I’m surprised there was even the one; but there was, and I’d read it; and I was looking for something else; and that’s when I saw it.

It was the cover that caught my eye. It was black. On it was was a black and green winged figure pointing at a couple of tombstones. Behind the figure a purple sky was split by a lightning bolt and above this was the title, Here Lies the Body by Scott Corbett.

I checked it out and immediately started reading it. It was about a New England boy and his little brother, who was may age, who got a summer job cutting grass in ‘Hemlock Hill Burial Ground’. The elder brother wanted to be a writer and spent his time making up poems about the names on the tombstones. Turns out there was a mystery surrounding the two old men who owned the cemetery. It was a great read that left an indelible mark on my imagination. I read the book maybe a dozen times after that.

As it happed, my house in Chicago was walking and biking distance from at least six cemeteries. I decided to have some adventures like my heroes from the book and started spending my days—and when I was older, some nights—in Acacia, Westlawn, Mount Olivet, St Joseph’s and Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove where John Belushi was originally buried before they moved his body to Massachusetts. In my teens I discovered Graceland and Rosehill on the North side where the first communal mausoleum was built. I fully explored the famous Mount Carmel: notorious for all of the gangsters like Al Capone who are buried there and where all of my Irish/Italian family is buried. I was looking for something. I didn’t know what.

When my mother found out I spent so much time in cemeteries she was horrified and said: “How can you do that?”

Why” I said to her. “It’s not the dead I’m worried about. It’s the living.” Which tells me now that even then I understood one of the principles central to the Tibetan Bon process: a realization that this life is characterized by suffering. But what no one seem to be able to answer was: How do we go beyond that suffering?

My time in cemeteries instilled a habit in me. One that lead me to search through the dark of this city for something even though I didn’t know I was looking for. I know now I was looking for the way to go beyond death. I knew there had to be a way and it wasn’t though the crucified curse. I’d read about Easterners who meditated in cemeteries and I was intrigued. Where did the practice come from? I wanted to know. Later I would find out: Tibet.

In my late teens I began to explore dark Chicago nights, clubs, smoky bars and glistening city streets the way I’d searched those cemeteries in my youth. Still looking for the answer to what was behind that dark. On the way home I’d drive into Acacia cemetery, which was open all night back then, and I’d sit on the gravestones and stare up at the stars. One those nights I always knew: the answer would eventually come.

One night in the late 80’s I was in club Berlin, staring at a New Order video on the screen. The place was packed--the music loud and thumping through my chest. There was smoke everywhere and I was a little drunk. I slammed my glass down on the bar and said aloud to no one: “I’m not coming back! This is it for me.”

Evidently I’d made a decision, but about what I didn’t know. By the time I hit 30 I’d fully explored the ‘New Age’ and found it to be to be no different from the religion I’d been raised on. There were no answers to what I’d been looking for in those cemeteries, or on those dark streets. Just a lot of entitlement attitude and an endless string of opinions.

By the time I was in my mid thirties I’d was researching Tibet. I uncovered a reference to these incredible Tibetans who were called called Bön. They were in Tibet long before the Buddhists ever came from India and, indeed, the Buddhists tried to rewrite Bön to make it their own. I couldn’t believe some of the legends about these incredible Bön. Could they be true? According to the book they were all but extinct.

“Now, where the hell am I going to find one of these Bön?” I said to myself.

But I didn’t have to find one. Two weeks later one found me. I was up in Wisconsin doing readings at a Spring festival. He was a Bönku or “seed of Bön”. That is, a Bön master. He gave me a meditation to try and I did it. When I’d mastered it he gave me another exercise. Unlike all the religions I’d grown up around he never asked me to trust him or believe him or follow him or to just "have faith". He simply gave me these experiments and said, “Try them. See what happens.”

See, now, if I was a New-Ager, this is the part of the story where I'd tell you that this Bönku told me I had a special gift, great spiritual power and that I was chosen to lead people. That sort of thing is pure bullshit. He didn't tell me I was 'special' or that I was 'chosen'. In fact he basically showed me how ignorant I was, and I how I was a prisoner of my own life and habits the way all of us humans are. If anyone had told me I was very powerful I would have known it was bullshit because I felt totally powerless back then. Power was the one thing I wanted because I was tired of having any and all power taken from me by others. I'm astonished so few are willing to admit the fact that they want power. They’re so afraid of it. But just because they pretend not to want it, doesn't mean they’re fooling anyone. It could lead them to great things if they’d just admit it. But he did tell me that if I worked my ass off I could have great power and reach enlightenment: the way all humans can. It's just that most humans already think they are already enlightened and so they can't even be bothered to try and grow further.

By midsummer that year I had taken vows of refuge. Meaning, I committed 11 years of my life to Bön training. That first year I learned all about the famous “cemetery work” of the Bön. (Some of it is chronicled in Alexandra David-Neel’s wonderful book, Magic and Mystery in Tibet.) And I realized why I had always been drawn to cemeteries. Lets just say that cemetery practices and all of the practices we Bön do are aimed at ending suffering: our own and the suffering of others. And we’ve dedicated our time here to managing our minds and ending suffering.

Now, cemeteries hold a great deal of magic for me. And I, as a Bön “Gomchen” as we are called, spend my time stomping the grounds with a great deal of appreciation and respect not only for the energies present in those places, but in the power of those places to relieve us of suffering, fears and limitations. For me, every trip to a cemetery is another adventure; it reminds me that we are more than mere dust and bones. We are energy.

But as my Bönku said to me the first day I met him: “If you’re not managing your energy, who is?”

And that my grave stomping friends, is the key to it all…

May your health and wealth grow and may you be liberated from suffering.

Video Graveyard Stomp: White Cemetery

2009-07-31T15:13:00.000-07:00