Eden Ahbez

eden ahbez Poet, musician, and songwriter; born Alexander Aberle, adopted and raised as George McGrew, he insisted on spelling his adult name in lower-case letters, and was called "ahbe" by his family and friends.

Sourced

• There was a boy
  A very strange enchanted boy...
  • "Nature Boy" (1948)

• While we spoke of many things
  Fools and kings
  This he said to me:
  "The greatest thing you'll ever learn
  Is just to love and be loved in return."
  • "Nature Boy" (1948)
  • The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved, just to love and be loved.
    • His assertion to Joe Romersa, of how his lyrics should be corrected, saying that "To be loved in return, is too much of a deal, and that has nothing to do with love."

• The seasons come and the seasons go, the summer fruit and the winter snow, but here we are, and here we stay — until the time to go away.
  Ah, they say, there's a land that is great, and is grand; there's no fear, and no pain — we will all live again — and everyone will find the ones they love.
  • "The Wanderer" from Eden's Island (1960)

Shadowbox Studio tribute pages

These quotations are from tribute pages created by his personal friend Joe Romersa at his Shadowbox Studio website, containing images and tape recordings of ahbez.

• Some white people hate black people, and some white people love black people, some black people hate white people, and some black people love white people. So you see it's not an issue of black and white, it's an issue of Lovers and Haters.
  • As quoted by Joe Romersa (c. 1992)

• I am a being of Heaven and Earth,
  of thunder and lightning,
  of rain and wind,
  of the galaxies,
  of the suns and the stars
  and the void through which they travel.
  The essence of nature,
  eternal, divine that all men seek to know to hear,
  known as the great illusion time,
  and the all-prevailing atmosphere.
  And now you know my background.
  • Tape recording declaring how he recited one of his poems in response to a question "What is your background?" (1992)

• Now Heaven and Earth are older than the temples,
  and older than the Scriptures,
  and whether we realize it or not,
  they hold more authority.
  • Tape recording to Joe Romersa (1992)

• What I mean by the Principle of Oneness is this:
  That we must learn to realize
  that there's nothing separate or apart.
  That everything is part of everything else.
  That there's nothing above us,
  or below us, or around us.
  All is inherent within us.
  Like Jesus said, "The Kingdom is Within."
  • Tape recording to Joe Romersa (1992)

• We're not earthly beings any more… we're cosmic beings.
  • Tape recording to Joe Romersa (1992)

• The earth is my altar, the sky is my dome, mind is my garden, the heart is my home and I'm always at home — yea, I'm always at Om.
  • Tape recording to Joe Romersa