Artistry, Activism, and Awakening: Thomas Lane’s Journey Empowering the Arts for Good

Join Rachel Garrett and Thomas Lane as they explore the intersection of artistry, activism, and spiritual awakening. This episode offers valuable insights for healing practitioners and seekers focused on awakening, spiritual growth, and soul healing practices. Discover how spiritual mentorship, inner light work, and aligning with your soul purpose can empower creative expression as a force for positive transformation and social good.

Welcome to an enlightening episode where we sit down with multi-faceted artist Thomas Lane, whose eclectic journey through life will keep you hooked from start to finish. 

 Author, poet, and musician Thomas Lane debuts his first novel, The Karma Factor, a work of visionary fiction exploring the boundaries of human consciousness against the backdrop of a classic suspense thriller. With a purpose that transcends the genre, Lane expertly weaves the novel’s wider message in a ground-breaking, white-knuckle ride between worlds, as characters set out to make karmic amendments, right wrongs and re-establish the power of choice. 

From his deep exploration of spirituality that inspired him to pen 'The Karma Factor' to his compassionate endeavor to help the homeless, Thomas' wealth of experiences offer insights to ponder. As he shares about the influence of his intellectual upbringing and his mother's dedication to service, prepares to discover how these enriching experiences have shaped his work and worldview.

We're about to embark on a thought-provoking journey as we, along with Thomas and his brother, venture into the concept of past lives and how they impact our present and future. It's a compelling conversation about karma, gratitude, and the simplicity of life that challenges our common perspectives. We also address pressing global issues, such as climate change and racial violence, reminding us all that we can do our part, no matter how small, to make a significant change.

To cap it off, we dive into Thomas' passion for poetry and his mother's commitment to service, exploring how they have shaped his artistic expressions.  Stay with us till the end as we discuss Thomas' upcoming endeavors and his aspiration to make a meaningful difference with his work. Be prepared for a stimulating conversation that explores the depth and breadth of a truly remarkable person's journey.

 Raised in Connecticut, Thomas Lane is a multi-dimensional creative drawn to spaces where art, spirit, and social justice intersect. He is the author of The Artists’ Manifesto, a tribute to the power of the arts and its value to a society that has forgotten the precious nature of life. 

In addition to creating a collection of poetry, screenplays, and paintings, he recently recorded a CD of his songs, entitled Hotel Earth under the stage name Trakker. Politically active since his teens, Thomas subsequently created The Helen Hudson Foundation, a nonprofit focused on social issues including homelessness, racism, and the environment. 

He currently lives with his wife in Rhode Island. 

Transcript

The Karma Factor

Speaker 1 0:00

Okay , hello everyone , welcome to our spiritual spotlight series . Today I am joined by Thomas Lane . Thomas is an author , a poet and a musician . He has written multiple books . He has written The Karma Factor is what we're going to be focusing on today The Artist Manifesto . He also has a book of poems and he has a CD and a non-profit organization . Thomas , thank you so much for joining us today . I'm so happy you're here .

Speaker 2 0:26

Thanks for having me .

Speaker 1 0:28

So I'm going to jump right in and talk about The Karma Factor , because I'm somebody who's very spiritual and you don't really find a book like yours , that kind of touches on the spirituality and also having this deep , meaty story , which is quite fascinating . So let's talk about what inspired you to write The Karma Factor .

Speaker 2 0:50

You know there's not one answer . There are so many different factors . I would say I was raised in a house which was heavy with intellectual three PhDs Wow , harvard Yale . My dad taught at Harvard Mom who was an activist par none . She was amazing , she also was PhD and she did a lot of writing as well . Growing up in that environment , with all that going on , i wouldn't have been able to name it back then when I was a kid , but there was a lot of suffering , a lot of suffering in that family , and I came in this lifetime with some other perspective And when I looked at that , even though it was at the top of the totem pole in a certain way , i didn't want it . I had to go off and I was into sports and other kinds of stuff , but I found my way , looking for something else . And then I came upon stories like Peter Pan and where he flies , or the . My fourth grade teacher read The Hobbit out loud to the class .

Speaker 1 2:07

Oh , nice Woo .

Speaker 2 2:10

And all of a sudden doors began opening about the possibilities of life , the possibilities of seeing something completely different than somebody else , and they can all be true . And so growing up with that also being just a regular guy like rock and roll , i missed you for typical male stuff . But I had this other thing going on too . And so as I became , as I left sports , i became interested in folk singing . I was a guitar player , a songwriter , did all that , and then that translated into writing . So I had sort of a background in adventure stories and noir and cops and robbers .

Speaker 2 2:51

And yet this other thing that was was thinking , you know , it's a bit like a broken record that keeps playing the same song over and over And you want to take the needle of the record , say , how about looking at it from this way ? And this prompted me into the spiritual realm to look at what might be possible . And so I sort of all things collided or came together under one roof when I had , when I found out about the Akashic records and the possibilities , oh my God , a database of past lives , you know , and as we had discussed before , it wasn't .

Speaker 2 3:29

I didn't know the depth of the Akashic records , but I knew it was like a . It could be used like an expanded profile .

Speaker 1 3:38

Yeah .

Speaker 2 3:39

And then I said , well , what did you do on October 12th 1827 ? Well , i had this . Who did you cheat on , Who did you murder ? All this kind of stuff from all over , yeah , all this database . And so how would that play if a cop chasing a serial killer not to give , not to give it away , but knew he wanted to come out instead of jailing him or executing the bad guy so that the karma of the individual was actually addressed ?

Speaker 2 4:09

And I just played with that idea and I wrote many drafts of it and possible movie and all kinds of stuff . And then I had the courage to , because the big deals didn't happen after so many years . I just said , okay , i'm hearing the clarion call now that we're all hearing about doing something a little bit more risky or out of the comfort zone or something to help out a little more . And then I decided to self publish . And then I am actually a hybrid . I work with a hybrid publisher And I get to meet people like you and talk the stuff that I'm really interested in . And here we are .

Speaker 1 4:51

That was a great answer , so I want to take a step from that and tell me a little bit more about the clarion call .

Speaker 2 5:02

Well , I have been ever since . I was telling you about it as a youngster and I would not have come up with these words , but I've been an outsider . I've been without a group , without a community , really , but also just very trying to observe what was going on . And so I pulled back and when I was off the grid , I didn't like grow a beard and live in the woods that have birds flying out of my hair , But I was able to because I had enough money and enough time that I just created and created and created , and over a time when we started hitting global warming and the racial violence , all these things that are exploding on the surface that have been there for millennia .

Speaker 1 5:50

Exactly .

Speaker 2 5:51

The problems of working with the other , with tribal stuff and all that , you know . I just felt like I had this organization named after my mother Helen Hudson was her pen name And it was working with the homeless largely . But as there became so much noise from so many different sectors , i decided , well , i had to do something . I had to do something more And I was very reluctant to step out into the world and be a somebody , much happier being anonymous and in my cocoon . But that was how I heard . It's just , it's an all hands on deck situation . There are a million different decks . Everybody's got a different step , and this was mine , which is to get this published and start talking about these things , which just hopefully provide an alternative to what is going on now . No , absolutely .

Speaker 1 6:53

I think that's a beautiful way to say it And you're so right , especially with what's going on right now . It's definitely a call for healers and all sorts of people . It doesn't matter if you're a healer and artist , creative . you have that inner burning inside of you that you know that there's something more , and you're right it's all hands on deck and we're all part of , you know , cogs of a wheel . We all have our own role to play , and I think that's cool .

Speaker 1 7:19

So tell us a little bit about the book's premise , without giving too much away , and how its wider message for humanity fits with it .

Speaker 2 7:28

Well , my hero is a cop And he is metaphorically . he's in a uniform that doesn't fit him at all . And he has a secret life where he's tortured with images from past , from things he did wrong . He doesn't know what it is And he wants to take himself out . He finally says I can't stand this . Nobody knows , Everybody thinks he's a hotshot .

Speaker 1 7:58

Yeah .

Speaker 2 7:59

Got everything wired . Ladies love him House cases . And so he steps into . I'll just give this one little bit of work . He steps in , he sets it up , So he has one bullet left in his chamber and he's going into a criminal with an itchy finger on the trigger And he goads him . He goads him into having to shoot him , But when the bullets are fired at point blank range couldn't miss him . The bullets are suddenly disappear and end up in New Mexico .

Speaker 1 8:34

I know that was so interesting . I was like , oh , I like that .

Speaker 2 8:38

That was fun to write . And he looks into those eyes of the corpse now and he says oh , i wish there , this tunnel of your pupil . I wish it was big enough I could walk through it , find out where you are now . Anyway , this leads to a whole . He's been saved . He doesn't know why he's been saved And now his quest becomes if I've been given this second chance , what am I supposed to do with it ?

Speaker 2 9:03

And this launches him into inquiry into previous lifetimes , perceptions that he wasn't willing to experience , and all of a sudden , he begins morphing into this hybrid between cop and Buddhist monk .

Speaker 1 9:18

Yeah , it's very interesting , so let's talk about . You just said that past lives , so reincarnation is at the center of the book . Do you believe in past lives ?

Speaker 2 9:29

I do .

Speaker 1 9:30

Do I like that . So how did you come to that belief And how has it affected your relationship in this present life ?

Speaker 2 9:38

That's really a good one . First of all , there is and , to be totally honest , there was a skepticism about it . Oh , past lives , oh , that allows me to think that I will come back again And that's a very hopeful kind of thing And that's user friendly and all that . But ultimately , when I just looked at my own self and people , I knew I was like , oh , I'm gonna go back .

Exploring Past Lives and Possibilities

Speaker 2 10:04

My brother and I different , very different from the same family . What is the active ingredient here ? What is the thing that allows to be in the same environment to people to be so different ? For me , it just made a lot of sense ultimately , that there are things from my childhood that I've been burdened with , but there are also things earlier .

Speaker 2 10:27

Absolutely And those things I'm carrying forward and my drill how it affects me this lifetime is to work that stuff out , And family is a big component part of that . I think There's a lot of karma that gets worked out in families or not , And it isn't like I was a big famous person , I was Teddy Roosevelt or I was Genghis Khan . Past lifetimes have gotten a bad name because people use it egoically rather than Yes .

Speaker 2 11:06

But I think it's like for me , pursuing possibilities is a mandate for me . I just look at it that way that we're kind of like living in a mansion but only occupying one room in that mansion , and these are other rooms that are available , and some of them are past lifetimes , and so I've just decided that it works for me , and I'd like to know more .

Speaker 1 11:30

Yeah , i think that is a really good way to put it , that you're living in one room of your mansion . You know I'm an Akashic record practitioner and .

Speaker 1 11:40

I love to work in the records And the thing about past life is , and what I like to work with my clients and you're doing this in the book it's you look at , what are these patterns and these beliefs and these traumas that impacted you in past lives that we do carry forward . If you do not resolve that and I'm not sure if you believe this , i do believe if you do not resolve a lesson , or if there's some trauma that you haven't resolved , it's going to come into this lifetime .

Speaker 2 12:08

Oh , I totally believe that .

Speaker 1 12:09

Yeah , and I think it's louder and louder and louder . It's going to smack you right in your face .

Speaker 2 12:15

Well , that was the key . Then the serial killer guy Yeah , that we had to go back 300 years to find out where it started . And the other thing I want to say is there's also and this is true for me that the past lifetimes can also have good karma .

Speaker 1 12:31

Absolutely .

Speaker 2 12:32

Wonderfully strong , beautiful things that we can carry forward and that becomes the fertile soil of self-realization , of both the good and the bad .

Speaker 1 12:42

That is so true because I don't know about when I am doing my spiritual work , or I may be meditating , or I'm trying to tap into something that you know it feels a little outside of my reach . I'll tap into , i'll go into my heart space and I'll call on myself from the past , present and future to bring in that knowledge with my team to kind of help me master it and to achieve it . And I'm like I don't I mean I have way too many books , way too many books , but I do like that and I also pull forward the ancestor . So well , the ancestor that's going to help me to maybe be brave , or help me to not feel hopeless , or you know , you can . I just love being able to call on that team and you know you kind of do that within your book , which is really cool .

Speaker 2 13:27

That's really thank you . I'm glad it happens .

Speaker 1 13:30

It's really cool . Yeah , it's fun . I yeah , we could . We could talk for hours about the Akashic records . So what do you feel is the most important message in your book ?

Speaker 2 13:42

Well , I'm going to probably sound like a broken record , but not at all . Okay , good , just being open to possibility .

Speaker 1 13:51

Yeah , i think that is . Yeah , i know you can say that like changing possibilities and rewriting your life and really kind of , you know , going from a hopeless situation to a positive situation . And , yeah , explore the possibilities . That's going to be the name of this .

Speaker 2 14:08

Okay , that sounds good to me And you know , i mean I have come to look at as the lens through which we view things And there's habitual energy which will just you always see this kind of thing You always see the negative , or you always see and to be able to have a little space there and step back and say , you know , i don't have to go there , i can , i can . I was just doing it like sitting here when we were before we went up looking at a tree Outside of my window and I went . You know , i could see that as this , as a living , breathing thing that is just landed here , or I could see it as a tree , or I could see it . There's just so many different ways that and there's , you know , it's just that the possibilities of life are just vast And and it's malleable is you don't have to follow the gravitational pull of where you usually go . You know , and that's been a terribly important lesson for me to , and I have to keep reminding myself because I watch myself follow certain patterns , you know .

Speaker 1 15:11

It's so true , i think . sometimes we get in the machine of life and we kind of get on our blinders And then I think it's , you know , i'm like you , i'll look outside my window and I'll look at and I'll think , wow , that tree is beautiful . And just having an attitude of gratitude , i mean , it helps us to rise up , you know , raise up our vibration , and helps us to feel more positive . It creates more healing around us . But to appreciate just the simple simplicity of life is also important , apparently important .

Speaker 1 15:42

Yeah , Like it's so cool that you're looking . I honestly , just this morning I looked out , I walked by my tree and I'm like I love you tree . I have this one tree , I just love It's my fairy tree .

Speaker 2 15:57

Why not ?

Speaker 1 15:58

I know it's so cool . So tell me about . What is your vision for the world with the karma factor . What are you hoping for when somebody picks this up ? that they gain from it .

Speaker 2 16:12

Well , first , that they have fun reading it , that it's just a couple hours or whatever a long howling it takes . It's a big book , right ?

Speaker 1 16:20

It is a big book .

Speaker 2 16:22

It's kind of an event That is fun to read and you know pulls you along and you want to catch the bad guy and you want the Relationship to work out and all the various things . It's got layers , it's got a hierarchy of spiritual people . Again , i think that There is a transformation that my guy had to go through because he was challenged and because He was , he decided instead of sort of giving into it and And he was helped because the bullets disappeared , yeah , but he was helped . But he could have done a lot of things . He could have gone mad , ended up in a loony bendy , could , and he made that choice and the freedom of choice is a big part of Also of you know , of seeing , of opening opportunities where opportunities that you cannot take this thing but you can take that thing . And I think if I can even chip away a sliver of compulsive , reactive kind of behavior that people take away from this book would be Extraordinarily wonderful for me .

Speaker 1 17:32

Absolutely Yeah , we , we are very much a knee jerk society . Yeah you know we don't . Sometimes we don't take a step back to like just think before we react . I on motto where I work at is like let's be proactive , not let's not be reactive . You know there's so many people are like I know . Run a doctor's office . That's why I bring it up , that people can be .

Speaker 2 17:58

So tell me a little bit about the artist manifesto oh , this goes back a While 15 years , something like that And on me as a struggling artist . I'm trying to get a record deal , trying to get published , or trying and hanging out with artists sitting in coffee shops and backstage at concerts , whatever , and the talk was Just filled with Grievances , really , that they couldn't get going , they couldn't , the culture didn't want them , the , the , the , the record companies were not looking for great material , they're looking for commercial material right .

Speaker 2 18:42

And you know , and it's an industry , it's a business , so they have to make money . But it was this I came away feeling , just after a sort of a loose survey of artists , was that , you know , we've given up our country , the arts , to lawyers and businessmen's , whatever . We don't own the arts anymore , the money . And so I I I hired a marketing company , went out and surveyed artists and it was dancers , stand-up comedians , you know , poets , all these , and , interestingly enough , there wasn't so much interest in in connecting all the arts into one thing That the ballet people had their separate homes , and writers , and so , anyway , so I wrote this . It was like a manifesto , just like pushing back about artists . We need to like , have more communication , work together , we need to understand business . This was written for me too , because I was equally at all for you know , but there's a lot of artists that don't don't read the contracts .

Speaker 2 19:42

They say and they get screwed . Pardon my French , and It was just pushing back about this If you look , got a perception of all over the planet , these millions of people that are artists or we consider themselves artists , even school teachers who do it , you know , handle with thought and great passion and care that becomes an art and That if we had more connection We would be able to mobilize and and address causes , progressive , others in my place as as a sovereignty , as a united Sovereignty of the arts . Anyway , it was a dream and but it's all sold , every book .

Speaker 1 20:23

That's really cool . I really like that and it is . You bring up a valid point of a lot of artists don't own their art . Like they don't own , like , let's say , they're a musician How many artists you know that don't own their catalog of music ? You know it's sad , like look at what was it ? Michael Jackson owned part of the Beatles . Yeah like How was that even right ?

Speaker 2 20:46

I don't know . Yeah , there's so many stories about Jimi Hendrix among all kinds of people who basically gave their publishing away and then ended up destitute .

Speaker 1 20:56

Right and it's like , wow , they were able to provide so much love and happiness and inspiration for millions of people . And then it's like , who's looking out for them ?

Speaker 2 21:06

Yeah , it's such a time for artists to rise up and and and I think it's happening I really yeah .

Speaker 1 21:13

I , that's really cool . I I'm . Is that on now ? Are you rewriting that , or is that something that you can put ? okay , so , and then when it are you gonna self-publish that after it's rewritten ?

Speaker 2 21:23

I haven't gotten that far yet I'm come on now , thomas . After three . Thank you very much .

Speaker 1 21:29

Rachel's watching you . No , i have . Um , there's a lot of energy that's coming in just for that , like I'm like whoo , that's gonna be amazing . It really is okay .

Speaker 2 21:41

Thank you .

Speaker 1 21:42

Also a singer-songwriter with the CD called Hotel Earth . Um , tell us a little bit more about that .

Speaker 2 21:49

So I have done demos , i've had my almost record deals . I had a publishing deal when I was 15 And I thought , oh , i'm gonna , i'm gonna score big in this world . And I never got the record deal and I turned one down , actually because they wanted me to do something that was totally against my , my aesthetics . But as part of this Renaissance that , i decided I took 12 songs and I cobbled them together and and and came up with a concept of Hotel Earth . I had written a song , uh , called Hotel Earth , and the chorus goes uh , oh , what is the chorus go ?

Speaker 1 22:35

We're putting you on the spot .

Speaker 2 22:36

Tell us now , if you're looking on the fire escape , looking for higher ground , the powers that be are digging black holes , tearing my rainbows down . That's the first verse .

Speaker 1 22:48

I like that .

Speaker 2 22:51

But anyway , and this became the title song of what I consider to be a story . Each song doesn't have a literal story and you would be a hard time , but a lot of them could become pieces of the book of the karma factor , in fact .

Speaker 1 23:09

Nice .

Speaker 2 23:09

There's a love song , a past lifetime love song . There's the Hotel Earth song , which I told you about . There's one that's for women to rise up , because I'm tired of men and their testosterone and all Let's get some parody going here , folks . You know all these kind of issues And I spent three years getting this album done and I had tremendous help and support from other players and arrangers and took three years And then I finished it And then again I didn't know what to do with it . So it's sitting in my you know it's on Spotify and the Hotel Earth by Tracker Tracker is my stage name , who's also a character in the book .

Speaker 1 23:53

How did you come up with the name Tracker ?

Speaker 2 23:57

Does he tracks ?

Speaker 1 23:58

You're like I'm done .

Speaker 2 24:01

Because , in terms of how I have always seen the brand of Tracker is that his job is to be a little bit out in front and be scouting about what's up ahead , what's dangerous , what's beautiful , what's cool , what's awful , and reporting back to anyone who would listen , and that's kind of what I'm doing .

Speaker 1 24:22

Oh , that's so cool . That's really cool . Tell us a little bit about the Helen Hudson Foundation and your work within the organization .

Speaker 2 24:30

OK , so here's the story My mom we go back to my mom who was a published writer , relentless activist , a very unhappy person but a wonderful person , and she would do all these various volunteer work with progressive causes .

Voices From the Soup Kitchen

Speaker 2 24:50

She marched against the war , she went to Selma , she recorded for the blind , She wrote letters to prisoners And she worked in soup kitchens . And while she was working in the soup kitchens this is in the 90s she got interested in the guests And she would set up a little tape recorder in a dust closet wherever she could find a little space and interview them . And she got all these wonderful , amazing stories . Her publisher didn't want to publish it . She had a manuscript called Dinner at Six . Voices from the Soup Kitchen .

Speaker 1 25:27

I like that name .

Speaker 2 25:28

So it was wonderful And I read it And I was really moved And I was really pissed that her publisher didn't want to do it . So I proposed let's publish it ourselves , Let's print it And let's instead of being a commercial thing , let's do a raising money and awareness campaign . So what we did is give the books to soup kitchens so they could resell them And they would keep the money . Mom didn't want to die And so I was the one man band that would just find out about a soup kitchen , give them a call , talk to them , load up my trunk with books and go over to them and hand them out or send them out to Omaha or wherever the need was . And it was really successful . We had about 100 organizations . We raised tens of thousands of dollars for it And it's called the Helen Hudson Foundation .

Speaker 2 26:24

You can find that online . Hudson was her pen name And so when I came up to Providence where I live , providence , rhode Island my mom passed away . I started this organization in her honor to carry on the legacy and continued the book campaign until it kind of ran out of gas for some reason . But there were all these other , as I said all these other voices having to do with the arts and all the various issues now , and so we , basically , i've just been a philanthroper . philanthropist , i think that word .

Speaker 1 27:06

I'm not even gonna try it , because I'll stumble on it .

Speaker 2 27:09

Okay , well , it's a good thing . this isn't live Philanthropist I guess . Yeah , so I just I write checks every now and then I'm working with one particular homeless organization funding . They have an outreach program where they have story pick tellers from people who were homeless . They go out and talk in schools and whatever . Anyway , i'm so fortunate This is my grandparents' money that stayed in trust And I get to give money to UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders , and Me Too , and Planned Parenthood and just anybody .

Speaker 1 27:44

Wow , that's amazing .

Speaker 2 27:46

It is amazing .

Speaker 1 27:47

That's really amazing . So we're gonna shift back to the karma factor . And where can the audience find this book ?

Speaker 2 27:55

Amazon , for sure , and Barnes Noble . They can also go to my website , which is , strangely enough , it's thomaslaincom Surprise , isn't that coincidence ? It's got my name on it , yeah .

Speaker 1 28:14

Something tells me you're a little bit of a joker , really . So another question The book does read like a movie . Are there any plans for it to become a film version ?

Speaker 2 28:25

Yes , there are . I don't know where that exactly stands now , but I have an option deal for a movie .

Speaker 1 28:34

That is amazing . Anything else that you would like to share with the audience , maybe in regards to spirituality and about your book or anything ? just because , like you said in the beginning , we're kind of all being called to the mats ? and there is this inner kind of all right guys , it's time to get going . Any advice you might be willing to share with the audience .

Speaker 2 28:56

Well , this is stuff that I tell myself all the time , which is Take whatever step you feel you need to take to be helpful . I mean , that could be waving to the postman that could be getting out there with a sign to protest , that could be writing your congressman that could just be meditating a little bit more to be part of the movement

Consequence and Healing

Speaker 2 29:22

. We need vast amounts of energy to counteract what has the damage that's already been done , but it's crisis . Equal opportunity , equals opportunity . I totally believe in that , but it's coming down to us to make this . As I say in one of my poems , the long arc of consequence has finally arrived and chosen us to be the final word And bend down to heal this wounded miracle and listen to the voice beyond that says time has come , time to listen and decide .

Speaker 1 30:02

I like that , the long arm of consequence .

Speaker 2 30:05

Long arc of consequence , Long arc sorry . Long arc of consequence .

Speaker 1 30:10

I like it . That's a really good I can send you the video ?

Speaker 2 30:14

Yes , please do .

Speaker 1 30:15

I'll make sure to link it up with this episode .

Speaker 2 30:18

Okay .

Speaker 1 30:19

So , thomas , thank you so much for joining us on the spiritual spotlight series . Everyone make sure to check out the karma factor , be on the lookout for the artist manifesto , check out his CD , his poetry book , everything else that Thomas has going on , which is a lot . Thomas , thank you so much for joining us today .

Speaker 2 30:38

Thanks for having me . It's been really fun . What to do ?