The future is unforeseeable

 The goal of foreseeing the future exactly and preparing for it perfectly is unrealizable. The idea of making a complex system do just what you want it to do can be achieved only temporarily, at best...The future can't be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovely into being. 

~Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems

Indigenous vs Western View of Technology

The following are excerpts from The Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Some. Malidoma has had the rare experience of being immersed in both Western culture and African tribal culture. Through his writings, he brings a great gift of speaking to the strengths of each culture and how important it is to balance these aspects. There is much to be learned from tribal beliefs. They hold an ancient wisdom that we have lost in our present-day society. If incorporated into our modern technological world, we could achieve a much more peaceful, balanced and healthy way of living. The following writings from Malidoma provide a view regarding technology that I believe our culture can benefit from immensely. I am not against technology at all and believe that society can benefit greatly from it. I am against the way in which some technology has been developed and thrives at the expense of the natural world and human health and well-being.

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In the indigenous world, technology takes a radically different form than in the West because its intention is not to disturb the natural world. Indigenous people tend to be familiar with the sorts of technology that do not assault nature, do not compete with the natural order, and do not tend to show them as superior with respect to nature. Indigenous technology, which focuses on working with the world of Spirit, requires the same awareness for safe operation as does Western technology focused on manipulating matter. It doesn't make you want to settle in here with a mountain of possessions and a large mortgage.

Technologies in the indigenous world are developed in order to fulfill basic human needs, such as community health, harmony, and a sense of meaning and purpose in life. In this sense technology is oriented toward Spirit. This seems to contrast with the West, where the craving for connection with the deeper sense of meaning and the yearning for spiritual vitality are most diluted amid the noise of traffic and factories. Yet it is obvious that the one wants or needs the other. Villagers in West Africa who are taken on a tour of a factory often come out of there silent for days, unable to put in words what they saw. They are mesmerized at the power of the machine and its ability to make things. Some are confused as to whether there is a spirit behind all this or if the machine is not the spirit in disguise. They report that they feel as if their spirit was sucked out in the factory and that they need healing to recover from their encounter. This recovery often leads to the person returning to the city in search of the god of the white man whose power they have seen. But enchantment with technology can work in the other direction also. A Westerner is introduced to village "magic" and decides to settle there.

Many ecologists and environmentalists in the West say that technology sets itself up as an enemy of nature. They fight to close a nuclear power plant here or there because they understand that the purity of Nature is being contaminated by these plants, and the consequences to countless species, including humankind, are serious. Westerners talk about rivers of pure water having become like sewers. One gets an image of industry abandoning its droppings anywhere it wishes, knowing full well that what it cannot digest, nothing can. Some suggest this is the price to pay to get the results needed. Hasn't modern technology, overall, contributed to bettering human life? The problem is that wherever there is a yet-undamaged piece of the world, modernity tends to regard that place as primitive, archaic, and, at best, pre-industrial.

By contrast, indigenous technologies look rather non-aggressive. In producing anything, indigenous people make it a point to inquire with the Spirit World as to whether this product is appropriate. For indigenous Africans, dream and vision are evidence of the Spirit pointing the way to us. What is shown to you in that manner is actually an invitation from a higher realm to consecrate yourself to the production of something that is going to benefit the greater community.

A culture that is in touch with its spiritual connection is a culture that is poised to evolve. In the indigenous context, change is tolerated, even welcomed, because it originates with Spirit. If evolution originates in a spiritual source, then it does not disrupt stability. If evolution is seen in terms of the modern definition, concerned with ascendancy, acquisition, and control and mastery over the material world, then evolution becomes destructive to stability. The modern notion of stability has a heavy load of military hardware associated with it. This contrasts sharply with the indigenous view of stability, which is a state of alignment with Spirit, with cosmic rules and regulations.

The very word cosmos implies evolution, and in this context, evolution means discovering new things and learning new methods of handling the affairs of life. This is one purpose of technology, to help human beings increase their awareness and consciousness. In this sense precolonial indigenous cultures, even within their apparently primitive technologies, were heavily involved in an evolutionary process. In the interest of their own evolution, it was essential to maintain cohesion within the culture, for you have to stick together to evolve together. In the development of Western technologies, we cannot allow some among us to evolve while some are left behind, because that is not community. Community is the common handling of the journey. Attention to community and to Spirit in indigenous technologies has meant, however, that the evolution of indigenous cultures takes place quietly, without the explosive and destructive side effects of Western technology. When your ties with Spirit are strong enough your evolution has less visibility. A good portion of modern technology is extremely destructive, probably because of the lesser presence of Spirit within it. The larger the presence of the Spirit, the subtler and less polluting technological evolution will be.

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On one of my trips to my village I brought a VCR, a small TV, and some videotapes of this popular science fiction show [Star Trek]. During one of the scenes where people were being dematerialized and moved around by the transporter machine, I asked the elders if they understood what was going on. They were rather taken aback, replying that of course they knew what was happening, but could I please explain what all of the machines were for.

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Don't edit your own soul...

“Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” 

- Franz Kafka

How do we make it better?

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” 

~ Krishnamurti

Paradise Lost?

I'm a pretty chilled out, mellow person. Few things really get to me and get me worked up. Those who know me well, know this does (hopefully I'm not starting to sound like a broken record, but this is overwhelmingly important to me):

I've been hearing many climate scientists say they are worried, concerned for the future of our planet. Climate models are beginning to paint a grim picture of our future. We are beginning to see the effects of climate change manifest in drought, record temperatures and record arctic ice melt. Climate change is beginning to impact those who live on remote islands. It saddens me, it frustrates me. The communities that live on these islands are the first to experience the negative effects of our changing planet.

Our country can spend trillions on war (http://costofwar.com/), but when it comes to the preservation of our own planet, we aren't willing to spend. Why have our presidential candidates mostly ignored the issue of climate change (http://climatesilence.org/)? Why can't we, as a nation, be leaders in addressing and acting upon what we already know is happening? I know that people like to argue that climate change is a natural process, many people are skeptical. It is true that the climate naturally changes over time. Over long periods of time, it changes drastically. However, I don't know how people can deny the fact that we are significantly altering earth cycles, most notably, the carbon cycle. As a result, our actions are accelerating the pace of climate change and altering the way in which climate change would occur naturally. How can we deny the fact that extracting carbon from within the earth and transferring it into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels (32 billion tons per year) is having a negative impact on our environment? (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html).

I understand the argument that we are living creatures that have a right to consume and advance our civilizations, which means using the earth's resources. However, we are an amazingly intelligent species with high potential. We are capable of moving away from a carbon-based economy, maybe not completely, but we can sure do a lot better than we currently are. One of the main obstacles for clean renewable energy is money.

It is painful to see that corporations are already lining up to access the natural resources and oil that is soon going to be exposed as ice melts over the arctic. They want to access more of the thing that has caused the melting in the first place. Scientists have been warning us that we are reaching a point of no return in regards to the damage that is going to be caused to the planet, and essentially ourselves (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/earth-tipping-point-study_n_1577835.html).

Instead of trying to prevent damage and drastic changes, our governments are simply beginning to think about how to handle the stresses that will be caused by changes in climate. Why are we not being more proactive? Yes, it will cost money to change now, but if we don't start to change, the cost will be even more in the future. There will be a high psychological and emotional cost as well. Oh, and the cost of lost life, too...But our mighty dollar and present needs are more important.

I feel bad about what is happening now on some of the islands across the planet. We are beginning to see the effects there. We go on living our lives as if nothing is happening. We can't continue this way. Eventually it will effect every part of the earth and every ecosystem, this includes us, we are not separate, we are not immune. I suppose eventually, when governments and corporations realize that they are being negatively effected by climate change, things will begin to change, but will that happen before excessive amounts of damage and suffering takes place?

I simply don't understand why so many people are in denial about the reality of what is happening around us. Why don't we (government and corporate America included) want to work harder to make our world a better place for future generations and to ensure that the planet and thus the people who inhabit it have a healthy environment to live in? Even if all of the climate models are wrong, all you need to do is look at the smog and breathe in the dirty air in a big city. It can't be healthy, why are we okay with it? I understand we must consume and "destroy" certain aspects of the planet in order for us to live and thrive. I just wish we were more mindful of our impact and more respectful to the planet that has fostered life as we know it. We live on a wondrous and amazing planet. She deserves so much better from us...and we are capable of it.

Please take the time to educate yourself about what is going on around the world. Knowledge is power. By combining our knowledge with compassion, we CAN make this world a better place for ourselves and future generations. A good site for frequently asked climate change questions: http://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq

Awaken

Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake.
— WILLIAM JAMES

Risk Your Heart

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.” ~ Louise Erdich

"For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness." 

- Carl Sagan

There is much good and love left in the world...

One of the most inspiring things I've seen in a long time.

Health

"When the earth is sick and polluted, human health is impossible...To heal ourselves we must heal our planet, and to heal our planet we must heal ourselves."

~ Bobby McLeod

At a Moment's Notice

The Future is Ours

Health Care - What Happened to the People?

I've been following the Supreme Court's review of President Obama's health care law. They are set to make a ruling this month, either repealing the entire thing or portions of it. As I read the news articles on this topic, I've noticed that they all focus on one primary thing - profit. They look at each scenario and discuss who profits and who doesn't, essentially, who "wins" and who "loses." Funny how we are talking about corporations here, and not people. How do the people "win" and "lose" in regards to the most precious thing given to all of us; our health and livelihood? Without that, we have nothing. What about the individual's profits and losses? What happened to the role of people in this equation? Here's a brief outline of the sections of the article I just read, titled "How Stocks will Fare in Court Ruling on Health Law:"

THE COURT THROWS OUT THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE BUT KEEPS THE REST OF LAW
Hospitals could find themselves in the sick ward.

THE COURT REPEALS THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE AND THE NEW COVERAGE RULES
Insurers would win.

THE COURT REPEALS THE ENTIRE LAW
Insurers focused on Medicaid recipients could lose.

THE COURT KEEPS THE LAW
In a sense, health care companies, and their investors, win.

Each section then describes each scenario and who "wins" and "loses." The entire article can be found here:

http://www.9news.com/money/273998/344/How-stocks-will-fare-in-court-ruling-on-health-law

It is all focused on profit. Nothing like feeling as though my health means nothing and is simply a commodity for someone at the top to make money off of. I realize this article is specifically focused on how the decision on the law will effect stocks. It just makes me angry that access to health care in this country is not a given right to every single citizen, and that it is not equal. We are all a part of the human family, all we have is our life and our health and that we are denied access to health care in this country is absolutely absurd. This is the only industrialized nation who does not offer health coverage to all of its citizens.

Voting this law down will only make us go backwards again. Why wouldn't the American public want to be covered if they have a preexisting condition? Why wouldn't we want our young population and college graduates to remain on their parents' policies until they are 26, while they establish their careers and find coverage on their own? I am always reading about people who disagree so much with Obama's health care plan. Yet, it helps millions of people get access to coverage! It treats ill people as equals to healthy people! I know it requires everyone to get coverage, but it also provides a lot of assistance to those who can't afford it. Obama's plan isn't flawless and I can understand why some people want to make their own decision as to whether or not they are covered, but the rest of us should also be able to get coverage if we want it, and right now that is not an option for many of us either.

A win-win would be to allow those who don't want coverage to decline it and for those who do to have access to it. Why is this so complicated? I guess because eventually, those who are not covered end up needing care and hospitals foot the bill. It all goes back to money and profit, though. If health care was available to everyone, this wouldn't be an issue. We can spend trillions on war, but we can't find a way to make sure every American has basic health care coverage? And it all comes down to profit. Fuck money and big greedy corporations. I belong on a different planet where they don't exist...a place where health and well-being is the top priority, not money, profit and power.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

Death and Rebirth

“Sometimes the one who is running from the Life/Death/Life nature insists on thinking of love as a boon only. Yet love in its fullest form is a series of deaths and rebirths. We let go of one phase, one aspect of love, and enter another. Passion dies and is brought back. Pain is chased away and surfaces another time. To love means to embrace and at the same time to withstand many endings, and many many beginnings- all in the same relationship.” 
~Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Do Something or We're Screwed

Roberts' "Do Something or We're Screwed" article at grist.org: http://grist.org/climate-change/climate-change-is-simple-we-do-something-or-were-screwed/

This is a great article and video. I get so tired of the arguments that arise about climate change. It doesn't matter if it is human-caused or a result of the climate naturally changing. Either way, we have to adapt in order to survive. My personal opinion is that even if the Earth is naturally warming, we are contributing to and accelerating that process at unprecedented rates. An introductory geology course taught me how the various cycles on this planet work, most notably the hydrological cycle, carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle, all of which effect the atmosphere. We are certainly changing these cycles drastically, especially the carbon cycle. I don't understand how people can believe that our actions do not have a negative impact on the delicate balance on this planet that allows life to survive. Just the fact that we have not found life on any other planet that we have been able to study, goes to show how amazing, miraculous and delicate life is. Period. The conditions have to be so precise. We have become so consumed in our daily lives that we often fail to look at the larger picture, including how amazing and wonderful this planet and all of life is. We often take life itself for granted. It makes me sad to think about what kind of future we are leaving for future generations and inhabitants of this planet. If we are wrong about our impacts on the Earth, that's fine, but if we are correct, it's ridiculous that we are not doing more to change that. It doesn't seem like something worth taking a chance on. It seems best to err on the side of caution; that we are causing damage. It's obvious in some ways, such as deforestation. We need to quit putting ourselves at the center of everything. Without the health of the planet, our health suffers. There are many things that are in our control, in the power of our own hands, and like David Roberts says, we need to do something or we're screwed.

New Growth

“Detach yourself from circumstances that no longer sustain you. Surround yourself with fresh thoughts, new challenges, nourishing relationships and fresh knowledge. Otherwise, your growth will stagnate and eventually draw to a halt.” -Vivian Elizabeth Glyck

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives – Sioux Proverb

"Our consciousness is fed with other consciousnesses. The way we make decisions, our likes and dislikes, depend on the collective way of seeing things. That's why selecting the people you are around is very important." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Crossroads

The video below provides a summary from a recent scientific paper from the journal, Nature. The article can be found here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7401/full/nature11018.html

 We can either start making decisions now to preserve our resources and planet, or suffer the consequences, those are really the only two options...

 

We are all dying...

Not the funnest thing to contemplate, but it's true...we are all dying. Therefore, I want to be as happy as I can be during this short time that I have here. Sometimes I feel like life is full of struggles, constantly. Some struggles are not necessarily in our control, but how we respond to them is. How we live our lives and the intentions we set are in our control. I'm going to venture to say that our thoughts, attitudes and intentions have a lot to do with our happiness in this life. Since our time here is limited, I want to spend as much time as possible in a place of joy, peace and contentment. I have some work to do.

I stumbled upon a very cool article by Bonnie Ware, called "Regrets of the Dying." As a woman who worked with people who were living the last weeks of their lives, she brilliantly started asking them what their regrets were and wrote about it. Bonnie began to see themes and commonalities in what people regretted most. The top five are as follows:

1. Failing to live a life true to oneself. 

This included having many unfulfilled dreams, which was usually a result of one's own actions. This was the most common regret. To me, the most striking words from this section are: "Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it." It's amazing how much we all take for granted. It's also amazing how often we do not live life true to ourselves.

2. Working too hard. 

This included missing out on important life events and the depths of relationships, while instead spending so much time working. All of the time we spend will never come back to us, ever. So spending it in a way that is not fulfilling for so many hours a day is heartbreaking. One way of changing this, as Bonnie mentioned, is to simplify one's life so that we are not so dependent upon income and work. This frees up more time to spend on those things we find enjoyable, healthy, creative, etc.

3. Not expressing one's feelings fully. 

This is definitely one I've felt as the result of losing loved ones. Taking a look at it from the other angle, as in one's own death, it becomes equally important to always be honest with one's self about what we are feeling and expressing those feelings in the most appropriate way.

4. Losing touch with friends. 

Bonnie explains that people really miss their friends when they are dying and regret getting so caught up in their own lives, that they let friendships fade and even disappear. People regret not making time for friendships and not putting more effort into them. The words that really had a deep impact on me were: "It all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships." Not money, not success, not belongings...

5. The wish to have let oneself be happier. 

This seems like such a simple thing, but when it comes down to it, it can be very challenging, for a multitude of reasons. One reason specifically mentioned in the article, is fear of change. Getting stuck in old patterns and believing the illusion that one is happy in comfort, when in reality, one is not. "Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice." Amen. This is why I'm writing this post. I am witnessing areas in my life where the happiness factor could be turned up a few notches, and I'm feeling frustration that I feel this way. There's only one choice; do something about it. Time ticks away at an amazingly fast pace, there's no time to waste; no time to waste in achieving true happiness and living a life as true to oneself as possible.

Please visit the following page to read Bonnie's entire article:http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time"
~Thomas Merton

Truth, Beauty and Justice

"Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated."

~Albert Einstein

I can totally relate...and I would like to make the "invisible" community more visible...if only daily life for our society as a whole were more centered around truth, beauty and justice, it would be so much easier...I don't understand why something so seemingly simple and beneficial to all, is so difficult.

Surroundings

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."
~C.S. Lewis

Listening

"Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people, they can hear truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone. Eventually you may be able to hear, in everyone and beyond everyone, the Unseen singing softly to itself and you."

~Rachel Naomi Remen

The Big Fix (Trailer)

I'm fine with living in a monetary system, I have no other choice. However, the degree to which money has corrupted people, taken over our political systems, contributed to destroying the planet, and has completely taken over our lives, determining our well-being, is just ridiculous. It's not the idea of having a currency for trade that is fucking everything up; it's the people who are greedy and hungry for power. They care about nothing else. It breaks my heart to see the amount of lies, deceit, destruction and loss of compassion as a result. We can do so much better.

"Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." 

~Francis Chan

Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. - Carl Sagan

“Do not feel lonely, the entire Universe is inside you.”
-Rumi

In the gap of nothingness

Being "in the gap" can be disorienting and even scary. Nothing to hold on to, no sense of direction, not even a hint of what choices and possibilities might lie ahead. But it was just this state of pure potential that existed before the universe was created. All you can do now is to relax into this no-thingness...fall into this silence between the words...watch this gap between the outgoing and incoming breath. And treasure each empty moment of the experience. Something sacred is about to be born. ~Osho

Self-reflection - fear

I read an article today about fear. It listed many fears we all have, but one stood out for me: the fear of who we are.

Do I fear who I am? After thinking about this for quite some time, I don't think so. Maybe at one point in my life, but not now.

If that is the case though, then why am I not living a life that expresses who I truly am? I try really hard. I go to school to learn, I play music in a band, I hike and spend time in nature. These are all expressions of who I truly am. But, I also spend a lot of time not being who I am. I spend more time not doing the things I love. I don't give a shit about money, but I still have to make it to survive and play into this whole Monopoly game we've created. I don't whole-heartedly enjoy my job. It's a good job, but it does not nourish my soul. I'm tired of working my ass off for an over-priced roof over my head that I share with dozens of people. It means nothing to me, other than safety and security, and yet I spend so much time working, to pay for something I don't really care about, albeit a necessity.

Yes, this post is about how I don't enjoy working so many hours of my life away, doing something I am not passionate about. It is frustrating and many of us share this same dilemma. It's my truth and I'm not afraid to admit it. I would rather be out soaking in the sun and enjoying nature on my terms on a warm sunny spring day, rather than being cooped up in an office. Sure, I could get an outdoor job...But sometimes I just want to curl up with a book or hang out with my friends, listen to music all day, write, read or simply sleep, meditate, or just "be." I understand that one has to work hard for the good things in life, but I feel I've been doing that non-stop and then some for 18 years straight. I can't imagine continuing this way for another 30 years of my life. I want to enjoy the pleasures of life, and I need to stop feeling bad about having that attitude. We live in a culture that tells us we have to work hard for our pleasures, but why? Just questioning that...I question a lot of things. Like why we have the technology to save lives and treat illness and disease and yet, it is not a right given to everyone in this country. In my opinion there is a lot of unnecessary suffering on this planet, that could easily be eliminated, we're just too "stuck" for some reason to do anything about it. I digress...

Going back to my original question, do I fear who I am? It appears that way, because I don't live my day to day life in a way that expresses who I am at the highest level. Yes, it is my own fault. Does society put fear in me, to make me act this way? Probably, and that's a whole other post in and of itself. Fear of unemployment, fear of being homeless, fear of suffering...I don't mind giving to society and doing my part, in fact, if we all worked together for the greater good of all and the planet, what a better place we could make for ourselves. That's the kind of work I want to do more often,  not just on the side, when I'm not at my day job, making money to survive.

It is time for me to let go of these fears and start moving toward living a life that fully expresses who I am and allows me to do the work that calls to my spirit. I've had tastes of it, and it's time to let go of the other things and fears that are holding me back...I'm holding myself back. I am responsible for removing these fears, so I can be who I am meant to be, do what I am meant to do and enjoy life to the fullest...to be happy...to create...to give what I can to make this place better. I no longer want to be afraid of who I am, or let some outside source cause me to fear who I really am. I only have one chance at this life and I have no idea when it will end. I want to go out knowing I lived a life authentic to myself and wasn't held back by fear (my own or as a result of constraints imposed by outside forces or structures of society).

Who's to say...

...life isn't full of magic?

The Power of Choice

 

"By choosing your thoughts, and by selecting emotional currents you will release and which you will reinforce, you determine the quality of your light. You determine the effects that you will have upon others, and the nature of the experiences of your life." 

~ Gary Zukav

The eyes of the future

"The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time." 

~Terry Tempest Williams

Reminder for Myself

03/14

 

Happy birthday, Dad!

Sending thanks for all that you have done

both in the living world and in spirit

If it weren't for you

I wouldn't be who I am or where I am today

and I am forever grateful...

My next goal...

...is to be mortgage-free and rent-free.

Earthmark

What is easy and what is right

“Dark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.”
~ Albus Dumbledore

I like this, from the perspectives of both the individual and the collective societal level :)

Give yourself permission, we have one chance here on Earth!

 

Give yourself permission today to forget about how you will make Money, or what you Do in the Future to "make it". Because right now, in between each heartbeat & breath, there is an invitation... just waiting to be noticed. It's the moment by moment opportunity for you to let go of being everything the world expects you to be, so that your absolutely free to BE & DO anything. Dreams can only live, when you give yourself over to them fully & w.o. regret, & in total dedication to growing the dreamseed into a blossoming everyday reality.

~DreamingBear Baraka Kanaan

Lift

once the sun comes out

my mood lifts

like the afternoon fog

Glimpse of Light

Some things seem too painful to bear

Stuck with these feelings that take me nowhere

Forced to acknowledge the storm within

that comes rolling in time and again

Holding on to things I can't control

Causing darkness to invade my soul

Try to protect my fragile ego

Finding it difficult to let go

not sure where I'm going

Not sure where I've been

A glimpse of light

I can see at the end

Wounded within

pain shared by all

What have we done

how much farther can we fall

How it keeps it's grip on me

like an unseen force

feeding on my vulnerability

Covered wounds

always underneath

foregoing the healing

the exploration of truth

I listen quietly 

in hope to find

all the light

that resides deep inside

Corruption of Capitalism

“Give a Man a Gun and he Can Rob a Bank. Give a Man a Bank and he Can Rob the World.”

Secret Destinations

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
--Martin Buber

Cancer

The topic of cancer has been coming up a lot in my circles recently. It seems someone I know is either fighting it, a family member is, or someone is struggling with the loss of a loved one to cancer. I've noticed that my parents' and grandparents' generations seem to be struggling a lot with the disease right now. My mother and I had a conversation about my grandfather, who died of colon cancer at the age of 55. That is how old my mother is now, and I'm sure the disease would have taken her by now as well, had she not been proactively fighting it and preventing it for the last 15 years. I'm really starting to see a trend and am wondering what is causing so many people to be fighting cancer right now. I'm convinced it has a lot to do with our way of living in this country, our diet, and environmental/pollution factors. We could be doing so much better, and if we were, I think this disease would start to lessen its grip on us.

While this isn't a fun topic to discuss, it is real and it is a disease that is effecting almost all of us. It could even effect us, and it is better to acknowledge that than deny it. Prevention is key and so is going to the doctor on a regular basis and getting tested if there are concerns. That has saved my mom and I'm sure it would have saved my grandfather as well, but he waited too long. Working out, eating right, meditating and reducing stress aren't just about feeling good and looking good. They are about staying healthy and helping our bodies fight the constant amount of threats that enter into them on a daily basis. I would like to be here a lot longer and I want my loved ones to be here too.

Cancer fighting foods:
http://www.jonbarron.org/alternative-cancer/bl080918/natural-health-blog-broccoli
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/top-cancer-fighting-foods?
http://www.cancure.org/cancer_fighting_foods.htm

The power of the mind and one's attitude is more powerful than most of us realize:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/women-use-mind-power-to-fight-cancer-721093.html

Gift

"The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Before the Storm

 The birds are all so busy

searching everywhere for food

Their internal awareness tells them 

to prepare for the storm

The same one we are aware of

only through our high tech computers

The humans hoard anxiously

while the birds 

although focused

are at peace and singing

Half Truth

 “We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy.” 

~Carl Jung

Fire

2012 marks the beginning of a Fire year in Dagara Cosmology.

The following is an excerpt from The Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Some

Fire is the original element of origin, the one that was present at the beginning. Its primal nature is combustion, warmth, vision, and feeling. Its position in the wheel is the south, the underworld, and its color is red. It is the state to which everything eventually returns, the state of the ancestors coming from the underworld below us. Fire opens the doorway to the Spirit World and allows our psyche to commune with other life present, past, and future. Fire is like a connecting rod, an open channel. In fact, fire is our psyche, the spirit part of us that knows what has always been. It is our ability to act, emote, and intuit. A person on fire is craving a connection. In this person, fire is translated as restlessness, a great deal of emotion, and strong dream experience.

If a person or culture forgets its crucial relationship with other worlds, that is, with the ancestors, a fire is ignited that becomes a destructive force in society. When that happens, a person or a culture suddenly perceives almost everything in terms of fire. Fire becomes equated with power, speed, hierarchy, and value. All this is symptomatic of a culture in combustion. When one's culture is burning, it is impossible to sit still and keep focused. Like a ball of fire moving at high speed, a culture on fire is fascinated with speed. This speed shows up as horsepower on the surface, but deep within it is orchestrated by combustion. The burning within is symptomatic of some kind of crisis that drives people to remain endlessly "on fire."

From an indigenous point of view, Westerners are sacrificing much to fires that rage out of control. Just as fire consumes everything in its path, so consumers in the West sacrifice the life of Spirit for an endless pursuit of material goods. Material consumption does not provide care for the soul. It is as if misaligned inner fire is encouraged and supported in modern culture, something necessary to boost production and consumption. When adequately programmed through advertising and the media, people want to accumulate items because such items are regarded as an opportunity for fulfillment. Driven by an internal fire that cannot be quenched, the modern consumer is like a greyhound racing for fulfillment. The goal becomes not so much to reach a destination as to stay in your lane and keep running. When this inner fire is not connected to its source, it drives people to race endlessly after things that do not matter.

To begin making their peace with fire, Westerners must notice the common symptoms of fire in their milieu. In the modern world, being out of alignment with fire translates into pollution of one sort or another. It is as if to be civilized, one must infect the air, leak oil into the waters, and seek to move faster today than we did yesterday. Once we understand this as symptomatic of a state of disconnection, then it becomes possible to seek reconnection and reconciliation with the past. Changing our intentions from consumption, as an out-of-control fire, to connection, like a fire that warms and soothes, will bring fire in Western culture under control to a very great extent.

The piece that really hit home for me today is the following: Just as fire consumes everything in its path, so consumers in the West sacrifice the life of Spirit for an endless pursuit of material goods. Material consumption does not provide care for the soul. It is as if misaligned inner fire is encouraged and supported in modern culture, something necessary to boost production and consumption.