Unfuck it up

I LOVE this, she is great! I'm going to go unfuck things up now...

How to choose the right sweetener (environmental/humor)

I found this on GRIST, which is a fabulous non-profit organization dedicated to educating about the environment, supporting the "green" movement, and at the same time keeping a sense of humor about it. If you care about the Earth and haven't checked out GRIST, I highly recommend you do so. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Post-modern Contemplation (poetry)

Looking back
at what's left behind
Piecing together the grand demise
Hidden deep beneath the sand
A technological wasteland
Illustrating a time line
of the human mind

Mechanical debris
litters the desolate landscape
Remnants of what once was
Trying to understand
what destroyed this land
this technological civilization

Observing a place
once full of life
now empty and uninhabited
A postmodern tribe
studies the plight
as they seek to understand
what happened
(to bring down such a wealthy temple)

No need to make a distinction
This mass extinction
Was it the inventions
meant to enhance our lives?
Self-destruction through anthropocentric creation
that caused the desecration?

So few survived this grand demise
Cities now lie in ruin
Those who lived lives of ancient ways
now digging through the remains
Learning from the mistakes that were made
The dawn of a new consciousness

Melancholy (poetry)

And all I have left

is the residual effect

of the spark that once

held my heart

Forever lost

in a sea of confusion

Never to see you again

only in a land of black and white

although our spirits transcend

Inspiration

Click here for a very inspiring story about how two Girl Scouts, made a tremendous difference.  Each and every one of us can make a difference!!

Dad

May you continue to be my angel, guiding me in this crazy thing called life. May you show me what paths to take, based upon your graces and mistakes. May you show me how to enjoy life to the fullest and yet be responsible and do my part to make this world a better place.

Don't let tears put out your fire, but if they must come, make sure they make that fire burn even brighter...

Impermanence

I've had two dying pieces of bamboo in my window sill for years. Every now and them I'd clean their water and see a few tiny leaves of green surrounded by the dead, dry and wilted plant. I held on to them. Today I finally threw them away and with tears in my eyes. These two bamboo pieces were two of the last things my father gave me before he unexpectedly passed away three years ago. He was so happy about the good luck they brought and explained I had to have two of them, not just one. He found a container for them and gave me some green food to give them. They were like a piece of him, I held on to as long as I could. They sat there mostly dead for years, as I just couldn't bring myself to throw away something my dad, who is no longer here, had given me. I still cry as I write this. But sometimes we have to let go.

One of the teachings that I found most profound while studying Buddhism was the idea of impermanence.  It is really not profound at all. It is the idea that everything changes. Nothing lasts forever. Nothing is permanent. This is true from the death and rebirth of our cells to the stars and galaxies in the vast expanse of the universe. Even the universe itself has been shown to be moving or changing. Things simply are not static. It goes against the laws of our universe. Every living thing will die, evolve, change. Yet, we humans often try to make things permanent and static. There is a comfort in it, yet I believe also a limiting nature to permanence.

I took many of the Buddhist teachings on impermanence to heart. They make sense to me. We are changing, everyday. I've learned for the most part to embrace it. I'm often asked, especially by my mom, why I don't get sad and grieve, why I can brush things off in an unemotional way. That's not true at all. It may appear that way, but I can also cry at just about any movie, any story of love, loss, heroism, hell even the Hubble IMAX film! I become overwhelmed with emotion all the time. But when someone dies or someone is ill or there is a major change in my life that I cannot control, I've learned to embrace it. Yes, I might not cry for days on end or become depressed when a relationship I am in ends or I lose someone I love. It doesn't mean I don't experience emotion. I do, and emotion that stems from that experience may find its way out to be released at certain points throughout the rest of my life. Just like the throwing away of the bamboo today. I just try to let go and realize that change is an inevitable part of all of our lives and I try to learn the lesson and grow from it. It helps me to be resilient as I honor the impermanence of life. I'm not saying this is a good thing or that this is what people should do. It has its drawbacks.

However, according to some Buddhist teachings, when we accept impermanence as a part of life and our experience, we can lessen the suffering we experience. It has been a wonderful teaching for me and I'm inspired when I realize that everything in this universe changes, it is the natural order of things. Thus it cannot be a bad thing. I firmly believe change is necessary for any type of growth to take place, physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually. Sometimes it is difficult to let go of things and allow change to happen. It was hard to let go of that last gift my father gave me. But when you do, there is a sense of relief, of healing, of transformation that happens that I believe is necessary. Some of the most beautiful places are those that experience much natural change/erosion...canyons, rivers, caves, the human soul...

Valentine's Day

Images of the Universe

Star Cluster NGC 2074 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Hubble has brought us amazing images of the universe, I easily get lost in the hundreds of photos in the Hubble gallery. What a mystery and miracle this universe is. Looking at images like these makes everything here seem so insignificant; so small, yet so extraordinary. It makes me stop and realize so many of the worries and stresses are meaningless and unnecessary. My mind could wander for hours thinking about the cosmos and creation of all things, why we are here, what our purpose is...time is limited here. I remind myself to explore what is most meaningful and important to me. Creation...of music, of words, of thoughts...to continuously learn and push the boundaries of one's mind. To make some sense out of the chaos and make a difference...

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and Companion Galaxy

Transform Yourself...Transform the World (summary of Naropa University's mission statement). 

Missing my Naropa Sangha, teachers and students...

A Changing World

Our world is changing. We are dealing with population growth, climate change, economic turmoil and the depletion of our most relied upon fossil fuel (peak oil). Things must change, as we cannot continue living the way we currently do for much longer. Economic crisis and oil depletion are two things that no one can really argue against or deny. Some people don't believe humans are causing global warming and that's fine. The fact of the matter is our climate is changing, whether it's the result of human actions or not (which I firmly believe it is). We need to understand it and learn how to adapt. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established in 1988 to report on human-induced climate change, its impact,  as well as address mitigation and adaptation. Governments around the world have climate change plans that many of us don't know about. I see more and more visitors at work every week who are coming to work on studies of climate change, mitigation and adaptation. A lot goes on that the media fails to share with the public. Things are changing at unprecedented rates, and scientists and governments know it. As more and more people realize that the current system is not sustainable and that our planet is changing, there are many movements and groups forming who are looking at and planning for what is going to happen when oil runs out and/or the world economic system collapses entirely. The hope is to make changes now so that we can avoid chaos and start putting plans into place in the present.

The Zeitgeist Movement (http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/) has come across my computer screen from several sources recently. I decided it was time to look into it further. This is a movement that is backed by the belief that our system is failing and we need a new plan. I settled in late one night and watched the full length Zeitgeist Moving Forward movie. It was captivating to me and I agreed with many of the ideas presented that argue how our current system is failing and is just plain corrupt. Here are a few concepts that really hit home for me:

- We live in a world of inequality. There are people in this world who have so much money, they couldn't possibly ever use it all and yet there are others on the planet who are starving and don't have access to clean water or shelter. The rich have huge bank accounts with millions of dollars that make tens of thousands of dollars in interest every year. At the same time, the lower and middle class people work to pay for things they can't own outright such as a home or a car and end up funneling their hard earned money to essentially flow back into the bank accounts of the rich.

- The amount of money that has been spent on the bank bailouts and on war could have completely revolutionized our entire energy system, giving us cleaner sources and could have given people across the planet the food, medicine and clean water they need to survive. Instead, money just gets put back into the economic cycle; one that generally does not contribute to society in a positive manner.

- Debt and money is a made up concept/game that is at the root of many of our problems.

Briefly, and to my best understanding, the Zeitgeist Movement supports the implementation of a resource-based economy. Rather than an economy based on money, it would be based on resources and making sure resources are distributed equally to everyone in the world (in the most sustainable ways possible). There would be no monetary system and through science and technology, we would track and conserve materials/goods in a way that is sustainable and would not deplete resources. 

I agree that things needs to change and that our current economy will not hold up for much longer, especially as oil and natural resources become depleted. I like the idea of everyone having equal share of the resources on this planet. I question several things about this plan, though. In the movie it shows nearly everything being done by machines and technology. To me, something just doesn't feel right about this. One example given in the movie is that if machines were used for construction, injuries and deaths would be minimized and production would be much faster. Good argument. However, in my personal opinion, as more and more people rely on technology and machines, we begin to slowly diminish our own intelligence. We become dependent upon these things. What would happen if this system (Zeitgeist's ideal system) broke down? Many in the population would starve and chaos would ensue if something happened to the technology and we couldn't get food or rely on electricity. I just hate to see humankind become so dependent upon technology and machines.

The Zeitgeist web site specifically states that a high standard of living would be created for all. My question is who would set the standard of living? Population on this planet is an issue, especially when we are talking about giving everyone an equal share of resources. Population control would have to be implemented at some point in some manner. I would think that in order for this "resource-based" economy to be successful, the "standard" of living may have to be somewhat lower than what many Americans are used to. I firmly believe many of us have more than we need to be healthy and happy. I firmly believe that in order for this concept to work, our society would need to learn to be more comfortable with a lower standard of living; one that is comfortable and provides what we need to be healthy and content, but doesn't exceed that. Another thing I would worry about is the few tribal communities that still exist in this world and still live solely off the earth. Many of these cultures would not want anything to do with technology and just think of how many beautiful traditions and beliefs would be lost. However, in the grand scheme of things, I do see a lot of valid ideas in this movement and it is certainly better than what we currently have since it does seek to ensure that everyone has equal access to resources and it seeks sustainable ways of doing so. This leads me to another movement I have become somewhat familiar with and that is the Transition Movement: http://transitionus.org/why-transition

This movement also realizes we are in a state of crisis economically and environmentally. While this movement doesn't have a global plan that is the same for everyone, what it does is focus on relocalization or coming together within smaller communities to create smaller economic entities based on areas of community, the resources in that area, etc. This plan encourages building bridges with local government entities, rather than creating a completely new system. It encourages community building and essentially relying on one another in small localized groups. It includes the concept of the "great reskilling" which brings us back to learning the skills that our ancestors had when it comes to farming, living off of the land and supporting oneself within a local community, rather than relying on skills and materials from miles and sometimes oceans away. I am drawn to this concept, because it puts us back in a small community learning how to survive off our local bioregion and it focuses on working together to be successful. Not everyone has to learn everything, but each person does their part to the benefit of the whole. This system generally advises coming up with a new type of exchange/monetary system in each community. I really like this movement and the way of putting the "power" into the hands of the people so that communities can keep their own values/aspects that make them a unique community. They also have what they call a "heart and soul" component which provides psychological and spiritual support for communities as we go through challenging changes as a society. I may be biased, having a masters degree in transpersonal psychology/ecopsychology, but I think this is very important in fostering a healthy community as well as a reconnection between earth and human, which is essentially lost in a technology-driven culture. I feel this connection to the earth and to each other is important if we are to stop harming our planet and each other.

I see that both the Zeitgeist and the Transition Movements have overlapping ideas. I think the ideal approach would combine aspects of both. I feel that it is very important to keep ourselves connected with the earth and each other. While technology is beneficial, I believe it also causes us to lose a part of ourselves. It tends to alienate people from each other and people tend to seek comfort through technological means. I believe any model for the future needs to incorporate ideas and ways of living that our ancestors experienced. There is great wisdom and sustainability in that as well.  At the same time, I realize that it may be very difficult for mankind to ever step backwards and move away from technology (which does have many benefits) and to a more simple way of living. Technology is needed to a point in order for us to live comfortable and healthy lives.

I truly believe I will see huge changes in my lifetime, and I'm interested to see how things evolve. It's comforting to know that such movements as Zeitgeist and Transition are being formed. People realize things are going to have to change eventually and are thinking about what needs to be done to make the transition as peaceful and painless as possible.