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february 6, 2012 : plant the seed and the grass grows on its own. . . I almost made it an entire year without writing in my blog. But, just as I said in my last entry, today I felt like putting my thoughts down on paper." I put them down so I can see what I am thinking, and "feel" what I am feeling, not so much that I think you need to read my thoughts. but then, again, it could be that I hope to find a kindred spirit in my musings. This morning I read John Petersen's February 6, Future Editions and was struck by an article written by Michael Snyder: Warnings of an Impending Economic Collapse. It reminded me that, to put it mildly, these are exciting times we are living in. Just how do we share our thoughts, fears, and anticipations without creating fear or being cast as a doomer? Can't one just be a "fact finder?" (I grew up with Dragnet and Sergeant Joe Friday saying, "Just give me the facts, Mamm.") Over the years I have listened to many different teachers tell me to live in the now, not the future. Perhaps what has been missing in my understanding of living in the now is that "Now" encompasses past present and future. If I am truly in the now, I am intuitive, connected to the whole, and I automatically anticipate the unexpected. I suspect that if I, or anyone, were truly in the ever present now there would be very few "surprises." Fast forward to my present "now". I am enrolled in a Master Gardener class and loving every minute. This morning I mailed the dirt from our greenhouse to the University of Maine for a soil test. Who knew I could be so interested in dirt? Not me. These days I wake up asking, "How can I support life?" I like to think that I have a reasonable idea of many, but not all, of the ongoing challenges in our world that have the potential to drastically affect the way we live. At the personal level, there seems to be little I can do to avert the crisis. Regardless of who I vote for, it seems to me they are all clueless as to the real mess we are in. And we are just as clueless to the fact that since 1964, the re-election rate for members of the U.S.House of Representatives has never fallen below 85 percent. How can we expect change when we keep sending the same Congress back to Washington over and over? There is much that I can't change, but there is much that I can. I can learn about soil and seeds and climate and water. I can listen to the plant devas and the hosts of other Spirits that whisper ways to live in this world that are in harmony with all other life. I can do things outside my comfort zone, turn off TV (Netflixs), play the piano, watch the chickens, stretch, share with my partner. The next time I am in such a rush to get somewhere, clean the house, grocery shop. . .I can just stop. (Sound familiar?)
april 5, 2011 : let's just stop. . . It's been over a year since I wrote an update. What else could I say that I haven't said in an earlier post? For some reason, this morning I want to write. Probably not so much for you, the reader, but for me. I feel the need to put my thoughts down so I can see what I am thinking. Why post my thoughts? Maybe, deep inside, I am hopeful that something I say will resonate with you. How is it that the more I want to slow down, the faster everything seems to go? My days seem to be filling up with meetings. Meetings where we will talk about doing something that we think is so important we hold a meeting about it. The problem is, that is all we do. Meet, and talk about doing. Could it be this behavior is what got us into the global challenges facing us today? We talk about "doing," worried that we might step on someone else's toes, while our rights, not to mention financial security, is being eroded by those who are actually doing something? Some would argue that we are doing, we're supporting a way of life that is not sustainable, we're driving our cars, using up fossil fuel as if we have a bottomless pit of oil, we're partying our way over the cliff. What if we, for once, just stopped doing? What if we sat quietly watching the birds, the waterfall, the snowflake fall? What if we chose not to run to the store, to turn on television, to even (dare I say this) not throw a load of laundry in? What if we stopped blaming the other party, the other religion, the other...anything? What if we stopped all our self-help efforts? What if we are fine, with all of our idiosyncracsies? What if we stopped trying to save the world? What if stopping would save the world? What if...we just stopped?
january 21, 2010: everything is perfect. . . Michael made a comment to me this morning, after our "yoga" class. "I got into the space, that I really can't describe," he began, "Where I knew that everything was perfect, just as it is." To which I replied, "That would mean you, or we, don't have to control anything..." "Exactly." Trying to control events, or an outcome is a very human thing. For three years Michael and I have been researching peak oil or energy descent, trying to understand its ramifications as well as making attempts, feeble attempts, to understand what we could do to prepare, educate, help. All you have to do is scroll down this blog and you will see the many different areas I/we have explored. After our conversation this morning I am reminded of other conversations where we thought that just possibility, "doing" is the problem. We are always doing this, doing that...rarely are we simply "being." Over the past year I have been working on a committee whose intent is to hold a Food Summit here in Maine. The purpose of this six-seven hour event is gather approximately 100 leaders to work with us in building a new strategic model-one for food production and distribution. A model that will establish public/private sector partnerships with local farmers, dairy operators, and food processors and will bring local nutritious food year round to anyone in Maine who faces food insecurity. And it's a great, and necessary idea. But what I have come to observe, over this year, is that many people don't want to work together. They either want to hold on to their on turf, or they're too busy, or they don't see the need. Indeed, we tend to think of hunger as something that happens to someone else, not us, not the middle class. Yet all the indicators are suggesting that food is in short supply. Our grocery stores have three days of food supply, at best. Any natural disaster could wipe that out in a heartbeat. It just makes good sense to know where your food comes from, have food in storage, and learn to grow a garden. My old friend Norm Shealy has created an essential first aid kit. I think it is good and well worth paying attention to: ESSENTIAL FIRST AID KIT © C. Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D. ...for the past 40 years we have kept food in the basement adequate to supply at least 4 people with food for a year! We also have a couple dozen glass gallon jugs of water and we have a wood burning stove in our living room fireplace-it came in very handy in 2007 when we were without electricity for a week after an ice storm! It has a small ledge on which we could boil water and cook soups, etc. My old Boy Scout days of Be Prepared have not been forgotten! We keep adequate toilet paper for at least a month and strike anywhere matches and lots of candles. And I buy 50 or more cans of salmon at a time, along with canned peas. We can our own vegetables and fruits-much easier to find and use than frozen! We buy brown rice in 100 pound bags and vacuum can a variety of dried foods. We also keep a supply of good band-aids, some 4 by 4 inch gauze bandages, tape and a few ace bandages. A couple of tubes of triple antibiotic ointment, hydrogen peroxide, 95% isopropyl alcohol, and Tincture of Iodine are essential. I store in the freezer some extra antibiotics-"just in case". They will keep for years that way. Cough drops are stored there also. Having had several spinal surgeries, I still have a few Demerol tablets in the freezer-actually I never have taken the 10 day supply they give me after surgery-do not like the effect! We keep on hand a couple of bottles of buffered aspirin and one or so of naproxen-always handy for visitors! I listed my own supplements in an earlier newsletter and we have always access to at least 3 months of these. The there should be Vicks Vapor Rub-to put on soles of feet in case of a cough. ESSENTIALS for Emergencies:
Check everything you use routinely in a given week and be sure you have enough on hand to last a minimum of a week! I prefer for 3 months! Finally, I believe the ideal is to keep some old silver coins. You never know when they will come in handy in case our paper mache dollars collapse totally! After we gave a few "essentials" in stock, then perhaps we can start to revisit just what it means to be "spiritual," to be in community, to know that state of "grace."
I know there are those of you would prefer to "trust in the Universe" for all of your needs. And I certainly have had more than my experience of "trusting" in something greater than myself. At the same time, there is a paradox to this and I am reminded of the old joke: The Big Flood It had been raining for days and days, and a terrible flood had come over the land. The waters rose so high that one man was forced to climb onto the roof of his house. As the waters rose higher and higher, a man in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the man in the rowboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him. The waters rose higher and higher, and suddenly a speedboat appeared. "Climb in!" shouted a man in the boat. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the man in the speedboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.The waters continued to rise. A helicopter appeared and over the loudspeaker, the pilot announced he would lower a rope to the man on the roof. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the helicopter went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him. The waters rose higher and higher, and eventually they rose so high that the man on the roof was washed away, and alas, the poor man drowned.Upon arriving in heaven, the man marched straight over to God. "Heavenly Father," he said, "I had faith in you, I prayed to you to save me, and yet you did nothing. Why?" God gave him a puzzled look, and replied "I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?" So Stay loose. Read the Bones, and know that this could be a good time!" Indeed. Winterjuly 28, 2009: be careful what you wish for . . because...you just may get it. Twenty plus years ago, when I first started exploring the world of consciousness I became fascinated with (and desirous of) the "peak experience." Peak experiences are anomalmous (out of the ordinary) events, such as finding myself "out-of-body" (OBE), telepathic communication, a sense of "oneness" with everything...the list goes on and on. I was (and still am) a spiritual materialist, always looking for the next peak experience. Recently, while on a walk in the woods, I had an "ah ha!" moment. I have gotten what I asked for...ten-fold, just not in the way I expected. You and I have had the opportunity to leave in one of the most incredible and fantastic periods in human history. Although it lasted only a few short centuries it produced an economy where we could purchase food from Japan, China, Africa, Venezuela...any place in the world. In fact, we became dependent on tea from the Orient, bananas from South America, coffee from Brazil. We could travel (fly) to exotic places, explore volcanos, dive with sharks, hike the El Camino, and avoid "box jelly fish" off the coast of Australia. All of this was possible because we had "cheap" fuel. We took an immense amount of energy (oil) and put it in our cars, trucks, airplanes, factories, and on our crops. We turned it into computers, clothes, cosmetics. In fact, I can not think of one man-made item that isn't dependent on oil. ..cheap oil. And because of our dependence on never-ending, cheap fossil fuel, we have been living at what may one day be considered the "peak" of western civilization. Andre' Angelantoni, founder of "Post Peak Living" believes,"That the human race is at the peak of energy availability, the peak of the economy, the peak of what the atmosphere can tolerate (i.e. global warming), the peak of population and the peak of resource usage." In other words, our current way of life is unsustainable. Now all of this globalization is "unraveling" as oil begins its decline. About now, you are probably thinking, "The current recession will hold this off for a long time, at least in my lifetime." Actually, the current economic downturn only adds to the problem. For a good understanding of just what is happening, and how we got here, I strongly recommend: the Peak Oil Primer. There is also an excellent 26 minute video on this same link. If what I am saying is new to you, after you watch the video you may be in the "uh oh" stage of belief/disbelief. You may as well plunge in, go through the fear and depression state now so you can wake up and start to bring forth your own creativity and innovation, which is surely going to be needed. Here are some authors/bloggers/links worth your time:
We have all sensed this unraveling (change) coming. Now we have the opportunity to listen to our spiritual instincts and prepare for this change. Here is one more link to get you started: Simply Living Smart Emergency Preparedness I posted this before, but it still bears repeating: that flexibility and permeability (allowing new ideas to get through) are of critical importance here. Remember the first law of Discordianism: "Convictions cause convicts". Whatever you believe imprisons you. So, stay loose. The winners need to transcend, not try to work their way through all of this. Concentrate on building the new world, don't get emotionally involved in the daily reports of the current global erosion." Building the new world is what imagination is all about. Until now we've been stuck in the old world, the old way of doing things. Stay loose. This could be a good time!" Indeed. Wintermarch 6, 2009: a poverty of imagination . . I recently read an article by Jim Kunstler which used the term "poverty of imagination" which started me thinking abuout our work. For years Michael and I have given talks, conducted workshops, and seminars with the theme (and expectation) of "relax, turn inward, allow your inner voice to speak... listen." If relaxation works, if that's all we have to do, then why is this country in such a mess? Does sleep and dreaming count as relaxing? Globally, we have many, many groups of people praying, meditating, relaxing, on a daily basis. We meditate (and pray) for "peace." We have gurus who tell us that we just aren't vibrating at the "right" frequency, whatever that frequency is. Or that we aren't focused enough, we need to focus on peace (as we drive to the airport to catch a plane, to fly to the latest green conference.) What is "poverty of imagination?" Have I/we been wrong all these years? Does relaxation have nothing to do with it? For too many years, starting with the industrial age, we've been told that "day dreaming,' imaging, is a waste of time, not productive. We've thrown money at technology, science, and taken money from the arts...the very foundation of the creative source. A high school teacher recently told me that we have trained our students to take tests. Give them a real life problem, ask them to cooperate in a team to solve the problem, and they are clueless. It doesn't take long to see the kind of future, or not, lack of imagination will create. If we were fluid in using our imagination we might have a different world because we could imagine the effects of our actions, of over- consuming, of thinking the world was ours for the taking. We would have solved our energy problems years ago. I strongly suspect, intuit? that we are at the beginning of the end of the U.S. as we know it. We are in transition. So, what to do in the face of unprecedented change? John Petersen, of the Arlington Institute, writes: Here's the catch. This might not happen. Personally, I think that if there is any one person that has the potential to at least soften this transition it is Barack Obama. As I've suggested, he will have his hands full just trying to get the underlying people and institutions to think differently and act fast enough, but if anyone has the chance to pull it off, it would be him. Already he's getting government to move faster and in more substantive ways than any of his predecessors. It may be, by the way, that he will be the best guy to wind down the old system and reconstitute a new one. It's all of the other folks running the government that I'd be concerned about, the ones who continue to see the world as it used to be. There are any number of reasons why this scenario might not manifest itself, not least of which is that there will be many thousands, if not millions of people who will be working very hard to assure that the system doesn't come apart (but then, they may be doing the wrong things). Seems to me, therefore, that flexibility and permeability (allowing new ideas to get through) are of critical importance here. Remember the first law of Discordianism: "Convictions cause convicts". Whatever you believe imprisons you. So, stay loose. The winners need to transcend, not try to work their way through all of this. Concentrate on building the new world, don't get emotionally involved in the daily reports of the current global erosion." Building the new world is what imagination is all about. Until now we've been stuck in the old world, the old way of doing things. Stay loose. This could be a good time!" Indeed. Winternovember 1, 2008: people get ready, change is upon us. . . Did you ever think about the future, think that you had some idea about how the future would unfold... the good, the bad, the unexpected? And when it unfolded, pretty much the way you thought it would, indeed the way you suggested it might, you found it hard to believe? If you are reading this blog, then you probably know that this is the hour and these are the times the Hopi Elders predicted, the times when the Mayan Calendar ends, and the times that astrologers for many, many centuries have foretold. Taking a page from the Hopi Elder, we have a lot to consider:
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