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:

• Food, water, emergency heat, matches, candles, bleach and cleaning supplies

• Vacuum packed heirloom seeds for a basic garden. Mine are 10 years old an may need to be replaced soon
• An emergency radio, one you can wind up for power
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Isopropyl alcohol
• Tincture of Iodine
• Triple antibiotic ointment
• Band aids, gauze and tape
• Ace bandages
• Aspirin or Naproxen
• Vicks vapor rub and cough drops
• Toilet paper
• Supplements
• Any essential medications

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 sate 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.

july 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:

• Astrologer Bill Herbst
• Author, Carolyn Baker
• Author, James Howard Kunstler
• Post Carbon Institute
• Energy Bulletin

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.

march 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: