the state of love, Part II

To the soft breeze: I feel you gentle touch. Thank you, I will pass it along

To the warm kiss of the sun:  I feel your warmth.  Thank you, I will pass it along.

To the clean water from a mountain stream:  I feel your truth.  Thank you, I will pass it along.

To the laughter of children:  I feel your love.  Thank you, I will pass it along.

To the mother that protected me when I was vulnerable: I feel your strength.  Thank you, I will pass it along.

To the trees that grew as I grew:  I breathe your air.  Thank you, I will pass it along.

To the father who made my day: I feel your presence.  Thank you, I will pass it along.

This I swear, to share all I have received.  My shame is a closed eye and a mind in ignorance of the suffering I cause.  My roots are in the ground and my heart in the heavens.  We are all the same, our differences do not count.  Only those who have fallen to greed will tell you other wise.  They will push you to defend what you could never possess and convince you to seek what you have always within. 

To the people who close their eyes: I feel your guilt.  You are alone.

Peace and Love and Actions.

The State of Love, Part I

We are organized by lines, flags, political affiliations, social class, and myriad other distinctions.  We have become so enamored by 'difference' that we have lost sight, completely it seems, of the things that connect us.

I've been called a 'hippy' more that once.  I have been called 'idealistic' and 'lofty'.   Names like rain drops have hit me and soaked me so, leaving me shivering and in need of the warmth of community.    So let me say first, I am nothing.  I am a humble man who put himself out for the judgment of a culture stricken with apathy and thoughtlessness. 

Today we look, still to leadership for direction.  What is their wisdom? More roads, war and work.  To what end is this all for?  Maintenance of this modern style of slavery.  Don't be fooled by color; we have been and continue to be equal as human beings regardless of economic class; we are all capable and when segregated, we are all vulnerable.  

I would say war is the antithesis of love;  competition that leaves children starving and cold is the antithesis of love;  processes that poison our air and water (how absolutely insane and hopeless) are the antithesis of love.  Many feel opinion out weighs observation.   If observation is subjective in nature then it is indeed, the same as opinion.  It is only through objectivity that observation can surpass opinion, and through objectivity alone can we see the State of Love in our houses, communities, and country.  Our subjectivity is the result of programing.  Your opinions are the product of misinformation, fear, and selfishness expressed as capitalism.  It need not be this way.  Furthermore, it can not be this way if we hope for change.

There is a choice: Be the change, or not.  Before Love we must learn to respect each other.  This can only be done by the individual.  In fact, the achievement of solution is similar to the presence of the problem; it is the result of the entirety of individual actions over a period of time.  The true leader of change you will find in the mirror, not the television or newspaper.

The State of Love, as Stevie Wonder sang, "is in need of love today".   Money is not love.  You can not vote for Love.  Bullets and bombs don't reveal Love.  Respect: Love; Thought: Understanding 

coming: The State of Love, Part II

How to help Obama

Want change? Do everything differently, starting with the easiest of all: no more plastic bags, paper cups or plastic forks.  There is no solution that would have us wasting so many resources, anyone who tells you any different is a lier or a fool.  

Wake Up: Reality

The only question that should cause hesitation, is "what is life for".  This would challenge the notion we must do without certain things in order to bring an end to the festering problems of corruption, pollution and war.  If life is meaningless, read no further and live out your fifth-grade level of "ignorance is bliss" to your prolonged undignified medically enhanced death.  If however, you feel there is some kind of meaning of life, and not ever in the academic or philosophical sense, but a meaning greater than our mind alone can understand, read on.

What is life for?  Humbly, it is for love and love alone.  It is true there are many kinds of love; life is for all love.  The role or purpose of life "being" is to facilitate love.  the role of you, me and everyone one else is to allow love to flourish and understand and accept our own weakness to prevent from inadvertently sabotaging the proliferation of love. 

I may sound like a"hippy", but such a label is the product narrow-minded thinking.  "Hippys", at least the real ones from the sixties have dropped their peace flags and drive SUV's and vote for liers.  Some others might think I am prescribing passiveness, but there is no action more complete in its effort to facilitate love than non-violence;it requires a very active approach.  Others will recite passages from the many books about the same God with different names, stating they can not love their enemies, but I would say "read your book again".  I'll throw a bone to the Christians, Read the first ten pages of Matthew to see the lines about "loving your enemy".  I didn't say it, Jesus did.

Wisdom is the word; "truth is God" as it were.  This is what Gandhi believed.  He also agreed with "God is Love".  Today there is a need for love, or, the refinement of the expression of love.  We are willing to sacrifice almost everything for the right amount of money, yet we can't even give a bum a piece of fruit, or stop driving to stop poising our children's air and paying the sinister oil companies to continue to plunder the earth.  What do you sacrifice for love?  

REDUCE=love                      REUSE=love                                          recycle=money    

Solutions anyone?

Yes, the moment is ripe: Change!  There seem to be a lot of questions about what we need to do.  There also a lot of hope that things will just work themself out.  To the latter, indifference is the wrong approach, and hope without action is complacency and as well, is the wrong approach.  The bottom line is this: energy in = energy out.  That means each one of us must change our lifestyle.  

The simplest changes are as follows:

1. Conservation of resources- Don't use disposable products (i.e. plastic grocery bags; paper/plastic cups; disposable forks, plates, napkins, etc.).  this means carry your own consumption kit.  Mine consists of: stainless steel bowl, titainum spork, 16 oz.. glass jar.  If I go for coffee, I use my own glass.  If I go to eat, I use my own utensil and bowl.  I don't patronize establishments that refuse to allow conservation in their business.  If I need a napkin I reach in my back pocket and grab my handkerchief.   

2. Recycling does not change anything- Recycling is a highly consumptive process as far as energy.  When you take into account the massive amounts of fossil fuels burnt in the transporting, sorting, transporting, processing, transporting, processing, transporting, and distribution, you end up with increased amounts of pollution globally.  And after all that, what do we have to show: disposable bottles, bags, and napkins used once or a few times and re-recycled.  the problem is we use too many disposable products.

3. Food grows on trees, so grow food- Its not enough that the majority of grocery store food is unhealthy to you and especially to children, but we are entering into a era of resource scarcity that will inevitably mean higher food prices and less availability.  To not grow food where ever you can, is negligence.   Gardening is the single most radical thing one can do.  It severs ties to corporate farms responsible for lowering the healthfulness of our foods and the health of our planet.  I severs your ties to the burning of massive amounts of fossil fuels in the transportation of food, which is often over 1,500 miles.  It empowers you to make your life healthier.

4. Alone one struggles, together many flourish- Community is the key.  If you grow food and your neighbor is starving, you should grow more food with your neighbor.  If you call for and support progressive community efforts, you will be part of the community for change.    

We, each one, must work to over come our dependancy on garbage and adopt a strong conservation ethic and refuse to participate in the gross wastefulness we as a culture are guilty of.   We must meet in the streets and celebrate change together for whether we choose to or not, drastic change is on its way and we will be forced to do without.  community is key friends.

Respect is before love, and discourse is before community.  If there is no discussion happening in your community then start one.  Focus on solutions and don't worry about difficulties, together we will find solutions.