Revival (revised)

The Blossoming of Wisdom

At times it can be difficult to see the promise of the heart, the root of the soul of a people. Today, as opposed to the day of Nov. 6 2006, the day the seed of Gandhi Flower was sown in me, the world as expressed by earthlings is more naked; we see clearer than ever the depth to which the insidious grasps of the greedy holds firm to the progression of the people. We see today, as well, the vibrance of wisdom, the resilience of the land and a collection of those who have stood up in obscurity and stand still for community. The only hero there will ever be, still, is in you.

No civilization is forever. Ours is clearly showing its age. We can make a choice: Hold on and sink, or let go and go from "civilized" to biocentric and grow again from the roots. Civilizations fall but people carry on. May you reach past material and grasp something real; something that grows in your hands! Something that shows you today, this culmination of unyielding irresponsible consumption, gross commercialism, commercial war, holistic pollution and the persistence of love be proof that anything is possible; that this day of unreasonable war will pass if we choose to move on in our lifestyle. Practice life, not the many abstractions.

Quit your job, sell your car and grow a garden in your backyard and anywhere you can sew a seed. Any things is possible. There is no great spirit "watching", no miracles, only those who are willing and of one mind who make the wonder happen. Time shows us, those distracted and stricken with belief have always underestimated the power of commitment; the boldness of people, they have even gone as far to persecute those with imagination; the fertile ground of what is. Simply observe the sun as it shines. See the light reflected and feel the warmth of color- its all energy; its all we are.

If there was a purpose, or meaning of life, it would be secondary to the nature. If there is an over arching condition that facilitates our departure from truth it is our ever increasing distance, in a holistic sense, from the natural world. Wherever you live, go outside and find it. Where you live, protect it and begin to nurture it. A dandelion growing in the cracks of the sidewalk; that weed is nutritious food with medicinal uses. Our living is sustained by the roots that grow in the soil. even below the concrete and asphalt nature waits. Exploit the cracks; get your hands dirty.

Eat good food, love as much as you can, and grow more of both with your hands!

&E

Happy Gas: The American Dream and Darfur

Whats the reason for every environmental disaster or the common practice of cultural pacification/genocide of native peoples? The Pursuit of Happiness, of course.

Add 'Empathy' the the list of extinction. It is out of hand! Too many people believe it is more important to "be happy" than to sacrifice. I'm not talking about "jesus christ", I'm talking about the excess; the waste. How important is the industry of Football in the age of awareness? Is Football freedom? Or is it merely the modern-day chains that prevent the minds of slaves from thinking too much about things? What about money? Can anyone understand the "service industry" and "slavery" is semantics.

Many confuse empathy for pessimism, or, anger. ITs not simply that the world is a sad place, it is that is gets sadder with every day that passes where affluent nations, the only ones that can, refuse to sacrifice their comfort and convenience for the betterment of the world community. War is a much easier way to keep poor people from revolting, and just look at how many jobs it creates!?

Empathy is indeed disappearing from the face of American Society. It is being replaced with an irrational drive to be "happy". Junkies on vacation. Junkies dancing all night. Junkies eating at the new restaurant and buying a pint of Ben and Jerry's anywhere, 24-hours a day 365 days a week.

I eat ice cream still, but its rare. When I do, I consciously acknowledge I am about to participate in gross indulgence. Do I enjoy the ice cream less? Yes, I do. It is called evolution, or, refinement of entertainment. I even will change my mind in the store now, and walk out without buying ice cream. I don;t worry about being happy, I don't worry at all. I walk true steps and feel deeply content at my commitment to "living simply so the other may simply live". I don't worry about over population, or use it as a n excuse rather, to perpetrate the thoughtless acts of indulgence that are the body of American Entertainment/life.

And yes, in both my own thinking and in fact, I am a better person than I was, at least from the perspective of the land and the life that lives. I feel much better everyday than the fleeting happiness a pint of Ben and Jerry's could bestow.

Evolve, people! Let go and grow.

for over a month now I have have been living off grid and eating local food, most of which I have gathered from the jungle of the island of Hawai'i. I have begun bread labor; climbing coconut trees for my local farm and helping to keep the jungle from taking over (weeding). In exchange I pick from the garden, all the green goodness I need to maintain a healthy life.

For me this is a "dream job". I live in a place most of the world calls paradise, and spend less for my entire needs than the average american spends on gas. I work hard, but have the majority of my time free to refine my life as it were my art. so true is the expression borne of freedom; only by fulfilling the responsibility of your living: food, shelter, excersize, community involvment; only by moving beyond the slave wage economy can one express truth. What is truth? Its whats in your heart.

"Live simple so others can simply live". "Be the change you wish to see in the word".

Someone who I respect asked me if I care too much; that "you can't save all the star fish washed ashore". The anology does not fit; we need not fight nature, but if it were a machine tossing star fish ashore we could unplug it. If I didn;t care as much as I do, and settled for a place in line with the american progression towards fascisim I would be "happy", but I would not be doing anything that nets change. We must all "care too much", so much to understand that today we must stop and return to reason.

We can't love if we don't respect. We can't love with we don't sacrifice. Though I live in paradise, I have left nearly everything behind and learn a new way of life at the age of 35. I care, not too much, but with everything that I am about my actions; the ripples they cause. There is no excuse for today other than greed.
IF you don't do it, it will never be done; change.

Love, good food and music.

back to life

letting go of convention; as an animal that needs to keep moving. Nothing is natural in the east coast; there is so much development and pollution that nature has been compressed into tiny sections and then damaged by air, water and light pollution. There is an essence to life that exists in the sum and when you wipe huge swaths of living energy or force it into submission that essence is lost. Just go to the zoo, you'll see it in the eyes of the animals on display. Then go to a city and spend the day walking around, you'll see it in the eyes of the animals there too.

'Subtlety' would be a defining characteristic of essence. The best tangible example I can give as to the subtle loss of essence in the loss of the night sky. If you've ever wondered where myths/religions came from, and if you were objective enough (free) in your thinking, you would at some point understand that myths come from our nature, both inherent and surrounding habitat. The reason there are so many different myths/religions is because we come form different places but we are all the same. If I don't make sense learn about Joseph Campbell, he put it like this: though [myths] are clothed in the motifs of a particular time and place, they draw nonetheless on universal, eternal themes.

If we take away the night sky, how would that effect the myths told since the dawn of time? How would it effect the imagination of a child if she was inspired, not by nature but by 'urbanized nature'? What if we take away the sacredness of rivers and mountains; if instead of believing there is magic (something unexplainable) in the wild places we choose to believe there is nothing magical about mountains or the wilderness. Or worse, that mountains and rivers and seas were "made for us" and we can do whatever we wish; they are OURS.

(the mountains of west Virginia are being leveled for coal; the most profound current, the gulf stream, which circles the entire Atlantic ocean is not a waterway for raw crude oil, the air is still being polluted without any sort of decrease ever since. Statistics will say whatever you want to hear. Use your eyes, nose and heart. All this pollution is a result of Our consumption:TV, 24-hour grocery/convience stores, new sushi restaurants, etc. We pay the greedy; we are the greedy).

When you can't see the night sky, and when you don't see the significances of having your nature erased before your eyes, you can't begin to understand what I'm talking about. So leave it to say, that when you loose your nature, you have lost. For instance, anthropogenic global warming is not a challenge, it is a consequence just like a heart attack. The damage is done. Change is no longer a choice but a consequence. In an evolutionairy sense, we enter into a period where our adaptation will be tested, or simply, the demise of a species.

'Back to life' is my direction. I'll die a fool rather than keep living in a zoo. I leave the Continental US to begin a journey in the west. Where? Well as adventures go, I won't know until I get there but my first stop is Hawai'i. I take to the sky and depart for a tropical island where I will live for a few months in the least.

This blog is over of a while.

Food Democracy Now; Michelle Obama: Distractions from the Issue

The words of Roscoe Bartlett, House of Representatives: "On July 30, 2009, H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 was passed in the House by a recorded vote of 283 - 142. The problems in the Georgia peanut processing plant and the concerns with imported foods highlight the need for enhanced food safety laws [but] this bill missed the mark. Instead was aimed at the farming community. Specifically, there were concerns regarding the role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulating farms which would not contribute to a safer food supply but would rather increase costs to farms and ultimately the American public. I was told that many of my concerns were addressed but since a final version of the bill was not available for serious review before the vote was called, I felt I could not support it".

Michelle Obama's call; "Its time to Make Healthy Food for all America's Children" is nobel. But farmer's know where healthy food comes from: seeds planted in nutrient rich soil. The issue has long since been ignored and America's farms have been neglected by US Government Agriculture Policy, if not targeted for extinction. Where we are today is defending the last of the soil-rich family farms from bills like HR 2749; the increased regulation on community farms.

We do need healthful food in schools and we do need to address childhood obesity, but we need to start with creating a system of agriculture to produce the food that once and for all places importance on the healthfulness of food not the profit it yeilds. One is growing, all on its own right now but in the lihgt of soon to pass legislation we can kiss it good-bye and see a future dominated by the Monsanto Movment. School lunches will work out just fine is we protect and encourage local, chemical free farming.

We can support the growing food movement by buying produce at farmer's markets and from Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). You should be aware however, at Farmer's Markets large food retailers, the ones that sell food to Safeway, Albertsons; National Grocery chains also sell at Farmer's Markets. Its important that everybody be aloud to participate in farmer's market but we need to know who is a farmer and who is a corporation.Capitalism is a means to get food to the table, not the other way around. There is areason people go to farmer's markets and not grocery stores.

Michelle Obama is creating the demand for healthful food while the legislators are increasing the costs. Its classic American Capitalism and no change at all. If we care about the food in our schools we'd look into the reason there is junk in cafeterias in the first place: Healthy Food is TOO EXPENSIVE and the system of Government has invested far more in war than our children's education (fact). New legislation will make healthful food even more expencive, if not gone entirly form the market.