June communications

We need to stop bickering over labels like capitalism/socialism/communism and realize that a rational approach to resource management taking into account future generations, finite resources, renewable options, and mutual benefit can be worked out. Ultimately, this could result in greater personal freedom on other than financial dimensions.



The koolaid party of the current US administration would never have been able to wreak the havoc they have without the thoughtless cooperation of the US press and the US people. I know we 21st Century Americans have busy, hectic, stressed-out lives, but we do bother to voice our concerns all the time about all kinds of issues, petty and large. We just need to do it more strategically. That is, if we really want a more sanely managed union.



I find it very sad that politics so seriously gets in the way of doing the people's work.



What's important in a good fantasy is what's important in any story: intriguing plot that keeps you going; strongly delineated characters that you care about; tight, descriptive writing that doesn't get in the way. I hate that whole genre of cutesy fantasy or stilted language or self-indulgent adolescent revenge setting up one's alter-ego main character to be the oh so put upon oh so perfect.

Tell a story. Tell it well.



I was watching the oral arguments on C-SPAN last night. After hearing the stories of those imprisoned without access to justice (or what we use to pass for it), and the twisted interpretation of law used to allow for this, I was proud that our Supreme Court saw the error of these ways. But those dissenters, I have to question not only their humanity, but their loyalty to or even understanding of the significance of rule by law.



Ah commerce!
Put those quarters in the slot
paying for the privilege
of joining the social world.



The mind is a wonderful playmate



I recently watched a show about technology on PBS. A few decades back computers were huge mega-expensive instruments that did very little compared to today. People did the research, the engineering, the what-ifs and the try-this and how can we apply what we have found in more ingenious ways. Getting off the oil addiction is more a matter of attitude than anything. Doesn't mean we can't still use it where it works best, while freeing up limited nonrenewable resources using renewables wherever practical.



The big lie doesn't have to be so big. With the designer media, everyone going to the source of their side's talking points, truth is just another flavor in the mix, not even a favored one.



Let God be God. We don't have to condemn people out of misguided ideas of what God wants. God is perfectly capable of getting exactly what it wants. Apparently sexuality is more complicated than a means of reproduction. Seems like we are meant to learn lessons about being human with bodies and minds. Condemning those who seem different is not only a waste of time, but a waste of soul.



Astrology is not something to "believe" in. It is a system of knowledge, very complex, yet very simple. It can be a lifelong obsession. It can be a source of information to check out along with other information to make decisions or plans. Mostly, I like the insight it gives me into people's complex motivations and diverse ways of being.



It seems that the paradigm for discussion is to find the areas in which we disagree and then do our best to pummel, put down, vilify "you" for your stupid/unpatriotic/whiney/evil (Hitler-like?)/naive/name your insult ideas. You know what the obvious result is: divisive hateful war. If our true goal is to work toward policies of benefit to all of us, wouldn't the better paradigm be one of respect for the dignity of each and all, looking for the areas in which we agree, and building from there?



Basically, we are all bisexual, along a continuum. There is no big deal about trying out a kiss when there is a mutual attraction. Making a big deal about it is what can lead to emotional distress. The important points are in regard to how kids learn to be in relationship, that there is a great deal more to look for than attraction or sexual expression.



Why? Because the systems that were supposed to be in place to keep such an event from so easily occurring were obviously not appropriately in place. I'm not talking about surveillance (electronic or otherwise) of citizens or other people going about normal business, or about sending potent weapon messages to destroy designated enemies. I'm talking about simple everyday air traffic control, tracking airplanes to keep them from going off course without any corrective measures. I am talking about teaching aircraft personnel to handle unexpected, dangerous situations. I am talking about making sure there are appropriate exit strategies in case of fire or other disaster in high rise buildings. It's not about good or evil. The devil is in the details.



At the core of the economic crisis in the US are the funds being tracked to Iraq, but more fundamentally, the widespread unconscionable
culture of usury, eating at the backbone of the everyday workers who hold up society.




No one will give me a credible, intelligent answer. What does it mean to "win" in this Iraq invasion/occupation/destruction/disaster?



There is something to be said for sides coming in each with their entrenched position, and discussion/arguing/debating learning from each other and experts, moving each toward a more realistic position. I think they call this the job of the Congressional Houses in our democratic constitutional republic. The problem is, it's not even about entrenched positions that good people have come to in their quests to improve the lives of Americans. It is about being entrenched to be entrenched, to play to some constituency, when the constituency is supposed to be the American people, all of us.



Just think, after all the Clinton "vetting" and whatever the Republican hate machine does, all they can do is come up with specious sins of supporters or acquaintances, the old harangue about "no experience" and the general word-twisting we all know so well.



I have read that the most effective way to stop/prevent men from abusing women is to get them to understand that this behavior is in no way condoned or permitted. It amazes me that guys will stand around putting down some woman, implying or out right saying she deserves to be beaten or otherwise abused. These are not so-called "sick" weirdos, but normal guys having a few drinks (or not), letting off steam (or not). I see guys on the street beating on a woman or child and I go up and make an issue of it, while big strong men walk right by pretending not to see.



Get off the drug. Talk to the prescribing physician, or whatever dr. you are consulting and do what it takes, usually gradually decreasing the dosage. There are so many better treatments for depression than most of these drugs. Some drugs do work well for some particular individuals sometimes, but the argument has been you take the drug for a short term while working on the underlying issues manifesting as the symptoms you wish to lose. The drug is not a real cure, and it can bring on other effects that make life so much harder.



I keep wondering about the talking points everyone seems to want to get in on about Senator Obama's lack of experience. He may not have been President of the United States before, but looking over those who have many have not learned usefully. He has an incredible wealth of life experience? Have any of you done anywhere near what he has? Don't tell me we don't know anything about him. Read his autobiographies, listen to his speeches (on the web where they are archived), read his resume. Hey, pretend you are looking him over as a potential hire. Just exactly what "experience" are you expecting will give you a President who will work for us as we would wish?



The point of the American democratic system was to promote a continual stream of citizen activists who care enough about freedom to fight for it, not in war but in education and community involvement.

The point of the "change" in the Obama campaign is that we change our attitudes and get together to get done what is needed for all of us to benefit.



Learn to trust yourself as your one true spiritual teacher. It's all a journey. Of course, find fellow travelers along the way to share the moment. Learn what you can from each other, and each other as you meet.



I have been thinking that we as society are technologically at a point where we could seriously look at some underlying economic assumptions, how they have failed to benefit us and our ecosystems, and start the work of revamping. We have basically just let our economies, systems of goods/services creation and distribution, happen, based on political more than practical concerns. We need to move toward a system, or series of systems, or diversity of systems, directly addressing the well-being of people and planet. There is so much needless suffering, stupid destruction, and divisiveness to the points of war and genocide that could so easily be eradicated with appropriate thought and action.


His legacy was her destiny. It didn't matter that she never realized what he was about while he was alive.

The scent of lilacs would not let her think beyond the sweet times. She told herself it was a private journey, that this was just a rough patch. Walking memories of past action, resultant chaos, she was ready to contemplate a process of remapping, of moving the puzzle pieces into a new configuration. His ghost would not let her.

The root paradox of arousal and defeat that marked his life seemed to actively desire a continuation through her. Only by turning, facing who he had been, finding the beauty behind his agony, could she hope to move beyond his legacy, her destiny.



My experience is that so-called education (the formal kind) is about destroying native creativity in favor of teaching to standards and expectations. Yet, creativity is what we need to further both individual and societal problem-solving.



But there are so very many who do evil in the name of doing their God's will. People don't do good or bad because God/dad is watching. They do what they are given to believe by other people that they can get away with. Sometimes they do what they are given to believe will be applauded by their acknowledged peers or community, like torturing/murdering/destroying those deemed "not of us".



And we need to teach, not preach. We need to have real dialogs and listen to each others' concerns, questions, ideas and fears. We as adults need to understand that children are not a different species, but actual living human beings, right now, not just some pre-human preparing to join the race someday. We need to tell them the truth, and give them resources to find the truths we do not have ourselves.



Yes, turn on your black lights and groove
Tell those old blues to move on to the dance floor
What wonderful waste-lines to lose
For soft summer nights they made romance for
Eat, drink, make merry, rejoice
Never believe that you don't have that choice



blame the Lord, blame the children, blame the mad
find the fault that took away what we thought we had
yet this chaotic scrambling's not our fate
but the poisoned fruits we're fed as slaves of hate



It amazes me that so-called conservatives are so, well, profligate of our national resources. It is as if they are convinced that some major upheaval will turn all past to naught, perhaps Armageddon? In any case, we do need a new economic paradigm, outside the capitalist/socialist,communist box which actually addresses our needs as the human community dependent on the resources of our planet.




mirror neurons let you dance by watching others
motor neurons let you dance by moving to the music in whatever way you comfortably can
body/mind connection, ain't it wonderful!



We are not masses, though we may be mass. We are each individually educable, even in large groups. Mostly it's a matter of motivation, teaching from where we are using what we are already familiar with and then branching out making sure everyone is being carried along, eliciting any questions or confusions and addressing them appropriately, seeing what has been learned and what is still needed through appropriate applied knowledge projects.



Not to take these conditions of horror lightly, but women have been treated like excrement all over the world, including very much right here. We don't have domestic violence laws, shelters, counselors, and ptsd treatments because it is a rare occurrence. Women are killed every day right here in the USA by irate husbands, lovers, just plain stalkers. Women are raped by husbands, strangers, dates, bosses, family members, often seriously injured or killed in the process. Implying we have nothing more serious to protest about than "glass ceilings" is a macabre insult.



Hooray for you and your energy awareness. I know you will find a way to do it, starting with research and creating the best energy solutions for your situation. Perhaps you could even go on to spread the information you find, even make a business of it. You see how this information is valuable and not generally known. The way we, all of us, are going to get beyond the crises of the moment is to see them as opportunities are find our inner ingenuity.



Water is amazing. Like energy, food, and many other necessities it is becoming over-harvested and laid to waste. Purification and more rational systems of distribution need to be promoted. It's a lot more than a metaphor.



It is all about making money. Logically, we need to move toward an economic paradigm including costs to the environment, the populace such as health costs, and generally stewardship of resources in the costs of doing business.



Rather than tax as such, why not stop giving advantages to businesses selling these unclean energies and give incentives to clean energy alternatives?



I want the old 2000 straight-talking rebel McCain back. I want him back in 2000, as the Republican candidate, even the 43rd President. In fact, I was ready to vote for him back then. Then, evil demon Rove turned him into an also-ran, and apparently damaged his brain and integrity as well.



Is love a zero sum game?
Does anger over long division
diminish returns?
Is hope an emotion,
a mathematical possibility?
Will infinite sadness exponentiate
negativity?
Does it all add up
to experiential lessons
leading to a higher equation?



Have we ever had a conservative president? I guess that depends on who is doing the defining of "conservative" which seems to be up for grabs. We don't seem to want conservative values, just to force everyone to be virtuous according to selected principles involving sex and restricted speech. Oh, and it helps if they get us into totally stupid wars that drain our finances, kill our common-class kids, and let us look all macho.



Taking chemicals will not teach anyone to focus. I can see taking medication to combat infections, boost immune systems, dissolve obstructions, physical disorders with obvious cause/effect to indicate specific chemical aid. This explosion of ordering dangerous chemicals be taken by children for behavioral problems is just plain crazy. Cognitive/behavioral problems are best solved by education and exercises.



What if, indeed. What if we could actually have a marketplace, of goods/services/ideas that responded to each of our needs because we wouldn't have it any other way?



The God of the Jews, who later became the God of the Christians, Muslims, Mormons, and probably others, was a lesser Middle Eastern deity at the time that the Jews were slaves in Egypt. He was fully aware that there were other Gods, but exhorted his followers "thou shalt have no other gods before me." He was described as a jealous god who had his followers smite those who mocked him. Christians apparently worship both the Father and the Son, not seeing Jesus as a prophet, but as himself divine.

If you are speaking of the one pantheistic spirit that is manifested in all of creation, I am inclined to agree. However, note that these manifestations are sometimes of spiritual godheads, denizens of the spiritual world, which are worshipped by spiritual beings manifested in the physical world known as humans.



A lot of people don't seek professional help because they don't want to be in the system or coerced into taking dangerous pharmaceuticals. There are many treatments which are based more on respect for the dignity of those suffering. There are also other ways of framing what are otherwise seen as symptoms of depression. Sometimes people are so overwhelmed by lack of control in their lives that they in effect give in and die while still physically functioning. Sometimes people have energy fluctuations which they have not learned to understand and make room for in their lives. Sometimes people have chronic pain or illness which saps their energy. Often highly creative people will burn out on a project and need down time. Suicide is sometimes mistakenly seen as an appropriate transformation, when a spiritual transformation is taking place in a society that does not support that.



We so often jump to "it must be that ego; if I could be good and selfless I would reap the reward of virtue." We forget that virtue is very much its own reward, the virtue of actually accepting and living in the true joy always available to us. As you point out, we need our egos, and all our other parts. We are who we are to be who we are in the best sense, not to cripple ourselves by cutting out what we have come to mistakenly believe are unattractive parts.



Save the Economy; Save the Children

Create the 8th Grade Year Small Business Practicum to be available to all students in public schools. The first week will be one of general discussion of what is involved in starting and maintaining a business. Students will then brainstorm about what kind of business they want to start. Interspersed are exercises to get everyone to know one another's abilities, skills, strengths, weaknesses, interactive styles and personality characteristics.

The students are then assigned to research possible business options, which might best succeed in their environment, local needs that can be addressed, the resources needed to make their business a success. As the year goes on, the business is formed and maintained. Students are offered ways of locating resources to help them learn what they need to do along the way. A multi-disciplinary advisor group of teachers makes suggestions and are available for consultation and skills training. Local business people are recruited as consultants and to give guest lectures to the class.

The students decide how any profits are to be distributed. After the class year, any students who wish to may continue their businesses. They are also welcome to give guest lectures and act as advisors to subsequent classes.





Any graphic artists who would like to collaborate on my as yet graphic-less "graphic novel"? Without the graphics, it is merely a novelette.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977172809&nav=MyGather


Any poetry [more] performers who would like to perform my poem, "strangling heaven"? [with great thanks to Divinity Rose and a virtual ovation!!]

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977282905&nav=MyGather


Any performance group who would like to perform my piece "Gaea"?

http://lunaramble.blogspot.com/2008/04/back-for-earth-week-gaea-ritual.html


Any visionary artists who would like to submit work to Emerging Visions visionary art ezine #12, theme title: "Jung @ Heart"?

Watch for the next call, expected shortly after the Solstice, for Emerging
Visions visionary art ezine #12, working theme title: Jung at Heart ~
hopefully emerging in deepest July (or the early light of August) ~

The working theme title for #12 is "Jung at
Heart". I find it easier to work the collage with a running theme.
They are usually associated with the astrological influence at the
time of "emergence" of the issue. #12 is due out during the
astrological month of Leo, around Jung's birthday. Leo rules youth
and heart. What I am hoping to get are works relating to fairytales,
youth archetypes, playfulness, creativity, childlike wonder, and
such. If you have something for the issue, please do send it.

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com/2008/02/submission-guidelines.html

libramoon42@mindspring.com