Saturday, December 31, 2011

last stop before the Year of Prophecies

So many people seem to be so concerned that someone is out to fleece them, that someone might get something they don't deserve, and that someone is poor -- not because of circumstances beyond their control, but on purpose, just so they can get hand-outs.  Where did this silly pervasive attitude come from?
 
 
Why is it "drug abuse"?  Rather, various substances are used by various people for various reasons -- as has been since man has interacted with the physical world.
 
 
 
Congressman Paul is not advocating hate; he is (as in every instance I am aware of) thinking in terms consistent with his libertarian tradition. Part of this tradition (which he often iterates) is not imposing his own beliefs on others. This incredible integrity is what endears Dr. Paul to those who don't denigrate him, but actually listen to him.
 
 
 
The problem is that words are politically separated from their meanings; and we are left (or right?) to muddle along without true definition. Liberals (old style) were the ones who understood the importance of individual rights, of the dignity of human self-determination. Conservatives are meant to be those who say: "Wait! Slow down! Pay attention to possible unintended consequences. Don't eat your seed corn. Build to last." Today we just have a bunch of angry yelling and obfuscation.
 
 
 
 this is a time for reflection, for giving to oneself the gift of true acceptance, of meditation on light, on fire, on energy -- forget about trying to appease or give, give, give to show your value. Take!
 
 
 
I have come to a conclusion (possibly more to follow) that the way to make money in politics irrelevant is to ignore all ads -- make the effort to discover our own information.
 
 
 
Life begins before conception. The egg and sperm are alive. The question is more about when consciousness begins. Some say we are reincarnated with old consciousness. So perhaps consciousness, individual life, begins at the beginning of time. The problem for abortion is not about what is life, what is conscious, what is human or what is murder. The problem is about what are rights and what are the responsibilities of society to the rights of citizens.
 
 
 
The Government was never meant to be a caretaker. It is meant to be a social structure upon which common issues can be addressed, an organizing structure for common projects, an edifice to represent us to other societies, and, yes, mostly devolves to serving those with power. If we expect our government to serve us, we need to own the power that caring for ourselves demands.
 
Supply and demand are the daemons of capitalism.  Socialism is more about distribution of resources.
 
There is nothing wrong with socialism, or for that matter capitalism -- it's all in how it's done, and for whose benefit.
 
 
 
even for political junkies there is a lot more to each of us than politics, parties, or partisan philosophies.
 
 
 
the problem is not in believing; it is in needing others to believe as you
 
 
 
There are a great many gods -- as the god of The Bible fully knows.  I suspect they may be beings from another dimensional universe; but that's just my suspicion.
 
 

The current "capitalist" model of requiring some degree of monetary wealth formation in order  to survive, with the norm of doing some job or selling some skill or resource, in several ways limits the creativity, individualization of solutions, and useful distribution of tools (including knowledge) and goods.  However, people are not the grounded angels that some may propose in arguing for say classic communism or altruistically based economic systems.  Perhaps with evolving technologies and understandings of how we  work models could be constructed based on other kinds of rewards than ability to control resources or bare survival.
 
 
My political philosophy is basically libertarian, old style liberal, wherein the overarching principle is individual liberty, self-determination.  My reservations about the obvious conclusions of capitalism are concerns about the individual getting lost in the drive to profit.  My reservations about socialism are about the general lack of social responsibility evidenced in our culture, which makes such a project impractical.  In theory these theories could be revised to work out their kinks and inconsistencies with human realities.  Perhaps we could look at economic theory from the perspective of the psycho-social world as we are coming to better understand it.  Perhaps we could devise a workable system that actually fits within our greater goals -- which I hope would be better living conditions for all.
 
There is also much in us that is attracted to while fearing and reviling the "other".  I don't think we can rationally hope to create a social structure based on loving kindness (and what exactly is love?)  Yet, we do not have to agree to a structure based on hatred, greed, or hostile competition.  If enlightened self-interest, in the sense of a basic underlying principle well understood that what is good for all is good for each, that we have more of a well-lived life when our surroundings are pleasurably pleasant and creatively shared, were to be sufficiently encouraged, modeled and memed, perhaps ...

 
 
 
When you look up and outward into the starlight echoing brilliance in cold, dark space the wonder is not in the distance You are not missing from your space from which your universe emanates. 

Solar Return

A prophet entering the year of prophecies
 
 
Interceding between Heaven and Earth
Above and Below
Chilled, burned, abducted by prophecy,
by Gods, Demons.
What creature, fearfully aware of mortality,
prays to be the prey of fate --
prays for salvation from the other side,
acceding to forces beyond control
of flesh and mind?
What kind of sniveling, conniving coward
bends the law, the sacred trust,
covenant with all that is holy?
Cast into a class that laughs at rules,
what holds grimy chaos at bay?
(Fools at least are pure, are gay and
without malice.)
Cunning schemes are not forbidden honour,
if they carry that depth, that weight,
that integrated code.
How much is sold?  How much kept
for seed and nourishment?
This is why we invented numbers --
to have some objective measurement.
So good we become at spinning stories,
descending backward from our source,
so easy to proclaim:  "Of course,
everyone knows,
obstruction is the obvious choice."
Because our goal is not solvency,
but Salvation; not solving common sums,
but absolution from our sins --
merry though they may be
If Greybeard in some quantum sky,
hallowed by Name,
presiding o'er rewards, grace of bliss,
cries in flames of perdition,
why would such a power be amused,
indulgent Grandfather bouncing willing
child on some ectoplasmic knee,
promising eternity if baby will but
keep still?
Wouldn't such a benevolent progenitor
expect more joyfully creative heirs, better stories
for the choices given?
 
 
 
Ivy dense, tangly
generations
insulation encircling
mortared brick, aged,
inconsolate
for days that never can return
 
 
 
Collar up against the wind and dark
Rising smoke creates warmth illusion
Wrapped in sanity's delusion,
fog's memory of mist, imagined tide.
Seated here, salt-etched wall
alone between vast sand and
murmuring waves.
No one sings.
The notes, the voices
appear
 
 
 
Degree of my natal Hekate --
a liminal year for the dweller
on the threshold.
The search is for clarity,
expanding borders, introducing
elasticity as integral character.
To see, to feel, to merge and undulate
through, to discover, uncover, swim
in the glory of original grace,
ecstatic beauty.
To see, to feel, to breathe in
all luxury of exquisite ether, to hold,
transmit as cellular energy
to paint upon translucent canvas
liminal etchings, private dreams
generously revealed.
Sagacity gifted, re-gifted,
planted in potent fertility
of visions, of cantations.
The tinsel of starlight;
the subtle scent of conflagrated pain;
the feather touch of eternity.
Let me fall into velvet voice, enchanting form.
Move with the rhythm;
caressed within word and worlds'
mysteries.
 
 
 
Cozy wise old fire djinn awhirl in sumptuous fantasies
Grab tight to this wondrous globe of fortune,
shake for your life, your destiny.
Snow descends, dreams alive within desire's fortress.
Light, free, prism-pure refraction
colours collide, sparkle, glow, pleasuring eyes,
soothing while exciting
 
Lost in extreme streaming radiant stars emit molten fire
Resplendent figures morph through incandescence
When the smoke of apocalypse clears
what consciousness remains
will lack or benefit based upon
perceptions created now. 
 
 
12/31/11

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Winter's eve

A

quiet fall

of snow

whitens night's field

unwritten, sandlike

upon tomorrow's shore.

Tomorrow is the blessed eve

Lords and Ladies, leaping,

dancing, holy abandon, ecstatic rites.

In dense, secret forest, legends gambol, rise

honorably to masters, age in inebriates.

Spirits imbue damp, fresh scent.

Words melt, evaporate, flavor brew

of ancient melodies, renewed

each Winter's Eve.

  

Picture each animated creature enlightened
Each candle warmly, brilliantly ignited
Animated faces dance with excitement
Creature comfort gifts encircle trees
Enlightened pleasures whirled in peace


 

 Winter's doorway


The magick of night

The clearness of cold

Stars glittering tales so old

Cradle, caress, with blessing

Saints, sages, wizards, mages

Message writ on high, in constellations

we stop to see, to read.

Cold is slowness, a force

of inertia, a space,

a pause in time.

Dark carries reflection -- any

fancied face or fortune

could be in reach.

Seasons speak

call in hues, in moods.

We praise passages, echo rites.

Children chasing Moonbeams

to believe in hope, joy, love

because we need the light,

the warmth, the colours.

 

Joyful Season to all ~

Friday, December 16, 2011

forward toward apocalypse (raos)

the only plausible reasoning I can come up with for a great deal of what is happening these days is that there must be a great many people urgently desiring and working for Armageddon now
 
 
War, execution, outlandishly dangerous
chemical enforcement
Meant to be extremely rare last threat
Cynically, lazily become firsts strike against
the designated enemy
 
 
 
Thinking about how it works in the real world, those of wealth get there because of the great character attribute of doing whatever it takes to take what they have told themselves they are entitled to.  Those of us who believe we are meant to contribute to the larger community are thus left in their dust.
 
 
 
we have to stand up to the bullies or they'll assume they are right
 
 
Anger is a signal
of imbalance
a siren cry:  "Realign!"
Surging energy
proclaiming: "Danger!"
"Attend!  Perform necessary corrections!"
before falling back into complacency
to make sure you don't fall
too far.
 

Work becomes a dirty word when redefined into some kind of punishment one must endure in order to be considered worthy to survive, rather than just what people do.
 
"Hard work" is no guarantee of anything.  "Working" is functioning effectively.  How best do you do that?
 
 
 
Dis-incentivize ill-advised activities
 
 
 
The best (and maybe only) way to get money influence out of public policy is to make political fund-raising irrelevant.  People to people promotion of candidates who actually have useful ideas and strategies to implement them is the way to go.
 
 
 
Perhaps it would be useful for "free-market" applauders to understand that our current President (and for the most part his predecessors) became so by out-distancing the competition in the open market.
 
 
 
I have one criteria for my opinion about another.  It has nothing to do with color, creed, or even species.  All I judge on is how you treat me.
 
 
 
maybe it's time to bypass taxes and go to another method of funding our national projects -- perhaps a transaction fee on all purchases (including "financial instruments" and such)
 
 
 
The Israelis are quite obviously an invented people.
 
 
 
simplification and transparency all around would make for much better governance
 
 
 
perhaps we ought to rethink the outcomes we really want -- and work backwards from there
 
 
 
It seems like the logical outcome of the capitalist game is for those who have made it to the top to burn down the ladder.
 
 
 
Welcome to the New American Century in which we trade any pretense of democracy for oligarchy -- let the bad times roll
 
 
 
so (and this is not new to the current jobless plight) we don't do what is clearly a better overall option because itmight cost jobs? We really have to get out of the "job-creators" and even "jobs" mentality. Work is what we want to be doing, not just some organized paycheck maze. Do the work, the real work, the labor that is needed to be done to have a world in which we feel comfortable.
 
 
 
Picture each animated creature enlightened
Each candle warmly, brilliantly ignited
Animated faces dance with excitement
Creature comfort gifts encircle trees
Enlightened pleasures whirled in peace
 
 
"I declare world peace"

Friday, December 9, 2011

pre-holiday reframing (raos)

Unable to requite disputes,
cults of disregard
Can a more sustaining dream
be found, a different road?
Woods, snow, icy stream
Winter quiet, peace
Shouldered off the highway
 
 
 
Why not take care of the people's needs and interests through the private sector, and tell government spending we aren't in the market? Maybe it would be helpful to think more in terms of public/private partnerships than "government bureaucracy" and "private profit".
 
 
 
Wouldn't it save healthcare dollars and healthy lives to seriously dis-incentivize environmental pollution that creates passive intake of poisons?
 
 
 
we must make money (in politics) irrelevant
 
Where are those vast sums going?  We know wealthy corporations are putting fortunes into influencing elections.  Who is profiting?
 
 
 
I find it less than amusing, more than irritating, when Republican reps. go all out blaming the President for the outcomes of their actions and recalcitrance.
 
 
 
The thing with "Obamacare" (kind of like capitalism and communism) it never got a chance to work (or not). Instead we have this mess created by Congress and the insurers.
 
 
 
of course, the US is a radical socialist (even communist) country, as well as crony capitalist and oligarchic -- we are a melting pot after all.
 
 
 
people are so quick to blame the guy at the top for the problems that belong to all of us
 
 
 
Candidate Obama never promised to fix what is wrong. He offered to work with Americans to bring us together to find and implement solutions. Complaining about the President is not anything like a solution. Joining together on the streets to fight for change, that is something.
 
 
 
 Isn't it time to take back our language from the corporatists and doublespeakers?
 
 
 
If you allow yourself to understand, to speak the truth, that humans are capable of divine achievement, and open fully to the miracles of bliss, grace, redemption, growth beyond the physical, you will be free.
 
 
 
what is normality anyway? No One is Normal -- we are each unique. A norm is like an average, a mathematical fiction.
 
 
who you are is a unique human being with your own will and history
 
 
 
Being kind can be a moving meditation.  It doesn't have to be about giving anything up, or even making a special effort.  It can be easy, what is easy, placid, cool, nonfrictive.  It can also be courageous, heroic, when that is the called forth energy.
 
"Kind" is different from "nice".  Nice is conciliatory, making room by being smaller or overly overtly accommodating.  Kindness is more essential, more honest, more responsible -- making room by inclusion.
 
Yes, we live in a world of damage and hostility.  My best response is to turn in the direction of healing and peace.  That turning can be easy, a little dance, if it is done as an act of self-love.  First, it becomes necessary, or so it seems, to do the hard work of leaving the guilt, self-punishment, belief in misery.  That is certainly harder than one would think from a more ideal perspective.
 
 
 

 I think I get the "holiday" "War on Christmas" hype -- a distraction to keep us from the understanding that there is no holiday, but rather an orgy of consumption and stress.
 
 
 
If what is desired for positive mental health outcomes is empathy and positive regard within a safe environment, we can provide that without "psychotherapy" or years of professional education, peer-to-peer
 
 
 
It ought to be the norm that people get to decide business practices in their community.
 

Reframe government from "them" to us
 
 
 
Because words are imbued with meaning and power, we ought not casually dismiss them as lesser action.
 
 
 
What it takes for a representational democracy not to work is lack of active participation by the electorate.
 
 
 
the science of today seems a large part related to the science fiction these scientists read in their youth
 
 
 
 
I don't want to be told what can't be done.  I want inspiring.
 
 
 
Green magic (any sufficiently
advanced efficiency of
chemistry, natural
technology) exchanging poisons for
benign symbiotic ecology
(no college degree could assure
so lush a life)
So sad that we only see what we expect.
Trained to tragedy, to forget the best
that we could be.
 
 
 
Present of applauding audience glowing good will

Saturday, December 3, 2011

holy daze (raos)

When all the world's a stage,
who better to be than the audience?
 
 
 
Capitalism is a religion for those who believe in it; there is no sacrifice too great.
 
 
 
The libertarians believe in the individual over the collective, but they are not the same as "right-wingers" who are largely what was once called the "moral majority" or even "compassionate conservatives".  The original liberals were promoters of liberty, the rights of Man as noble individual.  The old-line conservatives are more about hierarchical rule and the security of place in the social order, order in the everyday so we know what to expect, how to present ourselves, how to plan for prosperity.
 
 
 
They say that if you open to the pain, truly feel it, it loses the negative connotation and becomes simply useful sensation.
 
 
 
 It is practically the definition of insanity to insist on prohibiting the drugs that people insist on obtaining.
 
 
 
they who frame the conversation generally control it
 
 
someone brought up complaint about whiners who seem to expect jobs without wanting to work -- it made me think about artists, wondrous creatures who put in tremendous, creative, detailed, painstaking work, just to do it, just to manifest a compelling vision
 
 
 
The attitude of people confronting government and other institutions of power to insist on our voice being respected is one that calls for creative expansion.
 

The best defense against big money in political campaigns is people power
 
 
 
Government doesn't want anything. Unlike corporations, government is a concept, not a person.  Government is not a living entity, and has no mind.  A government is an organizational system, it is an ideational creation, a consensual organization to manage agreed upon realities.
 
Organization, a concept or activity, can have no concerns. What we need are the people who work within organizations to have the enlightened self-interest, collective awareness, nurtured compassion, integrated values that impel them to work for the common good.
 
I recently saw former Pres. Bill Clinton and current Pres. Barack Obama on C-SPAN talking about public/private projects to develop creative win/win means of financing green building retrofitting.  Clinton spoke about great things that could be done if financing could be worked out.  It seems this is true of a wide variety of possible projects to improve public/private lives and resources.
 

 if we appropriately taxed the fossil fuels commensurate with their actual costs to society, renewables could naturally triumph.
 
 
 
The true job creators are those who trade the use of their skilled time. Businesses don't create jobs. They hire workers to do what needs to be done to keep their business going. Consumers, while necessary to bring in the payment, do not create jobs. They buy the products that the jobs produce. People create jobs by figuring out how to sell their time, knowledge, creativity, and other useful attributes to employers, or directly to consumers.
 
 
 
pretty much everyone has some kind of health issues. Most of us have encountered some form of bullying or discrimination or other negative social commentary because of our "differences" (and by us I don't mean us here, but all of humankind).
 
 
 
 
You can turn off prejudices; but it takes time, patience, and creative nonviolent action
 
 
 
trading delusion for art
trading in smarts for wisdom
 
 
 
It's an old and multi-national tradition to celebrate the longest night and the communal prayer for the return of the Sun.

Monday, November 28, 2011

I Declare World Peace

 
I Declare World Peace is the world's largest ever art / science project / experiment. We describe it in the next few paragraphs. It is not a group. There is nothing to join. There is no cost. There are no members, and it requires no registration. While I Declare World Peace supports and embraces the activities of every other well-intentioned peace promoting endeavor, our experiment is based on the principle of "do less and accomplish more." So, I Declare World Peace engages in no activities of any kind, except for encouraging everyone to periodically think the affirmation "I Declare World Peace" and from time to time write it on the wall of your favorite social media. 
 
World peace can be achieved in our lifetime. In the meantime, and to help the process (since peace is up to us), please post "I Declare World Peace" on the walls of your social media sites. Thank you.
 
The ART

In 2005, the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude brought "The Gates" to Central Park in New York City. A giant installation of 7,500 orange fabric gates, 16 feet high (4.87 m) of varying widths, lined 23 miles (36.8 km) of footpaths in the park. While each individual gate was beautiful alone, the effect of the whole was far more than the sum of its parts. It created an amazing dynamic involving the observer, the thing being observed and the process of observation itself.

We have been inspired by this achievement, the manifestation of an idea hatched in 1979. In 2010, we hatched an idea to create an art installation unlike anything ever before seen or heard of on this planet, made possible for the first time in history by modern technology and the prevalent existence of social media.

Our idea is to create the largest art installation ever, to be installed not in some physical location, or even in cyberspace but rather within the consciousness of every person on the planet, a sort of "Gates of the Mind". Each person will hold a "flag" in his or her mind, which collectively will change the history of the world. The "flag" is I Declare World Peace, expressed in the language of the thinker.

Over the coming weeks, months and years, people will be gently encouraged to type the affirmation "I Declare World Peace" on the "walls" of their various and favorite social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and so forth.

The SCIENCE

One of the intriguing premises of quantum theory, which seems to blend physics with metaphysics, states that by the very act of watching, the observer, through the process of observation, affects the object observed being observed. In a study reported in Nature (Vol. 391, pp. 871-874), researchers demonstrated how a beam of electrons is affected by the act of being observed. The experiment showed that the more "watching," the greater the observer's influence on what happens.

This indicates to us that consciousness, or the conscious mind, can affect phenomenal reality. In other words, thoughts can affect the physical world. Now, we understand we may be oversimplifying, but philosophers, mystics and wise folks through the centuries have claimed the same thing.

SO HERE'S THE STORY

In general, goals are reached by taking action. All action proceeds from thought. The completion of a skyscraper results from the action of construction, which in turn results from the thoughts of the architects and builders.

In the same way, the ability to achieve peace in our lifetime is simply a direct function of the conscious thinking of people. Just as a war is commenced by declaration based on the thinking of certain people, peace requires a declaration based on the thinking of certain people. All group thinking is based on the thinking of the individuals in the group.

There are approximately 195 countries in the world. Assume there are 200 major "violent" separatist or opposition groups. If the top 5 ranking people in government and those separatist groups all declared peace, just 2,000 people, there would be peace. And those 2,000 would have no choice but to declare peace if substantial numbers of their "constituents" declared peace.

In short, world peace is entirely dependent on what you, yes you personally, think.

HOW YOU CAN EFFORTLESSLY PARTICIPATE

Please post and tweet the affirmation "I Declare World Peace" on your favorite social media site from time to time. Every time you see the tweet I Declare World Peace, please follow the person who tweeted it and then re tweet (RT) it. It will soon become like popcorn popping all over the world.

Go to www.facebook.com/declarepeace click "Like" and participate or come back to visit. Tell your friends. If you would like to sponsor this web site, it is free to do so and requires no fee or registration. We will put a link to any appropriate lawful business or entity on the Wall of Support page of this site. It requires no reciprocity. Just emaillr@ideclareworldpeace.com and provide your URL and a very brief description of the site.

Come help us create the largest art installation in the history of the world, installed, for the first time ever, on the consciousness of mankind.

This site is growing. Please come back from time to time. The official I Declare World Peace hashtag is #IDWP

Copyright © 2011 I Declare World Peace, Inc.

unrespect hostility

put on some grooving music, and fall into dance
 
 
 
success is no prophylactic against despair
 

the "Tea Party" as we tend to think of it was not the outpouring of actual "on the ground" concerns, but a creature of the media
 

We laud our diversity, our innovative spirit, our American know-how based on freedom -- yet, many so ignorantly persist in decrying what we all know is the basis of what has made us great. No wonder the US seems to be devolving into a second-rate country.
 
 
 
Dysfunction is not the price that the species pays. It is the price the individual is made to pay by social convention against the exceptional.
 
 
 
We don't pay and respect cops to bash/tase/torture/frame the nonviolent, noncriminal among us.   Why do the police think disrespect of the protesters is expected of them? If police are meant to be public servants, perhaps the public needs to better oversee their service.
 
Why are our service folk not better trained in individual integrity?
 
 
 
People have children for a variety of reasons from simple failure of birth control to having a desire to mold a creature to their specifications, to having a legacy, to enjoying the company of the young and the new wonder they can bring, to ... The mere act of procreation is not parenthood. There are a great many children who need better role models than their parents can offer. What can you offer them?
 

Republicans do it. Democrats do it. Independents do it. Let's take all the outrage and send it where it belongs -- your right to freely swing your dong or hands ends where my personal space begins.
 
 
 
The problem with President Obama is that he is too much of a centrist in extreme times, thus appearing less bold and innovative than we thought we were led to expect from his campaign. However, he does present as a calm, thoughtful, intelligent leader, which extreme times certainly can use.
 

As it becomes more widely obvious that the lot of the returning vet is not honor but disrespect and lack of opportunity, how many will volunteer to keep the military going forward?
 

It is in the nature of humanity that when people aggregate there are disputes,
leading to a perceived need of systems to adjudicate disputes,
which is the essence of law, which is the basis of government.
 

Ideally, government is the mechanism by which solutions are negotiated for widespread concerns not adequately addressed by the private sector
 

We don't go bankrupt from having debt.  We go bankrupt from not having the wherewithal to pay it.  Right now, in the sense of "buy low/sell high" is a great time to invest in our country, take on the necessary additional debt, so that we can build back up into a thriving economy -- at which point it will be much easier to pay off said debt.
 

The problem with capitalism is Wall Street.  When private business goes public and the primary responsibility becomes to the shareholders, the consumer in the private market loses standing and power.  The locus of value devolves from the business product to the game of trade in valuation of the business.  The map overwhelms the territory.  The symbol destroys the real.
 

If what I do annoys you, don't follow me.  I have no need to lead.  I have no need of people who tear me down rather than turn their energy to what they perceive as better.
 
 
 
Kids are not encouraged to run and play energetically, to dance and prance and skip and jump, but rather to sit in front of a screen or teacher.  We need to get back into our bodies, to feel the grace and joy of movement.  We need to not only acquiesce, but take delight in being physical beings, rather than letting our bodies seem separate from ourselves.
 

Though most of us may not conceptualize it, the most universal desire of our kind is to feel comfortable within ourselves.  If we love who we are, we can more truly be happy, and more truly love each other.
 

trauma, tragedy -- the stuff nightmares are made of
 

strength through diversity, individual responsibility, technological and system innovation -- the future is now
 
 
 
Thank you for traversing my world without hostility
Go, fare you well, in peace

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

deep '11 (raos)

Why channel the people's energies into combative divisions rather than promote effective response to common concerns?
 
 
It would be better for all concerned if we could develop an attitude of all humans in this project together, rather than seething over unspoken/unmet expectations or divisive labeling.
 
 

What do the Occupiers want? It's no mystery. We of good will want peace and prosperity available for all.
 
 
We obviously need the labor the lower wage workers, yet insist on keeping them down through classist stereotyping.  A much healthier attitude for a well-functioning society would be blatant honoring of work, of good citizenship, of civil interaction, and of the people who exemplify these.
 
 
1) Every time someone gets upset about something they think there ought to be a law, rather than deal with interpersonal communication and negotiation -- and they often can drum up support
 
2) Most laws don't come with expiration dates
 
 
 
With the budgetary need to lower law enforcement resources, destroy jobs of law enforcement personnel, and the higher crime associated with greater pervasive poverty, how can using so many police-hours in quelling peaceful First Amendment speech and assembly be justified?
 
 
In keeping with the aesthetics of the movement, rather than set up an either/or combative paradigm, wouldn't it be more effective to bring the police in -- through individual dialogs, broadcast of group ethic, and other strategies?
 
 
 
I am wondering if the government workers conspiring against the protesters' First Amendment speech and assembly could be convicted of criminal conspiracy?
 
 
If the bottom line is job creation, why not tax for not creating jobs -- or rather, generously allow the cost of job creation to offset taxation?
 
 

 
The dream isn't lost -- it's just morphed into a nightmare
 
 
 
We seem to be vying for the bottom, city under the garbage heap, rather than “shining city upon a hill”
 

Considering that the Christmas Tree was taken from pagan traditions, not Christian (see any pines in Jerusalem?), it ought to be the Solstice Tree; so, Holiday Tree ought to be good enough of a compromise.
 

Perhaps the not so hidden truth all along has been that people create religions to permit violence against other people?
 
 
 
The fundamentalist view of Judgment and reward in the afterlife preclude the kind of urgency that would promote better use of our time and resources in this life.
 
 
"Bad" things don't happen as punishment. Things happen. We interpret them as "bad".
 
 
 
Evil is a concept of moral failure, not brain anomalies. The human brain continues to grow for some time after birth. The way in which it grows is to a large extent based, not on predetermined genetic disposition, on early experience. Teach a brain-damaged "psychopath" to behave appropriately; forget about labeling them "evil".
 

The death penalty is barbaric -- it encourages the worst in us
The death penalty is unfair -- executions are based on rigid attitudes about issues other than justice
The death penalty is dangerous -- it has been proven that innocent people have been killed due to faulty evidence or even outright manipulation of evidence
The death penalty encourages an attitude of justifiable murder, that a solution to social problems is to eliminate those involved rather than look at real solutions
The death penalty is too easy for those we truly want to punish -- in fact it punishes any surviving people who cared about the state-murdered, while the condemned criminal is no longer suffering from their conscience or the attitudes of others toward them or imprisonment
The death penalty denies the possibility of redemption or actual payment for crimes
and so forth
 
 
 
 
 If you kill yourself, the bullies win. If you are so desperate as to contemplate acting as their jury and executioner, you might better turn that emotion to self-defense.
 
 
 
People often say they would do or would want to act or speak out about issues or values that they are afraid would open them to violent reactions from others with greater power or influence or uncontrollable violent tendencies. Could we have more honest interchange, more meaningful expression, better communication, with a service to provide back-up as necessary against bullies or other such adversaries?
-- unrespect hostility
 

 
 
 
Perhaps instead of cutting back on Medicare we might better promote useful health education for all.
 
 
 
In many ways our culture divorces us from our bodies, from our feelings and sensations, from being active in our own well-being.
 
 
 
Healthy egos would be ablaze in magnificent conversation.  These are wounded.  Warning:  These are dangerous -- angry and scared, pain to panic dismissing reason, always, only, needing to strike at any who come near. 
 
Arrogantly ignorant, aggressively entitled to expectations that they be served.
 
 
 
Puritanical morays
striking with venomous rage
out of the cold, murky water
of the American collective unconscious
 

The problem is that though many human beings are reasonable and decent, there are always many who see life as a game in which only a few can win, and they aim to be on the top by kicking everyone else down.
 
 
 
Words of value are bound in well thought-out phrases, titled and presented for review.
 

just another theory -- not some devil's brew or destructive bomb
 

Dishonor can be worn as a badge.  But of what use are badges?  Better, perhaps, a bag of clear water, a charm against danger, a salve for irritation, a text of inspiration, baubles and beads valued by the local tribe.
 

Is it a gift if unwelcome, different from what is sought?
 

It's an art project!
Thanks for performing
your roles so well
(applause)
(bows)
Carry on.  Enjoy your evening.
Now, don't we all feel better?
 

 
 
 
The movement is the message. Spread the movement: spread the message
 
 
 
Model the behavior you want to see.
 
 
Blue skies
No mourning
No tethers or lines,
valence or gravity
Opening key dangles
Skein untangles
free * * *

Thursday, November 17, 2011

rallyiing!

 
The American People Are Waking Up! Occupy! Occupy!
 
 
a webcast, from the street, of the protesters' perspective.
 
 
Thousands of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators took to the streets around the U.S. on Thursday to mark two months since the movement's birth and signal they aren't ready to quit, despite the breakup of many of their encampments by police
 
 
Column: Occupy Wall Street changes national debate
 
 
Occupy protesters march nationwide
 
Rallying
 
The Secret to Happiness ~ We Are Happening!
Find what brings you alive; and do it.
(not what "I should" to prove that "I'm good," or good
at being bad)
Maybe meet people enjoying it too;
layer texture to our view,
expand our field of play.
Lather, rinse, repeat
as necessary.
Take it out to the street when necessary.
Do what you need to be
what you want to see.
Do what only you can.
Make this happening grand!
Do it today.
 
 
September 17, 2011

Friday, November 11, 2011

Threshold Revelations ~ EV21 ~ has emerged

Take in trance lucence:
 
 
Threshold Revelations
 
Emerging Visions visionary art 'zine #21
 
 
 
share
(*intentcities*)

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

reflected revelations (raos)

Everyone wants to co-opt the movement. Must be successful if they all want a piece. The problem for they is, it's not about them. It's about moving together to get to a better social concept.
 
What is wanted is exactly what is happening -- a new dialog that takes the issues of the people seriously.
 
Think of all the energy produced by minds connecting all over the world.
 
This could be just what the failing economy needs.  The big investors, those we bailed out because we so badly needed their financial services, have not been doing their job, only squeezing what they can from the rest of us doing the actual work.  Credit unions and community banks traditionally do business by investing in the actual communities.  We can take back our own economic resources for our own small and local businesses, for our own benefits.
 
 
 
what these ideologue neo-cons think will happen when the citizens get desperate is hard to understand.
 
Canaries in the coal mine, dolphins in the gulf, children in the streets -- the warnings are loud; but we're too caught up in the din to listen.
 
 community centers, where disputes can be aired and peacefully worked out might be a good start
 
People often say they would do or would want to act or speak out about issues or values that they are afraid would open them to violent reactions from others with greater power or influence or uncontrollable violent tendencies. Could we have more honest interchange, more meaningful expression, better communication, with a service to provide back-up as necessary against bullies or other such adversaries?
 
What is this intense beef the police have with the protesters? Does it make sense for them to be putting themselves on the line as the enemy?
 

When it is so hard to get by, why would we torture each other rather than doing the best job we can?
 

It's lonely and stressful at the top, at the bottom, so stupidly sad -- we could be lifting each other rather than tearing down.
 
 
No actual goods, services, technological devices or practical ideas were ever created by "Wall Street". The function of financial markets is not creativity (except in the sense of "creative" financing -- which was the underlying cause of this collapse, not people trying to invest in housing); it is manipulating trade for profit. It is a gaming industry, and ought to be taxed as such.
 
Back in the halcyon conservative heydays we had these limits on income without social responsibility. Yeah, there were plenty of social issues; but the economics made more sense.
 
 
Actually we all get poorer when too much of our resources get held instead of flowing through
 

 
In a lot of ways, capitalism is a good idea for a previous episode in economic development. We would best take the lessons provided, and understand that there is no need to be stuck in ideology. Technological advances are providing opportunities impossible to imagine in the day when capitalism was the innovative engine.
 
 
Real job creators?  Oh, you mean the people who trade our skilled time for societal credit -- whether we hire out to a business or project, or figure out the marketing/accounting on our own.
 

The thing is private corporations are private enterprises created for their individual purposes.  They are not controlled by the "market," but rather, if they are on top of the game, to a large extent control it.
 
People who say "government" is THE problem don't really understand that government is a social organization, essentially controlled by the market of the electorate.  If we have bad government, it is not because government in itself is bad, but because we are not (or have not sufficiently been) doing our due diligence, taking our individual responsibility for the overall outcome.
 
Those who insist government is THE problem are ignoring the ways in which government is the solution, and the basic responsibilities of citizens.
 
 
If the states were well enough to provide the infrastructure and services we really do expect and want, we could leave it to the states individually to take care of business "on the ground".  If we are not ready, willing and able, we still need those services and constructions.  Perhaps we would do better giving up on the idea of government being the problem and do better at making it a useful solution.
 
rooftop gardening could be promoted to provide better nutrition options and better control of CO2
 
there is no need for monolithic ideological dichotomies in actual practice
 
Since when is sanity a necessity for political rule?  Though, yes, it would be an interesting, novel, and possibly quite effective attribute.
 
 
One area in which government is spending far too much is for generous compensation to "representatives" for acting like idiots when there are so many people doing so for free.
 
 
So-called Communism was Doublespeak for totalitarian aristocracy -- an aristocracy not based on heredity being twisted into a definition of rule by the people.  This is not Marxism, nor communism.
 
We were sold a lie that war improves the economy. It is hard to understand how such a lie could be so convincingly and widely sold.
 
Chemical treatment for cognitive disorders requires cognitive association to be effective. More direct treatment without chemical side effects would obviously result from cognitive therapies.
 
People change their behavior all the time, and not necessarily in economically practical ways. Much more of an influence is ambiance, peer pressure, the general impression that this new way is what is in, what one does to fit in.

 
"Do as Thou Wilt" is all of the law -- natural law. There is no "just" retribution nor reward. The punishment/reward is within us to administer as we will, or as we have been conditioned. In the realm of reality, we do, we create consequences, hopefully we learn.
 
 
 
Learning is a pleasure.  There is nothing more exuberantly exciting than those "aha!" moments when it all clicks together.  Children are born with growing brains eager to learn.  Then we go to schools which mostly stifle us.
 
 
Art is a creature evolving with its time.  The ideas in the air of any given era are the ideas, the air, that inform the artist.  When other historical eras are incorporated into artistic expression, they are reinterpreted through the lens of the artist's time, the paradigm through which experience is framed.
 
 
 
 
apparently we need some long, hard discussions about exactly what a person is, why we choose the criteria we do, and what it means to be a person
 
As medical science progresses, it is quite possible that it will not be too far in the future when we have developed out of womb gestational technology. Perhaps it is better that we start thinking about what exactly human rights are, what exactly we want them to be, and at what developmental stage what rights might be most appropriate. What we really need to remember is that rights imply and require responsibilities on the part of the rights holder, and on the part of the rest of the social system. We throw around this concept of rights without due consideration of the true implications.
 
the complexities of unraveling the most intimate of human relationships is not rationally within the purview of government