The Greysage Journey

How Can You Call Yourself a Healer?

2011-03-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

Peace be in us and may we find power in joy and compassion.

I recently heard someone ask the question, “How can you call yourself a healer if you are not healed?”. I've heard this question asked several times over the years, this time, I took the time to consider it and was inspired to answer. Now, I prefer not to use labels, however, I've discovered that not using ANY labels makes for painfully tricky conversations. So, I use as few labels as possible and I don't define myself or others by those labels... most of the time. However, for the sake of expedience, I do label myself a healer. Here's why: I choose to take specific actions with the intention that those actions help heal my emotional, spiritual and physical wounds; I do research in order to learn more about healing theory, processes, techniques and modalities; I share information, techniques, processes, modalities and my experience of my own healing and the healing I have witnessed in others with the intention that others might use that information to help heal themselves.

Though I have no evidence, I suspect that the earliest healers were mothers.. and I'd bet that few of them had medical degrees. In truth, I believe that we are all healers, at least, some of the time.

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever, claimed any sort of credentials other than my own investigations and experience. I've had no formal training or instruction in any medical field... other than first aid... and I let that certification lapse. I do not prescribe medications. I don't charge anything for anything I do, (though donations are welcome). Nor do I perform surgery... I can't get anyone to lay still long enough... even though, I've explained that I read a book and watched several videos about it... I guess a lot of people just have trust issues... But... I digress... let's get back to my original train of thought.

I think of myself as an intuitive healer. When another comes and asks for my help in resolving an issue, (whether the issue is spiritual, emotional or physical), I trust my intuition and the person coming to me to guide me as to what modalities are appropriate. We might do just a massage if the person only has stiff muscles or we might spend four hours in counsel, meditation and massage. (For my purposes, I define counseling as helping someone find alternatives. It might be things like helping them figure out more effective ways of viewing a situation, letting them vent or helping them find balance after a stressful experience.) Sometimes my ministrations are effective, sometimes not so much. Sometimes, when physicians prescribe treatments for patients, the doctor and patient have to go through several trials before they find a treatment that works. I regularly suggest that people seek out professional help, if they have that option, many people don't.

Essentially, I’ve come to believe that the job of a true healer is to help us remember that we have the power to heal ourselves.

Overcoming Judgments

2011-03-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hello Lovers,

Peace be in us and may we understand the realities and the illusions of our creations.

The last two blog entries were kinda' crunched up together, I had a lot of information that I wanted to get posted, so some of the things I wrote about might seem vague or incomplete, for this I apologize. However, as always, I write as my intuition guides me.

I don't have ready access to the internet here, so I'm writing without, as I am accustomed to, the benefit of instant access to the world's information... In fact, I still have some bad dreams where I'm lost, isolated, frightened and wandering around in a dark void, but I'm getting better... Oh, and I think I still have the digital bends from springing out of internet submersion too quickly... but anyway...

I find that as I constantly choose my path of spiritual and emotional growth, my ideals, sacred cows and attachments are constantly being challenged by my interactions with others. I internally measure my growth by how often I can remain in a place of compassion, (compassion, as I use he term here, is understanding others suffering and having a desire to help them overcome that suffering), rather than falling into my old patterns of fear and competition when confronted by the fearful or gracious actions of others.

In this community, for example, there are so many gorgeous models and actors, beautiful singers, brilliant performers, artists and creators, counselors, shamans, healers and people who are super intelligent and super educated in so many areas, who live and pass through here, that I often feel dumb, ignorant, boorish and inadequate. I do, more often now than in the past, get beyond my own low self esteem and the resulting competitive spirit so that I learn from and experience the joy and beauty of those that I meet. Even as I write this, I find myself fearing the judgments of others at my confessions.

Now, lest anyone question my perceptions, we are a microcosm of society in that we are also confronted, almost daily, with others' fear based realities as well. There is usually at least one person per day who is experiencing fear, anger, aggression, politics, power plays, control issues or any number of other fear based experiences. We all have a great abundance of opportunities to work on our spiritual and emotional growth. Also, not everyone who comes here is interested in spiritual and emotional growth, some come for distraction and party. I took the opportunity to overcome my judgments about that, too.

Most of our judgments have been programmed into us by our families and by corporate religions and mass media. For example, in many popular movies, the character who asks, “Can't we all just get along?”, is portrayed as a weak, neurotic victim. While the hero is portrayed as an intelligent, noble and determined loner, even though, they often refuse peaceful council and end most conversations with violence. This is blatant promotion of isolationism, disconnection, low self esteem and fear. All character traits which can be overcome, so we are told, if we buy stuff and let “the company” take care of us. Unfortunately, the largest audience for these popular movies is young people between the ages of ten and twenty five, the ages when we are first acting autonomously and are entering our adulthood. And because most of our parents experienced the same thing we pass these suicidal values from one generation to the next.

During my research, I was surprised to discover that this sort of propaganda has been used for centuries, even millennia. Aristocracies and monarchies have used fads, fashions, stage plays and literature to influence the thoughts and values of “the unwashed masses”. The process has simply become more refined so that now, most of us, are just more willing slaves, they won't even furnish us a place to live and eat anymore. We now spend most of our time scattered in spirit and judging ourselves and our loved ones as inadequate to trust our own thoughts and processes.

So how do we overcome these programmed judgments? My method, which is the only one I feel confident in speaking of, is self reflection, analysis, visualization, focus and observation of effectiveness. For example, if I wish to be more peaceful and compassionate, I visualize someone like Jesus, Buddha or Mother Theresa whispering compassionate council in my ear. For the sake of openness, I have to admit that, when faced with naked aggression, I have a harder time with the visualization, but I am getting better.

I believe that as we overcome ineffective judgments and fear we will naturally be more compassionate, open and intimate. Communion and Isolation are choices. If we make those choices from a place of compassion, without judgment, then I believe those choices will lead to true joy rather than fear. We can all choose to get along... or not.

May we experience peace and joy in compassion, and love in us all.

Back from Oblivion and the Journey Continues - Part 1

2011-03-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I wish you joy and peace in all that you encounter on your path

Wow! I've been trying to make a new entry here for the last several months, but I've been experiencing some radical shifts in perception and I found myself unable to cohere my thoughts enough to write. I read my incoherence as a sign that the time was not yet right, so, now must be the right time.

A few people have written asking me what happened after my last blog entry, which ended with me hiking into town looking for work. Well, I went into Durango, as I said, and discovered that I was way too far into an alternative existence to even consider working a “normal job”. Most of the people that I talked to, when I asked about a position, looked at me, I thought, rather oddly and said, “It will be weeks before we decide, we will call you”. One very open and wonderful lady even laughed... Loudly... Hmm!

So, I hiked back up to my campsite beside the Colorado Trail. I kept a small campfire, gathered wild foods, drank pine needle and herbal teas with water from the mountain stream, listened to the forest and meditated. Then one evening as I was sitting by the fire I suddenly remembered a community in the southwest that a brilliant and radical friend told me about. I looked up their site and the community described itself as income sharing, open to everyone who is open and accepting of others and though there are suggested donations no one is turned away for lack of funds. I contacted them, told them about myself, my circumstances and of my skills, they told me to come out and give it a try and, “we'll see what happens”. So I packed up my camp and got back on the road.

I traveled for a day and a night and arrived at the community driveway the next morning. The driveway to the community was several miles long and my pack is about eighty pounds, very heavy. I trudged up the drive in the middle of a wilderness. I was tired, alone, emotionally drained and depressed. A weathered sign was posted on the gate to the community, it said, “Welcome Home” and, with no warning what so ever, I broke down and started crying. I was glad there was no one around to see me. I now realize that the sign had deeply touched that place in me that fears that I will never be accepted by anyone. I walked the next two miles blubbering like a little kid lost in the woods.

By the time I got to the common house I had composed myself and was feeling the excitement in the anticipation of new adventures. The fellow who I'd talked with via email showed me around the property and helped me find a beautiful campsite. Then took me back to the common house, gave me food, offered some instruction about being at high altitude and suggested that I just hang out and enjoy the ride.

The community was getting ready for a ten day gathering of healers and shamans from around the world that was about a month away. We set up tents and canopies, prepared the buildings for use by increasing numbers of people, set up fire areas and generally gave the place a good cleaning and organizing.

When I arrived in the community, people were already trickling in for the gathering. Everyday I met two or three new and seemingly ordinary, (and some who were obviously not ordinary), people. And as we moved to within a couple weeks of the event, people were coming in droves. And the seemingly ordinary people that I had met before, bloomed into extraordinary beings. There were flamboyant and low key costumes and some who ran around without wearing anything at all. There were recitations, vocalizations, stage shows, impromptu campsite performances, workshops and classes, massage, rekei, public displays of extreme affection, fires, singing, dancing, drumming, praying and puppets. There were people sharing their knowledge about herbs, incense, rituals, magic, spirituality, food, community, companionship, sexuality, vision quests and healing of every sort imaginable. There were doctors, lawyers, artists, sex workers, actors, teachers, techies, builders, survivalists, street people, farmers, ranchers, preachers, talk show hosts, gourmet chefs and divers feral beasts. There were people who identified themselves as men, women, transgender, transsexual, two spirit, pan-sexual, pan-dimensional, gay, straight and various animals. There were some who preferred no labels and some who didn’t want to think of themselves at all. And many “people” went through several of those incarnations a day. I even met Jesus, who, at this gathering, incarnated as a mostly black dog.

I, myself, was taken by spirit and did massage and meditation day and night for most of the gathering. I shared energy with about sixty or seventy people during the event. The whole experience was brilliant and transcendent. Afterward, I think I slept for several days, but I don't really remember for sure.

Continued in, "Back from Oblivion and the Journey Continues - Part 2"

Back from Oblivion and the Journey Continues – Part 2

2011-03-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

Continued from Part 1

Now, around the time of the gathering, all the stewards of the community, for various reasons, stepped down or left, so that, by the end of the gathering six of us stayed and became stewards and board members. Now, this was a huge surprise for me. I'd been in the community for about two months and suddenly, everyone who knew how things were run, was gone.

The community had six of us who now lived on the land and upwards of a thousand, (I think), in the greater community who take an interest in what happens here. I took on steward facilitation of infrastructure and many people pointed out many, many things that needed to be done before winter. There were far more things that needed to be done than I could do alone. But, I did not communicate in ways that encouraged anyone else to help do the work or even help prioritize the work. So, I worked until I aggravated an old injury and continued working after that until the pain got so bad that I couldn't do anything at all. During this time, I allowed myself to get overwhelmed and off center and fell into my old habits of panic and fear which manifested as my being angry, “grumpy” and depressed. At the gathering I had reached the highest point of spiritual energy I had ever attained while being around a large number of people, and barely two months past the gathering, I had fallen to one of my lowest points of energy.

There were others who, I felt, would be of better service than I, who became stewards and board members. I also discovered that the website hadn't been updated in quite sometime and the community was no longer income sharing. Also, the healing programs and workshops that were described on the site were no longer happening. Some members of the community began suggesting that since I could no longer work, I had no income and my emotional issues were affecting others that maybe I should move on. I, also, felt like I was creating disharmony and unsafe space in the community so I stepped down from the board and my stewardship and announced that I was going to leave. However, winter had set in and the community said I could wait until I found or created another situation.

Then, two beautiful men, who I had met at the gathering and who had some property in the neighborhood, (about twenty miles away), suggested that I come stay with them for awhile and “take a break” from the community. I was extremely grateful and accepted. I stayed with them for about six weeks. They took me to Christmas dinners and introduced me to others in the neighborhood. I had given my shoes away during the gathering and now it was winter and I had no shoes but a pair of flip-flops, these two guys bought me a new pair of leather work boots for winter. They fed me, gave me shelter, a place to heal my body and showed me love and encouragement. I do not have the words to express my gratitude, appreciation and love for those guys.

Then, one night in January, the guys came to tell me that it was time for me to go. I was a little put out that I didn't get more notice as it takes me a few days to pack for the road. I didn't want to go back to the community because of my own shame and fear, but because I had little time I found it necessary to go back so I could pack properly. But when I returned to the community I was greeted with hugs and kisses and was, once again, welcomed home. A couple of the stewards suggested that I kick back and relax, that I not do anything and just be, to see what it's like in this community as a visitor. So, that's what I did.

At first, the stewards put me in the studio, (a large building used as common space), but as the weather grew colder it took too much wood to heat so it was suggested that I move into a room. It was beautifully decorated by previous residents and there were only small changes necessary to make the room meet my needs. I began working with my photographs and writing again and brought a community massage table into my room to resume the massage and meditation techniques that I had been given during the gathering. The energy in me was rising again. My fears were subsiding and peace was coming back to me.

I spend many hours in meditation and peace is once again becoming the predominant spirit in me. My neighbors in the building are interested in healing and growth in a fashion similar to my own interest and we have long and beautiful discussions, sometimes over tea, on healing processes and the significance of past and present events in our lives. I once again feel as though I am in a place of healing.

The community is now going through a painful time of adjustment where people are finding it necessary to deal with their fears and the dysfunctional actions that arise from those fears, in a common space. As in most communities, money often comes up as an issue, since I have none and am not yet creating any, I am often the center of focus around those fears. In times past, I suffered for long periods of time when I perceived that someone was attacking me for what I lack and not seeing the value of my offerings. Now, I suffer relatively briefly and I'm getting better at remaining calm enough to articulate possible resolutions. And, occasionally, I can hear without taking on any hurt at all, and that's a big improvement for me.

I was recently in a meeting and watched as one group of people, whom I dearly love and whom I know to be loving people, gang up on and verbally attack another being whom I love and who I also know to be a loving person. And what's more, I also know that each individual in the group truly love the person they attacked. I was amazed at how quickly the energy of fear and blame spread through the group. These are, naturally, my perceptions. The group may have had valid points but I think they were lost as they expressed their fears through moral judgments, accusations, implied threats and public humiliation. And the person at the center of the attack was so distraught and overwhelmed that they could not make a coherent response. I have my own shame in that I could not get beyond my own fear enough to attempt to bring the verbal attack back to a point of reasonable discussion. I did offer what meager counsel and support I could after the meeting.

Incidents like the one described above can easily be avoided by the group learning and agreeing to use a more effective communication paradigm. Unfortunately, too many of us are still living in the ineffective, (ineffective for creating peace and growth in common), paradigm of fear, competition and war. Most of us have become so programmed that living in a constant state of fear and aggression seems healthy and natural. We think nothing of attacking another who does a thing that we feel uncomfortable around or who disagrees with us. Then we justify our attack with moral indignation and fear based, competitive judgments. Rather than ending the conflict by one person bullying or verbally out maneuvering the other, an alternative might be to approach conflict as a way to help everyone get their needs met. Now, in all honesty, I have studied and have been applying some of these methods for a few years now, and yet, when the fear rises in me, I fall back into those old patterns far more often than I'd like. I'm still growing, just like everyone else at the meeting. And it's all good, because we will all be what we will all be.

Now, it's getting even more exciting here, one of my house mates invited me to help them with a DJ and dance gig. It happened about a week ago now, and what an experience. It was the first, and sort of a test run, of more dances that they have planned throughout the year. The dance took place in a local art gallery and I was doing lights and techie stuff and my friend was setting the music. Then, about an hour before the dance was to start, we had a power outage and the computer we were using crashed it's hard drive. It was completely useless for the show that night. However, I had brought the netbook that was gifted to me by my friend, teacher and fellow traveler in spiritual realms, back in Portland. With some semi-frantic experimentation, we got the netbook to work with the rest of the equipment... and the show went on! It turned out to be a great evening.

Also, some of us have been going into the local community in our way and helping out where we can. I've done some body work and meditation with folks in the community, some of us recently helped a friend deconstruct a house, sometimes we go house sit for people who need a vacation, we have helped on farms and other things around. The people from the gallery said that we may display some of our art for sale, a local cafe gave us permission to display on their walls and someone from a nearby city offered us space as well.

The community where I am currently living is the closest thing that I've come across yet to what I have described on the Obi en site. The first rule here is that there are no rules, except no weapons on the land. By the charter, as mentioned earlier, the community is open to all who are open and willing to set aside judgments of others. I'm paraphrasing here to preserve the anonymity of the community, and because I can't remember the exact words, as this blog is going out to the general public and I do not have permission to speak for the community.

The community also describes itself as a sanctuary, which Webster's defines as a holy place; a place of refuge, protection or asylum; a place where animals are kept for breeding purposes and may not be hunted or trapped... Hmm... I've perceived that each person who comes here has their own interpretation of sanctuary and how the community should be. Those who take on the roles of steward or board member often seem to want to make the community over to alleviate their own fears. Again, too many of us have been programmed to find ways of pushing out those who do not hold the same paradigm as ourselves. I have heard, on a few occasions, individuals state that if an another individual isn't in the same “space” as ourselves, the solution is to treat that person with insensitivity, passive-aggressive attacks and sometimes aggressive attacks until that individual is hurt enough to leave. I am fortunate, in that, I am here at a time when most of the stewards and board members are interested in having more people come and be here, and the attacks that occur are relatively few and are a reaction to fear rather than a conscious effort to force another to leave. This is a beautiful time to be here.

Ultimately, we are all living and working in our own perceptions of the world. So, if we have fears around, say a lack of money, then we may feel slighted if our funds go to pay for another who has no funds. Similarly, if we have fears around self expression, that is to say, that if we have been hurt when we expressed ourselves, then we may feel uncomfortable and fearful when another who is more expressive than us comes into our space.

Most of us, who choose to live alternative lives, have suffered much abuse and judgment in “normal” society and so we might find it very difficult to get beyond our own pain and fear to get to a place where we can create a common vision with others. Those in power, in the “normal” world, huddle together in fear and create a common vision of war. Any group of people who are drawn together by fear and choose that fear as reality will feed each others fear and so the fear only grows. However, If we choose a world of peace, then we must grow beyond our personal fears, give up our programmed belief that everyone else is an enemy, then we can create that common vision of peace and, thereby, create that world of peace.

May your steps be in light and magic. I love you all.

On the Colorado Trail?

2010-07-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

OK, so, technically, I am on the Colorado Trail... I'm just not going anywhere on it.

So, here's what happened:

As I was packing my bags and saying goodbye to the friends I'd met in the shelter, some of them were encouraging me to stay and find work locally. Durango is a fairly nice town so I agreed to try to find work.

One of my friends, (let's call him "Tom"), offered to drive me up to Junction Creek Canyon, which is the start of the Colorado Trail. I could not express my gratitude enough, not having been there before, I was grateful to have a guide. So I loaded my pack in the back of his truck and away we went. Tom showed me several places around the creek, the trail and up in the mountains. We settled on a place and I took out my pack and settled it on my back. I thanked Tom as gratefully as I knew how and set out. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon.

The sign at the park gate said that the nearest free camping was at a place called Gudy's rest 4 miles up the trail from the 1st parking lot. I was starting from the 2nd parking lot, so I figured I had about 2 miles to hike. According to Google maps I started out at about 7400 feet above sea level. The trail started going downhill, went across a small flat, then up the first hill and from there it was up and down, (but mostly up).

My pack and bag were heavy but I started out with broad confident strides. I made it about halfway up the first hill, about a 1/4 mile from the parking lot, before I had to drop my backpack and bag. Sweat gushed from me like I was a New York water fountain, my lungs felt like my head was in a bucket of saw dust, my heart pounded out an arrhythmia that was sort of like a troupe of Irish tap dancers, my eyeballs pulsed and twitched in time with the tap dancers, and I hacked and coughed so much that I'm pretty sure one of my kidneys flew into the bushes.

I rested until I got my breath back, wrestled my pack and bag back on and started out again. I had one quart bottle of water with me that was about half full, (I'd forgotten to fill it up), and the next bit of time on the trail was pretty much like this: I'd walk until I couldn't breath anymore then I'd drop my pack and walk around until my breath came back, then I'd pick up my pack and resume.

The trail followed Junction Creek but it quickly raised way above so that the creek was not accessible so I was using my little bit of water to wet my throat so that it would not dry out and blow away. My feet felt like they were beginning to blister again and walking was beginning to get difficult, but there was no sign of Gudy's or anyone else's rest, so I kept trudging.

My feet screamed with each step, my lungs felt like and Egyptian tomb, my shoulders and back burned and my legs felt wobbly and weak. I didn't know how much farther I could go. Finally the trail began to descend, the creek was getting closer. Eventually, I turned a corner and the trail crossed a bridge, a cool breeze blew off the cascading water. I was saved! The trail crossed the bridge and started up a series of switchbacks ascending a really steep mountain. There was another smaller, less used path off to the right, on flat ground, I took it. The brush was close on this path but I twisted, turned and ducked my way through. And suddenly the brush broke and off to the side of the path was a fairly large, flat, cleared area with a fire pit. My insides leaped and we all said, "We're home!", in unison. And, I don't mind saying that tears streamed down my face as I climbed over two big fallen logs into the camp site. I dropped my pack, sat down on a log and wept. After a bit I filled my water bottle from the creek then I pulled out my cell phone and looked at the time... I'd been on the Colorado Trail for just under three hours... I set up my tent and rolled out my sleeping bag without saying another word to each other.

I'd tossed and turned all night, not having gotten rid of all the sticks and stones under the tent, but I woke before sunrise the next morning feeling pretty good. I washed in the stream which was incredibly cold, dressed, got my netbook, bag and water bottle,and started back off down the trail to town. I was going to look for work.

And this is where I need to leave you for now. I need to get back to the camp site. I will write more when I can.

Heading for the Hills

2010-07-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Well, I'm in the process of repacking my pack, (I think I've gotten it down to 80 pounds), I acquired another tent yesterday. I have my new plant book and I shall be heading to the Colorado trail in a couple of hours.

Keep checking back, I plan to keep blogging about my adventures but it might be a few weeks between uploads since I will be in the forest until I come across a town with free wifi, or something.

Love and Peace to you all,
Randy Greysage

Should our national forests come to the aid of America’s homeless?

2010-07-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

I ran across this story while trying to discover what the law was for how long I could live in the national forest. I think this is n amazing and important story that needs to be told. Please spread it around.
I wish you love and peace,
Randy Greysage

May 15, 6:18 PMArchitecture & Design ExaminerRichard Thornton

America's national forest lands are a treasure owned by all its citizens.

Photos by Richard Thornton, Architect

Should our national forests come to the aid of America’s homeless?

The following commentary is the personal opinion of this examiner, and does not represent the official opinions of Clarion Publications, Inc. or its advertisers. The writer is on an extended camping tour of the Southern Highlands where he is doing research for his book on the Native Americans of the Southern Highlands and sending articles into the Examiner on architecture.

Seventy years ago the welfare of the middle class American came first, but now . . .

Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina - In 1942 the United States Department of Defense sponsored seven outstanding films in a series entitled “Why We Fight.” One of the commentators was a young actor named Ronald Reagan. The films were surprisingly frank assessments of what was good and bad in America at that time, and why we had to fight to save our special way of life. They are now available on DVD and would make very interesting viewing for anyone interested in American history.

The films are also a sad commentary on how America’s soul has darkened in the past 70 years. The films repeatedly stated that the big difference between America and our fascist enemies was that “in America it is the little guy, the Average Joe, who comes first! Our nation is not one that has nobility or political elite, who reaps the benefits of everyone else’s labors. America belongs to its people!”

As such statements were being made on the film, footage was shown of U.S. Forest Rangers and Civilian Conservation Corpsmen bringing fire wood and food to homeless Americans camped out in the national forests or health department nurses visiting camps of refugees in California who had fled the Dust Bowl. How things have changed.

A catastrophe that our elected leaders are ignoring

It is like the proverbial ostrich that sticks its head in the sand to ignore an approaching jackal. The statistics are staggering. Since the beginning of 2007, when the current recession first began, over 10 million American households have lost their homes. Very often, because they did not have the income to pay their mortgage, they can not afford decent rental residences, and the utilities charge them hundreds of dollars in “security deposits” to get services, if they are able to rent a home. The National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty estimates that at least 3.5 million Americans are homeless, with the numbers rapidly increasing. The actual total may be over 4 million.

At least 7.5 million jobs have been lost, but this statistic does not begin to enumerate the millions upon millions of self-employed appraisers, contractors, architects, surveyors, engineers and real estate industry professionals who have been thrust into extreme poverty . . . or the millions of retirees, who are living in recreation trailers, because they can’t afford conventional shelters. In many areas of the country, architecture is essentially a dead profession. A Georgia General Assemblyman recently stated to a public meeting that 85% of the construction-related companies & professionals in northern Georgia in the past two years have closed their doors.

Ironically, the current Great Recession probably started in Georgia in early 2007. In 2006 the Georgia General Assembly was taken over by ultra-right extremists. One of their first actions was to scrap Consumer Protection legislation that was passed the previous year. A team of politically connected attorneys was brought in to write the most creditor hostile laws in the nation. A house could now be foreclosed after payments were delinquent for more than a month. The laws forbade judicial reviews of all pending foreclosure actions. Small town Jawja bank directors salivated as they thought of the money they were going to make gobbling up houses for nothing and quickly selling them for a profit. The authors of the legislation formed McCalla Raymer, LLC to provide assembly line foreclosure services to mortgage companies and FANNIE MAE. The law firm has since then made hundreds of millions of dollars off the personal tragedies of American families.

As for Georgia . . . its real estate market quickly collapsed from the smothering effect of massive foreclosure and bankruptcy rates around the state. The real estate collapse spread to neighboring states. The small banks that anticipated mega-profits from grabbing their neighbors’ houses started to collapse. Now Georgia has one of the highest bank failure rates in the country and the Jawja real estate grab has become a worldwide recession.

There is no Federal policy toward the homeless. Essentially, all political parties are pretending that the economy will get better before they have to deal with mobs of homeless, hungry people rampaging through the streets of cities. The current attitude of most federal and state officials is an expression of compassion, and a sigh of relief that they still have a secure government job. However, since early 2009, approximately 2 million teachers and local/state government employees have lost their jobs around the nation. Teachers are being hit particularly hard this spring as school boards eliminate classes in music and the arts, while increasing classroom size. It is difficult to get an exact number on public employment layoffs because they occur in spurts when contracts expire.

America’s national forest system

The Department of Agriculture was one of the Roosevelt Administration’s prime players in fighting the evils of the Great Depression. While increasing its efforts to assist the yeoman farmers of America, it also initiated programs to improve nutrition for school children and conserve America’s natural resources.

One of Agriculture Department’s divisions, the Forest Service, acquired enormous tracts of sparsely populated woodlands around the country during the 1930s and 1940s. Charged with creating healthy, contiguous tracts of natural terrain for multiple uses, forest rangers became the heroes of a generation of Americans growing up in the 1950s. Every kid wanted a Smoky the Bear in his or her bedroom! The primary argument used for expending public treasury to acquire private land then was national security. The nation needed a large reserve of woodland resources when we became involved in major wars – in case wooden ships came in vogue.

Today, most of America’s 193 million acres of national forests are essentially national parks. During the 1950s the lumber industry shifted to commercial tree farming of hybrid pines and firs. Decreasing levels of structural lumber came from national forests. During the 1990s construction boom and aftermath of NAFTA, an increasing percentage of structural lumber was imported from Canada, while lumber for cabinetry and furniture increasingly came from tropical rain forests. By the early 21^st century, America’s furniture industry had moved to Mexico, while cheaper furniture was being imported from the Orient. Some structural lumber is still harvested from national forests in the extreme Deep South and Pacific Northwest, but with the collapse of the construction industry since 2006, the harvesting is minimal.

So, in the decades since World War II, the primary role of America’s forest lands has become recreation; camping, hiking, hunting, canoeing and cross-country skiing. In particular, there is very little demand for the hardwood timber resources of the eastern United States. The U.S. National Forest Service is a division of the Department of Agriculture, but would be better suited to be in a future Department of Recreation.

How the U.S. Forest Service has responded to this national crisis

This writer first became aware of homeless people living in the national forests during the Fourth of July Weekend of 2009. While camping and hiking in the Chattahoochee National Forest of Georgia, he encountered a cluster of tents and campers occupied by people from around the Southeast, who were homeless. Most were either retirees or formerly worked in the construction industry. At the time, every two weeks the homeless community played musical chairs with their tents and campers with the tacit blessings of rangers. Recent U.S. Forest Service regulations required them to move every 14 days. The people told me that there were probably several thousand people living in the Chattahoochee National Forest, in remote areas that the public never saw.

The relatively new 14 day stay requirement comes from the Bush Administration’s observation that only commoners camped in national forest sites. Commoners are only allowed to have two weeks vacations, anyway. “Good” people have the money to own private vacation homes.

The most heart-rending situation in that “tent city, was a young couple from Annapolis, MD. They were both recently out of college. Eighteen months before, almost simultaneously, he had lost his job with a construction management firm, while she had been laid off from her job as a kindergarten teacher. During December of 2007, they had tried to drive to Florida, but ran out of money (and gasoline) in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There they had lived for 17 months, in a small, old-fashion pup tent and a cluster of shelters built out of saplings and scrapped metal roofing. They intentionally had located their camp beyond where rangers patrolled. They survived by doing odd jobs for nearby chicken farmers. How they survived the cold winters at their 3200 feet elevation, I don’t know. They were visibly pale and gaunt from lack of nutrition.

This writer wrote a detailed description of the situation in the Southern national forests directly to the Chief Ranger of the U. S, Forest Service. The homeless situation was getting worse by the month. Some low cost program was needed to provide toilet facilities, a decent temporary living environment, and some form of self-policing by the temporary residents. I suggested a program modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps. There was no response, whatsoever.

Whether or not the senior officials of the Obama administration know about it, the policies of the U.S. Forest Service have become increasingly hostile to the campers of America. Typical of the responses of state administrators, is that of Monica Schwalback, Supervisor of all national forests in the State of North Carolina. Seven days after starting her job, she issued Order No, 5-1-2010 in late March. The order elevated homelessness to being a crime. Campers can only stay on one spot for 14 days. They must occupy the site during the first 24 hours. They can not abandon the camp site for more than 24 hours. Here is the clincher . . . they must move at least 10 miles away at the end of the 14 day period. That requirement would have been a killer for my Maryland friends camping in Georgia. They often had no gasoline at all. Though for the grace of God, go I, Ms. Schwalbach. Someday you might be homeless and hungry yourself.

Although almost all the national forests in the lower Southeast have Native American names, the writer personally have never seen a Native American forest ranger. (The writer is Creek Indian.) It is a standard joke around Native Americans. The Forest Service hires Caucasian women for administrative positions and Caucasian war veterans for field positions – then labels them both minorities. In contrast, the National Park Service has done an outstanding job of having its rangers be representative of the ethnic diversity of America. Now all y'all Native American brothers and sisters, stand up and pinch yourself . . . to make sure that you are not extinct like some bureaucrats say.

What actually happens in the enforcement of regulations is that rangers look the other way when local folks violate the new North Carolina regulations, but are on Johnny-on-the-spot for “outsiders.” I went by the Cheoah Ranger District Office to get permission to hand make Creek pottery at the camp site for two weeks. A copy of Ms. Schwalbach’s order was immediately stapled to a tree beside my tent after I set up. No other camper for a half mile in either direction was served with the notice.

Meanwhile, in my little used campground, two tents have been un-used for over a week. A local family dropped off a camper trailer two days ago and still has not occupied the camp site. The USFS enforcement SUV drives back and forth in front of these camp sites and ignores them. There has also been a bit of the sneaky type harassment typical of ultra-right-wingers in the Southeast these days, but they are not worth putting in writing.

What could be done by the U. S. Forest Service

The source of the current attitude of the U.S. Forest Service toward long-term campers is rooted in a view that Americans, unless they are especially wealthy or of the “right” political persuasion, are “subjects,” not their employers. Our Constitution says differently. The national forest lands of America belong to the American people, and are here for our benefit. As the song goes, “This land is your land. This land is my land.”

There are some policy changes that could immediately take place to improve the situation. At the start, an attitude change must take place. Perhaps senior administers should have their salaries docked and their savings accounts frozen for four months. Then they will truly understand what it means to be homeless and hungry.

Immediately, locations for long-term camping by permit should be designated in all national forests and available for citizens of the United States. Requiring applicants to provide background identifications would eliminate drug dealers, prison escapees and Al Quaida terrorists. The National Park Service has a program in place, where certain responsible campers are designated voluntary site supervisors. The program has virtually no cost and could be quickly applied to the Forest Service. Where there is a will, there is a way.

As soon as possible, toilet facilities should be provided where homeless campers are concentrated. One possibility is that bases are abandoned in Iraq their modular toilets could be set up in the homeland.

As soon as possible, Congress should look into a program whereby the skills and resources of the Rural Home Administration of the Department of Agriculture could be applied to the construction of temporary shelters for Americans. They might even be log cabins. This writer knows of a federal agency with 193 million acres of trees not being used for anything!

Humans are not commodities that can be bought and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The home of the American citizen has a sacred status clearly defined by the founders of our nation. It should not be equated with peanuts, frozen hog bellies or oil futures. The constitution has long settled the question of the illegality of slavery. Essentially, the attitude of certain people in positions of political or economic power that humans were economic commodities, is what got us into this mess in the first place.

The current administration has established a national commitment and policy toward making our nation energy independent through the creation of alternative energy architecture and communities that do not increase our nation’s demand for imported oil. What better place to start experiments in alternative energy than compact off-the-grid emergency housing that could be relocated outside the national forests, when there is no longer a need. Oh . . . alternatively we could follow the current Forest Service approach of making poor, homeless campers spend the money on gasoline to move their tent ten miles away. Yea boy, we done run them thar no count homeless outlanders plum outa our valley!

This MUST Be What They Meant When They Said, "Adventure"! Another Greyhound Horror Story! Part 3 of 2

2010-07-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ok. So I slowly climbed one flight of stairs to the office. I knocked on the door. A voice from with in bade me, "come in". Two beautiful, young women sat in the small office, one behind a desk and another in a chair in front of the desk. The one behind the desk said something about a shift change and asked me to wait on the deck, I did so. After a few minutes I was called back in.

I've never stayed in a shelter before, but on the few occasions that I had considered it, a quick peak through the door of most shelters let me know that I would much prefer sleeping under a bridge on broken glass then spend time in the shelter. Most of the shelters accept anyone, regardless of their condition or state of mind. I am amazed and humbled by the fearlessness and compassion with which those missions are run. I am not yet that fearless.

This shelter, however, run by Volunteers of America, was extremely clean, there were toys and a playground outside for children, and they gave "breath-alyzer" tests every night in order to keep anyone under the influence of alcohol from being in the building. The rules were simple; no booze, drugs, violence or tolerance. In the building by 9pm for the BA and in bed at 10. Everyone has a chore to do and the chores have to be done. Even though the program was short term the shelter worked very, very well as a community, especially for having so much of the population with relatively severe emotional problems. The other thing that impressed me is that the staff here are far less condescending than any other social service I've ever seen. I am enormously impressed with the work that the VOA is doing here.

I am writing this two weeks after I entered the shelter, the day I arrived was Friday, July 2nd, 2010. I spent Saturday and Sunday working on a resume, I could only get it down to four pages, I suck at writing resumes. On Sunday evening, the 4th of July, we watched a spectacular fireworks display that was fired off a short distance away on a nearby hill almost level with us. At the short distance from which we watched, it was a great show.

On Tuesday the 6th I went into town looking around and looking for work. I turned in a couple of resumes and spoke with lots of people but didn't have much luck.

At the behest of others who know about such things, I spent Wednesday and Thursday trying to shorten my resume. I didn't have much luck with that either. On Friday, all my blisters were pretty well healed, and I ventured back down the hill to the town. I talked to a few more people, put in some more resumes and applications then went back to the shelter. My tobacco was gone and as my lungs cleared I was having a much easier time climbing the monstrous hill that lead to the shelter. I went to the Greyhound bus station every morning, my bag still had not shown up, at one point the station master even told me that if it wasn't there in a day or so my bag was most likely gone.

I had been figuring to get a day labor job, but I was afraid that I would not be able to do the work as quickly as would be required due to an old shoulder injury. And the more time I spend in Durango the more I like the idea of staying and trying to get Obi en started here. Unfortunately, all the work that I have applied for takes longer than two weeks to get an interview. I shall, never the less, trust in spirit and the cosmos to take care of me and bring me what is best.

I cannot talk about the friends that I met in the shelter, I will say that my stay here has reminded me and impressed upon me, even more deeply, the importance and value of Obi en. The most common contributing factor to the desperation that I saw among the homeless and dispossessed was the thinking and feeling of hopelessness. That is, that "we" have no choice but to suffer indignity and failure. And my time here has further demonstrated to me, once again, the importance of having the student live at Obi en so that they may be "reprogrammed" into a positive and uplifting mind set by living in a positive and uplifting environment. Of course, the student must be open to that growth, but that growth can occur, I have seen it happen over and over. And the first step in having the student heal is by convincing them that true joy and happiness can be in their lives.

I think it was on Friday, July 9th, that I went to the Greyhound bus station, around eight o'clock in the morning, as usual, I was absolutely amazed and delighted to find that my back pack was waiting on me. The station master then picked up the bag that held my sleeping bag and asked if that was also mine. I was thrilled! My pack had all the things I had packed in there, including and especially my two flutes. I was delighted! My tent was gone, but I considered that inconsequential, all things considered.

I played my flutes every chance I got, all weekend. On Monday, I took them with me to town and played on the river trail as I rested between applications and resumes. Many passers by thanked me, it was a lovely experience, getting to share my joy in the flute.

So, today is July 13th, my two weeks is nearly up and I'm writing this entry as I am waiting to find out if I can get a week long extension or if I have to leave in two days. If I need to leave in two days then I will spend my time repacking and lightening my bags, (they are pretty heavy at the moment), and trying to find another tent so that I can walk out of town and see where the wind blows me. If I am granted the extension then I will continue to put in applications and resumes and try to find a way to stay in Durango.

One of the staff just came to tell me that my extension was not approved, so I'll be packing to go. I will update more on this adventure when I get the chance.

Love and Peace to You All

This MUST Be What They Meant When They Said, "Adventure"! Another Greyhound Horror Story! Part 2 of 2

2010-07-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I left off where I was walking the highway out into the desert. My feet were blistered and bleeding and I couldn't walk more than a mile without having to stop and rest. I had no tent, home, bedroll or most of my clothes. I was wearing a pair of shorts and a short sleeved shirt. I'd spent nearly all of my cash trying to find out where my bag was and when I could get it with no luck.

Since I left Cortez so late in the day, night came on fairly quickly. It was only then that I discovered that all my flashlights were in my backpack as well, which had decided to take it's own separate vacation. As the sun was going down I was walking through a low lying area, it had sort of a swampish feel to it, hills and high plants kept the breeze from reaching me and some kind of bug began to swarm... and bite. I couldn't see them but the weight of them on my arms and legs told me they were much larger than mosquitoes and their bites were certainly larger. Because of the condition of my feet, I couldn't move fast enough to keep them off me and flailing my arms around had almost no effect. I started to panic, then spirit suggested I meditate. I stopped, I put my hands over my mouth and nose so I could take a couple of deep breaths without sucking up a pound of bugs, and I imagined that I was light, in the vague shape of a person floating of the shoulder of the road, then I began to walk. I didn't even try to keep the bugs out of my eyes or nose, I just walked and imagined.

I could still feel the bugs biting me, but it no longer bothered me. I had chosen another realm to walk in. I was amazed that I was not getting angry or feeling pitiful. I was exhilarated, I laughed out long and loud. But then when I breathed in again I sucked up and swallowed, like, four bugs so I spent the next pretty good distance hacking, coughing and spitting. But, after about another fifteen minutes began climbing out of the lowland and out of the bugs.

I can't tell you how many miles I walked, cars were passing me by but I didn't bother to try to hitchhike. I mean, I was me, but if I had seen me in the middle of the desert on a moonless night, I wouldn't have stopped... even if I new I was me... that would just be too scary. Sagebrush, juniper and pinion pine on both sides of the road were so thick that I could not see anything in them so I didn't try to get off the road to find a place to bed down. I could not have seen if there was a fence, snake or bear in any of those clumps. So I just kept trudging forward. The number of cars that passed me dwindled to almost nothing, it seemed like I walked for hours.

Every time I stopped to rest, which was often, I faced a brilliant Cassiopeia and a monstrously huge Big Dipper hung low over the distant town of Cortez, off to my left. After awhile, I noticed the sky getting lighter, I realized the moon was beginning to rise and even though I couldn't yet see it, I was beginning to be able to see the surrounding landscape better. After what seemed like a few more miles, the moon was over the mountains enough that I spotted a clearing that I could get to away from the road, so I limped, stumbled and staggered into the brush. I had my coats tied to the outside of one of my bags and I lay two of them on the ground then covered up with the third and was asleep almost immediately.

I awoke sometime later, shivering uncontrollably, a cold wind was blowing. I dug into my one bag with clothes in it and dug out the two bath towels and covered myself with them as best as I could. My biggest fear was that I would camp someplace where rattle snakes hunted and fed, but by the time I'd bedded down it was too cold for snakes. I worried for only a minute before I was out.

I awoke just as day was breaking, I gathered my towels and clothes and shook them all out and packed them away again. When I walked back to the highway, I noticed that I had camped in an old prairie dog town. The dried bodies of prairie dogs lay all around where I had slept. I suspect they had been poisoned.

I returned to the road and limped another three or four miles, then I gave up and stuck out my thumb. I was picked up by three Indians in a pickup. Two of them had been drinking pretty heavily and one was testing me with insults to see if he could get me riled. I was too tired to get riled so we ended up laughing a lot. They took me all the way to Durango.

I was let out near the visitors center where I limped in and gathered information on where to go and what to do in Durango. The Greyhound bus station was still a couple of miles away, too far to hobble, so I found a park bench in the shade by the Animas River and began looking over the maps and literature that I had gotten from the visitors center. After a couple of hours another traveler came by and we sat and talked for a while. He told me about a shelter in town. I've never stayed in a shelter, all of them I'd seen were too dirty and filled with a lot of really drunk people, I preferred to camp in the woods. But here I was without any of my camping gear and very few clothes and the traveler had told me that the staff at the shelter give breath tests every night... so I began hobbling toward the shelter.

It turned out that the shelter was at the top of a very steep, long, tall hill. I stashed my bags in what looked like a safe area, I didn't want to carry them up there in case they wouldn't let me stay, then I went up the hill to the shelter. As I hobbled across the parking lot of the shelter, I was looking down at my feet, and there lay another pearl... I picked it up and hobbled up the stairs to the office.

...To be continued...

This MUST Be What They Meant When They Said, "Adventure"! Another Greyhound Horror Story! Part 1 of 2

2010-07-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I'm posting these next entries in both Obi en and The Greysage Journey.

Well, as all of you know, (because I sent letters and made phone calls to tell everyone, expressing my fear and disappointment, ((thank you all for listening)), ), that I left The Next Evolution, these are the events that followed.

I decided that I was going to go back to the forest for a sabbatical, meditation and for increasing my understanding of primitive living, then I would blog about it. And, I decided, New Mexico would be a good place to start.

I reduced my belongings down from four bags to two. I kept a minimum of clothing, my flutes, my computer (of course), some personal papers, the smallest gifts that I acquired over the years (I must have three pounds of stones {:-{) ), my camping gear, my books and various other items. The backpack and bag were still pretty heavy, "but", I reasoned, "I could walk at whatever pace was comfortable in the forest, I am in no hurry. It wouldn't matter if I only made a half mile a week", once I got to the forest.

So Frank went online and bought me a bus ticket to New Mexico. As he drove me to the Greyhound bus station we talked about the situation. As best as I could tell, we were both hurt, angry and disappointed, but eventually we agreed that my leaving was for the best. And though we were still disappointed by the time we got to the bus station we were both doing OK.

Frank got the tickets but my backpack was more than fifty pounds, so I had to try to reduce it's weight which resulted, with Frank's help, in my having a third bag/ bundle. But we got the backpack to pass so I would check it and carry on two bags. It's all good. The bus was scheduled to leave, I think, at seven in the evening. I had about three hours to wait. Frank gave me some money for expenses. This was the first evening.

My route would take me from Pittsburgh through Indianapolis, St. Louis, Denver to Grand Junction Colorado where I would turn south to go through Durango and disembark in Cortez, where I would walk into the forest. There, I would ponder on things, eat wild plants, run through the trees playing with the deer and feed and pet the furry little chipmunks as they sat in the palm of my hand and I nuzzled their little noses. And by the end of the month I will have resolved all my own issues and will have come up with viable solutions for most of the worlds problems. Simple!

Well, there were so many people heading in the same direction that we ended up having to take two buses. I don't like standing around so I sat and waited until the line was almost gone before I got in. The first bus was packed to capacity then those of us who were left boarded another bus that was less than half full. Brilliant! I was able to stretch out over two tightly packed seats. It was great. We were only twenty minutes late into Indianapolis.

In Indianapolis our driver refused to drive anymore, he said he'd been on too many hours all ready, then left. The staff in Indianapolis didn't seem know that two buses were coming from Pittsburgh and seemed to be panicking to figure out what to do. One bus was loaded and left and, again I was at the end of the line, so we waited for over an hour before we got another bus and driver. Some passengers were upset, but I was quite calm, after all, I had no schedule to keep. I spent the time pacing and meditating. I think it was about midnight when we left Indianapolis. Let me just say here that I'm terrible at keeping track of time, so I won't be accurate at time keeping, but the core of the story is there. That morning and evening were the first day.

Anyway, we drove and drove, and every stop that wasn't at a bus station was at a McDonalds. Here I discovered that Greyhound has an agreement with McDonalds. Greyhound brings McDonalds fifty or sixty imprisoned passengers, several times a day and night, to stores all over the country. When you ride Greyhound, you must either eat exorbitantly priced junk food from a vending machine or buy exorbitantly priced junk food from McDonalds. Unless you bring your own of course, or fast.

So, anyway, we arrived in St Louis way up in the night, like two or three in the morning. We looked like a bunch of survivors from the Titanic. We were gaunt and hollow eyed, some of us were shivering, some were screaming in pain and frustration because we missed our connecting buses and would have to wait for another day for the next bus. My head was thick and confused from lack of sleep and subsisting on chemically laden garbage for two days. As I was heading into the station one of the passengers that had gotten his luggage and gone to the ticket counter yelled out that the next bus for Kansas City was six hours away at gate ten, so we all followed him and sat down. No one said anything for a long time. Then, after awhile, species recognition began to kick in and we began to occasionally glance at one another, that evolved into grunts and mumbles, and eventually into words, then sentences, then conversations. And the St Louis smog began to glow a dull reddish-orange as a new dawn broke. And that morning and evening were the second day.

A couple hours later, one of my bus-ty companions, came and showed me that he had gotten a food coupon from the lady at the ticket counter who redid his schedule. I asked him to watch my bags and I streaked off to the counter to get my food coupon, the lady was gone, a hand written sign said, "back in 15 mins".

I went back in forty five minutes, but there was a long line, so I waited another hour then got to see her. I told her what bus I had come in on and showed her my ticket. She began punching buttons on a computer, her fingers seem to race in all directions and as she punched buttons she talked, "I thought I already did all these! You were supposed to bring this to me when you came in! How come you didn't bring this to me? I thought I was finished with these. There won't be another bus for Denver until tomorrow but I can reroute you through Oklahoma City if you want. There is a six hour layover in Grand Junction, Colorado or a ten hour layover in Albuquerque. Which way do you want to go?"

After about two minutes I started and jumped, I realized she was waiting for input. "Huuhhm", I said, "I'd have to stay here until tomorrow if I went through Denver?"

The lady gave an exasperated sigh, "Yes!", she said.

"Uuhhm, OK," I said, feeling like I was in the early stages of recovery from some brain injury, "I'll go through Oklahoma City".

She punched a bunch more buttons, printed out a ticket, wrote me out a meal voucher for eight dollars and said, "Ok, you'll be going through Oklahoma City, Amarillo and Albuquerque, then to Cortez.You'll be responsible for making sure your luggage is transferred from one bus to the next. And next time bring your ticket to the counter as soon as you come in and don't wait around", she said all this again, very fast.

"Shouldn't we change the label on my bag, too?" I asked.

"You won't need it," she said, "it won't make any difference".

I walked back to gate ten where my backpack and bags were, my new gate was gate four. There was a guy sweeping the floor, when I bent down to pick up my bags I saw a little plastic pearl from some child's broken pearl necklace. I picked it up and dropped it in one of the pockets of my backpack.

I moved everything to gate four. Eight hours later I was on a bus going through Springfield, Missouri to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma then through Amarillo, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The ride took two more days to get to Albuquerque.

I saw my bag in the hold in Oklahoma City. In Amarillo, they wouldn't let us on the tarmac where they were transferring bags around, so I never got to see where my bag was in Amarillo. I realized that we would be going through Tucumcari, which is then a straight shot to Taos and the mountains, via hitchhiking. So I told the bus driver that I wanted disembark in Tucumcari.

In Tucumcari, we stopped at a truck stop. The driver opened the luggage bay doors, we looked through all the bags, my pack was not there. I was crest fallen. The driver said the bags would probably go to Albuquerque. So, I went to Albuquerque.

We arrived in Albuquerque, I think, at around eleven a m, my connecting bus wasn't due until one thirty a m the next morning. During the next fourteen hours I called every number I could find to call, I talked to every official that I could find to talk to, (using up most of the cash I had left), everyone said the same thing, "Your pack is in Amarillo and there is nothing we can do about it".

"How do you know it's in Amarillo?"

"Because it's always Amarillo and nobody cares. You can file a report but it probably won't do any good. You should go on to Cortez and wait for your pack to come, it probably won't take more than four weeks, or six at the most."

"But I don't have any place to live, my house was on the backpack and I don't have any money left."

Every driver and every attendant and every person I talked to on the phone said the same thing, "There is nothing we can do, we are not allowed to call around and the company, (presumably Greyhound) doesn't care."

I called the number for baggage tracking, they told me that they sent out a notice to all stations that if they find the bag with that tracking number to let us know. No one has ever called.

The next morning I went on to Cortez. We pulled into the lot of a gas station at about nine a m. The bus pulled away and left me standing there with one bag full of dirty socks, shorts, tee shirts and two bath towels and the other bag had my netbook, some personal papers and some odds and ends. I had no tent, no bed roll, no place to go and not enough money to even rent a room for the night.

I thought of what might be the best use of what money I had left. After much deliberation I walked to Walmart and bought a prepaid cell phone and two days worth of granola bars. Then I walked, carrying my two bags, to the visitors center to look at maps and get more information. As I walked I, again, called every number I could find for Greyhound. It made absolutely no difference. Everyone said the same thing, fill out a report and you might get your bag back sometime.

I found a great book on local plants and their uses at the visitors center, I bought it, I figured it would make it easier to find food if I had to go into the mountains without anything. I went and did my laundry and that pretty much took care of my funds.Blister were already growing on my feet.

After walking around town and learning where things were for most of the day, I sat on a curb in the gas station parking lot to wait on the bus from Grand Junction, hoping that my bag would be on it. When I looked to my right I saw another plastic pearl just beside the curb. I looked at it for a moment then I picked it up and stuck it in my pocket.

The last bus arrived about nine thirty at night, no bag, so I gathered up the two bags I had and on blistered and bleeding feet, began walking down the highway, into the desert looking for a safe place to sleep.

...to be continued.

You Could Live to be 150 Years Old!

2010-02-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

Many of us inadvertently plot the course of our lives by virtue of our mortality. We set a schedule for when we should start dating, graduate high school, start college, start our careers, have a certain amount of net worth, be married, etc. To all these events are assigned a certain age range, and if we do not accomplish those things by the time we pass that age then we are "late". And beyond "late" is another age line, which is a little more vague, by which age, if the thing is not accomplished, then we think of ourselves as having "failed". Or, in the vernacular of the day, we think of ourselves as "a loser". Now, suppose we were to learn that our allotted time could well be doubled? How would that effect our perception of our current state and condition?

I understand, from my reading and research, that there is an ongoing wager among some scientists and medical professionals as to the current age of the first person in modern times who will live to be one hundred fifty years old. Science and medicine have advanced in knowledge and experience to the point where a person who is sixty or seventy years old in 2010 could easily be the first person to live a full and prosperous life of one hundred fifty years, or more. Getting a medical degree at sixty suddenly doesn't seem so impractical if one has another seventy years to live.

When I first started working in nursing homes in the late 1970s, a hip replacement or spinal surgery would allow a patient increased mobility, however, one could almost guarantee the patient would live in constant pain for the remainder of their lives. But over the past few years I have spoken with many people who have had joint replacements and spinal surgeries and have had no residual pain and and have regained nearly full functionality. Medicine has improved, become more effective. Now, scientists and doctors are eliminating the plastic and metal replacement parts all together and are replacing joints with joints made from real bone and tissue grown from cells taken from our own body. We no longer need to have a fear of rejection.

The following video is from TED, it is a very good demonstration of the prognosis for mankind. The video is about 18 minutes long. An interesting aside, at about 10:55 in the video starts a segment about an ink jet printer that has been altered to print actual organs and other body parts. Fascinating!

If you want to know more Google "regenerative medicine".

Is There Anyone in the World Who Just Wants to Help?

2010-02-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Many people that I visit, ask that question. So much of our modern life is inundated with negativity, commercialism, deceit and desperation that many people I have met over that past few years are losing heart that anyone cares for anyone else. We, in the U.S., have given so much of our power away to the greedy that we seem to have forgotten what it means to work for the good of all. In the "civilized" countries, even many of the nonprofits and charity organizations are just thinly disguised corporate businesses. So, in the interest of demonstrating that there are people who want to make the world better for everyone, I present to you some of the people who, I believe, are taking action to improve the state of the world. I don't know any of these people, I get my impression of them from other sources on the net. I have included some associated videos and links:

Iqbal Quadir
The Anwarul Quadir Foundation http://www.quadir.org/

Muhammad Yunus
The Grameen Bank http://www.grameen-info.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=68

Zachary Bonner
The Little Red Wagon Foundation http://littleredwagonfoundation.com/#

Echoing Green http://www.echoinggreen.org/
I find it heartening that Echoing Green was started by a global investment Corporation called General Atlantic

Ben Rattray
Change.org http://www.change.org/

Ben Rattray of Change.org @ Big Omaha 2009 from Big Omaha on Vimeo.

And these are just a very few of people helping people. The newest movement in the business world is "social entrepreneurship", that is "doing well by doing good". In other words, making money by doing things that are good for the world.

So, for all those people who are wanting to move into a positive view of the world, the positive is there when you look for it. And, if you look for it long enough, before long, that's how you'll see the world.

Love and Peace

So What Ever Happened to Practical Magic?

2010-02-06T12:43:00.001-08:00

I just Googled "practical magic" and the only reference I could find is the movie.

So what happened to all the practical uses of magic?

What I mean is, that back in the day, magic was a conscious application of the energy of an individual's intention to a particular and practical end.

For example, we planted a garden here at Bear Creek. All the neighbors have their gardens surrounded with elaborate fences to keep the deer and other animals out because their gardens get eaten every year before the plants can grow to harvest. When I told Patrick this, he suggested, (I think facetiously), that I go out and ask the deer not to wipe out the garden. I naively took Patrick at his word and went for a walk around the yard and talked to the deer. I told them that the garden is big enough to share and has enough food for everyone if we let it mature and that we would share with them. This is the third year we have planted and have never had more than minor damage, and the deer are in the yard most mornings.

That was the first time that I intended to make an agreement with another species, since then I have come to arrangements with mice, chickens, and dogs and I have found all these animals to be open to communication. This is "practical magic".

I have, since my first conversation with the deer, learned how to call in people, circumstances and objects by imagining them then calling them.

The practical use of magic is ancient and well documented, it's been called the "power of the intention", fortitude, stubbornness and many other things. There have been times throughout history when the practice of true magic had gone out of fashion for various reasons and other times when magic was the ruling value. I believe that magic is coming back in to use and as science discovers more about the mechanism of how it works then magic will grow ever more powerful and widespread, then everyone will know how to use "practical magic".

The Fire Tube

2010-02-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

by Mike Richardson

The advantages of using a fire tube are: you only need a couple pinches of dry grass, a pea size coal, no smoke in the face and you won't burn your fingers. Cows parsnip grows everywhere here in the north. The dry hollow stalks are up to an inch in diameter. I packed in a little grass, dropped in a pea size piece of glowing ember and another pinch of grass on top. Then, I blew on the opposite end.

The dry hollow stalk concentrates the heat of the small coal and helps ignite the flame. Other hollow stalks or rolled up bark could be substituted.

"Thinking outside the box."

See original story and many other stories on primitive living at Primitive Ways

Email your comments to "Mike Richardson" at fiddler49@hotmail.comMike Richardson resides in Anchorage, Alaska.

Healthy Sustainable Farming

2010-02-05T11:39:00.001-08:00

I have worked for various farmers around the U.S. at various times since the '70s. I estimate that nearly half of the farmers that I knew in the '70s and '80s have died of cancer, most often in the lungs. Most of them were constantly just one hard season away from bankruptcy, and many of the farmers I knew never made it to sixty years old. That style of farming was detrimental to the farmers, the land and the whole ecosystem. The idea behind that style of farming, which has been used since the 1930s, was that the farmer remove and keep away all other plant life, except what he was growing, by tilling or turning over the sod so that the native plant roots were exposed to the air and sun and were killed. This method of farming caused erosion, made it necessary to use chemical fertilizers, made it necessary to use pesticides and herbicides and created a TON of unnecessary and dangerous work.

There is currently a great movement toward a more sustainable method of farming, it is variously called permaculture, forest gardening, natural farming, no-work farming and other names. The method is, essentially, watching how nature does things and imitating nature. Rather than making drastic and catastrophic changes to the landscape, make subtle changes that aid nature in what it's already doing and gently guide it so that the nature path accommodate the needs of the farmer. That is to say, we create a symbiotic relationship with the natural growth and environment, the farmer helps the natural ecosystem do what it wants and the ecosystem provides for the farmer.

The following YouTube video gives a very good demonstration of one method of natural farming.

This next one shows how the thing can be done in the desert without adding water.

Here's the thing, these types of farming can be done in back yards in the middle of the city or on big acreages almost anywhere in the world. All one has to do is choose varieties of food producing plants that grow well in their particular environment, use bunches of compost, then harvest. The bigger variety of plants the better to expand and sell.

Also, the more people who plant food plants in with natural plants the fewer plants we kill, (planting a plowed field kills all sorts of plants that consume CO2 and make O2, adding to the green house effect), and the fewer plants we kill the more we encourage diversity, stop erosion, repair the green house effect and we are able to eat and grow without fighting all of mother nature. We can all live in wonderful forest cottages in health and perfection.

Places to Buy Alternative Fuels

2010-02-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me that there might be someplaces nearby to purchase Ethanol E85 or other alternative fuel and I just hadn't heard about them, so I Googled. I was surprised, and pleased, to see that the U.S. Department of Energy has an E85 station locater page. Then I found E85prices.com which, not surprisingly, gives one the current prices of E85 at local stations and tells you where to find them.

Next, I wondered why more people don't use alternative fuels, so I looked for news about alternative fuels and specifically E85. I found that virtually all of the stories about current uses and performance of E85 and other alternative fuels are told by local and small circulation newspapers and magazines. All the stories in national corporate media were negative and saying why alt. fuels won't work, and I found no current stories, at all, in large corporate owned broadcast media.

I suspect another reason so few people use alternative fuels is that they don't know what they can safely use in their vehicles or what to expect, again, I was surprised and pleased with the federal government. The DOE has made a list of factory made alternative fuel vehicles that goes bck to 1991, in fact, they have a whole site called The Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center. There is also the Flex Fuel Club of America, the E85 Go Yellow, National Ethanol Vehicle Foundation (NEVF) and many others. Or if you want to know how to convert there is this from e85vehicles.com, then there is Flextek and many others of those as well, there are options if one does the research.

I'm not endorsing any particular product, I haven't tried any of them, I don't own my own vehicle, however, I will in the near future, or rather Obi en will, and I intend to make Obi en as clean as I know how.

Finally, if anyone has any practical experience with any of this stuff, leave a comment, or email me, share the experience.

PORA shows community spirit with Pay It Forward Program

2010-01-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2010 10:40 AM

Erin Turner

DAILY NEWS-SUN

A new program in Sun City West will improve the condition of some yards but perhaps more importantly, increase community spirit.
The Property Owners and Residents Association CC&R department will implement the Pay It Forward Program Saturday, where local high school sports teams and groups will volunteer to clean up the yards of residents who are unable to keep them maintained. Community businesses and organizations are taking part in the program by donating everything from shovels to signs to help with the yard work and spread the word.
The first yard to be cleaned up belongs to a resident who is in violation of the community’s CC&R requirements.
"Some of these people just can’t get out to do yard work anymore," said Larry Woods, PORA president. "We’ve got people who are 94 years old with walkers, and other residents are reporting them for CC&R violations. It’s not their fault."
Members of the boys varsity basketball team at Valley Vista High School in Surprise will clean up the first home near Conquistador Drive Saturday. Woods said other high school teams and clubs also will take part in the ongoing program, which has several benefits.
"One of the things it does is to help out someone who isn’t capable of helping themselves. The second thing it does is starts getting businesses involved with us," he said. "The idea of getting more businesses involved in the community is good because they get to know more about Sun City West. And we help people and get the PORA name out."
Donations have been given by Albertson’s, Trader Joe’s, ACE Hardware, Wal-Mart, APS, General Exterminating and Sign-O-Rama, which will print signs to remain in a cleaned yard. The signs will provide information about the program to help spread the word, Woods said.
"This is a great volunteer effort on the part of the students to help another generation in their neighboring community of Sun City West," said CC&R coordinator Janie Fallon in a statement.
For information about PORA’s CC&R department, visit www.porascw.org or call 623-584-4288.
Erin Turner may be reached at 623-876-2522 or eturner@yourwestvalley.com.

Fuel Derived From Algae at Shiraz University

2010-01-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

Researchers at Shiraz University succeeded in producing green fuel from the algae Chlamydomonas in Fars province.
The researchers registered the genotype of Chlamydomonas in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
Chlamydomonas is a genus of unicellular green algae.
Dr. Mohammad Hossein Morovat, the project manager, also told ISNA that biodiesel is a clean fuel derived from natural and recyclable sources like vegetable oils or animal fats.
“The biodiesel was obtained through fatty acids with long hydrocarbon chains,” he said.
Biodiesels are recoverable, non-toxic, recyclable and generate few carcinogenic particles compared to ordinary fuels.
Referring to the limitation of fossil fuels, which are regarded as the main source of domestic and industrial consumption, Morovat said, “Iran and many other countries are seeking new energy sources like biofuels.”
The production of biofuels from algae and other sources is the only resource humans hope to have in future.
During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight, and convert it into oxygen and biomass.
These fuels do not affect fresh water resources, can be produced using ocean and wastewater, are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.

A Prosthetic Arm That Acts Like a Real One

2010-01-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

Patients use nerves left intact after amputations to control prosthetic limbs.

By Emily Singer

A new technique that capitalizes on remaining nerves allows amputees to intuitively control their prosthetic limb, providing them with a much better level of control than traditional prosthetics.

In a paper published today in The Lancet, scientists at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago described a procedure to surgically transplant nerves from the shoulder to the upper-chest muscle of a woman who had lost her arm in a motorcycle accident. The rerouted nerves then grew into the muscle, which amplified the messages once sent to muscles in the arm and hand; those signals are read by sensors on the prosthetic limb and translated into movement. The patient also developed a surprising degree of sensory perception in the upper chest, which scientists say will be key in the next generation of prosthetics.

"It's encouraging to see that even after an amputation, the same intention to move the limb can be harnessed to control a prosthetic limb in much the same way that the limb was previously controlled," says Leigh Hochberg, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, who wrote a commentary accompanying the paper.

Most artificial arms are controlled by remaining muscles near the amputated limb. But the devices can be frustrating and slow: the user must consciously contract those muscles to trigger a movement, and only one movement can be performed at a time. Todd Kuiken and colleagues at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago developed a new, more intuitive method for controlling prosthetics that capitalizes on remaining nerves, which still carry neural signals meant for the lost limb.

The scientists transplanted to the upper chest both motor and sensory nerves that, prior to the amputation, would have traveled from the shoulder to muscles in the arm and hand. In the months after the surgery, the transplanted nerves grew into the chest muscle, eventually triggering twitches in the shoulder muscle when the patient thought about moving her hand or elbow. Scientists then mapped the precise pattern of muscle activity that occurred when the patient mentally executed specific movements, such as grasping or moving the elbow. Liberating Technologies, a prosthetic-device company, then made a specialized prosthetic limb, which was programmed to sense muscle activity generated by the transplanted nerves and use it to control movement of a motorized elbow, wrist, and hand.

The patient was able to use her new arm within a few days, becoming four times as fast on movement tests as she was with her traditional prosthetic. She reported that the new device was much easier and more natural to use, and she could move the hand, wrist, and elbow simultaneously. "This is a really innovative approach and has the potential to improve the control that people using these myoelectric prostheses have," says Robert Kirsch , associate director of the Functional Electrical Stimulation Center at Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Cleveland.

Perhaps one of the most exciting findings was the surprisingly refined sensory ability the patient developed in her chest. (The patient described in the paper was the third to undergo the nerve-transplantation procedure, but she was the first to have sensory nerves transplanted in addition to motor nerves.) When the area was touched, she felt as if her missing hand had been touched, and she eventually developed a faint sensation of her middle finger when touched on a particular part of her chest.

Scientists say this sensory ability is an important step for the next generation of prosthetic limbs. Sensors or haptics technology could be placed in the fingers of a robotic arm and transmit signals to the chest, allowing the patient to feel the sensation encountered by the prosthetic limb. This would provide the sensory feedback--not present in standard prosthetics--that allows us to grip a Styrofoam coffee cup without crushing it or put down a cup of soup if it's too hot. "Instead of doing commands like a robot, it might actually feel like a part of the body," says Kirsch.

Other scientists are now developing similar implantable devices, potentially allowing a finer level of control. Kirsch, for example, is developing a device that would be implanted onto the muscle to directly detect muscle activity and then wirelessly transmit the activity signals to a prosthetic, an approach that he says will provide more-stable input to the robotic limb.

Richard Normann, a neuroscientist at the University of Utah who has pioneered the development of small electrode arrays that can record sophisticated neural signals, is working on a device that, when implanted onto the nerve, could record signals from individual axons within the nerve fiber, thereby providing a more nuanced set of control signals. He hopes to have a working version to test in some of Kuiken's patients in about two years. "It is not unreasonable to believe an amputee could have an arm that he will come to believe and use just like an existing arm," says Normann. "It's not the reality today, of course, but it's not a fantasy anymore."

What Does Love Mean?

2010-01-25T12:19:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks,This was such a beautiful story, I just had to share it with everyone.

From Positive News

What Does Love Mean? A group of professional people posed this question to a group of four to eight-year-olds. The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think.

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth. ~Billy (4)

Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other. ~Karl (5)

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if You stop opening presents and listen. ~Bobby (7)

Love is when my mummy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK. ~Danny (7)

When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love. ~Rebecca (8)

If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate. ~Nikka (6)

When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you. ~Karen (7)

You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget. ~Jessica (8)

Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day. ~Mary Ann (4)

Tobacco Plants Tapped to Grow Solar Cells

2010-01-25T10:19:00.000-08:00

Genetically engineered viruses injected into tobacco plants trigger the plants to grow solar cells.

By Eric Bland | Mon Jan 25, 2010 04:06 AM ET

When injected with an engineered virus, tobacco plants are forced to create artificial chromophores.

THE GIST:

Synthetic solar cells can be grown in tobacco plants and E. coli bacteria.
The method offers a cheap, environmentally friendly way to make electricity.
Tapping the plants exploits an already efficient system, honed by millions of years of evolution.

Tobacco plants could help wean the world from fossil fuels, according to scientists from the University of California, Berkeley.

In a paper in the journal ACS Nano Letters, Matt Francis and his colleagues used tobacco plants, infected with a genetically engineered virus, to produce artificial photovoltaic and photochemical cells. The technique is more environmentally friendly than traditional methods of making solar cells and could lead to cheap, temporary and biodegradable solar cells.

"Over billions of years, evolution has established exactly the right distances to collect light from the sun and to do so with unparalleled efficiency," said Francis. "We are just trying to mimic these finely tuned systems."
Synthetic solar cells don't just grow on tobacco plants. They have to be programmed to grow on tobacco plants. Reprogramming every cell of a mature tobacco plant would be a massive undertaking for human scientists.

For the tobacco mosaic virus, however, reprogramming adult tobacco cells to produce tiny structures the plant normally would not make is what the virus does best. The scientists tweak a few genes in the virus, spray it over a crop of tobacco plants, and wait. Usually, an infected cell creates new copies of the virus that infected it. This time, the virus forces the plant to create artificial chromophores, structures that turn light into high powered electrons.

Like a tightly coiled spiral staircase, individual chromophores are added one at a time until a rod hundreds of nanometers long is created. Each chromophore is two to three nanometers away from their nearest neighbor, an important distance. Even one atom closer to each other, and an electric current would be halted. Any further and harvesting the electrons would be difficult.

"It's very difficult to recreate photosynthesis," said Angela Belcher, a researcher at MIT who uses viruses to build batteries and other structures. "The precision of each structure is very important, and it's very hard to pick up one molecule and put it where you want it to be.

"The beauty of the Nano Letters paper", says Belcher, "is that it exploits an already efficient system, honed by millions of years of evolution, to produce structures for humans".

Trapped inside the plant, the tiny structures don't produce electricity or chemicals. To get at the synthetic chromophores, scientists harvest the plants, chop them up, and extract the structures. Dissolved in a liquid solution, the structures are sprayed over a glass or plastic substrate coated with molecules that secure the rods to the plastic.

Tobacco plants aren't the only organisms Francis and his colleagues have hacked. Skipping a virus entirely, Francis and his colleagues successfully added the chromophore-producing genes to E. coli bacteria, and harvested solar cells from them as well.

Using live organisms to create synthetic solar cells has several advantages over traditionally made solar panels. No environmentally toxic chemicals are required to make biologically derived solar cells, unlike traditional solar cells. Growing solar cells in tobacco plants could put farmers back to work harvesting an annual crop of solar cells.

Bio-based solar cells wouldn't last as long as the average silicon solar cell, but they could act as a cheap, transportable, and temporary biodegradable power source. A solution of them could even be sprayed over plastic or glass to harvest energy.

Plants are already very efficient at turning the sunlight into sugar and other forms of chemical energy. The UCB scientists could eventually use the electrons to generate chemical energy like plants, but instead of creating sugar, they would create hydrocarbons that could power cars or aircraft. A photochemical cell is one use for the new technology. A photovoltaic cell, that converts sunlight into electricity, is another possibility.
It will likely be years before any consumer devices use the natural, yet synthetic, solar cells, says Francis. The scientists haven't even demonstrated that the cells can turn light into electrical or chemical energy yet. But they hope to do soon.

5 Steps To Achieving Happiness

2010-01-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

By Tara Stiles

The first rule of negotiation is to always be willing to walk away from the deal. The first rule of happiness is to not be attached to pleasing moments. So how do we get into sealing the deal of happiness?

We experience happiness as a series of pleasing moments. They come and go like clouds, unpredictable, fleeting, and without responsibility to our desires. Through honest self-work, reflection, and meditation, we begin to string more of these moments together, creating a web-like design of happiness that drapes around our lives. A happiness web makes a nice decorative shawl, but a blanket would be better.

To construct a blanket of happiness that warms the entire world, every single person on this planet would have to be at peace, have comfort, safety and love. That isn't how our world is. We are all connected. The pain and suffering of others is yours also, on some level whether you choose to pay attention or not. The reason we can't achieve total bliss is because you're not here solo. We have a taste in these moments and it's meant to fuel our will to spread it to others. When we accept the responsibility of others, while staying true to ourselves, we begin to fill with love, compassion, and we are able to take on a bit of the suffering of others without spreading ourselves thin. We are here on this planet to add to the happiness of the world.

What we put into the world we get back for ourselves. If you dump your drama into the world you will get the same back. If you take each moment as an opportunity to further your awareness and the happiness of others, what you get back is limitless. When we develop an awareness of the suffering of others and decide that it's unacceptable to us, we can then decide on a course of action. Once we take action, whether that means being nicer to your friends, co-workers, giving your time, money, energy, or talents to others, then we begin to taste more happiness and do our part in constructing the world happiness blanket.

5 Steps to Achieving Happiness

1. Search for dissatisfaction. What goes up must come down. There's beauty in honest sadness. Practice on clearing your psychology so you can observe without your own judgment. Look inward and around. Inhale the emotions of the world. Exhale let it go. Repeat until something happens inside you.

2. Cultivate your unique self. There is only one YOU in this planet. Work on yourself. Face your issues, your fears, and insecurities. Beauty is on the other side. Go with it.

3. Give freely. If you hold on too tightly your whole life will shrink. Your body and your mind are the same. Your body is not a superficial object. Hiding in intellect or misaligned internalized spirituality is a trap. Don't throw your body under the bus of your mind and ego. You only have one body. You will live in it until you die. Take care of it so you can be of use to yourself and the world. When you hold on to your possessions, your ideas, and emotions all the magic will pass you by. When you are of use in the world you will be completely fulfilled. Every moment becomes magical. If your body was a car, your intention is driving, the soul is navigating, and your efforts are the fuel.

4. Learn to receive. Giving and receiving are the same when we remove the ego. Accept a compliment, a gift, and a smile and your life will expand like the sky.

5. Let go of the outcome. Attached to wanting happiness? Let it go. As soon as you let go of desire to have it, it will find you. Simple but complicated. The work is why we're here.

Handstands build strength, confidence, endurance, energy, and courage. Here are some easy tips to work toward overcoming fears and moving your body in ways to get out of your head. Focus on your breath instead of your thoughts and your intuition will surprise you. The physicality of yoga brings you back into your body instead of your head. Focusing on the breath clears the mind so you can see what the heck is going on outside of the world of your worries, needs, and desires. When we put the two together, we realize we are all connected. Through practice we regain the desire to blanket each other in happiness.

From the Huffington Post,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-stiles/5-steps-to-achieving-happ_b_433315.html

Card Weaving

2010-01-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

This is an ancient technique for making a strong strap quickly. A five foot strap can be woven in a couple of hours. You don't need a loom, only cards with holes in the corners, and about two hundred feet of cord. If you're cording it yourself, you need to get busy! The cards can be made of cardboard, leather, rawhide, bark, wood, fired clay, or even stone. Although not necessary, it can be very helpful to have a shuttle to hold the weft (the cord woven back and forth). You can use any type of netting shuttle. A very quick and easy shuttle to make is the spilt stick shuttle. Take a green stick that is about 8" long and 1 1/2" thick. Gently split each end about two to three inches. Wrap cord through the splits until they are full.

We are going to give you directions to weave a strap that is strong enough for pack straps, basket handles, tumplines, and saddle cinches. If you do a pattern like the one we are giving directions for, than it will be lovely enough for curtain ties, belts and other uses too. We will give you a pattern that takes 12 cards and 2 colors of cord. If you don't want a pattern in the strap, just use all one color cord. This strap will be five feet long, but you can make it any length you want.
First make the cards (Figure 1)
Cut three inch squares out of your chosen card material. The thinner the cards are, the easier they are to rotate in the weaving. Make a hole in each of the four corners of all 12 cards. Don't do this too close to the corner so you have room to label the cards in a manner that you can see the label as you work with the cards.
Labeling the cards is very important. Do it just this way. Lay all the cards in front of you and write the letter A in the top left-hand corner of each card. Now write B through D clockwise in each corner. When the letters are on the cards then number them 1 through 12 along the edge of the card between the letters D and A. Place all the labeled cards in a stack so the numbers are on the top, facing you, and so all the letters are aligned. Card #1 will be on top of the stack, closest to you, and Card #12 will be on the bottom (Figure 2).
For this example, you will need 48, six foot long, warp cords, the cords that go through the cards. Twenty-two cords will be of a lighter color and twenty-six cords will be of a darker color. We will use "lighter" and "darker" in our threading for a pattern description, so it will be helpful if you cut them this way. Lay the cords on the floor.
You are now ready to thread the cards
For clarity, in explaining how to thread the cards, the side with the letters and numbers is called the front side. The blank side is called the back. Hold the stack of cards in your hand with all the numbers on top. Turn the fronts of the cards to the left, numbers still on top, so you are holding the stack sideways. Cards 1 through 6 will be threaded from their back side and out their front. Cards 7 through 12 will be threaded from their front side and out their back (Figure 3). Having half of the cords threaded from back to front and the other half of the cards threaded from front to back gives a balanced strap, one that will not want to twist when it is finished.
We have cut cords of lighter and darker color to make our favorite pattern that will give diamonds, arrowheads, X's, and other symmetric shapes depending on how you turn the cards. To get this pattern you need to thread lighter and darker cords through the cards in the particular order described below. If you don't care about the pattern, you can thread these lighter and darker cords any way you want to through the holes of each card to get a random pattern. If you have all the same color cord, thread the cards as de scribed above and skip the threading directions for making the pattern. Remember, whatever you decide about pat tern, each card must be threaded with all four cords going from the front to the back or from the back to the front, in order for that card to be able to rotate properly.
The Threading Pattern
Remember to thread 1 through 6 from back to front Figure 4.
Card 1: All holes are threaded with a dark color.
Card 2: All holes threaded with light color.
Card 3: A with dark, the rest light.
Card 4: A and B dark, C and D light.
Card 5: A, B, and C dark, D light.
Card 6: B light, A, C and D dark.
Remember from now on you are threading from front to back.
Card 7: B light, A, C and D dark.
Card 8: A, B, and C dark, D light.
Card 9: A and B dark, C and D light.
Card 10: A dark, B, C, and D light.
Card 11: All light.
Card 12: All dark.
After you thread each card, tie the ends of the four cords together in a knot. Push the card almost up to this knot. You should have almost six feet of cord between you and the card.
Take the knotted ends of all the cords and tie them all together with a strong piece of string around the bottom of all the knots. Tie this strong string to something solid at about eye level. Check your cards. Make sure they are all turned up the same way. This will insure the least amount of tangle. All the cards must be positioned with holes A and D on top, D in the left corner, and A in the right corner and the numbers center. Gently pull all the cards away from their knotted ends, toward you, to untangle the warp threads. It helps to have another pair of hands to untangle the cords as you pull the cards toward you. Pull the cards until they are one foot from the end of the cords. Comb this last foot with your fingers.
Pull the ends of all the cords together, under equal tension and tie the ends in an overhand knot. You can get the tension really equal if you slide the cards up and down a few times while pulling back on the ends before you tie the knot. Tie a strong string around the top of this knot and tie this end to another heavy object, a chair will work, or your belt. Whatever you choose, make sure it holds the warp cords under good tension. This makes it easier to weave.
You're ready to start.
Check your cards. Have the cards positioned with D in the left top corner, the number, center top, and A in the right top corner. This is the starting position for our pattern. Are they all the same? Good. Take all of the cards in your hands and turn them, all at once, one quarter turn away from you so holes A and B are on top. Slide the cards back and forth until the warp splits into two sets of cords. This split is where you will run the shuttle through the warp. When the split opens, use your hands to firmly pull the separating warps apart. Now pass the shuttle through this opening. Leave a foot of the end of the shuttle cord hanging out to the side. Turn the cards another quarter turn away from you. Holes B and C will be on top. Remember to slide the cards back and forth after rotating them in order to open up the split in the warp. Again, firmly pull this opening apart and pass the shuttle through. From now on, pull the weft tightly across the warp after each pass of the shuttle . If the weft is too loose you'll have big floppy loops on the edges of your strap. Turn the cards another quarter turn away. Holes C and D will be on top. Slide the cards, split the warp, and pass the shuttle through. Turn the cards an other quarter turn away. Holes D and A will be on top again, with the numbers in the center. You have done a full rotation. You should begin to see an arrowhead with a light center pointing away from you.
Turn the cards toward you. If you always turn the cards away from you, the warp cords will get so twisted, that you can't rotate the cards. With the cord we have used, we can do about sixteen quarter turns, or four full card rotations in one direction or the other before we have to turn the other way.
The next four quarter turns toward you will give you another arrow head pointing in the opposite direction of the one you just completed. Together they will actually look like a large X. In this pattern this is the way you get X's. If you want two arrowheads pointing the same direction, then turn the cards eight quarter turns away from you when you start. If you want diamonds, begin the weave with four quarter turns toward you, and then do four quarter turns away from you. (This is two arrowheads with their base ends connected). These aren't your only choices with this pat tern. You can rotate the cards 5 or 6 or however many times you want in any one direction, and then reverse as many times in the opposite direction as you want. If you don't care about a sequential pattern, then you don't need to keep track of your turns forward or back. You can randomly turn the cards and do all the experimenting you want. Just remember to reverse them once in a while so the warps don't tangle.
The other side of the strap is also forming a pattern, sometimes more intriguing than the one you are watching develop. Remember, if the warp knot is tied to your belt. you will have to take up the new weave and retie it to your belt as you work up the strap. As you near the far end of the warp, you will run out of room to rotate the cards. When this happens, you are finished. Untie the upper knot, and re move the cards. Your strap is ready to use. You can braid or sew the ends to keep them from unraveling.

1996
Adapted from Earth Knack: Stone Age Skills for the 21st Century

Text and Illustrations by Bart & Robin Blankenship

See more great primitive living information on the website of The Society of Primitive Technology, at http://www.primitive.org/weaving.htm

Words that heal

2010-01-18T13:34:00.000-08:00

Deepak Chopra
Monday, January 18, 2010

There is a long tradition, both East and West, about sacred words. We don't resort to that kind of thing very much in modern life. If you are a devout Catholic you repeat the rosary, and in many sorts of Buddhist and Hindu meditations a mantra is repeated over and over. There are two reasons for this, usually. One is that the repeated words go directly to God, as prayers do. The other is that repetition fills the mind with a deeper intention that can create a good effect.

I wonder if it isn't time to consider how words can help to heal. I've been fascinated for a long time about how to update traditional spiritual practices, and this one is especially promising.

What can a mere word do to heal?

In ordinary life words can be incredibly powerful, creating instantaneous, often dramatic changes in mind and body. Think of the difference between hearing the words "You're hired" and "You're fired." How many lives have been changed by "I love you"? Yet we actually know very little about how to consciously employ the effect that a single word can have.

Let me make some suggestions for you to ponder:

Withhold harsh words: Being honest doesn't mean being brutal. In the name of telling the truth, we've all heard — and said — things we're sorry were ever uttered. It's worth remembering that every cell in your body is eavesdropping on the brain, and when you feel hurt or shocked by what you hear, the same shock is occurring to hundreds of billions of cells.

I became a doctor just on the cusp of a big change in this regard. It used to be that physicians hardly ever told fatally ill patients that they were dying, often withholding even the diagnosis. (When the last emperor of Japan died, he was not told his diagnosis — the old practice still holds in other cultures.) It was thought that receiving bad news could hasten a person's death and impair his chances of recovery. This effect is known as nocebo, the reverse of placebo. In essence, your body metabolized bad news and becomes sicker, or it metabolizes good news and starts to heal.

Today, we believe it is only ethical to give patients full disclosure about their illness, and on the whole that is the right thing to do. But it doesn't erase the nocebo effect. Leaving medicine aside, consider withholding harsh, harmful truths in daily life. There is no reason to discourage a child, for example, by saying hurtful things.

It's well known in psychology that descriptive statements (such as "you're lazy, you can't be trusted, you'll never be as smart as your sister," etc.) make a much deeper impression than prescriptive statements (such as "pick up your room, remember to come home on time, be nice to your sister" etc.) Sometimes a single derogatory sentence from a parent or close friend can remain stuck in the brain for life, serving as a toxic seed that grows into a belief that one will never be good enough, smart enough, or beautiful enough. It's much harder to remove these seeds than not to plant them in the first place.

Words that heal:

Besides holding back on harsh and derogatory words, saying words that heal really works. Offering reassurance in an anxious situation settles people. Reminding someone that they are loved, respected, and valued should be a habit. Such words serve to bond two people together at a deep level if the words are backed up with simple, sincere, believable emotion — not over-stated emotion but natural feeling. We tend to be shy about exposing ourselves emotionally, but only if you try can you gain the benefit.

Then there are words we say only to ourselves, silent words of healing. In the East there are thousands of such formulas, many gathered under the loose term of mantra, that are repeated in order to infuse the mind with their good effect. You can't get much effect from repeating a word like love, compassion, kindness, and forgiveness when your mind is agitated or filled with the flotsam of everyday life. But if you deepen your awareness through meditation, which brings one's attention to a level of silence beneath the surface static, then healing words can have quite a strong effect.

It is taught that healing words, when said at a subtle level of the mind, can do several things. They can purify the mind of negative thoughts by introducing a more positive effect (such as replacing "It's my fault" with "Blame won't help anybody"). A healing word can bring comfort; it can add a positive element to your surroundings. It can improve your mood and the overall tone of your demeanor, which others will notice and take heed of.

I'm suggesting that healing words need to play a more important role in our lives. This is a vast territory worth exploring. As a society, we've become experts at words that definitely don't heal: gossip, cynicism, skepticism, accusation, partisan wrangling, smear campaigns, and character assassination. As a result, we know all about the bad effects of such words. Why not consider the positive effect of saying words that work in the opposite way?

Deepak Chopra is the author of over 50 books on health, success, relationships and spirituality, including his most recent, "Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul," available now at www.deepakchopra.com. To follow him on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/DeepakChopra.

What is a Hedonist? - A Meditation on Pleasure

2009-12-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

This article started out as a response to a question posed in a group I belong to on Tribe.net, the question was "What is a Hedonist?". I started with a quick response, then as I started looking up definitions and finding more information, the short answer I started with kept growing. Now, because the article grew the way it did, I'm also going to post this article on my blog. http://greysagejourney.blogspot.com/.

Which is here... ...

I think many people see hedonism as a sensually joyful distraction from the "daily grind" of normal living, however, I believe hedonism can be a far deeper experience. I think "true" hedonism, as a meditation and a spiritual path, can be extremely powerful and healing, something akin to the Buddhist vision of nirvana. For example, this is an article that was written by Georgie Holbrook, who was able to heal a terribly disfiguring condition by resolving to do things that brought her pleasure and joy rather than living in fear and stress, http://communityconnexion.com/joy-full#paragraph-3. Georgie gives us a good demonstration of hedonism as a powerful, healing, spiritual meditation and life path.

Michael Nagel, M.A. describes common effects on the body when we decide that we must live our lives in fear and stress, http://www.communityconnexion.com/article/01-01/bodycentered.html. It's a pretty scary scenario, and yet, it seems to me that the majority of people around the world choose a life of fear over a life of abundance.

So, I guess, I see a hedonist as spiritual student, and a hedonist lives in an abundant universe. After all, isn't abundance just being in a position of being able to do and be more things that bring us pleasure?

A hedonist, I think, must also be compassionate. Suffering that exists in those around us must surely diminish our own pleasure, and sharing pleasure with another will surely increase our own pleasure.

A hedonist must be creative. One becomes insensitive to any sensation if one experiences that sensation long enough, so a hedonist is always looking for new experiences of joy and pleasure. Also, we must all do things that we might not enjoy at first, in order to live, the dedicated hedonist will also seek to create ways to experience pleasure in all things.

A hedonist is a master in the art of appreciation. http://www.communityconnexion.com/article/03-01/cardo.html One cannot fully experience the joy and pleasure of a thing unless one understands the significance of that thing, unless one appreciates that thing. For example, I don't believe one can fully experience pleasure from the sounds of another if one does not know whether those sounds are expressing joy or pain. Likewise, if we watch a funny movie with someone, our pleasure is increased if we hear that other person laughing with us.

So, don't be ashamed to be hedonistic. Shame is an indication that we are not being in integrity. I believe that if we are being "true" hedonists, then our interactions will arise from love, compassion and the wish to spread joy and pleasure. There is no shame in adding to the joy and pleasure of the world. In fact, I believe to pursue anything other than pleasure is a disservice to the world.

Hedonism is a thing to be encouraged!

A Contemplation of a World Without Boundries

2009-10-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

In the brilliant novel, "The Light of Other Days", (Tor Books, 2000), Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter explored the idea of a world without privacy. In this world, after a particular technological discovery, everyone's every action is open to public scrutiny, anywhere, past and present, and without the subject's knowledge. Further, the subject's whole life can be shown, like a movie, anywhere and at any time. The only absolute privacy left is the contents of one's mind, and many young people choose to give up that privacy as well.

After reading the story, my imagination went to work...

The transition could be painful for those of us who have any kind of shame about ourselves, which I think is most of us at present. However, I believe that we would attain a very much higher level of communication, understanding, connection and growth within a couple of very short and extremely enlightening years.

Crime would quickly disappear, not only from fear of getting caught, but also because the causes of crime would naturally resolve themselves. If any of us sees someone we love acting in a way that is self destructive or dangerous, and we have a way to review their entire history up to the present, who among us would not investigate the events that led up to the behavior and try to help our loved one resolve the issues that are causing them pain? If our grown son or daughter is having severe financial problems, we could see how they got into those problems and help them find ways to resolve them. If a teenager is too moody or violent, the parent or doctor, could observe even the most private events in their lives and so be able to clearly see all that lead up to the teen's pain.

Everyone would be far more cautious about making moral and criminal accusations and judgments, because every accused could then review the accuser's whole life, in minute detail, and, in turn, accuse the accuser.

Ludicrous laws would quickly be tested and tossed out by public demand.

Lies and exaggerations would be impossible to display as truths. Every trade secret, conspiracy, plot, plan, secret of success or new idea is immediately given to everyone, the moment it is written about or shared with anyone else.

Poverty would disappear, the "have-nots" would watch the "haves" and figure out how they got.

Rape, murder, assault and all personal crimes would disappear. Anyone who is in any kind of distress could activate an alarm instantly, and everyone who commits those crimes would be caught. And all the feelings of powerlessness that causes individuals to commit or allow those crimes would be gone.

Shame would disappear, because shame comes from judgments that are passed down from people that we think are different from us. When we see the private life of everyone, then we see that no one has the right to judge anyone else and that everyone else has the same, or similar problems, that we do. All sexuality would become public, clothing would always be optional and public toilets would lose their walls.

War mongers couldn't plot, assassins couldn't assassinate, politicians couldn't lie, diplomats couldn't promise things they can't deliver, everyone would have all the information that the president does and world wide analysis and feedback could be instantaneous around every event.

Salesmen would have to tell the whole truth, and we could all find out who the telemarketers are and call them at home to tell them to stop calling us.

Do you think this Utopia can't exist? Wanna' bet?

The newest generation of children, called the Rainbow Children, are the first generation to be born with the kind of access to information and communication that now exists. While we Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are trying to figure out how to embed a picture in an email, our Rainbow Children are uploading videos of every major event, (and a whole bunch of the minor ones), going on in the world within minutes of the occurrence. Then, to individually and collectively understand and process the event, we can all access everything from ancient texts to the latest research and know the reactions of thousands of others in moments. In hours we can access the communicated experiences and feelings of millions.

The number of peaceful actions are increasing. In many war driven governments around the world, when politicians command troops to move they find they can't because their own children, of young adult age, and siblings are sitting in the roads, in front of their tanks. The whole peace movement called together in a matter of minutes by text messaging. When almost any individual, group of individuals or organization does anything that might affect the rest of the world, one can usually find the video on You Tube or Google within hours.

I know people who share intimate moments with each other almost constantly. One group of twenty somethings showed me how they have shared videos and texts of the most intimate experiences in their lives with each other, since before they were teenagers. They shared everything from shopping trips to experiences in the toilet. None of them ended up with children, in severe crisis, or with any drug or alcohol addictions. In fact, as teens, and preteens, they were able to check with and support each other immediately, and were able to help one another make clearer decisions during the experience.

I found this article from NPR: Teens Take Advantage of Online Privacy Tools
"Teens Take Advantage of Online Privacy Tools" - audio
"Multi Channel Teen"
"Teens and Online Social Networks"

Technology has already reached the point of being able to stream video from cameras small enough to be worn constantly. I think that we will see a growing number of people living more of their lives in public and sharing more knowledge and experience as events occur. And as communication grows, knowledge and wisdom will grow, so the three will create mutually sustained, exponentially exploding communally aware evolution.

In the near future, perhaps within the next twenty years, I can see that we could be able to share thoughts as they occur. Here's the beginning:

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/mind-reading-tech-way

What an adventurous time we live in!

What do you do online? Is modern technology helping you grow? Write about it, in the comments.

Google Peace

2009-09-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

"It just was a gradual development over the years. I mean last year was 'all you need is Love.' This year, it's 'all you need is Love and peace, baby.' Give peace a chance, and remember Love. The only hope for us is peace. Violence begets violence. You can have peace as soon as you like if we all pull together. You're all geniuses, and you're all beautiful. You don't need anyone to tell you who you are. You are what you are. Get out there and get peace, think peace, and live peace and breathe peace, and you'll get it as soon as you like." -John Lennon

"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."

-Indira Gandhi

"I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins."

-Shel Silverstein

Above quotations copied from Quoteland.com

I decided to write about peace, so, I googled.
I didn't get very much, I did, however, get one tidbit from the Vancouver Sun. An Article about the Dalai Lama and the 2009 Vancouver Peace Summit that took place on Sept. 27th, 2009.

There were several things that I found interesting about this article, first: I found it interesting, and a little sad, that the news about this peace conference wasn't headlining every major news source in North America; Next: I was inspired and heartened by the Dalai's quote in the Vancouver Sun,

"'Some people may call me a feminist," the Dalai Lama said quietly to a packed house at the Chan Centre.
"But we need more effort to promote basic human values -- human compassion, human affection. And in that respect, females have more sensitivity for others' pain and suffering."

"Real change must start with individuals, then family, then community"... "We really need to embrace the concept of the whole world as 'we.'"

You can read the whole story here.

Well, so then, as I said, I got inspired, I googled "peace conference". I was amazed at all the peace conferences going on, and no one in the mainstream media mentioned a thing! What the hell?!?

Look, there was this Muslim Peace March in Austin, Texas. Now, I realize that I live out in the boonies, but am I the only one who didn't know about this? This is important stuff!

This lady, Sharida McKenzie, is brilliant.

Muslims marching for PEACE, in the U.S. Why isn't everyone talking about this? I'll say it again, THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF!

Well, there was this story on CNN.

Here, check out all her videos.

Then, I stumbled across this Global Peace Concert. I don't know if it ever took place, I haven't found any new information about it, but it did lead me to this really cool peace inspired social sharing site called MyPeace.TV, which is pretty cool.

And, there's the Lake Junaluska Peace Conference that I read about in the Smokey Mountain News.

Oh, yeah, and then there is this march by World Without Wars.

Oh, OK, I got it. I found this site on World Peace Prayer, and it told me why there are so many peace conferences and marches.

"In 1981 the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 36/67 declaring an International Day of Peace. In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a new resolution 55/282 declaring 21 September of each year as the International Day of Peace."

OK, so now I feel better, now I know. I just wish somebody wouls have told me.

By the way, I also came across this article in the Montreal Gazette, in which, the Dalai Lama talks about compassion and the current economic crisis.

"If nothing else, it (the economic crisis) has revealed that materialism is just too fragile a foundation on which to build one's vision of life.
It also gives us an opportunity to experiment with a simpler form of lifestyle, a lifestyle that is in fact based on contentment and much more in tune with a responsible attitude toward nature."

Here's a video on the International Day of Peace;

Ok, so I guess there are a lot of people who are intending to make peace, it's just that the main stream media doesn't talk about it. What can we do about that?

Hmmm...

Oh! I know, every time you get the chance, google "peace". Most all the major news sources around the world now gage the popularity of every story by what people look for on Google, so google "peace".

And when enough people google peace then the news services will start reporting on peace.

Hah! It's easy!

Just, Google Peace!

Garlic, Ad Vitam (for life)

2009-09-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

.
A couple days ago, I started feeling like my tonsils were swollen, my throat was feeling scratchy and I started feeling tired and low energy. So, I took a bunch of vitamin C and started eating a raw clove of garlic every few hours, (or whenever I remembered).

Garlic is a remedy that my great-grandfather, my grandmother and most of my family used for just about everything. Wild garlic (Allium vineale) is a very common plant in the Ozarks and it's extremely potent. It was also one of the first plants that I learned to recognize as a child. So I've been sharing my life with garlic since I was about four years old.

Domestic garlic (Allium Sativum), and wild garlic when I can get it, still play an important part in my daily life, as long as I'm not going to be around any of those poor, lost souls who have forgotten how to appreciate all the aromas of the gods.

Now, I'm not a doctor and I have no medical training, however, besides the wonderful flavor garlic adds to certain savory dishes, I eat large amounts of raw garlic to help my body fight off colds, flu, intestinal ailments, infections, and other sicknesses. I also eat garlic to resolve system imbalances like high blood sugar or high cholesterol. Eating large amounts of garlic also repels mosquitoes and many kinds bugs, vampires and potential kissing partners.

I make garlic syrups for home remedies and as cooking additives by boiling garlic in honey, sugars, fruit juices or other syrups. I boil garlic in water to use as antiviral, anti-fungal and antibiotic sprays or a washes. I also use garlic water to spray on plants on my skin to repel pests.

Garlic is far more than just a flavor in Italian dishes, it is one of the most versatile and useful plants that I know. You just have to remember, there's no offense intended.

Good News is on the Rise Because We Have the Power

2009-09-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

I was channel surfing, recently, on a satellite TV, when I happened across a news fellow from one of the American traditional, corporate news networks talking about blogs and bloggers. He talked at length about how one could not trust the accuracy of the news in blogs because there was neither objectivity nor professional accountability.

I pondered this...

The traditional mass media news and information networks have been a blessing for more than two hundred years. Sure, there were some failings, however, they got the news to us consistently and, often, with less bias than the local town gossip. However, as does happen, technology has advanced and so old ways pass and new ways develop.

To protect society from us bloggers I think we should create a constitution, I've already wrote the preamble:

"We the people of the world, who now have the power to mass communicate establish our domains and write our observations on our world in order to form a more perfect communion, to insure justice, observe global tranquility, provide for the common defense, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the United Bloggers and Citizen Journalists of the World."

It turns out though, that some of my friends, and a bunch of people I don't even know, are finding and putting news out with a slant toward social improvement, equality and the common good.

Take, for example, my friends Sara and Rob Bednark who put out the first issue of The Portland Upside in May, 2009. The Portland Upside is a local newspaper focusing on positive news in the Portland, OR area. I'll quote a question and answer from The Portland Upside's FAQ page:

"Why did you create a newspaper with only positive news?

We were tired of being inundated with negative news. News media often focuses on the worst 1% of human behavior, leaving us with a distorted picture of our community. We are here to give the other 99% a voice, the everyday positive stories of life. Good news inspires, encourages, and builds a stronger and happier community, and that is our goal."

I think The Portland Upside is indicative of a new and important trend in citizen reporting. Common people are now able to pass on the stories they think are important, as well as, the spiritual energy they would like to spread.

Here are some more of my favorites:

The Green Prophet is an environment news site reporting on the Middle East, Israel and the Arab world. Very powerful and hopeful.

Happy News is "Real News, Compelling Stories, Always Positive" A joyous revelation in positive journalism.

New Connexion bridges spirituality and practicality for everyday conscious living.' Another paper out of Portland, OR. recording and reporting the development of the new paradigm,

Positive News from around the world is published in Shropshire, UK. I've read this news source many times and found it quite brilliant.

These are just a few samples of the amazing news and information that's coming from unexpected sources all over the world.

Listen, I've been finding great things coming from every country in the world and from every aspect of living. So I've come to believe that if I'm not seeing glorious things to rejoice about it has to be because I'm not looking in the right places.

I wish you love and peace,
Randy Greysage

Oh, and come see the new community I intend to create, it's called Obi en. I just recently started working on it.

A Meditation on One's Greatest Vision of One's Highest Self

2009-09-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

Neale Donald Walsch suggests that we will do alright if we seek our greatest vision of our highest self. I began to ponder this thought this morning, "What do I envision as my highest self?".

The first vision that consistently shows up when I ponder this question is that I move in and out of physical form and space at will and assume any shape, form, resonance, frequency or wave simply by imagining it.

The second vision is that I see and know all forms of energy so that I see and know the joy and suffering of all others and know how it, and they, came about. For example: I imagine seeing and feeling the energy fields of the earth; seeing the energy radiations of other people, plants, animals, rocks, etc. so that I can identify and know physical, emotional and spiritual grace or disease in them and the roots from whence it comes.

I suppose, to carry these thoughts further, I know the smallest, sub-protonian part of myself and thereby recognize it and know it in all others, ("all others" being all other beings, objects, forces, whatever).

To use a mathematics metaphor, when one identifies the smallest common denominator all things will balance and one will attain understanding, or enlightenment, and know sameness between the objects in the equation.

Or to use a gardening metaphor, if one were to remove the judgment of fashion one could see that a rose is no more, nor less, valuable than a thistle, both will reveal themselves in thorns and beautiful flowers.

I see all things as particles, either flowing in their courses or moving about at random. I imagine this to be like a river flowing over rocks and logs. The current is causing whirlpools and eddies, the water casts up and down. The water is billions and billions of drops that come together to make a flow. Occasionally, amidst the turbulence created by incongruities in the river's bed, a splash of water will form a single drop that exists wholly as an individual being for less than the blink of an eye then it becomes a part of the flow again.

(As I am writing this my awareness is increasing. I am noticing the pressure of my fingertips on the keyboard, the movements of leaves in the breeze that I can see through the window, the sound of the water flowing in Bear Creek. My body seems to be lightening and solid objects seems to be growing less solid in my perception.)

I see the "river" as though I am in the midst of the current and that the energy is flowing in all directions. Everywhere I look I can see the eddies, whirlpools and single droplets that emerge from splashes. The current is flowing from me and toward me, I move my hand and the flow changes, I direct my attention to a particular movement and my perception of the flow changes.

It makes no difference whether I am the rock or the water, in the end it is the same. The rock stands in the water and the flow spreads and goes over and around the rock, and the water is thinned and directed to new places and new directions, but the water is not diminished, it is expanded. Likewise, the water washes over the rock and carries away tiny bits and pieces of the rock and though the rock gets smaller in it's solid form it is spread to greater dimensions than was possible while in it's solid form, and the rock is not diminished, it is expanded. Though it takes longer for the rock to expand than the water, they are both never the less expanded, in their time. And eventually, the water may evaporate, leaving only the minerals behind that were once the rock, and they will become rock once more. Both water and rock are now something new.

So it is with us, we are, at different times water and rock. And what ever we have been we will be something new, eventually. The water does not blame the rock, nor the rock the water, they both simply are. When we can perceive the particles of our beings then we will no longer need to feel anger or blame, we can simply be what we are.

If God created us with his/her breath and clay, which God created, then our smallest particles are particles of God, and we have all the attributes of God, like the water and the rock have the attributes of one another. And when we recognize that we have the attributes of God then we forgive like God, nor do we need to be in pain. We know the joy of God. We experience every nuance of our physical being as God does, and we experience every nuance of our spiritual being as God does. We seek the knowledge of perfection, in the practice of imperfection. We are spiritual beings in a physical form. We came from God and to God we will return and God is in us, like the rock and the water.

When we recognize the God in us we no longer need to fight because there is nothing to fear. We know that food is abundant and dying is only going back to God.

When we recognize the God in us we no longer need to be in pain because everything is just an experience for the spirit of God that is in us, and that we are.

Know this, my Brothers and Sisters, my Lovers, God is in us and all we need do is remember. I have come to believe that that is our common mission in this realm, that in spite of everything, we remember the God in ourselves.

I find that it is easier to remember when I am with others who wish to remember, so find others who wish to remember and share with them. And help others and each other to remember the God inside.

This is my underlying intention for Obi en, all other things are intended to help all those wish, remember the God inside.

Peace and love are yours, drink them up, they abound in endless supply.
Randy Greysage

I Intend to Create Obi en

2009-09-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

At the risk of being redundant, I intend to create Obi en.

About twenty years ago, someone introduced me to the idea of living in intentional community. I didn't know what an intentional community was or what it meant to live in one. So, I started asking around, researching and studying the concepts, talking with people and eventually living in communities of all sorts.

At that time, I spent more time homeless then I did in a home. I had no purpose other than my own survival and comfort. Also, I had many unhealed wounds, as well as a whole paradigm of judgments and beliefs that were based in ignorance and fear. Looking back I can now recognize all sorts of beliefs and judgments that I had which I had no reason for believing other than, other people telling me to believe in those things, I was very unaware of my own motivations.

The communities I experienced and the people I met helped to heal some of those wounds, even ones that I didn't know I had. And they also helped me to grow in ways that I couldn't imagine. I am immensely grateful for those people and for those experiences.

I lived in and/or experienced communities ranging from family run farms and businesses to religious communities, from hedonistic communes to survivalist compounds. All of the communities and groups played a part in helping me develop a purpose and a clear understanding of my own intentions and motivations.

Well, it's twenty years later and I find that I now have a desire to create a new community with a specific intention and mission of service to the greater good and to myself. I'm calling it Obi en. My experiences and studies have awakened in me a desire to live a paradigm of cooperation, sanctity, holistic growth, spirituality, joy, connection and to serve the greater good by freely teaching all the things that I learn to others and continuing my own education partly by learning from others.

*Some of the things I've read and some of the people I've talked to have convinced me that the model that I have in mind for Obi en is familiar to indigenous tribes all over the world. I have read or heard about tribes who are shamans, mystics or people who walk with spirits; tribes who are the keepers of histories; keepers of children; keepers of technology; keepers of the forest; etc. Some of the things that all these tribes have in common is that every member of the tribe has a similar life mission or purpose and so they join together to add the power of numbers to that purpose. As a natural result, every member of the tribe will wish to support every other member of the tribe because it is good for the mission of the tribe, and so, is good for the purpose of the individual.

The mission and purpose of Obi en, and so my own mission and purpose, is described on the Obi en website. Please look it over and let me know what you think.

And please remember, the only thing one needs to be a part of Obi en is a desire and willingness for spiritual growth.

*This section is the result of another dream I had in relation to the community. When I went to bed last night I had been puzzling over how to explain the concepts I was imagining so that everyone might be able to understand them. Then, this morning, September 2, 2009, as I was waking I was hearing a particular drum beat on a Native American drum. As I came awake the drumming stopped and a phrase came into my mind, "The tribes".

I did not know what the drum beat was, so when I got to a computer I Googled it, I believe it to have been imitating the heart beat. The drumming is the same as the beginning of the song in the YouTube video below. Also, be sure to read the translation of the song that is below the video.

Robbie Robertson and The Red Road Ensemble Music For The Native Americans Mahk Jchi (Heartbeat Drum Song)
Translation: by Shirley Daniels

A hundred years have passed
Yet I hear the distant beat of my father's drums.
I hear his drums throughout the land.
His beat I feel within my heart.

The drum shall beat
so my heart shall beat.
And I shall live a hundred thousand years

Written by Pura Fe, Soni, Jen. Saponi translation by Lawrence Dunmore.
Performed by Ulali: Pura Fe, Soni, Jen. Album: Music for the Native Americans

Ginger Root in All It's Glory

2009-05-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Ginger, or Zingiber officinale, is one of the first plants that I started to experiment with. My granny and my mom always kept a can of ginger powder around for cookies, cakes and all sorts of desserts. My mouth still waters when I think of Granny's lep cookies or Mom's ginger chicken and pineapple. (salivates and swallows) I was also very lucky that my mother started teaching me to cook when I was really little. I don't remember how old I was, but I do remember pushing a kitchen chair up to the gas cook stove and when I stood on the chair I was just barely able to see into a frying pan to make pancakes. I got a few minor burns, but by the time I was ten I could cook anything with a recipe, and I created some great dishes on my own. Of course, there were some dishes that weren't so great too, but they were... adventurous... but... I digress from my point... As I got older and ginger root became more available, I began to try it out in all sorts of things. I used it fresh and dried, farm raised and wild.

In this article, when I use the term "fresh root" or "fresh" I mean the raw root, which I think is from Jamaica, that can be purchased at many grocery stores. This root is big, bulbous tubers that slice and cook very well, and, in fact, one can even eat it raw... although it is an adventurous experience. These roots are juicy and succulent and wonderful for teas and juices.

Now, the only wild ginger root that I have ever used was that variety found in the Ozark Mountains. I found it to be much less tender, more woody, very small roots and it lost most of it's potency after storing for a few weeks. However, when fresh, the wild root was far more potent that the farm raised variety I ever tried. If I gathered, processed and used the wild ginger within a day or two the flavor was rich and grand, and the healing properties were so much more intense than the store-bought variety.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes and uses:

A great hot drink for cold weather. I boiled ginger root and licorice root at a rapid boil for about five minutes, then added honey to taste. On several occasions, I have lived in cold conditions with little or no heat and this recipe was quite effective for keeping me warm and comfortable, far better than coffee and it didn't keep me awake. I used more licorice in the mornings and more ginger at night. I also seemed to need to drink more water as the licorice tended to dehydrate me. This is also very good as an expectorant and for sore throat. This ginger liqorice tea is one of the recipes that I used wild ginger in. When I drank it I thought at first it was going to carterize my throat, but then the warmth spread through my chest and I fancied I could feel it moving through out my limbs.

For flatulence, I found that if I drink a bit of extremely strong ginger tea or eat a chunk of fresh ginger root fifteen to thirty minutes, or so, before I dine on flatus inducing foods, the problem never seems to develop. If I consumed ginger after I already had... uhm... gas, it sped up and intensified the... uhm... ahem... explosive, expulsion process.

Ginger root paste, which I made by putting the fresh root in a blender, was great on cold mornings when added to rice, brown sugar or honey, butter and apples.

I added chopped fresh ginger to my regular light bread recipe, and increased the sugar a little, and made a ginger bread that was a supreme delight.

In other places I have read that ginger is good easing joint pain, I never noticed a difference there, not that I ever did any testing for that. I have also read that it thins the blood and reduces cholesterol, I don't know about that either, though in the summer I find that I do get colder after having ginger so I sometimes drink an iced ginger tea. Further I read that ginger will stop certain kinds of diarrhea, nausea, sea sickness, heartburn, heat cramps, diabetes and morning sickness, again, I have no direct experience of ginger affecting any of those things. Except, if I consume to much on an empty stomach I seem to get heartburn, but I have always had a aggravating stomach.

Social Entrepreneurship

2009-05-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

I heard part of a discussion the other day that caused a real ponder to pounce on me. The discussion was about "social entrepreneurship" (SE). Now, for those who don't know, social entrepreneurship is somebody starting a business with the intention of solving some problem out in the world.

The first time I ever heard of this concept being put into practice, in any big way, was when I heard about the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, (http://www.grameen-info.org/), in Bangladesh. Yunus started making small loans to people who were living in extreme poverty to help them create profitable businesses, the practise became known as micro-credit.

The next SE that I heard about is one called Echoing Green, http://www.echoinggreen.org/, out in New York City. These folks get start up financing to non-profits.

Heck, we even got one here in the Portland Area called ChangeXchange, https://thechangexchange.org/public/home. ChangeXchange provides funding for non-profits that can show themselves sustainable.

And I have been finding many, many more. I am absolutely amazed at the changes that are taking place around the world.

America's Poor, Altenative Energy and My Own Vision

2009-05-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

I am still working on part 2 of "How to Start a Community" and the subject of "Making Agreements and Creating the Community Structure". I hope to have it posted in the next few days. However, I was inspired to further define the community that I wish to co-create. I'm finding that this blog, and some of the others that I'm writing, are hugely effective in helping me to get my intentions clear in my own mind, helping to communicate my intentions to others, and helping others get more clear in their own intentions. So, I now suggest that it is an amazing help and a very powerful attractor for an individual to write about their specific intentions, hopes and dreams... Especially if you publish your writing on line.

Now on to my current subject, poverty in the U.S.

According to a 2007 report from U.S. Census Bureau, (which is the latest report I could find), one out of every eight people living in the United States lives below the poverty line http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty07/pov07fig03.pdf, that's 37.3 million people.

And according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, at Columbia University, 18% of children living with an adult live below the poverty line http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_851.pdf, that's nearly one out of every five children. And that doesn't count anyone under the age of eighteen who are living without an adult.

Further, about 1 in 50 children in the United States have no permanent home at all, according to America's Youngest Outcasts, http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/.

Now, here is how this involves my vision for an intentional community and alternative energy. I, like so many others, have been keeping up to date on business practices and tech developments. One of the things that I have learned, as I mentioned in the Feb. 15, 2009 post "How to Start a Community with No Money", is that it doesn't take a great deal of capital to start a profitable business, it only takes knowledge and willing hands. So, I'm thinking that I would like to co-create a community with the intention of making a place for those people who are living in poverty consciousness and would like to move out of poverty and into abundance.

I see a place where we have buildings for doing all sorts of businesses with an emphasis on appropriate and green technology. For example, my first inclination is to build and sell practical and reasonably priced electric vehicles and power plants. We can create housing on sight so that individuals or whole families might have comfortable places to live, decent food and clothing while they are learning and developing a business that they would own if they leave the community. We would not only teach the skills for manufacturing but also all the skills needed to make a business successful, while guiding students toward an abundance mentality. The community would also be doing micro-finance and be supported by income from the cottage industries that we are teaching and by donations. Further, we can train more teachers so that they could start similar projects anywhere in the world.

I'm kinda' excited to see what happens next!

How to Create World Peace with Almost No Effort!

2009-05-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

I am just getting over a sort of flu or cold... or some sort of constitutional dis-ease, and one of the things that happens in me when I get certain kinds of illnesses is that I get deeply depressed... everything gets...like black and... you know, Gothic. Even if I don't feel that sick, it's like something "chemical" happens in my brain. Anyway, after the illness I go back to whatever is regular for me. I'm at the stage in the illness now where I slip in and out of depression throughout the day. This morning, during a bout that came about while I was looking through the world news (which is depressing enough when I'm totally well), in an attempt to make myself feel better I Googled "kindness".

Just after the "wikipedia" definition, I found the "Random Acts of Kindness Foundation", http://www.actsofkindness.org, I had some trouble with the site so I'm not totally sure that they are still in operation, but I got access to some really cool stories.

The "Random Acts" site led me to "Values.com", http://www.values.com, which has all sorts of amazing things. There are written stories about heroes, acts of kindness, a "Good News" section. Plus, they also have sections for video, audio, podcasts and much more. "Values.com" is a great site to help a person feel better about the world.

Then I thought of a movie I saw called "Pay It Forward", with that extremely earnest little kid, Haley Joel Osment. Well, it turns out that the author of the book, Catherine Hyde White, started the "Pay It Forward Foundation", http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org/welcome.html, in 2000. The Foundation gives out grants and seems to be creating all sorts of wonderful things with children's groups, schools, scouts and many other groups.

The Foundation spawned a movement, http://www.payitforwardmovement.org/index.html, which has some fantastic personal stories. Which, in turn, inspired someone to try to make a day, http://www.payitforwardday.com/index.htm. I couldn't find information about who started the "day" site, but the copyright notice is held by the Life Changing Experiences Foundation (LCEF), http://www.lifechangingexperiences.org/ of New South Wales.

OK, to make a long story short (if there is still time), here's my conclusions:

First, I'm no longer depressed. In fact, I think I'm manic;

Second, I believe Catherine Hyde White should get the Nobel Peace Prize for getting the idea into popular culture, (and Haley Joel Osment should get an Oscar... all the time);

Third, I don't believe we can create peace by changing the traditions of a race, the laws of a culture or the collective mind of a faction. I believe that peace comes when a single individual does a kind and important thing for another individual with the governing intention being that of improving the whole of our universe,... even if it is just a tiny bit. After all, every whole is made up of a whole bunch tiny little bits.

So, you want to create a universe of peace? Do a kindness for someone every time you think about it... and for the profit of the whole. The more kindnesses you do, the easier it gets, and before you know it, that's all you're doing... acts of kindness.

And the more people for whom you do these acts of kindness, the more people start to think about kind acts, then start performing more kind acts themselves.

So, anyway, that's my thinking.

The Electric Car, Now We're Getting Somewhere

2009-05-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Being one of the "us" who have not made money like the Kennedy's or the Rockefeller's, who are concerned about the environment, who would like to not spend a quarter of our monthly income on fuel just to get around and take care of the necessities of living, I am very excited about the number and variety of electric vehicles that are currently on the market.

The Telsa line is one of the most exciting to me because of the range and recharge time, http://www.teslamotors.com/buy/buyshowroom.php.

The Tesla Model S sedan claims a 160-300 mile range with a 45 minute recharge time. Compared with the ranges and recharge times that we've been hearing about in the past, THAT'S HUGE! Also, it does 0-60 in 5.6 seconds and seats seven people, that's not bad either. The base price tag is around $57,400. The trouble is, they won't be available until 2011.

Of course, Tesla is already selling the Roadster and while I like the look and all, I can't convince myself that it would ever be ok to pay $101,000 for a car that won't even carry groceries, my fishing poles or my carpenter tools.

Zap, http://www.zapworld.com/, on the other hand, will carry my poles, tools and groceries, and has a much smaller price tag. The Zapvan Shuttle (it's like a minivan) sells for around $14,700.00 and claims about 108 cubic feet of cargo space (for comparison, I believe the Dodge Caravan has around 120-130 cubic feet). These are pretty much in town vehicles though, they only get about 30 miles on a charge, top speed is 25 mph and they take 12 hours to recharge.

One of the cool things about these guys is that they also offer a much wider range of body styles. Zap has a little two passenger pickup that just looks kickin'. It has a convertible bed (the sides drop down like the tail gate) and they claim it can haul 1600 pounds off road, that's more than the '89 Ram 50 that's sitting out in the driveway.

For the little get around Zap has the Xebra, which is a three wheel motor cycle frame on which you can get a sedan or a pickup body, for $11,700 and $12,500 respectively. Zap also sells a sports model designed by Lotus, an ATV, a scooter and a kit to convert your bike into electric. One more thing that I think is really cool is that Zap also sells a solar panel that mounts to the top of some of their bodies.

Zenn, http://www. zenncar s.com/, seems to have a good number of dealers around the U.S. and they've got a decent looking sedan. They claim a range of 30-50 miles per charge, an 8 hour recharge time and a top speed of 35 mph. Their website is not very user friendly, but I finally found a Washington state dealer's site, http://www.mcev.biz/cars.html, that offers the Zenn for $17,000.

Miles Electric Vehicles, http://www.mile sev.com/, also seem to have several dealers around the U.S. They make a sedan and a pickup both sell for $19,900. The range goes from 30-50 miles on a charge, top speed of 25 mph and charging time of 4-6 hours.

Now, while searching the internet researching this story, I have discovered some dealers that already have some used models for sale. Google "electric car dealer", and you'll find one pretty easily.

There are also several kinds of conversion kits that range in price from a few hundred for your bike to few thousand for your old (or new) gas powered car.

How to Start a Community with No Money

2009-02-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

Introduction:

This is from my own personal experience of how a group might acquire a space they could use for a shared income community when the members have little or no money and few resources to start. These are things I've done in the past, and extrapolations made from things I've done in the past, that proved effective at getting substantial amounts of income flowing quickly. There are a large number of us who do not wish to start a new community with a debt, with that thought in mind, following are some ways that a persistent group might be able to get a new community off the ground.

It turns out that I'm going to be publishing this particular essay in parts, because I want to get the next part up on my blogs and the thing isn't finished yet. I'll know how many parts when I reach the end.

Legal disclaimer: I make no promises nor do I offer any advice, either actual or implied. I hold no degrees in law, investment or anything else. My only purpose is to relate what I have experienced in my past and to extrapolate suggestions for successful endeavors.

Part 1: Getting Initial Funding

Ok, so your out on your journey, just making footprints on your path, and you meet up with some other folks who seem to have something in common with you. You all follow a similar spiritual path, you have similar goals, or you just like being together, so you decide that you would all like to live together or share a common space. You want to be able to live in comfort and wellness and you want to have time to devote to things other than making a living, things like meditation, natural studies, chicken tossing, whatever. The problem is that no one in your new community has any money. So, you can't get a place large enough for everyone to live in, none of you have transportation, your 40 years old and you still live with your parents, (who want you to "get a job, get a spouse, JUST GET OUT!"). But your stuck, right? Wrong. You can pool your communal resources now! Find something that someone needs done, everyone get together and do it for them and use the money from that to get the community started. This way, the whole community gets in on building the community from the beginning. It's like the difference between eating food you've bought and and eating food you've grown.

In factories and other labor industries the rule is "two people can do the work of three", that is, two people working together can do the work of three people working by themselves. With a little planning this can be a very effective tool for making pretty large amounts of money in a hurry, and can result in all sorts of other great benefits through barter, reputation, networks and other things. Here are some examples of ways to get cash to get started:

Example 1; Shed Building

I used to build sheds and other out buildings for people. I would build a 10'x10' shed in about twelve hours by myself. When a buddy joined me, we built a shed in about nine hours. When, eventually, three more people joined us we could build two sheds per day, from start to finish. In todays money, the price of materials for a similar size shed, when purchased from Home Depot, is around $2000.00. Installation, when purchased from Home Depot, is around $2500.00. We had the customer purchase the materials, had the materials delivered to the sight and we built the shed for the customer for a $1000.00. And, as I said, we were building two of these per day. So, we as a group were grossing $2000.00 per day.

Now, in those days, we each took our share of the money and went our separate ways. However, if we had all been working toward a shared goal of getting a common space, then that could've been $2000.00 dollars per day toward a house. In three days we could have had deposit, first and last months rent on a pretty nice house, or been able to purchase pretty nice automobiles, a motor-home or whatever.

Now, in order for this arrangement to work everyone in the community needs to be willing to be equal and to do the labor. If, for example, one member supplies the money or tools, another member goes out to find the jobs, another member spends all their time drawing designs for future sheds then you end up with two people left to build the sheds and the income is cut in half, everyone is overworked, people start to feel resentments and the whole thing either falls apart or devolves back into the modern wage slave trade.

So, here's one possible schedule; everyone spends Monday lining up eight customers, and drawing up designs and ordering materials. Then on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday you go build sheds. The community has grossed $8000.00 in five days, subtract $200.00 per day for expenses, that leaves $7000.00 in five days. If you choose simple living, that will likely take care of expenses for the rest of the month. So, now you've got the other three weeks of the month free for all the other things you want to do.

Example 2; Web Design and Computer Tech

In the past I've traded web design for rent, cars and many other things. I've also set up small businesses with bar code systems, CAD programs, accounting software, and computer controlled machinery. New and small businesses are a great market for barter and quick cash for the average geek or hacker. And a team of geeks and hackers can make several hundred to a thousand dollars per day. Legally!

Example 3; Farm Labor

Farmers are great barter partners. They don't usually pay much cash but I have never bartered with a farmer that didn't give me far more value than if they had paid me cash. I've traded for high quality and fresh fruits and veggies, organic meats, eggs, livestock, and the use of equipment like tractors. I've even seen some barter long term leases on bits of land on the edges of their farms.

The work can be clearing and repairing fence rows, weeding grain fields, cleaning barnyards and stalls, hauling hay, root grubbing, and many other things.

Example 4; Real Estate Labor

A five person crew can earn $500.00 per day rehabing rental units and new purchases for real estate investors, landlords and banks.

These are just a few examples of ways to get started. And, you never know, you might try some of these things and find that you like doing them and end up using them as part of your regular support regiment for the community.

Coming up in part 2; Making Agreements and Setting Up an Account.

My Personal Visions for Intentional Community

2009-02-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

I've heard intentional community described as common agreement and collective action. The following is a description of what I would like to be a part of in an intentional community. Through my own experience these are things that I have come to value, and have found very effective as ways of living together.

1. Compassion: def: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate that distress.

Understanding the roots of suffering in myself and others and taking practical steps to help end that suffering for everyone who wishes. One of my intentions is to create or support a safe place where anyone might be able to live, heal and remember the love, power and connection in all things.

2. Nonviolence: def: 1: abstention from violence as a matter of principle; also : the principle of such abstention 2: the quality or state of being nonviolent : avoidance of violence

When necessary, resolving personal and relational issues in a communal or a mediated environment to help identify and overcome intentional and unintentional violent responses which might occur in deed or in thought.

3. Anti-Consumerism/Sustainability: Anti-Consumerism def: 1: the promotion of ecological and global interests in conjunction with individual consumer's interests 2: the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically and socially undesirable; also overcoming a preoccupation with and inclination toward the buying of consumer goods. Sustainability def: 1: capable of being sustained 2: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged

Living simply and lightly and encouraging growth and healing in the people and the planet while still being able to take a practical and healthy part in modern society.

4. Social Diversity: Do not discriminate on the bases of race, color, national origin, educational background, economic background, religion, spirituality, sex, sexual orientation, familial status, disability or ability. I believe that everyone is sacred and valuable.

5. Egalitarianism: def: 1: a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic rights and privileges 2: a social philosophy advocating the removal of inequalities among people

A system where the opinions and ideas of all members of the community will be heard and considered and to create a space so that no single individual has sole responsibility for, or sole power over any part of the community. Decisions are made by common agreement.

6. Healthy Living: Healthy def: 1: enjoying health and vigor of body, mind, or spirit: wellness 2: evincing health 3: conducive to health 4: a: prosperous, flourishing b: not small or feeble : considerable

Develop and maintain a healthy physical, spiritual and emotional environment, by having healthy food, a toxic free space (as much as is practical), mutual respect for individual paths, honesty, love and compassion with each other and the world.

7. Spiritual, Emotional and Physical Healing: Heal def: 1: a: to make sound or whole: b: to restore to health 2: a: to cause (an undesirable condition) to be overcome: mend: b:to patch up (a breach or division) 3: to restore to original purity or integrity: to return to a sound state

Identifying and resolving emotional and physical wounds in one's self and in others so that every individual has the ability to walk their path in integrity, confidence and authority. I believe that openness and transparency are important in healing and in growing. If we reveal our good (effective) behaviors and our bad (ineffective) behaviors, then we naturally, (and I might suggest unavoidably), become models for each other.

8. Spiritual, Emotional and Physical Growth: Grow def: 1: to spring up and develop to maturity 2: increase, expand 3: to develop from a parent source 4: to pass into a condition : become 5: to become increasingly acceptable or attractive, to have an increasing influence 6: to promote the development of

Each member of the community learns and understands the goals and dreams of every other member of the community and seeks to help make those dreams and goals a reality. Community members can aid each other in creating new neuro-synaptic paths by engaging in desired behaviors (modeling), or by demonstrating a greater amount of joy or importance for certain behaviors (ceremony), or by pointing out alternatives to undesirable behaviors (counseling) and in these ways we can help each other grow.

9. Shared Income: In my personal experience, in an intentional community that lives with 100% income sharing, actual work hours for each individual are reduced while standard and quality of living are increased. No single individual has the power to direct the course of community decisions based solely on the fact that they hold the purse strings. Individuals are prone to mood swings, fears and ineffective decisions. Getting every members' input protects the whole community from bad decisions made by a single individual.

10. Community Businesses:
The following are businesses in which I am interested, have experience, believe can support a community and are easily adapted to community. A community could work a single business or any combination of multiple businesses.

New Technology: Internet tech design, construction and marketing; Alternative energy systems design, marketing, construction and retrofitting; Retail robotics design, marketing and construction; Software development and marketing; Information research;

Primitive Technology: Harvesting and processing cultivated and wild plants for fiber, oils, soaps, essences and dies; Spinning, weaving and processing natural threads, yarns and cloth, clothing and other products; Wildlife and wild living education, expeditions and guide services; Farming;

Other Businesses: Artistic creation and sales including pottery, paintings, photography, sculptures; Stage shows like plays and musical performances, etc; Spa treatments; Real estate investing; Remodeling;

Definitions are from Merriam - Websters Online Dictionary

More About Me.

2009-02-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

A Brief History:

I was born into a middle-lower class herd of hillbillies on November 3rd, 1963 in a small town in Missouri on the northern edge of the Ozark Mountains and the southern edge of the Missouri River Valley. I lived the early part of my life as a child, and I spent a lot of that time in the backwoods hunting, fishing and exploring the hills & hollers of the Ozarks and the banks & streams of the Missouri River. I was a lot like Huck Finn.

I spent a lot of time alone as I was growing up, so I read a lot and grew to be very introverted and introspective. Now, as an adult (more or less), I find that I am much happier working and living with other people.

In 1976, a couple months before I turned thirteen, I packed a backpack and started hitch-hiking around the mainland U.S. Since then I have lived mostly by intuition, that is, I traveled until I felt the need to stop, then I stayed stopped until I got the feeling to recommence traveling. Sometimes, I would camp in wilderness areas or on public lands and, if added all together, I've probably spent as much time living by wild craft as I have living as a worker/consumer. When I came to a place or a situation and got "the feeling", I went to work. Usually, I made wages or a commission, often I bartered for room & board, and a few times I worked only for the experience and education.

Then, around the the late '80s or early '90s, an attraction for intentional community and communal living began to develop, so I began studying, searching out and living in intentional communities. Since then, I have learned more about myself than I ever even suspected there was to know, I have learned more about relationships and other people than I ever thought I could, and I found myself unwittingly walking my present spiritual path, which is based on compassion, growth and joy. Who knew!?

At the risk of sounding egocentric, in the following sections I give more detail about the various aspects of... DA-ti-di-DA, me... so that the reader might get a better idea of who I am, if they are interested.

Occupational, Professional, Hobbitual

My father and family worked as carpenters in the summer and as fur hunters and trappers in the winter, I started working with them when I was eight years old. After I left home I began working in and experiencing a variety of lifestyles and occupations. and while I'm not an expert in anything I do have a wide range of practical experience and working knowledge. And, I have discovered that what I do for an occupation is not as important to me as why I'm doing it and what sort of people are with me.

Education; I dropped out of school two weeks into the seventh grade, that's when I left home. I got a GED when I was in my twenties, because it was required for a particular job, and when I was in my thirties I went through two semesters of college where I was going to major in English Lit. but then I ran off and had a wonderful affair with one of my literature professors.

Construction; I have built and helped to build stick frame (or stud wall) houses, cinder block, concrete, pole barn and metal buildings. I've done commercial and residential remodeling. I have worked at a saw mill, in a cabinet shop, and other kinds of woodworking shops. I helped to build a dry stack native stone wall, (which was way cool). I've helped to build with paper-crete, cob, packed earth blocks, and earth contact. I've also worked as a helper to electricians and plumbers and have done most everything in those fields. I have also been construction secretary and manager.

Manufacturing; I worked in several different kinds of factories and learned quite a bit about assembly line and procedural technology, mechanical robotics and design, injection and press molding, small and large parts assembly, ergonomics, machining, forging, electrostatic and chemical coatings.

Farming and Ranching; I have worked on a few farms and with livestock though not enough to be able to run a farm or ranch. I can drive a tractor and most other farm equipment, have raised vegetables and flowers for sale, and I can saddle and ride a horse, but I've never used buggies or horse drawn equipment. Of livestock, I've worked with cows, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and chickens.

Medical; I worked in the physical therapy department of a hospital where I learned therapeutic massage, wound healing, physical and occupational rehab, and several other modalities. I've worked in emergency, radiology, as an ambulance driver, an orderly and as a CCU monitor/attendant in a small town hospital and city clinics. I've also worked as an aid in three nursing homes, a state habilitation center and personal in-home care..

Office; I have been a file clerk, secretary, book keeper, receptionist, an office manager and an information researcher in a variety of offices including medical, investment and private security. And I taught a few Adult Basic Education classes and have been a personal tutor in beginning personal computer and internet technology.

Support; I've been a janitor, maintenance man, grounds keeper, repair tech and troubleshooter in large and small public schools, office buildings, factories and freelance. In these positions, I learned more about mechanics, electrical, plumbing, electronics, various office equipment, various building systems, computer hardware and software.

Wild Crafting; I lived primitively in the land for several years, and in that time I made my own shelters, dishes and vessels, tools, medicines, food, conveniences, shoes, weapons and art. I've also gathered wild fungi and plants, hunted, fished and trapped for commerce.

In the last five years; I have been designed, built and maintained websites. I have purchased and setup (for others), computers and electronic systems to record, edit and publish video and audio on various media and on-line. I worked on a cut flower farm and made steel art for sale at fares. I worked at house flipping and helped manage rental properties. And in 2006 I was dealing with paperwork for non-profits on a daily basis, in fact, I have registered my own non-profit, although I haven't done anything with it. And I am currently learning to make Native American style hoop drums and moccasins.

Hobbies; And finally, my singular hobby is study and experience. Every time I get the chance, I like to study and experience any and all of the physical, temporal, spiritual, mental, transcendent, universal or parallel-universal sciences, arts, pseudo-sciences, pseudo-arts, documentations, conjectures, imaginings, mysteries, myths, fairy tales, fictions, non-fictions, legends and outright lies that I can shove into my greedy little brain. At different times, and just for the fun of it, I have designed and blueprinted buildings, bridges, computer software, hardware configurations, new philosophies, new theologies, new dimensions and parallel worlds.
In this dimension, however, I also spend a lot of time studying and designing alternative energy devices, alternative buildings and technology recycling.