New and Empty

If full moons are the beginning of an end then new moons are an end and a beginning. Knowing what has just finished and what is to start isn't so intuitive, or perhaps it is if you allow it to be. Grappling with it keeps me awake at night wanting the answers rather than getting prepared for them to reveal themselves. I forgot how wanting things hurts so much keeping me reliving the past and anxious about the future. The present just feels a little empty at the moment. I must be missing something.

Fleeting Moments

I’m tired of trying, tired of wanting, tired of thinking, tired of hurting, tired of being tired. I once found a place within myself which accepted an apology for a pattern of disrespectful behaviour. It is that same place that aches when I am afraid; afraid of judgment, afraid others will suffer, afraid to lose her again. I listened to that place within quietly and patiently and felt a deep subtle and persistent shiver. An ever present tremble only perceived with diligent and vigilant observation. I can’t always feel it but I know it’s there. Every now and again it gets amplified to an appreciable level; an overwhelming fear that the peace, connection, wonder, and security will come to an abrupt end. I hate living in the fear. I fight it with pride but this also takes me away from the peace. Those feelings of love become fleeting moments. Then I remember to live in the peace, feel the connection, experience the wonder, and be certain of the security, but by then she is gone again. I try to pick up the pieces and put them back together a little more beautifully than before. Perhaps some day she’ll return.

Fresh pain

Focus on fresh pain
(Not ancient pain as a child
instinctively fearing primal sensation,
Not old pain as an adolescent
fearfully reacting to recognized experience,
Not new pain as an adult
reactively clinging to familiar habit,
But fresh pain as wisdom
impartially observing
the impermanence of body and mind,
the ignorance of certainty,
and the cyclic patterns of existence)
For just beyond awaits reality.

Simple Mindfulness

Almost two years ago I had a profound experience and as a subtle reminder to myself I added a link here on this blog under the "Listen" header on the sidebar. The link points to the lyrics to the song Don' t You (forget about me) by Simple Minds. These lyrics popped into my head around that time in my life and encourage me to remember. The memory I encourage myself to reconnect with is not one I can distill down to a catch phrase or linguistically expressible statement of truth. The memory is of an experience, of who really experienced it, and how it was experienced. The difficulty of remembering this experience is that the memory is not what was burned in abstracted neurological engrams but the raw input itself; the experiencer not a controlling part of this psyche but the distributed whole; and the experience not tainted by historical bias, or judgment but free of reactive duality. Thus the memory is not to be revisited to analyze the past or to plan for the future but only to remember that the present moment exists.

First time again

Where is all of this going? What am I building again? Do I do what feels right or just make sure that I feel it when it feels wrong? There are tensions physical and mental that need to be let go of. Easier said than done when you realize that the tension is not a result of holding on but it is the holding on, it is the desire for a lack of tension, it is the illusion that there is some distinction between the observer and his predicament. I oscillate between amusing myself to death, horse blinded labouring, and inert contemplation. I take myself way too seriously. I'm moving for the first time in over a year and a half, headed to the other side of the ocean for the first time and I have very few preconceptions about how it will go. I forgot how writing about yourself forces you to ask yourself questions you tend to avoid. I've met so many good people over the past few years but most of them have moved on. Bringing an old friend into my little world. Random thoughts should coalesce soon.

That Bloody Moon

Gets me every time!

Awareness before Action

The word holistic gets thrown around quite a bit these days but I’m not sure that many people fully understand what it means. When I think of holistic I think of operating in a massively parallel and non-linear fashion. This language may not make a whole lot of sense. When I say massively parallel I mean inclusive and concurrent in time, space, and scale; all things simultaneously considered. Non-linear meaning letting go of the idea that you have seen it all before, that what you are experiencing can be completely predicted or understood with a finite number of variables or an existing set of categories and forms; take care in the degree to which you extrapolate and interpolate your past understandings into the present moment. I may have said this here before but I will repeat it: Nothing much matters but everything.

What a Tool

I was at a small art opening at a local gallery the other night and I got to talking with the artist. There were a handful of pieces that had a particular impact on me and I wanted to ask her about motive, message, and meaning. She answered with only the physical and logistical challenges of making and transporting the works. I asked again in a slightly different manner and again only details of the process of creation. This reinforced the idea that we are but tools of a creative force that we do not understand. We are the brush of a mysterious muse. Do we understand sufficiently our implement before arogantly removing it from the hand of its steward to wield ourselves?

Be Happy

I sit.
Gross apparent surface;
Painful and personal;
Coarse, blunt, and abstracted;
Continuously ignorant;
Fearfuly distracted;
Desiring escape.
I remember.
Subtilty lives beneath;
Dispassionate and equanimous;
Fine, sharp, and fresh;
Occasionaly present;
Bravely attentive;
Escaping desire.
Be.
Beyond conditioned relativity;
Detached and impermanent;
Unask the question;
Never and always;
Ultimate truth.

Lunar Convergence

There is a very beautiful feeling that comes with taking the time to do something that deep down you have known you should do for some time.

On Duality

I got to reading about ontology after pondering a friends predilection to use the word semantic. The papers and definitions I was reading pointed out differing schools of thought regarding the differentiation between entities and collections of entities and asked the question "What categories of being are fundamental?" I prefer to think of every human conceived entity as a categorization and that fundamental being or existence is that which is without categorization. Us humans seem to have difficulty with non dualist concepts like this. How can we understand that which is not categorizable? It requires a different form of understanding than we commonly acknowledge using. One based on the experience of intuitive recognition rather than logic. Perhaps the ability to recognize the uncategorizable stems from the fact that we are the uncategorizable.

Thrive

I will not blame my miseries on the words or actions of others.
I will not unearth the past to triumph in the present.
I will not make excuses for genuine inadequacy.
I will develop a deeper connection over time.
I will grow and learn on my own terms and schedules.
I will at times step back so as to move forward.

Strong relationships are built upon sharing what you have experienced of yourself rather than what you believe to have understood of anything else.
Healthy relationships are built upon the ability to accept and see past weakness rather than reacting to it as if you could demand that it disappear.
Thriving relationships lack expectations of strength and health.

Indistinguishably Fresh

Every day I wake up fresh
Which depending on my mood
Might mean being quite stale.
The burden of choice only recognized
When I chose outside of my pattern;
A choice to be made noticed
Or long ago choice remembered.
Regular surrender to the status quo,
Usually,
Except for right now
Except for right here.
I can feel creativity swirling inside
Certainly everything I’ve tried
Was necessary but not sufficient.
Mine the past for a new trajectory,
Hypothesize being wise
And experiment my effect.
A patience virtuoso
Rushing cautiously to the starting line.
My own private Frankenstein
Living proof of life
Indistinguishable from the rest.

The Ignorance Between

Here is my mind
Here is my body
Each a specific
instance of the other
Thought of feeling
Feeling of thought
Pain of fear
Fear of pain
Love of lust
Lust for love
I can't explain it
I can barely feel
myself think

Hypocrisy

It's almost that time of year for me to remind myself of what I know and refresh the faculties of insight. My yearly Mecca which started at Suttama and continued at Surabhi is looking to be at Dhara this coming January. Submitting the application is part of a clarity that is coming over me. Perhaps I will once again walk the walk that I so love to talk.

I am the Wind

Anticipating gust and gale
Knowing when to trim the sail
Flowing on the crest of time
Trying to evoke sublime.

I am the Wind, I am not me
I live by watching myself see
Allowing now to feed what will
While letting full to self refill.

Valuations of the past
Firmly set can be recast
Not by implement of rule
The Wind, not I, must be the tool.

Duality must reunite
Abandoning the flight and fight
By being present and aware
Mindful now and everywhere.

The will can only be a guide
It cannot force a change inside
It is a branch and not the root
It must surrender absolute.

This Wind is not a thing but all
And understanding is too small
To comprehend in just one place
The entirety of time and space.

I am the Wind, I am not me
This experience sets me free
Pride and Fear have me undone
But not when Wind and I are one.

Excerpts from a Drawing

Intertwined with
independence and connected
to every nothing and making sense
of the eternity of limited fields of
fatigue soaked long johns and marshmallow
suppers with grassy hills and glassy villes
Regret for choices imagined permanent and
consequences to die for when addiction spans
and consumes causing writhing confusion within
concerning promises made and continuously broken
Exhausted energy cycles spiral wastefully away
as genuine souls deplete infinite wells
of grounded reality as they come
and go and take and leave
intangible measures of
moments and sublime
time.

Around and around we go. Pain. Anticipate pain. Know pain. Embrace pain. Love pain.
And go and go and go. Fear. The lesson of pain is a lesson in fear. Same same.
This time. This time. This time. This time we will
make the leap, make the
discovery, make the
connection, make
love.

What needs to be said?
Who are you angry at?
Don't be so hard on yourself.

Oh joy. Why am I so happy?
Is it real or
Just imagined
Wishful
Narrow minded
Hope?

Void
filled with nothing
overflowing with
the rest and
made complete
by saying
so

Necessary and sufficient
Absolute and absolutely
Happy Happy Happy

I can't believe
I can't deceive
I can't relieve
I can't grieve
I can't leave.

A story
that begins
with the end,
has no middle,
and goes nowhere
but here, written by
the protagonist, edited
by the devil, and
it's a best seller.

Resourceful Partnership

Do you think what you feel and feel what you think? Do you know what you sense and sense what you know? Are you being what you are? New is hard. I need a guide. A mentor. A friend. A partner. A fool. I dream of clarity. I long for peace. I work for sustainability. My dreams are cloudy. My desires are conflictual. My labour is depleting. Trying too hard as usual.

Got it?

The strength to speak.
The power to listen.
The ability to consider.
The resources to act.
The will to endure.

Wrong Again

I'm wrong again; mistaken myself from where I might have been. I fail to see. I fail to be. I. The dam, the dykes they will succeed. To break. Down will fall. Flow and know. We've done this all before.

Kundalini Crisis for my dear Mother

I don't remember, can't recall
I wonder where how deep the wall.
The albatros invited me
Event sequentiality.
Open source about to dawn
Of the sudden Kubla Khan.
Alergetic there not here
Pulsing; aching; running: fear.
Step on a crack, Karma's back
Keep on paying all the year.

Produce Productive Products

Does I get in the way of true productivity?
Can the million shades of grey be continuously experienced?
Come back to the matter at hand;
The infinite shades of grey are continuously experienced
By the infinite observers of shades of grey
And observer observers ...
Peek-a-boo doesn't really make the rest of the world disappear.
I believe in everything
Inside out.

Reclaiming Together

Twice as old again;
What more will be learned in a lifetime?
Too early or too late?
Technological syncronicity:
I learned it, I heard it, I shared it, he dismissed it,
I saw it, I thought it, they made it, he wants it.
Why now? Critical mass?
To what end?
Reclaiming what has been lost.
Reclaiming what would be lost.
Who says your vision of propriety should rule?
Perhaps Bad is better than Good; it inspires Better.
The cold frost may hinder ripening.
The warm sun may enhance flavour.
Still playing by their rules.
I accept sufficiently.
I will create an island in the storm.
I will bring it all together.

Breathe

Swim to the surface and breathe every now and again; I highly recommend it. The depths out of which you came will seem silly; an interesting game with limited scope. Like awaking from a dream. See it for what it is. At least try. Be careful you might not like what you find. The ocean below is murky and polluted. You will have to go back in and trust that you can remember the clean air above. Memory fades, morphs, and consumes itself. The dream calls reality imagination and the surface is soon a distant moment of mystery. Hold on by not grabbing hold. You never really left.

Flutter

You stare at it waiting to see it disappear but realize that it only changes. Morphing from one frequency to another. Moving a little deeper and a little to the left. Old and new. One becomes many and every now and again many becomes one. The realization of what is not being felt is as interesting as what is takes hold. Waterfalls out of your hands and feet, mostly feet. Let it flow, let it flow. You exist in the peripheral. You feel the fear of the unknown mystery in your solar plexus and witness it turn to a deep respect. You stop breathing for a long moment without holding it; a simple act of unwilling. So much sensation all at once. You don't move your attention but expand it; grow it; let it. Envelop. A flame roars up your spinal column and the backdraft flows down the backs of your legs and swirls across your shins before it trickles over and around your feet. Connections: Toe to ear, neck to back, finger to chin, shoulder elbow blade and belly. Synaptic sync. Your eyebrows tense and tingle while waves of energy flow across the surface of your skull and down your back. Your mind remains calm and aware. Life dances on and within and you are awe.

Contraction

There aren't words for the boundary of what isn't.
Imagine an artificial sinus to replace the perpetual complaints; lungs as fearless as I pretend to be; a cybernetic knee that can take care of itself; a medical system of conveyer belts and every test known to man with passive participants and every required remedy administered.
Perfectly impersonal diagnosis and treatment.
Postulate the roots of ailments.
Magic pills and quick fixes.
Symptom alleviation.
Collateral creation.
Name it to make it distinct.
Complete control until we must disown a part of ourselves.
Civil war vs. negotiation of peace.
It's going to take a meltdown to melt it down.
Iron fisted certainty.
Flow.
One thing or all things.
Unwilling.
Where do you feel? Who do you think? What do you live?
Focus your ears on subtlety.
Mind your manner.
Feed what you need.

Expansion

Point of light
Mass of nerves
Contents of a membranous skin
Ghost
Magic
Here but not there
Everywhere
Mystery
Answer
Friend
Node of the aether
Finger of time
Moment of space
Infinite essimal
Eleusive
Alluring
Cold shiver
Warm tingle
Constant
Right here
Write now

Perhaps Tomorrow

I awake with a quiver inside
A whisper of attentive vibration
I am too tired and busy to listen
A whisper of preventative insight
I roll and turn away in search of peace and rest
A whisper of orientation and direction
I rouse myself with obligations and habit
A whisper of fresher possibilities
I remember that I forget to remember
A whisper of a deeper connection
I listen as best I have known
A clamor of thought
Perhaps tomorrow
Perhaps tomorrow

What the means means

The means is the end.
The means is the end.
The means is the end.
The means.

Where is the deficiency?

Is it always over there
Is it always in them
Is it ever right here
Do you scream at the emptiness and bombard with echo
Do you create a void to fill another
Are you aware enough to triangulate
Do you think to know
Do you know to think
How does it feel in between already and eventually
Conservation depletion
Quenched at the source
Catch it happening
Under your nose
Spectral analysis
Full of yourself

Every Day

I feel invisible threads disolve
and discover ones I didn't know.
I revel in beautiful weakness
and bring a new flow to bare on
previously concealed rough edges.
I am my shackles to undo.
I say what I believe to be
and know it is untrue.
I do what I emote is right
yet absolutely wrong.
I push and pull what I have built
or resisted building strong.
I hold, I grip, I turn away
yet bare to watch myself.
I face, release, I watch and play
It happens all at once.
Simultaneacrimoniagitarious;
The centre and eternity;
The now and evermore before.
I'm quite and rightly certain
what will happen is in store;
Is profecized in legacy
and predicted by the next
The former previous to come
is never always now.

Stuck in My Head

You slip out of your depth and out of your mind,
With your fear flowing out from behind

Back to the Future

Just had a nice conversation with an older gentleman who was born and raised in the area. He had numerous stories about how things used to be. He reminded me of my uncle who used to share stories about Port Hope Ontario. It has gotten me thinking once again about the fact that on many fronts true progress will be going backwards. Back to strong local communities; back to local sustainability; back to community loyalty. Not necessarily back to exactly how things were but definately back to some of the values that have been lost over time.

True Cost Accounting

People do not see what I see. My self evident is not. Is it necessary and sufficient? How big is your little picture? I have seen that form perform; encore? Correlation indication? Require to inspire? Only if paid in full concurrency.

Core Values?

Diversity of cultures, ideas, perspectives, genetics, species, ecosystems. Variety and dynamism (Uniformity and variability in space and time).
Intimacy with ourselves, others, nature; with the source of what we use and those affected by our actions. Closeness and familiarity (proximity and frequency of connections)
Awareness of thoughts, feelings, experiences, creations, capabilities, limitations; in ourselves and others; now and throughout history. Breadth, depth, and concurrency (scope and simultaneity of consideration).
Honesty to oneself and to others. The whole truth. Sincerity and transparency (Communication and availability of information).
Cooperation of mind and body, of people, of groups of people, of humanity and nature. Harmony, acceptance, collectivity (nature and purpose of interactive behavior).
Equality of all living things great and small. Balance and universality (Availability and accessibility of resources).
Beauty as the intangible awareness of quality. Aesthetic quality and the sublime experience. (The objective and subjective perception of balance and proportion of core values).

I am Rubber you are Glue

I have a tendency to use a wide range of language to express myself. I use old expressions and cliches in such ways as to laugh at the absurdity of them. I have recently found myself surrounded by people who don't see things the same way as I do. It is refreshing to be challenged on some of these things. I will try to express my feelings on the matter here.

Words can never be inherently good or bad; only intention and interpretation involve this dualistic value system. People have such difficulty distinguishing between interpretation, intension, and actuality. What I mean, what I say, and what you hear are rarely the same.

Comedy helps remind us that these differences exist. The absurd is often used to disarm rather than reinforce. The butt of many a great piece of humour is the individual who takes everything too seriously. Political correctness is not the answer. Laughter is the answer. You are in control of your reaction.

Personally I feel that the moraly self righteous are a far greater threat to this world than any words could ever be.

Meditation Clarification

It has come to my attention that there exist some common misconceptions of the art of meditation. One is that meditation is all about not thinking or not feeling and another is that it is an escape to a blissful place. I will attempt here to give my perspective and hopefully clarify the issue.

Meditation to me is a process of progressively facing a truer reality. This process is a personal training regimen to allow the transcendence of the shackles of craving, aversion, and ignorance. Meditation is not confined to sitting quietly: any act of living with awareness and a focus on increasing awareness is meditation. Meditation is simply living true.

The image that meditation is about not thinking is flawed. My meditation involves the process of observing my thought and my reaction to it. Only through this awareness of my mind can I understand that I am not my thoughts and must not allow myself to be enslaved by them; my mind is but a tool for my consciousness.

Thus the quieting of the mind is not so much a goal of the process but a result. Experiencing my thought as it is encourages my mind to begin submitting to my consciousness and to the acknowledgment that its control of the show has been an illusion hard fought to maintain.

Once my mind has begun to become silent the process can begin to focus on my body. As with the observation of my thought, the gradual increasing awareness of my bodies sensations (which thought is simply a special instance of) or feelings and my reaction to them allows me to understand that I am not my body and must not allow myself to be enslaved by its conditioned responses; my body is but a tool for my consciousness.

Thus the image of dulling of emotional responses as a result of meditation is inaccurate. The process of meditation is focused on sharpening emotional response moving away from blunt generalized reactions and moving towards detailed specific experiences of life.

The problem with the blissful escape image is that it does not capture the difficulties of the journey. Coming face to face with a truer version of yourself hurts. The process of transcendence hurts. The come down from excess hurts. As in nature, rebirth is fueled by decay and destruction. The process continues. Once you have accepted a new perception of yourself you realize that there is a deeper truer self to confront.

The results of the journey are a broader, higher, and deeper understanding; an acknowledgement of a connection to something greater than one's own conception of being; and an increased interest in how things are rather than how they seem.

Earth Day

Just got back from driving a big blue bus across the province and back. I met lots of great people and felt that I was treated like a very welcome authority and celebrity. So much so that I didn't feel worthy. I got to talk to the media, share myself with the public, and hear countless stories from people who are trying to make a difference in the world by making small changes in their own lives.

Phase Change

Do you know that overwhelming feeling of experiencing that which will elude understanding for some time; who's spoken silence will only be heard from another phase; when the significance of the moment outstretches your imagination. The stirring torrent of mystery that you feel lapping at your insides. Fear and anticipation. The trembling struggle at the fringe. Connections transcending preconceived possibilities. Solidity giving way to a fluttering of chaos; the turbulent dynamic transition to a new consistency. Transient. Elusive. Suddenly empty.

The Juggler

Are you active or reactive? How can you explain the value of planning to a knee jerk personality? Does an outline have to restrict spontaneity? Does the ability to juggle twenty-five balls at once demand that you do? Do you treat the people around you as only means to your ends? Do you interpret the suggestion of a potentially better way as criticism of your way? Do you file your email into folders or just have thousands of them sitting in your inbox?

Wind Energy

How often do you remind yourself that you don't know what you are? How attached are you to the idea that you do?

I seem to be allowing myself to get caught up in tornados of chaos and finding it difficult at times to remain at the calm center of my storm. Frequent visits help me to keep tabs on its location as it does not remain in one place for very long.

I sometimes try to stop the wind rather than flow with it. I deplete my reserves in the resistance rather than recharging through generation. Energy can be transformed. Energy can be transmitted. Energy can transmit. Energy can transform.

We've got us surrounded.

Bucky Equilibrium

Updated this and this. Any feedback?

Energy Renewal

So I've been at the new job for a week now. My new title is Renewable Energy Program Coordinator. My plate is full but there are lots of great people around to help. Check out some of the new links over on the side. I hope everyone is doing well.

The Horror, the Horror, the Horror

Something that I have uncovered in my experience of this life is that pain and fear are one and the same. They are reactions to the unknown, felt at boundaries of experience that have never been crossed. Some of these reactions are inborn, some learned, but all may be overcome. Some passionately jump blindly into the unknown: others justify never crossing the boundary at all. As with all things in life, pains and fears should be respected, but never obeyed.

On the Road

Back to the drive. Just one last leg until I reach my destination, for now at least. My father warns of big snow: I should probably check that out. Getting packed has been an experience yet again. I'm just getting over a little new moon flu; it was nice to be sick, very cleansing. Well, enough jibber jabber. I'll try to keep in touch.

In Love Again

Two years ago I had what those of you in consensus reality might refer to as a religious experience. It was brought on by a self imposed abstinence from a number of personal habits, long hours of introspective manual labour, and a strong desire to understand the beliefs of someone I felt very passionately towards. It was an epiphany of love turned inwards and ironically towards everyone and everything.

I spent a whole year trying to understand this moment of clarity. I built this understanding on the foundation of my understanding of christianity, a belief system I had disregarded for an agnostic stance early in my childhood. I refined this understanding through comparative religious, philosophical, and poetic studies. The more I read the further I got from the actual experience that started the whole journey in the first place.

I began searching for the key to how I felt shortly after the experience. I wanted back what I had briefly glimpsed and lost. I knew this was the only goal of any true value. I tried abstinence, I changed eating habits, I exercised, I hid from the world. I searched everywhere outside of myself. I knew deep down that it was love that set me free but I had no idea how. I had lost faith when I lost the woman I loved. I didn't know how to get back there by myself.

I eventually became interested in meditation as I had had good experiences with prayer after the experience. Not prayer to a god off somewhere in the distance but prayer to that part of myself that was beyond my comprehension and connected to the universe in a way I can only begin to understand. I remembered a connection with myself that I hoped I could make again. It was then that I came across Vipassana on the internet and signed up for a ten day course the next day. I had never met anyone who had taken a course but I knew that it was what I was meant to do.

My first course, which began exactly one year after my first moment of clarity, gave me another glimpse. It allowed me to experience much of what I had been reading about over the previous year and solidified my understanding by extending its foundation beyond my intellect. It gave me a technique to use to continue to deepen my understanding. It changed my life not by indoctrinating me with a particular belief system but by giving me an environment and a method to experience myself.

As with my first experience, as time passed my focus was on an intellectual understanding of the experience and the connection I had made with myself weakened. I spent another year continuing to struggle with myself but I had broken free and was on the path to find out. I understood my experiences enough that I knew my answers were not intellectual ones anymore.

I tried to meditate and I tried to maintain awareness forgetting that these are not things you force yourself to do but things you allow yourself to do. Letting go is not accomplished by willing but by unwilling. Over the year I was reminded of this over and over and over again. I learned lesson after lesson. I faced many pains from the past. I got sucked into many old black holes of despair. Each time I clawed myself out I was a little bit stronger.

The last one was the original one; self respect. I picked myself up, brushed myself off, and decided to go back for another ten day course. My goal this time was not to understand but to reconnect. This last time through, one year after the first course and two years after the original experience, was hard. I hit a wall that I knew I needed to walk through but that would require a toll. I crumbled and begged like a child; I acknowledged the past; I promised to always treat myself with the respect I know that I deserve. I loved myself again. This wasn't a verbal dialog, this was communication at a purer level. This was genuine unconditional love.

From that point on I have been connected again. The release I experienced and continue to experience from this connection is unexplainable. I meditate two hours a day and that connection continues to grow stronger. I remain aware of the connection as continuously as possible. We're working things out. I'm working things out. Things are working themselves out.

I'm in love again.

Can you tell which eggs came from happy chickens? 

Middle Child

How can you empathize with another if you desire them to feel the way you think they should? How can you understand another if you desire them to think the way you feel they should? How can you promote sympathy by getting angry at discord? How can you develop a connection by insisting disconnect is unreasonable? Focus on what is missing on your side of the equation. Open your heart: open your mind. Take a step towards the middle.

Perpetual Ending

Back in Montreal. This will be the last week of my perpetual vacation. Although I have worked quite a bit I have not had a formal full time job in almost three years. This should be interesting. I plan to visit with friends and family, take care of some business, and get my things together for the move to NB. Just what I can fit in the car. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Between the Eyes

Wow. I just opened up a file I use on my computer to compose blog entries while offline and found a strange little entry that never made it out onto the internets. A reminder of a fragmented frame of mind that is not so far behind me.

I don’t always share the intimate details of the extreme highs and lows of my life on this site. Instead, I try and capture the thoughts and/or feelings from a moment of epiphany; I try to distill my experience down to an atomic tidbit of learning; I try to inoculate my readers with the antidote to what plagues me; I try, I try, I try.

There are periods of time where I don't share anything as I have yet to learn anything worth sharing. Perhaps there is more gold in the process of finding answers than in the answers themselves; I don’t know the answers I only have the means to find them; I can't find the answers I can only find my answers; My strength is not in my answers but in the will to continue amidst unanswered questions.

I've been processing quite a lot of stuff over the past few weeks. I can't explain what I mean by that but your interpretation of processing most likely doesn't come close to it. I started to try to explain my experience of beginning to experience life as it is, but I couldn't. I could describe joy and pain, fear and desire, words and images, or blockage and release. I could say nerves, energy, breath, oxygen, balance, mind, body, or consciousness. I could talk about patterns, change, non-intellectual learning, surrender, flow, recursion, metaphor. How do you describe something beyond description?

I can't give you what you already have: I can only ask you to look. Stop running away from yourself. Stop medicating your predicament. Stop reacting. Stop justifying. Stop pitying. Let go of certainty, pride, and prejudice. Trust and respect. Focus and pay attention. Stop learning the same thing over and over and over again. Take off your blinders and look life in the eyes, through the eyes, and between the eyes.

Left the Coast

The first leg of the road trip is complete. I made it from Vancouver, BC to Barrie, ON in five days; not so bad if I do say so myself; and averaging 100 kph. I only slept in the car one night. The drive was fantastic; mind and body riding the crest of a little red honda wave hand in hand. I experienced a wonderful cleansing journey. I might give the play by play later but for now: Beach Ave. goodbye, pothead hitchhiker, Frazier valley beauty, Arizona in BC, Rockies bathed in moonlight, Cranmore info center nap, Calgary in the wee hours, Tim hortons nap til sunrise, sun drenched plains, A&W nap til mid afternoon, Thai in Regina, Hostel to myself, clean and meditated and ready to go early, that's it I'm not going back to Winnipeg, deep cold, halo around the moon, frozen waterfalls at midnight, Thunder Bay hostel at 2am, oatmeal at the truck-stop, the town of Marathon on the coast of the largest great lake: "It's superior in the long run", Finally some blizzard, Trout in the Sault, a hotel out of time, highway 69 baby, cottage country from the other side, almost out of gas, Mommy!!!!!!! That about sums it up.

Orbiting with the Moon

I'm leaving Vancouver today. This will be my third continental crossing, my first heading east. I may not get a chance to write while I'm on the road but I'll see what I can do.

Lost and Found

Where are you? Are you lost in thought? Are you adrift in emotion? Are you inside someone's head? Are you burried in a book? Are you marooned in your habits? Are you secluded in the past? Are you swimming in the future? Perhaps you should pause for a moment to check the lost and found.

How it is

I came across this little description of a subset of the English language which eliminates the verb "to be" called E-Prime. Reading it brought to the surface many fragmented thoughts from the past.

I have often found the human inability to distinguish between opinion and truth fascinating. This interest has made me very sensitive to how people express themselves. Certainty frequently turns my stomach and I often find myself challenging people in an attempt to put a crack in their rock solid mindset.

The worst case of indigestion usually arises after a meal of unsolicited advice. It takes me back to my youth where I endured an individual who felt it necessary to impose her limited understanding of the world as if it were absolute truth. Opinions are open for discussion but facts are irrefutable.

So I'm working on not letting such narrowmindedness get to me through realizing that I am built up of similar dogmatic certainties. I see it as learning to tolerate intolerance; including my own.

So the next time you have something to say try offering your opinion rather than forcing your belief and I'll try not to take it so seriously. Better yet: share the experience off of which your opinion is based. Lets try to remember that we only know how it seems: not how it is.

One and the Same

A while back I aluded to and then used the expression cooperate yourself. How do you remedy a situation where there is a lack of cooperation? Communication is key. Lots of listening: no reacting. Bring both parties to the table and allow them to see the relationship for what it is. Apologies may be required. Promises may be needed. Begging for forgiveness might be necessary. There could be a few tears shed and a little laughter too. Neither of you can do it alone; unless you realize that you are one and the same to begin with.

Yea Baby

I got the job and my baby niece is healthy and beautiful. I taught my first tutoring session yesterday; grade eleven math. I got a hair cut and feel a bit like a little boy. I'm sure it will grow on me :) I'm feeling a lot of things right now but am very much at peace with it all. Maintaining my practice and remaining undistracted. Life is good.

Zen Parable

A man walking across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger chasing after him. Coming to a cliff, he caught hold of a wild vine and swung himself over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Terrified, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger had come, waiting to eat him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little began to gnaw away at the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine in one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

Dhamma Good

I'm back. Got back to the city on Sunday afternoon. The Vipassana experience was fantastic. I realized that my previous experience with the meditation technique was very much an intellectually dominated one. During the ten days I faced myself in a way I never have, I let go in a way that I can't even begin to explain, I experienced knowledge from an entirely new perspective. This experience has given me a healthy detachment from suffering that is allowing a holistic personal healing process to proceed at unprecedented rates. If I weren't so balanced I'd be ecstatic!

My newfound connectedness was quickly tested. Upon my return two phone messages awaited me; one with the promise of a very exciting job in New Brunswick and the other with the news that my maternal grandmother had passed away. My grandmother had been through a significant decline in mental and physical health and this news was not quite as jarring as it might seem, perhaps positive closure even. I had a phone interview for the job today and I think it went well.

All in all I have to say that this is a significant moment in my life. I feel a clairity that I have seen only but glimpses of over the past many years, my sister is in the process of giving birth, and it is the new moon of a new rooster year. Seems to be some sort of convergence happening. If you have a moment try and see if you can feel it too.

Starting Something?

Still in Van. Still working on finding an income of some sort. I'm heading to the local Vipassana centre for a ten day sitting starting on Wednesday. It has been a year since my first and last course so it would seem that I am due. I'm looking forward to the experience. I feel good, like I'm starting to embrace rather than resist uncertainty. For now at least. I have an interview on Tuesday, nothing too serious but it's a start. This coming full moon is feeling better than the last few.

Sure Thing

Are you certain? You talk like you are. You act like you are. You think like you are. You know what you want, you know what's best, you know how it is. You always have the answer. Listen to yourself. Watch yourself. Experience your thoughts. Maybe, just maybe, there is more to it than you know.

Daily Zen

"Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation"....Tibetan Saying.

Chew on This

Our Religions: Are they the Religions of Humanity Itself?

Say it like it is

There is a difference between what you say and how you say it. Filtering what you say is a far simpler task than filtering how you say it. How you say things is a strong indicator of what you really think, how you feel, and who you are. To change that is not a simple matter of choice. It seems we are often more concerned with the surface and fail to address the core. We need to work on being rather than appearing to be.

Running on Empty

Haven't been writing much in here lately. New city, new year, new moon; same old gut wrenching internal conflict, uncertainty, confusion, loneliness, and fog. Still working on the practical side of things I understand mostly at a conceptual level. Implementation is meant to be a rough and difficult process.

I was thinking about all the connections and disconnections of my life and felt a combination of appreciation and longing. Simultaneously full and empty feelings. It's hard not to focus on the empty. It's hard not to give in to the empty. It's hard not to become attached to the empty. It's hard to accept the empty without believing that it needs to be filled with anything other than understanding.

I've got a backlog of things I want to express. Building your own metaphors, trying to find it is how you lost it in the first place, comfort zone horizons, and pride destroying your strengths. I'm going to try to get back to the book.

I've been playing with this little idea of life-cycles. At first I was thinking of them as ABCABCABC... I'm starting to think that it is more like ABCCBAABC... or something like that. Perhaps a different notation could be used like ABCC'B'A'A''B''C''. I'll have to elaborate later.

Enough jibber-jabber. Happy New Year everyone, lets make it one worth remembering.

Turn down the suck

Beach avenue. The view is fantastic. The weather is mild and the afternoon sun is delicious. Such is the city. Drove out to the UBC campus with a couple'a pil. I am meeting up with an old friend tomorrow. He teaches semiconductor stuff at SFU. His first name is the same as his last name. I also managed a lunch date with a girl I met on a plane a year ago for the thirty-first. She's married. I need a paycheck.

Crazy Talk

Here's to chance encounters. The thoughts of possibilities race on.

http://www.strout.net/python/poo/

Do you Poo?

Vancouver

I have arrived. Got a welcoming fit for a king. A king of skids at least. The next adventure begins here and now.

I Could Never

I was thinking about people who say that kind of thing. How the fuc& do they know what they would do? Imagine knowing your future self as well as they do.

Banff

I made it to the Rockies. Since my last post I stayed at a snore filled dorm room in Winnipeg, a big empty hostel in Regina, and then hooked up with an old friend from uni in Calgary. We went skiing at Sunshine on Friday and I lived the well paid lifestyle for the weekend. We even went and played some shinny hockey on Sunday night. I'm just a little sore. The hostel here in Banff is packed with young little party people. Well, on to Nelson. This leg of the drive should be interesting.

Thunder Bay

Just so y'all know, I'm currently driving across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver. I stayed in Sudbury two nights ago and made it to Thunder Bay yesterday. I have seen beautiful and rugged nature but also giant ore smelting smoke stacks and clear cut forest. The cities along the way at a glance look just like any other city in Ontario, too bad I'm not giving myself as much time as I should to explore the elements that make them unique. The snow last night made for some adventure. Before I left I saw this as one long journey but as I continue along I am beginning to see it as a series of smaller journeys. When it was snowing hard and I couldn't see very far ahead of the car I realized that this logic can be applied even further to a scale of meters. I just have to get to the next bend in the road. I just have to be ready for whatever bursts out of the dark and obscured abyss ahead of me. I just have to be.

Only a Part

Hope and fear. They are reactions. They are not meant to be eliminated but understood. Not by thinking about them, not by giving in to them, but by experiencing them. Live in their presence and feel them change. Let them guide you but not lead you. Live in between them without being blinded by them. They are a part of who you are but not all of who you are.

As a means to liberate

I just got my hair cut for the first time in about four months. The woman who cut it asked me what I did which spawned a discussion regarding various things from eating habbits to extinction of species. When I talked about 200 species ceasing to exist on the planet each day she replied with survival of the fittest. When I mentioned our cultures self-centered imperative to destroy its competition she replied with human nature. When I told her that I am spending some time to understand the problem and figure out how I should live my life she told me that she didn't believe there was a problem. That's the problem! Forget George Bush, forget corporations, forget capitalism, forget facism, forget fundamentalism, forget despotism. These all promote ignorance as a means to control. Well the battle needs to be fought at the individual level. Promote knowledge. Promote understanding. Promote learning. Promote growth.

Phased Relations

Considering my new addition of the moon phase thing over there -> I figured I would add this little diagram to get people thinking about those very phases. Voila:

A Couple from GNN

Seed Imperialism?
Corporate Organics?

Understanding Understanding

Are you driven by a desire to remain what you are or to become something more? If you come across opinions or ideas that are contrary to your own are you interested or threatened? Do you feel that arguing against something is the best way to understand it? Do you treat a persons opinion as something new and unique or as an instance of a categorization you have previously considered? Do you treat each encounter as an opportunity to learn or as an opportunity to be right? Are you even aware of how fixed minded you are? Are you afraid to consider the alternatives to decisions you have made in the past? What is learning? What is growth? Do you regret or learn from your mistakes? Do you interrogate in order to classify in your own categories or do you encourage the expression of ideas using their native forms? Do you know how to listen? Do you feel that you have to agree or disagree with everything you hear? Do you ever agree with someone and then state your opinion as if it were identical to theirs? If you've got it all figured out then please by all means continue.

And this

The New Renaissance

Read this

The oil we eat

Sold on Buying it

The term buy is often used synonymously for terms like believe, accept, support, or condone however we rarely seem to realize that the act of buying is also the act of believing, accepting, supporting, and condoning the product we buy, the companies involved in its manufacture and transportation, and the means by which it is made and sold to us.

The term sell is often used synonymously for terms like convince, coerce, manipulate, or indoctrinate however we rarely seem to realize that sales and marketing are tools used to control our opinion. We may acknowledge the manufacturing of need but refuse to admit that we ourselves might be victims of it.

The checkout line and the voters booth are the same thing.
Corporate marketing and political propaganda are the same thing.

All I am suggesting is that we think for ourselves. It's not easy to do when so many of our thoughts were put there by someone else.

If you think that this is just a negative way of looking at the world then I give you this; a glass of poison which is either half full or half empty will kill you all the same.

I saw an interesting quote in the Montreal Gazette today from a song by Les Cowboys Fringants which implies that we live in "un univers ou l'verbe avoir a pris l'dessus sur le verbe être."

Stupid Wisdom

An incident that happened in my father's driveway this morning has made me want to share a little something with y'all. My little brother accidentally backed his mother's car into my car where his intension was to simply start it for her. He evidently didn't know what he was doing. He's not stupid for not knowing how to operate a motor vehicle, he's stupid for not knowing that he didn't know.

Stupidity. It ain't about not knowing anything other than what you don't know. A corollary to this is wisdom being knowing the limitations of your knowledge. Infinite stupidity is thus knowing nothing and believing that you know everything while infinite wisdom is knowing that you know nothing (except that you know nothing (except that you know nothing (except ...))).

Don't take my word for it. I have found that stupidity is best understood by experiencing it.

Choosing to Remember

Last night I was thinking that there is one thing that I certainly know how to do and that is to forget. I'm quite good at it. Forgetting seems less to do with not being able to remember but more with not remembering to remember. Taking it a step further it might be more accurate to say it is a subconscious choice not to remember. Choosing to forget. I forget loss, I forget failure, I forget acting against my values, and I forget personal implication. Sometimes forgetting is more of a rewriting of history. Sometimes the forgetting is so efficient that it happens in real time. Sometimes a choice to forget in the past continues into the present. Sometimes a choice to forget in a previous generation continues into the present. Sometimes entire systems of justification, manipulation, and illusion are built by inducing mass-forgetting. Have I forgotten anything?

How 'bout yours?

My truth is not complicated. It does not require elaborate explanation, detailed description, or incomprehensible schematics. These are tools of deception that often draw attention away from experience and good judgement.

The Fundamentals

If you want to understand them you need to understand yourself. If you can't understand how they are so easily manipulated it is because you are not aware of your own manipulation. If you can't understand their flawed logic it is because you don't see your own flawed logic. Self delusion and ignorance are not isolated in one segment of the popluation, they are the foundation of our culture.

Natural Reason

Reason is a tool of approximation.
Absolute faith in reason is unreasonable.

How we live is far from human nature.
Humanism is unnatural.

Focusing on one part without considering the whole or at one magnification while ignoring all others is unreasonable, unnatural, and just plain foolish.

I Object!

I had a little talk the other day with an old friend of mine on the topic of objectification. Well, the conversation covered a whole lot more but at some point the idea of objectification came up, specifically of women and pornography of course. I wondered afterwards if people really understood what it means. Has the word objectification been objectified? Labeling something gives people an easy way of no longer thinking about that thing. It is basically what our culture does, it is how we think, it is what we see. We categorize, we polarize, we abstract, we rationalize, we "make sense", we try to understand. Objectification is a way of seeing the world that puts a limit on the depth of our consideration. Moments, people, life, and things cease to be unique and fresh but are seen as old and valueless. How else could we live with our unjustifiable daily abuses? How else could we live with ourselves?

The End is the Beginning

Today is the last day of my organic gardening internship and I thought that I would share the little piece of writing that got me the job it the first place. Here it is:

In my philosophy life is a cycle of creation and destruction operating in a continuous equilibrium of growth and renewal. This cycle exists within all of our relationships; with ourselves, with other people, and with the entire eco-system. We exist as a part of an incomprehensible system of incredible complexity. There exists an infinite connectedness of all things in both space and time that must be acknowledged and respected. Humanity possesses what seems to be the unique ability to observe and influence the cycle of life. This ability must be taken as a great responsibility rather than a divine right. We have an obligation to act in harmony with the equilibrium. We have an obligation to support growth and renewal. We have an obligation to oppose the stagnation of our ignorance. We must acknowlede that we are one with the entire universe and our choices must continuously attempt to reflect and refresh that understanding.

That Box is Full of Himself

I live in a box, we all do. I didn’t used to be able to see that box, now I can if I really try. Inside that box are smaller boxes. Sometimes I get inside one of the smaller boxes for a little while. If baffles my mind that as time passes I dedicate myself more and more to the expansion and increased awareness of the main enveloping box and yet continue to keep these other little boxes around. I sometimes tell myself that I won’t get all the way in this time, I’ll use the opportunity to observe the box. These boxes are tricky, they’re not designed to allow those on the inside to be aware of their existence.

I live in many different boxes, we all do. One for every flavor of my ignorance.

I live in one dynamic box, we all do. Sometimes it is huge and all encompassing, most of the time it is small and all too finite.

There is no box.

I forget sometimes that people who have yet to differentiate between themselves and their culture can take criticism of that culture very personally. Like someone insulting a box that you don’t even recognize that you’re wearing.

Tool of Perfection

Are you an artist or a tool of production?
Do you recognise the richness of diversity?
Do you feel exploited and/or alienated?
Do you measure your standard of living in dollars?
Do you like to inquire and create?
Could you imagine a democratic workplace?
Do you know anything about neo-colonialism?
Doesn't the war on terror sound just like the cold war?
Are you a free, searching, and self perfecting being?

An Ode to George W. Bush

Here’s to Dubya, a definite instrument of change in the world. He is the mirror Western Civilization needs to show it for what it truly is. He is the rock bottom that will allow us all to see the light.

Dubya’s opponents are probably less bothered with what he is doing than how he is doing it. They like their regime changes and puppet governments to be achieved using secrecy and subterfuge. They like their government and big business connections to be hidden well under the table. They like their belief in the supremacy of western culture to be implied but never spoken of. They like their propaganda and manipulation of public opinion to be subtle and undetectable. They like the lies that allow them to sleep at night to be well crafted. They like the illusion of liberty to be maintained at all times.

Dubya stands for none of these things. He’s blatant. He does things as they have always been done but just doesn’t hide it very well. He is what we are without the pleasant facade.

He also epitomizes that certainty in ourselves and unwillingness to consider the possibility that we might not be completely correct that is the root of so much conflict in the world today.

Perhaps one closed mind can serve to open a few others. Here’s to four more years of learning.

Believe it or Not

Do you believe in an eye for an eye?
Do you believe that the end justifies the means?
Do you believe your way is the way?
Do you believe that people should die for these beliefs?
Seems like it.

A Little Overshoot

Sometimes I go too far. But how can you know that you are at "just right" unless you try "too far" and "not far enough." Sometimes mistakes are just what was required. Sometimes being wrong is all right. I'm not trying for perfection, I'm just playing it by ear.

Where'd you go?

I can't make you see what you're already looking at. I can't make you hear what you listen to each day. I can't make you feel what you are already experiencing. Only you can move your frame. The images are talking to you. The music is saying something. Everything is speaking to you in your bones. Nothing new here. Just playing peek-a-boo with reality.

Earn some Respect

The things that you own end up owning you.
You are what you love.
I hope that you’re at least honest with yourself.

If that is the respect you show your girlfriend why should I expect any different?
If that is the respect you show your body why should you expect any different?
Have you learned anything that had the effect of changing who you were?

If only we cared about life on this planet one tenth as much as you care for your insert brand here.
Are you aware that you are regurgitating someone else’s thoughts.
Don’t try to impress me with anything other than your own fidelity.

There will always be someone down the street with a little more than you.
You are never going to find satisfaction on the outside.
Earn some respect.

Delicious Strawberries

I had a discussion with a friend/co-worker today regarding being at peace with how things are. I said that things are as they are meant to be. He wanted to know what I meant by meant. He brought up the old argument of free-will vs. determinism and really demanded that I tell him what I was saying. I got confused and befuddled. I didn’t understand why at the time. In talking with him I had lost my connection to that thing that I was trying to express; that internal conception that can never be perfectly verbalized. I felt defensive. I allowed myself to be limited by the framework offered by my friend. When asked if I meant A or B I forgot about none of the above and all of the above. I wanted to have the answer and be able to explain it. I wanted to understand what I meant. I got lost in thought whereas knowing that things are as they should be, as they must be, as they are, is not a thought. I forget how much easier it is to speak and act from the heart.

Stale Thoughts

A while back I talked about the idea of building something beautiful, that that was the only worthwhile thing one could do in life. The fact is, that is life. If it looks ugly you probably aren’t looking at the right scale.

I did a report on image processing on one of my coop placements in Uni. I came across the idea of wavelet compression techniques that took advantage of self similarity across different perspectives of scale. I wonder how that’s going.

So I’m constantly thinking about what to do with myself. I tell people that I am looking to find something meaningful to dedicate myself to. The truth is, I already have. I am building something beautiful. It’s just not quite as tangible as one might want. This isn’t psychobabble, this isn’t philosophy, this isn’t spiritual mumbo-jumbo, this is pure unadulterated truth; constant dedication to personal growth is beauty. All things beautiful are derivative of this.

In theory it’s pretty easy; just pay attention.

I remember this lyric from a mushroom jazz CD I listen to every now and again that goes “Everything you use must be fresh.” There are more things in life that go stale than just bread. Have you?

National Farmers Union

NFU Read the Seed Sector Review info, very disturbing stuff.

Diversity

It takes all kinds, all but the kinds that wish to eliminate all others. People, ideas, thoughts, cultures, political systems, points of view, species, ecosystems. Universally applicable. I think this may be one of the roots of the problem. If one should come to prominence let it be through merit than by ability to subdue and destroy.

Matters of Culture

Are you aware of our culture? Do you believe that if everyone just did things the way we do that the world would be better off? One culture. A culture of progress? A culture of technology. A culture of ownership. A culture of cut throat competition. A culture of appearances. A culture of manipulation. A culture of lies. A culture of control. A culture of hypocrisy. A culture of disordered priorities. A culture of us and them. A culture of conformity. A culture of disrespect. A culture disconnected from the natural world. The real world. One big stinking culture.

If you took a pill that made you sick would you ever think that maybe if you took two of them things might get better?

Do you always believe what you are told? Who do you trust and why do you trust them?

Do you know what it means to think for yourself? Have you ever had an original thought?

Have you ever been wrong? Very wrong? Completely wrong? Would you admit it if you had? Would you admit it to yourself even?

Do you feel that you need to justify your existence? How do you justify your existence?

Nothing much matters but everything.

Why Organic?

This is not a simple question to answer, not because it is difficult to come up with good reasons but mostly because it is difficult to express them all at the same time. Perhaps an explanation of what I believe the word organic signifies will be the best way to express its value.

Organic is not a process, it is not a particular way of doing things, it is not a set of standards to be followed, it is a holistic philosophy of food production and distribution.

The common way of doing things these days focuses on a limited and often backwards sense of value. Appearance, shelf life, global uniformity, monetary cost, and productivity factors are valued above nutritional value, health risks, and environmental and social impact. This backwards mentality produces farms with animals living lives any reasonable human would call inhumane in the name of cutting costs, plants that have been selectively bred or genetically engineered to produce more edible product per plant yet that are incapable of living or reproducing themselves without human intervention, plants that grow prettier fruit with fewer vitamins, chickens grown for meat that are physically incapable of supporting their own weight after a certain age, chemical fertilizers and pesticides that destroy the delicate balance of life in and above the soil, pollute the local water tables, runoff into nearby rivers and lakes, and make their way into the food we eat. This mentality treats animals, plants, and the soil itself as exploitable resources to be consumed without end. The results of this mentality are soil erosion, species extinction of both plant and animal life, the destruction of local economies and ways of life. These things cannot be replaced. Soil is built up inch by inch over thousands of years. Species and cultures once destroyed are gone forever.

Organic is trying to operate using true value, to work with nature rather than against her, to look at a bigger picture of sustainability rather than a narrow one of profit. Diversity is and has been the key to survival of life on this planet since the beginning of time. An intimate connection with the land has been the key to successful sustainable agriculture in the past.

Large global corporations are working against diversity and are attempting to sever the connection between consumption and production of food. They manipulate the media, government, and education in an attempt to control public policy and influence public opinion. They do not give this world what it needs but prefer to try to brainwash the world into believing that it needs what they have to give it.

The only way to fight against this is to become informed. Question everything you read, get both sides of a story, form your own conclusions and think for yourself. This all requires a different mentality and can be quite hard. With organic becoming a marketing label rather than a philosophy it is even harder. You have to question everything, read labels, research companies, find local suppliers, and sometimes go without some of the things you are used to eating. It's not easy but it is certainly rewarding to exercise another form of democracy: choosing where to spend your money.

Lunacycle

Do you always realize a major milestone of your life as is passes or does its significance require a certain amount of reflection after the fact to reveal its impact. Isn't all understanding of your life actually after the fact? I often find myself crippled by the desire to know in the now to the detriment of being in the now. Like an experimenter who is distracted trying to make sense of the data he has while the experiment is still in progress. At least I'm still trying to gather new data I guess.

Living in a rural area and working outdoors has allowed me to start getting reconnected to some of the natural cycles of the universe. I watch the movement of the moon, planets, sun and stars in the sky rather than on the calendar. I feel the wind, pressure, temperature, and precipitation each day rather than hearing about them in the news. I smell the change of season. I taste the current harvest. I see and hear the migration of birds.

How difficult is it to pay attention to my own cycles? Of mood, digestion, hydration, hunger, temperature, heart rate, breathing, and sleep. To experience them. To know them not with a desire to control them but with a wish to know them for what they truly are. To know the universe and I are one and the same. The line I draw between them is arbitrary and self inflicted.

Don't believe me, just try to pay a little better attention. Stop pre-defining your experience of this world. Open. At least draw the line in pencil.