Still rooting for Kucinich
Humble Dreams of a Meaningful Life
I haven’t written much in the last few weeks. I’ve been waiting to write something worthwhile. There is so much happening in politics, but I’m so tired of the litany of talking heads that I don’t feel the discourse needs any more noise. Dream tickets, hope, change, change, and more change. Two more cents just isn’t necessary.
I’d like to be hopeful but even the best possible outcomes of a presidential election aren’t going to make as much “change” as everyone hopes. It will be small and possibly in the right direction, but the idea that one man or woman in an oval shaped office somewhere is going to make my life really better is ridiculous. I feel like we look outside ourselves for answers far too often, and yet we keep looking even when we find those answers to be hollow as well.
My dad has a few relics he found at Teotihuacan in Mexico. When I look at them they give off an energy, the same kind that all things painstakingly hand-crafted give off. They have importance and a magic as if the maker transferred some of their life into it.
I look around me and everything I see was made by a machine. Dead things making dead things. My apartment is a moonscape of artifice.
When I think about my plan to move out to the farm and build a cabin and grow my own food I imagine making a place that will have that kind of energy and meaning. When I tell most people my plans I can tell they think I’m trying to move backwards. In reality I think I’m moving so far forwards I’ve come back to the things that make life satisfying.
It’s not as if I’m going to leave technology behind, but I’ll certainly dump the 99% of the superfluous gadgetry society is so obsessed with now. All of the science, ecological research, recorded and improved techniques for doing almost anything in an effective, healthy, and sustainable way is something no one even 50 years ago could have imagined existed.
I like to think that I’m exploring a new way of living that could be just as comfortable as my current life, but infinitely more satisfying and something my great great grandchildren could equally enjoy. Something tells me we’re getting to a point where we can either change our ways or our ways will get changed for us.
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I found an arrowhead, bigger than average, more like some kind of general tool made well over a thousand years ago. People have lots of these and store them away as artifacts. A few months ago I took to using it as an every day tool. I always use it to open boxes and packaging. It works great. Never gets dull. Maybe after it gets used for another thousand years it might break. And then there will be a couple smaller rocks that go back to the earth and have no need for a landfill. My experience with this earth tool drives home a realization. My favorite water, is just plain ancient water. My favorite air is the old no-additives air. My favorite food is the stuff I grew from seed and picked when ripe, or came across naturally growing wild. My favorite people are the ones who have reduced the distance between themselves and the earth. Ahhh. Let earth radiate through your being.
Last month as I sat meditating in some sacred northern California hills, a deer came up close and we locked onto each others gaze. A lot was conveyed in that short time. One thing I want to pass on is, the deer said, do not think the power of the earth has decreased in any way. It holds it sacred mysteries with all its power as always. We just must have eyes to see it.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hi Tao, Your dad and I watched a moved sent by Earth Cinema that we joined about the Achwar Indians of southern Ecuadorian rainforest and the Pachamama Organization that has helped them to keep their rainforest free of oil and timber companies. The Achwar are dream people. They get together each morning and discuss their dreams before beginning the day. They started having troubling dreams of a danger coming toward them. They started putting out feelers to neighboring tribes and found out that oil companies had encroached on other parts of the rainforest with devastating results including polution and cutting of trees. They got together and decided that they would need help and what I find impressive is that they started sending out a voice for help using in the modern world and were not afraid to be willing to use modern methods to fight for their rainforest. What resulted is the Pachamama Organization that has had successful results in so far keeping out the oil companies. The present Ecuadorian government is sympathic to the environment. What developed countries and big cooporations do is say they’ll reduce that poorer counties dept if they cooporate and let so called exploration take place which almost always results in the raping of the land. Of course it’s an ongoing vigilant fight and we hope to form a core group to support this cause. They also have an Eco Tourism spot in their rainforest that helps support them and you go and experience their culture and the rainforest. You get there by river. We hope to get a group together to go there. Luke & I definitely want to go. The Pachamama organization also holds seminars or symposiums which show people that they can make a difference as an individual and we want to try and get one here in Jackson.
Keep your deams Tao,
Love,
Charlotte
February 6th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Moving back to the land is a huge step forward.
Keep on moving in that direction.
We look forward to visiting you often and to take part in your forward momentum.