Ownership

Like many of us, I struggle with the idea of ownership.  In our society the struggle is likely to be something along the lines of how to acquire and own more.  This is not my struggle.

Because of where I happen to be born my struggle is with how to own less.  As Americans most of us have more than we need, and use up most of the resources in the world.

I listened to somebody tell me how great the property was that he had just purchased.  It had lots of room and a great view.  He then told me how busy he was and that he had no time for the very things that come with owning a property.  He, thought it made more sense, economically, to pay somebody else to do that work.

We also spoke about automobiles.  He noticed the truck I had just purchased.  It is 18 years old, but in reasonably good condition and was very inexpensive.  Something another person was done with.  My friend said, "You got yourself a nice little truck there".  He then asked if he might buy it, but then went on to talk about trading in his own truck that was 5 years old for a newer one.  He talked of the "full coverage insurance" he carries on his vehicles and how much that cost.  His insurance coverage for a few months equals the purchase price of my new-used truck.

I like the things I buy to be "used" or discards.  They require less of the resources of the planet for their construction, manufacture, & transport to market.  The also most times, remove something from being piled up into a landfill.  I give them more useful time, as well as get to learn something about them by fixing any issues they might have had.  This makes me feel good and it also saves me a huge amount of money.

I do own a lot of things.  Many of the things I own were in trash heaps or headed to them.  The benefit of owning enough property to store some things on is that once I acquire them the can sit and be worked on, or be stored for use later and their is no inconvenience or cost.

For example, I like sailboats.  I own three, and about 6 other boats.  They were all either purchased used and for very little, or I built them myself.  In fact 2 of them were given to me.  These boats cost me nothing to keep.  The barn I built to house them cost me nothing to build as it was from scrap wood and materials.  I am now paying for one boat to be in slip in a marina and this is my indulgence to myself.  I am paying the off season rate and thus it is much more economically manageable for me.  I take the boat out about once a week and this is my favorite recreation.  Even though they cause me no hardship of money and they do give me great pleasure and inexpensive recreation, I don't need the number of boats that I own.

I do realize that when I have just one of something and enjoy it, I quite possible enjoy it more.

As long as ownership is not a burden on myself or the world around me by using up resources, my own, or the worlds, I see no great problem with ownership, with the understanding that ownership should be useful and not just to attempt to satisfy an unquenchable hunger to consume or gain status or identity.

Ownership should be reasonable.

Simple Living seems reasonable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB5Pun-4s8w&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Choice

We have more choices than we usually are given.
Don't let others decide how much choice you have.

Sometimes,  it's not what we choose, it is that we feel we have to choose something at all.
                 We could try to get the latest and most fuel efficient car, but, then if we buy a new car we send the message to the auto industry to keep making more cars which means more finite materials of the earth mined, more pollution from manufacturing, and getting those cars distributed around the planet.  No matter what kind of car we drive, we just need to drive less, and set up our lives so to make this possible.
                   We will often be asked if we are Republican or Democrat.  There are other political forms of thought than just those two but we have allowed the situation to limit us.

Sometimes, doing nothing, is the best thing to do.
                  Instead of paper, or plastic, why not just supply your own reusable bag?  A Prius or a Hummer?  How about neither?  How about not having a car at all?  How about not using a car if you have one already?  You could be a car collector, have them sitting in a nice garage, all waxed and polished and shiny, but never drive them, maybe even put less miles on all of your cars combined than the daily commuter who drives a new hybird car.  It's not the thing as much as it is the way we think and act.

Sometimes, we have to make choices that are not conventional, but make more sense for ourselves.
                  Ideas and movements start somewhere.  Waiting for somebody else to make a choice for us is one way of living but it means that your way of being is then chosen by somebody else and may not fit you so well.  Making choices and taking actions that are unconventional are ways of being responsible for ones self.

Make the choice that gives you the most responsibility for you life.  Waiting for somebody else or for a government to make these choices for you takes the power away from us.  We fund the government with our taxes.  We staff the government with our vote.  We support the government with our voice, but mostly our actions, and these days, mostly with what we choose to purchase and from whom we make these purchases.  By definition, we are the government.  We have the government that we have bought.  This is decided every time we open our wallet, make a charge, set up an automatic payment.

If we want to see change, then we have to make changes.
                  Sounds simple and easy, but it might be so obvious that we don't see it.  No act, or inaction, is without consequence.  To be responsible and empowered, we need to be mindful of the affects of our every choice and action.

Location, Location, Location!

 It's all about the view.

Do nothing all day, Nap, maybe read.  Drinks brought to you that make you feel "no pain".  Dinner made for you.  Get a massage (costs extra).
wear revealing clothes.
mind the concierge.
Usually only last a couple of weeks.
Save up to be able to afford.
communal sun and sea bathing.
Live all year in anticipation of it.
Try and get lucky.
Hoping it will never end.

Do nothing all day, nap maybe watch TV or read.  Get "meds" that make you feel no pain(stronger than a Mai Tai).
Dinner made for you (sometimes you don't even have to chew!).  Get a massage & a sponge bath.
wear revealing gown.
Mind the nurse.
try and get lucky (see sponge bath)
Usually only lasts a for a short time.
Put money away every week to be able to afford.
Live your whole life worried about it.
Waiting for the time it all ends.

What I am trying to figure out this:  Are resort style vacations like hospital stays, or are hospital stays like resort style vacations?

I suppose we could also consider this:

Do nothing all day.  Drinks and bongs and mind numbing shows that have you feeling no pain.
Bathing, ya right.
food delivered to your door by the Pizza guy.
live in your underwear or pj's.
usually only lasts till you have to go out and earn money to pay for cable.
Mind your parents, or if you are the parents, the landlord or the health department.
communal chips and dip.
Try and get lucky (porn channel)
waiting for the day it all ends, or a new season/episode.

And then there is this:

Nothing to do all day.  Go to gym, read. Meals made for you.
Outfits provided.  Physical activities planned for you.
Mind the boss.
The community puts money away to pay for your stay.
Medical needs provided for.
communal bathing.
Try and have sex or avoid the same.
Waiting for the day it all ends.

Which leads me to think of this:

Same thing to do each day.  Maybe read or internet surf.
meal time decided for you.  Maybe coffee provided.
The money you earn here pays for all of the above situations (vacations, medications, incarcerations).
But you have to buy your own clothes and housing (neither of which is ever adequate)
Mind the boss.
Spend all day in anticipation of leaving.
Try and have sex or avoid the same.
communal bathrooms.
Waiting for the day it all ends.

Which also makes me think of this:

Think nothing, maybe breathe or say "OM".  A spiritual state that makes you feel no pain.
 Get spiritually bathed in light.
Nourishment in the form of enlightenment.
wear loose fitting clothes.
mind your mindfulness.
Costs nothing but time and maybe some scented candles, a mat, wardrobe, time off work...
Either hoping it will never end, or that it will be a never ending state.

Which in turn leads me to this:

Do nothing.  Feel no pain. No hunger
usually nice clothes.
Somebody does your hair and make up
Save up to afford a coffin or headstone.
communal graveyards
"Getting lucky" would be going to heaven
 No body to mind, No mind.
Hope it will never come.
Lasts for ever (historically)

Some have said that life is like music, or a poem,  or a dance, that consciousness is an artful expression.

We sing the song that has been sung, recite the poem, dance the steps, 1,2,3..... think what has been thought, repeat the life of our forefathers.
or,
We make our own stories, music, poetry, & dance our own steps.

It is not so important which way we do it, but more important, to know which way we do it, and to allow for others who do it their way.

With over 7 billion here, just at this moment, there are bound to be repeats of songs, dances, poems and stories.
But,
That also means that there are as many possibilities for variation and unique invention.

Even so, what happens after the last word, step, or note is for each of us the same.  If you think it's different for you, then please, show me.

Lance Armstrong is Lance Ethicsweak

Today a news headline stated that Lance Armstrong, the professional cyclist, admits to "doping" while riding and he further stated that "Impossible to win" the Tour de France while he was competing.
Riddle me this Batman,  If nobody uses drugs while competing, and the race has a winner, then Lance's statement is just wrong.  If some use drugs but don't win then he is also wrong.
Maybe what he meant to say is that it was impossible for HIM to win it without drugs.  If that is the case, then he should not have won, and it is appropriate that he is stripped of his titles.  He is a simply a cheat.  I guess you could say that he lack the ball(s)  to accept defeat. (I just couldn't resist that)  Unfortunately he is just one person who has been singled out in a culture that values only winning.

There will always be somebody better, faster, stronger, more clever.........So why don't we just enjoy who and what and where we are being the best we can be and not worry over how we rate compared to others, all the while enjoying the achievements of those who go further and faster than ourselves, just as other people can appreciate what we achieve?

Be aware of what really matters.
Play playfully.

riding for fun, freedom & adventure

These kids in this picture below may not have uniforms, helmets, batting gloves, or an aluminum bat, but they have what most kids these days on the little league field are missing, SMILES.

Playing should be just that, play.

What's reasonable

I just pressed send on an email to a friend and I am wondering if it was a reasonable response to his communication.

Sometimes I just get on a piece of mental highway that just stretches to the horizon and I open up the throttle and let it go.

Sometimes I forget that other people don't see with my eyes, some wear glasses or are color blind, or are focused way beyond where I can see.

Sometime I forget that we each hear a different rhythm in our heads and have to dance our own dance, in our own uniquely shaped bodies.

Sometimes I forget these things, and I think I say, or write things that are hard for others to take in.

Sometimes I should just press 'delete' and then write, "have a nice day" instead.

"Have a nice Day"

Rap your head around this!

MY INSPIRATION
A BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER EARTH!
(that's his natural color)

THE DeRESPECTO RAP

The universe is perverse, 

it never goes in reverse, 

if it's down on you, break the curse

We all end up in a hearse, 

so,

Live the life you got

sweat when it's hot

chill when it's cold,

be bold,

or, 

soon you'll be to old,

so I am told,

I don't know 

because I'm young at heart

I had it from the start,

Suppose that makes me smart,

no, just lucky

Plucky,

I don't give up

I'll tell you why,

It's true, I'm not afraid to die

Louder,

I'm not afraid to live

Life to the fullest

Love to the end

With hate I'm a duelist

as a friend the truest

A father and a son

the oldest brother,

50 years young

I hope I have another,

50 years,

But if I don't

don't shed no tears

I'm still here,

up in the atmosphere

part of the world that never stops,

in the rivers and hills and all the crops,

that feed all those

who go on living,

I am the gift that keeps on giving

Born from the Sun

just a solar baby,

related to all,

from one family,

trying to make things 

the way they should be

Respect & love

Gratitude, & Compassion

it's what I wear,

the hottest in fashion

wear them with pride,

no need to hide

I laugh at this life

it's just too absurd,

crazier than any of this written word,

harder than any of the spittin' you heard,

That don't make it bad, 

that's just attitude

that don't make it sad,

If you are clued

in,

With out up there's no down

no joy with out pain,

no loss then no gain,

Some people just hate,

that's how it's got to be,

cause nothin' but love 

is comin' from me

So I'm glad that I'll die

cause that means I have lived,

right now the clocks tickin'

cause I have the time,

and you took a lickin'

by reading my rhyme

It's now part of you,

stuck in your head,

think on it at night

while you lie in your bed

What happens tomorrow,

nobody can say,

don't matter how much you pray

or they say

Make your heaven right now,

don't wait, stop the hate

be great, emulate, emancipate,

demonstrate, top rate,

deny fate,

CREATE!

Boston said "Don't Look Back"

But learn from the past
don't live in it,

The mistakes we make

just might be our last

Cause the universe is perverse,

it never goes in reverse


Word to the living!

Count Bees, Chase Clouds!

Kenny Loggins With Jim Messina-House At Pooh Corner - YouTube

Thoughts worth repeating

Spring morning on the front porch

Every step removed from the "hunter-gatherer" life style is a step further toward asking something of the rest of the natural world that it does not do easily, or without protest.  Agriculture can be practiced in a manner that works with the larger systems of nature, instead of against it, but it is still largely not in balance with the other life forms on the planet.  Agriculture is, in a way, the great gift, that allows us to live these very distinctly human lives.  It gives us power to be mobile and at the top of the food chain.  It has been oft said that with power comes responsibility.

Logic would show us that there is no real separation of man from the natural world.  We are a part of the natural world.  Every one of us is invested in ecology, environmentalism, preserving nature.  Preserving nature is in fact preserving ourselves. 

Hold On

Luck, or choice

Lucky! 

Somebody said to me,
"You are you a very lucky person to live in such a place, but of course, you made your own luck."

If I can make my own luck, then can't anybody?

What "luck" are we each making in our own lives?

Blessings, good fortune, Good Luck

Just like anybody else, I have had things happen that one could call unlucky.  My life, like most I believe, seems to have cycles, times of good and times of hard and difficult, some would say bad.

We need the one to understand the other, to help us set ourselves in a direction that can make us happy.  So, the hard times have their purpose and positive side.  Adversity gives us perspective and focus.

Luck is a strange word and implies something out of my control.  I am sure that there is much that is out of my control, and I don't focus too much on that which I can do nothing about, other than to understand it and use it to help me in deciding what to do about those things that I can affect.

Face to Face

The problem with having all this social media is that if your not social to begin with then........one plus one is still not much.....

I wonder what percentage of us actually communicates via these modern day methods vs. what percentage has always chosen to try and communicate with others???

I didn't need a website to tell me that I didn't have many "friends" and that even those who call themselves friends, don't call (or write) much.

But I am not bitter (gave that up for Lent long ago ;) )

I may not stay on the social website long as it is hard to justify my part in the energy that must be used to keep an operation like that running.  Massive amount of servers running 24/7......and the infrastructure.........and my easily distracted mind wasting time I could be putting toward my effort to get to my 10,000 hours of practice I need to become a decent guitar player!

MONDAYS ARE FOR YELLING!

Here is another great talk on TED.com:

Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong | Video on TED.com


On one hand, I hear what you are saying Dan.
Perspective is key and much of our perspective is antiquated and obsolete.  If we want to really get the money in the right places, and in real amounts, then we really do need to look at this more realistically.


On the other hand, even though more money is being raised, are results being made?  Is more money equal to a path to a better life?  Are the problems that many of our Charities speak about taking on, really solvable with the methods they fund?

Are breast cancer research and the charities that support them, focused on a cure or a cause.  Maybe both, that would make the most sense.  Why is cancer, all kinds of cancer, so prevalent?  What are we doing that is making it so, or has it always been so.  Was cancer always so prominent a cause of death?

The idea of curing cancer makes each of use feel better, for our own benefit, but since we are each going to die of something, sometime, wouldn't removing the cause of cancer be a benefit to all people from here on out, say our children perhaps, and thus make us feel even better?  Maybe we all don't agree with this perspective, maybe we only have concern for what affects our own lives.

So many of our troubles can or could be avoided by not doing something in the first place.  So many of the things we sign on for are simply because of convention, or, for lack of real consideration of the thing we sign on for.  This is called convenience sometimes and we even have neighborhood stores where we can by it, but it is provided for us everywhere.

I want to ask the questions that all follow one after another and then end up leading to the question, "Have you accepted your own mortality?"  and then to "How much life is enough, how many years of living are enough?" and then "Are the number of years as important as the quality of life that is lived?"

It seems to always come back to numbers, dollars, years, things.....

When we have little control over the number of years of our lives, why is it that we don't instead focus on the quality of the time we have?  Many would argue that we do try to have good lives, but that we also try to have as much time in these lives as we can.  I have come to believe that if we spend our time even with only one eye on the clock, we will miss out on what is in front of us now.  The eye that was watching the clock might miss the oncoming bus that kills us.

On the other hand, just to end on an upbeat, have you ever seen the movie "Stranger than Fiction"?  In this case the eye on the watch allowed for the bus (and to save a life) and the bus allowed for a good death, and then, to live a good life.

Finger pointing

It's Monday and the day I usually do some adjusting and assessing and thinking after the weekends social exchanges.

Why should fossil fuel companies stop providing the product
if we are going to keep paying them to produce it?
USE LESS or none at all.

In a discussion with a friend we were going over placing blame for the ills of society and the path that we seem to be on.

Do we blame the poor and undereducated for making bad choices, selfish choices driven by survival or by ignorance and lack of a broad perspective or long vision?

Do we blame the rich for greedy, and selfish choices and actions that mislead the masses and commender our governments, manufacture products that destroy our health and our environment, and our culture?

He seemed to polarize the choices between the Monstorous-powerful and the sheeplike-poor who are misled by the Mega rich corporations.

I tend to think that the real blame lies mostly elsewhere.

If lack of education is a real factor in the bad choices the poor make, then it is hard to blame them for something they are ignorant of.

If the Big corporations are choosing ethically challenging paths because it makes them more profit, then they are fulfilling their openly stated, in fact, legal obligation to make money for their share holders.

The Big corporations can't be making most of their money off of the poor, because the poor have no money.  So who is feeding them the money that is inspiring them to continue on as they do?

It is the middle class that does most of the spending.  It is the middle class that enjoys the benefits of education, credit, easy energy, capitalism.

How can we expect a large corporation to change their unethical practices  if they get their money from us without making any changes?  We'd have to stop giving them our money first in order to get them to really pay any attention.

If those of us who can somehow manage to get a bit of higher education, don't use it to actually become  educated, and thusly, thoughtful about our actions and our lives and the lives of our children, then what kind of education can we really be getting?

How can we make our donations to the many various charities and funds and environmental organizations, and then collect our "tote bags", "coffee mugs", bumper stickers and t shirts that all show what teams we want to be associated with, and then go on to act in ways that are completely contradictory to the stated ethos of those very same organizations, charities, funds and so forth?

What good is it to buy a brand new Hybrid car, and then drive it as much as you ever drove, if not more because you feel less guilty of contributing to the destruction of the environment?  Doesn't that new hybrid have to be manufactured, don't metals and plastics and chemicals have to be mined, and produced as well as the infrastructure that transports, advertises and finances the auto industry?

Who is less guilty of creating more stress on the resources of our planet, the person with 2 or 3 or 10 old gas guzzling cars sitting in his garage or yard, but who only drives one of them a few miles to and from work or grocery store using a few gallons of gas a week.........
or
The person who buys the brand new "green" car and drives it many, many miles and often and will replace it with in 5 years with a newer and possibly greener model, thus requiring all the industrial systems to stay in place producing, polluting and exploiting the planet?

Another friend tried to tell me that a person buying a used car still had an impact on the new car makers.  I suppose he is right but the affect the used car buyer has is against the need for new manufacturing.  That person is recycling a car.

It is most of us who can be called middle class and who most enjoy the lifestyle to which we have become accustom who finance the same destruction of our world that affects our life negatively.

At some point, we all need to realize that the idea of a new technology will solve our problems and make our world and future great, and also to realize that we just need to use and do and want LESS.

Our emptiness will not ever be filled with more stuff.

Just as salt water looks like the very thing the man dying of thirst needs, but only makes him more thirsty, our culture of consumerism and every increasing production are just deceptions.  We need to get out of our denial of the reality of the world in which we live.

The finger points back at me.  I just signed up with Facebook in order to keep up with family far away. The truth is that there has been the postal service and telephones and travel available to us to keep in touch for all of our lives.  But, they have been little used.  I don't believe that this social media will or change the situation much if any.  The problem though is that I am now part of the reason that a huge bank of servers are kept running to store my data and maintain my FB page.  A huge amount of energy goes to keeping those machines running, that company running, it's employees driving to work........
This blog is just as full of guilt.  I justify it by trying to write things here that might cause people to think about their own complicity in this self destructive path we are on.
I am not saying that all technology is bad or that all people are bad.  There are too many of us living the way we live and the price is suffering of the living community and our own self destruction.  There has to be a way to live that is somewhere between being hunter-gatherers and what we are currently doing that we can find.  A more Reasonable Path.

Lady Samantha

Happy Birthday Sam!

time to tip back the scales

Someone once observed that
We only seem to know how much is enough, after we have gone to far.

What is enough, for each of us, is probably different for each of us, but,
The question we should be addressing is, "What is enough for all of us?"

Have we achieved the point of too much,
have we gotten to the point that will allow us to say what is enough,
because we have had too much?

Now that most of our real suffering comes from what we do to ourselves,
and each other,
it seems easy to say that we have too much, we have gone to far
we have past that point of equilibrium between ourselves and the world around us.

A large problem in our existence is the fact that so much of who we are is defined by
our lack of concern for balance, and equilibrium.

Not very much, if anything at all, in our culture and our societies can be said to be
aimed at achieving a balance, or achieving a sustainable path.

Why might we think that our sources of energy are too much to ask of our situation, because
they are an cause of suffering and disease to us.

Why might we think that our methods of finance and exchange are too have gone too far, because
they have created their own liabilities and limitations.

We could ask the questions of ourselves on topic after topic, food, religion, defense, possession.......
In the answers will always be, the sum of having gone too far, having had too much, having gone past what is good for us all, even if it is still seen as not enough for a few.

Forty degrees f

Frozen pond white snow

Oak leaf skittles across ice

Sun glare squint warm face 

Clear water in ice

Beaver lodge covered in snow

Woodpecker hammers

Melting snow like rain
From oak, maple, hickory
Drips on, down my neck

January thaw

Melting snow makes dripping trees

Sunshine on my face

White snow no tracks yet
My boots slide on mud beneath
trail of slush and muck

Forty degrees f

Four point four, four celsius

blue sky yellow sun

Snowy path

We got about 4 inches of snow here in the woods last night.  It is really lovely.  Walking down to the pond I noticed that we were the first to disturb the snow.  No squirrel or deer tracks and certainly no people tracks.
The path down to the water's edge wanders.  it goes over one downed tree and under another.  It also changes slightly, now that the ground is covered with snow, as a path should.
A path, changes according to the needs of the moment, the conditions, the mood.  Unlike a road, it is not put upon the ground as a straight line that doesn't get changed.  It is born of the ground, the rocks, the trees, the snow.  It could be said that it is alive.
Lives can be set, unchanging and in defiance of the needs of the moment, much like an interstate highway, or a sidewalk.  Or they can be changing, evolving, and constantly aware of the moment in which they exist.
The path in the snow is now there to be followed but will either melt away or be covered over by the next snow.  This will leave the path to be discovered anew the next time.
This is also one of the things I appreciate about sailing.  There are only rough guides to the direction to be taken and the wake behind the boat smoothes out and fades away, leaving it for the next who passes there to discover on their own.

7696 miles

Home again, home again, jigity, jig!

Two weary travelers,

 and dog called "pig"

We lighted out for the Western Territories. 

We travelled many a mile, 

now we'll just sit by the fire and rest a while.

It was our goal to see loved ones we hadn't seen for a time

and to meet the new young Logan, that was sublime

The Turtle Island Traveller got us out there and back,

and it made up with comfort for the power it lacked.

It now bears a sticker of a rainbow turtle,

that we got at the beach in South Carolina, Myrtle.

Some think that vanagon is rotten to the core,

but Arman fixed that radiator and it ain't rotten no more!

We dipped our toes in the Atlantic, and the pacific and again the Atlantic.

The walks on the beach were a cure for the frantic

drivers on the interstates, both 10 and 95

At times it was scary, but we made it thru alive.

We met a cow named Blondie, the leader of her pack,

and when a calf was threatened, she made her attack

she got the whole herd to chase down poor Chilly,

12 cows chasing one dog is a sight so silly,

that you'd laugh 'til you shot your milk out your nose,

or in this case, your udders, I suppose

The sand storm in west Texas, was the coldest night we spent,

But the warm, natural pool and the campsite at Balmorhea were well worth

the rent

We visited the great ranch, called the "Speakeasy",

where everything was nice, with nothing done cheesy.

The lady there's an angel, and the gentleman, well he can be the devil,

but he keeps his place and his life to the highest level.

They gave us great food, the meat of an Axis

they gave us a very nice room, and gave the dog access.

Harley liked Chilly, he thought she tasted just right,

he didn't hurt her none, just gave her a good fright.

That ranch is a bit of heaven, with a river running thru it

I'd go there again, if the vanagon could do it.

We saw friends in Houston, who we love and wish well,

They are so far away now, and we miss them like hell

We hope they stay safe in that east Texas city,

New York has lost them and that is a pity

Our time in Silver Lake is always to brief,

to hug our loved ones there is such a relief,

from the thousands of miles that keep us apart

and keeps up this aching deep in our heart.

We got to see Kathryn shaping her men, and shaping her clay,

she seems to keep busy all night and all day,

Her art is real beauty, both the bowls and the boys,

We got to see T as he watered his violets, he feeds them real good, 

but he holds a bit more stress than he probably should.

Don't sweat the small stuff and keep yourself real mellow

Your the best kind of brother, father, husband and fellow.

Dinners with us packed around the table in the kitchen,

had the best kind of family feel,

food shared with loved ones is the best kind of meal

We stopped to see my family

in the valley of the Sun,

Where I got to hug my Mother, 

and her second oldest son.

We decorated their tree with ornaments and some light,

and Mom shifted it all 'til she had it just right

Jon dear Jonny, we love you it's true,

but can't figure out some of the things that you do.

focus on you studies, your family and on your guitar

they'll carry you much farther, than some stupid car.

We stopped at a hole in the ground, a big copper pit,

that caused a little town to grow around it,

I suppose that mining caused some harm,

but I guess from it also came the little town's charm

it's little houses, and it's people's faces.

It's one of the lands friendlier places.

Here lives my oldest and dearest friend

it's just so good when I see him again.

He showed us the shops, old and new,

and from his studio, he showed the great view.

He's taken up painting, a Michelangelo, he ain't,

but I think, and Liz's thinks his paintings are great!

This trip had a purpose,

for Liz to see Loy,

and that time spent with her Mother

brought them great peace and great joy

It's hard living so far from the ones that you love,

from the ones that love you, beyond and above

any means of measure

To be in their company is the greatest treasure.

The best we can do is to keep deep in our hearts,

wishes of peace and health and love,

and to write the occasional letter, send an email or text

or pick up the phone when we think of them next.

We can build up our courage to cross over the land,

over the rivers, and over the sand.

to drive thru the day and then thru the night

over and over until in our sight

are the faces of the loved ones we've journeyed to see

We'd do it again, but for the fuel we did burn,

traveling so many miles, one can't help but learn 

that it's the people at the destination

that turn a journey's hard earned miles into a vacation

Maps and Keys

I have just finished reading three of five books written by author, philosopher, neuroscientist, Sam Harris.

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (2004)
Letter to a Christian Nation (2006)
The Moral Landscape: How Science Cn Determine Human Values (2010)

I read them in the order he wrote them and have yet to read "Lying" or "Free Will", the last two book he has written thus far, but plan to get to them soon.

I suggest reading his books.  The idea of honesty comes to my mind.  Or maybe dishonesty, with regards to our own, with our selves and those around us.  Fear also comes to mind as well as just plain laziness.  This fear and laziness that each of us clutch on to in order to avoid thinking for ourselves and making real and honest observations and assessments of our situation in this world, in this life.

I gathered that Harris would have us decide our morals, rules for society and laws by way of reasoning out what is best for attaining, and what is, human well being.  I am all for it, but I would go a step further.  In a step that might be dismissed as just a matter of semantics I would say that we need to base our values, morality, and governance upon what is best for attaining the well being of the "living community", or of all things, if you don't want to include the planet as part of the living community.

I perceive that much of the suffering and struggle and strife that is beset upon us and the rest of the world is the tendency to separate out humanity from the rest of the living community, as if our well being alone could be achieved without the well being of the very community that supports us.

Much of religious belief says that the world was put here, by God, for the benefit of man, or at least, for man's usefulness.  This idea, or at least our interpretation and implementation of that idea, has set upon us most of our troubled situation.  Wether we are defining the minerals of the earth or other human beings and animals, as being for our usefulness, we are subjugating all of the world to human needs and cravings, and weakness, all in isolation, and justifying the destruction of the very relationships that support us.  We do this with a divine justification.

Even as Harris points out the liabilities in basing our morality, and thus governance, on religious principal and dogma, he has led us into an equal but different trap of creating our value structure from a point of human well being that removes the human being from the physical world in which it exists, from all the life that makes that world and our existence possible, and good.

I am well aware that most religious doctrine would have us devalue the physical world, and value only the spiritual world, that we have yet to know in any way, shape, or form.  The conflict this creates in us, between us and the rest of the living world and amongst each other is what we are facing as the source for our very destruction of our race, at best, and the end of what is known life at worst.

We look out now, with this amazing state of technology that we are in, and see into other time.  Even with such range of vision we have found little if any signs of anything that we would call life.  We, this planet, this community of living organisms is unique as far as we can see.  Yet, for the sake of greed, and sloth we corrupt and destroy and extinguish life and relationships around us at a rate and level that is simultaneously impressive and horrific and stupid.

We each do this, every day of our lives, many times over each day.  We can observe that rivers flood and drowned fields and that fires burn forests, that animals of the forests, jungles, oceans kill and eat other animals of the forest, jungles, and oceans, but if we look honestly at ourselves, what we are doing is not at all comparable.  We use this as evidence that we are different from the rest of the living community and to reinforce our belief in a divine plan for salvation.  But what we are looking for salvation from is what we are making of ourselves and our world.  It is a self manifesting destiny and an ignorant and stupid choice of situations.

We could go back to hunter gatherer lifestyles and turn our backs to industry and technology and wait while the systems that support us regain some balance and health.  We could do away with possession of lands and monetary systems and live more as the rest of the living community lives.  Actually, we probably couldn't, and why would we?  But, we can pick a more reasonable path.  A path of honesty about what we know, and what we don't.  A path that allows for what we need to be really happy, not just occupied with the pursuit of supposed happiness while never actually attaining it.

I think that a path to real well being can't begin with anything less than the perspective that our well being is completely dependent on the well being of the rest of the living community.  If the world, the earth, the animals and plants that are our food and sustenance, the water that is unique to this planet, the climate that allows all of this to flourish, if all of this is not in a state of well being first, then we are going to find if very hard, if not impossible to attain well being for ourselves as individuals, and as a species.  This perspective leads us to understand the need for well being that goes beyond the individual, the family, the neighborhood, the town, the state, the country, the species and opens our minds to the need for compassion towards all life and being.

Having said all that, I am grateful to Sam Harris for his work and articulation of thought and highly recommend his books and lectures/debates that I have found on Youtube.