"Talking is Lying"

 "Talking is Lying"- (paraphrased from the Tao: "the Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao.")

Does thinking require words? Words are a technology that has pretty much created civilization. This super technology allows us to transmit very precise information to each other, and store and build upon previous thoughts. 

Interestingly, some people who were born deaf and did not learn any sort of language until adulthood report having few memories of what they feel as a dark, ignorant time in their life. Similarly, most of us can't recall much from our babyhood, probably because we just didn't file it in language.

And then there are the stories of children who grew up without language because were raised by animals or had some other extremely rare circumstance. These children often seem to have strange telepathic powers to communicate their wants to people in civilization. These rare human cases are similar to that of my cat, who has no difficulty making you think you want to do her bidding, despite her limited vocabulary.

Do we all "think" in pictures before we learn words? Some of us still know how, even when the chatty and flamboyant celebrity of language struts into the brain and starts making small talk. I know I can, and still do this, but maybe we all do, and it's so built in under, that we don't notice unless we really pay attention. Like just because you can't hear your heart beating, doesn't mean it's not.

What is it then, that we do, those of us who are aware of our thinking before it clothes itself in words? Does understanding precede thought formation? What is this awareness, this thing we know with, we experience with, before we strap ourselves into this hot rod racer of language and take off with a deafening roar?

The Answer to All Relationship Questions?

"In truth, commitment exists within the realm of friendship in service to light. Within the law of love, all relationship is self evident."

-Elihu

This answer was given to me when I most needed it. How can one commit to another without being subsumed, I wondered. How to love and be loved without turning in on one another? How to stand together, facing out to the world with our love?

"In truth, commitment exists within the realm of friendship in service to light." That would be you and me and the highest good. Or God. Or our purpose together. It's a triangle, see? We are not a pair orbiting one another, but a couple of friends following the light, walking along together because we recognize that we are on the same path. 

"Within the law of love, all relationship is self evident." This involves careful observation of the obvious: It's always either love, or a call for love.* Is there love, right now? Then nothing needs be done. If there is a need, apply love directly to the wound.

* "It's always either love, or a call for love. "- A Course in Miracles

This is Your Lucky Day

"If you have good luck, why be in a hurry? If you have bad luck, why be in a hurry?"-?

Luck is the conjunction of serendipity and preparation. If you are prepared, then eventually serendipity will bring the opportunity you seek.  This is not a passive waiting for something, anything, to come along. 

Do you want to be lucky? The main preparation is attitude. Look around now. You are already so lucky! You were the sperm that won the lottery, the baby that survived until now in this precious rare human form. You were born in such interesting times! You were sustained, loved, nurtured by others, educated and given the great good fortune to be on line now, to even be reading this. It's like, you're practically royalty!

How to prepare for more luck? Realize and be grateful for all you have already. Then, align with your own life purpose and prepare to do whatever needs to be done to carry out the first step. Baby steps. Just take the next step. 

Be ready so when your luck comes by you are paying attention...

And relax. Luck always starts with love. And love starts with a compassionate view of yourself.

(More about your good luck:)

My Sister and the Rock

All hatred is self-hatred. 

And everything is feedback.

Nothing is as it is, it is as you are.

-Brianna Wiest?

This is a true story that happened to a friend of mine. When she moved to a university town in her early twenties, she got got around on a bicycle. She was shapely, beautiful and blonde, and she immediately began to receive unwanted catcalls and whistles from men as she rode her bike around town.

This really angered her, but she refused to stop riding or dress differently as she did feel she had a right to be out in public. Finally, the harassment reached a point where she had just had it. She decided she needed to do something.

But what? The attacks were always hit and run. There was no time to yell something back at these creeps. They would holler at her as they wooshed by in their cars.

So she decided to carry a rock in her hand, ready to throw. It is not easy to carry a rock in your hand while riding a bike, but she did it anyway, keeping it at the ready. The next time, she would let them know how she felt! She'd let 'em have a piece of her mind, and more! She decided she would not put up with this ever again.

And then what happened? What happened was nothing, apparently. She carried the rock for quite a while after that, but she never had to use it. Something inside her had shifted? She patched holes in her psychic armor? I leave the meaning and interpretation of this story to you...

(What if women made catcalls?)

A Real Flying Carpet

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. –Paul Valery

Once upon a time there was a lonely young boy who was really a prince. He lived locked up in a tower by his evil uncle. But one day he somehow gets a flying carpet, which he uses to sneak out of the tower and travel around his kingdom, learning about his people and their troubles.

When the time is right, using the knowledge he gains on the flying carpet, he eventually gets out, overthrows the evil uncle, and restores things to goodness and justice. 

Long story short, that's all I remember about this story I read long ago. I've always gravitated toward living in towers. And flying by magic carpet would be way more elegant than the primitive and crude methods we use today.  

But in a way, we all have a way to fly around the world from our lonesome little towers. We fly by inter web. And if you are interested in solving the problems of the world, you can really find out what is going on this way, as well as who else is working on it. Perhaps in our new story we can help the evil uncle have a change of heart. 

There is very good historical evidence that magic carpets are real!

 (Check this out: The Secret History of the Flying Carpet)

Garden Planet Vision

"Dare to be naïve!"  -Bucky Fuller

According to a United Nations report, the only way we can feed all humanity is with local, small scale, organic farming. Wow.

My question is not so much, how do we start small scale self sufficient communities, but how to plant and link up the whole planet into one cohesive, sustainable, local grassroots community. With political incentives, this would be simple and easy. Just tax miles travelled by an item and use the money to build up local production.

In my vision of a garden planet, all the world would be one lovely, friendly garden. It would be so sustainably and abundantly planted with permaculture, that travelers could pick and eat as they travel along the beautiful lanes. 

Gardeners have the highest happiness rating of all professions. 

We can easily afford to subsidize semi retired, or volunteer citizens to help maintain permaculture that benefits the neighborhood, that keeps food dropping into our hands. Money may not grow on trees, but food most assuredly does.

No money would be needed; instead we would have a love economy. A woman could walk alone across an entire continent, safely and without needing to carry food or money. Everyone would at least have a guaranteed basic income. That could come from taxes on use of the commons that we all share as our birthright. We might still have some form of money, but it would not be very important.  

This year, grow something. Plant a huge half acre garden for the whole neighborhood. Or just an herb pot on the windowsill.

There Is Enough For Everyone!

“When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty........ but 
when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is 
wrong.” 
―Buckminster Fuller

There is enough for everyone! This is the conclusion Buckminster Fuller came to years before the world had seen the first famous photo of the whole planet from space. He had this concept called the World Game, in which he analyzed all of the know how and talent and resources as if Earth were a spaceship we were all crew on.  He also predicted that when the most influential fifteen percent of the people understood that, we would be willing to give up fighting and cooperate to make life a success for everyone.

So why are people still acting so fearful, insecure and foolish? This is indisputably the wealthiest the most people on earth have ever been in history. Perhaps even in the cacophony of the end of the world party taking place now, we sense that something is deeply wrong.

It kind of reminds me of the classic trust fund baby, partying day after day without considering what will happen when the money runs out. We know that we could take care of everyone at a higher standard of living than royalty of the past, but that will require we change the way we do things. That seems harder than just cruising along, even if it is toward the edge of the cliff.

The really good news is there still is enough planet for everyone, and repairing the tattered ecosystems and making Earth a garden planet is way to do it. We do know what to do, all that is still lacking is the will. And the will is being stymied by fear and insecurity due to the way our money system is set up. It functions much like a game of musical chairs, with everyone contending with one another for not -quite- enough. Or so it seems, but this illusion is due entirely to the arbitrary rules of the money game. We can easily change them, as I realized when I read Sacred Economics.

(Check it out!)