In post-oil America, after the crash, when we revert to a subsistence farming economy, the key thing is to keep the internet up. With the internet up, we'll be able to see regional shortages and surpluses. We'll be able to share farming techniques and low-tech solutions to energy, security, and other problems. And we'll be able to communicate and build a new democracy from the ground up. Without the internet, we would be plunged into darkness, and there would be much more fear, violence, and hardship.
As the government collapses on itself in a frenzy of "control". it will try to bring down the internet, via sabotage if necessary. Currently the largest telecom corporations control the infrastructure, and they will follow goverment dictates (or vice-versa).
So we need to start now. Sys admins! What do we need to do to organize and prepare?
Saturday, September 24, 2005
The Watcher
The following is quoted from Chogyam Trungpa: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, page 73.
The whole point is that, if you have any idea of relationship - I am experiencing this, I am doing this - then "I" and "this" are very strong personalities, equally. Somehow there will be a conflict between "I" and "this". It is rather like saying that "this" is the mother and "I" the father. With two such polar extremes involved you are bound to give birth to something.
So the whole idea is to let "this" not be there, and then "I" will not be there. Or else, "I" is not there, therefore "this" is not there. It is not a matter of telling it to yourself, but of feeling it, a real experience. You must take away the watcher, the observer of the two extremes. Once the watcher is removed, then the whole structure falls apart. The dichotomy remains in existence only so long as there is an observer to keep the whole picture together.
You must remove the watcher and the very complicated bureaucracy he creates to insure that nothing is missed by central headquarters. Once we take away the watcher, there is a tremendous amount of space, because he and the bureaucracy take up so much room. If we eliminate the filter of "I" and "other", then the space becomes sharp and precise and intelligent. Space contains the tremendous precision of being able to work with the situations in it. One does not really need the "watcher" or "observer" at all.
When the watcher disappears, the notion of higher and lower levels does not apply, so there is no longer any inclination to struggle, attempting to get higher. Then you just are where you are.
You do not have to regard the watcher as a villian. Once you begin to understand that the purpose of meditation is not to get higher but to be present here, then the watcher is not efficient enough to perform that function, and it automatically falls away. The basic quality of the watcher is to try to be extremely efficient and active. But total awareness is something you already have, so ambitious or so called "efficient" attempts to be aware are self-defeating. As the watcher beings to realize that it is irrelevant, it falls away.
The whole point is that, if you have any idea of relationship - I am experiencing this, I am doing this - then "I" and "this" are very strong personalities, equally. Somehow there will be a conflict between "I" and "this". It is rather like saying that "this" is the mother and "I" the father. With two such polar extremes involved you are bound to give birth to something.
So the whole idea is to let "this" not be there, and then "I" will not be there. Or else, "I" is not there, therefore "this" is not there. It is not a matter of telling it to yourself, but of feeling it, a real experience. You must take away the watcher, the observer of the two extremes. Once the watcher is removed, then the whole structure falls apart. The dichotomy remains in existence only so long as there is an observer to keep the whole picture together.
You must remove the watcher and the very complicated bureaucracy he creates to insure that nothing is missed by central headquarters. Once we take away the watcher, there is a tremendous amount of space, because he and the bureaucracy take up so much room. If we eliminate the filter of "I" and "other", then the space becomes sharp and precise and intelligent. Space contains the tremendous precision of being able to work with the situations in it. One does not really need the "watcher" or "observer" at all.
When the watcher disappears, the notion of higher and lower levels does not apply, so there is no longer any inclination to struggle, attempting to get higher. Then you just are where you are.
You do not have to regard the watcher as a villian. Once you begin to understand that the purpose of meditation is not to get higher but to be present here, then the watcher is not efficient enough to perform that function, and it automatically falls away. The basic quality of the watcher is to try to be extremely efficient and active. But total awareness is something you already have, so ambitious or so called "efficient" attempts to be aware are self-defeating. As the watcher beings to realize that it is irrelevant, it falls away.
Why do they hold sway
I now see the business manager at the Ford dealership as the symbol of America, of the state of consciousness now ascendant in America. And I allowed him to hold sway. In the same way that I allow Dick Cheney to hold sway.
Alcoholic
I've had some experience with alcoholics. As long as he's practicing, he is unpredictably dangerous. He can be charming, witty, fun to be around. But he will turn on you. He will lie and steal and commit violence. He may not seem to remember it next time he sees you.
Promiscuity goes hand-in-hand with alcoholism. Some people say it's a symptom. I think it's more that both alcoholism and promiscuity are symptoms of a low self-esteem.
Promiscuity goes hand-in-hand with alcoholism. Some people say it's a symptom. I think it's more that both alcoholism and promiscuity are symptoms of a low self-esteem.
Pyramid Energy Flow
The energy in a pyramid usually flows from the top down. From CEO to managers to laborers. From pope to priest to laymen. The big pyramid is made up of many smaller pyramids, which in turn are built of many still smaller pyramids.
In my corporate consulting work, I had the opportunity to observe many different small pyramids: project teams and departments within a corporation. When a competent person heads a pyramid, the pyramid below him works well. Even though there are some lazy, evil, or bone-headed people in the group, the good hard-working people can carry them and push the overall effort into success. But when an incompetent person takes the top slot, the good hard-working people are thwarted by mismanagement, and the lazy evil people run amok and dominate the scene, and the overall effort fails.
But what if the energy in a pyramid were to run from the bottom up? Like in a truly representative democracy. What if the leader listens to his base and responds to them and acts in their best interests? Does this then prevent or minimize the damage caused by incompentents? Or is that the definition of an incompetent: one who stops the energy from flowing upward?
In my corporate consulting work, I had the opportunity to observe many different small pyramids: project teams and departments within a corporation. When a competent person heads a pyramid, the pyramid below him works well. Even though there are some lazy, evil, or bone-headed people in the group, the good hard-working people can carry them and push the overall effort into success. But when an incompetent person takes the top slot, the good hard-working people are thwarted by mismanagement, and the lazy evil people run amok and dominate the scene, and the overall effort fails.
But what if the energy in a pyramid were to run from the bottom up? Like in a truly representative democracy. What if the leader listens to his base and responds to them and acts in their best interests? Does this then prevent or minimize the damage caused by incompentents? Or is that the definition of an incompetent: one who stops the energy from flowing upward?
Pyramid
The pyramid is the symbol of civilization. It is a thought form that appeared in our consciousness at around 4000 BC, and ushured in civilization. Everything we create now takes the form of a pyramid. Businesses, goverment, religion - every organzation, takes on the hierarchical structure of the pyramid.
Evolution
The last step of evolution was in 4000 BC: the shift from hunter-gatherer to civilization. Why did that happen? How did that happen? Was it strictly due to the increase in population density? What other forces were involved? It these same forces are continuously applied, what will trigger the next jump? What will the next human look like?
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Processing = Addictive
Processing foods makes them more addictive. Consider the coca plant: a natural wonder planted here by the creator. Natives chew on the leaves to relive a toothache. But process it into cocaine and it becomes the most addictive substance we know of. Or consider the opium poppy: mildly addictive in it's natural form, but viciously addictive when processed into heroin. Foods are the same way, especially flour, sugar, and oils. We start with the potato - very healthy, not addictive - and end up with the potato chip: deadly and very addictive. The more processing, the mor addictive.
Thursday, September 1, 2005
Depression
9/11 led to a significant economic recession The New Orleans disaster is many times worse than 9/11. If the follow-on recession is proportional, we're in trouble.
Fear and greed
America has reached a very low level of consciousness. The looters in New Orleans are behaving no differently from our corporate, government, and religious leaders. Tight, constricted, grasping.
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