Took a quick drive over the Payson loop again today after work.  Caught in a couple of storms on the road and on the trail; it was so nice to be out after this long week that it was worth every minute wet and cold. Deep, thick scents and similar light all along the way. The squirrels are busy and active on the edge of the clearings; I wonder how they plan their forays. Well, on second thought, they probably don't plan. Anthropomorphism is a tempting pattern. Who knows?
It was warm enough toward the valley that I dried of nice and quickly; August is a pretty good time to be alive.

There's nothing in this world like fresh green beans that are purple (!) before they are cooked and turn green.

Mmmm

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Economic Redirection

From Yes Magazine, an article on Seven Steps for Action Toward a New Economy.

Aniversary

Lo, these twenty many years ago, my sweetheart allowed me into her heart for good.
Each day better than the rest, every year built upon the last by better and worse; for me the sum total is that of joy and love that I cannot express other than by saying her name: Diedre Ann.
Thanks for staying with me, DrieAnya.

Divide and Conquor

From a young age, we're trained to be individuals defined by what we bring into our area of influence and control, and that we should associate with those of our own 'class' or group.  Schools, churches, zoned and income-based neighborhoods, and to an extent, the even more primally-based family organization give us to understand ourselves as part of divided and homogenized groups.
This makes it even more difficult to expand our minds past preconceptions and into understanding of ourselves as summed constructs and consciousness capable of new input and outlooks. Stasis of the mind as a result of group-based thinking is a comfortable place; affirmation of  belief and action is all around us and as close as another member of the group, usually someone very close geographically and quite used to similar input, both environmental and internal.
Though the group affords affirmation at a level numerically far above that of an individual, the most isolate unit of our society, the effect is ultimately to isolate each group form another based on the ideals and concepts mentioned before.  The difficulty of getting groups to cooperate and change based on new information and input is as difficult or more than getting an individual to understand the importance of close examination of ideas and ideals.
Thus, the society proceeds along a course set previously; either on a course of its own or manipulated by entities or individuals capable of mass communication and possessed of an understanding of these simple principals.
It's not easy to be self-determined and consciously autonomous; it's not to my mind and perspective even very simple to break down and examine.  Nevertheless, I see it as about the only way we're ever going to make it out of the  benighted social order we find ourselves bound by in most quarters of the world. I can only realistically hope that I can figure out my own silly self before going too far into the hole to dig myself out.

The Searcher's Quandary

Those who crawl the straight-razor’s edge between the ideal and harsh reality (a fine line because of the expedience of perception, certainly nothing based in the real world) know the bitterness of day-to-day despair and the joy of a stranger’s smile. That’s the way the mind and heart of the searcher negotiates the teeter-totter of life.

Whether that searcher is one born to the quest, having lived a life seeking hopeful equilibrium in the face of the hopelessness of cosmological unity or the newly initiated having stumbled upon or sought out further light and knowledge in a place unexpected or previously proscribed, the searcher is more often than not a person with economic and social difficulties. The Law of Conservation of Resources is a cruel taskmaster in a society like ours, especially cruel for the propaganda that says that we have a life of ease and relative leisure compared to that of our ancestors.  The reality of our world is that of a body and psyche not changed much from those of our forefathers and mothers roving the prairies and tundras of the Pleistocene, competing with Sabrecats and Dire Wolves for Steppe Bison and ancient Caribou. Those psyches are being exploited today by enemies more cunning many times over than any competing apex predator species ever was, those working to market products and services or profit from human’s desire for power, security or status.

These needs, whether real or simply perceived as such, are in the same constant demand of attention and energy in our day as they ever were in the past. Maslow’s hierarchy demands that the lower needs are met before satisfying the next, and as ever, if any of the lower needs are threatened, the higher-ups get starved of attention or forgotten completely until stability down lower is restored.

Thus what Thoreau termed ‘The examined life’ becomes a luxury beyond the reach of the average Joe and Jane, and ‘a life of quiet desperation’ becomes the norm, even for those who seek something better and more beautiful.

More to come…      

Divide and Conquer

Thoughts on Belief and Hope

Expansion of one’s basis of thought, or at least expanding one’s understanding of his or her beliefs is fundamentally difficult, especially in this particular society.

The Law of Conservation of Resources, one of the bases upon which human survival and success hinges upon, dictates that we spend as little time and energy upon that which demands the least attention to maintain and more upon that which requires that energy in order to maintain life and ‘progress’ of the self or species.  Thus, our own ordering of the cosmological universe, so important to many early in life because of relative importance in the perspective of youth and newness, is ratcheted down in that preeminence as our inner perspectives come into some sort of focus and equilibrium with the outside world and society. 

For some, however, that equilibrium is never really reached, or is kicked out of an earlier, perhaps less-than-inclusive continuum with the rest of one’s society at large. When that happens, the universe is not at rest, nor is it easy to bring into a focus or harmony between the individual and his or her community.

The conflict between society and the individual is difficult for both parties; the community often perceives the individual at conflict as insane, anti social, or worse, while the individual attempting to come back into harmony with their place in the universe can feel conflicted, alone, and often, betrayed by their newly out-of-synch system of belief and those yet in adherence to that system.

To be continued…
The Searcher's Quandary