for the season as it moves

It helps us all to know when to engage a topic and when to walk away from a discussion. When tempers flare, and ego minded self appears, it is good to notice that and state an intention to step back from the talk.

that is one way we can shift our paradigm.

as a peacemaker, I have learned how easy it can be to become frazzled when a person attempts to twist our words that we used and the best tool i can offer is to constantly know that the present is all there is, so if a person brings up the past you can be confident that you do not live in that space, you live in the present, where it is either warm, cold, hot, pretty, ugly, north, south, and so on and so forth.

present time is the only time there is.

ashe

Regarding occupy and decolonize and the "Movement" in 2012

who is able or willing to listen to reason?

when it comes to the distribution of wealth and resources, including basic needs, food, water, shelter and then extending to more frivolous items -- the basic truth is this: the more equitable the distribution, the less likely it is that there will be vast numbers of people trying to take what the super wealthy have. before i start to sound too "socialist" or "communist" whatever those words mean to you, let me say that i am coming from a place of logic and i do not have an agenda to promote some platform or whatever, i am simply drawing attention to this fact. what would be the antidotes to our current dysfunction and imbalance?

empathy versus psychic ability

When is the line crossed between an empathic experience, wherein you can feel what the other person is feeling, and a psychic one, wherein you sense information beyond just their emotions? These experiences are linked.

i am convinced you can develop both empathic skills as well as psychic skills like many other skills that need practice. the question is who are the best teachers? are you one of the best teachers for yourself? and then more importantly, most important, what are the intentions behind the practice? Who are you serving? your own interests, and your own pursuits? service to the higher good?  these are tricky areas because we might have hidden motivations we are not aware of, that are to be discovered after certain actions are taken. 

we are born with gifts, inherent in our human nature. these gifts take time and effort to cultivate but some of us are born into levels of awareness that appear more advanced than others. we struggle with the desire to compete with each other in order to build identities based upon what we feel will give us the most glory and satisfy the egotistical need to be recognized for what we can do - this need is not necessarily a negative one and can clearly be a part of us that serves to motivate and create- which can lead to highly productive and useful entities, actions, endeavors, etc. When motivations go unexamined that is when the results end up being often quite disturbing.

feed the people event -- July first!

yes! live performance can make you feel alive, more alive than a shot of pure adrenaline but does it really change you?

this event today celebrated what we call "interdependence day" and we thank all who helped and showed up because it was a success-- we fed people - we entertained them, we included them, we possibly uplifted them, we showed a couple films. overall, it went very well. people were free to paint with graffiti boards set up and that kept folks focused on making art happen. 

Lauryn Hill articulates her position on why she chooses what she does.

 Lauryn Hill's blog post. In her own words. I may not understand all her choices but I believe in letting her get her word out, and in general not making assumptions about people in the public eye.

“For the past several years, I have remained what others would consider underground. I did this in order to build a community of people, like-minded in their desire for freedom and the right to pursue their goals and lives without being manipulated and controlled by a media protected military industrial complex with a completely different agenda. Having put the lives and needs of other people before my own for multiple years, and having made hundreds of millions of dollars for certain institutions, under complex and sometimes severe circumstances, I began to require growth and more equitable treatment, but was met with resistance. I entered into my craft full of optimism (which I still possess), but immediately saw the suppressive force with which the system attempts to maintain it’s control over a given paradigm. I’ve seen people promote addiction, use sabotage, black listing, media bullying and any other coercion technique they could, to prevent artists from knowing their true value, or exercising their full power. These devices of control, no matter how well intentioned (or not), can have a devastating outcome on the lives of people, especially creative types who must grow and exist within a certain environment and according to a certain pace, in order to live and create optimally.
I kept my life relatively simple, even after huge successes, but it became increasingly obvious that certain indulgences and privileges were expected to come at the expense of my free soul, free mind, and therefore my health and integrity. So I left a more mainstream and public life, in order to wean both myself, and my family, away from a lifestyle that required distortion and compromise as a means for maintaining it. During this critical healing time, there were very few people accessible to me who had not already been seduced or affected by this machine, and therefore who could be trusted to not try and influence or coerce me back into a dynamic of compromise. Individual growth was expected to take place unnaturally, or stagnated outright, subject to marketing and politics. Addressing critical issues like pop culture cannibalism or its manipulation of the young at the expense of everything, was frowned upon and discouraged by limiting funding, or denying it outright. When one has a prolific creative output like I did/do, and is then forced to stop, the effects can be dangerous both emotionally and psychologically, both for the artist and those in need of that resource. It was critically important that I find a suitable pathway within which to exist, without being distorted or economically strong-armed.
During this period of crisis, much was said about me, both slanted and inaccurate, by those who had become dependent on my creative force, yet unwilling to fully acknowledge the importance of my contribution, nor compensate me equitably for it. This was done in an effort to smear my public image, in order to directly affect my ability to earn independently of this system. It took a long time to locate and nurture a community of people strong enough to resist the incredibly unhealthy tide, and more importantly see through it. If I had not been able to make contact with, and establish this community, my life, safety and freedom, would have been directly affected as well as the lives, safety and freedom of my family. Failure to create a non toxic, non exploitative environment was not an option.
As my potential to work, and therefore earn freely, was being threatened, I did whatever needed to be done in order to insulate my family from the climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation, racial prejudice, sexism and ageism that I was surrounded by. This was absolutely critical while trying to find and establish a new and very necessary community of healthy people, and also heal and detoxify myself and my family while raising my young children.
There were no exotic trips, no fleet of cars, just an all out war for safety, integrity, wholeness and health, without mistreatment denial, and/or exploitation. In order to liberate myself from those who found it ok to oppose my wholeness, free speech and integral growth by inflicting different forms of punitive action against it, I used my resources to sustain our safety and survival until I was able to restore my ability to earn outside of it!
When artists experience danger and crisis under the effects of this kind of insidious manipulation, everyone easily accepts that there was something either dysfunctional or defective with the artist, rather than look at, and fully examine, the system and its means and policies of exploiting/’doing business’. Not only is this unrealistic, it is very dark in its motivation, conveniently targeting the object of their hero worship by removing any evidence that they ‘needed’ or celebrated this very same resource just years, months or moments before. Since those who believe they need a hero/celebrity outnumber the actual heroes/celebrities, people feel safe and comfortably justified in numbers, committing egregious crimes in the name of the greater social ego. Ironically diminishing their own true hero-celebrity nature in the process.
It was this schism and the hypocrisy, violence and social cannibalism it enabled, that I wanted and needed to be freed from, not from art or music, but the suppression/repression and reduction of that art and music to a bottom line alone, without regard for anything else. Over-commercialization and its resulting restrictions and limitations can be very damaging and distorting to the inherent nature of the individual. I Love making art, I Love making music, these are as natural and necessary for me almost as breathing or talking. To be denied the right to pursue it according to my ability, as well as be properly acknowledged and compensated for it, in an attempt to control, is manipulation directed at my most basic rights! These forms of expression, along with others, effectively comprise my free speech! Defending, preserving, and protecting these rights are critically important, especially in a paradigm where veiled racism, sexism, ageism, nepotism, and deliberate economic control are still blatant realities!!!
Learning from the past, insulating friends and family from the influence of external manipulation and corruption, is far more important to me than being misunderstood for a season! I did not deliberately abandon my fans, nor did I deliberately abandon any responsibilities, but I did however put my safety, health and freedom and the freedom, safety and health of my family first over all other material concerns! I also embraced my right to resist a system intentionally opposing my right to whole and integral survival.
I conveyed all of this when questioned as to why I did not file taxes during this time period. Obviously, the danger I faced was not accepted as reasonable grounds for deferring my tax payments, as authorities, who despite being told all of this, still chose to pursue action against me, as opposed to finding an alternative solution.
My intention has always been to get this situation rectified. When I was working consistently without being affected by the interferences mentioned above, I filed and paid my taxes. This only stopped when it was necessary to withdraw from society, in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of myself and my family.
As this, and other areas of issue are resolved and set straight, I am able to get back to doing what I should be doing, the way it should be done. This is part of that process. To those supporters who were told that I abandoned them, that is untrue. I abandoned greed, corruption, and compromise, never you, and never the artistic gifts and abilities that sustained me.”

"what happens to the earth happens to us"

 check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbjzujo1Qx8&feature=BFa&list=LLL-cKcfU9X3Kju_Vk2R4KLQ

wake up call - manifesto- summer 2012

energy is everything and everything in existence carries energy so
what is the money?
printed green by machines
we imbue it with meaning
but it means no more or less than the leaves from which it comes
the paper itself
we dream meaning into existence
just as we were dreamed into existence by forces we cannot
clearly name
until we do
until we shift toward what is really true
and  a new currency -a new world order
just might be under way
but whose dream is this? whose reality are you willing to share?
and how much of your energy do you pour into
manufactured happiness?
the patriarchs that perpetuated slavery are printed on these bills
and yet they are our ancestors who represent the energy of their era
but this era- this is our time!
this era just may promise long awaited remedies
to their mistakes
we must manifest alternatives to their atrocities
or history will continue to repeat itself 
whether capitalist or communist or anarchist or street hustler
what are the new remedies to the old poison?
the deities in us are struggling to come forth- to emerge
sometimes through egotistical shouts- sometimes in silence
but you can refuse to feed the demons
whose dream are you serving?
how do your actions reflect this?