you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.
But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army
Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope,sex.
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge. With four
you can play bridge and start
an organization. With six
you can rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no
seconds, and hold a fund raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
Ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.
It goes on one at a time,
It starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they tsaid no,
it starts when you say WE
and know who you mean, and each
day you mean one more.
Marge Piercy (quoted in Revolution From Within--Gloria Steinem)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Politics and the Big Picture
In almost every enterprise, governmet has provided business with opportunities for private gain at public expense. Government nurtures private capital accumulation through a process of subsidies, supports, and deficit spending and on increasingly inequitable tax systems. From ranchers to resort owners, from brokers to bankers, from auto makers to missile makers, there prevails a welfare for the rich of such magnitude as to make us marvel at the corporate leaders' audacity in preaching the virtues of self-reliance whenever lesser forms of public assistance threaten to reach hands other than their own"
Michael Parenti
Have you felt a little jolt of dis-equilibrium lately? Kind of like the day after Sept. 11?
You're not alone. The bare, bald fact is this: In the face of a major collapse in Western Capitalism your local government, your provincial government, and the Federal government will be as useless as, well you fill in the blank...tits on a moose.
If we are to act, prudently. in our own self-interest, now is the time.
Who the hell are we? Anyway? Well, you might be someone in Newmarket who sees one of my posters in the next couple of weeks.
What I would like to do is bring as many 1%'s together in the next three weeks, that I have the nucleus of what will hopefully become a self replikating organic organization, operating in it's own self interest.
That's a mouthfull. I am hoping for the support of the Kensington Dinner Club, a magical study group currently working on one of E. J. Gold's Masterpieces " Practical Work on Self"
I'm also going to call in as many relatives, friends, acquaintances, workmates, strangers on the street as I can over the next three weeks.
I'm planning a working weekend with as many friends as I can muster. Next weekend, will be a much more widely advertised event, running from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm. We'll share a great dinner, have a few cocktails, and watch a couple of movies. I should have use of a projector by then. These are truly great videos, that must be seen.
We're looking for people that might be interested in organizing or joining in things like beer& wine making clubs, frop circles, whatever... In the interests of encouraging such discussion, a number of sign up sheets will be displayed ...hell make up your own.
The culmination of the Month's Festivities will be the 1st Annual Rebellion Ball. More on that later this week. Prepare to dress as your favorite rebel!
We should have generated enough funds by October 31st to incorporate one or more organizations designed to make all of our lives better.
Spread the word Give me a call let's get together
As my good friend Sun-jye http://www.sunjye-blog.blogspot.com/
often says:
ask for what you want turn up the love live with the result
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Why Create Concious Community Structures?
Here is a crude copy of what such an organization Might look like, a year into its life:
It's clearly part of the next evolutionary step. Period. Full Stop.
Therefore our children must be schooled in the creation, nurturance and development of structures, memes and lifestyles that are fractals of the entire sweep of changes that will overtake our existing structures, institutions and mindset. The only way to effectively do that is to DO IT. Direct action is required.
How to design the structures that will facilitate those changes is the secret that I'd like to unravel over the course of the next year.
One of the impediments in my life has been the inertia of trying to slog through Krishnamurti, Susuki, Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Osho, Idries Shah, Omar Ali Shah, E.J Gold and all of the related authors, commentaries, etc., while being married and raising 3 boys, and still trying to understand and implement the theories, philosophies, and hints that festoon the esoteric path. I'm willing to admit that it's been slow going at times.
Accelerated evolution requires group structures. I've come to believe that in my soul. Not just any kind of group will suffice but just about any kind of group can serve as the conduit to higher learning. The kind of higher learning that creates conscious communities.
To quote from E. J. Gold:
"In terms of working alone or in a group situation, it depends on how fast we want to work. If we want to work individually and spend say thirty years achieving enough of a waking state that we can begin work, then by all means we should work by ourselves. But if we prefer to work a lot faster and achieve in two weeks what normally would take five or six years to accomplish then we might decide that we prefer to work in a group."
E. J. Gold 'The Human Biological Machine as a Transformational Apparatus'
Of course, E. J Gold is talking about specialised esoteric groups; a similar dynamic applies to almost any group. There is a special kind of energy which is created in group situations. I myself have felt it at times in a very direct and unmistakeable way.
The secret lies in making the design of the organization and its inevitable spin-offs to be viral in nature. Maybe a better term would be fractals, because the design of the original is what is copied, over and over again, in response to different pressures, situations and necessities.
Keep in mind that the organization itself is designed to be organic, constantly undergoing change and revitalization, splitting apart to form separate, but connected groups.
If you take the time to read the following post on Stupidity, you will begin to understand the urgency of the situation.
Ciao
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The power of Stupidity
I felt a strange need, over the past week, after some conversations that I had with Sunjye,to go back into my files and dig up the following piece. I consider it to be seminal work, in that it posits the actual task facing anyone who would dare to question the bureaucratic machine. It also raises some interesting reference points and parameters for forming groups which facilitate the creation of conscious communities.
The opposite of consciousness is sleep.
The most common manifestation of sleep is stupidity.
Einstein said "There are two things that I know to be infinite. The universe and Human Stupidity...and I'm not sure about the former...
Marx said that stupidity was just behind capital and violence as a causal factor in shaping world events.
I personally think that Einstein got it right, and Marx was off by 2, but he was in the ballpark.
Please enjoy the following.
The Power of Stupidity
*I've decided to amend the original posting from it's full length to
its most salient points, in order to move the discussion along.
I'd be happy to pass along copies of the entire paper to anyone who's interested.
The following are the Great Laws of Stupidity, as well as an insightful look into human nature,
First Law
We always underestimate the number of stupid people.
This is not as obvious as it sounds, says Cipolla, because: people we had thought to be rational and intelligent suddenly turn out to be unquestionably stupid; and day after day we are hampered in whatever we do by stupid people who invariably turn up in the least appropriate places.
He also observes that it is impossible to set a percentage, because any number we choose will be too small.
Second Law
The probability of a person being stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
If you study the frequency of stupidity in the people who come to clean up classrooms after hours, you find that it is much higher than you expected. You assume that this is related to their lower level of education, or to the fact that non-stupid people have better chances of obtaining good jobs. But when you analyze students or University professors (or, I would add, computer programmers) the distribution is exactly the same.
Militant feminists may be incensed, says Cipolla, but the stupidity factor is the same in both genders (or as many genders, or sexes, as you may choose to consider). No difference in the sigma factor, as Cipolla calls it, can be found by race, color, ethnic heritage, education, etcetera.
Third (and Golden) Law
A stupid person is someone who causes damage to another person, or a group of people, without any advantage accruing to himself (or herself) -- or even with some resultant self-damage.
(We shall come back to this, because it is the pivotal concept of the Cipolla Theory.)
Fourth Law
Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid people. They constantly forget that at any moment, and in any circumstance, associating with stupid people invariably constitutes an expensive mistake.
That (I would say) suggests that non-stupid people are a bit stupid -- but I shall get back to this point at the end.
Fifth Law
A stupid person is the most dangerous person in existence.
This is probably the most widely understood of the Laws, if only because it is common knowledge that intelligent people, hostile as they might be, are predictable, while stupid people are not. Moreover, its basic corollary:
A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit
leads us to the heart of the Cipolla Theory. There are four types of people, he says, depending on their behavior in a transaction:
Hapless
Someone whose actions tend to generate self-damage, but also to create advantage for someone else.
Intelligent
Someone whose actions tend to generate self-advantage, as well as advantage for others.
Bandit
Someone whose actions tend to generate self-advantage while causing damage to others.
I have always been fascinated with Stupidity.
M
Thursday, September 20, 2007
I Ching
Hexagram 35
I threw the following hexagram a few weeks ago in response to the question "What are the prospects for the "Conscious Communities Project"
The following result gave mne a big boost of energy.
Judgement:
This hexagram points to the realization of powerful, stimulating ideas which have a significance and importance extending beyond one's personal good fortune. The work is going well and creatively. You will feel a sense of being guided by a higher force. Feedback from the outside world will come eventually, but now it is the ideas themselves, and dthe form in which they are envisaged, which are of paramount importance. These must be developed because they are valuable, though their true significance may not be realized at once. Communicate- and when the right people people are told of the work they will be very supportive.
The other intimation here is that the individual concerned is not in a strictly independent position. he cannot develop the full potential of the ideas alone and unaided. He does not have sufficient resources (finance, expertise, administrative and management resources) to carry the project to fruition. But without ideas and ability to coordinate efforts along a particular line, the project cannot work either. However, when the right time comes, all the neccessary resources and help will be forthecoming (but see any conditions attached in the lines where appropriate and the future hexagram, if any, in order the know how best to proceed).
Ideas and projects are 'on the right lines' and that is sufficient to make a clear case. ideas seem to be 'coming from above'.
The individual concerned is acting as a catalyst or 'receiver/transmitter' and without this ingredient, the so-called logic of the situation would not be meaningful. The hexagram says "Carry on, you are doing well, don't worry about whether people will follow or understand".
When these kinds of conditions prevail - giving confidence to continue - the right help will inevitably come.
* Six in the second place.
Times may be hard just now. Keep working though. Soon, a person who understands your predicament gives help because the work is good and worthwhile and is not offered with any underhand or ulterior motive.
* Nine in the fourth place
This is a situation which must be strenuously guarded against. It is as follows: an individual (or more than one person) attains wealth and power either by his own mark, or through favour, deserved or other wise, coming to him from another. An inferior person sees in his new wealth and power an opportunity to abuse his position, to break the drules, as it were: to go against the spirit which should accompany wealth and influence.
This spirit corresponds with a true stature of mind, ability, heart, understanding, and real nobility. In the hands of the selfish, mean, cruel, ignorant and cowardly, wealth and power do indeed become evil. In the end there is no escape from the consequences of abuse.
The main thrust of the line, however, is not to accuse, but to warn against the trappings theat great progress may bring when it manifests as an office of wealth and power. Simply that. But it is a wrning which has no greater significance than in the world of dcommerce and politics.
Warnings of this nature are ignored at great cost.
The preceeding interpretation of Hexagram 35 is from " The I Ching on business and decision-making" by Guy Damian-Knight
The following bits of advice are included under a category: Decision --Base Assumptions
Management:
Take the widest possible view. Do not discard any ideas, plans, and possibilities. The most positive and confident attitude must be in evidence. What happens now will definitely have positive consequences for the future. Make headway under your own steam as internal forces are cooperating necely. External cooperation, by which is meant owtside companies and organizations, is forthcoming, but any delays in this regard should not be taken as a judgement on personal progress.
Planning
The time is auspicious for making clear pklans. Keep careful notes and, where particular concepts come through loud and clear, make certain to connect them within a larger scheme.
Creative Judgement
your creative judgement at this time is unusually brilliant and you can rely upon your intuition and conclusions, provided your perception is not cluded with thoughts of material gain. Develop these ideas but be patient, take a long view.
Investment and Finance
I threw the following hexagram a few weeks ago in response to the question "What are the prospects for the "Conscious Communities Project"
The following result gave mne a big boost of energy.
Judgement:
This hexagram points to the realization of powerful, stimulating ideas which have a significance and importance extending beyond one's personal good fortune. The work is going well and creatively. You will feel a sense of being guided by a higher force. Feedback from the outside world will come eventually, but now it is the ideas themselves, and dthe form in which they are envisaged, which are of paramount importance. These must be developed because they are valuable, though their true significance may not be realized at once. Communicate- and when the right people people are told of the work they will be very supportive.
The other intimation here is that the individual concerned is not in a strictly independent position. he cannot develop the full potential of the ideas alone and unaided. He does not have sufficient resources (finance, expertise, administrative and management resources) to carry the project to fruition. But without ideas and ability to coordinate efforts along a particular line, the project cannot work either. However, when the right time comes, all the neccessary resources and help will be forthecoming (but see any conditions attached in the lines where appropriate and the future hexagram, if any, in order the know how best to proceed).
Ideas and projects are 'on the right lines' and that is sufficient to make a clear case. ideas seem to be 'coming from above'.
The individual concerned is acting as a catalyst or 'receiver/transmitter' and without this ingredient, the so-called logic of the situation would not be meaningful. The hexagram says "Carry on, you are doing well, don't worry about whether people will follow or understand".
When these kinds of conditions prevail - giving confidence to continue - the right help will inevitably come.
* Six in the second place.
Times may be hard just now. Keep working though. Soon, a person who understands your predicament gives help because the work is good and worthwhile and is not offered with any underhand or ulterior motive.
* Nine in the fourth place
This is a situation which must be strenuously guarded against. It is as follows: an individual (or more than one person) attains wealth and power either by his own mark, or through favour, deserved or other wise, coming to him from another. An inferior person sees in his new wealth and power an opportunity to abuse his position, to break the drules, as it were: to go against the spirit which should accompany wealth and influence.
This spirit corresponds with a true stature of mind, ability, heart, understanding, and real nobility. In the hands of the selfish, mean, cruel, ignorant and cowardly, wealth and power do indeed become evil. In the end there is no escape from the consequences of abuse.
The main thrust of the line, however, is not to accuse, but to warn against the trappings theat great progress may bring when it manifests as an office of wealth and power. Simply that. But it is a wrning which has no greater significance than in the world of dcommerce and politics.
Warnings of this nature are ignored at great cost.
The preceeding interpretation of Hexagram 35 is from " The I Ching on business and decision-making" by Guy Damian-Knight
The following bits of advice are included under a category: Decision --Base Assumptions
Management:
Take the widest possible view. Do not discard any ideas, plans, and possibilities. The most positive and confident attitude must be in evidence. What happens now will definitely have positive consequences for the future. Make headway under your own steam as internal forces are cooperating necely. External cooperation, by which is meant owtside companies and organizations, is forthcoming, but any delays in this regard should not be taken as a judgement on personal progress.
Planning
The time is auspicious for making clear pklans. Keep careful notes and, where particular concepts come through loud and clear, make certain to connect them within a larger scheme.
Creative Judgement
your creative judgement at this time is unusually brilliant and you can rely upon your intuition and conclusions, provided your perception is not cluded with thoughts of material gain. Develop these ideas but be patient, take a long view.
Investment and Finance
Auspicious, if not now, then later. But the outcome is certain when the right cooperation is found.
Backing
Auspicious. Seek and you shall find.
Growth
The short-medium-long term prospects are excellent, but this is strictly conditional upon understanding the whole picture. An illuminating influence is gaining ascendency.
Cooperation
Inevitable, but make sure your ideas have clarity.
Sources of Misfortune
What is being described here is progress from the darkness of selfich aims to wider aims which benefit and illuminate others. how they signify in the tangible world will depend upon aptitude and ability. But progress is into the light. Transcend selfish aims.
Sources of Good Fortune
Material considerations are secondary to the development and clarification of these newly emerging creative ideas
I should also mention, that when the 'moving lines' are changed into their opposite, the resulting hexagram is number 64 - the last hexagram - Before Completion.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
What is a "Conscious Community?"
I believe that we are about to witness a dramatic shift in popular culture.
This new culture will evolve partly as a response to the plethora of threats to our survival, and partly out of the age old quest for an evolved consciousness.
New forms of community will emerge, like crystals, made up of like-minded individual seekers. These are the antidote to the precipitous violence which normally occurs during major paradigm shifts
These will be individuals who consciously choose to live in a universe that is centered, balanced, integrated and harmonious. At least most of the time...
These individuals are those who are ready to make the leap to "Second Tier Consciousness" (you really should try to get a hold of some Ken Wilber, many of his talks are available on you tube))
Anyway, as I mentioned before, this blog is about my search for individual enlightenment through group work in community. That's it in a nutshell.
Now you see it, now you don't.
I believe in a universe in which the highest rewards are reserved for those that have the ability to give the most, to themselves and each other, instead of those who take the most, out of greed and anger.
I believe that every intelligent individual, family and group has a right to a life that is joyous, sustainable, connected and rewarding.
I have developed a plan. Well, plan might not be the right word. Lets call it a helpful organism, like a virus, only in a good way.
Over the course of many years of thought, in conjunction with a number of exceptionally gifted people, (because we're all plagiarists, even if we don't acknowledge it) I believe that I know how to develop the necessary facilitory instruments that will encourage the emergence of evolutionary social adaptations.
That's am overly didactic way of saying that I've had a glimpse of the future, and think I know how to help create the design, incorporation , and implementation of a different kind of life.
I know I would welcome the emergence of more enlightened, holistic, and balanced institutions in my life.
The ones that I bump up against usually end up rubbing me the wrong way.
A good friend of mine, architect Alex Benedek, with whom I collaborated on the creation of the Newmarket Community Business Access Center, once asked the redoubtable Professor Marshall McLuhan how one set about to reform institutions.
"You Don't" replied Dr. McLuhan. "You Replace Them!"
I think it's about time. THE REVOLUTION STARTS TODAY.
I think that I know how to start the reaction, as it were.
I think I know how to be (or more properly, become) the "seed crystal" to this process.
Next Post : "How to Build the Organizational Structure of the Future"
This new culture will evolve partly as a response to the plethora of threats to our survival, and partly out of the age old quest for an evolved consciousness.
New forms of community will emerge, like crystals, made up of like-minded individual seekers. These are the antidote to the precipitous violence which normally occurs during major paradigm shifts
These will be individuals who consciously choose to live in a universe that is centered, balanced, integrated and harmonious. At least most of the time...
These individuals are those who are ready to make the leap to "Second Tier Consciousness" (you really should try to get a hold of some Ken Wilber, many of his talks are available on you tube))
Anyway, as I mentioned before, this blog is about my search for individual enlightenment through group work in community. That's it in a nutshell.
Now you see it, now you don't.
I believe in a universe in which the highest rewards are reserved for those that have the ability to give the most, to themselves and each other, instead of those who take the most, out of greed and anger.
I believe that every intelligent individual, family and group has a right to a life that is joyous, sustainable, connected and rewarding.
I have developed a plan. Well, plan might not be the right word. Lets call it a helpful organism, like a virus, only in a good way.
Over the course of many years of thought, in conjunction with a number of exceptionally gifted people, (because we're all plagiarists, even if we don't acknowledge it) I believe that I know how to develop the necessary facilitory instruments that will encourage the emergence of evolutionary social adaptations.
That's am overly didactic way of saying that I've had a glimpse of the future, and think I know how to help create the design, incorporation , and implementation of a different kind of life.
I know I would welcome the emergence of more enlightened, holistic, and balanced institutions in my life.
The ones that I bump up against usually end up rubbing me the wrong way.
A good friend of mine, architect Alex Benedek, with whom I collaborated on the creation of the Newmarket Community Business Access Center, once asked the redoubtable Professor Marshall McLuhan how one set about to reform institutions.
"You Don't" replied Dr. McLuhan. "You Replace Them!"
I think it's about time. THE REVOLUTION STARTS TODAY.
I think that I know how to start the reaction, as it were.
I think I know how to be (or more properly, become) the "seed crystal" to this process.
Next Post : "How to Build the Organizational Structure of the Future"
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Initial Post
I want to say right off the bat that I am neither a soviet-style social engineer, in other words, I do not believe that the answer to every supposed social ill is to pass just a few more prohibitive laws..., nor am I a sexual deviate--in other words I am not a Liberal.
I'd like to open my blog with a few quotes...then try and help you get to know me...The first quote is from Senator Bill Bradley
" Imagination allows us to escape the predictable. Artists, scientists, poets use the
power of imagination every day. For those of us who found it playing the game of
basketball, it has shaped our joy in countless ways. It has enriched our experience
and allowed us to feel the thrill of fresh creation. It puts us in touch with what makes
us human. Above all, it enables us to see beyond the moment, to trancend our
circumstances however dire they appear, and to reply to the common wisdom that
says we cannot soar by saying, "Just watch!"
I'm about the next stage in human evolution, about consciously stepping on the gas pedal of human development.
I think I know some steps towards creating a more harmonious, balanced, and sustainable community.
I intend to chronicle the implementation of some of these ideas as we go along.
Basically, I want to establish that I am just like you! and that what I accomplish in the next year, you can do too!, in your own community. In fact, it's the self replicating nature of what I'm proposing that makes it such a seductive approach to experiment with.
Next Post: "What is a Conscious Community"
I'd like to open my blog with a few quotes...then try and help you get to know me...The first quote is from Senator Bill Bradley
" Imagination allows us to escape the predictable. Artists, scientists, poets use the
power of imagination every day. For those of us who found it playing the game of
basketball, it has shaped our joy in countless ways. It has enriched our experience
and allowed us to feel the thrill of fresh creation. It puts us in touch with what makes
us human. Above all, it enables us to see beyond the moment, to trancend our
circumstances however dire they appear, and to reply to the common wisdom that
says we cannot soar by saying, "Just watch!"
I'm about the next stage in human evolution, about consciously stepping on the gas pedal of human development.
I think I know some steps towards creating a more harmonious, balanced, and sustainable community.
I intend to chronicle the implementation of some of these ideas as we go along.
Basically, I want to establish that I am just like you! and that what I accomplish in the next year, you can do too!, in your own community. In fact, it's the self replicating nature of what I'm proposing that makes it such a seductive approach to experiment with.
Next Post: "What is a Conscious Community"
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