Paying attention Due to the economic recession, I have been spending a lot of time on the phone with clients and colleagues in an attempt to both secure businesses for my team as well as to touch base with people and gain a better understanding for how my network is responding to the tough times [...]

Al Gore is my Jesus, my Ghandi, my Buddah, my Allah, my last hope.

banality aside we step lightly on each others toes try and try to find some light in each others eye tread in each side step of being self and selfless and gather wonder in our heart’s discordance what tune what do we do here find here? inside of magic and nothing is there the same [...]

slender grace this raindrop from skyward falls fills inself on entrance and exhales shifts becomes finds parts of itself left behind yet its focus is unchanging once still expanding full grace gives way to peace

Several days ago I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read “Jeb Bush 2008″. Today I read this… http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=5379738&nav=2Ifu http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4172759.html -est

Semanas semejante suenos Mi corazon es el mar Salio con un murmuello Tranquillo y contento Y a veces soy una tempestad Marco el compas con mis ondas Yo soy nunca resposado Yo soy nunca durmiente Semejante suenos Soy siempre alli Mi risa es el chaparron que alimenta el mar Soy un espejo Brillo con el [...]

Who would have thought baby making was such a big deal?

Wonder what’s going on?

Published on Thursday, July 6, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
Written by Jeff Cohen

And yet another…war…and another….always money for war….but never enough for indispensible things like education, housing, healthcare….when will we wake up Americans?

Is the moon out tonight Will she be peeking Through the wisps of Summer’s fog Watching me As tears slip And glitter as they fall Is the moon out tonight Or is she sleeping Not aware in her bed of stars Wake and watch me! I’m not dreaming Far now from where you are I [...]

Our apologies in the delay for posting comments. Due to the number of spam (many of them quite disgusting) we are moving to a moderated comment approach. This means that before your comment goes live it must be approved by the admin. Said admin was traveling this last week and had limitted access to the web – hence the delay. Much apologies. Thanks for your indulgence. Drop me a line if you encounter any delays in the future.

At least among many people I know, there will be a mass exodus from doing business with AT&T after reading this article that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday.

There are realms of my life and work that are apparently separate, but they are beginning to merge in unexpected ways. I do not know where it is leading. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Confirmed via: http://www.snopes.com/politics/arts/pbs2006.asp from moveon.org : Everyone expected House Republicans to give up efforts to kill NPR and PBS after a massive public outcry stopped them last year. But they’ve just voted to eliminate funding for NPR and PBS — unbelievably, starting with programs like “Sesame Street.” Public broadcasting would lose nearly a quarter of [...]

Today at the most war-glorifying, soldier-heroing ceremony ever – the ceremony that repeatedly bellowed the lies of this war of spreading freedom & democracy while protecting our freedom & democracy – we stand in the middle of the parade route and represent the voice of peace. We (including our 77 yr. old elder) are spit on, screamed at, threatened, materials snatched from our hands & ripped up, as we stand on the grounds of peace.

Silence Wakes me Finds space in my bed Between the sheets and my dreams Snuggles up and pretends it’s been there For days I focus This cloud This shine I hear nothing but the memory of dreams Its logic pours into this reality Senseless Slowly I lose the threads of thought From then to now [...]

Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.

“Every time sensitive intelligence is leaked it hurts this country.” Our fearless leader came out on his pulpit today and told us this again.

Boeing-Boeing runs a story about UN World Intellectual Property Organization trying to organize worldwide censorship, ban podcasts and perform some other interesting things sake saving the market positions of current media-monopolies. Here is an excerpt: UN cooking podcast-killing treaty The UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization has reconvened to discuss a treaty that will kill innovative [...]

The vital issue at stake is something called “net neutrality” – it is the concept that that everyone, everywhere, should have free, universal and non-discriminatory access to all the Internet has to offer.

“Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised.”

There is a currently evolving story of a paradigm shift in the distribution of broadcast audio due to a simple technology that provides easy access to audio files, commonly known as an iPod.

Sometimes it is the small efforts in life that add up to something much larger.

One thing you get clear about in traveling to new epicenters of human activity like Kiev, is that when opportunity is born people come flooding in.

We’re just ahead of our time…

The passing of an amazing soul back to her community. Flags at SF City Hall flown at half-mast.

Amen. http://www.impeachbush.org/site/PageServer

green link

When I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they naturally did.

V-Day 2006: Until the Violence Stops. I was given the privilege to be part of the cast of “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler, presented on the campus of the University of Utah last night and benefiting programs for the prevention of violence against women and girls here in Utah. Although I have seen the Vagina Monologues 3 or 4 times previously, it was incredibly moving to be part of the cast representing women of different ages from diverse backgrounds and experiences. This experience moved me to post on DS after a long absence.

Half our apartment building burned down on Sunday morning…

let’s get busy people

An incident of road rage in an Aliso Viejo shopping center parking lot, has left me wondering if race was a factor.

Ever seen a ninja dance like Hammer?

- Grandma just called and said you’re supposed to go home.
- She didn’t tell me anything.
- Too bad, she said she doesn’t want you here when she gets back because you’ve been ruining everybody’s lives and eating all our steak.
- I’m not goin’ anywhere, Napoleon.
- Get off my property!
- It’s a free country. I can do whatever I want.
- Get off my property or I’ll call the cops on you.
- Well then do it! Go on!
- Maybe I will, GOSH!

sorry for deleting a few comments. we have been getting hit by some blog spam and while deleting the tons of new ones that occured over the holidayts i mistakenly deleted the last few. Sorry gang.

Score one for intelligence in public education. Today a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled teaching so-called “intelligent design” in the classroom violates the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. In his ruling, the judge said “Our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom” and “We find that the secular purposes claimed by the board amount to a pretext for the board’s real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom.” Are ID proponents the next Dodos?

Please listen to the show from Democracy Now covering Bush’s authorization for NSA to Eavesdrop on Americans without court approval http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/19/1515212

As the Holiday Season comes upon us and we think of all we are blessed with, we should realize we have more to be thankful for than ever. Normally at this time of year we’d be celebrating just one immaculate conception: that of Jesus Christ. But this year, we get to celebrate not only Baby Jesus, but Baby Cruise as well.

Aw heck. The good ‘ol US of A is flunking…

-eyeseetruth

911 Commission Report Card for the Bush Administration

Article on 911 commission report card

In the spirit of the holiday I wanted to briefly introduce myself by way of giving thanks…

In Ukraine, one year after the Orange Revolutiuon the battle for the countrys future is still underway. Ukrainians, my dear compatriots, are trying to understand what has changed during this year. No doubt, Ukrainians have changed a lot. For the first time we have felt responsible for the future of this land. For the first [...]

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday. See you next week!

don’t worry…there’s more…click here

Feels like a Monday to me

I’ve been doing presentations on everyday activism lately, and I’d like to invite us to talk a little about what it means to us. My questions for discussion include, “What does it mean to you to be an activist?”

How about you worry about protecting your own daughter, buddy?

GOOD MORNING!!!

Hope waits for no one
We make it so
Love, lend your heart, give us strength

Peace in our lifetime
Suffering need be no more
Don’t walk alone
There is light, there is light

8,000 geeks converge on Anaheim, CA for BlizzCon

It was in 1859, one hundred and forty-six years ago next month, that Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, and it’s been under attack ever since.

I had to re-post this list. Love DOES make a marriage.

Good F&*@ing Morning

Hi, everybody! Today I have stumbled on a very interestiong instrument that misght be of interest for members of Driving Socrates community. It is Flock – a Firefox-based Web-browser for active users of Blogs and other social web-services. Besides a really neat interface it seems rather functional, though has some glitches. Still it has some [...]

Please welcome the first Edition of the Driving Socrates Comics Page

more bushspeaken

Is there no stopping Bush from trashing this country?

The beauty of reclamation

For the first time in history, a marriage equality bill has passed through a state legislature. The bill could reach Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk this week.
The Governor has indicated that he will veto this historic legislation.

Heavy steps on drunken feet Join jazz beats Wake me from my sleep Now knowing the mess Of death Homes no longer possessed I long for laughter’s flight Pouring out with doorway light Into a warm Louisiana night My ache finds it’s heart Safely here, this world apart Like a shiny penny tossed I have [...]

andrei and sherry in costa rica stumble upon an internet cafe.

Civilization was a game I played on a glowing box, a mark of my own nation’s scientific achievement. I find myself playing the same game on a similar box today, only this time I am not the leader. I am the citizen.

A friend emailed today and said she is taking a doctor, an acupuncturist, a couple of other people and a big truck (she’s also a massage therapist) and driving to Louisiana to help. She found some organizations that can use her and she is mobilizing. She asked for donations of items they could take with them and offered a list to start from with ideas. So many of those items were things I just “had in my house”, had EXTRA of, was hoarding for a time when they would be needed. (Even a COPY MACHINE, which was on the list and in my garage!)

A favor to ask…

Are you a “dirty red”?

San Francisco, CA

“While magic as I understand it is more a craft than an art or a science, the basic principle holds. The medium of magic is consciousness — one’s own consciousness, that of other people, and (more controversially, at least within the worldview of modern industrial culture) that of other-than-human entities of various kinds. The tools of magic are will, imagination, and the innate structures of consciousness itself, constellated through formal patterns of symbol and ritual. The goals of magic are defined by the individual magician.”

–John Michael Greer

An angel sang with cherub’s beauty, I forgot her tattered wings. I know she aches from holding worlds of hopes that burn her quiet dreams. From climbing forth from painful pit, her back must ache as wings are dragged. And yet her voice from heaven’s choir cannot be stiffled cannot be gagged. I have seen [...]

I’m feeling excited and honored to have an opportunity to contribute to this growing community

alone in soft dawn light the moon pulled back the tide left softly to abide alone in placid strength with seaweed floating near waves breaking in my ears alone beside the sea with all the world asleep in fortune’s dream of peace

The following comes to me via Freepress.net. It is the prepared text for Bill Moyers’ eloquent speech to the National Conference for Media Reform on May 15, 2005. The event in St. Louis was organized and hosted by Free Press.net

This sway Like sea-legs I spin Into the bliss of oblivion Rest on the pillow of waves Awash in this Moment of purity With a careful glance behind I see the last Of the soft sunshine Pull myself into this core Wander back, new To who I was before Greet myself With this kind bliss [...]

It sucks to not feel safe in your own neighborhood, let alone your apartment complex.

Did you know that the Chief of Staff of the Bush Administration’s Council on Environmental Quality was previously a lobbyist for oil companies???

For anyone who considers the complexity of controlling progress and the use of tools and technology in such a way as to be their master rather than their servant.

If you have Farmers Insurance in CA and use their monthly billing; you need to know this.

Alexander Gorlov’s helical turbine, a device that’s 100 inches long and resembles “an oversize beater from an old handheld mixer,” can harness kinetic energy from any body of water, including canals, open oceans, and rivers.

What do you want? A headline? Just read it!

Warning! Negative thinking ahead!

If you’ve ever wondered why people who are hurt by Bush’s policies still vote for him, or how it is that conservatives have stolen such a mind share in this country, or how we can fight their Orwellian double speak, then pick up George Lakoff’s “Don’t Think of an Elephant”.

I am so tired of hearing about peoples fucked up childhoods. If I hear another person try to explain away their deviant behavior by saying that they couldn’t help it because they had a messed up childhood I’m going to scream.

It’s a banner day for truth!

Forest

Now I say that with some sadness. I have done my packing, its 3am in Kyiv. In two hours we will climb in a cab for the airport.

Wow being sick while traveling on business is my least favorite thing in the world � well maybe not my least favorite thing. There was that time in the Saudi Arabian dessert where I was stuck in a broken down vehicle, cold and running out of food and I� well that�s a different story.

My latest obsession: The Conet Project Call me late to the party, but I recently discovered this. In short, The Conet Project is the title of a collection of recordings from shortwave radios all around the world. But these are not simply people jabbering with each other. These are recordings of ‘numbers stations’. The first [...]

Can not come out to blog or play. Kyiv is still enchanting us. Some highlights: met many new people. I am getting a sense for the frankness of the people here.

After a great night�s sleep in our awesome apartment. A word about our abode. One of our contacts here had helped us find an apartment to rent in the older part of the city. Complete with 20� ceilings, windows almost as tall, a balcony overlooking one of the central streets and comfortable beds.

So where has life decided to take me but to the Ukraine. And though by the last leg of our flight from Amsterdam to Kiev I felt like a wadded damp towel in a mildewy New Orleans bathroom, I was still feeling excited when we landed.

For a long time I’ve had a problem with feminism. Frankly I’m pissed that now I have to go out to work, instead of staying home to be a housewife and mother. I didn’t ask for that. The economy in this country makes it such that for someone my generation to achieve the goal of full time housewife, you have to marry rich (well maybe not rich, but certainly very well). I suppose had I shopped for a husband in a state other than California, I may have had an easier time realizing my career goals, as it turned out, however, my husband, even though acquired through Yahoo! was local.

“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.” Leo Tolstoy “In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” Leo Tolstoy

So, my husband and I were carpooling to work today, as we do every day, listening to Air America. The commercials came on and I was only half listening, but there was a woman talking and I’ll paraphrase here what she said:

“Kids don’t just ask questions, they set traps. Like asking, ‘Mommy, why does it get dark?’ The next thing you know I’m trying to explain stars and black holes and grrrrr. Then I think, ‘Thank goodness for movies. Kids don’t ask questions if they’re watching a movie.’”

YUSHCHENKO!

As many of you know, I have been moved by the struggle of friends in the Ukraine to keep hold of their country. The wild winds of the former soviet union states have been blowing in the direction not unlike what we saw during the Cold War. With corruption running rampant, the presidential election was rigged and stolen by corrupt politicians tied to allogations of bribes, backroom deals and even murder.

Below is a letter that was composed by technology workers in the Ukraine. What an exciting time for us as a world to have such energy being put into the struggle for moving the world in the right direction.

Well, I am off to Disney World etc. with my family for a nice long christmas vacation so I’ll be away until after the holidays. So, in the spirit of Christmas, I will leave you with the experential wisdom of some of my favorite Christian Mystics. Even though I know nothing of Christianity as a [...]

If you thought news about the Bush government in action could not get creepier, here are two related updates from the Organic Consumers Association

Returning from my Thanksgiving holiday with family, I am reminded that I am enjoying the holidays once again. When we were young, we enjoyed the holidays like nothing else. The anticipation, the excitement of seeing distant family members, the bounty of gifts, the time off from school and the genral joy that seems to come [...]

Hello. I’m John from down in San Jose. I tend to play free-form jazz with my words, so if I lose you — it’s my fault not yours. I’m quite good at structured, expository writing, but to hell with all that. These days, I just let my brain bounce and play with the cascading cadences [...]

givingThanksI am at times so overwhelmed with profound gratitude that I well up in tears just taking in the colors and shapes that create a marvelous tapestry that we call the world. It is never anything specific that I feel grateful for but rather the world itself. Just to ‘Be’ seems to be the greatest [...]

Friends, I have some news to report. Below is a piece of an instant messenger conversation I am having with my friend Roman in Kiev where election scandals are coming to a head with a right wing (aligned with a group of former soviet states including Russia that are moving that region back toward the cold war) and a progressive candidate who clearly has the support of the people as you can see http://www.1plus1.tv/video/camera.php

http://www.zmag.org/introtopol.htm

I was online this am with a friend in Kiev who shared with me the anger he and his friends are feeling as they see their country pulled away from a leader they know can make a difference in their country. Sounds like some very dubious election behavior. It is in the air…
http://www.kirotv.com/news/3940711/detail.html

Stay agitated!

Until we have built a society that would willingly dismantle the institutions, technologies and processes it has lovingly created � not because they are not in working order or profitable but because they do not contribute to the long term vision and harmony of the planet � we will continue to work blindly toward our destruction.

I’ve been particularly interested in the subject of ‘perspectives’ for the last few months or so. Not by choice but just by recognizing whats been appearing and it just seems that the theme of ‘perspectives’ has been coming up alot for a while now. I think it may have started over the summer when I [...]

How many of you have been spending the last few weeks pounding your head against every available wall trying to figure out how so many people could have voted this disingenuous, election-stealing incompetent back into office? What’s the matter with them? Do they not see how sinister and dangerous he is? Are they stupid? Has he really been able to fool 51% of us?

Lately I have been hearing a lot about people wanting to move to Canada or have the blue states secede the nation or something to that effect. But it seems to me that if we simply get back to our roots of being a federation or a ‘republic of states’ than we can remain as [...]

When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most interminable, and to the citizen, most dismal swamp. I enter a swamp as a sacred place – a sanctum sanctorum. There is the strength, the marrow of Nature. – Henry David Thoreau

Now this is just about the most encouraging thing I have heard. If this is a time of recreating ourselves as Marc suggested in his blog and as Mr. Thoreau points to in this quote – well then I am encouraged.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.- Plato

Dear President Bush:

Congratulations on your victory over all us non-evangelicals. Actually,
we’re a bit ticked off here in California, so we’re leaving you.

I live in a very liberal county which is in a conservative state. As a matter of fact, the electoral map of Virginia looks similar to a red eye with a blue pupil right in the middle. This tiny pupil happens to be where I live which is Nelson County and neighboring Albemarle County (home [...]

Groundhogs DayFor the last year or so, I have considered the election of 04 to be, in a sense, like groundhogs day. I say this in the sense that on November 2, 2004, the voters (being the groundhog) would come out and tell us if there was going to be four more years of winter [...]

On the morning of November 2nd I had a short meeting with Angela Davis the radical philosopher and activist and in the evening my heart was breaking from the results of the election. The next day I fell into despair as so many progressives did.

Does everyone notice a theme here? Things are remaining pretty intense for all of us. This weekend I had the privilege to attend a the Green Festival http://www.greenfestivals.com/ that was focused on the revolution at hand.

I want to rush towards optimism – as I always do. And yes in the heart of this experience I do find light � the same light I always find. The light that lives in the hearts of those close to me and connects one to the other in love � so much beauty, so much goodness.

One has to question the nature of change when one sees such things as this. It shapes thoughts about progressive change. It would be interested to see various issues plotted against this map.
http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog10/maps/

What a dark and dismal day. Forgive me a moment as I try to work toward some hope. I am facing the fact that our world is indeed in the hands of religious extremists on just about every front. The Evangelical Right has gained more ground in this country.

Long ago, or so science and many holy books suggest, the human race came up out of the mud. Since then we have crawled over this globe, shifting in facial features, body types and skin color. We speak different languages and perform different rituals; we sing different songs and eat different foods.

Voting Irregularities

funny – http://stupid.sweetrush.net/movies/Voting_Machine_1.wmv

Man I love this guy – If I wasn’t going to be me, or Sade, or Anthony Hopkins I would be him, only more handsome.

For those of you who think John Stewart of the Daily Show should be president

John Stewart is one of the sanest and most intelligent voices on television right now. He and his colleagues on the Daily Show have consistently taken the high road � even while interviewing guests who have opposing views.

OK Maybe he isn’t stupid – maybe it’s something worse.

Video shows what James Fallows reported as “a striking deterioration in George W. Bush’s speaking skills in last 10 years.”

http://stupid.sweetrush.net/movies/BrainTenYrs.mov

I have been wrestling with the most susinct way to convince people that we need a change of administration, but haven’t found it until now… http://stupid.sweetrush.net/movies/seriously.wmv (its worth the wait).

I have been reading more and more about PhD programs that might support some of my curiosities. Here is a synopsis so far � I would love any feedback that people have.

OUTLINE OF GOALS
Discover and communicate the ongoing impacts of information technology (defined as the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of all types of information using computer technology and telecommunication systems) on human consciousness and spirituality.

takes a few minutes to download, but worth the wait.
http://home.earthlink.net/~houval/gopconstrm.mov

So recently I received an email from the father of my later friend James Lowrie. In it was a link to a website that played something they called – “We Still Need to be Reminded” which proceeded to play some ominous music and a series of quotes from the founding fathers �then the sound of an airplane and a crash and pictures of 9/11.

Below is a letter a friend of mine from Baltimore after one of her closest friends passed away. I was so moved by her words that I had to share it with her permission. The way she describes the life of her friend is an inspiration.

This info about the presidential debates is from the PBS website for Bill Moyer’s television series NOW – if you are not watching this show you are not watching the most informative and honest program on television.

Dear Friends,

Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner — IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies.

OK, so though the journaling about the fast did not go very well the fast did. I lost in the neighborhood of 20 lbs. Though I should gain a bit of that back. More than the weigh my body feels clean on the inside, and I have been meeting with a nutritionist to get educated about the things I should be eating.

Who are all of these people …

Facts about our president – our rather THEIR president: (I think I posted somethign like this before but just couldn’t help putting this up)

�

That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
Henry David Thoreau

The cost of a things is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. Albert Einstein

I am at the beginning of a ten day fast – who knows where it will lead me. Will I be thin, will I have new insight into what sorts of substances I want in my body. Will I have visions (other than visions of cheeseburgers and shakes and decadent chocolate yumminesses) � stop torturing yourself man!

“I think he is a bully, and like all bullies, he�s a coward when confronted with a force that he�s fearful of. His reactions to the extravagant and unbelievably selfish wish list of the wealthy interest groups that put him in the White House are obsequious. The degree of obsequiousness that is involved in saying �yes, yes, yes, yes,� to whatever these people want, no matter the damage and harm done to the nation as a whole � that can come only from genuine moral cowardice.� So speaks former Vice President Al Gore of President George W. Bush in his interview with David Remnick of The New Yorker.

Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows. -Henry David Thoreau

For Sherry On the Occasion of Our 9th Wedding Anniversary

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary:Love \Love\, n. [OE. love, luve,
1. A feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration; pre["e]minent kindness or devotion to another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters. Of all the dearest bonds we prove Thou countest sons’ and mothers’ love Most sacred, most Thine own. –Keble.

2. Especially, devoted attachment to, or tender or passionate affection for, one of the opposite sex.

When you are overwhelmed by an experience in nature � a walk on the beach or an island waterfall or even a flower in a city garden � it is not because you have for some reason become a keener observer.  It is because for a moment you have abandoned the illusion that as a [...]

Exploring creativity As a lifestyle creativity can change the world around you, it can foster new ideas and practices, it can beautify and reveal truth and goodness through expression.  At its essence creativity is the act of taking in the world and giving it back to itself through the unique interpretation and expression of an [...]

Hey man,

I feel for you. It’s tough when an issue like this becomes personal. I’m glad to see that Kerry hasn’t punked out. He dodged the issue recently by claiming that it’s a “state’s rights issue” (a ploy that Bush used liberally in the last election) which I think was the best move for him politically. The senate would need 67 members to vote aye to pass this thing into law. I am confident that this won’t happen.

from a New York City craigslist post: A great story of racial harmony in the DC subway. ——————————————————————————–Reply to: anon-35320278@craigslist.orgDate: Fri Jul 02 07:07:16 2004 OK, so check this out, I took the red line from metro center to Shady Grove, It was delayed so TONS of people had to sardine into the trains. It [...]

In honor of women’s history month and in memory of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer, her are her words of wisdom.     IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER – by Erma Bombeck (written after she found out she was dying from cancer).   I would have gone to bed [...]

Liberty in the Open I have been thinking a lot about liberty lately. I have been seeing its calling in everything and I think that above all liberty is a place of origin for us all, and when our wills subside, giving way to the natural currents of love and order we feel the pieces [...]

A Favor In less than 48 hours, Congress will vote on an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would permanently deny marriage equality to same-sex couples. This is unprecedented — never before has our Constitution been amended to take away anyone’s rights. This is scary stuff people As all of you know, my mother is [...]

Passing Afternoon Inspiration �There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon� � if it weren�t for those moments that I realize just how short it all is. Like I accidentally notice how quickly a day passed and for some reason connect that to where I am in my average white male life [...]

Summer Moods Never did summer feel so little like summer. It almost feels like I have enetered a season seen only on TV � the season that always seems to fit the mood. Saving for maybe a few days that felt like rain but it never came. A tenderness, a lightness of spirit sniffs against [...]

Wisdom form Thoreau That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.Henry David Thoreau The cost of a things is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.Henry David Thoreau Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for [...]

Change the World Smiley Smiley people make the world a better place simply through being alive. Happy people change the world by getting up in the morning. You want to change the world? Find your happiness and smile often!

Quotes to Inspire Change We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.- JOHN F. KENNEDY The [...]

Create Your Day Hi Everyone – life is busy and I am working on an essay about liberty and freedom so much of my writing time is going into that right now. I did want to share something a work colleague of mine (Thanks G.) turned me onto. This is very related to the philosophies [...]

9-14-02 (This post was a continuation from my last one where I am drawing a distinction between pain and suffering) A couple of days ago I referred to a master (Buddha) saying something to theeffect of “Nirvana is the cessation of suffering”. I don’t think that thathis understanding is different than your own and I [...]

Sharing the Dream with Shelby and Scott On a hilltop on the Northern California coast, surrounded by wild purple irises I found the words I wanted to say to my friends Shelby and Scott during their wedding ceremony. Of course I cried my way through most of it so I thought posting them here would [...]

9-12-02 (This was written to clarify what I mean by Bliss as opposed to joy.) The Bliss that I was referring to is not the same thing as joy. When I say‘Bliss’, I am referring to what you wrote below, “Originally, there isnothing but nothing,”. That ‘original nothing but nothing’ is what I wasreferring to [...]

Stormy Weather Gives Way to Sunny Skies The bad thing about not being prone to depression is that when you get it you are like a deer in the headlights of hard times. The good thing is that you can actually work your way out through a good dose of personal reflection, some herbs from [...]

9-11-02 (This was written in response to the nondualists tendency to shun the ‘I’ as being dualist) As far as the ‘I’ goes, when I hear that word, I have no problem withit. Here is a quote by Christian Mystic, Meister Eckhart. This speaks to the nature of ‘I’that I am fond of and just [...]

Long Dry Season As many of you know I have been having a difficult time lately. I feel like I have been trekking through a barren land of thorns and uncertain horizons. I am seeing signs of life though, and I wanted to thank everyone for being so supportive and concerned. I will be spending [...]

9-10-02 (This is an excerpt from my personal journal the day after the previous blog) The next day started out much the same. The Joy that I have been describing is the deep appreciation for Being while knowing that I am not. I had settled very deeply into the Witness which can be described as [...]

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”

–Cesar Chavez

9-09-02 The intensity of what I expressed in that letter has been growing rapidly and this whole weekend has been so profound that I can hardly contain myself. Thursday we went to the fair and the first ride I went on with my daughter sparked something that has been growing day by day. I am [...]

Pitch-black Eucalyptus tower above us; dark sentinels against the ambient light of the city.

9-05-02 (The following post was a response to a question about the difference between personal and impersonal Awareness.) It is the focusing of Awareness that creates the appearance of an identity where there actually is none. The appearance of an identity is created and sustained by the habitual identifying or focus on thoughts/memories. The reason [...]

You Tell Him Bette! Dear President Bush: Today you called upon Congress to move quickly to amend the US Constitution, and set in Federal stone a legal definition of marriage. I would like to know why. In your speech, you stated that this Amendment would serve to protect marriage in America, which I must confess [...]

Safety or Liberty – Make a Choice! The more I see our liberty ripped from us in the guise of safety and defense, the more I feel we are at a true crossroads in our country�s history. Ben Franklin comes to mind here, �They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary [...]

9-03-02 (In this post, I was pointing out how two statements, by another forum member, may have seemed to contradict each other, but were in fact, complimentary.) Chris said that everything is That, whether it be samadhi or sitting there looking at his jeans and computer. Chris also said something to the effect of “not [...]

Spring has SPRUNG It is so beautiful outside I can hardly concentrate on my work today. It makes me think of my tribe, out there working in your jobs, maybe also daydreaming like I am. It makes me wish we were all at a cafe in the mission outside smiling and laughing. Some great iced [...]

Time moves geologically across our hearts and minds, our physical existence weathering choices and experience. We rise and fall in our individual eternities

8-31-02 (The following was written to assist another conference member who was having difficulty in expressing his realization that he was alone/all one. The first paragraph was taken directly from my personal journal and the second part was written specifically for that discussion group) Thursday we went to the fair and the first ride I [...]

8-30-02 (The following was written to clarify that what I termed as the ‘suicide mission’ was not actually a mission or anything intentional at all but rather what I found to be the culmination of the natural evolving process in Life where the self (ego) ultimately yields to the Self (universal Soul) ) I never [...]

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming – “WOW — What a Ride

The Same Freedom I just got an email from my dear friend Shelby, who was reflecting back eleven years ago when she came to San Francisco and was brought to tears when she saw the gay pride rainbow flags along Upper Market Street. Having come from a place where she had watched friends being tormented [...]

Expect Nothing!!! I think it is important to teach ourselves that we are humans living in imperfect systems � technology, politics, group dynamics and communication, language, etc. While as professionals we can overcome many of the problems that arise from these imperfections, we should reserve energy for the inevitable fine tunings that arise after trying [...]

A Metaphor for Valentine’s Day In 1995 I fell in love with a woman who had loved me for longer than I could understand. Most of what I know about love, real enduring and patinet love has come from the relatinoship I still feel is a grace I will never come close to knowing how [...]

Spring Coming to California? Is it me or is spring creeping in. I am so ready � longer days, more time in the garden, more birds more bugs, more sunshine, more outside time, still time to enjoy sweaters here and there. Still the smell of fireplaces going on colder nights. I guess my California is [...]

More Thanks It�s one of those mornings, were things are falling into place seemingly because I am not forcing them to be otherwise. Like I entered the flow that is always so easy to get in while on vacation and so hard when you are not. I got up, showered and made my way through [...]

8-26-02 (The following was written in response to a discussion about the common usage of the word’ Oneness’ as it appears more frequently in todays spiritual literature. I was pointing out the difference in how the term ‘Oneness’ is commonly used compared to how the term ‘nondual’ is used to describe the mystical experience.) The [...]

Tofu is Murder!!! At long last I have tracked down the ruthless Mike Nathanson – advocate of soya hunting and mass soya murderer. The TLF – Tofu Liberation Front – has been seeking him in connection with a sinister policy of complete tofu consumption. Finally tofus can roam free once again. See below for an [...]

Sneaking Up on Change I feel like I might have learned something about change today. I was at the gym doing my cardio (like a good boy), and as I have lost some 18lbs since the New Year I have embraced some different ways of doing my life. For a long time I seemed to [...]

Money is Not More Important than my Mom’s Suffering I love to debate with people about political and ideological matters. But I am not writing about some abstract political matter, I am writing to you with troubling memories of the pain my family has suffered. When I was quite young, my mother came out as [...]

State of the Union Numbers Whether you are a Bush fan or a Bush basher – the numbers below are interesting and tell as much about the man as it does our times. All should be of concern to us as we cast our votes and make our voices known in conversation. Today the President [...]

8-23-02 (The following post was written in response to someone expressing difficulty in understanding what I mean by “All there is is God”. I knew that this person was a Christian so I tried to structure the conversation in a manner that he would be most familiar with. So, I just looked for what I [...]

A Smile on the Treadmill So I am working out this morning at the gym � running along on the precor treadmill and listening to my drum and bass. I am focused and when I close my eyes I imagine a lighter, faster, stronger and fitter me running through the desert alone. It is very [...]

In Her Memory for Her Children Kate and Sebastian Dear Kate and Sebastian, We have never met, though several times your mother and I tried to find dates so that we could. I feel as though I knew you through your mother�s stories of you. When I heard that she had passed, my mind went [...]

8-20-02 8-20-02 I cant begin to explain what has been happening today, this week, this month,this year and actually the last few years. But as of today approximately7:00 am, I am fully Realized. And after a couple hours, I thought of you,Michael E., Darrell and Ted and I realized that all of you are also [...]

All the Falls I Have Loved Before My mind drifts again to the far away places of fall. Those amazing east coast leaves, the monsoons of Korea, the nights growing colder in Saudi Arabia. And my California, its ocean smell deepening, sunsets joined by brilliant clouded skies. The smell of fireplaces, the last BBQ smells [...]

Thank You For Gifts Received I do not have a specific driving force as I enter into the great Blog of it all, except to say that I am honored to be invited to share my thoughts with the collective “you” who converge here. I have received many blessings from friends and family. This moment [...]

8-15-02 8-15-02 I just got the most startling realization a few weeks ago. Some of you mayhave noticed that in my writings, the subject of dying has been a commonmotif. Well, this is a result of the realization that I am about to sharewith this group. I have come to understand in the deepest sense [...]

Possible Problems with Voting Technology For those of you interested in the democratic process as it relates to the way we vote – check this out.

8-07-02 When I first encountered Salviaspace, I like everyone else wanteddesperately to bring back the golden secret. The secret that would once andfor all expose the “man behind the curtain”. We all know what it is like tocome back thinking we finally remembered the secret only to scribble downsomething barely on the surface. For me [...]

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC)

Love the Doing I am learning a deeper lesson about how to do things. As the novelist/ philosopher Ayn Rand once wrote, �You must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences.� It seems to me now that the [...]

8-05-02 (This was an introduction that I made to a private discussion forum and I incude it here as it will be an important reference point for the rest that will follow. “Salvia divinorum is an extraordinary herb used in shamanism, divination, healing, meditation, and the exploration of consciousness.” For more information on Salvia Divinorum, [...]

Ralph Daniel Hedstrom on the Occasion of his Birthday My grandfather is the type of man I have come to understand more and more over the last several years. As I have become a husband, a business owner and a home owner, I have reflected more and more on the lessons he taught me, not [...]

Pink on Blue Grace All of a sudden there is an old feeling � one of perspective and clarity is mingled with a deeper experience of attention to detail and love of action, I have slipped out of an angry myopic struggle for control of tiny matters and back into a place where I simply [...]

Wow! Well, I have just gotten into Ramesh Balkesar’s stuff and it isbeginning to dawn on me that what I am seeking is my own death (as an ‘I’). I know that I have understood this before but as many times before, I am beginning to understand the same teachings but on a much deeper [...]

Fresh Spangled Speck In the center of it all is a little speck. That spec is me, the center is relevant to my particular particle. To others, I am merely a part of the mesmerizing specks that whirl in the background of their own center. Part of a whole, lost in other parts of holes [...]

Arnold Timeline from www.rotten.com 17 Aug 1907 Father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, born. 1 Mar 1938 Gustav Schwarzenegger joins the Nazi Party, two weeks before Anschluss. At the time, he sported a “Hitler-style moustache.” During the war, he fought in France and on the Eastern Front. 1 May 1939 Gustav Schwarzenegger joins the Sturmabteilung, or S.A. Brownshirts. [...]

7-1-02 Today was the first day of my experiment with deliberately engaging inBeing. I have gone through some shifts in my life but they have always comefrom outside and have therefore never been deliberate. Last year was thefirst time that one of these more major shifts came with out the outsideassistance of Hemi-sync, salvia or [...]

10-08-03 I decided to title this blog; “Suicide letters” because these journals are a chronical of one year where a most profound process of Self-inquiry slowly revealed how this type of ‘spiritual practice’ is tantamount to what I called a ‘suicide mission’. (For reasons that will be evident after reading the first few web logs) [...]

Ok. It’s way too late at night for me to be doing this, but I just signed in to this infernal blogginating machine and thought I should post a little quick something. So, here it is. A simple theory on the physical nature of human existence (I thought I’d start off light and build up to something).

Stopping the Violence, Marriage Advice, Addons and Other Catching Up You know those times that are so full that not only do you not know which way is up or down but you start to doubt that there is an empirical up or down all together. That�s me. The last month has offered so much [...]

What Can I Say – It Can Get Stranger Hmmm well I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been yet another Bush, or it could have been Jean Claude or it could have been… pretty short list. Now don’t get me wrong. I have been moaning about how we always get one [...]

A Wonderful Note from Sherry to our Peeps Falling off the face of the earth has it’s charms, but losing touch with special friends and family is definitely the down side. The construction of the “garden cottage” is nearly finished and our roller coaster has suddenly sped up even more. With painting, furniture moving, kitchen [...]

Through the Eyes of a Visionary From time to time you run into the work of a true visionary. Someone who’s vision of the state of humankind is both beautiful and terrible. It reflects our cutest child and the twisted people who border on the monstrous. About a year ago my friend Josh turned me [...]

The Voice of an Old Poet Evidently this poem by W.H. Auden written around the time that Hitler was closing in on Poland. It was widely distributed on September 11th, but I never came across it until this morning on KPFA. Today definitely crept up on me, and I find myself feeling it more than [...]

The Lion is Feasting It�s clear outside but it feels foggy in here � like when you haven�t gotten enough sleep and then you go to a matinee and come out and it is still light. In the pit of your stomach everything becomes confused, muddled. Maybe its this music, floating like a James Bond [...]

A Sentence Being Written More and more it happens. More people usher it in, this solid feeling of wakefulness. As if names mean something, as if the actions of people, their words and their gazes are metaphors for deeper matters. Maybe it is that we move and speak in these metaphors because, at this point [...]

Let It Be Up Every once in a while I am hit by a song I have listened to a thousand times and never really heard. I was listening to the Beatles today and got to thinking� Verse 2And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree There will be an answer, let [...]

Pumping Me Up OK, so I am definitely obsessed. Something is WRONG with me. I find myself wishing that I could go to the gym again today. I went this morning, I paid my dues at the altar of sculpted flesh, I gave my pound of flesh to the washboard tummied deities. I guess one [...]

Flash Geeks So I am in San Jose at the Flash Kit conference. Josh and I have come down to hear the experts tell us more about Flash and all of its new uses. Josh has been blown away by the fact that the people here are not all 20 year old whiz kids. Instead [...]

Now I’ve Learned My ABC’s These last days, slightly overcast and a slight chill in the breeze draw my gaze past my work. I find myself wondering about far off places again. Sometimes it is a bit overwhelming the volume of lives that exist on this planet, who move, love, ache, suffer, rejoice and contemplate [...]

REST I am sitting in a room that used to be a saloon and is now a part of a historic Inn called Fensalden Inn www.fensalden.com. It is as quiet here as in the Blue Ridge Mountains where I returned from last week. Everywhere are beautiful and restful scenes to contemplate. Life abides in stillness [...]

So Busy and Baltimore Bound I am slammed right now, but I am still floating eastward toward Baltimore and all of my East Coast friends. At the end of this week, I am packing my bags and jumping a flight with Sherry to go back east to catch up with some of my favorite humans. [...]

It Was All for the Union This last weekend I had the pleasure of officiating my first wedding – that of some dear friends Doug Hammer and ChiLing Mai. There is so much to say about it, and in truth I am still trying to wrap my head around the experience. Instead of going on [...]

Introduction to an Emerging Southbay Poet I have been meaning to turn you on to an emerging south bay poet and friend of mine (and the unofficial cut throat editor of my novel Driving Socrates)- Alisa. She has recently published some of her work on her website (still evolving as any good personal website should). [...]

Andrei’s Driving Metaphor 101 Out on a back road in the middle of nowhere, tall grass blowing and far off rolling hills spotted with California live oaks. Solitary notions of the smoothness of being on the right road drifts between my hands and the rubber meeting the road. I feel like I am balanced on [...]

Dreams+Plans+Labor=REALITY In dreams we swirl our bodies through time and space and we think nothing of it. In dreams we lift our bodies from the solid ground, tread water, fly, shrink, transform and become heroes or villains, and we think nothing of it. Such powerful centers of our lives are lived in these visions. Cultures [...]

For Love of the Father What would you do for your father’s love? Several years ago I found myself asking that very question of myself as my relationship with my father seemed to be slipping away. I had a falling out with my stepmother and with the faith I grew up in, and my father [...]

A Curriculum for Love For some time, maybe even since college when I began studies in Ancient Greek, I have wrestled with writing something about love. One of the things that captured me while studying Greek was that they had four words for love, where we had one. A year or so later I came [...]

CHAOS(Part of My Master’s Thesis) This is a part of my Masters Thesis that I wrote in 1998. There are some real foundational peices of my own personal philosophy waking up in this work. My life as an aspiring integrator is definately beginning to show here, and if you read nothing else skip to the [...]

A donut in the morning 9:15 (college journal entry) I went out to study Greek this morning. Fred gave me an old fashioned glaze. We sat on the couch that’s on our front porch. I drank some ice tea, and chowed on my chunk-o-sugar. We sat there saying nothing. Fred sighed several times. He did [...]

The High Priestess Goes Before Us I am certain she is Mr. Rogers’ neighbor now, and that she and Mr. Rogers are sitting with the King of Love (that’s what she called Dr. Martin Luther King jr.) and Medger Evers, and with other souls who put forth their energies and passions so that others might [...]

Suzanne – cool song lyrics by Leonard Cohen Suzanne takes you down to her place near the riverYou can hear the boats go byYou can spend the night beside herAnd you know that she’s half crazyBut that’s why you want to be thereAnd she feeds you tea and orangesThat come all the way from ChinaAnd [...]

I found the devil Pssst…. SBC (PacBell) is the devil. I know it is true. I can’t go in to it here, but remind me to tell you about my life under the evil tyranny of SBC DSL – or lack thereof.

33 years old So this entry will make no attempts at profundity. If by chance it hits anywhere near this mark, it is purely an accident and could not be helped. 33 years old. It is a very interesting birthday, unlike any before. I feel like for the most part I am in the zone. [...]

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one… Josh was nice enough to provide me with the John Lennon Anthology (disks 1-4), and I have to say I am in the mood for peace. But not only that, I am in the mood to feel like… come on people stop being [...]

As the Good Doctor has Said The below exerpt is from Martin Luther King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of December 1964. I have been actively searching for people and words of hope in amidst these times. I believe that every word this man said was a bit more of the secret he shared. A [...]

Turning it Toward the LightClick here for a PDF version for printing I have been struggling to find words that would be appropriate for the seriousness of the days we are moving through. The last several days as I have caught pieces of the reality TV war, I have wrestled to fight back my own [...]

Love Needs No Excuses Self preservation is not selfish – loving another and being loved and cultivating that love is what makes us strive to make a better world. It is also what sustains us. Whether we are trying to make a living, create a work of art or dig a ditch – loving another [...]

My Sweet Sunrise Not many mornings have I awoke by the time of sunrise.The day and night before each has been filled with life’s compromise.Try as I might I see so few beginnings to my days.So few skies filled with scarlet clouds or velvety orange rays.I wake, I stretch, I feed the cats and make [...]

“Life is for Service” The title of this blog is words inscribed on a plaque that hung in the office of Mr. Rogers. Fred Rogers, host of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, died last week of stomach cancer at the age of 74. The list of awards presented to Mr. Rogers runs more than 25 single-spaced, typed [...]

The Weeping Crusader I wrote this story at the end of 1991 when I was struggling with both the religion of my family as well as the role I had played in the Gulf War. There is a heavy sense of being Christian at the beginning of the story, but I beleive you will find [...]

Embracing the Laws of Being Human I have long held that within our hearts is written the natural law of our species. That when we reached inside of ourselves in a way that took into account the lives and events around us, we would know the right thing to do. My experiences on a jury [...]

Serial Rapists are NOT my Friends Yep, I’m on jury duty, and lucky me I get to hear all about this complete sleezeball who picks up prostitutes and takes them to dark and scary locations and rapes them at knife or gunpoint- allegedly speaking that is. I of course can not share any details, not [...]

Fletcher Memorial Home (revisited) In 1997 Pink Floyd released an album called The Final Cut. On it was featured a biting song about “wasters of life and limb” – i.e. the world leaders who have led us into war. The song is entitled “The Fletcher Memorial Home” named for Roger Waters’ (the then lead singer [...]

SweetRush Update Life is so busy right now. SweetRush has been inundated with requests due to a marketing campaign we just started. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for continued success. This could be just the thing to start generating the resources for other projects I have been wanting to get off the ground. I hope [...]

People Marched in the Mission Tonight – the dove of peace followed them Tonight we were pleasantly surprised by a peace march in the mission. One of these pics is a good old standard pic of folks carrying a peace inspired banner. The other two are a bit more interpretive, with the dove of peace [...]

A Hollow in the Night Sometimes there is a hollow in the night, and while I am waiting I sense that I am within it. Between each wavelike choral sound of night insects both close at hand and on the very edges of my hearing, I am resting in that hollow. While by day those [...]

Baraka – Blessing This I just finished watching the film Baraka. In Sufi the word Baraka means blessing, or at least that is its broadest definition. I know that some of you have seen this film. For those of you who have not, I would beg you to. There was so much to see and [...]

Customer Service for the Poor So what does a person have to do to get some service around here? Maybe it is me. I bust my ass to make our customers feel like they are the only customers. I guess that makes me feel like I should be treated the same. Or hell, not even [...]

A Heart Warmed Thank You This last weekend, I received one of the most wonderful requests of my life. I was asked by my friends Chi and Doug to marry them. I know…it is so amazing, and such an honor, and my jaw is still dragging around on the ground. My head has been filled [...]

Carousel of Time Tonight I am enjoying the company of friends, food and song at Sunny and Lauren’s place in Bernal Heights. It’s warm in the circle of our new friendship that feels already familiar. They are singing a Joni Mitchel song – the circle game. Today has been all about dreams of youth and [...]

Blue Dreams of Peace The sunset tonight was amazing. We drove into the city along ocean beach and the water was a pearly blue. It reminded me of a time when sherry and I were on the east coast. We hadn’t seen a sunset on the water for a long time. While on a trip [...]

So Blessed Was it not absolutely gorgeous today in the Bay Area? I was fortunate enough to have a meeting in the East Bay and drove across the Bay Bridge. It was so crisp. This is California, and we are of course destined for such weather, but I mean 71 degrees in San Francisco in [...]

Ode to it all Oh, brave streaming nightLidless slumber.Dreams of organic cusps.Other. How do I approach you? With banter or philosophical musings? Nay, I think today in action. It is in deed that I see you in my life now. For certain you are still in thought, but you have already considered yourself in me. [...]

New StepsIt is always so difficult getting started. Whether a diet or a blog or a resolution or change in general. It reminds me of the movie Bodies, Rest and Motion staring Tim Roth, Eric Stoltz and Bridgette Fonda. This wonderful film applies the theories of bodies, rest and motion to human relationships and behaviors [...]

First Blog, Best BlogIn the begining there was no blog. The emptiness was as vast as infinity would allow. There was no room for speculation, rationalization or conceptualization. There was no profunditude, no systematic analysis of bits and pieces of the whole, there was no language, no form and no meaning or purpose. Slowly and [...]