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<body> <b><font FACE="Book Antiqua" SIZE="6"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Earth-Tidings</p> </font></b><font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hugh M. Lewis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">1991</p> </font> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Copyright 2000, by Hugh M. Lewis</p> </font> <p>  <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As for those who would take the whole world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To tinker it as they see fit,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I observe that they never succeed:</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the world is a sacred vessel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not made to be altered by man.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The tinker will spoil it;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Usurpers will lose it.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For indeed there are things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That must move ahead,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While others must lag;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And some that feel hot,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While others feel cold;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And some that are strong,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While others are weak;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And vigorous ones,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With others worn out.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So the Wise Man discards</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Extreme inclinations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To make sweeping judgments</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to a life of excess</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">OUTLINE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#one"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">FAST FOREWORD: Earth-Mindedness</font></a></p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#two"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">I. SEASONS and CIRCLES <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of the Universe</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#three"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">II. EARTHTIDES, EARTHLINES AND EARTH RAYS <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of the Earth</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">  <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#four"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">III. ANTHROPOLOCOS and ANIMALOGOS <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Nature</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#five"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">IV. CULTIVATING GARDENS <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Living</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#six"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">V. DIFFERENCE AND IDENTITY <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Being</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#seven"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">VI. DISCOVERING GHOSTS AND SPIRITS <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Death</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#eight"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">VII. BETWEEN MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Peace</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </font><a HREF="http://www.omniprise.net/EarthTidings.htm#nine"><font FACE="Book Antiqua">AFTERWARD: MAN-MADE MAZES and MOUNTAIN PATHS <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally Losing the Way</p> </font></a> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">  <hr> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </font><font SIZE="5"><a NAME="one">FAST FOREWORD</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Earth-Mindedness</a></p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the Way rules the earth,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coach horses fertilize fields;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the Way does not rule,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">War horses breed in the parks.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <font FACE="Times"> <p> </p> <p>'Eco-' has become a fashionable prefix to form a variety of new catchalls--'eco-tage,' 'eco-lage,' 'eco-cide,''eco-topia'--and it forms the root of a powerful new world-view of Ecology. But Ecology for the most part remains either a widely generalized orientation or a narrowly contextualized science that lacks any concise philosophical outline or a general theoretical framework. It has been useful for selling ecology books, ecology authors, ecology films, and things ecologia, primarily to ecologically conscientious people of the over-developed First World who are themselves primarily preoccupied with relieving their own ecological guilt trips about "affluenza" and undoing bad habits of "over-consumption."</p> <p>Indeed is this so much the case that symbolically the world has become the metaphor of the body, and the body has become a metaphor for the entire globe. Mess up the body, and you mess up the shrine of life that mother nature has blessed you with. Mess up the earth, and you also desecrate the holy soil of mother earth's temple.</p> <p>The current preoccupation with Popular Ecology has been an invaluable mass-movement in eco-consciousness awakening, but it has also become political-economically "co-opted' as a mode of information "production-consumption' by the very system of private interests that has been our ecology's own worst enemy. The fact of the matter remains that environmental destruction has been occurring long before the recent rise to global popularity of Ecology. Extinction of many wild species, the disappearance of vast forest habitats and filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases and acid rain had been happening long before the public outcry for environmental conservation and global protection no longer made it fashionable to pollute. It has not been until the warning signals have sounded-the scientific alarms, the environmental challenges, the administrative attention--that Mr. and Mrs. Joe and Jane Fire-side Public have become overly anxious or concerned at all about the Ecological State of the Earth.</p> <p>The Human concern with environmental adaptation and health is a very ancient preoccupation, and human ways for relating to the earth's rhythms and vicissitudes have, for better or worse, long preceded the formal development of Ecology as either a science or as popular media pulp.</p> <p>It is for these and other reasons that it seems wise to me to forego the use of the term "Ecology," along with all the denotations and connotative baggage it has recently accreted. Instead it is wise to use the term "Earth-mindedness" to focus attention on the "eco-conceptioning" of our Earth as being the only home and environment suitable for the long term habitation of humankind. The earth is both an interconnected web of life--a planet-sized onion with many layers of atmosphere, stratosphere, ionosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, crust, mantel, and core--as well as the unusual combination of physical elements and processes upon which our life depends. The continued and increasingly rapid destruction of the natural habitats of the earth, the depletion of its resources and limited supply of elements, and the disruption of its natural rhythms and physical processes that sustain the metabolism of living and dying, cannot but eventuate in the elimination of humankind as just one of its many forms of life. The general conception of Ecology and earth-mindedness is linked through the idea of "Gaia"--the Greek earth Goddess, mother of the Titans, who has come to symbolize the planet earth as a single, living entity that slowly, constantly minds and mends itself.</p> <p>But the notion of Earth-mindedness seeks to shift critical attention away from the environmental problem of ecological adaptation toward the problem of human adaptation and the "adaptation of the human environment" to the needs of limits of both a natural humankind and the natural earth. The shift in focus is slight, but subtle, and becomes necessary to clearly focus on a central philosophy and theory resting at the heart of the general ecological problems of human adaptation and survival in the natural environments of earth.</p> <p>Problems of "Earth-Mindedness" are general problems of relative human health and disease that involve the total environment of the earth. Human disease does not just affect the human organism or social body, and it is not just a matter of that organism's relative lack of fitness in its natural environment. Rather disease is the result of a lack of "fit" between the organism and its total environment, and the disease infects both the organism and the environment in different but similarly destructive ways. So also, human health is more than just a lack of disease, but involves the maintenance of organic well being in relationship to a healthy environment. Problems of health and disease must be construed as context-bound and relative problems in nature. The total framework by which we must understand such problems is the environment and total ecology of the whole Earth itself. "We do not live on planet earth but with the life it harbors and within the environment that life creates."(Rene' Jules Dubos) Human health and fitness are intimately connected therefore to the relative health of the earth, and involve more than just organic biological functioning. It also entails spiritual, emotional, social and mental states of being that include normative issues of human rights and equality, nonviolence and peace, human development and poverty, and many other unresolved social issues still afflicting humanity in the 21st Century.</p> <p>This work on Earth-mindedness is not a didactic treatise on the moral and ethical issues involved in Ecology, nor does it feign to accomplish the work of science, nor is it intended for the purpose of popularizing ecology as a bandwagon pulp coffee-table publishing industry. It is intended primarily as an aesthetic exploration and as an experiment with spontaneous encounter and the unique human capacity for establishing a metalogue with nature in the Universe.</p> <p>My central contention is that aesthetics is primarily rooted in the first-hand experience of Nature--in our encounter with the whole Earth and its mighty, mystical and mysterious forces, and of the awakening of the spirit of the earth within us. My contention is also that at least part of our general problem of ecological maladaptiveness has been that humankind has lost "touch" with nature, primarily because of a predominant trend towards capitalistic and materialistic consumption. Therefore we have become alienated to the basic spirit and experience of the natural aesthetic. Our experience of nature in its barest bones is a spiritual experience that needs no dogma or doctrine to justify itself. Our experience of the natural aesthetic has been gradually and systematically repressed and sublimated and displaced systematically by a generalized "unconscious of non-beingness" in the world. It is a fundamental kind of existential vicariousness that pervades and influences the subjective aspects of our modern lives in an everyday way. An artificial, man-made aesthetic has been elaborated upon this vicarious sense of "non-beingness" via modern mass media that has substituted and supplanted our natural aesthetic sensibilities and which mostly precludes our ability to experience the Earth in a natural and healthy way. Recovery of the basic aesthetic experience of nature is a necessary part of the solution to human adaptation on earth.</p> <p>There is nothing new about this transcendentalist theory. It has been around for several thousand years in the basic philosophy of Taoism and Chan Buddhism. And it has been and active, living philosophy in the native cultures of many peoples of the Earth, the remnants of whom today are facing the same human-made imperative of "Produce or Perish." Taoism is at once a natural philosophy of the Earth and the Universe that teaches, among other things, an environmental equilibrium and ecological humility. It is also a social and an aesthetic philosophy based upon the naive and unprejudiced experience of nature. To live well we must live in the ways of nature, and the only life worth living is one lived well.</p> <p>Taoism therefore also becomes a social and political philosophy--all this within a few pages of obtuse poetic lines. To live well in a natural sense of human health is also an aesthetic problem, and this helps to define the basis of a natural aesthethic and ethical philosophy.</p> <p>This work is also philosophical and poetic, and even theoretical in a sense of "anthropological ecology"--how does humankind live well with nature in the world? It proffers a succinct and systematic view of the world that the field of ecology in general seems to lack. Though it provides no final answers to our current global predicament, it does point the way to one means of resolving internal conflicts accompanying our rather rude collective awakening to the perspective of earth-mindedness and to the over-shadowing specter of a dying earth.</p> <p>Several specific problems emerge from such a perspective:</p> <p>1. The problem of establishing peace--not perfect or utopian, but practical and effectively reducing human violence and suffering, and not just globally but regionally and locally, domestically and psychologically within and between different states, cities, towns, families, homes and people--in making peace with ourselves and with others.</p> <p> </p> <p>2. The problem of establishing general equality in the world--not exact equality but relative equivalence and justice. This entails curbing the acquisitiveness and power of the global elite, and recognizing the critical difference between entrepreneurial spirit and unlimited greed and power. It also entails enforcing a ceiling on personal wealth and aggrandizement, limiting the powers of local, state and national governments and multinational organizations, and enforcing equally a paradigm of regulations safeguarding for all people screens of opportunity, basic resources, welfare and social security. It means that we must prevent the poorest have-nots who dwell in absolute poverty from falling through the interstices of our social system into the black hole of despair and death. This entails, both globally and domestically, narrowing the gap between the few Haves and the many Have-nots by altering the political and economic patterning of the global system, and by establishing regulations promoting and protecting blanket equality indifferently.</p> <p> </p> <p>3. Providing a general vehicle for education. This is neither impossible nor very difficult when compared to global militarization, and the structure of such curricula is already well in hand. This involves working within a "multi-cultural continuum" of an integrated "World Culture," and of elevating the collective ethical quotient from a modern convention of nationalistic chauvinism to a post-conventional level of global, multi-cultural conscientiousness.</p> <p> </p> <p>4. Promotion of direct, participatory democracy at all levels of government, in all areas of public administration worldwide. Such a new form of non-Republican government is only an efficacious possibility with the advent of the worldwide web, but an ecological necessity.</p> <p> </p> <p>5. Promotion of international standards of birth control and family planning.</p> <p> </p> <p>Like all my other works, this is mostly exploratory. It will surely make philosophers and politicians stand on their noses and critics turn up their noses, but it lays no false claims to ultimate verity or final authority on anything.</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*****</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">***</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The best development is human development.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The best birth control is love and responsibility to the first born child.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The best kind of progress is the natural evolution of the earth.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learning peace without violence is better than enforcing peace through the threat of violence.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are not born with human rights. We must learn them.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human rights entail human responsibilities.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only true equality is universal human equality.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only true Democracy is one where everyone votes.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*****</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We travel down our path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Heedless of the signs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Failing to heed the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Meant by our grand design</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learning how to forget</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until it is too late</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Which way to take</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time flies away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As darkness descends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our energies are nearly exhausted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And nature sings to us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Singing in the wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whispering through the leaves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leave it alone, alone, alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Live in it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Alone, alone, alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Carried to the edge of darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By leaders no longer to be trusted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Standing upon the precipice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our own brief history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the wind howls and screams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Threatening to push us into the chasm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is an emergency</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beyond the power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of any bureaucracy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It has become our time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To raise six billion and one voices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a chorus to the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a crying for its dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a wailing for its wake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a celebration of its passing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And rebirth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more bombs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more bullits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more booms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more tombs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of billions of babies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more hungry mouths to feed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more big brothers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or smiling uncles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or irresponsible fathers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Posted on the walls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth has always been</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And will forever be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our only home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our only reference point</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our only bottom line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our only ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our only guide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our only way</p> </font> <p> </p> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="two">Part I</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seasons & Circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of the Universe</p> </a></font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Man conforms to the earth;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth conforms to the sky;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sky conforms to the way;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Way conforms to its own nature.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>The curvature of time and space creates centers and margins of being and nonbeing. The roundnesses of the universe creates receding horizons of beginning and ending. The turning of great circles through the heavens creates endless changes in the ways of things in the universe. The repetitions of the many seasons and cycles are but the patterned rhythm of nature's changing flow--like so many rain drops that soon swell the streams and rivers.</p> <p>We are captured within these rhythms, and its changing flows through us. Linear time and Euclidean space have an origin in space and time but lack an immediate presence of a constant center. We naturally experience space and time as curved and hyperbolic, but we have unlearned how to envision the roundness of our world by the conventions of linearity and angularity that we have been instructed and conditioned to use from the earliest age. A child's first patterned recognition is of a round shape. A child's first toy is a square block. We have come to project our collective conventions of superficial flatness, perfect straightness and a distorting evenness upon our round realities. Such pre-perception makes it difficult for us to notice that nothing in the world really moves in a straight line, or that nothing ever happens exactly as we would have predicted it.</p> <p>It is strange that we are perhaps the roundest of Nature's creatures and yet we are the only one's to want to straighten our world out. Preconceptions of flatness and straightness made it difficult for early European explorers and their map makers to conceptualize the world as a self-centered, complete globe, or to understand the illusion of an ever receding horizon without eventually reaching the edge as a consequence of the roundness of our world. Even recent maps are still made containing a distorting degree of flatness and evenness of our world.</p> <p>Such illusions of linearity led to a search for absolute centers, original beginnings and final ends, and the further the distance from our immediate locations, the more difficult it was not to experience the center as a sense of projected self in time and space--the "Civilization of the Sun" as the center of diffusion of World Civilization, the Earth as the Center of the Solar System and the Astrologer's Cosmos. God is still portrayed as a bearded white European, Western Europe still lies at the center of many world maps, and World History still begins with the prehistoric origins of the Indo-Europeans, and traces the rise of civilization to the spread of a Euro-centric Civilization.</p> <p>With such preconceptions in the background of our shared knowledge, we cannot bear the paradoxes of infinity and eternity, of multiple simultaneous centers or multiple parallel universes, of curve space-time or universal relativity, or of simultaneous being and nonbeing in both centers and margins, or of balanced multiple points of dynamic equilibrium. Even physicists today, dealing with all the space-time distortions of the Universe, still find the concepts of infinity and eternity of the Universe difficult to deal with in their cosmologies--even though we still have not yet found the apparent center or real margin of the known universe.</p> <p>Our conception and experience of the natural curvature and roundness of reality depend upon our ability to perceive and recognize the qualities and quantities of change in our world. Recurring or reversible changes allow us to understand the cycles and circles that reality turns in. We find it in the seasons of the weather, of the moon, of birth, growth, maturity, aging and death of all life forms, or in the movement of water around the earth or of the earth's crust itself in continuous motion and erosion. In the larger moire of cycles and circles within greater cycles and circles, and of the continuous changing along different scales of being, we recognize the interrelationships and the contextualities of our world in which everything is related to everything else. Even the hypothesized "Big Ban" or the many "Black Holes" of the physical universe must be part of a grand cyclical event with multiple centers of movement and beginning, with contraction following expansion following contraction.</p> <p>The whole of reality is without a permanent stability or an overall linearity. Each cycle, each circle, each season is slowly "evolving" and continuously changing along multiple scales of space and time.</p> <p>This changing confronts us with the illusion of a one-way, singular linear causality, though we are in fact observing the distorted consequences of distant and remotely curving causality and the multitude of overlapping and intersections of different cycles of circles. We see in straightness and apparent order an anagraphical distortion of the real twisting of the space-time fabric of real events.</p> <p>We must unlearn how to experience again our many pathways through the recurring seasons as the natural curvature of our intuitive perception and "feeling" and the innate hyperbolic roundness of our peripheral vision. We must learn to see the patterns and processes of natural chaos, to find sense in the nonsense of entropy and to understand the paradoxes of infinity and eternity and total contextuality. If this is irrational at one human level of order, it is an aesthetic delight in diversity and natural disorder at a more basic and natural level of experience. If we look closely, what we believe to be conceptually well ordered turns out to lead to perceptual chaos and abandonment, while what apparently begins as perceptual chaos eventual leads to a grand pattern and order.</p> <p>We need to rethink our science and rationality in order to be able to account for and better deal with the apparent chaos of the curvature and roundness of the world. We need broader, more flexible definitions of what is genuinely rational and real and fitting to our real experience of the natural order, and theories about what is actually scientific about our senses.</p> <p>Our sense of development follows a natural curve of increase following and leading to inexorable decrease and decline. Our sense of History, of time, of our own being, must follow also ever-fluctuating cycles and circles. There is a sense of birth, growth, maturity, decline and demise, and then a new beginning somewhere else, that we have not yet adequately explained.</p> <p>Learning to follow the seasonal pathways of the Way, we are also learning to lead the Way along our many returning paths.</p> <p> </p> <p>You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. (Black Elk)</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*****</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">***</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ROUNDNESS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>Roundness is a way of being in time and space. The feel of perception, the way of experience, the texture of reality, it is the fabric composing the tapestry of life.</p> <p>Earth's designs, its diverse multitude of many kinds of elements, follow the principle of roundness, coordinating its natural rhythms of its many parts, composing the grand mosaic of its web of life called nature.</p> <p>Things move in round ways. Changes happen in curved directions. Earth's forces, its lines and rays, curve always round its never-ending horizon. We can only touch one point of its round surface at any single moment in time</p> <p>The principle of roundness is found in a person's life, in the rhythms of one's body and soul, in the calendrical cycles of living, in one's family, and in one's own stages of life. It follows our ways of living and leads it us upon our way in Life</p> <p>Roundness connects us to the entire earth. It gives us wholeness and our natural identity. It gives consistency to our reality and is the ground of meaning beneath our feet. It gives unity to diversity and reason to adversity. It lies along our entire path through life. All we must do is to follow it until its end.</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">GRAND WHEEL OF TURNING</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Circles within circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Within ever greater circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The gears and cogs of the Universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grinding slowly around and around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Grand wheel of turning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Changing everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crossing our cycles of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making of us all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But hapless children of fortune and fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Following us upon our wake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And leading us to our destinies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always just ahead, and always right behind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Barely within our touch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is nothing that begins or ends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is not also ending and beginning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Turing our days into night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our nights into day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always upon the brink of our horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Governing the waking and waning of our moons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And rotating the constellations across our skies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Regulating the flow of the tides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And shifting the currents and directions of the winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By it's turning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are born, grow up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Become old and then finally die</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">States and empires rise and fall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along its path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whole civilizations flourish and then vanish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the endless sequence of its revolutions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be replaced by other peoples</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Species emerge, evolve</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And finally become extinct.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our sun is its brazen shield</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blazing in a steady state</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The symbol of all life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It continues to turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the passing of the seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its grand wheel touches our ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the very moment our feet tread the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its path is unstoppable by petty people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who would play god with the Universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">EARTH RHYTHMS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Earth Rhythms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Natural rhymes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crickets chirping</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Children crying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Water splashing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rain falling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leaves rustling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Winds howling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Getting back in touch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With primordial motions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And primitive devotions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seasons ebbing and flowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Clouds forming and blowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The clash of thunder and lightening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tides falling and rising</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fish biting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waves rolling and breaking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Birds mating</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Building nests in trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Feeding babies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ceaselessly calling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Salmon running up rivers and streams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spawning and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fowl flying northward then returning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Southward</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Turtles returning from across the vast seas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To lay eggs on the same sandy beaches</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From which they emerged</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crabs marching across the ocean floor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In single file columns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Caterpillars metamorphosizing into Butterflies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reptiles that warm in the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cooling in the shade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Snakes shedding skins</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tadpoles turning to frogs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human beings who put flowers on graves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And hold family reunions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth that pirouettes through space</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Steadily and gracefully</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About its endless axis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The moon, its partner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Swinging smoothly round and round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In their cosmic dance about the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Galaxies that twirl and whirl</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About the vast empty voids</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of infinite space</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ROUND EARTH</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth is round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It has no edges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It circles round the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And spins upon its axis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without beginning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or ending</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Receding forever</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sun never setting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But that it is also rising</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Half a world away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That does not eventually lead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Back to where it began</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That can be taken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That does not turn round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sooner or later</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything connects</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To everything else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">However remotely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing exists alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Isolated upon the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Understanding the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Begins and ends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the roundness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of its days and of its seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of its moons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And of the many spheres</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Surrounding it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the many ways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Encircling it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">WAVES</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waves forming somewhere out at sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rolling in upon the shore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And breaking over me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Turning into broiling frothy foam</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Diminishing to a gentle film of water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flattening over the smooth sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The edge of the vast sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Continuous and undulating</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wave upon wave comes crashing in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A never ending pounding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Curling in a long low roar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a strong forceful arm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of some mysterious underwater sculptor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shaping the rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In beautiful round and jagged designs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Carving away the cliffs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In jagged and contoured relief</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And gently smoothing over the sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the soft palm of your hand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I walk your entire length</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until my legs grow weary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And my feet are sore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet you do not end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I follow the shifting undulations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of sand and shoreline</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet find no edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I climb the many cliffs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And squint into the blinding sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seeing far-off sails</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sitting upon the surf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But no other shore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of any distant land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ocean waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where do you begin?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coming halfway around the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To finally come unrolling softly upon this beach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Gently melting the sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath my hard feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">WAVES OF STILLNESS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the end of a small winding trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That crosses the same stream of trickling water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Again and again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A small pond of water rests</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As still as can be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The surface like glass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reflecting all the trees,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The blue sky and clouds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sun glinting brightly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On its silvery green surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over on the opposite shore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A small beaver mound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Made of sticks and mud</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The pond itself created</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the beaver dam</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Running long and low across its width</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The trees all around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hewn and toppled by the industrious fellow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now no where in sight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I sit to wait for him to appear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And admire the stillness of the place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No birds sing or fly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only a few insects buzz about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A fish comes gently to touch the top</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sends out concentric rings of waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That slowly spread out across the surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until they bounce from all the sides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And suddenly shatter into an exploding maze</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly the ripples subside back down into the stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then a small water spider scoots across the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sending out smaller ripples of waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not reaching the middle of the pond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then a small Mallard wobbles out of some grass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Followed by a single file line of her offspring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">She enters the water like a feathered tugboat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Towing a string of smaller boats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As each cuts the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They send out v-patterns of ripples</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly reaching across the pond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As the ducks reach the other side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They climb ashore and waddle into a thicket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the ripples of the pond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Soon slowly cease</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the pond becomes still once again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I pick up a smooth stone from the bank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And throw it out in to the middle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It goes "k-plunk" with a small splash</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And rapidly sinks to the bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sending out a nice bold concentric pattern of waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Across the entire surface of the pond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Breaking apart and then finally subsiding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Back into the stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I pick up another smooth, flat stone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And send it side-arm skipping across</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One, two, three sets of concentric rings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until it sinks upon its fourth strike into the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ripples all radiate outwardly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until they interfere with one another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And quickly break apart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Soon subsiding back to the stillness of the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As if its surface had never been touched</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wait a little longer for Mr. Beaver</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But never ever shows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or breaks the tranquil stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of this place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">WIND</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wind comes in all directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never stopping, sometimes slowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always wandering from one place to the next</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It blows through the trees of the forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bending them over and making leaves rustle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And fall whirling to the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always cooling, ever unsettling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Taking the moisture from everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It whistles between the crannies of mountain crags</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And whispers mysteriously around all the narrow window sills</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Telling of the ancient places it has been</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the great oceans that it has crossed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the clouds it's carried along</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sands it has blown across the vast desert spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the tempests, typhoons and tornadoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It has in its fury attended</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like so many ceremonies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of some ethereal state</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How many spirits ride within you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How many souls have you stolen away?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That now secretively calls out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From your immense spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What forces you harbor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bending everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By all things unbending</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What patience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To slowly carve away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Great mountains of stone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To slowly bury over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Great cities in your wake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You secretly harbor eternity itself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In some safely hidden cave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From whence you came</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A cave of absolute stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where time it self never intrudes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somewhere deep beneath the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">RECYCLING</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mostly water, and a few pounds of chalk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A few trace elements</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That can't be turned off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not much to give back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the end of one's days</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For all that we take</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along our way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the Earth asks for little</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For it has enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And still takes a lot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Soon a billion bodies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be buried beneath the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be recycled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Food for worms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That burrow through the soil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nutrients for plants</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whose roots reach deep enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Perhaps a nice young oak, or a tall pepper tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Plenty of bacteria</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To mulch us back to dark rich soil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We've always returned to the soil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And mixed the with the decay of all life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This handful of smelly dirt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It contains our entire history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And consumes our whole heritage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Perhaps this handful is my father,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And this, my grandfather</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But this loam grows the plants</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That feed the grazing animals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the birds and insects</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fed upon by yet other animals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some we in turn shall eat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And eat in turn we must</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or else return too soon to the place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From which we've all come</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And so it goes on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This recycling of the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And so it's gone on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time immemorial</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are but one spoke</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a giant spinning wheel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blowing with the winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the heavens rising</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Turning with the currents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the ever flowing water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath our feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">STONE HENGES</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Monumental megaliths</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stone giants</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Standing in a circle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Celebrating an ancient rite</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In solemn silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In sublime stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rough-hewn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the hands of unknown masons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stillness shrouded in mystery</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Silence hidden in secrecy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your weather worn faces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your withered old postures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your mighty arms fallen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Paying homage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the many moons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The perennial passages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the great span of seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Perhaps sacrificial altars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the vernal equinox and summer solstice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An ancient calendar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Predicting the spring planting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the first frosts of fall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Predicting perhaps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An eclipse or two</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Heavy stones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hinges of the cosmos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That pivots about your axis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nature's fulcrum</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sacred shrines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the earth's fecundity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Center of balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For earth's being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">SQUARENESS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Conceived in a square bed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Born into a square crib</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A life spent sleeping</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On square mattresses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On spring boxes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Inside of square walls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of square rooms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of square houses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sitting on square blocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Taking square vehicles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To work in square spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of square cubicles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of square buildings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Doing business</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fair and square</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the down town</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Market square</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making sure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Things are squared away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Buried</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In square coffins</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In square holes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With small square marble markers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With epitaphs in square letters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We live our lies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bound by squares</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to figure out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How to cut corners</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And round out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hard edges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">STRAIGHTNESS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Straight arrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between two points</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The shortest span</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between two times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crisscrossing in every direction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Planes of perfect flatness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">World-views of perfect proportion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And absolute perspective</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A life of hard edges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sharper angles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Straightness that does not bend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That cannot turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But only breaks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">NATURE'S WEB</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A lone widow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On a small island</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nature spins her common yarn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the spinning wheels f time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The spindle whorl never stopping</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spinning but never slowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Twisting and turning the golden threads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All interlaced with silver fibers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From her own gray woolen hair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The golden threads she braids into magic rope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without an end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That she steadily coils about her feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In unending spirals falling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into a single bottomless pot of clay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Made from the mud</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of her still lake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This vessel she planted in a round hole</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Deep into the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Opening like a dark mouth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a deep wishing well</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From this magic golden rope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grow all the many brown fibers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That she weaves into a big round basket with her other arms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's rim as wide as the most distant horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A bountiful cornucopia every year she fills</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With fresh leaves and fruits of trees and many kinds of grain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This big basket she uses to hold all her balls and skeins of yarn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That she has spun from the finest gold and silver threads of</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Silk, cotton, flax and other fibers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That she then weaves upon her wooden loom of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its ends and beams and legs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Split and chinked with great age</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Weathered by the passing of many seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spent in ceaseless spinning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her many other arms deftly moving the shuttle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Back and forth in unending devotion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the spirit of a garden spider</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her woof is the wandering wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From whence comes the blowing breath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The weft is the meandering water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From whither pulse the currents of blood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her treadle pumping rhythmically</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly grows her mysterious cloth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unfolding out in all directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A fine fabric without seam or edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its outer side catches the light of the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Casting it off in a rainbow of colors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its other side is never touched by light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Absorbing all in the dark shadow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of its endless night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its mesh is sometimes too fine</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be seen by the eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes so coarse, as to pass unnoticed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The web of its weave casts out to the furthest horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thrown to the limits of her encompassing reach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Catching up bits of dust and clods of dirt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pieces of stone and grains of sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like so many small fish brought in from the sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And with this she weaves a wonderful tapestry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That tells the entire tale</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of her home, the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And of all the living creatures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her mystical little children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who walk and run down her trails</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who play inside the web of mythical tales</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Growing old with the passing of her many stories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Turning gray like tarnished silver</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally falling fast asleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Within the many folds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of her fine warm cloth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be unwoven back into her big brown basket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then in time to be spun again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A little later on in her long unending story</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a spider</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nature weaves her web</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Telling a tale in a tapestry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Entangling everything imaginable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In its silver and golden threads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">EARTH BEING</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dwelling in the deepness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the still lake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dwelling on lonely mountain tops</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the cool shadows of big rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And under the shade of old trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hidden deep within the forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lurking in dark caves and crevices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dwelling in those forgotten places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Well away from the beaten path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We look but do not find it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hiding in the shadows of our field</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We hear something but do not pay heed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To what is whispering in the blowing wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We sense it lurking all about but take no notice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it stalks in the wake of our presence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We search for it but cannot find it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it visits the many places of our absence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always just one step ahead of us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And just one step behind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It taunts and teases without touching us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It dwells always all around us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In every nook and cranny of our world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But whichever way we turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is no longer there to find</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Patiently we must wait for it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For years on end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For life-times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For ages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In motionless, silent meditation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not flinching a muscle, not moving an eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without giving it the slightest attention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cautiously it will creep up to us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the corner of our eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never can we turn our head toward it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or else it will be frightened away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is a wild creature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And few people have its spirit tamed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Enough to be comfortable in their presence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never enough to directly look upon it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to try to touch it with their fingers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes we startle it inadvertently</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Catching it off guard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it quickly stalks away again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Before we can even bat an eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Earth being is disappearing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is vanishing before our eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are filling its resting-places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With asphalt and concrete</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is running out of hiding places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And its dwelling space is quickly diminishing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is becoming like a frightened creature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Evading the very edges of our existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Receding from the margins of our experience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Estranged from our old world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some say it is a big hairy ape-like creature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Others that it is a dragon with a dogs head and a cat's tail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Others claim it's a small elf or only a fairy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Anthropologists search for our lost tribes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bone collectors hunt for its missing links</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It might be a big bear, or even a were wolf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or just a whale or just a nocturnal raccoon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We think we'll find it in every cave we explore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those who've claimed to have seen it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Say it looks surprisingly familiar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And still others think it's just a lost and lonely old man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reared perhaps by wolves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whoever or whatever it was or may be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For time immemorial</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It has haunted our imagination and hunted our being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It calls to our most primordial roots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While in the forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And waits for us to answer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While we are left only to wonder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In silent amazement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What it really is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">EARTH REINCARNATION</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somewhere across the vast expanses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our empty universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another small planet is just beginning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Very similar in the way our earth began</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It may be a watery or fiery planet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The optimum distance from its average-sized sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For life to soon start forming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In ways very similar to the way our own formed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And its life will then begin evolving</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In directions of its own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just like our own once did</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And perhaps even one day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another kind of human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will begin walking and talking upon this land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of this distant and lonely planet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An up-right, two legged creature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With agile hands and nimble fingers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a quick eye, an intelligent face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a nose, two ears, a chin and some teeth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Perhaps this alien being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will be very similar to our selves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But also very different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the great Wheel of Being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth cannot die</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without being somewhere reborn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a different time and place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a different sense of History</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ours has been but one instance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of many lifetimes of an earth</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="three">Part II</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">EARTHTIDES, EARTHLINES and EARTH RAYS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of the Earth</p> </a></font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sky is everlasting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the earth is very old</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why so? Because the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Exists not for itself; It can and will live on.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>The curvilinear patterning of Nature is just at the threshold of our sense of chaos and order. Science has long been a function of our human need to superimpose a "con-sensus" of linearity upon the apparent irregularities of nature. It has been for this reason that we have sought to reconcile the seeming chaos experienced in our environments with our own need for perceptual regularity and conceptual linearity.</p> <p>Some have supposed that science has always been the fulfillment of the human need to understand, control and reduce the threat and danger of natural entropy that is found in our environments. Of course, many others turn to religions for their answers and solutions. In a simplistic sense this is quite true. Science has also been long concerned with the reduction of chance and risk in its theories, predictions and applications. Indeed, in many ways science has reduced the risk of human error of our judgements and decision-making to a well-calculated minimum.</p> <p>Preliterate cave-dwelling people probably did not think of the dangers of cave-dwelling when a mild foreshock brought down a few rocks from the ceiling of their homes. They only knew reflexively to get out of the way of the falling rocks. They did not have local building codes or safety standards to advise them of the inherent risks of living in caves. Nor were they anticipating the next Big One, perhaps never having experienced an earthquake before or at least not associating such a possibility with a cave-ceiling collapse. Most likely they merely sensed the dangers of more rocks to fall and intuited by a vague feeling of gut discomfort that it would be wise to evacuate the cave for a few days or a few hours at least. There being no other unoccupied caves in the vicinity, the nights being severely cold, long and dark, and the animals of the region being especially large and ferocious, they probably soon moved back into their comfortable and secure cave abode. The father of the family slowly crawled back inside and found that no more rocks had fallen to the ground. He yelled out loudly to frighten away any wild things or, even worse, invisible spirits, that may have sneaked back into the unoccupied cave during their absence, and who were probably most responsible for the disruption in the first place. A week later they are quite back to their normal routines, perhaps all but forgetting the whole affair, when the Big One finally does strike them hard on their heads and buries them alive for many millenium until modern scientists finally have the special professional opportunity to dig up their well preserved, if somewhat battered, bones.</p> <p>They had no televisions or radios to inform them of the magnitude of the quake on the Richter scale or of its epicenter or whether it was the result of a latitudinal or longitudinal shifting of the plates. They had no previous experience of earthquakes and no reason to believe that another one might ever happen again. They could not know the extent of damage of other caves in a broader region unless they were part of an exceptionally efficient gossip network.</p> <p>In spite of our science, our ability to quickly measure and locate the centers of earthquakes and their magnitude, the many seasonal predictions of the Big One soon striking Southern California, most people who continue to live there just pick up the pieces after they have suffered one and soon get back to normal again, perhaps a little more rattled than before. Very few people actually pack up their homes and move out of the danger area, unless the last quake levied their homes and made them destitute enough to migrate for financial reasons.</p> <p>Nor should anyone really leave the area just to escape the Big One that hasn't yet happened, except perhaps for the occasional crackpot who sees it as an ominous sign of the end of the world. People rely on modern building standards, safety codes, emergency procedures and science, and chances are great that they can ride out even the severest of quakes. Thanks to science, they have a good idea of what their chances are, and they have hedged their bets with some preparedness and emergency procedures, unlike their cave-dwelling ancestors. Now we know that geological time is really on our side after all, and our techniques of estimation are even a little more accurate than previously.</p> <p>Despite definite forewarnings, a few foolhardy people still ignored the danger signals and tried to move in for a closer look at the sudden explosion of Mt. Saint Helena. Others simply refused to believe that "their Mountain" on which they had lived most of their lives, would let them down and cover them in deadly ash. Like so many other foolhardy people, they didn't leave the mountain, but they did return to the earth prematurely. Geological time is mostly on our side, but never always so. And human cycles of living and dying are puny ones indeed in comparison with geological cycles of the earth.</p> <p>The linearity of science making sense of a curvilinear natural world is often superfluous in its game of chance though frequently quite profound in the correctness of its guesswork. But science is never always and absolutely correct in the choices it makes. Physicists have the timing of the local vicinity of the universe down to the nanosecond, and the geographers and their governments are making satellite maps of the Earth's surface that may pinpoint any spot down to the size of a pinhead. But our science always comes up short just this side of the natural rhythms and organization we see as chaotic. Volcanoes erupt, earthquakes shake, tornadoes and typhoons come and go and forecasting the weather remains still a relative risky occupation.</p> <p>For the most part, we still prefer straight lines, angles and perfect curves. The natural order is characterized by zigzag lines, jagged edges, and undulating curves, as well as by its local detail, diversity, its entropy, and its multifaceted interconnections. Travel the world over and you will never see two natural settings exactly alike. There is always continuous variation in nature. The apparent chaos of the natural world might be called the grand organization of natural diversity. It is much more difficult to see the extent of this diversity in big housing projects, apartment complexes, housing tracts and condominiums, than it is in an old-growth forest. For all the many MacDonald's fast food restaurants in the world, in all of them you can buy the same basic meal by the same basic design.</p> <p>The earth organizes from the bottom up. We organize from the top down. We live and build our lives in seeming straight lines that on a grander scale of geological time are but minute oscillations within a broader scheme of connections. It is our failure to fit our square world into a larger, rounder and more natural context of the earth's environment. We look for direct proximate causes in our immediate environments, but ignore all the indirect, contextual results that always surround and confound our efforts to dominate and control our natural environments. The only language we have for expressing this indirect contextuality is metaphorical, and metaphor is anathema to pure science.</p> <p>The ancient Chinese had elaborated a wonderful science of the earth and the universe in which to express its contextuality in our lives and its importance in determining our fortunes and fate. They did not neglect the value of metaphor for expressing the overall contextuality of nature that our own straight science has rejected. Contextuality has been all important in preconditioning our realities, our histories, our fates, and yet we lack an appropriate language of explanative metaphor by which to systematically and conveniently express this sense of contextuality or its precondition of our worlds. Most educated people at least know now that the apparently firm ground beneath our feet is not really as firm and flat as we once believed, and it is in fact always flowing, stretching, bending under the power of titanic forces of the earth.</p> <p>Chinese geomancers believed that supernatural forces resided in the bowels of the earth that had a benevolent or malevolent influence over human events. In order for people to flourish, they had to live in harmony with the rules of these forces, and show respect for their powers. These powers originated in the Highlands of Tibet and flowed down through "Dragon's veins" that branched out to all parts of the earth. Such power collected in certain localities marked by special features of the terrain where spirits were known to dwell. Their science of "Feng Shui" (literally "Wind and Water") or the "Art of divining earthlines and (earth) rays" was keenly aware of the flow and topography of the local landscape. They looked for the lie of the dragon indicated by the brink of a stream or the configuration of the hills around a particular spot. The nearby streams were "water courses" surrounded by "alluvial formations." Mountains were the underpasses of dragons "and a good feng-shui expert will weigh the state of change of the universe and decide which range of hills the dragon spirit is moving through and how far he has reached." (Dennis Bloodworth <u>The Chinese Looking Glass</u> 1966: 215)</p> <p>The closer to the Dragon's mouth a site is located, the more auspicious, as long as it receives the breath of the universe from all sides and the Blue Dragon Wind from the left and the White Tiger wind on the right. Feng Shui seeks auspicious topographical relationships between mountains, winds, waters and dragon spirits. "One should not trouble the world's order nor the harmony of nature with a house too high, a straight road cutting across a dragon's vein, the drying of a natural pond, or the cutting of old trees bringing beauty to the landscape." (Ibid.)</p> <p>Chinese geomancy provided a language for describing the human relationship to the earth and a framework for understanding that allowed people to look at the lay of the landscape in a natural way, and enabled them to express and appreciate the importance of the land in metaphorical terms to the health and well-being of the people who dwelled on it. It recognized the earth as an abode of both natural ancestors and supernatural spirits, and so was endowed with a sacredness that deserved respect. Even now, though we have no comparable system of science of modern language by which to define it, people still regularly make long pilgrimages to better view eclipses, comets, volcanic eruptions, geysers, caves, canyons, water courses, and mountains, and we stand in silent awe and reverence before such natural phenomena.</p> <p>Chinese Geomancy also allowed individuals "cosmological reorientation" of their stars and constellations in relation to their physical surroundings in order to attract favorable influences. We in a rational world live with a mythology of individuality without realizing the naturalness of our own unique being. And as long as our sense of difference is dependent upon conspicuous consumption and our status-role identity in society, we are valued positively, but as soon as our sense of individual difference becomes too different or too natural or nonconforming to the status values of our society, we soon become labeled and marginal. Somewhere the side of the scientific boundary between natural and supernatural we have a cultural order that most people try to keep relatively as straight as possible. The system itself prizes the perfection of behavioral conformity to its implicit value orientations, and strives for the "multiplication of uniformity" underneath all the differences of appearance and designer dress. As much as we may dream for a return to nature, we still for the most part, live out our lives in box shaped houses, drive and walk down straight roads intersecting with other straight roads, and in our last natural act, we are even buried in boxes in square shaped holes in the ground.</p> <p>The fundamental difference between our scientific worldview and a natural worldview is in terms of the contextuality characterizing the natural order of things. Our science finds the many dilemmas of contextuality highly problematic and always tries to reduce the number of relevant relationships to the minimum. Nature tends to multiply the number of possible interrelationships. For nature, there are no dilemmas of context. Events happen when they happen. Volcanoes explode, earthquakes rumble and tumble, mountains gradually rise and fall, ice-ages follow long warming spells, and everything else follows suit. Nature doesn't waste time trying to control itself. The rhythms of the natural elements composing the whole mosaic we call the natural environment of the earth follows no single principle of design or organization, besides the tendency towards chaos and entropy.</p> <p>We encounter this dilemma in our understanding of evolution. We want to see it in terms of a single big branching tree. The closest science can come to its metaphorical characterization. And yet we fail to realize that the tree of nature, like all trees, just did not grow from the ground up as a mature tree, slowly branching into smaller and newer lines. The tree has its own history, and aside from its embryonic development from a seed pushing up beneath the ground. It essentially sprung from the ground full-blown, if not full grown. It has a history of birth, growth, death and replacement among many natural trees of life. Evolutionary trees are not static, branching forever upward into the blue skies. They themselves are quite dynamic, developing, changing and passing with time.</p> <p>Everyday most of us have aesthetic encounters with earthlines, earth tides and earth rays that curve and crisscross all our pathways, weaving the rich textures of our natural reality all around the world--concentrating there, dispersing here. And yet we are rarely if ever aware of them, and much less in tune with their subtle movements. We sometimes react to the synthetic arrangements of our man-made world by seeking escape in ocean waves, mountain bluffs or mere jaunts under some trees.</p> <p>Environmental enlightenment used to be a natural condition for our primitive ancestors. We have learned how to consciously block the experiences and the mode of contextual awareness that accompanies our touching nature. We may momentarily admire a certain seascape or landscape, even if it is just a pretty painting or photograph. We may briefly have such an encounter by momentarily looking out the window of the car, admiring the countryside, the peculiar formation of clouds, an unusual mountainscape, or the shape of a hill. We may even respond to it by taking its picture, mentioning something quaint or cliche to the person next to us, or coughing up a bit of authoritative information. But rarely would we sit and silently meditate upon our experience. And if we sought out such encounters all the time, and dwelled a bit too much in such experience, we would probably soon find ourselves locked up in a small box without means of escape.</p> <p>The most suburbanized adults, growing tire do the rat race at the end of the day or at the evening of their careers, do not seek escape at the malls or theme parks or dance halls. They find therapy in planting flowers and cultivating gardens in their life's little square allotments of land. They often flee the cities in quest of the tranquility of the earth, but they also just as often bring their TV's, microwaves and refrigerators with them, creating little square mobile cities in square RV parks. Such is the sad consequence of a life captured and transformed through time by a safe, square suburb in a city.</p> <p>Before we go any further forward, we must take a break and go backward to our most distant roots for a little while. We must relearn the art of divining earth tides and earth rays, of seeking out natural earth lines and finding environmental enlightenment in the natural world around us. We must seek out encounter experiences with natural aesthetic environment, in the confluence of the many earthlines and earth tides that always surround us and compose us. They are free and everywhere to be found.</p> <p>The beauty and intensity of the work of Van Gogh is rooted in such a quest for and discovery of the natural aesthetic of earthlines and force of the natural aesthetic encounter and of environmental enlightenment and dealienation. It was the result of a life of devotion that transcended the narrow dogmas of an orthodox world. And yet his paintings or their prints, that when hung on the walls of museums or of our square mansions or on our coffee tables, reawaken our own remote sense of primordial being, and only serve in the long run to remind us of our alienation and distance of our modern sensibilities and sensitivities from our own natural sense of being in the world. Children are born with an innate wonder of the natural world and the capacity to see and experience the world of nature in a fresh and innocent way, uncluttered by the conceptual chain of language or belief. It is to be seen in their scribbling and their early mandalas they draw in their first few years, however formless to the adult eye. They are naturally appealing and pleasing to look at.</p> <p>Growing up means unlearning this fundamental way of perceiving and experiencing the natural environment, by learning to rationalized and categorize and organize such experiences in order to calculate the risks and requirements of survival in a world transformed by human hands.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">O the great way o'erflows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And spreads on every side!</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All being comes from it;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No creature is denied.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But having called them forth,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It calls not one its own.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It feeds and clothes them all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And will not be their lord.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">COSMIC CHI AND COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Minding the Earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Expressing great energy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An awareness for the whole universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mysterious force uniting the cosmos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pulsing through our bodies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flowing through the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Uniting all the elements</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into a single field of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Releasing into our world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Connecting us to the entire thing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seeing chi</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Feeling chi</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Touching chi</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Experiencing its patterns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of environmental movement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In an auspicious spot of earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With nature all around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bringing enlightenment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An attunement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of cosmic consciousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And atonement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just ourself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We muse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We meander</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We wonder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We meditate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We contemplate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We entertain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Delighting in the play</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the light and shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the dance of colors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the diversity of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the richness of language</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even in death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It celebrates</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The cycle of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the cosmic wheel of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even in darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It sheds a little light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a dancing flame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even in the depths</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of sentiment and meditation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It dances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a dancing universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even in tears of tragedy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It smiles in joy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even in the ears of silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It sings softly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Child's play</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Simplicity is its complexity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ease is its subtlety</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Innocence and naivete'</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its sublimity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its entire being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cosmic Chi</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Comic Chi</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Optimism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a confident cosmos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always seeing a donut</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always drink from a half-empty glass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That's half-full of water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It sees sunshine on hillsides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Contrasted by shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Delighting in diversity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seeing unity in difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finding order in chaos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And complexity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In simple things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">CHILDREN OF THE EARTH</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth is not ours</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But we are the earth's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It created us from its many elements</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And takes us back again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When we are done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are its children and creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is our parent and our maker</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We belong to the dirt and the many stones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like trees standing rooted to the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We belong to the hills and the streams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like forests and the fish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We belong to its mountains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to its oceans</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And deserts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We belong to its rain, its wind and its ice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To its sun and its moon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its body is not our body to do as we please</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to desecrate irreverently</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our bodies are its bodies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That we must eventually return</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">WORN EARTH</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I trace the lines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That has formed from the rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To carry it away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I finger the cracks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That has come since last year</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And pick up a few loose grains of sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Piled at the base</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The marks of age</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And trappings of time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lichen and moss</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the rough face of this boulder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Half buried in the sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the mountain's shoulder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wind blowing strongly against my back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With my hand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tracing intricate patterns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of growth and decay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another rock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Worn with the weary wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The resemblance of a human face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Almost like a petro-glyph</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An anonymous portrait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of some ancient being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are the shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the hollow eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The protruding proboscis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's end broken off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As if some classic guise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The half-curled lips</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a half-open mouth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without a significant chin</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Worthy of mention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I walk among the fallen rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the littered decay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of dead bushes and branches</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I follow a little gully</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it drops down into the plain of the desert valley</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It grows wider and deeper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its banks soon reach above my head</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And it has branched off here and there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I leave a trail of boot prints</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the sandy bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flattening out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It opens up to a view of the plain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The rocks are all but gone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now green growth appears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Small mesquite trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And desert pommegranites</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some yuccas and clumps of sage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I walk out upon the dry plain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its sand crusty and hard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wind has brushed away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the excess</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I come to a finger of a sharp canyon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cut in the middle of the wide plain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a long knarled hand stretching</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Out across the middle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a desperate grasp to wring the land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of its last remaining drops of water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the bottom of this canyon a damp stream bed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Evidence of a recent summer storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I follow the meandering line of the canyon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With my level eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It disappears into a mountain shadow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the other end of the flat, dish shaped valley</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And above the mountain think clouds are gathering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For another afternoon thundershower</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look around and try to imagine myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Standing at the bottom of an ancient ocean bed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The cactus become the undersea coral</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the bleached white bones of some unfortunate animal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fossil remains of a gigantic sea creature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">EARTH ENERGY</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along contours of hillsides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And long chains of mountain-tops and valleys</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hidden by misty clouds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Meandering streams and rivers form</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ocean waves swelling and curling and breaking against the rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pounding heavily upon the sandy beaches</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Washing up seaweed and debris with the foam</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flotsam forming tidal lines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along the ocean's edges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">High water marks of flooding rivers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Low water's edge of drying lakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the ebb and flow of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Earthquake faults</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And silent lava beds of extinct volcanoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Recent eruptions of vast plumes of smoke and gas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Booming of distant thunder and lightening crashing near-by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mid-afternoon thunderstorms in the mountains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And clear desert moonscapes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth's energy flows in many different ways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Creating many different forms and shapes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No two alike</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">CONVERGENCE upon a CLIFF</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Experience the convergence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of elemental energies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While standing upon the edge of a cliff</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along the coast of Northern California</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A convergence of forces too intense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So sublime in beauty and powerful in feeling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I could not keep back the silent tears of joy and wonder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking down into the waves crashing against the rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Up and down the coastline</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The atmospheric perspective</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of receding points and small inlets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reaching out with my arms to the surface of the ocean</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Receding in windy blue whitecaps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the far off horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the shadowy silhouette of a large ship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looming in slow motion in the gray haze</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The waves breaking so far off shore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seemed frightening and too powerful to swim in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I suddenly became dizzy and lost my sense of balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I spread out my arms to encompass the view</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And felt the wind pull be down over the edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And suddenly I grew long wings like a bird of prey</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And glided down and swooped along the rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking at my body floating peacefully in the surf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lifelessly pounded by the huge waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then I drifted upward slowly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And soared into the blue cloudless sky</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then turning again, flying low</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Swooped straight across the ocean's choppy surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Heading directly toward the orb of the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That was quickly approaching the horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Briefly looking back to see the small sea birds circling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Circling against the shrinking cliffs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where I was once just standing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then finally turning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Soaring higher and higher</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into the blue heavens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Experiencing the environmental energies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too intense to stand for long</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without suddenly flying away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I slowly took the keys from my pants pocket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And walked back to my old green car in silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unsure where exactly to place my feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">OCEAN TYPHOON</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the well deck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a large landing ship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Headed for the Republic of the Philippines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The task force steers directly into a large typhoon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Following in its wake for four days and nights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We sit silently upon our swaying tanks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the very bottom hold of the big ship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it rolls from corner to corner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forward and backward and forward again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Silently we wait and watch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As the ship rolls back under</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A hundred foot wall of water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rising above the entire ship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over the big rear ramp</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looming motionless for just a moment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suspended in thin air above the crest of a wave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then disappearing with the forward roll of the ship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We wait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With nothing more to do than to sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And eat some C rations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting anxiously, helplessly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the next huge wave to appear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">During the backward roll of the ship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting endlessly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the storm to pass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No reason to fear, there is no where to go</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trusting only in the skills of the pilot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the good sense of the ships commander</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No need to climb up the decks to the mess</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Getting too sea sick on the way to eat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And even if we had made it there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We would not keep from sliding across the floor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or could not keep our plates and utensils in one place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Better to stay put down below</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Curled up in fetal positions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Asleep on the camouflage netting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or playing poker under a flashlight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or hiding in the red lights inside the tanks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Smitty doesn't speak for a couple of days</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mumbling only to himself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pacing peripateticly to and thro</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Up to the edge of the ballast holes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where the ocean water jets up like a geyser</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flooding the lowest section of the well deck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And Smitty gets drenched in cold seawater</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">J.R. finally throws my little ticking traveler's clock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The kind that one has to keep rewinding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And smashes it again the metal hull of the ship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then, picking up all the pieces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hands them back to me, saying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Here is your clock back, thanks for letting me use it"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the evening of the second day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">During a lull in the storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are permitted to spend fifteen minutes on the outside quarter deck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To stretch our legs and fill our lungs with fresh air</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There we look out and see the calm of the nearby seas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With sun-rays breaking through the clouds here and there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Casting yellow glowing spots on the ocean surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the great distances of the gray seas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We see all around us a ring of storms with huge waves breaking upon them selves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The waves appear so small in the distance, and yet well so hugely in our imaginations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally we wake up and the storm is ended</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We go upon the quarterdeck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And see the blue skies and sun shinning brightly upon the hills</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the "Straits of San Miguel"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thatched huts sit upon the hillsides, beneath green coconut trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Happy to be standing once again upon an even surface in a level sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We hear the news that a sister ship of the task force</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Had lost the starboard side of its stern gate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And had to be towed to dock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For emergency repairs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And that during our absence from the mess hall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The salty old sailors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ate steak and lobster</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">PASSING a SMALL ISLAND in the MIDDLE of the PACIFIC</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Standing upon the quarter deck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Watching the rough surf of the sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not five miles off the port stern</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A single small round island in the midst of a huge blue ocean</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Feeling compelled to wonder what was on it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its solitariness inviting me to visit and explore there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's wild remoteness standing out in sharp contrast to the surrounding sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wishing I could take a small boats and explores its hidden interior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I watched it slowly pass us by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In silent fascination</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until it faded out behind us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was round, rising straight up out of the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a small blemish on the face of the Pacific</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With deep green jungle growth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At its closest one could see its individual trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wondered if it even had a name</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if it were charted on a map</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wondered if someone had ever visited there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or maybe even lived upon it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Isolated as it seemed from the rest of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if everyone just passed it by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the way to busier places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like we were then doing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This small island made a lasting impression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon my mind's eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One that I've never since forgotten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">MIDNIGHT THUNDERSTORM</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The thunderstorm arrived late last night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the limb of the pine tree brushing against our bedroom window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then came the rains drumming against our windows and the roof</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Engulfing the entire wood frame of the house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a deafenning deluge of water falling from the midnight sky</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The cars outside wooshing along the rain-flooded street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Water spraying continuously under their wheel wells</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The street lights and signs multiplying through the beaded window pane</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The outside world shinning obscurely through the rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">First we could hear the thunder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Booming nearer and nearer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then came the flashes of lightening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bolts crashing all around us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sounding too close for comfort</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wind was blowing hard, making the old house creak and groan in strain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We lay there wide awake, unable to fall back to sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We just listened silently in the darkness, punctuated with the lightening flashes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to count the seconds until their reports</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to imagine where they were striking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unable to do anything more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I get up and walk through the intermittent shadows of the house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I go to the other corner where the wind isn't blowing as hard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I peek through the unshaded window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The rain is not obscuring the view</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There through my window were my two next door neighbors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Two middle-aged spinsters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">School teachers sitting on their common porch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Appearing like apparitions in the lightening flashes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Talking to one another and very relaxed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As a bolt of lightening strikes not one hundred yards down the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I watch them several minutes unnoticed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Amazed by their fearless fascination of the storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They seemed like ghosts in the night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unaware that anyone was watching them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally growing sleepy, I went back to bed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the storm tapering off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I lay there wondering how long they had been sitting there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And what they were talking about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the experiences they were sharing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The thrill of the thunderstorm upon the porch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The morning newspaper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Told of tornadoes touching down in adjacent villages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Demolishing several homes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the river had swollen to flooding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just down our street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">WIND and WAVES</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wind whips and sways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waves roll and break</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Winds blow, water flows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From these constants</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Earth emerges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Takes shape</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And changes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">These few things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forces and forms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Powers revealing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And time healing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mending and bending</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ending and beginning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Water world bleeding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Windy earth breathing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wind blowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Across the water's surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waves rippling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along the edges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From these sources</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All life begins</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All changes happen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All things end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">INTOXICATED on FUJIYAMA</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Starting out early one morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The climb up Mt. Fuji took four hours</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was an exhilarating freedom for me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A break from the oppressive barrack routine</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A steep vertical ascent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Made more difficult by the red pumice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That would give way beneath one's feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I was the first to reach the top</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone else crapped out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A third of the way back down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And rode on the blade of a bulldozer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly climbing straight up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Towards the top</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I found a small Japanese sundry shop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And bought four cans of cold Japanese beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the time I was at the rim</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I had already swallowed down three</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the altitude, the thin air, the exhaustion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Made me nauseous and I couldn't finish the last</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I ran around the top of the rim</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A good mile and a half in circumference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Four times, feeling quite intoxicated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I would look out over every edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I could see in all directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everywhere a continuous layer of clouds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a soft carpet at the foot of the mountaintop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stretching until the distant horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sky above the deepest, coldest blue imaginable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sun shone brightly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once in a while, here and there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Little holes in the clouds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the blue glinting of ocean beneath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This barren mountaintop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stood within heaven's reach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The crater in the center</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Was filled with muddy yellow, sulfurous water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That slowly bubbled from beneath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A tunnel leading down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Directly to hell</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We went back down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The other side of the mountain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our way was covered in an eerie fog</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That clung stilly to the mountainsides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There was not sun, nor shade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The air was damp and moist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And my thighs were now so sore and stiff</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And my ankles ached</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I could hardly lift my legs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or bear the weight of another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Downward step</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We passed by a lonely mining shack</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The miners dressed in yellow rain coats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With lights upon their mining hats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They seemed to dwell there in silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of sulfurous steam and cold mist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That felt like the twilight air of death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They watched us with half-curious eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until we disappeared back into the fog</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We passed through a nether realm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Neither here nor there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Neither then nor now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the time we reached the bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We could see barely ten feet ahead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And would call to one another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find our direction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">CIRCLES in the DESERT MOON</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Radio watch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the wee morning hours</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waking my relief</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the light of the half-moon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A newbee fresh from boot camp</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly walking back up the hill</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To my own tank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Laying out upon its flat fender</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ready to get some needed sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting to see if my relief will arise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if he's fallen back to sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a while he stirs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I see his small silhouette</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Moving about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He turns on a flashlight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And begins walking across toward the lieutenant's tank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then he slowly veers off course</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And soon begins walking in big circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Out across the flat desert expanse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I see the light fall to the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As he takes a tumble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I watch him circle round and round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lost in the darkness of the desert</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For at least fifteen minutes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally I get back up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And fetch him back to the tank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without need for the flashlight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My eyes well adjusted to the moonlight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I tell him to turn it off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not to drain the batteries</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That's used for reading maps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or for fixing things broken on the tank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">His little light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To defeat the darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Swallowed up by the vast night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blinding him to the desert moonscape</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lying all around</p> <p> </p> </font> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="four">Part III</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ANIMALOGOS and ANTHROPOLOCOS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Living</p> </a></font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sparing indeed is nature of its talk:</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The whirlwind will not last the morning out;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The cloudburst ends before the day is done.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is it that behaves like this?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The earth and sky! And if it be that these</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cut short their speech</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How much more yet should man!</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>The invention of the word, especially of the written word, led to a unique capacity of the human mind to live within two overlapping, but separate, worlds--the world of sensual perception and experience and the world of increasingly abstracted conception and symbolic reason. The dilemmas caused by this imperfect capacity has led to most people living now in worlds of truth rather than in realities of experience, and to frequently confuse or replace the concrete perception of the phenomena with an abstract notion of it. Seeing no longer had to be believing, but believing could also become a way of seeing. This unique capacity has proven to be a double-edged sword for humankind. It has been both a boon and a bane to our collective existential situation on earth. On one hand, this capacity liberated humankind from the dictates and determinations of concreteness that imprisoned its body. On the other hand it more often than not, especially in modern state societies that are organized around a written script, imprisoned the body and soul to the illusory world of words it created. This newly created capacity allows humankind to regularly, habitually deceive itself and delude itself in a man-made world of illusion.</p> <p>It is likely that the preliterate "primitive" human beings had no need of deception in the way that we seem to need it now. What deceived them were the momentary shadows dancing beyond their hearths, and the hoots and howls of wild animals in the midnight darkness. Even if not very sophisticated in civilized ways, they were at least simple, honest folk who went along their own bumbling paths. They had no need of Hitler, Jim Jones or Ronald Reagan, Joe Stalin or Saddam Hussein or Uncle Ho's or Uncle Sam's, all to misguide them by treacherous words to their own destruction.</p> <p>They may have had a human butcher or two, and many strong-men and alpha-males to coerce and cajole the troop into conformity and sexual submission, but they were as likely as not incapable of being well-organized into large impersonal state systems of military or religious orientation. Natural limits to the extent of human authority and social power preempted its development until the word of authority and the persuasive power of the word was invented to preempt these natural boundaries. Deceit was a great symbolic invention of humanity and inhumanity.</p> <p>Humankind is also unique in nature for being the only species to have evolved the capacity for total warfare. Other animals may hunt mercilessly and regularly in well-organized groups, and may occasionally even kill needlessly or perversely, or have mortal combat with one another for dominance. It has only been humanity who has demonstrated on countless occasions the capacity for deliberate conquest and domination by one group over another, for mindless and pointless mass slaughter, and for other acts of deliberately destructive violence.</p> <p>In our civilized state, we like to think of ourselves as the most intelligent of all life forms, and we regularly demote other species on our Great Chain of Being because we believe that their entire existences are so bound and dictated by their natural instincts that they have no voluntary control over their actions. We are more civilized because we have substituted social control for instinctual control. We fail to realize that it is these very "instincts" that are what apparently keep these species in the safety zones of their environmental niches carved out by successful survival through the milleniums. Natural instincts are what keep all the rest of life well within nature's fold. If any individual of such species were to deviate from the demands of nature, it would soon suffer death as an evolutionary failure and ecological aberration. It is only humankind that has learned now how to turn such aberration into a kind of "evolutionary" adaptive success story.</p> <p>We also forget that modern humankind has only been around for less than a hundred thousand years, while most other species have been surviving for several millions of years. That is a good 500 to one ratio of survival odds in a natural environment that is quickly becoming destroyed by the "most successful species on Earth." And it is quite painful to remind ourselves that it is we who have become the most dangerous threat to the survival of all other species on earth.</p> <p>In all our glorified scientific achievements we still do not have a very good idea of exactly what we really mean by the word "instinct." Like all other such group labels, it has been a kind of bandaid term that we apply to cover over our own ignorance and to create a boundary between an "in-group" and an "out-group," in this case being as always the in-group is ourselves and the out-group is everything else that is alive on earth. We like to link instinct to passion, urges, id, sex, aggression, hunger, sleep, desire, emotion, primitiveness, hormones, or reflexes, and we draw a strict line between animal instincts and human sentience. In this case our language has gained full control over our reality. We are faced with the confounding complexity of "world-openness" that means we have freed ourselves, through the symbolic capacity of our language, from the chains of instinct. Patterns and energies once instinctually bound are broken up and unbound, and then released to be channeled, sublimated, redirected in intelligent and self-controlling ways.</p> <p>Somehow the natural violence of instinctual aggression is made to seem worse ("barbaric," "primitive," "uncivilized") than the unemotional and impersonal violence of rational aggression, by the one being determined by instinct and the other being allowed by the control of instincts. No matter that the latter can achieve by the push of a few buttons what millenium of the former could never accomplish.</p> <p>It has become fashionable in the scientistic language of socio-biology or any of its euphemized alternatives to look for the influences of "instinct" in the form of "fixed action patterns," "hard-wiring of the brain," or in "family or group fitness" in controlling or determining the patterns of culture and history. In determining the structure of human society as we have known it to be, especially in the modern era, the linkages (and leaps of faith) that the sociobiologists claim to be there and to scientifically study, are those "instinctual linkages" between the brain and the body, the controlling influence of genetically determined nature (homosexuality, intelligence, mental illness, poverty, aggression, etc.) of human behavior, and the submission of the mind to the gene, and from there, between the individual body and the social body politic. Sociobiology developed a theory, and then tried to find "facts" to fit this theory. One fallacy of this approach to anthropology is not so much the call to study "instincts" rooted in the human body, as in the misconception of the reality that our unquestioned "common sense" interpretations of such words like "instinct," "emotion," "aggression" tend to obscure.</p> <p>We appeal to our own collective folk psychology that has traditionally linked instinct, emotion, aggression to "lower," animal states of being. The implicit derogation of "uncivilized" or "primitive" stereotypes muddies and clouds the sociobiologist's superior, instinct driven brain. When applied to their favorite human out-groups of study, namely women, homosexuals, alcoholics, criminals, blacks, spinsters, schizophrenics, prostitutes, sociopaths and twins, it soon becomes conflated indiscriminately with malicious and pernicious ideologies of social racism that promote the status quo of class inequality and hierarchy. It is only a short stone's throw from there to the promulgation of nationalist ideologies that claim to find a "communist genotype" or a "Moslem nature" or a "scientific DNA" or a "Intelligence component" in a blood test.</p> <p>The real damage such scientistic ideology promotes is in the preventing of further genuine research on what "instincts" might really be about. It fails to accurately account for the fundamental differences between ant, termite or bee colonies and baboon tropes, wolf packs or schools of fish or dolphin pods, and from there to account for basic differences between chimps, gorillas and modern "Homo saipiens saipiens." This is not to deny some relationship between "instinct" and modern human behavior, however indirect this may really be, but only to point up sociobiology's failure to adequately account for environmental and linguistic components of human "instinct" as something a bit more than just nothing but "genetically fixed action patterns." Instincts, human or animal, have all been environmentally and evolutionarily contextualized and preconditioned or "preprogrammed" by designs that include communication and interaction with other creatures.</p> <p>Ant colonies have different linguistic features than lions, snakes or humans, but all, as forms of life, have some kind of communication system. Again it is only civilized humankind that has drawn a rather arbitrary and artificial boundary between "systems of communication" and "genuine language" which in turn presents us with the paradox of the evolution of human speech and writing, and with the evolution of language, however simple or sophisticated, however concrete or abstract, because all communication and all language is by definition social, environmental, adaptive and evolutionary.</p> <p>To claim sentience in dogs, cats, monkeys, and even in ants, is to rediscover the "sense" of "instinct" as an evolutionary system of innate response-patterning and to understand language as part of this system. And most species of life have not forgotten this natural function of language within an evolutionary context, in the same way that we have forgotten it within the boundaries of our speech and writing.</p> <p>We have restricted our definition of "true language" as something that needs to be voiced, worded or written. It is still an issue among many linguists and English grammarians whether American Sign Language or other human sign languages are "legitimate" or not, and many scientists doubt the authenticity of the talking of dolphins and whales because it is not discretely "voiced" in the same manner as human speech and signals do not seem to evoke the expected responses. It has only been fields of paralinguistics and sociolinguistics, that studies nonverbal communication, the pragmatics of discourse and social variation in language patterning, that have led to a questioning of the boundaries of language and human speech production, that we find an alternative conceptioning of the importance of the environment and contextuality for the understanding of language.</p> <p>We have failed to recognize the importance that in much of the animal kingdom much communication remains silent and we still tend to equate deafness with dumbness. Animals have long been communicating with one another in ways that we barely understand, and there may even be communication between species, in much more subtle ways than we realize. Their dumbness and insensibility has been our own ignorance and lack of sensitivity. To claim that the ant is a dumb creature without an individuated, independent brain, is to fail to really see the ant in its own individual and social context of performance, but only to compare its instinctual niche with our own 'superior" one. Comparing the levels of sentience or of language between different species, or different orders, of animals is like comparing apples, coconuts, walnuts and grapefruit.</p> <p>We once had a genuine capacity for "primitive language" as good as that of all other animals, and we were probably very proficient at it. Our cave-dwelling forefathers were probably very adept at receiving, reading and generating many signals within the natural environment that allowed a mutual adaptation with many other species of life. They were no Tarzans who could call all the forest animals to come to them at will--but they could track, stalk, and interact with many species in ways that Bush people and aborigines have been recorded doing as well. But our instinctual sensibilities have become blunted and dull through too much civilization and too little nature. In all our double-talk we have mere unlearned our natural capacities and in the process of devolving from our place in nature we have destroyed the environmental contexts in which our native language mattered most.</p> <p>Vestiges of such an instinctual language still remain within us. In our talk with children, and in the silent communication between children, in sheep's eyes we give to people we like, palming, and body posture between lovers and in the glares and frowns and snarls and agonistic displays between competitors and people who hate one another. Interspecies communication survives as well, between domesticated pets and their "owners," between ranchers and their livestock, between zoo animals and their keepers and even spectators. But these are highly restricted and unnatural forms of communication. It is interesting that in our popular media we have stigmatized as pornographic many of the postures and body language found in x-rated films, while we promote much of the symbolic language of interpersonal violence--hate, murder, and aggression--on the media. But "natural language" survives in more than just our social instincts of "fight or flight." It is found as well in our experience of our own and other's emotions and sensitivities, in the expression of bodily needs and abuses, in our feelings and empathy with others, and in relations of dependency, fear, and authority that often influences our thinking and chooses our words, and in feelings of alienation, communitas, liminality, and depersonalization. We cannot and would not want to "unlearn" our civilized language, or to give up all it has allowed us. We cannot simply relearn and recover what we have never lost. Such regression would make us something less than either genuinely human or authentically animal. We would only become bastardized monsters without any language at all. But we can rethink "instinct" and associated attributes and learn to cultivate the kinds of sensitivities that preserve the best of both worlds.</p> <p>Learning that the barriers between the unconscious and conscious are frequently "man-made"--artificially contrived, unnecessary, anxiety-producing and frustrating, as well as blinding, numbing and "dumbing." We can learn to cultivate ways of breaking them down in order to live more comfortably with ourselves in our natural environments.</p> <p>We can begin by cultivating sensitivity and sensibility and empathy through natural contact between our own selves and others and with the natural world in which we life. By studying and promoting a natural environment of "universal sentience" we can recover a lost sense of ourselves and of our world, and create a ground for the promotion of ideologies of universal peace and natural rights. By uncluttering our language of its "rending" doublespeak and our minds of illusory ideologies of "truth," we can allow our language to better speak for our selves and our world. We can learn to prevent and better recognize in the use of our language ideologies of power and delusion and thus better prevent their destructive influence on our lives and in the life around us.</p> <p>There are many different ways of living, and each way has a language and a "sense" of its own. Instincts are not necessarily less adaptable than "intelligence" in the natural world, and may very well prove to be more adaptive in the evolutionary long run. Recognizing, learning and appreciating the many different ways of life, and tolerating and respecting these differences, is the single most important adaptive strategy that we can have in a natural world.</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those who know do not talk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And talkers do not know.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stop your senses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Close the doors;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Let sharp things be blunted,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tangles resolved,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The light tempered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And turmoil subdued;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For this is mystic unity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In which the Wise Man is moved</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Neither by affection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nor yet by estrangement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or profit or loss</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or honor or shame.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Accordingly, by all the world,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He is held highest.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">SNAKES in the GRASS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Silently stalking the forest path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coming suddenly upon a clearing of grass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Discovering a pair of huge Hamadryads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ritually dancing an ancient mating ceremony</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their majestic heads rising eight feet in the air</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly circling round one another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a graceful pirouette</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their sleek beautiful skins</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Undulating in sensuous rhythms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their hoods swaying to and thro</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a long hypnotic trance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forked tongues flickering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tasting the moist warm evening air</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The entrancement of their bodies' embrace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the quiet beauty of their display</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Makes me stop, step back and wonder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wisdom of using a gun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To destroy the threat they pose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the human intruder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To rebuke their power over the human mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or of taking a snapshot to preserve forever such a rare vision</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Held for public presentation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That the clicking of the poised shutter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the pulling of the cocked trigger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Would not thereby suddenly end forever</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This sensitive ocassion of nature's ultimate mystery</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the innate movements of instinct and understanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Better to quickly behold the miracle unfold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then to quietly back up in one's tracks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To steer and extra wide berth around the spot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than to risk being fatally bitten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By a final man-made mistake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">HUMAN TALK, ANIMAL WALK</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along the many wild ways of nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humans always talk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And animals always walk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And though they share the same paths</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never shall their two ways meet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Animals are silent and vigilant in their stalk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always aware of their environment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their senses attuned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the all their surroundings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humans sort of bumble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mumble and stumble along</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their minds always somewhere else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unaware of what lurks near by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until they are suddenly startled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By something unexpected</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wild creatures survive by fright</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And so always suddenly take flight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And humans think without acting and act without thinking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So they cannot but help talking as they walk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When people and animals meet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The person always says something</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the animal always begins running</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The human waits for an answer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While it asks a question</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The animals expect some movement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The humans ask without moving</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The animals move without answering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only messages exchanged</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are strange glances?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between different pairs of eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A mysterious bond of silent meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That seeing believes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A silent, instantaneous signal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Momentarily stopping one's next breath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And keeping the other from taking a step</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">EDGE of the JUNGLE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living at the edge of the Jungle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At No. 16 Jalan Bulan</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The end of a short-side street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Back by a small hill</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyday a long march of ants</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making a four-inch wide trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the entire house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyday I spray them with rid-sect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And follow their line of march</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As far as I can outside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every following day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another new trail forms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Again I spray them down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sweep them all up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Again they reappear the next morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always a new trail, sometimes across the floor,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes across the ceiling and down the walls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes leading through a window outside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then under the eaves and beneath the shelves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Huge cockroaches flew through the air</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Climbing the walls of the kitchen and back compounds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I douse them also with rid-sect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And they suddenly take off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fly out of control</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes doing a barrel roll</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then spasmodically falling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Straight to the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They lay on their backs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And twitch for a while</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until I sweep them up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A very large chi chak was nesting in the overflow drain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our kitchen sink</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes I would see it in the morning or at night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With its tail sticking out of the hole while washing the rice or chopping ice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I considered the chi chak a harmless lizard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even friendly little fellows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never had I seen a gecko as big as this</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Little fellows that hung upon the walls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making soft chirping sounds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And eating mosquitoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One day I found I had slammed the screen door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon a tiny baby lizard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's little lifeless body</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Swept carelessly between the cracks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the red floor tiles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Going to the outhouse with a candle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I was brushing my teeth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When a big six inch centipede</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Came crawling out the drain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the outhouse sink</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Barely visible by candlelight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Directly beneath my face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Excited, I ran back into the house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To fetch the Ridsect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I sprayed it well and it fled back down the drainpipe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I fetched a pair of chopsticks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And slowly picked it back out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It squirmed as I dropped it into a plastic bag</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And threw it into the garbage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The next day I found it was still alive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I suddenly felt guilty for subjecting it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To so much unnecessary punishment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I admired its tenacity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I let it go in the corner of the front yard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hoping it would not come back inside the compound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I gave up trying to kill the ants, appreciating their persistence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I was careful not to slam the doors on any more chi chaks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And left mother alone in her nest in the sink</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the termites in the wood frame of the house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Still had to be treated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I gave up trying to keep a clean, insect-ridden home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a good American should</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I even got used to the mosquitoes, when I learned that the mosquito coils</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Caused cancer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I gave up weeding the compound, as the weeds kept coming back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I cut the lawn with a single handle sickle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The kind you have to swing over your head</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But would soon be so drenched in sweat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I soon abandoned that also</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I managed to accumulate all the dead brush</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And branches in the back yard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into a single pile for burning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Near the front gate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the fire was hard to start</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And would not stay burning unless continuously tended</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the smoke drifted slowly across</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The entire street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It too me three days to burn all the rubbish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Before I gave that up too</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then I let the Tamil family across the street,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Harvest the big Marunga tree in the back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the Chinese girls would take the green mangoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And papayas from the side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone who visited would pluck and skin the small rambutans in the front</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the old rickety iron-gate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I learned to love the coconuts cut on the other side of the house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Two tall trees we would harvest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by tying my small sickle to two long, taped together poles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once in a while an exotic bird would land in our trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Black birds would always eat the garbage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tearing off the plastic bags left hanging on the front chain-link fence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Scattering the garbage across the yard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There were always a few kingfishers about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Strange noises would sometimes come from the hills at night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there were always little rhesus monkeys hanging round about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even one or two dark gibbons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I never did see a nice big snake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except at the snake temple</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nor did I eve see a sun bear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except at the monkey gardens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I supposed I'd have to move to a home deeper in the interior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If I wanted to find the famed tiger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the tapir or an elephant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">MAMBA in a TREE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sleek black prince</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sleepily you lie in wait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To catch off guard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some unwary traveler</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Protecting the path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leading to your nest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your eyes are cold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And determined</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your reach is long</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And agile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fearless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hapless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human wanderers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stumble across your lair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In haughty, two-legged pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You drop down a branch or two</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And pose to strike them all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without a warning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If they do not quickly heed your presence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Catching them suddenly by surprise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hovering just above their heads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Startled they fall to the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Helplessly dropping their useless weapons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You have them on their knees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now you may do with them as you please</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They know now you have them at your mercy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As you lick out your forked tongue</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And hiss out your chilling sentence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Freezing them in absolute terror</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As you gracefully glide between their legs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And disappear beneath the bushes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Letting them live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a gasping reminder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never to trespass this way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">FEEDING SUN BEARS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Watching a pair of small sun bears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In their cage at the Monkey Gardens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the island of Penang</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Natives to the Island</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sign reads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In plain English and Chinese</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Please do not feed the bears"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And goes on to explain why</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without heeding the warning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I watch some Chinese carelessly throw</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Peanuts into the cage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While the bears are wrestling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And frolicking about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Food and plastics cover the floor of the cage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As the bears go down into the deep moat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To fetch the fresh morsels</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the Chinese laugh in glee</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the antics of the bears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I return to the cage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The next time I visit the park</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About six months later</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the cage is empty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there are no more spectators</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bear is an endangered species</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No longer to be found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the island</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">BLUES at ZOOS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The blues</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Deeper than the doldrums</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not as dark as depression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beginning down in the gut</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Triggered by something</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seen or heard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or even unnoticed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once starting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rising</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It grows worse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until it pervades</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One's entire being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like some strange mysterious malady</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or like a chilling shadow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cast over everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An existential sadness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And pessimistic despair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of missing home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Friends and family</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A vague sense of hopelessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of things that seem never to change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a darkness that never ends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything moves more slowly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When you have got the blues</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I always get the blues at Zoos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every time I visit them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone seems the same</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all the animals seem to have the blues too</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I don't know if I give the blues to them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if they give it back to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it's definitely contagious</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've seen zookeepers looking depressed as hell</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ticket takers bored to death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Vendors straining under the hot sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Monotone tour guides hurrying through there monotonous scripts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And caretakers seeming without a care in the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only ones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who don't seem to get the blues at zoos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are the many colorful visitors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And spectators who crowd in front with their small children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pointing and laughing and ooing and aahing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The kids run hurriedly from exhibit to exhibit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yelling and throwing things at all the animals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The parents tag along behind, with their video-recorders</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And cameras taking pictures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Paying their brief respects</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then moving on behind the kinds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the end of the day I become downright irritated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By people who rudely stand planted in your way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or who always push right in front</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Saying stupid things and making dumb faces at the apes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Deliberately antagonizing the wild lions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And lethargic tigers and lazy bears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never looking back when they suddenly walk away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The saddest looking are the Gorillas and Chimps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They are often down right depressing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The monkeys sort of just lounge around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rarely climbing on all the branches they've been provided</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bigger animals just lay on the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Around behind the wall where it's shady and they can't be easily seen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or near the muddy water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The lions and tigers never make a sound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wild dogs and wolves just pace round and round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The antelope stand there like a small herd of cows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With no where really to run or jump</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even the snakes seem dazed and permanently paralyzed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never making a move</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all the many birds begin looking the same</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the many cages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I get the blues at what I see at the zoos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sad, hopeless looking creatures in Small Square cages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With ugly humans on the outside looking in upon them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Instead of the other way around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of being inside looking out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the animals in the wild</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The zoos always remind me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of all our human strengths and many weaknesses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I know there is nothing I can do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is doubly depressing to learn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When reading all the signs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That just a few years before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There were thousands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now they number in the tens or hundreds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It hits me like a bolt of lightening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Striking deep down into my gut</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That for many of the animals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The zoos are their last remaining sanctuaries</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their only guarantee of survival</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a human kingdom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I always get the blues at Zoos.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">BABY BIRD</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Going to class one day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I found a strange looking bird</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fallen from its nest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I couldn't tell what kind it was</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its beak was long but crooked</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And it came to a blunt end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its gray feathers poked out in different directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It looked like a cross between a morning dove</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a mocking bird</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or just some strange mutant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I got the ladder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And tried putting it back up the tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the nest was too high for me to reach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then I remembered the unused tree house in the back yard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I found a shoebox for the baby, with a dish of water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I found the tree house and hung it from the tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reaching up, I dumped the baby in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I waited around a little while</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wondering if the mother would find it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I didn't mid if I was late to class</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As the class wasn't very interesting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A couple of days later</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I found the bird still in the nest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But a week later, I saw no more trace of it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Several years later</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Having forgotten the whole incident</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I saw a strange bird that looked quite familiar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wondered if it remembered me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the tree that it was now perched in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It hung around for a little while</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I would see it once and again in one tree or another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then finally it disappeared</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I've never seen it since</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">SNAKE TEMPLE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Small lithe green tree adders</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hanging sedately on the spirit branches</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coiled on the floor beneath the lacquer cabinet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seemingly unaware of the many human visitors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the Chinese photographer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who holds a pair of snakes in his arms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Placing them in the tourist's faces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who squirm and squeal in terrified delight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Letting them crawl through their hair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And around their necks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While the pictures being taken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Probably not knowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That a de-fanged snake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only survives a couple of months</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dying literally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the hands of this man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Legend claims that the snakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Gathered there quite naturally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the shrine was blessed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As sacred soil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But locals say</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That there used to be more snakes before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And over the years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There have been less</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They say now it's not worth visiting any more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its power is waning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One must ask if the snakes still come there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On there own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if they haven't been secretly replaced</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the stealthy hands of some man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*****</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">MONKEY GARDENS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Little boy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a bag of peanuts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the Monkey Gardens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The many troops of rhesus monkeys</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who wait along the edge of the forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the offerings of food</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That people give them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The monkeys are unafraid</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the little boy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And one large, silver hair old male</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Simply walks up to the boy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And grabs the whole bag away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The boy is shocked</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into a silent gasp of terrified surprise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">His howl was a bit delayed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The big monkey simply walked away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sat down and began eating</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along a little trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Well off the main path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The monkeys are less tame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a little more bold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The little boy hid another bag of peanuts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Inside his short sleeved shirt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A small monkey slowly approaches him</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And begins putting his little hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into the boy's pockets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The boy is too frightened to move</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The monkey sits very close</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Showing the boy his teeth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And patiently checks every pocket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then looks down the collar of his shirt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The monkey reaches into the boy's shirt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And withdraws the prize of peanuts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sits there next to the boy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly eating them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until the boy's father</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suddenly seizes the bag</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Right out of the monkey's hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The monkey lets out a howl</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shows its teeth and makes an aggressive move</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the father doesn't budge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the monkey loses his nerve</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Backing down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until another bigger monkey</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Chases the father and the boy away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The monkeys do not share their catch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With one another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bigger ones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lord it over the mothers and children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And greedily steal all they can carry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The mothers and children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are always left at the side lines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without a great deal to eat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting patiently for a lucky toss</p> </font> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="five">PART IV</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">CULTIVATING GARDENS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Living</a></p> </font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To take all you want</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is never as good</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As to stop when you should.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Scheme and be sharp</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you'll not keep it long.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One never can guard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">His home when it's full</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of jade and fine gold:</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wealth, powers and pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bequeath their own doom.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When fame and success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Come to you, then retire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is the ordained Way.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>The movements back toward the Earth begin within our selves--within our own nature. It does not mean that we must become strict vegetarians and give up good meat, eat only coarse grains and forego fine cuisine. Only a few have the constitution or the discipline for such a strict ascetic regimen. It does not mean that we should give up our careers and our homes in the suburbs and flee to communes in the few remaining wilderness areas. But it does entail that we take fuller responsibility for our own individual actions that cumulatively may have some larger impact upon the natural eco-systems of the earth.</p> <p>It does mean a dropping of the gross materialism of our conspicuous consumption, dealing less in material goods that are basically non-essential extravagances that have their basis for existence in the status-consciousness and vicariousness of life in a consumer economy.</p> <p>It is up to our selves to know where this line between necessary items and unnecessary junk begins and leaves off. And the lines drawn will be a little different for each one of us. Ultimately, it may be the vote of the individual consumer to buy this craft-item directly from the person who made it or to boycott that tuna company that regularly, systematically cans dolphins, that may make or break a new economy of environmental equilibrium, or that determines what direction of economic development prospers and what goes eventually bankrupt.</p> <p>But the development of economies of ecological equilibrium and of our own natural character goes much deeper than superficial issues of what to buy or what to pass by. The ecology of the earth has become very closely intertwined with a human world economy, and it is in the domestic sense of Earth as the ultimate home for people that ecology becomes inextricably interwoven within a World Domestic Economy. The kind of global economy we seek to support is a healthy domestic economy of the World, and not of this nation or that one or of this multi-national or that or of this billionaire or that. This is an economy that is predicated upon maintaining a healthy global ecology, and in turn its economic development promotes such ecological health. And what is true economically and ecologically at the global level applies with equal weight upon inter-regional, regional, national, state, local, and individual levels of domestic economy. What would be domestic at the global level becomes domestic at all descending levels of focus.</p> <p>The fundamental differences between a global Domestic economy and such a worldwide political economy as we now have is that while the latter is premised upon principles of unlimited growth of production and capital that makes more capital, as well as upon unlimited resources, unlimited consumer markets, that in turn necessitate military imperialism or dominion over large regions of resource exploitation, the former is premised upon a principle of maintaining a dynamic equilibrium of developmental stasis within a global ecology. Development occurs to meet the needs of an increasing population upon a decreasing amount of arable, habitable land, and does not require military policing or conquest in order to enforce its prerogatives upon other people. This sounds simplistic, utopian and impossible, promising worldwide economic stagnation. But it offers the hope of maintaining a reasonable, if "backward," quality of living standard on a global level such that worldwide conditions promoting human health, well being and happiness within a healthy natural environment may be preserved indefinitely. Standards and measures of quality of human life will never be discovered in statistical reports and economic indices that deal with quantifiable units, but then the only experts in poverty are the poor themselves.</p> <p>We must see how hierarchical and top-down our present worldwide political economy really is. Its structure is superimposed and mandated from above in almost every area of economic existence such that the world of choices we live in is largely an illusionary one. We have little choice but to produce and consume or perish. A domestic economy is a "green" one. It is genuinely a self-organizing, grass-roots economy that starts from the ground up.</p> <p>To obtain equilibrium between environment and economy on earth, we must radically alter the general directions that world economic development has been pushing and pulling us during the last half-century. We do not and cannot go backwards by a reactionary movement that forces the gears of development into reverse and derails the train we call civilization. This would result in a cataclysm of world proportions much worse than what our current course in development would eventually lead us to. Nor can we permanently put the brakes upon modern development in order to keep it slowed down at a more controllable rate. Putting government restrictions on the practices promoting development only leads to the adoption of other practices that circumvent such regulations. The process of development itself has a kind of historical momentum that tends to snowball and accelerate at every turn. It is a momentum that rapidly overtakes any measures of limited control that are designed to slow it. The only way we can change our global trend in development is to brake it temporarily to slow it down, and then gradually shift its general direction of movement by giving it sidewise nudges that incrementally alter its path of momentum. The technical and philosophical question remains as to how we can accomplish such "nudges."</p> <p>One solution comes from the human social geography of the earth. A groundswell is a violent swelling or rolling of the ocean. It is a slow and gradually accumulating movement that nevertheless gives rise to great and monumental forces. A human groundswell works in much the same way. It is a slow mass movement that is steady to rise with a deeper sense of purpose and limited, short-term objectives. The phenomenon was experienced recently in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. It started in China but was quickly squashed before it got further out of control. It began happening in the late sixties and early seventies in the United States, but its purpose was not so deep and its goals were very limited, or else very unrealistic. It was quickly and strategically "co-opted" by the establishment that it confronted.</p> <p>As members of a consumer society, and the whole world is rapidly becoming a giant consumer society, we are regularly casting numerous economic votes. Every time we go to the grocery store or department store, we cast votes by selecting this brand or that, this product or that one. We all live on fixed incomes, though some are more fixed than others, which limits the number and kinds of choices we can make in the market place. And there is a level of income above which such choices become not a necessity of living but a trivial inconvenience, and a level below which there are few or no choices at all. We can buy kerosene to light charcoal, or charcoal lighter fluid, or self-lighting charcoal, or a small steel lighter that burns newspaper, or dispense with charcoal altogether and step up in class to burning propane. During the course of our life-time we make a great many such choices, and each such decision is a small vote we cast among a great many for this way of living or that.</p> <p>There is in this kind of consumer groundswell a democratizing political economy that forces change in the economic world from the ground up, slowly but surely. In a similar way we may think about a democratic political ecology concurrent with the rise of popular ecologism. Every time we throw away the wrappers and containers of the soon to be obsolete junk we buy, we are casting a vote for a consumer economy and against an economy of environmental equilibrium. And most of the world's consumers now cast off a great amount of junk every day. Every time we hop into our cars to go somewhere it would take five minutes by foot or a minute by bicycle, we have cast a similar vote. Every time we recreate in a speedboat instead of a rowboat or a sailboat, we cast a similar vote. Every time we make an economic decision, we cast a vote, and enough votes in the right direction might begin a groundswell in helping the ecology of the earth rather than in further contributing to its rapid dissolution.</p> <p>In everyday decision-making dependable, up-to-date information is vital to the strategic effectiveness of our choices. An effective groundswell depends upon how well informed and how independently thinking its constituency is. Unfortunately, the World System has arrayed some extremely persuasive weapons in their war for the minds and bodies of humankind. Of course, I am talking mostly about television and the broadcast media, whose sponsored programming, bent on advertising products and promoting consumer values that reinforce our consumer-based culture, has developed effective technologies and techniques for controlling, channeling, blocking and distorting the information flow through the media channels of society to suit their economic interests. Every time we sit in front of the TV, to watch a program, we are casting a vote in favor of media consumption, and against freedom of information and independence of the human mind. Of course, a great deal is to be gleaned from watching TV, even if only in a negative sense, but it should not be allowed to be the exclusive or even just the predominant mode of one's information--this is a dangerous malady.</p> <p>Some of the values of our consumption culture promoted through the media by our sponsors of the World System are some of the very values that we need now to unlearn in order to favorably cultivate our own individual and collective natures. Some of these values are:</p> <p> </p> <p>1. "Newer is better than Older"--part of the designed obsolescence built into our consumption culture. Such a value favors youth over age, excitement over experience, impulse over learning, and the pursuit of pleasure over the pursuit of value.</p> <p> </p> <p>2. "You can judge a book by its cover"--makes heavy consumer decision-making more convenient at the same time increasing the risk of making buying mistakes that also further induces consumption.</p> <p> </p> <p>3. "A newer cover is better than an older one"--a corollary of 1. and 2., this value leads to an exaggerated status consciousness about the way we look, dress, in what we drive, in keeping up with the Jones' next door or the department store or other competition down the road.</p> <p> </p> <p>4. "Buy now, save later"--the illusion that immediate gratification leads to a healthy consumer economy, and we end up with a whole society of people with impulse control disorders who can no longer wisely save their money for a rainy day.</p> <p> </p> <p>5. "Bigger is always better"--may be translated into 4. Or into "more is always less." This is a key value of our consumer culture encouraging spending and discouraging the values of conservation that induce a healthy sense of independence and ecologizing. It should read "save now, buy later" or, alternatively, "smaller is better" or "less is always best."</p> <p> </p> <p>There is a core set of "psychologistic" character traits or personalized values that lie at the heart of the capitalistic ethos of our consumer culture, and that stem from the folk psychology of a modern culture embedded within a tradition of Rationalism and Egoism. Because they are core traits, they are often "unconscious" in expression and function in the background of our daily lives, and have the matter of factness of "common sense." These are values of private property, selfishness, competition and the "cult of rugged individualism."</p> <p> </p> <p>1. Private property. Our psychological identity is linked to the possession of material things or geographic areas that are part of our ego identity in the world. They are part of our "private island" in the world, and our sense of well being is critically tied to amassing more such possessions or to a larger "island" the size of which becomes proportional to the size of our Ego. Then we put out the "do not touch" and "no trespassing" or "private property" signs and build defensive barricades to protect it and keep it solely for ourselves. Because it is ours, we have to keep other people out. Our entire legal system is based upon reinforcing this extended sense of personal possession. The only trouble is, we can't take any of it with us when we die, and we all will eventually do so.</p> <p>Part of the rediscovery of nature in ourselves is the realization that we are neither fundamentally alone or necessarily first in the world, as either individuals or as exclusive members of some elite group. We live in a world of people. It is a collectivity of interdependencies, and we cannot renege our responsibility to reciprocate within this world network of people without undue harm to others or to ourselves.</p> <p>It was my baby daughter who best taught me this important lesson. I welcomed her thinking I would have to teach her many lessons, never dawning on me that she would have a few lessons to teach me in return. Time has always been most precious to me, more so than money, and so I've always guarded it carefully and selfishly. It was my daughter's ceaseless demands for my time and attention that cut so much into my "private life" and that made me realize how selfish I had really been in life.</p> <p>It is a joy to give to others, to help others, to spend time with others, without expectation of anything in return. The intrusion of the global market economy into our everyday lives has put a pale over the natural reciprocities and small kindnesses that was once the very yarn of the social fabric. All relations are becoming more and more strained and less equal in being governed primarily by monetary transactions and financial considerations. It is no longer appropriate to get to know neighbors or even to be too close to a friend because money may get involved. Marriages become economic contracts, parental love becomes inflationary, and someone who gives too much out of the kindness of her or his heart is simply an unwise person not going anywhere in life but to the poor house.</p> <p>Part of my own opening up as an adult has been to relearn how to devalue most private or material possessions that if someone genuinely needed something I had, and I could afford to give it up, then I would freely offer it to them without their asking or even hinting for it. I first learned to be this way while doing ethnographic fieldwork with Vietnamese boat people that had nothing yet shared everything, but it has only grown finer and more sophisticated over the years.</p> <p>There is an important corollary to this, that is to learn to openly receive and embrace what someone else has offered to you from their hearts. These are the finest possessions one can have, and they are tokens of friendship. Most of the extra things I now have in my home are gifts other people have given me through the years.</p> <p>Again, it is the individual's own decision at where to draw the line in such values, but humility, charity and frugality are a far cry from the hoarding of material possessions and conspicuous consumption that is a common sight in our consumer culture.</p> <p>2. Selfishness. "The more one gets, the more one wants, and the more one wants, the more one needs, the more one needs, the more one gets" or, simply put, "me first." This is a psychological syndrome of greed that our consumer culture cultivates. It drives people who drive the culture. It is part of another syndrome--"power corrupts." If ego-gratification does not come through possession, property, wealth, then it must come through status, power or control over other people's lives and the illusions of one's own self importance in the world. Structures of authority in our political economy only reinforce this illusion, and these values together help to keep our modern professional "elite" well in charge of the situation at all times.</p> <p>Where to draw the line of "enough" and "no more" is a question that applies to both the acquisition of personal property and to power, and it is to be asked of bother whether the one does or doesn't readily translate into the other in the political economic structure of our consumer culture.</p> <p>It can be said that to find genuinely independent achievement is the best substitute for vicarious gratification that we can find, and that those incapable of genuine independent achievement through their own efforts are those most prone to the pathological form of dependent achievement at the expense of other people.</p> <p>Selfishness is part of a fascist "super-man" ideology that philosophers like Ayn Rand have erected as a cornerstone of Global Capitalism. It is a system of social selectionism and survival of the fittest. "Me" first works when standing in long lines, when choosing who must get out of the life-boat, or when administrators decide whom next to lay off. Altruism and self-sacrifice are its antithetical ideologies.</p> <p>3. Competition. Pervasive and fundamental in a capitalist society in which the main imperative is to "get ahead" at whatever cost or at whomever's expense. When asked "getting ahead of what?" the only true answer can be only "other people." This spirit underlies the "conspicuous consumption status complex" that psychologically motivates our culture of consumption and that symbolically integrates it. We must be better than another, in any and every way. We must be richer than others, smarter than others, or more famous, more powerful, more intelligent or more talented, etc.</p> <p>We have this drilled into our heads and in our behavior beginning even in pre-school now, and by the time we graduate from college with a useless degree, it has already become an innate and embedded part of our basic character. It only grows worse until we get too old for it to matter any more. This ethos of competition is linked to the "Beautiful Person" complex--a form of "social race" that dictates that a successful person will be on average tall, attractive, and well-dressed, well mannered, well schooled or else an affirmative action exception to the foregoing. This excludes fat people, ugly people; people too short on average, skinny people, dark people, people with rough complexions, smelly people, etc. The value of social competition is promoted in place of fostering a healthy sense of individual human identity and of social cohesion through tolerance of differences and cooperation between people that must be the predominant value of any healthy and sane society.</p> <p>4. The Cult of Rugged Individualism. We are laden with ego-trips, and are told that in order to become anyone of any significance, we must be someone special, otherwise we are "nobody." The net effect is to create a few people with over-inflated, exaggerated, aristocratic and apotheosized egos and all the money running around administering everyone else who are told and made to believe they have no egos at all of any great social significance. The few are preoccupied psychologically with aggrandizing themselves, while the may others seek to escape from their second class status by seeking anonymity in group behavior. We must either stand above or apart from the group as superior or different, or else escape our own inferiority altogether by seeking submersion, conversion, oblivion or alienation amidst the group or upon its margins. We develop "superman complexes" in which we lead secret adult fantasy lives in private, with our television always there to ease the transition from an ego-less reality, while in social life we find anonymity that comes with consistent self-denial.</p> <p>This psychological complex is the ultimate mechanism of control over our consumer society. It reaches down to the level of the psychological identity of the individual consumer and controls and manipulates it. We can become someone important, we can really become ourselves, and we can be special, if only we buy this or that article of designer clothing, this or that designer perfume, this or that make-up. We can have whiter clothes and teeth, cleaner, bigger houses, brighter eyes and smoother, healthier hair. This is the delusion of the beautiful people who only exist in the fantasy life of the consumer's frustrated imagination. We end up eating this hype and building or knocking down our egos by the vicissitudes of comparison to non-real others presented as actors and actresses in the media. A nomothetic identity based upon implicit classification and comparison to significant others in a hierarchical structure is fundamentally unrealistic and psychologically self-defeating. In any one rat race, there can be only one rat at a time who wins, and all the others must strive for second place and learn to deal with being ultimate losers in life.</p> <p>What is socially unhealthy about all this is that it links one's own individual and social sense of identity to dependency upon things fundamentally unnatural and alien to a more natural sense of being in the world. It links us to commodity fetishes for which the consumption, possession, competition for and acquisition of, becomes the primary process of our ego-development in the world. It is impervious to our efforts to be otherwise because it is both directly and indirectly sanctioned by the structure of our consumer culture, and it has become the predominant structure of both our conscious and unconscious character.</p> <p>Instead of ego-development being based upon one's own sense of natural being and personal history of subjective experience in the world, that are the only important things really composing the sense of ego, the previous experiences and pre-experiences that order and condition our sense of being, our ego-identity instead becomes dependent upon the relative social presentations of others. We are struggling in a world composed mostly of social con-artists who are all trying to sell you their natural superiority and your own inferior sense of identity in the world.</p> <p>The net result of this is to convince a few petty people that they are in fact superior to everyone else, when they really are not, and the ma y others that they are indeed inferior, when they really are not. We promote a pseudo-cult of "becoming natural" that indirectly reinforces this social hierarchy--natural is beautiful, muscular, healthy, clean body. This complex leads to the frustration and bottling up of natural talents and abilities that many people never realized they had. The resulting hype of individualism and personal independence is only a social ideology masking conformity to a cult of naturalness that is but an artificial substitute for the permanent loss of real human nature. People seek themselves in others and in things because they no longer know who they really are or where they can really find themselves.</p> <p>Instead of trying to stand apart from the group, or to hide oneself within the group, natural social and psychological identity seeks to be with the group without finding its individual sense of being threatened or derogated by the presence of others in the group. Genuine individuality and the real spirit of independence that accompanies this, finds its identity not primarily in relation to the group, but mostly in terms of its own experiences of subjective being, part of which will be based upon the group. Genuine individuality seeks and finds its own level without requiring the comparative judgements or social references of others as a primary source of the legitimization of reality.</p> <p>Personal independence, or the relative lack of it, has long been linked to political-economic independence, or the lack of it. Capitalist ideology prides itself on individual entrepreneurship--the Horatio Alger Myth, but only within a capitalist market economy. We get a choice of brands to consume, but consume we must, or else be consumed. We now live in a political-economic hierarchy that is globally integrated from the top down. The little individual is both a mass producer and mass consumer of goods and services. A mass global village integrated by an impersonal mass media. The big businessman at the top makes the decision of what is to be consumed and produced. And as producers, we at the bottom of the Capitalist Chain of being have been alienated from the fruits of our own labor. In a global economy of mass production the individual worker is quite alienated from his/her own energies and time, and quite anonymously, or else soon becomes replaced by a more efficient machine.</p> <p>Instead of an economic culture of consumption, we need one of conservation. We all do not need to own or operate our own organic farms to beat the system, nor do we need self-sufficient collective communes in which to live well, even though sharing small gardens on small plots of land would not hurt the small market gardener or farmer as much as it would strike a blow at the heart of big agro-business. The idea of cottage industry and petty craft production, of small business within a local economy, is quite appealing as a way of putting a handle on the power and prerogatives of multinational corporations.</p> <p>The home can become again the center of a domestic/global economy that cultivates in small gardens a healthy sense of independence, and that are interconnected by a vast network within a global economy. Home may be then either individual or global, or both at the same time.</p> <p>In a consumer society we must be careful of the illusion of personal production that is in fact a disguised form of consumption. When buying the resources of production--tools, supplies, stock, and chemicals--we must remember that all have their origin and reason in big business. It is no point in brewing your own beer if you must buy the yeast and hops from a multinational subsidiary. There is no point building your own radio if the electronic components are bought from Radio Shack. There is no point in building your own home if your lumber and other materials all come from a national home improvement chain. We must be careful to realize that the appeal to independence is often just an advertising trick upon the individual's needy imagination.</p> <p>Small businessmen, independent farmers, individual entrepreneurs, and crafts people of all sorts cannot compete with big business in organization, resources, wealth, distribution and marking, or in information and misinformation. This is largely because governments fail to protect their economies from the encroachments of large-scale organization, and because they themselves must live and consume within a larger framework of cultural consumption.</p> <p>The beginning of natural independence of the individual and the home is to learn that we are never wholly or completely separate from the environment in which we are embedded. The environment is within us and we are within the environment, whether it is a natural one of the earth or an artificial one of a shopping mall. The interdependencies between self and environment create both the significant aspects of the self and of the environment. Individual and social health are both interrelated within a healthy environment.</p> <p>We now live in an environment that has become embedded in a culture of consumption. It is difficult to grow a garden or keep pets in an apartment, and most of us don't plant rice in our bathtubs. It is difficult to know the differences or the alternatives in a one dimensional world of consumption in which nature itself has become largely controlled and coordinated by the same system of values as we are, to be bought and sold in flower pots, fish tanks, zoos, flower beds and square lawns of real estate. It is especially difficult when most information available has been filtered several times through before it is even available for our consumption.</p> <p>We must learn to trust again our natural senses, and our first-hand experiences as our guide to reality. The alienation of the natural self has become an embedded part of the environment of consumption. It is no longer just the elaboration of something repressed or in the process of being embedded within our unconsciousness. It has become our unconscious. It is indeed a difficult habit to break when breaking it goes against every grain of our woodwork. The constraints to our natural being are complete, total and unidimensional.</p> <p>This is the ultimate mechanism of our social control--the creation of a continuous mindscape and landscape of behavioral constraint and reinforcement that makes it simple, automatic, fun and "natural" to go one direction instead of another, but difficult and impossible to go in any other direction. This is a genuine maze-way for the human self and human society.</p> <p>Not really knowing the way, we must start again in small ways, in environmental probes and behavioral experiments. Alternative lifestyles unhooked by consumption are generally inexpensive, and must be sought out and tried on to tell if they fit well our individual temperament. Like hunting for things at yard sales, it takes time and patience. We must realize we have always been in the same boat together, and none are so different or exceptional as to be free entirely of the same basic traits of human needs and dilemmas. We must begin defining and working upon our own sense of limit. Habits are hard to break, especially ones of over consumption, but none are impossible.</p> <p>The System deliberately reinforces conformity to its dictates and discourages nonconformity by withdrawing absolutely its "benefits"--most of us fear these consequences as it eventuates in homelessness, destitution, ostracism, marginality and premature death. Few have the independent means or wearwithal to buck the System alone. Only bottom-up organization can accomplish grass-roots change, combined with collective values of conservation and devotion. The system at all levels also discourages such alternative counter organization by coopting or castrating its potential leadership, dysphemizing its symbolism, and intimidating, punishing or negatively reinforcing its possible constituency. There is an element of human science in the predictable ration of how many would lead and how many follow, and what it all takes to make people change their minds, which Big Impersonal Organization has always been master of. But alternative organization remains its biggest threat.</p> <p>Groundswell organization begins in the home of the individual and spreads throughout local networks of homes across the oceans and continents to encompass the entire home of the Earth.</p> <p>Cultivating and turning on the natural self in natural states and natural frames of mind, allow us to cultivate it in others, and depends upon finding and turning it on within them. A broad-minded, "multi-cultural" attitude cultivating a cultural orientation of tolerance and appreciation of individual variation and cultural difference transcends simple-minded single-systems of conformism and repetition. Such systems cannot cope with too much diversity. Some suggestions include:</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Used is better than new</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old is better than young</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Small is better than large</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Less is more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Later is better than sooner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Saving is better than spending</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Giving is better than receiving</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humility is better than pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Other's first, self second</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Differences are good</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You can never judge a book by its cover</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An old tattered cover is better than a clean new one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Enough is enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing done in excess</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cooperation is better than competition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything in moderation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Walking is better than driving</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Muscle power is better than fossil power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wind and water is better than atomic power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Produce locally, consume globally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"|Act locally, think globally"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Home-made, not mass produced</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time is not money</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We own our own time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time is never wasted when learning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Money is meaningless if we have no time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Patience always wins out over pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*****</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ideal land is small</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its people very few</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where tools abound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ten times or yet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A hundred-fold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where people die</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And die again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But never emigrate;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have boats and carts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Which no one rides.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Weapons have they</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and armor too,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But none displayed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The folk returns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To use again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The knotted cords.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their meat is sweet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their clothes adorned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their homes at peace,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their customs charm.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And neighbor lands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are juxtaposed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So each may hear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The barking dogs,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The crowing cocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Across the way;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where folks grow old</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And folks will die</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never once</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Exchange a call.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">*****</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">65 M.P.H. PAST DISNEYLAND</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As a kid I used to love to visit Disneyland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At least once very few years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Saving all my ride tickets, A through E</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the way we were always told how luck we were</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To have it so close by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Just 15 minutes by freeway,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Practically in our backyards)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When most kids in the World</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Would never be able to see it their entire lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We used to be able to climb onto the rooftop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our single garage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And catch glimpses of its fireworks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">During the summer nights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At 9:30 P.M. sharp</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And hear them booming across the distances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes a bunch of kids</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Would even ride over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just to sit in the parking lot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And watch the fireworks show</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And have an ice-cream cone from Thrifty Drugstore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now as an adult</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I used to drive by its front gate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Almost every day going to and from my work</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I had the timing down past Harbor Blvd pretty good.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And could make it over the overpass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And completely past Disneyland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without hitting a single light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It required that I made 65 M.P.H.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a 45 M.P.H. zone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If only for a moment or two</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So I'd have to hang loose in the middle lane</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And keep my eye out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For any groups of pedestrians</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Servicemen, Asians and mid-Westerners</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Jay-walking across the Boulevard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From all the surrounding motels</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I never had time to look at all the rides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to see all the cars in its huge parking lot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I could only just read the sign saying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Welcome to the Happiest Place on Earth"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My 1970 Plymouth Valiant was a bit banged up and bruised</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And needed reupholstering from top to bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But its slant-six 225 engine was pretty dependable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And always had extra power in the pedal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just down the road a little</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I would come to the section of motels</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where all the hookers walked along the street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I once had a girlfriend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whose whole family had been living in one of these motels</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For several years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I had thanksgiving dinner with her family</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And her mother cheated to beat me at Monopoly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A little further down the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is where I would visit my little Vietnamese refugee children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They would always ask me to take them to the castle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Knowing that they meant Disneyland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I never had the extra cast to spend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The best I could ever manage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Was the Regional Park and Toys-R-Us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a fifteen cent ice cream cone from Thrifty Drugs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I was always a safe and defensive driver</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always slowing and stopping for pedestrians</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always careful to give other cars enough distance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But that I just wanted to make all those lights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">During that stretch past Disneyland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I would shoot for the holes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never had any problem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just blowing past all the cars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowing down for Disneyland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">DOWN at DANA POINT</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the late sixties and early seventies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We used to go swimming down at Dana Point</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just behind San Juan Capistrano</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A long drive down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But a drive through the countryside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Well worth the time spent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I had a yellow life raft</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I would inflate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I could blow it up with my mouth in half an hour</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we would oar out from the breakwater</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Onto the open ocean</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There were only a few craft then</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most of the Marina was built of rock breakwater</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There was only a single wooden pier and dock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the parking lot was just a dirt field</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Returning there just a few years later</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I could not recognize the old place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything had been "redeveloped"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Marina was twice the size as before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And full to the gills with expensive craft</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Restaurants and stores standing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where once was just a pier</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nice asphalt parking lots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With curbs and landscaped palm trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where once as just a dirty field</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now there was nowhere to launch my little yellow raft</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The place had changed forever</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Within just a couple of years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I could not believe it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where did all the boats, the people and money come from?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now I get down in the dumps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When I descend the cliffs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down to Dana Point</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">LAKE FISHING</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fishing the Lakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of So. Cal.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the mid-70's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Catching our daily limit of trout</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dangling from the stringer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our little outboard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Landing huge twenty pound cats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fishing naked in the middle of the night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the early '80's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The RV cities sit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where once was open chaperal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The waters are all polluted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the only fish to be caught</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are small stock Trout</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the mid-'80's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no more room just to sit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along the muddy shores</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the water levels are dropping</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no longer any point in going</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except to sit and drink a beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And become sunburned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down by the lake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">SUPERMARKET KHARMA</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Supermarket Kharma</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wrapped in clean plastic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For SuperMan and SuperWoman</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Going Round and Round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In Super Circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why travel in small circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When one can have it all?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything you need</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the tips of well manicured fingers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the grasp of a bejeweled hand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the best brands to choose from</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even many exotic ones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A Super Convenient Shopping Store</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For Super Convenient People</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sending out all those Super Beautiful vibes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With those Super White Smiles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And those Perfectly Straight Teeth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And those Super Cuts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And those Super Shopping Sports Clothes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In that Super Dynamic New Car</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With just the right fit and just the right look</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For all just the right people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living well on the Other Side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like Shopping in a deluxe Super Supermarket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That has a giant Super Selection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Driving a Super Big Shopping Cart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With Super split levels</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For picking and sorting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the Super bonus deals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A Super School here, a Super Spouse there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A Super Great Career</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Capped with a Super Great Retirement Plan</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And in the Recreational Department</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Embossed Golf Clubs and Embroidered Super Signature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tennis Rackets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Squash, anyone?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the Super Store Super Clerks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ready and Anxious to help you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Find you what you really really need</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Department of Liquors is on Aisle 147</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Super Special Sushi Bar is just down at the end of the next Aisle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Behind the Italian Delicatessen and the International Cheeses Depot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our Fresh Foreign Pastries Selection is in our Super Bakery Shop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Within our Whole-Grains Only Breads Section</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">International Coffees are next to the International Waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Next to our Super Natural Health Foods on Aisle 197</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living in the Fast Lane</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the Super Supermarket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Maximizing your super Savings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Getting the most Kharma possible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For your super dollars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Especially for the Super Special People</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why spin around in small worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When one can travel First Class</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon Super Galactic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cruise Liners?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">HOME IMPROVEMENT CENTER</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every time I need to fix something</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I go to the big Home Improvement Center</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A huge warehouse opens to the public</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything at wholesale prices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forklifts full of crates of goods</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Running up and down the wide aisles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like an industrial highway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The traffic of orange dollies and shopping carts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always jammed at the intersections</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And long lines of impatient customers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting interminably at the cash registers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the handy do-it-yourselfers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And petty small contractors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Driving the small hardware shops out of business</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By all their big spending</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wheeling and dealing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyday huge amounts of lumber passing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the portals of modern paradise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along with everything the resident experts need</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To get their jobs done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The scale of consumption</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seems vast and limitless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every single person grabbing up huge amounts of wood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a strange buying frenzy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hoarding what they want</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leaving the inferior specimens in their wake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many satisfied customers everyday</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Open seven days a week</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Twelve hours a day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All year round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One huge chain among many such chains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who counts the number of boards bought and sold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who estimates the number of trees consumed there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a day, in a week, in a year</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is the rate of forest production</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That must keep up with such endless consumption</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How long can any forest last</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how vast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Under private pressure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the home owner and building contractor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always spending a bundle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just to save a buck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When it takes an entire lifetime</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just to grow one tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And but a few months</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To build a home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That will not last a lifetime</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">SURF FISH'n</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fish'n the Surf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From Newport to San Diego</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Circa 1980</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying out the waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Off San Onofre and Cardiff by the Sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Testing out the line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At Corona Del Mar, Laguna and Dana Point</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tasting the salt off Oceanside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wading waist deep into the warm waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beside the nuclear power plant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just beneath Tricky Dicky's little retirement castle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the hill</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To see if the fish really glow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or grow any larger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the irradiated sands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lunking lead weights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between the cliffs and shoals of Corona</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Snag'n the hooks and hook'n the snags</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reel'n in the kelp beds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Play'n in the tide pools</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Watch'n the half-day boats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Go blubber'n by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Knee deep in Laguna</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cut'n the cuttlefish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pick'n the Herring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pocket'n the Perch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making the reefs at Dana Point</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Step'n barefoot on the barnacles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wait'n till nightfall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For fish to bite</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And for the oil slick to subside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whiling away the hours</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the line planted firmly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into the murky waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Watching the yachts go sailing by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Beautiful People upon the Decks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Copp'n Gold'n Rays and Zees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all the Wonderful Vibes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of wind'n surf and land lubber's eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shoulder deep at Oceanside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Los'n all my lines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The tide runs high</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the surf is deep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the rocks tug beneath one's feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to plunk the bait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Out beyond the breakers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The whole line kept drag'n</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the wild undertow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without a beach to stick my pole</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And plant my duff</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mak'n the morn'n bite</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the early grey skies at Encinitas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dig'n deep into the wet sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For fresh crabs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Strik'n it big</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Barely ankle deep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slam'n the line and jump'n right out of the waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grouper, Halibut, Sea Bass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yellow Fin and Yellow Tail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bam, Bam, Bam</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Big one's all in a row</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the first fifteen minutes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fillet'd, Butt'rd and Bar-b'cued</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By early afternoon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath the leaning Eucalyptus trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wash'd down with ice-cold bottl'd beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Try'n it out the whole day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down by Cardiff by the Sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath the Cliffs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a swimsuit at a nudist beach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While mov'n down the coast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Check'n out the fish'n holes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The white girls with their bare tits and asses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Laying flat in the sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Roasting red in the blazing sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The white studs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Glistening in oil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Walk'n up and down the beach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With their half-firm dongs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Swaying to and fro</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And white sunscreen on their noses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I keep get'n lots of tugs upon my pole</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But nothing bites at all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down beneath the cliffs of Cardiff</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the twilight of the set'n sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ocean glimmer'n red and orange</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And only a small sand shark</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeps taking my bait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wading out to my thighs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Afraid of step'n on a sting ray</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly swing'n my pole over my shoulder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just before the break'n waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cast'n the line out into the foaming water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until the night comes on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ten years later</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My old fisherman friend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living in his car along the beach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Last of the longhaired beach bums</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Told me that things had changed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The police were always about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the people are all to busy to talk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the girls aren't as friendly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the big ones no longer bite</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When surf'n the fish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shoot, I told him</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My dad used to land flounder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And big barricuda</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Right off Huntington and Seal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now you can't even rent public parking space</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Last time I went fishing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I got bottle neck'd on the Sant'Ana</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While on the rebound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stuck in traffic for two hours</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So piss'd I became</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I never went back down the coast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Since</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">HUNTING OUT in RIVERSIDE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the mid'60's and early '70's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We would go small game hunting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Out past Riverside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Small cotton tail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dove, Quail and Chucker</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We had most of the spots well mapped</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One was a small canyon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just north of the Indian Reservation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We would follow its stream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Back up into the hills</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until it opened up onto a larger plateau</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where we'd spend the day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hunting for quail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Chasing chucker to the higher rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The dry wind would blow across the plain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The pungent smell of sage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hanging in the air</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We would track through the Manzanita</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Listening to the quail calling in their coveys</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We'd see them running beneath the bushes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Against the opposite ridges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sheep farmers and ranchers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never bothered us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never seemed to mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We'd dress and eat whatever we shot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We went back to Riverside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A few years later</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Think'n we might try out again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our old spots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the plateau had been posted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a man in a little trailer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Told us we couldn't trespass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They were surveying for a development project</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the heavy equipment was already waiting silently</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now when I drive down the back way towards San Diego</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down the I-15 past Riverside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All I see are vast stretches of new tract homes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And acres of flattened bulldozed earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where once was chapparal, eucaplyptus and manzanita</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I wonder if we had hunted all our small game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the edge of extinction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have long since given up hunting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wild creatures, big and small</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now needing all the peace of untouched places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the privacy of wide open spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They do not need our cruel, childish intrusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I miss the dry wind against my face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The smell of sage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fresh crisp air</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the dry treks across the hillsides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I miss being able to spend the day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Out upon the open places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leaving all my petty worries behind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I can buy all the meat I need</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down at the local corner market</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I miss the flavor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the wild sage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In my quail and cotton tail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ALONG IMPERIAL HIGHWAY</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Imperial Highway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Runs the entire length of south LA</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the Beach by LAX</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the Hills of Anaheim</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where development squeezes into the pass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And squirts out the other side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flooding into Corona and Riverside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've been along its entire length</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Numerous times during my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A good part of my life has been spent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting at its many traffic signals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As a kid we would take it to the Airport</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the black sections of the city</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where they had all the riots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The kids would count the number of blacks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the rolled up windows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Later on, we would take Imperial down just a little way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To visit old friends in the Hispanic area</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As an adult I drove the other direction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To and from my commuter campus</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There used to be a lot of open fields</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And farms along the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was kind of a pretty drive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the time I graduated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most of the fields and lots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Had already been developed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The new traffic signals upset my timing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When I used to be able to make it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the way down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hitting only one or two lights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now I only take it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Going shopping at the stores</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its traffic has gotten heavier</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now they're tearing down the old buildings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And rebuilding new ones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">TELEGRAPH ROAD</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I grew up around Telegraph Road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the corner of Carmenita</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've watched the fields where I used to explore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Get paved over and built upon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The stores have come and gone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old Jim's Grocery, Sunshine Hardware, and the Triangle Take-out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bert's Hamburgers, Leoni's Pizza, Texaco and Gulf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bank of America, the Big T Driving Range, the Beaver Inn, Turf Liquors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bob's market, Glick's Lumber, All are gone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only the old Alpha Beta and Jack in the Box are still remaining</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And they've been renovated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Several times made over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The little league base-ball diamonds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are now a parking-lot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The old orange groves are now new homes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The eucalyptus grove where we used to play as kids</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Many of whom grew up and went to Vietnam</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Has been turned into a strip center</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some old things still remain though</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking worn and out of date</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My old grammar school</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fire station next door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The local library</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My Junior High, hidden behind all the new buildings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The old oil fields down the two-lane road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With all the tall Texan oil derricks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now square blocks of industrial buildings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And business offices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along a four lane highway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most of the old wooden clapboard houses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Having been replaced</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By new square stucco homes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When I drive down that way now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I feel sort of strange</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Things just don't seem the way they used to be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is absent in all the new buildings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A sense of a lost past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Covered over and left forgotten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">SAILING OUT OF LONG BEACH</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our old friend Dave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bought himself a small sailing boat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And took us down to the harbor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At Long Beach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there we'd back it into the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tie it up to the little wooden dock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Load it up and sail it out into the bay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then out past the breakwater</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into the open surf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just beyond Seal Beach and Huntington</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We would tack towards the oil platforms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then reel around and run in towards the big ships</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We'd pass craft of all kinds and sizes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the evening the lights along the coast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Would send out their shimmering reflections</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Out across the waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes the evening waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Would break across our bow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the water would spray</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over the entire boat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">More than a decade has passed since those days</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dave quit taking his boat out so often</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the Marina became too crowded with craft</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you had to wait your turn in long lines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To launch it into the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He quit taking it out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When he could no longer easily manage it alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dave grew older</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And quit taking care of his small boat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally he sold it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">After it sat a couple of years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For a fifth of what he had paid for it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To some young sailing enthusiast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've never been on a small boat since then</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I miss the feel of the salty spray</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the cooling wind against the skin</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those good old days</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will never come again</p> </font> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="six">PART V</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">DIFFERENCE and IDENTITY</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Being</p> </a></font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To know that you are ignorant is best;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To know what you do not, is a disease</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>Human identity in the world of Nature is unique in that its own self-awareness is of critical importance to its sense of being in the world. No matter how hard we might otherwise try, we always find ourselves at the center of our own world. Our sense of self-esteem, of happiness, contentment, integrity, are all critically dependent upon how we see ourselves and are seen by other in the world. And the way we see others in the world also plays critically upon the way others see themselves. In our human world, we are in others, and they, inevitably, are within us as well. There is no escaping this or denying it.</p> <p>It follows that from a natural standpoint, because humankind constitutes a single, relatively heterogeneous species who exhibit almost continuous global genetic variation with but few exceptions, that our most fundamental natural sense of self is linked critically to a collective conception about the whole of humankind, and that, from a natural standpoint, we are all part of a single biological population whose primary problem is evolutionary survival upon the earth.</p> <p>Now if we construe the collective body of humankind to be inseparably divided along lines of racial features, ethnic traditions or national cultures or religious ideologies, then neither can we have a unitary, integrated conception of our natural selves within the context of the whole world. We then seek "natural ties" in whichever way we decide to divide the world</p> <p>But in the process we are excluding a majority proportion of the rest of humankind from our definitions of what are naturally human, while exclusively including only those whom we see in ourselves. It also follows that the other's" of the excluded "out-groups" must somehow be other than what makes us naturally ourselves--either naturally less than human or just naturally different than our own humanness.</p> <p>Few people would deny the natural completeness of their own humanness, but many people would disclaim the full humanness in "others," whether implicitly or ideologically.</p> <p>Now we promote internationally "scientific" creeds of international brotherhood or sisterhood and of the unity of humankind, but beyond the ideological hyperbole, we still support by our actions and inaction a pernicious political-economic-social inequality between people in the world. They are policies that by their very nature and function deny the humaness of many while affirming it for a few.</p> <p>The world is not much better a place than when most people actually believe the ideological rhetoric of natural human equality.</p> <p>Whenever we find in-group/out-group attitudes that devalue the humanness of others, there we will also find the need of the in-group not to know the humanity of the out-group. There we find the erection of the necessary screens of obfuscation and circumvention necessary to prevent learning such knowledge. Where ever we find ardent racism, nationalism, ethnocentrism or religious fanaticism, in that society we will also find a status consciousness of a class hierarchy that internally divides its people into similar groupings of "more" or "less" human.</p> <p>Where we find the personal, psychological attributes of prejudice and discrimination, we will also find the interpersonal, social attributes of in-group/out-group consciousness. Psychologically, projection of images of hate, less-than-humanness, or of other undesirable characteristics onto stereotyped images of members of out-groups is directly proportional to the degree of internal repression of the self regarding related traits, and correspondingly, external social projection of ascribed characteristics upon out-groups is also directly proportional to the degree of internal social repression due to enforced conformism to social ideals, status-class hierarchies, etc. Aggression is a good example. Internally, societies must repress the expression of direct physical aggression except in highly structurally ritualized and sanctioned contexts. Internal repression of aggression follows for the maintenance of hierarchy or close cooperation and authoritarian regimes that would otherwise be impossible if aggression were not restricted and controlled.</p> <p>Mechanisms of projection and repression are primarily symbols--things that stand for other things, and that carry negatively or positively valued significances to the members of the in-group. It is interesting that the projections themselves may have in fact nothing at all to do with the people upon whom they are projected. It is the symbols them selves, whether they are attached or associated with the physical appearance or manifest behavior of the out-group, that is critically significant. In this sense, it is not so important what out-group "others" are or do, so much as what they are not as reflections of ourselves. We must emphasize the difference and not the identity of similarity.</p> <p>Mechanisms of repression of the in-group depend upon the psychological and socialization processes of internalization and identification in relation to a status-role hierarchy of identity within the in-group. These processes and mechanisms are also primarily symbolic and function to maintain and perpetuate the predominant cultural values and social behavior of its members. Symbolic integration is a primary mechanism of the integration of human culture and the organization of human social structure.</p> <p>The things that are repressed are part of our own humanity that given the status-role to which we identify, are devalued by the ethos of our group as "weak" or "incompetent" or as "polluting" or "primitive" according to the implicit standards of the group. We try to deny it and prevent it within ourselves. This leads to a dichotomization of personality into "front" or public and "back" or private domains where weakness is allowed expression, and this entails the ritual compartmentalization of our being into "social" or professional and "personal" or amateur regions of cultural time/space. There are thus places and times where a certain expected behavior is appropriate or inappropriate. Now, given that all people are naturally similar, the weaknesses we must repress in ourselves, those that are naturally there to be repressed, such as emotion, aggression, frustration, indolence, are easy enough to find in others. On the other hand, the strengths we hold to be our own exclusive domain must also be those same strengths that we deny or "negatively retrojected" from other's back upon ourselves. Their weakness becomes our strength.</p> <p>The consequences of all this is both a divided sense of self and a divided sense of social identity. Both psychological self and society become separated into domains of front and back, strong and weak, and a great deal of psychic and communication energy then needs to be wasted in maintaining this internal boundary. This boundary and the energy it requires maintenance, and becomes the basis of the boundary between in-group and out-group and negative energy needed to overcome the differences.</p> <p>The energies committed to maintaining internal boundaries prevent us from having the energy necessary for overcoming our external boundaries. The symbolic mechanisms of projection and repression are in fact one and the same. They are identical and require the same kinds and degrees of energy for maintenance. The only real difference is that the former are directed outwardly upon others while the latter are turned inwardly upon ourselves.</p> <p>Our psychosocial identity is interdependent. We need both in internal psychological space in which to find and define it, and we need an external environment in which it may be realized, negatively or positively. In this way identity is not just a cognitive or symbolic problem at a purely conceptual level. It is equally an experiential, phenomenological problem of actual perception and behavior that reinforces or conflicts with behavior. Our sense of being human is critically tied not just concretely to our sense of self and other, but concretely as well in our perception and awareness of our social and personal environments. We seek to maintain an environmental "identity of perception" in our world in order to grant our identity a sense of existential security. We are an integral part of our environments, and our environments, social and natural, are an integral part of ourselves.</p> <p>It follows that a divided self, and a divided society, cannot maintain a sense of wholeness of being, nor can it have the energy necessary to overcome differences in the external world. Nor can we maintain a sense of wholeness of our conception of natural humanness if we continue to see humankind as fundamentally divided into naturally different groups.</p> <p>Such a divided sense of being cannot be healthy or complete because it has denied a part of its own nature that it has learned to hate in other people. Such a divided being is a sense of identity based upon non-beingness. It is based upon the things that it is not, rather than upon the things that it is naturally. A sense of wholeness of being comes only through an undivided sense of self, in which the natural part of ourselves that we have repressed in ourselves is no longer denied, either within ourselves or in others. Allowing such natural weakness in ourselves enables us to accept it in others as well. And by cultivating appreciation of differences between people we can better help to break down the divisions within ourselves and between people in the world. The energy expended maintaining these divisions and boundaries can be better put to use in seeking identity in the world. Part of seeking identity in the world also involves finding differences within our selves.</p> <p>Natural being is whole and undivided. Identity based upon such being is a sense of identity gained through the cultivation and appreciation of human differences in the world. Difference should no longer be allowed to be a barrier to identity, but a means of gaining identity.</p> <p>The symbolic mechanism of the psychosocial integration of culture and the organization of social structure are universal to all societies. Every culture and every social grouping shares in the same processes, though the exact forms of the symbolism may vary widely. Whatever the other culture historical differences, the natural sense of being and the need for identity are basic to all humankind.</p> <p>Recognition of a universal human nature entails concomitantly an acceptance of universal equality of human beings. Identity is gained through recognition of our differences. It entails the toleration of the uniqueness of human individuality within a context of a global collective of humanity.</p> <p>To find our own natural sense of being, we must learn to recognize it in others. We must learn to recognize that we are all children of the earth. We share equally in earthbeingness.</p> <p>Overcoming divisions and learning to live with difference leads to a "fusion of differences" such that they no longer make a difference. Familiarity overcomes our own preconceptions.</p> <p>If we fail to overcome our divisions separating one from another, then neither peace nor environmental equilibrium will be possible, for always there will be one group or another attempting to upset the delicate balance for their own selfish benefit.</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The highest goodness, water-like,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Does well to everything and goes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unmurmuring to places men despise;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But so, is close in nature to the Way.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In this world,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Compare those of the Way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To torrents that flow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into river and sea.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">MY INFORMANT'S FACE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look into your dark face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At first I see my informant's funny look</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With tears in your eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look again into your face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then I find the lines of wear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The cracks of age and the blemishes of life's vicissitudes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath the rosy mascara and the blue-green eye-liner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Brushed faintly over epicanthic eye-lids</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My informant is no longer tearful</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a smile breaks upon the brown lips</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Covered with glossy red lipstick</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look again into your face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I find the dark eyes of sadness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The swollen cheek that's been abused</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bump upon the low forehead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And scratch marks around the neck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My informant's face is hiding her troubles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath a front of feminine grace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once again I look into your face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there I find, behind the mask</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The feint expression of a suffering soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The look of a small child</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lost in a lonely adult world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Longing for the love of a mother's embrace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I see in my informant, a young adult grown too old</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without the full flowering in a world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You've somehow missed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look into my informant's face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there discover my own humanness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I see into the puffy red eyes of my informant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And find the reflections of my own face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a small dark distorted world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look back into the eyes of my informant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there I finally find you looking into my world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look one last time into your eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there at last I find that my informant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is just another friend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">OUR OTHER WORLDS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We live within a world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Surrounded by other worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That we do not know about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We travel all over our world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And still miss the many others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyday we come into contact</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In every way we pass them by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The other worlds circle around us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As we gaze up into the sky</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They unfold before us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As we keep our eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking straight ahead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We live within a world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without knowing that other worlds live within our own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our world lives within others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We wait in unending patience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And endure unbearable loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without knowing how to knock upon the door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to open our windows upon the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To look the other way than the way we are looking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to see the other things than what we are seeing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We have only learned to look this way rather than that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to see only this thing rather than that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we can live smugly within our worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our entire lifetime</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without ever realizing all the other worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have always been around us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People fear to open their world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To all the others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They are afraid of losing their world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Among all the rest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They will not find their own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So people keep their windows closed and doors shut</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And fear every stranger who comes knocking at their door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or passing by their window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And they dwell always among their own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes something happens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That tears the fragile fabric of our worlds apart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And leaves a gaping hole through which our world escapes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through which other worlds come invading in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Frantic and helpless we become to prevent it from happening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unhappy are we about our tragic losses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And about the corruption of other worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That can't be gotten rid of</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until we learn to live with them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As if they were really all our own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And when we learn that our own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Was really just another one of their own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fooling us all along</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our world's a big transparent bubble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That protects us from all the outside trouble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And prevents us from touching or being touched</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While allowing us to see our own reflections</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the light of a world that comes from all around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to live within our little round worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As if they were the only one's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until they suddenly burst</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we are without our own homes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a world in which we are all alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Baby being born</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fluid of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spills upon the floor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The vessel is cracked</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And cannot be mended</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A passage must be made</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There can be no turning back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the precious life hidden inside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Emerges gradually to the light of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A new screaming miracle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A fresh new world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Joins all the many others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">FINDING THE WAY</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the near misses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all the little falls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The many mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And minor errors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the maybe's and perhap's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a world of unfinished possibilities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the petty punishments</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And habitual rewards</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">None of these things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Teach us very much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except how to keep awake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A little bit lost is nothing gained</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But one big accident</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One fatal error of judgement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One dramatic loss</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One lottery ticket just missed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One wrong turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One the road to success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Can make all the difference in the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And matter more than anything else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Care is learned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the prevention it promises</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not the cure it causes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Carelessness is cursed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the fortunes lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not the waste it costs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We learn nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By half-forgetting what wasn't</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We gain nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By looking for shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Do not look for love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where no love is to be found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Do not look for friendship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where friends are only hollow and empty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only fools search for gold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In an empty desert spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only wise men find it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the sands of time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A solitary big old tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Does not lie down in a field of hay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A wolf does not sleep among the sheep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing lost, nothing gained</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The world does not seek to know you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By what you are</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But by what you are not</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">OTHER WAYS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If when we are walking down the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we see a man working hard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We do not find fault</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Because he is prospering in a trade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That we do not like</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Because we think we know it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But are not good enough to prosper by it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If we walk in rags</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We should not hate the people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who thereby walk in silk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way is not gained</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By pulling up the flowers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a garden of weeds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If when we are walking down a path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we meet a person</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why by the color of their skin</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way they are dressed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By their age or their sex</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or by the shape of their bodies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the complexion of their faces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We thereby believe should not be standing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the shoes they wear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if we believe that we deserve to be standing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In that place instead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then we should only become angry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At our own jealousy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If we meet someone along the path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who by the look in their eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tells you that they will live longer than you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then you should not therefore murder than man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way is not found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By killing turtles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Because their longevity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our own brevity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If we are going down our way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we cross someone who pays us no attention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or who acts snobbish or in clear disregard of our due respect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We should not therefore become insulted or disrespectful</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By there own ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wisdom is not gained</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By sowing seeds of prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or by casting foul aspersions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If we are not happy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the way we have chosen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if we are discontent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the way others have chosen for us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then a silent smile speaks louder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no way that we ourselves do not allow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way is not chosen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By children who play with adults</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the money in the world can make the way smoother to walk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it cannot make the task of choosing our way any easier</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We cannot wish for things that are not</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In place of things that are</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If we cannot find the worth of something</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We then do not simply exchange it for anything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We just haven't looked hard enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the merit that's in it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finding it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or failing to</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along our way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">THE WAY BACK</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is nothing in this world so ugly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it can't be openly seen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is nothing in this world so bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it can't be openly talked about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is nothing so wrong</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it can't be admitted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's not what we do that matters most</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the way it's done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One can be poor, and live like a king</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One can be rich, and still be a pauper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One can be a Prince, and act like a fool</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One can be a knave, and behave like a Prince</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no slave, who by his servitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is not also a master</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no lord, who by his authority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is not also servant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no empire that rises</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That does not also fall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is the word, and there is the deed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the word does not necessarily follow the deed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the deed does not always follow the word</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humility begets greatness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Greatness should beget humility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pride finds embarrassment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Embarrassment finds pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ways of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are infinitely patient</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And everlasting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thy may bend like a reed in the wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And they may withstand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a stone in a torrent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We do not wait for it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It waits for us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To eventually find our way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">BIG TOWN</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Town too big</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To even call by telephone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When living just a quarter mile down the street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">City so small</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That whichever road we take</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We always soon meet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The important people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Drive so fast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down a one-lane road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The small citizens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dress their best</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To visit the bank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living goes on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every day depressed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Business as usual</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ever so impressed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's hard for the wide world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find its way in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When all the roads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Soon lead back out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone looks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And say's "excuse me"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But no one talks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or is overly friendly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Welcome to the Mid-West</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's been unusually hot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the winter's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are severely cold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People work their whole lives here</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For a thread-bare salary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Can't blame all the young ones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For looking elsewhere</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A town to end in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In comfortable, lazy retirement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hiding in an air-conditioned room</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But not a town to begin with</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When you've not got a penny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To your name</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">PERFECT PERSON</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to be perfect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To please all the important people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By doing everything just right</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shaving my beard, cutting my hair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Back to the little boy look</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In his new school clothes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all the young boys and girls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Having learned to be perfect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their entire lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They fight for attention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While trying to act like adults</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And come crying to Daddy and Mommy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When they fall and scrap their knees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blaming the big bully for pushing them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coolly allowing parental authority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To straighten things back out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the little people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to become perfect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just like the big people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Afraid of making any mistake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or of giving the wrong impression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or being too human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Up-tight airs for up right arses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to pretty please</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Make-believe parents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who will sit them on their knees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And let them do as they please</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I'm so sorry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life's been imperfect for me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I do not fear my own mediocrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I cannot relive my painful childhood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So that you may now wash my brain clean</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And modify my body</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To suit yourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So punish me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">CHANGING WAY</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One does not walk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along a rough way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not become broken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bent and bruised</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I cannot walk back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To those places and periods</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where I've fallen on the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And untransform my disfigurement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The longer and harder the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The greater the many changes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the change marks my character</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many small cracks in my cup</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I can no longer drink the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The changes always twist and turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In strange directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That leaves a strained look</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A different expression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the only common counsel to be found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are with other ill-begotten corpses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who walk along the same pathway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our ways can never now touch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your's has been so smooth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mine has been too rough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One cannot know strangeness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If one has not undergone the many changes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One can no longer be straightened</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">After one has become so bent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fit this oddity as you can</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An oval portrait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Within a squarish frame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All that seems so correct to you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No longer means the same to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Twisting and turning before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will be still changing after</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your's seems so straight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always as an arrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ABSOLUTELY ALONE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Growing alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Becoming adult</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learning to live at oneness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not depending upon togetherness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To live absolutely alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without feeling lonely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unlearning how to hate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Enough to begin enjoying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the time spent within myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whispering secrets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Quietly smiling at private jokes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally growing up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ripening with age</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All by myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You want my trust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just enough to have your freedom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then to strain and break it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then you break my lonesome heart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And no longer respect me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I no longer ask for love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I no longer give love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I don't even require respect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or have much to expect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I only want to be left alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find whatever love within myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A trust that can't be broken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Respect that can't be tarnished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Daily dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Poor and hungry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a starving Narcissus</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've become like my old dog</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always sitting at my feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Following me along my way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whichever course I choose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whichever turn I take</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You want to come between us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I'm sorry the chain can't be broken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You want me to let you into my world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I'm sorry the door is always half-closed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">FALL OF ROME, U.S.A.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Historians will ask what happened</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And always ponder how</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And wonder why</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the common people will just scramble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking for the coins in the rubble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now you want my sympathy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When it's caught up with you finally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ten years ago there was such hubris</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That you wouldn't even let me eat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now what is your nemesis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Feeding heretics to their fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your temple priests</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have ransacked the court treasures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you've crucified him at the stake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ten years ago you took your measure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And refused him at your gate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Refused him quarter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And shelter from the cold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now only foreign mongrels</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Smashing down your doors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And still you procrastinate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You military</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But a bunch of mongering mercenaries</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Taking whatever they can get</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Before it's all too late</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ten years ago I was alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But now I've got lots of company</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You can no longer point your finger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And punish me for being wrong</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now everyone will be punished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For our misguided ways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I will perish in your dust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A victim of your prideful lust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I will lie buried in your wake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Having forsaken your trust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just some bones forgotten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath your wasted ruins</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unearthed one day by historians</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reading the inscriptions on our tombs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Strange words like "Truth," "Justice," "Equality," and "Brotherhood"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And try then to decipher</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What they might have meant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They will find all your coins scattered amidst the marble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Embossed with the heads of great statesmen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And they will wonder who these men were</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And what important things they had done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">During the Great Republic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">BECOMING NATIVE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Deciding to go native</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seeking identity in some place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sharing the people's common sense of history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Becoming native</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No longer needing to decide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living a culture and a history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Calling one's own birthplace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who is genuinely native?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whose ancestors did not follow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some others' forgotten footsteps?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who came before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And who followed yet after?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Native birth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The base of one's name</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The root of one's family tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The spring of one's spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And source of one's soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeping the ancestor's buried treasures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Protecting the homeland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From foreign intrusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One's way follows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The natural lay of the land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sharing common ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Altered only by the changing seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The growing and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of plants and animals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A common history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shared</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Altered only by the changing seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The year of the big rains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The year of the drought</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The year of the volcano</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The year of plenitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the year of nothing unusual</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The identity of experience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The long experience of odd identity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The newcomer always lacks and wants</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A sense of past on a landscape of trust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A special pride and certain sorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Losing one's land to the past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Losing one's way in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are all natives of one place or another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We have all been pilgrims to new lands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Being native is a natural way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Becoming foreign is an inevitable path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We all are natives of the Earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There we can find our common ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And shared destiny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are all its children by right of birth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We cannot lose one home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not gain another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">CPA</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The local branch of the CPA</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A retired certified public accountant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeping careful track</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of who on the block owes what</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the general good of the community</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeping tally of each neighbor's coming and going</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeping record of each person's business</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With nothing else to do all day long</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than talk to the FBI agents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And be the self-appointed crossing guard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The local representative</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the neighborhood watch program</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making sure the yards is cut and clean</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And no one's gutter stops up in the rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every night keeping a careful ledger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of whose still got bad habits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You've successfully supported a local policy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No black people upon the block</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And keep a careful vigilant eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the Asian children down the street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You hang Old Glory above your porch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every holiday, including Christmas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You tied yellow ribbons round all your trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then red bows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Proud to be a part</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the peace-keeping effort in the Gulf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the "say no to drugs" movement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your right to life bumper sticker</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reflects you narrow-minded temper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Next to your "I voted for Ronald Reagan" banner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That you used to cover over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Richard Nixon is Innocent"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On you cherried-out olds mobile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That you keep immaculately clean</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And drive only on Sundays</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the Catholic Church</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then to the local CPA chapter meetings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The neighbors all thing you are a fine upstanding citizen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A pillar of the neighborhood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a weed free dichondra lawn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And roses you keep pruned so neat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At about eight a.m. each morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your opinions really count for something in the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you vote at every local election</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You've singed so many petitions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To keep the Mexicans from overrunning Disneyland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to allow the Contractors all a free hand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You believe in commercial redevelopment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And thing the world is becoming a better place to live in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You have no doubts about progress, clean and right</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You do not understand why all the poor people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Can't get out and work to get ahead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you wish that every country</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Could be just like America</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though you were recently widowed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone commented upon how well you took your husband's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Prolonged and agonizing death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You were back in action</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just less than a week after</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now that he's left you a healthy nest egg</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You've traveled to Africa and Asia</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And took a cruise linger to Alaska</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You are not an over generous Grandmother</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You refuse to let them come to live with you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">After they've lost their jobs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And been kicked out of their parent's homes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You believe that they should grow up straight and true</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whatever the harder way might be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just like you yourself did</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I will miss seeing you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bending over your weeds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or walking across the street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or talking loudly to your neighbors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You were such a clean fixture</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a stable, immaculate, manicured middle-class neighborhood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But just like Reagan</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I will not regret</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your passing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I will never forget</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your Greatness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">BLAMING THE VICTIM</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Being born poor in a world of plenty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Being blamed for not sharing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why can't the poor find jobs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why can't they go to school</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why can't they pull themselves up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By their own bootstraps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Homeless and jobless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Must be their punishment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For being poor, corrupt and weak</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unreformed and addicted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To bad habits and indolence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living off the gratitude and welfare</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wealthy citizens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who pay the bulk of the state taxes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We pay all our hard-earned taxes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just to feed the poor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So they can make more babies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The poor need to be reformed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So they can become just like us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is their fault</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That the System has shut its door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon their faces and their lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And refuses to answer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whenever they knock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They do not have enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To buy a ticket to Disneyland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To dressing the lowest of styles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And shop at any but the seediest of stores</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They need a new suit and tie</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If they want to do well</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the job interview</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How can they be earning enough to live upon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If they are spending all their time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Standing in soup lines?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The easiest excuse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It so blame the victim</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Criminals do it all the time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To avoid rape</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A woman cannot be too attractive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To avoid being murdered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A peasant should not be too conspicuous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To avoid persecution</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People should not be poor.</p> <p> </p> </font> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="seven">PART VI</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">DISCOVERING GHOSTS and SPIRITS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Death and Dying</a></p> </font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The people do not fear to die;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They too demand to live secure:</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For this, they do not fear to die.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So they, without the means to live,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In virtue rise above those men</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who value life above its worth.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like the Gods of the shrine in the home,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So the Way and its mystery waits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the world of material things;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>We can buy almost anything at a store--food to keep us healthy, things to help us recreate, tools for work, toys to play with and entertain us. We can buy guns, cars, travel tickets, life insurance, even new faces, but we cannot buy the kinds of things we most often really want or need--answers to our questions, solutions to our predicaments, security for our future, happiness, love or the escape from death, loneliness and separation. It is these things with which we must struggle and deal with mostly by ourselves. No self-help books solve all the problems that life presents to us. No therapist has all the answers. No drug makes us for every happy. No doctor can prescribe an elixir for eternal life. No insurance plan can guarantee a trouble-free existence and promise a bright prognosis. Not even any religion can answer all our deepest questions. We may have everything material that we may ever want or need, and still have no answers to our basic predicaments. And the situation may become worse when we really do not know what it is we really want or need at all.</p> <p>We live in a world of existential uncertainty and insecurity. We do not ever know what the future may bring and it is difficult to make decisions especially when all our choices also remain ultimately unknown to us. Our ways of living are often engulfed in clouds of obscurity that we can always sense but rarely see. We are left to find our way by ourselves through these clouds, to some place on the other side said to be waiting for us.</p> <p>Cultural traditions of community, symbolism, ritual, myth, religion and social structure largely provide many of these answers that enable us to lead tolerably secure, if not completely satisfactory, lives. Such diverse traditions respond adequately to the perplexities, problems and paradoxes posed by the natural phenomenon of death, and help to resolve the dilemmas it creates for us in many ways. If these mechanisms of support perchance fail, then other back up measures and formulas--magic, superstition, anti-structure--help to heal over the wounds in the weave of our lives caused by death and separation. To a large extent, the creation of human culture, especially in its most symbolic facets, arose in response to the basic problems and needs posed by the central problematic of human existence--death and separation. Even our science has its roots in the need to overcome our most basic challenges, in such cultural traditions as an answer to our basic existential challenge.</p> <p>These largely autochthonous cultural traditions were, from the human standpoint, natural and healthy adaptations in the world. With the rise of a global consumer culture, such diverse traditions are being quickly eclipsed by a new tradition of consumerism, the values of which have largely replaced those "old-fashioned" ones that previously held sway over public and private imagination--thrift, conservation, humility, simplicity, honesty, the golden mean.</p> <p>The artificial culture of consumption is basically alienated from the natural function and "ecotones" that traditional culture previously filled. The difference is that the new consumer culture is rooted in values of gross materialism, and while these values answered adequately some of the physical problems related to death and dying. It failed to resolve many spiritual issues that surround death and permanent separation that the previous non-material traditions effectively dealt with. We have extended longevity, reduced infant mortality, eradicated and controlled many life-threatening diseases, engineered many environmental controls and created new fields of medicine to keep our bodies healthy and our lives long. But we are left still in a secular state of spiritual anomie in a material paradise, of antinomality in modern Eden, and the old cultural answers don't fit in our new lives very well.</p> <p>Rarely if ever did the two streams of culture merge syncretistically in ways including the best of both worlds. The reasons for this have been partly historical and partly ideological, but mostly the blame falls upon the side of the importers of the new tradition and spirit of over-consumption.</p> <p>There has never been anything inherently inimical between the new and the old to make the respective material and spiritual, the secular and the sacred, the scientific and the religious, values and worldviews of either side inherently incompatible. It has been our own naive ideologies of a rational order of the world that has made it thus, and there is nothing intrinsic to the practice or theory of science that should make it irreconciliable with religion and "superstition." Indeed, the scientific tradition in part arose form a tradition of western superstition and magic. But it is the promoters of a popular scientific worldview that insist upon science and the supernatural as being forever sundered, and that because science cannot speak of issues of faith, there is therefore no such thing as the "supernatural" simply because it cannot be verified by known scientific instruments of measurement. But the argument may work both ways, and science cannot be used to "disprove" a world of superstition and supernaturalism it cannot know or see. Real science leaves enough room in its wide critical doubt for the agnostic possibility in things not normally natural, and vice versa.</p> <p>Our rational tradition of philosophy has always insisted upon a strict dichotomization between the mind and the body, and has been exclusively concerned with the problems of the body over those of the mind. This is reflected in the split in academic cultures between the Sciences and the Humanities. The problem ever since has been how to reunite mind and body in an undichotomized way. But the real problem has never been one of either one or the other, as this has just been a false dichotomy--the by-product of our over-rationalizing mind that cannot deal with logical contradiction. The mind and spirit has never been separated from the body and function. Without the body, mind is formless; without the mind, there is no body. Likewise, spirit needs function to drive it; function needs spirit to define it. The real problem has always been why the mutually exclusive dichtomization of human reality exists in the first place.</p> <p>The mind and body form an inseparable unity of reality--of a priori undifferentiated experience. To see mind without body is to see a sense of being without a means of its own realization or tangibility. I have seen instances of both played out in theory and practice, and neither way works very well. So the issues of the scientific versus the supernatural are mostly contrived.</p> <p>Our scientific world culture has unlearned its many traditions of supernatural spirituality, and we are being left with a global body without a mind of its own. This is a convenient void to fill for those who are in complete (more or less) control. We are daily spoon-fed superficial stuff about consumption, competition, materialism, the body beautiful, the psychological self and its sanctimonious individual personality, but we are left in a perpetual state of spiritual limbo and liminality. It is an anomial void of soul loss (or never found) with which we have unlearned how to deal effectively with natural life and the universal fundamentals of existence. All we have left over is Television, and now, the Internet.</p> <p>The materialisms we daily feed our bodies on cannot deal with the spiritualisms that plague us because our new things are only temporary body bandaids on top of a festering cancer of the soul. They last only about as long as it takes to pick them out, buy them, drive them home, and find a permanent place for them in our new homes. Once their effect has worn off, we are back to the feelings of emptiness and separation that we began with, and we are left with only a greater addiction to go out and repeat the entire process as soon as possible. As we accumulate more materially and more materialisms, the more difficult and problematic it becomes to unlearn our new habits and relearn the old ones we've temporarily forgotten. The Grand Strategy of our system is to hook consumer junkies on ever-greater amounts of consumer junk.</p> <p>In a broader, "total" perspective, such a grand strategy is not only unhealthy from the human consumer's point of view, nor just from the point of view of the natural earth itself, but it is also unhealthy for the System itself, because the net result of such unlimited consumption must eventually feed on itself like a cancer to no final effect but the death of its own parasitic self and of the body of its host. The pleasure principle of utilitarian philosophy that legitimates this secular system is erroneous from both a philosophical and an anthropological standpoint, and we cannot commodify or measure materially the amounts of pleasure that the pursuit of spirituality or well being of the mind may bring to a society. It is for this reason that the World System of Capitalism is to be considered a social and culture-historical "archosis"--a social pathology of human parasitism infecting our collective conscience and unconscious, that promotes and pursues a myopic strategy of consume its host's body, and with it, itself.</p> <p>We are left to fill in a spiritual and existential void concerning questions of the mind, about death and about separation. We are left with a global need to deal with the central universal dilemma of death that all human cultures on earth have had to face and learn how to deal with in ways appropriate to their natural adaptation and survival. It is one that our own global consumer culture has not yet learned to face and deal with in a way that would be appropriate either for its own survival and for the survival of its human and natural resources caught in its grip.</p> <p>Death is a natural part of life. As long as we are living we are dying, and the older we become the greater the tendency to trade off one experience for another. We cannot unmake death. It is something we must all learn how to deal with effectively such that it doesn't interfere with our processes of living. Separations, loneliness, relocation, isolation, transitions, migration, all are episodes that precipitate a similar range of crises and emotional turmoil, as does the experience of final death. Not only our own death becomes problematic, but also of others around us, and sometimes even people who are very distant yet symbolically nearby. The dilemmas of death are mostly symbolic, but this "symbology" has rudiments in the very essence of our everyday experience, in our sense of being, and in our natural psychology. We find it in the need to maintain a psycho-geographical "identity of perceptions" and a consistency of environmental experience that becomes dramatically upset by events of death and separation.</p> <p>The cultural rituals surrounding death allow it a place within our world, and help individuals confront their own fears of death by facing and learning to live with the loss of loved ones. Without the enactment or structure of such rituals, basic conflicts of separation remain unresolved and the dead of the past live on as "ghosts" to torment and haunt the living. The failure to openly grieve, mourn and suffer the loss, and to finally lay the spirit to rest, results in an interminable subconscious process of guilt and grieving that hinders adaptation to new situations and behavioral readjustment. There is a resulting need to recreate the image of the lost soul, to find its existence, to make the past in the present, to cover over a critical absence with a dubious presence.</p> <p>Our modern culture of consumption is based symbolically upon the repression and denial of the reality and naturalness of death. The processes of continuous consumption are those of buying temporary and minute quantities of "eternal elixir" that promise to resolve all our anxieties and help us to forget death.</p> <p>Our culture is a crutch on which to forever lean, rather than a walking stick to help us along our way.</p> <p>Failure to bring the grief of loss to the surface results in a continual failure to grieve and mourn, and a vicious cycle of failing to let go of an accumulating burden of emotional trauma.</p> <p>Our culture of consumption substitutes the reality of death with an existence based upon the pursuit of vicariousness--the living through the "nonbeingness" of things or of "significant others," that from the standpoint of an individual's sense of being are non-real and alien to first-hand subjective experience. There is a failure to form healthy human bonds by merging and fusing the self with the being of others. Others become reified as things to be consumed and discarded for our own neurotic purposes. It is impossible to love and be loved if neither partner "knows who they really are" and are continuously, selfishly involved in "finding themselves" in consumption of one form or another.</p> <p>"Beingness" is a natural state of confronting death and loss and of learning to live with death as a natural process of life. The vicariousness of nonbeingness is the unconscious attempt to evade or escape the existential dilemmas of death through the nonbeing of other people and things, and must always be a neurotic, failed and frustrated attempt to resolve internal conflicts of death and separation. Such failure can be magnified to produce perverted personalities who can only love through death, who buy things in order to throw them away, and who form bonds in their own weak manner in order to break them, who live in fantasy worlds obsessed by destructive symbology and violence. These are peopling who find their nonbeingness in television or who crave to experience it in real life.</p> <p>Minor separation episodes, departures of friends, aging, losing a momento, these are "small deaths" that are similar to the major traumas of death but do not have the same traumatizing impact. There are many of them and they cumulatively produce "stress" upon the individual, and they provide "windows" for experiencing and doorways for reliving of past traumas.</p> <p>I used to be a true nonbeliever in ghosts and spirits. The modern world of secular science has certain hubris about it. It is a cultural snobbery of intellect and rationality that dispenses with such childlike "crutches" of the primitive imagination. Experiences of my last decade have slowly led to a changing of my mind. Rather than no religion, or no God, or just a single Omniscient or Deistic conception of God, or a vengeful omnipotent God, or a symbolic "God the Father" or "Earth Goddess the Mother," or even a whole pantheon of bureaucratic greater or lessor Gods and Goddesses, with their humanlike whims and tempers, why not instead a whole earth environment full of "self-organizing" ghosts and spirits and even impersonal "forces" that move the world and give it change, chaos and direction. I have found this supernatural delight in diversity a much more aesthetic and reasonable way of imagining those things that science cannot imagine.</p> <p>We can find individual spirits in trees, rocks, or we can come to think about ghosts by our side or who follow after us afar, and we can also muse about animistic forces that give the breath of life to the natural world. We can then appreciate a rock or a tree as something more than an inanimate object or a fixed piece of insentient vegetation. We no longer have a need for a central authority from on high but all the individual entities and elements have their own reasons and directions. Perhaps with such a supernatural cosmology, we may no longer seek central guidance from a single monothetic authority, but can find signals and hints for our separate and collective ways in our local environments.</p> <p>None of these spirits or ghosts is necessarily malevolent or vengeful or vicious, that we do not make them so in our fear. They are relatively being and neutral and usually do not bother people very much. Once in a while they may try to talk to us in their strange way, perhaps feeling lonely or restless or bored themselves. They may actually be only a recurring dream, lost memories, flights of fancy, overactive imaginations, or even just strange metaphors of other things we do not quite really understand. But they provide us a way of talking and thinking about death in our natural environments such that we don't have to fear or repress it forever.</p> <p>They give us a framework for "seeing" death in our natural environment in a "supernatural" way, not as an evil force or event needing impersonation, but as something that belongs in the world on the earth and in nature. We do not need to exorcise its evil from our lives or our environments, but we can learn to live with it and perhaps even recognize and communicate with it better. Our ghosts, spirits and supernatural forces allow us a handle by which to deal with the dilemma of death as we encounter it on earth.</p> <p>As we can find tears in happiness, so too can we find laughter in sorrow. There is a need to find ways of celebrating death as an important, final event in life--not covering over the sadness but fitting natural death within a larger framework of living and experience that comprehends it and finds it consonant in a greater natural universe.</p> <p>In one of his many letters, Vincent Van Gogh wrote of his belief that death was but a continuation of a great journey of which life was the first half of a grand circle, the other side of which was unknown to the living.</p> <p>There is in this thought a profound natural philosophy in the understanding of human nature and of the natural function of humankind's many cultures, that provide us our symbolic means of coping with and dealing with death in our environments. Death is a lesson to be learned and not forgotten, and through its experience we can relearn our own forgotten way of being in nature.</p> <p>It is not whether we win or lose, but that we play the game of life.</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Alive, a man is supple, soft;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In death, unbending, rigorous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All creatures, grass and trees, alive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are plastic but are pliant too,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And dead, are friable and dry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">LAST RESPECTS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You have the biggest stone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the city cemetery</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is what you have to show</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For all your greed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And selfish need for money</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your wife now goes shopping every day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And eats in fancy restaurants every meal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your children all finished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The finest finishing schools</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The girls are married to well-groomed businessmen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The boys are still pursuing their respective professions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A psychiatrist, an architect and a plastic surgeon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The funeral was a big affair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The limousine was decked with roses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the line of cars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stretched for at least a mile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cadillacs, Mercedes, BMW's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even a Jaguar and a Rolls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The communty's finest citizens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All paid their last respects</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the flowers heaped upon your grave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Made the entire cemetery smell fresh and sweet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The big oil painting of your portrait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hangs upon the wall at the back of the bank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All your grandchildren are in good colleges now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except the one who never cooperated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And they are all members</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the best fraternities and sororities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The girls will all be princesses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At their respective coming out ceremonies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living has been an investment for your family</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You were the landlord of seventeen apartment complexes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Aside from all your other business investments</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And your tax shelters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Funds set aside to help the gifted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The memorial service was long and boring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No one could hear what the preacher was saying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the wake was a really big bash</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">NATURAL DEATH</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No one really regrets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The natural passing of someone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who has lived a full life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To a ripe old age</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Natural death is neither friend nor enemy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is but an end of living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A neutral arbiter of life's process</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It does not preplan our fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We cannot predict its timing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or prepare for its coming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It may be the inevitable result</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a natural calamity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or of disease or illness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It comes of its own choosing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Certain and exacting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It goes along its own way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Silent and unrelenting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The last gateway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the journey of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We cannot turn back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is without equity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or a sense of poetic justice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For some the path is too short</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For other's it seems too long</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without rhyme or reason</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It happens to all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly or all of a sudden</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its rhythms are absolute disorder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making no sense to living things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dying is the only price we must pay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">DARKNESS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Journeying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into Darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Illuminated by only</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A small little light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flickering in the wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Traveling to different destinations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With only a feint glowing light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To guide us along our way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Darkness surrounds us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a shroud of shadow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Obscuring all things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We forever pass by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without landmarks to point the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lacking perspective to judge the distance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only small fingers of flame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pointing in changing directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Envelops our being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a sense of immensity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Felt in tangible absence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And emptiness of negative space</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing solid to touch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But cold ground beneath our feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Calling us to lie down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And go to sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without Moon or stars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With only hints of far-off lights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flickering upon the horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shadowy forms stalk alongside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suggestions of other travelers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Well cloaked and silent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon a cold night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Skirting the edge of the candle's light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Teasing our eyes with an eerie glow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Retreating echoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Answering our worried requests</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Greeting in fleeing silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The loudness of our thoughts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Drowning in utter stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The diminishing sounds of our calls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the halting shuffle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our footsteps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looming upon the edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our small world of light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lurking somewhere just beyond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The horizon of our experience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Haunting our existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tracing every footstep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always awaiting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just behind the next tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over the next rise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Around the next corner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forever receding from our reach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always vanishing from our vision</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slipping through our fingers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stealing away with the twilight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always on the verge of dawning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without feeling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without knowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">DEAR DAD</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dear Dad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is a letter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That's taken me twenty-five years to write</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I used to think of you at night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And imagine you standing in the shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to remember what you looked like</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now the only thing I miss</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is not having gotten to know one another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A little better as adults</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wish you could now see your little granddaughter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">She would have made you very happy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And maybe even taken away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some of your pain and sorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wish my little daughter could have known you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are such a small family now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">She has only one grandmother left</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We live in a small apartment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While I struggle to finish my degree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Prices have gone way up since you were around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The whole world has changed so much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes I think your death was so unnecessary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I do not think about it much anymore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've finally put it all behind me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's difficult even to imagine any more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What you looked like</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the tone of your voice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No one has been to visit your grave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For a very long time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's on a hillside overlooking a beautiful blue bay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not a bad way to spend a day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to rest an eternity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I sometimes think what it might have been like</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If you had still been around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To give me some sound advice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to help me learn to fix my car</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But then I think about it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And if you had survived</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Perhaps we all would have led a very different life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I would not even be myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But somebody very different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I think about that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And am glad now to be who I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I'm proud of things I've done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I don't think I would want to trade places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With some stranger who looks like me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It took me a long time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To learn to like myself again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now that I do, I would not have it any other way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes I wonder too</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If you would also have been proud of me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even though I haven't become myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the sake of your memory</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am sad that you left us so alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When we were all so young and helpless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I am sad that I will never get to see you again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to talk with you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That's all I ever really wanted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But now I am happy about who I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And would not have it any differently</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If you had been around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then maybe I wouldn't have made all my mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I've had to learn a lot the hard way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And will never forget what you've done for me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Anyway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your son</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">HAPPY HALLOWEEN</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My little dark boys</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Vietnamese boat babies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I bring you home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On Halloween night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We carve a jack-o-lantern</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And put it in the window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For candlelight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I find some old sheets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And some camouflage paint</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You picked out at the market</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I get web gear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Canteens, pouches and bush hats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And old torn camouflaged utilities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I dress you up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As little Viet Cong ghosts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We paint green upon your brown faces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you wear white sheets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In place of black pajamas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We go around the block</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the shadows of the street lights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to every house we come</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You all yell "Trick or Treat"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In your funny English</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the neighbors all look surprised</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the Vietnam Vet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Gets a strange look in his eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And wears a wry smile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As he pokes you in the ribs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You really enjoyed your first Halloween</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And filled up with loads of candy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was fun to go running with all the other children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dressed in different costumes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like prankish little ghosts and goblins</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Playing in the dark shadows of the streets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ALIGATOR LIZARD</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My uncle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A naturalist by profession</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And by self-chosen avocation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Curator of his own museum</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Specializing in reptiles and amphibians</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He once drove all the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the Southeast to LA</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking for a Southwestern Alligator Lizard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We were amazed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Such lizards were common things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only a little rarer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than the blue-bellied swifts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whose tails detached so easily</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As an adult</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I had a resident Alligator lizard in our home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Alongside of opossums, raccoons, owls, hawks and blue jays</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I had seen it only a few times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In more than ten years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One time sunning itself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon a brick under the fine mist of a sprinkler</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another time slipping under the front planter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crawling away under the hibiscus</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once upon the side of the house</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In my little vegetable garden</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sometimes I found its skin</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shed snake-like in the hedge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One day I ran it over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a wheel barrow full of dirt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I must have accidentally caught it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Off guard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its back was broken, and blood dripped from its mouth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I found it laying motionless in the grass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's eyes glazed over and its tail barely squirming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I found a hammer and crushed its skull</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And buried it beneath the Oleander</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Feeling bad and saying goodbye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">T a long time co-resident</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a suburban community</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">TIGERS AND DRAGONS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I take you by the hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And lead you through the park</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Around the long lake and under the willow trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I point out to the middle of the lake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where the water looks dark and deep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I tell you a tale</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About a long old dragon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who dwells at the bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And moves through the sewers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And waits silently by the water's edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For little children who wander so close</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He has the wings of an eagle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the head of a stallion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He has the talons of a hawk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the tail of a snake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He breathes fire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And spits flame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When he glides beneath the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ripples come to the surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your eyes open widely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you all exclaim in earnest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Really"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I can't get you by the side of the lake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We walk beneath the willows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I weave a story about tigers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hiding high up in the branches of the tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So high in fact</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As to be quite invisible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Especially by small children from below</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And they do not like little children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who come running and screaming beneath their leaves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without first taking off their shoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And folding their arms in a show of respect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then every time our head s brush beneath hanging leaves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You become scared and want to leave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So we walk slowly through the park</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Staying away from the water's dangerous edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And steering a wide berth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Around all the willow trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I tell you more stories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About bears who live in caves between the rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">HOLDING ON and LETTING GO</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is sometimes trying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To know when to continue holding on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And when to begin letting go</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is sometimes difficult</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To know the difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between something grown old and outworn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And something old that remains too dear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We fill up our lives with little things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That no longer has much sense or purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Things that no longer seem so important</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As when they were new</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Other precious things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We sometimes lose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or have stolen from us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we suffer a crisis of separation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A loss that fills our lives with emptiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That we can somehow never replace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a mother</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who tragically loses her child</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes it's more important to know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When to let go of important things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than things that are mundane and trivial</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sometimes it's more important</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To hold on to dumb little things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than to things that seem so important</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes the little knit knacks of our life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Become the vessels of our past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The symbolic urns for our burnt ashes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our only surviving connections to lost pasts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes the precious symbols</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A wedding ring, a gift of gold, a clump of hair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Become the sources of haunting dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And recurring nightmares</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We all have a secret hope chest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hidden away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somewhere</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes it is a treasure chest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Other times a Pandora's box</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This tattered old letter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This brown photograph</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That old sweater</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This old pair of shoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That old book of stamps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">These odd arrow heads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those old hats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All wrapped in old yellow newspapers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">LISTENING to MY SERGEANT DIE on the RADIO</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I volunteered to go that morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I always enjoyed the excitement and adventure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That comes with the atmosphere of being in a foreign country</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And it would be boring in the rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With nothing to do at the firing range</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It would be fun driving the tanks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along the muddy narrow roads through the hills</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the cool, rain-soaked Habu</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Especially during a break from the perpetual humidity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That made being in rubber gear inside a tank so unbearable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By my sergeant who had just been helping us bore-sight and zero the tank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Decided to go instead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"R.H.I.P" (Rank Has Its Privileges)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He was fond of reminding us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So they drove off down the muddy road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a green jeep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Splattering red mud behind them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most of the staff and sargeants all gone, and the lieutenant nowhere to be found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The rest of us enlisted men</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just sitting around on ammo crates</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeping a small fire going in the rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dressed in our green rubber Willy-Peter gear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trading off the warm body sweat for the chilling rain water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We joked at one another and told stories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An unopened c-rat can someone carelessly threw into the fire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suddenly exploded</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Catching a black corporal in the eye</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Shit, who in the hell..." he shouted in reply</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He wiped out the spot with his finger and licked it,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then smiling, said</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Peanut butter"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then we swapped stories about c-rat cans thrown in the fire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting for someone to come in over our little field radio</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A situation report from the tank being retrieved</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally the radio crackled and buzzed in the rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-1 Alpha, this is 3-3 Alpha, this is 3-3 Alpha, over..."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was the slow voice of the staff</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"You get it....No, you get it.....Man, I'm no good on the radio..."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Someone next to it jumps to the radio</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-3 Alpha, this is 3 Alpha, we read you loud and clear, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3 Alpha, this is 3-3 Alpha, sit-rep is we are on the road with the Alpha Tango and are headed your way, over...."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-3 Alpha, this is 3 Alpha, roger, out"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We sit in silence for a few more minutes and wonder which route they may be taking back.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No one knew the central training area very well, and the bridge to the northern training area was supposed to be impassable by tanks. We figured it was about an hour driving time by tank.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A few minutes later the radio popped again.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-Alpha, this is 3-3 Alpha, over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-3 Alpha, this is 3-Alpha, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-Alpha, sit rep is we're lost. We must have taken a wrong turn back down the road, over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3 Alpha, do you need any assistance, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Negative, 3 Alpha, we'll turn around and backtrack to where we took the wrong turn over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3 Alpha, keep us posted, over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suddenly there is static on the radio, and we hear funny sounds and someone is shouting in the background.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3 Alpha, come in 3-3, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3 Alpha, come in 3-3, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Come in 3-3, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">More static until we finally get Sgt. Rob's whiskey voice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Break, break, do you read me over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3 Alpha, we read you loud and clear, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"We've had an accident, we've slipped into the Habu and we are trapped in side the tank. The tank is upside down and the hatches are all blocked..."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Rob, can you get out?"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"I don't know, I'm stuck...I think I can kick the escape hatch out with my feet..."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3 Alpha, is everyone O.K., over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Staff, is that you? The staff's all right... Where's Sgt. L? I don't know where Sgt. L. is, he must have jumped out...."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-1, this is 3 Alpha, tell us your grid coordinates, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Staff, where the hell are we....we're on a small road just above Kushi Crossing, over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No one knows what to do.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Someone runs to the tanks to try to pick up company H.Q. on their frequency.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some of us want to jump into the tanks and get down the road to Kushi Crossing.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Someone says that we can't do it without the Lieutenant's orders.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"F...k the boot Lieuie and his orders" Someone else retorts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"We can't just go down the highway without a permit or an escort."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"We're only supposed to take the tanks on the road after midnight."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Who will decon the road"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"F...k. the Gooners' laws and restrictions. F...k the roads, F...k the kamakazi drivers, F....k the Gooners, F...k the decon, F....k the suck!"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Get a map, maybe we can take the back roads"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Someone runs to the Lieutenant's tank to fetch the map</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suddenly the radio pops back on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3 Alpha, this is 3-3 over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3 Alpha, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3 Alpha," Staff said slowly but nervously</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Echo-Fiver Delta Lima has been trapped beneath the tank, over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Do you copy, Echo-Fiver Delta Lima has been trapped under the tank, over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Oh shit," someone says</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Break, break, this is 3-3 Alpha, we need help, over.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is an emergency, we need help, over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Is he O.K., over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"I don't know, I can only see his legs, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"I can't get to him in the bush, over."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Shit" some one says again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3-3 Alpha, I repeat, we need assistance A.S.A.P., over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Do you want us to bring the tanks, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We need something to pull the tank off Sgt. L., over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Where's the god-damned Lieutenant, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Someone comes back from the tanks saying he raised Battalion H.Q., and relayed the message."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We wait a couple of minutes, no one really knowing what to do next.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"This is 3-3, over, can you hurry, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally, the resident sergeant says "F...k it, fire up the tanks"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We scramble onto our tanks without another word, and warm them up.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We raise the staff on our radio and tell him we're coming.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just then the lieutenant drives up in the company jeep driven by the company clerk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He motions for us to shut down the tanks.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pissed off, we get down and ask him what's happening.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He says they are getting an Am Track retreiver up back at the battalion,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be escorted by the Battalion jeep and a medical ambulance.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our sergeant asks, "How long will that take, sir?"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lieutenant replies "Now look, you just can't cruise down the main highway anytime you like without any clearance."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lieutenant takes the radio and calls the down tank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"3-3, this is Alpha Lima, what's your sit-rep, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Well, we're trying to get to him, but he's squashed down in the mud pretty deep"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The lieutenant grabs the sergeant, "you're in charge here, stay put, and make a road block and don't let anyone come into the area without authorization."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He jumps into the jeep and takes off down the rainy, muddy road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We sit back down around the fire, while the sergeant asks for a volunteer road watch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Kicking a can into the fire, someone stands up, saying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"F....k it, I'll do it, and walks over to where the road leads to the opening of the clearing"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A little while later a small white car drives up the road.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's Sgt. L's wife with their newborn child, bringing his lunch.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Oh shit, someone says again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The road watch stops her</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sergeant goes over and does the talking, telling her that something's happened and that she should go back right away to company H.Q.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">She has a strange, worried look on her face, asking, "Is my husband all right, what's happened"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sarge says "I can't tell you more, we really don't know, but there's been an accident. Just go back to the company H.Q."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Is my husband here" she insists, looking worse.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cpl. G., can you driver her back to H.Q."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Sure" says Corporal G. in his deep southern drawl</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He is the best friend of Sgt. L and his wife</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The car turns around and goes back down the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Man, that's strange, how did she know to come just now."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"She never brings him his lunch like that"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some says "shit" again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We go slowly back to the fire and silently listen for the radio,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Feeling pretty down about everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The radio remains silent.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sergeant says, "Man, it's been fifteen minutes. Where's the damned retriever, we could have been there by now."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Someone else says, "Yeah, this sure sucks, f k the suck!"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Someone else chimes in "Yeah, man, more hurry up and wait bullshit....F...k the gooners and their regulations."</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A few minutes later we get the news on battalion frequency. "Sit Rep, one tango 3 Alpha is overturned, one Echo Fiver Delta Lima is killed, two others taken to Battalion Aid, over"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It turned out afterward that the first Am Trak retriever couldn't pull the tank along, so they had to send for another. Later that day we continued our firing exercise alongside the 106-recoiless rifle. We bring the tanks in that night and decon the roads. While washing the mud off the road, I jackknifed the jeep and trailer in the middle of the narrow highway, trying to turn it around. It was about 3 A.M. and suddenly a speeding taxi comes up over the hill doing at least 60 m.p.h. Staff and I are just sitting there in the middle of the road, expressionless. The taxi swerves suddenly up onto a high curb, takes out about twenty feet of shrubbery, and somehow manages to get back on the road without even slowing down or looking back. The next day we clean the mud off the tanks and go to the armory to clean all our weapons. At the armory the staff grabs my shoulder and pulls me aside, saying "Christ, I though we were goners last night." I said simply "me too" and we both laughed in relief. Two days later we went down to see the tank still sitting in the Habu. It looked broken and empty, almost weak. The road proved to be too narrow. The edge gave way and the tank flipped over and down twenty or thirty feet into the habu. I remember Sgt. L. always telling me that he would jump out of the tank if he ever felt it slipping in the habu. "I'm not going to ride the tank into that stuff" he would say. He tried jumping out but the tank turned too fast and caught him, squashing him deeply into the mud.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They say he probably suffocated or drowned. A week later we had a memorial service at the base chapel. The wife took it all well, everyone kept saying. They were flown back to the states. Sgt. Rob and Staff looked pretty bad for several weeks after. They lost their usual humor and didn't talk to anyone.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Echo Fiver Delta Lima, meritoriously, R.I.P.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">HEART of DARKNESS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All water seeks the lowest point</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All streams flow down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the bottom of a common sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In each person's heart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A shadow dwells</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In lonely emptiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It seeks liberation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But doesn't know how to find it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It looks in dark places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And it does dark things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But never does it find release</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Because it always follows behind us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rarely do we see it in our shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it always remains there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hiding behind us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We cannot know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The shadows of our own heart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until we open it up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And look inside it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finding there the common clay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The human capacity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For good and for evil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dwelling together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We must bring it all out into the light of the day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And face the fears and horrors we find there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learning to live with the possibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our own imperfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there we find</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Deep down inside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The root of our deepest being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Firmly resting on common ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finding it in ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We then find it in others as well</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there is the possibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For our salvation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lurking somewhere within</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The water of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flowing through our veins</p> </font> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="eight">PART VII</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">BETWEEN MOUNTAINS and VALLEYS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ways of Peace</p> </a></font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A skillful soldier is not violent;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An able fighter does not rage;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A mighty conqueror does not give battle;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A great commander is a humble man.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You may call this pacific virtue;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or say that it is mastery of men;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or that it is rising to the measure of God,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to the stature of the ancients.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p> </p> </font> <p>The most important thing in the world we could wish for is a lasting and widespread peace--between nations, factions, peoples and within ourselves. We do not need a perfect paradise, only a relative lack of violence and its threat. The violence we confront in our world today is not the violence of uncontrolled personal aggression. It has become "civilized," impersonal, controlled, mechanical, and even rational in its execution. It is no longer necessary to hate, or even to have any emotion or sentiment, in order to push a button. Nor does becoming a devoted pacifist mean ever allowing oneself to become frustrated or angry with the world. Violence in the world has long been of the "mass" civilized sort rather than the "primitive" form of instinctual individual aggression. But civilized violence only means we can be mean, vicious and cruel without ever having to get our hands dirty or our egos tainted by feelings of guilt or a sense of fundamental irresponsibility for our own parts or our acts in the overall theater of organized destruction. But such a form of unnatural violence is a social disease, and extreme "archosis" that always begets more and greater levels of violence.</p> <p>Civilized violence in the world has grown to grand proportions of lethality, destructiveness and slaughter. It has become today the single greatest threat to both the ecology and survival of the earth. Such violence tends toward totality of destructiveness and in the process becomes ever more virulent, infectious and vicious. The totalization of civilized violence is ultimately beyond control--no nation, no group of nations, no President or Premier, no Dictator or Democracy, should be entrusted with the exclusive responsibility for deciding upon such acts of violence. Humankind simply can no longer afford to allow the unpredictable possibility for such totalization to come to pass.</p> <p>Complete prohibition against civilized violence, and it's threatened possibility, is the only absolute taboo that humankind must strictly obey. And the single most important thing we can now do in the world is to cultivate pacifistic values, habits and practices promoting and protecting peace of all forms, at all levels, and in all kinds in the world. This ranges from intra-psychic and interpersonal patterns of abuse, to stepping on bugs or hunting rabbis for sport, all the way up the violence scale to the deterrent use of nuclear weapons. The taboo of violence is without exception: we cannot allow it in one form and prevent it in another. This includes violence and destruction to our natural environments on the earth.</p> <p>It is healthy and inevitable to suffer personal frustration, to experience injustice and unfairness, to feel aggression, hatred, anger, or to have conflict with others. What is of utmost importance is how we learn to express and deal with these feelings and problems such that they do not eventuate in violence or its threat.</p> <p>Of all life on earth, only humankind has the capacity for wanton and needless violence. Our violence is indeed a perversity of nature. It is a paradox that this perversion emmanates from the same source of our being as does the possibility for its control and the need for its rejection. Both violence and non-violence stem from the human capacity for sentience and symbolic empathy for the sentience of other living beings. The perversion of violence comes from the nonbeingness of its frustrated expression in ourselves--its vicarious and dependency based upon pathological fear of death and motivation that leads to destructiveness in the world. The inability to love leads to hate--frustrated constructiveness in relations in the world results in violence.</p> <p>Only through the cultivation of a natural sense of being in the world, a sense of identity that is not dependent upon other entities or identities in the environment, can the proclivity toward violence become controlled and the sensitivity of nonviolence be cultivated. It is only through learning and cultivating habits and behaviors of nonviolence and passive resistance to violence and active pacifism in place of possible violence, that such an attitude and awareness of the being of nonviolence becomes recognized and developed. This source comes from personal identification of one's own pain, suffering, loss, rejection, and violence with the suffering, pain and loss of other victims.</p> <p>In learning how to accept and live with the fact and act of natural death, in setting aside the fear, the fascination, the mourning and morbidness about death, we also learn how to accept and appreciate life and living in a peaceful and nonviolent way as the most efficacious, natural and healthy solution to most of our existential problems.</p> <p>For most people, nonviolence and pacifism does not come easily. It never comes naturally. They are difficult values and attitudes to be learned, and their application in our everyday worlds and their cultivation in the world around us are even more difficult. But they are worthy of the effort, and repay in kindness, respect and wellbeing what they cost in time, energy, frustration and patience. We have few role models, few symbol systems, few tests, few cultural examples, and no schools to teach pacifism and nonviolence as a part of its normal curriculum, and these are what our modern world society desperately needs most.</p> <p>The values associated with pacifism and nonviolence include a "love and let live" ethos, humility, charity, equality of all life, appreciation of universal "being" in the world, humanitarianism and humaneness, passive non-involvement with any acts or threats of violence that threaten to destroy "the way things are," tolerance for differences, appreciation of diversity, subtlety, sublimity, complexity and interconnectedness of contextuality. It entails a respect for nature and a willingness to follow the way of nature. Finally, and most importantly, it entails the spirit and capacity for compromise, negotiation, transaction, mutual agreement by "wheeling and dealing" and by seeking always the middle course of action.</p> <p>Promoting pacifism and nonviolence in the world entails also the understanding, recognition and living up to of one's personal responsibility in the world for one's own actions, decisions, involvement and parts that one might play, however small, and determined from above, or however grand and powerful. Even if we are but one link in a long chain of command and control of violence, we are ultimately responsible for our own small connection to the whole. Most modern violence is organized. The "organization of violence" is necessary for the diffusion of the ethical responsibility for its perpetration and participation. Most participants pass the buck up or down the ladder of organization, in whichever direction seems most convenient. The foot soldier is ultimately responsible for his finger pulling the trigger, the bomber for releasing the bombs, the commander for giving the orders, the President for authorizing the action, and the people for mandating the President. It all goes around in a big circle of deceit and blame. It starts at the individual's back door and ends back up upon his front door.</p> <p>The last people to blame for acts of organized violence are the victims of the violence. However imputed at villains and enemies of the state they may be, they, as victims, are innocent in a way that the perpetrators of the violence can never be. It is a paradox that organizations of violence must always scapegoat and blame the victim for their own actions and deeds. "You made me do it." is the common rationalization for violence. We thereby become our own worst enemies. "Who's responsible?" We are all responsible for our own parts, however small, in the organization of mass violence, and we all cast our own votes to participate or to resist participation. Peace begins in our own back yards.</p> <p>Recognition and living up to such responsibilities, to combat the coercion of authority wherever it rears its ugly head. This includes the threat of punishment, and the ultimate "diffusion of responsibility" and the "projection of hate" upon convenient targeted out-groups, requires a groundswell organization of political pacifism dedicated to active nonviolence and passive resistance to acts or threats of violence. Saying "no" to authorities that demand participation in violence requires a dedicated devotion of a mass movement. Even more, it requires the cultivation of a "culture of pacifism" that puts values of peace and nonviolence first and foremost.</p> <p>There is thus collusion between the organization of violence and authoritarian power structure. Authoritarianism is the character complex of group-minded conformity based upon fear and the threat of violence. It exists in many different forms in every walk of life, wherever there is a "problem of authority" and a "need to deal with the problem." We must learn that in a self-organizing world, there is little need for either "authority" or "attitudes toward authority." Authority is often only an excuse for violence, even when it is disguised in hypocritical fronts of benevolence, peace, enlightenment, science or whatever other system of rationalization.</p> <p>Violence doesn't always have to be overt, destructive, and forceful. It can be hidden, invidious, corrosive, constrained, symbolic, etc. But whatever its form, its results are always the same. There is even intellectual violence in academic authority.</p> <p>A genuine morality of nonviolence must see acts of unnatural violence as essentially pornographic, not necessarily to be censored, but to be viewed, labeled, and branded as such. To recognize the pornography of violence on television and in the communications media is one step loser to the devaluation and demotion of violence in the world, rather than its promotion and glorification. It is one step closer to creating a more peaceful world. And we must teach these differences to our children.</p> <p>Nonviolence and pacifism are the closest humankind can come to a "natural ethic." The pleasure principle of utilitarianism is based upon the principle of carrying things to their extreme. Values of peace depend upon maintaining reasonable limits, cultivating the middle ground, and avoiding the consequences of extremes. It is in excess and in the values and attitudes promoting excess that the beginning of violence and the temperament leading to violence can be found. We live in a rational world based upon the balancing of extremes and the exclusion of the middle ground. In the natural world there are no rights and wrongs, no good or evil, or no black or white. There are only more or less, balance and imbalance, center and margin. Learning to avoid excess entails learning to appreciate the subtlety of limitations. There can be no order, no world, without limits, however "self-organizing."</p> <p>Even pacifism and nonviolence can be carried to an extreme. There is a critical difference between relatively natural acts of violence within an evolutionary framework and the unnatural and perverted acts of violence that do not fit any evolutionary context. The natural world is replete with acts of violence--lions killing baby gazelles, sharks killing baby whales, hawks killing doves. It is a natural response to swat a fly with a newspaper after it has been buzzing around one's head for more than a few minutes. Killing insects and vermin in your food supply is also a natural act, as is shooting a mad dog. A rural family that regularly kills a deer or bear for sustenance is natural, but a suburban family who sits down to a meal of venison bought from a butcher appears a little less natural, as are a pair of bear claw paper weights or ashtray's upon one's coffee table. It is better to catch a fish with a hook and line and eat it, than to cut a chicken's head off and pluck its feathers for Sunday dinner, but it is better to do this even than to contribute to the profits of systematically slaughtering dolphins or horses for dog meat. The lower down the trophic totem pole we all regularly feed upon, the better off the earth will be, which makes a daily chicken or fish much more natural than a weekly cow or pig.</p> <p>We must all learn how to draw our own lines at what fits us best, while being aware of the possibilities of the organized violence that we regularly engage in or contribute to, however indirectly. Everyday, in many different ways, we are casting our votes for peace or for greater violence in the world.</p> <p>Cultivating peace does not only mean its actualization in the world, but also its realization within our selves. To learn how to live with ourselves and with our own natural sense of being without undue violence or harm or unnecessary preoccupation with such violence is a necessary and inevitable step to our ethical and intellectual growth in the world. This requires coming to self-realization of the possible ways that violence may be expressed directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, in our daily lives, and excoriating the emotions and reasons for its being. Personal, psychological hygiene of nonviolence does not entail its repression as repression only results in its sublimation into other, less direct forms of expression. It entails finding the sources of it in our own daily being, in our environment and lives, and then trying to figure out a better, less violent way for resolving these conflicts or problems. We must learn to recognize and act upon these needs, and do whatever it takes to resolve them.</p> <p>The ways of peace lead along the middle ground, between the mountains and the valleys, neither too high nor too low, neither too crowded nor too lonely. Learning the middle way of compromise and negotiation is perhaps the most natural but the most difficult for those of us who've been caught up upon the extremes. It requires a different sense of balance, of keeping a center rather than weighing extremes. Along the middle way, there is never "either-or" or this or that. There is always only this and that, or both or neither. For every mountain, there is a valley, and for every pair there is a middle way.</p> <p>With the middle way we can speak about living or dying and still be talking about the same thing, or when talking of light or darkness, white or black, really to be referring to the inbetween grayness. Never yes nor no, but always maybe so. The inbetweenness of the middle way sees both sides of the coin at the same time, and touches the entire elephant, no matter how blindfolded.</p> <p>Experiencing domestic violence teaches one of its unnecessary and unhealthy way of life. We wish to see domestic peace for the whole earth just as we wish for our own domestic peace at home. When we speak of the earth as our home and as a precious resource, we are implying that we do not wish to see any more violence in the world.</p> <p>When we cast our small votes for peace, we are buying more and more time for our selves and our earth home. And we know that the only way to make peace is to listen to both sides at the same time.</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing is weaker than water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But when it attacks something hard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or resistant, then nothing withstands it,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And nothing will alter its way.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone knows this, that weakness prevails</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over strength and that gentleness conquers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The adamant hindrance of men, but that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nobody demonstrates how it is so.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Because of this the Wise Man says</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That only one who bears the nation's shame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is fit to be its hallowed lord;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That only one who takes upon him self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The evils of the world may be its king,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is paradox.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">DEAD SNAKE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Walking back along a five mile nature trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Winding along the edge of a big river</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the sun of a hot afternoon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seeking escape from the heat waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rising off the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I come upon the corpse of a large gopher snake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Strung out in the shade of a tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along the edge of the path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its head had been smashed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By three adolescent boys walking a little ways ahead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I admired its harmless and lifeless body</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The beautiful pattern of its scales</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the strong girth of its entire length</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An oddity of nature rarely found in the open</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grown a full four feet long over its several years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Earlier I had seen the boys picking it up by the end of a stick</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too afraid of touching it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Drooping from the end of the stick</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its tail could be seen still twisting and slowly coiling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The nervous spasms of its last dying energies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is saddening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To see these results</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the fear of not knowing the difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between a harmless colubrid growing old</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And lethal young vipers growing up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A PIECE of PEACE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to buy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A small piece of peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the corner drugstore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like an ice cream cone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or a Popsicle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A candy bar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or a six pack</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To wash my tears away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To waste my years away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To temporarily turn my fears away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But just barely had enough change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The prices have all gone up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I can no longer afford</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Anything in a bigger size</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My little piece</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Won't last for very long</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Before it's all gone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In fact, it won't even last</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until I get home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Returning with my tears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Greeted by my fears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whiling away my years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now I can't afford</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another piece of peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The piece was too little</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The peace was too brief</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All I can do now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is to wait until I get</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another couple of dollars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">FINDING PEACE</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finding peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the silliest of places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finding contentment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In private spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Under the shade of a big tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the edge of a small stream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the bath tub</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the bed early in the morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somewhere off the beaten track</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Away from the roads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the parking lots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along which all the strangers come</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And go</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finding happiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In small things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An old bicycle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A few odd poems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A painting or two</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A nice meal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My little girl's smile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A bird that sings to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While I'm alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Happiness without spending money</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Freedom without hassles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No strings attached</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Peace without too many people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">WATCHING the PEACE on TV</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The President appealed, explained, exhorted, demanded</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The voice of the will of the people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">His advisors rationalized, defended, elaborated and advised</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Secretary of State went for several secret negotiations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Secretary of Defense was busy at the Pentagon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Congress convened and debated and voted and supported</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The President's decisions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The reporter's asked questions, cajoled, badgered, reported and filled in the details</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The people were out parading, protesting and praying for peace and support</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Television News Rooms set up special maps and keys and had twenty-four hour coverage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The action news teams were at every probable spot on the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The troops were well trained, rehearsed, tried and ready for action</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The planes were poised, the bombs were armed, the missiles mounted in position</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ex-Generals and Commanders dressed in business suits and ties</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Gave Kindler and Gentler, fatherly talks to small groups of children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blood donation trailers set up on all the campuses across the country</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">New blood for old, good blood for bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The reservists were all mobilized and reported for duty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wives cried and had babies with the fathers far from home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Short haircuts came back into style</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The whole nation was glued to the television screen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A single, well coordinated, mass mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was all well explained, all clearly understood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We were going to war, again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We were going to protect the peace in the region</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was not the oil that really counted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was a question of Freedom and Justice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">American is strong again and can win again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is not like Vietnam</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The whole world supports us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The villain is another Hitler, another Stalin</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nobody wanted war, they said</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But all wanted victory if war began</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Besides, the blockade wasn't working fast enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we must go and fight to save the Jews</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the rich oil Sheiks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We were there in such strong military presence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To protect the Peace in the region</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another war to end all wars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Another war to preserve the balance of peace in the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our country fights for Peace, not Power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our country fights for Freedom, not Control</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our country fights for Human Rights, not fossil reserves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone said they wanted peace,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But we had our principles to defend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bombs fell with unbelievable accuracy and lethality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Right down a factory Chimney at twenty-thousand feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And exploded with frightening voracity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Consuming entire buildings in a cloud of pulverized rubble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bombs rained down over Mesopotamia</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For more than forty days and forty nights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our boys were tired but proud</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The news reported the tragedy of each single set of American casualties</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A bomb explodes an underground bunker full of small children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The President declares it was the devil that made him do it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The villain put them there on purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why should they try to protect their children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When we are so right</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When everything seems so black and white</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The news reporters tell it like its been told to them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Scuds raining down over Jerusalem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ever patient Israelis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So good to put up with such a barrage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone running around with gas masks on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like some old late night Sci-Fi flick</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then the ground actions started</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything went right on schedule</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without a hitch, without a casualty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The evil army crumbles and flees in terror</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A good little war</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeping a secure, lasting peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A holy crusade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of Christian against evil Moslem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeping the Peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On TV</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A SIDEWINDER and THE TANK</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A cooling desert wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the evening of the plain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cast in the shadows of the mountain ridge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stretching across the clear blue skies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sidewinder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Moving across the desert sands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leaving behind his peculiar tracks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The tank moves slowly along the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Out upon a one-tank manoeuvre</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The driver sees the sidewinder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And veers off course to run it over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He misses but just clips its tail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sidewinder coils in anger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the middle of the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rearing its head</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Poised threatening to strike</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It shakes its tail but nothing sounds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The tank slowly steers around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Returning to finish the job</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stopping before the snake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The snake is hissing and strikes out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then the commander gives the signal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the tank track slowly rolls over the snake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The crew get down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To inspect their work well done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The coiled snake is flattened like a pancake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Squashed lifeless like a dirty bug</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sergeant wanted the rattle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The driver wanted the fangs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For his children to play with</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They climb back on board</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And rumble off down the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking for more snakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">BUILDING BRIDGES</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Building bridges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spanning the chasm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Separating both sides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crossing over the waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flowing between</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Building bridges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On firm foundations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With strong building blocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And big beams of timber</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Building upon a common ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It takes time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Building bridges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To continue the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the forests</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between the mountains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Allowing easy crossing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the other side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Building bridges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beginning on both sides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the same time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slowly meeting in the middle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over the deepest part</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way it's always done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Working together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Building bridges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between different lands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So to come together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somewhere in the middle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Across the vast empty spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to cross freely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From side to side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A CASE of MISTAKEN IDENTITY</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Young man hunting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pheasants in the peach orchard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a long single barreled shotgun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Great for long distance flying ducks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But unable to hit anything off the swing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shell after shell</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the game just runs away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the hunter running after them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally a bird flies up into a nearby tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is evening and the shadows are growing darker</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making it more difficult to see</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A single lucky shot and something falls from the tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The hunter runs to find his prize</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only to discover not a pheasant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But some strange looking exotic bird</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a blue stork</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Something he'd never seen before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a crane</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A funny, queasy feeling rises in his gut</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The long leg is banded</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He looks around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of course there is no one else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Standing in the middle of the orchard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He finds a spot under the tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there with the stock of the gun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Digs a hole and quietly buries the bird</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The young man gives his shotgun away to his best friend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never goes pheasant hunting again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">EYE of the STORM</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Peace dwells at the hub of the wheel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The center of the spokes that keep turning around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living at peace with oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is like living in the eye of a storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where the world nearby is calm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the times all about are trying and turbulent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is not an easy feat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learning to live within the eye of the storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When new events are always threatening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To knock you off your feet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One must dance with the shifting directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the mighty winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And move with the grace of a deer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon a mountain slope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It requires a keen sense of inner balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to always be able to look</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And easily find the center</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To know when the ever changing storms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are going to shift directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It requires being able to look into the gray darkening skies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And know that a storm is on the rise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We all have a center where peace can be found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While it is storming all around</p> <p>  <hr> <font FACE="Times" SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><a NAME="nine">AFTERWORD</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">MAN-MADE MAZES and MOUNTAIN PATHWAYS</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Finally Losing the Way</p> </a></font><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are ways but the Way is uncharted;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are names but not nature in words:</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nameless indeed is the source of creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But things have a mother and she has a name.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The secret waits for the insight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of eyes unclouded by longing;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those who are bound by desire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">See only the outward container.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">These two come paired but distinct</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By their names.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of all things profound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Say that their pairing is deepest,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The gate to the root of the world.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p>We have come to the end of our way, to discover that there are many different ways, but no one single "Way." There is not one way, even if for each of us, though for each of us there are many possible ways, each if which may be our way. Though many may suit us fine, we may not choose the way that suites us best. But we must choose our different ways, and the ways we choose must therefore be the best. No one else can choose our way for us, and though we have chosen it, we really can't choose it either. If others choose our way, it is not the correct way, nor is it the best possible way, for it will be incorrect. If we fail to choose our ways, our ways will be chosen for us, but this will not be best either.</p> <p>If we come to a crossing of our way, and we are not sure which way is best to follow, it is best not to worry, as either way will teach us the one that is correct. If, following our chosen path, we eventually come to conclude that we have chosen poorly, then we cannot worry too much that we fail to enjoy the scenery and fulfillment there is, and soon one will again find the way that seems correct. And if, journeying down our path, we come to a cul-de-sac, then all we've really learned is that the way is more than twice as long as we planned before.</p> <p>When we believe we have reached our journey's end, then we are mistaken and have chosen the wrong way. And if we look closely, we will always see that our way turns down yet another path, as it never ends.</p> <p>Ultimately, all the different ways lead back to the same place, but each only follows a different direction and each has different scenery to be experienced along the path. The place to which all ways lead is the way from which all paths follow. It is the way and not yet the way.</p> <p>I like the metaphor of journeying along the way. It emphasizes the integration of our sense of time and our spatial perception into a single continual "stream of consciousness" that is simultaneously our "stream of experience" and our "stream of reality." And many such streams flow together to make a confluence that is our "stream of culture" and our confluence of history.</p> <p>Our entire lives are spent in endless journeying through space and time, and if we are always in quest of one destination after another, then our whole lives will be spent on getting to our ends rather than on the way spent while getting there.</p> <p>We may measure the length of our journey by its duration, or we may measure its duration by the distance we've spanned, but either way, making the journey itself is what it's all about. What is lost is the sense of the all-importance of the destination.</p> <p>Our lives are a journey, and our history is a greater journey along our ways. Our evolution is a larger journey as is our earth in its travels through the universe. We journey to our individual destinations within greater journeys. And this is the way.</p> <p>I like the idea of tossing out the appointment and address books and of making our rendezvous and destinations as we simply come to them along the way. From a rationlist's perspective, this doesn't sound the least bit well organized or adaptive in a modern world built on speed, schedules, accuracy, clocks and maps.</p> <p>It is though self-organizing within a self-organizing natural world within a self-organizing universe. And if humankind can ever learn to follow the way of self-organization, however chaotic, then perhaps we will no longer need the kind of hierarchical organization that we depend upon to get to where we are going in time for what it is that is going to happen that's important enough to be there on time.</p> <p>The way of self-organization always turns out to have much greater natural integrity than rational people could ever imagine. The difference is that following this way instead of that allows us to better fit in those "interruptions and inconveniences" that plague us at every bend in our pathways and that turn our rational lives topsy-turvy, but we just don't know how to fit them into our life-plans, our schedule books or our pocket books.</p> <p>We live now in a world that cannot be taken back to a pristine time before we came along and ruined it all. We cannot go backward to a time before all our evil plagues beset us. We can only move forward in better knowledge of who we are and what we have done. And we cannot make tomorrow in the image of today or today in the image of tomorrow, as tomorrow will bring all the surprises and problems we weren't counting on today.</p> <p>Modern humankind and modern civilization has become a part of the natural landscape. The earth has a tremendous power of swallowing up and covering over human feats of engineering. Whether for better or worse, the natural landscape has changed irreversibly because of our efforts. The important point is not our moral judgement on the matter but the fact that it has changed and will continue to do so. And if we are naive enough to believe that we are wholly responsible or fully in control of this change then this is our own sad illusion. We are just part of the changing process, and we, too, must inevitably change. The way of nature is infinitely patient, and humankind is always impetuous like an adolescent.</p> <p>In all our civilization and in all our scientific understanding, we are yet but one more manifestation of the infinite ways of nature. We are hers, she is not ours, and she will eventually claim us back.</p> <p>We are children of the earth. As her children, we need to learn to see again as amateur naturalists, renegade Taoist aesthetes, and baby beginners the new nature of our earthbound environments, that we have unlearned to see while we've been busy transforming nature, and our own natures, into a civilized superorganic monstrosity.</p> <p>Focusing upon the journey instead of upon the destination is just another way of unfocusing in a world that seems over focused. More unfocusing now is healthier than more focus. We have become too focused on the straight and narrow of science and have become blind to the peripheral regions of our natural environments. Some call it tunnel vision, others say it is living with blinders on. It keeps us in control. It keeps control over us. And we are afraid of unfocusing, because we are afraid of all the unreasons we might then discover for our unnatural existence.</p> <p>Unfocusing is a way of loosening all the nuts and bolts, the cogs and the wheels that make up and turn our mechanized existence, of allowing us more free play between the gears of the system, the imaginary space-time for journeying, that we may learn to better see and relate to in our natural world.</p> <p>We are not he way. We are but one of an infinite number of ways.</p> <p>People mistakenly regard Taoism as a philosophy of spiritual and aesthetic enlightenment--this is so, but it is much more than this. Aesthetically, it derives from the unadulterated experience and expression of nature. Anything that is not natural, is not good, and anything that is not good, is not worth having. But Taoism is also a profound political and social philosophy. It instructs us about how power in the world is best managed such that it does not lead to interference with the ways of nature.</p> <p>We now live in a world that has become a maze-way of corridors, walls, gates, windows, roads, intersections and of riddles, paradoxes, dilemmas, problems and questions without answers. Each of us are lost in this maze-way and we have no knowledge or instruction of how to escape, but escape it must be if we are to find the existential sense of being that we need to live well and with contentment. But even when we find our way out of our own maze, we discover that the outside world of nature is also a labyrinth, but of a different kind. Its walls and gates are the trees, boulders, streams, mountains, and oceans that seem to loom upon our pathway in every direction. No knowledge or experience we have gained in navigating successfully the interior maze-way of our modern existence gives us guidance in this natural labyrinth. It lacks straightness, angularity, predictability and the recognizibility of our interior halls and walls.</p> <p>Yet as chaotic as it may all seem it also appears to have its own strange sense of natural order. It is one that is mysteriously appealing to our aesthetic sensibilities if revolting to our natural intellect. It is mysterious and frightening in our lack of familiarity, and yet appealing to our emotions, our sentiments, our instincts, our intuitions and our imagination.</p> <p>We pay lip service to imagination and yet we prohibit it and punish it at every turn. We have hardly learned how to use it.</p> <p>The only guide through the forest of nature is our previous experience of it, and the only way of gaining experience from it is by entering headlong into its entangled thicket.</p> <p>To follow the way is to lead the way is to follow the way....until we've finally lost the way. And once having lost the way, maybe then we will have finally found it.</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once grasp the great Form without form,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And you roam where you will</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With no evil to fear,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Calm, peace, at ease.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At music and viands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wayfarer stops.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the Way, when declared,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seems thing and so flavorless!</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is nothing to look at</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And nothing to hear;</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But used, it will prove</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Inexhaustible.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(Lao Tzu--Tao Te Ching)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Be still</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Say no more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Words have been enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Now let the silence guide us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along this way we've lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Listen to the sound of the rustling forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its trees sway and creak</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Listing to the distant winds murmuring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the waters flowing in the background</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Streams of echoes spilling over the rocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Planted firmly in the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Moody winds whispering strange warnings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the branches and leaves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the tall trees standing all around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mysterious sprites singing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All finding their way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the placid, still lake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Resting peacefully</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the center</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Still being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Look upon the surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the rippling water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Birds flying in blue water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fish swimming in green skies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Two round faces peering up from the bottom's edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Two round shadows looking down from above the bank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between the ripples of the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The bright flashing sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Floating upon the surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where I shall go</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You cannot follow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What's the point of turning back?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To go where we've already been</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Things are never the same as before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We have come to a parting of our ways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We know it even without saying it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our silence becomes the beginning distance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That shall forever come between us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Each shall follow a separate path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Each a path of separateness shall lead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until we've come full circle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At our journeys end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To meet once again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On common ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No need for final farewells</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No need for tears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or last minute celebrations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is only the beginning silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our new found distance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our hands touching</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until they part</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is full</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of unfinished ends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unfulfilled hopes, forgotten dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lost possibilities and wasted energies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mistakes, frustrations and little time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why speak now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the might of been</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the end of the journey</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why look back in forlorn regret</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or gaze sidewise in vicarious wishing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the lost human potential</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the squandered talent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the spent resources</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the wreckless motions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Let's only see what is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And make the best of it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing is the word</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We use when no other word fits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is a label we use</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To cover over all those little things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That clutters and makes a mess of our lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothingness is the way of being nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Doing nothing, saying nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A grand emptiness without feeling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without pain, without thought</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is a place where we go to hide from the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way that we take to get away from the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing is where we hide all our little mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is vast in its bottomlessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Swallowing everything and anything we feed it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is convenient because it takes no space</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing is either good or bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is simply neutral like negative space</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing exists because we exist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If follows us between our shadow and ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forever silent, empty and absent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting for us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along our way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is the grand abyss of meaninglessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From which we all came</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To which we are all returning back again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Common clay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Under foot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Along our way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The mud of beneath our boot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Common soil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the waters bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And around the grave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With which we mend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Broken rims</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have broken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Water cups</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wet mud</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In which seed is set</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From which lotus</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And rice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way is a distant mountain peak</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always hovering over our horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how far we may travel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It never grows any larger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or comes any closer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way is a deep forest valley</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always lying between our path and our mountaintop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We cannot see its vastness from where we stand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But when we enter its thicket and become entangled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We can always look up and find the mountain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way is the path we are walking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon solid middle ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Turning between the mountain and the valley</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It twists and turns and branches in all directions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And is not an easy path to take</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For all the rough stones in the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way is a deep still lake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At the foot of the place we are standing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When we come to the end of our path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All paths begin from its edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the streams of the mountain flow to its bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the trees of the forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are reflected upon its surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Betweenness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">States of Being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Statelessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between this and that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between here and there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Betwixt and between</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Neither this nor that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Both here and there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between rocks and ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between wind and rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between trees in the forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between mountains in the valleys</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between names</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between games</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between living and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between young and old</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between states</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of infinite balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between all extremes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between wars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between storms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way between</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The edges of the waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sides of the mountains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always somewhere</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Inbetween</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Begin between breaths</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Posing riddles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between the lines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The words, the letters</p> <font FACE="Arial"><font FACE="Times,Times New Roman" SIZE="2"> <p> </p> <hr> <p><a name="Copyright">Blanket Copyright</a>, Hugh M. Lewis, © 2005. Use of this text governed by fair use policy--permission to make copies of this text is granted for purposes of research and non-profit instruction only.</p> <p>Last Updated: 08/25/06 </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p> </p> </font> </font> <p align="center">  <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript" LANGUAGE="javascript" Src="http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Scripts/MyCounters/MyCountera"> </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript" LANGUAGE="javascript1.2" Src="http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Scripts/MyCounters/MyCounterb"> </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript" LANGUAGE="javascript" Src="http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Scripts/MyCounters/MyCounter1"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <a HREF="http://www.TheCounter.com" TARGET="_top"><img SRC="http://c1.thecounter.com/id=515383" ALT="TC" BORDER="0" width="88" height="31"></a> </NOSCRIPT>  </body>