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Forest Through The Trees
May. 15th, 2007
10:42 pm
This piece I just read from a friend I met last night got me thinking about this question:
"do we as a species ever really do anything alone. even a thought that we may feel that we have come up with ourselves is possibly a large group of shared ideas that we as individuals have received at some point in our lifetime. a lot of what we have the tendency to think about, agree with, or argue against has to do with the influence of the individuals that surround us on a daily basis, otherwise it is hard for one to see how we could ever be lead to believe we have your own personal ideas about anything. even though the concept may be new, it doesn't mean that other individuals didnt take part in enabling us to come to a specific conclusion we came to. so again i ask, do we ever really do anything alone." -- Amanda Patmore
I find that it is easy to feel alone or only with the little bits of thought and presence shared by the people around you. But realizing this "other presence", collective unconsious, energy, God, makes me not feel that way. Some famous sage said "If you knew who walked beside you, you'd never feel alone."
And you never really accomplish something in a vacuum or have a truly original idea.
It is about collecting the raw ingreients being offered from the minds around you like catching fruit falling from a tree. Original ideas are almost never considered original because of their truly new nature. It is almost always about applying an idea from a different area to a new one or sharing an old idea in a way that sticks to the right people at the right time.
I give thanks to all the people who have inadvertantly contributed to my best ideas. I give my best and worst ideas on to others in the hopes that it will provide the missing raw ingredient to their next great idea.
Mar. 16th, 2007
11:52 pm - Two great Six Feet Under moments
These are two trmendously written, acted and directed scenes. Eve if you do't know the characters in SIx Feet Under, these scenes speak for themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsoFvFWl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CewNhrRh
Mar. 15th, 2007
12:50 am - karma tube
Check out the video here: http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?i
Popular singer Sarah McLachlan stars in this video, which highlights with graphics and music the normal cost of producing a contemporary video and some alternate ways that money could be spent. For instance, the hair and makeup expenses for a video shoot would cost about $5,000 for a day in Los Angeles. Or, that money could provide a year of schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan. By the way, this video cost $15 and the bulk of the normal expenses was spent on schools, orphanages and meals in several developing countries.
Feb. 25th, 2007
02:15 pm - a paradigm shift on money
http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?i
Popular singer Sarah McLachlan stars in this video, which highlights with graphics and music the normal cost of producing a contemporary video and some alternate ways that money could be spent. For instance, the hair and makeup expenses for a video shoot would cost about $5,000 for a day in Los Angeles. Or, that money could provide a year of schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan. By the way, this video cost $15 and the bulk of the normal expenses was spent on schools, orphanages and meals in several developing countries.
Feb. 18th, 2007
11:04 pm - So True....
I randomly stumbled upon a review of a movie made by the maker of one of my faovite films, Waking Life.
"In Waking Life, Before Sunrise co-writer Kim Krizan discusses the importance of intimate conversation as true spiritual connection. Normal chatter can be misinterpreted and doesn’t connect two individuals. When able to share the full power of words, one can extend beyond themselves and connect deeply with another."
Serendipitously, I had one of the most powerful spiritual experiences of my life after watching Waking Life. I don't think the movie caused it as much as it catylized it.
gratefulFeb. 4th, 2007
12:59 am - I posted this on craiglist under missed connections
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/mis/273
I helped U carry dog across a train bridge in Henry Cowell - m4w - 29 (scotts valley)
Gus, the dog you were sitting for, was struck frozen by fear in the middle of a precarious train bridge in Henry Cowell park. I helped you carry him across to safety with a bunch of my friends looking on. My friends could not believe that I didn't strike up conversation with you and get your number. Niether could I. I've been kicking myself all day. I just moved to town and you seem like someone I would like to know.
-----
THis girl was so cute.
I am hiking with a bunch of friends and we come to this precarious train bridge and there is a woman and a man (with a bike) trying to caox this dog across this bridge. Evidently he got half-way and then looked down through the slats and said, "FUCK YOU, I AM NOT MOVING".
They were quite far away so we couldn't see exactly what was going on. But the guy had the dog by the leash and is trying to pull him with brut force by the neck and he is yelling out, "Jesus Christ! THis is harder than pulling 30 pound [some fish I was supposed to know] out of the water!" I yelled across to suggest that they try carrying him. The guy says, "I ain't picking the dog up, I don't want to get bit." I was about to help untill I heard that.
THen the guy asks me to help him pull the dog. As I get closer, I aks if they knew the dog or if they just happened upon it. It was then I learned that the woman who I couldn't see well from across the bridge had been trying to get this very large dog across the bridge for 45 minutes and that this guy just stopped to help.
I asked what the dog's name was and sat down and pet him and felt him out on his anger level. He was fine! THis guy was just not a very nurturing person. Then I found out that she was dog sitting for the first time for this dog and it gave me a whoel new appreciation for her predicament.
I thouhgt that if the dog would cooperate I could carry it across the bridge. As I tried to pick him up, she picked up the his hind legs and we carried the dog to the crowd of my friends looking on. SHe was so thankful and the dog seemed to be so as well.
I was so concerned about the dog during all of this. In the back of my mind was the realization that this girl was so fucking cute and that if I ever had a "sure-thing" situation for getting a number, this was it. But then I thought how cliche it would be if I parlayed this into a date ask in front of my friends.
ANd before I had time to rethink that in the front of my mind rather than the back, it was too late and she was off. My friends were all dumb-founded by the fact that I didn't strike up conversation with her and get her number. I guess on some level my ego was involved in not doing that for fear that it would cheapen the heroic nature of the act.
Wouldn't it be a trip if she or one of her friends that she tells this story to stumbles upon my craigslist post and she winds up contacting me? And we live happily ever after?
A friend of mine found a "Saw you" ad once for him and contacted the girl, so I know it does happen.
It probably won't in this case, but at least I feel like I did what I could to remedy the awful feeling of regret.
Jan. 20th, 2007
12:08 am
I played an interesting game tonight. It taught me how unobjective percieved objectivity can be.
Jan. 10th, 2007
02:51 am - A shelf of supplements
In my new home, I've inherited two shelves filled with mostly unopened herbal supplements, herbal extracts, heopathic remedies, and vitamins.
I have dabbled in the herbal wellness arts in the past. There is so much bullshit to a lot of alternative therapies, but that is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is alos a lot of stuff with some decent science behind.
Because of how muddied this subject is, I decided long ago to find someone who I trust and follow their assesments of various alternative therapies. I chose Dr. ANdrew Weil because in addition to being highly esteemed even by the mainstream, his original work was with psychedelic plants in the AMazon and his first few books were about taking a different look at psychoactive drugs in our culture. Despite his mainstream appeal, he has remained true to his roots and still writes forwards and testimonials for various drug/drug policy books. I know that he is legitamately knowledgable and trustworthy on something I do know about (drugs & drug policy) so I deduce that if I were to be an expet on alternative medicine I would also agree with him. But I am not an expert on that, so I trust his judgements usually.
I am excited to slowly but surely look up each of these remedies to find out if Dr. Weil or other people I trust see benifit in them, and if so, for what purposes.
01:37 am - New city, New job, New people
I am officially a resident of Ben Lomond, CA -- a little town of 2000 people in the mountains just north of Santa Cruz.
I have known of towns like this in COlorado. I think Ben Lomond and the nearby town of Felton are very analogous to Nederland, CO which I lived 30 minutes away from in Boulder. Janice Joplin used to live on the road I live on, Love Creek Rd. Ben Lomond used to be virtually all hippies in the late sixties, early seventies. It still is in many ways, although diluted by commuters and/or disguised by usual clothing.
I'm living in a small three room cottage. Just four feet from my balcony Love Creek babbles better than any "soothing sounds CD" or "water feature" money could buy. I am surrounded by huge Redwoods that tower like city skyscrapers. Just 50 feet from my cottage is the main house where four friends/colleagues live. This is a great house with a "dining room" that makes for a uniquely intimate hang-out space. There is a large rectacular coffee table with wall just 2-3 feet away on two sides. The floor around the table is covered by what feels like a series of custom-made cushions but looks like the bohemian amalgam its supposed to look like. Of course, what really makes this space so warm is the people who congregate there, the ideas that are shared, and the bonds that are forged. THe house has a large cement patio that comes to a three-foot cliff just a foot away from Love Creek. Along that cliff under a gazeba sits a hottub.
And just next store is a carriage house that serves as the main office for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. I have a desk in the office which also serves four other staffers and two other part-time/interns. There are a few other staff members, including the Executive DIrector that live separately in Boston and Sarasota.
I will be spending half my time working as the Development DIrector or MAPS. www.MAPS.org And half my time as the Senior Development Officer at the Marijuana Policy Project. www.mpp.org
I am really excited to get rolling in my new jobs. Most of my work so far has been fun, but it is preliminary work of making plans, learning stuff about the organizations, and writing fundraising materials.
Two of the people I live/work with are away, but I know them both as colleagues. But I have really gotten to know the two that are here. I knew them both just as colleagues for a year or so. But I have really enjoyed getting to know them better. X & X are a really genuinely good couple with adventuring and positive minds and uplifting spirits. X is like the hippie Martha Stewart, making lots of clothes, tea, and yummy vegetarian cuisine (slop). (I have a policy of not usng people's real names when I write personally about them on livejournal.) They are warm and whole.
Tomorrow I am going to venture out to meet the locals. I am going to a yoga class at the only yoga studio in the two towns and going to "bluegrass night" at one of only 3 local bars.
Describing this to others taps me into my deep resevoir of gratitude. I was focused on what had to be done and what was missing untill what had to be done was to describe my new place...and now I am focused on how happy I am with my current situation. Maybe this is why Oprah Winfrey touts a "gratitude journal" so enthusiastically.
It can cause a marked shift in consciousness.
Jan. 9th, 2007
07:00 pm
"I don't fear being penniless. I fear being meaningless." - unknown
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