12.21.12 – The Birth of World 5.0

The Winter Solstice of this year, 12.21.12, is the most auspicious occasion in modern memory. No other date resonates with such ancient warnings and curious attention. No other date has offered so much speculation. And our actual science-based information on this topic is close to nil. Wow.

What we are told is that this is to be a time of great transition, perhaps bringing an end to our civilization and even our lives. If so, what happens afterward is of no concern. Others think we face a ‘Y2K’ like experience, a barely noticeable blip on the radar, if there is anything noticeable at all. A third group imagines we face a great awakening, a new ‘Age of Aquarius’ with a suddenly enlightened culture full of peace and love, with rich and rewarding relationships for us all.

In less than two weeks we’ll know much more clearly. As the founder of World 5.0, I’m especially curious of what is to come. The notion of World 5.0 came to me some eight years ago, and I’ve been enchanted with the idea ever since. I’ve written a book on the topic [free download from world5.org], produced a Declaration video, and posted any number of articles and musings on the topic. After this auspicious date of 12.21.12, World 5.0 may well become the recognized ‘operating system’ for our culture as we move forward.

Why? Because it brings truth. It recognizes that Life Is This Moment, there is no reality outside of here and now. This is the first truth. Such an obvious recognition should be the central pillar of science and religion. That Now is not recognized as the singular point of reality is a clear sign of our confused culture.

Next is the recognition of the central role of our intent in determining the quality and flow of our lives. Indeed, it is how we use our intent here and now that determines our view of the world, and from that view we create our perceptions and those perceptions dictate our level of happiness. Most simply, the constant choice we face is between love and fear, and only one is grounded in peace. This is the second truth. “The problem is never what the fear says it is. The problem is always fear itself.”

The third truth is quite simple – only Love makes us happy.

It is only when we find our common ground here in Life, and appreciate the power of our intent that we begin to find our true selves. And it is only when we find our true selves that we can be effective change agents in creating a culture of peace and love. Otherwise our lack of clarity will infuse the process with fundamental flaws such as we have in the globalized system today.

It does not seem an accident that this auspicious date finds humanity in the throes of crisis. Global warming, desertification, species annihilation, food and water shortages, dysfunctional government and generally a world gone awry. Such is the outcome one would expect if studying the effects of globalization on culture. We need a new model, where money is not the ultimate arbiter of success and power – which many of us see this death and birth as being about.

World 5.0 sees that our culture must rebalance toward feminine ideals. We need cooperation more than competition. We need nurturing more than authority. We need curiosity instead of judgment. We need togetherness instead of winners and losers. We need to be citizens, not consumers.

How does this play out in our culture? For starters we refuse the goal of ‘getting ahead’ as that necessarily leaves others behind. We refuse war as we stand for peace. We engage with everyone we meet, seeing a reflection of ourselves in each sister and brother. We enliven our local communities with our love, and apply pressure to government to effect positive change. We support local food and energy production. In short, we live honest, meaningful [and surprisingly happy] lives.

So, while we cannot yet see whether galactic alignments, solar storms, a polar shift or some other unrecognized force will wreak havoc on our planet, the truth is we have already done just that, and treated our sisters and brothers poorly in the process. Scapegoating corporations and governments, deserving though they may be, does nothing to heal our tragic situation. We must awaken and claim our personal power, leaving corruptive influences behind.

What we can see is that the same truth holds regardless of what happens on December 21st, 2012. In our personal lives it is our intent that empowers us or causes us to continue in illusions. It is our engagement in our neighborhood and local communities that creates substantive change. It is in holding the space of peace, in holding the warmth of love, that we align with the great Tao we call Life.

The truth, the lovely thing about the decay and rebirth we’re undergoing, is that this marker of 12.21.12 is the culminating point of a long and unsteady process of growing up for our species. We are finally putting away adolescent behavior and finding each other. We are finally resetting our priorities to align with relationship, community and ecology. We are awakening.

Imagine a world without war, a world where hunger is eliminated and there’s plenty of clean water for all. A world where relationships and communities are the priority – not corporatism. Imagine growing and eating healthy food, growing weed and industrial hemp, stopping the pollution and GMO risks from the agribiz food model. Imagine a functional, responsive government. Imagine millions of us working to heal the planet – planting trees, mitigating pollution, reducing carbon use, restoring our oceans. Imagine us becoming deeply attuned to Mother Earth.

The process? First we align with The Three Truths to ground ourselves Here in Life and to master our intent. We can’t repair the world when we’re distracted, wounded and otherwise enslaved by the old system. We must each find our true self and allow it to emerge.

Next we must connect. We must immerse ourselves in being the connective tissue of a new, holistic culture based on peace and love. We must let our integrity shine forth, as it lights the path to peace. And we must engage, as this very process of engaging IS Love.

One by one we leave the madness of the old broken world behind, choosing instead to make our home Here in Life. Already there are millions of us sharing this quest of healing, and sharing this passion to restore our lives and our Earth. As we learn to find our ground, connect and build a system of ethics, we awaken World 5.0. Perhaps we’re on the edge of a reckoning with the system of globalization. And the old system has no chance against the power of Life.

Join Us. Life Is. Onward.

The Diminishing Power of Money

This notion of the diminishing power of money is powerful in itself, reversing a pattern that has been in effect for thousands of years. Especially with globalization, it’s difficult to live without the ‘almighty dollar.’ There are a number of lenses which can be invoked, but let’s start with the current election cycle.

The guy spending the most money is losing. That should be impossible in a world where money rules, impossible in our consumer culture where we are told what to think and do, rich only in propaganda. We can discuss Mitt Romney’s weaknesses as a candidate [or Obama’s as a president], but that supposedly doesn’t matter when ‘consumers’ can be sold anything. Yet what we’re seeing, in spite of massive amounts of campaign dollars, is that there is a saturation point, whereafter more money doesn’t translate to better poll numbers. Even the most rabid consumer has a bit of citizen within themselves, waiting to emerge.

Of course in the case of our government, there is not yet a diminishing of the power of money. If there was, we would see some effort toward governing. Instead we see fierce obstructionism and the constant nod and wink to corporate behemoths. Barring a fresh wind in the upcoming election, the federal government will be the last place we see the diminishing power of money. And corporate-owned media will be the last to talk about it.

Yet on the local level we’re seeing all sort of examples of folks working together to reduce the primacy of money. We’re seeing urban farming and community gardens explode. [Beyond air and water our biggest need is food. Duh!] We’re seeing activism and social awareness burgeoning all over the place even now. We’re seeing new groups and new projects emerge. And we’re seeing a host of new groups, like Cleveland’s GreenCity BlueLake, Cincinnati’s CoreChange or Agraria in Yellow Springs – and this just a taste from Ohio.

One of the silver linings of the 2008 Financial Meltdown [don’t get me started] was that as cities, counties and states became forced to cut programs and people, passionate folks started to look for and find work-arounds. If there are less police we better get to know each other better. If there’s no public assistance for housing we better get creative in considering homelessness. If there are no jobs in the classical sense, we better find new ways to support ourselves.

This in no way justifies the Disaster Capitalism inflicted on us by psychopathic elites, but it does show how, still today, necessity is the mother of invention. And these bastards and this corrupt system, failing mightily in anything life-supporting, have created the necessity of a new cultural paradigm.

Studies conclude that the presumed relationship between happiness and money, beyond the basic level of having needs met, is false. Indeed, wealthier folks often give up quality of life moments like socializing for long hours or long commutes, which are not so fun and tend to create stress [just like food or safety insecurities]. Mitt Romney’s recent comments about some 47% that don’t pay taxes and feel like victims is false in so many ways it deserves scrutiny only for its foolishness.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the diminishing power of money is within each of us. We widely understand now that the so-called American Dream is a nightmare. That buying the latest and greatest to be happy is a false idea, and one that wreaks havoc on our ecosystems. That some McMansion far removed from neighbors and community is desirable. That in trying to get ahead we but alienate ourselves from our sisters and brothers. [It’s tough to focus on ‘winning’ and being together at the same time.]

Busted. That dream is over, except for the few who refuse to open their eyes, the few that hold onto what they were taught by this failed culture until they lose their fingers, and then wonder how they lost them. Cognitive dissonance is a poor strategy for happiness.

We, as in people across the planet, are waking up to our citizenship and rejecting the consumer identity. This is ultimately what Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring and so much else going on these days is about. One can argue that this outcome was inevitable, given the recent and now constant overreaching of the corporate overlords. One can also argue that things will get worse before they get better, given the now-consistent fundamental of a shrinking middle class.

What is certain, and far more easily appreciated in these times, is that our happiness comes from within – the decisions we make about what we think and we how we feel as we course through the moment. And from without – our relationships and interactions with family, friends, coworkers and community. This is the stuff of our lives. This is what is worthy of our attention. ‘Cause money can’t buy me love.’ And only love makes us happy.

In Praise of Hemp

Hemp is the common name for cannabis, the first plant cultivated by humanity as we crept from being Neolithic to becoming Agrarian. Likely this was due to a few reasons. First, hemp is an extremely versatile plant, with leaves, seeds and stalks all capable of creating useful products. Second, it’s particularly easy to grow, needing little in the way of fertilizer or pest control. And finally, hemp is native to many parts of the world, particularly The Fertile Crescent, where some of the first agriculture happened early in our civilization.

Hemp use predates the Agrarian Age, as hemp fibers have been found in pottery in China and Taiwan dating to 7,000 years ago. The classical Greek historian Herodotus (ca. 480 BC) reported that the inhabitants of Scythia would often inhale the vapours of hemp smoke, both as ritual and for their own pleasurable recreation. So presumably the Scythians were the first recorded stoners.

In Europe, hemp growing and production became quite popular during the Medieval Age, having disseminated in that direction along with much of the technology of the Arabic Golden Age in Northern Africa. In Europe hemp seeds were used for food and oils, the leaves for teas and the stalks for fibres, including rope, clothes, sails and paper. Estimates put the number of Europeans actively involved in hemp growing and production in the 15th and 16th century at well over 50%.

Hemp has a strong historical influence on every continent, with varied cultural and religious traditions. Many African spiritual practices involve consuming hemp smoke to enhance awareness and generate visions like the Dagga ‘cults’.

The Spaniards brought hemp to the Western Hemisphere and cultivated it in Chile starting about 1545. However, in May 1607, "hempe" was among the crops Gabriel Archer observed being cultivated by the natives at the main Powhatan village, where Richmond, Virginia is now situated; and in 1613, Samuell Argall reported wild hemp "better than that in England" growing along the shores of the upper Potomac. As early as 1619, the first Virginia House of Burgesses passed an Act requiring all planters in Virginia to sow "both English and Indian" hemp on their plantations. The Puritans are first known to have cultivated hemp in New England in 1645.

In more modern times, hemp was a popular crop in antibellum Kentucky and other southern states. It was commonly used for a variety of products, most notably the paper on which the U.S. Constitution was written. Several of our founding fathers were hemp farmers.

All this changed with William Randoph Hearst, who began demonizing hemp in order to leverage his great tracks of forest for paper production instead of needing to buy hemp from other farmers. His effort to demonize the plant was also instigated by his racism, as many hispanics and blacks used hemp for recreation. The word, marijuana, is the hispanic term for that form of hemp which has psychoactive ingredients.

There are several varieties of hemp, most of which have very little THC [tetra-hydro-cannabanoid], the mind-effecting component. For most of U.S. history, the distinction was well-understood and laws reflected that awareness. Like so many with the power of media, however, Mr. Hearst did his best to cloud that distinction, as he was against hemp in any form. Indeed, industrial hemp was referred to as ‘ditchweed’, while hemp for medicinal or recreations purposes has come to be known as marijuana.

An analogy would be poppies, where you have the breadseed poppy seeds that can be found on bread or rolls, in contrast to the opium poppies grown to create morphine and heroin.

As reference, the timber and lumber industries, textile and petro-chemical industries are the most influential in keeping hemp illegal. As usual, we can follow the money. Then for pot there’s the pharmaceutical industry, the alcohol lobby and all those anti-drug agencies with self-preservation interests. We learn much from understanding these connections.

With this background, let’s consider how hemp might again play a pivotal role in our culture.

Assuming access to air and water, our most regular needs are for food and energy. In the World4 culture, these needs, at least for the industrialized world, are met through global corporations like ADM, Monsanto, BP and Exxon. And of course, hemp is illegal to grow in much of the industrialized world and particularly the United States.

But as noted above, hemp is easily grown with little required in the way of fertilizer or pesticides. As such, hemp typifies a sustainably-oriented plant. Corn, by comparison, requires heavy doses of fertilizer, especially nitrogen, and requires a good deal of pesticide use, with Roundup often used to kill weeds, and genetically modified corn seed that is resistant to the effects of Roundup. With the vast expanses of corn grown in this country, it should be no surprise that the runoff from these chemicals has created a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. And let us not forget that our tax dollars subsidize these efforts through farm and energy subsidies.

With hemp, we have a low-impact, high-yield crop that can be used for a variety of uses. The stalks and fiber can used for composites that can be a wood substitute in an array of products. They can also be processed to create ethanol. They can be burned as a carbon-neutral resource, since the carbon they release is but the carbon the plant ingested during it’s life. Durable, light-weight, and strong, it’s difficult to imagine all the uses for industrial hemp were we to focus on designing and building hemp-based products.

Hemp seed can be used as a food as well. The roasted seeds are crunchy, they can be used in soups and casseroles, mixed with cereals or other foods. They’re highly nutritious, have a good deal of protein and again, are positive-impact environmentally.

Hemp has remediation properties too. It absorbs heavy metals in the soil, reducing their toxicity and harmful environment effects. There are vast expanses of hemp in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear accident for just that reason.

Hemp can be grown successfully in nearly every state in these United States. One can imagine a culture where locally produced hemp provides a good portion of the energy, food and product needs for our communities. This methodology would provide employment in both production and processing of the plant. It would reduce the environmental damage caused by our overused, subsidized corn. [Corn syrup is a cheap, low grade sugar that’s in a ton of processed foods.] Re-integrating hemp into our culture is just good, common sense.

And then there’s marijuana. The heathen devil-weed [a term coined by Heart’s yellow press] was blamed for all sorts of bad behavior as part of the demonization process. But as usual, someone who smokes pot and acts badly likely acts badly anyway, with marijuana as the straw man. Marijuana reduces aggressive behavior, unlike alcohol. This slander against the singular most influential plant in human history is but one example of the dysfunctionality of our culture.

Weed does indeed have psychotropic properties of note. Being stoned has a curious effect on the mind. Most say it tends to enhance whatever we feeling or experiencing at the time, offering a heightened experience of music or games or food [the proverbial munchies]. It is often used as a mind-quieting agent as well, as the stream of thoughts so constant to most of us becomes less pressing in a marijuana state of mind. In our fear-ridden, highly-stressed culture that alone could be of great value.

It’s worth noting that marijuana has not been placed as the medical cause in a single death in this country. Compare that with alcohol, tobacco, or the host of concoctions the pharmaceutical industry markets to us constantly. Mary Jane is decidedly benign.

As a medicinal, hemp oil has the afore mentioned essential fatty acids that are very effective for skin issues like excema and when ingested enhances body health. Medical marijuana is much in the news these days, being legal in California and a handful of other states. It’s value in alleviating the worst effect of cancer treatments, chronic back ache and other issues is well-documented. Imagine if our culture actually encouraged research on medical marijuana. Not likely when the legal drug cartel we call the pharmaceutical industry has so much influence in government.

Proposition 19 is a measure on the ballot in California this fall that makes hemp legal. It merits our support for all the reasons indicated in this writing. Perhaps with this ballot measure passing we can begin to reverse the foolishness that has withheld leveraging this marvelous plant for the last 100 years.

Perhaps one of the most beneficial characteristics of this renewable resource is that the hemp plant can be used in its entirety, and that a streamlined life-cycle assessment yields positive impacts on the environment throughout the growth, harvest, and production stages. The industrial hemp plant offers a wide variety of high performance applications through the many aspects of community design, and will help strengthen our local economy, return power back to our local agricultural industry, and restore the environment as it grows. – Scott Blossom

Well said, Mister Blossom. Perhaps this fall [in California Ballot Measure Prop 19] we’ll begin to see a return to sanity in our policies toward this marvelous and versatile plant. And wouldn’t it be just swell to see this happen in the wider context of a return to localism. Very World Five – dude.

Hemp for the World

There’s a lot of energy in the air these days surrounding hemp, and with good reason. Hemp was removed from our culture back in the early 20th Century when a number of laws were established that demonized hemp and marijuana. Now, as we’re learning that so much once held as true is false, it should come as no surprise that our illusions about hemp are crumbling as well.

Hemp is the common name for cannabis, the first plant cultivated by humanity as we crept from a Hunter/Gatherer culture to an Agrarian one. This were several reasons for this. First, hemp is an extremely versatile plant, with edible seeds, rich oil and strong, fibrous stalks. Second, it’s particularly easy to grow, needing little in the way of fertilizer or pest control. And finally, hemp is native to many parts of the world, so it was accessible to large segments of our ancestors.

Hemp has a strong historical influence on every continent, with varied cultural and religious traditions. It’s written about in China as early as the 5th Century BC. It was commonly breathed or smoked by various tribes in the Middle East. Many African spiritual practices involve consuming hemp smoke to enhance awareness and generate visions like the Dagga ‘cults’.

In the United States, as early as 1619 the first Virginia House of Burgesses passed an Act requiring all planters in Virginia to sow “both English and Indian” hemp on their plantations. In more modern times, hemp was a popular crop in antebellum Kentucky and other southern states. It was commonly used for a variety of products, most notably the paper on which the U.S. Constitution was written. Several of our founding fathers were hemp farmers.

All that changed when newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst decided to demonize the plant, his financial interests better served by printing his newspapers on wood pulp supplied by forests he owned in the early 20th century. Dupont’s new plastics were far more valuable in a hemp-free world as well. His nephew, Harry Anslinger, commissioned ‘Reefer Madness.’

Today, we can still follow the money. The lumber, textile and petro-chemical industries are the most influential in keeping hemp illegal. Then for pot there’s the pharmaceutical industry, the alcohol lobby and all those anti-drug agencies with self-preservation interests. We learn much from understanding these connections.

With this background, let’s consider how hemp might again play a pivotal role in our communities and culture.

With hemp, we have a low-impact, high-yield crop that can be used for a variety of purposes. The stalks and fiber can be used in composites as a wood substitute for an array of products. They can also be processed to create ethanol. This is a carbon-neutral resource, since the carbon released is but the carbon the plant ingested during its life. Durable, light-weight, and strong, it’s difficult to imagine all the uses for industrial hemp were we to focus on designing and building hemp-based products.

With hemp oil we have another energy-rich resource, which can be used in cooking, as lamp oil and as a medicinal, as its high concentration of essential fatty acids is great for the skin and overall health. Hemp seed can be used for food as well. They’re highly nutritious with a good deal of protein. Hemp has remediation properties too. It absorbs heavy metals in the soil, reducing their toxicity and harmful environmental effects. There are vast expanses of hemp in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear accident for just that reason.

Hemp can be grown successfully in nearly every state in these United States. One can imagine a culture where locally produced hemp provides a good portion of the energy, food and product needs for our communities. This approach would provide employment in both production and processing of the plant. It would also reduce the environmental damage caused by our pollutive, subsidized corn production. Re-integrating hemp into our culture is a key to the new localism.

And then there’s marijuana. The heathen devil-weed [a term coined by Hearst’s yellow press] was blamed for all sorts of bad behavior as part of the demonization process. Marijuana actually reduces aggressive behavior, unlike alcohol. The demonization and slander against the singular most influential plant in human history is but one example of the dysfunctionality of our culture.

Medical marijuana is much in the news these days, being legal in a number of states, though often still prosecuted by the Feds. Its value in alleviating the worst effects of cancer treatments, chronic backache and other issues is well-documented. Imagine if our culture actually encouraged research on medical marijuana [sigh]. Not likely when the legal drug cartel called ‘the pharmaceutical industry’ has so much influence in government.

Finally, it’s worth noting that marijuana has not been placed as the medical cause in a single death in this country. Compare that with alcohol, tobacco, or the host of concoctions the pharmaceutical industry markets to us constantly. Mary Jane is decidedly benign.

Just say no to politicians and pundits who espouse the evils of hemp. They are uneducated, disingenuous or both [surprise, surprise]. Let’s say yes to re-introducing hemp into our culture, and to creating local jobs, products and health.

Healing Racism: Trayvon and the Broken System

We Americans are prone to allowing our view of reality to be fed to us by mainstream [corporate-owned] media. We are quickly entranced by the talking heads who tell us what is going well and what is going poorly in our world, with the emphasis on what is going poorly. Yet there is no honest effort to get to the real reasons why things are going so poorly. That would be educational. Our lamestream media has no interest in educating us.

The case in point is the death of Trayvon Martin, the teenager killed with a gun by a vigilante posing as a ‘citizen patrol’ in a gated community in Florida. The event has triggered a firestorm of protests, as well it should.

We tend to think we have no responsibility for the George Zimmermans of the world – broken humans who feel their hatred is justified and grants them the right to all sorts of abominable behavior. We know that it’s crazy. But do we see how every time we allow ‘little’ racist remarks to go unchecked, whether from a friend or co-worker, a TV show or article, we contribute to horrific situations such as Trayvon must have faced in that Florida gated ‘community’.

George Zimmerman typifies many emotionally-wounded Americans who are off-kilter, over-influenced by Fox News, the NRA and even our government(s), which creates laws like ‘Stand Your Ground’ at the behest of the gun lobby and other extremists. I suspect that Mr. Zimmerman also has trouble with a black president, social services and evolution. The pattern is pretty common among hard-line fundamentalists, even as they name themselves Christians..

It’s worth noting that in spite of a past assault charge on a police officer, Mr. Zimmerman seems extra cozy with his local law enforcement officials. Without that coziness, he likely doesn’t commit this egregious crime. Their little hater’s club allowed his racism to be considered okay, maybe even cool. We know there was some level of tolerance for his actions, as he was not charged with a crime at the scene. [And as of this writing has not been charged yet.]

But how many of us find ourselves in similar, if not so obviously racist, situations at times? Most all of us. And how do we react to such comments and behaviors? Sadly, most of us have been too afraid of confrontation or too disinterested in civil society to take action. If this were not the case, racism would have been long since abandoned by even the most raging haters. We’ve not stood up to it in the past. Now that we’re awakening, it’s time for a change.

We do not need to be aggressive or hostile to racists – they have plenty of that already. Our methodology needs to be one of gentleness, of peace and of love. “Wow, George, it kind of surprises me to hear you say that. He seems like a fine/pretty average/typical kid to me.” or perhaps “You know George, except for an accident of birth you could be him and he could be you. Funny.” or again “George, remarks like that are unacceptable. We are all children under God’s light, and such talk is not at all Christian.” This last version is a little more challenging, but cast in the context of Christianity we can perhaps be a bit more firm.

No matter how peacefully we approach our ‘George,’ the possibility exists that they will react against you. It may be abusive, perhaps even violent. That potential outcome doesn’t relieve us of our personal responsibility to end racism. If the situation is too flammable, we may not be able to express ourselves fully. But most of all, we cannot let such situations continue due to our indifference. We owe it to each other as brothers and sisters, here together in Life on Earth to take a stand against racism.

As we know, racism and the hater mentality are not aimed solely toward those of African descent. Such vindictiveness can be hurled at other races and other creed-holders as well. Other minority communities have felt the unjustified wrath, the violence and the bullets. Muslims and the LGBT community know the feeling. The citizens of Haiti, Darfur and Palestine – they know that feeling. We must be vigilant for them as well.

The simple truth is that Mr. Zimmerman and those of a similar ilk, in a healthy society, are controlled by ethical systems and the vast majority of citizens who are healthy. Of course, in a healthy society, we do not have endless war, food and energy systems controlled by corporations, too big to fail banks, or an utterly dysfunctional federal government.

Nor do we have a gun lobby with no respect for human life. A justice system with no respect for justice. A police system in Florida where a violent attacker is not tested for drugs or placed in jail to await trial. There might be another hoodie who suffers the ultimate injustice.

In this broken and dysfunctional society of America, 2012 – we clearly need substantial change. We need a new cultural operating system based on ethics – principles like peace and love – instead of this broken system of globalization built by and for the 1%. Fortunately, such an idea already exists. It’s called World 5.0. It reminds us how a new, ethical system is critical. But like any other system, it will only be as effective as the people who are engaged within it.

A Spring that Can’t Wait

As the corruption in our system continues unabated and the interminable Republican Primary Season continues its buffoonery of ‘solutions’ for our failing state, there is some highly unusual behavior taking place independent of either. It’s the behavior of the weather for most of the country, an unprecedented string of warm days even before Spring officially began.

All across the country cities are seeing record or near-record highs, a string lasting nearly two weeks. It’s as though Spring, 2012, can’t wait. Instead of the usual sequence of blooming flowers and trees, it’s as though everything is condensed and blooming at the same time. Very strange.

Many of us see this as another obvious example of aberrant weather due to global warming. Our use of fossil fuels continues almost unabated, as energy corporations leverage their stranglehold on our energy systems to push for more dirty oil and natural gas use. Their failure to value our planet, when it is so obviously stressed, is but one of their many crimes of corruption, legal or not.

This strange, early spring points to our federal government as well, and its failure in its basic duty to protect us from such undue corporate influence. Indeed, not only is the government hapless in the face of this climate crisis, it’s actually an accomplice to big oil in this process. Energy subsidies and tax abatements are still the norm. Our government is literally paying big oil to slowly kill us off.

But could there be more to wild weather than just global warming? More and more of us recognize that we do not inhabit a mechanical world. Life on Earth is more than a machine. It’s alive, and it’s our constant experience. We live here, in these bodies and in this experience of life. And we’re learning that life contains energies and awareness we have long ignored.

What of the emotional reprieve from this early bounty of warmth? What of the energy of so many of us able to be outside much earlier in the year than is typical? What about the cerebral curiosity from experiencing such out of whack weather? While still anecdotal data, this anomaly of record and near-record temperatures across so much of the country may portend a year of great abnormalities, and not all those related to weather.

We see a spring that can’t wait in the Occupy Movement. After a relatively quiet winter, Occupational activities are on the upswing, with the promise of a summer of political and activist actions like never before. Occupy is finding its focus and its grounding, and and the implications are yet to be understood. There are actions planned around the G8 and NATO Summits. Plans for May Day and July 4th. Plans to interject ourselves however we may into this corrupt system to clog it, and plans to extricate ourselves from this system to starve the beast.

But this fateful spring belongs to far more than Occupy and those uprising across the planet. It belongs to all of us, human and non-human members of Life on Earth. It belongs to us more than ever because we are recognizing that we belong to the Earth like never before. We are finding our connection to Earth and our kindredness to each other, even as the corporate media keep trying to pull our focus ‘off the ball’ of our Life here together in this moment.

The surge of energies being unleashed in these times is profound. It is seen in the negative energy that causes a ‘hater’ named George Zimmerman to cross the line and kill a young African American Trayvon Martin in Florida. It may be the delusional Staff Sergeant Robert Bales whose ‘too much war and too many tours’ past led him to murder 16 Afghani people. It may be the continued stridence of Israel in addressing their Palestinian neighbors, or the over-reaching of Wall Street executives even after it has become apparent that their behavior took down our economy and wrecked millions of lives. This negative energy has been at the heart of the global system for a generation.

But the greater portion of these emerging energies seem designed to heal. The local food movement, sustainable energy production, efforts to reverse the massive influence of corporations on legislators, and efforts to end the permanent war paradigm are all gaining strength. Millions of us our finding our voices like never before. We’re sharing our brotherhood and sisterhood with a new-found trust and endearing warmth. Energies of peace and love are emerging spontaneously, in spite of the resistance from the controlling powers. Energies that will no longer allow the Juggernaut of corporate power to destroy our lives and our Earth in the unholy lust for power.

Finally, there are other curiosities of our time – Spring, 2012. There is an alignment taking place this year between our sun and the galactic center. There is the Mayan prediction of the ‘end of the world’ coming before this year ends – which could mean the end of the corrupt culture we’ve all be subjected to. And there is the growing view within science that our reality is ‘holographic’ – amenable to our attention and reactive to consciousness.

This spring cannot wait because we cannot wait. Our broken system must be replaced by a system of ethics – principles like peace and love – because if we do not change, we die. This spring that cannot wait may be the very force of Life, conspiring with Sun and Earth, to bring about the end of globalization and to create a new narrative of peace and love.

The Drums of War: Iran Edition

We Americans are not the best at history. Because of the spin of corporate-controlled media, we are not reminded of the consistent pattern of deception exhibited by our government when the ‘power behind the wheel’ wants a new conflict. Nor are we reminded of the tremendous profitability of war for the corporations who count on such conflicts to inflate their bottom line. It’s a disturbing and disgusting business.

Let’s review a bit. The United States has initiated over 50 wars and conflicts since World War II, far more than any other nation and likely more than all other nations combined. Whether Vietnam, Panama, Kosovo/Serbia, or even the tiny island of Grenada, the U.S. government uses war to further the goals of empire [read enriching corporations] and to distract us from other, often more urgent, issues. And this at a phenomenal cost – in terms of money, ecology and most importantly human life.

Of course the more recent focus has been on the Middle-east, part of the U.S.plutocracy’s plan to dominate the arena of energy. Since that’s where the oil is, massive energy companies like Exxon, BP, Royal Shell, Total and Chevron have gamed the system to keep us enmeshed in Iraq, Afghanistan and now potentially Iran. In Iraq, these corporations have now secured new oil contracts after getting the boot by Saddam Hussien 30 year ago, thanks to the role our government played in this ongoing debacle.

Let’s not forget that, while we’re ‘officially’ troop-free in Iraq, there are still thousands of U.S. paid mercenaries in that foreign country, and that we left that country with estimates ranging from 200,000 to a million dead Iraqi citizens. From a human perspective, it’s unfathomable that we, as in the U.S. government, not only allowed but actually lead such actions. And let’s not forget all the lies and media manipulation that were part of the drumbeat to attack Iraq.

The story is similar in Afghanistan. Not as oil rich, Afghanistan has a wealth of minerals and more importantly is strategically located for pipelines to transport oil and natural gas. There are those who suggest that plans for attacking Afghanistan were laid well before 911 and the idea of removing Osama Bin Ladin, the presumed justification for an attack of that war-torn country.

And now, it’s apparently time for the Iran Edition of war. With Iran the dynamics are a little more complex due to the long-standing animosity between Iran and Israel, America’s favorite client state. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to enjoy tweaking the Israeli establishment, proclaiming that the Holocaust was fabricated. And yet the ever-over-reactive Israeli government now feels it has little choice but to ‘defend’ itself by attacking Iran. This even though Iran is still years away from a nuclear weapon, if that is even its intent. [Iran claims its nuclear ambitions are strictly energy-related.] And of course, Israel will not act without at least implicit support from the U.S.

So, what can we, the people do to prevent such nefarious behavior by our government? This is a challenge. The millions that protested globally back in the spring of 2003 did not prevent the U.S. from attacking Iraq. Even the hundreds of thousands of protesters that marched on Washington in September of the same year were almost completely ignored by politicians and corporate-owned media.

But there is hope. First, let’s recognize that the dynamics have changed. There was no Occupy Movement when we attacked Iraq. While the Occupy Movement is in a bit of disarray right now as it finds its grounding, I do not doubt that an attack on Iran would be a wildly cohesive event for Occupy. We Occupiers understand the sharp connection between war and profit.

Also, there are more voices than ever reminding us of the U.S. government’s predilection toward war. Peace groups are coalescing, building coalitions and gaining members and strength. The new lies about the ‘Iran Nuclear Threat’ [always there is the threat to justify the despicable behavior called war] are less believable after the lies of Iraq and Afghanistan.

And finally, there is little taste among the vast majority of Americans for another war. We’re broke and we’re wounded and we’re burnt out from these recent fiascoes, and it seems likely that those elected representatives that encourage and/or vote for war with Iran will pay a price come this November’s election.

I do not expect ‘wiser heads will prevail’ to be the sentiment in Washington. There are few wise heads left in that desert of integrity. And being in middle of this circus we call an election cycle, the rhetoric is even worse. But the politicians will see the writing on the wall if we make the effort to raise our voices condemning this idea of war on Iran. They are self-preservation minded.

Raising our voices. This is what we require in these uncertain times and stuck within this broken system. Today’s lesson? Democracy is not a spectator sport.

The Trouble With Occupy

The Occupy Movement is inspiring to many of us who have long awaited a new dynamic into our dysfunctional political system. It is a powerful cultural force, engaging citizen activists to promote substantive change to an unfair system. It has already reshaped political conversations with its focus on the corporate elitism and government collusion that has led to a system that profits the 1%. The Occupy Movement has also shown us that we don’t need to be perfectly organized or to have perfect messaging to have an effect. We just need to be active citizens, to raise our voices and to stand for our principles. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Of course ‘The Trouble With Occupy’ depends on the context. A police officer with orders to pepper spray or remove peaceful protesters may find such orders troublesome. Politicians are finding trouble in having to address the financial imbalance of the 1% vs. the 99%. Financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are certain finding trouble with Occupy as the movement applies pressure to the status quo through any number of actions. But that’s not what this article is about.

This article is about ‘The Trouble with Occupy’ from the perspective of someone thoroughly inspired by The Occupy Movement, and active with Occupy Cincinnati.

To begin, Occupy starts with an us versus them mindset, the 99% against the 1%. This is curious in that we clearly want a cultural system based on inclusiveness, diversity and an appreciation of the reality that we are all here together in this moment. The core problem is not the 1%, as they are our brothers and sisters, the problem is they represent the corruption rampant in the current cultural system. I do not imagine even the 1% waking each day thinking on how they can destroy human rights, wreck the planet and further undermine prosperity and democracy for the rest of us. They are ingrained with elitism, and hence need to learn the truth of our common humanity. Occupy fails to make this clear.

Second, The Occupy Movement makes a great deal of noise about what it is against, understandable when its very existence was a response to a broken system. And yet again there is a lack of clarity. We generate any number of actions, but many are futile in the larger scheme. Marches, protests and similar disruptions to the existing structure are limited in their ability to create substantive change.

Implicit in OWS is that we want honestly and integrity, stronger local communities and a healthier ecosystem for Planet Earth. We want abundance and prosperity. We want an end to war, to be treated like the citizens we are instead of being identified as ‘consumers’ by business and government. We want a cultural operating system based on peace and love, not the corruptive power of money. And yet Occupy has not defined any of this in a cohesive manner.

Another trouble with Occupy is its finicky relationship with words. Terms like ‘leader’ are eschewed, as an early document described the movement as ‘leaderless.’ Let’s be clear, leaders are not inherently bad, it’s just that bad leaders are prolific in a broken system such as we have today. And of course Occupy is anything but leaderless, yet resistance to the idea like leadership has hampered our organizational efforts. Let’s not confuse leadership with the unnecessary concentration of power.

A great irony, of course, is that while terms like ‘leader’ may be scorned within the movement, the term ‘Occupy’ itself is loaded with negative connotations. If one resides in Palestine, Afghanistan or Iraq, I do not imagine ‘Occupy Palestine’ sounds very promising. Being ‘Occupied’ is not considered a good thing in nation-state dynamics, especially if it’s been your reality for any number of years.

Occupy has other troubles as well. People lose energy, burn out and step back. General Assemblies can be tedious and unproductive. Infiltrators make efforts to sabotage us. Our organization is minimal and diffuse. These issues, however, are more easily addressed if we find our footing, so to speak, with the troubles mentioned above.

Now here’s something interesting. There’s a term that exists that describes this new cultural operating system that we seek. A term that acknowledges our inherent unity and the imperative to heal our broken system. A term that supports community and the need for a just and fair system. A term that stands for abundance over greed. A term that demands an end to war and suggests the template for creating a cultural system based on peace and love.

This term is World 5.0. I’m well familiar with it as founder of the idea and author of the book, “World 5.0 – Healing Ourselves, Our Earth and Our Life Together.” For seven years I’ve been noodling, gnawing and meditating on this idea, and it aligns with Occupy and the host of other progressive movements and interests that abound these days. As someone remarked at the CoreChange Summit [held in Cincinnati] last weekend, “It’s the Convergence!” a term that means ‘the act of everything coming together.’

Curious. On the one hand, we see blatant corporatism, the clueless Republican presidential field, the instability of our financial underpinnings, Global Warming, the great disparities between rich and poor, and on and on – very depressing stuff. At the same time, however, we see unprecedented efforts toward building community, restoring the Earth and unprecedented growth in non-profits and charities. We see a burgeoning movement toward organic, local food production and sustainable energy systems. We see a great effort to restore our democracy, spearheaded by The Occupy Movement.

The old system is crumbling under the weight of its own corruption, as Occupy, The Arab Spring, the ongoing financial crisis and a host of other factors and influences come to a head here, in 2012. We must admit these are no ordinary times. Calling it ‘The Convergence” seems an appropriate term, in light of all these wild goings on. And The Convergence has a name – World 5.0.

In Fearful Times

In times like these, it is easy to succumb to the darkness around us. The seeming endless struggle, the constant strife, war, illness, dark mood, and hopelessness so apparent in our culture today – it can leave one in pieces.

Fortunately, there is an alternative. There is another way of thinking, feeling, believing and being that the old culture will not recognize. It is a recognition many of us already know. It is the simple recognition of us all here together in Life.

This is our Home. Our place of rest. Our hope for constant contact with Life, and/or God or insert name here. In a culture utterly reliant on bullshit, understanding our common ground is vital.

The answer is always within. And it is always Here. The answer is awareness. While it may be confused with consciousness or intent, awareness does not rely on our recognition. Awareness Is. Eternally. As children of Awareness, such is our truth as well.

What need we fear if our condition is eternal, and we shed bodies as so many clothes or acts in a play. We are ever swimming through the constant flow of events, demarcating our eternal play.

Awareness has no need of words. Indeed, we too often use words to hide, our minds filled with chatter of little value. Of value beyond measure is our relationship, together, right Now among this incredible vastness of Awareness we call Life.

Even Now we are Awakening to the truth of ourselves and our lives together. Even Now we are recognizing the utter savagery and corruption of the elite controlled world we grew up in. Even Now we are finding Peace and Love. This eternal peace of Awareness. This constant energy of Love.

Forever We Are Here

The first truth is that reality is only now and we are all here together. In living our lives, it is a constant flow of events, thoughts, feelings and beliefs that impact us, but we are always Here.

The constancy of Now is our home, our grounding. This is a crucial understanding as we can then focus on how we want to be, and think, and feel and do, Now. The totality of Now is the singular fact of our existence together.

It is my sense that we go on forever, and at times look back on our time in bodies from a place of having had thousands of lives, perhaps an infinite number. We are in the vast cosmic playground of consciousness called Life.

The next question then entwines with the second truth. Knowing that we’re always Here in the unfailing Now, what is the power of our intent in effecting our experience of this Life?

But such a question veers from our topic. The truth is if we are infinite, God like, then we need not fear the end of biological existence, nor temporary issues, most of which are avoided when we hold the Eternal perspective.

Life is Tao _ the stillness of eternal peace | the constant flow of love. Here we are forever.