The other day I wrote a piece about what would others, namely Aliens and/or Angels, have to say about our world, our culture, and our humanity.
Okay, so my premise might be a “little out there” (pun intended) but what about the views of ancient cultures, like the Hopi Indians, who have been in North America for eons of years. What do they have to say about our society? What warnings do they offer? What hopes do they offer?
Turns out that a couple years back, circa 2000, when a jeweler friend of mine was selling some of my moldavite she used in her jewelry, one of the buyers was a young man who happened to have all the oral and written Hopi prophecies ever recorded. He handed me a photocopied deck of 100-plus pages and said, “Chuck you can give this away all you want provided you never charge for it.”
I made a handful of physical copies and gave them away to circles of people I thought would enjoy them, but then it occurred to me, “Hey, why not digitize these papers and park on the web?”
This is an amazing read and they have a lot to say about our current times. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag but suffice it to say, most of their message boils down to the issue of “Progressives vs Traditionalists” and however the Hopi society goes, so does the rest of our global society.
This issue of progressives and traditionalists is pretty deep and it is my hope that we will strike a balance and get the best of both worlds. I say this too because years back I heard Peruvian elders talking about their legends and prophecies, one of which stated, “There will come a time when the Eagle of the North flies with the Condor of the South.”
I always interpreted that to be “north = industrialized countries with technology emphasis” and “south = indigenous cultures that are one with the land and nature, steeped in traditions of balance, respect and harmony with earth.”
Apparently the Hopis had a rift in their culture circa 1908. Up till then, they were mostly traditionalist and believed themselves to be “keepers of the keys.” But as white Europeans started to expand westward and invade their territories, some of the Hopis started to say, “Hey. The white man might be on to something. Running water, cars, comfortable living conditions, etc. these are things we too should embrace. After all, it’s hard living in these here desert parts …” And thus they became the progressives advocating change from the traditions of their forefathers.
When I got done reading these prophecies, I was angered at the corruption (e.g., Mineral companies hiring terrorists to get access to land rights) and wanted to do something. But then I quickly realized that I don’t really know who to believe, or who is truly a legit traditionalist or progressive. So instead of taking sides, I put my money where my mouth was and digitized their words and in a small way, am helping these words continue forth, free of charge - enjoy!
PS - I also bought GoHopi.com with the idea that sometime in the future, I (or others) will be able to convert these scanned pages into OCR (optical character recognition) so they become searchable text vs scans. If you are interested in helping out is said OCR and proofing depts, let me know!
Today we live in a world of permission marketing and you would think that everybody “Gets it” - in that if you are going to SPAM people, at a minimum you provide a way to opt-out. And while I have yet to figure out who I’m voting for in the upcoming 2008 Presidential election, John McCain’s team sure did loose a lot more credibility with me today with their recent email, closed loop survey, and lack of privacy policy.
Here is my reply to their email:
Dear John McCain -
Your survey has no options for comments and your email below has no “opt out” option - it is also spam in that i did not give you permission to use my email … all of which confirms my reason to distance myself from the Republican Party as you are a huge historical embarrassment … consider the following:
1. The war in Iraq was result from lies headed by Republicans …
2. The supreme court let Exxon off the hook even though “the people” as juries saw the truth but this was over-run by a biased, perhaps even corrupt court …
3. The passage of FISA allows criminal behavior to go on without accountability …
I could go on but suffice it to say the Republican party is out of touch … the only candidate who seemed to make any sense was Mike Huckabee … note my displeasure with Republican’s does not mean I approve of Democrats but I can not continue to support a party where lies continue to be told …
Consider Mark Twain, “Once a man is caught in a lie, everything he says there after is followed by a question mark.” … with Bush saying, “yes there are weapons of mass destruction …” how can we believe anything he (or his administration or the republican party) has to say about any other matter …
John McCain, you might be a good man but you’re coming to the dance floor literally with the wrong party …
cordially, chuck scott
And here is the original email they sent:
Subject: Victory 2008 Critical Issues Survey
Dear Friend,
I am 100 percent committed to leading our Party to victory in this November’s elections all across the country.
As a critical first step in uniting our Party and putting together a winning campaign plan I am asking you to take part in a Victory 2008 critical issues survey. I hope you will help our efforts today by following this link and completing it online.
Your support for RNC VICTORY 2008 and your survey answers are vital to electing Republicans this November. Your participation will give us a greater understanding of the views of voters in your area. And it will provide an invaluable up-to-date reading on many of the key issues that will decide the outcome of this momentous election.
The fate of all of our Republican candidates and the fate of our Party in the 2008 election is in the hands of Americans like you. We cannot succeed without your immediate input. Please join us in our campaign to make sure America is on the right path by completing your Victory 2008 Critical Issues Survey today.
With warmest regards,
John McCain
P.S. Your participation in the Victory 2008 Survey Project is crucial to getting a better understanding of the views of voters in your area. I hope you will return your completed Survey to RNC Headquarters today.
Contributions or gifts to the Republican National Committee are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.
Contributions from corporations, labor unions, federal contractors and foreign nationals
without permanent residency status are prohibited.
Republican National Committee | 310 First Street, SE | Washington, D.C. 20003
p: 202.863.8500 | f: 202.863.8820 | e: info@gop.com
Paid for by the Republican National Committee and authorized by John McCain 2008
310 First Street, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003
If you think the economy is skidding towards the blink, think again and meet Rowan and Trevor - a lemonade stand sister-brother team that will rock your taste buds, bring joy to your heart and remind your soul to awaken to the creative gifts the Divine embedded in your DNA.
Here is the version on Vimeo:
And here is the same clip but on Google Video:
“Be ye like children …” Perhaps this Biblical Wisdom Is Reminder to Tap Into One’s Entrepreneurial Inner-Child And Profit Joyfully by Serving the Rest of Us …
“When I Work, I Play. When I Play, I Work.” - Pablo Picasso
“Go Play Hard at Work And Have a Good Time!” - Kasha Scott
Tiz the season and lemonade stands are in full swing around these summer New England parts, specifically Ridgefield Connecticut and Main Street.
I was first hit with this lemonade season reminder a couple of weeks back when walking Kasha around the neighborhood.
At the commencement of our walk, we first started to spy various hand-drawn flyers posted on the light poles with scotch tape promoting neighborhood lemonade availability.
And then we soon started to hear the audio ripples of lemonade barker-cries via a chorus of children off in the distant background, “Lemonade. Lemonade! Get Your Ice Cold Lemonade. Lemonade. Ice Cold Lemonade Here. Lemonade.”
All of which was quickly followed by a boy on a bicycle who approached us while engaged in the lemonade sales promotion route for his sister’s lemonade enterprise, whom Kasha and I would soon go on to meet and interview but more on that later.
Okay, I know many high powered business types and serious economists who might shrug, as well as everyday folk, and say, “Yea, so what! What’s the point of reflecting on the economics of local lemonade entrepreneurs?”
To which I think I have a good reply: First in consideration of the big media backdrop of economic headlines of bad news; and second, with regards to Karl Marx and how all the collectivists economists have got it fundamentally wrong and how the lemonade entrepreneurs have got it fundamentally right.
But first, the media headlines.
Big media is in the business of big headlines and they do it well. After all, if they can’t grab us, they can’t hold our attention or sell us on their agenda(s) let alone promote the agendas of the people who buy their advertising space.
And it seems to me that currently big media would have us believe in all their negative economic press that they get paid to sell. Not that we do not love the press but with business models like, “If it bleeds, it leads” how can we blame them for selling us negativity when they know full well we only buy what grabs our attention, including killer negative headlines that cut through the clutter in supermarket checkout lines.
So while the press and ourselves might be to blame for buying in on the collective consciousness of economic woes, part of this post is about the other economic story not being told. Well actually the story is being told and shared but not in headlines or by big media, at least not yet. Bare with me, and you’ll see my point and why lemonade entrepreneurs hold the keys to understanding long term economic successes.
A couple weeks after Kasha and I encountered our first neighborhood lemonade entrepreneurs, I was driving through Main Street Ridgefield and came across another lemonade stand and snapped the pics you see here. In this case, these entrepreneurs were closed for business so I did not get to interview them or sample their brew(s), but the spirit of their humble endeavor was yet another reminder of how the keys to our fundamental economic success in this country lie among the spirit of budding lemonade entrepreneurs.
Now I’ve traveled the world and while not hit every corner, I have yet to see an entrepreneurial front-yard lemonade stand in any other country. Sure, I’ve seen young people selling crafts, fruits, performing for coins, but somehow the young lemonade entrepreneur and their humble neighborhood lemonade stand seems uniquely red-white-n-blue and I’m not positive why but I have some theories.
When growing up as a teenager in Argentina as a Rotary exchange student in 1978, I always seemed to win when playing monopoly with my new Argentinean friends. At the time they would often chide me and prod me with, “Oh! You Capitalists! You Yankees! You Gringos! You are all the same! You take everything! You win at all costs! You yada yada …”
But it was also during those loved South American times that I enjoyed many a debate about the evils and merits of Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, and other ism’s. But somehow that despite the debates, I knew that they too were capitalists at heart no matter what their official ism was that they subscribed to publicly. My capitalistic proof of innate free-trade was the flourishing of black markets in every corner of the globe that I’ve ever traveled to. Which supports my theory: That left alone, all humans will trade in a manner that is win-win for them and those they trade with, but the key point is “left alone.”
Governments are necessary and good governments that serve the people and individual freedoms first with state second are an amazing blessing. Yet governments often get over-run by special interests, collectivists, Leninists, and others who quietely delight in chipping away at personal freedoms by advocating more tariffs, trade barriers, licensing, laws, obfuscation of agendas, etc. - all of which is fertilizer for big business and big corruption.
The lemonade entrepreneur is a noble example of the balance of supply and demand when left alone - no town permits, no labor laws, no minimum wages, no sales tax, no use taxes, no mandatory state licensing, certification or registration, etc.
“Be ye like little children” is Biblical wisdom that should perhaps be extended to commercial affairs ala the example of seasonal lemonade entrepreneurs.
Consider Adam Smith and his groundbreaking 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations, that cemented the principles of laissez-faire and the “invisible hand” of balance naturally occurring from supply and demand cycles that find equilibrium over time.
These same laissez-faire economic principles were also confirmed in more modern times by Milton Friedman’s groundbreaking book, Freedom to Choose - a book I would argue that anybody running for any office (e.g., state, local, federal and/or condo board) should be required to read and take a standarized test to confirm they can pass and exhibit a certain mastery of the message but I jest (although, I’m serious if you are).
Even today in 2008, those economies with the least amount of government intervention are the ones on the fast track. But back to my friendly conversations with Argentineans about economic policies, merits and pitfalls of isms.
All economic models are based on cycles - boom and bust, followed by more boom and bust, etc. It is the length of cycles which most isms and economists disagree with - e.g., some say these economic cycles are every 5-10 years, others say every 35 years, and others say every 50 or 75 years. Some also argue (i.e., the collectivists) that it is the role of government to “soften” these cycles so they are not so “forceful” on the masses, ala rationale for recent Federal Reserve to bailout Bear Stearns - what a joke and a true tragedy.
Yet my favorite debate about economic cycles took place in college during a Western Civ class when we were asked to read Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and support or defend his economic ideas.
Karl had relatively good reasoning and essentially said, “Hey look. Each society pretty much boils down to two primary classes - the haves and the have-nots - and with each turn of the economic cycles of bust periods, some of the haves lose their economic power and become members of the have-nots. Thus it is only a matter of time, a number of economic cycles, that will ultimately reduce all the haves to have-nots, so let’s cut to the chase, save everybody the drama of enduring all these awful cycles and just get there (a flat collectivist society that is ruled by the state). After all, in the end there will only be one class, so let’s get there now and save everybody the grief and plan accordingly.”
Sounds like a great concept but for one big commercial blunder on Mr. Marx’s reasoning, and that is, he totally forgot and left out the concept of entrepreneurs - that enterprising group that somehow seems to spring forth despite the odds and replinshes the class of haves with every economic down turn.
America has lived an economic history of ups and downs. And, we know in this country that with every bust cycle, there are those who find ways to make it work and often go on to great fortune by finding opportunity when others see only failure.
Our culture is also one of “Yankee ingenuity” whereby we tend to invent things for ourselves that solve our own problems, even if less than perfect; but then continue to perfect said inventions and spin out improved inventions for sale to neighbors and thereby give birth to new markets.
Consider the Lightning Rod invented by Benjamin Franklin or Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin. In both cases, these men sought to solve a problem and were looking for solutions. In the process of inventing their own solutions, they both went on to give birth to new markets and efficiencies - all of which had positive economic impacts on the greatest good for all of us. Note: some economic historians will even argue that Whitney’s Cotton Gin was the birth of the American industrialized revolution — and yet his path of intellectual property rights via his Cotton Gin patent and the realities of enforcing said patent are chapters for another post.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that there isn’t great innovation coming from other parts of the world, certainly there is. Even in governmental entrepreneurship, perhaps England’s greatest gift to the world was the invention of the Magna Carta, which was essentially a balancing of power between Nobles and the Crown, and became the genesis for many of our principles today re:rights to private property, habeas corpus, etc.
Back to my walk with Kasha.
So right around the time I enjoyed my interview with the local lemonade entrepreneurs, I also read the May 2008 edition of Imprimis - see www.Hillsdale.edu. They have over 1.6 million monthly readers and their publication is free to subscribe to, and each month is very thought provoking so yes, I would encourage you to get your free copies.
In the May edition they featured adapted text from a January speech at Hillsdale College given by Mr. Patrick Toomey, President of the Club for Growth. The title of this article was, “The Greatest Story Never Told: Today’s Economy in Perspective.”
In that article, some of what Mr. Toomey stated included, “Over the last 25 years, more wealth has been created, more people have been lifted out of poverty, standards of living have been elevated more dramatically, and the quality and length of the life have improved, more than ever before in the recorded history.”
That’s a mighty tall claim but consider some of the stats he provided to support his premise:
Our nation’s total economic output in 1982 was $5.1 trillion; In 2007 it was $11.3 trillion (in real 2000 dollars)
Per capita economic output in 1982 was $22,400; In 2007 it was $37,807 (in real 2000 dollars)
Unemployment in the 1970s was nearly seven percent; During the last decade it has remained below five percent
The service sector was $1 trillion in 1982; It was $5.5 trillion in 2006
In 2007, US factories produced more than in any previous year in our history
The Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1980 was at 825; Today (despite its ups and downs) remains above 11,000
In 1983, 19 percent of households owned stocks; In 2005 50% were investors
In 1989 median family net worth was $69,000; In 2004 it was $93,000
And regarding American families living below the official poverty line in the 1970s - Less than 40 percent had a car, almost none had color televisions, and air conditioning was almost unheard of; In 2004, 46 percent owned their own homes, 75% owned a car (indeed 30 percent owned two or more cars), 97 percent had color TVs, 67% had air conditioning
With respect to technology - In 1975 there were 9.8 million cable TV subscribers and in 2006 there were 65 million; In 1985 there were 2.1 million personal computers and in 2007 there was 243 million; In 1985 there were 340 cell phone subscribers and 243 million in 2007
On health fronts - In 1970 infant mortality was 20 deaths per 1000 people and in 2002 it was seven deaths per 1000; In 1980 life expectancy was 74 years, today it is 78
And this growth has been occurring around the globe - between 1999 and 2004 some 135 million people emerged from destitution and there are twice as many countries with fast-growing economies as there were in 1980
In the end, Mr. Toomey credits these massive economic growths from several factors, namely - economic freedoms, the Recovery Tax Act of 1981 which reduced marginal tax rate from 70 percent to 28%, and a series of major deregulation and broad expansion of trade.
These are some of the innate principles American Lemonade Entrepreneurs know instinctively, but they probably won’t be making any big headlines in traditional media, yet perhaps they will make it BIG around the Blogosphere.
Lemonade Here. Get Your Lemonade. 50 Cents. Sugar Free. Tax Free. And Always Served with a Smile.
Viva the entrepreneurs who progress to make life better for all of us and keep Karl rolling in his grave!
When I was upgrading the CoolTea phpBB 3.01 bulletin boards, I had many technical issues along the way thus visited other sites around the web in an effort to track down resolve to these issues.
Some of the technical issues were simple like making sure the server path was correctly listed in a section of code. Other issues were more troublesome in that certain plugins had conflicts (e.g., took me better part of two days to find out why my board was not creating thumbnails from image uploads yet did so perfectly before the upgrade).
Along my journeys to find technical answers, clues and/or wisdom, I came across a site listed as an example of a technical fix I needed but also had some wild content about the Secrets of the Mayan Calendar Unveiled.
So I paused and gave myself permission to watch these videos by Ian Lungold as he proceeded to unlock and explain the eternal truths about these Mayan Secrets.
It was a happy find and one of the things I enjoyed learning about the Mayan calendar was the different forms of consciousness that correspond to periods of Earth time and are physically represented in how the Mayan’s construct pyramids. The last and final consciousness Ian claims is “Galactic and/or Universal Consciousness” also the shortest span and represented by a pyramid’s top tier.
So that got me to thinking about all the skeptics I’ve danced with about the realities of aliens and/or angels.
Technically I believe in both, but it does not matter what I believe in because belief is just that, a concept I own or subscribe to but it is not scientific fact. Thus I never try to convince my friends of one or the other, but I do enjoy the dialogue in these depts.
And one of my other beliefs is that if I learn just one thing from something, somebody, some book, some movie, or some song, well then bravo - one thing learned makes that thing worthy.
So years back I started getting emails from a group claiming they were channeling Orion - see Orion Transmissions.
Before these emails, I had read a book by Fran Rosen-Sawyer, aka Parvati, whose book, “I Wish I Had Known” was positive inspiration and instrumental in moving me out of a funk at a time in my life and back into the joy of living.
Thus she is at the center of these Orion Transmissions and while I’ve never met her, I have been admirer of her penmanship and messages so I tried to approach these Orion messages with an open mind.
Over the years, these Orion Transmissions have become great fertilizer for internal thought and reflection, offering new perspectives, friendship, laughter, warnings and wisdom all combined into a format that to this day, I cherish when the latest version hits my inbox.
So back to the Mayan Calendars and my main point of this post, which is this - What do Aliens and Angels share in common?
Given the Mayan Calendar and this final phase of time we are approaching, I would argue that in both cases the Aliens and the Angels have “other worldly view points” - and probably view points that are galactic and universal.
This hit home with the latest Orion messages when they said, “What do you think the purpose of humanity is all about?”
Good question and I thought I knew but below is excerpt from their point of view so you tell me if they are onto something
Quote from Orion:
On our spiritual evolution and Unity
Yes. Yes. We would like to describe to our vehicle what to expect in the coming years from a positive standpoint. We all know what destructive forces are at work on the environment of planet Earth. For every negative force, there are greater numbers of Light Workers being ‘employed’ if you will, by the Light Energy on your planet, to combat the darkness. They are well-armed with positive energies, fuelled by love of a different nature—love of a more universal nature. And indeed, these Light Workers are working feverishly to achieve their goal. We are working together for the sanctity and preservation of our beloved planet Earth, the record-keeper of the universe.
We are walking through mysterious circumstances being heralded as progress by some and digress by others. Still, we are moving through the maze of traps manufactured by those employed by the dark forces on your planet. We do not see them as a threat to the integrity and balance on this planet, because their power is losing the battle. We know the directions they are taking and from whence they come. We are aware of the ‘opposition’ to good, to Light. We are quite aware of the big players in their ultimate world domination game. We have not been dealt a hand. We have created our own solutions. We have created our own force field of protection which cannot be penetrated by those whose natures are not pure, whose goals are not those reflecting the higher purpose of humanity.
This leads us to the next main point. What is the main purpose of Humanity? Do you think that the main purpose is to amass large stores of wealth in order to destroy the planet’s ecosystem? NO. Do you think the main purpose of your individual lives is to hoard wealth, compete with others for the prize of self-importance, fame and pride? NO. Actually, the main purpose for all of HUMANITY is to become enlightened and begin to take your places in the hologram of life, which is ultimately a reflection of the Divine who created all of this—and ultimately, to preserve the Nature which is the reflection of Divinity on the physical plane. In so doing, human beings become elevated to the next dimension and reach a state of ‘I and My Father are ONE.’ Isn’t that the ultimate goal?
Yet, instead of keeping this goal first and foremost in your minds, you fill your minds with daily trivia, who said this to who, who did what, how much, how many, and what is my next conquest? Indeed, one rarely takes time to retreat within to find one’s own direction. One assumes it will simply be revealed to him when the time is right. Well, folks! THE TIME IS RIGHT NOW!
The proverbial saying, “Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today” is an excellent one to adopt when assessing your life, your ‘future’. One should place far less emphasis on Future. The present moment is the only breath you have. The breath you take in this very moment is the one you have in hand.
Establish priorities. What priorities? One places on top of the list all one’s menial tasks, one’s work-related daily errands. One’s life work often takes a back seat to the daily grind, leaving rare the moments of solitude and reflection. Indeed, we see this sorely missing in most beings, even those on a spiritual journey of sorts. Spiritual journey is one which connects one to the cosmos, to the greater whole, to the Universe. It does not necessarily make one appear more ethereal or speak in tongues! Indeed, it may make one more grounded and practical, if it is truly a spiritual journey. The greatest Masters have a grounded focus, a clarity which is far from accidental.
One shall perhaps consider a revision in one’s listing of priorities. Really examine the question ‘WHO AM I?’ followed by ‘What am I here for? What is my true higher work in this incarnation?” Then, when you really realize you are present on this glorious planet for a purpose other than economical or emotional, you can get on with your priorities. At the top of the list should be your spiritual awareness. Do something toward the advancement and enhancement of your spiritual awareness daily.
Seek to SERVE daily.
Seek to perform those beautiful ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ daily.
Seek to make amends to those with whom you have had conflict over the years. Do this daily from your heart, in your own time, in your own way.
Seek to assist in the dissemination of material which will serve to lift up humanity and create a sense of awareness so needed in this world. Do this daily.
Seek to become one with your higher spirit, communicate with the Devas, angels, your Master, GOD, the energy of LOVE daily.
If your daily schedule does not have time for INTROSPECTION (not analysis) revamp your schedule to include at least one, if not many more, periods of meditation, prayer or entreaty to Divine for guidance and direction, and clarity of that direction.
You seek to control your universe, but you do not seek to control your own mental faculties! Do not permit your minds to become engrossed in negativity. There is negativity all around you in the world, but if your mind is always or at least in training to be always in tune with your Higher purpose, the negative energies of the world will have no effect on you! This is entirely possible for each and every one of you who have embarked on an inner journey to the Light.
Look at great Saints and beings who embraced GOD or the concept of Divinity—in whatever way it manifested for them. They remain always in a state of BLISS, in the state of TRUTH, in a state of HARMONY. They exist to teach you all to become more engrossed in Divinity. This requires no adherence to a religious philosophy. THIS IS BEYOND PHILOSOPHY! This requires no membership in any spiritual group or following of any outer agenda. This simply means, one begins the search within to find one’s true spiritual quest. And then, without further delay, one embarks on the journey, fully equipped with all the prerequisites. Do you know what are the prerequisites?
A sincere desire or longing to become one with DIVINE.
A sincere desire or longing to become one with DIVINE.
A sincere desire or longing to become one with DIVINE.
No other prerequisite is required. The Divine will feed your every need. Divine will provide direction, spiritual sustenance, Truth and comfort.
SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND ALL WILL BE ADDED UNTO YOU.
And with that, we close these present transmissions.
Special Thank You to Artist Jeff Bowe for permission to include his images here in this post - for more info about Jeff and his art, contact Jeff Bowe directly!
In addition to installing and customizing Wordpress blogs for clients, I also am retained to do some “care and feeding” with blog content and here is a brief story of over doing it, but I think you’ll get a kick out of it.
It started a couple weeks back when one of my church clients asked me to post on their site the Red Skelton’s Pledge of Allegiance clip that is featured below. The part that is implied with such requests is, “and Chuck, can you also draft some copy that we can use to explain / build / position the clip” which is something I thoroughly enjoy doing.
I had watched this Red Skelton clip earlier in the day then went for a walk with the dog. Along our walk we met some movers from Russia and Serbia. They were taking a break and wanted to pet the dog, Kasha, so we got to chatting.
When we got to the part where I asked them about the conditions and economy in their countries and what they thought of the USA, they both stopped petting the dog. They both stood up, faced me directly, pulled the cigs out of their mouths, looked at me wild-eyed and said, “What happened to America? You know, you used to be something and meant something around the world…”
I knew exactly what they meant and explained that nobody I know is happy with the theft of our Republic by incompetent, corrupt leadership and corporate interests run a muck.
More on this “moving conversation” in upcoming blog post but when I got back home, I drafted the following for my client’s blog and sent it to the Pastor to preview and approve before going public with the copy and video. I confessed in my email that I “might have over done it” and here is what I originally wrote:
The Youtube clip below is from the Red Skelton Show that first aired on January 14th 1969 on CBS. Red’s Pledge has since been twice read into the Congressional Record of The United States and has received numerous Awards.
It is a POWERFUL reminder of truth, one which those in Washington seemed to have abandoned - e.g., sovereign powers with people-first and leaders-second and not Federal-leaders dictating to the people; freedom for all and the right to live one’s own life as one sees fit even if that includes home schooling; to live one’s life without threats and fear or deceit or lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction; justice and principles of dealing fairly with others which is sorely absent in political races where the drive to win at any cost dominates …
Regardless of political sensibilities, Red Skelton’s version of The Pledge of Allegiance is a reminder for each of us, I, me, committees of one, to get off our apathetic butts, stop complaining about the state of our world, our country, our lives, our economy, and go out and live the positive change God wants us to live and bring back the respect for this great country our forefathers worked so hard to earn.
It’s not too late to be the change, live the change, and kick some butt in a positive way, one that would make Red blush with pride when he looks down from Heaven and says to Our Father, “Yep - that’s them all right. We The People!”
The Pastor has great sense of humor and sent back very funny email:
“… you had me whoopin’ and hollerin’ in agreement with your sentiment… however, I feel the need to tone it down for the sensibilities of our intended e-viewers. The following is an edited version - Rated W for wimpy pastors! …”
Needless to say I edited the copy per his direction and this is what “officially aired” on their site:
This Youtube clip below is from the Red Skelton Show that first aired on January 14th 1969 on CBS. Red’s Pledge has since been twice read into the Congressional Record of The United States and has received numerous Awards. It is a POWERFUL reminder of truth.
But this got me to thinking some more - e.g., What else could Rated W mean? After all, anybody who ventures out to use new media and Web 2.0 technologies is anything but wimpy in my opinion - it takes real leadership and courage to venture into new waters, especially those that are not certain or clear, like blogging with one’s congregation.
Thus when the site was updated, I sent back the following email:
… edits done and home page is live :>) … i’d say Rated W = “Wow - Thanks for Sharing!”
Friday nights used to be date night, but now we’re an “old married couple,” with four-plus years as Mr. and Mrs., and one of the smartest things I ever did was marry her. But I digress; so let me loop back to Friday night, November 16th, when I attended my first Healing Mass at Saint Mary’s in Ridgefield.
The priest at center stage was Father Roy Henderson, and my wife and her people have spoken highly of him over the years; so when Katie, my wife, suggested that we attend his Ridgefield Healing Mass, I decided it would be a good thing to check out, even if on a pseudo date night.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going in. Both of us had our own list of things we’d like to be healed of - some of it physical, some of it emotional and mental, and some of it just plain tactical, like being healed of dead-end jobs and finding bliss in career service to others.
I had heard about the laying on of hands and people falling over with the power of the spirit. I had heard that some people experienced miracles, and yet I had heard from others that “nothing seemingly happened.”
The power of healing and health is something I’m sort of versed in and know that all healing comes from the Source - God. Yet I think I also understand that Source has a management team and that certain Light Managers are like departments and offices in such that some are more efficient in certain areas than others. For instance, why would we call on the Department of Motor Vehicles if we wanted to send a letter? Hence the Post Office and Department of Motor Vehicles are both branches of one government, a government of “we the people,” but still it is more efficient to use Post Office leadership for sending letters and the Motor Vehicle Department for renewing driver’s licenses.
Thus the Heavenly Management Kingdom has its own branches and departments - e.g., Saint Anthony is awesome at helping us find things lost; then there’s the guidance of the departments headed by Archangel Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and other Love Leaders; Mother Mary is awesome with her grace and gift of the Rosary; and her Son, Jesus, God’s Son, is most awesome in His gift of salvation, friendship and inspiring love and brotherhood among all of His Kingdom.
So when a man or a woman is purported to be a healing vehicle for the Divine, I take that seriously and honor their gift and their role in bringing about healing for the rest of us who are not so plugged into the healing lineage.
Father Roy is purported to be such a healer, and Friday, November 16th, was my first opportunity to see him in action. What a gift it was. Not so much because there was wild drama, but more because of the intensity of community and love in the room. Let me explain.
The scene was not in the church but in the auditorium. From the front parking lot, you walked in the doors and down a hallway; then you turned left into the auditorium, which is a rectangular room. As you walked in, the music team was immediately in front to the left, a congregation to their right, and all to the right was rows and rows of congregation, with the altar and priests up front along the long vertical wall. Normally in church, I hear sneezing, babies crying, people coughing and other human anomalies, but not this evening.
Father Roy and his fellow priest performed the Mass according to gospel. Then, after Communion, he started to explain what a Healing Mass was all about, what might happen, and his role in the process. He had such joy and enthusiasm in his manner as he walked from side to side, and he spoke with such relaxed clarity. Even before he started the Mass, he faced the crowd and said, “It’s good to be back in Ridgefield. I see you all haven’t changed.” With this a chuckle rippled through the house and I knew then I was in for a good show, so to speak.
Back to his explaining of the healing process. He mentioned things like why some people fall over and why others don’t. He also touched on the concept that all healing is from God, and all of us are entitled to His Divine gifts as He loves each one of us just the way we are.
That last part hit me as my compulsive nature and desire to keep bettering myself often leaves me unresolved, frustrated and easily beating myself up for the errors of my ways, so the reminder that He loves us just as we are - wow, cool - and a concept worth repeating over and over.
While Father Roy spoke, nobody moved. No baby cried. Nobody sneezed. Nobody’s head nodded with sleepiness. Everybody was fully alert, almost on the edges of their seats, fully processing this man’s authenticity, gracefulness, and sincerity of heart. It was a beautiful thing to observe.
But when it came time to get in line for healing, something occurred to me that stopped me dead in my tracks. As I looked around at those starting to line up, I saw blind people being lead to the front, people being wheeled up in wheel chairs, elderly people who looked frail, others who were bald from chemo and ravages of cancer, young people with mental illness, and a host of others all looking for healing.
And then I looked at myself. What was I doing here? What bag of stuff was I asking God to heal me of, and how did that compare to some of the really intense things others were praying for? All of a sudden, I felt small. I felt ashamed of myself to be asking for something when it could perhaps be given to others. Not that God is limited and that healings are in limited supply, but it was sobering for me to watch others and then look at myself and my little ego bag of stuff.
I remember talking to another healer, years back, and asking him about his process. He mentioned how easy it is for any of us to send love through our intentions to others across the room. I also recalled another conversation with a high-level saintly person who stated that oftentimes we can be healed by just being in the presence of a great healer.
Thus I took both these two data points to heart on Friday, November 16th, and resolved that I had already been healed by just being in the room with such charismatic leadership, and that I should sit quietly in the back row and become a spiritual cheerleader and send loving thoughts to each person in line as they stepped up to interact with Father Roy.
It was great fun and brought tears to my heart and mind. I was amazed not so much at the human spectrum in desire for healing as much as I was amazed at all the love that surrounded each one of them. Parents, friends, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors from all corners, accompanied each of those who stood in line.
I cheered for God and His creation. I cheered at His grace in gifting us friends and family. I cheered at His Management Team, and I cheered for His miracles.
If only I had pompoms, my cheering would have been physically obvious, but perhaps it was best to leave it as silent cheers for ALL.
The next day, I was walking our dog and bumped into two neighbors who had also attended the previous night’s Healing Mass. Both of them recounted how they had received the gift of miraculous healing and how much they enjoyed Father Roy. It was fun to compare notes, and when I told them a little about my experiences and internal processing, they just grinned from ear to ear.
“Of course, Chuck, Healing Masses are for everyone, and you don’t have to be sick to appreciate the love that is the house.”
And so, thanks to my neighbors, I decided to pen this piece and encourage everybody to attend a Healing Mass. Even if you don’t need it, go put on your spiritual cheerleading cap and go root for those who do. Just don’t get too carried away and try doing cartwheels and splits!
Viva the healers among us, and bravo to the Divine’s Management Team!
This audio interview is approximately 35 minutes in length and an 8.6 meg mp3 file
Some of the Themes Discussed in This Interview with Howard Include:
Why capitalism should be re-invented …
The ethical imperative of saving neighbors …
Institutional growth in the record industry ala Warner Brothers vs CBS …
How to feel great about your work no matter where you are or who you are working for …
The cost of ripping people off and Enron reflections …
Selling commodities versus selling novelties …
Getting to the heart of art, science, and everyday things …
Saving Western Civilization and the miracle fabric of kings …
The protest industry …
And, the truths behind Vision Quest Live that will change your work life forever plus more …
About Howard Bloom Howard Bloom, a Visiting Scholar at New York University, is founder of the International Paleopsychology Project, executive editor of the New Paradigm book series, a founding board member of the Epic of Evolution Society, and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, The International Society of Human Ethology, and the Academy of Political Science. He has been featured in every edition of Who’s Who in Science and Engineering since the publication’s inception.
Bloom has taken an unusual approach to the study of mass moods and cultural convolutions. He started out normally enough, building his first Boolean algebra machine at the age of twelve, becoming a dedicated microscopist that same year, codesigning a computer which won a Westinghouse Science Award before he left grade school, and being granted a private brainstorming session with the head of the Graduate Physics Department of The State University of New York, Buffalo, at the age of thirteen. By sixteen he was a lab assistant at the world’s largest cancer research center, the Roswell Park Memorial Research Cancer Institute, where he helped plumb the mysteries of the immune system. And before his freshman year of college he designed and executed research in Skinnerian programmed learning at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education.
Then came an act of academic heresy. After graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from New York University, Bloom turned down four graduate fellowships and embarked on a 20-year-long urban anthropology expedition to penetrate what he calls “society’s myth-making machinery”–the inner sanctums of politics and the media. During his foray into “the dark underbelly of mass emotion” he edited a magazine which won two National Academy of Poets prizes, founded the leading avant-garde art studio on the East Coast, was featured on the cover of Art Direction Magazine, then gave up listening to Beethoven, Bartok, and Mozart to become editor of a rock magazine. Using correlational studies, focus groups, empirical surveys, ethnographic expeditions into suburban teen subcultures, and other scientific techniques, Bloom more than doubled the publication’s sales, and was credited by Rolling Stones’ Chet Flippo with having founded a new genre–the heavy metal magazine. Seeking still further ways to infiltrate modernity’s mass mind, Bloom formed a public relations firm in the music and film industry and won the confidence of those whose territory he’d invaded. The payoff in knowledge proved invaluable.
Bloom worked with Michael Jackson, Prince, John Cougar Mellencamp, Kiss, Queen, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Joan Jett, Diana Ross, Simon & Garfunkel, The Talking Heads, AC/DC, Billy Idol, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run D.M.C., Simply Red, and the heads of many a media conglomerate. He was adept at spotting new subcultures, entering them, and helping their members achieve their goals…a skill which gave him an inside role in the rise of rap, disco, and punk rock.
This audio interview is approximately 33 minutes in length and an 7.6 meg mp3 file.
Some of the Themes Discussed in this Interview with Birgitte Include:
The global loss of vision and role of artists and poets
The media industry as a cultural force and its current cancerous state
Good money vs bad money and how Wall Street needs to change too
How Michael Angelo never would have made a David if he did media research first and the slippery slope of research metrics for those who lose touch with their art and audiences
Green Washing vs Blue Washing and the real job of media
A call for everybody to be active media consumers and aware
and how content is not king but is queen and perception is king
plus much more …
About Birgitte Rasine Birgitte Rasine, CEO, LUCITÀ Inc. The founder and primary driving force behind LUCITÀ, Birgitte Rasine is a writer, producer, journalist and a tireless thinker and innovator. Deeply committed to positive change in the media industries, she drives and personally oversees all of LUCITÀ’s major inhouse projects and initiatives, such as the recently published report The Colors of Perception and the upcoming Project Tsunami. A passionate speaker on socially conscious media and related topics, she has most recently spoken on a panel on social responsibility in the media at New York’s Stern School of Business, and gave a keynote on the topic at WIN 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland. She has been interviewed by NPR in the U.S., and the Australian national radio.
In line with her diverse media career that spans film production, journalism, publishing, marketing and public relations, Birgitte has worked with civil society, business, government and the scientific community. In her previous career, Birgitte wrote for two of the media industry’s top publications, The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety. Her articles have also appeared in Business Week and Diálogo Mediterráneo. Prior to that, Birgitte was a visual effects coordinator, camera assistant, and electrician on Hollywood and independent feature films. She worked for companies such as PDI/Dreamworks, ILM/Universal Studios, HBO, and Disney, and credits them for giving her time in the trenches.
An award-winning poet, Birgitte speaks 5 languages and has lived in 6 countries. She holds a BA in Aesthetics of Film from Stanford University and has completed a professional graduate course in cinematography at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and a professional masters degree program in International Relations at the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset in Madrid, Spain.
This audio interview is approximately 40 minutes in length and the file is a 8.9 meg mp3 file
Some of the Themes Discussed in this Interview with David Include:
David’s upcoming book about Herbert Feiss - an economic advisor to the State Dept during the early years of the Cold War who was a first hand witness to policies implemented that explain many of today’s middle east issues and problems we are now dealing with …
David’s book which has been in continuous print since 1972 and biography of Frank Zappa …
What it takes to be a visionary …
Aspects of Teanage Nervous Breakdown, another book authored by David …
Experiences teaching at Williams College and going for grants …
Delivering on the 1960s and how today’s yuppie is the same as the dooper of the 70s …
What it is was like to go to school with guys like W and how their arrogance compels them to surround themselves with medicore yes people …
How the CIA could change the world if they only employed comic gag writers who know how to cut …
And many other tibits re: culture, politics, society and much much more …
About David Walley WalleysWitzEnd.com - David Walley has been a critic, cultural historian and freelance editor for more than 30 years. A graduate of Rutgers University in the late Sixties he began his career as a columnist for Jazz and Pop Magazine which lead to a full-time position at one of the alternative press’s most influential papers, New York City’s East Village Other. During the late Sixties into the early Eighties, his essays, reviews and columns appeared in such magazines as Zygote, Fusion, and Changes. During a two and a half sojourn in Los Angeles, he distinguished himself as the Arts editor of the LA Free Press. His interviews with Iggy Pop and Detroit’s legendary band, the MC5 are considered classics of their type and for their time. During that period he also ghosted books on Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Bobby Darin, a classic despite itself.
In 1972, Walley published the first (and only) American biography of the avant garde musician and social critic Frank Zappa called “No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa” . After numerous reprints and three revisions, it is still in print thirty years later available through DeCapo books. David is known as the father of the contemporary rock and roll biography, and his book was characterized by the Village Voice’s Milo Miles as “one of the earliest rock books and unjustly forgotten”. Obviously it no longer is. Continuing his fascination with American originals, in 1975 he released, “Nothing in Moderation: The Ernie Kovacs Story” a seminal and unique biography of television’s first surrealist comedian who became an iconic and inspirational figure to the original crew from Saturday Night Live, as well as comedians like Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, George Carlin and others. Though subsequently published by two other imprints as “The Ernie Kovacs Phile”, and, much to the author’s dismay because he won’t realize one thin dime, this classic can still be purchased at more discriminating on-line used bookstores. He encourages you to seek it out anyway, it won’t hurt and you’ll laugh. Is that so bad?
Pursuing his various interests American cultural history, in 1998 Walley brought out “Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Music and Politics in the Post-Elvis Age” which, having survived hardcover hell is currently available in paperback through Perseus Publishing.
In a series of interconnected essays Walley examines how and why America has become hostage to the corrosive effects of an increasingly celebrity-driven consumerism, itself the result of the cumulative effects of the commercial exploitation of high school peer group dynamics. Animated by a throbbing rock and roll and hip-hop beat, this virulent form of consumerism has given rise to a multinational, adolescent-driven corporate consciousness in which MTV has become the virtual Voice of America wherein all manner of goods from tranquilizers to tanks, from insurance to politics are sold to an unconscious public. It is a book for thinkers on American culture.
One Amazon.com reader described it this way: “If you ever had the sneaking suspicion that you never escaped high school, this book explains why…This is a fascinating, fast-moving series of think pieces without boring the reader to death: Thorsten Veblen meets Camille Paglia, the most subversive book on American culture to be published since Veblen’s “Theory of the Leisure Class.” Recently the book was used as the basis for a Winter Studies course at Williams College called, “Decadent Memories: The Sixties in Theory and Practice”. It took a little while but the students finally got it. He has been a guest lecturer in Sociology at Williams as well.
During the Nineties, Walley’s words and ideas have appeared in Cosmik Debris, an on-line music magazine, and more recently in New Partisan, some of which are archived in columns.
Walley is working on another biography about another American original named Herbert Feis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning economist and diplomatic historian of the Cold War. This story of epic proportions details how a Jewish emigrant from New York’s Lower Eastside against all odds and by dint of incredible drive plus some amazing coincidences rose to be Economic Advisor in the State Department from 1931-1943, a crucial period in American history, to become an observer/participant in some of the most momentous happenings of 20th Century American history. At one time Feis was a familiar voice on foreign policy and a frequent anti-Vietnam war speaker on college campuses. His life touched many of the important intellectual figures of the 20th century, from Lewis Mumford social historian and philosopher to Felix Frankfurter, Franklin Roosevelt, and Louis Brandeis. Sample chapters for the book called for the moment” The Shackled Historian: The Life and Times of Herbert Feis can be found in Works in Progress.
David Walley is currently living in Maine and is hard at work on this project and in the future is planning afterwards to be working on a movie about Ernie Kovacs with Bob Cecsa who runs CampChaos, god help the both of them.
The other day I wrote a piece about what would others, namely Aliens and/or Angels, have to say about our world, our culture, and our humanity. 
In addition to installing and customizing Wordpress blogs for clients, I also am retained to do some “care and feeding” with blog content and here is a brief story of over doing it, but I think you’ll get a kick out of it.
