Going to church

November 25, 2007 | Filed Under Inspiring, Pay attention, Watch this | Leave a Comment 

I’ve recently came across a rahter interesting church called The Church of Stop Shopping.  A documentary called What Would Jesus Buy? was just recently released about the church leader, Reverend Billy, and the Stop Shopping choir spreading their message that peace and love are the backbone of the holiday season–not spending.  The Church of Stop Shopping is a 501 (c) not for profit organization based in New York City.

Statement of Belief :: Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir believe that Consumerism is overwhelming our lives. The corporations want us to have experiences only through their products. Our neighborhoods, “commons” places like stoops and parks and streets and libraries, are disappearing into the corporatized world of big boxes and chain stores. But if we “back away from the product” – even a little bit, well then we Put The Odd Back In God! The supermodels fly away and we’re left with our original sensuality. So we are singing and preaching for local economies and real – not mediated through products — experience. We like independent shops where you know the person behind the counter or at least – you like them enough to share a story.We ask that local activists who are defending themselves against supermalls, nuke plants, gentrification — call us and we’ll come and put on our “Fabulous Worship!” Remember children… Love is a Gift Economy! — The Rev

“[America is] not a free country — everything is bought and sold and owned.”

November 25, 2007 | Filed Under Moment of Truth, Pay attention, Read this, Rewritable words | Leave a Comment 

Those words are from writer Charles Bukowski.  That message is at the heart of Jerry Mander’s 1977 book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television.  The thing about Mander is that he worked in advertising for 15 years and even served as president and partner to one of the nation’s most celebrated agencies.  For those of you wanting to participate in the freegan lifestyle,  if only for one night, read it online at Mother Earth News. 

“We paid $3 billion for these television stations. We will decide what the news is. The news is what we tell you it is!”
– Alleged comment by David Boylan, station manager for Fox Tampa Bay (WTVT Ch 13) to two reporters who are currently suing the network for firing them and censoring a story about the use of bovine growth hormone in Florida cows.
Source: TurnOffYourTV.com

It better feel SO good!

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under Thoughts | Leave a Comment 

I was all about Buy Nothing Day, concurrent with Black Friday, and then…

UGH!  I’m so disgusted that I had to buy something.  It may as well not even been Buy Nothing Day for me because not only did I pick up the toilet paper, the tub was clogged (whose curly hair…?), so I needed that, too.  But I didn’t stop there, I got latex gloves so I can clean (because I won’t without them) and a sink strainer for the kitchen.

So much for that.

Better be good.

The good thing is that the idea of Buy Nothing Day has inspired me to consider my consumerism habit.  It really becomes that–a habit.  “I need to get…”  “Gotta buy…”

In reality, could I have chosen an alternate path to purchasing toilet paper?  Yes.  I could’ve stopped by the grocery store to pick up some napkins (for free!) and headed home with the plan for the day.  But I didn’t.  It’s okay though because I’m not standing my ground for just one day.  I’m not buying anything for Christmas…ever again.  The principles of Buy Nothing Day are too important for a single day.  So I’m going to dedicate a little more time. 

I recently found out about a group of people whom I have a tremendous amount of respect for: Freegans.  They’re so cool to me.  They remind me of anarchy and with governments playing the role of big business faciltator, it’s a start.

P.S.  I may have missed the US version of Buy Nothing Day, but I didn’t miss the UK’s. 

The bounty is in nature

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under Inspiring, Moment of Truth, Pay attention | Leave a Comment 

Source: Peace Project

What My World Sounds Like: Lauryn, Esthero, Jill Scott

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under Listen, Moment of Truth, Pay attention, What My World Sounds Like | Leave a Comment 

(parental advisory unnecessary)

Listen to this song.  Then, pass it on to a young lady.

Throwback: Alvin, Simon, and Theodore

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under Plain cool, Watch this | 2 Comments 

While I’m completely not in favor of buying gifts for Christmas, I had to post this because…it’s The Chipmunks!  It may be thirty years old, but A Chipmunk Christmas is still good stuff.

i FEEL you

November 22, 2007 | Filed Under Moment of Truth, Pay attention, Thoughts | 3 Comments 

I’ve been feeling a little more empathic over the past few weeks.  Contemplating inequity has me thinking about the other side of that coin: privilege.  It’s easy for me to talk about racism or sexism, directly feeling the injustice that comes with being a “double minority,” but how willing am I to engage in discussion about the privileges I have as a US citizen?  “This is the greatest country in the world” seems to be some line that’s part of the indoctrination process.  People travel from all over the world to experience the glory they call “America.” 

I realized that what most don’t consider, and what I hadn’t until recently, is what it costs to have the comforts and luxuries we take for granted everyday.  Not what it costs us as individuals, but what it costs the rest of the world.  If we write off the southern hemishphere as third world, what are we?  See, we can’t be the standard because dichotomies don’t work like that; there’s no middle to extremes.  We have to be the exact opposite, the other polar extreme.  If power is made by power being taken, what does that say about those who have power and those who don’t?  Those who live in the third world and those that live in the US? 

It shouldn’t be news to anyone, but big business runs the world, not governments themselves; they simply act as conduits to passing the necessary legislature for big business to continuously prosper.  Big business prospers when they sell products.  More specifically, increased profit margins combined with increased sales means bigger big business.  The goals of big business, then, are to increase profit margins and increase sales. 

How do companies increase profit margins?  Two ways are by decreasing manufacturing costs and by increasing retail prices.  The number one way to increase sales outside of increasing product visibility is by offering an attractive retail price.  Considering both goals, the inevitable way big business increases profit margins is by decreasing manufacturing costs. 

How would they decrease manufacturing costs? By hiring cheaper labor and decreasing the quality of the product. 

With the costs of living rising all over the country, who works for less money?  People outside of the country who are familiar with a completely different standard of living. 

For decades, cigarette companies ensured future profits by omitting the fact that their product was addictive.  Once it got out that cigarettes a) were addictive and b) caused cancer to those who smoked and those who didn’t smoke, it was too late–it had already infiltrated the culture.  Some did it out of rebellion, some thought it was sexy, some bought into advertising hype, some thought it was the only way to calm their nerves, some did it because the people they looked up to smoked.  Let’s not forget that when smokers smoke, they could care less who doesn’t like it…until they stop smoking.  The ultimate selfishness…but that’s neither here nor there.

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have been ensuring future profits by addressing one symptom at a time while causing a host of side effects.  You may start to feel better taking your meds and then get a subsequent ”unrelated” illness.  If you’re like like the average US citizen, you have no time or patience for illness and no understanding of what disease really is or why it happens.  Having accepted illness as a natural part of life, you’ll go to your doctor and get some more meds to address your new problem…and the cycle continues as one problem leads to another unrelated problem leads to another unrelated problem.

So how does big business ensure future profits?  Aside from making crappy prodcuts that give out after a prescribed amount of time, big business uses its money and influence to ensure that there’s always a ready and willing workforce to do whatever they need at the most attractive price for them, which may translate into paying construction workers $4/day, paying farm workers $0.0225 per pound of tomotoes picked (instead of $0.0125 per pound), and paying call center employees $0.72 per hour. 

If the lines of poverty and employment are maintained at levels that make working for these kinds of wages an option or even attractive, there will always be people to make products at extremely low prices so big business can sell them to us for “a steal,” despite the fact that they’re making greater profits than ever.

So my comfort, my ability to enjoy the things that I enjoy and am told I should enjoy to live a happy and comfortable life, is completely dependent upon someone else living–by my definition– an insanely uncomfortable life.  While I can live with the awareness of this juxtoposition, I’m starting to think that living my life as I live it now completely negates my concern and worry.  On the other hand, if I were to withdraw and not participate in our economic system, and others followed suit, then what?  Nothing about big business’ practices would change.  They’d just lay off the unnecessary labor and the foreign poor would get poorer. 

I find myself at a crossroad dealing with this perpetual quandary.  It’s supposed to be a quandary.  It’s designed not to be an easy decision for me or anyone else who discovers the dark side of privilege.  To address the dishonesty of inequity means to address the dishonesty of privilege, and to correct that unscrupulousness, privilege has to be taken away and power has to be given back to those who’ve been denied.  If I’m unwilling to give up my privilege, how can I speak about the inequity anyone experiences, including myself?  I can’t…and neither can you.

Integral Inquiry

November 21, 2007 | Filed Under Inspiring, Moment of Truth, Pay attention, Read this | Leave a Comment 

These past few months represent a brief abandon from my quest for mastery…kind of. The important thing about everything is what you learn and how you choose to use the situations you’re presented with. While I did temporarily abnegate some of the praxis component of my journey, I’ve found meaning and I’m back on track.

There are three questions I have to ask myself everyday and incorporating this inquiry into my life is the major task at hand right now.

1. What do I appreciate? I’ve started asking myself this question every morning when I wake up. It helps me to start the day off with a higher energy than any other morning activity or thought process.
2. What am I learning right now? It’s a complex question, yes, but there are innumerable benefits to engaging in this inquiry. I contemplate on all the truths that are being exposed to me as a way of keeping me present and maximizing my understanding of why I’m where I am.
3. If everyone in the world did what I was doing right now, what would the world look like? “You must be the change you wish to see in the world” is almost cliche now, but yet so real.

These last few months have taken me on a journey to understand myself and my place in the world a little better. I’m learning that I’m not in control but that I do control my actions. I don’t know or understand everything, despite how quickly I might try to provide an answer. Without a doubt, I still have to humble myself–probably more often than I do–and learn to yield to the greater power.

If everyone were doing what I was doing right now, they would all be questioning and reconsidering our current systems and practices and creating new ones. People would be considering their roles in life, what they’re contributing to, what their cause is, what causes they’re supporting, minimalism, freeganism, ecoconsciousness to the n^thdegree. A new structure for the health industry would emerge as the focus would shift from treating sickness to maintaining and supporting health. Schools that taught children how to think and care for themselves would eclipse schools that taught children to pass by any means necessary while being indoctrinated with propaganda. People would just THINK and help themselves as they helped others.

Renowned life coach and author Debbie Ford has a book called The Right Questions that I found to be really helpful for evaluating courses of action, featuring questions such as:

• Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?
• Will this choice bring me long-term fulfillment or short-term gratification?
• Am I standing in my power or am I trying to please another?
• Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?

The question Ford asks that echoes the theme of this blog is am I looking for what’s right or am I looking for what’s wrong?

Questions are necessary for growth. Don’t be afraid to ask them to anyone, including yourself.

Random prayer

November 20, 2007 | Filed Under Random | Leave a Comment 

My teeth still hurt from my botched dental work done in August.  I didn’t want to use the word “botched,” in fact, I’m the last person to use the term, but now that I can’t effectively chew on either side of my mouth, I’m at a bit of loss for any other appropriate word.  Soon, I’ll visit the endodontist and see if there’s any irreversible damage.  I pray that there isn’t. 

[Please, please, please have nothing but healthy teeth and accompanying dental components.  PLEASE!]

I guess the good is…well, in appreciating my teeth.  Often times, we take for granted the things that we do have while our focus is on everything else.  It’s quite funny how most of the time, people don’t start to believe in a higher power until things go wrong.  It seems to me that we should be doing most of our praying and praising when things are perfectly fine, mundane even.  (“Thank you for my right eye…my left one, too.  Thanks for the complete functioning of all my limbs, olfactory glands, and taste buds.  Thanks, God.  Just thanks.”

Instead, when things are coasting along, so do most of us.  When things go “wrong,” it’s “God, help me!”  Just an observation.

“All of us have a right to be who we are.”

November 20, 2007 | Filed Under Do your research!, Listen, Moment of Truth, Pay attention, Rewritable words | 1 Comment 

Lauryn Hill’s Unplugged No. 2.0 is a natural high.  It’s always surprises me how young she was when these songs were created.  [But why?  That's the little box we create for ourselves.  Young people certainly can't be the carriers of such wisdom, the flawed thinking goes.]

Finally, the idea of big business makes no sense to me.  Perhaps it was necessary for the 20th century, for industrialization, but now we’re seeing the negative implications. Now, the sham is no longer in refuting the existence of global warming, it’s in the efforts big business makes and in the solutions presented to address the issue.  It’s a con because all of their actions will be negated with the continued reliance on coal and other dirty energy sources. 

Aside from that, the purpose of life is not to save up enough money to stop working.  That’s stupid.  I’m sick of meeting people that are just trying to make it.  I’m sick of being one of those people.  It’s ridiculous that we participate in such an idiotic, austere, and spiritless system that values nothing but money and things.  Now that the push to eliminate the middle class is becoming more apparent, I hope that people are starting to evaluate the system.  What will they find when they do, though?  All these wars that were waged while we sat idly preoccupied with our new things were fought with a false focus on freedom or democracy, but it was really for capitalism and opening free markets.   The escape, then, isn’t clearly at the end of the tunnel.  Let’s be creative and devise some alternatives.

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