Try this idea on for size: No one has any right to any entitlement to any portion of any part of planet Earth. No one owns any property. Property is a made up concept that is not serving humanity and must be discarded.
Before you automatically disregard it as impossible, unrealistic, idealistic or insane,; think about it. Who gave anyone the idea that they could own the Earth? And who gave them the authority to behave as if that belief was true? And why do we all continue to allow it to go on like this?
At the bottom of it all, and building all the rungs on this ladder to hell, is fear. Fear of not having enough. Fear for survival.
But let's back up a moment. Imagine that it is the truth that no one owns the Earth. That it is actually impossible to own any part of the land, the aina, the being named Gaia. (Unless you want to be a slave owner, which I would hope that no one would want to be.) So imagining this, imagine that everyone, every human living on the Earth, gave up all of their imagined entitlement to any part of the Earth. Everyone simultaneously stops paying all mortgages, rents and taxes on all now dissolved properties. No one anywhere owns or controls any part of Earth, including what humans dub her "resources."
What would happen? I imagine that many people would move around some and then resettle in a place that felt right for them. People with a lot of property, ie. wealth, would probably need to scale down a bit. And people with little or no imagined "property entitlement" might move out of a slum or a ghetto or a city and find a more comfortable place to access clean air, water and soil for growing food and families. People might congregate in groups that felt supportive, without the conflict over who has the authority over the land where they live together. The investment would be in time, care, skills and energy offered. People would need to learn how to share and cooperate!
If people did not need to leave home to work to make money to pay their rent or mortgage, what would they do? Those expenses are often a large portion of income. Would we be more free to do what we love? Would we join with others in the simple pleasures of growing food and building the communities from the ground up?
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
What To Do?
Dear friends,
Times they are a changin'! Yes, everything is always changing, yet the many of the changes at this time are not gradual, predictable, desirable. Yes, some of us are making new levels of commitment to sustainability, to love, to connection, to service... yet the overall picture is one of continuing destruction, chaos, dissolution.
I have to admit I was waiting for this. I didn't know how it was going to happen, but I could feel it coming, feel the pressure building, like before a storm. And now, it seems to me, the storm has arrived. We are in the darkness and disruption of forces bigger than us, which have gained a certain momentum, and are going to play out for an undetermined amount of time.
I don't want to be "negative," I don't want to focus on the fearful stuff, the reality we don't want to create... but it is here, created, happening, and I cannot just "create my own reality" and put my head in the sand of spiritual materialism. I have to at least shine the light of consciousness on the inner reality. Who doesn't silently hope it doesn't effect "me and the people I am closest to" too much, meanwhile keeping a brave and cheerful mask on as we go about our usual business?
Yes, we are limitless, we are co-creators, we are divine love and light. And we are also human, interdependent and interconnected, limited by whatever we are limited by on this plane of existence.
Denial. I am trying to learn to live with the incredible amount of denial I am seeing all around me. I am trying to come completely out of denial. And to redirect my fear and frustration into Love, into Love because there is really nothing else left to do. There is no security in anything else. There never was anything else but Love to count on, but there was a pretty believable illusion that there was. But that illusion is crumbling. In our lifetimes it will be gone. Thank God!
And so, if we want to keep our heads on straight and make the most beautiful response possible, we must put all of our eggs into the basket of Love, and give them out freely as we take one step at a time along the path into the emptiness of the unknown. There will always be more eggs in that basket.
We do not need to pretend we know what is happening, or what to to, because, although we can make some educated guesses and maybe even have some prophetic dream-visions, we are in the dark, we can't see, and we don't know. There is only one thread left. Love. Hold on tight.
With Love,
Christy Mountain
Times they are a changin'! Yes, everything is always changing, yet the many of the changes at this time are not gradual, predictable, desirable. Yes, some of us are making new levels of commitment to sustainability, to love, to connection, to service... yet the overall picture is one of continuing destruction, chaos, dissolution.
I have to admit I was waiting for this. I didn't know how it was going to happen, but I could feel it coming, feel the pressure building, like before a storm. And now, it seems to me, the storm has arrived. We are in the darkness and disruption of forces bigger than us, which have gained a certain momentum, and are going to play out for an undetermined amount of time.
I don't want to be "negative," I don't want to focus on the fearful stuff, the reality we don't want to create... but it is here, created, happening, and I cannot just "create my own reality" and put my head in the sand of spiritual materialism. I have to at least shine the light of consciousness on the inner reality. Who doesn't silently hope it doesn't effect "me and the people I am closest to" too much, meanwhile keeping a brave and cheerful mask on as we go about our usual business?
Yes, we are limitless, we are co-creators, we are divine love and light. And we are also human, interdependent and interconnected, limited by whatever we are limited by on this plane of existence.
Denial. I am trying to learn to live with the incredible amount of denial I am seeing all around me. I am trying to come completely out of denial. And to redirect my fear and frustration into Love, into Love because there is really nothing else left to do. There is no security in anything else. There never was anything else but Love to count on, but there was a pretty believable illusion that there was. But that illusion is crumbling. In our lifetimes it will be gone. Thank God!
And so, if we want to keep our heads on straight and make the most beautiful response possible, we must put all of our eggs into the basket of Love, and give them out freely as we take one step at a time along the path into the emptiness of the unknown. There will always be more eggs in that basket.
We do not need to pretend we know what is happening, or what to to, because, although we can make some educated guesses and maybe even have some prophetic dream-visions, we are in the dark, we can't see, and we don't know. There is only one thread left. Love. Hold on tight.
With Love,
Christy Mountain
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
March 9th Community Vision Circle
Thank you all who attended and also those who tried and didn't make it. My deepest apologies to Renata, and anyone else, who went to Mackenzie Park and didn't realize that the rain location was at my house. Since the rain was looming heavily in the grey sky, and the forecasts were predicting storms, I opted for my house and hoped anyone who needed confirmation and directions would contact me, per my instructions on the email. I can see that it was too confusing and will need to organize this better.
Part of the confusion arises because I want to have the circle outdoors in nature, and yet we are in springtime in Puna, where it rains almost daily, a little bit or a lot, throughout the day. The idea of the Circle is to make connections we normally don't attribute much importance to, including our ability to feel our interwoven existence with all of life and respond from that place. Perhaps a house nestled in, or nearby, a protected place in nature, a sanctuary with a bit of wilderness for wandering in, would be the best location. I will be checking in on this, and am open to suggestions.
The second circle was a sweet gathering, in which I noticed a lot of the focus turning towards the issues around energy, sustainability and integrity. These are potent subjects at this time and I am happy to be a part of exploring the situation we find ourselves experiencing as individuals and as a whole. I am hopeful as we continue visioning that we humans learn to cooperate and co-create new ways of living that are honoring of the earth and all of life. Our prayers and visions, and the commitments that spring from them, do matter.
We can choose to open ourselves, open our hearts, to the love we are gifted with, and share it in whatever ways we are inspired. In the words of Medicine For the People, from the song Manifesto, to"Find your medicine and use it." Many of us have been seeking: healing, love, care, connection, enlightenment... and I can see more than ever that we are all of these qualities, they exist within us as seeds, and we can allow ourselves to live and blossom as that. To do this we may need to muster the courage to honor our deepest longings and make the choices to express them in our moment to moment actions. We need the support of the nature spirits, and of our own higher selves, and we can make it a habit to connect and communicate with those sources of wisdom continuously!
The next vision circle will be in May. I will post the time and place when I know it!
With Love,
Christy Mountain
Part of the confusion arises because I want to have the circle outdoors in nature, and yet we are in springtime in Puna, where it rains almost daily, a little bit or a lot, throughout the day. The idea of the Circle is to make connections we normally don't attribute much importance to, including our ability to feel our interwoven existence with all of life and respond from that place. Perhaps a house nestled in, or nearby, a protected place in nature, a sanctuary with a bit of wilderness for wandering in, would be the best location. I will be checking in on this, and am open to suggestions.
The second circle was a sweet gathering, in which I noticed a lot of the focus turning towards the issues around energy, sustainability and integrity. These are potent subjects at this time and I am happy to be a part of exploring the situation we find ourselves experiencing as individuals and as a whole. I am hopeful as we continue visioning that we humans learn to cooperate and co-create new ways of living that are honoring of the earth and all of life. Our prayers and visions, and the commitments that spring from them, do matter.
We can choose to open ourselves, open our hearts, to the love we are gifted with, and share it in whatever ways we are inspired. In the words of Medicine For the People, from the song Manifesto, to"Find your medicine and use it." Many of us have been seeking: healing, love, care, connection, enlightenment... and I can see more than ever that we are all of these qualities, they exist within us as seeds, and we can allow ourselves to live and blossom as that. To do this we may need to muster the courage to honor our deepest longings and make the choices to express them in our moment to moment actions. We need the support of the nature spirits, and of our own higher selves, and we can make it a habit to connect and communicate with those sources of wisdom continuously!
The next vision circle will be in May. I will post the time and place when I know it!
With Love,
Christy Mountain
Monday, April 4, 2011
13 Grandmothers Pacifica
On April 1st I went to Volcano to meet with the 13 Grandmother's, hoping to make open hearted connections, to be inspired, and to consciously create the vision of an awakened humanity. I had a mixed experience, one which I feel we can all learn from.
I appreciated the efforts of the many elder women to create the gathering, and the energy that was required to hold that space and lead it through. I appreciated the prayers, and the intention to offer support and encouragement to the participants and to humanity. There were some women from the 13 Grandmother's who were truly humble and were in there own ways really offering us tools, or gathering them to take back to their communities in need.
I was disappointed by the way that some of the space was held, and by the manner in which some of the facilitator's communication occurred. It seemed to me that some of the grandmothers, were expressing their leadership in the form of the old paradigm, without realizing it. I wondered if they were mistakenly taking the role of being "one of The 13 Grandmother's" too seriously when they proceeded to alternately lecture and dazzle the people gathered there. The break out sessions that were, I thought, meant to create networking and initiate actions in our communities (local to global), ended up being mostly more of the same. In my experience of the group I was most passionate about, the Environment, we made a list of all the problems we were concerned about. But somehow the facilitator would not allow much in the way of moving forward with ideas, networking, resource sharing... I did not receive support when I tried several times to initiate doing these things, and told it was being done already. ?
I think there was a huge communication gap going on about the intention of the session. During the same group, another facilitator came over, interrupted me in the middle of my sharing, and started lecturing me in a way that was very critical and judgemental. She, I don't think, actually even heard what I was saying! It felt confused and hurt, because what I wanted to do was make a contribution and also to get more connected in community with others who feel the same concerns and who have similar inspirations.
I want to say that the caliber of the group of attendees was very high. Many were woman I know, and I would say most who made the effort to arrive that day, are people who are very dedicated and effective leaders in there own ways. The people who came to be with the 13 Grandmothers's did not need to be lectured, though I observed that many did seem to enjoy being dazzled.
My summary of the day was a feeling that SO MUCH MORE could have happened with the collective cooperation of the whole of us. In some subtle sense the the grandmother's, the ones who seemed to have the most authority within their own group, treated us like children, and we fell into those roles out of fear of that authority.
And habit. We look to others who we perceive as more powerful or wiser than ourselves, hoping they will save us. And the unfortunate grandmothers fell for our projection, perhaps happy for the long awaited recognition of their value.
The consciousness and love that was in that room had a lot of potential. But, in my view, it was kept sleeping by the old authority/hierarchy power plays that undercut our creativity and sever our deeper connections. Status quo maintained!
I know some people did not have this experience, and I am glad for them! But as a beautiful rock recently told me, my purpose is to see.
Sending my Love and Gratitude to all the Grandmothers, and All Our Relations!
I appreciated the efforts of the many elder women to create the gathering, and the energy that was required to hold that space and lead it through. I appreciated the prayers, and the intention to offer support and encouragement to the participants and to humanity. There were some women from the 13 Grandmother's who were truly humble and were in there own ways really offering us tools, or gathering them to take back to their communities in need.
I was disappointed by the way that some of the space was held, and by the manner in which some of the facilitator's communication occurred. It seemed to me that some of the grandmothers, were expressing their leadership in the form of the old paradigm, without realizing it. I wondered if they were mistakenly taking the role of being "one of The 13 Grandmother's" too seriously when they proceeded to alternately lecture and dazzle the people gathered there. The break out sessions that were, I thought, meant to create networking and initiate actions in our communities (local to global), ended up being mostly more of the same. In my experience of the group I was most passionate about, the Environment, we made a list of all the problems we were concerned about. But somehow the facilitator would not allow much in the way of moving forward with ideas, networking, resource sharing... I did not receive support when I tried several times to initiate doing these things, and told it was being done already. ?
I think there was a huge communication gap going on about the intention of the session. During the same group, another facilitator came over, interrupted me in the middle of my sharing, and started lecturing me in a way that was very critical and judgemental. She, I don't think, actually even heard what I was saying! It felt confused and hurt, because what I wanted to do was make a contribution and also to get more connected in community with others who feel the same concerns and who have similar inspirations.
I want to say that the caliber of the group of attendees was very high. Many were woman I know, and I would say most who made the effort to arrive that day, are people who are very dedicated and effective leaders in there own ways. The people who came to be with the 13 Grandmothers's did not need to be lectured, though I observed that many did seem to enjoy being dazzled.
My summary of the day was a feeling that SO MUCH MORE could have happened with the collective cooperation of the whole of us. In some subtle sense the the grandmother's, the ones who seemed to have the most authority within their own group, treated us like children, and we fell into those roles out of fear of that authority.
And habit. We look to others who we perceive as more powerful or wiser than ourselves, hoping they will save us. And the unfortunate grandmothers fell for our projection, perhaps happy for the long awaited recognition of their value.
The consciousness and love that was in that room had a lot of potential. But, in my view, it was kept sleeping by the old authority/hierarchy power plays that undercut our creativity and sever our deeper connections. Status quo maintained!
I know some people did not have this experience, and I am glad for them! But as a beautiful rock recently told me, my purpose is to see.
Sending my Love and Gratitude to all the Grandmothers, and All Our Relations!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Community Vision Circle: Multidimensional Activism
Recently I attended a symposium in Hilo called Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream. It was put on by the Pachamama Alliance, and concerns how we must transform our modern, materialistic society into one that cares for everyone, especially the natural environment. For more info look at their website. Symposiums like this are being offered in many places around the world, for free. I came away with increased inspiration to get clear about what I want to do to contribute to "The Great Turning" of humanity towards awakening global consciousness to the dire crisis we are creating, and to the sacred in all life that must be honored. (I was also galvanized to complete some minor editing of my manuscript, Inspiration to Love: Breathing Into Embodiment. Shortly thereafter some unexpected people came into my life out of the blue, and offered me some very positive reflection about the book, along with self publishing ideas, and helped me get a little further down the road.) At the symposium I spontaneously created a table ( there were many to choose from to focus on taking positive action). Doing this, I essentially reflected my own sense of urgency and my passion that we must communicate the situation widely, and we must awaken the hearts of everyone to feel their deepest pain about the destruction and disregard occurring. (My table was called Preparing For the Coming Tidal Wave: How to communicate the situation of global crisis to the masses. This was a few weeks before the tsunami in Japan.) I realized that day that the key to changing the present pattern is to first recognize and value our heart's longing for a different world. I want us to feel through all of the pain and fear to the tremendous love we have for each other, for each tree and bird, for the ocean and the sky, for Life. I want to fire up the creative sparks in each of us to change our own personal activities to match our visions of the world we want to live in and leave for the next generations. Most of all, I want us to be empowered to express our heartfelt dreams in any way we are uniquely inspired to do. An eclectic group of people were drawn together at this table, and we talked story about these sorts of things. This inspired me to create a Visioning Circle. I am envisioning this being an ongoing, monthly meeting, and to grow in numbers and spread in all directions. I offer guided mediations and together we vision, on the inner plane, the world we want to create. We then commit to actions which will support the dream to manifest on this plane; potentially magical, synchronistic unfoldings that are the manifestations of our love and our deepest dreams for humanity living in harmony with each other, with Earth, with all of lIfe. Our commitments can be simple or challenging, but the point is that we make them. We will come away with practical, concrete steps we have decided to take, and our collective power will support us all to follow through. The love we connect with will guide the way and open all of the doors. A test pilot Vision Circle met a few weeks ago and this is the world we collectively envisioned: Humanity is willing to be present with what is, and to face the pain of the destruction and suffering occurring. People feel empathy towards one another and have a willingness to recognize the feelings and needs of others. Everyone's needs, including the whole of the natural world, are seen as equal. When we do this we reframe out relationship to life and open up to new possibilities. We recognize our connection to all beings: humans, plants, animals, rocks, the whole earth and universe. We cooperate to create a world which serves the good of all. We let go of our limitations and release conditioning that is not serving the whole. We become curious about cultural and environmental diversity and we support this diversity to flourish. We live in a world without war. Peace prevails on the planet. We let go of our addictions, reclaiming our space, our creative power, our natural rhythms. We reclaim our imaginations and have hope. We experience stillness, and learn to really observe what is. We are compassionate. We are aware of the sacred dimension of Life and this awareness is interwoven into every aspect of our daily lives. We experience ourselves in community, with humanity and with all that exists in the diversity of overlapping communities on Earth and beyond. We are courageous in the face of adversity. We keep the story open to something new, to the unknown, to change, and we see life as process oriented. We experience gratitude and joyful celebration together! Ho! When we vision, we do not insist on the form or any specific outcome, but release our heart's prayers and dreams to the grace of God/dess, the Source, the Great Mystery. The next Vision Circle is April 7th, at MacKenzie Park, 10 am till 2. The first 45 minutes is for arrivals and for each of us to connect with nature in our own way, to settle our minds, restore our bodies and tune in deeply to our heart's knowing. Please arrive by 10:45 at the latest. Bring some food and water. Rain location is at my house in Nanawale. Email me if you plan to come and need directions. |
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