manifesto

it's hard to know where to fit into what my teachers called kanagi current, the scientific-material order of civilization that strives to consume everything which survives by denying awareness of greater human capacities, also called the way of separation

tjs is better than most, but i still think about wwoofing europe or teaching english in korea, especially when my sleep starts to get messed up, and how i'm going to pull off another late gig-exploration tonight is beyond me

some of my clarity about things comes from the suffering of not making choices soon enough and the diminished resources and life i experienced even a year and a half ago, the unwillingness to sacrifice some freedom bringing greater sacrifice

but globally it comes from a combination of practices continually reminding myself we are greater than all of this, than our jobs and gigs and even our poetry and songs: we are meant to live freely on this earth, free of sacrifice, autonomous, with cultures rooted in community that define a set of options/choices/responses allowing continuous contribution and interdependence

and I see how the banks had a big part in the destruction of life around the world, according to some kanagi choice, some karma someone generated somewhere by eating an apple or serving a reptile or feeling shame or seeking control or judging another, or maybe just the greed that inspired the institution of usury

and this awareness helps me relax more into the choices i do make, accepting a life far less perfect than i would have imagined, yet remaining centered in essentials, the way being for me all about reconciling the situation as best we can for ourselves, those around us, and maybe miraculously the whole world, by re-membering

some friends teach and have summers off to remember the real quality of living within an autonomous yet supported flow, some have invested lives in ancient indigenous music wisdom like the shona polyrhythms reminding us of blissful flow/trance/community, some practice and teach compassionate communication to generate a living alternative to the domination paradigm, some farm, etc

claim some satisfaction through such work and the moments in which fuller aliveness is thus regenerated

and in doing so, reweave a greater whole amidst the economic games of mammon, thus defining an ongoing struggle for integrity, remembering to be amidst all the doing, and to dearly love the tender self and other engendered with such an existentially conflicted position

it is not ours to suffer, but to respond to, with a zen delight if possible, at the absurdity of it all