TRANSFORMING HUMAN SYSTEMS: ORIGINARY MUSINGS

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

BOOK PROPOSAL
My doctoral research focused on the intersection of law and consciousness. In my work I tried to articulate a kind of attractor basin [1] meant to orient human consciousness so as to remake the world into one that embraces global democracy, economic justice, and civil society. This is in contrast to a world that suffers, at present, from the deleterious effects of empire-driven policies and those actions of corporate capitalism that have caused such misery for people worldwide. [2] The remaking of the world is no utopian pipe-dream but rather a bottom-up phenomenon that is already underway.[3] Using a relational/ participatory frame [4] of consciousness, networks of problem-solving cultural creatives from diverse backgrounds are working to ameliorate and ultimately supplant harsh socioeconomic, political, and environmental policies. These actors are transforming the world by attuning human systems to a more human scale, one that is capable of meeting the needs and concerns of people and the planet more readily and more equitably.[5]

A major block to effective change in human systems is the undue influence wielded by what has been called corpocracy (or corporatocracy).[6] The aim of my research is to suggest human system alternatives to those de facto inhumane systems established and preserved by corpocracy.[7] From the stance of a worldview that embraces a new consciousness of integral values, the avaricious consumerist/materialist, Cartesian frame-of-reference (i.e., the top-down status quo values and agenda of an entrenched, global corpocracy) would no longer be viable. Indeed, the timeworn notion of an insular sovereignty – with institutions that serve immediate self-interests of power elites governing each nation-state or a cartel of powerful nation-states – has become anachronistic, all but bankrupt, and increasingly dangerous in the 21st century.

According to my doctoral research, at some point in pre-history there occurred a crack in a formerly all-pervasive originary [8] custom that was in symbiotic balance with the nature-centered consciousness of primal peoples. Recovering something of the values that we have lost from originary custom may lead us back to becoming more Earth-centered, more grounded and thus more egalitarian. Such values result from an awareness coming to be known as ecopsychology.[9] To this end it is helpful to review participatory field research among primal societies wherein researchers have been able to immerse themselves in originary custom, a simpler way bereft of law as it is commonly conceived of in modern, industrialized societies.[10} Such heuristic immersions reveal invaluable instances of “linking back” to human values uncontaminated by modernist deformities.[11]

A worldview informed by integral consciousness [12] would see politics, culture, and spirituality evolving via a transformative unfolding that draws on wider epistemologies and integral values of the heart, i.e., the moral and spiritual dimensions of empathy for each other, for all living things, and for all life-sustaining qualities of our environment. Accordingly, an integral jurisprudence (that includes yet transcends the hard-won liberal gains of ages past) might offer the world a democratic global authority [13] that is not based on violence, oppression, and environmental destruction (viz., corporate globalism).

One major tool for precipitating such a consciousness shift is the language we use. I believe that we must learn to question the presumptions that invisibly inhere in everyday dualistic/mechanistic think-speak via a relational/participatory frame. By changing the epistemological framing and contextualizing the language, one can ultimately affect the substantive content. This essential skill of critical thinking can help to remake the world. It does so by orienting human consciousness to participate in genuine discourse on issues of global democracy, economic justice, and civil society.

What results is transformative institution-building based upon 1) envisioning and founding improved emancipatory and regulatory human systems that give impetus to what is being referred to as global governance [14] structured and nurtured in large measure by 2) reconfiguring the notion of national sovereignty in accordance with what has been dubbed “evolutionary idealism” [15] and/or via a model known as “disaggregated sovereignty”.[16] In sum, the ultimate goal would be to establish many “living” community environments [17] under the umbrella of a de facto world federation.

The fragmentation of our mental-rational world calls for healing. By revisiting originary custom, humanity can re-discover values it discarded when it veered onto the path of an acculturated custom that led to its civilizational project. In this sense, engaging the harmonizing powers of shamanic guidance is arguably not a retro-romantic reversion but rather an upsurgence of integral consciousness steeped in heuristic, process-oriented, polymorphic experience.[18] Again, recovering something of what we have lost may lead us to what we can become.[19] What we can become is also a symbiotic function of how we frame our language and think and act from a relational/participatory frame of consciousness. Drawing primarily on the work of theorists referred to herein, I propose weaving the values of originary custom and integral consciousness, into a work meant as a kind of new “Guide for the Perplexed.”[20]

Ultimately, the Cartesian frame can be understood as simply a small part of a much bigger frame – one that delights in wholeness, justness, fairness and a humanitas that is deeply rooted in the wisdom of nature and a worldview less identified to itself, more nuanced. That is, a holistic, integral worldview includes-yet-circumscribes the non-holistic, Cartesian frame that is a part within a more capacious frame of consciousness with a much higher order of complexity – a complexity founded upon a simpler way that is being intuited by more and more people.[21] How to develop and articulate all of the above into an attractor basin for human consciousness that can be apprehended and accessed – and thus practiced and learned – is the goal of my research, my life’s work, and the heart of this book proposal.

Significance of the Book
My book seeks to demonstrate how consensual (or consensus) reality acts as an ontological anchor of consciousness that dominates human perceptions and guides one’s worldview via a particular culture trance. The result, I contend, is that many in the developed world overwhelmingly suffer a psychological disconnect from their true, natural state and wholeness-of-being. I refer to this disconnect as dissociation. Consequently, human systems have come to reflect the malignancy of a corpocracy, that – in the name of neo-liberal, “free market” capitalism – has subtly traded democratic values and the ideals of liberty for rank, neo-conservative materialism based on a petro-dollar enforced via the militarism of over 800 US bases overseas. My research would propose a way out of our shared ontological nightmare via a rejection of consensual reality and culture trance in favor of an embrace of “living” communities that, e.g., include the home-schooling of children to combat falsities in consciousness and culture.

How My Book Project Relates to the Publishing Strategy of _______
The impression is that _______ publishes books that conform to academic standards but are stylistically accessible and generally written with the non-academic in mind. It is my intention to re-work my dissertation in such a way as to appeal to the educated layman. A review of _______’s authors page indicates a congruency between the type of subject matter published by ________ and the panarchistic/eco-minded/libertarian aspects of that which is being proposed herein. My book exhorts the reader to “beware the dark side” of modern mass societies and global development. It bemoans the demise of the traditional multicelluar polity, advocating development that is attuned to the innate dignity of common people and their democratic hopes – rather than one that is subservient to the dictates and agenda of a global corpocracy. This is a rugged individualism that trades dependency on specialists for the sharing of skill sets from a knowledge bank within one’s own locale. It is a melding of traditional living into an informed, self-reliant and thus a transformational society. Originary values infused into human systems that are supported by a new consciousness transcending linguistic presumptions, may present the most valuable experiential lesson of the century, thus making this a book project worthy of publication and deserving of broad dissemination.

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FOOTNOTES

1. A converging ensemble of “information” fields or states of being/becoming, akin to David Bohm’s “quantum potential” (Bohm, 1952) or to Rupert Sheldrake’s “morphogenetic field” (Sheldrake, 2005).

2. Johnson, 2007; Johnson 2004; Johnson, 2000; Perkins, 2007; Perkins, 2004.

3. Mare, 2000; Global Ecovillage Network, n.d.; Gaia Trust,. n.d.; Trainer, 2000

4. A frame wherein the consciousness knows itself to be inside and part of the total complex reality, related to all other parts, and knowing that all other parts are similarly inside and part of the complexity, and are related to other parts. Out of such a consciousness a person thinks and articulates from this relational/participatory perspective (E.g., Participatory Action Research; also see, Berman, 2000; Abram, 1996, Clastres, 1989; Gebser, 1985; Bateson, 1972).

5. Schumacher, 1973; Papworth, 1995; 2006; Sale, 2000; Kohr, 1957/1978

6. De facto rule by mega-corporations in conjunction with international banking, corporate-owned media, and the enabling collusion of a militarist government and/or a network of such governments (Perkins, 2004; 2007; Johnson, 2000; 2004; 2007; Hartmann, 2002; 2006; Bakan, 2004; Drutman, 2004; Nader, 2004; Kelly, 2001, 2003; Raskin, 2003; Derber, 1998, 2000; Edwards, 1995); Cf. the military-industrial complex.

7. E.g., the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, a debilitated United Nations, etc.

8. “Originary” is a term borrowed from integral theorist Jean Gebser (1985), appearing in his index and synonymous with primal/ primordial phenomena; original does not carry the requisite sense of timelessness freed from a spatially-bound reality; Gebser refers to “originary” as being, by its nature, “spiritual.” (Gebser, 1985, p.39)

9. Roszak, et al., 1995

10. E.g., Clastres, 1989

11. E.g., Liedloff, 1986

12. McIntosh, 2007

13. E.g., The Earth Charter – a global initiative that began in the 1990s that is a kind of Declaration of Interdependence or international Bill of Rights that is steeped in integral values whose inclusive ethical vision recognizes that environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace are interdependent and indivisble. The Earth Charter was drafted in coordination with a legally binding, hard law treaty designed to provide a legal framework for all environmental development law and policy. This hard law treaty is called the International Covenant on Environment and Development. It is being prepared by the Commission on Environmental Law at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN brings together 82 states, 111 government agencies, more than 800 non-governmental organizations, some 10,000 scientists, and experts from 181 countries into a unique worldwide partnership. Earth Charter Initiative. (n.d.). Earth Charter Initiative. The Earth Charter International Secretariat. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.earthcharter.org/.

14. Global governance helps by regulating interdependent relations via a complex of formal and informal institutions, mechanisms, relationships, and processes between and among states, markets, citizens and organizations, both inter- and non-governmental. It is in this way that collective interests on the global plane are articulated, rights and obligations are established, and differences are mediated. The literature indicates that a niche for global governance is especially crucial to develop as the international system reshapes itself in the 21st century. (Thakur & Weiss, n.d.; Glogov.org, n.d.)

15. Litfin, 2001

16. Slaughter, 2004

17. A “living” environment is a place that engages in a life of satisfying simplicity with maximum self-sufficiency and minimum use of money, where real food is grown, and where people have access to nature and to holistic healing programs. 18. Mindell, A., 1993; 2007

19. Megre, 2005

20. Schumacher, 1973

21. Ray & Anderson, 2000; Trainer, 2000

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REFERENCES
Abram, D. (1996). The spell of the sensuous: Perception and language in a more-than-human world. New York: Vintage Books.

Bakan, J. (2004) The corporation: The pathological pursuit of profit and power. New York: Free Press.

Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Berman, M. (2000). Wandering god: A study in nomadic spirituality. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Bohm, D. (1952). “A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of ‘Hidden’ Variables, I and II,” Physical Review, Vol. 85: pp.166-193.

Clastres, P. (1989). Society against the state: Essays in political anthropology. NY: Zone Books.

Derber, C. (1998, 2000). Corporation nation: How corporations are taking over our lives and what we can do about it. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Drutman, L. & Cray, C. (2004) The people’s business: Controlling corporations and restoring democracy. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Edwards, D. (1995). Burning all illusions. Boston: South End Press.

Gaia Trust.(n.d.). Retrieved on September 26, 2009, from http://www.gaia.org/gaia
Gebser, J. (1985). The ever-present origin. (Barstad, N., & Mickunas, A., Trans.) Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. (Original work published 1949, 1953).

Global Ecovillage Network. (n.d.). Retrieved on Sept. 26, 2009, from http://gen.ecovillage.org/regions/index.html

Glogov.org. (n.d.). Working Papers Series. Retrieved Sept. 12, 2007 from http://glogov.org/front_content.php?idcat=68.

Hartmann, T. (2006). Screwed: The undeclared war against the middle class – and what we can do about it. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Hartmann, T. (2002). Unequal protection: The rise of corporate dominance and the theft of human rights. Emmaus, PA: Rodale.

Johnson, C. (2000). Blowback: The costs and consequences of American empire; (2004). The sorrows of empire: Militarism, secrecy, and the end of the republic; (2007). Nemesis: The last days of the American republic (American empire project) NY: Metropolitan.

Kelly, M. (2001, 2003). The divine right of capital: Dethroning the corporate aristocracy. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Kohr, L. (1957, 1978). The breakdown of nations. E.P. Dutton:NY.

Liedloff, J. (1986). The continuum concept: In search of happiness lost. Perseus Press.

Litfin, K. (2001, April 6-11) Secularism, sovereignty and the challenge of global ecology: Towards a new story. Paper presented in a workshop at the 2001 “Global Ecological Crisis and the Nation-State: Sovereignty, Economy, Ecology,” Joint Sessions of Workshops of the European Consortium on Political Research, Grenoble, France.

Mare, E.C. (2000). A concise history of the global ecovillage movement. Retrieved on September 26, 2009, from http://www.villagedesign.org/vdi_writings/Concise%20History%20Ecovillage.doc

McIntosh, S. (2007). Integral consciousness and the future of evolution: How the integral worldview is transforming politics, culture and spirituality. St Paul, MN: Paragon House.

Megre, V. (2005). Anastasia. (Book 1 of The Ringing Cedars Series, Eight vols., Sharashkin, L., Ed.; Woodsworth, J. Trans.) Columbia, Missouri: Ringing Cedars Press.

Mindell, A. (2007). Earth-based psychology: Path awareness from the teachings of Don Juan, Richard Feynman, and Lao Tse. Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.

Mindell, A. (1993). The Shaman’s Body: A new shamanism for transforming health, relationships, and the community. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Nader, R. (2004). The good fight: Declare your independence and close the democracy gap. New York: Regan Books.

Papworth, J. (2006). Village democracy.

Papworth, J. (1995). Small is powerful: The future as if people really mattered.

Perkins, J. (2004). Confessions of an economic hit man. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Perkins, J. (2007). The secret history of the American empire: Economic hit men, jackals, and the truth about global corruption. New York: Dutton.

Raskin, J. (2003). Overruling democracy: The Supreme Court vs. the American people. NY: Routledge.

Ray, P., & Anderson, S. R. (2000). The cultural creatives: How 50 million people are changing the world. New York: Harmony Books.

Roszak, T., Gomes, M. E., & Kanner, A. D., (Eds.). (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, healing the mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Sale, K. (2000). Dwellers in the land: The bio-regional vision; Schumacher, E.F.. (1973). Small is beautiful: Economics as if people mattered.

Schumacher, E.F. (1977). A guide for the perplexed. New York: Harper & Row.

Sheldrake, R. (2005). Morphic fileds and morphic resonance: An introduction. Retrieved Oct., 14, 2007 from http://www.sheldrake.org/papers/Morphic/morphic_intro.html.

Slaughter, A. (2004, Spring). Disaggregated sovereignty: Towards the public accountability of global government networks,” Government and Opposition, Vol. 39 Issue 2, p. 159.

Thakur, R. & Weiss, T.G. (n.d.). The UN and global governance: An idea and its prospects. Retrieved Oct. 18, 2007 from http://www.unhistory.org/publications/globalgov.html.

Trainer, T. (July 2000). Where are we, where do we want to be, how do we get there? Democracy & Nature, Vol. 6, No. 2

THE SKEPTACLE

Since the days of cave paintings, indentations on clay tablets, and the quill pen, the skeptic was there. Through the invention of the ball point pen, typewriter, and now the ubiquitous computer, the skeptic is still around. The skeptic sees the big picture, approaching each subject from all sides at once and takes no prisoners in a virtual tell-all exposé. Somebody has always been there to remind others that things are not necessarily what they seem, and that tradition lives on.

There is always a story behind a story, if you are willing and able to dig in order to get there. And if you apply your gut instincts (not forgetting to wear your thinking cap), what unfolds before you is nothing less than what might be called a "skeptacle." The skeptacle reveals inner workings, hidden motivations, masquerading agendas – things that run deeper and wider than most suspect.

Ah, but suppose we apply our magnifying glass not to the quirky fringes, but to the staid and tefloned status quo? How fiendishly delightful if, instead of watching Houdini debunk the Spiritualists of yore, we could all enjoy The Skeptic calling to account those supposed untouchables in positions of power and influence who, day-by-day get away with unquestioned, unexamined lies and outrageous nonsense! Indeed, such a prospect would be titillating and a healthy antidote to the cynicism of today.

Stay tuned, not for the ghost writer-in-the-sky that lopes along in the footsteps of Drew Pearson or Jack Anderson. Tough times call for even tougher journalistic sleuths – someone along the lines of a Robert Langdon, who comes close to upsetting the Capital City's applecart in Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol. Like Langdon, The Skeptic is no nattering nabob but rather a tattling treacler of tropism, patiently mapping the way forward.

© 2009 by J.D. Suss (a/k/a Bro. Jack, O4B)

THE WEIRD TASK SPECIALIST

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. SPIRITUAL FOUNDATIONS

From my Catholic upbringing I learned that Christ preached love above all else. I also took to heart the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. It is via these noble Works that we exercise love and become real human beings. And I thought there is much value in becoming facile at negotiating and transcending the seven deadly sins.

From my immersion in Sufism I learned the way of being heart-centered and the value of knowing oneself via meditating on the annihilation of the false self. And it is in knowing oneself that the false world begins to fall away and we can become real human beings.

From my appreciation of Buddhism I learned mindfulness, simplicity, and tolerance via peaceful acceptance.

From my appreciation of Zen I learned that learning and unlearning are together the sound of one hand clapping, the Oneness that is non-duality.

From a limited exposure to Kabbalism I learned that there exist occult dimensions accessed via an interpretive esoteric grasp of letters, texts, numbers and symbols.

From my appreciation of humanity’s first religion, or Advaita-influenced ruminations, I learned how rich is the root of the soul’s yearning.

From my identification with Native American and other aboriginal peoples I learned that nature is the real world and to live harmoniously with the quotidian rhythms of the natural world is to experience Heaven on Earth.

____________________

ALIENATION AND SEPARATION
Feeling estranged from and unsuited to almost every known career identity, secular and otherwise, I found myself adrift in the world. I resisted committing myself to much of anything because not much that I encountered seemed very “real” to me; that is, the world I had come to know had developed a problem with authenticity. At the same time I also felt a strong yearning for some indefinable connection to something greater than myself, e.g., a loving relationship with someone of the opposite sex, family, community, the deity. I longed for meaning, purpose, creative focus, whatever might foster a sense of truth, goodness, and beauty, of accomplishment, of satisfaction in doing a good day’s work. I sympathized with the underdogs of this world; I identified with those who had failed at becoming successful in normative reality via honorific titles or secure positions, and the materialistic ways in which that is usually measured. On the one hand, I felt that such failure should be worn as a badge of honor; on the other hand, to be poor, powerless, or to feel like a loser on the material level is not all that contributive to one’s sense of mental and emotional stability and self-worth. In fact, when one is an abnormative it can often get difficult to maintain a healthy modicum of confidence and self-esteem. And so, rather than wallow in the despondency side of things, my tendency is to empathize with people from all walks of life that I meet in order to try to feel what it must be like to walk around in their shoes. As a result of my own experience of doing this, I recommend it to all of the so-called disaffected, disenfranchised, and disempowered as a kind of therapeutic regimen. Empathy somehow helps to attenuate the alienation and separation that is so pervasive in modern life; via empathy the inter-relatedness to another is made palpable and the truism “We are One!” can impart a whole new meaning.

WEIRD TASK SPECIALIST
Eventually, by default, I made my own career identity and called myself a Weird Task Specialist. A Weird Task Specialist goes about his or her day doing odd jobs (weird tasks) that are not just for oneself, but include helping others with getting “stuff” done. It does not pay money, necessarily, and one should not hold any expectation of return. There is generally an ambivalence about the making of money, though there is an exception to that rule. When I have my own urgent need I may ask a favor in return. Asking another human being for help teaches us humility, a burying of one’s pride. Getting things done is satisfying enough; helping others to get things done provides a satisfaction that is shared and this makes it a wonderful reward in and of itself. Still, learning to receive graciously is as important as giving generously. When something is done for someone else, it is natural for that someone to feel obliged, to be in that person’s debt; not to be open to receive in return is really a desire to retain a certain power over that other person who has been helped. And so a kind of weird calculus is born wherein favors can be owed and repaid by favors in-kind, whether that is a service, a gift of something in barter, or money.

AN IDEA IS BORN
After years of weird tasks it finally dawned on me that I can provide much more to people from the various skill sets that I possess. Rather than simply painting a fence or running a weird errand, I am also capable of providing legal services, entertaining on the piano, writing, and so on. And yet I always had a problem characterizing myself as someone offering services for money. It seemed seedy, like prostitution. For me, the motivation should not be money, just service. Of course if it helps those benefiting to offer me money, so be it. And so I founded the Sovereign Union of the Spiritual Self as a corporation sole [1], for spiritual, charitable, and educational purposes: spiritual energy is formed in the grace generated at the encounter between oneself and others; the work is charitable and donations are certainly accepted but never expected (though sometimes requested); and the education is in the example one gives to others via the kind and giving manner in which the weird tasks are freely rendered.

By using the corporation sole structure I mean to give perpetual life to the idea and the enterprise that supports it; it does so by being as free as possible from entanglements with the machinations of government and the demands of its bureaucratic institutions. This is what a corporation sole is, a kind of semi-autonomous entity. It is not exempted from the tax code, as is a non-profit or 501(c)(3), it is an exception to that code that is based on the free exercise of religion clause of the United States Constitution. In a democratic society, the People are sovereign and the government is servile to them. The individual person carries within him or herself the spiritual essence of liberty; the union of these many spiritual selves is a greater, spiritual self. The sovereignty of the individual self, when multiplied many times over, becomes the oversoul of liberty in a sacred trust with all life on the Planet. Just as Spirit is a pure love that is life-giving, the Sovereign Union of the Spiritual Self sustains itself through the practices of selflessness, self-reliance, and the sharing of service and resources that it seeks to cultivate in its work.

Being a friend, being honest and helpful, thoughtful and caring – these are qualities most cherished and worth cultivating. Those who participate in the Sovereign Union of the Spiritual Self are adopting a way of life, a way of doing that is, at the same time, a way of being that honors our common humanity. It is hoped that this enterprise shall contribute to the general welfare of the People and the Planet. Even if it does so by small deeds, the shared joy it brings to those otherwise unsuccessful makes successes out of all who are touched by it.

MONEY AND BANKING
Ideally, the use of money (dollars) should be minimized. Why? Money is not controlled by We the People, but by corporatized private banks (viz., “banksters”) that control the government via their own financial and monetary policies [2]. Control the money and you control the People, their possessions, and their institutions. Over-dependence on money implies over-dependence on others who are NOT interested in the welfare of People and the Planet, but only in profits. Thus, human or social capital is to be preferred. Picture an Amish barn-raising, or a surprise makeover of someone’s home, or baskets of food brought to a family in mourning. On the other hand, money is not “evil” in and of itself. So long as there is a connection to the status quo system there will be a connection to and a place for the use of money. And so when offered, money is accepted and deposited into a bank account set up to receive it as donations to the Sovereign Union of the Spiritual Self, a corporation sole. Perhaps one day the bank in which the deposits are made will be owned by the folks participating in the Sovereign Union of the Spiritual Self who have formed their own credit union-style cooperative.

FUTURE VISION
Being of service to one another can be viewed as a training ground wherein like-minded souls learn to support one another for the purpose of realizing a common vision. That vision is one of entire communities freed from the yoke of debt and the need to participate in an economic system that is inhospitable to the integrity of People and the Planet. That vision includes the founding of multiple, off-the-grid Eco-community Land Trusts ("Ecolts") worldwide, using as models the Global Eco-Village Movement [3] and the Global Eco-Village Network [4], but more particularly Anastasia’s vision [5] of returning the Planet to its natural state of bountiful gardens inhabited by real human beings living free from dominion by any and all overlords. For more information on Ecolts, see, Eco-Community Land Trusts holding title as Corporations Sole: Organizing the Global Ecovillage Movement into a Network of Semi-Autonomous Zones (the post below), bits of which are extracted below:

Eco-communities are examples of sustainable society in which members take responsibility, research, plan, organize, manage, evaluate, and govern well, while promoting the following:

- Much simpler, non-affluent living standards

- Small, highly self-sufficient local economies, mostly using local resources to produce and meet local needs with little trade between regions, let alone between nations

- Highly participatory and co-operative systems

- Alternative technologies that minimize resource and environmental impacts

- A totally different economy, one that is not driven by profit or market forces, in which there is no growth, and in which much of the economic activity does not involve money [6]

A newly suggestive cartographic representation of the contemporary global order, Eco-community Land Trusts ("Ecolts"), especially ones titled as corporations sole, can be a particular affront to state sovereign hosts, as they largely are, in and of themselves, discrete economic and lego-political entities that enjoy their own de facto internal sovereignty of extraterritoriality. A more uniform, internationally validated protocol concerning ecovillage legal structures would likely strengthen horizontal integration, intensify a sense of decentralized unity founded upon common purpose, and foster stewardship of the planet as a garden rich in democratic simplicity, justice, peace, and contentment.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
The most direct way to help is by taking action to start a self-sustaining community. What are your current skill sets? Do you know any like-minded souls? Good pioneering opportunities? I think what you come to realize is the enormity of taking that step (which is not to say that it can't be done, as anything is possible with enough gumption!).

What I conclude is that by following the path of the weird task specialist, by openly making oneself "available" to others, a corps of like-minded souls begins to gather naturally, almost unintentionally. The result just might be an "unintentional community."

A weird tasker thinks of others much of the time, takes action, follows through on his or her word – in short, does not forget. With materialism and self-absorption ruling the day, the modern tendency is "me first." This is symptomatic of false consciousness: an enthroning of the ego-self, which is not so much a character defect as it is a trap set by our conditioning.

Let me reverse the question and ask what I can do for you? The only difference between us is that I have set up a special enterprise with a bank account for the purpose of dedicating ourselves to the proposition that by loving and helping one another, and with enough gumption, anything’s possible. Articulating an alternative structure to the status quo system IS a beginning. I think what you find is that helping others helps you a lot, until, finally the conclusion makes itself obvious => there are no "others" as such, at least there need not be.

Doing something together (a weird task) has a way of drawing the attention away from one another, or from one’s distractions, onto the "doing"; "being" has a way of manifesting via the doing.

What is expressed in this document is meant to help all of us in our aspirations to be real human beings, to regain our true selves, our humanity and our authenticity.

___________________________
[1] See, Cases on the Corporation Sole (n.d.). Retrieved on September 26, 2009, from http://www.trioid.com/PDFs/Cases_on_the_corporation_sole.pdf

[2] See, e.g., Greider, W. (1989) Secrets of the temple: How the Federal Reserve runs the country. Simon & Schuster: New York; See also, Fitts, Catherine Austin. (February 2, 2009). Financial Coup d’Etat, Retrieved on September 26, 2009, from http://solari.com/blog/?p=2058

[3] Mare, E.C. (2000). A concise history of the global ecovillage movement. Retrieved on September 26, 2009, from http://www.villagedesign.org/vdi_writings/Concise%20History%20Ecovillage.doc

[4] Global Ecovillage Network. (n.d.). Retrieved on September 26, 2009, from http://gen.ecovillage.org/regions/index.html ; Gaia Trust.(n.d.). Retrieved on September 26, 2009, from http://www.gaia.org/gaia

[5] Megre, V. (2008). Ringing Cedars Series (9 Volumes). Ringing Cedars Press: Paia, HI; See, http://www.ringingcedars.com/

[6] Trainer, T. (July 2000). Where are we, where do we want to be, how do we get there? Democracy & Nature, Vol. 6, No. 2

© 2009 by J.D. Suss (a/k/a Bro. Jack, O4B)

Eco-Community Land Trusts holding title as Corporations Sole: Organizing the Global Ecovillage Movement into a Network of Semi-Autonomous Zones

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Abstract: The Global Ecovillage Movement offers a newly suggestive cartographic representation of the contemporary global order. Eco-community Land Trusts ("Ecolts"), especially ones titled as corporations sole, can be a particular affront to state sovereign hosts, as they largely are, in and of themselves, discrete economic and lego-political entities that enjoy their own de facto internal sovereignty of extraterritoriality. My research proposes interfacing with ecovillages and international law policymakers for purposes of developing optimal legal structures and drafting these into a uniform international protocol designed to allay state fears and nurture global acceptance of Ecolts as dynamic models for sustainable society.

Research Proposal
Research topic and main research question:
Developing Legal Structures for the Global Ecovillage Movement: Can a Uniform International Protocol Advance the Viability of Eco-Communities and further Stabilize their Legitimacy and Success via a kind of Decentralized Unity?

Description of proposed research:
The Earth Charter is a global initiative that began in the 1990s. The final version, issued by the Earth Charter Commission in 2000, is composed of sixteen principles steeped in environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace. It is a kind of “Declaration of Interdependence” or global Bill of Rights. The Earth Charter was drafted in coordination with a legally binding, hard law treaty designed to provide a legal framework for all environmental development law and policy. This hard law treaty is called the International Covenant on Environment and Development.[1] It is being prepared by the Commission on Environmental Law at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN brings together 82 states, 111 government agencies, more than 800 non-governmental organizations, some 10,000 scientists, and experts from 181 countries into a unique worldwide partnership.[2] With the Earth Charter embedded in an international treaty, arguably there is already a framework in place for furthering initiatives on behalf of the Global Ecovillage Movement.[3]

Since the 1960s there have been efforts to establish communes or intentional communities. These were first attempts to propose alternatives to an affluent, industrialized society characterized by mindless consumption and domination by powerful corporate forces causing social fragmentation and destruction of the environment. Especially after E.F. Schumacher’s Small Is Beautiful[4] was published in 1973, there has been a growing recognition of what is referred to as a “limits to growth analysis,” which concludes that a sustainable society must be defined in terms that extend well beyond taking social control of markets; it must focus on notions of simplicity, co-operation, and self-sufficiency, and a long period of negative economic growth culminating in a steady-state economy. By definition this requires autonomous, skilled, conscientious, responsible, and active citizens banding together to cultivate their local ecological, food-growing, fabrication, commercial, social and cultural systems.[5] This is in contrast to external, centralized government at any level imposing its authoritarian relations via top-down control of any kind.

Eco-communities are examples of sustainable society in which members take responsibility, research, plan, organize, manage, evaluate, and govern well, while promoting the following:

- Much simpler, non-affluent living standards
- Small, highly self-sufficient local economies, mostly using local resources to produce and meet local needs with little trade between regions, let alone between nations
- Highly participatory and co-operative systems
- Alternative technologies that minimize resource and environmental impacts
- A totally different economy, one that is not driven by profit or market forces, in which there is no growth, and in which much of the economic activity does not involve money[6]

Today there are many thousands of intentional communities worldwide that comprise the Global Ecovillage Movement.[7] This sustainable alternative path is sometimes referred to as “The Simpler Way.”[8] Such a Way means actually building impressive instances of settlements and economies exhibiting the sorts of lifestyles and values that the limits to growth analysis shows must be the essential elements in a sustainable and just world order; a veritable remaking of local geographies with many ecologically aware, small scale, co-operative, largely self-sufficient economies leading the way. Ecovillages are not part of a larger hierarchy, but rather part of a horizontal pattern of culturally creative customs, extended kinship, contract and alliance, and spiritual affinities fostering a more abundant life.[9] In ecovillages power is in the hands of the people via a radically participatory, inclusive democracy. Ecovillage strategy is about building the required new socio-economic systems right now in a “prefiguring of the new within the old,” before the old society has been swept away. Such settlements worldwide allow a massive socio-political movement with a new consciousness to come into being.

An Eco-community Land Trust ("Ecolt") is a form of common land ownership with a charter based on principles of self-sufficiency and sustainable, ecologically-sound stewardship and use.[10] In my research I wish to explore the titling of the land in the name of a corporation sole, which in turn is held out as an Ecolt administered by a democratically-governed village council which manages the trust via a Land Stewardship Trust Agreement.[11] The trust removes land from the speculative market and facilitates uses such as off-the-grid, inheritable eco-housing and organic garden plots, common village spaces, and open space preservation. Through a renewable long-term lease, individual leaseholders own only those improvements on the land created by their labor and investment (or that of their forebears), and do not own the land itself. Resale agreements pertain only to improvements. This ensures that the land value of a site is not included in future sales, but rather is held in perpetuity by the Ecolt in the name of the corporation sole. The income and property tax exclusions afforded to the eco-community via the Ecolt/corporation sole entities effectively constitute these settlements as semi-autonomous zones within their own sovereign states. Ecolts do not seek to elude formal structures of the state, but rather to attenuate the states’ hierarchical and centralized impositions, such as involuntary taxes and manipulation via systems of, e.g., financial exchange, education, food and energy production.

The use of the corporation sole is somewhat unique as ecovillages are not religious organizations per se. Rather, they share a deeply spiritual sense of sacredness in their relationship to the land, and endeavor to educate their fellow, planetary citizens in sustainable practices of land stewardship,[12] e.g., permaculture[13], doing nonprofit-type, charitable work.[14] The sole corporate overseer is the ecovillage founder with a named successor designate. This is a mostly ceremonial role akin to that of a tribal chief or senior elder.

Successful ecovillages include the Findhorn Community, Scotland; The Farm, Tennessee; Lebensgarten, Germany; Crystal Waters, Australia; Ecovillage Kovcheg, Russia; Gyurufu, Hungary; The Ladakh Project, India; and the Danish Association of Sustainable Communities. Some collaboration between ecovillages already exists. A more uniform, internationally validated protocol concerning ecovillage legal structures would likely strengthen horizontal integration, intensify a sense of decentralized unity founded upon common purpose, and foster stewardship of the planet as a garden rich in democratic simplicity, justice, peace, and contentment.

Literature references:
Atuahene, B. (2005-2006). Land titling: A mode of privatization with the potential to deepen democracy. St. Louis University Law Journal, Vol. 50, p.761.

Bates, S. & Van Ryn, T., eds. (2006). The Land Trust Standards and Practices Guidebook, 2d ed. Land Trust Alliance: Wash., DC.

Christian, D.L. (2003). Creating a life together: Practical tools to grow ecovillages and intentional communities. New Society Publishers: Gabriola Island, BC, Canada.

Communal Studies Association. (2009). Communal Studies: Dedicated to the Understanding and Study of Intentional, Contemporary, Historic and "Utopian" Communities. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.communalstudies.info/index.shtml.

Gerstenblith, P. (1995). Associational Structures of Religious Organizations. Brigham Young University Law Review, Vol. 1995, p.439.

Megre, V. (2008). Ringing Cedars Series (9 Volumes). Ringing Cedars Press: Paia, HI; See, http://www.ringingcedars.com/.

Ohara, J.B. (Fall, 1988). The modern corporation sole. Dickinson Law Review, Vol 93, p.23.

Papworth, J. (2006). Village democracy. Societas Imprint Academic: Charlottesville, VA.

Quigley, W.P. (2006). Revolutionary Lawyering: Addressing the root causes of poverty and wealth. Washington University Journal of Law, Vol. 20, p. 101.

Sharshkin, L. (2008). Family gardens: Russia's primary agriculture, Ringing Cedars Press: Paia, HI.

Approach and global time plan over 4 years:
My approach is simple: Listen to and learn from all knowledgeable individuals and their communities. Familiarity with all voices in the Global Ecovillage Movement in collaboration with their legal advisors is, of course, essential. Outreach would also extend to traditional indigenous groups whose non-hierarchical, non-sedentary, semi-nomadic lifeways and originary custom are the bedrock model for sustainable society and culture. Also essential is a thorough and exhaustive grounding in the work to date on sustainable communities in the comparative and international law arenas. This would entail research and analysis of all of the relevant documents available and interfacing with people in governmental and non-governmental organizations who are involved in environmental development law and human rights policy. My aim is to create a syncretic database that is gleaned from interaction with officials, educators, activists, and ordinary folks who are either directly engaged or tangentially influential in ecovillage phenomena and sustainability efforts. I propose immersing myself by actually living in a local ecovillage during the proposed four-year tenure. This would allow my critical intuition to engage a life-long heuristic tendency that inclines toward a phenomenological apprehension of my research area. Through problem-based learning, cohorts of students can collaboratively engage sub-areas of the research to help facilitate their own learning and the research as a whole. My experimental research would by necessity involve travel to and stays of short duration in a variety of ecovillages and intentional communities. I propose using participatory action-research (PAR) as my methodology.

Scientific setting within research school:
By its nature, the Global Ecovillage Movement encompasses eco-friendly scientific aspects that are common to the health, safety and welfare of any and all small human settlements. An obvious sampling of these include shelter, food-growing, energy production, education, fabrication and commercial enterprises. The social sciences of sociology and anthropology also come into play regarding an ecovillage’s social, cultural, and spiritual practices, and their impacts on the surrounding cultural ecology. The subject matter for my research proposal has elements common to various areas of research: human rights, comparative law, ius commune and community law, and cross-border environmental law.

Scientific and social relevance:
If ecovillages are to lead the way toward sustainable society they will require the structural support of a viable legal and jurisprudential underpinning. The community of nations is poised to explicitly posit an unalienable human right to associate and to establish societies into structures of their choice that demonstrably model the Earth Charter principles of environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace. Doing no harm to and communing with the natural world, while building self-sufficient, more associated individuals within cohesive and just societies is not just good science; arguably it is a social imperative.

[1] Commission on Environmental Law of IUCN – The World Conservation Union in cooperation with the International Council of Environmental Law. (2004). Draft International Law Covenant on Environment and Development, 3rd Ed.. Environmental Policy and Law Paper, No. 31, Rev. 2. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.i-c-e-l.org/english/EPLP31EN_rev2.pdf.

[2] Earth Charter Initiative. (n.d.). Earth Charter Initiative. The Earth Charter International Secretariat. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.earthcharter.org/.

[3] Mare, E.C. (2000). A concise history of the global ecovillage movement. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.villagedesign.org/vdi_writings/Concise%20History%20Ecovillage.doc.

[4] Schumacher, E.F. (1973) Small is beautiful: Economics as if people mattered. Blond & Briggs: London.

[5] Trainer, T. (July 2000). Where are we, where do we want to be, how do we get there? Democracy & Nature, Vol. 6, No. 2.

[6] Ibid., p.272.

[7] Intentional Communities: A Project of the FIC (Fellowship for Intentional Community). (2009) Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.directory.ic.org/iclist/; Global Ecovillage Network. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://gen.ecovillage.org/regions/index.html; Peters, V. & Stengel, M., eds. (2005) Eurotopia: Directory of intentional communities and ecovilllages in Europe. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.eurotopia.de/englverzeichnis.html.

[8] Turner, T.(F.E.) (n.d.). The simpler way: Working for transition from consumer society to a simpler, more cooperative, just and ecologically sustainable society. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://ssis.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/.

[9] Dawson, J. (2006). Ecovillages: New frontiers for sustainability. Schumacher Briefing No. 12 (Schumacher Briefings). Chelsea Green Publishing Co.: White River Junction, VT.

[10] Note: “Eco-community Land Trust (“Ecolt”) is my own neologism. For a definition of “Community Land Trust,” see, The E.F. Schumacher Society: Community Land Trusts. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.schumachersociety.org/clts.html; Swann, R. (1972). The community land trust: A guide to a new model for land tenure in America. The Center for Community Economic Development: Cambridge, MA.

[11] Banighen, J.T. (1990) Intentional Communities & Land Stewardship Trusts. Trumpeter. Vol. 7, No. 1. Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/522/887.

[12] Jackson, H. (2002). Ecovillage living: Restoring the Earth and her people. Chelsea Green Publishing Co.: White River Junction, VT.

[13] Bang, J.M. (2005). Ecovillages: A practical guide to sustainable communities. New Society Publishers: Gabriola Island, BC, Canada.

[14] Gaia Trust.(n.d.). Retrieved on April 11, 2009, from http://www.gaia.org/gaia.

EULOGY FOR JANE (and John)

Having known Jane's ways and also knowing (the hurt we (mostly her brothers) inflicted on her when she was in her formative years) it is understandable how she had closed down emotionally to a significant degree. And from a psychological point of view she was depressive and combative while guarding herself first, others be damned. Given the difficulties of trying to live with someone such as Jane, you, John, managed more than tolerably well. When you yourself gave in to strategies in coping with her that were less constructive, I'd say that you were simply being human and doing what you felt you had to do in order to co-exist. There is that old action/reaction thing that often gets in the way in relationships. It's called complementary schismogenesis. But whatever it is called, it is not easy to overcome. It takes two, working together in an honest, concerted effort to transcend knee-jerk, button-pushing, communication pathology. Myself, I am convinced that you loved Jane. I am thankful for the fact that you found each other. Bad times are a dime a dozen, but just one good time is a priceless gift. And I know that you enjoyed some very tender and poetic moments together. These memories will remain and should be dwelt upon in quiet lonely hours when life seems impossible. I think when you remember those times, Jane's good spirit will embrace you and help to guide and comfort you.


The secret life between a man and woman is a mystery that belongs only to them. It is never for others to judge, but rather to support and nurture the kernel of love that exists within each of them - unconditionally. Despite all of the cold and distant behaviors that visited your marriage, it survived afterall, even if barely. Despite all of the negativity and problematic relationships, misunderstandings and upheavals, I think you essentially acted honorably, with insight and principle. Let no one say otherwise - even Jane was not quite right in her condemnations. In her battered and beat-up heart I think she loved you too. I think she tried, as only she was able, to given her analyses and opinions, skewed as they were by her own imperfections. Neither of you was right and neither of you was wrong. Both did your best, which is all that can be asked of anyone.


To you and Jane I say, "Be of good cheer and know that you will be missed. Go on to your next adventure in life, as we all should do, with the knowledge and understanding of what we gain through experience with life - doing our best while realizing that we can always do better, and trying ever harder to live up to our full human measure. Atonement for past misdeeds is made complete by acts of love that are informed and strengthened by lessons learned and life endured on this soul-making planet."

WHY DOTH THE HEATHEN RAGE?

The heathen in us rages at what’s going on in the world today. Everything’s been cheapened. All is controlled and corrupted. Nothing works anymore.

But instead of whining about the effects, start raging against the cause.

America is being run-down by a dastardly cabal of men known as The Committee of 300. These plutocrats emerged (in their present form) about 150 years ago, heirs to the British East India Company’s opium trade. Now, through a descending hierarchy of executive arms such as the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Tavistock, The Club of Rome, NATO, The Council on Foreign Relations, and on down the line through government and military, the courts, mega-corporations, media chains, banking and insurance companies, law firms, public relations firms, think tanks, foundations, universities, and constellations of other entities – this Committee of 300 rules the world (at least most of it). It is the cause of all of the booms and busts, wars, and every so-called historical event we have had to endure to date. Rage, oh heathens, rage!

Whether or not heathens rage in Russia or China, we should be raging here in North America, oh brother! oh sister! Yes, rage, rage against the dying of the light! (D. Thomas)

As a taste of that about which I speak, tune into Dr. John Coleman at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=170819614143019768

Go to his website, the World In Review: http://coleman300.com/ – the only news magazine that refuses all advertising.

Find out the details about the assassination of JFK, its cover-up, and lots of other dark deeds: http://coleman300.com/books.htm#300

Yes, brothers, sisters – oh heathen nation – RAGE! RAGE! RAGE!

Why doth the heathen rage? – why does the wolf howl? – out of extreme alienation from truth by forces darker than can ever be fully known. Only heathens – especially those with intelligence, yet unselected for obedience and subservience – have the capacity to let out a rage so powerful it can shake this corrupt system to its core and bring this Committee and all its minions to their knees. Yes, all outsiders, even eccentrics, cranks and kooks – all of the "unselected" – are right. Find out for yourself why that heathen doth rage…

BLUES MEMOIR & FULL REPORT: Useless Tales

"What landed you in New Zealand?"

I've taken a position as a not-so-noted solicitor in the Wellington area. I'll be looking around to play some piano - always an iffy proposition...so much so that I just sort of wait and see and try to fall into something naturally. For me, the days of begging some money-grubbing bar owner for a gig in his booze palace were over long ago. This, of course, means I don't play that much. But...then I'm not out to prove anything or try to become "famous." I'm sort of an invisible and ambivalent bottom-feeder, content with my own rambling and researching of things. If someone wants to hear me though, I'll usually play and sing. Every once in a while someone finds my website and gives me a holler.

I read some of the narrative below on Bobby Radcliff, et al. Having grown up in DC, I remember Bobby well at the Top 'o the Foolery, the Rogue and Jar, and Cousin Nick's down on 13th Street. I sat in with him at the Rogue and Jar. Not long after he moved to NYC. I used to hang around with Big Chief Ellis when he was living over in SE. We'd go to each other's gig. He sold me his Fender Rhodes 88. That was when Bowling Green John Cephas and Phil Wiggins were just getting established and they would hang out with the Chief too. In '78 I moved to New Orleans to try and finish my undergraduate degree at Loyola U. My ulterior motive of course was to play and hang out in the juke joints. I did get a regular gig at an outisde place on Decatur St. called the Gazebo. And Tipitina's called one day in 1980 and asked me to open for John Lee Hooker. That was a highlight in my otherwise lackluster career as a blues piano player and singer. I went to Chicago after that and hung around at BLUES on Halsted mostly. There I met some fading heavyweights and sat in occasionally.

But I soon returned to DC late in '81. Lovey Lee, Jr. (the late Lee Rosenblitt) asked me to join him in throwing together a group. At first we called it The Honeydrippers, and later it was called Lovey Lee's Blues Revue. We played at a few places around town, but it wasn't anything to write home about, especially when you're already home. But we did record some tunes, which I have preserved on my website. I also did a brief stint with Little Red and the Renegades. Little Red (Tom Corradino) is a good man.

I went on to law school in Baltimore, then went into the Army as a JAG officer, got out in '91 and moved outside of Santa Fe for about a year and a half. There I played at a few spots around town and actually gained some short-lived notoriety. Then again, I returned to DC in '94, only to leave in early '95 for Korea. I had gotten it into my head that I wanted to be a writer and teaching might grant me the time and provide the means to stay alive long enough to do some scribbling. (I've since transcibed and added to the lot of writing I started over there - and even before - into three or four blogs.)

So, I took a job teaching ESL for a couple of years in a university over there in Korea. I got it in my head that I might just become an itinerant English teacher, taking assorted jobs here and there around the world. On my first vacation I flew down to Cairns, in Queensland, Australia. I had heard of an American guy who liked blues and lived in nearby Port Douglas. So I looked him up and discovered he owned a pub, bottle shop, bistro, motel...AND he did love blues. I was soon playing happy hours at his bistro five nights a week. And he called me again around the time my teaching contract was up and induced me to do another run down there. It is a lovely place, Port Douglas.

But my roving days were numbered. I had met a good woman in Korea who would "Catch the Coon at Last." (Memphis Slim) I tried to run - went first to Istanbul, then to Saudi Arabia (following in the footsteps of the French Foreign Legion) - but the pull was just too strong and this lifelong bachelor finally fell into the marriage bin in the Spring of '98.

Already a refugee from the law, I started getting interested in consciousness and esoteric traditions and decided to enroll in a course of studies online at the California Institute of Integral Studies in SF. Again I was back in Korea then, at a different university, and trying to get my wife back into the US with me, as I had to do some coursework in San Francisco. She was finally able to join me in SF and we spent our time there essentially in pauperdom while I finished my doctoral coursework. I was playing less and less. It seemed no one was much interested in traditional Chicago blues and the rest of what I had to offer. Eventually, as ever, I migrated back to DC and decided to stop resisting and tried to make a go at doing some law. As luck would have it, I became the perenial piano player for the IMF at their annual International Photographic Society exhibition. This was my only regular paying gig over the past 5-6 years, although I occasionally did impromptu gigs in Easton, often accompanied by brother Fred (Fast Fingers Freddy) on drums. During this time I also tried getting something going with Johnny Tickton, and we did some gigs at Clyde's in Chevy Chase (in my old neighborhood, Friendship Heights) and a few other places, but somehow it just didn't "take." To keep body and soul together I opened a title company and cashed in on the real estate boom until that petered out. But I did finish writing my dissertation and my doctorate in Humanities was conferred in May 2006. The title of my dissertation? - The Odyssey of the Western Legal Tradition - Integral Jurisprudence: Toward the Self-Transcendence of Deficient Mental Legal Culture. (Somewhat autobiographical yet forwarding-looking, and in compensation perhaps for years resisting the law, it essentially is about law and consciousness.)

As things began their slow financial demise in the states, I looked elsehwere and found this new gig in New Zealand. We shall see where it all goes from here. I might try to make the Manawatu International Jazz & Blues Festival going on this weekend in Palmerston, NZ. At any rate, life is a great big adventure when you're out and about as I am once again (wife to join me after some months) - and it's a whole lot better than the past year or so, when life seemed like a shit sandwich and every day I had to take another bite...Aren't you gald you asked what landed me here?

I guess I'm either bored shitless, homesick, or in the mood to tell a sordid and useless tale.

____________________________

Ok, I'm finally set up at home so I can now give you a full report.

The flight here was the longest I've ever been on in my life. It seemed like two nights passed and I lost a day when I crossed over the international dateline. Left LA around 10PM on Tuesday evening and arrived in Wellington at 10AM Thurs. At least the plane wasn't very full and there was no one in the two seats next to me so I could stretch out a little. But it was grueling and I didn't sleep much (the pills a friend gave me didn't do much of anything). Clearing customs in Auckland was a breeze, but they lost my checked bags. And I'm sorry to report that when they delivered them, my big leather suitcase was ripped all along the top. I wouldn't be surprised if it had dry-rotted a little over the years. Luckily though, nothing seems to have fallen out.

The husband of my new business partner met me at the Wellington airport. I liked him right away. He was kind of tall, thin and unshaven - reminded me of my buddy in Australia, Stephen Philpot - scruffy and friendly. He turned out to be a great guy (he makes organic apple juice and cider vinegar). Anyway, I opened a bank account right away and picked up the key to my new place from the rental agency. The three of us had dinner that evening. You can often bring your own wine or beer to restaurants here and we had a couple of bottles of NZ wine, which was tasty and hit the spot.

I rested up on Friday, though I took the train to Wellington that day ($3 each way/ 20 minutes away) to apply for the equivalent of a SSN. Taxes in my income bracket ($60K) are 33%. No wonder people here seem kind of poor. Still, though somewhat shabby in appearance, the folks I've run into so far are mannerly and kind. There are virtually no black folks. You can detect quite a pervasive Maori presence however. There is even a Maori TV station where they speak their own language. The first closing I sat in on was for a Maori couple. I guess there are a lot of mixed-bloods - whatever.

The new pad is kind of drab and dark, but it'll do until I get my bearings. There are two couches, a TV, a kitchen table with four chairs and small kitchen with most everything needed for cooking and eating. There's a full bath downstairs and upstairs there's only a shower (weird, it should be a toilet) There's a queen size bed and a single bed upstairs with a dresser. Two closets and vacuum cleaner. How's that for a rundown? The apartment is one in a series of apartments all under one roof in a two-story building.

In the morning I leave my little cage and walk to work - one block to the Melling train station (end of the line), then right, across the bridge that spans the Hutt River, and then right again onto a walking path that is atop a levee. It's about a four or five block walk and very pleasant. I can hear strange birds nattering in the trees along the riverbank and I don't have to dodge cars. My building is about five stories. My office is on the third floor. My partner, Martha Hu, owns the whole 3rd floor. She rents out part of it the Hutt City Council and part to a locally famous psychic and Pilates person (which just happened after I got here). There are lots of restaurants and bars and stores of all kinds, all within walking distance. You don't really need a bus. And if I need to go into the big city, the train is very convenient. In sum, it has all worked out very nicely.

Our office space is HUGE, very roomy. My office is in the corner, front, and I have a couple of windows. It's all set up with a computer and everything. Martha and her husband Tim invited me to their farm and picked me up Saturday morning after stopping at the farmer's market (where I had been earlier). There's a huge farmer's market just on the other side of the river from me every Saturday morning until about 2PM - lots of fresh veggies and fruit and other stuff. It's great!

Their farm is located up a very narrow, zig-zaggy road and is nestled among some big rolling hills. It's really quite beautiful and quiet there. They've only been there for about a year and a half. So they're still getting it organized. Tim was planning on planting about 150 apple trees and asked if I wanted to give him a hand. So, about 48 hours after arriving, I'm out in this field boring holes with one of those twirlybirds, each of them two meters apart from the next. It was actually invigorating to do something active after being a slug, more-or-less for so long. I had brought two bottles of wine with me. Martha made dinner while I played their piano. In short, it seems like we are already good friends who have known each other for a long time. The next morning we finished up the hole boring and they took me back to my place. As my ulterior motive is to eventually have my own farm here, it is very fortuitous in that Tim is a wealth of knowledge about farming. He's been doing that almost all his life I think.

So I spent the week trying to understand the flow of the office, poring over the files, and learning the settlement process here, which is completely different. There are two other women in the office, a paralegal and a receptionist, who seem very nice and easy-going. But it's almost as if I'm starting from scratch as a lawyer. Still, Martha is sure she made the right decision in hiring me. She wants me to learn to draft Trusts, which is a big part of her business, along with Estate work, and to develop a domestic relations practise. Down the road she's thinking of taking on another solicitor, who can do domestic relations, so all I need to do is kind of know what its all about in order to keep tabs on that once we get the other solicitor in place. There's another, as yet undefined area of practise that she wants to add - I, of course, have some very interesting ideas on that front. Martha essentially wants me to ease into and take over her firm, as she eases out of it, or at least reduces her daily involvement to just a few days per week. It's great because I would in fact inherit her practise and her clientelle. I'm "set up"! But...it will take a large amount of work and diligence to catch up and be competent at the level at which I need to be. I expect to hear from the NZ Law Society soon. Once I know what I must do to qualify as a solicitor and do it, then I can apply for residency, become a partner, and make much bigger money.

That's it, in a nut shell. Martha shares a lot of my own intuition as regards alternate realities and the like. So the chemistry seems good and I think it will all work out quite well. But I do have my work cut out for me. I do hope to start all over again here, but this time in the right way - no cell phone, no car (if I can help it), eating healthfully and exercising regularly. I'll tell you one thing - there is no high fructose corn syrup in anything here, at least that I've been able to detect from reading labels. And the water running in the river looks clean enough to drink. I hear people swim in it in the summer.

I believe the winter is about half over . The mornings are like cold Spring mornings back home. There are some misty days, not really heavy rains, with little if any humidity otherwise. It warms up into the upper 60s during the day. There are tropical-looking plants around, some date palms and some other palms with leaves that look like big ferns. Everything looks lush and green and seems ecologically sound. It's exciting to be back out into the great beyond again, and I'm enjoying myself immensely.

Keep in touch and let me know how things are going back in your neck of the woods.

LETTER TO GOD

Dear God,

“Formed in Your image and likeness” presents us with difficulties right off the bat that soar out of the ballpark of our imaginal capacities. And yet the premise informs us of an innate divinity, or at least the inherent capability thereof, and this is worth contemplating –

It is said that all of the god-like entities were stumped over Your creations here on Earth – more specifically, how your divine thought created Man (in the all-embracing sense of the word), this soul-on-ice packed into mobile units reaching all too well into the material world, in physical space – yet with a love, with feelings, the parameters of which only their free will would determine. We creatures have now fallen into time, making a laughing stock of You. And yet an eternal patience shines on Man; Your enlivening ray of goodness. We persist to exist in spite of ourselves, our errors, our almost complete ruination of the planet.

How was it that over millennia the occult high priests led us here? What has become of the abundant gardens that once comprised our Earth? We wail and gnash our teeth out of ignorance of who we really are and what has come before. In our dissociated state we formed states with boundaries and keep ourselves like farm animals, helplessly feeding at the trough provided to us – at a price – by the keepers of Your resources. Yet these are not Your resources, but theirs – deadened and voiding life. Still, we daily take up the yoke and harness, while each day could be awe-inspired if only we knew ourselves better.

The one great escape from our zoo-like stalls is that stewy mass of life called Nature. Here, the artificial information bubble cannot penetrate. Here we can walk among Your thoughts – a tree, a brook, the rays of light and many-voiced birds, a wistful wind, the enduring earth – but alas, to read the book of Nature is a lost art. Rather than read, we loll and bask in its life-giving energies, Your thoughts reading us, giving sustenance. Oh to re-create those gardens-of-life! Oh to co-create immortal selves to be born and reborn into our kins’ domains on this Paradise Earth, forsaking the graveyard of death desiring!

Your love comes into us from its Divine Source – You. There is no wrath, no fear, no darkness, no penance put upon us – only support, kindness, gentle understanding. You give freely only what a loving father and mother could give their offspring – eternal hope borne of abiding faith in us, Yourself, Ourselves, rooted as we are in this Your good Earth, beacon germinator of life throughout the planetary universe of You.

A MANIFESTO OF SELF

Here I am – the sum of my life experiences. From my earliest family memories of growing up in the late 50s and 60s, getting through school, hoboing, working at many seemingly unconnected jobs, traveling, going to law school, getting married, emigrating overseas to work for four or five years, settling back in America, working on a Ph.D., a dissertation, and now a drifting, independent iconoclast-scholar of sorts – here I am. Through it all, I felt a tiny voice within always murmuring to me, always making me question everything, always feeding my curiosity about the world. With my gaze outward, there was also an omni-present mirror of my self, turning me inward.

Who am I? This question has followed me everywhere it seems, haunting me. Genetically, I am the physical offspring of a long family line. But besides the inherited physical traits, what other familial secrets are encoded in my DNA, in my consciousness? I honor my ancestors but also wonder at the many facets of what goes into making up a human being. Just what does destiny have in store for me? To what extent am I master of my fate? Just who am I?

In my life’s quest to find out who I really am, I first look at those around me. I think back upon my mother and father, brothers and sisters, others. I am the sum total of the love I have received and the love that I have given, the hard knocks I have endured, the choices I have made or that were deftly forced upon me. Did I have a “happy childhood”? I suppose I did, or at least I can say that it wasn’t such an unhappy one. But did I learn who I am from my family? I learned to adjust to being a family member – to help and share.

Next I look around at my peers as a young student and think back on what behaviors they modeled. I consider my teachers and other elders and the lessons that they taught and the values they imparted to me. Resisting all the way, to some degree I have gradually learned to be mindful of others, to overcome depression, to even be cooperative and occasionally deferent, and at times I desperately sought a sense of belonging and a way of contributing to whatever community I ended up in – but alas, I met with limited success.

Perhaps the hardest time I have is wondering who I am in the context of my nation, America. In theory the state or government is set up to help structure the society, to impose law and order, to defend against enemies, and to generally provide for my health, safety and welfare. It seems to me that government is always dealing with issues of power and money. Moreover, as it has dealt in this area for such a long time, I think most if not all governments have been corrupted by the power and wealth they are set up to manage. Hence the old saying: Power corrupts; total power corrupts totally. I watched this with the military dictators in the U.S. client states in South America and Africa and in other spots around the globe, and I see this now with the present U.S. administration. And these days it is hard to see where government ends and big corporations begin. In fact, it appears that they have become one and the same, with the result that the people suffer tremendously. And so I have to say that I am suspicious of government. I am not a patriotic type or nationalist. How could I be if I feel castrated politically – impotent and alienated in what is now a sham political system?

I learned from my working experience that power resides in the boss. Whether the boss is my employer or some kind of government representative (political boss) there is rarely any genuine power at the individual level. However, I believe, as did the founders of America, that the People are sovereign; the people are the rulers of their government. And so the first real awakening I had was discovering that I am self-sovereign and that there is tremendous power if people can organize against tyranny. I think that many natural born American citizens are blind to who they really are, but I am not. Knowing who you are in the context of your American government is crucial to knowing who you really are – a person empowered with unalienable rights and power from the very Source of Creation.

In my view, the final step in apprehending who I am is to know who I really am as a human being endowed with an immortal soul. This is the greatest mystery of all. My life so far has taught me something about this greatest of mysteries. Just being in Nature, retaining some of the innocence of youth, always seeking beauty – these are the most important ways toward self-actualization. The exoteric lessons of religion, with morality and ethics taught in parables, is helpful I suppose. But if one can find the esoteric knowledge behind religion one is, I think, very fortunate. Self-styled “seekers” sometimes manage to find great spiritual truths. For me, the search for spirit, for truth, is within; it is in one’s breath; it is found in one’s compassion for others and for all non-human life as well; it is present in respect for the environment and for the dignity of life.

I believe that we come to know ourselves as true human beings by using our thoughts in a positive way, through our reason, but more importantly through our heart, our feelings, and our loving actions. Thus, my overriding life’s quest is one of continually perfecting myself in this respect. And I think that this yearning to perfect one’s spirit is itself the reward: for me this reward amounts to that which truly informs me about who I am.

I bring all of me into and out of myself – in my daily life, in my writings, in whatever I do. There is an art to living in such as way. My art is not just about painting pretty pictures, or critiquing entertainment or politics or ideology. It is not even solely about beauty. My art is being and becoming in the service of truth. Whose truth? – my truth as it has evolved over a lifetime and continues to evolve; it is my truth as a more-or-less middle class, American-born man whose life’s joys and struggles, reading and research have imparted a vision of reality that I call truth. Some elements of truth are unchanging, like love and mindfulness and hope. And yet when life is put into various contexts truth can seem ever changing, and this is what gives me an artistic temperament, working in the greatest medium of all – LIFE. From life itself I draw a never-ending source of material from which I can contribute to the overall general welfare of the planet; I can write, play music, cogitate as a creative loafer, and just pursue any and all activities that help me to uncover who I am in the the Universe.

In this universal sense, who am I? Am I a prophet, conveying images of some internalized sense of a certain future being born out of the present? Am I an avenger, out to destroy false images of the past that have crippled humanity’s self-image of itself and that even today promote great lies and distortions? Am I a victim, using my talents to express my rage and anger at how I and others have been manipulated for years? Am I a savior, holding my life’s work up as an ultimate panacea, an answer to a corrupt and debauched world? Or maybe, just maybe, by participating in and adding yet more “stuff” to the world I am nothing but another co-conspirator, marketing my images as a cog in a big wheel of action/reaction meant only to distract us from who we really are, and/or who we could actually become but for so much bickering about meaning, symbolism, abstraction, etc.

Could I be all of these? Some of these? None of these? More than these? Need I identify myself as being in any other role but con-artist, someone who co-creates at some relatively useless and worthless level and delights in so doing? What kind of an artist is that? But for making money from art, every artist is just an artist. The payment is the joy of co-creating and a self-satisfaction that comes from giving of oneself and one’s creations to others – but monetary worth of one’s art recasts the role of the artist as a part of an art industry – a participant in the world of networking, the right connections, financial types, putting on a show. In short, art as a commercial endeavor carries with it the risk of destroying me as an artist, causing me to assume roles in which I must play act in order to be successful. The irony is – all of this play acting is time spent away from creating art, being an artist – or is it? Inescapable is the fact that to be a successful artist who sells art I must also be a role player.

Thus I must confess that I am many things; I wear many hats, walk in many worlds – I am a con-artist. But the central core of me as a person is my focus on co-creation, joy, life, goodness, truth and beauty, in spite of whatever might distract me, slow me down, get between me and my creative expression. As a con-artist I must develop the ability to be more pragmatic about my vocation; I must expand the artistic definition of myself to encompass my many roles, always seeking to make all of my actions manifestations of the creative urge. When I talk, think, act away from my creative self I fail. I must train myself to do all things creatively, joyfully. Maybe in this way I can overcome the conspiratorial aspect that haunts most of us daily.

My overriding message as a poor dope struggling to know who I am is hope. Hope helps the world right itself and it is doing so right now; hope implies faith, faith that good shall prevail over forces of negative energy. This hope and faith I place in myself. I know, then, that I will be all right as long as I follow the whisper within and I am mindful of others. The world will not end; it cannot end if there is always another creation waiting to be born out of our own being and becoming…

THE ORDER OF THE 4Bs (O.4B.)

The Order
a loosely organized band of rogue, intello-spirito-interlopers (aided by accidentally-conjured-yet-invisible like-minded souls) who harvest dreams from a sea of noospheric possibility
    of the
Bewildered
hopelessly confused by something complicated and involved
Befuddled
stupefaction, as if by inebriants
Betwixt
in an intermediate state, not altogether one nor altogether the other
    and
Between
in or through an interval of space, time, or degree that separates yet connects or relates to…

We talk but say nothing. We huddle in thought, thinking nothing. The Order of the Bewildered, Befuddled, Betwixt and Between, forever voyaging, passes a broken cup of ideas and feelings – daring to authenticate ourselves.

Spirit, ensouled within and about the fibrous membranes of the corpuscular, glows behind the eyes in a hue of pulsating magenta. Meditato potato-heads, we just can’t seem to consciously, conscientiously quell life’s baffling confusions. And words gush, vent, spew and hurl themselves; thoughts fall through image after image; the passio-embrace, the collectivization, the will that won’t – we meet, it’s done. Paradox fooled. Again! Absurdity, humor routing fear, banishing (so we think) the demon pain of distance!

The original O.4B. came out of disorganizational meetings that began around mid-2000 on a mighty upright whale-of-an-Artship-thing that used to be waiting-her-silent-wait, barely moving, moored and tethered, parked and awaiting repairs at her Oakland, CA port. This leviathan, man-made Earth-goddess might have been better christened the Mate Me, Nurse Me. Oh dunderheads were we, those founding, core-four Fathers. Aboard and awake as if in a lucid dream, we would circle our wagons in the cabin and chase word illusions ‘round the decks. We cast out ghosts, during breaks walking the slippery cliff face decks in pow-wow meets, out and about those ancient mariner digs. Who knows? Maybe Jack London knocked his skiff alongside, ferrying aboard other great old souls, like Plato, Nietzsche, Lord Byron, to the night’s immovable feast. Out on the decks an archetypal feminine wind would enfold us in its magic presence. Back in those days, during irregular meetings of maybe two or three times a month, the O.4B. mythos would appear, would resurrect, only to dissolve back into night’s ruddied speckle.

O.4B.ers allow ideas to parade about, letting imagination’s interlocking pneuma propound in loving cadence. Standing back, observing where we really go – it might seem as if each of us is in dying Bladerunner replicant Roy’s head; as if beholding a pan-hedron luminescence of the magnificent, doomed but experientially aware. Turns in O.4B. conversation might steer us into ever more remote isles of the Beautiful. It was here we first harvested dreams in a sea of noospheric possibility. In a building moon crescendo, communal tongues would quicken the night. Minds absorbed in meaningful chat would herald a shared, somehow more transcendent B-ing of imaginal selves.

Since then and now, the O.4B. has dispersed, each of us a self-orbiting moon. And everywhere, from the cavern dankness of the superstructure originally beneath our feet, outward into Nature, or within whatever walled-in refuge we have found for ourselves, time floods back in as memories into the space occupied during such voyages as these.