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Baby Gap clothes bought with love for a child, made with sweatshop labor by a child—a seemingly innocent purchase wrapped up in such deep hurt.

“First they ignore you.

Then they laugh at you.

Then they fight you.

Then you win.”

—Mahatma Ghandi

Look at money grubbin', globe warmin' man gettin all subversive....

It’s time to strengthen our tribe and draw others in who may be ready for some super hero funk.

Ripples

by Trathen Heckman

Recently, from one night to the next I found myself scribbling over scratches of paper on the road, in a notebook on the porch, filling the fold on envelopes and all sorts of other inviting surfaces. In perusing the writings that throttled me over a night and day, I got to wondering where these wide ranging bundles of laffter and pain best fit. Then I realized, where they “fit” is where they’re at, in this stream of time. This is how it often goes. As good as the good gets, it’s the hurt blindsiding u at 3 in the afternoon which can stretch our idea of self in ways we might not otherwise see. That’s the tuff luv about connection; it exposes the disconnections all around. And while it may bring an achy cringe or tear in the moment, the ones that follow offer something more. So here’s 24 hours more or less as they came, a sprinkling of praise and tai chi toast, pharma rants and tears to boot.

The other night some folks were dishing out high praise for the first issue of our publication ripples and I must say, it felt mighty fine that people were responding so well. Later, still all hopped up on praise, I flashed on Palestine. From here, my insides dropped thru the floor at a glimpse of how different my life is from other lives in other places, from other lives in this place. Harsh contrast. Don’t know how it came to be, but I know what to do. I’ll feel humbled and blessed. Not guilty. Not numb. Not apathetic or occupied by the distractions minds find when we don’t want to acknowledge. Humbled and blessed. Why not take that fuzzy feel when it comes yer way and put it to work? Rather than feed a hungry ego, what if we use that energy to create more space to be stronger and in greater service of life? What if we’re aware enuff to grow from that goodness and not let self-esteem lap it up? And what if hurt grows us as well and we get a tad more whole with every bit of everything else?  Alchemy is surely where it’s at, directing what flows out way into any and everything we want it to be.

We know the right thoughts and affirmations, which foods help, which hurt. But still, words and ideas alone can’t ease the pain and severe degradation occurring across the globe, in our cupboards. This deep-rooted cultural malignancy needs all of us to heal it. And we can’t radiate, kill or cut it out. That’s a worn out way of thinking. Beck knows, “the insects are huge, the poison’s all been used and the drugs won’t kill your day job.” We have to strengthen immunity and spirit with each breath, bite and thought. Of course that’s not how, the how is ours to become. That’s what inspires me about many earth-based cultures, how the wisdom is woven into their very existence. Which is why what our heads hold isn’t enuff. We need to know what we’re of, to feel in our bones what it is to be alive now. Deconstructing the crap isn’t a heinous task to hide from; it’s our grail, our sprawling, globalized waking. Buenos Dias compadres. Now step away from the snooze button. It’s time to embrace our common myth and better know how we’re bound together. So set aside your agenda and the cultural map fastened to your mind. Ditch any version of valid that’s too narrowly defined. Open up what you believe to be real. Open up to affirmations you can taste and feel.

Aware intent reconnects us to life in ways we’re often not provided. Find and share this. Our cultural focus on consumption and accumulation fills in fruitless ways, like a bloated belly still unsatisfied. Some say, “Oh, that’s not what I’m about,” but we have to clearly assess the world that runs thru our veins. According to Einstein, “Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.” Now I recognize Albert had a mighty big brain, but I don’t think it’s that bleak. Sure it’s a steep climb to see outside our social sphere, but I refuse to believe people are incapable of doing so. This ability to move beyond conditioning and prejudice is sown into the spirit of life. It’s what must be, to turn this madness on its ass and be set free.

Who doesn’t have a built in craving for love and stability? Why not open up to the subtle bits and recapture what’s been co-opted and manipulated? We’ve been convinced that beauty comes in catalogs and leather bucket seats and balance comes w/ prescriptions and packaged, hydrogenated treats. Power, individuality and sex appeal don’t come from a car; these holes won’t be filled w/ a lil blue pill.

Greater truth and validation are here to be had when we focus in on what matters. This morning I was admiring the gi-normous redwoods and how they seem to stand so still. But each day without notice they stretch to the light, amassing power and size. Just like us with our daily acts and cherished meals, deep breaths and all the rest. One day you pause, look around and aren’t sure how u got there, but life feels big, full and connected. For me this arrives in bite-size servings, like the trees out my door reaching to the edge of the sky and the goodness in a gourd of hot tea digging the garden from a new spot. But this comes w/ something. The price of the pleasure of these bits of bliss is seeing the wounds, all the little stuff wandered by without notice. Disposable anything and bags in the sea, Baby Gap clothes bought with love for a child, made with sweatshop labor by a child from a corporation whose owners make tons of cash and then make some more financing the death of grandmother trees, sending the last old growth forests on this planet crashing down. A seemingly innocent purchase wrapped up in such deep hurt. What does it mean to shop and use but not know? When we can and should know but don’t, what does that mean? I’m not sure, but I know how good it is to be conscious of what I support. We all wear, eat and use. Why not reap more from it? Take the time for more aware acts. Know the deeper worth of mindfully wielded power and control. I don’t care how much is spent on rock star models, there ain’t a pair of khaki’s on the planet gonna give u that. (Click here for more on the Gap.)

Do you wonder about this, what it means to be severed form so many aspects of our lives? I think of the comfort pills this pharmaculture pushes and a line in a recent Adbusters: “For the price of a diagnostic label, we can get the pills we need to adapt to a harsh environment.”

Big pharma kicked down $18.9 million in political donations and $67.9 million in lobbying expenses in the 2000 elections. A clean sweep for those pushing disconnection. Us from our insides, this empire from its people. Do we really want a society full of corporations, doctors, insurance companies, commercials, parents, peer groups and politicians telling us to fill our holes with pills because pharmapolitics runs the show? Still, “for the price of a diagnostic label, we can get the pills we need to adopt to a harsh environment.” (www.adbusters.org)

Well as long as the nightly news says it’s ok. Anyways a lukewarm life isn’t so bad with extreme sports, hyper consumptions and sensory overload to distract, dull and cover the ache. Nope, none for me thanks I prefer my brain intact. Don’t need a lobotomy from any pharma trap. I dig the dichotomy of this mental map. These highs and lows are my slow unfolding. Nor do I accept all these dioxins and other toxins storing in my flesh. Not when I eat, not when I sleep, not when I amble down the street.

Sadly, this is a truth we cannot deny. So I guess, owning this awareness is my confession that I’m ready for the next lesson. Ready for the life connection needed to heal this systemic infection. Why accept a life less than it’s potential to be? What I wanna bioaccumulate and amass on my inside, is the ways we relate to the source of our lives, to know this, to share it, to see neighbors grow full in the chest, inflating, emancipating, being set free. Acknowledge the fine print holding us together, be fed by it, together, be fed.

Belly to mouth, mouth to food, food to farmer and living earth. In these relations lies the contour of our greater worth. Feel the power in the pulse of these words, rhythmic procession scouring your insides. Climb free from structures of pillage knowing all is politics, economics and culture, growing a grander vision of our global village. Now is for sowing seeds of change. This is the gift of being alive in this time.

Of course amongst my babble these are all handpicked factoids. Always consider that. How much do u trust your source? Do u take the time? Thru a given day, we’re pelted with crazy amounts of info and the illusion of countless options. As we’re continually consolidated and merged under the all mighty dollar, it’s essential to assess whether what we take in is as diverse as we think it to be or merely 32 flavors of the same shwag. Well this is 2,000 words of something different. To some, it may sound the same, and it is, it’s the same big, vital stuff that’s thoroughly under- and mis-represented. And it’s up to us to access, copy and spread it til our common language is that of life. Become the media, speak the truth, record, relate and seek to share. Shake that booty with yer hands in the air. Our past has been covered with lies; now is being falsified. On the rise are generations with less potential and greater remorse. Will they look back on a tragic past that somehow lacked enuff heroes? Too busy watching Mel play one on TV. Sure I was riled up over Braveheart, but we gotta be that, out there slaying Darth Wal-Mart. Maybe Mel will play u on the big screen, saving the world from life gobbling mega-mergers. That moral fiber withers without use is something to consider and empathy for sitcom heroes ain’t a work out. Compassion and virtue belong in our tube socks and cereal not just on TV.  

Great acts come from a place of great need. Now is a time of great need, a call for individual and collective power to shine thru. What if we find and manifest our potential, maybe tap that super hero funk, feed our inner shitake? Imagine legions of folks rolling down the street, sporting that wonder woman whoop ass, inoculating apathy and denial with inspired acts, connection and cups of tea. This ain’t yer aunty’s activism, these here are acts of vision, of collective livin. So bust out yer superman underoos and magic lasso, cuz tonight we ride.  

(Trathen Heckman is the publisher of ripples, a quarterly journal devoted to bringing greater sustainability to our acts as we ripple through the day. Check out the web site at www.daily-acts.org. For subscription info, contact Trathen at trathen@daily-acts.org. Click here for Trathen TV!)

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