Comments on: Greetings From the Gravity Well http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/ A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:08:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.2 By: auntiegrav http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5468 auntiegrav Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:31:40 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5468 Thanks, Tim. Another great work. I think there is equal hope, unfortunately, that people will be just as easily swayed to join Hitler as to join Gandhi. This is where you and I come in. We sometimes have to get angry to influence people. If you don't swear, they don't know you are serious. Watch the TV for a while, and you will see what I mean. The problem is that these days, my second language (Profanity) is washed out by everyone else's amateur attempts at shockudrama. I was born 3 years after you, and after 7 brothers and sisters. My training in shock factor is quite high in the melodrama department, but it doesn't phase people at all these days. I'm supposed to act like my gray hairs: always present the 'wise' and 'knowing', but don't tell people how stupid they are. They'll usually find out once they open their minds up and look inside, though. Embrace your misanthropy. There's a reason to dislike most of humanity: because most of it doesn't act human. Most of humanity is too busy acting like pigs or flies to realize they are being led by a chick Fil-a sandwich straight to Hell. When Bush tells us the economy is doing fine, you know we are in for some serious bullshit to come. Thanks, Tim. Another great work.
I think there is equal hope, unfortunately, that people will be just as easily swayed to join Hitler as to join Gandhi.
This is where you and I come in. We sometimes have to get angry to influence people. If you don’t swear, they don’t know you are serious. Watch the TV for a while, and you will see what I mean. The problem is that these days, my second language (Profanity) is washed out by everyone else’s amateur attempts at shockudrama. I was born 3 years after you, and after 7 brothers and sisters. My training in shock factor is quite high in the melodrama department, but it doesn’t phase people at all these days. I’m supposed to act like my gray hairs: always present the ‘wise’ and ‘knowing’, but don’t tell people how stupid they are. They’ll usually find out once they open their minds up and look inside, though.
Embrace your misanthropy. There’s a reason to dislike most of humanity: because most of it doesn’t act human. Most of humanity is too busy acting like pigs or flies to realize they are being led by a chick Fil-a sandwich straight to Hell.
When Bush tells us the economy is doing fine, you know we are in for some serious bullshit to come.

]]> By: Raging Grannie http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5471 Raging Grannie Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:14:30 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5471 Right-on message - superb delivery..... Thanks again for all you do Right-on message - superb delivery…..

Thanks again for all you do

]]> By: David MacLeod http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5474 David MacLeod Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:24:37 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5474 Beautiful Tim, thank you. "Can we rely on it that a ‘turning around’ will be accomplished by enough people quickly enough to save the modern world? This question is often asked, but whatever answer is given to it will mislead. The answer “yes” would lead to complacency; the answer “no” to despair. It is desirable to leave these perplexities behind us and get down to work." E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful Oh, and here's another quote. I was in a meeting last week with people seeking to form a peak oil task force in our community. Without knowing that I was the organizer for the showing of WAWTG in Bellingham, the city's Environmental Resources manager said, "What a way to go: Life at the End of Empire is making it's way through the community as a living room showing and discussion group phenomenon." Your work in our community is still percolating, and helping many of us to think more deeply about these issues. Beautiful Tim, thank you.

“Can we rely on it that a ‘turning around’ will be accomplished by enough people quickly enough to save the modern world? This question is often asked, but whatever answer is given to it will mislead. The answer “yes” would lead to complacency; the answer “no” to despair. It is desirable to leave these perplexities behind us and get down to work.” E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful

Oh, and here’s another quote. I was in a meeting last week with people seeking to form a peak oil task force in our community. Without knowing that I was the organizer for the showing of WAWTG in Bellingham, the city’s Environmental Resources manager said, “What a way to go: Life at the End of Empire is making it’s way through the community as a living room showing and discussion group phenomenon.”

Your work in our community is still percolating, and helping many of us to think more deeply about these issues.

]]> By: Stephen Van Wagoner http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5499 Stephen Van Wagoner Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:51:23 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5499 Tim, You are a fine filmmaker, an excellent wordsmith, and a thinker of great clarity in spite of your existential confusion. Please continue. I personally prefer your writing to speak directly to us as opposed to conversations with Todd. Your work gives me hope, false or not, that the world may someday wakeup from the drug induced dream of pointless consumption. Tim,

You are a fine filmmaker, an excellent wordsmith, and a thinker of great clarity in spite of your existential confusion. Please continue. I personally prefer your writing to speak directly to us as opposed to conversations with Todd. Your work gives me hope, false or not, that the world may someday wakeup from the drug induced dream of pointless consumption.

]]> By: Joseph Gola http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5500 Joseph Gola Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:51:30 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5500 Hey Tim, Joseph again. You mention both Peter Russell and Daniel Pinchbeck. These two are examples of the kind of ideas I was refering to in my post to you a week ago, when I said that I was coming from - and approaching The Situation We Are All In - from a POV based in transpersonal psychology and esoteric spirituality. The 1960's were what we might call a Planetary Renaissance Wave. It was an Orphic Revival, in the parlance of today we might call it a Gaian Resurgence. This wave consisted of many streams: ecological awareness, rediscovery of esoteric-directly-experiential spirituality and the whole mystical-right-brain reality, social-political-economic justice and civil rights, anti-imperialism the rise of the feminine archetype, etc.. But the central aspect of all of this is best described as a resurgence of the right-brain that had been exiled by the left-brain dominance-spell humanity had fallen into (Why?! How?! Those ever-vexing questions!!). The exile of the psyche, or Psyche, which the Romantic poets characterized as the exile of the Eternal Feminine....we thought it was finally over...that humanity was going to emerge from spiritual darkness and that a Planetary Renaissance was at hand. But....... The dominator culture - Empire, The Tryranny, nay the fanatical Tyranny, of Left-Brain Man(who can also be female btw) crushed this wave out and stomped it into the ground. Money, Power, Empire won in the sense of blocking changes that we desperately needed to make 25, 30 years ago as a small minority of Gaian mutants saw - back then. Personally Tim, I have been depressed since the Reagan Era ;~) - which was billed as The Death Of the 60's by all who hated - in their spiritual psychosis - the Return of Gaia. To mutants, "She's A Rainbow" as the Rolling Stones sang, but to left-brain dominators, She was a threat that needed to be destroyed, She was a threat to Empire. A threat to the left-brain-dominator-ego. And deep down Tim, I knew then, in the Reagan era - as I watched the Big Sell-Out - that if people living charmed lives under incredibly affluent conditions couldnt respond to the dead-end-destructive-insane life we were living, Wake Up and do something, and instead, chose to remain spoiled adolescent brats, then truly we were f**ked, totally f**ked. And yet..... ..........I kept reading the Peter Russells (and Barbara Marx Hubbards and Duane Elgins and....every damn mutant guide-book-instruction-manual-on-how-to-mutate-yourself-and-then-help-mutate-the collective-consciousness-of-humanity - ya know The Consciousness Revolution - and....here we are, and here I am, posting this at your website. A long strange trip indeed. Warm regards, Joseph Hey Tim, Joseph again.
You mention both Peter Russell and Daniel Pinchbeck. These two are examples of the kind of ideas I was refering to in my post to you a week ago, when I said that I was coming from - and approaching The Situation We Are All In - from a POV based in transpersonal psychology and esoteric spirituality.
The 1960’s were what we might call a Planetary Renaissance Wave. It was an Orphic Revival, in the parlance of today we might call it a Gaian Resurgence.
This wave consisted of many streams: ecological awareness, rediscovery of esoteric-directly-experiential spirituality and the whole mystical-right-brain reality, social-political-economic justice and civil rights, anti-imperialism the rise of the feminine archetype, etc..
But the central aspect of all of this is best described as a resurgence of the right-brain that had been exiled by the left-brain dominance-spell humanity had fallen into (Why?! How?! Those ever-vexing questions!!). The exile of the psyche, or Psyche, which the Romantic poets characterized as the exile of the Eternal Feminine….we thought it was finally over…that humanity was going to emerge from spiritual darkness and that a Planetary Renaissance was at hand. But…….
The dominator culture - Empire, The Tryranny, nay the fanatical Tyranny, of Left-Brain Man(who can also be female btw) crushed this wave out and stomped it into the ground. Money, Power, Empire won in the sense of blocking changes that we desperately needed to make 25, 30 years ago as a small minority of Gaian mutants saw - back then.
Personally Tim, I have been depressed since the Reagan Era ;~) - which was billed as The Death Of the 60’s by all who hated - in their spiritual psychosis - the Return of Gaia. To mutants, “She’s A Rainbow” as the Rolling Stones sang, but to left-brain dominators, She was a threat that needed to be destroyed, She was a threat to Empire. A threat to the left-brain-dominator-ego.
And deep down Tim, I knew then, in the Reagan era - as I watched the Big Sell-Out - that if people living charmed lives under incredibly affluent conditions couldnt respond to the dead-end-destructive-insane life we were living, Wake Up and do something, and instead, chose to remain spoiled adolescent brats, then truly we were f**ked, totally f**ked. And yet…..
……….I kept reading the Peter Russells (and Barbara Marx Hubbards and Duane Elgins and….every damn mutant guide-book-instruction-manual-on-how-to-mutate-yourself-and-then-help-mutate-the collective-consciousness-of-humanity - ya know The Consciousness Revolution - and….here we are, and here I am, posting this at your website. A long strange trip indeed. Warm regards, Joseph

]]> By: Luke http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5502 Luke Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:45:55 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5502 Thanks Tim, Thanks Tim,

]]> By: Tim http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5506 Tim Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:59:40 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5506 Hey Auntigrav... perhaps, in a sea of shockudrama, what stands out is its opposite, and the key becomes distinction rather than competition. When I was student teaching, in order to be heard over a room full of noisy students, I simply stood there and spoke very softly. Soon enough, they quieted down to hear what I was saying! Thank you, Raging Granny! Glad to see you here. Thanks for all your work on the climate change issue! David, thanks for your kind words. "A discussion group phenomenon", eh? I like that. Sounds like a good reason to NOT take the mainstream machine up on its offers to distribute. It works much better hand to hand and arm in arm. Hi Stephen. Thanks. Glad to hear my words help. Todd's a bit miffed but he'll get over it! Joseph, your comment reminds me of the explanation my friend Iain gave me for the punk music scene and what it was about: a reaction to how the 60s revival was stomped down under the boot of Empire. Thanks for the "She's a Rainbow" reference. It's been playing in my head since. She comes in colors everywhere... Peace, all. Tim Hey Auntigrav… perhaps, in a sea of shockudrama, what stands out is its opposite, and the key becomes distinction rather than competition. When I was student teaching, in order to be heard over a room full of noisy students, I simply stood there and spoke very softly. Soon enough, they quieted down to hear what I was saying!

Thank you, Raging Granny! Glad to see you here. Thanks for all your work on the climate change issue!

David, thanks for your kind words. “A discussion group phenomenon”, eh? I like that. Sounds like a good reason to NOT take the mainstream machine up on its offers to distribute. It works much better hand to hand and arm in arm.

Hi Stephen. Thanks. Glad to hear my words help. Todd’s a bit miffed but he’ll get over it!

Joseph, your comment reminds me of the explanation my friend Iain gave me for the punk music scene and what it was about: a reaction to how the 60s revival was stomped down under the boot of Empire. Thanks for the “She’s a Rainbow” reference. It’s been playing in my head since. She comes in colors everywhere…

Peace, all.

Tim

]]> By: Tim http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5510 Tim Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:22:48 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5510 Oh, I forgot. Thank you too, Luke. Glad to see you here! Oh, I forgot. Thank you too, Luke. Glad to see you here!

]]> By: Joseph Gola http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5514 Joseph Gola Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:01:04 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5514 Well Tim, your reply gives me the chance to ask you - or whoever here might have an answer ( I do realize we all have little spare time for these things these days) - about something I often wonder about and have mentioned many times to friends - we will move to it starting from your coment above. It seems to me that another part of the punk reality was a hatred for 60's idealism itself. It was like they were saying, "Yeah, yeah yeah, a bunch of hippies got rich playing rock star singing about love and peace and blah blah blah but the poor and the working-class continue to get screwed, nothings changed, and nothing is going to change so take your "All You Need Is Love" and shove it up your...", etc. To some extent they were right; however, punk then merely descended into existential nihilism, like much of what is called postmodernism, a philosophical position I can understand - and arent we all struggling with elements of that right now? - but not one I choose to live in personally: my spiritual path is not dependent upon how The Collapse turns out one way or another. In fact, I can take refuge in the lines of a song written by one of the premier *Love-poets* of the 60's, Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, who sang, in 1972, "Listen to the tide slowly turning, wash all our heartache away, we're part of the fire that is burning, from the ashes we can build another day. "But I'm frightened for your children, and the life that we are living is in vain, and the sunshine we've been waiting for could turn to rain. "When the final line is over, and it's certain that the curtain's going to fall, I can hide inside your sweet, sweet love, forevermore" And those who knew very well what George Harrison was singing about in "Within You, Without You" knew very well "the sweet, sweet love Hayward was refering to. But for the punks, that Love, that Light didnt exist - period. But the question still remains, and it is especially relevant today, and it is: Why dont all of these rich, so-called progressive artists today - musicians, actors, etc. - put their money, their "lives, fortunes and sacred honor" - on The Line in the service of really opposing Empire and using their global platforms to Tell It All Like It Is? I mean what are they waiting for? - this is Crunch Time, this is It, The Final Exam. If people like Cloony and Bono and all the rest got together, networked and pooled their resources, they could send a Message through the global media that could tell The Whole Story in a devastating exposition that would illustrate all the dimensions of the The Problem - the ecological and social-political-economic (imagine a synthesis of What A Way To Go and Farenheit 911 times 100) - and all the elements of the most positive responses we could make, ecologically, politically and spiritually (and when I say spiritually, I mean a la the Peter Russells). But this never happens! The wealthy *progressives* - or the Peter Russells and Deepak Chopras for that matter! - almost never put it all on the line with a full-spectrum presentation of what is happening on this planet. Why? It blows my mind. In discussions I have participated in, people have speculated that such an open revolt from a network of people who because of their wealth command real power in the world, would be met by threats to assassinate them or their families and that this stops them - and anyone - from stepping too far over the line. And meanwhile, the Imperial propaganda delivery-and-control system - the MSM - continues to cover-up the truth and block alternative worldviews from being widely disseminated, and continues to mainline Their reality directly into our brains. With no end in sight. So maybe the punks and the existential nihilists were right all along. As Shakespeare said, "Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." And destined - human life that is - from the time the first pyramid was built in Egypt - for the Grand Finale of global civilizational Collapse. Warm regards to you and Sally, Joseph Well Tim, your reply gives me the chance to ask you - or whoever here might have an answer ( I do realize we all have little spare time for these things these days) - about something I often wonder about and have mentioned many times to friends - we will move to it starting from your coment above.
It seems to me that another part of the punk reality was a hatred for 60’s idealism itself. It was like they were saying, “Yeah, yeah yeah, a bunch of hippies got rich playing rock star singing about love and peace and blah blah blah but the poor and the working-class continue to get screwed, nothings changed, and nothing is going to change so take your “All You Need Is Love” and shove it up your…”, etc.
To some extent they were right; however, punk then merely descended into existential nihilism, like much of what is called postmodernism, a philosophical position I can understand - and arent we all struggling with elements of that right now? - but not one I choose to live in personally: my spiritual path is not dependent upon how The Collapse turns out one way or another.
In fact, I can take refuge in the lines of a song written by one of the premier *Love-poets* of the 60’s, Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, who sang, in 1972,

“Listen to the tide slowly turning, wash all our heartache away, we’re part of the fire that is burning, from the ashes we can build another day.

“But I’m frightened for your children, and the life that we are living is in vain, and the sunshine we’ve been waiting for could turn to rain.

“When the final line is over, and it’s certain that the curtain’s going to fall, I can hide inside your sweet, sweet love, forevermore”

And those who knew very well what George Harrison was singing about in “Within You, Without You” knew very well “the sweet, sweet love Hayward was refering to. But for the punks, that Love, that Light didnt exist - period.
But the question still remains, and it is especially relevant today, and it is: Why dont all of these rich, so-called progressive artists today - musicians, actors, etc. - put their money, their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” - on The Line in the service of really opposing Empire and using their global platforms to Tell It All Like It Is?
I mean what are they waiting for? - this is Crunch Time, this is It, The Final Exam.
If people like Cloony and Bono and all the rest got together, networked and pooled their resources, they could send a Message through the global media that could tell The Whole Story in a devastating exposition that would illustrate all the dimensions of the The Problem - the ecological and social-political-economic (imagine a synthesis of What A Way To Go and Farenheit 911 times 100) - and all the elements of the most positive responses we could make, ecologically, politically and spiritually (and when I say spiritually, I mean a la the Peter Russells).
But this never happens! The wealthy *progressives* - or the Peter Russells and Deepak Chopras for that matter! - almost never put it all on the line with a full-spectrum presentation of what is happening on this planet. Why?
It blows my mind. In discussions I have participated in, people have speculated that such an open revolt from a network of people who because of their wealth command real power in the world, would be met by threats to assassinate them or their families and that this stops them - and anyone - from stepping too far over the line.
And meanwhile, the Imperial propaganda delivery-and-control system - the MSM - continues to cover-up the truth and block alternative worldviews from being widely disseminated, and continues to mainline Their reality directly into our brains. With no end in sight.
So maybe the punks and the existential nihilists were right all along. As Shakespeare said, “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” And destined - human life that is - from the time the first pyramid was built in Egypt - for the Grand Finale of global civilizational Collapse. Warm regards to you and Sally, Joseph

]]> By: NeoLotus http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5535 NeoLotus Sun, 23 Dec 2007 19:41:58 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5535 I am fast becoming a big fan of your writing. I am also a huge fan of "A Christmas Carol" and have used it often myself for many years. I think this latest piece by you explains exactly the shift that needs to occur in people's minds. I had already made that shift unconsciously long ago even before my dad died two weeks ago, though his passing made it more explicit and intentional but also far broader than it had been before. I think the expressions of sympathy shown me has helped me get over my own anger at life not lived well (my own as well as the culture we live in). In Confucian philosophy, particularly the works of Mencius, commiseration is the beginning of humanity. It is our humanity, our feelings of benevolence and compassion, that is the true mark of a human being. Indulging one's anger at the other noodles in the soup is totally counter-productive as it strips one of one's own humanity in the process of stripping another of theirs. I had determined ages ago that we needed a single, world-wide ethic and that ethic is the Golden Rule: treat others with the same dignity and respect that we wish for ourselves. It is the only way to preserve our humanity and enlarge that humanity in others. However, I also agree that anger is a good tool when used properly and in the right circumstances ala Gandhi directing his at injustice. His way to overcome injustice was not to explode at others but rather to re-awaken the humanity of the people which was denied under the thumb of British rule. Our own humanity is being denied us in our current culture. The true counter-culture we need today is exactly your realization that we are indeed in this together, for if we do not cooperate and hang together, we shall surely hang separately. Living has always been a cooperative endeavor. It's time we pierced the bubble of our isolation and invite others by the warm fire of our shared humanity despite how quirky we all are. I am fast becoming a big fan of your writing. I am also a huge fan of “A Christmas Carol” and have used it often myself for many years. I think this latest piece by you explains exactly the shift that needs to occur in people’s minds. I had already made that shift unconsciously long ago even before my dad died two weeks ago, though his passing made it more explicit and intentional but also far broader than it had been before. I think the expressions of sympathy shown me has helped me get over my own anger at life not lived well (my own as well as the culture we live in).

In Confucian philosophy, particularly the works of Mencius, commiseration is the beginning of humanity. It is our humanity, our feelings of benevolence and compassion, that is the true mark of a human being. Indulging one’s anger at the other noodles in the soup is totally counter-productive as it strips one of one’s own humanity in the process of stripping another of theirs.

I had determined ages ago that we needed a single, world-wide ethic and that ethic is the Golden Rule: treat others with the same dignity and respect that we wish for ourselves. It is the only way to preserve our humanity and enlarge that humanity in others.

However, I also agree that anger is a good tool when used properly and in the right circumstances ala Gandhi directing his at injustice. His way to overcome injustice was not to explode at others but rather to re-awaken the humanity of the people which was denied under the thumb of British rule. Our own humanity is being denied us in our current culture. The true counter-culture we need today is exactly your realization that we are indeed in this together, for if we do not cooperate and hang together, we shall surely hang separately. Living has always been a cooperative endeavor. It’s time we pierced the bubble of our isolation and invite others by the warm fire of our shared humanity despite how quirky we all are.

]]> By: Nory Fussell http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5538 Nory Fussell Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:37:26 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5538 Thanks, Tim. Trying not to spend much time in front of the screen these days, but your writing always touches me back, briefly, providing fuel for the walks and the talks. I've been living deep within grief and gratitude these days. Every day, 'born in captivity', buried in grief, resurrected in gratitude and freed through poetry and music and philosoophy and walks in the blessed rain ... and Love. Hope? That's the work we do. Its the voices we hear calling us to The Work -- our progeny, other species, the soil and water and air, each other. Hope is the Home towards which we send the Gift of our reply, wrapped in the Care and Tenderness with which we do our Work. On this Winter Solstice weekend, my good friend Adam summed it up beautifully at meeting this morning, "The period of darkness is diminishing. We'll be spending more time in The Light. We can count on it. We're in agreement over it." I'm grateful for the 'darkness' and the anguish and the Truth that you and Sally have poured into your work, and for the Light that has shown in our community since your visit, that continues to shine as more people are seeing your film, weeping, talking, accepting and changing. Hope? Yes. Saving Western Civilization as we know it? Not a chance. Something beautiful rising from the ashes? Hope-Work. Hugs, Nory Thanks, Tim. Trying not to spend much time in front of the screen these days, but your writing always touches me back, briefly, providing fuel for the walks and the talks.

I’ve been living deep within grief and gratitude these days. Every day, ‘born in captivity’, buried in grief, resurrected in gratitude and freed through poetry and music and philosoophy and walks in the blessed rain … and Love.

Hope? That’s the work we do. Its the voices we hear calling us to The Work — our progeny, other species, the soil and water and air, each other. Hope is the Home towards which we send the Gift of our reply, wrapped in the Care and Tenderness with which we do our Work.

On this Winter Solstice weekend, my good friend Adam summed it up beautifully at meeting this morning, “The period of darkness is diminishing. We’ll be spending more time in The Light. We can count on it. We’re in agreement over it.”

I’m grateful for the ‘darkness’ and the anguish and the Truth that you and Sally have poured into your work, and for the Light that has shown in our community since your visit, that continues to shine as more people are seeing your film, weeping, talking, accepting and changing.

Hope? Yes.
Saving Western Civilization as we know it? Not a chance. Something beautiful rising from the ashes? Hope-Work.

Hugs, Nory

]]> By: Suzanne Duarte http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5550 Suzanne Duarte Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:32:00 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5550 Hi Tim and Sally, You continue to inspire me with your truth-telling honesty. More than any other 'crashwatch blog,' yours give me the gift of courage to speak the truth of feelings. Tim, I loved this piece, as I have many others. It's going into my new website, coming soon. I'll let you know. Lots of love, Suzanne Hi Tim and Sally,

You continue to inspire me with your truth-telling honesty. More than any other ‘crashwatch blog,’ yours give me the gift of courage to speak the truth of feelings. Tim, I loved this piece, as I have many others. It’s going into my new website, coming soon. I’ll let you know.

Lots of love,

Suzanne

]]> By: Tim http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5562 Tim Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:00:11 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5562 Hey Joseph, My understanding was that the punks weren’t disgusted with the 60s idealists themselves, but with the system that would stomp them down and grind them into the dirt. But I’ve done very little reading or analysis of the movement. Is that something you know lots about? Got any recommended reading? It looks to me like you pretty well answer your own question! Here’s some of my thoughts to the matter of “why don’t they?”…a bit disjointed and raw, I fear… 1) They are trapped and coerced, as you say. And certainly there are mechanisms of control and violence involved. The Powers That Be learned a great deal from the Nazis in Germany, from the Cold War and the Communist Scare, from the Vietnam War and Watergate, etc., about how to maintain power and control through domination and violence without it being noticed by the masses for what it is, such that fascism looks like freedom and the most destructive Empire in the world can pretend to be its savior. As David Edwards, author of an incredible analysis of this called <strong>Burning All Illusions</strong>, says: " There is no greater obstacle to freedom than the assumption that it has already been attained.” In <a href="http://www.medialens.org/articles/the_articles/articles_2001/dj_interview_with_DE.html" rel="nofollow">a wonderful interview he did with Derrick Jensen</a> he goes on to explain: “What prison could be more secure than one we're convinced is "the world," where the boundaries of action and thought are assumed to be, not the limits of the permissible, but the limits of the possible? Democratic society, as we know it, is the ultimate prison, because who's going to try to escape from a situation of apparent freedom? It follows, then, that we must be happy, because we can do whatever we want.” So they, these “power progressives” you wonder about, live, as do we all, in a system that is grounded in violence and control, but which pretends to be kinder and gentler. Such that <a href="http://netctr.com/mediawatch.html" rel="nofollow">William Colby</a>, former director of the CIA, can say (on his deathbed?), “"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media,” and be understood, and believed, and IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. The control mechanisms are more powerful today than they’ve ever been, largely because they are not even seen as control mechanisms by most of the population. But, of course, the violence is felt in our bodies. We are sensate animals, after all. The punks could feel it, and see it to some good extent. The “power progressives” can feel it, even if they don’t know what it is. I can feel it, and am getting better at seeing it all the time. 2) They don’t know, as you also point out. Having been born and raised in captivity, having been educated in prison schools, and having received most of their information from prison newspapers, most people, including almost all of the “power progressives”, have a very poor understanding of what’s going on in the world - at the deepest levels of culture and psychology, and in a big picture way, looking at ecology and economy and politics and religion and production and resources and culture all at once. (Remembering point #1 above, it’s more correct to say that it APPEARS that they don’t know. My guess, based on my own experience of people in this culture, is that most of them really don’t, but I can’t say for sure, as I haven’t spoken with them.) I spent a good deal of time last month reading <a href="http://www.rollingstoneextras.com/rsdigitaledition/editionLg.php" rel="nofollow">an issue of Rolling Stone</a> with 40 mini-interviews with some of our culture’s top “power progressives.” It was maddening, and very, very sad. If their self-report is to be believed, they really don’t know. Our atomized media and our atomized lives and our atomized sciences and our atomized education leave people to see the world situation in atomized ways. People focus on a single issue, which is almost always merely a symptom of the underlying “real problem”. Isn’t that the standard? Power progressive takes on and becomes famous for speaking out against and working toward a solution for a very visible, easy-to-understand, big-ticket issue, and all the better if there are innocent victims with cute faces and big, soulful eyes. Nothing wrong with that, save for the fact that the underlying system hardly gets noticed, let alone reckoned with. All of which is the basic reason why we made the doc as we did… to reckon with the totality and look underneath the single issues. There are, as always, a million more things we could talk about, but it takes so long in this medium, and I am having such a hard time working and focusing and being online these days. So I’m going to stop here. Thanks for giving me a chance to chew on this and work through some things in my head. Take care, Tim Hey Joseph,

My understanding was that the punks weren’t disgusted with the 60s idealists themselves, but with the system that would stomp them down and grind them into the dirt. But I’ve done very little reading or analysis of the movement. Is that something you know lots about? Got any recommended reading?

It looks to me like you pretty well answer your own question! Here’s some of my thoughts to the matter of “why don’t they?”…a bit disjointed and raw, I fear…

1) They are trapped and coerced, as you say. And certainly there are mechanisms of control and violence involved. The Powers That Be learned a great deal from the Nazis in Germany, from the Cold War and the Communist Scare, from the Vietnam War and Watergate, etc., about how to maintain power and control through domination and violence without it being noticed by the masses for what it is, such that fascism looks like freedom and the most destructive Empire in the world can pretend to be its savior. As David Edwards, author of an incredible analysis of this called Burning All Illusions, says: ” There is no greater obstacle to freedom than the assumption that it has already been attained.” In a wonderful interview he did with Derrick Jensen he goes on to explain: “What prison could be more secure than one we’re convinced is “the world,” where the boundaries of action and thought are assumed to be, not the limits of the permissible, but the limits of the possible? Democratic society, as we know it, is the ultimate prison, because who’s going to try to escape from a situation of apparent freedom? It follows, then, that we must be happy, because we can do whatever we want.”

So they, these “power progressives” you wonder about, live, as do we all, in a system that is grounded in violence and control, but which pretends to be kinder and gentler. Such that William Colby, former director of the CIA, can say (on his deathbed?), “”The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media,” and be understood, and believed, and IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. The control mechanisms are more powerful today than they’ve ever been, largely because they are not even seen as control mechanisms by most of the population.

But, of course, the violence is felt in our bodies. We are sensate animals, after all. The punks could feel it, and see it to some good extent. The “power progressives” can feel it, even if they don’t know what it is. I can feel it, and am getting better at seeing it all the time.

2) They don’t know, as you also point out. Having been born and raised in captivity, having been educated in prison schools, and having received most of their information from prison newspapers, most people, including almost all of the “power progressives”, have a very poor understanding of what’s going on in the world - at the deepest levels of culture and psychology, and in a big picture way, looking at ecology and economy and politics and religion and production and resources and culture all at once. (Remembering point #1 above, it’s more correct to say that it APPEARS that they don’t know. My guess, based on my own experience of people in this culture, is that most of them really don’t, but I can’t say for sure, as I haven’t spoken with them.) I spent a good deal of time last month reading an issue of Rolling Stone with 40 mini-interviews with some of our culture’s top “power progressives.” It was maddening, and very, very sad. If their self-report is to be believed, they really don’t know.

Our atomized media and our atomized lives and our atomized sciences and our atomized education leave people to see the world situation in atomized ways. People focus on a single issue, which is almost always merely a symptom of the underlying “real problem”. Isn’t that the standard? Power progressive takes on and becomes famous for speaking out against and working toward a solution for a very visible, easy-to-understand, big-ticket issue, and all the better if there are innocent victims with cute faces and big, soulful eyes. Nothing wrong with that, save for the fact that the underlying system hardly gets noticed, let alone reckoned with. All of which is the basic reason why we made the doc as we did… to reckon with the totality and look underneath the single issues.

There are, as always, a million more things we could talk about, but it takes so long in this medium, and I am having such a hard time working and focusing and being online these days. So I’m going to stop here. Thanks for giving me a chance to chew on this and work through some things in my head.

Take care,

Tim

]]> By: Tim http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5564 Tim Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:22:44 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5564 NeoLotus... beautifully said! Thanks. "Commiseration is the beginning of humanity." I love that. And the noodles in the soup... that'll stick with me. Nory... good to hear from you. Good to hear your poetry, to feel your heart from so far away, through the medium of little black markings on a white screen. A bit o' magic. Here's to both the darkness and the light, and to walks in the blessed rain... Hey Suzanne... go to hear from you too! I was wondering how you were doing just the other day. Glad to hear your website will be up and running soon and look forward to your notification. Thanks, all, TIm NeoLotus… beautifully said! Thanks. “Commiseration is the beginning of humanity.” I love that. And the noodles in the soup… that’ll stick with me.

Nory… good to hear from you. Good to hear your poetry, to feel your heart from so far away, through the medium of little black markings on a white screen. A bit o’ magic. Here’s to both the darkness and the light, and to walks in the blessed rain…

Hey Suzanne… go to hear from you too! I was wondering how you were doing just the other day. Glad to hear your website will be up and running soon and look forward to your notification.

Thanks, all,
TIm

]]> By: Joseph Gola http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5594 Joseph Gola Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:47:06 +0000 http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2007/12/17/greetings-from-the-gravity-well/#comment-5594 Yeah, I understand we all dont really have a lot of spare time these days for online communications. So, when I post here, I dont necessarily expect a reply let alone a reply in depth. The punk thing is obvious from the music. It is very hard, angry dissonant music. Think about this: racist skinhead music grew out of/along with punk; it is impossible to imagine it growing out of, say, JS Bach or the Moody Blues or any spiritually uplifting music. Punk, like postmodernism, has its place but it ends in nihilism as far as I can see - all deconstruction - angry deconstruction - and the trashing of all values without offering anything spiritually uplifting in their place. Regarding your link to Derrick Jensen above, what I am saying is, it blows my mind that a lot more people havent *gotten it* - understood such ideas - a long, long time ago. Ditto for all the points you made above - there is no excuse for these power progressives to have not realized such obvious truths a long time ago. Imagine Tim if you had had virtually unlimited resources and unlimited staff to do your documentary. Imagine, for example, if you had the resources to travel and do interviews like in the CNN piece, "Planet In Peril". Remember in the doc where you briefly scroll a list of all the other aspects of the situation you could have focused on? Imagine if you had the resources to do so. Well, these ultra-wealthy progressive artists DO have the resources to do so. They could literally blow the planetary mind. Some of these people, like Sting or Bono are worth 100 million dollars and up. Pooling their resources, they could afford to give it away free. Notice on your copy of Pinchbeck's book a cover blurb by Sting praising the book? When I saw that, I wondered if Sting thought we could achieve all of that with him and others still getting to enjoy their ultra-affluent lives. As I think about it now, it would be a good idea if someone could get a copy of What a Way To Go in Stings hands. Or Al Gore's hands. Or Kucinich. Maybe someone could arrange to show it as a side event during the Democratic convention coming up. Or, maybe some of these power progressives could come out and buy - say - 600 copies of your doc and distribute them to every congressperson and senator in office. Hell, why stop there? they could buy thousands of copies and distribute them to every high official of every government on the planet! In other words, let's give these power progressives the chance to put their money where their mouths are. Just food for thought. Warm regards, Joseph Yeah, I understand we all dont really have a lot of spare time these days for online communications. So, when I post here, I dont necessarily expect a reply let alone a reply in depth.
The punk thing is obvious from the music. It is very hard, angry dissonant music. Think about this: racist skinhead music grew out of/along with punk; it is impossible to imagine it growing out of, say, JS Bach or the Moody Blues or any spiritually uplifting music.
Punk, like postmodernism, has its place but it ends in nihilism as far as I can see - all deconstruction - angry deconstruction - and the trashing of all values without offering anything spiritually uplifting in their place.
Regarding your link to Derrick Jensen above, what I am saying is, it blows my mind that a lot more people havent *gotten it* - understood such ideas - a long, long time ago.
Ditto for all the points you made above - there is no excuse for these power progressives to have not realized such obvious truths a long time ago.
Imagine Tim if you had had virtually unlimited resources and unlimited staff to do your documentary. Imagine, for example, if you had the resources to travel and do interviews like in the CNN piece, “Planet In Peril”.
Remember in the doc where you briefly scroll a list of all the other aspects of the situation you could have focused on? Imagine if you had the resources to do so.
Well, these ultra-wealthy progressive artists DO have the resources to do so. They could literally blow the planetary mind. Some of these people, like Sting or Bono are worth 100 million dollars and up. Pooling their resources, they could afford to give it away free.
Notice on your copy of Pinchbeck’s book a cover blurb by Sting praising the book? When I saw that, I wondered if Sting thought we could achieve all of that with him and others still getting to enjoy their ultra-affluent lives.
As I think about it now, it would be a good idea if someone could get a copy of What a Way To Go in Stings hands. Or Al Gore’s hands. Or Kucinich. Maybe someone could arrange to show it as a side event during the Democratic convention coming up.
Or, maybe some of these power progressives could come out and buy - say - 600 copies of your doc and distribute them to every congressperson and senator in office. Hell, why stop there? they could buy thousands of copies and distribute them to every high official of every government on the planet!
In other words, let’s give these power progressives the chance to put their money where their mouths are. Just food for thought. Warm regards, Joseph

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