Won't You Be My Neighbour?

Back in 1969, Nixon proposed cuts to Public Broadcasting, leading the Senate to hold a hearing that would decide the future of the station. And who do you think appeared before them and melted their hearts with words?
Mr. Rogers.

He wasn’t the CEO. He wasn’t a Washington insider. He wasn’t even well-known to the committee. Yet he showed up, spoke from the heart, and transformed some of the toughest, most hardened politicians in the country into raving fans.



Every day that you communicate from your heart, you have a chance to change the world.
~~~~
So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we're together we might as well say:
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
~~~~

Albert Einstein on Mystery, Eternity and The Mind Of God

Einstein's quip that "God does not play dice with the universe" was about quantum physics, not a statement of faith. But he did ponder the relationship between science and religion and his sense of "the order deeply hidden behind everything."
~~~~
Join Krista Tippett, Freeman Dyson and Paul Davies in an exploration of Einstein's wisdom on mystery, eternity, and the mind of God.
~~~~

From The World As I See It by Albert Einstein, published in 1956:

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead. A snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery, even if mixed with fear, that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty. It is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude.

In this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. Enough for me, the mystery of the eternity of life and the inkling of the marvelous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.

Einstein described his own inclination towards another kind of religious sensibility, which he called "a cosmic religious sense." And he discerned kindred glimpses of this feeling in such diverse figures as the prophets and psalmists of the Hebrew Bible, St. Francis of Assisi, and the Buddha.  He wrote in the New York Times in 1930:

"It is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who does not experience it. … The individual feels the vanity of human desires and aims and the nobility and marvelous order which are revealed in nature and in the world of thought. Individual existence strikes him as a sort of prison, and he wants to experience the universe as a single, significant whole. … The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling. … In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it."

Paul Davies:  "He did not believe in a personal God. He made that very clear. But he did believe in a rational world order, and he expressed what he sometimes called a "cosmic religious feeling," a sense of awe, a sense of admiration at the intellectual ingenuity of the universe. Not just its majesty, its grandness, its vast size, but its extraordinary subtlety and beauty and mathematical elegance."
~~~~

Though Einstein's theories of relativity, an expanding universe, black holes and the fluidity of time have contributed enormously to the fields of quantum physics and chaos theory, his ideas of an 'objective world of space and matter independent of human thought and observation' have been challenged by modern physicists.  To quote Davies again:

"If we go back to the sort of universe that Newton had and the one that Einstein supported, the notion of a deterministic universe, a clockwork universe, then this becomes a real problem, because if God is to change anything, then God has to overrule God's own laws, and that doesn't look a very edifying prospect theologically or scientifically. It's horrible on both accounts.  But when one gets to an indeterministic universe, if you allow quantum physics, then there is some sort of lassitude in the operation of these laws. There are interstices having to do with quantum uncertainty into which, if you want, you could insert the hand of God."
~~~~

This is an absolutely wonderful conversation.  Mathematics and Science have always held a deep fascination and attraction for me, and their interconnection with religion, a more recent interest, infuses each with a more profound vibrancy and truth, offering, as Einstein puts it, 'a single significant whole', a view far vaster than that of the individual realms.

The discussion is available at the Speaking Of Faith website in both audio and transcript form. I highly recommend it.

Here is a link to another interesting article entitled Albert Einstein: God, Religion and Theology, at a site called On Truth & Reality, where I found the following quote.
~~~~
I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.
- Albert Einstein
~~~~

Choosing The High Road

On Tuesday 23-year-old Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer won an Olympic Gold Medal in the 10,000 meter speedskating event, breaking the previous Olympic record in that event by a whopping 4 seconds.

But it seems that at the half-way point in the race he executed an inappropriate lane switch, was subsequently disqualified, and the gold medal was awarded to another skater.

That is a pretty interesting story in itself, albeit a rather sad one.  What really caught my attention, however, was Kramer's reaction to this unfortunate turn of events, as reported yesterday by Trey Kerby in the Yahoo Sports Blog:
~~~~

Sven Kramer is ready to 'go forward' after coach's mistake

It seems we were a little hasty in giving Sven Kramer a gold medal in "oops." A little later we learned that the Dutch speedskater's silly disqualification wasn't all his fault, as his coach, Gerard Kemkers, had told him to switch to the wrong lane halfway through the 10,000 meter race.

While Kemkers has accepted full blame for the gaffe, Kramer isn't throwing his coach under the bus. He told the Associated Press that "at the end of the day, it is my responsibility. I am the skater on the ice, I have to do it."

To his credit, it seems like Kramer is already ready to put the whole situation behind him. According to the New York Times:

"I'm not a person that is really mad for a long time," he said. "It doesn't help me, it doesn't help the team. I said to him we have to go forward. We have to go for more victories. That's important for me and for him."

Of course, the speedskating-crazy Dutch are taking things a little harder. Just days after their prime minister left office, that story was booted from front pages in honor of Kramer's folly. Journalists are speculating that Kemkers could lose his job.

But hey, if every coach who made a mistake got fired, we wouldn't have any coaches. Sven Kramer has the right idea.

~~~~
I had never heard of Sven Kramer before reading this article, but was touched that in a situation where it would be so easy to fall into anger and blame, he chose instead to take responsibility, forgive and move on.

I think Sven just got himself another fan.
~~~~

Thought For A Little Later - Confidence

If you read the last post, you may be thinking that it's all well and good to try new things, but what if I have no confidence?  What if I'm not brave like some people?

Listen up.  Those people you see who seem to radiate confidence? - they probably aren't as confident as you imagine.  They probably have doubts, hesitations and yes, fears, but they have learned, by trial and terror, to go forward through those obstacles.  Sometimes it's a matter of just fake it till you make it. A friend of mine who found herself speaking to groups of people once said to me that she wasn't confident or brave at all, that she was terrified every time and was just pretending to be brave.  I said to her that pretending to be brave when you're scared shitless is actually a pretty good definition of bravery.

I'm reminded of reading some years ago about The Imposter Syndrome.  It's about women who were considered successful, and how despite their achievements and their confident outer appearance, underneath there was always this nagging feeling that at some point they would be found out, that people would discover that the woman was not as smart or talented as everyone thought, that she had somehow managed to fool everyone, and her whole facade would come crashing down.  I remember feeling almost sick to my stomach at reading that because it rang true so viscerally.  On the other hand it was a relief to learn that I was not the only one, that this feeling was indeed rampant.

Sadly I think this syndrome still exists, though perhaps not as all-pervasively as in the era when the book was written, and I no longer think it is confined to women.  It still pops up for me, often unexpectedly - someone will tell me I did really well at something and I just don't believe them, thinking rather that I was simply lucky or that they're just being nice.  I guess recognizing that tendency is a good first step.

But we still move forward, stepping out on the thin ice of uncertainty - fear and doubt our constant companions.  And that's what makes life interesting and it's how we grow, how we can become a little more confident, a little less fearful.  Just try saying yes instead of no next time the world extends an invitation, and those two sidekicks will lose a lot of their power just through that.
~~~~
this feeling of fakin' it
I still haven't shaken it
- Simon & Garfunkel
~~~~

Thought For Right Now - Success and Failure

Say you want to do something new - start a new project, change jobs, meet new people, learn a new skill - have you ever found yourself stuck in wishful thinking but seemingly unable to take the first step forward?  Have you ever rationalized that inaction with, oh well, it wasn't meant to happen... or have you ever talked yourself out of doing something you really want because of negative self-talk like, oh, I probably wouldn't be any good at it anyway, or oh, it was really a stupid idea in the first place.

If that's your experience, you're stuck in the concept of success (and by implication failure).  What if I fail?  What if I succeed?  Either way something is going to change, which is frightening.

What if you drop the whole idea of success or failure?  What if you just try new things for the pleasure of seeing what happens?  If seeing what happens is your goal, there is no possibility of failure.  There is only more learning.  And that's a wonderful thing.
~~~~
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do... Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain
~~~~

Why Spirituality is Needed in Politics

An interesting and timely article by Dave Beldon, published in AlterNet

By treating our spiritual lives as private, we liberals have not kept religion out of politics. We have just ensured that the only spiritual appeal in the public square is made by the Religious Right.

~~~~
Dave Belden is Managing Editor of Tikkun magazine and joint creator of Tikkun Daily, where this post first appeared.
~~~~

Why Atheists Choose Religion

"The idea “to be religious is to be a theist” as Christopher Hitchens stated in his debate with Lorenzo Albacete is a quite ethnocentric claim. It is true that in the West we have often associated a theistic God with religion, but this neglects Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Jainism and numerous religious traditions which have adopted a deistic, pantheistic, panentheistic or other understanding of God. And as I pointed out in my critique of Hitchens last week, Unitarian Universalism contains 19% of people who identify as atheist/agnostic."
~~~~
The author, Be Scofield, an atheist seminarian at Starr King School for the Ministry (Unitarian Universalist), apparently received a flood of comments following the above mentioned critique.  In this article in Tikkun Daily Blog, also published in AlterNet, he again counters the argument that religion and atheism are incompatible.

One quote, from Ricky, a fellow seminarian, particularly resonated with me:

I am an atheist not because I hate God, but because I cannot abide an understanding of God who merely lurks in the shadows waiting for science or another form of reason to cast light; a light which almost without fail shows greater beauty and complexity than we could ever imagine.

I am a religious humanist because I believe in miracles even if I believe they obey all the laws of physics. You see, just because I understand everything that happens biologically to make a baby, it doesn’t mean that there’s not still a place for a miracle there. There was not life, and now there is: that is a miracle however you slice it.

And perhaps most of all, I do not need a concept of God to be in awe of the world - if one opens one’s eyes, one can hardly help it.

Well said Ricky.

Here's the full article, with comments - well worth a click.
~~~~
The universe seems wondrous to me, with or without God. It has powerful lines and uncompromising ways. Patience and time sit like sages on the planets, strong and impersonal. There is a stark beauty to all of this.
- Real Live Preacher
~~~~

Thought For Right Now

Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.
– Stephen King
~~~~

Kundalini Meditation for the Earth

 An excerpt from Kundalini Meditation: Guided chakra practices to activate the energy of awakening. 

A SoundsTrue audio program taught by Harijiwan Khalsa

The navel point (3rd chakra), when it is strong, gathers and organizes the energy of the lower three chakras and allows us to enter into the infinite space of the heart centre, the 4th chakra.  The heart centre is the beginning of consciousness.

What we are doing as a planet right now as we move from a Piscean to an Aquarian age is we are moving from a navel-oriented past which was about power, control and manipulation (3rd chakra) into a 4th chakra which is about interconnectedness, acceptance, understanding and compassion.  This is the octave that the planet's frequency is changing to and that is why now, even more than ever, we need to know how the gears of energy work within our own bodies because, like it or not, the energy is being shifted on the planet and you have got to be able to stay inside that new frequency because the old ways simply won't work any more.

The heart chakra is the gateway to the full realm of feelings, the full realm of understanding all the interconnectedness of humanity and creation and the ability to see that in a very accepting manner.  This is where compassion and love start to flow.

~~~~
got this thing in my heart
got to give it today
it only lives when you give it away
- Bruce Cockburn
~~~~

Is Perfectionism A Problem Or A Plus?

From Dan Pink's blog:

Call someone a “liar,” and it’s clearly an insult. Call someone a “genius,” and it’s almost always praise. But how about calling someone a “perfectionist”?  Is that a diss or a kiss?

The answer, it turns out, depends on what kind of perfectionist the person is. And that depends, in turn, on the person’s motivation.

According to research reported in this Miller-McCune article, perfectionism comes in two varieties: adaptive and maladaptive. And one of the key determinants of the type of perfectionism someone displays is whether the quest for perfection is “motivated from an inner urge or an outside push.”  If you’re driving hard because of your own desire for excellence, that can actually lead to greater satisfaction and psychological health. But if you’re pursuing perfection because of pressure from others — parents, bosses, peers — that’s likely to take you down the path of dissatisfaction and reduced well-being.

“Adaptive perfectionism is an internal standard for achievement,” researcher Robert Hill tells Miller-McCune. “Maladaptive perfectionism is an external concern – wondering what other people are going to think. It’s kind of a thinking habit: ‘I made a mistake there.’ ‘Someone will notice I didn’t do that right.’”

So go ahead and be a perfectionist. Just do it for yourself — and forget what others think.
~~~~
There is no real perfection
There'll be no perfect day
Just love is our connection
The truth in what we say
- Badfinger
~~~~

Did Bill Gates Just Give The Most Important Climate Speech of the Year?

When we talk zero climate emissions, we sound crazy. When Bill Gates does it, he sounds visionary.  Gates, whatever else he did last Friday, just made the most important idea on the planet mainstream credible.  That's a big, big deal.


An interesting article by Alex Steffen, executive editor of Worldchanging, posted on February 15, 2010.
~~~~
On Friday, the world's most successful businessperson and most powerful philanthropist did something outstandingly bold, that went almost unremarked: Bill Gates announced that his top priority is getting the world to zero climate emissions.
~~~~
So what did Mr.Gates say that was so important?  You'll have to read the article to get the full impact of his ideas, but here are some highlights:

Gates believes that climate change is now the planet's most important challenge, and that the only sensible goal is development of 100% carbon-neutral energy by the year 2050.  To do this we need "an energy miracle ... we need energy solutions that don't yet exist" - urging ambitious entrepreneurs to unleash "1,000 promising ideas".  The author adds that the real breakthrough was not Gates' answer to the problem, but his definition of success: zero.

While Steffen is enthusiastic about this vision, he does acknowledge some gaps in Gates' articulation, and advocates:
~  restoring natural systems at the same time we're working towards clean energy
~  redefining what prosperity means and how it works instead of simply trying to improve efficiency.

The answer to the problem of cars and automotive emissions, for instance, isn't designing a better car, it's designing a better city.  The answer to the problem of over-consumption isn't recycling cans or green shopping, it's changing our relationship to stuff, so that everything we use and live with is designed for zero waste, and either meant to last or to be shared or both.

The best living we've ever had is waiting beyond zero.  What looks like a wall to many people from this side of zero looks like a trellis from the other side, a foundation on which new thinking can flourish.
~~~~
Click here to read the full article on the Worldchanging website.
~~~~
meantime don't eat anything that grows
and don't breathe when the cars go by
- Bruce Cockburn
~~~~

The Inconvenience Of Change

Here is a wonderful video from Life Without Pants:

The Inconvenience of Change from Matt Cheuvront on Vimeo.

~~~~
drench yourself in words unspoken
live your life with arms wide open
today is where you book begins
the rest is still unwritten
- Natasha Bedingfield
~~~~

Instant Enlightenment: Fast, Deep & Sexy

How's a girl to resist a title like that?

Just got this new book by David Deida earlier today and already know I'm going to love it. Here's a blurb by Ken Wilber on the back cover:

"Instant Enlightenment - sound ridiculous? It would be, if enlightenment existed in time. But it exists in the present, before time even moves. Instant Enlightenment is a series of pointers to who you are in the timeless now. In other words, David Deida points directly to the present moment in which 'you' and 'God' are simply two names for the same openness in which the entire universe arises, an openness you can feel right now, if you know where to look. And Instant Enlightenment is the place to start."

Here are a couple of samples from the book; first from the chapter entitled 'Bug':

Enlightenment is the capacity to be open and be lived by the love that is already, miraculously, living your life, despite all your current torment and refusal. Instant enlightenment is to offer love now - whatever the circumstance - without waiting for things to get better.

A guided fantasy from the chapter on 'Romance':

Modern physics explains that matter is energy. Even flesh and bones are mostly space, with widely separated particles vibrating as probabilities. So, imagine your favorite fantasy, feeling your body and your lover's as mostly space vibrating: space making love with space, energy dancing with energy, in a meadow of flowers or on a fluffy blanket that is also space vibrating as energy.

More to come...
~~~~

A Tale Of Two Brains

Finally - the male/female thing explained ... both men AND women might wanna pay attention to this guy...


~~~~
women are from venus
men are idiots
..ooops, just kidding
~~~~

Only From A Farm Boy

When you're from the country you look at things a little differently...

A Montana rancher knocked at the door of a neighboring ranch. A young boy, about 9, opened the door. "Is your Dad home?", the rancher asked.

"No sir, he isn't" the boy replied. "He went into town."

"Well, is your mother home?" asked the rancher.

"No sir, she went into town with Dad."

"How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?"

"No sir. He went with Mom and Dad." The rancher stood there for a few minutes, shifting uneasily and mumbling to himself.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" the boy asked politely. "I know where all the tools are, if you need to borrow one. Or maybe I could take a message for Dad."

"Well," said the rancher uncomfortably, "I really wanted to talk to your Dad. It's about your brother Howard getting my daughter, Suzie, pregnant."'

The boy considered for a moment. "You really would have to talk to Pa about that," he finally conceded. If it helps you any, I know that Pa charges $500 for the bull and $50 for the hog, but I really don't know how much he gets for Howard."
~~~~

Thought For Right Now

Was going to call this Thought For The Day but that seemed somehow limiting - just so you know there could be a quote, a poem, some spontaneous insight or bits of song lyrics. I make no promises about frequency or quality but I do hope you enjoy it.

And as most of you know already, the posts on this blog are not reflective of any achievement or realization on my part, but do sincerely represent what I aspire to, what I think is possible, and what I hope will benefit others as we dream together the world that we yearn for. And sometimes they don't really represent anything at all but I think they're funny or interesting. That's the fun of a blog; there are really no rules.

Thought For Right Now:

A closed mouth gathers no feet.

End of discussion.
~~~~

The Persona, The Shadow and The Soul

From Jung and the Four Masks, by Paulo Coelho,
at Warrior of the Light

Carl Gustav Jung, one of the founders of modern psychoanalysis, used to say that we all drink from the same source. To explain this concept, he developed a theory whose origin can be found in the work of the ancient alchemists, who named this source the “soul of the world” (anima mundi).

According to this theory, we always try to be independent individuals, but one part of our memory is the same. Whatever our creed or culture may be, we all seek the ideal of beauty, dancing, divinity, music.

Society, however, takes care of defining how these ideals are to manifest themselves on the level of reality. For example, nowadays the ideal of beauty is to be thin, whereas thousands of years ago the images of the gods were fat. The same goes for happiness: there is a set of rules that, if not followed, will not allow your consciousness to accept the idea that you are happy. These are not absolute rules, and they change from one generation to another.

Jung used to classify individual progress according to four stages: the first was the Persona – the mask that we wear every day, pretending to be who we are. We believe that the world depends on us, that we are wonderful parents and that our children understand us, that our bosses are fair, that the dream of human beings is never to work and spend our entire life traveling. Some people try to understand what is wrong, and end up finding the Shadow.

The Shadow is our black side, which dictates how we should act and behave. When we try to get rid of the Persona, we turn on a light inside us and see spider’s webs, cowardice, petty-mindedness. The Shadow is there to hamper our progress – and it usually succeeds, so we race back to who we were before we started doubting. Nevertheless, some survive this struggle with their spider’s webs by saying: “Yes, I have a whole bunch of defects, but I’m dignified and I want to get ahead.”

At that moment the Shadow disappears and we come into contact with the Soul.

By Soul, Jung is not defining something religious; he speaks of a return to the Soul of the World, the source of knowledge. Our instincts begin to grow sharper, our emotions more radical, the signs of life are of greater importance than logic, our perception of reality is no longer so rigid. We begin to deal with things we are not used to, and to react in ways that not even we ourselves would expect.

Then we discover that if we can only manage to channel all this surge of energy, we can organize it in a very solid center, which Jung calls the Wise Old Man for men, or the Great Mother for women.  It’s quite dangerous to allow this to manifest itself. Generally speaking, whoever reaches that point tends to consider himself holy, a tamer of spirits, a prophet.

Not only people, but societies too use these four masks. Western civilization has a Persona, ideas that guide us and that seem to be absolute truths.

But things change. In the attempt to adapt to the changes, we see the great mass demonstrations where collective energy can be manipulated either for good or evil (the Shadow). All of a sudden, for some reason, the Persona or the Shadow are no longer satisfactory – the moment has come for a leap forward, new values begin to appear (the dive into the Soul).

And at the end of this process, in order for these new values to become installed, the entire race begins to make contact again with the language of signs (the Wise Old Man).

This is precisely what we are experiencing now. It may last one or two hundred years, but things are changing – for the better.

~~~~
the mirror on my wall casts an image dark and small
but I'm not sure at all it's my reflection.
I am blinded by the light of God and truth and right
and I wander in the night without direction.
- Simon & Garfunkel
~~~~

From: http://www.musicbabylon.com

Who Says You Have To Finish What You Start?

The little voice in your head shrilling that you must finish what you start may sound like your own by now, but I bet it didn't start out that way. I bet it started out sounding like your mother, your teachers, your boss ....

But good news - Pace and Kyeli of Freak Revolution, with the whole-hearted endorsement of yours truly, hereby give all my loyal readers, and all their loyal readers, all our friends, and everyone everywhere, permission to just stop. Yeah, you heard it, just stop. I'll let Kyeli explain:

Ever felt like you have to finish something, simply because you started it? Food, a journey, a book, a movie? That's called "sunk cost", and it's bullshit.

Once, Pace and I were going to Dallas for the weekend. (I can't remember why, anymore.) We were about 1/3rd of the way there when it came up that neither of us were really looking forward to the weekend. We mused about going home, but we'd already driven about an hour and gone about 75 miles. We might as well keep going - even though it'd take another 2.5 hours to get there!

Hold on a minute. I said, "Why would we do that? It seems dumb to go that far for that long when neither of us want to do it anymore."

Pace looked at me and said, "You're totally right. I was attached to going because we've already started, but that's dumb."

And we turned the car around and went home.

There's no need to finish something just because you're already part-way through. If you're unhappy, bored, or no longer looking forward to it, stop. Just stop. Go do something else with your precious time and energy - something you'll enjoy!

~~~~
I say let's ban the word "should" from our inner dictionary! Let's use "want to" instead! Anyone with me?
~~~~

Are You Ready For A New World?

The ideas and institutions that define our culture are breaking down - and that's a good thing.

Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman, authors of Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There from Here, write that today's crises are part of a natural process - clearing out what no longer serves us to make room for a new way of being. Are they cockeyed optimists or do they see things others miss?

For this article in AlterNet, Terrence McNally asked each of the authors what led them to the work they are doing now.

Bruce Lipton: While doing research on muscular dystrophy and cloning stem cells in 1967, Lipton discovered something he describes as mind-boggling: that genetically identical stem cells, when placed in different environments, will form widely different types of body cells. "I was teaching medical students that genes control life, yet my research said that the genes were actually controlled by the organism's response to the environment."

Steve Bhaerman: After an idealistic teaching career in the 60s & 70s, many years of spiritual seeking had left Bhaerman still longing to close the gap between ideas and practice. "I thought it would be interesting to write a book about healing the body politic, applying a biological or medical metaphor to the wider world. When I read The Biology of Belief and met Bruce, I realized that he was the guy I was meant to do this book with."

The authors say that although the three questions that any belief system needs to ask (Why are we here? How did we get here? How do we make the best of the situation?) remain constant over time, the answers must change - that humanity must embrace a worldview based not on survival and competition, but on cooperation and community.

This article is both painful and inspiring to read, and impossible to summarize without leaving out something important. Here's a particularly poignant segment:

Once we recognize how much of our reality is programmed, we can begin to forgive ourselves and forgive others. We can begin to recognize that one thing we have in common is that we're all programmed. That recognition is a first step outside the matrix of controlled beliefs.

The reality we have in common is not in our heads, it's in our hearts ...When you create situations where people can communicate and listen in a respectful way, an interesting thing happens. We begin to focus on what we have in common as humanity. We begin thinking like a species instead of like individuals.

The interview concludes:

In your body, no particular cells go hungry. Every cell must be fed for the body to be in harmony. When we begin to treat all humans as cells in one body, and make sure that they all get the basics in life, we create the foundation on which to build an exciting future.

Every cell counts. Every human counts.

~~~~
love is but a song we sing
fear's the way we die
you can make the mountains ring
or make the angels cry
- Youngbloods
~~~~