AT ONE MENT

I have a friend who talks of detaching from ego.  I am having personal experiences over and over that I believe has to do with this lesson.  I'm one who feels as if I have had a share of "ego death" experiences.  As I have them and think about the last one, I realize they are not true, as I rebuild my ego right away afterwards, and it isn't all that different than the self I realized before. The faults and insecurities, the destructive fears are still here.

A young man that I recently met spoke to me this morning, and nothing he said was untrue. We have had a conflict of no importance, except perhaps I was asserting the concept of my self and respect for each other's possessions. The kid said everything right.  The place that he is from, the world he grew up in is too horrible for words,.. and the hopelessness is dark and thick where he is from.  Someone with no possessions, for whatever reason, no formal education, and the whole thing completely foreign to me and you.  This kid has had no one and continues to have no-one but his self.

ATONEMENT

The thing I'm working toward, the parts that I believe are important are that we are not in any role.  The son, the father and the chieftain and the prole are one.  The daughter, mother and sister are one.  We are all aspects of the others at different times and the way it comes together is not the way that was expected, but it comes together the only way that it possibly could.

The simplicity of life I've discovered does not remove possibilities, on the contrary, it adds them.  If someone is living life intentionally, spiritually aware of the tasks at hand, the importance of those tasks, the meaning of action, inaction, intention and bliss.  As long as one remembers that bliss is simple, one can always be successful.  The extent to which I want to simplify my life is extreme for most people.  I however, know what is right for me and what is important for me.  I found a lot that I should be able to snag up for very little money and then I can establish an account to insure that the taxes are covered for the next few years.  A large underground metal and wood workshop will be setup for next to nothing.  With that shop, I will be able to produce 1) classy and profitable meaningful art-pieces that inhabit my-self and the meanings within. 2) demonstration machines that teach - Teaching the others that abundance, including energy abundance is all around us. 3) demonstration automated gardens.  A garden that can be left to its own devices, collecting rainwater, utilizing gray-water systems, irrigation plans and solar powered pumping systems. 4) multimedia experiences - Art - Music - Tech - Light - Rhythm

I am exploring all of the scientific principles that were overlooked and some once implemented, now forgotten, the thermal dynamics of solar heating and geothermal cooling.  The design of passive homes and how it is done, how it can be made to allow for the best and most advanced society - because we will be free.  Free from the electricity bills, free from the high entertainment bills, free from the high telecommunication bills, free from the heating and cooling costs, free from the water bill, free from the gas bill.  By working together a little more, by planning for the inevitable, by realizing that everything is an important resource, not just represented value of money.  We will soon see that money does not and never did, actually exist.

But the master computer better be open-sourced and transparent or we will be in the biggest horror imaginable.

First they ignore you...

Interesting warnings and things to be aware of…  There seems to be a un-concerted effort (common goals of big money corporations, however) against the type of "return to simple living" "downshifting" "simplifying."  I have recently seen where a lady in Michigan was apparently harassed by code enforcement for having vegetable plants in her yard. They focused on dog licensing and apparently considered wheelbarrows in her yard (that she used everyday to do her work) trashy refuse and in violation of city code.
We need to be more vigilant and aware of the types of attacks that seem to come the way of home gardeners, bicyclists, and small/alternative housing proponents. - They will say "these people are cheating the system, they cannot possibly be happy or comfortable, they are beyond abnormal for not believing in and participating in the credit based monetary system. We are going to have to confront these kinds of attacks, not be concerned about them.  We need to keep the conversations on the issues, and not let anything get personal.  I make it clear that I am not doing anything new, in fact everything I'm doing is something I've known about or learned about as a child.  I am happy to share my technology/science knowledge and experience with others because I feel like it is important for people to know.

I have some spiritual based reasons personally for why I am participating in the Emerald City project.  I don't preach to anyone and I don't expect anyone to shed their personal spiritualism. My reasons have to do with feeling part of a whole in humanity and the belief that I can be the change that I want to see in the world ~ and that it makes a difference.

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
                                ~Mahatmas Gandhi 

There is a struggle, between the people that want to be self reliant to some degree and the corporations who see this form of self-reliance as a threat.  They would like us to continue to drive ICE cars running fixed-priced gasoline. They would like us to continue to be forced to pay telecom, electricity, water, gas and entertainment bills (for each home)  Banks and other large companies want a world where there is no collectivity allowed.  There is both an element of self-reliance and community resource sharing going on.  I have found the other people involved to be charitable people that also understand that every little bit helps and also have personal goals that are not selfish, but would allow them more capacity to be charitable and sharing.

We are looking for people who are interested in the following projects:
SunJar Decorating co-ordianator for children's groups
Solar 12v demonstration system
Intercom system
local community radio podcast or teleconference formats
Inventive and novel water systems (stills, filter purifiers, solar invective heaters, rainwater integration)
Solar cooking

We are working on a papercrete workshop and I am personally looking for someone to teach me how to weld, and to mix and pour concrete to assist me with my artistic sculptural pursuits.

Dumpster Day

Today was the Manheim Neighborhood Dumpster Day to allow for large trash to be hauled off.  We all came together to help unload trucks, canvas the neighborhood to pick up the dumpage.  And who ever heard of a dump being closed on Thanksgiving?

The next one is coming up next month.  (ProTip: if you help out, there is food and great people to meet)

Emerald City

Remember kids, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

This is the first post that will be at the bottom of the blog, where I explain what it seems to be all about to me at this time.  I'm just keeping track of some links, Ideas and other things that pertain to the Emerald City project and my involvement.  I am an artist and musician and I am in college.  I am 35 years old, single, no kids, not attached to anything really.  My work centers around the oneness and our journey.  I tend to think that nature is very important and has a lot to teach us through observation.  I feel that we are trapped in a society geared towards waste (of all kinds) and that other cultures's ideas about how to use and reuse and how to prevent the foolishness that causes us to do toxic cleanups and otherwise cause misery and death.

There are so many photons coming down, heating water and air, exciting all of the other electrons, that we shouldn't have to burn so many corpses of old animals and plants to heat and cool our food and move about the planet. 

I am a proponent of extreme bicycle use.  I envision a world where bicycling from KC to Denver is commonplace.  Right now it isn't safe, It has to be done a certain way and there is a lot of planning and equipment necessary. I like internal combustion engines, when they are efficient and used well.  I like diesel engines more.  We really need to get away from the design of our cities that requires the majority of the population to move a ton of metal with gasoline just to transport one person.

I have done a lot of research into wind energy and find it is a bust.  There are small generator windmills that I have seen that were homebuilt that actually appeared to be quite efficient, but the majority of the windmills on the market are overpriced, inefficient and will not last longer than a year in most weather conditions.

Solar energy seems to be stable, workable and with a few adjustments in the way we live, is affordable to all income levels now.  I am personally working on a solar battery charger to charge up my AAs for my camera.  This will be an open-source project, I will explain about the diodes and the purpose for them and also that this stuff isn't that hard and isn't scary.  There are so many photons coming down, heating water and air, exciting all of the other electrons, that we shouldn't have to burn so many corpses of old animals and plants to heat and cool our food and move about the planet.