ThinkLady

Spectacle

“We are chained to the flickering shadows of celebrity culture, the spectacle of the arena and the airwaves, the lies of advertising, the endless personal dramas, many of them completely fictional, that have become the staple of news, celebrity gossip, New Age mysticism, and pop psychology.”

-- Chris Hedges, “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle”

The Tao of Jane

I read a lot of blogs. I love the creative merging of words, photos, videos, nuances of distinctive personalities, ideas swirling around in the digital universe.

Some blogs make me happy just about every time I read them, even when their subjects are serious, provocative, or fun and silly, and those are the ones I gravitate to on a regular basis. One of those blogs is Jane Fonda’s.

Jane, I use her first name because I think from reading her blog she would want that, is an astute blogger, courageous in sharing her wisdom, her failings, the controversy that still occasionally dogs her life, her journey. She writes about her life with a sense of humor, touching on her professional work and work she does for the common good with eloquence and enthusiasm.

I think Jane is probably a seeker. I see her exploring new ideas with palpable passion, lifting up women and those around her up on a regular basis, regardless of whether they are long-time friends or someone she just met on the street, and while she lives a lifestyle that most will only dream of, she comes across as gracious, inclusive and egalitarian, sharing photos of her life as well as fun times with many celebrities in a way that shows us, her readers, just how human she and her colleagues are. She explores spirituality that in a way that’s rare in the blogging world – she’s non-judgmental, respectful, open, listening – bringing her own learning to bear while at the same time sharing the wisdom of others with unfailing fairness. There’s a twinkle in her voice about herself, an humbleness that given her accomplishments, is refreshing.

I once talked with a writer who’d met and hung out with a lot of celebrities. Because the nature of being a celebrity in our society is challenging, he said some become insulated, wrapped in a removed world where they are the center of their universe, and in some ways this can make them less interesting, less engaging, i.e. there’s little reciprocity in carrying on a conversation that’s only about them.

To be fair I don’t think this is a condition germane to celebrities, but one all of us in one way or another face. We exist in two worlds – our interior and exterior worlds. There’s a tendency, exacerbated by the notion that celebrity status is something desirable along with the ease of sharing our thoughts via the online world and social media, to believe every thought we have in our interior dialogue is significant, luminous, worth sharing. It’s easy then for our world to quickly become all about us, how many followers we have on a blog or on Twitter, how many friends we have on Facebook, how long visitors to our website or blog stay and explore. And then, if we’re not careful, we can become a cult of our own personality, gravitating to the reality of our choosing, constructing a world that reinforces our own beliefs.

It may be safer for fragile human egos and certainly understandable to live in our cocoons this way, but I believe there’s a terrible danger in doing so. When we make our world all about us, our minds start to close and we lose creativity, lose insight into what might make our own lives more joyful or meaningful, lose diversity of thought, become less adaptable and flexible. Once we do that, it’s easy to wake up calcified, judging, uncompassionate, in a dark, disconnected place.

Unless you’re an exceptionally enlightened person – I’m not – I think it’s very hard to stay open to the Universe, to find a balance rooted in thoughtful confidence, compassion and love. And that’s why I enjoy reading Jane, because with all that’s happened to her in her life, she’s models a continual striving for awareness and enlightenment, for balance and openness in a modest, joyful way, and that inspires me to do the same. Thank you Jane.

A deep, inner crisis of the soul

A very erudite quote from Prince Charles below posits the many crises we face are rooted in an inner crisis of the soul. I totally agree. The Transition movement makes this point eloquently by addressing the need for outer and inner Transition, with the inner transition being a different way of moving and being in the world deeply rooted in Permaculture design principles. 

"When we hear talk of an 'environmental crisis' or even of a 'financial crisis,' I would suggest that this is actually describing the outward consequences of a deep, inner crisis of the soul. It is a crisis in our relationship with – and our perception of – Nature, and it is born of Western culture being dominated for at least two hundred years by a mechanistic and reductionist approach to our scientific understanding of the world around us. So I would like you to consider very seriously today whether a big part of the solution to all of our worldwide “crises” does not lie simply in more and better technology, but in the recovery of the soul to the mainstream of our thinking. Our science and technology cannot do this. Only sacred traditions have the capacity to help this happen."

The Prince of Wales made these comments in a recent speech on Islam and the Environment at the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford University. Matt McDermott at Planet Green, wrote an excellent assessment of the Prince's speech on Planet Green today, and notes the prince "brings up some themes which continue to be overlooked by the mainstream of the green movement, tragically." Right on Matt!

McDermott writes:

"What hits exactly the right note for me is the Prince's accurate identification at what really lies behind our twinned and ongoing environmental and economic crisis-as-norm. It is constantly searching for external solutions to problems to the exclusion of considering that, at the least partly, the issue is internal to humanity. Put plainly it is always attempt[ing] and expecting the world to adapt to our desires, rather than adapting ourselves to it."

Just imagine what could happen if we all took this kind of transitioning seriously. What an extraordinary sight to behold.

McDermott's full comments on Prince Charles' speech are here.; full transcript of the Prince of Wale's speech is here.

Missing Mister Rogers

"Confronting our feelings and giving them appropriate expression always takes strength, not weakness. It takes strength to acknowledge our anger, and sometimes more strength yet to curb the aggressive urges anger may bring and to channel them into nonviolent outlets. It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it." -- Fred Rogers

A busy weekend is over. I watched my daughter's basketball team take second place place in the state tournament, helped my daughter with her flour sack baby project (fun stuff), made bread, exercised until covered in sweat with Wii Fit Plus, cooked meals, ran errands, caught up on email, did some volunteer work, harvested salad greens from our winter garden, took comfort food to a dear, long-time friend who's been dealing with a difficult family situation, prepped a bit for book study group this week, watched a movie or two, and I read the news, which seems every day to be ever more gloomy.

I am particularly disturbed by the disinterest of many of our leaders, politicians and the Tea Party in getting along and working for solutions. More and more the modus operandi is this: Be really angry, act like bullies on a playground, call anyone who disagrees with you names, label people and ideas as socialist or communist, belittle those you don't agree with, talk a lot about guns and prepping for rebellion, use fear, hatred and racism to whip people into a frenzy, and concoct conspiracy theories. This is a world with little reason, where overwhelming fear is fuel and anger is the vehicle and something toxic this way comes.

So I woke up early this morning in a stinking malaise, and muddled around awhile before grabbing mother's little helper "The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember." After reading a bit am feeling better. Fred Rogers was a kind, thoughtful, genuine man with erudite observations. If he was still around, I would nominate him to work as Ambassador of Civility within our own borders. I think we desperately need one.

Idea: Instead of Tea or even Coffee Parties, how about a Mister Rogers Party? We might actually get something done and learn how to be more neighborly in the process.

Insect architecture

At the risk of sounding like Spock … fascinating. From NewScientist magazine, an exploration of what humans can learn from insects that could turn building design on it's head.    

For sustainable architecture, think bug

by Philip Ball, 22 Feb 2010

IN THE heart of Africa's savannah lies a city that is a model of sustainable development. Its buttressed towers are built entirely from natural, biodegradable materials. Its inhabitants live and work in quarters that are air-conditioned and humidity-regulated, without consuming a single watt of electricity. Water comes from wells that dip deep into the earth, and food is cultivated self-sufficiently in gardens within its walls. This metropolis is not just eco-friendly: with its curved walls and graceful arches, it is rather beautiful too.

This is no human city, of course. It is a termite mound.

Full article here.

Treehugger.com supplements the article with commentary and very cool photos of termite mounds they found online here.