Inspiration: Occupy Wall Street

I am going to get on my podium for a moment. If you don’t think you’ll like it, feel free to stop reading. I am inspired this morning. I am bristling with awakeness. I am moved to tears. I am happy to be alive. Do you feel me?

By way of introduction, I have been outspoken “against” the Internet in general. Ironically, I make a living on the Internet counseling people through the lens of natural wisdom. But, I’d gladly find something else to do if we could turn back the clock to a time with a hell of lot less information, speed and “convenience.” I often wonder, “Is progress really progress?”

But, as a tantrik yogin dedicated to finding the enlightened expression in every situation possible, I must admit I am moved by what I see lately on the Internet. I live in a rural permaculture center in the beautiful mountains of Northeast Thailand. We work hard to be sustainable and charitable, recognizing that is a duty of being human to give more than we take. Not only is it a responsibility, but contribution to something greater than “I”, “me” and “mine” is the #1 factor in cultivating a life of joy and happiness. So, hopefully we can remember to use the Internet only enough to gain inspiration to get out there in live a real life!

That is all a lead-in to say that when I read John Cleveland’s brief and encouraging words regarding the “occupation” aloud to my wife this morning I couldn’t even finish the last sentence… I was choked up with joy. I thought, like he did, that the spirit was thoroughly crushed out of America. I thought the robots had taken over and the humanoids would reign supreme, succesfully infecting all with their lifeless, head-centered pursuits.

So, I cried with joy in the recognition that humanity is alive and breathing, with a pulse, in the USA.

Mr. Cleveland writes:

“What They did not want you to ever find out is that your generation, the generation born between 1980-1995, actually outnumbers the Baby Boomers. They knew that if you ever turned your eye towards political reform, you could change the world.

They tried to keep you sated on vapid television shows and vapid music. They cut off your education and fed you brain candy. They took away your music and gave you Top Ten pop stations. They cut off your art and replaced it with endless reality shows for you to plug into, hoping you would sit quietly by as They ran the world. I think They thought you were too dumb to notice.

Indeed, I thought They had won.

But I watched you occupy the capital of Wisconsin. I see you today as you occupy Wall Street. And I see a spark, a glimmer of the glorious new age that is yours. A changing of the guard, a guard that has stood for entirely too long and needs your young legs to take his place.

I watch you turn away from what is easy and stand up for what is right. I see you understand we as a society are only as strong as our weakest link. I see you wise beyond your years. And I am proud. Give ‘em hell, kids. You are beautiful.”

Together we are strong.”

Awesome. Brilliant. I love that he intuitively gets that brain-centered intellect (fed by foods like white sugar, caffeine, and tons of unnecessary INFORMATION) is what keeps people numb, dumb, and inert – unable to even recognize natural order.

But, a spark seems to be alive in this movement, and in others who have been less “out there” in their cultivation of human principled living. We must eat good food, literally and metaphorically speaking. It makes all the difference. It really does come down to the details when it comes to our basic sanity. When basically sane (a natural result of being well-nourished – body, mind and spirit), we automatically stand up for what is right, we automatically have courage, we automatically renounce what is not sane, and we automatically know our purpose, which is to say our happiness and health.

We need to read books that feed our soul, we need to meditate, we need to pray, we need to exercise, we need to savor art, and we need to create community and maintain culture. We need to NOT get so sucked up into entertainment, intellect, drama and achievement that we begin to think that life is about having fun (numbing out), winning, or consuming. Fun can be a part of it, but life is about purpose. Winning is for boobs. We all lose unless we all win. And, when bereft of heart, appetites of consumption are insatiable. We need to eat real food to get real nourishment. This is not difficult. It is common sense.

We make a mystery of being happy. It is not a mystery. It is an “open secret” that is available to all who want to listen to the message. Nourish the heart MORE than we nourish the head. Make intelligence (head) submit to wisdom (heart). I am not saying become brain-dead. No, we are already brain-dead on entertainment, education, psychology, fake food, conditioning, greed, lust for power, lust for lust, etc. Employ the intellect to do what the heart benevolently dictates, without compromise, and you will be happy. It really is that simple. We just have to CHOOSE.

Please take a moment, by liking our page on FB, to support our efforts in joining in the global movement to keep alive the spirit of humanity and the basic sanity of natural wisdom, compassion, love and awareness. Thank you.