Suppose we —

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

 I was lying in bed, sort of daydreaming – free-associating – and a cartoon I saw on facebook yesterday came into mind. One panel showed little kids of the 1980s in an outdoor scene, running around, playing. The other showed kids of 2012 in the same scene, all sitting under one of the trees, clicking away at whatever game or device each one was using.

First bounce: the kids in the 1980s scene looked supervised and tame next to my memories of our life in the 1950s.

Second bounce: whoever drew the scene (thinking it seems of the 1980s as paradise lost) probably had no idea of how life had been after the war, in the same way that we had had no idea of how free life had been before the war, and in frontier days, etc..

Third bounce: people tend to assume that the change is for the worst, and in a way of course it is. And yet, maybe not, for I often suspect that all this electronic-ization of our lives has a subtext  unintended by anyone in the body. I suspect we are being prepared for the great change in which we will take the non-physical world for granted in the way prevous civilizations did, and yet in a new way.

Fourth bounce. What if we began to train ourselves to look at everything that happened, not as the result of chance, not as the result of some conspiracy, but as another tile in the great mosaic that is our lives? What if we began to see what is, rather than always trying to measure what we see against what we wish we were seeing? Not only would we probably be happier and less fearful, we might see a lot better, too.

Thought for the day. Season to taste. Individual mileage may vary.

 

An architecture of mental function

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

As we move further away from the long nightmare of reductionist science and closer toward a new science centered on consciousness, unsuspected connections will open up, and new possibilities will suggest themselves. Here is one.

Via this morning’s ever-helpful SchwartzReport, this extremely provocative and interesting story:

http://www.psmag.com/culture/corridors-of-the-mind-49051/

VENTURA – WINTER REVERIES

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

MICHAEL VENTURA

LETTERS AT 3AM –

WINTER REVERIES

Austin Chronicle – December 28, 2012

   Donna wasn’t really pretty. She was kind of scrawny. No stunning features. I remember a pale face, dark hair, grey eyes – but I may be wrong about the eyes. What she wore didn’t flatter her. You never noticed her clothes. The thing about Donna – and I don’t exaggerate, I promise – is that every guy who met her, every guy worth a damn, fell in love with her. There was something only Donna possessed, or something that possessed only Donna — something you fell in love with. Her sad glow, her brave laugh, and something other. Anyone who knew her knows what I’m talking about. I’ve not seen that “something” in anyone else – not even in a movie.

     I never thought I could be her boyfriend. Donna seemed meant for something I knew nothing about. Something indefinable – something infuriatingly indefinable! – shimmered around that girl.

    She didn’t know what the hell it was any more than we did, and I know she suffered for that.

Continue reading VENTURA – WINTER REVERIES

2013 — the year ahead

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

A few weeks ago, New Dawn, an Australian magazine, asked me, among others, for a few words on “2013 The Year Ahead.” This is what I sent them. (New Dawn may be found at www.newdawnmagazine.com)

2013 The Year Ahead

By Frank DeMarco

Last year, the world failed to end. It keeps doing that, I notice. Even though we are repeatedly threatened, or promised, that “the end of the world as we know it” is near, it never seems to come about. Or could it be that it’s happening and we’re not noticing?

Continue reading 2013 — the year ahead

Resolutions

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

 For the new cycle, and for the new year that begins in ten days, I set my intent.

 To do the work best suited to me.

To live so as to be a blessing to others.

To find wisdom, and to recognize it when I find it, and to incorporate it into my life.

 Anything beyond these three – the pursuit of usefulness, love, wisdom — would be redundant. It is all implied in Lao Tzu’s admonitions:

 Manifest plainness

Embrace simplicity

Reduce selfishness

Have few desires

 

At the end of the old cycle …

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

This is the last day of the old cycle on the Mayan calendar, and in any case the day before solstice, which is when the year’s solar tides change. It is a time for quiet reflection, a little thought about where your life has taken you to this point and where you would like it to take you from here. (Put better: Who you would like to make yourself into.)

Given that, is it really a good idea to spend your time, your attention, and your mental and emotional energy trying to convince somebody about your views on gun control? I mean, whatever your views, they are obviously right, and are obviously the only way that any sane sensible person could see it – but, so what? “One convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.” When you have some extra time, send me an exhaustive list of everyone you have ever persuaded of anything they didn’t want to be persuaded of.

Is it, in fact, worthwhile to let the “news” media direct your thoughts toward and one crime in any one place, or in one issue among so many? To get down to the nub of it – this is not the time to pay attention to anything that is designed to convince you or remind you that you are helpless victims in a hostile universe.

The long nightmare (some people look at it as a thrill ride) is about over. The future isn’t going to be just more of the same. It isn’t going to change in a blinding flash, but it is changing. Has been already for some time, in fact, and high time.

Be well, friends. Happy end-of-the-old-cycle.

 

Dec. 21, 2012 — No Fear !

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

 

My friend Paul Chelli and I met 20 years ago this month, at a Gateway Voyage at the Monroe Institute. We have never met since, but retain mutual regard. He sent me this link, saying, “There is a lot of informatio…n here, but the best I have seen.” I agree. At first i thought, ah hour and 44 minutes?? No way I’m going to spend that long on a video. Then i reflected that this is about the length of an average film. So I started watching.Subject: December 21 2012, The most important video you will ever watch:Turning the corner of the Dark ages… Consciousness, Becoming Awake, Our own Awareness. Dec. 21 2012 will be just as any other day except we will cross to “daylight”.http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.ca/2012/12/december-21-2012-turning-corner-of-dark.html