the sacredness of things

Mass production takes the sacredness and magic out of things.  It makes them cheap.  One-of-a-kind things, like artwork or a hand made craft or a knitted sweater, or even an apple pie made from scratch, are infused with the imprint of the maker.  Such an item has a totally different energy than say that cheap plastic mug with its advertising logo, which ends up first as a pencil cup (although, annoyingly, it keeps tipping over), or as a brush cup (the weight of the water keeps it standing), but then inevitably gets thrown away or at least recycled.

Why do you hesitate to throw away your high schooler's clay bowl she made in 3rd grade?  Why can't I get myself to throw the chocolate rose away my son gave me in 2nd grade for Mother's Day, and which has been sitting in our dining room cabinet for eight years now?  Because these things are infused with significance and meaning.

But I am ruthless with cheap stuff we seem to collect - useless Disney key chains (how many key chains do you need?), plastic Lei from some party long ago which lost their magic the morning after, too many t-shirts with logos and pictures to advertise someone else's cause, plastic toys too ugly and cheap to save for future generations.

Buy less, but buy thoughtful, or make it.

forget your watch

I did not take a watch on our recent camping trip.    It really did not matter what time I woke up and climbed out of the tent, what time I sipped tea and ate breakfast, what time I went biking or ate lunch.  You can actually tell pretty accurately by the sun's standing in the sky and the quality of the sunlight about what time it is  - not that it really matters when you're on vacation.  It is nice to just let yourself float through the day by your feelings of hunger or need for rest or activity. The accounting of time and its equation with money rob time of its magical qualities - and us of our connection with nature.  Charles Eisenstein wrote that John Zerzan thought "Clocks make time scarce and life short."  Remember when childhood summer afternoons stretched languorously and lazily into eternity?  I am sure it has happened to you that you had to get something specific done in a fairly short amount of time - and managed somehow magically to accomplish it within that tight timeframe.   Swedish children's book author Astrid Lindgren wrote in The Children of Noisy Village that it is those endless Christmas Eve afternoons that are responsible for our gray hair because those afternoons stretch on forever and ever and ever.  And you might have seen Salvador Dalí's famous painting of the stretchy clocks.

It's Labor Day  week-end.  Put your watch away and enjoy time without counting it.

we are nature

That we have come to think of ourselves as separate from nature shines through when we say "let me take a walk in nature," or when we refer to nature as "outside."  And of course it shines through in how we treat nature - we have not been kind to it lately.  As a society we have come to view ourselves as superior to nature, as separate from nature; we dominate and control nature, and "use" it for our enrichment.    I believe this behavior arose from disassociation and fear - what indigenous person would fear nature?  How absurd, they live with it, in it, as part of it, from it.  We Westerners of industrialized nations need to relearn to live with it, understand it, be kind to it, embrace it, and work with it. What is "nature" actually?   The 1970s gave rise to the idea of the Gaia principle, the idea of earth as one enormously complex organism that encompasses everything from rocks and rivers, to plants and minerals, animals and humans.  While the Gaia principle excludes elements outside of planet earth (the planets, the cosmos) it is a step in the right direction of a more encompassing understanding of our embeddedness in earth.  Native American Chief Seattle supposedly said something like "whatever you do to the web you do to yourself." We are part of nature, we are nature just as much as trees, mushrooms, mice, wales, clouds, the sun, or our consciousness.  And because We Are Nature we need to relearn to honor it, and we need to learn responsible stewardship of it and ourselves as part of this enormous and intricate web.

put your money where your values are

In the spring we switched our electric energy supplier to Viridian and chose 100% renewable energy (they also have a 20% renewable energy option).   Viridian is a socially responsible (another worthwhile value) power company that supplies clean energy from local wind power. I found that cheaper is not necessarily better, because this is no longer my only value and consideration when making a purchase.  Oh - I do admit that I buy things at Walmart - where else can I get sewing thread, school notebooks, cotton socks, a sink stopper, pens and envelopes, marshmallows for our camping trip all in one place?  And at Trader Joe's (lots of inexpensive organics).  But then they have certain values attached to them, which I buy into.  Walmart (the new Woolworth) offers lots of different utilitarian things in one place (important since I live in the country and have few specialty stores), and Trader Joe's means organics for the masses.

I am conscientious about what I buy and where I buy it:  meat from local farmers (or venison from our own fall harvest), produce from food coop, local farm stands, or the farmers' market, organic grocery staples in bulk from the coop, eggs from a friend or a local farmer, clothes for myself and my daughter mostly from local second hand stores, pet supplies from the local pet store for the corn based cat litter (and I make my own cat food), 100% recycled copy paper for the office: from Staples (only place that has it), 100% recycled toilet paper and paper towels from Trader Joe's (lots less than the local supermarket), to name just a few choices that indicate clear values.

Imagine what would happen if 80% of Americans stopped buying GMO corn and soy products? And remember, if you don't buy organic they'll keep spraying the pesticides that are killing the bees, which are our main produce pollinators (!!!). So be aware of what values you fund, or don't fund with your purchases.  Cheap is not the only value.

Also see a similar post on voting with your dollars.

making cat cupcakes

I am the first culprit when it comes to what I am going to say now, although I have worked my whole life towards what Confucius supposedly said: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." In general we need to play more in order to enjoy more.  We are rusty at playing - at least I am.  Much of life seems to be a chore.  So when my daughter made cat cupcakes a few days ago - because she loves cats, and she loves to bake - it reminded me of how little I play.  I am just not silly enough (my excuse is that seriousness is in my astrological profile, something about Saturn I think  - but then the scientists have already proven that DNA is not static and that we can change our nature and our biology).

Martha Beck says in her Finding Your Way In A Wild New World: "...the way to cope with the increasing complexity of the wild new world is to play more."  When we are happily doing and forget about the thinking - whether we dance, sing, make art, make music, play with our children, write a poem, make cat cupcakes - that's play.  Now all we need to do is figure out how to make doing the laundry, or driving the kids all over town, or commuting, or any number of chore-like activities a playful thing.  Any thoughts?

be patient!

We have become used to instant gratification.  Information is now available at the touch of a finger.   We no longer write letters, barely even send e-mails or make telephone calls, we text and twitter.  Our attention spans have become shorter, as teachers have noticed, and the movie and TV industries exploit and promote it, which then self-perpetuates.  On the material side the credit system has enabled us to buy now and pay later, since we choose no longer to be patient until we have saved up enough money.  Besides houses and cars we can also get everything else instantly without paying for it upfront (just pay Amazon an annual fee and you'll get 2-day shipping on all your orders).  We have lost our patience, we live on credit, and we are banking on a better future to acquire today’s perceived needs now.

The belief that this system will work long-term is also coloring our relationship with nature.  Many don’t want to believe - yet, as it seems - that oil and natural gas reserves are finite.  Many don’t want to believe - yet, - that we have a huge garbage problem.  Many don’t want to believe that we have any number of grave environmental challenges to deal with.  We’ll fix them in the future – or so many still like to believe.  Environmentally speaking, we live thus on credit instead of investing now into our environmental future.  From indigenous cultures we need to relearn patience and a long-term outlook on issues.  

Native Americans look seven generations ahead into the future!   We must invest in a viable future for our children, grandchildren, and five more generations out, instead of leaving them to mop up our messes. The Lorax is a good book by Dr. Seuss on what happens otherwise.

why men need women

Women are more generous than men, Adam Grant noted in his NYT article of the same title yesterday.  Yesterday, too, a friend raved about her daughter's female boss, who provides her with benefits and vacation time even though the daughter works only part-time. I am not saying that women make better bosses.  But we are naturally more nurturing and empathetic, while men are more driven and result oriented, the yin and yang of Chinese philosophy.  Yet, we shouldn't want to do away with the guys in business.  Balance is everything, and we need both energies - the driving and the nurturing one.  The article reports that women inspire the men in their lives to greater philanthropy and generosity - i.e. Melinda Gates is the driving force behind the Bill & Melinda Gates philanthropic foundation according to Grant).

I believe that the incoming cultural paradigm is or will be more balanced, more heart based, more sustainable, because we are beginning to realize that strict bottom line capitalistic exploitative yang behavior is dangerous to our health (environmental damage etc) because it is unbalanced.  We need both energies, since they complement each other perfectly.

Women are slowly leading men away from ying domination to greater balance.  The rise of women's empowerment, their greater involvement in business and politics, and their slow and steady recognition as equals attest to that.  Adam Grant concludes his article with the (wise) recommendation that men follow our lead.

why fair trade?

Have you read about the awful recent garment factory collapse stories in Bangladesh?  Do you know what fair trade coffee or what a fair trade banana is? Well, here it is.  According to Elizabeth Henderson, an organic farmer for 30 years who helped organize the Domestic Fair Trade Association, "a fair price is the right price with a triple bottom line people-profit-earth."

Fair Trade began with such crops as bananas, coffee and cocoa from South America because the local farmers were being exploited in the interest of a low sale price and the biggest possible profit for Dole or Chiquita or Chock-Full-O'Nuts or whoever else.  The idea of Fair Trade is a facet of the "new economics," the newly arising cultural paradigm of watching out for all of us, not just some of us  - the health of the farm worker, a fair wage for the farm worker, a sustainable agriculture that does not harm the earth, a healthy product for the consumer, and a fair profit for the banana exporter/importer or cocoa powder maker.  See WFTO and Fair Trade USA for more information.

Fair Trade is a win-win situation, all parties involved profit from it; non fair trade is win-lose, because only one side wins.  Of course this means that the end product costs a bit more.  But what's wrong with that if in the end we all profit from it?

The DFTA (Domestic Fair Trade Association) now promotes the same principles of health, justice and sustainability on a domestic level.  And, to complete my loop to the recent garment factory disasters, through all our awakening to these issues the beautiful win-win principles of Fair Trade will surely make a leap to the garment factories abroad so those workers can work in safe buildings and work for fair wages.

shark fin soup and hope

If the Chinese are back peddling on shark fin soup, so ubiquitous at all festive banquets of the past, there is hope for changes in our attitude about a lot of other things as well.  I am thinking of idling stances on such pressing issues as climate change, pollution, animal welfare, GMOs, child prostitution, and many other ugly realities.  It seems to me that ultimately our collective indecisiveness on these issues boils down to the hesitance of wrestling ourselves away from the profit-first model.  If we only realized that the wellbeing-first model benefits us all around. Bonnie Tsui wrote this week-end in the NY Times about the changing attitude of the Chinese on serving shark fin soup at important banquets, previously a sign of "honoring (and impressing) your guest."  I was served shark fin soup at several banquets in my company's honor in the late 1980s when we lived in Hong Kong, and was oblivious of the gruesome practice (which I can't bear to describe here, but you can look it up).    Because it has been such an inherent component of Chinese food culture I was really quite amazed to read that "last summer, the Chinese government announced that it would stop serving the dish at official state banquets."

Here's to change for the better, change towards wellbeing, change towards respect of nature and all living beings. 

no man is an island

I just finished reading Emily Matchar's book Homeward Boundon the New Domesticity movement.  The book is about women (and some men) embracing home & hearth in a new cultural twist, about being tired of corporate pressure and the lack of the government's and the corporate world's response to women's (and men's) family needs here in this country, while European countries are introducing more and more of it (more guaranteed daycare spots, more maternity and paternity leave, more vacation time).  This movement also comprises the so called "preppers," who believe in taking things into their own hands in light of a perceived potential armageddon that the government is not prepared to manage, and become as self-sufficient as possible.  Some of that self-sufficiency drive is shining through in homesteaders who only trust the safety of their own vegetables, the quality of their own childcare and school instruction, etc.  (note that this lone-man-on-the-frontier and homesteading syndrome seems specific to this country because of its pioneering history).

In nature everything is intricately interconnected in the famous web Chief Seattle (supposedly) spoke about ("whatever you do the web you do to yourself").  When you remove elements of a system (eco or social), like removing a card from the middle of a house of cards, the system starts to crumble.

Since we are part of nature we also exist within an intricate web of relationships and associations.  By the way, the more meaningful our relationships, the richer our lives.  People with a large social network and strong relationships live longer.  When we opt out of the web some part of the web crumbles and weakens, and what we are able to accomplish diminishes.  Matchar makes this crucial point.  When people become so self-centered, as in if-public-education-crumbles-I'll-just-pay-for-private-school, or if-the-general-food-supply-is-unsafe-I'll-just-grow-my-own, or if-corporations-don't-give-a-damn-about family-life-I'll -just-quit, then we have a problem.   Then the country no longer pushes towards a common agenda that benefits all.  You may call me a socialist, but what is bad about jointly rooting for the highest good of all (as opposed to my own highest good)?  What is bad about making education accessible for all and increasing the level of intelligence and critical thinking of the entire population?  What is bad about pressuring the government to put proper food safety measures (including those against GMOs) in place?  It benefits all of us in the end.  We need to remain within the web and help to improve the entire web instead of jumping ship and going it alone.

"Ask not what this country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," as one famous president said not so long ago.   Please also take a look at a previous post on the people factor.