Back Again

                                                                                         written 25 March 2023

                                                                                         published 2 April 2023

                                                                                                 

            It used to be that in polite society, talk of religion and politics was avoided, however, the renewal of White Christian Nationalism demands discission.

            Transcendent spirituality presumes a potent reality that encompasses our apparent material reality.  Atheists deny there is such a thing, believing everything is described within the four dimensions of Newtonian space/time, and agnostics aren't sure.  

            However, quantum mechanics proposes that the material world is resonant energy, unified non-locally by higher dimensional patterns.  This view is validated by the success of quantum dependent technologies such as lasers, computers, and cell-phones.  Furthermore, quantum mechanics puts consciousness, also non-local, central to reality: our perspective shapes our experience.  

            Over 80 percent of the planet has a conceptual belief, and/or a personal experience, that inspires consideration of a spiritual reality, with more than 100 names for the transcendent.  Absolute Spirit, Allah, Alpha and Omega, Atman, Brahma, Buddha, Christ Consciousness, Divine Mother, Dreamtime, Eternal Now, Gaia, God, Goddess, Great Spirit, Higher Power, I Am, Jehovah, Jesus, Kali, Krishna, Nondual Awareness, Pele, Perennial Philosophy, Shakti, Shiva, Source, Tao, Ultimate Truth, Universal Oneness, Universal Soul, Vishnu, Yahweh, and World Soul, to name just a few.  

            Within every spiritual community there is a spectrum running from mystics to fundamentalists.  Mystics tend to value experience over concepts, understanding that words are only approximations, human artifacts, subject to cultural limitations.  Mystics are willing to learn from anyone's spiritual experience, and are more tolerant of cultural differences.  Fundamentalists are more focused on words and concepts, and can become rigid, and dogmatic, insisting their "truth" is the only truth.  Fanatical extremists have killed those who disagree with them, including mystics of their own tradition.  

            Consider the group of blind men encountering an elephant.  Each has a real experience with a single part of the elephant.  Unwilling to expand beyond their personal experiences, they dogmatically fight about the true nature of the beast. 

            What we know as the Christian Bible was edited exclusively by men, centuries after Christ lived, to become the sacred text for the new state religion of the Roman Empire.  For centuries, the Church has grown in political and financial power.  Despite the spiritual value of the Bible, the message has been distorted over time.  

            For example, Christ's primary directive was to Love God (Mathew 22:37-40), yet today a "good" Christian is often described as "God fearing".  Confusing fear and love is the destructive logic of traumatized people.  A man in Ukiah had a sign saying: "Obey Jesus, or burn in hell for eternity!"  The recent Superbowl ad, "Jesus gets us", begs the bigger question: "Who gets Jesus?"   

            As the internalized fear becomes externalized as hate, the fanatical self-righteous presume religious sanction for misogyny, domination, oppression, and even murder.  "Christians" have not only murdered people of other faiths and cultures, but have persistently warred against other Christians.  The Catholic/Protestant conflict is the most extensive, but oppression and domination arose between Protestant sects as well.  Most of the Pilgrims immigrated to the new world because of religious persecution in Europe.  Rigid Church dogma distorted western science for centuries, specifically excluding the central role of consciousness from research, under threat of death.  All of this is far from the core of Christ's teachings, totally "missing the mark", the original meaning of sin.

            Which brings us to the present time.  The basic reality espoused by all spiritual traditions is the unity of the world, hence the universality of the Golden Rule.  Living this truth is our ongoing work.  As society makes progress toward this goal, groups such as White Christian Nationalists, today's fanatical fundamentalists, who have benefited from the exclusive gain of previous fear-based domination systems, are feeling put upon.  They demand a return to a time when nobody was allowed to object to a few rich white men ruling everything.  Living in fear, not love, they are willing to tear everything apart to get their way.

            I believe the answer is to live the life of love that most people aspire to.  We can practice being kind to everyone, living the love in our heart.  We can cultivate access to inspiration and insight, our individual connection to larger wisdom.  This radical social activism is completely within our power.  The tide is turning.  While the old order of domination believes it's still in control, the fundamental bankruptcy is becoming more obvious every day.  

 

 

 

 

 

Mortality Reality

                                                                                         written 10 February 2023

                                                                                     published 19 February 2023

  

            On Saturday, February 4th, we were in Fort Bragg, where I gave a morning talk at the Fine Woodworking School.  As I packed up, I felt weak, but recovered in a few minutes, and finished loading the car.   With Lynn driving, we headed for home, stopping at the Mendocino headlands for the view.  I began feeling worse.  As we headed out, we had traveled only a few hundred feet before I got serious double vision and massive car sickness, and mentioned wondering if I was having a stroke.  

            We headed to the hospital in Fort Bragg, where they gave me an IV of the clot busting drug, and stabilized me.  By Sunday, my double vision was gone, my appetite was back, and I could walk around the room.  However, an MRI Monday morning showed I had diminished arterial flow to the right side of my brain, and had had several previous small strokes, which had produced some symptoms I had noticed over the last few months, as well as a larger one on Saturday.  These were in the rear portion of my brain, which controls vision and balance.  This had not been debilitating due to the swift medication.  

            I mentioned that I had lower right leg cramping when I walked a few yards, and a sonogram later that day showed a completely blocked artery in my right leg, limiting the blood flow, causing the cramping.  The good news was that I had sufficient flow through secondary arteries to avoid leg or foot deterioration, but the condition still needing attention.  We were released Tuesday afternoon and were home by 7pm.  

            This is a new chapter in my life, a profound hit on my previously "taken for granted" body, affecting me both physically and mentally, which will take time, energy, and attention to fully digest.  I feel quality of life is more important that quantity of life, and for the moment, I still have good quality, but end of life has shifted from concept to felt experience.  

            I have decided to take a break from writing this column.  It has been an enjoyable part of my life for over five year now, and I want to thank all the people who have been readers.  I also want to thank the Ukiah Daily Journal, and the other county newspapers, for giving me the opportunity to express myself in this public manner.  My intention is the resume writing when my energy is greater.

            I also want to thank all the people working at the Fort Bragg Hospital.  Their swift action, and dedicated service has given me a chance to continue with this wonderful experience of life.  Several conversations mentioned how the lack of affordable housing in the Fort Bragg area constrains retaining skill workers at the hospital.  I urge any area landlords to consider dedicating housing to hospital staff.

            Finally, I want to close by reiterating the core of my perspective on life.  I believe we are awakening from the illusion of separation that has dominated the brief time we call "recorded history".  The separation perspective experiences the "other" as either predator or prey, something to fear, or dominate and consume, including the Earth, other species, and other people.  This is the foundation of every disfunction in the news today.  However, the world is connected, as verified by everything from quantum mechanics to all the spiritual traditions on the planet.  Consider the waves on the open ocean.  Each one has a unique location in space and time, yet any "separation" between them is only relative, because each is always part of the same ocean.  The climate crisis exemplifies this.  It arises from ignoring our connection with the Earth, and can only be solved by all humanity working together, for the benefit of all life. 

            We have been slow to embrace this connected truth, but I feel the tide has turned.  More of us strive to live this deeper truth, and that makes it easier for others to join in.  Tipping points and critical mass are real, and change the world.  This is the reason we are all here, to live this deeper truth.    

            Gratitude, Love, and Global Awakening
            May All Beings Awaken From The Illusion Of Separation
            May You Awaken With This Breath

  

National Debt

                                                                                         written 5 February 2023

                                                                                   published 12 February 2023

 

            In economics, one must balance income and expenses.  That balance has hard edges, and expenses are limited to income and actual savings on hand, without the ability to accumulate debt.  Debt accrues when someone is willing lend money to be paid off over time, allowing expenses to increase beyond current income.  Interest is charged for this service.  National debt is manifested by selling bonds, allowing the county to deal with unexpected expenses without impoverishing the country or defaulting the government.

            National debt began to accumulate with the Revolutionary War, the Louisiana Purchase, and the War of 1812, rising to $120M ($2.31B in today's dollars) by 1815.  For the rest of this article, I will use current dollar values for clarity.  This was paid down to zero in 1835, under President Jackson.  By the end of the Civil War, another unexpected expense, debt had climbed to $47B.  To fund World War One, the national debt jumped from $73B to $318B under President Wilson.  

            The strong economy following the war allowed the debt to reduce to $254B by 1929, when the economic crash hit the country hard.  Even though austerity and the "free market" were axions of the Republican party, debt increased to $466B under President Hoover in 1933.  The dire economy swept President F. Roosevelt into office, with a socialist vice president, and the New Deal was put into place to help save the country.  The expense of this social program, combined with the cost of winning World War 2, drove the debt to $3.7T by 1945.

            After the war, the American economy boomed, as the only major economy still intact.  In addition, our domestic oil reserves allowed us to control the global post war economy.  Under President Truman the debt was reduced to $2.6T in 1953, and held steady for the next 20 years.

            In 1972, the US domestic oil production peaked, and we lost control of the price of oil as OPEC gained strength.  In addition, the value of the dollar had been stressed by the unfunded cost of the Vietnam War, and President Nixon cut the dollar loose from the price of gold, ending decades of global financial stability, and creating massive domestic inflation, with rates hitting 12 percent.  Under Presidents Nixon and Ford, Republican austerity held sway despite the social turmoil and the debt only increased to $2.7T in 1977.  President Carter was confronted with an intractable problem, with inflation hitting almost 15 percent, and debt increased to $3.1T in 1981.  Even Regan's austerity took two terms, and a debt increase to $5.9T, before inflation dropped to 4 percent, and the economy recovered.

            Decades of colonialism, amplified by the massive oil reserves and revenues, created instability in the Middle East, and the US felt obliged to interfere, in the name of "national security".  Our "man on the ground", Saddam Hussein in Iraq, became too independent, and President G. H. Bush invaded to "stabilize" the region, pushing the debt to $7.2T in 1993, to fund the war.  Under President Clinton, dealing with the dot com crash, the debt rose to $8.5T in 2001.  The blowback from our Middle East adventures caused the World Trade towers to fall, and President G. W. Bush responded by invading Afghanistan and Iraq again, increasing the debt to $10.4T in 2009.

            Greedy financial systems finally crashed in 2008, threatening the global economy.  President Obama prevented a total collapse, but pushed the debt to $21.3T by 2017.  President Trump raised the debt to $27.8T to give a massive tax break to the wealthiest citizens.  President Biden took office during a global pandemic, which shut down the country, and raised the debt to $31.5T today, keeping it afloat.

            Since President Reagan, national debt has increased $12.6T under Republican administrations, and $15.8T under Democratic administrations.  The Democrats spent the money saving the economy during the dot com crash, the housing melt down, and the Covid pandemic.  The Republicans funded three invasive foreign wars, which left chaos in their wake and bad feelings about America, and tax cuts for the very wealthiest.

            With a Democrat in the White house, Republicans now complain about raising the debt limit, risking default on paying bills we have already accrued, holding popular social programs hostage to protect the Trump tax breaks for the exclusive few.  This is why I have little respect for the Republican party as it currently manifests.

Unhinged

                                                                                         written 29 January 2023

                                                                                     published 5 February 2023

   

            Despite high mountains and deep oceans, the Earth is smoother than a cue ball.  If a cue ball is dipped in water, the resulting layer of moisture represents our atmosphere.  Like a neighbor pounding of your door, saying your house is on fire, while you are having a party, Al Gore gave an impassioned climate speech a few weeks ago, at the 2023 World Economic Forum, excerpted here.

            "We’re not winning.  The crisis is still getting worse faster than we are deploying solutions, and we need to make changes quickly.  Emissions are still going up.  When are we going to bring these emissions down?  People are familiar with that thin blue line in the pictures from space that the astronauts bring back.  That’s the part of the atmosphere that has oxygen, the troposphere, and it’s only 5 to 7 miles thick.  That’s what we’re using as an open sewer.  If you could drive a car straight up in the air at interstate highway speeds, you’d get to the top of that blue line in 5 minutes, and all the greenhouse gas pollution would be below you." 

            "We’re still putting 162 million tons (of carbon dioxide) into it every single day, and the accumulated amount is now trapping as much extra heat as would be released by 600,000 Hiroshima class atomic bombs exploding every single day on the Earth (7 per second!).  That’s what’s creating these atmospheric rivers, and sucking the moisture out of the land, and creating the droughts, and melting the ice, and raising the sea level, and causing these waves of climate refugees predicted to reach one billion in this century.  Look at the xenophobia and the political authoritarian trends that have come from just a few million refugees.  What about a billion?  We would lose our capacity for self-governance on this world.  We have to act." 

            "We have to have a sense of urgency.  We have a divide between those who are old enough to be in positions of power, and the young people of this world who are looking at what we’re doing.  They say, "You’ve got a climate denier in charge of the World Bank, so why are you surprised that the World Bank is completely failing to do its job?  Are you okay with putting the CEO of one of the largest oil companies in the world in as the President of the COP (climate conference)?"  The appearance of a conflict of interest undermines confidence at a time when climate activists around the world have come to the conclusion that the people in authority are not doing their job!"

            This year, the Colorado River flow has diminished to the point that Lake Mead and Lake Powell will soon hit "dead pool", unable to release water downstream, affecting tens of millions.  A community outside Phoenix now has no water, destroying the value of their million-dollar homes.  California wildfires are increasing insurance rates, as are hurricanes in Florida, threatening the viability of those housing markets.  The drought in California is shrinking the farming economy, adding to food prices and decreasing availability.  As our environment heats, our entire wine industry faces replanting their vines to more heat tolerant varieties.  The latest research on the collapsing Antarctica glaciers suggests a sea level rise of 20' by the end of the century, assuming emissions stabilize now.  Temperatures in Europe were in the 70's this winter.  In parts of Alaska the shoreline is retreating 70' each year as lack of sea ice exposes the land to wave action.  Offshore of Mendocino, the warming ocean has disrupted the ecology and destroyed the essential kelp forest and dependent fisheries.  Torrential rainfall inundates communities with increasing regularity.  Exxon-Mobile lied about the climate impact of their products for half a century, grossing trillions.

            People who are paying attention are alarmed, and dismayed at the general lack of concern.  It is no wonder that Gore was so passionate in his comments to world economic leaders.  When I searched online for a transcript of Gore's speech, all I found were numerous "news" reports about Gore's "unhinged" comments.  Unhinged!  Talk about killing the messenger. 

            Like a bunch of mindless frogs, sitting in slowly heating water, we are more concerned with celebrity gossip and the sexuality of M&M's than the fact that, without concerted action, our entire economy could collapse before kids today can retire.

Stories

                                                                                         written 22 January 2023

                                                                                     published 29 January 2023

            Let me tell you three stories about stories.

            I heard an awakened man say: "There are only two things that are absolutely true: I am, and something is happening.  Everything else is just stories."

            Dr. Gabor Maté, a specialist in treating traumatized individuals, said: "An individual can be traumatized by something that happened, or by something needed, that didn't happen.  The reaction to the trauma is to armor up, cutting off access to the authentic self.  However, what endures is not the traumatic event, but the story we make up about our self, subsequent to the event.  This can be changed."  As many as 90 percent of us have been traumatized.

            I recently read: "People are easier to fool than to convince they have been fooled."  

            The stories we tell ourselves are powerful, even if they cause us harm!  If a story is similar to something we already believe, we will likely believe that, as well.  After becoming part of a story with which we identify, we tend to defend against any information to change our mind, as an assault on our being.

            The insidious part is core stories are laid down long before we develop a rational perspective to evaluate what we are being told.  They are lodged deep in our subconscious, running all the time.  Think about how difficult it is to create positive habits.  If you have been told as a kid that you are bad, ugly, stupid, guilty or the world is out to get you (pick from the long list), how frequently will you have to look in the mirror, making positive affirmations, before you begin to believe differently?  This depressing state of affairs explains a lot of what goes on in the world, and indicates how difficult change will be.  But it still astounds me that people believe some of the things they do.  

            As a life-long rational, scientifically oriented, socialist democratic, progressive, mystic, I am still gob smacked by what passes as the current Republican Party.  In a world heavily affected and dependent on scientific technology, how can they be so rabidly anti-scientific?  Inspired by Trump's manifest limitations, the GOP is against vaccines, ignoring that 7 GOP seniors die every day for every 4 Democratic seniors, further reducing their voter base.  

            Since Trump can't admit losing, a vast number of Republicans believe his lie the election was stolen from him, even though other Republicans won in the same election.  Despite numerous lost law suits, and confirmation by Republican authorities the election was fair, they are willing to destroy the country to "make things right".  The only explanation is these folks feel cheated by life, opening them to believing the false story Trump also feels cheated.

            People tend to believe stories that enhances their short-term income.  It was recently verified that Exxon-Mobile accurately predicted our growing climate crisis half a century ago, and realized addressing it would cost then trillions.  Instead, they chose to cancel further research and funded climate denial.  Thus, the GOP, heavily dependent on fossil fuel campaign contributions, denies the reality of the climate crisis: truly suicidal politics.  Recently Wyoming opposed shifting to electric vehicles to preserve their oil and gas income.  As a result of massive lobbying by the fossil fuel industry, Ohio declared propane and natural gas as "green energy", ignoring that natural gas is 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas over the first 20 years. 

            People believe lies from a "trusted" source.  Fox News required employee Covid vaccinations, but railed against them on air, making billions in profit.  Further, Fox News claimed Dominion voting machine "stole the election" by switched votes.  In the current $1.6B defamation case against Fox, Dominion lawyers found Fox on-air talent knew this was a lie.

            After decades of Republicans telling the story that "government is the problem", they are now proving that Republican government IS the problem!  The only question is, how bad does it have to get?  I am still optimistic.  

            These days, old stories are coming to the surface to be healed and released.  We are immersed in the very old conflict story between the individual and the collective.  However, reality is connected, and those who deny that eventually stub their toe, or run out of breath.  In the meantime, we all must look to see what "we know for certain, that just isn't so".

 

 

Gender

                                                                                         written 15 January 2023

                                                                                     published 22 January 2023

  

            Several decades ago, in a Comparative Religions course, it was presented that the three major western religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, were related as follows.  Judaism was one of the first religions to embrace a unity God, but the focus on the Torah tended to separate the individual from the divine.  Christ brought a New Testament, but eventually the focus on the Bible tended to separate the individual from the divine.  The Islamic Koran repeated the message that everything is divine, but the Shia/Sunni struggle for power again separated the individual from the divine.  While this is a simplification, the fundamentalist of all three religions have diverged from the original spiritual intent with inappropriate, and oppressive focus on their specific stories.  

            All three stories have a similar structure in that they assume the individual arises from the divine, manifests a human existence, and then returns to the divine, with certain limitations.  Basically, a "one and done" story.  This is another simplification, but expresses the fundamentalist view.  

            However, a significant portion of the world believes in reincarnation, the idea that, while the source of an individual soul is divine, we have a series of human incarnation intervals, allowing for an evolution.  Life is a school, where lessons are presented and perhaps learned, with strengths and weaknesses passed along for further edification.  At least 20 percent of organized global religions adhere to this idea, and many more individuals of every tradition believe this; almost a quarter of Americans, including Christians.  Any religious orthodoxy we have been taught might be incomplete, or modified for secular reasons, therefore reincarnation should be considered.

            Aldous Huxley did a survey of all the spiritual traditions on the planet, looking for common themes.  In addition to variations of the Golden Rule, he found the goal of humanity is the evolution from the individual ego to the direct experience of the divine unity.

            Our species is making some progress toward experiencing that fundamental unity.  For example, there was a time when almost every society accepted human slavery as part of the economy, and that is no longer so.  Over the last 200 years, women are now allowed to vote everywhere (except Vatican City).  Quantum physics understands matter, and perhaps consciousness, are connected non-locally.  Our economy is global, engaging every country.  Affordable cell phones appeared about 30 years ago, and 86 percent of the world is now connected.  The climate crisis unifies us with global impact, even upon those who deny it.  

            While these are mostly material forms of universal connectedness, they are indicative of a fundamental shift toward extending accord to the other (the core of the Golden Rule).  The stories we believe shape our experience of the world.  However, only 10 percent of our actions are controlled by our reasoning consciousness, which only fully manifests by age 7.  Everything else is controlled by our subconscious.

            Let's add consideration of reincarnation, and examine the emerging gender issue.  Assume for a moment, that we have all been here many times before, as both men and women.  Perhaps, as our species evolves, we are experiencing a thinning of the barrier between lives.  Studies show that children who remember previous lives tend to be younger than 7, when the inclinations of previous lives may be most influential, before the reality of this life prevails. 

            Perhaps lesbian women have been men multiple times before, and now still love women, yet know they are strong, assertive, and capable people.  Perhaps gay men have been women many times before, and now still love men and know that life is richer when compassion, emotions, and sensitivity are felt.  Perhaps people who identify as nonbinary are aware of having been both men and women so many times that they feel no need to choose.  This is not an attempt to stereotype, but just a perspective to consider.  

            The people who have problems with such "out of the ordinary" behavior, tend to justify their outrage on moral or religious grounds.  But this is a reversion to very old doctrine, which is generally at odds with the Golden Rule found in every tradition.  The real challenge here is living the spirit of the tradition rather than the dogma.  We see what pain and suffering dogma have inflicted on our species.  Perhaps it is time to live the spirit, and really Love Our Neighbor, without qualification.

 

Net Metering

                                                                                           written 8 January 2023

                                                                                     published 15 January 2023

     

            In 1975, solar panels cost about $100/watt, and grid tied residential usage was extremely limited.  But peak oil in the US, and the rise of OPEC, stimulated increased popularity of such systems.  When excess electricity was produced, the power was pushed back onto the grid, spinning the meter backward, allowing homeowners to "store" their excess power on the grid.  But in reality, nothing was stored, only credited, as all electricity is used in the moment it is created.  Utilities began demanding a more formalized relationship, and Net Energy Metering (NEM) regulations were eventually established.

            California introducing NEM 1.0 in 1996.  Solar panel cost had dropped to about $7.50/watt, but solar still provided virtually no significant power to the grid.  The goal was to stimulate solar growth with credit of $0.25 per kilowatt-hour for selling excess energy back to the grid.  Total amount of net metered solar was capped at a modest level in each utility districts.   

            Plenty of sunshine, high electricity rates, and favorable net metering policies helped California become one of the nation’s leading solar markets.  By 2017, solar panel prices had plummeted to $0.75/watt, and solar, producing about 1 percent of the national electricity, was growing in popularity and recognized as a reliable energy source throughout the world.  In addition, the three California investor-owned utilities hit their net metering “cap” between 2016 and 2017. 

            This prompted the California Public Utilities Commission to create NEM 2.0, their next generation net metering regulations.  The rate paid for excess electricity was about the same, maintaining the major benefit of allowing customers to sell electricity back to the grid at retail rates.  Industry caps were removed, but some fees were increased and all solar customers transitioned to time-of-use rates, reflecting that variations in power availability affects real prices.  In Ukiah, the real cost of power the City pays can vary by more than a factor of 5 over the course of the day, with evenings being much more expensive than the middle of the day.  Although NEM 2.0 was less beneficial compared to its predecessor, it still focused primarily on the fiscal value of solar and treated "credit" as "storage".

            Today, solar production is increasingly rapidly.  Panels cost $0.31/watt.  Solar produces almost 3 percent of our electricity, and is expected to grow by 60 percent in 2023 alone.  While corporate utilities are still trying to curtain solar, we have bigger problems.  

            Regionally, all solar produces at about the same time, increasingly stressing the grid during peak production.  Increased consumption occasionally saturates the grid capacity, and addressing the climate crisis demands a huge increase in electric consumption.  Further, there was still no recognition that excess power is not really being "stored".  In December 2022, the California Public Utility Commission released the new NEM 3.0 policy, which shifts thinking about solar from fiscal gain to providing power as needed.  

            Excess power from existing solar systems will be paid at the rates in place when they were installed, but the new policy applies to systems installed after April, 2023.  All power consumed onsite will be free, but excess power pushed onto the grid will be credited at a reduced rate of "avoided costs", plus a small margin, reflecting the actual wholesale value of the power when it is sold to the grid, like any other power producer.  There are no monthly connection fees.  All this reflects the increased maturity of solar power, acknowledges the load limitations of the grid, and stimulates the goal of increasing the installation of distributed storage.

             Solar systems are fixed costs, producing power for at least 25 years, and more likely 50 years, some of the least expensive power installed today.  As we shift to collecting power when it is available, rather than when we want it, we have to recognize the value of the power changes over time with availability, and the midday solar production peak is some of the least valuable of the day.  By adding battery storage to any solar system, this cheap power can be stored and consumed later instead of more expensive power, or sold into the market reaping the increased value.  While the payback period for a solar-plus-storage system may still be longer under NEM 3.0 than it is under NEM 2.0, it’ll be better than if you install solar alone, and your system will be more versatile and robust.