UPDATE FROM SRI LANKA:

[This was sent out as an email to people on the Commonway list; however, because of a technical problem, few actually received it...]

There is never a dull moment around this place. Ongoing war, student riots, the SAARC summit meeting… I don’t know where to begin.

Perhaps I should begin where every Sri Lankan who knows me starts: “Obama!” The world’s most popular man weaves his magic on this island… and he hasn’t even been here. People I don’t even know hear that I’m an American and come up to me with the one question: “Can he win?”

Not, “Is he a good man?” or “What are his views on foreign affairs?”. From the world’s point of view, the US election is already over – they have their President. (We call the US President the “Leader of the Free World”. Ironic that the world can’t vote for him or her.)

My answer? The election has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans. That illusory division does not define what is going on with the “Obama Effect”. The November election pits two amazingly well-matched candidates against each other: The Past and The Future.

John McCain is a most worthy representative of The Past. He has all of the “tested under fire” credentials (and white hair) that you want in a candidate who represents America’s Past. In a time of fear and uncertainty, many people want a steady hand on the rudder and clear eye toward a safe harbor.

Barack Obama is the epitome of The Future. Someone who transcends all of the old alliances and political configurations (to the chagrin of those in his own party). Someone of the Internet Age. Someone who believes that America’s strength does not lie in her past, but her future. Someone who not only understands, but literally transcends race (to the chagrin of those in the old “Civil Rights” establishment). In a time of hope and rapid change, Obama has his eye – and his enthusiasm – set firmly in the future.

So, we get to witness John Kennedy duke it out with Ronald Reagan. Which one will win? It depends whether, on election day, American voters are more hopeful than fearful. (Perhaps I should characterize it as “Voting by Fear” and “Voting by Hope”.)

People are motivated by BOTH fear and hope. (Remember: inclusivity means seeing things from both/all sides.) After the people of Czechoslovakia defeated the Soviet Union in their nonviolent “Velvet Revolution”, at election time, they almost returned the Communists to power! Why? In times of uncertainty, people look for the familiar – even if it means familiarly oppressive and authoritarian. Then, rather than rely on themselves, they can complain about “the government” again. People go back to abusive governments like women go back to abusive husbands.

[Which one SHOULD win? In keeping with current IRS regulations and in light of Commonway’s nonprofit status, I have no stated official position.]

SAARC CONFERENCE

If you were President of a country ravaged by war, high inflation, political and social instability, what would you do? HAVE A PARTY!! Invite seven of your buddies (and their huge entourages) over for the weekend. Block off the capital city, throw in 30,000 soldiers for security, and you’ve got the “South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation” Summit held the first weekend of my arrival in Sri Lanka. The government spent tens of millions of dollars on a meeting that could have been accomplished with a conference call.

The economy here is REALLY bad.  Even I have noticed the 30% inflationary pinch at the grocery store.  Thousands of university students have rioted, because, after their years of study, there are simply NO JOBS.  Right above my head as I write this, there are hundreds of young men sitting in Sarvodaya’s meeting halls… learning Korean.  Sri Lanka’s biggest export isn’t tea… it’s the young men and women of the country, sent overseas for menial and degrading jobs digging ditches and scrubbing toilets, in places like Saudi Arabia and South Korea.  (The hundreds of young men chanting in Korean above me do NOT have jobs waiting for them in Korea: they are learning Korean in these classes (government-run, not Sarvodaya) for the right to APPLY for the limited Korean jobs, after taking and passing language tests.)  For those who don’t get jobs, they sit and wait… or go to Colombo and riot.

If I had been President, I would have told my fellow heads of state: “As much as I would like to host you, my people just cannot afford this unnecessary expense right now. Give us ten years – we’ll plow the money we would waste hosting SAARC into peace and prosperity for the entire island. Then, ten years from now, we would like to throw you a HECK of a party!”

But, that’s not what heads of state do. Big airports, dams, Olympics and summits – this is the stuff that feeds an ego as big as a country. (I left out the biggest ego-feeders: wars and shiny new weapons.) What do the “people” get out of all this? Nationalistic bragging rights… until the check falls due.

A WAR UPDATE

The war in the North is going full blazes. A staggering 125,000 refugees in the North alone. I’ve heard heart-breaking stories of people selling all of their possessions just to stay moving ahead of the latest battle zone, of tens of thousands of men, women and children sleeping under trees and finding food wherever they can. It is a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions. The aid organizations (including Sarvodaya) cannot adequately respond to the challenge, in light of the current government disfavor of charitable organizations (they claim that the helping organizations gave too much help to the Tigers).

Even reading between the propaganda-filled lines, the Government is currently playing the winning hand. President Rajapakse and the military head, General Fonseka, are both confidently predicting the demise of the Tamil Tigers “as a conventional military force” by the end of the year. From a strictly military point of view, the campaign is impressive. At the rate they are going, it might be even sooner before the Government flag flies over Killinnochchi, the Tigers de facto capital for over two decades.

But, I’ve learned over the years not to count the Tigers out too prematurely. They have managed to pull some amazing rabbits out of their hats… I’m not taking any bets on this outcome.

The key to the Government’s boasting is the phrase “as a conventional military force”. With the Government’s huge advantage in numbers and equipment, it’s a wonder that the Tigers were EVER a conventional military force, able to mount – and win – set military engagements involving artillery and other heavy weaponry, along with sophisticated logistics and their own “air force” of ultra-light aircraft, a first in the insurgency business.

Yes, the Government can “win” against the Tigers conventional forces, just as the US government knew that it could defeat Saddam Hussein’s army. But, as we are learning in Iraq, defeating the conventional forces is a LONG way from “winning” the war.

When Killinnochchi falls, the Tigers turn into a true “insurgent” force: everywhere, nowhere and invisible. While the Sri Lankan flag may once again fly over Killinnochchi, the levels of violence will escalate. While the Sri Lankan army gets bogged down trying to provide services to administer a hostile population where they don’t speak the language (does any of this sound familiar?), the Tigers will be free to mount an insurgency – a true guerilla war. The Government may find itself missing the days when it actually knew where the Tigers were…

I keep saying this: it is impossible to “win” an insurgent war. No one has been able to do it. NO ONE. (Right now, in Iraq, the US forces are literally paying the insurgents not to attack us. This unbelievably short-term strategy will end just as soon as the checks stop.) The only way to end such a war is through a nonviolent, negotiated settlement. (To which the Sri Lanka Government replies, “We will negotiate with them – as soon as we defeat them.” Stay tuned to see how that logic train plays out…)

SARVODAYA – THE NEXT 50 YEARS

This year is the 50^th anniversary of the birth of the Sarvodaya movement here in Sri Lanka. The organization has been involved in a year-long process of celebrating, introspection and envisioning the next 50 years.

As difficult was conditions were 50 years ago, the world has changed in some amazing and frightening ways. We are being called to “think anew and act anew”. I have been involved in several major strategy sessions with Sarvodaya’s leadership, examining the path for Sarvodaya over the next 50 years of its operation. Stay tuned…

A Tour of the East:

I spent the last 3 days touring the war-scarred East of the island.  (The war is too hot in the North for me to visit.)

The East is one big military encampment. There are soldiers EVERYWHERE. I simply lost count of the number of checkpoints we went through (30? 50?). Now that the Tigers have been routed from the East, the government forces are in the process of occupation. (The government prefers to call it “liberation”. And, they seem surprised that their heavy-handed presence hasn’t generated throngs of flower-waving, grateful citizens.)

From Child Soldiers to Sarvodaya Trainees:

I met with about 100 young people at Sarvodaya’s sprawling Batticaloa Farm complex. They were receiving training for woodworking, aluminum working, masonry, computer skills and motorcycle repair.

Many of them were former “child soldiers” of either the Tigers or the TMVP (previously known as the “Karuna Faction”). Sarvodaya provides a safe haven, practical skills… and a time to be CHILDREN. While at the farm, after their classes were over, I watched a spirited game that looked like a hybrid of cricket and baseball. There appeared to be 50 or so kids to a side, and it looked like they were making up the rules as they went along. At one point, when the batter wasn’t able to hit the ball, the pitcher walked 10 feet closer, to give him a better shot. They seemed much less interested in winning than in having fun.

A Sarvodaya Village:

My life and experiences over here are SO DIFFERENT from what I experience in the US.  Yesterday, I was talking to 50 women, sitting on the dirt floor in a village of mud huts, women who had never experienced electricity; the only 4 wheeled vehicles they had seen belong to aid workers.

It’s difficult relating to lives so utterly different from my own. At one point, I asked them about their village’s needs. They were very specific: electricity. When pressed further, they were still very specific: lighting on the public roads at night. (At night, the open areas are crawling with two kinds of danger: cobras and men with guns. Both are deadly if you aren’t in the light.)

I pressed further, inquiring about electricity for households. An emphatic “yes” – they wanted lights in the home, so that their children can do their homework after dark – and to watch out for indoor cobras, that move in during the rainy season. What else do they need household electricity for? They looked at each other, and said, “Nothing.” How about refrigeration or cooking? They looked at me as if I said, “How would you like your own private spaceship so you can visit the Moon?”

(A sidenote: Years ago, with their hard-earned rupees, they purchased small solar collectors through SEEDS, Sarvodaya’s economic development arm. These collectors had enough juice to power 4 or 5 LED lamps wired throughout the house. During the fighting with the Tigers, while they were displaced from their village, the security forces came in and stole the solar collectors, along with everything else moveable, like bicycles. (They were very clear that it was the government forces.) I am proposing a village-sized electrical generator, one that a few rogue soldiers won’t be able to walk off with.)

And Yet Another Refugee Camp:

I stated very emphatically before I left on my Eastern tour: “No refugee camps!”  I just can’t bear to look at another.  I wanted to see economic activities in this visit, and to make presentations to Sarvodaya district staff on global challenges, inclusivity and peace.

So, toward my last day there, the District Coordinator said that we were going to make a presentation for “IGP’s” (income generating projects).  Right.  So, I hop in the truck and we drive straight into a refugee camp!  I said, “I thought we were going to see IGP’s.”  He said, “No, IDP’s (internally displaced persons)”  And, worst of all, it’s a “photo op” moment where I’m to make a speech and hand-deliver food aid to a handful of refugees, before climbing back into my air-conditioned vehicle.

At that moment, I thought about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “…we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground.” The warlords (on both sides) want to erect monuments to themselves and to the glory of killing. The real monuments must go to those who involuntarily suffer the effects of those wars.

What is there to say? What do you say to a group of people you hadn’t planned to talk to, in a place none of us wanted to be? I said:

“I have visited dozens of refugee camps, from Jaffna to Ampara and everywhere in between. I don’t want to be here. But, more than that, I don’t want YOU to be here. I know that you would rather be in your homes, not listening to me and waiting for a handout of food.

“I hope and I pray and I work for the day when there are no refugee camps, anywhere in the world. Until that day comes, until you can return to your homes, please accept this gift of food as a sign that you are not forgotten.”

Peace,

Sharif

Howdy–

We are unable to grasp the magnitude of the problem.  In America’s financial tsunami, the real wave hasn’t even hit us yet.

Several years ago, in the prelude to the horrific tsunami in Sri Lanka, the water went OUT, instead of coming in.  People were startled by seeing the shore line recede, sometimes hundreds of yards, and were delighted that they could walk out into the now dry ocean floor and pick up fish.  People were standing there, amused, amazed and bewildered at this site, when the water returned — with a vengeance.

We are similarly stunned by the news of financial turmoil on Wall Street and elsewhere.  So much is happening, so fast, that the collapse of two major banks just in the past few days barely registers in our consciousness.  Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, last week Washington Mutual and a short while ago, Wachovia.  Americans watch this carnage, but don’t react.  This is because we don’t know HOW to react.  It’s like being in a redwood forest, watching the giant trees crashing all around you.  But, so far, they’re not crashing on you.  So, what do you do?  Do you run for cover?  Do you stay put?  Do you make some popcorn, get a lawn chair, and enjoy the spectacle?

What is the real problem? (You may not like my answer.)

The problem is NOT mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps, collateral debt obligations, or any of the other gobbledygook cobbled together by Wall St. whiz kids.  Yes, they have created a wall of opacity compounded by incomprehensibility.  But, that’s not the problem.  The problem is not even “greedy” corporate CEO’s with golden parachutes.

The real problem is… you and me.  I say this for 3 reasons:

1.  We have created a society that profits from greed and waste.  Wall St. didn’t create it, we ALL are complicit in its creation.  (Yes, some of us are more complicit than others, but that does not change the fact that almost all of us participated in this orgy.)  Every one of us who bought a bigger than needed car or house (“We just needed a little more room”), who lingered over those advertisements for the $80,000 car or the $10,000 watch (even if you didn’t BUY it, your lingering created the ALLURE, the DESIRE of the unattainable) contributed to the “you can have it all” mentality.  We look at these huge Wall St. hogs, all lined up at the trough.  Although we are just little piglets, we are lined up at the same trough.

2.  We have created a nation of debt.  We ALL created it.  Our political and economic leaders have mortgaged our children’s future to pay for their addiction-induced wild partying.  (In my book, “Creating a World That Works for All”, I talk about money addiction as the only form of addiction where the supply of the addicting substance is completely controlled by the addicts themselves.)  But, our leaders are US.  Don’t you run your household on a debt basis?  Don’t your credit cards, car bills and mortgage greatly exceed your fixed assets?  That bubble had to pop at some point in time.  What you’re seeing is simply the check that has finally come due.

3.  We maintained the silly belief that we could grow forever, without any consequences.  In Nature, the only entity that grows forever is cancer.  And that is only until it kills its host.  But, we said, “We’re different.”  Now, as it turns out, we’re not.

The real problem is not an economic or financial crisis.  Our real problem is a moral and spiritual crisis that has manifested itself, this time, in the financial arena.  And, in these troubling times, we lack the moral and spiritual leaders and institutions to even address it – most of our “religious” institutions are just as complicit in this crisis as we are.  Our “religious” leaders looked the other way as the collection plates filled up and the “churches” get larger, fancier — and richer.  It’s hard to denounce greed and money addiction when you are the direct beneficiary of it.

It is time for confession, repentance and forgiveness.  All of us.

As a pre-condition of any bailout or rescue, the CEO and senior officers of each troubled institution should go before the public and confess their addiction.  Confess how greed, the quest for power, the addiction of having MORE drove them to make risky and foolish gambles.  Promise that, if given another chance, they won’t do it again.  (And no, this public confession shouldn’t be used in a lawsuit – that’s just more of the same old mindset.)  If they aren’t willing to admit their addiction… don’t bail them out.

Without confession and a sincere request for forgiveness, the responsible actors will simply do the same thing all over again.  They are ADDICTED.  Addicted to money, addicted to power, addicted to “more is better”, addicted to “having it all”, with no consequences.

People who are drug addicted will do anything for the next fix.  They will jeopardize their health, their family, even their lives for the sake of their “high”.  Addicts lie, cheat, steal, even sell their own children to satisfy their addiction.  The money addicts go one step further – they are willing to sacrifice the health of their entire country for their money fix.

The addiction of the Wall St. players has just been exposed.  They have nowhere to hide.  So, what do we do?  The “bailout” offers the drug addicts all the heroin they can shoot, no (few) strings attached.  That’s what the bailout is… a free supply of highly addictive drugs.

There must be an answer.  This crisis is too important to do nothing.  But, the “bailout” is worse than doing nothing.  With our collective house on fire, Congress shows up with a tanker truck filled with gasoline.

After the confession, what comes next?

The Democrats talk about “re-regulation”.  The Republican mantra is “de-regulation”.  Both miss the point.  Instead of taking over the “toxic” debts, leaving them free to screw up again, the answer is to take over the BANKS.  The answer is to turn our nation’s banking system into a “Mondragon” type system, where the banks are owned by the people, managed by the people, and exist to start small, human-scale businesses.  (If the CEO’s of these financial institutions were people like you and me, they wouldn’t have any multi-million dollar salaries in the first place.)

Think this sounds too much like “socialism”?  Well, get over it.  “Socialism” is just fine when it is the rich and powerful who receive the benefits of state welfare.  Here in the 21st Century, it’s time for us to move beyond the “Breaker” concepts of “capitalism” and “communism”.  (Even the Communists aren’t communist anymore!)

Creating a “Mondragon” style banking system would mean a complete restructuring of our economic system, converting down to a system that works by and for the people, and is understood by regular human beings.  This will mean a lot fewer millionaires – and a lot fewer bankruptcies.

Our economy, every part of it, must be re-oriented away from greed and material acquisition.  Our entire society must be re-oriented toward the most pressing problems of our times: ending violence in all its forms, and healing the harm that humans have done to this planet.  With all of us pulling in the same direction, with all of us providing leadership and a high moral example for the rest of the world, we can achieve truly great things.

If, though, we keep up our current delusional excesses, we will be a different kind of example to the world: what NOT to do.  What we do, at this time, is our choice.  Let’s choose wisely…

Peace,

Sharif

Most of us have experienced them: a knot of half a dozen male teenagers and twentysomethings: a “street gang”. They come in all races and ethnicities. Whether loud talking during a movie or standing in front of the store entrance you want to use, their presence is undeniable. If you are not of their age and ethnicity, you will probably feel some intimidation: you probably won’t call the movie manager to complain about their noise; you will lower your eyes and rush past them into the store. Whatever you do, you will feel the flush of intimidation.

In case you hadn’t guessed, the purpose of their show is just that: intimidation.

From across the country to halfway around the world, the same scene is repeated. In Charlotte, black street gangs carry jam boxes and openly display anti-social behavior. Latino street gangs in Los Angeles fight over the colors or tattoos worn by the gang members. Palestinian teenagers openly carry automatic rifles instead of jam boxes. (Intimidation in Palestine has a more lethal quality.)

In all three instances, the goals are the same: a pitiful attempt at projecting personal power into a seemingly powerless situation. It is pitiful in that the display, whether openly or covertly violent, cannot ever achieve the aims of the young men. The “show” can never gain power for them.

The futility of their behavior is evident once one understands what power is (and is not). True power is the ability to manifest one’s intentions. It involves the will to move forward to accomplish one’s objectives.

With this definition, it becomes obvious that the young disaffected men in the street gangs cannot wield true power. The young urban rebels of America and the world are powerless because they have no collective intentions or objectives. Their show of belligerency is just that – a show. Like boats without paddles or rudders, they drift toward the chasm, knowing something is wrong but not knowing what to do about it.

However, in order to wield true power, intentions and objectives must be realistic and achievable. The goal of pushing Israel into the sea simply cannot be done. Pursuing an objective which, in your heart, you know cannot be achieved focuses and crystalizes your powerlessness and escalates the level of desperation in your actions.

Although powerless, the young men of the Middle East are responsible for hundreds of deaths every year, including the deaths of American civilians and soldiers. Similarly, the black street gangs of urban America are the leading cause of death in the black community. The buzzwords “black on black crime” mask a violent reality of a society rotting from the inside out.

What is the answer? What is the answer to those who feel so disaffected that violence is not only a solution but the only solution? What is the answer to those committing the slow suicide of drugs and casual violence, those for whom prison or execution is no deterrent, since it is no worse than the life in which they find themselves? “Senseless” acts of violence make all the sense in the world to those who perpetrate them.

The answer lies in adopting a simple but profound statement as a way of life: all of life forms one seamless, interrelated web. Therefore, anything I do to anyone else, I am doing to myself. I choose to resolve all conflicts through negotiation rather than confrontation. A person who is whole does not have the need for violence.

However, as a society, we send exactly the opposite message to the urban terrorists of this country and the Third World. We tell them that death and destruction are acceptable means of resolving conflicts. The lesson we teach by sending the battleship New Jersey to blow up Lebanese communities or sending in our armies to the Persian Gulf is that it’s better to shoot than talk. It is a lesson that the powerless have learned well.

If we ask Hamas or Al Qaeda or Iran or the Crips or the Bloods to renounce violence, we must be prepared to set an example and renounce violence FIRST. If violence is wrong for the Iranians, it is wrong for the Americans. Anything less is asking an adversary to hold still while you beat him up.

The second answer lies in providing realistic options to those who see themselves as powerless. Any animal, once cornered, will turn and fight to its death. The key is in not cornering or being cornered. The key lies in “Plan B” thinking. In the American ghettos, it means asking the disaffected a simple but profound question: what do you want that you are willing to work for? Then, if the goals are achievable, to assist in their realization. (Even if what they want isn’t what you would want.)

To solve the question of powerlessness, we must address the question of goallessness. We must cultivate a dialog in the schools, in the homes, in the community, about our goals, both individual and collective. A person with a set of coherent, achievable goals simply does not have time to feel powerless. It means helping to provide a sense of direction and purpose to an aimless life. (The accumulation of money is not a goal: rich people can lead powerless, aimless lives, just like the poor. They just do so with more “stuff”.)

In keeping with the philosophy of wholeness, we must see that the young black men on the corner are intelligent, creative, dynamic and energetic individuals, but without purpose, direction or constructive outlet. If we support them in the development and cultivation of goals and purpose, we will all be pleasantly shocked by their solutions to seemingly insoluble problems. For example, adults have talked for decades about the effects of drugs on teenagers. However, how many of us ask the teenagers to come up with the solution? Instead of considering them responsible partners, we treat them like mindless children, giving them simplistic, nonsensical solutions to complex problems, like the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign.

On the international scene, ending the violence of powerlessness means ending military support. Period. Instead of selling arms to both the Arabs and the Israelis, it means sitting all parties down and TALKING – with no preconditions – until matters are resolved. It means supporting both sides (non-militarily) as long as they are talking, and withdrawing support from any side who gets up and leaves. It means being committed to “win-win” situations. It means recognizing that parties can differ without killing one another. It means being concerned about the growth and welfare of all.

To those who say that our security lies in everyone being capable of killing everyone else, the last line to the soundtrack of the movie “Colors” states both the promise and the peril:

“our war won’t stop
until all wars end.”

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Howdy –

One of the things that Machelle Small Wright (author of “Behaving as if the God in All Life Mattered”) says: whenever there is a deep human conflict, the vibratory energy of that conflict is held by nature spirits until it can be consciously released by humans. She created a “Battle Energy Release Process” that she has used to release negative energy on the Civil War battlegrounds in the South.

I used a modification of that process, that I called the “Slavery Energy Release Process”, to release the energy of slavery from the waterfront in Savannah, Georgia, where, 150 years ago, human beings were gathered and sold. (Although the process was successful — you could FEEL the energy change — I stopped doing it. I didn’t think that it was my role as the descendant of the slaves to initiate the release process.)

The city of Richmond, VA, did an interesting twist of the release process, engaging in a full year of activities acknowledging and atoning for its slave past. I haven’t been there to feel the energy, but I’ve seen video of the process… it was quite moving.

America is haunted by its slave past. The formation and growth of America as a nation cannot be understood separate from the economic and consciousness foundations of slavery and oppression. Yet, we ignore it. The descendants of both the masters and the slaves are tainted by this history. We revere Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Colin Powell, but we still don’t come to grips with what it meant to own (and be owned by) another human being.

I become the “Invisible Man” in almost any urban setting in this country (including my own hometown of Portland, Oregon). When I walk down the street, especially in the evening, people avert their eyes, turn away, or freeze. The cloak of invisibility has nothing to do with how I am dressed, what I’m carrying or how I’m behaving. The only difference between me and others walking down the street is my skin color. This is the legacy of slavery. This is what we must cure. NO ONE moves forward without curing this disease.

Exclusivity — the concept of “I am separate” – was the breeding ground of slavery. “Racism” didn’t create slavery – exclusivity created both slavery and its rationalization called “racism”. Slavery is just an extreme form of exclusivity – the disease that threatens humanity more than any combination of viruses. And, once you shut down your heart enough to actually own another human being, other forms of oppression become much easier – the genocide of the First Peoples, putting Japanese-Americans in concentration camps, treating children like property and women like dirt, invading other countries willy-nilly.

The problem: we cannot deal with this legacy, at the same time as we continue our self-laudatory “We’re Number One” attitudes. Usually, an attempt to move us away from our mutual denial and delusion is seen as “Un-American”.

Now, for the good news.

All around this country, and all around the world, people of all colors and ethnicities have rolled up their sleeves and have committed themselves to doing the heavy lifting of undoing the legacy of slavery and oppression and forging a society that is based on the concept of “We are One”. In this country, there are thousands of groups that involve millions of Americans in releasing the energy of slavery.

My job, the work of Commonway Institute, is NOT to replicate the work of those millions. My work is to FOCUS the energy of those millions, so that we can turn these flickers of light into a laser beam that cuts away our denial and delusion.

I envision thousands of people (mostly white) going out in waves, a few in every city and town that has a legacy of slavery amd oppression (which is all of them), and releasing that energy. (Those “energy workers” would have to first map their location, working with local people to locate the places of slavery and/or oppression that need release. That mapping alone can be a healing process.)

Then, once the energy has transformed, engaging the inhabitants of the city or town in a “truth and reconciliation” process that allows them to consciously transform the energy into a positive force for change.

Is this possible? Of course. Will it actually happen? That, of course, depends on you…

Peace,

Sharif

[This was written a few Christmas seasons ago:]

It is so easy to fall back into the rut — naming the old society. Protesting the old society. Lamenting the old society. Struggling to reform the old society. Thinking that if we could only get rid of the old society, we would then have a the society of our dreams, our ideals.

This past December, I was sitting at one of my coffeehouses ( not my favorite, but one that makes great eggnog lattes). I was reading a good book, and was in the middle of the buying frenzy on 23rd Avenue. Suddenly, I realized that I was depressed.

I tried to analyze my feelings. I wasn’t a part of the buying frenzy around me; I don’t really participate in the “Xmas Thing”, so I don’t have any seasonal guilt, angst, etc. I thought for a moment that I was “homesick” for Sri Lanka — after all, I do spend half of my year there. But a quick internal check said that I didn’t want to be in Sri Lanka. I didn’t want to be ANYWHERE.

That was a sobering thought. There was no society, no country, no city I preferred to inhabit. I didn’t want to be in the land of shallow materialism, where success is measured by how much litter we leave. I didn’t want to be in Sri Lanka, wondering whether the guy at the train station smiling at me is distracting me from a pickpocket doing balance-of-trade, or making a sexual overture for a different type of balance of trade, or was just being friendly. I didn’t want to be in Prague, or Kampala, or Hong Kong, or anywhere else. I had no home.

I’m not being overly melodramatic. I have enjoyed my time back in the States, experiencing cold, actually enjoying chipping ice off my car in the frozen mornings. My feeling is that all of us have a core to retreat to in the face of all of the madness coming at us from all sides. We go home, pull in the walls around us, hopefully with someone who feels the same as we do, and retreat from the yawning emptiness all around us.

We move from nest to nest. We go from our home nest to our work nest to a movie nest to a coffeehouse or restaurant nest… moving about in our auto nest. We communicate with the same handful of people, even when we travel to other countries. (I always find it amazing when Americans attempt to glom on to me when I’m in another country. If I wanted to interact with Americans, I wouldn’t have left Portland.)

We lie to ourselves. Our big lie is that these little nests constitute the entire world, that we are actually interacting with the world when we are in fact interacting with only a tiny sliver of it. We think we are interacting with the world because we think we are looking through a window (television) and think we are interacting with other people. Lie upon lie upon lie.

It is this season where the lies wear thin, where we are brought face to face with the magnitude of our emptiness. I thought back to my challenge to the IONS members meeting a few years ago at Disney World in Florida: look around and see if you can find anyone who looks truly happy. Is there anyone here who is happy because of this season, not despite it?

A few years ago, I got invited to a middle-class feeding frenzy that they called “Christmas with the family”. The extended family met together at 10:00 in the morning to open presents. The children sat on the starting line, engines revving. At the signal, they tore into the pile of wrapped goodies that literally engulfed the christmas tree. Their method: grab a present, tear back enough of the wrappings to see what it is, squeal, throw the present over your shoulder and tear into the next one. After about 15 miinutes of this, all the gifts were open and the adults were sitting in a kind of shock, while the kids were walking around the livingroom like medics walking a battlefield, looking for signs of life and not finding any. After all of the squealing and getting, not one of those kids looked happy. After the orgy of getting, not one of them appeared satisfied.

For some reason, the Divine has provided me with a number of life experiences. I’ve been at the top of Breaker society, having cocktails in Prague Castle with Presidents and Prime Ministers and Nobel Laureates. I’ve had tea with peasants so poor that they had to use that day’s firewood to heat the water for their “honored guest”. I’ve had experiences from the simple to the absurd to the sublime.

What I have seen from these experiences is this:

We have painted ourselves into a very tight corner. We may not survive; we have to accept the possiblity, in the words of Gar Alperovitz, that “Rome dies”. And this “Rome” will take most of the world’s human populations with it.

Before the collapse of Rome, or the Greek city-states, or the European monarchies, most of those at the top did not have a glimmer that there was anything wrong, that they had painted themselves into a corner. Marie Antionette’s now infamous “Let them eat cake!” was not a statement of crudity or callousness — she simply had no experience with a world that did not have an abundance of bread, or cake, or pastry. She would fit right in with most middle-class Americans.

None of the “fixes” we advocate will create the society that we can live in. In some paradoxical way, each “fix” seems to hasten our doom. Many of us (myself included) fought for an end to Apartheid in South Africa. It was only in the last years of the Apartheid regime that I began to ask: what is the nature of the society that all Africans will live in? We visualized a “post-Apartheid” world, but we did not envision the “pre-???” world. And now, the post-apartheid world is a nightmare for most South Africans. For the majority of both blacks and whites, things did not get better, they got infinitely worse.

Let me rush to say that I am not wishing for the “good ole days” of apartheid, or communism, or any other Breaker system. They are gone and good riddance. But, their absence did not make the world a better place to live. We need to think about this as some of us continue to put energy into “post-corporate” or “post-patriarchal” or “post-anything-else”. Its time for us to visualize the “pre-” society.

All of this, the pain, the suffering, the greed, the shallow materialism, the emptiness… all of this points us in a direction. Like saplings bending before a fierce wind, we are all pointing away from the blast point. But, what are we pointing toward? We know what we DON’T want… what do we WANT?

If we are to survive, we must create the Society of the Spirit. A Spirit freed from the bonds of religious dogma, perhaps free from all religion. A society that has one basis of success: how much wealth did you give? A spirituality that has only two tenets: that you love, respect and honor the Divine, and that you treat all other beings the way you yourself wish to be treated. (You are free to add anything else that makes you happy: however, a Society of the Spirit must be based on only these two tenets.)

What do I mean by “society”? I mean a state of consciousness AND a state of behavior that all of the people of the world can join in if they wish. Together, right now, we have an opportunity that has never before existed on this planet: to create together the first true global human society, a society of inclusivity.

A society is the junction between our values and our actions. We can see our values through our actions. We know we don’t believe in “give us your tired and your poor”. We don’t ACT like we want the tired and poor in this country.

How do we get to the Society of the Spirit?

We have to make a commitment to live our values, out loud, every day. We have to recognize those times when we are unable to live our values; when that happens, we have to visualize what a society based on those values looks like. (For example, while pumping gasoline into my fossil-fuel burning, internal combustion engine motivated, single occupant vehicle, I can visualize creating the hydrogen I use to power my fuel-efficient, shared vehicle.)

We have to live our beliefs. I just got in the mail today a notice of a conference to address the needs of the poor. The conference will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC (for those of you who have never been to this hotel, trust me: the poor are not allowed inside, unless they are waiting tables).

We have to see that our spiritual practice is how we are with each other, every minute, every day.

We have to teach others how to live. Not how to ape each other in this empty, terminal society, but how to truly LIVE at the top of their being, their most spiritual, creative, connected Self.

THE SOCIETY OF THE MAJORITY

Anyone who has spent time in any truly indigenous society knows this to be true: Breakers don’t have a clue. Most of us raised in the belly of the Beast don’t have the eyes to see how indigenous people live. How can people be truly happy without _________ (fill in the blank: electricity, cars, Internet, running water, prescription medicines…). We then see that it is our God-given responsibility to bring _______ (again, fill in the blank…) to those “heathens”. Including our way of thinking.

How can people exist with courts, police, lawyers? How can people be happy without mass entertainment? How can people know God unless they read THIS book THIS way?

Keepers are happy, because they never left the Sacred Hoop (oneness with the Divine, oneness with all other beings). We will become happy when we figure out how to create that society for ourselves. And, it will be people who live close to the land, the Keepers, who point the way for us.

“It’s not about carbon. It’s about consciousness.”

I wrote that in my journal, right after seeing Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”. Allow me to explain.

To his credit, I believe that Gore pretty much nailed our ecological crisis. This movie is a true wake-up call.

The polar ice caps are melting. That much we know. However: they are NOT melting because of carbon or other greenhouse gases. The ice caps are melting because of human arrogance.

Even that’s not quite true. The ice caps are melting not because of the actions of “humans”. The ecological crisis is caused by a very specific brand of human consciousness — one that has arrogance lying right at its core. I call this “Breaker” consciousness.

Al Gore said that the ecological crisis was caused by the actions of humans. Again, that’s sort of true, but misses the mark. The indigenous people of the Earth, the ones that I call “Keepers”, did not cause this crisis. No matter how much wood they burn in cooking, they could not burn enough to cause a permanent change in the Earth’s atmosphere. It takes some real heavy-duty arrogance to do that.

Those of us who revere Mother Earth did not create this crisis, either. Those of us who are “Menders” are committed to fixing the problems, not causing more of them. The Menders know that the problem is consciousness…

ARROGANCE HAS CONSEQUENCES.

What is this about? All the studies about the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, all of the new technologies for carbon sequestration miss the point. It’s not about carbon, it’s about consciousness.

It’s like we’ve witnessed a guy run over by a bus. A group of people rushes over to him and can see that his arm is broken. Some people start devising strategies for repairing his arm. But, a few of us are saying, “Wait a minute! This guy JUST GOT RUN OVER BY A BUS! His broken arm may be the LEAST of his problems!”

The overfocus on carbon is just another manifestation of Breaker thinking. We’re thinking about carbon because carbon is something that we can see, count and measure. Instead of seeing carbon, we must learn how to see THE WHOLE.

All the people talking about trading carbon credits are NOT talking about the consciousness factor. They don’t talk about it because they can’t see it, count it or measure it (which means, to them, it doesn’t exist).

We all know the Einstein quote, (”No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”) but it’s like we don’t know how to apply the quote.

Carbon sequestration as a solution to Breaker arrogance is just another aspect of Breaker thinking. There’s a formula to this:

1. Blindly set in motion circumstances that will cause massive harm. Don’t listen to the Keepers, the Menders, or anyone who disagrees with you. Only listen to the experts who tell you that it’s OK to do what you want to do. (Global warming, Iraq, the economy…)

2. Completely deny that any harm is being caused (or, say that the harm is minimal, is being “studied” or that the harm is “the price of our success”.) Continue to ignore the Keepers, Menders and those who disagree. (Global warming, Iraq, the economy…)

3. When the harm becomes massive and irrefutable, blame someone else. Insist that the people who warned you about the harm have a responsibility to fix it. Apply a short term, quick-fix solution that is as bad as the original solution. Continue ignoring…

There aren’t any “quick fixes”. There aren’t any solutions to Industrial Age problems that leave the Industrial Age intact. Breaker consciousness is a pathology on the Earth that is more devastating than the bubonic plague. It’s planet-wrecking.

And, unfortunately each of us are carriers. (What you do when you know you are carrying a disease? You try your very best to minimize its input in your life, and become very, very conscious not to spread your disease to others…)

Al Gore articulated “an Inconvenient Truth”. I am articulating an “Inconvenient Solution”:

1. Instead of focusing on removing carbon from our air, we must remove from power those who cause the problems in favor of those of us who will devise the real solutions. (At least, we must radically reeducate our leaders, to move from separation, fear and arrogance to service and compassion.)

2. We must close those colleges and universities that teach the destructive Breaker form of thinking. Yes, that’s just about all of them. (At least, we should favor those university programs that favor multidisciplinary, “consilient” approaches to learning, programs that incorporate imaginative, spiritual and transcendent knowing into a new form of Mender science.)

3. Recognize that our most important activity is not further expanding our already bloated economy, but saving our planet from destruction from our own hands. Instead of spending billions of dollars for ways to kill other human beings, let’s re-direct human activity to mending our planet. To do this, fortunes will be lost, corporations will suffer… but the Earth as a whole will benefit.

4. The single most important thing that I can do for my planet is to recognize and minimize my own arrogance.

Jesus of Nazareth said that meek will inherit the Earth. It’s high time we convened Probate Court.

Howdy

All around the world, people are talking about global climate change as the problem and “sustainability” (meaning different things to different people) as the solution.

I consider this to be the “low-hanging fruit” of the global transformation movement. Relatively easy to see, relatively easy to fix.

["What!?! Sharif, are you CRAZY??? Global climate change is EASY to fix??? What have YOU been smoking!?!?"]

(I thought I’d add that comment, to save the rest of you from having to write it.)

I believe that, in the restoring, “Mending” work ahead for us humans, coming to grips with the legacies of the combination of colonialism and slavery will be the deepest, most painful work that we will have to do. The changes made necessary by global climate change will pale in comparison. If we DON’T take on this effort, there won’t be any of us around to do the climate change work.

Think about the Holocaust. The entire world knows about the deprivations and horrors visited upon the minority people of central Europe, including 6 million Jews being put to death. Outside of a few crazies, no one denies that this exists, or minimizes its impact.

However horrible, the Holocaust is an event that occurred over a 4-6 year period (depending on how you mark the start). That’s half a decade. It impacted people who were the minorities in Germany and its surrounds. That’s half a continent.

The period of European colonialism and slavery lasted over 500 years. That’s half a millennia. I can’t think of a single continent, a single country, or a single ethnic group, that has not been negatively impacted by this history. It looms so large on the human horizon, we cannot see it.

I can see it. I am the descendant of slaves.

The two-headed monster of slavery and colonialism destroyed more civilizations than we can count. Greed and arrogance decimated African societies, South American societies, North American societies… Wherever the twin institutions of slavery and colonialism existed, the disruption of the fabric of humanity was the result.

And we haven’t figured out how to put it right yet.
Every single war raging on this planet right now (70-100 wars estimated being fought right now), every one of them, is a legacy war of colonialism and/or slavery. No one wants to own up to this. However, until we do, we will continue to dance around this major issue, to our collective doom.

Every time a black man looks at a white police officer (or anyone else who is a visible representative of authority), they look at each other over a gulf of half a millennia of oppression, pain and suffering. This gulf will not be crossed by ignoring the problem. This gulf will not be crossed with a weekend workshop or encounter group. We pretend that the gulf does not exist, but our very pretense makes the gulf wider than ever.

I know this to be true. I am the descendant of slaves.

My white friends say, “But I didn’t enslave your ancestors! I would have been an abolitionist. Why is it on me to make things right?” The answer is simple: just like we must deal with the global warming that started in the Coal Age, just like our children will have to come to grips with the mounds of garbage created in the Disposable Age, we must deal with the legacy wars, the legacy economics, the legacy disruptions created during the Age of Slavery-Colonialism.

No, you didn’t create this Mess. You just get to clean it up.

I do not forget that I am the descendant of slaves. Your task is not to forget that you are the descendants of the slavemasters.

I do not forget my heritage. While I recognize on one level we are indeed all One, I also recognize that we were each put upon this Earth, at this time, in these bodies, with these various histories, for a reason. Our job is not to FORGET our history, but to TRANSCEND it.

And, transcend this we will. We will because we must. I think about the numbers of people around the US and around the world who are doing cross-barrier dialog talks. I think about the various inter-religious, -ethnic, -cultural, -social groups that have sprung up over the years. I think about the hundreds of millions of people struggling with the legacy problems created by the European powers meddling with international borders and international people. (I find it interesting that the first act of the fledgling United Nations was to ratify the world’s international borders. The Third World borders were created for the benefit of the colonial powers, created by arbitrary, capricious and arrogant means.)

Yes, the people of the world will seek and give forgiveness. Yes, the people of the world will reconcile. Yes, we will re-do ALL of our national borders, we will offer and receive reparations for our great grandparents activities, and we will end the legacy wars and the legacy oppression of the Second Millennium.

Global climate change is supposed to change the shorelines of the world’s continents over the next 100 years, as oceans rise. Human activity will change the REST of the world map, as all the lines change when we transcend our history of slavery and colonialism.

And remember: global climate change and slavery-colonialism are just TWO of 50-100 symptoms of “the Mess”. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and get started!

Peace,

Sharif

Howdy

For two reasons, I want to put a prediction or two in writing. First, because its 2007 and you’re supposed to be making predictions! Secondly, and more seriously, President Bush is about to announce his new Iraq strategy, and I feel moved to say a few words about that.

PREDICTION#1: President Bush will ignore the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group and will opt instead for a rapid escalation of the war.

PREDICTION #2: The strategy will fail.

I base Prediction #1 on my reading of President Bush’s personality. Like most people locked in the “I am separate” mentality, he finds it difficult to admit when he is wrong — difficult to see other points of view. Therefore, I believe he’ll do more of the same, with greater intensity, and hope for a different result.

I base Prediction #2 on understanding the reality of insurgency. Conventional warriors find it impossible to “see” an insurgency, even when it’s kicking them in the butt. The Israelis cannot see the Palestinian insurgency, the Russians cannot see the Chechnyan insurgency, and the American military has never been able to see ANY insurgency. (The US military can defeat ANY regular military, in any country in the world. Against an insurgency, they are impotent.)

While the President and his advisors debate what happens next in Iraq, the Iraqi insurgency is PREPARING. If there is a “surge”, the insurgency will already be prepared. Insurgencies, by their very nature, are prepared for any and all outcomes. The Iraqi insurgency is the epitome of an “emergent” system — leaderless, distributed decision-making.

Of importance to those of us designing a new society, the present quagmire in Iraq is an unfortunate clash between two ways of seeing. The two ways are “Point” and “Field”.

Breakers, those who tend to see reality from a “Point” perspective, see individuals, and tend not to see or understand group actions and behaviors. In Iraq, Americans were told that the capture of Saddam Hussein and his sons (3 points) would bring peace. Then, we were told that capturing the top 52 Iraqi leaders (52 points — remember the deck of cards?) would bring peace. Then, it was Zarqawi (point), then his successor (point), then Al-Sadr on and off (point).

Despite achieving most of these point-goals, the situation in Iraq continues to “spiral out of control”. Look at the choice of words. That, if we controlled these points, we would control the situation.

It does not happen. It will not happen. It can NEVER happen. The problem is not one of bravery, or tactics, or military hardware. It’s a problem of perception.

Perceiving society as a field, the Iraq field consists of many different layers. The so-called Iraqi government is the newest, frailest and LEAST important “field?” of these many layers.

The Sunni-Shia-Kurd “field” is important, but not overly so. The thing that is driving the violence in Iraq is the FIELD OF PAIN AND DESPAIR. The American government disrupted EVERY field in Iraq with its invasion, and must bear 100% of the responsibility of what follows in its aftermath. And, there is no part of Bush’s “surge” that will address this field.

Many of you have heard about the psychology experiment from my college days: take two rats, put them in a large enough cage, with ample food and water, and the two rats will cohabit. Send a mild electric shock through the floor of the cage, and the two rats will start to attack each other. They don’t know anything about electricity: all they know is: “I’m in pain, and there’s another rat in this cage. He must be CAUSING my pain in some way.” So goes the Field of Pain and Despair.

So, what’s the answer? Well, if we could all fit into my Time Machine, we could roll back the clock to early 2003 and simply stop the nonsense — the notion that Iraq posed some kind of “threat” to the US. Since I don’t have that many seats installed yet, all of our other options are much less palatable.

What do I recommend?

1. An apology for invading in the first place. A deep, sincere, heart-felt recognition that we were WRONG to invade another country. It is simply amazing how much an apology can clear the air.
2. An announced, phased withdrawal of all invading military personnel. No permanent bases. No conditioned withdrawal. (Those who say an announced withdrawal will “aid the terrorists” have been completely, totally wrong thus far.)
3. An INCREASE in the number of unarmed, civilian, conflict-resolution trained Americans going into Iraq. (Yes, this means going directly into harm’s way, with no “protection”. It means recognizing that the best military hardware in the world did not “protect” the 3,000+ Americans killed, nor the tens of thousands of US wounded. We would go in at the same level of risk as the Iraqi husband trying to get to work, or the Iraqi mother trying to escort her children to school. We would get our butts out of the “Green Zone”. We would go in acting as though peace is important.)
4. The payment of reparations, the amount to be determined by the amount necessary to knit Iraq back together again. It may turn out that we spend a trillion dollars or more, first taking the country apart, and then putting it back together. (Nothing will pay for the lives lost and damaged.)
5. Forget about democracy. Focus on the field. My goal would be an Iraq where people are practicing inclusivity with each other, regardless of the form of government under which they practice it.

Will that work? Maybe. Will Bush’s plan (or even the Iraq Study Group proposals)? Absolutely not. So, we might be right back here a year or two from now, looking for solutions to Iraq Failure #2.

And — don’t forget, I told you so.

Peace,

Sharif

Yet again, Microsoft proves that it deserves all the scorn heaped upon it. My computer is fried, from a Microsoft “update”. (In some ways, I should know better…) After installing an update to WIndows Media, it first demands that I verify that my version of Windows is “genuine” (a bit of self-interest on their part), then, after doing so… crashes my Media Player! Music comes out sounding like it was played on a warped record. (Perhaps that’s their idea of an update…)

So, either I’ll do without sounds on my computer, or spend upwards of an hour trying to de-bug what should have never been sent out as an “update”. Oh well…

Peace,

Sharif

This is my first official foray into the brave new world of blogging. I’m not sure I’m sold on the medium — it seems to me that there are an awful lot more people writing blogs than reading them! However, writing this serves two objectives:

1. People have been asking for more and regular contact from me: now you can get it, without swamping my abilities to individually respond to friends/ associates.
2. I can start working on a real-time log of what promises to be a significant part of a consciousness shift for our planet.

And… if in some way we do NOT succeed, perhaps something in here will show how/why things didn’t turn out.

I will make an effort to write “regularly”. What that word means depends on who reads this, if there is response, and the other burdens on my time.

Peace,

Sharif