# 2022 ## April Reading [[Reference Notes/Hospicing Modernity]] blew my mind. I read it over three days, and it shifted both the way I frame things cognitively, and also the emotional tone with which I carry these perspectives - more humility, uncertainty, and strangely enough, courage. ## February Three major journeys are coming together for me: [[Digital Garden/Nonviolent Communication|Nonviolent Communication]], [[Sociocracy|Sociocracy]] and [[Degrowth economics]]. These are journeys I wish I had embarked on decades ago. Better late than never, I suppose. I believe these three represent pathways to "surviving the future" (to borrow words from David Fleming). Most of my time is now taken up by taking courses, finding mentors, and doing my own research in these fields. The times call for millions of us to become a Gandhi, a Martin Luther King, a Thich Nhat Hanh. This isn't a time to think, "Well, I'm going to let someone else be that person we need." Rather, it is imperative that we all think, "If there is a one in a million chance that I might be that person, then I should live my life as if I were." That is what Thich Nhat Hanh might have meant when he said that the next Buddha will be a Sangha, or community. I don't want to fall into the saviour mentality trap, but neither do I want to abnegate my responsibility for this moment. Here's a great Martin Luther King quote that speaks to this imperative: > “One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.” # 2021 ## July I love Blake's insight that our rational mind is not morally neutral. It craves perfection, and seeks to pass judgment. That's what morality and laws, our concepts of good and evil, arise out of ... our talent for abstraction. The left brain handles: - language - linear sequencing of time - ego-centric awareness of self as separate from everything else - abstraction - morality and laws - reasoning The Tao Te Ching, Zen Buddhism, Blake, Lynda Barry, drawing, Feldenkrais, embodiment, Phil Shepherd, phenomenology, David Abrams, Charles Eisenstein - are all inspirations for counteracting the influence of the left brain. ## June Still thinking about climate change. I like this tweet from Pete Kalmus: > If "bias toward caution" is a good working definition of "conservative," why are so many conservatives climate deniers? I don't see how there can be any solution except degrowth: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-delusion-of-infinite-economic-growth/?fbclid=IwAR04J-ISddsiqgn_GQxdDaHXsb6j8y1dvBFMWMnOmKyTLvOAw4p28rRYHz0 --- Read a fascinating essay on time on Noema: https://www.noemamag.com/the-tyranny-of-time/ It inspired me to do an experiment one Sunday where I tried to see how far I could get through the day without looking at the time. I got as far as 4:20 pm. I felt better because of it. --- ## May I've just finished reading [[Reference Notes/The Ministry for the Future]], and it has my vote for the most important novel published in 2020. It weaves together some of the most important facts and ideas that we need to tackle the climate emergency. It's an experimental fusion of fiction and non-fiction. Kim Stanley Robinson took a huge risk with this, because he could have ended up alienating everyone. But it worked for me. --- I'm back digging into Indigenous wisdom. I was in a Zoom event with Jose Ajpu Munoz, who calls himself a Mayan Day Keeper. I love his definition of wisdom as "value that no one can refuse." I shared with him my struggle to find Indigenous roots to connect with, since I don't identify with the Orang Laut who used to inhabit Singapore, nor do I resonate with any Indigenous cultures in China. He responded by saying that my oldest ancestors are the stars and the elements that they birthed. I found that extremely comforting and invigorating. As Jason Hickel points out in [[Reference Notes/Less is More]], the future of our civilization depends on us returning to some core Indigenous rules around reciprocity and gratitude: - Be grateful for what you take. - Take only what you need. - Give back more than you take. I'm also reading a parenting book inspired by Indigenous culture called [[Hunt, Gather, Parent]]. It's probably the only parenting book that I've ever enjoyed. I love the anthropological approach, and the self-reflective lens cast on European / North American [[WEIRD psychology]]. I had no idea that the nuclear family was the result of early Catholic church restrictions on incest. On the practical side, there's lots of useful advice such as not praising children too much, and involving them in adult activities rather than child-centered ones (the litmus test of a child-centered activity is whether you would still do it if your child wasn't involved.) ## April Thinking a lot about measurement. "To measure or not to measure" could be the existential question most relevant to our age. One school of thought has it that we just need to improve our metrics and get better at measuring things besides financial profit. For instance, Kate Raworth, Marianna Mazucatto and Yancey Strickler. Another example is the book Poor Economics. There is a long tradition, however, that argues that the measuring mind is inherently corrupt. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which talks about quantity vs quality, is perhaps the book that popularised this. We now have a flood of thinkers cautioning us against measurement. For example: - Charles Eisenstein - Phil Shepherd - David Abrams I find myself on the side of those against measurement. One simple anecdotal example ... most people I know who start measuring their sleep in an effort to improve its quality eventually find that the very act of measurement gets in the way. They become so obsessed with the measurements that they lose the relaxation necessary for good sleep. --- I'm really digging Yancey Strickler's Ideaspace podcast (https://ideaspace.substack.com/archive). Love the fact that he got the inspiration from John Higgs' [[KLF]]. Anyone who knows about John Higgs gets a huge credit boost from me. Strickler's interviews with Kate Raworth and Marianna Mazucatto were dynamite. He's written some good articles too: - https://ideaspace.substack.com/p/the-philosophy-of-subtraction - https://ideaspace.substack.com/p/the-ownership-crisis --- I'm loving the book [[Belonging]] by Toko-pa Turner. She has a gift for articulating some of the deepest longings of the human heart in poetic language. The whole book is a prose poem, and I've never extracted so many quotes from a book before. I hope I haven't infringed any copyright laws by doing so! She has some coinages, such as: - metaphorest - re-membering (ie remembering as re-attachment) - vulnerabravery --- Still pondering the unfairness of the current capitalist regime. Came across this quote by Thomas Piketty from Capital in the 21st century: > The advantage of owning things is that one can continue to consume and accumulate without having to work, or at any rate continue to consume and accumulate more than one could produce on one’s own. --- ## March New Economics Foundation produced a report called A Bit Rich, in which they showed that a hospital cleaner created £10 of value for every £1 they earn, whereas bankers destroy £7 of value for every £1 they earn. https://neweconomics.org/2009/12/a-bit-rich --- Jaron Lanier talks about a digital world in which nothing is a copy or a duplicate. Every file is an original. [[Jaron Lanier on digital copies]] Phil Shepherd, in [[Reference Notes/New Self, New World]], talks about how the male attitude of "doing" creates duplicates of the world that we act upon, and duplicates of the self that do the acting. Being alive to the present means freeing ourselves from our duplicates. Werner Herzog felt that media has become something that separates us from reality. He sought to expose himself to life in its rawness. Jean Baudrillard talks about life as a simulacram. Henri Bergson felt that our concepts of time and space were static, but that memory was the real living force of the mind. He believed in an evolutionary creative process. Feldenkrais believed that compulsive behavior was dominated by "ought to" and "ought not to", and that the way to get back to spontaneity was to learn by mistakes and not strive for some image of perfection. These are all different ways of getting back to the source of "aliveness". --- Great talk by Donella Meadows about the importance of having vision: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bxowxs22jFk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> I particularly like her insight around not needing to know how to get from here to the vision. Once we hold a vision and make it clearer and clearer, a path often reveals itself. --- Vandana Shiva says that if you can't start a regenerative farm, you can start a garden. If you can't start a garden, you can have a potted plant. If you can't have a potted plant, you can start a community of consumers who eat regenerative food. I love this idea that activism can occur at any level. There is no excuse. --- Eligio Stephen Gallegos talks about a survival mode and a growing mode, and that in order to grow, our survival mode must die. Survival mode is "predictable, rigid, and encasing". --- Possibly my new favourite word of the month - "ecdysiast". In Pleasure Activism, Taja Lindley of Colored Girls Hustle speaks of being an ecdysiast, a word coined by H.L. Mencken in 1940 to refer to a striptease performer. He adapted the word from the Greek ekdusis (shedding) following the pattern of 'enthusiast'. --- > “Movement is the nature of the Universe. For me, God is the dance. It’s the motion of being. The energy of that is infinite, it just keeps going. There’s no dogma in the dance. All you have to do is surrender yourself to the dance and let it reinvent and rearrange you.” > – Gabrielle Roth --- I like this metaphor of tip-toeing: > As Fred Hirsch writes in the now classic [_Social Limits to Growth_ (1976)](https://www.routledge.com/Social-Limits-to-Growth/Hirsch/p/book/9780415119580), “if everyone stands on tiptoe, no one sees better.” The more positional an economy is, the less effective will income growth be at raising well-being. > - https://timotheeparrique.com/a-response-to-branko-milanovic-the-magic-of-degrowth/ --- Emergence is "considered the closest thing to magic that’s actually a scientifically admissible term" - Daniel Schmachtenberger - https://civilizationemerging.com/media-old/emergence/#:~:text=Like%2C%20where%20do%20they%20come,actually%20a%20scientifically%20admissible%20term. "Love is metaphysical gravity." - Buckminster Fuller --- ## February I enjoyed this talk by Nick Hanauer: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th3KE_H27bs - 3 myths of neoliberalism: - markets are perfect equilibrium - when wages go up, jobs must go down - but this is not true, because when wages go up, those workers can afford to buy more, so that leads to more jobs - the price of something indicates what it is worth - a CEO who gets paid millions, and a worker who gets paid a pittance, are each paid what they are worth - actually, people are paid what they have the power to negotiate for - we are all selfish agents - actually, prosperity is built on co-operation --- [[Social justice comes before the environment]] --- Here's a great article on why Alan Moore turned to magic: - http://forgottenawesome.blogspot.com/2017/08/magic-glycon-and-idea-space.html?m=1 --- Yet another amazing Feldenkrais lesson: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/evwElBohwDs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> --- I'm reading Alf Hornburg's [[Global Magic 1]]. It makes a convincing case that our beliefs in capitalism, technology and money are forms of magic, and that the current economic system is an extension of colonialism. He writes about the thermodynamics or metabolism of empire, how there is a net transfer of embodied land and energy to the Global North, with the disorder and waste exported to the periphery. A vacuum cleaner may look as if it saves labour, but what it has done is simply hidden slavery from view, as most vacuum cleaners are made in the Global South where low-wage workers are exploited. International exchange rates are forms of magic that serve to hide the brute reality of this exploitation. If capitalism is a form of magic, then the only way to fight it is with a more potent magic. That's why I am drawn to Blake, Jung, druids, etc. From an early age, I was drawn to books like The Magic Faraway Tree, Narnia, The Hobbit, etc. Fantasy and magic have never been far from me. There is probably no book I'm looking more forward to this year than John Higg's William Blake vs the World: https://johnhiggs.com/books/william-blake-vs-the-world/. I have been a Blakean ever since my Junior College teacher Don Whitby introduced me to him. His Songs of Innocence and Experience made a big impression on me. He wrote at a time when the Industrial Revolution was causing widespread misery in England. I can think of no better guide to counter capitalism today. --- I'm reading Bill Plotkin's [[The Journey of Soul Initiation]]. He believes that our culture has lost an important initiation process by which we become adults. As a result, most of us are lacking in some maturity. He believes that a true adult would be a member of the more-than-human Earth community, and that the initiation is triggered by an eco-awakening, after which we experience a Descent to Soul. It is like a caterpillar which forms a cocoon, and then emerges as a butterfly. After this transformation, we find our mythopoetic niche and become net producers rather than consumers. If enough of us go through this transformation, than the whole human species will be able to discover its ecological niche. This makes me think of Hanzi Freinacht's idea in [[The Listening Society]] that if enough people become metamoderns, then society as a whole would progress from post-modernism to metamodernism. Erica Chenoweth has made similar arguments about how you only need 3.5% of a society to take part in a non-violent resistance movement for it to succeed. [[It only takes 3.5% of a population to overthrow a government]] We could classify all these as "phase-shift" perspectives, after the scientific phenomenon of water suddenly shifting phase from solid to liquid to gas. --- I enjoyed this talk by Sarah Corbett on introverts and activism: <div style="max-width:854px"><div style="position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe src="https://embed.ted.com/talks/sarah_corbett_activism_needs_introverts" width="854" height="480" style="position:absolute;left:0;top:0;width:100%;height:100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div> --- ## January I've really enjoyed going through Joe Webster's recreation of the lessons that Moshe Feldenkrais originally taught at Esalen in 1972. This is the first lesson: <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/episode/4Q8eTGMIodDjlue2tz70q7" width="100%" height="232" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> He also has a great Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6tlxDfc_knN7sxx4YgqXcw I tried a few Feldenkrais lessons more than a decade ago, but never continued with it. I wish I had. It's one of the deepest movement philosophies, and has the potential to radically improve one's nervous system and ability to move. It has some similarities with qigong and taichi. Moshe Feldenkrais was a research scientist, structural engineer, and Judo pioneer. He was able to understand the human body from a structural engineering perspective. From Judo, he brought insights into how to achieve maximum economy of movement, and also how to find a sense of safety and support in the midst of movement. Some potential effects of doing Feldenkrais: - an altered perception of time - days might seem longer - better sleep - greater ease and freedom of movement - the feeling of inhabiting a different body - the realisation that we learn better when we move slowly and without pain - an appreciation that everything is connected, that there are no isolated parts --- The parallels between Dionysius and Jesus are incredible. This is from Robert Johnson's book Ecstasy: > Jesus and Dionysus are both sons of divine fathers and mortal, virgin mothers. Christ harrowed hell, Dionysus emerged from the underworld. Semele ascended to Olympus as Thyone, the Virgin Mary ascended to heaven. Dionysus and Jesus were both hailed as the King of Kings. At Eleusis the fol- lowers of Dionysus celebrated his “Advent” with a newborn baby placed in a winnowing basket—the forerunner of baby Jesus in the manger. Both Jesus and Dionysus die—Jesus on the cross, Dionysus at the hands of the Titans; and both are reborn, symbolizing the life that does not end. Dionysus ascends to Olympus, Jesus to heaven, and both sit at the right hand of their father. Like Jesus, Dionysus was usually not believed when he claimed to be the son of God. Both suffered at the hands of local political authorities; both had retinues comprising outcasts and women of questionable repute; and both showed a disregard for the established modes of worship. And, of course, the wine. One of Jesus’ miracles was turning water into wine, something Dionysus can be said to do on a regular basis: One waters the vine, grows the grape, and turns it into wine. Eucharist is a ceremony of ex stasis—drinking the wine, the blood of God, and transcending time and space to become --- After watching a lot of sessions on [The Embodiment Conference](https://theembodimentconference.org/), I've been reading a lot of books about embodiment. Here are some I'm digging: [[Reference Notes/Radical Wholeness|Radical Wholeness - Phil Shepherd]] [[Reference Notes/Humanual|Humanual - Betsy Polatin]] [[Reference Notes/Life on Land|Life on Land - Emilie Conrad]] [[Reference Notes/EveryBody is a Body|EveryBody is a Body - Karen Studd and Laura Cox]] I'm learning a lot about Polyvagal Theory. And how to get out of my head. I'm fascinated by Continuum Movement (https://continuummovement.com/) and the work of Emilie Conrad. For example, these simple breathing exercises can do a lot to calm our autonomic nervous system: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-zwOe543YCQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> # 2020 I am fascinated by **non-hierarchical structures**, and find them in many odd places: - I am currently experimenting with building a [[Zettelkasten]], a form of note-taking promoted by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. This site is a [[Digital Garden]] curated from my personal notes. Come at monthly intervals to catch me planting new seeds or to see how various plantings are doing. - Ever since I stumbled upon [[Sociocracy]] as a governance and decision-making model, I've been rather obsessed with it. It seems like the most humane way of structuring human societies. Sociocracy reminds me of a Zettelkasten in that they both use [[bi-directional linking]] as a structural element. - Long before I became interested in sociocracy, I was interested in [[Digital Garden/Definitions/anarchism]]. Anarchism as a political philosophy has a branding problem, and it's a hard sell to most people. But at its core, it is the belief that "if you trust the people, the people will become trustworthy". Recently, I've decided that talking about anarchism might be best done using [[Synonyms for the Commons]] - I've been going to [[Burning Man]] since 2001. It is a life-changing experience, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to go. Burning Man is the embodiment – the experiential reality – of many ideas and principles that I can only write abstractly about. I can't get rhapsodical enough about it. My experiences at Burning Man combined with my innate sense of social justice has led me to various critiques of capitalism and neo-liberalism. Here are some observations about the injustice of the current economic system: - We live in a [[shareholder aristocracy]]. - [[Wealth is written in the code of law]]. - Corporations are a form of private government. - Capitalism's core metaphor is [[Story River - Domination of Nature]] - [[Money is a toxic form of magic]]. Because all modern money is created out of debt which incurs interest, we need a system of perpetual growth to keep it going. Like any informed global citizen, I am concerned by the climate emergency. My knowledge on the matter is woefully inadequate, and I am often paralyzed into inaction. - That might not be a bad thing, however, as [[Time is the ultimate green consumer product]]. - There's always [[Good books to read on the climate emergency]]. - Not enough people focus on [[Human energy as the key to climate regeneration]]. - We need to get better at tapping into [[Chaos as a source of energy]].