They told me not to worry
That it was only a myth.
As if I had not heard, they
Repeated: it’s only a myth.
Then shouting, once again,
It’s only a myth!
Little did they know That three times is the trigger As the earth opened up and Gobbled them whole. And as eartthmouth closed, I shouted, It’s only a myth!
Careful not to repeat it.
Take heed of the rule of three.
And be wary on those who
Shout, “It’s only a dream.”
One day, John Fowles, the author, was out for a stroll. He came to a yard that had "gone to seed," and was quite in contrast to the immaculate perfection of the neighboring yards. Turns out the man's wife had died and he just let the yard go. But what Fowles saw in the now untended spot was England's rarest bird.
I keep looking in the rubble as things collapse, looking to see the unexpected and the rare that only letting go makes possible.
I think there will be plenty of opportunity for such sightings as the days unfold out future.
Keep your eyes open!
Coming soon... | Comments Off on There goes the neighborhood
Paco and I are pleased to announce the publication of Dreams, Bones & the Future: Queries & Speculations.
This is the second volume of a trilogy and continues the remarkable dialogue between Russell Lockhart and Paco Mitchell begun in Dreams, Bones & the Future: A Dialogue. It further explores dreams as a natural treasure that becomes a personal resource against the rapacious complexes of the controlling powers, be they military, industrial, corporate, educational, political—or any others hidden from view. The authors prepare the foundations for the final volume of the series, Dreams, Bones & the Future: Endings, which will face—unflinchingly—the prospects of humanity’s end as a result of irreversible, human-induced, life-ending catastrophes of the Sixth Extinction.
All the love that had tied us, as if it was of wax, was breaking and crumbling down. Ai, tragic Spring how I wish, how I wish that we had died on that day And I was comdemd to so much to live with my crying to live, to live, and without you Living, however without forgetting the enchantment that I lost that day hard bread of loliness that’s all we get that’s all we are given to eat What does the heart matter, whatever it says, yes or no, if it keeps on living All love that had tied us, was breaking and crumbling down, was turning into dread No one should talk to about Spring how I wish, how I wish that we had died on that day.
Forty-five years now since Jackson Browne penned his visionary song, Before the Deluge. Year after year it becomes more piercing, more trenchant, more a lament for our time.
Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each other's hearts for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge
Some of them knew pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in a moment they were swept before the deluge
Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge
Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
Professor Jam Bendell's paper, "Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy," after extensive examination of the most recent research, concluded that "collapse is inevitable." His paper was refused publication because such a conclusion was "irresponsible." Bendell has instead made his paper freely available to everyone. He argues that the inevitability of collapse now makes business as usual--even the business of trying to mitigate the many dimensions of climate change--is no longer what is essential. Rather, what is essential is what we do, individually and collectively, about the consequences of collapse. There is essentially no literature on this reality, a reality denied at all levels.
Catherine Ingram's stone cold sober essay, "Facing Extinction," is a valuable follow-up to Rupert Reed's "This Civilization is Finished." A long time friend of Leonard Cohen, she fleshes out Cohen's song line, "I've seen the future, Brother. It is murder." Like Dahr Jamail, she is a truth teller, and does not hide behind "hopium." This is an essential piece to take in at a slow pace, to reflect on, and to find resonance in the deeper truth of what we are facing. http://www.catherineingram.com/facingextinction/?fbclid=IwAR3jenfnSVfa7ckSiixrppwVNsWNpnu36aHQcMt7NckRAZHr_As0jS91IYI