If you have never heard Mariza, please discover her...here's a sample of a living angel....
16th-century Dutch engraving illustrates the current situation in the United States. Courtesy of 
http://publicdomainreview.org/
John Layard was an extraordinary analyst and yet remains unappreciated and little known. His book, "The Snake, the Dragon, and the Tree," is a profound example of his work to heal the ego's relation to the depth psyche. I have acquired the last physical copies of the first printing. Amazon is selling on-demand versions for $44 (higher elsewhere) and used copies are $29.98 and up. I want to promote Layard's work and am selling copies for $20 at my Owl Book Store, which is online at Abe Books, You can also order directly from me at ral@ralockhart.com, Price includes taxes and shipping. I am also beginning to sell my extensive library at the Owl Book Store and will be posting inventory in the near future. If you have wants, let me know.
Access at:
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/StoreFrontDisplay…
Happy to respond to any questions.
Russ
Whenever there is an unexpected disparity, whether in the short term or long term, whether in small matters or large, the human brain is "hardwired" to "normalize." Normalization has been a function of the human brain since the earliest humans and it has been a major source of evolutionary adaptation. When we look back in history, particularly at horrendous periods, we wonder how it is that so many people just "went along" bit by bit until totally engulfed in the "new" normal. Although there are many factors, most are built on top of the brain's attempt to normalize. This is obviously a function that is prior to any conscious functions such as social affiliations of any kind, any conscious beliefs, any conscious values.
We are entering a time created by an unexpected disparity, disjunction, and disturbance of the "normal." There is nothing about normalization that tells us whether what we come to do and how we come to function will be good or bad, neutral or indifferent. In spite of the degree of distress, disbelief, and urgent calls to action we see on all sides at present, what will tend to undermine and dissolve all this resolve is normalization. You can already see it working. It will take great effort and courage and commitment to counteract the automaticity of normalization.
The Federal Reserve instituted the ZIRP policy (zero interest rate policy) nine years ago. It wasn't long before Mohamed A. El-Erian coined the term, "New Normal." This has now become ubiquitous (with even a TV series by that name). Now the "new" part of this has disappeared and everyone functions in relation to ZIRP as simply normal. It does not take long.
It may not seem like it now when passions are running high, when fear and panic are at a pitch, that what we see coming could ever be experienced as normal. Do not underestimate the power of normalization. One place of natural resistance to normalization is in one's dreams. You probably won't hear this on the news or any other place, but dreams will be your survivor's guide to the power of normalization.
Out for the morning fast walk
I head for Crow Street as I call it
My name for the tree-lined block
On the eastern edge of the hospital
It's home for a "murder" of crows
[An absurd name for a flock!]
When I arrive and head north
They begin their raucous chorus
I watch one move from tree to tree
I'm used to this now and soon
He'll fly ahead and land facing me
And waits for me to catch up
As I do, he turns and hops
Alongside, looking at me
At the corner, I turn west
He takes off to the trees
I feel blessed. Blessed by a crow.
What Do Dream Animals Want of Us?
An Enterview with Russell Lockhart
Robert S. Henderson
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/evFp6aY4ZVjtr8ePpWZF/full
...See More
God and Lucifer were on a mid-
morning coffee break
at the local Starbucks
their nondescript garb
attracted no attention
nor did their conversation.
They were discussing the
possibility of a new Noah
as a way of beginning again
weighing the merits, and
finding many, but also giving
credence to a new flood
without a new Noah at all.
Why not? They agreed.
Time for something new.
My son's latest book, "Arithmetic" ha just been published by Harvard University Press. This is unlike anything you ever learned about arithmetic and continues Paul's groundbreaking efforts to change our stupid educational system and to begin to experience the poetic basis of mind even in mathematics, even in arithmetic.
I AM YOUR GRANDFATHER...a dream and an essay...still worth reading...the experience was the subject of an NBC documentary some years ago...
Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America.
The first clear and documented book on the emergence of totalitarian capitalism and why things are developing as they are both in the US and other "at risk" countries.
The author's work follows the accidental discovery of the secret papers of James McGill Buchanan (Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics 1986). It is his plans the Koch brothers and their "kin" are following to the letter. The book makes it possible to "see" what is going on. Buchanan argued that there is an inherent conflict between economic freedom for the wealthy and political liberty for the masses.
Now it's possible to see clearly why the face of American fascism will be unlike any previous form.
