Storm Winds Blow
The shore is yet in sight
I woke up this morning with my editorial bubbling up like a dreamy froth up from the depths of unconsciousness. But as I settled in to write the ‘realities’ of the day came, bucket in hand, filled with ice-cold truths aimed directly at me. Yesterday I nearly drowned in a virtual tsunami of ‘news’ from which I only just emerged still clinging to the little lifeboat I set out in a few weeks ago after having decided the time was right to visit my European family.
It’s too easy (at first) to give in to depression or despair when literally facing a world at war, global suffering, suicidal capitalism, and parasitical omnicide. And when you dig as deeply as we do we’re often surrounded by the very real corpses of those that have sacrificed so much to bring us to where we all are. Grave truths indeed. You can barely trust any ‘good news’ these days we’ve been so conditioned to expect snake oil to come pouring out of every available orifice. Brave new world my ass. Sell us another, love. And then there are the distractions! Heavens. Even the work at hand can twist before your very eyes and devour your attention leaving you only enough energy and will to reach for some kind of illusory panacea to numb what’s left of the senses back to sleep, troubled though it be.
As I pen this we’re going to print in a day, so it’s a bit of a dramatic time for those involved. There’s still a proof to do, last minute articles to put together; sudden changes in our finances allowing for the possibility of more pages (24 barely scratches the surface) or paying the rent, always a difficult choice. Though we’ve done an admirably good job of keeping this paper going, all the while working to settle the debts accrued over the previous year that Dan and his uncle almost singlehandedly, and out of their own pocket, kept the agora alive, it’s a struggle every month to keep bringing what little awareness we can to those eager to participate in their own awakening. Lorenzo’s on the job 24/7 building us up as quickly and deftly as his strength allows. He’s got “The New Agora” to where it can actually pay for it’s own printing through our much beloved participators, but has himself needed to juggle with plastic funny money to keep in house and home. Dan’s got three beautiful children, a super loving and supportive wife dedicated to homeschooling and making a better world for their family, which luckily for us all, includes you and me, plus a full time job in construction building homes, and yet somehow, he manages his best to do the whole layout for this paper, get articles, financing, and then some. We’ve got journalist and columnists, delivery help all volunteer, and, of course, you dear reader. The warm reception we’ve received from our readers and supporters has been great. Some of you grab our paper by the armload to distribute them personally to friends, foes, and family alike. The New Agora provides a vital and essential service that grows in relevance the more we develop our potential together. You’ve made it a point to make sure we know it, and we thank you for that, truly.
And so I woke up this morning wanting to share with you how different it’s not over here. Sure France’s wine and cheese is delicious, the alps are beautiful, but the skies get covered most days in chemical clouds that people just don’t seem to notice. And I watch, horrified, as some members of my family smile blissfully on all the while adding MSG to their food because it tastes good, following it up with Coca-Cola chasers. As you can imagine I don’t stay silent, but it’s trying and tiring crying wolf while watching their comfortably numb consciousness’s be devoured by ignorance itself. Their eyes and conversation have a tendency to slide off and away from me and mine, and really how much fun is it sharing all this toxic information. Who wants to hear bad news? We’re eating over here! It’s almost Christmas for Christ’s sake! Oy Vey. That’s not to say that they aren’t loving, of course they are, and some even know the score, know what time it is, know what’s going on, are taking care of themselves and theirs as best they can.
A while ago, when Lorenzo and I were out sharing the first two books in our Mirificent Trilogy, we came to the understanding that some folks just ain’t interested, and, as hard as that was for me, that’s got to be okay. We still manned our post sharing our evolutionary tales for children of all ages with a smile and a laugh even for those that hissed at us or just walked by without ever seeing us at all. I didn’t want to print our books before the trilogy was complete, Lorenzo felt passionately otherwise, and though it was at times quite a painful experience for me (sensitive artist that I am) and distracting whereas finishing the third book was concerned, experiencing a gamut of human indifference and at times outright hostility prepared me for not only this job but just generally being here on earth, surrounded by family, in these interesting times.
I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t get to me. Yesterday, after pretty much overdosing on bad news myself I was ready to torch the whole shebang! I think I must have quit a dozen times. Luckily (for me) Lorenzo understands, having worked with me for quite some time, and can weather the storms of my temperament, salty sea-dog that he is. Not much fun for him I’ll wager, but he’s an awesome fellow in his own right, an awesome friend and great companion, and has my back even when it’s me attacking myself.
The thing of it is, I feel deeply, very deeply, painfully so at times. I love. Simple as that. I’m sure you know what I mean, or you probably wouldn’t be reading this. I love my family. And here I include everyone: you, even the mad loons that so often seem to have the upper hand on the rest of us financially or otherwise, even those that are causing so much pain to so many. It’s not easy but I can’t afford the cost of hate. I’ve lived separate from that magnitude of love before, not having any for myself I had little to offer others. I too have lived that hell. I too have caused others pain only to have it turn back onto me a hundredfold. I’ve had to digest it all to really wake up and re-power my own connection to that most amazing Source. Through empathy, a language of the heart, I perceive and communicate with the world, inside and out. I figure it’s a superpower. One we share in common. I spent a long time shackling myself to kryptonites of various kinds to deaden that sense, that power, that gift. But, despite the marketing, being a zombie or vampire isn’t much of a life at all.
I’ve discovered that we’re here to flower, to shine, to play, to create, to love, to be Love manifest, incarnate. Some are here to do so in a dark light, in an inverse fashion or direction, if you will. They are essential players and their petty selfish tyrannies fuel the game of duality, of opposition. They offer us the priceless opportunity, the chance of a chance, if you will, to hone our impeccable Spirit, to play the hero of our own story, to see ourselves as what we are no longer, to know ourselves more completely, more divinely, to become whole, beyond separation. Though, for balance and wisdom, we encompass them in our totality, in our contextual field of experience, it is but momentary shadow play on this tremendous journey we have embarked on together flying through the limitless skies of awareness.
You and I, we are The New Agora, and much more besides.
