Catalyst Magazine

Of all the reasons President Bush and his advisors have given to justify the invasion of Iraq, the goal of making Iraq into a functioning democracy is the one currently on the table. The goal of giving an Islamic culture an extreme makeover is what keeps us in Iraq.

The initial reason given for invading Iraq reveals key characteristics of those who put us there. In the case of the missing weapons of mass destruction, we see the absence of fundamental critical thinking skills—a cavalier attitude about the importance of having enough information on which to base decisions, a fatal tendency to analyze wishfully the information they did have, and then manipulation of the conclusions to meet preset goals.

Our leaders also revealed their moral character, with a willingness to mislead and even lie to influence public opinion. They believed that truth is what they said it was, and that facts and dissenting opinions of allies did not matter. They believed the American people could be scared into anything and wouldn’t eventually discover the lies they were told.

Most Americans now see through those lies and also see the incompetence of those who thought they were so right and so smart that they didn’t need a plan.

But it has taken us longer to see through and give up on that justification of spreading democracy in the Middle East because it appeals to our better selves. Bush and buddies also needed a noble purpose that would speak to our ideals. Searching for WMDs is a mere hunt, but spreading democracy is a mighty quest.

If you are skeptical about their motives, you may just dismiss all that rhetoric about freedom and democracy as so much window dressing for an invasion that was also not about weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorists. It was always about the oil, you might argue, and still is. They have oil. We want it. Period. The invasion of Iraq, you might say, was as much about spreading democracy as EnergySolutions is about saving those endangered tree frogs that crawl across their television commercials.

Fair enough. But if we at least give the American people the benefit of the doubt that the rationale of spreading democracy was an important motive for their support for going to war in Iraq, we have to ask: Even if it were a sincere motive for going to war, is spreading democracy a reasonable expectation?

To see just how much those who put us in this mess understand about democracy, let’s look at how our leaders have conducted themselves at home:

They started in 2000 with an election characterized by fraud and political manipulation. They treated the slimmest electoral validation possible as an unlimited mandate. They pushed through the Patriot Act which increases police powers at the expense of civil rights, created the domestic surveillance programs they insist require no oversight or permission, justified torture, censored science that doesn’t suit them, and pursued the wholesale looting of the democratic process by lobbyists.

Bush’s most ardent supporters don’t believe in the separation of powers or the separation of church and state. They never miss an opportunity to cut the public out of decision-making and to avoid oversight and accountability. Why would we think they know enough about democracy to teach it to anyone else?

Here are a few things they don’t get: A democratic culture is not made at the point of a gun in the middle of a civil war. Democracy is not downloadable—it isn’t an operating system you sell with a turnkey and then stand by to give technical support. Democracy is a system of government that rests on a culture with a history of incremental achievements.

Look at our own history. Abolitionists struggled for decades before slavery was ended at the conclusion of a bloody Civil War. The suffragettes struggled to extend the full rights of citizenship to women. There was a long and intense labor movement to protect children and workers and a Civil Rights movement to enfranchise people of color. Today, 230 years after the Declaration of Independence, we are still working to practice democracy, to reconcile our differences, and to understand how to live in a democratic culture.

The civic behaviors and tolerant attitudes we take for granted — such as agreeing to disagree, protecting dissent, communicating openly with one another, defining our communities inclusively, and not judging one another on the basis of religion, race, or ethnicity — did not come naturally or easily. They were acquired over generations, they are cumulative in nature, and we are still struggling to practice them.

Did George Bush really intend to stay in Iraq for a couple hundred years, or did he and his advisors confuse the development of a democratic culture with the establishment of an open marketplace, a legislative institution, elections, and a corporate media outlet or two? Did they confuse the trappings of democracy for the real thing? Democracy isn’t a stage set and props, it’s a play and actors. 

Spreading democracy is indeed a noble goal, but we have the wrong delivery system.

You don’t midwife a baby with a hammer and saw; democracy is not made with bombs. A democratic system is made with libraries and schools. Public libraries and public schools, that is—open, inclusive, and accessible. It is made with independent bookstores and newspapers, unfettered radio and television, uncensored Internet access, public debate, civil rights, dissent, free artistic expression, and the guarantee that your opinion, let alone your last name, won’t get you killed at a roadblock. Foreign soldiers do not deliver such democratic tools, agreements, and norms, though a Peace Corps volunteer or an exchange student might. 

We are not the first to have tried this approach. In 1941 the British Empire, in a parallel act of hubris, decided it could ‘presto-chango!’ create a nation out of rival ethnic and religious groups and Iraq was born.

Saddam Hussein held the country together with a brutal hand (much as the dictator Tito held Yugoslavia together before it broke up into ethnic warfare). We overthrew Saddam and thought we could download democracy, go home, and everyone would live happily ever after. As we have since learned, we were beyond naïve. It doesn’t work that way.

So it is not about democracy, not if you understand what a democratic culture really is.

Now, if it is about oil, and the control of their oil is the last compelling explanation for the invasion that is left, let’s talk about that. For example: What has been and will be the cost of the war versus a national campaign to become energy independent?

But let’s drop the rhetoric about freedom and democracy. That part of Bush’s mission is no more real than the weapons of mass destruction. 

“Activist, urban librarian and environmental writer as well as the author of ‘Hope's Horizon: Three Visions for Healing the American Land,’ Chip Ward (as the title of his fascinating book suggests) likes to focus on the sparks amid the global gloom,” writes Tom Engelhardt of The Nation Institute.

I admit it – I don’t read newspapers as thoroughly as my politically minded mother would have liked. I’m either too busy, too lazy, or maybe I just don’t want to read disturbing news from around the globe. Just the other day, I glanced at the paper, catching a glimpse of a front page article on global warming; scientists fear it’s worse than previously thought. The rapid rise in the earth’s temperature is approaching a level not seen in one million years. I was on my way to go grocery shopping. What was I supposed to do with this information?

We live in a new reality. Images of war, genocide and natural disasters are a click away as a constant stream of news reports filter through us: nuclear proliferation, avian flu, depletion of the ozone layer, bioterrorism and airline threats. As common as the weather report, they become ambient noise. Yet we trudge along, living our lives as if this is normal. Well—it is normal. But is it healthy?

How do we cope with information bombarding us from across the globe without falling apart ourselves? Where does all of this negative psychic energy end up in our minds? Our bodies? How do we process the potential annihilation of our species and planet?

Some suppress fear and anxiety by hiding behind a 72-hour food supply and a carton of duct tape. But for others, the terror and feelings of hopelessness go much deeper into the psyche, rendering them unable to live fulfilling and productive lives. This misery, whether acute or mild, can be called environmental despair.

In a society which values optimism and “looking on the sunny side of life,” few forums or outlets exist to discharge pent-up fear and anxiety. Nobody wants to hear complaints about impending disasters. However, these feelings can be tapped into and used as seeds for change. Using environmental despair, loss or trauma as a catalyst for transformation, Theresa Holleran, a therapist at Red Rock Counseling & Education with 31 years of experience, helps heal her patients. She encourages valuing these disturbances and looking inward, “because therein lies the wisdom.”

Symptoms of environmental despair should be respected, viewed as tools for understanding deeper issues within the self. When there is an inversion in Salt Lake City, Holleran uses the inversion as a means for uncovering underlying disturbances and working through issues by having people actually role play and become the inversion. She challenges them to identify those things, like the muck trapped inside the heavy, enveloping cloud, that don’t belong inside of them, thoughts that may need to be expelled. The inversion invites opportunity for introspection.

Holleran is an avid follower of Joanna Macy, the author of many books and a leader in creative sustained social action. She recalls hearing Macy at a transpersonal psychology conference in the early ’90s. “Macy said, ‘If we cut down the rainforests in South America, I will not be able to breathe in California.’” Holleran adds, “What happens in Chernobyl or the rainforest does affect me here. We are not separate.”

“As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us,” writes Macy in “World As Lover, World as Self.” It’s a natural feedback loop whereby helping yourself causes you to help others; helping others can create change within. And, Holleran says, you have to start with the self. “It’s very easy for us to judge what’s happening on the other side of the world, but we have our own internal warfare.” If you can make peace with your demons, you bring light into your shadow. “If I can do that with my own material,” she continues, “then I can also work on that with my family, my intimate others, my friends, my community. Then I will be contributing to transformation on this planet.”

Holleran also draws upon the teachings of other cultures to guide her patients deeper in the transformation process. She works with yoga and meditation practices for quelling anxiety and mood disturbances; she advocates the benefit of service.

“In the West we don’t realize how important it is to be of service,” she says. “Service can be to our own children, it can be to trust that our creativity has something to offer someone else or the developing world.”

This reminds me of the Hebrew phrase Tikkun olam, which translates to “repairing the world”—performing human acts of kindness (mitzvot) to bring the world closer to perfection, thus avoiding negative and social consequences.

What to do if you are experiencing environmental despair? Holleran encourages asking yourself, “Is there anything in this moment I can express or do that will help the situation?” It might be to start recycling in earnest, buying organic, becoming a social activist or voting for politicians who are moral and respect the environment.

Or, it may be as simple as not watching the nightly news. How can that help?

In “Abandoned Soul, Abandoned Planet,” renowned Jungian analyst and author Marion Woodman is interviewed about environmental illness and despair. She discusses negative imagery literally changing the body’s cells and its immune response, and advocates the “sword of discretion” in ridding ourselves of negativity. Referring to watching horrific images on the nightly news just before bed, she challenges us to ask ourselves, “Is this program of value to me? Is this the right time to watch it? Is it sapping my energy?”

Marion continues, “Questions such as these have to be asked about ideas, relationships, possessions, anything that may be becoming destructive to the soul’s growth. What is destructive has to be, first of all, recognized; and, secondly, cut. That takes courage.”

But courage also requires support. During times of transformation, Holleran says, “we need a structure, or as Marion Woodman calls it,  a ‘container’ that can hold us as we’re working with the disturbances or losses. Certainly therapy can be a container. Having the ability to mirror yourself to yourself in some way through art, music, dance, journal writing; taking an art or writing class, listening to a meditation tape, talking with a spouse or a circle of friends whom you really trust that can mirror you and reflect back to who you are—these are some ways to find structure. Take time out of ordinary life for reflection.”

In times of such disturbance, Holleran continues, “find a container in creativity, prayer, service work, social activism or spiritual practice, whatever religion or practice you observe.” Maintain a “deep presence for the ones you love and a deep presence and empathy for your own inner state. Have an attitude of curiosity because that disturbance may take you to some new territory.”

Holleran also invites clients to feed themselves healing images of the positive feminine or the positive masculine. For those without such a positive figure in life, she suggest looking for one and beginning to create it in their own psyches.

The importance of positive role models and mentors cannot be underestimated in helping us guide our way in the world. Find an elder. “Not valuing the elderly is a tragedy. We think that being fit and holding onto our youth is where our values should be rather than letting the luminosity of wisdom shine through our bodies as we age.” Holleran encourages us to find teachers, mentors, and some wise elders to learn from—in person if you can do it; if not, through books, classes or retreats.

Growth and transformation sometimes require suffering. It’s part of the human condition. “In order to step into a more authentic life we have to have an ability to face our own suffering and loss,” says Holleran. And it is human to feel both pain and happiness. “To be an evolved human being, you have to be able to tolerate that paradox.” She adds, “It’s been times when I’ve been in the most pain, that I’ve dug down into my deepest sense of self and experienced the most growth and sense of grace.” Surrendering into whatever life gives us and being able to let go is to live a fuller life.

Ironically, living a full life also requires the process of death. Every generation has some terrible challenge to face, bringing to consciousness the nearness of death. “Many indigenous cultures view death as the ally, sitting on your shoulder as a way to make you feel present in the world,” she says. Time is fleeting and the task is to figure out how the specter of death “can be our ally in making decisions to create a vision that is in the service of life.” She quotes Marion Woodman: “Birth is the death of the life we have known. Death is the birth of the life we have yet to know.”

But there is hope. “On one extreme, because of the Internet we have images and information about the worst that’s happening around the world,” says Holleran. “But, we also have access to spiritual wisdom and guidance that has never been available before. We have real help. There are teachings and practices that can really help us as individuals to cope and evolve our own consciousness so that we can face these things.” 

Resources

Red Rock Counseling & Education. 150 South 600 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84102. 524-0560.
www.mwoodmanfoundation.org – The official website for Marion Woodman’s work
“World As Lover, World As Self,” by Joanna Macy. This collection of talks and essays deals with issues of environmental despair and transformation.
“The Places That Scare You,” by Pema Chodron. A guide to fearlessness in difficult times.
“Man’s Search for Meaning,” by Viktor E. Frankl. The renowned psychiatrist’s own experiences in Nazi concentration camps and his ability to survive. Frankl believes man’s motivation for survival lies in purpose and meaning.

It’s January already – time to dust off last year’s resolutions to exercise more and eat better and give it another shot this time around. In fact, how many years has “getting in shape” been on your list? Or, if you don’t make formal resolutions, how long have you been meaning to eat healthier and drop a few pounds?

Statistics confirm what we see all around us: People are out of shape and not making much progress changing it. One 2004 study (by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) reports roughly one-third of adults in the U.S. are at a healthy weight. That leaves up to two-thirds of us overweight or obese.

And yet we have a $50 billion industry supporting our weight loss efforts. What’s going wrong here? How could we invest so much time, energy and money into a goal without getting better results?

Our health challenges aren’t limited to issues regarding body weight. Maybe you’re telling a different story than most, in that you’re at an ideal weight with a diet that would impress any nutritionist. But perhaps some other aspect of your health is compromised. When you examine it deeper, you might find you’re tolerating poor eyesight, troubling sleep patterns, wrinkles, addiction, or some other health issue.

There are many ways to gauge health, many ways we’re lacking it, and it’s not unusual for us to take health challenges for granted. We think that’s just the way it is; it’s expected to lose a pound of muscle every year after age 30, normal for our memories to lapse as we grow older, or that we’re more susceptible to diabetes, cancer or heart attack because it runs in the family.

Stuff doesn’t happen

Here’s the fact: we have more say over our how our bodies look, feel and age than most will ever know. Even more eye-opening is the fact that not only do we have the power to create optimum health for ourselves, but that we’re also 100% responsible for what we’re already experiencing. Whether it’s five extra pounds, rheumatoid arthritis or broken bones, we invited it with our attention to it.

None of what’s going on in our bodies right now just “happened” to us. We’re not victims of our genetics, our lifestyle, or even the injury-causing accident. Nothing happens in our reality that we didn’t allow in. We create our world with our thoughts, and it’s our thoughts that led to our current circumstances.

When we realize our power to create what we want regarding our bodies and our health, any obstacle or limitation we previously believed in is eliminated. We realize nothing stands in our way to claim the health we want.

Sounds good, right? But if it’s true that we can choose our health status, why isn’t everyone achieving improved health and fitness? Is it a lack of commitment or willpower? Not enough information, resources or support systems to enforce new habits of change?

That’s what some change experts would tell us. But our lack of success in getting the fitness and health we want doesn’t have anything to do with that. Reaching our physical goals, whatever they might be, doesn’t require motivation, diet or exercise. Creating the body and health you want is yours simply by changing the way you think.

What about the evidence?

“Wait a minute!” you might say. What about all the studies and experts proving that some things just are the way they are? There’s a wealth of credible research telling us certain things are a “given,” like some cancers are fatal, fat cells don’t disappear, and five servings of vegetables are good for you.Guess what? Researchers are doing the same thing we are, creating reality with their thoughts. Anyone can prove whatever they put their mind to, which is why we get conflicting reports about how to achieve optimum health. Whatever we focus on we create. So as I look for proof that SlimFast is effective for weight loss, I’ll find it. As I look for proof that it’s ineffective, I’ll find that too.
Instead of letting someone else dictate what will be for you, how about choosing for yourself?

The power of belief

As you repeat a thought over and over, you eventually create a belief. That’s where our beliefs come from; they originate as new thoughts which we repeat often enough to attract evidence of their “truth” and voila – a belief is born!

So if I believe I have a sweet tooth that my willpower cannot overcome, and I also believe high intake of sugar leads to weight gain, I’ve just set myself up for joining the two-thirds of the overweight population.

If I believe my three aunts’ and grandmother’s experience of breast cancer puts me at high risk for it, then I surely hope I also believe in a cure for it. Because my thoughts and beliefs are creating my experience.

The real secret is that health and fitness has little to do with the diet, exercise or medical care and much to do with our thoughts about the diet, exercise and medical care. Understanding this simple truth is not only liberating, but also allows many of us our first real chance at success in getting the bodies we want.

This realization isn’t easy for many to accept, but what’s possible for someone who does? What’s possible for someone who is willing to believe their thoughts create their world and deliberately chooses thoughts and beliefs that serve them?

Everything!

Everything is possible when we realize our thoughts are choices and that thoughts create reality. Our body responds not so much to external inputs as to the internal ones; the commands we give by our thoughts. Until our thoughts change, our body is as stuck as our self-image (our thoughts about ourself).

All in your head

So if the trick to optimum health isn’t following the right diet and exercise program, what is it about? What does it mean that our thoughts and beliefs dictate our experience of health?

For starters, it means you are not a victim of your genetics, your age, your doctor’s diagnosis, your disinclination toward exercise or your spouse’s cooking. It means 30 minutes on the treadmill only serves you if you believe it will. It means you’re wasting time counting calories if you haven’t changed the way you think about yourself.

You alone are responsible for the state of your health. Your body and mind are not destined to deteriorate as you age. You can recover from whatever illnesses or injuries you’ve experienced to the extent you’re willing to believe it possible.

The challenge for most people is releasing a belief system that’s been in place for decades and continues to perpetuate itself daily. With trainers, nutritionists, doctors, and other experts telling us the complete opposite, it can be difficult to embrace our personal power to enhance health and fitness primarily by the way we think about ourselves.

Releasing false beliefs about what’s ultimately possible for our health as well as what’s required to achieve it is easier said than done.

New possibilities for health

The challenge then—or rather, the opportunity—is to embrace new beliefs that support what you want, or at the minimum to work with existing beliefs in a way that allows you to achieve desired results.

For example, if my goal is to lose 25 pounds before swimsuit season arrives, I would do well to check in on what my thoughts and beliefs about this possibility are. Say I’ve set this same goal for the past five seasons, and every year is the same story—nothing changes. What have I believed about myself, my weight, and my habits that sabotage this effort?

What could I believe instead that would support real change this time? Since beliefs come from repeated thoughts, adopting new beliefs is as simple as choosing new thoughts and giving life to them instead of the old ones.

Rather than thinking of myself as someone who has tried many times and failed, or someone who has a weakness for sweets, or as someone who has a schedule that doesn’t allow for the self-care (one believes is) required to succeed—or any other story that doesn’t align with positive results—I could think of myself as someone who has learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. I could think of myself as someone who perseveres, and is committed to looking fabulous on the boat this summer.

Instead of believing I’m an uncommitted failure, I could believe I’m a slow but sure winner. As I hold new thoughts about myself and my actions, I set myself up for success—which is all that’s stood in my way in the past.

This doesn’t necessarily mean we can give up exercise routines and live on chocolate éclairs the rest of our lives. If you believe exercise is required in order to be physically fit and that sweets are from the devil, your actions had better be in alignment with those beliefs in order to get results you want.

Know that your beliefs are a choice, though. There are no “givens” out there; we’re creating “truth” and reality with our attention to it. Bottom line is our thoughts and beliefs create our world.

A better resolution

This New Year instead of blindly vowing to exercise regularly or eat more veggies, check in on the beliefs you hold about yourself and what’s possible. If you find one or two that don’t serve you—like that it’s inevitable you gain weight with age, or that too much sun causes skin cancer, or even that you hate exercising—consider releasing these beliefs.

If you’re not successful in releasing a limiting thought pattern, at least become aware of it so you can work with it rather than against it. For example, if you believe you require eight hours of sleep to function, set yourself up to get eight hours. Sometimes respecting the belief is easier than changing it.

The fact is we can prove any “truth” by simply focusing on it and giving attention to it. Be mindful of where your attention goes, and ensure it’s headed in a direction that serves you. Hear what you’re saying to your body, and give it deliberate instructions aligned with what you want for yourself.

Instead of saying “I am so tired,” give your body a command that supports what you want. Maybe “I am doing really well, considering” or “I am looking forward to a break.” Instead of “I hate these hips,” say “I look fabulous!” And, eventually, with repetition, you will see your fabulous self.

When we are willing to believe more is possible for us, and that it’s easier than ever to achieve it, the Universe and the world around us conforms to those thoughts and beliefs.

Once we’re operating with a belief system that supports unlimited natural physical fitness and health, anything is possible for us and our bodies. So here’s a new year’s toast to ageless living and hot bodies on the beach!

Jeannette Maw is an Attraction Coach and founder of Good Vibe Coaching in Salt Lake City.

“There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
—Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I


Daniel Pinchbeck’s most recent book, “2012, The Return of Quetzalcoatl,” is a vivid personal journey through inner space, replete with psychedelic visions and thoughtful insights. It includes forays into the alien abduction phenomenon, English crop circles, the Mayan Calendar, Quetzalcoatl, Burning Man, South American shamanism and a brief discourse on the failures of monogamy. Scattered throughout this diverse terrain are references to a long list of pundits and intellectual luminaries, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Jung, Rudolf Steiner, Jean Gebser, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Rupert Sheldrake, Herbert Marcuse, José Arguelles and many others.

Although his subjects cover a lot of territory, Pinchbeck uses personal narrative and philosophical commentary to bring it all together into a coherent whole. He approaches his material seriously, with keen interest and a skeptical but open attitude. Pinchbeck’s interests and psychedelic explorations echo those of Terrence McKenna, but he has a more literary writing style. He seems to have a talent for pulling together complex material.

2012 was published in May 2006 and is currently in its sixth printing with 28,000 copies now in print. Although they realized that the current notoriety of the year 2012 in some circles was a good marketing ploy, both Pinchbeck and the publisher are pleasantly surprised at how well the book has been selling.

Pinchbeck spent a busy three-day weekend in Salt Lake City just before Thanksgiving last year. He met with me to talk about his ideas and plans for the future.

His first book, “Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism,” (now out in paper) was published in 2002. Pinchbeck has written for The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Wired, The Village Voice, LA Weekly, ArtForum, and many other publications. He lives in New York City, where he grew up as the only child of an artist father and a writer mother.

Both of Pinchbeck’s books deal with subject matter that tends to be shunned, dismissed or snickered at by mainstream culture, but he says his choice of subjects is determined by what resonates with him. Queztalcoatl represents “the union of spirit and matter.” He proposes that the completion of the Great Cycle of the Mayan calendar and Queztalcoatl’s return, due to take place in 2012, are archetypes. “Their underlying meaning points toward a shift in the nature of the psyche” he says. “If this theory is correct, the transformation of our consciousness will lead to the rapid creation, development and dissemination of new institutions and social structures, corresponding to our new level of mind. From the limits of our current chaotic and uneasy circumstances, this process may well resemble an advance toward a harmonic, perhaps even utopian, situation of the Earth.”

Pinchbeck wears a silver pendant shaped like a fractal of the Mandelbrot set—the same spiral pattern that’s embossed onto the green cover jacket of “2012.” The Mandelbrot set, which was spawned by chaos mathematical theory, is an excellent symbol of our intimately connected and interrelated reality and looks very much like a feathered serpent.

In “2012,” he explains how he became alienated and dissatisfied with his life in twenty-first century Manhattan.

When I was young, I looked forward to a future as a writer and editor in an essentially stable culture that, despite change, would endure long past my life. Literature and art seemed, in themselves, of enduring value…. Like most people, I accepted the concrete solidity of modern civilization and believed its institutions would remain in place. I no longer have that perspective. Mulling over the facts, considering our situation over time, I concluded, sadly, that our current civilization is not a machine built to last.       

Pinchbeck goes on to say that he “never expected to be fascinated by visions and dreams and synchronicities." Since becoming interested and involved in all the facets of his studies, he often felt “compelled or fated—perhaps tragically misguided”—to draw together ideas from such apparently diverse realms as Jungian psychology and quantum paradox, and “such seemingly outré subjects as crop circles, alien abductions, Amazonian shamanism and the end of time.” One of the charms of Pinchbeck’s writing is his ready willingness to admit to some humility and uncertainty about the material he’s exploring.

In person, Pinchbeck is calm and unassuming. He exudes a clear confidence in his vision of the world, which he explains in the introduction to “2012.”

This book advances a radical theory: that human consciousness is rapidly transitioning to a new state, a new intensity of awareness that will manifest as a different understanding, a transformed realization, of time and space and self. By this thesis, the transition is already under way—though largely subliminally—and will become increasingly evident as we approach the year 2012.

He believes the ever-increasing development of technology and the ecological devastation we are continuing to create are material manifestations of a “psycho-spiritual process taking place on a planetary scale.” Human beings have unconsciously created the crisis we now have to deal with to “force our own accelerated transformation” into more spiritually advanced beings.

Pinchbeck’s is just one voice in a growing chorus trying to draw our attention to the dire straits in which we now find ourselves as fragile humans living on a planet far too large and dynamic to be completely within our control. The majority of people in the world and, perhaps particularly in the U.S., continue with their lives as though nothing unusual is happening. They expect to go on living in “an essentially stable culture that, despite change, will endure.” Conditions as vast and global as worldwide climate change and ecological destruction are too big and abstract for most people to relate to in any meaningful way.

Interestingly, several different thinkers coming at the topic from various angles arrive at the same conclusion regarding the time frame. For example, Ervin Laszlo’s recent book, “Chaos Point—World at the Crossroads,” written in 2005 and published in 2006, is subtitled “Seven Years to Avoid Global Collapse and Promote Worldwide Renewal.” Laszlo is a systems scientist and philosopher with impeccable academic credentials. I’m pretty sure he didn’t arrive at the date 2012 based on any predictions from the Mayan calendar.

Two approaches to higher consciousness

Pinchbeck sees two main currents active in contemporary Western metaphysical thinking today. One is the Buddhist/Eastern religious approach of people like Ken Wilber, Andrew Cohen and Pema Codron. Wilber, for example, prefers to emphasize traits versus states. He feels that psychedelics may put people into enlightening nonordinary states, but these voyages to different states don’t produce permanent traits. Pinchbeck differs on this point. “I think he underestimates how psychedelics used ceremonially can help move people from states to traits. This trait-focused approach tends to lack an orientation to the subtle or spirit realms. Even Tibetan Buddhism, which is the more shamanic form of Buddhism, tends to dismiss the use of psychedelic substances, although, the Bardo realms of Tibetan Buddhism would qualify as subtle levels.” The other main current is the shamanic approach, which sanctions the ceremonial use of psychoactive substances and is more in touch with subtle realms. Pinchbeck admits that he has a clear preference for the shamanic. “It has been my path. I don’t necessarily suggest that it’s best for everyone.”

Shamanism and psychedelics

“Many people are wary of shamanism because it is closely linked to sorcery. Psychedelics tend to accentuate whatever is. It’s possible to stumble into some very dark places.” For an excellent discussion of some of the more challenging aspects of psychedelic exploration, Pinchbeck recommends reading Christopher Bache's book, “Dark Night, Early Dawn.”

In “2012,” Pinchbeck says most people in our culture reject the use of psychedelics and consider non-ordinary states and other psychic phenomena to be either nonexistent or meaningless. He writes that the impulse to preserve the materialist worldview and its system of values tends to reinforce a willful ignorance towards anything that threatens the underpinnings of a culture obsessed with acquiring wealth, goods, and status. He ultimately determined that he could no longer operate on assumptions and go along with values the he increasingly suspected to be false even if such a decision meant that he would be isolated from mainstream culture.

How can people mitigate the psychological risk of using psychedelics?

“The risk can be reduced by using proper containers, such as the Santo Daime or the Native American Church, something with a lineage.” Pinchbeck tells about his experience with the Santo Daime in the book. The religion uses ayahuasca ceremonies as a key element of practice. But Pinchbeck feels that “the alternative community is becoming more aware and more sophisticated about the use and misuse of psychedelics. We can create our own containers.”

Intention

Intention is receiving a great deal of attention of late in many books and in recent films such as “What the Bleep Do We Know” and “The Secret.” In the book, Pinchbeck quotes physicist J.A. Wheeler. “Participant is the incontrovertible new concept given by quantum mechanics.” Pinchbeck goes on, “That consciousness is embedded in the processes it perceives, continually changing them while it is changed by them, was an insight conveyed to me, and many others, during psychedelic trips.”

I asked Pinchbeck to expand on this idea.

“Through the activity of our consciousness, we shape the reality we encounter. We find corroboration of our ideas in the world around us. It seems to me that intention is becoming more powerful recently. Lots of people seem to be experiencing this.”

Time-Freedom and Sex

Pinchbeck also deals with the Western world’s spatially based view of time. We tend to see time as being like space. We say we don’t have “enough” time, it takes a “long” time, and we need to “save” time. All spatial concepts! Much of the exposition of this spatial view of time comes from German philosopher Jean Gebser (1905-1973). His magnum opus, “The Ever-Present Origin,” was translated into English in 1985.

Gebser argues that our current structure of consciousness began with the Greeks, reached its full flowering with the Renaissance and the discovery of perspective, and has since entered its “deficient” or decadent phase. During this period, mental-rational humanity became not only obsessed with space, but possessed by space—by the possibilities that developed from our increasing ability to transform matter and shape physical reality. We learned to see ourselves, for the first time, embedded in—and simultaneously alienated from—the threedimensions surrounding us.

He prophesied a shift from mental and conceptual thought—the ingrained metaphysics of materialism—to a multidimensional realization, a translucent awareness, not denying this reality but taking into account the spaceless and timeless origin, Jungian pleroma or aboriginal dreamtime, in which the fractal finite reflected the unfolding infinite. “Time-freedom is the conscious form of archaic, original pre-temporality,” Gebser wrote. One of the primary results of psychedelic experience is an altered experience of time that comes close to what Gebser refers to as “time-freedom.”

“Are there any experiences other than psychedelic drugs that do that?” I asked Pinchbeck.

“In ordinary reality, orgasm represents a timeless moment. This is the only experience that makes time-freedom available for most people. It is the most ordinary way to non-ordinary states. That is why sex has become so obsessive and degraded in today’s world. It is spiritual desire made diabolical.”

In the book, Pinchbeck laments what he sees as the problematic nature of monogamy. I asked him if he thinks monogamy is wrong for everyone. “Not everyone,” he replied.

“One aspect of my next book will be on tantra. Tantra practitioners learn to elongate the orgasmic state, providing a window into another consciousness. Our culture’s emphasis on sex for procreation is the lower path. Self-creation is the higher path. Most of our population problem is due to the lower-level uses of sexuality. I’m interested in seeing our culture move toward less restriction and more discipline. There are a variety of sexual behaviors. Few people are the same. Insisting on monogamy means that many people are not living in integrity.”

On Burning Man

In the book, Pinchbeck indicated that he was becoming rather disappointed with Burning Man.

“You accused participants of having deteriorated into detached hedonists with ‘grotesque and unearned spiritual pretensions,’ and you referred to the energy as ‘adolescent and stagnant.’ And yet you went back again this year. Why was that?” I asked.

“It is kind of a fulcrum for consciousness and conscious evolution,” he said, adding that this turned out to be his best burn ever. “The fact that I liked it again after being disillusioned earlier is just typical of the cycle of developing relationships.”

Features of a new, more viable system

I asked Pinchbeck what he saw as the primary characteristics of a more advanced society. He mentioned four major features.

Integrity. “Integrity is a fundamental value in a new system. Psychedelic experiences can help you understand the importance of acting openly and honestly.”

Discrimination. “In the Kabbalah each sephirah is a level of attainment in knowledge. On earth, discrimination, or judgment, is what we need to gain. Today, we are overloaded with information and noise distraction. Each person needs to find the keys to his own transformation. It’s important not to be attached to one’s own identity or worldview and, therefore, be closed to new information.”

Present awareness. “Focus on the now, not on the past or the future.”

Empathy/compassion. “We all have the ability to make a difference. Most organizations and media are designed to maintain control. There is a distinction between control and mastery. Mastery is the surrender to the reality of the situation.”

EVO

Pinchbeck thinks it’s a good idea to use the power and organizational abilities of corporations to help move society in a more sustainable direction.

EVO (www.evo.net) is Pinchbeck’s new business venture. He and his partners have been working on it for nearly two years and will be launching this spring. EVO uses a rating system called the EVO Index to rate various companies on such factors as energy use and pay differential between workers and management.

Members of EVO receive exclusive benefits and discounts on goods and services from companies with good ratings on the EVO Index. One purpose is to connect you to companies with the most environmentally and ethically sound goods and services—as well as to other people who share your vision. Check the website for more details.

Pinchbeck says, “It is important to keep the EVO company culture in harmony with our goals—to have a healthy work culture and aim for balance. We want to gear work to individual preferences, and working 4-6 hours a day is more efficient than putting in a lot more hours with diminishing results.”

Technology

Pinchbeck believes that technology is a manifestation of whatever psycho-spiritual process humanity is undergoing. It expresses our current level of consciousness. “Technologies are thought forms given material existence.” He held up his Blackberry. “Ten years ago, who would have thought we’d have something like this?” I recalled something my former boss said over 20 years ago: “Every time you turn around, it seems like there’s less material and more magic.”

Pinchbeck agrees with José Arguelles that after 2012 we will become “post-technological.” We may move to a level of consciousness where we can communicate and act directly (mindfully), without the need for technological intermediaries. “Things are in process. You can’t use a tool until you see it, then you find many ways to use it. A talented group of people working together could turn around our disastrous situation in a month.”

“A month,” I said? “Do you really believe that?”

“Well, okay—maybe, six months. We are currently using resources so irrationally. Committed people working together could allocate resources much more rationally by using the kinds of ideas developed by Buckminster Fuller, for example.”

Infectiousness of new consciousness

“The dynamic of change kicks in when the dominant structure becomes detached from lived experience,” Pinchbeck says. “When this detachment reaches a certain point, it will no longer be viable. It’s an entropic process. It’s important that we don’t give in to a kind of collective death wish about our ultimate fate on the planet. Those who pay the most attention can act more effectively. Not many people will become very discriminating, but if enough people do, new ideas will spread. The initially ‘elite’ values will start to be mirrored in the masses.”

Pinchbeck is remarkably optimistic about our chances of surviving, and even thriving, assuming that we can move quickly to a new level of consciousness regarding who we are and where we might be headed. 

Diane Wilde is a freelance writer and lives in Salt Lake City.

Year of Awareness 

In biological psychology, awareness describes a human or animal’s perception and cognitive reaction to a condition or event. —Wikipedia
The last six years have shown us what happens when we lose sight of the prize, what happens when we allow our leaders to lead us rather than following us, what happens when we become unaware.

Being informed is the most powerful tool a citizen has in a democracy or a free market economy. So I challenge you and CATALYST to make 2007 the Year of Awareness. At the end of 2007, I want each of us to have the knowledge to be aware of the impact of each of our actions on politics, society and particularly the environment—not just knowing what our impact is, but changing it.

Too much misinformation

Many of us are overwhelmed with news of the inconsequential. Its only effect is to get us all riled up with no place to go. We might as well be watching the weather for all we can do about most of it.

In a free market, informed consumption has incredible power. In the era of cheap energy, it didn’t make sense to factor the energy costs of our consumption patterns. As energy becomes increasingly expensive, it will be a larger factor in everything we purchase. How many barrels of oil went into the plastic in that Lexus or Love Sac? How much energy did it take to raise and transport those roses or tulips?

Heroes of the evolution

Our energy and foreign policies are stuck in an evolutionary dead end.

The main thrust of our foreign policy for the last 50 years or longer has been focused on securing cheap oil. While the United States constitutes 5% of the world’s population, we consume (let’s be honest—we waste) a quarter of the world’s energy.

You and I can be leaders of the evolution. We are opinion leaders and first adopters. Just as a few knowledgeable members of a flock of birds or school of fish can unerringly guide a migration, with knowledge and intelligence we can lead the way to a saner future. CATALYST is dedicating the next year to giving you the information you need to become aware in everything you consume.

Skybridge to Nowhere

Promoters of City Creek Center and the proposed skybridge across Main Street would like to think of it as the Skybridge to Now Here. Their belief in revitalizing the two blocks south of the Temple and Church Office Building rivals their belief in the second coming: as in, it’s a fait acompli.

Unfortunately, the City Creek Center is doomed. The Mormon Church lost the battle when they let the ZCMI and Crossroads Malls deteriorate and Gateway was built. The retail center of Salt Lake City has moved to Gateway and won’t be back any time soon. A couple of new residential buildings, fountains, manmade streams and a full-service grocery store won’t make a significant difference. A skybridge won’t make a difference.

Much of their hype about what is needed to draw shoppers amounts to unexamined platitudes. “Shoppers need a complete Disneyfied experience.” “Gateway is a success because of the fountains and skybridges.” No. Gateway is a success because it doesn’t look like a cross between the bishop’s storehouse and a missionary clothing outlet. It’s a success because it has stores like the Apple Store, Black Chandelier and Anthropologie. Nearly every major national retailer already has a store in Gateway. What’s left for City Creek Center to attract? 7-11, Denny’s, Home Depot, Seagull Books, Lowe’s?

The last thing Main Street needs is a bridge that isn’t a bridge. Downtown is already too split up with the bifurcation between Main Street and Gateway. We don’t need Main Street split into upper and lower realms.

The skybridge will be no low-profile affair either. To clear the electrical wires for TRAX, the bottom of the structure will have to be 20 feet in the air. Even with escalators, moving between the realms will be difficult.

Six acres of open space? I’ve never been much of a fan of urban green space. If I want green, I’ll go to the mountains or walk the three blocks to the real City Creek. If I want open spaces, I’ll go wander in the desert. Neither experience has anything to do with shopping or living in a city. I don’t know where the idea that open space and trees are a retail magnet came from. Every tree the city puts on Main Street is one or two less parking places where people can’t park while they pick up a book at Sam Weller’s or their tailoring or some food to go.

What downtown needs is a lot more residential space, and if the Church and City want to revitalize downtown, they’d be better served by putting in another six acres of high-density housing. The average supermarket needs a population of 10,000 to break even. The population within grocery shlepping distance of City Creek Center is nowhere close to that, and a couple hundred upscale condos isn’t going to make the difference.

It’s ironic, a project that will ruin public views up and down Main Street prominently trumpets on its website: “In determining current and future sites for residential construction at City Creek Center, planners are working to take full advantage of view-lines to downtown landmarks and the surrounding Wasatch Mountains.” I assume that means they won’t put any residential units where the skybridge ruins the view of the mountains or the statue of Brigham Young. How thoughtful, if you’re a resident.

It’s unclear whether the sky bridge will be public property or another piece of Church property—off limits to anything the Church deems distasteful or blasphemous. No shirt, no shoes, no Temple recommend—no skybridge. And if a skybridge is so necessary to keep pedestrians from getting hit by cars or TRAX trains on Main Street, is a skybridge over South Temple to Temple Square in the works?

Since time immemorial, developers have insisted that every single feature of their grand schemes are absolutely essential and that the lack of any single feature will doom the project to failure. The mayor and City Council of Salt Lake City need to put their feet down on Main Street and reject this one unnecessary feature of City Creek Center. City Creek Center will be built, but a skybridge is not a necessary component of the project.

UnReal Salt Lake Numbers

My daddy used to say, “There are three kinds of lies — lies, damned lies and projected revenues.”

Guess which category the financial numbers Real Salt Lake released last month for their Sandy stadium fall into. If you believe that attendance will go from 9,861 to 17,000 at the same time ticket prices go from an average of $16.94 to nearly $31, you’ve just begun Gullible’s Journey.

Naming rights for $1.5 million? Denver’s major league soccer team got $2 million a year, but Denver’s media market is three or four times the size of Salt Lake’s. The hardest number for a casual observer to swallow is 20 concerts a year with an average attendance of 17,000 at $35 to $45 per ticket. I don’t think there are 20 concerts with an attendance of 17,000 between the Mississippi and the Sierra Nevadas in a given year. There certainly aren’t that many in Utah. Add in a $3 per ticket surcharge on the first 5 million tickets sold to repay the $15 million Sandy City is lending Checketts et al.—on top of a $15 million loan from Sandy and another $15 million from the county. If the stadium is sold out for 50 events a year, it’ll take six years to repay, not counting interest.

I don’t think many college and youth sports organizations are in a position to make significant contributions to the stadium’s bottom line. But hey, a couple of thousand here and a couple of thousand there, and pretty soon the interest on your loans is piling up faster than you can pay it off. So I would expect Checketts to come back to Sandy for deferment of payments on interest and principal in favor of paying off his investment partners, Goldman Sachs.

The presence of Goldman Sachs as half owners of the team reassures some. But their management of the Utah Athletic Foundation endowment, which, according to the Deseret Morning News “swelled” from $76 million in 2002 to $80 million in 2006, a rate of return of about 1.5% per year, is unimpressive. I guess management fees eat up a lot.

I don’t understand the cross promotion deal between Checketts’ KALL-AM and Real Salt Lake, but it sounds like one hand washing the other. Which in the end would be—a wash. Although if Checketts follows GAWSAP guidelines (Generally Accepted Wall Street Accounting Practices), both entities could show millions of dollars of profits.

My daddy also said there are three kinds of liars—liars, damned liars and paid consultants. If it’s any consolation, Salt Lake County has hired L.A.-based Economics Research Associates to review Real Salt Lake’s numbers. ERA specializes in undeniably plausible economic studies. Their expertise is in coming up with economic extrapolations couched in erudite verbal haze. I would be surprised if any of the thousands of reports ERA has generated for corporate entities such as Disney and Exxon didn’t endorse the project under consideration. Couched, of course, in enough ifs, ands and buts to escape any legal culpability if the project went south.

The downside for the county is that there will be a stadium on 13.6 blocks of what could be residential or commercial buildings—until the county musters the gumption to tear the stadium down.

The most important question is whether 13.6 acres and $45 million of Salt Lake County and Sandy’s money could be put to better use than a stadium that will, at best, host one event a week. That’s not exactly the kind of anchor I’d want to tie retail development to.

Dear Swami:
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” but frankly we don’t seem any closer to the blessings of peace than we were 2,000 years ago. Will we ever overcome this deadly habit? Or are we doomed to the damnation those fundamentalists talk about?
—Amanda Lynn Plucker
Clearfield, Tennessee

Dear Amanda:

Yes, the relationship between warfare and damnation is unassailable. For what is warfare but one damn nation fighting another damn nation, the world and the planet be damned! With soldiering being the second oldest profession, the battlefield is one of the most persistent fields going. So maybe the best approach is not to try to do away with war itself, but to change the rules of engagement. As a devout FUNdamentalist — accent on fun — I have proposed three new rules of warfare:

1. Fight all wars with

cream pies.

Imagine a new campaign against Iraqi insurgents—Operation Dessert Storm. And then imagine sending in our pie-seeking K-9 squad to lick the pies off the faces of our opponents. That way, our soldiers can return home safely, proudly proclaiming, “We sure licked ’em good!” Meanwhile, “getting licked” won’t have its usual sting.

2. Use only life-enhancing chemical weapons.

Instead of the toxic, death-dealing weaponry we use today, how about life-dealing weapons that leave people happier and healthier? It’s a scientific fact: The Insurgin’ General’s Report tells us happier and healthier people make lousy insurgents. So if we must use chemical warfare, how about weapons-grade nitrous oxide? I don’t know about you, but I would get great pleasure watching our enemies explode with laughter.

3. Switch to virtually harmless virtual warfare.

With the breakthroughs in simulated warfare, don’t you think we’d be doing the whole world a favor by confining all warfare to virtual reality? That way we can have as much war as we want at a tiny fraction of the cost. Imagine what a change it would be with Pixar being the government’s largest defense contractor instead of Lockheed.

Adopt these rules, and warriors would be able to fight their wars in peace without leaving the rest of the world in pieces.

Dear Swami:
As longtime lightworkers, we have devoted our lives to selflessly helping others, yet we ourselves feel very unsupported. We’ve read every one of those prosperity books, and don’t have a nickel to show for it. In fact, if we had a nickel for every time we helped someone and didn’t accept a nickel for it—we’d have lots of nickels. Is there a prosperity secret we’re missing here?
—Emma & Nate Light
Santa Cruz, California

Dear Emma and Nate,

If it makes you feel any better, a lot of folks are in your situation. I don’t know if you’ve seen the latest Greenspan Report, but the average American family these days doesn’t have enough green to span the average month. As for prosperity secrets, they can be summed up in four words: “Write a prosperity book.” That’s how those people got rich, so why not you?

Actually, I’m hearing a lot from folks like you two these days, people who’ve helped themselves to heaping helpings of self-help—yet still are left helplessly hoping and hopelessly helpless. You appear to be suffering from a condition called “Selfless Helplessness,” where you are helpless to help yourself because you are too busy selflessly helping others. Now of course, helping people at your own expense is fine—until your expense account runs out.

Time to stop selfishly hoarding all the selflessness for yourself, and let others selflessly help you. Put yourself in your own shoes for a change, and help yourself to a helping of what you’ve been helping others with. Just think. If you can help just one individual—yourself—that’s one less helpless individual needing help from others.

©Copyright 2006 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. www.wakeuplaughing.com.

Editor’s note: If you read CATALYST, chances are better than average that you’ve got a dog. So here’s a new monthly column on how to raise a trustworthy, calm and happy canine. (And yes, Johanna says, you can teach an old dog new tricks.)

Okay, so you have gone to the store and seen clickers on the shelves. You may be asking yourself, “What are these?” A clicker can be a great tool to train animals with fun and rewards. 

When you train with a clicker, you teach your dog without force. (Clicker training has also been used with cats, fish and birds.) It is a positive technique. When your dog hears the clicking sound, he knows that he has performed the correct behavior. Therefore, he is more likely to perform the behavior again.

Clicker training is a great way to teach your dog tricks and obedience commands. It will enable you to train sequences of behaviors such as “pick up and put away your toys!”

You can also use clicker training to solve behavioral problems such as aggression, excessive barking or jumping, but in those cases it is best to consult a professional dog trainer. It is easy to inadvertently reward the bad behavior with inappropriate clicker timing. A professional can also suggest the best alternative behaviors to instill to lessen these behavioral problems.

Starting clicker training is simple. First, you teach your dog that “click” means “treat.” You want your dog to anticipate the “click,” because he will know a treat is coming. Give your dog a treat immediately after clicking one time. It does not matter what the dog is doing when you click. Every time you click, the dog gets a treat.

Make sure that you click at random times and unpredictable intervals. Practice clicking in a variety of rooms inside your house and also outside.

In this beginning stage of training, do not ask your dog to perform any commands when you click.

To reinforce the association between click and food, practice clicking and treating for 3-7 days. When your dog’s ears go up (similar to a “food begging” expression), he probably understands that “click” means yummy treat.

Next, train your dog in a new behavior and click when your dog performs the correct response. (For aid on how to train obedience behaviors, read “Clicking with Your Dog,” by Peggy Tillman.) As before, every time you click you should give your dog a treat. Once your dog has learned the new command, you will no longer have to click. However, you will still occasionally reward your dog for performing the behavior.
{mosgoogle}
It’s important to carry the clicker because it makes the reward immediate. You can click immediately when the behavior is performed. You will then have about 2 seconds to reward your dog.
A clicker helps with distance behaviors. When you ask your dog to sit when he is 10 feet away from you, you need to be able to reward him before he takes off to play with other dogs. The clicker allows you to mark the sitting behavior as soon as your dog sits. Your dog will know a treat is coming and will most likely run toward you or wait for you to come to him to receive his treat.

People talk constantly, and eventually, dogs ignore some of the chatter. A clicker is easily identifiable, and the dog knows at once that he has done something right when he hears it.

Clicking is fast. Speaking a word takes more than a second. A click is less than a second, making it much easier to mark a behavior that lasts for a split second.

Common clicker training problems

Many people click after the behavior instead of simultaneously with it. Practice your timing, and only train when you can focus 100% on your dog and your reaction time.

Coordinating the clicker, the treats and the leash can be difficult. Buy a treat bag, and only have a treat in your hand when rewarding your dog. You can wrap the leash around your waist or step on the leash, being careful it does not slip from under your foot. You can attach the clicker to your wrist with a wrist band.

Leaving the clicker at home when walking your dog is a mistake. When distractions are high, it is easier to train commands with a clicker. If you keep your clicker in your treat bag, it will be easy to remember.

Large treats will satiate your dog quickly. Treats only need to be the size of a dime or smaller. Then your dog will crave more. 

Resources

APDT.com: an excellent list of positive trainers all over the country who may use clicker training.

Clickertraining.com: books, DVDs and videos.

Bake Your Own Dog Treats!

Making your own treats for clicker training is a great way to give your dog proper nutrition and save money. Here is one simple recipe:

PUMPKIN DOGGIE COOKIES

12 cups oatmeal or quick oats
3 cups whole wheat flour
8 eggs
3/4 cup sunflower, fish, or olive oil
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups milk
1 large can solid packed pumpkin
4 ripe mashed bananas

Place all ingredients into a large bowl. Mix together with your hands. Pat onto two large baking sheets with 3/4 inch sides. Bake at 325° for 50-60 minutes. Cut into dime-sized pieces.

… He who desires but acts not,
breeds pestilence.
—William Blake

Last month we talked about how the pursuit of pleasure may actually bring us closer to happiness. We also discussed how pleasure has gotten a bad rap because it has become almost synonymous with the idea of satisfying certain physical or “ego” appetites that appear at odds with legitimate spiritual values. I gave as an example the life of Olympic runner and Christian missionary Eric Liddell who was chastised by some fellow Christians for engaging in a sport which seemed not only to glorify individual achievement but also the strength of the body over the strength of the Spirit. The movie “Chariots of Fire” — which focuses in part on Liddell’s personal struggles leading up to winning the gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics — takes as its title an allusion to one of the great poets of all time, William Blake.

Blake, an 18th century mystic, poet and artist, challenged the false piety and religious wisdom of his day. His more controversial ideas included an attempt to re-establish desire as the vehicle for spiritual evolution. In “Proverbs of Hell” Blake asserts:

…The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
The nakedness of woman is the work of God.

Judeo-Christian thinking has it that the Spirit and the body are separate, that any desire coming from the body is suspect, and happiness (in this life or the next) comes at the expense of the body, by denying our “animal appetites” in favor of reason and a larger, “spiritual” vision.

This dichotomous thinking shows up, too, in the contemplative traditions of the East. Even the Buddha first sought enlightenment by withdrawing from his senses and “mortifying” his body. He eventually came to the realization that the search for liberation need not condemn the body to starvation and abuse, and this served as the basis for his ground-breaking spiritual approach, “the Middle Path.”

The Zen masters of China and Japan took this even further. They saw in each ordinary moment an opportunity to leap beyond the mind’s limitations into a boundless freedom, an ongoing unfolding of pure existential wonder. Far from denying the senses, Zen uses sensory experience as a way of heightening awareness and quieting the mind.

So, too, there is a lineage of Indian and Persian mystics who do not discredit the body or its needs. Born in the early 14th century to a Brahman family, a spiritual seeker named Lalla became one of the great ecstatic poets of her generation. She admonishes others against placing themselves in opposition to nature:

Don’t torture your body with thirst and starvation.
When the body is exhausted, take care of it.
Cursed be your fasts and religious ceremonies.
Do good to others, for that is the real religious practice.
(Translation by Jaishree Kak Odin)

Challenging the male-dominated religious order of her time, Lalla is said to have chanted her poems naked, using the physical as a metaphor for the spiritual:

Dance, Lalla, with nothing on
but air. Sing, Lalla,
wearing the sky.
Look at this glowing day! What clothes
could be so beautiful, or
more sacred? (Odin)

Her poetry stood as a protest against a hyper-masculine spirituality that placed nature (and by extension women) in a subservient role to the life of the mind (and by extension men). Just as radically, her nakedness served as a living symbol for the way in which we must all appear before the Beloved if we are to fully embrace and be embraced by Him or Her.

Less than a century before, Jelaluddin Balkhi, a Persian poet and theologian known to us as Rumi, produced hundreds of ecstatic poems using extraordinarily earthy metaphors to describe the soul’s yearning to merge with God:

Last year, I admired wines. This,
I’m wandering inside the red world.
Last year, I gazed at the fire.
This year I’m burnt kabob.
Thirst drove me down to the water
where I drank the moon’s reflection.
Now I am a lion staring up totally
lost in love with the thing itself.
(translation by Coleman Barks)

Lalla , echoing Rumi, speaks of wine in connection with her own poetry:

I didn’t trust it for a moment,
but I drank it anyway,
the wine of my own poetry.
It gave me the daring to take hold
of the darkness and tear it down
and cut it into little pieces. (Barks)

Drinking and getting drunk are conventional images of debauchery, but the wine of which Rumi and Lalla speak refers to something unconventional, ultimately indescribable—union with God. Yet it is one thing to compare getting drunk to spiritual elevation (or making love to consorting with the Divine Lover), quite another to celebrate desire itself, wherever it may lead you—as William Blake seems to do:

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

Blake, in recovering the value of pleasure for the Judeo-Christian psyche, stands on the shoulders of his poetic ancestors, Rumi and Lalla—and then goes beyond them. He does not, for example, compare “the lust of the goat” to a yearning for God. He states directly that lust is good, it is God’s “bounty.” Assuming he is not just referring to an animal’s lust but to lust in general, we must conclude he is saying something, too, about the human libido.

Few of us in these times would argue that sexual desire is a bad thing. But what does Blake mean when he talks about excess? How far should we take our lust, our passion for wine, our desire for good food? What about the pleasure we get from work, from love, from spiritual pursuits? Can we not also take these to excess (think workaholism, love addiction, spiritual asceticism)? To ask it plainly of Blake: What kind of excess are we talking about here? Can I really gain wisdom by getting drunk—on wine or success? If I follow pleasure for pleasure’s sake, will it make me happy?

Blake may be using “excessive” language as a way to shock his readers into a new awareness about the body. His readers, under the sway of religious doctrines disavowing the physical world (that this world is only a place of suffering and temptation, the battlefield on which we prove ourselves worthy or unworthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven), have something to learn (in Blake’s view) from the Devil. “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” refers back to a pre-Christian understanding of the relationship between God and the Devil. The Devil represents the raw energies of the Spirit housed in the body, energies that can be used to serve Heaven but which also must be encountered and respected on their own terms. Blake reminds us, for example, that infants are at once angelic and devilish in nature. Angelic in their nakedness and helplessness, devilish in their unbridled expression of emotion and their aggressive impulses to satisfy their own needs, infants inspire both love and anxiety, even fear, in the most balanced of adults.

Desire is not exclusively the province of the body. And it may be true, as Lalla and Rumi taught, that channeling desire in the direction of union with the Beloved is the highest human pursuit. Yet it must also be said that this impulse towards union starts with the physical body. How else would we even know the experience of joining spiritually if we did not have as a template the experience of physical union? For the infant there is no body and soul, no heaven or hell: The mother’s body is her universe, the source of pleasure and pain. As the child grows old enough to distinguish herself from her mother, she locates pleasure and pain in her own body, and it is through her physical experience that she learns whether or not the universe is reliable, trustworthy, friendly. As she grows older still she will learn to regulate her desires and impulses, to express herself in ways that are acceptable to her caretakers and to suppress what is deemed inappropriate or unacceptable. During this time Heaven and Hell will be separated in her mind. Eventually she will learn to rationalize and talk herself out of what she desires, to delay gratification, to place reason in a ruling position over her vital energies. To this state of affairs Blake objected—and his objection is echoed by the modern day poetry of Mary Oliver, in “Wild Geese”:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Next Issue: The Life of Desire, Part 2: Loving the Body with Your Whole Soul, Loving the Soul with Your Whole Body.

Jon Scheffres (Guruprasad Singh), MA, LPC, is a psychotherapist, lecturer, and a KRI certified kundalini yoga teacher. Email him with your thoughts about happiness.

Slow Food Revamps
Slow Food Utah has launched their new, revised website. Slow Food Utah is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating Utahns about the importance of agricultural biodiversity, sustainable farming and local food producers.
www.slowfoodutah.org

Utah Justice now Zen Teacher
Last month Utah Justice Michael Zimmerman was officially confirmed as one of only 300 zen teachers in the United States by Genpo Roshi, abbot of the Kanzeon Zen Center in downtown Salt Lake. Zimmerman is the first former Supreme Court Justice and possibly the first lawyer to become a zen teacher.
1268 E South Temple, 328-8414, www.kzci.org.

Chez Artists
Tay Haines has launched Chez Artists, a coaching and supporting adventure to assist artists in developing their careers. Tay assists artists in clarifying goals, identifying audience(s), and refining “the big three”: documentation, credibility and communication. A workshop, Professional Skills For Artists, will be held Saturday, February 10 at the Art Barn in Salt Lake City.
652-9390, www.chezartists.com.

Emerge Lifeworks Moves
After three years in the Alpine-Highland area, Bobbie Baird has moved her private practice, Emerge Lifeworks. Bobbie married during the summer and made the move to Salt Lake. Bobbie specializes in emotional release, energy movement and lymphatic and breast drainage.
652-9572, 3098 S Highland Dr, Ste. 375, bbbaird@earthlink.net.

Granite Goes Green
The Granite Education Center received official LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification last month. The “green building” certification was the first for Granite School District, and has become the 10th LEED certified project in Utah. The LEED rating system, developed by the United States Green Building Council, has become the national standard for environmentally responsible design and construction standards. It is the official design standard of the federal government, and is increasingly being adopted by other levels of government and organizations with policies of environmental consciousness. By making the decision to meet LEED specifications, the Granite Education Center reused (rather than disposing of) 31% of their construction materials, reused 67% of the existing furnishings (the building was originally a medical center), installed a lighting system that uses 25% less energy and received a $19,248 check for metal that was salvaged rather than sent to the dump. Many other systems were improved and made more efficient. The project was done by AJC Architects.
2500 S State, 466.8818, www.ajcarchitects.com

Law of Attraction Club
Christiane Turner of Quantum NLP has started a club for people interested in the Law of Attraction and the movie “The Secret.” The club is free and open to all. There will be a monthly newsletter and other social gatherings and events. She is starting the club off with a potluck on Saturday, January 20 from 6-9 p.m. Location TBA. Also, Turner’s book, “Quantum NLP – Thought into Manifestation” is now available on iTunes.
979-4799, www.quantumnlp.net.

Empowerment Int’l, Inc. Moves
Owner RaeLynn Rushton has moved her business, Empowerment Int’l to the Salt Lake City area. Rushton offers empowerment coaching to help people get back on track and assist them in attaining health and wellness, financial abundance, time freedom and balance. She says she specializes in turning traumatic experiences into positive life learning skills.
3098 S Highland Dr Ste. 375, 440-7827

New Sacred Balance
Annette Pieper has added PSYCH-K™ to her fitness coaching practice. “PSYCH-K is a user friendly way to rewrite the software of your mind in order to change the ‘printout’ of your life,” she says. Also for the New Year, she will be starting group classes using many change modalities to assist in fat burning and weight loss.
5250 S Commerce Dr. Ste 150, 230-9534. www.sacredbalancecoach.com

New Classes at Streamline
This January, Streamline Pilates in Sugarhouse is adding a few new classes to their schedule: a beginning/intermediate mat class for early risers at 6 a.m. Mondays, an intermediate reformer-pole class at 11 a.m. Mondays, a warm-up core class Fridays at 8 a.m. and beginner through advanced classes on Saturdays. Also, Brianna Ward and Karen Salas are now offering massage therapy at Streamline.
1948 S 1100 E, 474-1156,
www.streamlinebodypilates.com.

Despite the drawbacks, getting older is really a good thing. Still,  every New Year’s Eve, the temptation to attack the side effects of aging by making guilt-ridden resolutions to eat lettuce for lunch and spend hours on the StairMaster recurs.

The problem is, prudent behavior produces only a temporary glow of righteous self-congratulation, but resisting temptation can cause lasting regret. A recent article in the Journal of Consumer Research titled “Repenting Hyperopia: An Analysis of Self-Control Regret,” defines hyperopia as “excessive farsightedness and over-control” resulting in a nagging sense that one has missed out on all the pleasures of life. The researchers found that in the short term, people do indeed feel virtuous for eating low-cal fruit instead of chocolate cake; they feel self-righteous for studying during spring break and consider it responsible to work overtime instead of vacationing on the beach. But the conviction that being good was worth the sacrifice doesn’t last. Five years later when the same people look back on their choices, nearly all of them think it would have been a better choice to have had more fun.

This research has implications for how to make New Year’s resolutions that will actually improve your health and sanity. Clearly, the perfect New Year’s resolution should be a reminder to take pleasure in things that are actually good for you.

Resolution: I won’t stress out about things.

Scientists at Reed College found that both African dance and hatha yoga are more effective at reducing emotional stress than taking a college level biology class. One must wonder whether these people ever heard of test anxiety. Nonetheless, the research offers a useful insight. Even though vigorous dancing increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol and yoga decreased it, both activities were effective at reducing stress. Apparently, you can take your choice and relax either by speeding up or by slowing down. Music and movement have such a powerful effect on mood that for some people dancing is even an alternative to psychopharmaceuticals as Robert Rand tells us in “Dancing Away an Anxious Mind” (University of Wisconsin Press). The book is a memoir about how zydeco music and Cajun dancing helped Rand keep panic disorder from ruining his life. 
Resolution: I will enjoy quiet mornings with a cup of coffee and the New York Times crossword puzzle.

In the typical American diet, coffee provides a larger dose of healthy antioxidants than any other food, while people who who frequently do crossword puzzles are less susceptible to developing Alzheimer’s disease. Isn’t science wonderful? A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that other activities to keep your mind sharp are reading, writing for pleasure, playing musical instruments and dancing. Interestingly, dancing was the only physical activity in the study that had any mental effect. Bicycling, swimming, walking or taking an exercise class helped people stay physically fit, but didn’t affect the risk of developing dementia. Another study found that people who do develop Alzheimer’s disease often retain their abilities in social dance, a fact which strikes me as both utterly tragic and oddly comforting.

Resolution: I will grow old gracefully.

For young people, grace is merely decorative, but for very old people avoiding falls can be a matter of life and death. Research shows that people who dance have better balance and a steadier gait, and since I intend to become the sort of old lady who puts whiskey in my tea that makes it imperative to practice staying upright. Sociologists say that dancing is also a way to keep the door to one’s own youth ajar. The clothing styles, musical knowledge and manners that go along with a dance scene create cultural capital (i.e., hipness) that eventually settles into a kind of anti-style, helping to cement a generational identity and engender a smug feeling of superiority to young whippersnappers.

Resolution: But not too gracefully.

When women enter middle age they complain that people seem to treat them differently—as if they are invisible or incompetent, but dancing is a way to cultivate exactly the kind of shamelessness the Red Hat Society aspires to by donning purple dresses and garish hats for public outings. Mary Jo Salter captures the spirit of unembarrassed middle age perfectly in her poem “A Morris Dance” which describes a parade of maypole dancers who turn out to be elderly:

Short-winded troubadours and pages
milkmaids with osteoporosis—
what really makes me so morose is
how they can’t admit their ages.

By the end of the poem the middle-aged observer hasn’t worked up the nerve to actually dance, but she is secretly longing to at least be allowed to play the drums.

Resolution: Who cares what other people think? I will dance whenever I feel like it.

Amy Brunvand is a dance enthusiast and a librarian at the University of Utah.