Hmmm....Eat, Pray & Love???

I was not going to go, but....

Of course I did.

The most important part of this movie was the ability of the director, producers and Troupe to showcase just how disconnected many American women today are.  I applaud them for their efforts.  Finally someone even tried.  And, in a way, it was a "how to reconnect" manual - with the book going into further detail.  However, they failed to accurately discuss what is happening in the heads of American men?  Perhaps the scope might have been too big, or perhaps a few deeper 15 minutes scenes might have clarified this issue. However, it is critical for the survival of the American Society that this begins being discussed.

Can I give a better example of a 15 minute scene that would have helped?

Yes, I will.  If in one of the flash backs David revealed how he developed feelings for Liz.  If he clearly identified that he had worked with her for an entire decade - and then magically developed "feelings."  If he clearly identified the moment he saw her standing on the side of the road and how beautiful she.  If he spent a few minutes trying to convince her to start dating him.  If she clearly identified what happen in her last marriage and this made him protective of her and want to be with her more.  If she, then explained that she needed time to heal.  Then, David, in a last ditch effort, could asked if they could just get together and have sex from now on.  (However, I do give the director kudos for trying to do this - it just wasn't strong enough and had no support). 

????

Someone tell me they understand the problem here:  American Men are driven by Objectification.  They want a pretty picture.  They persist in obtaining that picture.  They do not really listen to what a woman is saying when they are in that acquisition mode - it is a point that is important.  Something the Stephen character exemplified if anyone really looked at all the pictures in the house.  Then, if it looks like they won't get the picture, they try to just have sex.

This is clearly created in the relationship between Liz and David, but not accurately explored.

Why is this a persistent problem in America?  And mainly in America???  Why is it more prevalent in cities and less prevalent - yet still there in rural communities?  Truly the problem is here people. 

And, as I discussed it with a transgender friend this morning, I started off by saying it was an attempt at recreation of the European culture here in the 80's.  I used the "Sweet Heart of the Mountains" Contest as an example.  In the beginning of the last Century, the girls were all farm girls, ranchers and mountain girls.  Then, by the 50's you see the pin-up look.  Then by the 80's there was MTV and all kinds of European influences.  The easiest difference to spot in the pictures was something so simple it was mind-blowing: a Tiara.  Then came make-up and finally the hair - mostly Euro hair-styles.  From that point on, American men and women began to disconnect.  My friend suggested that by making it all about a picture and sex, that it gave people licence to not really try to connect at the Heart level.  I agree whole-heartily. 

Europeans have what they have because the Family structure is 5+ generations deep.  Americans really haven't had that to the same extent.  400 years ago was a struggle.  Often men came first, women came last.  Or women would adventure out on their own, and find men without family structures at all later.  Strangely, the states that had strong family ties in the beginning 400 years ago are still the ones with the strongest marriages and connections.

And strangely the invention of films and TV, helped Americans create stronger family ties by showing modern family struggles: "Leave it to Beaver" "Andy Griffith" "Happy Days" "Brady Bunch" and "The Waltons."  Where they accurate depictions?  No, not really, but they were American families, their problems exacerbated and solved American style - from the hip...rather than European families.  My mother's family was British so I saw many of their TV programs and the families, problems and solutions were remarkably different.

However, by the 80's everything on TV became too extreme (soap operas), or just a showcase of disconnection and negativity.  By the 90's, it wasn't much better.  Very few programs existed to be positive, however they were some "7th Heaven." By the 2000's, was the solidification of Reality TV and anything positive fell right off the chart!

However, the real concern here isn't that women are disconnected, it's that men don't know how to connect and can't seem to realize that the woman they are with is disconnect. 

When I was disconnect, I used to sing from my Heart and Soul.  But that does not mean that I knew what I was singing, much less why.  In fact, I could not reproduce many of the tunes if I tried.  And I certainly would not have recognized them if a friend played them back using instruments. 

And this is the journey that Liz undertakes.  She doesn't know what's wrong, much less articulate it.  She can only start with the basics: food, balance - learning how the rest of the world does it and ancient wisdom.  Wisdom that didn't continue through the first immigrants because their children tried to shed the "Old Country" traditions.

Liz had to learn to reconnect to herself first, her life and then the world outside of herself.  Then at last, she could reconnect to another person on an intimate level.  That anyone could do it in a year is AMAZING.  But I'm going to have Faith that it is possible.  I only just completed the journey myself after 3 years.

Can women make that journey within the confines of their relationships?  With the present state of American men - I sincerely doubt it.  Can they make it within the confines of their family structures?? Maybe.  It depends if the family structure is populated by people who formed their relationships prior to the 80's.  Otherwise, a woman is better off going to her Grandparents to figure it out.

The goal of a relationship isn't to have sex.  I'm sorry, it just isn't.  The goal is to connect at the Heart level and share each other's souls and journeys.   Children are an actualization of that Love mirroring at a deep level.  If you do it right, then love making happens at a spiritual level - something far beyond what American's have today.  If you do it right, then love-making can happen at the family level too.

This is the key to America's Future...

Have You Ever Been the Wrong Person?

Have you ever been so Fucked up in the Head from Domestic Violence that you knew deep down in the core of your fiber that you were the wrong person?  That you were not living on ANY of the Eight Fold Paths - any Christian Virtues - that you were consumed by your Nafs?

What do you do when you are the wrong person?  When deep down inside you know you've hidden yourself - even from yourself? 

That you took everything that was precious and beautiful and hid it so he couldn't find it and destroy it.  You did it to save your very soul because you knew fundamentally that was his goal - if he couldn't own you like an object, he would destroy you...

That's what Domestic Violence is.  Its not just the many acts of throwing an animals down the stairs, breaking collar bones and jaws and scaring everyone around them.  Its not just the act of threatening to shoot Buddy in the head.  Its not just threatening to leave you homeless and penniless.  Its not just threatening to destroy your boss's life an his family.  Its not just the act of threatening to beat up the one person in Portola that tells you about the girlfriend on the side.  Domestic Violence is a pervasive hunt to obtain or destroy another human life and blame them for it.

And when that was my life, I did EVERYTHING to protect myself - even hid myself.  And it takes YEARS of guidance from a gentle Sufi named Sidi Al Jamal to help me break through to my REAL self.  I had to break into my Very

Own Soul to become who I have always been...

Someone Beautiful.  Someone Precious.  Someone Honest.  Someone True.

And even now, others want to be with me, not for me, but for the pretty picture.  They want to own a picture, not share the great mystery that is Life with a person and I have to hold them all away because the truth is Keanu

Drake and You were the only right people I ever wanted in my life...

Back then, I was just the wrong person at the wrong time...

I'm sorry I ever said otherwise, and I would have done it again because fundamentally, I knew that I would eventually be the right person at the right time...

Sidi and Iman Ali gave me that hope...that I would find myself and that I was Beloved...because back then, I was so messed up, I didn't even know that...and I am forever grateful to both of them because no one else even knew what was wrong, much less how to help....

How to Deal? Dealing with Reality...

This is the most difficult thing about life.  People choose not to deal with reality all the time.  They watch TV, do drugs, drink, eat chocolate, play games in cyberspace and listen to elevator music. 

I've had people tell me to my face that I am not living in the Real world and yet every day I am up (regardless of how I feel) walking my dogs, interacting with others, looking at the world with real eyes and real appreciation.  I can take time in the middle of what I am doing and watch a snail roll over a red bell pepper strip, lift it up and eat it with a mouth (8 minutes).  I honestly had no idea they even had a mouth.  I thought they got nutrients through their pores and slime.  the mouth was the size of a capital "D" and it was fascinating to watch the entire process as I ran back and forth waiting tables. 

Like the Lakota in the top, black and white picture, I live in the Real world.  A world that many people have stopped paying attention to.  The world that Naturalist try to remind us about and shout warnings.  Most people know they have been seen by me because I take a Heart moment to look inside their Souls and recognize them - where ever they may be.  I never shake a hand without taking this moment to deeply know them through the eyes.  Most people are shocked - sometimes they come back for more, often they are too frightened and simply walk away - wondering why they are so uncomfortable.  For all those that accept my forthrightness and engage, they are amazed to discover the many layers of who I am and that I am genuinely interested in them. 

The Real world is about connections.  And while most people see me alone, or walking the dogs, I am deeply connected in the experience of "NOW."  This too is something many can't fathom, but ask me how I do it.  It takes remembering to cultivate that meditative moment, whether walking or sitting, it takes REMEMBERING.  That deep intention to breathe in and out and BE.

So when people ask me if you were Really in my life, I say wholeheartedly, "YES."  You only gave back 3 things and I remember each one and why.  I own 2 of the three.  You were right to give back 1 of the three.  And I burnt the most offensive and least honest on my part; 0.  And in your own way you were trying to give me the message you needed me to hear.  And then, you solidified it with the picture I will never forget.

Someone asked me last night where I got my Pikorua - if I had gone to New Zealand.  I said, "No, a Friend gave it to me."  Because the fundamental foundation of every relationship is Friendship.  The willingness to communicate and be connected.  I am "difficult" to relate with, because I believe in Naked relationships and call people into NOW, and as one friend said, I "never shut up."  (Smile) Of course you know that... (Arched Eyebrow).

However, I realize most people hate to be Naked.  I myself can relate to that physically, but not in my relationships.  When one friend went through a crisis, he told me "there's the door if you want to leave - go ahead."  I looked right back at him and said, "I know that makes you feel really brave - but I'm not going anywhere."

I hope in time you will understand that as well. 

I am not going Anywhere.

As the Pikorua entwines us through out Time and Karma, I am here for you.

I know I hurt you, I recognize that.  I know I freaked you out, I recognize that too.  Yet at the core of Everything there is Friendship and that is something you can Trust.  Friendship is a foundation that says, "I have your back" "lean on me" and "we can do this"

I will get beyond my fears, I will get beyond myself, the green veil will be removed - this too can be trusted.

Life is in the living, Love is in the giving...

The Hurt Locker

Yep, one of THE most messed up movies I've ever seen. 

Screwed in the head, completely dislocated and fine (freaked out, insecure, neurotic and emotion).  This is WHY Career Military disagree with having enlisted men.  This is WHY politicians like having enlisted men - disposable population control - it's positively disgusting.  Career Military have spent centuries becoming what they are and know why they do what they do as well as how to do it while staying sane, in touch with their families and their country.  Being in the military is NOT about playing Xbox and yet that is what it has become in the age of political abuse of the enlisted man.  

As for the Sauds that promote, educate and train the use of IEDs and use women and children as IEDs - if it is His will and only if it is His will, may the Lord of Abraham, Ishmael and Issac follow through on His curses and give them their full course because they have done EXACTLY what He forbade in the Qur'an; after the death of the women and children in the streets.  Mohammad, himself relayed the strict instruction of the Lord through Archangel Gabriel that women and children were to be left out of war and all its ugliness - so I agree with the Moorish Sufi's that say, [If you are a Terrorist, you are no longer a Muslim - you are forsaken.]  Fortunately, it is the Lord himself that curses the Sauds - both in the Bible and in the Qur'an.  So, everyone else wake up, stop listening to the Sauds, and avoid them at all cost!!!  Literally avoid their mosques, their schools, their land, their businesses and completely avoid them.  They cut their citizen's heads off in the streets for a reason - they are lost.

AS for the movie itself...

After several hours of holding my breathe, I'm glad it's done.  It was exceptional, far better acted than Platoon.  Done in a superb realistic style.  Excellent pacing, plucking the same military movie notes as in the past, but doing a far superior job of it.  "Brothers" was worthless by comparison.  I'm glad to see it won 6 Academy Awards. 

However, I wish we didn't have to make movies like that, much less have war glorified and justified at the end.  What a mess.  As a Pacifist, I just have to say the ending was the absolute worst.  And the only realistic thing was the 365 countdown.  The whole, look at his shinny new boots and how proud he is to go back and do his duty was just morally messed up.  The fact that the character was the good guy willing to help both sides doesn't justify making War look pretty.  War has not solved one single problem on this planet.  Not one.  As a form of resolution it has completely failed in its viability. 

And of course for the main character, it's even sadder that anyone could reach that age and only love one thing - the scriptwriter lost his focus at this point.  I thank the Lord that I can stop and smell the roses and value all they are and all the beauty of their creation whether I am in a war zone, refugee camp or a peace zone.  Most people can't say that because they've never been in all three. There is a ton to love about this Life and if you can't figure out what those things are - its seriously time for an ashram or retreat.

I recommend everyone see this movie once.  Recognize the good parts - that it happens and exists.  Recognize it's bad parts - its a propaganda tool and don't get sucked in.  Then spend your kid's lives showing them Lord Buddha's, Jesus', and Gandhi's choice.  Their choices to stop war and the fundamental reasons/need for war are far superior.

Okay - lets take it to the extreme - since no one is listening...

"The Transition Handbook" also written by another amazing Brit, Rob Hopkins declares that mankind has taken approximately 200 Gigabarrels of oil per decade (that is not including all the years between the decade that's just the addition of the ten year marks).  Hmmm....  I'm still trying to figure out what a Giga-barrel is... 
A ton, I imagine.

If you took a 500 pound person and with an unskilled plastic surgeon took the micro-biological version of 200 Gigacellulite cells from pockets all over that person's body, what would you get?  A person who's skin sags in unsightly ways.  A person who can no longer keep warm in some spots or cool in others.  A person who wants to sue the doctor.  (Yes, still trying to have a sense of humor)

So, let's use our little homemaker mind and try to figure this out.  The animators of "Titan A. E." already figured out the Teutonic plates, their rates of movement and what would happen and how, and how big each plate would be if the earth herself cracked.  Gruesome-to-say-the-least for those of us that love the Earth, but at least all the data has been compiled.

If your use a Timeline of crude oil removal, where and how much, then you essentially have a basic, reverse-engineering game plan on how put non-equivalent material back in, as well as where and in what order. 

However, this plan is VERY crude and simply a very simplistic plan.  Then you bring in your Geologist and Marine Geologists.  After all, the earth is very much like a walrus what happens on one side happens on the other side.  For every neap tide there is a high tide.  For every Spring tide there is a counter tide.  The following UK link provides a very easy to understand model ( Tides explained ) .

So now you have a game plan that is simplistic, but far more realistic.  At this point you bring in the plastic surgeon's.  You know the kind.  They suck out people's leg fat, while the person stands up so they don't get the sagging going on without fixing it.  They also fluff up the face and breast by putting that same fat back in.  Using the skill and talent of these people you refine the simplistic plan into a true work of art.  You might even bring in a blubber specialist (whales, walruses, seals, etc...).  All of these specialist refine the game plan so that the crust/ocean floor is slowly and evenly lifted up.

Hmmm..... What will happen? one might ask.  Well, you would get a series of earthquakes.  Hmmmm..... Is this what people want?  Nope.  But if you ask people would you like plan A - a Total crack of the earth and a boiling of the ocean, or plan B - a return to the natural, relatively minor earthquakes of the past?  Then I would imagine most people would say, "Wake the Ring of Fire back up - we'll go back to doing our civil drills and enjoy a natural healthy Earth versus a completely cracked one."

But then comes the really serious question?  Who's going to pay for it?  Yeah, right.  Well you can either get the Kyoto Accord and the Linden Money stupidity again, or you can force the Oil producers to pay for it (Yeah, I'm laughing too), or you can gather a ton of private, international investors to do it.  These are people that can't expect a return on their money for at least 5 generations.  Now, finding those people would be harder than dirt and my estimate is just a number to say, "they personally won't get their money back, but they could provide for their grandchildren."  This is best.  Rockefeller was a shrewed business man.  He understood the value of laying the groundwork for the future while stealing from the citizens of day.  Something most businessmen seem to be good at today.  Oops, now I'm sliding into being snide so let me back up...

Oil companies are sucking oil out of sand.  Personally, I'm glad they are finally scratching in the dirt on top of the crust.  But if I could personally get them to start flooding old cavities with compost from Louisiana, California Avocados, Italian Olives, and Middle Eastern Figs, or anything else fossil fuel scientist think might cook properly, then I would.  But I think they are pretty busy scratching in the dirt.  So let's not disturb them.  They are already highly disturbed freakouts anyway - considering they have governments fighting wars so they can get their hands on something for free.  Hmmm.....

I think individual investors are the way to go...