Am I late to the - I wish you all a Happy New Year! 2020 party?
Well, if so, it's because I've already decided to slow this year way the f down...
I woke up on New Year's Day morning, and the first thing I heard (from inside my mind) was a loud voice saying, "time to get up and YOU BETTER HIT THE GROUND RUNNING!".
No kidding. Hmmm, okay, wow. Uh, no.
How 'bout time for some self-reflection, metacognition, and meditation.
And so, instead of getting up and immediately "running around." I did exactly the opposite I got up and then immediately sat back down - on my meditation cushion.
I asked myself - where did that voice, and those thoughts come from?
The answer I got was that voice came from deep, persistent, pernicious indoctrination. It came from growing up in a Nation and culture that has taught me almost every step of the way that my value is in how much I can produce, how fast I can work, or run or think, and that I better not ever, ever slow down or let down - if I want to eat.
(Oh, and you better "look good" while doing it too)
Some of you reading this might wonder why the hyperbole and histrionics? Maybe you're questioning - does she not have enough food to eat?
I am privileged to say yes, I do, but it's been incredibly challenging and often very stressful to keep healthy food on the table. No amount of yoga has been able to touch the intensity of trying to live and create a viable livelihood in this current economy.
Also, I've trained my mind to think metaphorically, communally, globally. I may have enough to eat right now, but many, many people do not, and I often wonder - Why not?
Did they not get their bootstraps pulled up high enough?
The fact is we're in the throes of a culture based on the values of GDP progress, consumption, speed, and competition. But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.
I mention all this because I've dedicated a portion of my life towards asking and stimulating these questions -
Now that we know, what we know now, how shall we live on Earth at this time? Who creates culture? What about nature?
What great potentiality and immense possibilities lie at the fertile edge and intersection of Nature + Culture?
Will we remember and reawaken in time to witness the grand Hieros gamos of nature + culture intertwined with long-lost lovers?
I return to these questions again and again as part of my guiding mythos and philosophical inquiry into life - nature - culture - community - humanity - the cosmos - what is it we are all doing here...?
It all sounds pretty obvious. On many fronts, it is.
Now that we know, what we know now, how shall we live on Earth in these times? Obvious, but hella not easy.
I know I'm not alone in pondering this quandary.
The questioning serves to help shake myself and anyone else that cares to play, out of complacency, compulsive consumerism, overworking, and automation.
May these questions stimulate a reminder that our credo and mythos affect how we pace our day and plan our lives and that our inquiries and subsequent actions can help us co-create and re-design mythic living and inclusive culture.
The indigenous leaders around the world have already given us the answers, and now we listen...
You certainly don't need my permission or anyone else's, but I want to offer you this reminder and support you however I can; - to pace yourself and your life to your intrinsic rhythm and heart's calling this year and beyond.
May you find the time, know the privilege and feel the freedom if you so choose to; question dream sing dance drum get shit done serve create co-create cook nourishing slow food nurture love breath luxuriously meditate deeply sit by the fire witness the sunset gaze the stars make un-interrupted love and converse with beloveds for hours and hours on end
Here's to rhythmic, mythic, holistic living in honor of nature/culture and to the healing and thriving of the whole.