I hate making public comments but this is one of the best things I have read in a long time. and so needed this. I have been dealing so defeated: climate crisis, Trumpism, the. rise in book of books, the cultural divide at large, the poverty and ignorance in our country, the pandemic, the erosion of reproductive rights (now falling into the sea), Russia. I have been feeling fatalistic and needing someone to give me contagious courage; and that someone today was you. Thank you!
I needed this so much today. Thank you for reminding us all that being truthful and unabashedly authentic is not a character flaw but an inalienable right we should strive for daily...and against any and all odds.
This is dependably excellent, and courageous on your part. Because I bet you weighed whether/how to convey the undeniable moment of valor transference you experienced with the DOD dude (about whom I've always wanted to hear more), knew it was real and important, and went for it--in a way that sounds like a modern William James entry. I had that same swelling feeling you had at the Occupy march, only shortly after 9/11 in a very public space in NYC. Another story, but it's indelible, and as lasting as the deepest, hardest-hitting psychedelic experience I can imagine. Thank you.
I had never heard of a transference of courage consciousness, but have heard several instances of transference of cosmic consciousness (shaktipat). Truly curious. And a beautiful piece of writing.
Masses of people uniting for a worthy cause (and also teen girls speaking truth to power) moves me to tears, too. Thank you for reminding me of how magical Occupy Wall St. was. “The bends” at the fashion party! I’m sure! I will not soon forget your rousing takedown of Greed.
A career special ops / Green Beret / Navy Seal / Ranger has never missed a government payday since he was 18 years old - a mouth on the government teat marching, swimmimg, crawling, sneaking anywhere his government decides some foreigners need to be murdered in cold blood. When Ike was in power these men were killing Mobutu, and Mossadegh, when JFK was in power they were sneaking into Laos and Cuba, Johnson-Vietnam / Cambodia ad nauseum - just because a guy knows a few ways to kill people has zip to do with courage. For a tiny taste of courage talk to an entrepreneur who NEVER knows when payday is. As for the wolf-pencil, who needs a pencil? stare the wolf down with spirit-mojo until it turns away whining. The Pentagon courage deal sounds like the work of a universal pheromone donor / A-male / leader of the pack situation - one whiff into the Jacobson's organ and any mammal / insect/ crustacean wants to follow the vome-trail down the barrel of a cannon whether wafting from the neck hair of a Pentagon dude or the armpit sweat of Hope Hicks. Genuine, real-deal courage is a sugar-addicted person trying to control belly fat who battles until bedtime every single night of the year the urge to eat one more Oreo and doesn't eat it. Courage is doing little constructive stuff 1,000 times that won't pay off for years if ever. Courage is doing a swan dive out of the 90th floor of the burning world Trade Center Tower on 9/11 rather than simply falling, courage is doing narrative painting when all those in-the-know are celebrating Critical Theory. Courage is old Paul Cezanne carrying his canvas chair and paints into the hot sun to paint Mt. Saint Victoire for the umteenth time. Some of these military types do courageous things now and then just like that single mom who goes to her lousy job to keep a roof over the heads of four kids. the cool thing about courage is the myriad forms it takes - 99% of it goes unsung. Anyone getting a monthly check to propagate/represent courage-theater for the masses is just another wage-slave.
I hate making public comments but this is one of the best things I have read in a long time. and so needed this. I have been dealing so defeated: climate crisis, Trumpism, the. rise in book of books, the cultural divide at large, the poverty and ignorance in our country, the pandemic, the erosion of reproductive rights (now falling into the sea), Russia. I have been feeling fatalistic and needing someone to give me contagious courage; and that someone today was you. Thank you!
I needed this so much today. Thank you for reminding us all that being truthful and unabashedly authentic is not a character flaw but an inalienable right we should strive for daily...and against any and all odds.
This is dependably excellent, and courageous on your part. Because I bet you weighed whether/how to convey the undeniable moment of valor transference you experienced with the DOD dude (about whom I've always wanted to hear more), knew it was real and important, and went for it--in a way that sounds like a modern William James entry. I had that same swelling feeling you had at the Occupy march, only shortly after 9/11 in a very public space in NYC. Another story, but it's indelible, and as lasting as the deepest, hardest-hitting psychedelic experience I can imagine. Thank you.
I had never heard of a transference of courage consciousness, but have heard several instances of transference of cosmic consciousness (shaktipat). Truly curious. And a beautiful piece of writing.
Masses of people uniting for a worthy cause (and also teen girls speaking truth to power) moves me to tears, too. Thank you for reminding me of how magical Occupy Wall St. was. “The bends” at the fashion party! I’m sure! I will not soon forget your rousing takedown of Greed.
A career special ops / Green Beret / Navy Seal / Ranger has never missed a government payday since he was 18 years old - a mouth on the government teat marching, swimmimg, crawling, sneaking anywhere his government decides some foreigners need to be murdered in cold blood. When Ike was in power these men were killing Mobutu, and Mossadegh, when JFK was in power they were sneaking into Laos and Cuba, Johnson-Vietnam / Cambodia ad nauseum - just because a guy knows a few ways to kill people has zip to do with courage. For a tiny taste of courage talk to an entrepreneur who NEVER knows when payday is. As for the wolf-pencil, who needs a pencil? stare the wolf down with spirit-mojo until it turns away whining. The Pentagon courage deal sounds like the work of a universal pheromone donor / A-male / leader of the pack situation - one whiff into the Jacobson's organ and any mammal / insect/ crustacean wants to follow the vome-trail down the barrel of a cannon whether wafting from the neck hair of a Pentagon dude or the armpit sweat of Hope Hicks. Genuine, real-deal courage is a sugar-addicted person trying to control belly fat who battles until bedtime every single night of the year the urge to eat one more Oreo and doesn't eat it. Courage is doing little constructive stuff 1,000 times that won't pay off for years if ever. Courage is doing a swan dive out of the 90th floor of the burning world Trade Center Tower on 9/11 rather than simply falling, courage is doing narrative painting when all those in-the-know are celebrating Critical Theory. Courage is old Paul Cezanne carrying his canvas chair and paints into the hot sun to paint Mt. Saint Victoire for the umteenth time. Some of these military types do courageous things now and then just like that single mom who goes to her lousy job to keep a roof over the heads of four kids. the cool thing about courage is the myriad forms it takes - 99% of it goes unsung. Anyone getting a monthly check to propagate/represent courage-theater for the masses is just another wage-slave.
That is an unspeakably beautiful piece of writing. I will read this over and over in awe.