“Truth.  It’s more important than ever.”

–New York Times ad

“the nobility of a life supremely lived,
of a love unmixed with desire,
of a power unused except for others,
of a peace untroubled by ambition,
of a knowledge undimmed by illusion.” ^[1]

Meher Baba, “The Avatar,” Discourses, Vol. 3 (San Francisco: Sufism Reoriented, 1967), 11–16 ↩

A film by François Ozon

Au coeur de la nuit
Des rivieres de plumes
Des marchands de sable

Qui marchent dans la brume
On leve les voiles
Sous un lit d’etoiles
Et j’entends ta voix
Qui me chante Rejoins-moi

Au coeur du deluge
Trouver ton refuge
Au bord de l’ecume
Fuir l’amertume
Tu m’as dit tout bas:
On t’attend deja
De l’autre cote
Emmene-moi danser

Au coeur de la nuit
Des rivieres de plumes
Des marchands de sable
Qui marchent dans la brume
On leve les voiles
Sous un lit d’etoiles
Entends-tu ma voix
Qui te chante Reviens-moi

Au coeur de la nuit
Des rivieres de plumes
Des marchands de sable
Qui marchent dans la brume
Tu m’as dit tout bas:
On t’attend deja
De l’autre cote
Emmene-moi danser

Garder les yeux
Encore un peu
Fermer pour te voir
Sourire dans le noir
Une mousse d’etoiles
On leve les voiles
Entends-tu ma voix
Qui te chante Reviens-moi

In the middle of the night
Rivers of feathers
Sand dealers

Who walk in the mist
We lift the sails
Under a bed of stars
And I hear your voice
Who’s Gonna Sing Me

In the heart of the deluge
Find your refuge
At the edge of the foam
Fleeing bitterness
You said to me in a low voice:
We are waiting for you
On the other side
Take me to dance

In the middle of the night
Rivers of feathers
Sand dealers
Who walk in the mist
We lift the sails
Under a bed of stars
Do you hear my voice
Who’s Gonna Rock You Back

In the middle of the night
Rivers of feathers
Sand dealers
Who walk in the mist
You said to me in a low voice:
We are waiting for you
On the other side
Take me to dance

Keeping your eyes
A little more
Close to see you
Smiling in the dark
A moss of stars
We lift the sails
Do you hear my voice
Who’s Gonna Rock You Back

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Captivating ukulele virtuoso Taimane Gardner shares two performances: one, a frenetic, dazzling medley of recognizable classical tunes, and the second, a haunting and powerful composition of her own entitled “Neptune Storm”.

Dazzling and innovative ukulele virtuoso and songwriter

Taimane Gardner picked up her first ukulele at the age of five—and it was love at first strum.

Demonstrating her impressive musical chops as a young street performer in Waikiki, Taimane (which means “diamond” in the Samoan language) was a diamond in the rough until Don Ho discovered her at the age of 13. The budding songstress soon became a featured performer with the legendary Hawaiian crooner, playing alongside him at venues in Las Vegas and Palm Springs. From there her popularity grew, and Taimane has since performed in many parts of the world, dazzling audiences far and wide with her cutting-edge style. Her performances have been described as elegant and energetic, while her stage presence is simultaneously overwhelming and captivating.

In addition to playing her own distinctive versions of well-known pieces, Taimane also writes her own songs and adds fresh material to her sets.

Known for her unique musical vision and innovative ukulele style, Taimane shows the versatility of an instrument that is often viewed as limited or simplistic. She has the ability to blend musical genres—from classical to classic rock to flamenco—without missing a beat.

(Contributed by Robert McEwen, H.W., M.)

Transcendent experiences that were once attributed to gods, angels, muses, or even possession, are now being demystified by neuroscience. Jamie Wheal, Director of Programs at the Flow Genome Project, explains that each culture has unique rituals and narratives when it comes to non-ordinary experiences of consciousness or ‘altered states’, whether that’s mediation, flow state, psychedelic experiences, or others. A farmer in India, a peasant in Mexico, and a coder in Silicon Valley will all have vastly different ways of approaching altered states, and will give vastly different descriptions once they come out the other side – perhaps they saw a vision of Ganesh the elephant God, received a message from the Virgin of Guadalupe, or produced a brilliant line of code while in a Matrix-like binary blur. However, those experiences are more alike than we think. Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler devised a functional framework so they could compare non-ordinary experiences across cultures. Here, Wheal explains that they identified four common elements of altered states of consciousness, which they coined as STER: selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness and richness. Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler’s book is Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work.

Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler’s book is Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work.

Link to video:  http://bigthink.com/videos/jamie-wheal-on-ecstatic-brains?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=e8129d7c3a-Weekly_Newsletter_030917&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6d098f42ff-e8129d7c3a-41172901

The world said humans were not meant to fly. Hundreds of years of human invention had been unable to make it work. But in a small bicycle-repair shop, two brothers with no government funding and only a basic education had a vision, and a will to invent. And in 1903, thanks to the determination of these two unsuspecting inventors, humans flew. The distance of the first human flight was 120 ft. Years later, one of the inventors of that breakthrough would marvel that the wingspan of modern airplanes was longer than the entire distance his first plane had flown. The potential of technology is limited only by our imagination, and our will. Abundance of water, food, clean air … peace: the end of scarcity in the supply of our basic needs is possible. Perhaps not by 2020, but it starts with the dream, the determination to turn dreams into reality, and the understanding of this truth, so well embodied in the invention and rapid evolution of human flight: that all things are possible. Mark Herrema, CEO of Newlight Technologies

Here is an article from the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, that I read, and the thought came to how are we preparing the Mentors who come after us?  So why an article on farming?  The reason is it suggest passing on our best practices to the next Generation. Yes,  the article is about farming but the questions and some of the answers are ones that we can adapt and begin to emulate in our thinking for the prep of our next generation of Mentors.

Yours in Service

Love, Calvin

‘Letters to a Young Farmer’ offers words of encouragement to new generation of food growers

The United States is on the cusp of the largest retirement of farmers in history. A new book is full of inspiration to all who produce or care about the food system.

Danielle Nierenberg Food Tank

MARCH 7, 2017 —Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture just released Letters to a Young Farmer,  a book which compiles insight from some of the most influential farmers, writers, and leaders in the food system in an anthology of essays and letters.

The United States is on the cusp of the largest retirement of farmers in U.S. history, with more farmers over the age of 75 than between the ages of 35 and 44. Letters to a Young Farmer aims to help beginning farmers succeed through advice and encouragement, while inspiring all who work in or care about the food system. Among the 36 contributors to the book are thought leaders Barbara Kingsolver, Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Dan Barber, Temple Grandin, Wendell Berry, Rick Bayless, and Marion Nestle. I was honored to contribute to the book as well!

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is a nonprofit sustainable agriculture organization with a mission to create a healthy and sustainable food system that benefits all. The organization trains farmers, educates food citizens, develops agroecological farming practices, and convenes changemakers through programs such as a Summer Institute for High School Students and a two-day Poultry School conference.

Food Tank spoke with Jill Isenbarger, CEO of Stone Barns Center, about Letters to a Young Farmer, the need to encourage young farmers, and hope in the future of the food system.

Isenbarger says “we created this book to give voice to farmers and illuminate the choices that can lead to a stronger future, for them and for all of us who eat. It reminds us that farming has always been a political act. These young farmers, who choose to farm rather than go into law or medicine or finance—they are taking a stand; they are expressing their commitment to the land, to their communities, to the food movement.”

Food Tank (FT): Why do young farmers need encouragement?

Jill Isenbarger (JI): Farmers are becoming an endangered species. The number of farms and farmers continues to shrink, and farmers are aging off of the land at an alarming rate. The average age of a farmer in the United States is 58.3 and climbing, and only six percent of farmers are under the age of 35.

Young farmers need encouragement because our society doesn’t value them the way they should be valued. “You’re just a farmer” is the common refrain. Barbara Kingsolver, Wendell Berry, and Bill McKibben all write about this in the book. We’ve also lost many agricultural traditions based on community, a common history of stewardship and hard work.

To support the kind of dignified labor and environmentally sound land stewardship that will help us create a more sustainable farming system, we simply may have to pay more for our food. According to the USDA, in 1960, Americans spent 17.5 percent of their income on food. By 2013, that had dropped to 9.9 percent. As a country, we’ve grown accustomed to cheap food—food that is not only inexpensive, but food that doesn’t taste good and isn’t good for us. Paying more for quality, nutritious food (and helping those of lesser means gain access to it), grown by farmers able to earn a living wage and provide health care to their workers—that would go a long way to helping raise us all up.

FT: What unique obstacles do young farmers face?

JI: Bill McKibben writes about surviving the “carbon binge,” and the challenges that a changing climate will bring to farmers who grow our food. Marry this with the challenges of finding affordable land to farm, paying off student loans, the dearth of start-up capital and a lack of regional agricultural infrastructure in some parts of the country, and you have a daunting set of obstacles that most young farmers face.

It is hopeful to note that H.R. 1060, the Young Farmer Success Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), and Rep. John Faso (R-NY), was reintroduced in the House of Representatives in February. This bill will help provide college loan relief to young farmers. So, some in Congress are paying attention, especially among them Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), herself a contributor to our book.

FT: What are some of the most important areas for young farmers to focus their skills?

JI: One is soil health, the very foundation of sustainable agriculture. There’s a saying, “civilizations rise or fall on the health of soil.” Farming with nature is the key; farming that builds up soil, uses water wisely and with an eye on the future—we absolutely need more of this. Wes Jackson talks about this in his letter: “Ecological agriculture has the disciplines of ecology and evolutionary biology to call on, based on millions of years of emerging efficiencies such as those seen in nature’s prairie ecosystems.”

At Stone Barns Center, we focus on two aspects of building soil health: one is through farming, and we teach and experiment with agroecology. The other is the concept of creating what we call a farm-driven cuisine in America—catalyzing a culture of eating based on what ecosystems, including farms and their soils, need to be healthy and regenerative.

Young farmers need to focus not just on the practical skills to grow, harvest, and sell their products; they also need to focus on building strong connections to their communities, sharing their deep love of land and place, and helping people understand the value and importance of farming done well.

FT: Which letters inspired you the most?

JI: So many of the letters and essays are extraordinary and inspiring and deeply moving. They flow with humor and insight, gratitude and humility. I love the wry wit of Barbara Damrosch, Mary Berry, Bill McKibben, and Gary Nabhan, and the lyrical insights of Raj Patel and Barbara Kingsolver. I was drawn to Amy Halloran’s line, “Eating is hunting in nature for food.” It pulls you back to the bond that we need to have with the earth. It is primal. I appreciate Wendy Millet’s articulation of her “hundred years” value, the idea of taking a long-term perspective on economically and ecologically sustainable management.

FT: What were the most common themes you found in the letters?

JI: There are many overlapping ideas that ripple out in their own ways, but these are a few themes that arose in a number of the essays and letters:

·         Bridging the gulf between nature and agriculture, between land conservation and food production—and finding the path toward to a more sustainable future.

·         Renewing respect for farmers in a society that has taught children farming is a lowly occupation, and in a country that was founded by and largely composed of farmers until the mid-20th century.

·         The changing nature of today’s young farmers, from generational—ones that inherited their roles and land—to the self-selected farmers who want to be agents of change.

FT: What have farmers’ reactions been to the book?

This story originally appeared on Food Tank.

As a student of mind and consciousness, I have learned that 90% of all decisions are made from our unconscious mind based on our early years’ experiences. Morality and ethics are perceived through the lens of our belief structure; we make decisions based on what we were taught is a good person, idea, and thought. Now, perhaps more than ever, it is crucial that we recognize what we must do to protect our democracy, ethical actions, and moral core of existence.

The day-to-day convictions of most of our fellow citizens can be divided into a moral division that we often see as the division between politically progressive (liberal) or conservative. This division is defined or depends on what you see as a good person and the right thing to do. Exploring deeper the concept of “good,” we can see this division as based on our understanding of family — what a good parent is to us. According to George Lakoff, the split of conservative and liberal can be compared to two kinds of parenting: strictness or nurturance. These qualities apply to morals and ethics in all facets of our life.

This division pertains to our thinking and understanding of family, morality, religion, and to our politics. As a nation, we do not have discourse on this aspect of the political division simply because these concepts reside in our cognitive unconscious and we are often not aware of the part they play in our day-to-day decisions and actions.

An example of this is how we see our parents. Parents are the first concept of God to a small child. A child cannot understand the abstraction of God, so in defining God they are told God gives all things. Everything a child receives comes from a parenting figure, thus if parenting figures are punitive and strict the child will grow into adulthood thinking that the source of life is punitive. Based on this understanding, political choices are made as well as religious ones. Political choices are made because a person chooses elected officials based on personal beliefs, rather than any abstract future presented by candidates during campaigns.

If we are to remain a democracy as a country we must come to grips with the profound divisions we see in the function of government, social programs (entitlements), accessibility of education, environmental issues, gun control, the death penalty, abortion, energy, civil rights, taxation and not least religious freedoms. The essential division in our beliefs about these issues can be reduced to strictness and nurturance.

The conservative leadership has spent quite a bit of time and money defining the meaning of family, morality, education, and other topics of political division. Conservative platforms, bills, executive orders, and press releases are all delivered in language that adheres to the concept of strictness; they are presented as ideas that conservatives can perceive as common sense, and lack any room for critical thinking. The conservative platforms strictly adhere to the definitions put forth, leaving little wiggle room in the enacting of rules set down by government officials. This kind of thinking is what I call black and white, either /or thinking, a school of thought based on excluding any outlying thoughts or circumstances. For instance, to allow Trans people to choose the restroom that fits their identity, one must recognize that people fall outside of the strict definition of male or female. To the black and white mind, the concept of a Trans person is not conceivable, so it must force anything that deals with possible sexuality variations (from the strict sense of gender definition) to move back into the either/or mode of male or female.

We are a blend of many different ideas. We all are a blend of conservative and progressive thinking and beliefs. This is perhaps easier understood when we think of education. I am a progressive thinker and voter, but I still believe that education should air on a conservative side — teaching cursive handwriting skills and math without calculators. At the same time, I believe school-aged Trans children should choose which restrooms they want to use.

No division is ever black and white; there are nuances that lend shades of gray to our thinking. To understand our adversaries we must begin to understand the subtleties of language and consciousness. As we speak of the unconscious mind we are speaking of those beliefs we are not aware of playing a part in our life.

In many ways, our country is in the middle of a parenting battle. Conservative father (strictness) symbols outline how we are to live and behave while the liberal mother (nurturance) symbols struggle to feed and nurture our inclusion of the diversity of humanity. For those of us who are primarily liberals, the new administration feels abusive. The father sees its role as protection (for example, the travel ban and wall), but the attitude of exclusion feels abusive and non-nurturing to the liberal mind. Children need guidelines in which they can safely explore and learn (thus nurturing the soul of the child), but safe guidelines don’t need to be exclusive or abusive. To many of us, the soul of our country and democracy is immigration, which brings new ideas and diversity to our nation.

If we are to sustain our freedom and democracy as a progressive community we must quickly learn to define our concepts of morality and ethics in a way that presents them as common sense and obtainable. We need parameters that keep us safe and yet allow us to grow and create in all our diversity. In many ways, it is a new way of thinking and educating our nemeses so they see the benefit and common sense of nurturing with parameters. Through community brainstorming, we must develop a vocabulary that expresses our ideals in a way that can be understood by the conservative mind. Discipline and parameters are a necessary part of creative growth, but they must be malleable in such a manner that we are not thrown into either /or thinking.

It is my belief that we can make truth an effective force for all humanity.

[For a talk on Ontological Activism, be sure to attend the Sunday Meeting this Sunday at 11am online at GoToMeeting.com.  See “Upcoming Events” on this website.]