12-29-08
core / life master / 2008 / december / 12/29
beginning to thing about ALM, motivation, premise, objectives, mission
jeezus christ, the end of the year again. here’s a nice thought I had up on the roof, but first by way of introduction, something i wrote to jeff last night
– as far as continental travel goes, there’s walking and biking. sure biking takes some initial petro and mining but it’s available all over the world, it’s not just a first world thing. i’ve been thinking about a demonstration project incorporating both sustainable travel and fostering a personal connection to the wilds – did you ever see my little movie “almonds”? I am thinking about a series of those, like walden’s pond but taking it on the road. if we want folks to fight for the planet, they’ve got to feel personal connection to it and the best way to create that is for them to come into genuine contact with it. when i go to north manitou, i take a ferry boat. i could also illegally swim there if I were very fit or sail there and illegally beach my boat. why isn’t there an option for beaching sailboats, or anchoring them near to shore? screw the sailboats – they are resource intensive – maybe i shouldn’t go anywhere i can’t swim to or walk. but if those were my only options, I’d still get to north manitou somehow because it FEEDS MY VISION as an artist. it inspires me to be an evolved human. i’ve made several movies there with the idea of sharing it so that somehow, the insight and new action can be spread around. by the way, with the exception of the petro drinking ferry boat and petro based camping gear, north manitou has a sustainable aesthetic imposed on it. season after season, humans support the re-establishment of the native eco-system. that’s what I am talking about. things that start to make sense.
– and this morning i was up on the roof, with the mother doctor shining upon me entering my body and i realized wilderness is a state of mind, that we have to find it everywhere we go. getting out in the morning sun to do tai chi on the roof is a political act, every moment spent outside and appreciating the ‘environment’ is needed. we don’t need to travel to north manitou if we can absorb it right here and now, it’s everywhere and waiting for us. I have to maintain an urban presence to know this. i have to have my feet in both worlds in order to understand how to teach it.
update
– welcome to the latest update. it’s a meander and all i have is a picture of collard greens today, so if you’ve got better things to do then by all means, you are excused.
– the short edit is taking longer, i don’t have the breakthrough yet. i’ve given a peek to my editor friend faisal and his opinion is not much different than my nephs, it doesn’t work.
– Couple of weeks back I heard on the radio that global warming is 15 years ahead of schedule. This came right after learning that we have about a decade before many species are extinct. My little movie seems pretty pointless in the face of that.
– Isn’t there a more decisive contribution to make? Why bother putting more time and effort into this project when the frigging planet is in such dire shape, when human awareness so desperately needs a hand up?
– I just got back from Puerto Rico where my friends were getting married. I have to say that diving deep in the ocean was muy theraputic. On the return trip I sat in Laguardia aiport waiting for my luggage and talking to Jeff on the cell. He was giving me a hard time for taking a pleasure trip and giving myself a free pass to fuck up the atmosphere with jet exhaust. I told him that it was a wedding and the folks are family, not much I can do about where they decide to get married. Someone had to fly somewhere if the scattered tribe was going to gather for the happy day. He’s right though, it’s very selfish to fly. Instead of playing in the water, I could have used my time in Puerto Rico to document wierd environmental artifacts, like i did on my trips to Utah and Wyoming.
– All a movie can do is change minds. A changed mind may mean different actions. Aside from a changed mind the only other way to realize new action is with force.
If I had an invincible flying sorcer I could force social justice and environmental sustainability on the whole planet, but this approach is inelegant. We didn’t get a consumer society by accident, the minds of us masses were adapted to embrace the concept. Consumer capitalism is neither optimal nor inevitable. We can change our minds again, this time from the inside out rather than the other way around. Instead of having a change imposed on us by flying saucer tyrants and risk getting a life threatening raw deal like the current situation, we can make a less convenient but way more exciting and healthy choice. Right now. This unique category of mind change is called raising consciousness.
– When it comes right down to it, that’s what my little movie intends. How can DOG shove it’s skinny shoulder to the wheel? It’s about the healing power of the earth, about humor and inevitable love. It’s a post future fairy tale. It’s my first project for heavens sake, must find the shine.