"A fly in God is greater than an angel in itself". 
- Immanuel Kant
"Unfortunately, the world needs integral action. Unfortunately, it will not get it, whether we go to war or not. Still, better to light one candle than curse the darkness. So we work on ourselves and attempt to increase our own integral consciousness to some degree each day, so that in the end we leave the world just a little bit more whole than we found it.." 
- Ken Wilber 
Spring. We have been working on the Unity murals for Terrell Place in Washington DC. These days have been beautiful. I've been watching the pattern of the falling petals off of the flowering trees. I've taken the "War Is Over.if you want it" (John and Yoko) sign out of the windshield of my car. I've been reading Ken Wilber and remembering that we have much work to do.
I am not afraid. I am not afraid of this administration. I am not afraid of the terrorists. I am not afraid of Clear Channel or losing our rights. I am not afraid of the poor economy. I am not afraid that I won't have money or that my friends won't have money. I am not afraid that something bad will happen. I am not afraid that I'll make a mistake and say something that isn't true or that you won't like. I am not afraid that I'll paint something that won't sell or will get a bad review. I am not afraid that I'll get sick or die or that I wont be reincarnated. I am not afraid of anything because, as Bergman says in the end of Fanny and Alexander, "Anything can happen." I am honored to be alive in a world that is absolutely free. I can say and do anything. You can say and do anything. There is nothing holding us back from absolute freedom other than our own fears. What holds us back is our fear and ignorance and inability to imagine a great new world where we are not victims of circumstance, where we are not spoon-fed the daily cultural servings of nullifying rubbish. For your own sake, turn off your TV. Sit down in the morning and write three pages stream of consciousness, write whatever you want. Be brave enough to make a game plan for yourself and follow up on it. Make a daily plan and a long-term plan. Act for yourself and for the good of the whole. We live in a cause and effect universe. If I do or say something it will effect others. If I paint something, it will effect others. If you do something it will effect others. Remember what Capra's Clarence says in the graveyard, "Each man's life touches so many others'."
Pundits may dispel the hundredth monkey all they wish, in the end critical mass will be achieved. We are evolving, rest assured. No amount of nail-biting, back-biting, or political rhetorical banter will stop the slow inevitable increase of wisdom. Sages seem scarce. Voices seem silenced. But listen harder. Go outside. Listen up in the trees. Listen to the coup of the doves. Look at the sunlight as it saturates our world. Listen to the light; eight minutes from the Sun. See it's effect on a clear blue sky. Look at the gases as they are energized by the Sun, darting, whizzing. I am not living in some idyllic utopia, I am in the real world, The Real real world, and it is glorious. I hope that you can hear me; that you'll close this window and shut off your computer and stop trying to take in more information. Our ego craves information to defend itself, to defend our stands on issues, to defend our beliefs.
Funny, for Lent I gave up "believing". It's been most rewarding. I highly recommend that you give it a shot. If we are constantly looking for the data to back up our position, then we are not free to see the world clearly. Free yourself from the baggage of your beliefs. Go dig in the garden. Spend time alone. Listen. Look at your hands. Wake up.
Bo