1. pets
2. large animals

September 2008
Porpoise on the Porch: How to Un-Hijack Your Negative Thinking
By ALAN DAVIDSON
“I've lived a long life and seen a lot of hard times…
most of which never happened.” Mark Twain
Whispers roared from across the hall, bruising the fevered night.
Dan‟s thinking was spiraling out of control with more and more
tragic-- and often absurd—possibilities; till both he and his lover,
Tom, were giggling in the dark. Their home on the historic East
end of Galveston Island was a victim of Hurricane Ike. They
were refugees--homeless in Houston; stranded--the night after the
storm, in a house and city with no lights or air conditioning. The
stillness echoed their intimate worry.
trees were tumbled everywhere. The canopies of green that blanketed our fair city had become a patchwork of debris. Streets
completely blocked. The stately Live Oaks and regal Pines were
hit especially hard.
Equally shocking was the small amount of damage to homes and
businesses. Over and over we saw “near misses:” trees that just
missed destroying a house or car. Awnings or fences blown
down, but buildings left intact. Everywhere stillness; there were
no signs of electricity; power lines strewn down like wisps of
string. Two plus million people now lived without power. For all
the destruction and discomfort, I wondered if Houston had actually been spared; if we had cashed in some “good karma chips?”
The traces of news from the island—not good--came from a tinny
Chips stockpiled by the way Houston opened her heart to Katrina
sounding transistor radio and distant cell phone calls. The first
Hurricane victims from New Orleans. Continued on page 4
reports were awful: 80% of Galveston completely destroyed.
Some of the historic buildings were left standing but the town
was devastated. Dan and Tom didn‟t know if their house was
spared (it had survived the 1900 hurricane). As Dan lay in the
sweltering heat, trying not to move, fear hijacked his mind and
his thoughts crashed feverishly; each one marching to worse and
worse conclusions. “What if we have dead fish in our yard?” “Or
what if we have a red fish
Inside Your Through Your Body in our fountain out back?”
Mastery Issue:
“What if we have a dead
porpoise on our porch?”
Resistance Stretching………...….2 “What if we have to sell
the ruined-house and
Nia and Aikido…………..…...…..3 move back to Houston?”
Your Five Vital IQs………...........5 Dan‟s dark imaginings
were fueled by a ride
Toward a Balanced Way……......6 around Houston. A chilly
tour in my Expedition was
Yes We Can………………............8 the perfect answer to escape the heat and satisfy
Harvest the Sun—From
our macabre fascination
Space……………………….....…..9 with the violent damage
of the storm. We were
An Elephant’s Tale From
some of the first on the
Tennessee ..…………………..…10 road after the piercing
wind and rain gave way to
Unitarian Jihad!..........................11 utter stillness. The wreckage was shocking. Huge
Member Profile: Lane Transou.12
Resistance Stretching By ALICE PARK
Contract your muscles while stretching them and get a workout worthy
of an Olympian
One of Dara Torres' trainers is walking all over me. Literally. I'm lying
on my stomach as Steve Sierra concentrates his entire 160 lb. (75 kg)
on my glutes and hamstrings. It hurts, but in a good way.
It's all part of the flexibility- and strength-building regimen that Torres,
who is making history as the oldest swimmer to compete in the Olympics, credits with getting her 41-year-old body in good-enough shape to
race athletes half her age. But resistance stretching, as it is called, is not
just for the Olympians among us. Its focus on maximizing muscle flexibility has been useful for everyone from injured NBA players to children with cerebral palsy. The exercises may not look like much--they
generally require no equipment other than a mat and maybe a towel and
some straps--and they may not feel that strenuous, but you know the
next day that you've had a workout. (The butt-walking component is
called mashing, a turbocharged massage that is supposed to release lactic acid from overworked muscles to help speed their recovery.)
Resistance stretching centers on flexing your muscles even as you
stretch them; for example, instead of simply releasing a leg lift, resist
the urge to let your quad muscles relax on the way down--and fight that
urge with both your hamstrings and your quads. Some of these stretching moves can be done alone and others with a partner whom you'd
enlist to, say, pull your fist away from you as you work to pull it in during a bicep curl.
Dara Torres at 41 years old and
the body of an Olympic goddess. Dara won
a silver medal in Beijing, her fourth Olympic Games. She missed the gold by one-one/
hundredth of a second.
How different is resistance stretching from other limbering exercises? Unlike holding a muscle in a passively stretched position, the resistance route actively lengthens muscles through constant movement.
"Resistance stretching goes deep into the joints and grabs more muscle fibers to increase strength and flexibility," says Sierra's partner, Anne Tierney. "It takes twice as much force to stretch a muscle as it does to contract it." I'm not convinced yet,
but after the two guide me through a few exercises--they stretch Torres three times a week, often at her home in Parkland,
Fla., as well as before and after every race--my muscles do start to feel more energized. I can see why Torres likes to be
worked on half an hour before she swims.
Although Tierney and Sierra have certified 250 trainers through weekend workshops, you might be hard-pressed to find a
class at your local gym. That may have something to do with the fact that stretching has always been deemed the most expendable part of any exercise regimen. "People usually only think about flexibility and stretching when they are older and
getting stiff or when they are injured," says Tierney. "It's just not considered sexy." That could change. As doctors urge even
us non-Olympians to remain physically active throughout our lives, maybe we'll start to pay more attention to stretching. After all, look what it does for Torres.
Sensing and Centering your body is the foundation of Physical Intelligence. The four pillars of this vital IQ
are Strength, Flexibility, Grace, and Bearing (right posture). It is the perfect balance of
all these qualities that create physical power. Many work-out programs are out of balance: runners or yogis who lack upper-body strength, weight lifters who are inflexible,
or speed walkers who don’t notice the sensation of their bodies as they move.
Aikido is one of many ways to improve Grace—how well you move through space. Any
of the martial arts, dancing, and yoga, improve your spatial sense of balance and moving with natural ease and intention.
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Ultimately, the act of overpowering an opponent becomes the art of taking care of them
and resolving the conflict without destrucby DEBBIE ROSAS and CARLOS ROSAS
tion. Use love as the guiding light to intenTo date, the martial art we enjoy the most is Aikido.
tionally establish harmony and balance and create a
The meaning of Aikido is as beautiful as the movepeaceful resolution. Rather than beating the opponent,
ment. Aikido means; ―Ai‖ to meet, ―Ki‖ spirit, and ―Do‖ you seek to make everyone win. As a result, Aikido
the way. In other words, Aikido is the way of harmony. does not rely on brute force to succeed, but on the
It encourages peaceful resolution. It is the way of the
ability to attune with the Universe, to prevent death
peaceful warrior.
and destruction. Morihei Ueshiba, the originator of Aikido, said, ―The true meaning of the term Samurai is
Our first Aikido class was quite different from our exone who serves and adheres to the power of love.‖ To
perience with Tae Kwon Do. Everything about Aikido
be able to serve ourselves and those around us is our
felt softer, lighter, less intimidating, friendlier. We were dance. So, in our Aikido your shield and armor is your
spirit. It is the spirit that cares for all things with love.
greeted with smiles from the sensei, Wendy Palmer, a
master in the art of Aikido. We sat on our heels tentatively waiting. Wendy said, ―You must have previously In Aikido, your center is called the hara. This center is
had a rather intense martial art experience.‖ We reused as a second sensory sight with a 360-degree ralaxed a bit as she looked at us with peace in her eyes, dius. The hara is the physical center from where you
something we had never seen in the eyes of our Tae
physically receive, transmit, connect, and direct enKwon Do Sensei. It felt good, safer. It opened us to the ergy. One begins by sensing their own hara and then
possibility that this learning experience could actually connecting the energy of their hara, to an external
be fun and enjoyable.
source. With practice you become
accustomed to sensing energy and
An Aikido master sees each perhighly ―in tune‖ with energy fields –
yours, other, and the space around
son‘s side of the story. The mind
of Aikido holds the intent to reyou.
solve conflict lovingly. Over the
years, this approach taught us
Aikido teaches you to move energy
about relationship and the power
from your center, the hara. Observing
that comes from connecting and
Aikido you see directed linear energy
blending with your environment.
gracefully transformed into spirals. It
Developing the ability to sense
requires developing awareness and
and ―see‖ another person‘s point
sensitivity to energy-how it moves,
of view expanded our perception.
and how it is used to connect, blend,
Matching and blending with endirect, and move matter. The power to
first match your opponent‘s energy
ergy coming towards us without
fighting it gave us finesse in workand then transform it to your advaning with people of all sizes,
tage allows you to move bodies
shapes, and personalities. It
through space as if they were as light
helped us adjust personally and
as a feather. Someone very small can
professionally to all kinds of situalift a much larger opponent off the
tions with grace and ease. It is
floor and effortlessly throw them to
exhilarating to know you can mathe ground. Developing your ability to
neuver and navigate yourself in almost any situation
move energy takes practice that goes beyond cognition.
with the finesse of a fish – moving without getting
It takes years and it is worth it!
hooked!
In Nia, entering, blending and harmonizing replaces
We‘ve integrated many things from Aikido into Nia. The effort, overworking, and the need to overpower. As
most recognizable feature is the art of harmonizing
George Leonard, one of our Aikido masters said, Aikido
and blending with energy inside and outside of you.
is best understood through the word GRACE. GHarmonizing is a way to connect your energy center to
ground before you move. R-relax to efficiently and efthat of your opponents. To blend energy, you simply
fectively respond. A- awareness is the way to perceive
turn lines into circles, creating spirals of energy that
everything in order to make a decision and take action.
move in (concentric forces) or out (eccentric forces).
These energy spirals become vortexes that allow you to C-center, touch your center, find it, stay with it and
move large amounts of energy and physical body
listen to it. E-energy, use chi energy to direct your atweight with little effort. When you blend your body
tention; energy follows attention.
with another person, the harmonized union of energy
makes it easy to move.
For more information about Nia visit www.NiaNow.com
Nia and Aikido
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Porpoise on the Porch cont. from page 1
Dan was playing a dangerous game of ―What If.‖ I‘d
seen it over and over again throughout my years as a
massage and body-mind-spirit therapist. The mind,
unfocused, spirals out of control till the body is racked
with anxiety, the future bleak with despair. Whether
it‘s a hurricane, or a high school girl who may or may
not have failed a test, obsessing whether her college
dreams are dashed and her life ruined (she passed the
test). Whether John Kerry or George Bush will win the
election, or whether the conservatives ―will steal the
election‖ with lies or the liberals will ―damn the economy and country with taxes;‖ (Well, you know who won
the Bush/Kerry election). Our suffering is caused by
our thoughts about reality--how it should be different
from what is, or the corrosive ―what might possibly,
maybe, happen in the future.‖
The Greek philosopher Epictetus wrote, ―We are disturbed not by what happens to us, but by our thoughts
about what happens.‖ It is my thinking—my unexamined, unquestioned just as it is-- and retreat into
flights of perverse fantasy (good or bad), I actually
sabotage my own peace and serenity. Mastering Your
Five Vital Intelligences, physical, emotional, mental,
moral, and spiritual, requires a rigorous toning of your
Mental IQ. It includes synthesizing your unconscious,
conscious, and super-conscious minds. It also requires
an overhaul of HOW you think; the radical questioning
of your dearest and often unconscious biases and beliefs to free your mind. Until your mind is freed from
your hijacking thoughts, you can never be Present to
the glittering peace and joy of this moment.
The point is we worry about so much that is out of our
control. My own ―stories,‖ like Dan‘s porpoise on the
porch, about life are often un-examined thoughts, opinions, judgments and beliefs. They are simple distortions and fantasies that I hold to be THE TRUTH. I
subscribe to an alternate reality that causes stress and
distinct sensations in my body. This alternate reality
colors my perception on today, this moment in such a
way that I transform the negative possibility of what
might be into what is. In this way I create my own reality…and not the one I really want to live in, either.
“wisdom to know the difference?” How do I accept what really is
totally? How do I meet every experience as a friend?
Mastering Your Physical IQ offers the first step. The foundation of
your Physical IQ is “Sense and Center.” Ground your attention in
the sensations of your body. Align and Center yourself--your body
with gravity. With two fingers, touch your center of gravity, your
hara in Japanese, your dan tien in Chinese, which is about two
inches below your belly button. Staying in sensation and staying
centered in your body goes along way to keep you present. Once
you notice yourself blown off center, gently comeback to your sensation and your center. Allow “Sense and Center” to become your
touchstone; coming back over and over again.
Mastering Your Mental IQ offers a next step. Once you are present
and centered with your body, begin to notice the flow of your
thoughts, your attachment TO those thoughts, the sensations that
come with your thoughts. Classic sitting or standing meditation is
one way to step outside yourself and observe your own mind in the
act of thinking.
Questioning your thoughts is another way to free your mind. I‟m a
big fan of Byron Katie and her Four Questions. Her work is
summed up in this little rhyme; Judge your neighbor, write it down.
Ask four questions and turn it around. The four questions are:
Is it true?
Can you absolutely know that it is true?
How do you react when you think/believe that thought?
Who would you be without the thought?
I find this simple yet powerful act of Inquiry very freeing. Writing
down my stressful thoughts and beliefs and then rigorously asking
these simple questions shifts my being, frees my thinking, and
changes my perspective. Katie recommends using a “Judge Your
Neighbor Worksheet.” You can get lots of info, worksheets, and
As I hear all the jumbled stories from my friends and neighbors
who survived Hurricane Ike, I‟m once again surprised by the rabid
resistance to life as it is just in this moment. The addiction we all
have to “What if.” I think of the serenity prayer a lot these days:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot
change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to
know the difference.
The Tibetan Rinpoche, Choygam Trungpa, said, “Give up hope
completely—accept what is totally.” Byron Katie, the creator of
The Work, says, “You are free when you meet reality, every experience that happens to you as a friend.” But how to I access the
4
Tom and Dan may not have dead fish in their yard,
but these unfortunate swimmers got caught in a
Galveston fence during the storm surge.
Videos at your exclusive Through Your Body Mastery membersonly website: www.ThroughYourBodyMastery.com …Mental IQ/
Conscious Mind.
Today is truth day for Tom and Dan. Thirteen days after fleeing
their home, they joined the thousands of other homeless Galvestonians who returned to the Island today to see the damage for themselves. As awful as the destruction was, the early reports were
wrong. Twenty percent of Galveston was demolished, eighty percent of the buildings still stand. No electricity, no sewage, no gas,
and no drinkable water.
A neighbor who survived the storm and the savaged city called to
tell them they still have a house; roof intact—with a water line
about two feet above the porch. Their historic home survived another slam from the sea. The ground floor of their life flooded,
perhaps ruined. Their home will need months of repair. Their city,
probably years before it fully recovers. Time will tell if they
learned any “inner” lessons from the calamity. Can they come back
to their bodies and their senses? Can they stop the wicked game of
“What If” along with the hijacking of their minds?
There are many prescriptions for peace and serenity. The key is to
find the ones that work for you. The techniques that fit you and
your styles of learning and healing so when your reality comes
crashing in on your peace of mind—and you find yourself kicking
and screaming against your new best friend: reality. Stop! Remember Sense and Center; shift and watch your mind from the outside;
ask yourself if your thought is even true (now, when I do this now I
often burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all). Then you can
enjoy the porpoise on the porch for what it is. A fleeting game of
make-believe—until you actually see the porpoise on the porch
that is. And that‟s a whole „nother Oprah.
5
Towards a Balanced Way
A Way of the Body
by George Leonard
Fitness. Just as the body provides a foundation for any Balanced
Way of Being, so physical fitness provides a foundation for the
bodily arts. If this argument has any justice, then we must regretfully conclude that most growth disciplines and growth organizaLast March, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi proclaimed San Francisco
“the first city of the Age of Enlightenment” since, according to his tions are in serious need of some foundation work. The neglect of
basic fitness is understandable; traditional “gym” or “P.E.” classes
figures, it is “the city with the largest percentage of its population
have given this aspect of life a bad name, and the jock image seems
practicing Transcendental Meditation in the world.” Through the
Maharishi didn‟t say so, it‟s a safe bet that San Francisco is also the somehow at odds with personal transformation. The inauguration of
the Esalen Sports Center in 1973, however, suggested a new apfirst city in the world in terms of gestalt, rolfing, psychosynthesis,
encounter, Arica, massage, bioenergetics, Proskauer breathing, est, proach to this subject.
aikido, energy awareness, Feldenkrais, biofeedback and other
growth disciplines. Indeed, since the mid-1960‟s, the metropolitan The three components of fitness can be broken down into three
groups. The first is related to general bodily capability and includes
area that centers on San Francisco has emerged as a modern-day
cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance
holy city, attracting thousands of pilgrims in search of enlightenand flexibility. The second is related to the efficiency and skill of
ment, transformation, a new way of being in the world.
the body in motion, and includes agility, balance, coordination,
power, and speed. The third, often neglected in Western conditionThis holy city, unlike Jerusalem, Mecca, Lhasa, or Benares, offers
no simple religion, no monolithic sequence of techniques, no fixed ing, includes the crucial matters of right posture and right breathing.
doctrine. Residents and pilgrims can choose from a multiplicity of A Balanced Way will make provisions for training in each of these
approaches. Practitioners work within a rich context of competition areas.
and cooperation which militates against conspicuous bad practice.
Cross-fertilization and continuing evolution are the rule rather than Specific Sport or Bodily Art. A Balanced Way will provide or enthe exception; rare is the discipline that has not been influenced by courage participation in some specific physical discipline. Through
other disciplines. Groups that meet under the name of “encounter,” devotion to this sport or art, the participant can gain bodily control,
for example, are likely to include some gestalt techniques, massage and enjoy the transcendent experience of long-term psychophysical
development. Dance, T‟ai Chi, aikido, Feldenkrais, and hatha yoga
and perhaps exercises from Feldenkrais or Arica.
come to mind as particularly appropriate; each offers conditioning
in some of the fitness components listed above as well as being
Psychosynthesis techniques are widely used in work not listed unvaluable in itself. It is also possible, as Michael Murphy has sugder that title. Breath control plays a part in most of the adventures
of the body and spirit mentioned here. More and more group lead- gested, that Western sport as well as Eastern physical art can beers are realizing the role played by bodily functioning and physical come a “liberating discipline of sorts, a kind of yoga or sadhana in
the making.” Murphy has listed the siddhi or extraordinary powers
movement in the matters of personal growth and transformation.
This increasing concern with the physical body has been accompa- associated with various religious and shamanistic traditions, and
nied by an awareness, new for our time, that certain “energies” flow has given examples of each in the world of sport and bodily art. It is
in and around the body. Talk of this “energy flow”(in the nature of perhaps not entirely mischievous to suggest that the next great yogi
the Chinese chi or Japanese ki) can be heard in encounter groups as will appear, not in a flowing white robe, but in a sweat suit.
well as at lectures in acupuncture or bioenergetics.
Good Health. In Western medicine, “health” is defined, by and
large, simply as the absence of disease, along with normal readings
So you can see that the 1970s seem to be moving us towards convergence and consolidation. You might even imagine that the many on various tests. In a Balanced Way, however, this definition would
and varied approaches to growth and transformation could someday provide only a starting point for explorations into the area of Good
Health. This presently unexplored area involves states of extraordicome together to form a single, unified work—or, what is more
likely, several unified works. Such a development would, of course, nary well being, above and beyond average conditioning. It involves systemic balance and vibrant flow of “energy” throughout
have its disadvantages as well as advantages. It might retard creathe body. It is associated with good nutrition and freedom from
tive ferment, and could well result in fixed doctrine and dogma. If
dependence on drugs. It implies body/mind/spirit harmony. A Balthese dangers could be avoided, however, a unified work combinanced Way will offer guidelines and practice in those matters that
ing the best elements of the separate works now available would
have to do with Good Health. I find it useful to remind myself that
have unprecedented power to transform individuals and social
the world “health” shares common ancestry with the word “holy.”
groups. The unification process is probably inevitable in any case,
as is apparent to one degree or another in such groups as Arica, est,
A Way of Integration and Relationship
and, in a different sense, the Lomi school.
The challenge, it seems to me, lies in creating a balanced Way of
Being, one which does not neglect any crucial aspect of human
functioning, one which does the work of transformation without
sacrificing intelligence, humor and compassion, one which, finally,
contributes to social justice. What I want to do here is outline the
main elements of a Balanced Way. I present this outline as by no
means final but simply as a guide for further discussion.
6
Integration of the Self. Since Freud first unearthed the
“unconscious” forces that warp our daily actions and separate us
from our own true being, psychologists of the West have devised
ever-more-ingenious therapies for repairing the fractured self.
Honed and polished, informed by a more hopeful view of human
possibilities than that held by Freud, therapy itself has been transformed in psychosynthesis, gestalt and encounter. The family therapy concepts of Jackson and Satir, growing out of Bateson‟s so-
phisticated theories of interaction and process, have led to efficient,
non-coercive practice. Rogers and Maslow have had a pervasive,
almost osmotic effect on all these new therapies. Scientology and
est have created powerful means for clearing and integrating the
self. The point here is that many methods now exist for helping
people “get their stuff together,” and that these methods have a
place in a Balanced Way. It is significant that the San Francisco
Zen Center has quietly called in psychological counselors to help
Zen students whose personal problems stand in the way of their
practice.
Social and Ethical Integration. The question of social action is a
troubling one for practitioners of the new adventures of the body
and spirit. The behaviors involved in conventional politics, for example, have seemed far removed from those encouraged in the
growth movement; any real connection has thus seemed remote.
“There‟s no way I can change the world,” the familiar saying goes.
“All I can do is change myself.” Yet it is also clear that we are all
interconnected, that the healthy body thrives best in a healthy body
politic, that the social milieu places ultimate limits on individual
transformation. In the long run, a Balanced Way involves social
philosophy and social action. Any complete, coherent Way of Being implies a general ethical framework, and a Balanced Way will
eventually result in the articulation of such a framework. It seems
inevitable, moreover, that participants in a Balanced Way will,
sooner or later, become engaged in the arena that is presently
termed “political.”
Ecological Integration. To live a Balanced Way means to live in
harmony with the natural world. To live in harmony with the natural world now requires that we transform the life style that prevails
in the advanced industrial nations. Simply to preserve our planet,
we must revise our economics, politics, manufacturing, marketing,
advertising, transportation, housing, marriage, family, childrearing
and individual consciousness. Ecological balance turns us towards
social and cultural transformation. A Balanced Way is far from
passive.
mate purpose of any Way, and it might claimed that all else of minor importance. A Balanced Way, however, will avoid specialization of certain yogic sects, in which the seeker bypasses the life
and responsibilities of this world for the sake of a direct connection
with the realm beyond. The means for connecting—meditating,
chanting, fasting, isolation, and so on—are well known; the specific steps that can lead to samadhi have been carefully researched
and validated through the ages. But participants in a Balanced Way
will approach their samadhi not through mere spiritual technology
but through the fullness of a full life. In a Way of Spirit, as Aldous
Huxley point out, “what we know depends also on whay, as moral
beings, we choose to make ourselves.” A Balanced Way will involve practices that lead to a higher knowing. These practices,
however, will not stand apart from social and personal existence
worthy of such knowledge.
The Prospect
From this vantage point in “the first city in the Age of Enlightenment,” the tendency towards convergence, towards a Balanced
Way, seems strong and inevitable. For instance, Arica training
combines body work, theoretical formulation and spiritual practices. Other groups are moving in the same direction. The California Institute of Transpersonal Psychology recently announced a
Ph.D. program under the direction of Dr. Robert Frager, a psychologist and aikido master. The program lists five areas of study
that come close to matching the elements outlined in this article:
Body Work, Group Work, Individual Work, Intellectual Work, and
Spiritual Work. Every doctoral candidate will be expected to participate in each of these areas. An American Way of Being compromising varied elements, old and new, physical/mental/spiritual,
is surely an idea whose time has come.
This essay is reprinted from The Lomi Papers circa 1980
A Way of Mind
Practitioners of a Balanced Way will deal with cognitive materials
as an aid to their practice. The map is not the territory; the theory is
not the reality. But on any journey towards transformed being,
some sort of map is needed. You have only to look at the rich and
complex theoretical literature associated with the great Eastern
religions to realize that thought and experience are not necessarily
at war. Indeed, the cultivation of mind is closely allied with the
cultivation of body. A transformed scholarship goes along with a
transformed physical education. A number of present-day growth
disciplines—est-, Arica, pyschosynthesis—have formulated their
own theoretical systems. My hope is that these systems stay openended. Theory becomes dangerous only when it is set in concrete,
as “Doctrine.” At best, theory remains incomplete, tentative, a
realm of play and delight—a necessity. As I‟ve written elsewhere:
“Perhaps our knowledge that transformation is possible comes
from the realm of no-words. But we will need words to let it happen.”
A Way of Spirit
To make connection with the essential ground of being (which is
beyond the power of words to describe) may be seen as the ulti-
George Leonard is the author of twelve books including
Mastery, The Transformation, The Way of Aikido, The
Silent Pulse, and The Life We Are Given, co-authored
with Michael Murphy.
7
Yes, We Can By BOB HEBERT
As I was listening to Al Gore on the telephone, I was thinking: “Uh-oh, the
naysayers will have a field day with this one.”
The former vice president was giving me an advanced briefing on the
speech that he delivered on Thursday, calling on the United States to behave like a great nation and actually do something real about its selfdestructive and ultimately unsustainable reliance on carbon-based fuel for
its 21st-century energy needs.
“I‟m going to issue a strategic challenge that the United States of America
set a goal of getting 100 percent of our electricity from renewable resources
and carbon-constrained fuels within 10 years,” he said. “One hundred percent?” I said.
“One hundred percent.”
Mr. Gore‟s focus is primarily on solar, wind and geothermal energy. His
belief is that a dramatic, wholesale transition to these abundant and renewable sources of energy is not just doable, but essential.
My view of Mr. Gore‟s passionate engagement with some of the biggest
issues of our time is that he is offering us the kind of vision and sense of
urgency that has been so lacking in the presidential campaigns. But the tendency in a society that is skeptical, if not phobic, about anything progressive has been to dismiss his large ideas and wise counsel, as George H. W. Bush once did by deriding him as “ozone man.”
The naysayers will tell you that once again Al Gore is dreaming, that the costs of his visionary energy challenge are too high, the technological obstacles too tough, the timeline too short and the political lift much too heavy. But that‟s the thing about visionaries. They don‟t
imagine what‟s easy. They imagine the benefits to be reaped once all the obstacles are overcome. Mr. Gore will tell you about the wind
blowing through the corridor that stretches from Mexico to Canada, through the Plains states, and the tremendous amounts of electricity
that would come from capturing the energy of that wind — enough to light up cities and towns from coast to coast.
“We need to make a big, massive, one-off investment to transform our energy infrastructure from one that relies on a dirty, expensive
fuel to fuel that is free,” said Mr. Gore. “The sun and the wind and geothermal are not going to run out, and we don‟t have to export them
from the Persian Gulf, and they are not increasing in price. “And since the only factor that controls the price is the efficiency and innovation that goes into the equipment that transforms it into electricity, once you start getting the scales that we‟re anticipating, those systems
come down in cost.”
The correct response to Mr. Gore‟s proposal would be a rush to figure out ways to make it happen. Don‟t hold your breath. When exactly
was it that the U.S. became a can‟t-do society? It wasn‟t at the very beginning when 13 ragamuffin colonies went to war against the
world‟s mightiest empire. It wasn‟t during World War II when Japan and Nazi Germany had to be fought simultaneously. It wasn‟t in the
postwar period that gave us the Marshall Plan and a robust G.I. Bill and the interstate highway system and the space program and the
civil rights movement and the women‟s movement and the greatest society the world had ever known.
When was it? Now we can‟t even lift New Orleans off its knees.
In his speech, delivered in Washington, Mr. Gore said: “We‟re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it
in ways that destroy the planet.” He described carbon-based fuel as the thread running through the global climate crisis, America‟s economic woes and its most serious national security threats. He then asked: “What if we could use fuels that are not expensive, don‟t cause
pollution and are abundantly available right here at home?”
Americans are extremely anxious at the moment, and I think part of it has to do with a deeply unsettling feeling that the nation may not
be up to the tremendous challenges it is facing. A recent poll by the Rockefeller Foundation and Time magazine that focused on economic issues found a deep pessimism running through respondents. According to Margot Brandenburg, an official with the foundation,
nearly half of 18- to 29-year-olds “feel that America‟s best days are in the past.”
The moment is ripe for exactly the kind of challenge issued by Mr. Gore on Thursday. It doesn‟t matter if his proposal is less than perfect, or can‟t be realized within 10 years, or even it if is found to be deeply flawed. The goal is the thing.
8
Harvest the Sun — From Space
By O. GLENN SMITH, Houston
AS we face $4.50 a gallon gas, we also know that alternative energy sources — coal, oil shale, ethanol, wind and ground-based solar —
are either of limited potential, very expensive, require huge energy storage systems or harm the environment. There is, however, one potential future energy source that is environmentally friendly, has essentially unlimited potential and can be cost competitive with any renewable source: space solar power.
Science fiction? Actually, no — the technology already exists. A space solar power system would involve building large solar energy
collectors in orbit around the Earth. These panels would collect far more energy than land-based units, which are hampered by weather,
low angles of the sun in northern climes and, of course, the darkness of night.
Once collected, the solar energy would be safely beamed to Earth via wireless radio transmission, where it would be received by antennas
near cities and other places where large amounts of power are used. The received energy would then be converted to electric power for
distribution over the existing grid. Government scientists have projected that the cost of electric power generation from such a system
could be as low as 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is within the range of what consumers pay now.
In terms of cost effectiveness, the two stumbling blocks for space solar power have been the expense of launching the collectors and the
efficiency of their solar cells. Fortunately, the recent development of thinner, lighter and much higher efficiency solar cells promises to
make sending them into space less expensive and return of energy much greater.
Much of the progress has come in the private sector. Companies like Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences, working in
conjunction with NASA‟s public-private Commercial Orbital Transportation Services initiative, have been developing the capacity for
very low cost launchings to the International Space Station. This same technology could be adapted to sending up a solar power satellite
system.
Still, because building the first operational space solar power system will be very costly, a practical first step would be to conduct a test
using the International Space Station as a “construction shack” to house the astronauts and equipment. The station‟s existing solar panels
could be used for the demonstration project, and its robotic manipulator arms could assemble the large transmitting antenna. While the
station‟s location in orbit would permit only intermittent transmission of power back to Earth, a successful test would serve as what scientists call “proof of concept.”
Over the past 15 years, Americans have invested more than $100 billion, directly and indirectly, on the space station and supporting shuttle flights. With an energy crisis deepening, it‟s time to begin to develop a huge return on that investment. (And for those who worry that
science would lose out to economics, there‟s no reason that work on space solar power couldn‟t go hand in hand with work toward a
manned mission to
Mars, advanced propulsion systems and other
priorities of the space
station.)
In fact, in a time of
some skepticism about
the utility of our space
program, NASA should
realize that the American public would be
inspired by our astronauts working in space
to meet critical energy
needs here on Earth.
O. Glenn Smith is a
former manager of science and applications
experiments for the International Space Station at NASA’s Johnson
Space Center.
7
An Elephant's Tale In
Tennessee By Bill Geist
She was on TV and had a guest spot on "Little House
on the Prairie." "When Tara was little she liked it,"
Buckley said. "But as she got older it was not so much
fun. I really didn't want to be with an unhappy elephant." Tarra was ready to hang up her skates.
This is an elephant's tale. Dulary lived in Philadelphia,
where she put in 43 years at the zoo employed as an
exhibit, never missing a day, but was laid off this year.
There was a retirement party where her friends came to
say their goodbyes. But where would Dulary retire?
Elephants don't have 401(k)s and a choice of retirement communities. There's really only one that's exclusively for pachyderms: the Elephant Sanctuary in
Hohenwald, Tenn.
"I just started thinking, do elephants have to live in
these traditional environments in zoos and performing
in circuses?" Buckley said. "Isn't there something else?
And after about a ten-year search I realized there was
nothing else. First bought the property, it was 112
acres," Blais said. "We moved on the property in March
1995 and that was when the first elephant set foot on
the property. That was Tarra," Buckley said. For the
elephant's sake, Buckley and Blais moved with her to
rural Tennessee.
Started in 1995 by Carol Buckley and her partner
Scott Blais, it has grown to 2,700 acres, a place where
elephants can literally run wild - although, being a retirement home, they usually walk. It is something of an
elephant paradise. "What we try to do is just give them
autonomy, give them their lives back," Blais said. "And
we don't use chains. The only confinement we have is
the barn and it's their decision to come in the barn. We
give them as much freedom and flexibility in their own
life, freedom of who they hang out with, where they can
go. You know if they dislike their keeper that comes
into effect also, and we try to accommodate them."
And do they ever. The level of service is five-star quality. If the elephants don't feel like hoofing it back to
their new luxury barn, food and beverages are delivered to them. "We bring it out on a four-wheeler wherever they are because we don't want to dictate their
movements," Buckley said. There are spa cuisine and
spa treatments like apple cider vinegar footbaths. And
the elephants don't ever have to perform or entertain. The public isn't
even allowed in to look at them except by Webcam. The site got 40 millions hits last year. "We run the risk
of one, disturbing them by bringing
in people," Buckley said, "And two, of
impacting them on a social level."
"A lot of people don't realize that middle Tennessee is
sub-tropical," Buckley said. "High humidity, lots of water, lush vegetation, long growing season, temperate
climate - all that is quite suitable for the Asian elephant." Since they're matriarchal, they live in large
groups
of relations. But they have a best friend. Each one has
a best friend. Like Winky and Sissy - they're best
friends. Or Shirley and Bunny. Tarra has come alone
to visit the pair, but Tarra won't be alone for long. Nor
would Dulary, who early one Philadelphia morning left
her solitary confinement, boarded her private 18wheeler and hit the road.
No one makes elephant seat belts yet, but this custom
elephant trailer was fitted with safety bars to hold passengers in place. The crew, Blais from the sanctuary
and Jen and Chris from the zoo,
...cont. page 12
Co-starring with Dulary in this elephant's tale is Tarra. Tarra had a
brilliant career in show business,
where she was huge (and still is,
weighing in at 8,700 pounds). Buckley was her owner-manager. "She
and I went on the road and performed in the circus for about 15
years," Buckley said. "Classic traditional elephant act; runs around circle then lays down, plays a harmonica, all those silly tricks. In fact, she
was the world's only roller skating
elephant."
Two elephants enjoy their retirement at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn.
10
WE ARE UNITARIAN JIHAD!
by Jon Carroll, The San Francisco Gate
The following is the first communique from a group calling
itself Unitarian Jihad. It was sent to me at The Chronicle via
an anonymous spam remailer. I have no idea whether other
news organizations have received this communique, and, if
so, why they have not chosen to print it. Perhaps they fear
starting a panic. I feel strongly that the truth, no matter how
alarming, trivial or disgusting, must always be told. I am
pleased to report that the words below are at least not disgusting:
Greetings to the Imprisoned Citizens of the United States. We are
Unitarian Jihad. There is only
God, unless there is more than
one God. The vote of our God
subcommittee is 10-8 in favor of
one God, with two abstentions.
Brother Flaming Sword of Moderation noted the possibility of
there being no God at all, and his
objection was noted with love by
the secretary.
Greetings to the Imprisoned Citizens of the United States! Too
long has your attention been
waylaid by the bright baubles of
extremist thought. Too long have
fundamentalist yahoos of all religions (except Buddhism -14-5 vote, no abstentions, fundamentalism subcommittee)
made your head hurt. Too long have you been buffeted by
angry people who think that God talks to them. You have a
right to your moderation! You have the power to be calm!
We will use the IED of truth to explode the SUV of dogmatic expression!
People of the United States, why is everyone yelling at
you??? Whatever happened to ... you know, everything?
Why is the news dominated by nutballs saying that the Ten
Commandments have to be tattooed inside the eyelids of
every American, or that Allah has told them to kill Americans in order to rid the world of Satan, or that Yahweh has
instructed them to go live wherever they feel like, or that
Shiva thinks bombing mosques is a great idea? Sister Immaculate Dagger of Peace notes for the record that we mean
no disrespect to Jews, Muslims, Christians or Hindus. Referred back to the committee of the whole for further discussion.
sleep with. Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity notes for the
record that he does not have a moral code but is nevertheless
a good person, and Unexalted Leader Garrote of Forgiveness
stipulates that Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity is a good
person, and this is to be reflected in the minutes.
Beware! Unless you people shut up and begin acting like
grown-ups with brains enough to understand the difference
between political belief and personal faith, the Unitarian Jihad will begin a series of terrorist-like actions. We will take
over television studios, kidnap so-called commentators and
broadcast calm, well-reasoned discussions of the issues of
the day. We will not try for"balance" by hiring fruitcakes;
we will try for balance by hiring non-ideologues who have
carefully thought through the issues.
We are Unitarian Jihad. We will appear in public places and require
people to shake hands with each
other. (Sister Hand Grenade of Love
suggested that we institute a terror
regime of mandatory hugging, but
her motion was not formally introduced because of lack of a quorum.)
We will require all lobbyists, spokesmen and campaign managers to
dress like trout in public. Televangelists will be forced to take jobs as
Xerox repair specialists. Demagogues of all stripes will be required
to read Proust out loud in prisons.
We are Unitarian Jihad, and our motto is: "Sincerity is not
enough." We have heard from enough sincere people to last
a lifetime already. Just because you believe it‟s true doesn‟t
make it true. Just because your motives are pure doesn‟t
mean you are not doing harm. Get a dog, or comfort someone in a nursing home, or just feed the birds in the park. Play
basketball. Lighten up. The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone.
Brother Gatling Gun of Patience notes that he‟s pretty sure
the world is out to get him because everyone laughs when he
says he is a Unitarian. There were murmurs of assent around
the room, and someone suggested that we buy some Congress members and really stick it to the Baptists. But this
was deemed against Revolutionary Principles, and Brother
Gatling Gun of Patience was remanded to the Sunday Flowers and Banners committee.
People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can
strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run
the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in
We are Unitarian Jihad. We are everywhere. We have not
been born again, nor have we sworn a blood oath. We do not the Gandhi Room after the revolution.
think that God cares what we read, what we eat or whom we
11
Lane Transou
Through Your Body Member’s Profile
Although she‘s spent nearly 30 years working in the
same field - human resources - Lane Transou‘s life,
both personal and professional, has been anything
but complacent.
―I like to tell people my slogan is ‗coming to an office
near you,‘‖ she says.
Lane explains that she‘s been known to change jobs
frequently. In fact, she‘s just gearing up to start a
new job after leaving her last position of two years.
She found that her previous position as a Benefits
and Compensation Manager for an oil and gas company lacked a key component.
―I used the attraction theory two years ago to find a
job doing exactly what I wanted to do. And I got it,‖
she says. ―But I forgot to ask for a happy culture. The
right job doesn‘t mean anything if it‘s with the wrong
people.‖
Lane with EllieMay and LisaMarie
massage appointment later that day.
―He laughed and told me that Jan was a regular client of
his,‖ she says. ―In fact, if I had cancelled my appointment that day, she would have taken my slot.‖
Her new position, also as a Benefits and Compensation
Manager, came via a friend of a friend, and it fits the bill
From then on, Alan has taken the time to talk with Lane
perfectly, she says. The company has a strong family
about the attraction theory, she says. ―I get it. I don‘t
presence and the kind of people Lane can picture
always use it, but I definitely get it,‖ she says, laughing.
spending her workdays with.
In fact, it was Lane‘s penchant for job changing that
first led her to meet Alan Davidson nearly 10 years ago,
after a period of job searching left her stressed.
And Lane watched Alan‘s book, Body Brilliance, progress
every step of the way, attending readings and miniworkshops on each chapter as they were finished.
―I went to see him for massage therapy,‖ Lane says. ―He
was delightful and so calming. We hit it off immediately.‖
―I‘ve given his book to all of my friends,‖ she says. ―It‘s
almost a rite of passage with me. If I truly consider
someone a friend, I give them Alan‘s book.‖
After she had been seeing for several years, a friend invited Lane to a woman‘s club meeting featuring Jan
Brogniez, the co-author of ―Attracting Perfect Customers.‖ It was a message that resonated very strongly with
Lane, and she found herself telling Alan about it at her
Lane is in a happy relationship of 10 years and likes to
spend her spare time gardening, fishing and hanging
out with her dogs, EllieMae and LisaMarie. She‘s also
been an avid jogger for the past 30 years but, in celebration of her 50th birthday, she just completed her first
triathlon. She plans to do more of them in the future.
Elephants Tale...continued from page 10
made frequent stops to fill up. They still refuse to serve But Dulary wouldn't get out. Perhaps she didn't want
elephants in most restaurants, so Dulary had to eat in to get involved in a new relationship. She'd been hurt
before - poked in the eye with a tusk. They tried everythe truck. She seemed to be enjoying the ride.
thing to coax her out … for more than four hours,
"Perfect, couldn't be better. She is so calm," Blais said. nothing worked, until Tarra sashayed over.
"At this point she's perfect, absolutely amazing."
It's tough to find motels that allow large pets, so Dulary had to sleep in the truck in a Wal-Mart parking
lot. After 19 hours on the road, Dulary's ride finally
pulled into the elephant sanctuary. Where Tarra came
running to greet the truck, it was as though she'd been
waiting all these years for Dulary to arrive.
12
Their trunks touched.
And these new best friends, Dulary and Tarra, lived
happily ever after (so far). In this pachydermal paradise, two retired immigrant elephants from Southeast
Asia found each other in the hills of Tennessee. This is
an elephant's tale.