Big -picture gender dots to consider...

BIG-PICTURE GENDER DOTS TO CONSIDER . . . . . . (  From a #MeToo, this scant perspective of far-reaching issues obviously only sweepingly general but vital for us all to be aware of, for less of the blame-game and more of the mutual understanding we have access to)

IPPC’s latest dire report — who cares? What is it about the US that’s so knowingly and rapaciously assaulting the source of our existence?  We Boomers have had the best of it. Why is it we’re not probing for the core reasons of human nature and why we do what we do? And in the process why don't we, for the sake of all life on this our forsaken Earth — more actively seek to change the underlying power dynamic before its too late? Applying bio-logical hard-data from neuroscience is one guideline we can heed to help frame a way we could adapt and evolve!

Today, Washington, Wall Street, Corporate and Tech is 80+% men.  And no, this is not an attack on all men. Far from it.  But it is tagging the entrenched capitalistic patriarchy that’ so effectively perpetuates injustice, increasing inequality, diminishing democracy and fueling a global climate crisis as we imperil Mother Nature, and ourselves.

Men — biologically built to lead, to dominate, to be strong, to inseminate, to ensure our species’ survival (thanks to how Sam Keen describes it:  “when we men unzip our flies, our brains fall out”) are programmed to fulfill their naturally inherited roles as “protectors and providers”.  While women’s biology makes us bodily vulnerable — built to attract, to bleed, conceive, give birth, breast-feed, rear children, house-keep, nurture, nurse and care-take.

Thanks to eons of daring and discovery man’s bold and brilliant exploration, negotiation, calculation, invention, innovation, building & engineering has given us language, cities, the printing-press, electricity, radar, cars,  train, boats and planes and the Internet…… and with it — for better and worse — the mobility, comfort, speed and relative ease of our today’s fossil-fueled “Petroculture”.

The primal and predominantly masculine drive for power and control has been about fighting for, or defending turf, thus to kill or be killed.  Let’s not forget during this time of peace we take so easily for granted it’s a result of centuries of conflict and war when men have had to, and still do risk life and limb.  As the tribal impulse to attack and differentiate necessitates dehumanizing and the denial of empathy and feeling — inevitably men are historically conditioned to undertake lethal tasks.

No surprise then — in innate response to fear — testosterone-fueled violence and risk-taking is found more in the brains of men than women and oxytocin-enhanced feelings of empathy and relatedness — and with it more ethics* — more predominant in women than men (*see Dr. Paul Zak). Isn’t being aware of these basic biological facts reason to be more forgiving of ourselves and each other by better understanding the origins of the culturally conditioned power-dynamic we’ve inherited which so urgently needs a re-set to a sustaining, sustainable and re-generative m.o.

Acknowledging the roots of the limits of our collective consciousness that’s enabled our outdated political systems to be so unquestioned is pivotal to integrating new understandings to encourage frank and open conversations between women and men, of all races, young and old.  As women’s progress increasingly threatens the ‘men-at-the top’ status-quo, it is ours to recognize why male patterns of dominance are still rooted in primitive imprints of mammalian history and anatomy.  Thence, for us all to accept and appreciate more about our similarities and — thankfully — our differences,  and move on together, intentionally harmoniously from here?!  

It took Trump’s grotesque extremes to trigger crisis of democrarcy.  The varying levels of predation and arrogance men have taken for granted that women have suffered for eons must be over. #MeToo and #TimesUp etc are crucial catalysts for vital systemic change.  To say nothing of the #NeverAgain, smart gutsy kids of Parkland who still deserve our total support and who now even need Twitter protection from the NRA.  Time’s up for the tiny minority of male oligarchs who monopolize the world.

This is a call to all of us — to good men and women alike — to heed the signals and to respect and give voice to the unquantifiable human qualities of interconnectedness and caring that exist within all of us.  To do it for ourselves, for each other, for our children — and for Mother Earth — before we have to escape from this little Blue Planet and head for Mars or the Moon — ℅ Mr’s Bezos and Musk!

Oh, what the hell.....who cares anyway?

How come we women still want to wear make-up, to have plunging necklines, short-skirts, tight clothes, high-heels. Why? For whom? For ourselves? For our own comfort and ease and mobility? Really? To make us count perhaps? To give us the confidence we otherwise lack? So we will be noticed? So we will be seen and heard? To keep making our appearence the primary importance, our primary value? To attract/to distract men, to one-up our own gender? All in an attempt to secure the future of our species? The one we’re already practiced at adept at making increasingly insecure?  

Yup, its all connected, complex for sure, but inter-connected. Can we be blamed, we women and men for repeating our eons of variations of primal patterns, which have now brought us to the point of threatening our own existence? Meantime, we fail to question why. Why? Something about the current undercurrent attack on mothering -- our rapacious violation of Mother Earth and/or the unintended consequences of an ill-considered night of unprotected sex?  Maybe, maybe not, against our will? So, like it or not women, you/we are the ones stuck with pregnancies and gestating and birthing and nursing then decades of mothering, too often alone.  Yeah, why not bring more unwanted children into the world, why do they matter -- let them suffer, right? Oh, yes lets. But breast feed, nah, that's messy? Why no — oh no, leave that baby formula to profit the corporate giants, wont you?

How does our playing the game as the perfectly coiffed anchors on TV, or on titillating magazine covers, or being part of the everyday porn that’s everywhere for everyone undermining our intelligence and the best of the big frontal brains we’re bestowed with. The big brains still sending men — mostly — to war, to kill or be killed and to kill others, innocents, often. The big brains blitzing and blasting both land and sea. The brains too haughty and self-important to identify with ‘we the little people’ while colonizing and taking from our common-wealth, devouring what should be communal natural resources.  And thence the toll we’re taking on kids and their future and the shameful legacy we are leaving them. Who cares? Who....cares?

Wow, have we screwed ourselves. We women and men. Learned about evolution once, did we? Don't think so.  Learned about the need to adapt for the sake of survival? Yeah, but, that’s not for us, eh? Thats just about the birds and bees and other lesser mammals. Nope, we can just go mindlessly on, same old, same old, ducking and denying as is our wont the existential issue of our own dying and death and the abject fear we are fleeing from unconsciously in every moment.

Fear?.... I own it for sure, daily dialogue with mortality and my own end-of-days and my own inadequacies and how they leave me paralyzed and scared. For all my talk of it, at 71, I still haven’t dealt with end of life decisions and all the paper work and DNR's and Advance Directives and Wills and Molsts and proxys and wherefor the ashes? This in spite of the piles of thick files accumulated for years on the topic of non-existence that keep haunting. Oh to be sure, projections and flailings have their uses don't they.

So, yes, angry and sad — angry with myself for feeling useless these days. Angry with the state of the world — the one that reflects how I -- and we -- are all complicit. The one that used to be the big-wide-world out there, the one those dominant patriarchs were supposed to get right rather than stick us with the rigid skewed, self-serving systems we are tangled in today. Anger may not be enlightened but why not be angry at what we -- men and women too -- have so readily bought into. What we have collectively brought upon ourselves through unconsciousness, thoughtlessness and heartlessness and for all our religiosity -- our ignoring the golden rules of those Gods we have sought to conjur and elevate and worship. What will the consequences be of what we have made our priorities: from profit at all cost; to those plungeing necklines; to our plundering the oceans. This last day of July, 2018, as the world burns, methinks it is ours to humbly grieve, and lamentably, to accept the price that is ours to pay.

Happy Birthday America!

Some thoughts on this day, to all you dear, out-of-the-box, friends and relations who in one way or the other are working for, or rooting for, real systemic change. July 4th 1776 -- this day when King George -- what was it lV fourth? Nope, lll -- wrote in his diary "nothing of great import happened today." 

We damn Brits, got a lot to answer for. Not least our part in taking over this country. Or the North American continent I should say. And doing so violently and arrogantly and cruelly, taking-- body, land and soul -- from First Nations peoples. Embarrasses me to this day, as it should. Yes --okay -- same way as our lands and lives were battled over and shaped by Picts and Scots and Celts and Romans and Gaels and Vikings and Angles and gypsies and a few survivors from the Armada I guess too! But when you think about the way the US was founded, from Europeans escaping their lack of freedom in home countries thence only to inflict horrendous violence and religion upon others, while stealing their lands. When we know better now, how come these cycles of unconscious and primitive patterns continue? When what humanity is causing is leading to the destruction of its/our life source --- the very thing we collectively and culturally deny, ie, our own death and demise -- WTF homo sapiens?! 

 In the process -- we, Boomers especially who have had it so relatively easy -- inevitably, and okay -- unintentionally, have been a big part of perpetuating the irreversable environmental consequences of that history. Daily made more extreme by the staggering escalation of Trump within this blatantly unethical system that enables him. He from German and Scottish immigrants. That said, I suppose it is no wonder there is something about American politics -- certainly what has morphed into today's version that is based on such blatant dis-honesty. As Zephyr Teachout accurately explains in her book about corruption, back through the generations. And, due to the worst of the patriarchy that's so desperately fighting for its life right now in this, and other countries. And yes, back to those, white, British, models adopted by Ben Franklin. 

That said, how do we deal with the enormously complex and painful issues of immigration we're in the thick of right now, in the ways that it has to change so much of what so many of us have been able to take for granted--national and personal identities, and thus so much to do with the roots of who we are. And yes, here we are now -- of course all benefiting greatly -- thus complicit in the destabilization. At least I'm accepting the extent to which I am, as I sit here with the luxury of so many things: -- four fans working!; fingers on this keyboard; knowing there's something somewhere in the fridge to cobble together for lunch; and later the Woodstock Farm Market for Aba's falafel and today for the short season of shelling peas and music from the Bunkhouse Boys! So, yes, a day --- as we should on any other -- to remember to be grateful for all we do have, especially compared to many millions of others, including here in this discombobulating moment of time, the world over. As Joanna Macy is wont to say -- breakdown is a necessary part of breaking through. Crisis as opportunity, and all that.

 But, -- thankfully -- out of many -- one very sweet for today, for the first time as you know, a Native American woman -- Deb Haaland (actually she is half Norwegian, but that's almost as good) in New Mexico who looks like she may be the first of her people to be voted into Congress!! Yeehaaaa, I say! Let the best of Matriarchal values have their day again -- and let it be soon! Thanks for bearing with these thoughts aloud, if you have! And with that, love to all of you lovely ones -- and yep, for better and worse -- but mostly fo' mo' betta .

...Happy Birthday America! 

A BIG-PICTURE CONTEXT TO CONSIDER?
(From a #MeToo, this very scant and incomplete perspective of far-reaching issues can only be sweepingly general!).

Paris Accord?  What Paris Accord? EPA?  What EPA?  What is it about the US that’s so knowingly and rapaciously assaulting the source of our existence?  We Boomers have had the best of it. Why is it we’re not probing for the core reasons why we do what we do? And in the process why don't we, for the sake of all life on this our forsaken Earth — more actively seek to change the underlying power dynamic before its too late? Applying bio-logical hard-data from neuroscience is one guideline we can heed to help us frame a way we could adapt and evolve!

Today,  Washington, Wall Street, Corporate and Tech is 80+% men.  And no, this is not an attack on all men. Far from it.  But it is tagging the entrenched capitalistic patriarchy that’s so effectively perpetuating injustice, increasing inequality, diminishing democracy and fueling climate-change. 

Men — biologically built to lead, to dominate, to be strong, to inseminate, to ensure our species’ survival (thanks to how Sam Keen describes it:  “when we men unzip our flies, our brains fall out”) are programmed to fulfill their naturally inherited roles as “protectors and providers”.  While women’s biology makes us bodily vulnerable — built to bleed, to attract, to conceive, to give birth, breast-feed, rear children, house-keep, nurture, nurse and care-take.

Thanks to eons of daring and discovery man’s bold and brilliant exploration, negotiation, calculation, invention, innovation, building & engineering has given us language, cities, the printing-press, electricity, radar, rockets, cars,  train, boats and planes and the Internet…… and with it —for better and worse — the flexibility, mobility, comfort, speed and relative ease of our today’s fossil-fueled “Petroculture”.

The primal and predominantly masculine drive for power and control has been about fighting for, or defending turf, thus to kill or be killed.  Let’s not forget during this time of peace we take so easily for granted it’s a result of centuries of conflict and war when men have had, to, and still do (rightly or wrongly?) risk life and limb.  As the tribal impulse to attack and differentiate necessitates dehumanizing and the denial of empathy and feeling — how else could men be conditioned to undertake their historically dangerous  tasks?

No surprise then — in innate response to fear — testosterone-fueled violence and risk-taking is found more in the brains of men than women and oxytocin-enhanced feelings of empathy and relatedness — and with it more ethics* —-  are more predominant in women than men (*see Dr. Paul Zak). Isn’t being aware of these basic biological facts reason to be more forgiving of ourselves and each other by better understanding the origins of the culturally conditioned power-dynamic we’ve inevitably inherited which currently is, as it needs to be -- re-set, sustaining, sustainable and re-generative. 

Acknowledging the roots of the limits of our collective consciousness that’s enabled our outdated political systems to be so unquestioned is pivotal to integrating new understandings and to encourage frank and open conversations between women and men -- young and old.  As women’s progress increasingly threatens the ‘men-at-the top’ status-quo, it is ours to recognize why male patterns of dominance are still rooted in primitive imprints of mammalian history and anatomy.  Thence,  for us all to accept and appreciate more about our similarities and — thankfully — our differences,  and move on together harmoniously from here?!  

It took Trump’s grotesque extremes to trigger this transitional moment.  The varying levels of predation and arrogance men have taken for granted that women have suffered for eons must be over.  #MeToo and #TimesUp etc are more crucial catalysts for vital systemic change.  To say nothing of the #NeverAgain, smart gutsy kids of Parkland who deserve our total support and who now even need Twitter protection from the NRA.  Time’s up for the tiny minority of male oligarchs who monopolize the world.

This is a call to all of us — to good men and women alike — to heed the signals and to respect and give voice to the unquantifiable human qualities of interconnectedness and caring that exist within all of us.  To do it for ourselves, for each other, for our children — and for Mother Earth — before we have to escape from this little Blue Planet and head for Mars or the Moon — ℅ Mr’s Bezos and Musk!

Would love to talk about all or any of this.  Anyone else?

A SELF-REGULATING WHAT, WHO?!

February 1st -- response to Vince and Karen's response to Geoff's excellent Conscious Elders Community Conversation today:  -- A SELF-REGULATING EARTH -- Gaia Theory and Deeptimewalk 💙

Vince you write about our normalizing violence, power and wealth -- thus compounding inequality and divisiveness which for me can be greatly explained by Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. But the question is, how to use our heads -- and hearts -- to apply understanding of his or any thesis to aid in self-regulating ourselves! Iain prudently won't touch gender issues though it is hard not to draw parallels with his brain asymmetry and the 80% men who run Washington, Wall Street, the world of Tech and pretty much everything else. And increasingly, our lives and the future dubiously shaped by the brilliant impersonal metrics of ( left-hemisphere) algorithms.

As a #MeToo and early Feminist, I'm horrified to admit being grateful to Trump! His titanically extreme example of the hyper-masculine, patriarchal system, dominating this country -- as you succinctly put it, Sunny -- is actually helping inocculate us from the toxic shadow of the embedded capitalist/consumer/bullying system he embodies!  As Joanna Macy would say -- things breaking apart for a break-through to emerge. Amen!

There is SO much women owe you men. You have been fodder for war. Is it any wonder so many are closed off from feelings. Seen Dunkirk? And you, Richard -- in Vietnam?

Of course with women alongside -- but for better and worse -- how much men have conjured we so easily for granted: iPhones/apps/Google/Apple/Facebook/Twitter/Uber/Zoom/cars/boats/planes/TV/electric light/the printing press/penicillin/plastic/exploration/engineering/architecture/religion/government/banking/politics/the wheel/ art/music and on and on and on! Changing the chemistry of this Planet in the process, and we Boomer's have had the best of it.

Hard to argue with Stephan saying we are doomed, but CEN and this group is a reassuring example of the consciousness that perhaps could help turn our species around? More than anything, via men with heart and soul and an integration of the best of the Feminine and Masculine. I'm doing my feeble best to encourage conversations locally to hopefully increase our understanding and acceptance of each other. A few hard-data understandings from biology and neuroscience we didn't know decades ago can help reduce polarization and judgement.

Methinks however, pivotal to it all this pearl of wisdom from a Men's Movement workshop 30 years ago -- where women were invited -- led by the venerable Robert Bly and Sam Keen who got the ball rolling by confessing "the trouble is, when we men open our flies, our brains fall out"!  Thereby hangs the most natural primal bodily need to preserve and reproduce. One that deserves to be more fully accepted and acknowledged and as basic birds and bees...and we females have surely played our part.  

But the need to meet and listen and talk about all this, and to suspend judgement and pull on the oars together is surely one course to chart? In the process, doing more about making conscious our unchecked urge for survival that's bringing about its opposite -- before we we founder for ever on some faraway shore.  We are all in the same boat after all!