300 Million Being Led Off A Cliff, 7 Billion In Dire Peril, 1 Billion Rising - Here Are 3 Dates On Which You Can Make A Stand For The Future

Gustav Klimt, Water Serpents (1907)

300 Million Being Led Off A Cliff, 7 Billion In Dire Peril, 1 Billion Rising - Here Are 3 Dates On Which You Can Make A Stand

By Richard Power

[NOTE: I am honored that this post has also been cross-posted as a Buzzflash Commentary at Truthout.org. Buzzflash and Truthout are great bastions of our progressive citizens' online media, and I am happy to have contributed to them throughout the years we have all utilized the Internet to counteract the dumbing-down and disinformation of the corporatist media.]

The months ahead will offer three profoundly meaningful opportunities to be the change you seek in the world. Here they are in reverse chronological order.

February 14, 2013: One Billion Rising

Plutocracy, like Patriarchy, is a counter-evolutionary force within the collective psyche. It is life-negating. Conversely, the rise of women is one of the principle drivers of the global non-violent evolution we so desperately need. It is life-affirming. Likewise, green energy. The fossil fuel industry is one of the three pillars that the Patriarchy and the Plutocracy stand upon, the others are the predatory banking system and the war racket. This truth is a naked one now. The Emperor has no clothes, and it is an ugly sight to behold. Kick any one of these three pillars away and the edifice collapses. Hasten the rise of women and the edifice is dismantled from inside, because it does not answer the simple test of being nurturing unto the seventh generation. (Oh, of course, there are grotesque exceptions: e.g., heartless CEOs like Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, reactionary politicians like Sarah Palin and Margaret Thatcher. The phenomena similar to that of Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Allen West, etc. But it has always been thus. After all, in his guide book to the Inferno, didn't Dante consign the traitors to the lowest rung of Hell?)

Please view the three minute Eve Ensler film embedded below, and share it with your friends via Facebook and Twitter. One billion women violated is almost incomprehensible abomination; but one billion women (and men) STRIKING for a day - to DANCE in the streets - is certainly an act of GLOBAL, NON-VIOLENT EVOLUTION.

Join us. Be the change. Strike. Dance. Rise.

One Billion Rising
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November 14, 2012: The Dirty Weather Report

The Climate Crisis is our greatest national security threat, our greatest economic threat and our greatest human rights issue; and as insane as it will seem to the future (if there is a future), the four men running for the highest offices in the U.S. government just spent a collective 6 hours of prime-time debate avoiding any mention of it (so did the so-called "journalists" who moderated).

Ironically, the man elected President in 2000, but whose rightful place was usurped, has spent the last twelve years traveling the world, training people of courage and clarity of mind, organizing, and marshaling resources (including his own cable news network).

Yes, Al Gore has earned his Nobel Peace Prize.

On November 14, 2012, you can join us for the second annual 24 Hours of Reality, which will be broadcast live in its entirety over the Internet, and from all around the world, including man-on-the-street reports, music, and most importantly, stories from communities moving forward with solutions.

To learn more, visit the Climate Reality Project. But before you do, watch the video embedded below and then share it with your friends and colleagues via Facebook and Twitter.

Al Gore Announcing 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report
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November 6, 2012: Defeat Romney, Without Illusions about Obama

No, it's not a choice between the "lesser of two evils" (we have no time for such adolescent formulations), this is yet another choice between REASON and MADNESS.

In a recent Words of Power I shared the rational, responsible perspectives of Noam Chomsky and Rebecca Solnit (see Fear & Loathing 2012: POTUS Lets the Messenger of A Monstrous Future Get Up Off the Mat; Meanwhile, Chomsky and Solnet Speak for the True Grown-Ups in the Room); in this post (which may well be my last before election day), I offer you the rational, responsible perspective of Daniel Ellsberg:

It is urgently important to prevent a Republican administration under Romney/Ryan from taking office in January 2013. The election is now just weeks away, and I want to urge those whose values are generally in line with mine -- progressives, especially activists -- to make this goal one of your priorities during this period. An activist colleague recently said to me: “I hear you’re supporting Obama.” I was startled, and took offense. “Supporting Obama? Me?!” “I lose no opportunity publicly,” I told him angrily, to identify Obama as a tool of Wall Street, a man who’s decriminalized torture and is still complicit in it, a drone assassin, someone who’s launched an unconstitutional war, supports kidnapping and indefinite detention without trial, and has prosecuted more whistleblowers like myself than all previous presidents put together. “Would you call that support?” My friend said, “But on Democracy Now you urged people in swing states to vote for him! How could you say that? I don’t live in a swing state, but I will not and could not vote for Obama under any circumstances.” My answer was: a Romney/Ryan administration would be no better -- no different -- on any of the serious offenses I just mentioned or anything else, and it would be much worse, even catastrophically worse, on a number of other important issues: attacking Iran, Supreme Court appointments, the economy, women’s reproductive rights, health coverage, safety net, climate change, green energy, the environment. Daniel Ellsberg, Defeat Romney, Without Illusions about Obama, Common Dreams, 10-18-12

Vote on November 6th, vote AGAINST the Hollow Man and the maniac running with him; vote against them in the only way you can truly thwart them. Vote because there is a difference on who gets appointed to SCOTUS, a difference on whether or not Planned Parenthood gets funding, a difference on whether or not women's reproductive rights are protected, a difference on whether or not GLBT citizens are allowed to live their lives to the fullest, a difference on whether or not women achieve economic opportunity in the workplace, a difference on whether or not the E.P.A. is dismantled, a difference on whether or not teachers and nurses are demonized, a difference on whether or not science is devalued and disregarded, and on and on. And it makes a difference on whether or not we launch another foolish military adventure in the Middle East. Make no mistake about it, you won't ever again see the Hollow Man who just agreed with POTUS on foreign policy in that final debate; the Hollow Man's foreign policy brain trust is led by Dick Cheney and John Bolton, and we will be at war with Iran within one year from the grim, world-splitting day he is sworn in.

Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.

Richard Power is the author of eight books, including Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril, Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. Power writes and speaks on spirituality, sustainability, human rights, and security. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com, and is a member of the Truthout Board of Advisors. He also teaches yoga.

"We Must Learn to See in the Dark" - Future Primitive Gaialogue with Richard Power: Humanifesto, or How to "Become the Change You Seek in the World"

Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in An Era of Global Peril from Amazon is available in soft cover and Kindle versions from Amazon

The gods and goddesses do not exist as "separate entities." Nor do the avatars. Nor do you and I. The gods and goddesses are like vortices. You and I are like fractals. The avatars are fractals morphing into vortices. There is no "above" or "below" or even "within." All are the dance of particle and wave, all are the revelation of the Matrix. This era into which we enter now demands great courage, great love, great laughter, great patience, great strength, great cleverness, great silence, and great song. You have access to inexhaustible resources of all that will be demanded of you, otherwise you would not be here now. -- Richard Power, Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in An Era of Global Peril, 2012

"We Must Learn to See in the Dark" - Future Primitive Gaialogue with Richard Power: Humanifesto, How to "Become the Change You Seek in the World"

By Richard Power

The life journey of Joanna Harcourt-Smith is a compelling story that spans the turbulent history of our remarkable era: from growing up in Paris, where she learned to speak five languages, to living the fugitive life in Afghanistan with her long-time lover LSD pioneer Timothy Leary in the 1970s, from playing house with the Rolling Stones and hanging out with Salvador Dali in the 1960s, to hosting the Future Primitive podcast series from Santa Fe, New Mexico since 2006. So it should not be surprising that Joanna recently invited me to engage in one of her Gaialogues, this one introducing my eighth book, Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in An Era of Global Peril. In this hour-long interview, we explore numerous issues, including the profound challenges of the Climate Crisis, childhood trauma and the power of the Shamanic path, the long-overdue return of the Divine Feminine, the scourges of sociopathy and corporatism, the vital role of women in that great evolutionary leap forward (that must come soon), as well as practical tips on actualizing Gandhi's exhortation to "become the change you seek in the world."

Future Primitive offers a treasure trove of free podcast interviews with a broad spectrum of over 300 iconoclasts and evolutionaries, from Van Jones, Charles Eisenstein, Daniel Pinchbeck and Fantuzzi to Joan Halifax, Riki Ott, Laurie David and Jean Shinoda Bolen. And it is good to be in their company.

Make yourself a pot of tea or coffee, and take off an hour to indulge yourself and listen to this Gaialogue:



Future Primitive is a Marion Institute project. And I encourage you to support this shining example of the kind of citizens' media so essential to bringing about the massive, NON-VIOLENT evolution our species and our planet so desperately need.

The Inner Game

Humanifesto is about the inner game; it is about what YOU can bring to this profound shift in the nature of civilization and culture. For that is what our circumstances demand of us. And that profound shift in civilization and culture is impossible without a profound shift in consciousness.

Organized into three sections, "Humanifesto" includes both practical techniques for the journey of self-discovery and a bold agenda for collective social action.

The first section, End as Beginning; Perspectives from Within the Singularity is the text of my un-TED talk. It is a twenty-minute presentation. It tells who I am, where I came from, what I have to tell you, and why you should listen to me. I conceived of this un-TED talk in 2010, and have been working on it since, distilling the message down to its essence.

The second section, Primal Reality, is a series of ruminations, revelations and exhortations on light and shadow and the oneness of all life. These writings are explorations in search of new global language for a new global spirituality (embodied and individuated).

I have also included, as an Appendix, Burning Man 2011 – Primal Culture and Core Civilization as A Moveable Feast, my report on Black Rock City. This remarkable event offers us all some powerful lessons. Such laboratories of living are of vital importance.

Our way of life is unsustainable. We are destroying the natural order upon which we depend for our physical existence. Our governance has failed protect us, or our world, from our own ignorance. Governments no longer serves the common good, they has been subverted to indulge the voracious appetites of corporations.

We are lost. And just as we have lost our sense of oneness with the life of the planet all around us, we have also lost our sense of oneness with the divine reality within us. Neither religious fanaticism nor soulless materialism nourish our beings. Sentient life everywhere calls for a new humanism, with which to redeem the past and rescue the future by revitalizing the now.

We must call upon our primal reality to birth a new civilization from the singularity which we have created for ourselves. Our primal reality is not savagery or selfishness or survival of the cruelest; our primal reality is unconditional love and impeccable clarity of mind. And it is accessible to us here and now. Humanifesto (Y-O-U manifesto) is a guide to how to live and be the change we seek in this era of planetary peril.

Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.

Richard Power is the author of eight books, including Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril, Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. Power writes and speaks on spirituality, sustainability, human rights, and security. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com, and is a member of the Truthout Board of Advisors. He also teaches yoga.

Fear & Loathing 2012: POTUS Lets the Messenger of A Monstrous Future Get Up Off the Mat; Meanwhile, Chomsky and Solnet Speak for the True Grown-Ups in the Room

Andy Warhol - Muhammad Ali (1978)

It's time to stop making excuses for Barack Obama. With so much at stake in this election, his performance at the debate on Wednesday night was indefensible. Bob Herbert, Demos, 10-5-12

A restrained Barack Obama, who went into the debate with a solid lead in the polls, and an even more solid lead in the battleground states, often seemed to be more of a spectator than a participant. Obama’s reluctance handed Romney an opening that the Republican took. Indeed, Romney took it to every side of every issue. John Nichols, The Nation, 10-4-12

The question now is whether Team Obama understands that our President must be more aggressive and commanding in the next two debates — and be unafraid to respectfully pin Romney to the floor. Robert Reich, 10-4-12

And they say Mr. Obama hasn't gotten anything done. On Wednesday night, he turned a rout into a contest again, and all by himself. Given the state of the race on Wednesday morning, that's quite the accomplishment. Or something. William Rivers Pitt, Truthout, 10-5-12

Big Bird might have been one the most popular trends on Twitter during the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. But as tonight’s wide ranging discussion on domestic issues unfolded, #climatesilence got some decent play as well. Sadly, not because the candidates broke their silence on the issue. Stephen Lacey, Climate Progress, 10-4-12

Fear & Loathing 2012: POTUS Lets the Messenger of A Monstrous Future Get Up Off the Mat; Meanwhile, Chomsky and Solnet Speak for the True Grown-Ups in the Room

By Richard Power

In the first Obama-Romney debate of 2012, the Hollow Man didn't deliver any of those "zingers" his staff leakers had promised; but he did utter an ugly and only thinly veiled racial slur in his opening gambit: "Look I have five boys, I'm used to people saying something that's not always true but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I'll believe it."

Forgot about the fact that his "boys" are now all grown men (the youngest in his early thirties); he was equating POTUS, the first African-American POTUS, with "boys" who didn't always tell the truth. Do I really have to spell it out for you? The Hollow Man was calling POTUS a "boy," and a less than truthful "boy" to boot.

No, POTUS did NOT turn to the Hollow Man and say, "I am not your boy." POTUS turned the other cheek, as he usually does. At such moments, perhaps wisely, perhaps to a fault (I don't really know or care anymore), POTUS is more Jackie Robinson than Mohammed Ali, more James Meredith than Hank Aaron.

With an assist from the shameful Jim Lehrer, POTUS allowed this Hollow Man to inflate his chilling hollowness into a Grand Poobah Bully, and float upward on Hot Air and Big Lies.

He had been lying face down on the mat.

There I was, talking to the TV again, "POTUS, are you really going to let him talk about how he will work across the aisle and bringing people together and not mention McConnell's publicly stated no. 1 priority for the last four years?" And POTUS didn't.

During this first of three Obama-Romney debates, and for the first time in his 2012 campaign, the Hollow Man referred ONLY to his time as Governor of Massachusetts, and NOT ONCE to his years as CEO of Bain Capital. (It had been the other way around until now.) This etch-a-sketch move was predictable, over the top in its utter gall, of course; but predictable nonetheless. The problem, POTUS, is that you didn't either. You never once reminded us of Bain, or invoked the 41% or the 99% (or the 1%). And that was a mistake.

POTUS, this Hollow Man, Mitt Romney, and the maniac that was chosen for him to run with, Paul Ryan, are VERY dangerous men. They are messengers of a monstrous future. And YOU let this VERY dangerous man get up off the mat and live to fight another day.

Meanwhile ...

At least until the next debate, the best arguments for voting the straight "D" ticket has been offered by people whose grasp of our political, economic and environmental circumstances could easily lead them to urge voting for a third party candidate IF they were NOT the grown-ups in the room. But they ARE, indeed, the grown-ups in the room.

Consider this from the brilliant Rebecca Solnit:

One manifestation of this indiscriminate biliousness is the statement that gets aired every four years: that in presidential elections we are asked to choose the lesser of two evils. Now, this is not an analysis or an insight; it is a cliché, and a very tired one, and it often comes in the same package as the insistence that there is no difference between the candidates. You can reframe it, however, by saying: we get a choice, and not choosing at all can be tantamount in its consequences to choosing the greater of two evils. Rebecca Solnit, Rain on Our Parade: A Letter to the Dismal Left, Common Dreams, 9-27-12

And take this sage advice from the legendary Noam Chomsky:

Professor Chomsky (who lives in Massachusetts) said he will probably vote for Jill Stein for president in effort to push a genuine electoral alternative, but that if he lived in a swing state he would vote “against Romney-Ryan, which means voting for Obama.” Noam Chomsky on How Progressives Should Approach Election 2012, AlterNet, 9-28-12

No one on the Left has more credibility than Noam Chomsky. And Chomsky is now on record, he says he will probably vote for Stein, but adds that if he were voting in a swing state, he would vote against Romney-Ryan, which means voting for Obama. That is a moral position, that is a rational position, that is a realistic position. Let us hope there are enough other grown-ups in the room to counteract whatever dirty tricks are in the works. (BTW, this is precisely the position that the shell of a man formerly known as Ralph Nader refused to urge in 2000, and is the reason why the shell of a man formerly known as Ralph Nader has ZERO credibility on issues of electoral politics) ...

And you, dear reader, if you don't think it makes a difference who is elected President in November, or who will hold the Speaker's gavel, or who will control the depraved wreck of the Senate chamber; well, then ... perhaps we should simply not discuss it any further ...

Oh, and POTUS, you are fond of saying you believe in the American people; well, if you do, why don't you believe in them enough to show some fight, and some anger, and just let it all unfold from there.

"There is a time to every purpose under heaven ..."

Here is what it looks like, and sounds like, to fight for something ...

Muhammad Ali - Best Knockouts, Famous Fights and Speeches

Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.

Richard Power is the author of eight books, including Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril, Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. Power writes and speaks on spirituality, sustainability, human rights, and security. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com, and is a member of the Truthout Board of Advisors. He also teaches yoga.