September 30th 2011 Sobering- up

September 30, 2011, Lakewood, CO

12:24:29, hours MDT

...continued hiker’s meditation…

Remember that Sobering- up is, yes, about the elimination for the crushing need and dependencies for drugs, alcohol and exciting risky addictive behaviors …and… that as TIME goes on, we mature some and take on our own opinions about ourselves and the world which may not jive with those around us. After awhile, after maturing… we sense the ridiculousness of the need to be approved of by others and by contrast, learn to conduct ourselves in a manner that intuitively is the way of the Pathway or Spirit of the Heart. We then allow the pieces to fall as they may. Do you sense this as well…? I wonder?

This Pathway with Heart can not be denied nor can it be explained away by the newly sobering up kids on the block. It takes what it takes because—> It takes what IT TAKES. See? Simple shit.


Remember to keep it simple and allow yourself to experience the full range of living on the planet. Anyone who thinks they know better for you and what you SHOULD be doing… well… give it a try and experience the FIT. If the shoe fits then wear it. Experience the FIT. Some things FIT and then lose their luster, RIGHT? And some things FIT and FIT for a very long time, RIGHT? And then some things FIT temporarily and then poof, we lose the FIT for that— behavior, circumstance or event and by no means of our own— it is removed from us and then we feel loss and have to grieve it away, Correct?

September 29, 2011, Lakewood, CO

14:32:00, hours MDT

...continued hiker’s meditation…

See below excerpt from today’s Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/29/bank-of-america-debit-card-fee_n_987304.html?view=print&comm_ref=false [website accessed today, September 29, 2011, by author]






EDITION: U.S.

CA Canada US United States UK United Kingdom

September 29, 2011

Bank Of America Plans To Charge Monthly $5 Debit Card Usage Fee

Bank of America will charge customers $5 per month to use their debit card starting in early 2012, according to Dow Jones Newswires.


The fee will apply to customers who use their debit card to make any purchases during the month, but won't apply to those who only use it for ATM transactions, according to the report. Debit card use is on the rise, according to Digital Transactions. Signature debit card transactions jumped by almost 10 percent between April 2010 and April 2011, the website reported.


The Bank of America charge is the latest in a slew of fees big banks are adding to checking accounts and debit cards. JPMorgan Chase tested charging a $5 ATM fee for non-network customers in Illinois in July, a plan they ultimately abandoned. Citigroup announced earlier this month that it would charge customers a $10 monthly fee if their account had a balance below $1,500


The added fees are an effort to generate revenue that bank officials expect they will lose as a result of recent regulations -- passed through the Dodd-Frank Act -- that curb overdraft and other fees, according to the Detroit Free Press.


A banking industry group told the Free Press in May that creating or charging fees is one of the few ways banks can recoup revenue lost through through the new rules. One of these laws, a Federal Reserve regulation that poffering a debit card have changed," Bank of America spokeswoman Anne Pace told Reuters Thursday. uts a cap on debit-card swipe fees, will take effect next month, according to Bloomberg. 
    
"The economics of offering a debit card have changed," Bank of America spokeswoman Anne Pace told Reuters Thursday.
                                                                                                                   **********************************


—> Looks like “they” are going to jam it in to the hilt. Was not the billion dollar bail-out enough?

On a better note: things here are alright.

Spoke with a friend last night and just before on the phone regarding her quandary— should she lie to her boss about an employment interview today?




She recognizes her fear of losing her job on account of circumstances whereby she is not confident about her position there and thought it best to lie a little and say something like her mom is in the hospital and she needs to leave early.


I reminded her about the Spiritual Energy and the Pathway with Heart and that lies only come out of fearfulness and not one’s greater good.


She seemed to understand— however she did not give a sense of buy-in.


This disappoints me in her and gives me pause about trying to rescue her from herself.


She has been in the habit of acting out of emotions and does at times seem to have emotional emergencies which overwhelm her. I must remember that she is on her own path and although I do care about the pathway and her on this path —- there is little to do unless she has buy- in. Correct?


The Bank of America deal is out of our control and stick it to us they may. I remember long ago about coming to clean up the Insides of me and having faith that insecurities will leave me and that lying only serves to separate me and isolate me from those that tell the truth and live with the outcomes.




Living with the results of the truth telling is a better way for me to remain of sober mind/ body and spirit. I no longer am bought in to what other’s think about me and my living, as my friend here is still in the throes of.

September 28, 2011, Lakewood, CO

11:02:44, hours MDT
...continued hiker’s meditation…

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Going Green but Getting Nowhere
By GERNOT WAGNER

Published: September 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/opinion/going-green-but-getting-nowhere.html?_r=3&src=tp&smid=fb-share



"YOU reduce, reuse and recycle. You turn down plastic and paper. You avoid out-of-season grapes. You do all the right things.

Good.






Just know that it won’t save the tuna, protect the rain forest or stop global warming. The changes necessary are so large and profound that they are beyond the reach of individual action.


You refuse the plastic bag at the register, believing this one gesture somehow makes a difference, and then carry your takeout meal back to your car for a carbon-emitting trip home.


Say you’re willing to make real sacrifices. Sell your car. Forsake your air-conditioner in the summer, turn down the heat in the winter. Try to become no-impact man. You would, in Americans would continue to emit an average of 20 tons of carbon dioxide a year; Europeans, about 10 tons.


What about going bigger? You are the pope with a billion followers, and let’s say all of them take your advice to heart. If all Catholics decreased their emissions to zero overnight, the planet would surely notice, but pollution would still be rising. Of course, a billion people, whether they’re Catholic or adherents of any other religion or creed, will do no such thing. Two weeks of silence in a Buddhist yoga retreat in the Himalayas with your BlackBerry checked at the door? Sure. An entire life voluntarily lived off the grid?


No thanks.


And that focuses only on those who can decrease their emissions. When your average is 20 tons per year, going down to 18 tons is as easy as taking a staycation. But if you are among the four billion on the planet who each emit one ton a year, you have nowhere to go but up.


Leading scientific groups and most climate scientists say we need to decrease global annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least half of current levels by 2050 and much further by the end of the century. And that will still mean rising temperatures and sea levels for generations.


So why bother recycling or riding your bike to the store? Because we all want to do something, anything. Call it “action bias.” But, sadly, individual action does not work. It distracts us from the need for collective action, and it doesn’t add up to enough. Self-interest, not self-sacrifice, is what induces noticeable change. Only the right economic policies will enable us as individuals to be guided by self-interest and still do the right thing for the planet.


Every ton of carbon dioxide pollution causes around $20 of damage to economies, ecosystems and human health. That sum times 20 implies $400 worth of damage per American per year. That’s not damage you’re going to do in the distant future; that’s damage each of us is doing right now. Who pays for it?


We pay as a society. My cross-country flight adds fractions of a penny to everyone else’s cost. That knowledge leads some of us to voluntarily chip in a few bucks to “offset” our emissions. But none of these payments motivate anyone to fly less. It doesn’t lead airlines to switch to more fuel-efficient planes or routes. If anything, airlines by now use voluntary offsets as a marketing ploy to make green-conscious passengers feel better. The result is planetary socialism at its worst: we all pay the price because individuals don’t.


It won’t change until a regulatory system compels us to pay our fair share to limit pollution accordingly. Limit, of course, is code for “cap and trade,” the system that helped phase out lead in gasoline in the 1980s, slashed acid rain pollution in the 1990s and is now bringing entire fisheries back from the brink. “Cap and trade” for carbon is beginning to decrease carbon pollution in Europe, and similar models are slated to do the same from California to China.


Alas, this approach has been declared dead in Washington, ironically by self-styled free-marketers. Another solution, a carbon tax, is also off the table because, well, it’s a tax.


Never mind that markets are truly free only when everyone pays the full price for his or her actions. Anything else is socialism. The reality is that we cannot overcome the global threats posed by greenhouse gases without speaking the ultimate inconvenient truth: getting people excited about making individual environmental sacrifices is doomed to fail.


High school science tells us that global warming is real. And economics teaches us that humanity must have the right incentives if it is to stop this terrible trend.


Don’t stop recycling. Don’t stop buying local. But add mastering some basic economics to your to-do list. Our future will be largely determined by our ability to admit the need to end planetary socialism. That’s the most fundamental of economics lessons and one any serious environmentalist ought to heed.


Gernot Wagner is an economist at the Environmental Defense Fund and the author of the forthcoming “But Will the Planet Notice?”


A version of this op-ed appeared in print on September 8, 2011, on page A29 of the New York edition with the headline: Going Green but Getting Nowhere.

*************************************************************************************************************

Well?


Your thoughts?


Why are we still thinking in our minds that bringing in that Whole Foods plastic sack to the Whole Foods outlet is really saving anything?

How were we so mislead?
Are they [we] still ASLEEP at the switch?


The op-ed piece seems to talk- up the realities of our consumer- culture and its misguided choices.

September 27, 2011, Lakewood, CO

13:16:11, hours MDT
...continued hiker’s meditation…

There comes a time when those who have glimpsed the Universal Energy and felt it working inside them, lose faith in this Energy.
Remember it is a vital energy and at once fleeting. Do not lose too much hope that you will lose it for a long time, for you won’t.


Remember that once you have initiated the practice of gaining it’s attentiveness you can not turn back even if your ego tells you to. This Universal Energy is shrewd and intuitively you will notice it when you are seeking. At other times; although it is a vital life giving and scene changing Energy-- at the same time it is fleeting.


You can compare this to taking up a fist full of sand and then squeezing the sand tightly in your fist for as long as you are able— say a full 20 minutes.


Most of us refuse this action for the full 20 minute period. However, you can try this and then your experience will serve to solidly identify for you how fleeting this Universal Energy actually is. See—the sand represents how fleeting it is. The longer it is squeezed the more of it that falls away from your grasp!


True!


So at once it is Vital for all Spiritual Growing and Fleeting; you can not hold on to it with virtuosity or your ability to grasp at things tangible.




Gives credence to the euphemism— Easy Does It. Seemingly tangible and although visceral some people/ practitioners report, fleeting. Just when you think you got it— poof amigos-- it is Gone!

September 26, 2011

Today is a good day. Today is my birthday ― turned in the ppw for a job before and am looking forward to spending time with a friend after she gets home from work.

The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Yergin+Quest+security/5455344/story.html#ixzz1Z5VNUsUh
Yergin's Quest for security; Energy expert offers options
By Andrea Burzynski, Reuters September 25, 2011


The Quest: Global Race for Energy, Money and Power (Penguin, 816 pages, $44) is out now.


Every U.S. president since Nixon has advocated energy independence. Energy expert Daniel Yergin doesn't. He doesn't think it would make the United States any more secure.


Famed for his Pulitzer Prize-winning history of oil The Prize, Yergin's new book The Quest looks at every solution from fossil fuels to solar and nuclear energy in a far broader sweep than his previous work.


"Energy independence is a very appealing term, but it sets an impossible goal for the foreseeable future," Yergin said. "What we need to do is diversify our energy sources just as investors diversify their portfolios to make them safer."


The U.S. has been enjoying a renaissance in fossil fuel production in recent years, with deep-sea drilling for oil and hydraulic fracturing (also called "fracking") to release natural gas trapped in rocks. This has also caused an environmental backlash, with opposition to shale drilling mounting in states like Pennsylvania.


Yergin acknowledges concerns about contaminating water supplies, but he believes that these new technologies can safely boost energy output without negative effects as long as precautions are taken.


"We need to think about the risks and mitigate them," he said. "The costs of avoiding a crisis are a lot lower than the costs of a crisis."


With an eye toward the future, he examines the mixture of energy resources that will be necessary to power the growing population and economy.


"We certainly need to diversify and broaden our energy portfolio to support a much larger global economy that we may be experiencing in as little as two decades," he said.


Yergin is optimistic about new technologies combined with prudent planning to address future needs. With risks properly managed, he believes shale gas is integral to America's energy supply. He points out that it comprises 30 percent of the country's natural gas production.


"We thought as a country we'd be importing large volumes of natural gas, instead we're producing it within our own borders," he said.


Shale drilling isn't the only technology making waves in the energy world.


Yergin writes about the rebirth of renewable energy sources, which he believes also hold great promise. He charts developments in wind technology. He also discusses the potential of solar power, but predicts widespread use will only happen when costs come down.


Another pillar of energy security Yergin identifies is conservation, which he calls "the fifth fuel". He asserts that using energy efficiently is an important piece of the energy security puzzle. Yergin believes people can be nudged toward this goal through a blend of technological innovation, regulation, and making efficiency cost-effective.


"We're twice as energy efficient today as we were in the 1970s," he said. "I think that's a reasonable goal- why don't we become twice as energy efficient again?"


Above all, he believes that a multi-pronged approach is crucial to supporting a growing global economy.


"You could be energy independent, but it could be extremely expensive," he said. "We're part of a global marketplace, and what really counts is energy security."

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

September 23, 2011, Lakewood, CO

09:42:06, hours MDT

...continued hiker’s meditation…

First day of fall, hoar frost on the weeds and grasses.

September 20, 2011


http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/september-equinox.html accessed on web today by author.


September 22, 2011, 03:04 AM MDT
Explained

The September Equinox

The September equinox occurs at 09:04 (or 9:04am) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on September 23, 2011. It is also referred to as the autumnal or fall equinox in the northern hemisphere, as well as the spring or vernal equinox in the southern hemisphere (not to be confused with the March equinox). This is due to the seasonal contrasts between both hemispheres throughout the year.


What happens during the September equinox?


The sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward in the northern hemisphere during the September equinox. The location on the earth where the sun is directly overhead at solar noon is known as the subsolar point. The subsolar point occurs on the equator during the September equinox and March equinox. At that time, the earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun.

One year during the backpacking journey the hoar frost came much earlier. It was on the Hoback River in NW Wyoming about September 6th that year. Gosh, I miss sleeping outside during the autumnal change in seasons.

September 21, 2011, Lakewood, CO

15:44:46, hours MDT

...continued hiker’s meditation…

Current reading list:

• People of the Deer / Farley Mowat, 1952.

An account first hand concerning the Barrens of the Canadian Arctic.

Informative and honestly moving of the spirit.

 First day of autumn the day after tomorrow and here I lament the hiking/ backpacking days of the past few years.


On the brighter note, I’ve an interview concerning another position tomorrow afternoon.


Things here have been up and down nonetheless, with spiritual practice I am learning anew to suffer well with what these days and nights have been presenting to me.

September 15, 2011, Lakewood, CO

08:34:35, hours MDT

...continued hiker’s meditation…

Current reading list:


    • Railroaded: the transcontinentals and the making of modern America / Richard White, 2011


    • Of Men and Mountains / by William O. Douglas, 1950

• People of the Deer / Farley Mowat, 1952

There are times in living that dearly demand huge attention to the Heart; that the heart yearns for Love is all the time, although one finds herself unconscious to this flow.

Incumbent upon us- is to be good, decent and honest stewards of the Heart- for the Heart is wise and yearns for so much more than the comfort foods, the TV shows, the fleeting erotic sexual encounters and the ego- driven status of the well endowed and well connected.

The heart demands a devotion to the practice of the pathway to love. Some call this God, however not in the conventional sense of it on the surface; i.e. Church dictum and rituals, but the deepening of the spirit by practices devoted to opening of the heart- in efforts release the ego.


Sufi dancing is a pathway. Recently, I turned on another to the Dancers of the Universal Peace over in Sunshine Canyon at Star house... I went dancing again last night at The Clayton School on MLK and Colorado Blvd. in Denver.


This connection to the divine energy is good and with practice the songs and dance steps will become routine. I love this energy― it has a quality to it that reminds me about being in the noisy solitude and becoming dumbfounded and rather inarticulate to explain what my senses are experiencing. A lot; like the falling in love feeling I suppose.

******************************************

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events;

small minds discuss people.“

Eleanor Roosevelt

Are not you heartened by the Energy that is flowing in your life right now?

This energy, this vital force is so pervading that no matter what you DO; you can not stop it from flowing. Remember to go with the Energy for it is not only vital but fleeting. There comes a time when there is no turning back.

Furthur - "I Know You Rider" All Good Music Festival 7-15-11 HD tripod

This is a quote from a woman whose path crossed mine long ago. we walked together for a while.

I thought it rang a bell that cuts across all lines...

"I feel when the ageing [sic] process becomes more evident, and our expiration date nudges us closer to the front of the line, like rotating yogurt in the fridge, we have a couple of choices. Fast red cars, heavy medication, complaining nonstop, or embracing life and remembering where true and spontaneous laughter comes from. I'm happy to see so many take the living one."


Your thoughts?
 

September 6, 2011 

  An acquaintance said this about him self on Facebook.

 I identify. 

 “Not mainstream.
“Committed to the following; truth/honesty, respect, transparency, treating others as I would like to be treated, commitment to quality in all ways, joy of giving and receiving unconditional love, gratitude for all the above.

 “Primary passions include wilderness hiking (multiple weeks/months) and technical troubleshooting.”



                                  ―Mark Purgett―

                      He was beginning a months long back pack trip this day,
   

Good way to be― as you can imagine it takes years of internal practice to get to where he describes.

Serendipitous was our meeting this day on the BA, So. Rim- GRCA, when Mark allowed me to take this shot of him.

On a deeper note-- I've been having an interesting time internally. Spiritually, I am in full knowledge of my condition. My troubles stem from my own making and trying to manage events, circumstances and romances and the outcomes are always in God's hands. When will I remember to let go and let God?

After all God's is soo big-- He spins the planet and grows all the trees, Right?  I need to give up my managing to Him.

Should you have been hired to run my life and it looked like this today, I'd fire you!!.. My heartache is my own  and in cleaning up my side I find this full knowlege bittersweet. The problem is this-- as clearly as I can tell-- When the shit hits the fan, what happens is that the shit gets all over everyone close to me.