Central Texas Rainforest

The psycho weather patterns have brought more rain to Central Texas than I've seen in years. It's slightly disconcerting to see green, lush lawns at this time of year, when we're usually in a drought and lawns brown because of major water rationing. There are unfamiliar wildflowers that normally don't get a chance to bloom for lack of water. The temperature hasn't even hit 100 yet, and by this time, we are normally sweltering.

We've been getting rain most every day, and with the lakes and water table to capacity, it has nowhere to go except up. It's tricky driving, as one never knows which routes may be flooded. Water rushing over a low-water crossing is extremely tempting to conquer, but most drownings occur when people think their SUV or monster truck can safely navigate. I use the word navigate on purpose. No matter how heavy your vehicle, water only a few inches deep can sweep it off the road and into a wild ride that generally ends in tragedy. Rapidly flowing water is a deadly force.

Global warming is here. Evidently, according to a meteorologist on NPR, normal patterns will be fluctuating like crazy for several decades before we go bottom up. I've always been energized and excited by extreme natural phenomena, but this is bordering on insanity. Knock on wood, I've made it through hurricane, fire, flood, earthquake, tornado, drought, et al relatively unscathed. At some point, the attraction will cease, and it will become just plain scary.

I learned that GWB's ranch in Crawford is completely green. Isn't that an oxymoron? Evidently, in a catastrophic event, he can survive most anything, because he's off the grid and can be self-sustaining for quite some time. Now, doesn't it seem logical that he would support eco-technology for the country? Oh, I forgot, he doesn't concern himself with us lesser beings.

Mold count is off the map. Not good for someone who is allergic to mold. I seem to be turning green, inside and out. On the other hand, I haven't had to water my outside plants all summer. By this time, they're either dead or languishing inside, not getting enough sun because I keep my blinds closed to help combat the heat gain in an old, upstairs duplex.

One of the first major floods left several inches of water in my office, and we've been "floating" around campus since then trying to find a location to plug in a laptop. My handy-dandy rolling backpack has helped, except in the rain. To keep files and laptop dry, I've had to schlep the pack on my back under an inadequate umbrella.

When physical plant sucked the water out of the offices and hallways, they discovered mold in the walls. They quarantined the area, replaced sheetrock, and repainted. All well and good. However, the first day back, I started coughing more and more, and broke out in a rash. So now I'm self-quarantined until they clean up all the construction detritus, and I get results from environmental allergy testing. Not the ideal work situation.

All during one of the busiest times of year. Lends new meaning to the phrase, "when it rains, it pours."

Woodstock Generation, a contemporary view

A fabulous new friend sent this essay. Beautiful writing, with a stunning flower to accompany the piece. Thanks Bruce, looking forward to our next encounter.

WOODSTOCK GENERATION: WAKE UP, RECLAIM YOUR CORE VALUES, & TAKE OVER!

In case you haven’t noticed (just kidding!) your planet needs you. (No kidding!)

Those of us who experienced the consciousness revolution of the 1960s first-hand may have sometimes felt since then that the decade in question became an anachronism. Later generations often considered the ’60s “uncool.” Or at best quaint, unrealistic, or puzzling. The slogan “Peace & Love” became something corny, trite, even embarrassing. How many of us proudly profess to be a Flower Child, or to believe in Flower Power? It’s time to reconsider. For the planet’s sake.

I’m not prone to nostalgia, & I certainly have no desire to return to any earlier time. On the contrary, if I’ve learned anything in the last four decades, it’s the importance of being present, living in this moment: BE HERE NOW. Recently, to this challenge of mindfulness, or remaining engaged in the immediate, direct experience of living NOW, is added a new awareness.

My lifetime of searching brings me to something I’ve had all along. What some call the “Law of Attraction” is the latest key that has fallen into place. Recent scientific studies of happiness reveal that success does not cause happiness. Instead, happiness is a precursor of success, a pre-condition making you more likely to succeed. To struggle for goals only attracts negativity. Just do your best. BE HAPPY NOW. Flow.

This is definitely the most exciting, promising, & dire moment in human history. The planetary biosphere we call Gaia will most likely persist with or without us. We’re talking wake-up call. In order for humanity to get its act together in time to survive as a species, those who care enough must be willing to assume the roles of authority that our experience has prepared us for.

The so-called Baby Boomers are mostly those who remember when the Woodstock Festival happened, whether you attended or not. Most of you who recall that era have gone on to relative affluence & material success. Yet how many are truly happy now? Many have lost their way, forgotten what we have always known deep inside. We live in a culture built upon discontent. Still if you want what you have, you have what you want.

Most of the Woodstock Generation is now materially successful. In reality, the 1960s were not primarily about drugs or great music. Flower Power was a genuine evolutionary surge, a spiritual acceleration, a massive infusion of global awareness, even cosmic or universal concepts entering into collective awareness. The world has never been the same. It never will be the same. It can be better.

That era did not end with 1969. It went to seed. The seeds scattered over the planet & are now reaching maturity. Some of those now involved in politics simply never “got it” about Flower Power. In the early 21^st Century as the pendulum swings from political darkness toward a new dawn of awareness, we cannot afford to let it swing all the way back, ever again. Let that swing become a spiral of life. A dance of joy.

This is about waking up, though most of humanity sleepwalks through life, & that’s OK. Only the movers & shakers need to awaken. It’s about re-claiming our core values, what really matters: Peace & Love. It’s about taking over by accepting full responsibility for your actions, by assuming the kind of authority that serves the best interest of the planet. Only in this way can you serve humanity.

And indeed, many far younger humans have already gotten this message, that Peace & Love are what really matters. If there’s a future for us, it must be extremely green. As James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia Theory says: “The well being of Gaia must always come before that of ourselves: we cannot exist without Gaia.”

You can only teach others by example, by loving yourself well enough to care deeply about others. By loving your planet enough to place Nature first, the rest follows naturally.

Peace & Namaste,

Bruce

Copyright 2007 Bruce P. Grether/ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.