Month: January 2020

Traveling in the southwest desert regions of Arizona has its own set of challenges. This is short list of important things to know if you are in this region visiting or camping. It’s also a good idea to figure out the wild life, insects and plants in the area your staying. There are all kinds of creatures and insects that bite and are poisonous. So, it a good thing to get an understanding for them and what to do if something does happen.

1. Water – There isn’t much and every living thing is sucking it out of the air and every conceivable source. The sun is hot during the day and this compounds the evaporation and dryness. Even in the winter months carry lots of water. 2-3 gallons per day. More if you plan to do hiking or other activities. National parks have water filling stations and some rest areas have free water but mostly you will need to purchase it. That adds to the daily cost of your travels. I don’t want to support the bottled water industry yet some places that’s all you can get.

2. Temperature Drops – it can be almost 80° during the day in January and the temperature will drop up to 40° or more night. Some higher altitudes will be more dramatic. It gets cold at night. Blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, wool socks, 4 season sleeping bag, etc…. are vital for camping out in the wilder areas.

3. Showers – Taking a shower is a luxury out in the more remote areas. Most camping sites are primitive. Facilities are primary composting toilets, no running water, fire pits, picnic table of some sort, no shade, the ground is pretty rough…. carrying hand sanitizer, taking sponge baths are how to keep up on basic hygiene. Some truck stops offer showers. They run in cost of $10 to $20 for a shower. Keep that in mind when calculating your water supply for the day.

4. The Sun- Being closer the the Equator means the sun is closer and hotter. Sun screen, and hat and wearing clothing to cover you skin is important. I’m one of those people who don’t burn yet, I know taking unnecessary risks it is not a good bet. Invest in a good sun hat with a wide brim and one you can soak with water. If you need to keep your head cool. Sunscreen is important. At least SPF 35…. or higher. Keeping hydrated is a priority if you are out in the sun for any length of time. Heat and sun stroke will kill you if you don’t plan right.

Misc…. A few other things that can make the experience more pleasant:

• a good camp stove. I found made by a company called Rhino. It’s sturdy, folds up and does a good job.

• refidgeration is tricky so packing food that can last is important. Also, minimizing waste is something to keep in mind too. Packaging takes up space and can be hard to get rid of. Some of my successful food choices have been: avocados that are green and let them ripen. Organic Tortillas, cabbage, carrots, apples, organic bullion, coconut milk powder for a dairy substitute, cucumbers, radishes, and oranges.

• Sun rises and sunsets are amazing in the desert. Light pollution is minimal so the stars are clear and abundant. Taking time to explore and take in all the diverse beauty is one way to ground and appreciate the uniqueness of the environment.

Last night the sun took it’s time to fall behind the horizon. The bright ball disappearing with a tiny red flash. The intensity of it’s light held the cloudless sky hostage in the shifting spectrum of color going from red to cobalt blue as the night blanketed over head.

The crescent moon following the sun hung mid way in the sky growing brighter with the sun’s departure. The moon reflects the light down to illuminate the bushes and small things. Awakening mice and scorpions. The night life stirs.

The stars. Tiny pin pricks of light. The time traveling messages from somewhere back in the history of this universe, expanding outward carrying the mystery of birth and the story of how it all becomes. So any stars. So many stories. So much to fill this sky tonight. Worlds forming. Atoms smashing together. Life. Death. The infinite dance of cosmic forces.

I witness this through the lens of my eye as the sky fills with more and more dots of light. I wonder about the vastness of this expanding universe and how finite our tiny earth rock feels. Hydrogen is everything. Literally it is what makes everything. There is more of it in the universe than anything else. It is infinate. Hydrogen can become anything. It’s interactions drive the metabolic process of stars. It’s tinyness and simplicity are the driving forces of it’s success.

I wonder did complex forms like us humans give up their infinity for consciousness?

This question falls on the silence of tiny star light as the milky way comes into view. The constellation of Orion along with the dipper starts to blend in with all the other stars. Tonight is a gift of no light pollution and the sky is full.

We lose this in cities and with our manufactured light. I had to let my eye adjust. The sky gets more three dimensional. Deeper. Undulating in the movement of light coming towards me are different times and distance. Light years.

Although, I feel small in this big-ness I do not feel insignificant. My story is some how relevant for this finite manifestation of star dust. My awareness and consciousness is what keeps this seemly infinitesimal experience a curious journey to connect, witness and fight for it’s continuation.

Visiting the site of a nuclear weapon might not seem a fitting place for a shaman. Yet, it is. In these places where life and death meet. In the places where the uncomfortable realization of cosmic balance held by the moral fabric of reason, love, and the knowledge that neither can win if there is a contest. I belong here to appease these Gods. Or at least remind them that I see. These missile Gods we made to some how bring peace by existing and not using. Their stalemate of power meant to be impressive yet impotent by an interantional treaty. They hang on just to be silent in their technologies and the threat to use them.

Shamans argue with Gods. We can it’s part of the agreement to serve. We are the cosmic lawyers. The loved and hate thorns in the side humanity and a persistent nuisance to Gods. We are scruffy and determine to not let this world implode/explode. The Gods made us this way to keep things reasonably fair. Shamans keep them in line and remind them that life is more amazing, precious and magical than their arrogance and other worldly passions. Life is not an amusement. It is the very fabric and praise that keeps them fed and remembered and for us on this eden called earth.

And this exchange and balance yields knowledge. That knowledge is often incomplete and humans make things we regret. A little knowledge makes us feel God-like sometimes….

Some Gods gave us the thirst for war and much of our knowledge is tested there. The Gods want to see what we will do with the parts and pieces. They like a good show and have never lost their lust for blood offerings despite our hominid evolution towards love and a peaceful world. Humans die… God’s live forever. We have different perspectives.

I’m here this morning watching the sun rise. Drinking coffee and leaving prayers. Feeling the tension of where we are right now with all these things. And if the Gods made us we most certainly have formed them in images that suit our own need for power and lust. We dance this cosmic dance of life and death testing the surface tension to see how far we can push it. We want to be Gods. Some more than others.

We need prayers and actions of resistance more than ever. We are in that place where life and death meet. A familiar ground that repeats with each age. The world is testing its resilience. The Gods are wagering bets on the out come and Shamans are poking at them.

It’s an impressive thing this trapezoidal Pyramid shaped object of glass. Two domes that serve as mechanical lungs…. power stations, living quarters, bookstore and other out buildings. The glass enclosures hold four different terrains of ecosystems: a rain forest, ocean, a mangrove that steps down into a desert. In the subterranean bowels of it run miles of pipe and wires, tanks and tunnels to monitor, manipulate, regulate the climates, humidity, carbon dioxide and temperatures that are need to create sustainable environments in a scientific terrarium.

All the photographs made it look much larger than it actually is. Inside is quite small. The buildings have that 60s scifi feeling and you half expect to meet some mad scientist or a the similarly dressed minions of a doomsday cult. Fortunately, it’s a really friendly tour guide with a memorize pitch for each ecosystem with the most recent science projects sprinkled in.

The building of BioSphere2 started in 1987 and it began with closed human experiments twice. With the intention to do scientific research on the sustainability and environmental/earth science. .There are many views to the success and failures of the project prior to it’s transfer to Columbia University and then to the University of Arizona. Strangely, Steve Bannon ( Yes, that Steve Bannon….) was at one point part of the history of this desert ecological project. The Wikipedia page has all the details:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

I remember back in the 80s you could buy a glass sphere with sea water, a shrimp and a piece of seaweed in it. The instructions were simple don’t put it in direct sun and let the magic of science create a balanced, sustainable system that lives on your desk. Most became a dead zone of algae. Green slime and then the remains of dead organic material floating in a sealed glass ball. And a few would work for awhile and all would be amazed by the lonely shrimp’s survival in the air tight desk top zoo. Yet, any little variance could shift the tiny perfect world into a slime ball.

These glass Biospheres always reminded me of the fragile nature of how this world works and keeps working. Everything matters. Everything can change. Everything depends on the relationships to others. Anything that succeeds at the expense of the others will cause dire consequences to the environment.

Also, life here on Earth is diverse and complex. So many communities, communication, interactions, reactions, mistakes and successes go into the making this world. The Biosphere 2 seems too simple. Not diverse enough. I saw lots of plants but no mosses, lichens, fungi. To me these are the creators of soil and the ones responsible for communicating, building networks for nutrients and water.

Although, they work very hard to recreate the conditions for each ecosystem there are limits to what you can do in a small space that will truly mimic the complex realities of earth ecosystem, patterns of weather, winds, humidity, species diversity, and drought. To me it feels a little force to fit the reality of where we are right now on the planet. Yet, interesting in all the same ways cracking the mysterious is.

The whole facility is for education now. In that sense it does serve to offer ways to figure out how we can be more effective with deeping our relationship to the environment and work towards understanding ways to combat climate change.

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. birthday. A day marked in most states as a holiday to celebrate a man who’s vision and words turned a nation, inspired, pushed the passing of legislation, forced a nation to look at itself, it’s racism, its inequality, and in the end he gave is his life knowing changed required authenticity at the cost of great sacrifice. Truth has conditions and consequences in a world that is divisive by nature to extract power and uphold it’s privilege at the expense of others. He had more than a dream. He saw the big picture. He knew what needed to be done.

“I have been to the mountain….” link below: https://m.afscme.org/union/history/mlk/ive-been-to-the-mountaintop-by-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

His final speech. The one he gave right before a bullet ripped through him. Still gives me chills. That speech was the movitvation of a vision and the recognition that one serves the greater good. One risks everything. The great sacrifice for magic you might never see yet you know is the truth that is behind the veil of ignorance and fear. The speech was his alignment with Divinity in that hour and his grace to accept the path without doubt. Do the thing that needs to be done. Do the next right thing. Not because it will make you something great. You do it because it is kind, compassionate…. it brings the world into balance… makes it right with the universe.

In that speech his words transcended the internal struggle over life and death. He understood the true value of living. The miracle of it. The true power it contains and the inherent risk of sacrifice. The gamble for the greater good.  Death  no longer the feared obejctive. He freed himself and left us a lot think about and a lot to do.

I am grateful to have lived in a time graced by his vision and willingness to take action for a better world. It is men and women like him that have pushed me to see beyond the fog of the  every day accpetable indignities that many people live with, the externalized accepted trends of racism and oppression, a corrupt government, and the entanglement of unjust laws that keep people living in conditions that are not reflective of a civil society.

The fight is never over. Power and greed are not easily resolved and in their cunningly abusive nature they are constantly divising ways to undo the great sacrifices of Martin Luther king Jr. and those who would follow in his foot steps to continue civil rights work.

Each generation has to carry the baton of resistance, and fight to keep the world fair and just. It is more than showing up at a gathering, posting on social media, or the acknowledgment of his greatness. It is through our actions that this man’s life is renewed, remembered, respected and celebrated.

None of us is free until we are all free

“…. the realization of eternity contained in each moment. With each breath it is the awareness that life and death are the same and the value of our human-ness is measured by service to humanity, the earth and universe…” Dr.Adhi

Traveling is like being in between the worlds.

Moving through space and time… the passage

Time is a sequence of ticks. Tiny increments of movement. Filled with breath. Touching the earth in steps forward. Seen in the passing of light through the window. The spoken word. A glance. Rolling waves reaching the shore only to roll back on themselves. The heat rising in shimmers from the pavement. The pencil across the paper. Sounds of the cello playing up stairs. Driving rains. The brush of her hand. The shape of a tree leaf. Moving waters. Heart beats. Time keeps going. Unstoppable. It wastes nothing in the precision to present each moment as the opportunity to be exactly as it is.