Greetings from Stoneland!

Ready or not here we come...diving mind first into this truly boggling inner world of the blogosphere. Are we leaping into the collective unconscious that may be slowly becoming more conscious? It's hard to say when the outer Fox-news-world appears to be spinning out of control, collapsing in on its own lies, tumbling through the rabbit hole...the worm hole?...and maybe leading us downward into the depths where we can be reborn into a new, awakened species. Wouldn't that be nice to find a peaceful resting place from all the doing, going, building, striving, taking, plundering, consuming?

Ah, so. Let's hear it for Lao Tzu, the master of paradox, balancing Yin and Yang, doing/not-doing, with Carl Jung's "holding the tension of the opposites". These are my favorite teachers along with modern day masters of paradox —Alan Watts and Pema Chodron.

Speaking of paradox, how about a little bastardized Charles Dickens with "These were the best of times. These were the worst of times?" We live in such an amazingly, exciting moment, on an amazingly paradisical planet. Likewise, we live on the brink of destruction due to our insatiable appetites for more, bigger, faster, higher. America can no longer afford the "me" generation and taking all that we can. It is no longer about me but about ALL. What if I considered allowing myself less, smaller, simpler, slower?

I have a fantasy that my country, America, starts to awaken and take responsibility for many of the problems in the world. I imagine our hearts starting to soften and open. I imagine there being no need to judge or harm others for living or thinking differently, no need to try to rule others' lives. I imagine world leaders coming together to the same table to discuss how we can make a better world so that all living creatures, so that our living/breathing/nourishing planet, Gaia, may survive and flourish.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

—John Lennon


To find out more about Lindex Stoneland go to www.stoneland.us