Journal of the VOL Community

by D’Coda

Yes, it’s been awhile. The computer crash wiped out all my files, including email addresses so anyone who wonders why they haven’t heard from me – please write. There was no way to back-up the computer. Ah well, now that I’m on internet it isn’t taking long at all to fill the computer back up with goodies and  folks are starting to getting back in touch.
 

Things are looking up for VOLshire. It was only a matter of time. And connecting with the right people. Iuval Clejan is one of them. (Pronounced YOU-val) He came onto the scene with his friend, Christina (who may be another) in late October. We played cell phone tag for weeks. Messages telling me he was buying land in Mississippi to start a community but he felt he needed to talk with me in person first. Then a message that he’d bought the land and wouldn’t be coming out. Then a message that the deal fell through and the two of them wanted to come right away. Somehow we connected and they spent a week here.
 

I planned on spending that time primarily in deep discussion. They, however, wanted to spend most of their time working!!! Imagine! Most of the folks who’ve come out seemed to regard this as a vacation resort. We did a lot of talking, too, and I was pleased to learn that in addition to “getting things done” they want a balanced life style that includes plenty of culture building….dance, salons, study groups, music making, time for personal pursuits.
 

We compared vision statements and our non-negotiables. By the end of the week it was a go. Christina isn’t sure yet if the community life-style is for her, but she’s planning on coming out to work as a volunteer and test the waters. She’ll be here in early February. Iuval arrived in late November and we seem to be compatible. I’m greatly enjoying having someone to talk with. We have many similar interests, If you’ve read the newsletter you’ll know all about how he provided another computer AND Satlink internet service. That’s going to make a world of difference on so many levels. Not the least of which is adding new members to VOL.
 
A few more words about Iuval – he speaks three languages, Romanian, French and English. His parents (both are biochemists) escaped from Romania to Israel where he grew up (until age 12) until they came to the States. He plays Celtic violin and the recorder. He is not only a physicist but also a geneticist. His interest in physics continues and he’ll pursue a theory he’s working on while living at VOLshire. As I understand it, there is a gap between the quantum world and the classical world (the one we know about) and it may be that consciousness fills this gap. Heady stuff. I love it. He was delighted when I handed him a book of mine on his arrival, “The Road to Reality” by Roger Penrose. Turns out Penrose is thinking along the same lines and the book is useful to Iuval’s work. As I recall, Iuval is 42. He has a wide range of practical skills and left his scientific career because he recognized that the most important work to be done for this planet is to live (& promote) a lifestyle of sharing and minimizing our destructive impact on nature and each other. So he’s a man of principles who is walking his talk. My kind of community member.

Thanks to a friend, Iuval, we now have Sattelite Internet at the VOL land!

It still has some bugs and we are working on getting a laptop for D’Coda (soon), but the actual sattelite internet itself is up and running!

D’Coda’s computer suffered a hard drive failure and is unrepairable.  Considering it was 6 years old or more, it served faithfully.

With that said, D’Coda’s ability to email is also offline until we somehow scrounge together another used laptop computer. 

David

By D’Coda 

A couple months ago, on our private VOL email forum, I was asked a question by one of our members and he recently asked if my answer could be posted in the Journal. Part of my motivation in writing for the Journal is to help potential new members get to know me since we will be living together if they move to VOLshire. So I said, “OK” and the following comes directly from that email exchange:
 

On Saturday 23 June 2007, D’Coda wrote:

>> Garry asked a rather deep question:
>> > My question for D’Coda:  you are the only person we know who recognizes most edible plants and helpful herbs in the woods and who is not at a loss living without the grid, a car, the mega-market down the block, and an industrial support system.  How did you come to be the way you are?  Of course you’ve told me a lot, or some, about your path… but can you describe your process step by step such that someone could, at least imaginatively, follow you in the process?
 

D’Coda:
> This sounds like a request for an autobiography, surely that’s not what
> you’re after. I’m reminded of  Joseph Campbells’ words: “What each must
> seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his
> own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been
> and never could have been experienced by anyone else.”
>
> Colin Wilson wrote, “Modern civilisation, with its mechanised rigidity
> is producing more outsiders than ever before - people who are too
> intelligent to do some repetitive job, but not intelligent enough to
> make their own terms with society.”
>
> “Those “intelligent enough” to make their own terms with society are
> what I refer to as artists of life. The outsider views himself as a
> product of a culture he rejects - the artist views himself as a
> culture-builder. As would-be artists, we begin with the right attitudes,
> or as we Buddhists might say, right views - taking a mature approach
> beyond mere protest and complaint - accepting the responsibiliy to
> create the life we would live.”
>
> I think you’ve read Peck’s “The Road Less Traveled”  (By the way, he is
> one of the few psychiatrists I respect). He makes a point in his newer
> book about how, as youngsters we experience being kicked out of the
> garden of eden..and we can’t go back, we can only go forward through the
> desert of life but that journey is hard and consciousness (which is what
> kicks us out of eden) is painful. And so most people stop their journey
> as quickly as they can. They find what looks like a safe place, burrow
> into the sand, and stay there rather than go forward through the painful
> desert, which is filled with cactuses and thorns and sharp rocks.. Even
> if most people have been taught at one time or another that “those
> things that hurt, instruct”, the education of the desert is so painful
> that they discontinue it as early as they can.  Peck says that those who
> stop learning and growing early in their lives and stop changing and
> become fixed, do not grow up. They remain children. covered in a very
> thin veneer of adulthood. He says most adults are still emotional
> children. .
>
> He says that what characterizes most immature people is that they sit
> around complaining that life doesn’t meet their demands. Argue for your
> limitations, and sure enough they are yours. But what characterizes
> those relative few who are fully mature is that they regard it as their
> responsibility–even as an opportunity–to meet life’s demands.
>
> So, in my opinion, the ability to live the simple life is for grown ups.
> To live it well, is for grown up artists of life.
>
> I’m currently typing up material for new members and sending it to David
> to post on our members area and everything in that series is there to
> assist you all in this creative process. Clearly, if we are to
> accomplish this, we will require a new image of what living in the
> wilderness as a community involves, in particular the work
> involved…what that work is and what it is for. It can re-activate the
> “growing up” process and teach how to manage pain and suffering.
>
> Perhaps you are thinking that I under went some kind of transition, or
> awakening, or change that allowed me to shift from life as a “consumer”
> to this sort of life? And its that transition, the process of it that
> you’d like to know about? How to make a successful transition into the
> “simple life”? Again, the material David is now posting to the member’s
> area is going to answer that question better than I can in a single
> email. But here is a little personal info that may answer your question
> in part.
>
> Garry, I’ve been preparing for this kind of life since birth. I was a
> precocious child and quite literally, headed out from home to trek into
> the unknown wilderness of North Dakota at age four. I was looking for
> people who “got it”, who seemed like my tribe. My family life was
> loving, no problems there, I was just bored with what it had to offer. I
> knew there was more.  The city searched for me and a woman caught me
> with an egg sandwich when I was hungry, the police picked me up and
> threatened to put me in jail if I ever did that again. I thought the
> police were very rude and decided that I’d never again have anything to
> do with those who stood in the way of me completing my search. . Nor
> would I ever again eat an egg sandwich. So, I headed out for Peck’s
> “desert” early and with determination. I’ve been journeying ever since.
> Now I journey in one spot. I’ve been all about “growing up” at whatever
> cost in terms of pain and suffering. And I’ve found enough beauty and
> joy to keep me going (Peck’s oasis).
>
> I did get side tracked into the adventures of life in the world and it
> never seemed like it was time to actually make the break.I was always
> heavily involved with family, relationships, career, and never knew
> other people who shared my interest in this lifestyle so it was left to
> percolate in the background. No matter what I was doing though, I
> continued to study what I thought I would need to know for it to work,
> for example; gardening, food prep & preservation, herb craft, medical
> self-care, primitive skills, psychological self-care, etc.. I continued
> to know that I was ultimately destined to live a very simple life in the
> wilds, preferably with a small community of like minded friends.
> Everything else that I was involved in, the stuff of the civilized
> world, was regarded as important for deepening my understanding,
> experience to broaden my view, but nothing to hang on to.
>
> My role models were, from the beginning of my life, enlightened
> spiritual masters who were in the world but not of it. If I could choose
> someone to be like, it would be someone like Milarepa or
> Padmasambhava…and this orientation really took hold of me when I was
> five and had my first encounter with such a teacher, who taught me how
> to meditate. From my various teachers, yogis to shamen, and my
> experiences with death, I learned to value the inner over the outer. To
> minimize my physical needs since possessions have a tendency to possess
> their owner.But I’m not an ascetic, the “middle way” makes sense to me
> because extremes in any direction wind up depleating our inner
> resources. I feel gratitude for everything that’s available to support
> my well-being and the well-being of others…such gratitude leads to
> knowing when one has enough. Knowing when we have enough is a mental
> ability that our consumer culture makes every effort to rub out.
> Gratitude is a fine antidote to “shopping fever”.
>
> I’ve deliberately cultivated the mental habit of questionning and
> experimenting to test truth claims.I gave up having a car when I lived
> in L.A. and the reasons were A) I noticed that it ate my money. And that
> the same was true for nearly all my friends. I would save up some money
> for a certain goal, then my car would break down and the repair costs
> seemed to equal whatever I had saved up. I often had to choose between
> paying utility bills or car insurance. My friends would lament that cars
> ate money but “what can you do?” in Los Angeles, one simply HAD to have
> a car, there was no choice in the matter. We would long to change career
> paths, maybe start a business or something else, but stayed with jobs we
> didn’t want because paying for our cars didn’t allow for taking
> financial risks. In L.A. cars OWN people. B) I questionned the premise
> one had to have a car. It did seem true since so much commuting was
> involved in everyday life and the public transportation system isn’t
> that great in L.A.
>
> So, I decided to run an experiment to test that truth claim. I parked my
> car and said I wouldn’t drive it again until I HAD to. The car sat in my
> driveway for 3 years, not driven once, and I felt the experiment had run
> its course, I did not need a car in L.A. after all. I had to make some
> changes in my daily routine to live without it, but those changes turned
> out to be healthy ones. I sold my car. ( even though it made a fabulous
> laundry hamper) So, not having a car here isn’t a big shock to me, I had
> given it up for years before I came here.
>
> One of the more recent truth claims I’ve challenged is the one that says
> a woman can’t live alone in the wilderness.
>
> As a young child I spent a lot of time in the Colorado forest, sometimes
> days at a time, setting up a camp for myself and learning Native
> American ways. When my home life became violent, I would sneak my
> younger siblings out of the house and into the woods until it was safe
> to bring them home. I learned that there is safety in the forest and, to
> a great extent, the forest parented me. When I was troubled, the trees
> comforted me. I also had (& still have) a Native American spirit guide
> who taught me.
>
> In 1997 I realized that I had put off making the big leap long enough
> and it was time to act. I had all of the typical excuses for not doing
> it though. I didn’t know where to go, or who to go with, I didn’t have
> any money, it seemed like a shot in the dark. My life in L.A. was
> extremely comfortable and full of opportunity. I was very well connected
> in a town where that counts for a lot. But I saw the signs that it was
> time to act. I sensed that if I didn’t act right then, I may never again
> be able to.It felt like a window of opportunity to make the break had
> opened but I hadn’t a clue where the window was.  It was just something
> in my spirit that said “Its time to go to the wilds now”. The signs I
> saw were not my primary reasons for going.  My reasons were far deeper,
> you could call it destiny.I spent about a year trying to hone in on the
> details of my move. But I realized that nothing was going to happen
> until I made a decision in my heart. And that was all that I really
> needed to do. So, in 1998 I made that decision and all of the pieces
> began to fall together that led me here. I had to be able to make a firm
> decision without the supporting facts to back it up. I had to be able to
> say “I’m doing this” without being able to provide convincing reasons,
> or even the ability to do it — by our culture’s standards. . It was
> like stepping into the Void. Laurence Boldt expresses it very well…
> “As the innocent infant relies upon the mother for sustenance, so the
> innocent wanderer, following his native compassion and bliss, relies
> upon the natural intelligence of life to sustain him.” It was time to
> test the truth of this idea.
>
> I made another, related decision. I had spent my first 50 years
> traveling the world and exploring all it had to offer. I decided that I
> would dedicate my second 50 years to living in one place and exploring
> that one place just as fully — that half of my life could be spent
> exploring the outer things, and the other half could be spent exploring
> the inner things. I believe that this creates a very well balanced
> experience of life. Its similar to the way of the Hindu who recognize
> different stages of growth, with the final stage being that of the
> sanyasin who goes into retreat to develop their inner life…after
> having given of themselves fully to worldly duties. Because my life in
> the world was so rich, I was able to give it up, satisfied that I had
> seen and experienced all that I needed to understand it. There wasn’t
> anything left that was unexperienced and tempting me to seek it out.
> When you can say, “Been there, done that” its not so hard to move on to
> new stages.And as T.S. Eliot said, “Only those who will risk going too
> far can possibly find out how far one can go.” One simply must find out.
>
> So my transition was triggered by a decision made in my heart, stepping
> in to the Void with trust in spiritual guidance, and the knowledge that
> the wilderness was home. Another factor which has served me well is that
> I am never more ecstatic than when I’m learning something. Each day I
> awake with the joy that I’m going to learn something new. This
> attraction to learning, for its own sake, makes it easy and fun for me
> to learn what I need to know to live this life. What I want most from
> life, the opportunity to learn, comes to me without effort, without
> money, without the stuff of the world.
>
> My transition has been eased by the help I’ve recieved from our members,
> and friends. One of the important factors about “the simple life” is
> that relationships take on greater value. Taking care of one’s
> possessions gives way to taking care of one’s relationships. And not
> just with other people, but with all of the living beings.When you don’t
> have a lot of stuff to give, you learn to give of yourself…and that
> turns out to be something that others hunger for since it is not
> commonly found in our culture. Notice how much money people are willing
> to pay just to have someone take the time to sit down and really listen
> to them. There is an interpersonal connection vacuum in this society.
> We’ve been taught to fill that vacuum with “stuff” and when we find this
> oddly insufficient and unsatisfying, we take drugs, TV,  or alchohol to
> smooth it over…or go shopping.
>
> I have a sense of purpose, beyond my self-development,  that keeps me
> going.  I need to master the simple life style because many people will
> find themselves thrust into it unprepared and they will need to see
> examples of how it can be a good life.  There have to be people already
> doing it, with joy. So, the call I heard so very long ago, was to place
> me in this situation, where I could learn the beauty and value of a
> simple life and share that with people who fear it as a threatening form
> of deprivation.
>
> In closing I’ll use the words of Anais Nin, “Life shrinks or expands in
> proportion to one’s courage.”(snip)

> all the best,
> D’Coda

by D’Coda

Journal Entry –July 20, 2007

By D’Coda

 
 
The last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. – Victor Frank

 
 
Bringing a new member into VOL is a right of passage for the entire community. We all begin anew, reviewing what we are all about, revisiting our vision, our purpose, our values, our mission. Each time we begin again, its with a bit more depth.

 
Though our provisional membership requires living in the community, in Forest’s case, part of his membership will be spent away from the community, in Minneapolis. So I’ve been hard at work setting up a correspondence course to enable him to progress in some aspects of the membership process despite his distance.
 
The first step is creating his own vision of “the ideal community”…if he could live in the community of his dreams, what would it be like, what happens day to day, what is his role in it, how do the people live together and so on. Provisional membership begins with an appropriate sense of freedom. The freedom to create one’s dream, one’s vision. First, one must know what it is.  We begin with a vision quest.
 
As the only member currently living in the community, my role is to walk along side and join as an ally, in the discovery process. It means that I, too, must engage fully in the process. I will revisit my own vision, bring it up to date based on what I’ve learned and how the wilderness crafts me endlessly into its own creature. In September, when Forest arrives for another months long stay, we’ll compare our visions. We’ll check them alongside the vision statements we have for David and Das. And, together, we’ll craft a refined vision for VOL based on who we are now.
 
Our next step will be in clarifying values. Forest will explore his own values at depth and come to understand which of them he is willing to take a stand on. Which values must be reflected in life at VOLshire. Again, I’ll do the same and we will examine our values side by side. In this way, we’ll come to a deeper understanding of each other.
 
With vision and values established, the next exploration points to purpose. Not just Forest’s purpose in becoming a member of VOL, but beyond that to such questions as: What is the message he wants his life to proclaim? Is it about beauty or cooperation, wisdom or inspiration, peace or enlightenment? What is it that he wants his life to say when its all said and done? It’s motive alone that gives character to the actions of men.  Understanding purpose, values, vision…we begin to discover how Forest may best use his VOL membership to fulfill his life’s work, his life’s purpose. The rest of us gain insight into our relationship with Forest and how we may best support him. Community excels when it is designed to enhance the freedom of its members to explore and express their unique talents, skills, way of being.
 
Then we begin to narrow our focus and find out the specifics about what kind of work Forest is best suited for, in relation to VOL.  We will find out what his talents are. And then, Forest, with all of this self-exploration behind him, will create his own mission objectives. Now he (and we) have specific goals started to take us into the manifestation of the vision we share.
 
At VOLshire, we have a weekly “business meeting” where we plan out our work for the week. We have mission objectives for the community AND our own personal mission objectives. We see to it that time is allowed for both community and personal accomplishment of whatever it is we think needs to be done. Knowing what our purpose is, makes it possible to keep our efforts on target. At our meeting we focus and direct energy back to our priorities. We help each other stay on track. We review how things went the week before to identify anything that’s blocking us, or to find better ways of getting things done.
 
There are other topics we cover during provisional membership; training in communication and negotiation skills, interpersonal skills, conflict resolution skills, group process. All of this work results in members who have the skills to exercise their freedom in harmony with others who are exercising their  freedom as well. And members who use their freedom to choose a course of life that is on purpose….that leads towards the fulfillment of one’s life’s work.
 
On a different note, the outer world is looking rather peculiar to me again.  FOX news ran a story telling everyone that the FBI and other spy agencies can listen to our conversations through our cell phones, even when they are turned off.  Shortly after that report, on July 17, there was a global event called “Fire The Grid” which was a meditation and prayer for peace conducted at the same time around the world…kind of a spiritual “thought” experiment to sway events away from war, towards peace. On the same day as this global peace rally (July 17), the president issued a series of 4 more Executive Orders criminalizing war protests. If anyone speaks out against the war, or our government, their property may be confiscated, assets frozen, and they may be arrested, too. (I believe the orange jumpsuit is freely donated…so its not like they lose everything.)  Congress has 30 days to review these Executive Orders and vote them down. If congress does nothing, after 30 days, they automatically become law. I could be mistaken, but I think these were issued right before congress took its lengthy summer vacation. You can find these at www.whitehouse.gov , look for EO’s numbered….#13303, 13315, 13350, 13364 . I’m thinking some folks at FOX wanted their friends who are against the war to know that they’re being listened to over their cell phones. And that there are plans to crack down on people who don’t see eye to eye with the president. They couldn’t come right out and tell folks the whole story,,, so they timed the cell phone story to come out just before the EO’s were issued. (They aren’t allowed to tell us about the EO’s) …
 
Learning that the government is listening to everything we say through our cell phones can have a chilling effect (I’m told these same mikes are in TVs and computers). Apparently, this FOX news story is up on U-Tube or Google Video, so you can see it for yourself. There’s a coalition forming to fast track putting a stop to this EO that will strip those who exercise their first amendment of their assets. There’s not much time, it has to be rescinded by August 17. Start by contacting your congressmen instructing them to fast track to rescind the EO’s.  You can also email ge.griffin@horizon.net   to be added on to the new coalition for instructions on how to stop this.  Whether you are for or against the war, I think you’ll agree that Americans should remain free to express themselves. Some say that protesting the war lends moral support to the terrorists and is therefore, “aid to the enemy”…I think these “terrorists” will feel even more encouraged in their efforts when they feel that they have won. Depriving us of our traditional rights and freedoms shows we have lost….they have won. If I can be arrested for making this simple statement….someone has certainly won, and it ain’t the American people.

by D’Coda 

I don’t know if the bug is really loose among us. It may have been some kind of scare tactic to break up the Rainbow Tribe gathering, thousands of people in the woods nearby. I didn’t go to it, never have been to one.
Got a letter from a Roundtable member, obviously written in concern and alarm. The Rainbow people were not well received here in the Ozarks. They had all the proper permits, but that didn’t alter the antipathy of our law enforcement towards the event. The letter said that a friend who lived near the gathering spot had fed at least 1000 people herself! Apparently patrol cars covered the area, stopping people on the road…or where ever they found them, searches leading to charges of drug possession, tickets for nudity (I presume that wasn’t on public roads)…from what I gather, the event met with a swift disaster leaving thousands to figure out what to do now that their well planned and organized event was thrown into chaos.
 
Now the story is, a girl (woman??) who attended was diagnosed with epidemic meningitis, also called bacterial meningitis, or as the ol’ timers used to call way back….”spotted fever”.  It starts out like a common cold or flu and you don’t think much about it. Symptoms are relatively mild. Then it slams you hard. Stiff neck, pounding, unrelenting , radiating headache. Sometimes there’s a rash all over the body…little purple or red spots …a high and erratic fever goes up. Septicemia (invasion of the blood by bacteria) sets in quickly. May include sensitivity to light and sound (patients kept in isolation in  a dark, quiet room) Instantly one ought to realize that this is a medical emergency. Untreated, it leads to death…or permanent brain damage.
 
In the past, it took down 30% of the exposed public. One of the nasty realities in spotted fever is that a person can be a carrier without showing any symptoms of it at all. They can carry it  and infect others for as long as a year. Its so infectious that discharges and tissues have to be burned. Spread by coughing and sneezing. So now we have thousands of Rainbow folk dispersed back into the population and any of them could be carriers? I heard that the county is offering free vaccinations to keep this under control. During epidemics the recommendation is for everyone who was exposed to undergo preventative antibiotic treatment.
 
For herbalists, the antibiotic of choice would be garlic. Chinese physicians have found that garlic is specific against crptococcal meningitis (& viral encephalitis) and is extremely effective. It also  boosts the immune system to fight off bacteria more effectively. In epidemics of drug resistant pathogens, garlic should be at the top of the list. As a preventative measure, one would crush a clove of garlic, let it sit for 10-20 minutes to activate the allicin , then just eat it. This would be done 3 times a day. If I thought I actually had meningitis coming on (and being so far away from medical care) I would up that to 3-9 BULBs a day, preferably juiced and taken in small does throughout the day. I would also tone the mucous membrane to fight of bacteria by taking golden seal for a couple weeks.
 
In the olden days, they soaked the back of the head in a warm Epsom salt bath several times a day to draw out infection. They would place alternate hot and cold packs on the neck and back of head to stimulate circulation. A catnip enema might be given to reduce fever during its acute phase and clear the body quickly of infection. Spearmint compresses on the calves and back of neck would be used to bring down fever (only in acute phase). Plants containing quercetin help control inflammation. In fact, elder flower are  known to treat meningitis, as it has quercitin and other substances that stimulate immune function and bring down inflammation. The body should be kept alkaline by taking a 24 hour liquid diet one day a week…potassium broth, fresh juices. Treatment of it at any stage requires a nourishing diet and lots of fluids. Antioxidants are key in supportive treatment and prevention. Some recommend niacin therapy…adults can take a children’s aspirin tablet to reduce the flush…they say to take 100-500 mg of niacin a day.
 
Since this is so serious, anyone who suspects a case of epidemic meningitis should seek medical care immediately. My concern is for those who cannot get medical care for some reason.  These days you have to think about such things as hospitals and doctors being overwhelmed by casualties from natural disasters to terrorist attacks. Folks who find themselves in a situation where someone is seriously ill and cannot get medical help, had better know what to do. Fortunately, garlic isn’t expensive, its available, the only negative side effect is vomiting if you take too much. It can be hard on the stomach and should therefore be taken in low doses throughout the day, taken with a little bread helps. Elder flower ought to be in everyone’s cupboard since it is also so good against colds and flues any way. Great for allergies as well
 
I’ve always liked the saying, “Don’ t be scared, be prepared.” There’s too much disinformation floating around these days for me to swallow this story whole. I don’t know where it originated. On the other hand, it makes sense to know how to deal with health crisis of all kinds because good medical care isn’t always available.  Especially in the boonies. 
 
P.S. On July 23, 2007 there was a news report saying that a girl boarded a plane in Orlando, Florida and became very ill on the flight. Turns out she has epidemic meningitis and is now in serious condition in a hospital in Kansas. I’d sure like to know if she was at the Rainbow gathering , or knew someone who was, wouldn’t you?

by D’Coda 

Scientists over at Purdue University’s Laboratory for SEAS have just handed the Department of Defense a sentient parallel universe. Its called a “sentient world simulator”—SWS – (SEAS is its platform) and is supposed to be a mirror image of earth, complete with billions of nodes representing each…actual…human being now living on the earth. It replicates all of our financial institutions, utilities, media outlets, even the street corner shops…world wide. No doubt, there is “live feed” going into it. My guess is that each time one of us dies, our node vanishes and new borns are fed into SWS as soon as their births are recorded.
 

It’s purpose? The testing out of different psychological operations to anticipate and shape behaviors of friends, foes, and neutrals.  They believe they can predict how individuals and mobs will react to various stressors. By playing around with this world, they expect to be able to generate alternative futures. Pick the one that seems to work the best…and bingo, a “plan”. Seems a bit deterministic to me. And how do they know us so well? Are humans really so predictable? What kind of future are they looking to create? What kind of computer is this anyway?
 

It just so happened that this news came to me while I was reading Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Universe, by Seth Lloyd …who invented the first quantum computer. It would take a quantum computer to create a real  sentient world simulator and Lloyd says we’re still about 40 years away from having one that’s worth its beans. The SEAS platform may be very powerful, and the matrix data mining op the government has run to provide info on each of us for the nodes may be finely detailed, and if enough of us are subjected to behavior modification controls (fluoride in drinking water, SSRI drugs, media propaganda, etc.) we may even be pretty darned predictable at this point. But there are too many variables that cannot be programmed into their simulator….variables that will influence human behavior in a chaotic fashion. Like cats, for example.
 

Thank god for cats. They will screw up any Dr. Strangelove world simulator control op. I guarantee you the programmers didn’t allow for them.  For just one example of how the insertion of a cat into human affairs can alter our behavior, check out the essay about Oscar the cat in the latest New England Journal of Medicine. Oscar was brought into a nursing home as a kitten a couple of years ago. He has grown up in the midst of frail oldsters who tend to pass away. The staff began to notice something fishy going on. Oscar would hop into someone’s bed and curl up close to them. Within about four hours, that person would be dead. After this happened about 25 times, the staff started watching Oscar very closely and he has yet to make a mistake. He knows when his loving friends are about to die. Now, when the staff sees him hop into a bed, they call the family to let them know their relative will be gone soon. How does he know? The thing is, it’s now Oscar who controls the initial  death rituals. A cat is having a profound effect on potential stressors. Most of the people who stayed behind in New Orleans during Katrina stayed because of their pets. No one in government factored that in to emergency plans.
 

Cats. Dogs. Buffalo. Plants. The list goes on. These influence our behavior. Take plants. In the chapter, “Plants as Brains” , from Intelligence In Nature,  Jeremy Narby discusses the work of Anthony Trewavas, a professor of biology at the University of Edinburgh and a fellow of the Royal Society. According to Trewavas, plants have intentions, make decisions, and compute complex aspects of their environment. Investigation of plant intelligence is, according to the journal, Nature , “becoming a serious scientific endeavor.” Trewavas says that plants don’t have brains, they are brains. He goes on to describe the science behind this remarkable claim. Lines of communication exist between species…including between plants and people. Graham Hancock has just come out with a new book documenting the deep relationship between plants and people, its called “Supernatural: Meeting with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind”. ( A MUST read, IMO)
 

A world simulator that claims to predict the behavior of all of the people on earth is seriously flawed if it doesn’t also include how cats, plants, wind, fish, buffalo, drums, and so much more influence us. Its not just shopping malls, financial, institutions, media, utilities and stressors that determine our behavior!  We are deeply connected to the web of life, down to it’s quantum bones. The Department of Defense calls this system SWS. I call it Hubris.

By  D’Coda
 

Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. – Luke 11:9

It’s time. The cave-dwelling, cougar tracking, hound dogging keeper’s of nature’s secrets are arriving. University trained botanists to Blackfoot-medicine-man-apprentices. Granny women to progeny of the original Cherokee settlers…they are arriving. Coming in on foot., road, and legend.. Folklorists and Native American historians. Guardians. The Ozark Herbalist Roundtable has begun.
 
Nature’s answer to the misguided attempt at controlling the minds and bodies of mankind.  The winds of our history are blowing in the Ozarks. Eyes on fire, a jungle within.
 
We weren’t able to communicate. High water kept me from the mailbox. No phone. Several don’t have computer access, and  computer access has been down for VOL for a time anyway. I did get a letter out to Holly who had offered to coordinate our first meet. Told her to arrange the date whether she could reach me or not….and told her I had a creepy feeling that just when I let the housework go and I was out nude in the forest screaming at bears, they’d all arrive, camcorder running . Thankfully I did get out in time for a note from Kent Bonar telling me it was set for June 22-24 and I was ready. It’s still the rainy season though and that means all dates are speculative…depending on weather. Visitors are forced to guess at whether they’ll be  able to get across the creek. I’m forced to guess at whether they’ll attempt it.
 
Our “seed” group; Holly…an old soul poised in a young Viking princess body….Laura, a wise woman …ageless…a brunette willowy gazelle….Kent…built like rope (there’s a photo of him in an older newsletter)…and Moondog…with a full moon beard and story teller eyes. Ready for anything. 
 
They arrived around 7pm Friday evening. “Did you know we were coming?” asked Holly. I replied, “Sort of, enough to be ready but not enough to cook.” Holly, as usual, brought in food and headed  for the kitchen. While she whipped up a shitake mushroom, potato feast, we opened a bottle of blueberry wine from Laura’s brother (he makes it commercially) and discussed our mission. Asking fiercely independent mountain herbalists to work together is like herding cats.  In ordinary times, it couldn’t be done.  We were of one mind –these are NOT ordinary times. We have to share our knowledge with each other,  to deepen our insight into the web of life.  To help others learn that its not governments or corporations (is there a difference?) that are going to save them…but rather, Nature…(though she’ll have her revenge).  To remind, through story, that there was a time when we had dominion over our own bodies and understood what to eat, what God’s medicine chest contained to cure our ills, how to clothe and shelter ourselves.  There was, and is still, a Sacred Way…and THAT is the source of our freedom. Of our very life. But so many have forgotten. We will gather together regularly to Remember. They asked if the Roundtable can meet sometimes at more accessible places and I said, “Sure, but I won’t be there.
 
By the time we got through the blueberry wine, dinner,  and on to a bottle of dessert Rhubarb wine I’d  just made…we were well into story.  Discussing making ointments and liniments, Moondog piped up that the best carrier oil is rattlesnake oil. Both Kent and Moondog said they had rendered rattlesnake oil and mixed with herbs it was a very fine medicine. I remembered the ridicule of “snake oil” salesmen from the past and wondered if there might have been something to snake oil after all. Generally, when there is a medicinal substance that the AMA or some other competitive organization can’t have a patent on, or control of, they ridicule it and it’s purveyors…invent dismissive slogans to discourage folks from using it. Hmmmmm…snake oil, eh? A fine way to start. Snake oil. Then Kent added, “Actually, the BEST carrier oil is bear fat (rendered into oil). It doesn’t go rancid.” He went on to describe how Arkansas once lit the lamps of Europe with bear oil. Wagons of oil trundled down to the Mississippi, loaded on to ships, crossed the ocean and much of Europe burned it in lamps until bears were virtually wiped out.  Herbalists know that the best carrier oils for ointments, liniments, creams is animal fat, which is absorbed into the skin better than vegetable oils. I don’t use animal fat though. I stick with olive oil (though I’d prefer almond, apricot or jojoba…just can’t get them.) Lard is usually recommended but these days its probably chemical laden.
 
When we got to the dregs of the rhubarb wine I mentioned that the “dregs” are the best part. (Moondog grinned in agreement)..loaded with amino acids and B vitamins…including B₁₂.  Then Kent told us about, in the old days, how folks from Arkansas were known as “nutmegs” because nutmeg was their preferred “high”. Every fella had his little nutmegs in his pocket and took them along on travels. You saw a guy chowing down on a nutmeg and you just knew he was from Arkansas.  I happened to have a stash of whole nutmegs and offered to pull it out to put it to the test…but ongoing conversation got the better of us. Snake oil, bear fat and nutmegs…indeed, we were getting into the spirit of things…then the conversation took a turn towards the legends of this particular wilderness– as being a place where “unusual things happen”…a power spot…where the veil between the worlds is thin…Laura mentioned that all wilderness areas are like that…Kent and I agreed and both of us emphasized that this location , even by wilderness standards, has a lot of extremely unusual, “paranormal” activity.  What I didn’t know, until Kent enlightened us, is that the legends of paranormal activity go all the way back to the tribes who fought over it. ..like the Cherokee and Osage (among others). I told them a story about a couple of visitors who stayed a  while They were known to fight a lot with each other and I warned them that there couldn’t be any fighting here — that people living or visiting must be peaceful and get along…harmony is  a requirement in this forest. After only a couple of days, they were at each other’s throats. I intervened and things settled down. But the Spirit Guardians had taken notice and paid them a visit that night…all night long…they never fought here again. (The details of this story are for another time).
 
 Then the big news: Kent explained that old missionary records reveal that this was the very first Cherokee reservation. Most histories of Arkansas claim that the Amer-Indians never lived here. Just used it as a contested hunting ground. Lots of Indian wars fought over it. The reservation didn’t last long, settlers wanted it so the Cherokee were driven out. The settlers had a rough time making  a go of it and didn’t last long. either. We have someone coming to one of our next meetings who can tell us all about it. Her family was among the original settlers, plus, she is Cherokee. She has the stories…also knows native uses of these plants. The cemetery is named after her family
 
Laura, our producer and cinematographer (Matt Reynolds will also film) said she’d like to do a half hour radio program series, before doing the DVD. Targeted for NPR. It won’t be rehearsed or scripted. The spontaneous dialogue will simply be edited down. Holly is one of the organizers, along with Professor  Justin Nolan , of the ethnobiological conference at University of Arkansas next April. (www.ethnobiology.com) She  said we could present the DVD at the conference. This gives us a deadline! Oh, dear.  It’s good, but still, something akin to pressure has me wondering where I stashed my “business hat”.
 
On retiring, Moondog was pleasantly surprised to be offered a real bed. They’d brought bedrolls, prepared to sleep outside on the ground. Kent and Moondog took upper cabin , the ladies took the library.  Beds enough, but the day’s of sleeping outside are probably around the corner.
 
Saturday we started in the garden, shot about 2 hours of film there and then, after lunch, headed down the creek. We found Carolina Buckthorn (a laxative similar to Cascara Sagrada) , Green Dragon, Jack in the Pulpit, Smooth Alder, Button Bush, Water Willow, possibly Squaw Vine, a rare violet, and a lot of plants we were used to seeing. …bloodroot, golden seal, Jacob’s Ladder, and so on. We sat in the water and discussed the Osage. The Osage were known as “supermen” compared to other tribes. Turned out there’s a natural steroid that they used. The missionaries tried to find out what it was. The Osage played a little joke on them and told them it was morning glory…then had a laugh watching the effects. Well, this particular steroid is growing in the garden. We discussed its use. Laura and I may experiment with it, so long as it doesn’t turn us into men. We agreed, we really like being women…but a little extra strength wouldn’t hurt. Moondog took a bath. He  pointed out a  gorgeous Boletes mushroom…cream golden.  Holly discovered my favorite meditation boulder jutting out into  the creek, water swirling and thrashing around it. She bent into it and remarked on how well it conforms to the body. It invites you to hang upside down with your head near the water…then the water snake swims over to look into your eyes. Storm clouds came in and  a downpour drove us back to the house.
 
The afternoon was spent looking up plants in plant keys and discussing medicinal uses of Carolina Buckthorn. Kent lent me a highly technical plant key…Edwin Smith’s Keys to the Flora of Arkansas”… there are no photos , no illustrations. You have to picture the plant in your head based on lengthy botanical descriptions. For example, the following is a partial description of a plant you know. See if you can figure out which plant it is from this description….
 

1. Stipules adnate to the petiole only at their very base, free for most of their length.
   
2. Leaflets 3 (or 5) branclets glabrous; flowers lacking bracts
   
3. Leaflets 5-11; branclets tomentose; each flower subtended by a pair of ovate, apically fimbriate bracts
   
4. Stipules adnate to the petiole for more than half their length
   
5. Styles and stigmas protruding as a column ca.3.5-5.5 mm long from the orifice of the hypanthium……
   

And so on…with a list of several other features .but this may be enough to tell you what it is. Got it yet? 
 
It’s a Rose.
 
 
I thanked him and said that I said I thought it was pretty sucky that there were no illustrations.  I just can’t picture a glabrous, pubescent stem with dendrite hairs. And I realize that if I’m going to use it, I’m  not only going to have to learn botanical terminology, but also…how to draw…even after I learn the terms, they won’t come together into a mental picture of the plant unless I draw it out.. Not only do I now have to learn how to draw…but Professor Gentry is donating a plant press so we can press specimens right away. Its not as easy as it sounds, there’s a precise way to do it…carefully open the flower just so…all parts must be visible (not squashed together).. I will have to learn that, too. The twists and turns. You start out thinking you know what kind of stuff you’re going to learn…someone else will be able to I.D. the plants you can’t figure out, they tell you, and you can then look up and discuss medicinal properties,  simple and direct….but the next thing you know; you’re drawing  plants you’ve never seen before in the hopes your drawing looks like them so you can find them…and pressing minute glabrous dendrite hairs to paper  while  rending rattlesnake oil over a slow fire. …and thinking of your bears in a whole new light.
 
Oh, there were other revelations as well. For example: we learned that unless our eating utensils are really made of silver, they are probably poisonous. The metal used in common tableware is a toxic metal that is sloughed off in very tiny amounts, bite by bite…so that over the years, we poison ourselves with toxic metals. We learned that plastic picnic ware is preferable and had to vie with each other for the two plastic forks. We learned that chopsticks are really the best way to go, along with drinking out of a bowl, etc. And we learned about Jacob’s Organ. Its in the nose and when we breathe properly its stimulated in such a way as to release stem cells into our bodies for tissue repairs. There’s a book out about it called “Jacob’s Organ”. Unfortunately we didn’t record everything, and I don’t remember everything we talked about. We shot about 5 hours of film. Next time, we’ll add audio recording, and I will transcribe to get a more thorough account .
 
Kent told Holly she could copy his botanical file cards …to help her with the enormous task she has on Professor Gentry’s new plant key for Arkansas (due out by 2015). She has over 1200 plants to provide medicinal uses for.  Nothing like teamwork. Kent has illustrated his plant key and its exquisite. Holly kept murmuring  that the new Arkansas flora key project needed to bring Kent in to do illustrations.  His work is first class. I’m willing to testify to the Botany Department of U of A that plant keys without illustrations are totally sucky and not that much help for non-botanists who still need to be able to I.D. plants.
 
I contributed (on film) a bit of history about Western Herbalism…how it developed in ancient Greece, reached its peak with Galen, went into Arabian and Persian cultures and on into the rest of Europe. That is was vitalistic and closely resembled the Chinese system. How it was destroyed, that we now work with only fragments. Native American herbalism and Wise Woman herbalism, are also reduced to fragments…that we can reclaim these venerable vitalistic traditions by a careful study  of the Chinese  and Ayurvedic systems and how they apply to Western herbs . Others, like Peter Holmes, have laid the groundwork for it. And, that one of the aspects currently missing from Western herbalism is the clinical or therapeutic emphasis…as exists in Chinese medicine. I explained that my interest in plants was more therapeutically oriented (than botanically).
 
It’s a good mix in the group so far, we have those with a botany and taxonomy background (Holly shocked me by telling us she LOVES taxonomy); we have a mycologist (Moondog),; we have those with a good understanding of traditional, Amer-Indian uses; those with an understanding of how flora and fauna work together (as we strolled Kent could tell us the specific type of moth that pollinates a specific kind of flower…or about how Golden Mice live in the crown of plum trees. we saw one of their feeding platforms…and how they create their habitat by planting plum trees in the forest); we have those with a clinical (therapeutic) understanding. And as new herbalists join us, this will round out into a complete Roundtable covering a wider swath of Nature than any of us would conceive of, alone.
 
 
As soon as the weather clears (I don’t hike in rain storms) I’ll be mailing invites to Sister Bankhead and Sally Sexton and others for our next meeting. As to who will arrive, and when, that will always be unknown. It will always be a surprise…and that’s ok…that’s what the wild life is like…unpredictable.
 
Power to the Peaceful.
Power to Ron Paul
 

Our friend Dee passed away last week after a long battle with cancer.

She was a former provisional member of the Community, and was always a good friend to us all.  We will miss you dearly.

http://www.volcommunity.org/pictures/album/thumbnails.php?album=48

My 5 month old laptop Gateway brand laptop with Windows XP crashed yesterday, taking out alot of my work and gamming materials.

My other PC, an old Windows 2000 desktop, still works but is barely hanging on due to its age.

I have been a PC/Windows fan since I switched to Windows in the mid 1990’s - so I went out and bought a new desktop computer at a decent price with the new Windows Vista.

I am writing here today, however, to issue Microsoft and PC’s in general an Ultimatum:

This is your LAST chance.  If ONE more PC crashes on me - for any reason - I will switch to Macintosh faster than you can blink.  I hate Macintosh for my own reasons, but the feelings of frustration and anger I am feeling towards PC’s right now - in particular towards Gateway and their NON-EXISTANT TECHNICAL SUPPORT - demand that I honor my feelings by expressing them here. 

I am giving PC’s a chance NOW, with Windows Vista, to make me love them again.  But heed my warning PC and Window’s makers: LAST CHANCE FOR YOU….  Dont fail me….