Flow

Sometimes "things just get better" as Flora Purim sings on her wonderful album recorded with her husband Airto, and this weekend was one of those. When you're in the flow, connected, things string together in ways unpredictable yet coherent when viewed from the history perspective.

Sharon browsed her email, found an email about a Jewish event in Berkeley where a woman who lives in Jerusalem was to sing. Turns out Sharon stayed with her on a visit to Isreal back in the 90's so she called to say hello. Miriam needed a ride to an event that was a mile from our home, Sharon went to fetch her.

Once here, it was a joyful reunion. Miriam is a singer and we invited her to stay with us on the weekend. Her event was at a Catholic University, and went well. In the moring we taped an impromptu segment of Sharon's show featuring Miriam's work for peace in the middle east, and her songs of peace.

Miriam went for a hike with us in the afternoon in nature at a nearby State Park. We hiked past marshland with wonderful birds, up the hills covered with golden grasses that reminded her of Isreal. Indeed the plants are similar here in California to the plants she sees walking in her homeland. Miriam wanted a challenge so I led the group on a small trail that asended into the forest that covers the hills overlooking San Pablo Bay.

Quite challenging, our climbing trail lead us to a saddle with a view that stretched from Vallejo to San Francisco. Took us a lot longer than we thought, and once we made the top we stopped for a bite of our food, drank our water, rested. Realizing we were late for a visit with her teacher, Anna Halperin, we hurried down to the car.

We called Anna as we were late, she agonized over our visit as her children and grandchildren were due for dinner. Anyway, we hustled and made it a few minutes before 6 as Miriam wouldn't be able to come halfway around the world for a long time, and Anna is in her high 80's.

Well after rushing there, her children called to say that they took a senic ride and would be late to dinner! So our visit with the Halprins could happen anyway.

Many years ago Miriam studied dance with Anna Halperin at her studio in Marin County, and it changed her life. Both are working for peace in Isreal, both share a vision of how Art is connected with our society and influences consciousness.

Sharon gave Anna a copy of her book, and learned that Anna's dances helped to solve a crime 30 years ago that Sharon wrote about in her book. WOnderful how closed time-like loops form when given that magical chance. Lawrence ( Anna's wonderful architect husband) shared his latest work with us (he's almost 90). It was such a gift to see this couple still together after all these years ( is it 60 years?) and vibrant, intellegent, giving and so conscious, so connected with nature.

After a short visit, her children and grandchildren arrived and we respectfully went on our way. The take away lesson is that despite the disruptions to our routine, despite the apparent lateness and displacements, Miriam was in the flow and we swam with her. The rich love that she sings about floated us to a series of magical encounters.

A remarkable part of the weekend is that I was to prepare for our upcomming trip, and was having difficulty finding someone to care for the garden. While we were late, a woman came by the house for another task and agreed to do the garden! So the time I "lost" with the unexpected house guest wasn't lost at all! Indeed the solution was perfect and with the efficeincy that only the flow can deliver.

Musicians know what I'm talking about, sports players know what I'm talking about, and you know what I'm talking about. I heard a musician who played with Miles Davis say that Miles was so much in the flow that when this fellow missed a note on the Sax, Miles filled in before the Sax player even knew that he missed the note! Thats being in the flow.

I give thanks for the love and flow this weekend.

Nameste.

Interesting column in the Wall Street Journal asserting that string theory is just an intellectual entropy increasing exercise, perhaps a dead end. Time for some thinker to connect with the truth. Surely somewhere on earth, amongst the billions of us here today, there is a glimmer of the new science?

When I think about the miricle of life, of being here with so many other beings "other than human", it's almost unbearable to contemplate the great dying that is comming if the predictions of global warming are conservative. While life itself will no doubt go on, the loss of so many species is a sin ( where a sin is something that comes between a person and god )of the most tragic sort.

The recent publications in the journals Science and Nature discussing the huge amounts of CO2 that will be released when the tundra warms a few degrees more makes the release of the methane clathrates ( methane in ice) from the huge deposites in artic also more likely.

We are learning that there may be thermal runaway thresholds that trigger unstoppable pertabations in earth's climate that may change our planet for thousands or tens of thousands of years underway now. These changes may become extreme in decades, and we may be able to know within a few years that it's going to be a very rough ride.

Looking at the BBC population map showing the growth of urban population since 1955, it's shocking to see Asia exploding, and bodes ill for global warming. How can we feed 6 or 8 billion folks if we deplete the oceans, convert our breadbaskets to deserts?

We need to get started learning how to reclaim deserts for good, how to conserve our fresh water, how to live without producing so much greenhouse gases and how to help species, ecosystems and environmental niches to transplant themselves to the new places where they can live out the change. Resistence to political change will delay effective response, indeed those forces have effectively confused and delayed any concerted attempts to create the new world and it's new technologies.

We need to work on the engineering of flywheel energy storage, energy conversion, sound refrigeration, tissue culture, ecosystem restoration, genetics and molecular biology and agraculture, we need to work on our social values so that we teach our children how to live with the earth. Indeed the time has come to reconnect with the american native peoples relationship with the spiritual, with the rest of life on the planet.

Time to go water the bamboo then bike to work (I wish).