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Comment from Micmac Fisher at 06:38 on 08_02_05

Hello Malcolm, It is I, Brian Francis. I just wanted to express my appreciation at the hospitality and the inspirational and thought provokoing conversations you and Cynthia had with myself and Amber.It seems like any other time we have gotten together we were very limited in the time we had to talk about other things. I am glad I took the time to visit you guys.One thing that did strike me was that you seemed to be preoccupied by something far away. you seemed a bit distant at times, I hope it is not too serious, dont forget the wonderful tools you have such as the sweetgrass and the sage. When in times of need these sacreed items do help. Very interesting work you and CYnthia do.take care ny friend, see you soon.
Brian

Comment from Malcolm at 13:46 on 07_30_05

Saturday: I enjoy the sight of a pretty woman like most men, and have been known to look at a couple of internet sites with many pics of naked women. Some of these women are drop dead gorgeous and I can happily discuss the subject of natural beauty with my wife. Our relationship is strong enough for that kind of candid conversation.

The point I want to make here is about the cost to potential Members of these sites. A typical sum charged per month cany vary from $20 to $30. Paid for yearly the price comes down. Apparently these sites have many many thousands of subscribers who gladly pay to gawk at naked beauty. I understand that but would ask the question, "After all the gawking have you become enlightened, and do you feel you have gained a long term benefit?"

The fees at the Wisdom Wheel are somewhat more modest, and I believe that the payback is worth radically more than the casual visit to a site for "disrobed dianas". It seems to me that people are stuck in a place of discontent and don't know what to do about it. What about the pure naked beauty of the soul? For that is what one finds as the Journey around the Wisdom WHeel is taken.

Not only do we honour the physical, but also the mental the emotional and the spiritual. Enjoying the natural beauty of the human form is fine, we must embrace the mind, heart and soul as well.

As government action precipitates more and more violence around the globe it is imperative that we build alternative models and ways of being. Coherent living, where our beliefs and values are acted upon is a good way to begin.

People spend a fortune on the quick fix, without looking at the underlying causes of their unease. I wish I had learnt about the Wisdom Wheel years ago. I would have made some different decisions in my life. The wheel would have saved me many tens of thousands of $$$'s.

What price knowledge, what price wisdom?

Comment from Malcolm at 22:57 on 07_26_05

Monday night:

I'm back from Canada. Our annual sojourn with our native american friends, and as usual it was a spiritually moving experience. I never cease to be amazed at how we have been embraced by the native people. The violence meted out to the indigenous tribes was horrific, as if somehow the white man was better. Such arrogance, for it will destroy the very live we all yearn for. Better the simple ways of living in balance and harmony with mother nature.

I experienced the "perfect storm" of existance with 3 huge problems and responsibilities to deal with just before we began the Sun Dance. It drained my spirit, and I have never felt so weak as then.

However, I resolved to fix my issues and immediately could focus on my responsibilities and projects. I had the honor of helping again after 4 years and, as I did my small part to support the dancers felt so humbled by their sacrifice.

My wife is a dancer and again I could see that the patriarchal world we have crafted misses out by not honoring the feminine (in all of us)
Conversely we do not value the male energies in evolved women. Also a waste of human capital.

It is good to be home though despite the wonderful experience. Much is happening and I am looking forward to the various projects that are coming to fruition. I know I am an excellent manager of complexity and have great ideas which will soon become reality.

We had a software problem with the Wisdom WHeel web site and I felt quite frustrated that I couldn't fix it whilst in Canada. Thankfully we're back up now, and the subscribers are relieved tht the daily journals are once more reaching their audience. Too many things to do and so I rushed....

Comment from Malcolm at 23:21 on 07_15_05

Late Friday evening: Many of you know that my wife writes a daily journal entry of her Journey around the Wisdom Wheel. This month she is carrying the law of Shadow. A huge subject and one which affects all of us, individually and collectively. I wonder how many of us can honestly look at the "American Shadow"? From the jingoistic attitudes prevalent today all the way back to the numerous treaties agreed with native americans that were broken. Not one treaty was ever honored, and people say they beleive in the Christian ethos?

Anyway Cynthia's entry today for the Shadow Law was about an old boyfriend she had in Manhattan. It was the first in detail that I had known about him and I felt hurt. I know that rationally it was long before me and so shouldn't matter, yet I sometimes feel that my wife is only intimate through the written word as opposed to the spoken word.

On the other hand I prefer the oral tradition and so we have a mismath in our preferred communication methods. Is my Shadow at work here? What should I feel? We have just concluded a lengthy phone call on this subject. I will not write anything that I do not verbalize.

What are we afraid to share with the other? Why is there another anyway? I drove 550 miles today and have an increased healthy respect for truck drivers. Most of the traffic between Chicago/Detroit and NY are trucks. I spoke to one trucker and he stated that the owners are trying even hard to squeeze more productivity out of them. When will it stop, can't we ever get enough?

Comment from Malcolm at 04:17 on 07_15_05

Friday early morning: Only in America! The fire alarm went off in the motel and I haven't been able to get back to sleep... I got carded twice yesterday, once for being over 55, and then for 21! 55 I can understand, but 21? Oh well, it makes me feel young I suppose. eminds me of the old chestnut. "A man is as old as the woman he feels". This is why guys in their 40's rush off and have affairs and buy little red sports cars. Cynthia's model of the Wisdom Wheel indicates that people are on target for their mid life crisis at about 42 - 44 years old. It is when they are attempting to get clarity on their Higher Purpose that the crisis rears its ugly head. Why are we here anyway? Is it al random or is there some grand scheme?

Comment from Malcolm at 18:47 on 07_14_05

Thurs. evening: Just returned to my motel room, after cleaning up and figuring out what needs to be fixed up with the house (in Battle Creek) I had a tree company come over and they cut down a huge 80 year old tulip tree. It was massive and they were incredibly professional. It is quite an art taking down something that large.

I also had to stop by the lawyers office and just say a quick hello. "Put a face to a name." I honestly believe we have our values skewed when a lawyer can make more than double what it costs me to have a huge tree cut down by a crew of 6. My wife asked me "How many years did the lawyer go to college?" I know all the logic, but it just feels wrong. However when we live in a culture where fear and greed are often the prime motivators it wouldn't surprise me if we pay lawyers a lot!

My motives for buying this property were based upon fear and greed in a way. Anyway I love the house and large grounds and I hope the house goes to a wonderful buyer who takes care of it.

Peace and goodwill to all.

Comment from Malcolm at 09:20 on 07_14_05

Thursday AM: I'm in Battlecreek MI at the moment taking care of an old house I purchased just over 5 years ago. An old girl friend moved here and loved the house but couldn't afford it. So foolish me went ahead and "helped" her. What do they say "location, location, location!" And they are correct! Because I have not been here I've had nothing but trouble with it. It's been a huge drain on my finances and this part of the country is not going crazy like the east and west coasts are.

Oh well you can't take it with you. It's going on the market ASAP, ( I had some tenants in ) So I'll set the price to ensure a very quick sale. I was a damn fool to buy the house because I left myself open to exploitation by folks that I couldn't monitor. It has been a great lesson in Integrity and Wisdom. If I ever buy a house again I'll be on top of it in the next street even. "No good deed goes unpunished."

Over dinner last night I read an article about the Mormons in Utah. I'm eternally greatful to Julian Borger for his work. In short there are a bunch of patriarchies in Utah who use God as an excuse and prey (not pray) on gullible women with low self esteem. Polygamy is alive and well in this part of the USA. One young woman stated "If someone sat there with a gun and said: sleep with me, you'd call that rape. But God is scarier than that," (Rachael) Strong said "God is more powerful than a fist."

Herein lies the problem. God is non judgemental and the man "lauding" it over her (pun intended) and his other woman is using religion as a weapon. The teachings of Jesus Christ are all about love and compassion. They are not about fists and power. This man is exploitative and deep down he is afraid and he is a coward. Anyone who needs to have a relationship where the power distribution is uneven is not evolved and has a poorly developed emotional maturity. My father was like that. He was a control freak who only talked to his kids when he was chastising them.

His mind is now going and I wonder if by trying mightily to control his life his brain just finaly gives up through complete exhaustion?

We are gaining more and more traction on the Wisdom Wheel and I am convinced that it'll become an excellant tool for people to use as part of their life's support system. Cynthia's writings continue to be at a remarkably high level and in this day and age of instant gratification it is hard to imagine that she is nearly 500 pages into her Journal and still going strong. Her Committment and Integrity are a good example to me.

Comment from Malcolm at 12:23 on 07_10_05

Sunday am: We watch a news program each Sunday morning if we have the time. They did a segment on recruitment for the US Army today. As the officer was answering questions posed by the reporters I saw in the background, amongst, I suppose were a list of required personal traits, the word "INTEGRITY". It is impossible for any soldier anywhere to have integrity, because by definition they cannot consider all perspectives. Rather it would be more accurate to say "Inegrity with reference to the short term needs of the unit". What about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay? Are they being treated with integrity. And what happens if a soldier sees unethical behaviour? Can he behave with integrity. No, for the system would not allow nor respond positively.

Given the behaviour of politicians and Bush's lies about Iraq and most other things, it is somewhat ironic that the "Commander in Chief" is the very antithesis of the word integrity.

He doesn't have the capacity to embrace diverse views and integrate the complexities of our world, thus it would be impossible for him to have any semblance of integrity. He is just not capable of it.

There is a link with that segment on army recruitment and the TNT show "Into the West". For sandwiched in between portrayals of the worst of the army's history and their rank disdain for the indigenous people of this land was an advert for the Army.

Have these people no shame? Now that is a great example of zero integrity. I suppose it would be like showing an advert for Red Lobster during a performance of "Jaws"!

Integrity is the north direction stone on the Wisdom Wheel. It is the place of elders, spirit, and the place of winter. Supposedly our emders are supposed to have Wisdom. By their actions it would seem that the capitalist system and the world body politic is afraid of wise elders and their ability to embrace the whole with integrity.

I hope that people will soon begin to see the hollowness of the public debates on current issues. Although the recent example on Jay Leno of ignorance says that folks are too lazy or stupid to think. He was doing a "Jay walking segment" and he asked a lady the following question:

"If Mexico City is the capital, what is the country?"

She did not know! Enough said. And the real sadness is that she thought it was funny. What kind of education did this person have? What sort of world does sh live in?

Comment from Malcolm at 19:42 on 07_08_05

Friday Evening: I have been travelling this week. Was in NY city for a couple of days, discussing some rather interesting projects with music technology. It was good to share some creative ideas with folks who are like minded. Creativity is in the East on the Wisdom Wheel, being a natural part of our intellect. It is balanced in the west by the Law of Pure Potential. Real creativity demands that we set aside preconceived notions and give our minds free rein to think that anything is possible.

For example, we spend billions of $$$ designed new supersonic aircraft to shave minutes off a journey yet we do nothing to help cut the time spent at the airport. There are many creative things that we can do to make transportation in all its forms more efficient, however we are stuck with outmoded linear thinking.

We went to the moon over 40 years ago, yet I cannot easily travel 20 miles along interstate 95 on the east coast of the USA. Not only are we not creative, we do not have the political will.

There is a large debate currently going on about the origin of the species. Many scientific and logically based individuals believe in evolution as the engine of our existance, whereas some faith based individuals are convinced that we are part of an intelligent design. That is an outside agent (God/Creator etc) influenced the process.

If that were the case I would suggest that they did a pretty bad job! We may have the potential to be intelligent, however human beings, by their very actions are extremely unwise. Does it matter how we arrived? Surely our time and energy could be better spent learning how to live in harmony with each other and be better stewards of the planet for future generations.

If we were wise we would take our innate intelligence and use it to care and nurture each other. Sadly we don't, we use our abilities to construct mechanisms to take from others and to consume.

True Wisdom would help us to embrace the boundaries of our existance, namely our potential for the infinite and our potential for nothingness. For at both places we can experience ecstacy, and not in pill form.

Wisdom comes from appropriate use of intelligence, hence creating and harnessing nuclear bombs (fission)without built in operational safeguards is the unwise use of intelligence.

On the west side of the Wisdom Wheel (Power) without (Compassion) is a deadly and unsustainable (Process).

The London Bombings on 07/07 were a tragedy and I fervently hope that the investigating teams have the Integrity to respond and act based upon real evidence and not on misplaced suppositions and racial stereotyping. We want fact based decision making rather than an emotional reaction. Racism is so often based upon the fear of difference. If we could embrace our nothingness we would in reality have nothing to be afraid of.

Comment from Your Very Very at 09:59 on 07_06_05

Hi Malcolm - Been meaning to check out your blog since it went up, but when you're physically present it doesn't seem necessary. Now that you're out of town, I've come to hear your voice, reading the poems. The technology doesn't do you justice unfortunately, lots of skips and silences marr the effect. How to determine the cause of these problems? Is it Internet or recording related? You're a good 'tech detective' so I'm sure you'll detect it! Thought you'd appreciate the feedback so it can be fixed. I also submitted a query today about your musical, Company Matters, to an agent finding editor... More on all that soon. I'm glad your Creativity continues unabated, in all kinds of forms!

Comment from Malcolm at 12:40 on 07_04_05

July 4th. So many Americans and so much pride. This is a day for celebration, a day to embrace one's heritage. Many barbecues and great parades, here in Rhode Island in Bristol they have the oldest continuous 4th July parade in the country. It is good to feel proud, but we should take a minute and think of how we came about this land. It was taken from the indigenous peoples of this country. Long before Europeans came this land had been cultivated and lived on for 1000's of years, yet "we" decided that the bounty was "ours" for the taking. What right did we have to steal from another? Does not two of the 10 Commandments state "Thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not covet they neighbours house, nor his wife..."

So on this day we should consider the underpinnings of the republic, which go against the very tenets outlined in the Book of Exodus Chapter 20. The english were fond of calling native americans savages. It would seem by their actions that it was the British who were the savages. This is a wonderful example of castigating those that are different. It is the basis of sexism, racism, and other kinds of xenophobia.

This country and the world would make a great leap forward if our belief systems were to trancend national borders, for us to accept that we are all one.

"God Bless America", yes but also let the whole world be blessed by abundance and peace. There is a poem entitled "Old Glory" written
by Howard Schnauber one of the lines caught my attention:

“ I stand for peace, honor, truth and justice.”

When I look at the flag I evaluate those words. It is now widely accepted that President Bush lied about the war in Iraq. (one amongst many lies no doubt) Yet he is one of many individuals who will feel patriotic, and love the poem. But then their actions are at odds with their stated patriotic belief. Did the Enron executives believe in "truth and justice"? Highly unlikely! If we as a nation honestly value "peace, honor, truth and justice", then we will hold those who hold high office to account. We deserve it not only for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren.

Comment from Malcolm at 17:30 on 07_01_05

Friday afternoon:

I got stuck in traffic yesterday coming up from NY city. It seems as if everyone wanted to get away early for the long weekend. I took the bus and, as usual, I noticed that each car only had one occupant. I wish towns could begin figuring out how to move people in a seemless manner. I have some very strong opinions on these issues, it is all about lines of demarcation and easy transitioning. People would use mass transport if it were easy to go from car to train or bus. But everyone considers each group in isolation, rather than seeing the complete picture. I missed the last ferry home and had to take the water taxi, so my trip covered every mode of transportation except a plane! I was so happy to be home with Cynthia, it took 10 hours for the trip all told.

I awoke refreshed but always take a long time to waken up. We rescued a baby rabbit that appeared to have been abandoned. I ws half asleep holding this tiny creature and it fell out of my hand onto the floor, a drop of about 3 feet. It hasn't really looked well since then and we are not sure what to do. I feel awful about it all. I watched Cynthia "mothering" the bunny and was quite taken with her gentleness and tender approach. She was obviously a good mother to her own babies.

We all need to learn about becoming better at nurturing each other and the earth. The Wisdom Wheel is an excellent teacher in that regard. It reminds us about Integrity, Trust, Compassion and Higher Purpose.

I wonder if I am truly on my right path? I feel comfortable about where I am right now, working hard supporting and developing the web site, writing my poetry and now keeping this Blog. It's all a lot of work but very rewarding. I have a much greater appreciation and respect for my own skill and that of other developers and programmers. Many of us put in countless hours for scant reward. I read more about the Call Center issues (see June Blog) earlier today. Apparently many of the callers use racial epithets, often because of their own frustrations at equipment and processes not working as expected.

Cynthia is covering the Law of Shadow this Lunar Cycle. Are the Call Center problems part of the Capitalist Shadow? The Shadow of short term needs versus long term benefits. I wonder which companies fully thought through the ramifications of their actions when they shipped all these jobs abroad?