Sunday Open Thread – February 4, 2007

Posted on February 4, 2007 by Dave Pollard
Winter Trees

What I’m planning on writing about soon:

  • Finding & Working With Others to Save the World: Ways to enable billions to sync with us, on their own terms, in their own context, developing their own plan of action, and then to connect and collaborate in powerful ways, in experiments and in creating and refining working models in their own self-selected Earth-stewarding intentional communities, so that they no longer need the systems that are destroying our world.
  • Diseases to Fear More Than Flu: MRSA. Prion diseases. Modern chronic diseases of the auto-immune and other systems that are epidemic without being contagious, environmental rather than viral. Diseases that neither medicine nor pharmacy can cure, or prevent.
  • What’s Holding Us Back: Our modern society’s three-way tension between falling into the Centre, progressing to the Edge, and just giving up.

What I’m thinking about:

What I wrote about yesterday, about the collective change of mind that seems to be spreading, peer-to-peer, through the mainstream of our society, unaffected by anything in the mainstream media, by political press releases, or by corporatist propaganda. I saw this “something happening here” in the late 1960s, and never expected to see it again.

The Fourth Turning. There are signs of this too, with consequences almost too grim to imagine. Which will prevail, the collective change of mind (an opening of a new global consciousness) or the fourth turning (an era of repression, violent reactionary tyranny)? Or neither? Or both?

My colitis flare-up continues, but it’s much different from the initial disease. This time I’m getting a fair amount of bleeding but very little pain. My stomach’s noisy but not irregular. I’m tired but not exhausted. My mood is much better and my stress level is much lower.Any sufferers out there have any thoughts on this?

What’s on your mind this week?
This entry was posted in Our Culture / Ourselves. Bookmark the permalink.

13 Responses to Sunday Open Thread – February 4, 2007

  1. Jon Husband says:
    February 4, 2007 at 18:38

    I believe, but could be wrong, that the forecasted-predicted-prophesied (pick your word) fourth turning just “is” or will be (as this era’s successor to other previous fourth turnings) .. the authors of the book by that name are agnostic as to whether the outcomes of this particular turning are for the better or for the worse (though they are clearly rooting for the better).I see this as similar to Ronald Wright’s prognostication’s about progress, but / and as he points out this time around we are more people, with a more tightly-wound system created by and borne by more advanced technologies, many of which have not yet shown us their probably unintended consequences.i firmly subscribe (intellectually) to Barbara Marx Hubbard’s aphorism “It’s too late for pessimism”, and I fervently hope that we will witness unleashed the potentially awe-some force of critical masses of people in our back yards and around the world saying “enough”.

  2. Valla says:
    February 4, 2007 at 21:08

    Dave,See your GI doctor. Any time that you are bleeding it needs to be evaluated. Also give you bowel some rest by eliminating hard to digest foods for a while. Meal replacement drinks like ensure while help keep up your energy and health without futher iritation of the bowel walls.Valla

  3. FishEpid says:
    February 4, 2007 at 22:37

    A thread awhile back was on personal emergency preparedness. While poking around the internet, I happened upon the following series of posts (The index for all five has been edited into the first).Are YOU ready for disaster? Part 1 of 5 – Assess your risks! by AlphaGeekFri Sep 09, 2005 at 02:02:18 PM PSThttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/9/161748/9747

  4. andrew says:
    February 5, 2007 at 00:12

    the fourth turning’s predictions of a more closed world are somewhat inline with Giorgio Agamben’s work on changes in Western politics in State of Excemption. Basically, we experience the western mind set of openess as a virtual construct beneath the “temporary” reality of oppression we’ve allowed since 9/11 although Agamben actually traces the history of the West’s continuing flirtations with authoratarian power back much further. I.E. we take our loss of liberities as an exception to the norm and one to be restored, even were we to begin passing laws today, it would take years to overturn every loss of liberty (from rampant gerrymandering to a unitary executive) Americans have occured really since the cold war.”Under the pressure of the paradigm of the state of exception, the entire politico-constitutional life of Western societies began gradually to assume a new form, which has perhaps only today reached its full development. In December 1939, after the outbreak of the war, the Daladier government obtained the power to take by decree all measures necessary to ensure the defense of the nation. Parliament remained in session (except when it was suspended for a month in order to deprive the communist parliamentarians of their immunity), but all legislative activity lay firmly in the hands of the executive. By the time Marshal Pétain assumed power, the French parliament was a shadow of itself. Nevertheless, the Constitutional Act of July 11, 1940, granted the head of state the power to proclaim a state of siege throughout the entire national territory (which by then was partially occupied by the German army).”link:http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/009254.html

  5. andrew says:
    February 5, 2007 at 00:17

    oh oh one more from Agamben:”President Bush’s decision to refer to himself constantly as the “Commander in Chief of the Army” after September 11, 2001, must be considered in the context of this presidential claim to sovereign powers in emergency situations. If, as we have seen, the assumption of this title entails a direct reference to the state of exception, then Bush is attempting to produce a situation in which the emergency becomes the rule, and the very distinction between peace and war (and between foreign and civil war) becomes impossible.”the first qoute was in reference to France’s numerous breaks of parliament’s powers in order to give the ruler/ president power.

  6. Jon Husband says:
    February 5, 2007 at 01:43

    I am currently re-reading Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Astonishing how the themes (and even some of the practices) do not seem so very science-fiction like 60+ years after the book was written.

  7. lugon says:
    February 5, 2007 at 08:31

    * http://newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=830 Not all pandemics are created equal, so react acordingly.* http://youtube.com/watch?v=4IwtAQzrfiw&eurl= Peak Oil already here, or so they say.* http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/02/ipcc_climate_wa.html Global warming accepted. Human responsibility quite likely.You don’t buy masks for peak-oil, but other than that there’s a common theme: local resilience, local responsibility, local everything. Then add a layer of global communication to help local empowerment, and we’re done.Let’s go for local currencies soon, fast and strong! http://www.transaction.net/money/index.html

  8. Zane says:
    February 5, 2007 at 13:58

    David–I too am thinking about this shifting in awareness about the state of the planet, and what it portends. My cynicism and hope are battling it out, and I am trying to just pay attention and live true to my values…

  9. Mike says:
    February 5, 2007 at 17:58

    I saw evidence of a change recently: full grocery store shelves of Progresso meat-containing soup varieties at a sale price of 89 cents a can while shoppers were picking thru remnants of the same brands’ vegetable soups at full price (around $2.60/can).

  10. Mike Shavl says:
    February 5, 2007 at 23:26

    Dave, I am also searching for information about Crohn’s disease and I found this; it may explain your condition. “Patients with Crohn’s disease typically will experience periods of relapse (worsening of inflammation) followed by periods of remission (reduced inflammation) lasting months to years. During relapses, symptoms of abdominal pain, diarrhea, and rectal bleeding worsen. During remissions, these symptoms improve. Remissions usually occur because of treatment with medications or surgery, but occasionally they occur spontaneously, that is, without any treatment.”Source: http://www.medicinenet.comI really appreciate your work and I wish you the best!

  11. Michael Yarmolinsky says:
    February 6, 2007 at 20:42

    Dave,I do not remember if you are still/currently taking any medication, but it is not uncommon for their to be relapses while on certain ones. Specifically the corticosteroids (prednisone or to a lesser degree entocort). Prednisone often works well in the short-term, but the taker often has a flair up later on. The best books to read for managing your IBD through diet (IMO) are offered showcased at the Crohn’s Disease Forum Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/crohnsforum-20 . Rest your body as needed, do not worry or stress and good luck. Please ask any other questions if you would like to.

  12. steve black says:
    February 7, 2007 at 03:48

    save the world by combining all the energy dedicated to all these website into one – we e-activists with children can’t keep up !

  13. Dave Pollard says:
    February 11, 2007 at 16:20

    Thanks everyone — the comments on Fourth Turning are particularly useful to my thinking on this, which result in an article soon. And as always I appreciate the medical advice from other IBD sufferers. Also, Lugon, interesting links — thanks.

Comments are closed.