From nature hikes to chats with chickens, spiritual tourism is on the rise – Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Before flying to my Santa Fe resort, I received a list of at least 20 activities available during my stay. Yoga Nidra. Zen Qi Flow. Sound Healing Journey. Meditation in Motion. Temazcal Sweat Lodge. Petroglyph Art Hike. Awakening the Elements Within. Chicken Chats.

I circled the boxes for hiking, chi gong, visual arts and put a question mark next to chicken chats. I was laying the groundwork for my first foray into spiritual tourism, to explore what is one of the fast-growing segments of the travel industry and maybe return more rested and centered.

Spiritual tourism encompasses not just traditional pilgrimages, but also trips designed to restore gratitude and calm, to explore inner life to touch the soul.

Searching for answers to lifes big questions, travelers increasingly are setting forth on journeys within. These seekers are a 21st-century version of the religious pilgrims of old, but instead of heading to Jerusalem or Mecca, they are flying to specialty retreat and wellness centers, monasteries, natural wonders and beyond.

Countries across the globe are eyeing spiritual and religious tourism with intense interest. The United Nations World Tourism Organization held its first conference on spiritual tourism for sustainable development in 2013. It estimates that 330 million people visit religious sites each year, and spiritual tourists are among the ranks.

We can see this burgeoning growth [in spiritual tourism], said Daniel Olsen, a professor of geography at Brigham Young University who researches religious tourism. People have always traveled for spiritual reasons but its been tied to religion. Today people are seeking purpose in life, but not always within that religious structure.

That analysis resonated with what I learned from seekers I met during my New Mexico stay.

Ive always taken care of other people, now I need to find out about myself, explained a woman I met at my resort, Sunrise Springs Spa Resort. Whats my next step in life? Where do I go from here?

As a religion reporter, I was curious about this trend. But where to go? Im wary of New Age wu wu such as crystal or aura readings. Im incapable of countless hours of meditation or yoga. And I needed to stay in the United States for budget reasons. (Although Monk for a Month in Thailand was tempting.) So I scouted online for best spiritual retreats and boom. Options galore.

The Sunrise Springs Spa caught my eye. The tranquil 70-acre resort outside Santa Fe is described online as a sacred, nurturing destination spa where you define the experience you want.

I arrived on a heavenly November day of clear blue skies and cottonwood trees ablaze in autumn gold. After checking me in, a Sunrise worker explained the lay of the land. In front of us was a landscaped medicine wheel circular walking paths laid out in the design of this Native American sacred symbol. To the left was a large ceremonial circle and a sweat lodge. Ahead were a dozen small buildings holding a cooking studio, meditation and yoga rooms, horticulture classes, two restaurants, a full-service spa and four repose pools fed by natural hot springs. Guest rooms were in earth-tone buildings that blended into the landscape. Guests were a mix of regular vacationers and spiritual explorers.

I decided to get a close spiritual encounter with those repose pools as soon as possible. But first, I needed to explore. With a resort map in hand, I peeked in the Sages library and found a woman quietly reading a book about fairies. I checked out a secluded patio, where a woman sat alone, writing in a journal. I discovered lovely hiking trails. And then I spotted a sign, Cat Corral.

I approached the trailer next to it. A woman inside opened the door and asked Did you want to come in? Inside were a frisky group of kittens. Their keeper explained that the resort offers kitten play, puppy play and chicken interactions to its guests.

I asked how that meshed with exploring spirituality. She looked up and said, Anytime you are interacting with another species, its a spiritual experience.

Hmm. A second resort staffer described it this way: Kittens are about innocence, about unconditional love. Isnt that what we seek?

Mysteries of history

My first full day as a spiritual explorer started with a small group hike to the nearby Cieneguilla Petroglyph Site. Ancestors of the Pueblo Indians traversed this desert centuries ago, etching hundreds of primitive images on boulders along their trail routes. Human stick figures. Birds. Animals. A hunched flute player known as Kokopelli.

A drawing that stood out looked like a church topped by a tiny crucifix. Next to it were running horses, animals introduced to the continent by Spanish conquerors.

I marveled that I was viewing a real-time depiction of the arrival of Christianity. Wouldnt these ancient artists marvel that the spiritual practices they were forced to abandon now are embraced by 21st-century people of European ancestry? Burning sage. Sweat lodges. Medicine wheels. All were available at my resort and at countless others. The circle of life?

Our guide, Ruth, frequently offered bits of wisdom gleaned from the stone. When she paused next to a star-covered boulder and explained that stars were used for navigation, she added: Arent we all still looking for our North Star? Our direction in life?

This rich blend of nature, history and heart was cause for reflection. I walked quietly.

My afternoon at the resort was colored by a far too worldly episode: I got locked out of my room on the balcony. Fortunately I was holding a copy of the book Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. I used it to bang on the metal balcony railings until 10 minutes later I caught someones attention. I felt very successful.

Wide awake after that episode, I walked over to a class being held at the medicine wheel paths. In the center was the teacher, sitting next to a small plate of burning sage and a plastic Bic lighter. Hi, Im Diane, she said with a smile.

We soon were joined by five other women, offering a glimpse into 21st-century spiritual pilgrims. One was a young woman who used to live in a nearby Buddhist monastery and felt profoundly drawn to the area. The others were in their 30s or 40s, working professionals, mothers and wives, seeking time out to ponder the next steps in life and to sample new spiritual practices that could help them.

For the next hour we learned about the four directions symbolized by the medicine wheel, which I found a bit confusing, and then were taught some chi gong moves. I hadnt tried chi gong before and found it pleasantly meditative.

By this point, the sky was darkening and the hot spring repose pools beckoned. I headed toward the spa centers outdoor area, where four big steamy pools were illuminated by dreamy blue lighting. Since it was a Sunday night, they were nearly empty. I slipped into a wide circle of warmth. Leaning back, I gazed at the stars, the same stars that the petroglyph artists stared at centuries ago.

And so, the worries of the world drifted away with the blue mists rising from the pools. That lovely state of emptiness that meditation is supposed to bring I attained it with less effort.

I liked this path to enlightenment.

Peaceful routine

My four-day stay evolved into a routine. Morning coffee with journal writing. Late breakfast. Nature-bonding hikes. A class or two exploring a spiritual dimension. Evenings included serious pool reposing followed by reading in my TV-free, peaceful room.

I didnt have time, or inclination, to do more. But one of my fellow spiritual travelers, Katy, had signed on for serious soul searching. She had met with a spiritual counselor, attended a three-hour sweat lodge session with a native healer, had her cards read. That was in addition to daily classes.

I saw her last at a sound healing session. Our instructor created different sounds, such as a chant or a drum beat or flute melody, and we closed our eyes and listened. Sitting on a floor pillow, I found it incredibly relaxing. But twice during the first chant, I felt a breeze on my cheek in the enclosed room. After class I mentioned this to the teacher. He paused, and then explained he had been summoning the four winds. A coincidence?

This long weekend reminded me of the Introduction to World Religions class I took in college. There were practices I found strange, and some I found unexpectedly soothing. I concluded that we all have a lot of answers to our perennial inner questions, but are too preoccupied with life to listen. But with fresh direction, a serene setting and a few fellow spiritual travelers, insights emerge.

Unfortunately, I did not return to Minnesota in a state of inner bliss. But I did unlock some insights useful for this new year. On my last morning at Sunrise Springs, I sat quietly at the medicine wheel, enjoyed a nature walk, and went back to the cat corral. I watched how playing with rambunctious kittens really did lift guests spirits.

Whether chicken chats could compete with these cuddly creatures for inspiration remained unclear. Ill need some divine guidance on that.

Jean Hopfensperger 612-673-4511

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From nature hikes to chats with chickens, spiritual tourism is on the rise - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Ambedkar’s Feminism – Economic and Political Weekly

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Virtually every day, the most brutal, most gruesome rapes of Indian girls and women fill the headlines. From where does this vicious misogyny come? Why are Indian boys still brought up as little kings, while Indian girls, in sharp contrast, are disciplined to be obedient domestic servants? A profound, deeply ugly bias against women pervades Indian culture, even today. Our political leaderswho are virtually all mendo nothing about it. Why should they? It benefits them, after all.

But we did, once, have a very great leader who was also a passionate feminist. All human rights are closely connected and B R Ambedkar knew this. Thus, while rightly venerated as the great icon of Dalit liberation, he was also strongly and intuitively feminist in his thinking. But, his profound feminism has received surprisingly little attention. It deserves to be widely recognised as central to his humane and enlightened perspective because his feminism is both radicaland inspiring.

In his Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar (2016: 213) mockingly asked if the Congress party had discontinued its social conference because very few Congress members were genuinely interested in social reform:

Does it prove conclusively that social reform has no bearing on political reform? It will help us to understand the matter if I state the other side of the case. I will draw upon the treatment of the Untouchables for my facts.

He consistently argued that political change had to start with social reformsocial reform had to be at the heart of political reform. His conviction regarding the primacy of social reform in all political transformations indicates why he was an intuitive feministhe instinctively recognised the profound connections between caste discrimination and gender subordination in India.

Ambedkar was very aware that the patriarchal oppression of Indian women was essential to the continuance of caste. In her excellent collection of Ambedkars speeches on Brahminical patriarchy, Rege (2013: 145) points out the centrality of caste intermarriage for Ambedkar: In Annihilation of Caste, for instance,1 he presents intermarriage as the only real remedy to abolish caste.

Ambedkar was interested in political/social issues concerning women from an early age. In his early 20s, while studying anthropology (among other subjects) in New York at Columbia University, Ambedkar focused on the position of Indian women in a remarkably feminist dissertation, exploring the patriarchal control over female sexuality in India. He concluded that male control of womens sexuality was essential to the reproduction of the caste system. Without it, intercaste marriages would ensue and caste identities would slowly wither away.

This crucial insight made him a passionate campaigner for an important feminist principle, namely womens right to control their own sexuality and to determine their own choices in marriage. This attitude was far ahead of his time and was considered scandalous by the conservative society around him. Disregarding this, in his preface to the third edition of Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar critiqued other reformers preoccupation with interdining as a means of ending untouchability (Rege 2013: 145) and roundly declared,

To agitate for and to organize inter-caste dinners and [organized] inter-caste marriages is like forced feeding brought about by artificial means. Make every man and woman free from the thraldom of the shastras, cleanse their minds of the pernicious notions founded on the shastras, and he or she will inter-dine and inter-marry, without your telling him or her to do so. (Rege 2013: 145)

Ambedkars feminist ideas and his feminist political positions evolved from his relatively limited and conventional views in his early years, to his extremely vanguard and radical-feminist views in the 1950s. His final position is embodied in his 1951 article The Rise and Fall of the Hindu Woman (Rege 2013). We will discuss this crucially important article later.

We now move from his dissertation in New York, written in his early 20s, to 1936, when Ambedkar was 45 years old and the acknowledged leader of the Mahar Dalits. In 1936, Ambedkar gave a famous speech in Kamatipura, the sex workers district of Bombay (Rege 2013: 145), to women who belonged to a range of Dalit castes that engaged in hereditary/ritualised female sex work: Vaghyas, Devadasis, Jogtinis, and Aradhis.

Here, we need to first briefly investigate what instigates the involvement of Dalit women in ritualised sex work. Very poor Dalit castes have historically been required to manually clean the waterless toilets of higher castes. In other words, they have been forced to be night-soil people and do the most unpleasant tasks that nobody else wants to do. This filthy, yet poorly paid, work has been demanded of them, and, in recent times, when many of them have refused2 to do this deeply humiliating work, they have been attacked and beaten up by the dominant caste-Hindus of their villages.

In a similar way, extremely poor and vulnerable Dalit castes have been traditionally required to provide their young women and even their very young daughters for the sexual gratification of their higher caste landlord-employers. These Dalit castes are often bonded agricultural labourers. Dalit women in these bonded labour castes have been unable to refuse to provide sexual services to dominant-caste men because they have been forced into sex work by their own husbands/fathers and sometimes by older women. These practices continue even today (Anandhi 2017; Kapadia 2017).

Significantly, this sexual abuse of even young girls is locally represented as an offering to the clan goddess. But, what is actually going on is the organised sexual abuse of female children. This appalling ritualised prostitution of female children continues today, even in progressive South India, particularly among impoverished rural Dalits in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and northern Tamil Nadu.

Come With Us: Ambedkar at Kamatipura

But, to return to Bombays red-light district on 16 June 1936, where Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar stands talking to the Dalit women sex workers. Then, as now, impoverished Dalit women did not willingly choose to enter prostitution. These women had been forced into it by circumstancesor by their husbands. This helps explain why Ambedkar chooses to speak to them as he did. What exactly did he say? According to the Times of India of 17 June 1936 Ambedkar said:

But I insist that if you want to be with the rest of us, you must give up your disgraceful life. The Mahar women of Kamatipura are a shame to the community There are only two ways open to you: either you remain where you are and continue to be despised and shunned, or you give up your disgraceful profession and come with us. You will ask me how to make your living. I am not going to tell you that. There are hundreds of ways of doing it. But I insist that you give up this degraded life. You marry and settle down to normal domestic life as women of other classes do and do not live under conditions which inevitably drag you into prostitution. (Rege 2013: 146)3

We know that these sex worker Dalit communities were highly patriarchal. Therefore, an important subtext to Ambedkars words was the collusion of impoverished Dalit men in the prostitution of their women kin. This is a subtext that both Ambedkar and his female audience would have been acutely aware of. Rege (2004) herself has provided us with crucial evidence for the lack of autonomy and the tragic victimhood of many Dalit Mahar women in her important book.4

When discussing Dalit marital relations during this period, her account, based on womens own testimonies, details the extremely brutal punishments that husbands gave supposedly disobedient wives, often inflicting dreadful physical mutilations on them (Kapadia 2007). In short, this was not a social context in which women could either choose or refuse to become prostitutes. It was usually their male kin who decided this.

Once we recognise the collusion of Dalit men in the sexual trafficking of their female kin as the unspoken backdrop to Ambedkars speech, we see how Ambedkar challenges these Dalit women to stand up for their own interests, rather than the interests of their male kin. He, therefore, asks them to quit prostitution altogether. His challenge is uncompromisinghe tells the women very plainly, almost harshly, that he will not help them to find other sources of income. They must do this themselves and give up their disgraceful sex work in Kamatipura for their own sake.

Ambedkar and the Theris

We now come to 1951 and to Ambedkars article, published that year in the Journal of Maha-Bodhi Society, entitled The Rise and the Fall of the Hindu Woman: Who Was Responsible for It? (Rege 2013). By this time, Ambedkar was deeply interested in Buddhism, which he took very seriously. He would soon convert to Buddhism on 14 October 1956, having been mentored by the eminent Sri Lankan Buddhist scholar-monk, Venerable Saddhatissa, who was renowned internationally. Some 5,00,000 of his followers converted to Buddhism along with Ambedkar and his wife.

That Ambedkar found joy and liberation in Buddhism is evident in this article in which he shares his delight in the verses written by the Theris, the female Elders of the Buddhist monastic Sangha. These verses, known as the Therigatha, the Verses of the Theris, attest to their realisation of enlightenment. Orthodox Brahminical Hinduism has always denied, and continues to do so till this day, that women can attain spiritual enlightenmentthey have to be reborn as males to do so because only men can become spiritually enlightened. Buddhism rejected this view totally. Initiating a social revolution, the Buddha opened his Sangha (monastic community) to both Dalits and women, going totally against the established norms of his day.

Ambedkar quotes, in full, the Therigatha verses of two TherisMutta (whose name means liberation) and Mettika. The Pali Text Society source that Ambedkar referred to provided a short background history of Mutta, the Buddhist nun, before giving the verse she wrote:

Come to proper age, she was given to a hunchbacked Brahmin; but she told him she could not continue in the life of the house, and induced him to consent to her leaving the world. Exercising herself in insight, her thoughts still ran on external objects of interest. So she practised self-control, and repeating her verse, strove after insight till she won Arahantship; then exulting,she repeated

O free indeed! O gloriously free

Am I in freedom from three crooked things:

From quern, from mortar, from my crookbacked lord.

Ay, but Im free from rebirth and from death,

And all that dragged me back is hurled away. (Rege 2013)

Thus, Mutta rejoices in her spiritual enlightenment and in her freedom from unpaid domestic work (the pestle and mortar) and her husband. She not only happily turns her back on the conventional life of women, but, in her own words, hurls it away with glee. Hers is an exultant celebration of freedom from domesticity and emancipation from the shackles of orthodox Hindu marriagethings that Mutta very explicitly defines as fetters that dragged her back to death and the cycle of rebirth.

Significantly, Ambedkars quote of Mettikas enlightenment verse is on the same theme of female emancipation at the crowning moment of spiritual self-realisation. Mettika wrote:

Though I be suffering and weak, and all

My youthful spring be gone, yet have I come, leaning upon my staff, and climbed aloft

The mountain peak.

My cloak thrown off,

My little bowl oerturned: so sit I here

Upon the rock. And oer my spirit sweeps

The breath of Liberty! I win, I win

The Triple Lore! The Buddhas will is done! (Rege 2013)

To win the Triple Lore or Tevijja is to know that one is enlightened and will not be reborn. In these verses, Ambedkar is celebrating not only female spiritual attainment, but also the Buddhist rejection of the orthodox Brahminical assumption that no woman is capable of attaining enlightenment. He is also, implicitly, together with these exultant Theris, celebrating their rejection of domesticity and marriage as the limits of female existence.

In celebrating the Theris, Ambedkar was, therefore, not only rejoicing in the fact that they were women who had attained enlightenment through the eightfold path shown by the Buddha, but he was also, in a radical-feminist manner, celebrating women who had very explicitly rejected married domesticity and had chosen to walk away from the safety of husbands and homes. In his celebration of the spiritual attainments of the Theris, Ambedkar showed how deeply he empathised with womens desire to be free to do anything and to be anythingin short, to be wholly emancipated human beings.

Ambedkar clearly saw that caste hierarchy has to be annihilated before we can hope for the emancipation of Indias women. Women can never be liberated as long as the radical inequality of the caste system is protected, as it continues to be today. And, this is why the ghastly rapes and the ugly misogyny will continue in our country until all women and all men, whatever their caste, are seen as of equal worth. Caste hierarchy has to be smashed before we can hope for the emancipation of Indias women. Women can never be liberated as long as the caste system is protected, as it is today. But, if women rebel and reject arranged marriages, choosing their own spouses, this will at least spell the beginning of the end of caste. This is what Ambedkar gave his life forand this should be our common pursuit.

Notes

1 Reges footnote here notes: BAWS (Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches), Vol 1, pp 2896. See https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/attach/amb/Volume_01.pdf.

2 Note the huge political importance of such refusal in the saga of Dalit struggle.

3 Reges own footnote here reads: BAWS, Vol 17, Part 3, 150, emphasis added.

4 Also see Kapadia (2007).

References

Ambedkar, B R (2016): Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition, S Anand (ed), London and New York: Verso.

Anandhi, S (2017): Gendered Negotiations of Caste Identity: Dalit Womens Activism in Rural Tamil Nadu, Dalit Women: Vanguard of an Alternative Politics in India, S Anandhi and Karin Kapadia (eds), London and New York: Routledge, pp 97130.

Kapadia, Karin (2007): Reading Dalit Women: Memories of Rural Lives in Maharashtra,Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 42, No 50, pp 2729.

(2017): Introduction: We Ask You to Rethink: Different Dalit Women and Their Subaltern Politics, Dalit Women: Vanguard of an Alternative Politics in India, S Anandhi and Karin Kapadia (eds), Routledge: London and New York, pp 150.

Rege, Sharmila (2004): Women Writing Caste: Testimonies of Dalit Women of Maharashtra, New Delhi: Zubaan.

(ed) (2013) Against the Madness of Manu: B R Ambedkars Writings on Brahmanical Patriarchy, 1985, New Delhi: Navayana.

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Days out near me: The best new things to do across the UK, from the Game of Thrones Studio Tour to Durham walking trails – inews

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LifestyleTravelFrom coastal trails to treetop adventures, there is plenty to enjoy in the year ahead

Friday, 3rd January 2020, 6:04 pm

Get lost in the garden Greater Manchester

Make a pilgrimage Durham

Whether you are seeking spiritual enlightenment or simple escapism, pick your own path: Durhams new Northern Saints Trails project comprises six walking routes, based on ancient pilgrimages, all leading to Durham Cathedral and all showcasing different aspects of the North Easts landscapes and heritage. Trails launch in spring, northernsaints.com.

Go to jail Cornwall

Built in the 18th century, Bodmin Jail is being given a 21st-century revamp. The Grade II listed hulk is being turned into an immersive attraction, where you can walk with smugglers past. You can even check in: later in the year some of the cells will be transformed into a boutique hotel, complete with mod cons and inventive dining, but retaining that bars-on-the-windows atmosphere. Launching in May, hotel opening late 2020, bodminjail.org.

Tell tales Oxford

Let your imagination run wilder at the revamped Story Museum. New for 2020, Oxfords centre of storytelling will feature the Whispering Wood (a forest echoing with oral tales) and Small Worlds, where children can play with book characters. Philip Pullman and Malorie Blackman creations will be brought to life in the Enchanted Library, a set of immersive story rooms. Reopening 4 April, storymuseum.org.uk.

Be illuminated Norfolk

Hit the creative quarter London

A new landmark destination for the arts that is the aim of Woolwich Works, the overhaul of Greenwichs former Royal Arsenal. The Thames-side site comprises the Fireworks Factory, Academy, Cartridge Factory, Carriageworks and Laboratory. Highlights will include a theatre, courtyard, market area, exhibition zones, bars and community spaces. Launching 2020, royalgreenwich.gov.uk.

Drink a dram Edinburgh

How better to celebrate your 200th birthday than by sharing a shot or two with the world? For its bicentenary, the Johnnie Walker brand is building a Johnnie Walker Experience in the heart of Edinburgh. The three-storey former House of Fraser store on Princes Street will be dedicated to the history and process of whisky. Opening late 2020, diageo.com.

Canal-side capers Birmingham

Built in 1874, Birminghams Roundhouse was originally used as stores for the adjacent New Main Line Canal. This year, the Grade II listed icon will reopen as a hub from which to explore the waterways network. Opening early 2020, nationaltrust.org.uk.

Eat, drink and be merry Devon

Get in the spirit Cardiff & Monmouthshire

Lushes, get thee to South Wales. First to Hensol Castle (near Cardiff) where a full-scale distillery and gin school is opening in the fortresss 17th-century basement. Then visit Monmouthshires Silver Circle: launched in July, this distillery is opening for visits, tastings and workshops. hensolcastledistillery.com, silvercircledistillery.com.

Feel industrious Derby

Did you know that the worlds first fully mechanised factory was built in Derby? This year, that 299-year-old locale will become home to the Museum of Making. Part of the Unesco-listed Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, the new riverside museum (based around the historic Silk Mill) will showcase key items from the areas industrial past, celebrate creativity and encourage the entrepreneurs of the future. Opening in autumn, derbymuseums.org.

Take a tour Wye Valley

In 1770, William Gilpin took a boat tour along the river Wye; he subsequently wrote Britains first tour guide. There are events to celebrate this 250th anniversary, including a new Celtic Trails walking trip in Gilpins footsteps. Launches March, celtictrailswalkingholidays.co.uk, gilpin2020.org.

Walk into Westeros County Down

Step right into the Seven Kingdoms: the upcoming Game of Thrones Studio Tour will take you behind the scenes of the HBO series. A huge interactive experience is being built within Banbridges Linen Mill Studios, where much of the series was shot. The tour will include sumptuous sets, original props and costumes and recreations of key scenes. Opening in autumn, linenmillstudios.com.

Discover ancient girl power Staffordshire

Ever heard of Aethelflaed? Not to worry: this fierce and forgotten queen (daughter of Alfred the Great) will become much better known this year, once Tamworth Castle has opened its new gallery. The space will use audio-visuals to explore the towns Anglo-Saxon history, from the stories of overlooked Aethelflaed to themes of war and warrior culture. Pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard will also be on display. Opening in summer, tamworthcastle.co.uk.

Hit the coast Wales

Find 50 new ways to walk the Wales Coast Path. A new batch of self-guided itineraries, designed by trail officers who know the path inside out, is launching to help people of all abilities experience the 870-mile epic. In spring, 10 new wow walks will be released, featuring some of the Welsh shorelines most impressive stretches. A series of culture and heritage routes will follow in autumn. All are free to download. Launching spring, walescoastpath.gov.uk.

Art beside the sea Kent, Sussex & Essex

The England Coast Path is now set for completion in 2020-21. The stretch along the shores of Kent, Sussex and Essex is looking especially inspiring. The Englands Creative Coast project will launch Waterfronts, a trail linking artworks between the South Downs and the Thames Estuary; the first, a collaboration with Michael Rakowitz and the Turner Contemporary, begins in spring. Launching in April, englandscreativecoast.com.

Sleep in style Cornwall

Hot on the trotters of The Pig at Bridge Place, which opened in 2019, the much-adored mini hotel chain will launch The Pig at Harlyn Bay this summer, converting Grade II listed Harlyn House (near Padstow) into another laid-back-luxe retreat. Expect sea views, a kitchen garden, a local-food focus and the buildings 15th-century character given a quirky, porcine twist. Opening in June, thepighotel.com.

Gawp at Viking gold Scotland

In 2014, a metal detectorist in Dumfries and Galloway unearthed the richest collection of Viking-age objects ever found in the UK: more than 100 treasures buried in the 10th century. A free exhibition of the Galloway Hoard will run from 29 May to 18 October at Edinburghs National Museum of Scotland before touring to the Kirkcudbright Galleries, Dundees McManus Museum and Aberdeens refurbished Art Gallery. From 29 May, nms.ac.uk/hoardexhibition.

Play in the woods Cheshire

BeWILDerwood, the childrens adventure park in the Norfolk Broads, is set to sprinkle some of its magic in the grounds of Cheshires Cholmondeley Castle when it opens its second site. The 70-acre playground will be a labyrinth of treehouses, wooden walkways, slides, curious characters, arts and crafts activities and storytelling designed to fire kids imagination amid the estates lakes, ponds and mossy woods. Opening spring, bewilderwood.co.uk.

Change of perspective Cumbria

Sizergh Castles Solar Tower has been standing since the 14th century. But new this decade is the chance to see it from a different perspective. Rooftop tours of this Lake District pile will begin in spring, offering eagle-eye views over the estates rock garden, lake, pastures and woodland, and the Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire countryside beyond. Launching in March, nationaltrust.org.uk/sizergh.

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Days out near me: The best new things to do across the UK, from the Game of Thrones Studio Tour to Durham walking trails - inews

ON BECOMING SPIRITUAL ADULTS: A Hanukkah Meditation – Patheos

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ON BECOMING SPIRITUAL ADULTS

A Hanukkah Meditation

James Ishmael Ford

29 December 2019

(A Sermon based Upon Several Earlier Efforts)

Emerson Unitarian Universalist ChurchCanoga Park, California

Text

A candle is a small thing.But one candle can light another.And see how its own light increases,as a candle gives its flame to the other.You are such a light.

Moshe Davis & Victor Ratner

Once upon a time a friend who is psychic told me how Id been a rabbi in a fairly recent past life. I liked that. A lot. Although the sad truth is, Im goy to the bone. I still blush as I recall a school tour of a synagogue when I was nine or ten, when I asked the rabbi, as I didnt see one anywhere else, if the arrangement of the ceiling lights was their cross?

This doesnt mean Judaism wasnt part of my forming consciousness. My maternal grandmothers fundamentalist Christian theology, which meant our familys theology included the belief that Jews are in fact Gods chosen people. This was an ideology that had two consequences for us.

The first was how important it was to convert the Jewish community. You know, get them back on the right side. Grandma was often in correspondence with various Messianic Jewish organizations, writing checks out of her very meager savings. And, second was how nice she thought it would be if we were somehow Jewish, ourselves.

Grandma put a lot of hope in her own maternal grandmother who had, she thought, a Jewish sounding name. Genetic testing that Jan and I gave each other a couple of years ago as Christmas gifts, suggests this hope is rather unlikely. Nonetheless, as I said, I liked it when my friend pronounced how I had once been a rabbi in some past life. Didnt even matter that I dont put much store in psychic pronouncements of any sort.

My spiritual pilgrimage began in my adolescence sparked by my serious doubts about the existence of the deity described in church, and a profound desire to know what was true. Over the years that have passed Ive traveled a very long ways from fundamentalist Christianity and its concerns.

Still, as Ive walked my way, and lifes journey twisted and turned and I ended up a Zen Buddhist as well as a Unitarian Universalist minister, I still found it a treat that in general it is our UU custom is to pay attention to some Jewish holidays. Honoring as we do this, our deep ancestral root. In fact, some have suggested if there are Jews for Jesus, Unitarian Universalists could be Christians for Moses. Well, but for the fact that these days only about twenty percent of UUs are particularly comfortable being identified as Christian.

However, nonetheless, there is that root. And there is little doubt whatever our current spiritual stance is broad. Perhaps even dangerously broad. Many, like with Gertrude Steins Oakland, find it hard to see the there there. Although this astonishing broadness is something in which I delight, and truthfully which allows someone like me a place in this community. Nonetheless Unitarian Universalism has several roots, including a taproot. And while I would argue the rich soil that nourishes our tradition is ancient paganism particularly as expressed in the Greek philosophical tradition, still, I have no doubt the larger part of that root is found within Judaism.

And so, I believe, it is more than helpful that we take time from time to time to look at the traditions of Judaism. Particularly the holidays. And to consider what they may say to us as contemporary religious liberals. It is a conversation with our ancestors. And you never know what can come out of such shamanic endeavors.

To be honest it can be dangerous for all who do such things. Digging into heart matters reveals much. It discovers, and then, opens doors. Doors that we are sometimes unprepared for. But with care and respect I believe there are lessons to be gleaned. And those lessons can be well worth the dangers.

Perhaps youve heard how someone goes to the rabbi and asks, When is Hanukkah this year? And she replies, Just like every year, silly. It starts on 25h of Kislev. For the rest of the goys out there, thats a Jewish joke, friends. The Jewish calendar is a modified lunar calendar. If it werent modified, itd be like the Muslim lunar calendar where theres an annual drift of eleven or twelve days, and so major festivals gradually wind around the whole year.

In the Jewish calendar, theres a bit of a float, but with little tweaks here and there which allows things to stay more or less in the same general seasonal area. And, of course, the dates are constant within that calendar. Hence, as much as I hate to explain a joke, that question, and the rabbis response. In our Gregorian calendar, of course, what some call the universal secular calendar, this year Hanukkah runs through the last days of December, from the 22nd to the 30th. So, this year Hanukkah ends at sundown, tomorrow.

And, with that, why Hanukkah? Whats the point to the eight days? As most of us know Hanukkah is an extremely minor holiday in the traditional Jewish calendar. It has certainly only grown here in North America because of its rough proximity to Christmas. Its become a way for the Jewish community to celebrate the season dominated by our cultures Christian hegemony.

Of course, thats not the end of the matter. After that small irony of dealing with the season and its utility in standing out against Christmas, the ironies begin to pile upon each other. Especially for us, here. After all the story is, among other things, about a war between assimilationists and traditionalists. That is between religious liberals and conservatives. Actually its not putting too fine a point on this to say a war between liberals and fundamentalists.

Not what one would think of as a ready theme for Unitarian Universalists and our magpie religious tradition, assimilating many themes and traditions into our ever-evolving and dynamic faith. So, heres the gateway into my point for today.

The ironies within this holiday are almost endless. For instance, many, most scholars suggest Hanukkah is in fact itself rooted in ancient pagan festivals celebrating light at the darkest time of the year. In that sense its roots are as pagan as are the roots of the Christmas holiday.

The early rabbis were wary of the Maccabees and their holiday for several reasons. But two principally. First the Maccabeean call to arms was a pyrrhic victory. Much ill would follow this revolt and its brief success. But also, the Maccabeean blending of priestly and kingly power during the brief Hasmonean dynasty whose founding is the celebration of Hanukkah, had more than a shade of resemblance to various Middle Eastern theocracies of recent history. Iran and Afghanistan come to mind. All of this should be deeply troubling if one thinks about it.

And the rabbis did think about it. And, it did trouble them. The rabbinic commentators choose to focus their attention, as limited as it actually was, remember minor holiday. The Reconstructionst rabbi Arthur Waskow observes, To the rabbis, it was crucial both to call for courage and hope, and to do so in a sphere other than military resistance, which they viewed (through the tragic lens of historic hindsight) as hopeless and dangerous and self-destructive. A point, perhaps, for all of us to recall.

Waskow continues, (T)he story the rabbis told about the Light was the story of the rabbis themselves absorbing that the Maccabees military victory had saved the nation, but that getting stuck there would be self-destructive. They needed to bring the Higher Consciousness of courage for Enlightenment into the peoples arsenal of spiritual weaponry.

Higher consciousness. What should higher consciousness mean for us? Personally, Im more inclined to the simpler word wisdom. And, Im taken by that seeking of wisdom, which very much is in the story as the rabbis tell it. With that Hanukkah is all about our deeper calling. It becomes a calling toward our true freedom. It becomes a call into to a way of genuine wisdom. Reshaped in this way it is our heart story. It is about how we can find the light, how we can find our depth, our possibility. It opens the way of the wise heart.

And the wise heart must juggle contradictory information. Always.

The scholar and author Rachel Adelman cites columnist David Brooks December 10th, 2009 op-ed in the New York Times. Thee Brooks describes Hanukkah as the most adult of holidays. It commemorates an event in which the good guys did horrible things, the bad guys did good things and in which everybody is flummoxed by insoluble conflicts that remain with us today. For Brooks, the story of Hanukkah is a self-congratulatory morality tale, commemorating a Civil War, a war in which he may have fought on the side of the Hellenizers.

And, there are deeper currents yet. Adelman then cites the great Jewish scholar Theodore Herzl Gaster, who suggests that the Hanukkah story is essentially about the inalienable right to be different. The festival teaches the value of the few against the many, of the weak against the strong, of passion against indifference, of the single unpopular voice against the thunder of public opinion. The struggle was not only against oppression from without but equally against corruption and complacency within. It was a struggle fought in the wilderness and in the hills; and its symbol is appropriately a small light kindled when the shadows fall.

Both, and. If we want to be spiritual adults, if we want wisdom, were going to have to take our history and our myth all mixed up. Which is fine, as long as were respectful, careful, and engaging in all of it to a purpose.

The purpose for us is that we find the light, that one miraculous light that lasts well past any possible reasonable effort. It is the path of passion, and heart. And this is our task, as it has been the task of every soul over the many generations. To take what is given, to look deeply into the matter at hand, and to allow our very selves to be transformed. And in that transforming to become spiritual adults. To become people who can take on the work that needs to be done.

There is little doubt today that our liberal religious tradition is the minority position. We are the weak in this struggle for hearts and minds. Right now ours is the unpopular voice that is nearly lost in the thunder of public opinion. And the call for us is to a struggle. It is a struggle not only against every oppression from beyond those walls, but to fiercely resist corruption of this spirit, losing to our own complacency. That is the small light we are called to notice today, the light burning in our hearts, the light that shows the way.

I suggest this story and our working with it calls us, you and me, to resist the dying of the light. To shine forth beyond all reasonable expectations. To become, each and every one of us by our example, by our willingness to not turn away, by our challenging all authority, particularly that voice in the back of our heads that says turn away.

Each of us needs to be that small candle in the great wind. And in doing so become the miracle.

And how do we do this? Question authority, of course. Particularly our own. Looking deeply, not just to do something, but to find ourselves, and our place in the family of things. We do this and the flame we are will leap from our hearts to others.

And with that there becomes a chance for this poor, dying world.

The onetime Buddhist monk and spiritual writer Clark Strand shifts the image of that flame just a little bit, perhaps in a way that can help. He notices how we can also use as our image how the world itself is on fire, consumed in a conflagration of grasping and hatred and endless certainties. And to which we can bring a different flame, that spiritual possibility, that small light.

As Clark sings to us.

To this burning houseOf a world, I add one logAnd a little light.

May this turning of the heart, of our becoming the flame of possibility become the Hanukkah flame. May it burn, and burn, transforming our own hearts, and showing this beautiful suffering world a way through.

Thats our challenge. Thats our possibility.

Link:

ON BECOMING SPIRITUAL ADULTS: A Hanukkah Meditation - Patheos

David Smith: Breaking free of the past to live the life I want – The National

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HAPPY New year and new decade. It is a time to explore what your purpose is and what you stand for, and think about what not only 2020 can bring, but what the next decade holds for you.

As my first diagnoses came back in 2010, the last decade for me has been spent fighting this tumour. Hopefully the next one will see me avoid more surgeries so I can live the life I want to: competing on my bike.

Ever since going through radiation with Stony, the street artist, last year, I have found real meaning from art. Every piece has a story and I find understanding the backstory helps in freeing my mind. I love stories that transcend their apparent subject matter, like South Africa winning the Rugby World Cup or Usain Bolt growing up in one of the poorest parishes in Jamaica to become the fastest human ever.

Sport gives people the opportunity to overcome obstacles that have been put in front of them. Closer to home, Graeme Obrees challenge to the top was a constant display of how the human spirit can be challenged, knocked down and beaten, yet still find that inner drive to win.

I have found it helps me to find my inner drive by trying to set my mind free. So when I was lucky enough to be invited to a beautiful farm about an hour away from Kingston on the last day of the decade to meet an incredible artist called Laura Facey Cooper who has produced one of the most famous pieces of art in Jamaica, Redemption Song, it was the perfect way to spend the last day of 2019.

Like Stony, Lauras work has meaning with every piece having a spiritual story behind it. Much of it harks back to slavery but aims to bring the world together from a place of compassion rather than judgment. These are stories about resilience and the strength of the human spirit.

I was extremely moved by one piece called Heart of Man which she is about to submit to the Royal Academy of Art. It made me think about how, as a society, we judge people by the compassion we show and how as humans it is easy for us to become slaves to our own minds, to let our subconscious shape our conscious thoughts based on past experiences.

I have been reading a lot recently about how I can free my mind of thoughts connected to my time in hospital and this visit has left me feeling extremely moved and in a place of reflection about how those who came before us created the world we have today. It was the perfect place to start a new decade and to try to be free of the scars of hospital.

How we break free from our negative feelings or emotions has to come from within us. As Bob Marley wrote in his redemption song, emancipate yourself from mental slavery, as none but ourselves can free our minds.

I guess that means different things for everybody but for me I have felt trapped over the last decade by a tumour, and as we move into this new decade I want to become free of not only my tumour but also the mental scars of having to deal with it for the last 10 years.

You might think whats the relationship between art, sport, tumours and setting your mind free? But sport transcends its subject matter just like art just look at martial arts where people can find enlightenment through the study of the traditional art and also the sporting side of competing.

Inspiration comes in many forms. So as 2020 starts I find my cycling legs and ride round Kingston with the hope my next scan in February will be a good one.

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David Smith: Breaking free of the past to live the life I want - The National

35 Inspirational Ram Dass Quotes That Will Awaken Your Soul – Women.com

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Encouraging Ram Dass Quotes

These Ram Dass quotes will help us remember the beautiful legacy he leaves behind. As a teacher of spiritual healing as well as an author, we have plenty to learn from his message. He dedicated his life to helping others reach their true inner potential, something we might soon strive to do ourselves.

You may already be familiar with Ram Dass from his famous book Be Here Now. In it, he strives to promote mindfulness and the search for enlightenment. If youre looking for encouragement to move past your boundaries, let these inspiring quotes bring you wisdom.

In fact, let today be the day you make a positive change in your life. Allow Ram Dass words to guide your journey in a new direction.

Were all just walking each other home.

Information is just bits of data. Knowledge is putting them together. Wisdom is transcending them.

The next message you need is always right where you are.

I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. Then I am arriving at that circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn't create more suffering. I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people.

Our interactions with one another reflect a dance between love and fear.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

We're fascinated by the words--but where we meet is in the silence behind them.

It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.

I'm not interested in being a lover. I'm interested in only being love.

The most exquisite paradox as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can't have it. The minute you don't want power, you'll have more than you ever dreamed possible.

Learn to watch your drama unfold while at the same time knowing you are more than your drama.

A feeling of aversion or attachment toward something is your clue that there's work to be done.

In our relationships, how much can we allow them to become new, and how much do we cling to what they used to be yesterday?

I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion--and where it isn't, that's where my work lies.

In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight.

The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back.

Be here now.

Your problem is you are too busy holding on to your unworthiness.

As long as you have certain desires about how it is.

Treat everyone you meet like God in drag.

The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it's in the being. When I need love from others, or need to give love to others, I'm caught in an unstable situation. Being in love, rather than giving or taking love, is the only thing that provides stability. Being in love means seeing the Beloved all around me.

Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise.

Across planes of consciousness, we have to live with the paradox that opposite things can be simultaneously true.

What you meet in another being is the projection of your own level of evolution.

The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can't be organized or regulated. It isn't true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth.

The game is not about becoming somebody, it's about becoming nobody.

Let's trade in all our judging for appreciating. Let's lay down our righteousness and just be together.

Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying.

Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story, instead of the actor in it.

We are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another.

If you think you're free, there's no escape possible.Every religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery.

We're here to awaken from the illusion of separateness.

Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to the point where we realize that in our own being, we are enough.

It's very different because the Indians live as if they are their souls and Americans live as if they are their egos.

When we see the Beloved in each person, it's like walking through a garden, watching flowers bloom all around us.

What was your favorite Ram Dass quote? We want to know!

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35 Inspirational Ram Dass Quotes That Will Awaken Your Soul - Women.com

Lunar Eclipse January 2020: What you need to know – Times of India

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A lunar eclipse is a celestial event when the earth blocks sunlight from directly touching the moon's surface and this in a way, creates an imperfect alignment of the three solar creations-sun, moon, and the earth.January 10, 2020, will be one such day when sky gazers across the world will be able to sight one of the first lunar eclipses for the year, which will be penumbral. In total, there will four such lunar eclipses through the year, occurring on June 5, July 5 and November 30. The January 10 eclipse will be visible from parts of the world like Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa. What happens during a lunar eclipse?During the eclipse, 90 percent of the moons surface will be partially covered by the Earth with only the outer part of the shadow appearing. While penumbral lunar eclipses are usually a little darker, they cannot be easily distinguished from a regular full moon sighting but can be easily seen, as long as the sky is clear.While it will make for a sight to see for sure, here is all you need to know about this magical celestial event:Depending on the location, the timings for the moon rising and sighting may differ. The total duration of the eclipse is 4 hours, 5 minutes. It is also known as a "wolf moon eclipse" as well. The penumbral lunar eclipse of January 2020, which will take place between the nights of January 10-11, will be completely visible to almost all Indian cities. The lunar eclipse will last from 10.37 pm to 2.42 am Indian Standard Time (IST)Are there any precautions to keep in mind?Whenever an eclipse appears, it comes with a lot of precautions. According to experts, it is completely safe to look at a lunar eclipse with bare eyes. There are two phases of lunar eclipse: the partial phase, in which part of the moon passes through earths shadow, and a total lunar eclipse, in which the entire moon passes through the earths shadow. Experts say that there are no special glasses required to watch the lunar eclipse and it is safe to watch all the phases of the lunar eclipse.According to some schools of belief, eclipses also have a strong effect on our body cycles and hence, some cultures lay stress on following certain dos and donts because of the eclipse's effect on our diet and health. Since the planetary position of the earth moves away from its fixed place, changes are bound to happen. This, again, has no scientific claim but still as a general precaution, diet restrictions are imposed.

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Lunar Eclipse January 2020: What you need to know - Times of India

What The Most Successful People Of 2020 Are Doing Right Now – Forbes

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It has been a hell of a year. And a decade for that matter. The rate of change in how we live, work, shop, communicate, move is hard not to feel. These changes arent inherently good or bad, but require us to adapt, which brings fatigue and excitement. When we dont know whats coming next, its hard to know how to prepare for it. So in these turn-of-the-decade days, when were inclined to plan for health, wealth, and satisfaction in days, months, and years to come, what are we to spend our precious time and attention on? There are three specific and tactical suggestions below, but first lets consider the qualities we need to develop to thrive in the next year and ten.

The next decade, lets call the Soaring 20s, will evolve in ways yet unknown, but unequivocally promise continuously accelerating change. The determinants of success (in a holistic sense, considering the flourishing of mind, body, and spirit) in that dynamic context are: Flexibility, Creativity, and Resilience. The most successful people of the next decade are building those muscles because they know its hard to know the exact skills, data points, assets, or other specific resources that will serve them. The good news is that these formerly-called soft skills, though power skills is probably more apt in todays environment, are indeed muscles we can grow and train.

The most effective work of the Soaring '20s will look different.

Before sharing specific tactics to set yourself up for success, lets consider these three skills more closely.

Flexibility allows us to adapt to our changing physical and social context. Its often said that the only certainty in todays world is uncertainty. Fortune 500 companies are far less likely to stay on the list for this decade than they were in the 2010s. Technological developments, sustained by the exponential rate of Moores Law, make new communication, data, machine learning, and other tools move faster than our human imaginations. Many of the ten most-needed jobs in 2030 likely dont exist today.

Success in this context requires flexibility, in the sense of having a growth mindset, that we ourselves, and the people we work with, can adapt our skills to other uses and learn new skills as necessary. We need to think differently about the skills truly required for evolving and new roles so that we can help ourselves and others successfully transfer our skills and experience to the jobs we collectively need done.

Creativity is necessary to identify how our unique assets fit a role, set of gigs, or other future of work arrangement that meet our material, emotional, and spiritual needs while also serving the people and planet around us. Its important to aim for the broad definition of creativity: the use of the imagination or original ideas, rather than any kind of artistic output. We tend to underestimate our own creativity, tying it to painting, signing, or other formal creative arts.

To succeed in the 2020s, we dont have to become artists, but we will be served by honing this universally human ability skill of imagination. We need to imagine new and different possibilities for our lives and work in small and big ways, from an hourly stretch break to remote work to going freelance to a more holistic role that includes finance and supply chain responsibility as well as marketing. One of the incredible gifts of modern technology, particularly data storage and analysis, is the ability to manage complexity. This capacity enables mass customization: allowing individuals to pursue unique solutions, whether personalizing their Nikes, or filling their time and funding their life by doing a lot of a very specific contract job for clients all around the world via Upwork. So you might consider it bad news that very few of us will be able to follow a text book career path, working logically up the ranks in a single company or industry for most of our lives. But we have to take it is great, empowering news that this whole new world of possibility has opened to design work and lifestyle that are uniquely suited to our individual skills, interests, and needs. By definition, only you can create this for yourself, and its going to take some creativity!

Finally, we must develop resilience because anyone whos alive today understands that what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, which will look and feel like failure. Following on the earlier point, creativity also requires trial and error, exploring possibilities that will not always work out. Its not very likely that our first attempt at creating our 2020s working methods or role will be our best. And even if it is our best yet, our context will change before long, and well have to adjust our approach to meet it. The way to stay sane, healthy, and happy through this ongoing learning curve is to develop resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.

Here are three ways to help yourself and those around you build the skills we all need to thrive in the Soaring 20s.

1. Get good at recovery.

Peak performance physiologists and neuroscientists have learned that neither our bodies nor brains can perform at their best all the time. They need adequate recovery. Indeed, the latest new fitness gadget is a wearable based on measuring recovery, via sleep, rest, and meditation.

Recovery might seem like a no-brainer: Netflix and Chill, right? But in fact, you can excel at recovery. Weve all felt the difference between eight great hours of sleep and eight less great ones, to say nothing of a short five and a half hour night. There are a lot of other techniques yknow, technical stuff like taking a stroll that help your body and mind recover much more efficiently than a binge-watching session. Like so much of well-being, what works best is pretty personal. Make it your Q1 plan to try a variety of things (here are a few ideas) to see what works best for you in different situations where you need to recover.

Sitting and watching water or the sky can be more powerful recovery than couch time.

2. Practice enlightened self-interest

In this fast-changing, mass customizable world, we each stand the best chance of success by being the best version of our unique selves as possible. Like recovery, this is not as easy as it sounds. Much of our education, professional training, norms and expectations are still calibrated for the Industrial Revolution, when individuality was not an asset. We were cogs to fit into production lines, whether as laborers or managers. Now, we need to relearn the process and skill of self-awareness and development. Indeed, a recent Gallup article called on CHROs to insist on human development as a business outcome.

To develop effective self-interest, we have to get beyond the noise of what others (people, systems, our vanity) want us to be and do to remember what truly makes us thrive. This is an ongoing process and requires effort, time, and quiet to get beyond layers of noise about what we should be. Meditation and other mindfulness practices are important tools, as are reflection tools and exercises from freeform journaling to personality surveys, like Five Elements or StrengthsFinder and many more. Even horoscopes can be useful to get you thinking about who you are, how you work, and what you need, whether or not you believe in their validity. Again, this is a personal process, so use what resonates with you.

Finally, we have to get enlightened. No big deal, right? Again, use a basic and broad definition: having or showing a well-informed outlook. The etymology, or root, of the word is important too: shed light upon. Think of your process of enlightenment as shining light upon the shadows in your life those topics that you dont know much about, or perhaps intentionally avoid for one reason or another. Read different news sources. listen to a podcast from a different industry, or with a host of a different age, race, religion, or national background. It is this exploration of a range of perspectives and areas that will enable you to reach the peak performance and fulfillment of pursuing your own interests in a way that also serves the people and planet around you.

Lifelong learning is the new normal. Be sure you're finding different sources to broaden your ... [+] perspective.

3. Make to be, not to do lists.

As products of the Industrial Revolution, we have become excellent do-ers. We are evaluated by our employers, and often ourselves, by how much we produce and how quickly, whether were making widgets or delivering client insights. In this Fourth Industrial Revolution, where machines can do more and more of the physical work, our success is determined much more by how we do what we do, or ultimately how we be than what we do. With some constraints, it does take all kinds. We need creative free thinkers as well as deadline-oriented taskmasters. So as you evolve your self-awareness, look for those qualities that you want to develop or emphasize, and make To Be lists, per the wise Chip Conley. By the way, its a lot easier to think about these ways of being during or just after a productive recovery, like a stroll or idle free writing.

Anecdotal experience and national and global data show that we are not thriving as our level of development should allow. Despite drastic reductions in the worse levels of poverty and sickness, anxiety, heart disease, and other lifestyle ailments are significantly rising. We havent yet adapted to this new world, and its costing us our health, mental and physical. As Einstein (probably) said, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So this year, maybe you dont have to write down the number of pounds you want to lose morning and dollars to gain. After all, even Instagram is letting go of numbers!

Build in five minutes of self-awareness every morning and fifteen minutes of enlightenment (aka reading or listening to different sources) on your commute. Or just a weekly weekend stroll around your neighborhood or office. And then find a recovery or enlightened self-interest accountability buddy to share your progress and challenges! Perhaps youll even build in a bonus review of your to be lists. These are the habits that will build the flexibility, creativity, and resilience the Soaring 20s call for.

Find an accountability buddy or group to share your progress and To Be lists.

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What The Most Successful People Of 2020 Are Doing Right Now - Forbes

Decolonizing the Western Worldview: Interview with Cherokee activist/scholar, Randy Woodley – CounterPunch

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Over the last few months, I have been writing more and more often about the need of people in Western civilization to pay attention to indigenous wisdom and knowledge. In that spirit, my first post of 2020 is an edited transcript of a phone interview I did with Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley, a Cherokee activist/scholar, in December 2017.

Woodley has authored several books including An Introduction to Postcolonial Theologies, The Harmony Tree: A Story of Healing and Community and Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision. When I met him in Portland in 2013 he was farming outside Newberg, Oregon, and employed as a Distinguished Professor of Faith and Culture at George Fox University/Portland Seminary. Currently, Woodley and his family are working to establishEloheh, an Indigenous Center For Earth Justice, in eastern Oregon.

This is an abridged version of the full interview, which is included as a chapter in my book,The Failures of Farming & the Necessity of Wildtending.

Kollbri terre Sonnenblume:The book that Im working on starts from Jared Diamonds thesis that agriculture could be called a wrong turn for the human race. But looking at the Americas, you can see that there were cultures that didnotget into agriculture, so theres still examples there, not only of ways ofdoingthings but ways ofthinking aboutthe world and ways ofrelatingto the world that have been lost to Western Civilization for many many centuries.

Randy Woodley:Let me start off by saying that though I really like his bookCollapse, with his more famous book I disagree with a minor point. His understanding of why civilizations take over other civilizations and mine are different. His is that when the technology is there to advance over other civilizations, thats whats going to happen. What I would say is that theres a particular Western worldviewand Im not an expert on any other worldview except the Western worldview as it relates to the Native American worldviewtheres something endemic in the Western worldview that says that you have to use your power over others. So we differ about that because hundreds and hundreds of cases on Turtle Island where people had the ability to take over others but didnt. Now theres some where they did as well. But I dont think that there is a causality, if you will. So he sees the world through that lens and I differ with that.

KtS:I agree with you. I think that that viewpoint is kind of cynical. Theres a tendency for some Western writers and thinkers to take the attributes of the West and cast them as being human nature in general.

RW:Exactly. Thats the whole point, to universalize Western religion and the Western worldview so that it wipes out anything local, right? Did you ever read God is Red by Vine Deloria, Jr.?

KtS:No. I like what Ive read from him but I havent seen that one yet.

RW:He talks about [how] the Western worldview substitutestimeas the universal forplace. Ive developed this a little bit more so I get confused about what Ive added and what was his, but basically he says that time becomes universal over local beliefs and understanding, etc. So Western people operate by time and indigenous people operate by place.

You can just take that template as a universal and apply it to education, economics, religion, whatever, in the West. They have basically tried to replace locality and geography, really. Were talking about local social history, which is about what has happened on the land for millennia before anybody arrived with a different philosophy. Thats the key to my understanding of that universality that Diamond uses and other people use and its embedded in Western worldviews. Theyre not able to see local place as reality. They only see universal time-space. That sets us looking at the world from two different realities.

KtS:I have not heard of this distinction before and its really fascinating to me.

RW:Yeah, its really important to understand. You know Ive been in religion most of my life and working in and out of it, with it, and Ive come to see this as absolute truth but its true in the sciences, its true in education, its definitely true in economics. And you couple that with a Utopian vision, whether its making America great again orThe Republicor the Garden of Eden, or the purest Islamwhatever that Utopian vision isyou couple that with this universality and basically you have a cause to take over the world, right? Justify whatever you do if the end vision is strong enough.

KtS:Can you name an example in any of these areas to help me grok this one?

RW:Yeah, well lets look at economics. You have the vision of Socialism and the vision of Capitalism and theyre not really incompatible but because the West sees a binary choice for everything, you have Socialism vs. Capitalism. You get two sets of nations trying to propagate their vision for economics because they think that is the Utopian end-allthe best thing for the world. The same is true of religion. So Christianity is based on a Utopian vision, usually in the future, of getting back to the Garden of Eden. Either [you] believe that the kingdom on earth will make that happen or its the kingdom of the future to come, which is the more prominent Roman Catholic and major Protestant view. You gotta get everybody into Heaven because thats the perfect place.

So when the missionaries came to America, it didnt matter what was going on here. It didnt matter what the beliefs were. They already had this Utopian vision that superseded anything else that they saw here. In fact they would just find reasons to discount Native cultureWell, theyre of the devil and all these kinds of things. So [their] job was to make this religion across this whole land. And thats what basically happened. They just went around and claimed everything in the name of Christ. So they justified the genocide, justified the assimilation, justified all the other policies that are still going on today.

Education is the same. We teach the same thing. It doesnt matter if youre in a high school in Newberg, Oregon, or a high school in Miami, Florida, or a high school in Bangor, Maine. This factory-style education system has been created that says this is how you educate people. It makes no difference [what was] on the land there before, what the land and the environment are saying. Its all about laying this other template on top of that and saying that all doesnt matter No plants, no things that happened on the land, the ceremonies that were held, [and] theappreciation, whether it was for Salmon culture or Acorn culture or Pinenut culture or Buffalo culture. Its just as if none of that mattered. What is natural and was put there for our health and understanding didnt matter. We had to replace it with something different.

KtS:Because at the time that the Westerners invaded the Americas, they had no cultural memory of how to live off of the land and to be cultivating whats thereto bewildtendingas some people would now say. They had no memory because they had turned away from it, well, something like 8000 years before or longer.

RW:Yeah. So the Native people also commented that they [the Whites] were like children. They felt sorry for them so they helped them to learn how to grow stuff, to learn how to fish. Youve probably read Charles Manns books1491and1493?

KtS:Ive read1491, yeah.

RW:1493youd probably like even more because he talks about what was going on in Europe at the time. Basically, all the streams were fished out, and all the bays. All the rivers were polluted. The cities were awful in terms of sewage and dead meat and bones and things that would just be left on the streets. And disease. Most of the hardwoods were already harvested for building forts and castles and churches and so one of the first things they would send back with these ships here were virgin oak trees from the east. They had basically expended the world that they were living in.

Now, it took 500 years, but the same thing has happened here because the philosophy hasnt changed. And so, you know, our slow response is basically the same asnoresponse. So the lesson didnt get learned.

They learned first how to survive from the Native people but then they started resurrecting their old patterns of growing things like wheat, and then of course thats when you need to have cheap labor. The Indians were 90% dead from being enslaved and diseased and so thats when the West African slave trade opened up. Its one bad thing after another in terms of the Western mindset.

KtS:Yeah, clearly. And its this mindset that Ive been trying to grapple with and figure out whywhy is it that Westerners are so different?

RW:We create cultures from our worldview and we also create our worldview from our cultures. When you growwiththe land you learn how to make an even exchange. But when you come into a new place with another worldview from a another land and another culture, its a little harder unless youre open to understanding whats really happening here, what reality is in this place.

KtS:That ones interesting, in part because theres differences in how. For example, looking at Western Culture how it currently is, especially here in the United States, if you look at the meat industryif you look at animal agricultureits an incredibly brutal thing, with killing hundreds of animals per hour. Its really just a horror show whats going on in these places where the animals are confined and so many are slaughtered. And I certainly wouldnt be the first to say that eating that kind of food is bad for you as an individual It seems like Westerners are able to treat the land the way that they do, treat animals the way they do, treat plants the way they do, is because theyre not viewing them as living creatures, in some way.

RW:Right. That has to do with a couple things. So, in my view of Western society, the philosophical error that undergirds everything, almost everything, is dualism. And that really comes from the Greeks as far as we can tell, and then passed on to the Romans and then passed on to the Brits and other parts of Western Europe and then passed on to the United States. It takes on a whole nother energy when it goes throughout the Enlightenment period and all that in Europe.

Theres both physical and moral dualism. Lets talk about the physical: Plato, Socrates, and the Utopian vision are all about a spiritual or a mind perfection. The physical becomes less important. You have this Utopian vision of this place that youre supposed to reach, this plane of thinking. This is why Socrates killed himself; because he couldnt realize this on earth. It carries into religionthe idea that this world is not my homeI have this better place.

In higher education I see it all the time, too. What is physical doesnt matter nearly as much as what you think, right? So it becomes a thinking persons reality. We pay people who think generally higher wages than those who do physical labor. With theology, for example, we have people with PhDs that are are higher than what we call practical theologians. Those are the people who actually do the work of pastoring, those sorts of things. It creates hierarchy.

We have this separation from the physical, making it a little less than the mental or the spiritual. Now we have an excuse to pay less attention to the physical. So for example in Christianity, saying that human beings are higher than everything else, theyre more important than anything else. With the human beings, they are the ones who rule everything else. Everything else matters not nearly as much. Then you can take and break that down farther and say, okay, well, Americans are better than anyone else. Or you can say racism. White people are better, smarter and deserve more than everyone else, so everyone else can be treated not quite as well. We do that with the animal world, the plant world

KtS:male over female

RW:oh yeah absolutely, we do it with males over females, We do it with plants: some are weeds. This fits into what I call extrinsic categorization. You have these false categories. Some animals are varmints and some are animals. And some animals are pets. This worldview lays this hierarchical, dualistic template on everything. The lack of understanding of the sacredness of life in everything, I think, stems from this. You have people like Descartes in Europe, and Francis Bacon who really saw the mind as superior and the body and nature as inferior, and that melded with both philosophy and religion.

I have friends who are animal activists. Theres always a caveat: Wellyoutreat your animals well. Were vegetarians now [he and his wife] but when we werent, when wed go out to hunt, we were told if an animal doesnt give itself to you, then you cant kill it. You have to pray beforehand, do a little ceremony and then wait and watch for an animal to give itself to you. Then you put tobacco down and say a prayer and you thank that animal for giving its life. That even happened when we were farming with our goats and sheep and things like that. We went through whole ceremonies and things to make sure that we thanked the animal, we thanked the earth, we thanked the creator, but most of all to remind ourselves that were taking a life here. We do the same thing when we take a plant or a tree. Ive gone out looking for tepee poles and we put tobacco down first.

In our Native prayer were asking that tree, were asking that animal, for forgiveness and saying, This is something I have to do to feed my family. I apologize. Thank you for giving your life. We recognize that the spirit is in everything. and life is in everything and so we dont have a right to just go and haphazardly take it. We have to use wisdom. We have to use ceremony to remind ourselves and to teach our children as well.

KtS:I think that to most Western people, the idea of being able to recognize when an animal is presenting itself, or of asking a plant and being able to hear the answerthat is incomprehensible to most Westerners.

RW:Yeah. And I think part of that comes from what Ive been talking about. Part of it also comes from the idea of individualism and competition as opposed to cooperativeness, right?

KtS:Right.

RW:So its like I killed this animal and I can put its head on the wall because I took it. I climbed the mountain so I conquered the mountain. Which is absolute silliness, right? [laughs] The mountain is still there and youre lucky you made it up alive. But its the idea that there we are number one, triumphing over nature and theres a hostile relationship. And its the idea that were in competition, right? With other human beings or whatever. Its like, I did and you didnt. It stems from this Western worldview thats influenced by the dualism, the hierarchy, the competitiveness.

KtS:Have you ever read Theodore Roszak?

RW:No.

KtS:He coined the term counterculture. He wrote in the 60s and 70s. He has a book called Where the Wasteland Ends. Fascinating book. I think youd probably really enjoy it. One of his things is how the Western religionsthe monotheistic religions, starting with Judaism, and going to Christianity and then to Protestantism (I dont think he really talks about Islam in there)how they served to make separation between people and nature. And he goes further and says that those religions took the divine out of nature, and out of the world, and put it up in the sky, literally.

RW:Yeah.

KtS:I guess I would see this as being partly why peoplewhy Westernersare able to do things they door thatwedo: these religions. Which have their roots in agriculture too.

RW:Yes and [in the indigenous worldview] there is no dichotomy. The Great Mystery is bothineverythingandoutside everything. Its where people get mixed up. They try to put the creator or Great Mystery or force or universe or however you want to look at it asoutsideand then everything is about achieving that Utopianism. But the Great Mystery resides in everything and outside of everything as well, independent.

KtS:So then when we are able to communicate with animals or plants we are interacting with, or communicating with, the Great Mystery?

RW:Yes. Although I wouldnt say what some religions will say: that theyre God then. I would say that no, God is present in them just like God is present in me. The problem is that were all affected to one degree or another by this Western worldview which is a handicap to understanding what the possibilities are. And secondly were never on the land long enough to understand how the relationship worked.

But most of us are so mobile, me included, that we dont have the cred I guess youd saythe credibilityto communicate in the way we should with the plants and animals. Were in such an instant society; we want things to happen when we want them to happen. So its very rare to be able to have that privilege to be able to communicate with the trees, with the plants, with the animals, the way that we are actually created to do. To be in relationshipwith, nor relationshipover.

KtS:Where to go from here?Is there even any place to go from here?Like, what does one do in the world at this point? Ive met some different people in the back-to-the-land movement or rewildersandsome are consciously imitating different bits and pieces of Native American lifestyle.

RW:What I believe sustains our people and makes community possible and made this relationship possible are the values that developed over time. For me it seems frustrating if people are trying to adapt Native things without Native values.

I have to understand things like my relationship to everything else. I have to understand that consensus gives dignity so everybody has a voice; its not hierarchical. I have to understand that spirituality is a very tangible thing. I have to understand that humor is necessary and sacred. I have to understand that work should be done where theres work and when theres not, I shouldnt have to work. All these are Native values that sustained our people, and Im speaking in a pan-Indian way.

For my dissertation I interviewed people from 45 different tribes across the United States and Canada and all these values are present in their harmony worldviews, their idea of the harmony way. Those are the types of values that you need for living with the land and with each other if youre gonna do this.

KtS:Where did Westerners got so far off the path? Like, we can trace it back: Oh, look at how the religions took the divine and removed it from the world, or Look at how agriculture was all about wiping out what was there and planting something else there and taking over. But then why was it that humans were able to live for two or three hundred thousand yearswithoutdoing this and then suddenly started doing this in the Middle East and then it took over. What happened?

RW:I dont know the ultimate answer to this but I can at least trace it to the Greek idea of dualism, right? And the higher mind philosophy, and all this. I can trace the influence in America from that. If you think about when both the Enlightenment and the Reformation occurred, what happened in Europe right before that was the Renaissance. The Renaissance was the glorification of the Greeks and the Romans. You just need to look at Washington, DC, and the buildings there to see the influence, you know, but it was also in the minds of Franklin and Jefferson and all these other founders. I can only look at it and say, heres how it happened that it influenced Americans, but I cant say this is why humanity does this, or why that branch of humanity. Thats one of those ultimate questions that I dont know will ever be answered.

I know the things I can see in the Greek culture that created the Western worldview: the physical dualism, the moral dualism, the religious intolerance, the individualism, the extrinsic categories, the hierarchy, the competitiveness, the Utopianism, all the anthropocentric humans are over nature, the triumphalism, the patriarchy. All of those things can be traced through those movements.

So that means that if we can trace them, we can undo them. And the way I think they can get undone is by adopting a more indigenous worldview, which is that people livewiththe land, right? Everybodys indigenous fromsomewhere,sometime, so now we have to decolonize, begin to separate those things in our minds. Weve been given a worldview thats not really based on reality. And it takes a more indigenous worldviewwhether its indigenous Native American or indigenous Australian or indigenous European, or whatever it isa more indigenous worldview to correct that Western worldview that has taken us away from the reality of living as part of the earth.

Later that day,Randy added by email:

Ive been thinking about your why question concerning humanity. So far, I can only say that the farther a culture gets from its earthiness, the more the mind starts to dwell on human accomplishments instead of cooperating with and learning from creation. This creates shortsightedness that imperils everything. Also, Greece and Rome and England and America all have been very young civilizations. I think perhaps their brief age shows the immaturity of thinking. When civilizations are older, like many Indigenous civilizations, they have more time to learn, perhaps they come to understand that war, competition, capitalism, individualism, etc., all eventually lead to instability and are simply bad for everyone, including the ecosystems, and this type thinking should be avoided as much as possible.

Unlike Augustine, the famous Christian theologian so revered among Christians, I do not believe people are born corrupted or sinful and are such by nature. I believe we are all born with choices to make. We have some good and some bad influence and we largely, (not exclusively) decide which way we want to go, hopefully learning from our mistakes along the way.

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Decolonizing the Western Worldview: Interview with Cherokee activist/scholar, Randy Woodley - CounterPunch

Future shock: What does 2020 have in store for Taos, the nation and planet Earth? – taosnews

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By Virginia L. Clarktempo@taosnews.com

The new decade ushered in by 2020 may be the very thing for which we've all been searching - a willingness to put our heads down and get to work with each other. The stars tell us the Age of Aquarius is officially here with Boss Man Saturn and Expansive Jupiter finally coming together in Aquarius at the end of the year - while 2020's universal number 4 year in numerology says, "Just do it!"

2020 numerology

Taos numerologist Sharon Millstein says the number 4 is all about work, "paying attention to details and keeping everything in order, handling details yourself instead of relying on someone else."

This 4 year is building foundations for the future. "Take a steadying approach so everyone can make their dreams come true."

Millstein says it takes discipline, and life can feel harsh with this 4 energy. "Keeping your nose to the grindstone is not easy," she sympathizes, "but it's about using your strength and abilities to keep everything organized so your dreams will come true."

The harsher aspects of 4 energy, "limitation and sacrifice," she says can be avoided if people will just do the work the energy requires.

But there's a helper aspect here, she notes carefully, that eases much of the strain, and it's the energy of 2. (The number 4 for 2020 comes from adding 2+0+2+0=4.)

"If you hold two fingers up you'll see they relate to working together, to relationships and diplomacy," Millstein says. "The government maybe doesn't look good, but the number 2 says things could work out," with cooperation and the relational energy of 2.

"The 2 is really a gift of this 4, and the two 2s relate to the master number 22, the number that has to do with taking something small and make something big out of it. It has to do with building, creating strong foundations for the dreams you want to come true."

Four is also the number of water, she notes. Being such a strong energetic, this means strong water, as in strong weather events, strong emotional reactions. So keeping focused on what is desired is very important, as opposed to what is not wanted. Focusing on the negative just builds more of the same.

"There will be a shake-up on every level," she predicts, "political, weather, environment-wise, UFO sightings - 2019 had the highest number of UFO sightings on record, even Taos elk hunters sighted them!"

Regardless whether a person is for or against impeachment, Millstein is leery the proceedings will prompt other countries to see the United States as weaker for the partisan divide. With all the energy and emotionalism of this 4 and water element, she advises people to pay careful attention to where they are putting their focus - on their dreams or their nightmares. Best to stick with the dreams of fulfillment, she says.

"The number 4 has to do with faith in the process of life, with growth and completion of the spirit, mind and soul," she says. "The mission of classroom Earth is spiritual growth, to lose fear, because fear is stagnant and fixed and sends out chemicals in our bodies causing discomfort and disease. If people apply themselves they will bring prosperity and position - to give love, render service and seek enlightenment."

2020 stars

Saturn and Jupiter parlay in Capricorn this year, astrology's official business and economic sector in the horoscope, where they are reordering structures and developing innovation. They finally stroll into the air sign of Aquarius on Dec. 21, 2020, after which they will continue to meet in air signs for the next 131 years.

To see how all this works, Tempo talked and emailed with Taos astrologer/psychic/empath and Tempo horoscope columnist Madame M, who says the eclipses are also center stage.

"Super important is that we will see six lunar eclipses, two more than the usual four we have every year," Madame M notes by phone during Christmas week. "One falls on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, which is going to be a nail-biter, because Mercury is going to be retrograde also."

Madame M suggests the heavy emotionalism that astrology attributes to lunar effects, plus the whippy nature of Mercury retrogrades this year, will show up as more "passive aggressive" behaviors than usual. All three Mercury retrogrades will be in water signs, she said, adding yet another emotional layer to 2020.

"For Taos as a community, the emotionalism will take several different directions. I see a big divide between visitors and locals," Madame M says, noting that cultural differences and expectations will show a greater divide than is usually appreciated. "Visitors see Taos as down-to-earth, but 20 years behind the times.

"Keeping traditions is the tug between Jupiter and Saturn," she explains, noting there will also be more of a divide between generations, "older Taoseos don't want change and the younger generations want more options; the older ones want to keep things simple.

"Taos could see a new committee of personnel that represents the voice of its people and it may not be of either political side," Madame M writes in a follow-up email. "Such a committee may be formed to educate, teach and discuss concerns or issues that participants wish to take action with, not just vocalize. This new panel of people could have impacting achievements that will inspire outside communities and residents to form personal alliances for reconstructing what it is that Taos wants to be known for.

"Astrology and predictions can be used to assist us in navigating our life's journey," she adds in the email, "but bear in mind, in the end, it is our freewill choices that can help to determine a situation's outcome."

Other key features she notes are Saturn's conjunction with Pluto, an event that happens every 35 years; then Saturn's shift to Aquarius in March, the earth's nodes transit into Gemini-Sagittarius in May and retrogradation of Venus (planet of love) and Mars (planet of action).

She notes, "The three inner planetary retrograde periods could reflect on such things that deal with our past, while the two outer planetary transits might provide us with a glimpse into our future comings."

Madame M says she feels money and/or currency is highlighted especially in 2020.

"Although most of the outside world is well on its way to functioning primarily on digital currency, old-school Taos-eos will be at the forefront of protesting and pumping the brakes with these new revolutionary concepts taking hold here in Taos," she writes. "One can expect to see incentives appealing to 'both sides of the coin (cash or debit)' to increase, as well as the traditional ways of our Taos' ancestors - bartering and/or trading.

"Agricultural farming and livestock might see a jump in 2020 due to the growing costs of store-bought foods. The Taos Plaza Farmers Market could experience rapid growth from vendors, prompting a larger, more parking-friendly area needed for its audience. There might even be talks of land or a building being donated for a year-round trader's market to exist once again."

So with all this highly charged, edgy, watery and airy energy, it looks like we need to release the fear and pay attention to what we want to manifest - and may it be easier than it sounds.

Madame M writes the Tempo horoscope column. Through her Madame M's Enchanted Parlor, a psychic and tarot-reading parlor located in the Casa Baca Plaza, behind La Cueva restaurant in Taos Historic District, she provides in-person tarot, astrology and aura readings, mediumship, channeling and readings over the phone. Contact her at madame.m1970@gmail.com. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call (575) 224-1488.

Taos numerologist Sharon Millstein is an international numerologist/psychic/empath and radio personality who has lived in Taos for 36 years. Her radio show "Higher Journeys Radio with Alexis Brooks" will air Friday (Jan. 3). Millstein teaches numerology and does personal readings. Contact her at info@sharonmillstein.com. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call (575) 758-9665 - mention this article and receive a New Year's discount of 20 percent off an hour or more reading.

Editor's note: The content of this article is offered for entertainment only.

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Future shock: What does 2020 have in store for Taos, the nation and planet Earth? - taosnews

Overcoming the Madness in Us All – James Moore

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To paraphrase Shakespeare, One touch of madness makes the whole world kin. Madness is an entirely relative matter: some of us have a touch and others of us have been there and back, more than once or twice. To understand one persons madness is, to some degree, to understand everyones, because these experiences share much in common.

I believe that everything we call madness, craziness, psychosis, serious personal problems, problems in livingthe whole spectrum of emotional suffering and personal failureusually have two underlying intertwined struggles going on within the individual. Since madness itself can be difficult to define or to come to an agreement about, it can help individuals to ask themselves if they are struggling with these two issues.

One struggle has to do with overcoming feelings of helplessness. The other has to do with overcoming feelings of being unworthy or undeserving of love. Put them together and we have helplessness in the face of feeling unworthy or undeserving of love. To understand this is to understand a great deal of what drives us human beings over the edge emotionally and into personal failure in our lives.

My personal experience, my clinical work, and all those other things that go into trying to understand life, have led me in recent times to focus increasingly on those two expressions of psychological vulnerabilityfeeling helpless and feeling unworthy or undeserving of love.

Feelings of helplessness can be experienced in many ways. Anxiety is its more raw and primitive experience, and probably comes closest to what an agitated, upset infant is going through. With age, it can morph into shame and guilt, as well as anger and emotional numbing. Living a good life is profoundly aided by overcoming these emotions. This involves identifying these negative legacy emotions, rejecting them as feelings to obey or to act upon, and determining to live by reason and love.

Sometimes we experience it as demoralizing guilt, at other times burning shame or terrifying anxiety, and sometimes all three at once. We may escape into frustration, anger and rage, but beneath always lies fear and helplessness. We may hear voices or see things that others dont experience, or more mundanely tie ourselves in knots with obsessions and compulsions. At the root there is the core human experience of childlike levels of anxiety and helplessness, along with feeling undeserving of human care, attention and love.

Similarly, while there are many ways to overcome personal crises and madness, they all have something in commonovercoming feelings of helplessness that are often attached to feelings of being unworthy of love.

What I mean by madness is an experience of overwhelming emotional distress that leaves us feeling isolated, abandoned, frightened, helpless and unlovable, or worse, unworthy or undeserving of love. As emphasized at the beginning of this post, the experience of madness is entirely relative. For some people it may mean vague feelings of being unable to cope or manage life or a sense of something strange or unreal happening. In most extreme states, the individual may be enmeshed in a nightmarish horror surrounded by hallucinations. Psychiatry tries to parse out the more extreme manifestations of human distress by making simplistic artificial diagnoses to justify drugging, shocking, isolating and/or involuntarily treating the individual.

With sufficient traumasuch as various forms of brainwashing, torture, and unrelenting abuseextreme madness can probably be brought out in almost anyone. When we admire martyrs such as Socrates, Joan of Arc, and the abolitionist John Brown, it is partly because in a good cause they found the strength not to break down and not to recant their values. However, in addition to current stressors, most of the time there are deep-seated vulnerabilities from childhood smouldering beneath madness and erupting in youth or adulthood.

Severe madness has been called an extreme state, alternative reality, emotional overwhelm or psychospiritual crisis. It typically feels like the end of our lives or the end of the world, or both. Yet such horrific experiences can motivate us to reweave our personal and social fabric into a new artistic, spiritual, or even political perspective and approach to our lives.

From Moses, Jesus and Buddha to Lincoln, Gandhi and Churchill, the lives of people we highly value were rarely normal by psychiatric standards. Psychiatrists have diagnosed every one of them with degrading labels such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. Perhaps we cannot become fully human without going through our own experience of madness or terrifying overwhelm, whether it manifests as adolescent angst, a midlife crisis, or an outright psychotic break.

Scientific evidence that has been evolving for years confirms that childhood trauma, including neglect, sets the stage for adult madness. From the perspective of developmental psychology and attachment theory, what we call madness commonly results from the holes or rips in the social fabric that have been woven into us from infancy

As infants we were born into utter dependency, with the consequence of inevitable episodes of fear and helplessness. Wholly unable to survive on our own, we were repeatedly rescued and transformed by those who nurtured us. Those who raise us create the social fabric in which we develop, making our personalities and identities in many ways inseparable from our experiences with the people who raised us. Extremes of madness or emotional overwhelm often result from a lack of or a tearing apart of this intimately woven internal and external social fabric in our early lives. Less severe emotional struggles will also be fueled by lesser but inevitable times of emotional difficulty in childhood.

It therefore makes sense that the solutions to madness always involve a healing of the internal and external social fabric through developing new and better approaches to life, usually along with new and better relationships.

I do not separate my experience of myselfmy own suffering and my own attempts to growfrom my clinical experience. In therapy, I often share my personal experiences to make clear that we are all much alike in both misery and recovery, and to offer hope for a persons ability to transform themselves for the better to at least the level I seem to have achieved. I find little or nothing in myself that I have not seen in others and what I see in others I also see in myself. This viewpoint or attitude helps me maintain the necessary humility required for helping other people.

In a presentation titled What Makes Us Suffer and Ultimately RecoverOr Not, I have recently opened my own heart on my radio/TV series to describe the importance to me of feeling unworthy of love. It is an experience, I believe, that many people share as among their most devastating fears, anxieties and sources of anguish.

In a follow-up presentation on January 1, 2020, called The Best Stuff I Have Learned from Life, I have described my experience of a loving presence in my life and in the world. It is something I can experience as often as I choose for spiritual refreshment. I know firsthand how sensing or experiencing the loving presence can reaffirm our basic human worthiness to love and be loved. It can also help us to remember the potential for love in all people.

Based on my personal and clinical experience, I believe that the greatest challenge or threat to our identities and mental soundness comes from the fear of being unworthy of love. We cannot ameliorate this dread wholly on our own but must instead rely in part on resources outside ourselves who invite, encourage, exemplify or draw out our own capacity to feel and to give love.

This is the practical sum of my wisdom: There is love and then there is everything else, all the dreadful and demoralizing stuff, including the breakdown of our sense of self and our relationship with others, ending in overwhelm and madness. To love others, nature, art, petsto love any aspect of lifeis incompatible with madness and provides the way through madness to a better life. And there is a loving presence in the universe upon which we can draw for refreshment and inspiration.

To become a loving human being presents most of us with a significant challenge. To fulfill our promise, we must, again in Shakespeares words, overcome the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. We must overcome our own human nature with all its flaws and inner contradictions, and our developmental history with its deficiencies and acquired conflicts. This is our task and our adventure; and it never ends so long as we are alive; and, who knows, it may continue beyond life.

Our lifelong task and adventure of taking on life with reason and love can be thwarted by exposure to psychiatric drugs or other psychoactive substances. That is because anything that broadly interferes with the function of our brains will impair our frontal lobe function which then makes it more difficult for us to love, to relate to others, and to affirm higher values.

Diagnoses of madness such as brief psychosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and panic disorder are created and applied to people in order to justify the power of psychiatry and its physical treatments, all of which do more harm than good. In the last half century, this psychiatric authority has become nothing more than the cowardly, avaricious sales department of the Pharmaceutical Empire.

We are much more than our brains; but drug-induced brain dysfunction impairs our ability to know and to express ourselves as souls, beings, or persons. Psychotherapy can help, provided it is protected by ethical restraints and suits our nature and personal needs; but no help, advice or encouragement will help without our finding the determination and courage to overcome our childhood feelings of helplessness and our negative emotions, including our conviction that we are unworthy love.

Many experienced therapists are finding a common ground in their emphasis on discarding the medical model and psychiatric drugsand replacing them with caring relationships. Psychologist Michael Cornwall sums up his experience and attitudes in Reflections on 25,000 Hours of Being With People in Extreme States. In an autobiographical essay, he emphasizes the importance of merciful love. Michael himself endured such an extreme state which overcame him as a young man: The strange experience of time itself during my extreme states could be measured in agonizing periods of being attacked by tortuous disembodied voices while terrifying, inescapable images filled my minds eye.

Similarly to Michael, in an early book, Toxic Psychiatry, I began referring to so-called psychiatric disorders as experiences of emotional overwhelm and also as psychospiritual crises; and Michaels phrase extreme states serves as well. My own emphasis on love and empathy is also consistent with his idea of merciful love.

Here are the first three of my 15 Guidelines for Empathic Therapy :

These three guidelines, if applied to all our relationships, will build a good life for us and those near and dear to us. They will also enable us to help others with whom we relate, professionally or not.

To be their happiest and most fulfilled, people need to think and act upon genuine love. But how can that be done, given how unreliable, untrustworthy, erratic and evil people can be in the way they treat each other? How can we live imbued with love when even the most loving human relationship can be destroyed by death? Everyone who has thought about it knows that we cannot live by the motto, In Other People We Trust.

All humans are deeply flawed, with many of us failing to come close to acting by our own standards, at least for periods in our lives. Even worse, some people handle their own sense of unworthiness by jumping at the opportunity for making other people feel worthless.

Given the flaws in all of us, it is no wonder that many people find healing through faith in a loving God. Here spirituality or religion can come together with psychology with an understanding of the universal need to feel worthy of love, and ultimately to give and to receive love. Similarly, it is no wonder that so many people turn to a higher power to find strength, which is ultimately the strength to overcome the feelings of helplessness that have afflicted us since childhood.

A good place for healing, what used to be called a therapeutic community, and a place of worship or church, should have in common the creation of a loving space in which people feel empowered to confront and overcome their emotional helplessness. The same is true for the psychotherapy setting, which can be viewed as a mini-utopia in which reason and love are the standard for relationship. Ultimately, this is what all good, intimate relationships are aboutovercoming feelings of helplessness and related feelings of being unworthy of love.

How do we know and recognize love or a loving relationship? By how it brings us to take joy in the existence of other human beings and by how it leads everyone involved to care about, respect, protect and nurture them.

Everything good between and among human beings begins with and draws on empowering, loving relationships. Love and self-empowerment are the most essential ingredients in all the activities we call therapy, healing, recovery, rehabilitation, self-empowerment, personal growth, or enlightenment. Overcoming our feelings of helplessness and becoming a source of love are the most wonderful things we can do for ourselves and others. Life offers many roads for recovery and self-transformation, from therapy and education to friendship, family, work, nature, and spirituality. At the heart of all personal growth is the experience of feeling empowered to love and be loved, which lifts us beyond ourselves to a joyful and treasuring awareness of all that is good in ourselves, others, and life.

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Overcoming the Madness in Us All - James Moore

Phish Sends In The Clones As They Float Above MSG, Rescue Squad Saves Trey On NYE [Photos/Videos] – Live for Live Music

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Phish rang in 2020 to a sold-out crowd at New York CitysMadison Square Garden like theyve done a dozen times before. While they have played other New Years Eve shows outside of the Big Apple over the years, no place feels quite as much like home as the Garden. The newest decades gag did not see the band pull off a midnight-to-sunrise set, a runaway golf cart marathon, a JEMP truck ride, or hot dog flight, but it was the third set that fans new and old will remember forever.

Looking back to previous Garden parties, the 12/31 calendar date does not typically top the other nights of the run in terms of musical exploration, expansive jams, or massive bust-outs, but that doesnt stop Phish from being unapologetically Phish at the transition of each new year.

Following their stellar, jam-filled 12/30 show on Monday night, the band took the stage loose and excited to have fun as the Disney sample from 2014s Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House Halloween set blared through the arena. The Martian Monster opener was followed by Buried Alive in its customary early-first set position. Digging further back into their massive repertoire, Trey Anastasio shined as Phish continued to get this show on the road with a sing-along AC/DC Bag.

The World Most Famous Arena in the central part of Manhattan was treated to a lengthier-than-usual Halleys Comet next, complete with an impressive light display by designer Chris Kuroda. Since Comet returned to orbit in 2009, it hasnt been given the improv treatment fans of earlier Phish years enjoyed, but Tuesday night was another story as Mike Gordon and Page McConnell developed a funky synth-bass groove that eventually morphed into Prince Caspian.

A standard, high-energy Sparkle and a short but potent Axilla led to the first banter of the antics-filled night. All four band members continued the hit in the head with a pan story tangent from the 12/30/19 show, adding a new layer to the true tale. After Storytime Trey amusingly placed the pan story version of himself in a hallucinated recreation of the classic Steven King movie, Carrie, Trey and Page joked that they were fuzzy on the rest of the details of the strange saga.

It was Gordon who finally chimed in on the saga of the pan with a useful new insight: You know, Im starting to figure something out here, Mike hypothesized. Its a different kind of pan! Its the panflute. Who was the guy from the TV commercials that played the pan flute?

Oh, I think, are you saying Zamfir? Fishman offered. I remember that guy! He continued, And there was a weird thing about that guy. That, uh, I think the guy died, but if you say his name, you can conjure him. All you gotta do is say his name, hes got one of those magical names. Fishman then put that theory to the test, calling out the pan flutists name. As he did, haunting pan flute melodies and TV infomercial audio began to play over the sound system. Just like that, Zamfir (a.k.a. tour manager Richard Glasgow), ambled onstage with his pan flute. Yes, it was just as strange as it sounds. Weird sh*t happens when you hit me in the head with that pan, Fishman confirmed. This is amazing, added Trey, doing his best to hold back his laughter.

Phish Zamfir Story 12/31/19

[Video: monihampton]

To finish the whacky story and introduce Maze, McConnell utilized the THX Deep Note effect introduced with much hilarity at the 11/30/19 show in Providence, Rhode Island. The Chairman of the Boards took the spotlight during the rocking Maze, jumping from organ to grand piano before Anastasio kicked off an always-welcome Fluffhead. Rise/Come Together closed the interesting first set, giving fans a few moments to discuss the Zamfir story and sit-in with appropriate confusion.

Punch You in the Eye opened the second set for the first time since the standout July 19th, 2017 rendition and immediately got the floor of the arena shaking once again. Wolfmans Brother was funkified by a juicy Clavinet-bass groove that Anastasio used as a launchpad for his intricate riffing. While the experimentation didnt exceed the 10-minute mark, Tuesday nights Wolfmans once again contained a dark improv section, as it has throughout 2019.

An excellent Light kicked off the strongest portion of the set with a synthy, ethereal section that moved into a heavy peak before Anastasio pulled the plug and dove into Twist. Gordon plucked away to create dank bass undertones that paired nicely with Fishmans choppy drum fills. The guitarist summoned the spirit of Jimi Hendrix and developed a dirty riff reminiscent of Foxy Lady as the entire band built upon the sinister Twist to combat the tranquil Light that came before it, completing a two-song segment thats surely worth revisiting.

Soul Planet reminded New Years Eve veterans of the 2017-2018 run inside the same venue, where a massive pirate ship brought the glowing-wristed fans into January 2018. A danceable, funky breakdown in Soul Planet was short-lived as the band transitioned into a relatively standard Mercury and a faster-than-usual, dynamically varied Possum to close out the second of three sets.

As the lights came up for setbreak number two, a swarm of stagehands descended upon the stage, presumably to set up for whatever shenanigans were coming in set three. Except Wait, are they putting everything away? Sure looks that way. As setbreak wore on, the crew quickly packed up all the gear on stage, leaving only a few nondescript black boxes and a chorus of confused queries of but what are they going to play on? echoing throughout the crowd as the clock approached midnight.

As the lights went down to beckon the final act of the nightthe stage still conspicuously emptythe voices of the band members began to emit from the PA. Hello? Hey, Trey? These microphones are not on, are they? asked Page. Nope, Treys voice responded. Our microphones are not on. No one in the Garden can hear a single word we say.

As the Garden roared with laughter, Page continued, unaware that the crowd could hear him, I am so excited right now, I cannot contain myself. I cant believe we are about to walk on stage and perform an entire set ofjazz ballads, a cappella, for our New Years extravaganza. Added a giddy Trey, 25 years into our career at MSG, we arefinally gonna give the people what they want and walk on stage and do an entire set of jazz a cappella ballads for our New Years set. Its gonna be perfect. The crowd cheered and groaned as they crossed their fingers that this was, indeed, a joke.

Fishman continued, That is, provided that Zamfir does not show up at the last second and hit us with a pan. Because whenthat has happened in the past strange things have occurred.

You know what I think, Mikes body-less voice added. I think thats him right there walking toward us! So weird. The requisite sound effects ensued as the Garden heard the pan flute master once again accost The Phish with his pan.

With that, the members of Phish slowly strode onstage in peculiar outfits as the piano intro to Send In The Clowns began to play. Fishman donned an inverted version of his ubiquitous muumuu (red dress, blue donuts), while the remainder of the band sported solid-color outfits and headset microphones: Page in blue, Trey in green, and Mike in yellow. True to their word, the four colorful musicians started into a (mostly) a cappella rendition of the classic number from the 1973 Stephen Sondheim musical, A Little Night Music. So theyre actually doing this, huh?

However, as Send In The Clowns continued, fans quickly became aware that something strange was afoot. With excitement, Trey altered the lyrics of the song to Send In TheClones. The rest of the lyrics proved to be telling, as well. File away me here at last on the ground, you in mid-air, one who keeps tearing around, one who cant move, making my entrance again with my usual flair and well maybe next year for later

As the band reached the end of Send In the Clones, Trey emphasized the songs final lines. Where are the clones? There ought to be clones! Send in the clones! Send in the clones! Send in the clones!

Phish Send In The Clones 12/31/19

[Video: monihampton]

After a moment of suspense, the band cleared the stage once again, only to reappear shortly after when four free-hanging, colored platforms filled with colored instruments matching the bands outfits descended from the ceiling. As Phish launched into First Tube while suspended in mid-air, dozens of clones of each memberwith outfits identical to those worn by the band, down to shaggy, red wigs worn by the Trey clones and the bald-spotted wigs for the Page clonesflooded the empty stage underneath the floating musicians.

The Phish clones would remain onstage throughout the set, performing elaborate, synchronized dance numbers and choral flourishes as their originators played overhead, rising and falling in time much like the lights on Kurodas rig. Later, theyd pull out a set of long, thin mirrors to reflect the stage lightingeffectively cloning Kuroda, as well.

As the final minutes of 2019 ticked away, the platforms were lowered back to normal stage level while the clones constructed appropriately colored risers behind the band out of the mysterious black cases left onstage at setbreak. The colorful Phish clones served as the backing choir the customary New Years countdown and ensuing Auld Lang Syne and balloon drop before helping the still-floating band usher in 2020 with a Sand extravaganza. The clones continued to dance and sing through the theatrical Sand as the bands platforms lifted and droppedthat is, except for Anastasios. Strangely, he had stopped moving with the rest of the band

Phish w/ Clones First Tube > Auld Lang Syne 12/31/19

[Video: monihampton]

A sense of anxiety soon began to set in for the Garden crowd. Was a clone going to replace Trey for good? Was he actually in danger? Was this all part of the gag? Phish loves to elicit that oh-so-familiar what the f*ck is going on? reaction from their fans, but even the band shared this sentiment as the reality of the situation set in. As the rest of the bands platforms dropped to stage level, Trey remained conspicuously suspended. The green-suited guitarist was, indeed, stuckthe band here at last on the ground, Trey in mid-air.

Heres where things got hairy. A long pause ensued as the MSG crew tried to figure out how to get Trey down while Anastasio no doubt reflected on the Murphys Law situation going on before his eyes: There he was, just after midnight on New Years Eve, at the dawn of a decade, in a green suit, at a sold-out Madison Square Garden, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the bands first MSG show with an elaborate, aerial stuntand his sh*t just broke in mid-air. The situation had moved beyond gag status. This was real. Trey was stuck hanging precariously above the Garden crowd with half a set still left to play. What in the world do you do from here?

After several minutes (which felt like an eternity) of waiting nervously, Trey began to cautiously joke about his current predicament. Well, he said with sincerity, I guess, if Im about to fall to my death, I might as well tell you guys all how much I love you. So much! At least this is gonna be one of the great rock and roll deaths that youll all be a part of. Kind of always wanted to go out with a bang, so

Fishman tried to add some levity to the situation, joking that I think youd just get maimed from there its not high enough for death. Dont worry. Death dont hurt very long But the comic relief did little to quell the mounting nervousness that permeated the Garden. Even Treys quip about how this would be a good time for him to do one of thoseEddie Vedder crowd divesyou guys will catch me, right? did little to ease the tension.

As fans will remember, the 12/30 Pan Story ended with Trey joking about how he felt like he had walked himself out onto the edge of a cliff with nowhere to go. As the New Years gag born from this bizarre tale went further off the rails with each moment Trey remained stuck, that imagery became all too real.

After receiving word from in his earpiece that they were not, in fact, going to be able to get him down, Trey cautiously decided that the show must go on: Hey Carm, Im just gonna play it from up here. F*ck it, just leave me up here.

With that decision, Trey cautiously started into Drift While Youre Sleeping, the Phish clones below continuing their choreographed antics. Its probably worth noting that, despite the admirable, rock-and-roll character of choosing to continue, all four band members were notably timid throughout the song. With Phish, you can never really be sure whats real and whats a joke, but the truth shined through in the music. Both Trey and the clones below his faulty platform were potentially in actual danger, and it took the band more than a few minutes to shift their focus from that fact back to the music being played.

Despite the understandable timidness, the clone-assisted set continued admirably with Whats The Use?. While clearly planned ahead of time (see: elaborately choreographed dancing), this song choice felt cosmically appropriate. Whats the use in worrying about how Treys going to get down? Were here, were plugged in, and weve got a wild show planned. May as well go for it.

Its also worth mentioning the clearly apparent difference in Treys body language and playing as his best friends and bandmates continued to rise and fall as planned. When he was suspended solo, he was noticeably reserved, but each time Page, Fish, and Mike rose to his level, he seemed to momentarily regain his full confidence. Plenty of strange things have happened at Phish shows over 35+ years. When Trey was alone above the stage, he seemed to feel exposed, even kneeling to play at points to help keep his balance on the edge of this cliff. But as soon as his bandmates were at his side, he was ready to conquer any obstacle in his path. If thats not Phish in a nutshell, I dont know what is.

The clones cleared the stage as the rest of the bands platforms rose to meet Treys above the stage for You Enjoy Myself. While the band members remained necessarily stationary on their platforms, the Phish clones returned to act out their usual YEM anticsfrom Mike and Trey clones bouncing on trampolines to Trey clones dancing to the Mike bass solo section. As the band moved into the Boy, Man, God, Sh*t section, the aerial guitarist put a noticeable emphasis on the Sh*t!, a tensely amusing nod to his sticky situation.

Phish w/ Clones You Enjoy Myself 12/31/19

[Video: LazyLightning55a]

Unusually, the highlight of this YEM turned out to be the vocal jam, as the clone choir helped Trey conduct some call-and-response melodies with the crowd before eventually winding up in a clone theme of sorts to close things out.

We can assume that, at this point, the band had planned to exit the stage for an encore break. However, with Trey still stuck hanging over the Garden, Phish did what they do best: they improvised.

Thanks, everybody, thank you, a sheepishly giggling Trey announced, Okay, were gonna do something very strange here, but thats cool. Its fun. We just walked off, were back on. This is the encore, and then all four us are gonna watch you guys leave, and then were just gonna stay up here in the airuntil next year! Its the encore!

With that, Phish launched into the Tweezer Reprise that had gone missing on 12/30 as the clones once again took the stage for their final numbera climactic ending to a crazy set, to be sure. But for the crowd, the show was not over. No, we werent leaving until we were sure that Trey was safely on the ground.

As Mike, Page, and Fishman descended to the ground after Tweeprise and started to walk backstage, Trey laughed nervously. You guys are leaving me? What the hell?!

Bye, Trey, Fishman laughed. See you next year, added Page as a helpless Trey continued to laugh at his ongoing predicament.

As Trey continued to dangle, he took to his guitar to pass the time for a little (necessary) bonus improv, crafting an off-the-cuff ditty about how its time to leave. Its a whole new year, and someones coming to rescue me at least I hope so. This is pretty strange, but its kind of cool, I kinda like it up here, theyre gonna rescue me, goodbye, goodbye 2019, lets have a big cheerfor the rescue squad! he sang.

The crowd continued to cheerone could argue, louder than they did for any of the planned NYE anticsas the stage crew mounted Fishmans drum platform and rose to Treys assistance. They placed a bridge over to Treys platform and guided him over to the working lift to help him down. Once again, with nothing but time and an instrument in front of him, Trey sat down behind Fishmans kit and beat out an improvised Rescue Squad chant as he finallythankfullydescended to safety.

The Rescue Squad Saves Trey 12/31/19

[Video: LazyLightning55a]

[Video: monihampton]

The Phish Clones New Years gag was meant to be all fun, games, and spectacle, but after its precarious malfunction, it took on a more sincere air of significance. As we watched Trey dangle from the ceiling, fans throughout the Garden realized their deep love for this man and this band all over again. You cant just clone Trey Anastasio. Sure, its fun to see them do elaborate things like this, but everyone in the hallowed venue seemed to telepathically agree: Wed trade this admittedly amazing spectacle to ensure this mans safety and longevity any day of the week (or year, or decade). Now that hes down, however, were looking forward to the inevitable tsunami of memes, jokes, and future antics born from this stunt gone awry.

So goes the Phish Welcome to 2020. Lets maybe keep the New Years stunts on the ground this year.

Check out a gallery from 2019s Phish New Years Eve show below courtesy of photographerChris Capaci.

[Review by Ben Boivin & Andrew OBrien]

Setlist: Phish | Madison Square Garden | New York, NY | 12/31/19

Set 1: Martian Monster, Buried Alive, AC/DC Bag, Halleys Comet > Prince Caspian > Sparkle > Axilla, Maze, Fluffhead > Rise/Come Together

Set 2: Punch You in the Eye, Wolfmans Brother > Light > Twist > Soul Planet > Mercury > Possum

Set 3: Send in the Clowns[1], First Tube, Auld Lang Syne, Sand, Drift While Youre Sleeping, Whats the Use?, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Tweezer Reprise, Rescue Squad[2]

[1] Phish debut, with lyrics changed to Send in the Clones; a cappella[2] Debut; only Trey.

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Phish Sends In The Clones As They Float Above MSG, Rescue Squad Saves Trey On NYE [Photos/Videos] - Live for Live Music

Using ETF clones to save on fees – InvestmentNews

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As pressure on fees continues across the financial services industry, financial advisers would be wise to never assume that theres not a cheaper version of the same product.

Sometimes that can mean finding cheaper versions of the same index-tracking fund within the same fund family, as will soon be possible for three exchange-traded funds offered by State Street Global Advisors.

According to recent prospectus filings, SSGA is converting three index ETFs to turn them into cheaper versions of three existing index ETFs. This means savvy advisers will be able to save their clients some fees just by swapping out ticker symbols on any new allocations from clients who have been investing in the more expensive versions.

Starting Jan. 24, the plans call for cheaper but identical versions of the $306 billion SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), the $19 billion SPDR S&P Midcap 400 (MDY), and the $1.4 billion SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap (SLY).

The cheaper version of SPY, which tracks the S&P 500 and has an expense ratio of 9 basis points, will be SPDR Portfolio Large Cap (SPLG), a $3.5 billion ETF that charges 3 basis points.

SPLG currently tracks an index of 700 large-cap stocks, but it will start tracking the S&P 500 with the change.

The clone for MDY, which charges 24 basis points, will be SPDR Portfolio Midcap (SPMD), a $1.9 billion fund that charges 5 basis points.

And the clone for SLY, which charges 15 basis points, will be SPDR Portfolio SmallCap (SPSM), a $1.6 billion ETF charging 5 basis points.

SSGA is currently waiving two-thirds of SLYs expense ratio to bring it in line with SPSM.

Matt Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas Research at SSGA, said the clone ETFs are designed for longer-term investors who might not be as concerned about the liquidity issues that could plague smaller funds.

He added that some large institutional investors and active traders will overlook higher fees on funds in exchange for their sizable options markets and liquidity profiles.

Some investors also like the ability to be anonymous when executing larger block orders, Mr. Bartolini said. What were doing is providing products with a purpose. Its more a function of providing choice to investors. You might hold SPLG for a strategic allocation and SPY in your liquidity sleeve.

Thats probably a handy tip for multibillion-dollar institutional traders. But for most financial advisers, the cheaper version will work just fine.

In terms of tradability, it would be difficult to do better than SPYs average daily trading volume of 47.8 million shares.

But at more than 708,000 shares, SPLGs average dialing trading volume is plenty high for most financial advisory clients.

Anything under 100,000 shares in a day is something an investor wants to be mindful of, as long as your trade size can easily get executed in a given day based on historical trading volume, said Todd Rosenbluth, director of mutual fund and ETF research at CFRA.

Tighter spreads are a byproduct of liquidity and trading volume, he added.

There is some precedent for this kind of fund cloning.

In 2012, for example, BlackRock launched iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) as a 14-basis-point version of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM), which charges 68 basis points.

The original fund, which was launched in 2003, has $30 billion, while the newer, cheaper version has grown to $62 billion.

Its a similar story for the $74 billion iShares MSCI Core EAFE ETF (IEFA), which was launched in 2012 as a clone to $64 billion iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA), which has been around since 2001.

The upstart version charges 7 basis points, which compares to 32 basis points for the original version.

SSGA also has some experience in fund cloning.

In 2018 it launched SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (GLDM) as a 10-basis-point version of the widely popular SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), which charges 40 basis points.

The original version, launched in 2004, manages more than $43 billion in a category known for trading, while the newer version is at $1.1 billion.

In addition to acknowledging the distinct investor appetites that clone funds often target, Mr. Rosenbluth said SSGA might also be playing some defense, at least when it comes to the S&P 500-tracker SPY.

While SPY is still the largest and most popular ETF tracking the S&P 500, it has been steadily losing market share to the $130 billion Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which charges 3 basis points, and the $200 billion iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), which charges 4 basis points.

According to Mr. Rosenbluth, five years ago SPY had 69% of the market share of market-cap-weighted S&P 500 index ETF assets.

That share dropped to 55% two years ago, and to 48% at the end of 2019.

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Using ETF clones to save on fees - InvestmentNews

New State Laws to Astound and Mystify in 2020 – Liberty Nation

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With the New Year comes new policies, rules, and laws, but to list and define them all would take eons to accomplish. Instead of harping on notable newbies, this article focuses on the lesser known, odd, and ironic changes put into place by different states.

With visions of Jurassic Park dancing in its head, Arkansas has banned state-funded human cloning, citing a need to respect human life. ACT 653 described cloning as destructive embryo research, defining it as medical investigations or procedures that may kill or injure developing humans. Effective Jan. 1, the law prohibits state educational institutions from human cloning for scientific research as well. It does not, however, block funding for in vitro fertilization.

Arkansas joins a few other states in fighting sanctuary cities, which prohibit local and state officers from working with ICE in immigration control. The states newest law cuts off state funding for cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act updated its discrimination clause. Effective Jan. 1, the definition of race will now include hairstyles and textures that are traditionally or historically associated with race. These protective hairstyles include locks, twists, and braids.

When can an officer of the law use deadly force? Previously, it was allowed when there was reasonable fear for the safety of the police officer. After the update, the law has stronger and more defined language that will permit deadly force only when necessary to defend against a looming threat of death or serious injury to other officers or innocent bystanders. It does not, however, define necessary.

Another new Golden State law prohibits police from using facial recognition software in body cameras. California is not the first to do this; it follows New Hampshire and Oregon, which have already implemented the prohibition.

Have you ever self-recorded a video to send to a potential employer in place of a physical or online interview? How do companies use this information? A new Illinois law requires employers to notify applicants and receive their consent if they wish to use artificial intelligence to analyze applicants physical aspects, such as facial expressions.

While Washington state residents pay more than 10% in local tax in the greater Seattle area, Massachusetts and Missouri are giving their citizens and corporate entities a break. Its taken 20 years, but a 2000 ballot measure to reduce Massachusetts 5.95% tax to 5% by 2003 is finally happening. Politicians froze the rate at 5.3% in 2002, but now, in 2020, it has finally fallen to the 5% goal.

Meanwhile, in Missouri, Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned in May 2018, signed during his final hours in office a law that cuts corporate income tax from 6.25% to 4%. This new tax rate, beginning in 2020, is one of the lowest in the nation. However, another provision to the law does away with an option for calculating corporate income. This could result in higher tax bills for some multi-state businesses.

Effective Jan. 1 in New Jersey, AB 1094 prohibits employers from screening applicants based on their salary history. It also prevents them from requiring potential employees to have a past income that falls within specific minimum or maximum criteria. Workers can volunteer their previous wages or benefits if theyd like, and then employers can use the information to determine compensation. New Jersey joins more than 15 other states with similar bans.

Do you have a drawer full of expired gift cards? Well, if you live in Washington State, HB 1727 will prohibit businesses from putting an expiration date on gift cards. The rule, which doesnt go into effect until July 1, also keeps recipients from getting dinged for inactivity and having to pay service charges. These rules do not apply if the cards are given to charitable organizations as a donation or if the gift is part of a rewards or loyalty program. But those cards you received from Auntie Mary or Grandma Josephine for Christmas may just get an extended life.

Remember when there were incentives, tax breaks, and so forth to encourage people to buy electric vehicles, to, you know, save the planet? At least eight states have decided to increase registration fees to boost some of the revenue loss. In Hawaii, the charge will be $50, Kansas residents will pay $100, and folks in Alabama and Ohio will shell out a whopping $200.

Welcome to 2020!

~

Read more from Kelli Ballard.

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New State Laws to Astound and Mystify in 2020 - Liberty Nation

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Make this Christmas a special one with the Little Liberty Christmas stocking, featuring our festive Jeweltopia design printed on Tana Lawn cotton.

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170.00425.00

Liberty Londons Sakura long silk pyjama set is designed in our London studio and crafted from rich 16mm silk charmeuse a luxe, ready-to-wear riff on modern loungewear.

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Liberty London

36.0045.00

Get ahead on seasonal gift-giving with The Tudor Treat bag food hamper, packed with selected treats from our Liberty Food Hall.

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Liberty London

160.00395.00

Liberty Londons Evelyn long silk pyjama set is designed in our London studio and crafted from rich 16mm silk charmeuse a luxe, ready-to-wear riff on modern loungewear.

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Liberty London

210.00695.00

The Audrey tote bag is part of our Foulard collection Liberty Londons brand-new leather accessories line, designed by the in-house studio team in fluidly organic shapes and tied with a signature Liberty silk scarf. Each one is crafted by artisans in a small family-run factory in Spain, taking 20 hours apiece to create.

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16.0032.00

Capture all the magic of the season with the Little Liberty stocking, featuring our Jeweltopia design printed on iconic Tana Lawn cotton the perfect way to start a brilliant Christmas morning.

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14.5036.95

Keep all your haberdashery essentials safely stashed with this pretty hat box style sewing box from Liberty London.

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70.00225.00

Liberty Londons Valencia long pyjama set is designed in our London studio and crafted from ultra-soft brushed cotton a luxurious essential for home and away.

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16.0032.00

Capture all the magic of the season with the Little Liberty stocking, featuring our Jeweltopia design printed on iconic Tana Lawn cotton the perfect way to start a brilliant Christmas morning.

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Liberty London

160.00395.00

Liberty Londons Keiko long silk pyjama set is designed in our London studio and crafted from rich 16mm silk charmeuse a luxe, ready-to-wear riff on modern loungewear.

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10.0020.00

Make drying up feel fun with the Edna printed tea towel from Liberty London.

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Liberty London

14.5036.95

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Liberty’s defense stifles NJIT, 65-38 – WSET

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  1. Liberty's defense stifles NJIT, 65-38  WSET
  2. Homesley leads Liberty to 16th win, a 65-38 rout of NJIT  ABC NEWS 4
  3. Liberty opens ASUN play 2-0 following win at NJIT  A Sea of Red
  4. Cuffee, Liberty shut down NJIT  Lynchburg News and Advance
  5. Liberty wins another one on the road in ASUN  Augusta Free Press
  6. View full coverage on Google News

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Liberty's defense stifles NJIT, 65-38 - WSET

New York Liberty to reveal new head coach on Wednesday morning – Elite Sports NY

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The New York Liberty have announced that they will reveal the eighth head coach in franchise history on Wednesday morning.

The reveal will be made through a press conference in the GEICO Atrium of the Libertys new Brooklyn home, the Barclays Center. General manager Jonathan Kolb will speak alongside the new coach. The conference is not open to the public but can be seen via streaming on Facebook Live.

New Yorks last head coach was Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Katie Smith. She held the position for just two years. The title has also been previously held by Richie Adubato (1998-2004), Anne Donovan (2009-10), and Bill Laimbeer (2013-17). They currently have the only head coaching vacancy in the WNBA.

The new decade is the start of a hopeful era for New York Liberty basketball. After two years of franchise limbo at Westchester County Center in White Plains, they will now play their games within city limits again. January marks a full calendar year of ownership under Joe Tsai, who also owns the NBAs Brooklyn Nets. Tsai became the full-time owner of both the Nets and the Barclays Center in September.

WNBA offseason developments have been mostly stagnant due to ongoing labor negotiations. The New York Liberty have nonetheless enjoyed several positive developments since wrapping up the 2019 season. In addition to Brooklyn permanency, New York also emerged with the top overall pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft. The consensus top prospect is Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon.

Ionescu is the all-time leader in double-doubles in NCAA basketball history. She took home the 2019 John Wooden Award as the nations most outstanding player.

As for returnees, the New York Liberty will likely welcome back 2019 All-Stars Tina Charles and Kia Nurse, as well as last seasons second overall pick Asia Durr.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffMags5490

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New York Liberty to reveal new head coach on Wednesday morning - Elite Sports NY

Liberty boys basketball doesnt beat buzzer, but does beat Whitehall in OT – lehighvalleylive.com

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The Liberty High School boys basketball teams back-and-forth showdown with Whitehall ended up being a game so nice, the Hurricanes were forced to win it twice.

Liberty, ranked No. 6 by lehighvalleylive, defeated No. 10 Whitehall 60-51 in overtime of an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference cross-divisional matchup, after having a game-winning 3-pointer from Ish Gonzalez waved off because it didnt beat the buzzer in regulation.

The end of that game was crazy, Liberty coach Chad Landis said. I thought we had a bunch of things that we did well, but then we couldnt finish. Every time offensively we sputtered, we were able to get another stop. Probably, for the first time all season, we have to give most of the credit to our defense.

A layup from Whitehall forward Dylan McGinley tied the game at 47 with 1:40 to go and, after a Liberty turnover, the Zephyrs held the ball for the final minute of the game. With 13 seconds left, Whitehall took a timeout and inbounded the ball to Tyler Holubowski.

The senior guard tried to whip a low pass into the key from half-court but Rondell McNeill jumped forward and intercepted it before the Hurricanes called a timeout of their own with 5 seconds left.

We knew in that stretch that we were going to have to pick our spots, Landis said. (Whitehall) is not the type of team you can just turn over a lot, but we were trying to pick our spots to use our pressure when it could be helpful. At the end of the game, the whole game really, we tried to do that. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didnt; but it was a great game.

Liberty worked the ball to Rahamd Ali who was swarmed by Whitehall defenders, so the senior dished out to Gonzalez. Gonzalez had to take crucial time to create space for the shot, which was on target but 1 second after the clock hit zero.

Quick buckets in overtime from Dallas Holmes and Will Harper gave the Hurricanes a 51-47 lead. Then, McNeil picked off another pass and fed Ali an assist.

We struggled to guard in a couple of our recent games. I thought tonight we needed to step up and defend and I thought we did, Landis said. We showed a lot of toughness in the half-court and full-court defense. (Whitehall) is good. They run great offense; they stick to it. Theyre hard to get out of sync. It was just one of those back-and-forth games all night.

Two foul shots from Holubowski and a bucket from Joseph Lisicky were not enough for the Zephyrs as Harper converted on four shots from the charity stripe and Gonzalez added another two to keep the Hurricanes ahead by multiple possessions throughout overtime.

Harper paced Liberty with 22 points. Gonzalez added 10 and Holmes contributed nine.

The Hurricanes had twice as many players score as the Zephyrs, who had four players get on the board. Both Holubowski and McGinley finished with 18 and Lisicky put up 10.

The loss drops Whitehall to 7-4 and the Zephyrs will hope to get back in the win column when they host Stroudsburg on Tuesday night.

Liberty (7-4) aims to extend its win streak to three in a row when it hosts Emmaus on Tuesday.

Now as we get into the new year, January is the time where teams identify themselves, Landis said. The good teams in our league will identify themselves, the mediocre teams will identify themselves. I think both teams out here played good tonight and tried to take an early stand. There are a lot of games to play.

Desmond Boyle may be reached at dboyle@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @DesJBoyle. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.

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Liberty boys basketball doesnt beat buzzer, but does beat Whitehall in OT - lehighvalleylive.com

Liberty Mutual Insurance Selected by Uber to Cover Drivers in New England, South Carolina and Puerto Rico – PRNewswire

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BOSTON, Jan. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Liberty Mutual Insurance will provide coverage for Uber drivers and passengers throughout New England, South Carolina and Puerto Rico as part of the company's 2020 auto insurance programs, which became effective on Dec. 31, 2019.

"We're pleased to have been selected by industry leader Uber to join its auto insurance programs," said Liberty Mutual Insurance Sharing Economy & New Mobility Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer David Blessing. "We drew on our competitive advantage of vast commercial and personal lines expertise, including our best-in-class claims and service organizations, to meet the specific risk management challenges facing the company's ride-hailing and delivery operations."

Under the program, Liberty Mutual provides specific coverages from the timeUber drivers open the app and are waiting for a trip or delivery request through the completion of the trip or delivery. The program covers all of South Carolina, Puerto Rico and New England, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

"Our dedicated sharing economy and new mobility practice allows us to continue successfully insuring ride-hailing, vehicle-sharing, car subscription, delivery services, and autonomous vehicle companies," said Liberty Mutual Insurance Product Technology Solutions Vice President Nicholas Grant. "The unit blends dedicated underwriting, claims and service with deep industry experience to develop custom risk solutions that both protect companies and attract customers."

"At Uber, we want both drivers and riders to have peace of mind during trips, and Liberty Mutual helps fulfill that obligation," said Uber Vice President of Safety and Insurance Gus Fuldner.

About Liberty Mutual Insurance

LibertyMutual'spurpose is to help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow.The promise we make to our customers throughout the world is to provide protection for the unexpected, delivered with care.

In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, Mass., today we are the fifth largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2018 gross written premium.We also rank 75th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2018 revenue.As of December 31, 2018, we had $41.6 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

We employ nearly 50,000 people in 30 countries and economies around the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, specialty lines, reinsurance, commercial multiple-peril, workers compensation, commercial automobile, general liability, surety, and commercial property.

You can learn more about us by visiting http://www.libertymutualinsurance.com.

Contact:Richard Angevine617-574-6638Richard.Angevine@libertymutual.com

SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance

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Liberty Mutual Insurance Selected by Uber to Cover Drivers in New England, South Carolina and Puerto Rico - PRNewswire

Liberty Women To Open New Year with Meets At Florida, FGCU – SwimSwam

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Courtesy: Liberty Athletics

LYNCHBURG, Va. The Liberty swimming & diving team will cap off its annual New Years training trip to Florida with meets at No. 7 Florida and FGCU on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Lady Flames will compete in a quad meet hosted by the seventh-ranked Gators on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Stephen C. OConnell Center Natatorium in Gainesville, Fla. Liberty will take on Florida, Vanderbilt and North Florida at that meet.

On Saturday at noon, the Lady Flames will take on CCSA rival FGCU along with Tulane and Illinois State in a meet held at FGCU Aquatics Complex in Fort Myers, Fla.

Liberty will be meeting Florida, Illinois State, North Florida and Tulane in dual-meet action for the first time, while the Lady Flames are 1-6 all-time against FGCU and 2-0 versus Vanderbilt.

Libertys CCSA Award Winners this Season

So. Abigail Egolf-Jensen CCSA Womens Diver of the Week (Oct. 15)

So. Lauren Chennault CCSA Womens Diver of the Week (Nov. 26)

Team Notes

Student-Athlete Notes

Meet Highlights

Order of Events

Florida Quad Meet

Friday, Jan 3, 2020

Stephen C. OConnell Center Natatorium

Gainesville, Fla.

200 Medley Relay

1000 Freestyle

200 Freestyle

100 Backstroke

100 Breaststroke

200 Butterfly

50 Freestyle

100 Freestyle

200 Backstroke

200 Breaststroke

500 Freestyle

100 Butterfly

200 IM

400 Freestyle Relay

FGCU Quad Meet

Saturday, Jan 4, 2020

FGCU Aquatics Complex

Fort Myers, Fla.

200 Medley Relay

5-minute break

200 Freestyle

400 IM

50 Freestyle

100 Butterfly

3-Meter Diving

100 Freestyle

500 Freestyle

100 Backstroke

100 Breaststroke

1-Meter Diving

400 Freestyle Relay

Up Next

Liberty will send its divers to the Navy Diving Invite, held Jan. 17-19 in Annapolis, Md. The Lady Flames final regular-season meet will be the TYR Senior Celebration, as Liberty will host Campbell and James Madison on Jan. 25.

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Liberty Women To Open New Year with Meets At Florida, FGCU - SwimSwam