|
|
Positive News was handed the guardianship of Global Village News and Resources in summer of 2004. Although we would like to continue to make the archives available to subscribers and readers we would like to point out that stories published prior to issue 89 were not under our editorial guidance and would like to make a distinction that these are not necessarily a reflection of the current opinions of our editorial team.
Dear Friends: Happy New Year! Welcome to that teeming, bubbling stew of infinite potentials called 2004. Just think. In less than ten months, we will have four more years of the same old President -- or we will have chosen ourselves a brand new precedent. Will we give in to hopelessness, apathy, fear, and the belief that the world sucks and there is nothing we can do about it? Or will we apply our skills, our wit, our wisdom and our consciousness to bring down the Irony Curtain and take those first steps toward a government of the people, by the people, for the people, where our government does OUR bidding, not the bidding of the highest bidder? And now is the time to launch this American Evolution. Why? Because it is too late to do it sooner! Uncle Swami Wants YOU! Uncle Swami wants YOU! Because replacing the current regime will require unprecedented commitment, persistence and strength on the part of the body politic. The 97-pound weakling or bloated couch potato body politic will have to swear off junk food media, and begin pumping ironies. We the people will need to revisit that ancient form of communication, "tell-a-person" so that truth emerges from all of its hiding places and permeates the entire political landscape. Ten months from now, those of us -- Democrat, Republican, Green and Independent -- who believe in truth, justice and the real American way will be dancing in the streets. Or, we'll be preparing to huddle out of sight behind barbed wire in what NewSpeak Bush calls "Free Speech Zones". (Honest. You could look it up. That's where they put anti-Bush protesters so that they still can protest, but where absolutely no one can see them. See the San Francisco Chronicle "Insight"section, January 4, 2004, for an article which also appeared in the American Conservative on December 15, 2003, www.amconmag.com, go to archives). And we will need plenty of conscious comedy and healing humor because -- as a fan in Texas once put it, "Humor is a great way to tell people what they don't want to hear in a way they want to hear it." At a time when there is so much "endarkenment", whole-hearted loving laughter helps us overcome fear and depression, and act and communicate with aliveness and empowerment. Swami's Mission for 2004: Wake Up Laughing, and Leave Laughter in Your Wake! The Swami's mission and message for the year -- to be outlined in the upcoming 2004 State of the Universe Address -- is "Wake up laughing!" This is a time for awakening: It's a time to awaken to the essential teaching of love hiding behind all of those religious dogmas, to awaken to the chain, chain chain of human foolishness that has kept us doing the same things over and over yet hoping for different results. It's a time to awaken to the awesome possibilities available to us when we apply love, wisdom and imagination. And what more enjoyable way to awaken then through laughter? Wholehearted laughter provides the joy, encouragement and perspective we need to communicate the truth effectively and empower others to release the human pattern of "getting even", and choose to "get odd" instead. When we use our ingenuity and imagination to find that odd solution that will take humanity down a new road, we can create a "world win" campaign where the whole world wins. Look at what Bush and his Banana Republicans are offering: Perpetual warfare, environmental destruction, loss of civil liberties, growing gap between rich and poor. Wow. Where can I sign up? Through the power of conscious comedy and healing laughter, we can help broadcast an "alter native vision" -- where we natives are altered for the better. |
