Hopedance

In 1989 I published a special issue on the “End of The World or the End of an Illusion?” when I published a magazine called Critique: Exposing Consensus Reality. After re-reading it for this current issue I wish I had copies of it to give away. I wish it were online so people could see how I treated the subject back then, with humor, intellectual rigor, sarcasm, anecdotal stories of previous end of the world times and parties where no one was allowed to wear watches. It was fun albeit serious. I was tempted to hijack many of those articles for this issue to convey that things have not changed much. We have the same prophecies, perhaps different students of the Apocalypse and new writers following the same lineage (i.e., we now have Daniel Pinchbeck rather than Terrence McKenna). But perhaps time is not linear, evolution is not sequential. Perhaps it’s cyclical... we keep repeating the same story, our fear of the end of the world or of our own death being a main motivator for human behavior, whether the material was published in 1989 or 2007.

The fact is we are getting closer to incredible, unprecedented upheavals. With global warming, peak oil and an insane deficit (we owe the Chinese 200 billion dollars), things are not looking bright. One can get excited about the recent elections, but I don’t. Not at all. We are not making the changes that we desperately need to turn this nation around. However, if you want band-aid remedies you will accept band-aid solutions. Remember Einstein’s words, that we cannot change anything if we are still treating problems within the same mental landscape that created the problem.

I really think we are in for rough times, inevitably (we already are!). Look at our personal lives: does each of us make changes because we want to? We often assume that societal changes can happen overnight but it’s okay to overlook our personal transformation. They are intimately connected.

Or do we wait until the pain becomes so unbearable that change appears to be the only option, or death, thus the bumper sticker, “Evolve or Die!” I was reading the other day that often enlightenment is preceded by a “dark night of the soul.”

With all this talk of doom and gloom, there is simultaneously talk about an evolutionary leap or a radical transformation of consciousness (see the film reviews of “2012 The Odyssey,” “Humanity Ascending,” and the reprint from Jan Frazier’s new book. Even futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard has “surrendered” to an unknowing: “Something beyond all of us is guiding the change we are passing through, and we have no choice or say in that. Our only responsibility is to surrender, and to allow it to do its work. Humanity is going through an evolutionary leap we have never dreamed of, but neither you nor I can stop it or help it. I have surrendered.”

So, this issue is typical of our issues in that it is an attempt to give a balance of perspectives. We have the doomers for sure. How could we not use them for a special issue like this? We also include the change agents, the pioneers, the risk takers, the visionaries who see something that most of us can’t clearly see (yet). Many of us have our pet solutions, whether it’s personal or societal. Some talk about personal enlightenment, some speak of getting to the core beliefs of why we are in the mess we are in. Some speak of city-repair-type solutions, where our neighborhoods can become the model for relocalized village life where true homeland security can reside, along with our basic needs filled, for food, shelter, energy, water, entertainment, humor, community and love. Some talk about the coming refugee/concentration camps.

As I peruse this issue and its contents I am reminded of what Francis Moore Lappe said, things are getting better and things are getting worse. Similar to Charles Dickens more than a hundred years ago, who began his “Tale of Two Cities”: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”

The point is, do we know enough bad news to get off our asses and become a movement working for radical solutions or do we need more bad news before we will act? Do “information” and “news” really matter at all?

What does it take? A divorce, job loss, accident, loss of a loved one? If it takes painful loss for us to change personally, can you imagine what type of pain the political system will have to endure before it changes?

Or do we really not know where to start? HopeDance readers have been inundated with solutionary activities (for ten years, yes we are celebrating ten years!). They cannot possibly declare with shrugged shoulders, “I don’t know what to do.”

Do we simply do what we can, with our hearts opened and our minds stretched to include both sacred vision and practical commitment to make use of our short time here? Or do we do more work on ourselves so we stop polluting the world with our neuroses? Or do we incrementally remove ourselves from the corporate culture and its violent, seductive virus of enchantment and start becoming authentic change-makers? Do we become more divisive or more collaborative? Do we become haughty or surrender to the present moment that contains its own seed for enlightenment, attention and radical change?

I invite you to read the articles that draw you in. Listen to what your heart is calling for. If you need to take ayahuasca, go for it. If you need to know more bad news, go for it. If you need to reduce your workload so you can co-create that ecovillage you’ve been talking about for years, go for it. I’m declaring the year 2007 the year for collaboration (for films, projects, grants, special issues, etc.)

We cannot afford to let the few activists and concerned citizens do more and more. We need more people coming out of the woodwork to help with matters to aid various projects and campaigns.

With this issue, we have initiated a 12-page film&book&music review pullout. Freelancer Shawna Galassi is now editor of that section, to get more and more people to the films, not only to educate ourselves on various issues but to take action (both personal and political), no matter how small.

Sonoma County is taking a respite. It became an example of too few people doing too much with not enough results. Hopefully they can get back on board. Thank you Gina for all your hard work in making it happen.

Our 7 min film documentary is now on googlevideo [http://tinyurl.com/y6zc9m ] thanks to volunteer Roberto Monge. A better quality version will be on our website soon. Mendocino County is seriously coming on board, so watch for details. Santa Barbara distribution and editorship is going through changes, so please bear with us. If you wish to write or deliver papers in that area, please contact us. We might be separating Ojai and Ventura, giving them each a voice; call for more information.

The next issue will be a collaboration of various government agencies related to TRANSPORTATION so the issue will contain info and news about the coolest things that are happening in our cities related to our transportation needs.

I want to thank the following people for coming through to help out with the essential needs of keeping this experiment called HopeDance alive: Carolyn, Rosemary, Paula, Lisa, Woody, JC, Doug, Wes, Barbara, Roberto, Shawna, and Cameron. Without passionate people involved, HopeDance would just wither away.

Bob Banner, Publisher