EPCWEB The Art of Business and the Business of Art

January 2002: Resolutions

Vol.2 No.1 · January 2002

Feature Article

January 2002

Eclectic Artists Publishing.

Changing The System…Means Changing Ourselves

Sections within this article:

1. Should We Be Institutionalized?   
2. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

3. Change in Less Than 12 Steps   
4. Of Artists and Acrobats   
5. Summary & Conclusions

When seeking the source of our troubles it is always easy to point the finger outward. The more challenging task is ensuring that our own house is in order. From Presidents to religious leaders to the guy in the mirror ‘Walking our talking’, avoiding hypocrisy, seems to be one of the most difficult and least undertaken responsibilities in life. With the new year comes the opportunity for introspection and resolution, so let us proceed with all enthusiasm.

Should We Be Institutionalized?


A century ago, with most of America still cutting it’s living on the rural farm, many folks could ignore “those damn city fellars and their high fallutin ideas.” As long as the rains fell and the winter wasn’t too hard you’d get by somehow. But today, in the modern world, life is very different. For most families, water doesn’t come from a well or a spring but a UTILITY. Chicken and corn don’t come from out back, they come from a SUPERMARKET. The home you occupy costs a bundle each month and offers nearly no productive value (beyond the shelter of the space you occupy within it). In fact, government zoning and usage ordinances are such that many people could not use their homes for their trade anyway. And, try as you might, it’s quite doubtful that the mortgage holder (or landlord), retail conglomerate, or utility company would allow you to perform work in lieu of cash payments… which are due every 30 days. When there is more month than money most of America turns to it’s credit capacity, until that too is gone. When our jobs are downsized, when wages plummet from an oversupply of overqualified workers, when even two full-time incomes no longer afford the “expected” standard of living, what will we do then? Where will we live? How will we feed our family? How low can we go before we are in a free fall? Let’s face it: Urban America has far too much overhead, far too little savings, and has thus painted itself into a corner.

Consider how dependant each of us has become upon disconnected institutions. Today’s jobs are largely abstract: You cannot eat information, wear technology, or store services for a long, cold winter. Tomorrow’s economics are just as questionable: Social Security will be valueless in our old age, pensions have become a relic of the past, health care is increasingly rationed by and for the elite, and the extended family has become extinct. The safety net of farm and family has been replaced by a jungle of profiteers and bureaucrats. Somehow, over the past few hundred years, humanity and its organizational systems have co-evolved into a dysfunctional Frankenstein. Humanity as a whole would never set out to consciously design what has, in fact, been created: Domination by soul-less corporations and institutions.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly


True, the world has many inherently good and caring people; Perhaps they are even a large majority. However, too often these people are ignorant, shy, reserved, too polite, religious to a fault, or just too damned afraid to assertively point out the obvious: “The System” has become very corrupt and largely opposed to “the common good”. If we intend to think of ourselves as intelligent and civilized then “The System” will require fundamental change… and thus WE must also change ourselves fundamentally.

Let us begin by defining “The System” we are indicting. It is modern, abstracted, de-humanized. It is massive, global, institutionalized. It is corporate, bureaucratic, legalistic. It is brutal, hopeless, incomprehensible. It is power-oriented, profit-centered, technologically-enabled. It is cynical, ruthless, statistical. It is a method of control, constructed through repetition, packaged in fantasy. It is an impossible dream, promoted by liars, consumed by fools. It is the freedom to enslaved ourselves, to be depleted as indentured servants, to do as we are told. It is swallowing “The Third World”, bankrupting “The East”, and marketing “The New World Order”. Some call it Capitalism, others Free Markets, still others Human Nature. It is ostensibly centered in the U.S., largely controlled by families from the Old World and Orient, and wholly dependent on the Middle East. It is a sum more terrifying than its parts, a slope more tricky than slippery, a game of musical chairs which contains neither. It is a collection of rules created by the rich and powerful over the past 400 years to ensure that their positions are insulated, rationalized, and promoted by an array professionals, who are in turn paid handsomely for their service, complicity and effectiveness in controlling the mass of humanity, who are in turn too lazy, fearful and greedy to break their own chains. It is years of conditioning which enables us to easily justify our killings, which allows us to praise freedom even as we regulate nearly every aspect of each citizens’ life, which grants more rights and fewer taxes to corporations than to real humans, which has no solution to homelessness or lack of medical care but efficiently preserves the “life” of failing banks, insurance companies, auto manufacturers, utilities, weapons makers, airlines, and other private for-profit industries. It is indoctrination in place of education, hypocrisy in place of truth, and data in place of knowledge. It is life out of balance and it must be changed.

Alter-Nation’s self-appointed task is to impress this point, to motivate everyone to demand, “Change The System!”, which, of course, requires change within ourselves. As always, change can be painful and frightening. So people often try to rationalize their unsavory acts, or embarrassing lack of action, using facile excuses: “That’s the way the world works. That’s reality.” The inference is that only the weak or naive would avoid scavenging at the depths of the ugly deeds being justified or ignored. But those are simply convenient lies. In fact, the human world is only the way it is because of what we do (or do not). We create our reality. It is our fear, our greed, our laziness, our submissiveness, or our dedicated efforts which give us the world we live within. Our world can be different. We can set an example. We can lead. In fact, we must.

Change in Less Than 12 Steps


We start to realize that the political world churns outside our door. We start to admit that the facts are very real. We start to understand that our world desperately needs grassroots, word-of-mouth effort by each and every citizen. Now. This year! And the next! And the next! We see ourselves as world citizens, and acknowledge our responsibility to our fellow humans. Then, inevitably, we stop, saying: “Look, I’m just a normal schmoe. I gotta work all day. I’m not that smart or that rich. What can I do?” And usually that is the end of it. But, if we ask that last question with sincerity, there is an answer. In fact, several:

1. Get out of debt (…and change our lifestyles to keep it that way).
As R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe admonishes in “The Finest Worksong”: “The time to rise has been engaged / It’s better, best to re-arrange / What we want and what we need / It’s been confused and confused.” Rampant consumerism profits the owners of production not the consumers. Get a clue, do the math, we are only enslaving ourselves. We have enormous power (not to mention time) when we gain our financial freedom.

2. Be tolerant. In fact, be supportive of other people’s rights to make free choices (especially those you don’t agree with, but only, of course, if those choices do not actually deprive others of their own rights and liberties). Diversity is strength, and America was built on this diversity. We don’t have to all enjoy each other’s habits and customs but we all benefit from freedom and flexibility. Remember, if you believe you can take away someone else’s rights, then someone else can (and will) take your rights away.

3. Get educated and stay informed. Learn every day, and educate those around you. A quick scan of a daily paper (especially reading BETWEEN the lines) will allow you to make important mouth-to-mouth, grassroots conversation at work and around town. Why talk about soaps and sports when you can discuss your world and your future? Check out fun and enlightening music, movies, videos and books (such as those featured in Ater-Media). Have an open mind, and use it.

4. Promote a New System Based Upon Individual Liberty and Personal Responsibility. While this is a complex topic it suffices here to give a few logical rules: Be responsible in your life; plan ahead; help your family, friends and community; insist on maximum personal freedoms. Tell everyone you expect no less from them… especially our so-called “public servants”. Use the Alter-Nation “SPEAK!” utility to spread the word.

As usual, real change requires real effort, day in and day out… but doesn’t this seem worth the effort?

Of Artists and Acrobats


To motivate us along the path of positive personal change we can also trace the visions of artists who refuse to wear blinders, who challenge our spirits to see clearly what we must all know in our souls: We are the problem and we are the only possible solution.

The rock band U2, which hails from war-weary Northern Ireland, makes the point in its song “Acrobat”: “Don’t believe what you hear / Don’t believe what you see / If you just close your eyes / You can feel the enemy / …And you can swallow or you can spit / You can throw it up or choke on it / And you can dream / So dream out loud / You know that your time is coming ’round / So don’t let the bastards grind you down / Now nothing makes sense / Nothing seems to fit / I know you’d hit out / if you only knew who to hit / And I’d join the movement if there was one I could believe in / Yeah, I’d break bread and wine if there was a church I could receive in / ‘Cause I need it now / …And I must be an acrobat / to talk like this, then act like that / And you can dream / So dream out loud / And you can find your own way out / …And you can stretch and you can seize / In dreams become responsibilities / And I can love / Yes, I can love / I know that the tide is turning ’round / So don’t let the bastards grind you down!”

Alter-Nation is committed to providing provocative arts each month to spur us on, to encourage us, to motivate, to educate, to infuriate. The System brings us down, but that anger gives us energy. In turn, let us focus our energy on positive change within ourselves and within our system. Let us live life as though we are painting a work of art from a palette of actions on a canvas of time. Indeed, “Viver E Arte!”

Summary & Conclusions


If we are to ‘Change The System’ we must simultaneously change ourselves. We co-evolved with our systems to create the world we live in today, and now we must consciously co-evolve toward the new world we wish to inhabit tommorow. Therefore, as we demand change around us, we must also demand change within us.

Alter-Nation promises to put forth solutions not just problems. We dare ourselves and everyone else to live an example! We dare you to be noble and honest: To win in a manner worth winning; To stand up against corruption, cruelty and dishonesty. We dare you to dare to change the world. We dare you to dare to change yourself. Call it your New Year’s Resolution.

Then dare yourself to imagine:

Pausing to Consider The Path to Heaven

You were, it seems, always passing down this road
The turning points and chasms are not remembered often
But, at this instant, past choices confront you
Like deja vu recollections of long walks
Or were they dreams?

Winters never restrain your Spring into Summer
Yet the Fall always occurs

And you come full circle
Again

Life grants so few seasons
While we invent so many reasons
To stay at the spot we’d found years before
Safely

The shortest path is always the hardest
The mere thought
Of mastering the skills required to make that climb
Brings several alternatives to mind

Mind you
You have created alternatives before
You are creative
You have within you the power to create an array of realities
And you are free to choose any path you desire
Even the toughest path imaginable

Once again you stare dead ahead at the familiar circle before you
While threatening and severe slopes
As always
Present themselves at your side

Pausing to consider the path to heaven
You catch your breath
And realize
That you must risk your life
If you are to have one


(Copyright 1989, Dean DiSandro. Used here by kind permission.)

Happy New Year… and thank you for your attention, interest and concern.

Copyright 2002 Eclectic Properties
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic
Properties Corporation. Used here by kind permission.
Photo of Dubrovnik courtesy of Snjeguljica X. McGregor, all others copyright EPC 2001.

Artwork of the Month

Artwork of the Month – January 2002

Works are selected for provocative visual, intellectual,
social and/or spiritual content.. Print versions
(suitable for home or office display), with or without professional mounting
and framing, may be available for order as indicated below each display.Eclectic Artists Publishing.

“…”We’ve Lost Our Right To Be Free”

Available as 6″x9″ print suitable
for framing at $18 each
or professionally matted and framed at $75 each.
Order
Now!
Signed by the artist upon request.

About The Art

Along the road to America’s future (indeed, the future of humanity) we encountered an unexpected detour… it seems that most people are not willing to put in the minimum effort required to ensure true participatory democracy. Rather, like the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson contemplating sunset from a turn out, we have deluded ourselves into believing that we can simply party while someone else takes care of business, and somehow we will still get to where we want to go. In a more sober moment we would understand that by avoiding personal responsibility we are losing our individual liberty. Corporations put forth the effort, so they increase control, while we hallucinate and fantsize. From this vantage point the road may still seem open, but there are storm clouds on the horizon, and already we have seen so many rights taken away. As Alter-Nation warns in it’s song “Elect, Not Re-Elect”: Round One / Jefferson over Hamilton / One chance for freedom from usury / But don’t count out ignorant, lazy greed … Down in Four / Educated Stupidity / Justifies Institutional Slavery… Go tell the children that we’ve lost their right to be free.

Copyright 2002 Eclectic Properties Corporation.
All rights reserved.

Poet's Park

Poem of the Month – January 2002

Inspiration Through Introspection

It comes in quick fixes, and I’m barely standing there at all
How is it possible to stand there
Watching yourself see yourself, Seeing yourself watch yourself

Albert Einstein was hidden by government
It was mirrors they wanted,
it was mirrors they were after
Faster he felt faster
They exploited his energy, dismissed his discovery
His stainless steel study kept out all of our enemies

Reflection pond’s history behind mystery in our narcissistic world
Is that crazen men spoke reflected truth
A-ways beyond our fine-tuned norms
Dismissed by your insanity
of passive acceptance
Unchallenged, unchartered
All manner of wive’s tales are (somehow) passed along

The truth is that if the truth
is destructive to our present status
we will refuse, en mass, to see it

And if the world doubts me I dare them – Go try it!
Sit for an hour, with soft pleasing music, and
stare at your eyes, especially your eyes
(Not that looking about you
and at you is not also valuable – it should be pursued – but,)
The eyes will unnerve you
Because you read you so easily
watch your thoughts pass
passing right by you
Your imperfections will haunt you

Your virtues will redeem your soul
To only get this far
in getting to know you
earns recognition
You’ve taken the challenge

Einstein learned about light
Learned about life
Through the quiet reflections,
unmasked introspections, available to everyone
Could the pain of self-knowledge
really deter our progress?
Must I avoid inspiration?

Copyright 1988 Dean DiSandro,
published and administered by Eclectic Artists Publishing.

About The Poetry

Some mirrors are used to create illusions, like those found at carnivals which trick you into thinking that a blocked path is open, or an open path is blocked, or that you are taller or thinner than you really are. Some mirrors are two-way, where we can watch someone else without being noticed, and thus avoid their attempts to falsely modify their behavior. Facing two mirrors toward each other creates the perception of infinity, while bouncing a light ray between such a pair is the basis for laser technology which can be directed to war & peace. But what of a normal mirror pointed directly back at you? For most people, one of the most unnerving experiences they can have is to stare at themselves in a mirror for a long time, thinking about what they stand for in life, asking themselves if they are living the life they believe they should be living, contemplating their good and evil sides, and NEVER taking their eyes off the eyes reflected in that mirror. Do you have the guts to stare into your own eyes and tell and ask yourself for the truth? If you lie to yourself, of course, your eyes will give you away. Unless you are literally suffering from delusions, no matter how fast you kick “on” your rationalization machine your eyes will see what your eyes try to hide. It is like looking directly into your own mind… and soul. After just a few moments many people will lose their nerve and give up, or change the subject to contemplate something else. “Dumb exercise”, they will say, “can’t learn nothing from this waste of time.” But Einstein invented his theories of relativity by sitting quietly and thinking about reality versus illusion: Thus he revolutionized our world. So, if you persevere and spend some real time getting to know yourself, you might just find this to be the most insightful experience in your life. Then again, if you would really rather avoid the topic, you can simply use the mirror to apply your make-up and business suit, smile that practiced smile, and reflect on the facades of others.


Copyright 2002 Eclectic Properties Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic
Properties Corporation.
Used here by kind permission.            
 

Steal a Song

January 2002

JOIN NOW!     And be
sure to purchase Alter-Nation’s latest CD, Change
the System!. You can also use these links to contact Rockin R Records regarding
recording your music or Eclectic Artists Publishing regarding publishing your songs.

Elect, Not Re-Elect


Download & Play MP3 music file

Round one: Jefferson over Hamilton.
One chance for freedom from usury.
But don’t count out “Ignorant Lazy Greed.”

Bell two: Gold’s manifest destiny.
Settled souls, “We” define right so cleverly.
Pioneer progress, protect stolen property.
Only anarchy saves democracy, so…

It’s elect! Not re-elect!
Replace the status quo.
Re-cycle power.
Yeah, it’s elect! Not re-elect!
Or tell the children that we’ve got no right to be free.

Scene three: Aristocratic tag team dream machine.
Oil / steel / rails… perfect the new monopolies.
Tax acts, Fed Reserve feeds the world war factories.
New deal pyramid schemes Social (in)Security.
Divide and conquer: 1 – 9 – 8 – 4 reality.
Cynical praise of political hypocrisy.
Complicit salesmen.
How can you protest on your knees.
Only anarchy saves democracy, so…

It’s elect! Not re-elect!
Replace the status quo.
Re-cycle power.
Yeah, it’s elect! Not re-elect!
Or tell the children that we’ve got no right to be free.

Down in four: Educated stupidity
Justifies institutional slavery.
You’ll win the most when you bet these teams
“The winner and new low-blow champion… godless, omnipotent, ‘free-market’ capital!”
Success creates the American dream

It’s elect! Not re-elect!
Now tell me, what the hell did you expect?
Yeah, it’s elect! Not re-elect!
Or tell the children that we’ve lost their right to be free.

Lyrics copyright 2000 Dean DiSandro.
All rights reserved. Used here by kind permission.

About The Song

An abridged history of the U.S. political and economic systems consuming just over 3 minutes of your life… but don’t expect this to be the sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice variety you snoozed through in high school. This is the “real” history, where Europeans slaughtered American natives (and each other) to decide who would control this great piece of real estate, where some noble founders fended-off elite interests to provide an experiment in democracy for the masses, where most other greedy power-whores have worked non-stop to wrestle the Constitution (and the population) back under their control, and where the people themselves pay lip service to the notion of liberty and then slip quickly back to sleep. As pace of the race, like that of the song, is quickening. The rulers can see their “finish” line clearly in the short distance. We’d better get a clue, or tell the children that we’ve lost their right to be free.

Buy Alter-Nation’s Change
the System double-disk, multimedia CD now!

Copyright 2002 Eclectic Properties
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic
Properties Corporation. Used here by kind permission.

AlterMedia

February 2002

This may be a book, a video program,
an audio program, a lecturer, poet, show or other touring artist, or any other
form of communication which is entertaining, enrichingandeducational.click here
to join now. Have an Alter-Media recommendation?Eclectic Artists Publishing. If your
suggestion is published you will receive ONE Alter-Nation Hour to be used at your
discretion.

The Princess Bride

An ‘Instant Classic’ by Rob Reiner

( Musical Bonus: Miles Davis'”Kinda Blue” )


DESCRIPTION HERE…

MUSICAL TIP OF THE MONTH

Miles Davis Fritjof Capra: “The Tao of Physics”

The very title of physicist Fritjof Capra’s book, “The Tao of Physics”, begs the question: “What does the study of physics have to do with the Eastern philosophical tradition of Tao?” The surprising answer, in a nutshell, is “just about everything”.

The study of physics is arguably the most mind-blowing experience one can have without ingesting psychedelics (although it is said that employing each, in measured amounts and at alternate times, can have exponentially greater effects). Physics is the fundamental science required for understanding our place in the universe and how it works: From the exceptionally small (i.e., what lies inside the nucleus of an atom) to the inconceivably large (i.e., what is the size of the universe), and the inherent nature of everything in between.

Sadly, many people also believe that understanding physics is simply too far beyond their personal intellectual abilities. Admittedly, the mathematics of physics can be daunting. However, due to the brilliant insights and visual analogies created by geniuses such as Albert Einstein, the basic concepts of physics (that is, most of the really mind-blowing stuff) can be grasped by almost anyone who cares to try.

The same can be said of Eastern philosophies such as Hinduism, Taoism, and Buddhism which are as similar to each other as they are different from Judeo-Christian-Islamic beliefs. A truly intriguing aspect of these ancient philosophies, however, is how similar they are to modern, mathematically-based Western physics! Over the past 100 years, as physicists have developed and refined the theory of Quantum Mechanics, fascinating parallels with Taoism, Buddism, and Hinduism have emerged… much to the surprise, wonderment and even confusion of Western scientists.

In this book, Fritjof Capra does an incredible job of summarizing the major Eastern philosophies as well as the discoveries (and theories) of modern physics, all-the-while intertwining the stunningly similar descriptions, conceptualizations, predictions, and wisdoms of these seemingly unrelated areas of human thought. Using simple visual analogies (and literally NO MATH), Capra’s style of explanation can be grapsed by every high school level reader. In the end, we realize that while science, philosophy and spirituality employ radically different methodologies, each is attempting to answer the same fundamental questions of who we are, how did we get here, what it is all about. If you have ever considered these questions yourself, and are curious to know the best consensus thinking of brilliant minds for the past several millenia, then you owe it to yourself to read “The Tao of Physics”. (As a side note, the interrelations between physics and Eastern philosophy are not creations of Capra’s fertile imagination: Dozens of excellent books by notable scientists and intellectuals have been written on the topic. Capra’s “The Tao of Physics” and his film “Mindwalk” are simply two of the most intellectually accessible works on the topic.)

Before you dismiss this recommendation as so much “New Age” malarkey (as borrowed bits of Eastern philosophies are often labeled in the West), consider the phenomenal TANGIBLE output of modern physics. Remember, Physics is the science which overcame the various legends of creation, and showed us our actual place in time and space: A globe revolving on its axis and orbiting a sun which in turn orbits its galaxy which (along with all the other galaxies) is flying away from the center of a universe which exploded into being some 10 billion years ago. Physics is the science which helps us understand Electricity and Magnetism, giving us computers and guidance systems. Physics is the science which helps us understand light, and thus fiber-optics. Physics is the science which gave us the ability to invent airplanes and rockets, and thus telecommunications satellites and space exploration. For better or worse, Physics also gave us the ability to release unbelievable amounts of raw energy from small chunks of rock via the deceptively simple relationship “E = mc2“, thus proving that everything we see around us is really just bundles of pure energy: Nothing is solid; Nothing is still; Everything is interconnected at every level.

If that sounds a lot like Eastern mysticism or “New Age” thinking then you are already starting to get the point: As Bob Dylan sang, “There’s something going on here but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?”


Copyright 2002 Eclectic Properties Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic
Properties Corporation. Used here by kind permission.