Core message

“How much do I know?

I’m young and unschooled

Bet l’m younger than you

And even Jesus would

Never forgive what you do

I want to ask you one question

Is your money that good?

Will it buy you forgiveness

And do you think that it could?

I think that you’ll find

When your death takes its toll

All the money you’ve made 

will never buy back your soul”

   – Bob Dylan

In an era of all-pervasive fear-mongering and hyperbole, it is near to impossible to get an intelligent message heard. But I must try, and, there is a minority who can still think. In that light, I offer this. Take it as you like.

I would urge people – and urge is not a strong enough word – to read five pieces of literature, and now. Do not read, or watch, anything – nothing at all – until you have read, and digested, these five.

The Ecology of Freedom – Murray Bookchin

The Hero With A Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell

The Book of Daniel – yes, from the Old Testament

Oneness vs The 1% – Vandana Shiva

And, frankly, and humbly, I would say, my own book,

The People vs The Elite

*

unrelated thoughts and lyrics, maybe, or maybe not:

“Well, sometimes I might get drunk

Walk like a duck and smell like a skunk…

Well my telephone rang

It would not stop

It’s President Kennedy callin’ me up.

He said, “My friend, Bob,

What do we need to make the country grow?”

I said, “My friend, John,

Brigette Bardo.

Anita Eckberg.

Sophia Loren.””

(What does the world need? Women, of course! Good-hearted, beautiful women! An injection of the feminine! Erich Fromm, Joseph Campbell, Rianne Eisler, Vandana Shiva and Mathew Fox would all agree! Naturally! How poetic, and how very utterly appropriate, fitting – and precise! My friend, Bob, you nailed it!)

“Well, I got a girl,

She screams and snorts,

Pats me on the head

And kicks me outa bed.

She’s a man-eater

Meat-grinder

Bad loser.”

Conclusion? You make your own.

irrelevant biographical details follow. Discard at your own discretion.

I am proud, of how I have lived my life. Errors and mistakes, I have made many. But I have lived with compassion and courage, to the best of my very human ability. For that, I am proud.

Maybe I am writing my own obituary. I am fine with that. Death is a dream – as is life, the way most people live it.

• One more scribe.