Active Life: If an expert does not have some problem to vex him, he is unhappy! If a philosopher's teaching is never attacked, he pines. If a critics have no one on whom to exercise their spite, they are unhappy. All such men are prisoners in the world of objects. He who wants followers, seeks political power. He who wants reputation, holds office. The strong man looks for weights to lift. The brave man looks for an emergency in which he can show bravery. The swordsman wants a battle in which he can swing his sword. Men past their prime prefer a dignified retirement, in which they may seem profound. Men experienced in law seek difficult cases to extend the application of laws. Liturgists and musicians like festivals in which they parade their ceremonious talents. The benevolent, the dutiful, are always looking for chances to display virtue. Where would the gardener be if there were no more weeds? What would become of business without a market of fools? Where would the masses be if there were no pretext for getting jammed together and making noise? What would become of labor if there were no superfluous objects to be made? Produce! Get results! Make money! Make friends! Or you will die of despair! Those who are caught in the machinery of power take no joy except in activity and change—the whirring of the machine! Whenever an occasion for action presents itself, they are compelled to act; they cannot help themselves. They are inexorably moved, like the machine of which they are a part. Prisoners in the world of objects, they have no choice but to submit to the demands of matter! They are pressed down and crushed by external forces, fashion, the market, events, public opinion. Never in a whole lifetime do they recover their right mind! The active life! What a pity! From “The Way of Chuang Tzu” by Thomas Merton

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Hey what's all this hostility...dude just go to group homes and unsubscribe.  Lay off the meth it makes you testy. Don't want to read your racist hype...I'm sure there are better places for your

ranting...try skin heads r us.

To all you cool cats and cookies peace, love...and who stole the bong?

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Activism vs Living one's ideals has always been a tension between many hippies and more politically oriented folks..in my book Abbie Hoffman was one of the few who bridged that gap..

Where the New Left concentrated primarily on analytic critique of the political and economic structures underlying the war system, the hippies attacked it head on as a way of life, or “lifestyle”—a term just emerging at this point that in its very name suggested the superficiality of living as just a style. In a sense, the hippies sought to live out the alternative culture the New Left theorized more than it practiced. Even for those who did not become hippies, the hippie examples of alternative ways to live helped distance young people from their elders who were prosecuting the war. What became known as a “generation gap” got its visual markers (long hair for both genders, colorful clothing, and so on) and its cultural experimentalism (psychodelic drugs, Eastern religions, antimaterialism) from the hippie counterculture. Many young Americans did remained conservative during this era, but millions felt a strong generational tie driven by a combination of countercultural and progressive politics. Over the years both tensions between and syntheses of the New Left and the hippies emerged, but both represent a response to deep-seated discontent with the rampant materialism and the empty conformism of mainstream U.S. society.

http://www.upress.umn.edu/artofprotest/onlinechpart1c.html

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Sorry I just found this. She was booted and blocked.

I may be a mellow old hippie but we don't have to take that crap in our place of brotherly love and civil debate.

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(... I just like these lol emos!)

the copy paste from the book in the first post from Alan, does not have one of the words that Alan posted in his subject title!

Knowing Alan as virtual as as any others here! I know he is

....cuz, Alan ~ has not pursued a "debate"         

I am! I am also very enlighteded

I don't like the ~~~ no there!

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just a few thoughts (you are skilled with words my friend) your post raised in me...(or as we say in the UK, my twopeneth worth)

But then where would a gardener be in a garden of weeds?

and what do the peaceful desire?

Activisim is not necessarilly for virture, but for insight

peace, love

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i think it's impossible, causes and issues pop up in our neighborhoods all the time. mom's in a nursing home? dad's got cancer? is there a dangerous intersection? are kids getting sick? being an activist simply means you're awake. here i am listening to the song "that's what friends are for." activists care about what's going on because so much that affects others affects us. 

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Right livelihood...

Since we spend so much time at work, it's really important to find a career that causes the world to be a better place... There is a lot of happiness in doing a job that you feel is worthwhile...

For Example: I worked in a plastics factory making wheels for wheelchairs. Yep, at the end of the day a thousand people rolled around because I made the effort...

By the way, that job is available in Chico, California WREX Products.

Keep on doing good...

gregvanderlaan.com

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We went to many anti-war protest marches here in Eureka, California. It gave me a feeling of togetherness and belonging to show up year after year after year. I saw all the same people and it was a blessing to re-connect with former classmates and teachers that I did not see during my regular life. After I graduated from Humboldt State University I stopped meeting those acquaintances I ran into at school. However, at the peace marches, I ran into them and we had fun together...

It especially feels good to see that the majority of Americans have now come around to my way of thinking. Welcome home, brother and sister... glad to see that you have decided the war in iraq was an astonishingly stupid idea... gee, in the future... why not join the anti-war protesters really early... like, learn from our countries errors?

gregvanderlaan.com

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