A GREAT CHANCE

There wouldn’t have been any political support on restrictions for Nuclear Power before the accidents at Thousand Islands and Chernobyl. In the same way, there wouldn’t have been political support to stop offshore drilling some months ago. The world’s insatiable need for oil and the alternatives with drilling in National parks or the exploitation of oil in tar sand made it almost impossible to introduce strong restrictions and care for offshore drilling. Such restrictions needed an accident to awaken our attention. This accident (the gulf of Mexico incident) should not only have focus on who is too blame, but even more on the inevitable risk on oil, period.

Instead of wasting breath further on the blame factor, this is a great chance to start work on reduction of all fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal and the way we do everything. We have a chance to build a society that is energy efficient and relies on other sources of energy with lower environmental impacts and risk. Such as solar, wind, bio mass...

Since there are limitations on these available amount of these other energy sources and also environmental disadvantages, we have to reduce our consumption of energy. This will create a need to re-think how we organize society and our level of activities and personal desires.

Can we still live a good life without an ever-increasing consumption of goods and energy and wealth? This is the time to reevaluate the so-called American Dream. I can’t help but wonder, with all the ills that society is currently suffering from – greed, depression, poverty and wars – if there isn’t a connection?

Is it possible to disconnect the value or respect for a person from his individual wealth and level of consumption? What if we valued a person by:

1. The time spent caring for another individual

2. Contributions we do to society or his fellow beings

3. One’s level of personal development; measured by the simple (and delicious) fruits of his daily actions – things that consume no energy whatsoever… like singing in the woods, like walking along city streets, like smiling to a stranger, like reaching out to talk to a young person sitting on a busy corner with a sad poster in front of them asking for money?

Suggestions: the money that the Alaskan government used to send everyone a check for 5,000 $... to be used for a central fund towards???

And what if everyone got a massage, or and Alexander Technique session or a singing lesson???

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AMERICA IS GOING MAD

AMERICA IS GOING MAD

I hate America so much right now, really loved what Maureen Dowd wrote in the NY times op-ed column August 21, about how dysfunctional the US is at the moment:

“…Obama is the head of the dysfunctional family of America — a rational man running a most irrational nation, a high-minded man in a low-minded age. The country is having some weird mass nervous breakdown, with the right spreading fear and disinformation that is amplified by the poisonous echo chamber that is the modern media environment…"

I so wish I could bundle up the ones who are suffering now and show them the many "worlds" I discovered working this summer. There are some amazing communities around now, people living alternatively, outside the money-capitalistic system. One of the places I worked at this summer (teaching Alexander at tango camps) was called Ponderosa. Located in former East Germany near the Polish border – a very unlikely place to say the least and I was so surprised by the amount of Americans living there!!

Many Americans are so afraid of the way we live in Europe, as if it is"socialism" or communism... and really it is just living without the deadly fear, that I so remember when I lived in the US.

I know these words of mine are mostly empty and cannot offer real help, in this ever-so-confusing time. I just need to let you know that there are many people trying now to create another way and it gave me enormous courage this summer.

The Personality of Teeth

I must comment on one remarkable feature of living here in this nordic capital, Oslo. And that is my dentist. Over the years, traveling here there and everywhere, the visit to the dentist was mostly an horrific experience. Now, at long last, I actually look forward to the visit. My dentist greets me with smiles and laughs, giving me the feeling that he is delighted to see me, not just as a patient, but as a person with whom he can banter and joke (in English) in a way not often done here. (Norwegians tend to need a bit of alcohol in the system to laugh freely and spontaneously, although this dentist, ever so Norwegian, is a friendly as they come.)

During my most recent visit, with no carries to fill, no teeth from hell to deal with, he was even more garrulous than usual. (I haven't yet seen the bill, perhaps he charges me for the time we are laughing?) Just before leaving, I commented on how old-fashioned my teeth made me feel - as they clearly show a different time lived in.

"Young people all have such pretty, white and straightened teeth. Mine are..."

" No!" the dentist exclaimed, not even letting me finish. "Your teeth have personality!

Now all the young people look the same. They open their mouth and there's no story to tell, nothing to see that makes them special or unusual. Look at me!" he said, and opened his mouth wide.

And sure enough, it was like an afternoon at the theatre. The dramatic way his teeth expressed a life lived; the playful spaces between; the soft twist and stance of other teeth all making it easier to see him, to know him.

Visiting America

America, the land that changes faster than one can keep up with. This is my first entry, my first blog, and that word itself must first find a "home" in my mouth, and in my thoughts.

I've just returned to Oslo, where I officially live, with suitcases full of thoughts and reflections. A year ago, I returned home, after being in New York during the election and first months of Obama's presidency. A year later, and so much of the enthusiasm and hope has waned. I devoured the New York Times while in the US recently, and continue to be a devotee of Thomas Friedman, and some others like Frank Rich, and like many thinking people, I try my best to make sense of this complicated time. Perhaps our time isn't more complicated than other times, however with so much (too much) information available, it is at least a very overwhelming time.

To begin this Blog. I'd like to start with some basic reflections.

1- How immature Americans still seem to be. Needing reassurance, constantly.

2- How incredibly callous those rich and greedy bankers are.

3- How important it is for us to see and hear Mr. Obama again - as we did during his campaign. I can't even imagine how tired he must be, how overwhelmed he is.

4- How important it is to begin the day (and have this essence with you for the entire day) with a sense of gratitude and willingness to embrace the idea of connection.

As this is my first day of "blogging" and my thoughts are crashing into each other, like small children wanting to be first on the line out of the classroom, let me end by relating a small episode that happened at the beginning of my recent trip.

I was flying from Amsterdam to the US. At Schiphol airport it is possible to go to the "Meditation" Lounge before one's flight. I like to do this, and mostly find the gentle and soothing room to be empty. The room is set up with chairs, and open space as well. It is designed for all religions and all peoples. I am a teacher of the Alexander Technique, and I practice yoga and attempt meditation. With the room vacant, I can do a little of the above. On my recent visit, I was quickly joined by a group of traveling Muslims. (I believe they were on their way to Mecca). It was a first for me: sharing not only a room, but the meditative experience with Muslims. And I, being a woman, and they all men, it felt slightly dangerous at the start. All what we've heard, all what can happen. The clash of cultures to say the least. The Dutchman, in charge of the space came over to me -- just as this crowd arrived-- and nicely ask if I minded moving over. (I hadn't been aware that I was using the Mecca directed area). I quickly did so, and not moments later me and these five men went about our business of pray and meditation. It was unusual, but without incident. It is possible to be together in such a way. I noticed that at one point, while doing the child's pose in Yoga, that I was nearly doing the same position as these men who knelt in prayer. Ever so interesting, and connected.

All went well, and my flight arrived safely, gratefully so, into the US.

Thank you for listening,

Deborah