True Locals

I sat at the gondola plaza in Aspen today and looking around I saw a sight not usually seen.
Instead of the fur ruffled lace up ski pants and the big boots that look like bear feet, (well actually, I did see that)
I saw several dark skinned people adorned in feathers and intricately beaded headdresses and costumes.
It was the Northern Ute Indians coming from Utah and parts of Colorado to share with us some of their cultural traditions.
We saw the jangle dance, the chicken dance, the hoop dance and a whole bunch of other dances.
All of these dances have some kind of meaning behind them and have been happening for many, many years on the reservations, and before that in places like Aspen.
We don’t much pay attention to the Utes these days unless we are shopping for skis at The Ute Mountaineer or grabbing a burger at The Ute Grill.





Unfortunately, the Utes, like most Native American tribes, were moved out of their homeland years ago
as the settlers moved in.
Some tribes are faring far better than others (The Southern Utes, for example, are doing quite well from oil and gas royalties). The sad truth is, the reservations in America are full of problems, from diabetes to alcoholism to depression.
Luckily, there are still many Native Americans practicing their cultural tradition and even showcasing them to the world.
I had a chance to talk to some of the Utes after their presentation and they were very happy to visit Aspen.
One father told me some of the children are sticking around and learning the dances and ceremonies of the elders.
He said if they grow up with it, as many of them do, it doesn’t matter if they leave the reservation, it is always with them.
There is no doubt that the Natives that I saw here today are more “local” than anyone here in Aspen.

As they said at the end of their performance, “We are glad to be home.”

Welcome home

Dalai Lama on board!

The Dalai Lama has a verified account on Twitter.
You can follow him here: http://twitter.com/DalaiLama


It's easy to sign up. Remember, you will need to verify your account by clicking the link sent to your email after you sign up. It may end up in the spam so keep an eye out.

"On-Boarding" His Holiness on Twitter

For most of us who had an opportunity to meet with His Holiness, the intent of the meeting was to “On-Board” The Dalai Lama on Twitter.

Twitter is a newish phenomenon that is used by millions of people for social, marketing and business purposes. But, the most essential and important use of Twitter, I think, is as a means of cultivating and disseminating information.

When we were presented with the opportunity to meet HHDL, my fiancée Jerry Murdock very quickly had the idea that HHDL should be on Twitter so he could communicate ‘in the moment’ with the millions of people around the world.

Twitter is a tool used on computers on the internet, but even more widely as a tool on the mobile web - cell phones and smart phones, iphone - and in the most simplest form, as a text messaging system with the short code 40404 on any cell phone.

In many developing nations, like India or Africa, the people do not have access to the Internet, but they do have cell phones, even in the most remote areas. Potentially, a person with a cell phone in India could receive a message directly from HHDL via Twitter and then “Retweet” it, or send it out again, so eventually the message could make it into Tibet where the people are particularly starved for a connection to their exiled spiritual leader.

Twitter could potentially be a way around the routine censorship of information in places like China and other areas in the world where the Internet is monitored and regulated; places where people are not free to speak their minds for fear of imprisonment or death. This was certainly the case with the recent revolution in Iran; Twitter played a very important role in organizing people and getting the word out about what was happening.

The founders of Twitter are proponents of the free flow of information in whatever form, and for that reason, the Twitter Team enthusiastically helped introduce the Dalai Lama to the service.
During our meeting, Evan Williams, a founder of Twitter, was able to personally show HHDL how to use Twitter on a new Blackberry that was set up and donated for this purpose.

HHDL said technology is very important to help people connect and to realize that we are all one and we are all connected. He said, “This is a very good thing.”

According to Jerry Murdock, who has spent his entire career following and investing in technology companies,
“Technology is neutral. It is neither good nor bad. It depends how you use it.”
I think this statement is true on many levels. I have heard many parents in general lamenting the loss of connection with their children who are constantly connected to others through Facebook or texting, but not necessarily present at home or out with the family. For many people, this is seen as a negative consequence of mobile technology, in particular (negative for the parents, but seen as a positive to the kids who can tune out annoying parents, for example;-)
But, take that same technology and apply it in this instance to the possibility of His Holiness connecting with millions of people instantaneously through Twitter, Facebook or texting and it seems like a very positive adaption of the same technology. In the case of parents and kids, the technology creates distance, and in the case of HHDL, or even President Obama, it creates a sense of connection between people.

It is humans who are attaching value, good or bad, to these mechanisms. I think in the case of Twitter, there is an enormous potential for good, through the instantaneous free flow of information and through the potential for more first person accounts of news and information. As Jerry Murdock often says, “Would you rather get your news from Rupert Murdoch or from your own sources that you trust?”

Twitter takes some getting used to and it certainly isn’t excessively user friendly at first. Most people I know have a Twitter account, but are not active users. It takes some times to curate the content on Twitter and to find information that is valuable to you. There is a lot of junk on Twitter, just like there is all over the web. Once you start finding relevant people to “follow”, who you trust, Twitter is an invaluable tool for communication and for gathering information for people who are high and low tech all over the world.

It is my hope that The Dalai Lama and his staff will nurture the seed we planted this weekend and start using Twitter in the near future. I, for one, will be one of his first followers.

(Look for a verified account, as there are many impersonators out there.)

HHDL 2

For some reason, I got a chance to meet the 14th Dalai Lama last weekend. It was a quick visit in between shopping for a wedding dress, a lunch meeting and catching up with all sorts of friends and family. For me, it was a treat, a special occasion. Out of anyone in the world, I believe in His Holiness. It was a very special opportunity for me, but nothing at all compared to the people of Tibet who will likely never lay eyes on this spiritual man, a “simple monk”, as he calls himself, who is more influential than almost any other leader in the world.

“Invariably almost the entire population of Lhasa, the capital, came to catch a glimpse of me whenever I went out,” The Dalai Lama writes in his Autobiography “Freedom in Exile”. “There was an awed silence and often there were tears as people lowered their heads or prostrated themselves on the ground when I passed.

“It was a life very different to the one I had known as a small boy,” he continued. “I was born on July 6, 1935 and named Lhamo Thondup. This means, literally, ‘Wish-Fulfilling Goddess’.”

The 14th Dalai Lama was born in a small and poor settlement farmed by nomads; his family was one of a handful making a precarious living off the land.

And here he is in 2010, in Beverly Hills, with lines of people waiting to see him and an entire amphitheater waiting downtown.

What are we are yearning to hear from this man?

A simple monk
A simple message

We Are One
Be Kind to Each Other

“The best medicine is a compassionate mind,” he said. “It relieves stress and makes you feel better… and it’s free,” His Holiness says to us with a smile and a glimmer in his small dark eyes.

Oh, why and how could any country, regime, dictatorship call this being a parasite as the Chinese have done?

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 thinking he could better serve his people outside of his country that was invaded by The People’s Republic of China in 1949. His Holiness writes in his autobiography, about the remarkable way of life of the Tibetan people and how much worth preserving has been lost forever.

But, he does not live in the past or cast blame, he says: do something, make an effort.

And we will.

We Are One

Sunday.

We gathered anxiously in the hallway of the posh Beverly Hills hotel where His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama was staying before his public talk later that day. The metal detectors hovered over our bodies, men with ear pieces in walked busily back and forth, there were to be no photos in the hallway, they kindly requested.
We were giddy with: excitement, nervousness, anticipation, questions.
I wanted to ask His Holiness, “What can we do???
How can we make the world a better place??
Why is there so much intolerance, violence, oppression?
How does he find “Freedom in Exile” as the title of his autobiography suggests?
How can we understand each other more, love each other more?”

He is a spiritual leader. He will have some advice for those of us who constantly wonder, but are not doing enough, ever.

What will he say? Will I have a chance to ask? Will he look me in the eye? Will he recognize the spirit inside these jeans and under this shirt?

Will he…??

Then there is laughter, it sounds as if it is coming from a bottomless well
His Holiness takes my hand in his
He looks me in the eye
He is laughing from a place I have not been, yet
I have no questions
But I know where I am going

Inside
To where the sky is blue and the sun is shining regardless of the chaos of our physical world
Inside

His laughter
An invitation to visit

And when he speaks, I know he heard what I wondered, because it is what we all wonder, those of us who want, more than anything,
Peace,
In the world
And peace
Within


He tells us, the most important thing to know, is that we are all one. That is the elemental bottom layer of everything. We are all one… It is in the next “level” so to say, that we get into all of these divisive qualities of humanity: race, creed, color, socio-economics, politics, brands, categories, guilt, pleasure, pressure, expectations…

We are all one
That is the number one thing the Dalai Lama said again and again

How do we help to realize this, we ask.

His Holiness hesitates not,

“Education and awareness”

That is the answer

“And we must all make an effort,” he adds. Looking at each of us.

What are you going to do?

June 20

There is something about June 20th, 2010

It is not on the earth, though we will celebrate it there
It is up in the sky
And beyond
It is the time
When
The stars will acknowledge
More powerfully than any other time
In this first decade of the “new millennium”
That a certain girl and a certain boy
A man and woman
Are colliding in love and creating
A new life

A Taurus
A Scorpio

Together

Forever

Like the sun and the moon

Raindrop

Raindrops fall down a glass window
Magnifying the words as they slide down
Dripping over the letters

“Best steak ever, melt in your mouth”
“buy one now!”

It almost works, but instead I move on and think:

“How can I be a raindrop?”
“How can I magnify?”

Let me slide over your heart
And see what happens.

(If you allow it,
I am more than a raindrop
I am a waterfall)

Avatar Part 2

Believe in the power of your dreams

Yesterday, as I drove into town, I knew I would get a certain parking space.
I saw it in my mind long before I turned the corner and saw it waiting for me
(I smiled)
That space is never open
Right at the base of the Gondola
I pulled in and thought nothing of it, really
Then I decided to acknowledge
That, as simple as it was,
I was tapping into a greater force with that
Little premonition
And I decided to think of all the times something so little
and
Seemingly insignificant
Happened
And I thought nothing of it.

I decided to start
Thinking
And believing
In the power of dreams

Soon, I can fly

Avatar made me sick

I liked the 3D glasses, actually, pretty stylish.
I liked the whole hoop-la of putting them on at the right time and the anticipation of entering this new world of fantasy I had heard so much about.
But, honestly, I didn’t like wearing the glasses for long and I wanted to take them off. I didn’t really love the 3D effects, and I was disappointed; I had big expectations.
And now I see all these new movies coming out in 3D, too.
It is an amazing technology, that’s for sure. I can equate it to something like Hoover Dam. I marveled at it when I saw it - this massive concave wall of concrete capturing the mighty Colorado River - but I didn’t like it.
So, as with a dam, I am impressed with the technology of it, but not the purpose.
I’d rather leave the 3D to the quaking Aspen leaves outside my window right now and to that handsome man’s face standing in front of me.

The story line of Avatar was somewhat predictable, or maybe I just waited too long to see it.
The effects and the affect were powerful.
I was completely mesmerized that someone could have an idea inside of their mind and make it visual for the rest of us to see. Many times I have had dreams that were so amazing and magical, or so creepy and scary, and the images were completely detailed in my mind, but when going to explain it, or try to recreate it, I fail to get the message across and simply sigh, “if only you could have seen it.” For creating something truly dreamlike, this movie is a success.

I cried during the movie several times. I was moved first by the main character in his wheelchair. It reminded me so much of the hundreds of veterans that come out to Aspen every year to ski in all sorts of specialized equipment. There are Vietnam vets, some old and crusty, many with a drinking problem, and young young young (can you believe how young an 18 year old looks) Iraq or Afghanistan vets, drinking, in pain from nerve damage and not whole, many with missing arms and legs.
Seeing the paralyzed protagonist in the movie reminded me of all that is wrong with war, now and then.
The mentality of “us vs. them” perpetuates and nobody wins.
In so many cases, greed is God.
Who are we really serving?
And why?
That was certainly the case in Avatar, and to a sickening extreme.
But what made me so sick, literally nauseous after the movie, is that
it wasn’t that far from home.
I remember clearly and with such dread when George W. Bush announced the “Shock and Awe” campaign against Iraq in 2003 amidst staggering protests and deceit.
I watched as the imbedded reporters dramatized the story and the news played scenes of bombs over Baghdad again and again and again.
Ratings were huge!
I remember watching the Super Bowl the following year and getting this same sickness when I saw the Neanderthal fans and the over fed, animal-like athletes killing each other on the field. The two sides cheering and even beating themselves up, or their wives, depending on the plays from their team. The halftime show included a patriotic display of fireworks, – shock and awe – out on the field, as America sat divided against two teams - us and them.
And then, another televised event portraying a much more real “game” in Iraq, which people seemed to watch with less interest than the football game. And, of course, the compelling GI Joe Army ads in between both events luring more and more young people into a false sense of adventure and purpose.
The similarities of these two “games” kept me up thinking and wondering, and still does. We continue our War Against Terror and wait with anticipation for another clash on the football field.
We love this plot and Avatar is a classic exaggeration of it portraying “us vs. them” and “good vs. evil.”
The military machine and the corporation are bad in this case, and the people of Pandora are magical, unique and creative beings.
This movie exposes the human condition, in its most magical form -connected to nature and living symbiotically within it - and the exact opposite of that - seek and destroy.
As one character said in the movie, “When someone wants what you have, you become the enemy.”
We see these clashes time and time again – the massacre of the Native Americans in America, the Mayans in Central America, the Incas in Peru, the Aborigines of the jungles, the Tibetans against the Chinese, the constant wars in the Middle East, strip mining for gold over people’s homes in Virginia or polluting the water and air with coal and gas in Colorado, diamonds in Africa, precious metals in Indonesia or India, the walls built, the dictators, the extremists, the dolphins in Japan… In any case, The Natives - human, animal or plant - where ever, when ever, are moved out, enslaved or killed if hey get in the way of profit or the imperialistic or corporate idea of manifest destiny.
In Avatar, there is not too much fantasy in that part of the storyline.
We all can recognize that.
It makes me sick.
The people are killing the plants, the animals and the people of this planet. It does not make sense.
Many of us believe a change is coming, we hope and pray and work towards a more sustainable future, where we respect all living things and get past the policies and procedures that lead us to: coerce, control, conquer and “win.” We believe in diversity and in sustainability, in peace and love.
We also believe in business and the importance of technology, but not at the expense of our connection to the planet and to each other.
Avatar made me sick.
I recognized too many behaviors.
I don’t want the sacred balance of our home, planet earth, and the entire magical universe to be broken down into battles, big or small, of “us vs. them.”
I want to live in a world where people respect life.
It seems like we need a reset button, things are so far gone, interests too far vested to change, but I do believe we can make a difference and be more connected. And we don’t need an Avatar to do it.

We can do it.
We need to:
open our eyes.
We need to:
open our hearts.

What can we do?