NOVEMBER 1, 2024 VENDOR VOICES GROUNDCOVER NEWS Look, look, my heart is an open book! Musings on land and healing That song spills out of my mouth occasionally. If you look you may see a heart of scars that are still healing. The stages of the path may require an even deeper level of healing. Some crises may reveal an underlying condition that is a big mystery. Spiritual friends may become the key to the clues you need. When my ophthalmologist told me that I have vascular endothelial growth factor, my mind went on full alert. When it shows up in the eyes it can cause what is called “age-related macular degeneration.” Matt Hoostal, who I know from Pizza in the Park, told me they call it “veg f” in his biology research lab. It appears to form in the gut microbiome, which Matt is studying. I am an eternal student and have discovered that some wounds and pathologies have a collective dynamic that must be addressed. The gut microbiome is the community of up to 100 trillion organisms that live in the intestinal tract. There are 37 trillion cells in our body so we have an even larger, very diverse community in our gut. Digestion, energy creation and the immune system are all expressions of the gut microbiome. If you have a gut feeling it is from your second brain so-to-speak. The vagus nerve connects the two brains. This is a field of study we need to honor. We live in a community of modern humans. Dr. Carl Jung and his adventures with and beyond Sigmund Freud have much to offer to intellectual workers who are trying to finish their job. Intellectual work that focuses on how to make sense of the mess we are in is very important. The difference between truth and fiction is that fiction must make sense. Homo sapiens sapiens is a subspecies of homo sapiens and the Latin word for wise is repeated twice to specify that modern humans are the only survivors of the species. Some of us may have Neanderthal genes but there are no remaining Neanderthal people. Neander is the name of a valley in Germany where remains were found. They evolved from homo sapiens and populated the Eurasian landmass until some 40,000 years ago. So when you look in the mirror who do you see? As you mature you will discover many times that you are not who you think you are. One thing is certain, we are sentient beings who are children of this earth. Water, air and sun have also brought us forth. We share Turtle Island with many relations, both plant and animal. My interdisciplinary studies are beyond my ability to fully master anything, so my eternal student is sometimes the “village idiot.” As Homo sapiens sapiens we learn to think at a young age. Rebirthers have discovered that we make deep decisions at the time of birth. We must be deciders before we are thinkers. Are you happy to be here or not? You may cry with your first breath. As you see, our community life is the context for our individual experience. You live your own life but you don’t do it alone. An understanding of natural law goes far beyond the law of gravity. Quantum mechanics and probabilities are the new paradigm. Making friends with our own mind is the essential task before us, in my humble opinion. As children of the Earth we will discover the sacred nature of Earth and realize that all earthly beings have a place here. So how could we have homelessness and underhoused populations? It’s time to examine social norms and create new ones in some cases. You can take a breath for a fresh start. Other times let the breath rest and observe the mind until you find a fresh mind. Khenpo Choephel from the Karuna Buddhist Center is a good teacher at this point. Many are those who want a more awakened mind. We can enter the Olympics of mind training in which everybody wins. Honor all who have some realization and are happy to share it. Private property is the main belief of what we once called middle class life. This belief is basic to the compliance culture which arose from the collapse of feudalism. The Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment evolved into the capitalism we know today. We are deeply entrenched in the belief that you must be a property owner in order to be a real human being. Therefore children must be trained to think they do not fully count as human beings unless they adopt the values of the ruling class ideology. Maybe that’s why NASA discovered that most five-year-olds are at creative genius level and that declines as they are socialized into compliance culture. Let’s practice open awareness and KEN PARKS Groundcover vendor No. 490 imagine how we can use property so as to have a better relation with all the people. Ann Arbor has an ordinance on Accessory Dwelling Units. Jim Clark is helping me understand this ordinance. I believe it opens the door to build tiny homes in backyards or side lots that would be a simple living space. I am looking for folks who have used this ordinance and also those who are willing to explore the possibility. My vision is a small greenhouse, maybe 20'x14’ with a living space behind the plants. I have experience camping out in my house to beat foreclosure in Detroit, sustainable camping at Standing Rock and a base camp community on Carrizo Comecrudo land in Texas. I am ready to begin a discussion on accessory dwelling units and see if we can do a workable model of shared and simple living. We have a design challenge that could be fun as we design a simple house and then clarify the responsibilities of mutual respect and shared living. I propose we start with a council fire (a shared fire touches on our shared indigenous heritage) and focus awareness of body and earth on the land available. This process will be complete as land is returned to its indigenous caretakers who have an organic connection to the traditions of the first humans on this land. We can begin with the intention to design and build artistic accessory dwelling units until everyone has a safe place to sleep. Some may resemble a small bunkhouse or hostel for travelers. You can do a lot in a small space as nomadic peoples have demonstrated for countless centuries. Look around until you find indigenous connections. The Native American Student Association is important if you have any U-M relations. They are part of the Tahrir Coalition well known from the camp on the Diag that was in solidarity with the Palestinian people, which also merits your attention. Practice open awareness that creates the vision that Che referred to in his famous quote, “We are realists, we dream the impossible.” The first challenge is the permit and inspection process of the dwelling. I propose that permaculture design be brought into the ordinance. It looks like an obvious step but also may be out of sync with compliance culture. Peter Bane was once editor of the "Permaculture Activist" which was based in North Carolina. He now has a permaculture project in southwestern Michigan which we could visit. A central research issue is composting toilets. For simple, sustainable living it is probable that permaculture has a better design than the current waste disposal systems that regularly overflow with rainwater. Beaches are sometimes closed due to this inadequate design. Ann Arbor could be the vanguard by adopting compost as a basic tool of waste management. This approach would be a boon for a variety of ADUs and promote better use of the land. All this would best be done in consultation with indigenous traditions. We may develop a more complete form of land conservancy that focuses more on drainage basins rather than property lines that were created by settler communities who were caught in the land speculation of the 19th century in particular. Homesteading was a source of government income. The Northwest Ordinance laid out the process of populating territories so they could become states. The number of broken treaties and the current crisis of property speculation, and the poorly managed 2008 economic collapse in which billions were given to bankrupt billionaires by foreclosing on the people. We know from the work of Richard Werner that loans create money out of nothing. Interest is fraud and we need council fire with indigenous peoples to go back to the basics for a fresh start on the social commons, i.e., Mother Nature. Lee Sprague is important here. His presentation at the 50th Anniversary of the teach-in at U-M and his presentation to the Native American Student Association's and the School for Environment and Sustainability's conference just before COVID is precious history that I hope we can revisit. We need to focus on the next steps that came out of these two events and his presentations. He began with his quote; it is the essensce of his presentation. "We have seen the French, the British and now the Americans. We will still be here when you are gone.” 11
12 Publizr Home