Occupational Myth

Last night I wandered into Liberty Square a little dazed from Thanksgiving and a spate of enjoyable climate change days. Holiday lights and yellow leaves moved in the gentle, spring-like breezes while cops and Zuccotti sentries made phone calls and told jokes amongst themselves. All is much calmer since the eviction. In some ways it can be somber. No longer do the tourists throng the barricades photographing the signs and the drum circle. No longer does it feel like a carnival. And this, ultimately, is a very good thing. Time is, for the show to remind itself that it is ultimately mobile.

The Tear Down

Tearing down the encampment was a brutal act, done in the darkness and done with a hope to blind the public eye to the Occupation mindset. It was so perfectly poetic that it would almost be tragic if it weren’t only a precursor to what the movement will continue to endure. Public space is no longer public. In fact, once we labeled it all, put every square meter of our world into the maps and zones of our current system we made sure that every bit was governable. Our myth despised the “Savage” and those who would remain tribal or nomadic. In this country we created the Reservations and destroyed a wandering way of life. In other countries similar policies were enacted very recently, in the Middle East and Africa, to bring public properties into easier regulation and ultimately, exploitation. The traveling, wandering spirit was slowly replaced with the static citizen. It’s no way to live, of course, since variety creates the best version of any world. To a nomad, there is no such thing as homeless. To the current nation-state and transnational super-state structure, this type of homeless could not be more threatening.

Good Fences make for Good Pens

One of the things about the current state of affairs in the world is that everyone is getting riled up about immigrants. They’re getting so riled up that new fences are going up. Here in the US there are some who just can’t wait until the fence between the US and Mexico is higher, longer and more complete than ever. I guess only the guys up at the top are thinking that good fences also make good holding pens. I guess not too many of us are considering how the Berlin Wall cut through the hearts of both sides of Germany and that gash cut through the entire politics of Europe. Yes, you might be on the “good” or prosperous side today, but what happens if there is a shift? What happens if a tsunami comes in and suddenly the flow at the fence is turned around? What happens if that tsunami is actually made of water or it comes in the shape of a tornado or an economic meltdown? It could never happen you think. Sure, and it could never be this warm for this many days in November.

The Virus of Survival

We must believe in possibility and to do that it is not important if the Occupation puts a presidential candidate in the office or even on the ballot. It would be much more effective to put local people into positions of local power, that’s true and even then, elected offices are not necessarily paramount to the success of this populist movement. On the contrary, the power rests in remaining Viral. On the web and in the streets, the infectious quality is all around us. And the key to survival is for all of us to feel the strength of this, to make it part of who we are and to live according to that power. We are the beginning. We are the simplest life form of the next world. We are eating the bricks like tiny next-stage microbes. And boy, we sure are beautiful…just like compost churning earthworms we’re changing up what’s dead and turning it into a living medium. I know these images don’t sound heroic, but think about Darwin’s last book: it was all about the earthworm and its importance to the earth. So from survival of the fittest to beginning at the beginning, the earthworm, especially in numbers, is pretty wondrous.

People talk about Activism and people talk about Politics. I capitalize these because these are big ideas, with heavy baggage and lots of misunderstanding. Our politic is our action. Voting is important but voting is only one small part of the holistic story. Action in society is a diverse way of being: it’s what we do when we plan our day, our goals and our dreams. It comes down to how we eat, shop and deal with each other. It’s not about making more laws necesarily; it’s about raising the bar of consciousness. We’re generally scared of politics because we’ve been taught to fear our own possibility. Politic is about possibility…applied..in action.

So, people were scared to lose the park and now it has happened. Did the movement die? Not so far it hasn’t. In fact yesterday I met people who were just showing up for their very first time. That to me, sounds very much alive.

The Traveling Carnival of Technology

I imagine that nomads will once again populate the landscape of our next phase of civilization. I believe that those who can adapt are those who are learning to be nimble now; nimble in thought, and nimble in movement. That is how I believe it will work best. Hold onto your prejudices and you will not find solidarity or compassion in others. Stay steadfast to unbridled corporatism and you’ll go down with that ship.

Being nimble does not mean you need to pack a bindle and end your lease, but it would help if you started to build your own myth as if you were a traveler only here for just a little while. Imagine your spirit is here on a cosmic camping trip.

In every major myth the hero leaves home for a while. Inside you need to leave your self. You need to stop being the you who is struggling, striving and scared. You need to step outside for just a minute and see yourself as if you were your own ancestor, watching your struggle. When the road got rough did you hide inside with the television on, hoping for numb comfort? When the pressure got bad did you participate in keeping it that way? Did you wonder WWJD at Christmas, after buying some humble presents made by slaves just because someone gave you a really good discount? What exactly and where exactly did your myth get built and how did you rise to meet those challenges? Did you sit like a brick, waiting to fall with the rest of what no longer worked or did you morph into a building block of a whole new society? The myths of civilization have been uncovered and their darkest sides have been revealed. Enjoy knowing that there is no need for you to die with the detritus. You can live powerfully, fully and alternatively in the now. Seek alternative currency, energy and systems. Wherever you are seek and eat local wares. Be where you are and occupy that space now. You know, like those mystic healers say: Be here now. And don’t be surprised if the carnival of Occupation gets its show on the road; teaching and empowering and getting stronger with every traveling step.