A Viral Sa Bat

deeply embedded

     Some things we cannot escape. Deep brain stuff.

Pacific coast bluff, north of Cambria 

 nature's memes

     Ancient cultures made their own accords with nature. Before maps, native people made the outcropping above a special place. They worked mortar holes into the rock on this bluff vista. They ground food and gathered here and returned seasonally, year after year.

Iconic rock and sanctuary for sea birds

Cambria, Ca

       Nature has its go to places. It provides rhythm, reason and living things then respond. From the beginning, humans have observed, remembered, and acted. We seek places for retreat and sanctuary.

as though we always knew

     Against what passes for our modern "will," and not by our design, humankind has found itself observing ancient advice, maybe code, running in the DNA or neural chemistry. 

      Fight or flight is said to be instinct. Instinctively we took to shelter, to avoid the invisible terrorist. It is the same dance  animals have taken to avoid a predator, since life dawned.

      Instinct, code, neural learning, survival, evolution. 

spring bloom, California central coast 

cease and stop

     Work through this with me, please. In the last two months, as the world gave up commerce and the frenetic pace of modern life, wonderful things have occurred on the planet. Scientists say Earth is healing, at least getting a break. Air is cleaner. We've stopped pumping as much poison and plastic into nature. 

      As people we have struggled. The economy plummets, financial futures seem in ruin, children at home, conscripted family and domestic arrangements, and we are forced into new ways of doing almost everything. 

      Life as we knew it stopped!

     

an enforced Shabbat

     Biblical Hebrew Shabbat means to stop, to cease. But it goes deeper and more broadly.

     Sumerian language gives us Sa bat, meaning "mid rest." It is the language of one of the oldest civilizations in this epoch of human history, the language of Sumer, from the early Bronze age. Old. Very old. Deep, deep history. 

     Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was used in Mesopotamia from 3 Millenia BCE. Their word was "um nuh libi," meaning "day of mid repose."
     Scholarship suggests the concept was also part of the Ugarit language around 6000 BCE. Ugarit is related to Hebrew, Aramaic and Phoenician, a bridge between cultures.
     Hit fast forward to about 800 BC and we begin to see how this concept of rest and stop gathers cultural power. We find "Shmita," part of 7 year cycle in Hebrew culture, where land is to be left fallow for a year and all debts are to be forgiven. Every 7 years.
      Since 500 BCE Buddhists seek an inner calm and peace by observing "Uposatha day," a time for cleansing the mind.
      The height of Muslim practice is Jumu'ah, the Friday afternoon prayer when one is to remember Allah and leave business and the affairs of life.
      Seminary Professor Randy Woodley, a Keetoowah Cherokee descendent says American indigenous people did not live by seven day calendars. Their life was organized to provide what they needed, "There was no drive toward over production, no fostering of greed for more than was needed." 
      The wealthiest helped others. Generosity was a core value as was respect for nature. 
     "Even today, a Cherokee teaching instructs when gathering herbs and medicines, one should pick only every fourth plant, leaving the rest for the earth and other people."
      Indigenous people observed festivals and ceremonies that provided a sense of nature, balance and connection.

a concept missing in action

     Perhaps you remember when Sunday/Sabbath was not only a matter of faith practice, but a cultural artifact. Stores were not open, liquor could not be purchased, youth sports never occurred on Sunday morning, people rested, or went to church or temple, took Sunday drives to visit relatives, had picnics and a host of activity that was, if not a stopping, at least a slowing down.

      The 20th Century took us far from that life. And now in the 21st we find ourselves forced into a virus mandated Sa Bat.

how are we doing?

      What have we learned, of ourselves, of how we live, work, and spend our days?

       We're at an historic pass. We don't know what is ahead as we begin to "reopen for business" and try to find our way to "normal." Will there be a new outbreak, new spikes, new emergencies? Will our government find a way to extend financial lifelines to millions upon millions of working people?  

       How will business, travel, and hospitality find footing?

       We are at a base line and zero moment in medical and scientific research. There is much to learn and we are pushing boundaries of knowledge. It is a cutting edge.

        The same is so for how we live. What do we take from this Sa bat? Did this junction of disease and life and the mandated repose tell us something about how to deal with another looming crisis, climate change?

       Did we learn what we have become as people, who eschew ideas of rest, ceasing, or stopping?

       Did we learn something of 21Century humanity as a  materialistic, consuming and technology driven animal that chooses not to contemplate matters of soul, spirit, or the principles and morality that arise from times of ritual rest,  observance, celebration or prayer?

       Is the desire for such rest hard wired in our brain? Is it a tool of our well being?

       Did the ancient practice ground us to something vital to our survival? 

 in praise of gardening

    And praise for the gardener, Lana, who has painted this hill with color and devotion.

you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours

     Take care of each other. Stay well.

     See you down the trail.

NOTES FROM THE BLUE PLANET

THE INFORMATION WARS

     Jonathan Landay of McClatchey Newspapers reports troubling news that amounts to a piling on after we've learned how invasive information mining already is.  

     Landay writes of a directive from James Clapper who works as the Director of National Intelligence.  Clapper's one man edict, with the power of law, forbids intelligence community employees from any contact with journalists.  Now, only the director, deputy director or public information officer of a member agency of the intelligence community is permitted contact. A very dangerous and sinister move.  

     No doubt Clapper and his advisers, rocked by the Snowden and earlier Wikileaks releases, and genuinely concerned about our security, believe this is the best thing. The danger though is when a single executive, or even a branch of government builds policy that restricts knowledge in a punitive way.  Under Clapper's edict, any offending intelligence community employee's career will be damaged or ended. There is also the philosophical issue of a government, meant to serve, deciding to hold information against, or away from those who empower it-we citizens.

      As I sat in an intelligence oversight conference room hidden away under the US Capitol dome, a ranking member of congress spoke earnestly of the hard choices and actions that must be taken in the field of intelligence, simply to give our government options for our security. There are few black and white constructs. Security and intelligence is a nether world where shades of gray and complexity are the multi layered norm. As my source told me "some of the decisions that are necessary, don't look so good in the light of day."

     In more than 4 decades of reporting I learned which sources I could trust and they in turn learned that I could be trusted. Now some of those people from federal law enforcement, intelligence and counter intelligence, defense, state and local police, Senate and House oversight committees, would not have been able to assist my work in reporting to the public.  

     No government is so good that it does not need to be watched, nor should it ever strive to be anything but transparent.  Men and women who hold positions of influence, elected, appointed or civil service are never above accountability. Journalism is an imperfect craft or profession but it provides a valuable surrogate role for citizens. Journalists must be able to gather and know all facts and as close an approximation to truth as possible, especially in the area of policy formulation and conduct. This is paramount in areas of national security, public safety and individual privacy. Clapper's one man edict, regardless of claims of nobility of intent, is wrong, chilling and dictatorial. 

     Good men and women who believe in the principles of this Democratic Republic and who do the hard work of intelligence and journalism will find ways to share information and knowledge and work around the dangerous Clapper policy. We are a government of, by and for the people and we can never accept anything less.

     A couple of weeks ago Central California readers of The Cambrian were surprised by the tone of an article I penned about the hiring of a public information officer for our Community Service District Board. "I agree with you but""you were awfully strong," or "too strong," or "too tough" were comments from a few friends. My point there derives from the same point as my reaction to the Clapper edict.  Government employees do not work for a political ideology, philosophy, policy leaning, or butt covering-they work for the public.

It is not easy. Issues are complicated. There are competing interests-but the constitutional frame work and the public's right to know should be guiding precepts. Clapper is a dedicated public servant, but he is wrong. I hope he reconsiders. This is tantamount to a gag order.

GARDENING IN A TIME OF DROUGHT

    Californians struggle through the drought finding ways to conserve water while governments look at water policy and permitting processes. 

       As an Earth Day celebration note we share a personal report.

     We've added rain barrels and redirected our downspouts.
These two are tied together.

   This barrel stands alone. These help to harvest rain, when we get it. Living in a coastal zone we are blessed with lots of spring and summer evening marine fog. It's amazing how much flows off the roof and the barrels are an improvement as a catchment. They can also be filled with non potable water.

    In a small way, we've become solar powered. 

 We opted for a small panel which feeds through a charge controller to a 12 volt battery that we store out of the elements in the plastic box.

    A ten amp pump with a 45 PSI rating connects the barrel's out flow to a hose that feeds into our irrigation system.

  Our native California friend Dick, a gardening veteran, helped modify the drip irrigation system by adding the white cap feed input.

    The single barrel will source the lower raised bed and tomato cage.

     The double barrels will source the hill top raised bed as well as the side beds. Most of the hill side itself is drought tolerant planting and not in need of much water.

  Fava beans are doing well in a new side bed.  They, as well,

  will be fed by barrels thanks to the power of the little pump.

                                           Ditto for the lemon tree

           and the newly planted grape.  The barrels, solar panel,
battery, charge controller, pump as well as the modification to the downspouts cost a few bucks, but allow us to conserve and continue to garden.  And the new 

     is a lot better than the old system of down spout capture by these old cat litter containers that also needed to be hauled up the hill.

     Happy Earth day.  Take good care of it.  It's the only one we have.

     See you down the trail.

MUSLIM PRINCESS BREAKING BARRIERS & DEFINING SPACE

SHAKING UP THE OLD BOYS IN THE ARAB WORLD

Courtesy gccwomen.org

     Could this be a face of the new Saudi Arabia and/or a face that is trying to create a new Saudi Arabia?

Courtesy saudiarab11

      Princess Al-Taweel, known as Princess Amira, is

as she says a "common girl" but married to Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, the nephew of the King of Saudi Arabia. Princess Amira, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of New Haven is an advocate for women's empowerment.  She is outspoken in her call for equal rights for women in education, the work force and voting rights.  

     Those are difficult and challenging issues for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the royal family.  Her "outspokenness" has been challenged by her uncle, another of the royal princes.

     Amira says women have the right to come out of the burkas, if they wish, it should their choice and not a man's or the government to make. 

     Her husband is fully supportive. He is a power in his own right, being the chairman of the Kingdom Holding Corporation, essentially the investment arm of all those Saudi billions. She is involved in the business and in promoting interfaith dialogue.  

     Both the Prince and Princess are at some risk from Saudi and other Arab parties who are less modern.  She considers herself a devout Muslim and her very openness for dialogue also has earned her enmity. She has defied some archaic edict by driving and then talking about it. 

     Soft spoken, articulate and emphatic this is one Princess

with fairy tale wealth who is challenging a great evil of the real world. She could just as easily live the good life but

she has chosen to battle ignorance, repression, prejudice and cultural chauvinism. We wish her well and hope for a 

happily ever after for Arab women. The 21st Century belongs to them as well!  Talk about a shift in the balance of power.

DAY BOOK

A FENCE

     An artist friend who is also an avid gardener told Lana that a fence can do wonderful things for a garden.  She told her "it defines space."

     So, Lana will have more defined space and the world will

have one more barrier to the marauding killer deer of Cambria.  I'm hopeful the wild turkeys will also be blockaded.

      Don't write me off as a wild life hating old grump, but merely a guy who has seen his wife's loving efforts at providing the world with blooms and beauty be devastated by the marauding killer deer. Year after year.  "They" say that some things are deer proof.  Ha!  

     As for the turkey's-while they are fun to watch, unless you are one of our terrified cats, they leave one of the world's most noxious calling cards.  It's not enough they uproot plants and scatter dirt over walkways.  Those little traces of themselves they leave behind are not little and probably could rate as a weapon class substance.  What do they eat-kryptonite?

      So, we've joined the fence builders of the world.

I see another place to watch the play of light and shadow.

     The fence has forced us to "recover" a back hill top

for more gardening and for a meditation spot with a 

wonderful long vista of Green Valley.

     Our good neighbors David and Lois reworked a portion 

of their privacy wall and tied it in nicely with our fence.

     See you down the trail.

PS-Oh yea, there is plenty of open acreage for the killer deer and dirty turkeys.