08/20/97 1:12 AM Its no longer the day of the pelican but it is George Hanson had an idea it wasnt that

they were afraid of Billy afraid of what they represent represent freedom there is some inspiration in there years ago I would find myself aware of not having been willing to volunteer for service in the war in south east Asia I wondered about the men who went there and how they might view things since I didnt go and wasnt in the military service at the time Ill never know so what I do know is poorly based I wonder if the men who were boys then, who experienced the death in battle of friends and brothers united by the experience itself they were confronted with from what Ive heard, what they experienced over there was not at all like anything theyd imagined when they volunteered of were drafted, or what they expected from their training. The generation of which Im one, which were the youth of the sixties and the boys who went to the battlefields over there, was raised by a generation whod served and experienced the war called the second world war in which it was well defined that the US and Australia were fighting for freedom against the clealry evil alliance of Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese military so it was natural for people of our generation to be easily indoctrinated into a view of the war in south east Asia as a sort of continuation of the struggle for freedom against fascists powers whod been succeeded by the Communist powers.

I dont know, but I suspect that many of the people who went to fight as draftees or volunteers, viewed what they were doing as a sacrifice for the cause of freedom. As it turned out, grave questions arose later on as to who was really fighting for freedom and who was fighting against freedom. Yet, the fact is, if a young man was indoctrinated by the military to view his exerience as one of sacrifice for freedom then for him it was just that even if the commanders had ulterior motives. The point I suppose, the one that recurred to me back then years ago, when facing hardships, is, that for those of us who survived war, however little we were exposed to it, by having lived through the times, if we expose oursleves to the reality of what happened are left with an inevitable conviction that may well be common to all survivors of armed conflict, civilian and military. That is, that as survivors, and particular for those who endured little hardship, the agony, suffering and loss of those who were killed and horribly wounded, should have some meaning and that that meaning is left to the survivors to determine and to act out. In the case of world war two it was quite clear cut. Those who suffered and the suffering was apparently greater in intensity thatn at any previous time in human history; were well aware that the sacrifice made was made so that the survivors could experience freedom. The logic goes that in order to honor those who suffered and to make sense out of what seemed senseless, the survivors have an obligation to fight for freedom too in whatever they must. In times of peace, that may mean, fighting for ones personal freedom and the freedom of those one comes in contact with in life. For the youth of the sixties, the struggle for freedom took on a new perspective which in some ways is radically different that anything that came before. Although many have been critical of the young people who struggled for freedom of expression in the sixties; and have characterized those who staid at home and

marched in the streets, or participated in communal living experiments, as traitors and parasites who took it easy while brave young men and women went into combat under fire; the truth is that freedom of expression is in fact the most appropriate way for the people not involv ed in armed combat to support those who are in combat for the sake of freedom. As refered to earlier and in many other places, the fascists powers of Hitlers Germany, Italy and Japan, in the thirties and forties, were a force with the declared aim of enslavement who openly made war on a culture based on the ideals of individual freedom and rights. Although, the ideology of Marx, is presented in his books, as an ideology aimed at equality and liberty of the poor and weak from the rich and powerful, the practical application of the Communist form of government, in the USSR, as far as we know, was in a form which did not do very well in protecting and defending individual rights and freedoms as they are viewed in the western world countries of the USA, Australia, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand. What is most amazing about the so called revolution of the sixties, is that the struggle for freedom was envisaged in a most radical manners, as transcending the political polarization of the time into Capitalist west and Communist east. The youth of the sixties, who were involved in the cultural revolution that continues today and is in fact growing and gaining popular support, and legitimacy; envisioned a freedom from an entire way of life, an entire culture that was showing obvious signs of obsolescence and corruption. The war in south east Asia was but one of many fuck ups that glaringly exposed the inadequacy of the popular culture of the day. Questioning of the mainstream culture of the western industrialized countries and societies began long before the sixties. George Orwell wrote about it in his book 1984. So too did Aldous Huxley, Herman Hesse, Carl Jung, Erich Fromme,

Charles Bronowski and many others in different forms including music, poetry, painting and philosophy. There are currently a great many highly respected and accomplished writers, artists, poets, scientists, philosphers and others with no desire for a categorization, who have spent a huge amount of personal effort, reviewing what it is that mainstream culture teaches people about how to live their lives. Out of this has come a growing understanding of how the entire global society functions and the beliefs, myths and knowledge that underly the behaviors of all humans living on the planet. There is a growing consensus among those people who are most expert in understanding out global culture, that a radical transformation of human behavior on a massive scale is essential to human survival. Some even see it in terms of the survival of life on Earth. I belive that this is why the bastards stole my home and took my children away from me. When faced with a vision, true or false that life on Earth is about to be terminated or that all human life is about to be extinguished, there are many who are quite willing to give up and overstep limits on their persona conduct that they would observe in a time of peace and prosperity. Like stealing and harassing for example, if by stealing and harassing, they believe that they may either neutralize a person who is damaging the survival prospects; or to recruit a person they believe may have talents and abilities that they believe are suited to their grand plan for radical transformation. Since the sixties and before, the radical transformation that have been envisioned have run the whole gammut of what is imaginable from armed internal revolution, bank robberies, kidnappings, drug trafficking. The most aware individuals have arrived at the conclusion that what is required for human survival is education - or shall we say,

accurate information about what the current state of affairs is and what types of personal behaviors are necessary for survival. I cannot be accomplished by violent revolution. While the most fascist individuals may still harbor the illusion that it is possible to coerce people to act according to laws and rules. the best informed and most knowledgeable, know that this is a delusion and that in the global society as it exists today, the behavior of people can only be transformed via free choice. Coercion will not and cannot succeed. Having given up the illusion of coercion as a means to implement or assist the transformation, we are left with only Communication. This is the function of educators, religious instructors, writers, artists of all kinds and those who create what is broadcast over electronic media, cable TV, satellite TV and the internet. My own personal experience is that there are a number of indiviuals who have demonstrated in their works that they have a penetrating insight into the weaknesses of the current mainstream culture and into the transformation that is inevitable if the global society is to act in ways that will make survival of the human species and of life on Earth, not just possible but probable. I want to list these individuals and to honor them in so doing Thomas Berry Elisabet Sahtouris William Irwin Thompson Willis Harman So what. What does the survival of human life have to do with the struggle for freedom in world war two, in south east Asia and in the sixties? Here is the answer. The conduct, actions, behaviours of the humans who live in planet Earth, as a whole society, species, family are shaped by parents,

teachers in schools, churches, temples and univesities, by newspapers, by literature, art, music, radio and most of all by television. For the most part, the most powerful systems for shaping bevavior are controlled by people who are motivated by money and profits and are relatively indifferent to the transformation that is essential to human survival. The consequence of this concentration of power is that television and other systems for shaping perception, are used to encourage consumption and production of products. Universities and electronic media are used primarilly to encourage human conduct, behaviours and actions that expand consumption and production to expand the profits of the people who control the Universities and the media - the CEOs and executive managers of the worlds most powerful corporations. In order to shape perception, beliefs, myths, ideas, to encourage profit boosting, wealth concentrating behaviors, the Universities and the media propagate illusions and deal in lies and propaganda either knowingly or unknowingly. A key belief in the system of manipulation and lies, is that be working hard, getting a good education, devoting oneself to ones career, one will come to experience fulfillment, satisfaction, joyfulness, contentedness, happiness, bliss, peace, security and tranquility. The rich will always be with us and must be recognized as a ominous force in the transformational process to come that is just beginning to get under weigh. (like an anchor mate). The rich are rich in money and material possessions only. The truly rich are those who are free to do as they want at all times without exception; who are truly contented and fulfilled, who are truly peaceful, secure, tranquil, unperturbed, blissful, satisfied, happy and joyful. I believe that many of the people who are CEOs

and executive managers of the largest corporations, are ruthless, angry, possessive, brutal, selfish, egotistical, afraid, paranoid, insecure, disatisfied, stressed and fucked up man a truly happy and contented person does not want more material possessions than necessary for basic needs of food, shelter, clothing and freedom of choice. People in poverty who have nothing but indebtedness have a hard time exercising free choice. The ancient Greeks and even Siddartha seem to have hit upon it years ago. Moderation. Not ascetism and not excessive consumption but a balance. Balanced materialism. I for one rather prefer the word Harmony. A level of consumption and possession that is in harmony with inner freedom. It became very clear to me today when reading the final pages of the ZEN doctrine of no-mind, that intent and prajna are identical with my own concept and awareness and experience of freedom and internal signs of intuitive wisdom. Dr. Suzuki goes to great lengths to exp-lain that the core teaching of Buddhism is Egolessness and that in addition to this the core of Zen is Seeing into the Self Nature which is seeing into no mind or into the Unconscious, or in the Chinese wu-hsien Toward the end of the book he dwells on the naturalness of Zen and the characteristic realization of the self nature in the awarenss of prajna, the unconscious as lining all activity and even the most mundane of daily activities. When hungry eat. When tired. sleep. My way of explaining the same thing is that we have a mysterious built in intelligence of an intuitive nature that guides us all the time. When we feel hungry we dont spend a lot of time in logical analysis and lengthy deliberations. The same apllies when we are tired. It is our conditioning by our societal system of brain washing that teaches us the habit of deliberation and logical analysis. When we learn by training to suspend and terminate deliberation and

logical analysis, we are then freed up to act directly in accordance with a superconscious intuitve source of mystical wisdom and superior intelligence that magically leads us to a state of mind that is complete, fulfilling, totally satisfying, quite secure, imperturbably calm, blissful, joyful, peaceful, tranquil, happy. This is what freedom is all about. Freedom from manipulated habits of perception that are specifically designed to insert logical analytical deliberation between the awareness of the guidance of divine wisdom and action. Freedom is a matter of consciousness more than of action although the two are inseparable. The thrust of conditioning is to shape perception and by this shaping of perception to control behaviour. When we begin to recognize that to passively tolerate logical analytical deliberation, is to actively condone our own enslavement by conditioning; then we are able to free ourselves from that habit which is a habit of self denial designed to benefit those who control the system of conditioning for their own material benefit which in the end is no benefit but their own enslavement. Freedom is a state of mind. Confinement is the nature of sensory perception and freedom is a stage in the evolution of consciousness that is experienced when awareness can no longer be confined in the sensory perception and it is liberated from its seed case and grows and flowers. Some of the contemporary thinkers who write about the emerging global cultural transformation, have recognized that the survival of human life makes it quite inevitable that a critical mass of human beings evolve to the stage of liberation from the sensory perception seeds.

The global transmutation that is already begun is in its essence a spiritual transmutation involving a large scale process of liberation of awareness from sensory perception and is a natural stage in the timeless cosmic process of the evolution of consciosness.