INSPIRATIONS

Originally discovered by me with EJ in Tulsa.

Read out loud by me to a group of strangers in Grand Canyon circa 2018

and lived a few blocks away from Brooklyn State Hospital.  

"WhateverIf a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. " - MLK Jr.

Ancient Hopi Prophecy of Rainbow Warrior 

Namesake of Greenpeace Ship which Jose and I boarded together in Barcelona circa 2009

Afterwards, he drew this !

the original lifehacker !

"Self-centeredness is our natural gravity to overcome.

Balance selfishness with selflessness.

Balance taking with giving.

Attach less to things.

Less I, me, my and more you, we, and us.

Be present with others. Open your heart to them

and listen. Really listen.

Practice: ask first, tell second.

Let go of hate.

Hate is a disease and, in its many forms—

anger, judgment, and fear—will sicken its host.

Relieve it with the antidotes of curiosity and compassion.

Free yourself from the idea of good and bad—

particularly in relation to the opinions of others,

and consider that there may be only observations and preferences.

Always remember that your state of mind is your choice.

And this choice confers upon us the power to create

the experience of our lives and the lives of those connected to us.

If there is one great truth, it is this: we cocreate our world."

Pronounced Ha-feh-z although Ha-fee-z is more fun to say !

In the days of social media and ghosting, it is worthwhile to revisit the virtues of true friendship

which I feel this spoken word poem touches on towards the end:

"When the fire takes all you have, my home will be your home.

When you are old and can no longer remember my face, I will meet you for the first time again and again...

When they call your number for the draft, I will enlist to fight beside you. And I will march with you, from Selma to Montgomery and back as many times as it takes.

I receive the best of you and the worst of you and I choose both."

That little extra cup !

If there was any doubt how cool Christopher Walken is. Look at this man move !

One of my greatest inspirations about fighting to build your highest potential life.

Saw first at the Art Institute of Chicago (circa 2014) building on Eric Fromm's unconditional biological love between a human mother and child. This is maybe the first painting where I actually felt emotional looking and feeling into it.

First read in Dr. Ricardo Rozzi's course (circa 2003)

Redefining age-old concepts of masculinity, Jungian analysts Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette make the argument that mature masculinity is not abusive or domineering, but generative, creative, and empowering of the self and others. Moore and Gillette clearly define the four mature male archetypes that stand out through myth and literature across history:

• the king (the energy of just and creative ordering), 
• the warrior (the energy of aggressive but nonviolent action), 
• the magician (the energy of initiation and transformation), 
• and the lover (the energy that connects one to others and the world), 
• as well as the four immature patterns that interfere with masculine potential (divine child, oedipal child, trickster and hero)

Aristotle's 11 Virtues teaches us the nuances of excess and deficient embodiment of certain values.

Jerry Zucker. A man I have never met but deeply admire (starts 1 hour in) 

Regenesis Group's Three Lines of Work

SCHOOL OF LIFE YouTube Video Series

I am obsessed. Here are a few of my favorites but there are hundreds ranging from literature, philosophy, history, psychology, sociology, capitalism, and much more. Please do yourself a favor and get lost in these videos.

• Why Socrates Hated Democracy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJBzhcSWTk
• Philosophy of Aristotle, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csIW4W_DYX4
• NIETZSCHE ON: The Superman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxiKqA-u8y4

Sacagawea, Lewis, & Clark Expedition

Thomas Jefferson's biography of "The Life of Captain Lewis" written from Monticello in August 1813 (nearly 10 years after the expedition began) which I would frame as one of the original American moonshots.

Listen to the way Jefferson describes this man:

"Of courage undaunted; possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction ; careful as a father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of order and discipline ; habituated to the hunting life; guarded by exact observation of the vegetables and animals of his own country, against losing time in the description of objects already possessed ; honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves; with all these qualifications, as if selected and implanted by nature in one body for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him."

PS. I bet you didn't know Captain Lewis was apprehended bu Russian authorities and dropped off in Poland. Or that his father's uncle was a member of the Kings Circle before the revolution and another married General Washington's sister.

David Emerald's Drama Triangle to Empowerment Dynamic

where are you now? Make the shift !

Rob Brezsny's 'Pronoia' the antidote to Paranoia

Whereas a person suffering from paranoia feels that persons or entities are conspiring against them, a person experiencing pronoia feels that the world around them conspires to do them good.

Love this ! Watched tons of times because it is like drinking from the fire hose.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was best friends with Martin Luther King Jr. part of his inner circle. This interview is profound. Just after King’s assassination but before Heschel died.

Heather Monroe on the "Trauma Bonding; The Insecure Relationship Cycle." Man, I sure wish I learned this sooner :)

American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson

Explaining the size and scope of the observable universe. Wow !!! Mind blown.

Life is way bigger than us.

# perspective

First saw in Nashville circa 2021 at Johnny Cash Musuem with Mo.