Standing Rock update : the extreme darkness is lifting. My experience of this camp, and I think I was not alone, is that weeks ago , 10 days ago, tremendous Darkness had descended upon the camp. 10000 Souls, many of them very brightly burning spiritual Jedi, Departed and this was appropriate as the legal battle was initially won. Yet, tho appropriate, this departure of so many bright lights introduced a tremendous stress on the camp. Those Bright Lights many of them did tremendous amounts of work everyday to feed, heat, provide water for, construct for the others in the camp. That Workforce Departed. What was left for a while was a fairly corrupt power structure. Again, probably I was more acutely aware than most but I am not the only one that was aware. Slowly I learned the lesson to stop attempting to help by coming alongside those in power, and instead to avoid at all costs those with ego issues and to seek out the more lowly who were of good spirit and providing some level of help, and to see how I could support them. Surely my days are infinitely more joyful now, I am more productive personally, and those good souls and I are undoubtedly feeding and amplifying and encouraging one another. Decades ago I brought to one of the largest computer companies in the world a training system for salespeople the heart of which was the idea of not seeking those in official power but rather to seek those more lowly who were hugely influential but not of official power. Finally I am again avoiding that mistake. There are beautiful souls here that move me with great emotion. The young indigenous man from Florida who is here in the camp awaiting his trial 4 unviolently standing against theft of Native American land and resources and the destruction of their water. A beautiful soul. Earlier in his life he told me involved with a gang. Clearly saved now spiritually in part due to being introduced to Serious Sign Language in prison and now doing coursework to become an interpreter. his profound love and admiration for those without the gift of speech is very very deep and genuine. He must have a record. So the risk, the huge costs that this young person faces to fight for the future of us all must be enormous. But his spirit is so totally selfless, so light. A young mom who runs a kitchen, 1 of 8 or more in the camp, and probably my favorite. 2 absolutely adorable Kids approximately 3 and 5 years old. With her in the kitchen every moment. Infinite patience for them and us has this young woman. cooking simple healthy meals for us from 7 in the morning until 8 o'clock at night. College students, people normally employed in everyday life , who have in the face of existential species emergency, existential emergency for all creation, have said goodbye to their normal lives and work from sunup till sundown to help those in need in this community. The Dark Souls remain. I have removed myself from much ongoing visibility to their activities. but I have a hunch that this unofficial tribe of good Souls is growing in strength and number and thereby in some cases converting and in other cases obscuring these points of Darkness that were so strong only 10 days ago. And I know that my sun up till bedtime menial manual pitiful weak labor is one of those candles encouraging others. I get thanks and feedback every day. Recently I saw one of the folks who exhibited considerable darkness of Soul only 10 days ago or so, saw me on my daily rounds spanning the camp serving those in greatest need, asked if we could talk, said, I appologize. We exchanged glad hugs. Daily I repeat and will repeat again here my favorite quotation, a quotation from Albert Schweitzer , example is not the major thing in influencing people, it's the only thing. we had our first serious Storm 2 days ago, 10 inches of snow, 40 mile-an-hour sustained winds, 10 degrees Fahrenheit, minus 40 degrees wind chill , gusts exceeding 60 miles an hour. clearly I have no conception of the strength of tents. How mine and hundreds of others survived that wind is beyond me. I suspect that this storm will be viewed as very very gentle within another month or so. many of our finest Jedi, some very mature, some very immature, are gathered in this space. By the way, since the storm the Verizon signal has not been available down in the camp, only on a small hill in this very cold weather where I currently sit. Hence my access to Internet is greatly curtailed for now. I can't know whether Verizon plans to repair the Tower or whether they have decided it is not worth maintaining it with a camp of only a thousand people.
