Autumnal Equinox 2010

SUBHEAD: A time for reflecting on the Wheel of Life as we stand at the crossroads.
 
By Juan Wilson on 22 September 2010 - 
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2010/09/autumnal-equinox.html)

Image above: Illustration for "Trouble for Trumpets" a thoroughly delightful children's book on the Wheel of Life. From (http://oldmanfoltz.com/2008/02/05/trouble-for-trumpets).

Today is the first day of Fall. Last night my wife, Linda, and I went out to Puolo Point, here in Hanapepe, Kauai, to watch the last sunset of summer 2010.

Because we hadn't been out to sunset for a few weeks we miscalculated when to optimize our arrival time at the beach. The sun was disappearing over Niihau as we stopped to watch. The shoreline was beautiful. It was bathed in the orange glow of twilight to the west, with cool cast shadows from a bright waxing moon from the east.

Now, the next day (September 22nd), we face a new season - Fall... followed by Winter.
It is my opinion that this past summer will be the last in which the United States of America will be able to delude itself with campaign of "regaining the American Dream" accompanied by the backup mantra of "U.S.A. Numba One! U.S.A. Numba One!"

This Fall, somewhere between the November 2nd elections and the Winter Solstice we will see a shift in the American psyche. Before the end of the Xmas shopping season middle America will come to realize we are not ever going to get back to the Good-Ol'-Days. Parts of the country are already there... the Rustbelt, Appalachia, the Inland Empire to name a few. Now it's time for LA, Las Vegas, Atlanta, the Beltway, Greenwich CT and the Hamptons to join the Third World.

Our fossil-fuel-based economy is contracting and will continue to contract until some kind of balance with the planet is attained. Measured in time I estimate that economy will be more like the middle of the 19th century than the middle of the 20th.

If you want a house hunting guide for the future - pick a place to live that doesn't need an SUV or AC.

An American cultural heritage we share with others is a sense of the Wheel of Life - In a day, a year, a lifetime and a place. 
Morning, Noon, Evening and Night
Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter
Birth, Youth, Aging, Death.
East, South, West, North
These analogies provide us some metaphoric comfort because they illustrate the circular nature of time regarding important aspects of our lives. It is not just a long slow degradation from start to end, but one that includes a rebirth.

Fall is a season celebrate the riches of the harvest before we face the trial of the long Winter night. It is a time to gather and care for the seeds we'll need to plant next spring. It is a time to can, dry and preserve what rations we have endure until the green Spring buds appear again. Fall is a time to fix the roof and lay away the cordwood for the cold stormy nights to come.

America needs to pull itself away from the sugarcoated saturated fat 48" plasma cable TV screen. There is nothing there to prepare you for the future. It is only a gimmick to turn your head from it. America has fallen and it can't get up. In our present state we cannot even admit we're down.

The Tea Party has a sense of what is happening; so do the Rapturous evangelicals. But they have it exactly wrong. They are trying to claw their way back to America's halcyon on days of white rule and cheap oil. They nightmare about making a last stand at an "Out-Of-Gas" Seven-Eleven surrounded by brown people moving north. Their mantra is "No more Mexicans and Moslems!" with background singers crooning "Drill, Drill Drill!"

The reality is we are all slowly going back to being indigenous people. Where ever you are is now your land. Those around you are your people. What you grow or hunt is your food. Get to know your seasons. It's what makes the world go round.

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