tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33937439.post7420362249836663554..comments2023-04-02T00:39:16.640-07:00Comments on Stochasticactus: Fortune CookiePeter Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466530226652452872noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33937439.post-67540544444725017512007-06-14T10:30:00.000-07:002007-06-14T10:30:00.000-07:00I wanted to respond to what you said, as one of th...I wanted to respond to what you said, as one of the people who supported your aimlessness when you first arrived as a truly an authentic path. The work at that time was inner, and look at how the seed of that has magnificently blossomed into a “hand made” life. I mean, we all have these ideas of how things should go, but if we are really learning into the mystery of our existence, it might not look so “clean” on the outside. <BR/><BR/>“Handmade” lives are good. They follow no conceived pattern. For a man, they test one’s understanding of his internal dialectics, both the puer and the senex. <BR/><BR/>I consider where I find myself now. I am 11 years into Reflective Images. For eight of those I had the thought, what the hell am I in business for? I was a volunteer in Haiti for two years doing peace work with orphans. I lived in a monastery for a year and a half. I taught for six years. Then I went into business. <BR/><BR/>I chastised myself for a while for being in business, and none of my family could even relate to it. My father had been in business and I wanted nothing to do with business. <BR/><BR/>But then over the last few years strands of my life that I did not know could work together actually started making sense. Now, I find myself as one of the ”leaders” in the 64 billion dollar jewelry industry in this country around issues of green, socially responsibility and fair trade. I get contacted by editors from major trade magazines and have started a blog, www.fairjewelry.org which was recently written favorably about by a trade publication of the Israeli diamond industry. Who would have ever thought? Not me. <BR/><BR/>I also am developing a model for sustainable business based on my studies with Native wisdom keepers over the past nearly twenty year on www.circlemanifesto.com. So my journey into business, all the struggles and meaningless trade shows, has really been a grounding into its basics so that I could have a valid platform to speak about what changes might be possible. <BR/><BR/>There are Sufi stories – Fatima, the Weaver of the Tent, about how even multiple shipwrecks, slavery, loss, all lead to something we could have never expected. I think this is the risk of authenticity and service. But there is also the possibility, if we are awake to it, that all of what we have can come together for some greater good. <BR/><BR/>There is need everywhere you look, in every occasion, for your voice. Paul Hawkins wrote about us in a greater context recently, as the “immune system” of Mother Earth which is responding all around us. We are fighting the corporate monster and trying to restore the positive upward spiral between community, ecology and economy. We are all part of this group for positive change.<BR/><BR/>For me, in this time when anyone who is awake can feel hopeless, dedication to positive change can be the most sustaining medicine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com