Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Give up the zombie lifestyle

Are you tired of shuffling around, shambling through life not especially aware of where you are and where you're going, except that you have a gnawing desire to eat brains?

You're not alone – well, maybe except for the brain-eating part – and you may find a way toward a more focused life by reading my little book A Scream of Consciousness.

Have you ever stopped what you're doing with a sudden sense of awareness and frustration and said, "There's more to life than this!"?

That's a scream of consciousness.

Have you ever opened your eyes and realized with a peace beyond understanding that the world around you is overflowing with beauty and possibilities?

That's a scream of consciousness.

Have you ever felt a surge of energy when you realized exactly where you needed to be and what you needed to be doing to have the life you were born to have?

That's a scream of consciousness.

Now, how do you maintain that sense of joy and purpose moment by moment, every hour of every day?

That's the purpose of my little book A Scream of Consciousness.

It's a quick read; you should be able to zip through it in an hour or so, and then come back for a reminder of how to Be Here Now and stay aware of the moment.

If you're not convinced this is a book you need to read, my friend Wally Conger and I spent some time talking about the concepts in the book – and overcoming the zombie lifestyle – in this podcast interview. Give it a listen and then come back here to buy the book.

And if that doesn't do the trick, here are three sample chapters.


A Scream of Consciousness: Wake Up and Embrace the Present Moment is designed to help you experience life in its fullest, every moment. Thanks for reading this far, and if you'd like more, you know what to do.

Monday, April 2, 2012

'The definition of a peaceful revolution'

(This is the introductory essay to my newly published edition to Resistance to Civil Government a k a On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau. Always feel free to order one or more handsome dead-tree copies of this edition at this link.)
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Even a cursory reading of Henry David Thoreau’s immortal essay about civil disobedience reveals echoes in contemporary discussions of individual rights and the limits of government in a free society.

Its themes resonate into the 21st century. Faced with a federal government that condoned the institution of slavery and was waging a war of questionable origin in Mexico, Thoreau pushed his readers to consider the responsibility of an individual with conscience.

What Thoreau said about Mexico could have been said yesterday about whatever foreign adventure the current U.S. president has sent the military on (and I refrain from naming a specific president or adventure because this has been happening for several administrations, “right” and “left,” as of this writing – witness Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya ...):
“when ... a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize.

“What makes this duty the more urgent is that fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army.”
Thoreau wrote about slavery as the ultimate violation of the individual, and although it may have been revolutionary to think of a slave as an individual, his context provides insights into what it means to be an individual as well.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Uncle Warren's Attic #73 - Swinging into April

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #73.

Sometimes you just have to let the music take over - and that's what this show is all about.

Get Happy - Raymond Scott
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter - "Scat Man" Crothers
At Last - Glenn Miller
Got a Date with An Angel - Hal Kemp
Frenesi - Artie Shaw
When You Dance - The Turbans
I Got Rhythm - "Scat Man" Crothers
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #73.