The magic of giving

One of the tenets of the philosophy my zero-aggression-principle, pacifist hero Ray Kaliber espoused in The Imaginary Revolution is “Give more than you receive.” This week I experienced an example of how that works in real life.

As I wrote the other day, my plans for my little superhero adventure stories got a boost with the arrival of my friend Wally Conger’s new project, Operation Hulk-SMASH. His ideas about smashing ahead through the temptation to procrastinate meshed with and affirmed the incentives I’ve been trying to install in my creative work habits.

I expressed my gratitude in the best way I knew, by giving him the credit he deserved and hopefully encouraging some of you to try his (ridiculously reasonably priced) product. I did this because I appreciated the kick in the psyche, no other reason.

Wally responded by giving me a remarkably generous boost in his own blog and email newsletter, and by scribing a glowing review of The Adventures of Myke Phoenix for Amazon. He gives the book five stars and even reminded me of something I may have forgotten to mention to you: These are fun stories with quite a healthy dose of humor. “I dare you to read any of the six stories in this collection without a big grin on your face," Wally says.

He gave more than he received. I daresay neither of us expected what we got in return for what we’d given.

And that’s the tricky part of giving more than you receive: You need to give out of an attitude of thankfulness, not because you want or expect to receive anything back. The recipient can sense any strings attached to a gift.

The late, great motivator Zig Ziglar famously said you can have everything you want if you just help enough other people get what they want. The key is really, sincerely wanting to help those other people without consciously thinking about your own needs and wants. That’s when the magic of giving happens.

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P.S. The Imaginary Revolution is written in the same universe as my first novella, The Imaginary Bomb, but is not exactly a sequel. I’m thinking of writing the same story as a true sequel, from the point of view of the I-Bomb characters. Do you think I’m nuts?

I'm thinking, I'm thinking!

Thank you for checking in to see if I have anything new to say. I have been watching the passing parade with some interest. It seems now more than ever we must heed H.L. Mencken's oft-repeated caution, "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." I've seen some folks around the Internet have corrupted the quote to say "most of them imaginary," but I assure you, Mencken said all. And certainly all of the hobgoblins that have been conjured by the practical politicians of late have been imaginary. Yet still folks clamor to be led to safety. If you want to get from here to there, son, use your feet.

I have many opinions regarding what's happening in America these days, and sometimes they sneak out when I see something especially sophomoric from a Facebook Friend. Mostly I see people willing to blame the deterioration of liberty over the past 20 years on the major political party they are not affiliated with. Never mind that Obama is just expanding the policies of Bush, who expanded the policies of Clinton. It's the other side's fault that we're in this mess.

So, actually, no, I have nothing new to say, just the same old, same old: Your freedom is in your hands. No one can take it away without your permission, although they certainly will try – your mind and your actions are under your control. An adherence to the Zero Aggression Principle will always stand you in good stead (as will the Tenets of Common Wealth, come to think of it).

And so I occupy my creative time, of late, with the adventures of Myke Phoenix. Although we need heroes in this era, remember there is no hero who can lead you to safety. Myke and friends are just a pleasant diversion.

Refuse to be Afraid. Free yourself. Dream. Taking those three steps are the core of what I have to say.

Every day we choose to create or to destroy

It’s the morning after an audience of more than 150 people came to the great mansion now called Ellison Bay Manor to enjoy a concert of chamber music, savor hors d’oerves and wine, and tour the building and grounds. I played a very small role in that event, handing out programs and pouring wine.

And this morning, I consider all of the human effort that must come together to form a single event such as this.

First a huge contingent of artisans and craftsmen must come together to build a house large enough to hold several hundred people – no, before that they must cut the trees, mine the iron, quarry the stone, carve a space out of the wilderness to set the home, then assemble the home.

Three talented men need to compose patterns of music that are pleasing to the ear. Five musicians must study and practice, each of them for years, to gain the ability to interpret a fragment of those patterns and blend their efforts to recreate the sounds that the composers heard. Food must be grown – plants and animals – shipped from miles away, processed and prepared in a way that is pleasing to the palate.

Transportation must be arranged to bring people to the door, because this was built as a home and the driveway has limited parking space – wait! A team must build each of the machines that transport us all, each machine itself comprised of many parts, each of which had to be crafted.

Thousands of people working in consort, and each contributing the talent and effort of their years of experience, to do their bit to bring a bit of beauty to the world, a bit of happiness to other people’s lives.

You might say it’s a miracle to bring that many people together to accomplish all this, or you might say it’s simply (simply! This great complicated organism cannot be described simply) the nature of humanity to work together on tasks that a single one of us could not achieve on their own, but to which each of us can contribute a unique, essential piece.

I consider the years and years that each and every one of the hundreds of people in that house brought to their contribution – and how that scene is repeated daily in thousands of place, thousands of events, individuals and teams creating beauty and utility and service for thousands of others, building something special with every breath –

And then I emerge from that place and hear the talk of poison gases and measured conversations about how many bombs are appropriate to be dropped in retaliation for the retaliation against the retaliation that began with the retaliation, and I am shocked and confused that this near-miraculous everyday creation of beauty and service is interrupted so often by similar forces marshalled to tear it all back to pieces.

Why? What leads men and women capable of building great works to tear down instead? Minds and hands work together to create unspeakable beauty. Similar minds and hands work together to wreak unspeakable horror.

We choose each day to work to create or to destroy, to encourage or to disparage. We must find a way to promote and protect the creators and to keep the destroyers in check.

Cross posted to Door County Advocate

I just want to go my way

One of the great characters in contemporary fiction is Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, owner of the cargo ship Serenity in Joss Whedon’s brilliant television show Firefly and the film named after the ship. At a pivotal moment in Serenity, Reynolds meets his main adversary, a nameless assassin we know simply as The Operative, and during their conversation comes an electrifying exchange that sums up Reynolds’ character in 11 words.

Operative: I have to hope you understand you can’t beat us.

Reynolds: I got no need to beat you; I just want to go my way.

Consider how powerful a message those words convey. I don’t need to convince you that my way is right and yours is wrong; I simply desire to live my life on my terms and let you live your life on your terms, as long as we do no harm to each other. There is plenty of room on this vast world for both of us.

The Operative’s response is that Reynolds can go his way if he surrenders a friend to be harmed; for Reynolds, of course, this is an unacceptable condition. There always seems to be someone who wants to place conditions on freedom.

How much grief occurs because someone decides it is not enough to live and let live: Some people must be beaten and not allowed to go their way. Six billion unique human stories on this planet; imagine if we all agreed to let those individual stories play out, restrained only by a prohibition on doing harm to others.