Koyaanisqatsi

In Hopi, means "crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living."

Look back--the last 20, 40, 60, 100, 10,000 years--and try to visualize how we've changed. How we've lost the sense of our feet on the ground, our connection to place and culture and ways of life and what keeps us alive, and been lulled into acceptance of this overbearing thing that is being modern. My new friend Turtle today mentioned a reconnection ceremony a group of his friends had a few months ago, in part to get in touch with "the spiritual crisis that we're ALL in."

It's true.

Our lives are out of balance. Disentegrating? Maybe. Even for those of us who try to stay in vibration with the humming fundamentals of being, it's easy to get swept along in the turmoil and topsy-turviness of the mechanics of what being "American in 2008" means. Like commercials that tells us "we deserve the best," which might mean anything from a designer handbag or stylish pair of shoes to dual DVD players in the backs of our SUVs to pampering in a head-to-toe spa . . . is that it? No idea where our food comes from, OK with kids thinking that lunch grows on pizza plants? Really? We believe that? Looks like it.

Homogeneity doesn't do justice to what's going on in this tiny world, this tiny blip of our corner of the solar system, in this monstrous unknowable place of a universe. All of this, all around us, and we opt for spending our time on making sure the lawn is a uniform color.

I'm in a period of emerging understanding that started several years ago when some little voice asked if this was it, and I'll never cease to be amazed at what goes into the answer of NO!! Most of us are in the crisis every day, even if it's unacknowledged--it's the basis of the eternal "what's the meaning of life" question, and why people on this planet argue and kill and steal from each other and make it a tough go. Life, that is. Why it's out of balance--and I'm prepared to stop, recollect, reconnect, and get it in sync.

So I'm taking some time over the next few days to watch the Koyaanisqatsi trilogy of films by Godfrey Reggio, with some of the most masterful cinematography ever, by Ron Fricke, and mull it over--anybody game for the discussion? Or the watching? Popcorn's on me!