Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul!

Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul!

—Allen Ginsberg





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SALUTATIONS !!!

Below is a list of possible salutations. Any you'd like to add?

• Good fortune and long life to you.

• I wish you many beautiful things.

• Do no harm but take no sh--.

• May your forge burn bright.

• Here's to your health and joy.

• May guidance and clarity find you.

• Ride hard. Live free.

• Boomshakalaka flashbang!

• May the forces of evil never know how to find you.

• May the Divine Wow give you what you want, exactly when you want it. Forever. Now. Once upon a time.

• Have fun storming the castle.

• I see the divine spark within you.

• Nice mask!

• My ancestors honor your ancestors. My descendants bless your descendants.

• Many bright blessings to you and yours.

• Happy eternal world orgasm!

• Hope you have sweet and provocative dreams.

• Be wild and free and mysterious.

• I bet marvels and wonders are coming your way.

• May your journey be fun.





FREE WILL ASTROLOGY is TRANSLATED every week
into Italian, French, Dutch, and Japanese

If you prefer to read my Free Will Astrology horoscopes in English, they're here.

Read my horoscopes in French.

Read my horoscopes in Italian.

Read my horoscopes in Japanese.





HEALTHY, EXALTED, POSITIVE STATES

Here's an excerpt from my compendium of healthy, exalted, positive states of being.

JOYFUL POIGNANCE. Feeling buoyantly joyful about the beauty and mystery of life while remaining aware of the sadness, injustices, wounds, and future fears that form the challenges in an examined life.

NOT HAVING TO BE RIGHT. Fostering an ability, even a willingness, to be proven wrong about one of your initial perceptions or pet theories; having an eagerness to gather information that may change your mind about something you have fervently believed; cultivating a tendency to enjoy being corrected, especially about ideas that are negative or hostile.

RELENTLESS UNPRETENTIOUSNESS. Possessing a strong determination to not take yourself too seriously, not take your cherished beliefs too literally, and not take other people's ideas about you too personally.

ACUTE FLUENCY. Happily immersed in artistic creation or scientific exploration; lost in a trance-like state of inventiveness that's both blissful and taxing; surrendered to a state of grace in which you're fully engaged in a productive, compelling, and delightful activity. The joy of this demanding, rewarding state is intensified by a sense that time has been suspended, and is rounder and deeper than usual.

AUTONOMOUS NURTURING. Not waiting for someone to give you what you can give yourself.

BLASPHEMOUS REVERENCE. Acting on the knowledge that the most efficacious form of devotion to the Divine Wow is tinctured with playful or mischievous behavior that prevents the buildup of fanaticism.

COMIC INTROSPECTION. Being fully aware of your own foibles while still loving yourself tenderly and maintaining confidence in your ability to give your specific genius to the world. To paraphrase Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral: following the Byzantine ploys of your ego with compassion and humor as it tries to make itself the center of everything, even of its own suffering and struggle.

FRIENDLY SHOCK. Welcoming a surprise that will ultimately have benevolent effects.

ECSTATIC GRATITUDE. Feeling genuine thankfulness with such resplendent intensity that you generate a surge of endorphins in your body and slip into a full-scale outbreak of euphoria.

INGENIOUS INTIMACY. Having an ability to consistently create deep connections with other human beings, and to use the lush, reverential excitement stimulated by such exchanges to further deepen the connections. A well-crafted talent for dissolving your sense of separateness and enjoying the innocent exultation that erupts in the wake of the dissolution.

NONRESENTMENT SYNDROME. Having an ability to be friendly, open, and helpful to people with whom you disagree.

RADICAL CURIOSITY. Characterized by the following traits: an enthusiasm for the mystery embedded in the mundane; a preference for questions over answers; an aversion to stereotyping, generalizations, and jumping to conclusions; a belief that people are unsolvable puzzles; an inclination to be unafraid of both change and absence of change; a strong drive to avoid boredom; a lack of interest in possessing or dominating what you are curious about

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For more of these healthy states, check here.





MY MOST RECENT BOOK

The writing above, about healthy, exalted, positive states, is excerpted from my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings

It's available at Barnes & Noble

Also available at Bookshop.org.

Available at Powells

Available at Amazon

A free preview of the book is available here


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Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings is translated into Italian.

Pronoiais also translated into Spanish.

is also available in Spanish here.

Pronoia is also translated into Greek.

An Italian journalist interviews me in English.





MILITANTS FOR KINDNESS

We have to be militants for kindness, subversive for sweetness and radicals for tenderness.

—Cornel West





THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO

There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well.

And while I don't expect you to save the world I do think it's not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.

—Nikki Giovanni





WHAT EXACTLY ARE BLESSINGS?

Life is a vast and intricate conspiracy that's guaranteed to keep you well supplied with blessings.

What kind of blessings? Ten million dollars, a gorgeous physique, a perfect marriage, a luxurious home, and high status?

Maybe. But it's just as likely that the blessings will be interesting surprises, dizzying adventures, gifts you hardly know what to do with, and conundrums that dare you to get smarter.

Novelist William Vollman referred to these types of blessings when he said that "the most important and enjoyable thing in life is grappling with a complicated, tricky problem that you don't know how to solve."

Sculptor Henry Moore had a similar idea. He said, "The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is -- it must be something you cannot possibly do."

So in other words, pronoia does not guarantee that you will forevermore be free of all difficult experiences.

It doesn't ask you to pretend that everything is sweet and harmonious all the time.

On the contrary, when you embody the spirit of pronoia, you build your optimism by loving your challenges, not repressing them.

You know that your problems are gifts from the Goddess that are designed to make you smarter and wilder and kinder and trickier.

You welcome each fresh puzzle as a potential source of your future bliss, as an exciting teaching that will usher you to your next breakthrough.

Now here's a spell to commit pronoia created by psychotherapist Jennifer Welwood. I invite you to say it aloud.

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;

Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within me;

Opening to my loss and pain and ignorance,
I remember who I am and what I'm here for.

Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.

Each condition I flee from pursues me,
Each condition I welcome transforms me
and becomes itself transformed
into the blessing it always was.

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Hear this as a spoken word piece with music.





We have to create. It is the only thing louder than destruction.

—Andrea Gibson





FREE YOUR BODY

Free your body. Don't ruminate and agonize about it. Do it simply and easily. LOVE YOUR BODY!

Be brave and forceful, gentle and graceful. Free your sublimely imperfect, riotously intelligent body. Allow it to be itself in all of its mysterious glory. Love your body exactly as it is.

Praise your body. Thank your body. Tell it you adore its uncanny majesty . . . you yearn to learn more of its secrets ... you promise to treat it as your beloved ally.

Be in love with your body—no shame, no apology. Be in awe of your body's unfathomable power to endlessly carry out the millions of chemical reactions that keep you alive and thriving.

How can you not be overwhelmed with reverence for your hungry, curious, resourceful, unpredictable body?

Study your body's magic. Exult in the blessings it bestows on you. Celebrate and beautify its fierce animal elegance.





SIMPLE GOALS

What are the qualities of a person who embodies sublime feminine intelligence, as I personally aspire to do?

* They are progressive: committed to social and economic justice; lovers of equality; in service to all those people who are under-served; in service to the health of the natural world; in service to diminishing the power of militarism, plutocracy, bigotry, misogyny, and racism

* They have a Bodhisattva's orientation: that none of us is really free unless we all are free; that the supreme goal, above all others, is to reduce the suffering in the world

* They have a holistic understanding of the interconnectedness of all things

* They listen well to others who act respectfully

* They are willing to expand and adjust their understandings of the world if they encounter new information that renders their previous beliefs as being too narrow or obsolete

* They are inclusive: willing to consider the needs of as many people as possible, not just those of their own tribe

* They are emotionally intelligent; they understand that it is as crucial to develop a mature relationship with our feeling nature as it is to be intellectually smart

* They are not fundamentalists and authoritarians who believe that only their truths are true; are rather willing to consider additional points of view as having value; are willing to consider the perspective that "everyone has a piece of the truth, but no one has the entire truth"

* They are storytellers who understand, as the poet Muriel Rukeyser said, that "the world is made of stories, not atoms"

* They understand that to accomplish practical changes that serve the greatest good requires hard work in the trenches of political struggle, often having to deal with people who have different beliefs

* They are nuanced, not simplistic; respect dialog, not pronouncements from on high; seek consensus, not doctrinaire obeisance; understand that perfectionism is the enemy of the good; radiate kindness and avoid polarization

* Love is their primary motivation





FULFILL YOUR SOUL'S CODE

The real alchemists (not the materialists trying to turn lead into gold) said the magic formula for enlightenment was "Seek out the lower reaches of the earth, perfect them, and you will find the hidden stone"—the treasured philosopher's stone.

My translation: Engage in a relationship with the ignorant and unripe parts of yourself, refine them and love them, and you will awaken your hidden divinity; you will fulfill your soul's code.





35 PRACTICAL STEPS MEN CAN TAKE
TO SUPPORT FEMINISM
by Pamela Clark

1. Do 50% (or more) of housework.

2. Do 50% (or more) of emotional support work in your intimate relationships and friendships.

3. Consume cultural products produced by women.

4. Give women space.

5. … but insert yourself into spaces where you can use your maleness to interrupt sexism.

6. When a woman tells you something is sexist, believe her.

7. Educate yourself about sexual consent and make sure there is clear, unambiguous communication of consent in all your sexual relationships.

8. Be responsible for contraception.

10. Have progressive name politics.

11. If you have children, be an equal parent.

12. Pay attention to and challenge informal instances of gender role enforcement.

13. Be mindful of implicit and explicit gendered power differentials in your intimate/domestic relationships with women…whether a partner or family members or roommates.

14. Make sure that honesty and respect guide your romantic and sexual relationships with women.

15. Don’t be an online bystander in the face of sexism.

16. Be responsible with money in domestic/romantic relationships.

17. Be responsible for your own health.

18. Don’t ogle or make comments about women. (i.e., Keep your tongue in your mouth and comments to yourself.)

19. Pay attention to the sex of experts and key figures presenting information to you in the media.

20. Ensure that some of your heroes and role models are women.

21. Praise the virtues and accomplishments of women in your life to others.

22. Have integrity with your male friends. (i.e., Don’t be a “bro.”)

23. Don’t treat your spouse like a “nag.” If she is “nagging,” you are probably lagging.

24. Know that acknowledging your own sexist opinions and stereotypes you hold is not enough. Do something about them.

25. Befriend women.

26. Find female mentors/leaders. (i.e., Be subordinate to women.)

27. When in a romantic relationship, be responsible for events and special dates associated with your side of the family.

28. Don’t police women’s appearance.

29. Offer to accompany female friends if they have to walk home alone at night…or in a public space where they may be likely to feel unsafe.

30. Inject feminism into your daily conversations with other men.

31. If you have a tendency to behave inappropriately toward women when you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, do not consume drugs or alcohol.

32. Be aware of the physical and emotional space you occupy, and don’t take up more space than you need.

33. Walk the walk about income inequality.

34. Get in the habit of treating your maleness as an unearned privilege that you have to actively work to cede rather than femaleness being an unearned disadvantage that women have to work to overcome.

35. Self-identify as a feminist.


Here's Pamela Clark's original article on the 35 Steps.

Pamela Clark's follow up to her original article.