The Revolution Begins . . .

. . . with an honest assessment of what percentage of one's

• Body,
• Mind and
• Spirit

are under corporate control. For how can we reclaim our lives if we are not conscious of who owns it? Who is the majority shareholder of your life? Is not personal freedom your inherent birthright?

I am gratified to report that my Spirit is nearly 100% Jayne-owned. I say "nearly" because it is impossible to discern how many insidious messages from advertisers have crept in and influenced my thoughts about even my spiritual life. "Hm, maybe I will be more spiritual if I drink Evian or eat Yoplait. . ."

My Mind is probably a majority Jayne-owned commodity, though attaining this status took many years of reaccumulating it, share by share. Brand loyalties and snobbery, ideas about beauty, celebrity gossip, beliefs about "4 out of 5" whatevers recommending whatever, what I think of as "cool," how afraid I might be after watching the news . . .  this is all in there, co-mingling with my autonomy. Probably 30% of my mind is not my own but has instead been successfully manipulated by the professional manipulators. Every day, I struggle to lower that number. Killing my television 8 years ago helped.

My Body? Probably 50-50 at this point. This is where it gets interesting. Reclaiming our bodies is perhaps the most subversive, empowering, political action we can take.

Yes, washing your hands with soap and water several times a day is prudent and sanitary, but . . .

Corporate Conspiracy # 3,068: Whatever you do, don't get your hands dirty! Dirt is dirty! Germy, must sterilize, gross. Here are 5 billion toxic chemical products to clean and sterilize you.

But getting one's hands constructively dirty is the key to freedom. When we:

• Grow our own food;
• Make our own "stuff" - art, woodworking, knitting, crafts, DIY;
• Prepare our own food with healthful ingredients;
• Share with one another what we have created and learned;
• Buy less, especially toxic products;
• Buy local organic and non-genetically modified produce whenever possible (these products might be more expensive, but they are often not supported by corporate welfare and government subsidies);
• Take charge of our medical care (differentiating between, as herbalist Michael Moore says, "little sick" (drinking a tea, sweating it out, moaning and groaning but feeling better) and "bad sick" (get your ass to the doctor already!)
• Reclaim our relationships to plants as medicinal healers as teachers . . .

Then we are not only acquiring back our lives, share by share, but we are also Sticking it to The Man, which pleases me to no end. (Image from here.)

An aside: I read a review of a book (which I promptly bought) called the 100 Year Lie [good website!] that said a majority of California's rivers are contaminated with high levels of Prozac and Ritalin.

I don't want to swim in Prozac and Ritilin.

Another aside: I was in the hardware store the other day and overheard a conversation wherein the clerk recommended Round Up to a customer, gloating, "it kills everything!" They both laughed and the purchase was made. I will write more about seed activists and farmers who brown bag (keep) their seeds for the next harvest (then get sued by Monsanto--makers of Round Up--for patent infringement.)

Why do we want to "kill everything?" The pesky Dandelion is actually a potent medicinal herb. We are surrounded by "weeds" that can be brought into our salads, soups, teas and medicines.

Why is it so great to have crops with built-in modifications to explode caterpillar stomachs? Don't we like the butterflies (erstwhile caterpillars) that pollinate the crops? What about the birds that get contaminated by eating the poisoned caterpillars? Yummmmmmy, pesticides.

Power to the People. The Revolution begins . . . with what you have for breakfast.

Comments

[test]

testetst

[Jayne]

Um, hello, "test." May I inquire as to who sent you, the second this was published?

[Pearl]

Guess that was a bot on rss feed?

re: pesticides. Preoccupied with winning even through scorched earth-type things. Weren't the downsides of that policy worked out centuries ago?

[Robin]

Great writing, Jayne. I'll have to chew on this and get back with you!

[SBW]

I've been in the process of reclaiming my mind, body, and spirit for some time now. I've been transitioning to vegetarianism.( I stopped buying beef and pork products a few months back and I'm reducing my chicken intake, but don't even talk to me about giving up fish yet). I'm also giving up soy products and will probably even be relinquishing my artificial birth control.

My political affiliation has changed due to the books I've been reading and the list goes on and on. I know that the journey is pretty amazing and where it will end up even I'm not quite sure yet.

[Edge]

very thought provoking. I've gotta take an inventory.

[Mark]

Prozac and Ritalin in the rivers? That's a bit of a stretch...don'tcha think?

The story about Monsanto is absolutely true. My dad has been brown-bagging is his seeds for years, and his results are just as good anyone on the fucking round up program.

Pssstttt...does Monsanto read your blog?

[Shephard]

Never swim in prozac without a lifeguard on duty.
~S

[Todd Elliott]

Good post. I have been building a lot of stuff lately, trying the whole DIY thing. The thing is, I have no room in my house for most of it now. I gotta unload on some hapless dupe.

[material]

Prayer in public schools are wrong, not wrong

[school]

A one-night stand is wrong, is not wrong