Author: Marc Itzler

The tears of Men

by Marc Itzler

One of the deepest roots of toxic masculinity is unreleased pain. Men are cut off from feeling – imprisoned in their bodies and minds, unable to naturally express sorrow and despair.

The endless battle between a man and the pain that lives inside him, comes from a desperate and learned need to control and dominate any natural upwelling of emotion. We even call it ‘fighting back tears’. That fight takes a lot of energy and when men feel overwhelmed or as if they are ‘losing it’ (‘it’ being the fight), then anger and aggression can very often be the default strategy. It’s like an all-consuming need to control and dominate, to avoid being exposed and seen in their sorrow, in their weakness.

This can escalate to the point where men are so disconnected from the reality of what they’re actually feeling, that all that’s left is anger and aggression. We can see how that is manifesting both in the individual and in the global collective.

To manage that rage, that exhausting frustration, men often begin to self-medicate. Alcohol or drugs, porn or sex, over-eating, over-working, or seeking drama. Anything to avoid that darkness. These desperate and destructive strategies lead to abuse, violence, and eventually the destruction of their lives and of those around them. For some, the desire to escape becomes greater than the instinct to survive, and they just end it.

Life simply becomes impossible.

When a man can re-learn the art of expressing and releasing pain through tears, deep, aching tears, he begins a new journey. One towards emotional maturity, inner sensitivity, and true masculine power. The kind of power that comes from knowing that the more courage we can take to express our inner world, the stronger and more resilient we become. That need to feel in constant control of our behaviour falls away. We create a new relationship with the pain inside. We befriend it. We come back to ourselves.

Some men naturally mellow with age as the energy to control is lost and the tears and the truth begin to emerge. But some have hardened to such an extent that the shell or the ‘bubble’ in which they live never breaks, and they die angry, defiant, and in discontent. A tragedy that begins in childhood is emotionally crippling men for life.

Learning to cry, and surrendering to tears can quite literally be a life-saver.

The ‘META’ The Mother Earth Transformational Alliance

by Marc Itzler

This beautiful planet is changing. The climate is changing. What does the future hold for humanity?

We live in hope.

We live in despair.

But not for Earth. No. It is for ourselves that we fear.

Evolution is as brutal as it is elegant.

The atmosphere, oceans, and soil are all part of a perfect self-regulating and self-correcting system. Yet we humans behave as if this process has somehow now got it ‘right’. Because we are here, because we are self-aware. We want to preserve it, just the way it is, for our children and our grandchildren and future generations. “That’s quite enough evolution thank you, you can stop now.”

How quaint. How endearing. How arrogant. The climate is warming. It does that sometimes. Sometimes it cools too. Mother Earth moves through the epochs of her own seasons as if it were a chilly morning breeze before a hot sunny afternoon. This exquisite and astounding biosphere, floating in the vast airless void of unimaginable space has no interest or preference for what creatures may dwell upon her skin. Just as we have little concept of the myriad tiny creatures and organisms that dwell upon, if not constitute, most of what we call our bodies.

To Mother Earth, we are little more than a yeast infection – a bacterial mass, that is growing to its boundaries and voraciously eating its way through the resources it finds, leaving the most imperceptible of scars upon her. We are nothing that she cannot handle. She has faced far worse and will again. We will blindly devour and consume all we can until either nothing is left that is edible, or simply destroy ourselves in an assortment of ways. In that, we are spoilt for choice.

Humanity’s activity since the industrial revolution has begun to alter the climate, and the ratio of gases in our atmosphere is shifting. Little doubt about that remains. Now, we clever little fellows want to ‘fix it’. We want to ‘repair’ all the damage we’ve done. Well at least some of us do. How quaint. How endearing. How adorable.

The Mother has a message for us. She wants us to understand a few things.

Firstly, we are not qualified to do her repairs for her. We are not part of the solution. That attitude of exceptionalism that has us believe we are that significant, is what got us to where we are today.

Secondly, She has no need to be ‘healed’. For her, there is no predisposition to preserve what exists on the land, in the air or water. We are made from her and destroyed by her. As we breathe, we join the atmosphere in perfect harmony with the forests and ocean micro-organisms. Our bodies eventually create the dust that covers her. Preservation is not her way. Creation and destruction are her ways.

Thirdly, in her time frame, in geological time, we are a fleeting moment, a passing shower at most. Had the asteroid that created the last mass extinction not hit her, the small primordial mammals would never have developed into the extraordinarily diverse and complex ecosystem we see today. To her, we are simply the next asteroid. The sixth mass extinction. We too will eventually perish and be replaced by something more complex, more evolved, more adapted. That is the way this works and we don’t get to stop that process just because we prefer it the way it is. We don’t get to decide when the Polar bears and the Brazilian tree frog come into existence, nor when they leave. That is a natural law, subject to the never-ending and merciless march of Evolution; survival of the most adaptable.

Humans are very adaptable, and that’s going to become our most precious quality if we are to see the next millennium. But let’s stop pretending. Let’s stop playing games. Let’s have the humility to accept that no matter what our glorious leaders promise or aspire to, as Greta Thunberg says, “Change is coming whether we like it or not.”

Before this century is out, our current civilisation will most likely be unrecognisable. Our once great cities, long since inundated and abandoned. Nation-states and ideologies drowned beneath the reality of pure simple survival. Is that a bad thing? Do we not live within the immutable laws of nature? Creation requires destruction. Resurrection requires death. Dinosaurs perished allowing the mammals to grow and diversify. Some of those mammals evolved into humans, and eventually, something else will happen once we have had our time.

We demand that our species be free to endlessly consume, grow, and reproduce, feeding off the resources of a finite planet. We are hastening our demise in search of some strange, imagined idea called economic growth. We call it sustainable development. Lovelock called that an oxymoron. He was right of course, nothing short of a sustained retreat will have any effect on slowing our extinction.

Then there are those who see what is happening and have decided to make a stand, defiantly demanding that the giant corporations that run our governments and therefore our civilisation, heed the warning and finally see the reality of the devastation they are bringing upon the Earth.

It is screaming colours at the blind. Chanting slogans to the deaf.

Their hunger for power, for meaningless, imagined power, through the insatiable desire for money and material wealth, has consumed us all in their insane and unstoppable trundle toward oblivion. These lost individuals that cling to control and frenzied, endless growth will never, ever, ever, stop raping our Mother of their own accord. Never. And most of the rest of us cannot see beyond our own favourite things, our desires to keep it all the same, to ‘preserve’ our way of life. All the while, killing each other over our imagined ideas of nations, races, and states, or the different names of our imagined gods.

Her final message to all that see this insanity, to those that hope to be part of the solution is this. Don’t waste any more time or energy trying to win the argument. Don’t waste another moment in the battle for climate justice. You have failed and you will continue to fail because the sociopaths that run our civilisation cannot and will not relent. They will violently suppress any action against them. That is all you face in confronting them. They are lost, never to return. Mother Earth will deal with them and nothing created by man can match her power. She has already begun. It looks like disaster and catastrophe, and to our material fixations and attachments, it is. Wildfires, floods, storms, volcanos, quakes, pestilence, and disease, is the cleansing. It is the self-regulating system in action and nothing we can do will stop it. Whatever it takes to bring this infestation under control, like a fever, her immune system has kicked in. We will reach +1.5 degrees and then +2 degrees. Maybe more, judging by the impotent and laughable pledges of our disingenuous so-called leaders. That scenario is most likely now ‘baked in’ to use a perfect turn of phrase.

The structures, both physical and imagined, that have been built all around us are now beginning to crumble. This is the reality. See it. Understand it. Acknowledge the necessity for agony and blood at every rebirth. You have incarnated to be a witness to this moment. To help smooth the transition, to be a part of the ongoing transformation of Mother Earth. As a global awakening begins, and alliances form, we can learn from the wisdom of the ancients and those who still live in tune with the Mother. The indigenous tribes and elders from around the planet, council us to become flexible, adaptable, fluid, and relenting. To let go of the structures that we think we need around us. This ability to accept change is what will best protect us and those we love. The labour has begun and before the new child is born, she will have to come through a fire. This diseased society cannot be healed. it has to die. That is also the cycle of empires – of civilizations. Rising and falling. Let us be humble. Let us love and honour what we have created so far, and grieve for what we will lose. It is as it should be.

All around the world, there is a growing awareness of this transition. We can start now, to come together in preparedness for the turmoil that lies ahead. Sharing our knowledge, our talents, and our resources across a global network of communities. There is no battle to be won. Mother Earth has that in hand. Instead, we can work together to ease the passage for ourselves, and for each other. To be there on the other side when that time comes. We will have the technology. We already do, to produce and create all we need to live in alignment, once the old edifices of the past have crumbled.

That is our community. That is The META.

I leave you with the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”

The Myth of Male Vulnerability.

by Marc Itzler

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If you really want to know a man, forget about vulnerability!

The last twenty-five years have seen the emergence of what could be termed the ‘new man’. He is ideally, balanced in his masculine and feminine energies. Both comfortable in his strength but also connected to a soft, tender part of himself. He lives with an un-armored heart, but he also has his shit together and is ’showing up’, is being all he can be, giving his unique gift, offering leadership, etc, etc.

He is both a man’s man and also a woman’s man.

In relationships, he deftly navigates the paradox of this duality. On Monday, he is a strong and confident, masculine man. Instigating, outwardly active, demonstrative. Giving his woman space and freedom to relax into her femininity. On Tuesday, he may suddenly be required to be open and emotional, to express his deepest fears and longings to this same woman. On Wednesday, it’s back on his stallion and off to slay dragons.

This narrative, this new idea of a balanced man, one that is encouraged to seek out and harmonize the masculine and feminine energies within, can sometimes begin to feel like a set of contradicting expectations and demands, and one of the most prominent of those, is that men should be able to be ‘vulnerable’.

Now, (and I have researched this a bit), not all, but many people, of all genders, see vulnerability as being able to show emotions. It means being able to be open and authentic in a relational context, able to express inner thoughts and feelings directly to another.

For women, this is very often the reality but for men it seldom is! Let me explain why.

What does being vulnerable actually mean?

Have you ever looked up the term in the dictionary? No? Here it is.

adjective: vulnerable – exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.

 

Sounds like fun right? I mean, who wouldn’t want to experience that?

Have we ever actually thought about what we’re asking of a man when we say we want him to be vulnerable? Remember, vulnerability is not an emotional state. It describes a situation or circumstance. It is the rational recognition of an actual threat. It is asking a man to feel exposed, fearful, and in danger.

Now in order for a man to organize and deal with the feeling of being unsafe, his subconscious will immediately armor itself. This response is beyond just whether a man is ‘self-aware’ or not. It is a genetic imperative protecting the organism. Fight or flight. Kill or be killed. Trying to override this response is like trying to stop yourself from sweating or breathing. It is reflexive

Obviously,  we have come a long way from our stone-age past but we are still deeply influenced by the visceral and evolutionary forces that developed in us over tens of millions of years. Having had to survive in the harshest of environments and circumstances, the primordial capacity of a man to face danger, to physically and mentally manage the threat, is deeply programmed and, in that subconscious equation, for a man, being emotionally vulnerable in the normal sense is a liability!

Anger, rage and even violent aggression are more likely to result in survival. This is as true for men as is the inner pull in women to find a mate that is strong and powerful enough to protect her. To then have him pass to her the genetic lineage of strong healthy offspring and then carry, birth and nurse those offspring, in what was at that time a very dangerous and brutal existence. Women were truly vulnerable, especially with young, and without the protection of a male, survival was improbable at best.

We, of course, live in a different physical and social world now. A ‘civilized’ world. But we still inhabit that same chemical landscape of our ancestors. Our hormones, our pheromones; all the messaging systems of our entire neural and endocrinal functions are all still active and of huge influence. The genetic emphasis that created us remains and will continue to drive us to adapt and evolve.

And we have adapted from those early ages of man. Some changes for the better, many for the worse. Now, masculinity is expressed in the male obsession with competitive sport and in the prevalence and glorification of violence and aggression. Not just in the horrors of real war and conflict but also reflected in the on-line games and virtual worlds where death and aggression are built-in. Vulnerability in this context is life-threatening and in the male psyche, it is used to a large extent as part of a strategy to achieve dominance and power over an enemy.

My point is that for men, on a deep, instinctive level of survival, vulnerability is a weakness. No matter how deeply a man has worked on his own conscious evolution.

For women, being emotional and expressing those emotions is not subject to this evolutionary block. But for men it is. The difference has to be understood. It is so much more than just the conditioning we receive as children. As a young boy, I was never told to stop crying or to suck it up and be a man, at least not by my parents. They both allowed my expression of pain in all its forms to be full and unrepressed. They held me in silence and allowed me to cry freely. I have also, in turn, allowed my Sons to grow up feeling safe and held when they felt sad or were hurt. Tears and emotions have always been accepted and yet, and yet, my Sons and I still find it extremely difficult to fully express our tears in front of others. Especially women. And for a man to open his heart, feeling emotionally vulnerable is the last thing he needs.

The good news is that there is actually no reason to seek this of men. The fact is, we are not asking for vulnerability at all.  If we want to see what lies in a man’s heart, we have to ask not for vulnerability, but for courage. Men can do that. Courage is the active response to vulnerability. It is what a man needs, to move into an exposed place. It allows him to act in spite of fear.

A call to be courageous resonates with the deep drivers in the male unconscious. It aligns with the genetic imperative. It comes naturally. And this is not just a question of being pedantic. It’s not just about naming something differently. Asking a man to be courageous through his direct verbal expression and communication is very different from asking him to be vulnerable.

For women, vulnerability is felt like a very immediate and real experience and it elicits the desire and the drive to communicate and express emotions directly, right at the moment. For men, vulnerability is not something to be confronted and expressed directly in the same way. Men live with and process the experience of opening their interior world in a very different way.

They do it through creativity.

Flashback again to 1,000,000 BC. Our hairless bodies and small teeth, our clawless hands and feet, left us vulnerable to large predatory beasts. It was our brains that allowed us to compete. We had to learn, we had to imagine. We had to be creative or become extinct! 

First with our environment, using what we found around us as weapons and tools to survive. Then we got more creative,  tools and weapons were developed and, through trial and error improved. Then we began to use tactics, systems, methods to hunt, store and preserve food and to overcome dangers in the environment. And, of course, we learned to create and control fire. These adaptions were then passed on down the generations. For adolescent men, this involved learning to overcome emotions, to override pain and to gain a stoicism and toughness that would equip them for a life of threats, conflict, and competition. This is still seen in the demanding and dangerous rituals of initiation for young men in tribal communities from Australian Aborigines to the jungles of the Amazon and to the African bush.

Then a new level of expression evolved. the very Human notion to reproduce those real-life experiences in an imagined and representative way, as seen in early primitive art and cave paintings. This was the dawn of Human creativity, and it’s at the core of how men have expressed themselves ever since.

Look at the world around you. Everything you see that is ‘man-made’ is an expression of creativity. Roads, cars, buildings, new technology, space flight, infrastructure, industry, art, music, film, it’s all born out of Creativity. Of course, we know that creativity is not an exclusively male domain any more than emotionality is exclusively a female one, but what I am saying is that if we can set aside, just for a moment, the modern notions of gender equality,  the dominance of patriarchy, or the rise of feminism and just look at it from an anthropological perspective. Consider for a moment, how many female architects you can name? How many female explorers, composers, designers, artists, engineers, inventors? Yes, of course, there are and always have been many extraordinarily creative women.  My point is that in the way that emotional expression is natural for women, so creative expression is natural for men. Even in affairs of the heart, creativity is where men can open up.

John Lennon wrote the lyrics “Woman, I can hardly express my inner feeling and thankfulness.” This is where men access their vulnerability and express sensitivity. Through creativity. It’s there in the poetry of Yates, Keats, Byron, and Dylan. In the music of Mozart, Chopin, and Vivaldi. In the scripts of Shakespeare and Dickens.  The art of Picasso, Van Gogh and Klimt.

When Charles Darwin was about to reveal his thesis on the Origin of Species, it was the most vulnerable moment of his life. He was exposing himself to possible ridicule and even accusations of blasphemy for his work, even though it was based on evidence and scientific rigor. When Einstein published his theory of relativity, ( The core of which was realized while taking a bubble bath), he too was putting his entire professional credibility on the line – since his theory was based on postulations that were unverifiable at the time. A huge risk that took immense courage. 

So to understand how men open their hearts and minds and even their bodies to some extent, it is essential to see the connection between their creativity and their courage, between the expression of their inner world and how they choose to communicate that. For men, it is a call to become aware that it is ok to not want to be vulnerable, to not accept that they have to be more like women in their expression in order to be authentic and real. Men are not defective women! They are running on a very different operating system and for women, this is a call to instead seek courage and fortitude in men. To honour and acknowledge the differences in our expression and communication. This understanding can allow compassion and acceptance towards the difficulty men experience in expressing emotion.

Male vulnerability is a myth. We can allow men to show their authentic selves as warriors, both spiritual and material and in the end, it is I believe what women really want.

 

The Secret SuperPower Of Meditation.

by Marc Itzler

Meditation…What is it really all about?yogi-hulk-diffuse-anger

Most would claim that Meditation, (commonly imagined as sitting silently, becoming aware of the present moment or of one’s breath), brings about a greater sense of calmness, clarity, serenity, and contentment. A break from the incessant chatter of the unstoppable inner voice clanging around in our heads. This, of course, is absolutely true. And then, there are all the benefits to our health, like reduced blood pressure, stress release, increased oxygen levels… it’s a long list, and all of it good stuff.

But what happens when we leave the cushion?  When we roll up our mat? When the commentary in our heads starts running again?  We are back in our thoughts, anxieties, and judgments. How quickly we lose our serenity and sense of ‘one-ness’. How easily we return to business as usual. Here is where we could be missing the greatest benefit that Meditation actually has to offer.

Let’s use the analogy of going to the gym or doing yoga, martial arts, or whatever physical pursuit scratches our itch. We do our workout, our practice or exercise. During and just afterward, we often feel a nice warm rush in our bodies. Our bloodstream is flooded with yummy dopamine and we’re glowing and maybe even a bit high. Great feeling, but we know that it is not this immediate ‘hit’ that motivates us to keep going.  What really gets us to commit to our practice is an understanding that over time, we are building and training our muscles to feel stronger, our heart and lungs to be more effective, increasing our physical ability and developing our body to work at its optimum.  Making it as capable as possible of handling what modern life throws at it. We know we will be more able to deal with unexpected physical stress and strains, we’ll have fewer aches and pains.

We can dance all night, and do…other things.. all night. We feel less fatigue, more awake, sharper and fitter.  In short, we become healthier and have a better quality of life.

Applying this understanding to Meditation is what will give us the secret superpower that is almost always overlooked.

When we meditate on a daily or very regular basis, we are in fact strengthening our ‘presence muscle’. That is to say, we are building our capacity to become present and aware when we really need it most – not on the mat or cushion, but when our sore points, our vulnerable places, are triggered in our ‘normal’ day to day activities.

When all is smooth and wonderful in life, we are mostly content, happy and connected. But when the shit hits the fan, when we are triggered, by our parents, our partners, our children, friends or work colleagues, it is in these moments of ‘reaction’ that we ‘lose consciousness’.

This moment is where we snap.  It’s where we defend, rationalize, attack, manipulate and either act ‘out’ in aggression or act ‘in’ through passive anger, punishment or just total shut down. This is when we actually feel the sting of abandonment, resentment, envy, and fear in real-time and space. This is where we damage ourselves and others.

Meditation’s greatest gift is that it can train us to expand that moment. It allows us to stretch that nano-second of time, just as we are triggered, offering to us an extra split second of hard-won presence and awareness.  A capacity built over time, as we cultivate our ability to witness our thoughts and emotions from a higher perspective.

This little gap, this fleeting blink of an eye, is where the practice of Meditation manifests its most profound benefit.

In that extra interval lies the greatest power available to us.  The capacity to choose how we will deal with the rush of pain, fear or anger welling up inside. It gives us the capacity to slow down time, take a breath and allow the emotional charge to subside so that we can make a conscious decision about how we want to respond. This shift enables us to move from automatic conflict, towards resolution. From judgment to compassion. From anger to forgiveness. From fear to love.

It should though be understood, that this fundamental ability, this knack, is by no means easy, nor is it always welcomed by those around us. When we develop this capacity, we become uniquely empowered, as we step out of ‘character’ and no longer follow the scripts that have been playing out in the theatre of our lives. Others who are used to being able to trigger and control us, are suddenly left having to deal with their own thoughts and feelings because we are no longer playing along and feeding the fire. We have learned to take each moment, each criticism, each comment that once had us lashing out in desperation and rage, and see it for what it really is…someone else’s inner world, their reality, not ours. We no longer take it personally.

This does not mean that we are no longer capable of hearing a valid criticism or are unable to receive feedback about where we can change, learn and grow.

We can, in fact, remain more receptive, more discerning and better placed to make a healthy judgment as to whether we take on or dismiss what comes our way from others.

With less fire and smoke comes clearer vision and understanding.

In the coolness of presence, we respond from our deepest, true nature.

This is real inner power.

This is ‘spiritual fitness’.

This is the secret superpower of Meditation!

Am I a Predatory Male?

by Marc Itzler

menThe air is thick with it. A choking, cloying, cloud of guilt.  A dense fog of shame and self-doubt.

Men are gasping for clean air, for vision, for direction. We are looking outward, at the explosion of revelations and accusations of sexual abuse, misconduct, and harassment towards women.  Looking in, we are evaluating, assessing, judging ourselves.

“Where am I on the spectrum?”

Where indeed?

“what is ok to say?” “What Can’t I say? “Is this flirting or is it harassment?” “Am I a ‘good’ man?” “Have I always treated women with respect, dignity, and honesty?”

“Or am I a ‘bad’ man?” “Have I ever left a woman feeling demeaned, abused or frightened?” “Ever scanned her body with lust in my eyes and pure animal desire in my loins?” “Have I ever ‘persuaded’ or coerced her to let me into her deepest enclaves?”

What every man knows, if he is honest, is that within us, we all have the capacity, even perhaps the tendency, toward sexual control, conquest, domination, and subjugation. The very idea of it releases chemicals and hormones into our bloodstream.

To what extent we are first, conscious of these visceral forces and secondly, how well we are able to transmute them into gentle intimacy, sensitivity and respect, is the extent to which we can call ourselves ‘good’ men.  It is a very fine line to walk.

We want to feel our masculinity, our power, our potency. We relish the fire of desire burning within us. We want to release the beast that would ravish and consume innocent beauty.

But, we as 21st-century men, are not merely animals; subject to the blindness of instinct and passion. We have evolved to become more than our primordial drives. Hidden, deep in the dungeons of our darkest thoughts and fantasies, what men truly seek is connection. Closeness. Love.

In the pure heart, in the sentient being of every man, we yearn for intimacy.  No boy is born abusive or violent. We are all in essence subject to the same needs. To be seen, touched, adored, loved, desired, accepted.

So what is the difference between a good man; kind considerate, respectful, gentle, trustworthy and a bad man; abusive, manipulative, controlling, aggressive and violent?

The answer is strategies. Good men employ strategies to get their needs met and so do bad men. Some strategies make women feel appreciated, respected, well treated and loved. Other strategies make them feel abused, used, controlled and in danger, but it is all still strategies.

So then, why would any man choose strategies that would hurt, frighten or disrespect a woman or a man for that matter to whom they are attracted? Why would a man consciously attempt to coerce, demand, force or threaten in order to get his needs met?

The current generation of middle-aged men, myself included, were brought up in a culture that tolerated if not occasionally promoted the idea of racial prejudice and sexual misogyny. We grew up watching ‘Carry on’ films where women were objectified and abused as part of the script. This is what is being acted out by so many men now because we are still using the strategies that were modeled to us at a young age. This in no way lets us off the hook. Responsibility for our actions is ours as are the consequences.

Things were different in the 70s, its true. Values and behaviours that we now take for granted were not commonplace. Not just in the realm of sexuality but also in racial equality, homophobia, xenophobia, respect and care for those with disabilities and so much more. I sometimes watch TV clips from 70s comedy shows that would, and could never be even conceived, let alone written and broadcast today.

There has been an evolution.  Society has become more sensitive and more discerning. We now ask more of ourselves. We demand a higher standard of self-awareness, of values, of behaviour. Just as slavery and apartheid went from acceptance to first condemnation and eventually abolition, our society now demands that as men, we raise our game. That we know we are now subject to a higher bar, a higher level of self-awareness and self-regulation. What was ok is now not ok because that is how we grow as Human Beings.

I was able to grow into adulthood and learned to not mistreat or abuse women. As a boy, I did not slap girls on the butt at school or pull their bra straps. Even though it was ‘ok’ then. Some girls even appeared to like the attention. But I could not bring myself to do it. I actually felt like a weirdo because I was too shy to ‘flirt’ in that way.

I was raised by my parents to be a kind, respectful and gentle person so, no matter what fantasies fly through my head, my behaviour to women is and always will be, considerate and kind. This is what I have passed on to my two sons. This is why they also are kind and loving to women. And this is what it all comes down to. Teaching our sons what a good man is. Modeling what a good man does. Setting the example based on an evolved future, not an anachronistic past. Good men become good fathers. Good fathers raise good sons who then become even better men.

As the media splashes out condemnation and accusation, deriding the ‘awful, disgusting, perverts’ that have now been so heroically ‘exposed’, let’s not just scream at them to be better men. They were using the strategies they thought best. It was all they had and for some, all they will ever have. There are millions of Harvey Weinsteins and Louis CKs out there that nobody hears about. Men that go on abusing and harming women day after day, unseen and unhindered.

Condemnation cannot be the final response. It must be a clarion call to awaken and empower good men to become good fathers, good women to be good mothers and together raise good sons. That is the solution. That is the evolutionary path. Let my generation be the last one that fails to provide the right strategies to their young men.

If we can be good role models, leading by example and make integrity, honesty, and respect, the drivers of our values, then eventually, we will see the end of women suffering at the hands of men.

Fear of flying – Addicted to anxiety

by Marc Itzler

plane

Until quite recently, every time I have flown, I have had this little moment – right at the point where I stepped from the air bridge walkway on to the plane.

I looked at the doorway in front of me, the mechanisms and rivets and bolts and levers. Looking for something, a stain, a dent, any imperfection that might alert me to something, I didn’t know what. In fact, I didn’t know anything about what I was looking at. I’d see the bored faces of the ground crew milling about outside the aircraft, and the relaxed easy smiles of the cabin crew waiting to greet me as I entered, and found reassurance in their seemingly uneventful day.

I stepped through the door and in that moment, surrendered myself to the will of fate. I willingly incarcerated myself in a metal tube, knowing full well that it would soon lurch me and my fellow prisoners forward to a speed of 150mph before somehow elegantly lifting itself up into the sky.

Thrust back into my seat as we heaved forward, I’m thinking to myself, “keep it straight, keep it level, go go go! Isn’t this fast enough?” And then, the ground would gently tip away and drop out below. A little lurch to left, “Whoa!  Ok..we’re ok we’re up we’re up”.

My grip on the armrests gently loosened, as everything began to smooth out and quieten down. Then the cabin crew unbuckled and began their duties, I could breathe a little deeper. With a gentle ‘bong’, the seatbelt sign disappears, and I come back to myself. Out of the window, I watch the tiny cars below streaming along the roads, snaking out into the distance.

It was always incredible to me. Always like a child in awe at the fact that I was thousands of feet above the ground screaming along at over 400mph. As we climbed out into the sky, breaking through the clouds to the stars or the sun, I settled in for the journey.

But then, came the bumps!  A little shudder at first, then a heave and a drop, “Why does it always start just as I’m about to eat or have a drink? I hate this, please stop!”  I just couldn’t let go and accept what was happening.  I was trapped in a superstitious belief that if I relaxed, I’d be punished with even worse turbulence or even the unthinkable. I actually thought that my fear was necessary to hold the plane together. A totally irrational but overwhelming emotion.  The turbulence passed as we moved into clear air, and once again my body relaxed and I dropped down in my seat, exhausted with the tension released.

Then, a few years ago, something changed. Something deep inside shifted to a new place.

I received a Birthday gift. A flying lesson at a local aerodrome in North London.

I arrived feeling a bit nervous.  After a half-hour explanation of avionics and the basics of how a plane works, we headed out to the little Cessna aircraft.

Buckled in and headphones on, I was watched carefully as my instructor prepared the plane, started the engine, and headed off towards the runway.  After a quick ok from air traffic control, he threw the throttle to full and we roared off, weaving and bumping along the grass field. We climbed gently up to two thousand feet, just below the scattered clouds. The rolling green fields of Hertfordshire spread out below us.

“Ok, ready to take control?” He asked. “Uh yeah, Ready.” I responded, not really sure if I was.

“Ok, you have control.”

I gripped the wheel tightly. “Ok, I thought, “keep it level, nose a bit up, what else?” “What else did he say I have to do?” “Are you ok?” He asked, sensing my clear tension. “Just relax your grip, let the wheel move freely. The plane will stay level.”

I loosened my grip so that my hand was more or less just feeling the wheel but not gripping it. All was well. The plane bobbed a bit but yes, it was staying level.

“That’s better.” He said “Just have the lightest touch on the wheel and keep an eye on the instruments.”

We puttered about for a few more minutes before I noticed we were heading for some rather thick clouds. “what do I do in a cloud?” I said.

“Nothing.” “The plane will bounce and heave around a bit, just keep your hand near the wheel.” “Let it find its own way.” “Ok,” I thought. “I can do that.”

We entered the cloud and immediately the plane started bobbing left and right, a little lurch and heave, but I kept my hand loose and relaxed. The plane hopped and dropped, wobbled and lurched but I felt the movement through the wheel, like a car going over a pothole. It stayed level and straight. Then we popped out the other side back into sunshine and all was smooth again.

“Ok, we’re going to head back in now, would you like to do the approach?” He asked

“Yes, I would”. I was relaxing and gaining confidence.

I guided our plane, under my instructor’s watchful eye, back and down towards the runway.

“I’ll take over at forty feet.” He informed me. “Forty feet? I gasped.  “ok… I think?”

We descended under my control in a perfect approach and at what seemed like the very last second, he took over and we touched down, rumbling along the grass.

The engine roared as we slowed and taxied back to our parking spot.

I was totally pumped. “Thank you so much, that was fantastic!”

I said goodbye to the instructor and headed off to my car.

Driving back through the Hertfordshire countryside, I was struck by the fact that cars were zooming past me in the opposite direction at over fifty miles an hour with barely eight feet between us.

“Driving cars is so risky.” I thought. ” I do this every day but  never realised how close we are to each other.” ” Flying is so much…safer.” That was it. The moment I let go of my fear of flying.

But it got me thinking,  Maybe, this was a lesson about more than just flying. Maybe this was a lesson in trust and surrender. That I can relax my grip on life, give it some room to move, trust it. I decided there and then that I wanted to try to let go of anxiety and tension in my life, to see what would actually happen. To call the bluff on my fear. It was tested soon enough.

I was about to fly to Cape Town – a twelve-hour overnight haul from Heathrow.

Stepping onto the plane, I felt a deep sense of calm and surrender. I was in a totally relaxed state. I settled into my seat feeling content. I just knew that whatever was to be was to be. It had less to do with actually flying and everything to do with an inner shift from anxiety to trust. From fear to acceptance.

As the plane roared along the runway, all that I felt was excitement about leaving the British winter, getting to Cape Town, and having breakfast in the warm sunshine of a southern summer. As we gently banked over the sparkling lights of London and headed down over Surrey, I was free of any anxiety or concern.

We cruised on into the night, and as is normal when flying down over deepest, darkest Africa, we encountered some tropical stormy weather. I awoke at 4am to the lurch and heave of the plane as it plowed through the wild night.

But now, I was totally undisturbed! No fear and no tension in my body. I visualized the plane bouncing over the clouds like a bus on a bumpy road, feeling the speed of the plane adjusting and steadying itself naturally, through the jolts and bumps.

Rocked and soothed by the movement, I drifted back to sleep. Four hours later, I awoke to a silky calm sunrise over the red dunes of Namibia.

As I stepped off the plane, I felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

It was clear that something inside me had dissolved. Yes, I had lost much of my fear of flying but it was more than that. It was deeper and bigger. I had to some degree, successfully lost a fear of life itself!

What had become so real and embodied in me was that, just as the plane did not actually need my fear to keep it in the sky, so did life not need my anxiety, to keep things from falling apart.

It was like I had experienced a new perspective in microcosm.  How fear dominated my experience of life, every day and in every way. But even more, how because of this irrational belief that anxiety and tension had served me in some way, I had become addicted to it. An insane notion that without a mind and body overwhelmed by negative thoughts, fear, tension, and stress, everything would collapse around me.

I realized how I had allowed external forces beyond my control, to throw me around. From fear to relief, tension to relaxation, and back again. Bounced around on the turbulence of circumstance, like my plane in the night, bouncing from cloud to cloud, heaving into warm air and dropping into cold.

I saw how I was always throttling back, unsure of the path ahead, and consequently always losing height,  perspective, and vision.

But just like me, my plane was designed to handle rough weather. Its body, designed to be flexible and soft, to absorb and deflect the massive forces set against it.  Its mind, capable of re-adjusting toward the destination, keeping it level and moving, moving, always moving forward. Without motion, there could be no lift, and no ability to navigate or steer a course. Without forward thrust, there was only one way to go. Down.

This has now become an understanding from which I aspire to live. To understand that stress, fear, anxiety, and tension, have only ever caused me to become brittle and inflexible. Easily shattered by the winds of fate. A victim of circumstance. Now I choose as much as possible to move with the wind, to roll with the changes. Money in the bank, or no money in the bank. A woman by my side, or no woman by my side. Clarity of purpose or just foggy confusion.  Good health or poor health. Taking a risk or deciding to wait until the right moment.  But whatever my state of mind, I know that I have to keep moving, always moving forward, gaining lift and speed. Climbing ever higher, expanding perspective to a distant horizon. Letting go of my addiction to fear and anxiety. Realizing that it never has, and never will serve me.  Accepting the truth that I am free to fly.

The Inner Child – Healing and Healer

by Marc Itzler

 

When I connect with my inner child, seeking to heal and grow, I sometimes wonder, who is really doing the healing? Am I saving my inner child or is he saving me?

Have the skills, resilience, and experience that I have gained as an adult, come at the cost of childhood’s long-lost qualities?

Qualities like Spontaneity, courage, wonder, trust, and curiosity. The thirst to learn and experience new things. A purity of spirit, sensing life as an enchanted and magical experience. These all still exist within the deepest part of my being, my uninhibited and unrepressed self. In connecting to my inner child, I am looking not just to reassure and reconnect with what may be a lot of fear and repressed emotions but also, to reconnect with the wonderful simplicity of being a child and bringing that essence into my adult life.

I was never a ‘difficult’ child. I was not a troublemaker, but I was a rebel.  I questioned authority and power, even when, with great resistance, I would comply with demands and instructions.

I would do as I was told, eventually, but often my inner disagreement remained. In school, I was excellent at subjects I enjoyed, but crap at those that I found too demanding or simply boring. I would confront teachers and staff without hesitation if I felt that I was being called out for irrelevant or pedantic issues like school uniform or losing interest in their mind-numbingly boring classes.

Perhaps, being raised by very alternative thinking parents, instilled in me a sense that the whole education thing was about conditioning me to become a pawn in society’s game and was something to be wary of, something to push back against, to preserve my natural dignity as a perfect being. I don’t know.

What I do know is that it did not win me many friends. In fact, I suffered chronic bullying all through my school career, due to my being an unusual type of person, with a different take on life, living in a fairly provincial, small-minded environment.

I have always loved my rebellious nature. It feels intrinsic to me, something that I brought with me into the world. I did not learn it or cultivate it. It is a part of what I am. Honestly, I have always had this feeling that I am somehow meant for greatness. Destined for something meaningful and important. For better or worse it has had me on occasion, act with an entitlement and audacity that can leave those around me a bit shocked. I’m not saying that I am special, but somehow I act as if I am. I admit it, I fancy myself big time and yes, I have come down crashing on many occasions. I have to really work at accepting criticism and often fail, especially if I feel judged as well. But at the source of that is a strong energy. A force of wisdom and understanding within me, my inner child is not going to take any nonsense and I love him so much for that because, often he did have to take it and just put up with being abused, accused and targeted.

Born of this innate quality, there has arisen in me a realization; an understanding that has changed my inner state, more than any practice, epiphany or insight ever has. It takes the form of an intention. A statement. I have decided that I am through with feeling scared about life. Yes, I learned to feel fear as a child but I also learned to find courage in the challenges of youth.

As a ten-year-old, I remember the first time I jumped from the highest diving board at my local swimming pool.  I recall having to mentally force one foot in front of the other as I slowly approached the edge of the board, looking down at the water and just freezing with fear. It was so much higher from up there. My heart thumping, feeling totally petrified. One half of me frantically trying to find a way to back out without looking a coward in front of my friends, the other half knowing that this challenge was actually doable and that I would survive.

I had to do it. But how could I gather the courage?  In the end, it came down to a moment – a single moment of commitment. I had to push myself to go beyond the point of no return and just trust.  With my toes touching the edge and looking down at the distant water, I knew that all I needed was to feel strong enough and brave enough for just one second in time. One instant to change everything!

Forcing myself forward, fighting against my survival reflex, I jumped.  Dropping… gasping in as I pinched my nose shut.

I slammed into the water, a chaotic bomb of bubbles and noise. I sank all the way to the bottom, pushed off and headed back up. The moment I surfaced, fear was replaced with an elation and empowerment that only comes with a major victory against a perceived limitation. Almost like a birth – a new part of me.  A released capacity, a new self-appreciation. The realization that I can do this thing and from now on, I will always be able to do this thing!

That memory and many others from my childhood and teenage years have helped me to understand more about how fear moves in my life today. How it affects the choices I make and the consequences of those decisions. It has become such an essential tool for breaking out of my comfort zone.

Marc and his son Jerome aged seven

So I cultivate and encourage this two-way relationship within me. As much as I seek to heal that young boy, I also seek his counsel, his courage and together we push through our barriers. It is not a denial of fear, nor a delusion that I have no fear but more of a joyful rebellion. It’s a bit like calling the bluff on the automatic fear response. When it comes, I immediately connect with the boy.  I reassure him that all is well. I talk to him with tenderness and love, never criticizing, never judging, just loving and accepting. Then my inner child gets his face on. He steps up and says, “Is that all you’ve got?  Bring it on!

Continue reading “The Inner Child – Healing and Healer” →

Tears – Our Healing Force.

by Marc Itzler

The Science of Crying. Tears Can Reboot your Genetic Code!

Repression kills our emotions. All of them. Our sadness, despair, and abandonment are all safely locked away, out of sight and out of our conscious mind.  Repression also buries our joy, our feeling of connection,

of being loved, valued and accepted for who we are.

From our earliest moments of life, we are compelled to control and inhibit our natural expressions of laughter and crying. We are forced to abandon the most basic and uniquely human form of language.

It is well known and understood.  That in order to begin to ‘feel’ again, to live with an exposed and open heart, we have to risk encountering loss, grief, and loneliness. So we find ourselves trading in intimacy and emotional bonding in order to avoid the emptiness and fear born of our deep, hidden painful memories. Our un-expressed and unheard cries for safety and security, for love and acceptance.

In his groundbreaking book ‘The New Primal Scream’, Arthur Janov describes how our brains handle extreme trauma and emotional overwhelm. He explains that the brain has a particular way of coping with more stress than the body can handle. He states…

“Ordinarily, neural information about hurt is relayed to the Thalamus. When the pain is not overwhelming, information is then sent to the hypothalamus which initiates a variety of responses, including crying. That makes up the healing process.  When repression exists, information and tears are rerouted away from the hypothalamus. If this did not occur, the excesses of hypothalamic activity in blood pressure, pulse, and temperature, for example, would be lethal. It is therefore important that the hypothalamus not accept all of the input. The excess neural energy of the pain is rerouted and finds its neurotic destination in the Limbic system and it is because of this bifurcation that full healing cannot take place”.

Basically, he is saying that as infants and children, when we are forced to deal with more fear, trauma or pain than we can handle, the brain puts some of the emotion into deep storage where it is locked away, and so we can no longer cry and release this element of the wound. It does this to protect the organism, to keep us alive!  Over time, the Limbic system fills with more and more ‘censored’ pain and the effects on our bodies and lives from this emotional pool of unfinished business manifests as many dysfunctions. These can include psychological problems including self-sabotage, addictions or other types of anesthetics, which allow us to function with some sense of normality. It also affects our physiology. Our bodies become sensitive and we may develop allergies, intolerance to certain foods and damage to the immune system. It can even repress diseases that can lie dormant in our systems, unable to be exposed and treated and so continue to poison us throughout our lives.

But there is an even more dramatic effect that is less well known about what happens to our bodies during a lifetime crippled by early repression.  Stinted by the inhibition of our freedom to express both our pain and our joy. Our evolutionary pattern or genetic code that runs our bodies during our life can actually stall in the face of deep repression! This means that we are running on a faulty code, a fundamentally dysfunctional system breakdown at the level of our DNA. Our ‘operating system’ begins to crash.

So when we begin the process of reactivating the lost pain and traumatic memories, when we begin consciously healing ourselves by allowing the limbic system to re-open and slowly release the old wounds. We are actually allowing our bodies genetic code to reboot. We are in effect, switching ourselves off and on again! This is why it so crucial to find a way to open this portal and begin the process of revisiting and releasing this deeply buried mass of pain and sorrow.

Janov goes on to write…

“Weeping is healing. Feeling is healing.  Repression is ‘anti-healing’. Every process of our brain and body has an evolutionary rationale.  To block weeping is to run against the sweep of evolution. That is why those who weep deeply seem to ‘restart’ the evolutionary process – beards begin to grow at age forty, wisdom teeth develop at forty-five, breasts begin to grow at age thirty-five.    

The genetic code can now proceed to its destination;  that destination is growth, healing, and health.  Not a bad job for minuscule droplets of moisture. Imagine!  Tears have the power to transform our physiology, change our personality and re-fire the evolutionary engine. What has seemed like weakness to so many of us turns out to be one of the most powerful forces on earth”!  

From Seriousness To Sincerity. JoinThe Laughing Rebellion!

by Marc Itzler

Do we have to be angry to have strong feelings?  Do we have to be upset to show that we care about the madness of the world?  And do we have to inhibit our humour and joy, to show that something is really important to us?

This tension, this apparent contradiction in our lives, when we feel the pain of those suffering, both around us and in distant lands, and yet we know, that to dive into that space, makes us feel dark and contracted, heavy and negative. We feel guilt and shame and frustration.  So we look away, we scroll down or we switch off and get on with our lives. But inside, we still care, we still ache.

It is only human to feel empathy, to go into an experience of another’s pain, in order to know it and be there for them. It is a loving act but, it also feels like it spreads the pain out. It expands the very suffering that we anguish over.

This vicious cycle can be so overwhelming, that many of us choose to avoid or ignore the reality of life as it is for us as a global village, as a species, sharing our beautiful little blue ball hanging in infinite space. It’s just too much to let it all in. The corruption, the cruelty and torture, the suffering and the despair of our fellow humans and creatures of this paradise.

We struggle to even work out how we got to this point, let alone where we go from here.

What we do know is that we are in a serious situation.

But are we served by making that state of affairs our state of being?  Is our seriousness actually empowering us?  Or does it send us into a state of collapse, of defeat, of resignation?

How can we not cry tears of sorrow?  How can we not hang our heads in despair?

When we face our greatest fears, the loss of our life or the lives of our loved ones, the loss of our liberty or maybe even worse, the loss of our very hope, then what are our choices? Where is our power?

What happens if, at that moment, we decide to let go of seriousness and yet, remain deeply sincere in our truth?  What if we can stare fear in the face….and begin to laugh, really laugh, to know that at our deepest core we see the truth and choose to remain free?

Laughter is so often seen as a lack of capacity to understand the gravity of a situation.

It’s frivolous, it’s selfish, it’s a sign that you’re not getting it!

But when we really try to understand laughter, when we get real about what laughter and a sense of humour actually is, then we begin to see that it is, in its purest form, the greatest expression of understanding that we have. Laughter is our bodies reaction to a moment of ultimate clarity, it is how we express the recognition of truth itself. It is what makes satire both deeply funny and deeply moving all at once.

This is because laughter is Intelligence! It is the ultimate expression of rebellion!

A rebellion against guilt, against shame and self-doubt. A rebellion against fear itself.

A rebellious person is a dangerous person. Dangerous to the system, to the status quo. They will not be easily controlled and they will not be easily silenced.

Un-hindered by the fear of condemnation and judgment, the rebel is not playing by the book.  Not keeping to the script.  A rebel will laugh in the face of their own fear, even their own demise. But an intelligent and awakened rebellious and joyful person is always, always sincere!  They are led and guided by a bigger picture, a bigger perspective. and that creates an immense freedom. The laughing rebel lives a liberated life. They live an authentic life and a life of courage and truth. Laughter relaxes us, it unites us, it connects us and it heals us.

That is why we must move from seriousness to sincerity. From emotional enslavement to personal power, where we can care, more than ever before!

We can desire and fight for justice, equanimity, and dignity for us all and we can stand strong against the headwind of corruption, against the mass insanity and indoctrination, that would have us on our knees in a state of futility, worn out by the sheer size of the challenge.

The dark forces of this world want us to take it all very seriously.

When we are serious, we are open to their message of hate and division. Open to the script of tribalism, nationalism, religious separation and isolation. When we are serious, we are open to dis-ease and disinformation. We can be controlled because seriousness is fear. It is blind faith and blind action.  The serious and scared are easy to control. They are easy to manipulate and indoctrinate.

So if we want to be a part of creating a new world, a new way of living, then we have to renounce seriousness and embrace the power of humour and laughter as a force of vision, of perspective and as an expression of our true authentic being.

Laughter is the expression of this powerful state. It is the manifestation of our deepest truth. That is what the sages and great mystics of history have always taught. Laugh in the face of fear, celebrate, dance and sing in gratitude because that generates power and conviction in ourselves, it engenders individual thought and values and right now, more than sorrow, more than sympathetic sadness, this world needs sincere, laughing, courageous rebels!

Arteology – The Science of Creativity.

by Marc Itzler

Sometimes, I get this feeling that all of the songs, lyrics or stories that I will ever write, have already been written. They lie like bones, under a thin crust of Earth. Waiting to be revealed,  to be discovered by the Archeology of expression.  Art, brought to life –  using just a relaxed presence, a quietened mind, and an honest heart.

That’s how creativity works in me. I allow the feeling, the notion, or the idea to just float around. Feeling it, being with it. Whatever is challenging or inspiring me in my life at that point.  And then, as I allow my attention to wander in a fertile moment, a gentle breeze blows away some dust, exposing something. Stones? Or bones.

If its bones, then I begin to pay more attention, gently brushing away the dust, following what is exposed, whatever becomes interesting or inspiring. Or, if nothing comes, if its stones, I meander off to a different spot and begin to explore again. Soon, the fragments connect, the dots begin to join, the bigger picture emerges and suddenly, there it is. The song is made manifest. Brought in to the realm of sensory perception to be heard. To be healed and inspired by.  And perhaps, to leave the listener moved, to something deeper. Something real.

I marvel at this new baby, this new chunk of expression. I am in awe and I often ask,

“where did this come from?”

” Am ‘I’ the writer?  The Artist?  The Musician?”

“What does being creative mean?”

The dictionary defines the word creative as; [relating to, or involving the use of the imagination or original ideas to create something].

So then, what is the source of our imagination?  From what or where do we get ‘flashes’ of inspiration. and does it happen to us, or do we happen to it? Is it the subconscious or the superconscious?

Exploring this mystery is for me, one of the most exciting parts of the creative process. It means that not only has writing, composing and expression become my spiritual practice, it also relieves me of any great attachment to the work. It doesn’t have to be my music. It is just the music. I discovered it. I didn’t invent it.

An artistic Archeologist or ‘Arteologist’, following a creative flow, putting my attention on what life lesson or situation I’m in.  Whatever is relevant to me and my life at the time. Almost like consulting an oracle, with no concern for others opinions, criticisms or judgments. Nothing is personal. If I can relinquish ownership in a creative sense – to not have the music be mine, to drop the need to have it be a reflection of ‘who I am’, then I don’t feel I have to take credit for it. It was always there. I have just revealed it. It belongs to creation itself.  In this way, the content can be completely honest and vulnerable.  I can find the courage to write about the difficult, painful and also the ecstatic and joyous, without inhibition. Then It becomes a part of my healing.  Then it is therapeutic. I get to release pain, fear, wounds, and trauma, through this process, through this connection to the creative energy of life itself.

But it gets better! The act of expression, true, authentic expression, means that I get to share my inner world with anyone that wishes to know.  And really, what do they ultimately want to know? That their own inner world can heal and grow too.

In the realm of lyrics for example, rich in symbolism, metaphor, and rhythm,  powerful messages can be received. Great insights can occur and when music is added, when melody and harmony join the words,  our hearts are immediately activated. It is almost impossible to fight back the rise of sorrow, of joy or bliss when it comes, floating on an emotional flying carpet of soaring music. It is almost irresistible.

Music, lyrics, and poetry are the language of the inner world, the voice of our beings. Apart from sex and food (which are both survival driven), they are the few other ways to have a shared experience of ecstasy and profound emotion. They evoke the very energy of what we really are. Loving, fragile beings, trying to find our way,  trying to connect. Then expression becomes more than just our expression. More than just our creative process. Then it becomes contagious. It becomes the ‘collective creative’.

Infected by its power and potency, others begin to dig, to dust a little to see what treasure lies beneath their crust, under their Earth. and so it spreads and grows… and this is where things get truly creative.