Following the mass internet furore surrounding the censoring of his recent TEDx talk, iconic author Graham Hancock hits the road next week to promote his sensational new novel – an electrifying adventure story about the Spanish conquest of Mexico  

Controversial bestselling author Graham Hancock – renowned worldwide for his many nonfiction books like Fingerprints of the Gods, expounding his claim that an advanced civilisation existed during the last Ice Age – has become an increasingly iconic figure in recent weeks, following media giant TED’s vetoing of his TEDx talk The War on Consciousness, along with a talk by Rupert Sheldrake.

The public backlash against TED’s actions included open letters to TED by Deepak Chopra and leading scientists claiming TED rejected the talks because they endorsed “non-local consciousness” – the idea that consciousness can exist beyond the human brain.  Reprimanding TED’s censorship, Deepak and the scientists suggested Graham and Rupert’s talks may have sparked a major science revolution – a revolution in our understanding of the mystery of human consciousness.

Hot on the heels of this TED saga, and amidst rising notoriety, Graham Hancock now releases his second novel War God: Nights of the Witch, the riveting tale of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which this week jumped to number 4 in the London Evening Standard’s bestseller list.

This week (June 18th-21st), Graham will be travelling to Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Durham to give talks at Waterstones bookstores about War God (details on his website events page). In these talks, he’ll also be sharing his latest compelling evidence for an advanced “Lost Civilisation”, to be revealed in his forthcoming sequel to Fingerprints of the Gods due in 2015. More talks will follow in Bath, Birmingham and other locations later this month.

War God tells the story of colliding empires, where two gods of war and their avatars, Cortes and Moctezuma, fight to the death for supremacy.  Comparable to legendary historical feats like those of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan, the Spanish conquest of Mexico took place nearly 500 years ago, between February 1519, when Hernan Cortes and his small fleet first landed on the coast of the Yucatan, and August 1521 with their final apocalyptic siege of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan – the site of modern Mexico City.  Staggeringly, the Spanish invaders were to overthrow the mighty Aztec empire and over 200,000 brutal warriors with an army of just 500 men.

Hancock describes the conquest as “a true adventure, so extraordinary, and at times so unbelievable, you literally couldn’t make it up.” And yet aided by an unsurpassed knowledge of the ancient Aztec civilization and cosmology, an ingenious flair for fictional narrative, and a powerful imagination, the author puts the flesh on the bare facts of history to deliver an enthralling, page-turning rollercoaster ride through this portentous moment in time.

Like Graham’s War on Consciousness TEDx talk, War God also explores the realm of non-local consciousness, with two “Gods of War” inflaming the great battle between the Spanish and Mexican empires.  On the Spanish side, Cortes believed he was being directly guided by Saint Peter, his patron saint, and the novel shows how Cortes’ dreams of encounters with Saint Peter shaped the course of the conquest. Meanwhile as recorded in historical documents, Moctezuma, the Aztec Emperor, communicated regularly in visionary states (induced by the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms) with Huitzilopochtli – “Hummingbird” – the war god of the Aztecs.

For Graham, the new science of non-local consciousness raises an extraordinary possibility. “Could the entities mankind has encountered down the ages in visions, whether construed as ‘Angels’, ‘Demons’ or ‘Gods of War’, in some sense, at some level of existence, be real?” He muses.  “Perhaps they even inhabit the parallel dimensions envisaged by quantum physics and not normally accessible to our senses except in dreams, trances and other deeply altered states of consciousness.”  This exciting concept of supernatural interventions in human affairs lies at the heart of War God.

War God’s vivid authenticity and rich texture owe much to Hancock’s unique knowledge of the supernatural elements at play in this real life saga, including his firsthand experience of psychedelic plants. Hancock’s ten-year ceremonial use of the shamanic visionary brew, ayahuasca, began as research for his last non-fiction book Supernatural (published 2005) and also informed his celebrated first novel, Entangled (published 2010).  In War God, we encounter witchcraft and sorcery, visions of deities and demons, and the mythical return of Quetzalcoatl, “The Plumed Serpent”, Central  America’s expelled god of peace, prophesised to come again to these lands to overthrow a wicked king and restore justice.  Such paranormal forces were part of the fabric of ancient Mexico, aptly described by Nobel prize-winner J.M.G. Le Clezio as “the last magical civilisation”.

Caught up in War God’s mighty collision between Spain and Mexico are Tozi, a young Aztec witch, the beautiful courtesan Malinal whose hatred of Moctezuma runs so deep she will sell out her own land and people to destroy him, and the Spanish page Pepillo who serves a sadistic Dominican Inquisitor. In a land and an era dominated by human sacrifice, and the prophecy announcing the return of Quetzalcoatl, we see a culture at the height of its decadence, with personal loyalties pushed to the edge, and a brutal adherence to divine will.

War God’s launch coincides with the 500^th anniversary of the Papal Requirement in June 1513, which legitimised Spain’s war of conquest as an act of God, instigating centuries of God-inspired colonialism, which would radically reshape the world.

 “It is interesting to wonder what the world we live in today would have been like if the Spanish conquest of Mexico had never taken place, or been guided to unfold in a different way,” Graham reflects. “For the pattern of genocide that Cortes set in that benighted land – and all in the name of God – was followed slavishly little more than a decade later by Pizarro in Peru and ultimately became the model for the dealings of all the European powers with all the indigenous peoples they were to encounter the world over in the centuries of darkness that followed.”

While War God is a an epic tale of daring deeds, of the clash of battle and the worst excesses of male violence, it is also fundamentally the tale of two remarkable Native American women who will confront and overcome appalling physical and spiritual dangers in the face of unimaginable adversity, to convey Hancock’s positive message for the book: that the human spirit and our capacity for love can survive, and thrive, even in the worst possible circumstances and the darkest of times.

MORE INFORMATION

• For details of Graham Hancock’s War God talks tour 18th-21st June and other talks this month, please visit his website events page
• For further information about War God, including sample chapters and articles about the book, visit www.war-god.com

A few days ago, I was reorganizing my library and I ran into “Seeing” by the Portuguese Nobel Prize Winner José Saramago. Thinking about the present political situation in Europe, I couldn’t manage noticing how this extraordinary novel is still topical.

After a serious crisis struck several countries among them Greece -  which was bound to repeatedly call new elections  within a few months due the impossibility of installing a stable government – and the unusual case of Belgium, which was left without an executive for a long time, a few weeks ago it was Italy’s turn, where the latest general elections didn’t define a clear majority.

This sounds like a clear warning: besides the evident demonstration of mistrust towards Politics, the latest events somehow seem to be stressing a sort of consciousness raising of the electorate, who is supporting with growing conviction all those movements whose ideas are often defined “Anti-Politics”.

But what has “Seeing” got to do with it?

The novel, an ideal sequel of “Blindness”, another masterpiece by Saramago, deals with the general elections taking place in an imaginary (but not too much) western nation, where the absolute majority of the electors residing in the Capital decides to opt for the blank vote.

The novel’s most interesting aspect is the insane and at the same time desperate reaction of the political establishment: after further ballotings ending in the same outcome of the previous – in spite of the pressure brought by the media – the capital is at first isolated and left by the institutional representatives, and later – following a period of stall marked by rather unorthodox inquiries – the government takes the offensive and tries to destabilize the city by resorting to every expedient, including a fake terrorist attack planned by the Secret Service (does it remind you of something, conspirators?). Surprisingly, although they have been left to their fate, the city residents react composedly, always managing to reorganize autonomously.

If the government’s aim was to prove that people needs politics, the mission has pathetically failed. Actually, it’s politics that needs people to exercise the power, but the politicians apparently forget that governing is first of all a service to the nation.

At this point the only solution for the establishment is to find a scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb to justify a strong reaction to restore order (you have probably already heard that too…).

The perfect victim picked by the government is one of “Blindness” main characters, the only person to be immune from the “white sickness” epidemic which had affected the country some time before, making the whole population blind; the only person able to see in a blind’s world. That was sufficient to be accused of being the leader of the conspiracy infecting the country with the blank vote “virus”.

We will not tell the epilogue in advance, though it must be emphasized that it is very significant.

The questions about the sense of politics and its mission remain unanswered. In particular we wonder if politics is in the service of the people to guarantee the welfare of society or contrariwise politicians need the people to guarantee their own welfare and see their power, privileges and abuses legitimized.

Originally published on: WillyShakez.
For More Info: Check out WillyShakez FB page and website coming live soon for book reviews, writers’ arena and more…

A belief is something that is held by an individual to be true. Beliefs fuel our thoughts, interpretations, and actions. But what fuels our beliefs? Beneath all the layers of beliefs, lies a core belief. This core belief is a message that we interpreted from childhood experiences as our inherent worth. Every time mom or dad said, “Did I say you could speak?” or “Young man, that isn’t proper!” or gives us the cold shoulder because we didn’t behave in the way we were supposed to, we internalized a deep belief that we are not worthy of sharing who we really are. This core belief is rooted in the depths of our historical environment that is passed on from generation to generation. As this core belief travels up our beings, throughout our torso, firing our synapses, and out our limbs, it informs us of how to move in the world. This core belief tells us from afar how to behave in the world because we hold it to be true.

When we look around, we see our perception of ourselves reflected in our environment. If we believe we are not worthy of being who we really are, we see proof that we are indeed not worthy. Everything we witness is seen through this core belief. This is the nature of projection. We project our perception of ourselves onto our environment, constantly. Is there a way to not project our perceptions? No, but there is a way to shift how we perceive ourselves. We can create an awareness that flows alongside our thoughts, interpretations, and actions. We can acknowledge that we are acting out of a historical false belief and that it no longer defines who we are. As we create a deeper awareness around this false belief, it becomes an echo in the distance. The more we live with the intent to listen beneath our historical roots, the more an essential truth will emerge. The essential truth is that all life is worthy of living fully.

As a teacher, my invitation to my students in my workshops is to deepen our awareness of our core beliefs by simply acknowledging them while being witnessed by our peers. Notice sensations that arise in your body and stay with them while opening your body to release them. Stay with the sensations while questioning the truth of your core beliefs. Notice the subtle shift in how you perceive your environment and the clarity that may appear as you begin to see things as they really are.

Heaven and Hell and everything in between are inside us. Joseph Campbell made this lovely comment in his series of conversations with Bill Moyers when talking about his Sanskrit studies. Our forebears had this lovely and perceptive insight over 5000 years ago, ‘the answer lies within’ which means the answer does not lie without, i.e. outside us. We do not need an outside agency, institution or person giving us answers. They can help and guide us but ultimately we have to work it out ourselves through our own inner journey. This insight is the supreme empowering message because it means we all can. All we need to do is to choose to embark on that inner journey, and maybe if we choose, awaken the laughing Buddha within.

When I invited Stephen Russell, the Barefoot Doctor, to be my co-author for ‘Awakening the Laughing Buddha within’, I knew he would produce a stunning set of Taoist exercises, which of course he did. What I didn’t appreciate until I read his introduction was that ‘laughter readiness’ is at the heart of Taoism. This reminded how dense I can be because I knew all kinds of zen sayings like ‘Laughter is the language of the gods’, and ‘Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods’ but I hadn’t twigged, hadn’t joined the dots, that living with laughter readiness is living with the gods. Yes, I can hear your eyes rolling and I’m chuckling at my own obtuseness, how for so many years I managed to miss what was right under my own nose – laughter readiness is a heavenly state.

This requires a revolution in our thinking. Because what we focus on expands, and the more we focus on LAW, the ability to Laugh At Will, the more that side of us, our innate joyfulness, grows. The more we detach our laughter from ‘funny’ and tie it into ‘joyful’, the more we expand our inner joy. This is the antithesis of our western conditioning but a natural state of consciousness for millions of non-westerners. The more we change our laughter from something that happens in response to an external stimulus and replace it with something we generate internally as an expression of delight, the more joyfulness we experience.

How do we do this? By doing it.

We probably all have our practices, be they meditation, yoga, breathing, which means we engage in activities specifically to promote our health, happiness and well-being. Laughter practices are the same, except they are possibly more fun. The inner puritan in us will tut tut at the idea of fun but when we override that voice we might realise that practices that are fun and that we enjoy are easier to keep going than the ones we have to force ourselves to do. Enjoyable practices are easier to build into what’s called a ‘virtuous circle’, and laughing practices are fun. I have used them for years and find that my grumpiness has decreased and my joyfulness increased. I experience pain but I don’t suffer. I have bad moments but never bad days. Through the Bristol laughter club, others find this for themselves too.

Laugh more and you find more to laugh about. As you develop your inner joyfulness you encounter more joyfulness in your day-to-day life. To paraphrase this, your own life experience improves. Unconsciously at first, you become a beacon of light and begin to share good-naturedess with others. People around you respond in a more upbeat way. As you embody this further you will find you smile and laugh more. You can start consciously, even if invisibly, radiating this joyfulness to others – with ripples of kindness and with ripples of smile-ness.

This is Awakening the Laughing Buddha within. Welcome to the journey.

More info:

free introduction (pdf) is available on www.joehoare.co.uk. The book is a story, a manual and a guide to help you awaken your own Laughing Buddha within.

It is available on kindle and through lulu.com. Details are on www.joehoare.co.uk and www.barefootglobal.com.

Photo: Gen News – www.genengnews.com -

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), Epigenetic and Cancer

We must always remember that the choices that Nature makes will always be better than any made by the best scientists.

Before I talk about GMO it’s necessary to briefly describe what Epigenetic is.

Epigenetic is the science that studies the changes that influence the Phenotype without altering the Genotype.  This means that a gene of our DNA can perform or act differently because of variable factors such as nutrition, medicines, and especially chemical pollutants. As an example, let’s say that a gene, which normally produces an enzyme necessary for digestion, because of a prolonged diet, rich in damaging substances, may begin to produce a protein that causes cancer to the colon.

These changes are inherited but reversible.  A child will inherit these changes.  However I look at them more like predispositions; meaning that if there’s a correct diet, without frequent ingestion of medicines and avoiding living in contact with highly contaminated places, it is possible to reduce the risk of being affected by any pathology or dysfunction.  And during the generations to come we will be able to invert that epigenetic change.

I will now discuss about GMO since it increases epigenetic changes.

Although GMO have been approved and commercialised for many years, there isn’t enough scientific research or evidence, which excludes the damages to living organisms, both humans and animals.  In fact there are no animal feeding tests in place to guarantee the food safety. However, results of experiments on animals are now emerging to verify the effects on health and epigenetic changes.

Photo: Gennaro Ambrosino

Some cases in brief:

-   GM peas that cause allergic reactions in cats.

-   GM corn that causes an increase in white blood cells in mice.

-   ‘The Roundup Ready’ corn that after long periods causes structural and functional changes in some internal organs of the mouse, high death rate and very reduced growth levels.

-   The ‘mon863’ corn that causes changes in the blood composition of the mouse.

-   The different genes in the GMO, when eaten by sheep, get transferred into the intestinal bacteria.

-   GM potatoes and tomatoes that cause injuries and hemorrhage to the intestinal walls of mice and cats.

According to international laws, seeds which are not included into an official register, can’t be sold.

The problem is that the registered seeds are generally those produced by big multinational companies that select them carefully and very often modify them creating GMO.  Today more than 90% of cucumbers, watermelons, tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, melons and peppers seeds are hybrid and less than 3% are varieties older than 35 years.

During the years, various laws have been created to support the disappearance of the seeds that farmers have selected for generations in a natural way; those seeds, if cultivated each in their own environment, are naturally resistant to parasites and chemical fertilisers.

The GMO varieties are produced to support industrial farming and a large organised distribution.  Vegetables must be able to overcome mechanic harvesting, mechanised packaging, long refrigerated trips; they have to be immune to parasites, they have to have an homogeneous maturation, to allow a simultaneous harvest; they rely on both chemical fertilisers and anti-parasites treatments.  They must have a good appearance but they often lack in good taste.

Therefore it’s about optimisation, in order to have as much produce as possible, at the expense of taste, aroma and variety for each species.

To give an example, for the farming industry is not important to have a large variety of potatoes but rather a unique potato variety that for various aspects like resistance to parasites, growth dimension and rate, that allows plenty of harvesting, while sparing on the use of work machines and other necessary materials for production.

A return to rural biodiversity in the fields is desirable not only to get the tastes and aromas back (of which the modern world has a poor experience), and for the recovery of colors and forms that make eating a pleasurable and dignifying experience, but also to support local farming.

Anyway it’s also important to say that our immune system accepts the products of our land and soil better than others, because our genes, inherited from our ancestors throughout many centuries, have been accustomed to our traditional food; so we might have risks of allergies and intolerance if we eat something which doesn’t belong to our own nature…let alone eating GMO!

Over the last years in some European countries, a law has been modified to allow the registration and sale of seeds belonging to naturally inherited varieties; however this is only for personal use and not for selling the products.

It’s not the best, but it would already be a benefit to have the chance to get to a local farmer to have some quality food of one’s own tradition.

However the registration of a variety is a very lengthy and expensive bureaucratic process, inaccessible to the majority of farmers and impractical for farmers’ varieties.  Therefore each country should create a national list for local varieties, make the registration free of charge and allow the free exchange and trade of plants and seeds between farmers, according to the necessities of a small farm.

It’s true that our genetic heritage changes over the centuries, but Nature is able on its own to select, to assure biodiversity, so that human beings and food can renew and progress together.  Let’s remind ourselves that the choices made by Nature will always be more correct and better than those made by the best scientists.

Photo: Gennaro Ambrosino

The Restart project is a grassroots initiative aimed to share knowledge and facilitate self-repairing workshops to extend the life of the electronic gadgets that are more and more present in our lives and yet their production has a huge impact on our earth.

The talk is an excerpt of the evening hosted by The Gaia Foundation, following the launch of the report Short Circuit – The Lifecycle of our Electronic Gadgets and the True Cost to Earth in Westminster on Wednesday 24th April, 2013 to share and celebrate the launch of the report and provide the opportunity to look to the future and discuss an alternative path forward.

Disconnecting from Consumerism: Embracing a ‘New Materialism’ and Re-imagining our Relationship with Information Technology.

Introduced by Liz Hosken and Philippe Sibaud. Talk and discussion with Ruth Potts and Ugo Vallauri.

[See the full talk here]

For more info visit:

therestartproject.org

ifixit.com

gaiafoundation.org

I have been involved in Clapham Pottery since 2006, first as a volunteer and then as an assistant tutor. You know community when you experience it – but it’s only when it’s threatened do you really see how communities come together.

Clapham Pottery is a not-for-profit community pottery housed in a beautiful old rectory in Clapham Old Town, Lambeth, South London. The pottery is a thriving community hub, which offers ceramic classes for all ages and abilities. However, it has recently been threatened with closure.

As is the case in boroughs across London, and with the backdrop of national austerity measures, Lambeth council is now selling off their community buildings. This means that if we don’t buy it, a developer could purchase the building and turn it into a more lucrative enterprise – such as converting it into expensive flats. Thus, Clapham Pottery may be forced to close or relocate if we cannot raise £175,000 to buy the building.

Over two hundred students come through the doors each week. The pottery offers courses for adults as well as children’s after-school, half-term and weekend classes. We also host pottery parties, team building and hen parties. Any money left over from these fee-paying classes funds classes for disadvantaged and isolated members of the local community. This includes homeless and vulnerable people, children from low-income backgrounds, isolated elderly, young carers (children who look after dependent adults) and children with autism and their families. We also attract some small grants for classes that focus on those in the local community who would most benefit, and cannot afford to pay.

Everyone is welcome at Clapham Pottery. This inclusivity is something very important, especially at a time when inequality among society is widening – with London way above the national average.

Community is about space for everyone, and there is an intrinsic universality of working with clay – something entirely neutral and levelling about the medium. Everyone can benefit from the physical and therapeutic qualities of working with your hands, making and creating, and learning a skill. For those who are isolated or long-term unemployed, pottery classes can offer a social activity, confidence building and provide a range of transferable skills. And for the businessman who works in the city, a two-hour class is an opportunity to leave the stresses of the day at the door and focus on the creative process of pottery – being out of your head and in your body. Having the space to do this is ever-more valuable as so many of us spend our working days in front of a computer.

Anyone who is a maker will tell you that learning creatively through the give and take of natural materials is incredibly rewarding. Research also shows that working with our hands enhances mental health and makes us happy. This is certainly the case with ceramics – you have to be patient and centred (especially if you want to throw on the wheel) and there is definitely something to be said for getting down and dirty with clay – it is an activity where you literally have your hands in the Earth. The essence of this is beautifully captured in a quote by Dartington ceramicist, Marianne de Trey, who says:

“The satisfaction comes through the use of every part of oneself, hand and eye, brain and intuition, and through being always in contact with natural materials and the power of earth, air, fire and water. … It is, in fact, a voyage of discovery into the very heart of things. How lucky we are.”

Quote taken from: The New Materialism

In the last few weeks I have seen how the team at Clapham Pottery, the community of Clapham, and all the students who use the workshop have pulled together to help raise the funds to buy the building. From the pensioner who donated £10 of her pension money – to the local celebrity chefs who gave their time and donated the proceeds of special dining events.

In times of cut-backs and austerity, it is often the arts, and community arts projects which are threatened. With a shrinking pot of money available for essential services, arts projects are challenged to prove their worth. To policy makers, the ‘outcomes’ of these projects are not as tangible (especially when their value is reduced to short-term economic indicators), but having spent the week at the pottery with the students and tutors, making a short fundraising film, I have seen the immeasurable impact of this community space on all the people who use it.

You can see the video here: Save Clapham Pottery

The Gaia Foundation and allies launched the report: Short Circuit – The Lifecycle of our Electronic Gadgets and the True Cost to Earth in Westminster on Wednesday April 24th 2013. Short Circuit is the follow-up to the 2012 report, Opening Pandora’s Box, which exposed the global acceleration of land grabbing and environmental destruction by the extractive industries. The Gaia Foundation realised that in order to support communities affected by mining and challenge the expansion of the extractive industries, the drivers of mining must also be addressed. The new report explores one of the key drivers – the production of consumer electronic products. It looks at each stage of the lifecycle of modern electronic gadgets such as mobile phones and laptops, from extraction to production, design and marketing, through to use and disposal.

In order to create an accurate picture of the impact that consumer electronic items are having on the Earth, the report looks at each stage of their lifecycle:

Birth: what are the different components that make these items, in particular which metals and minerals are mined, what is the extent of pollution and waste generated, what are the manufacturing processes that produce them, and the impact on workers, livelihoods, communities and ecosystems.

Life: what are the current consumer trends and developments in mobile technology, what are the impacts of the expansion of virtual connection, what are the consequences of a throw-away consumer culture, what is the impact of inbuilt obsolescence, and a business model that centres around constant ‘upgrades’.

Death: how are these items disposed of, what are the recycling options and initiatives, what happens to our gadgets at the end of their life, what are the  problems generated by e-waste.

The concluding chapter looks into the different strategies proposed by organisations and individuals in order to address the issues above. There are many points of action and possibilities for alternatives. We can design systems and products for the ‘circular economy’, and we can ‘close the loop’ on the lifecycle of electronics by designing products that are infinitely recyclable with little or no waste throughout their entire lifecycle.

Ultimately however, we must also look at the deeper issue of a dominant throw-away consumer culture. This economic model requires ever more mining developments and aggressive marketing strategies to feed our desire to have the latest gadget, no matter what the true cost. The aim of the Short Circuit report is to expose the hidden costs behind these electronic items so that as individuals and as a society we can re-evaluate their true value.

About the event:

Disconnecting from Consumerism: Embracing a ‘New Materialism’ and Re-imagining our Relationship with Information Technology

Following the report launch in Westminster, The Gaia Foundation hosted an evening to share and celebrate the launch of the report and provide the opportunity to look to the future and discuss an alternative path forward. The report highlights the need to address our consumption patterns and re-think how and why we value ‘stuff’. How can we re-imagine our relationship with information technology and consumer electronics?

Introduced by Liz Hosken and Philippe Sibaud. Talk and discussion with Ruth Potts and Ugo Vallauri.

For more info please visit:

www.therestartproject.org

www.thenewmaterialism.org

www.ifixit.com

To download the Short Circuit report please go to: www.gaiafoundation.org

Sunrise: Another World - May 30th – June 2nd 2013
is the world’s first festival micronation – a free independent state dedicated to creating a more sustainable and joyful world, where ethical principles can dance hand in hand with the spirit of love, unity and celebration.

Sunrise: Another World is the first UK music festival to use a smart grid site-wide to generate a renewable power supply for the event.  The new smart grid integrated power system for Sunrise combines high-spec battery technology with more traditional waste vegetable oil generators and a combination of solar and wind power, to create a site-wide power system that is energy efficient and low impact.

“Sunrise is a forum for open expression of ideas. We believe in the importance of sustainable community, of living in harmony with the planet and walking lightly upon the earth. We also believe that it’s possible to celebrate without compromising our values”.

Alex Lepingwell, Co-Director of Sunrise: Another World

For more info visit: www.sunrisefestivals.co.uk

Art: Bergdorf Goodman Window Display

Consumption is a dead end,
Inspiration is immortal!

Everybody wants and wants and wants,
But why they are wanting, they do not know,

A promise of happiness, a dream to fulfil,
But the seeker within? They just don’t know,

Hungry eyes, mindful for desires,
Shallow reflections upon an ocean unknown,

Awkward smiles, pushing greedy lies,
False personality programs, they don’t know,

Feeders and teasers, bribers and cheaters,
For imaginary impressions, they don’t know,

Not a word of freedom heard or spoken,
Not a glimpse of truth seen or shown,

Drunk on consumption to a dull dead end,
On every level stuffed with make belief and pretend!

Inspiration is immortal, truly we live on,
If you knew yourself you’d shudder acting so small!

But another sip of hypnosis, let’s comfort, hey! play along!
Let’s all join in instead for a merry sing song,

Quietly those fears, they eat away inside,
Behind the desperate masks of Miss Pretend and Mr Hide,

What a wasteland we’ve become,
A flushing system is all,

Desensitised by fear, plodding along,
Degenerating consciousness, yourself unknown!