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  Dear Primalworks Readers;

Originally the "Thought of the Week" was intended to be a series of short musings on primal life and process. Once I got started, however, my "Thoughts" took on a life of their own and expanded into a series of long, detailed articles. There are now 101 "Thoughts," approaching 100,000 words!

After a considerable amount of "thought," I now intend to use these articles as the material for a book. In the next few months I will be editing and writing additional material to create a finished manuscript.

In order to focus my time on this endeavour, I will be returning to my original concept and keeping my "Thoughts of the Week" much shorter and simpler. I may occasionally get fired up and write a long one, but c'est la vie!

I want to thank you all for supporting my writing (site traffic soars on Mondays and Tuesdays) and the primal process. The work continues.

Sam.

 

August 18, 2003

The Black-out and Your Personal Power

On Thursday, August 14, 2003, 50 million people in North America lost access to electricity. This was the largest "black-out" in North American history.

When the power went out, I was leading a session. I have three windows in my primal space, so I kept one uncovered and closed a curtain. The session continued.

Jane and I both work at home, so travel wasn't a problem. We have a garden, so food wasn't a problem. That night, we lit candles and sang songs, accompanied by acoustic guitar, shakers, and hand drums.

I am concerned about this society's dependence on electricity and machinery. In the 70s I was part of the "back-to-land" movement. I know people who have achieved considerable self-sufficiency in that regard. Jane and I are planning a rural primal center that will attempt to accomplish the same things.

Why does this matter? This society, in general, shows an excessive dependence that is reflective of unresolved childhood needs. As infants and children, we are dependent on our parents, who are supposed to take care of us. In most cases, they did not, and we were forced to be prematurely independent while we carried the feeling of dependence into our adult lives.

Regarding the basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, livelihood, and transportation, most of us are hopelessly dependent. We are dependent on food delivery (like infants); we don't own our homes (like children) because they belong to the bank or the landlord; we depend on others to supply our own clothing (like children); we are at the mercy of our business superiors (as we were subservient to our parents); we depend on vehicles to carry us (as our parents did). And all of this is dependent on electricity, oil, and machinery that is controlled by others.

Healthy humans do live and work collectively, but I believe we have reached a dangerous level of over-dependence. This is further aggravated by "free trade" and corporate globalization, which make entire nations dependent on others.

By doing primal work and reasserting our natural power, we grow closer to others and develop healthy interdependence. In so doing, we free ourselves from over-dependent enmeshment with others. As we accomplish this healing on a personal level, we need to address these things on a societal and global level as well.

Let's turn the lights on "upstairs" and take our power back.



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