Evon Davis

Urban Indie: Empowering people and building community!

Let’s get acquainted, share ideas, inspiration and have some fun. Together we can create a powerful and important on-going series of events.

At this first ever Urban Indie Meetup we will lay out our initial plans for the Denver Empowerment Festival and invite you to share your ideas.

Saturday, November 12th, 2 – 5pm
Mercury Cafe 22nd & California, Denver, CO

We will begin creating sub committees that will take responsibility for the areas that will be part of our events. These will include music, art, writing, film & dance – entrepreneurship, green energy, consciousness raising, body & health, food & nutrition, motivational speaking, etc. Other committees will include marketing, fund raising and administration.

You don’t have to join a committee, feel free to come and explore the possibilities with us.

Please join our Meetup Group:

http://www.meetup.com/Urban-Indie-MeetUps

Just standing around with nothing to do?

If you’d like to get in on the ground floor level as a volunteer, helping us to build this new organization, please contact Jeff Gross at Jeff.Gross @ Urban Indie Fest . com (no spaces).

Wealth is an internal experience rather than an external one. You are wealthy based on how you feel, rather than how much you have. The feeling of wealth comes from a deep trust that your needs will always be met. It is a feeling of being free and empowered.

So ask yourself, What is wealth? What is money? What is currency? Some people believe it is the tangible stuff that they hold in their hands, but without the meaning that humans give to currency, it is nothing but bits of confetti paper, bits of metal, and colorful bits of plastic. The value of currency is in the meaning that humans give to things. Money represents energy, like an electrical current. It is the flow that makes it currency. And in our electronic age, money is pure energy, the electronic blips that flow and pass from one financial account to another, lighting up the world.

See that energy flowing throughout the world, flowing toward you, through you, and on to others in meaningful ways that catalyze us to fulfill our potential.

Yet even those electronic blips are only there to convince those who still do not know what true wealth is. The greatest wealth known to humankind comes from the Creative Source. It is human ingenuity. Money in its truest most basic form is not confetti, or bits of metal, or colorful bits of plastic, or even electronic blips. It is human ingenuity, and because you have infinite access to the Creative Source, the well of human ingenuity, you are infinitely wealthy.

While others waste their time and energy arguing over bits of confetti — Do we have enough? Should we create some more? Should we charge interest on it? Should we borrow or pay it back? — you can simply smile at their child’s game and move on to what is real. Real wealth.

Now ask yourself, what is real? What is true and meaningful in your life? We have been given all the wealth we will ever need to live a fulfilling and joyful life on planet Earth and for each of us to fulfill our True Purpose. You have access to all the knowledge and power of the universe. You do not need confetti or electronic blips in order to catalyze and motivate yourself to fulfill your true potential or live your True Calling. You give yourself permission to follow your True Calling and fulfill your dreams, regardless of what anyone else thinks.

We don’t have time for childish distractions or to be blinded by small-minded imaginary problems because we know that we are only going to be here for this one short lifetime and we want to make every act count.

Go to the true source of wealth and drink of that spring as much and as deeply as you like. That source is the Creative Source and it feeds your ingenuity. As much as you need, you have access to an infinite source of wealth and currency. You have access to the real source of wealth, the real currency… human ingenuity. Drink deeply from that spring. Whenever you feel the need or the desire, you are invited, you are joyously welcomed to drink deeply from that source. It will not only feed your own creativity and ingenuity, filling your bank account to overflowing, but you have access to the ingenuity of every other human being on this planet, both living and passed.

And that is how we will evolve beyond this current level of mass consciousness. People who know what real wealth, money, and currency are. People who know that their bank accounts are always overflowing. People who know that there is no such thing as lack or scarcity. There is no real financial crisis. It is merely a distraction, a child’s game for those who are not quite ready to see the truth.

But you see the truth. You now see that you have an infinite source of wealth at your fingertips and you can use that wealth to catalyze yourself to the fulfillment of your purpose on this earth.

Money is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on humankind. My dream is to see the end of it in my lifetime. A friend of mine compared it to cocaine. Money is a highly addictive controlled substance. But if that’s true, then what do we replace it with?

Have you ever actually considered that we’ve made little pieces of paper, plastic cards, and electronic blips more real than the truth that lives in our hearts and minds? It’s so absurd, I can only laugh when I think of it. And before you conclude that I don’t know what I’m talking about, I happen to have a degree in economics from the University of Denver, was president of the economics honor society, won the annual economics department award in 1993, graduated with honors, and went on to study economics at the graduate level.

The question of what to replace money with is a very good one. There’s a saying, “Need is the mother of invention.” It’ll either take a leap of faith or desperation. Most people think what exists now will always exist, but fail to consider that “economic systems” have been changing since the beginning of the human species. I think we’re still evolving and our social institutions will evolve too.

One of the best features of capitalism is that it creates efficiencies. Ironically that’s also what will cause its demise. They’re trying to keep the system going (the problems aren’t necessarily the fault of either political party; it’s just endemic to the capitalist system), but it’s like trying to get a few more miles out of a dying machine. (In our system money and capital are virtually the same thing; that’s why I’m talking about capitalism.)

I can’t claim to have THE ANSWER to what will replace capitalism — it’s already morphed from laissez-faire capitalism to what we have now, sometimes called welfare capitalism or Keynesian capitalism — but I am asking the questions and I love it when I see other people asking questions. I wrote a blog post about a possible new economic system I call “creativism.” Just to throw one idea out on the table:   http://urbanindiefest.com/2011/08/25/creativism/

It makes me chuckle with delight to see people who are saying yes to being guided by things like love, joy, playfulness, and creativity. We’re saying yes to Lila (divine playfulness).

This is a good topic for creative people to tackle. Creative people are always the avante guard of social transformation. You can let your imagination go anywhere. Consider the infinite possibilities and put them into the world. You never know, you might end up being the next Adam Smith!

Last year was the first year I complete NaNoWriMo, so I was a 2010 Winner.  Eleven months ago, I wrote, “I’m doing this thing called NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month.  It’s a contest that started years ago with two writers and has become a world-wide phenomenon.  The goal is to write a 50,000- word novel in the month of November.  Of course it’s a rough draft, but it’s a good way to pour the story out as fast as you can.

In creative writing we often set limitations for ourselves in order to open up new pathways to creativity that might not otherwise be explored.  This can often lead to some of the most amazing and beautiful prose, not to mention new pathways for the story.

I’m beginning to see that this is true in all areas of life.  It’s during times of limitation, challenge, and adversity that we learn the most, and it is also during these times that we find the deepest reservoir of strength within. Once you fully realize what you’re capable of doing, and the full extent of the strength you possess, you will know you can rely on yourself in times of need. You will be forever stronger for having experienced the limitation.

When something in your life is limited or taken away from you, your imagination can take flight. No one can rein in your mind (unless you let them). The greater the limitation, the more your mind can be set free to explore new pathways. What you are today is in part due to those limitations. This is when your character is honed and exceptional personal growth occurs.

The warrior embraces struggle, challenges, change, and limitation.  If she does not have a challenge, she seeks one out.

Don Juan said that a warrior is grateful for a petty tyrant because the challenge leads to sublime states of consciousness and impeccability for the warrior.  I’ve come to realize that a petty tyrant can be a person or a situation.  It is simply any kind of challenge, regardless of the form it takes.

Having experienced many limitations, struggles, and challenges in my life, including now, I’m able to reap the rewards of a lush life.  I have learned to stay connected to Abundance, trust Providence, and be guided by Spirit.  Walking to a local theater last night in a lush city and watching a film about Paris, another lush city I had the good fortune to live in one summer, I was in that sublime state of consciousness, rapturous, nearly overwhelmed by the lushness of life.  And all because of the limitations that opened new pathways.

Don Juan said to Carlos Castaneda, “We only have two alternatives; we either take everything for sure and real, or we don’t.  If we follow the first, we end up bored to death with ourselves and with the world.  If we follow the second and erase personal history, we create a fog around us, a very exciting and mysterious state in which nobody knows where the rabbit will pop out, not even ourselves.”

For me, this is about being willing to take risks.  A warrior is courageous and willing to take risks.  The aspect of erasing personal history means that just because I was X yesterday, doesn’t mean I am today.  Maybe I’m Y today.

Don’t assume anything about me.  Don’t take anything for granted.  You may think you know who I am; you may think you have me all figured out; but I can guarantee you don’t.

Because I am an impeccable warrior, you can trust my honesty and integrity.  But that doesn’t mean I’m not as fluid as the water.  I may surprise you.

“When nothing is for sure we remain alert, perennially on our toes.  It is more exciting not to know which bush the rabbit is hiding behind than to behave as if we know everything.”

I definitely don’t know everything… and I prefer it that way… it means I’m willing to takes risks, step into the Unknown, live in the Mystery, live in Lila.

Here is an extension to the writing exercise on Modeling Authors:

1) Type an excerpt from a novel or memoir you like

2) Use the writing as a model for your own scenes

3) Map the pattern in the author’s writing.  For example, the pattern might look like this:

character description
some action
a line of dialogue
some more action
some description of setting (that might tell us something about the character)

Or like this:

character
action
prop/object
action
setting
description of object

Use the pattern to design your own sentences, paragraphs, and scenes.  Write 500 words for this exercise.  You will undoubtedly see a huge improvement in your writing.

A blank page can stop us dead in our tracks. So I’ve come up with a few little tricks to prime the pump and get the words flowing onto the page.

The first trick is to brainstorm a list of random words. Well, they aren’t completely random. Think of a scene you’re writing. For example, in my latest novel, Journey to Artemisia, my main character suffers from apocalyptic visions, so I brainstormed a list of words appropriate to an apocalyptic vision.

The second trick is to take those words and write six-word stories as a way of organizing the words so they are no longer random. What’s a six-word story? The six-word story was created when someone dared Hemingway to write a story in six-words. He came up with this: “For Sale: Baby shoes, never used.”

I found these exercises so effective that I ended up rewriting the scene with the apocalyptic vision without even intending to do so. I had brainstormed a list of words on Tuesday. I don’t remember how long it took, but I made it my goal to just write a word and hit return until I got to the end of the page.

Then, as I was writing this blog, I stopped to look at my list and started forming the six-word sentences. Next thing I know, I’m rewriting the scene. I took a scene that was three paragraphs and nearly tripled it in size, which was good because before it was too short to have the emotional impact I wanted it to have.

This process can be used whether you’re starting from scratch or rewriting. It’s like wading into the pool when you’re not ready to dive in, but once you’re in, it’s dolphin heaven.

1) come up with a list of words, preferably concrete words and action verbs

2) do a mind map (put one word or idea in the center and brainstorm words and ideas that branch out from that)

3) write down some bits of dialogue

4) read a passage in a book, and jot down some ideas

5) watch a movie to get ideas

6) take an old draft and circle the words you want to keep (then rewrite the whole scene only using the stuff you circled)

7) scribble out some ideas for first and last sentences

type it all into a document

9) write six word stories, like Hemingway’s “Baby Shoes for Sale: Never Used”

10) begin to move the pieces around into some kind of intelligible order until a story begins to emerge

11) at that point, put it aside for another day

Don Juan often said that the world is a weird place.  For him, that meant the world is awesome and mysterious.  To experience it that way is to be curious and creative.  One’s mind must be open to let the senses be flooded with whatever exists and try not to be closed off to anything.

My friend David recently said that the purpose of consciousness is to harvest experience.  He said that we are gods in kindergarten, which I think is an apt description of human beings.  Apparently Yogananda said that if one’s mind were open to the awesome mysteriousness of the universe, all experience would be equal.  Making love would be no better than being under the axe of a serial killer because both bring forth a feeling of awe that such a thing could even be happening!

I think of it as living in Lila.  Lila is divine playfulness, a complete openness to the pure creativity of the universe.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  I often feel myself closing off, but I am trying to teach myself to have a curious, open attitude toward my feelings of wanting to close off, just observing and asking myself the question, “Isn’t this interesting?  Look at the way I am getting irritated and closing down because….”

For me to stay open and live in Lila, I like to look for these kinds of reminders, talking to my friend David or reading Castaneda’s books.  Recently my life has become very open and I have been in the midst of a significant transistion.  Transition often brings transformation.  I hope to transform in such a way that I become more open, more in awe, more curious, live in Lila, and tap into the Creative Source of the Universe.

One of the mysterious and awesome things to happen recently was meeting Joanna Whitney, a painter who also teaches at Colorado Free University.  She and I are planning to do weekend workshops, combining painting and writing and general creative renewal.

As I often like to say, Imagination is humanity’s greatest form of magic.  We can all use a little creative renewal, a little more magic in our lives, a little more openness, awe, curiousity, and mystery.