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).

I have a confession to make.  I don’t really know what Occupy Wall Street is all about.  I think it’s about people who feel disenfranchised, alienated, oppressed, like they’re not getting their fair share because the rich people have already swallowed it all up.  I think they’re angry about the corporate bailout and corporate welfare.

I could go to the effort of finding out exactly what it’s about, but I’m not going to, and I’ll tell you why.  I majored in political science and economics because I had a belief that the right people in government and other “positions of power” could actually make a difference.  What I discovered is that often the established institutions, though needed when they were created, become straight-jackets that imprison us in conditioned patterns of behavior and thoughts that no longer serve us.

Hence why I became a social-anarchist, though I want to be very clear about what I mean.  I believe in peaceful evolution NOT violent revolution.  Anarchism is a philosophy based on the belief that human beings are capable of governing themselves.  The social part of social-anarchism is the recognition that we exist in social networks and social systems because they benefit us.  We do not exist in a vacuum.  Every moment of our lives in some way connects us to other human beings in inter-dependent relationships.  I need all of you human beings in order to be the person that I am.  On my own, I’d be a groveling animal living in a cave.  Most people would be.  Even the skills you’ve learned came from other human beings, the tools we use, everything.

When we are honest about that inter-dependence, we realize that our well-being depends on the well-being of all the other human beings around us.  That’s what being a social animal is all about.  We are social animals.  If you don’t believe it, try living in a cave, without any supplies, far away from society for several months.

There are two primary reasons why I haven’t bothered to investigate Occupy Wall Street.  The first is because, in my opinion, they are looking at the wrong issue.  Money is an illusion.  It’s not real.  The illusion of money has such a grip on people that they are blind to what IS real.  It is a collective illusion, a very powerful one, I’ll admit.  But still an illusion.  As long as people continue to believe it is real, they are imprisoned in that straight-jacket.  The argument about who has the money just goes on and on and people forget to look at where their true power lies.

The source of that power is infinite, so I can’t list all the possibilities here.  But one source of power IS being exhibited in this incredible event –  Occupy Wall Street — which is the peaceful assembly of massive numbers of people focused on one cause.  That is extremely powerful.

If they/we could take that power and focus it in a truly productive and creative direction, think what could be accomplished?

So I don’t care much whether or not my views are in alignment with those for or against Occupy Wall Street.  What matters to me is seeing the people take hold of their power.  Most of the time — sorry to say this but I think it’s true — Americans are so zoned out on their escapist pleasure trips they don’t bother to do much of anything except go through the motions they’ve been told to go through like good little sheep. (Ouch!  Did I really say that?)

So, the bottom line is, I’m not going to take a position in a debate about who’s got the money because it’s an illusion that keeps us locked in old ways of thinking.  But I do admire those who are willing to take a stand, who are willing to step away from their televisions, leave the comfort of their homes, and peacefully assemble in massive numbers to focus their attention on one cause.

THAT IS POWER.

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!

Recently people have been making comparisons between the European Revolutions of 1848, called the Sringtime of the People, to the current revolutionary activity occuring in the Middle East, called the Arab Spring.

As an astrologer, I became curious to see if there were any astrological similarities between 1848 and today.  It turns out that there are some very significant similarities.  The first most important one is that Uranus was in Aries.  Uranus is the planet of revolution and Aries is the sign of the people, so when Uranus is in Aries, we are always going to see the people rising up against oppressive institutions and taking the power into their own hands.

This was true in 1848 and we’re seeing it happen again now.  Uranus will stay in Aries for 8 years, so there is plenty of time to see more happen.  In 1848, Pluto was also in Aries.  Pluto represents power, so we saw power in the hands of the people.  Currently Pluto is in Capricorn, where it was during the American and French revolutions of 1776 and 1789.  Finally, Neptune was shifting from Aquarius (which rules humanitarianism, community, and technology) to Pisces (it’s natural home), which is true today.

The last time we saw Uranus in Aries was 1928 to 1935 when the stock market crashed, the world economy fell into a Great Depression, and people rallied for socialistic governments.  In some countries, that led to more democracy (i.e. FDR’s New Deal programs in the US).  In other places, it led to fascism.  This has to do with other astrological effects that allowed Shadow effects to take hold. 

Generally in the countries where changes came from the bottom up and were truly for the benefit of all people, the results were positive.  In countries where power was grasped at the top and forced on the massses in order to serve a small group (concentrating wealth and power), the results were disasterous.

I think the lessons to be learned from history are that the best outcomes are derived when the people work together in community at the grassroots level to extend economic and political rights and benefits to all.

Today I’m reading Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.  I read it when I was about 20 and have wanted to read it again for ages, but finally got a bug up my butt yesterday and went to the bookstore and bought a paperback copy.  I haven’t been able to put it down since.

This brings up the topic of money, of which there was no Martian equivalent; a perspective I admire immensely.  Those who know me, know that I have mixed feelings about money.  I wrote a blog called “Money, the Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated on Humankind.”  http://evondavis.com/blog2/2010/11/17/money-the-greatest-hoax-ever-perpetrated-on-humankind/

I call it that because it’s a mental straight-jacket.  Yet at the same time, virtually everyone believes in it, so you have to walk around as if you’re wearing that mental straight-jacket, whether you are or not.  In other words, you have to act like you believe in it, even if you don’t.  Just like an African bushman can’t walk around New York City without his clothes on, whether he believes in wearing clothes or not.

Fortunately, don Juan taught Castaneda a concept called “Controlled Folly” in which you play a role as if it were real.  The trick is to play the role without becoming lost and imprisoned by it.

What I mean by being “straight-jacketed” is that we’ve been imprisoned by our beliefs because in this system we are taught to believe that we HAVE TO sell our labor for money in order to survive.  But if people could see through the beliefs that have been fed to them since birth, they’d see that it’s not true.  It’s a choice.  People choose what they want to believe and then reinforce each other in their beliefs.  Then, because it’s what everyone believes, we have to play along with it.  Controlled folly is a way of turning it into a game.  This keeps our minds free, while on the outside, we pretend to take the game seriously.

I’m starting to put my belief more in Spirit than in Money.  Who could have predicted that I would be able to leave CBS and follow my heart for the past two years?  I had a little savings and a lot of faith.  I believe it’s the faith that’s gotten me this far.  Without it, I never would have been able to overcome my fears in order to listen to my heart.  Some would call it coincidence — that I’ve not only survived, but thrived.  I don’t believe it’s random.  And there was no way to predict it with logic before the fact.  That’s what I call magic.

But I admit, I haven’t completely shifted alliances… still seem to need money to pay car insurance, phone bill, website hosting bill, gas, groceries, etc.  So in 2011, I will play this game called “Controlled Folly” and see where Spirit leads me.  I will play the game as if I really believe in it, as if I were really wearing the mental straight-jacket.  Inside I’ll know the truth — that it’s just a game.  If I took it seriously, I fear I’d become depressed, or at least as neurotic and stressed out as most people find themselves.