What do you wish for from the coming year?

What am I doing with 2013?

My main interview themes these days:

1. "What does getting to be 100 mean to you?"
2. Are you on track with fulfilling the purpose of this life of yours now?
3. What does British mean to you?
4. Do you know anyone whose life I could change for the better by my presence at the right time and/or £250 from the cash machine (& if not, why not?)

Here's the key link to my selected stream of recorded consciousness
I'm taking Buddhism seriously now after 14 years of meditation (allegedly) i.e. to use Vessantara's phrase, I'm entrusting more and more to the three jewels (The Buddha, His teaching and the community following that path). I'm grateful that I can eke out a small inheritance to support me for another year in regular visits to the London Buddhist Centre and to a retreat centre in Norfolk whilst I continue to work -at the most personal level yet- on conflicts in my life (& supporting others in conflict around me, I hope). I plan in 2013 to go travelling and enquiring of people I meet what "getting to be 100" means to them. Let's meet up and incorporate into that meeting an interview on this topic, please.

More specific goals/working grounds are:
1) 6 points of family harmonisation
Here are some of the background films relevant to my December 2012 commitment:

"I stand for working together responsibly with family resources and needs within the family."

(March 1st 2012) (March 26th 2012) (June 11th 2012) (July 6th 2012) (October 24th 2012) (November 13th 2012) (December 22nd 2012) (December 23rd 2012)

2) Development of my work on "Loving & Healing Mistrust & Fear" such that it is in a format useful to others experiencing mistrust & fear.

Dedicated spaces for having conflicts from Restorative Circles on Vimeo.


3) 6 Actors willing to improvise the story of "King Lear and a right pair of mediators" & have it filmed.


4) Research into Britishness & Ageing for "2066 -the movie"


5) Preparation of a course on Buddhist Ethics
- Buddhist scripture on purifying the gathering of those listening to the Buddha's words - How being a hermit helps others

6) In preparation for ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order (one day in the next 10 years, I guess) Deepening my Sangha connections & going for refuge



7) Some walkabout/pilgrimage eg living on £3/day and picking litter in every East Anglian village through which I pass.


8) Some new skills eg guitar or mandolin, so that I can better play the troubadour, replete with unrequited love.

Paul Crosland 1966-2045?

My wished for Memorial Service: For the programme cover:

The videos for the service are on the playlist entitled "My funeral Wish List" at http://YouTube.com/toothpaste007
Here's one that I hope will be played towards the end: And here's one not officially on the list (due to risk of misinterpretation) that holds up a kind of mirror to me:

"A Time of Ashes" (as referred to in the blurb below this blog's title) comes from Robert Bly's difficult (for me) groundbreaking book about men, Iron John. In this third chapter (which I got into having twice given up after reading two chapters over as many years) Bly took up the issue of naïveté, numbness, depression and katabasis. The full chapter title is "The Road of Ashes, Descent, and Grief".

The Greeks spoke of katabasis as an abrupt drop when a man no longer feels like a special person. My video on this loss of specialness is from Timeon in the "My Buddhafield" playlist & is also on my funeral playlist; hopefully not to be played by my human remains until 2045?

Bly states that these days katabasis comes about through addiction to alcohol, drugs, food, sex, etc. “The man loses his health and ends up with thin legs, flat energy, deprived of wife and children, deprived of friends, house, money. He loses his job, self-respect, and every mark of his former art and life.”

Bly goes on to say that in the nineteenth century, men characteristically failed to notice the female suffering, and in this century, men have added another inattention: they characteristically have failed to notice their own suffering. Men endeavor to stay above it, away from it rather than dealing with it by going down and into it, to learn from it. He encourages men to take the downward path as an elective to avoid the crisis or potential disaster that can arise from katabasis. Depression is a form of katabasis. The epidemic of anxiety is wreaking havoc in the lives of millions of men. Exploring one’s grievances and getting in touch with one’s grief can be the antidote.

It appears that psyche arranges a severe katabasis if the man does not know enough to go down on his own. Bly suggests that, “With intitiators gone from our culture, we do not receive instruction on how to go down on our own… To live the life of ashes is very different from dropping into katabasis. It doesn’t require a fall in social status. It is not so explosive; there is something about ashes that is steady, even lethargic… Ashes and cinders in fairy tales are code words for the ashy, sooty, depressed, ‘out of it’ time.”

“The word ashes contains in it a dark feeling for death; ashes when put on the face whiten it as death does…some men around thirty-five or forty will begin to experience ashes privately, without ritual, even without old men. They begin to notice how many of their dreams have turned to ashes.”

Bly gives us, “…By contrast, the old men in traditional initiation lead the young men to the Beneath Father, near where the ancestors live and where snakes are… Initiation asks the son to move his love energy away from the attractive mother to the relatively unattractive serpent father. All that is ashes-work. When a man enters this stage he regards Descent as a holy thing, he increases his tolerance for ashes, eats dust as snakes do, increases his stomach for terrifying insights, deepens his ability to digest evil facts of history, accepts the job of working seven years under the ground, leaves the granary at will through the rat’s hole, bites on cinders, learns to shudder, and follows the voice of the old mole below the ground.”

Underneath the title

How do you sum up your life mission (or even just your intermediate aims & objectives) in just 500 characters. "This is the wording that I have just removed from the beneath the blog title, as it is now out of date, though I still stand for the same things: I set up my St Leonards studio/office (at the Southwater Community Centre) as a result of the 2010 Pier Fire. I work as a Community Development Artist/Activist, promoting 3 non-monetary economies: 1) gifting eg freecycle and "please take", 2) sharing everything we own eg via the acclaimed freelender website & 3) timebanking. I'm recruiting & joining teams who co-create community; innovating in getting stuck communications unstuck & taking responsibility."

My team won the award for mobile/web app most likely to reduce youth reoffending and custody

The award was in 2010 and the team did not find the right piloting conditions; members being stretched between too many other projects. Now that I've ended most of my projects in Hastings & St Leonards it is time to look in particular at finding new partners in London for a co-created development based on the ideas that won the Jailbrake competition. If you work for a Youth Offending Team or other location where Restorative Justice seems particularly relevant, please phone me (Tel 07807066202) to discuss my presenting to your team and/or how else we might take this forward:

Jailbrake 2010 from The People Speak on Vimeo.

My Email footer is here instead of on emails

FAQs
1) How quickly can I expect to hear back from you?
- Within a week
2) Why not sooner?
-I'm sometimes keep away from my email for that long or take that long to gestate a reply.
3) Would you prefer a phonecall?
- usually; reach me on 0780 70 66202
4) Would you ring me back to save my phone bill?
-usually I have many spare minutes that I'm happy to use
5) If I'm having difficulty tracking you down or planning a future event in which I'd like to include you, do you have an online calendar?
- funny you should ask that; the link to it is on this page of this website http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/p/paul-croslands-calendar.html
6) What is your agenda for the current year? -it's here http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/what-do-you-wish-for-from-coming-year.html
7) What have you been doing recently?
-see my facebook, YouTube and Twitter outputs for news; links again on the left side of http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk & my latest 100 YouTube uploads (starting with the most recent) is here: The full set of public videos (which started in January 2008 with Mark Boyle's departure for India on foot with no money) is here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA&feature=plcp ******************************* And this playlist, entitled "My Buddhafield", begins with Jayaraja, one of a few main spiritual mentors to me: *******************************

I try my hardest to appreciate all feedback given and this is the feedback received on the footer that was at the bottom of all emails on 13th November 2012:

My review of 'Les Miserables' (2012, starring Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe et al):
Take one of the greatest novels about a convict-saint, distill it into a musical about social justice, film it in filth and the full width & depth of France's heritage and you have a film capable of igniting a social revolution of compassionate wisdom; if only we remembered that the best films are not just for watching - they are for living (& dying for)
http://iwantyouradvice.blogspot.co.uk & '2066 -the movie' - join in by uploading your life plan onto YouTube so that your peers can support you 1) encouraging you and 2) holding you to account.

Dear Paul,

As you know, I find these convoluted email footers deeply irritating and pretentious, and, as an attempt to shove your views down the throat of anyone who says 'come round for a cup of tea', the very antithesis of non-violent communication.

All you need is a standard 'yours' type sign off, as used by everyone, with a telephone number and email link. 'Nuff said.

Yours, in the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, the Holy and Undivided Trinity,

Chris

[default email footer]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

'Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.'

In the Grim Darkness of the far future, there is only war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdlCr7nENV8

Justice has a price. The price is freedom.

http://dreddthemovie.com/main.html

Forward to Mars!

http://mars-one.com/en/

The Church of England, A Christian Presence in every community

http://www.churchofengland.org/

'Everything is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds.'

********************************** So this now is the information that I still wish you to be able to read if you want what I consider to be the basic contextual information and further linking information for working with me:
Yours in peace (through nonviolent struggle; much of it with myself)
Much metta (kindfulness) /mindfulness
Paul
(AKA Toothpaste007 on YouTube)
My new catch phrase to avoid getting into deep water without a mediator to support:

"That sounds mediable; let's mediate it, or can we get mutual understanding and win-win-win without needing another bloody mediator?" 

If it's a really important email that you sent me, please expect a reply within a week and then check that "message sent was message received." 

If your email is more urgent than that please can we begin talks about how we might "stress each other out" less.
 For better quality connection/ mutual understanding, please phone/text 0780 70 66 202. I usually prefer calls & will call back

P.S. Have you commented yet on anything on http://youtube.com/toothpaste007 - the latest video is here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA&feature=plcp

Post 2nd Anniversary -time to Up the Ante!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've reached the (provisional) conclusion that most people don't want to hear about collective responsibility for crimes & misdemeanours such as Hastings Pier Fire?
I guess this makes it time to up the ante and inform everyone who is interested in de-escalating the conflict that the script is in a book called "Inside the No" by Myrna Lewis.


This story continues on http://facebook.com/groups/hastingsjustice

Adieu Hastings & St Leonards

Having been "flooded out of my flat" in the week leading up to the 2nd anniversary of the Hastings pier fire, I'm postponing (long-term) the plans for http://hastingstube.com and scaling down the 2nd anniversary event (ie leaving others to lead on the petition). 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE 7pm - 9.30pm EVENT IS STILL GOING AHEAD ON FRIDAY 5th October; it will draw together some threads and hand on the baton.

And here's the last voicemail I received from a stranger who didn't leave his name:

In the short term I plan to live in Kent, but will be looking for openings in Cambridge or Sheffield in particular, where I am drawn to Triratna Buddhist Community activities, (including (innovative & timely?) team-based right livelihoods and households with (if you can bear a concept-full set of bullet points from me now):

• shared meditation sits
• shared meals 
• articulated/reflected values
• appreciation of diversity in how we deepen our Buddhist practice, seeking integration, positive emotion, letting go & generating a simpler wholesome and wholehearted (post-capitalist?) lifestyle (as an ark for a sinking society?) on a journey towards.... enlightenment?

(NB For those asking about India, I'm also doing some fresh questioning of when is the "right time" for 6 months in India developing project support for certain students I know from disadvantaged backgrounds and following how they fulfill their 10 year personal plans -made with me in December 2010- as on http://nagaloka-dream-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/p/dreams.html )

And, if you are into social exclusion or want to change the way I live, I'm interested in what good it does you to have so many opinions about how I lead my life?

Perhaps you want to influence decisions I make because you have views on how my decisions impact on your life?

I end this post with three related questions:

1) How correct are your underlying assumptions about how my decisions impact on your life and/or on my own?; 

2) How much self-responsibility are you taking for how you are triggered by me? 

&  3) How are you most likely to succeed in encouraging me to change in the way that you want my behaviour to change?http://nagaloka-dream-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/p/dreams.html

Hastings Pier Fire -the 2nd anniversary is coming on 5th October 2012

For my money, the most informative and interesting Google Search about Hastings Pier Fire and it's aftermath is: What I did that led to Hastings Pier Fire. Not only is this blog -and it's videos well-represented- but you also get a David Icke Forum on the topic

Tony May here recommends that you come to the events on 5th October 2012 at the Southwater Area Community Centre:

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Booking for all these events is by phoning/texting me (Paul Crosland) on Zero7807066202 and receiving a confirmation text message or on a 'click here and fill in the form at the bottom of the page' basis.
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The programme is as follows

Friday 5th October
10am-5pm -HastingsTube Workshop1

Lunch provided; £10 deposit to secure

Fuller programme here

(A draft proposal for HastingsTube Playlists here)  

7pm for 7.30pm "The Hastings Pier Fire Investigation So Far"

(Films recapping the meeting with Sussex Police and local residents last year will be shown from 7.10pm-7.30pm and correspondence with the Ministry of Justice handed out, as well as copies of requests for the HPWRT)

From 7.30pm to 9.30pm the community meeting will focus on The Petition to Hastings Borough Council.

Saturday 6th October 11am-5pm HastingsTube Workshop2

(The programme will be approximately as per Friday 5th; particularly for those who struggled to be available on the Friday daytime, or who wanted to go into the matters raised on the Friday 5th workshop again whilst the issues are still fresh)  

Food, Friendship, Music,

Caring, Sharing,

Groups, Events,

Social Justice, Liberty

Equality & Fraternity

-Connecting you with these on your doorstep:

HastingsTube.com

***************************************************************************
Booking for all these events is by phoning/texting me (Paul Crosland) on Zero7807066202 and receiving a confirmation text message or on a 'click here and fill in the form at the bottom of the page' basis.
***************************************************************************
The intended play has been postponed to the 3rd anniversary -so save Saturday October 5th 2013 in your diary now!

Coastal Currents 2012 - see page 42 of the programme

(Discussion of "Karma Vipaka")

(Photos by Gary Heasman)

Edits to be made to the above Community Loyalty 2-sided card:

1. To activate this community loyalty card, please write below the house number, post code and cost of where you live: (http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/p/cost-of-living-in-st-leonards-east.html)
2. St Leonards Sharing Consortium accepts "street creds" from streetbank.com as a currency, exchangeable for St Leonards Timebank hours. 

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An introduction to Paul Crosland's professional background (as shown on ITV1)


The relevant Hastings Observer articles can be found here about how I brought this work to Hastings & St Leonards when I saw the pier fire as the most accessible & important community development opportunity in the UK, bar one.

For Coastal Currents 2012, I have prepared a diverse playlist that has "method in its madness"; comments on how you found it will be greatly appreciated - please add them below Tony May's at the bottom of this blog post:

1. Was the playlist interesting/entertaining/inspiring for many of the recommended minimum 30 minutes?. If you didn't last 30 minutes, please let us know where you gave up and why, for this  is part of the research going into design of a new (Community Development )Broad casting/Interconnecting Channel.************* (Also how long would/did you spend  at the open studio no 19 in September 2012, as advertised on p42 of the 2012 Coastal Currents programme?)
2. Would you watch more than 30 minutes if you were paid to, and how much would you want to be paid (in St Leonards Timebank credits?)
3. Have you resolved to join the events on the 2nd anniversary of the Hastings Pier Fire -5th October 2012?
4. Have you paid your £10 refundable deposit for the day workshops on Friday 5th &/or Saturday 6th October?
5. For the 7pm for 7.15pm event entitled: "The Pier Fire Investigation - progress so far" (priced at 2 timebank hours) will you be claiming your discount by bringing along your "Community Loyalty Card"?
6. Do you know who designed the St Leonards Sharing Consortium "Community Loyalty Card" & do you know someone who might want to design the next one (Hard cash available)?
7. Have you identified other ways in which you want to use a "Community Loyalty Card" or start up a community loyalty scheme with your neighbours?
8. Does any of the above (NOT) make sense to you?

All comments welcome below & for queries that you want answered phone/text Paul Crosland on Zero7807066202. 

Mediation as a central life-skill; today's quotes:

1. "Mediation starts for me with how I relate to living where I live, at this point in time, with all that I have been given, all I desire & all I want to avoid. The conflict is accentuated by my placing a particular aspirational picture in my room & believing in a way that I could grow into a better human being".
2. "For me, perhaps the most interesting, growthful, and (retrospectively) valued part of any relationship is when something arises that represents, to either of us, a bigger challenge than one expected, or a different kind of challenge from the ones anticipated."
3. I trust our long-term relationship enough to ask this (sharp?) blunt question: "You're very attached to your ego-centric bulls**t, aren't you? Me too".
4. "Talking about marriage etc - In time, I'd probably prefer it if your strategy to hold onto a belief in your sexual attractiveness did not depend significantly on me. This is because I am easily swayed in seeing superficial sexual attractiveness elsewhere. Now, if you are asking me a question about Loyalty/Fidelity - which apart from in the film, Frida (*below) are usually seen as the same thing - then we can have a useful conversation. What I'd want to clarify is whether Fidelity of Body, Speech and Mind is your bottom-line, or not?"
5. "If you want to start mediating, reflect on one of your relationships in life (be that with someone living, dead or your idealised self & ask: i) What, so far, have we co-created?; ii) What do we like about it?; iii) What have we found more difficult than we like? iv) What change are we asking for?; v) How was 1-4 for you?"
6. "The most 'successful' people in the world are those who get others' support for their activities whilst helping their supporters to be less self-responsible & less caring about a sustainable future. Through this lens my very limited 'success' is no failure. The lens I hold up in awe is that of Dr BR Ambedkar, for whom success would surely have been defined as groups of "downtrodden" people living more harmoniously under the principles of Liberty, Equality & Fraternity (& not their 'near-enemies' from the French Revolution).  (And this is a link to a short talk illustrating how Dr Ambedkar's ideals are being upheld - especially by the empowerment of women in Norhern India- within The Indian Dharma Trust)
7. Some communication is so laden with assumptions and blame statements rather than with clarity & taking responsibility that it can seem an overwhelming task to "detoxify" what was said to you by them (or even what you just said to yourself about yourself - your depression arising from your own destructively critical way of talking to yourself!). How about I help you with that and you help me, or someone else with it too, or with something else that you'd prefer to do that takes as long? (Mediation provided by Mediation Support Ltd on a Timebanking basis: contact me via the web here or phone Zero7807066202)
8. "Your ability to understand me is heavily influenced by your willingness to understand me. Would you be willing/able to find a way to generate that willingness that doesn't involve me doing anything first? Advice on generating empathy is widely available; I have preferred websites for doing that which I could let you know about if you remain stuck."

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