INTRODUCTION

[Michael Grove]

 

The entirety of our species - homo sapiens sapiens - now 7 billion individuals

and counting - through the process of evolution and as a consequence of the

actions of others and the events of history - have found themselves established

as members of a diverse and complex arrangement of ...

A Global Collection of Collectives.

 

The consequences of the complex interactions between the belief systems

of both the individuals and the collectives - has resulted in a supposedly

democratically agreed status quo of Global Free Trade based on an Outdated

Economic Model, consequential to what Eisenhower referred to, over 50 years

ago, as the Military Industrial Complex - or what might otherwise be described

as - The Dynamism of CHAOS within the Serenity of Order.

 

In the context of web-based online social networking - I would envisage a

future comprised of an AlphaINDEX of AlphaINDEXs of Stories but this - my

own particular AlphaINDEX of Stories - is dedicated to the event in history that

was ZAADZ. 

 

AN event which Brian Johnson initiated towards the end of 2005 and ended

with the demise of [e-mail] as it transmogrified into giamtv.com.

 

The WHY WHO HOW & WHEN variances of The ZAADZ Complex as compared

with those of The Baader Meinhof Complex can best be explained by the

juxtaposition of what I would refer to as Healthy Anger and Toxic Anger in

the context of the perspective of - THE forces of Nature v Homo sapiens -

and so, by way of this introduction, the first few of my stories are yet again

revealed to ALL of you out there who might be interested in the WHY WHO

HOW & WHEN of LIFE in the 21st Century - and as Daniel Levin - my own

modern day Spinoza - says in his really wonderful book -

 

"My hope in writing down the sayings and stories in this book is that you'll

discover the "ZEN MIND", the mind that sees all things for the first time. 

Each time you read a story, it will be as if you've never read it before. 

And each time - the meaning of the story - will enter you anew." 

 

 

 

.

 

 

[Michael Grove]

 

Thank You ALL and remember well that sometimes Life is A Story Without Words ...

I seek not fame or fortune. It is generally recognized by my close set of freinds that although

they and my family have always enjoyed the best of lifestyles, they would have been better off

financially to the tune of at least £1M had I not spent it on my life-long project.

And understandably sometimes put off by my rants - but seemingly of the opinion over time

that - ” Michael is not always right but he is invariably not wrong ! ” - boy do I need a holiday.

I have until now stalwartly avoided putting my thoughts into books - despite several offers of

lucrative contracts from OUP and others over the years - because I abhor the concept of

intellectual elitism - a concept, which was of course, at the root of the reason why Pirsig wrote

Zen and the Art of Motor-cycle Maintenance.

[Michael Grove]

We do NOT have a new story yet. Each of us is aware of some of its threads, for example in

most of the things we call alternative, holistic, or ecological today. Here and there we see

patterns, designs, emerging parts of the fabric. But the new mythos has not yet emerged.

We will abide for a time in the space between stories. Those of you who have been through it

on a personal level know that it is a very precious – some might say sacred – time. Then we are

in touch with the real. Each disaster lays bare the real underneath our stories. The terror of a

child, the grief of a mother, the honesty of not knowing why. In such moments we discover our

humanity. We come to each other’s aid, human to human. We take care of each other.

That’s what keeps happening every time there is a calamity, before the beliefs, the ideologies,

the politics take over again. Events like Sandy Hook, for at least a moment, cut through all that

down to the basic human being. In such times, we learn who we really are.

How can we prepare? - We cannot prepare - But we are being prepared.

- See more at: http://charleseisenstein.net/2013-the-space-between-stories/#sthash...

[Michael Grove]

The world seems to be in a state of such flux now, that I cannot make any plan but to ride the wave.

I do intend to keep writing: essays and articles for the time being, and then other books. I will

probably write another book soon on gift, and perhaps a short book on degrowth economics.

My next major book will probably be about the world-creating power of story, and how, on a

personal and collective level, we can exercise that power to participate in the building of a 

more beautiful world.

- See more at: http://charleseisenstein.net/about/#sthash.t96u1EAs.dpuf

[Michael Grove]

The Moneyless Manifesto explores in-depth the social, personal, ecological and economic

reasons why we may want to transition beyond money into a localised, gift-based economic

model. In it he also provides a vast toolkit of ways you can thrive with little (or no) money.

For more information (and to read the book) go to: http://www.moneylessmanifesto.org.

[Michael Grove]

Both the globalizing culture of the computer, and the cosmopolitan culture of the book,

will begin to make sense only when they are rooted in a thriving oral culture of unmediated

face-to-face interactions within one's local community. It is only then that the computers and

even books will really begin to nourish us in a way that is more benevolent than it is destructive.

Oral cultures are necessarily storytelling cultures, which are inevitably place-based cultures -

because the stories that thrive and live in this valley will be very different from the ones being told

on the other side of this mountain range. Rejuvenating the primacy of the sensuous world -

renewing our solidarity with the more-than-human locale - is only going to happen by

rejuvenating oral culture. Face to face storytelling, and all the things that go with it. Rituals,

community festivals, collective and good-hearted initiations of the young men by the older

men, and of the young women by the elder women, community celebrations honouring the

seasonal changes. 

                                             David Abram during an interview with Derrick Jensen  entitled ...
                                            Alliance for Wild Ethics || The Perceptual Implications of GAIA