John Muir: Attached to the Rest of the World.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." -naturalist, John Muir

John Muir was a tireless defender of Mother Nature, Mystic of the Woods, and Advocate for the preservation of our Sacred Temples of Earth. As with a shaman, Muir survived a brush with bodily harm, which beckoned him to a higher calling of the spirit. After a sawmill accident nearly left him blind, John received a revelation, "he saw the world—and his purpose—in a new light," wrote author, Amy Marquis in her book, "A Mountain Calling."



John Muir recalled, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons." According to biographer Donald Worster's book, "Passion of Nature," he saw that purpose to be, "saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism." Thus, disillusioned by the addiction to materialism that belched forth during the Industrial Revolution, Muir disappeared into the woods to be embrace Mother Nature's spirituality. To many in that era, the idea that nature was spiritually on par with "God" was heresy. At the time, unlike past eras, much of Christianity saw nature as something to be tamed and exploited. It was a careless attitude that stemmed in large part from a ego-distorted view of the Biblical verse granting humanity dominion over the Earth.



As he wandered the land, John Muir stood at the feet of the cathedrals of nature and proclaimed that no temple made by the hand of man could compare to those within the environment. As he explored further, Mother Nature opened up and revealed a realm of such complexity, grandeur and interaction that Muir was understandably humbled. It was dramatically clear to him that humanity was but one spoke in a giant wheel of environmental interdependence and not its master. Mother Nature spoke to him through the whispering pines and the singing rivers that these natural sanctuaries could heal the wounds of the world. It was a world that was poisoning itself with urban pollution, dehumanized by rampant greed and spiritually lost.



Yet, the magic of these natural worlds were quickly disappearing within the so-called jaws of "industrial progress" and John Muir understood what was to be done. He hoisted the banner of Mother Nature and beckoned a war-weary country to be healed by her powers; and the people came. He extolled the virtues of the land and guests to those temples left converted protectors of those rediscovered treasures of Earth. I guess you could say that John Muir was the Savior of the American Wilderness. May we honor the gift he has given us by passing on his wisdom to future generations.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

The Fallacy of Using the Bible to Oppose Homosexuality.

I laughed my ass off when I read this. I especially liked this part, "I believe in morality, which is doing right regardless of what I am told...not in religion, which is doing what I am told regardless of what is right." The Bible is one of the most inconsistent and incoherent pieces of religious fiction that I have ever read. And I've read it several times. Believe it or not, I was a Christian missionary at one point; and a good one. So, I've heard it all and read it all. It describes a god that is a petty, vindictive sociopath who is consumed by jealousy. No true god of humility would be such a megalomaniac. The god of the Bible is infested with intolerance and prone to murderous bouts of rage. This deity is the biggest hypocrite known to humanity. So, given all of this; why would anyone worship such a nasty being?

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Vile Teacher Wants Gay Students Dead.

Arkansas school board member Clint McCance believes "queers" and "fags" should kill themselves — that is, if they don't get AIDS and die first. While schools across the country are taking action against bullying and suicide, a board member of an Arkansas school district is using his Facebook page to encourage "queers" and "fags" to kill themselves:

Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE

Green Man: And he didn't stop there (that's him in the picture). When someone disagreed with his rant in the comments and sarcastically said, "Because hatred is always right" this psycho replied:

No because being a fag doesn't give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives [...] I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die. If you arent against it, you might as well be for it.

This jackass has sway in guiding our young people as a school board member. I don't think he read the same New Testament that I've read because the Jesus I know didn't advocate violence, hatred or intolerance. He didn't encourage people to wish harm upon others and certainly didn't ostracize people for being different. In fact, he was criticized for talking to adulterous women and lepers. It never ceases to amaze me how different many Christians behave when compared to what they are taught. This man is vile and not only needs to be removed from office but also enrolled in anger management classes. This schizoaffective would also recommend someone get him on anti-psychotics ASAP.

It sickens me that he thinks people wearing purple to raise awareness for bullying gays (or anyone) is "ruining the rest of our lives." How is his life "ruined" because people are advocating non-violence?!! CRAZY!! Jesus preached non-violence too, so by his definition he should hate Jesus and state that he is ruining peoples' lives. Perhaps some Christians are right and Jesus would disagree with homosexuality but I doubt he'd be happy if they were treated this way. Nor do I think he'd be happy that gays are committing suicide. How does this clown rationalize suicide being just as frowned upon in Christianity as homosexuality?

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Bisexuality: My Story.

I told you that I was going to do some posts about sexuality on here now and then. As a married man who is still coming to terms with his bisexuality. So, I've wanted to write a post addressing the matter for awhile.

Anyway, I have always been attracted to men as well as women. It's just that growing up in a very traditional, conservative, Christian household I wasn't allowed much freedom to explore my sexuality. Shit, even masturbation was taboo; an act that would barrel you straight down to hell in my family. So I learned at an early age to suppress sexual desires of all kinds--let alone thoughts about another guy. Still, it's hard to keep a young, horny, teen-age boy away from his constant, demanding and intimidating erection!! So, I allowed myself to masturbate but not without some serious guilt behind it. Those sessions of young, pent up, raging, hormones were always tainted (partially ruined as well) by my parents voice in my head reminding myself that "God was watching." Upon thinking about "God" watching me I remember feeling a bit uncomfortable with such a concept because it was drilled into my mind to not let adults see your private parts.

I ended up straying from the morals of my parents in junior high and high school. I often found myself up late at night at sleep overs with a guy friend watching soft-core porn on cable t.v. I vividly remember trying to find a way to masturbate with my buddy to the movie. We'd talk about how sexy the women looked in the movies but never whipped it out and went for it (SIDE NOTE: Not all guys who masturbate together are gay or bisexual but many are).

He seemed conflicted in his eyes but not for long because he just said he was tired and that was that. I fell asleep dreaming about mutual masturbation with him. I finally got near to masturbating with another kid while watching dirty movies in my basement but my parents broke it up by yelling downstairs to us that it was dinner time; and that meant "Eddy" had to leave. Up until this point my brother and I had been masturbating in secret with each other while watching porn movies that I borrowed from friends. It wasn't something I considered incest because we were nearly the same age. We were just two horny boys trying to figure out their sexuality. For my brother I think it was simply a way to "cum" without getting in trouble with the parents by having actual sex--and with a girl. For me though it was very arousing because they fulfilled my fantasies of masturbating with another guy. We went as far as oral sex on each other but our fun ended when my young, guilt-ridden conscience went to my parents and confessed. I still feel bad for that because my older brother got in trouble for it. Sorry bro, I was a confused kid at the time.

By then I was in high school and started focusing on girls again. I dated a few girls and had some pretty amazing and wild sexual experiences with them but I still would have thoughts of guys. However, I'd always "delete" them from my mind when they arose because I was worried if I encouraged them that I'd be sent to "hell." Now, I'd be sent to "hell" in that Christian tradition for having sex with girls out of wedlock too but I was always taught that gay sex was worse. So, you can understand then why I still to this day have guilt over enjoying sexual experiences with men and it's something I think I'll be working with for awhile. That church really fucked up my chances at a normal, healthy, sex life but I'm gaining it back step by step. That's what happens when you preach repressive bullshit to innocent, susceptible kids--you ruin any chance of them making decisions based on their own wishes, desires and thoughts. In the end, I went on a two year mission for that church where I was around nobody but guys--Ha!! Believe me the homosexual desires didn't go away in that environment!!

Fast forward to marrying my wife. One of the mains reasons that I married my wife was because we talked about sexuality in-depth before taking the plunge. We had a very open and honest dating life and talked extensively about what we liked and disliked, sexually speaking. It wasn't long before we both professed bisexual tendencies--we were both relieved to find that we shared a common "secret." I only say "secret" because at the time the community we lived in was still very much in the cloth of that rigid church.

We both accepted each other for who we were and knew that our love for each other was strong enough to allow for split, sexual desires--and as of today, we've been happily married for 10+ years. Anyway, we had our time doing the swinging lifestyle, which was one of the reasons I married her. I didn't want to marry someone who was sexually too "vanilla." I wasn't going to marry (I had told myself at a young age) if I couldn't enjoy both sides of the sexual shopping aisle. We have tappered off the swinging over the last few years simply because neither of us feels our bodies are attractive enough to warrant anyone being interested in us right now. Ha!!

Some people don't understand how you can be bisexual and in a marriage. Let's forget the swinging aspect of our relationship for this part of the discussion because right now we're not swinging anyway. But this brings up an important point that bisexuals have to explain over and over. It's the concept of the "Alternating Bisexual" which by the sounds of it should be easy to understand but unfortunately for a lot of people--it's not. Anyway, I don't have space to describe the whole concept, so I'll leave you with a link to a blog that addresses it perfectly. LINK.

Anyway, that's all I have time for now but I'll be addressing my sexuality further in the days to come as I haven't really told my story on here yet. It's much more in-depth than this quick write-up but this will have to suffice for now. Anyway, (kicks the closet door open) I'm "The Green Man" and I'm a bisexual--and proud of it.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

The Green Man's Curse Part III--The Conclusion.

(Animist fetish market in Togo, West Africa)

Our lungs were still burning with rage from running like two gazelle sprinting for their lives when the power in our house briefly flickered it's last breaths before giving into a dark death. We stumbled outside onto the balcony like kids fleeing a shadow in the middle of the night. Upon reaching the landing we saw the street lamp barely glowing while in the distance this high pitched whine began to approach. It sounded like the village was about to be invaded by a swarm of militant bees. Then out of the night engulfed street, coming from the direction of the cemetery a group of about 10 men on mopeds exploded into our field of vision headed toward the intersection just off the far right corner of our balcony. Immediately they drove around the intersection in a circle of mechanical choreography, kicking up the silence of the night with each crank of their hand shifters.

One of them was carrying a clay pot on his lap and smashed it in the middle of the abandoned intersection, and with that they sped off as fast as they appeared. We all stood in shock trying to make sense of the earthquake of events that had shaken up our night. The silence built into an awkward, uncomfortable tension when one of the missionaries that was already home before we arrived out of the breath stated, "Witchcraft." Chills washed over me and then a split second flashed by and the lights jumped back to life as if by command from the utterance of the word, "witchcraft." The pots were nothing new to our lives as missionaries because people left them all over villages as they were often used as vessels to "pour out sickness" into to cure ill or "cursed" people. They are usually filled with twigs, herbs, sometimes animal blood and often the urine of the person cursed or ill with a disease. This was symbolic of flushing the malady out of your body.

Broken pots in a lot of African Animism also symbolize death as a complete one is literally the holder of life as it often contains sustaining water. They also symbolize someone attempting to break down a social relationship, as a full pot constitutes harmony and welcoming. When one welcomes another to a village they are often brought a new clay pot full of food. A broken pot is also a symbol of banishment and social separation from society. A broken pot in other words is a bad sign. And here were these men smashing one full of a dark liquid and all kinds of plant material right in front of our house. Clearly some of the hatred toward us stemmed from being Christian missionaries in a village (Yamoussoukro) which is very proud of it's animist beliefs and saw us a threat. Now that I'm long past being a missionary and a Christian in general I can't say that I blame them. Christians have brought a lot of misery to Africa.

So, given that status (and being a white Christian on top of it) there were plenty of people who could have had the reason to curse my fortunes and future. I don't know if I believe in curses but after I came home from my two years in Africa my life fell apart, and I haven't been the same since. I have also had the worst luck where before Africa I had great luck. I don't have the time or room to describe all the incidents but suffice to say that if it could go wrong with me it has or will. It's not just me--my wife knows about the "dark, gray, cloud" that follow me and rains down upon me horrible luck. So, do my friends and family who can't believe how many things go wrong in my life--both in little and big ways. The biggest examples being having to drop out of the Master's degree program in African history, (ironically) and being diagnosed with the severe mental illness of Schizoaffective disorder.

Is it a coincidence then that I faced many smashed pots near the many places I lived at in Africa, and that ever since I've been home I've felt alienated from the society around me? In every way nearly I'm an outcast from my society since returning home. I have a mental illness, which causes people to shun me. I am a Buddhist with Pagan beliefs, which is frowned upon by my Christian dominated society. I am bisexual, which again is frowned upon by my society. Politically I am a liberal, which isn't a majority view in my society. All of this isn't by choice it's just labels that apply to how my personality expresses itself and yet they are all minority views it seems. I don't like interacting with people anymore because I somehow always get unwanted attention, or there's always a complication with whatever business I'm trying to accomplish. I get manic, anxious and irritable around too much noise and yet it seems like noise flocks around me as if by spell. Just now as I'm trying to explain why I feel cursed after my time in Africa the lawn mowing company showed up to crank on their loud machines to conveniently block my concentration. They usually don't come on this day or this late.

So, I ask you is all this a curse or coincidence? And if it is a curse, what dear Pagans do you suggest I do to lift it or at least cleanse my energy. I just want the chaos to ease up. There's only so many problems a person can face in a ten year span--and it shows no sign of slowing down!! I feel stalked by everyone as if I'm being watched and whenever I try to do something beneficial for me I am intercepted by someone who thwarts by plans. Maybe not even knowingly but it's happened so many times that I'm really starting to wonder about this curse stuff. And I'm really starting to wonder if somehow the curse could be using others as the vehicle to thwart my plants. Another thing to consider is that I was given a small statue of a traditional Ivorian hunter before I left--is it possible that's where the bad energy is coming from? It's hard to believe though since it was given to me by a "friend?"

~The Green Man has Spoken~

The Green Man's Curse.

When I was a young man (19-21) I was sent to steamy West Africa on a mission for my then church--The Mormons. I had been raised and groomed from an early age to travel to the far ends of the Earth to fervently and passionately spread the "truth" that The Mormons were the only church ordained by God on High himself. It is said that each missionary is sent to a locale determined upon what The Prophet has been instructed from Elohim (God) during his prayers.

Being the good Mormon boy that I was at the time I dutifully waited for "the letter" at a Mormon run college in nowhere Idaho. I have always been a very spiritual person and I was serious about my commitment to the "Armies of Helamen," which were allegedly an ancient army of young men warrior Mormons in the Americas as written in the Book of Mormon. Today the term is also used to refer the the Mormon churches' army of some 50,000+ missionaries spreading the faith.

Being somewhat psychic I had a feeling that I would be sent of Africa. I set off studying everything I could find on Africa, and before long the continent began calling to me. So it was to my delight that I was "called" to serve in a new mission in Cote D'Ivoire, (Ivory Coast) West Africa. This is a French speaking, developing country on the west coast of Africa just neighboring Ghana. The predominate religion practiced in the tropical country is animism followed by Islam and bringing up the tail-end is Christianity. It is a minority religion, which as an American I had never experienced. Then take into account the history of Christianity in the region and you'll realize how deeply Christians wounded Africans during the colonial slave trade era. Let's just say in conclusion that I wasn't the most popular guy off the boat!! Yet I was too intoxicated with the rhythm, beauty, style, flavor and smell of Mother Africa to be too worried about much--especially at 19 years old!!

In between savoring strange, new foods I set out to "save the Ivorians" from the "evils of witchcraft." I was an eager, model missionary who was quietly being groomed for leadership. Despite my willingness to fully marinate myself in this otherworldly culture I was a vulnerable young boy who, really, was in over his head. Yet nothing seemed amiss as I was too consumed with memorized verses from the Book of Mormon and visions of a tropical paradise assaulted my brain. Then one sweltering day I remember shopping for our daily meals amongst the bright chaos of one of the open air markets in our village.

At one point while looking for the fish lady, I passed this strange stall filled with bones, jars full of nasty, dark liquids, animal skins, trinkets and other "junk." As I passed I noticed an old, short, gray bearded guy wearing rags of what looked like burlap bags held together with twine, trinkets, amulets and shards of metal and glass. Time slowed distinctly as I made eye contact with him and he seemed to be furious by my presence. I could feel his crocodile like narrowed eyes intruding into my eye sockets, and never did he take his eyes off of mine. Then faintly I heard him mutter something in my direction, and it clearly wasn't French. I had to assume it was a tribal language. His body language was confrontational at this point as he flashed his hands in my direction as if he were flinging something at me. After breaking visual contact I felt time continue on it's merry way and I came to my senses to realize that I had probably just been "cursed." My suspicions were confirmed when I was told later by a local that he was an animist priest. I must admit that for all my youthful invincibility I felt fear creep and for the first time I knew that I was pilgrim in a strange land (to be continued....)

God Allows Jesus to be Stuck by Lightening.

Monroe, Ohio

A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

Green Man: Where was "God" on this one?!! The method of destruction is deliciously ironic. Especially for those of us who have to put up with fundamentalist, loud-mouth Christians given that being struck by lightening is often seen amongst many fundamentalist Christians as "God" punishing you for saying something blasphemous, or other "sin." I get annoyed with Christians who claim everything is a sign from "God" but when their church gets flooded or this statue burns to the ground it was just a natural accident. Well, that's convenient isn't it? Maybe "God" and Jesus got into a bit of an argument up within the boardroom of Heaven Inc., and "God" took out the statue to remind the kid who was still in charge.

Maybe the churchgoers weren't praying enough, so "God" nuked the Jesus statue, which brings up another Christian conundrum that I often stump people on. I stole this from the late, great, favorite comedian of mine, George Carlin. When loved ones die despite their relatives praying fervently to save them they often say, "Well, it was 'God's' will that they died. He must have needed them up in heaven." To, which I say, "Well, if 'God' is going to do whatever he wants anyway then why pray in the first place?" It seems pointless, illogical and disrespectful to that very "God" toward whom Christians usually say, "Thy will be done." In praying are you questioning his authority to decide what is best for everyone. These are obvious questions to me and I can't understand why Christians can't see the paradoxes within their own religion such as these. Especially coming from the many well-educated ones.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Two Mile Long Scar on Great Barrier Reef After Ship Grounding.

"Even if severe toxic contamination is not found at the site, initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority indicate it could take 20 years for the world's largest coral reef to recover, said scientist David Wachenfeld. In some areas, "all marine life has been completely flattened and the structure of the shoal has been pulverized by the weight of the vessel," Wachenfeld said."

Green Man: I don't know much about international law but I hope that Australia sues this Chinese shipping company for all they're worth to help pay for the clean up and loss. If we take protecting our natural treasures then there needs to be stiff penalties for damaging such world heritage sites like the Great Barrier Reef. The other aspect of preventing this again is to end our use on fossil fuels--our oceans are a life-line for millions of people and trashing them is like slowly taking poison. The reef has been in existence since possibly twenty million years ago and so it's shocking how fast this massive yet fragile reef can be destroyed.

For centuries man has seen nature as oppressive, tenacious and something to be tamed but we have finally remembered what our ancestors knew--that as nature goes, so goes our species and every other one. We mocked Pagans and other nature based believers because they worshiped rocks and trees but they lived in harmony with the environment and not only survived but thrived. So, now that we're nearly at the point of no return from environmental degradation we need to remember that our ancestors gave us these precious treasures and the wisdom to live amongst them and yet still thrive.

Yet we forgot and/or discarded these gifts in favor of the Christian belief that nature is given to man to do with it what we please. And that since we bought the idea that "God" gave it all to us we assumed that nature was inexhaustible. Thus we arrogantly felt we no longer needed to live in harmony with it because "God" would somehow take care of any complications along the way. Well, oh how wrong we were and still are!! There are still some that believe it doesn't matter how we treat our environment because Jesus will sweep in on a white horse and save us regardless. Yet with each passing year no one comes--just like in the play, "Waiting for Godot" and our world gets increasingly uninhabitable. I can almost hear the ancestors speaking through the whispering trees saying, "We told you so" but that it's still not too late to return to the ancient ways.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

PHOTO CREDIT: NASA

I'm Reclaiming the Pagan Wreath from Christians.

One thing I do to help remind me that life will return despite the freezing depths of winter is by bringing a wreath into the house. It is a nice splash of green life amidst all the lifeless snow and the scent of pine is so relaxing and invigorating. I choose wreaths in part because Christmas trees have become synonymous with Christianity. And while wreaths are still used by Christians they seem less polluted by Christian tradition. I want to reclaim the wreath for Pagans. I know that part of these Christian Christmas traditions were stolen from the Pagans to assimilate Pagans into Christianity but that makes me wonder even more about the supposed "peaceful message" of Christianity. They sure don't like it when someone mocks their traditions but it's o.k. to maintain the Christian mockery of Pagan, yule-tide celebrations by stealing our symbols and supplanting the Pagan meanings behind them with Christian ones?

No, I'm done with sharing. So I'm reclaiming the wreath, the "Christmas tree" and all the other Pagan traditions that Christians enjoy but probably have no idea of their origin. Imagine the outrage they'd feel if we took the cross and said it was now a symbol of Pagan resistance to Christianity as carried out by the Romans. They'd be furious and rightly so but they don't give a shit about stealing someone else's traditions. You'd think they'd want to purge those elements from their supposed, "pure" religion like some have tried to do recently with Halloween celebrations, which stem from the fall, Pagan celebration of Samhain. What these Christians don't realize is that they'd not have much left to celebrate the season except the cross and the manger. They love to have it both ways -- They don't want anyone to call this holiday season anything but Christmas but they'll keep using Pagan oriented traditions? Then again, since when did many (not all but many) Christians worry about double standards?

Plus the circle represents the cycle of life, death and rebirth -- rebirth being a the key to emotional survival in the winter months. The empty hole in the center of a wreath reminds me of all that is yet to be known such as the great mysteries of our existence. It is also a symbol of our homes (the center space in the wreath) being surrounded and protected from the elements by nature such as big pine trees that withstand and blowing winter winds. I have considered ordering a wreath made specifically for Pagans but we'll probably just get one at the grocery store because of a tight budget. We, like a lot of people don't have a lot of money to spend this time of year.

~Be well~