Elena Rainn

Zach P

Kyrsten Iris

Fede Bonino

_ eshago@uw.edu

Watashi Wa Jigabudesu

Karl Halmos-Westram

lonely loser

Ljsly Bernard

Tim M

Meganalissa Cowan

George Balaskas

As a way to start my sabbatical, I decided to read this series of excerpts from the extensive writings of Paulo Freire, complied by his wife Nita, and good friend Donaldo Macedo. As an introduction, the book gives a good introduction to some of the key ideas in his writing. However, the selections also don't draw on his extensive works on pedagogy as much as personal reflections on his exile and its impact on him as a person. Any anthology is difficult to put together, and because I have read most of his works in English, I was baffled by the choices, especially the extended section from Learning to Question, and his discussion about exile. What would have been helpful is a brief overview of each book that was excerpted and where the selected section fit in the whole.

Presented in Eliot Weinberger's excellent new translation with the Spanish texts en face, this is the 1957 poem "that definitively established Paz as a major international figure" (Sagetrieb). Written as a single cyclical sentence (at the end of the poem the first six lines are written again), Sunstone is a tour de force of momentum. It takes as its structural basis the circular Aztec calendar, which measured the synodic period of the planet Venus (584 days—the number of lines of Sunstone). But, as The New Republic noted, "this esoteric correlative design... does not circumscribe its subject. [It is] a lyrically discursive exploration of time and memory, of erotic love, or art and writing."

This is a book about freedom, and above all about the idea that there is often no greater obstacle to freedom than the assumption that it has already been fully attained. While in the West few individuals today suffer physical restraint by the state, we are still constrained by powerful psychological chains?which are in many ways far more effective, if only because they are so difficult to perceive. Influential writers such as Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman have shown that the corporately controlled mass media of Western democracies serve as a giant filter system favouring powerful state and business interests: what we receive as ?objective news? about domestic politics, human rights and environmental issues, is in fact an extremely partial and biased view of the world. Free to be Human shows how the same filter system distorts our understanding of many personal, ethical and spiritual issues, ensuring that we remain passive, conformist, confused and uninformed?and willing to accept the irrational values of corporate consumerism. David Edwards argues that, in order to counter this continual process of disinformation and disempowerment, we need to master the arts of intellectual self-defence and so become able to challenge the deceptions of a system that subordinates people and planet to the drive for profit.

The keys to self-knowledge and deep contentment are right here before us in this very moment--if we can simply learn to live with open awareness. In The Unfolding Now, A. H. Almaas presents a marvelously effective practice for developing the transformative quality of presence. Through a particular method of self-observation and contemplative exploration that he calls inquiry, we learn to live in the relaxed condition of simply "being ourselves," without interference from feelings of inadequacy, drivenness toward goals, struggling to figure things out, and rejecting experiences we don't want. Almaas explores the many obstacles that keep us from being present--including defensiveness, ignorance, desire, aggression, and self-hatred--and shows us how to welcome with curiosity and compassion whatever we are experiencing.

We've seen the power of the internet to connect people around the world in ways never before known. This remarkable book argues that the billions of messages and pieces of information flying back and forth are linking the minds of humanity together into a single, global brain - a brain with astonishing potential for the Earth.Peter Russell, an acclaimed author and speaker, weaves together modern technology and ancient mysticism to present a startling vision of the world to come - one in which humanity is a fully conscious super-organism in an awakening universe. He shows that the human potential movement is growing quickly while influencing business, politics, and medicine.This new edition is fully updated for the challenges we face in the twenty-first century.

At a time when everything, including the fate of our species, is at risk, eco-philosopher Joanna Macy talks about the shift from destruction to sustainability - which she refers to as the Great Turning - as the third major revolution in history. By weaving a story that takes place in deep time, from our ancestors to future generations, Macy helps us see our own lives in a broader context, and offers guidance for living with the uncertainty of these times and finding the strength and creativity to create a better world.

To say it is a conspiracy theory is an understatement. The fate of the world is not in the hands of the people, as it maybe should be. Rather, a growing body of evidence points to an ancient esoteric order that is behind wars, famine, economies, and even mainstream media. From corporate logos to military insignia, we see their symbols everyday, yet we fail to acknowledge the extent of their control. It is as if their secrets are hiding in plain sight. In a world where there seems to be no hope, beyond the glimmering images distracting us from the truth, we can discover our own sacred nature and reclaim the world.

IF A TREE FALLS is a rare behind-the-curtain look at the Earth Liberation Front, the radical environmental group that the FBI calls America's 'number one domestic terrorist threat.' With unprecedented access and a nuanced point of view, the documentary tells the story of Daniel McGowan, an ELF member who faced life in prison for two multi-million dollar arsons against Oregon timber companies. The film employs McGowan's story to examine larger questions about environmentalism, activism, and terrorism.

2011 documentary film by filmmaker Marshall Curry, exploring the origins, motives, and organization of the Earth Liberation Front and Eco-terrorism in general

Although our actions for the past 150 years have lifted our civilization to new heights, it has come at a tremendous price. We are now at a point where humanity's demands for natural resources far exceed the earth's capacity to sustain us. The extraction and the consumption of these resources in the past two centuries have changed our climate and ecosystems so significantly, that a new geological era had to be created. For some decades now people have been talking about saving the planet, but we are realizing that this is not really the issue. The central issue is civilization itself and whether we can save it. The stresses that we have put on the earth are not only threatening our habitat, but our way of life, our prosperity and even our existence on the planet. Our current paradigm must change. We will have to accept the new reality; the human economy is part of nature and not the other way around. We are faced with great challenges, but unlike the rest of the living world, we have the unique ability to adapt and decide our fate and the fate of most of the biosphere, for better or worse, in order to survive the human project.

A documentary that calls the world to wake up and start existing.

How would a world without money look? What creates your personality and the values you accept? How did we humans create the world we live in? These are a few of the questions TROM documentary tries to answer. From The Big Bang to The Monetary System, Religion, Human Behaviour, War or Slavery, to a new Global Social System, TROM Documentary tries to analyze the world we live in. We all realize that this world is packed with many social problems and TROM tries not only to outline them but to provide alternative solutions for many of them. It uses many clips from numerous influential people like Jacque Fresco, George Carlin, Carl Sagan, James Randy or Jiddu Krishnamurti to demonstrate the points it makes. The duration of this documentary is almost 14 hours and may be very well the biggest documentary ever created.

Humanity's ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, A Short History Of Progress inspired SURVIVING PROGRESS, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by "progress traps" - alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world's resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn't an evolutionary dead-end.

2011 Canadian documentary film directed by Harold Crooks

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems.

2007 film by Leila Conners, Nadia Conners

This film gathers information from many sources and puts it together in a way that shows it is possible for people to be manipulated by large institutions, governments and economic powers. It is divided into 3 parts. 1. Religion: Pagan astrological beliefs compared to modern and ancient religions. (9:35-35:53) 2. 9/11: An overview of the numerous questionable aspects of this immensely important event. (35:54-1:09:16) 3. The Federal Reserve Bank: A history of its formation and ability to control the economy. (1:09:17-1:56:23) With many news clips from tragic events in history, audio excerpts from those who believe people are being misled about the level of freedom they have.

Beyond Reason is a film that uses the Modern Scientific Method to examine the Modern Scientific Method. Our intellects are bound by our perceptions and what we perceive is limited by our five senses. From what we've learned though modern physics, what we perceive through our five senses is more unreal than it is real which means our intellects can only get us so far. To get to the Truth, we need to go Beyond Reason.

Beyond Belief explores how belief systems that we all carry with us tend to limit our experience of the world and that in order for us to expand our minds and our awareness, we need to move Beyond Belief. Beyond Belief is non-commercial, non-profit & educational and all proceeds go towards continued production of highly profound and thought provoking documentary films.

A visually stunning documentary that reflects human's relationship to other species on Earth as humanity becomes more and more isolated from Nature.

2015 documentary film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot

This documentary examines the flaws in our systems, and the mechanisms that work against democracy and the environment. From conflicts of interests in politics and unregulated corporate power, to a news media that serves the interests of powerful elites; ETHOS explores the systems that lead us into over consumption and warfare. Too often the media celebrates aspects of our society that belong in the dark ages, while at the same time ignoring or ridiculing progressive thinking or ideas. Many aspects of the way our systems work almost guarantee our destruction as a society and that's what this film is about. Fractured societies, poverty, disparity, pollution, warfare. Is there something inherently wrong with the human race? Is that what we should think of ourselves? We have tried to set up forms of law and government that safeguard the public good. But, if the majority of people want to live in peace and justice in a clean environment and we look around at the world and see that isn't the case, then is our democracy broken? Every time we turn on the TV there is another environmental catastrophe. Our water, our air, poisoned. Why do we allow this? The news shows endless reels of starving refugees fleeing to escape war zones. Why are we still fighting endless wars? Why do we live like this? If these things are happening then they are the logical outcomes to the way our systems work. So, what is wrong with the system? And more importantly, how can we fix it? These are the question Ethos attempts to answer.

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