Ben Franklin is probably best known for being one of the Founding Fathers of the USA. Franklin was a pretty interesting guy. A printer by trade and later a scientist of some note, Franklin got rich publishing his Poor Richard’s Almanac a kind of philosophical musing that had 10,000 readers in Philadelphia alone. Considering Philly had a population of around 70,000 at the time, his popularity was equivalent to er um Glen Beck or Tony Robbins.
When he was 21 Franklin got together with a bunch of cronies and founded the Junto. The Junto members were a group of like minded working class Joes whose aim was self improvement and contribution to their community. ” The Junto was a philosophical discussion group a kind of active Facebook of its time. Because books were real expensive, the Junto created a lending library which became one of the forerunners of the modern day public library.
Ben Franklin published his 13 virtues in the Poor Richard Almanac. Like all wise people who had something to teach, Franklin also knew that ‘we teach what we need to learn’. He was heavily influenced by Jesus and Socrates [see below] and drew on them when writing his own ‘guide to virtuous living.
Franklin kept a daily record of how well he did on being ‘virtuous’ sometimes focusing on one virtue every week, doing his best to stick to it. And a lot of the time he failed cos Ben, like all humans, was flawed BUT he kept on trying.
I have translated the explanations of his ‘virtues’ for modern times with a few comments on how they apply to whats happening in the world now.
1. TEMPERANCE. Don’t stuff your face full of food, don’t drink alcohol to excess and don’t get off your head on drugs.
Stop using the TV as a 24/7 reality escape pod or kid nanny. Don’t let your kids be tempted by chicken scum-lets and dire do-nuts. Fat kids get bullied and die young. When you’re down, instead of reaching for the remote, the beer bottle or the cookie tin, pray or do yoga, chop some wood or go for a walk.
2. SILENCE. If you can’t say something that’s gonna help yourself or someone else, shut the f*** up. Silence is a gift to help us stay in the moment and experience reality instead of our recording of it.
Sometimes we speak just to hear the sound of our own voice doing everything possible to punctuate the sweet sound of silence with useless babble. Take a deep breath, and enjoy the silence as an opportunity to be in the moment, feel your body as it does what it’s doing, instead of being in your head regretting or planning for the future.
Silence is the space where ideas take root
3. ORDER. Work/Leisure balance. Theres a place for everything and a time for everything.
The art of Feng Shui is about order and harmony. Put things away instead of leaving them around. Clean up after yourself and that means the bath tub and your dishes. Use storage instead of piles.
4. RESOLUTION. Do what you feel is the right thing to do and make sure you see it through.
Keep your word. Remember that as soon as the light emerges, darkness comes in to waylay your good intentions. Be prepared for challenges and keep your eye on the potential, not the pitfalls.
5. FRUGALITY. Use your resources wisely to help yourself and others and repurpose, recycle and reuse.
Next time you buy something cheap from a dollar store, remember that it is designed to break. Before throwing away anything, ask yourself, can someone else make use of it or can I turn it into something else. Instead of throwing away ziplock bags, wash them and reuse them. We ‘rescue’ cardboard from being burnt every week at the mission center. We use it to line our shoes, insulate the walls, start the woodstove and mulch the garden. Everything can be repurposed if you allow creativity to flourish.
6. INDUSTRY. Work hard and meaningfully. Don’t waste your time in frivolity. Use time wisely for a good purpose.
Teach your kids the value of hard work. Instead of just giving them money, make them do light chores and reward them in non-monetary ways so that they understand the value of work and barter reward.
Instead of giving them video games, buy them seeds and give them soil and a container or a plot of garden. Teach your children how things grow, provide them with hours of fascination and help them become the gardeners of the future. Can you really compare knowing how to zap aliens on a computer screen to learning how to grow food?
7. SINCERITY. Don’t bullshit people or pretend to be what you’re not. Speak honestly and mean what you say. Politicians spout b/s sincerity. They might learn from Franklin’s example and actually keep to their election manifestos rather than using hypnotic manipulation speak to get the vote and then do what lines their pocket regardless of whether it’s what they said they’d do.
8. JUSTICE. Fair dos for all. Do the right thing always. Be fair and don’t do stuff that will screw up other people for your benefit.
Justice is not having a Supreme Court Judge like Clarence Thomas, with strong alliances to Monsanto, ruling in their favor on gene patenting and opening the doors to Frankenfoods. Justice is making sure everyone has access to identical legal representation or understands the law instead of the current system which allows those with the most dollars to win, regardless of whether they are in the right or not.
9. MODERATION. No need for excess, moderation in everything. Don’t take more than you need. The earth has limited resources, and if we moderate our use, focus on sustainability and renewability, we might leave something for others.
Water is precious and yet we flush gallons of it down the toilet every day. If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down. Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth. Catch water in rain barrels and re-use it for watering the food garden.
10. CLEANLINESS. Keep yourself and your surroundings clean and tidy. The Native Americans might have lived what we see as a ‘primitive’ life, yet every day they got up and washed themselves in the creek.
Instead of throwing down litter, sort it for recycling and pick up litter when you see it even if it’s not yours. Wash out your mouth with salt water frequently to prevent dental plaque and keep your teeth healthier. – using water that is filitered or non chlorinated/fluoridated.
11.TRANQUILLITY. Peace and Love Man. Don’t get worked up about silly stuff in the big scheme of things. When something gets you angry, take a deep breath and imagine breathing out the feelings. Let your anger energy become action energy. When faced with confrontation, stay calm, resist but don’t resort to violence. Take a walk in nature, and sit under a tree or better still hug one – trees really do emit peaceful energy.
12. CHASTITY. Sexual encounters are for creating children and maintaining healthy relationship. Don’t get pulled in by sexual excess, don’t hurt anyone else through your own lust or get hooked on it. Sex is often a release for anger and frustration. Don’t debase yourself by seeking sex with anyone you can find. Keep active and some of that excess energy will dissipate. Take a tantric course and learn how to manage your sexual energy.
13. HUMILITY Let go of vanity and pride and self aggrandisement and instead ask yourself ‘what would Jesus or Socrates do in this situation?’
Ben Franklin’s spiritual and intellectual mentors:
JESUS - Jesus preached love to all man, humility, sacrifice, being prepared to die for what you believe is right and that we are all children of God
SOCRATES believed that the best way for people to live was to focus on self-development not gathering lots of possessins. He believed humans would do right by concentrating more on friendship and a sense of true community which Socrates felt was the best way for people to grow together as a group.
The idea that humans possessed certain virtues formed a common thread in Socrates’ teachings. These virtues represented the most important qualities for a person to have, foremost of which were the philosophical or intellectual virtues.
Socrates stressed that virtue was the most valuable of all possessions and that it was the life work of the philosopher to accept that we know nothing and to show others the same and be prepared to keep learning.
9/11 happened 9 years ago today. In those 9 years, there has been a huge amount of speculation about what really went on. If we are to build a future that works, where we the people, one mankind, ALL of us are to live in harmony, we must heal the effect of 9/11.
We need to know the truth so that we can forgive and move on and make decisions about who we really want to run our lives.
We have given up on the system ever being changed using the same system. We believe that it is time for us all to band together and create local tribal communities working together to create self sustainability and freedom from the ever increasing restrictions on our liberties from free speech to what food we can eat and how we can barter and interact with our fellows.
We believe that like that we will create a wave of people coming together to say ‘NO!’ this is how we want it to be.. and we won’t support you any more. And slowly our dreams can insinuate into the human psyche as we show how it can be..if we are willing to do what it takes…
What do you think happened… can you let go? Are you ready to move on and do something different?
If you don’t feel aligned to any of our answers, please use the ‘other’ to state what or who was responsible.
Purposeful Tribe - together we can return to Earth and God
It is for good reason that we urge you to tribe up and find a simpler way of living before the excesses of this world destroy us.
Last night, June 27th 2010, we watched once more the film Apocalypto. In the light of recent events the film reflected so much of what is going on today and sends us a strong lesson from the Ghost Warriors of the forest tribes decimated by the Mayans. If we do not heed this lesson we are doomed.
““The precursors to a civilization that’s going under are the same, time and again,” “What’s human sacrifice if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?” Mel Gibson – Director/co-writer ‘Apocalypto’
The Mayans have been much in the forefront of current thinking as many of us are aware of their prophecies and their calendar portraying, very accurately according to Carl Calleman, Mayan calendar scholar, the evolution of human conscioiusness.
The Mayans were one of many ‘great civilizations’ who brought so much knowledge and understanding and technology to the world. Yet, like every single so-called civilization, they destroyed themselves in exactly the same way as the Sumerians, The Mesopotamians, The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Greeks and the Romans.
What destroyed them? Simply put, it was GREED. Their increasing populations and demands for resources let them to see out new lands, raping and pillaging and enslaving in their path as they greedily took more and more. They then believed themselves to be invincible and lost touch with God.
Despite their amazing awareness, the Mayans fell prey to the failings of humans and a belief that they are invincible, creating false idols and forgetting the simple words of God and the bounty they were gifted.
Money - the 'in god we trust' lie.
They built great temples to their gods, adorning them with rich jewels using slave labor to do so. In the same way the USA, and its cronies, have built enormous temples to the false god of MONEY. The temples are the banks and the Wall Street broker organisations and the multinational Corporates and the slaves are the people.
Our great Western World ‘civilization’ is following the same path as all those fallen empires. We need to heed the lessons of the film Apocalyto before we end up as those mighty fallen ones did, in total ruin.
Greed is the downfall of Man
The Tribe - hunting in the forest in tune with God and Nature
The film opens in the forests of South America. The tribe is hunting. As they joke and laugh and share out the ‘kill’ a group of people from another tribe pass by. They say that their lands had been devestated and they are seeking only to pass and find new lands to live on. Their faces are ravaged by fear.
The father of Jaguar Paw, the film’s hero, tells him that this fear is poison and that whatever he does he must not let it enter his system and poison the tribe. Later that evening the tribe gathers around the fire listening to the tale of an elder. It is about how man speaks to the animals and asks for gifts of sight, smell, courage etc. The animals offer him their gifts and assume that man is now happy, but as he leaves the wise owl says ‘man will never be happy for with all these gifts he still wants more’. It is the same lesson as that of Adam and Eve’s fall from the Garden of Eden.
Fear not and God will provide
A brave ghost warrior dies telling his son to 'show no fear'
As morning dawns, you see the tribes awakening to the invading Mayan butchers. They slaughter many of the tribe and take the men and women as slaves leaving the children behind so that they can return and harvest them later.
Lying on the ground Jaguar Paw speaks to his father who is also captive. When the Mayan in charge - a nasty tormenting vicious bully sees they are father and son – he slaughters the hero’s father before his eyes.. as his father dies he repeats again his words of wisdom ‘Do not fear’ .
If the Ghost warriors of the past could speak to us, I think they too would tell us to have courage and be not afraid. For fear is the weakness of mankind and we are all prey to it.
Excess and worship of false idols will destroy us
The Mayans lead their captives on a long and perilous journey through the forest to their cities. As they enter the cities we see a reflection of how it is today.. We pass through the slave camps, where men toil in deadly lime dust to build yet another temple. As we get closer to the inner city we see the poor on the fringe, grubbing a living, fighting over scraps of food.. until we pass through to the inner city where women sit eating grapes while slaves hold bowls to catch the seeds they spit.
The Mayan excess that was to destroy them
In the middle of the city is a huge temple where the King sits with his queen and his bloated disgusting son. It is here, that the high priest will sacrifice the captives. The Mayans are attempting to placate their gods because their crops have failed and their land is barren. Our hero is lying on the sacrifical block and the priest has his knife raised, ready to plunge in and cut out his heart.. Before he is led there he says to his compadre ‘I am not going to die here’ He walks to his fate in the same way I imagine Abraham took his son to the slaughter at the request of God.
The Ghost Warriors are warning us
To be prepared to die for our beliefs and to die with courage, knowing that we may affect the future even if we are not there to see it, is one of the lessons that the Ghost Warriors teach us.
The Ghost Warriors on the Trail of Tears. Their spirit lives on
As the Native Americans were herded on the long Trail of Tears from the fertile land they stewarded to the barren deserts they were to be walled up in, they sing the song of the Ghost Dance. They send the spirits of their elders and all who are to die on the trail into the future to warn and help those that face similar trials.
So our hero remembers his father as the Ghost Warrior who warns him never to give in to fear. They chant ‘we shall rise again’ as they remind us of the spirit that we need to resist slavery and find our true God-given way to the Garden of Eden that offers all that we need to live in joy.
Our hero escapes and is set free as a hunting target. His side pierced by a spear he removes it and runs into the forest pursued by his hunters, the Mayans. He has hidden his wife in a deep cave and he is driven to return and rescue her. The chase shows us many lessons about living close to nature and using what it offers us to survive and how when we are on track we can overcome many challenges.
Tune into the Earth and she will look after you
“Listen to all the teachers in the woods. Watch the trees, the animals and all the living things–you’ll learn more from them than books.” ~Joe Coyhis~
As he runs through the forest he peels bark from a tree and rubs it on his wound. Without weapons against an armed group of eight or more, he grabs a toad, and some needles from a tree. Dipping the needles in the toad’s venom he rolls up a leaf and shoots four of his pursuers. Using his intimate knowing of the forest and its resources he constructs a trap that kills the leader of his pursuers. The two remaining Mayans continue to pursue him through the forest until he comes to the beach.
Don’t follow the glitz and the wonder, return to earth, live simply
As they look to the shore they see the ships of the arriving Portuguese invaders. The Mayans forget their pursuit of the tribesman and walk towards the long boats coming ashore.. Our hero turns and runs. He rescues his wife from the cave and takes her to higher ground.
As they watch the conquerors coming ashore his wife says ‘Shall we go to them?’ He replies, turning away, ‘No, we will go deeper into the forest and find a new beginning’.
The Mayans, who are lost in their pursuit of wealth and acquisition are drawn to the invaders. We all know what the white man brought to these shores – devestation, sickness, slavery. The dark forces are drawn to even darker forces which will in turn destroy them.
Our hero knows better… he returns to the land he knows, to the dark forest, entering on a path he knows not where, but certain that this is the path he must take.
We are at that crossroads now… our empire and civilizations are crumbling around us and the poor people are falling like flies as the rich uber-elite try to shore up their false securities, their banks and their money deals and their grabbing for gold as a last resort.
Those of us who are wise and who heed the song of the Ghost Warriors know that this is NOT the way. We know that if we are to survive we must return to the ways of nature, to build a life and regenerate the Eden that God gave us and on which we have not only turned our backs, but we have raped and pillaged until she is barren and almost dead.
Which path will you take? The one that was paved with gold, fading into black oil stained slime, or the natural path into the forest where truth and light awaits when we tune into the earth and God’s will?
Messages from great Ghost Warriors
Let us take a moment to heed the song of the ghost warriors and to remember that many went before us bringing a message that lives on long after they are dead.
Dr Martin Luther King Jr died for his beliefs in freedom from poverty, war. Heed his words
Dr Martin Luther King Jr
Exploitation of the Poor
“A true revolution of values will soon look like a shameful striking contrasts between poverty and wealth. With justified indignation, she would look beyond the seas and see the capitalists of the West individualistic investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, just to make profits without any concern for social improvements in these countries,” he said: “This is not fair.”
Light overcoming Dark – War must end
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction….The chain reaction of evil–hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars–must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
Solidarity
“Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery.”
Fear and Courage
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! And so I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! ” Martin Luther King – the night before he was assassinated
Native American Ghost Warriors on the Land
Who are the real illegal immigrants? The land is ours only to STEWARD not own
“What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to him?” -Massasoit
“One does not sell the land people walk on.” –Crazy Horse
Woodrow Wilson on the powers that be
“Some of the biggest men in the United States in the field of commerce and manufacture are afraid of something. They know there is a power somewhere, so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”
Are you going to listen to the Ghost Warriors.. They are calling us now and have been calling for centuries. The time to act is NOW. Tribe up, find your people, go back to the land and resist the war calls and lure of money so that we can save this Earth and recreate Eden as God is calling us to do.
Welcome Home… and Welcome to an adventure like no other..
This site is still being created and until it’s up and running, here’s the bare bones of the concept.
So what is the Practical Prayer Tribal Living?
Simply it is a group of people coming together to live and exist as a tribe building a way of living together that will last through the challenges of what’s going on in the world.
It begins NOW [as you read this, it has begun] and will run through to December 2012 and we hope for as long as we are around.
If you’ve ever felt the urge to become part of a tribe, living on the land, off your wits and with a group of like minded people, but don’t know where to begin, you’ve come to the right place. This is a free flowing, ongoing experience of tribal living with the purpose of recreating the Garden of Eden as we pray for the world to emerge from the chaos and find the light.
Everyone talks about praying but prayer isn’t just words. Our actions are the greatest prayers we can make. And if, like us, you’re devastated by what’s going on in the world, we are offering an opportunity to band together and make a real difference.
We are inviting you to come live on the land we occupy and engage in practical, earth-based activities alongside a bunch of other like-minded folk. Activities we hope to include are earth building, creating rocket stoves, carts, wind towers, solar constructions, cob ovens, humanure poopers, temporary shelters, cooking, food growing and preserving, permaculture design, crafting, making herbal medicine, yoga, chi kung, scavenging, sweat lodging, foraging, repurposing and many other things that we will evolve together. We can only do this as a group.
We are all each others teachers. We all have skills and abilities to share as tribes do. And when we live loving each other as ourselves and focus on the greater good rather than selfish intent, we are engaging in powerful prayer medicine.
You may come for a weekend, a week, a month or as long as you want. We will be praying as we work and focusing our attention on regenerating Earth and re-creating The Garden of Eden. And we will be living as a tribe, learning how to live together, teaching each other, learning from each other, entertaining each other.
The loose structure of this experience will include a daily prayer circle and council.
We are living on ten acres of beautiful rented land up a dirt track on the edge of the National Forest in Northern Georgia on the Tennessee borders. The land has plenty of forest and places for people to camp out. We have well water and facilities and we will build more, leaving our creations for those that come after us or creating things that we an take with us if we need, as a tribe, to move on.
WARNING! Tribal living is not for the faint of heart. It is for pioneer souls who are willing to take that leap into a very different way of life.
For more detailed info, how to contact us and directions... Or, select The Event tab on top menu tab of this page.
This is an adventure like no other. We are asking you to take that leap into the adventure of your life, not knowing for sure what will happen only knowing that you want to make a better world and live more closely with others sharing, caring and helping each other.
We will work together not at making a living, but practising the art of living, which is a prayer in itself.
Our intention is to bring together a band of people with the focus on creating a better world through our activities and prayer.
As a Tribe we will all be responsible for contributing to the community with whatever is useful, be it tools, musical instruments, materials, kitchen facilities, transport, food and help with the expenses of rent and internet. We believe that many hands make heavy work light and together we can live in the fullness of abundance.
We may even be able to document this event on video and if you’re interested in that, let us know. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE AND WE ARE OPEN TO ALL IDEAS
Help make this ongoing event an example to the world of how people can come together with one intention, to recreate Eden and influence the course of events for positive change.
