Much of this wilderness conservation area is front and center of the policy debates going on right now. The pristine area we are in now is protected but only 2% of Colorado’s public lands are protected from private development. One of Aron’s missions is to talk about how to handle that 2% so that our younger generations can experience the wilderness as well.

What is being looked at now is not just Colorado’s wilderness gemstones, but its mid-elevation lands between 9-10,000′ that are now being looked at by conservationists, recreationalists and drilling companies alike. Who gets rights to what? Which places are too special to be touched? Where do we draw the line?

Perhaps it is okay to have places to go ATV-riding and snowmobiling, but let’s leave the wildlife to reign supreme in other pristine landscapes. “Places where man is just a visitor,” Ralston explains, “leaving no mark, only footprints, even if that.”

Right now that debate is heating up with oil and gas drilling exploding all over the state with over 10,000 new wells up in last 10 years. Aron has been very active in the wilderness protection project in Colorado, if you appreciate these lands yourself, please get involved! www.wildernessworkshop.org

- By Jon Heinrich

www.ralstonspeaks.com

The 15 passenger van was silent as we drove through the downtown area of Rockaways that seemed to be hit the hardest. I saw high water marks six feet up on the inside of the windows in the local tavern. Then an impossibly destroyed car. I'm wondering “how in God's name did that happen?” Then it got worse. One store front: burned. Another storefront: burned. Then it continued, piles of burned rubble like photos of Hiroshima, the water still gushing from the stand pipe sticking out of the ground into the pile of ashes that was once a building.

Saturday November 10, 2012, Rockaway, Queens NYC:

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Jon Heinrich Photography ©2012 (Please view full screen^)

On the way to our worksite, a woman walked up to see her house for the first time since the storm. She talked about how many years she had lived there. Then she could not say another word.

On another work order from the Rockaway Surf Club that was organizing the cleanup, we visited a woman who was piecing together her family photo album. I felt her loss, but when we approached her and said hello, she was very cheery that another group of volunteers had done the work she needed help with. She was happy and grateful.

The scene reminded me of an epic snow day. All the neighbors, were out with shovels, chatting perhaps the first time even though they have lived next to each other for years. But for this epic storm, it was not snow they were shoveling, it was mostly wet dry wall. The 'wet' and the 'dry’ may seem to cancel each other out, leaving 'wall' but it was far from wall anymore. More like sandy piles of paper mush. And mixed in with that, boilers, furniture, VCR collections, toys and as much rubble as I have ever seen at once.

Weintrob texting me about a contemporary dance performance benefit on Sunday night at City Center near Carnegie Hall, earning over $1,300.

When we first arrived for the day, I got my assignment at the Rockaway Surf Club with my team. They needed us at the tower apartments, actually I have no idea where I was but I was starting to wrap my mind around the geography of the thin peninsula that is the Rockaways. We were surrounded by water, and basically the most exposed section of the crook of the Northeast US, that directly faces south perpendicular to the east coast. This is where the northern surge currents hit their first resistance. And no match it was.

I was out at the hydrant filling a water jug for a man on the tenth floor who was blind and only had one foot. He could not navigate the 10 flights of stairs to refresh his water and was trying to eat as little as possible to avoid the situation of not being able to flush his toilet.

On the way back I met Domine, a lovely 77-year old Hatian woman who was proudly making her third trip to the water hydrant from the 21st floor. Seeing her huge bag of water jugs I insistened on helping her up to the 21st floor. It was an amazing experience, the kindness all around us was so powerful and peaceful. She and all the residents we so grateful for all the volunteers. And the volunteers were getting it done.

She taught me some French: "Il fait bien ne jamais per du" (sp?): those who do good will receive good when they need it.

We learned a resident passed away the day before, and that is perhaps why it is getting such attention by the National Guard today. Seeing them power up the stairs was amazing. I felt a tremendous sense of gratitude for those people. God bless them.

When I pulled over to do some mantras with Monica from the Soul Mastery Foundation of NY I felt such a powerful presence, the divine shakti gave me a blast of goosebumps. The saints are present.

Mother Divine unleashed her fury like Maha Kali in a powerful cleansing process. She destroyed much in her path, but sometimes that is what it takes to destroy the negativity in the grand scheme.

I would absolutely highly recommend helping out in any way that you can. They need money so that helps if you go through a trusted organization. Otherwise my best recommendation is to go down there and help in person. It is very organized and everyone is so gracious and grateful. It warms the heart to help people.

If we all just took care of each other instead of always being polarized, I think our problems would be solved.

- Jon Heinrich

- 2012 is coming to a head, the Mayan calendar says the end is less than 2 months away when 12/21/12 hits and the calendar resets.

- Solar activity is culminating to a peak in 2013 in it’s 11 year cycle

- The Great Recession has been going on for 4+ years solid and people of the world are getting riled up.

- Karma is coming full circle on all sorts of high visibility characters like Jerry Sandusky, Bank of America, Lance Armstrong and everyone seems to be dealing with their demons now more than ever.

- Climate scientists have been warning us for years we are on a path to self-destruction through global warming triggered by carbon emissions. In the US, politicians (mostly in the GOP) continue to deny that climate science holds any water against the bible.

- The presidential election is coming to a head. The debates covered every pertinent issue ad nauseam—except climate change.

- Right as it all comes to climax, the Mother unleashes the greatest storm the Weather Channel has ever seen,

- during a full moon.

Washington DC

When I was visiting Washington DC last October to witness my grandfather, Lt. Col. Gilbert Hostler be put to rest in Arlington National Cemetary, I visited the capitol building. In the core of the capitol building, under the witness of statues of our forefathers, lies this star embedded in the foundation of Washington. This star is the very center of DC, with each hallway extending out in its cardinal direction. This is the centerstone of it all.

As a practice, I try to pray every day, for the integrity of the forefather to overcome the corruption and destruction that has permeated our republic. I invite you to use this image as a visualization to focus your prayers on, that we may get past our political differences and move forward as a country. We are all in this together.

The Tradition of Maha Kali

In the ancient tradition, Maha Kali is the fierce form of the mother. She is particularly known from the folklore story when the destructive demon Raktabija started killing so many saints the Gods began to believe that all hope was lost. When Raktabija was struck in battle, every drop of his blood that hit the ground multiplied into more and more demons. As a last resort, the Gods called to Maha Kali to unleash her destructive wrath, to destroy the demon—and take down much in her path in the process.

She cleanses the world of evil, but there is a necessary price for the destructive fury it takes to destroy such evil.

Mother Divine does not always appear in such a violent and vicious form, posturing her many weapon-bearing arms. The Mother most often appears to us as Maya, the illusion that covers the energetic reality of our souls outside this limited 3-dimensional plane. Maya is the beautiful changing trees and gentle babbling brook running through crisp air. She is also the culprit behind you losing your car keys. The Mother is the drama, the ball that comes flying at you that you catch every day and throw back.

The illusion is every detail that prevents you from breathing deeply and realizing the beautiful gifts of reality NOW.

The Mother controls the five elements that make up all of us. Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Sky. In the bigger picture, ‘we are spirits living in a material world’, as Sting said. When your soul came to this planet, it knew the plan and laid out every aspect. But as we enter this world of Maya, we forget our greater purpose as it’s distorted by the illusion, which prevents us from listing to our intuition and greater Brahma consciousness.

And of course Mother Divine is the caring nurturing provider. She “is the very cause of all that was, all that is and everything that will be of existence.” Whether you are talking about Maa Durga or Mother Mary, Mother Divine is widely worshiped all over the world.

The Mother as Hurricane Sandy

Under Swami Sri Kaleshwar, I learned to chant the Maha Kali mantra on the full moon each month at an ancient vedic fire ceremony, known as a Puja to burn off negativity, stress and karma. We collectively pray to the mother Maha Kali to destroy the negativity, knowing that during a full moon the energy is very open and active.

So it is very interesting, this culmination of events that all this is happening right during a full moon. The cycle of creation and destruction continue. The key point to remember is that with destruction, brings a fertile new potential from which a new world will created. As I learned from Buddhist teachings, “with winter, always follows spring.”

So if you are in the path of the storm this week, do your best, prepare for the worst, take care of your neighbors and pray that Maha Kali uses her divine grace to wield her weapons wisely and kill only that which needs to be destroyed. No matter what we think of Washington, or global climate change, or illusion, this hurricane is real so we shall graciously accept what She has for us.

God bless, good luck!

- Jon Heinrich

More on Maha Kali here: http://www.angelfire.com/journal/ofapoet/kali.html