After work today, I rode up to Omaha to listen to Gehlek Rimpoche's talk. I carpooled with two other people from the Jewel Heart group, both of whom provided fascinating conversation in both directions on the 1-hour ride.

The people I rode with. Expanding on my newly minted lettering system, we'll call them M[a] and M[i]. M[a] shall be used to designate a female who is very wise and knowing in many spiritual matters. The other person I rode with, a male with a long white beard, shall be called M[i]. (For those who know the people to whom I refer, is this aliasing scheme getting ridiculous or what? ;)

Before going out of town, we stopped for gas; it just so happened that my workplace was the most convenient, so we went there. I took the opportunity to wander in and say hi to my coworker, to whom I had bidded goodbye for the day only an hour earlier. (I wonder if tomorrow she'll ask why I was riding with these people who were talking about driving to Omaha. If she does, I'm still undecided on how specific I'll be in answering; I'm not sure how much I want to reveal about my religious dabblings in the workplace. I guess I'll play it by ear.)

Before we go any further, a word about M[i]. He is actually an employee of the wonderous Open Harvest coop. I saw him briefly in passing during my volunteer shift on Wednesday. When I saw him at the Jewel Heart meeting Thursday night, I wasn't even certain it was the same person until someone mentioned his name, which was the same thing I had heard others call the guy at the coop. Indeed, it was the same person.

Anyone who thinks I'm nuts about this coop (and the coop movement in general) should listen to this guy talk for five minutes. He's totally all over it. And since he operates on the inside, he's got a lot of specific knowledge that far surpasses my own. (Plus, when it comes to economics, history, and politics in general, he's got all sorts of fascinating insights.)

During the ride back, I asked him for his thoughts about Peak Oil and its likely effects on America. Though his answer didn't exactly shock me (I've heard enough that I'm not easily shocked at this point), it did give me pause. After he went over the likely economic consequences (and how coops are ideally positioned to weather them better than big centralized corporate businesses), I asked a simple direct question. "Do you think America, as a single cohesive entity, will survive it?"

Without hesitation, "No."

This led us into a discussion about the possible fallout scenarios. M[a] proposed the optimistic idea that it might lead us to a sort of ecotopia. (An ideal which both M[i] and I thought sounded good, but M[i] was skeptical about its realism, and considers it far more likely that we'll see the rise of regional warlards in different states, most of whom will be supported by the corporate elite.)

Then we got into some interesting discussion about the differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. M[i] asserted that though pretty much all politicians from both parties are, in truth, employees of corporations, the Democratic Party is fundamentally different because of the structure of its membership. Whereas the Republican party is basically top-down, marching orders given from the top, the Democrats have more of a bottom-up approach.

Another jolt: I asked him why, if most of the country subscribes to Democratic (big-D) values, George Bush won in 2004.

He said he was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the election had been rigged. Besides talking about the black box voting problems nationwide (which I had already heard about), he named an example right here in Lincoln. Someone he personally knows was blocked from voting because on the day of the election, road construction suddenly blocked off access to all the roads which surrounded the polling place for one of the poorer black neighborhoods here in town. On the day before the election, there was no road construction, and on the day after, the blockades had all been removed.

"You didn't hear about that in the Lincoln Journal Star."

No indeed.

M[a] shared some interesting techniques she had learned for connecting with her "higher self", which I think I'll have to try myself. One of them involves using a pen and paper. Using the "dominant hand" (right for most people) write down a question or problem you're trying to resolve, and then use the "other hand" (left for most) to write the answer. She said this technique has yielded great results for her on many occassions throughout the years.

Oh yes, and somewhere in there, we actually did go and hear Gehlek Rimpoche (Or just "Rimpoche", as some people around here refer to him). :)

The Omaha Healing Arts Center had some fascinating architecture. I liked the open sky roof in the room where the Rimpoche spoke. They also had a ton of interesting statues and other little nick nacks in the gift shop at the front.

As for the talk itself... It was... nice. Nothing spectacular -- it's all stuff I've heard before more than a few times. If I were feeling critical, I might even use the word "trite", but I don't want to be negative, and maybe other people found value where I didn't.

Main points, as I recall: You are the only one with power over your own mind. Positive thoughts = good karma. Negative thoughts (anger, hatred, fear) = bad karma. Negative thoughts can become an addiction, which starts from birth. You don't have to believe in reincarnation, but I believe it, and therefore my thoughts in this life will affect my karma in the next. Thank you and goodnight.

Oh, and he also went into some interesting speculation about whether an artificial intelligence could have a mind as such. His theory was that Yes, it could, although he didn't elaborate on a criteria to draw the line between a complicated adding machine and a conscious being. (Indeed, it's not an easy question to answer, and would probably require an entire lecture to even begin to seriously address the philosophical implications.)

Even if Rimpoche's talk wasn't the most profound thing, I'm still glad I went, because he seemed like an interesting man, and it also provided a good excuse to get together and talk with other fascinating people.

That's my little non-story for the night. Peace out.