the purpose of this site

Since I've posted a couple of times already without clarifying my intent, I figured it's about time to.

I'm at a turning point in my life where I intend to figure out exactly how I can be of most service to the world. I started Green Grass Real Estate with the intent of helping people to get more out of their life thru their real estate, and to use the process of purchasing and selling to educate people to move towards a sustainable way of life.

That's not enough.

Scientists are currently debating how long the oil on this planet will last (check out friday's episode of democracynow.org), and one thing is for sure - it won't last forever. It's highly doubtful that we will make it another 10-20 years.

I look at my own life - as someone who is an active participant in the green movement, I still drive a car. I still rely on oil-based products constantly. Our tax dollars go to support oil-based wars.

Oil is emblematic of the greatest problem facing our society - an overall lack of planning. We are so focused on fulfilling our immediate lifestyle needs, that we are afraid to plan to live life without them. Planning is boring, it's not as exciting as doing, and it's certainly not as easy as grabbing a beer. If strategic planning was more like Miller Time... but oh well.

I want to spend some time posting and figuring out what's going on - what are we as a people individually doing out there to plot for a more sustainable way of life? How are we going to realign the interests of the corporations into focusing on earning profits sustainably? How can we hope to push against a profiteering and war machine the size of the one that has gotten us into this mess? How do we simplify a movement and organize people around it?

If you've got any answers... please feel free to chip in.

thanks!

aaron

loose change

definitely check this documentary out - download it from http://www.loosechange911.com - holy shit is that a good one! tragic and seemingly open portrayal of the events surrounding 9/11... but with some shocking twists on what we've been lead to believe. don't miss it!!!

What I believe

My god exists in the trees, in the birds, in the stars, in the sky, and all around. God is not defined in a book, by words, but exists only in feeling. There is no person who can interpret god for me but me.

God exists in the hearts and souls of everything – there is space between the particles on a subatomic level that compose each and every molecule of what we consider matter. It is my belief that god exists in the negative – what you don’t see is equally important to that which is seen.

God cannot be studied, except to look around. God cannot be dissected, except to inhale. There can be no discussion of god without the memory of the laughter of a child filling the air, because in the tiny silence between each note is God. The space where dreams, thoughts, ideas come from – that central idea of the philosophers, the ether – this is where God is.

God is not in war, in conflict, in hate, in bigotry, in zealotry, in anger. There is no room for these things in nature. Nature is inseparable from god.

In the name of god atrocities have been committed upon humanity, against nature. How can you kill a living being needlessly in the name of nature, humanity and god itself? How could that which creates and orchestrates a universe of vast galaxies, dimensions, molecules and particles only be capable of writing one book to describe it all?

If there is a plan, then it is not mine to know. If in the hearts of each of us we know when to speak, when to act, and when we are doing right – if we simply listen to our hearts and act – it is my belief that we are with god. In each moment we know, on some level, what to do. When we listen to that voice, we prevail. When we stop trusting ourselves, we stop trusting in god.

This is what I believe.

YNPN speech

We started Green Grass Real Estate because we don't want to compromise. We want to do good, and we want to sell real estate. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.

Real estate is the largest vehicle for wealth in the world. Look around - wherever you go, whatever you do, you're standing on valuable real estate.

What creates value?

The price of the drinks in your hand is determined in part by the cost of the rent in this building. For those of you with a background in economics, you understand how the laws of supply and demand work - when demand is higher than supply, prices rise. When there is more need for space than there is space available, then the price of rent in this building rises - in theory.

Supply and demand for real estate is not that simple.

- slide change -

Let's step back for a moment and take a quick lesson in Chicago real estate.

Imagine, if you will, a Chicago without condos.

Most of you probably know that Chicago was a mushy swampy outpost to rendez-vous with traders from the West and South coming up the Mississippi and over the plains. Boats shipped goods back up the St. Lawrence River and out to the world.

Prior to the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Chicago's downtown was a ramshackle hodge-podge of storefronts and apartment buildings made of wood - nothing special.

What made Chicago great was its response to crisis. When the city burned and the leaders stood in the rubble, they decided that they would seize the opportunity to plan the country's best city.

Chicago's planners recognized the need for open green space as a destination for a somewhat natural experience in the heart of the city. Our parks and boulevards were designed to offer everyone an urban oasis from the grit and grime of city life.

Our city planners knew, even then, that Chicago could be the greenest city in North America.

- slide change -

Buy the time of the Great Depression, Chicago had experienced unprecedented growth - from 500,000 to 3,300,000 in 50 years. The Depression, two World Wars and the New Deal legislation package led to major changes in the way that real estate was financed. VA loans made it possible for the first time for someone to buy a house without saving up money first. New federal highways, avid subdivision development, and the Ward & June Clever concept drove the baby boomers to the burbs.

Our parents, for most of us in this room.

Where did that leave our fair city?

Chicago lost over 800,000 in population from 1950 to 1990. Racial fears prompted many people into a panic mode, and a lack of community education and central planning pushed many areas into decline. Huge amounts of migration were taking place globally - waves of immigrants and minorities moved into the cities as the white flight to the suburbs took place.

- slide change -

During the 70s, 80s, and 90s, artists, investors, and urban pioneers moved into the hood. Old Town, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, West Loop, South Loop, Bucktown, Wicker - those names have become synonymous with labradors and lattes, strollers and starbucks - yuppies and condos.

At the time, these neighborhoods were home to the poorest of the poor. Crime was everywhere - some good friends of mine moved into Wicker Park in [1989]. They're now an attorney and an engineer, but at the time he was a bouncer at a punk rock bar and she had a 12" mohawk and worked at Tower Records. They still have 2 enormous rottweilers - not the same ones, unfortunately - but the funny thing is, the same block that they wouldn't walk their dogs down after dark has a $4 million house on it now.

We all know the stories about people who bought houses in Lakeview for $20,000 that are now worth $2,000,000. But what about the folks they bought it from?

Every day, banks, politicians, lawyers and realtors make decisions that ultimately shape each and every one of our lives.

I challenge anyone in this room to explain to me how they are not a product of the community that they grew up in. Tell me how our neighborhoods do not shape our lives. I had a crazy neighbor across the street from me growing up who would ride his bike around with no rubber on the tires - just the bare rims - collecting pop cans. I used to take the blue line downtown to get to school from Oak Park and talked to homeless people sitting next to me. I am a Chicagoan, pure and simple.

- slide change -

Mayor Daley has stated publicly and has demonstrated, at least in my opinion, a serious commitment to working to make Chicago the greenest city in North America within the next few years. Most experts consider us well on our way.

Chicago is poised upon the brink of a cultural revolution. It is my belief that we are in a very chaotic time right now on this planet. Economists are looking at a whole new world. In a recent discussion with an executive of Shore Bank, she and I agreed that very few people understand the current ways that currency is valued today.

The internet has changed the way that we live our lives. Technology has allowed us to telecommute, to travel more cheaply, and to spread information.

Likewise, banks are now more powerful than ever before. Huge, vast sums of money are exchanged as blips of 1s and 0s across wires. Every second of every minute of every day, billions and billions of dollars flow across the wires.

The real estate market is tied up in all of that.

Every rich person in the world owns real estate. Rich people will go through incredible lengths to make sure that they don't lose money.

Every market changes and shifts. There are many places right now that I would not encourage people on a low budget to buy today, because the value may not be there tomorrow.

Each person's purchase is different, though. Every property is as unique as the people who live there.

- slide change -

It was our goal in starting this company to be a positive force for change in this world. We want to help people to understand how these forces converge, how they impact our lives, and how we can use them together to change the world. To make it better for all of the people who don't understand, who haven't gotten the education that we may have received, who didn't grow up in the neighborhoods that we did, and who will be displaced by gentrification.

Each and every day, we take strength knowing that there are good people in the world like you working to make a difference, and we want to help.

Green Grass Real Estate is the world's first sustainable real estate brokerage.

We believe that value in your purchase is based on more than what the neighbor paid when they bought theirs. The real estate market is shaped by the actions of its participants - and every single person lives, works, and plays somewhere. There is nothing more universal than the needs for food, love... and shelter.

This is our first edutainment party event. Our team has worked incredibly hard - we hope to inspire you, to inform you - and most of all - to let you know that it is possible for each and every person in this room to achieve their dreams.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy - thank you so much for coming, and don't forget to tip your bartenders and your servers very, very well.

oprah interview

His legs were open, his back straight. Knees met elbows, hands together confidently, fingers splayed supporting chin, not obstructing visibility of face. A pose designed to lean into the audience, exposing self, confidence is created through vulnerability. He'd waited for this moment.

"Oprah," he tilted his head disarmingly as his gaze met hers, knowing the camera was capturing each moment. "Taking risks is frightening. Gut-wrenching, in fact - it is awful!"

"But you did it," Oprah's body leaned in, giving off every indication she was entranced with what he had to say.

"When you are called - and you know what I'm talking about," he gave her a knowing glance. On cue, the cameras switched to a close-up just in time to catch Oprah's quick self-re-composure after shock washed across her face like a swipe with cold wet rag wielded by a mother seeking to remove jelly as abruptly as possible. "When you are called, you answer. Living with a purpose doesn't always make sense, but you have to trust."

"What do you trust?" Oprah was showing curious.

"Yourself, the world, the signs, the people around you, the places you go, but most of all what your brain captures and what your intuition shows you. We are taught that there is a higher authority out there - the law, Jesus, Buddha, or even you, Oprah - we look to these authorities to tell us what to do, what to wear, what to say. We have it on our clothes - exactly what Jesus would do, if he was instantly teleported here and faced with this situation, by the way, is to freak out because he had no idea how he got there or what he was doing on Oprah's show. He lived 2,000 years ago and would have no frame of reference for 2006. My point, though, is that we are each uniquely prepared by life to face exactly the challenges that we encounter. It is when we cease to trust ourselves and try to find the answers outside of our own self that we have problems. Some challenges are not meant to be overcome. We each choose the mountains we climb, Oprah. Sometimes it takes two times, five times, ten different attempts up that summit before we reach the top. We choose when we try, when we fail, and when we give up." He leaned back, one eyebrow beseechingly raised, awaiting reply.

"Wow. Now, you said something - you said a lot of things!" The audience laughed and clapped appreciatively. They loved Oprah like a junkie loves smack, but also with the overwhelming affection that a bird-watcher feels for nature's magnificence. "I want to go back to one of the things you said. You said something about our problems come from not trusting ourselves - what do you mean by that?"

"We give ourselves filters - some call it the lens of experience. Each time we go through a life event, or live another day, it becomes part of the filter through which we see the world. It is the wisdom that enhances our judgment, but also the bigotry that clouds our view. It's our own ego preserving itself that creates these filters - it is telling the self that the self needs the ego to help it to judge how to perceive the world. The ego says - look, if only you had avoided that thing right there, your life would have been better. Next time, don't trust things that look just like that and you'll avoid ever feeling that pain again. It's like a little viceroy in a a story, telling lies to the king to keep himself in power. Everyone reading the story knows, it's obvious to everyone but the king that the viceroy is lying to him. We're like the king, and our egos lie to us each day. When I say that we have to trust ourselves, we have to know which aspect of ourself can recognize truth. There is a certain instinctual ability that human beings have, to know the truth as they encounter it - this is divine, in my opinion. It is this divinity of truth, of creation, that connects us to creation itself. It is the ability to discern that truth - we call it intuition. It's when people say "I knew he was doing that," or "I just knew it would turn out this way!" - they know the truth. They chose to listen to a different voice, one of fear, doubt, guilt, anger, or any other emotional override inside themselves or an external influence like a spouse, relative, or even television. When we're angry, we're angry with ourselves. We knowingly go forward in life, generally aware of the consequences of our actions, but our society has taught us that we are not responsible. We can sue someone, there is someone who is to blame, there is a reason that I can give that excuses my actions. This is the ego avoiding responsibility. We have to be the king, to accept the responsibility that comes with the power of who we are, and to kick our little viceroy out the door. We must trust ourselves to do the right thing in each situation, and we have to accept what happens when we do not." The audience did not quite collectively know what to do. Most of them clapped out of habit, some with real and genuine enthusiasm, while others stared out of their doe eyes blankly, their hands silent in their laps.

"In your book, your characters 'wake up' one by one - what is waking up, and when did you do it?"

"I think waking up is a gradual process - we're all in various stages of awake. We're more alert at one time or another, sometimes we fall asleep... and sleep can be nice. I don't think I can pinpoint any one time - I can tell you about levels of realization. In my life, I have realized various stages, reached new levels of understanding. Awakening occurs simply with an awareness of the process. It's the revelation that we're the star of the show, but we're also our own best audience. In fact, we're the whole play - the director, the theater, the AV guy, the whole kit and caboodle. At some point, we recognize that, or we don't. If recognition dawns, each aspect of what we are and what we were emerge like characters coming out for curtain call. We're in the audience going - hey, look, that's me up there! omigod, that's what's-his-name, i-know-that-guy - me! We're like a pre-teen girl with a sugar-high at a back-street-boys concert each time we realize each aspect of our existence, our being. There's no end to that - that sensation doesn't end. We reach plateaus, but there are always more. Sometimes it seems like we're at the top, but just when we stop looking is when we find the next level. That's true for all of us - and when we ignore that next level, when we become stagnant, we become angry with ourselves and it can be a downward spiral as well. It's always a choice - up or down. As long as we're moving, we've got to pick a direction. So this wakening up is like a dimmer switch - we choose how much we want to turn the light on, but there's no end to how bright it can get. Infinite."

"My guest today is with us to share insights from a new novel, "Awakening... the beginning." We'll be back in just a moment."

together we are god

We have the power to change the world, my friends. I am here today, right now, to let you know that together we are God.

How can there be any other lesson than this?

Science, philosophy, and existence itself has been here to understand this purpose. We, collectively, can determine the fate of this planet. We have brought it to the brink of annihilation with our bombs. Our environmental negligence has all but destroyed our water, our earth, and the air that we breathe.

We have been afraid to take responsibility for this power. We are afraid to release the shackles, to find that we ourselves are the jailers, the punishers, the wardens, the governors, and the prisoners. We have created a world, in our history as people, the history of our existence, that is the product of the path that we have tread. For the first time in history, we can collectively see the consequences of our actions. By the time children enter high school, most know the broad strokes of the histories of the ruling powers over humanity and the world. Some ask questions, and seek. Some are thinkers, and they ponder. Some write, some draw, some paint. Many watch television. Many are lost in a vast cycle of consumerism and materialism that separates them from the universe. They have disconnected from their surroundings, the planet. They are not loved by the machine, they are not loved by their things, but they have not been told to seek love, and so they do not.

Where exactly does God play a role in this man-made world, we ask? We look around - see, we have built roads, we have made cars, we have made tall buildings and sculpted shore lines and grown cities out of the ocean. See the glory of what we have made! See how we have shaped this earth!

My child, you are playing with sandcastles at the beach. See my hurricanes knock down your small creations.

If we are separate from nature, existence becomes a dual. Struggling for survival against the elements, man fights nature with technology. A battle is fought, a weapon forged, a hero sought. We are told tales of warriors, knights in shiny armor, and wizards of fantastic powers. Stories have been passed down from generation to generation, along with the ebbs and flows of consciousness as it explores itself. This view is only part of the whole - if we are one aspect of existence, then man and nature are but puppets worn by a Hand. The Unseen Hand, perhaps - or maybe just a finger up the ass, tickling slightly...

If we see ourselves as part of the whole, as the left hand battling the right hand, if we see ourselves in our interconnected existence, we begin to see how we are a part of it all. Our actions have collectively shaped aspects of this planet to be what they are - we can turn this toward the garden of Eden, towards Paradise, towards Heaven - or not. We can battle, and we can see ourselves as constant losers to the wrath of nature. If we seek to kill nature by poisoning her, we will be thrown off by her cough. We are then ants pinching, seeking to destroy that which sustains us. This battle can have many outcomes, but one thing is for sure - a battlefield will be left in its wake.

We can choose the garden, or we can chose the battlefield.

If the choice of how we are to continue on this planet is our own, then does that not make us God? If we can shape our reality as simply as that, by making decisions together about what we wish to have happen, are we not God?

How are we to know?

Is every thought that we have not proof that we are part of something? Is the mere fact that we dare to tread on this planet not proof enough that our footprint in the dust has been our mark? Our cities, our towns, our villages - all structures fail. Waterfalls slowly carve down mountains. Glaciers sculpt fiords. Continents shift, the earth shakes and yawns as it adjusts in its slumber. Gas explodes with lava.

There is certainly an aspect of God in all the trees, the mountains, in the very earth, wind, water and sky. The plants and animals are of its essence, and so too are we. For whatever reasons, we have been shaped and created either by evolution or by design or by both, but the fact remains that we are here. We are in control of our own lives, and we are in control of our destiny. We are God.