Twelve By Twelve Part 12

I've rarely heard more beautiful sounds, part slightly off-key African pulse, part North Carolina gospel. Liberia was settled by freed US slaves in the early nineteenth century, and many elements of antebellum plantation culture, including gospel music, mixed with Kpelle, Mano, and Grebo culture; Pine Bridge flowed into her song. The lyrics touched on greed and exploitation - AIDS walks by, ecocide rolls by - but the refrain kept coming back to love. "Praise," she sang, each time more beautifully. "Praise confuses the enemy."

A post-malaria war child hummed, but someone else now sang: a third-year sociology student, who went to school in refugee camps and was home again, in a changing Liberia. The international community had just canceled Liberia's national debt. Many Liberians were coming back from a global exodus to help their country heal. These details, Toupee sang, were the correct objects of our attention. Her song, at a plastic table at Sam's Barbeque, reinforced the lesson I learned on the banks of No Name Creek. The lesson that kept slipping, that I kept rediscovering, in the most unlikely of places. Praise confuses the enemy Praise confuses the enemy, Toupee sang. Don't let the enemy into your glorious inner s.p.a.ce.

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PRAISE CONFUSES THE ENEMY.

POST SCRIPT.

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"DADDY, HAY LUZ. HAY LUZ." - "There's light." - "There's light."

It's a year after my time in the 12 12, and I wake up in Bolivia, next to Amaya. She's become interested in transitions, like the one between night and day. We cuddle for a while, I kiss her cheek, and it's time to start the day.

I'm living in the village of Samaipata near Santa Cruz, where I've been for six months. My mother is here for a two-week visit, and she and Amaya spend the morning together while I finish a freelance essay. They sing and pantomime songs ("The Wheels on the Bus" and "Barnyard Dance"), and then Amaya shows her grandmother, her Mama Anna, the garden she and I have been cultivating together: squash, green onions, and flowers. A Quechua neighbor joins them. He tells them about how his ancestors farmed, suggests some changes, and then reaches into his pocket and pa.s.ses some seeds into Amaya's cupped hands.

Finishing my work, I notice the peace around me. I look down from a bougainvillea and pa.s.sion fruit terrace toward the village, a couple hundred modest, whitewashed adobe homes with clay-tiled roofs. Above them, on the cliffs at the far side of the valley, crouches a jaguar-shaped Inca temple.

I reflect on how profoundly the 12 12 experience has changed me. When abroad, I used to live in large homes or apartments. Now I live in a rustic two-bedroom bungalow without a television or any other appliance besides a refrigerator. I've put my secular missionary days behind me - no more converting the Idle Majority to a Western idea of Progress. Now I try to join the Idlers as much as possible, thereby freeing up time to grow my own food and be with my daughter, who is with me on the weekends. I don't own a car anymore. Instead I walk, bike, or take public transport.

These external changes flow from inner change. I've released most negativity: no more n.a.z.i dreams, no more anger toward the people who physically a.s.saulted me or guilt over the shape of my fatherhood. I realized that such negativity does no good and I gradually let it go. Above all, the 12 12 experience catalyzed more mindfulness in everything I do. I've come to increasingly inhabit "the other world inside of this one," that state of consciousness that Jung and Einstein talked about, where durable change happens. It's not about "me," but rather about overcoming the dim, narrow s.p.a.ce of ego - and humbly dedicating my life energy toward a broader process. I find myself listening to my intuition every day, and it tells me, very clearly, about my place in the whole.

I walk over to my daughter and mother. On a large sheet of paper, they're now painting the idyllic village below, a place where corporate globalization touches lightly. Samaipata has little advertising, absolutely no chain stores, the town's three thousand people surrounded by some three million acres of nature. Inca culture goes back to 1500 BC and is still present in the village's robust way of living with instead of against the earth. Amaya and my mom paint some of that: the neighbors spinning raw wool into yarn and gathering medicinal herbs.

A side of me wishes to freeze this scene. But can we? Amaya, for one, doesn't seem to think so. She's added something to the painting, above the brush-stroked circular garden and the Inca temple: a rainbow-colored airplane with b.u.t.terfly wings.

In the past this might have saddened me: "globalization" in the form of noisy 747s roaring over this traditional village; my daughter, disconnected from place. Now I'm less fearful of change. There's a suchness in that detail, something to be traced to its source and transformed. Jackie doesn't suggest that we constrain ourselves to cookie-cutter eco-austerity, copying her. Quite the contrary; she suggests we be still, look deeply inward, and then act.

Change will come; it is coming. For me personally, Amaya's mom may accept a master's scholarship in the United States, and she would bring our daughter there for a time. And a think tank in New York has asked me to use my years of field experience to help shape US global warming legislation aimed at conserving the world's last rainforests because of their role absorbing greenhouse ga.s.ses - in other words, work toward a paradigm shift.

There are trade-offs. I admire my expatriate friends who have come to settle in Samaipata for good - one runs an organic cafe, Tierra Libre (the Free Earth); another manages a sustainable farm, La Vispera (the Eve) - and I aspire toward a more physically rooted life. But I know that my place in the whole, for now, remains global.

Even in large cities, it is possible to maintain warrior presence and scale back from overdevelopment to enough. By planting a windowsill or community garden; doing yoga; walking and biking; and carrying out at least one positive action for others every day. Nor do we need to live 12 12 to experience the subtle joy of being. Whether in the city or the country, leave your cell phone, books, and other distractions behind and sit or walk - very slowly. Pay attention to your senses; feel the breeze, notice smells and sounds. Try the meditation three-times-ten: Breathe in to a slow count of ten, drawing in light and grat.i.tude. Hold that abundance for another count of ten. Then let your breath out slowly, counting to ten, exhaling any fears, negativity, or resentment, all that inner charcoal. Doing this during a busy day, I find myself much more patient and relaxed with myself and with others. We decide what gets globalized - consumption or compa.s.sion; selfishness or solidarity - by how we cultivate the most valuable place of all, our inner acre.

As I cultivate that acre, it naturally links with others. There is enormous hope for more mindful internationalism. One million community groups, NGOs, and other gra.s.sroots efforts have sprung to life around the world, the biggest upswell of people power ever. Thinking of this, I feel new questions bubble up: If we are globalizing, why not globalize a reverence for the still, the small? Can we globalize planes with "b.u.t.terfly wings": ones that run clean? Can we globalize maladjustment to empire by linking those one million soft spots within the flat - Samaipata and Pine Bridge; Quechua culture and permaculture? While the current global economic downturn might challenge these NGOs in the short term, in the long term it might get people living on less and closer to the earth, and turning away from a life of excess. Because of the financial crisis, even some of the captains of industry I've talked with are finally understanding that another kind of globalization is necessary. The current world - built on a shaky platform of blinding wealth and grinding dest.i.tution - is not in their interest, either, because it makes the whole system unstable.

As Amaya and my mom put the last touch on their painting - a bright red and orange sun over the whole scene - I'm reminded of the quality of light at Jackie's on my final visit there: eight months after I'd left Pine Bridge, and right before I came to the Bolivian village.

I spent the night in the Pauls' 12 12 guesthouse. Jackie came over to their place for dinner, and we all caught up by candlelight. The Pauls were doing remarkably well. They had negotiated a don'task, don't-tell arrangement with the state inspector; they eventually signed a statement saying they did not live in their 12 12 year-round so as not to have to install electricity, plumbing, and so on. But - wink-wink, nod-nod - they still live there year-round.

To my dismay, the Thompsons' freeholder experiment had failed. Their trailer park background hadn't prepared them to farm. Under financial pressure, they had sold their animals and purchased a Rent-a-Center franchise to try to generate enough income to keep their land. When I went to visit them, they and all the animals were gone. Only a lifeless silence hung over their place.

I also learned some hopeful things. Jose had just made a sale in Siler City - and he would continue crafting his beautiful furniture. Graciela got her raise at McDonald's and would continue to work there for a few years before retiring in her native Honduras. And Bradley had just completed a new eco-community; dozens of homesteads for wildcrafters-to-be were about to go on sale. And the 12 12s he'd built for the Pauls demonstrated the kind of fruition possible. When I woke up the next morning in their 12 12, I felt the peaceful absence of electricity. Paul Sr. wrote poetry longhand on his porch across the way; Paul Jr. smoked a pipe, staring out toward the curving paths that led to the creek.

That afternoon I went to Jackie's, and I noticed that day's card on her tiny stand. Hidden in the stack behind it were the ones I'd puzzled over, like ARE YOU SURE ARE YOU SURE? and ABANDON ALL HOPE OF FRUITION ABANDON ALL HOPE OF FRUITION. But this one was the simplest yet. It read: MINDFULNESS MINDFULNESS.

Something clicked. I recalled that this was the very t.i.tle of the Mary Oliver poem Jackie had sent me in her letter, inviting me to stay in the 12 12. I looked over at Jackie, in the late afternoon sunlight, and asked her, "What do you think it means, that line in the poem about 'this soft world'?"

Jackie didn't respond. The light streamed in, illuminating her bottles of homemade wine. It illuminated the cedar wall, the translucent rainwater catchment tanks outside, and the Sun Shower bladder hanging from a branch. As the silence stretched out, I knew this nonanswer was her answer. Ultimately, we must figure it out for ourselves, whispering alone into the well, attentive to what comes back up. Through the window, a radiant No Name Creek shimmered, and the sunlight gathered in brilliant intensity around Jackie.

This is the same light that infuses my bedroom in Bolivia. Amaya is the first to notice it, and she nudges me awake. "Hay luz," "Hay luz," she says. I mutter something about "ten more minutes" and hug her close. She's quiet for a moment but then insists: she says. I mutter something about "ten more minutes" and hug her close. She's quiet for a moment but then insists: "Ya no es noche. Es dia." "Ya no es noche. Es dia." - "It's not night anymore. It's day now." - "It's not night anymore. It's day now."

We walk outside into a new place - the same one. The home I've been searching for, I now know, has always been millimeters away. Home is the luminous everyplace where spirit meets clay. Change is coming, but I hold Amaya's hand. A dozen b.u.t.terflies flutter over the garden, inviting us to grab tools and press seeds into this soft world.

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MIND FULNESS.

APPENDIX: RESOURCES,.

CULTURE, COMMUNITY.

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HERE ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS on continuing the journey. This brief appendix is a condensation of the much wider network of resources on my website, on continuing the journey. This brief appendix is a condensation of the much wider network of resources on my website, www.williampowersbooks.com.

PERMACULTURE AND WILDCRAFTING.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms ( (www.wwoof.org): Help out on a family organic farm during your next vacation, in exchange for room, board, and sustainability skills.

El Bosque Organic Garlic Farm ( (www.vrbo.com/118083): Stan and Rose Mary Crawford have turned a circular stone cabin in their garlic fields into a B&B guesthouse; harvest with them in their revolutionary fields.

The Permaculture Research Inst.i.tute of Australia ( (http://permaculture.org.au): Study the things our grandparents knew but our parents forgot with Bill Mollison, or check out his book, Permaculture: A Designer's Manual Permaculture: A Designer's Manual.

Being Self Sufficient-ish ( (www.selfsufficientish.com): Twins Andy and Dave Hamilton give practical advice on extracting oneself from the corporate economy - even without taking an all-out permaculture plunge.

SOFT ECONOMY.

Find a farmers market near your home by visiting the US Department of Agriculture website: near your home by visiting the US Department of Agriculture website: http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets.

Slow Food USA ( (http://slowfoodusa.org): Support good, clean, and fair food through a local chapter of the nonprofit Slow Food group.

Socially responsible investing can be done through Social Funds ( can be done through Social Funds (http://socialfunds.com). For financial advice and help cutting up your credit cards, visit Motley Fool (www.fool.com).

New American Dream ( (www.newdream.org): Ideas for shifting American culture from overdeveloped to enough.

CouchSurfing ( (www.couchsurfing.org): Find places to stay for free worldwide through the nonprofit organization Couch-Surfing.

Buy fairly traded goods from the Bolivian coffee cooperatives with whom I worked and from others on the creative edge of the Global South through the Fair Trade Federation ( from the Bolivian coffee cooperatives with whom I worked and from others on the creative edge of the Global South through the Fair Trade Federation (www.fairtradefederation.org).

Calculate your carbon footprint. Input information about your lifestyle, and the Carbon Footprint website (www.carbonfootprint.com) will compare your carbon footprint to other averages around the world.

WARRIOR PRESENCE.

Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization ( (http://3HO.org): This nonprofit kundalini yoga inst.i.tute holds solstice yoga retreats and a White Tantric Yoga event. Their challenging eight-day retreat in New Mexico was one of the most rewarding weeks I've had.

Thich Nhat Hahn Plum Village retreats ( (http://plumvillage.org): Attend spiritual retreats at Thich Nhat Hahn's retreat center in Plum Village, France.

Alternative children's education includes homeschooling and the Steiner Waldorf Schools ( includes homeschooling and the Steiner Waldorf Schools (steinerwaldorf.org).

Thich Nhat Hahn Plum Village retreats ( (http://plumvillage.org): Attend spiritual retreats at Thich Nhat Hahn's retreat center in Plum Village, France.

Alternative children's education includes homeschooling and the Steiner Waldorf Schools ( includes homeschooling and the Steiner Waldorf Schools (steinerwaldorf.org).

FURTHER READING AND (NON)DOING.

A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm by Stan Crawford: Stan's masterpiece, as discussed in chapter 8. by Stan Crawford: Stan's masterpiece, as discussed in chapter 8.

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez: This book provided many of the ideas for chapter I9; it helps to reshape household economy as rebellion. by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez: This book provided many of the ideas for chapter I9; it helps to reshape household economy as rebellion.

How to Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson: This is a witty manifesto on working less. by Tom Hodgkinson: This is a witty manifesto on working less.

Anam Cara by John O'Donohue: This exquisite book contributed to the ideas in chapter 23. by John O'Donohue: This exquisite book contributed to the ideas in chapter 23.

The End of Nature by Bill McKibben: McKibben continues to be an intelligent voice for sustainability in American culture. Other recommended books include by Bill McKibben: McKibben continues to be an intelligent voice for sustainability in American culture. Other recommended books include Enough Enough; Hope, Human and Wild Hope, Human and Wild; and Deep Economy Deep Economy.

Yes! ( (www.yesmagazine.org): Yes! Yes! is a positive, nonprofit news magazine with up-to-date happenings on the creative edge. is a positive, nonprofit news magazine with up-to-date happenings on the creative edge.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

I AM DEEPLY GRATEFUL to the many people who have helped with the creation of this book over the past three years. to the many people who have helped with the creation of this book over the past three years.

Thank you to the friends who have read and given feedback on earlier drafts of Twelve by Twelve Twelve by Twelve: Carolyn Burns Ba.s.s, Juliette Beck, Nick Buxton, Laurel Corona, Stan Crawford, Melissa Draper, Bethany Hensel, Dan Keane, Jessica Keener, Faith Krinsky, Karen Powers Liebhaber, Peter Manseau, Drew McMorrow, Evan Meyer, and Pamela Russ. Your ideas flow through these pages.

I am grateful to the World Policy Inst.i.tute for its generous support for the book. WPI's executive director, Michele Wucker, and director of development, Kate Maloff, have a.s.sisted the book and its ideas in innumerable ways.

New World Library's extraordinary team has been wonderful to work with. A special thank you to Jason Gardner, my skilled and compa.s.sionate editor, as well as my dynamo publicist, Monique Muhlenkamp, and the imaginative, supportive Munro Magruder.

Copy editor Jeff Campbell went beyond the call of duty, providing Twelve by Twelve Twelve by Twelve with deft line and structural editing. with deft line and structural editing.

I am very thankful to my agent, Michael Bourret, whose friendliness and professionalism make him a pleasure to work with.

Three interns, Ta.n.u.shree Isaacman, Jonathan Kime, and Morgan Lehman, provided outstanding research a.s.sistance, editing, and outreach around the book.

For writing retreats, thanks to Jacques Schillings (Amsterdam), Sat Gurprasad Kaur (Espanola, NM), Walter of the Circle A Ranch (Cuba, NM), and also to Amy and Andrew Powers for inspiration at the Vermont dome.

And thank you to my mother and father, as always, for your love and encouragement.

Finally, a resounding, embracing thank you to everyone who appears in the book. I am incredibly grateful that you are part of my life and of this story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

WILLIAM POWERS is the author of two critically acclaimed books. His Liberia memoir, is the author of two critically acclaimed books. His Liberia memoir, Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge (2005) received a (2005) received a Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly starred review, and starred review, and Whis pering in the Giant's Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia's War on Globalization Whis pering in the Giant's Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia's War on Globalization (2006) has been featured on NPR's (2006) has been featured on NPR's Fresh Air Fresh Air with Terry Gross and in with Terry Gross and in Newsweek Newsweek. For over a decade Powers has led development aid and conservation initiatives in Latin America, Africa, and Washington, DC. From 2002 to 2004 he managed the socioeconomic components of a project in the Bolivian Amazon that won a prize from Harvard's JFK School of Government. His essays on global issues have appeared in the New York Times New York Times, the Washington Post Washington Post, Slate Slate, the Sun Sun, and the International Herald Tribune International Herald Tribune and have been syndicated to three hundred newspapers around the world. He has appeared on NPR's and have been syndicated to three hundred newspapers around the world. He has appeared on NPR's Living on Earth Living on Earth, The Leonard Lopate Show The Leonard Lopate Show, West Coast Live West Coast Live, Left Jab Left Jab, and World Vision Report World Vision Report as well as on local public television stations and Book TV. Powers is an increasingly active speaker at think tanks, policy gatherings, and writers' conferences. He has worked at the World Bank and Conservation International and holds degrees from Brown and Georgetown. He lives part-time in New York City. as well as on local public television stations and Book TV. Powers is an increasingly active speaker at think tanks, policy gatherings, and writers' conferences. He has worked at the World Bank and Conservation International and holds degrees from Brown and Georgetown. He lives part-time in New York City.