This video is a compilation of my harvests in the agroturismos of Italy, the desert of Argentina, and the sunshine of northern California. The music is one of my favorite songs of all time, it’s called Voyageur by Enigma. I moved out to California a year ago with a bottle of GrapeThinking, a bottle of ideas I guess you could say, that started filling up 5 years ago with conversation between myself, Jacob Bohall, Ruarri Rogan, Meghan O’Malley, and many others. Over the past year, those ideas have delightfully fermented, and the time has finally come for us to have a taste…

~circuit to cell, web to water, mind to vine~

The basis is an engine… a thinking engine that drives sustainable development, and more specifically, the health of the world. How do you create something in which the consumption heals the body and the production heals the earth?

Think about it

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They bought a car with another girl (the rock star of the group), and were planning to head way north to work on a farm for a little bit. They invited me to go, so I left my suitcase with a friend in San Francisco and hit the road with them. The following few weeks were beyond amazing… so many serendipities. My favorite was running into one of the winemakers I worked with everyday for 2 months in Argentina earlier this year in a small grocery store parking lot in Napa, and I just so happened to have a bottle of the organic wine we worked on in my backpack. Our car turned into a sustainable circus. We worked on the farm we set out for, did a little harvest work at a winery, but mainly stayed on the road visiting sustainable farms all around northern Cali. We touched Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, and Marin.

A couple of our favorites were Filigreen Farm in Anderson Valley, where Chris Tebbutt has built an amazing mixed biodynamic agriculture setup of vines and fruit orchards, it was incredible. He also had huge solar arrays setup that produce 100% of the farm’s energy… a true thinking farm. We also visited Paul Dolan at his biodynamic Dark Horse Farming Ranch in Ukiah, which was powerful. He has an “energy center” with his flow form, preparations, and a stunning “bug strip” of crazy flowers and vegetation that generates the biodiversity and balance in his vineyard. On our way south, we made a stop at Solar City somewhere on 101 south of Ukiah, which is a sustainable building/living community. We slept in a teepee and talked about what it takes to build sustainable communities.

Somewhere along the way we got tipped off about the Bioneers conference down in San Rafael so we trekked down there and crashed the conference for the weekend. I talked to Rebecca of the Biodynamics Association about heading up their booth for a day in exchange for a free pass, and she graciously accepted my offer. We got to see some amazing speakers and share even more amazing ideas, and I was able to pitch biodynamics all day Sunday at the trade show. I met some more of the folks with RSF Social Finance as well, which, in my opinion, is one of the most innovative financial organizations that exists.

We just kept going, drinking, laughing, breathing, seeing how these amazing farms are changing the environment, all while staying break even along the way. We went crazy and then sane and then crazy again. It was a ride. Now, I’m back in San Francisco to do some GrapeThinking. Represent some biowines, bring our own GT wine to market… use the elixir to drive the sustainable development of farms and communities.

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Serendipity is commonly thought of as an event of destiny. In the shamanic world of the Amazon and the Andes, they think of it as synchronicity, which is a great word that blends rationale with mysticism. They believe that there is a force guiding the development of our world, and it is our purpose to become in tune or in sync with that force. There is even an anatomical hypothesis to this. The sensor is our heart, using it to pick up the synchronicity events when they happen, which sends the appropriate signal to our minds to recognize it and do something with it… to remember it, to have it mean something in your life, to build a story, to contribute to building a sustainable world. Sure this sounds very fairy tale, but what if it is the simple truth?

The question everyone will have is, if this is real, then how do you get in touch with it, how do you feel it, how do you recognize it? The answer begins with a cleanse. We dampen our ability to feel and recognize this signal through so many things. Our food supply fills us with so much degrading substance, whether it be synthetic chemical pesticides or preservatives. More importantly, we constantly fill our head with unhealthy thoughts and then reinforce that chaotic circuitry by repeatedly thinking the same things.  We attach ourselves to create a false sense of permanence… to stuff, materials, relationships, an exterior god… and we develop a fear of losing these things. You have to cleanse this all away, let it all go, and get to the core, to the source. It’s only when you let all this stuff go that you can sense the guiding synchronicity that surrounds you. You won’t question the next step, you won’t regret. You’ll be filled with wonder as you experience the serendipity of your life.

The meditative practices of the East are very enlightened at this, however it is the shamanic ceremonies of South America that are driven by an inescapable practical magnetism… a drink with a sonic complement that brings forth a powerful cleanse. A loss of control and a cleanse of mind body and soul. Think of yourself as an instrument that needs to be tuned, and this ceremony is the tuner. The goal is obviously to be able to tune yourself, but everyone needs some help in the beginning.

Check more into these ceremonies if you’re interested. Ayahuasca is the name of the drink which drives the ceremony. It is important to be ready, but I’m guessing if you’ve read this far, then you’re on your way.

I’ve been working with an amazing company here in Philadelphia called SEER Interactive and it hit me last week in our company wide meeting sitting around the whole office together with 11 women and 3 men. It was one of the best meetings I’ve ever been a part of. Not only was it relaxed, humorous, and productive, more so than most meetings I’ve attended, but I left with an overwhelming sense of peace… something I’ve never felt before in endless male dominated board, class, and conference rooms.

Sometimes I tend to feel that women possess the essence of the universe and men are simply expendable, thus the reason why man created religion and has scoured the earth with linear wasteful supply chains and chaotic ways of capitalistic thinking, because we are not in rhythm with the universe like women are. So instead we stomp around and kick up dust trying to feel what women do naturally… the connection.

There are so many problems with the world, and the reasoning could be infinite. I argue it is because of a simple disconnect between men and women, mainly in man’s lack of understanding of the enlightenment that women provide. It is the woman who is in rhythm with the world, the seasons, and the lunar cycles. They feel it, they don’t think it, they don’t have to. And they inspire men thru this feeling to create, to build… to fulfill our destiny. Everything that a man does, when taken down to its fundamental element is for a woman, the love of a woman. A man that does not love women, that does not cherish women and surround himself with strong women, cannot be enlightened… cannot create.

My personal enlightenment to all, to god, came from one thing… my love for the women in my life. There is no reason to get lost in the details and ideals. Everything is very simple. I think I’m starting to get it now.

I love women!!

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Religion is losing us because it invokes disagreement and violence, and encourages negative characteristics such as laziness, procrastination, and moral confusion. We have a more unified understanding of the world around us with both scientific and artistic ways of thinking and being. We understand Einstein’s theories, we live for music, we are bio-inspired… we are a very intelligent generation and we love life. And with this one life we’ve been blessed with, why not use it connecting with each other and making positive change? This is the essence of the millennial generation spirituality.

Having grown up on the Internet, running our lives through social networks, and using our PDAs as a ubiquitous connector to the cloud, we’re innocently cultivating a true sense of connectedness among each other. Technology is becoming much more than silicon chips and software algorithms… its transcending the boundary betwewen art and science and influencing a unified spirituality.

I find when millennials connect, no matter the color, nationality, ethnicity, culture, language, or any other label, we tend to feel much more in touch with each other. We know that we’re all experiencing a similar since of technological spirituality in our lives, and thus feel our similarities greatly outweigh our differences. We see ourselves as global citizens above anything else and are becoming in touch with the force that connects us all. Call it whatever you want, energy, divinity, technology… I call it love.

Some see love as a human emotion that you feel for family and friends. However, love is so much more. It is gravity, breath, chance… it’s that divine infinite energy beyond the quantifiable reality that we perceive on the surface. ‘For example, a house has a set square footage, a car has a specific make, model, year, and color… all physical objects are limited and can be measured. And yet the deeper layer of existence has no specifications. It is inherently infinite.’ This is what love is, that feeling we have inside that we can’t explain, we can’t define. This is a real force that technology is helping us cultivate in our hearts. It’s something greater than ourselves and as a generation, we feel it. Call it the millennial generation spirituality… the millennial zen.

We don’t look at this selfishly or arrogantly though. We feel it’s a gift given through the use of connected technologies throughout our lives, and we believe anyone has the ability to tap into it. You have to let go of your personal ego, national ego, cultural ego, religious ego, and incorporate technology into the spiritual growth of your life. Become motivated to connect with something greater than yourself and to benefit others and the world around you.

“When the power of love exceeds the love of power, the world will know peace.”

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With Mills’ poems that have religious flair, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit freaked out at first. Growing up in a Irish Catholic family, going to Catholic school for thirteen years I can appreciate things that have a religious tone to it, be it music, movies, or literature, but at the same time I would not want to read a collection of poems that are all spun that way. And then I came upon Bibiana, the Patron Saint of Hangovers, “I bet it is also annoying that so few of us pray to her by name; instead we try to go right to the top or moan supplications with no address”. Now that I know her name I believe we will be good friends.

Then the second half of the book deals with Life and Relationships. In Introductions Made Easy, Mills simply puts how much easier life would be if people came with labels such as those on wine bottles. You would be able to find out their background and see if that person is to be enjoyed in the moment or if they will improve with age. Dating would be so much easier. And then finally in Opening Up, Mills, though the visual of a dinner party shows how each person approaches wine in a different matter, the same that we all approach people differently. “If we’re lucky/ as the years unfold/ we open up/ until we reach a point/ we can appreciate/ one another’s complexities/ and even the tart irony/ of finding yourself/ at the table’s next seat,/ taking seriously,/ so many of those things/ you once mocked.”

And that’s what wine is, subjective to the individual. Mills does a good job exploring his passion, though I would not recommend this to non-wine lovers. It’s fun, and that’s what it’s suppose to be, take it in stride, grab a glass of wine and continue to Wine Your Diet.

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Peace Oil is certainly a product that takes this notion of creating peace through consumerism on. The project is a collaborative effort at the foot of the Carmel Moutains, and sees Arabs, Jews, Druze and Bedouin all working together to create the product. The profits are then used toward peace and reconciliation efforts within the region.

This is cultural capital realized in full, and for those unfamiliar with Marxist thought, cultural capital is a term that denotes the value held within a group of people; their values, work ethic, ethos, cultural habits and the strength within the community.

Vineyards are yet another entity where cultural capital can be promoted as they speak so much for the land, geography, people, lifestyle and culture of a region. If we are going to reform the world and promote peace, the only alternative to ineffectual militarism is to do it through promoting trade, and if we promote cultural capital in the same breath then there can be no fears of a backlash against globalizing at the risk of losing one’s culture. Instead one will be entering a global market to preserve their culture.

Let’s face it – an army is ineffective when you’re not fighting another army. The US are chasing ghosts in Iraq – the enemy is not one particular faction; the enemy is a mindset. And the mindset is one of hopelessness and fear. If you send soldiers into a country gripped by fear, you’re just going to fan the flames of destruction and put yourself in harms way. The Iraqi people are already dealing with their own militias; and for the US to come into it all is just to add guns to a situation where there are too many guns in the first place. Guns will not create a disincentive to resorting to violence – and instead they’ll cause more violence.

An incentive is money. An incentive is a better life. An incentive is the chance to raise children in a world where you can be sure they’ll live a long and happy life. War accomplished nothing. Trade uplifts societies.

We’re beginning to see the process of peace-talks and in Israel/ Palestine the prospect of forming a Palestinian state is back on the global agenda. If this goes through we’ll see something positive come out of 2007 in the region, which has thus far been pretty bleak.

Two weeks ago I declared that the Greek wine market is alive and well; and rather upliftingly, Apartment Therapy announced the come back of the Israeli wine industry. So perhaps there’s hope for similar initiatives to Peace Oil and we can start seeing a wine to toast to world peace with.

Cheerz!

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