By Sera Beak on September 29, 2009

A Red State

Today, when I walked my dog through one of my favorite parks in SF, I came across a man standing still on the path, looking up at a tree in total awe, a soft smile playing across his face. As I respectfully approached him I realized I was witnessing a man witnessing something truly awesome. The moment felt holy, hushed, magical. When my dog barked, the shaman-like man turned to me and exclaimed:

“Can you believe how incredible this tree is? How it twists and turns? The bark? Just look at it. Beautiful, beautiful. I talk to this tree. I love this tree. I am in love with this tree. I moved to an apartment a few blocks away so I could be closer to this tree, to all the trees in this park.”

I smiled widely and nodded. He looked me in the eyes, smiled, and walked past me a few feet till his eyes caught the next glorious branch of another exquisite tree and he stopped and gasped and fell In Love, again.

As sentimental as this might sound, I felt blessed for having seen him. Reminded. Walking through this park daily I almost always admire its beauty, but this man reminded me to do more – to go ahead and open my spiritual thighs to this park, to allow myself to fall in passionate love with the trees, the birds, the pine cones and even the dog poop and random cruddy human litter.

Last summer when I was teaching a Redvolution workshop at Omega, I was asked to try and describe something that happens when you start turning red (“turning red” means creating a more radically intimate and daringly expressive relationship with that which you define as the divine – the divine inside of you and outside of you). My somewhat wacky response was:

“Some people, when they walk by a beautiful tree, they don’t even notice it. Some people walk by a beautiful tree and nod in appreciation. Some people walk by a beautiful tree and stop to hug it compassionately (what people would normally refer to as ‘tree huggers’ and ‘green’ peeps). A red one, who is feeling plugged-in that day, will walk by a tree and not just nod or hug, but, well, hump it… passionately. That’s right, Redvolutionaries are ‘tree humpers’” (I’ve already designed the t-shirts).

When you allow yourself to turn red (not to be confused with the past election) you can’t help but want to make crazy wild naughty love to All of Existence because at some point, no matter how brief, you’ve been smooched by mother nature. You’ve been spread open by the stars. You’ve been tickled, teased, and turned on by every atom in the Universe and all you can think about doing is returning the favor. Again and again and again.

Now, obviously we red ones are not dripping in this pumpin’ red-hearted state every minute, but this direct infusion of organic cosmic love juice is our raison d’etre, and we continuously look for ways we can allow it to fuel our days, our sweaty nights, our over all consciousness, and the planet.

In case you may be thinking right about now that this all sounds somewhat sexy and nice, but also like an inebriating distraction from reality and the troubles of the world, and by the way won’t it scare the children? Let me say that this sort of seduction of and from the Sacred is incredibly, remarkably, deliciously healing for the planet (and for the children who get to grow up in a love-saturated world). I mean really, what could be more important, especially at this chaotic yet hopeful time, than to “make love” as much as possible with as many things, people, places as possible? I’m talking energetic love here folks, but conscious, passionate, physical touch is always powerful when done with respect, mutual agreement, and authenticity. So, we Red Ones have jacked up “spiritual activism” to “ecstatic activism”. Naturally.

And, when times feel heavy, we look for creative ways to lighten ourselves up, to turn ourselves On, to make the Universe clap and beg for an encore. Sound intriguing? Here are but a few simple red suggestions to rev up your internal ecstatic engines…

1. Find a trampoline. Jump on it. Each time you’re in the air make the craziest, silliest moves you can. Have a friend take photos. Post them on Facebook. Red tutus are optional. So are clothes.

2. Read a Tom Robbins novel (Skinny Legs and All or Jitterbug Perfume are two of my faves). Another total promoter of giddy swoons is Rob Breszny’s Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings.

3. Gather a group of friends together at a private place, preferably a park or beach or open field, (not too near public eyes or ears) and all at the same time, scream your heads off!

4. Make red pom poms! Carry them around in your purse, briefcase, grocery cart, or in the backseat of your car. When you witness or feel anything that needs a little or a lotta divine cheer, bring em out and shake those blues busters with all your superpower and might while cheering something like: “wooo hooo – Hell Yeah! RRRRRed Delicious! Show Me Some Sexy Spirit! Go team Go! Love Wins Again, Babeeee!”

A few recommendations for where/when to shake your red poms:

ATM lines, stop lights, traffic jams, yoga classes, your cubicle, your bed, super serious spiritual retreats, when you are arguing with a loved one or your boss, when you see someone recycle or pet a dog or participate in some random act of kindness, when you look in the mirror, when you wake up every morning, when you remember who you are.

5. Buy a new sex toy (hey, Oprah recently recommended them) and use it!

6. Have a dinner party where conversation can only be about the positive – “Cutting back on my spending has made me: learn to cook like Martha Stewart after a few glasses of champagne and some really good sex; create some awesome free adventures on my weekends simply by paying homage to that dramatic feisty beauty queen known as mother nature; learn non-violent communication techniques to deepen my intimate relationships, paint a stunning new mural on my living room wall…with red lipstick!”

7. Whenever, wherever, and with whoever you sense fear, close your eyes, breathe deeply into your heart, exhale some authentic prayers, and then imagine a million tiny drunk giddy angels dirty dancing with your cells.

8. Turn off the news

9. Tune in to your divine spark

As Rob Breszny says in Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower Your With Blessings:

“In the new world we’re gestating, we need to be suffused with lusty compassion and ecstatic duty, ingenious love and insurrectionary beauty. We’ve got to be teeming with radical curiosity and reverent pranks, voracious listening and ferocious thanks.

We will ignore the cult of gloom and doom and embrace the cause of zoom and boom. We will laugh at the stupidity of evil and hate, and summon the brilliance to praise and create. No matter how upside-down it all may temporarily appear, we will have no fear, because we know this secret: Life is crazily in love with us – wildly and innocently in love with us…”

And all it takes is the willingness to make a tree blush.

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