Trojan Wurst IV: Sustainable Protein

Like a lot of rational people, I've been on a sustained pause around definitive diets.  Diet methods and a lot of rigidity around whole foods in general always gets my "fake out" antenna up.  I've generally taken a judicious tact toward eating.  As vegetarianism, veganism and unrefined plant food (UPF) trends have been on the rise over the last couple of decades, I've been paying attention, reading the literature and increasing my vegetable intake accordingly.  I haven't given up meat, although I don't eat a lot of it.  I've been a little embarrassed to admit that killing animals for food is not in my mind, a horrific thing.  I've seen it (in my mind's eye) as part of a whole cycle.   But lately, I've had the occasion to see some films on sustainability and I am beginning to realize that what has been in my "mind's eye" has been an old-world European or 1950's image (an "old McDonald's farm" scenario, ei ei ohhh) on how farm animals are raised, treated and killed for consumption.  The worn denim overall'd grandpa chewing on a straw strand isn't out milking the three cows in the barn and wringing a few chicken necks for supper afterall.

There have been several concerns for me as of late around animal flesh.  A few years ago I happened to be visiting FDR's family vacation home in New Brunswick (charming and unostentagious by the way, worth a visit) and wandered down to the little beach on the bay where some fish farms were underway; salmon as a matter of fact, a fish I admire and esteem almost more than any other.  There was a whole description at the beach side as to how salmon farming is conducted, which by the time I finished reading, vowed never to eat farmed-raised fish again.  The methodology is so scientifically calculated it is kind of horrific.  Part of the wonder of salmon (reflected in their flesh) is their vital essential need as a species to do the incredible acrobatics that they need to do in order to spawn and survive.  They are remarkable beings.  These farms are science laboratories that in no way take in account the species essence, and that this essential aspect of the salmon, is contained in the flesh we eat.  It is not considered.  We are eating from an industrialized fishing industry.  The lack of consciousness around the food processing in this environment at a basic level (from cultivating fish eggs to harvesting fully grown fish) that produce our food sources is alarming.

The second cue which happened over the last year, has been practically subliminal for me.  I've had a sense the fish I have been eating is different than fish I was eating 5 or 7 years ago.  There's something not right about it, which I can't put my finger on and which would be easy to dismiss.  The flesh is different. The taste is not ---- alive?(missing the essence of the animal?) Not like it used to be. I've seen, tasted and known this about beef and chicken for over two decades.  One could parallel it to the difference between an organic egg you buy and the one your friend gives you from their chicken coop.  The difference isn't freshness so much (although I'm sure that's a factor), it's something else.  And I'm beginning to believe it's the way these animals who give their life for our benefit are treated prior to being killed.  We are living in a world of high technology, where exponential masses of animals are "processed" at enormous rates with shear brutality and in shockingly short periods of time. (A chicken is ready for slaughter now in 27 days as opposed to the 47 days it was ready decades ago, and weighing often twice as much in present day as in the past making them unable to stand up over their short life span.) There is a subtle but very serious lack of regard (completely discounted as being important at all) in this process, and which must effect what gets to our plate and into our bodies.

I think I've been able to assuage my alarm over the years around the animal flesh issue because I go primarily organic, free-range, "humanely treated", etc.  I've calmed myself thinking what I was buying and consuming was better.  But organic farms supplying Whole Foods and other supermarket chains conduct their food business practically the same way as the other producers.  Albeit, their chickens are given 3 feet of space a piece instead of being crammed into cages.  But they still discard the male chicks or grind them up for organic pet food since they won't be laying eggs.  "Organic" farms are also generally mass producers of food (3K-30,000 chickens harvested every month).  Organic beef suppliers also castrate the bulls, destroy cows who get utter infections instead of give them rest and antibiotics.  It evidently doesn't pay to appreciate what these animals provide to the masses.  No straw-chewing grandpa there.

King mushroom, grown in Maine, tons of protein!

This mindless approach to food production is of course due in large part to overpopulation.  The market must meet the demand.  According to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, raising animals for food on these huge scales is grossly inefficient and hugely polluting of the environment.  Raising livestock for consumption is a larger polluter than the transportation (cars, trucks) industry. How is this?  To raise cattle for consumption, an enormous amount of energy has to be expended to plant and grow the grain, irrigate it, harvest it, ship it and store it.  (For one pound of beef, it takes 6-10 pounds of grain; one cow drinks 50 gallons of water every day.) To keep cattle, bring them to slaughter, process, ship and store the butchered meat requires a further outlay of energy.  Consider cattle naturally put out large amounts of methane gas (which is 23 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide--whala, global warming) and animal based protein releases much higher amounts of carbon dioxide than plant based protein.  Well, the benefits (and past pleasures) of animal protein begin to be outweighed by the little talked about sustainability downside.  The United Nations concern on climate change has irrefutably made the statement:  "Eat less Meat." It leaves a huge carbon footprint.  If the SAD (Standard American Diet) was replaced with a plant based diet by most people for a year, it would equal the energy saved if everyone drove a hybrid vehicle.  (The SAD diet by the way is 40% animal protein, 50% processed foods (anything in boxes, bottles or prepared), 3.5% unrefined plant food (greens!) and 3.5% starch (potatoes/grains).

Animal consumption is big business.  And big business tends to attract lobbyists and lean toward corruption practices.  Science and public policy around dairy for one, have people chairing committees on the Food and Nutrition Board (sets dietary guidelines) who are also consultants for the dairy industry (it is now recommended we drink 3 eight ounce glasses of milk daily up from two from a few years ago; any correlation?).  This is obviously a conflict of interest which seems to be under the law radar.

More fabulous Maine mushrooms!

As in healthcare, we are approaching the need for a paradigm shift in the way agriculture is grown in this country (but of course, there is a solid relationship between the two).  Obviously, we are not going back to becoming a non-industrialized agriculture society.  Too many people have to be fed.  But the trend to grow part of one's daily intake and use local small farmers for much of the rest is growing, a  more environmentally sustainable possibility for some of us.  It is almost convenient to buy local eggs now and raw milk from smaller farms.  CSAs have expanded to include humanely raised animals which families or individuals can buy a portion of the slaughter (still have to freeze the bulk of that portion, which is more energy use). Personally, I don't think the inhumane, mechanical processing of animal protein is good for my health and soul (or anyone elses?) or the environment.  We need to look at our consumer and eating habits with this in mind, bring more consciousness to the way we purchase, grow and sustain ourselves.  Saying NO to the technology-based food production in this country will in time shift the paradigm (and everything else) on how we feed ourselves and respect the action of self sustenance and planet sustainability.  If we don't do this, but continue to consume food in America the way we do, according to experts, by 2030 we will need 2-5 other planets to feed all of us.  This is 2013, 16 years to go.  Earth is all we've got (at the moment).

resources gleaned from:

Food, Inc - TakePart

Vegeducated - New release on Netflix - Vegan Lifestyle - The Chat .

Forks Over Knives | Official Website

 

 

Shared History

“The cosmos is within us, we’re made of star stuff.  We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” --Carl Sagan

We have a profoundly deep relationship with the cosmos we inhabit.  Literally.  It is a 3.5 billion year shared history, a mutuality, a related existence, a symbiotic occupation.  Our DNA, cells, organs have a relationship with fish and pools of algae, as well as rocks, and are related to the grand "othernesses" of the cosmos at large.  These 'outer' thing's stories are our own brilliant truths.  The things that shape our bodies are the things that have shaped this planet and the entire universe.

Farish Jenkins and Neil Shubin, decades-long colleagues, explored the zoologist and paleontologist/ evolutionary biologist's point of view in finding the relationship to our ancestors (the fish and rocks).  As they have found, we have a shared history. "The sun burns hydrogen. Others stars burn oxygen and carbon.  The fundamental atoms that make our hands, feet, and brains serve as the fuel for stars.  It isn't merely the atoms in our bodies that extend across the far reaches of the universe: molecules that make our bodies are found in space. The building blocks for the proteins and larger molecules that make us--amino acids and nitrates--rain down to Earth in meteorites and lie in the rocky crust of Mars or on the moons of Jupiter.  If our chemical cousins are in the stars, meteors and other heavenly bodies, then clues to our deepest connections to the universe must lie in the sky above our heads."*  These are extraordinary suppositions.  As Sagan indicates above, the cosmos needs to know itself and the universe is its playground to do so.  That each of us and all matter would resonate with the energy of 
itself and other both makes sense and is simultaneously mind boggling.  When we have the occasion to admit we are but grains of sand in a vast desert is also to admit that we are surprisingly unique (see photo image) and related in that uniqueness.

Wholeness; the thrust of our inner and outer cosmology.  This fact is, in all this relatedness which Jenkins and Shubin speak about.  How is it possible we are able to evade this truth on an ongoing and unrelenting basis?  That we speak and act from a lack of relationship to almost anything and everything.  It is so astounding, it almost feels like a joke is being played on humankind.  'You will be placed on this planet in a universe that is made of a complete and perfect cosmological order, but it will appear like it is in utter and complete havoc, practically at all times.  Confusion and misperceptions will reign.  And you will have a time of making sense of it.' And we make sense of it by grappling with the effort of gaining as much control (and power) over what is possible, assuaging the buried terror we have of not understanding, not knowing, not being in relatedness.  It's a good joke, right?!

“Learn how to see.  Realize that everything connects to everything else.” 
 --Leonardo da Vinci

This is not a new concept nor from one scholar's point of view.  This actually is common knowledge (science, art, math, philosophy to mention a few disciplines that have heralded this).  Then, why does it sound so fresh and new and borderline shocking?  Possibly, we are usually so invested in separateness and individuality.  Possibly, we don't view things on a large scale, but from our minuscule point of view, our built in limitedness.  Possibly, it's a frightening notion, our minds can't wrap around it, know it or allow it to impact our being.  I've recognized at times when a huge schema comes along, it can't be received because it is so "other".  It just doesn't fit into our normal understanding of how things work.  What could it mean to include this type of information into our daily life?  How do we/could we integrate it?  How would this mega-relatedness factor impact me if I could take it in?

"Imagine what it would be like if there was no sense of otherness when you were with other people [or material objects]. How would it feel if there was no trace of self-consciousness, and no preoccupation with superiority, competition, fear, mistrust, or unworthiness? Dare to consider, just for a moment, the possibility of being so at ease in the company of others that there was nothing to hide, nothing to defend—only the fear-less transparency of egoless awareness and the ecstatic urgency of the evolutionary impulse. That is what it feels like when we awaken to the Authentic Self, together."

--Andrew Cohen, shared by Richard Siebels 19 August 2012

*The Universe Within: Discovering the Common ... - Amazon.com

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

Talks and Publications by Neil Shubin

In a two-part video (part I and part II), Shubin discusses the planning and research that lead up to the discovery of Tiktaalik.

His book, Your Inner Fish, explores the connection between paleontology—in particular, the anatomy of fossil life forms—and present day human anatomy. It delves into the subject of how humans are shaped by their ancestors and what it means for who we are today.

A Significant Movement

As the discourse continues as to why we as a nation are burdened with so many tragic homicides and mass murders, I am reminded to come to myself.  I am reminded to feel my feet on the ground, my breath moving through this body, to feel the feelings.  Like everyone else, I too have the desire to "fix" this, to throw a few directives into the mix and watch everything change to a rosier hue.  But with feet planted and my breath not moving so freely, I feel the sorrow of the impossibility of this.  Change is hard.  Too young at the time to remember, I imagine the civil rights activists of the 1960s might have had several similar and sobering pauses.  And even though we technically have more secured legal rights for all, garnered by the hard work of those vigilant activists, we still are plagued with prejudice, hatred, suspicion and separation for those different than us, whether they be of color, religion, political affiliation, age, geographic origins, class, gender, mental/physical wellness or sexual orientation to name but a few.  What hasn't changed is an internal movement, the type of movement that actually is significant.


Violence is born from isolation and attachment; attachment to static belief and isolation from other (experiences).  Isolated and attached, relationship is not possible; there is no room, no breath, no inner flexibility to rely on.  Non-sensical violent actions transpire because most of me is not related.  Not related to myself, not related to my environment, not related to others. I am not watching.  I am not listening.  Or if I am, it's superficial, not from a fuller, more embodied intelligence.  Moving toward this intelligence must become our bottom line, not how much profits can be had (possibly a reason why mental health is not supported by systems: it's not profitable -in immediate dollar terms-, unlike most medical treatment).  Cultural violence, which has been pointed out so tangibly in statistics as of late, has to be taken on. There is no singular magic fix.  It's nature is complex. Personally, we have to own our own violence before the trickle down manifests.  As was mentioned in my Violence: a Cautionary Truth post, violence can be subtle and insidious.  This then, would require a greater ability to sensitize oneself to what is, a willingness not to turn away, a capacity for nonjudgment and acceptance of oneself (and others).

Sort of ridiculous to ask this of a culture at large?  Yes it is.  So, then I ask this of myself.  And then I ask this of myself again.  And I try to remember internal movement is significant.

Sonnet 07 - The face of all the world is changed, I think by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The face of all the world is changed, I think,
Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul
Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole
Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink
Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,
Was caught up into love, and taught the whole
Of life in a new rhythm. The cup of dole
God gave for baptism, I am fain to drink,
And praise its sweetness, Sweet, with thee anear.
The names of country, heaven, are changed away
For where thou art or shalt be, there or here;
And this . . . this lute and song . . . loved yesterday,
(The singing angels know) are only dear
Because thy name moves right in what they say.

Modern Love

It is not my habit to write about the latest sensational news.But lately, from widely different sources, essays, articles and impressions have been finding there way to me and I feel compelled to comment. The recent tragedy in Connecticut (close to my original home for decades) and its most probable link to unrecognized mental illness belay the lack of support for those suffering with mental illness (and their families) and also puts a perspective on the struggles and turning away our culture (government, insurance companies, "systems") does to ignore or deny these very real issues (which inevitably impact the general population as we saw in the Newtown, Connecticut horror). Essays such as the one on unusual Bronx nurses in public health battling with keeping teen mothers and their baby's heads above financial water and conditions absolutely stacked against any sense of wellness; psychiatrically tender college freshmen far from home requiring all sorts of professional support when overwhelm sets in.
The often tenuous mental/spirit challenged live in rough seas; those with financial resources and savvy know-how usually are able to navigate their needs successfully, while still bearing the difficulty of "otherness" which autism spectrum, development delays, mentally challenged and psych disorders reliably guarantee even under the best circumstances.  For those in any type of marginal economic situation, it is a catastrophe, as well as for those who love and take responsibility for them.  Perhaps, now we are a nation that is becoming more comfortable with otherness (legal gay marriage, persons of color in major public office, legalized recreational drug use); perhaps it is time we take on the pink elephant in the room, mental health and it's inclusion into general society, it's recognition, compassionate acceptance and a commitment toward an economic support for those struggling with it.
It is a good example what many households go through.  Terror, shame, confusion--- and mostly suffered in total isolation and invisibility. Our cultural system constructs can't acknowledge or begin to effectively deal with the Pandora's Box which is this area of healthcare. Tara Ebrahimi, wrote a recent article in the NY Times Sunday Please read this.  It's incredibly touching, a story I've seen a facsimile of time and time again working with people facing medical and mental hurdles.  A loved-one begins to decline, help is sought (over months and years) from all the right avenues and agencies (repeatedly), is not obtained despite jumping through an incredible amount of bureaucratic hoops and a family is left emotionally and financially depleted without the inner or outer resources to deal with an often impossible situation related to physical/mental/psych challenges. This courageous, loyal and loving woman finally with no other recourse, took matters into her own hands without knowing what to do, decided to Be with her brother.  She made relationship because it was the only thing to do, her only resource left. As was apparent, relationship was the thing lacking in all these other constant efforts with un-relatable In this world where it seems these challenges are exponentially increasing in incidence (ie: autism has increased to 1 in 88 births, a 1,148% growth rate), we are seeing three things: more basic life challenges for many more people, a culture and system that continues to deny not only the problem but the impact on the culture at large and we are seeing people (family members and loved ones) forced into a sensitization of self and other (such as Ebrahimi). These are people who have gone into the fire's crucible and survived with more patience, compassion, and a finely tuned depth of perception and awareness. I hesitate to call them saints; maybe invisible neighborhood prophets. They've got a world view worth proselytizing. They should be our future leaders.  They have lived the terrifying fringe, rarely have bitterness and only gratitude for the cauterizing hell they and their loved ones have been through. In them, a wisdom, understanding, moxy/chutzpah/grit has been crystallized. There is an authentic absence of greed, avarice and narcissism we are woefully needing in our public leaders today. At least in tandem with the gun control issue, if not before, the concept of Oneness needs to be addressed in this country. Relationship. Being. Being with and for, within and without. We should be looking at these courageous, loving relatives that take the monolithic Goliath systems on out of fierce devotion. We should be looking at those who have these illnesses and "otherness-es", who struggle day in and day out, who are feared for their otherness, disrespected and made invisible.  They are part of the oneness we all are living. They are our sons and mothers. They are an unrecognized brilliant facet of our whole.  We are a collective, we need to care, to include them, not shut them out. They, like we, are here for a reason, they have their part. As long as we look to blame guns (or on the other side's belief system, lack of personally held firearms), we need to look at the failure of us as a culture not taking responsibility for each other, the (community) illnesses suffered, the isolation and marginalization of our neighbors.

Authentic Movement: a Larger Listening Intelligence

One of the occurrences I have come to trust implicitly over the years, is the event of the arrival of the Unexpected; the event that is so surprising, yet usually so True in the moment (even when unpleasant).  This may be why Authentic Movement (AM) is such a compelling practice.

Entering the Authentic Movement "space" in oneself is like walking through a door or gate of a temple/church, a garden, a dream.  The ordinary is not exactly left behind, it just becomes secondary, not the loudest voice in the room of oneself.  What we enter is a fuller intelligence that is elicited through a stronger connection to our breath, a quieter more sensitized energy field, a listening that isn't with the ears alone, a watching that isn't with the eyes at all. "Seeing", "Listening", "Being" "effort"  take on an entirely different dimension. We become more embodied in a larger intelligence.

In this space, we in a way, emulate a Pentecost of sorts.  The energy of a reconciling force descends (ascends?) upon our chaotic, fragmented self (inner disciples) and unifies the estranged others whom live (oddly enough as one) in us. As in the Bible's Pentecost story (The Story of Pentecost), all tongues (languages) are understood, welcomed and accepted. The subtle daily alienations, misunderstanding, separations--- they some how are transformed (by this third force, reconciliation). Or not.  The former is what might be expected as in the Leviticus XXV story.  The unexpected would be a unification of another sort.  Where the chaos might ensue (as usual) but walks almost in partnership with what is still, quiet, observational.  That experience of equally weighted, very different energies co-existing is unexpected, perhaps even miraculous.

In Authentic Movement, through an intentional open wonder and inquiry, the body becomes more relaxed and the sub-conscious enters from left field, which surprises she who entered the space in the first place.  Through a modicum of relaxation, something internally opens allowing an energy with all its material concreteness to enter (sort of like what happens in the REM state when we are sleeping) and play out in images and relationship to body parts, and others.  However you lean, however you define the experience, material arrives, often unexpectedly.  Not what we were anticipating. Even when we (in our ordinary self) think we aren't in expectation, the surprise often proves otherwise.

I think what keeps calling me back to this amazing, generous form is the wish to experience this fuller listening intelligence and the opportunity to experience what is my ordinary self at the same time.  My daily experiences of myself and the world around me are so fractured; this spacious intelligence in conjunction with the routine householder, unavailable.  Entering this church or garden gate and the reinforcement of spending more time there, gives me the taste of living a bigger life, a more intelligent life.  One that is not devoid of one quality or another, but inclusive.  It's not just a type of  listening done with one sense-- a more spacious and energetic capacity unveils itself.  The idea of an effort that doesn't exist in "trying" makes itself known.  Life becomes apparently bigger than that.  Anticipation and expectation become uninteresting and pointless.  The unexpected vibrates with another type of knowing; it's fresh, clean, mysterious and enlivening.
For more information on Authentic Movement or Contemplative Dance,
facilitators or an open group near you:
Welcome | Authentic Movement Community  and 

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Journal of Authentic Movement & Somatic Inquiry | Editorial Team

 

Prodigal Return: Community of Self

We are all Prodigal Sons (and Daughters).  We get lost, we run away, we dismiss and disappear.  We separate from our (internal) beloveds, waste our resources and stray from goodness.  Goodness we have inhabited and goodness being extended to us.  We turn away. And we turn away again.  The letting go is cloaked, the truth of it masked. Until the day we come back "home"; stripped, beaten and humbled.  And we are faced with open arms by those internal parts of ourselves that have missed us, longed to be all together, wishing to be whole again.

Homecoming begins when we start paying attention to the tug of "home".  The collective beloved's voice is heard, calling for us to return, a momentary distraction from the familiar turning away.  It's not the voice of guilt or shame or outer authority that hounds and interjects repeatedly on the sojourn, but the "real-deal" voice.  The real-deal voice of the collective beloved having qualities that aren't etched in despair and judgement.  The voice is usually small, quiet and direct; it's heartfelt, not critical  Most of all the voice is patient; its had to be, it's been drowned out and silenced for lengthy periods of time, repeatedly.

photo: Elliott Erwitt

How does that part stay within, stay alive with all the frequent internal abandonment that goes on?  Possibly, that part is of a larger community.  As Lee van Laer (Zen, Yoga, Gurdjieff- perspectives on inner work)  aptly says: "Everything actually begins in/ends in community. The perception of isolation is essentially egoistic. God/Dharma are all-inclusive; we simply don't sense it. Born together, we die together... there isn't any separation except the separation we impose on ourselves."

It would seem we don't have a sense of this community in ourselves because we don't often have a modicum of relaxation present in our collective parts; body, mind and spirit.  We are desensitized by stress and overstimulation.  That voice of home calling us to return requires a sensitization, a regular state of relaxation for us to hear it and for us to return to it.  The community of self needs awareness and some attention to be activated.

van Laer indicates the community of Oneness, the Collective is itself singular. The Community's "parts simply sense themselves as individuals because the individuality that births the community is at a higher level... unknowable. Essential."  This statement resonates with the idea we are a rippling microcosmos of the great macrocosmos.  Our physiologies reflect this.  Our varied self-ecosystems also reflect this.  It would seem the separation our humanness insists upon, whether it be in the prodigal state or condition of prejudice, fails to recognize or experience the relationship.  Oneness, Self Community is both singular and not, much like the universe is single and also comprised of star/planet systems.  This "likeness" (another ring in the ripple of the Eternal, of the Oneness) is in, on and within all layers of everything.  With all this relatedness everywhere, the Community of the Self and otherwise so manifested, it's kind of astounding there is ever a sense of being prodigal at all.  Which brings us to the notion of illusion in what I call (my) reality.  If there is all this relatedness present, how is it one could ever think or act differently from that truth?  What is the illusion in my reality that fails to recognize the relatedness to myself, others and the world at large?  that fails to know the community of self?

The Collective: Group Energy

"No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.  John Donne, Meditation XVII

Whereas, we ultimately are responsible for our own "arising", the conundrum is, it is impossible to do so without the help of others.  Almost everything is impossible without help of one sort or another from at least another being (or environment).  Although we have these amazing, efficient organisms that are designed to regenerate and renew, there is something so incredibly potent about what happens en masse, with the energetic influence of the Collective.

Gandhi would not be Gandhi the icon without his thousand-fold of followers walking diligently behind him across the many miles of Indian salt lands in their non-violent tax protest.  Martin Luther King's power was made serious by the tens of thousands of people traveling long distances to march with him, validating and supporting the cause of civil rights. Mother Teresa's strength was not only in her solidly persistent quest to provide care for the marginalized, but in the waves of others that organized in tiers to mark her vision of inalienable healthcare rights for all.  Nobel prize winners deserve the accolades they receive, but their important work is only possible with the myriad of often invisible others that perform, enhance and actualize it, and those that went before them (dead and alive) and their findings.  All of these famous figures are notable and will go down in history.  But their greatness was completely dependent on others, and in all the before mentioned cases, sometimes tens of thousands of others.

And so it is with our own individual efforts.  In the case of meditation, the energy of consciousness or that of a universal influence is minute when done singularly.  The possibilities exponentially increase when done with others.  The Collective. Would the impact be so deep if only one (instead of a dozen) black-clad Israeli grandmothers showed up at the Palestinian border to witness the behavior of the soldiers at the border-crossing? No.  The presence of many female elders standing still in silent observation is a powerful statement, a powerful prayer for peace and justice.

What energetically transpires when there are numbers of others present making similar efforts, aligned in self, together? Vibration increases, which significantly boosts and conjoins the collected energy made by the shared vibration.  This can be seen and felt in large orchestra/symphony efforts versus  (even imminent) solo artists.  This can be experienced listening to a lone ranter taking his turn on a soap box in Temple Square, Dublin versus a political speech on a fully occupied Washington Mall in DC.  The vibration is entirely of a different magnitude. And that simply is due to the numbers.  The number of resonating, vibrating body energies in close proximity that interface, join and rejoin.  The Collective. There is power in numbers. Rioters know this.  Church/temple-goers know this.  Occupy Wall Streeters know this. Flash mobs know this.  Do we who sit day after day on our meditation cushions in our quiet places know this?

We need each other.  Whatever it is that we most desire and need is not possible without the aid and support of others.  The Collective provides help in  many guises.  It might be a forest of trees in a Massachusetts wood that supports an awakening,  nature's group energy needed for the inspiration for Henry David Thoreau to write Walden (as well as Emerson's generous gift to Thoreau of a cabin in same wood which helped create the conditions). Or a time spent on a long crowded bus ride for someone with a lot on their mind to provide a clarification.  The need for mutuality and an interfacing of (sometimes silent) energies cannot be denied.  It is our human legacy to each other.

"The eye cannot say no to the hand, 'I have no need of you!'
And the hand cannot say to the feet, 'I have no need of you!'
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; 
if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."  Saint Paul, I Corinthians