Inspiration by any definition.

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This is a speech performed by the great film maker and friend Velcrow Ripper. It speaks for itself:

~ Velcrow Ripper, January 29, 2011~
Opening speech at the Youth Media Summit, Saskatoon, Canada

I'd like to offer you an invitation, an invocation, a wake up call. Wake up! It's time to come to our senses, and wake up!

(Zen hand clap)

Listen - can you hear the alarm bells ringing? Can you hear the cries of Mother Earth? Can you smell the stench of an industrial growth addicted civilization rotting from the inside out? Look - have you noticed the species going extinct minute by minute, the birds falling out of the air, the disappearing bees, the melting glaciers, the rising seas, the expanding deserts, the suffering skyrocketing out of control, the wars that never end, the politicians that act like angry lunatics, the deafening roar of collapsing economies drowned by the noise of the dream factories of mainstream media encouraging us all to be selfish children seduced into a cycle of crazy consumption by heartless corporations hellbent on using up everything this sacred earth can offer as fast as possible? We're filling our hearts and minds and bellies with junk food, junk television, junk video games, junk movies, junk music, junk toys, junk fears, junk violence, junk dreams, junk junk, junk and more junk for a society of junkies. Wake up! It's not too late, it's never too late to seize the day. Wake up!

(Zen hand clap)

It's time we realized that this planet is having a near death experience.
And therein lies the hope.

I'm not calling in an apocalypse - oh no, quite the opposite. For in this chaos lies the possibility of change - and change is what we need. There's nowhere else I'd rather be than right here, right now, in this incredible time of transition. As Zen master Roshi Joan Halifax recently told me, if you have a taste for adventure, now is the time to be alive. The situation is so complex, the world is changing so rapidly, that no one can guess with any degree of certainty what will happen next. If you like surprises, stay tuned! Anything could happen.

Listen - can you hear the sounds of revolution in the streets? Egypt, Tunisia, Albania, Yemen, Algeria- that's just to name the last few weeks of uprising. There is a global awakening erupting around this trembling earth. A thirst for justice, for equality, for respect that cannot be stopped. It's a Tsunami of change, of transformation, and it's long overdue.

I'm inviting you - me, we - to celebrate the astounding goodness of our essential beings, the goodness of this gorgeous miraculous unsurpassable earth glittering like a green emerald in the vastness of an incredibly mysterious universe - or is it a multiverse? I'm inviting us to return to our true journey, to align our hearts and our minds and even our bellies with the unfolding evolutionary adventure, to break free from these dark dark ages and help to bring in a new era, an era of empathy, of harmony, of co-operation, of shared power, of meaning, of purpose.

It will be messy as we stumble our way towards this place of awakening, make no mistake about it. There will be more suffering before we get there - perhaps a great deal more. But the time has come. It's time to let go the petty profane existence the greed machine is relentlessly selling us .

It's time to take hold of your birthright. To discover your true calling. It's uniquely yours - not anyone else's. You are a perfect singular snowflake of a being inextricably interwoven with all the other stunningly unique snowflakes dancing through this participatory interconnected living, ever evolving universe. We are all miracles. Wake up to your true Self. As the Zen prayer goes - don't squander your life. Wake up!

(Zen hand clap)

I'm not asking you to crawl on your knees in acts of service and supplication. I am inviting you to be of service, but in a way that is joyous for you. I'm inviting you to discover your bliss - not your ego's bliss, but the bliss of your true Self. You know the difference, if you dare to check in. I double dare you to become a blessing, to allow the universe to offer you the true riches of a life of love, a life of meaning, a life of possibility. Ask yourself this - are you a gift to the planet? Are you a gift to your community? Are you a gift to your family, your friends, your lover, your true Self? Are you a gift to the whole damn universe?

If you aren't, then you're missing out. Because when you become a gift to this universe - to your world, community, family, lover, friend and Self - when you become a true Giver and not just a taker, you will discover the incredible power of reciprocity. The real Secret is that the more you give, the more you receive. As you go deeper into true Giving, the particles become waves. The oscillations between giving and receiving speed up, until they become instantaneous, until there is no giver, there is no receiver, there is just flow. Try it out. Let me know how it goes.

I promise you this: you cannot lose when you lead a life of love. It's as simple as opening your heart. It's as natural as breathing. All that other stuff - the addiction, the suffering, the separation from Source - that's unnatural. That's just a big bag of hot air, an illusion of smoke and mirrors. We've been tricked! Are you gonna let them keep fooling you? Stealing your happiness? Wake up! (zen hand clap) Cut the cords and claim what's rightfully yours.

It's not too late to turn the tide. Start small, start big, but start somewhere - can you spare a smile? Can you spare some compassion? Some creativity? Some action? Some Love? Some love in action?

In the end, it all comes down to love. Love is the bedrock of the universe, of the planet. We are part of an incredibly complex system of systems, systems within systems within systems, all relying on each other in a web of checks and balances, of co-operation, of community. Even our bodies are made up of organisms that rely on each other to keep our system going. This is a form of love. Gravity itself is a loving force - without it, we would float off into space, and nothing would hold together. We need that force of attraction. Love - it's all about love.

Why am I talking about Love and revolution at a Youth Media Summit? Shouldn't I be talking about the new HDSLRs or shooting documentaries on the iPhone 4? Shouldn't I tell you about Kickstarter campaigns and Facebook and Twitter and sharing your work on Youtube? How to get the beauty shots, how to do a good interview or create a great scene? We can get into that, but it's not what's most important - those are just technique and strategies and technologies. You can have the greatest technique on the planet, but if there's no heart in your work, the media you make will just be more junk littering the lunar landscape of the dream machine. On the other hand, if you seize on these tools to make meaningful work, let me tell you, you may have found one of the most critical paths for transforming this mess we're in here on the beautiful, the one and only, the amazing planet earth. Who is really hurting right now. Because of us.

We in the West have a unique role to play - we're living in the Belly of the Beast. Well, here in Saskatoon it's probably more accurate to say we're a few hundred miles up the lower intestine of the beast. It's still a stinky place. The trance makers control the mainstream media, and the whole world watches and emulates what comes out of this flatulent belly. It's the aggressive promotion of confused and distorted values that has gotten us into this pickle. Values of consumption, of violence, of a world view based on greed and selfishness. Every man for himself. Dog eat dog eat dog.

Imagine if the whole dream machine started to take responsibility, realized the urgency of this era - instead of spinning the dream, our media could become key players of awakening, fueling and supporting the transformation that is sweeping the planet, that needs to sweep the planet - that needs to sweep the muck from the global heart.

So I invite you all to join in the awakening - to use whatever creativity and skills and tools you can find to make this world a better place. There are so many ways to do this - in fact, there are as many paths as there are people. Each one of us has a unique role to play - what's yours? Take the time to go deep within, and listen to your heart. Follow that heart, wherever it may lead you. With every opportunity that comes your way, ask yourself - is this a path with heart? If it's not, move on. There's no time to waste in false pursuits. You can be a sacred warrior, you can be both fierce and compassionate, you have the stuff!

It's time to wake up. Wake up! (zen hand clap) This is the moment - right now, not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. There's no better place to be than right here, in this moment, right now. Welcome to life in the fire of change. Let your fierce light shine!

**If you enjoyed this as much as I did when he re-performed it in BC check out his work! Here's the trailer for Fierce Light, one of the most inspiring films I've ever seen.
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