Take five tomorrow at 3:00

My friend Bill McDonald is full of ideas. The nature of his ideas varies. Some are profound. Others are silly. Many are dangerous.

Bill wrote a good one down in a comment on this blog yesterday, and it's definitely worth pulling out and making into a post of its own.

Next week will most likely be historically bad. Here's my advice for Portland: Let's try and do something - anything - to lessen the pain and suffering. This Friday around 3 p.m. each individual should do what you do spiritually. If you don't believe in anything like that or worship anything just approach it as wishful thinking. It doesn't have to be religious. Maybe you worship consumerism, maybe you worship sex or alcohol or any of the drugs out there. I say set them aside for 5 minutes and focus. The rest of us should pray or meditate or just stand in awe at the wonder of it all. Look, there are forces in the universe we don't know about. Quantum physics has particles affecting each other across vast amounts of space at exactly the same time. Particles that appear to act differently depending on who's observing them. Particles that are in two places at once. You can't tell me there isn't some heavy shit going on that we don't know about. And somehow these atoms and molecules have formed humans with consciousness but our brains aren't just computers - they're receivers. We're tapped in to forces we can't fully comprehend. You might believe in God or many Gods or no Gods or Allah or any of the other words for it. It doesn't matter. Focus your mind for 5 minutes and ask whatever is out there for help getting through this next week and beyond without all the violence. If these years really are the beginning of a great global revolution, they'll be no stopping it anyway. But if it's just going to be 100 more days of riots, broken bones and skulls and burn victims, and gunshot wounds, let's fight it with our minds. Let's throw everything we have in our brains and souls at it. 5 minutes, Friday at 3. It's worth a shot.

Yes, I do believe it is. And not just for Portland. Tomorrow.