Better Than Bacon

Better Than Bacon really is better than bacon and is entirely meat-free. The version I make frequently is made with butter so is not totally vegan but you could substitute another fat, like coconut oil, I may try that as well. You can use Better Than Bacon anywhere you’d serve hot or cold crispy bacon or bits, like on or with eggs, in salads, as a topping, just about anywhere actually, it even makes a great savory oatmeal condiment!

Smash Garlic with the broad edge of a large chef knife: Hold your blade down flat over the separated cloves, before peeling and slam your fist over the broad edge of the blade, which will perfectly smash the cloves. This releases the flavor and the paper shells, which you then remove manually before next chopping the garlic very finely with the chef knife.

Ingredients:

6-8 or more cloves of garlic

2-3 mid-size or 1 large mushroom

2-3 tbsp of fat: I use butter

2 tbsp or so of oil: I use olive oil

• Requires a skillet with a heavy bottom that won’t burn easily, with a tight-fitting lid.
• About 5 minutes prep and about 15 minutes cooking time.

Instructions:

Smash the garlic cloves by laying the flat side of a large knife and pressing down hard into the cutting board with the flat palm of your hand onto the flat blade of your knife over your garlic cloves, crushing them open and starting their flavor reactions. Remove their paper skins by hand then chop finely with salt.

Slice mushrooms then chop roughly or finely to taste. For bacon bits appearance cut very finely.

Heat butter in frypan just until water bubbles then before it gets smoking, add the chopped garlic. Stir as it browns slightly and releases flavor to butter/oil, then add more oil and add mushrooms. Add salt and pepper plus other desired seasonings. Steak spice can be good.

Stir all together then simmer, covered for a few minutes allowing mushrooms to release their moisture and flavors to combine. Open the pan, stir around and check to ensure all cooking evenly.

OPTIONAL for TOMATO version: Add chopped, toasted or dried tomatoes cut up finely and optionally any herbs, like Italian seasonings.

Once moisture seems released by mushrooms well, cook uncovered, stirring frequently, allowing mixture to dry down through evaporation from heat. The mixture will develop a toasted golden appearance.

Enjoy!

Remove from heat and serve over eggs or oatmeal, or cool and dry and store.

Notes:

May be made ahead in batches and kept cool in a sealed container in the fridge. The recipe really is for whatever quantity you want to prepare, just half or double the recipe, and so on.

Variations:

An even ‘meatier’ version can be made by including roasted or sun dried tomatoes, half-way in the cooking process. You may want to include oregano or other Italian-style seasonings and some more salt and pepper.

Flow State

J feel more and more in flow State, thought Pilot. He was vaguely aware of Orange then Red Lights, tandem in nature, tandem in his physical awareness of his elevator.

Next of course is always Now in flow State as he adjusted his brand as he adjusted his belt.

Focusing then its attention on him and its moving apparatus, that its equipment and bodily operating weaponry and defense protections as its whereabouts, now easy 17th Street on the 228 in North Vancouver, hence pilot knew as they passed 19th Street he was on its way home.

In this way Pilot became aware of the distinctions between body and man, mortal, fixated, man that is and soul.

He became aware one that he was apparently blindly operating ahead at best 50 yards knowledge in mind, he heard next stop was Lynn Valley road at 29th Street

Red Green Orange lights flashed ahead as the smooth Turbo diesel bus plunged confidently in the darkened road ahead Allen Road…

Another one.

Pilot I’m Included

I am powerful and I am strong.

I am positive and I am well;

I expect just deserts.

I am a lightning force for good.

I transmogrify murk into sunshine, swamp into hillside and despair into gladness. 

I hunger not for sadness, nor sickness nor despair. 

I train away fears bedside. 

I dream.

I hope, 

I pray.

I joy.

I live, 

I love, 

I evolve. 

I am a force of nature.

I see life shining as a laser beam.

I am not going to be anyone but me.

I am a generous being.

I am a beautiful being.

I am an honest being.

I am a shrewd being.

I am a gentle being.

I am an open being.

I am a strong being.

I am grateful.

I am kind.

I am love.

I am reborn.

I’m included.

I am me.

Gratitude is a Switch

Pilot knew gratitude was a switch, a button in his console.

When he activated it he heard was like a click, a rustle, a slamming shut, a whirring and whizzing + a speeding away of heart’s desires and allowances of grace, the biggest magnonometer of today. More and more he applied it, for its usage was akin to a barometer for its efficiency.

It, of course, meant both Pilot and the Elevator…

And, since Pilot, as the Elevator Pilot could no more exist outside of his elevator than anyone else could be his elevator’s pilot, this he knew from its multifarious signs + symbols, of success, vision, implementation and of course, documentation; then Pilot had no other function besides that of being his elevator’s pilot, ipso facto, Pilot as the pilot, was simply called Pilot, no more no less. Nevertheless, others tended to observe and judge him for visible aspects of his elevator and label this Pilot. So, Pilot did the only sensible thing he could do, in the circumstances, and he took ownership over BOTH Pilot and Elevator. Internally, he knew and understood the difference, externally, it hardly mattered, in a way.

Getting going was no problem today, getting the thread, that took some doing. See, Pilot had been weaving a complex tapestry of colors when suddenly, out of nowhere it seemed, Pilot had slipped, desperately falling and damaging his centering mechanism. Needless to say, due to the severity of the fall, Pilot had entirely lost all his bobbins, which on their own take getting used to. Until recently this has been un-repaired; recently however, it has been rectified with an entirely new approach that promises complete healing of its centering mechanism, and its effects. Pilot, meanwhile, is just about ready to get his colored weaving going again: and it is extraordinary.

Introducing variety into its complexity now seemed foolhardy at first, until he recalled the great tapestries he had studied hanging in great rooms, tapestries that frequently diverged near a center point with an entirely new and unique variation of its theme, for instance, as a roundel, medallion, portrait, message, other feature color or even in certain circumstances an entirely new weft in its weave. Any and all of these combinations might very well be possible, even likely, without his being aware of it precisely. Therefore, Pilot did what any good pilot would do, he checked his instruments, grateful again to GENR8 Technology’s universal pilot technology that so easily and accurately commanded his vast, truly global instrumentation in instantaneous rapport with all that was in both his Elevator and his connection being with it. For this among all the ‘things’ that he was truly grateful for; for it was the window to worlds of existence he was not sure that both he and his elevator could easily live in abundance without:

Pilot’s Point of View

It wasn’t that Pilot hadn’t a point-of-view on things, even if he was not sure he had opinions. He did have a wealth of practical experience, much of this derived from the workplaces of his adolescence. Part of Pilot’s point of view was due to the huge number of recalcitrant workplace experiences he had during his adolescence. Partly this was due to the length of Pilot’s adolescence, which was extensive, lasting decades in fact. This was due to the length of Pilot’s development plan. That was reflectively long as well.

So, while Pilot may not have opinions (yet), he does have experience, therefore frequently has a plan of attack ready to go for any number of day to day business situations, many of these in a formalized communication capacity for much of Pilot’s precious adulthood had been expended in creating effective group capacity. It could be said that Pilot’s point of view was that he, rather it, was competent. It being its combination of Pilot + Elevator, that was.

Recently, once again Pilot had opportunity to add to his experiences, this time in service of communal living. His entire experience with it was complete in that it brought his understanding of cooperating with others to an entirely new level. And, he pondered reflexively, productively it has been one of the most productive periods he had witnessed. Much of this, if not all, was due to teams.

First of all was the home team. Within this team of five to six there were rivalries, petty hostilities, romances and friendships. Much was born of this team. including a deeper level of relationship with life and with others, including with Pilot himself. Then there were the offshore teams, the work teams and the volunteer teams. Each of these, in turn had many of these same grab bags of personalities, friendships and connections.

This was not the first time that Pilot had to work with wide varieties of others. It was the first time he had lived with that many of them in a confined space. Now, sooner than a moment before, Pilot was going to be piloting his elevator to a new location, a fresh spot recently discovered. Ominous as the idea of moving was made out to be in deep engrams of his awareness, Pilot actually thought the idea of moving was exciting and new in a welcome kind of way.

Unbroken

If you know anything about horses, you know there is a stage in the raising of Colts or adolescent horses, that is to say where the horse is ‘broken’ or made tame for riding.

In reality I am sure the process must be more complex but being raised on a farm I get the general gist of the matter. The fact is horses have personalities, and strong ones. At the end of the day it is far more the case horses respond to positive emotion and reward, than to punishment, which has negative consequences, easily.

I do remember emotional relationships with animals, growing up, including with horses, cows or calves,+ pets including dogs, and cats. I had a tortoise once. There was a goat.

My sister and I are resistant to ‘breaking’. Maybe because we are both resistant to being ‘broken’ into society’s mould for me+her.

Of course, life being life, this means we’ve had our share of near escapes, narrow misses and terrifying nights. Now, more than ever, I just see this as a thrill ride more epic than the last, more heart poundingly exciting than I could have dreamt and all that is in this time.

I see now how, more than ever, she and are twin epochs surrounding a cavernous fire. In this fire brims a cauldron full with magical elixirs and potent spices. Now and then the cauldron bubbles and there may be a smell, intoxicating at first.

Out of this fire, this brimstone, out pulls you and I something new.

Old family photograph

And then SILENCE

And then SILENCE. All about was a golden orb glistening odd somehow as there was only a sense of up.

Pilot could sense UP was still UP.

Other than that, and he was not absolutely certain. He could detect a certain deformity in the horizontal axis left and right, in that things were not always at 90 degrees, even things he knew were.

Silence was essential, this he knew somehow. So, he silenced his room as much as possible, then, to further mask the sounds of the household and anything else, he played numerous soundtracks with various devices.

As usual, Drone Zone (Soma FM) was playing on iPad, behind Pilot. In front of him was Swimming in Money, Subliminal Messages for Wealth, Abundance, Success. By combination its resultant silence inside his cranium was such that Pilot felt instantly motivated, uplifted in his desire and ability to physically, mentally and therefore emotionally, his literal stance, with a very upright seated posture, one foot and toe swung behind, bracing him in this, his upright seat of the six months of his stay during ‘the COVID’ stay at home of 2020.

The combination of the these mostly abstract soundtracks inside Pilot’s cranial structure was such that Pilot wondered afresh was he human indeed ‘natural’ at all?

World War III

World War III and the 1% solution (vs. 1% answer)

Imagine effortless, easy abundance

• Imagine ease.
• Imagine effortless, easy abundance easily
• Now imagine beauty and peace
• Imagine no more greed due to effortless, easy abundance for all.
• Next imagine greed cannot thrive within the midst of effortless, easy abundance. 

Therefore capitalism must surrender or adopt…

This shift, yes it is a shift, is on a molecular level, that is to say, it may be considered to be operating on the smallest unit possible in a war, that is the level of ‘person’. Each person represents this war in his/her/their own way. Some represent it by libido, some others through language, some through change. Whatever may be being experienced externally may also be quite correctly inferred to be occurring internally and vice versa, the reverse is also true. No wonder so many of us are feeling philosophical–or excitable–depending where you are at–these days. 

This war, inner strife, anxious energy is not new. What is new, perhaps is its sense of inner doom, together with a common crisis that in many cases has people publicly sniping over mundane matters, like face masks and gloves. What’s really bothering people about their safety and security goes far deeper and is their income, growth and communal success (or not).

Income (self-sufficiency really), growth and community are not only what is on the mind of the world–its ‘gestalt’–they are exactly what this entire shift is about. You would think this makes life easier, and in a sense it does. See, for the first time in history, perhaps all the world is united as one with a common enemy.

That most people don’t see (yet) is the enemy is within and it is nothing to be expunged or chastised, it is our own mind, willing to be embraced. That so many people’s minds are more or less composed of spaghetti may hardly be helpful, true perhaps; yet no matter the mess, there is both something to say and something also to hug.

At War With the World

World War III is fast upon us, Apocalypse and all, but it does not resemble what most people envision. World War III or ‘at War With the World syndrome’ as I call this, is the talk war each one of us may be experiencing right now, and it is often a toxic war within us. This War (and it may well be a war) is deadly serious and it has very high stakes: your life, your livelihood, your future prosperity and abundance all depend on the outcome to this War. You will either become a Victim or Victor.

You don’t have to have a ton of resources to survive this, which is fortunate, because, since you are going to do more than survive, you will thrive. Realizing new ways to address prosperity, abundance is our birthright. Now, more than ever, how we manage this is not only up to us, it is prime time! What this means is, what happens next matters!

Brands control the channel of wealth by directly connecting and triggering emotions and unconscious connections via day to day, everyday culture + communications. This culture, meanwhile, propagates an automatic culture, relying on brands to provide essential emotional rewards shopping with an absolute abundance of perfect products and pretty packaging.

In Canada, the apogee of this may be seen in the generic, hippy and beatnik movements. The generic brand movement, in particular, has thrived in Canada. House brands like Tim Hortons, Mastercraft and President’s Choice have long succeeded in Canada. What this also means is we have to stop looking for solutions from the past for the problems of the moment. House brands succeed through newfound efficiencies and smart packaging of them. The answer to problems seldom lies at the same level. Eighth generation thinking is needed now!

GENR8 ELEV8R

With this mindset we decided a lifestyle-focused method of achieving sustained happiness and prosperity through winning (actually surrendering) to the At War With the World attitude; and reached its logical end, which is nil, or null, depending on if you are a nerd or not. Having tried that, I can attest to this. However, with this perspective I was able to see something, something new and beyond ordinary in all that is occurring. It is this. 

• The end is nothing.
• The road is all.
• Conduct life like a symphony.

The road is all. By the roadside find a shelter. Under its cover, a sign says “Stop, sit and ponder all that is good in your life.” This is the true nature of prosperity consciousness. Prosperity consciousness has us become a live actor, director, stage producer, choreographer and conductor of our lives today now, because that is all there is. I suppose all that hype might be expected to turn to glory if it were not for the fact that we cannot act, direct, produce, choreograph and conduct 24/7. So what then?

Most entrepreneurs I know do their best to add more hours. But this really may be the most liimited way to do things, producing the most miserly results. Community, people, the world around us exists to magnify and support us in our unique missions. Prosperity consciousness combined with a community structure works. After all, this is what a successful office is; a structured community. Today’s office is being replaced and GENR8 is here to populate virtual ‘factories’ of tomorrow with lucid results through ELEV8R, the personal fingertip filing system.

Organizing and accessing this has, until now, been a problem. GENR8 Community has a solution. The GENR8 ELEV8R membership structure uses a unique harmonic system discussed in Architectonics.ca and illustrated on the GENR8 Open Architecture page. This structure, also discussed in The Elevator Pilot as well as elsewhere, provides for a unique safety and privacy bubble around a supportive creative commons where anything becomes (eventually) possible + available. This is eighth generational organization design. Engineering that is empathic and powerfully connected with human perspectives. Design encompasses very fundamental active aspects of how we connect. Architecture that connects, gathers as it goes, producing more key intelligence for society. Better than smart alone; intelligence implies widely-informed useful and useable knowledge. Designed organizational results accessed through the GENR8 ELEV8R mechanism. Three memberships are available, depending on your qualifications. Apply with the GENR8 Explorer.

Presiding Idea

We act as if the presiding idea of the way the world is presented to us is true. Then we complain when we don’t like the way the world works. You can’t have it both ways. Things cannot be as they are and be undesirable. Why not? Because there is no assertion: actually, there is only attraction.

The earth bends spacetime as it hurtles through the milky way at thousands of miles an hour. That the earth does not crash into things, for the most part, yet is surrounded by things that seem relatively still, like the moon, asteroids, satellites and airplanes flying overhead is evidence of attraction, by gravity. All this is gravity.

The galaxy itself is not still, but is moving relative to the observed universe, at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour. Yet, to the earth, things seem stable, in motion as always, relatively speaking, all whorls around Earth’s gravity, while it itself is mainly subjected to the Sun’s gravity, which exceeds that of the Earth. To the Earth, Terra, we therefore seem to be somewhat autonomous, for we can whorl who we want around us orbitally, yet Terra must remain confined to the precise orbit around the Sun, Sol, it reliably decays on through the ages, unless something else larger interferes. Terra and Sol have a lifetime relationship and this involves several siblings of Earth, like Mars and Venus, for instance, not to mention numerous cousins and distant relatives like the mysterious Rings of Saturn and the fascinating Moons of Neptune.

Meanwhile, on this Earth, under this Sun, we have generated a dynasty of plastic architecture and levered credit built on expressing fossil fuels and reducing biodiversity. Why? Because we act as if this is true. This isn’t true. It’s just an option based on an opinion I don’t share. Like the world how it is and be with the truth you know to be real, not the mindlessly unrepentant ‘agenda’. The agenda I know is we are hurtling through space:

Monty Python Universe Song

All other agendas pale in comparison and seem petty by comparison to me.We have gravity subtle in comparison yet powerfully aligned may spin planets yet.

Pilot is troubled

Pilot often overheard conversations in the Elevator. Today he overheard a stray comment that had struck him as worthy of analysis. The exact phrase was:

“Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.”

Pilot had no need to inquire with clients about the meaning of any of the words; he had ready access to about 200,000 English words in his vocabulary: well beyond the average person’s, so the individual meaning of the words did not trouble him. All the words in the statement, which had been delivered bluntly and to the point to the other occupant at the time, seemed quite ordinary and very common, indeed. It was the combined effect that had Pilot thinking. That, and the authority with which the comment had been delivered. He knew of the client who had spoken them and so also, her particular intonation as well as her authenticity. He could tell when she was joking and when she was not. This statement had been delivered like truth. He knew because of the lightness and steadiness with which she spoken and also the brevity of her comment and the note of finality with which it was punctuated. In her language, this meant truth.

So, while idling today, Pilot had been checking out the meaning of the statement. What hooked him, for the first time directly, was the question of his own necroscopy, or not. For the first time, it occurred to Pilot to ask, was Pilot alive? He knew that everyone in this sentence meant everyone who was alive. And while he was well familiar with the human form, having been extensively educated about this already, what he did not know was where and whether he also had an asshole. For some reason today this opened up a source of inquiry within him. For, try as he might, he could not seem to determine that he had an asshole. If he did, he surely did not know where it was. Was this normal?

If he did not have an asshole, did that mean he was not one of every? Everyone, he knew, meant all humans. Was he one at all? And, by extension, did he have an opinion? Pilot thought and thought about this. He did not know the answer. This troubled him deeply.

IF Pilot was not alive, then how did he continue to operate the Elevator? And, if he had an asshole, but just couldn’t locate it at the moment, what about his opinions? Clare (his client who had made the statement) seemed quite certain that if there was an asshole, there was at least one opinion that was his. Try as he might, however, he could not seem to locate one he had. He knew a lot of facts and many localities + he knew a ton of statistics including probabilities. But opinions? 

The definition of opinion he had been given was a view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. The second definition given, a statement of advice by an expert on a professional matter did not suit the context as Pilot knew for sure that not everyone was an expert on a professional matter. So that left him wondering. Pilot could not recall any time he had formed a view or judgement about something without facts or knowledge. Did that mean he had no opinions? Did this mean he was not part of everyone? Was he alive, or was he dead? Should he ask Clare? Did Clare care? Would this be bothersome to Clare? He did not know. For the first time it occurred to Pilot that he truly was alone.

In the nick of time, as it seemed, an appliance repair person, whose name, Mack, was emblazoned in red thread on a white label sewn with blue thread onto this denim overalls entered the elevator. Mack carried several large cases with him, including one quite heavy one he trundled into the elevator on wheels. Pilot knew it was heavy because he had to adjust the elevator’s balance right away when Mack’s large case was wheeled in, and even so, the elevator shook a little. 

Mack seemed to know a lot about tools and a little, even, about elevator. He inserted a new kind of key into a slot that Pilot couldn’t remember being used before. This halted Pilot’s control of elevator, which went into ‘stop’ mode, with its doors positioned open. Whatever Mack was up to was not clear to Pilot, however, by the trustworthy way he operated, wielding various tools unhurriedly and with confidence, Pilot was not too agitated. The sheer number and variety of tools that Mack had aboard elevator surprised Pilot. When he was done, he again inserted the special key and turned it back to the starting position and Pilot could feel that elevator had been renewed in some way. He tried closing the doors, but first Mack wanted to open and close the doors a few times first, by using Pilot’s redundant control buttons embedded into elevator; then he rode up and down for a bit, as though he was testing elevator’s mechanisms and Pilot’s responsiveness. Pilot noticed that the elevator’s doors operated within a greater tolerance of accuracy and security than they had before. Nothing else had changed. After a while, Mack seemed satisfied and he left.

Pilot was left to his ruminations.

He wondered if he had an opinion.

Even more, he wondered if he had an asshole.