Just One Bite at a Time
The Mount Shasta Mission

by The Mighty QL Duo

* SUMMER IS FOR READING, PART 3 of 3 *

The Mount Shasta Mission will push you into a new arena and calls for a little more dedication to serving the larger picture. This book will stretch not only your imagination and ability to perceive the possibilities of life beyond your five senses, it will challenge you to take your new knowledge of those possibilities and put it to good work here and now.

It was always relevant. But now, we need this information more than ever. We first wrote to you about the Mount Shasta Mission in August of 2012. There were momentous changes happening in the world and it felt intense and difficult then. Here it is 6 years later and it often feels like the whole world is backsliding, as so many governments shift to hard-line tactics and innocent groups of people are targeted.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR: "We are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. An unprecedented 68.5 million people around the world have been forced from home. There are also an estimated 10 million stateless people who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement."

In Mexico this year, 133 politicians, mostly local-level, were murdered in the run-up to Mexico's elections. Yet we saw women like Rubio, running for mayor in her district, standing up and speaking out about those actively threatening to kill her if she did not drop out. According to a Reuters interview, Rubio was running "to prod government to do more for the region’s impoverished Raramuri indigenous people" and despite the risks, she said "she wants to show her children and other women that Mexico’s institutions can work." “I cannot quit,” Rubio said. “I’m here because I want a change in my country.”

In the U.S., we are watching an unprecedented dismantling of government agencies, laws and protocols, designed to protect human rights, safeguard peace and protect our environment. And along with it, we are watching unprecedented numbers of citizens protesting, more diversity than ever among people running for government office, more speaking out and rising up to the challenges.

What does any of this have to do with Perelandra and the work of Machaelle Wright?

The Mount Shasta Mission answers that question.

You see, The Mount Shasta Mission describes an event that is vital to the underlying structure of all government and military on the planet (and beyond). We realize that many folks shut down and want to turn and walk away at the very mention of the word "government." It seems many of us equate "politics" with "government" and who doesn't feel like pulling out hair and screaming at the thought of today's "politics?"

Think about it. Government is a structure, a framework that is a vital, inescapable part of our lives. It sets the guidelines, rules, laws and provides the organized framework within which our daily lives operate. It functions on a large and small scale — binding all of us around the world and within our smallest communities and villages to one another. Whether we choose to consciously and cooperatively participate in it, work to change it or not, it exists and it affects us all every single day.

This is what makes The Mount Shasta Mission so important. For those who feel there is no hope for our current situation, that we just keep repeating the mistakes of the past and for those who cringe at the thought of tuning in to learn news of the world each day — this book will give you a fresh perspective and hope. It provides a reason for watching, for considering world events and learning something about them, and for learning something about government and military actions. It gives us a reason to pay attention and to participate.

The Mount Shasta Mission is engaging, but not easy. Reading it gives you a personal experience of walking through a complex multi-level mission, complete with set-backs, annoyances, odd and illogical moments balanced with a connection to historical events and to the universe beyond our planet. And you get to experience the rewards of intense, detailed and difficult work — the joy and satisfaction of success.

From Jeannette:
Honestly, I hadn't the slightest interest in government, military and especially not politics until I was in my early 30s. I'm ashamed to say I wasn't even registered to vote until that time. My family lived in government-supported housing when I was very young. I was involved in government-sponsored conservation work from the time I was 13 years old. Three of my uncles and my grandfather served in World War II. I grew up less than 20 miles from Gettysburg and spent many days exploring those battlefields. I was the first in my family to attend college thanks to government-supported loans and — this is where my disinterest in government is even more embarrassing — I became a special education teacher less than 10 years after it was first mandated by the federal government. But through all that I didn't see my connection to government and I didn't care to. My awareness of politics began when I was 10 years old, watching Richard Nixon resign from his position as President of the United States, under a cloud of lies and deceit. I apparently knew enough of its historic impact that I wrote about it in my diary and recorded his resignation speech on my newly acquired tape recorder. So began my view of politicians and their part in government and ridiculously, it seemed to have stuck there, in my 10 year old mind.

Learning about the Mount Shasta Mission in 1993 at one of Machaelle's workshops opened my mind to considering government in a different light. After that, I found myself drawn to local county planning and board meetings, gaining appreciation for those willing to serve in government positions. I started picking up books about the U.S. Civil War, the Vietnam War and World War II, the civil rights movement in the U.S. and started reading about world news. It all began to matter and the connections became clearer.

The Mount Shasta Mission was published in 2005, at a time when U.S. government and military actions were impossible to ignore. I was frustrated and incensed at what was happening on a national and international level. What I learned from Machaelle's book gave me something concrete to put to good use. I started to apply it immediately to my work with a local citizens group. Machaelle's book gave me much needed support and improved my work with nature on those issues.

In 2008, as a result of my above mentioned frustration and anger, I got more involved locally. I credit what I learned from The Mount Shasta Mission for much of my success in my ability to have an impact on my community during an historic presidential campaign and election. I was able to understand and connect what I was doing on a very small scale to the changes possible on a world level. It kept me motivated and kept me charged during an intense and exhausting time. Watching the world response to our U.S. election that night in November of 2008, confirmed for me how connected we all are and how the choices I make in my life matter around the world.

And now, here we are — August, 2012. I'm again involved and seriously committed to the campaign to re-elect our President. I'm about to head out the door and join a group of volunteers from my community to encourage our neighbors to register to vote. Those who knew me 30 years ago are stunned at my passion for this. I surprise myself out there at the local gas station with my stack of voter registration forms, really wanting to convey to people how important it is that they participate, even if just through this one little act. But I am aware that under me, behind me, all around me I am supported by our planet, by world leaders, by people of worlds beyond ours and by nature. I am aware that my small actions for a few hours today matter not just to my community and to my country, but to the rest of the planet. And, though we may be oceans and worlds of experiences apart, there is a woman my age somewhere out there in a very different country, with a very different government, faced with military conflict in her neighborhood, changing her life, her family, today. And through the groundwork laid in the Mount Shasta Mission, my actions can connect to the possibilities available to her, and her actions today connect to the possibilities available to me.

From Beth:
What I remember most from first reading The Mount Shasta Mission was a sense of relief. That there are highly evolved souls working to support positive, balanced evolution. They won't do it for us, but they can do so very much to help us get there. "Us" includes "them." It has made paying attention to what's happening in the world a useful istead of depressing endeavor. Along with the poor, destructive governmental and military decisions happening across the globe, there are also some real, truly constructive and amazing things happening.

Preparing this One Bite has prompted me to read The Mount Shasta Mission again. I have only just begun, and in the beginning, Machaelle lays the foundation of understanding needed to be able to keep up with everything that's happening during the mission — whether or not you've read either of her first two autobiographies. What struck me this time is something plainly obvious and often overlooked, but shouldn't be: Machaelle's work with nature intelligence made the mission possible.

She had no idea what was around the bend when she started, which was a huge help of course, especially because she's clearly, whole-heartedly committed to seeing it through. This is an example of what can be done. Wow.

It gets me thinking about all of us working with nature. When we're in our homes, gardens and businesses, learning how to be partners with nature intelligence and building balanced environments, what we're doing is the important "ground level" work for a wealth of possibility. You might even surprise yourself and the people who know you best when, down the road a ways, you're involved in a project that you never would have dreamed of doing and you realize that you're more personally satisfied than ever before. Your "little" actions are helping to affect the health and balance of the world we all live in.

Whatever your work or interests may be, whatever your position or level of involvement in government systems or military in your country, you can make use of what's available to all of us. You can have tremendous, practical support for taking action and being more effective, for moving us all forward in small and big ways.

Read The Mount Shasta Mission. Then: Focus. Commit. Act.

Beth and Jeannette
"Perelandra's Mighty QL Duo"
Question Line: 1-540-937-3679
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