“Nothing creates more unhappiness than failed expectations…. Expectations are an attempt to control the future,” Deepak Chopra. Boy, is that true for me and Obama! Man, did I have expectations! And so far, boy, are they failing and boy, am I unhappy! Chopra’s talking about positive expectations. But there are negative expectations, too; the things we don’t want to happen but fear they will. Those are the kind of expectations I have about the T Party and its impact on us.
Leta Miller writing in this month’s SOM says that, “action is the key to breaking the pattern” of expectation/disappointment and worry. She recommends asking, “What am I willing to do right now?” focusing on the present where I can do something constructive, rather than the future, where action is impossible.
Clearly, focusing on the present instead of the future is a good idea. But what I’m willing to do right now, about Obama and the T Party, is not so clear. I’m not into demonstrating, tho I would do that if I thought it would work. Writing letters, signing petitions and making phone calls to elected officials seems equally useless to me. Been there, done that, and here we are, things seemingly worse. The only thing I can do right now that I think can make a positive difference is stay centered in spirit, keep my mind clear of negativity, and have zero expectations, either positive or negative.
This is what Suzuki and most metaphysicians call mindfulness. What I can do right now and in all the right nows to come, is to stay mindful; be aware of my thoughts and feelings and, when I find myself getting involved with expectations, say to myself, without blame or judgment, “oh, there I go again,” and give the thoughts and feeling over to spirit.
I need to understand that doing this, being mindful, is a constant, never ending process; a spiritual practice. It is a way out of the ego’s world of hateful illusions and into spirit’s world of love and peace. The more mindful I am and the more a give my expectations over to spirit, the more in-touch with mySelf I am and the better I am able to act in the world, charge neutral, and make a contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything, including the T Party.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Seeds
Think of a tree or any organic thing that emerges from within itself. To the degree that it follows its inner commitment to unfold in love, as spirit created it, is it able to overcome all resistance and demonstrate itself as a meaningful and worthwhile part of the vast, vital and inclusive manifestation of life. A celery seed will not produce a cherry tree. So, the seed of love will not produce ignorance, hate, anger, judgment, blame and prejudice.
If we’re seeing a lot of ignorance, hate, anger, judgment, blame and prejudice it’s because the seeds of those things are planted in the hearts and minds of those manifesting the ignorance, hate, anger, judgment, blame and prejudice. If these people will plant different seeds, they will manifest different fruit.
What seeds are you and I planting right now? What seeds is our society planting right now? By their fruits you shall know them. Plant seeds of love, joy, inclusivity, compassion, sharing and peace. Please! We can’t plant for others, only ourselves, but if we plant spirit and it grows spirit, we may be an example for others. Wait, in our decision making as a society and community, we do, in a way, plant seeds for others, don’t we? What we teach in school and support with our buying power, does plant and nurture particular seeds. What seeds are we planting and nurturing as a society?
This month’s AARP magazine reported that a new federal report finds only 7% of 8th graders can describe the three branches of government. Can you believe that? Only 7%? What fruit will these seeds of ignorance bear? Will it be good for the American form of democracy? And if our democracy fades, what will replace it…?
The same report also says that only 27% of 4th graders, 22% of 8th graders and 24% of 12th graders are proficient in civics. Who benefits from the destruction of American democracy…? The Communists are gone. Who then? Could it be in the interest of the large aggregations of wealth and power to keep people fat, dumb and happy so they’ll be good docile consumers, drop out of democracy and not bother to vote?
Yet the Sierra Club reports that a Yale University poll found that 77% of teens know what the greenhouse effect is, compared with 66% of adults. And better yet, 57% of youths understand that humans are contributing to global climate change, while only 50% of adults understand this. So, seemingly, we, as members of American society are planting and nurturing seeds of civic ignorance, beside seeds of environmental awareness. I think we want to plant and nurture both - seeds of civic awareness and environmental awareness.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Abundance
“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into,” Wayne Dyer.
Does that make sense? It does if one is thinking inside/out, not, outside/in. Abundance isn’t about ‘getting’ its about releasing, allowing and unblocking. The abundance of every good thing, and unfortunately, every ‘bad’ thing too, is already within us. Understanding this enables us to claim our power.
We are not lucky or victims, tho it often seems that way. We are decision makers and as such are responsible for what we choose. Who we choose to identify with, and to be our guide and teacher – ego or spirit – determines what kind of abundance we experience. There’s nothing out there, no god or devil, keeping score and rewarding or punishing us. We are the ones who reward or punish by who we choose to identify with. We are responsible. We are the decision makers [not George Bush – oh, wait, he was the ‘decider’].
What we give out, comes back to us, multiplied. What goes around, what we send forth, comes around, returns to us. Rather than focus of getting and identifying with the ego’s lack and limitation, we can choose to focus on sharing the great gifts we already have within and with that focus choose to make a contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything.
Does that make sense? It does if one is thinking inside/out, not, outside/in. Abundance isn’t about ‘getting’ its about releasing, allowing and unblocking. The abundance of every good thing, and unfortunately, every ‘bad’ thing too, is already within us. Understanding this enables us to claim our power.
We are not lucky or victims, tho it often seems that way. We are decision makers and as such are responsible for what we choose. Who we choose to identify with, and to be our guide and teacher – ego or spirit – determines what kind of abundance we experience. There’s nothing out there, no god or devil, keeping score and rewarding or punishing us. We are the ones who reward or punish by who we choose to identify with. We are responsible. We are the decision makers [not George Bush – oh, wait, he was the ‘decider’].
What we give out, comes back to us, multiplied. What goes around, what we send forth, comes around, returns to us. Rather than focus of getting and identifying with the ego’s lack and limitation, we can choose to focus on sharing the great gifts we already have within and with that focus choose to make a contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything.
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Myth of American Exceptionalism & Our Bloated Nothingness
As, centered in spirit, we work to see clearly, getting our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits, we can feel the grace that’s there, already within us, begin to flow, and we realize it doesn’t have to be this way, a world full of hate and terror, and in love’s light, we begin to understand that peace and progress are possible, even if we must work courageously to achieve them. Like the old WWII song said, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! Praise the Lord, we ain’t a goin’ fishin’. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition and we’ll all stay free.”
“Human hate has no legitimate mandate and no kingdom,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy. “Love is enthroned.” Realizing the truth of that statement in our lives is a process requiring vision, strength, diligence and lot’s of willingness to stop kidding ourselves and get our bloated nothingness out of the way.
The idea of American Exceptionalism is a big part of our bloated nothingness. It is a myth whose time has come…to die. If the dysfunctional way Congress and the White House finally avoided a default on US sovereign debt didn’t put the final nail in the myth’s coffin, it put in most of them. Imagine America trying to rescue the world economy as it did two years ago? The new austerity makes that largely impossible. And what of the surging demands of the baby boomers? Plus, the fact that well justified cuts in the Pentagon’s budget are on the way will not only embolden China and India, but reduce our world footprint.
The latest display of gridlock and the promise of more to come call for modesty, not Exceptionalism. America can be a good nation among other good nations, a noble and prosperous nation among other noble and prosperous nations, but no longer an exceptional nation. If we face this aspect of our bloated nothingness and get it out of the way, we can still experience God’s grace and still make a contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything.
“Human hate has no legitimate mandate and no kingdom,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy. “Love is enthroned.” Realizing the truth of that statement in our lives is a process requiring vision, strength, diligence and lot’s of willingness to stop kidding ourselves and get our bloated nothingness out of the way.
The idea of American Exceptionalism is a big part of our bloated nothingness. It is a myth whose time has come…to die. If the dysfunctional way Congress and the White House finally avoided a default on US sovereign debt didn’t put the final nail in the myth’s coffin, it put in most of them. Imagine America trying to rescue the world economy as it did two years ago? The new austerity makes that largely impossible. And what of the surging demands of the baby boomers? Plus, the fact that well justified cuts in the Pentagon’s budget are on the way will not only embolden China and India, but reduce our world footprint.
The latest display of gridlock and the promise of more to come call for modesty, not Exceptionalism. America can be a good nation among other good nations, a noble and prosperous nation among other noble and prosperous nations, but no longer an exceptional nation. If we face this aspect of our bloated nothingness and get it out of the way, we can still experience God’s grace and still make a contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Our Political Bloated Nothingness
Can God’s grace dissolve the polarization and gridlock in American political institutions? Grace – the merit-less ‘bestowing’ of peace harmony and goodness, as described in the song, “Amazing Grace.” Grace can, does and will dissolve the polarization when we get out of its way and allow it to flow. It seems ‘merit-less’ because it is already present within us, part of our birthright as spiritual beings having earthly experiences, and we need do nothing to ‘earn’ it. In fact striving, struggling and ‘earning’ get in the way of Its flow. To experience grace, we have to get our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits.
To me, getting our bloated nothingness out of the way, involves seeing clearly and speaking the truth. One such truth is that contemporary lame street media fail to help us get our bloated nothingness out of the way and in fact enable our bloated nothingness by perpetuating a number of myths.
One of these is that there are only two points of view. This sort of dichotomous thinking institutionalizes polarization from the git go, giving us two talking heads, pro and con, Republican and Democrat and the dangerous idea that both political parties are equally at fault. This is a dangerous idea because it facilitates people dropping out, not voting, and thereby perpetuating the status quo.
These myths and either/or thinking are clearly not helpful, are clearly not the truth, and are not working for the majority [they seem to be working quite well for the rich and political elite]. Until people clearly get this myth of equal blame, false dichotomy and the idea that the Truth emerges from an adversarial clash of ideas out of their heads, we will have difficulty getting our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits and allowing the grace that is in all of us, to flow.
Of course there are legitimate differences in the way people define and deal with problems and opportunities. And dialogue and discourse conducted with mutual respect can help combine these differences into something that will work for all concerned, or almost all concerned. But the current political conditions do not support dialogue and mutual respect.
And that lack of mutual respect and willingness to dialogue comes overwhelmingly from one political party. Not only that, but this party also emphasizes trivial issues of little consequence to keep the pot boiling and the polarization in place.
For example, consider the over-hyped, so-called ‘controversy’ over the President’s vacation daze. Obama has taken 61 days off in 31 months in office. Reagan spent 349 days on his ranch. And George the Second logged 490 daze at his ranch! The Republicans started this ‘controversy’ and continue to stoke it while their Presidents, took much more time off than Obama. Hypocrisy? Yes, but worse, much worse. It is only the tip of the iceberg. It is the new way Republicans do business, and they do it because it seems to work. And I guess as long as it keeps working, they’ll keep doing it.
So it’s up to us to see this for what it is: both parties are not equally to blame, there are not only two sides to every ‘argument’ [it may not even be an argument, it may be just a discussion], truth does not emerge from name-calling, one-sided, ignorant insistence that Paul Revere rode to warn the British and corporations are people just like you and me.
All of this is worse than mere hypocrisy and is not business as usual because by just about every indicator, the United States is falling behind and not living up to its ideals and potential. God’s grace is there for everyone, in both parties, and in no party, but until we allow it to flow by getting our bloated nothingness out of its way, we want be able to benefit from it.
To me, getting our bloated nothingness out of the way, involves seeing clearly and speaking the truth. One such truth is that contemporary lame street media fail to help us get our bloated nothingness out of the way and in fact enable our bloated nothingness by perpetuating a number of myths.
One of these is that there are only two points of view. This sort of dichotomous thinking institutionalizes polarization from the git go, giving us two talking heads, pro and con, Republican and Democrat and the dangerous idea that both political parties are equally at fault. This is a dangerous idea because it facilitates people dropping out, not voting, and thereby perpetuating the status quo.
These myths and either/or thinking are clearly not helpful, are clearly not the truth, and are not working for the majority [they seem to be working quite well for the rich and political elite]. Until people clearly get this myth of equal blame, false dichotomy and the idea that the Truth emerges from an adversarial clash of ideas out of their heads, we will have difficulty getting our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits and allowing the grace that is in all of us, to flow.
Of course there are legitimate differences in the way people define and deal with problems and opportunities. And dialogue and discourse conducted with mutual respect can help combine these differences into something that will work for all concerned, or almost all concerned. But the current political conditions do not support dialogue and mutual respect.
And that lack of mutual respect and willingness to dialogue comes overwhelmingly from one political party. Not only that, but this party also emphasizes trivial issues of little consequence to keep the pot boiling and the polarization in place.
For example, consider the over-hyped, so-called ‘controversy’ over the President’s vacation daze. Obama has taken 61 days off in 31 months in office. Reagan spent 349 days on his ranch. And George the Second logged 490 daze at his ranch! The Republicans started this ‘controversy’ and continue to stoke it while their Presidents, took much more time off than Obama. Hypocrisy? Yes, but worse, much worse. It is only the tip of the iceberg. It is the new way Republicans do business, and they do it because it seems to work. And I guess as long as it keeps working, they’ll keep doing it.
So it’s up to us to see this for what it is: both parties are not equally to blame, there are not only two sides to every ‘argument’ [it may not even be an argument, it may be just a discussion], truth does not emerge from name-calling, one-sided, ignorant insistence that Paul Revere rode to warn the British and corporations are people just like you and me.
All of this is worse than mere hypocrisy and is not business as usual because by just about every indicator, the United States is falling behind and not living up to its ideals and potential. God’s grace is there for everyone, in both parties, and in no party, but until we allow it to flow by getting our bloated nothingness out of its way, we want be able to benefit from it.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Reaction Formation
Certainty often covers deep doubt and uncertainty. As Shakespeare said in Hamlet, “Me thinks he doth protest too much.” The more vigorously someone professes something, or denies it, especially things around religious beliefs, sexual preference and patriotism, the more suspect those professions and denials are; especially when the person sites the absolute certainty of God and the bible to back him up. Vigorous professions and denials are a red flag, a warning that the person making them is not well and not to be trusted. Most of us know this in our guts.
We know that deep down the person “protesting too much” may, and often does, harbor beliefs diametrically opposed to the ones he denies or professes. Some people act out the opposite of what they unconsciously or are ashamed of, believing. Freud called this ‘reaction formation’. As I describe reaction formation, see how well it explains so much of what’s going on with our tea party and Republican brothers and sisters.
A powerful profession or prohibition can only be directed against an equally powerful impulse, Freud explained. What no human soul desires stands in no need of prohibition; it is excluded automatically, and what every human soul desires flows without exhortation. “The very emphasis laid on the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ makes it certain that we spring from an endless series of generations of murderers, who had the lust for killing in their blood, as perhaps, we ourselves have today.
“Conflicts of this kind due to ambivalence are very frequent and they can have another typical outcome, in which on of the two conflicting feelings [usually the most socially acceptable one] becomes enormously intensified and the other vanishes. The exaggerated and compulsive character of the remaining feeling betray the fact that it is not the only one present but is continually on the alert to keep the opposite feeling under suppression. This is repression by means of reaction formation.”
Building on Freud, Jung suggested that religious fanatics were cloaking their own lack of faith, otherwise they would not affirm theirs with such dogmatic tenacity and certainty. So, could it be that our present day homophobic religious anti-government pro austerity fanatics are trying to cover up their own doubt and uncertainty about these things?
To me, the scariest thing about reaction formation and the fanaticism it breeds if left untreated and unchecked is how far those suffering from these things will go. A lot of innocent, ‘normal’ people could be badly hurt. Consider the recent debt ceiling nonsense, and who knows what’s next. Yes, as I wrote yesterday, the ascendancy of tea party and Republican extremists could be, and I pray it is, the storm before the calm. But if Freud and Jung are to be considered, it is also an illness that must somehow be treated….
We know that deep down the person “protesting too much” may, and often does, harbor beliefs diametrically opposed to the ones he denies or professes. Some people act out the opposite of what they unconsciously or are ashamed of, believing. Freud called this ‘reaction formation’. As I describe reaction formation, see how well it explains so much of what’s going on with our tea party and Republican brothers and sisters.
A powerful profession or prohibition can only be directed against an equally powerful impulse, Freud explained. What no human soul desires stands in no need of prohibition; it is excluded automatically, and what every human soul desires flows without exhortation. “The very emphasis laid on the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ makes it certain that we spring from an endless series of generations of murderers, who had the lust for killing in their blood, as perhaps, we ourselves have today.
“Conflicts of this kind due to ambivalence are very frequent and they can have another typical outcome, in which on of the two conflicting feelings [usually the most socially acceptable one] becomes enormously intensified and the other vanishes. The exaggerated and compulsive character of the remaining feeling betray the fact that it is not the only one present but is continually on the alert to keep the opposite feeling under suppression. This is repression by means of reaction formation.”
Building on Freud, Jung suggested that religious fanatics were cloaking their own lack of faith, otherwise they would not affirm theirs with such dogmatic tenacity and certainty. So, could it be that our present day homophobic religious anti-government pro austerity fanatics are trying to cover up their own doubt and uncertainty about these things?
To me, the scariest thing about reaction formation and the fanaticism it breeds if left untreated and unchecked is how far those suffering from these things will go. A lot of innocent, ‘normal’ people could be badly hurt. Consider the recent debt ceiling nonsense, and who knows what’s next. Yes, as I wrote yesterday, the ascendancy of tea party and Republican extremists could be, and I pray it is, the storm before the calm. But if Freud and Jung are to be considered, it is also an illness that must somehow be treated….
Monday, August 22, 2011
The Storm Before the Calm
Here are some metaphysical concepts I was thinking about Sunday morning as I did my Tai Chi by by the lake, as the sun came up and a soothing breeze dried the sweat on my face: I accept Myself as myself, and seek ye the Kingdom of Heaven and all else shall be added unto you. It came to me to try and connect these ideas to Obama and the current political situation.
How would a politician who accepted his spiritual reality as himself and sought the Kingdom of Heaven first appear to us in the ego’s dualistic, fear and terror filled illusion of a world? Would s/he be nasty, angry, vicious and constantly attacking? Would s/he try and reason with people, especially his ‘enemies’, articulate higher ideals, and share visions of a world that worked for everyone and everything? Would he favor compromise and win-win solutions instead of zero-sum games and lose-lose thinking?
His conceptual framework [please see earlier posts for more explanation of these concepts] would be the continuum, not the pyramid or the dichotomy. And perhaps, even as Jesus was reviled and persecuted in a world and a people dominated by the fear-ridden, dualistic ego, so would he be reviled and persecuted. He would be ahead of his time. Misunderstood and unappreciated in his own day, he would only be understood in a later day.
Such leaders are a threat to the ego and its world. And the high priests of the ego - the haters, fear-mongers, selfish, narrow-minded, trickle-down, moralistic people, would never appreciate nor understand him, but would always revile and persecute him.
Can you think of two Presidents in the last 40 years who seemed to fit this profile? Can you think of a single political party now filled to overflowing with the ego’s high priests?
What if the appearance of these two Presidents in recent times and the fierce, open negativity to them, heralded not the end of the American dream, but its renewal? What if this fierce resistance is the last gasp of the hypocrisy that has characterized American culture from its inception? What if the American hope of being the shining city on a hill and contributing to a world that works for everyone and everything was becoming a reality, and the high priests of the ego who are threatened by American ideals, and who have always been threatened by them, tho they give lip service to them, understand this and want to hold it all back, maintaining the ego’s status quo?
How would a politician who accepted his spiritual reality as himself and sought the Kingdom of Heaven first appear to us in the ego’s dualistic, fear and terror filled illusion of a world? Would s/he be nasty, angry, vicious and constantly attacking? Would s/he try and reason with people, especially his ‘enemies’, articulate higher ideals, and share visions of a world that worked for everyone and everything? Would he favor compromise and win-win solutions instead of zero-sum games and lose-lose thinking?
His conceptual framework [please see earlier posts for more explanation of these concepts] would be the continuum, not the pyramid or the dichotomy. And perhaps, even as Jesus was reviled and persecuted in a world and a people dominated by the fear-ridden, dualistic ego, so would he be reviled and persecuted. He would be ahead of his time. Misunderstood and unappreciated in his own day, he would only be understood in a later day.
Such leaders are a threat to the ego and its world. And the high priests of the ego - the haters, fear-mongers, selfish, narrow-minded, trickle-down, moralistic people, would never appreciate nor understand him, but would always revile and persecute him.
Can you think of two Presidents in the last 40 years who seemed to fit this profile? Can you think of a single political party now filled to overflowing with the ego’s high priests?
What if the appearance of these two Presidents in recent times and the fierce, open negativity to them, heralded not the end of the American dream, but its renewal? What if this fierce resistance is the last gasp of the hypocrisy that has characterized American culture from its inception? What if the American hope of being the shining city on a hill and contributing to a world that works for everyone and everything was becoming a reality, and the high priests of the ego who are threatened by American ideals, and who have always been threatened by them, tho they give lip service to them, understand this and want to hold it all back, maintaining the ego’s status quo?
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