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Recently I met someone in a social situation.  We talked at length about a wide spectrum of topics and had much to share.  It was an interesting and enjoyable experience.  When I suggested that he might enjoy reading some of my blog entries my suggestion was enthusiastically received.

Two days later I receive the following e-mail (to the best of my recollection as I deleted it upon reading it):

“If you think Glenn Beck is a prophet, as you wrote, then I have nothing further to say to you and we have nothing in common. I met him several years ago and he is a money-hungry phony.How anyone can listen to him is beyond me.”

Now this is a highly educated man who owns his own publishing company that publishes a sports magazine in the Philadelphia area.  So it started me thinking about three things: education, small minds and hate.

1.       My thoughts about education are neither unique nor startling.  The amount of years one spends obtaining a formal education correlates to neither common sense nor wisdom.  It correlates to one’s capacity to regurgitate what is being fed, and in the best of cases, to sprinkle that with some creative thinking of one’s own to hopefully generate some modicum of internally-sourced and outside-the-box thinking.  I make this statement absent jealously or resentment since I am one of those educated people, having spent 19 years in formal education on the way to obtaining a Juris Doctor in law.

All those years made me educated, in a specific way, not necessarily wise or open-minded. That requires education of a different sort.

2.       Small minds abound, even among the educated.  Take my acquaintance above.  His reaction is proof that the capacity to ingest and digest factual knowledge is not a reliable indicator of a mind capable of expansive or inclusive thinking.  To do that, one has to possess qualities not taught in school such as compassion, understanding and wisdom.

3.       As for hate… I’ve come to believe it’s the emotion of choice for fearful, unwise, small minded individuals.

Which brings me back to my acquaintance.

He was quick to condemn both Glenn Beck and me for…well… actually… I’m not quite sure for what exactly and I doubt he is either.  However, the irony is that after receiving his inexplicable e-mail I Googled his name.  What I learned was that not too long ago he was indicted and convicted of failing to report income as well as some dubious ethical behavior while working in city government.  At least he had the benefit of representation and a trial before anyone judged and condemned him… and, oh yes, sentenced him to 6 months house arrest wearing a secure ankle bracelet.

So much for education, small minds and hate.

If you read my blog regularly you’d know that I like to close with some pithy comment but, quite frankly, I can’t top the paragraph that precedes this one. Truth may or may not be stranger than fiction but, in this case, its certainly more enjoyable.

As a Spiritual Coach I’m hearing a great deal lately about people not knowing what to do about, or how to handle, all the change and uncertainty that’s in the air. Because I consider myself an expert on facing change (>read that as LOTS of life experience dealing with the unexpected) I’m pretty comfortable giving out advice on how to effectively get through the unknown.

Its simple, really.  Well, simple to understand, anyway.

The secret, and its really no secret at all, is that anytime we are asked to move from where we are comfortable to someplace unknown, fear comes up.  Now some people will say they don’t experience fear. To that I would reply that there are gradations of fear ranging all the way from a mild discomfort to being completely immobilized.  No matter where you fall along that continuum, at either extreme or someplace in between, the remedy is the same.

Patience in the process.
Trust in the Source.
Release of the outcome.

We live in such an accelerated world that we’ve forgotten what it is to wait.  I mean really wait.  Not wait for a seemingly snail’s paced fax to be sent and arrive because, say, e-mail is down.  I mean really wait.  As in lovingly wait for Nature… or God… or Life to take Its course.  Not only don’t we know how to wait, we don’t even realize that the act of waiting…particularly done in annoyance or frustration… is an impediment to living fully in the present.

That’s where Trust comes into play.  If you can accept that change is inevitable… which it is… and trust that all change is for the highest good… which it is… then there’s no need for impatience.  Because things will unfold as they are intended and. while that’s completing itself. you can go about fully engaged in everything that’s in your life at the moment without care or concern for the outcome.

With patience in the process, trust in the highest good, and absent care or concern for the outcome there is no need or place for fear.

As I said. Simple to understand. Challenging to live.  But since I’ve done it many times, so that its become second nature so to speak, I can tell you with certainty it works.

Give it a try.  It sure beats the alternative.
 

Two phrases frequently repeated on the spiritual path are “the ascension process” and “paradigm shift.”  Often repeated… but not often understood. 

The ascension process refers to a period when the consciousness of a Soul, or many Souls, is elevated to new and expanded realms of understanding and possibility.

A paradigm shift is movement out of, and beyond, one framework of reality into another.

We are currently in the middle of both the ascension process and a paradigm shift.  Therefore, there are four qualities and characteristics that apply and that we can count on during such a transition. 

Infusion of Light

Light is energy.  Light illuminates.  Light obliterates darkness.  Light is intelligence.  Where the Light goes, obscurity is revealed.  “Darkness” in the context of spirituality is manifested as deceit, greed, arrogance, misuse of power, and oppression… among others. 

With the infusion of spiritual Light during the ascension process all that does not support higher consciousness is revealed.

No more secrets

General McChrystal … BP … open microphones for Joe Biden and Carly Fiorina …  Bernie Madoff … Obama appointee and jobs czar Van Jones having co-founded  the militant and revolutionary organization STORM… brothers John and Tony Podesta : John, CEO of the Center for American Progress advising President Obama on off-shore drilling in the Gulf and brother Tony, lobbyist for B.P. (can anyone say “conflict”?)…and the list goes on and on. 

So why are so many things surfacing that clearly were supposed to be kept secret?

It’s because during the ascension process there are no more secrets. 

Personal responsibility

Being unconscious is a little like being a child. Someone else needs to take responsibility for your actions.  Not so when we’re spiritually conscious and awake.  Now is the time to own that our every thought and action determines, in a literal sense, the reality in which we live, the quality of our relationships, as well as the world we are bequeathing the next generation.

Duty to question

Being responsible means questioning the status quo.  It’s no longer productive to be part of a “herd” mentality… to go along to get along.  Courageous inquiry is the watchword of the new paradigm into which we are moving.  

So why write about corruption and you?

Because it’s up to us now.

A good friend recently expressed being overwhelmed by it all and his feeling that, other than the ballot, we individuals are helpless in the face of so much obvious governmental and political corruption.  I would tell him this.

Things are probably no more corrupt today than they have been for a very long time.  What has changed is 1) access to the information; 2) the speed of dissemination of that information and, 3) the paradigm shift.  For just as the new paradigm has no room for that which is not in the highest good, so too does it require that each of us, on a daily basis, demand the highest integrity from ourselves and never fail to speak truth…your truth… to power.

I’m optimistic.  Change, while scary, is always for the good.  It just takes us awhile to gain the distance, and corresponding perspective, needed to be certain of this fact.

In the meantime, while you’re waiting, be the Light.

I can think of no better example of the cause of the economic (and political) turmoil we are presently enmeshed in than the recently passed health care law.  It is a misguided plan destined to fail… and no one knew this better than the Framers of the Constitution.  They advocated decentralization, as in states’ rights, as opposed to a centralized authority, as in the federal government, because they intuitively knew a basic premise of complexity theory:

The more complex an organization(company, society, government etc.) the less able a centralized administering individual or body is able to know occurrences,and direct remedies, regarding aspects of that organization that are located literally miles, and figurative light years, from the centralized authority. 

The very nature of complexity theory is that in order to discern the changes and shifts that directly affect the whole, it is necessary to determine, as close as possible to the occurrence of change, those actions or events that are impacting overall functioning.

In plain English, and one word, decentralization.

Applied to the political reality of 50 individual entities, each with their own economies and societal preferences, it amounts to states’ rights… not central planning by a federal bureaucracy.  It’s why the Framers were careful and adamant that the powers of the federal government to be limited to preserving, protecting and defending the states.  These enlightened men (as well as the women who,I am certain, played a vital although unrecognized role) were able to anticipate the growth of the nation and the impossibility of governing it from “central command” so to speak.

But that’s exactly what this Administration is doing. In every aspect of our lives… from the auto industry to Wall Street to health care to the oil spill…the means is a centralized authority making decisions about and on behalf of the collective.At best, the policy and approach is misguided.  At worst, it’s sinister… if not in intent then, surely, in its result.

I can give those in power the benefit of the doubt and say what is in their hearts and minds is the highest good for all concerned.  

How does that saying go?  Oh, yes…“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

So, now that we’ve identified the source of the problem, what do we do about it?

Here’s a 5-step plan.

1.       Pray that the hearts and minds of those in power be turned toward what is consistent with freedom and the core principle of individual rights upon which this nation was founded.

2.       Speak up for what you know to be true in your heart and fear not the outcome of being the voice of reason.

3.       Hold fast to faith in the highest good for all concerned… which is different than thinking for and acting by and on behalf of “the collective.”  The highest good for all concerned is the individual’s right to express her or his creativity and intelligence in any way they please, absent harm, and to participate in a free market that bases success or failure on the merit of that effort.

4.       Do not compromise what you expect of yourself or others in order to maintain a status quo.  Be unwavering around ethical and moral behavior and demand a level of adherence by public officials or quickly remove them from office.

5.       Draw upon your own connection to a Source that maintains infinite possibility and boundless creativity in manifesting miracles through the unimaginable acts of goodness and courage.

I never said it was a perfect plan… but unless you’ve already got one… its a plan.

I am not at all disappointed with President Obama’s style, or priorities, in governing thus far.  I did not vote for candidate Obama because I thought, or more accurately felt, something disingenuous and dangerously egotistical about him.

And so I think the country bought exactly what was being sold… if not exactly what it actually wanted.
 
Now, under mounting pressure for his detachment, non-performance and delay, our President is looking to “kick ass” rather than lead.  He is unconcerned with fulfilling the job of leadership for which he was elected (and for which he campaigned) while allowing the judicial process to work as designed to determine negligence and fault, if any, and corresponding liability. The President apparently believes he is judge, jury and executioner.

The problem with his approach is that it is un-American and, more importantly, dangerous.

Our current challenges…economic, societal and global…are not akin to those of a misguided adolescent needing his or her parent to extricate them from the unintended outcome of poor choices.  We are a nation of individuals founded, and grounded, in both freedom of thought and enterprise…going through a period of transition.  What we need is leadership to mirror strength and compassion as we move through new and uncharted territory fraught with pitfalls.

What we definitely DO NOT NEED is an elitist, egotistical ideologue with a specific agenda whose personal mission is to impose the will of a few upon the many.

We are, and always have been, a nation of differences.  It is strength tempered by compassion that creates an environment that fosters the peaceful co-existence of diversity.  Its why the heart chakra (center of compassion)  is located above the solar plexus chakra (center of power).  We are meant to temper strength with compassion. 

We are not meant to “kick ass.”

Its a reasoned guess that this President and I differ on considerably more than we agree upon.  However, I would hope that we agree on this.  The most successful and enduring experiment on Earth in individuality and personal liberty is the United States of America.

The answers to its current challenges will be found in our individual and collective histories, our ingenuity and our continued reverence for personal responsibility. 

The answers will definitely not be found in the failed efforts of undemocratic nations who have repeatedly and unsuccessfully used force, combined with a diminution of personal liberty and personal responsibility, to force upon its citizens an unsustainable political and economic construct.

There’s a lot of talk these days from this Administration and its supporters about “unsustainability.”  I would  suggest that there is nothing more unsustainable, or more unproductive, than a kick ass mentality.

Strength with compassion. Now there’s a winning combo.

And a better campaign slogan.
 

This morning I not only see the silver lining I can actually feel it. 

Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives passed universal health care. Today, much of the fear that had been plaguing so many people in this country has shifted.  Against all odds, and almost in defiance of reason, the immobilization and concern that are hallmarks of fear have been replaced with a call to action and optimism.

Why?  Because Life has its own agenda.  And as the saying goes, “Man plans and God laughs.”   There’s a parable that’s instructive here:

A horse and cart were being driven down the road when the horse tried to veer off to one side against the wishes of the driver.  So, she lightly pulled on the reigns and the horse returned to the original path.  Moments later, the horse once again veered off the road and this time the driver jerked on the reigns much more aggressively.  Reluctantly, but quickly, the horse resumed the direct path. Finally, on the horse’s third attempt to stray, the driver cracked the whip. Whereby, the horse immediately, and thereafter, stayed on the straight and narrow.

We have had countless “tugs on the reigns” as we, as a nation, have strayed from the direct and intended path.  To each of those we have responded in a way that returned us to where we needed to be… but only temporarily.  We are a “stiff-necked people” with a short memory, it seems.

So, yesterday, we received a miracle! 

The House of Representatives, at least 219 of them, cracked the whip…and while that was not their intention, God was laughing.  For the miracle of passing universal health care is that it has awakened a sufficient amount of people to conscious evolution that we have reached the tipping point.  Now, enough people understand what tyranny looks and feels like.  Now we can actually begin to move in the direction of real change… toward individual freedom, personal responsibility and the kind of oneness that reveals the perversion of socialism and other political systems that purport to speak and act for the best interest of the people.

The best interest of the people is best spoken and acted by the people.  Yesterday, 219 of our elected officials ignored that Universal Law in a push to pass the law of universal health care.  They’ve declared victory.

Listen.  Can you hear that sound?

God is laughing.

    

There will be a lot of trash written about Sandra Bullock’s apparent embarrassment by her allegedly unfaithful husband.  I’d like to take higher ground and use her pain to heal. 

What I want to heal is the tendency for so many women to think that someone other than themselves, who through their own inner strength and guidance, got them where they are.  Most women understood exactly what Ms. Bullock was doing when, upon receiving the Oscar, she thanked her husband for “watching her back.” 

We women yearn for that feeling. To know that when we’re tired or have done the work of two…or more…people, that “he” will there to pick up the mantle.  That no harm will come if we are one day too tired to be so alert and competent.  I think such a desire must have its roots in the fabled knight on the white horse that has been in our collective consciousness for several thousand years.

The problem is that fables are fictions and need to be viewed in that light.

In addition, personal power is tricky business.  It resides within us… its not bestowed from someone or something outside of ourselves.  And when you give it away, as Sandra Bullock did in accepting the Oscar, someone can take it with them when they leave.  Or even before… as her allegedly unfaithful husband has now seemingly done.

Sandra Bullock, and all of us, don’t achieve excellence because someone else makes it possible.  We achieve it through internal fortitude, God-given gifts, and an unwavering passion to get where we want go.  And while its nice to know that others along the way made contributions to our efforts, its dangerous to think that anyone other than God “watches our back.” 

>Whether, in this particular instance, the facts as alleged turnout to be
true or not, the prototype of a woman feeling unworthy of claiming the
fullness of her own power, but instead bestowing it upon another less
worthy who earned it not, is a valid one.

We are all “at risk” in this journey called Life.   Feelings of security and protection, however, come only from a deeply held knowing that we are loved and guided always by that which created us.  Such love and guidance is never conditional and, consequently, is unshakable by anything or anyone… not least of all a woman whose body is adorned like a billboard hawking merchandise.
>
Our standard creates our experience.  Sandra Bullock is a gifted actress who has chosen roles using great discretion and skill.  Now, hopefully, she will choose her men the same way and change her experience.

Its a lesson for many women and advice worth considering. 

Our history has been selectively written for as long as we’ve been writing it, with the most selectivity occurring around the deliberate exclusion of the Divine Feminine.  There are more examples than I have space or time for here, but let me point out a few:

1.     Archaeological artifacts subjected to carbon-dating have identified worship of female deities as far back as 10,000 years B.C.E.

2.     Cleopatra spoke 9 languages, inherited a bankrupt country and turned it profitable, allowed women to be property owners and granted citizenship for meritorious service to the country.

3.     Victoria Woodhull, not Geraldine Ferraro, was the first woman to run on a Presidential ticket… and she ran for President!  Her V.P. running mate was a freed, black slave, Frederick Douglas.  It was 1872. Woodhull was also the first female stock broker on Wall Street.

But let’s revisit the archaeological finds for a moment.  Somewhere between 10,000 B.C.E. and the compilation of the Hebrew, Christian and Muslim religious writings, those female deities were unanimously and deliberately written out of our heritage… or at best relegated to minor, and sometimes troublesome, characters.

There is a spiritual (and I believe also religious) adage that goes “As above so below.”  Following that logic, what we see manifested here, in our world of matter, must necessarily exist on higher spiritual planes. 

So, here’s my understanding… and my dilemma.

But for the amoeba, wherever there is reproduction in the physical world, there exists a male, a female and an offspring.  If you’ll allow me, more commonly thought of as a father, a mother and a child.  Not once have I ever heard anyone say that an offspring was created by a male and a holy ghost. That being the case “below”… why is it that for 2000-3000 years, or more, we have been repeating and perpetuating a creation story (“as above”) that ignores and even denies the existence, role and contribution of the female?

I like to play with words.  Its a lifelong pastime.  Yesterday I was thinking about all of this and the word “mother” kept going around in my mind.  As I was pondering “why” this obvious omission of the Divine Feminine pervades our history, I was asking “why” when the letter “y” suddenly inserted itself in the word mother… between the “m” and the “other”… so it now read “my other.”  And I paused.  “My Other.”  The Father, the Son and My Other (Mother)!!! 

Much more plausible, isn’t it?

We are living through troubled and transformative times.  We need all the help we can get.  Even someone as near prophetic as Glenn Beck has been on unfolding events, was asking yesterday on-air where is a contemporary George Washington to lead us out of this mess. Beck then said, “Where is he? Where is that leader?”  Immediately followed by my yelling at the radio, “Or she Glenn…or she!”

Yes, we need help.  To that end, I have looked around thoroughly and cannot find one holy ghost anywhere.  But we have a globe populated with Mothers.  If we are pressed for time and cannot re-write the history books, perhaps we can make history instead by resurrecting to full status the Divine Feminine and the necessary contribution She was intended to make, and the role she was designed to fulfill, in maintaining the ongoing balance and harmony of all existence.

Now, I also have an issue with the whole “Son” thing… but that’s another blog, isn’t it?

I’ve always been a believer that Nature has a great deal to teach me.  Now I have to add that history does, too.  I’ve been following the relationship between President Obama and Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and quite frankl>y that relationship is, at best, disturbing. 

The President, Mr. Stern and SEIU have a long and entwined history that has generated a lot of mutual indebtedness.  Mr. Stern has a lot of White House access.  The Union, in the form of Mr. Stern, wants universal health care and they want it now.>  SEIU has a “chit” its calling in from the President for having donated $27 million dollars to his campaign.  Mr. Stern has not been shy about making that clear.  One need look no further to understand the White House’s push to force passage of health care legislation and impose it upon a nation where 52% of the population oppose it.

Its made me think about some historical figures.

Pharaoh, for one.  You know, the one of Moses’ fame who liked having organized labor do his dirty work and whose sweat kept him and his cronies in total control.  Or the Pharisees, also of biblical notoriety who, along with the Sadducees, corrupted the Priesthood of ancient Israel and are those who Jesus railed against when smashing their money-changing tables for doing business in his Father’s house on the Sabbath. 

When special interests get too close to corrupt power, much perversion is done both in the name of good and the name of God.> 

I think we’re there.

History is replete with similar analogies. And Nature is replete with as many “corrections.”   Flood, famine, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption… Her list is lengthy.  Of course, there’s always that brief lull, or pause, between our awareness of the problem and Nature’s need to act on our behalf.  Its in that pause that we get the chance to self-correct… which much less overall trauma than if left to Nature.  At times we have seized that moment.  More often than not, we have not.

What will we do now?

We are in the pause.  You can feel it because things are speeding up and slowing down… all at the same time.  Its a moment… our moment… to self-correct.  We can now make some important, and at times difficult, decisions… or we can abdicate responsibility for what we know in our hearts is wrong.  Seriously wrong.

The choice belongs to each of us.  Step up or step down.  One way leads to higher ground.  The other leads to…. well let’s just say that in a difficult economy that continues to spiral out of control, ark building might soon be a very lucrative career choice.

I hope not.

I’ve been writing this blog for over two years and for most of that time I have been repeating an “optimistic” warning (admittedly, an oxymoron!).>  It goes something like this.  As we go through this transitory and transformational shift, anything that is deceitful, or cloaked in dark, dense, energy will be revealed.  This is simply the natural outcome of what happens when light shines upon darkness.  The shadows are revealed for what they truly are, and for what lies behind them.

My analysis, in fact my knowing and certainty about all of this, stems from a spiritual and metaphysical base. However, if you prefer, Bill Nuy (“The Science Guy”), a highly educated and well known scientist, was recently quoted as saying that “there isa tremendous amount of energy [infusing] the planet right now.”  Light is energy.  Whether your perspective is physical or metaphysical, the conclusion is the same.  There’s a lot of Light around.  Hence, fewer shadows.

Which brings me to Barack Obama.

Yesterday I watched and listened to two separate videotaped interviews with the man during the Presidential campaign.  The content of the videos, and the statements made by Obama, are contradictory and irreconcilable.  They are also undeniably revealing of Obama’s unconscionable ability to flat out lie.

Hence, my optimistic warning. 

It was vital that we come know, as quickly and surely as possible, who this man is.  After all, we knew nothing about him when elected.  At the time, he was an orator with a bumper sticker.  Did he have core values that he lived by?  Did he have integrity we could count on?  Was he philosophically and genuinely aligned with the the best interests of the nation? 

Its only been a year but the Light has done its work. 

We know who Barack Obama is.  He is a man who on any given day will look into the camera and say his only professional connection with ACORN was a legal matter he was once involved in while in private practice that also included the Justice Department.  And, he is a man who will on another day and for another purpose  say that he has worked for the interests of ACORN his entire professional career and will call them, they won’t have to call him, to protect ACORN’s interests.

This following is a painful sentence to write. 

Barack Obama is an unconscionable liar who represents, and is advocating, interests that are adverse to the continued well being of the United States and the highest good for its citizens.

I believe the two videos I watched, made public by Glenn Beck, are the beginning of the end for this President.

My optimism remains in tact, though.  The Light is doing its work.

Take heart.

Its a course correction.

That’s all.