Archive for the ‘Behavior’ Category

“Where the rubber meets the road” is an expression used to make the point that whatever is being referred to constitutes a moment of truth.  I suggest, along that same line of thought, 2012 is where reality meets spirituality. At least it’s where these two aspects of ourselves must meet if we are to survive and prosper beyond where we are now.

We have made advances in science and technology that were thought to be inconceivable 50 years ago, with greater advances yet on the horizon. But in our blindness, or our arrogance, we refuse to acknowledge that other cultures, other civilizations came before us leaving remnants of their own inconceivable technological advances as well and yet, they vanished in totality from the face of the Earth.

The most important lesson we should take from their disappearance is that it isn’t enough to be scientifically or technologically advanced. It is also necessary, in fact critical, that our spirituality…our humanity…be equally developed and advanced. Without common, life affirming values and core ethical principles to act as a framework to contain our creations we will find ourselves also relegated to the dust bin of history.

Which is why the 2012 Presidential election is so important.

It may seem almost ludicrous to write about concepts so daunting and then tie them to something so charged with corruption and greed as politics.  But the import about the 2012 election isn’t about the process or even the candidate.

It’s about you.

This next election is when each of us must step up and take responsibility for what we do with the right to vote. We must look for a candidate to support who stands for those life-affirming values and core ethical principles upon which our future rests. We must not follow the pack or allow someone else to do our thinking, and our concluding, for us. Each of us must realize the crucial transition we, as a species, are passing through and the pitfalls inherent within.

2012 is when the rubber meets the road. Now is the moment each of us must go within and reconnect with our spiritual Selves, allowing that light to illuminate our way forward.

Take this election very seriously. It’s way past the time for complaining about corruption, greed and victimization. As Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Do that and we may just find our way out of this fire swamp.

 

There are are two stories out today that defy logic and call into question our humanity.

The first is about Iraqi interpreters who worked for the U.S. military.  Now that we are gone, the lives of those brave men, and their families, are in peril. They have been marked for death.  Yet, that’s not the shocking part of the story. The real shock is that bureaucrats at the U.S. Embassy, in processing applications from these individuals seeking U.S. visas (hoping to save their lives) have been dragging their feet at best… and been downright arrogant and rude at worst.

In the second, unrelated story (unless you consider the lack of humanity in both stories as common ground) farmers in Pennsylvania have been using human feces as fertilizer to grow crops. While local residents have done everything they can to stop this public health hazard (waste in their drinking water for starters), what they have been told by their local government is that it’s a Federal issue as permits for such use are issued by the EPA.

Now I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t want the EPA to be my first, or last, line of defense against harm. Did you see “Norma Rae” or “Erin Brockovich?”

Common sense…that’s what’s lacking. Common sense and respect for all living Beings. If you’re still asleep and thinking that the Federal government, or even your state government, isn’t too big or too busy to protect your wellbeing…think again.  As for how we treat our friends, look no further than these Iraqi translators…or Britain…or Israel, for that matter.

If there’s one takeaway from both of these stories it’s that we must rely upon ourselves, have compassion and concern for life wherever we find it and wake up to the fact the bureaucracies are helpful to a point…beyond which they become a breeding ground for inhumanity.

Now that we get it, let’s start curing this disease by voting out every incumbent in 2012 and starting over. In the meantime, call you Congressional Representatives, and the U.S. State Department, and advocate for those Iraqi translators.

I don’t know how to even begin to cure the EPA. So, for now, I guess we pray for those people in Pennsylvania.

I’m certain that I’m not telling you anything you don’t know… but I am most likely reminding you of something you are trying to forget.

We are in a mess.

In some of us it’s manifesting as uncertainty and fear.  In others, it’s aggression and violence. For yet others…denial and escapism via alcohol, gambling or sex. Whatever the method of choice, each is a diversion from accepting personal responsibility for how we got here.

We’re here because we have been self-absorbed, greedy and lacking in compassion. We have denied our connection to one another and to all sentient beings. Our priorities have been wrong. Our values have been lacking. Our goals have been materially focused. We have ignored our spiritual Selves. We have been unconscious in our choices, believing that irresponsible choices bear no consequences.

I am astonished at how many people are still trying to avoid the reality of what is occurring. How many people are “continuing to dance in the ballroom” so to speak, as if the Titanic is not sinking? Too many.

We need to awaken now, on the eve of 2012, and accept that we are Consciousness Itself, experiencing Itself in physical form. And as such, Consciousness creates what it thinks about. We have spent much time and energy worshipping false idols…from politicians to movie stars to the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the expense of the down trodden, the children and the elderly.

We have been here before. This is a do-over. But only if we get it right this time. If not, I feel fairly certain that Consciousness will conclude that It’s experiment in trusting that humanity would awaken to Its Own Awareness of Who We Really Are was an error in thought and, in an effort to start again, will simply stop supporting the idea.

When Consciousness ceases to intend our existence any longer, humanity will cease to exist in that very instant.

Let’s us make a global New Year’s Resolution that we commit to keeping. Let us resolve to awaken to our Oneness, our Divinity and our commitment to use Free Will to choose, in every situation, the Highest Good for All Concerned.

Consciousness has been watching, and patiently awaiting, our arrival at Awareness. Time is a construct of Consciousness in matter. As Consciousness experiences us repeatedly choosing to remain unconscious…we are running out of time.

Quite literally.

There’s a famous story about the Roman Emperor Nero dancing and playing the fiddle as Rome burned. It’s just a story because, factually, its filled with contradiction and unsubstantiated facts. However, all references to “Nero fiddling” have come to mean “to occupy oneself with unimportant matters and neglect priorities during a crisis.”

Hence, the basis for the title of this post.

There are only three possibilities why President Obama would be taking a 17-day vacation to Hawaii as the world economies are in collapse, the Middle East is on fire, and everywhere you turn our nation is in a precarious state of unrest.

1. He is clueless;
2. He is arrogant to the point of indifferent;
3. He knows something we don’t.

Being a graduate of Harvard Law School, Editor of its Law Review,  and having out maneuvered the “smartest woman in the world” (a/k/a Hilary Clinton) during the 2008 Democratic primary, I doubt the President is clueless. And while I do think he has  given us numerous instances of his arrogance, I don’t think he is indifferent to the plight of others. Which leaves the only other possibility.

He knows something we don’t.

One of the reasons I became a lawyer (although not the primary one) is that I have always had an innate sense of “what’s wrong with this picture.” You know, the ability to look at a scene and see what is missing or doesn’t make sense. That innate sense is all over this Presidential vacation. The question is, “Exactly what does he know that we don’t?”

I may not have that answer yet but I suggest we all stay alert. Things are not what they seem. Trouble is coming for the uninformed (which means most of us). But for those with insider information, I suspect they are preparing in ways that escape the average citizen…for the moment, anyway.

What to do in the meantime?

Disregard the “official” word, look behind actions to motives, and hold fast to your values and your faith in a Source that has the power to intercept the ball and change the outcome of this game in a split second.

Today, on ABC’s “This Week,” Christiana Amanpour interviewed retiring U.S. Congressman Barney Frank. Frank used a Wizard of Oz analogy to compare Mitt Romney to the Tin Man, Rick Perry to the Scarecrow, and Newt Gingrich to the Wizard himself. It was good theater, however ironic.

Isn’t Frank a key player in perpetrating the illusion of “smoke and mirrors” held up before the American public to obscure the den of corruption and cronyism collectively known as Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. His analogy and his dismissive comments about his own role in the mortgage bubble that led to a collapse of the housing market (and the economy) went unchallenged.

Opposite This Week was NBC’s Face the Nation with David Gregory.  Gregory used nearly half his show to interview David Axelrod, former White House Chief of Staff and current head of the Obama Re-election Team and Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee. There were the usual superficial questions and answers. It was frustrating, to put it mildly, to watch Gregory’s unbalanced approach to his guests. In short, he was easy on Axelrod and hard on Priebus. So much for journalistic neutrality or the integrity of the Fourth Estate.

I have a point.

It isn’t just politics that’s smoke and mirrors. It’s our entire culture. We have moved so far from putting our thoughts, time and energies on what really matters that we have made illusion and distraction the norm. Nowhere is this more obvious, or more egregiously practiced, than by the media. We are daily fed a soup of dirt floating in water and told its minestrone. Then, without questioning what our own perceptions tell us, we consume the dirt and wonder why we feel empty and our bellies ache.

There was another segment on This Week, just at the end of the show. It was an interview with Angelina Jolie. Jolie has just written and directed In the Land of Blood and Honey¸ a docudrama based upon the ethnic cleansing and torture that permeated the Bosnian war and the world’s failure to respond timely or adequately. Jolie made the film to show how war dehumanizes us and distances us from one another.

As between the segments with Frank, Axelrod, and Jolie there was no contest. The story that deserved the most time, and our undivided attention, was Jolie’s. There was no deception or manipulation in it and it served a higher purpose. Perhaps that’s what got it the shortest airtime.

A long as we keep eating the dirty soup, they’ll keep serving it.

 

To be right up front, I didn’t know who Adam Carolla was until this morning. I do now. His interview rant against the Occupy Wall Street crowd has gone viral. Having listened to it I can understand why. It’s a no-holds-barred-expletive-riddled diatribe on where we’ve gone wrong as a society. But for me, it’s the last line Carolla utters that’s worth a follow-up.

Allison Rosen, the interviewer, closes with the observation, “So it’s like global sibling rivalry” and Carolla responds, “That’s what it is. It’s as old as the Bible.”

Enter the consciousness, and the reference point, we need to have about where we are. I am always a bit surprised when I hear someone say that there is no “playbook” or “manual” for living life. Of course, there is. It’s just that most people don’t like some of the advice (or “rules” if you like) and so they dismiss the work in its entirety.

The Old Testament, or Torah as I know it, sets forth the problem and sets it forth early. Cain and Abel. Isaac and Ishmael. Esau and Jacob. Shoots from the same stalk yet one envious of the others portion. Envious to the point of a willingness to destroy…and greedy to boot.

Carolla is right, but for his poor choice of vocabulary. Look around and what you see, from the “99%’ers” to the Islamist terrorists, to the multinational and agri-corporations is envy and greed. More is never enough, it seems. And if someone has “more”…even if they have attained it rightfully through just means and hard work, well…then let’s just destroy them and what they have. It’s positively Biblical in origin. Fortunately, so is the solution.

Do not covert anything that is thy neighbors.

We are all born with our “portion.” It makes no sense, and is an egregious waste of time, to resent someone else for theirs. Make the best of yours. Be grateful for what you have, accepting of what is, joyful for the gift of life, and enthusiastic for possibility. Gratitude, acceptance, joy and enthusiasm negate envy and greed.

Then, with all that spare time formerly used to begrudge and destroy, go about bettering yourself and the world around you. It’s a much better strategy. By the way, that strategy is in the manual.

“Behold I have placed before you today that which is life and that which is good; that which is death and that which is evil… And you shall choose Life, in order that you and your children shall live” [Devarim/Deuteronomy 30:15-19].

 

Today I listened to NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross. I don’t usually listen to NPR because their guests (and hosts) say things such as they did on today’s show. A guest said, “Terry, after you come back from break I have a juicy metaphor for you” to which Gross replied, “Oh good, we love juicy metaphors.” Its talk like that I find  pompous and painful… and I  went to law school.

But when I do listen it isn’t for news. It’s for perspective. I like to know what kinds of thought processes drive people who think and speak as if they breathe fresher air than most of us (no pun intended!).

As I listened today, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as two of Gross’s guests connected to or in support of The Occupy Movement, “pondered” in hindsight why the media, and they, had missed what has turned out to be the undesirable outcome of the “Arab Spring.” The fact that the “Arab Spring” has morphed into an “Islamic Winter” (the Muslim Brotherhood and another right wing Islamic party have won the majority of votes in today’s elections in Egypt) didn’t seem to bother them as much as justifying and explaining away how they could have missed noticing this train wreck waiting to happen.

For me, the outcome in Egypt is no surprise. But then again, I don’t listen to NPR or any other main stream media outlet. I listen to Glenn Beck. And yes, I know the very mention of his name causes agita in many people. However, having listened to Beck for the past several years I am neither uninformed nor ill-informed regarding the events that are currently unfolding domestically and globally. Call him what you will, the man’s gotten it right almost every time.

So what’s the take-away?

I think it’s that at more than any other time in human history, each of us must listen to an inner voice and follow its guidance…regardless of what the masses are doing, what the government is promoting, or what mainstream media is marketing. The experts are antiquated, corrupt, deceitful…or all three. They have only the interest of themselves and a select few in mind.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that as in the evolution of the caterpillar, that self-gorging insect who once filled to capacity with 300 times its body weight in food hangs upside down as Nature covers it with an encapsulating chrysalis in which the caterpillar is consumed and transformed into, and emerges as, the butterfly… so too we.

The self-gorging “powers that be” are maxed out on what they can consume. As they struggle for a way out of the mess they have created, Nature, by way of direct intervention from Source, is constructing a chrysalis which will consume them and from that broken down substance will emerge the best of humankind. The human equivalent, so to speak, of the butterfly.

In the meantime…be truthful, live with integrity and hold to patience. While doing those things, remember to breathe deeply and have trust in both the intention and wisdom of God. That which can create a process which transforms a caterpillar into a butterfly shouldn’t find us too hard to handle.

 

You’d think we were wiser, or at least smarter, than to believe that everything is fine just because Thanksgiving sales were up and the DOW Jones reacted positively to that fact. You’d think.

It astonishes me how many people remain asleep…unconscious…unaware. And how many others are living in a world of denial. I understand the tendency to bury one’s head in the sand, so to speak, in the face of so much bad news and uncertainty. Admittedly, these are trying times.

But denial never gets you anything other than delayed truth. It doesn’t obliterate it.

Here’s my latest take on fear. It’s been the tool of choice for controlling the majority of people on earth for, at least, the last 5000 years. I think it’s time we stopped buying into the illusion that energy is scarce and costly, that remedies for illness are limited to choices predetermined by a few and sanctioned by government, that politicians need be corrupt and we need to accept this as a given, and that corporations and banks need to be insatiable entities satisfying their endless hunger for money and control at the expense of those who reply upon their services and trust in their good intentions.

Energy is free. It’s in the air…the “space” all around us and extracting it has gotten everyone discredited who ever proved that to be true. Buddhism, and even physics, assert that out of “no-thing-ness,” or the void, came everything. Well, if there is nothing in the void, then it’s devoid of light, also. So light is not the Source of all that is… darkness is. And darkness is not a bad thing. Its no-thing and holds the potential from which every-thing manifests.

For these past 5000 plus years we have been living under the fear-based illusion that to break the rules gets you cast into hell (the abyss), or prison, or just plain outcast from mainstream society. As if the abyss is bad. I would ask you consider that the very thing we have been told to fear… the dark, the unknown, the “other”… is, in fact, the Source of true power. And those who have known this truth, in both religions and governments worldwide, have used that illusion to manipulate us with fear-based thinking for most of human history.

Wake up! Now! Fear is a tool to control you. That’s why there is so much “bad” news. That’s why economies are collapsing. The insatiable individuals and companies that have run our reality by fear are panicked. They are desperate and the only way they can hang on to their power is to make certain you are more frightened than you’ve ever been in your entire life.

It’s a game. Its not real. Refuse to play. Step outside the box. Follow your own inner guidance. Link up with like-minded people and stay the course. We are on the threshold of a brave new world and it’s not one ruled by one world government. It’s a world imagined by billions of individual, creative, compassionate souls who have awakened to say:

Enough.

 

The euro is crashing. Pakistan is irate at the West and it has nuclear weapons. Inflation is on the rise. Iran has threatened to attack Israel and NATO bases in Turkey if its nuclear facilities are attacked.

These are just today’s headlines.But this post isn’t about the headlines. It’s about the effects of those headlines and many others.

Until recently, there was much uncertainty around. Now, the uncertainty is turning to fear. Fear is not an emotion a world in transition can afford to ignore…or indulge. We must be vigilant and aware that in the absence of leadership, much destruction and evil can gain a foothold as we reorganize and reprioritize our world.

Whether in the public or private sector, events have confirmed that our “leaders” are either incompetent or corrupt.  We are, in fact, seemingly without guidance or direction.

This is an illusion.

Guidance and direction are located within each of us. No one will come to the rescue this time. No single individual has all the answers…but every single individual holds a piece of the finished puzzle within themselves. The first order of business is to recognize this fact. The second, to go within and access it. The third, to bring it forth with courage and conviction.

What is in your heart and what are you willing to do about it?

What unexpressed truth are you harboring?

What do you know needs to be done?

You are the leader the world is waiting for and only you can exhibit that fact in your daily life. Begin there. Live the ethics and morality you know are lacking in the world. Demand truth and integrity from yourself.  Don’t await any external solution because the answer is eternal and only available within.

Gandhi said it best: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

And so it will be.

 

You know something is wrong. If you don’t, you’re comatose.

Corruption, greed, child sexual abuse, violence and destruction masquerading as civil unrest, denigration of morality, disregard for ethics, deceit, fraud… I could go on but the point is made. We are very off track and the track we need to be on is about to run out of rails. Without a serious and immanent course correction and repair, we are headed for a disaster.

Correction and repaid… tikkun olam.

If these words are unfamiliar it’s because you are not a Jew. Tikkum olam is Judaism’s teaching that we are here to correct and repair the world. Each one of us, in fact, has that responsibility and is here for that purpose. In today’s world, there is much to correct and repair. Quite frankly, it seems we are running out of not just track, but the time needed to set things right.

Whether it’s a collapsing global economy, Islamist terrorists, drug resistant bacteria or Nature unleashed we are, quite literally, running out of time to reprioritize what matters to us and what we are willing to do in support of standing for what matters.

I am of the school of thought that one person can change the world. Gandhi did it. So did Hitler. How and in what direction that change takes place is very much determined by what the individual values and how far they are willing to go to manifest those values.

What do you value? What do you think is worth living, and even dying, for?

These are not easy questions but they are suddenly critical ones. As systems breakdown all around us due to antiquated and dysfunctional structuring, you have to be clear about what takes their place. If not, in the absence of your knowing…I assure you there are others who will have a certainty you’ll not want to live under.

President James Garfield said, “The Truth will set you free but it will make you miserable first.”  Let us be quick to awaken and accept the knowing that being temporarily miserable far outweighs being permanently enslaved.

Correct and repair. Tikkun olam.

In a spiritual economy, no one is ever unemployed.