Archive for the ‘Behavior’ Category

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.
 

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. 

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 was in my car listening to talk-radio when the topic of the hour was Tiger Woods’ breaking of his 3-month silence with a public apology that occurred today.  I heard lots of “perspectives”… from talk show hosts and their callers to excerpts from columnists and reporters.  What I heard over and over was the “scripted” nature of Woods’ apology and how managed it all seemed.  Further, there was apparently a general consensus that he had done it for business reasons more than anything else…in an effort to salvage his career and rebuild his image in order to win back lost sponsors. 

When I arrived home, there was more of the same on television news shows.  In fact, I heard a sports agent confirm that it was all done, in fact, to ease his way back onto the golf circuit with some respectability.  And finally, I heard from an “expert” that “He should have done this 3 months ago when it all happened.”  Somehow, according to the expert’s opinion, the delayed mea culpa had diminished the message and its veracity.

Then I went on YouTube to watch Tiger Woods for myself.

What I saw was, yes, a somewhat stiff and scripted man who was clearly uncomfortable with what he was doing.  And, yes, I heard references to his business commitments, his fans and the press.  But more than anything I was struck by how many times, and with how much straightforward language, he took responsibility for his actions, his arrogance, his bad decisions and the hurt he caused his family.

Of course, only time will tell…as is the case with contrition.  Its easy to express and hard to live.  But I took heart for several reasons:

1.  He minced no words in taking full responsibility for all of it.

2.  He owned up to his arrogance.

3.  He acknowledged who he hurt and what it has cost him.

4.  He admitted to full-time counseling and the intention to continue with it.

5.  He asked that friend’s and fans have patience with him as he struggles to understand why he did what he did.      

6.  He asked for the press to honor the privacy of his wife and children to protect them from further hurt and humiliation.

7.  He admitted thinking that ordinary rules didn’t apply to him and that he was entitled to do whatever he wanted.

Contrary to the commentator’s criticism of the timing, I think had Woods given an apologetic press conference a few days after being caught at flagrant and repeated infidelity he would have been saying he was sorry he got caught.  It is certainly reasonable to believe that it has taken at least this amount of time for him to genuinely begin to see and understand what he did and the enormity of it all.

There are two important lessons in all of this. One global and one personal. 

Globally, we are living through a time of transition when deceit and arrogance will be revealed when and where they crop up.  The importance of such revelation is talking full responsibility for one’s actions regardless of how painful.  No pain, no gain as they say in sports…no pun intended.  It’s the only way to cure the world of what ails it.

Personally, it was a perfect lesson in why each of us has to make up our own minds based upon our own personal experience…not place blind faith in the advice and opinions of experts or persons with apparent authority.

Had I not watched Woods myself, but relied instead upon the pundits, commentators, reporters and broadcasters, I could never have concluded, as I have, that he gets it, he means it and he’s trying to salvage not only his career but his family life.

As I said earlier, easy to say hard to do.  But I’m with him on this one… unless and until he proves me wrong.
 
Everyone who genuinely seeks it deserves that second chance.

We’ve all been there…one way or another.

While recently contemplating all the disappointment surrounding President Obama’s performance during his first year in office, I thought about the national need for change and how the promise of it resonated so strongly that it propelled him into office.  Then I thought about where we are at the moment and how we haven’t quite gotten what was promised… or what was expected.

So what went wrong?

I think the key word is “need.”  We needed change so badly we grabbed onto the first person who looked and sounded as if he understood our need.  But neediness is tricky business. When you act out of need, and strike a deal based upon it, there is always a back-end price that turns out to be more than you were willing to pay.  And like it or not… pay it you will.

Change has several characteristics.   Its natural, necessary, takes time, and requires sacrifice.  It can’t be gifted, bought, or bargained for. Its the stuff of Life.  In fact, its the paradox of Life because the only thing you can count on for sure in Life is change.

But as with anything else, when you need it too badly, you tend to overlook a lot to fill the need.  We do it all the time in personal relationships.  We overlook qualities in another that would otherwise be deal-breakers simply because they have something we need.  Thinking their presence in our life will somehow change it for the better, we proceed throwing caution to the wind. 

We do it with acquisition.  We buy things we can’t afford because we need whatever it is that thing represents to make us feel or look better… or to fill a void we’d otherwise rather not explore.

So, when in 2008, we all innately knew we were living on the edge in too many ways, we also knew it was  time to change that fact.  We were right to think it.  We were foolish to think that the necessary change would come so easily by way of bumper sticker and a charismatic speaker.  Anyone who has ever watched or studied how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly knows better.  It’s a slow, and at times, painful process.  It requires loss and letting go.  It also requires endurance and the ability to survive adversity. 

It happens one caterpillar at a time. 

There is no top down solution to what ails us.  No one is going to legislate, adjudicate or mandate us out of this one.  As Barry Manilow once wrote, “This One’s For You.”   This one is for each of us to go within, find our values, our determination and the strength to endure change…and then to live it all in every facet of our lives…each and every day.

Knowing your core values, having unwavering determination and garnering inner strength you become exempt from need.   Exempt from need you need not cut any deals for which you will later find yourself unable to pay that back-end fee.

If the man we elected President in 2008 now seems to have disappointed us, and our plight no better and perhaps worse than he took office, remember that we cut a deal.  We needed change and he promised to bring it. 

I think the lesson is to be the change you want to see in the world.  I didn’t originate that realization, it was Gandhi’s mission statement.  He lived it and so changed the future of India.  Not by promising to give change to his countrymen but by showing them, by example, how to do it themselves… one person at a time.

Mr. President, I’m still waiting.
 

I subscribe to the belief that 1) there are no accidents and 2) we are all One. 

So, allow me to connect the dots.

Around 1400 B.C.E, the Oracle at Delphi was one of the most sacred sites in ancient Greece.  It was where Priestesses, who represented the Divine Feminine aspect of God, received divine inspiration and prophesied about a variety of matters.  Leaders from all over the Mediterranean came for guidance, including political advice.  Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom was loved and revered.  Hence, the origins of the word philosopher…”philos” meaning “love” and soph(ia) meaning wisdom. Philosophers were lovers of wisdom.  It was a time of great cultural advancement. In fact, Minoan Crete is viewed as a high point in early civilization and where the Divine Feminine was last worshiped before aggressive, warlike and patriarchal leadership conquered and destroyed much of what had been achieved. 

The region was the birthplace of Democracy.

Fast forward 2500 years.

The economy of Greece is in a free fall and near collapse.  The government, over time, has run up huge deficits that have become unsustainable.  The EU is scrambling to put together some sort of package that will forestall an economic crisis that would likely be followed by similar crises in Portugal, Italy and Spain. (As an uncomfortable side note, we in the United States are economically situated not all that far from Greece’s current position and it may be a dire early warning of its own for us as well).

We are living through remarkable and transforming times.  You can feel the shifts occurring everywhere. The system is re-balancing itself… an occurrence long overdue, I might add.  It is re-balancing the masculine with the feminine, the positive with the negative if you will. Both forces are equally necessary for the growth, evolution and harmony of our world.

As I connect the dots. it makes perfect sense that the “canary in the goldmine” turns out to be Greece.  It is where the Divine Feminine was enslaved and relegated to second class citizenship 2500 years ago.  It was where we went completely out-of-balance.  And because we are all connected, the obliteration of the Divine Feminine eventually led us to the present moment where, now, 2500 years of patriarchal leadership and dominance have failed at the intended goal…peaceful co-existence.

I am an optimist and see the larger picture.  From the ashes of Delphi and the economic collapse of present day Greece, will rise the Phoenix in the form of The Divine Feminine. She will bring us back into balance where finally, an understanding of Oneness and all it implies, will be known, appreciated and lived.

I have always loved connecting the dots.

It was just two days ago that I posted about the drought in Venezuela and its potential impact on the government of Hugo Chavez.  The point of the post was to call attention to the power of Nature in relationship to the power humans like to think we wield.  Now comes a devastating earthquake in Haiti with massive destruction and as yet untold numbers of lives lost.

Its all Natural law at work.

I’m not certain about global warming and whether we’ve created the problem, exacerbated it, or if it even exists at all.  There seems to be a plethora of science on all sides of the argument.  What I am certain of is that for thousands of years we have, at best, ignored the other forms of life with which we share planet Earth and at worst, exploited them for our personal pleasure and gain.

All bills come due, not just our national deficit.

While we are myopically focused on trying to stay afloat during an economic downturn and pass universal health care, we’re neglecting to notice the warning sign emanating from Earth.  She has had enough. I say “she” because “giving” is a characteristic of the Divine Feminine.  The Earth, and all of Nature, know how to give.  They give repeatedly and without demand, thus ensuring the cycle of life and all that it takes to sustain it.

In a groundbreaking book titled “The Chalice and The Blade” Riane Eisler explores, with specificity and over 50 pages of source notes, the archaeological discoveries and historical records that now point to both Paleolithic and Neolithic societies previously believed to be patriarchal which, in fact, were matriarchal.  Matriarchal… without wars, and deeply aligned with and respectful of Nature.

So somewhere we went off track.  Somewhere we decided that it was all here for our use and abuse.  That self-satisfaction was the goal and greed was the means of attaining it.  It has gotten us only so far. 

It appears we’re arrived at a critical evolutionary pause. Unlike those who see Armageddon, or some other cataclysmic event as the obvious outcome, I believe we have an alternative. 

We can restore the Divine Feminine and all that She stands for to Her rightful place alongside the Divine Masculine.. and by that restoration reinvigorate our values, behavior and language with the dignity and respect due every living human being and thing.

In having denigrated and abandoned the Divine Feminine we also abandoned ourselves.

The bill is now due.  We can pay it with our lives or we can enter into a repayment plan whereby, over time, we replenish through thought, word and deed the abundant bounty that was our birthright and which we so carelessly undervalued and exploited. 

It is time to stop taking and start giving.

No one better exemplifies this quality of giving for the highest good of all concerned than the Divine Feminine… Mother of All That Is.  In Her restoration, we restore ourselves unto ourselves.  And in so doing, discover not a tragic end but rather a glorious new beginning.

I’m a firm believer that Nature has a way of correcting imbalances and moderating excess.  Because of that, I often look to Nature for answers to very human problems.  It seems all the international support and opposition to the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez has been less effective in bringing pressures to bear on the political situation in that country than that which Mother Nature has now engaged.

It seems Venezuela is in the midst of a dangerous and prolonged drought that is taxing the country’s main hydroelectric source, Guri Dam.  With the dam’s water already 33 feet below acceptable levels and months yet to go in drought season, the prospect looms large that a crisis is potentially in the making.  Shortages and fines are already a reality with more to come.  Should the dam dry up, the country could come to a standstill. Literally.

Such an occurrence and its effect would seem almost biblical.  Sort of like locusts or darkness.  Then again, that’s exactly how a dictator who defied human rights and imposed upon his People corrupt and self-aggrandizing measures finally got the message that you can only defy Natural Law so long.  Then, when all else fails, Natural Law implements Its own remedies. 

Historically, these tend to be much less desirable than man-made solutions.

Now I’m not equating Chavez to Pharaoh.  How could I?  Pharaoh ruled an empire. Chavez rules a country in South America.  But here’s the point.

The world was very far adrift during Pharaoh’s reign.  Values were skewed.  Respect for human dignity was a non-sequitur.  A few were prospering at the expense, and on the backs, of the many.  And while Chavez and his ilk worldwide bemoan the plight of the “workers of the world”, they are busy lining their own pockets, and the pockets of their cronies, with the wealth created by the workers they profess to be helping. 

So one could say the world is once again very far adrift.

When humankind seems out of viable options for a course correction, Nature has a way of filling the vacuum.  She (yes, I said she) has at Her disposal resources that makes ours pale in comparison. 

Turning off the water is just one of them.
 
Today there was a byline on Fox.com’s home page that hinted at the perfect storm set up by a continued recession and the prospect of another terror strike.  Of course, such a coming together of economic woes and the threat of terrorism is real and potentially devastating.  Californians have severe economic and cultural problems of their own but today there was also a 6.5 earthquake in Northern California.

Nature knows how to get our attention.

Have you noticed that most of the fear-based predictions and cautions that we are daily inundated with by the media don’t pan out they way they’re “supposed to.”  Yes, the DOW went from 14,000 to 6500…but it also went back up to 10,500.  Yes, terror attempts have been made, but they’ve failed. 

This isn’t to say the economy can’t collapse or a terrorist won’t succeed.  But until such time, I’m more concerned that we understand that Mother Nature has had enough of our shennanigans and our inability to live in harmony with one another, respecting the dignity of every human being and Her body, Earth, as well.

The consequences of Her having reached Her limit are certainly more catastrophic than the war games and political intrigue politicians play. 

A lot of world leaders would like to see an end to the Chavez government and others like it. To that end they have pursued their goal overtly and covertly.  They have tried diplomacy and aggression.  Yet oppressive regimes still stand.

Chavez is finally in trouble. It may not be hot water but it’s water non-the-less.  Internal unrest is escalating as the populace blames his government’s corruption and incompetence for the lack of preparedness and creation of viable alternatives to Guri Dam as an energy source for the country.

We would all be wise to sit up and take notice, and an accounting as well, of where and how we might self-correct.  The alternative will be very unpleasant.  I did say “She” above, didn’t I?

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

There’s a standard joke that goes, “There are only two things in life you have to do.  Die and pay taxes.”  Perhaps that’s why we devote so much human energy to fending off death and managing our financial resources. 

Theoretically, in opposition to the joke, one could argue that someday we may actually figure out how to live forever or at least maintain the body for renewed life (cryogenics), or that a new form of revenue raising may be created so the need for taxes becomes obsolete.  Therefore, perhaps someday even the joke itself may become obsolete.

What is no joke is that the one thing we all will face for certain in life, and have to deal with, is Change.  How ironic, and sad, that along with all that is taught as part of formal, and informal education, we spend no time or resources in teaching how to traverse and manage Change.

Change isn’t something that happens in life. 

Life is Change. 

At every level of Nature, and within human nature, Change is the stuff of Life.  Its how things grow.  Without change there is no growth.  Whether its the physical, emotional, mental or spiritual worlds we talk about, its the Process of Change that moves us through trial and error towards a more fully developed and expansive existence.

The harm in not teaching the fundamentals of Change is that so much time and energy is wasted on resisting rather than embracing it.  Because there is something comfortable, even seductive, about what we know versus the unknown, we have a strong tendency to want to maintain the status quo… even if its a condition not particularly desirable, enjoyable, or supportive. 

But the status quo, by definition, is “the existing order of things.”  Its similar to another Latin word, stasis, which i s “the state of equilibrium or inactivity caused by opposing equal forces.”  The status quo implies an accepted, or at least passive, acquiesce to how thing are.   But nothing is how it is since everything is in a constant state of change.

So what’s the opposition to Change?

Precisely that it upsets the status quo!

Change necessitates being in a constant state of creativity in order to adapt to it.  The only thing I know we teach as being in a constant state of creativity is Creator. 

Uh-oh!

If we accept that 1) change is always occurring; 2) creativity is required to adapt to it; 3) Creator is in a constant state of creativity; then we will, by necessity, have to be as Creator is.

There’s the resistance to teaching and learning about Change!  The prospect that to embrace Life and live it fully requires us to be in a constant creative state of Being, such as Creator, is more responsibility than we want to take on.  Hence, our preference for the status qou.

But here’s the rub.  The joke, it turns out, is on us.  For in resisting Change, we defy the Law of Creation.  In defying Creation, we guarantee our own demise.

So perhaps we can dispense with all the time, effort and money we put in to postponing death or trying to figure out how to resurrect the body.  The short answer to that dilemma appears to be to live Life as Life Is… constantly in a state of change and thereby live forever. 

Death, it turns out, isn’t an ending but a transition to another form of Life.

Of course, its only that for those who know how to transition.  Who know how to Change.

I think that’s worth teaching, don’t you?

When you’re on a spiritual path, and all of us are whether we’re aware of it or not, you go through spiritual growth spurts just like any other growth process.  These are exhilarating times filled with optimism and faith. And, as you’d suspect, you also reach plateaus, or periods of “flat-lining”, when there appears to be no growth at all.  Finally, to our collective dismay, there are those times when it appears that some or all of our progress to-date has been lost…or at least seriously misplaced…and we wonder, in our confusion, where hope or inspiration may be found.  Often times, this is when we reach out and call a friend.

In such moments, well meaning
friends can empathize. They can even show compassion. That’s why we
call them.  But, if what you really need is a transfusion, there’s
simply nothing in a first-aid kit that will do the trick.  You must go to
the bank where the blood is stored. 

I have another suggestion born of experience.

Call God instead.

What it means to “call God instead” is to forgo the urge to ask someone other than yourself to lift you up.  It means to surrender, in the most positive sense, the unfolding of your life to the Power that has given you life.  It means to ask, out loud, for clarity as to your Life’s purpose and how to best manifest it.  It means to move your ego to a back burner and acknowledge that while you are not in control… you are in process of Be-coming that which you were designed to Be.

I choose the word “designed” here for a reason.

There is, in fact, a blueprint, for each of us.  A plan for our fruition and our purpose. There is nothing in Creation for which a blueprint does not exist… encoded within its very essence.  It’s how a rose “grows up” to become a rose and not a daisy.  For us, its encoded into our DNA.  The only difference between the rose and us is that we have Free Will to interfere with the encoding and a mechanism with which to effect that interference…called “ego.”  

When ego’s interference misleads us too far from our intended purpose (which, by the way, is to Be All That Love Is) we feel the dismay that sets in as a result of our self-imposed distance from Source.

This is the time to call God because God is where the original blueprint of You exists in its clearest form. 

Since God created You with the intention that You Be As You Are Designed To Be, it is God’s delight when called upon to shine The Light in order to show you, once again, the way back upon the path of your intended purpose.

By the way, when you make that call, you never get a busy signal.

God originated call waiting.