Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

I’ve been where Whitney Houston was. No, not the fame, drugs or alcohol but the need to seek validation and safety in something or someone outside of myself. That’s what drove her. That was her inner demon. So when she was interviewed  by Diane Sawyer and asked, “So what’s your biggest demon?” she replied “Me.”

It doesn’t matter whether its resistance to accepting responsibility for our personal lives or for our lives as citizens in a free society. In the end, it’s all the same. The individual who looks for safety in government welfare or subsidies loses the same precious gift that Whitney Houston lost when she turned to Bobby Brown: personal power and confidence in one’s ability to achieve.  Much will be made of the alcohol binges and drug dependency but Brown was perhaps the most dangerous of all her choices… and the most telling.

When a woman (or a man) chooses a partner based upon neediness, there is always a tradeoff and the tradeoff is always the same.  What is exchanged, although not consciously, is personal responsibility. Along with it we relinquish personal power as well. It may take awhile and be a slow process over time, but as the saying goes “you can’t have the benefit without the burden.”

In discussing Whitney Houston’s downward slide, I heard someone say, “She could have gotten herself off that train anytime she wanted.” It’s not that easy. As I said before I’ve been there and dependency, whether upon a substance, a system or a human being is insidious. It does you in a little at a time. It inevitably takes not only the awareness that your existence is at risk, but also the courage to do something about it.

Many have awareness. Not so many have the courage.

It takes courage because the way out of dependency is counter-intuitive. One would think that retaining control, at all cost, to whatever sense of self remains is key. Yet the solution is surrender. Only by surrendering and withdrawing from all that is not working in your life are you able to make room for the Source of True Power to emerge from within. The resistance comes from an illusion that if we give up what we’ve been doing, even if it’s harmful, nothing will take its place…or something worse will. This false belief is a trick of the mind, or the ego, or evil…whatever you choose to call it. But it’s a trick none-the-less. In reality, true surrender brings forgiveness of self and others, a renewed sense of the ability to achieve, and a deep knowing that we are not alone. In surrender, we meet what we were in search of all along… Love.

Whitney Houston could not break through her resistance to surrender and, in the end, that resistance consumed her.

Each of us has to wage this struggle within ourselves. No one is exempt. If we are to learn anything from the loss of a gifted soul and a beautiful voice, let the takeaway be that when dis-empowering one aspect of ourselves we always  empower another or, as mythology tries to remind us, the Phoenix always rises from the ashes.

 

In advance of the Super Bowl, there was a great deal of media anticipation and speculation focused on Madonna.  Now, she is scheduled to perform in Israel during May 2012 and Israeli fans have asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to postpone any attack on Iran’s nuclear program until after the concert.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has established a “War Room” to monitor potential crime with high tech equipment and surveillance because “we are targets on our own soil” and have to be prepared

President Obama signed into law the ability to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens on U.S. soil without trial under suspicion of terrorist or seditious activities. The criteria for such activities include behavior that you probably participate in.

Government dependence is up 23% since President Obama took office. Currently, the average welfare recipient gets $32,700 annually while the average disposable income for wage earners after taxes is $32,400. Its more financially lucrative to stay home and do nothing than work which is why 67 million Americans receive government assistance.

The Gross National Product is now exceeded by the United States National Debt which means… we owe more than we produce.

Only 29% of Americans are concerned with, or following, the 2012 election run up and many college students interviewed don’t know who the Vice President is or what countries border the United States. But they’re out there in Zucotti Park and elsewhere demanding their college tuition be paid for by someone else and that wealth be redistributed.

The list of absurdities goes on but time and space constrain me here.

If you doubt that we have become enslaved to a perverse system of priorities re-read the above list. How is it possible that so many Americans are still asleep? Still refusing to face reality? Still thinking that by not looking at the train wreck headed their way it will not impact them?

We are at a crossroad in human history. We can choose consciousness and personal responsibility or unconsciousness and enslavement. But make no mistake about it.  Each of us must choose and choose now. For as Dietrich Bonheoffer, German Pastor and Resistance fighter said, “Not to choose is to choose. Not to stand is to stand.”

At this critical crossroad, Choose and Stand. It is the only road that will lead you to personal power and end in a free citizenry.

In the Art of War, ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu sets forth the best strategies for vanquishing an opposing force. One of the foremost principles is to turn the opposition’s strength into a weakness…thereby converting it into your strength. This principle presents us with the key to resolving the personal and global challenges we are currently facing.

Much of what is wrong in our personal lives, and the world in general, has been caused by deceit. The misuse of political, financial and personal power always requires reliance upon deception. Deception can only thrive when obscured. When exposed, deception loses its power. The very deceit that formerly empowered a few becomes an unraveling thread that ends in their annihilation as well as exposure of what was false.

Deception necessitates secrecy. Secrecy requires obscurity. Obscurity is darkness. In order for those who would use deceit to manipulate others they need to operate in darkness, far from the “light of day.”

So there’s the answer.

The death blow for the world’s current immersion into darkness is light. But not just any light: the Light of Creator which has as it two fundamental characteristics Love and Truth.

When we look beyond the circumstances of our personal life, we often think there is nothing a single individual can do to significantly affect the direction of society. In fact, it seems we can barely affect the direction of our own lives.

Neither thought is true.

Whether personal or global, the correction that needs to be applied to the current situation is for each of us to live in Love and Truth.  By so doing, by being the manifestation of the Light of Creator, we join together in consciousness and in deed to unmask the false premise that one individual cannot make a difference. In the process, we simultaneously eliminate deceit.

We are at war. It’s a spiritual war between The Light and Darkness. Allow Sun Tzu to guide you in the way of war. Just make certain you know who you are and on which side you stand.

Once that is accomplished, you’ll find the destination becomes clear and the path illuminated.

Glenn Beck was responding to a caller on his morning radio show who asked Mr. Beck’s take on Ron Paul’s superior ability over Rick Santorum to handle the fiscal crisis.  Mr. Beck responded with an analogy to Thomas Paine and George Washington. He elaborated that while Paine was vital to the success of the American Revolution vis-a-vis his courageous and inspired writing, the colonists’ efforts could not have ended in liberty without the faith, integrity and ethical certainty that Washington exemplified.

The exchange got me to thinking. Washington had Martha, who was known to support her husband even so far as to come to the battlefield to be with him and tend to the troops. Who did Paine have?

It turns out that Paine was married twice. His first wife died in childbirth a year into the marriage. He then married a second time several years later only to become legally separated shortly thereafter due to a disappointing and disharmonious relationship.

While it is not necessarily true that “behind ever great man there is a great woman,” I would argue that the vital role women have played throughout human history has been all but ignored. The Divine Feminine is within us all as is the Divine Masculine. We are created in the image of God…male and female alike. To revere one while dismissing or denigrating the contributions of the other is to not only deny one half of who we are but also to deny us full access to the total energies and potential for co-creation that is our birthright.

Each aspect of Divinity has its own unique power. Those powers are meant to co-exist in co-creation for the purpose of the highest good for all concerned. Together they are able to accomplish what neither could accomplish on its own.

So, if I could have joined in the conversation Mr. Beck had with his caller, I would have added that while the Nation needed Washington as it needs the integrity, faith and certainty of Rick Santorum… George needed Martha as Rick needs Karen.

As for the larger picture, each of us needs to resurrect the Divine Feminine within ourselves and balance it with the Divine Masculine. Once that is done, we can attract others who are equally balanced and, together, co-create the world of peace we so desperately seek.

When was the last time you calculated percentage ratios in your head?  Try this math problem:

Question: If there are 1426 people named in the Bible, and 111 of them are women, what percentage of those named are women?* (Answer below)

Okay, so it isn’t about them math. But I got your attention… so bear with me a little longer.

Who among us doesn’t know we are in a global mess that is on the brink of some rather potentially disastrous outcomes? Why do you think that is? Generally speaking, it’s a balance issue. When things are out of balance, whether its Nature or humanity, bad things happen. So how is humanity out of balance?

Let’s return to the math problem.

For thousands of years, as many as 5000 years, we have been writing and repeating history that alternatively excludes or marginalizes the Divine Feminine. Now if you hear the word feminine and your brain says feminist you’re way off track. This isn’t about force. It’s about power. True power.

The same book that disproportionately excludes the contribution by women begins with the statement that we were created “male and female alike.” It’s difficult, if not impossible, for any thinking person to reconcile much of what is alleged to have occurred from that point forward vis-à-vis the sexes. For having created us alike, we are told to believe that from that point forward we were to be treated and judged differently. It begs the question,

Why? Because woman (Eve) and the snake entered into an unholy alliance? I think not.

It’s much more likely, not to mention plausible, that the symbol of woman’s (Sophia’s) wisdom, which was represented symbolically by the snake long before monotheism and the rise of patriarchy, was deliberately targeted as the enemy and root of evil by a male dominated society and male recorders of history.

So, from that we have evolved, or devolved, to where we presently find ourselves…out of balance and sorely lacking in the necessary contributions that draw their origin from the Divine Feminine. The one half of Creator energy that is vital to the balanced and harmonious functioning of the whole.

What to do?

Each of us, male and female alike, must awaken to the Divine Feminine within us. We must awaken to the creative, compassionate, non-combative and allowing energies that rightfully flow from the Divine Feminine aspect of Creator.

Only when we bring ourselves into balance can we hope to create a world in balance. I hope we figure this one out very soon.

Have you checked the scale lately? It’s about to tip over.

 

*Answer: 7.7%

There are two types of anger… ego based anger and righteous anger.  As frustrations and demonstrations mount here at home and around the globe, it’s vital that we distinguish between the two. Without such discernment, we will become victims of our own misguided behavior.

Ego based anger is about control and lack of forgiveness.  When we have an expectation or plan that does not result in the outcome we desire, feeling out of control results in anger. The thought process is as follows: “If I were in control I could have made happen what I wanted to happen.”  Likewise when we (or someone else) do something to negatively affect the outcome we seek, resentment and blame for the interference causes the resulting anger. Lack of forgiveness is the culprit.

Righteous anger, on the other hand, is not personal. It originates from an awareness that I, or another, am not acting in a way that causes growth and spiritual advancement. Perhaps the most recognizable example is Jesus striking down the tables in the Temple. Yes, he was angry. But it was not self-destructive anger, nor was it destructive of others.  It was anger born of knowing that the behavior was inconsistent with the highest good.

Why is it so important that we understand the distinction? The answer lies in the effect each has on ourselves and others.

Ego based anger feeds itself and builds accordingly. It has no purpose or end other than destruction. Righteous anger is a wake-up call. It is meant to bring one present and stimulate honest inquiry into intention, behavior and direction.

Spring and summer are coming. So is a national election. The Occupy movement, and those with less than altruistic motives who seek to capitalize on the discontent, are already talking about and planning for “Days of Rage.”  Unless we are fully conscious and aware of the distinction between egocentric anger and righteous indignation then rage, when stoked, will thrust the Nation and the world toward the annihilation of personal freedom and the implementation of rule by force… of the many by the few.

It is up to each of us to make certain we identify the source and quality of our anger and be certain it is righteous in origin and not motivated by personal feelings of inadequacy or control.

This is the most assured path toward overcoming the planned destruction of ego looming on the horizon.

 

Just when you think it can’t get any more absurd or bizarre…Herman Cain endorses Newt Gingrich.  Of course, if I were Newt Gingrich, I’d be standing as far from Herman Cain as I could. But then again, I don’t share the common values of 1) objectifying women and 2) being unfaithful in marriage that these two men share.

I want to believe that we as a Nation, not to mention human beings, have reached a point where we no longer believe the image that politicians and media outlets project but rather make our decisions based upon actions not words. If that is in fact the standard then Newt Gingrich is unacceptable as a Presidential nominee.

Mr. Gingrich was disgraced as Speaker of the House of Representatives, has left a trail of unethical and shameful personal behavior, and is a Progressive.  His most admired U.S. Presidents are Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Wilson began the Progressive movement and the drive for big government under which we now suffer and Roosevelt implemented Progressive policies with abandon. In fact, Roosevelt was so power hungry and dismissive of the Constitution that his Presidency led to the passage of a Constitutional Amendment limiting the Presidency to two terms so no individual could ever again so abuse access to power.

I believe that we get the leader we deserve. If we refuse to think for ourselves but instead follow the herd, we will have as our choice either Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich on one side and Barak Obama on the other.  Each of those is noticeably flawed.

If, however, we do our homework and look deep into the policies, actions and character of the leader we seek, Rick Santorum will be the next President of the United States. Remember, we get the leaders we deserve. I hope we deserve Santorum.

I wonder….

 

In a recent conversation with a friend, she told me that the reason she has never been interested in politics is because it’s all a lie.  However, recently she delved in for a brief visit and came away with her beliefs reinforced.  After watching the Republican Presidential debates, she called me and said “Obama has lied to us for three years. I watched those Republican contenders and it’s so obvious they will say anything to get the nomination. They are all alike. Politics is professional lying.”

I didn’t have much in my bag of responses to dissuade my friend, mostly because my heart wouldn’t have been in refuting her conclusion. The lying and pandering has definitely played itself out.

So, just maybe it’s not a political leader we should be seeking as much as a spiritual one. By spiritual, I don’t mean religious. The bureaucracies, corruption and politics inherent within organized religion are as much the cause of our current state of things as is secular politics.

By spiritual, I mean the likes of Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Gandhi.  These were not people marketing religion. They were people who each had a deeply personal and profound spiritual experience and then lived the truth of that experience.

Perhaps Gandhi, a former lawyer, is the best example for our current needs. Mainly because by his applying his spiritual awakening to his beliefs about national autonomy and individual dignity, he achieved politically what all the politicians and militarists were unable to do. One man, certain of his faith, his ethics, and his path changed the destiny of two nations and perhaps more.

So, as a former lawyer myself, I am rightfully an advocate of exercising our Constitutional right to vote. As such, I encourage all to stay alert and involved in the 2012 election process and make your voice heard. However, your greatest impact will be in emulating Gandhi and following his advice to “be the change you want to see in the world.”

You never know.

You could be the spiritual leader that turns it all around.

I’m not a scientist so you have to consider that admission as you read on. But I am a thinker, and a mystic, both of which are the basis for my statement that science has just proven what thinkers and mystics have known for a very long time.

Just because you can’t see something or someone, doesn’t mean it or they don’t exist.  In fact, worlds may be occurring all around us that we simply cannot see.

It appears (no pun intended) that scientists at Cornell University have discovered a “time cloak.” Generally, occurrences are seen as light from them reaches our eyes. Usually it’s a continuous flow of light. Cornell scientists, however, have been able to interrupt that flow for just a fraction of an instant (4 trillionths of a second)…long enough to prevent observation of an occurrence that does, in fact, occur. It just isn’t visible! The time cloak moves the light beams away in the traditional three dimensions, altering not where the light flows but how fast it moves, changing it in the dimension of time.

As I read about the discovery, the thinker and mystic in me say, “Well, it’s about time” (again no pun intended).  If it is, in fact, possible to alter light in relationship to time, thereby obscuring from sight that which is occurring in time, then occurrences and things of any magnitude that existed but were not in the path of light, so to speak, wouldn’t be visible either. Like worlds.

There is a plethora of spiritual and psi literature on alternate realities as well as beings that supposedly exist simultaneously with us and all around us. Up until now such subject matter has been explored mostly through metaphysics and spiritualism. Now, slowly, that may begin to change.

Several years ago, in the middle of a divorce, I was heading upstairs to go to sleep when I fell down a flight of steps and landed with my leg tucked under me resulting in a nasty torn ligament in my ankle.  I remember precisely the moment I lost my balance and began to tumble. I described it then, as I can vividly recall now, not so much as an accident as it was as if I was suddenly pushed down the stairs.  At the time, no one was in the house but my teenage daughter who was sound asleep.

Perhaps the scientists at Cornell have opened the door to not only new knowledge, but literally, new worlds.  And perhaps, just perhaps, I could have avoided that torn ligament had I been able to see what was going on all around me.

I’m just saying…

“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.