Archive for January, 2009

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    As
the country and the world revel in this defining moment of our
collective history with the election of President Barack Obama, it is
wise to step back from the momentary celebration and take a realistic
look at the broader picture. Yes, our spirit as a nation has been
re-energized and uplifted. This was a state of both spirit and mind
that was long overdue. Let’s pray we’re able to sustain it.

    We’re going to need it to get us through the challenges that lay ahead.

 
  Just 48 hours into this Presidency, there are more than rumblings
about our economic future. As a contributor to Andersen Cooper’s AC360
blog, David Gergen,CNN Senior Political Analyst writes today
of the very vocal concerns within and among economists and politicians
over how to pull the nation through perhaps the most serious economic
downturn in history. And I’m certain great minds are pondering that
problem and it’s possible solutions as I write.

    But what
about you and me? What is our part in all of this and what can we do to
positively effect the outcome? I have one overriding suggestion.

    Keep in mind that there is only One of Us.

 
  Having spent most of my life feeling separate from other people,
imagine my joy to awaken in recent years to the realization that we are
all connected to each other in the most profound way. Not just as
members of a common species, community or nation, but as individualized
aspects of One Source. For when we trace our origins back to “the
Beginning,” whether through the pathway of science or religion, what we
often stop short of fully grasping is that both of these pathways lead
us to a single point beyond space and time…a single Source for All
That Is.

    The logical conclusion to be drawn from this
realization is that originating or emanating from a single Source makes
us, and everything else that has ever been or ever will be, an individualized aspect of that Source. This then makes it accurate to say with confidence and certainty that there is, ultimately, only One of Us.

    Awareness of this fact changes how you see and act in the world.

 
  If I have a home in which I safely live with sufficient food for
daily nourishment and someone I know, or know of, does not…and I do
nothing to try and aid their situation… I am consciously choosing to
allow myself to suffer. Remember, there is only One of Us. For
example, if I use my left hand to smack my right, am I not the cause of
my own suffering? Can I really tell myself that 1) I don’t know where
the pain is coming from and 2) that I don’t know how to stop it?  I am
either self-inflicting pain or permitting it to continue when and where
I have the power to stop it.

     If there is only One of Us,
and I believe that to be true, then it’s equally true that if I hurt
another or disregard another I am hurting or disregarding myself. And
if I fail to take steps to positively impact another’s suffering I am
allowing myself to needlessly suffer. The highest good for me,
therefore, becomes the Highest Good for you. Which is why the
contemporaries Jesus and Rabbi Hillel said “Do unto others as you would
have others do unto you” and “Do not do to another that which you would
not want done to yourself.” It turns out size=”4″ face=”Garamond”> I am not so much my brother’s keeper as I am my brother.

      So what’s all this got to do with a new President and an ailing economy, you ask?

 
    We’re all in this one together and the sooner we realize that
there’s only One of Us the sooner we can pull together to make sure no
one crawls out of this hole at the expense of someone else’s survival.
For when that happens, it simply sows the seeds of future devastation. 

 
     In order to break the pattern of thousands of years of selfishness
and greed based upon a mis-perception of separateness, it is our job now, yours and mine, to understand on the deepest levels that there is no you and there is no me. And when we are in that place together, there is only One of Us.

       And that’s exactly the meaning behind the Hindu salutation, Namaste.

REMEMBER, click here to download a FREE copy of my e-book, “Too Many Secrets.”

       

It’s been awhile since my last entry. As I begin to write I can only hope that you have been patiently awaiting my return. Actually, that’s the gist of this whole entry.

Patience.

As I look around and talk with people, it seems that there’s a pretty common feeling most people are experiencing. That feeling is one of frustration in not being able to make things happen as quickly as they would like. Whether it’s finding a new job or your life’s purpose or turning around the economy…things just seem to be moving much slower than we’d like them to be. So allow me to dispel the illusion. Far from moving slowly, we are actually living in a time when change is occurring at such a rapid rate that we can barely keep up.

So, what’s all this frustration born of the illusion that things are moving slowly…or not at all? Well, 3 points need to be made here.

1.  The Pace of Technology

We’ve become spoiled… and not in a good way.

Personal, social and spiritual progress simply don’t occur at the same “rate of speed” that we have come to perceive as “normal” based upon technological advance s made in the last 50 years. To quote Captain Kirk, technology proceeds at “warp speed” while all other development more likely resembles a process over time. Because we have become so dependent upon and enmeshed in our technological advances, we have become impatient with anyone and anything that moves at a slower rate of development. This, of course, is an impossible standard to match.

Contrary to technology, human behavior usually requires that we go through stages of understanding followed by determined efforts to modify existing patterns of behavior before we move beyond where we are. Again, this is a process that is time dependent. Even if you can expedite the modification piece by rapidly making changes in your behavior, there is almost no way around the time it takes to gain an understanding of how our existing patterns of behavior no longer serve our intended goal.

Simply put, a personal relationship doesn’t progress in the time it takes to text message and you can’t fix an failing economy as quickly as you can microwave a baked potato. But we have come to think we should be able to. And so our resulting impatience.

2.  The Collective Unconscious

Swiss psychiatrist and influential thinker Carl Jung wrote much about the power of humanity’s collective unconscious thoughts in shaping both behavior, and I would argue, reality as a whole. I think that somewhere in that collective unconscious is a memory, and therefore a true knowing, of our ability to actually instantaneously manifest into physical reality what we passionately desire.  To support my belief have emerged the thinking and systems that are now becoming widespread such as revelations like “The Secret” and the teachings of Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Louis Hay, and Greg Braden, to name a few. But these are just contemporary voices echoing timeless wisdom that has been imparted to us by way of both behavior and the written word throughout the ages by the teachings of Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Kabbalah, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Zohar, The Upanishads, and the The I Ching.  

This memory, or knowing, which is now rising from our unconscious into our conscious awareness is the driving force behind our collective impatience. If I know with certainty that I can change things now simply through my desire, will, thoughts and deeds then why wait?

3.  Divine Timing

As ancient and certain as is this knowing of instantaneous manifestation, so is the age and certainty of a corresponding teaching that says, “To everything there is a season; A time to every purpose under Heaven.” (Koheleth/Ecclesiastes 3:1).  We need only look to Nature to see the truth of that statement. And so it is the same with us for we are part of Nature. While we may think we know best the timing of certain occurrences, there is a Knowing that supersedes our limited perspective…at least for the time being.

I like to think of it this way.

When we are sleeping and in a deep dream state and someone or something awakens us suddenly without the ability to transition out of that deep dream state, the awakening is startling and disorienting. It often takes us a few seconds, or longer, to realize that we have left one reality and entered another.

So it is for us now.

It’s as if we have been in a collective, deep sleep and are just now awakening to a new reality. It will not serve us to awaken too quickly and find ourselves startled and disoriented. Rather it is necessary to awaken gradually in order to become accustomed to the new surroundings… the new paradigm…the new Reality.

Let us put the technology in perspective and look forward to instantaneous manifestation. But in the meantime, let us trust in Divine Timing born of a wisdom that both precedes us and sustains us. If we can do that we will eliminate impatience…the fundamental source of stress and frustration. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

And by the way, I would like to have written all of this sooner but I was being patient in allowing the message to fully form in my mind rather than forcing my Will, and something of lesser value, upon you. 

If the message resonates and is helpful…well, that’s Divine Timing.

REMEMBER to click here to download a FREE copy of my e-book, “Too Many Secrets.”