Archive for the ‘God’ Category

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 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.

Many of the “king makers,” power brokers and financial backers of the Republican Party are aggressively trying to engage New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to announce his candidacy for the 2012 Presidential nomination.  A general concern for the viability and/or electability of the current array of candidates has people still shopping for the candidate who can beat Barack Obama, or whoever is the Democratic candidate in 2012.

I, too, would like to see the Governor enter the race.  But my reasons are not those mentioned above.  I don’t think it’s about beating Barack Obama.  Despite what others may think at this juncture, it’s my conclusion that Obama is a one term President.  His failed economic policies combined with recent unfolding scandals, such as Solyndra, Lightsquared, and Chicago union leader Dennis Gannon guarantee it.

Beating whoever the Democratic candidate will be is not the issue, although those with political and ideological “dogs in the hunt” will reason so.  It’s about restoring a sense of truthfulness, leadership and accomplishment to the Presidency.  It’s about telling the people of this nation the truth and thereby giving them an opportunity to do what Americans do best… rise to the occasion.

Chris Christie is an attractive possibility because he instills in us the certainty and sure footed-ness that we want in both our own lives as well as in our leaders.  He exemplifies the qualities that speak of true leadership capability. He keeps his word. He is courageous. He is an independent thinker. He speaks truth to power. He teaches confidence through self-confidence. He sees what needs to be done. He is a man of action. He accepts responsibility.

The world is standing at the precipice and gazing into the abyss. There is much confusion and fear as we face the unknown. There are those who would exploit this moment and encourage us to take the next step into that abyss.

While each of us must ultimately take personal responsibility for our decisions, even the Jews of ancient Egypt required a leader to show them the way. We are sent the leaders we need. If it turns out that Chris Christie steps up and answers the call, let’s be grateful for the opportunity to turn from the abyss and pray we have the clarity to know which way to go.

Phew. It’s going to be a busy week!

Palestinians plan to seek United Nations approval for an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and pre-1967 borders by brining the proposal to a vote in both the General Assembly and the Security Council despite the United States having made clear its intention to veto such a proposal in the Security Council.  Israel is shoring up its internal defenses in anticipation of possible pro-Palestinian marches or, worse, terrorist activity.

This week, Friday to be exact, NASA’S Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), launched in 1991 and weighing 61/2 tons is due to breakup as it burns through the atmosphere and land somewhere on earth. While some of the pieces are expected to survive the burn and impact earth, scientists have estimated that with 70% of the earth being covered in water, the likelihood of any of those surviving pieces from the bus-sized orbiter impacting a person is 3600 to 1. I know that totally eliminates any concerns I have.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, along with the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank have decided to “provide dollar liquidity” (read as print more money) to help stabilize the highly unstable banking system in several EU member countries.  This “international stimulus” seems like a tried and true approach given the apparent success of the two stimulus efforts here by this Administration and its economic geniuses guiding monetary policy.

Finally, malcontents and other assorted groups with a variety of issues but an apparent common goal… to bring down Wall Street and/or the U.S. government… have begun pitching tents in New York’s financial district this weekend with the intention to stay put until their goal is achieved. Soon, they will be joined, in spirit, by those organizing October 6^th as a national day of protest wherein they will begin sit ins at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C.

Phew. I’m tired and it’s only Sunday morning. The week hasn’t even begun.

Assuming the Palestinians and other Arab nations do not react violently to a negative outcome to their quest for statehood via the UN (my 18-year-old daughter is in Israel for 9 months)…and NASA’s UARS doesn’t fall on me (or anyone I know) as the “1 in 3600,”, …and someone in this Administration wakes up before we can’t even afford to buy the paper to print more money on…and those sitting in on Wall Street and the Capitol go home realizing they have neither the spiritual motivation of Gandhi nor the political will of Martin Luther King…I’m still left with a pounding headache at the possible wrong turn any of the above might take.

So what’s the solution?

Its faith and trust. I have faith and trust in a Divine Pattern of love and unity. Does that mean I can sit back and silently wait? No, I’m part of that pattern and, as such, have to hold my space. My space, as I see it, is to be an individual standing for what is good and true:

To say out loud that Palestinians should have a state of their own but not at the expense of the State of Israel and not by appropriating, through threat of violence, what is not theirs.

To say out loud that The Federal Reserve, and its very secretive members, seem to be clueless about our current financial situation. Given their repeated errors in judgment they should be stripped of their power while we open the discussion to alternative ways from alternative minds.

To say out loud that it is right, just and necessary to speak out against greed and corruption and to become active in changing course…but not when destruction is the only goal and where no plan exists for rebuilding anew from what remains following the breakdown.

To say out loud that NASA… well, what can I say? They meant well. Besides, there are physical laws and one of them is “what goes up must come down.” I just hope with everything else going on this week that 70% ocean and 3600 to 1 turn out to be sufficient odds.

 

 

 

 

Yes, it would be easy (and I suspect welcome) to blast the media and politicians for the hurricane Irene hype in light of the ultimate reality.  Should I be misunderstood, allow me to say from the outset here that loss of even one life and obvious property damage is not to be demeaned or dismissed.  They are both events that will evoke sadness and necessitate prolonged recovery.

This is about our reaction to the hype.

While its never easy to gauge, in advance, the potential damage from a hurricane such as the size of Irene, the technology available to us now to disseminate information makes it not only possible to spread good news but bad news as well. Not to mention fear… and spread fear they did.  Then we helped by allowing fear to run away with us.

I saw people stocking up on perishables, such as eggs and milk, when the projection was for the loss of electricity. Hello? I also saw people, literally, walking in circles in supermarkets and box stores who had no idea what to buy. They were simply following a line of thinking initiated by former President George W. Bush following the 911 attacks: Support the economy.  As if accumulating more material things could somehow stave off disaster or provide protection.

Then there were those people who refused to participate. At least they refused to participate in the fear. Bravo for them.

I’d like to believe I fell somewhere in the middle. I shopped for some extra canned food; made sure I had batteries for my flashlights and radio, and secured my basement windows from possible overflow flooding.  Then I kicked back and got on with life.  So while I had respect for Nature’s power, I didn’t have much for the media or the politicians.

I think it’s the choice to come from one’s lower self or Higher Self.  Fear is the great manipulative tool used for centuries by those in positions of power. Unfortunately, we have become so accustomed to re-acting to it that we fail to act from a place of thoughtful reflection and focus.

In Judaism, the holiday of Sukkot is one wherein Jews build a temporary shelter, or “sukkah” in which they are commanded to eat their meals and sleep for the duration of the holiday. Why?  As a reminder that for 40 years, against all odds and in the total absence of all things material, they wandered safely through the desert and survived.

To remember protection comes from God.

So, I think Irene has been instructive and if we are wise we will learn accordingly.

1. The media prospers on fear.
2. The politicians cover their rears.
3. We are manipulated by fear.
4. Reacting is not productive or helpful.
5. Our Higher Selves will guide us in the right direction.
6. God takes care of the rest.

Also, let each of us reach out with some form of assistance to anyone who suffered loss from Irene.

That, too, is our Higher Selves.

If you watched Glenn Beck give the keynote speech from Jerusalem this morning, you experienced a glowing moment in human history.  If you missed it, it’s not too late. The intention and purpose of the speech can be summed up in two words: Rights and Responsibilities.  I say it’s not too late because, if you understand what those words truly mean, its not too late to go live them in your own life.

As for Rights, for more years than I care to count, we have treated them with disregard.  We have failed to understand their source and, by so doing, acted as if our individuality and the power of self-determination rests better in the hands of a “capable” few over the many.

As for Responsibility, we traded our dignity and the very connection to one another that makes us uniquely human… to make free willed-based choices and live with the consequences of those choices… for the illusion that if we did not look under the rock, nothing sinister could possibly be concealed there.

We were foolish, adolescent, myopic and flat-out wrong.  The refusal to acknowledge the Source of our freedom and the willing abdication of what action freedom demands of us, has brought us to this moment. Now we must take the more difficult road home… but it is the only road worth taking… for all others lead to enslavement.

We have two choices in life. Always. To be in service or to be en-slaved.  For several thousand years we have periodically been enslaved. More so than not. This is not the first time. But it may well be the last time.  There is an expression among people who believe in reincarnation. “You do it again ‘til you get it right.” It presupposes endless chances.

I am not so sure. Sometimes we run out of “do-overs.” Such may be this time.

The technology has outpaced spiritual and social development. Violence has reared its ugly head. The world is looking for scapegoats. It has looked before and found them before…as  too many turned a blind eye and a deaf ear thereby allowing the slaughter of millions. Repeatedly.

Glenn Beck’s message is more than we can “never forget.” His message is that we cannot permit blindness, deafness and the violence that inevitably accompanies them to… this time… define who we are or to silence open acknowledgment of the Source of All That Is.

Know your rights, their Source, and the responsibility that being blessed with them requires of you.

Yes, the burden is great but the reward is greater. And just as devaluation of rights leads to enslavement… so too does refusal to bear the burden of personal responsibility lead to a world wherein violence and destruction reign by fear unopposed.

This is a do-over.  Let’s get it right this time.

Today I watched Part 1 of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Courage” rally in Israel. Before I tell you anything more, in respect of full disclosure, I’ve got a dog in this hunt. I’m a Jew.

As such, you can infer whatever you like about any bias in my observations;  however, I’m much more a mystic than I am a religious person so any bias you may think I bring is more likely your own.  It is sort of like me telling you I grew up in the 60’s, a Jewish, suburban, upper middle class girl and you assuming I’m a feminist, a Liberal and a Democrat. Sorry, I never got feminism, am somewhat politically conservative and a registered Independent. See. You’d have made that mistaken assumption, too!

So, now that we can set aside all that potential rush to judgment, back to Glenn Beck and Israel.

In April of 2011, I wrote a blog post in which I referred to Mr. Beck as, perhaps, a prophet of sorts.  At the time, I clarified that I didn’t necessarily mean it in the biblical sense.  Now I wonder.

Moses gave the Israelites the vision and courage to leave behind a world they knew ( an oppressive one albeit with certain creature comforts) to head out into the unknown.  It was, as almost no one would dispute, a turning point for humankind.

Glenn Beck has also provided millions (my estimate) with a vision and the courage to leave behind, if not literally then figuratively, a world they know and head into equally unknown territory.  In this instance, what is being left behind is not so different than what the Israelites relinquished.

We, like the Israelites of ancient Egypt, became enslaved to materialism. To having our physical needs and wants reasonably met while losing sight of our spiritual ones. We too, established false idols…Alan Greenspan, various political leaders, the U.S. dollar.  But with the passage of time, we came to remember that while golden calves glitter, the glare is temporary and blinding.  In that blindness, we yearned for something more, something lasting, and something real.

Enter Glenn Beck.

Mr. Beck is a visionary (I’m still mulling over the word prophet).  He saw where we were, where we needed to go, and he said, “Okay, if I can see it, I guess I have to lead the way.” Like all true leaders, he has been a reluctant one.  For that he will surely be rewarded when and how it counts…whether or not we appropriately acknowledge our gratitude for his foresight and willingness to serve.

Glenn Beck is shining a light upon the Light that is Israel.  He and others regardless of religious affiliation, who are connected to Source in their hearts, know one of the most important messages Moses reminds us in Deuteronomy: When the Jewish People are exiled from the land, not just the land suffers but the whole world suffers.

With the reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the world began an unprecedented economic and technological expansion. During that same period, the world lost its spiritual and moral compass. Those two realities have led us to this moment in time when the dark forces of the world want to annihilate the State of Israel to once and forever drive the Jews from their land.

Glenn Beck saw this convergence on the horizon but more importantly, he has done something to impede its design.  The world would do well to heed the message he brings and, if it’s not too much to ask, to also thank the messenger.

Permit me my moment.

Thank you Glenn Beck.

 

As our elected officials continue to struggle with the futility of attempting to apply depleted energies to problem solving rather than embracing spiritually-based, co-creative thinking…each of us must hold onto the core belief that we can directly influence the outcome of unfolding events by how we think, speak and act individually.

It’s my favorite saying:  “There is only One of Us”

Once you surrender to this concept, choices become clearer.

“Surrender” being the operative word here.

Generally, we are pretty adept at seeking a higher power. It’s surrendering to it when we encounter it that trips us up.  It’s one thing to yearn.  Many of us do that in our personal lives. We yearn for relationship…we yearn for a partner…we yearn for love. Then, when we find those things, we spend the rest of our lives resisting surrender to the very thing we sought and, miraculously, found.

We are no different when in search of a Higher Power. Of Source.  Of God.  Of The God Within.  We seek and yearn and explore all sorts of avenues to find that connection that will bring us inner peace and give our lives profound meaning. Then, on those occasions when we get a glimpse of such Power, we manufacture all sorts of reasons why it cannot possibly be as we experienced it (a/k/a/ denial) …or… why it just makes more sense to go on our merry way living life as we always have (a/k/a ego- directed).  And so we wind up back where we started and the merry way of the merry-go-round goes… yes…’round and ‘round.

How do we get off this ride?

Surrender!

Surrender does not mean relinquish your individuality. Nor does it mean relinquish power (with a small “p”) over creating your best life.  Surrender means letting go attachments and outcomes. Instead, leaning to accept and receive what life brings you in each and every moment with certainty that whatever that may be it holds the potential for your highest good.  The key to getting there is being fully conscious and fully aware in the present moment so that you can access inner guidance to handle that which is in front of you.

You’d be pleasantly surprised at what you can know when you are present and aware. Knowing is certainty… and certainty creates reality.

So while the politicians fiddle as Rome burns… know that The Phoenix rises from the ashes…and so to shall We…  All of us because …wait for it…

There is only One of Us.

 

Two seemingly unrelated news stories caught my eye. The first, concerns the “entertainer” Prince praising the virtues of countries run under Sharia law, especially the “order” and “simplicity” of having women wear burqas.  The second is about a gender neutral approach to everything from education to child rearing.

Where’s the connection?  Well, that’s the first question.

The second is “Where’s the real harm?”

The obvious answer to the first question is that both stories speak to how we perceive and respond to sexuality.  While that is certainly a big topic that deserves its own post, we need to be much more concerned with the answer to the second question.

For several thousand years, male dominated governments, religions and societies in general, have institutionalized the marginalization, even the near obliteration, of the Divine Feminine aspect of Creation.  It isn’t necessary to go much farther than Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness…” (emphasis added). Everywhere you look in Nature, you find the interaction and cooperation between polarities… the necessary, and dare I say equally important contributions, of what those polarized aspects bring to the perpetuation of all things natural.

Not so mankind.

Man, literally man, has spent thousands of years and squandered countless resources in efforts to deny the Divine Feminine role in Creation and to imprison the female in one of three roles: mother, whore or object (a/k/a property).  We need not look very far beyond this perversion of Natural Law to explain thousands of years of aggression, war, and imbalance.

This is not a feminist rant.  This is a call to mankind to awaken to the reality that the Divine Feminine is resurrected and, undaunted, has embarked upon a return to Her rightful place alongside the masculine aspect of Creator.

It is through this re-balancing of male and female energies that the world will be set right and by no other means.  No secular legislation or religious dictate will end this breech until the hearts of men are open to the love and inherent value of all living beings… a lesson learned only through recognizing, accepting and acknowledging the Wisdom that is the Divine Feminine role in Creation.