Archive for the ‘Self-Awareness’ Category

I watched Social Network last night and found it disturbing on too many levels to cover all in one post.  So I’ll focus on the one I found most disturbing.

We have made a legend and role model for our youth out of a thief.

No matter how Mark Zuckerberg tries to distance himself from his character as portrayed in the movie, one fact remains.  In the final analysis, Zuckerberg paid 65 million dollars to two other young men because he stole their idea.

For me, everything else in the movie pales in comparison.

I knew virtually nothing of Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook and his meteoric rise to fame and fortune prior to sitting down to see the movie other than snippets here and there from the media.  My impression, based upon how he is covered in and by the media, was that he was some young, technological genius who created and designed the powerhouse “Facebook.”

However, after watching the movie, what I knew was that Zuckerberg built his “platform” on the backs of some other people he had no apparent problem climbing over, kicking in the teeth and crushing in the process.  He reminds me of Ivan Boesky, the 1990’s Arbitrageur who, in an address to a Stanford University graduating class, said “Greed is good.”  With that hubris, Boesky set the stage for two decades of plunder and materialism in this nation not seen since, probably, the Roman Empire.

Presently, we focused on the technological wonder of Facebook to the almost disregard for the total absence of ethics upon which it was created.  It’s like saying the economy was good during the Clinton years giving little mention to the immoral virus this nation was infected with as a result of Clinton’s wanton lust.

Today, the day after watching Social Network, I went in search of fact checking the accuracy of the movie.  It seems Zuckerberg was portrayed more asocial and more insensitive that he actually was.  That’s the good news.  The bad, very bad, news is that he did, in fact, steal the idea from two classmates and paid 65 million in restitution.

We should be very careful who we hold up as role models for the young.  In a world where Ivan Boesky is king and greed is good… Mark Zuckerberg is royalty. It’s not a world I want to inhabit.  Nor is it one in which we, as a nation, can survive in much longer.  It’s gotten us where we are at the moment… and the moment is tenuous.

There is nothing wrong with success or money if how you achieve either one of those is respectful of yourself and others.

In such a world, the Ivan Boeskys and Mark Zuckerbergs would be pariahs.

 

What do the following have in common? 1) A doctor dedicated to healing through alternative therapies; 2) a renowned artist sitting in Fairfield, Ohio meditating 6 hours a day for world peace; 3) a right wing Republican concerned primarily with defense of Israel, and 4) a former General Manager of a BMW dealership with little time for politics?

Answer:  They’re all friends of mine.

I like to think of myself as a reluctant optimist.   And a realist.  My optimism is hard earned. I didn’t use to be this way. In fact, I used to spot every dark cloud on the horizon before it was even formed.  But I spent a lot of years, and tears, learning that pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  We get what we focus upon and so, reluctantly, I exchanged fearing the worst for anticipating the best.

As for being a realist…. well…that’s a little more difficult to explain.  The reality I see is unique to me.  So it is with each of us.  Which is why, two people can witness the same auto accident and recall it differently. It’s all a matter of perspective and what preconceived ideas we bring to each moment.

At the moment, the reality I see is one in which human evolution is at a critical fork in the road. One fork leads to a breakdown… the other to a breakthrough. If we take the fork leading to breakdown, we will encounter increased indebtedness, increased violence and decreased personal freedom ending in slavery to someone or something.  If we take the fork leading to a breakthrough, we will learn to honor and conserve our resources, choose peace as way of life, and comprehend, once and for all, the correlation between personal freedom and personal responsibility.

I see both realities as “potential” because I am that realist I mentioned earlier.  The reluctant optimist in me knows (with almost certainty) that we will choose wisely.

Now, back to my friends. They are decidedly different in their views of the world. Yet I value and honor each of them because it’s only in the allowing of differences that we stand the greatest chance of choosing the correct fork in this road. I also proceed upon the premise that on any given day, at any given moment, any one of them is capable of teaching me “something I do not know… the knowing of which will change everything.”  It’s a great quote. It belongs to Werner Erhard, founder of EST and The Forum, late 20^th century transformation models and self-awareness programs.

Like each of us, Erhard was a work in progress.  Before he was Werner Erhard, awareness guru, he was John Paul Rosenberg, a used car salesman in Philadelphia.  At some point, he reached a fork in the road and chose wisely.

May we do the same.

 

I think it’s natural to root for the underdog.  At some time I suppose we all do. So it’s not surprising that there has accumulated an international groundswell in support of Palestinian statehood.  After all, Israel has been economically, politically, technologically, and militarily the stronger of the two opponents for…well…forever, it seems.

But action without thought is reckless.  When we begin to actually think about the underdog, it starts to look strangely more like a rabid coyote than some cuddly domestic hound.

The latest example was the distribution of candy in Gaza in “celebration” of the savage massacre of five members of the Fogel family by Palestinian terrorists.  But this is just the latest.  Relentless rocket bombardment of Southern Israel, Palestinian children strapped with bombs and sent off by their mother’s to be martyrs, the targeting of innocent Israeli civilians while they ate, commuted or just got on with their lives.  Where is recognition for the restraint exhibited by Israel time and time again where no other country would have tolerated such assaults and tragedy without retaliation?

It’s important to remember just who the aggressor is in this drama because there is a plan and a timetable underway by members of the United Nations to recognize a state of Palestine that will include Gaza and east Jerusalem.  That’s the plan.  The timetable is September 2011.  And it seems our President is on board as well.

If you think action without thought is reckless, you “ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

The United States is currently engaged in three wars within Muslim countries.  There are countless uprisings and revolutions in the Arab world taking place.  Much of what we see is violent or portends violence.

It is foolhardy and dangerous to think that at such a time Palestinians, granted statehood under terms that rob Israel of a portion of its capital and return to the Arabs land that was fairly gained by Israel when it was attacked in 1967 by the Arab world, will result in anything other than emboldening the Palestinians to recommit to their charter. That charter, which has never been amended, calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

It is imperative that we, as human beings, do our best to bring dignity and the necessities of life to every living being on the planet.  It is not, however, imperative that we act without thinking and thereby reward barbarity and inhumanity.

Let’s demand that the Palestinians first eschew violence as a negotiating tool before we pass out the candy.

 

Looking recently at Madison Wisconsin and today London, it seems that violence… the preferred method of change in the Arab world… has finally infected the West as well.

Not to our credit, I might add.

One of the great tragedies of human history is that we have always confused e-volution with revolution.  Re-volution, especially violent re-volution, has always been just that: a return trip around a failed and worn out path strewn with the casualties of war.

Is it conceivable we will allow ourselves to be led like lambs to slaughter down that road yet again?  To watch the youth in England today destroying everything in their path, its an easy leap to conclude the answer is “Yes.”

I don’t blame them.  I blame us.

They’re young.  They learned from us.  As too many of us in positions of responsibility remained silent, those with an agenda crept into our schools, universities and, more insidiously, into our children’s minds.  The young want what they want and they want it now… and if they can’t have it… well… they’re being encouraged by those with a hidden agenda to believe that violence is an acceptable expression of their discontent.

Our children grew up in a world where media violence, instant gratification, material acquisition, power for its own sake, and government subsidies were and remain the norm.   By example, we have taught them poorly.  And while we were neglecting our responsibility to the future, others were all too ready and willing to embrace it.

Now, if we allowed it to reach this point, it must be we who puts an end to it.

How?

By rapidly and visibly changing the way we do things.

By assuming responsibility for our every thought, word and deed.

By reprioritizing our time and our expression of what we value.

By acting like competent, capable adults able to make hard choices so the young have something, and someone, to emulate.

We’re running out of time.  Let’s not waste a moment.  Decide what you value.  Speak of it often.  Live it with certainty.

Before the momentum of violence becomes irreversible, join in the e-volution.  It’s a higher road that leads to a grander view.

Oh, and did I mention?… peace.

 

Disclosure #1:  I’m a Glenn Beck fan.  I like the guy.  While a little paranoid, he does his homework and as far as the facts go, he gives them to you.  What you do with them is up to you.

Disclosure #2:  I’ve hardly ever watched Lawrence O’Donnell, and the few clips I’ve seen did nothing to encourage me otherwise.  Admitted Socialists aren’t my preference for where to get political commentary.

Now, to the point.

There’s been a battle of ideas playing out between Beck and O’Donnell and, more than that, it seems personal.  While I have no “dog in the hunt” for what’s personal between them, I’m very interested in the battle of ideas.  So this morning , I watched clips from both on their ideas surrounding the Bible (Torah & The New Testament), in general, and the Book of Revelations, in particular.

And you know what?  They’re both right.

Beck is right in that the Bible is filled with divinely inspired ideas, ideals, values and guidance. O’Donnell is also right in that parts of the Bible are filled with poetry, allegory, and unintelligible symbolism… some of which can lead a thinking person to conclude the existence of multiple sources which were neither divine nor particularly loving and compassionate.

That’s what Free Will is all about.

We humans, each get to choose how we see and interpret the world in which we live.  It is our unique perspectives that then form the foundation for how we act within the world as we see it.  And each choice we make is a choice of Self- definition.

If G-d had intended replication rather than creation, He/She would be turning us out on a copy machine rather than through the birth process… whereby each of Us arrives as a unique creation.

In a world where both diversity of thought and tolerance of opposing ideas are both encouraged and valued, we are more likely to stumble upon wisdom than in a world where either You or I must be right and the other wrong.

Let’s take the best of Beck and O’Donnell’s thinking and jettison the rest.  And by the way, You and I may each see “the best of” differently.

That’s okay.

It’s why I wrote this post.

 

Moments ago President Obama spoke to the nation, and presumably the world, on his decision to join with the international community in a coordinated response to the violence perpetrated by Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffi upon the Libyan people.

Early in the speech, the President said that from the outset, the United States had been swift and certain in its condemnation of Qadaffi’s actions.  While this sounded good, it was a lie.  If fact, a week of atrocities occurred during which the President remained curiously silent.  His press secretary, in responding to why this was so, cited “scheduling problems.” Yet, during that same week, the President was able to suddenly find the time to schedule coaching his daughter’s basketball team because the coach “had a scheduling problem.”  The President’s daughter was not even present for the game he coached.

I am less concerned here with the President’s motives, or lack thereof, in responding selectively to Middle East revolutionaries.  I leave that to others.

What does concern me is the current, palpable lack of leadership with which we are faced.  This President is unlike any other I can recall in my lifetime. His disengagement from the American people is disturbing but timely.

(Did she just write, “timely?”)

Yes, I did.

It’s timely because we’ve arrived at a point in the evolution of human Consciousness where we must all be leaders.  We must all take charge every minute of every day of our thoughts, words and deeds.  We must each source within and find what is true and meaningful for us as individuals… while fully knowing that we are all connected.

We have awakened to the truth of Oneness.  Whether it is the heroic and admirable people of Japan facing multiple tragedies, the tortured and oppressed peoples of Libya, or the 12-year-old daughter of a slain Israeli family who is now orphaned along with her two brothers… we are all One and responsible for One And Other… one another.

For Our Self and The Other because we are all connected.

So, I am less concerned with one man’s action and timing than I am with yours and mine.  Hope and Change are just words.  No single individual will turn the tide as quickly as each and every individual awaking to rise and meet the challenges of personal responsibility and connectedness.

The owner of an Israeli supermarket has been providing food for the three remaining children of the slain Fogel family during the shiva (seven day mourning period).  He informed the 12-year-old daughter who found her slain parents and brothers that “she better get used to” seeing him around because he is going to provide weekly food for she and her two surviving brothers until the last orphan is 18 years old.

Now that’s hope and change and that’s how we do it.

Let’s leave the posturing and politics to the United Nations and world governments.

 

It’s never easy to look for and find a “higher purpose” in tragic events.  Sometimes, in fact, doing so appears almost heartless.  So I am well aware of the dangers in what I am about to say.

The events in Japan are akin to a global 911 of natural origin.  I think they hold the potential for rebirth, healing and unity for much of the world.  However, before I go there, let me say that I’ve been broken hearted over the loss of life and suffering being experienced by the Japanese people.  I have been praying for them daily since the earthquake and tsunami struck.

Now, to what I mean by a “global 911.”  On September 11^th, tragedy struck on an unprecedented scale, lives were lost, and commerce interrupted.  The reaction, although admittedly brief, was Oneness.  Not only did all of this nation’s citizens pull together to help respond to every conceivable need, but so did many individuals and nations from around the world. There was a temporary understanding by humanity’s Consciousness that we are all in deed connected and, therefore, united we stand.

There’s no terrorist behind what is occurring in Japan.  It’s Earth and Nature in service to restoring balance to a world that has veered far off course and that is very out of balance.  Again, I am sensitive to how callous this may sound but in order for caterpillar to be transformed into a butterfly, the caterpillar must relinquish its physical form.

Something similar is happening in Japan.  Believe that I value all life forms and see not one human Being as expendable.  But as painful and tragic as this catastrophe and loss of life is, its form that’s being altered.  There is no corresponding destruction of Spirit.

We are all connected. We have been disrespectful of one another and the Earth.  We have been insensitive, greedy and lacking in compassion.  We have ignored our Oneness.  We have  created the imbalance.

Nature is infinitely more powerful and resourceful than we.  No amount of manmade protection or planning will outstay It’s staying power.  This is what we are witnessing in Japan.

We can awaken NOW and do what we did not do after 911.  We can lay down our differences  and our indifference to honor how connected we are to each other and the Earth that sustains us.  We can know and act in accordance with that knowing that this is the moment of “united we stand or divided we fall.”

In compassion… we can weep for those suffering and those lost.

In wisdom… we can know that every thought, word and deed matters.

In Our knowing, we can act as One.

 

It is sometimes the case that certain words or phrases quickly find their way into our lexicon due to their poignancy and precision. For example, following the O.J. Simpson trial, the phrase “rush to judgment” became the watch-phrase for drawing precipitous conclusions.   The phrase remains over-used  to this day (in my opinion) but presents no particular harm.

Such is not the case with “Day of Rage.” In the past thirty days, usage of the phrase has spread from Cairo, Egypt to Iran, Bahrain, Tunisia and most recently Madison Wisconsin.  Unlike “Rush to Judgment” these words bear significant harm.

Words matter.

In my just released inspirational book, The Lightworker’s Handbook:  A Spiritual Guide To Eliminating Fear, (also available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble) there is a supplemental “English To Spirit Dictionary” where I define words and phrases for the new paradigm.  Because language is one of the ways we share information, we need to communicate with words that honor what we believe in and support how we intend to live our lives.

If change is what the world seeks at this moment in time, is it really through rage that we choose to achieve it?  Is rage what we want to call our approach to transcending the limitations of the past?  Is rage what we really want the message to be?

Perhaps.

Throughout human history, there have always been individuals and groups skilled at manipulating others through fear and violence.  In Egypt this past week, it was two hundred “pro-democracy” demonstrators who violently and repeatedly assaulted and raped a female CBS reporter. Those individuals were easily moved to commit brutal acts of aggression because they were already engaged in a movement based upon and identified by rage.

If change is what we seek, and I believe it is, then let us move in that direction with the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of several thousand years.  Violence, which includes violent language, is a brutal means to what will be a brutal end.  Because whether you power over something, such as a nation, through physical force … or over someone, such as a spouse, with verbal abuse … all that you accomplish is the sowing of seeds of resentment and hatred that inevitably lead to violence in return.

If citizens of the world seek to designate days to express their concerns, may I suggest global “Days of Voice” as a viable alternative.  Where humanity winds up will be a direct result of not only where we choose to go but, most definitely, how we choose to get there.  Personally I want to wind up having a voice in my country’s future and in my own life as well.

Not raging about them.

The Egyptian Revolution has been spellbinding. Watching the “power of the People” is an uplifting and inspiring global experience. Now that the preliminary goal, Mubarak’s removal, has been achieved the real work and challenges begin.

History provides us instruction.

In ancient Egypt, the Hebrew slaves agonized for freedom from the tyranny of Pharaoh as have modern day Egyptians from Mubarak’s rule. Once achieved, the Hebrews made initial efforts to organize and proceed with solidarity toward a common goal of personal freedom.  However, when their interim leader, Moses, was delayed in his return from Sinai, the impatient Hebrews were quick to revert to what was comfortingly familiar… idol worship.  Only Moses’ personal commitment and charisma were able to set the Israelites back on the road to freedom. And ultimately, the desired outcome became a reality in Divine timing, not theirs.

The lesson? Patience.

Its 48 hours since Mubarak’s fall and already there is renewed confrontation and remaining unrest on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere as demonstrators, so effective at bringing down the regime, are impatient with the inevitably slow process that must follow in successfully moving a People from bondage to freedom.

Technology made their success possible.  If the People do not exercise restraint and patience, that same technology may be the reason they too find themselves quickly returning to the familiar… dictatorial rule in calf’s clothing.

Technology, by its inherent speed, makes our human nature’s inclination toward instant gratification all that more immediate. We want everything NOW and if we can’t get it, we immediately go elsewhere… and not always to our advantage.

The generation that affected the Revolution in Egypt has been raised with technology.  They expect things to happen quickly.  My concern is that youth, in the absence of real leadership, will follow the modern day version of what seduced the Israelites.  And further, absent a Moses, will fall prey to those dressed as the Golden Calf.

All growth takes time. It is only human hubris that thinks it occurs in anything other than Divine Time.

Recently, I had surgery and my recovery prevented me, for about two weeks, from posting a blog.  I lost readership in that time and fielded emails complaining of the absence of new material. When we are used to getting what we want, and expect, our impatience leaves no room for the natural unfolding of events.

Let us pray that those in Egypt, who have so wisely used the tools of modernity, will translate that wisdom into knowing that the hard work begins now and impatience leads only to arriving in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Alone Together” written by MIT professor Sherry Turkle is big news because in it she lays out the case that the various means of social networking, via technological advances, have actually diminished our ability to communicate not enhanced it.

Well, forgive me for I told you so, but I came to that conclusion years ago… writing and speaking about it ever since. While I had no scientific data to back up my conclusion, I had eyes, ears and common sense. Admittedly, pre-technological apparatus… but quite useful none-the-less.

My observation was that when social-spiritual development is outpaced by technological development the result is alienation, dependency and in extreme cases addiction to the technology.

Why? Well, for two reasons.

First, because we are going to be slaves to something in our lives.  Now before you get all huffy about that statement, allow me to explain.  When I say “slave” I mean that we humans will spend our lives in service to something.  We will each select goals, or ends, and means by which to achieve them.  Without core ethical and moral underpinnings that support us in discerning positive means and ends from negative ones, we are easily seduced by the most expeditious route to where we want to go… however, not necessarily the most life-affirming route.  Core ethical and moral values are best developed over time, observing people who exemplify them by their behavior.

Technology applied to social networking lacks these necessary characteristics. In fact, it stands in direct opposition to them:  1) Its rapid, not allowing for a natural unfolding or development.  2) The human element is sublimated to the technology.  3) The physical distance combined with anonymity negates the behavioral aspect completely.

Simply put, social networking is a misnomer.  Its social alienating.

But back to slavery.

In Egypt, Pharaoh knew what he was doing.  In mystical Judaism it is taught that the Jews were slaves not because they were physically imprisoned, but because they were socially and spiritually dependent and thereby imprisoned.  It wasn’t their bodies Pharaoh took claim to it was their consciousness and their laziness (a/k/a wanting to get things the easy way). The Jews traded freedom of thought for comfort and ease. It is further taught that it’s a “story” in which Pharaoh represents the reliance upon materiality and physical enslavement represents unconsciousness (a/k/a) relinquishment of human consciousness.

I remember many years ago, pre-WORD, when I was working in DOS.  As my computer was booting up the hard drive, I saw the words “master drive ” and “slave drive” flash across the screen.  It gave me pause.  I actually thought it was a joke, albeit a dangerous one, originating in some programmer’s mind who then saw the potential inherent in the medium.

I am many things, but first and foremost I am the mother of a seventeen year-old daughter.  Anyone with a teenager knows the distance, detachment and danger inherent in the unbridled access and use of social networking.  The big worry isn’t carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritic thumbs.  It’s inhumanity.

So, many thanks to Professor Turkle for providing data for all those who need it.  As for me, I just looked around at the kids and saw the future.  It’s a time-tested method for discerning where we’re headed.

As for possible solutions:  Reprioritize your life.  Slow it down.  Be able to look into the eyes of the people from whom you are learning life’s lessons.  Be willing to do things the hard way.  Breathe.  Laugh.  Love.

If you’re going to be slave, choose a Master with a heart.