Spirit first, but then, within the centered space of awareness of our spiritual reality and connection with it, we are both spirit and body. Both/and – one of the key concepts of the new professionalism as described in my book The New Professionalism: Connecting Science and Spirit. Spirit doesn’t overcome or struggle with the body, but co-opts it. After all, everything is energy and spirit is the purest form of energy, invisible and without mass, and becomes the body - the body is made of the same energy spirit is, but denser, congealed into visibility and mass.
Think of the relationship between body and spirit as a straight line, the line itself being energy, with spirit at one end and body at the other, with mental and emotional in between. Like this:
Spirit------------Mental------------Emotional-----------Physical
The energy gets denser and more visible as it flows from left to right. Mental energy is denser than spiritual; Emotional energy is denser and more tangible than Mental, and of course, physical energy is more visible and tangible than Emotional energy. Though we give its differing forms, different names, as the diagram shows, it’s all one, one single form of energy.
The implications of this are many. Perhaps the most important is, work in the spiritual ‘realm’ first. As the diagram shows, what is done there impacts everything else: thoughts, feelings and everything in the physical realm. Peace, love, joy, health and success all flow from a commitment to one’s reality as spirit.
As used here, spirit is not a religious concept; it is a metaphysical concept; a concept that transcends yet embodies the thinking of traditional religion and physics. Spirit is the thing Itself, religions are its various brands. Spirit is generic to human existence, even agnostics and atheists have it. Understanding and using these concepts can enable each of us to make a personally meaningful and useful contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Hitory and the No Nothings
In the late 1840’s, and right up through the middle of the Civil War, American politics was dominated by a group called, the No Nothing Party. They were a spoiler party in American politics, inconsistent and ignorant, making it very difficult for President Lincoln to govern. The No Nothings were virulently anti-immigrant – the Irish at that time and anti-abolitionist. They wanted to keep their racial and economic purity and their country for themselves and like themselves and didn’t want any Papist immigrant or inferior negro competition for their jobs and values. And they were oafishly proud of their ignorance. Facts, contradictions and hypocrisy were irrelevant to them.
Sound familiar? It should. Now the no nothings are called the Tea Party and have found shelter in the Republican Party.
To the no nothings of old and of today, history and the constitution were not verifiable facts, open to some interpretation, but rootless ideas without fixed meaning and meaning only what they, the no nothings and tea partiers, said they were. So we have Sara Palin saying Paul Revere was riding to warn the British – and she sticks to it, but gets a chuckle and a pass from the media, even tho this is far from the first time she’s done this. Glenn Beck says conservatives started the civil rights movement. Michele Bachmann, says the Founding Fathers abolished slavery. Is it really healthy for a nation if its leaders do not know its history?
Of course not; but since these people are ‘leaders’ or what seems to pass for leaders, they must reflect their constituencies, right? Unfortunately that’s correct, they do reflect a nation that is fast becoming ignorant and amnesiac. Recent research found that a majority of seniors at our best colleges could not identify any words from the Gettysburg Address nor explain the significance of Valley Forge. They did not know because they had not been taught. Nearly 40% of 12th graders did not know the purpose of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and only 14% could explain a factor leading to US involvement in the Korean War.
“History,” Leonard Pitts said, “is the master narrative of who we are.” It’s our shared story, our communal culture, what binds us together. Given the current level of ignorance, is it any wonder, we are unable to build consensus and make progress with the important opportunities ahead of us? “History is not dust,” Pitts says. “Nor is it myths to comfort us. Nor is it a lever we twist to gain political advantage.
“How can our children write the next chapter of a story they don’t even know?” How indeed…?
Sound familiar? It should. Now the no nothings are called the Tea Party and have found shelter in the Republican Party.
To the no nothings of old and of today, history and the constitution were not verifiable facts, open to some interpretation, but rootless ideas without fixed meaning and meaning only what they, the no nothings and tea partiers, said they were. So we have Sara Palin saying Paul Revere was riding to warn the British – and she sticks to it, but gets a chuckle and a pass from the media, even tho this is far from the first time she’s done this. Glenn Beck says conservatives started the civil rights movement. Michele Bachmann, says the Founding Fathers abolished slavery. Is it really healthy for a nation if its leaders do not know its history?
Of course not; but since these people are ‘leaders’ or what seems to pass for leaders, they must reflect their constituencies, right? Unfortunately that’s correct, they do reflect a nation that is fast becoming ignorant and amnesiac. Recent research found that a majority of seniors at our best colleges could not identify any words from the Gettysburg Address nor explain the significance of Valley Forge. They did not know because they had not been taught. Nearly 40% of 12th graders did not know the purpose of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and only 14% could explain a factor leading to US involvement in the Korean War.
“History,” Leonard Pitts said, “is the master narrative of who we are.” It’s our shared story, our communal culture, what binds us together. Given the current level of ignorance, is it any wonder, we are unable to build consensus and make progress with the important opportunities ahead of us? “History is not dust,” Pitts says. “Nor is it myths to comfort us. Nor is it a lever we twist to gain political advantage.
“How can our children write the next chapter of a story they don’t even know?” How indeed…?
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Should Weiner Resign? 2
One thing ‘Weinergate’ demonstrates is the need to be more accepting of a person’s sexual preferences, so long as they hurt no one and are realized between mutually consenting adults. Kink such as Weiner’s is not a crime and is more wide-spread than conventional wisdom cares to admit. But it is, if not formally criminalized, treated like one of the most vile morally reprehensible crimes on earth. Worse than destroying the planet with our profligate life styles, rape, or war.
Yet very often the kinkster is doing his or her best to manage their feelings and needs in such a way that they do not overshadow their talents, skills and attributes. In fact, the expression of kink actually helps them better manifest their talents, skills and attributes, enabling them to make worthwhile contributions to a world that works for everyone and everything in it.
Carl Jung called kink, the shadow side of human life, the cut-off demonized part of every person that needs to be owned and reintegrated if one is to be whole and healthy. Those that keep their shadows cut-off and suppressed, waste time and energy in denial and suppression that might more profitably be used elsewhere. They tend to be prudish, uptight, fanatical, intolerant and unforgiving of others, control freaks, believing they know what’s best for everyone.
Better to face and embrace the shadow through kink if need be, the way Weiner did. His talents were being well used. He is a brilliant compassionate person and an excellent spokesperson for his POV, who has been forced to lie – which was a bad choice – by a hypocritical, sexually uptight society. Weiner is a casualty in the on-going ‘war’ to decriminalize kink and enable people to reintegrate their shadows.
His situation if treated fairly, honestly and compassionately may be seen as another call for help, another example of how our society needs to be less hypocritical and more tolerant. Continuing to ‘criminalize’ kink as we do, is throwing the baby out with the bath water, and costs us dearly, because people with big talents and lots to contribute have bigger shadows. By not allowing people to express their shadows through kink, we deprive ourselves of their talents, skills and attributes. By forcing people to deny and suppress their shadows by ‘criminalizing’ kink, we create toxic shame and guilt, encouraging crime, abuse, sickness and tragedy, along with all the sadness and costs that dealing with these things entails.
Should Weiner resign? He did lie – and no one in Congress lies – and seems still to be lying about some things. He may have used Federal property in the commission of his so-called ‘crimes,’ and that is illegal, but he’s not the only one who’s done this. But most of his constituents – they’re tolerant, liberal New Yorkers – want him to stay. They don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I hope and pray Weiner’s wife feels the same. Should he resign? Only if he and his wife think it’s the best thing to do and don’t want to put up with the BS yet to come. Otherwise, I think he should stay, admit to his kink, though really, its nobody’s business, and fight on.
Yet very often the kinkster is doing his or her best to manage their feelings and needs in such a way that they do not overshadow their talents, skills and attributes. In fact, the expression of kink actually helps them better manifest their talents, skills and attributes, enabling them to make worthwhile contributions to a world that works for everyone and everything in it.
Carl Jung called kink, the shadow side of human life, the cut-off demonized part of every person that needs to be owned and reintegrated if one is to be whole and healthy. Those that keep their shadows cut-off and suppressed, waste time and energy in denial and suppression that might more profitably be used elsewhere. They tend to be prudish, uptight, fanatical, intolerant and unforgiving of others, control freaks, believing they know what’s best for everyone.
Better to face and embrace the shadow through kink if need be, the way Weiner did. His talents were being well used. He is a brilliant compassionate person and an excellent spokesperson for his POV, who has been forced to lie – which was a bad choice – by a hypocritical, sexually uptight society. Weiner is a casualty in the on-going ‘war’ to decriminalize kink and enable people to reintegrate their shadows.
His situation if treated fairly, honestly and compassionately may be seen as another call for help, another example of how our society needs to be less hypocritical and more tolerant. Continuing to ‘criminalize’ kink as we do, is throwing the baby out with the bath water, and costs us dearly, because people with big talents and lots to contribute have bigger shadows. By not allowing people to express their shadows through kink, we deprive ourselves of their talents, skills and attributes. By forcing people to deny and suppress their shadows by ‘criminalizing’ kink, we create toxic shame and guilt, encouraging crime, abuse, sickness and tragedy, along with all the sadness and costs that dealing with these things entails.
Should Weiner resign? He did lie – and no one in Congress lies – and seems still to be lying about some things. He may have used Federal property in the commission of his so-called ‘crimes,’ and that is illegal, but he’s not the only one who’s done this. But most of his constituents – they’re tolerant, liberal New Yorkers – want him to stay. They don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I hope and pray Weiner’s wife feels the same. Should he resign? Only if he and his wife think it’s the best thing to do and don’t want to put up with the BS yet to come. Otherwise, I think he should stay, admit to his kink, though really, its nobody’s business, and fight on.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Should Weiner Resign?
Should Weiner resign? Here we go with another round of bread and circuses, another phony either/or choice posed by the very people who claim to be ‘news’ people, allegedly working to keep the public informed and educated, but who are really gossip mongers; who might be using their time, energy and space to help us understand global climate change, mountain top removal ‘mining’, sustainable non-polluting alternative sources of energy that would aid national security by getting us off our dependence on foreign oil, or erasing the deficit by eliminating the 2 billion a week spent for all the great benefits we’re getting from saving Afghanistan from itself. No, we don’t want to deal with those trivial things.
Instead, our media masters are focusing us on the vital question of should Weiner resign. Thank goodness! We wouldn’t want to get bogged down in the complexities of our opportunities to create and contribute to a world that works for everyone and everything.
Instead, our media masters are focusing us on the vital question of should Weiner resign. Thank goodness! We wouldn’t want to get bogged down in the complexities of our opportunities to create and contribute to a world that works for everyone and everything.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Peace Between Arabs and Israelis: Another Opportunity Lost
I wish I really believed it would happen someday. I used to. Now I cling to the idea of peace and mutual respect and cooperation, like a drowning person clings to a life preserver, but I really don’t believe it’s possible.
I do believe that if I can stay centered in spirit, I will understand how I can contribute to the peace I seek. But the guidance from spirit is faint and not very encouraging to my ego [It never is, of course]. The guidance is: blog about it; talk about realizing that, ‘if we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got.’
Choosing sides and the either/or thinking, blaming and guilt we are so enchanted by, and the half truths, lies and factual inaccuracies that go with them, will not work. Time to try something different; to look at the situation more honestly; and accurately, and understand that by looking that way, a better way to go forward toward peace might become clear. Bottom line, the present situation is unsustainable in the long term, probably the short term as well.
Looking honestly and accurately at Jerusalem is a good place to start, especially since I read an article by Uri Dromi in the Herald’s Opinion section, last Friday, that supports my own experience of the city four years ago. Dromi points out that Jerusalem is actually three cities: the Jewish nonreligious one; the Jewish religious one; and the Arab one. These three cities could have lived next to each other in harmony, under a joint metropolitan framework, but that’s not the case in reality.
Arab Jerusalem, on the east side, suffers from four decades of neglect of its infrastructure and services, and its population is poor. The inhabitants of the Jewish-religious (ultra-orthodox) city are poor as well. The number of people who actually go to work in these two cities is relatively low, because of a lack of jobs available for the Arabs, or unwillingness of ultra-orthodox to work because of religious reasons. The third city, the Jewish nonreligious typically Western middle class one, is paying taxes and carrying the other two cities on its back.
The populations of the Arab and ultra-orthodox cities are growing, growth in the middle class city is stagnating and declining. The middle class city will have to take care of ever bigger, ever poorer populations in the other two cities. The average age in the middle class city is 40, in the Arab city 20, and in Mea Shearim, the ultra-orthodox city, 15. The culture wars now raging are accelerating and they are the last thing the middle class city needs or can tolerate much longer.
In summing up, Dromi says, “Arab Jerusalem should be handed over to the Palestinians, and the sooner the better; the ultra-orthodox must be encouraged to join the workforce and pay for improvements to their neighborhoods, and the middle class should be regarded as no less than a national strategic asset. If it falls, Jerusalem will fall as well.”
Clear, sobering perspective, free of the win/lose debating society sophistry that currently passes for dialogue, clearly pointing out the unsustainable nature, not just of the situation in Jerusalem, but in the entire region. Thank you, Uri Dromi for telling the truth. If we can face this truth centered in spirit, perhaps the win/win solution of peace will emerge. If we deny this truth and lie about it, if we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got….
I do believe that if I can stay centered in spirit, I will understand how I can contribute to the peace I seek. But the guidance from spirit is faint and not very encouraging to my ego [It never is, of course]. The guidance is: blog about it; talk about realizing that, ‘if we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got.’
Choosing sides and the either/or thinking, blaming and guilt we are so enchanted by, and the half truths, lies and factual inaccuracies that go with them, will not work. Time to try something different; to look at the situation more honestly; and accurately, and understand that by looking that way, a better way to go forward toward peace might become clear. Bottom line, the present situation is unsustainable in the long term, probably the short term as well.
Looking honestly and accurately at Jerusalem is a good place to start, especially since I read an article by Uri Dromi in the Herald’s Opinion section, last Friday, that supports my own experience of the city four years ago. Dromi points out that Jerusalem is actually three cities: the Jewish nonreligious one; the Jewish religious one; and the Arab one. These three cities could have lived next to each other in harmony, under a joint metropolitan framework, but that’s not the case in reality.
Arab Jerusalem, on the east side, suffers from four decades of neglect of its infrastructure and services, and its population is poor. The inhabitants of the Jewish-religious (ultra-orthodox) city are poor as well. The number of people who actually go to work in these two cities is relatively low, because of a lack of jobs available for the Arabs, or unwillingness of ultra-orthodox to work because of religious reasons. The third city, the Jewish nonreligious typically Western middle class one, is paying taxes and carrying the other two cities on its back.
The populations of the Arab and ultra-orthodox cities are growing, growth in the middle class city is stagnating and declining. The middle class city will have to take care of ever bigger, ever poorer populations in the other two cities. The average age in the middle class city is 40, in the Arab city 20, and in Mea Shearim, the ultra-orthodox city, 15. The culture wars now raging are accelerating and they are the last thing the middle class city needs or can tolerate much longer.
In summing up, Dromi says, “Arab Jerusalem should be handed over to the Palestinians, and the sooner the better; the ultra-orthodox must be encouraged to join the workforce and pay for improvements to their neighborhoods, and the middle class should be regarded as no less than a national strategic asset. If it falls, Jerusalem will fall as well.”
Clear, sobering perspective, free of the win/lose debating society sophistry that currently passes for dialogue, clearly pointing out the unsustainable nature, not just of the situation in Jerusalem, but in the entire region. Thank you, Uri Dromi for telling the truth. If we can face this truth centered in spirit, perhaps the win/win solution of peace will emerge. If we deny this truth and lie about it, if we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got….
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Big Lie, Obama and Leadership
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will come to believe it.” Isn’t that true? Just look at the lies the so-called ‘conservatives’ including their name – they don’t want to conserve much except their own power and that of their pay masters, have been telling.
Now, Walter Rodgers, CNN correspondent and editorial writer for The Christian Science Monitor, sees the big lie that Obama can’t lead as crumbling. Some of the power behind this big lie is the same savage partisanship leveled against every President since Watergate. Some of it reflects prejudice and bigotry against Obama himself. But perhaps more significantly, it also reflects Americans outdated and wrongheaded notions of leadership.
“American culture,” Mr. Rodgers writes, “mistakenly prizes bravado and arrogance as sure signs of leadership. Public showmanship – like donning a flight suit in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner – is easy. Quiet, cool competence that gets results – like pulling together an international coalition to protect Libyan civilians in record time – is hard.” Obama’s so called, ‘sitting on the sidelines,’ during the current Middle East unrest isn’t abdication of leadership; its wisdom.
Rodgers said a center-right voter told him recently that, “The reason I voted for Obama is because he has no hatred in him.” In an era of similar divisive bitterness, Lincoln said, “With malice toward none, with charity toward all….” Lincoln was also reviled in his time. Isn’t it interesting how closely Obama’s philosophy of leadership approaches Lincoln’s?
Now, Walter Rodgers, CNN correspondent and editorial writer for The Christian Science Monitor, sees the big lie that Obama can’t lead as crumbling. Some of the power behind this big lie is the same savage partisanship leveled against every President since Watergate. Some of it reflects prejudice and bigotry against Obama himself. But perhaps more significantly, it also reflects Americans outdated and wrongheaded notions of leadership.
“American culture,” Mr. Rodgers writes, “mistakenly prizes bravado and arrogance as sure signs of leadership. Public showmanship – like donning a flight suit in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner – is easy. Quiet, cool competence that gets results – like pulling together an international coalition to protect Libyan civilians in record time – is hard.” Obama’s so called, ‘sitting on the sidelines,’ during the current Middle East unrest isn’t abdication of leadership; its wisdom.
Rodgers said a center-right voter told him recently that, “The reason I voted for Obama is because he has no hatred in him.” In an era of similar divisive bitterness, Lincoln said, “With malice toward none, with charity toward all….” Lincoln was also reviled in his time. Isn’t it interesting how closely Obama’s philosophy of leadership approaches Lincoln’s?
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Truth Cannot Be Legislated
“Truth cannot be legislated,” Terry Cole-Whittaker said, “voted on, created, or destroyed – it just is. No person or organization can grant anyone anything, as they have nothing to grant. God has already given us everything,” and it is up to each of us to accept and act from an awareness of what we’ve been given, to make our contributions to a world that works for everyone and everything.
“People who live in fear use fear to control, whereas people who live from love [and the place of spirit-centered oneness] do not seek to control or abuse anyone. No one needs another’s approval or appreciation for we already have God’s approval and appreciation. So go forth and do the work you love as an offering to God. We give away our inner power only when we believe a lie.
“Be courageous and trust your inner guidance, and you will know what to do.” To worry, is to misidentify with the physical body. We are spiritual beings first, and last. “By identifying with inert matter that goes through the cycles of change we call birth and death, we live in fear and close off the channels of divine qualities and powers. The symptoms of this closing off are fear, anger, worry, exploitation, greed, envy, criticism, hatred and self abuse.”
Use these symptoms, not as judgments or signs of failure, but as cues to change. Aligned with spirit we see whatever comes as an opportunity to act from our true Identity instead of reacting from our mistaken identity.
“People who live in fear use fear to control, whereas people who live from love [and the place of spirit-centered oneness] do not seek to control or abuse anyone. No one needs another’s approval or appreciation for we already have God’s approval and appreciation. So go forth and do the work you love as an offering to God. We give away our inner power only when we believe a lie.
“Be courageous and trust your inner guidance, and you will know what to do.” To worry, is to misidentify with the physical body. We are spiritual beings first, and last. “By identifying with inert matter that goes through the cycles of change we call birth and death, we live in fear and close off the channels of divine qualities and powers. The symptoms of this closing off are fear, anger, worry, exploitation, greed, envy, criticism, hatred and self abuse.”
Use these symptoms, not as judgments or signs of failure, but as cues to change. Aligned with spirit we see whatever comes as an opportunity to act from our true Identity instead of reacting from our mistaken identity.
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