Friday, September 30, 2011

Metaphysical Tools and Criteria, 2

After I published yesterday’s post, I realized that the ego has a ‘metaphysics’, too. Needless to say, the ego’s metaphysics are not the metaphysics I was referring to.
The ego’s metaphysics come from the ego’s version of God. The ego God is more like Zeus and the other anthropomorphic – made in the image of man – gods and goddesses of ancient times, than the mystical one god of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. The ego god is not unconditionally loving, its love has to be earned. The ego’s god is arbitrary, capricious and hypocritical, expecting one thing of us, but living by an entirely different standard for itself. The ego’s version of god punishes severely and for eternity. The ego’s god keeps score and may or may not inscribe us in the book of life for another day, much less another year. We are taught that the ego’s version of god is a jealous god and we are to fear it and its wrath.

All of this bespeaks a harsh, desert god, more angry and terrible than loving and forgiving. Naturally, the metaphysics of this ‘god’ are also angry and terrible focusing on exclusivity (only the chosen and true believers are rewarded), obedience to its dogma, terror of eternal damnation, and punishment. These are not the metaphysics of a god of love, nor are they the metaphysics I was speaking of yesterday. They are the metaphysics of the ego’s illusory world and its illusory god; the metaphysics of separation and duality, not the metaphysics of oneness and unity.

Awakening to our spiritual reality, means being mindful of how often we slip into believing in the ego’s version of god and using its metaphysics, instead of the metaphysics I wrote about yesterday - the metaphysical tools and criteria of the transcendent, transpartisan, unconditionally loving God that is our true Self.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Metaphysical Tools and Criteria

Metaphysical tools for decision making, such as creative flashes, intuition and insight can be more useful than traditional, rational decision making tools such as statistics and quantitative analysis. Metaphysical criteria for a good decision, such as results need to be compassionate, free of fear, and in the best interests of all concerned, can produce better, more sustainable decisions than traditional, rational decision making criteria, such as effectiveness and efficiency.

That’s because our essence is metaphysical and the more we come from essence, the more we appreciate and actualize the truth of our being. As spiritual beings having earthly experiences, metaphysical tools and criteria give us access to spirit and all Its miracles, love and blessings, and all that it knows, which is everything.

This is not to say we need not use traditional decision making tools and criteria. As long as we believe we are here, they have a place. It is to say, however, that for most decisions, especially value-laden ones involving things like politics, metaphysical tools and criteria will work better and need to take precedence.

The ‘oneness’ metaphysics always speaks of is not a physical fact, but a metaphysical fact, arising from a shared essence and purpose. Everyone, even the T party, wants to escape the ego illusion and awaken to their spiritual reality. Yet everyone, including MoveOn types, fears loosing their sense of individuality – hopes, dreams and values - that comes from believing we are egos; separated from one another, even ourselves and God.

That is why we resist using metaphysical tools and criteria, clinging to rationality instead; even when we sense rationality alone is inadequate. Everyone fears the all-encompassing, ego denying, unconditional love of spirit. So, we are ambivalent, caught in a cosmic approach/avoidance conflict fearing ‘sin’ and its consequences, but clinging to it because we fear the loss of our unique specialness in spirit’s all-encompassing, unconditional love more.

Yet what we know, deep within, what our still small voice constantly proclaims, is that we need not fear God’s love, nor cling to sin and rationality to maintain our separateness. Even tho we believe we are here as beings separated from spirit in a separated world, we can still experience the reflection of ourSelves when we use metaphysical tools and criteria.

No matter what we do or say. No matter what we believe. No matter what crimes and sins we commit – which is not to suggest it’s OK to sin and commit crimes. Spirit’s love, which we can barely understand or express in the ego’s illusion, but can approximate using metaphysical tools and criteria, corrects the ego’s illusion. Were our decision makers to choose this love, which is wholly present and available within everyone right now, the illusion of guilt and innocence, sin and blessing, of choice itself, would disappear! We would still be here in the world, but everything would be different, reflecting the love we chose to identify with.

Whenever I am tempted to blame anyone for anything, to see someone as enemy or savior, it’s because I’ve allowed my decision maker to identify with the ego, not spirit, fallen back into the comfort of rationality, instead of the troubling ambiguity of metaphysics, and thereby made ‘sin’ and separation real. In fact, the decision maker’s choice to identify with the ego is the ‘original sin’. But it is not ‘sin’ because it never happened, it is all part of the ego’s illusion of separation from spirit. Making sin real comes from my decision to identify with sin [ideas leave not their source], not from an inherent evil or sinfulness; and from my fear of God’s love and the loss of my special, separated ego self.

If the ego world is a learning laboratory, [and I think that’s a wonderful way to look at it] in which I can experiment with and develop the skills I need to awaken from the ego illusion, such as relying more on metaphysical tools and criteria than on rational ones, learning to choose to identify more with my Self than my self, then whatever happens, whether judged ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in ego terms by my self, is an opportunity to learn, practice and grow spiritual muscle.

Accepting my place in the learning laboratory and actually learning how to rely more on metaphysical tools and criteria, is a never ending process, a metaphysical discipline. Following this discipline, I become a metaphysical spiritual warrior monk, practicing all day long each time I stay mindful and take responsibility for what happens in my life and for my interpretations of what happens; paying attention to my own consciousness, how my mind works, and how I let the ego manipulate me; while not looking for excuses to blame and shift responsibility outside myself. So I learn that the blaming I constantly indulge in, is not a sin, but a mistake that will not bring me what I want.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Life as a Learning Laboratory

Keep in mind that our ‘oneness’ is not a physical fact, but a metaphysical fact, arising from a shared essence and purpose. Everyone, even the T party, wants to escape the ego illusion and awaken to our spiritual reality. Yet everyone, including MoveOn types, fears loosing their sense of individuality – hopes, dreams and values - that comes from believing we are egos; separated from one another, even ourselves and God. Everyone fears the all-encompassing, ego denying, unconditional love of spirit. So, we are ambivalent, caught in a cosmic approach/avoidance conflict fearing sin and its consequences, but clinging to it because we fear the loss of our unique specialness in spirit’s all-encompassing, unconditional love more.

The thing we know, deep within, that our still small voice constantly proclaims, is that God loves us, unconditionally no matter what. No matter what we do or say. No matter what we believe. No matter what crimes and sins we commit – which is not to suggest it’s OK to sin and commit crimes. This love, which we can barely understand or express in the ego’s illusion, is the correction for the ego’s illusion. Were our decision makers able to choose this love, which is wholly present and available within everyone right now, the illusion of guilt and innocence, sin and blessing, of choice itself, would disappear! We would still be here in the world, but everything would be different, reflecting the love we chose to identify with.

Whenever I am tempted to blame anyone for anything, to see someone as enemy or savior, it is because I have allowed my decision maker to identify with the ego, not spirit, and thereby made sin real. The decision maker’s choice to identify with the ego is the original sin. But it is not ‘sin’ because it never happened, it is all part of the ego’s illusion of separation from spirit. Making sin real comes from my decision to identify with sin [ideas leave not their source], not from an inherent evil or sinfulness; and from my fear of God’s love and the loss of my special, separated ego self.

If the ego world is a learning laboratory, in which I can experiment with and develop the skills I need to awaken from the ego illusion [and I think that’s a wonderful way to look at it] and choose to identify with my Self, then whatever happens, whether judged ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in ego terms, is an opportunity to learn, practice and grow spiritual muscle. I can do this all day long by taking responsibility for what happens in my life and my interpretations of what happens, and by paying attention to my own consciousness, how my mind works, and how I let the ego manipulate me, while not looking for excuses to blame and shift responsibility outside myself. Blaming is not a sin, but a mistake that will not bring me what I want.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Transpartisan

Joan Blades, Co-founder of MoveOn.org said, “Listen to the media or our leaders and too often is feels as if we’re a deeply divided country. Yet we have vastly more in common than that which separates us. It is time for us to recognize our deep well of common interest and work together with respect and intelligence for our common good.”

The Course in Miracles agrees. Spirit teaches that you and I are not different in any but the most superficial ways. We share the same essence, need, purpose, and goal, which is to get our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits and experience our ‘at-one-ment’ with spirit and one another. Our differences exist on the level of form only, part of the ego’s plan to convince us that the separation is real and that the at-one-ment is an illusion.

Working together to achieve a transpartisan vision of America, not a bi-partisan vision, but a vision that transcends partisanship and special interests, one that works for everyone and everything, it’s clear that emphasizing our shared reality and at-one-ment with spirit is more vital than emphasizing appearances and form. We come to know our common content, goal and purpose by learning to forgive our differences of form.

Being one with spirit does not mean denying the body, but rather denying the ego’s interpretation of the body. Only a few have managed to see only spirit and not the body. The rest of us have no problem seeing the body without help, but need help understanding how to behold a world apart from it. With God’s help, with forgiveness - the reflection of spirit’s oneness here, in our dualistic world - we are able to get our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits, and see another world - a vision of transpartisan success, that our partisan eyes could never find.

With forgiveness, it’s possible to see the body, its needs and special interests, but not give it the power it had in the past; to see it as more than the source of pleasure or pain, but also as an expression of my thinking, either with spirit or ego. Doing that, I take responsibility for who I’m thinking with. I don’t blame you, or the world, or my parents, or the other party. I don’t blame myself, either. I simply take responsibility and seek to manage myself, which after all, is all I can really do.

“If you but recognized how little stands between you and your awareness of your union with your brother!” The Course in Miracles says. “Be not deceived by the illusions [the body] presents of size and thickness, weight, solidity and firmness of foundation. Yes, to the body’s eyes it looks like an enormous solid body, immovable as a mountain. Yet within you is a Force that no illusions can resist. This body only seems to be immovable; this Force is irresistible in truth. What, then, must happen when they come together? Can the illusion of immovability be long defended as it is quietly passed through and gone beyond?” Move on.

We are all here, trapped in a world of worsening partisanship, because we believed the ego’s lies, and now, no matter the appearances, all of us desperately want to awaken to the truth. Transpartisanship is our common goal and purpose, and forgiveness allows us to achieve it and move on.

Forgiveness is learned by forgiving --- ourselves and others. Whenever we are not forgiving, hold grievances, blame, become upset, or think salvation comes from outside, we’re saying we don’t want to learn or move on. We’re saying the ego is all there is; that we are our bloated nothingness – our individuality and specialness. We deny that those things are mere form, and that all of us are spiritual beings first, at home asleep with God, dreaming we are having a partisan earthly experience.

Our common reality rises above partisanship. Awakening from the ego’s illusion, we realize that nothing in the ego world, no partisan political victory, will make us happier than our awareness of our spiritual reality, that everyone and everything shares this reality and longs for it, and that as we forgive, get our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits, and learn to see our essential needs as not separate from anyone else’s, we are able to come together and contribute to a transpartisan world that works for everyone and everything.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Not a God Who Was, But a God Who Is, 3

What we take to be real, are only temporary conditions and what we take to be mere thought and philosophy, is real. What goes on in our minds - our habitual attitudes, feelings, aspirations and beliefs about what’s possible, are bottom line reality to us. Tho the consciousness of the human race - the belief in duality and the ego, dominate us, the attributes of spirit - peace, prosperity, compassion and cooperation are our natural inclination. And if we let them, our natural inclinations can emerge and change conditions.

Perhaps people in ancient times were more believing or more gullible, because Bible stories are full of the power of spirit to overcome conditions. Moses feeding the Israelites with manna, and striking the stone and bringing forth water; Jesus and the loaves and fishes; Elijah providing the widow with all the grain and oil she needed. The common theme running through these accounts is spirit’s ability to transcend material limitations.

This shows we are not slaves to our habits or political or economic systems but masters of all situations and systems through our oneness with spirit - the power we share with spirit. Spirit knows nothing of lack, difficulty, procrastination or confusion. Those are aspects of the ego, the separated, dual self. Spirit is our real Self and precludes anything that doesn’t express abundance and order.

Intelligence, wisdom, compassion and understanding are our true Self, the facts of our reality as spirit. If we allow it and get our bloated nothingness out of the way, spirit will adjust our human conditions to conform to the divine. In obedience to the divine nature, human conditions can come to reflect the divine law and order of reality, not the illusions of the ego. Spirit is continuously unfolding in our consciousness through peace, prosperity, compassion and cooperation, if we allow It to.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Not a God Who Was, But a God Who Is, 2

Not a God who was, but a God who is!
I have moments when I know without a doubt that this is true. I experience the grace, calm, exhilaration, and joy that comes from knowing I am, as everyone is, one with all that is, and that all things – peace, prosperity, compassion and cooperation - are possible, even between Israelis and Palestinians, Dems and Rs - with spirit.

I have more of these moments and they last longer, the more mindful I am, the more I allow them and get my bloated nothingness out of their way. This is work, taking time and effort from the ego’s illusory world of busy doing, to pause, reflect, meditate, exercise out of doors, pray - constantly give it over to spirit for Its wisdom to guide me.

It’s a process; patience is required. It’s not like those old biblical film epics where suddenly the characters are enlightened and stay enlightened. It hasn’t worked that way for me and I suspect it doesn’t work that way for most of us. But the more we want it, work at it, and believe in it, the more It manifests in our lives. This is not wishful thinking, this is the truth, what I experience more and more each day, every hour and every minute. This is a fact. Do it, want it, believe in it and see if your experience doesn’t make it true for you, too!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Not a God Who Was, But a God Who Is

A balance between inner and outer, spirit and matter, reality and illusion is more important now, than it ever has been. Here’s why. The so-called news is everywhere, 24/7 and is always bad. There’s an urgency of emergency dominating our thought and wearing us out. Anxiety and depression are the most common diseases. The world can’t be tuned out. All we can do is try and stay in balance with a slight tilt to the inner, spiritual side. Looking to the news and the experts, will not provide what we need.

Barry Ebert in last month’s SOM magazine, points out that Ralph Waldo Emerson, who launched the transcendental movement with his essay Nature in 1836, thought that a walk in the woods [or along the beach] was not only a way to balance our sources of input but to tilt toward spirit and the inner.

Emerson thought the same spirit that created and lived in the natural world lived in every human being and could be accessed by everyone, no matter what, at any time. Emerson said this was “not a God who was, but a God who is.” I love it! “Not a God who was, but a God who is….” Available right here and now, to the best and the worst of us. Perhaps it’s easier to access this God in the woods or on the beach, but really, It’s reaching out to us, now, wherever we are, all we have to do is relax and breath into It.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mindfulness: An Important Part of Being Spiritual

The Course says truth can never be known here because the world was literally made to protect us from it. However, we can become increasingly aware of truth’s reflection here when we get our bloated nothingness out of the way, forgive and listen to the still small voice within. We are not expected to give up our egos, our bodily identification, but only to let that identification become less important; both as a symbol of pain and pleasure, damnation and salvation. Seeing our experiences here as opportunities to learn spirit’s truth, then choose it and not the ego’s illusions, we come to see that there are three different ways of living in the world.

The first is to see the world and flesh as evil. Many choose this way. This makes sex and money bad, indeed, makes all pleasure bad, and supports the belief in the need for sacrifice and asceticism that is so common in most of the world’s mainstream religions. Here, the body, made by the ego, is real and thus so is the original sin of separation from spirit. Focusing on bodily pleasure and pain, either to deny it or sacrifice it, makes the original sin of separation real, reinforcing the ego’s illusion of life.

The second alternative goes to the extreme of bliss. Here, the world is seen as a wonderful place, the source of all happiness and pleasure. However, this view is unsustainable. Suffering and pain can not be escaped here. Valuing the world sets us up for an inevitable let down. By teaching that the body is the source of both pleasure and pain, teaching there is a difference between them, the ego skillfully enables us to maintain our separated, individual existence, thus perpetuating the original sin of separation. The body’s inherent nothingness, as a mere figment or our decision maker’s incorrect choice of the ego’s illusion instead of spirit’s reality, is thus concealed behind its capacity to feel sensations.

The third choice, is the middle path of moderation. It is not about behavior, pleasure or pain, or making the body something important or serious. We live in the body because it is our learning laboratory in which our decision makers learn to make a different choice, for spirit and against the ego. Bodies in and of themselves are not good or evil, sinless or sinful; the mind’s purpose alone, our decision maker’s choices alone, establish its worth. The body is a means, not an end. It has no purpose of itself, but only what is given to it. Only the mind can set a purpose, only the mind can see the means for its accomplishment and justify the body’s use. Mindfulness is an important part of being spiritual.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Spirituality - The Thing Itself, Religions the Various Brands

The spirituality I spoke of yesterday and always speak of is a momentary experience of profound peace, a release of struggle, and a deep sense of grace and blessing; a realization that I have nothing to prove, that God loves me, unconditionally, that I need do nothing to earn that love and grace and that if I just stop thinking and trying, everything will turn out fine. It’s getting my bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits. It’s realizing that spirit is all there is, it is me and I am it, and my bloated nothingness is just that – no thing, an illusion created by the ego.

Spirit is my default. It is always there, the still small voice, I can hear any time, all the time. It is my choice to identify with It, hear It and act on Its guidance or believe that I am the ego’s bloated nothingness. I practice being spiritual by being mindful and aware of my choices and the purpose they serve. When I am aware of choosing ego, I simply choose again, without blame or recrimination, guilt or fear. The ego blames, instills guilt and frightens. Spirituality is not behavioral, though it can be reflected in behavior. It is primarily mental and emotional. It is my mindfulness of my choices and the purposes they serve and then choosing to reinforce or choose again.
All humans partake of this Spirituality. It is who all of us are. It is everyone’s default. The concepts of spirituality and religion are different. Spirituality is the thing itself; religions are the various brands. Spirituality and religion can overlap, but more often, religion is the ego’s tool, focused more on the body, rules and rituals and less on the heart and mind. Some churches talk more about the devil, than about God, Michael Beckwith said. Spirituality is inclusive, forgiving and all about grace. In most religions one must accept and obey the rules to earn grace and forgiveness. There is no grace and forgiveness for non-believers, who are damned. Spirit knows nothing of damnation and rules, it only shines forth on everyone and everything in love.

It is this spirituality, not any particular religious dogma, that I want to bring to our political discourse; and indeed, to all discourse. This spirituality may be found in religions, but one has to dig for it and then usually, struggle to actualize it. The same kind of struggle is involved in connecting spirituality and politics. We almost can’t get there from here. Our bloated nothingness obscures nearly totally. It is only possible to experience the spiritual reality and oneness in everyone and everything by surrendering our ego reality and letting our bloated nothingness go. Once mindful of our inherent, natural spiritual default we can experience it more fully.

Monday, September 12, 2011

American Dream

Saturday morning, I attended the Protect the Dream meeting. I went to the meeting because I’m looking for a way to integrate my spiritual insights and political action. I don’t know what I expected – which is good, having no expectations leaves one open to making the most of whatever happens – but I was kind of disappointed, more in myself than the others present.

I think I was looking for help in exploring and actualizing my non-dualistic, non-either/or, non-traditional and more spiritual way of thinking about politics. Instead, I got pulled into the traditional, win-lose, either/or, non-spiritual way of thinking. I was not clear enough, nor strong enough to express my ideas, nor enable others to understand them so that we could all work together to operationalize them.

The pull of the gross, visible failures of the Democratic Party and the so-called Democratic President, along with the horrible abuses of power and their attendant threats to American Democracy by the Republicans, hooked my fear and loathing [as it usually does] and I succumbed to the ego view of things and was unable to stay centered in spirit.

But it was good practice though! I need to be able to go into the fire, like Meshak, Shadrak, and Abendego, and emerge unscathed. People don’t know who those three guys were anymore. They’re the protagonists in an Old Testament story.

I want to protect the American dream, and do something, but in addition to not being able to express and operationalize my ideas, none of what was discussed – making phone calls, demonstrating, sending emails, handing out flyers in the neighborhood or on street corners, attending house parties – clicked for me. I know that if I were to do any and all of these things centered in spirit, they would click for me. But at this point, however, I’m still looking to do something else; some new combination of these things that actualizes my non-dualistic, non-either/or, non-traditional and more spiritual way of thinking about politics.

I feel ‘called’ to share this view, feel, if we could ever express it clearly it would resonate with the vast majority of Americans. I think people are ready; they get that we desperately need something new, partisan, either/or, win-lose business as usual has gotten us where we are; and if we always do [think and feel] what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got.

At every level and in every way the system is broken, just about beyond repair. Einstein said, ‘You can’t solve the problem at the level of thinking that created it in the first place.’ We need a message grounded in connection with our reality as spiritual beings, of renewal, optimism, cooperation, inclusivity. No more fear, loathing, hate, blame and partisanship. The so-called ‘two party’ system with its primaries, the political/economic system itself with districts drawn by partisans and the Supreme Court equating money and speech, and the legal fiction that corporations are people, is not working for the vast majority of Americans.

But how to get this majority to wake up, understand they’re being destroyed, slowly, secretly, and not so slowly or secretly now, like Thorndike’s frog; that their very hopes and ideals subverted, taken from them and used to kill their hopes and ideals? What’s the message that will express that, that will mobilize them? Both parties mouth the same platitudes and motherhoods. Will a new party be better? Perhaps. But it too, would need thinking different from the kind that created the problem in the first place.

We desperately need something new, a message grounded in connection with our reality as spiritual beings, of renewal, optimism, cooperation, and inclusivity. Partisan, either/or, win-lose business as usual has gotten us where we are; and if we always do [think and feel] what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Don't 'Should' On Yourself!

One of my favorite bits of Life and Business Coaching advice is, ‘don’t should on yourself!’

I think it’s my favorite and I like saying it because I need to follow my own advice; I ‘should’ on myself all the time. ‘Should’ implies I could be doing better, or ‘should’ be doing something else, or am missing the mark, etc. It says I’m not doing the best I can and am somehow a failure.

‘Should’ is judgmental, blameful and guilt inducing. It suggests some ‘objective’ standard outside my inner, spiritual wisdom that is superior to my inner wisdom. ‘Should’ is the ego distracting me from my reality as spirit. When I ‘should’ on myself, I’m letting appearances, conditions and opinions – fragments of the ego’s illusion of the world, drag me from my spiritual perfection.

When with spirit, I know, feel and experience the reflection of divine order in everyone and everything. I know life is a learning laboratory in which everyone and everything that happens, even the most horrible, disgusting things, especially the most horrible and disgusting things, hold the potential to awaken me to my reality as spirit, if I choose to experience them with spirit and not the ego. It’s the ego that labels things ‘horrible’ and ‘disgusting’, not spirit.
Spirit blames nothing and no one, punishes nothing and no one but rather enables us to use whatever we experience to know It better and experience Its presence, first, in ourselves, then in everyone and everything.

When I ‘should’ on myself, I deny spirit’s reality, choosing the ego instead. I deny that each person and every event is an opportunity to learn and awaken. I deny that there is an alternative to my ego’s way of experiencing the world, and arrogantly project my small amount of wisdom as the Truth.

Spirit is the Truth, the reality, ego is the lie, the illusion. Every person, even Eric Cantor and the Koch brothers, share the same need to awaken to their reality as spirit, and have the same opportunities to do so. We are all one in this essential. Shouldn’t we try to actualize it?

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The New School Year

The ideal of providing a free, quality education for every child, regardless of how extreme the need (emotional, physical, academic, linguistic, etc) while helping the brightest students reach their potential, can be very frustrating for even the most dedicated and talented teachers and can seem impossible to achieve. “We take ‘em all, and do the best we can,” Randy Hoover, a teacher writing in the Monitor, says, quoting a colleague. “It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the outset of a new school year,” Hoover goes on to say, “when each new meeting with counselors, specialists, and parents presents another set of needs to be met.

“So over the 20 years, I’ve been teaching middle school, it’s been helpful to shift my perspective to a spiritual view that illuminates what’s really going on – to see not a troubled child struggling with behavior or learning issues, but rather a child of a perfect, loving God, reflecting His spiritual qualities of goodness, intelligence, and harmony. Where the human mind tends to focus on limitation and fear, [this] view liberates and lifts us to recognize our spiritual nature.

“’God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’ As children of God, all students have unlimited potential to express intelligence, despite psychological or medical theories that might predict otherwise. Children are perceptive about how they are viewed and treated and tend to respond accordingly. Taking a spiritual view of them, I’ve seen many struggling students flourish in class. And I’ve seen negative effects when I haven’t held to that pure view.

“Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Monitor wrote: ‘Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized opposite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind…into your consciousness.’ School reform efforts have put the spotlight on teachers; studies show they are the single greatest factor in how much a child learns. Remembering that the Latin verb ‘to educate’ means ‘to bring out’ (not to pour in) this knowledge can lessen the burden a teacher may feel. Our seeing students in their spiritual light helps children recognize and draw out their innate, God-given abilities. This perspective brings great promise for the new school year.”

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Journalistic Objectivity

I was talking with a young woman journalist, probably in her late 20’s, Friday morning, who believes a professional journalist must be objective and not express her own fact based point of view (POV). I agree with this in theory, but naturally do not see it as a dichotomy, an either/or - either objectivity or POV; but as a continuum, a both/and, with POV at one end and Objectivity at the other. Seen this way it is possible for pro journalists to be both objective and have a fact based POV, not an opinion, which they may be ethically and duty bound to express.

Pro journalists have an ethical obligation to use their positions in the public interest, for the good of the whole. Objectivity is a means to this end, not an end in itself. It is not in the public interest nor does it fulfill journalists’ ethical responsibility if they submerge their fact-based POVs, giving their allegiance instead to a mistaken concept of objectivity that gives equal weight to all sides, no matter what, even when the facts, not their opinions, tell journalists one side is incorrect.

Is it ethical and ‘objective’ to watch someone walking down the street about to step into a hole and hurt himself, to submerge one’s POV, keep silent and allow the person to fall into the hole? If a pro journalist’s fact based POV is to see the Nation heading for a hole, and journalists have an ethical obligation to use their positions in the public interest and for the good of all, is it ethical or ‘objective’ to submerge their POV and say nothing?

Submerging one’s fact based POV and not pointing out the obvious dangers, lies, hypocrisies and fear-mongering that one sees clearly in the name of so-called ‘objectivity’ is a cop-out. Submerging one’s fact based POV and not pointing out the obvious dangers, lies, hypocrisies and fear-mongering in the name of a so-called ‘objectivity’ that sees only two sides to every situation – which by the way is the dichotomy, the continuum sees many sides - is worse than a cop-out for it perpetuates a dysfunctional view of reality itself. Submerging one’s POV and believing that there are only two sides to ‘objectivity’, not only perpetuates the status quo, which clearly isn’t working and clearly is not in the best interests of society as a whole, it actually makes the status quo more negative.

Objectivity and ethics for journalists in today’s world, especially in the current American political and economic situation, would be presenting the ‘facts’ from all sides, not just the ‘official’ two sides, then having the courage to use their fact based POVs, not their opinions or ideologies, to warn us about the hole we are heading for. This is having both a strong, fact based POV and being objective. It is about fulfilling the journalists’ ethical requirement to serve the public interest by using the continuum, not the dichotomy.

I realize journalists work for big corporations and conglomerates that give hypocritical lip service to the dichotomous ‘objectivity’ while masking their own definite POVs and supporting their advertisers’ and sponsors’ POVs – which mostly support the status quo, and that it might cost journalists their jobs to be both objective in the both/and, continuum sense described here and share their fact based POVs. But let’s not kid ourselves, doing that would produce real and true ‘objectivity’, not the BS that passes for objectivity now. It would take courage for journalists to share both their fact based POV and shift to real true objectivity, but it might make a real difference to society, and constitute using their positions ethically and in the public interest.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Preposterous

Preposterous is a word we use when a thing is perceived as outrageous, ridiculous, absurd, off the wall and perhaps even crazy. For example, at one time, not so long ago, it would have seemed preposterous that a black man could be President of the United States, or that a Hollywood ‘B’ actor could be President. Now it doesn’t seem so preposterous that Michelle Bachman or Rick Perry might be President. It scares the hell out of me, but it no longer seems preposterous.

Jesse Jennings says preposterous originally meant incorrectly sequenced, or reversed, like the cart before the horse or the tail wagging the dog. Boy, is that true in the cases of Bachman and Perry, especially if you consider voting patterns in the US over the last few decades. Most people, people that would not put the cart before the horse, have dropped out of the political system in disgust and don’t vote. Only approximately 45% of those eligible to vote, eligible, vote. That leaves the field, especially the primary field, to the extremists, so we get the tail, and a dirty nasty tail it is, wagging the dog.

If we want things to be different, if we want people to vote and have an inclusive, compassionate democracy that represents most Americans, not just the extremists and the establishment of wealth and power, we have to think about American democracy differently, and understand the original meaning of preposterous. We need to face the fact that we’ve got things reversed with the cart before the horse and the tail wagging the dog. We’ve got to see that we’ve got the order of the creative process wrong, going from the outside in, instead of the inside out.

The true meaning of preposterous is: be, do, have, not do, have, be, the order we do things in now. The conventional view is that things happen and then we think about them, rather than thoughts generate things. This view also says that if we do something, then we can have something and be something different. For example: I do – I work hard, then I have money and I can be happy. That’s the preposterous way of thinking, the out of order way of thinking. The correct order is: be happy first, then do something from there and have work or something that makes you happy. Be, do, have, instead of do, have, be.

So in politics we need to be the best Americans we can be, living up to our ideals, not blaming, demonizing and attacking; do - get involved in the system and vote from that place; and we will have the inclusive, compassionate democracy that represents most Americans, not just the extremists and the establishment of wealth and power, that we want.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Problems As Opportunities

So I was demonizing my T Party/Republican brothers and sisters yesterday. I was deep in ego and that’s what I do, and you do, too, when we’re deep in ego – criticize, blame and demonize. Being less in ego at the moment, I want to point out that probably at least half of what my T Party/Republican brothers and sisters propose, maybe more, highlight a problem/opportunity that needs addressing. I strongly disagree with the way my T Party/Republican brothers and sisters want to address the problems, but I agree that the problems do need to be addressed.

There are many things that we Americans could be doing better. I want us to address these from a centered, charge-neutral place, as one family, as Americans all, without all the demonizing, rancor, fear and all that needs to be done is get rid of Obama, loathing that has become the hallmark of the way my T Party/Republican brothers and sisters see the world.

I want us to engage spirit in our problem/opportunity approach, sharing the idea that strength is brought forth in solving problems; and a latent force is evolved that we would not otherwise be aware of. Metaphysicians would say that the answer to every question is already within us, because we are within spirit and spirit is the invisible whole enfolding everyone and everything.

Jesse Jennings highlights this idea, quoting Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849-1925), called the teacher of teachers because the founders of the three major New Thought schools were her students, saying, “Every problem has a way of coming out just right.”

Something coming out “just right” Jesse says means we’ve grown, connected with spirit and taken responsibility for how we’ve used the power It has placed within and around us. “Just right,” means we’ve uncovered the ego belief that caused us to label the situation as a “problem” in the first place, “evolving past the rush to label and lament a situation, choosing instead to regard it as a transit opportunity from one state of being [ego] to the next [spirit]. We can take ‘just right’ to mean better off than ever.’”

So, every problem has a way of coming out just right, if we grow, connect with spirit and take responsibility for how we use the power spirit has placed within and around us.