Forgiveness and the Dog-Eat-Dog World

Once a person accepts the fact that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, that you’re on your own without help or support and all you have is what you can take and hold, it’s easy to see how the next step is a suspension of civility and morality. 

After all, what do civility and morality get you? Both are a charade, a joke, a lie designed to keep people docile while they’re being fleeced. Smart people see through that! Smart people will pretend to be civil and moral, but they know it’s a dog-eat-dog world, that you’re on your own without help or support and all you have is what you can take and hold. Smart people know that winning is everything and all’s fair in the service of victory.

Smart people know that the facts are irrelevant.  In fact they know there’s really no such thing as ‘facts.’  The so-called facts are trumped up by Eastern Establishment so-called scientists. Global climate change is a trick to rip people off, take their freedom and give more power to the bureaucrats in Washington. Same’s true for the so-called facts about violence and gun ownership. The truth is guns don’t kill, people kill.

So these smart people, most of whom support the current Republican Brand, know it’s ok to make stuff up, twist the so-called facts and lie to win and to support their belief in the dog-eat-dog reality enshrined in their party’s ideology.  After all, only ideology is True. To compromise that Truth, to negotiate with the others, is treason.

It’s vital, now more than ever, that people who do not believe in a dog-eat-dog theology masquerading as political thought, assert the alternative. Doing this is consistent with the ideas about forgiveness that I posted yesterday. “Thus we do not deny what (our own and) other bodies do, but we do deny the ego’s interpretation, which would be that sin is rampant, either in ourselves or others.  The change we want to effect (is) in our minds (and it) is to see ourselves and others as expressions of love or calls for love, not sin and evil.”

Thus, those believing in the dog-eat-dog theology and that sin is rampant are scared and are calling out for love. They want to believe in a loving alternative to the ego, but they just can’t. It is up to those of us who see the ego for what it is, to give them the love they’re calling out for, and to do so by asserting the alternative to the ego’s world, a world reflecting spirit’s compassion, inclusiveness, joy, community and innovation—a world that works for everyone and everything.

Projection Makes Perception

Because projection makes perception, if I choose to see my brothers and sisters as sinless, then I will see the sinlessness and innocence in myself.  In other words, the way I see you comes from the way I see myself.  What I have judged real and important in my mind is what I will see as real and important outside me, in my body and the world.

“It is to this alone (this inner decision about value) that I respond, however much I seem to be impelled by outside happenings,” says the Course in Miracles. “We seem to be affected by what is outside us; but in truth we are affected only by the mind’s decision” for (either) the ego or spirit, says Ken Wapnick. This means that what I experience as a body in the world is my decision - my choice to be with ego’s nightmare of evil and original sin or with spirit’s compassion, kindness and brotherhood.

“I choose to see what I would look upon, and this I see, and only this.  My brother’s (humanity’s) sinlessness shows me that I would look upon my own. And I will see it, having chosen to look upon my own,” says The Course. “On a practical level,” Ken says, “this does not mean we should feel guilty because we see murder, pain, death, and sickness all around us. Remember that perception is an interpretation. It is not what our eyes ‘objectively’ see that is at issue, but the interpretation of what our eyes see. 

“Thus we do not deny what (our own and) other bodies do, but we do deny the ego’s interpretation, which would be that sin is rampant, either in ourselves or others.  The change we want to effect (is) in our minds (and it) is to see ourselves and others as expressions of love or calls for love, not sin and evil.”

Returning Home

After all the political ranting this week, I wanted to end the week on an up, spiritual note. The following is from the Course in Miracles.

Ken Wapnick says: “The ego tells us that God abandoned us.  He created us in bodies and then left us in this world to fend for ourselves, suffer, and finally die.  The ego never tells us the truth, that we abandoned God, nor the ultimate truth, that there was no abandonment at all for how could Love leave Itself?”

And from the Course: “Everyone here has entered darkness, yet no one has entered it alone.  Nor need he stay more than an instant.  For he has come with Heaven’s Help within him, ready to lead him out of darkness into light at any time.  The time he chooses can be any time, for help is there awaiting but his choice.

“And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, then will he see each situation that he thought before was means to justify his anger, turned to an event which justifies his love.  He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace.  He will perceive that where he gave attack is but another altar where he can, with equal ease and far more happiness, bestow forgiveness.  And he will reinterpret all temptation as just another chance to bring him joy.

“Finally, however, (we will) realize there is something wrong with this life of attack-defense, and we can choose again; (choosing forgiveness instead). Forgiveness shows us that God’s Will is One and that we share it. Forgiveness undoes the false perception of conflict by ending the dream that you and I are (only bodies) separate, kept apart by thoughts of guilt and judgment, pain and sorrow. True perception reveals a world washed clean of sin, as we remember our shared interest of finding the peace of God and returning home, (together).”

Deserving

To me, a part of the dog-eat-dog, rugged individualism, non-compassionate, so-called ‘conservative’ ideology, is the idea of deserving—of deserving to be healthy, wealthy and wise. 

The non-deserving, people who for varying reasons such as sin, corruption, laziness and poverty, are actually being treated fairly when they suffer; it’s punishment for their wickedness.

These men, women and children don’t deserve the support of the community of descent, well-behaved, hard-working, law-abiding citizens. They chose their path, cut corners, chiseled, and broke the law so they deserve their fates. Unlike the big banks, corporations and so-called ‘job creators’ who do the same things but deserve our support no matter what they do. The wicked, sinful, poor, lazy and corrupt individuals and their families deserve their fates; they made their beds, let them lie in them!

Never mind that some of these flesh and blood men, women and children were abused as children, born autistic, have cancer or a mental illness, were wounded in battle and have PTSD. That’s too bad for them.  They are not our concern, because they are undeserving. We have enough to deal with just taking care of our deserving selves, friends and neighbors. Besides, God himself has put the mark of Cain on these people. Who are we to intervene?

Bush the second made a pretense of concern for the undeserving by tacking ‘compassionate’ in front of his so-called ‘conservatism.’ The current Republican brand doesn’t bother with that pabulum, and more and more clearly articulates that the undeserving are in fact clearly and obviously undeserving and should be left to their just deserts.

Shit (From a previous post)

Iraq may be preparing a request to retain our troops ‘a bit’ longer.  Alright!  Wow, we’re #1!  Nothing succeeds  like success. We’re the best hired gun in town.  And why not?  These countries don’t have to do anything to get our blood and treasure; we’re just there for them, in a way we’re not just there for our own people.  We’re happy to give and sacrifice because they are so appreciative.  They need do nothing, just fuck things up and count on us to go in there and bail them out. 

My god, you’d think they were American banks, Wall Street, or corporations!  There’s no free lunch for you and me, and especially the poor people who need it, too bad for them and us it’s their own fault, after all as John Calvin pointed out, if they were good, god would smile on them.  But the biggest banks, corporations, industries, well, alright, they get whatever they need, obviously they’re good and god smiles on them.  After all, we have the best government money can buy.  That’s the way it’s supposed to be, too, right?  I mean after all, if the rich and powerful can’t get what they want, the rest of us be damned, in this the greatest capitalist democracy in the world, what are things coming to?

Shit, I wish that rant made me feel better.  It did in a way.  But my heart breaks when I see our noble experiment, the US of A, becoming, no being, the very things we really don’t want to be, the very things we wanted to shun when our country was founded and the noble experiment begun.  It hurts when I think of us as just another empire doomed to sink beneath the tides of history.  I thought we were better than that.  Obviously we’re not.  Our shit does stink.  I’d like us to acknowledge that, that our shit does stink; that we’re just another failed and failing nation state if - if we keep on as we have as if our shit doesn’t stink.

Come on, folks, smell it; rub your face in it; if it looks like shit, smells like shit and makes you want to flush it down, it is shit!  But everything that lives shits, so why not us?  It’s OK to take a crap, but please, let’s not pretend it isn’t crap or that our crap is golden.  As I said two days ago, we can do better.  But first we have to quit deluding ourselves and see our shit as shit.

Abstractions vs. Flesh and Blood Human Beings

Two things I’ve been meaning to talk about: abstraction vs flesh and blood human beings, and the person with his finger on the nuclear trigger. Both of these of course, highlight reasons not to support the current Republican brand. Just want to be up front about that. A caveat first: note that I’ve specified the current Republican brand. And further, there are people within the Republican Party, who are working to change both the substance and the image of the current brand.

The person with his finger on the nuclear trigger: this is about who you want to entrust with the power for nuclear war; which of the two candidates is best qualified to make the decision to start a nuclear war—the so-called business man or the President?   The President has had his steady finger on the nuclear trigger for nearly four years. He may only have been a Senator before, but at least as a Senator, he had a sense of foreign policy and treaties and nuclear arms limitation. Compare that to the so-called ‘job creating’ corporate raider, ‘business man’ (as if running a business, seemingly any kind of business, is comparable to running a nation).

Many of us need to step back from our abstract, fanatical ideological hate and blame for a moment and think about what’s at stake here. We’re going to elect the person who can start a nuclear war! Which one of the two candidates do you really think has the skills, temperament, experience and background to be trusted with that awesome challenge?

Abstraction vs flesh and blood human beings. There are millions of real, flesh and blood people, millions of them, with flesh and blood just like yours and mine, badly hurting and needing our help and support right now, in spite of the Federal budget deficit and pledges not to raise taxes. Wouldn’t you want help, support and compassion if you were one of them?

Shakespeare had Shylock say, “if you prick me, do I not bleed?” Not only are these real people bleeding; they suffer, often silently, in agonies of shame, pain and self-loathing. They hunger, they love, they care, they want the same things you and I want: peace, joy, good health, opportunity, family and community. They want these things, need these things, deserve these things now, simply by virtue of their humanity, the humanity we all share.

Abstractions and ideologies feel nothing, want nothing and suffer not. In fact, abstractions such as political ideologies, especially current Republican brand ideologies, deny our humanity, are not real, not human, have no compassion and no humanity. A commitment to extreme political ideologies, instead of compassion for our brothers and sisters and the planet, is a betrayal of our own humanity. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Abstractions have a place. Extreme political ideological abstractions such as those espoused by the current Republican brand also have a place, just as mosquitoes, snakes, spiders, death and disease have places. But please, please, those of you who support such hurtful, blameful abstractions over flesh and blood people, be aware of what you’re doing and the impact your beliefs have on your fellow, flesh and blood human beings right now.

Shun the Current Republican Brand!

In his column in the Sunday Herald, Leonard Pitts, quotes a plank from the 2012 platform of the Republican Party of Texas: “We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills, critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome Based Education which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”

“So presumably,” Pitts goes on to say, “if a child is of the ‘fixed belief’ that Jesus was the first president of the US, or that 2+2= apple trees, or that Florida is an island in an ocean on the moon, educators ought not correct that student, lest she change her ‘fixed belief,’ thereby undermining mom and dad. Republican Spokesman Chris Elam says the statement’s ‘inclusion (in the platform) was an oversight.’”

There’s so much wrong with the kind of thinking embodied in, “We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills, critical thinking skills…undermining parental authority,” that I’m nearly speechless…nearly, but not completely. Here are a few of the things that are wrong:

Most parents can’t do the homework, use a computer very well or function in the world students inhabit today, so why is ‘parental authority’ so important? Oh, I get ‘parental authority’ has a place and I’m gad my parents exercised theirs when they did. But to trade off critical thinking skills in favor of ‘parental authority’ is suicide for a democratic society and its economic well being. If all we want is students that obey authority without thinking, our school systems are indeed in great need of reform.

But besides, does it have to be either critical thinking or ‘parental authority’? Can’t it be both/and, both critical thinking and ‘parental authority?’ My parents managed to do that.  What sort of mind and ideology sees it as either/or, as a need to trade off one for the other, and then choose ‘parental authority’ instead of critical thinking? An ayatollah in a madrasah would. A citizen of Nazi Germany would. A totalitarian dictator fearful of his people arising would. Is that who our Republican leaders have become? Is that who the people who keep electing them are? With thinking like this, it seems these people don’t want to just “take the nation back,” they want to take it backwards; back to some imaginary fantasy time when things were better.

I know I recently wrote about the need for both Democrats and Republicans, and as you can see from above, I’m a both/and guy. But each day brings a new revelation of Republican craziness.  The brand is tarnished and getting more tarnished daily. Like any other product or activity it will continue as it is and get even more so until people demand a change or stop buying it. No matter how much you hate Obama, or a disappointed in him, please try and see that the alleged danger he poses, is nothing compared to the danger the current Republican brand poses.

As Pitts’ column highlights, along with so many other news stories, the real danger the current Republican brand poses is not at the presidential level, but in the House of Representatives, the Governor’s Offices and in the state legislatures. The craziness and danger will continue until Republican constituents demand a change.  The current Republican brand must be shunned, no matter what, at all levels.

“Remember when Republicans were grownups?” Pitts asks. Agree with them or not, you never thought of Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, even Richard Nixon as less than serious, substantive adults, susceptible like all serious, substantive adults, to logic and reason.”  Compare them to Michelle Bachmann and Rush Limbaugh. Shun the current Republican brand. This is not business as usual, this is putting out the fire before it burns the house down.

Whole & Complete: Both Republicans and Democrats

Previously, I posted about living from the inside-out, from our inner, benign spiritual core out to the surface. Living this way is in line with the New Testament injunction to “be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”  In other words, as we feel the perfection of our spiritual core within, which is perfect, we in turn can be perfect and act in a way consistent with the inclusive compassion of spirit.

Though this concept is meant to empower and soothe us, it usually has the opposite effect. We feel tremendous emotional pain and self-judgment for not living up to the ideal of being perfect and without a flaw. “What? Me, perfect? No way! I’m lucky if I can do a few kind and descent things once in a while.” Right?

Well, here’s some good news! The problem is not our lack of perfection, but our definition of perfection.  The Greek word used in Matthew for ‘perfect’ is also translated as “complete” or “whole.” In other words, we are not asked to be perfect, but to be complete and whole, to use all of our energies—spiritual, emotional, mental and physical; and we can do that, in fact, do, do that.  We are just being enjoined to use the inner spiritual more than we do.

Also, Jesus was a reformer and when he spoke of being whole and complete, he was encouraging his people to be more inclusive and let go of limited, cultural, and tribalistic thinking. He was encouraging people to think holistically, to use all their energies, especially the spiritual; to be complete (not limited) in your thinking, even as your Father (First Cause within) in Heaven (Consciousness) is whole, complete and inclusive in Its nature.

Whole, complete: both left and right, not either one or the other, but both—where would you be with just one arm? Both Republican and Democrat, not one or the other, but both. Sure we have to choose when voting, but even then, we can choose from our spiritual core the party that is most inclusive, compassionate and centered.

Perfectionism is not a virtue, but wholeness is. Seeing with the eyes of wholeness and inclusion changes everything. From there we are able to live awakened, empowered and joyous lives, and make our own unique contributions to a world that works for everyone and everything.

How Different Would Our Politics Be?

Beneath the layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame is our spiritual essence—compassion, joy, creativity, inclusion and forgiveness, the core reality of our being. This spiritual essence is not something we have to imagine or create, it is already there, within you and your enemies, the truth of who we really are. But it is beneath the layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame; beneath the layers of our ego’s bloated nothingness.  That means to reach our core reality and tap into our spiritual essence, we have to go through the layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame and not mistake them for who we are, our core reality.

The layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame are like clouds, hiding the sun. Once the clouds are gone, the sun is shining.  The cloud-like layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame that obscure the sun of our spiritual essence and core reality are no more substantial than the clouds that obscure the sun.  The layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame seem to substantial and have massive power, but in truth they are flimsy constructs of water vapor. Of course clouds do bring storms, rain, thunder and lightning, but even these are only temporary conditions, never obscuring the sun for long.

When we live on the surface of our reality, instead of the inner depths, we are victims of the storms arising from the layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame. We see with the eyes of habit, fear, anger and sometimes hope, but we do not actually see. We see, hear, and touch without truly connecting, so we are left feeling empty and unfulfilled.

But, when we live in the depths of our core spiritual reality, we no longer fear and feel the need to clamp down on our thoughts and feelings. We can allow life to happen, allowing each moment to be just as it is.  In this fluid, unobstructed way of being, everything becomes more vividly itself.  Instead of becoming unfeeling zombies, as we realize our spiritual nature we become more deeply receptive and more responsive to life, able to move through the most intense storms, guided by the sun and not be overwhelmed.

How would our politics be different, and what great things could we accomplish for America and the world if we realized who we really are, cut through the ego BS and let go of the layers of fear, anger, ignorance, attack and blame on the surface and shifted to our inner spiritual core? It wouldn’t have to happen all at once, it could be done like a process, one step, one challenge at a time.

We Agree, Why Are We Disagreeing?

Previously, I wrote about how the world view we accept as true, determines what we expect to occur; that we tend to see what we want to see, what we believe is possible. A recent survey conducted by The Atlantic magazine and the Aspen Institute reported in the 7/9&16 CS Monitor sheds much light on what world view Americans currently accept as true and what our expectations might be.

Two thirds of respondents said the country was going in the wrong direction, 70% said that people’s values were getting worse, and 46% thought that American values were likely to decline even further in the future.

The article asked if these respondents thought that their own values were getting worse, or that the values of all those other bad people out there were getting worse? The survey suggests it’s those other bad people out there, not the respondents themselves. Half the respondents admitted that they rarely attend church, but more than 62% said they believe they are more tolerant than their parents were.

“The problem with America, it appears,” said staff writer Scott Baldauf, “is other Americans.”  More than 77% believe that people are generally motivated by self-interest (dog eat dog?), 71% believe elected officials reflect the values of the wealthy (rather than the middle class), and 89% believe the values of executives on Wall Street are worse than those of ordinary Americans, because they are just plain greedy.

Wow!  Quite an amazing consensus! Seems like we ought to be able to get together.  Both Occupy and the T Party agree on these.  So what gives?

The Miraculous Shimmering

What do you accept as true and expect to occur?

Is it a world full of lack and limitation, a dangerous, dog eat dog, competitive, survival of the fittest world in which the golden rule – them with the gold, rules - applies; where evil and original sin are human nature and only the fear of God, strong law enforcement and quick and rapid punishment keep civilization afloat?

Or is it an abundant and generous, but neutral world, a world that is neither for us nor against us but one which is responsive to our deepest thoughts and feelings, a world in which human nature is good and god-like, in which cooperation, empathy—there but for the grace of God go I - compassion, trust, honesty, community, fellowship, and mutual respect keep civilization afloat?

The world view you accept as true, determines what you expect to occur. We tend to see what we want to see, what we believe is possible.

If I believe in a dog eat dog world, that’s what I see. I see people competing and tearing one another apart, and viciously attacking one another for scraps. If I believe in an abundant, neutral world, I see that it is done unto you as you believe, and I see the lilies of the field that toil not, yet are fed.

Most of us accept both world views as true, and expect both kinds of phenomena to occur.  That is duality, the belief in God and in a power equal and opposite to God. But if there’s only one God, how can there be anything equal and opposite to It? There can’t be, contemporary Judeo-Christian theology to the contrary. If I am able get my bloated nothingness out of the way and let go of the equal and opposite power, accepting the truth that there is no equal and opposite power, then I can expect to behold the “miraculous shimmering in all that exists.”

Stand Your Ground Law

The very large headline on the front page of the Herald this morning read, “’Stand Your Ground’ Has Broad Support.”  Oh, too bad!  How depressing!  Who are these people? Why am I so different?  I feel like a stranger in a strange land; cut off, disconnected and out of touch.  How am I to relate to my brothers and sisters? How can I feel comfortable, safe and at home when I know that some minor altercation might get me or someone I care about shot and killed? What depth of fear, hate and frustration is at work here?

It reminds me of how I felt when I was in the Army stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1967.  I liked Germany: good food, great scenery. But one day, walking down the street, I saw a middle-aged guy (remember this is 1967, only 23 years after the Nazis), and it suddenly struck me that he could have been an SS trooper and even put some of my relatives in the gas chambers. I let that thought go, but after that, I was forever paranoid about German men in their 40’s and older. It didn’t completely ruin Germany for me, just gave it a new dimension and an uncomfortable edge.  Now, that feeling returns as I contemplate, “’Stand Your Ground’ Has Broad Support.”

Then, a few minutes later, doing my spiritual reading in the SOM magazine, Jesse Jennings, quotes Emma Curtis Hopkins saying, “All evil is done in the name of good,” and I am reminded that besides working to understand those that support this primitive law; besides working to have it repealed; I need to know that these people desire the same good I do – peace, joy, safety; and partake of the same spiritual essence that I do; that they, too, are part of the divine unfoldment; and I can’t hold the belief that some people don’t deserve good and expect to attain that good for myself.

Isn’t it interesting how things unfold and how balance is achieved?

The Miraculous Shimmering in All That Is

What do you accept as true and expect to occur?

Is it a world full of lack and limitation, a dangerous, dog eat dog, competitive, survival of the fittest world in which the golden rule – them with the gold, rules, applies; where evil and original sin are human nature and only the fear of God, strong law enforcement and quick and rapid punishment keep civilization afloat?

Or is it an abundant and generous, but neutral world, a world that is neither for us nor against us but one which is responsive to our deepest thoughts and feelings, a world in which human nature is good and god-like, in which cooperation, empathy—there but for the grace of God go I, compassion, trust, honesty, community, fellowship, and mutual respect keep civilization afloat?

The world view you accept as true, determines what you expect to occur. We tend to see what we want to see, what we believe is possible.

If I believe in a dog eat dog world, that’s what I see. I see people competing and tearing one another apart, and viciously attacking one another for scraps. If I believe in an abundant, neutral world, I see that it is done unto you as you believe, and I see the lilies of the field that toil not, yet are fed.

Most of us accept both world views as true, and expect both kinds of phenomena to occur.  That is duality, the belief in God and in a power equal and opposite to God. But if there’s only one God, how can there be anything equal and opposite to It? There can’t be, contemporary Judeo-Christian theology to the contrary. If I am able get my bloated nothingness out of the way and let go of the equal and opposite power, accepting the truth that there is no equal and opposite power, then I can expect to behold the “miraculous shimmering in all that exists.”

The Promised Land

God’s promise to Abraham and Moses, as often reported in the Old Testament, was to take the people to a land flowing with milk and honey. What if that “land” was not a “land’ at all, not a geographical place? What if the land flowing with milk and honey is a spiritual place, ready and waiting, as promised, already within us? What if God’s promise is fulfilled, right now?

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, Jesus said. So we are in the promised land, or rather, the promised land is within us.  God, divine Mind, and Its ideas, are fully present, available and immediately, practically useful right now, right where you are, wherever you are: in traffic, on the toilet, getting chemo, watching a sunset, having sex. The awareness of this promise fulfilled, this Kingdom within, is the ‘milk and honey’, the sustenance we need waiting for us to tap into.

The Kingdom and Its milk and honey flows as pure energy along a continuum going from the invisible to the visible: from Spirit thru Mental and Emotional to the Physical. Only our thoughts and feelings limit Its manifestations.  The energy Itself is limitless, inexhaustible and unbound by human experience. Living in the Kingdom of the promised land with Its abundant flow of milk and honey is actually the truth about us, our default, once we get our bloated nothingness out of Its way.

To see It and experience It we need to believe in It and want It, letting go of fear and a belief in duality, a belief in a power opposite It. There is only one power, one God. The Kingdom of the promised land is not a far-off destination, It is at hand. Seek it first, and all else shall be added.

Desire as a Divine Urge

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What lies behind us and what lies below us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” SOM (Science of Mind) says, “The great mystics like Jesus have taught that as we enter into the One, the One enters into us and becomes us and is us.” 

What if our desire to make an authentic, particular contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything, is a spark of the divine in us, guiding and urging to express Itself, and release our hidden splendor? Would you go ahead? Why wouldn’t you?

Check out your beliefs. What if you could remake the world by remaking yourself?

Refuse to remain trapped in a prison of limitation!  Release the splendor that is your true nature. When you align with your desire to make an authentic, particular contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything, you dissolve all the rest.

Understand that your desire to contribute, your consciousness, is a window through which the divine shines Its light of compassion, peace, joy and prosperity. Know who and what you are, and who and what everyone and everything else is, and get your bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits. When you release the splendor in yourself, you inspire and enable others to do the same.

Friday Funnies

SIMPLE TRUTH 1

Partners help each other undress before sex.

However after sex, they always dress on their own.

Moral of the story: In life, no one helps you once you're screwed.

SIMPLE TRUTH 2

When a lady is pregnant, all her friends touch the stomach and saying "congrats".

But, none of them come and touch the man's penis and say "Good job".

Moral of the story: "Hard work is never appreciated.

No Underwear - Makes Sense to Me

A man came to visit his grandparents, and he noticed his grandfather sitting on the porch in the rocking chair wearing only a shirt, with nothing on from the waist down.

'Grandpa, what are you doing? Your weenie is out in the wind for everyone to see!' he exclaimed.

The old man looked off in the distance without answering.

'Grandpa, what are you doing sitting out here with nothing on below the waist?' he asked again.

The old man slowly looked at him and said, 'Well....last week I sat out here with no shirt on and I got a stiff neck. This is your grandma's idea.'

FIVE RULES TO REMEMBER IN LIFE

1. Money can not buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than on a bicycle.

2. Forgive your enemy, but remember the a**hole’s name.

3. If you help someone when they're in trouble, they will remember you when they're in trouble again.

4. Many people are alive only because it’s illegal to shoot them.

5. Alcohol does not solve any problems, but then neither does milk.

A World That Works for Everyone and Everything

I’m always writing about making an authentic contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything in it. To me, this is the ultimate goal, our purpose, the reason we are here.  It is the standard by which everything else we think feel and do is measured, not success, winning, or being a millionaire.  Making an authentic contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything in it is the best anyone can do. It is inclusive, not exclusive; it is kind and compassionate, not rough, tough and uncaring. It is about real people in the real world, not ideology and perfection.

‘Authentic’ means leading from the heart, the kind compassionate heart, not the angry, hate-filled heart, and including all four aspects of being human – spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. It is about expressing wholeness, vision and intuition as you see them, not as the bible, the law or your mom sees them. It is about owning and being responsible for what you do, not blaming others, trying to prove something, make up for past mistakes, hide your shame or unload your guilt. It is about doing the best you can, when you do something.  Not the best you’ve ever done or the best you’re capable of, but the best you can do right when you do it, in that ‘now.’

‘Contribution’ means something you do in the context of all of the above, that enhances life for everyone and everything. It doesn’t have to be huge or great or even appreciated. It could be as small as smiling at a stranger, picking up a piece of litter, or refraining from anger or blame. You don’t have to be a CEO, President of the USA, priest or rabbi. It’s about living your life from the inside out in the context of all of the above, so that what you do enhances life for everyone and everything. And, because we and all of life are interconnected, even the smallest, simplest acts that do no harm and are done with authenticity and kindness, in the context of all of the above, contribute to a world that works for everyone and everything.

A Better Way

I get very worried, upset and pessimistic at times.  It gets really fierce and stressful.  My body, heart and mind tighten up and shut down and the flight or fight response pours dangerous amounts of cortisol into my system, reinforcing the downward spiral and making it worse.  Does that happen to you, too?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I didn’t have to go through all that; if I could take a nice, deep calming breath and step back from it all?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I didn’t take things so seriously; didn’t react as if my very life and the well being of others and the entire planet were at stake?  Yes, it would be wonderful.

What if I could see mySelf watching myself, the way an adult sees a child playing with toys? At times children take things so seriously, some things that happen in their games are good, others are bad.  Yet the adult, mySelf, does not share these perceptions and judgments because It knows it’s all make believe.  Like that child, myself may believe it is involved in something serious, but the adult, mySelf, knows it’s fantasy.

That’s how we can be, the wonderful way we can feel and be in the world, when we claim our reality as Spirit. What if you experienced, and you have, but haven’t really owned it, how when you change your heart and mind, everything else changes, too?  Wouldn’t you want to work with your Self, your heart and mind first, before getting your self hooked on adrenalin, fear, worrying and doing things in the world?  Isn’t that what Dickens was telling us in the Christmas Carol?

Course in Miracles interpreter Ken Wapnick says, “when you step outside the [ego’s] dream, where Jesus is and always was, you look with him on the world and share his gentle smile, knowing that what you see are children’s games, with no real consequences.” What if you could wake up to your power?  What if you recognized this world is an hallucination, really understood that you made it up and knew that you were safe, secure, loved and at home in the arms of Spirit?  Would any of the fear, stress and uproar be necessary?  No.  Would you be able to make an authentic contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything? Yes!