Spiritgeek

An Ego A Day...

2012-01-23T15:50:00.000-08:00

The teachers from the East, Buddha, Krishna, Rama, Siva, etc., all have one thing in common, they warn us of the enslavement of the Spirit, though not always called that, to Ego in one form or another.I have always thought that if the Creator gave it to us, then it must have some purpose in the grand scheme of things.

The best reasoning that I have heard, which made surprisingly good sense to me when I first heard it, was that the ego started off as a warning system for the body to notify the Spirit that it was in need of something. Bodies do tend to be needy little creatures, always needing food or shelter or something.

Somewhere along the line, the Ego became aware that it could manipulate Spirit into giving into desires that did not actually serve a purpose, but were pleasant feeling. We like pleasure, especially over pain, and the Ego was off and running.

I have often written and spoken of the fact that we are Spiritual, eternal, entities and that physical bodies are just the theater used to interact within this thing we call creation. We create, experience and destroy (Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva) the world of Maya (illusion) around us.

Learn to recognize the Ego when it is requesting an actual need, take care of it, the body is a gift bestowed upon us. Also learn when the Ego is attempting to run amok, it will ask for anything and everything. By watching and learning, you (the Spirit Entity) regain control over the alarm system and in time the Ego will go back to what it was supposed to be.

American Fantasy #1 - The Republican Party Supports Christian Values

2011-12-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

I really have no interest in writing about politics, as far as I'm concerned George Carlin got it right years ago;

Poli: Latin for many
Tics: Small blood sucking creatures

In today's world though, politics and religion have become so intertwined that to talk about the one requires thinking of the other (just where did Separation of Church and State go?!?).

In some ways, I guess the current religio-political nightmare has shown some improvement; in the election of John F. Kennedy it was wondered about electing a Catholic and now we have a Mormon running and making it through the "Christian Litmus Test" (that may have more to do with the Mormons being overwhelmingly Republican and voting in line with the Christian Right than with Christian acceptance).

The Creation of the Modern Neo-Conservative Republican/Christian Alliance

In the late '70's and into the '80's the United States the influence of ~~Francis Schaeffer~~ [ Correction: where Francis Schaeffer was also instrumental with these Christian Leaders, I meant to reference Paul Weyrich ] began to grow within the Christian Right and he has often been referred to as the Father of the Modern Christian Political Movement. He is often credited by many of the "players" of the movement such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Gary Dobson as a major inspiration.

When I think about the union of these two groups, I have always wondered about what a strange set of bedfellows they make. Both are absorbed in value systems that seem on fundamental levels to be at odds with the other.

The Republican Party has been solidly a pro-business party since 1896 in the eyes of many. As a party there is the fundamental belief that business should be given a freehand and as little interference from government as possible (a dangerous idea to my view if you have no consequences for bad behavior).

This view has laid the fundamental groundwork for two financial crashes, though some say the Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression may have also been manipulated into being by the supported business interests of the party, greed often appears to run hand-in-hand with many of these policies.

The Party's stance on Personal Responsibility is another area where they seem to be at odds with the ideals of the Christian theology. I agree that people should be responsible for themselves as much as possible, but even with the best planning and intentions, things can go wrong and a safety net to help one recover would seem to be in line with Christian values.

The business policies of the party the last few decades has been such that many people have been forced out of their jobs and yet the party feels no compulsion to help them through the transition, seeming to take a "it's their own fault" attitude. The more extreme members seem unable to see any link between the policies and the results.

The Riding of Christian Voters for Republican Aims

With the underlying core values of the party of late, I have always thought that unbeknownst to the Christian Right, the Republican Party has been taking them for a ride. Many members of the party may subscribe to Christian Values, but the aspect of the party that is all about business, money and corporate culture are only interested in the voting blocks, not the issues if one looks at how they run their businesses. My Dad often said that "actions speak louder than words" and in this case, what are their actions?

Closing employment opportunities here and shipping them where they can basically get away with slave wages
No regard for those that have been harmed by their actions
Destruction of resources in the name of profit and little to no regard for the damage caused
Negligence in their operations where it was in the interest of the "bottom line"

The people who operate in such a fashion likely find the Christian Conservatives easy bedfellows, the vast majority of things that the Christian voting blocks ask for cost little to nothing. The Christian voting block is not asking for money to feed the poor, educate their children, supply health care, redress the damages caused in the service of business' bottom-line (you would think those who follow a teacher who says things like; when you feed the poor, you feed me, would want these things).

In the last few years we have seen that these voters will often vote against their own best interest in support of candidates that are clearly owned by the business interests. If a candidate does not cut the financial mustard, they are accused of being pro-choice, anti-Israel, pro-gay rights or same-sex marriage. The "dog and pony show" kicks into high gear and sadly the voters drink the Kool-Aid with a smile on their lips and a song on their heart.

So I repeat, I do not think that the Republican Party leadership is Christian any more than they absolutely feel they have to be so they can manipulate a large block of votes on election day. I have noticed several leaders of the Christian Political Arm starting to admit to thinking the same thing.

So look at the actions of the party, outside the realm of religious thought and see if it truly supports the philosophy that Christianity teaches. See if the party will support you when you cost it money.

Many people consider Fox News to be the voice of the Republican Party, a friend of mine recently told me that that is an illusion. Fox News, in his opinion, is the mouthpiece of Corporate Culture and the Mega-Rich and will drop the Republican Party the moment the party is no longer in step. Is it possible that the Republican Party feels the same way about the Christian Right?

"The 65" and the true power in the USA

2011-10-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

"The 99" are the people that have been left behind by the few with all the money and power in our country, though I suspect it has become a cancer throughout our modern world.

Sadly, there are a third who have drunk so much of the Kool-Aid that they will never be willing or able to see that they are slaves in the deepest of bondage. In the days of African slavery in this country, there was the expression of the "House Nigger" who believed they had the best their life could offer, maybe they did for the world and time they lived in, but they were so tied to this belief they would never be willing to act against their bondage.

This third will listen to their Corporate Masters and do as they are told for a collection of reasons that will mainly be nothing but justifications of their fear of rocking the boat, their belief that they do have some life and their fear that it could be worse. It very well may be that they are eternally lost; that their belief in what has happened to them is truly just, they are to be pitied and held up as examples of what the 1% has done, do not hate them for they are lambs that have succumb to the indoctrination they are for slaughter on the alters of greed and power.

"The 65" can change the nation!

The 1% may hold the money and power to flood the market with their message, "The 65" still carry the majority where it truly counts, the ability to actually cast a vote. This is why the 1% are trying so hard to exclude people from being able to exercise their right to cast that vote.

It will require taking a chance for electing people who care about you, even if they do not share all your beliefs and opinions. The media is owned and operated by the Masters and that small percentage that is not, lives under the tyranny of having their advertising revenues cut by the other side of the same Board Rooms that own the rest of the Media. It truly is a leviathan that we have allowed to grow on Wall St and in Washington, amongst other places.

The simple fact is that in the long run, this is a war of attrition, they cannot win this battle unless "The 65" or "The 99" let them.

"In 1917 Gandhi said that the people's victory against the British was a mathematical certainty. "100,000 English cannot control 35 million Indians who choose to disobey." Two years later, in April 1919, after the British proposed new laws which would deny Indians basic civil liberties, Gandhi demonstrated this power of disobedience by calling for a "national day of prayer and fasting" which had the effect of a national strike. He understood the power of right and the power of non-cooperation, and used them successfully for the first time."

"Mohandas Gandhi: The Art of Nonviolence"
by Peter N. Herndon
This simple idea brought the British Empire to its knees, the very same principle will throw our attempted Masters into a tailspin, for the 1% is only three-million people, of which I suspect the actual brokers are far less than that, but before you think that is so much and impossible, "The 65" are around 200,000,000.

Calling "The 65" to take action...

I call on "The 65" to unify under the banner of reclaiming our Nation, removing the Masters and what they have been allowed to become through our negligence as a nation. Some will be Christian, others will not be, some will support the right of a woman to choose while others will not, some will support Love in whatever its form and celebrate it with all the rights and privileges, responsibilities and obligations of marriage and yet others will not. These are the illusions used to control you for if you truly believe in American Freedom, it cannot be just yours alone, but the freedom for others to choose differently; without this, it is not freedom, but hypocrisy.

Throw off the chains of your Masters and use that large mass of grey matter that your God or evolution put there for a reason, not just to keep our heads from imploding.

You want an idea of just how simple it is to have a bloodless-coup? If "The 65" can get together and vote for the big picture and not get lost in the divisiveness that will be used to manipulate and control them, in as little as six years the entire system can be overthrown without a single act of violence. It should actually be much faster than that, this is actually a worst case scenario. In reality, a single election in 2012 with a united voice will change enough of the current structure to force them to change on their own.

"The 65" and the NEW Revolution

Changing this country does not require a Revolution of Blood in the traditional sense, the blood that counts is not red, but in America it is the blood of the green; that is the second way you bring them into control, their bottom lines, but that is for another day and another time.

Think about where the power of "The 65" can be applied, work with your fellow countrymen, they may not agree in all things, but they do agree with you on the big issue reclaiming the United States from the 1% minority, that is where the war really is.

Oh no the Devil didn't

2011-08-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

I was brought up with the idea that the Devil was out there in a spiritual war with God and that all people were the pawns in this cosmological warfare. Later I learned about how I would spend eternity in either Heaven or Hell based upon how I fared in the above battle. I also became aware that unless I turned into Linda Blair's character in "The Exorcist" that a comedic punchline of my youth was impossible, "the Devil made me do it."

Short of possession, the Devil, or any other spirit, cannot make you do anything, at best they can suggest, lure or tempt. Think about it for a moment, if you are possessed, you are not in control, so how can you be responsible for your actions, the possessor is.

The awkward fact is that we are responsible for our actions because, like it or not, conscious or not, we made the choice to do the act. This choice is why we are "damned" by our actions.

I cannot help but laugh at this idea of being damned, it is so like us to create our gods in our own image. Judgment and punishment are what we would do, so of course our gods have to do likewise.

Salvation comes from our learning of such things so we can make better choices. Grace comes from the simple idea that no matter how lost we get in the "illusion" of this reality, our true selves are unaffected, we remain a part and parcel of God's totality.

So awaken to your choices and by becoming aware, you will do better with each attempt. Just remember when you slip up, be kind to yourself, learn from it and remind yourself, "Oh no the Devil didn't."

Oxymorons pt2 - The "Why"

2011-07-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

I reread my last blog entry and I realized that it expressed some of my frustrations with the world of 21^st Century America (the rest of the world is jumping onto the bandwagon as well), but I did not really express why I was putting them out into the world.

For all the altruistic reasons that I can think of, the simple fact is that there were (and are) only three reasons.

Those items are some of my personal favorite facepalm moments. We are supposedly an intelligent species, I keep wondering when we will begin acting like one.
A warning of things to come.
I had a plate of cheese and crackers nearby and wanted to have a bit of a wine fest, so I let it rip (next time I will just stick with a bottle of Two Buck Chuck, a better buzz).

The Universe is actually an exceedingly just and balanced place, with both the good and the bad that happens being deserved. People get the reactions to the thoughts and actions that they put out into the world (consciously or otherwise), as well as nation-states getting the leadership (or lack thereof) the people deserve or, more accurately, create (scary thought that).

Many people do not like this philosophy and as often that I hear the examples of good things happening to bad people, as well as the reverse, I find it to be the only way that the Universe and/or Bob (God) could be anything resembling good. Add to this the idea of reincarnation, that multiple lifetimes are involved, and it makes for an excellent and fair system from the big picture, while not so much from the smaller, self-induced amnesiac, perspective.

I spend a lot of time contemplating the likely reaction to the actions of the world today. We are on a path of self-destruction and I cannot help but wonder if George Carlin was right when he reminded us that "Saving the Planet" is an arrogant self-indulgent statement, the Earth will definitely outlast mankind, it's us that needs the saving if we wish to continue to live here.

Life will always exist on this planet, the question is if it will be compatible with our current form, homosapien.

It is out of compassion that I bring these things to your attention.

Compassion of this type is like telling someone they are about to step into a bear-trap, it is rarely appreciated, but, in my opinion, is preferable in that it allows the avoidance the oncoming pain. Sadly, we tend to be so focused on our perspective that we dismiss the warning, step into the trap and then blame the person who warned us for not being more forceful(?) with it (a no win situation for sure, now you know why prophets tend to keep their mouth shut).

It reminds me of the old joke:

The river is rising and Mrs. Smith's house is flooding, a truck comes by and offers to take her to higher ground, "Oh, no thank you, I have faith in God to protect me."

The water rises higher and a boat comes by an offers to take her to safety, and once again, the response is, "Oh, no thank you, I have faith in God to protect me."

Finally, the water is up to the roof and a helicopter drops a ladder to her and still she says, "Oh, no thank you, I have faith in God to protect me."

Eventually the water rushes over her and she drowns in the swollen river. Mrs. Smith comes before God and asks, "I had faith in you to protect me, why did you allow this to happen?"

God looks at her and says, "I sent a truck, a boat and even a helicopter, what more did you expect?"

So I ask you, what more do YOU expect and what will it take to motivate you to change things, or do you like where they are going?

Of course, there is the off chance that I am just a bit pessimistic and Politicians and Corporations really do have our best interest at heart and I am just to short-sighted to see it (sure, and donkey's fly).

Oxymorons of our day

2011-07-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

I hear people complain about what they see as wrong with the world (I am amazed how much of this time is spent with the dog-and-pony show presented by the media), but the vast majority are not willing to actually DO anything, they would rather go hang with there friends at the club or watch TV until their brains turn into something with the consistency of tapioca.

If we continue our current path of apparently shortsighted and selfishness as a people, what does that say about us and where will it take us? So I hereby place a few of the most obvious (to me at least) political/cultural oxymorons of our time;

How have we convinced people that their children do not need an education while at the same time discussing the dumbing down of the nation and its inability to raise children who cannot compete in the global marketplace?

I hear people talking about the privatizing of basic social services, from schools to even police and fire departments. Should I be happy when I see a child carrying a textbook that is labelled as "sponsored by Company-X?" Can I count on it being accurate?
How was it that the poor and middle-classes have been convinced that any social safety-net should be done away with during a difficult economic time, but the mega-rich deserve to keep tax cuts that would have paid for it all, not new taxes but the expiration of a temporary easements, that's why they were called "tax cuts" to begin with. Has anyone noticed the Reagan's "Trickle Down Economics" seems to have been dammed somewhere between the mega-rich and the middle-class, not to mention the lower-class.
I remember being told that "Freedom of the Press" was what made us so much better than them, but the press in this country is no longer free, I would propose that it is currently less free in America than it was in the former Soviet Republic's "Pravda".

In today's United States, the slavery of the press is not to the government, but to the corporations that either own the media or pay for and extort the media through advertising.
When people think Rush Limbaugh is a reporter, he's a political commentator (analyst at best) last time I checked, and Fox News actually compares itself to political satirists as proof of its validity to be claimed as news, (let's not even discuss "fair and balanced"), what does it say about where we have gone as a nation?

This is by NO means a complete list of issues in this country, but it is a beginning, a place to begin. The simple fact is that if you think things are bad now, without some course correction, it gets a lot worse.

The longer things are allowed to follow their current path, the harder it will be to not only actually institute change, but the barriers placed by those who have accumulated power will be all that much harder to remove.

So I will leave you with some favorite quotes from one of the Founding Fathers;

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories."

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."

“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”

Thomas Jefferson

Sin, Guilt and Innocence

2011-06-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

As a student of Spirit, little less as a teacher, I am often asked about the concept of sin. The more I think about it, the more I find the preoccupation with sin to be sadder and sadder.

One of my favorite films, "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", has an amazing line in it where young Francesco has just explained to Pope Innocent III what he wants, to find the joy and peace he sees in the animals around him. Pope Innocent III replies that "In our obsession of original sin, we too often forget original innocence."

I often wonder if our apparent obsession with others sins is more an attempt to elevate ourselves, especially those in positions of celebrity and fame (this would explain all the tabloid journalism at the grocery checkout).

In "A Course in Miracles" there is the statement that there is only one sin, forgetting our true nature and relationship to God, Source (or Bob). All these other "sins" that we worry about are not even seen by Source since they do not actually exist, they are nothing more than the manifestations of that one sin, a mistaken idea that we have brought into manifestation.

The real problem with the world is not sin but guilt in that it is our guilt over past "sins" that we torment ourselves as well as energize the thoughts that the Law of Attraction cannot help but bring into manifestation.

So lighten up on yourself, the worst you have done is make an error, that will be forgiven by Spirit, reclaim your identity to Source and find yourself outside the realm of "original sin" and return to your natural state of "original innocence."

Be an original, swim upstream

2011-06-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

I find it amazing how we change as we grow up (ewww) and older (ick). Since I wrote my last entry I have been looking back over my life and I have been very surprised at some of the things I used to do that I would not even consider doing now (as a pseudo grown-up).

One of the best dates I ever had came from a ride home. When we arrived at my place, I leaned over and kissed a nearly complete stranger. I don't know why, I wanted to and instead of being terrified of the outcome I just did it, predating Nike's "Just Do It" campaign by 4 years (Spring of 1984 vs July 1^st, 1988). I got a date out of it since the party kissed was so surprised by it they remembered me and later asked me out.

Some would say with age comes wisdom, I say they should stick that back in their butt where it came from and admit it for what it is, conformity.

We often hear about school students, particularly high school, and how far many will go to fit in, to be accepted and the lengths some are driven to by bullying and by being social outcasts.

As humans, we have a natural tendency to want to be accepted, particularly by our peers, but there are often times when the individual must stand up and say "I WILL or WILL NOT do (fill in the blank) because it is right or what I think or believe."

I am realizing as of late just how much strength and courage it takes to be an original, to swim upstream when everyone else is "going with the flow."

Get in the habit of being an original before you get older, it may be difficult now, but it is much harder to reclaim it later when you have created a life out of conformity.

Once you loose you voice it is even harder to find it again as I have recently become aware.

The Gloves Come Off...

2011-06-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

Someone once said something along the lines of "The true fear is not that the Universe is unjust, but that it is truly just." This idea can strike fear into the heart of the stoutest human and cause the Earth to tremble on its foundations.

Religion, Philosophy, Theology and (sadly) Politics fall into the same vein.

The Orthodoxy is in the business of keeping the status quo and I have recently realized that much of the work I have done in the last few months has been very dissatisfying because I have neglected being authentic to myself and the way I express. Instead, I have been trying to not "rock the boat" when what I want to do is tip it over and make everyone swim for a bit, even if only to awaken them a little.

I have nearly finished my current book, "10 Secrets to the Secret", but on reading it, where it's pretty good and will likely fit well on the bookshelf at what few bookstores remain open in today's world, I do not really want to put my name on it, It is just not my book on the Law of Attraction.

The same has been true for a while on this blog and my newsletter, they get the message across, but I see so little of me in it, I almost wonder if I am outsourcing it (now there is an idea, how much to get some Indian to write my blog? Hmmmm, they are likely to get the Sanskrit parts right a lot easier than I do).

So I guess what I am trying to say is that I, first, want to apologize for not having been true to my inspirations, and secondly, warn you that the tone around here is likely to change. The part of my writing that I dislike the most is the lack of humor and fun. I teach that Life is supposed to be an entertainment for the Spirit, I have been suffocating my chance to be fun in the name of "fitting in," screw that, it is not only making my writing boring, but it is beginning to kill me, literally and figuratively.

So the gloves come off! (Pass the hand cream!)

One of the inspirations I list on my website is Dr. euGene Scott, I realize now that not only was he right to present what was on his heart in his own way, but as I heard someone say earlier today, "God created you as you are, He celebrates when you are the you He made you to be."

So I am going to finish this entry off with the wisdom of a child, a young girl from Oprah Winfrey's school in Africa by the name of Lesego;

You are an individual. Act like an individual. Don't try to blend in. Blend out.

Problem Solving 101

2011-01-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

I have heard it said on many occasions that the only constant in the Universe is change. Depending on the day, ones mood, what the latest change is and how you deal with it will determine you feelings toward this.

I have been going through a plethora of changes as of late. I thought the end of last year was going to be the majority, but so far this year has all been about changes. I sometimes forget that when I go through these moments that I can get so close to them that it is like walking up to a cliff-face, knowing there is something wonderful up there, but being so close, all I can see is the looming wall in my way.

These moments are actually good things, blessings. When you face them, know that it is NEVER insurmountable, and if at all possible, remember that you placed it there. Celebrate the moment of growth that is before you.

I know that sounds a bit silly to many of you, but if you can re-align your perception of the moment from viewing it as an obstacle to viewing it as an adventure, you will find whatever it is to be much easier to get through.

One of my favorite benefits of this view is that it allows you to reclaim your power over the situation. You are no longer its victim or having it done TO you, but now you have the power to DO TO IT what you wish.

The first few times it can seem impossible, but take a step back, a deep breath or two and just look at what is directly in front of you and deal with that. Then you can go on to what appears next, if you deal with it in this way, before you know it, that MAJOR difficulty suddenly becomes a collection of tiny little problems and before you know it, they are all out of the way and you can look back and ask yourself; "What was I thinking?"

PC = Orwellian Newspeak?

2011-01-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

I am SO hoping that someone will channel Mark Twain to get his opinions on the latest round of ”Political Correctness” going around. I would pay to hear his thoughts on this...

I was so saddened to hear that there is soon to be a “sanitized” version of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” available for the general public. Twain scholar Judith Lee believes that you, the general public, are too stupid to handle Twain's use of certain words that by the standards of today may offend.

She [Judith Lee] argued that Twain's use of racial epithets was meant to be read ironically but that an appreciation of irony was an “advanced interpretive skill.” For a “general audience,” Lee said, a bowdlerized version will do.

Op-Ed: 'Huck' and 'Rent' done wrong
Tim Rutten
LA Times 01/08/2011
Also in the piece was a mention that at Monrovia High, an already “sanitized-for-high-schools version” of “Rent”, basically a retelling of “La Boheme”, was being cancelled with the District Superintendent, Linda Wagner, giving the reason of:

“We need to consider all our constituents” and from now on, the school only will be allowed to put on plays that “every child and every parent find to be acceptable.” She told another reporter this week that this play “is not family friendly” because it depicts “characters who have some dark issues they're dealing with”…

Where Monrovia's new standards leave its drama program is anybody's guess. You could, one supposes, go back to the classics, say, Sophocles' “Oedipus the King,” which Aristotle singled out for praise in his “Poetics.” No, that won't do — there's incest. Shakespeare's a problem — witchcraft in “Macbeth,” teenage sexuality in “Romeo and Juliet” and ageism in “King Lear.” Let's not even talk about “Othello” or “The Merchant of Venice.” No Ibsen — syphilis in “Ghosts” and disrespect for authorities in “An Enemy of the People.” Maybe something American: “Long Day's Journey Into Night” is out — drug and alcohol addiction there; “Death of a Salesman” undermines capitalism, and “Inherit the Wind” denigrates biblical inerrancy.

Tim Rutten
LA Times 01/08/2011
Political Correctness is nothing more than a socially acceptable lie that is based upon a completely false premise, you have the right and society has an obligation to make sure that you are not adversely affected by anything you may see or hear. In other words, if it might upset you, or potentially shatter some illusion you may carry, you should be shielded from it.

It is one thing to be aware of your audience and not to offend them without intent or cause or just being rude for rudeness' sake, but the idea that it is all well and good to ban the usage of words, ideas or such because “someone” may be put off is described so beautifully by Patrick Buchanan in his book, “The Death of the West.”

Political Correctness is Cultural Marxism, a regime to punish dissent and to stigmatize social heresy as the Inquisition punished religious heresy. Its trademark is intolerance.

I can tell you from personal experience that Political Correctness will not help you in any way, in fact I can nearly guarantee you that it will impede you in the long run because it is most often by having your cage rattled that you begin to learn from your experience.

As a Life Coach and Counsellor I am practically in the business of being “Politically Incorrect” since I HAVE to tell you things you most likely have spent a lifetime avoiding, I am in the tree rattling business a lot of the time.

People often ask me why a benevolent God would allow pain into the world, is it really the punishment that we interpret it to be? Simply put, it is a blessing that most of us do not recognise. It is through pain in all its forms that we are motivated to grow, to change, it is our number one motivator. Without pain, we are happy to stay exactly where we are.

When I think about Political Correctness, I cannot help but think of George Orwell's Newspeak in “1984” which he described as; “It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words.”

So remember the three great truths that in many ways embody the thought process of Newspeak and it's current incarnation as Political Correctness:

War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.

Authenticity

2010-12-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

About a year ago, I went to a weekend seminar called "The Forum" as part of the Landmark Education Series. I really enjoyed the seminar and left with many interesting insights into the workings of the mind, defined by the context of the Forum as the bio-chemical brain, I define this as the part that acts as a signal processor from the physical world to the Spiritual one, a communications interface between the Physical and Astral bodies.

One of the areas the went into is the idea of "Authenticity" and how most people are inauthentic in their day-to-day lives. I understand this perspective, it is the same one that makes people like Bill Maher feel that all Religion is sheer foolishness and dangerous. When you judge something by the external representations given by men, it is amazingly obvious that many people would feel this way.

I think though, that Landmark and many others are looking in the wrong place for their perspective. The question is not if people are authentic, but WHAT they are authentic to? Simply put, EVERYONE is always authentic to something, but are they aware and/or honest about what it is they are being authentic to?

From the day-to-day perspective of people giving their word to something and then following through, most of us have become so bad at this that we come off as being quite in-authentic, hence the perspective of Landmark et al.

I had a discussion with someone a while back that was the most direct statement of authenticity that I can remember hearing, not only for the direct honesty, but because I truly doubt the person giving the statement had any clue just how honest they were being about the subject.

The details of the conversation are unimportant, but it had to do with the possible drastic measures that could be put into effect if people were not willing and/or capable of following through on their word. The received response was that if that happened that they would quit. The simple and direct statement was not only just a statement of pure authenticity, but showed that they were willing to put themselves through all sorts of extra efforts rather that follow through on the subject.

So what we need to do is not judge ourselves and others as being inauthentic, but to determine what it is that we are being authentic to. I will give you an example from my experience at the "Forum."

I wanted to take Spiritgeek.com from a side project and turn it into the central focus of my life, thus putting myself into the targeting sights of my Forum leader. At the time, I thought she was being really tough on me and not really listening to what it was that I was saying, but the issue was not hers, but mine. I was so listening to the justifications and reasons for what was happening that I had lost focus on what I was being authentic to.

In this particular case and time, I was being authentic to keeping a paycheck coming in, the stability of having my basic needs met by a job that was really beginning to cause me problems. I was becoming more and more unhappy with the current arrangements, but I was willing to pay for my stability, in a mundane sense, with the added stress of the work situation and the lack of peace that I was having in my day-to-day existence.

So the issue was not that I was being in-authentic, but what it was I was being authentic to. What areas are you authentic to that you are not necessarily aware of? Find them, decide if that is where you wish to be authentic in your existence and if not, change it.

Rocky Horror Memories

2010-10-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

I am so amazed with Ryan Murphy's show "Glee." Every time I think he has done something that is going to be impossible to surpass, he surprises me. My first amazement was his "The Power of Madonna" show and then he blew me away with his Lady Gaga "Theatricality" episode. I was watching this weeks episode from last night and good luck topping tonight's.

Now I will admit freely that part of the difficulty Ryan's going to have is he hit a topic close to my heart and just completely full of memories; The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The first time I went to see Rocky Horror, I didn't care for it; the audience was constantly screaming, I couldn't hear half the story or the numbers, people were throwing stuff and what I could make out of it did not make ANY sense to me, I never expected to go back.

(Mom and Dad, you may not want to read this as you are going to learn some things you probably did not know and ignorance may just be bliss...)

Sometime around late 1979 to early 1980 I was hanging out with a group of friends and they decided that they wanted to go and I was not very enthusiastic about it.

At this time in my life I was coming to grasp with just what my differences meant in my world of the time, social outcast (or pariah), what was left of my home life falling apart and my beginning to become aware that "I" had no say in any aspect of my home life and I had tended to start spending as little time at home as possible.

I went to the Varsity Theater at 6610 Delmar Blvd in University City and stood in line with a collection of punks, glams and costumed characters waiting around smoking everything from Marlboros to Jakarta Cloves and a few things that are still not legal in most towns. What should I have expected for a movie that only runs on Friday and Saturday nights starting at midnight?

At the Varsity, Rocky Horror always started with a cartoon I cannot remember, the video intro to Meatloaf's "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth" followed by "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and finally Tim Curry's "I Do the Rock." The room would go dark and a giant set of lips would begin to appear on the screen while a cast of live characters would do the "Science Fiction/Double Feature" line dance, kinda a Bob Fosse on a lazy day (I still remember all the steps and motions -- frightening).

Needless to say, by the end of the evening I was hooked. I really got into what was going on and made a collection of new friends and acquaintances that did something no one else in my life had until that time, like and accept me for me, not what they wanted me to be.

As I said, things at home were not going well and the Psychiatrist my family had me going to creeped me out completely so I was not getting any "therapy" there. Rocky Horror became my new therapy. I could go every Friday and Saturday night, let my hair down, be myself, enjoy everything and release the last week's frustration and anxiety.

Very quickly I became friends with and later joined the "cast" as Riff Raff, the Butler/Handyman. I spent time and what little money I had at the time to buy a tailcoat and made a hunchback out of an old military backpack I had which also came in handy for the additional props one takes to Rocky Horror; rice, newspaper, water pistol, lighter, rubber gloves, noise-maker, toilet paper, toast, party hat, bell, cards and hot dogs.

I made such an effort to go EVERY week, I rode my bike about 10 miles each way on many occasions, I even "borrowed" my parents car once in a while to get there. I remember fighting with my parents about going to that "cult" film and trying, in vain, to explain that this was not the Moonies but a regular group of people who return week after week.

I will never forget one night on the way home with a group of friends when I made the fateful decision to be the last person dropped off and we got pulled over for having a headlight out. I had the pleasure of being carted off to the local police station, in full costume and makeup, then transported to Juvenile Detention for being out after curfew and I enjoyed sitting in a holding cell till around 9 or 10 the next morning before my step-mom came to pick me up.

As the years went on, I would continue going to Rocky in cities all over the country and recently decided to finish the last 12 theater viewings to make 1000 shows (I don't count video and DVD viewings, not nearly as much fun). Likely I will finish this off at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles.

For me, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has been one of those threads that has joined all the periods of my life through the years. I have met people that have amazed me in their variety and joy, all brought together by a film about a cross-dressing mad scientist, his creation and the innocent young couple who stumbles across an intergalactic party, set to fun music that has kept it's joy for 35 years.

So Ryan, I salute you for your comment about why Rocky Horror spoke to me and all those like me:

“It [Rocky Horror] was for outcasts, people on the fringes who had no place left to go but were searching for someplace, anyplace, where they felt like they belonged.”

Will Schuester

Sparing the Rod

2010-10-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

I was reading a personal ad earlier by a young man looking for a partner in life and he wants to have children. He comes from a more traditional background and spent part of his ad discussing his beliefs in child-rearing and specifically mentioned the following;

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

Proverbs 13:24 (NIV)
There seems to be an assumption in today's world that this, and other similar verses, are a justification for spanking, hitting or beating children, it is not.

One of the things we forget about in trying to understand the scriptures of the world is often to put them into cultural context so that we can make heads-or-tails of the metaphors that are used. In the case of the Hebrews the predominate metaphor is that of a shepherd and his flock.

When a shepherd uses his rod to guide the flock, it is not about beating the livestock, but about putting a barrier in front of, prodding and maybe an occasional tapping at most. When my cats attempt to get into what I am eating, I often take my hand and put it between them and their object of interest. They are not particularly fond of it, one occasionally hisses at me for a moment, but it supplies guidance to where they may or may not be.

Children need guidance from their parents, it is how they are kept safe and taught what is and is not acceptable behavior. I find that more than spanking a child one can talk with, not at, them and the child learns.

The biggest place that I find most parents losing the game is through a failure of consistency. I so often hear parents set a barrier for their children and then not follow through, children are a lot brighter than we often assume. I hate to say it, but children learn how to manipulate their parents very early, it is part of the early stages of learning to communicate so it is not as bad as it sounds.

So when we talk about "sparing the rod or spoiling the child" we are talking about what all parents have to do, supply guidance for their children. Discipline is a way of supplying guidance, but physical abuse and beatings are not, remember that!

The Meaning of Life

2010-10-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Religion and Philosophy in truth have the same purpose, to try to answer the question of the meaning of life.

In philosophy the question is addressed through the “general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.”^[1]

In religion there is usually the discussion of deity or deities and the ways to appease them. Sadly, these ideas are not actually what religion is about when you read most of the founders. They usually refer to the idea of finding deity within ourselves and bringing it into manifestation.

In this context, religion takes on the Latin origin of re-ligare^[2] which means to relink or rejoin. I have always found it interesting that this definition for religion is nearly the same as the word "yoga" (Sanskrit, Pāli: योग yóga) which means to rejoin.^[3]

To relink or rejoin what?

I have mentioned on many occasions the amazement that I felt when I realized that every Religion agrees on the idea that we are eternal Spiritual or Energy beings that only inhabit these bodies and then continue after wards in some other existence.

Many would call this a return to the Source or, some would call, God (oh no, he used the "G" word). Call this whatever you may.

The Buddha talks about reaching the state of Nirvāna (Sanskrit: निर्वाण) which literally means “blowing out.” It is a state where the metaphorical “fires” of desire, hatred and delusion are blown out or cease to be the controlling forces in life.

In Hinduism the idea is expressed in many ways ranging from the Vedantist's “neti neti” (Sanskrit: नेति नेति) which is used to separate the real from the illusion and since everything the senses can recognize is illusion the idea is the translation of “Not this, not that.” Many other sects refer to it as rejoining their view of the ultimate aspect of God which can only happen through “Self-Realization” in one form or another.

The Abrahamic traditions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have an often overlooked expression of this in the first book of Moses, Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, "birth", "origin," from Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית, B'reishit, "in the beginning").

At the end of the second chapter we have a statement “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Gen 2:25). Immediately after this is the famous temptation and fall. The very first thing that happens is that they become aware of their nakedness and were so ashamed they covered themselves and hid from the presence of God when he came to visit. I cannot help giggling at the first question out of God's mouth after hearing of their awareness of their nakedness; “Who told thee that thou wast naked?” (Gen 3:11)^[4]

The Meaning of Life

The underlying idea in all these traditions are the same, restore knowledge of our true selves. This is the Meaning of Life; to reclaim our rightful existences as Spirit, energy beings and place the focus of our Life there.

This is my personal favorite quote about this:

“You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience.”

Teilhard de Chardin
When we stop looking for happiness in those things we find around us and reacquaint ourselves with this higher nature, my personal experience is that all things become a joy and sadness and hopelessness vanish.

So I place a challenge before you, start to look at your life from the perspective of that Spirit or Energy being and see what it does to your perspectives on Life. If you are anything like I am, in a surprisingly short time you will find those things that were SO important yesterday will make you wonder and laugh at their silliness today.

Try it and tell me what happens, I dare you!

Footnotes:
1 Wikipedia.org Article on Philosophy
2 Wikipedia.org Article on Religion, Section: Etymology
3 Wikipedia.org Article on Yoga
4 The complete example from the King James Bible

Power through revealing "evil"

2010-09-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

I get asked about evil a lot, I guess it is one of the hazards of the job since I do not believe in evil.

Before you start to give me all the reasons and examples (please no references to Adolph Hitler or Jeffrey Dahmer please) take a moment to ponder the idea that I do not believe in evil since that makes evil an actual thing.

Evil is the lack of compassion and the ultimate of egoistic selfishness. Evil is not something unto itself, but the lack of what we "judge" to be the opposite. So, evil is not a thing unto itself, but a name that we give to avoid something we as humans tend to avoid.

By taking a judgment and treating it as something "real" unto itself, we not only live within an illusion of our own making, but we deny ourselves the opportunity of the power that comes from seeing evil for what it is.

Somewhere in our history, personal or cultural, we have become convinced that we are without power and that makes us believe we are victims. Victimhood comes across as if it empowers us, no blame or responsibility, but in the end it does nothing but rob us.

So instead of being the victims of the mistaken idea of evil, empower yourself by removing the ability of evil to exist, find something to love in everything and see the power that is all around.

This simple process allows us to increase our personal power and removes a debilitating illusion, making it a win-win.

Quick Update

2010-09-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been around for a while. The Spiritgeek.com site is getting a complete reworking and should be finished in the next few days.

I've also been finishing up the manuscript for "10 Secrets to the Secret" which should be ready to go to the publisher shortly.

Also, here's a little something to wrap your minds around: XMD39ET3CXUM if you can guess drop me a note!

History Repeats Itself... again

2010-08-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

I am often amused by watching the statement from George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" happen again and again.

We are getting ready for mid-term elections in the US and the same old tricks are coming out, I sometimes wonder what it says about a country that falls for the same trickery every two years?

One REALLY obvious example is in California with Prop 19, an initiative to legalize marijuana and tax it along the same lines as alcohol and tobacco.

Most people are unaware that pot was criminalized in the 1930s at the behest of the cotton industry that did not want the competition from hemp. Sadly, the hemp plant is both hardier and less detrimental to the fields unto which it is grown and can yield several crops per year where cotton tends to leach the soil of its nutrients and being notoriously difficult to grow and process. The other use was an excuse.

I often think of George Carlin's famous discussion of pot use in one of his acts where he posed the question, "What's the worst crime a pot-head is going to commit? Steal a Twinkie?" The crime attributed to drugs is most often either victimless, use or possession, or due to the unavailability by criminalization and that raising the cost.

We have apparently not learned the lesson of 1919 with the prohibition of alcohol with the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution and the subsequent 1933 repeal with the 21^st Amendment. As a nation, the US should have learned a lesson that you cannot prohibit anything as long as there is a demand for the product. Apparently not.

We spend millions and billions pursuing the illegal drug trade in this country and the D.E.A. admits that illegal drugs are more available now then at any time, in other words, it has been not only a complete failure but a waste of resources that could just as easily been put to much better use.

On top of that, we have made many people excruciatingly wealthy as the suppliers and overloaded our jails with non-violent offenders that did nothing more then be in possession of a substance that as adults should be their choice.

I am neither for nor against drugs from a moralistic point of view, people will do what they want no matter what I or society says, history has shown this to us repeatedly.

Know what the largest killer of illegal drugs is? Overdose. This is most often caused by the lack of regulation and quality/quantity control. People are used to getting some drug at some level of potency and then they get something much more potent and die.

If people want it so badly, let them do it, or take away their alcohol and nicotine as well. Maybe Canada has a good idea with tobacco. They tax the hell out of it to pay for the additional costs of dealing with the later health effects caused by its use, maybe some variation could be used here.

For me it breaks down as follows, why can we always come up with the money to do something that history has repeatedly shown does not work. Since we are so busy spending money on these wastes, we cannot fund education and public programs that could benefit all society. I get so tired of hearing how children and the ill are constantly getting funding cuts when we throw away this money.

I am waiting for someone to explain the logic of this to me as I just do not get it.

The site for the Proposition

Some Geek Beauty

2010-08-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

OK, I am earning geek points tonight. Friday night and I'm finding beautiful videos to watch. Sometimes inspiration will take you to places you would never expect.

So here are the best of the vids! They are all beautiful and I stumbled across them looking at a random tweeter who followed me. There is still so much beauty in the world and it now comes in interesting and varied forms.

Enjoy!

An Inspirational Video 1 - The Law Of Attraction
http://leadoutloud.ca/

Inspirational Quotes & Quotations
http://selfimprovementsguide.com/

Loving an Opposing Inspiration

2010-07-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, I ran into someone on Facebook that I had not heard from in ages, Joni Eareckson Tada. Now it turns out that it is really more of a fan-page as she does not actively participate from the look of it.

When I was a kid, I ran across the book "Joni" which touched me in a way that few books ever have. It is the story of a young woman, Joni Eareckson, with everything ahead of her that has a diving accident one summer and ends up a quadriplegic and her coming to grips with that and the skills she found after-wards. I was so impressed with her artwork that I used to own a piece many years ago.

I had the pleasure of meeting her in 1981 during my great Southern California adventure that I have written about in the past.

One of the things that surprised me was the near immediate response that I received from several friends that were shocked that I would "Like" her since she is a signer on the Manhattan Declaration, a call for assorted Christian members to not comply with laws against their religious beliefs in areas like abortion and same-sex marriage. I believe that I had heard about it on the news, but I did not pay it any heed, why should I?

One of the areas that the Christian Right has never understood is that a law saying such things may happen do not require you to partake in them. I have always found it somewhat laughable to listen to people who act as if legalizing same-sex marriage means straight men are going to be required to do so or that Roe v. Wade is going to force women to have abortions.

We seem to have developed a culture in this country where if someone disagrees on any one subject, especially a hot button topic, that we are supposed to shun them and disavow any knowledge, friendship or support. I will not do it.

I have found Joni to be a shining star in my life who made me rethink many things in my life over the years and a pillar of strength when I have had tough times, no matter how bad, I still have functional arms and legs.

One of the pieces of the book I have always remembered was a place where Joni's power-wheelchair tipped over in a parking lot and she scraped her face quite badly. Her reply was something like; "why my face, the only place I can feel?" I have had days like that where it was like why this one thing when it was so important, at least in that moment.

I may not agree with everything she thinks and may even be diametrically opposed in some, but that will never take away from the respect I have for her in so many other areas of her life.

Many of the friends that responded badly felt that I had betrayed them, I would say that I have proven my worthiness as a friend in that I will stand by them when they do something I disagree with, it will take more than one thing to get rid of me.

I would say that it is more Christian to show love and compassion for someone against you on some issue than many self-proclaimed Christians offer to those who differ from them. It is easy to love someone who is always with you, but it takes a bit of work to get beyond some disagreement and still be there for them. I believe Jesus commented on this when he talked about loving ones enemies.

To Joni,

My heartfelt appreciation for your story, your beautiful artwork and for making a young man feel welcome when the opportunity presented itself nearly 30 years ago.

My prayers and hopes, along with Reiki healing energy, to help you get through this troubling time with your recent diagnosis.

Shanti,

Robert

To be willing...

2010-07-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

There is an old Indian story that I have heard told many ways, but I tell it like this:

The sage Narada was walking through the forest when he came across a yogi who was sitting under a tree deep in meditation. From the look of things, he had been there for quite some time as his hair was matted and the birds had also made their nests in it and there was much growth around him.

As Narada approached, the sage recognized him and asked, "Oh great sage, what are doing this beautiful day in the forest?"

"I am on my way to visit Lord Sri Krishna in his abode of Krishna-loka" he replied.

The yogi became hopeful and asked, "Oh sage, when you see Lord Krishna, would you be kind enough to ask him how many lives I must complete until I reach enlightenment and am freed from this world of illusion?"

Narada replied, "It would be my pleasure" and then he continued on his way down the road.

Several miles further along, Narada came across a young neophyte who was having some difficulties getting accustomed to his meditations but he was trying and beginning to have some successes.

The neophyte monk also recognized Narada and also asked him for the favor of asking Lord Krishna the number of lives before reaching enlightenment and of course Narada agreed.

Several years passed and once again Narada was on the road when he came across the yogi. When the yogi saw Narada he was overjoyed and asked, "Oh great Sage, per chance did you make it to see Lord Krishna and did you get the moment to ask my question?"

Narada looked at the sage and informed the yogi, "Lord Sri Krishna sends his blessings and asked me to inform you that after the completion of only three more lives, you will join him forever in his home of Krishna-loka."

The yogi was taken aback and began to rage, "Three more? Does Lord Krishna have any idea how many lives I have dedicated to meditation upon his lotus feet and I still have three more lives?"

As the yogi went on, Narada slipped away and continued his way down the road.

When he made it to the neophyte monk, it was apparent that he had begun to have some success in his efforts to go beyond the discomforts of his body. Upon his arrival the young man asked, "Oh great sage, May the blessings of Lord Krishna be upon you! Did you have success in your earlier journey to visit the great Lord?"

Narada, knowing what was coming addressed the young monk, "His Greatness gave me the following instructions for you. Do you see this great tree that you are sitting under? Each leaf represents a life that you must complete before you will acquire perfection through your meditations."

The young monk glanced up into the tree above him assessing the leaves and what Narada had said and replied, "That is not so many, I thank you Narada for your message."

At this, there was a flash and Lord Krishna appeared next to Narada, holding his hand out to the young monk inviting him to join him in his chariot.

The young monk was amazed and asked, "Oh great Lord, I thought I had many lives to fulfill before I would find enlightenment."

Lord Krishna smiled at the young monk and said, "Yes, many lives were before you, but you were willing to perform them in love and faith."

As with many of the lessons in life, we often do not necessarily have to through all the experiences, it is often just enough to truly be willing to do so.

On many occasions in my life, I will see a path before me that is not where I want to go and would not choose it for whatever reasons. When I have have stopped fighting what appeared to be unavoidable and accepted that this may be a path I may have to walk and truly been willing, suddenly alternatives have availed themselves and the unwanted path has fallen away.

When you are presented with areas of your life you wish to avoid, remember that old saying that "what you resist, persists." On some occasions you may have to go through the experiences, but often it may be enough to just be willing and not fight it.

Wake Up! Interview

2010-07-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

One Idea for a Revolution

2010-06-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

As a Life Coach, I get asked about all areas of life, but on many cases, I get asked REALLY difficult questions about the world around us more from the perspective of a Spiritual Teacher. Some times the answers I have to give are more difficult to express than just about anything I address in Coaching.

What makes the answers difficult is most often not the subject, but that they tend to fall back into the laps of those asking, both individually and as a group.

It is human nature to want to pass the responsibility for things somewhere else, on God, on them (whoever they might be, this week) and my personal favorite; the government.

In a few days it is the 4^th of July and in the United States we celebrate our independence and the freedoms that are supposedly guaranteed, but we see being given away on a daily basis. How do we do this and why?

One common way is through manipulation of public perception and that is becoming easier and easier. In my opinion, it began largely when some bean-counter figured out that if his newscast could acquire higher ratings they could charge more for the advertising space, hence the evening news stopped being about informing the public and became about profit.

Many people disagree, but look at how your news has changed, how much REAL information of value do you get? Rupert Murdoch is estimated to be worth some $6.3 Billion and one of his largest holdings is News Corp, better known as Fox, so I do not really think you can deny that there is money to be made in "news".

That takes us to the next level, corporate control of information. Back in the old days, like 50 years or so ago, corporations were very limited and could only be involved in a single industry and could not purchase other corporations without serious overview. Today, with surprisingly few oversights, a corporation can buy most anyone else, has little if any ethos unless it is financially prudent.

How unfettered do you think your information is when it is filtered for its affect on the bottom line, by the parent company of the station/network or a large buyer of advertising space that can threaten to withhold its advertising revenue for failure to submit to their wishes? (BTW, did you know that the Florida State Supreme Court has ruled that it is not illegal to misrepresent the news intentionally?)

I saw a Michael Moore interview where he was talking about the irony of his being carried and distributed by the very companies he denounces in his programs. I think he was right on target when he said that he takes advantage of the lack of corporate morals in that they may not like his message, but there is money to be made by distributing it.

Now do not get me wrong, I am not a fan of modern corporate culture with its lack of conscience in search of profit, they are just taking advantage of what "WE" the people have allowed to become with our apparent attitude of "do whatever you wish, just leave me alone to watch my favorite TV."

Americans seem to live on soundbites, more than 15-20 words and they lose interest, and most sad of all is that the rest of the world seems to be falling in right behind.

I am not anti-TV or anything else, but it is the responsibility of the public to take the time and effort to become informed of the facts, and no, your favorite mouthpieces of ideology or political affiliation rare count as information, more opinion (OK LOUD opinion).

The world is changing around us and if people think it is too much work to fix it now, what makes you think it is going to get any easier in time?

Thomas Jefferson, the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence, once said that for this country to function properly that "Every generation needs a new revolution" he also warned, "If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions."

People have begun to fear their governments when it should be the other way around.

If you wish freedom and independence it must be earned by the work of your mind and action. So the next time you are overwhelmed by the idea of something "wrong" in the world around you, look at your part in it and begin your personal revolution of thought and knowledge.

Oh, and one last thought, be very aware of the dog and pony show that you will find in front of the facts, those who can will do anything they can to get you off focus and off on a tangent.

An Update to the Spiritgeek Calender

2010-06-22T22:30:00.001-07:00

Dear Reader,

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know a few quick things between newsletters. Definitely take a look at tomorrow as I am REALLY looking forward to it!

Sorry for the late notice for tomorrow, but I have been really busy with the interviews as well as working on the book "10 Secrets to the Secret"™ due out this Summer.

Also, you might be interested in knowing that I have finally gotten around to writing the FAQ on the site. It is not completed, but quite a lot has been entered. Feel free to read through it and if you have any suggestions, drop me a line.

Joy and Peace,
Not sure what Blogger's issue is about tables in posts, but the calendar updates are below here a bit.

Interview on Wake Up!	June 23^rd 11:00-12:00 PDT
Ryan Ray and Fuz are the hosts of Wake Up! and have asked me to do a segment on their webcast this week. From the Wake Up! site: Wake UP! Explore your Passion is a TV talk show that changes the way people think about work. Through guest success stories and audience participation, host Ryan Ray inspires and motivates those who live only for the weekend to break the cycle and begin exploring their passion every day. After the live show, you can view it on the Wake Up! site at your convenience.
Club Inspire U	July 24, 2010
Club Inspire U has changed the date of the event from June 10^th to June 24^th. In addition to the always exceptional event of inspiring artists, there will be the addition of Inspire U Records founder Kris Searle's birthday and the release party for Kris' new single, "Warning Signs" featuring Darnell Swallow. There may be another release going on at the event, but that is not definite as of yet. From the Club Inspire U site: I wanted to create a place where people feel like it's a 'home from home' where you refresh and vitalize and you leave inspired. A place you can come and not be judged. You are accepted for who you are and for what you do. They aren't enough places like this so this is going to be a place where ideas will thrive and natural talent rules. Whatever it is.
"10 Secrets to the Secret"™ Discussion Group	Every Monday^†
^† Every Monday except July 5^th The ongoing series of discussions on Robert/Spiritgeek's upcoming book, "10 Secrets to the Secret"™ due out this summer. Learn the 10 insights that have made the Law of Attraction come alive for so many and helped many more discover where they were unintentionally sabotaging themselves. From 3:00PM till about 5:00 at The Spot, 4455 Overland Ave, Culver City, in the back room. Come enjoy good coffee, excellent food and be part of the completion of the book.
Reputation Label's "NerveCast Friday"	Every Friday
Reputation Label's "NerveCast Friday" show with Johnny, Kris, the gang and Monkey on the internet live from 1:00PM-3:00PM PDT (4:00-6:00 EDT) from London. Music, conversation, some general mayhem and just a bit of Life Coaching from yours truly. Join us in the chat room during the show for another dimension of interactive radio. From the Reputation Label site: We promote the great music through many media outlets and none better than Reverbnation.com. Come and join our site there if you are a band so that we can get you promoted and seen world wide..do it now !!

Note: All times listed are for Los Angeles, CA — Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -7)

2010-06-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm currently online, listening to Reputation Label's "Frantic Friday" show and we started around 200,000 listeners in the first half-hour and at 90 minutes we are at 367,000 listeners! At 15:30 PDT 389,000 listeners!

If you have never been to the show, Fridays 13:00-15:00 (Pacific) 21:00-23:00 (London) you really are missing a lot of fun.Between our main hosts Johnny and Kris Searle, along with Ringmaster Pete, Karen, Mizzy and Monkey, we have a really fun time.

I really enjoy doing the show, the people on it are such fun as well as our audience. It is THE place to spend a couple of hours to start the weekend with.

The Los Angeles/West Hollywood Gay Pride festivities start today and run through the weekend. I am not sure what I'm going to do about it, I will likely go to the parade on Sunday but I doubt I will go to the festival, never been particularly comfortable reliving lives as a sardine which is how the crowd makes me feel...

We will see on Sunday, just in case.

The newsletter went out yesterday and I really think it is the best one I have written to date. If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, click the button bellow:

Only 2 Questions from Freedom

2010-05-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

William Shakespeare wrote "This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." What an amazing idea and such a shame that most of us cannot or will not.

In my practice as a Life Coach one of the first things we delve into usually is "what do YOU want?" I am very often amazed with just how much of what I get back is negative wants, no debt, not my current job, to lose ten pounds.

When I restate the question and ask for what they want, I keep getting the same types of responses. It seems that we, as humans, have become quite adept at defining our world by what is wrong with it, what we want to change about it.

To truly know yourself, little less to use the Law of Attraction (LoA), you have to know what it is you actually want, even if only in generalities to start with. As sad as that might sound, the other half of this query is probably THE most important question in all creation: "Who are YOU?"

As a Life Coach (and often as a Spiritual Teacher) this becomes a place to start working with my clients since they usually want to make change, but without knowing what one actually wants what do you change and into what?

I suspect a lot of the difficulty comes from our ingrained human need to be accepted and we have been acclimated to the idea that anything out of the "norm" will make us into an outcast. We have a natural want to be liked and wanted and most of the decisions we make in this life is about "looking good."

The largest part of my practice truly comes down to helping people become happy in and with their lives. So we have to start with figuring out who and/or what we are and then what it is we want. To know these alone will put you ahead of the vast majority of your fellow residents on this planet.

As much as we want to be liked and accepted, I find that the VAST majority of people, in the long run, are much more attracted to the real you versus the you that you have become to appease others. Those who do not are most often threatened by your strength to be real and their fear of following your example.

It reminds me of something that happened to me several years ago. I had been on General Relief and out of work for a bit. I had a collection of friends and acquaintances that I had been hanging out with pretty regularly. When I found a job and was no longer always available, most of those people parted company and some were extremely nasty about how they went about it.

The issue was not something I had done, I later found out, but the fact that they viewed me as trying to be better than them, not something I had even considered.

Once you get to know who you are and what you want, presuming it means something to you, you are going to want to pursue that person and as that person brings joy into your life you are not going to be willing to create falsehoods to pretend to be something else.

So to finish off the quote we started from, once you are true to who and what you are, you cannot help but be the true with all those in your life. Imagine the simple freedom you can attain by just being who you already are, if you will just let yourself!

A tough answer to Why?

2010-05-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

When I talk to many people that either do not believe in God, in any form, or are doubting their faith, I often get the questions of why the world is the $#@*-hole that it appears to be and why would a loving God allow it to happen?

The part of these questions that always strikes me as a touch funny is that they presume a responsibility of God and a complete lack of our own. God gives us freedom of choice and where we take it is our responsibility and our problem.

If you look through the history of the Spiritgeek blog, you will find an entry called "Judeo/Christian Paradigms: Karma vs Salvation" where I explain the idea that "original sin" is the forgetting of our spiritual nature and the illusion that we are our bodies. Reminiscent of the quote, "We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience."

Things in this world happen by OUR will and action.

If original sin is actually forgetting our true identity and relation to the Source, then that Source would not be concerned with the actions that occur within the delusion as it has no REAL reality from the ultimate perception.

So the name we call that which lives in this space is often God. From that perspective it is a given that all things will eventually return from where it originated and the in-between is just the show, a Saturday Matinee.

Now I know this sounds a bit harsh, but if we are going to blame a deity for a lack of action, maybe we need to switch our perspective and in the process start to regain the awareness that the world can become a #@*-hole only if we let it. It truly is up to us and God will just wait at the other end of the process.

Unless you wish to give up freedom of choice and self-determination, but I would not suggest holding your breath... But, it is your choice!

Power of Word

2010-04-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

The world is going through so many changes around me, and I have to say I am enjoying the hell out of it.

Spiritgeek.com is now "officially" open for business and the "job" has gone the way of the Dodo and though I am concerned about a few things, the simple fact is that I'm happier now then I have been in YEARS.

I am always teaching my clients that if they are not happy with their lives, there is only one way to make it better, change it. Sounds simple, but that old analogy is pretty true about ruts. Sadly, as I've said before; "the difference between a rut and a grave is only a matter of depth."

When I decided to leave my job, I wanted to do it with integrity, I gave 60 days notice and worked each and every shift and was willing to work any extra that I would have before I gave notice. Nothing changed on that front, except I now had an date of expiration and could see light at the end of the tunnel.

When we talk about the Law of Attraction (LoA) we discuss how simple it is. But, it has a few basic requirements that we have to follow to truly make it work. Honesty, integrity and following through on ones word are SO important as a basis to work from.

I know that it's a bit of a comedy, but the movie "Dogma" gets something completely right. The universe of creation functions on one premise, the word of God is absolute. One of the Hebrew names for God translates as "the Great Amen" basically, one who's word is absolute. It is in this authenticity to word that allows Him/Her/It to utter forth, "Let there be light" and it comes into being.

We give away our power whenever we are less than complete with our word, when we settle for less than we started for, no matter the reasoning and justifications that we give ourselves to make it OK.

When we are not willing to stand for our words, how can we expect to create by them?

My life has been changing because I have created possibility for change and I am standing up to pursue it.

My job made it VERY easy to have stepped back from my word and continue working there for a longer period of time. This might have been a good idea on the surface, but in the two-months that I had given them notice, I achieved depressingly little toward the path I was taking, this had been a major part in why I finally decided I had to cut one path out before the other could begin, I had been trying to make this change even before I took the job to begin with.

What would make me think that I would suddenly begin to accomplish in a few extra weeks what I had not been able to accomplish in over a year? For me the safer and more universally responsible path would have been a dead end for my Spirit.

Where do the choices in your life and the lack of substance in your word and being hamper you? Look into it, see it for what it is but do not judge it; you are human and sadly have been trained in this behavior. You can change it though, the first step is to look and become aware.

The Beginnings of Recovery

2010-02-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

11:00

OK, so something is up... The Universe is conspiring something and I find I am looking forward to seeing what.

I woke up and decided to wear my Buddha shirt to my breakfast with K and R. Afterward I had planned to go over to the Grind or Library and do some writing. During breakfast I asked R what he was doing today and what route he was planning to take. On a spur of the moment decision I decided to go to Lake Shrine. I LOVE it here!

SoCal in February and I could actually get away with shorts and a T-shirt but I am dressed a bit more appropriately. Am I slipping into respectability?!?

Something has been weighing on my heart for a while and I have been in such a funk and verging on depression. I think I will spend the day relaxing and meditating to see what it is I am missing.

I have chosen a great spot to start with, I'm on the landing between the windmill and the waterfall (I never noticed it before). One of the swans just scared the daylights out of me... I suddenly had him(?) swim by and start flapping his wings like crazy, really changed the mood suddenly, but he seems to have settled down for now.

Just being here makes me feel better, I am not exactly peaceful within but I can feel the peace without and may be able to take some of it home. I miss peace at hime. Maybe I can find what it is that I am missing there, it has gone from sanctuary to something else but I can still feel its potential to be otherwise.

There is a turtle that keeps swimming by, almost as if he's keeping an eye out for me and making sure I am OK.

Just taking the day here will at least charge my batteries a bit, they are nearly empty. I have been so disconnected and just drifting on the currents of my life. I feel like I have been trying to steer currents to a destination of my choosing but I forgot or lost my rudder... I will remedy that!

17:50 aka 5:50 PM

I took a short break from Lake Shrine at noon to make a Communicator call for my Landmark Series, it was the shortest call I have done so far, but it seemed pretty good. I went back in and walked around the lake and stopped in the chapel to meditate for a while.

While I was meditating, a gentleman who had been meditating in the front of the room got up to leave and I could not help but giggle a bit. He was wearing a leather motorcycle outfit and trying SO hard to be quiet and not disturb others, but the harder he tried the noisier he was.

I took some nice photos of the area and will put them on Facebook when I get home.

I finally left about 2:00 and while grabbing some lunch, had an amazing conversation with my Dad that lasted almost 90 minutes. It was unlike anything we have had in the past, no judgments on either side, just two people having a conversation about whatever came up. Those who read my blog entries are likely aware of the difficulties I have had in the past with my dad, not today.

I stopped of at 212 Pier, probably one of the COOLEST coffee houses I have ever been to, to type up and finish this entry, I am beginning to think I may have picked up a bit of a sunburn today, I have that radient heat feeling you get with an minor burn. Oh well, if that is the cost of such an amazing day, COOL!!!!

I am feeling better than I have in months, I may just be about ready for my meeting at work on Thursday and the repercussions in 60 days. Viva le Spiritgeek!

Note:
This entry was cross-posted to both the Spiritgeek Blog and the Personal Journal.

Living in and out...

2010-01-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

There is an expression that is usually used as an insult to "pop" Christianity that goes something like; "If Jesus were to come back and saw what has been done in His name, He would not stop puking"; sometimes I know what this means...

About ten years ago Jeremy Sisto did a television miniseries called "Jesus" that I was extremely impressed with. It opens with assorted scenes from the last 2000 years of soldiers going to war in the name of Jesus, the dying calling out His name and such in a dream that Jesus is having before His mission actually begins.

Later when Lucifer visits Jesus before the crucifixion in an attempt to dissuade him from going through with it, we return to the opening montage scenes with Lucifer going on about how the people will not get it, it will be a waste of time, and what they will do in the name of Jesus.

I sometimes wonder if the Prophet Muhammad makes such an issue that he is only a prophet in an attempt to avoid what Christianity had done to Jesus. At the time of Muhammad, Christianity was coming out of a collection of ecumenical battles over Jesus' nature(s) as both man and God; the process of His deification was pretty well cemented.

Have you ever seen the movie "Monty Python's Life of Brian"? The first time I saw it was at the Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis' University City. There is a scene in it where Brian's followers are bickering over the sacred relics, one group is revering the "Gourd, the Sacred Gourd" and the other group has the "Sandal, the Sacred Sandal".

Some friends came over for a little party the other day and gave me an example of something that is the nightmare of any teacher. We had a conversation that went something like this:

F: What is the importance of the Spirit in everyday life?
S: (pause to gather thoughts)
F: He shows us that meditation and contemplation is important before speaking.
S: The Spirit is our source, so if we try to live without it how can we truly claim honesty in our lives?
F: He shows us that the answer is withing so he answers questions with questions to make us examine our own hearts for the truth.
S: Why are you doing this to me?
F: He points out that our intentions and motivations are important to understand our questions.
S: Oh, God help me!
F: He tells us that we may call upon deity for protection.

ad nauseum

Now I know my friends mean it as both a joke and as a way to poke at me. I do not take myself that seriously, but in the directions that I am going, it is likely that in time there will be those who will do this.

I see it happening to teachers ranging from Wayne Dyer to Deepak Chopra and especially with religious teachers like Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Prabhupada and Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati. The students tend to infer and interpret into what is said, even when the teacher is outside their "teaching" and just living as happened with the Prophet Muhammad and is encoded into the Hadith.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that no matter who the teacher is or what the teaching is, there is a point where one has to go from listening and interpreting what the teacher says and implement the teaching into one's life.

As much as I love to teach, know that I and EVERY teacher is also a human and we are not intending to teach at every moment. Remember that a true teacher lives what he teaches, so attempt to overlay their teaching over how and what they live.

I teach that Spirit is the core of my "self" and that this body is the vehicle of that Spirit and should be enjoyed. You may find me out having a drink, dancing (or as close as I get) or any number of activities, some of which you may not find congruent with what I teach, trust me it is and if you wish understanding just ask, I will try to explain it. But PLEASE do not interpret some "holy" message into everything, I will get annoyed and you will miss the point, I can nearly guarantee it.

Coincidence and Seeing Miracles

2010-01-13T14:55:00.000-08:00

I am a firm believer that those little moments of coincidences that occur in our day to day lives are something we really should keep an eye out for. So often we just ignore them as little curiosities and don't really pay them any mind.

How sad!!!

Reality is SO dependent on perception that to completely disregard the small moments that are around us is to create the mindset that makes seeing the big miracles impossible.

Humans seem to have a nature of becoming "familiar" with some situation and when the strange happens we become incapable of seeing it because it outside our expected parameters. How can we expect to see miracles when we require all things to be defined within the limiting parameters.

I have heard it said that when Columbus first arrived in the new world that the inhabitants were likely unable to see the ships on the horizon since they were completely outside the realm of experience they had had to date.

The shaman may have looked out at the sea and not seen the ships but seeing the wake of bow in the water continued to watch until he could see its cause.

Every day we are given the opportunity to see the new realms and things that are all around us, do we really wish to miss it since we did not expect them? I love seeing new things and finding out just how off the universe really is, what about you?

Thinking may be your big mistake - pt 2

2010-01-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Is "wealth" always wealth?

We think wealth is a good thing, no worries (true or not I will leave for you to determine on your own). When we look closer at the word "wealth" often what people are thinking is "an end to my poverty" or "the ability to pay my high bills" or something like this, see the problem?

Exactly, the focus is not really wealth but what wealth will remove, hence the universe tends to create more bills, debt or poverty; it is what was focused on.

Now if you wish to reclaim the word and idea of wealth, first you have to adjust your meanings and hence your intentions. Once you have succeeded in this, then you can use the 4 Evolutionary Stages to Manifestation to work through the rest of the distance.

The universe for all its vastness and power is actually amazingly direct and simple, we over-complicate IT. I tend to think this has to do with the idea that we are taught that it has to be difficult, that our interactions must be tainted by the curse of Adam and Eve on their expulsion from the Garden:

...in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3:17c-19 (KJV)
The difficulty here is that the universe does not actually understand the duality in which we believe that we exist, the universe functions upon the premise that if you are willing to put energy into it, you must want it to manifest, hence we tend to manifest a lot of what we do not want by accident and simple carelessness.

This is why people in knowledge a quoted saying things like:

I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there.

Mother Theresa
The problem is not what the hope is but the focus, anti or otherwise, is war. So the universe manifests more war because you placed your thoughts and focus on it; for all its massiveness the universe doesn't understand "NO". This is very closely related to the malformation I was referring earlier.

The other aspect of this is that words do not always mean to us what we think they do. Many of my clients and students are often asking for wealth early in their practices. Not a bad thing, but what is wealth? (Another topic for another day)

When we try some of the techniques for assessing the personal meaning of words, what we often find is what they really are thinking is removing poverty, their bills or whatever financial issues they may have. They are not really thinking about wealth and of many who are, they have negative feelings toward it from some aspect in their lives.

I think these can all be dealt with in time, but for those who are in more of a hurry, we can find a phraseology that works for them or an idea tailored to their thoughts and mindsets.

Using the 4 Evolutionary Stages to Manifestation

Unto themselves the first two steps are not the most helpful in the actual act of manifesting, they have valid uses that can be helpful and here's a quick summary of how.

I mentioned that many of my clients and students start off wanting to manifest money or wealth. When their manifesting doesn't seem to be working or in many cases backfires here is something I run into a lot.

Many people find that their level of self-worth is often the issues, they do not deserve to be wealthy for whatever reason. While you can start a process of re-defining what wealth means for you, a good thing actually, you can also implement the 4 Evolutionary Stages to help you while you are doing this.

I want

It is always a good idea to know what it is you want before you start trying to manifest, otherwise no telling what you will actually create. Analyze the terms you are using to see if they truly mean what you are planning to use them for.

If wealth is a word that actually means "avoiding poverty" or something like it, find a different word or phrase to use. If you know you are using the "right" expressions then you cannot help but be headed in the right direction.
I can

This is where you give yourself permission to manifest and have. I am sometimes amazed by the amount of self-loathing that can come up from within when people are trying to manifest a new future for themselves.

As humans we seem to have an over-abundance of self-judgment toward the negative. I have watched so many destroy their attainment of their dreams because on some level they believe themselves to be unworthy. This can show up in many ways such as unintentionally sabotaging yourself at work or relationships to never attempting your heart's desires.
I will

Once we know ourselves to be worthy of attaining our wants, sometimes we need some time to get used to the fact that we ARE headed towards our goal. This is where you get to enjoy the anticipation of your manifestation's arrival and possibly doing what they universe asks of you to bring it to you.

If you are asking for happiness at work, the universe may require you to release some old hurt that you continually bring back. I find in many ways that many of the things we try to manifest are already actually before us, but we cannot see them because we have blinded ourselves due to some "thing" we are fixated on, often unconsciously.
I am/have

This is where you own your creation, it is not a hope for the future but a done deal that you will find shortly. You have to be able truly to perceive this as reality; creation/manifestation is an act of will and anything less than that full force will introduce delays.

Jesus talks about the faith of a mustard seed. If you can muster(d - sorry) that minute amount of true faith and belief the universe will respond in kind.

Do not worry about how the manifestation will occur, that is not your job, your job is to see the outcome and let the universe take it from there.

The vast majority of healers I have spoken to do not worry about how a broken bone is going to mend itself, they visualize the patient running or using the bone as it was intended to be, do likewise in your manifestations.

Thinking may be your big mistake - pt 1

2010-01-04T13:54:00.001-08:00

Of the many questions that I run into a lot about the Law of Attraction (LoA), the most common has to do with why their thoughts and wishes are not manifesting what people are expecting and often not at all. When this comes up, I first ask what the "thought" they are putting out is. Often I find the answer almost immediately.

I would say that nearly 99% of the time the thought is malformed as well as the phrasing being out of alignment with what they want.

As a general rule, I find that there are four basic ways in which thoughts for manifesting run:

Inception/Desire (I want)

This is where the vast majority of people spend their lives, they want, but they never go beyond the "wanting" and into the creating. The funniest part of it is that when you begin to understand how the universe of creation works and what activates manifestation, this becomes a "no duh" idea.

Where "wanting" fails is that there is no action in wanting and no requirement for manifestation, it is a completely manifested state unto itself.

You say: "I want a bicycle" so the universe responds with "OK, he wants, my job is done" hence there is no action to be taken! The action in a "want" is the wanting, it has nothing to do with the bicycle.
Possibility (I can)

We say: "I can have a new bicycle", now what could be wrong with that? Of course nothing, but there is no activating principle to the thought. Nothing in the thought causes action, it is an opening of possibility.

I will address in the next entry where this thought (as well as all of them) can be used to start manifestation, but unto itself you are not likely to manifest from it alone.
Probability/Potentiality (I will)

"I will have a new bicycle!"

Better, but now we have placed it into the future. Not a problem, but I tend to prefer my manifestations to be as close to immediate from my limited linear time perceptions (Robert makes a bad existential joke).

Now this thought can manifest your wishes, the question is just when. The future is one of those things that really doesn't exist, it appears to have substance. It has the same reality as the past, we remember the past, we plan the future but the "NOW" truly is the only substantial thing.

The vast majority of people spend their lives chasing this illusion of "when" or "then" and in the process miss all the now's that could have been used to create the things they are dreaming of.
Manifestation (I am/have)

"I have a new bicycle!"

This is where we truly manifest, as one of the TV Evangelists I heard to used to say, "You cannot have a miracle by wanting one, you have to claim it as your own". There is great truth in this.

If you look at the opening of Genesis, God does not say I want light, can have light or will have light, but owns the concept of light and says "Let there be light" and how does creation respond? There was light so that "...God saw the light, that it was good..." (Genesis 1:4 KJV)

>>> Continue to part 2 <<<

To respect an adversary...

2009-12-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

There are times when we really are given a glimpse into the world around us, as well as within ourselves, and get the chance to look at what it is that we respect and expect of ourselves, even when it takes you into strange places.

I recently heard about Barbara Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" special which showed one of those apparent cultural inequalities that pop up on occasion. We hear about them, the glass ceiling for women in business, racial inequalities and similar issues, but Barbara really threw one in the face of her viewing audience.

On her special, she had an interview with Lady Gaga where there was a picture of her kissing another woman, no big issue, Madonna and Britney Spears kissed, Jessica Biel has and have you heard of Ellen DeGeneres?

I was later saddened when she interviewed Adam Lambert as the tone was completely different. Sure, at the AMAs he groped a female performer and kissed a male musician, but I've seen girls get groped and I've seen guys get kissed, why does it become raunchy and lewd when two guys kiss? They didn't seem to have a problem as far back as the 80s when we saw two guys kiss on Dynasty. Shame on you Barbara for not being even-handed in your presentation.

Sadly, not only did it really show me one of these cultural inequalities and decrease my level of respect for Barbara Walters, but it got me thinking about why I was losing that respect and exactly what I respect in others as well as myself. The big one that hit me was conviction and that's when I thought of "him".

There is a gentleman that I truly despise, for both what he says and how he says it, but I cannot help but respect him for his conviction to what he believes. The person at the center of this mental and moral dilemma is Pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church, most infamously known for his GodHatesFags.com website and his church's protests at the funerals of Matthew Shepard and military dead.

I took a look at the GHF site for the first time in a long while and am glad to see that they apparently hired a web designer and modernized the site. It's about time...

So let's get into the guts of my issues with Pastor Phelps.

I completely disagree with his position on Homosexuality and I won't get into the particulars of my thoughts on his and many other interpretations of the Bible (I have gone through this in the last 2½ years on the blog so you can find it).

I will say this, I am not a Jew and according to the Apostle Paul there is no requirement for me to be bound by the Law of Moses to follow Jesus.

Pastor Phelps believes in a theology called Absolute Predestination which states that there are those who come into the world, destined from birth to find salvation and the rest of us are outright ineligible.

It is easily used to separate the "chosen" from the rest, I believe in a God that would at least make salvation available to all his creation.

I don't know if it is still on the site or not, but there used to be the following statement which tore through my heart and soul.
God doesn't hate you because you are Gay,
you're Gay because God hates you.
I once sent them a question asking if Absolute Predestination was true and I'm already damned by God, since he made me gay, why deny me any semblance of happiness before my God ordained eternity in Hell begins?

As much as I might think he does the term Christianity a severe disservice and is a fountain of hate, I cannot help but respect his tenacity to stand up and be ridiculed (deserved or not) for what he believes.

There is a line from "The American President" that is so very appropriate for this discussion...

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight.

It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.

You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free".

It is like the Indian Upanishads say about people and religions; there are 400,000 types of people all at different levels of spiritual evolution, no one religion will ever speak to all of them. This is why I always teach that no matter what form of religion or spiritual practice, as well as none that you might have, respect the differences you find around you as all learn at their own pace.

A true spiritual practice is about personal growth! Like it or not, ALL people are on their path of return to the source and will learn in their own time and pace. If you find yourself as a High School student, you don't hate the 3^rd grader for not knowing Shakespeare, you help him learn from where he is. Be that sign post for all around you.

Some cheese for that whine?

2009-11-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

As much as I enjoy people sharing with me, I find that I get a bit short with them when all they are doing is whining about this, that and the other.

People in general seem to be predisposed to whining and complaining and not really being interested in actually doing something... I sometimes wonder where we learned this, I don't think it is our nature.

I was having a somewhat heated conversation with a friend about ways in which we can make the world around us a better place and become responsible members of society.

As often happens, the question was raised as to what difference a single individual can make against six-billion uninterested persons and corporate neglect in the search of short-term profits?

The question was recurrent, in many forms and from several direction, the general underlying perception seemed to be a collection of how terrible things truly are and a plethora of excuses as to why there was little to no reason to actually act and a general justification to be just as selfish as the "rest of them."

Somewhere we learn all about what we do not want, we will fight against this or that "wrongness" but we never seem to be similarly motivated to act for some right or good thing.

Over the last 9 years we have seen a collection of protests (probably a sign it's headed in the wrong direction right there) against the wars in the Middle East, against the passage and court ruling that allowed California Proposition 8 to stand (a curious question that is almost as bizzar as the US Supreme Court case of Bush vs Gore in 2000).

Mother Theresa understood the idea that I am alluding to, when she said, "I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there."

When we talk about the Law of Attraction (LoA) one of the concepts that we MUST become familiar with is that the Universe is vast and grand, but in some ways, not so bright.

The Universe assumes that if we don't want something, we would not put any energy into it. Sadly the opposite is usually true, we spend the majority of our thought and energy on exactly that, what we don't want, hence we keep manifesting what it is we don't want.

For example, many years ago I took a class in Beginning Witchcraft, during which (Sorry, I couldn't pass it up) one of my fellow students asked me to help her with a "Money Draw" spell. The teacher of the class was a bit miffed, as it was the full moon and she asked how I was going to do this type of spell during a waning moon.

For those not familiar with what I'm talking about, traditionally, one does magic that causes growth at the New Moon so that as it waxes, gets larger, the object also enlarges. Conversely, banishings are done at the Full Moon so that things get smaller along with the Moon.

I told the teacher that what I was planning to do was actually a Banishment of Poverty. She was fairly impressed, she never thought of it that way. Today, I probably wouldn't do it this way, since we were focusing on what we didn't want, but it made sense at the time.

So the next time you find yourself sitting around and complaining about what is wrong in the world and your life, take a moment and figure out what cheese to serve with your whine, I like Gouda and Feta.

Talk about timing (Bad)

2009-10-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Tuesday last week, I wrote an entry about simple ways to practically start empowering yourself and to begin the creation of a world you want to live in. The basic starting point was like the ice crystal analogy:

Do you know how ice forms? A single crystal will form and that starts a chain reaction as more and more crystals form adjoined to the first.

We tend to want to change the world since we see SO much wrong with it, just as we do with out other issues and our serious spiritual growth, we are always looking "out there" instead of looking where all the answers lie, within.

One of the issues I made reference to is becoming informed and the lack of real news that we get on television and many radio stations, and it struck me as an interesting coincidence that I would run into it headlong that very evening; enter James Arthur Ray.

James A. Ray is a fairly well know teacher of the Law of Attraction that I have been aware of for a couple of years. A friend had loaned me CDs of a couple of his talks and I had seen him on "The Secret" but other than that I was not really a fan. So the very night I wrote the last entry I went to to the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey to see him in person.

I really enjoyed the couple of hours that I spent there, but I had become curious as to something that had happened recently that seemed to be troubling him terribly. As the evening progressed, I wondered if he had recently been diagnosed with cancer or something or if his family had been in an accident or some other personal tragedy since he did make reference to the press and how they have been spinning "it."

As I left the Ritz, my friends and I ran into a television reporter from a Phoenix television station who answered the question that had been buzzing around my head.

For those like me, who don't watch the "news" very often, Mr. Ray had been leading a retreat in Sedona, AZ when 2 people passed away and several others became ill. Later a third person passed.

The reporter did what he was expected to do; ALL his questions implied that James had done something wrong, his failure to grant interviews on the subject was suspicious. I asked the reporter if there was any information or evidence of any wrong doing at the event, he was hesitant to admit "no."

In today's world, the police tend to assume guilt, news agencies are in the business of selling news (gotta raise those ratings for more ad revenue) and sadly the masses eat it up whole since it must be true if it is on TV.

Do I know what happened in Sedona? No. I wasn't there but I will wait till there is some actual evidence before I jump to a salacious conclusion.

What do I know? The fasting and sweat lodge techniques are very powerful but also potentially quite dangerous, care must be taken by both the coordinators and participants.

Hold the families that lost loved ones in your hearts as well as the people who became ill and also hold James Arthur Ray, the trials of being in such a situation is extremely difficult and as much as the others are looking through things with a microscope, I am sure that he is doing even more to himself.

A Small Begining to the New Revolution

2009-10-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

"...where Life and Spirit become One!™" Practical Lesson #1

Is Hell freezing over? We actually seem to be having a change in the weather here in Southern California...

The day is overcast and there is something like a 40% chance of rain today and nearly a guarantee for tomorrow. God knows we need it, but I and everyone who thinks about such things is concerned about the burn areas, no coverage and 4" of rain makes for soup and mudslides.

On occasion, I go on about the press and it's apparent lack of real news and the dumbing down of America.

When I was a kid, we used to watch the local news for, oh my God, local news, weather and sports. Afterwords the Network news would come on and give us the National and Inter-National stories for the day.

Now maybe it's just LA (somehow I doubt it) but the lead stories this morning were the latest collection of killings and robberies and "Storm-Watch '09." The joke about Los Angeles is sadly true, "LA is the only town where a light sprinkle get a 'Storm-Watch'."

The other day I heard a headline that went something like; "State Study Determines Danger of Landslides in Recent Burn Areas." Someone actually spent tax dollars to determine this? No wonder we are broke in the State of California, which reminds me of the story "Will California be the Country's First Failed State?"

Do you ever wonder why you hear about Government cutting the funding for Education and then they complain that the students are either dropping out or failing to pass their courses? Hospitals and Social Care programs lose money then more people enter the uninsured rolls and get the majority of their health care in emergency rooms (THE most expensive way of dealing with issues). What outcomes do you expect?

Why is our nation loathe to have business and the more successful pay an equal share with what they tax me? Remember that story a few years ago of an executive that actually announced that he was somewhat ashamed that he paid less in taxes on his 6 or 7 figure salary than his secretary did on her 5 digit one?

Every time someone mentions raising the upper level tax rates, the claim of unfair tax increases for this group gets voiced. Here's a little research project for you, look at the tax rates of, oh say, 1980. You will find that the tax rate on all income over $88,000 for a single individual was 50%, today the top rate on the IRS rolls is 35%, period (by the way, the maximum corporate income tax is 38%, at least till you get to 18,333,333 when it drops back to 35%) these numbers are from IRS instructions for 2008 1040 and 1120 forms.

When this subject and others like it come up I tend to hear all sorts of bitching about them, but I rarely hear anything constructive, little less relatively solution oriented. So here are a few ideas that could be the basis of a beginning to correct these issues. Lets start a new American Revolution of awakening the masses and striking terror into the hearts of the power brokers...

   EDUCATE Yourself
My more paranoid and/or conspiracy theory friends and acquaintances believe that the failure of the educational system is a deliberate attempt to keep the common folk from uprising since they are/will be to stupid to do otherwise.

In this age of the Internet and nearly unlimited information, you can become a PhD in nearly any subject you please without spending a lifetime in school. Sure, you need to be careful as far as verifying the validity of information you find on the Internet, but, trust me, so does the information from TV and Radio "Talking Heads" as they nearly all have "their" perspective and biases (does anyone REALLY believe Rush Limbaugh is truly an objective individual on his show?). As I have discussed previously, even our institutions of learning are not exempt from excess posturing and biases by professors, no matter what your perspective.

   Make your voice heard
I'm not talking about just showing up at protest marches, but writing and emailing the decision makers in their respective fields. Write the News Director of your local TV stations and express your disappointment at the lack of REAL news on the program.

Contact your elected Congress and House of Representative members. I hear people complain about the money and power of the special interests in Washington, but they only have money, YOU have the votes that keep them in office and trust me, THEY know it.

   Show your support financially
In today's world of Corporate Culture and Bean-Counters that do nothing but look at the bottom line, hit those you disagree with where it hurts, their pocket books!

I, for example, think that Walmart should offer both full time hours to their employees and health insurance. As it stands now, they expect the public to pick up the tab since they will not offer much of any health-care benefits. They say that it would raise their costs and then the prices they charge the consumer, so explain Costco which offers excellent wages and an excellent benefits package and they do not have nearly the volume of Walmart.

The defeatist will say, how can my little financial protest stop these major corporations and though by yourself it cannot make much of a dent. But, imagine if millions were to join you? How many people walking away from company X and shopping at company Y before company X gets the message? 100,000? 1,000,000? As the expression goes, "it starts with ONE" be it a step or dollar.

   Start with yourself
In all of these, the point starts with a single focal point, YOU! The simple fact is that the power is yours and only you can give it up.

Do you know how ice forms? A single crystal will form and that starts a chain reaction as more and more crystals form adjoined to the first. The big picture will take care of itself, but you have the knowledge that you are doing your part, others will follow.

   On election days, GO VOTE!
My mother used to tell me that America is a great country and asks so little of us, it really only asks that we inform ourselves and make our voice heard on election day.

Here's something you might find interesting, in 2004 George W. Bush was re-elected by a 51% vote amongst the estimated 61% of registered voters that cast ballots (he called this a mandate, gads!). Some estimate that only 60% of people who are eligible actually are registered, that means about 18-20% of the people who could have voted actually voted for Bush.

Think about this, if the people who are dissatisfied with government today could come together and vote as a block to support REAL reform in Washington, it would only take 6 years to perform a complete overhaul of the Federal Government. Talk about a bloodless coup!

People may have to let some of their personal issues take a beating in the short term, but try voting for substance, vote for the big picture; reclaiming the government of the people, by the people, and for the people back to the people.

Sadly, people tend to be a bit like lemmings, they will follow the crowd off a cliff until someone offers another alternative. Stand up and offer that alternative!

The world truly is what we make of it and if we wish to sit on your butt and just whine about "it going to the dump" and refuse to do something about it, then I say shut the f' up if you are unwilling to be part of the solution. Doing nothing makes you just as responsible, but are you REALLY going to be happy with what you are responsible for?

By the way, I hear people throwing around the word "fascism" and tend to think of the fanatical cult of one, like a Hitler or Mussolini. Mussolini once defined fascism as follows:

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power

So the gauntlet has been thrown down, put up or shut up, and decide what is more important to you. If you want government to be more responsive to the people than to business and special interests, get off your ass and do something.

All good actions are never in vain, so I ask you to consider these simple ideas and consider joining this small beginning to the new revolution.

Perception & Happiness

2009-09-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have been looking over my recent tweets and I noticed that I have been inspired to several about perception and happiness being a choice.

One of the basic tenets that I believe in is the idea that Man is indivisibly part and parcel of the Creator and that God is just as linked to us.

I remember a scene from a film I was watching recently, "Bless the Child", where a young child will grow up to bring many to God, according to the story.

The scene that I was thinking about is when Cody, our "special" child, is taken out to an alley by Eric Stark, the founder of a "Demonic" Youth Cult, to see what appears to be a schizophrenic homeless man who is sitting on the ground muttering to himself.

ERIC

Look at this man. He should be in an institution, but God abandoned him, didn't he, left him here to suffer. Death, would be a kinder fate, even a cruel death.

Through the power of the one I serve I can give him the strength to end his pain.

ERIC places a small gas can and a box of matches on the ground near the HOMELESS MAN. Eric then begins to perform a ritual. The man starts to show signs of understanding and begins to reach for the gas can and pour the contents over himself as CODY watches in horror.

ERIC (CONT'D.)

Watch. If God loves his children so much, maybe he'll stop this. Redeem him, somehow. Or maybe the release I've offered him is his only true salvation.

CODY starts to walk up to the HOMELESS MAN while he pulls out a match and strikes it, Cody blows out match and hands him something.

CODY
(hugs homeless man and whispers into his ear)

He hasn't forgotten you.

One of the simple truths in this is that we are all the manifestation of a thought of the Creator who cannot forget us and if he ever did, we would blink out of existence, it is the thought that gives us form/creation.

This is the basic premise upon which the Law of Attraction functions.

Creation is not something we do, but something we are. We ARE creators, just like our parent, the difficulty comes in remembering that and creating by deliberate intention and not by accidental default.

Our moods and thoughts are the gauge by which we can determine what it is we are creating and if it is something that will bring joy as a result. Most of us create in anger and jealousy and the fruits just magnify that initial seed that we planted.

Start by becoming aware of your "states of mind" and then watch for the results. When you get to where you are immediately aware, change the program intentionally and see what new fruits you create.

Happy creating!

Journal for August

2009-09-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, August has been one busy month...

The newsletter system has been completed and the first issue has been sent out.

Use the following links if you would like:

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Read an online version of the first issue

I have been looking for quite some time for a location to hold regular Meetup Group meetings at and I think I may have found it, and it's less than three miles from my apartment. I guess the remainder has to do with seeing about fees and scheduling.

I have been so engulfed in what I've been doing that I haven't really had a chance to think about much else. I was hoping to go to Burning Man this year, but timing and finances were not there this year.

So, instead of taking my planned vacation with my friends, I guess I'll just take a vacation from them. I hope that they enjoy themselves, I'm only a little bitter... ;-)

Time is flying and before we know it the holiday season and all it's insanity will be beginning, again. I thought I would give you a quick update of the things going on over at Spiritgeek.

Writing is quickly becoming a constantly occurring affair. Between trying to write blog entries for here, there are pieces for the newsletter until I get some submissions to publish (ok, not so subtle request for your work...).

There is also going to be a new daily newsletter shortly with basic thoughts for the day and some daily info, I was thinking of using astrological info from my ephemeris, but other things like that...

I am also trying to write, or more precisely script, some new videos on "Practical Spirituality" and how to implement it into your daily life as well as how to regain control of that life.

If this were not enough time spent on the keyboard, I have been working on two books (sort of) for publishing in one form or another.

10 Secrets to the Secret
A short collection of insights into making you a Law of Attraction wizard.
The Executioner's Confession
The adventures of Rebecca and the arrival of the messiah for a nearly Orwellian world is slowly coming together... I am enjoying writing it so much, but inspirational fiction is hard work. ;-)

The last third of the year is going to be quite busy and we will see how everything comes together... It always does, just not always the way I thought it would. The universe can be more creative with its solutions than I ever was with creating the problems, thank God!!!

I have some more writing to do (you think?) and just a few more hours before I have to crash for work tomorrow.

So let's leave with a question that I put on Facebook and Twitter recently; "What if God & Spirit are just names for that which can appreciate the joy in ALL things?"

This will likely be the subject of my next blog post... We'll see!

WTF and Y?

2009-08-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

I get asked many things by people, I seem to attract the questions. That's cool, I actually like it, usually.

One of the questions I get asked a lot, particularly by people that actually read what I write here and in other places, is just what kind of f'n trip am I on?

I have previously mentioned how one of my early teachers, Joyce Meyer, made mention to the fact that people in the public eye tend to show just the "good" side of their personalities. It is this "show" of their goodness and the repression of everything else that makes them look like hypocrites when the "dark side" is exposed. Like the Apostle John says;

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 3:19-20 (KJV)
There have been many thing that have occurred in my life and actions that I have taken that I am not necessarily proud of, but I am not ashamed of any of them. Lessons come in all sizes and packages and the only thing I would be ashamed of would be to have learned nothing from them.

That's the past and simply put, there's not a whole hell of a lot that I can really do about it. I could try to hide things, but unless they are unknown to any and all living beings, there's always the chance that they may come out eventually, so why not beat them and just be straightforward about them all?

As far as some of the day-to-day stuff that I write about and some of the more outlandish things, they are all part of who and what I am. I am a human, I have wants and some things I tend to think of as needs, I feel love and pain, joy and sorrow and, God forbid, I am a healthy male who makes use of those "evil" parts down south.

I get such a kick out of those self-proclaimed purists who think to be spiritual that you have to give up all the joys and pleasures of the physical world. It's like I tell my spiritually vegetarian friends, "God gave me k9s to rip into meat and I like to on occasion." The same thing with sex, God gave me a dick and what sometimes feels like an overabundance of testosterone and I'm going to make use of it when appropriate (OK, and sometimes when it may not be...).

...where Life and Spirit become One!™

The tag-line on my page really is the essence of what I teach and how I live. Integrating Spirit into one's daily life isn't about depriving yourself, but in learning about the Truth of who and what you are.

Some people need to become ascetic in their path, at least for a while, so they can develop an understanding that they have been mistaken about things, but it's like the (slightly updated) adage about meditation; "Anyone can meditate in the quiet of a temple, but when you can do it during the half-time at the Super Bowl, then you know you can meditate."

Some of the less than traditional things I write and talk about are to express this idea, and to be honest, sometimes it's just to elicit a response, I like to yank people's chains to get their attention sometimes. It can be amazing to see what people do when you come at them from a 90° angle.

Like I have written so many times, Life was meant to be an entertainment for the Soul, not a trap or prison. As one finds Spirit and begins to integrate the two back into a single whole, that which is illusion and unnecessary will fall away on it's own.

For an example of what I am referring to check out an earlier blog entry called "The 2 Best and Worst Things for Your Sex Life" which gives an excellent example of what I'm talking/writing about.

Someone once wrote that when one finds their relationship to God and the whole of creation, things like the 10 Commandments become self evident. Why would one want to steal from another when they realize that they are really stealing from themselves, the whole collection goes from "Thou Shalts and Shalt Nots" to "no duhs" that seem obvious.

Good Days that Hurt...

2009-07-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

For the most part, I love life.

Life is such a wonderful gift from God, if you believe in He/She/It/Is, and for those that don't it's an amazing trick of entropy that I could spend several eternities thanking random chance since it is obvious that I won that lottery. (We'll talk about California Lotto later)

But there are days, strangely, they are the days that I truly become convinced that there has to be something behind it, something greater and apparently far wiser than I could ever hope to be behind it all.

Is it God? Is it a super-intelligent being that actually knows the purpose for all that is happening and is either taking one hell of a crap-shoot with creation or has the great hope that since it came from perfection that it must eventually (that can be an awfully long time) return to the source from which it came, perfection.

In the Sanatana-dharma, or as most westerners call it: Hinduism, there is a story of Mother Maya. Mother Maya is the manifestation of creation and she loves her children, us. She feels for us because she knows the pain that she must inflict upon her children so that they may learn and eventually grow beyond her. As with all parents, that is her hope, that her children should surpass her.

The interesting part of days like this for me is that though my heart aches to see the pain that we create for ourselves and for others. I weep to feel the hardness of the hearts of men and I sometimes wonder if I wish to continue on my path towards whatever it is I and everyone else truly is.

There is an old adage that says "ignorance is bliss" and I can agree with that at times, the bliss of sleep is something I sometimes wish for, if only for a moment. But then I awaken to the fact that unless I wish to condemn myself to that sleep of illusion and lies, I have to be willing to awaken and go through the pain.

The pain is an illusion as much as everything else, it's an illusion we create by denying the truth of who and what we are. Because part of our awakening is to become intimately aware that we are all part of the whole, without any part, no matter how small, the whole is not whole, how could it be.

So today my heart is open, my soul is free and I feel the pain that my fellow students are going through. As much as I want to shake them awake, I know that I can only help those who want to be awakened, many are not ready or willing, to them I will wish peace and joy in whatever measure they can handle.

So today is a good day and strangely, it is a day that is likely to hurt, but it is in the depth of that pain, that compassion for my friends, family and the rest of creation, that I know that I have Spirit and that I am getting closer to truly being in Spirit at every moment.

Free Speech vs Hate Speech

2009-07-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is where one will find the guarantee of Freedom of Speech . In recent years, the question has been raised as to what roll and to what extent the government should play in it's legislation of "Hate Speech" laws. Let's use a recent example.

Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern originally became known to me a year or so ago when she declared "I honestly think it's [homosexuality] the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam..."

Well the other day she was at it again when she made the following declaration as part of her new signature drive on the "Oklahoma Citizen's Proclamation for Morality".

WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and many other forms of debauchery; and
WHEREAS, deeply disturbed that the Office of the president of these United States disregards the biblical admonitions to live clean and pure lives by proclaiming an entire month [June 2009 as 'LGBT Pride Month'] to an immoral behavior;

The proclamation also declares the federal government "is forsaking the rich Christian heritage upon which this nation was built."

As would be expected, a crowd of less than happy protesters made themselves heard shouting things like "shame on you" and "hypocrite." She felt that the protest was "...a wonderful demonstration of intolerance." All I can ask is did she READ what she was proclaiming?

My favorite was the response of Pastor Paul Blair of the Fairview Baptist Church who said:

They don't feel like we should get involved and interfere in what they are trying to say, we had hoped they would show us the same respect.

Are they kidding? These pronouncements were made in the Oklahoma State Capitol and they expected what, humble silence?

When was the last time you had an LGBT protest show up at a church picnic or a funeral? Does the LGBT community stage protests in front of their Churches and decry the perversion of Jesus' teaching or the hatred spewing forth from many pulpits in America? Maybe they should... Hmmm...

I was taught, by Southern Baptist parents, that to stand by and say or do nothing was to lend my support and sadly most churches say nothing about the insensitive, little less the absurd, that is carried out in the name of Jesus.

Chuck S. Thornton, the Deputy Director of the ACLU Chapter of Oklahoma responded:

I think it's very unfortunate, frankly, I haven't seen scapegoating like this since pre-World War II Germany. She blames all these things upon a great moral crisis...but nowhere in this parade of horribles does [she] mention greedy Wall Street executives or government regulators who were asleep at the switch.

Now I expect that comparison to Germany and the term "scapegoating" to be taken poorly by her and those who think like her. So let's ask if such a statement would be justified or an overly dramatic one.

Scapegoating can be defined as a practice by which angry feelings and feelings of hostility may be projected, via inappropriate accusation, towards others. Another description would be the creation of an "us" versus "them" mentality where the "them" are the cause for all the woes that the "us" are blighted with, the "us" tend to be beyond reproach and have little to no fault in the situation.

...[They have] achieved... the ability to control and manipulate the mass media to their own advantage.
LGBT school children were openly ridiculed by teachers and the bullying of LGBT in the playground by other pupils went unpunished.

Oh wait a moment, that first quote wasn't Rep. Kern, it was Adolph Hitler from "Mein Kampf" and the second was taken directly out of an article on Jews in Germany during the rise of Hitler between 1933, when the Jews had become the "Untermenschen" - the sub-humans, and before the Krystalnacht of 1938, I just replaced the words "Jews" and "Jewish" with "LGBT". If you watch and listen, you hear many LGBT students reporting this exact behavior today.

There will always be those who cannot see the difference between disagreeing on something and using Hate Speech.

Pat Robertson and other "religious" leaders are perfectly welcome to say that they do not agree with the LGBT community, Same-Sex Marriage or abortion but when you instill hatred and incite people to violence against another then you have crossed the line from Free Speech into the realm of Hate Speech.

I disagree completely with the "traditional" interpretation of Jesus' teachings that have come down to us from Catholicism and into the assorted Protestant movements, but I would never deny those who believe it the benefits of society or suggest in any way that violence of any kind be directed towards them.

Hate Crimes are the fruit of Hate Speech and those in positions of influence need to be specifically careful to make sure that when they disagree with any group or idea that they take care so as not to incite those looking for an excuse into rash and deplorable behaviors toward those that are on the other side of the argument.

I think Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General, summed it up beautifully before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week when he said;

One has to look at the unfortunate history of our nation. There are groups that have been singled out, that have been targets of violence. We have to face and confront that reality.
and
Hate Crimes victimize not only individuals but entire communities, perpatrators of Hate Crimes seek to deny the humanity that we all share regardless of the color of our skin, the God to whom we pray or the person we choose to love.

The 2 Best and Worst Things for Your Sex Life

2009-07-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

If I had known that it was that easy to get your attention, I would have started writing about sex ages ago... ;-)

I have been thinking about sex a fair amount lately. Partially since my dance card has been so empty, but partially because I really haven't found what I'm looking for. Let me explain...

I recently discovered the two greatest things that happen to your sex life (no, it is not a little purple pill or topical ointment).

Finding someone on the same "frequency"

For those who have never experienced this, boy are you in for a pleasant surprise...

The physical act of sex is immensely pleasurable and all, but the first time you meet someone that you are able to connect with on a higher level, a compatible vibe, a harmonic spiritual frequency, you'll know when it happens.

In my practice I have had many people who have wondered what I was talking about until they experience it.

It is because this seems to be rarer that I realized that I no longer judge people that get labeled as promiscuous (my favorite quote on this goes like this... Promiscuous is anyone getting laid more than you.).
Finding the above is not just a single individual

As much as I am a romantic at heart and am searching for the one that I wish to share the rest of my life with who feels the same way about me, I eventually realized the was not much point in being a depressed involuntary celibate.

I have been fortunate to meet a few people that I could connect with in this way. Not only have I apparently been very lucky, but it opened my mind to the fact that there may be one soul-mate, but many soul-friends and some of them want it to be friends-with-benefits.

We, as humans, seem to be instinctively aware of something greater than our daily existences and while some are just looking for pleasure in the short term, I have begun to wonder if many people either have not been so fortunate or were once and are trying to recapture the high, kinda like drugs, as much as one may seek to numb the pain, the subsequent highs never quite match the original.

Many of the teachers would likely comment that this was due to looking in the wrong place, hunting pretty faces and nice bodies when what you are actually looking for is a favorable and harmonic soul. This would also explain why so many of us fall in love with someone completely outside what we thought we were looking for.

In the gay community of Los Angeles in general and West Hollywood in particular, the sexual culture seems to be to sift people by sex and if you find someone remotely harmonic, date them after the fact. Fine, but not something I am personally comfortable with for reasons that are about to become clear.

Now the other side of the coin, the two worst things for your sex life:

Finding someone on the same "frequency"
Finding the above is not just a single individual

So how can they be both the best and the worst? It is because once you taste something better, the old stuff just doesn't really cut it any more, it pales so much in comparison that it makes the other seem like a waste of time. It ceases to be satisfying. BUMMER!!!!!

Some would say that it is growing up; to which I say, "Do I have to?!?"

It makes me think of the line from the New Testament;

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)
There are times that I would like to tell the Apostle Paul where to stick it...

Happy Independence Day!!!

2009-07-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

After the last 8 years of the previous administration and what some are referring to as a somewhat stilted if not shaky start to the new administration, maybe it would be a good idea to have a slight High School Civics refresher.

Let's start with the purpose of today, it is the celebration of the July 4^th, 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence which formalized the resolution of Independence that had been approved two days earlier.

This document was a synthesis of some current documents as well as based upon the 1689 document called "An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown" and later shortened to "The Short Titles Act 1689" and commonly called the English Bill of Rights.

While the American Declaration of Independence was not the first such declaration ever made, it was to signal the start of the systemic failure of European Colonialism in many aspects.

On this day, most American think of fireworks, bar-b-ques and if you are a little older, John Phillips Sousa marches. I tend to think of the fact that this day was the beginning of a long and sometime excruciatingly bloody trek that would eventually bring us to where we are today.

So on this day where we celebrate our Independence and many also think of their freedoms, enjoy and take just a moment to ponder this great experiment in history called Democracy and appreciate it before it disappears through neglect.

One of my co-workers has a bumper sticker that sums it up so nicely (even though it refers to the Constitution instead)

I would rather have someone burn the flag and wrap themselves in the Constitution, than to burn the Constitution and wrap themselves in the flag.

Think about it...

Tweeting is not just for Tweety

2009-06-27T22:18:00.000-07:00

I recently signed up with Twitter and have made about 80 updates so far. You can click below if you want to check my tweets out... (God, talk about sounding gay...)

I had a few minutes today of calm during an otherwise crazed day of dispatching and was looking over my list of tweets and it got me to wondering...

When I first heard about Twitter, I was told that what made it so interesting was the fact that by being so short, only 140 characters, that people would have mini-blog entries and that the small size and ease of entry would give people an insight to the aspects of people that they don't usually get to see.

Looking through mine, I find some that are really interesting insights into things, my collections of interesting things overheard throughout my day and/or life and sometimes my slightly wicked sense of humor shows up (irreverence has been a calling card of mine for quite a while...).

One of the people that I list on my website as a teacher is Joyce Meyer, to be honest, I have kind of fallen out of like with her... Since she changed the show from "Life in the Word" to whatever it is now, she has lost that down-home feeling I loved and started taking herself to seriously as a "TV Evangelist." Bummer...

Several years ago she made a comment that really struck home with me that most Ministers (remember the source) tend to only show one side of themselves to the public, hiding that which is not befitting one in their position.

I decided then to make a concerted effort that in whatever I do, I would just lay things out there and no matter what the cost was, just be who and what I am. It has not always been well received, but I have found that Dr. Seuss was right when he said:

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

which is why I have it on my blog. I would think to do anything less would be nothing short of hypocritical and completely at odds with what I teach my students. How can one take responsibility for everything that happens to them if they won't even accept themselves for all of the facets of the jewel they have made?

So, when you read my tweets, judge if you must, but realize that no matter what I might write (I admit it can go off the deep end on occasion) it is a small snapshot of a momentary state of mind. Many of them are just little blurbs of random moments, I kind of look forward to seeing how they change in time...

Catch the nuggets of insight and/or spirit when they appear, try to appreciate the comedic lines and understand that even at 44 years of age, for the most part, I still find this existence to be a fascinating place and I go to such amazing places in my head... 140 characters probably does not do it justice but with enough pieces, you can get a pretty good idea just what I "is" in my totality.

Gay Pride vs Robert's

2009-06-14T00:51:00.000-07:00

Warning:
The following contains some language that may offend some...

It's officially Gay Pride Sunday in Los Angeles... The festivities are in full swing and the parade starts in about 10 hours and I am going with a group of wonderful friends.

But as much as I enjoy Gay Pride, there are two aspects of it that really yank my chain.

I've never exactly understood what it is that I am supposed to be so proud of. To me, being gay is like being Caucasian, it's just who and what I am.

I'm not proud of being 5'8" (172 cm), I'm not proud of naturally blond hair (though it's now turning grey/silver) and I'm definitely not proud of a genetic tendency to be short and stocky... If I'm not proud of those genetic traits, why should I be proud of the one that makes me gay?

Those who think it is some kind of choice are either too stupid to awaken to the fact they didn't choose their heterosexuality and they obviously have never been on the receiving end of one of their rants of hatred, thinly veiled behind a "philosophy" of love, you know, the hate the sin but love the sinner... Right...

To wake up one day and say to oneself, I think today, I will make myself a second class citizen, a pariah of society and unwanted by my family... If that truly were true, I would DEFINITELY be in need of a therapists help.

The simple fact is that God made me the way that I am and he shows this particular paintbrush of uniqueness all over nature, so it is only "unnatural" as far as people judge it.... Screw 'em!

Many people tell me that I should be proud of having survived everything being gay has brought into my life, while it is true they actually had a lot to do with me becoming the person I am today, but what a sucky way to go about it (guess I may be a spiritual drama queen after all).
The other aspect of Gay Pride that gets to me is that I am so not the typical fag. I cannot dance, I couldn't care less about fashion (I actually found out that Jimmy Choo is a designer and not an accent issue for "Jimmy's Shoes" from "The Devil Wears Prada") and I am completely un-color coordinated.

All the things people seem to think I should be as a gay man are completely outside my genetic makeup, I just don't have those genes...

I don't know much about them, but I like cars, I also like computers, stereos and tearing stuff apart to see how it works.

As far as sex goes, the straight-boy fantasy of the gay-sex-life is something I have NEVER really been either capable of, little less comfortable with.

I live in LA where 9's and 10's run around like crazy and I am a 40+ cute, but nothing that's going to grab your attention and lets face it, men are visually stimulated creatures.

There are times when I see the guys in the clubs and I feel like an alien visiting from another dimension since NONE of it makes any sense to me.

As much as I would love to get laid more often, like a few times a decade, I just cannot become part of the 2AM discount sale at the local gay watering hole, I can't stay up that late and I want to choose or be chosen, not stuck with as the best option left (this isn't third grade dodge ball team selection).

So, I guess I will enjoy the Pride Parade, torment a few fundies by knowing their Bibles better than they do, and celebrate that we had the courage to tell the judgemental assholes out there to just go fuck off and be what we were made to be.

The simple fact seems to be that gay or straight, we all have our issues.

I think I got the gay genes that turn into shamans and others of service to their community, kind of lonely a lot of the time, but ultimately rewarding in the long run, even when it seems futile...

Guess God does have a sense of humor after all.

"The Lila"

2009-05-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

for Gary

An end is near
a life so dear
a change is on its way,
it's not so queer
so do not fear
the soul must have its play.
Sorrow was our wife
till cut with a knife
we seemed to have lost our way;
for life after life
filled with strife
we began to enjoy God's play.
We give a great toast
then give up the ghost
for Truth knows no other way,
for what matters most
is not our boast
but those we've touched who stay.
So give breath to the OM
and enjoy your home,
to the soul all is gay;
for flesh and bone
but a chapter of tome
since eternity is but a day.

since we haven't been able to get together, peace my friend.

ॐ शान्ति शान्ति

Do Humans Prove or Disprove Evolution?

2009-04-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

I recently put the following up on my facebook page; "Are humans REALLY a viable proof of evolution? My cat seems smarter than most..."

I was specifically referring to how people believe themselves to be the ultimate form of life that exists on this planet, but is just as likely to destroy himself as to survive this adolescence our species is going though.

I think Douglas Adams put it very well when he wrote something like:

Man thinks he is the most intelligent of creatures because he has developed agriculture, civilization and cool little LED watches.

Dolphins know they are the most intelligent since they just did not worry about it.

My dad is a creationist. As I understand it, they believe that the world was literally created in 6 24-hour days approximately 6,000 years ago and that such theory should be taught in schools along with the Theory of Evolution as the source of life in this universe. I accept evolution as a process of life adapting and changing which can be seen around us to a certain degree.

It brings up 2 points for me:

When I was in school, it was technically called the "Theory of Evolution" but you would have thought it was proven law if you dared to raise anything that questioned it. Ben Stein recently discussed this in his documentary "Expelled"

The simple fact is that there is as much evidence to call the Theory of Evolution, as THE source of life, into question as tends to support it...

Many items used to prove only work to a certain degree. One example that I remember was the creatures used to show the evolution of a horse' hoof. The hooves looked convincing, but I was dismayed when the skeletons were constantly changing size and other aspects of the animals had nothing that looked related, like ribs that changed number randomly.

As much as I believe in a Creator that is outside of creation, to teach it in a science class would be questionable.

Sadly, those who are somewhat anti-religious have a perfectly valid point when they point out that there is little to no direct evidence to support or disprove a creator.

Also, since the above is somewhat true, I tend to think that such things truly due belong in a philosophy rather than a science class

So I begin to wonder if Darwin's theory, as far as Origins of life is concerned, may be disproving itself through human beings.

If we did evolve up through the species as Evolution claims, it would seem to me that we would have a more closely guarded relationship with the world around us.

As I told my dad once, my cats have enough sense to clean themselves, co-exist with their environment and not take a poo in their food dish, can we say the same about people?

We have been the indirect and sometimes direct cause of several of history's plagues though our beliefs in "dirt is from God and to wash it off would be offensive" to cats being the familiars of witches, destroy them and let the rat population grow unchecked and spread the Black Plague.

We rampage through what we KNOW to be limited resources, pollute the environment of the only place we have to live, for the time being at least, and in the name of convenience and profitability poison ourselves even if we bury our collective head into the sand like an ostrich.

So I'll ask it again, are we proof of the evolutionary origins of life or must we be something different?

How do U solve a problem like Maria?!?

2009-04-12T00:39:00.001-07:00

There are many things about me that seem to confuse people, cope... but it does make me an "interesting" character to get to know and if there is one thing that is true, it's that I am true to what I am, no matter what... :)

One of the things that a friend used to tease me about is the fact that I have quite the video collection. Some are excellent movies that either are or are likely to become classics and a few that should though they likely won't.

One of the reasons I collect my films is that they are fun way of provoking either an emotional state for myself or they have a memory attached to them. One such collection of films are the following:

"The Wizard of Oz"
The devine Judy Garland, can you believe they really wanted Shirley Temple for the role of Dorothy? Cute, but no...

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
Other than just being fun, it was also my first introduction to Benny Hill, he played the Toy-Maker.

Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments"

"Ben Hur"
Actually had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Heston back in the 80's, nice enough, shame he turned into such a dick later... Oh well.

"The Sound of Music"
it won the Oscar for best film the year I was born...

The one thing that these films all have in common is that when they would be on TV when I saw a kid, my mother and I would ALWAYS watch them together so they carry some of my best memories as a kid.

Lately, I have had the song "Maria" running through my head and after a conversation I had yesterday after work,it really started to hit home...

I had a conversation with a friend about religion in general but specifically about the mistranslation of scripture and ideas from the sources into the modern day.

Now as happens in many of these conversations, his perception was that his scripture, in its original tongue, was closer to the original than any other. It's not one of those discussions I particularly love since you can either turn it into a fight or ask the obvious question of how one proves such a claim, almost always a dangerous proposition at best.

It has started to become painfully obvious to me that trying to teach be re-aligning a current system with a universal underlying philosophy is going to be an extremely difficult way to go about it. We get so caught up in our paradigms and how we relate to them.

I am going to have to start creating at least a basic structure for explaining things that can be used to explain concepts that are in all the assorted scripture but not taught or directly understood.

For example, one of the questions that I get asked a lot is why God would go to all the trouble and allow all the pain that comes in creation? I tend to agree with Neale Donald Walsch when he describes it as God knew himself (pardon the gender there) to be the totality of all that is, was or ever would be but that knowing something is totally different from experiencing it. Creation is God experiencing being that totality.

I usually ad the analogy to prove the point of this of when we were children, our mothers told us the stove was hot and this would burn us, so we knew it, but after the first time we actually touched it, it went from a piece of datum to an experience.

This in many ways is one of the easier questions.

There are so many of these questions that I tend to answer in differing ways based on what my intuition tells me will speak to the current recipient, but that's not likely to work in larger groups or when trying to write something for mass publication.

So I would ask the same questions the nuns ask in the song:

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

Imagining is not just for John Lennon

2009-01-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

-- Imagine --

I have been a fan of this song for most of my life, but it wasn't until much later that I actually sat down and listened to the lyrics.

I think the first time was probably when it was the closing credits of "The Killing Fields" which really struck me hard. The movie exposed me to a visual representation of just how vile mankind can be to others.

The great teachers through history have all addressed this from one perspective or another, but the simple fact is that when you view yourself as a separate entity, cut off from everyone and everything else, it becomes second nature to dehumanize the "others."

I have Christian Fundamentalist friends who call me a "New Ager" for discussing the union of all living souls, but if they would actually look at their scripture, they would find out that Jesus used it as a fundamental paradigm in his teachings, in other words, there is nothing new about it.

One example that comes to mind is when Jesus addresses the disciples in Matthew 25:40, telling them:

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Now to many this is not going to prove anything to them as far as unity of all creatures, but if nothing else it points to the idea that dehumanizing ANYONE, especially the least of these, is in opposition to what Jesus was teaching.

I sometimes wonder about what it is going to take to waken the vast majority to its actual in-humanness in its actions toward the rest of the people in this world. We seem to be pre-programmed to separate and tag anything and everything into groups and those other than ours are to be invalidated. We have a cultural perspective that says Hitler was terrible, but other than the numbers game, are the majority of us really any better?

Be it gender, race, religion, orientation, nationality, et al the simple fact is that there is only one race of (semi) intelligent beings on this planet and that race is human, aka homo sapiens.

Those who have read the mini biography on my website are aware of the "Great Experiment" and some of the interesting things that became apparent.

Start with being aware that whenever you judge someone else, what you are really doing is judging some aspect of yourself that you may or may not like, depends on the judgement.

Start relating to the world around you as if there was no difference between "them" and "you."

Become aware of the eternal part of yourself and start relating to things from it's perspective and you will no longer have to imagine a better reality, you will have taken the first steps at creating it.

A new dawn in Washington DC...

2009-01-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

Today, as of 12 noon EST, George W. Bush has joined the ranks of the 11.1 million people that were listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as unemployed last December. Eight years ago, the rate was 5.7 million, nearly half of today.

This, as well as many of the other woes of the country, are not specifically his fault, but he, his party and politics as usual have had a lot to do with the creation of the situations we find our nation in.

Our new President, Barack H. Obama, has run on a platform of change, not a particularly new platform but he has definitely worked it to his advantage during the campaign season. I hope he can fulfill at least a quarter of what he has said.

One of the things that I hope both he and his administration are aware of is that playing the race card will only work for a short time before the American people stop finding it clever and just find it patronizing.

Larry Elder, a local radio personality and author, wrote a book several years ago called "The Ten Things You Can't Say In America" where he discusses one of his recurring themes, about how "White Condescension Is as Bad as Black Racism" about which he says "Blacks Are More Racist that Whites" (titles of chapters 2 and 1 respectively).

In the discussions he talks about how we seem to expect less from someone who is perceived as part of a minority group. I am hoping this is not something that will be a basic tenant of the current administration or the media.

My expectations of the new administration are just as high for this administration as it would be for any other. I have no plans of cutting it some slack because the point-man is of African decent, neither should you.

During the campaigns, we heard MANY people go directly after the fear buttons of the populace, fortunately it seems that it did not either work as well as some would have hoped or the American people are starting to show signs of stirring. We heard scare tactics like:

Since his father is a Muslim, he's going to install sharia (Islamic law) upon the land
His middle name is Hussein and on many occasions called him Saddam Hussein Obama to associate him with Saddam Hussein
He is a socialist (a major power word for Republicans) and will undo capitalism

Now that he is President we will see what he will make of the opportunity that has been placed before him.

As far as his predecessor, George W. Bush, we will see what history will make of his administration as well as see what kind of ex-President he will become.

Some Presidents do a much better job as ex-Presidents than they did in office, look at Jimmy Carter. As President, let's be honest, he was a bit of a wet noodle and not a particularly strong leader. After he was out of office, he has become quite the example of what many hold dear in a leader as well as a human being to the extent that he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Somehow, I just do not hold such lofty goals for the departing administration (may the universe PLEASE surprise me on this one).

I am reminded of a joke that may likely play itself out over the next year or so...

Boris Yeltsin was starting his first day in office as President of the Russian Federation when he came across the outgoing President Mikhail Gorbachev cleaning out his desk.

President Yeltsin asked him if he had any suggestions as to how to perform the duties of President to which he was now responsible.

Former President Gorbachev told him, "When you get into a jam that you cannot get out of, open the center drawer of the desk and you will find two envelopes. Take the first one out and follow its instructions. Later, when a second unsolvable situation comes up, take out the second and do likewise."

Time went along as it does and eventually a situation arose that President Yeltsin could not find a solution to. He remembered the envelopes and pulled out the first on which read, "Blame the previous administration."

He followed the instructions and sure enough it worked like a charm.

More time passed and another situation came up and after trying everything he could think of, he opened the second envelope which read, "Sit down and write two letters..."

Lets hope that there is more than a joke that describes this new administration and that they truly do succeed in creating the change that this country both deserves and in my opinion needs.

Let us hope that we truly are seeing a new dawn in Washington DC that works to the benefit of the masses instead of an elite of businessmen and corporations. Hope springs eternal.

How to create perfection...

2008-12-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

I am often asked just how we can change the world, fix its problems and awaken the masses? The short and simple answer is that we cannot.

What we can do is change OUR perception of the world, fix our problems and wake ourselves. As we work on these things, we will begin to resonate with what we are doing and THAT will attract others of like mind and/or sympathetic goals.

More often than not this is followed by a "why not" or something in that general ballpark. The simple answer is that we can only change ourselves. To attempt to change others inevitably leads to using force in one form or another which is guaranteed to fail -- sometimes dramatically.

The most common flaws in trying to change others usually seem to run as follows:

When we are "changing" those around us, we have stopped loving and accepting them for the perfection that they are in every moment. They loose a source of love and we tend to start withholding our approval, acceptance and caring till they start living up to our expectations.

In time, we start practicing what I call "Green Stamp Theology." When I was a kid, my mother would shop at stores that gave out Green Stamps. We would collect them and put them into books which could be redeemed for merchandise at a later time.

Sadly we see a lot of this in America today where the traditional religious members are more concerned with numbers of attendance and "saving" others while loosing the point in their own lives. It becomes more of a point system where we attempt to buy our way into the afterlife of our choosing.

If you wish to see perfection, you have to be willing to see it. Passing judgment on anything is to deny that its perfection already exists. Simple as it may sound, if you need something to change, it must not be perfect.

It's funny to me that this very question caused a major philosophical schism in Buddhism in what we today call Theravada [ancient doctrine] and Mahayana [great vehicle] schools. Fortunately, they have handled it very well over the years.

The Theravada school has as its central focus the enlightenment of the individual where the Mahayana school is more focused on the enlightenment of the masses and the tradition of the Bodhisattva, the enlightened teachers. I guess I would fall into the Theravada school generally since I just cannot see how one can take another to the Truth until they have arrived there themselves, not that I am there, but I pass on what I have found to those who ask.

So if you want to change the world, change yourself and the world cannot help but follow. Will it change as fast as you might want or think it should, no... but how you relate to all those things you used to see as imperfections will become new joys to celebrate.

to Start a New Year

2008-12-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone and the New Year is just around the corner. It seems like just yesterday that we started this one. Oh well...

Last year started with such promise and turned into what could only be called a major mess, but in retrospect, I needed it.

As much as I was looking forward to what appeared to be a year of prosperity, just once I would like it to be financial... :) I have been finding that there are many things that I have been clinging to that I am in need of releasing.

If the end of this year is any indication, next year should be quite interesting as many new players are starting to arrive on the stage of my life and they seem to be of a different caliber than the past. I am starting to attract like souls who might walk with me, not just new students. Nice change... I love my students, but it is nice to have contemporaries to hang out with, either way I end up learning from those around me, students or otherwise.

So I will leave this short and sweet and just say Happy Holidays to all and may the New Year be everything you want it to be...

Are we becoming schizo?

2008-11-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

I sometimes wonder what the differences are between the majority of people and schizophrenia...

We tend to think of schizophrenia only in it's more delusional aspects, but according to the American Heritage Dictionary, it can be defined as:

A situation or condition that results from the coexistence of disparate or antagonistic qualities, identities, or activities: the national schizophrenia that results from carrying out an unpopular war.

Schizophrenia is "characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, hallucinations, and psychotic behavior." Sounds a lot like what I see going on around us in the mundane world.

As a culture, we tend to be withdrawing from reality into prepackaged televised entertainments or into our own little worlds of Internet fantasy or escape. We have turned off our logical thinking ability to the point where we can be told something we know to be an outright lie and get to the point where we believe it.

I would ask if it is not delusional to think we can continue poisoning the environment we depend upon and not expect there would be repercussions?

Is it not delusional to create fictional entities that are bestowed all the rights and privileges of the citizenry with none of the responsibilities. If that is not bad enough, the courts have compounded the insanity, in my opinion, by declaring the sole responsibility of corporate management to be short-term profit. This means if a decision has the benefit of improving the numbers for this quarter but will destroy the company in a year, they are required to take the immediate benefit.

We now have a new administration coming into power shortly in Washington and what will happen if they do a complete 180 on what they were elected to do? If the last eight years are any indication, not only will we allow it to happen, we will re-elect them in 4 years to continue.

There are so many more examples that would likely get any individual locked up in a padded cell, but the state can convince us is not only in our best interest but absolutely logical and proper.

So it becomes a question of how we begin to escape the insanity that we see around us.

Some would say that a revolution of sorts is needed, but before we start fighting, ask what it is that needs to be changed, what it needs to be changed into and how to get it there. People will kill each other over partially formed ideas so before you start a war, unlike the Bush administration, have an exit strategy or at least a completely formed set of goals that you are trying to attain (Sorry, I just had to go there).

Before you start worrying about the larger picture, take the Buddha's advice and find the place for yourself. If you try to force others into a particular perspective or action that you do not live, you do nothing but show yourself a hypocrite.

If you wish to escape the insanity of repeating the past or what seems may be global schizophrenia, find the source for yourself, call it whatever you might, God, the Is, Mother Nature, Isis, Zeus or whatever. Find your relationship to what is beyond the physical and love that first then the rest will fall into it's correct perspective.

One thing you will find is that you become the second verse of the Gospel of St. Thomas;

Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

Seek the truth of who and what you are, when you find that you will become disturbed because you will see the folly that the majority are living in but eventually you awaken to the fact that the universe is what we have created as our educational platform.

From our limited perspectives it seems outright terrible at times, it is perfect, a perfect deity could create nothing less. It is perfect for its time and place.

Jesus used to say that he knew "his flock," what he meant was that he was able to identify those who were able to understand his message and technique of delivery. Those who were not ready or not of his "flock" were not to be subdued into submission, but allowed to continue their educational curriculum.

Grow, offer what you learn to those who want to learn but if you have to force anyone to the truth, either you are not as learned as you may think or they will only learn to resent you for it, hence the "pearls before swine" reference.

An Open Letter

2008-11-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

I don't know what insanity took over me to actually send this, but I just mailed the following letter to 365Gay.com's submission department, the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Hello,

I am a life coach and spiritual teacher, not a legal scholar in any sense of the word, but I have been wondering about this legal question ever since I heard about the ballot initiative that became Prop. 8 after the California Supreme Court overturned Prop. 22.

If there is any validity to the questions, I would appreciate if this could be forwarded to someone who could put it to good use.

As you know, in 2000 California voters passed Proposition 22 which placed the following text into the California Family Code as Section 308.5:
Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
This single line of text was overturned by the California Supreme Court as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution.

Proposition 8 placed the exact same text, literally, into the State Constitution as Article I, Section 7.5. Now the questions are as follows...
Since this line of code has been determined to be in violation, does it cease to be in violation now?

Does it make a difference that this exact code was found to be invalid before it was even qualified as a ballot initiative? I think this may be the first time that a law has been added after being declared unconstitutional.

In what ways would this invalidate Proposition 8 and if nothing else, does this create any kind of Constitutional Crisis since it introduces an ambiguity into the Constitution?

If the above is correct, how does one go about bringing this to the attention of of the Supreme Court, or whatever process this has to go through to have it ruled upon?
I have heard several cases are being brought into the court, but they seem to the same old cases that never seem to go very far very fast. This would seem to be the most direct and expedient path if it is valid.

Once again, if this is of any validity, would you please send it on to anyone who can make use of it.

Thank you,

Robert A. Burgener

We will see if I get any responses...

End of A Season

2008-11-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday is finally over and we have a new President of the United States.

Congrats to President-elect Obama on a substantive victory. I may not be your biggest fan, but I did vote for you over Senator McCain.

Here in California, there were several initiatives, there are ALWAYS several, to look at and while most were bond measures, and there were a couple that caught my interest.

Proposition 8:

ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME–SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

California Proposition 8, a law that is identical to one that was declared as unconstitutional, was passed by a narrow margin. There is a slim chance that it will not go through when the absentee ballots are counted, in California the absentee ballots tend to be more liberal or progressive than conservative, we will see…

If Proposition 8 should pass, there is a question that I have about the constitutionality of it as follows. Last May I wrote a blog entry titled “Same-sex Marriage & the Conservative Right” where I mentioned the lack of difference between previous Proposition 22 which put the exact same text into the California Family Code as Proposition 8 puts into the California Constitution.

The California Supreme Court threw the Family Code law out since they determined that it violated the “Equal Protection” clause of the State Constitution. So my question becomes this, does inserting it into the Constitution make it constitutional since it still violates the “Equal Protection” clause? Some would say yes, but I wonder about what challenges could be made since this text was already determined to be unconstitutional. It’s one of those legal questions that make some lawyers go hmmmm……

The other aspect of Proposition 8 was the campaign that was used to get voters to go along with it. I would have expected the usual “restore traditional marriage” ads of the past, but I did not see one pro-8 ad that dealt with anything other than same-sex marriage being taught in schools. If you did not read anything else about the proposition, one might have thought that Proposition 8 was about educational curriculum.

The initial ad discussed that in Massachusetts a teacher used a book, showing one called “King & King”, and when some parents balked they were told that they had no right to protest the curriculum or to pull there child out of class.

The case itself, Parker v. Hurley, the premise was that they were not notified of materials they found offensive; from the brief:

In January 2005, when Jacob Parker ("Jacob") was in kindergarten, he brought home a "Diversity Book Bag." This included a picture book, Who's in a Family?, which depicted different families, including single-parent families, an extended family, interracial families, animal families, a family without children, and -- to the concern of the Parkers -- a family with two dads and a family with two moms. The book concludes by answering the question, "Who's in a family?": "The people who love you the most!" The book says nothing about marriage.

Where this case fell apart legally was that the law they sued under to block this requires notification and an opportunity to exempt their children from "curriculum which primarily involves human sexual education or human sexuality issues." This has been interpreted as sex education and other related classes. The subject of the class was "what makes a family" which the courts determined did not qualify under this law.

This is not how the case was presented in the advertising for the pro-8 position. Sadly, this is hardly the exception but has started to become the rule as of late. Another good example of this is the so-called Texas Sodomy case where you here the far-right saying that sodomy is now legal in the State of Texas.

If one actually looks into the case, you find that sodomy has always been legal in the State of Texas if you are a heterosexual couple and the law that was challenged and eventually dismissed was only making it criminal for same-sex couples.

I sometimes wonder when we will start requiring political campaigns to actually be direct and honest to the subject. I mean sure there will be some mention of same-sex marriage in schools when it becomes legal, but the proposition has nothing to do with education.

Proposition 4:

WAITING PERIOD AND PARENTAL NOTIFICATION BEFORE TERMINATION OF MINOR’S PREGNANCY.
INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

This is a situation that required much thought to decide on my vote.

What made this so tough for me was that where there is a certain validity to the idea that not all families are positive experiences for a young girl and it may be difficult for her to discuss an unwanted pregnancy with her family, I also wonder just how much of a right to information the parents have?

In this country, we tend to hold parents as the responsible parties for the actions of their minor children. If a child vandalizes a neighbors property, the parents are the ones who are obligated to reimburse the damages. In some places, if a student does not go to school, the parent can be fined for the truancy.

If we are going to hold parents accountable for the actions of their children, how can we expect them to do this when we keep denying their right to know what their child is doing under the auspices of "right to privacy" for said minor?

How I voted is between myself and the booth, but this was something that made me think.

In case you don't live in California, Proposition 4 did not pass by a 52% to 47% margin.

Silver vs Platinum Perspectives

2008-10-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

I am always surprised, not sure exactly why, when my patterns change and I am a bit lost and out of sorts for a while... The current case in point is as follows:

My roommate has moved to literally the opposite side of the world, Southern and Eastern Hemispheres.

I am back to living alone, though I do have two cats to keep me company...

For the start of these changes, my expected support systems have been unavailable and I have been on my own to deal with things.

There is a quote from Mother Theresa on the right column of my actual blog, which my Facebook and MySpace readers cannot see that says;

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

As much as many would be very happy to get onto the self-pity pot, once I regain my perspective, I find it is what makes life interesting.

In many ways, it is like the old expression, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Some would say it is finding the silver (I prefer platinum) lining. This is one of the basic skills that it takes to change a life.

To change a life, one must start with changing how one relates to and thinks about the things around them. If all you can see is the dark side of things that happen in your life, the goodness's will be all but invisible to you.

There are many times when the goodness of a situation may not be readily apparent immediately but in those situations, you just have to be open to the idea that there is something good that will come out of it.

An example from my life was several years ago when I was served with notification that I had been evicted, never receiving anything after the initial "3-day pay or quit" notice. At the time, I was devastated and started to freak out. A few days before, I had been visiting with a friend and we had ended up in his garage and I new that it was empty. I asked about renting it to store my stuff in and not only did I get the storage space, but he also had a spare room that I could rent from him for less than half what I had been paying for the apartment.

Those were blessings enough, but there were more blessings in the pipeline that I was unaware of at the time. Later that year, I became very ill as a reaction to some medications I was taking and could not work for nearly six months. My friend was a God-send in helping me get through it.

One small side note, the eviction also helped me get some people out of my apartment that I didn't have the heart (or backbone maybe) to do myself. The local sheriff's notice of locking out solved the issue for me.

Now I am not advocating that you stop paying your rent or go out and specifically cause some action on the hope that it will work out for the best. What I will say is to find and listen to that small inner voice of intuition and follow the guidance that it gives you.

Inspiration is the voice of your true self trying to speak (or yelling, kicking and/or screaming when needed) to you.

Politics, Religion and I – pt 1.5

2008-09-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have been kind of procrastinating on doing this second part... I am really not that interested in it.

I also realized that even though I have my issues with both parties and their apparent merger into variations of a single theme, the problem really is not the politicians, the special interests or the corporations. The simple fact is that even though they may pay lots of cash to a candidate, they cannot vote. So in the final analysis, the blame for the current state of affairs in this country truly is the population for their complete lack of involvement.

Those who do not understand, or do not want to understand, the relationship of man and the universe enjoy being victims of the world, you can only be a victim if you choose to be, it cannot be thrust upon you. It can be very comforting to pretend to be innocent victim, but we truly are neither.

The simple truth is that countries get the governments they deserve, not by being good or bad, but by what they allow to be carried out in their names.

As much as many, if not most, people want to blame those in "charge" the simple facts are that the American populace has dropped the ball and may soon find themselves without any voice in the government that originally was of, by and for the people.

If the disenfranchised majority in this country were to get off its backside and would work together as a unit, there could be a complete revolution in this country without a single drop of blood being shed. All the fighting would be in the voting booth and within six years, everything could be different.

Sadly, in this country, we are more interested in voting for our favorite American Idol candidate than political figure.

I am reminded of the story of a young student and teacher talking about the difficulties in finding God when they come to a river.

As they are crossing, the teacher grabs the head of the student and plunges it under the surface. The student starts to struggle for air and after a few moments the teacher releases his student's head.

When the student catches his breath, he looks up at the teacher with astonishment in his eyes, not understanding why his teacher would do such a thing.

The teacher looks at his student and tells him, "When you want God half as much as you wanted air, then you will find Him."

When the American people want change more than they want mind numbing excuses for entertainment, then they will get it. It takes work, but not nearly as much as many feel, first we wake up and then we start to awaken those around us.

So go out and make some noise and start waking your friends and neighbors. Become involved for if you do not, freedom and rights can be taken away from you and many might be surprised just how close we are getting to loosing it already.

Politics, Religion and I – pt 1

2008-08-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

This blog is not really about politics, but in today's world, with religion and politics becoming more and more intertwined; I spend a lot of time discussing politics with clients, students and practitioners. I am always reminded of the following line:

When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows.
Rev. Mother Romallo
"Dune" by Frank Herbert

So lets get into it and see what we can make of things...

First of all, I am neither a Republican or a Democrat, I am what George Carlin used to refer to as a free thinker. I find out as much as I can about the issues and/or the candidates and then make my own decisions.

I will listen to the corporate media in this country for their perspective, but I am quite aware of the fact that they tend to slant their presentations and their coverage based upon their own needs, read financial. I have no doubts that the media in America has a vested interest in politics for both access and financial reasons.

The access can be many things, but one that I became aware of in 2001 was from several friends at Disney who said that the ABC News division had been made aware that if they presented stories that were not in the interest or perspective of the Bush administration, they would find access restricted. What does that mean? Two quick examples...

Every media outlet, supposedly, has members in the White House Press Core. While the administration would not evict a reporter from a network or outlet, they may never be called upon to ask questions during a press conference or just very late into it.

We all see those lovely interviews on Sunday morning and other times with the big players in Washington. What does a network do when they can only get 2^nd or 3^rd string interview?

I think the part of this that bothered me the most was that I have always been a firm believer in the concept of a free press and this was a slap in that ideal's face. It became even more frightening to me after September 11, 2001 and the things that happened in Washington and the media afterwards.

The Republican fall from grace

I was raised in a Southern Baptist Republican home. I was taught many things that have stayed with me until this day and in many ways find myself agreeing with many policies of "conservative" politics. Now before you freak out about this, understand that when I speak of "conservative Politics" I am referring to it as it was by Barry Goldwater, the father of conservatism.

This form of conservatism involved the concepts of self-responsibility and government staying outside of the privacy and sanctity of the home. Funny, the neo-conservatives of today would classify Goldwater as a left-leaning liberal by their current stances.

For me, the Republican Party started to fall out of favor during the Reagan/Bush administration. I became quite aware that many of my friends were getting ill with GRID, as AIDS was called at the time, and the administration did not care. The people getting this strange illness were homosexuals, drug addicts and immigrants; people the Ronald Reagan didn't count as part of his America.

I always found it a touch ironic that he later cut the funding for Alzheimer's disease and the same disease would be a substantial player in his own later life and death. There was a joke (?) that went around for a while that went something like: He forgot 100,000 Americans during his presidency and later forgot everyone else as well. A touch crass, but many people still hold strong feelings about the lack of care by the "Compassionate Conservatives" of the time.

During the Clinton Presidency, the Republican Party continued to show its true colors by spending years and millions trying to remove Clinton from office. The looked into and screamed about every appearance of impropriety. Basically they came across, to me at least, as a bunch of spoiled children that were unhappy they did not get their way.

Later, as a nation, we were told that when President Clinton wanted to do something about Osama bin Laden, that there was nothing to it and all he was trying to do was divert attention from the Monica Lewinsky scandal that was going full force at the time, August 1998. Three years later we would find that the target had been valid.

By the time the current administration came into power, sic, I had pretty much lost all respect for the party as a whole, but I also realized that the party has been co opted by two differing factions with completely different goals, one though was more than willing to manipulate the other. These two opposing forces that seem to have united are the Religious Right and the Corporate Elite, for lack of a better name.

The Religious Right has a morality that is based upon its belief structure and the only aspect of it that gets to me is their attempts to encode these beliefs into the law of the land. I support the privilege to live as one chooses, but forcing others to abide by it is just wrong. Sadly, these people tend to believe that morality is about rules and regulations; if this is the case, then lawyers are the most moral individuals out there.

The other group that has seized power in today's Republican Party is the Corporations and "Special Interests." Now I have no problem with business making its voice heard, but it has been a serious mistake to allow Corporate culture all the rights and privileges of the citizenry with none of the responsibilities or moral ethics required of individuals. Corporations only do the right thing when it is profitable to them; this has been mandated by the Supreme Court in some of their decisions.

I think that the Religious Right is in for a rude awakening when they awaken to the fact that they have been used as a voting block and the "Business" side does not share their morality and will dump them as soon as they become a burden or less than profitable.

To be continued...

Miscellaneous Thoughts for Today...

2008-07-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

I recently took a "normal" job, whatever that may actually be, I think of it as a place that pays me on a regular basis for some function that they have need of. I am still in training on the job and am feeling pretty good about it, but the one part of it that is going to take a while to get used to is getting up so early.

As an independent contractor, I could get up whenever I wanted, usually around 7 and take my time getting myself together. With the hours that I am doing during training and likely to continue doing on a regular basis, I could sleep as late as 6, but that leaves me little time for the more important aspects of my morning, meditation.

That's actually what this entry is going to be about I think.

I really enjoy the time I get to meditate and have really enjoyed sharing that time with my roomie, but that is a touch difficult since the roomie doesn't have to get up and I would never ask her to.

Lately, my meditations have been very interesting, not so much for what has been happening, but for what has not.

I tend to start my meditations with a creation of some sacred space and then do a breath channeling through my chakras. It helps me to relax and to place myself into an alternate state of mind.

One of the things that I have noticed about myself is that I get to a certain point and because of previous experiences, I try to "force" myself into a certain state. I'm not real sure how to describe it, but I get to a point where I feel as if I am leaving the body through the crown chakra and from there I can go anywhere.

I guess the part that has been interesting to me has been the recent experiences where I get to the threshold of "stepping out" and basically get stuck. I have found that meditation is a lot like my life in that it works best when I just let it happen and don't attempt to force things.

When I just relax and let my meditation happen, I get deeper than when I do otherwise. I know this is a pretty "duh" statement for many people and to be honest, it is for me as well. But we all sometimes get so far from where we started that it is sometimes helpful to remember those early lessons and see what other interesting and new insights we can glean from them.

The image above is one that I use to remind me of the images and colors of the chakras. The base or root chakra is associated with the color red and so forth through the colors and chakras till you reach the third eye which is purple. The crown merges all the colors together for a brilliant white.

Beyond those basics of chakra work, the image also incorporates the traditional lotus designs as well as the Sanskrit characters for more advanced students. I am trying to find an old graphic editing program I had that will allow me to slow the rate of the animation changes.

I recently had a discussion with someone and the ideas of meditation vs prayer came up. Those who know me know that I don't use the term "prayer" very often. The reason is that when I was young, prayer always seemed like a negotiation with God for what we felt was some blessing that we deserved.

Now days I usually phrase it more along the lines of "prayer is when I talk to God or my Higher Power, meditation is when I shut up and listen for the response."

After years of study of teachers and saints from religions spanning time and this planet, I can tell you that the teachers all tell us that the answers are not outside of ourselves, but within. This is because we are all small sparks of the Creator and can not be separated from that Source.

As the "Course in Miracles" puts so eloquently, God does not judge the minutia of our day-to-day lives but only that which is deserving of judgment, the mistake that we fell into of believing that we were separate from Him and could fall. Everything else is just that delusion playing itself out.

The law of Karma and Newton's Second Law of Motion state, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. All these "sins" we worry so much about are nothing because they only exist in a state of illusion, they are not real. Only that which is real matters and you would be amazed at how much is not real. Like that book titled, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: it's all small stuff," when we put things into perspective we can let go of that load we carry around in the name of guilt.

OK, I will quit rattling about and go get some sleep. I have a busy day at work and I have more than enough here for you to think about.

Goodnight.

A few little prayers...

2008-07-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, a friend was telling me about their morning practice and routine of prayers and meditation. I was specifically interested in the prayers that were invoked and thought I would share them with you. My personal favorite is the modified prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (the 2^nd and 3^rd paragraphs).

Father, Mother, Creator, Source, Spirit, God,
I offer myself to You -
To build with me and to do with me as You will.
Relieve me of the bondage of self,
That I may better do Your will.
Take away my difficulties,
That victory over them may bear witness
To those I would help
Of Your Power, Your Love and
Your Way of Life.
May I do Your will always.

God,
Make ,me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O, God,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in surrendering that we are awakened
Into Presence.

God,
Grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage
To change the things I can,
And the wisdom
to know the difference.

May they bring you as much joy as my friend and I.

How to catch wild pigs...

2008-07-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this, I won't claim to agree with it all, but it definitely is thought provoking...

There was a chemistry professor in a large college who had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting Communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new Communist regime.

While telling his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question: 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke.

'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.

'When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four s of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

'Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are trapped. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.'

The young man then told the professor that this is exactly what he sees happening in America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, subsidized housing, school programs, medicine, drugs, etc. We continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

We should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. If you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of freedom in America, you might want to send this on to your friends.

If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably delete this email.

God help us when the gate slams shut!

What do you think?

Growth can be such a pain...

2008-06-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

There are times that we have to do things that we may not really want or like, but if we REALLY had to do them, they are for the best and eventually we will see that.

Today is turning out to be one of those days. I have needed to deal with a relationship (business and personal) that has been going downhill for the last couple of years.

The failure of the relationship is no one's fault, over the years we just grew apart and had less and less in common. Personality traits that were only annoying but cute turned into major issues and certain communication issues became apparently immutable.

I should not really call it a relationship "failure," there is no failure in it, just a growing apart that eventually had to be severed for the benefit of both parties. I hope that they will be aware of this in time, if they don't already, and in time our paths may cross again and maybe a new relationship can grow from the ashes of this one, like the Phoenix rising.

What most would call "failure" is nothing but a preparatory for the "success" we crave. Perceived failures are a requirement for success; one cannot exist without the other. It is as Thomas Edison said when asked about his previous failed experiments with inventing the light bulb.

"If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward".
Thomas A. Edison, Encyclopaedia Britannica

It is one of those things that is part of the growth process. The last year or so has been SOOO about growth in many ways from me.

Several years ago, I had a friend who introduced me to Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati who is a follower of the Indian Deity of Mother Kali. My friend began praying to Kali to help her break the bonds that were keeping her from the growth that she wanted. Almost immediately, she lost her job, her apartment and nearly everything she owned. At the time, she thought it was a disaster, how could things possibly get worse.

As time went on, and in a surprisingly short amount of time, she had a new job that she both loved and scheduled her with hours that allowed her to do the things she wanted.A new living arrangement came up in a place with everything she could ask for and a roommate that was of the same spiritual mindset as she. What looked like a disaster was just a clearing so she could be ready for her next step.

While this separation of a longtime friend is going to include a period of mourning, I have to believe that in the end it will be for the best. In the short run, a fair amount of stress has been dispersed with

I guess in this moment, I will have to agree with Mother Theresa;

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

A warning between now and November 4, 2008

2008-06-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

The California Supreme Court's lifting of the Same-Sex Marriage ban and its expected repercussions, both in California and Nationwide this November, reminded me of a joke I heard as a kid...

A farmer was at the market and while passing some livestock, looked down and saw a large, masculine rooster with wonderful plumage and features. The gentleman selling the chickens assured the farmer that the animal of his affection was an excellent replacement for the elderly one he had at home.

The farmer bought the animal and upon arriving home, set the rooster loose in the yard. After a short while, it spotted the old rooster and started to attack and become the head of the flock.

The other rooster may have been old and past his prime, but his intelligence was still sharp. As the young rooster approached he managed to stop him and said, "Listen, you don't have to kill me. I won't get in your way, I just want to live out the rest of my days in peace."

The younger rooster was stopped for a moment, but then asked, "and how do you expect to do that?"

"I'll tell you what I have in mind," the elder went on, "I cannot fight you, so lets do this the easy way and we both can get what we want. When the farmer comes out, you start chasing me around the yard and after a bit, I'll fall down and play dead. The farmer will throw me out and onto the trash heap, voilà, we both win. I can sneak away and enjoy my golden years and you get this lovely brood of hens."

The young rooster thought about this for a moment and decided that it was a lot easier than having to fight this old-timer. So he agreed.

Later that afternoon, the farmer came out of the house and almost immediately, the young rooster started chasing after his elder while squawking and making all sorts of noises.

The farmer seeing this cussed under his breath and went back into the house and grabbing his shotgun, took aim and bang shot the young rooster.

While reloading the gun, the old rooster heard the farmer muttering to himself, "Damn it, third queer bird this month."

Though this blog is not really about politics, the fact is that between the Religious Right (ick) and the Republican Party, both have learned that is much easier to manipulate the public through their fears and hatreds than to take a chance by stating actual positions and take the chance of making a mistake or alienating someone.

The upcoming elections will likely be a PhD in manipulation and the fear of "Radical Muslim" attacks is likely to be brought up and I wouldn't be surprised if we start having changes in the "Terror Alert" system, you remember that do you not? Just before any vote that would benefit the Republican platform and be debated out easily, would be proceeded by the latest raising of the "Terror Alert Level," we spent nearly 3 years being conditioned like Pavlov's dog to do whatever Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted by this technique. It's basic Fear 101.

If this were not despicable enough behaviour, now the Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell clones can spend the next several months going on about how we must save marriage from the homosexual agenda and such silliness.

The point I am trying to get across is that no matter what your beliefs, religious or political, expect many people to try and sway your position, including this piece. At least I am honest about it and I am only trying to warn you that others will use much more "knee-jerk" techniques that have shown to be very effective in this country.

Elections and voting in general are serious things, take the time to get more than sound bytes that do not give a complete position. If a political message evokes a strong response, whichever way, look into it, find out who put it out and what are their objectives. Many corporations are going to be gunning for Democrats because they fear the reversal of tax credits and possible increased taxation on some of their insane profits, like the energy companies in particular.

So be awake, be aware and definitely engage your brain, unless you think that those decisions should be taken out of your hands. There are many people and groups out their who are interested only in their positions and don't care about anything else, don't help them unless you agree with those positions.

And so it begins...

2008-06-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

A month ago, I wrote about the fact that the California Supreme Court determined that discrimination along the lines of "separate but equal" had been overturned and Same-Sex Couples would be allowed to legally use the term "marriage" and as of 5:01pm today, it has taken affect.

I just finished watching the first same-sex couple in Los Angeles, Diane Olson and Robin Tyler, together for over fifteen years, get married on the steps of the Beverly Hills courthouse where they had been denied a marriage license every Valentines Day for the last eight years they had applied for it.

In San Francisco, the mayor of that city was also performing a marriage of a couple that had been together for fifty-five years; Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84.

Of course some closed-minded pin-head, not very enlightened of me, but when you hear someone yell "you will be burning in Hell" during a ceremony, I loose my perspective a bit. Agree with it or not, have some respect, but if there is anything that the Religious Right (ick - they are not right and if they would actually read their Bibles, they would know it.) has shown, neither respect for differing opinions or common courtesy can be expected from them, sad is it not?

The part of this whole argument that really gets to me from the, self-proclaimed, moralists is that with all their arguments, they obviously have no idea what a marriage is supposed to be. It's not about the genders of the parties involved, but commitment to become two who come together as one.

May all those in the Gay and Lesbian community that decide to enter into marriage do so for the right reasons, love and commitment, and in time, maybe we can show these closed-minded individuals what a marriage is supposed to be.

Would it not be hilarious if we turned out to be better at keeping marriages together than our Christian brothers and sisters who think we will be the death of marriage?

Happy Birthday... a new year begins

2008-05-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a VERY busy couple of weeks. I had decided to move back to the westside of Los Angeles, back to Mar Vista, after the summer was over when a friend made an offer that I could not refuse. (why am I hearing the theme from "The Godfather?")

I spent the last two week packing up and moving myself and have finally finished that job. I keep swearing to myself that every time I do this that it is the last time and next time I will hire movers to do the labor. I am still recovering but the exercise was good and good for me.

2008 has gotten off to an interesting start as the universe and I get onto a first name basis with each other. I have met some interesting clients as I grow my Life Coaching practice and last month I completed my Reiki II program and am adding that to my list of services that I offer my clientelle.

Reiki, pronounced ray-kee and meaning universal life force energy, originated in Japan in the mid-19th century by Dr. Mikao Usui, a physician and monk. Reiki belongs to what is called energy medicine because it works with subtle energies of the body, believing that disturbances, imbalances, or depleted energy (ki) cause illness. It is an art that is passed from master to student. Reiki works so well with my intuitive nature and has been such a wonderful blessing in my life as both a recipient and a practitioner.

Usually, the month before my birthday is a tough one to deal with, but this year has been actually helpful. My mood has been very high, I found and had a simple move, I actually had a friend help me move the large items with his truck (that's a small miracle as anyone who has truck owning friends knows).

Life is good and, as always, getting better if we will just allow it. So happy birthday to me and may this new personal year continue as one of growth and prosperity.

Peace and joy to all those who would read this and wish me a happy day and/or peace and joy...

Same-sex Marriage & the Conservative Right

2008-05-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

The California Supreme Court today overturned California Proposition 22, from the 2000 election, which attempted to define that only marriages between a man and a woman would be recognized by the state.

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "California Defense of Marriage Act."

SECTION 2. Section 308.5 is added to the Family Code, to read:

308.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Of course the traditionalists and the religious right are not going to be happy in the slightest about this and I completely expect that the usual claims that this is going to destroy marriage is on the horizon. I also expect that Pat Robertson will be having a mental meltdown on Friday's edition of the 700 Club, more on him and a few of his recent statements later.

I am sure that the religious right was not taken completely by surprise since they have been gathering 1.1 million signatures to qualify a state constitutional amendment to deny same-sex marriage, Initiative 07-0068.

SECTION 1. This measure shall be known and may be cited as the "California Marriage Protection Act."
SECTION 2. Article I, Section 7.5 is added to the California Constitution, to read:
Section 7.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

The actual text is identical, but by adding it to the state's Constitution, the current ruling would be trumped.

We could go into the lower arguments that the very people that claim same-sex marriage will destroy the institution also have some of the highest divorce rates and little regard for marriage outside their personal interest, but let's look at a few of the "better" arguments that I have heard as of late.

Pat Robertson has never really been one of my favorite people, but as of late he has developed a near Ph.D. in "hoof in mouth" disease. Here is an excellent example...

Other than the usual fear tactics of what "gay and trans-gendered" people are going to do and the other usual verbal diarrhea, my favorites are as follows with the time marks for interesting places to look.

1:04-1:50	:	Pat feels that maximum of 2% of the population is "gay" and 1% are "lesbian" so it is acceptable to discriminate against this nominal number since they do not make up 10-20%.
2:21-2:47	:	Though he hasn't the courage to actually say it, he feels that marriage is only about reproduction since he has repeatedly stated that when two men or two women can procreate, he would be willing to reconsider his objection to same-sex marriage. This argument has always made me wonder why these people claim this argument when they would never refuse a heterosexual couple the privilege of marriage if they had no intent to have children, by choice, biology or age...
2:47-3:10	:	"The reason we protect marriage is children." OK, so let's change the laws so that marriage is only available to couples having children and dissolve said marriages when the children are no longer at home.

These so called objections are not really arguments, but simple excuses that non-thinking individuals will accept. Pat and those like him are more than happy to condemn people in "cults" for drinking the arsenic laced kool-aid, but when it comes to there own poison laden kool-aid, drink and be happy...

oh yes and "saved."

A Surprise of Change...

2008-04-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

The other day I had finished a session in Downtown Los Angeles and was heading home. I needed to get online and I knew a Starbucks not far away on Wilshire and while pulling in, realized that I was hungry and stopped in the McDonald's across the parking lot.

The young lady who took my order seemed a bit confused as to why I would give her $11.15 when my total was $5.40 (I like quarters and larger bills) and handed me seventy-five cents. I commented that I had given her a ten and not a five and after pointing to the receipt that shows she typed $6.15. I was not upset, but I told her I gave her a ten. She got REALLY bent out of shape as if I was trying to rip her off.

The manager was nearby and asked her what the problem seemed to be, she explained what she believed and he asked me, I said it was just a mistake, nothing major. He said he would count the drawer and took it in back. During which my order was readied.

A few minutes later, the manager sent her back up with a stack of singles which I put in my breast-pocket without looking and went on to enjoy my lunch.

A bit later I was listening to KTLK, the local Air America station, and the host was going through a list of things that many believe have been lies and misrepresentations made by the current administration. This list was followed with more complaints about the Bush administration.

Now I happen to agree with many of the things they said and the vast majority of people I talk with would agree with a large part of the lists. What I wondered was what it would take to get people to actually attempt to do something about what their "elected" leaders have been doing in their names.

I do not like be cynical about people, but it seems to be more and more obvious that the American population is completely happy to sit at home and vote on American Idol or Dancing With the Stars. I am becoming more and more convinced that until the issues of the world, their nation or maybe their local town affect them directly will they become involved and even then, they seem happy to just complain if it would take a concerted effort. What a sad statement on the state of the union.

I heard that one of the oil companies was quite surprised that the people of this country are taking the latest collection of gas price increases so easily. People seem to have a very short memory and a willingness to believe what they see on television. Maybe Al Gore is right in his assessment of the population in his book, "The Assault on Reason."

After becoming a touch depressed at the apparent state of things, I came full circle and started thinking about how upset the young lady had become as if I had accused her of trying to steal from me. I saw she had been caught off guard and assumed it was a simple mistake.

I am not so sure now, when she handed me the singles, I didn't actually count them and when I later went to put them in my wallet, there was only four, was she trying to skim from her till? That would be even sadder...

A slow learner, but learning...

2008-03-15T16:37:00.001-07:00

I find that if we listen to the world around us, we will always find what we need. A case in point has been for me, my ongoing issues with stressing out about where the things that I perceive that I need are going to come from.

The Law of Attraction will always work on our behalf if we will just let it and not sabotage ourselves, one of my particular specialties...

For example, business has been really slow and the last two months, I have been freaking out about paying my rent. This month, I did it so well that I even manifested a stress related cold-sore for my efforts.

The universe has always provided for me, but when it comes to those major issues, I tend to forget that and get lost in the moment and its concerns. Fortunately, I have made it a point to program my days with the required outcomes so that even when I blow it and get lost, I come out the other side only slightly worse for the wear.

This month, the universe decided to let me stress myself out, it IS only MY choice to do it, until the last moment and came up with everything I needed and a little extra in less than a week.

When will I learn???

Are you controllable?

2008-01-22T10:22:00.001-08:00

When I was in high school, I had a teacher for Freshman English names Ms. Butts who became something of a friend and confidant. Freshman English was a full year required class, but starting sophomore year, the students were allowed to choose specific classes that they found of interest.

During the year, it had become quite apparent that Ms. Butts' favorite class to teach was one called "Persuasion and Propaganda." Personally this was not something that I would have chosen but she was so excited in the subject and thought that I would get a lot out of it so I signed up for it.

The reading for the class was George Orwell's "1984" and I think we either read or discussed Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." Along with the reading was a excellent introductory into the worlds of advertising and subliminal manipulation. It really opened my eyes to how we are tricked by what we see to buy products we may not even need.

Some say that advertising is the art of convincing people that they need something they likely didn't know even existed before hand. My personal favorite quote on the subject is as follows:

"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket."
George Orwell

I just finished reading Al Gore's book "The Assault on Reason" in which he touches on the subject while discussing the change that has occurred with the distribution of information from print to audio and later video mediums. Scientists have viewed the differing wave patterns in people's brains and what areas are or not activated in the brain's logic centers with differing medias.

In America, at least, we have become largely a nation of peoples who get more information from carefully crafted sound-bites than from actual study about "whatever."

When I was a child, we used to watch the local news to see what was happening in St. Louis and the immediate area then the network news to find out about the nation and the rest of the world. I remember watching films that have since become cultural icons from the Vietnam era when they were first shown on television.

You won't see such things today, in the name of "family decency" or gratuitous violence, but in times like now, when our nation state is at war with another nation state, this should be a nightly segment of more than a quick statement of a couple of IED's and shelling incidents but an in depth statement of what is happening, top story every night until it is over. Making it into an "also ran" is just another form of manipulation, it's happening but you don't want to know to much about it.

Sadly, some executive realized that news was a salable product and that by making it "pop" you could raise ratings and hence charge more for advertising space. There was a time when television news was not about making a buck, but paying the people for the privilege of using the publicly owned airwaves by supplying a service, information.

Now I am sure that Britney Spears' latest meltdown is fun for some to watch, it is not (and never will be) news, so why is something like this the lead story on the network news and why do we let it go on without a comment from the public?

I feel sorry for Britney and her sister as it seems their family has some serious issues to deal with, but it seems REALLY sad that this would be used as ratings gathering fodder when people are dying so that we can have our minds reduced to mush so that this seems of importance.

We could go into the next realm of this discussion, politics, but why, if you want to know about the manipulation of the public by Washington, there are a plethora of blogs and outside news sources that can do it in much more expansive detail than I would ever want to. I'll stick with religion as my subject, spending my life in the pursuit of political understanding would likely have me opening a wrist or two.

I may have my issues with the political arena, but I have to agree with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee when he said "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office."

The point of this is to start becoming aware of how you can be manipulated to do things you would not otherwise. This is important, if you cannot discern how you are controllable, how can you regain that control?

A basic piece of the philosophy taught here is that we are all responsible for that which happens to us, none of it happens without our express permission, either consciously or not and on a level many of us are not aware of. There are no victims unless one chooses to be.

Part of learning about who and what you truly are is to become aware of how your truth has manifested in the world of your experiences. The past is what brought you to where you are, in learning how and what it was, you become prepared for the next moment.

The Church of Scientology may take a lot of grief for some of their stances on things, but I have to agree with the idea they put forth of the "reactionary" person. We are not really taught as children to question and analyze the world that is put before us. Instead, we have a nearly instant reaction to what is happening around us with no clue as to why we are responding in this way.

Start to look at the thoughts you have, the ways in which you think and continue to ask that deadliest of all questions, "WHY." That one little word can open the most massive doors in the experiences of past present and future. Try it and see what answers come to you, you are likely to be quite surprised in many cases, I know that I was...

My high maintenance Life Partner...

2008-01-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

I am not sure, but I think I may have accidentally sold my soul to the devil, also known as the mechanic at the auto shop. :-)

Here is a picture of my '90 Mustang LX (ok mine needs paint and body work...)

I have been having an assortment of difficulties with my car as of late, mainly dealing with the coolant system. They told me when I bought it that there was a leak in it someplace and it has been one thing after another.

The heater core
It turns out that a lot of my original issue was likely this little problem. I made the assumption that the wet floor on the passenger side was from the door that doesn't quite align properly. Turns out that the core had a leak and since it is on the inside of the firewall, wet floor.

My solution? I bypassed the heater core with one of the hoses that connected it to the main system, a temp fix at best since the hose was not shaped for this little maneuver.
My badly patched bypass
As I said above, I knew my fix wouldn't last forever, but I though it would work for at least a week or two. Good thing I had already been to my local Pep Boys where a very nice Part's Department guy let me rummage through the assortment of hoses so I could find a ½ inch hose with a 180° turn of the appropriate size.

A few days later I was headed home when the car started "smoking(?)" at Beverly Glen/Mulholland and as it was too dark to see anything under the hood and since home was all downhill from there, I coasted the rest of the way and parked it immediately.

The next day I went to see what had happened and I think I must have nicked the hose trying to install it, I had a new pinhole that had been the issue. I spent the afternoon cursing out the car while trying to get the old hose off and the new one on.

Why do they make 8-cylinder engines almost impossible to manipulate around under the hood?
Today's issues

The Lower Radiator Hose
Last Friday I noticed more water coming out of my engine, but this time it was from the front of the engine. Gads!!!

I felt around the radiator hoses and felt a couple of spots in the lower radiator hose. I was not in the mood to deal with this myself today, so I took it to a local mechanic that several friends use.

I figured that I would kill two birds with one stone and get an Oil Change at the same time.
The Water Pump
I had heard a strange sound under the car a couple of times, so I asked him to check under the car and see if they could find something that may have punctured the hose. Sure, it's only a guess, but worth looking into.

While doing this, they found that my water pump was leaking. It cost me twice as much by itself than the hose and oil change... Eeek!

Now don't get the wrong impression. I am happy to fix the car, thank God that I have the cash in the bank to do it, but it was a bit of a shock, $300.00 total.

Some of the Hidden Blessings in the above...
I guess for a car that I got for a steal and haven't really had to do that much to, I am really lucky.

So instead of thinking that I am upset, I am just venting a touch and trying to realize the blessings that are hidden in the situation.

Where the cash flow issue is frustrating for me, ok ANY time I have to spend money that I am not planning on it's annoying. But with business having been as slow as late it freaks me out a bit. This is one of the issues that I am still working on. I tend to get a touch (right) manic when my cash flow and savings are running low. The universe always works it out, but I still get insane. Maybe that's why I keep going through the lesson again and again.

As of late, I have wondered if I really need a car. Well, in Los Angeles the answer is a fairly well sounded "Oh HELL YES!!!" At least while I am doing on-site computer services and trying to get my coaching working.

I am learning the hard way that I need to let go and just be in the moment, I am quite aware that I am both attached to money, my stability and I am finding myself worrying about my rent for next month when I just paid it 6 days ago (it's due on the 15^th).

These things will continue until I learn the lessons, I seem to bit a touch slow in this area... ;-P

An Unexpected Christmas Gift

2007-12-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Christmas (OK, if you looked at the header for the message you know that) and I had the best Christmas I have had in years.

I have always been aware of the fact that we tend to see "outside" us better than inside ourselves. I can look around and see a million people around who are miserable and obviously so very sad without realizing how sad and/or depressed I may be since it has become such a habitual state of mind and being.

It's like the man who has something terrible happen to him and he gets angry. In time, he has been angry for so long that he doesn't even realize that he is always angry and that those around him are quite aware of this. Eventually, most will leave him since who wants to be around an angry person all the time. They may realize why, but many will not, but he will just know this is who and what he "is".

Since leaving the limo company and going to work for myself has been a somewhat stressful and unnerving experience, I have written here before about how disconcerting getting outside my personal comfort zones has been. It has had an interesting effect on my life that I am SOOOO very thankful for.

Yesterday, I went to a party of friends and have to say that I probably had the most enjoyable time that I have ever had, or at least in many years.

Having been so attached to my job for so many years, I had not even realized how much of "life" I was missing out on since it just "was" what I did. May I never get to that place again of bypassing life while trying to survive.

This group of friends and acquaintances are mainly people that I have only known for a few months and they have accepted me and made me feel welcome in ways that you don't find in Los Angeles very often. After the party, I was driving home and became aware of just how full of joy I was and how long it had been since I had been there outside of meditation and teaching.

As much as I loved all the gifts I received for Christmas from my friends and adopted families (K: the "Magic 8-Ball" said that my wish for happiness today was likely, right so far... :-) ) the one that I will cherish forever is the joy and happiness you all have brought into my life and the refuge that you have offered from the difficulties in the day-to-day existences of my life and calling.

May everyone be blessed to have that one person or group of people that let them just relax and enjoy, if not, why would life be worth living?

ॐ शान्ति
Om, shanti (Peace)

Time Travel; fun but not very profitable...

2007-12-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I was working on some questions and supplying answers when the following came up:

How can I let go of others’ problems instead of trying to solve them?
This is an issue that I have been working of for a while. So far, the best I have been able to accomplish is to become aware of it as it is happening and then I can try to let go of it and begin to regain my peace.The hard part for me is the letting it stay gone, I tend to rehash it after the fact and I can get just as frustrated, if not more so, as I would at the time, time travel can be fun and completely unprofitable.

I find that we all suffer from this to some degree. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking may not be a big proponents of it, but to a degree, we all do it. When we think about things that have happened to us in the past, imagine or plan things in the future we are practicing time travel in at least one of it's methods.

There is an old expression that says "if you you have one foot in the past and one in the future, you completely miss the present" and the present or now is actually all that we really have. Another expression that I heard on this was "yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, today is the only cash we have."

Learning the lessons of the past is important so that we are not condemned to repeat them as Benjamin Franklin said. Becoming fixated on our past is not healthy for us. Rehashing our past failures or disappointments for the purpose of punishing ourselves is not healthy.

The same goes for the future. We can enjoy an amusement of playing out the future in our heads but thinking that we can plan every detail of the future and expecting it to follow our detailed schema is a fantasy that tends to become painful when it is not realized. As the saying goes, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."

Imagining and fantasy can actually become detrimental to our growth. In the process of fantasizing, we usually tend to tell ourselves how we would like something but define why we are not going to get it or are unworthy of it. For those who are aware of the Law of Attraction, this is a big warning sign to not allow to pass unheeded.

Within reason, all of these time travel experiments can be helpful and fun, but the fact is that if you spend all your time in any of them, you are going to miss the present and it is the present that you change into the future and the past is just a record of how you got to where you are.

Enjoy the now, be the now and live in it. I can guarantee that once you spend the majority of the time thinking about what is, this moment, the past stops being something of sorrow and the future becomes a new landscape that unfolds moment by moment before you.

What are we and Why?

2007-12-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

There is an old question that I got asked in philosophy class that is reasonably close to a koan from the world of Zen, "Can God make a stone so large that He cannot move it?"

What if this is the wrong question? What if the right question is, "Can God create a puzzle and/or riddle that is so complex that, as of yet, He has not solved?" And if that is not enough heresy for one day, I would add, "What if we, people as well as creation, are the attempt to solve that puzzle/riddle?"

Generally, I tend to think of the relationship between God and His creation in less than philosophical Gordian knots, along the lines of, as explained so eloquently by Neale Donald Walsch, God knew Himself to be the totality of all that was, is and ever would be, but the knowing of something and experiencing it are completely different. Creation is the attempt of God to turn datum into experience.

Now, to some, this is absolute heresy, I tend to feel sorry for these people since they usually have a view of the relationship of man and God as being nearly diametrically opposed. The view of separation between creator and created seems to manifest in forms of societies that end up bullish and uncaring in their assumed relationship to the creator as "the chosen."

Why is it that we cannot look beyond our little egos (OK, not so little in many cases)? If we take this view of God as a diamond and all the differing ideas about God are just different facets of the same stone, we are left with all our descriptions of God being like the story of the blind men who start fighting over what an elephant is since they all have experienced different pieces and not the whole.

Imagine the joy that would come from the acknowledgement that not only is our view and belief right, but also the plethora of views from the Haitian Vodoun Mambos and Houngans, to the Islamic Imams, through the Hindu Brahmans, to the Buddhist Lamas and Arhats to the Christian Popes and assorted ministers and preachers, wouldn't that just be amazing to experience?

Note:
Thanks to J. Michael Straczynski for reminding me of this with Dr. Franklin in Babylon 5.

a Giving Thanks list

2007-11-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving and as much as I appreciate the traditional overindulgence in foodstuffs, like Christmas, there is more going on than inducing a L-triptophan overdose of napping.

Where I grew up, the big thing was the annual football game between between my high-school, Kirkwood, and our rivals from across town, Webster Groves, (life was a blast the year I transferred into that school just before the game). From what I hear, Kirkwood won this year which was the 100^th Turkey-day game between them. Congrats to the Kirkwood Pioneers.

But as much as football and food are plentiful on this day, what I try to do every year is make a list of things that I have to give thanks for. It's one thing to set aside a day, but I find it helpful to actually list them out and look at them, cherishing each for a moment so as to actually give some thanks.

My friends -- more like family...
- * -- my best source of reality slaps when I need one in short order. Gifted by the Gods to be able to see though my self-indulgent BS whenever I need it.
- *-- probably the person in Los Angeles that knows me better and longer than anyone else. Why she puts up with me, I don't know but I love her for it.
- * -- likely my best friend, we fight on occasion and yet we always are there for each other.
The learned lessons of the previous year
- "The difference between a rut and a grave is only a matter of depth."
  My great-grandfather told me this when I was a kid, it has taken until lately to realize the truth of it and be willing to climb out of my rut before it falls in and becomes that grave.
- Follow your heart and the universe will be there for you.
  I have lived this unintentionally on many occasions, but now I live it on a daily basis with intention.
- I have finally become truly aware of the fact that what I have is of some value to the world and that it is not wrong to want to share it with those who want it. Follow that small voice inside and it will tell me when and with whom.
My health
- My Doctor is always freaking out about my cholesterol levels. This year we have finally gotten it under control and all is well. I am not going to have a heart-attack anytime soon, at least not from cholesterol levels...
- My other condition is absolutely fantastic and seems to be completely under control.
My new employment arrangements
- No longer at the limo company
  As much as I liked my job and loved the people I was meeting at the company, I never realized how much of my life was dedicated to the job to the expense of everything else. I think on some levels, I was hiding from both life and what I really wanted to become. I still love the people I worked for and with, but after several years of 3,000 miles per month in LA traffic, enough is enough.
- Computer services
  While this is not my final goal in the universe, I have spent years learning skills that have a nice value to them and without having to work for someone else or full time, I can make enough money to work on my true goals and desires. What a blessing this has turned out to be.
- Life Coaching and Spiritual Teaching
  Not only has the last few months allowed me to create the basic site for this, but I have been inspired in so many ways as to how to proceed with it. Things are starting slowly, but in a way that is a good thing since I have the opportunity to plan the directions in which I and it will go.

This list is nowhere near complete, but it is a beginning.

Everyday, be thankful for the gifts and blessings that show up in your life. By acknowledging them, you not only give blessings, but they tend to grow into greater and greater things to be blessed by. This is one simple way in which the Law of Attraction or "the Secret" can be used to improve our lives in directions we want to go in.

To be or not to be (insane that is)

2007-11-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

I am sitting in the Grounded Cybercafe having a mocha and trying to get some things done. I've managed to invoice a computer client and get that on it's way and decided to write a blog entry as well as try to get some writing done on at least one of the several projects that I am working on.

I have been thinking about the incarnation of Spiritgeek.com as far as how I want it to go. I am torn between extremes, at least from my perspective. I am trying to decide between two different forms.

A Traditional model -- the calm and mellow teacher
This is the image most people seem to have of a spiritual teacher, Mr. Miyagi from "The Karate Kid", someone who is basically unfazed by anything that happens around him. Lets be honest, nice but kinda dull and boring.
Less Traditional -- more actual "living"

As much as I appreciate and respect the more sedate, traditional teacher, I tend to lean more toward the more "active" type teacher.

I'm not sure I want to be part of the "crazy" school, but if the universe is perfect and all things are perfect for their time and place and if life was meant to be an entertainment, it just seems wrong to be bored with it all. No matter where you are on the spiritual evolutionary spectrum, I would think that boredom is a sign that you either "want" to be bored or you are missing something (at least that is what seems to be the case when I get bored, I usually find I have missed something).

So, I guess now that I have been thinking about it to write this, I have my answer, be true to who and what God made me to be and if there are those who don't like it, well, screw them!

Why did I have to write this bit to determine that? Probably since it is a way in which I put my thoughts in order and analyze them. I could easily erase this and never let anyone know this thought pattern ever existed, but part of the reason for the blog is the documentation of the mental and spiritual musings of a soul in this universe.

Om Shanti

...it ain't for sissies

2007-11-13T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have been out of the limo company now for nearly 2½ months and while being quite busy, I have also become aware of several things to be looked into and learned about and/or from.

Change, it ain't for sissies
A friend of mine watched me have some toaster waffles a while back and thought it a touch odd that I would cut them into 8 pieces before I would eat them, 4 bisecting cuts into a circle. From my perspective, it seemed logical in that I tend to read while eating and cut my food for easy access while staring at my book. My friend found it of interest and commented that my life had been so out of control for so long that this was possibly a small routine that gave me the feeling of control.

At the time I did not really think about it much, but since leaving the limo company, I have begun to be confronted with the fact of just how much of a creature of habit I really have allowed myself to become.

Another friend commented recently that they thought it would be good for me to "step out of my comfort zone." Let me tell you, when you go from being a slave to a job for 10 - 16 hours a day and 6 or 7 days a week to self-employed and completely responsible for nearly every dime you make, I am so far out of my comfort zone that I would be surprised if they are in the same dimension.

After taking a break for a couple of weeks, I became nearly paralyzed with fear and anxiety about what I was going to be doing. I am still dealing with these to an extent, but at least I am not feeling physically ill every morning.

Blazing an Independent Path, it ain't for sissies
I have always been reasonably comfortable that the Life and Spiritual paths I have followed were off the beaten track but have become aware of just how difficult it can become when a philosophy goes from something you believe in and is tested by actually living it. Some philosophies come along as easier than others to follow but mine is not easy, but once I realized that I was missing my previous patterns more than actually fearing the "process", it got easier.

I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction, but I still find myself limiting it by trying to dictate how it will manifest. As an example, with this change in work from employed to "gainfully unemployed," I have set certain goals that I want to reach regarding the amounts of cash I want to make. The first few weeks, nothing happened and I was starting to freak-out about my finances, or apparent lack there-of.

I tried to meditate, but I was such a nervous wreck that I wouldn't have heard Gabriel blow his trumpet, little less the quiet still voice of inspiration. I had to relax as much as I could and realize that all was actually perfect and would come unto itself. It took a little longer and I resigned myself to the idea that I was going to have to take a job, at least temporarily, and suddenly I received a few calls for computer services and a short-term contract that not only paid my bills in a week, but next months as well.

It reminds me of an old Indian story, told many ways, but here's how I tell it.

Narada, the musician of the gods, was walking along a path when he came upon a swami that had quite obviously been sitting and meditating in this spot for many years.

The swami noticed Narada and asked what he was up to.

"I am on my way to see Krishna and play a beautiful song for His enjoyment."

The swami asked for the following favor, "When you see Krishna, would you please ask Him how much longer I must sit in meditation before I find Realization and need not return to this world of sorrows again?"

Narada agreed and continued on his way. A little later, he came upon a young neophyte who was having some difficulty holding his concentration and when he saw Narada also asked for the favor of how long he must meditate before finding enlightenment.

Once again, Narada agreed and went on his way.

Much time passed and Narada was again on the road when he came upon the aged swami.

The swami asked if Narada has spoken to Krishna and asked his question.

Narada responded, "My Lord Krishna says that in 4 lifetimes you will reach Realization and return home to Him, never to return."

This answer infuriated the swami who thought it grossly unfair that after his many lifetimes of devotion and meditation that he would still have to bear 4 more lives.

Narada continued on his way and after a while came upon the neophyte monk who also asked if Narada had finished his previous journey and what Krishna's response was to his inquiry.

Narada looked up into the tree over the young monk and said, "My Lord Krishna says that a lifetime for every leaf in this tree it will take for you to reach enlightenment."

The young monk looked into the tree and said, "Well at least it is a finite number and there are not that many leaves in this tree." At this point the young monk started to return to his meditations when The Lord Krishna appeared with his eagle, Garuda, and asks the young monk to join Him in heaven.

The young monk, surprised at such a glorious offer, asks "how could this be? I thought I had many lives to go first."

Krishna is pleased at the question and tells him, "To sit in meditation and ponder upon Me would take you many lifetimes to reach enlightenment, but in your heart of hearts, you were so surrendered to My will that you were willing to submit, and for this, you may return home now."

This ancient story reminds us that of our own will and efforts, we will eventually learn the simple fact that it is through surrender that we find our goals put before us, we cannot make them on "our" schedule and when we try, we make the wait even longer by the delaying that which is already waiting to come to us.

Traveling Life Alone, it ain't for Sissies
Like most people, I have the wish for someone to share my life with as a partner and friend. A spouse, life-partner or at least a significant other.

In those times when we forget that we are never truly alone, it is so easy to become lost in the appearance that there is no one to share it all with. When we become aware that we are never truly alone, unless you believe that God is not omni-present, it becomes obvious that "aloneness" is only an illusion of our forgetfulness.

When I get lonely, all I have to do is remember that since I am a small spark of God, I can never truly be alone unless I want to project the illusion. Remember this simple fact and know that aloneness will never be a problem again if you are willing to see the truth.

Re: Time - "You Are Not My Friend" Essay

2007-10-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

I have been house/cat sitting for a friend of mine and along with the fact that I love her cats, I get the added bonus of getting to look at her Time Magazine when it comes in (I don't usually read enough of it every week to make it worth subscribing to). Today, the October 15^th, 2007 issue came and on the back page (pg 82) there is an Essay by Joel Stein entitled "You Are Not My Friend" which got me thinking about a few things.

As you know, I recently finished getting Spiritgeek.com up and running. One of the first things I did was send out a notice on MySpace using their "Post a Bulletin" to all my "friends" asking them to take a look at the site and give me their comments and suggestions.

Well, either my "friends" are not friends or no-one actually reads the bulletins, I'm guess the latter since everyone I talk to directly did not remember getting the post, including the great goddess of my received bulletins since she sometimes sends 2 or 3 a day.

So, back to Time magazine. The essay goes into how all these online "social" networks after a while can take up an awful lot of time and energy trying to keep up on. What really caught my interest was the following:

But really, these sites aren't about connecting and reconnecting. They're a platform for self-branding. Old people are always worrying that r blogging and personal websites and MySpace profiles are taking away our privacy, but they clearly don't understand the word privacy. We're not sharing things we don't want other people to know. We're showing you our best posed, retouched photos. We're listing the Pynchon books we want you to think we've read all the way through. We're allowing other people to write whatever they want us on our walls, unless we don't like it, in which case we just erase it. If we had that much privacy in real life, the bathrooms at that Minnesota airport would be empty.
Joel Stein

It makes me wonder if I have been going about MySpace and such the wrong way,. I don't expect these people that I meet to invite me to Sunday brunch the next time I am in town, but unless "friends" are strictly about the numbers then is there a real point?

I cannot speak for anyone else, but the start of the final paragraph is more about how I choose my "friends":

Until we can build some kind of social network where we can present our true, flawed selves--perhaps some genius can invent something that takes place in a house over dinner with wine--I say we strip down our online communities to just the important parts.
Joel Stein

I get tons of requests for my "friendship" from girls who want me to look at their sexy photos which tells me they haven't actually looked at my profile, it plainly states that I am gay, so I refuse them and on many occasions mark them as "spam."

If you want to be my friend, it's actually really simple, have something, anything of value to say or do. Write something of interest, have a thought or two bouncing around in that skull of yours or write and sing a new song with your band, just be something other than cyber-waste.

Any takers? You show me your flaws and I'll show you mine...

It is done...

2007-09-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

After more work then I expected it to be, the new Spiritgeek.com website is finally up and running.

It came out absolutely beautifully. We still have a few issues to work out regarding the lack of standard compliance that a few browsers have, but it is workable and can be read until I get a chance to address them.

Enjoy!

Morality, What or Why?

2007-08-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

The following is a post I made this morning on InterfaithForums। I thought you might like to comment on it as well.

Enjoy the holiday!

I was reading another thread here earlier today and ran into one of those arguments that just makes my blood boil sometimes. Maybe it was just a touch too close to home, but as much as part of it had to do with closed-mindedness regarding something that is an integrated part of my life, it brought up a question that I run into on a regular basis.

Morality, is it about What or Why?

In the dictionary, Webster defines morality as:

a : a moral discourse, statement, or lesson b : a literary or other imaginative work teaching a moral lesson
a : a doctrine or system of moral conduct b plural : particular moral principles or rules of conduct
: conformity to ideals of right human conduct
: moral conduct : VIRTUE
Merriam-Webster

Most moralists claim to believe that morality is some combination of 2 through 4 but they tend to be most closely tied to definition #3. Traditionally, moralists think that they have a set of rules, divinely inspired or otherwise, and as long as you abide by them you are a good and moral person. I seriously question that since if that were the case, it would seem that the act that is immoral in one situation would be immoral in all situations.

Lets start with the example of killing another person. If my nation-state or recognized group is at war with your nation-state and I kill you in the execution of that war, I am not only moral, I may well be a hero, unless I break some rule of engagement. On the other hand, if I kill you because you looked at me the wrong way and I felt you had slighted (dissed) me, I am not only immoral, but likely to become incarcerated if I am found out. So the morality is not about the act of killing, but in the why I performed it.

We run into similar arguments regarding sexual orientation which is a much stickier subject. Some feel that if you are attracted to someone of the same gender as yourself, that you are by definition an immoral person. Somehow I suspect that God, who has been claimed to have chimed in with agreement to this position depending on whose interpretation you follow, is likely to be more concerned with why I am sleeping with someone rather than if they have an X or Y chromosome.

If I, a male, go to a bar and pick up another guy and we go home to get it on, am I immoral? If so, would I still be immoral if I had picked up a girl instead? I tend to think the morality come in the why. If I use you as a life-sized 98.6 degree sex toy for the purpose of getting my rocks off, I would say their are likely to be moral issues there, especially if I have alluded to having something more than a hook-up in mind as my intention.

So the questions I am putting out there are these:

Is morality about what or why?
If morality is about what, how can something be moral in one sense but immoral in another?
If Why, by what basis do you determine the morality of a situation

Examples to show your case would be appreciated...

Life Update #2

2007-08-10T10:53:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a productive week. 1st, I decided that I hated the way the Spiritgeek.com site was looking and decided to scrap it and redo the imagery and color scheme. I have been working in Photoshop and have a design that I am much happier with.

I finally set a job change date in that I gave notice to the limo company last Monday that Friday, August 31, would be my last day. My boss took it surprisingly well and seems to be quite supportive of what I am planning on doing.

Things are getting better on a day to day basis and I should be quite ready to go full-time on Spiritgeek.com by the beginning of September.

Narcism, Einstein and a Little Extra

2007-08-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

The other day, a friend sent me a joke that goes as follows:

Q: How many narcissists does it take to change a light-bulb?

A: One, he holds the bulb while the world revolves around him.

Narcism is defined basically as "inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity." Now anyone who has seen Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt's movie "Se7en" knows that vanity, as pride, is one of the "Seven Deadly Sins" along with lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath and envy.

I read a few ears ago about a respected child psychologist that believed that children should never be reprimanded since it could, and likely would, damage their little egos. When we look around us at some of the stories that inundate us on the news about young and pretty people who seem to think that they are above the standards that are required of the rest of us. Some say it has to do with their celebrity, or as Stephanie Miller puts it "Celebu-tard", status.

We have created a world in Western Culture that cannot sustain itself without learning to become aware that the selfish, vain and single-minded view will lead to our destruction. We praise and adore those who are basically distract us from what we need to become aware of, truth and Truth. It's not hard to understand, but we can only run for so long. Like an alcoholic or drug addict, we can sedate ourselves into forgetfulness but eventually we have to deal with what issues were there in the first place.

The good news is that we, as the children of God, have the ability to change the reality when we are truly ready. Our Father created us in His image or so scripture says, unless we are not his children but just a toy, part of our birthright is the ability to create.

Einstein once said that if we learned to use our complete capacity of mind, we would no longer require physical bodies to interact with.

Let's learn to find the Truth that lies within and truly make the promises of the Messiahs a reality, Jesus reminded us by quoting Isaiah when he said, "Do you not know that ye are Gods?" but he also commanded us to "be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect." I happen to believe he meant this, not as some lofty and unattainable goal but as a literal idea.

Being in fascination with ones self only becomes a problem when we forget that it's not our outer self, the body and position within society, that should be the subject of that fascination, but that which outlives the body it manifests that we are to look toward. In finding our REAL self, do we find Truth.

And now for something completely strange and different.

As many know, I am a Star Trek geek as well as a huge fan of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and when I saw this this afternoon, I just had to put it on here as an s&g (for those who don't know, s&g is S@!ts and Giggles). As I have said on many occasions, life is supposed to be fun, so have some! Here's a little something to start you off on the right foot.

"Who Are You?" and "What Do You Want?"

2007-07-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

There have been a few posts as of late where I have been whining a bit about my life and certain things within it. I got a good smacking today from Richard Bach. I am just finishing re-reading his "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" when I came to pages 110 and 130 which say the following as excerpts from the "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul"

Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there.
What you choose to do with them is up to you.
In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom.
It is not always an easy sacrifice.

There is a person with whom I currently do business that has truly become completely toxic for me. I really needed this slap in the face to remind me that I am the creator of my reality and if I want it to change, that's up to me to decide as well as put into action and whining about it is a complete waste of time and energy.

A few years ago, J. Michael Straczynski created a 5 year epic television series called "Babylon 5" that I have been a fan of since the original pilot was shown on TV. Personally, I found the idea of a series that had a long term story in mind from its inception to be a great one.

One of the ongoing story arcs involved two of the ancient races called the Vorlons and the Shadows. The Vorlons seemed to be about a strongly spiritual path and they appeared as beings of light when we finally get to see one without their encounter suits (though someone really needs to tell them that even Krystle Carrington wouldn't wear that much shoulder padding during the early 80's). The Shadows on the other hand were not as pleasant and the conflict between the two races was basically our religious idea of the battle between good and evil. As many of our religions would agree with, the Vorlons are always asking "Who are you?" while the Shadows ask "What do you want?"

As simple as these questions appear to be, they are actually quite profound in their scope and complexity. Depending on how you view and relate to them, they could be as simple as "I am Robert and I want a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich." My life has NEVER been that straightforward and I suspect it would be pretty boring if it were.

As to the Vorlon's question of "Who are You?" I would answer:

I am an eternal spiritual entity that is currently referenced as Robert and am currently manifesting in this world to learn from and help those around me as a part and parcel of the totality that many refer to as God.

As to the Shadow's question of "What do you want?":

I want many things depending on how the question is meant:
1. I want to spend my life doing what brings me joy and that seems to be passing on what knowledge I have while learning from others both directly and indirectly.
2. I want to be the joyful entity that God keeps dropping me glimpses of.
3. As far as what I want from this world, since I am inclined to believe that it is all an illusion of perception, the majority of "things" that those around me think will give them joy I find to be entertaining but not a "want." The only thing in this world that I would say that I honestly want would be to have someone to share it all with. Someone to share my life with, have companionship and love.

Money and fame are tools that can be interesting diversions, but they can also be a major pain in the backside. I grew up in an middle-class family that was fairly miserable, especially where money was concerned. I have had friends who had more cash than God would know what to do with and yet they were always so busy acquiring more that they usually didn't seem to be very happy. I can honestly say that the happiest times of my life have usually been when I either had nothing or was barely squeaking by. Not that money unto itself is bad, but their are so many more important things to pursue and enjoy in life. Personally, I'll take happiness and joy over wealth any day.

"The Secret" and "What God Wants" from me...

2007-06-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, whose opinions I have found to be quite worthy of my respect, was telling me about how much she really enjoyed reading the book for "The Secret". I had previously been told by others that it was basically a written version of the film and that there was not much more to it, hence I was not planning to purchase it. She was right and I am so glad to have listened.

I could go through several parts of the book and discuss how wonderfully it expands upon the the themes of the film and in some places goes into things that didn't make it in, beyond a cursory mention. One that really spoke (read yelled, screamed and made a general nuisance of itself) was the final chapter.

On many occasions, I have tried to find the will of God for my life. In the Southern Baptist world we are told that God has a plan and it is our job to fulfill whatever role He put us here for. Now this works really well as a philosophy for people who don't wish to take any particular responsibility for their lives and pass it all off on God. Now don't get me wrong, I understand completely why the majority of peoples would prefer to be at the whim of a distant and all powerful deity, but when I look around me and see what that mindset has created in the majority of mankind, I just find it questionable at best and obviously misguided at most. The first section of Neale Donald Walsch's book "What God Wants" goes into this with amazing clarity and brutal honesty.

I have never found a difficulty in asking God if something is right or wrong, guidance has never been lacking when I'm willing to hear it. But when I have asked what it is that God wishes of me, there has always been a distinct silence. I have been known to become a bit annoyed and sometimes testy with God over this lack of communication. If He has some wish for me, I would think it only polite to make me aware of it... How can I be help responsible on the day of Judgment if He won't speak up, especially when asked?

My parents and the common logic is that we are to race on this treadmill of sleep, work and television with the weekly visits on Sunday and Wednesday to Church to give my soul it's injection of Salvation. Now I am the first to admit that maybe I am just pig-headed about this, but I cannot imagine a more depressing. You might as well pull out the gun and blow my head off, talk about a hellish existence.

Others say that I should lock myself into an ascetic community or cloister of monks and like-minded individuals. Now maybe I am just a touch cynical, but somehow I suspect that is more for their satisfaction than mine. I have thought about it and would be open to it. My biggest stumbling block to date on this score has to do with where the previous is so far to one extreme of the spectrum, most ascetic communities are just as extreme on the other. Like the Buddha, I seek a balanced path down the center, the path between all extremes.

While there are many variants to the above paths, about the only true alternative is the "Follow you Bliss" path. Misery may satisfy the "original sin" crowd, but I just can't get my heart to believe in a deity that has nothing but spite for his creation and wishes them to live in eternal dread and toil.

Some say that to follow your bliss is to seek a hedonistic lifestyle, thinking only of oneself and taking little interest in the repercussions of those actions. Taken in a selfish way, it can be a slippery slope but through inspiration and perseverance we can keep our perspectives and hearts clear and true.

The simple fact is that all ideas, philosophies and theologies taken one way can bring true joy and just as easily taken the other direction tends to bring pain and suffering in the long run. St. Francis showed a path of simplicity and poverty and yet many found such things to be the source of pride and vanity in their personal experiences. This is also shown in some of the ascetic paths in the Indian traditions. We tend to feel raised by "our" sacrifices "for" God, how our ego's love to stroke themselves.

So what does God want from you? Listen to your heart and find the answer, if you truly listen it cannot be missed.

What does God want from me? The things that make me happiest are finishing pieces like this and sharing with others the joy I get from a view of life on this planet that I once thought was only allowed for greater people than I would ever be. My friends have giggled at me at times when I talk about my teeth humming. When I am "in the groove" I get the sensation that my teeth are humming along and a warmth runs up and down my spine and eventually explodes out from the sack of skin that I think of as "me".

Do I ever doubt myself and this whole thing? Of course I do at times and that is when I ask for guidance all the more fervently. We tend, in Western Christianity, to deify Jesus and put him completely outside our frame of reference, but as the Gospels tell us, even he doubted himself at times and the things he was called to do. We all have our moments where we are in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Since I know someone will ask, no, I have no delusions of such things, but use it as an example that if even the greatest of us can have doubts about what we are doing, then the least of us can't really be condemned as long as we are listening to that voice of inspiration that brought us here in the first place.

Gay Pride and Sour Grapes (maybe...)

2007-06-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING
Some harsh language is in this post

Last weekend was the Christopher Street West Pride Festival in West Hollywood. I skipped the parade and only went to the festival for a couple of hours which also means that I skipped the annual attack of the "fundies" aka Christian Fundamentalists.

I just wasn't in the mood to be swamped by, a reported, 300,000 people. On top of that, I have really felt a bit out of sync with the WeHo gay community the last few years.

As much as I enjoy having it there and available for those infrequent occasions that I feel like drinking and dancing, the fact is that is that as far as WeHo is concerned, I have been categorized as completely un-fuckable. Since I am over 30, don't have a perfect body and/or more money than God, the boys want to play with with other little playthings like themselves.

As much as I like to stick it to the Christian Right in this country about their judgemental bullshit, their argument of homosexuality and immorality has a basis in fact, though not in the way they think of and some of it is their own fault as well.

If there is an inherent immorality in being gay, it's not in the gender of whom you sleep with, but why. With the fundie fight to deny gay people the right of marriage and in many places the attempts to deny them even the rights of a civil-union, the fundamentalists leave gay people with no way to be anything but fornicators. With the laws being what they currently are, there is no solution except to maybe be celibate (I don't think so).

If anyone has any doubts that heterosexuals would be just as sexually promiscuous if they didn't have to worry about pregnancy, well they are just kidding themselves. Straight or Gay, men are men and as someone once said, "A stiff prick hath no morals."

Back when President Clinton was attempting to open military service to openly gay and lesbian people, I heard a radio talk show where someone called in and asked why straights hated gays so much. No I can't remember who it was that said it, but their response was amazing, it went like this:

Straight men are afraid that Gay men will do to them,
what Straight men have been doing to women for the past 10,000 years.

Now, I know no straight men that would admit it, but I do know a few who have commented that gays have it lucky to get laid and not have to worry about creating the proverbial "bun in the oven."

I chat with many people on the internet and amongst the gay ones, they nearly always tell me that they would love a long-term, committed relationship with that someone special. The sad part is when you meet them in person, they fall back into the trappings of gay cultural ideas such as needing to get laid on the first date or there is no second one. Too bad, I rarely sleep with someone I don't know.

Such things kind of remind me of a scene from the movie "Latter Days". One of the characters, a pretty party-boy named Christian has brought some guy, named Mort, home and Mort started rimming him and Christian asks if they could talk a bit. Mort misunderstands and starts talking dirty. Christian tells him that isn't what he meant and explains that he wants some conversation. Mort seems to think that would be a bit to intimate to which Christian responds; "a moment ago you were practically tonguing my spleen, but a little conversation is too intimate?" Mort thinks Christian is too kinky and leaves, as strange as that sounds, it's not that far from the truth in a strange sort of way.

Now don't get me wrong, I couldn't care less what others choose to do in the privacy of their own lives, but if we are going to fight for the rights and privileges of marriage, wouldn't it be a good idea to show some personal responsibility in our community?

There are some who say that part of it has to do with our stunted sexual growth as gay people in a predominantly straight world. Straight guys just can't seem to get the idea that while they were changing from girls being gross and vulgar "things" to something of attraction, they could stare, flirt and work their way through whatever personal issues they may have had and work their way to asking them out. At the same time, gay youth are going through much the same, but they are quickly finding out that those unlike themselves are potentially dangerous to them socially if not in some cases physically. They learn to hide and do not get to grow through the "awkward" stages. When they finally get to the point where they come out and find a community of like people, they tend to act out with a vengeance. Sadly, many never really grow out of it and end up feeling like an outcast amongst the young and beautiful.

Let us as gay, lesbian and trans-gendered people start to grow beyond what we have been and grow into what we may be. In many cultures, homosexuality was not only accepted, but celebrated. In some cultures, the trans-gendered were celebrated and considered to be an omen of goodness. Let us remember we don't have to be the stereotypical "gay" anymore than we were the expectation of heterosexuality.