Message To My Readers

Dear Readers:

After a great deal of consideration, I have decided to scale down the frequency of entries that I post on my blogsites. This is due both to the need for some rest and recuperation and to allow me to devote more time to conversations in a new chat forum (http://twwsforums.kaiser.net/)

I have provided a link to the forum. It’s an interesting place. You may visit and look at the conversations. You may not post, however, unless you are a member.

So ... again ... I will post entries on all of my blogs from time to time, however not at the pace that I have in the past. I hope you continue to visit and take something helpful away from my writings.

Thanks for your readership.

Jim

What a coincidence running into you again after so many years!

Synchronicity and Flow 2

“ … our tongues grew tired and running out of things to say. She gave a kiss to me as I got out and I watched her drive away. Just for a moment I was back in school. And felt that old familiar pain. And as I turned to make my way back home, the snow turned into rain.” Dan Fogelberg - Auld Lang Syne

As an amateur songwriter, a lover of music and a great fan of Dan Fogelberg, I’ve always wondered whether he missed a synchronicity in this event that he describes – something that was designed to be a wake-up call for him.

In this song (which was based on an actual event), he writes of very unexpectedly running into an old love at a grocery store one winter evening. They hadn’t seen each other in many years but their continued attraction could not be denied and they spend a quiet evening together reminiscing and talking about their lives. She was in a marriage that hadn’t worked well for her in many years. He talked of traveling the country playing concerts where “the audience was heavenly but the traveling was hell.” Finally, it was time for them to say goodbye as described in the verses above. And, with an ache in his heart, he watched her drive away and out of his life … once again.

The power of this event reminds me of a story I once read of a man who had been dating two women – Judy and Pamela – and felt strongly about them both but could not decide which he should pursue in earnest. Troubled by this conundrum, he hopped in his car for a ride to clear his head and think about his situation. As he was traveling down the road, he noticed the license plate on the car directly in front of him. It was a vanity plate that read, “Its Judy.” It hit him like a sledge hammer. Indeed, it was Judy. They lived happily ever after.

Synchronicities are coincidences that are so improbable and rich with meaning that they could not be attributed to chance alone. Many times synchronicities occur during periods of emotional passion, struggle and transformation; illnesses, death, birth, epiphanies, shifts in belief structures and changes in professions or relationships. They tend to cluster or peak when a person is about to experience a significant new insight or an expansion in consciousness.

They are evidence of the implicate order. The celebrated physicist, David Bohm, has stated that the separateness of consciousness and matter is simply an illusion in which we believe and that occurs when consciousness and matter unfold into the explicate world of bits and pieces and sequential time. If consciousness and matter are unified in the implicate order – the basis for all reality, however interpreted – then we should expect that our reality would be peppered with traces of this profound connection.

Physicist David Peat takes it one step further suggesting that synchronicities are “flaws in the fabric of reality” that create temporary splits permitting a brief peek into the enormous and unitary order that supports the entire cosmos.

They reflect the connection between the physical world, our psychological reality and our higher self. They are the whispering voice that comes from behind us and tells us to turn right or turn left when we stray off our road.

“Perhaps you would be happier if you moved on to another profession. Here’s a suggestion.”

“Is this the relationship you are really supposed to be in? Or do you need to move in another direction?”

“This person has entered your life for a reason. Pay attention.”

“You are ready to take your consciousness to the next level. Here’s what you need to do.”

“Your belief structures are suffocating you. It’s time to stretch.”

Frequent synchronicities reflect a connectedness with our larger reality – the implicate order. They act like maps. They tell us when we’re headed in the right direction, when to think carefully about a decision facing us and when we’ve gotten off our road and are instead following someone else’s.

They tend to cluster during challenging times in our lives because we find ourselves, during those times, intensely searching for answers, continually reflecting on “why this happened” and what we need to do to get back on our path. Intense focus can tear the veil between the implicate and explicate orders. When that happens, your reality is briefly unified and synchronicities slip through the opening.

An absence of synchronicities in your life can reflect the extent to which you have fragmented yourself from the larger field of consciousness and from your higher self – that part of you that helped build the plan for your life here on earth.

Practice looking for synchronicities in your life. Sometimes we are so busy with other matters we do not recognize them when they occur. Sometimes we are so disconnected from our larger realities that it’s difficult for them to manifest. Sometimes we are simply in denial.

Spend reflective time thinking about whom you are, why you are here and what you are supposed to be doing. Meditate on the nature of your life, your level of happiness, your vocational calling and your relationships. Engage in practices that make you feel whole – art, music, reading, meditation or walking through the woods or along the beach. Then practice patience … and listen for the whispered voice to guide you.

An Example of Gaia's Flow

Synchronicities and The Flow 1

“Flow: to proceed of issue as from a source; to glide along smoothly, without harshness or roughness; undisturbed and even movement.” Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary

The flow is the guiding force of the universe and reveals itself in many ways. In the flight of the galaxies towards the outermost edges of the known universe, it is seen in their spiral shapes, reflecting the pattern of their spin and their path within the currents of the cosmos. On our planet, it is visible in the ebb and flow of the oceans; in the migratory patterns of birds; in the change of the seasons.

To connect with the flow is to align yourself with the power of the Universe. When you ride its current, you need do nothing else and can be assured that it will lead you to where you are supposed to be. To disengage or struggle against it is to cut yourself off from the guidance of the heavens. You may end up in a very different place or circumstance than you wanted, intended or were supposed to be in even though it may seem right at the time.

The universe is benevolent at its core. You are its child. It will come to your aid … point the way … correct your course … if you know how to recognize the direction.

In their book, “The Power of Flow”, Charlene Belitz and Meg Lundstrom say that “glow is marked by two types of occurrences: synchronicity and fortuitous events.” Of the two, I have found that synchronicity is perhaps the more powerful initial indicator. Jung called synchronicity an acausal connecting principle of the universe. It is the coming together of events in a coordinated way that impacts us psychologically or emotionally. I have an old friend who lives in a city on the other side of our state and with whom I have contact only a couple of times each year. Recently I called her and she laughed, indicating that she had just been thinking about me. We then had a discussion during which I was able to help her address several issues in her life. That’s a synchronicity.

Synchronicities can be whispered or shouted. If you are a person who is sensitive to the movements of the heart, often all that is necessary is a gentle event or series of events to get your attention. “If you stray from the road to right or left you shall hear with your own ears a voice whispering behind you saying, This is the way; follow it.” (Isaiah 30:21).

If you are a little less sensitive but it is critical that you reenter the flow, the universe may establish an almost unmistakable series of events to help coax you back into the stream.

You run into a friend who asks you about another long, lost friend whom you haven’t seen in many years. Soon after, you run into that person. You feel an unmistakable connection and begin to recognize a series of events leading to this moment and the purpose for that reunion.

You feel stuck in a vocation that is no longer fulfilling and have a dream that seems to speak to your situation. Later that week you watch a movie about a person who is in the same set of circumstances. The next week you meet someone who tells you about an exciting new job opportunity.

The latter situations serve as a clarion call that it is time to reevaluate your life or take some specific action to address an unresolved issue. It becomes very difficult at these junctures to ignore the promptings unless you do so out of fear or stubbornness, or because you have numbed yourself to the Influence.

You cannot live consciously and be out of the flow. You cannot be in the flow in an unconscious manner. To be in the flow requires you to meditate on the nature and direction of your life, to be sensitive to what the universe is telling you and to be willing to not settle for less than what can be.

I am nothing but energy.

Intent and Effect

“Pat Fischer, the Redskin cornerback, told the reporters after the game that the ball seemed to jump over his hands as he went for it. When we studied the game film that week, it did look as if the ball kind of jumped over his hands into Gene’s. Some of the guys said it was the wind … (but) our sense of the pass was so clear and our intention so strong that the ball was bound to get there, come wind, cornerbacks, hell, or high water.” John Brodie

I know of a remarkable woman who served as an instructor in a difficult public school setting helping young people who have profoundly severe learning disabilities. She taught a listening therapy that enabled her students to sit in their seats longer, focus more intently and easily, attain higher levels of concentration and achievement and moderate their own behaviors – things they could not formerly have dreamed of doing. Parents noticed the difference and so did the students themselves. Her intent to help these children reshaped their realities. The universe gets behind such efforts and magnifies them. She aligned herself with the angels and she changed the world around her.

How does intent achieve effect? Matter is not solid in the way we typically believe. It is simply constructed of bundles of energy (Einstein called them quanta) comprised of different frequencies and wavelengths. Therefore, humans are not solid in the sense that most believe – our bodies simply consist of denser forms of energy. Because energy responds to energy – and our consciousness possesses an energetic element - it is possible to affect any form or process we choose. And because the universe is non-local, we can do so without regard to distance. Many scientific studies demonstrate the low level effect of focused intent.

Helmut Schmidt found that human consciousness could influence the outcomes generated by a mechanical high-speed random number generator. Will Braud discovered that mental influence could affect the rate of hemolysis in red blood cells. Robert Brier found that focused intent could alter the functioning of a plant’s bio-electrical system. Marcel Vogel’s studies suggested that it was possible to harm a plant simply by projecting negative thoughts toward it. Carroll Nash demonstrated that humans could accelerate or retard bacterial growth simply by exercising mental influence over the cultures in a Petri dish. Nash’s findings were supported by Jean Barry who achieved the same results with fungus. Some studies suggest that transcendental meditation practitioners can lower crime rates in specific geographic areas.

What is remarkable is that these studies, except for the use of TM practitioners, involved the use of “everyday”, “ordinary” people who were not conversant in the field of paranormal activity.

If a person’s soul, mind, emotions and body are aligned, s/he can act as an effective conduit of spirit, achieving even more remarkable outcomes, constellating events in an immediate and dramatic way. The laying on of hands heals a person of a life-threatening disease. A person talks with an addict, who has an epiphany and turns once and for all away from self-abuse. A teacher reconstructs reality for a little girl with a learning disability and, in the twinkling of an eye, changes her life forever.

Of course, most changes build over periods of time – sometimes short and sometimes longer and depending on what our goal is – as sufficient levels of energetic mass are reached to impact process in the third dimension.

But as you become more accomplished in understanding how to bring about change and in learning the techniques involved in channeling your abilities, you can shorten the time it takes to reach manifestation of any defined goal.

“I tell you this: if only you have faith and have no doubts … you need only say to this mountain, be lifted from your place and hurled into the sea, and what you say will be done.” Jesus of Nazareth.

The Implicate Template ...

... and the Unfolding

“As above, so below” Hermes Trismegistus, The Emerald Tablet

Physicist David Bohm believes our lives as we perceive them are actually mirages. Underlying them is an immeasurable and incomprehensible level of reality from which our physical experience is created. He refers to this level of reality as the implicate (or enfolded) order. He refers to our current, physical level of existence as the explicate (or unfolded) order.

Bohm believes that all appearances in the universe are caused by an endless flow of enfoldings and unfoldings that occur between these two orders. For example, when a subatomic particle appears, it has unfolded from the implicate order into the explicate order. When it is destroyed it enfolds back into the implicate. This has striking implications relating to non-locality, the interconnectedness of the universe and the phenomenon we call death.

His description of these orders leads us to assume that the implicate, at some level, provides the template for the explicate. And that appears to be true. There is a background to our reality that we do not normally perceive.

Dr. Richard Gerber asserts that the etheric body is comprised of a holographic energy template that serves as the blueprint for the spatial organization of the fetus. In the 1940’s, neuroanatomist Harold Burr was started to discover that salamanders possessed an energy field shaped like the adult animal and that the field contained an electrical axis aligned with the brain and spinal cord. More striking, however, was the fact that the axis formed in the unfertilized egg. He also found that the electrical field around a seedling is not the shape of the seedling – it is the shape of the adult plant. This strongly suggests that living organisms are ordained to follow an established growth template birthed at some level of the implicate order.

More supports are found in Kirlian photography – a method where objects are photographed in the backdrop of a high frequency, high voltage, low amperage electric field. Kirlian photography captures the image of an objects electromagnetic field, which appears as a corona discharge of various colors. If you photograph a maple leaf using this technique, you will clearly see the electrical discharge surrounding the edges of the leaf. If you cut the leaf in half and photograph it again, you will not see the physical part of the leaf that was removed. But you will continue to see the “shape” of the entire leaf in the form of the corona discharge. The electromagnetic field cannot be amputated because it remains the template of the organism. This helps explain why healers can affect the physiological health of a person by manipulating the energy field and why amputees feel phantom pain in lost limbs. Perhaps Bohm is close to the truth – our existence on earth may be a form of illusion with the primary reality of our consciousness being housed in the implicate order.

A while ago I was strolling through a Florida airport killing time between flights. People watching is a favorite pastime of mine and this airport was the perfect setting – filled with people bustling here and there. As I walked along, I was started when my vision abruptly changed. The “normal” landscape flickered out and was replaced by what I can only describe as some level of the implicate background of the entire setting. People appeared as fluid, colorful patterns and templates of light energy. Their physical constructs were completely gone although their energetic structures approximated the shapes of their bodies. If someone was running or walking quickly, an ethereal trail of dissipating colors flowed behind them. People who were engaged in animated conversation projected clouds of color toward the people with whom they were talking … and the energy fields of many individuals merged together in a type of fused configuration. As strange as it may seem, even the building itself appeared to possess some type of individual consciousness with its own vibrational pattern and template. There are, frankly, no words adequate to accurately describe what I saw. After a few moments my vision returned to “normal.” But I was left with a greater appreciation for the background of our existence.

My experience helped further shift my thinking about who we are and how we can function in this world. Spend a few minutes meditating on what these insights mean to the fields of medicine, theology, psychology and sociology. If you knew you were more than what you see in the mirror – that you were a child of the implicate order – how would you change your thinking and your living?

Can you see any probable futures?

Transcending Consensual Reality 4

“It’s strange, how you never know, but we’d both gotten what we’d asked for, such a long, long time ago.” Harry Chapin – Taxi.

Humankind has debated for ages whether our present consensual reality and our future is fixed. If it is, it would mean that humans have no free will. We would be mere actors uttering lines and performing scenes in a play that has already been written and over which we have no control.

But history is full of stories wherein people have used their precognitive insights of the future to avoid disasters, moving out of the path of danger before it overtook them. This is, perhaps, the strongest tangible evidence that the future is pliable and may be changed.

Dr. David Loye, a clinical psychologist and former member of both Princeton and UCLA’s medical school faculties believes that reality is a huge hologram and is inflexible – to a point. But he adds that there are many such holograms floating in the space of the implicate realm as parallel realities. When a person glimpses the future, they see the future of that one individual hologram only. When they act on their premonition and appear to change the future, they are actually jumping from one hologram to another. He refers to these jumps as “holo-leaps” and views them as extraordinary tools for our insight and freedom.

Bohm takes a similar view. He views a premonition of a future event as something that is in the present but that is implicate and moving toward manifesting that particular future. He compares it to the old saying that future events cast their shadows in the present.

Both Loye’s and Bohm’s theories have a central theme. There is a future that has substance enough to be seen but which is soft enough to be changed. This is not so different than the position of many of the world’s most gifted psychics, including the Hawaiian kahunas who view the future as flexible but in the process of crystallizing.

The prophets of the Old Testament in the Christian tradition were often able to predict what would happen if the consciousness of the people continued in a certain direction. Because consciousness is primary, it precedes and directs events rather than trailing them. Therefore, if consciousness changed, the future changed.

When you develop the ability to predict directions and outcomes based on historical, sociologic, psychologic, economic and spiritual trends and combine those abilities with insights of Spirit, you are able to intuit probable futures. What Spirit helps predict it can also help change. It does not pint to a problem without offering a solution.

For every dire future there are many alternative futures. As you expand your ring of consciousness you expand your ability to predict probable outcomes and intuit a larger number of alternatives. You become skilled at the art of holo-leaping. You can then become an agent of hope for a troubled world … or a troubled life.

Will you listen to the Trickster?

Transcending Consensual Reality 3

“If you want me to go with you, then that’s alright with me. Because I know I’m going nowhere. And anywhere is a better place to be.” Harry Chapin – A Better Place to Be.

This verse from one of Harry Chapin’s songs describes the plight of many people. Drifting along in life, with no sense of destiny or feeling of directional control, they simply accept what is with no conviction that they could change their lot.

Consensual reality – in our personal lives, in our organizations, in our communities, in our country and in the world – are those conditions that we accept as our reality. We “consent” to a particular way of living and thinking. This is really a form of “surrender” mentality. It reflects our inability or reluctance to grasp the teaching of the quantum world – that only tendencies exist. We accept the “fact” that we cannot change relationships; that we’ll never get the job we want; that our organizational culture will never improve; that crime will continue to escalate in our community; that the best days of our country are behind us; that millions of people will starve to death every year; that we don’t have enough healthcare resources to spread around … and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. And accept these “facts” simply perpetuates the circumstances.

We change our reality by changing the way we view the universe. Do you feel like you are part of a relationship in which you don’t belong? Understand that you are never trapped. There are many ways to change the relational landscape or extricate yourself. Instead of accepting that your organizational culture is unrecoverable, reframe your thinking. It may be unrecoverable unless you intervene to change that degree of probability. Yes, people starve to death every day on our planet. But they do not have to die. There is more than enough and to spare. It is simply a matter of understanding how to manage and distribute our resources.

Believing in consensual reality is to capitulate to existing circumstances. You are defeated before you start! But it is often difficult to break free from the gravitational pull of consensual reality. We become blinded to possibilities because we are so immersed in “what is.”

In a recent email to a friend I wrote that she was a wizard in waiting. I provided no further clue as to what I was talking about and she wrote back accusing me of teasing her. But she also asked what I meant. Having the door opened, I was able to introduce her to some other latent abilities – things she had never consciously seen in herself but which were reflected at the level of her soul.

I was playing the role of “Trickster.” Trickster, especially among Native Americans, is often played by the Coyote and is the Creator’s helper or messenger. S/he helps you see alternatives to the straight and narrow path, particularly when other people, institutions or life’s circumstances try to hem you in through peer pressure, unreasonable expectations or conformism. S/he helps you to glimpse options, alternatives, potentials, other pathways and possibilities. S/he assists you in shifting your focus from “what is” to “what can be.”

In a world where many people feel hemmed in and without options, there is a great need for skilled Tricksters.

Probability frees us to shape our present and our future. You are not trapped. Things do not have to be as they are. There are alternatives. We can change ourselves and we can change the world. Who are you now and who can you become? Are you ready to listen to the Trickster?

Your life is a blank piece of paper ... what are you writing on it?

Transcending Consensual Reality 2

As I indicated earlier, at the subatomic level, matter fails to exist with any certainty in specific places, but instead shows only a tendency to exist. Nor do atomic events occur with certainty at specific times and in specific ways, but rather display only a tendency to occur. These tendencies express themselves as probabilities and are referred to by physicists as probability waves. Because the construct of our experience is based on the subatomic realm, we must ask ourselves the question, "What is the true nature of our reality?"

Probabilities adhere to deterministic laws in the same way that macroscopic events adhere to deterministic laws. But the concept of predestination as it is normally thought of is erroneous. On the negative side, there are many events that will probably occur ... if nothing is done to change the course leading up to their manifestation. Conversely, there are many positive events that could occur if you create the space for them to birth.

The point of the story of Jonah in Christian writings is that the city of Nineveh would be destroyed if Jonah did not go warn the citizens about the consequences of their behavior. Action needed to be taken to change what was, at that time, the city's probable future (destruction) based on the conduct of its inhabitants. The city's destruction was not predetermined or set in stone.

Probability changes the way we look at the universe. Events may occur. But they are not fixed and the future can be changed.

This represents a different world view than the one usually reflected in consensual reality. Consensual reality generally reflects an acceptance of what is. Probability thinking recognizes what can be. The differences are listed below.

Consensual Thinking - We live in a closed universe
Probability Thinking - We live in an open universe.

Consensual Thinking - Events are fixed. The future is unalterable.
Probability Thinking - Events are fluid. The future is changeable.

Consensual Thinking - I must stay within my boundaries.
Probability Thinking - The boundaries are mine to take down.

Consensual Thinking - Vision doesn't matter.
Probability Thinking - Vision is paramount.

Consensual Thinking - Nothing will change.
Probability Thinking - Anything can change.

Consensual Thinking - What I think isn't important.
Probability Thinking - My thinking helps create my reality.

Consensual Thinking - I have no power. God controls everything.
Probability Thinking - I am a co-creator with God.

Consensual Thinking - The universe is static.
Probability Thinking - The universe is constantly evolving.

Consensual Thinking - We are alone.
Probability Thinking - The universe is teeming with intelligent lifeforms.

Consensual Thinking - I might change but nothing else will.
Probability Thinking - Everything in the universe is connected. When I change, I change my environment.

You Are a Co-Creator in the Universe

Transcending Consensual Reality (1)

One of the most striking discoveries of quantum physics is that, at the subatomic level, matter fails to exist with any certainty in specific places, but instead shows only a “tendency” to exist. Nor do atomic events occur with certainty at specific times and in specific ways, but rather display only a tendency to occur. In fact, there is compelling evidence suggesting that subatomic particles – the basic building blocks of our world – manifest only when we are looking at them.

This raises the interesting proposition that subatomic particles do not possess a separate, distinct reality until consciousness calls them into existence. Physicist Robert Jahn has gone so far as to say, “I think we have long since passed the place in high energy physics where we’re examining the structure of a passive universe. I think we’re into the domain where the interplay of consciousness in the environment is taking place on such a primary scale that we are indeed creating reality by any reasonable definition of the term.” [1]

Other physicists have joined Jahn in this position and now believe that they and their peers are not discovering particles, but may be creating them instead. A case in point is the recently discovered particle called the anomalon, which possesses properties that vary from laboratory to laboratory. Picture a house that changes size, color and layout depending on who is living in it.

If the apparently plasticity of the anomalon is caused by the shifting expectations of the scientists who are observing (read creating) them, then why do some particles – like electrons – seem to have a constant reality regardless of who observes them? Perhaps because how we view the world is not based solely on the information we receive through our five senses. We may connect to or be affected by many different sources of information. The mind can be imaged by the soul, impressed by the magnetic pull of the thought stream that surrounds our planet, dominated by thought forms that it itself generates or even influenced by other non-physical beings.

More to the point, humans have the well-documented ability to tap into the senses of others. We live in an integrated universe and our interconnections with other human beings manifest even when we are not consciously aware of them. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that when an individual in one room receives an electric shock, it registers in the polygraph readings of a person who is in a separate room. Lights flashed in one person’s eyes will alter the EEG readings of a test subject who is in another isolated room.

It’s quite possible that several scientists trying to “find” the properties of a particular subatomic particle instead create the very reality that they are looking for. And, further, over time other scientists who build on those “findings” add substance to the original idea. Line upon line, precept upon precept the new reality is constructed. Eventually, agreement is reached on what the scientists believe are the composite properties of the particle and the expectation is that there is nothing else to learn. The creation is finished. From that point, consensual reality becomes firmly entrenched with all scientists agreeing on the final nature of that particular particle. They have, in essence, manufactured the particle from their own collective consciousness.

Herakleitos was correct – you cannot step into the same river twice. Although it is still your life (river), the water (your reality) is constantly being turned over instant by instant. In each moment you contribute to the construct of your reality. And through your contribution you affect the lives of others. That is why you must guard your heart carefully. The uni-verse is one. You cannot make a decision that does not ripple outward and touch others.

Consciousness is primary. It is an attribute of Spirit. If you let it, it will reflect onto your soul. While Spirit “knows, soul “intuits” and mind “thinks”. Let the knowingness of your Spirit reflect onto your soul. Then listen to its quiet intuition as it guides you in your decisions. Else, when faced with points of alignment in your life, you may make a poor decision, step onto the wrong path and create a reality that is less than you could have had.

If the aspects of your being are aligned, Spirit reflects downward onto soul, mind, emotions and body and projects outward into your surrounding environment. With practice and persistence, you can learn to alter consensual reality in your life and your circle of influence. You then become a co-creator with the universe.

[1] This information was communicated in a private discussion between Michael Talbot, author of the Holographic Universe and Robert Jahn, December 16, 1988.

I have learned that if I see chaos coming, I can stop it.

Intuiting Chaos

When you expand your ring of consciousness you can intuit chaos patterns (potentials) that, according to probability theory, will surface as disruptive issues in your life, in the life of others, in your community, state, country or planet before they begin to manifest. You are then able to abort the manifestation by changing circumstances.

The patterns you intuit may involve health issues, job challenges, relationship difficulties, environmental matters or a number of other areas of life that may affect you. You may wake up one morning, realize that your excessive drinking or smoking is going to ruin your health and decide to quit and start exercising. It may dawn on you that you’re with the wrong person … or that you’re acting like the wrong person … and you need to make some changes in your personal relationships or behaviors to avoid a real blow-out. You may suddenly understand that you’re not handling your money wisely and take a course in personal finance. You may live at the edge of a Superfund Cleanup site and realize that’s not the best environment for you and your family and that you need to move.

The good book says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Psalms 29:18). Lack of vision is the prime cause of people not being able to intuit chaos potentials and for most, if not all, of the turbulence we see around the world. A case in point is the current credit crisis and the resultant proposed $700 billion bail-out proposal for financial institutions. The people who concocted this financial witches brew did so by abandoning sound credit and lending practices and thinking that our country could continue to run forever in a deficit budget mode. They had no vision. And now the chickens are coming home to roost in the form of chaos.

Although chaos can be a necessary part of creation, it doesn’t have to be a part of the personal creative process. At the level of your individual life, it serves as an incentive to grow, change directions and get back on your path. You can begin to sift chaos out of the personal creative equation by better grasping the laws of the universe and taking more of a lead in the creative process rather than having to be incented. Said another way, when the universe knows that you no longer need chaos to provoke you to change (read create), it largely becomes unnecessary as a tool.

Of course, you may still experience some level of chaos in your life because of larger, global issues that affect you and over which you may have no direct or immediate control. For example, if you belong to a nation that is engaged in a war and you live near the front lines, it is likely that you will experience some degree of chaos in your life. If you live in the US during this time of economic turbulence, you may be clipped by chaos. That is simply a fact of existence on this planet.

Your ring of consciousness represents the level at which you function in your understanding of the universe. You expand your ring through meditation, study, contemplative practices and passing the tests that life puts before you. Your ability to intuit chaos patterns depends on the size of your ring. The larger your ring, the more patterns you are able to discern.

Chaos patterns need not surface as difficulties if they are inside the horizon of your awareness (inside the edge of your ring). Because they are within your view, they do not have to catch you unprepared. You are able to change conditions to avoid them.

As you expand your ring, you are able to see more patterns because you have increased the breadth of your vision. The greater your vision, the more control you have over your situation. Because the rule of the universe is maximum downward delegation, you increase your span of control and ability to create by enlarging your ring and acting on issues that could manifest before they actually do. If you are successful in handling small things, you will be given additional capacity, authority and responsibility.

You goal is twofold – 1) to expand your ring of consciousness to the point where you can intuit more chaos patterns and 2) to increase control over the quality of your life and the impact you have on lives around you by changing circumstances so intuited patterns do not manifest (sifting the need for chaos out of your life).

The Universal Spiral of Coherency

Chaos, Creation and Coherency

The story of the earth's creation in many of the world's spiritual traditions is described as a chaotic event - one involving great turbulence and turmoil. For example, in Christian theology the book of Genesis says "when God made heaven and earth, the earth was without form and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss, and almighty wind that swept over the surface of the waters." Not a pretty picture. Tumultuous, foreboding storms rolling over a dark, cold, watery landscape.

Given a choice, most humans would not want to find themselves in that kind of environment. Similarly, when chaos surfaces in our personal lives, we generally recoil from it.

Yet, in a curious twist of perception, the word "chaos" in the Chinese language (roughly translated) means "opportunity". And perhaps their definition is healthier than the definition we may normally use.

University of London physicist David Bohm assets that there is no such thing as disorder (chaos), only orders of infinitely higher degree. In support of Bohm's assertion, science has found that chaotic phenomena are not as disordered as they appear. Scientists have discovered mathematical formulas, that when applied to irregularities inherent in chaotic phenomenon and converted to data on a computer screen, will appear as spiral designs called chaos patterns. There is actually a design suggestive of purpose to what appears to be a random, patternless occurrence. Researchers have recently found chaos patterns in the human brain by using more electrodes than normal and by analyzing several minutes of data. And they have found the same patterns in the human energy field by using sophisticated EMG equipment.

What is the message for us?

Chaos is part of the process of creation and we are co-agents of creation. It is within control of the higher orders of the universe and is used not only to create at that level, but also to incent creation and reorder at lower levels by generating circumstances that stand in need of conversion. Therefore, it is a vehicle of growth in this school we call Earth. It is represented in the ancient yin yang symbol that embraces and enfolds the concept of transformation.

A person without vision will view a chaotic situation as something to be avoided at all costs ... a painful, meaningless inconvenience without purpose at best ... a tragedy at worst. A person with vision may not find the situation pleasant, but will view it as an opportunity for growth and as a chance to expand their ring size.

With vision, you can glimpse the higher orders of coherency through the chaos. Perhaps this is why the early Christian saints held the belief that "all things work together for good for those who love God". They sensed the authority and order of the implicate realm and the purposes for the challenges that manifest themselves as chaotic circumstances. Eastern philosophies recognized the same concept and simply expressed it in different cultural terms - as yin and yang - an opportunity for transformation.

The difficulties we face in life are not out of control or out of sight of higher orders in the universe. When chaos manifests in your personal life or in your work environment, step back and ask yourself what it is that you are to learn from it - and how you are to transform it as a co-creator of your own sphere of reality.

You can avoid Groundhogs Day ...

... by learning your lessons.

Your soul covenant is an agreement made with God before your incarnation. It defines what you came to Earth to learn and who you came to serve. The learning piece has two functions. One is to contribute to the evolution of your soul. Given its fallen nature, Earth is a unique classroom environment where you have the opportunity to choose between Light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong. Few other planets that I know of provide that kind of opportunity. Other lifeforms look at us from a distance with curiosity because darkness is not manifest in their midst. It’s an alien concept to them. Their surroundings are uncontaminated.

In this regard, Earth is one of the more challenging environments in the cosmos. It’s like a tough post-grad school where students have more choices available to them than snowflakes in a blizzard and little to no memory of the clarity of the environment from which they came to give them an advantage. That’s why scriptures describe man as being only a little lower than the angels on the creation scale. Spiritual entities such as angels have a great deal of respect for souls who incarnate to Earth simply because of the difficulties we face.

The second is to make your life somewhat easier by not having to repeat the same mistake twice. When a child burns himself on a hot stove, hopefully he’ll know not to touch it a second time. It’s the old rub that if we don’t learn from history, it will repeat itself. Like the characters in the movie Groundhog Day, you will continue to encounter the same kinds of situations in your life over and over again until you learn the lesson(s) associated with the events. When you learn the lessons, things shift. Circumstances change … or your response to them changes … and you move on to different lessons. You avoid the frustration of metaphorically banging your head against the same issues over and over again.

Your lessons may involve learning patience, relationship skills, vision, forgiveness, healing, alchemy, leadership, teaching, generosity, tolerance, self-control, mercy, love, strength, independence, adaptability, courage, imagination, optimism, trust, resourcefulness, understanding … a combination of these or a host of others.

The key is to figure out what your lesson(s) are based on the themes of the circumstances in your life. Once you identify the lessons, it’s easier to study for them and pass the tests. Once you pass the tests, either the circumstances will change or you will find a different way to think about them … and you can move on.

What do you do when the rain comes?

Expanding Your Capacity for Life

I was sitting at my home office desk today finishing up some work and - being a faithful child of the 70's - listening to a Beatles CD. One of the songs - Rain - has always been my among my favorites. But today the words hit me with particular meaning.

I've had a difficult several years. Like many of us, I've faced a number of personal challenges and the going has often been tough. A few times, I've been ready to throw in the towel, find an easier way or a less constructive way to deal with the issues I faced. Today, as I listened to Rain, it reinforced for me how we may limit ourselves if we struggle against the trials that confront us. Some of the lyrics are:

If the rain comes, they run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes
If the rain comes
When the sun shines, they slip into the shade
And sip their lemonade
When the sun shines
When the sun shines.
Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine
I can show you that when it starts to rain
Everything's the same
I can show you
I can show you
Can you hear me that when it rains and shines
It's just a state of mind
Can you hear me

Much of the time life itself is like the weather. When it's fall and the weather is cold and rainy we wish it were summer and the weather was hot. When it's summer and the sun's beating down we wish it was fall and that we could feel the brisk north winds.

There were two lessons for me in these lyrics. The first is similar to the old saying, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. We tend to look at what we don't have rather than what we do. The second and perhaps more profound lesson is that we severely limit our capacity to enjoy life when we struggle against what is.

If we say we will only enjoy our life if the sun shines, but there are occasional clouds to periodically shade us and if the temperature stays between 68 and 75 degrees, and the wind between 3 and 5 mph., we will enjoy very little of it. Running away from the sun when it shines and the rain when it falls significantly narrows our capacity for experience. It suggests that we're always running and never being.

Is it always fun standing in the rain? No. Would it be fun to never have any weather changes, always experiencing the monotony of perfect weather? No. Is there a better way to deal with the weather changes than spending all of our time running from them? I think so.

I think it's interesting that, as a child, I didn't mind the rain at all. I'd play outside in it, splash in the puddles and make little rivers in the dirt. When summer came, I'd play in the hot sun all day - playing baseball, biking, swimming. Even when I was in my early 20's I could play three hours of tennis in 80 degree weather. I think as I became older, I became culturalized. It wasn't a "good" idea to play outside in the rain. It might not be a "good" idea for me to play so hard in the hot sun all day.

I believe the better way may be learning to experience "weather changes" as a part of life. If we learn to accept the changes in our lives as part of the flow of life's river, it takes some of the burden off us to keep trying to "change the weather" by running to shelter. And I think it's good to remember that we can't always change the weather - but we can change our reaction to it.

You may not always be able to see ...

... the story's ending

A couple years ago I was in a church service when I noticed an elderly lady sitting near the front. As soon as my eyes lit on her I was impressed with an almost overwhelming feeling that I needed to work with her as a healer. But I had never seen this lady before in my life and was not feeling particularly “in tune” spiritually at the time. So I immediately began to rationalize that the impression was, somehow, of my own doing … that we didn’t know each other and any conversation I would have with her about the issue could be very awkward … that I didn’t have the time that afternoon ... that, surely, there was someone more qualified than I to work with her.

But the feeling was piercing and unrelenting. Something inside me knew that if I passed on this impression, it would be a missed opportunity. So, I shifted from rationalizing to bargaining. I suggested to God that, if I was really supposed to work with her, it would help to have some confirming sign … confident that there would be none and that I could be relieved of the responsibility.

No sooner had the words left my mind’s mouth, when the woman stood up with great effort and with the help of a younger friend, walked feebly up to the front of the church where she knelt down to pray.

I was stunned. Not only was this an unusual occurrence during a service of this nature, but it also happened almost immediately after I had tried to “bargain out” of the situation.

After the service was over, I somewhat grudgingly approached the pastor and explained what had happened and he was gracious enough to introduce the two of us. As we were gathered in a small circle and the pastor explained what had happened during the service, the eyes of both the woman and her friend filled with tears. I didn’t ask her if she was suffering from any physical problems or if there were any other troubling issues in her life. I simply put one hand on her shoulder and the other on back of her head and began working with her. We sat there for about twenty minutes, tears streaming down her face the entire time. When I was finished, I simply told her I hoped I was of some help and we parted ways.

About six months later I received a phone call late one evening. The voice at the other end of the line obviously belonged to an elderly woman and she identified herself as the woman whom I had worked with that long past Sunday morning. She said that she had MS and multiple other physical problems and that some of the symptoms had improved after I’d worked with her that day. She went on to talk about the difficulties she had faced in her life, many in the very recent past. But what was really on her heart was this … why did I think that I was impressed to work with her.

That was really the $64,000 question because I, frankly, didn’t know. I was simply responding to a strong impression that I’d received. Deep inside me was a feeling that I wasn’t working with her to “cure” her of the physical difficulties she was experiencing. I had thought about her many times since that Sunday afternoon and never really came up with the reason why I had been moved to do what I did. But, suddenly, while on the phone with her, the answer dawned on me. And I told her that, sometimes, God just wants us to know that S/he’s thinking of us. It was as simple as that.

When I told her that, there was silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments until she quietly responded with, “Thank you.”

I’m a person who likes to have all the answers. I want to know why certain things happen as they do. I want to be able to comprehend how all the pieces of the mosaic we call life are put together. But, of course, I can’t. I can’t see a big enough picture. Most of it doesn’t make sense to me.

I haven’t seen this woman since. Frankly, I don’t know whether she’s alive or dead ... or to what degree I may or may not have helped her that Sunday morning. And, although I believe that God may have simply wanted her to know that S/he was thinking of her, I don’t have any more information than that about why S/he may have impressed me to approach her. Perhaps it was to mitigate certain aspects of her disease process. Perhaps it was to help with pain control. Maybe it was to prepare her somehow for her impending physical death.

The point to my little story is that, if we compare life to a book, we may get to read many chapters but we don’t always get to see how things end. And you have to come to a point where that’s all right. You do what you need to do … be obedient to promptings … listen to the still, small voice … and leave the ending in God’s hands.

Sometimes it has to be enough to know that, even though you don’t pen the endings, it doesn’t mean they’re not there.

What are you afraid of?

The Monsters in the Basement

When I was a little kid I was scared to go down into the basement of our house. Ours was a modest ranch-style home with an unfinished downstairs typical of the times. The concrete floor was painted a battleship grey. The upstairs floor joists were visible, uncovered by the now-common drop ceiling. Bare light bulbs with pull chains hung from the joists. The walls were concrete block, painted a light grey. There were plenty of places for monsters to hide. Behind the old furnace. Underneath the stairwell. In the pantry.

It was bad enough to have to go down there even when my parents were home. Sometimes my mother would ask me to fetch something from the pantry. So I’d run down the steps, scamper across the floor, snatch whatever she wanted off the shelf and run as fast as I could back upstairs. Leaping the steps two or three at a time, I was sure I could feel the hot breath of a hobgoblin on the back of my legs. As difficult as it was to venture downstairs when someone was home, it was unthinkable to go down there when I was at the house alone. I avoided it like the plague.

My father passed away 16 years ago. When my mother followed him three years back I had to clean out the house and put it up for sale. I went back one last time before the sale was completed and spent over an hour by myself in the house that my parents had built and lived in for over 50 years … and where I had spent 21 years of my life. I spent time in every room … thinking about the things that had transpired between the walls - Christmases, Thanksgivings, birthdays, and family dinners. I remembered the nights I’d spent doing homework at the little desk in my small bedroom. Building fires in the living room fireplace with my dad on cold winter nights. Alternating washing and drying the dishes with my sister after dinners. Smelling the sweet scent of fall apples stored in paper bags wafting in from the breezeway.

And I went into the dimly lit downstairs to remember the games of pool I played with my father and grandfather. I thought about how we’d take our rifles and shotguns down there to clean them after hunting trips. I recalled how my father would spend time at his work table doing wood carvings of animals. And, finally, with a melancholy chuckle, I said good-bye to the monsters and walked back upstairs.

Today I can smile about dashing downstairs on errands for my mom … and getting out of there as fast as I could, knowing that spectral hands were just inches from grabbing me. But back then, those monsters seemed pretty real.

That’s the way it is with a lot of the things we fear in this life. We’re certain they’re out there stalking us … breathing down our backs … just waiting for the right moment to pounce. And, truth be told, we do live on a fallen planet. And there are some things we ought to take seriously. From a practical perspective, however, most of the things we worry about don’t ever happen. Like my monsters in the basement, they’re products of our imagination.

It’s such a waste to worry about things that are unlikely to happen. So many times we look back at things about which we were terrified and laugh quietly in amusement that we ever thought them worthy of our attention. So, do yourself a favor - choose your fears wisely – and put them in perspective.

If I change my mind ... I change my life.

Change Your Role, Change Reality

Years ago I attended a seminar on creativity of which a substantial portion was dedicated to role playing. During this section everyone in the room was required to participate in different brief skits in which they had to play several different roles. People in one group had to play Lil' Abner and Daisy Mae. In another they played both a gruff truck driver dissatisfied with his food and the waitress who had to wait on him. People in another had to play both a barber and a cheerleader. In another they played Snidley Whiplash, an innocent maiden and Dudley Dooright.

It was an interesting scenario to watch and even more interesting in terms of my own participation! At first, people were hesitant and tight. Some were clearly embarrassed. Some had a difficult time getting into the spirit of the exercise. Some were willing but had a difficult time making the transition between roles. Some had a very easy time with one role but a very troublesome experience with others. But, as the session progressed, people began loosening up and having some fun. The observers became more animated. They laughed, encouraged, hooted, cajoled and clapped. The participants found it easier to change roles in mid-stream and really began to have fun. By the end of the session the entire ambiance of the group had changed. No longer hesitant, everyone actually wished they had more time for the exercise.

The point of the exercise was this - we all play different roles in our lives. We play the roles of fathers, mothers, supervisors, confidants, parents, employees, counselors, lovers, children and innumerable others. But we often lock ourselves into a limited number of roles or find it difficult to transition between our various roles. And this limits our abilities to respond to the many different types of situations that arise in our lives.

If we try to apply the role of father to a situation at work where someone really needs us to function more as a mentor, we will likely fail. If we try to act as a confidant in a work situation where we really need to function more as a leader or supervisor, we will likely fail. We need to be able to shift into various roles as situations present themselves.

In doing so, we can actually change reality not only for ourselves but for those around us. Have you ever sat at a lunch table where someone begins making negative comments about the workplace? Pretty soon, everyone is chiming in and you find yourself in the middle of a feeding frenzy of negative thinkers. Then, if someone is bold enough to say something positive, the negative talk generally stops ... until someone else can think of something positive to say.

By breaking out of traditional roles, we change the rules of relationships and force people to act in different ways. If you're having some difficulties with someone and your interactions have been tense and strained, try something new. Make up your mind to approach them in a relaxed manner, take their hand in a warm handshake or put our hand on their shoulder and extend them a sincere hello. Ask them how things are going. Take an interest in them. You will have changed the rules of the relationship. You will have shifted the dynamics. You will have caught them off balance. You will have forced them to reevaluate their beliefs about you. You will have changed reality. Your relationship with that person will not be the same. And, perhaps as importantly, your beliefs about yourself will never be the same.

Try this with your spouse, children, the people you work with. It will require you to stretch, to think about how you want to react to people and situations. It will require some thinking, some planning and some effort. But it will reap benefits. You will find you have the power to change reality. You will find that you have stretched yourself. And when you stretch you have fun, you learn, you gain flexibility, you grow and you improve yourself.

When a rubber band is stretched just once, it never completely returns to its original size. So it is with us. even a little stretch is a growing experience. And even a little stretch will change your reality.

What "Time Zone" Are You Living In?

Living in the Present

I’m a planner, a fixer and a driver. I like to see results. I’m always stretching to get my arms around the endgame. So there’s a piece of me that always has a foot in the future. Part of it is probably genetic. In general, males are hardwired that way. We fix things, we build things, we fight wars. Sometimes that works to our advantage. But sometimes it doesn’t. That kind of “drive” can make it difficult to live in the present.

I struggle every year at this time. The back-to-school transition marks the official end of summer for me. It’s the time of year in our part of the country where the nights begin to cool down, the days become less warm, it gets darker earlier and light later and we begin to see more rain. Yesterday, for example, we had blue skies and 80+ degree weather. Today it’s raining and the temperature is hovering around 55.

I can deal with that. It’s what follows that bangs on my emotional armor. Winter in our area is brutal ... and when back-to-school time hits, I begin anticipating it with dread. It can be overcast for weeks at a time. Temperatures are wicked cold and the snow never seems to stop falling. Because of the almost constant cloud cover, I keep a “happy light” on my office desk and turn it on for 30 minutes every day so my pineal gland gets enough light to keep a modicum of “happy” hormones flowing in my body. There’s a joke in our area that they put Prozac in the water supply starting in October to keep people from jumping off tall buildings.

When I was younger all that crummy weather didn’t seem to bother me. I hunted more, I snowmobiled and I skied. But those days are past. My responsibilities have made those activities less available to me. So, winter is fairly restricted to hunkering down in survival mode until Spring arrives. For all these reasons, I have to fight melancholy in the first weeks of September.

But it occurred to me the other day that I could limit that struggle somewhat by not projecting so much what’s going to happen this winter and focusing on what we have left of summer and the early days of fall. September through mid-October in our area can be beautiful. White frost on the lawns and fields melts gently under gradually warming, blue skies during the mid-morning. Changing leaves paint reds, yellows and oranges across the countryside. Geese fly in V’s overhead and mums are in bright bloom. You can occasionally catch a whiff of what is to me, one of the most wonderful of scents … the bittersweet odor of a wood fire wafting out of someone’s chimney.

So it dawned on me that I’m actually living more of winter than I have to by thinking about it before it actually arrives. It reminded me of Christ’s counsel, “Take no thought of tomorrow. For tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” In other words, take it a day at a time.

That’s a challenge whether you’re staring down the barrel of a long, dark winter, wondering about the security of your job, dealing with a difficult illness, wrestling with family problems or struggling with any of the other seemingly numberless dilemmas that seem endemic to mankind. But it makes good sense.

By living in the future you rob yourself of today. By anticipating what it’s going to be like in a week or a month or a year, you divert your attention from simply living. So try to take things a day at a time.

Take a Moment to Hear the Hush

Living Lightly

Most of us expend too much energy on any given issue. It's like using an elephant gun to kill a fly. Because we live such busy lives, filled with demands from a large number of sources, it's very easy to fall into a pattern of overkill on problems. We deal with so many important issues that don't require higher levels of energy that we automatically carry over that approach to the smaller issues also. We sometimes think that if a little energy can be used to deal effectively with a situation, how much better will a lot of energy be! It's like asking the doctor to prescribe a very powerful antibiotic when you have a viral upper respiratory illness. First, the antibiotic can't kill the virus and, second, you probably don't need such a powerful intervention.

Living lightly, which includes the conscious application of just the right amount of energy to get any given job done, is becoming a lost art. Our lives have become demanding and loud. Too often it's the squeaky wheel ... not the most important wheel ... that gets the grease. Our society puts a value on noisy, flashy and busy. Other activities such as contemplation, meditation and conservation are de-emphasized. Whatever is screaming for our attention generally gets it, regardless of its level of true importance. We've become so accustomed to listening to the noise that we're losing the art of listening to the whispers of guidance that come from within and from higher Sources.

Many people go home after a long days work and automatically flip on the television. They open the newspaper and begin reading it with the TV on in the background. They feel uncomfortable in the quiet ... they have to have some noise in the background even if they aren't paying attention to the content. Some people want the noise because, if there's nobody else in the house at the time, they feel alone. As a people, we have become uncomfortable with aloneness, with solitude, with the quietness through which the voices of wisdom whisper to us.

I'm reminded of the prophet who told the story of how he received his guidance in a time of great inner turmoil. In the story he climbed a mountain and was waiting for some instruction or direction from God. During his wait a mighty wind arose and tore the rocks asunder. But, he said, his help was not in the wind. Then a tremendous earthquake occurred shaking and splitting the earth. But, he said, his help was not found in the earthquake. Then an immense and intense fire arose, devouring huge chunks of the countryside. But, he said, his help was not found in the fire. Then, having witnessed these loud and calamitous events, he heard a whisper. And his help was found in the whisper.

Living lightly entails managing our energy output by applying it correctly to the situations we face and taking the time to screen out the noise of our lives and listen for the whisper of guidance. Reacquaint yourselves with occasional periods of solitude where you can hear the hushed tones of comfort and direction that you won't find in the roar of the wind, earthquake or fire.

What Are You Best At?

Do What You Do Best

Many of us suffer from a fear that what we do best isn't enough to make a significant difference. It's a condition similar to thinking the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence but on an exquisitely personal level. "If only I could be a writer. Then I could influence large groups of people", "Gee, I wish I was a doctor - then I could really help people", "Boy, I could really change things if I were the CEO." And on and on it goes. But the reality is that you can use the skills you have - no matter what they are - to bring about profound changes. There is a story in the Judeo-Christian tradition that speaks eloquently of this.

The Philistines had gathered their forces to do battle with the Israelites. Each army was gathered on a hill on the opposite side of a valley. The hero of the Philistines came into the valley each morning to taunt the Israelites. He was a huge man, standing 9 feet tall and wearing scale armor that weighed over 125 pounds. He challenged the Israelites to send one man down into the valley to fight him. The winner would claim the army of the defeated man as slaves.

The Israelites were afraid not only because this guy was intimidating, but also because they knew they were at a great disadvantage technologically. The Philistines had learned how to use iron to fashion weapons and the Israelites had not. That would be comparable today to an army using WWI technology to face a force with nuclear abilities.

Finally a small boy - about 14 years old - approached Saul, the commander of the Israelites, and convinced him to let him do battle with the giant. Saul reluctantly agreed but insisted that the boy wear his coat of armor and helmet into the battle. The boy, however, refused saying, "I can't go in these because I'm not used to them." Instead, he wore his simple cloth tunic and went into a stream bed to pick up five smooth stones to use with his sling.

As he descended into the valley, the giant began to mock and curse him. "Come close so that I can feed your flesh to the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky." Instead of being intimidated, the boy charged the giant, placed a stone into his sling and flung it into the warrior's forehead dropping him on the spot. Running to the giant's body, the small boy grabbed his sword, killed him and cut off his head. The Philistine army scattered and ran but was pursued and cut down by the Israelites.

As you've probably guessed by now, this is the story of David and Goliath. This amazing victory wasn't gained by superior technology. Not was it achieved by greater intellect. It was accomplished because someone applied a simple skill to a situation where it could be used to advantage. David was a shepherd who had honed his talent with a sling in order to protect his flocks from attack. When the opportunity presented itself, he applied his skill and changed the course of an encounter that affected thousands upon thousands of people.

I think it's important to note in this story that David didn't try to be someone he wasn't. He was offered Saul's armor, but he refused saying, "I'm not used to them." He went into the challenge as the simple shepherd that he was. Not as someone who felt he needed an advantage that could be obtained by using something else to prop him up.

The Universe builds talents and skills into people that are designed to be used in their lives. And these gifts, both those that are "hardwired" in and those that are only developed through hard work, are many and diverse. We would do well to remember that it was not a genius, a king, or a gifted warrior that slew the giant. It was a simple shepherd boy who applied his gift.

A More Expansive View of Things ...

Seeing the Big Picture

The story goes that three men were observed working in a quarry. They were each approached and asked what they were doing. The first man replied, “I am cutting stone.” The second man replied, “I am carving a stone foundation for the base of a statue.” The third man replied, “I am building a cathedral.” All of these men were engaged in the same function. Only one of them grasped and felt proud of the larger concept and impact of their work and actions – that they were employed in the task of building a cathedral.

It’s very easy to limit our vision, particularly as it applies to our personal value and worth. I sometimes hear women say in response to the question, “What do you do?”, “Oh, I’m only a housewife.” And whenever I hear that statement I cringe. The impact of a caring, nurturing mother on the development of a family unit and children in particular is immeasurable. The examples are legion. Many people don’t feel that they possess value in their jobs, their homes or their relationships. But they are not seeing the larger picture.

Although the first and second quarrymen perceived their jobs as less important than others, suppose they were not available. Suppose that no quarrymen could be found or that they were unavailable for work. The architects and engineers would simply not be able to build the cathedral. It would remain a dream – simple plans drawn on paper. It would never achieve three dimensional reality.

Consider the woman who is “only” a housewife. What if she were unavailable to provide a stable and loving influence in her home? Like Jimmy Stewart discovered in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, the influence of one person can ripple out in a magnified effect to an entire community. I am not saying that women should not work outside the home, but rather that women or men who choose to stay exclusively in a role within the home should not feel of less value than the person who chooses to work outside the home.

In our society, where bigger is often equated with better and where excitement and sophistication are glamorized, self-criticism and denigration comes easily. We are pressured to “achieve” and achievement is commonly associated with better education, higher paying jobs, more status within the community, a more expensive car, a larger house. We tend to view these things are external evidence of achievement.

But we often fail to realize that true achievement lies in things that cannot be measured and upon which no price can be placed. The love of your family toward you, your relationships with others, the child whose life you influenced acting as a Big Brother or Big Sister, the child you volunteered to tutor in elementary school.

To the quarrymen, I would say that you are not “just” cutting stone – you are building a cathedral. To the women and men who choose an exclusive role within their home I would say that you are not “Just housewives or househusbands – you are a societal engineer, building a better community through your loving and dedicated influence in the home.

When you begin to see things from this perspective, you are beginning to see the big picture.

I'd like to be more relaxed today ...

State Your Intention

Stating your intention is always the first step in accomplishing anything. In your personal life, stating your intention is like developing a very, very brief strategic plan. There is an old saying that if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re certain to get there. In other words, you’ll get nowhere quickly if you don’t develop a game plan.

Stating your intention focuses your attention on a specific issue, behavior or attitude. It reminds you that “this” is what you want to do today. It helps channel your thoughts much like the alignment of light waves creates a laser.

When you state your intention, you invite the Universe to help you in accomplishing your goal. This is a piece of what Christ meant when, in the Lords prayer he said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In other words, teach us and help us to do what we need to do today.

Here’s how you do it. When you wake up in the morning, before you get out of bed and you’re still in that hazy state of awakening, very gently think about what attributes you want to demonstrate during the coming day. Don’t try to force it. Just let your mind drift in that direction. When you’re not quite fully awake, there’s less of a chance that your analytical mind or ego will wrest control of your thinking and try to “force” a specific direction on you. When you are in-between sleep and full wakefulness, your mental state is less defined and more malleable to impressions of the spirit.

Certain words or short phrases may come to mind. They represent the attitudes or attributes that would best serve your needs during the day. They may be issues you need to work on or outlooks that would help you deal with certain situations. When you settle on something, insert it into the following sentence. “I want to be (blank) today.”

Some possibilities are flexible, attuned to others needs, forgiving, confident, decisive, diplomatic, good-natured, level-headed, understanding, helpful or open-minded. But there’s an almost endless list of others.

Then simply fix the completed statement in your head by repeating it several times and letting it sink into your consciousness. Remind yourself of the statement a few times throughout the day.

Something interesting often happens when you do this little exercise. You will find that circumstances arise wherein you will need to exhibit the very attributes that you selected. For example, if you chose “flexible”, your plans may have to suddenly be altered. If you chose “decisive” you may be called upon unexpectedly to make an important decision. If you chose “level-headed” you may need to mediate a conflict.

It may also be that you receive an impression to select a word that describes something that you need to work on in your life. If you chose “good-natured” it may be the Universes’ way of suggesting that you need to lighten up a bit. If you chose “helpful” it may be that you need to become more aware of the needs of those around you and to put a little less emphasis on yourself.

The advantage to this practice is that it greatly accelerates your development. You will probably notice themes among the words you select. The themes will be opposite of the words you choose. In other words, the words you select are designed to help you deal with the issues in your life that you need to work on. Some examples of themes might be self-centeredness, fear, selfishness, hard-heartedness, indecisiveness or a lack of tact. You will make much more progress in addressing these themes by focusing on them in a positive way by using this technique on a daily basis.

You mean I can change my mind ... and there's no penalty?!!

Changing Your Mind

A few years before my mother passed away, I shared a quiet Christmas with her ... one in which we deliberately tried to scale back the pace, relax a little and savor the moments instead of rushing headlong through them on our way to December 26th. Nevertheless, we didn't escape the rigors of the season unscathed. The day after Christmas, most of our family suffered the nauseating, head pounding, ache causing, stomach churning somersaults of the flu. It was the kind that made you feel like you were going to die, but afraid you weren't. One of my cousins actually visited the local Emergency department. Most of the rest of us just wish we had.

After I'd sufficiently recovered so that I could hold a telephone, I called my mom to see how she was doing. Quite predictably, as perhaps any sane person would have, she commented how terrible the entire episode had been. And I agreed with her - which thrust us into a conversation about how bad we had felt, who won the prize for the most trips to the bathroom and how unfair it was for me to be hit with the flu right after Christmas day and during my hard-earned vacation.

Then, very unexpectedly, our conversation seemed to be put on hold. Time was somehow suspended - almost like they do in the movies when they stop the storyline and the character thinks back to a part of his childhood. And a small voice inside began to counsel me. I realized that my mom's response to the entire situation and my response to my mom's response were 1) all based on learned behavior, 2) were intangible occurrences and 3) were only our opinions of the truth. And that held some possibilities.

First, all our actions are based on learned behaviors. That means that they may or may not be appropriate responses for any given situation. What if the person we learned those behaviors/responses from learned them from someone who had difficulty handling life? In that case, we are simply passing down inappropriate response mechanisms and attitudes over the generations. Small bumps on the road of life can be made to seem mountains if we allow them. But it is possible to keep perspective.

Second, our response patterns and attitudes are completely intangible occurrences. We are not hard-wired computers that restrict our responses to certain patterns. It is true that our behaviors and attitudes tend to follow certain patterns because that's how we learned to respond. But, unlike machines who possess no capacity for innovation, we are quite capable of learning new beliefs, attitudes, responses and ways of living. Our attitudes can be changed in the twinkling of an eye if we choose. It is a matter of choice. There is nothing in our physiological make-up that prevents us from changing any of our views.

Third, most of the time the way that we view a situation is based on our opinion of the truth - not the truth itself. Given any situation, any three people will view it in a slightly different light. Where then is the truth? Frequently we view the truth as being contained in our viewpoint. But the other two people in the triangle also feel the same way. So, two important rules for sane living could be 1) learn to be more accepting of the viewpoints of others and 2) learn to see your viewpoint as your opinion, not as the unequivocal truth.

So, how could the conversation between my mom and I have turned out? "Well mom, how are you doing?" "Just fine, Jim. That flue is some nasty stuff but nothing a little rest, some fluids and family support can't take care of! Too bad you had to come down with it on your vacation." "No problem. I stayed in bed, watched a little TV and caught up on some reading."

Attitudes are intangibles. There is nothing in our make-up that says we have to have or keep a given attitude. It's our choice. We can change our minds at any given time.

The Highest Road ...

Forgiveness

Have you ever noticed how people tend to take a concept like forgiveness and try to mold it into a black and white issue from which they justify their stances? A “forgiveness purist” might say that you have to forgive everyone for anything and everything they do – no questions asked, no strings attached. A “forgiveness pragmatist” might say that forgiveness is linked to repentance and at least some level of commitment by the forgiven to change their behavior.

Where does the truth lie? Probably somewhere in between. At least, that’s as close as I can come to a good answer.

I clicked on MSN yesterday and saw a news article whose headline read something like “The 20 Greatest Hypocrites of Our Time.” It listed people like Elliott Spitzer, New York’s aggressive attorney general, who was hard on vice as a prosecutor but who, himself, was identified as a “john” in a prostitution ring. And Rush Limbaugh who has publicly stated that people who used illicit drugs should be prosecuted and locked up, but who allegedly “doctor shopped” to feed an addiction to prescription pain killers.

The whole article, although true in its reporting of the facts, had a very negative overtone to it. There wasn’t any point to it except to identify hypocritical behaviors of highly public figures. There was no moral lesson. There was no effort to convey a warning like “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” There obviously was no attempt to say, “You know, anybody can find themselves in this kind of situation. And we’re all hypocrites to some degree. So, let’s not savage these folks … let’s learn from their pain.” It was very simply a barefaced act of public humiliation. That was it. Nothing more. And it left me with a very, very bad taste in my mouth.

Yes, we can all get a little shot of self-righteous adrenalin by looking at these kinds of situations, doing a comparison between them and us and patting ourselves on the back for being “so much better.” But the truth is, we aren’t. We’ve all screwed up. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all hurt people. We’ve all done things we regret.

As a species, humans have a very nasty tendency to rationalize away their own shortcomings while, at the same time, magnifying others weaknesses. It’s largely a psychologically-based, ego-driven attempt to make us feel superior. But we should all wonder what price we pay for it.

Jesus delivered his message in parables to the crowds and was much more specific in his teachings to his closest disciples. But we can be assured that, although the teachings were somewhat different in delivery and content, there was alignment in message.

When people of a small community surrounded a prostitute and were ready to stone her, Jesus crouched down and drew descriptions of their own sins in the sand. Then, looking up, he said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” On another occasion, someone in some degree of exasperation asked him how many times they had to forgive someone ... seven times? His reply was “… not seven … but seven times seventy.” In at least one instance he said, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn your other to him.” A different time, he forgave a person and advised him to “ … sin no more.” Finally, while hanging on the cross, he uttered the famous words, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I’m certainly not in a position to be so self-righteous as to try to hold people to a rigid, purist stance on forgiveness. Frankly, I think it’s beyond my abilities right now to forgive people for certain acts. Pre-meditated murder, child abuse, mistreatment of the elderly and infirmed … all come to mind as only a few of many, many examples. But, in the absolute highest spiritual sense, I realize that I lose a little piece of me by not being able to do so. And I know that we all have done things that people might not have completely forgiven us for … acts perhaps smaller than capital crimes, but certainly painful to others nonetheless … and when that happens, it holds us hostage. It’s difficult to move forward. It’s hard to get beyond the pain. The act of unforgiveness blocks healing. It hurts … and it keeps on hurting.

It’s a bit scary to try to paraphrase Jesus on forgiveness … or anything else. But I’m going to attempt it here. “Look … everybody has made mistakes. Some small with limited impact. Some larger with more significant impact. But nobody is guiltless or blameless. And, without actually experiencing the cumulative results of what another person has experienced in their life, it’s impossible for you to know what motivated them to do what they did. So, when somebody offends you, you can choose to hold onto it. Or you can choose to forgive and let it go. Forgiving can be tough. But it’s a higher road. And, although there aren’t any guarantees, it can result in repaired relationships, better health and a more productive future. Think of it like this … what I’ve said about forgiveness is like a teacher telling a student what he needs to do to get an 'A' in an assignment. It’s the highest road you can possibly take. If you don’t do it all the time or aren’t able to do it all under certain extreme circumstances, it doesn’t mean you don’t 'pass the course.' If you can’t do it at all, however, or do it on a very limited basis, you’re going to have a very difficult time in life. So, at least try to soften the walls a bit.”

Having experienced all aspects of the forgiveness equation from both sides including being forgiven and unforgiven and extending and withholding forgiveness, that seems like pretty good advice.

I wish there were an easier way ...

But there are no shortcuts ...

We live on a fallen planet. The setting is difficult. The ability to identify and choose between good and evil, light and darkness, is both a learning opportunity and a problem generator. Free agency has resulted in an environment wherein we are faced with many difficulties, most of which we have caused ourselves. The heaviness of a third dimensional atmosphere where there are lags between intention and results often complicates our difficulties. We reap what we sow and identifying and correcting issues that we ourselves have created is more often than not a laborious and difficult effort. We cannot snap our fingers and have our problems disappear. There are no shortcuts. Most of the time we simply have to slog through the swamp.

Much of our planets population and Americans in particular are addicted to quick fixes. We’re constantly looking for ways to avoid the natural consequences of our actions and the results of our poor decisions. We want the easy way out … the smooth and level road … the bed of roses.

A lot of folks seek this kind of quick relief in religion. In recent decades, there have been many Christian “television evangelists” who have encouraged people to give money to their causes while assuring the givers that God would reward them with riches if they did so. Others have promised miraculous healings. Many of these “spiritual leaders” who have promised these types of quick fixes have been exposed as shams. Some have gone to prison for defrauding contributors and misappropriating funds.

Some “healers” and “intuitives” have been found to be wearing small receivers in their ears and getting information from staff members about the people whom “God has told them to pick” out of the audience. Others have salted the audience with people who will cooperate with them in their “healing.” I believe that genuine healings do occur. I have witnessed some and I have participated in some. But to believe that they will unerringly occur if you will only follow a certain procedure or come to a certain “healer” is nonsense.

Some people use magic in an attempt to change their circumstances. And I believe that magic can help to some degree in some situations. But it isn’t like Cinderella where the fairy godmothers use a wave of their wands to change some mice and a pumpkin into a beautiful horse-drawn carriage.

In stressful times like ours, it’s human nature to hope for a quick fix. Financial stresses, familial pressures, relationship crises, workplace tension, international conflict, health issues all take their tolls. But, although Jesus often healed the sick and gave hope to the troubled, he also said that “in this life you will have tribulation.”

Over the course of my life, I have somewhat grudgingly come to believe that there are no quick fixes … no easy way out … no rainbow road to solving our problems. And I don’t believe that’s being pessimistic. I believe it’s being pragmatic. Christ’s disciples were killed for following him. Good people throughout the ages have suffered in countless ways. God did not intervene to stop WWI or WWII. He did not intercede to prevent the Holocaust or the Inquisition. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and other natural disasters kill people every day. We cannot count on God to bail us out of these kinds of situations. That is not how this world works.

Do I believe in angelic intervention? Yes … under certain circumstances. I’ve been involved in angelic encounters. But it isn’t something I’d count on to prevent a war or repair a relationship or feed a multitude of starving people. Do I believe God helps us … even to the point of occasionally interceding in situations? Yes … under certain circumstances. But dramatic rescues seem to be the exception rather than the rule. If sought out, God will provide guidance and encouragement. But S/he will not do the work that we ourselves can do.

Because I’m human and am also prone to wanting quick fixes for certain situations I’m faced with, I don’t particularly like these rules. There are times I wish God would stretch the parameters a bit and intervene in a more direct and powerful way. There are issues that I can’t understand … can’t get my arms around … don’t know how to address … and I grow frustrated with God for not fixing them. I would do the work if I knew how. I just don’t know what to do.

But there’s such a thing as knocking your head against a tree. The tree isn’t going to give … but your head might. In the same way, you can’t “break” God’s laws … they don’t break or bend. They are fixed. And they are fixed for a reason. But you can break yourself against those laws. So it doesn’t do much good to thrash around in irritation. It only wears you out.

Yes, because I’m a “fixer” … a trait that’s genetically hardwired into most males … I can get very frustrated with things I can’t figure out or fix. And, believe me, I’m facing a lot of those situations right now. On the other hand, it doesn’t do much good for me to foment over the fact that there’s no easy way out on the horizon.

Sometimes, the best you can do is to take a deep breath, try to gather yourself and take another step forward in the swamp.

The Future of Earth ...

The Future of the World Depends on Us

As I write these words, half the planet is in danger of social instability because of escalating food and energy prices, lack of potable water, deteriorating governments, and pollution.

Over 100 countries are skirting the edge of bedlam. More than 45 countries, with a population of 2.7 billion people, are in danger of armed conflict due primarily to inadequate natural resources. Another 1.2 billion people scattered over 56 countries are threatened with severe social instability of various sorts.

At present, there are 14 wars raging across the planet. Thirty-seven countries are experiencing a food crisis because of expanding demand, diminishing supplies, soaring energy prices and global grain stocks that are at 25-year lows. Almost three billion people worldwide are forced to survive on less than $2 a day.

Elevated levels of poverty have resulted in 40 new diseases, 1,100 epidemics over the past five years, and a record 20 drug-resistant disease strains today. Additionally, old diseases like cholera and yellow fever are regaining footholds. And more than one-third of childhood deaths come about in the first 28 days of life, typically because of a lack of clean, drinkable water. 700 million people currently face water shortages.

Our planet’s population will require 50% more food in the next five years and 100% more in 2030. Worldwide energy requirements could double in only 20 years. Most studies estimate that there are over 20,000 active nuclear weapons on the planet and there have been about 150 reports of use of unauthorized nuclear materials per year over the past three years.

The year 2012 is approaching. We are coming to a tipping point where the results of our decisions will fall on us much more quickly than they have in the past. Our planet’s population needs to rethink its priorities if we hope to prevent these trends from overwhelming us. So, is there any good news out there? Fortunately, there is.

Some governments are now beginning to become more cognizant of the global issues we face. And, they are starting to share their expertise more consistently within the framework of international workgroups that are designed to address crises.

Super computers are now approaching abilities that will help solve problems at exponentially quicker rates. Floating point operations in the realm of 1.144 thousand trillion per second are now possible. This supports the capability to solve extremely difficult social, environmental, medical, and economic problems and may permit more dependable forecasting of future behavior and cause and effect interactions across a wide variety of fields.

Expanding Internet development is promoting a type of global "collective intelligence." This improved global interaction and exchange of ideas will help hasten the development of solutions for the problems we face. (Thanks to Larry Edelson for his research on these issues).

The cause is not lost. The world is not doomed. But we don’t have all the time that we would like to change these trends. The time to act is now. What does that mean for you? How will you respond? The future of the world depends on us.

I wonder if God can do the Polka ...

Does God ever "Get Down?!"

When I was in my late teens and early twenties (and my hair was down to my shoulders), my best friend and I wrote a lot of music together. We both had Epiphone 12-string guitars and a penchant for music the likes of that written by James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, Simon and Garfunkel and such.

We would often play at different venues in and around our city … sometimes alone and sometimes with some other guys who shared our love for similar kinds of music. Usually, these were pretty “up” events. If we played something like “59th Bridge Street Song” by Simon and Garfunkel, people would be smiling, laughing, tapping their feet and singing along. When we played more thoughtful songs, like Fire and Rain by James Taylor, they’d quiet down and perhaps hum along. But they always seemed to move with the types of songs we played.

One night, however, sticks out in my mind. We had a repertoire of “Christian” songs that we would play for church groups when asked. They weren’t the old stand-by’s like “The Old Rugged Cross.” They were more in the line of folk-soft rock. I guess, in a way, we were some of the early forerunners of the current contemporary Christian music movement.

Jon and I had been asked by a pastor to play at a fairly large local church one evening. We arrived, set up, and opened the show before a large crowd at about 7pm. During our first number, I remember looking out at the audience and wondering what was happening. They were completely unmoved. Faces were expressionless. No smiles. No humming along (that I could tell). Nothing that would suggest that these people were enjoying themselves even in the least bit. And it wasn’t just the first song. We played the entire set without seeing one smile. And I don’t think it was because we were terrible! It was the same set we’d played many times before to people singing along, smiling, laughing, clapping.

I really think part of it was that we had the audacity to bring guitars into a church ... even though the pastor had invited us to help "loosen" the congregation up a bit. They had their own version of what a service should be like. Church music, after all, should be confined to an organ. Everybody knows that ... at least all of them.

Unfortunately, I think that’s the way a lot of Christians and other religious folks think God expects them to act. Not a lot of emotion. Not a lot of fun. Limited laughing. Can’t have much of a good time. Things have to be pretty subdued all the time.

But I have to say, that doesn’t hold much appeal to me. I’m not at all sure I’d like to go through eternity with that kind of approach to things. And, frankly, I have a hard time believing that’s what God expects … or that S\he’s like that.

Here’s what I read in the scriptures:
Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. (Psalms 33:2)
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments … (Psalms 150:4)
Let them praise his name in the dance. (Psalm 149:3)

There’s more examples. But you get my drift.

I think God’s exciting. I don’t think S\he’s a stick in the mud. I don’t think S\he wants us to go through eternity with a solemn face and a sullen spirit. Seems to me that would be pretty boring. Nothing against the people in that church that hot summer night when Jon and I were playing our hearts out … but I have a hard time imagining that a God who could create a universe like ours could want people to reflect the attitude and demeanor that we saw in that group that evening.

I think S\he's a lot bigger ... and a lot happier ... than that!

Don't just stand there watching ... do something useful.

Chaos

Note: I'm on vacation this week. Postings may not be as frequent as usual. Thanks for your readership.

The word "chaos" comes from the Greek word "tea" which means to gape or yawn. Chaos is also defined 1) as that confusion or confused mass out of which the universe was created and 2) as a scene of extreme confusion or disorder. These definitions have important meanings for all of us.

Chaos is an inevitable part of life, even though most people try to avoid it at all costs. It's uncomfortable because it threatens the status quo. It makes us examine our options. It brings to our attention the fact that all is not right. Its purpose is to make us aware that something is not as it should be and that it's time for change. It may also signal that we are not necessarily doing anything "wrong" in an ethical sense, but that it's time for us to shift gears and expand our consciousness and experience.

History is replete with examples ... take, for instance, last decade's war in the former Yugoslavia. Something was wrong there. The people were warring over differences in beliefs and arguing over land and resources. Instead of learning to live together in peace, they were trying to destroy each other. This isn't a condition particular only to that region or that war. Such is the case with most wars. The result is chaos - the warning that things need to be changed. Remember that chaos was the state of the universe prior to the act of creation. As it was then, it is now. Therefore, chaos always invites us to a new creation, whether at personal, corporate, national or global levels. The message is always the same ... only the scenery changes.

Chaos may also be telling us that nothing is necessarily wrong in a moral or ethical sense ... it may simply be the universe's way or urging us to expand our awareness and change paths. In high school, I decided that I wanted to be in law enforcement. I obtained my associates and bachelors in that area and, after I graduated, I worked for many years in the field. But, as time passed, I had the growing feeling that something wasn't "right" and that I was misplaced in my career. I chose to ignore the feeling until my life was suddenly thrust into chaos. Without boring you with the details, I'll tell you that it became clear to me that I needed to change paths in my life. Had it not been for that chaos, I would still be on the same path.

It's also interesting to note that chaos and chasm are brought forth from the same Greek root word. Joseph Campbell speaks of a Native American ritual for initiating a boy into manhood. The boy is spoken to by his elder mentor who tells him, "As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think."

Chaos is the chasm we must be willing to jump if we are to get from "here" to "there" ... from status quo to a new creation. Much like pain is a symptom of something wrong in the physical body, chaos is the way that the universe uses to remind us or to make us aware that something is wrong in our individual or collective lives.

As difficult as it is, we must remember that chaos is not necessarily something evil or to be disdained and avoided. Certainly we should live our lives in such a way that we are in line with the purposes of the universe. In that sense, we should avoid chaos because we avoid the need for reminding. But if chaos does appear, it is better if we regard it as a close friend putting his arm around our shoulder and whispering in our ear that there is a better, higher way. For chaos can be considered the loving act of a universe that cares. When we see it, let us be like the young Native American who jumped the great chasm into a new creation, realizing that it wasn't as wide as he thought.

What are you looking for?

How do I find the answers?

I try to maintain a fairly healthy lifestyle. I eat right; I work out at the gym a few times a week. But let’s face it – none of us are perfect! I was looking for some nice salty, greasy potato chips in the pantry the other day. I had this sudden urge for chips and French onion dip. But despite the fact that I knew they were in the pantry, I couldn’t find them. I looked for several minutes until a friend who was over waltzed in, plucked the bag off the shelf from right in front of me and walked back out to watch the game on TV. The chips were sitting in a bag just below eye levels. But I wasn’t looking for them in a bag. I was looking for them in a cardboard tube … the kind with those plastic tops that stacks them nice and neat in an upright row. And because I wasn’t looking for them in a bag I didn’t see them even though they were only about 20 inches away from my face.

We’ve all gone through something similar to that when we buy a car. A friend of mine bought a Volvo a few years back. The car was on order for a while and during the time he was waiting for it to arrive, he began to notice how many Volvo’s were driving around town. Seemed like everywhere he went he noticed a Volvo. They were at stop signs, restaurant and mall parking lots, on the highways … they were everywhere. And indeed they were everywhere to him … because his mind was focused on them.

This phenomenon occurs because of a basic law of the universe … seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. When your mind is tilted in a certain direction you will begin to notice things that you never noticed before. You need to put your mind in a certain state in order to find answers to the questions you have. It’s like trying to find a particular station on the radio. You fiddle with the dial a little to find the right frequency. In essence, that’s what we need to do when we are looking for answers or searching for direction. We need to tune our minds to the right frequencies. When we achieve those frequencies we see answers and direction manifesting all around us.

But you need to know what you’re looking for. This involves making conscious decisions about what it is that you’re asking. Asking the question in the right way is as important as the act of asking itself. The universe, of course, can’t answer a question that isn’t asked. But, in the same light, you won’t recognize the answers that manifest around you unless you have asked the question in the right way. That’s because you will be looking for something different.

Sit down with pen and paper. Give some thought to something about which you wish some direction. Let’s take something many people struggle with at some time in their life … their educational goals … what is it they want to do with their life. If your grades are less than stellar, does it mean that you should pursue another course of study? Or does it mean that you need to learn perseverance? What is most needful for you to know at that time? You don’t want to pursue a goal that is not in line with your purpose and that will not be fulfilling to you. But neither do you want to produce grades below your capabilities. What is it that you need help with? Perhaps it’s with bringing clarity to the issue. It might be better to ask for help with that than to ask simply for help with better grades. All difficulties are solved one level higher than their manifestation. When you ask for answers, it may be a good idea to ask for clarity about the issue first.

Figure out what it really is that you want to know … what do you want to work on … what would you like some direction about. Then write that statement down on a piece of paper, fold it up and carry it with you. Several times a day, take it out, look at it and spend some time in quiet meditation or prayer, if you wish. Tune your mind into a state in which you can recognize the answers.

By knowing what you’re looking for, asking the question in the right way and searching for the answer, you will begin to see solutions manifesting around you.

God corrects those S/he loves ....

Accepting Correction

If you accept the tenet that you are where you are in order to learn what you must learn, then you must also acknowledge that you will need to accept some correction along the way. It’s nearly impossible to learn something that’s of any value without receiving instruction and/or correction. How many people do you know who have made their way through their educational experience with all perfect scores?! And the business of living life is much more complicated than any educational process. Making mistakes and learning from them is just part of the stuff of living.

There are fast learners and slow learners. And there are fast learners in one area who are slow learners in another area and vice versa. But everyone has need of correction, mentoring and instruction.

Some folks have a difficult time accepting correction. They may have pride that’s difficult to overcome or they may be defensive toward correction because of their upbringing. That makes it very difficult to accept any kind of advice that may benefit them. And, yet, correction is a critical part of the learning path that can’t be ignored.

I’m a voracious reader. I read a great deal of material that deals with the world’s religions and spiritual traditions. And while I was perusing Proverbs the other night I was absolutely struck with the number of times that the need for correction was mentioned in one form or another. Just a few examples include the following. “Do not resent (God’s) correction … because (S/he) corrects those (S/he) loves. “Correct a wise man and he will love you.” “Whoever ignores correction leads others astray.” “He who hates correction is stupid.” “He who scorns instruction will pay for it.” “Whoever heeds correction is honored.” “Whoever heeds correction shows prudence.” “A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise.” “Whoever heeds correction gains understanding.”

There’s some definite themes that run through these sayings and that coincide with other spiritual traditions I have studied. First, correction should not be viewed as something to be evaded or dreaded (“… God corrects who (S/he) loves.”) Of course, you may choose to view correction in a negative way. Or you may choose to view it as an opportunity for growth. We live in a multi-dimensional, quantum universe and, in many respects, you may create from the experience whatever you want. As Aldous Huxley once said, “Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you.” When you change your interpretation of an event, a change in your reality will also take place. When people correct you it may actually be an act of love. Hear what they have to say and learn to create your own reality from it.

Second, hearing, accepting and integrating constructive correction is a sign of maturity … “… correct a wise man and he will love you.” It shows a willingness for self-examination. There can be no improvement if there is no reflection on your own behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. Consciousness will not be expanded without challenge. We need to push against something in order to grow … much like muscles are developed by lifting weights. Sometimes we are so close to ourselves that we can’t see the forest for the trees. Feedback from those who live, work and play with us can be fresh and insightful. Hearing, sorting through and using the feedback is an act of emotional and spiritual adulthood.

Third, integrating constructive correction reaps benefits – wisdom, honor, understanding, prudence. This is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Once you make the first leap of faith to hear, sort through and integrate construction correction you immediately begin to see benefits. Once you see the benefits, your second leap becomes easier. You build skill after skill, honing them through your knowledge of yourself and feedback from others as you walk your path.

Good mentors walk the circle of life. They both mentor and are mentored. I don’t expect to know as much as those who mentor me and in whom I place my trust. And I expect them to correct me and advise me when I step off my path. It’s only by accepting correction that I can hope to grow.

The Influence of Higher Values

Power vs. Force

It’s easy to confuse power and force. In our society and in the world in general, the two concepts have become so blurred through wrong thinking and rationalization that it often becomes difficult to separate one from the other.

Power is an essence or essential quality of the universe and is reflective of God. It is permeating, infinite, stable and enriching. Force, however, is transient, non-pervasive, and temporary and carries with it an enormous potential for devastation.

A powerful person is grounded, secure in himself, knowledgeable about his place and purpose in the universe and exercises his influence through truth and wisdom. He leads by example and mentors others primarily by walking his talk.

A person dependent on force is unstable, unaware, and motivates others through compulsion. This is a person who would say “it’s my way or the highway.”

A powerful person will be open to new ideas, receptive to new ways of doing things and will project pleasing energies.

A person oriented toward force will maintain a narrow focus, will retain a defense against doing things in any other way than he is used to and will tend to absorb energies rather than project them.

In his book entitled Power vs. Force, Dr. David Hawkins draws some interesting correlations between the practice of kinesiology and consciousness. Based on hundreds of thousands of trials, he assigned numerical values to muscle responses when respondents were asked value related questions. Enlightenment – the highest value – ranged from 600 to 1,000. Courage was rated at 200.

Based on these and other findings, Hawkins made several conclusions including that 85% of the people inhabiting this planet live in the spectrums below 200. Said another way, they function by values that are generally no higher than that of pride.

The scale, however, is based on each numbers individual rate to the 10th power. Therefore, the differences between high and low-end scores are incredible. This gives the 15% of humanity above the 200 line sufficient power to counterbalance those below the 200 line.

Highly evolved individuals may function around the 700 mark and, although there are not many of these people around, each one of them has sufficient power to neutralize or influence to some degree 70 million people who are functioning at the lower levels. Just one person functioning at the 400 mark – the level of advanced reasoning - can compensate for 400,000 people operating below 200. This principle is what allowed figures like Jesus and Gandhi to influence such large segments of the Earth’s population.

Hawkin’s studies are reminiscent of research conducted on Transcendental Meditation which proved that, if less than 1% of the population meditates, significant social change such as substantially lower crime rates can result. They also speak to the power of power as opposed to the force of force.

If we are to survive as a species and preserve this fragile environment we call Earth, we must learn to function from a position of power and not force. That means that our decisions on interpersonal, community and global levels must be made from the context of higher spectrum values such as cooperation and intellect rather than anxiety and animosity.

The Seeds and the Harvest