On Humility

Humility.

1. Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.

Our culture doesn't encourage humility. Most cultures don't.

Our culture doesn't reward meekness. Our culture rewards arrogance, force, dominance, power, control, ego; Our culture encourages and rewards pride.

We collectively perceive humility as weakness, while we perceive arrogance and pride as being the qualities of the strong, the powerful, the deserving.

The bible comments of these qualities.

Psalms 25:9
The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

Psalms 37:11
But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Psalms 10:2
The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor.

Psalms 73:6
Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment.

Proverbs 13:10
By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.

When I see so many "power of pride" bumper stickers I wonder.

Is it a sign of weakness to be humble.... to be meek?

To swim against the cultural current calls for great strength.

Meekness is not weakness.

Denial Denying Facts On "Black Friday"

Less and less am I able to deny how uncomfortable I feel when denied my "inherent right to denial". Very aggravating. Some interesting and annoying denial denying facts, "borrowed" directly from the Chris Martenson website.......

In 2006, over 12.6 million households were "food insecure" - 10.9% of all US households. Just last week, the USDA released the summation figures for calendar 2007. In 2007, the figure is 11.1%. Given what has transpired to US/ us in 2008, one might only imagine how the numbers will skyrocket this current year. The term "food insecure" was a new one for me. It means "experiencing difficulty in providing the necessary level of sustenance for a household." This is but a lame attempt to spin that well over 35 MILLION people, including over 12 MILLION children, are going to bed hungry. They are worried about where the next day's meals will come from. Such is unconscionable in this land of abundance. Yet... it is the reality even during this week of the normal Thanksgiving feasting!

Holiday Shopping with Deflated Stocks

Still feeling shocked by how much your portfolio has fallen in value in the past couple of months? With the holidays upon us, here is a look at the purchasing power those shares still have. After all, a share of Berkshire Hathaway can still buy you a Porsche 911.

This weekend, I was looking through the circulars in my Sunday paper and found some good uses for those "worthless" shares. First, let's consider Thanksgiving dinner. You can buy a nice 10 lb. Butterball Turkey for just one share of Microsoft. One share of AIG can add some nice frozen vegetables and a share of General Motors is worth 5 lbs of yams. Note: All share prices are as of Friday's close.

Does Anybody Else Think Getting America Shopping Again is Crazy Talk?

I was listening to Robert Reich, once the left end of the spectrum in the Clinton cabinet, talking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer a few days ago, and Reich, who has in the past sometimes made sense, was talking about how Americans' incomes had fallen over the last eight years of the Bush/Cheney administration and that it was necessary to get their incomes back on an upward trend, so that they could "start shopping again."

Now I understand Reich was trying to make the case that the bailout so far has been focused on the banks and the insurance industry, and that none of this will help unless ordinary people start getting some relief, but still, there's something completely twisted and out of whack when the best we can come up with is that we need to get Americans back into the malls.

UNEXPECTEDLY?

Jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 16-year high
Thursday November 20, 9:03 am ET
By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer


Unexpectedly?
Unexpected by whom?

And why would we expect reporting on any person or entity that wouldn't, or couldn't have expected that report? Perhaps to highlight the unexpectedly great capacity for denial or unexpected levels of incompetence by those who are expected to expect what's clearly expected by anyone who's expected to be paying attention to what we should expect?

I expect that my unexpectedly naive expectations have made me so mad I could just expectorate.

I grow so weary of the daily spin.

It's the "Cause" Stupid

Same as it ever was.

Andrew Jacksons' Address to the 2nd Bank of The US - 1832

Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves . . . I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God I will rout you out!

In our time, we are again addressing the symptoms.
The cause remains unchanged.

Same as it ever was.

Society does not love it's unmaskers.

"Society does not love it's unmaskers."
From Ralph Waldo Emersons' essay on "Illusions".


I think that consciousness is a variable frequency receiver. And, perhaps when tuned to different frequencies, it provides us with views of realities as they exist beyond the illusions and influences that form what we call reality. Are there many frequencies affording views of many realities? It's likely.

Once in awhile, I consciously or unconsciously turn off all noise and input. For a microflash, an instant, I see things that are very different, completely counter to my "normal" construct. It happens so fast, and for so short a moment that I can't quite lock onto the images, but do retain a feeling of it. In this process, I'm not "looking for something". It only happens when I let go of everything I think and believe, without exception or expectation. I let go of my default "frequency" and spin the dial.

I haven't yet given in to repeated and prolonged frequency tuning. Why not? For one thing, it's disorienting. But moreover, I fear that once the veil is fully parted, I'll never be the same. I'll no longer be able to function in our particular perception pool. I fear that I'll be significantly changed. that like Jerzy Kosinski's "The Painted Bird" I'll be unwelcome - isolated, shunned by friends, family and peers - thrust, alone, into a profoundly disconcerting process of coming to terms with what I've seen - and additionally denied the reassurance of sharing the information with like-minded people. I guess it's about being ex-communicated, exiled, banned, banished from the tribe.

The "masters" have names for this. I suspect that those who've had the full experience, share with us the abridged version. I think there are a few reasons for that.

Words can't convey the experience.
Most of us won't (or can't) integrate the information.
Fear of being thought mad.

Those reasons I can imagine.

Perhaps they're "masters" because they're a lot stronger and more courageous than I am. Perhaps they can handle it better. Perhaps they, somehow aren't as disoriented by what they see. It's possible that I just can't take it. Perhaps I don't have the mental, spiritual or psychological tools. I don't know. I think that while new and profound to me, it's likely that many people (including many people I know) have the same or similar experiences.

I suppose this expression might alienate some of my friends. I hope not. I don't think I'm crazy. I think I'm sane. I think we all are. I think we all know, or at least suspect that what I'm talking about is true. Without guidance or external support, we doubt our own intuitive wisdom. Loneliness, alone-ness, and isolation from the herd is discomforting.

I'm reminded sometimes of the movie "The Truman Show". If you haven't seen it.... it's a hoot! If you have, you know what I'm talking about. I also watch "The Matrix" every three or four months.... To me, it's a reminder that our "reality" is pretty carefully constructed to maintain the images, thoughts and feelings that keep us in line as productive units of energy.

I don't believe we're all at risk of detection by an actual "Agent Smith", but that we do carry a personal "Agent Smith" around in our heads who's responsible for seeing to it that neither we, nor others detect or disrupt the matrix, the illusion. We shun, avoid, ridicule, invalidate or eliminate anyone who might cause disruption to the illusion. It's our collective illusion. It's the illusion we're all comfortable with. Unconsciously and unrelentingly, we reinforce it for ourselves and others. Red Pill. Blue Pill.

Often I feel like I'm walking around in a state of conscious, ambulatory suspended animation, as though everything is moving very slowly. Sometimes it seems the world around me is melting. Not actually melting , (though it actually is) I'm referring to the dissipation of attachment of meaning to any feeling, thought, word, event or object. At other times, in that state of consciousness, what I see and hear are pinholes in the membrane of illusion, from which a great flood of luminous information expands omni-directionally.

I often exist in a state of consciousness wherein, nothing is "only" as it seems. A thought, a word, an image, an object is not only what it seems, but also, is an energy link that opens to reveal all the truths about the event in unlimited time and space, and in relationship to all other aspects of reality.

I sit in awestruck silence listening to people talk. I hear someone make a statement or ask a question and the waves begin to roll. Where does this question begin and end? My mind travels back through the myriad factors of influence in the human experience that have formed and affected the question. How far back in human history is the birthplace of this question? What permutations of time and events have modified the question? What is the root question, the underlying, the subtext, the unasked question within? How do I find a starting point for response? In trying to answer a question with as much truth as will serve the one who asks - it's important to find a starting point that has at least one anchor in the familiar, that people recognize and relate to.

Though it might not seem so by this writing, more and more, it seems there's less and less to say. The less I have to say, the more I can be in silent awe of someone.

Am I losing it? Depends I suppose, upon who you ask.

Sometimes in moments that aren't "special" in any way, I have what is (for me) a pretty special experience. Sitting on a park bench, I lean over and pick up a leaf, a coin, an insect. As I'm looking at it, my consciousness will shift, without prompting, to a view of the object, and me holding it, on planet earth, in this solar system, in the Milky Way Galaxy, from somewhere beyond the outer edge of the galaxy. I become aware of seeing from somewhere, in some time, a mass of billions of suns, billions of solar systems and galaxies spread across billions of light years. What we call "our" solar system, nor even "our" galaxy can be recognized individually.


Following that view, my awareness slides into a view of the event from within the atomic structure of the object, the hand that holds it, the body the hand is attached to, all the earth and beyond.

It seems that more and more, events or experiences are processed from a super macro then a super micro view, in no particular order. One view is followed by another. Following these perspective or awareness shifts, I most often discover myself in a state of awe, motionless, after doing something so simple as looking at an object. An object, an event, a person, at once utterly without meaning, and profoundly meaningful. Unique, but not separate- Comprised of elements from perhaps billions of light years away in time and space. The same elements that comprise me - and you.

I'm dumbfounded by the incomprehensible simplicity and complexity of an object, a being, a planet, a galaxy, a universe. I say "a" universe, not "the" universe. The idea that there's only one universe called "the" universe, is I think, a perceptual limitation.

This process creates lasting effects. One effect: The shifting of awareness seems to occur more frequently and fluidly as time goes by. Another effect: I seem to retain more consistently, a default view of reality that's centered in that overwhelming awe. It seems to generate an expansive patience. Not to say it's made me an expansively patient person. But more and more, I recognize how particularly odd impatience is when viewed in the greater context.

Perhaps I attach meaning to it, thus I write about it. Perhaps my intent is merely to report the experience. For what purpose this report? I may have an answer or two - I may not. While I'm motivated to share this, there is also a big dose of "So What?" to the whole thing.

I do question and enjoy this process. I don't believe that my mini-perspective threatens in any way, the dominance or longevity of the illusion we live in. I doubt that the keepers of the illusion are scanning the blogosphere for key words that alert them to people thinking in "unapproved" ways. The idea that anyone would notice is more likely born of indulgent self-aggrandizement. I think the "Agent Smith" factor is generated by my own fear of expanding awareness. Could we, do we, generate a collective "Agent Smith" ? It's likely.


And St. Francis, naked, ran from the courtroom screaming, "It's all Bullshit!"
And you know the rest of that story.

Causes and Symptoms

The causes of our current troubles are as old as our species. Only the particular symptoms are new.

The great teachers have advised us.
We see expressed upon our macro-canvas of the world, precisely the colors and brushstrokes that are upon our micro-canvases within.

As within, so without. The problem is us.

We continue, generation after generation, wave after wave, like cultural adolescents - thinking we know better - thinking we can disregard the laws of nature without paying the price. The universe doesn't work that way. As arrogant adolescents always and inevitably do, we have fallen flat on our faces in the mud. Now, it's time for this particular wave of adolescent humanity to get up out of the mud and ask,
"Duh, how did that happen?" Some will learn. Some will not.

Same as it ever was........ Same as it ever was.......

Symptoms change. Root causes do not.

We've never had to deal with man-made climate disruption before.
New symptom? Yes. New cause? No.

Here are a few perspectives from The Tao Te Ching, the words of one of the great masters, Lao Tzu, written approximately 500 years before the birth of Jesus.
The masters, including Lao Tzu, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and others, have long ago given us the guidance we need.
We've had the answers for thousands of years.
We just don't seem to have the humility to accept it.


A sampling from the Tao Te Ching:

The master concerns himself with the depths
and not the surface
with the fruit and not the flower

When rich speculators prosper
while farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money on weapons
instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn -
all this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.

Governing a large country
is like frying a small fish.
You spoil it with too much poking.

When a country obtains great power,
it becomes like the sea:
all streams run downward into it.
The more powerful it grows,
the greater the need for humility.
Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.

A great nation is like a great man;
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
as the shadow that he himself casts.

If a nation is centered in the Tao,
if it nourishes it's own people
and doesn't meddle in the affairs of others
it will be a light to all nations in the world.


The Tao Te Ching is a body of concise perspectives on understanding, nourishing and governing in all matters from the self, to the family, to the community and the world.

More on Local Currencies

There is a long and interesting history of local currencies. I don't know much about what it takes to make it work. There are and have been successful systems. It's legal. . It might be something important to evaluate. Let me know what you think!

These two sites offer much insight.

http://www.berkshares.org/index.htm
Currency system presently functioning in Massachusetts.


http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/local_currencies.html
Site dedicated to ideas and systems inspired by E.F. Schumacher, author of
"Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered"

"Local Currency " Success Story

Here's an interesting story that might have meaning for us.
I think it's definitely something worth having some dialogue about. Worth considering......

Excellent article.....

http://alt-money.tribe.net/thread/70e5eb29-853d-44ca-9faa-b789d1757037


Followed by a short biography.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxdPIOUTd2k

Cautiously Ecstatic

Well, how bout' that?

In an e-mail this morning, a friend described feeling "Cautiously Ecstatic".

I think that's perfect phrasing.

Another friend e-mailed sharing his sense of enthusiasm.

Another friend called and commented on a "mysterious feeling". "Is this what hope feels like?" she asked. Her question carried with it the kind of awe you'd expect from someone who'd ventured into the last remaining acre of wilderness and asked, "Is this really what the world used to be like?". This morning, I too delight in that nearly forgotten feeling of hope...

Two more friends called with buoyant delight at the election results. I haven't heard this much upbeat feedback in a long, long time.

Last night, my son and I watched and listened together as the election results and speeches of concession and acceptance unfolded. He said "I'm getting shivers". He was so excited, so profoundly affected by Obama's win. He knows implicitly and explicitly that he has witnessed an historic shift in America, in the world.

Can words even express the depth of my gratitude, that we could experience together, first hand, this momentous event. Having spent half his life under the rule of the monstrous war criminals that stole our country, our freedom, our dignity, my son now has the chance to experience what America is supposed to be. He has hope for what can be. To see hope in his eyes, to hear hope in his voice is so very deeply gratifying.

He asked me last night why I didn't seem to be excited and I had to explain. Yes, I'm grateful that it seems Obama has won. However, we've still got roughly 3 months before he's inaugurated and that much can still happen, blah blah blah......... assuming all goes well, the real challenges have only begun, blah blah blah..... ongoing malevolence is still developing in putrid, toxic bogs on the NeoContinent - you know, the location of Sarah Palin's mysterious "real america", blah blah blah....... But I restrained myself before going on and on . I know, you know, we all know how that dialogue goes.

And YES, I told him, this is a critical first step and we shared our wonder in that fact alone.

Then to my surprise, and despite all my concerns,


THIS MORNING - I awoke with just a little bit of ease seeping into my nervous system.

THIS MORNING - The light seems just a little gentler, a little brighter, a little warmer.

THIS MORNING - The cool autumn air smells just a little fresher, a little crisper, a little cleaner.

As my son and I readied for the day - for the first time in a long time -

THIS MORNING - I was able to share, Honest, Genuine, Heartfelt Optimism.

Damn it felt good to be able to do that - with him and for him. In recent years, opportunities for thinking people to share genuine optimism have been so rare. It was sweet revenge to reclaim that joy. The Beltway Beasts have stripped optimism, along with so many other joys, from so many people, for so long. Perhaps it's short-lived, but for today, I got that little bit of joy back. They can't take that away from me.

CAUTIOUS

I feel hope and simultaneously recognize my reluctance to use the names of people I reference in this writing. How bout' that? Conscious, patriotic, decent Americans have to be careful not to inadvertently expose friends and loved ones to the American Secret Police? The "ASP". I do still fear that viper. I do still recognize that we are under authoritarian rule. I do still acknowledge the vicious oppression that subjects us, worldwide, to the worst of humanity...... Cautiously Ecstatic... emphasis on "Cautiously"

ECSTATIC

Perhaps the 8 year nightmare really is over and we're waking up to a world that's going to be a better place for all human beings to live - a world where the values of compassion and decency dominate the human landscape. Perhaps in enough bedrooms, and kitchens, and cafes, people are going through their morning routines, with a very important shift of spirit. Perhaps the dignity of all people can be restored. Perhaps the feeling of hope is seeping, with all it's healing properties, into all of us.... Cautiously Ecstatic... emphasis on "Ecstatic"

The election of Barack Obama reflects a commitment by the American people. It sends a message to the world. The American People are not the demons who have represented us for the past 8 years. We have elected to the office of President, a man of moral vision, a man of insight, a man of courage, compassion and coincidentally, of color. A man who speaks for us. We've now offered to the world a representative example of who we really are. The unsuppressed voices of "we the people" as individuals and as a nation have finally been heard. I am so grateful to everyone who helped make this happen.

Hope and Fear.... I guess it's all in a days work......

TODAY I INTEND TO BASK IN THE WARM, REGENERATIVE ENERGY OF HOPE

And they can't take that away from me..........


For a simple, concise and entertaining report on how New Mexico voted, go to

newearthtimes.blogspot.com

p.s. The beer offer still stands.

Worst Case Scenario

I feel very vulnerable in posting this. However, I'm going out on a limb here and sharing my "worst-case-scenario" on the election.

First..... I suspect that Obama has easily enough supporters to win the election.

I can unfortunately imagine that regardless of who is touted by the media as the winner........

1) There will be enormous voting problems i.e. long lines, staff shortages, shortages of voting machines, voting machine failures, inadequate back up systems, shortages of back-up machines, shortages of back-up provisional and paper ballots, inaccurate voter registration records, lists, and conflicts, vote flipping on computerized machines, voter dissuasion via misinformation and intimidation, possible polling place violence, a hodgepodge of poorly coordinated extensions of voting hours, inaccurate and mismanaged reporting of precinct and state results etc.

2) Tuesday evening or Wednesday ...... There will be a declaration of a winner and the complaints of voter fraud and the challenging of the results will render the declaration invalid.
Or, regardless of who appears to win, so many voters and precincts will lodge complaints and contest the counts, fairness and equality of access, that there will be no declaration at all, of a clear winner.

3) This situation will continue for days, weeks or longer, denying us a new president.

4) During this period of extreme election chaos and complete media preoccupation, the current administration will create or activate a "shock" situation i.e. war or hyper-accelerated conflict with Syria, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan or even within Iraq. There are of course other places and other types of "shock" events that might occur, even on our own soil.

5) In the midst of the "shock", the transition to a new presidency will be suspended, martial law will be declared, the active combat units (currently stationed on American soil) who's mission has been described as "to help with civil unrest" will be deployed on the streets of America.

The rest ......... well......... there it is. That is my most disturbing view of how bad it could get.

As so often, I pray I'm wrong. If I am wrong, and here's the good part......... Not only will hope prevail, but in addition, I will buy a beer for anyone who has read this, posted a comment, and can say..."Aha! You're a pessimistic alarmist. I told you it couldn't happen here!"

I'm very, very much looking forward to those "YOU OWE ME A BEER" phone calls. I feel reassured enough by my own secret hope that I'm gonna say "PLEASE DON'T FORWARD THIS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!" That's more beer than I can afford.

So here's the qualifier: Only people who have read and left a comment on this post before noon on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 will be eligible for the free beer. So, there's my implicit, passive, preemptive recanting of my "Worst Case Scenario",
an expression of my refusal to believe that it could happen here and my idealistic commitment to hope. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Peace............

Some Haiku

smells move memories
pure snow breathes timeless earth scent
crunch crunch I arrive

fire wind sears us all
cold night memory wraps me
ancient thoughts save us

Jesus moves atoms
Jesus makes water sweet wine
Mary loves his ways

hot hunger to know
cool wind silently being
being not knowing

eyes open in darkness
anticipate morning sun
hot day comes too fast

lovers speak aloud
critical words once hidden
scars of betrayal

I feel the changing
I feel the darkness coming
I am darkening

once rolling green fields
memory smells green wetness
turn left at Starbucks

a dog eat dog world
both dogs live in all of us
eater and eaten

razor edge of truth
face of illusion sliced open
burning tears burning

life purpose fulfilled
leaves fall peacefully to earth
may I end as well

ashes to ashes
dust to dust to dust to dust
no joy in Mudville

in the soul river
go in face down do not breathe
you choose again live or die

truth serves only self
if not taught through the senses
smell taste hear see touch

distraction soothing
reality frightening
cowards need love too

perfect skin mouth eyes
in the morning they take me
they take my body

my last look at you
soul eyes hold the memory
I am no longer

red in tooth and claw
Darwin told us the rude truth
war blood proves him right

the man imploded
total spirit death implosion
ok so now what

much harder to do
move from the future to now
but all joy is now

exit from matter
from movement into stillness
soul eyes watch the change

old friends my blessings
so few remain as matter
the rest have changed form

boy dreams so freely
the mans dream cries for freedom
grieves a boys lost dreams

stillborn yet living
child of wars indignity
soul dead killing still

eyes open or closed
look deep into nothingness
into the pure void

and then the truth comes
in a blinding flash of light
the partys over

awaken today
asleep to timeless wisdom
read between the lines

the secret words found
secret words hide in plain sight
the secret remains

the old ways are dead
we are killing our mother
what must I do now