Perception is Reality

Subjective Reality

2011-11-10T00:24:00.001-05:00

It is our subjective reality which gives our lives meaning and determines the quality and nature of our relationship with the world around us.

The subjective reality exists in our mind as thoughts.

The world around us is painted with qualities based on the value and characteristic of our thoughts toward what we are perceiving.

Where do these values and characteristics come from?

Responses to life's experiences are developed by learned standards and life lessons.

The accumulation of both of these provides our minds with a register of responses.

This mental registry is shaped by our ideas and thoughts, unique and personal to our individual selves.

Learned Standards are in-formed into us, given shape by an accepted and demonstrated belief system instituted within schooling, social norms, religious practices, parental guidance, etc.. These systems of beliefs form for us to a variable degree our understanding of what is right and wrong as well as what works and what doesn't. "In-forming" our thoughts and ideas.

Life Lessons are the test by which we examine whether our Learned Standards have value to our experience. They open the door to seeing for ourselves what does work and does not work for us as individuals. A Litmus Test as it were, to determine an acid or a base, truth or a lie, enjoyment or displeasure.... Our own Personal and Unique Thoughts and Ideas about Life as demonstrated through Experiences.

Regardless of what may occur in the Objective Reality, it is the Subjective Reality which has more substance and meaning to the individual. The subjective shapes the world around us and gives it color and sound. Beauty or ugliness are truly in the eye of the beholder.

Perception is Reality

2011-10-29T20:05:00.000-04:00

Reality is defined most clearly by the individual who perceives.

For the Purpose of Defining this Blog let's interpret that assertion as: "Perception Is Reality"

When observing others, one can only wonder what might be going on in their mind, how they might be seeing the world around them. Is their Reality different from our own...? In so far as our perceptions differ, Yes!

Two people experience the same rainy day, in the same place, at the same time.

At the end of that day a person calls each of them and asks- "How was the weather?"

The first person responds with-

"Miserable! It's been cold and rainy, Ugh. I've been stuck inside"

The second person responds with-

"Wonderful! It rained all day. I've spent the day curled up in my favorite blanket, reading my favorite book"

Same rainy day --- Different Perspectives.

In a material sense, we all have common perceptions of the world. There is no mistaking that our physical reality has common characteristics which we all perceive in the same way.....
The Rain- The Objective Reality.

So what is the difference in the two realities?

Subjective Reality

The Search for Freedom

2010-06-07T19:21:00.007-04:00

Along the way through life we can get caught up in situations we feel we can't get out of. Trapped. Some of us fight to get out, some resign to stay in bondage. Essentially what we all yearn for is Freedom. How do we get to it?

There are many systems with which to make sense of our lives. Many boast of various degrees of success. There are the traditional methods, time honored catechisms steeped in history and use. There are also newer more unconventional methods which by contrast, smack of adolescent and hair-brained philosophical notions. There are the esoteric, so called secret methods, very much related to the traditional methods, although they tend to be archaic and hard to follow and somewhat forbidden from a fundamentalist standpoint. I am sure I could classify several more religious, philosophical, scientific, apathetic, atheistic, etc, etc, traditions with which we try to make sense of this experience we universally call LIFE. Ultimately there comes a point at which we have to decide which one to follow. We must conform to the imposed box of some sort of system within which to place our lives.......or not.

This doesn't sound like an appealing prospect. We must conform to boundaries and conduct ourselves within them. (inside the box)

We yearn for the security and comfort of these practices. Usually we are instituted at young ages into their structure..... sometimes not. In youth we are malleable and easily take on the methods of perception and practice of life which we are given, often to our benefit. We age and experience love and heartbreak, victory and defeat, and everything in between. Along the way we rely on a faith in whichever system we were exposed to..... whether there was a discernible system or not.

However we do tend to like the concept of freedom, liberation from bondage. (outside the box)

In the spirit of this search for freedom we investigate the alternatives. When the accumulation of past experiences yields no growth, no fulfillment, we feel stagnant, in bondage. Consequently we search within our warehouse of learned tradition and seek expansion, greater truth, release, freedom. If not found within that tradition we will seek it elsewhere, in one or a combination of many of the alternatives.

When sought, freedom will be found, wherever we look for it....... and usually where we least expect it.

Don't give up the search! Freedom and Growth are found in the process.

The Curse of Division

2010-06-06T02:14:00.007-04:00

There exists, almost universally, an idea that all things are made of many parts and that all are, at least on a basic level, separated from one another. When we look at the world around us it is teeming with a multitude of varying forms. Science has broken things down for us quite neatly; breaking it all into classes of forms and varying degrees of density, intensity of energy, etc........ And yet we have general terms to try and classify our existence into an incorporated whole. The Universe, The Solar System, The World, The Hemisphere, The Continent, The Nation, The State, The County, The City..... All right, I think you get the picture.

Funny enough all the general terms of a unified whole distance themselves immediately once we move away from the largest term of universality that we can designate "The Universe". Right away, Division is established, a subset is created in our perception which divides all things from the Whole. Is it really divided or is it just our perception? The Whole still exists, nothing has ultimately changed but the way we are looking at it, trying to make sense of it in our minds.

Mankind has been subjected to this pattern of perception for an exceedingly long time. The concept is beyond second nature to us. It seems that we must accept that it is human nature to do so........ I beg to differ.

When we look at our world with our eyes, microscopes, telescopes, and all the technological aids we have developed, it only supports this deeply ingrained way of thinking; a universe of divided pieces and parts.

Yet in order for us to see further we have had to defy this tradition again and again throughout history. We have had to think outside the box, challenge the basis of traditional thinking to advance our understanding, our consciousness, our utter existence.

It is comfortable, supported, and even defended to the point of death and war, that we must accept division as a natural part of our physical universe. But by accepting it we condone the consequences of belief in it. There would be no war, if we looked at the worlds peoples as a unified whole. Spirituality may advance without religious division of doctrines and dogma (good luck getting everyone to agree on that one).

Perhaps this is the Curse, the terrible consequence of mankind...... The knowledge of good and evil, the division established long ago....... We can believe in only the good, but evil still exists. Perhaps it is the division of the two which causes the effects we experience? This should be given some thought without a quick judgement to appreciate it's greater meaning and purpose.

The more we defy division in our lives and accept harmonious unities, the more we experience the benefits, the liberation from a divisive mind-set. One little piece at a time, breaking down barriers and walls which hold us in bonds, mentally, and even physically.

On Youth

2010-03-21T22:13:00.005-04:00

"Back in those days, everything was simpler and more confused."
Jim Morrison, The Doors.

Drawing on this excerpt of a lyric which comes to my mind every so often, I am driven to thoughts of youth, or rather my perception of days long passed, when I was younger. Life was simpler, I think we can all agree. In youth we had less experience and fewer accumulated memories to muddle up our minds, creating limits, barriers, or boundaries. We had a much broader perception of the possible futures we might attain; free of the constrictions of what life eventually throws at us: jobs, the pursuit of money, the need for security, the accumulation of things, rules and limits ascribed by institutions, the list goes on and on.

We need much of the endeavours we pursue (the seemingly endless list of things that life has thrown at us) and yet we only really need a few to survive. Our problem lies in the level of satisfaction we enjoy....... we always want more. When we were younger we achieved goals that gave us a level of satisfaction which pacified us, but only for a time. We soon discovered that there was something bigger and better, and off we went in pursuit of the dreams of our youth.

Do we ever really attain those dreams? Are we ever really satisfied? Content? Fulfilled? Sometimes we long for "those days when things were simpler", when the dreams were fresh and exciting. As I approach mid-life (heck I'm practically in it), I reflect on the dreams of those early years, adolescence, young adulthood, and realize I didn't really know what I wanted. Perhaps this is the "confusion" that Mr. Morrison is referring to.

What do I dream for now? This is what I feel to be paramount. Can I awaken the spirit of those younger days? Perhaps the destinations may have changed, and likely for good reasons, but it's the spirit and vigor of those youthful dreams and aspirations that I miss. The feeling that the world was my oyster.

Sure, life has many obstacles and pitfalls to traverse. Experience has taught us well and she is a valuable teacher, but she can also blind us of potentialities if we take her lessons as harsh and disciplinary, restricting us to sit in the front of the class with the dunce cap on, narrowing our perspective of "The World of the Possible."

We get older and wiser. We take our lumps and keep on keepin' on. Life can be challenging, downright devastating, and destructive. Tragedies abound, they always have. What makes it all bearable is one's perspective and the spirit with which we conduct our lives. "I want to be a kid again" is the age old gripe of those in midlife, bringing to mind the overweight, balding, 45 year-old man with the too-small sports car and the out-of-fashion wardrobe. A person like this has missed the point completely. It's not the accessories and appearance of youth, but the vitality and the essential character with which we live that ultimately shines through.

A Personal Note on Mr. Morrison:
A life lived in excess, and relentless pursuit to break the barriers he perceived, brought him to a sad and early death at 27 years. It is with the utmost respect for him as a human being and artist with which I reflect on the profundity of his statement, while not condoning the fatal excesses of his lifestyle.

Infinite Love and the Winter Night

2010-02-01T22:27:00.006-05:00

The lush tree in the yard has lost its leaves
Winter is upon us enveloping and complete
Through its branches, the moon, a pleasure to see
With its pure cool light, so fair and so sweet

The evening comes steady, inevitable and sure
No promises, no assurance, just destiny's core
The approach of night, the fading of light
All is in structure, in purpose, in its course

Progression by volition is folly for all
Natures momentum, undeniable, and strong
The call of the moon the advance of the night
All is quite perfect, eternal, divine

Surrender to the flow, to the love, to the cause
Deny the voice of doubt, the naysayer, no pause
Benevolent spirit, in all things, abiding law
Rest in the evening breeze, in the rise and the fall

Shed the worry, the driving pace, the long day
Run through the groves, in delight and play
The dew on your feet, your skin, in your hair
Guided by a smile, by love, the true way

Curt Simonsen 1-24-10

Can I get ....... Satisfaction?

2009-11-07T19:19:00.011-05:00

A good friend urged me to ponder this two part question and provide an answer:

Are we ever really satisfied?
If not, is it because of the Adam and Eve story?

Satisfaction- as per the wiktionary article is:
1. A fulfillment of a need or desire.

2. The pleasure obtained by such fulfillment.

3. The source of such gratification.

4. A reparation for an injury or loss.

5. A vindication for a wrong suffered.

In looking at the definition, I notice two distinct and opposite aspects which define the concept of satisfaction:

Pleasure and Fulfillment on the one hand and Injury, Loss, and Suffering on the other. Can we ever really be Satisfied or achieve Fulfillment? I've answered that question in a previous blog post HERE. But I'll answer the question in the context which it was asked.

Satisfaction, according to the biblical idea, is that of paradise, or the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve lived there prior to the Fall in a state of perpetual and unlimited peace and contentment ..... Satisfied. The common notion is that we've been trying, through all time, to get back to that state and spend eternity in Heaven, where we had originally been. In the Garden there was no need or desire, no concept of gratification, no injury or loss; only fulfillment and content. All those conditions must be a result of our physical existence(because of the Fall of Man).

We accumulate through life a set of ideals, primarily set by ourselves; yes, there is the suggestion of ideals from our culture, family, etc., but we, in our hearts and minds are the ultimate decider of what is the epitome of satisfaction. We determine these ideals by faith or belief as a personal choice. If we believe that a condition is unattainable, then it will remain beyond our grasp.

God wants for us a life of peace and contentment; to know and love Him forever. This is the belief that IT is attainable; the idea that nothing is impossible, that Heaven is reachable and near at hand- it merely requires faith and belief in it.

Simply enough we can have the belief that it is NOT attainable, that we live with limitation and boundaries which keep satisfaction outside of our full experience. Consequently it is our personal choice to believe in whatever we think is true. A limited experience is just as true as a boundless one, according to the nature of our belief.

So, "Are we ever really Satisfied?" my good friend asked. I must answer: "to the level of your understanding of Satisfaction, Peace, Contentment, All things good and right ...... These things shall be yours, but only to the extent that you have sought them out and understood them. Only as much as you believe, will be yours." So if we allow in our hearts and minds personal statements that say "I'm not good enough" or "I don't deserve that", we build the case for a belief in that outcome ......Cause and Effect. If we promote the proper Causes, we achieve the corresponding Effects. Right cause=Right effect.

The Question Part 2:
"If not, is it because of the Adam and Eve story?"

What really happened in the Garden? Yes, its controversial and debated for centuries. Believe in it or not there is still a philosophical inquiry that begs for definition. Eve is tempted by the Serpent to eat the Fruit of the the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We could pick that statement apart until our head spins with all the analysis.

Eve is tempted from a life of peace and contentment.... hardly likely! Perhaps this is a human construct to relate the event to our current physical experience. Even so, she ate the fruit and so did Adam. They were revealed to a self consciousness, a revelation of Right and Wrong, removed from the grace God and ultimate beauty of the Garden, and cast out.

My good friend asks if it is because the Fall that we can't achieve satisfaction in this life. We are told that all we can attain in this life will be associated with great labor and pain (Genesis 3:16-19). Nothing will come without blood, sweat, and tears. We come by this from the Choice. We now have the privilege to choose right or wrong, and we'll be given the full measure of the choosing. If we focus our hearts and minds on anything, we're given the consequences of the choice of our focus. If we direct that focus properly, without thought to ourselves and with love to our fellow man, unconditionally, we take steps toward true Satisfaction. Not for the benefit and promotion of the Self, but for the expansion of God's kingdom here and now.

Granted that I think this is a lifelong endeavour. Nothing is instantaneous. Satisfaction is earned by a sincere and earnest searching for Gods will in our lives. We will stumble, lose heart, and feel defeat, but there is a definite hope of achieving the Ideal!!

So to respond to Part 2...... "If not, is it because of the Adam and Eve story?"
The story has some weight in determining our choice of path toward Satisfaction, but it is our choosing of a path that is the determiner of our experience. How we let the story influence us is the key. We can focus on the curse or the return journey back home to Heaven in hope, it's the choice and it's yours to make. Create your destiny my good friend!!

Thoughts are Things PART 1

2009-11-03T23:05:00.003-05:00

There is a theory, notion, or idea that everything in our lives is generated by our mind; nothing is real until we first think it into existence. Seems pretty far fetched at first. Most people will dismiss the idea as ridiculous and move on. Why not take a closer look at the statement? Dwell upon it for a while. Reality, Existence, Being is determined by our state of mind. If all we had to do was think in a certain way, we could perhaps change the world as we know it.

Initially this is an overly simplified assessment. If all we had to do was think of something and Zap it was real, we'd have some pretty big messes to deal with. There are elements we are forgetting about. Important aspects of this process are being left out of the equation. Investigate your world around you. What sort of state is it in? How does it relate to your inner state of Mind.....and Spirit? How do they correlate to one another? You have to be honest now. No cheating by telling lies to yourself.

What has made the state of your physical environment what it is today? It's too easy to blame things on chance or on the volition of others, inaction is still a choice, it"s just negative will. It will give you exactly what you might expect...... nothing! If our thoughts are scattered and inconsistent we achieve scattered and inconsistent results; positively or negatively. There is no denying the results. Once the truth is revealed it cannot be denied. This is where you need to be honest. If we are confused about life, our life will be confusing. If we foster angry thoughts about life our life we be filled with strife and turmoil. There is a correspondence between the two states; the mental and the physical.

If we understand the relationship between these two states things get a little easier, but not much. We cant discount the influences that determine our modes of thought. Primarily, thought is influenced by emotion, principally, our own emotions. Emotion can possess a full range of characteristics; limitless combinations and variable states. We also have to take into account the emotions of others. Our relationships with those around us. What is the nature and character of those relationships. Are they good, bad, indifferent? All of the above? How do our emotions correspond to those of others, and how do we react to the expressions and impressions of other peoples emotional states. It can be pretty tricky. We can get tossed around in this ocean of competing, escalating, and diminishing emotions from others and within ourselves. It helps to have an anchor, something to steady the direction.

That anchor is conviction, or Belief ...... faith. We all have some measure of this virtue. Truth is, we all have the same amount; how much we actively use and to what purpose is the defining factor which determines our ultimate outcome, our Reality. For Galileo, the world was round. For everyone else it was flat. As a whole, the common belief was shared by all. Centuries later we laugh at the false belief. Ha, ha, ha, they thought the world was flat ...... but they believed it, it was their reality. The new knowledge, distributed through individual understandings, demonstrated by experiences, instituted by faith, determined the New Belief.

Belief. A central principal of understood truths. A meter or measure of universal absolutes, helps to calm the sea. Belief will tame the emotions and keep our sight upon the right path ahead, influencing our thoughts and thus effecting our physical reality.

MORE TO COME ............... TO BE CONTINUED.

Fulfillment

2009-09-01T16:52:00.005-04:00

Purposeful living can be hard to attain in this day and age. We are constantly bombarded with intrusions on our attentions; signposts that point us down a multitude of avenues that promise some form of fulfillment. We can skitter across our day chasing fulfillment down all these avenues and wind up back at home at the end of the day still feeling empty and disappointed, why is that? Why do we feel so cheated when our pursuit of money and so-called necessities fails to meet up to its promises? Where is the fulfillment and purpose in that? What are we doing with our time and to what purpose?

The primary purpose of man is to attain fulfillment in life and share the benefit of this accomplishment with all humanity. A pretty high minded goal, yes. Somewhat idealistic? Yes, totally! Achievable? Yes, but not without real effort and steadfast determination.

First we need to determine where we can find this elusive destination called Fulfillment. Is it on top of a huge bank account? Is it living in a big house in an exclusive neighborhood? Is it having a job with power and prestige? Is it simply sitting in front of a big plate of spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, and ice cream for dessert? What do we need to acquire that can give us lasting fulfillment? Is it the newest and fastest Internet service, cell phone, or laptop computer? All these things are temporary and fleeting. While they may be enjoyable, they all will pass in time and leave us back at square one. Unfulfilled.

We sense satisfaction the most when an experience effects us emotionally or spiritually. Fulfillment resides within us. It is a state of mind. It requires our recognition of its existence. We are programmed by our physical existence to recognize material things and experiences to be the source of lasting satisfaction, yet everything material is in a cyclic process of birth, life, death, and renewal; to be enjoyed for only periods of time. We will only experience lasting fulfillment from a nurtured and balanced, positive state of mind (something we can't see and touch, but believe exists). This is no small feat. It is a life-long endeavour.

To achieve our goal requires patient yet persistent concentration on what lies within us. Are we possessing happy, positive responses to life or waxing to the negative, sorrowful. Recognizing these reactions we need to employ control and mindfulness to the spirit which we gravitate towards. If we focus on the negative we will deny the growth of its opposite. Regardless of the circumstance, we create for ourselves a specific impression of any experience- good or bad. I say "It's all for Good!" This way we're always making steps towards the accomplishment of this positive, fulfilling goal.

What is Love?

2009-07-23T19:56:00.008-04:00

What is Love? There are perhaps a million different expressions of this all-encompassing and profound ..... emotion. I hesitate to say emotion because I'm not so sure that that is all love is. We experience love in so many different ways- I love Lasagna, I love rainy days, I Love You!- and yet the same can be said for its polar opposite ... Selfishness(Commonly thought to be hate). We have a capacity for either extreme. Although most people I've seen who seem to focus on the Selfish aspect of things are not very fun to be around for long. Those that are into the Love end of the spectrum are the ones we keep close; these people are magnetic and desirable to spend one's time with. But is Love really just an emotion, or is it something more than a reaction we feel to certain events or objects?

I would venture to say that love embodies an energy. If love was electricity we'd be getting a shock every time we got happy, Well, maybe we do. Love is just a different kind of energy, elusive and veiled in mystery, hard to find .... sometimes it finds you. Love is present at all times, behind what we can see and touch, its energy is in everything around us and within us. If a potato possesses an electric charge and our bodies posses the same thing then one could say that electricity is present in everything as well. Love is there, all the time. We don't have to look very far because its everywhere.

Love, if present everywhere and in everything, is countless in its individual expressions. For every person there is a different expression of love. Love, if I may be so bold, is the thing that makes us what we are; the mysterious bond holding our very atoms together.... and the opposite of love ... the divisive, the destructive, the negative, the selfish, is what is wearing us down-physically, mentally, and spiritually. Our individual state of being is determined by the level of positive and/or negative energy we possess, maintain, and express. How we use love and apply it to ourselves and those around us effects every aspect of our existence- physically, mentally, and spiritually.

This war between the two energies is recorded throughout all of mankind's history; it's recorded in every religion, new and ancient; it's recorded in all science, current and obsolete; it's recorded in every society by their rises and falls. We have defined this battle for millenia in every capacity we have, and still we continue, individually and collectively, to wage the war between what is Love and what is Not Love(selfishness). This reality is eternal in this state of being, this temporal world. Heaven is the state of eternal bliss, saturated in an all encompassing love, while Hell is an eternity separated from love, emptied and tormented by the sheer extreme of loves opposite.

Love is, it just IS. It is where you need it when you need it, it doesn't run out, and you don't have to go to Wal-Mart to get more. It's free and available to everybody and everything. The sad thing is we have a free will to choose between love or the lack there-of. A rock has no choice, that we know of, to change its state of being, or maybe its just really stubborn, but we have a much more fluid disposition to evoke change in our own world.

The more often one aspires to achieve that state of Love in their lives the more it will manifest into their reality. This is a challenging endeavour. We can't forget about the constant and eternal war being waged on every plane of human perception; or one can just be oblivious to it all and be tossed around like a small boat in a hurricane, living a life manipulated by all those competing forces.

Directing our spirit, our intention or attitude, toward a mental state of the same caliber, creates for ones self a physical outcome or reality. Love is the defining principle for all that is good. Prosperity in our lives, happiness in our thoughts, and joy in our hearts are all expressions of this one great and undeniable energy. This thing we call Love.

In a Real Tough Spot

2009-06-20T16:04:00.007-04:00

Life ain't easy. I think we all know that. Sometimes its running along pretty smooth but there is usually a snag or two along the way. Other times there are utter tears in our life's fabric. Tribulations that shake us to our core. Why do these Trials and Tribulations exist? Is it God's way of telling us we've been a bad boy(or girl) or is it something else, something actually good and good for us? Wouldn't that be all if we just looked at our difficulties differently.

That's a hard thing to do but as the old adage says 'no pain, no gain'. Who wants to experience pain though. It hurts! sometimes really stinkin' bad too. If your gonna want a buff body you've got to burn those muscles with some hard work. This is all foreseeable, somewhat easy stuff, The Trials. It may be hard to over come them but with a little fortitude and perseverance they are accomplishable. Piece of Cake. Through the Woods.

But there's another type of difficulty, and that's to say it lightly. The Tribulations in life are the nasty life changing events. The death of a loved one and the deep soul felt emotions that defy every effort to overcome. The specter of infidelity in marriage, or the crushing power of becoming mortally disabled or racked by a terminal disease. Yeah, the really horrible stuff. How can these be any good for us. Someone must be crazy to think they serve any purpose at all but to torment us and drive us into oblivion.

And yet these things exist and occur to nearly everyone at least at some point in their lives. We can choose two paths, the easy way or the hard way. We like the easy way though, and I don't mean in the physical sense, but in the mental and spiritual sense. If we lack the resources in those areas we are sure to fail when something terrible comes lurking to pounce and deprive us of what little we really have. Or is there a resource we can't see normally, something that exists but we find in our greatest hour of need.

Regular maintenance of a mental and spiritual regimen helps to keep us more resilient but a real tribulation will still sap us of everything we have and hang us over the precipice. It comes from somewhere though. In the darkest hour when all seems lost and we walk out the other side with a renewed sense of peace and content with whatever had just befallen us. Granted there are those who never achieve that goal and that's usually those that took the easy road.

If anyone has ever overcome a Tribulation they'll tell you about how they felt at the other side, and sometimes the other side is a long time from the initial violence. They may tell you they don't regret the pain and that it taught them something very valuable and they want to save you from that pain; 'take my word for it'. And yes, they may even sound like a lunatic but at least there here, and alive, and wiser than before.

Take the hard road, the road less traveled. You may join in an experience that can deeply edify you mentally and spiritually. You will, if you persevere, find those elusive reserves right when you need them and push on through and look back and say 'Wow, that was a real tough spot'.

The Ultimate Friendship

2009-05-23T00:08:00.005-04:00

Throughout the course of ones life we meet thousands of people. Some acquaintances, some for only a fleeting moment or two, some we will know all our lives. Outside of family, those we know for any great length of time we call "Friends". Some we consider closer than others due to the duration of time and the manner in which we share experiences. Close friends are also those which we may not see for extended periods of time, yet it's the characteristic of your shared experience which determines the closeness you feel to one another. What determines the value we place on friendship? Why is it so important to us?

Inherently we are not solitary creatures. we have parents that incorporate us into the dynamic of family from the earliest stages of our lives. In fact, at these earliest stages we are completely dependent upon our parents for EVERYTHING. As life progresses within that dynamic we develop relationships with extended family and we enter into a broader dynamic and when we are deemed old enough to handle it, we are pushed off to school and enter the realm of community; ever increasing in complexity as our age progresses. Granted there are the exceptions to this progression, but as a rule we tend to travel in this sort of pattern.

All along the way we place value upon the individuals that we experience. The things we share, the good times and the bad, determine our level of dependency and independence with each person in our experience, but it's how we place this value upon them that is more important overall. A proper balance must be achieved in order for true friendship to flourish. Allowing negative influences in ones dynamic to repeatedly reoccur will eventually destroy the health of the relationship, turning friendship into an empty void.

Our spouses are a good example of how this works. We fall in love and get married for better or for worse, etc.. The dual nature of this very important relationship allows for each side to have both dependence and independence. One can investigate the biblical rule as to what each spouses role is in the dynamic and it usually works out right, so long as we stick by the rules. A certain amount of give and take is necessary to make it flourish. A domineering husband or wife will reap the benefits of their unfair application of control over the other. Usually not resulting in the outcome they ultimately desired, a union with mutual submission and obligation.

The golden rule is a good rule of thumb when looking for the optimum path to the balance I had mentioned earlier. "Do unto others as you would have done to you". This puts us into a balanced dynamic in all relationships. We, being human, need and desire relationships that have this ultimate value. So often we forget that its not about our needs its about the needs of others that really sets the scales to right.

Needing friendship is as second nature to us as needing air to breathe, without air we will quickly approach the end of the line. Dirty air just quickens the pace leading us into poor health. Lasting friendship is first achieved only with a healthy inner compassion. A willingness to please others unconditionally without seeking compensation. The random acts of kindness produce the most astounding results. A selfless act benefits the self in unsurpassed blessing. The rain falls from the sky, not because it is obligated to nurture the earth, but because it is compelled by its nature to replenish the earth for what it has taken. This symbiosis is an example of an ultimately divine and harmonious relationship.

Strength of Resolve

2009-01-01T03:34:00.013-05:00

"Be resolved and the thing is done" wrote Emerson. It seems an apt theme for the new year. We often spend this time of year looking forward to what we would like to accomplish and what we would like to change about the past. I don't recommend trying to change the past but one can definitely do something about the future. Many chose to boldly state with a New Years Resolution what their plan of action is to bring their desires for the future into fruition.

How could Emerson state it so simply and with such conviction? We all struggle with some difficulty at some of the resolutions we make. His statement definitely smacks of a strong conviction and yet it is stated with such simplicity, can it be that easy? Things are as easy as we make them. Difficulties are merely obstructions to attaining truth, there is always a way around or over any obstruction. But how do we get around those seeming obstacles to achieve our success and completion of our resolve?

The outlook is not so bleak. We at least are able to produce with reasonable success some small things into our lives. Let's first look at how we accomplish simple goals and perhaps expand them into a broader scope. The same strategies ought to apply.

There are certain laws that keep our physical reality in a uniform shape, appearance, and function. We would not have an understanding of these physical laws without first an idea, a vision, of their possibility, then a search for their defining principles, and then an exposition of their effects. None of this understanding is possible without first the belief that they may exist.

We move and act within a framework of universal truths everyday. We live without really realizing these absolutes are in constant action. Gravity, light, force, and rest are a mere few of the principles of our reality. They all serve our existence and make everything possible. Sleep and wakefulness are dependent upon light and darkness and aided by the force of gravity and our resistance and submission to its influence. Seems pretty complicated but we take much of it for granted. They are constantly acting around and upon us that we don't realize their worth until we try to defy their power, fall down and go Boom. The more we are conscious of these laws and how they act, the more we are able to realize (to make real). Simple machines were the first step. A lever can move a large rock, if its long enough and enough force is applied. All possibilities are already in existence. It takes a force of thought and the exercise of faith (resolve) to realize their being.

Well, with all the technical stuff out of the way lets look at our resolve. Where does it exist and how does it act upon our reality? Our resolve can be defined as our convictions or perhaps our beliefs about truth. If these are too rigid there is no growth, if they are flexible there is the possibility of discovering greater truth. Truth, belief, and conviction are found in our heads, our mind, or our thoughts. We could go down the road of psychology but the terminology might restrict us from a broader understanding of the possibilities.

Emerson states it plain and simple because the truth is plain and simple. We only need to believe in a wholesome ideal in order for it to be manifested in our lives. I mean truly believe. Don't mix in restrictions and obstacles that are only masking the light of a true reality. The more we accept a lie, the more we consider it as truth. By affirming true and right goals the more we remove the lampshade from the simple and pure realization of honest reality, accomplishment of our resolve, our beliefs, and our ideals. "Be resolved and the thing is done!!"

One Simple Truth

2008-12-27T13:14:00.002-05:00

The creative power of our thoughts, our mind, is unlimited. This is a bold statement to make, when we look at our personal world, it can either be supported or denied any validity based on our perceptions of prosperity or depravity. That is to say that, if we look at our reality how do we view it? We can view ourselves in either extreme or any where in between. The whole enchilada is based on our perception of our world. Our eyes see only what we wish them to focus upon. Things only exist because we have the ability to believe they exist.

If we maintain in our mind that we will not have enough we will always have less than what is sufficient for our perception of prosperity. Count your blessings and you'll find that you have more at your disposal than you ever thought was possible.

Consequently we create deprivation in our personal world just as easily as we create prosperity. We are given everything we ask for, call it karma, the golden rule, what ever you wish; this is an unbreakable law of the universe. Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. Its like mathematics. There are rules and that's just how it works, 2+2=4, all the time.

Once we reach this realization it takes mental effort to maintain and support its work. This is where we run into all the obstacles and pitfalls that can break down our faith in everything. We have the thoughts and ideas of everyone else to contend with. Their beliefs about what is and what is not real or true. Not to mention generations of history and traditions that perhaps keep propagating restrictions on the full extent of what reality can become....... paradise or living hell, and anywhere in between.

Not to put the weight of the world on our shoulders is a good step in the right direction. We are responsible only for ourselves and those in our direct care, family, friends, etc.. We see in our media a plethora of movements, attempting and often succeeding, to mold and direct our thoughts and minds to create a specific paradigm of reality. If we look hard enough we can find any manner of living we should so choose to pursue, and a gang of devotees to help support the idea. Capitalism at its best has allowed for competition and division of modern society's full attention and realization of its true potential.

All the doom and gloom are great motivators and distractions from a very simple and divine truth. The creative power of our thoughts, our mind, are unlimited. If we focus on a simple statement such as this it opens the door to all manner of outcome. It almost seems too good to be true. And yet, it also explains the reason behind our own state of reality. Somewhere along the way someone has told us or we have heard it said that "the sky's the limit" or something along those lines. Call it optimism. If the sky is as far as you can perceive or believe is attainable, what's to stop oneself from breaching the threshold and accomplish a reality beyond our wildest imaginations.

Questions and Answers

2008-09-04T17:32:00.001-04:00

Life is full of questions. There are some who are always asking them and there are those who think they have all the answers. There are questions we ask every day: What do I want to eat? What should I wear to dinner? What time is it? There are questions we have asked for millennia: Why are we here? What is God? Why me?!? How can this have happened?!? And the list goes on and on. How do we get the answers we want, and are those answers real or true?

We are, whether we know it or not, always making determinations to answer these age old questions. There is inherent in us a tendency to view life with a sort of skepticism. What is good and what is bad are, to a partial degree, determined by our culture. The other extent is determined by our beliefs, our perceptions, our reactions to our cultural influences. We are constantly at the mercy of a variety of influences upon our perceptions, some of them external and some internal. There is a natural dichotomy established into our nature. A constant battle between two opposites.

This struggle solidifies into our paradigm structure, our system by which we think, feel, and act. With this system we create our answers for ourselves. Something is good because it always has been before under similar conditions and something is bad because of the same line of thinking. This serves us for the majority of our day to day questions, but what about the BIG questions. Where do we get those answers?

We are creatures of habit. We tend to resort to patterns of behavior that yield a satisfactory result as proven by past experiences. We'll resort to these determinations in the future and with some certainty get the same results. We often have difficult questions however and will search for them in a variety of places. Our cultures establish systems to provide these answers. Clubs, organizations, churches, and institutions collect specialized knowledge and administer their answers from their respective forums.

We can look all around us for answers but everything we seek needs to stand up against our skepticism, and that lies within us. We can spend some time 'soul searching' and get answers from that effort as well; from within. Some will call it prayer or meditation. Often this practice is underrated or underdeveloped in most individuals; therefore, it gets a bad rap for being unproductive. So often we forget that every effort produces an outcome. The spirit or attitude in which we perform any effort is what produces the quality and character of its outcome.

Alright, so we get our answers from the external and the internal, and usually a combination of both. Over time we establish a complex system to help deal with the day to day processing of all that information and get by with running everything through the paradigm mill. After a while things might get a little stale though, something happens to make us question that habitual reaction and then we're off looking for a new answers to age old questions. Weren't those former habitual responses the real truth or reality?

They were real to the extent that they integrated with our beliefs. Someone once told me that "Life was not about finding yourself but about CREATING yourself". It took me a while to digest this. I had to look deeper than the surface to truly understand it's value. We can look all we want at the rest of creation and try to correlate the outside with how we feel on the inside. This search will only reveal answers on a surface level. We can move anywhere we want, to get away from a bad lifestyle or an unproductive environment. Changing our physical environment will not change our internal reality. Instilling harmony, and other pleasant attributes within ourselves will usually produce a mirrored result without. However this requires the right effort.

Our answers are already present within us. Miserable people usually have a miserable reality. The answers we get about life are the result of either a habitual determination, or are the result of our predominant attitudes. Life will challenge you to test those convictions to evolve or develop your perceptions thus creating new answers and determinations defining your reality. The answers we produce for ourselves are real; every moment is spent either molding new answers which produce growth, or reinforcing those answers we already have, or ignoring those we haven't the focus or willpower to develop.

The more we seek for answers the more answers we will get. Its the focus and intensity of our search which produces answers we can believe.

What's there to Fear?

2008-08-23T18:46:00.009-04:00

The one thing, the quintessential element, that stands in our way is FEAR. It has been around since the beginning of time. In our own lives it's probably one of the first tangible emotions we can remember. Fear of the dark, the unknown, the consequences. It's silly really, that we let it block our progress, but we let it anyway. Maybe it's just tricky, slippery, good at disguises, crafty enough to deceive us into believing it's real. Conquering fear is for some, an opportunity for success, for others its a shackle that limits their experience of life, but it effects all of us to one degree or another. Where does it come from and what is its purpose?

We can't see this enemy, not with our eyes anyway, we can only sense it's effects. Fear can be so strong that it physically immobilizes us, not only that but it evokes in us a myriad of other responses. It is the root of all negativity, remember its pretty slippery, it disguises itself in so many ways that it can evoke anger, jealousy, greed, and nearly every other characteristic we dislike in others and then lie to us to help us justify our own display of the negativity; secretly supporting its own existence.

It doesn't sleep either. It reaches us at a level beneath our consciousness. It even pervades our dreams at times and terrorizes us unawares. Nightmares, irrational displays of our inner psyche, or manipulations of some exterior influence? Dreams are the life we have when we are unconscious. We have all manner of them good, bad, absurd, fantastic, etc., etc.. It takes on this mystical role in our history, or rather points to the ultimate evil. An entire genre of movies, books, and indeed art, are made to extol its value and power over the human condition. We even enjoy its pressure upon our lives, the thrill ride at the amusement park, the reading of that horror novel, diving with sharks, watching someone diving with sharks.

I tend to think of fear as the antithesis of courage. It's the lie that refutes the truth. To be courageous is to stand up to fear. For some, this is a tough row to hoe. Timidity plays a major role in keeping a person in fear. Timidity is merely a lie perpetrated by fear to keep you in bondage. The funny thing is that fear holds no sway over you, only by your permission can it enter your mind, your conscience, your will, or your actions.

It is true, fear plays a role in self preservation, but this can be equally supported with thinking correctly, reacting to dangers with a thoughtful and careful attitude, rather than the shirking, and non-engaging reactions to fear. Think what we could accomplish with out the fears that have been ingrained into our thought processes. For years we've been told that we can't and never will accomplish this or that. The fault is in believing that and not pushing through the fear of failure to stand courageous over your accomplishment.

Where does fear come from though, and to what purpose does it exist? We can evaluate its properties with science; telling us about the chemicals in the brain and their movements and reaction within the body. We can evaluate it as well with the lens of religion or spirituality; telling us that it is a tool of one of the cosmic forces. We can integrate them both and be quantum physicists. Far beyond most peoples realm of expertise, or so they might think or fear.

Fear is the most primal of emotions, one of the basest and fundamental emotions we can experience. It is integrated deep within our thoughts, feelings, and actions. It is extremely elusive and tends to evade capture, thus giving it the connotation of evil. Existing in man from the very beginnings of time, it is a highly specialized and complicated feature of our consciousness. Man may not have progressed without learning to conquer its influences. The actions of the fearless demonstrate the virtue of courage. The accomplishment of courage banishes the manifestations of fear in our physical world.

Fear comes from a place we can't see or feel. The Unknown. It's purpose is to cripple, torture, and defeat our enjoyment of life. It lies at the opposite end of the spectrum from joy, love, and strength. The less we tolerate fear and the more we practice an exercise of life which defeats it's influence, the more there is to enjoy and share amongst all those within our sphere of life.

Live Your Dream

2008-08-06T23:29:00.009-04:00

What did you want to be when you grew up. When we are children we have this enormous capacity to dream, sometimes that dream changed on a day to day basis. No matter what enamored us, anything seemed possible. Whatever we admired or had passion for seemed to pervade our thoughts and even affect our emotional state. The more we thought about it the more we resembled it. You could nearly always tell who was who in high school. Each clique had their mode of dress and proper outward representation of its core ideals. Present company included.

Fast Forward to Present. Have we achieved our dreams? Do we want to? We can look back at our youthful exuberance as foolhardy and impractical, but was it really? We were having a great time then, daydreaming or not. It is unfortunate that so called 'maturity' requires that we cast off those musings and burden ourselves with limits. The need to provide for ourselves takes center stage to the fulfillment of our supposed joy. Who put those limits upon us but ourselves! The wellspring of passion is still there, it's maybe just a trickle or it's routed into other ventures that perhaps do not serve our ultimate fulfillment.

We take in information all the time. Every second of every day we are under the pressures of our environment. Demands of our time and energies influence what we do. What do we do with all that information though. Snap judgements and forces of habit take a great deal of this processing out of our control. Predisposition, being set in our ways, and stubbornness, hamper our objectivity and paint a picture of our life that can get pretty boring to look at after a while. We can lose our connection to that wellspring of passion.

When we were younger we had a much wider screen or filter on our information intake and its relationship with how we express ourselves. If I could only view my world with the same fascination and awe as I did when I was a toddler. That would be something. As we age, our experiences in life and the manner in which we deal with them mold our recognition of what is real, at least what is real to us.

Collectively we ascribe to all manner of things that we consider to be objective reality, whether they are true or illusion. The sky is blue only because we all agree that what we perceive is the color blue, in any language. These types of beliefs are all determined by the things we can sense with our 5 senses. When a tree falls in the woods and there's no one there to hear it fall, does it still make a sound? TRICKY!! I think you get the idea though. Our senses inform our minds, This is our Mental Reality.

In like manner we accept for ourselves subjective reality, the things we can't see or feel but believe to be right or wrong. A Picasso can be beautiful or have some artistic value to one person yet evoke the exact opposite reaction from another person, resulting in reactions such as "It is a beautiful painting" from one person, and "It's Total Crap" from another. Our emotional convictions are evoked from our hearts, our spirit, our subconscious. Unfathomable and yet always ready to supply us with a higher level of experience. Here is where those dreams come from, the wellspring of passions I so fondly keep referring to.

The point in this is that while we are young we have a tremendous vulnerability, and this is good, because our subjective reality is fresh and alive. And our objective filter isn't so clogged with preconceived notions. Life comes barreling through our senses and experiences and establishes our objective convictions over time. For better or for worse. Like a river cutting its course across the land seeking its inevitable reunion with the sea, our repetitive responses to life's joys and sorrows make a rut into the landscape. We all do this. This is a completely singular and unique experience.

The wellspring flows only in one direction. It comes from within us. Our attitudes, our thoughts, and our actions are all expressions of our subjective, inner realm, if you will, into the objective, outer reality. Our ideals, our ultimate dreams, have got to get past what we think. Our thoughts are there at the surface of our consciousness playing king of the hill. The predominant thoughts that we have are our attitudes. Therefore a predominant attitude of 'I can't' tells us we never will. The 'Train That Could' told himself 'I think I can!' , and guess what, HE DID IT.

With enough perseverance we can accomplish whatever we set our minds to. Our passions may be a little different the older we get but they don't have to be limited or out of reach. We are the only ones that can hold us back from achieving our dreams. Being receptive to our inner self and truly desiring our Ideals, without hampering ourselves with negative impressions and attitudes, certainly will bring our inner world into a physical reality. This takes a little practice. With application into one's daily experience one will be surprised what they can achieve. Start small and you will find that each accomplishment is a building block to create the castle of your dreams a definite reality. Live your dream ..........don't just think about it.

We must "be" before we can "do" and we can "do" only to the extent that we "are," and what we "are" depends upon what we "think." Charles F. Haanel

Making a Perfect World

2008-08-02T17:32:00.006-04:00

The state of the world today is confusing and rife with impending havoc. What , with racial or tribal conflict arising nearly everywhere from Bosnia in the 90's to Africa in recent times with Rwanda and the rise and fall of political and racially charged ideologies pitting the elite against the masses or some similar juxtaposition. And yet even more, if we look at any part of the globe and reflect upon what sort of human anguish is displayed there from any point in history. Even within the seeming safety of our own American society there are ideas against ideas and powers against powers.

There are proponents and opponents to every school of thought. Looking at how the race of man has developed over the ages, it seems a vicious cycle of expansion and contraction. Empires rise and fall. Turmoil and conflict seem to be a natural part of existence. As an individual looking at this state of affairs its only natural to resign to its being the natural way of the world.

We are used to the unconscious classification, division, and disunity we as Americans should so strongly denounce as blasphemy; based on our Constitution which states so proudly and with unerring clarity that "All Men are Created Equal". And yet, we find ourselves espousing all manner of classification and division amongst ourselves. Heck, we've ratified and amended the poor document until it hardly resembles the principle document it was drawn up to be. (This is probably a rant for another time;)

The world as it seems is awash in conflict, or is it just that we can't see the forest for the trees. I'm not asking anyone to put on rose colored glasses or some impractical manner of coping with it, but suggest merely changing the way we think. We are bombarded everywhere we look by a filter of media that is presented in a way to insulate and incubate our perceptions; ultimately influencing the way we think. We can ignore the news but this only insulates us from reality. We can believe everything it tells us but this only influences our perception of reality. Alternatively one must seek truth from within; Our perceptions are determined by our thoughts, wherein lies our reality.

It's hard not to buy in to the "collective conscious" and be a part of some bandwagon. It's even attractive to do so; who wants to be all alone or be some radical or kook (this is merely pandering from the mob of sheep saying "don't get lost among the rocks! It's safer in the herd!"). I Say "Don't be a sheep.....be a Lion!!"

Many have tried to establish Utopian societies throughout history. Some are viewed as successful but many are notoriously called fascists; they probably took things a little too far. Utopia is impossible in the material sense. It is, however totally possible mentally, or spiritually, if you have a capacity for either or both.

The more often we focus our attentions upon a harmonious mental state the more we will manifest this into our physical world. We reap what we sow. I don't care how you phrase it, this is a universal truth.

So how do we make world peace a reality? Through active and steadfast application of right thinking we effect our personal world around us. By Causing harmony within our thoughts and feelings we Effect our concept of reality as harmonious. We need to be at peace with the world.

So, What are you reading?

2008-07-31T13:16:00.009-04:00

What are you reading? I often ask this question of people I know and am seriously troubled by the answers I get. "Nothing", "I'm not much into reading", or "I don't read". Maybe I'm in some twilight zone of non readers! Reading as a pastime since a teenager has developed over the years into a near nonstop addiction for myself. Granted, there were times when the reading was uninformative and pure escapism, I still maintained a steady flow of reading. Even as the demands of full time work and starting a family arose, the time and schedule of my reading adjusted.

As a teenager I read Fantasy and Sci-Fi. This has always been a core passion. The subject matter was adventurous, chivalrous, and just plain fun. Tolkien being no exception. The progenitor of all modern Fantasy in my humble opinion. Many others followed in his excellent example. These were the authors I tended to read.

Over the years as my repertoire expanded I forayed into some of the classic authors; Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, etc.. While the classics were a challenge due to the gap of generations in modern language evolution, they were a worthy enterprise, rewarding me with unexpected perspectives on the nature of thought. Expositions on fundamental thinking in historic times. Exciting and new so many generations later. These were not required reading for some college course but were explorations out of personal curiosity. The effort was worth the outcome (it always is).

I delved further back into history, seeking more ancient perspectives and found even more relevant and exciting reading; following strands of perceptions and their preceding schools of thought. Not limiting myself to individual cultures, but looking for the big picture; looking for the common threads in all the worlds literature worthy of meriting the name. Philosophers of every age heralding their discoveries to me. The Bible being a worthy center point in historical record. Then expanding forwards, and even more difficult, backwards in historical record. Babylonia and Sumeria cloaked in mystery and symbolism. The early church fathers on to philosophers of the 1600's revealing their steadfast zeal for the distribution of virtue, and sometimes their staunch protection of its standards. This was not some intense study, mind you, but an honest searching for a unified, personal understanding. 'Jack of all Trades, Master of None.'

All fascinating to me. I was following my passion for the written word as far as I could take it, and I'm still not done. All from the spark of a few captivating words in a few books. Had I been too entranced as a teenager by the, then escalating popular visual media, I would have lost a skill that is so often lost; Reading.

When I look back at this lifelong endeavour I have to romanticize the allure of used book stores, libraries, and the Mega-Bookstore with its coffee shop. I used to close down the bar till last call but now I find myself closing down the bookstore "Attention 'Barnes and Noble' shoppers we will be closing in 10 minutes at 11pm, please bring your purchases to the front of the store, Thank You". There's something in these environments that draws me in. At least I won't get pulled over and ticketed for having had too many books in my car on the way home; maybe only a bit jittery from the double espresso shot in the overpriced coffee I had.

The internet has been a tremendous distributor of many of the things I've been reading in recent years. It's breadth and depth are seemingly unfathomable. Too often I've found my self far off the original vein of research and made unexpected but delightful discoveries.

What am I reading now....... Everything.

So, What are you reading?

Still haven't found what your looking for?

2008-07-26T23:21:00.009-04:00

We often look for things in the same places. We look for the mayonnaise on the same shelf in the fridge every time its needed. If its not in its ritual location we could say we were out of mayo. We unconsciously do this with so many other things.

I think we can't assume that we will find what we're looking for in life if we always look in the same place. Life is a grocery store but the shelves are stacked with a plethora of brands and products that we can choose from. Its just simple to fall in with some regimented system of attainment. We chose one grocery store because it provides us with what we want at the price we want. Unfortunately we can get into a rut and fail to see the wider variety of choices if we become so ingrained with that sort of personal policy.

Lets say we were looking for companionship. Some say the best place to find it was the grocery store. "Uh, hey I tried that last week but this was much better" says Bob to unknown prospective companion " Hey thanks, I'll try that..... You're kinda cute.... What's your sign?". Well maybe not, but we do tend to look in the same places a lot. Work, Church, the Bar, etc.. Some people don't realize it but they keep choosing the same companions over and over because of the context and environment they are choosing from. Think, if we only broadened our horizons a bit we would find fulfillment in more unlikely places. If we risk little we will gain little.

This is a controversial thing to ask of anyone. " I'm not going to the Bar to look for a husband" says the devoted church goer; even though there are plenty of souls there that need saving. I wouldn't expect to achieve a goal of sustainable companionship from the context of the Bar environment. However, if that's where your looking then I suspect you've gotten the same temporary results again and again. Ultimately, the question of where to look for fulfillment is taken the wrong way, achieving the wrong result.

One can establish their perception of fulfillment wherever they chose, yet often they are left with no means to recognize how to make it reality. When we know what we want, we need to be constantly on the alert for finding it. Maintaining a healthy perception of our ideal (This changes periodically or evolves) maintaining its prominence in our consciousness. The more actively we focus our thoughts on the ideal outcome of each moment, the more this is reflected into our perceptions of the physical world around us.

Yes, Bad things happen all the time, and they often happen to Good people, but I am reminded of the old SNL skit of "Mr. Bill" who always saw the bright side of whatever calamity he found himself within(tossed from an office window to slam into a moving bus and then proclaim"Oh Look! The bus is on time today")

If what we are looking for in our lives seems not to be found, then it's simply because we haven't established a complete or realistic concept of what that truly is for ourselves. We can look at what others have all we want but theirs will never be ours. Our lives are meant to be a completely unique and singular experience; enjoyed and also suffered by us alone. While our perception of experience is solitary our experience is shared by all those around us.

The key is placing ourselves in a position of vulnerability to experience a fullness to life that is altogether lost if we stay cloistered within a too rigid boundary of comfort. Having established our concepts of Ideals within boundaries such as family, church, or some other form of education, creates a security that we can rely upon, and we must rely upon it, yet we should remove ourselves from that boundary to experience life more fully. A missionary will never know what experiences he will find in the field but he will work according to the system of training he is able to incorporate into his application of life, its his willingness (vulnerability) that will prove his concept of Success.

What we want in life is always found within us simply in the way we think and then perceive what is and what is not. The pessimist will always walk the path of discontent. The optimist will walk in the flowery meadow. The realist will walk the full range of experience and be fulfilled by his balanced perceptions about reality.

The Pursuit of Happiness

2007-10-22T23:45:00.000-04:00

Ever have one of those hectic days? When from the time you wake to the time you put your head down there is nothing but activity after activity. Sometimes more than one at a time, and it just seems that there is never enough time. Sorry to say it, but I think this happens, more often, for many people than they would like or would even have planned for themselves. To what purpose is all this commotion and is it really doing us any good?

When we were young we seemed to have more time. We surely had fewer obligations and much less to worry about. Funny, those concerns were our parents' job, and now when we've arrived at a point in our lives where that is perhaps one of our roles, we are surprised to find out that we're flooded with obligation and demands of our time. How did this happen? Can it be simplified or is it just the nature of life, to be herded through time and to feel desperately out of control. How do we regain that child-like freedom and joy in our adult lives?

This is no easy task. Part of the problem is time. How do we manage it, and will that management serve to bring us closer to freedom. Priority must be placed upon things that matter and things that don't. What's urgent and what can wait. Who we spend our time with and whom we do not. Even harder, Why this or that should be done or left for the next opportunity. When is the right time or when is not. Pretty daunting and all of a sudden we're back into a maelstrom of activity. Uh oh, we've reflected the physical world into our mind. Back at square one again.

While time can get away from us, it is not the sole point of focus to bring a sense of peace and control back into our lives. However important, if we focus too much on time management we will only cycle back into a desperate circle. Usually this occurs because we lack confidence or lack a sense of control. Time can be much more manageable if we are able to place value upon its expenditure and application. The Why factor perhaps, or a combination of all the what, when, why, where, and who factors together. The key to time management is likely the ability to establish a value or Purpose to it. Setting values to our decisions. I'm sure this is not news to anyone.

We typically use some sort of personal meter to establish these values. This personal meter is established over time by our exposure to family, friends, and a variety of other influences. We use these as a model to establish our own method of prioritizing our actions. Other methods exist as well; one could ascribe their decisions to religious systems, or secular ethics. There is however an inherent meter that we possess as well, our conscience. It seems that we all have one, although there are some we say have none, but I'm convinced that we all do. Fundamentally, we're all wired in the same basic fashion. This raises the question to some sort of universal or absolute system to which all things must adhere. The science of the soul. An inherent system of value determinations that will provide us with a clear path to freedom and peace of mind. Now the trick is learning to access this system.

We've all heard that little voice in our heads telling us that something is wrong or something is right. Unfortunately it probably tells us alot more than that because its confused with the millions of thoughts we produce every day. We've heard our conscience before but when we really hear it, we know it; there is a deeper recognition than some passing thought. Our conscience is there as a guide. It takes practice to hear it more often; almost like establishing a habit. Trust you conscience they say; just be discerning enough to know the difference between your conscience and your will; two totally different things.

The Conscience and a sense of Purpose are accessible and they don't need to be achieved with great effort. Everything comes in increments, even those things we can perceive to be instantaneous have been established through steps of preparation, for that moment of change. The more often we think actively about simplification, the more our eyes are opened to the opportunities to shed those activities that enslave us to chaos and helplessness. The more often we hear our hearts tell us what is right, the more often we establish a sense of order to what is really valid to our lives.

We yearn for calm and orderly progression through our days, but without the challenges, it would be just as mundane as just resigning to the chaos and commotion. Every moment is an opportunity to achieve freedom. Freedom is a state of mind. While the world around us can be in all sorts of disarray, it is how we maintain an ordered and calm mental and spiritual state that will preserve that sense of freedom. By evicting thoughts that serve no benefit to true harmony, we can hear our clear conscience and step humbly, yet confident, on a path of freedom.

From Adversity To Serenity

2007-10-13T19:43:00.000-04:00

Adversity. What is this thing, this monster, to some? Where does difficulty dwell? Is it an entity of its own? Does it have some misguided life force at its core, fueling its dastardly purposes?!?!?

In every dynamic, whether it be work, home life, social structures, everywhere you turn it seems that there is always a hurtle to be traversed before there is any sense of completion. For the sake of simplicity we'll call it adversity. It's the texture that makes life seem less than fluid, it's the bumps in the road that make the journey anywhere from irritable to downright jarring.

We can take a variety of approaches to determining what adversity means to us, personally. We can look at other people and contrast our own ideas of adversity against theirs to get some sort of consensus about what to do to determine If This then Do This. This may help for a time but you might find that after using this approach for a while you'll be in the same boat as those people you've adopted the ethic from, to sometimes undesirable outcomes; the result of bad advice. Albeit I'm sure that a true friend doesn't want to steer you into adversity but to help you rise above it, but how does that friend define adversity to themselves and what is their manner of dealing with it and to what outcome. In this strategy one must choose wise counsel.

In order to overcome adversity it is important to define it; know your enemy as they say. Adversity is, simply stated, the lack of freedom. It has no form unless we give it form. Freedom is an unnatural state of being when we look at our physical world around us, everything is within some sort of boundary or contained by some force. We stand divided from actualizing our goals by these boundaries. Traveling through the boundaries seems the only way to get to a different state of existence, the other side of our current circumstance.

The boundaries in life can be viewed as a wall, an obstruction. Conversely they can be viewed as opportunities, steps higher to our goals or ideals. Attitude is everything. When someone has an "I can't do it" attitude, the likelihood is that they won't and never will do it. Whatever the case may be, negative thinking wont get you anywhere.

Adversities are there to teach us, test our ability to overcome, to challenge our reasoning and resolve. We can either be enslaved by adversity or we can master it , by our thoughts. Thinking positive is the key and keeping those thoughts realistic or in balance is the beauty or grace that makes the journey enjoyable. Actively thinking and discerning, or weighing the pros and cons can be a daunting task but we are thinking all the time anyway; one might as well be doing it actively instead of passively, passivity is stagnant and counter-productive. You'll wind up standing in front of a wall and never climbing it if you only see it as a wall and not a step to be overcome.

Once one wall is traversed, we understand the If This then Do This for ourselves, its been the product of active and positive thought processes. The next wall is less daunting in the face of this personal knowledge and it can be climbed that much easier with the confidence of previous success. Each subsequent step becomes more familiar in accomplishing the next wall. This familiarity with our ability is confidence which is great, but too much of it leads to cockiness. We can use that same method too much and become lazy and arrogant. Not an admirable trait. we've been lead back to passivity, we creatures of habit.

The real goal is Serenity. A balance to the reality of our situation, not allowing adversity to be our master but mastering it. Accomplishing difficulties with active yet calm deliberation. Not allowing our successes to get to our head but keeping humility, because the next adversity has much to teach us and reveal to us of our inborn ability to succeed, by active thought. However we also have an equal amount of ability toward failure through passive thought; this being recognized and keeping its balance shows true humility. Serenity is accomplished by keeping the balance between the two poles of thought, Active and Passive. Serenity is a quiet calm in the face of adversity.

What is it with people Today?

2007-10-11T20:10:00.001-04:00

There is a pervasive feeling in our American society today of an oppressive nature. It's hard to pin it down. The news is never good (I can't remember the last time I saw a newscast that didn't feature some atrocity against some individual or group against group conflict). I'm not wanting there to be some rose-colored-glass-police that paints something rosy for our peace of mind, and the token Human Interest stories don't seem to satisfy at the end of the newscast either. Maybe it's just that Smut Sells and we're all buying. Capitalism at its best. Conglomerates have invaded our Internet to propagate more bad news , heck you can even get it sent to your cellphone or some other mobile device, if you so choose they'll never leave you alone. I don't want to pin this negative vibe in our culture only on the media, although I think it's central to its force of reproduction.

There comes a point when enough is enough. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who simply choose not to acknowledge the news and its soured homogeneity. Just turn the channel and watch re-runs of a sit-com and feel happy again. This certainly can help in restoring some of the personal balance we so desire. But there's still more that can be done. Random acts of kindness could help if we weren't so scared of each other or, sorry to say it, intolerant. Keeping a positive attitude helps if you don't offend those who want to wallow in their miserable bliss, who from their misery balk at your joy as some kind of insane dreamworld. Being realistic requires one to know the nature of reality. One can ascribe to a whole plethora of systems to define their reality- church, work, cultural identity, education, even apathy, just to name a few.

Unfortunately I feel we are ill equipped to discern. We are taught in school to cram information and vomit it out upon a test just in time to be crammed with more information again. A vicious cycle with poor results. We barely have enough time with the information to assess its value or application to build any knowledge. especially when we are constantly bombarded with frivolous impulses to buy this, or get that haircut, or tan in a booth(when the sun is for free). Activity rich and knowledge poor.

Enough is Enough. The ability to discern is an acquired trait. One must apply oneself to the process of making choices of value. Making mistakes and realizing their consequences. Having successes and truly enjoying those benefits and, I think, sharing in them as well. Actively choosing to walk a path through life will sure feel better than just trudging along with the herd over a cliff.