I'm listening to a neighbor's (incredibly loud) leaf blower and it strikes me that there's a connection to "Occupy Wall Street":

The 99% have been brainwashed into believing that they must have neat and tidy yards, that Nature's cyclical balancing of production and decomposition isn't worthy or sufficient, and that they need to BUY (= credit card, 2nd job, debt) new gas-guzzling, polluting machines every other year to remedy this "problem".

Hello??

Freedom

A friend recently posted some thoughts about "freedom". Americans are rather fond of (mis)using the word, usually to connote "freedom to do/have whatever I want, at the expense of others if necessary". The feeling slides easily over into a bullying stance, expressed most openly on the freeway.

My thought is that "freedom" is none other than the free will humans have been granted by the Creator. It's an astonishing gift of real power: to decide in every moment how we will be! Will I be happy, or resentful? Will I be loving or unkind? Will I make the day better for the people around me, or worse? Will I appreciate the gifts, large and small, that are presented me, or will I disdain them? What kind of world will I create in this moment?

This "kind" of freedom contains a lot of self-responsibility. (A creator is always responsible for his/her creations.) The other kind actually sustains victimhood, because it's usually voiced as a reaction by someone who's feeling threatened by another's views or actions. Sometimes it's a lot more convenient to make someone else responsible (back seat of the 1957 Rambler station wagon: "He hit me first!!")

I think there's a 'mathematical' equation here, something like:

freedom + self responsibility = true power

A New Infrastructure

Infrastructure Noun: The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. (Google definition)

The infrastructure supplying power, water and other supplies to residents of Alabama and adjacent states has been severely disrupted by the tornadoes which swept through the area Wednesday. Power lines are down, 3 nuclear plants are shut down, and natural gas service has been shut off until leaks can be repaired in parts of Tuscaloosa.* Several major manufacturers have suspended operations. Reconstruction will take time and cost millions of dollars the US does not have (trillion dollar deficit).

Similar scenarios are playing out in elsewhere in the world: Texas (fires), Japan (earthquake, tsunami),Christchurch NZ (earthquake), Queensland (flooding)....and of course Haiti, still struggling to rebuild. Missouri residents and municipal officials are preparing for record flooding along the Mississippi.

President Obama, touring the area today, stated "Politics, differences of religion or race, all that fades away when we are confronted with the awesome power of nature and we are reminded that all we have is each other."

Reginald Eppes, in the hospital for a collapsed lung and broken ribs, and whose 8 year old son was sucked away by the tornado but later returned unhurt, said in an NPR interview yesterday, said "I lost all my material stuff -- all that's gone. But I feel great...my kids and my wife (are) still here..." and he really did sound great!

Perhaps we are in the midst of creating a new infrastructure 'for the operation of our society'; one that is not of the material world, made of concrete, wire cable, and pipes, but one that can only be seen in the evidence of our actions toward one another, constructed out of love and compassion.

*http://abcnews.go.com/Business/alabama-twister-damage-gasoline-water-electric-power-shortages/story?id=13491212

Science and Spirituality

I've been reflecting on relationships between science and spirituality. I teach Resource Conservation at a business college, and am always looking for the delicate balance between teaching the required "science" and a love of Nature. The former is what's spoken; the latter must be conveyed energetically. One can be taught, the other must be inspired.

Most of the scientific world is still bound by the belief in "materialism" -- that matter is limited to what our instruments (which have been created in the image of our 5 senses) can measure. When we look with the physical body and it's extensions, we see more of the physical world. The "third eye", recognized and experienced primarily in the Eastern spiritual traditions, is a subtle non-physical eye that sees beyond gross physical form. Meditation is the recognized path toward opening the third eye.

A few, notably H.H. Dalai Lama, some physicists and astronomers, have been exploring the intersection of science and spirituality -- and my sense is that what's emerging is a spiritual cosmology that is completely different from either.

Joy in the midst of destruction

Is it possible to experience Joy in the midst of destruction?

Yesterday I listened to an interview with a father of 3 boys who was in the hospital with a collapsed lung and broken ribs after riding out a tornado that completely destroyed his home and at one point tore his eldest son out of his grip. Miraculously, all survived.

The father said: We have lost absolutely EVERYTHING material -- there's nothing left but the concrete slab where the house was -- but I feel GREAT! I have my boys and my wife, and my faith. It was said with such love and the energy conveyed was completely joyful.

This is indeed the lesson we are learning now....we're not meant to hold onto the material aspects of our lives, but find, and create, the connections with other living beings, and with Divine Intelligence.

"You are only a phone call away from worry-free living"

Driving across Montana yesterday, a van passed me at a good clip and I just caught the words on the side "...worry-free living..." . Having just finished a weekend retreat in non-dual wisdom, where "needing nothing" is a state of mind bordering nirvana, I was intrigued enough to speed up just a little and read a little more -- gosh- what kind of business (that required a service vehicle no less) could promise me worry-free living? Might be a line of work I'd like to get into myself!

Worrying is a drag - literally! It's your mind on autopilot, reproducing a repeating cycle of low-grade fear-based thoughts that drains your energy and keeps you from fully engaging the world. When you're preoccupied with thoughts of some imagined negative future (I might be getting the flu.....my boss won't like how I handled this project...what if I lost my job?...) The long term consequences of chronic worrying are a sense of powerlessness and victimhood, and related physical dis-eases (you probably will get the flu!).

Well, the van's advertising was for an appliance repair service! A phone call to this business would give you freedom from worrying...that your refrigerator might go on the blink in the middle of the night. Hmm. I wonder how many folks are actually worried about such things these days? I mean, aren't we supposed to be worried about more important or threatening possibilities like health care (lack of), the economy, H1N1....

Lately, I've learned to check in with how things actually are if I find myself thinking a worrying thought. Those thoughts usually begin with the phrase "What if...?", and more importantly, are always located in future, which does not exist in this moment. In this moment, I notice I'm always fine. And in fact, if I dig into the past even a little, I can't really recall a time or instance when I wasn't ok. Even in the middle of the darkest moment I can remember, I can now see that I was actually ok.

So, I guess that's my phone call for worry-free living.

Fortune cookie

True Emptiness....

Fortune cookies at breakfast this morning
a little celebration of a brother's birthday

Surprise! Mine was empty!

....Ahhhh.....

Radiant Mind