Tag Archives: Einstein

FROM a BETTER PARADIGM to BETTER LEADERSHIP & a BETTER FUTURE 

Two radically different voices came to my attention today, in combination heralding the hope that perhaps the times — just maybe – are finally ready for a paradigm shift which could ensure human survival. 

The Quantum Paradigm of which I speak is, of course, the subject of Rethinking Survival. It’s the Unified Field Theory which Einstein intuited and actually had, but, sadly, for lack of yoga background, missed. Embodied in the archetypal Life Wheel which spontaneously appears throughout time, throughout all civilizations, it looks like this: 

This Unified Field Theory pictures a reality where all parts of creation are interwoven and interdependent. As such, this inclusive reality map is one which everyone everywhere can relate to and agree upon. It is equally compatible with scriptures and science, bridging the gap between them. 

This elegantly simple yet complete reality map meets the Occam’s Razor standard: maximum inclusiveness with greatest brevity. 

Working with the Quantum Paradigm empowers the “substantially new manner of thinking,” which, Einstein said, is necessary “if mankind is to survive.” 

As I wrote earlier: 

Those who succeed in linking the levels of experience are genius-leaders in whatever fields they choose to engage. They’re the fortunate ones who’ve acquired the inner wealth necessary to both hear the inner voice of conscience and act on the guidance they receive. 

Ultimately, survivors who prevail in dangerous times aren’t those with the most material wealth, possessions or political power. They’re the ones who’ve successfully navigated the middle realm, reached the far shore of enlightenment and returned to the surface with their new information intact. 

This complete and accurate paradigm will replace the fractured, materialistic paradigm of empirical science which rules out the existence of everything but the outer, m=mass level of human experience.  

Empirical science, with disastrous consequences, banned the inner levels of e=energy (emotion) and c=light (intuition) from conscious awareness. In the extreme, it cut humanity off from awareness of the common core which all share in common, call it God, Source, Creator, Tao, or Conscience, as you will.  

Earlier, I wrote: 

I’ve become certain that the worldwide leadership deficit (and related budget deficits) is explained by an underlying knowledge deficit. For lack of a complete and correct life map – paradigm, if you will — people everywhere remain bewildered as to how and why, even with the best of intentions, so much continues to go so horribly wrong. 

To the extent that the inner levels of energy, intuition and conscience are blind spots in the way people think, leaders are left powerless to move beyond the surface level of experience. The realms of light and conscience which rest on the far side of the dynamic energy level, remain inaccessible. 

Just as the Titanic’s designers failed to recognize the ship’s fatal flaw, today’s religious and political leaders, acting on misinformation, are steering the planet ever closer to the brink of destruction. The Quantum Paradigm offers a way to rethink our collective future, shift away from the current collision course towards disaster and ensure human survival. 

Now, today’s first voice of hope for a better future is that of man of Japanese American descent. Robert Kiyosaki is author of the popular Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and more recently, Capitalist Manifesto.  In an interview where he Makes Bold Predictions about the Economy, Kiyosaki connects the dots between useless “education,” dangerously weak leadership, and increasingly hard times. We need better leaders, he insists. 

On the premise that better education is key to reversing the current downward cycle, he’s written books on how the economy really works. [Keep the pristine definition of the word in mind. “To educate” means to “lead from darkness to light.” Note that “LEAD,” the essence of leadership, is inherent in that definition.] I would add, we also need to restore the wisdom of the I Ching, the Book of Change to the curriculum, as the compendium of Natural Law — the way the world really works.

The blessing in disguise, according to Kiyosaki, is that danger creates opportunity. To survive, people must stretch and improve to meet the challenges they face. He gives the example of being a war zone pilot. His life expectancy was thirty days. “The more dangerous the mission, the better you’ve got to be.” [I would add, and the more accurate and complete the map you’re flying from.] 

Today’s second voice of hope for a better future is that of a woman of French descent. Elana Danaan is author of A Gift from the Stars, and more recently The Seeders. She underscores the importance of actively taking personal self-responsibility, rather than passively waiting to be rescued by saviors. She writes: 

Humanity must take responsibility for itself or Humanity can never grow. . . Humanity must not miss the opportunity to rise up and loudly proclaim, “I do not consent [to tyranny].” 

She continues: 

The time to kneel is over. It is time to stand up, humans of Earth. It is time to embrace who you truly are. And you are quite exceptional! 

To which I would concur. In fact, the Life Wheel — the quantum paradigm of a better future — gives credence to the biblical vision of humans as made in the image of God, whole and complete. It is time to remember who, in potential, we truly are. It is our responsibility – by command – to be perfect, like the Father. 

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Fresh Start 

This excerpt from Rethinking Survival follows the sections on “Alien Invaders” and “We’re in a Terrible Mess.” To repeat, it’s written in the voice of who I was in 2014, which now feels like a lifetime ago. But the substance is just as relevant to now as it was then. 

Fresh Start 

After facing up to the inescapable proof everywhere around us that our language and idea pools have been corrupted, what do we do about it? Extreme radical measures call for opposite and equal survival responses.  

Scrap everything.  

Clean sweep. Clear the decks. 

Empty the overflowing in-baskets and clutter on the mental desktop. 

Back to the drawing board.   

Religious leaders have abused the teachings, so atheists have been conned into rejecting the fundamentals of the timeless, perennial philosophy altogether.  

Human authorities have violated their responsibilities, so reactionaries have been conned into making the mistake of rejecting all authority on every level. 

Let’s face it. Religious and secular institutions inevitably degenerate. They accumulate baggage over time and drift away from founders’ visions. 

So from time to time in the repeating cycles of history, it becomes urgently necessary to sort out what’s worth holding on to and what not. Do a thorough cultural house cleaning.  

Right now, people everywhere are overdue for a major rethinking of their paradigms.  

Initiate OPERATION RESCUE.  

One individual at a time, take back our most precious asset: our minds. Like tenacious truth-miners, sift through the mud to separate out nuggets of pure gold. 

Hold fast to truth. Fearlessly put the rest behind. Go back to the drawing board. Wipe the slate clean. Start over with a fresh, unmarked deck.  

Rethink organizations by the standard of the Quantum Paradigm. Start with the smallest unit of organization — yourself. Work with what’s possible. Be assured that every little bit helps. “One grain of rice can tip the scales.” 

If this seems daunting, remember, the stakes. They couldn’t be higher: the survival versus extinction of all you love.  

Each contribution affects the whole. Everyone matters. As Einstein warned in “Ensuring the Future of Mankind:”

Each one of us would be at fault if the goal were not reached in time. There is the danger that everyone waits idly for others to act in his stead. 

Remember the scare of thermonuclear war, Einstein’s worst nightmare. In 1962, Kennedy and Khrushchev engaged in a personal ego contest, going toe-to-toe during the Cuban missile crisis. It threatened Soviets and Americans with mutual annihilation. Only at the last hour did they relent. 

We have Khrushchev’s personal letter to Kennedy:  

Only lunatics or suicides, who themselves want to perish and to destroy the whole world before they die, could do this. . . . If you have not lost your self-control, and sensibly conceive what this might lead to, then, Mr. President, we and you ought not to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be tied. And a moment may come when the knot will be tied so tight that even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it. . . 

Lest history repeat itself as world leaders posture and position themselves now, let us urge them to not to replay this potentially deadly sword-rattling scenario.  

Here are recommended positive attitudes for approaching Operation RESCUE: 

1. Gird personal determination to win the inner war that matters most. Put pride and old attachments aside. Let the consequences of failing to rescue your mind along with the rewards for doing it motivate persistence. 

2. Take nothing for granted. Appreciate what you have while you still have it. Remember: it took only nine seconds for one lunatic to blow John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s head away. It changed the world as his family and the world knew it. Two bullets was all it took to extinguish our best hope for the future of democracy and world peace. 

3. Proceed with equal parts courage and trust. Revisit the basic, important life questions carefully. Scrap the old answers. Shed the emotional baggage and prejudices we all carry from personal experience. 

Be willing to look at the world and how one fits into it with fresh eyes. Attachments to familiar beliefs as well as obligations to teachers and family are irrelevant to the TRUTH. So are old animosities. Trust that if old answers were correct and personal loyalties valid, they’ll withstand the test of time. 

4. Focus on the values everyone everywhere undeniably have in common. Following Einstein’s example, learn how to “think like a genius:” 

The scientist or the artist takes two facts or experiences which we separate; he finds in them a likeness which had not been seen before: and he creates a unity by showing the likeness. . . . All science is the search for unity in hidden likenesses. 

Begin with respect humanity’s underlying similarities. Let them be our cause for ensuring human survival. Regardless of national origin or racial background, we’re all endowed with native intelligence and the capacity to reason. 

Barring unnatural distortions, we’re born with the capacity to love life and cherish family. Most people, most of the time, have an innate capacity for compassion, a thirst for truth and profound desire for personal freedom. We also enjoy a good laugh. 

On the cellular level, we’re products of the same DNA pool. Scientists say that all humans trace back to a mere handful of ancestors. It’s testimony to the human intellect to have discovered the DNA code. It serves as a reminder of the wondrous workings of an intelligent Creator. For how could such an extraordinarily intricate, miraculous pattern (much less its reproductive process) be sheer coincidence? How merciful, that we have been allowed this insight into the workings of intelligent design. 

It would be a tragedy for us to forget our common blessings, their single source and the preciousness of life. They should unite everyone everywhere against the destructive schemes of genocidal aliens invaders. 

5. Focus on TRUTH. Give it the benefit of the doubt. If familiar expressions don’t work for you, dig deeper. Or try a better approach. But cleave to the life-sustaining essence which sincere practitioners of every faith have held in common from time immemorial. Communicate from that center. And build community from there. 

Just as each atom has only one nucleus, in Quantum Paradigm context there’s only one core at the center of creation. Logically, over time and in every circumstance, inspired teachings partake of it. If you delve deep enough into the teachings with a sincere heart, you’ll find the same universal source. Since the center is timeless, its TRUTH has always existed and always will. 

There is great power in TRUTH. There’s great power in inspired scriptures to move and instruct us in our ways. This includes the venerable I Ching. The Book of Change instills in the receptive observer a profound understanding of human nature and relationships, the better to lead effectively. 

Likewise, the complete and accurate Quantum Paradigm of Change has the power to serve as a road map. Use it as a guide for anticipating and overcoming troubles. Let it serve as a link to TRUTH. 

Heavy duty bad guys will do whatever it takes to cut humans off from the source of their power. They block inner awareness any way they can. People conned by alien invaders into denying their origins have been castrated, disinherited — cut off from natural power. They’ve been left helpless. 

So be determined to take your power back. This is the deepest meaning of “power to the people.” It’s the foundation of genuine democracy. Never, ever be conned into abandoning the inner source of strength. It’s our hope of ultimate survival. 

Don’t waste precious time and energy quarreling about whose version of TRUTH is best. Life is too short and precarious. Urge leaders to stop squandering natural resources to add man-made disasters to the roster of survival-threatening perils. Call on them to stop squabbling over the ego-illusion of world-dominance. It’s the height of human folly. 

Countless natural disasters are hovering on the edges of history. Indifferent to our insignificant concerns, they’re poised to wipe humans off the face of the Earth. Violent hurricanes and floods, volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, comet strikes and increasingly intense sun flares are pending. 

Future generations depend on each of us to transcend our petty animal nature. They demand that we draw upon the inexhaustible resource of inner strength to keep the wheel of life together for their sake. 

In times of great calamities and sorrow, the truly great in spirit will rise to meet whatever challenges may come, sustained by the eternal center within. 

6. Don’t get hung up on language. Don’t be confused by misdirecting spin. Stick to the facts. Don’t let double-speaking truth-twisters insult your intelligence. If you allow them to play on your worst fears, they’ll manipulate you into becoming your own worst enemy. Have a standard for knowing who’s who. If you refuse to be fooled by name-calling, empty labels can’t stick. 

Know friends from enemies by the fruits of their labors. Not by their whitewash excuses. 

Don’t let baggage-burdened labels deter you from knowing what you know. “A rose by any other name still smells as sweet.” On the other hand, noone has a monopoly on the Truth. Don’t let anyone drive you off of “their” turf. Nor do you have to pay dues to partake of truth. 

It’s no accident that Jon Huntsman, Jr., the son of a visionary father described above is now serving as point man for a group called “No Labels.” This organization would benefit by working from the deeper perspective the Quantum Paradigm has to offer. However, they are definitely moving us in a positive direction.  

Here’s how their vision and purpose are described on the website, NoLabels.org: 

No Labels is a growing citizens’ movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents dedicated to promoting a new politics of problem solving . . . We welcome people left, right and everything in between as long as they are willing to collaborate with one another to seek a shared success for America. This new attitude is what No Labels is all about. 

In this spirit, take back the TRUTH. Find common language that works for everyone. So what if false teachers corrupt the teachings? So what if politicians turn timeless truth upside down? Even if horrible things have been done in its name, that’s all the more reason to get back to the original unchanging basics. 

For example, one term atheists might relate to is “Universal Mind.” I’m partial to the term “Creator.” Others choose to call the unnameable source of life the Tao, the Great Father, Holy Spirit, the Buddha or Allah.  

Author U.S. Anderson used “Universal Mind” interchangeably with “God.” Perhaps atheists squeamish about the name God, who defend reason as their means for accessing TRUTH, would resonate with the concept of a Universal Mind. The awesomely powerful human intellect is its miniature and mirror. This is, in fact, an accurate representation of the TRUTH. 

7. The Danger. Don’t let alien agents define who you are. For example, in the November 2013 issue of Esquire Magazine, included an article on “The New American Center.” The web posting put forth a definition of “center” diametrically opposed to the common sense center described here. On the basis of 2,410 registered voters surveyed, researchers generalized that American voters have been shifting on the ideological spectrum.  

They no longer have a comfortable political home or a champion. Of respondents, 49 percent agreed with the assumption-laden statement, “I never put faith in politicians of either party because they always end up disappointing me.” An additional 25 percent indicated that they were neutral. 

This new center is said to agree that those in dire need should receive assistance, but would really prefer that government leave the rest of us alone. Researchers say that the new center wants government to spend less and go easy on regulation. But they’re okay with raising taxes on the rich and on polluters.  

The new center “has had it with the rest of the world.” In particular, it doesn’t want American using its resources to fix things overseas when we have problems at home. 

Researchers conclude: The center is up for grabs. More than one in three of the new center don’t “feel” that anybody in Washington represents them. They are, therefore, “waiting to be found.”  

Those on the Left are somewhat confident that someone in Washington expresses their viewpoints. But more than half of the “Righteous Right” feel that no one speaks for them. This conclusion is, apparently, an open invitation to political chameleons. It tells them how to paint themselves to please this new center, the better to “grab” their votes. 

Oh well. If you’ve read Part One, you already know how skeptical I am of such studies. My graduate school experience with research scientists wasn’t impressive. In that case as in this, the questions themselves were skewed. The way they were framed prevented accurate answers. Here, participant selection also supports pre-drawn conclusions. The opinions of those who opt not to vote are excluded. And as in my own experience, the conclusions not only appear to be foreknown. They seem intended to serve ends of political masters. 

The dangers of media-influenced opinion polls, the precursor of media-selected politicians, cannot be underestimated. Who after all, funds and for all practical purposes owns the media, if not the likes of George Soros, the puppet master himself? 

Regardless of what the agendas for redefining the Center might be, my first remedy is to take back the meaning of “Center.” Let it be defined by common sense in Quantum Paradigm context, not by paid political researchers. The hub at the center of life’s wheel can’t be equated with a political center. Quite the opposite. 

Remember the Karate Kid? Pick one side of the road or the other. Good or evil. Truth or spin. As Mr. Miagi warned, middle-of-the-roaders get “squished like grape.” 

8. The Opportunity. Inherent in endings are opportunities for new beginnings. “After degeneration reaches critical mass, regeneration follows.” 

For one thing, no matter how extreme the danger, we’re never alone. This is so on both physical and metaphysical levels. Just as alien invaders are infiltrating society, there are conscientious souls who know very well what they are up to. They’re penetrating enemy ranks to reroute their plans. They’re also courageously calling public attention to blatant nonsense. 

For example, follow Dr. Timothy Daughtry and colleagues. He’s captured the dynamic of deceptive messaging perfectly: “Whatever you intend, say the opposite.” Here’s a sample from “Liberals Love It When We Fight:”

Helplessness, and not hope, is the left’s real message. . .the uniform message from liberal politicians to minority Americans is that the system is stacked against them, and that their only hope is through electing liberal politicians — not through personal effort. 

So, trust that people of conscience are embedded in the right places to say and do the right things at the right time. Just as invaders’ agents work to undermine humanity, modern-day sages are tenaciously working to expose and defeat their schemes. That’s why it’s imperative to cut across false boundaries. Connect with like-minded boundary-spanners wherever they are to be found. If they’re true to the common sense voice of conscience, they’re humanity’s best hope. Heed them. 

Remember President Kennedy’s final, undelivered speech: 

I look forward to a great future for America — a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purposes.  

I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will reward achievement in business or statecraft, which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength, but for its civilization as well. 

In this final message, John Fitzgerald Kennedy left behind a legacy of unfinished work and with it the key to a fresh start. We now have the opportunity to complete what his started. Here’s the vision he intended to make real. 

With the tool of the Quantum Paradigm now in hand, we have the opportunity to universalize his vision. Let us urge all nations to balance strength with restraint, wealth with wisdom, and power with positive purpose. 

Kennedy’s death was a comma, not a period. The ideas expressed in the speech meant to be delivered on the evening of November 22, 1963, the date of his death, can still be realized. 

Parallel to Einstein’s unfinished quest for the Unified Theory, the time is right to pick up Kennedy’s fallen flag and move forward using the Quantum Paradigm as the basis of a common leadership initiative: 

. . . our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to the nation, and, indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom. . . . So let us not be petty when our cause is so great. 

Fifty years later, as he foresaw, not just one nation’s future is at stake. It’s an “all or nothing” challenge. So let’s call on world leaders to do something truly extraordinary. Forsake the conflict-driven quest for personal political power. Put it in the service of an even more powerful and truly worthy goal: human survival. Partner in a leadership initiative to fulfill Kennedy’s vision.  

But don’t just sit back, waiting for politicians to wake up. 

Follow Einstein’s advice.  

Don’t build another human institution, a conglomeration of internally conflicted governments. Instead, build an international community of minds. The internet gives opportunities for connecting across limiting, artificial boundaries that Einstein would never have dreamed possible. 

Bloggers, do your best. Put the pressure of public opinion behind a tidal wave of appeals to nation-shapers, wherever and whomever.  

—– 

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change and Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change. She’s currently working on The Phoenix Response: Dying To Be Reborn – in the Same Lifetime. 

My Dream – 020421

Late Saturday night, the final day of January, I woke up from a vivid dream that asked to be remembered. I picked up the mini-recorder at my bedside to capture the memory, still fresh.

The original dream triggered a flow of thoughts. I kept recording.

The following day, I transcribed the entire flow. There was enough for several posts, even a little book along the lines of What Is the Freedom You Want? or Be Careful What You Dream Of.

For today, I’ll just tell you about that late night dream and my conclusion. I get back to the steps leading from point A to Z later.

In the dream, I had an urgent message for multi-talented, multi-millionaire Patrick Byrne. His well-known mentors include Warren Buffet and Milton Friedman, proponent of school choice — close cousin to the alternative school I credentialed myself to create.

In contrast, we knew my hidden but vastly more attained teacher as, simply, “Old Avatar.”

In the dream, I was sent to warn Patrick of things OA taught me probably outside his teachers’ range of experience. I urged him to understand that good intentions, a steel-trap mind and even a martial arts black belt aren’t enough. Bad guys are broadcasting from the invisible e=energy level of the Life Wheel (called the bardo, dream field, or subconscious) – affecting the masses at an unconscious level. Accordingly, psychic shielding is essential to spiritual warfare.

Unfortunately, schools don’t teach from a paradigm that includes energy dynamics, much less their abuse. Bad guys exploit this blind spot. To prevail, good guys must become more aware and skillful in the full-spectrum of quantum potentials.

My conclusion: 21st century institutional resets across the board all depend upon first restoring the complete, accurate Quantum Paradigm to common public knowledge. All else follows.

Today I’ll ask the Book of Change for feedback on this preliminary paradigm shift. Supporting details will follow in future posts.

PERMANENCE is the original, dynamic answer to today’s basic question, “What is the I Ching’s view of building future institutions consistent with the Quantum Paradigm?”

First I thought, I’ve seen this answer before. Recently. When I checked my notes, all the variables appear in the last two readings, repeating yet again from earlier 2020 posts. But their placements are different, making the immediate answer unique to this question.

In fact, at first the question was more detailed. “Institutions” was qualified to include governments, military, media, schools and healthcare, as well as legal and economic systems. The paradigm was qualified as one which balances reason and compassion with faith.

The starting point of the reading is:

Search for PERMANENCE in the timeless wisdom of all ages. Human events repeat themselves in well-ordered patterns over many generations. Although the actors change, the values they pass on through their examples endure. Nothing of permanent value is ever lost. Live worthy of your heritage. Avoid disrespect for traditions.

My first thought: at the start this shift, we need to recognize there’s no necessary conflict between the Quantum Paradigm and traditional teachings. It’s not an either/or choice. To the extent that Truth is eternal and unchanging, by definition its expressions old and new will confirm and reinforce each other. Only to the extent that they aren’t consistent are choices required.

Here’s an example. The Shema is a three-part Torah command intoned by Jews in synagogue: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

It’s echoed in the triad of the Lord’s Prayer taught by Christ. As I repeat every night, Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.

The same triad repeats as energy centers in Chinese and Sanskrit yogas. In turn, they’re compatible with the variables of Einstein’s formula and with the levels of the archetypal Life Wheel. (Later on, I’ll give you a simple picture to help visualize this unifying theme.)

* * *

Advice of the fourth line reads, “To find what you seek, look in the right place.” This is the converse of poetic I Ching wisdom, “Don’t hunt for deer in a forest where none dwell”

In my dream, I warned Patrick that tangible results on the material 3D surface of the Life Wheel cannot be not changed at the same level. Surface events flow from and are effectively improved upon only from deeper levels of 4D and 5D quantum reality.

As Einstein put it, problems cannot be solved on the same level at which they occur. To expect they could be is a form of insanity.

Put another way, corrupt political/economic practices on the surface, material plane of the Life Wheel are symptoms. The root cause and cure cannot be found except by going deeper. The paradigm which economists like Buffet and Friedman represent does not speak to 1) the e=energy, subconscious level where corruption festers; or 2) still deeper, the c=light, superconscious level from which creative innovations arise.

When advice is heeded and a complete, correct approach to creating institutional structures is accepted, the line changes to Promotion, which reads:

Promotion will come from steady, positive improvement over time. Rising to meet new challenges results in emotional maturity. Advancing on the job puts one in the position to serve those who are in need. Quiet, persistent self-discipline wins the confidence of others. Make the most of opportunities. Avoid hesitation.

Forward motion toward a positive shift will not succeed over night, but is well-worth our consistent, positive action towards this goal.

* * *

Advice of the fifth line reads, “Choose methods by purpose. Visionary projects require creativity and courage.” Quantum theory is not enough. We also need awareness methods and tools for invoking direct experience. Meditation and working with the I Ching are premier practices to this end.

When advice is heeded and balance achieved, the line changes to Inner Strength, which reads:

When difficult situations come to a head, rely on INNER STRENGTH to endure. If it becomes necessary to retreat, do so with courage and self-confidence. Make sure your inner and outer resources are secure. If you must begin a new life, you will have to depend on them. Avoid helplessness.

In geometry, a triangle is the most stable form. This strength is compounded by the intersection of opposite, complimentary strengths.

In the short term, however beneficial the outcome of simplification, it won’t happen quickly or easily. Resistance to the new by entrenched power holders will predictably be fierce and merciless. The courage and strength of solar system, “hara,” lower tan tien . . “true grit”. . . is required in full measure to see us through to the positive results of this blessed paradigm shift.

* * *

When the advice of the changing lines is heeded, Origin is their combined outcome. It reads:

All people thirst to know the roots their ORIGIN. At one level, learning about family and cultural traditions fills this need. At another level, this quest is satisfied by seeking for deeper knowledge. The vitality of all races flows from a single source which never runs dry. Avoid narrow-mindedness.

Right now, the majority are stuck on the narrow-minded surface of the Life Wheel. The prevailing false paradigm prevents humanity from accessing the deepest level for which we all thirst.

It’s like the patient’s picture in Jung’s Alchemical Studies. A bird stands before a closed door in the trunk of a large tree and weeps. The tree is the Tree of Life. The bird is the human spirit. Its soul weeps because it cannot enter.

The quest for fulfillment at deeper levels of the Life Wheel is stuff of the archetypal hero’s journey. Odysseus adventures to find his way home. The prodigal son returns to the father.

As we each repeat the pattern, one person at a time, the larger civilization as a whole will begin to reflect the sum of our individual achievements.

The GREAT RECONCILIATION – 012121

Before sharing the story of Abelard, Heloise, and the Great Reconciliation, let me give you a definition. Though often used carelessly, in fact, Reconciliation is an extraordinarily powerful word. It appears throughout the Bible. It’s infused with quantum implications. The Greek root means CHANGE or EXCHANGE.

We are told, Reconciliation involves a change in the relationship between God and humanity or between humans. After a breakdown in relationship, there is now a change from a state of enmity and fragmentation to one of harmony and fellowship.

Another source says, Reconciliation is bringing again into unity, harmony, or agreement what has been alienated.

Going forward, the Quantum Paradigm which embodies Einstein’s intuited Unified Field Theory is the potential vehicle of the next Great Reconciliation.

In the annals of European history, Abelard and Heloise are remembered, like Romeo and Juliet, as star-crossed lovers.

Historians are well-familiar with the highlights of their story. Abelard, a man of the cloth, was Heloise’s tutor. They became lovers. She got pregnant; their affair was outed. Her uncle exacted poetic justice. Abelard was attacked in the dark of night and castrated. The lovers later exchanged letters, but were never reunited.

The low lights of their story are usually overlooked. In fact, Abelard married Heloise. But to protect his reputation as a cleric, kept it secret. He urged her to take monastic vows. She did so, but only under protest. She felt no calling and made it clear she thought having to live a cloistered life was most unfair.

Their sad history is relevant to the ongoing discussion about the Rules of the Knowledge Game because Abelard went on to distinguish himself as one of the participants in “the Great Debate of the Middle Ages.”

That Great Debate was presented with style and passion in a way that remains indelibly imprinted in my mind. During my Freshman year at Oberlin College, Professor Barry McGill — a tall, pencil thin, bespectacled professor of European History — made a lasting impression.He drilled us on the effect pendulum swings between extremes have had on history.

He emphasized dramatically that ideas have great power to alter the course of people’s lives. Philosophers have a profound effect on the forms governments take and how leaders treat their people.

Long before Hegel wrote about dialectics, which in turn influenced Marx, a triad of medieval scholars – St. Augustine, Abelard and St. Aquinas– completed the classic example of contrasting philosophies regarding what can be known, by whom, and how. (The fancy philosophical word is “epistemology.”)

The importance of this debate cannot be over-stated. When the variables of the formula get too far out of synch, dire historical consequences follow. See: History Repeats Itself – Renaissance or Another Dark Ages?

In the middle ages, St. Augustine sat on one extreme of the philosophical see-saw. Abelard sat at the other. The intellectual world was at odds until St. Aquinas came up with the balancing fulcrum. Professor McGill virtually beamed his approval of the solution to the either/or conflict between science and religion. Historians, he told us, called it The Great Reconciliation.

St. Augustine depended exclusively on his belief in God. In his worldview, knowledge is the result of divine grace. His credo: “I believe that I may know.” Faith in God is prior and necessary to human understanding.

In Life Wheel context, Augustine’s primary reality rested at the center of the Wheel and extended outwards from it to encompass the surface of the physical, manifested world.

Abelard took the opposite approach. Man, he held, depends on observable things and direct experience to acquire knowledge. This approach, taken to the extreme, results in the exclusively materialistic paradigm of research science.

Abelard, however, never denied the existence of God. He believed that experience of the world leads the thoughtful man to deduce the necessary existence of God. In Quantum Paradigm context, he started at the Wheel’s surface and pushed inwards to complete the circuit.

It took St. Aquinas to complete the loop. He concluded there is no significant conflict between the two approaches. Knowing is a two-way street. No matter where you start, each position leads to and completes the other. The center and surface are connected in an infinite loop.

Aquinas said, in essence, “It works both ways. Observing the world leads to faith. Faith leads to effective understanding of the world.”

Allow me to point out a relevant conclusion from the sad story of Abelard and Heloise. Today’s exclusively rational philosophers are as sterile as was he. And Heloise’s feminist counterparts, isolated and cloistered, are equally unfulfilled. Just as yin and yang yearn for unity and the fulfillment of creative balance, so also faith and reason depend upon one another for completion.

As Einstein put it, Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.

At the 11th hour of human history, few people have time to learn much less apply the lessons of history. For the sake of simplicity and immediately useful implementation, the Great Debate’s outcome has been summed up in and illustrated in the form of the multi-dimensional Life Wheel.

Here’s why it is critically important to reconnect the surface with the center of the Life Wheel in an infinite two-way loop, joining the material surface with its innermost source:

The renaissance at the end of the middle ages, first in Italy and later in England represented by Elizabeth I’s Shakespeare, were times of paradigm shifts. The origin of universities took place during this time. The rules were in flux. It was fair game to access both sides of the coin. There was no perceived conflict between faith and reason. The result was a time of creative flowering in both the arts and sciences.

Human survival will depend on whether or not there’s a similar paradigm shift now . . . another reconciliation and reawakening to the full spectrum of human potentials, along with the flowering of creative problem-solving in the face of extraordinarily challenging times.

Collected posts will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon at the end of January, 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

Where Do We Come From? – IC – 101220

October 12th is Columbus Day, an American holiday viewed by many with mixed emotions.

It marks the official date when, in 1492, the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas.

What he set out to do was open a trade route to Asia. Instead, he discovered a whole New World.

In Journal of the First Voyage, Columbus described the three-month journey prior to landing. Crossing the Atlantic in wooden ships, the Nina, La Pinta and Santa Maria, was a harrowing ordeal:

Here the people could stand it no longer and complained of the long voyage . . .

“The Admiral cheered them as best he could,” he wrote. He also told them “it was useless to complain.” His mind was made up. He was determined, with God’s help, to go forward.

Ironically, on Columbus Day 2020, people of the world are again at sea, in the midst of a frightening journey, facing an unknown future, hardly able to stand it.

Now, here’s today’s problem. Americans once identified with Columbus as a national hero. We loved his vision and courage. But as the shadow side of cruelty came to light, we started to doubt our heritage. . . and ourselves.

Indigenous people got the short-end of Spain’s invasion. Should we therefore reject Columbus . . . and our heritage . . . entirely?

Or with compassion, should we shake our heads, knowing that as a law of nature, “Whatever has a front has a back. The larger the front, the larger the back.” Throughout history, the greater the venture, the greater its shadow-side of tragedy.

In duality, there are two sides to every coin. (Let anyone, on any side, who believes they’re exempt from the rule think twice, and then twice again!)

The I Ching solution is to go deeper within the Life Wheel, where all sides dance together as players in a larger story. In truth, our identities don’t depend on historical events, but on the eternal life we share in common.

Last week’s reading, OVERCOMING, offers a way to transcend illusory differences. Inspired music, art, theater and poetry remind us of a deeper origin, beyond race, gender, or nationality:

The harmonizing arts are useful tools for OVERCOMING the forces which block and separate. Inspired music, drama and art express the common light which guides all.

One example of inspired poetry to illustrate the point is Intimations of Immortality. Written by the 19th century poet William Wordsworth, it resonates powerfully with Einstein’s words. The illusion of separateness is like a prison, from which we must get free:

Similarly, the Tao Te Ching gives poetic life to I Ching wisdom:

In 1492, his crew rebelled against the terrible crossing. Columbus however, full of faith in God, was determined to stay the course. In the end, he discovered a whole New World.

Today, 528 years later, at another crossroads, the immediate future is painfully uncertain. However, those who keep the faith and accept the challenge of shifting gears to a higher octave will prevail. Ahead unknown new worlds are waiting to be discovered. The final frontier is within.

The I Ching Reading

Because The Book of Change isn’t taught in schools, it remains unfamiliar. That’s why I’ve chosen to bring the book to you. The goal is to make what was once unfamiliar now familiar.

FLOW is the initial answer to the question, “What should we be aware of today?” It reads:

Follow the natural FLOW of daily events. Swimming against the tide would exhaust your energies and accomplish little. Be realistic about changes which have taken place. Adapt to the present situation. Let others take the lead now. Assist them if possible. Live a quiet and simple life. Avoid stress.

Here, Flow is the extension of BALANCE, the original Fall Equinox reading:

Life flows to establish BALANCE among the basic elements of nature. Opposites clash and find a middle ground. Any imbalance in life will attract the opposite which restores balance. Waste creates want. Selfishness brings bad luck. Therefore, to stay in harmony with nature, remain moderate in all ways. Avoid extremes.

End-stage 2020 is awash in the consequences of extreme imbalance. Extravagant waste of resources — natural, human, and economic — is off-set by increasing poverty. Intensely partisan politics is off-set by escalating murder rates, scary scandals, and illness on every level.

Nature mirrors human imbalance with hurricanes, floods, and raging forest fires.

But resisting hardship makes matters worse. Instead, the I Ching approach to 2020 madness is to accept and adjust.

For those who choose to go with the FLOW, avoiding undue stress, there’s a change. Line 3 warns, “Be firm in separating from weaker elements of the past.”

I take this to mean that the imperialist mentality Columbus brought with him to the New World did not serve anyone well. To move forward into a better future, the separatist illusion of superiority must be left in the past, along with the limited materialist paradigm of empirical science.

Its warning heeded, line three changes to DEPRESSION.

At times when it seems as if one’s resources are exhausted, care must be taken to soften the harmful effects of DEPRESSION. Whether the cause of depression is mental, emotional or economic, do not despair. The time will pass. Use hardship to develop inner strength and calm. Avoid negative thoughts.

I read this in the context of a year when the inevitable consequences of extreme imbalance have reached critical mass. They can’t be avoided. They can, however, be learned from.

For those able to hear, tough times are extending the opportunity to go deep within, discover quantum new worlds of inner strength and light.

Looking forward, DEPRESSION is part of a larger pattern weaving through the rest of 2020. So there’s practical wisdom in choosing to go with the FLOW. Decide right now to make the best of what’s available, turning it to long-term advantage.

Collected posts will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon in January of 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the CSBOC, or extras to give others, click here.

To orderTwo Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

Shifting Gears – IC – 100520

Today’s reading begins where last one ended:

At this crossroads, there’s a choice.

Either we can get sucked into the drama. Play out the anger. Drown in despair.

Or . . . we can use the opportunity of chaotic times to shift gears. Take a deep breath. Go within. Shift our minds to a higher level of consciousness. Change the way we think. Get better results.

The key phrase here is “SHIFT OUR MINDS.” What does that mean? How is it done? If there’s a shift, what are we leaving behind? Where are we headed?

Is a shift – a change in the way we think – really necessary?

Einstein thought so: “You cannot solve a problem from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

This needs unpacking. It’s really important.

***

Q. What problem are we talking about?

A. The problem of human survival. Einstein warned it can no longer be taken for granted. At end-stage 2020, we’re talking about conflict, within and without. Internal fear, anger and hatred is driving explosive external violence, tearing the world apart.

***

Q. At what level of consciousness was this conflict created?

A. On the outer m=mass, material rim of the Life Wheel. Conflict is the result of being cut off from the inner levels, separated from Source.

***

Q. At what level can the problem of conflict be solved?

A. At the innermost levels of intuition (Einstein’s good friend) and Creative Power.

***

Q. How do I get from here to there?

A. It starts with a paradigm shift, first personally, then collectively. Problems can’t be solved without a complete and accurate reality map that shows 1) where problems start and 2) the higher levels of consciousness where the Source of solutions resides.

***

As a matter of human survival, we urgently need to shift the way we think from the exclusively materialistic paradigm of empirical science to the Unified Field paradigm pictured below.

So. Here’s another picture worth 10,000 words. It shows that the called-for shift is one of focus, away from the M=Mass material world of drama and the e=energy level the emotions (fear, anger, and hatred). It’s a shift of attention towards the deeper realms where healing, solace and solutions are found.

So. How do I get from here to there?

Early on, my beloved teacher said it was my choice.“You can make it as easy or hard as you like.”

The easy way is to repent (admit mistakes) and atone (change). Increasing self-awareness with introspective tools, including scriptures and/or the Book of Change, helps. Meditation, especially Joe Dispenza’s dogma-free, science-based approach, is a fast track.

In each case, the purpose is to restore original UNITY to our lives. For this, we need to honor all levels of the Life Wheel. They need to be prioritized, aligned and integrated. Like the gears of a finely tuned mechanical clock designed to tell the correct time, they have to be in synch.

That’s the short story. : )

But then . . . . there’s the hard way. Sadly, it’s the path most often traveled – the fractured one of attachment, denial and resistance.

Another OA story makes the point. It starts with a man who sold a mule, guaranteeing it was a hard worker. But the purchaser returned it, disgusted. Wouldn’t do a thing.

No problem. The seller picked up a 2’x4’ and whacked the mule, hard, right on top of the head. Instantly, it perked up and did whatever it was told.

He chided the purchaser, “All you had to do was get its attention.”

It seems to me that, to get our attention, life is whacking the world with a 2’x4’. . . hard.

Since the vast majority has ignored calls to change that could have been answered the easy way, it’s happening now . . . the hard way.

The I CHING READING

Because we’ve never been taught about The Book of Change, it’s unfamiliar. Along with most of what belongs to the “taboo” inner level of e=energy, its ways remain a mystery, its value forfeit. That’s why I’ve chosen to bring the book to you. Let these bi-weekly readings serve as an opportunity to make what was unfamiliar more familiar.

The answer to today’s question, “What should we be aware of NOW?” is unusual in this way. For the first time in this series, there are no changing lines. OVERCOMING stands unchanged as the consistent, recommended way to Shift Gears:

The harmonizing arts are useful tools for OVERCOMING the forces which block and separate. Inspired music, drama and art express the common light which guides all. Community celebrations remind participants to cooperate in seeking prosperous peace. Rituals celebrating the changes of life affirm the unity of all beings. Avoid isolation.

The vibrations of music evoke and release emotions. Through resonance, inspired art touches and uplifts the soul.

When we immerse ourselves in any kind of creative work, however humble, the inner levels of our personal life wheels open and align.

Music is said to be the easiest, most joyous path to enlightenment. Sufi Inayat Khan (a master musician) wrote:

The art of music has been especially considered divine, because it is the exact miniature of the law working through the whole universe. . .

Exactly. Einstein most certainly experienced this mystery first-hand. He was a violinist, especially attracted to Mozart. When he got stuck, like Sherlock Holmes, he took out his fiddle. Music relaxed him. And inspiration would flow.

Like the I Ching, sacred art that mirrors “the law working through the whole universe” reminds us of our divine origins. It speaks to the universal truths we share in common, but too often forget. Here are variations on the wheels-within-wheels theme of life:

NB. A pattern is forming here. Today’s post builds on earlier ones, systematically, as if it’s all preplanned. Synchronicity at work. I look forward to finding out where it leads next. I hope you do too.

Collected readings will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon in January of 2021.

If you’d like your very own copy of the CSBOC, to answer your unique questions at your own convenience, or want extras to give others, click here.

Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change is a yoga-based version of the Tao Te Ching, the ever popular, poetic and practical expression of IC Natural Law.To order a copy, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

At-one-ment – IC – 092820

Getting ahead of the story again, PEACE is the original outcome of today’s I Ching reading.

It isn’t the peace one usually thinks of, merely the absence of inner conflict or world war.

Far more, it’s the profound joy of wholeness, experienced when we’re deeply at one with ourselves and with the world.

It’s the state of being that arises when the pairs of opposites – yin and yang, heaven and earth, male and female, black and white, mind and body — are harmoniously balanced. This was the vision of seers, described in Hexagram 11:

When the forces of nature

unite in profound harmony,

heavenly PEACE fills the earth.

It’s the perfect message for today . . which “just happens” to be Yom Kippur, the high holy day of atonement. At-one-ment.

Is inner peace actually achievable? If so, how can we reach this blissful state?

Through repentance.

Before you balk, first check out the following definition. By my count, in two brief paragraphs, the key word CHANGE repeats nine times.

Repentance fundamentally means to change your mind about something. It has to do with the way you think about something. You’ve been thinking one way, but now you think the opposite way. That’s repentance — the changing of the mind.

. . . Repentance is a decisive change in direction. It’s a change of mind that leads to a change of thinking that leads to a change of attitude that leads to a change of feeling that leads to a change of values that leads to a change in the way you live.

Now, this isn’t a theological tract. Nor am I a theologian. Nevertheless, the implications are worth considering.

Given the amount of conflict, pain and suffering going on in the world right now, change doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Scientists and psychologists agree that our thoughts and beliefs create our reality. Creating a different, better reality starts with changing how and what we think.

In a world at critical mass, change has become a matter of survival. Einstein put like this:

By definition, atonement involves admitting sins, meaning “mistakes.” Sin is simply missing the mark, being off-target in our thoughts and actions. It’s focusing exclusively on the surface of the Life Wheel, out-of-alignment with the inner levels of experience. It’s being unaware of Source and acting without conscience.

So IF repentance consists of recognizing and correcting mistaken thoughts, words and deeds, THEN the reward of realigning daily experience with the inner levels of the Life Wheel is Wholeness. Unity. Peace, first within, then without.

Hint: working with the Book of Change is an excellent way to start changing the way one thinks. (It certainly was for me!!)

It gives us a practical way to align awareness and actions with the larger reality of the Unified Field.

We’ve not been trained to come to the Book of Change for answers to our deepest questions. That’s why I’m bringing the book to you. Let these bi-weekly readings serve as an opportunity to make the unfamiliar familiar.

The original answer to the question, “What should we be aware of NOW?” is:

Profound peace is the gift of this holy day, Yom Kippur. Heart-felt repentance opens the door to at-one-ment. This option stands in stark contrast to what’s going on in the world right now. The final warning, “avoid disorder,” gives caution to widespread unrest.

Which is probably why today’s Peace doesn’t last; two changing lines result in a very different outcome. In the notebook, the changes look like this:

The changing line in the 3rd place reminds us, “Nothing remains the same.” The familiar world as we knew it, which we mistakenly assumed would last forever, disappeared in 2020. And it’s not coming back.

So we’re warned, “Avoid decay by changing with the time.”

Holding on to familiar beliefs and focusing with regret on what’s been lost is a prescription for suffering.

Our old ways of thinking got us to the point of critical mass. Clearly, familiar beliefs weren’t serving us well. So changing our fundamental beliefs – especially about change itself – is critically important now.

Creating the new, better world we want for ourselves and our children depends, a la Einstein, on improving the way we think.

For those who heed the warning to change with the times, the 3rd line becomes ADVANCE:

Shifting to a complete and accurate paradigm reaps rewards across the board. It’s especially important for leaders to understand this.

Next, the changing line in the 5th position focuses in on leadership. “The way to lead is to serve without pride.”

From long observation, seers knew that leading with ego-driven agendas ends up causing grief for everyone involved. That’s why, in the I Ching world view, leadership is seen in terms of service, not power or control.

For those who adhere to I Ching leadership practices, the 5th line changes to:

Today’s path of repentance and atonement — the one that leads to PEACE — requires clarity, confidence, courage and determination.

Patience is a key virtue in the I Ching armory. Like Peace, it stands in sharp contrast to the fear-and-hate-driven energies tearing the world apart right now. It’s a counterbalance to insanity. Let the practice of calm, kind patience be a healing salve to our gaping wounds.

Finally, the outcome of combining changing lines in the 3rd and 5th places is:

LIMITS brings us full circle back to the blessing of this holy day: At-one-ment: PEACE.

“To find peace within, reduce desires.”

Again, I’m not a theologian. But my first take is that the advice of LIMITS resonates with the teachings of attained seers throughout the ages.

It wouldn’t hurt for you to think through the applications of all this to your own way of thinking, acting, and ultimately, to the feedback you’ve been getting from the Universe.

I’ll be publishing collected readings as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. Look for it on amazon in January of 2021.

If you’d like your very own copy of the CSBOC to work with, to answer your own unique questions at your own convenience, or want extras to give others in need of insight, solace and support, it’s available here. : )

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

Keep It Simple – IC – 092420

I’m going to get ahead of the story by telling you up front: the outcome of today’s reading is WISDOM.

But it’s a very special kind of wisdom. The kind that comes from direct experience.

It’s not about traditional customs. It’s not about the dictates of authority.

It IS about connecting with the inner authority of conscience.

I said as much as early as 1975 in the Introduction to The Common Sense Book of Change:

Those who have become disenchanted with sexist, authoritarian and culture-bound sources of guidance find that The Common Sense Book of Change offers a viable method for getting in touch with the authority of inner conscience.

Between then and now, I’ve discovered a lot about the method in its magic. I intuited the connection between Einstein’s formula and the universal, yogic Life Wheel. This image serves to show how working with the Book of Change links the noisy, everyday mind with its central, eternal Source.

I also became certain that absence of WISDOM is the cause of so much that goes wrong in our lives, despite the best of intentions. We’re never been taught about Natural Law, most especially the Law of Karma. Operating “out of sight, out of mind” in the “taboo,” middle, e = energy level of the Life Wheel, they function as the gatekeeper between ordinary experience and inner conscience.

In Rethinking Survival,” I called this blind spot in public education a “fatal knowledge deficit.” Ignorance of Natural Law has led to the worldwide leadership deficit and related budget deficits.

There are NO comprehensive remedies to 2020’s madness other than returning to Wisdom. You can’t get from here to there except through that middle, energy level of the Life Wheel, the domain of the I Ching.

Since this isn’t the place for detailed explanations, I’ve supplied links to more information.

Before going to today’s reading, however, I will tell you a bit about why I wrote The Common Sense Book of Change and the unique value it offers you.

Countless versions of the I Ching are already out there. However, I had a problem with them. They layer universal laws with cultural agendas. They cloak simple truth in flowery poetic language, esoteric symbolism, and unnecessary sexist assumptions.

To my way of thinking, truly important ideas can and should be expressed with utmost simplicity. Einstein said as much. Occam’s Razor, don’t ya know.

Which isn’t to say the basic book is simple-minded. Quite the opposite. It’s oceans deep. It’s pure science, but in the original meaning of the word, “with knowledge.” Its wisdom is more inclusive than science of the limited, empirical sort.

For example, did you know that the hexagram’s open and closed lines correspond with the lower chakras of the subtle energy body? Or that they preceded calculus and binary-digital computer code?

Or that the Chinese pictogram of the book’s name closely resembles the DNA double helix? In fact, researchers correlate the 64 hexagrams directly with the 64 basic DNA strands.

In combination, these tidbits hint at why the book has had such a powerful affect on human consciousness for eight-thousand years and counting.

But, for most of us, it’s enough just to experience that it works!

So begin with the easy-to-read Common Sense Book of Change. It strips away irrelevant cultural trappings, expressing the essential ideas clearly and simply.

Granted, like other ancient books, it has suffered abuse. Sometimes it’s turned to selfish ends. But it wasn’t meant to be used to get what we want, or find out whether we’ll get it.

It can’t possibly tell us what the future will be. The future hasn’t yet been decided. It can, however, advise on the best ways to prepare for the future, whatever it may hold.

But the basic purpose of the I Ching is to return us to our true selves, to reconnect conscious Awareness with inner Wisdom. It’s pure divination, in the sense of invoking divine presence.

One final thought before proceeding. My teacher long ago warned me. I had a choice. Either write what people want to hear or tell the truth. The first will be popular. The second won’t.

Today, I see a third option. Give readers a user-friendly method for connecting with their own truth. Some will. Others will hear what they want. Either way, the door remains open.

Here’s the progression of the reading. Be warned. Synchronicities abound. : )

With the exception of an additional changing line, today’s reading is IDENTICAL to the 1975 Introduction, where I asked “What does The Common Sense Book of Change have to offer its readers?”

In both cases, the original answer is:

Fascinating!! From the very onset, the CSBOC’s self-introduction included the three variables of the Unified Field Theory: creative source (light), the patterns of natural change (energy) and the end results of linking the levels of the Life Wheel (matter).

The advice of the bottom changing line is, “Narrow-minded self-interest is not enlightened. Broaden your views. Include others.”

I understand it to mean that the universal patterns of nature are eternal. Awareness of them is to be shared; they can’t possibly be the exclusive property of a single group. Hoarding knowledge for personal advantage is a grave mistake. So is denying, defying, distorting or burying it.

The line changes to GAIN, which looks like this:

Now. What’s new to this pattern is an additional changing line in the second position, which results in a different final outcome. The message of the extra changing line reinforces and expands on the first. It reads, “You won’t benefit from using new learning for selfish reasons.”

It changes to:

It highlights the potentially healing effect of the arts in melting selfish resistance and opening hearts to wisdom.

Whereas the 1975 outcome emphasized GAIN, today’s final outcome focuses on the I Ching approach to WISDOM:

In sum: today’s reading reinforces the powerful benefits of increasing AWARENESS. “Human relationships will become smooth.” There will be a flowering of friendships, community, and restored respect for the UNITY of all beings inherent in the Unified Field Theory.

Wisdom honors the unshakable knowledge of inner experience and its gift of compassion.

The potential outcome is PEACE, first within and then without.

Every day the world is becoming more fragmented, chaotic and crazy. More than ever before, we urgently need restore simplicity, wisdom and unity to our lives.

Early in 2021, collected readings will be published as The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future. What better place to announce this than with a reading on WISDOM?!

If you’d like your very own copy of the CSBOC to work with, to answer your own unique questions at your own convenience, or want extras to give others in need of insight, solace and support, it’s available here. : )

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

A Taste of Sanity – IC – 092220

Last night, I felt like tearing my hair out.

I threw my hands up in despair.

“What’s the use? Why bother? I quit!”

Why?

Because the gift I have to offer the world could make the difference between life and death, human survival or mass extinction.

Yet no matter how often I post blogs, trying to get through to the public, they’re ignored. Or glossed over. No comments, likes or shares. The content is too far outside the comfort zone of the familiar.

Again. Why?

It’s because we’re brainwashed. We wear the blinders of empirical science.

By education and ingrained prejudice, we habitually filter out awareness of the inner levels of the Life Wheel, including the energy level upon which the Book of Change depends.

They’re “ruled out.”

Taboo.

In the context of the Unified Field Theory, the limited and limiting materialist world view looks like this:

Sadly, we’ve been rendered deaf to the inner levels of consciousness.

This explains why the vast majority is fiercely resistant to the Book of Change and its magical synchronicities.

Sadly, it also explains why so many remain blind to the extraordinary opportunities for positive change hidden, latent with today’s challenges.

Most of us forfeit the blessings in disguise inherent in today’s chaos: the I Ching way out of madness.

A la Einstein, whose formula fits so perfectly within the archetypal Life Wheel, expecting a positive result from repeated attempts to solve today’s problems with empirical science is INSANE.

It rules out exactly the sub- and super-rational levels of awareness where problems begin and where creative solutions are ultimately found.

Fortunately, thanks to the work of a growing army of authors (notably Wayne Dyer, Joe Dispenza and Marisa Peer), we’re becoming increasing aware that our immediate experience is the result of our thoughts and inner atunement.

As strange as it may sound, the way to change ourselves and our world for the better is to improve our thoughts and beliefs.

Our best hope for the future is to make ourselves whole again. It’s possible to integrate the full spectrum of inner light and energy with the tangible, measurable experience of daily life. Meditation has the potential to open us up, like magic, to the experience of UNITY. Wholeness.

Then, inner peace arises. Relationships become harmonious. We become extraordinarily resilient and inventive.

We’re not trained to come to the Book of Change for answers to our deepest questions. That’s why I’ve chosen to bring the book to you in this series of bi-weekly blogs through to the end of 2020. They’ll serve as an introduction, to make the unfamiliar familiar — a first taste of sanity, if you will.

This morning, I queried my departed teacher. (Today would have been his 62nd birthday.) I wrote how much I love him and dearly miss his physical being. Then I asked what I should be aware of NOW.

The answer spoke to the frustration I felt last night. I’m publishing it here because it speaks to all of us whose hopes and dreams are on hold, whether due to social distancing, economic chaos, natural disasters or relationship upheavals.

The original reading was SHADOW:

The reading was dynamic, with three changing lines. In my notebook, it looked like this:v

The bottom line warns, “Only unselfish motives and moderate actions will meet with success.” It changes to BALANCE, the original hexagram of yesterday’s equinox reading. Given that today, the 22nd of September, is the actual equinox date, I’m smiling at this bit of synchronicity. The repeater confirms yesterday’s message. : )

The third line advises, “Build new habits slowly. Remain calm. Develop constant awareness.”

It changes to RETURN, which looks like this:

The top line offers hope. “Problems will fade. New and better times will come soon.” I can live with that. : ) It changes to BEAUTY, which looks like this:

My beloved teacher was telling me not to look back. No matter how beautiful time spent with him was, dwelling on the past isn’t helpful now. Instead, I should focus on building better times ahead – for all of us.

Surely the same applies to anyone focused on regretting what’s passed.

Finally, the combined result of the three changing lines is ADVERSITY, which looks like this:

ADVERSITY can be read in one or many ways at once, as you choose.

For many reasons, I’ve been under a SHADOW for more than a year. It’s due partly to the fact that the Book of Change remains in obscurity, misunderstood and unappreciated.

This fact has resulted in ADVERSITY, not only for me, but for the world at large.

Today I was advised on the best way to adjust. Accept hardship as a test of fortitude. Regard it as an opportunity to strengthen character. It’s incentive to focus on inner strength – an essential survival quality ruled out by empirical science.

Last night I was in despair. This morning, the final warning of ADVERSITY is straight to the point! AVOID DESPAIR.

The same goes for all of us.

The next installment, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24, will expand on the connection between the Book of Change and the Life Wheel which embodies the Unified Field Theory.

If you’d like your very own copy of the CSBOC to work with, to answer your own unique questions at your own convenience, or want extras to give others in need of insight, solace and support, it’s available here. : )

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

Invitation To Simon

Last night (12-16-19), reading through Simon Sinek’s recently published The Infinite Game gave me the hope, even confidence, that he has both the nobility of soul and common sense to welcome and actually champion my complimentary book, You Are Already Enough! How Would Your Life CHANGE If You Really Believed It?

I’m extending an open hand to him, as well as to James P. Carse, whose Finite and Infinite Games inspired Simon’s book. This is how I expressed the invitation in emails sent earlier today:

Hi Simon and Mighty Team! The archetypal Life Wheel (Golden Circle) is at the heart of my work. To your vision I contribute yoga sutras, quantum theory and (YES) the intuited Unified Field Theory (consciousness factor included) which Einstein already had, though didn’t know it. Balanced with your work, mine has the potential to alter the direction of history in a positive direction. I am not on Facebook. So I will post a blog – Invitation to Simon – on my website – https://RethinkingSurvival.com – with details. It’s not a rival approach, but rather an urgently necessary compliment in need of champions! All best. Pat West

Everyone is welcome to check out the detailed description of the Life Wheel offered Here.

However, below, I will let a few of variations of the Life Wheel stimulate your imaginations. Hint: The positive applications and benefits of accepting it whole were foreseen by Buckminster Fuller.

Here, for example, is the Life Wheel applied to unified Cooperation versus superficial Competition. It pictures the Why, How and What levels of the Golden Circle as well as their equivalents expressed as the variables of Einstein’s formula: mass, energy and light.

Survival

In that picture, I refer to the integrated, Unified Field Theory as our Hope for the Future. That is no small or empty claim.

Another variation places yogic energy centers within the quantum field of experience. The lowest centers correspond with the physical body, the m = mass level of the Wheel. The middle centers fit within the e = energy level. They have to do with e-motions. The heart. As you go higher, the throat center correlates with verbal intelligence. Going higher still along the scale towards the c = light level is intuition.

10. Energy Centers within Life Wheel

Energy center distinctions are important. Every level of perception plays an important part in overall awareness. However, intuition is of a higher order than a gut feeling. Enlightenment is qualitatively different from heart-felt desires.

A final suggestive image pictures what happens when empirical science rules out the inner levels of experience – those which can’t be observed, measured, and quantified. We’re left experiencing our lives as a hollow, empty shell.

Feelings and conscience don’t cease to exist, however. Rather, they’re driven underground. I call the dynamic “fracture.” In The Infinite Game, Simon describes the consequences of fractures as splits, and observes how the dynamic ruins business organizations.

14. Fractures & Epidemics

So here’s my invitation. For the future well-being of all, let’s join forces to tip the balance in favor of cooperation over competition, to restore wholeness and fulfillment over fractured self-destructiveness.

Rethinking SURVIVAL

Today’s post is written with a wink and a nod towards the venerable Bruce Lipton, who confirmed through science what the ancients earlier believed about our eternal spirit.

I’m winking because I totally empathize with the frustration you experienced, being ahead of your times, virtually unheard for decades. The good news is, however long it took, the public is finally getting there.

Being in my 74th year, I too have waited a long time, the patient custodian of work with the potential to alter the outcomes of our extreme times. This work augments yours.

I’m nodding towards you here, thinking perhaps getting your attention could make a difference in whether this vitally important work finally sees the light of day.

The stakes could not be higher, so here’s my best shot. But not to worry. I’ll keep it simple and interesting, so the taste of this sample leaves you wanting more.

My point has three parts:

  • Part One describes your discovery and how it validates ancient wisdom – in particular, Lao Tze.
  • Part Two looks forward towards the work I could bring to the table. It complements both empirical science and ancient wisdom – in particular, the Life Wheel which embodies Einstein’s Unified Field Theory. (Yes, though unawares, he had, in fact, received it.)
  • Part Three looks at apparently contradictory definitions of “survival.” I place them in the context of the Life Wheel, the better to confirm that part of us which never dies, and, further, to suggest how best to use that knowledge to regenerate ourselves and in the process, create a better future.

Phoenix - sized

Part One. Here, in your own words, transcribed from a 2015 Youtube video, “A Message of Love,” is the story of your transformational discovery:

The most profound teachers I ever sat before . . . were so magnificent that I can’t fully put [their lessons] into words. Who were those teachers? They were the cells that I was working on in a petri dish. Talking to them. Watching them, day-by-day. Seeing how they lived. And then opening to the message.

That message?

They showed me from my point of view and my reference to life, that there was something called “spirituality” that I didn’t know existed. . . . And the moment I saw the mechanics of how a signal from the universe comes into my body-suit, my virtual reality suit. . . There was this instant of recognition. I said, “Oh my God! I can’t die!”

The result:

It was an OWNING of spirit. . . And the moment I owned it, a weight I never even knew I was carrying around . . . whoosh . . . disappeared. Because I became free for the first time to recognize I’m here for something other than my [mundane] life. I’m going to own who I AM. I’m a spirit that has come to this planet to experience and to create and to manifest heaven on earth.. . It’s an understanding that it’s all driven by love.

Now, in the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tze repeatedly confirms what you experienced as our inherent immortality. For example, Passage 16 describes the creative process:

16 quote

Conscious life continues on, rooted in a reality larger than a single lifetime. Passage 54 tells us:

54 quote

Passage 33 urges us to be steadfast in our experience of eternal life:

33 quote

Even further, when meditators intentionally pierce the veil of illusion, traveling back through and beyond time and space, they are, as Dr. Joe Dispenza puts it, “reborn in the same life time.”

Or, in your words:

I now have two lives. I have previous learning life. Struggle, anger, control, trying to fix everything. And I have post experience. A calmness. An understanding that it’s all driven by love. Even if other people can’t see through their filters of criticism, they’re still driven by love. Every one of you is a piece of all that IS. Every one of you!

The first Passage from my version, Two Sides of a Coin, gives words to the way ancients experienced travel beyond time:01

Tai Chi Tu

Part Two. Now, how do we identify and connect with that unchanging source, the “unified center achieved in stillness” of which Lao Tze speaks? Where is it located? Within us? Outside and all around us? Both?

To quote myself:

In working with wisdom traditions, I’ve become certain that each is striving to express a particular aspect of a single, unnameable Truth. Further, each is a mosaic piece of a larger picture. When the pieces are put together, the sum is greater than its parts.

The Positive Paradigm of Change adapted from the Life Wheel is that larger picture. It draws from wisdom traditions, both East and West. It is consistent with biblical teachings and the essence of I Ching philosophy. It is yoga-compatible. In addition, it’s equally compatible with modern science.

In Rethinking Survival, the Positive Paradigm of Change is described as:

. . . . a new, inclusive reality map, one people worldwide can easily comprehend and agree upon. It is equally compatible with scriptures and science, bridging the gap between them. It fulfills Einstein’s intuited search for the Unified Field Theory, picturing how all parts of creation are related, interwoven and interdependent.

Working with the Positive Paradigm empowers the “substantially new manner of thinking,” which, Einstein said, is necessary “if mankind is to survive.”

It looks like this:

Unified Field Theory

The Positive Paradigm wheels-within-wheels model consists of concentric circles around a common center. It places the three variables of Albert Einstein’s famous formula, e = mc2 (energy, mass and light) in a two-directional, infinite continuum.

This Synthesis Wheel mirrors the microcosmic structure of atoms as well as the macrocosmic structure of planetary systems. On the largest scale of magnitude, it reflects the in- and out-breaths of perpetually expanding and contracting universes.

This familiar structure repeats smallest to largest in the patterns of nature, from snow flakes and intricate flowers to spiders’ webs and sea shells. Similar patterns repeat worldwide in the art of every culture — including the prayer wheels of Native Americans, the colored sand mandalas of Tibetan Buddhists, the stained glass windows of European cathedrals and the intricate geometrical patterns covering Muslim mosques. They offer proof of the universal awareness of a central inner reality, of an inner structure common to all humanity, and to a continuity of experience deeper than individual lives or transitory cultures.

Elsewhere, I’ve described its value thusly:

This Wheel of Change is a paradigm, meaning a worldview. It offers a positive alternative to the prevailing, dysfunctional paradigms which cause so much misery. It is an inclusive reality map that accords with the way life truly is, showing the full spectrum of human potentials. It explains how the world works, how the individual fits into it, and what is required to truly survive.

Unlike exclusively materialistic, atheistic, hedonist or religionist paradigms, all levels of experience are present, and in balanced, aligned relationship with each other. Nothing is missing. Nothing is out of place.

This paradigm pictures an elegantly simple yet complete reality map that meets the standard of Occam’s razor: maximum inclusiveness with greatest simplicity.

I explain the levels, with this caveat:

Yoga scriptures correlate the three levels of the Wheel with three different states of consciousness. Most of us experience the states of waking, sleep and dreamless sleep separately. However, it is possible to experience the entire continuum simultaneously while remaining fully conscious.

In the terms of modern brain science, this is accomplished by not only integrating functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, but by simultaneously coordinating the full span of vibrational brain wave frequencies from fastest (beta) to slowest (delta). The fully enlightened sage’s experience of linking the levels is called “turyia.” In that state, a highly accomplished being is said to be “here and there at the same time.”

The concentric circles aren’t literally separate and discrete. Rather, they are a continuum along the infinite spectrum of creation. Within each layer are numerous distinctions verified only by direct experience. For the sake of the following discussion, however, the three levels are described as if discrete, starting from the surface of the Wheel and moving inwards.

And with that said, here are the three states:

m = mass. The outer rim of the circle is the realm of the material, manifested world of creation. This level is the abode of empirical science which measures tangible, measurable things. It is the plane of duality, the fluctuating ebb and flow of mortal life, the ups and downs of daily experience.

It is the realm into which public school education too often squeezes and flattens children. This is the level of which Einstein said, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”

Those focused excessively here are unduly attached to material possessions as well as to money, social status and institutional power. Here appearances are more important than substance. Saving face replaces authentic virtue.

Paradoxically, out of balance, abundance on the material plane seems to foster an insatiable sense of lack. Limited connection with the center breeds insecurities and greed. The infinite variations on the same eternal forms are misconstrued as grounds for cultural conflict and competition for illusory supremacy.

When people live primarily on the surface, with the middle (primarily “unconscious”) level clogged and in conflict, systems break down. Attempting to fix problems caused by this inner turmoil at the superficial level can not achieve any lasting, qualitative improvement.

e = energy. Much ignorance, misinformation and confusion surrounds the energy level of the Wheel. The state of chaos into which the world has degenerated attests to this deficiency, as well as the urgent need to correct it.

The middle level is the domain of Natural Law mapped in the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Change. These changes are the energetic underpinnings of the dynamic, physical world, experienced as the recurring cycles of seasonal change, as well as humans cycles of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.

The middle layer is the realm of less tangible but still measurable states of energy, including electricity. More subtly, it is the chi, ki or prana described in Asian traditions as the life force which animates all living beings. In Greek and Christian contexts it correlates with the breath, the psyche.

These subtle energies influence internal [most often ‘unconscious’] psychological states and drive external human behavior, which in turn affects social relationships. A clear understanding of these dynamics is essential to personal survival.

Now, as you’ll recall, I earlier asked, “How do we identify and connect with that unchanging source, the “unified center achieved in stillness” of which Lao Tze speaks? Where is it located?”

The answer rests deep within the levels of “Light” and “Source of Light” at the central hub of the Wheel:

c = light. The hub of the wheel, the Source of Light, is innermost state of being. It is silent yet fertile, that from which all forms emanate and to which all return. It is the alpha and omega, the ultimate and exclusive source of infinite light and power.

Merging with this all-encompassing source of consciousness is what scriptures refer to, quite literally, as “enlightenment.”

The deepest center is the original seed of life from which creative solutions and new beginnings emerge in answer to the prayers and sincere efforts of those who hear and do. It’s the unfailing source, deeper than ephemeral fears, which gives survivors the inner strength to withstand the sudden shocks and catastrophic changes of Titanic times.

The experience of light is described with worlds like inspiration, intuition or guidance.

Unlike the levels of mass and energy, which can be described at length from experience, the center of light is best honored in silence. Or at least as few words as possible.

0 Hush

Here’s just one example of the myriad ways the Life Wheel is adapted to picture deep understanding. It plugs Passage One into the levels of the Wheel, depicting Lao Tze’s travel away from previous life learning – struggle, anger and control on the outer rim of the Life Wheel – towards the innermost, post-experience of supreme calm.

Inward-pointing arrows trace the path of release; outward-pointing arrows point towards physical manifestation. In the words of the biblical God of Moses, this repetitive, full-circle dynamic is spoken as a command: “Return unto me and I return unto you.”

II-8 rev

Way cool, huh!

Part Three. At the outset, I promised to look at apparently contradictory definitions of “survival” by placing them in Life Wheel context. Briefly, it’s important to rescue the word from the negative context of stress. Survival emotions are counterproductive. However, survival also means to continue to exist through dangerous situations, to live when death seemed imminent. It can be associated with being alive and enduring. Viable ancient customs and beliefs, for example, are said to survive through the ages.

The ongoing concern of this website, RethinkingSurvival.com is based on this premise:

Human survival, Einstein warned us, can no longer be taken for granted. Tipping the scales of history in favor of survival depends on freeing ourselves from the mental prison of limited, delusional thinking.

Again, quoting myself:

Chances of success in life are slim to none without an accurate reality map. It’s imperative to have a complete picture of your potentials along with a correct understanding of the world around you, and what’s required to survive in that world. Basing decisions on a worldview that’s distorted, incomplete or otherwise out of synch with the way things really are seriously diminishes chances of survival. In times as dangerous as these, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re operating on complete and correct information.

To the point, just briefly, I’ll introduce the Fifth Axiom derived from the Positive Paradigm. “History Is Neither Progressive or Linear, Nor can Human Survival Be Taken for Granted.”

The final Corollary E: An apparent death sentence makes time remaining all the more precious. In biblical terms, awareness of impending disaster is motive and opportunity to repent (meaning to change one’s heart and ways), and to atone (meaning to realign – be ‘at one’ – with the center), using the gift of whatever time is left gratefully, wisely and well.

Some will actually defy medical/historical prognosis and survive to carry on, whether it be here, in other dimensions or even different universes. (Science fiction fans of TV’s two-hearted, regenerating time traveler Dr. Who are well-acquainted with these possibilities.)

CONCLUSION

Bruce, your time has arrived. You get to travel the world, sharing your insights. I’d love to do the same. But mine has yet to come. The I Ching, the super-ancient foundation of Lao Tze’s wisdom, has yet to be reintroduced, refurbished, for survivors who urgently need access to the cosmic clock. Its 64 hexagrams (does that non-coincidental number make you think of DNA?! ), and each of the six-level AC-DC, binary-digital constructs are a short-hand representing the dynamic interactions amongst the six primary energy centers. . . tons of information is stored here like buried treasure to be recovered through diligent re-search. (Understatement.)

But, just maybe, my reaching out to a fellow early-adaptive thinker might change that. After all, within the quantum field of God, all things are possible!

N.B. I’ve already written a post for your compadre, Gregg Braden. On the drawing board is another, on Creativity and Genius, favorite words of another amigo, Joe Dispenza. So is a final one, The Universal Pattern.

Ripples in Time

 

 

Psychology’s Blind Spot

 

Jordan B. Peterson’s finest moment (from my point of view) came in his answer to the last question of the lecture’s Q & A session. He came very close to touching on the tradition which explains his mystical experience as well as Jacob’s dream. Almost.

People who are interested in grand narratives have pointed out that there’s a set of common mythological themes across many cultures. They can be the same on one level, different on another. But humanity coalesces on what’s the same over a reasonable period of time.

. . . there’s this constant force [literally, energy structure] that makes our ethical presuppositions converge. And then that’s automatically expressed in those stories.

In one way, he is correct. But in another, significant way, not. Stories take on the images of each specific culture. In that way they are different. What they share in common, however, is not myth or archetype but SCIENCE, meaning “with knowledge.” Jacob’s ladder is certainly a striking example.

Lacking this universal, underlying science, humanity cannot be properly, completely understood. Psychologies remain incomplete and inaccurate. They have grievous blind spots.

Put another way, Huston Smith, premier comparative religion teacher and advocate of what he calls “timeless wisdom,” wrote:

Twenty years ago I wrote a book, The Religions of Man, which presented the world’s enduring traditions in their individuality and variety. It has taken me until now to see how they converge. . . .

What then emerges is a remarkable unity underlying the surface variety. When we look at human bodies, what we normally notice is their surface features, which of course differ markedly. Meanwhile on the insides, the spines that support these motley physiognomies are structurally very much alike.

It is the same with human outlooks. Outwardly they differ, but inwardly it is as if an “invisible geometry” has everywhere been working to shape them to a single truth.

This “invisible geometry” is literally the snake-like intersections of energy pathways crisscrossing and intersecting along the spine. They link the seven centers in a pattern strikingly similar to the DNA double-helix represented in the Caduceus, the healing staff of the winged-messenger god Mercury, familiar now as the symbol of modern medicine.

 

Ancient Himalayan sages mapped the internal energy transformers knows as chakras (“wheels).” Know how to activate them, they taught. You’ll experience enlightenment.

. . . Though recorded in ancient scripture, sages experienced vibrant spinning wheels of energy in deep meditative states as a fact of inner reality. Their reports are not the same as poetic symbolism, mythology or parable. Chakras exist as literal fact, integral to quantum inner life as an experience which can and has been replicated by countless practitioners over time.

Chakras are key to personal growth and psycho-spiritual evolution.

Genuine transformation can’t be accomplished by mental speculation or acts of sheer will power. It occurs in the deeper layers of the Life Wheel which have, disastrously, been made taboo in Western civilizations.

Einstein called this blind spot “the fateful fear of metaphysics.” The fateful-fear of self-awareness comes in its train, sometimes justified, most often times NOT.

Descriptions of heaven’s gates opening and unfolding lotus flowers which Dr. Peterson experienced in dream state come straight out of the ancient Vedas. The seventh chakra located above the head is described as a Thousand Petaled Lotus. To mystic vision, it looks something like this:

crown chakra x 4

Seven basic chakras are aligned along the human spine and within the skull. In ascending order, each is associated with an increasingly more sophisticated state of consciousness and related emotional/psychological issues. Musicians correlate them with the tones of the scale; artists with geometrical shapes and colors of the spectrum.

The 7th or crown chakra is located at the top of the head and is related to the induction of spiritual energy into the body. Said to control every aspect of the body and mind, it is associated with full enlightenment and union with God. This chakra is normally not fully opened in most humans, although pictures of saints and other spiritual beings with”halos” are depictions of activated crown chakras.

Here’s a picture of all seven, putting the heavenly ruling seventh center in context:

chakras

In the creative process, the non-physical precedes and drives the physical. Western physicians psychologists greatly would benefit from understanding the correlations of each subtle energetic center with equivalent mental and biological conditions.

Put the other way, lacking this foundation, their understanding of human nature is incomplete. Seriously skewed.

The other six are briefly described:

  • The 1st or root chakra, located at the base of the spine, is involved with the physical process of elimination and the organs that work involved in that function. It is the chakra associated with the emotional energy of survival, as well as with grounding to the physical plane.
  • The 2nd or sacral chakra is located about three inches below the navel. This chakra corresponds to sexual energy and the reproductive organs. It is also associated with creativity and intrinsic life force.
  • The 3rd or solar-plexus chakra is located at the navel and several inches above. Its energy is associated to digestion and the digestive organs, personal power, and self mastery.
  • The 4th or heart chakra it located in the center of the chest. On the physical level, it corresponds with the lungs and heart. On the emotional level, it expresses as the energy of compassion.
  • The 5th or throat chakra is located in the throat area, at the base of the neck. It is the center with communication, speech, and hearing. The ears are associated with this chakra, as well as the vocal apparatus.
  • The 6th or brow chakra is located in the center of the forehead, between and slightly above the eyes. Often called “the third eye,” it is associated with imagination and psychic abilities, along with mental activity and brain function.

Each center represents a stage in human evolution. As consciousness grows and ascends to higher levels of awareness, human potentials expand. In an equitable world, people are allowed to live and serve according to their level of consciousness. Qualifications for leadership roles rightfully depend more upon inner awareness than IQ.

A lateral view of chakras aligned along the spinal column reflects the qualitative differences in focus of awareness amongst well-known  psychologists.

invisible geometry sized

From Quantum Paradigm perspective, the chakras align with the levels of the Life Wheel like this:

As written earlier:

. . the Western way of ignoring the reality and influence of chakras makes life’s journey far more difficult than need be. But it doesn’t cause them to cease to exist. Despite scientific prohibitions, most of us still have glimpses of transcendent experience, whether in dream state or through the arts.

For example, music moves us because its resonant sound sets the chakras in sympathetic vibration. Inspired music has a healing, uplifting affect on the nervous system, the emotions, and the soul. It is not coincidence that the seven notes of the Western chromatic scale correspond with the vibratory rates of the seven major chakras. Indian ragas intentionally draw on chakra correlations to soothe emotions or uplift the spirit. In the West, similar effects of inspired music have been described as The Mozart Effect.

In addition, the (albeit too-often unconscious) effect of the chakras on human experience is particularly strong in the symbolic, visual arts –the full spectrum from fashion and home-making to interior design, architecture and fine arts. This in due in large part to the fact that the chakras are associated with geometric shapes, as well as with the rainbow colors of the light spectrum.

closing

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change and Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change. She’s currently working on The Phoenix Response: Dying To Be Reborn – in the Same Lifetime. 

Life is Eternal

In JBP at his best, I wrote “A great deal of suffering comes from ignorant fear of death. Many have been deceived into doubting the existence of the immortal structure that supports the mortal frame.”

Here, due to time constraints, it must suffice to expand on my meaning by drawing from earlier work. In Contemplation of Mortality, I quoted from Essay 2 on DEATH.

Dying patients went through the five stages, but then after “we have done all the work we were sent to Earth to do, we are allowed to shed our body, which imprisons our soul like a cocoon encloses the future butterfly,” and . . . well, then a person had the greatest experience of his life. — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, The Wheel of Life

I continue:

Webster’s definition of death is the act or fact of dying — the permanent ending of all life in a person, animal or plant. Personified, death is pictured as the grim reaper, a hunch-backed, black-robed skeleton wielding a scythe. The term refers to extinction, as in the death of hope.

These definitions, however, represent an extreme cultural bias with important effects on behavior. They reflect the materialistic belief that the physical is all there is. When the body fails, there is nothing else. There is no essence which survives to travel on.

The I Ching embodies a more inclusive, comprehensive view. Like the learned amongst most ancient cultures, Chinese sages regarded birth and death as natural changes, complementary stages of an ongoing cyclical life process.

Sages continue to regard death not as extinction, but the culmination of a winter season most wisely spent preparing for the coming spring. They teach that a soul, having learned the lessons and completed the work of one life cycle, separates from its used up shell. The shell, once the spirit moves on, collapses. The life essence, however, simply migrates, possibly to take on another form.

Further:

Fear is the natural outcome of limited materialistic beliefs equating the end of physical life with total extinction. Those who experience the True Self as immortal and indestructible are not plagued by fear of mortality. No doubt the courage and solace which sustained Socrates as he calmly accepted his death sentence — not as an escape, but an affirmation of principle — came from the depth of his soul awareness.

book header bird

Also to the point are the following sections from Rethinking Survival. The first is “Higher Love, Unity and Inclusiveness.” The other is “The Mystery of Death and Rebirth.”

Higher Love, Unity and Inclusiveness

The Positive Paradigm Wheel is the image of wholeness and completion: Higher Love. It pictures the inclusiveness which Campbell and Einstein believed essential to planetary survival. All parts are present, each in right relationship to the others. No part of life’s experience is lacking. No part is distorted or out of place.

This is the harmonious unity each one of us, by birthright, has the potential to experience. Poets describe the joining of the center with the surface as the Marriage of Heaven and Earth.

Given today’s paradigm malfunctions, the bliss of Higher Love seems like a distant dream. Yet we each have memories, however distant, mirrored in our art and sacred symbols. The mandalas and stained glass church windows are just a few of the countless examples. We each have persistent longings for “home” and romance that remind of us of what’s possible.

These longings are captured in the often quoted “Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.” The 19th century English poet William Wordsworth lamented the socialization process that represses early awareness of divine origin:

Wordsworth

Like Wordsworth,  Einstein had glimpses, notably at the beginning and at the very end of his life. As chronicled by Walter Isaacson:

The great awakening that happen in childhood are usually lost to memory. But for Einstein, an experience occurred when he was 4 or 5 that would alter his life and be etched forever in his mind:

The catalyst of this lasting impression was a compass his father gave him. He remembered trembling and growing cold in excitement, awed by the “mysterious powers” of a magnetic needle that behaved as if influenced by a hidden force field. As he recalled later, “Something deeply hidden had to be behind things.”

inner-compass-sized

At about the same time, his mother introduced to him to music. It awakened awe before the magic and mystery of nature. “Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe itself,” Einstein wrote.

For him, “love [of music] is a better teacher than a sense of duty.”

Phoenix - sized

The Mystery of Death and Rebirth

The yin-yang mysteries of life and death apply to experience on every level, from the individual, to families, nations and even planets.

. . . “The strange thing about growing old,” Einstein wrote, “is that the intimate identification with the here and now is slowly lost. One feels transposed into infinity . . . ”

In the year before his death, commenting on the passing of colleague Michele Besso, Einstein wrote, “He has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. It means nothing.”

Making an observation that could have come directly from the Yoga Sutras, consistent with the Positive Paradigm, he consoled Besso’s family, “For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubborn illusion.”

It is said that in the middle ages, Carmelite nuns retired to their cells each night to sleep inside the wooden casket in which, when they died, they would be buried. Taken out of context, this may seem morbid. But in fact, they had it right. They were aligning themselves with the patterns of nature, the better to ultimately survive them. For each in- and out-breath repeats the cycle of release and renewal. Each night that we sleep, we let go of bodily awareness and return refreshed the next day.

On every scale of magnitude, the pattern is the same. Paradoxically,survivors who have released unfounded fears of death are freed to live to the full, here and how.

Lao Tze’s work, which breathes I Ching wisdom, illumines this paradox. He describes the relationship between the Creator and creation in the first passage of the Tao Te Ching. From Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change:

Unmanifest and manifest are two sides of a coin, seamlessly joined, though apparently opposite.

Entering this paradox is the beginning of magic.

Figure II.8 shows what this vision looks like when the words are properly placed within the Positive Paradigm Wheel. To the uninitiated who live exclusively on the surface of the Wheel, the eternal may seem illusive. However, the inner vision necessary to accomplish goals is found only by daring to let go of the familiar surface to travel true home to the center from which blessings then flow outward.

In the words of the God of Moses, “Return unto me, and I return unto you.”

In Passage 16, Lao Tze goes even further:

16

Here, the sage not only repeats the vision of the hero’s journey. He also describes the methods of the journey — the meditative practice of stilling the mind and emptying the heart, followed by contemplation from the detached observer’s perspective. He also describes the consequences of failing to complete the life pattern and the blessings of succeeding.

The ignorant, through inattention and willfulness, generate misfortune, pain and suffering. Those who attain the source, however, (usually with the guidance of an enlightened teacher) achieve the overview which leads to acceptance, compassion and omniscience. Those who survive intact, merge with the eternal source and begin anew, like the New Adam and Christ in The New Testament.

Preparation makes the difference, deciding who is most likely to survive coming transitions, emerging better than before through the experience. Here is the root of Positive Change:

I Ching # 49. CHANGE. Day and night replace each other in endless cycles of CHANGE. The same natural law generates flux in human events. The unprepared see Change as a threat, but the well-prepared face the unknown calmly. They know that after degeneration reaches critical mass, regeneration follows. Welcome the new. Avoid short-sighted fear.

Angel Calling

A Magical Day

magic

Did you ever have a magical day – one that stands out amongst the countless miracles that abound, most often unnoticed and unappreciated, in the midst of daily life?

Today offered one of those rare and precious times for me, bringing up basic life questions important to us all – about the quality of life and very purpose for surviving.

So I’ll share with you what happened and why, in the seemingly endless blur of discouragements and doubts, it shone like a confirming ray of hope, strengthening my resolve to complete the book now listed on CreateSpace as The Phoenix Response.

Today’s story begins, once again, by connecting the dots between two seemingly ordinary events leading to an extraordinary outcome.

The Longevity Book by Cameron Diaz sparked the first. My eyes halted over it while scanning the bestseller bookshelf at Walmart. The hunch flashed that it had an important message for me. I should look into it.

The second was triggered by the first. I thought back to my grandmother, Ellie West, who gave up a promising singing career to marry my grandfather, Hubble.

Late in her life, Ellie told me about the day he proposed. During a walk in the local park, he stopped in front an enormous sun dial set in granite and pointed to the attached plaque. Engraved onto the metal were the words of poet Robert Browning. “Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be.”

It won her heart.

As she described the event, now white-haired and ill, she shook her head. If not cynical, she seemed at best remorseful. For her, life hadn’t turned out the way the poet promised.

Until today, however, I hadn’t thought carefully about her disappointment. Although I remembered the first two lines of the poem, I’d forgotten the name of the poet and never knew the context of those lines, much less the name of the poem from which they came.

Nor had I wondered what she hoped living to old age would be like, or how and why her expectations were left unfulfilled.

Thinking further on these things now brought magical gifts that answered doubts as to my own future directions.

With a little effort, I recovered the poet’s name, the context of the lines and the poem’s name.

The first stanza of Robert Browning’s poem begins:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith “A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!”

I also searched out a link to the complete poem in which the stanza appears, Rabbi Ben Ezra

This, of course, led to further questions, as well as an Aha! Who was Rabbi Ben Ezra? When did he live? How are his personal story and life work relevant to us now? More specifically, how does his history and Browning’s poem matter to my immediate question – whether or not to complete The Phoenix Response?

Long story short, the good Rabbi – born and died in in northern Spain, 1089-1167 – distinguished himself as a poet, philosopher and astrologer. Between earliest and end years, persecuted for his beliefs, his restless wanderings took him through North Africa, Israel, Italy, England and France.

His ideas outlasted him to influence Browning. Remarkably, the longer poem is interspersed with phrases that could as easily have been drawn from my own writing: I see the whole design, Perfect I call Thy plan.

There is a hint of the phoenix legend: Leave the fire ashes, what survives is gold.

And a foreshadowing of Christ’s enduring presence throughout human history:

Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure:
What entered into thee,
That was, is, and shall be:
Time’s wheel runs back or stops: Potter and clay endure.

Not only are there references to a divine Potter and “earth’s wheel” but actually, in conclusion, the WHEEL of LIFE itself. He names the very image (Platonic Idea, meme, archetype – call it what you will) that serves as the substantive foundation of the Positive Action response.

The poem concludes:

My times be in Thy hand!
Perfect the cup as planned!
Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same!

At first reading, I cannot begin to fully understand this poem, much less the philosophical works which inspired it. The writing is complex and terse — more than a little bit difficult. But this much seems clear. There is a succession of ideas being handed down through the generations. Each writer starts up where the last left off, competes the next piece, and hands the work forward for another generation to pick up and continue.

I was comforted to think that my work is interwoven within a larger pattern, connected in the world of ideas with forerunners. Surely I am linked with a larger whole and charged with contributing to the evolution of an ongoing heritage.

On a personal level, Grandma Ellie handed down her unfinished aspiration for me to take the next step. John Philip Sousa auditioned and invited her to travel as a soprano soloist with his band during their European tour. Because she decided to marry instead, she saw in my life the completion of her early aspirations. She was delighted when she heard that I was studying and performing as a violinist in Europe.

And just as Grandma Ellie left me unfinished work to complete, so my writing on holism and the Life Wheel may fulfill fellow violinist Albert Einstein’s heartfelt desire. He intuited the existence of a Unified Theory. Ironically, he’d already received it, but lacked the yogic training to recognize it for what it is:

IF

Returning, however, back to the first strand — the book that sparked this line of thought. Diaz’s best-seller  promises to address a holistic life view. Its description claims: “The Longevity Book offers an all-encompassing, holistic look at how the female body ages —and what we can all do to age better.

There’s so much that could be better accomplished by applying the multi-dimensional Life Wheel model to the claim of being” all-encompassing.” This includes the concept of Einstein’s beloved compass and his call for compassion. For those unfamiliar with the work to which I’m referring or who would like a reminder, here’s a link to bring you up to speed on The Positive Paradigm.

Among reviews, I found a comment supporting my first take that The Longevity Book begs for a sequel – one which I’m eminently qualified to supply. The Phoenix Response fills many gaps crying out for completion. As the reviewer points out, Diaz wrote one book for young women, and now this second for those entering middle age.

The reviewer’s Re line states “Wish she would have taken it to a woman’s age when she’s elderly.” The comment continues “There are so many things mothers did not tell daughters that many of us in our 60’s, 70’s and 80’s have had to find out on our own – sadly.”

My basic message for everyone, up to and including baby-boomers of both genders: it’s never too late. It’s not over til it’s over. Even for those of us who’ve let go of self-care and are now paying the price, there’s always a second chance. There’s always the Phoenix Response of regeneration – going back to the magical creative process of genesis embodied in the Life Wheel.

With this knowledge, it’s possible for self-healers to repair not only original the DNA of the physical body, but also the more subtle pattern of the soul, restoring wholeness by healing literally — as the infinity pattern shows — from the inside out.

So yes, without a doubt. Not only is this work dearly needed. The way for it is actually being paved and readiness created.

So – I’m especially grateful for life-confirming days like this one when the ever-present magic speaks with exceptional clarity.

So my best wish for you is the same. May you have a magical day as well!

Two Out of Three Ain’t Enough

 

Eight months that seem like a life-time ago, I wrote the LinkedIn article I’m sharing below, along with excellent comments made to the post.

At the time, I was rethinking the empathy aspect of writing about the Positive Paradigm. Now, I’m about to launch another approach, one focused on healing on all three levels. Again, unless the three are present in a balanced, integrated way, it’s not sufficient.

As an intriguing book I’m reading explains, wholeness and holiness are necessary compliments. It expands on the Phoenix Response as my comprehensive approach to transcending adversity, when mere physical survival is not enough.

I’ll explain as I go what I mean. But, for today, for starters, here’s a recap of the basic concept, the spring board of what’s to come.

It concludes with questions that invite your feedback, the better to adjust to meet your specific needs in future articles. What do you think? And thanks.

 

pinnacle-sized

Two Out of Three Isn’t Enough

Some leaders are satisfied to sing along with Meatloaf, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.”

But Authentic Leaders know better. It ain’t enough.

As I’m learning the hard way, when any part goes missing, everything suffers.

Bear with me. I’ll share why three-out-of-three is a must for me – and for effective leaders in every walk of life.

The Life Wheel — the Positive Paradigm based on the Unified Theory Einstein had, though he didn’t know it — is the personal Truth I’d dearly love to share with the world – starting with you.

IF

From Rethinking Survival:

This familiar atomic structure repeats smallest to largest in the patterns of nature, from snow flakes and intricate flowers to spiders’ webs and sea shells. Similar symmetrical patterns repeat worldwide in the art of every culture — including the prayer wheels of Native Americans, the colored sand mandalas of Tibetan Buddhists, the stained glass windows of European cathedrals and the intricate geometrical patterns that cover Muslim Mosques, to name but a few. They offer proof of the universal awareness of a central inner reality, of an inner structure common to all humanity, and to a continuity of experience deeper than individual lives or transitory cultures.

The Life Wheel reflects the perennial philosophy shared in common by the world’s enduring wisdom traditions – free of historical baggage. It is equally compatible with yoga and modern physics. It converts easily into a method for introspection and decision-making. Like a modern day Book of Change, it has the potential to become the best friend of change agents everywhere.

The value unique to the Life Wheel is, because it highlights the innate potentials we share in common, it serves as a foundation of common discourse.

Just as importantly, from personal experience, I’ve found the Life Wheel to be a great tool with virtually universal applications. Point it like a laser beam in any direction. It illumines the field.

In Authentic Leaders Depend on the Center I presented a variation on the Wheel – the MPI (Motive-Purpose-Intent) Standard – used to increase self-awareness.

One LinkedIn connection really got it! After a back-and-forth exchange, he commented:

I can also see how the MPI can work in a variety of contexts, both religious and secular. In fact, I think it could have virtually universal application – – – I hope it catches on!

BUT – it hasn’t. Not yet. For that I take full responsibility.

I have yet to demonstrate how I use the Life Wheel for introspection and goal setting. I have yet to show how it can be adapted as an analytical tool for virtually any purpose.

I haven’t effectively explained that this picture answers the plaintive question, “Why can’t we just get along?” Namely, very few of us work from a unifying concept of our common humanity. We were never taught the basics of natural law, much less how to live in harmony with it and each other. )

I’ve failed to communicate powerfully enough the connection I see between the Life Wheel and its potential to relieve human suffering. Those who’ve been taught to look for fulfillment on the shallow surface have been set up for a world of hurt. Joy returns when we know where to look, when we finally return our focus to the center, where eternal love resides deep within the heart of hearts.

The Wheel explains today’s pervasive sense of loneliness, a result of living exclusively on the noisy, frantically busy surface. It offers a hopeful, alternative life picture. When we reconnect with the center, we know that we are never, ever truly alone. Not possible.

SO – why hasn’t all this vitally important stuff been successfully communicated? In retrospect, I’m recognizing I have yet to live up to my own “three-out-of-three” standard!

For one thing, I’m still building the technical skills needed to do the Life Wheel idea justice.

For example, my first LinkedIn article, Boundary Spanners Connect at the Center, isn’t illustrated. In September of 2014, I didn’t yet know how to create images with photo-shop software. Though I’ve come a far distance in the ten months since then, I am still picking up necessary skills on a daily basis.

Just as importantly, I’m getting important feedback that my communication skills need work. Which is different from language skills. In fact, past academic background sometimes gets in the way. I’ve been faulted for seeming so precise and confident that I’m intimidating. Makes me very very sad. Not at all what I intend.

For this, the recent process of writing a guest post for authorunlimited was good medicine. I submitted a draft on the suggested subject: The important difference between knowledge and knowing. Cathy Presland emailed back an edited version.

Ouch!

Fortunately, I had an inkling as to why she made changes. I already saw her most excellent article Writing with Empathy and taken it to heart. I also followed the link to Seung Chan Lim’s video, How empathy fuels the creative process. Like magic, on that particular day, his message was exactly what I needed to hear.

My sheepish Aha. In my rush to get from “here to there,” from surface results to common understanding, I’ve been leap-frogging over the linking, middle level of empathy.

So I can tell you from sad experience, two out three – ideas and technical skills without empathy –ain’t enough!

Cathy’s quote reminded me:

In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “Do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you—they might have different tastes.”

In other words, I have been writing as if LinkedIn connections all understand and agree that everyone, everywhere shares the same center in common. But “it ain’t necessarily so.”

True, boundary spanners, no matter where they start on the surface of Planet Earth, meet at the universal center. But not everyone sees the value in being a boundary spanner. It’s on me to accept this, adjust and improve accordingly.

So back to the drawing board. As part of the Under Construction operation, I promised to restore empathy to the larger picture, accepting that not everyone is boundary spanner. And remember, respectfully, that many are not only asleep but perhaps a bit afraid of waking up.

Yet my worst worry remains. Unfortunately, it usually takes a horrific wake up call to shake people out of their complacent slumbers. From Rethinking Survival:

While we all have the option to remember who we truly are, most of us are like Lambert, the sheepish lion. It takes a smack with a two-by-four upside the head before we’re finally ready to wake up. Often it takes the form of life-threatening danger to those we care for. A personal health crisis will also do the trick. So will job loss or a run-in with natural disaster.

But, like Dorothy stranded in the Land of Oz, when you want dearly enough to return “home,” you can click your heels whenever you chose — and come to find out, you’re already there.

My preference, which I’d dearly love to share with you is this. Rather than wait for inevitable shocks, when it might be too late to survive, I’d rather you be proactive. Use the tools for anticipating change I have to offer.

As I urged in Being Proactive in the 21st Century, make yourself ready to meet whatever unknowns life has in store, coming around the next bend or two.

Working with Life Wheel maps helps mindful, authentic leaders link the levels, making the three-out-of-three option possible. With it, we can choose to be true to ourselves and realize the vision of a positive future.

Bottom line: Change is inevitable. We can experience it as resisting, passive victims or as proactive agents of positive change. I’ve given you tools to put the choices for change in your hands.

Am I communicating yet? Questions? Comments? Please let me know how I can better meet your needs.

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COMMENTS

Mark Hayward st Head of Sales at TheSmallPicture.biz | NIKKEN Independent Consultant: Helping people to take control of their Wellbeing

 

No worries Patricia West, you made an instant fan out of me 😉

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Peter Fellingham sVice President of Engineering and Co-Founder at ProtoStar Inc

Hi Patricia, I enjoy your writing style. That said, one must write with a target audience in mind; at least commercially. Otherwise you are just writing for yourself.

Patricia West AUTHOR Blogger; Author of Books on Change, Einstein & Human Survival

When writing for authors as a guest of authorulimited, I welcomed the opportunity to write for a specific audience. Here, am focused on authentic leaders, albeit in every walk of life. If you (or anyone else) has another audience in mind, I’m open to your suggestions. : )

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Bob Hemmerle Senior Zen Practitioner/Baseball Umpire

If you get 1 world leader with nukes to understand this then when he sits down with the others he will have something worthwhile to share, Bravo

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Richard Lipscombe THE MEMES MAN

Patricia: This is a great post. I first read this quickly last night. I had an immediate reaction. You can not, we can not communicate with someone who does not hold to their ‘truth’. I re-read it now and listened to TED talk.I still think the same. Inside all of us is mass, energy, and light as a combination – it is what I call my ‘truth’. I can deny it. I can avoid it. I can run away from it. But I can never hide from it. Most people conceal it.

So most people can never ever admit to hearing your message. It is too painful. In simple terms they can not hear that change is your choice and to choose well for yourself you have to listen to your truth.

Most posts on LinkedIn help people to consider ‘change’ as a surface ripple, a mere happening, an entertainment, a dynamic shift without meaning, and so on. They can do this because this is a place for collectives, cliques, false wisdom, fashions, and fads. They welcome all that because it does not challenge the essence of who they are and thus it can never change them. Change their ‘truth’. Truth can be changed easily if you know what it is and embrace it. Truth is continuity – we cling to it even if we do not acknowledge its existence within us. Change to truth sets up a new continuity for us. Richard.

Patricia West AUTHOR Blogger; Author of Books on Change, Einstein & Human Survival

Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Richard. That courageously mindful folks are in the minority, everywhere . . . not just on LinkedIn. . . is the stuff of tragedy. But deep within we all harbor the latent seeds of heroism. As I said, Sooner or later comes the inevitable wake-up call. Last night, after posting this, I came across an excellent example of how 9/11 changed one leader forever. I highly recommend reading – and heeding – this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/crises-changed-what-i-expect-from-leaders-gerald-hassell

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Cathy Presland Strategist, Trainer, and Editor-in-Chief at Author Unlimited

Patricia this is such a thoughtful piece — I love it! And the concept that we need all three of ideas, technical skills and empathy — I will take that to heart.

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Catherine Hamrick Communications Manager at the School of Agriculture & Natural Resources at the University of Delaware

On target–as usual. Thanks for shakin’ up my brain.