A.C. Ping's Blog, page 4

Depressive Realism vs Delusional Optimism

A few points courtesy of 'The Optimistic Child' by Martin Seligman PhD

"- Depressed people are accurate judges of how much skill they have, whereas non-depressed people think they are more skilful than others think them to be (80% of American men think they are in the top half of social skills)
- Non-depressed people remember more good events than actually happened and forget more of the bad events.
- Depressed people are accurate about both.
- Non-depressed people are lopsided about their beliefs about success and failure: if rewards occur - they claim the credit, the rewards will last and they're good at everything; but if it was a failure, you did it to them, it's going away quickly, and it was just this one little thing.
- Depressed people are even handed about success and failure."

Which brings me to my point - would you rather be a depressed realist or a delusional optimist?

And if so bet you want to know how to do it? Be delusional that is?

Consider it out from a 'Being' perspective

 

We are creating our reality through the stories that we tell ourselves about how the World works and our place in it.

If you base your story on the Past and all the evidence you've accumulated then you are effectively closed to true possibility.

"But that's reality!" I hear you cry and yes maybe...

"Reality never lies but it only tells the truth about the Past not the Future"

Living in the Past/Present loop traps you into being who you always have been, locks you into a limited view of reality, blocks true possibility BUT it is safe because it is based on EVIDENCE.

Oh but wait isn't that incredibly REAL? and aren't we trying to be gloriously and freely DELUSIONAL?

Yes please...

Delusional means believing in something where there is no evidence - in other words living in the Future/Present loop and allowing yourself to dream!

"I couldn't have imagined everything that has happened.
But dreams are like that. That's what makes
the journey so interesting."
Michael Jordan

 

"'One can't believe in impossible things.'
'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen.
'When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day.
Why sometimes I've believed in as many as six impossible
things before breakfast.'"
Lewis Carroll, 'Through the Looking Glass'

EXERCISE your imagination! Ask - What do I really want? How would it FEEL? Practice holding your mind in the realm of Future possibility - treat it as a game - PLAY!

If shit happens - as it does in life - then consider the positive psychology approach advocated by Martin Seligman - and take a look at how you are describing events to yourself. In other words - take a good look at what Story you are telling yourself about life and hence what you are creating?

The three descriptors are - Personal vs Impersonal, Temporary vs Permanent, Specific vs Pervasive.

So, something bad happens and the pessimist says to themselves "I got made redundant, obviously it was my fault, things are never going to get better, why is this sort of thing always happening to me."

The optimist says "I got made redundant because those idiots at the top are cutting staff, it's a temporary setback and it's just this one little thing."

Something good happens and the pessimist says "I got a pay rise. I guess the Unions have negotiated and everyone's getting one, bet it won't last, wish the rest of my life would improve."

The optimist says "I got a pay rise. Finally, they've recognised my talent, things like this are always happening to me and I'm on the way to the top."

Note the Personal versus Impersonal distinction?

If you face a setback and hear yourself saying to someone "Why is this happening to me?" you should hear alarm bells ringing and know you are on the WRONG track.

Be delusional remember!

"If you don't ever plan to come back
then wherever you are is reality."
Daniel Johns - Silverchair

Note also that the pessimist is an accurate judge of reality so you'd better skew the EVIDENCE to make sure you're being as wickedly delusional as possible!

Before going to sleep at night ask - "What did I do right today?" or "What was good about today?"

The aim here is to compile as much EVIDENCE as possible to support the story that YOU are having an AMAZINGLY blessed and happy life.

You see there's a distinction between our 'Experiencing selves' and our 'Remembering selves' - check out the Research of Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winning psychologist, and specifically his great TED talk 'The Riddle of Experience versus Memory' http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory.html

In a nutshell what Daniel Kahneman says is that we can have a life full of happy experiences but unless we remember these and tell ourselves a good story about them then we won't be happy.

So
- You're creating your reality through the stories you're telling yourself
- If you're being factually accurate there's a good chance you're leaning towards pessimism
- Make a decision to be gloriously and unapologetically delusional
- Train yourself to focus on the good stuff by asking every day 'What did I do right?'
- Let go of the bad stuff - that means DON'T write it down in your dear diary... if you are compelled to write it out do so on a piece of paper and then BURN IT!!

In peace and love always.

Ethics - Out Beyond Right and Wrong

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,
there is a field. I will meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about
language, ideas, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense."
Rumi

 

There is a Parliamentary Inquiry going on here in Australia to determine whether Ethics classes should be abolished in NSW School. Ethics classes were introduced in 2010 as an alternative to Scripture classes from which 25% of students had opted out. Until the introduction of ethics classes schools were forbidden from holding alternative classes for these children.

The Inquiry has heard many submissions including one from Dr Bernadette Tobin, the director of the Plunkett centre for ethics and associate professor at the Australian Catholic University who warned of teaching ethics to children before they learn what is right and what is wrong.
"If you encourage children to think in those ways before they've got that background, you run the risk of teaching them to be sceptical about right and wrong." she said.

And here I find myself compelled to respond because I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing.

In seeking to answer the central question of ethics of "How ought we to live?" or "What constitutes a good life?" there are three feeder questions - What is good? What is right? and What is fitting?

In my post "Escaping the Boundaries of Time" I argued that one should consider acting as if one was going to live forever therefore opening yourself up to the long term consequences of your actions and therefore the benefits of acting according to a set of higher principles.

I've also argued in my post "Why Ideals Should Never Be At The Mercy Of History" that we should also not sacrifice these ideals simply because it has been culturally fitting historically  to undertake actions such as Whale hunting.

Now I would like to address the limitations inherent in being tied to a fixed view of how the World works and what is right and wrong.

The task of trying to work out what is right and wrong is the task of seeking to establish a set of uniform rules that can be applied in any situation. It is usually referred to as Universalism because it seeks universal rules.

Examples are embodied in every religion and usually in every spiritual group or sect as well as communes and tight knit communities. The Ten Commandments is probably the best known example in the Western World but similar sets of rules exist in Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. The result of a group of people sharing a set of clear cut rules is that it engenders trust and allows community.

In mainstream society, the way that we answer the question of 'What is Right?' gets translated into law which is in turn enforced by Police and the Judiciary. Again, the aim is to create a community where we all understand what is right and wrong and therefore what constitutes acceptable behaviour. In other words - act in accordance with the Law and you will be living a good life.

The problem is that such rigid thinking has significant limitations AND it is not specifically supported by the system that we have for dividing up our collective resources. So, how about we look at this from an Ontological Philosophical perspective - or to put it simply - from the perspective of Being.

 

So - we live in the three Worlds of the Past, Present and Future.

In Ethics we are trying to determine - how ought we to live in order to lead a good life. Note that this means we are trying to work out how to live now in the Present so that when the Present becomes the Past and we look back and judge we can give our seal of approval on how we have lived.

Universalism is about trying to determine a universal set of rules that we can follow that will enable us to lead a good life. Universal rules arise from Ideals and Values that by definition are aspirational and hence live in the Future.

Let me give you an example. We aspire to live by the value of Honesty which in turn gives rise to the rule "Thou shalt not lie".

I think it would be fair to say that most people would aspire to live in truth however how many of us can say with all honesty that we have never told a lie??

Likewise we aspire to live by the value of Respect for Life which translates into the rule "Thou shalt not kill" but how many people have been killed in an act of War by Christian countries?

Or - if someone broke into your house in the middle of the night and held your young daughter at gunpoint threatening to kill her - how many of you would hesitate to kill them to prevent that happening?

So, you see Right/Wrong thinking has its limitations.

Rigidity leads to fanaticism, judgement, war.

If we become so convinced that our view of the World is Right then we make those who disagree with us Wrong. Which means instead of living in the aspirational Future we are living in the judgemental Past.

So, a note of warning - The people who will fight nobly for a cause include heroes as well as fanatical villains.

The other problem with Right/Wrong thinking is that it isn't supported by the economic system that we currently use to divide up our resources.

Free market economics is based on Ethical Egoism - or put bluntly Self Interest.

The father of free market economics is Adam Smith who proposed that if all the forces in the market were working efficiently then a mystical 'Invisible Hand' would reach in and set a fair price.

Problem is, the simple translation of free market economics into ethical terms is "What's in it for me?"

People struggling with an ethical dilemma don't then consider what Values they are aspiring to and what is right and wrong - instead they try and calculate what the consequences of various actions will be in the hope of finding one that causes the least pain and the most benefit. Hence this form of ethical reasoning is termed Utilitarianism or Consequentialism.

Values pretty much go out the window.

Consider a hostage drama. Three gunmen and holding twelve people in a bank threatening to kill one every hour until they are given free passage.

The SWAT team leader says "No problem we can get in there and take out the hostages with minimal casualties - say one or two hostages"

The Universalist says "What's paramount is Respect for Life - therefore we cannot risk one innocent person being killed. We need to find another way."

The Consequentialist says "Ten benefit, two may lose - ok go ahead and do it"

The Universalist is constrained by rigidity. The Consequentialist is constrained by the need to try and predict the future.

Reality is lived in the Present.

So, back to the point of this article.

In an age where wars are being fought over who is right and who is wrong, the willingness of young people to question the stated norm of what is Right and Wrong is, I believe, a healthy thing.

The key to leading a good life is the ability to see dilemmas from a range of different viewpoints, to be able to engage with one another to find a solution that allows us to aspire to live according to higher principles but also to be beyond judgement of others and firmly rooted in the present.

In peace and love always.

Ethics - Escaping the Boundaries of Time

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
Robert F. Kennedy

'How ought we to live?' - the central question in Ethics.

And the three feeder questions that one can ask when addressing ethical issues -
1. What is right?
2. What is good?
3. What is fitting?

At the heart of the disagreement between these three questions is time and following logically along behind - the nature of life itself.

You see if we begin from the position of life being only short term (<100 years) and that what we should be doing is maximising our utility then logic dictates that we should be orientated to Utilitarianism - or the question of 'What is good?' - in terms of a good outcome.

Take for instance Coal Seam Gas mining. CSG is all about drilling down into the coal seam which has taken many millions of years to form, and then fracturing it with a mix of chemicals under high pressure, which in turn releases the gas which has been trapped in the coal.

Sounds great eh? A good source of fuel that is more environmentally friendly than oil and will provide a power source to drive electricity generators hence allowing us all to live the way we are used to.

What's a good outcome?
That all people would be allowed to have access to cheap power and hence be able to work, study, and live in a way that promotes maximum utility.

The only negative being - shhh!!! - that in fracturing the coal seam which has, as I mentioned, taken many millions of years to form - we may just accidently pollute the water table and hence pollute and poison the land resulting in - some say permanent damage.

What's right?
Here we're talking about principles and values remember. So - an appropriate value would be to protect and maintain the natural environment. That we have a responsibility to pass onto future generations an Earth in at least as good a state as we found it. Inter-generational equity is what we are talking about - that future generations have equal rights with us.

So, CSG? Yes, well err... The right thing to do would be not to risk damaging the environment at all.

Remembering that,

"A Value is not a Value
unless you are willing to pay a price
to uphold it"

In this case - the price would be cheap gas, jobs, tax income for the country.

What's fitting?
So, what's culturally fitting? Is it generally accepted that we rape, pillage and plunder the Earth of her resources so we can live better? Well, yes actually...

So, short term we'd have to go with YES CSG creates a good outcome, NO CSG is not the right thing to do, and YES CSG is culturally fitting.

BUT

Let's see what happens if we shift the time frame?

At some point the two lines of the graph depicting - short term $ benefits and long term environmental costs will intersect and suddenly the GOOD outcome changes.

And here we logically find ourselves faced with the question of the nature of existence.

You see if you believe that you are only here for a short stay of < 100 years - then - bugger it - exploit the environment for all it's worth, hunt and eat whales, support an oil based economy etc etc - just as long as you don't have to suffer.

If you believe though that you might be re-incarnated, or even that you 'live on' through your children and their children then - oh? - you might even consider investing in solar roof panels, supporting socially responsible companies - even if it costs you more, and - heaven help us - standing up for ideals!

Problem is you've got to convince yourself that it is worthwhile doing even if you see that the majority of the population AREN'T!

"If you shape your life according to nature,
you will never be poor; if according to people's opinions,
you will never be rich."
Epicurus

So - Ethics - and escaping the boundaries of time.

1.    Take the time to work out what it is that you actually do believe in - what you Value most - noting that this will be intimately linked to your view on the nature of life itself
2.    Ask what you would do if you knew you were going to live forever
3.    Decide if you're going to be a talker or a do-er
4.    ACT!

"To accomplish great things,
we must not only act,
but also dream;
not only plan,
but also believe."
Anatole France

In peace and love always.

Walk a Sacred Path #3 - Your Greatest Gift is Truth

Your Greatest Gift is Truth

"Each lifetime is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
For some there are more pieces. For others the puzzle
is more difficult to assemble. But know this:
you do not have within yourself all of the pieces
of your puzzle. Everyone carries within them at least one
and possibly many pieces to someone else's puzzle...
When you present your piece, which is worthless to you,
to another, whether you know it or not,
you are a messenger from the most High."
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

And once more with feeling because I've been told many times that we humans need to see something three times before we get it...

Your Greatest Gift is Truth.

To Walk a Sacred Path is to seek a path of FREEDOM. Freedom from what you may ask? How about we start with freedom from fear, anxiety, worry, craving, addiction, guilt, despair, regret, shame...

If you look at all those afflictions - the first few relate to the future and the last few to the past.

It's all a bit silly really because the fear of what may happen is generated within our own minds and the regret for what has already happened is simply baggage that we cannot let go of even though there is NOTHING that we can do to change what has already happened.
 

 

Go back to the Past, Present, Future model that I have shared many times in the past.

Power lives in the Present where spirit and matter interconnect for the briefest of moments.

Living in a Past/Present loop limits us to the Past and sends us spiralling downwards into Judgement, Right/Wrong thinking and obsessing with protecting our territory.

Future/Present is ideally expansive. We are growth seeking beings remember - we are at our best when we are growing on some level. Check it out for yourself - do you feel better when you are growing in some form - whether it be spiritual, mental, material, emotional or physical?

Status Quo is bullshit boring stagnation!

Check out 'Do You Suffer From Drama Syndrome' and you will see that we each have a quotient for growth which if not directed into growth will automatically redirect into DRAMA - boring!

So - back to the point of this post - TRUTH - The Greatest Gift You Can Give Is Your TRUTH!

Follow my logic here - we are growth seeking beings, we come onto this physical realm so we can expand, grow and ideally ascend. We attract to us situations and people who are best able to help us grow by - loving us, challenging us, pushing our buttons, supporting us - and whatever else we best need at the time.

That's the FAITH bit - yes - EVERYTHING is PERFECT right now.

AND if everything is perfect right now and you and me and all of us are attracting to us exactly what we need right now to allow us to expand and grow along our journey how then do we best surrender and embrace a Sacred Path?

TRUTH

Have the courage to speak your truth from the heart with love and compassion.

Often we do not - for fear of what we THINK may happen - but in doing so we block the expansive path forwards and trap ourselves instead into a fear based, rational view of life based on the PAST.

I worked with someone recently who told herself a story that it was best to manage her marriage by biting her tongue when things upset her so that she didn't rock the boat.
'How's that working for you?' I asked
'Ambivalence is not only pervading my marriage but is also seeping into the other areas of my life'

Ouch!

So - let's summarise - to walk a Sacred Path in life requires letting go of the fear of what may happen in the future and releasing the regrets of the past. Stepping into the void where spirit and matter connect can only happen in the present.

Allowing yourself to move forwards and EXPAND is best accomplished by speaking and living your TRUTH.

The greatest gift you can give to another is your whole truth spoken from your heart.

By letting go of your delusion of thinking you 'know' you open yourself to the mystery of the universe.

 

 

"The whole World is you,
yet you keep thinking
there is something else."
Chinese Proverb

In peace and love always.

Ethics - Why Ideals Should Never Be At The Mercy Of History

A recent newspaper article here in Australia suggested that the actions of anti whaling campaigners was unfair and that because the Japanese people have been hunting whales for generations it should be ok.

This is an interesting dilemma and goes to the heart of many ethical issues and the answer to the question 'How ought we to live?' - which is central to Ethics.

So - first let's start with the three key questions that one can ask when addressing ethical issues -
1. What is right?
- here we are talking about morals and rules for living a good life such as the Ten Commandments.
2. What is good?
- this question considers the outcome and the utility of various options. The simple rule is - the greatest good for the greatest number with the least amount of harm to the fewest number.
3. What is fitting?
- this addresses the cultural question. So - what fits culturally? For instance, in most western countries it is seen as a sign of honesty to look someone in the eye but in many Asian countries it can be seen as a sign of disrespect.

You can read more about these key questions and my model for ethical decision making in my book 'Sensitive Chaos - A Guide to Ethics and the Creation of Trust' available at the Webshop http://www.acping.net/web_shop

The thing with these three questions is that they don't often agree - and if they do then it's not really a tricky ethical dilemma anyway.

Try something like - was it right for the USA to hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden?

Is it right to kill someone? NO
Was it a good outcome? If you argue that he was going to plan more terrorist attacks and kill more innocent people then you could say YES
Was it fitting? In other words - live by the sword die by the sword? YES

On balance then you can argue logically and rationally that although it's morally wrong to kill someone in this instance the outcome or end justifies the means.

So, back to Whales, Ideals and History...

If you think about the World and how we answer that question of 'How ought we to live?' what becomes apparent is that over time our answer shifts. For instance we used to - have African slaves in the US, deny Aborigines the vote in Australia, pay men more than women for the same work and so on.

So, what changes?

Ideals don't change. Outcomes are based on a rational judgement. What changes is culture and what we see as fitting.

How to visualise it?

Imagine there is a train heading along a straight rail track into the future. The people at the front of the train are the idealists. They are pushing the boundaries and are willing to stand up for what they think is right or fight against what they think is wrong.

At the back of the train - usually in the club car smoking stogies - are the people trying to work out a good outcome. Or, in western free market society, these are the people trying to work out what is best for them - self interest gone mad! Here you will find the bankers and sadly often the politicians huddled in a corner doing deals over a few drinks...

In the middle of the train - being lobbied by the idealists and the outcome orientated people are the people trying to answer the culturally fitting question.

The idealist - as you imagine - argue based on ideals - that Whales for instance have the same right to life as human beings.

The utilitarians argue on the basis of outcome and unfortunately in our world the key measurement for utility is MONEY. 'Don't upset the Japanese they are a key trading partner and it will cost us MONEY!'

Ideals should NEVER be at the mercy of history. If our best argument for not standing up for an ideal is 'Because it's always been done that way' - then we have lost our connection to the highest aspects of what it means to be a human being.

Stand up for what you believe in. Fight for your ideals because by doing so we slowly forge a greater future together.

In peace and love always.

Walk a Sacred Path #2

How does one find this mystical Sacred Path?

"Who looks outside dreams, who looks within awakens."
Carl Jung

In a time already passed I lived in the beautiful Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa on a farm called 'Ekuthuleni' - a place where you may find peace. We used to have WWOOFERS (Willing workers on organic farms) come to volunteer their services and one night myself and two of the wwoofers ended up at a friend's place for dinner and a few drinks.

Our intention had been not to stay late but dinner time soon became late evening and our host, who had brought us to his house in his car, had taken it upon himself to get rather, shall we say, trashed! A dilemma eschewed as midnight approached - how would we get back to Ekuthuleni? Given that he was in no state to drive his car I asked to borrow it and bring it back in the morning but he wanted us to stay - especially since his interest had been taken by one of the wwoofers who happened to be a fit young German backpacker. Needless to say, she wasn't keen at all and wished to get out of there as soon as possible.

What to do? Harsh words followed. By road it was a drive down the ridge where my, by now almost former friend's house was, to the valley below and then along the road deep into the valley to where Ekuthuleni was situated - approximately 15 kilometres - not a short walk at past midnight. No taxis in the Drakensberg either and a general warning to most not to stray out at night for fear a being robbed or mugged.

But there I was with these two young girls - so - off we went out of the house up to the road and within a few short steps away from the security lights we were plunged into darkness so deep that one could not literally see the hand in front of one's face. Navigating the narrow bitumen road was an exercise in feeling for the camber of the bitumen and finding the high point in the middle.

But 15 kilometres?

There was a short cut of course.

The Drakensberg is Zulu country and with cars in short supply there is a network of goat tracks that criss cross the mountains allowing kids to get to school and adults to get to work or visit friends and relatives.

The problem was the short cut went down the side of the mountain directly into the valley below to where Ekuthuleni was - crossing a narrow bridge over the river at the bottom. I'd walked the trail many times during the daytime but never at night.

Faced with a 3 or 4 hour walk on bitumen or a 1 hour walk down the trail we chose the latter.

But who counted on the moon being in its darkest phase and the cloud cover so thick we had to grope our way from boulder to boulder? Who imagined that the various intersections of trails, so innocuous during the daytime, would become such a source of confusion and despair at night? And no torches of course - not even a match or cigarette lighter between us!

So we groped, stumbled, tripped and blundered our way along. Each time we came to an intersection I battled with my inner demons that voiced a thousand and one fears. Courage, calmness and self belief were met head on by fear, doubt and accumulated stories of woe. My resolve was tested most when the young German girl began to cry. I daren't voice my own fears.

"If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you like to win, but think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't.

IF you think you'll lose, you're lost.
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellows will -
It's all in the state of mind."
Walter D. Wintle

I held in my heart the desire to reach the bottom, knowing that regardless of where we came out we would eventually hit the river and then be able to find the bridge. But one last challenge awaited us when we reached the bridge and found that after the last floods all that was left of it was a slippery tree trunk that had to be negotiated on all fours.

And the lesson as we bumbled into Ekuthuleni and fell into our beds physically and emotionally exhausted?

Life is like that trail on the side of the mountain. Sometimes it is so dark, we can't see the way ahead, it is easy to give up and retreat but although harder the road ahead leads to our dreams.

It is easy to fight another, but the real battle, the battle of the Spiritual Warrior - is the battle between the self and the self.

On one side is fear and doubt. On the other courage and love.

To find the Sacred Path we must begin within by finding the deepest love of ourselves and having the courage to speak our truth.

Too much of our current society feeds our fears and encourages us to deny our truth so we can be embraced by what appears to be comfort and safety. But is it really? Are we walking our highest path by denying our truth? Are we creating the World that we truly wish for?

So begin by making a choice. Choose to love yourself unconditionally. Choose to begin to honour yourself by tuning into your deepest inner guidance. Choose to make decisions based on what you feel rather than what you think you should be doing. Choose to have the courage to act. Choose to release your fears and choose to deny those who would wish you to be fearful.

"A human being is part of the whole called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
Albert Einstein

In peace and love always.

Walk a Sacred Path #1

There is a Sacred Path you can walk through life. It is intimately connected to your life purpose and your essence as a spiritual being. It is based on the foundation of honour and requires a blend of Being and Doing.

A Sacred Path is one that is held in the most high as a path of devotion and surrender.

To honour something is to hold it in the highest regard or respect - and ACT accordingly.

Walking a Sacred Path requires honour in four directions. Honour of your Self; Honour of Others - including those who have come before, those who are yet to come and all the animals, plants and other sentient beings who share this planet with us; Honour of the Earth - including all elements of the material World - the Moon, Sun and Cosmos included; and finally Honour of Spirit - the unseen that flows through all of our lives in every moment.
 

 

To ACT with honour in these four directions an intermingling occurs which manifests in the Centre as a Sphere - the vessel that holds the emptiness of the present.

The Sphere that holds the present varies in size according to how tightly you hold on. Getting yourself out of the way creates a larger sphere were serendipity and Spirit have a larger space to operate.

In the present there is no fear, there is no worry, there is no anxiety - there is only the fleeting glimpse of the moment that is the present and then it is gone.

If you release the Past and the Future and choose to be fully present - to BE fully present - a path will open up before you that may not be logical, may not be rational, may not be what you 'think' you desire or what you 'think' you should be doing - but will nonetheless reveal itself as the Sacred Path.

Surrender to this path. Allow yourself to go on the Journey. ACT with honour in the four directions, BE fully present and this path will allow you to ascend to higher states of being and flow along your life path.

Walking a Sacred Path will allow you to shift from the lower states of Fear, Anger, Desire and Pride to Courage, Love, Joy, Peace and Enlightenment.

And why should we bother to walk this path?

In a word - FREEDOM

Freedom from fear, anxiety, craving and worry to a state of BEING dominated by reverence, serenity, peace, love and bliss. Not just for you but for all of us - as we are linked inextricably by the weaving quantum field that embraces us.

"My humanity is bound up in yours,
for we can only be human together."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

For now, it is enough to ask:-

What are you doing here?
What do you believe in?
What are you going to do about it?

In peace and love always.

The Sacred Path Teachings #1

There is a Sacred Path you can walk through life. It is intimately connected to your life purpose and your essence as a spiritual being. It is based on the foundation of honour and requires a blend of Being and Doing.

A Sacred Path is one that is held in the most high as a path of devotion and surrender.

To honour something is to hold it in the highest regard or respect - and ACT accordingly.

Walking a Sacred Path requires honour in four directions. Honour of your Self; Honour of Others - including those who have come before, those who are yet to come and all the animals, plants and other sentient beings who share this planet with us; Honour of the Earth - including all elements of the material World - the Moon, Sun and Cosmos included; and finally Honour of Spirit - the unseen that flows through all of our lives in every moment.
 

 

To ACT with honour in these four directions an intermingling occurs which manifests in the Centre as a Sphere - the vessel that holds the emptiness of the present.

The Sphere that holds the present varies in size according to how tightly you hold on. Getting yourself out of the way creates a larger sphere were serendipity and Spirit have a larger space to operate.

In the present there is no fear, there is no worry, there is no anxiety - there is only the fleeting glimpse of the moment that is the present and then it is gone.

If you release the Past and the Future and choose to be fully present - to BE fully present - a path will open up before you that may not be logical, may not be rational, may not be what you 'think' you desire or what you 'think' you should be doing - but will nonetheless reveal itself as the Sacred Path.

Surrender to this path. Allow yourself to go on the Journey. ACT with honour in the four directions, BE fully present and this path will allow you to ascend to higher states of being and flow along your life path.

Walking a Sacred Path will allow you to shift from the lower states of Fear, Anger, Desire and Pride to Courage, Love, Joy, Peace and Enlightenment.

And why should we bother to walk this path?

In a word - FREEDOM

Freedom from fear, anxiety, craving and worry to a state of BEING dominated by reverence, serenity, peace, love and bliss. Not just for you but for all of us - as we are linked inextricably by the weaving quantum field that embraces us.

"My humanity is bound up in yours,
for we can only be human together."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

For now, it is enough to ask:-

What are you doing here?
What do you believe in?
What are you going to do about it?

In peace and love always.

2012 - I Walk A Sacred Path

"The time of the lonely wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude
and your vocabulary.
All we do now must done sacredly
and in celebration.
We are the ones we have been
waiting for."
A Message from the Hopi Elders

2012 seems like it has been coming forever - and now it is here...

The year of the Water Dragon in Chinese astrology, the year 5772 in the Hebrew Calender, 1433 in the Islamic Calender, and Dec 21 2012 - the end date of a 5,125 year cycle in the Mayan Calender.

Is it any different from other years? Who knows really - all will be revealed in hindsight - but NASA has predicted a 'solar storm' for 2012, economists the World over are predicting 'Global Financial Crisis Mark 2', the 'Arab Spring' is faltering whilst the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement continues to gain pace and preaches 'World Revolution as the only solution'.

What better time to follow the advice of the Hopi Elders and Walk a Sacred Path?

So, this is my commitment and intention for 2012. I've been on a journey of discovery my whole life intrigued by - as early as I can remember - the questions of 'The Meaning of Life', 'How to Lead a Good Life' and 'What is MY Life Purpose'.

On my journey I've been privileged - no BLESSED - to have been welcomed by so many people to share their answers to these questions.

I've listened to preachers talk of God, I've done silent Buddhist meditation retreats, I've worked with the homeless and drug addicted, traded millions in shares and futures on the world financial markets, sat with starving Zulus in Africa and listen to them tell me why it's ok to steal to feed their kids, watched their friends die of AIDS, listened to their stories of woe all the while being transfixed by their wide smiles, open heart and melodious voices.

I've written a lot about what I've learnt. If you've read my books you'll know a lot of my journey.

Just when I thought I'd answered my questions a few years ago I had a bike accident in Africa, I broke my neck and had a near death experience. Then I was plunged into the middle of a land claim battle. People threatened my life, a Sangoma (traditional healer) practiced tagathi (black magic) against me. I lost everything, I plunged to a depth I'd never known before. I returned to Australia, sick, destitute and in spiritual crisis.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

I retraced my steps and questioned everything I thought I knew. Out of that I eventually had to own my role in creating the crises I'd experienced.

My fear called it in.

I realised that words mean nothing unless the meaning is lived, owned and become.

The battle of the Spiritual Warrior is the battle between the Self and the Self - Fear versus Courage, Love versus Hate, Freedom versus Control.

"The journey to enlightenment begins within"

Self Mastery is the key - fail to master yourself and you will fail to master anything else.

And then of course back again to Purpose - What is my purpose in this life?

In Greek mythology there are five rivers that flow through the realm of Hades, the God of the dead. Before reincarnation souls are made to drink from Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, thus preventing them from remembering their past lives and their current life purpose.

Throughout history many spiritual teachers and philosophers have proposed that the key to finding meaning in life is to 'remember who we really are'. That there is in fact a part of ourselves that is somehow hidden from our conscious mind.

And then?

In Taoism we are the bridge between Heaven and Earth - the Tao flows through us and it is our purpose to bring Heaven onto Earth.

We create the Earth that we can dream. We can sit back and wait for others to do it but in doing so we will buy into our fears and hand over our powers to others.

Now is the time to step up, become who we really are and can be and create a better World because We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.

So HOW? I hear you cry...

Embrace your power to create.

Walk a Sacred Path by Honouring - Yourself, Others, The Earth and Spirit.

Release the Past and the Future, choose to become fully Present to the moment and nurture it with love, peace and joy in every moment no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.

I am going to Walk this Path this year and I invite you to join me in doing so.

I will share The Sacred Path Teachings through this blog and I have also set up a Facebook page called 'Walk a Sacred Path' to allow for sharing our experiences in the Journey.

May this be a memorable year for all of us.

In peace and love always.

Kindness vs Truth

"Authenticity is about being true to who you are,
even when everyone else wants you to be someone else."
Michael Jordan

Sitting with some friends recently talking late into the night the conversation turned to relationships and the tricky balance between Kindness and Truth. Before I go on though, how about taking a moment and answering the question yourself - what would you prefer Kindness or Truth?

My initial thought was that I would like Kindness but then further discussion revealed the motivation for the Kindness and the manifested form of it.

"I like to be kind to people" someone said
"Why?"
"Because I don't like to hurt or upset people"
"So you would withhold some of the truth so they won't be upset?"
"Yes"
"Why? Is their happiness more important than yours?"

Is other people's happiness more important than yours?

When minor things annoy you about someone would you rather not tell them and hence avoid their reaction and just get on with things instead?

Why?

Do you believe that you are more able to deal with any emotional upset than they are and hence you'd rather 'suck it up' than create a scene?

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
Helen Keller

The conversation progressed further until we got to,

"I hate a lack of authenticity in others and I'm especially wary of it in myself"
"But aren't you being in-authentic by holding back the truth and being kind?"
"There's a fine line..."

Indeed there is.

But I would say a balance - between truth and kindness. Moral absolutes are hard - real life requires a balance between What's Right, What's Good and What's Fitting.

Is it Right to tell the truth? Yes - but consider the scenario of living in Berlin at the height of the Second World War - your neighbours come to you and ask if they can hide out in your attic as they are Jewish. Compassion and caring are good so you say yes. But soon the SS come to the door and ask "Are there any Jews hiding in your attic?"

Are you willing to lie now?

A girlfriend tries on a new pair of jeans and asks - "Does my bum look big in this?"

The truth is YES but to speak it bluntly is to be mean.

Kindness might require a frown and a not so indiscreet "Mmmm..."

Truth doesn't need to be spoken just felt.

"There is no need to talk, because the truth of what one says lies in what one does."
Bernard Schlink 'The Reader'

So, the moral of the story?

"Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it."
Lewis Carroll

There is no perfect right way. There is intention to be kind and speak the truth then there is the dance. The dance of life.

"Walk in the rain,
smell flowers,
stop along the way,
build sandcastles,
go on field trips,
find out how things work,
tell stories,
say the magic words,
trust the universe."
Bruce Williamson

In peace and love always.