Archive for Transformation
German Bakery in India: Legacy of Happiness
Posted by: | CommentsThis one hit close to home. My wife is a German citizen and former part-time resident of Pune, India during the years her master Osho was alive in the 70’s and 80’s. To this day she speaks reverently about those days and her wish to return someday soon.
Something terrible happened to the German Bakery there this month, however, that tried to shake the happiness of those who only knew Pune as a retreat from the world’s craziness. Personal and group Transformation happens in different ways. Some are more violent than others . . .
George Carlin on Aging
Posted by: | CommentsComedian and social commentator George Carlin had much to say about everything, but what I enjoyed most were his views on aging. Since this kind of affects us all, I thought I’d reprint it here for those who have been in a dark cave over the past year and have not received the e-mailed version of this floating around . . .
As a side note, I just met with my first cousin Mike who informs me he will soon ‘make it to 60.’ While this is not significant in and of itself, and I knew his mom – Aunt Hilda – will be 90 in April, it suddenly hit me that I’m only 2 years away from this sixty milestone myself.
Here’s what George had to say. Take notes and pass it on:
George Carlin’s Views on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m four and a half!’ You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key.
You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.
‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m gonna be 16!’ You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re Just a sour-dumpling. What’s wrong? What’s changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50, and your dreams are gone….
But! Wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn’t think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50, and make it to 60.
You’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that, it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into your 80’s, and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; ‘I Was JUST 92.’
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. ‘I’m 100 and a half!’ May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
- Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.
- Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
- Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s family name is Alzheimer’s.
- Enjoy the simple things.
- Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
- The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves Be ALIVE while you are alive.
- Surround yourself with what you love, whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
- Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
- Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
- Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND, ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Life’s journey is not to Arrive at the grave safely In a well preserved body, But rather to skid in sideways, Totally used up and worn out, shouting ‘…man, what a ride!’
A Brief History of the End of the World
Posted by: | CommentsThere is a scene near the end of Mel Gibson’s 2006 movie Apocalypto where a Mayan villager – who by this time is also an escaped Inca prisoner – is being chased by his captors bent on killing him. He runs out on to the beach where he stops and gazes out to the ocean. His pursuers likewise stop and gaze.
What they beheld – for the first time ever – were men in longboats rapidly approaching the shore from Spanish Galleons moored in the distance.
Just as the Mayans probably felt it was the end of the world when blood-thirsty Incans enslaved and killed them, so too did the Incans marvel as they succumbed to the onslaught and diseases of the Europeans. The speed of change – with new technology and alien beings – make the world instantly frightening and wondrous.
To those of us born in the 20th century, the onslaught is felt as ever-increasing rate of change. Our own aliens – computers – are ones we created, yet are unable to STOP creating them. The very physicality of all this technology bombards our senses daily, and keeps us tuned to its every need through sheer force of wonder.
And its not just computers. Humans as a species are multiplying and evolving at such a rapid pace we are, in just a few short years, outstripping ALL predictions about how to deal with our neighbors and ourselves.
What’s the answer? Look inside. Find the source of thought and wonder. Realize that there is an intelligence that guides us – that which R. Buckminster Fuller called universe – that will always be with us and a part of us. It will also eventually consume us.
Remember the Year 2013. That’s the year a Supercomputer will be built that EXCEEDS the computational power of the human brain. By 2049, that power will be available to almost everyone on the planet.
Scary? You bet. Or awesome. You decide.
Cosmic Awakening: Nothingness and Fullness
Posted by: | CommentsSome time ago, when I was in the neighborhood of 12 or 13, I used to be fascinated by astronomy. I learned the names of all the constellations, all the stars, how the Milky Way was just an average one of many galaxies, what a light year was, and how many billions of them could be used to determine unfathomable distances.
These years of dedicated devotion paid off with a growing sense of wonder and inner fascination. It made me realize how utterly small we as human beings really are . . . and how little our daily squabbles seem by comparison.
Then I had an epiphany.
One summer night I lay in my back yard sprawled out on my back, looking up at the moonless night sky. I must have laid there for hours, becoming more and more awake by the moment until, with a sudden flash, everything expanded. I felt the earth move beneath me as I slowly but surely disappeared! All that was left was the sky, the body, the earth, and . . . nothingness!
That nothingness, however, was also complete fullness. Its difficult to describe, so I refer you to the following video which expands that concept to a point much further than human understanding:
Everyone Has Their ‘Zorba’ Moments
Posted by: | Comments“Teach me to dance.”
So goes the line by the character Basil in Zorba the Greek after his friend Zorba has disastrously ordered a third log to shoot down their already-compromised zip line, publicly destroying what was left of the logging business both men had spent months creating.
And so it goes . . . I’m reminded of this moment while getting ready to attend a closing to sell our former residence near Decatur, Georgia. This house – putting it mildly – was a disaster (and all my doing). We bought it in 2001 for $105K, spent over $130K fixing it up over the years, lived in it from 2006-2008 because we couldn’t sell it.
Then the Great Recession hit and we are lucky to let it go for $195K, minus all the closing costs, realtor commissions, et cetera, et cetera . . . This is in addition to the fact that we also bought and sold several other properties over the past decade, only one of which could be considered a financial success!
So, more than $50,000 and years of time – up in smoke. Today, Brigitte and I celebrate our ‘Zorba Moment.’ Wisdom comes at a price. We paid ours.
And so we dance. You can too:
Moral Hazard: Economic and Personal
Posted by: | Comments“Moral Hazard” is a term coined by banks and insurance companies to determine the economic risk they face when they lend or insure a property for more than the property is worth. This is a risk because there is NO incentive, then, for the owner to take care of – or finish paying for – the property. It is a type of delusion that can only lead to failure and loss.
Moral hazard applies mostly to economics - more specifically to large ticket consumer items like real estate and cars. Its intrusion can eventually lead to bankruptcy of a nation or economy.
This type of hazard also has parallels in other fields and can manifest itself in multiple ways related to the “Theory of Unintended Consequences.” This theory says, in essence, that while we may set out to do something helpful and constructive, we often end up creating the opposite results to what we intended. Here are some examples:
Relationships: One person might consider themselves “compassionate” when, in fact, they are an “enabler” that allows his or her partner to get away with proverbial murder. The other partner has less and less incentive to contribute to the relationship, and it eventually falls apart.
Health: Moral hazard in health arises when you do a few “healthy” things to feel good, like drinking diet colas and eating yogurt. These deeds give you the illusion of adding to good health when, in fact, they are only hiding your hidden decision to stay addicted to whatever you’re addicted to. As long as you continue to push the other stuff like smoking, no exercise, overeating fast foods, or doing drugs, you will eventually be pushing up daisys!
Personal Growth: Personal growth only takes place when there is a dynamic present that spurs you to make a decision. If you have lived a life of poverty, personal growth takes place when you resolve to escape it. If you suffer ill health or loss, personal growth comes about as a result of drastic measures on your part to improve your condition. The “moral hazard” comes in when others take this away from you, or soften the blow to the point where there is little or no incentive to take action.
Government appears to be the greatest enabler of our generation, and The Theory of Unintended Consequences was probably conceived with government in mind. Check out this video . . .
The Logical Soul: A New Paradigm
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Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
The Logical Soul ™ represents a new paradigm – or world view – about the way we look at our so-called “subconscious mind,” the field of motivation, and the way we transform ourselves from survival-based human beings needing therapy to what Abraham Maslow called “self-actualized” humans.
Maslow said that the level of needs of an individual governed their outward motivation. For someone who did not have all his or her survival needs met, this is where they would remain . . . and act towards the world and others in a manner that reflected this inner need.
With the Logical Soul (tm), un-met survival needs are found, accessed, and changed, such that individual human evolution can take place more quickly and effortlessly. While this technique fills a very great need and its results are astounding, however, its widespread use may take a while to become established.
The reason? Established paradigms will not allow it to spread too quickly, if at all. A paradigm – or world view – when accepted by most members of a population, tend to become entrenched in that same population, and remains entrenched until usurped by another.
For illustration of this phenomenon, let’s look at what happened to Swiss watches . . .
For centuries, the Swiss had a corner on the watch-making industry and market. “Swiss-made” was synonymous with quality watch-making, and no one outside of Switzerland dared to challenge those craftsmen . . . until someone did.
Sometime around the mid-1900s’ a technology called “digital timekeeping” became possible. It was only logical, therefore, that the Swiss should capture and utilize this rising technology because, after all, they were the captains of that industry!
That’s not what happened. The Swiss craftsmen could see no value in digital watches, and expressed disdain for anything that didn’t have little gears and a clock face – their field of expertise.
The problem was that digital watches were here to stay. They kept better time, had fewer working parts, and came at a much lower cost. The Swiss, unaware that a fundamental change had just taken place, ignored the chance to capitalize on this change. Instead, the Japanese captured it and never looked back.
Today, even quality watches are digital, and Swiss watches are more of a novelty than a necessity. The watch industry there never quite recovered from the paradigm shift that invaded their little hamlets.
Like that, the Logical Soul ™ is based on a different paradigm (”holistic”) rather than the existing – and dominant – “medical model” followed by most doctors and therapists. Consequently, it will require more effort to educate people over time of the excellent and far-reaching benefits.
The “holistic model” of care and self-actualization, however, requires a bit of education – and most people tend to accept the norm rather than expend effort to learn a new approach.
The shift, however, is taking place. It is only a matter of time before there is a paradigm shift in the population and alternatives become mainstream.
In future posts I will explore the rise and fall of the medical model and other paradigms, and how their dominance affects not only your health care costs, but all aspects that are connected to it, like politics.
Success Science, Logical Soul, and Orchids
Posted by: | CommentsIn previous posts, I’ve often referred to the twin phenomena called the “Seed of Failure” (SOF) and the “Seed of Success” (SOS). My view is that that those whose lives are branded with the SOF – through no fault of their own – simply cannot succeed over the long term, no matter how hard they try. SOS kids, on the other hand, grow up to eventually hone in on money and success at some point in their lives when the success “seed” kicks in.
I further theorized that, because of hidden decisions we made as small children, “success” as we define it in this world is not an option for SOF people. I reasoned that the rare SOS folks have both the drive to succeed AND the proper early modeling to make crucial success decisions. These people CAN and WILL succeed because their “success thermostats” are set pretty much on autopilot. They simply love the thrill and taste of success.
Some recent child psychology studies in the Netherlands have provided an element of validation for this idea of success based on early decisions:
“Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people . . .”
So states part of the article by David Dobbs in the December, 2009 issue of Atlantic Magazine. Dobbs is reporting on the studies that began in 2004 by Dr. Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg, a child and family professor at Leiden University.
Prof. Bakermans-Kranenburg
Over time and using certain behavior-modification techniques, Dr. Bakermans-Kranenburg was able to determine that roughly 15 to 20% of all children are born with a tendency to be more fragile, ficle, and sensitive than other children. She called these kids with genetic vulnerability “orchids” as opposed to the majority of children who need less nurturing. She refers to the hardy majority as “dandelions” since they appeared to be the “normal, healthy children” who exhibit less “biological sensitivity.”
Apparently, the Orchid Children - depending on their parental influences – can develop into either the inventive geniuses and creative, prolific artists of our society . . . or those who sink into ADHD, bi-polar behavior, addiction, aggressive anti-social behavior and crime.
In my book The Logical Soul(tm) I talk about “The Great Ones” and those rare other who will not succeed simply because their hidden decisions. The “Orchid Hypothesis” is in operation in both of these, but the triggers are different.
With the “SOF orchid types” the hidden decisions are so deep there is a hidden loop of subconscious reasoning that prevents them from contacting – and changing – the very decisions that have them stuck in this loop. On the other hand the SOS orchid types, while they may experience hardships, trials and tribulations, can burst forth to their full potential because the hidden decisions they made are modeled after strong, nurturing parents or guardians.
The LS technique is for anyone who feels stuck and wants to move forward; but can also be very powerful to those “Orchids” who have an opening to get access to those deepest hidden decisions. THESE people are the ones who can explode upon awakening . . . folks like my friend Ken Jensen, a former Bi-Polar Marine who found his way out.
For all of us, however, the sky’s the limit. Literally.
New Year. New Decade. And a Funeral.
Posted by: | CommentsNew Years are always special, but this one was particularly so to our family. Getting over the old year will take some doing.
Before the Big Apple dropped (or Big Peach if you’re in Atlanta), the 31st of December was memorable for its final Hurrah: the full Moon – a Blue Moon - crowds gathered at Pigeon Forge, TN and Gatlinburg for the fireworks, and all sorts of stuff happening around the world that I had no clue about.
It was the last day on Earth for my mother, Barbara Weatherly.
My sister Page and I are still working through the end-of-life details, with help from our spouses and other family and friends. Although I still attempt to put my thoughts in this blog, my other work has essentially ground to a halt. Somehow it doesn’t matter right now – the emails, phone calls, publishing my book, and creating courses. So please forgive me if I’m a bit slow on the uptake…
(L-R) Page, "Baboo," Brigitte and Michael
Barbara Weatherly’s funeral will be 11 am, Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at Farrar Funeral Home in Dandridge, Tennessee. Obituary notices will be placed in newspapers in Dandridge and Savannah (her birthplace and home town).
After the funeral, Brigitte and I are headed back to Atlanta, and back to “normal” life. It will not, however, be business as usual.
During the time I spent with my mother, I got real clear about my purpose on this planet: to write and teach what I know. And what I know is the Logical Soul(tm) and how to share that with others.
I also received the gift of a deep motivation to carry out this purpose, no matter what. Apparently I had a hidden decision to never put traction to my goals and dreams. Consequently, no matter how hard I worked, the results were not forthcoming.
Thanks to Mom, my life is again transformed.
Flippantly (and drunkenly) making just another New year’s resolution is usually a waste of time. Most of these resolutions are merely wishes. Unless you are able to tap into and use deep emotional experiences like birth or death, hidden decisions will not change.
Use your so-called tragedies (or celebration in the case of a new birth). I used the event of my Mom’s death to visualize and commit to a life I wanted for myself and others but have not been able to thus far materialize.
A commitment to a dying loved one is powerful. The combined force of deep yearning and sadness coupled with a new commitment (i.e., decision) gives anyone an ability to bore a hole through all obstacles.
So thanks again Mom; I won’t let you down. Stay tuned for some exciting energy coming from yours truly!
