Final Post

For the handful of friends who were regular followers, I offer my sincerest thanks. Your feedback has inspired me to a higher level with each new blog post. We have been drawn closer (even when we didn't agree), through this blog. I hope that I haven't let you down.

My heart and gratitude go to Jennie, for making my posts clear and accessible, and for her loving comments.

Here are some of the bests:

Best Post : Better Aspirations

Best Music : Stand by Me

Best Quote : Joseph Campbell

I hope that you have learned from some and enjoyed a few.

Finally: If you want to be happy, practice Compassion. If you want others to be happy, practice Compassion.

Blessings for health and happiness to all beings,
Nalton

Taj Mahal - Take a Giant Step

What is Education ?

As we prepare to go back to school as a nation, let's consider this.

The purely personal side of a good education, an education available to every one of us, is not emphasized enough. Not enough so that we can understand the fact that it is so much more agreeable and interesting to be an educated person.

And what ultimately is the goal of an education?

The goal should be to help us learn to think. And if that's truly the goal, when do we ever reach the destination?

What Do You Know ?

Here's a humbling question: If you were magically transported back in time -- say 1,000 years -- what could you teach the people of that time?

This makes me realize how little I really know.

If you could manage to keep from being burned as a sorcerer, wise men of the time would make pilgrimages to see you and ask thousands of questions.

You would be 400 years before Gutenberg and his movable type printing press; 600 years ahead of Galileo; 500 years ahead of Columbus. But of all of your knowledge of our modern world and its thousands of wonders, what could you show them how to do?

The aspirin tablet, the first real wonder drug and painkiller, would have been an unbelievable boon to them in their suffering. Could you show them how to make it?

How about the steam engine? Could you show them how to make one? Or a simple electrical generator? Or how to make wire? Could you make a clock?

We know so much about so many thousands of things, but with the exception of our specialty, we'd be really hard pressed to show them how to make much of anything.

Thinking on this also helps me realize how interdependent we are. We could do very little without the help of thousands (or millions) of other people. Everything we have comes from other people.

So what do we know enough about to teach to others if we should suddenly find ourselves without the help of our modern society? Without modern medicine and dentistry, communication and transportation, educational facilities or modern utilities?

Now Is Never Gone

Here is a HQ video on YouTube, if you'd like (larger & better pictures).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv16_2PeCc8

Here is a live recording of Jim Chappell performing the track, Gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlR9p7lBZM

Now Is Never Gone - words

There is no refuge from this life
All that's dear
is slowly swept away.

My younger life's dreams
they are gone.

Scattered through the days;
never more to come.

My joyful hopes and plans
are withered and are dried
by the mounting years.

But that is how it is.

So what is it we are supposed to do
when our hopes and dreams
can never be fulfilled?

Need we live a life looking at a past
that is larger than what's left?

Why should that be all
that we have or all we'll ever be?


But this is what I've learned -
This moment is what you have.

It's all you ever had.

That is when your joy is found
For now is where you are.

If no joy exists right now
what hope is there in a time not come?

Albatross -Ottmar Liebert

Also look for the Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green) version in my blog.

Corinthians and the Buddha

Christians are familiar with 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, which describes love's qualities:

4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

What about the Buddha? Did he teach of these highest types of love?

The Buddha said, "He who abuses the abuser is the worse of the two. To refrain from retailiation is to win a battle hard to win.

"If a person knows that another is angry, yet refrains from anger himself, he does what is best for himself and the other person. He is the healer of both.

"One should do no unkind thing that wise men might condemn. One should not harm another or despise anyone for any reason. Do not wish pain on another out of either anger or jealousy.

"Just as a mother would protect her only child even at the risk of her own life, even so, one should develop unbounded love towards all beings."

The Buddha taught, practiced, and encouraged others on these qualities every day of his awakened life.

The Caterwaulers

Much press this week has gone to coverage of the angry mobs (ostensibly Republicans) at the town halls.

These uncivil crowds want democracy in American, so long as they get their way. They believe in free speech, so long as they're the only ones speaking.

So this caused me to take a look at some statistics regarding party affiliation.

I'll try to make this as interesting and short as possible.

With all of the caterwauling that goes on, you would think that the Republicans have a majority voice in America.

This is not true.

In Gallup polls running from January, 2004 to now, the only time a majority of voters identified themselves as Republican was February 2005. Read that again: There was only once in the past five years where a majority of voters identified themselves as Republican.

For that same time frame, a majority of voters identified themselves as Democratic around 48 times.

Out of the nearly 180 polls conducted during this time, only seven times did voters identifying themselves as Republican have higher a percentage than Democrats. Only seven times. The remainder of the polls went Democratic (with around a dozen ties).

So why do these people think that they have the right to cut off debate on health care reform? Why do they think they can control whether a sick or injured person can afford medical care?

Their numbers certainly don't provide that power. But their intimidating methods seem to be able compensate for their minority status.

We must do everything we can to keep these people out of power!

See this site for the source of these facts: http://www.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx

Robert Linton - Into the Grove

Be present.

10 Words

In business emails, make your point in 10 words.

If you don't your reader's attention will get interrupted by the BlackBerry, arrivals of new emails, a ringing phone (your desk phone or a neighbor's abandoned cell phone's funky music), drop in visitors or hallway chatter.

There is a habit of inattention that all of these distractions create and reinforce.

If you've read to this point, you have read more words and longer sentences than my average business emails.

Yet my attempt at brevity rarely focuses the reader's attention. It seems that people are so driven by the urgent that they seldom have time for what's in front of them.

They miss meaningful information and insights. They have no lingering presence in the present. They are full of kinetic energy, like a tornado, that brings no rewards.

I've heard it said that every moment should be treated with the slow and full attention that you give to bathing your baby. Nothing in the world is more precious than this moment.

Socialized Electricity !

Let's go back in time, roughly 80 years.

Why is anything older than 5 minutes ago important, you may ask.

Because it deals with electricity, the St. Lawrence river and the debate today on health care reform.

In the late 1920s, Franklin Roosevelt was New York's governor. The New York legislature was largely Republican.

Governor Roosevelt had a vision to use the fast flowing waters of the St. Lawrence to provide cheap electrical power to the citizens and businesses of New York. It would expand electrical generation and save money.

The Republican legislature, who were the paid lackeys of the existing power companies in the area, would not bring the bill to a vote.

Roosevelt argued that the Canadians had relied on inexpensive public electricity for many years. Americans should have this same public option, and not be monopolized by private electrical companies.

No vote.

Roosevelt proposed that the state develop the power plants, and that the private companies would contract with the state to transmit the power over their existing power lines.

No vote.

Roosevelt went directly to the people of New York in speeches and radio addresses, appealing for them to persuade their representatives to vote on the proposed legislation. Eventually, the bill was passed with major obstruction by the Republicans. However, the project was not completed for nearly 25 years.

See any parallels with what is happening today on health care reform?

Brule and AIRO - Buffalo Moon

Just Do It

How do you feel about the things you do? Everyday things like washing dishes, mowing the lawn, going to work. I have discovered long ago that how you feel about doing those things is irrelevant. You must just do them, and do them with mindfulness.

I learned this from "Water Bears No Scars", by David Reynolds.

This book introduced me to Morita therapy, and literally changed my view of how to relate to the tasks that I had to do. I used to "hate" doing this or avoid doing that because of how I felt about the task. Morita therapy led me beyond these feelings and into an active and full participation in the task.

It has the additional benefit of combating minor depression, by having the student focus fully, mindfully on the task at hand. It says that if you are fully aware of the task that you are involved with, you cannot be depressed.

Basically, Morita therapy aims at building character. Character is developed by behavior, by what one does. Decisions, the basis for action, become grounded in purpose rather than influenced by the flow of feelings.

While it recognizes emotions as a rich type of experience and a valuable source of information. They are just not used in determining what's needed in the moment.

By taking constructive action, grounded in objectivity by the "what is" of a situation, helps in achieving a full and meaningful life.

Visit http://www.todoinstitute.com and http://constructiveliving.org

Georgia Guidestones

This post concerns the intolerance that some (often religion leaders) have for Reason. Also, I have found that unfortunately it's often the crudest people who have the loudest voice.

The Georgia Guidestones are granite monument in Elbert County, Georgia, USA. A message comprising ten guides is inscribed on the structure in eight modern languages, and a shorter message is inscribed at the top of the structure in four ancient languages' scripts: Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

In June 1979, an unknown person(s) under the pseudonym R. C. Christian hired Elberton Granite Finishing Company to build the structure.

A message consisting of a set of ten guidelines or principles :

# Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
# Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
# Unite humanity with a living new language.
# Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
# Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
# Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
# Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
# Balance personal rights with social duties.
# Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
# Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

The Guidestones have become a subject of interest for conspiracy theorists. At the unveiling of the monument, a local minister proclaimed that he believed the monument was "for sun worshipers, for cult worship and for devil worship".

In 2008, the stones were defaced with polyurethane paint and graffiti with slogans such as "Death to the new world order."

Prelude - After the Goldrush

From long ago . . . 1974. Not even Neil Young did it better (imo).

What Americans Like, but . . .

Americans like science. Overwhelming majorities say that science has had a positive effect on society and that science has made life easier for most people. Most also say that government investments in science, as well as engineering and technology, pay off in the long run.

While the public holds scientists in high regard, many scientists offer unfavorable, if not critical, assessments of the public’s knowledge and expectations. Fully 85% see the public’s lack of scientific knowledge as a major problem for science.

A substantial percentage of scientists also say that the news media have done a poor job educating the public. The scientists are particularly critical of television news coverage of science.

While scientists express frustration with the public, there are some significant points of agreement between the public and the scientific community. Majorities of both groups point to advances in medicine and life sciences as important achievements of science.

However, when it comes to contemporary scientific issues, there are often differences. For example, while 84% of scientists say the earth is getting warmer because of human activity such as burning fossil fuels, just 49% of the public agrees.

So what's to be done? Truthfully, not much because people would rather be entertained than informed.

There are gold mines of knowledge in Wikipedia, TED, Nova, Earth & Sky, National Geographic -- just to name a few.

But when it comes to having the TV remote in their hands, it's time for sports, mindless contest shows or cultist opinion programs.

(Extracted from this article, except for the closing opinions which are mine.)

His Motives

I go to the train station in my evening commute home.

Once or twice a week, there is a man there yelling from the Bible. There is a strident cadence in his voice as he reads from a much highlighted text. There are yellow, pink, blue and green markings covering each page of his large study Bible.

There is neither love nor hate in his voice. Just a seeming forceful exorcism.

I have wondered whether he is trying to remove the demons from the world or from himself. He is not wanting to lead anyone to "salvation"; nor does he preach God's higher glory.

It seems to be a wail against some past "sin" of his, and he is asking God for forgiveness. I hope he receives it.

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

I've enjoyed the PCO since the late 1980s. I take their music on my walks, and find that if each step is a beat, you get a nice workout. Much of their music is light and whimsical. Enjoy.

Belief and Knowledge

People are not naturally skeptics, wondering if a single one of their beliefs can be reasonably preserved. They are dogmatists, angrily confident of maintaining them all.

We should be skeptics with regards to our beliefs, unless we have been privately convinced they are true and worth having.

The idea is not to have the courage of our convictions; it's to have the courage to challenge our convictions.

I've often said that believing in something, anything, is easy. It requires nothing but belief. If I were to believe that it will rain tomorrow, but all weather patterns and pressure systems say that it won't, then all I have is my belief. Only when tomorrow comes, and brings no rain, will I rationalize the event and justify my belief.

Though I may be proved wrong, my belief was correct.

Of course, that's not the way to a rational and objectively lived life. Yet people cling rather than prove; deny rather than become open; believe only rather than do the mental legwork to know.

What do you believe only? Do you have the courage to challenge it, or are you angrily confident?