Three Secrets of Abundance


1. No one is to blame. 

Blame is an illusory link of causation formed out of ignorance, feeding the sense of separation. Every time we blame someone, we make them the cause of our life and forfeit our freedom. We empower whoever we blame.

2. Money is an illusion that we can live without.

Money was invented to give few power over many. Money was never a necessity for human community. Humans will one day awaken to the realization that we could have lived without money all along, communicating at the subtlest level of trust, extending to one another unlimited credit and debt-forgiveness in every transaction.

3. We will discover the free, clean, unlimited energy source.

We will tap into the infinite energy that is inherent in pure empty space, liberating us from dependence on fossil fuels, nuclear power, and every previous source. Empty space overflows with abundant potential energy, in the form of virtual electrons and virtual photons of light. These virtual particles exist as fluctuations of the vacuum, vibrating in infinitesimal polarized fields. By tapping into the positive-negative polarity that resonates at every point of infinite space, we will draw unlimited energy from the void.

When we understand the relationship between these three truths, and see that one leads to the next, we will progress.

Namaste.
Today, become so free you cannot find your way back to an I.

Namastes Me


You think you are liberal? God is way more liberal.

God's wild open-hearted forgiveness makes every radical look conservative. How else could humans get away with it?

Sometimes I think God should be more strict. But God knows what She's doing. She wants us to mature beyond the laws of right and wrong, fulfilling all possible commandments by following one simple rule:

Namastes Me, Namastes Me, Namo Namaha.

Bowing to the divine in you, I bow to the divine in me. We bow to the divine in each other.

Is Detachment A Practice?


Does a Buddha feel sadness? Does a Buddha feel joy?

A Buddha is established in Upeksha, which we can translate as dispassion or detachment. Many Westerners conclude that to be a Buddhist one must suppress or annihilate all one's feelings. This misinterpretation makes Buddhism seem nihilistic and even depressing to Westerners.

Yet it is precisely the quality of Upeksha that empowers a Buddha to embrace the richness of human emotion, without getting stuck in it. A clear empty mirror reflects every details of the world, yet the world is really not in the mirror. The mirror is always clear and empty. When the events are over, they do not stick to the mirror. So detachment allows a Buddha to experience the passions of others with understanding and forgiveness, as if they were her own. Sakyamuni Buddha compared this state to a mother's infinite care for her only child. When the child cries, the mother feels the cry, yet does not share the baby's fear of abandonment or craving for milk. Such is Metta: universal compassion. Yet it is dispassion that allows for this compassion.

The void is bliss. Bliss is beyond both joy and sorrow. Yet in the emptiness of the transcendental void, a Buddha embraces both sorrow and joy. The Buddha feels the sorrow of sentient beings and weeps their tears. This empathy is called Mudita. The Buddha likewise feels the joy of sentient beings and laughs their laughter. This sympathetic delight is called Karuna. Yet both Mudita and Karuna are reflections in the empty mirror of Upeksha: deeply felt yet ever dissolving without a trace.

In the words of the English poet, William Blake: "He who clings to a joy, doth the winged life destroy. But he who kisses the joy as it flies, lives in eternity's sunrise." Upeksha, Metta, Karuna, and Mudita are called "The Four Immeasurables." They are the emotions of a Buddha.

You are a Buddha when you do not resist any part of your humanity whatsoever, letting every laugh or tear arise like a cloud and dissolve like a cloud in the spacious sky of your heart. Laugh all your laughter, cry all your tears, but never try to be detached. Non-attachment already is. Upeksha, the space of Being itself, is not attached to anything that it contains. That space was here before you were born into it. And when you die, you will dissolve into that space, as into a living womb.

Do you have to practice space?  Of course not. You live and move in it always. Neither do you need to practice detachment. To practice detachment is like the sky trying to stop the wind.

Leaderless?


They say the movement has no leadership. But perhaps there is a new kind of leadership, rooted in collaborative Unknowing, with a deep faith in Presence.

This movement is only a taste, a rehearsal for post-2012 leadership, which will see the end of outmoded governments.

What is our new leader's name? Issoa. Intuitive Spontaneous Self-Organizing Awareness.

Follow Her.
Painting by Regina Argentin

Western Philosophy's Wrong Turn



With the so-called Enlightenment of the 17th century, Western culture found its religion but lost its soul, embraced the methods of empirical science but forgot the methods of meditation, invented objectivity but turned the self into a four-letter word.

"When I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception.... We are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity..." (David Hume, A Treatise On Human Nature)

Why does Hume write, "I never can catch myself at any time without a perception?" Because he tries to catch a thing instead of a Self. He grasps. And in the very act of grasping, he breaks reality in two. The subject denies its own existence as it reaches out for the object of attention, instead of resting attention in its source. Like Hume, we live in a culture of grasping, a culture of distraction, a culture of flight from Self-awareness.

On Hume's oversight hangs the entire Age of Enlightenment with its Empirical Philosophers. Francis Bacon, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Newtonian physics, with its laboratory method of science, Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations," with its blind faith in free markets, even fundamentalist Christianity: all rooted in Hume's oversight. I say oversight rather than insight, for Hume's philosophy is doomed by its failure to perceive what is most obvious, immediate, and intimate to the act of perception: awareness itself.In honoring the content of awareness as a flow of perceptions, he overlooks the prior space that must be already present to contain its content. O Philosophers, you are so absent-minded in your knowledge that you cannot find your spectacles, though they sit on your nostrils! You do not see the invisible clarity through which colors and forms appear. You do not hear the silence through which sounds arise. You do not know the consciousness that is already there before a single thought is born!

All the modern perspectives spawned by your empiricism - from physical science to evangelical Christianity - insist on one principle: an objective interpretation of what is real. All assume that the world of the object, external to our subjectivity, is the only reality. Because the object is valued as real, the self is unreal. This devaluation of consciousness, as a reality in itself, leads the scientist to assume a material particle as the essential building block of nature, and leads the Christian to assume an external authority as the only source of revelation.

Dr. Hume, what is that formless and motionless space through which your perceptions pass in frenzied succession? If you are nothing but a "bundle of perceptions," then who is it who perceives them? Who is the witness of your thoughts - the "I"? Why do you overlook your Self?

O Philosopher! Overlooking the Self, you forget the Self. Forgetting the Self, you degrade the Self. Degrading the Self, you subject the Self to the institutions and armies of an ignorant world, a world inanimate and devoid of Spirit. Our economic and political crises, spawned by your philosophical materialism, cannot be solved by any progressive reforms. All reform movements are reactions to the problem, growing out of the problem, born of the same oversight. A problem is never solved by reacting to the problem, but by shifting attention to a prior level: the level of the cause. Therefore, economic and political problems have no material solution. Their solution is to know the Self.

Our problems have one cause, whether they are private or political: we mistake the sensation of things for the inward satisfaction that arises when our mind rests in the radiance of its source, which is no-thing. This world is at war because we grasp at money, land, weapons of dominion, food, clothing, naked flesh to fill the lusts born of mental distraction. The violent nihilism of our culture is the logical end of an argument that began in the 17th Century. For over three hundred years we have raised our children to believe:

* That there is nothing real inside me;
* Therefore, there is no good inside me;
* Therefore, the only real and only good lies in matter, ownership of property, and external authority;
* Even God must be an external authority, for God could not possibly dwell in my sinful soul;
* Therefor, I am bad, my intuition is untrustworthy, and my salvation is assured only through blind obedience to someone else.

We have come to the point where a great reduction is required. We need one thing: an act of simplification. We need to turn the beam of our attention 180 degrees inward, to shine upon its source.

Resting there, Philosopher, become wise. Not in sensation of objects, or in grasping of thoughts - for thoughts are also objects - but in the glory that arises when you dive beneath all sensation, all thought, and touch bottom. Yes, touch the dark and formless ground where the subject alone becomes an object of its own awareness. This happens where I meet AM, with no noun predicated on that AM. For I am not a noun. I am not a man, an American, or a Christian. Those nouns are accidental to my essence: but what I know as AM is essence itself. I must return to an infinitely simple relationship with the ground of my Being.

Philosopher, rejoice in the reverberations of pure consciousness. Your magical stone, your wish-granting jewel, is simply the no-thing where awareness knows itself. That tremor of awareness, pulsation of Self on Self, strikes creation's fire, producing wave upon wave of reflection, a cosmos whose energy is pure awareness. As an algebraic equation appears to be composed of numbers, yet has no other substance but abstract intelligence, so all the complexity required to manifest this universe arises from the stillness whose sole business isto be aware.

We can now clarify the colossal mistake of Western philosophy, and ease the crisis of perception that dis-eased our science and religion for centuries. We begin to see the Truth: Consciousness is not produced by an evolving complexity of material particles. On the contrary, matter is produced by consciousness, imagining itself in evermore complex reflections of its first and only Self-Reflection.

Thus, religion and science are grounded in the same awareness. The founders of modern quantum physics told us as much, but few listened. Einstein wrote: "The cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research." And physicists Arthur Eddington, founder of quantum mechanics and president of the Royal Academy of Science said, "I assert that the nature of all reality is spiritual, not material nor a dualism of matter and spirit... I contemplate a spiritual domain underlying the physical world."

Plato tried to tell us this at the source of Western philosophy. But we listened to Aristotle, the materialist, instead of Plato, Hume instead of Leibnitz, Calvin instead of St. Theresa. We sought reality out there, when all the time it was arising from within us. Now it is time to strip naked, dive deep, touch bottom, and come up singing again....

Occupy Yourself

 

 Being pissed off is not the answer. It only feels like the answer.
Then you discover that you've given half of your energy to the very people you're pissed off at, in the form of your outraged shadow.

I wasted most of my life blaming, scapegoating, projecting my anger on the "enemy." That's what my culture taught me to do as a "man." But I was just making the "enemy" bigger and more powerful by feeding him with my aggression. Now the enemy, the slogans tell is, is "the rich." For a while there it was Muslims. Then it was "the far right." We just keep replacing one scape goat with another: we need someone to hang our shadow on.

I'm finished with toxic blame. Projecting anger and blame wastes half my energy, energy I could be spending actually creating something - like joy, like beauty, like abundance. 
I refuse to buy into any more conflict between Rich and Poor, Left and Right, Christian vs. Muslim, Israel vs. Palestine. These are just shadowy generalizations, not living people. Nobody is 1% or  99%. We're all 100% human. 
In the 60's we shouted the same slogan we hear today from the Wall Street occupiers. We were convinced that "all the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few ruling-class families." Remember that? The truth we didn't want to hear, and still don't, is this: if we evenly redistributed the wealth of the 1%, we'd each get a few hundred dollars and spend it in a week without creating a single job. 
The problem isn't wealth or poverty. The problem is that Americans just don't make stuff anymore. This is not an economic crisis, but a crisis in creativity. If you need a better income, you have to make something or do something that people want to buy, then sell it to them. That is your declaration of economic independence.

Let us each honor our unique power. We were created in the image of a creator, not a beggar. We were born to make, not to take. But self-worth is difficult for many of us. It's amazing how many folks feel bad about asking a fee for doing what they love and do best. They think they have to give it away. What they're really telling the world is, "I'm not worth anything."

Here is the economics of full employment and mutual abundance: I will honor your creative power and pay you for it. You will honor my creative power and pay me for it. Each of us produce a real product doing the work that we love, and place a worthy price on it. Does that sound selfish? It's not nearly so selfish as whining with resentment against "the rich."

I don't need to occupy Wall Street. I need to occupy my Self.

God & I

Sometimes there is unity. And sometimes there is God and I. Why should two be less than one? I talk to God without words, the way a sparkling stream talks even in the darkness, flowing from water to water. God isn't interested in my reasons for believing or disbelieving. God is interested in my friendship. If  God and I were not friends, we'd have to settle for oneness.

Science?

 

Ultimately, the purpose of science is to validate the benefits of laughing, dancing, and singing God's name.


A Sign

 
Let the sign of the movement not be a raised fist, but the Abahya Mudra, the raised hand of the Peace blessing, Eye of Wisdom in its palm, so open.

Abahya means "without fear." Fear closes fists and hearts. The spirit of peace opens hands and hearts.

A Platform for the 99% Party

Corporate lobbyists own both major parties. The 99% Movement has the energy, but is not yet focused into a political strike force. 

Perhaps the next step for this  movement is a viable third party: the Progressive People's Party of America. We need candidates and concrete legislative plans. But first we need a focused party platform. Here's a potential one to get the discussion moving.

* Rid politics of private money: institute public campaign financing.

* Cut military spending in half. Bring home the troops. The age of empire is over.

* Link educational reform to the green economy: Make sustainability the basis of public school curriculum. Inspire students to develop clean energy technologies, and life-styles of environmental harmony. Use game theory and internet computer gaming to pool the nation's collective intelligence and produce collaborative solutions to green energy problems.

* Extend the 7% FICA withholding tax to all earned income, funding single-payer national Medicare for all citizens. This will grow new businesses, because entrepreneurs won’t have to worry about health insurance for their families and employees.

* Stop lying about Social Security, which is perfectly solvent. Just quit robbing the SS fund to pay other debts.

* Use tax incentives to promote worker-owned cooperatives as an alternative to corporations, so that companies are run by the people who actually make the products, not stockholders on Wall Street. (The successful pattern for this is the Mondragon company is Basque Spain: LINK).

* Drop the international banking cartel and the Federal Reserve. Instead create a network of publicly-chartered regional banks and credit unions. Explore the use of barter-credits to replace debt.

* End agribusiness subsidies. Instead, subsidize a network of local organic family-owned farms.

* Drop the two big lies of Reaganomics. (1) Wealth that accumulates at the top does not trickle down to create American jobs. (2) A nation must tax wealth to survive.

* Therefor, stimulate job growth by ending Bush tax cuts, and use the revenue to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges, pipelines, electrical grids, wind farms, rural high-speed broadband, and rapid transit for cities. Give priority to sub-contractors who employ green technology.

Yes we can make real change. 

(Published in McKlatchy Newspapers including: The Olympian, Olympia WA, May 31 and the Tacoma News Tribune, July 9)

Sandbox

Just beyond the edge of our sandbox, where we throw sand in each others' faces and make each other cry, ceaselessly whining, "Give me that, it's mine!", our Mother watches patiently over us, whispering, "Children, when you finish your hissy-fit, I will make you lunch."

Unclosed


Be a horizon, become a curve.
No need to take sides
when you spread your arms.
The tantrum of this world
is smaller than your body,
smaller than your rising falling chest.
Be unclosed, an embrace.
from the galaxy of your crown
to the belly of your atoms,
one breath.
This is how Jesus died,
whispering "forgive them,"
and woke up inside every flower,
every eye.
Something in you has awakened
to infinite rest.
If your heart did not just open,
what did?

The Courage To Be Neutral


‎"It is not enough to be neutral. I must passionately choose sides in the conflict."

"It is not enough to take sides. A deeply centered part of me must remain neutral."

Both of these statements are true. In the heat of conflict, each side stereotypes the other, projecting its shadow of fear on the adversary until what is beheld is not the other, but the darkest aspect of oneself. Thus the Capitalist and Socialist, Israeli and Palestinian, Believer and Non-Believer, energize the darkest aspects of each other. In such conflicts, the only sanity is neutrality.

In progressive circles, it has become fashionable to condemn neutrality as implicit cooperation with the oppressor. But neutrality can be the deepest form of courage, and the way to peace.

Without neutrality, where is the meeting place, the space for listening, for mediation, for conflict-resolution? Standing at the heart of conflict, with the courage of neutrality, our very Being defuses polarity and dissolves fear. Our neutrality may be the only place left where both sides can recognize their common humanity.


In such conflicts, neutrality is the majestic expanse of awareness itself, embracing both sides with compassion. Neutrality is the wisdom of emptiness, free from judgments and stereotypes about the other. Neutrality is the stillness, the silence, where both sides come to cleanse their mirrors. In the simple clarity of neutral space, enemies discover that they are the reverse images of each other. Then they can cease projecting their shadows.


In any conflict, if your heart feels drawn to neutrality, don't be intimidated into taking sides. After all, you may be the last sane person in the room.

Un-Think

  "Among the great things found among us, the existence of no-thing is the greatest." ~Leonardo da Vinci
"You have to learn meditation to enjoy your emptiness. And that is one of the greatest days in life, when a person starts enjoying emptiness, aloneness, nothingness." ~ Osho

"This whole universe of finite Yes's comes out of one infinite No." ~Mahesh Yogi

Please un-think about this if you truly want to not-know it.