September 5, 2008

Signs Along the Way
 Today I brought in my car for a bi-annual oil change. When I arrived, the person in front of me had lost his wallet and was frantically searching for it. The fact that he was before me, I found significant, but how?

I then had some lunch at McDonald’s. I then returned, but before I retrieved my car, I went into a Long’s Drugs to purchase some fruit and nuts for my salads. I saw two different products next to one another. Both were marked 2 for $4. When I went to pay for it, the checkout person said that the one I selected was not on sale. I know it was because it was marked so. In fact, both the products were marked so. The cashier then spoke to a stocking employee who ran it through her handheld computer and it indicated it was not on sale. It was clear then the big label next to the product I purchased indicating 2 for $4 should not have been there. I informed the cashier on the way out that the item was marked wrong, after she gave me my money back. (I did not buy the item.)

When I went to pick up my car, I was surprised that they charged $79 instead of $29 for the oil change. I asked why. He said it was due to the fact that I agreed to synthetic oil. I assumed synthetic was the lower grade and thus $29, but I was misinformed! I forgot that the last time I was there I purchased the higher grade, i.e. synthetic oil for the oil change. So he was right. He saw my past transaction and assumed I would understand. I just didn’t remember, however. I then told them they should explain clearly the difference each time we purchase it, for after all we only come twice a year. (I was making a practical suggestion, yet somehow an anguished one.)

At each point, I saw the connection to the other events. To the man who was there with the wallet before me when I checked in to get the oil change one hour earlier; to the problem with the purchase of fruit and nuts for my salad five minutes earlier. And also the fact that the day before I went through precisely the same situation at another location when I went to purchase a candy bar. I.e. marked as cheaper, but not in the computer as such!

As I walked out of the Quality Tune-up, I felt emotion, yet I tried to keep calm. I was relaxed soon after. In the past, I would have been three times as mad as I was after making the $79 payment for the oil change. Now I have the mental knowledge of the flow of life to get too riled up. Besides, I took responsibility for everything under the assumption that the outer is a reflection to the outer.

I started to write up this entire affair. Within one minute, I got a call for a potentially very lucrative business arrangement involving project management. My reasonably rational approach to the situation attracted. I held back blaming, and the response came. The energy could have been dissipated, but it still remained. A phone call of an old business associate suddenly came out of the blue with a great opportunity.

PS  Consecration (i.e. offering the matter to the Spirit beforehand) and inner status of living in the depths and therefore calm could have eliminated all of the problems to begin with, indicating the scope of my further growth.

Update to the story: Just a few hours after this story occurred, I looked in one of my kitchen closets and found a bag of nuts/fruits that my roommate had just purchased! It was the only new thing in the closet!

Additional: The Hidden Patterns of Life

 

July 30, 2008

The Divine-Net
What if you needed to know something and that knowledge simply appeared in your mind. What if you needed to know what to do next and an inner voice compels you to move in a particular direction. What if you needed to know the future direction of things and it is revealed in the present. The Internet will hardly help you in these areas, but the Divine-Net will. The former is a great 21st century tool; the latter a tool for all time. Why not then use the latter today?

An individual is walking down the street and is considering a problem. Where would he look on the Internet for the answer? It is unique, complex, and personal. The solution is however available on the Divine-Net. You still your thoughts, move to a deeper poise within, and open to the spiritual Force. One more thing: you forget about the matter. Two minutes later an intuition of the complete solution to the problem appears in your mind from out of thin air. It is the power of the Divine-Net in action.

Another individual is about to make a sales presentation to a client. Through the Internet, she can find out about their needs, what is in stock, where they fit in on her schedule, and so forth. Beyond that, the transaction depends on her skills, persuasiveness, will, energy, et al. What seems beyond control is the outcome and fate of the event. What is needed is luck. With the Divine-Net this same person opens to the Higher Power. As a result, the conditions of life are immediately set in order; i.e. luck is created. E.g., the client who said he would be 1/2 hour late is actually 5 minutes early. The $5000 hoped for order becomes $20,000 when the owner reveals that he has opened three new locations. In addition, when this woman returns to her office, she experiences a revelation of an entirely new marketing scheme, which she adopts and revolutionizes her business. These miraculous-like events took place because she concentrated a moment and tapped into the infinite power of the Divine-Net.

Then one day a third individual comes up with a brilliant idea. Why not combine the Internet and the Divine-Net. Why not gather the knowledge -- including its principles and methods -- of the Divine-Net in a central location for all in the world to access. This enhanced Supernet even has algorithms that take into account a person’s current situations, demands, and state of mind. It is thus cosmically intelligent and aware of the Flow of Life for any and all persons. It can therefore be broadcast instantaneously to each specific user, providing a highly personalized solution. It allows any person to tap into Its power and become the Master of Life -- i.e. to bring about the greatest results in the shortest period of time with the least effort.

The source of this enhanced world wide web is the Divine-Net, which through its actions transcends limits of space and time -- as the future continually appears in the present, and the infinite instantly replaces the current finite. It thus transcends all known notions of causality and possibility. It puts all of the conditions of life in perfect order, while revealing knowledge and right course of action that lead to perfect outcomes. The Divine-Net is always there at your disposal, ready to work its magic, drawing from the Infinite consciousness of the divine Reality.

Are you ready to make use of this Ultimate Resource of life? If so, why not tap into the instantaneous miraculousness of the Divine-Net today.

Additional: Results that come from Consecration, (opening to the Force)

 

July 29 2008

Carrying Forth
 We all live on the skin of the earth.

We all dream in the sky of mind.

Down the dark corridors, and up the white path,

We journey on roads to unknown places.

On the chapel hill, beside the broken urn,

In the hourglass of eternity, we slip through forests of dreams.

Incalculable unknowns, incandescent notions,

We carry forth the ideal of the past,

Discarding it at the foot of the Golden Hill.

July 26, 2008

Timelessness in Time
 Have you ever meditated before; say for an hour or longer? Those who have experienced this inner approach to the spirit often claim that it felt as if 10 minutes have gone by when it was in fact an hour. That is the difference between one’s experience of time (1 hour) and timelessness (10 minutes). Time is the unfolding of moments in duration. Timelessness is its reverse -- the absence of time; i.e. no time.

One time I was driving along a wide-open highway from Los Banos in the central Valley of California towards the coastal mountains. For half a minute, I experienced what felt like a point in the future on earth where time no longer existed -- though space was still there. Can you imagine such a thing? Was this a prophetic vision of life in some distant time-less future or an experience of timelessness in the Now?

When a human goes into outer space at the speed of light and returns a year later, for him 1 year has passed. But now when he looks around at the earth, dozens or even hundreds of years have passed. The people of his generation are now old or long gone. In one sense, he has experienced timelessness relative to the people who have lived in time.

When I change an attitude or focus my intention on something or open to the spiritual Force, something equally astonishing takes place. Sudden good fortune rushes toward me. What would have taken place in the future (if at all), suddenly occurs in the present. Again, the limits of time have been overcome -- replaced with no time, i.e. timelessness. Or to be more accurate, timelessness has occurred within the becomings of time, releasing the infinite potentials of life.

God, the Divine exists in timelessness; Life in the universe is in Time. His aspiration is for us to experience His Timelessness in the details of our lives, i.e. in Time. It is the destiny of life on earth. Perhaps that is what I had a glimpse of on the road from Los Banos nearly a decade ago.

Whatever you raise your consciousness -- whether by meditating, improving your nature, opening to the Spiritual Force, or moving to the depths within to your evolving soul, you move from the finite plane of Time to the infinite plane of Timelessness where it has entered that Time through the becomings of our lives. It is where time and timelessness meet, and thus where sudden good fortune (i.e. life response) arises. It is the plane of instantaneous miraculousness. Where the finite is replaced by the infinite.

Additional: Simultaneous Time (Timelessness in Time)

 

July 23, 2008

California Fires and the Response from Life
 Approximately three weeks ago, a very small weather system passed over Northern California. It produced no rain, but much lightning, an extremely rare phenomenon in California (i.e. the lightning). As a result, over 500 fires were started in the Northern and Central part of the state. They raged for several weeks, and produced abundant smoke throughout the region. Every day the sky would turn brown and you could smell it day and night. It was very concentrated in the Central Valley of California, which sits between two mountain ranges with no easy outlet for such smoke. Every day during this 2-week period, the smoke would drift into the SF Bay Area where I live. In combination with an intense heat wave where the temperature went above 107, the physical atmosphere was turning poisonous. Even I was affected despite air conditioning and other attempted remedies.

Over 1000 square miles of California burned and the air was getting worse with every passing day. The chance of rain or another system moving through was virtually zero since this is the dry season in the region. At one point, I thought back to last year when California hit nearly 120 degrees for several days, including my area. Over 300 people died and thousands more were taken ill. What is not generally known however is the fact that had the heat remained for another several days, thousands, maybe as many as 10,000 could have died. Fortunately, the weather cooled somewhat, averting the tragedy.

With this in mind, plus the fact that I was having headaches and felt I was slowly being poisoned by the air, and the fact that the skies were worsening and the fires were getting completely out of hand, one night before I went to sleep I felt an overwhelming aspiration for it all to end. I then explained the situation in detail to The Mother, and with an intense prayer asked that the situation cease. I then fell asleep.

The next morning I opened the curtain and looked at the sky. I noticed that there were several small high clouds. I looked out the window from the other side and saw the same. I then thought that these are produced when a weather system passes through. But these were tiny clouds, and I wondered what good they would do. Then as the morning progressed, I noticed that this was indeed an upper atmosphere disturbance (not unlike the earlier system that created the lightning strikes, but smaller and completely benign; i.e. a few tiny clouds but without the lightning). Then at one point, it was clear that the sky was no longer brown, that in fact the normal deep blue skies of California returned for the first time in several weeks. Still I wondered if the Central Valley smoke would drift over and return; but it never happened.

It turns out that this virtually cloudless upper level weather disturbance/front had miraculously cleared out all of California. A day or two later 460 of the 500 fires were under control. The smoke had virtually disappeared. Life returned pretty much to normal.  

The Divine Mother had altered the course of reality, and saved myself and countless others from what I believed was a looming catastrophe. I could only feel awe and eternal gratitude.

Additional: Affecting the Collective through Consecration

 

July 20, 2008

Life Divine ... Here on Earth
People go about their lives. When we reach a state of desperation, we exercise our faith; otherwise, spirit is a distant dream. Faith works more often than not, depending on the intensity and surrounding circumstances. The result is even impacted by the yearning and status of our evolving soul.

The other way we relate to the Divine is through death. When someone we know passes from this earth, we imagine a heaven where they reside in a bodiless state, but similar to life as we know it. Who can say what the truth is. On the other hand, we rarely consider the possibility of a Divine life on earth.

For millennia, we related to spirit as something “up there”, or “out there”, or beyond the beyond; a release into an eternity, or as the ancient Rishis experienced, a merging into the transcendence. The possibility that it is “right here” was rarely considered. In addition, there was no compulsion to bring that spiritual power down into the details of our lives, because life was considered if anything a barrier to connecting to spirit.

Now that is no longer the case, as every individual can find fulfillment in his or her work, indicating that there is less time to commune with the divine apart from life. Now if we want to experience the Grace and Power, we have ample opportunity to practice it while fully engaging in the details of our lives. It is right here now; all we have to do is open to it. In fact, more and more we are compelled to do so because the human mind alone can no longer resolve the ever more complex problems of the world. Spirit can however because it is capable of moving in multiple directions simultaneously attracting instantaneous positive results -- abridging space and time, and defying normal causality and possibility. In that way, it is the ultimate Problem Solver.

The end result of this movement is that we are all moving to a new stage of human development and consciousness. First, we have arrived at the first great point in our ascent: to mentality and rationality, which is an enormous development and sign of human progress. This has particularly been the case in the last 50 years. Then we move higher to the next pinnacle of consciousness and discover and utilize the power of the spiritual Force that is there in the atmosphere -- especially so in recent decades. We then apply that Power to the details of life, perfecting and divinizing it. As more and more individuals take to this approach, we see the first signs of a new type of existence emerging; a first glimmer of a new spirit-influenced and oriented society. It is the ultimate destination in our ascent to the Heights as a species.

This is indeed a radical departure in spiritual history. It is no longer a life of spirit apart from life, or a Death Divine of eternal comfort in the afterlife, but the emerging of Divine Life right here on earth. In the interim, we are taking intermediary steps to raise our consciousness. Higher attitudes, purifying and perfecting our behavior, emerging higher personal values, a mind that embraces all sides of an issue, and the ability to open to the spiritual Force are several of the bridging steps to the collective emergence of the spirit. They are not movements apart from life, but taken here in preparation for something new and unique in human history -- a Divine Life; but here … on earth.

Additional: Spirit-based Life on Earth

 

 

July 18, 2008

The Middle Path between True Individuality and the Social Imperative
 There is an interesting path that we continually navigate through in the course of our lives. On the one hand, we wonder if we are really thinking for ourselves and express our individuality, or are instead following the ignorance of the herd. On the other, we ask ourselves if we are following the truth of the social right and imperative, instead of following some misguided perception we individually subscribe to. Striking the right balance between these two paths is what the individual of high consciousness seeks in life.

Here then is a little guidance that can help us follow a Middle Path. Not a path of compromise, mind you, but a dynamic, integral view. It is this: whatever understanding generates an instance of sudden good fortune through a reversal will be the right direction to have taken. I.e., at the point you shift from one position to another and a positive response from life suddenly occurs, then you are taking the right tact.

For example, let’s say that there is a true, important social development emerging in society such as global warming, and your mind is skeptical of the fact. Let’s say that you change your perspective and embrace the position because you have come to realize that it is a Social Imperative unfolding in life. Immediately after doing so, you will see life responding in your favor. One person I know recently had this experience when confronted with the issue of global warning. When he reversed his opinion on the matter, sudden good fortune enveloped him. First, he felt a surge of mental energy. Then when he got involved in a research project on global warming, he experienced the total cooperation of life; in ways he had never witnessed before in his life. That is the power of giving up a limited attitude in the face of the emerging truths in society – i.e. the Social Imperative.

Of course, life responds on the other side as well. When you think for yourself rather than follow the herd, life propels you into the future. The founders of Microsoft and Apple found that out, who transcended the prevailing hierarchical view of computers when they took to its personal form. The same was true for other innovators -- from William Shakespeare to Martin Luther to Michael Gorbachev. When you are a proponent of the new -- following your own deepest instinct -- you are quickly driven to the stars. That is especially true if you gain the tacit support of your peers and the community at large. You in essence have become the pioneer, the secular avatar, who moves society further along. Even if it is in a smaller domain, you are propelled to the heights of that field. It is life responding to your true individuality -- to an essence that aspires for something originating deep within but projected powerfully on the world around you.

To find that right balance between living through your true self and being, and being in touch with the social imperative is a fine balance that takes discipline and psychological and spiritual insight. Only good can come of it. Whether we shift from its opposite or take to it in greater degree, life will surely respond in our favor.

Additional: The True Psychological & Spiritual Individual

 

July 15, 2008

The Divine Sanctions Progress through Darkness or Light
 Perhaps the main philosophical conundrum facing man is the question of why the Divine allows evil in the world. If He is the ultimate Good, how can He sanction such darkness? It is Man’s anguished cry in the dark.

At the end of WWII, the world was left in shambles. The war seemed so futile, without much purpose. Yet there was a purpose, other than defeating an evil enemy. From the highest perspective, the reason for WWII was to enable the further evolution of life on earth. It was the quickest means by which we could take a further step towards human unity. The United Nations, the EU, the Euro, the global economy, the WTO, the World Wide Web (WWW), and the untold other economic, political, and social agreements amongst nations and continents are all the bi-product of WWII. Without the horror of the war and the need to compensate for all that was wrong or missing in the world, it might have taken centuries, if ever to have brought about these harmonic institutions and developments.

From a metaphysical standpoint, we can say that the Divine sanctions those methods that bring the greatest progress in the shortest period of time. Whether that progress comes through Ignorance, Falsehood, or Evil, the Divine endorses that method. It is same in our own individual lives. What brings the greatest change for us, the Higher Power supports -- whether it comes about through suffering, illness, or tragedy. The Divine knows that in their wake will come the greatest progress, and hence the quickest and most formidable movement towards the Good.

Does this mean that all progress has to be through suffering? Not at all. The Divine also sanctions evolution through higher consciousness. Europe and the world did not have the higher consciousness to evolve collectively before WWII. So she did so through conflict and suffering. As individuals, we progress through torment because we do not have the consciousness to evolve through more positive, harmonic means. Yet if we developed our higher nature, we can progress without the dark, conflicting element. If we continually improve our character, overcome our limitations, find a deeper center, and open to the spirit we will foster constant progress without the need for the negative side.

This then is the challenge before us: to progress and evolve through higher consciousness, or through the suffering and conflict. For the Divine, both are acceptable means of moving forward. The choice is ours.

Additional: Overcoming Nature's Way through Higher Consciousness

 

July 14, 2008

Moving from the Part to the Whole
In any object or matter, there are two elements -- the various parts, as well as the whole of those parts. The Mind of man is limited. It only sees a Part, not the Whole. It divides and grabs onto the part it finds convenient, missing the other elements, not to mention the overall Whole or the deeper Essence. As a result of missing the Truth of any matter, Mind resides in a perpetual state of Ignorance. To perceive all of the parts, the Whole, and the Essence of any object or matter at any moment in time is to perceive the Truth. To ascertain it we must rise above Mind moving to intuition and an ultimate Truth consciousness. Sri Aurobindo calls it the Supramental Consciousness.

Life has a peculiar way of evolving. It moves from the part to the Whole. Nature’s (i.e. Life’s) great method is to find two parties that each know a part and have them come together in contradiction and conflict. Each side knows what the other does not. Still each knows a part. Through their mutual contradiction, they move from the exclusive belief to the other side’s understanding; i.e. the greater truth, which is the Whole. As a result, there is a further progress in life, which is Nature’s intention. They have moved through their conflict; resolved their contradiction. Interestingly, from the perspective of the Whole, there was never contradiction, only complementariness.  I.e. they helped one another in their progress, to enable the Whole to emerge, which is the further progress in life.

To see how conflict is the method by which we move from the part to the Whole, we can examine any event in life. Say I go for a walk and come upon what looks like a disturbance, with police cars and fire trucks. My senses tell me one thing. I come to a conclusion. I walk away from the scene having this perspective. It is the part. The reality and truth of the situation was not at all what my senses indicated. The security teams have merely come together to devise various strategies. There are other reasons as well. That is the Whole. We knew the part, through the false impression the visual sense drew into the Mind. It is our essential Ignorance born of creation. However, when we move to a deeper consciousness within, we separate from sense and from within perceive more of the possibilities unfolding around us.

The scientist sees matter.  He believes in the empirically true. He understands the mechanistic workings of life. He does not see the influence of emotion, psychological movements, the power of ideas, the subtle workings and principles of life, not to mention the Spirit that is the source of all, and to which we are evolving. He is blind to all of these. He thus sees the part. Life however is a Whole.  

Spirit and matter are integrated and makeup a Whole. We believe in matter. Some of us believe in the Spirit. Each us a part. The whole is to perceive the Spirit moving in the details of life, through matter. To perceive not just the spiritual being and the Becomings of life, but the Being in the Becoming. The One in the Many, as well as the Many in the One. It is to perceive the ultimate Reality, Brahman, the Absolute. The Creator and Creation as One Integrated Whole.

Additional: Exclusivity of Mind and Perceiving the Whole

 

July 13, 2008

A New World Emerging
 There is a new world emerging from the old. There is a new consciousness being born on earth that has never existed before. People are en masse becoming aware of the subtle unfoldings of life. Many are coming to understand the phenomena of “Life Response” and “The Secret.” They express the fact that we can instantly change the conditions of life around ourselves from within. E.g., you change an attitude, or aspire for something intensely, and then within days, hours, minutes, even seconds good fortune arrives on its own.

This is being accompanied by another movement: the psychological development of the individual. As we become more self-aware, as we shed out negative propensities, as we embrace higher human values, we begin to change and evolve our nature.

Then there are the pioneers who are opening to the spiritual Force, which brings the conditions of life under control, while evoking results that are dynamically creative and unprecedented in quality.

All of these are steps on the road to the spiritual awakening of humanity. It is the promise of a New World emerging from the old.

Additional: The Emerging Spirituality in Society

 

July 11, 2008

The Meaning Behind the Offending Phone Call
It is said that the Lord works in mysterious ways. They are mysterious because we do not understand them, and yet we are fully capable of doing so. I believe it is His wish.

Have you ever received a phone call at exactly the wrong moment; e.g. when you are about to settle down for a dinner or at an important moment in a film you are watching. Have you ever wondered why? Normally we consider it mere chance or bad timing or ill luck. There are many rational reasons that explain the cause. If the party on the offending line is engaged in an intense vital pursuit, such as wanting to desperately sell you something, and do so at all cost, you will tend to receive that call at precisely the wrong moment. Their negative energies burst through your own defense lines, spoiling happy moments with their own needs and desires.

Interestingly, it also works in the reverse. You will receive an unwelcome phone call at precisely the wrong moment because of something you have neglected in the past or otherwise precipitated on your own end. They are expressing their right action, but you are attracting them at precisely the wrong time because of the negative energies you released previously.

There are two examples of how the Lord -- or rather the cosmic unfoldings of life -- works in mysterious ways. To recognize the underlying intent and background is to ascertain the meaning in the offending call. And therefore know what they or you have to overcome to move to the positive to avoid repetition in the future.

Life is full of such lessons, if we only penetrate the surface.  It is a study I have engaged in for decades, the results of which can be found at the Growth Online web site. We welcome all who wish to learn the subtle secrets of how life unfolds in the universe.

Additional: Negative Life Response

 

July 10, 2008

Merchants of Death
 In the fine French film Persepolis, a little girl grows up in Tehran amidst vast changes in her country. First, the Shah comes into power, then he is disposed, then the religious government emerges, and then there is a terrible war between her nation Iran and rival Iraq. Often her family find themselves hunkering down during Saddam's air raids.

At one point in this animated film, the little girl almost casually says that the West is supplying both sides of the Iran-Iraq War with arms. They do not care about the destruction they are wreaking on their countries. The same dynamic was occurring throughout Africa and other conflicted regions of the world. Every one of these nations became the victims of the evil perpetrated by the Merchants of Death.

America will do nearly anything in the name of profit. Great Britain when she oversaw an Empire where the sun never set would do anything to expand trade. Other nations in Europe from Germany to the Czechs to Russia were not much different. Unfortunately, in these situations there is little concern about the aftermath of these transactions, only the quantity of weaponry itself. The human suffering it creates is a mere afterthought.

America is supposed to be the world leader, but she only has sense to be the economic leader. Her values essentially stop at that point. She may publically advocate freedom, but deeper down she is enamored with profits, which includes the transfer of arms shipments to any willing buyer. Nearly all harsh news America reports about its enemies can be traced back to its past insincere diplomatic efforts, its support of the types of leaders it publicly condemns, and for being distributors of small and sophisticated weaponry. And then she nervously calls out, “see, there are terrorists everywhere!” Is it any wonder?

Let the nations of the world through new institutions agree to halt these harmful transaction. Let the world leaders embrace deeper human values, not merely economic ones. Let the superpowers take down their nuclear arsenals, lest they too are one day used against them, or their friends and allies. For after all, unintended consequences is the logical outcome of the activities of the Merchants of Death.

Additional: Demilitarization of the World

 

July 7, 2008

‘Witness for the Prosecution’

There is a wonderful scene in the film Witness for the Prosecution that shows how selfless and self-givingness can evoke the miraculous.

Sir Wilfred Robarts, a master barrister and an elder man in ill health, takes Leonard Vole on as a client over the protestations of his nurse. Vole is accused of murdering Mrs. French, a rich, older woman who had become enamored of Vole, going so far as to make him the main beneficiary of her will. Thus, strong circumstantial evidence all pointed to Vole as the killer.

When Sir Wilfred speaks with Vole's German wife Christine, he finds her rather cold and self-possessed, but she does provide an alibi for Vole’s innocence. Therefore, Sir Wilfred is greatly surprised when she is unexpectedly called as a witness for the prosecution. On the stand, she testifies that Vole admitted to her that he had killed Mrs. French, and that her conscience now forced her to finally come forth and tell the truth.

As a result, Vole is likely to be found guilty and sent to the gallows. And yet Sir Wilfred, loyal to the end, presses on despite the futility of the situation, and despite his rapidly deteriorating health. At one point, someone asks him if it is worth pursuing the case any further because it could jeopardize his life. He answers that the life of his client is more important than his own life, and he will do everything he can to pursue the truth.

Not a few seconds after he makes that remark, he receives a phone call.  It is from a mysterious woman who says she can produce shocking new evidence that will lead to the reversal of the case, which is in fact what occurs.

From a consciousness point of view, the phone call and presence of this woman is something more. It is a direct and immediate response from life to Sir Wilfred for having placed the life of someone else above his own. It is an astonishing act of self-sacrifice for which he is instantaneously rewarded with information that suddenly reverses the evidence and wins him the case.

This is no clever ploy on the part of the writer to create dramatic effect, but is precisely how life works. When we take to selfless and self-giving behavior, life immediately starts working on our behalf. Negative situations dissipate, unthought of opportunities arise, and other forms of sudden good fortune come our way. It is in essence the phenomenon of “Life Response” in action. When we change our inner condition, life outside instantly responds in kind.

Additional: Self-givingness, Life Response

 

July 6, 2008

Higher Consciousness and Life Response
Life response -- i.e. sudden good fortune -- is simply a matter of consciousness.  The higher the consciousness, the more frequent and more intense the response. Then what is consciousness? It is the degree to which I am aware of my existence and my potentiality in life.

By what standard can I evaluate how conscious I am? If I live in time, ego, separateness, limitation, ignorance, conflict, and suffering, then my consciousness is low. If I am not bound by time, am in unity with my surroundings and with others, live in abundance, have many-sided integral knowledge, and experience endless creativity, love, and bliss, I am in a higher consciousness.

How then can I live in high rather than low consciousness? I can do so by first moving my orientation from the surface of life to a deeper poise within. Second, I can also make an ongoing effort try to identify and then improve all of the wanting parts of my being. Third, I can open to the Spiritual Force.  Ultimately, I can surrender to the Divine Reality and live only for Its Purpose and Intent. Any and all of these will expand my consciousness.

By taking these approaches, I move from the individual to the universal plane, enabling my energies to flow freely and align with corresponding positive conditions. These miraculous-like instances of sudden good fortune are not only indicators that my consciousness is rising, but that I have embarked on a new existence in which I am able to move the world around from within.

Additional: The Nature of Consciousness, Life Response

 

July 4, 2008

Will America Continue as the Evolutionary Leader?
America has become the leader of the world -- particularly in the area of the economy and through its military power. Her status as “evolutionary leader” came about because she took to freedom, individuality, organization, mass production, and waves of immigrant population, to name a few. Every individual also had the knowledge of how to recreate Europe in the new virgin land. Thus, America enabled the infinite to emerge out of the physical plane; producing endless material well-being, becoming a model for the rest of the world.

Now the world is catching up, particularly in Asia. New interests are emerging in the world. Will the US continue to be the world evolutionary leader in this new environment? She will have to take to several steps to maintain that status, otherwise some other nation(s) will take up the mantle. First, she needs to overcome her reactionary, conservative tendencies that go back 150 years. Second, she needs to go beyond the material to the psychological, mental, and spiritual view of the world -- holding the individual as sacred and supporting him every way possible. Third, she needs to join the world community as an equal, cooperative partner, not as a renegade looking out for her own self-interests. The era of go-it-alone power has come to an end. World collaboration is the order of the day.

If America moves in these directions, she will maintain her status as the evolutionary leader, and play the central guiding role in society's further progress and evolution.

The test of her collaborative effort will come in two areas: how she takes up the issue of the environment, and whether she radically reduces her nuclear weaponry. If she is to maintain her mantle of evolutionary leader, she will need to move in the right direction on these two issues at least. If she fails, the baton will be passed on elsewhere; to those can lead the world through its next stage of ever-increasing human unity and integration.   

Additional: The Evolution of the United States

 

July 3, 2008

America's Entrepreneurship and Leadership
America’s is not essentially an economy of capitalism, but of entrepreneurship. Most of its prosperity has come through that entrepreneurial zeal -- from Ford to Gates to Jobs to Brin. When it becomes more capitalistic -- i.e. focusing only on money -- it begins to fail, as in the Great Depression when financial speculations ran rampant, and in a milder form as we have seen in recent global speculation and failure related to the housing industry.

Almost all economic growth in America’s history -- and it is the world leading nation by far -- has been fueled by individuals deciding to take up an idea or possibility and run with it. That entrepreneurial zeal produced the overwhelming majority of the great companies, industries, and material benefits in the US -- and is still generating the same today. 

Now if only America can have that same impact at the higher psychological and mental planes, it could ignite another, even greater revolution. It can move from its current status as world economic and military leader to pioneer and guide of human potential in an ever more unified world.

Additional: US Entrepreneurship, Origins of US's Success

 

June 30, 2008

Individuality and Collaboration
Perhaps the most thrilling rivalry in the world of business in the last generation has been the competitive battle between Apple and Microsoft. The twists and turns of that these two companies have gone through are legend -- as the experiences and action of their leaders, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. One interesting way to look at their success is to examine some essence, quality, and core value that was critical to their success.

On the Apple side, it has been the ability to express the individuality of people through breakthrough technology. From the very beginning, Apple has seen itself as a company doing battle with the establishment, embodied in the IBM-centric world of hierarchy and conformity. With breakthrough, easy to use, people-oriented technology, Apple has aimed to break down these barriers, allowing the individual to express his capacities in full. This ability to bring out human individuality is one of the hallmarks of Apple’s values, drive, and success. The results has been products that have revolutionized the computer world.

In the years, I have observed Microsoft, an almost opposite quality, essence, and value stands out at the core of their success. It is an extraordinary ability to collaborate with its partners and users. Microsoft at every stage has sought to open itself to creating relationships with hardware vendors, corporations, and users in order to extend its technology into the wider sphere. When Microsoft developed its original DOS personal computer operating system, it encouraged dozens of PC manufacturer to use it. That model continued with the release of Windows and then Windows Mobile. Likewise, any developer who has worked with the company knows how they have bent over backwards to forge relationships that help partners, while expanding Microsoft’s market. The result has been a 90% market share in the OS, and a company that is a virtual money making machine.

These same two factors, individuality and collaboration are central dynamics of life itself. On the one hand, there is the need to express one’s self and individuality in life, even as there is the need to cooperate with others. This is a central dynamic in society, perpetually working itself out. For example, in America, individuality is there in the extreme; and yet its collaborative capacities -- its ability to work for its people, and cooperate with other nations -- is lacking. If it embraced collaboration as much as individuality, it would almost certainly maintain its role of evolutionary leader of the world. In Asia, we see more of the other side, where collaboration is at the forefront, and true individuality is somehow missing. That too is working itself out.

Of course, each alone -- Individuality or collaboration is each alone limited. It is but a part, not the whole. Together and integrated, they are fully capable of harnessing the infinite potentials of life.

Additional: Power of Values in Business, Evolution of Individual Nations

 

June 28, 2008

India Rising
Several weeks ago, I was very surprised to read that America's most famous film director Steven Spielberg had considered selling his film company DreamWorks to a Bollywood company. For me this was another sign of India rising, but perhaps not in the way we normally think of it.

In recent years, I have taken a great interest in non-Hollywood films, and have really appreciated efforts from Iran, China, and now India. In 2007, I viewed many highly rated Indian and American films, and recently came to a startling conclusion: the top half dozen rated Indian films were preferable in my mind to the five nominees for best picture at the Oscars, which were Hollywood-based. Indian films like Water, Guru, Chak de! India, The Namesake, Gandhi My Father, Peck on the Cheek and others were very strong, if not excellent. When I thought about it further, it struck me that India has passed a threshold. They were not only rapidly becoming economic equals of the West, but cultural ones as well.

Now there are those who will say that India already has a great culture, and that in fact recent developments in Bollywood cannot compare to the great music, dance, architecture, and other cultural forms of the country. However, I took these developments as first signs of the emergence of the spiritual culture of India. Why spiritual? Because the new spirituality begins by first embracing the modern notion of rational thought, and then moves upward from there to insight, illumination, and intuition. It culminates in the many sided, integral knowledge of any object or matter of inquiry. India through her prosperity is beginning to shed old superstitions and is embracing the modern thought processes of the West. It reflects in these fine Indian films, and then goes a step further by bringing out a subtle presence that resides in this Spiritual Land.  

Again, there are those who will point to the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita as the greatest of all spiritual wisdom ever devised, and I would not disagree, but the current spiritual emergence is something quite different, having a different character. It adds evolution to the equation. India through her prosperity is emerging into a new mentality that is the first step to a spirituality that embraces the progressive, evolutionary movements of life. That mentality expresses in these very fine Indian films, and then suggest something more, some unique Indian quality that has yet to emerge. For me it is the progressive unfolding of spirit in the details of life; a hallmark of the emergence of the spiritual individual and the next stage of life on earth.

Additional: The Future Evolution of India

 

June 27, 2008

Overcoming the Vitriol of Fans
Can a negative attitude precipitate and elongate a problem -- i.e. attract persistently negative circumstance?

For 50 years, the Giants have played baseball in San Francisco after moving from Manhattan in the late 1950s. They have not won a single championship, having an almost unmatched record of futility. One of the mantras of the team is "Beat LA," meaning Los Angeles. Actually, it is expressed in terms harsher than that. Interestingly, in LA they rarely say anything so scurrilous as the fans in San Francisco. Could this negative attitude on the part of fans in SF attract persistent negative results that have deprived them of a single championship in 50+ years?

Consider the results. There have been many instances where the Giants were in the pennant run, only to be knocked out at the end by the LA Dodgers. When the Giants finally made it to the World Series several years back, they were poised to win, only to be deprived of the prize by the Los Angeles Angels at the last moment! This dynamic has occurred repeatedly over the years. The fans' vitriol always seems to rise before they are about to play an important series with their Southland rivals; and invariably the futile results follow -- often in the most “creative” of ways.

And yet there is a solution. If the fans and media can learn to control their LA contempt, shed their inferiority complex, and take to playing solid ball, conditions will quickly arise that will put them in contention; even in a position to win a championship. Sounds far-fetched? It is precisely how life works. The very same dynamic holds true for each of us in our own lives. If you discover and overcome a wanting attitude, areas of failure you have experienced will quickly turn successful, as positive circumstance will appear out of nowhere. Why not test out the theory?

Additional: Negative Life Response

June 23, 2008

Greater Intensity of the Positive through Its Opposite
We hope for the very best of circumstance to come our way, avoiding the negative. And yet life progresses, evolves through the interplay of the positive and the negative. Without the negative, the intensity of more and greater positive circumstance cannot be generated.

We can see this in terms of life, love, and knowledge; and their opposites of death, hate, and ignorance. Living, loving, and understanding are things to aspire for, but they are normally enhanced through their opposite experience, death, cruelty, and ignorance. Let’s say that I am trying to discover the truth of a matter, but then realize that what I have discovered is utterly false. As a result, now I have more interest, intensity, and drive to get at the truth. Thus, my ignorance drove me to greater knowledge. In the same way human cruelty and unlove creates the push for greater, more lasting love, and death itself creates the urge for immortality in life.

This is the present condition of progress in life: a movement to the opposite in order to move the positive forward to a greater degree. This is the way of Nature – known as ‘Prakriti’ in Sanskrit or the flow of normal life in the universe. But is that the only way to greater intensity of knowledge, love, life, and delight? No it is not. We can progress in another way that is beyond the slow and difficult method of Nature. It is the way of Consciousness -- also known as Spirit or Soul. When we take to it in greater measure, we generate the intensity that takes knowledge, love, life, delight, and creativity to their higher status. We move there without experiencing their opposite.

It is our choice: progress through opposites or through higher consciousness. The universe stands backs and accepts either decision.

Additional: Benefit of the Positive and Negative

June 21, 2008

US Presidential Insincerity

Though an individual takes action that appears positive on the surface, he may be masking insincerity that has long term negative effect.

Nixon had expanded the war in Vietnam, played dirty tricks domestically, and was embroiled in Watergate. With his fortunes sinking, Kissinger offered the possibility of going to China. It was not China’s benefit that was the motive, but a way to create a wedge against the Soviets. Even the Mother commented on these nefarious tactics in the Agenda, hoping instead for reconciliation between the US and the Soviets. Insincerity was thus there behind.

Reagan was burdened by Iran-Contra scandal. His legacy was also much in question. When he saw the opening through Gorbachev to end the Cold War he went for it, saving his legacy. Even his moronic wife advocated he take it up as a way to save face. Once he left however there was no desire to eliminate the rest of the missiles. All that mattered in the negotiations was getting the upper hand for America. There was no sincere effort to complete the process, which lingers ominously to this very day. Again, insincerity was there behind.

Bush now in power is the latest manifestation of insincerity. It expresses in so many dozens of small and large ways that it borders on the absurd. (McCain has perhaps the most confused and contradictory outlook in modern presidential history. Obama was unconscious of the fact that he was being used by conservative independents to humiliate Hillary Clinton, and thus women.) 

America is looking for advantage not cooperation and communion, demonstrating its adolescent, independent-minded immaturity. How can it lead the world when its self-interests trump the movement toward world unity?

Additional: USA's, Limitations, Challenges, and Problems, Insincerity

 

June 18, 2008

Perceiving All Sides of a Matter
Man is not inclined to embrace all sides of an issue, only the one that meets his current attitudes and beliefs. A San Francisco newspaper recently published a letter to the editor from a nearby Berkeley group indicating the displacement of people and corruption involved in building dams in Burma and Guatemala. On face value, who can argue with such sentiments? Unfortunately, they conclude that the dams cannot be built; in fact that dams overall are not a wise approach to meet the needs of the public. Somewhere else, people argue vehemently for the need for new dams in parched areas -- a noble and useful aspiration indeed -- yet ignore the problems generated, including the effect on people and the environment.

The truth is that we rush to protect our side of the argument, failing to embrace the totality of truth available to us. Why not see the benefit of dams to help the flow of water around the nations for agriculture, the poor, the cities, etc. while acknowledging that tactics being used in their development may in fact be harmful. The Berkeley people see little benefit in building dams; the other side is blind to corruption and negative influences of such construction. A rational mind embraces all sides, and comes to the right conclusion. Liberal democracy has its roots in such a many-sided view. It is also a spiritual capacity for the mind to embrace all sides, while also seeing the Totality and the Essence. I.e. it is a spiritualized, mindful, open, and aware.

Mind is a dividing mechanism. It also tends to be exclusive. I.e. my truth and understanding is the best and I will defend it. We each do it all the time. We defend our point of view instead of learn, seeking out all sides of an issue. It is the vital ego that asserts the side it knows, not perceiving its essential Ignorance in that matter. We are like this in endless way – as we are unwilling or uncurious to know all sides of an issue; where we so certain of our position, even though the multiplicity of truths both beckons and eludes us.

And yet we have the capacity to develop an inner poise from which we can develop a level of mindfulness and awareness that has the natural tendency to seek out all sides of an issue. It is Inner Curiosity that is spiritual in nature, as the Mind rests in quietude, open to and allowing True Knowledge to descend into it from all sides. Practically speaking, each time we are in a meeting, or reading a paper, or taking in information, we should be willing to absorb the multiplicity of truths of a matter, holding back that tendency to look for the ammunition of fact that supports our own limited attitudes and beliefs. A true rational person absorbs knowledge in mental silence, perceiving the possibilities, the deep arguments, the justification and flaws in logic, the Essence behind, as well as the Totality. It also includes our ability to have illuminations and intuitions of truth and knowledge that come into our minds without thought from the universal spheres. This is the next level of human consciousness beyond Mind proper that we are evolving towards.

Floating in the universe is the complete Object of Knowledge that we are addressing; its essence from all sides, its totality and details integrated. Our higher, spiritualized mind is capable of being in Identity with that integrally complete object. It is our evolutionary destiny to move out of Mind's exclusivity through inner spiritual means and continually grasp that total object of knowledge on any matter or subject that comes to our attention. It will be a sign that humanity has risen to the next stage of evolution. That at any moment in time we are able to grasp the totality of knowledge of a matter, enabling deep, integral understanding that leads to perfect decisions that result in extraordinary outcomes in life.

Additional: Exclusivity_of_Mind;_Perceiving_the_Part,_not_the_Whole

June 15, 2008

Parallel Events in the World
If we look closely and examine life we will see how two events, miles or even continents apart will arise at the same time related to the same matter. Normally we do not perceive these parallel events, but if we do, we pass it off as mere coincidence. Rather they are related by their shared vibration and energy.

Recently in the US, beloved TV news interviewer and reporter Tim Russert died a relatively young man. It was a terrible blow for the US and shocked the nation. It was the main, bold headline in the New York Times accompanied by a striking picture. Next to it was another world headline, this about Ireland’s rejection of new standards for the European Union, perhaps the most important change for that institution in a decade. When I saw the two stores side by side, I sensed a connection. I then went to Wikipedia and discovered that indeed Tim Russert was of Irish American parents. The connection Irish between the two events was unmistakable.

If we exercise our minds a bit, we can find such associations everywhere -- especially in the news, in history, in literature -- even in our own lives. Even when we make this astonishing discovery, we can probe deeper and see further parallel associations. E.g. when I thought further on the Russert-Ireland connection, I saw yet a third connection. I realized that at the very same time, the Boston Celtics had for all intensive purposes secured the National Basketball Association (NBA) championship the night before, their biggest breakthrough for the team 22 years. The motto of the team is "the luck of the Irish," and their