Regarding the Spiritual, the Ethical

I’ve never quite understood how people can think politics isn’t a spiritual topic … politics is about how we treat one another, how we work together for the common good. I can see how religion can be skewed to look past that factor, by playing to its lower octave of exceptionalism; I don’t see how those who consider themselves spiritual … inclusive … can ignore it. It’s a simple matter of insisting on ethical behavior. It’s a simple matter of loving as a matter of principal. What can finally be pared down to simple and profound truth for one of us MUST be extended to all of us if it is, indeed, true.

The harangue about the political candidates religion has been turned into one-upsmanship these days; who knows enough “buzz words,” who hides their indiscretions the best, who tries to insist on their own piety. I agonize with progressives who are asked to define themselves in these terms — at some point in a persons enlightenment, the walls must fall away to allow that process to become fluid … and unless it can, unless they’ve come to that point … I don’t want them running my government. We ask about a persons “faith” to discern which camp they’re in, and make stereotypical generalizations about who we think they are; we should examine their character and personal insight instead and by so doing, discern how their faith has informed them.

The problem with religion, as I see it, is that what springs from an authentic spiritual movement always seems to become a bureaucratic form that limits the evolution of the process; once we name it and define its rules, we’ve effectively killed the inspiration that birthed it, and invited in those who seek to rise to power in its furtherance. There’s an old saying — Religion is like holding on to a rock in the middle of a raging river; faith is learning how to swim.

Simply, most of us may have started with some kind of religious instruction, but if we’re learning to swim then we are immersed in the powerful waters of Spirit. And in that gentle, life-affirming flow, we find that the existance that felt separate and alone is, in fact, joined with All There Is; if we try to separate out any part of it as unworthy of loving attention … politics, for instance … we have begun to create another set of absolutes, another “religion.” And we have limited ourselves, once again … a bigger box, to be sure, but a box, still. The fruit of spiritual understanding is ethical practice, in ALL areas of life.

The bumper sticker attached to the top of my computer screen reads, God BlessThe Whole World: No Exceptions. It’s there to remind me that while some may exclude me, if I am true to my understanding, no one can be left behind … and no political situation can remain unexamined for those who are.

Here are some wonderful reads — Swami Beyondananda [Steve Bhaerman,] who always amuses but has struck a serious note in his commentary these last years; an interview from the Words of Power website, on the misued ethics, and spiritual opportunity, of corporitism; last, if you had a worthwhile experience with Fire the Grid, you can continue to participate in this kind of activity with James Redfield and his bi-monthly Global Prayer Project — you’ll find information on that ongoing project at bottom.

Namaste ~

Jude

A Call For Political Climate Change
Time to Fire the Nitty-Gritty Grid
Steve Bhaerman, Wake Up Laughing
July 20, 2007
[thanks, Airean]

Well, we fired up the grid last Tuesday, or maybe the grid fired us up. Now that we proved that invisibly or visibly (as with the Live Earth events of two weekends ago), the loving heart of humanity can be activated, it’s time to move our feet. It’s time for the upwising of awareness and upwelling of love to burst into action. It’s time to address the political climate crisis.

The Political Climate Crisis is Real!

Earlier this year, I wrote a piece called “The Self-Impeaching President.” My point was that because the Bush-Cheney Administration had so violated the letter and spirit of not just our Constitution, but international and commonly-held moral law, they would necessarily stonewall any attempt to investigate. Consequently, they would end up making the case for impeachment by their own actions.

Eventually, it would come down to George Bush’s challenge of several years ago: “You’re either with me or against me.” And now it has. It’s George Bush (and his cheney of command) against the Constitution, against the Bill of Rights, against the Declaration of Independence, against the American people, not to mention the people of the world. The inconvenient confrontation that most peace-loving people generally try to avoid is finally at hand: Standing up to the bully.

Here’s why it’s happening now, and here is how it is happening. The Bush Administration has already played the fear card and nobody is listening anymore to the little boy who cried wolfowitz. Bush and Company only have two cards left — force, and the fear of force. This is a hand they cannot afford to lose, because when the cards fall it will bring down not just this Administration but the entire philosophy that supports absolutely corrupt power taken in the name of “national security” — the protection racket disguised as “protection.”

So if you’re wondering why this absurdist rationalization called “executive privilege,” that’s why. He’s an executive who wants to hold on to his privilege. Meanwhile, here is another inconvenient truth that is making itself manifest, and if we don’t face it we’re in even bigger trouble: The mechanisms for fascism are already in place.

Can We Use the F-Word?

OK, you eye-rollers — put your eyes back front and center so you can see what I mean. The very simple definition of fascism is this: Fascism is interlocking political, military, industrial force run more like a criminal gang than a government. Does that sound familiar? Because the government is involved, it conveniently has the force of “law” behind it. Consider that everything that Hitler did after he took office was “legal.”

Similarly, George Bush is proceeding under the cover of law to enact executive order after executive order as arbitrary, irrational and unjust as any policy a dictator might dictate. And, as we are finding out, his legal shills in judicial positions of power are acting solely on his behalf. So, yes … he has the cover of law. Just as the original coup, the “election” of 2000, was absurdified by five partisan Supreme Court jesters who wouldn’t allow a recount to take place in Florida.

The 97-pound weakling of a body politic allowed the bully to kick sand in its face in 2000, and that just invited further abuse. Now the abuse is becoming more intense, more over the line — and we find that the dictator-in-chief has conveniently covered his bases with judges.

So what do we do? First of all, we face this inconvenient truth and at the same time, keep our eye on the prize. Because the “prize” — a world where we use our resources to heal instead of hurt, where the GNP can be truly measured in “goods” and not “bads,” where we live by the Golden Rule not the rule of gold — is where we are going. What we have now is the challenge that will make us strong enough to stop doing what we’ve been doing and try something new for a change.

We’re Becoming Stronger — Whether We Like It Or Not

Several years ago, I spent a year in a ch’i kung practice that involved strengthening the ch’i by banging ourselves in the solar plexus first with our fist, then with a wooden block, finally with a brick. Next came the two person practice where we would hit each other full force in solar plexus to “light up the ch’i.” While this might sound like a rationalization for sadomasochism, we came to realize that each blow made the ch’i stronger. In fact, we no longer even felt the punch. All we could feel was our shield “rising” to absorb the blow.

George Bush is bringing up the ch’i of the body politic, and it’s up to us to recognize and use that power. Each blow to the spirit of the law, to our Founding Fathers, to decency is strengthening us for our true evolutionary destiny — to overgrow the false dichotomies of left and right and stand for what the vast, vast majority hold in common. In other words, we must turn the demoralized majority into a New Moral Majority that holds honesty, justice, integrity and transparency above ideology or short term financial self-interest.

We Are the New Moral Majority

Here’s more good news, something I call The Law of 75. You may have read it here before, but it is worth mentioning again. It’s based on something that happened to spiritual psychologist Patricia Sun a number of years ago. She was set to speak at a “new age” bookstore, and noticed there were four fundamentalist Christian pickets outside. “I’m going to talk with them,” Patricia said.

The store owner was skeptical. “You can’t reason with those people,” she said, but Patricia did it anyway. A short while later, three of the four picketers had put down their signs and were hugging Patricia: “You’re saying just what Jesus said!” they told her. The fourth picket refused to be swayed and continued protesting.

So why is this important? I devised the totally made-up Law of 75 to describe this phenomenon where three out of four people are susceptible to loving communication that calls forth what we hold in common — the desire to live in peace and happiness, and the willingness to grant others who play by those rules the same freedom / responsibility. 75% of us — or more — want the same things, and those same things are far, far more important than the differences that are used to keep us divided and conquered.

I’m willing to bet that 75% of Americans don’t want to live in a corrupt fascist system where George Bush’s word is law, and where our greatest fear is our own government. I could be wrong. Maybe it’s 95% and not 75%.

And what does this mean? It means that Democrats AND Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Independents — most Americans — given a choice (and hey, I say we give it to them) will just say NO to fascism. That 75% of Americans by the way includes rich people and poor people, rural conservatives, urban progressives and even — and maybe especially — members of the military, who are experiencing some of the system’s abuse firsthand.

On the eve of last November’s election — where, by the way, the body politic finally showed some muscle — the four military publications representing each branch of service called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Now sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but I read it differently. I read it as a signal from the military that if George Bush tried any funny stuff, he couldn’t count on their support.

My strong sense is that those people in all echelons of power who have not been “ethically-cleansed” will stand up for justice — if we will. And — to quote the football coach George Allen, “the future is now.” Right now, the Bush Administration has the momentum as it illegally uses the law to hide from scrutiny, and sends out kingly decrees equating protest with treason. Bush can’t help it, folks. He has to do it to survive.

Time to Bring Left and Right Front and Center

At the same time we realize he will not and cannot back down, we must remember that 75% of us (a conservative estimate, again, of those who don’t want fascism) — nearly 200 million people — are standing on the other side. Now all we have to do is understand our numbers and our bottom line — fascism in any form must be taken off the table now.

To paraphrase the old saying, those who fail to learn from history flunk it and have to take it over. What was it that allowed Hitler to come to power, to use questionable legal leverage in an illegal way until the disease had so metastasized that it could no longer be cured by the German body politic’s immune system? It was the failure of the parties on the left, the parties on the right and the parties in the middle to unite to face the common danger.

There’s a scene in the documentary, Bringing Down a Dictator — the story of the fall of Slobodon Milosovic — where all the leaders of the opposing parties realize they must form a coalition if the dictator is to be stopped. As you look at the expressions on the faces of these leaders, you see how distasteful a task this is for them. And yet they do it. They unite around one alternative candidate, and they are ultimately successful. The pivotal moment, by the way, is when the soldiers realize they will be firing on their brothers and sisters and ultimately put down their guns, and the palace falls.

So, again, what do we do? As part of the “up-wising” there is a growing field of awareness among Americans of all stars and stripes that “we’re not in Kansas, anymore Toto.” There is a groundswell swelling on the ground, but no significant leadership has yet emerged at the top. We can only guess that there is an epidemic of cowardice and denial, and most importantly a “misunderestimation” of the American people, and our own legacy and destiny.

We don’t need a revolution in this country. We already had one. But we are at an evolutionary tipping point, and we the people can’t wait for some big scorer to come lumbering down the court. We have to tip it in ourselves. In other words, we have to face the truth with courage, and we must communicate with others to strengthen the field of truth and weaken the field of lies. The time is now ripe for a national organization that stands up and uses the F-Word to Just Say NO To Fascism. Maybe it can be called the New Moral Majority or Patriots Against the Patriot Act (PAPA) or the Jefferson’s Witnesses or the American Citizens Union.

As an individual I’m not in a position to make this organization happen. But each of us as individuals can put the idea out and call on those who we know are leaders to speak directly to this issue, and some already are. It’s very important IN FACT ESSENTIAL that this be a bipartisan or transpartisan group. In addition to calling on people like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and elders like Bill Moyers, Elizabeth Holtzman and Jimmy Carter, we must include those on the right who have called for impeachment or who are concerned about America’s loss of liberties, including Bruce Fein, John Dean, Paul Craig Roberts and Rep. Ron Paul (R, Texas).

In addition, now is the time for prominent folks to use their bully pulpit to help oust the bully-in-chief from his — whether it’s a spot on Leno or Letterman, or like Michael Moore it’s on CNN. In fact, watch this and be inspired as we finally have someone break through the media soundless barrier and speak to the betrayal of the American people by the media. Take heart too that Richard Mellon Scaife, one of the most vicious attackers of Bill Clinton and loyal supporters of Bush has now has begun to question the President’s mental stability.

It’s Up to Us to Put the Decider Through the Decider Mill

No matter who we are, no matter how much or little influence we think we have, we all (75% to 95% of us, anyway) share the same mission: To awaken all 200 million adult Americans to draw the line and tell the “Decider” that we the people are the Deciders, thank you. And we have decided he will do no more deciding on our behalf. Impeachment notwithstanding, we need a long, long, long piece of paper with 50 million or more adult American signatures calling on the President and Vice President to step down. We can call it Total Recall, but I like the idea of a physical scroll of signatures. As Benjamin Franklin (”we must all hang together or else we will surely hang separately”) understood, the more of us who sign it, the safer we all will be.

As with that other King George some ten score and eleven years ago, this bloodless evolution, this firing of a few Big Shots will be seen and heard around the world. One morning, possibly very soon, we will wake up and realize the tides have shifted. The headlines will reveal it, and we will see it in the faces of our fellow Americans — people no longer afraid of their own government, people ready to face the real challenges ahead of us as a people and a world without the vicious diversions of problems generated to keep us apart.

If we don’t do it, no one will. And if we do, not just America but the world will change course for the better.

May God bless America, and may Good bless us all.

Words of Power Interviews John Perkins — Ask Yourself Four Essential Questions
Richard Power, Words of Power
20 Jul 2007

“I consider myself a true and loyal American. This too contributed to my rage. My ancestors fought in the Revolution and most other US wars. My family was predominanntly conservative Republican. Having cut my literary eye-teeth on Paine and Jefferson, I thought a convervative was someone who believed in the founding ideals of our country, justice and equality for all; I was angered by the betrayal of these ideals in Vietnam and by the oil company-Washington collusion that I was destroying the Amazon and enslaving its people.”

~ John Perkins, Secret History of the American Empire

Bush and Cheney, as offensive as they are to many of us — left, right and center — did not emerge suddenly, as if from nowhere. They did not amass such power, with so much impunity and hubris, over night. Bush and Cheney, and the Cult formerly known as the Republican Party are the end result of granting corporations the rights of human individuals and declaring that money is free speech. These two delusional notions have led us into a hell realm here in the USA. And getting out of it demands real change inside of ourselves especially, as well as in how we grow our culture, and the way we do business.

Just as you cannot understand the political reality in the USA, without understanding the corporate reality, you cannot change the political reality in the USA, without changing the corporate reality.

That’s why it is so vital that John Perkins’ voice be heard.

Two years ago, after over a decade of briefing executives, and leading security training in over thirty countries, I found myself living off the grid and becoming active as a citizen journalist. The choice was sudden, stark and rooted in spiritual, political and psychological imperatives. Life was too short. I was finished talking to people who didn’t want to deal with the implications of Rita and Katrina six months before they hit, or bird flu in Indonesia six months before it broke out, or terror attacks in Mumbai, Istanbul and Madrid six months before the carnage. My eyes were open, and I could not tolerate those who allowed their fixation on the bottom line to blind them to the reality that the bottom line was being erased. Climate change, religious extremism, corporatism, over population, peak oil and other factors were contributing to a 21st Century Crisis of Security, Sustainability and Spirit. I had to be part of the solution instead of pretending I wasn’t part of the problem.

A wise friend of mine in Beltwayistan kept saying, “You have to read Economic Hit Man .” When I finally did, it answered that disturbing question, “what is wrong with this picture?” It confirmed my suspicions and corroborated my own experience.

John Perkins, author of Economic Hit Man, has come out with an important follow-up, Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals and the Truth about Global Corruption (Buy it at Buzzflash!) In it, he tells the stories of other men and women, who worked as economic hit men and jackals in the drive to empire. And it does, as David C. Korten remarks, evoke Graham Greene.

But even though Perkins’ illuminates the dark despair that our corporate culture is in deep denial about, he also highlights great hope, as in this extraordinary passage:

The last two people in line were four men: two wore business suits and ties and two, who were much younger, were dressed in blue jeans and polo shirts. The older men handed me their World Bank business cards. One of the younger men spoke up. “Our fathers gave us permission to tell you this,” he said. “We’ve watched them go off to work every morning at the Bank dressed …” — he pointed at them — “like this. But when protesters congregate here in Washington to demonstrate against the Bank, our fathers join them. We watch them go incognito, wearing old clothes, baseball caps, and sunglasses to support those people because they believe they are — and you are — right.” Both of the older men shook my hand vigorously. “We need more whistle-blowers like you,” one of them said.

Yes, there is hope, and there is still time, even now.

In Secret History of the American Empire, Perkins asks four essential questions:

Are we in a position where we can actually hope to effect change?

What can we each do?

Here is a Words of Power interview with John Perkins:

Words of Power: The first question comes out of my own experience not too dissimilar from yours. Professionally, I spent the 1990s working in high profile position, I had lots of media exposure, I testified before the US Senate, I was working with the FBI and other government agencies on important security issues related to cyber crime and economic espionage. Politically, I spent the 1990s as a Clintonista — NAFTA? Fix it later. GATT? Fix it later. Telecommunications Act? Fix it later (and Gore might have) — just thwart Gingrich and Starr at all costs. Then 2000 came, and there was no chance to fix it later. Indeed, we were being dragged off into an alternative timeline in some nightmare parallel universe. I fled my role which would have put me too close to the new administration, and went to work in the corridors of corporate power. Soon, I realize I was working for the kind of men (yes, mostly men) who were fueling the machine that had taken over our government (both sides of the aisles). Still, I tried to do my job. I briefed people on climate change, and how flawed the so-called “war on terrorism” really was, and how much trouble would come for us all if Iraq was invaded and the Middle East was destabilized. The political commissars don’t like that sort of talk. My position became uncomfortable. I chose to leave and write and speak out on my own. Consequently, my income decreased by several digits — but I can sleep at night. My question is what is your advice to others who like yourself, or me more recently, find themselves waking up inside the corportocracy, and now see the world clearly, and have no inclination to deny what they see? Should they walk away? Should they stay in and fight? What is your advice? What is your warning? What is your counsel?

John Perkins: A long list of things we all can do is included in “Secret History.” Don’t buy sweatshop-made goods, conserve energy, support organizations that are fighting to create better social, environmental, and economic conditions, etc. . .Most importantly we must each follow our individual passions and use our talents to create a sustainable, stable, and peaceful world. My passion is writing and hopefully I have some talent for doing that. Whatever your background and experience, you have passion and skills. You and I can take different paths — but we should work together to reach this common objective: a sustainable, stable, peaceful world for us and future generations.

Words of Power: One of the main issues I have written about over the last seven years has been the depraved state of the US mainstream news media, its failures to perform its vital role of truth-telling about war, corruption, hypocrisy, militarism, corporatism in Beltwayistan (that’s what I call DC). We know this complicity is the result of monopolization and the corporatist stranglehold on news departments. The lack of truth-telling is not a conspiracy, it is achieved by simply by the imposition of corporate culture and budget-cutting. I am curious to hear your thoughts on the role of US mainstream news media, in general, and on how they have dealt with. or ignored your story, in particular? Is your new book getting the attention it deserves? I doubt it.

John Perkins: I have been largely ignored by the mainstream press. Most of the media is either owned outright by big corporations or supported through their ads. They don’t want their readers and listeners to hear my message. However, despite this, “Confessions” is in its 63rd week on the New York Times bestseller list (#22 this week) and “Secret History” hit the list after its 5th day in publication. People want to learn the truth and they want to understand the opportunities for creating a better world. The “alternative” media and the Internet are very powerful.

Words of Power: Both of our lives have been touched by the way of the shaman, and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. No one who has gone to Uluru or Machu Picchu or Uxmal with an open heart can remain the same. No one who has slept in a rainforest or eaten off a leaf in a shack can remain the same. No one who has heard the rattle or smelled the sage can remain the same. Tell us what indigenous cultures offer the industrial and post-industrial societies? And is there a way to integrate that wisdom without losing the technological progress, and yes, some social and scientific progress? Can we have the best of both worlds? Or are we so lost we are going to have to choose?

John Perkins: It would take a book or two to really address this issue. Let me just say that, for me, indigenous cultures have shown that when people are motivated to change, we can make it happen very quickly. Today, the world we know is threatened. Any good shaman recognizes that he or she can and must turn this around. “Secret History” is devoted to shapeshifting us out of a self-destructive empire and into a sustainable, stable, and peaceful world. We have all the resources we need to make this happen.

Words of Power: Once the veils have been ripped away from one’s eyes, it is difficult to know what to trust and what to turn away from. What are your thoughts on the IMF and the World Bank? Are these institutions redeemable? Are they functioning for the good at least in part? What do you feel about Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative? Or the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, e.g., the funding of Kofi Anna’s Green Revolution project in Africa? What would you like to say about the UN Millennium Development Goals? Is it a worthy focus for people wanting to make a difference in the world? I guess the general question is what global institutions if any are working or are redeemable and can be worked through? Where, how do we begin to turn this all around?

John Perkins: Thousands of good people work for these institutions. None of the ones I know personally — and none of the CEOs I have met — want global warming, to see Florida covered by the ocean, or witness the destruction of the world’s forests. But all these people operate under the assumption that the bottom line rules: windfall profits for stockholders. We must convince ourselve and them that there is a more important goal and that our very survival as a species in a world we recognize depends upon achieving that goal of a sustainable, stable, and peaceful world.

Words of Power: What is the most important message you want people to take away from this book? What are the key points you want to impress on your readers? What is the truth you are telling and what do you encourage people to do?

John Perkins: We should take great hope from the ways we’ve turned corporations and governments around in the recent past — as itemized in “Secret History.” Now we must take that to new levels. Rather than focusing on specifics, such as cleaning up rivers, getting trans-fats out of fast-foods, and installing air bags in our cars, we must persuade our leaders to set a single overriding goal of creating a world our grandchildren will be proud to inherit.

Global Prayer Project
Prayer, Meditation & Discussion with James & Salle Redfield

Further information at:
http://www.celestinevision.com/

This week’s prayer visualization:

The “Fire the Grid” group meditation earlier this week was highly effective. Our focus this Tuesday will be on continuing this emphasis on joy and reverence in the world, visualizing in prayer that each of us come to an experience of appreciation and joy as an instrument toward world peace. Also, as usual, we will spend time on the needs of our group participants themselves, especially those facing grief, illness, and a need for clarity about life direction. Don’t miss feeling this wonderful energy!

Follow-up discussion:

More on why prayer and visualized intention is important, and how it works. Also, we’ll look at certain fears that have surfaced about “Fire the Grid.”

Our twice-monthly gatherings have been making a powerful difference, both in people’s individual lives and the world at large. Many of you have written us saying that the energy generated from this network of spiritually-minded participants is “indescribable,” and we look forward to continuing this healing circle of focused prayer. Like all prayer experience devoted to helping others, many participants have felt the results in their own bodies and received guidance for their own lives.

Research tells us that the more people praying together, the more powerful the prayer and the greater the level of energy felt by the participants. We invite you to join the largest regular prayer network in the world. If you would like to take an active role in maintaining a circle of positive intention across the globe, while going deeper and heightening your own spirituality, join us on Tuesday, July 24.

“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

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1 comment July 21st, 2007