In this Issue
Coexist
Here in Los Angeles, I have begun to see more and more of the “Coexist” bumper stickers. If you have not seen them, they spell it out in the symbols of major religions. I do not know who originally thought of it, but bravo!
The other day I was on Facebook surfing through one of their applications called Flair. “Flair” are electronic buttons and I have been collecting buttons for a while, electronic and otherwise actually. I came across this one to the right.
It really saddened me at first since it really displays the hard-core divisions that have become so prevalent in this day and age. We have become a world of “you're either with us, or against us” with no grey areas in between and little to no interest in cooperation or negotiation, no wonder change has become so slow.
The part of this that I find so ironic is that most of the people who believe that this is a valid excuse to kill or destroy others tend to be the same ones that wave their flags or books of worship, Bible, Koran, etc, and in this country claim to be defending “American ideals” and values while throwing the Constitution and Bill of Rights out the window (I hear similar statements from other nations and cultures).
If we judge others as being beyond hope or help, why should we be surprised if they feel the same way toward us? It is not about changing people, but in changing how we relate and think about them. Look for the best and if you cannot find it, project something good and uplifting onto them. Patanjali, in his “Yoga Sutras,” addresses this so directly in one line.
Yoga Sutras 1:33By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy and joyful, compassion for the unhappy and sorrowful, gladness for the virtuous and non-judgmentalism towards the wicked, the mind acquires and maintains its undisturbed calmness.
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A Thought for Your Practice
As humans we have a natural tendency to judge everything around us. In my experience, it is not really the others we are judging, but ourselves. We judge ourselves VERY harshly and project it out into and onto the world.
So here is a quick exercise:
When caught pointing at someone, I had a schoolteacher that would say: “Remember, you have three fingers pointing back at you.” Judgment works in the same way, you think you are projecting out “there,” but you are actually looking within and apparently not real happy with what you see.
In L. Ron Hubbard’s “Church of Scientology,” they use a technique called “clearing” in an attempt to get at the base causes of their reactions to what happens around them. The basic idea is that by knowing the initial cause of a reaction, you cease being at its mercy and begin to be able to choose how you will respond. That is the big difference, responding to what happens rather than reacting blindly.
When you find yourself having reacted to some happening and wishing you had done it differently, look into yourself and see where that reaction came from. Look into it all, the emotions that came up, the history that it relates to, the “story” that you have told yourself.
Very often we will find that we have blind spots in these areas and surprisingly often we will find that we placed those blind spots ourselves to avoid something or justify what we thought or did.
As Gandhi said: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Part of becoming that change is to see yourself for what you are as well. Watch and learn about yourself.
Try it…
Mastery through Judgment, sort of…
Have you ever actually sat down and looked at what ideas and thoughts are programmed into your head, often to the point that they seem as if they are natural responses? Fears are an excellent example of how this works.
Psychologists say that at birth, a baby has only two fears, falling and loud noises; all other fears are learned along the way. Now if you suffer from another fear, you are likely to believe that it is not only natural, but also that you came into the world this way. If that truly is the case, are you willing to address it? If it is not the case and you learned it in the process of your life, do you want to remove it?
Every month there is one aspect of this newsletter that never changes, the necessity to look at yourself and to become intimately aware of whom and what you are and how you function. It is through this self-familiarity that you truly find what your issues are and what areas are in need of being addressed.
Looking at others can be of help also, but most tend to use their assessments of others as validations for their judgments and to increase their egos. If you want to incorporate the outside world into your self-analysis, remember that what you harshly judge “them” to be is actually where you are lacking in yourself and that you are projecting that lack onto them.
The more you can learn about yourself and how you relate to the world around you, the more you see your reality for what it truly is, making you its master! Mastering your reality then allows you to change it into what you wish. You will find that a surprising amount of that reality has merely been a projection of your own self-image and your judgment of your own perceived lacking. Now you have the basic tools to change it at will!
Enjoy!
Quotations
We either create our own reality or allow someone else to do it for us.
JJ DeweyEverything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Carl JungIf you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother TeresaI regard Christian and Jewish fundamentalism, and all other forms of fundamentalism, as the enemies of God - and I hope you'll quote me on that.
Arthur HertzbergWant to know an excellent gauge of coming change? Watch the “conservatives” fight to keep it the same, the harder the fight, the closer the change.
Robert Burgener/Spiritgeek
Calendar & Announcements
| New Spiritgeek.com Website | Now Online! |
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The new and improved Spiritgeek.com is up and running for your convenience. A better layout with visual cues as to what the content is to make it easier to find what you are looking for. Additionally, Google™ Custom Search which has been added to the site and has been setup to search all our sites, including the blog, newsletter and the video transcripts from one single location. | |
| Congratulations Kris Searle and Inspire U Records | |
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Kris Searle of Inspire U Records have not only been nominated for their fourth award in three years for “Warning Signs” in the “Electronica/Dance” category at the 2010 Los Angeles Music Awards, but they won again this year! A special mention is due since I believe Kris Searle and Inspire U Records have won each their awards in four different categories, that is definitely worth a special mention! | |
| “10 Secrets to the Secret”™ Book Release | Coming Soon |
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“10 Secrets to the Secret”™ is a guidebook for the practitioner to help them make the strides in their life they could only dream of before. After nearly 30 years of personal practice and teaching others how to make the Law of Attraction (The Secret™) work in their lives, I have realized that there are several places that seem to be the largest stumbling blocks in manifesting the life of their dreams. | |
