Category: Society

11 Things We Should Know By Now

Good evening, my friends. The events of the past week have reminded us that Covid is not the only virus running through humanity. Inhumanity, selfishness, and ego also run rampant.

Vladimir Putin’s unjustifiable attack on Ukraine is horrific, but only the latest example of this kind of behavior among nations, especially those with lots of power.

Not only is horrible for the people of Ukraine, it’s a gut punch to species we could be and should be in 2022. There’s this fear that there’s not enough and I better get mine that ruins the minds of powerful men and wrecks nations and the world.

I got to thinking. What are the lessons we should have learned by now, but haven’t. I’m sure the list could be much longer. Here’s 11 than relate directly to the events of this week.

In times like this, it’s more important than ever to put your mind on your side.

11 Things We Should Know By Now

  1. War solves nothing. It just kills people.
  2. When you attack someone else’s country they don’t greet you as liberators.
  3. Peace is not just preferable. Peace should be an existential goal of our civilization.
  4. Big countries bullying little countries goes well at first and then turns destructive for the big country.
  5. When this war of aggression is over, we should not have decades of renewed Cold War over it. There’s nothing that serves the people of this planet less.
  6. Nuclear weapons are no longer a deterrent. They only give those who have them free reign to behave as they wish.
  7. Russia is not the first large country to attack a weaker nation based on crap evidence. Some of us need to sweep our own front porch.
  8. If we spent the money we spend on weapons on this planet on productive and aspirational things, this damn species might have a chance.
  9. Only love conquers hate. Only justice conquers injustice. There’s no path to peace. Peace is the path.
  10. Leaders bent on division and destruction and ego should not be leaders on this planet anymore.
  11. We are running out of time to learn these lessons and apply them.
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There is No Secret Sauce

This Multiverse is an open book. There is no secret sauce. There is no great secret that everyone else is in on and you’ve somehow been left behind.

It’s all right here and knowable to anyone who seeks with determination and sees with clarity.

Is it easy? No. The Multiverse is a perverse trickster appearing in many guises. You’ve been conditioned by a thousand ill-considered paradigms that have sold you your limitedness and and a mythology of disconnection from the whole.

There are no heroes out there to lead you to the truth. The only hero worthy of that journey is the one staring back at you in the mirror each morning.

This is no ego trip run amuck. This is the fundamental truth that each and every one of us, seen clearly in our authenticity, is a tiny replication of the whole and we are able to draw energy and strength we requite from that whole.

Even if you find this hard to believe right now, from your current place on your journey, seek to believe it a little more each day. The truth of it reveals itself the more you shake the cobwebs and see who you truly are.

You are simply amazing! Thank you for your support of this blog and my work!

Ray

Remembering Who We Truly Are is the Cure

People say our divides are too wide and our differences too much.

Sorry, but I have to call BS on that. If we focus the surface – the masks, roles, and containers – then those people are right.

When we go a layer deeper and remember these forms that seem to separate us are all made of star dust, we begin to see the commonality and unity.

When we go one more step – beyond the material – to the level of consciousness, we smack our foreheads and say, “What was I thinking? Now I remember.”

We remember that we are conscious beings all and call connected to the cosmic consciousness that is our true root system. We remember that we are here playing these games in time and space for the growth, the experience, and the fun.

But, some might counter, “That’s nice but how does it solve inequality, injustice, and suffering?”

To that I reply, no one who has truly understood the truth about who we all are – every one of us – will ever permit any of those ills to be visited upon themselves or anyone else.

Forgetting, separation and the fear they cause are the real problem. Remembering, unification and the love they evoke are the solution.

Ray

The Answers: They’re Here and Now Not There and Then

Just like a person, a nation and a species cannot look anywhere and not see its conscious or unconscious choices manifested.

Indifference to injustice burns things down as surely as a match. Intolerance for different opinions ends a civil society. Playing into the game of “Us” and “Them” only allows the gatekeepers of an unhappy status quo to extend their games of control.

Mindset makes us and mindsets break us. If we live by our aspirations rather than our grievances, we’ll climb every mountain that stands between us and better future.

If we choose to persist in paradigms that keep us weak, divided, and conquered; there’s probably no way to prevent our eventual self-destruction.
That choice does not begin with anyone else. It does not depend on the outcome of any election. It starts with you and me and it starts right now!

Don’t worry. That’s great news. You don’t have to count on anyone to begin the change but you.

Just in case no one else has reminded you today, you are AWESOME!

Ray

A Culture of Compassion and Dialogue – Day 272 of 365 Days to a Better You

Say something, do something, or be someone I don’t like and I’ll flame you, unfollow you, or even block you. If I REALLY don’t like what you said, I may seek to enlist others to ruin your career or even cancel you from our culture.

I reserve the right not to expose myself to ideas that challenge my worldview. If you cross that line, I reserve the right to destroy you. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re a famous celebrity or a long-lost friend from elementary school.

Meanwhile, I also reserve the right to be completely hypocritical about how and when I apply these standards, if they’re violated by political, religious, or cultural heroes of mine and it causes me too much cognitive dissonance to apply my standards to them, I’ll ignore and defend them to my last tweet.

This is the mindset of what some have called “Cancel Culture” or what I’ve called for years the Unfollow, Unfriend Culture. Social media, with it’s ability to block or delete someone with a single click, has simplified this, as have prevalent cultural mindsets that subdivide human beings into real and false tribes. Either agree with me 100 percent or I’m instantly clicking you out of my life.

What all of this really is, in my humble opinion, is the mindset of an infantile ego. It’s a small child stamping her feet to get her way. It is not the mindset that creates a compassionate, free, or democratic society where dialogue happens. It’s a recipe to further and further divide us into smaller and smaller circles ending with us being alone and ruled by that childish ego.

We’ve given this brand of ego the ability to create its own despotic fiefdom in our minds.

Is this the enlightened society we want? Do you REALLY want to disown your cousin or your best friend from second grade because he or she voted for someone different or fails one of your cultural litmus tests? What of their humanity? What of yours?

Is it really sound judgment to dismiss people that way? Think how complex and contradictory you are. Shouldn’t they be given the same slack?

I absolutely believe this mindset is an existential threat to critical thinking, freedom, and the compassionate society we must be building in the 21st century. I run several Facebook pages. I’ve never blocked one person, even when they’ve been disrespectful to me. Instead, I try to remind them of their humanity and mine and reestablish that connection. I’ve been instantly blocked on Twitter for daring to disagree, but I’ve never blocked one person. I simply don’t believe in it. Free speech gives other people the right to disagree even with my most cherished ideals. I never forget their humanity or that freedom because my ego is bruised.

This kind of culture only persists because we allow it to. If the social norm was to think of everyone you encounter as a free human being who is where they are in their journey based on their experiences just like us, maybe we’d have more compassion and understanding for their position.

I want to close today with an affirmation of sorts; a kind of pledge. Are you willing?

Affirmation: I refuse to participate in a culture that demeans, dismisses, and cancels other human beings. I’m beautiful, but far from perfect myself. I choose to see that beauty and accept that imperfection in others. I don’t know everything and I haven’t experienced everything. I accept that others can look at life and reach different, reasonable positions from mine. I reserve the right to dialogue respectfully with others in an attempt to persuade them, in the best tradition of a free society. However, I refuse to strip them of their humanity or diminish mine in that process. A sane, enlightened world is possible and I will do my part to bring that world to life.

I love and respect each and every one of you. No matter how similar or disparate our experiences or our views. Namaste and Aloha. I bow to greatness in you and I come to you with respect

Ray

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