YouTube Junkie

     Did a lot of computer work yesterday after which the brain was quite taxed so it was time for one of my favorite pastimes, starting at square one on YouTube and seeing where that leads.
      Stop number one was Lizst's Hungarian Rhapsody and in the video the incredibly complicated sheet music for that work scrolled along with the song. Hmm- interesting. Stop number two, when I got tired of listening to Lizst, led me to stop three, then so on and so forth, and I eventually, after watching sand scuptures being made, ended up watching domino falls.
     Ornate stacks of dominos, hundreds of thousands of them, fell in designed patterns and it was relaxing to watch that, but I had to wonder how much work and planning went into those falls beforehand. I watched those dominos fall for a good long while before I typed in 'steel balls rollling on a track', which led me to steel ball sculpture art. This too was strangely relaxing, though, like the domino falls, not as satisfying as you would think. There was also some time spent watching Rube Goldberg machines in operation, and if you don't know what a Rube Goldberg machine is, it is in reference to the comic strip artist in the 1920's who drew up designs for machines that were incredibly complicated, only to make toast or something simple like that.

Image from 'Rolling Ball Sculpture'

     I imagine the designers of these works of art did so for the challenge, as well as to bring a bit of enjoyment into the lives of others (not to mention the YouTube views) but the end results were only moderately exciting, I must say. Still, it showed that in a world seemingly beset with issues contentious, that there are still areas on the planet where people have so much free time that they can spend who knows how long constructing totally useless temporary art and meaningless contraptions. This also tells me that they have nothing 'better' to do and among the choices available as to how to spend their time they chose this. Hell, I chose this!
     I could have been learning calculus, or engineering, watching surgery being performed, studying home and/or car repair videos, listening to a spiritual teacher, or any number of productive videos on every subject imaginable, it all depends on what you type in. But the mind can only take in so much technical information at any one time. After that it's domino falls, cloud watching, TV, or staring at the fireplace.

Gravity wells and fixer-uppers

     While I sit here on the sofa, held by this gravity well, others run amok on the surface feverishly changing things. Earth is in need of some home improvement! But there is no Lowes or Home Depot for these folks, no, they want to change not faucets but systems, they want to change how they, me, and you too, do, well, everything. Because, they claim, they are visionaries and they have a better plan.

Tom Adams- Unsplash.com

      You need not be consulted on this, it would slow the process down. Just assume, citizen, that this will be for you own betterment. You'll see. Trust us.
      And, oh, we forgot to say that if you disagree we're going to TRY and do it anyway.
      Now where does that leave you, me, those of us sitting on the sidelines being affected, being ignored, or ...... somehow involved in the process but compartmentalized, just doing our jobs?
      There is a definite lack of energy felt by the idled ones, isn't that the case? But the gravity well I'm in seems to be more of a timing one than a helpless/ignorant non-manifestor one. I know I'll be active again at some point and when that time comes I'll be ready, but that time is not yet. It MIGHT be for those fixer upper people, who may or may not listen to any sort of guidance so you have to wonder what drives 'em. I truly don't know. I can't go into their minds and decipher the codes, but I can observe their actions and comment on them.

Alan Godfrey- Unsplash.com

      Changers barge into things powering over the multitude with bundles of cash and political influence while others get called to raise flags and banners, call City Hall, write letters, or start a campaign. I don't do any of that.
       Change starts within the mind and flows outward, I think. Clean your own house first before you want to deconstruct and then reconstruct the entire planet! I'm not a fan of living in a constant construction site so can we pul-eeze have a little peace and quiet roun' heah?!

Chaos theory

      Right now there seems to be a lot of instability in different areas of the national and global environment, while in other areas stability rules. In the matters concerning instability, at what point, I wonder, do the structures give way? How much stress can organizations withstand? How much responsiveness to meet the latest challenge can affected systems absorb? Will the stalwart within those systems continue to hold up those structures, or will the ones standing in the wings step up?
     Is anybody leading this thing, that thing, and if there is leadership, what are its motives? Are the motives of leadership at cross purposes, or are there other plans, the kinds of plans that you don't want to know about vs. the kinds that you do?

Shane Rouse- Unsplash.com

     Why must there be chaos? Is it artificially manufactured and maintained, there by grand design, or is it just occurring?
     What is normal, once there has been exposure to chaos? It becomes hard to judge, for the playing field has expanded. What happens to the people exposed to chaos? Do some welcome it and play with it while others become battered and traumatized, and can those so affected recover and become tougher, or do they just check out until its over?
     Does stress drop away at some point, the point beyond numbness, exasperation, physical capacity, mental reasoning and logical adaptability, when the framework upon which reality is based collapses? Where is the 'locus', when the dust clears, the point at which you can say "This is the center, this is real, this is the ground upon which the new structure will be built and the cornerstone eventually laid?"
    Until then, the pot is being stirred and much is swirling, like inside that tornado in the Wizard of Oz, houses drifting by, animals, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry ......
     We are DEFINITELY not in Kansas anymore, people!

Drains on the cash flow

     It appears that, more than ever, we the people aren't being included in the bounty that this land, the one that was made for you and me, has to offer. We instead are viewed as competitors for the available loot, and as competitors, we are treated as such.
   While we are necessary, most of us, in the creation of that financial abundance, we are also pushing to be included at the table. This rankles those at the top who see us as little children, clamoring for a share of the spoils, bad of manners, unschooled in the ways (and needs) of the elite, and needing most definitely to be governed.

Claire Anderson- Unsplash.com

      Nobody really likes the demanding job of being a parent but there are voluneers who seek to steer this massive ship called the USA and receive the recognition that comes from those kind of efforts. Since they are steering (some feel 'righting') this vessel they feel a share of the income generated by all (the taxes) should be theirs because, after all, they are the fiscally responsible ones and without them the money would be spent most unwisely. It all boils down to where is the tax money going, the money that is necessary to run things properly, and who gets what. Sacrifices might need to be made in some areas, more dough given in others. Now you might not agree that it is this simple but isn't it? SOMEBODY has to do this, and there aren't that many stepping up to do the job, so you get what you get. Those entities that have the most to gain (or lose) form coalitions designed to sway the politicians in office and nuture the candidates that they would like to see elected, they monitor very closely what their people, their candidates, are saying and thinking. These entities are the special interests and they have money, loads of it, because they are organized. Ignored and marginalized is the general public.
     I know this is all old news but what is new is that what we are seeing in government now is just the basic structure of it. Many of the people walking the halls of government at this time seem to have only a pauper's measure of the qualities that the grand facades of the buildings they gather in would suggest. They seem to lack the character of learned men and women, those that are highly educated, capable, ethically and morally bound to act in good faith and with goodwill. All of that is gone, stripped away. What remains is a naked government in action, it having no purpose other than to control the flow of money, by whatever means, in ways that benefit the big players at the table.

These many things which have come to pass

     Over. It's over. Yesterday, the day before. Upon these laurels I cannot rest. I must continue onward, not that I have to but that I want to.
      I have a destiny, and so do you, or we wouldn't be here, I, writing these words, you, reading them.
     It is not here on this world that our destiny lies, but in the stars. Farfetched? Grandiose? Then the opposite must be true for only one scenario is playing out.
     Either it's an accident, us here, or there is a plan, for what else is there? Either we are steering ourselves or something is steering us.
     It's 2:30 a.m. when I write this but it could just as easily be be high noon or early evening. Whatever the case, the words keep flowing because I do and so do you, for a while, while we're here. And then, we'll not be here, but that hardly matters for the show will go on and we'll be a part of it still. It is my belief that there is no final resting place. Rest for a time, perhaps, but then keep on moving. To where? Where else but towards the fulfilment of that plan which contains all for there is no 'other'.

Joel Pilger- Unsplash.com

     There is no container that can hold us. Actually, there is no 'us', which implies a 'grouping of individuals'. I, me, you, us, are only concepts. What 'we' really are is something that can't be wrapped in words and if that seems impossibly expansive so be it. This unfolding will go on, taking us beyond the boundaries of time, and space, and perception, far beyond present day understanding to that which is a bigger understanding. 'Good', 'better', 'best'- all labels. Beyond that we're heading. And then beyond that still.

Howzit?

     The workplace is a strange thing because at the workplace you spend more time with people than you do with your own family yet the people you work with are, more often than not, anything but family.

Alex Kotliarskyi- Unsplash.com

     The workplace is an environment rife with politics and everything else you can imagine, some of it easily visible, most of it not apparent- at first. But over time you get to figure out everybody's m.o. and then after that you start to get weirdly warm with each other because now you KNOW and allow them to get through their days at work doing things their way and there's no judgement. For the sake of operations, you get along, for the sake of cordial relations with each other you get along. They constantly test the boundaries of acceptable behavior and you test them as well because all the workers are placed in a box, a framework, and like electrons holding the same charge in a container, the workers push to the edges of the container because all have an equal charge and that equal charge, that mutual understanding, is that nobody really wants to be there.
     But there they are, and for so many hours it boggles the mind! This is considered quite normal in our present capitalistic society. Howzit, indeed.
     Free (quality) time is everybody's goal but that comes at a price and the paycheck is too small so back to work people go, averaging forty hours a week. I have had my share of this, I have done loads of time, and through it all I have learned a heckuva lot about myself and about what runs other people. I suppose I could have learned these things another way but in the intensity of the work environment I have found that you learn so much more than if people weren't thrown together on the same lifeboat and had to learn how to deal with one another.

Anna Dziubinska- Unsplash.com

     Early on in my work career, which has spanned numerous jobs, I worked at close quarters with a lot of other worker bees but for the last decade or so I have worked mostly autonomously (without supervision) and customers have been my focus. Thousands upon thousands of customers. These customers, the majority of them, see their interaction with me as a singular event while I see my interactions with them as patterns. I typecast them, a lot of them, which is a way of using customer shorthand, a skill that you develop due to exposure to facial cues, body language positions, and auditory responses, these 'tells' riding inevitably along with common patterns of human behavior.
    It's amazing that people who don't know me or each other act in a similar way, how utterly predictable most of them are, yet I'm never bored because, like my wily and incredibly creative coworkers were, some still manage to surprise me, every single day.
     Never assume that you have seen it all from your coworkers or customers because, brothah, you haven't!

You really have no idea

      If you weren't around at the time, you really have no idea what it was like to watch 'The Flintstones' on Prime Time TV. Or drive a V-8 car, rear wheel drive, and pay forty eight cents a gallon for gas.
    The music you listened to came over the radio, and it was coming from a new source called FM. Frequency Modulation (instead of Amplitude Modulation).
     The newspaper was delivered every afternoon around five o'clock by the newspaper boy.
     You had to wait for the weather guy on the evening news, which came on at six and ten p.m. only, to find out what the weather was going to be like tomorrow.
     If you wanted to sell something, you placed a classified ad in the newspaper. And paid for it!
     You took typing class in school on a thing called a typewriter, and everybody had a land line telephone.

Alex Brisbey- Unsplash.com

     It was just the way it was, there wasn't any argument with it. How could there be? We had projections but really no idea what the future would actually bring, and our world kept us busy with pressing matters anyway, just like now. But unlike now, when you wanted information, you had to look it up in an encyclopedia! Imagine that.
     Current day movies and TV shows portraying those times are mainly using actors and actressess that didn't live thorough those times so at best these dramatists can only act as if they understand anything outside of reciting their lines but oh, we who lived then know.
     So what is the point here? Direct experience with a historic mindset carries an unmistakable vibration, one that cannot be duplicated. Accurate duplication would call for total immersion into the timeframe and most importantly, would contain no knowledge of 'other'. Knowledge of 'other' contaminates the vibe. You can't believably represent the 1960's and 70's from a 2018 viewpoint.
     People think they know so much these days, that the internet and all the tools they have through that medium have them so very well informed. They know a lot of trivia, yes, but do they know actualities? Of life in times past? It's almost impossible to convey the actual vibe through any kind of media- and who has a clue if what is portrayed as 'history' is what really occurred anyway? Were you THERE?

Disposition

    Countenance. Demeanor. Composure. These used to be valid forms of expression in the world. Decorum.
    Societies test out certain, um, 'modes of behavior' in order to learn from them, I guess, and so right now we're walking down a certain road on our mutual journey and relating in a socially engineered way, sometimes, with each other. Please, I urge you, think for yourself! Go to that inner place and check in before initiating a response, asking yourself "How do I feel about the situation?" I can't stress this enough.

Siu Ming Wong- Unsplash.com

      Don't blindly be part of someone else's experiment. Now it's good to take in viewpoints, check out sources of information, broaden your intake so that you have a (hopefully) expanded understanding of things (and I can't tell you how to do that other than suggesting it) but in all cases the final say has to come from not the head but a combination of the head and the heart. If the head and the heart agree on it, I think that's the right place, because the heart is your connection to the, um, 'larger expression' of you. I'm trying not to get too deep here. Keep it simple.
      I'm not going to EVER tell anyone WHAT to think or do, no. I'm just going to suggest thinking about things a little first. It has helped me, maybe it will help you sort of thing. I'm not a preacher or a guru or your gym coach or a drill sergeant, any of those arenas where somebody is in charge.
     Neither am I a counselor or a confidant or even a friend. I'm a pragmatist. That's all. More than ever before, and faster than ever, information comes to us. Information used to come s-l-o-w-l-y. There was time to think. Has that been lost on the present generation, and seemingly forgotten, at times, by the ones that have come before? Pul-eeze! Think before you act, or fire off a response to the latest happening.
     Now it certainly is true that at times a rapid response is valid and appropriate, and I don't want to short-circuit that sort of thing, but we are living in a time when 'sustainability' is on a lot of minds, and can that too be taken into account?
      Ok, enough to think about for a day!

My Contribution

     Today is a day away from work, where I have been nine out of the last ten days. In that time, I have been exposed to thousands of people. Today I don't want anything to do with people so I am sequestered at home.
     It's good to be home, where I am not having to be around the energies of the general public, but here at home I am faced with choices. Devices can bring me news, tv shows, podcasts, movies. Do I want to be exposed to that today? Maybe later.

Rami al Zayat- Unsplash.com

     Upon those many devices I see and hear people. These people are trying to sell stuff to me, have me look upon their artistic expressions, listen to talks that they are hosting, read their take on things, watch their interviews with interesting people, etc.
     There might be a 'call to action' included, which I will most likely decline. Let the world run without me today. I have done so many times before and it seemed to have run quite well! I'm putting it all down then will pick it up again after the weekend.
     Lately, as evidenced by these words, it has come to pass that after many many years I have a little bit of a platform to stand on and broadcast my message. Technology has enabled me to do this and even though I could have done this years ago, I said "No thanks, not yet". Somehow now is the time. How it is received (or not) is not my concern. No ego boost is necessary. Kinda past that.

Steve Halama- Unsplash.com

     People (including me) like it when you contribute, when you put more of yourself out there. There are a lot of people doing so right now and it seems the internet can absorb it all so why not?
     Why not contribute to what you see as not a definitive conclusion but a continuing global conversation?

How are you stepping?

   When you cross the threshold, as you enter? Your energy is in your step.
    Do you enter boldly, timidly, aggressively, or clumsily? Are you preoccupied, multitasking, skirting being seen, or beaming your presence?

Samuel Zeller- Unsplash.com

     As your foot hits the floor, the floor knows that you have arrived. Maybe in the future sensors will be developed to indicate this but until then, the science and study of body language applies. What is your bearing, your demeanor, how do you position your hands, what is the timbre of your voice, where do you head for first, and if somebody else is in the room, do you make eye contact?
     Do you walk in like you own the place, or does the place own you?
     How many times have you crossed the same threshold? Is the threshold you are crossing today a new one, or will there be many new ones? What is the floor made of? Wood? Carpet? Concrete? Marble?
     What scents greet you as you arrive? Are you welcomed, or only tolerated?
     Do you barge in as part of a mob, throwing your weight around, or do you step singularly, elegantly, and gracefully into the room? Do you twist and duck as you enter, or is the doorway big and wide? Is the room brand spankin' new, or ancient, hushed, and sacred?

Matt Quinn- Unsplash.com

     We enter doorways all the time, every day, even if we're moving between rooms in our home. Right now I am visualizing a new work environment, and seeing myself stepping joyfully across the threshold of whatever room (or rooms) contain it with a sense of wonder, awe, and pleasure. "Ahh...." I exclaim as I look around. "This is the place!".

Just being me

      When there is no discernable direction in which to go, movement in any direction is the first choice. Movement creates space, creates momentum. When there is no movement there is that which is, when there is movement there is that which is now. The difference may be slight, but it's different!
      Space is created because now you have moved slightly out of a pattern, and now something different can come in.
      Movement always occurs, even if YOU are not moving. Try and stand still, just try and stand still in the world. It will change around you without you doing a thing. And that change affects you, impinges upon you.
       Some people move quickly through the world, stirring things up, gathering trophies here and there, accolades. Most people are relatively unknown, or known only to a few, and think that they have little influence.
       Does what you do affect the whole?

Steve Halama- Unsplash.com

       Yes! Even if you are a hermit that lives in a cave, or up in a mountain cabin somewhere, you are emitting a vibration. This vibration affects the plants around you, the animals sense it. The earth knows who you are. And if you are in a big city, steel and concrete all around, it's the same. You may not have people directly near you, but the energy that is this planet knows that you are here.
      Some would say that this kind of thinking is farfetched, that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that the earth is a sentient being. I beg to differ. Ever walk down a quiet country lane at sunset? You can feel it. This thing is alive. 

     How you react to things affects your vibration, which adds to the overall vibration. You contribute. All of the time. How could it be otherwise?

So Many To Choose From

    Sitting here, typewriter keyboard at the ready, and pausing beforehand, there are topics to write about that stream by, each having a particular flavor and energy. I could write about any of these topics and probably will at some time or another.
     I see them flash into awareness and then subside, they not carrying enough attractiveness to hold my attention, they not pressing to be verbalized, articulated, brought into the written form, not now, not yet.
     Sometimes when the time is right a topic appears, forcefull it is, shouldering its way to the front, demanding to be recognized. But more often a topic to write about will drift into my awareness and then linger there, patiently waiting for me to take up its cause.
     Today's topic is blissful innocence, or ignorance. I see it in kids at the airport a lot. The adults, you can easily see it, are burdened with worries and concerns. Their demeanor is that of classic parent- steering, herding, looking ahead at the next barrier/obstacle, strategizing about the next moment, and all the moments after that, endlessly.
     The kids, however, tag along in their parent's wake, looking around at everything, distracted, enjoying the journey, unconcerned about what is going to happen next and I'll tell you, every time I encounter kids I praise the Lord because their presence is soooo refreshing.
     Parents are tense, every damn one of them, it seems, strictly business, on task. They might actually be somewhat pleasant but at any moment they can shift to curt and cutting, as if being a parent entitles them to operate outside of the boundaries of etiquette. "Get on with it, service person! I'm in a hurry here. Don't you see I have to think for my charges?"

Harshil Gudka- Unsplash.com

    What are we, in the military?!
    Being a parent also entitles you to holler loudly in public places, startling everybody around (except other parents). "Cassie! Hurry up! Joshua! Over here! Come on, let's GO!"
     Kids, however, are my best customers. I don't bother them or pay them too much attention, that would interrrupt (or even worse, threaten to override) their parents' herding behavior. Kids INSTANTLY clear the air of all adult seriousness. I'd high five all the little buggers if I could just for bringing that magic into my day. A silent "Thanks, kid!' and a little nod of acknowledgement is all I can do, when their parents aren't looking (or yelling something).

Can't touch this

     Whatever it is that I develop is mine, whatever it is that you develop is yours. I am a selfish person in this regard, no? Yes! I like proprietary stuff. My ego loves it. It keeps my identity strong, intact, and proud. I define myself by the difference between me and you.
       I don't do this with ill intent, I do it playfully. It is my expression, my joy at being physical. I want to paint the canvas MY way, not yours, but if I feel so inclined I might settle for a collaboration. Depends. That which defines me might be heightened by doing so!
        If the borders between me and you didn't exist there would just be an 'us', wouldn't there? I don't know. My fear is that I will be absorbed, become part of some soup, some amorphous blob, and be lost, like a drop of water is lost when it falls into a river, or a grain of sand on a beach. Where am I NOW?

Chandler Chen- Unsplash.com

     But maybe it's not like that. Maybe I will retain awareness of me while being part of everything else, which is kind of what is happening now, when I'm out in the world. There is a lot of something else outside of me and I interact with it just fine. But what if the line between 'me' and 'other' starts to fade or even disappears altogether? How can one then retain awareness of self, and what is 'self' anyway, but an idea? Physical boundaries define me at present but what if that changes and my awareness expands beyond those boundaries? What then?
       A lot of the books I have read have pointed to that as an eventuality. They say that that is where peace lies. HOME is there.

Gaelle Marcel- Unsplash.com

     Well, if it is going to be home, I hope that 'I' am still 'me'.
      I don't know, or can't conceive, of any other way!

Why go on?

     Why go forward, and do? Anything? Yeah, these are 'Monday' thoughts, but they apply. You know it, I know it. There are those times when you think "What's the use?" Really, what... is... the... use......
     When I was a kid I might have moped around the house, perhaps dragging my blankie at these times, as a teen I might have lashed out (still do) at The Man, whatever that represents, and as an adult I have handled this situation with various degrees of success but you know what? ("What?") I still got back on the horse and rode that sucker all the way through the workweek. And somehow, that was good for me. Maybe it showed me that I have fortitude, maybe it showed me that I can rise above, maybe it showed me that I have inner reserves of strength I didn't know I had because looking back, I have faced a lot of Mondays and probably so have you.
     Some would say "Of course! There happens to be a penalty for not working!" That Which Need Not Be Named.
      But I'm not talkin' 'bout that. I am talking about That Which Is Necessary For Your Soul To Go Through because this is a school, brothah, sistah, and we all signed up for it.

Keith Johnston- Unsplash.com

       So, saddle up and ride that horse anyway you can 'cause there ain't no sittin' on the sidelines heah. I don't think The Universe would EVER throw up a "No you can't do that" to you just sittin' 'round but the result is stagnation, which would be the worstest thing, in my mind, ever. I know I couldn't go there. Anything but that! I came to this planet to do. Something. Not sit on a park bench. That's like sitting on the bench through a baseball game. I'd MUCH rather be on the field.

Everything new is gonna be old

     There is a scene from a movie, I think it was 'Shaft' (the original, from 1971) where a guy enters another guy's apartment, which would be called a 'crib' nowadays, and surveys the rather stylish (yet spartan-seeming, from today's perspective) room. He questions the motivations of the occupant of the apartment as concerning his desire to get more money through dealing drugs. The dialogue goes something like this:
     "Hey man, what you want to go back out there for?! Look what you got! You got color TV, HiFi stereo, a pair of Marantz speakers, and TWO Lincoln Mark IV's! You CRAZY fo' wantin' mo'!"

Yuri Bogdanov - Unsplash.com

     Yeah, laughable these days, isn't it? What was the height of luxury in 1971 is nothing compared to what we have now.
     And then, looking even twenty years back, everything that seemed new then seems antiquated now. Antiques! Just twenty years ago! (Check out the old school computer sitting on the desk in Seinfeld's apartment).

Nischal Masand- Unsplash.com

     The point is, if I look around today and seem entranced by the glittery, shiny, sparkly newness of anything, any new technology, car, or whatzit, it is going to seem old pretty soon. The way of the world is constant upgrading and discarding that which was useful only for a short while. If you try and hold onto something for the long term it's hard to do so because parts and service become scarce, the operating system won't support it anymore, the interest isn't there to keep it running because something better has shown up to replace it, or it won't interface with the other devices you now own ('smart' technology).
      But don't get overwhelmed by it. The new will seem old only ten (or even five) years down the road!

Universally Accepted

     There is a currency that crosses all cultures, borders, political leanings, and faiths. This currency is known by all, even by the ones who have seemingly forgot it (the relative few).
     You don't have to earn this currrency, ever. It's always in high demand and will be accepted without question. It can be counterfeited but in that guise it's highly diluted, and not really wanted, then.

     You can't store it or stash it, it's best to give it away. Many people do so without question or reservation, it is just what they do, and they would like to see others doing it too, because the ones that aren't giving it away probably need it the most.
     Were everyone to get some daily the world would be a better place. Strangely, everyone can give it freely, without any depletion of the supply, but it makes no one financially better off. It is generated not by governments but by people and the origins of it are truly unknown. Funny thing is, we're all born exuding it but we may not die expressing it. Too many people suffer from the lack of it but as before, it can't be stored, so where is it hidden?  It isn't, it can be found anywhere. All the different cultures I ever visited seemed to have plenty of it. Nobody demands it, but it would be nice if you extended some. We're all better off with it than without it and never is it shunned, for even the most closed to it see it's value, most times.

      You could sink into receiving this substance and never want for more, but more will come anyway.
    Some would call this love but it's not that, some would say it is acting the way a priest or a nun would act but it's not faith-dependent. Little kids have it, especially the newly born. Elderly people extend it a lot. What is this quality, substance, gift?
     

     Why, it's kindness.

Doubt

     This is a quality that serves a purpose, it keeps you from rushing into things, prevents flights of fancy, stops you in whatever way and/or brings pause because if doubt arises you realize that you don't really know, do you? Not for one hundred percent certain.
     Where there exists doubt, there also exists examining methods and means concerning the factors that run machinery, processes, people. Let's look at people.
     When there is even the tiniest shred of doubt concerning other's true course, there is room for mistrusting their motivations, their judgement, their affiliation with you, and their loyalty.
     Trickling down from the top, trust must be established so that loyalty can survive any test, this trust is built on reputation, and reputation is built on integrity. Doing the right thing, it is often called. Now, the right thing could actually mean the wrong thing depending upon which side of the fence you are on but the key principle is integrity. What they in the olden times called honor.

      In the polarized environment we have at the present, that which will continue to stand will be the side where trust is well established, loyalty permeates the organization, and the organization itself, big or small, is an honorable environment in which to serve. If these qualities are in doubt, exit strategies are secretly planned by everyone working there.
     Where doubt exists there also exists fear. Those flickers of fear can be fanned into flames. Not the environment you want to be in as shaky foundations tend to collapse abruptly.

Adversity

     Were we to get everything we want when we want it, we would probably all grow up like cartoon character Richie Rich and have a tainted view of reality. But how can that be otherwise anymore? It certainly is not a level playing field by any means, there are those on the planet now that have choices galore and there are many more who face limited expression of self and can only dream of exercizing their will.
     If I could wave a magic wand, and have what I want appear before me, I would consider that the greatest thing, as would most people. This is the reality that those with loads of money face each day and probably delight in, for a while, until the novelty of it wears off and life becomes 'ordinary', albeit at a higher level.

     Those who can't get their dreams fulfilled live in a state of 'if only' and pine for the day their wishes come true.  Between their goals and the fulfillment of them is adversity, which can, depending on the level of difficulty faced, make the path forward arduous indeed. This we call drama, the battle between what is wanted and the forces that conspire to prevent us from getting there.

      Basically the plot line in most movies.
      So what good is adversity? Why is it so common?
      Is this a tainted world?!

     Can't tell you the answer to those questions but what I perceive from my own experience and the experiences of many others is that adversity might just be the best thing that ever came your way. It toughens you up, gets you to see things from a different point of view, shows you that things might not be configured the way you thought they were or worked the way they did, the list goes on and on. Adversity puts you in a different set of shoes and, walking those 'miles in the other person's moccasins', can't help but change the way your personal operating system works. Adversity takes, breaks, shakes, and quakes you. What emerges at the other end is a more humble person because through adversity you inevitably turn away from trying to power through life and see the value in trying to exert your will in a different way, perhaps even in cooperation with others!

Drivel

      Some would say that there is nothing on TV most times and to that I would agree. There seems to be a lot of stories written, produced, and filmed about every little thing so of course a lot of it would fall outside of one's interest range. "Hey! Who's got time to spend on all that?!" you say. But, I'm glad somebody is doing it, providing content, because somebody out there might be interested and that is why I am doing this.

     They say that you can't write about what you don't know and I think that is true because in order to write about what you don't know you have to have a heck of an imagination. So I write about what I know, which is ordinary day to day life, the experiences I have in it, and the lessons I myself have learned, tried to complete, or am still studying, learning about. What I write about then is not simply theory, no, I'm out there in the field applying all that I know and have learned on a daily basis sometimes in very trying conditions, sometimes in conditions benign, but most times, like everybody else, in conditions that are a mix between those two poles.

     Have I mastered these courses? Some of them I have aced, some of them I'm good enough at to pass almost every time, but a lot of them still surprise me because they find ways to (still!) bring up stuff I didn't even know I had so no, I'm not 'there', but I do experience a state of non-reactivity most of the time anymore which I guess is a gauge of progress. Equanimity in the face of drama, I call it. Isn't that where the Buddha was, Jesus definitely was, and all those saints and other elevated persons? Seems we need to be that for ourselves these days, the moral compass we used to look for outside ourselves is gone from sight, clouded, disguised, trying to appear as real but alas, 'tis not.

Detachment

     There is caring about outcomes and then there is caring about outcomes but being less concerned about them. This week I am in the latter camp. I still care, because I'm there, but what transpires has less of an effect upon me because I'm at work six days this week instead of five. And I have to survive. Physically, mentally.
     I have worked a lot of overtime in my day and the best way to get through it is to take it day by day and not think about things so much. Institued by my past experience almost automatically for my protection, detachment in this way is sort of a fatalistic acceptance, but the quality of detachment from any situation can also be generated by simply making the mental effort to do so, a method that I have learned and shall employ to bolster me further. In other words yes, there is an inevitability when it comes to working overtime, you KNOW that you will be there, which makes detachment necessary to generate, but detachment can also be automatically fostered by other conditions.

     Feeling sick can cause detachment, experiencing an unusual day-long mental state that comes from who knows where or why and lasts all day, or being preoccupied with some other matter to the point where it's hard to keep attention on your job. Then, even beyond those quite ordinary and commonplace states of being there is the spiritual quality of detachment I alluded to earlier, which is a state generated purposely. An intent is made to view the day as an observer and not a participant, even though you are participating. This is easily done, all it takes is a little focus. Anybody can do it but so few do. Look around you this day and see how many are detached from the situation at hand, it's probably not many. People get so caught up in the day to day!

     Detachment, learning how to do it purposely, is a spiritual tool in your tool kit that you can learn to use. Try lessening your self-importance for a day or two (or more). You will experience noticable stress reduction and a greater sense of peace with whatever is transpiring.