2010: Begin Again – Careful, Big Brother may be watching

Are you OK with your employer using technology to monitor you at work? According to an interview I heard on CBC Radio earlier today, 75 per cent of Canadian companies and organizations may be keeping track of workers and their productivity via their computers. This can take the form of keystroke counting to ensure data-entry efficiency to monitoring Internet access to see what you may be checking out. Big Brother may, indeed, be watching. How do you feel about that?

The CBC Radio show was Spark and I think it was Nora Young conducting the interview, but I didn’t catch the name of the fellow being interviewed. I believe he was from a university’s school of business. Discussion centred on the use of technology to keep an eye on employees to see if productivity is being maintained. Aside from the keystroke counting and monitoring Internet activity, other current and developing trends really start to seem a little creepy.

Security ID cards can track when employees enter or leave the building, or sections in the building. Some companies are introducing cards that will allow them to track employees constantly, knowing exactly where they are at any given time while on the job. Better not spend too much time on a bathroom break!

Part of my 2010: Begin Again project is to work at developing a good side income. My job at the college is a 10-month term position, meaning I’m off work from mid-June to mid-August. Having extra money flowing in will be most beneficial. Having an extra income that could actually replace that from a job could be a blessing if one was to work for an organization that snooped into your life a bit too much!

Thankfully, I’m not in such a position myself. How about you? Who’s watching over your shoulder?

A Year to Live – Experiencing Life By Preparing for Death
Today marked the first session in the ‘A Year to Live’ program I am taking with a friend. This is based on the book A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last, by Stephen Levine. We’re meeting once a month with a wonderful woman, Pat, who is guiding us through the program.

Death is not something people are comfortable discussing or considering. I suppose taking time for such a program may seem morbid to some, but when you realize the actual intent is to ensure participants are really living the life they want, it actually becomes quite exciting.

We spent time simply talking about the concept and why we were there. Pat used a guided meditation to begin the process of imagining a doctor had just told us we only have a year to live. What that felt like and what our reactions would be provided fodder for conversation. We also did some solo brainstorming looking at what we would like to accomplish if we truly only had a year left.

What’s interesting is that none of us really know how much time is left for us in this physical realm. The individual with a known terminal illness could outlive us should we have an unfortunate run-in with a bus. And not of the kind I referenced yesterday!

As Levine states in the book; “It can be hard to die when we have forgotten so often that we are alive . . . How often has our life passed unnoticed? How soon will we accept this opportunity to be fully alive before we die?”

Interestingly enough, to me anyway, you may care less; I’m also currently reading You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor. He addresses the same issue about living before we die; “Remember, you do not have a contract to live forever, nor is this a practice run – this is your life and you should be enjoying it to the fullest extent humanly possible.”

My deepest wish is that you are, in fact, living life exactly how you want to. If you aren’t, bless yourself by taking some time to reflect on what’s really important to you, then start to take the steps to make that happen.

Namaste.

Hop on the bus, Gus; 2010: Begin Again

The problem with public transportation is that it is accessible to the general public. Like the middle-age woman sitting behind me on Friday while I was riding the bus home. While her constant muttering was distracting, it paled in comparison to her sudden bursts of violent coughing. Coughing that spewed noxious fumes of gut-fermented garlic into the air shared by fellow passengers.

Concerns over possible viral infection wilted in the onslaught of an herbal assault guaranteed to knock out any germ with greater efficiency than anything offered by modern medicine. I may never eat escargot in garlic butter again.

This past week I had the pleasure of riding the bus home after work. Lynda was using the car due to her late shift at work. While the week ended with the attack of Stinky Rose, it began with the misguided transit worker. He forgot his route!

Right after entering the on ramp to Whoop-Up Drive heading west, he realized he was supposed to go downtown first. And then what do you do? You can’t back up to Scenic Drive and traffic is building up. So, it’s down the hill, across the river, up the other side, around the loop, back down the hill, across the river, back up the other side and finally downtown, to pick up four people, then proceed back down the hill, across the river, up the other side, and running 15 minutes behind schedule!

OK, so maybe there is more wrong with public transit than the public accessibility!


2010: Begin Again - Adventures in The Quest

It’s rolling through the first month of the new year and while things aren’t 100 per cent on track, I’m pretty happy with the way it’s all shaping up. Met up with Darren for a review of the first chapter of The Quest; the spiritual exploration based on Unity teachings. We evolve with time. I’d begun The Quest some years ago with a small group, but when the group broke up, I put it aside. 2010: Begin Again; so I’ve picked it up and Darren and I are going through it.

This timing is right now. I knew that as soon as I checked out the first chapter; “You can begin again . . . and again . . . and again.” It fit perfectly with my current life theme of ‘2010: Begin Again.’

Towards the end of the chapter is a sentence that gets to the heart of Unity teaching. It’s a philosophy that addresses spiritual reality for me . . . maybe not for you; after all you are on your own path.

I do think, though, that if you strip away all of the dogma and baggage of organized religion, the majority of faith practices share a common thread. It’s a thread that has become lost in the tapestry of rituals and traditions that we’ve woven into a myriad of different religious practices.

The sentence gets to the heart of 2010: Begin Again by addressing change . . . and that’s what it’s all about.

“Where does change begin? It begins first of all with the realization that you are worthwhile, that you are not separated from God, that you are a part of God, not apart from God.”

If we could just get to the point where we acknowledged and honoured the spark of the Divine within each of us, I think the world could be a better place.

Where have all the protest songs gone?

“Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio.” – Neil Young. Not sure why, but the lyrics have been running through my mind today. It leaves me wondering where have all the great protest songs gone? Maybe there are powerful songs today, and I’ve just missed them.

I suspect there may be people in my group of Facebook friends who don’t even know about the incident to which the lyrics from “Ohio” refer. Very quickly, the 1960s and early 1970s were a time of change in North America, particularly in the U.S. The war in Vietnam was raging and, in 1969, the U.S. invaded Cambodia. People were divided on the issue. Some backed the U.S. government, no matter what. Others questioned why young Americans were dying in a war half a world away, and then why the invasion of Cambodia was launched.

Sound familiar? When the U.S. started a war with Iraq after the 9/11 attacks, the nation was divided, though I suspect more were for the government action than against it. Don’t forget, UN weapons inspectors had already proven there were no weapons of mass destruction, but then-President Bush used that scare tactic to justify a war. If you disagreed with invading another country and starting a war, you were often considered un-American.

But it was different on May 4, 1970. Students at Kent State University in Ohio had been protesting the Vietnam War and invasion of Cambodia. They marched in protest in November 1969. And they were protesting on campus in the spring of 1970 and in the town of Kent, Ohio. Protests got out of hand when bars closed at night and bonfires were lit in the streets while some businesses had windows shattered. On the ground of KSU, the ROTC building, which was scheduled for demolition, was torched. Enter the National Guard.

Today we can look at countries like China and deride their stance on human rights. We can express shock when Buddhist monks are gunned down by Chinese military. The few pictures we see are horrifying. Yet, the U.S. is not innocent of such actions. On May 4, 1970, the National Guard, faced with student protest action, opened fire on young American citizens killing four and injuring nine in about 13 seconds of shooting. Two of those killed were among the protesters. Two others were simply students walking from one building to the next between classes. Guardmen claimed they felt threatened. The average distance between those killed and the armed National Guard was 345 feet (105 metres).

Neil Young wrote the song "Ohio", recorded it with friends David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, and release one of the most haunting protest songs of all time. For me, it ranks right up there with “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Powerful songs about key moments in our history.

So, what are you’re favourite protest songs? Songs with a message. Songs that matter.

Photos: The photos were taken by two Kent State students. John Filo was taking a break from work in the campus photo lab when he captured the top news photo of 1970: a girl screaming over the dead body of Jeffrey Miller who was killed by the national guard. The girl was Mary Vecchio, a 15-year-old runaway from Florida. The photo won a Pulitzer prize. Howard Ruffner, a KSU student photographer, captured some of the best photos of the tragedy.

The He in We

I don’t believe there is a God. I believe that God is all there is. Confused? Don’t be. It’s simply a matter of expanding our concept of God to get beyond the idea that we are separated from a spirit being who oversees every aspect of the universe.

God, no matter what name you choose to use, is far more than the being described in the revered books of man’s many different religions. I’m going to use the term ‘God,’ with the understanding that it’s not a name, but rather a concept. It seems to me that humanity has been trying to understand the universe and our place in it pretty much since the beginning of time . . . dare I say since we first stood upright in an African savannah millions of years ago?

In our efforts we’ve been limited by our understanding of the physical world and our place in it. Ego results in the idea that God is really a fantastic version of us; an individual being prone to the same emotions that control our behaviours . . . but backed up by having omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. In effect, we’ve created God in our image. We’ve taken the Divine and stuffed it into a human skin in order to make it more understandable. Disagree with that idea? Pick up a copy of the Old Testament and have a read. There you’ll find the jealous God. The needy God. The demanding God. The loving God. The lonely God. In other words, all of the things that make us human.

But what if we could get beyond that concept? New Thought teachings, originating in the mid- to late-1800s do just that. There are different ideas even within this particular spiritual practice. My path has brought me to the point where I believe we, and the universe itself, are physical manifestations of the Divine.

We are spiritual beings experiencing a human existence. We are not separate from God. That which is Divine is found within each of us.

Now take that concept and think about it for a moment. There are those who ask where is God when people commit atrocities? How could He allow such things to happen? I have to agree. How could He? Except, of course, He is We. Next time you’re tempted to ask if there is a God, how come He lets horrible things happen, take a look in the mirror. Then ask, how could We let this happen?

We have yet to awaken to our spiritual magnificence. I’m not sure when we actually will. Hey, and I’m not exempt from this. Sure, I have my spiritual beliefs. But I don’t act like it all the time. That bit about spirit experiencing a human existence tends to get in the way. Yeah, I believe the Divine lives through each of us. So why do I struggle with forgiving some people for their actions or even for my perception of their actions?

Because I am human, that’s why. I don’t have all the answers. I struggle as much as anyone with the reality of day-to-day life. I’m not necessarily proud of it. But I am trying. I’m working on developing and understanding my spiritual side. That’s one of the goals for my 2010: Begin Again project.

When I sign off a message with ‘namaste,’ I want to mean it. There are different interpretations, but it is understood to express the idea that “I honour the Light within you,” or “That which is Divine within me, acknowledges and honours that which is Divine within you.”

That Divine that dwells within each of us, that surrounds us, that supports us, that is us, that is the universe . . . that is God.

Namaste.

Spiritual link: Here's a great talk from Unity Center of Walnut Creek, Calif. It's entitled "Entering the God Field."

Photos: JC and I enjoy a tussle. JC with my son, his dad, Devon. And JC by himself. They joined Lynda and me for dinner today. The Divine expresses itself through each of us.

It's About Time

For me, it's 2010: Begin Again. But even though committing to revolution more than resolution, sometimes the past continues to live on in the mind.

The brain is a weird and wonderful thing. It amazes me that it can store the strangest memories for years, then suddenly spring them lose on you when you least expect it. This morning was a classic example for me.

Jingles for TV shows and commercials seem to have the power to embed themselves deep in the mind. For me, they can work their way to the surface at unexpected times. I’m sure something triggers it – something too subtle to register – and suddenly it’s like I’m back in time and music and lyrics are playing in my head. OK, OK, so I’m actually singing along to the soundtrack of my mind.

This morning it was a flashback to a horrible TV show from the 1960s. From out of nowhere I found myself singing:

“It’s about time, it’s about space,
About two men in the strangest place.
Wait ‘til they see what is in sight,
Is it good luck, or is it good night.
It’s about two astronauts
It’s about they’re fate.
It’s about a woman
And her prehistoric mate.”

The lyrics aren't complete, but that's the section I remember. And, weah, the show was called It’s About Time. It came out a time of very silly shows on TV. Things like the Beverly Hillbillies, the Munsters, Gilligan’s Island and more. The premise was sillier than any of the aforementioned, with the possible exception of The Munsters. It’s About Time was a comedy about two astronauts who travel back in time and hook up with a tribe of cavemen. Whacky adventures ensue. Dumb. Really dumb.

But the power of the theme song makes it live on in my mind.

Radio jingles do the same thing. When I was in Grades 1-3, I lived at the air force base near Summerside, P.E.I. Every school day Mom would have breakfast prepared and I’d eat at about the same each morning. Mom also had the radio playing at the same time. And I swear I heard the same radio ads morning after morning.

Now I’m 52 years old and I still remember:

J-E-N-K-I-N-S
Jenkins is the very best.
Beef and lobster, chicken, too.
Jenkins is the best for you.
Shop Jenkins, Jenkins
Jenkins of P.E.I.

Jenkins doesn’t exist anymore. I know. A couple of years ago, when the jingle was going through my mind, I contacted the editor of the newspaper in Summerside to see if it was still around. Nope. It’s long gone. But it lives on in my mind – along with the memory of the first time I had cinnamon toast. That was also one morning in P.E.I. while having breakfast before school.

Cinnamon toast and Jenkins. Two memories intertwined and linked by a simple radio jingle.

The mind really is a weird and wonderful thing.

Christian leader's bizarre take on Haiti

As part of my 2010: Begin Again philosophy, I’m re-examining my stance of ‘live and let live’ when it comes to the spiritual walk of life. Just because I disagree with someone’s personal religious faith doesn’t mean I’m right and they’re wrong. I shouldn’t criticize another’s spiritual beliefs. Or so I used to think.

Now I’m wondering if we have a responsibility to speak out when a particular faith or church has leaders or teachings that build themselves up by tearing others down. Groups that cause harm to others by following a path they’ve determined is the only right way to go and to God.

My spiritual journey in life has taken me down some interesting paths. An atheist. Traditional, conservative denomination. Ultra-conservative. Back out to a much more liberal theology. Finally to my current sense of spirituality. That’s a good thing because when I see individuals like Pat Robertson spouting off offensive garbage about the current tragedy in Haiti, I’m happy to say I no longer call myself a Christian.

Robertson, a one-time U.S. presidential candidate and long-time right-wing Christian extremist, has basically claimed that the horror of the recent earthquake in Haiti is God’s way of dealing with Haiti because slaves “swore a pact to the devil” to gain independence from France in 1804. Robertson is a sad and pathetic man who called on the U.S. government to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005.

While I no longer consider myself a Christian as usually defined by those who are, I feel compassion for all true believers who get lumped in with the misguided few who take such bizarre stands. Just as the majority of Muslims are not terrorists, I would venture to say the majority of Christians are not followers of the extremist views of Pat Robertson.

Leaders like Bishop John Shelby Spong are, in my mind, what a true Christian should be. If Bishop Spong were leading a church in my area, I’d be there every Sunday. If Pat Robertson had a church in my area, I’d just be embarrassed. My hope is that individuals like Spong will lead the evolution needed in the church today, while people like Robertson will see their approach become extinct.

What has happened in Haiti is a horrible tragedy. But it’s a natural event, not the punishment of some despotic spiritual tyrant so lacking in self-confidence that He needs to lash out at the impoverished ancestors of slaves over some perceived insult from 200 years ago.

Rather than casting blame on the victims, as Robertson has done, the world needs to come together at times like this to provide aid to a country that needed our help at the best of times. Now, it is the worst of times and they need support more than ever, not condemnation from a self-righteous religious extremist.

If you can, find a way to help. Lynda and I will be donating through her workplace, Sun Life, which will be matching all donations from its employees to provide help to the people of Haiti. Hopefully, many enlightened Christian churches will also provide support. That would be wonderful to see in light of the media attention Pat Robertson’s comments will gain.

Such a system is downright evil - Sarah Palin

Fox News has hired Sarah Palin to be a regular commentator on their network. Sarah Palin. A news commentator. On Fox. Offering political commentary and analysis. Insightful comments. About the news. On Fox TV. Sarah Palin. Take a deep breath and let that sink in.

Palin says she’s thrilled to join Fox News. “It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news.” Fox News. Fair and balanced. Values it. And hires Sarah Palin. To add her “dynamic voice” to the network. Sarah Palin. Dynamic voice on Fox News. The fair and balanced network. Let that breath out now.

At what point did the world turn into the Gong Show?

Sarah Palin providing news commentary on the “fair and balanced” Fox network? Get serious! This is the same Palin who did her best to destroy attempts at U.S. health reform by claiming Obama’s plan would include a ‘death panel’ that decides the fate of elderly Americans or those suffering disabilities.

The same Palin who couldn’t name a single newspaper or magazine she reads when asked by Katie Couric.

The same Palin who pushed a conspiracy theory that the words “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of U.S. coins by the Obama administration. Even though the change took place under Bush’s presidency.

It’s the same woman who has been shown time after time to have almost no grasp of international affairs. Yet she’s qualified to be a commentator for Fox TV? Well, I guess that makes sense in a way. Fox and Palin – proving once and for all that two rights can definitely make a wrong!

One good thing may come from this bizarre event. Perhaps Tina Fey can return to SNL for special Weekend Update segments.

Spirit and Science
The science vs. religion debate seems to polarize some segments of society. There are people so caught up in religion that they vehemently deny what science can teach us about our ancestors. Then there are those with such a strong faith in science that they can't reconcile themselves to accepting a spiritual side to life.

I've traveled a very wandering and twisting road through my five+ decades and I've dipped my toes into both ponds at different times. Today, I'm much more relaxed about the issue and see plenty of room to accommodate both perspectives equally. If you struggle with blending the two, you need to escape the dogma associated with each when taken separately. My suggestion, check out 'Thank God for Evolution.'