I’ve been doing a lot of complaining about how commentators with their lights on are gadflies and that we don’t have a unified voice. I am an active contributor to Robert Reich and Chris Hedges and Michael Moore and Thom Hartmann, and in their posts and the many comments they get on their critiques of our misguided country nobody is saying what I say. I’m talking about what can get us beyond where there’s lots of woe-is-me and little that moves us forward. I was thinking about how I want to move us forward
My other "What if..." would be What if we really started to pray? I mean serious prayer where we completely believed in this proundly simple yet beautiful act of directing a pure flow of mental energy with love and intensity. Be reminded that Mahatma Gandhi referred to prayer when properly understood as "The most potent force of action", while Tennyson pointed out that "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of..."
A wonderful post, dear Suzanne but my feeling is that nothing will change if we don't tend to mothers and babies from pregnancy till the baby is three. The brain structure changes massively, and a stressed mother for whatever reason, will bring up a child who is not full of loving kindness to his or her fellows or environment. Depressed mothers, ill mothers, drink, drugged, poor, maltreated whatever mothers cannot be genuinely attentive. The baby will not then internalise a loving sense of self. About two thirds of us have good enough mothering. It's the other third who cause the trouble. Look at the terrorist mindset from middle Eastern countries who strip women of rights. Read Sue Gerhardt's 'Why love matters'.
Suzanne It's well within your pay grade, scientific materialism is a constructed reality that goes back to Decartes "matter and mind stuff" a distinction that allowed Natural Philosophers to examine materialism without having the Roman Inquisition looking over their shoulders declaring something was a heresy - Gallileo! The distinction persists to this day in the way supra physical phenomena are destignated "spiritual" rather than he product of a "physical dimension". David Bohm's Implicate Order is such an example being covertly ignored by physics and visciously denied by Oppenheimer, "Bohm may be right but we will ignore him" was his directive. It meant that the physical domain was the product of a supra physical formative cause: this was what Nicolas Tesla pointed out to physcists in the 30's. Also Max Planck when he identified quanta declared they must have a conscious cause because matter cannot be a self-causing phenomenon and that quanta were the beginning of the physical dimension not its end. So cheer up, there's a whole new reality to play in
Suzanne, I have been trying to think of more "What ifs...?" but they all involve political ramifications and I don't think you want to get into politics here. As for the cause of the current chaos and turmoil, I think it is clear that it is materialism, or consumerism, as promoted the television and other media with Hollywood and Madison Ave. the driving forces. Consider sports. An athlete might be making $35-million a year for being a play-warrior, while real warriors fighting wars are making $35,000 a year. It isn't the spectators who support the athletes; it's the advertisers, and we pay for it through higher prices for the products being advertised. The only way to protest it is to not watch the games, but few people see this as having any significant impact, as doubt that many others are doing it. I am guilty in this regard. I think about not watching the game or turning it off as my protest against the salaries or the moral atmosphere often promoted by the athletes or the hedonistic half-time entertainers, etc., and conclude that my little rejection is not going to make any difference as there are not enough of us doing so. Maybe a "What if.." here is: What if there was a real organized effort to not watch such trash on TV, organized enough for the person to realize that he or she is not the only one refusing to watch, would it work? As to how it would be organized is the question.
On a cheerful note the current civilisation has little more than 200 years to run, the seeds of its own destruction are already sprouting vigourously. However, the problem is how to create a time capsule that can pass what we now know to the generation who in say 2000 years will be in a position to understand the nature of a supra physical conscious dimension. Our language will be meaningless and what they need to know very few have already grasped, which is how the physical dimension is created. Holographic formative causation is effectively quantum metaphysics and scientific materialism will not allow such phenomena to be considered a reality.
Suzanne, my "What if...?" is dependent on something outside of ourselves to bring about the change you are seeking. I honestly don't believe it can come from we the people for all kinds of dysfunctional and egoistic reasons. So my "What if" is "Shock!" as in hexagram 51 of the I Ching. We need to be collectively shocked, either by some global force of Nature or some external visititation or happenstance that profoundly awakens us through a total humbling of our being down to our DNA. We need to be utterly awed at and by a Lifeforce that is infinitely greater than ourselves and yet benevolent.
Suzanne, my “What if…?” is: What if the world becomes one of all happiness, all fun, all glee, all comforts, all Epicurean delights, total peace, no adversity , no suffering, no problems, no wars, no racism, no diseases, no conflicts of any kind, full agreement on everything? Will we not then be like Nero when Rome burned?
That is not suggest that we should not strive for bettering the world and overcoming the sad and deplorable conditions we now find ourselves in, but only to wonder if “overcoming adversity” is part of the Divine Plan, assuming there is one. Adversity offers us opportunities to learn and, in the larger scheme of things, gives life some purpose. I can't imagine a world without adversity, what we would do with ourselves if all our needs and desires were fulfilled. If we are now "bottoming out" in this respect, we should be thankful for the greater opportunities we now have to learn. At least that is the way I have come to see it in my 86 years here. Do you disagree? If you do, I look forward to learning of your view and those of others. Thank you for sharing your views and opening yourself to those of others.
Hi, Suzannne ~ Almost passed up on this amazing concept you are proposing, but thought again and read it through. Bravo! Great concept...
I'm at the decision point of my life also to stop talking about global attitude and behavior change, and actually committing to action-oriented change. I've written a third book, "Beyond The Chaos; Restoring Hope For Humanity," and am in the final stages of getting it ready for publication and distribution. That's my action plan, or "road map," I believe you're referring to. It's a small but powerful book of twelve chapters describing the core values I've learned in my 75 years on the planet that really can and should make a meaningful difference in humanity becoming actually civilized.
I'm happy to do a "What If" scenario for where I see my part playing out, but for now all three of my books and a feature film from the first book are at least proven ways to change attitudes and behavior from inside prisons of steel and concrete to prisons of the mind and narrow, self-indulgent behavior. Check out www.AMatterofTime.org, and know that we're setting it up for book orders as soon as funds are in place for proper marketing and fulfullment.
Blessings to you...and many cheers for your relentless attention over the decades we've known each other to what are the right things to do in this troubled, chaotic world we've created...as Marianne Williamson campaigned so eloquently upon.
My other "What if..." would be What if we really started to pray? I mean serious prayer where we completely believed in this proundly simple yet beautiful act of directing a pure flow of mental energy with love and intensity. Be reminded that Mahatma Gandhi referred to prayer when properly understood as "The most potent force of action", while Tennyson pointed out that "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of..."
A wonderful post, dear Suzanne but my feeling is that nothing will change if we don't tend to mothers and babies from pregnancy till the baby is three. The brain structure changes massively, and a stressed mother for whatever reason, will bring up a child who is not full of loving kindness to his or her fellows or environment. Depressed mothers, ill mothers, drink, drugged, poor, maltreated whatever mothers cannot be genuinely attentive. The baby will not then internalise a loving sense of self. About two thirds of us have good enough mothering. It's the other third who cause the trouble. Look at the terrorist mindset from middle Eastern countries who strip women of rights. Read Sue Gerhardt's 'Why love matters'.
Powerful words from a powerful woman💜
Cool, smart way to present the obvious to many and the not so obvious but good ideas to others. - Jay Levin
Just use deductive intuition and you will see it. Don't waste time trying to "Reason" its existence
Suzanne It's well within your pay grade, scientific materialism is a constructed reality that goes back to Decartes "matter and mind stuff" a distinction that allowed Natural Philosophers to examine materialism without having the Roman Inquisition looking over their shoulders declaring something was a heresy - Gallileo! The distinction persists to this day in the way supra physical phenomena are destignated "spiritual" rather than he product of a "physical dimension". David Bohm's Implicate Order is such an example being covertly ignored by physics and visciously denied by Oppenheimer, "Bohm may be right but we will ignore him" was his directive. It meant that the physical domain was the product of a supra physical formative cause: this was what Nicolas Tesla pointed out to physcists in the 30's. Also Max Planck when he identified quanta declared they must have a conscious cause because matter cannot be a self-causing phenomenon and that quanta were the beginning of the physical dimension not its end. So cheer up, there's a whole new reality to play in
Suzanne, I have been trying to think of more "What ifs...?" but they all involve political ramifications and I don't think you want to get into politics here. As for the cause of the current chaos and turmoil, I think it is clear that it is materialism, or consumerism, as promoted the television and other media with Hollywood and Madison Ave. the driving forces. Consider sports. An athlete might be making $35-million a year for being a play-warrior, while real warriors fighting wars are making $35,000 a year. It isn't the spectators who support the athletes; it's the advertisers, and we pay for it through higher prices for the products being advertised. The only way to protest it is to not watch the games, but few people see this as having any significant impact, as doubt that many others are doing it. I am guilty in this regard. I think about not watching the game or turning it off as my protest against the salaries or the moral atmosphere often promoted by the athletes or the hedonistic half-time entertainers, etc., and conclude that my little rejection is not going to make any difference as there are not enough of us doing so. Maybe a "What if.." here is: What if there was a real organized effort to not watch such trash on TV, organized enough for the person to realize that he or she is not the only one refusing to watch, would it work? As to how it would be organized is the question.
Love the presumptive approach. Here’s my start:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sORSfllEJYaiao4hHi4gLxaoguKwICIw/view?usp=drivesdk
On a cheerful note the current civilisation has little more than 200 years to run, the seeds of its own destruction are already sprouting vigourously. However, the problem is how to create a time capsule that can pass what we now know to the generation who in say 2000 years will be in a position to understand the nature of a supra physical conscious dimension. Our language will be meaningless and what they need to know very few have already grasped, which is how the physical dimension is created. Holographic formative causation is effectively quantum metaphysics and scientific materialism will not allow such phenomena to be considered a reality.
Suzanne, my "What if...?" is dependent on something outside of ourselves to bring about the change you are seeking. I honestly don't believe it can come from we the people for all kinds of dysfunctional and egoistic reasons. So my "What if" is "Shock!" as in hexagram 51 of the I Ching. We need to be collectively shocked, either by some global force of Nature or some external visititation or happenstance that profoundly awakens us through a total humbling of our being down to our DNA. We need to be utterly awed at and by a Lifeforce that is infinitely greater than ourselves and yet benevolent.
Suzanne, my “What if…?” is: What if the world becomes one of all happiness, all fun, all glee, all comforts, all Epicurean delights, total peace, no adversity , no suffering, no problems, no wars, no racism, no diseases, no conflicts of any kind, full agreement on everything? Will we not then be like Nero when Rome burned?
That is not suggest that we should not strive for bettering the world and overcoming the sad and deplorable conditions we now find ourselves in, but only to wonder if “overcoming adversity” is part of the Divine Plan, assuming there is one. Adversity offers us opportunities to learn and, in the larger scheme of things, gives life some purpose. I can't imagine a world without adversity, what we would do with ourselves if all our needs and desires were fulfilled. If we are now "bottoming out" in this respect, we should be thankful for the greater opportunities we now have to learn. At least that is the way I have come to see it in my 86 years here. Do you disagree? If you do, I look forward to learning of your view and those of others. Thank you for sharing your views and opening yourself to those of others.
Hi, Suzannne ~ Almost passed up on this amazing concept you are proposing, but thought again and read it through. Bravo! Great concept...
I'm at the decision point of my life also to stop talking about global attitude and behavior change, and actually committing to action-oriented change. I've written a third book, "Beyond The Chaos; Restoring Hope For Humanity," and am in the final stages of getting it ready for publication and distribution. That's my action plan, or "road map," I believe you're referring to. It's a small but powerful book of twelve chapters describing the core values I've learned in my 75 years on the planet that really can and should make a meaningful difference in humanity becoming actually civilized.
I'm happy to do a "What If" scenario for where I see my part playing out, but for now all three of my books and a feature film from the first book are at least proven ways to change attitudes and behavior from inside prisons of steel and concrete to prisons of the mind and narrow, self-indulgent behavior. Check out www.AMatterofTime.org, and know that we're setting it up for book orders as soon as funds are in place for proper marketing and fulfullment.
Blessings to you...and many cheers for your relentless attention over the decades we've known each other to what are the right things to do in this troubled, chaotic world we've created...as Marianne Williamson campaigned so eloquently upon.