October, 2012
Some people are saying it’s the most vitriolic, attack-oriented, negativity-based political season they can ever remember.
The American presidential election, with its concurrent races for the country’s Senate and House of Representatives, has turned into a cesspool. Most (but not all) Americans are saddened by this, and wonder: “What has happened to a political process that we were once able to celebrate, and were proud to place before the world as a model for the entire planet?”
More important, perhaps, than what has happened or how, is what, if anything, can be done to save the situation. And not just to save one country’s interior decision-making process, but to save all of humanity from itself—for our entire species, from one corner of the globe to another, has failed to find a way to disagree agreeably.
And a poisoned political system is just one manifestation of that. At least (so far) people are not killing each other en masse in the U.S. to get their point across or their grievances heard. The same can’t be said in some other parts of the world, where there is no room—none whatsoever—for dissent of any kind, to say nothing of vitriolic denunciation of those who are or would be leaders.
What, then, could be the answer? Is there any antidote to humanity’s poisonous ways?
Yes. It is a New Spirituality that informs our politics. That is, a new set of sacred understandings that we hold about ourselves and about the purpose of life. And, of course, about God.
“Spirituality” is just a long six-syllable utterance for a two-syllable word: beliefs. Our highest and most sacred beliefs form the basis of our most critical and self-creative behaviors, and of our politics. A politics that do not arise out of our most sacred beliefs are bankrupt. Yet if you most sacred beliefs are themselves incompletely informed, what then? What we need is a new set of beliefs about everything: who we are, why we are here, and the best way to accomplish that. Our present understands and beliefs about God, about Life, and about each other arise out of religious doctrines that are incomplete.
Those beliefs hold that we human beings are separate from each other, and separate from God. We are not, those dogmas tell us, all The Same Thing. Yet the New Spirituality holds otherwise. “All things are One Thing,” it says. “There is only One Thing, and all things are part of the One Thing There Is.”
One source of that New Spirituality, a series of books titled Conversations with God, has placed a remarkable “dare” in front of all the world’s leaders. In the dialogue which comprises the books (from which the above statement emerges), every global political figure, every planetary spiritual or religious leader, every world business or economic trendsetter, and especially every teacher or professor in every classroom, is challenged to place a simple, astonishing 15-word message before those who turn to them for guidance:
We are all One. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.
Those are 15 words that would change the world. Conversations with God calls them The New Gospel. Can the Pope say them? Can the highest Ulama utter them? Can the chief Rabbi speak them? Will the Archbishop of Canterbury? Will any president, prime minister, senator, member of parliament, or candidate for any such office, make this declaration?
How about you? Can you say them, in the midst of a disagreement you may be having with another?
Until and unless we all can, we will never remove the poison from our politics. For our politics are our lives, narrowly defined by greatly magnified. Yet the antidote is there; a healing formula is available. It is not a “secret formula.” It is widely known and widely available to all of us. We can mix up a batch in a jiffy. All it takes is a blending of the Soul, the Heart, and the Mind.
What could cause humanity to embrace this New Gospel? Do we have to be brought to our knees? Must we come right to the edge of our own extinction? Will we have to virtually self-destruct, as we are watching ourselves do in Syria and other places? Would even the threat of planetary (as opposed to regional) self-destruction be enough? Some people in America are asking that right now.
We must get clear as to who has the answer—and it is neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Romney.
It is you.
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(If you have an observation that you would like to offer specifically in the area of World News or Current Events from a New Spirituality point of view, we will be happy to consider it for publication here. This is your opportunity to Dialogue With The World on your ideas about what’s happening making headlines these days, within the context of The New Spirituality–and how you believe the second could one day affect the first. Please send submissions to Lisa McCormack, Managing Editor, at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com)
I have always been a huge fan of experiencing the artistic creations that spring from the passion of the most unexpected visionaries. And how delighted I was find this powerfully raw and thought-provoking small-budget film directed by Benh Zeitlin – “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” The realness of the film is perfected through the unique choice of using “non-actors” to fulfill his innovative vision.
The movie is narrated by a gutsy and soulful six-year-old African American Cajun girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives with her abrasive father Wink (Dwight Henry) in an isolated swampy bayou community in Louisiana called “The Bathtub,” a place she proudly calls “the prettiest place on earth.”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” is a mystical and gritty journey that, upon the heels of Hurricane Katrina, touches upon some of the biggest challenges that our world is currently facing: global warming, pollution, class warfare, poverty, and alcoholism. The tiny but ferocious Hushpuppy contemplates her own importance and purpose in the world as an apocalyptic-like storm approaches and threatens their very survival, a storm for which she feels responsible for causing and imagines the “beasts” to be coming after her for.
Wink and Hushpuppy function within an unconventional and complicated parent/child relationship consisting of tough love, loyalty, confusion, physical abuse, and emotional breakthroughs. Their characters wrestle between layers of independence and compassion and human survival and vulnerability. As Hushpuppy’s father battles his own life-threatening disease, he teaches her how to fend for herself against the harsh elements and expects her to be responsible for her own basic needs of food and shelter. Hushpuppy, at the tender age of 6 years old, tries to make sense of the world, and in doing so, discovers the connectedness of all of life even amidst the brutal challenges placed upon her desolate community. And this, of course, is the message underlying The New Spirituality, and, in particular, the CWG book, When Everything Changes, Change Everything.
“When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces” – Hushpuppy
~ By Lisa McCormack
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.
Being a teenager in the twenty first century has given us the technological edge. More than any other generation before us, we have access to information-tons and tons of information-that can tell us the time of day in Paris, the latest trends in Japan, and the scores of soccer matches in Brazil. With so much information out there, literally at the tip of our fingers, we have more opportunity than ever to explore the life around us.
As our world seems to get smaller and smaller by the size of our web searching, our exploration turns to us to questioning. Though we have become so much more exposed to different ideas, cultures, and thoughts, it shocks us just to see how different our lifestyles are from others. We begin to see that there is not just only our way of life, but many other ways to live, and that leads us to our own questioning. We ask ourselves, “Are my decisions better than theirs? Is their way the right way? Will I make the best choice?”
With deeper and deeper thought, these questions bring us to a new level of uncertainty. We begin not only to re-search ourselves, but also our schools, our communities, and our world, and we begin see the faults. We see, more than any other age group, the cracks, the bruises, and the broken linings of all society. By searching these things, both on and off line, we feel our differences making us more alone and separated than ever before. But it doesn’t have to be like that.
What if we, not just one or a few of us, but many of us, could have a conversation about these issues, without judgment, without guilt, and without fear of being right or wrong? What if you knew that there are people who understand you, and are willing to discuss your questions? What if you could do all of this with teenagers just like you?
Instead of driving us apart, let’s have technology bring us together. Let’s have a Collective Conversation, one in which we can share and develop our awareness together, right here, on this blog. If you have ever had a question, had a desire, or had a moment to spare, join us in this global conversation, special to teens, to explore and understand the greatest challenges we face today. Become apart of the conversation, and become your highest self.
Welcome to our new section of the Global Conversation on Health and Wellness. For me, this topic is an important part of the equation in having what I call the God experience, or what some have called bliss. If you are experiencing something other than perfect health right now, you know exactly the value of the above statement. Without health little else matters, so spending some time looking at our lifestyle choices is well worth our time and energy.
What we will explore within this blog going forward are the many ways of naturally returning to and keeping your body in a state of grace, health and balance. We will look at lifestyle choices that create the space for you to be fully alive, fully available to your life and all of the joy a healthy lifestyle has to offer.
Nature has provided us the perfect packages filled with all of the elements we need to have this state of health, all we have to do is make the correct choices for our body. Yet there is so much more to the picture than just “you are what you eat.” As important as that is, we also cannot ignore the rest of that which makes us tick.
We all know that we have a body, a mind, emotions, and most would agree that we are spiritual in nature. Our emotional, mental and spiritual health are vital in creating wellness in our physiology, and each contribute to the makeup of our physical health. Within the health & wellness conversation here, we will will take a holistic point of view, since each of these areas desire our daily care.
As Conversations with God reminds us, “every act is an act of self definition.” Your actions and the intention behind them either contribute to your health or take away from it. When we act consciously with the intention of loving ourselves through every act, our health begins to immediately flourish.
Scientific research has shown that although we cannot choose our genetics, we do have the ability to influence which of our genes are expressed. We have the ability to turn on genes which promote health and turn off those which code for illness and disease. How can we do this? The answer is surprisingly simple. Our lifestyle habits, including our diet, exercise, thoughts and the choices we make dramatically affect the expression of our genes. Actions really do speak louder than words.
If you are not feeling well right now, or have been making choices that you know do not serve you and your wellbeing, the great news is that you can choose again in this very moment. If you are feeling bad about your past choices, forgive yourself this minute, for the energy of resenting yourself will never lead to healing. Love is always the answer, and in this moment you can begin to make loving choices for yourself with the intention of healing your life. It begins when you say so. SO SAY SO!
Get into action. What are you doing today to love your whole self? Join in the conversation and share where you are, where you desire to be and what you are willing to change right now to begin moving toward the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about who you are and what health & wellness means for you. The God experience awaits you! Will you answer the call? Let the journey begin…
To your health! – JR
(JR Westen may be reached at JR@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
Chances are high that you or someone near to you has been impacted by the adverse effects of alcohol or drug addiction. Addiction is the single-most destructive disease facing humanity right now. And this nondiscriminatory affliction is passed down from generation to generation.
In 1966 the American Medical Association classified addiction as a disease which takes place in the brain and can be detected using DNA testing. Even considering the aforementioned medical conclusion, why is it that we still attach so much shame to this affliction? Addiction thrives in the darkness, hidden from friends and families, neighbors and colleagues. Why do we keep it hidden in the shadows, away from those who could offer assistance in arresting the disease?
We do not attach this level of shame to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other deadly diseases. Could this be an area of attention that the world is overlooking, an obstacle that, if overcome, could propel us into a more advanced and compassionate society? What are we being called to do here? Who are we being called to be?
How do we overcome the intense denial that permeates entire families, a denial often driven by the stigma so commonly attached to the label of “addiction”? Family members of the addicted wish for the person struggling with the stranglehold of this disease to “come around” or “see the light” through their insistent prodding; however, more often than not, the family becomes an extension of the illness. Everyone can see that the addict is in distress; his or her behavior is obvious. But what is not so easily seen is that the family, too, is nonetheless addicted. They are addicted to the drama, the confusion, the control, all of which produce naturally occurring chemicals that stimulate the same receptors in the brain as the addict who is actively introducing drugs or alcohol into their body.
When an addict has reached the end of their rope, they reach out and ask for help. It has been written time and time again that there is power in numbers. The Bible states, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Is there someone in your life who is living in the darkness of addiction? Have you been overlooking or possibly even avoiding an opportunity to help someone rediscover who they really are? Could this be the wake-up call in your life that invites you yourself to step out of the darkness and into the healing light and say, “I could use a hand?”
You are not alone. Not now. Not ever.
