From a spiritual point of view, what is your reaction and response to the General Petraeus/Paula Broadwell affair and the General’s resignation as head of the CIA? And what of Holly, his wife, and Scott, her husband, in all of this?
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17 responses to “”
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From my spiritual point of view, there should not be a CIA.
But putting this aside, I think that a person’s personal life, including mistakes etc, has nothing to do with their work. If a person is competent in their job, and unless their personal life interferes with their performance, why should society care what that person does outside of the work environment, unless such a person is a mass murderer or a pedophile, or otherwise engages in obvious criminal activities?
The CIA, if history is any indication, is most probably responsible for a lot more outrageous and damaging actions perpetuated against other nations and people than marital infidelity by any of its members could ever be, so I would say there appears to be complete hypocrisy in this instance, as if the head of a crime syndicate was judged for sleeping around while his very well hidden but known criminal activities were totally overlooked by “decent” society because the appearance of propriety were all that mattered.
About the wife and husband, I believe that different individuals react to the same situation differently, so how could we begin to attempt to imagine how they have been affected and how they will deal with it, or should, or could, spiritually or otherwise? The obvious thought is that they are devastated, but this is not necessarily the case. They may simply have been humiliated, if they were not that close to their spouses anymore.
The only thing I can address for certain, in a spiritual way, is the question of deceit which comes with having an affair. Lying, to oneself and/or another, is about the worst possible thing anyone can do, from a spiritual perspective, in my opinion, because it renders all of one’s present life and actions meaningless. The person who lies is like a train that is off its tracks…out of control and headed for a crash.
I am not judging, I am not saying it is wrong, or a sin, or bad. I am simply saying that all lies are betrayals, of the self and of others, and unavoidably lead to hurt and pain.
However there is some irony in the situation…as the head of a highly secretive organization, one that uses deceit as a proven strategy to achieve its goals, was caught applying deceit in his personal life.
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Hello Neale, Mewabe and everyone else.
From a spiritual point of view anything that you do that causes pain and suffering to “others” is a setback in personal siritual growth. On the highest level there are no “others” therefore you are really only creating hardship for yourself. Not a very bright thing to do. Unfortunately too many people do not realise this, hence we see much more hardship than we would like to see in the world.
I do believe in the idea that my life is not about me, it is about all the lives I touch and so make a conscious effort to live out of love instead of fear. By doing so I express a healing energy out into the world and the result is a happier life for me. It really is so easy to do.
Hey Mewabe, are you a member of Neale’s website? it would be good to talk to you there as well.
P.S. I knew I wasn’t the only one to think you would make a good representitive.
Namaste Scott
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Hi Scott, thank you and I agree with your comment and outlook…no I am not part of Neale’s website (which website?), even though I have spend so much time writing comments on this blog I have become part of the furniture lately.
It has been a lot of fun but I really have a put a break to it very soon, because my life is taking a very sharp turn and I need both hands on the wheels so to speak, then I will be on a new path.
Thank you for the vote of confidence Scott, I am not sure I deserve it…or that I could represent anything but my own way of being, which more often than not coincides amazingly with Neale’s perspective (for whom I have much respect), but there are divergences at times…and so…I need to be true to who I am, even if it means being a pest while occasionally disagreeing with Neale.
Funny, 20 years ago I had thought of a title for a book of mine (still not ready, you could say it wasn’t a priority): “Remember Who You are”…Then a few months ago while reading some of his books I learned Neale used this very expression in his writings…so I had to think of another title, which will be “I have dreamt of the earth”…as soon as I get it published…in a 100 years or so.
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Oops, I think I misunderstood your comment Scott, but the light came back up in my head…you were referring to a political career, and my reply to you on another post (I worked really hard and very long hours in the past couple of days and my brain is not working optimally to say the least…)
But thank you…As soon as I get elected I will abolish all political parties:)
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Hello Mewabe my friend ( and all the others here as well, silent as they may be for now )
Neale has his own website at http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com. Inside the site is the CwG village where members can interact with Neale & other members directly. It’s a whole $9/month. Be good to see you there.
I know life can get busy but try to stay in touch. Existance is vibration & it’s nice to find another soul that resonates on the same frequency.
Most important thing I’ve learned to date: Stop being afraid, of anything & everything. I’ve come to understand ( been told ) that no circumstance I find myself in makes any difference whatsoever. Rich, poor, healthy, sick, none of it really changes anything. That these are all just experiences to participate in for now & all of it can be joyful if fear is left out of the experience.
I know to many this seems impossible but I am living it & I can tell you a life lived without fear is better than anything I’ve ever experienced before. There is no downside.
Namaste Scott
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Hello again my friend,
Regarding your book title, this doesn’t surprise me, truth is always being given to us if we will only listen for it. Be open & ready to recieve intuitive wisdom & it will come. As the saying goes “When the student is ready the teacher will appear”
You know Neale hasn’t used it as a title, so why not use it yourself. It’s a title that works and one people will understand.
Was looking at older postings here and came across the epic episode between you and some guy called XL something or other ( why do people use such cryptic call signs ) with Buzz as self appointed moderator and I must say it was very entertaining. Makes you wonder how we made it this far with attitudes like that running around the planet. Oh well, I suppose contrasts of the duality are there to show us what we don’t want, and so have their pupose.
Just wish more people would understand that we only have to remember the contrast, not live it, to benifit from it.
Namaste Scott
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God gives us the ability to choose, sometime those choices are disappointing and hurtful to others. The Ego appears to have prevailed this time.
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Thank you Scott my friend…I will look into the site. I will try to stay in touch, but life is challenging right now, as change is here for me, like a giant and powerful wave, and I enjoy riding it but it takes much of my attention…you wouldn’t think it does the way I have been writing so much here…but I can do all kinds of things at the same time, even walk and chew 🙂
It is true that nothing can harm us (anymore than a storm can harm the sea), so fear is counter productive, as it causes us to freeze in place and no longer respond adequately. That’s when we get hurt because we are no longer present, flexible and responsive in the moment, as would a martial art expert.
I am not sure about the book title, as people may think I “borrowed” it from Neale. The truth is that I had never heard of Neale’s writing until 2 years ago, and did not read a few of them until I think this September (not sure the exact time). But I had already 4 large boxes full of my own hand written stuff that I accumulated over the years, and from that about 800 pages ready.
Intuitive inner wisdom has always been my path…I always follow my own intuition, that was my nature as an artist from the start. My early “teachers”, when I was 15 years old, were Alan Watts and Krishnamurti, as well as Sri Aurobindo…but above all, myself, and nature. I have been like a Native American, intuitively “listening” to nature at the soul level to hear the whisper of the divine within the creation, and to feel it resonate with my own being…this has been, and still is, my path., some may call it mystical, but I don’t call it anything, because it is ever changing like the wind. I live by inspiration…totally outside of society’s ways because following my inner guidance or spirit.
My exchange with XL was…a little frustrating. I was not trying to change him, as a matter of fact I am not sure why I participated…I suppose that I reacted. It was pointless. But it is frightening to hear people in their early 20’s think this way…I don’t know how old he was, but I known that many young people still think in these terms.
The way I look at it, nothing can be judged, it is all part of the process of humanity evolving…patience and understanding are the only thing that are required, particularly when fear speaks, as it does with all who seek power and control over others, as XL sought over women. He will not get what he wants, or perhaps he will…I cannot judge his path, I am certain that I have engaged in all sorts of madness in other lives, as we all have, and our own past madness, and the resulting wounds, are what gives us understanding and compassion.
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Petraeus etc. from a spiritual POV?
Well, the usual sadness about the adulterous betrayal of the other spouses and families.
Then, a big red flag for vanity. Geez, to fall in love/lust with your eager biographer … how embarrassing.
After that, the embarrassment for society. Getting sucked into Petraeus and Broadwell is only slightly better than obsessing over Brad and Angelina in the supermarket line, but not much.
However, at the national level, the Obama administration is sitting on a scandal far surpassing Watergate — Benghazi — and Petraeus knows some the answers to this.
There is no getting around it. We don’t know how it went down, but Obama and his people left four Americans to twist in the wind and be killed by terrorists.
That’s the simple fact. The most powerful military in the history of the world did absolutely nothing to help Americans under attack crying for help over a period of several hours.
Obama pretends that this is some terrible mystery requiring investigation, but if Obama doesn’t know himself, he knows whom to ask, but he hasn’t and he won’t.
And the fine spiritual folks reading and writing this blog don’t care about these American lives and that Obama won’t be honest about it.
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Sinclair, I cannot speak for others, but I care about all lives…there are people dying crying for help every day in America (such as homeless people, such as many veterans killing themselves, such as Native American youths dying from living a life of despair, all totally ignored), and people, children, dying all over the world who would not if the world was not spending so much money manufacturing ever more sophisticated and expensive weapons and waging useless wars, and instead spent that money to take care of the basic needs of the people and the basic infrastructure, so the people can take care of themselves.
The fundamental problems of the world could be resolved (food, clean water, shelter, basic health care and basic education) with this money that is instead thrown into the war machine that is meant to control the problems of the world that are created by poverty, inequity, injustice and the oppression of the people by those who profit from the problems of the world, from disempowered populations, as a tick sucking the blood of its victim.
It is a vicious circle that needs to be broken, but to do this, some elements of humanity, mainly the elite, needs to abandon their predatory mindset.
The only strong manufacturing base left in America is the weapon industry…we do not quite yet trust the Chinese to put our weapons together. So we have become good at only one thing: war and the preparation for war. How does it make you feel as an American, is it what you want America to be?
This has been a neo-con agenda (a new American-British form of imperialism, as presented on the Bush era website Project for a New American Century), this was what Bush started and what Petraeus was assigned to achieve in Iraq, and it has failed, as anyone with a minimum of intelligence knew it would, because the days when a nation can invade and occupy another and hope that the locals will just roll over and take it are gone, thanks to the internet, to electronic communication, to the fact that imperialist policies cannot be sustained in this age of information and communication.
This has also, of course, been Obama’s mistake in Afghanistan, thinking along the same lines as his predecessor. It could be considered a bad case of American arrogance coupled with naivety, with the extraordinary belief that a population would be happy to be invaded, and that the locals would embrace American soldiers and turn against their own nephews or brothers or fathers who are in the Taliban.
Duh…
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To my eyes, it seems that in America there is a troublesome way of dealing with one´s own and other´s sexuality. It seems like a emotionally loaded, troublesome way with a lot of double-standarts, ideals that are impossible to live on a day to day basis which come down to much pain-full, distorted behavior.
I ask my self, why is it that so many American leader´s sex-life gets such an importance in his or her leadership? It seems to me like an imature, distorted collective and individual reaction, that is so matter of factly in the American culture, that it is taken for the TRUTH.A leader´s ability to lead him or herself is of course a foundation for how he or she leads anything. But how about focusing on a leader´s ability on being truthfull about as much as possible, within their professional mandate as well as their private life?
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The ones I feel sorry for in this situation are the spouses of Petraeus and Broadwell; they are the innocent parties and must feel very shamed by their spouses behaviors.
Often people will blame the woman in a situation like this but I believe when a woman and/or a man gets involved with someone married or in a committed relationship it is both parties faults; they both chose to not obey their married vows and the bible.
Tha being said, I don’t believe Petraeus should have had to resign his position for this breech. This was part of his personal life, however shoddy, and unless it interfered with the way he did his job, he should have been allowed to remain in his position. We have had presidents who have done as much or worse.
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“From a spiritual point of view anything that you do that causes pain and suffering to “others” is a setback in personal spiritual growth. On the highest level there are no “others” therefore you are really only creating hardship for yourself. Not a very bright thing to do. Unfortunately too many people do not realize this, hence we see much more hardship than we would like to see in the world.”
Now Scott I really love that!
Magical smiles,
-Marko -
Thanks Marko
Remember then give, what else is there to do?
P L & Y Scott
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Yep…Spiritually speaking, “there should be no CIA”…Perfect!
I doubt that such a circumstance would normally upset the spouses…Sex is simply a means to acquire info…anyone with half a brain in gear would understand this from the get-go of relationshipping with a CIA agent or a journalist/biographer. The fact that it went ‘public’ boggles the intelligent mind…as if we truly give a rat’s patooty about the personal relations of anyone. The spouses of these characters will probably do just fine after a stint on Oprah or Ellen, or the Colbert Report…they more than likely have publishers pressuring them for books already, and both will make out well if divorce ensues of either.
However, what ‘distraction’ is befronted by allowing this episode to become headline news?…which most would understand could very well have been kept quiet as well as any other ‘secret’.(???) I mean really, now! Is this perhaps the only way to walk away from the CIA, pension & life intact, before real doo-doo hits the fan? It will be amusing, at best, to see where this goes…if one finds time to waste on such non-sense.
Spiritually, I wish them all “Good Journey!” “Best to ya!” “Rock on!” “Have an Amazing Life!” and “Blessed be”.
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It’s mind boggling to witness this type of distraction happening as our political and financial situations grow ever more unstable. It HAS to be a purposeful distraction, and we are rather predictably being distracted by it. Hard to imagine someone with the precariously important position as this man can be sidetracked this effectively at this mature age. Scary.
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For heaven’s sakes, that dead horse – have you ever been in an embassy? They are just houses. Except in the case of Iraq, you don’t insult your host country by fortifying the embassy. Yes, in a more dangerous situation, you keep your military close by, but in a country as unstable as Libya, is there really any way to totally prevent a violent overrun as this was? I doubt it, at least not in every case. We expect our military and administrations to perfectly protect Americans. Another case of American exceptionalism.
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