Using Death As Your Adviser

Good Morning Everyone,

Years ago I had a friend who said, "Use Death as your adviser."

Now normally humans spend as little effort as possible thinking about death. In fact we fear death. Who the heck would spend any time thinking about it? Yet, I found her advice compelling and wise.

The first thought that came to me was that if I were using Death as my adviser, It would change my perspective. Rather than thinking that I had all the time in the world, I would now view my decisions with more immediacy.

I wouldn't procrastinate.

Rather, I'd get off my bumm and start living the life I wanted to be living right now and having the experiences that I wanted to experience. That thought alone coined a phrase for me, This Life is Not a Dress Rehursal. My life is right now, right here. Am I having fun? Am I doing the things I value? Am I meeting and exceeding the ideals that matter most to me - right now, today, with the people and circumstances at hand?

With this more urgent and immediate view of my life, today, this minute - would I choose to pick a fight, say something mean, let my ego lead the discussion, damage a friendship, divide or would I now choose to bring more love into the world?

Using Death as your adviser refocuses you on the priorities and the importance of this minute. What is it that you value with this person? What is it you value about how you feel about yourself? The choice is right now in every interaction: driving on the freeway, in the board room, at family dinner, at the gym, in the grocery.

It has been my observation that those who mourn the passing of loved ones most bitterly are those who have regrets and unfinished business. The regrets are always the lack of love or the expression of that love, which would have required opening the heart, but the ego ruled. Standing on principle, rather than the correct principle of Love, is always cause for regret. And unfinished business with someone is always about not being True to yourSelf.

Of course the premise is that once these people pass from view there is nothing you can do to put things to rights. They're dead, of course, so we presume the opportunity is lost forever to make amends, express that love, or redeem yourSelf.

This is patently unTrue, but we believe that, which makes the pain all the more.

Time to understand death as an integral part of life and use the understanding to live life full out. Love like there's no tomorrow; dance as if no one were watching; and be True to yourSelf.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

Banking, Wall Street and Monetary Policy:Human Mind Disconnected From Source: Lemmings

Hello Everyone,

Well, quite a week last week with respect to banking and Wall Street, eh? Lemmings come to mind.
Watch this short video and consider human mindless behaviors.

Lemming Migration Along the Norwegian Coast

Humans have a Godchip, a Source of wisdom and Infinite Intelligence. But without accessing it and applying it in every moment of life, it is useless. It's tantamount to having a million dollars in the bank and not knowing it.

I have been a mortgage loan officer off and on for 20 years. I've seen all kinds of market climates and conditions. I even remember 22% interest rates in the early 1980's. No other market reflects human mind consciousness of lack more easily and readily than money and monetary policy.

Human mind thoughts separated from Source believe fundamentally in lack. There simply is not enough of it, and I'd better get mine before it runs out.

I'd like to interject here that the Stock Market was initially conceived as a way to capitalize companies. Offering small portions of an equity share to lots of investors was a good idea to raise capital for a growing and worthy enterprise. Initially, an intelligent and discerning investor would presumably investigate the company. What was the product or idea? Would it serve the greater good? Was management qualified and effective individually and as a team? Was it a sound investment? If the answer was yes, then the investment and monetary vote of confidence was made into that venture. Ideally, this should still be the sole and singular consideration when investing or divesting from a company. In those days, of course, accounting firms were pretty straight forward. There weren't so many funny ways of entering assets and liabilities to cloud the understanding of the balance sheets. But as is always the way, human mind rooted in lack, has found more and more complicated and, shall I say, inventive ways of reporting these ledgers.

However, sound investing and sound monetary policy is not rocket science, but rather a matter of Common Sense. One has enough reserves to maintain fiscal health and stability; one does not make loans to uncreditworthy applicants; one does not make an unsecured loan without a sufficient equity position. These are not excessive, but prudent to the health of the institution. In this case, a bank.

Now, as to lending policies. Why would all the banks, among them the most reputable, be departing from sound lending practice to bring the banking industry to a near state of collapse?
Answer: Human mind without connection to Source. Beginning and end of story.

How could this have been prevented? Connection to Source and the courage to say no thanks.

Take Bank of America, for example. Someone or someones there had some connection to Source and looked at what was going on and questioned the human mind premise. Bank of America always was known as a more "difficult" place to place a mortgage loan. They were so particular. You had to show this and you had to prove that, and no, they weren't making those kinds of loans. When the first of the giants topped, Countrywide, Bank of America was the white knight infusing billions into them.

Almost a year later, the domino effect is in evidence as one right after the other is near collapse.

A friend of mine said the other day that he was going to take his money out of the stock market and buy gold. I asked him, "Is the stock still a valid purchase? I mean, is it a good company doing a good job with a needed and necessary service or product?" His answer was he didn't know, but he was getting out of the market. This, is quintessential lemming behavior. This is why we see large swings in the stock market. The lemmings rush here to get out quick; the lemmings rush there to get back in quick. The lemmings rush right over the cliff and drown without consulting the Godchip. Is this correct action for me?

From top to bottom, the US Monetary Policy is based on lemming behavior: a mindset rooted in lack and disconnected from Source including the Federal Reserve.

It is time to start using that Godchip we were each and every one of us endowed with. Does it feel right? Does it feel correct? This is how your Godchip communicates with us. When you cross it, it feels wrong. Listen to your feelings; they are telling you whether you are on the path to your Good or not. But first, you'll have to un-numb yourself. You'll have to get off the antidepressants, off the Xanax and Prozac, off the alcohol and valium. You have to FEEL. Once you're feeling your feelings, then you can discern what wisdom your Godchip is dispensing and never again be a lemming, but rather the Creator that you are.

By the way, this is also known as Group Think and Peer Group Pressure. Fortunately, there is a cure: applied spirituality. Everything you need, you already have. We can help you get yourself reconnected.

Thanks for reading!


Kath

Ancient Wisdom for Now

Good Evening Everyone!

Santa Ana winds are blowing again up here in the Cuyamaca Mountains of San Diego. They are tiresome. Yet, they blow and the wind has its way. Sometimes gentle, sometimes sudden and gusty, startling. Woody the cat finds shelter under the bed.

I decided it was time for basics in my blog; that I hadn't yet touched on the topic of mystery.

Mystery is the fabric of spirituality; it is the ground cloth. It begins blank at the start of one's journey and as wisdom is gained, a thread gets woven into the fabric as an understanding. So we each make our own tapestry over the course of a lifetime. I take a thread here, a thread there and weave a picture that is known to me as Truth. Each of us does this, consciously or not. These are not beliefs of the human mind, rather are simply known as Truth without proof because they are threads of the Mind of God.

When the wind is blowing like this, dry and long, hard and without mercy, the mystery is opening as the skin on the back of your neck prickles and raises your hackles. It stirs up the soul restless to be heard, felt and known. The wind helps sweep away the mental constructs of human mind that constrict the soul which speaks only God Mind.

Often in these types of things I like to consult the I Ching. For a few years I studied the I Ching nearly daily, endeavoring to decipher the poetry, the - haiku? Sorry. Could not think of another word.

After several years I came to one thing that I felt the ancients had got spot on: that we live in two minds: the human mind and the Mind of God.

We call these many things here in the West.

We talk of psychology and the psyche, the rational mind, or the intellect. All these are human mind that we have learned since landing here on the planet.

Then, there is the Mind of God, or the Mind of Tao. The silence. It strives not, but Is. The Ground Cloth.

In all teachings there is reference to prayer of some sort. Western prayer is about asking, beseeching and even begging. It is always about talking in some way to God. The best side of Western prayer is giving thanks, giving praise, or blessing....but always, always talking, sending out yet another message.

But in Easter prayer there is silence. There is breath. There is being. There is the mystery of contact with It. There is receiving and allowing.

So when the wind is blowing like this, I feel the mystery calling me to quiet my human mind(s). And be still. Listen to the Sounds of Silence. Allow the mystery to enter me.

It's like it's knocking at my soul reminding me to reach upward, inward and receive the message, the wordless fullness.

There is so much noise.

It is a lifetime of practice to remove yourself from the daily fray to enter the mystery and fill up; to go back to the world and your many tasks now full, refreshed and inspired.

So today I turned to the I Ching and the chapter on Mystery. And here I share it with you:

14. Mystery

Looked at but cannot be seen - it is beneath form;
Listened to but cannot be heard - it is beneath sound;
Held but cannot be touched - it is beneath feeling;
These depthless things evade definition,
And blend into a single mystery.

In its rising there is no light,
In its falling there is no darkness,
A continuous thread beyond description,
Lining what can not occur;
Its form formless,
Its image nothing,
Its name silence;
Follow it, it has no back,
Meet it, it has no face.

Attend the present to deal with the past;
Thus you grasp the continuity of the Way,
Which is its essence

14. Mystery

Looked at but cannot be seen - it is beneath form;
Listened to but cannot be heard - it is beneath sound;
Held but cannot be touched - it is beneath feeling;
These depthless things evade definition,
And blend into a single mystery.

In its rising there is no light,
In its falling there is no darkness,
A continuous thread beyond description,
Lining what can not occur;
Its form formless,
Its image nothing,
Its name silence;
Follow it, it has no back,
Meet it, it has no face.

Attend the present to deal with the past;
Thus you grasp the continuity of the Way,
Which is its essence

(http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html)

Even a two way radio has "send" and "receive"buttons. Both cannot function at the same time.
We "send" messages all day, all night long.

Time to receive the Mystery.

Thanks for reading!


Kath

The Free Willies

Good Day!

For the past six years I have worked part time for the public library system. Really up until then I'd not been a big user of the library. I think it was because as a child I really didn't enjoy reading. Now that they have talking books, I've become a voracious "reader". I listen to books in the car, while gardening, cooking, and my favorite time, as I'm drifting off to sleep. I think I love this best because it reminds me of when my Gram used to tell us her stories. Boy, could she make up some whoppers. I, of course, believed every word.

Libraries are amazing places because it is where the example of REAL freedom LIVES. Period.

Did you know that libraries protect your right to read whatever you desire and your privacy to do so? Did you know that your library protects your right to choose any book you want to read by allowing it to be there? Did you know that if there's a particular title you would like your library to have in it's collection, they will acquire it? (Budget permitting, of course. But you can always donate it.)

I love that on the shelves in the non-fiction sections, books of all manner of ideas and ideologies sit side-by-side. I never see them taking a swipe at each other, either just because they have opposing view points. It is the perfect example of allowing. It is the perfect example of freedom.

America is the place where every idea and ideology is allowed, even welcomed. Even the ones you don't like or don't agree with. It is the place of the buffet of thought. The freedom we are guaranteed is the freedom of choice. So you can go into the library and cruise the stacks and see what interests you or see what interests others. The point is that you get to choose, because the choice is there.We get to choose to explore something new, something strange, something weird, something exhilarating, something boring, something old....But the point is, WE GET TO CHOOSE BECAUSE THE CHOICE IS AVAILABLE.

What an undertaking the founding fathers passed on to us. The undertaking to be the guardians of allowing all thoughts to exist for our choice.

It seems to imply to me that they believed so completely in the wisdom and goodness of a soul, that there is no danger in allowing such choice amongst infinite variety of options. Let all choice be available. Think about it!

The essence of freedom is the freedom to choose what we will focus on. We can, for example, choose to focus on the negative. It is wholly up to each one where they will focus, is it not? Or we can choose to focus on something positive. So the question is wholly sovereign to each individual. It is the collection of these individual choices at any given moment that create a life and its quality. The fork in the road is every moment.

The news has large sway in our society. Televisions are turned to News. The radios to Talk Radio. The Internet to...what's your choice?

When my boys were little I recall telling them that they had to be guardians of what went into them. That is to say with respect to food or drink or music or news or television, they had to be "selective sifters" of all stuff. Garbage in, garbage out. What you consumed or gave focus to would come out of you. Your choice.

How is this applied spirituality? Your God-chip, your trueSelf delights when you choose something your love or delight in. You know your Self is "with you"by how it feels to you. Does it make you feel easy, light, good, inspired, delighted, encouraged, well, happy, energetic, alive? Go for it! You're aligned, connected and in tune with You.
IF it doesn't? Turn it off. Change the channel. Change your focus, for yourSelf has left on wings of fun and will not join you in anything without Life in it.

You always get to choose, here in the land where every conceivable idea is welcomed. You have the Free Willies.

What a powerful place and time we live in: a consciousness that allows every idea to abide because we believe we each have the wisdom to choose what is good for ourselves at any given moment. I'd say that's a fearless society. That's America where we acknowledge that everyone has that same God-chip.

Thanks for reading! k