Category Archives: collaborating

The Hurt of One

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Inner Struggles, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 6, 2024- There are few details about how the young man ended up in hospital, other than “he was assaulted”. I remember him as a small boy of 8, the youngest of four children. The family, all three generations, is exemplary, and have only done good to their communities.

I am incensed by today’s news, yet am limited to prayer and a small contribution to help offset the cost of his care. His family is large and united, and so is their community. The young man has a lot of group energy going into his recovery. That is more than many have going for them, yet there is irony here. His father has worked, tirelessly, for thirty years to foster healing in communities across the country. Now, in this time of close to home, those of us who love and cherish what the family has represented will stand by them, in the best way each of us can.

The hurt of one shakes the world of all. It goes without saying-cherish those closest to you. Life and safety are never guaranteed.

Grace

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 5,2024-

Grace be unto the angels who watch over me. Mom and Dad, Penny, Brian, Bunny and Norm, my grandparents, friends Marcia, Gordon, Margaret, Sallie, John H. They bring blessings to this small spiritual center.

Grace and benevolence to those who seek to oppress, that they may make a turn from their pursuit of power, vengeance, retribution, hegemony. May they see the value of unconditional love.

Grace, protection and guidance be to the children and youth, that they may realize their dreams, and bring about a convergence like those which have been tried, so often in the past.

Grace and beneficence to the dour, the tired and the disconsolate, that they may see the beauty and joy that they have overlooked, in the course of their viewing work as drudgery, as a necessary evil.

Grace be unto all the Universe, that every element, every creature be mindful, heartfelt of the Source that brought us all into being.

It was a good day today. The kids and I struggled a bit, with some features of the technological program, but all worked together and we accomplished the tasks. That was the morning, followed by a hearty curried chicken lunch. An evening meeting, of one of the organizations whose leadership I had found a bit oppressive, proved quite welcoming and joyful-with more people in attendance, who had previously avoided “the club”. The leaders themselves were far more cordial than in the recent past. Maybe they are feeling more optimistic, and therefore more expansive.

May it continue.

Loyalty

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 3, 2024- The old reminiscing intelligence officer, in the currently-playing film “Reagan”, speaks at one point of the reason people give their lives: “Not for the nation, nor for the Party, the State, or even for God-but for one another. ” It rings true: Behind every sacrifice, there is loyalty to a loved one, or maybe several- Parents for children, and vice versa; siblings for one another; friends, likewise and, occasionally, a few noble souls for their compatriots as a group.

After a recent non-verbal dust-up between me and someone with a more elitist view of life, several friends have asked if there is anything they might do to help. There isn’t, really, and the best thing for me to do is to let the other person alone, and let time do its thing. Personality differences rarely get resolved through intervention, shaming or castigation. People are the sum total of their experiences, plus all that DNA. Only internal processing and heart transformation can lead to a turn-around. Only that turn-around can make someone loyal to others beside self. Besides, I have to fall back on the message of one of Sportage’s bumper stickers: “Love your enemies and you won’t have any”.

My own loyalty to anyone besides myself and my immediate family came late, and came hard. Only giving up alcohol really changed my temperament, and even then, it was Penny’s love, and the Baha’i teachings, that brought my heart more into awareness of a larger circle of humanity. Beforehand, my concern for the human race was present in the background, surfacing on occasion-and therefore coming across as contrived, mainly because internally it was an abstraction.

Now my layered loyalty is what sustains me, both emotionally and physically.

Labour and Love

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 2, 2024- My friend across the waters affirmed that I would be cheerfully greeted, when I arrive next week. There is much with which she hopes I can assist, and with that I’ll have no hesitation. As with anything else, it’ll be a day by day process, each day bringing its joys, some plateaus, and a few periods of stop and weigh the best course of action.

Today saw my last time helping with the Soup Kitchen, until I get back. Some of the clients and the chief of volunteers told me I’d be missed, and there will be times that I will be thinking of them all and hoping things are going smoothly. I will take what I’ve learned here and do what I can to apply the skills to tasks that find me, whilst in the Philippines.

My friend and I talked of our departed spouses, and that though they are missed, they send energy to us, that we may continue in labours of love, designed to help the suffering and the destitute. We both trust that the departed are ever with us, unseen yet seeing; intermittently heard, yet always listening; somewhat felt, and ever deeply feeling. After all, it was not that long ago that Penny let me know that “we” (the spirits) had brought my friend and I together.

The remaining tasks here at Home Base I include two short substituting jobs, getting Sportage serviced-even though it will sit idly, in a safe place, for 5-7 weeks, and tending to details relative to the administrative duties I acquired last week. Each is a labour of love and each, properly carried out, will both keep my mind at lease, as to this homefront, whilst I am abroad and make things easier to resume upon my return.

Some, on both sides of the ocean, have expressed their views as to how events should transpire during the next month or so. To them, I say “Live your own life. Friend and I know what our primary tasks are, and those will take precedence. Anything else will happen naturally, or not at all.”

Red and Blue

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 1, 2024- No, this is not about partisan politics, per se. It is about the concept, first advanced by Laurence Fishburne’s character, Morpheus, in The Matrix, of the effects of a red pill (leading one to question authority and research for oneself) and of a blue pill (acceptance of what one is told and not looking very deeply into even the most vital aspects of life).

Partisanship can enter into this, but there are those on both sides who blindly repeat what has been said by their favoured candidates and blindly castigate whatever has been said or done by whoever is representing the “other side”. Kids, the Divine put all of us here, and not we can blindly do anything. There are also those on both sides who question what is being put out there in the marketplace of ideas.

Personally, I want proof of what someone tells me or what is being bruited about on the Internet or on Talk Radio. I want to know their original sources, just as I expect someone to ask me-“Where’s the proof?” I recall when conservatives were primarily business people, whose livelihoods depended on a culture based on facts and figures. I recall when liberals were heart people, whose lives were based on the Golden Rule. There are large numbers of each who still adhere to those timeless values, and who do well when they respect each other’s place in a culture of balance, based on truth, not fantasy. These will straighten the mess out, if there is a mess, after the electoral process has played out.

People in “Blue” areas can take a red pill and those in “Red” states, a blue pill-and many do one or the other. My make-up makes the red pill a natural. You may choose otherwise, as befits your temperament. Remember, though, there are consequences for either choice.

Staying Centered

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 31, 2024- After running into a couple of Prescott’s elite, this evening, and being greeted with a nod and a sneer, I used Next Door.com to speak to those who would promote Progressive values, many of which are laudable. The progressive elite in this community tend to speak from their heads, not their hearts. After absorbing this, and “sucking it up”, for thirteen years, I finally had enough and let them know. Anyone who wants to foster the community has to first love the people. Having intellectual knowledge of what would be useful does nothing to help, unless the heart is in sync. We have seen the effects of a purely intellectual approach to social discourse and common issues, time and again: Soviet Communism, Kampuchea (Cambodia), North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela-none a bit better than Hitler’s Germany, apartheid-era South Africa, or the enslavement culture of the Antebellum United States, in my book. The heart and head have to be in synchronicity, or the best ideas will die on the vine.

I will shortly be headed to the Philippines, and will spend 5-7 weeks in heart-focused work, all the while keeping a clear head. Some days, I will be in modern accommodations; other days, in small huts, or maybe sometimes in a lean-to. At all times, though, my heart is looking to my mind for direction-and vice versa. In a time of rapid change,which will only accelerate in the final months of this year, such centeredness is the only guarantee of real sanity. One of my well-wishers here in Prescott told me, this afternoon, that there is nothing I have done, in the past three or four years, that is “ordinary or uninteresting”. That may be an overstatement, but it is comforting. It also underscores my need for staying centered.

So does a long month come to an end, and my preparation for a time of lightning-fast change begin. May all be in harmony.

No Scrap Heap

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 29, 2024- “What of us, who are also your friends?”, the voice from 7,500 miles away came, through the medium of the printed Message. This was in reply to my statement that I surely must consult with my dear friend and with Faith community sponsors, before setting an itinerary for service work and other visits, a scant fourteen days from now.

That, however, does not inherently leave anyone out of my life. The Universe has a way of bringing people together when they are supposed to connect. My activities, both here at Home Base I and across North America, especially this year, have fallen into place at precisely the right time for all concerned. I have no reason to believe it will be any different during the upcoming sojourn in the Philippines. The only thing for certain is that, as always anymore, I am determined to not be a burden to anyone. Consultation will help obviate such a state of affairs.

The bottom line is, no one need feel consigned to the scrap heap. We need one another, more than ever, in this time of rapid change, which is likely to only accelerate over the next sixteen months, or longer. Lack of consultation and dearth of appreciation, breed conjecture, false narratives, conspiracy theories and outright mistrust. I will most likely have time to visit with the querulous friend. The visit will fall into the place that it is meant to occupy.

Those Others

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 25, 2024- I went over to a pub where a friend works, but found friend was off-shift. I hadn’t been back there for some time, but enjoyed my usual: Non-alcoholic brew with a BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado). I don’t stay long, as the pace in that particular establishment is quite frenetic, not really a spot for conversations; it’s more for watching football games, or maybe the World Series, in October.

I mention this, because so much of our contact with others is fleeting. I tend to view people as friends, even when I don’t see them often. Some use the term “acquaintances”, which seems to me to be rather cold, though it’s a fair description of store clerks, or random people, with whom I interact maybe once or twice.

I just don’t see people as “others”. Their wants, needs and aspirations are just as valid as mine. This occurs to me in most, if not all, situations-from looking behind me to see if someone else needs to get through a door, turn into a parking lot which I may be crossing on foot, or approaching rapidly, (in which case I need to make a quick assessment of what the person may be trying to accomplish). This last rarely happens anymore. It’s also a good idea to be looking in all four (or five) directions, when driving, as any given motorist could be engaged in any number of tasks, or headed for any number of destinations, experiencing any number of emotions. It is often described as “maddening”, but that is a big reason why I leave a lot of time between leaving where I am parked and where I am headed.

There is also the quality of interactions between my friends and I. Any one of us could be going through a plethora of emotional stresses, which we just might not want to lay on a given person-so taking the measure of a person’s body language, heeding their request to NOT speak of a given subject and cutting her/him some slack when a less than congenial vibe is offered are each key to continuing said friendship, if not strengthening it. Even silence, for a period of time, is not a red flag of impending separation.

I get on better, when not thinking “That’s THEM, that’s THOSE OTHERS, not me”. We’re all in the bubble.

Even Flow

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 24, 2024- Friend catalogued this past year in his life, as today was his birthday. He spoke of his life having run the gamut of emotions, experiences, trials and tribulations, successes and affirmations. He spoke of how fear was what kept him down and led him down a path of paranoia, isolation and self-defeat. On the darkest of those days, strange things happened in the afternoon: He got a job offer, was accepted into a Masters Program and met a woman who has proven to be a near perfect match. The young man I saw this evening is the polar opposite of the individual I have encountered on this day, for the past three years.

It is breathtaking, what faith in the Divine, and a decision to not focus on what one doesn’t want from life,but rather determine what is wanted, can bring into being. I have been through every one of the ups and downs that my young friend catalogued this evening. Only focusing on what I want, rather than obsessing over avoiding the opposite, has turned things around, to where life is joyful. It is never perfect, but this life is not meant for perfection; that will come in another realm.

Several years ago, the band Pearl Jam performed a song entitled “Even Flow”, about the plight of the homeless. In reading the lyrics, I can attest to the subject of the song as having much in common with a lot of us. Any vision of quality of life that depends on the good graces of everyone else is putting the cart in front of the horse, with all the confusion and frustration that implies.

Realizing that one is a soul who is worthy of respect, of good things and of the love of others is the first step in personal renaissance. The rest is day by day actions, great and small. I look forward to watching, as my young friend builds the life he so wants. I also look forward to what life has in store for me, over the next several years. Water goes around obstacles; the flow remains even.

[Verse 1]
Freezin’
Rests his head on a pillow made of concrete, again
Oh, feelin’
Maybe he’ll see a little better set of days, ooh, yeah
Oh, hand out
Faces that he sees time again ain’t that familiar, ooh, yeah
Oh, dark grin
He can’t help, when he’s happy he looks insane, hm, yeah

[Chorus]
Even flow, thoughts arrive like butterflies
Oh, he don’t know, so he chases them away (ooh)
Oh, someday yet, he’ll begin his life again
Life again, life again

[Verse 2]
Kneelin’
Lookin’ through the paper, though he doesn’t know to read, ooh, yeah
Oh, prayin’
Now to something that has never showed him anything
Oh, feelin’
Understands the weather of the winter’s on its way
Oh, ceilings
Few and far between all the legal halls of shame, hey

[Chorus]
Even flow, thoughts arrive like butterflies
Oh, he don’t know, so he chases them away
Oh, someday yet, he’ll begin his life again
Ah, whisperin’ hands gently lead him away
Him away, him away

Another Banner Day

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Education, Family, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 23, 2024- The little girl introduced herself, about ten minutes after the first group of students came in. When I told her of a newborn baby who shared her name, she shrugged and said “There are a lot of us”.

There was much that was matter-of-fact about this group of children. Even the most squirrely of kids were most responsive when expectations were clearly stated, and most resistant, when they thought I was listening to tattle tales. Those last were discouraged from their snooping and the wayward ones settled down.

Today was a shorter work day, so it took no adjustment to go over and pick up my healed Lenovo, which basically just needed to be cleaned up, internally. We are all set for the next few months, which will be quite full of the unexpected, even aside from my journey across the Pacific.

My family achieved another milestone, of a nature personal to my siblings and me. This is just one less matter that might have been irritating. It was handled professionally and well. It gives me confidence that we are each on the right track in our respective lives.

Another well-lived week has passed, giving more strength for what lies ahead.