Category Archives: Inspiration

Two Inverse Triangles

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

March 12, 2022- During this afternoon’s Web of Light meditation, (part of a monthly Zoom call), I saw an inverse triangle covering North America, and got a message that the three focal points were to be the purpose of my journeys this year. One is Florida-with Miami having more of a role in the itinerary than I had previously thought, and a clockwise traverse of the peninsula being in order. Orlando, and the theme parks, didn’t even register, but then again, I am not a huge theme park aficionado, unless children are involved. This works out well, considering that I had long been drawn to go to the peninsula after visiting with family in the Atlanta area.

The other two points of the triangle are Atlantic Canada and Alaska. These will be clearer in a couple of months. Mid-June to mid-July look to be the first and mid-September to mid-October, for the second. As the meditation also showed robust activity around Home Base, in northern New Mexico and in southern California, from mid-April to mid-June, I will be engaged in measured activity, a good part of the time. I didn’t get any insight on fire or hurricane response, unlike the warning I got two years ago about Alexandria, Louisiana, but it’s early in the season yet.

My conscious self asked, “So, Europe is obviously off the table this year?” The insight gave the meditative version of “Well, duh!”, and brought my thoughts back to healing and peaceful resolution of the conflict. Another inverted triangle appeared, with Africa at the bottom, Europe on top left and the Asia-Pacific region on the top right. These areas seem to be more in a long-term sequence, which will be more clear towards the end of this year. Five years seem to be involved.

Today, the most important time period in front of me, saw a goodly amount of planning for the next few weeks, with accommodations mostly set. I put in an hour on a school garden project, at a nearby campus. Visits to Rafter Eleven and Synergy capped off the day, with the latter being a mini-jam, my drum accompanying a guitar and a harmonium. Three others in the group were suitably forceful in their singing.

Despite all that the above seems to signal, I feel very much at peace and in charge of my life.

Lines of Guidance

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

March 11, 2022- The focal points of my day were two: The beginning of a weekly study on the Baha’i principles regarding social action, which entail both ground-up and engagement of all elements, and a review of Astro Cartography, as it pertains to how planetary forces were aligned at the time of my birth and how that has effected my life, ever since.

I will have more to say on the former, as weeks go by, and we get more deeply into the transformation of our planet from a hotbed of contention to a home for all. That, of course, is a process that will far outlast the earthly life of anyone alive today, but begin we have.

Regarding Astro Cartography and how it affects my life now, there are places where my life draws more challenges and responsibilities and places where life draws relaxation and comfort. I seem to have chosen to live in more challenging environments, over the years, including my present Home Base, according to the chart. I can’t say I have all that many regrets, and Prescott will remain my base for some time to come.

The chart says there are places where I can be more relaxed and other places where I have to watch my back. This is based on lines of planetary bodies’ ascent and descent, in the skies above, and in terms of their energy. I don’t claim to really understand it all yet, but I can say that in certain places, the energy has seemed more heavy and elsewhere it has been light as a feather. There are places to which I have been drawn that have a festive atmosphere, others that are more instructive and still others that are both.

This tool is one of the things I ought to consult, going forward, as is my daily meditations and, in the final analysis, conditions on the ground on a particular day. The latter particularly pertains to places to which I feel drawn, on the spur of the moment, but for which travel arrangements need to be made months in advance-Phantom Ranch, in the Grand Canyon, for example, or the Dry Tortugas, at the southwest end of Florida. (The most remote areas attract crowds, which is understandable, given our species’ need to push all manner of personal frontiers.)

In the end, being peaceful and content, where one happens to be, is the best springboard for any journey.

A Tale from 2007

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

March 5, 2022- It has now been eleven years, since Penny winged her flight to be with our Lord. As her passage took place on a Saturday, this day was especially poignant. Having been in Phoenix, and the cemetery, on Thursday took some of the edge off of this day’s ambiance. I also followed my Saturday morning routine, and having a Baha’i Zoom devotional, that was itself based in Phoenix, as part of that routine was also a plus.

Ten of our twenty-nine years together were spent in Phoenix. Although the community is large and the people are quite busy with their daily lives, Penny made a positive impression on a lot of people. Her joie de vivre was irrepressible, almost to the end. She did not use her disability as an excuse to refrain from living her faith. Fifteen years ago, in the midst of her decline in mobility, and just after she had to be wheelchair bound, we were invited to attend a prayer meeting that was on the second floor of an apartment complex, and there was no elevator.

She asked me to help her to the stairs, and proceeded to carefully climb the stairs, on her hands and knees, reversing the process by coming down each step on her buttocks when the meeting was over. I brought the empty wheelchair up and down, standing behind, then in front of her, as was prudent. The device was her chair while we were in the apartment.

There went a genuine hero.

Angels and Extraterrestrials

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

March 4, 2022- A review of my Birth Chart, this afternoon, showed what I have long suspected: I am a mess of contradictions, with the stabilizing aspects of my personality holding forth. Those who have stayed with me, these past eleven years of Word Press and at Xanga, beforehand, know it has not been easy. It has gotten easier, since mid-2015, largely because I owned all the stuff and nonsense that went down in the 2000s and in the months and years immediately after Penny’s passing, and learned valuable lessons from a lot of it.

There has been a lot of influence, and what I’d call support, from unseen forces. A small amount of dark energy, both visible and invisible, has made itself known as well. People of faith know these forces as angels (light) and demons (dark), and we can debate those concepts all day long. Suffice it to say, I have felt the protection and assistance of light energy. I have also met beings who seemed to appear out of nowhere and who have disappeared in the blink of an eye. These have been helpful beings in all but one instance. Who knows whether they are angels or are extraterrestrials? In any case, my life goes on and I feel safeguarded, even in situations that could have been far more precarious.

This is about the time when I look at Spring, Summer and Fall. Part of my Birth Chart review looked at transitions that will affect my life. Of course, there is also the 1-ton pachyderm of eastern Europe that affects everyone’s life. I am squarely on the side of what elevates human dignity and the well-being of citizens. My original plan for this year was for extensive travel. Thus far, the early Spring visits with family and friends in the Southeast U.S. are on track. June-July, in the Northwest U.S., Canada and back through the Northeast and Midwest, may be altered a bit by some Faith-based gatherings here, but is generally on track. It is October, involving Europe, that may end up Putinized and pulverized into either being severely altered to an Iceland and British Isles itinerary, or canceled altogether. No matter, the plans pale in comparison to the horrors now going on across the Atlantic and elsewhere. Each of us must do what is right, by the suffering.

My angels are ever-present, and respond best when I exercise common sense. We’ll see how the rest of the year goes, both at Home Base and on the road. Pray-and work- for peace, in any case, just because the poor souls in Ukraine, Yemen, Myanmar, DR Congo and in every drug-lord ruled community on the planet, deserve it.










A Simple Message

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 3, 2022- The little toddler looked over at me, from her booster seat, and began to twirl her still-wrapped straw, as other family members were eating. I was waiting for my own meal to be served, so I picked up my still-wrapped straw and began to play with it, thus engaging the child for a bit. Across the room, the bartender/server was watching me, with some consternation, until her busser remarked that there was a baby involved. Thus, I avoided being carted off by the White Coat Squad.

The day had started with a check of my Saturn’s computer system, and a reset of one of the warning lights. That done, I headed to Phoenix, and commemorated Penny’s passing, which was eleven years ago, this Saturday. Flowers, prayers and reflection at the gravesite do not minimize her remaining spiritual presence, all these years later. At the end of my day in the city, an hour or so was spent with a resilient soul, who has cultivated paternal and avuncular relationships with a good many young people, the world over. I cannot hold a candle to “Uncle Lal”, in that regard.

Getting back to the initial story: I had stopped at a steak house, just southeast of Prescott Valley, which I hadn’t visited in over a year. I like taking one of the high top tables, which are just suited for either single diners or couples. Across from my table was the family of five, including the engaging little girl. In between her acceptance of bites of food offered by her mother, she would hold up two fingers and point to herself, which I took to mean that she was two. Then she would point at me, and again at herself, and hold up two fingers.

It was a simple message, recognizing that none of us are ever really alone.

Lions, Tigers, Bears-and Zebras

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

March 1, 2022- I woke this morning, after some vivid dreams, in a sort of mental fog. I managed to get the rent paid, then went and sat in one of my safe havens, and wrote at length in the 2022 journal. Things were better afterward, so a synopsis about March came into my awareness.

March appears to have come in like a lion-in Australia. A wide swath of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria is under water. On the opposite side of the country, Western Australia is parched. Here in North America, the month has started off in benign fashion, after a tempestuous February.

This one, born in a Year of the Tiger, will view a “Birth Chart” in a few days. It will likely answer some questions I still have about the circumstances of my birth and how they have affected my life since then. Part of me has been bold and another part, furtive. Both are traits of a tiger in the wild. That aspect lends credence to the East Asian zodiac.

The Russian Bear has stalled. Mother Russia seems to have had less say about where her cubs have been sent, and why. The wayward Lone Male has sent them on a mission, known only to him-with only snippets divulged to a select few. While he stays in his cave, the cubs cast about for food-and fuel.

I see and hear a lot of zebras these days. People talking out of both sides of their mouths are more common than they’ve been in a long time. Skittish, prancing about haphazardly, wanting to be everything and nothing, simultaneously, they alternate between snorting half-truths and noises of obeisance to the Lone Male and braying that they only want to see justice done. They readily point to the other animals, in the corral, and claim that those are the real beasts who need to be brought to heel.

March will bring out a lot of truth and will bring a few down. We may or may not be seeing the onset of another worldwide conflagration. We may or may not be seeing the long-overdue implosion of the real “empire of lies”. We will definitely continue to see the true faces of heroism and love of humanity.

In the late winter of the Russian soldier, his humanity buried by the artillery of his wayward master; in the long nightmare of the Ukrainian mother, her dreams for her children drowned out by the pummeling of all around her; in the long and frightful night before the eerie dawn-listen to the hopeful voice of Mat Shaw:

Truth to Power

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Posted by on in collaborating, Education, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

February 23, 2022- A week after Ottawa, the world saw images of Climate Strikers blocking access airports in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. This time, the focus was on ending food waste, which the group sees as contributing to global warming.

It occurs to me that there is an increase in the number of people engaged in socially disruptive public demonstrations, in many more countries, over the past eleven years. This is, one way or another, a shot across the bow of any authoritarian government, or individual satrap. That is good news for authentically democratic regimes. A little constructive criticism never hurt anyone. It is actually very bad news for those who think demonstrations by conservatives are a stamp of approval for their more blinkered, retrograde policies. There will come a time, should a reactionary or revanchist government come to power in the U.S., that the authorities will step on the toes of the mobs who put them in the driver’s seat.

Then, the parting on the right will turn to parting on the left, again. This was true in France, circa 1795-7. It was true in Spain and Portugal, in the 1970s and was certainly the case in the unraveling Soviet bloc, from 1985-1993. It will be the case again, as hyperactive curbs on individual rights are always the result of a wall being raised between those in power and those on the street.

What is also happening is that the political center, often mischaracterized as “sheep” or “The Silent Majority”, is finding its voice. The recent recall of three socially hyperactive members of the San Francisco School Board was largely effected by those who were neither Right nor Left, but just fed up with some ill-conceived actions or announced plans, such as renaming schools presently bearing the names “Abraham Lincoln” or “Paul Revere”. There will continue to be increased scrutiny and activism, at all points on the spectrum.

I see it as a collision of mindsets: Those who think an elite can do the best job, on behalf of the people, and those who have confidence in the collective judgment of an informed electorate. Keep speaking truth to power. The elitists may actually learn something.

The Day of Six Twos

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Posted by on in collaborating, distraction issues, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual

February 22, 2022- Today was given the moniker, “Twosday”, for the numerical palindrome and ambigram it serves up. A palindrome, of course, looks the same when written either frontwards or backwards. An ambigram, on a calculator, looks the same whether right side up , or upside down.

Astrologers find shifts in energy happen on such a day; scientists, not so much. Today did not seem to bring any of the seismic events that similar palindromic days have in the past-such as the deaths of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josef Stalin. Then, too, this year has a distinct feminine energy flow to it, the behaviour of Vladimir Putin aside.

My day was also quiet- gathering forms for my tax return, and missing one key part, which will be retrieved tomorrow; exercising and getting laundry done, followed by two Baha’i gatherings on Zoom. It was said there would be snowfall by evening. We await that to come to fruition, and thus I refrained from taking on any work for tomorrow. Arizona weather is noted for two things: Sameness and occasional last-minute surprises. Either one could define tomorrow.

There does seem to be a slight energy shift, however, and it would do my heart good to see a boomerang effect, back towards peaceful resolution of geopolitical wrangling.

Engage, Solidify, Engage

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

February 18, 2022- For years on end, even the most sincere members of the political class have ended up offering disadvantaged communities a cross between Band-aids and packages that benefit large corporations, more than the communities themselves. Thus, the emphasis on giving rural communities High Speed Internet (not a bad thing, but a middling priority for many families in the rural South and Midwest) and placing the emphasis on farming issues (again not a bad thing, when it comes to helping families and sustainable small farms).

There is a disconnect, though. People in rural areas, as well as in small cities-and in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods of larger cities, across the country simply do not feel heard. It’s been that way at least since the Seventies, and played right into the hands of demagogues who, once elected-either ignored said groups or privately disparaged them as useful idiots. I can remember writing to Barack Obama, during his presidency, urging him to visit people in so-called “red states”, with an open mind and listening in good faith. He made maybe six trips to the South, and three to the Mountain West, during his eight years in office- with three of the southern journeys, and one of the western forays, in response to tragedies of national import. Donald Trump, for all his hype about being a friend of the working man, did no better. He got his audiences riled up, but there is little to show for the four years he spent in the White House. I mention the two leaders by way of example, that town hall-style conversations seem to have evaporated- at all levels of government.

Engaging with residents and actually hearing what they have to say about their lives, making notes and carrying on a conversation generative of their ideas, ought to have never gone away. It would seem to be the only sensible foundation for forming public policy. As mentioned in the earlier post about the rank and file of General Electric Corporation’s industrial plants, the benefits of making several, regular visits to the communities of our nation-with a view towards actually generating practical and sustainable ideas for solutions to the problems facing our communities and then promulgating the best of these, would seem to far outweigh the risks of hearing out complaints.

The betterment of our nation, of our planet, is not a zero sum game. Engage with the people, solidify the ideas exchanged and re-engage.

Common Knowledge

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

February 17, 2022- The small group of men, standing in front of the national headquarters of General Electric Company, in Boston, were raising the issues faced by the rank and file at the GE plant in nearby Lynn, as a result of the company’s plan to break into three publicly-held entities: Aviation, Healthcare and Energy. The protesters noted that the restructuring would result in the loss of 80 jobs at the Lynn plant. GE management says the 80 workers would be given opportunities for other work at the plant, or at facilities nearby.

My father devoted thirty-six years of his life to G.E., as an aircraft mechanic and middle manager. He did not live to enjoy the retirement to which he looked forward. He also saw the false flag of state politicians, touting a “Massachusetts Miracle”. Lynn, and the gritty suburbs just to the north of Boston, did not experience such a Renaissance- largely due to prioritization of new construction on vacant land, west of the Metro area, over the renovation and rebuilding of decrepit factory properties, in industrial suburbs like Chelsea, Everett, Winthrop and Somerville (which has experienced a rejuvenation, over the past fifteen years).

Dad, and most of the people I knew, during my own brief stint at GE Riverworks prior to joining the Army, were plainspoken folks, who also had solid native intelligence about making better products and putting company resources to wider use. Some in upper management listened, but most ignored “the help”. It is that attitude which has contributed to the unease, and anger, that has surfaced among blue collar workers and their families, for the past fifty years-reaching its zenith during the past decade.

A goodly amount of any human disaffection fades, when the ideas and innovations put forth by the workforce, in any organization, are heard, studied and taken seriously. Implementation would go a long way, towards both restoring worker morale and improving corporate performance. The group gathered in Boston, in fact, had several suggestions for the company’s efforts, in all three areas. Aviation workers are concerned with healthcare improvement and with clean energy. I can only hope that the leadership of business and industry gives their workers a clean bill of dignity, going forward.