Hatred and Intolerance, Fear and Distrust (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

Hatred and Intolerance, Fear and Distrust (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

Transition (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

Transition (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

The Mirror Shattered (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

The Mirror Shattered (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

Shirley Sherrod, an Opportunity (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

Shirley Sherrod, an Opportunity (article) by Greg Pendleton on AuthorsDen

Again, the Subject of Change

Change is usually not something that is wished for, but rather something that is called for.  As an example, use yourself.  When you were first born, your needs were basic:  to be fed, to attend to your body's needs, to be loved.  In no time at all, those needs changed, because you had grown into a new stage of your life.  Your entire life has been one of change from the simple fact of your growth as a Human Being.  Take a good look at yourself today and notice the changes that have occurred since the time of your birth.  It's astounding!  A big change was leaving home for the first time as an independent adult, or finding a spouse, or having a child.  All of these events brought about personal change, often not wished for but necessary if your life were to succeed in a satisfactory and fulfilling way.  Your ability to flow with that change makes all the difference in your life.

Now we can change our focus from a personal one to a societal one.  Most of us have read history books, not just of the United States, but of the world as a whole.  Our recorded history shows the same set of changes that occurred to you as an individual, the change that is and always has been a response to growth.  The world of today is vastly different from the one we read about thousands of years ago, or even hundreds of years ago, or even ten years ago.  Growth goes on uninterrupted, no matter what the wish is, and with that growth, the change that flows hand-in-hand with it.  If you were to attempt to impress social or political mores of two centuries ago on the United States today, you at first would be laughed at, and later, seriously considered a lunatic.

Can you remember life before cell-phones?  Can you not witness the power of change, instrumented by only one device?  How long did you resist this change?  Do you still have a "land-line" in your home?  Why?  For "old-time's-sake"?

The past, the "good old days", is, in our memory, alluring.  Everyone remembers the good old days, not realizing that today will be someone else's good old days.  Change can be fearful while it occurs, and we find comfort in the "stability"of the past, not remembering the tension of change even then.

I find change fascinating, and my only regret at the time of my passing from this world will be that I will not be around to witness the future changes.  For example, I would like to have the opportunity to witness this planet from space, something that in the future will be just an every-day, ordinary experience.

Embrace change.  It's necessary, and it's good.

Time

Time has become a preoccupation for many of us, we are surrounded by clocks and watches of all sorts, and we use time to schedule practically everything.  It is a "yardstick" by which we measure our world.  But there is one element of time we pay little attention to, and that element is the "moment".  While one may be able to relate to me their schedule of time on a daily basis, such as what time they wake-up, what time they have meals, when they have to be at work, when a particular television program is aired, when they go to sleep, few can find the answer when I ask the question, "What are you doing at this particular moment?", because they have no real understanding of the concept of a "moment" in time.

Mastering the "moment" creates a mastership of Time itself, replacing the preoccupation one has with it.  If one is true to each moment in his life, a flow is created that is never ending.  Their is no regret, or guilt, over events of the past, and there is never fear of what may occur in the future, because the proper attention was given at that time or will be given when necessary.

Every experience I have in life is an element of the total me.  If I invest myself completely and truly in each experience, sorrow or fear can have no meaning for me.  I am not sorry for what I did yesterday, and have no fear of what tomorrow will bring my way.

Living in the moment eliminates guilt and fear.  Who doesn't have time for that?

The BP Experience

We have been trained by the world we live in to reach outward to find expression.  In so doing, we depend on those outside forces to give us a personal identity and in the process remove us from personal responsibility.  Hence, anything that occurs for us individually is the result of something that is basically out of our personal control.  In that way we can absolve ourselves from any setback and make it the fault of something or someone else.  We assign blame outward.

The model for this outward expression exists within most organized religions, as God is defined as an entity that is removed from us, something that exists "out there".  Authority is received from without in this ultimate sense, and then everything else is a "trickle-down", from God to Government to Job to Spouse to Teacher to Family to Mother.  Everything, it seems, is produced and directed from the outside-in.  In this scenario, the self, then, is but the victim, and most of us feel victimized all of the time.  "The Devil made me do it!!"

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the fault of British Petroleum.  Period.  We assign no personal blame in any way to ourselves, even though we have become so dependent on energy that we will go to war to secure it.  In America, the cry is ever "more, more, more".  We never get enough of anything, everything must be fast, and it must be easy.  And whenever anything goes wrong, we fuss like small children and throw the blame outward.

It's time to grow up.  It's time to reestablish the "self" and the realization that you are always the Creator and never the Victim.  You do not exist because of your world, your world exists because of you, is but a reflection of the condition you find yourself in.

The BP accident is my fault, and I take full responsibility for the ongoing atrocity.

Avatar

Of course I rushed out to the store to secure my copy of Avatar when it became available and I lost no time rejoining the Navi and the special world of Pandora. I experienced this amazing production twice in the theater, and the translation to my smaller screen at home left nothing to lament, not even the 3D effects.

The story in this incredible motion picture contains a message that has been repeated by the great men of wisdom throughout the known history of Human Beings, a message of redemption, spiritual transformation, and rebirth into a reality that affirms the very special connection all life shares and depends upon. With the very rapid spread of information in our world today, all have been called together to share this vision of unity, something very real that exists not only in Spirit, but in our physical universe as well, for the physical is but an echo of Spirit.

Without you, the world we inhabit will die. Without you, I cease to exist. Together is the only way we may move forward.

There is an Avatar that exists within each of us.

Con-fusion

Each of us is unique, as there is not another within this or any universe the same as you. The Spirit that resides at the core of your being is pure and that is true for everyone. Whenever I come into contact with the purity of another, there is a fusion of ideas and expressions, hence, we become con-fused, and generally, confusion follows for a time. With enough thought the confusion gives birth to something new and exciting, an element in my own expression that reaches out for further understanding.

With each new relationship I become greater, more than what I previously was. There are many, however, who get lost in confusion, who do not pay close enough attention to the contact in that moment and cast it aside, robbing themselves in that way of greater understanding.

Whenever you find yourself confused, find pause and investigate. Something wonderful is waiting for your discovery.

America and the Los Angeles Syndrome

Many years ago I moved my family to Los Angeles for business opportunities. My children were small and to occupy their minds we would go driving throughout the city for hours. The city is so large and spread-out that we were afforded a new adventure weekly. Freeways criss-cross every which way, and for our amusement we would exit into an area, get totally lost and then find our way out. What was remarkable to me was the feeling that as I exited the freeway, it appeared to be the same as my last exit. I realized that the city housed different cultures in different areas, but in appearance they were all the same at the base of the exit.

In January I drove from California to upper New York, stopping in various locations to see relatives. Leg one of the journey was to Biloxi, Mississippi. I began this trek on Interstate 10 in California, and completed it on the very same interstate two thousand miles later. In between were many stops for rest, fuel, and food. After the visit in Biloxi was the 10-hour journey to Evansville, Indiana, and then to complete the trip, Evansville to Syracuse, New York. Altogether I traversed thirteen states and 3500 miles. Along the way every exit gave me the same impression I had of Los Angeles those many years ago: the all appeared the same!

Interstate highways have given us the means to travel by automobile more quickly, but in the process have taken away much of the diversity once witnessed on these journeys. At every exit are the same corporate fueling stations, the same restaurants...the same everything. Even the people, linked by our amazing e-freeway, talk about exactly the same things.

What is going on here?