HENRY KISSINGER

Posted on December 9, 2023

Where are the meaningful political leaders? Where is the meaningful political leadership? Where are the emerging political leaders? What are colleges and universities doing to evolve political leaders? What are governments doing to evolve political leaders and political leadership?

The genius and global perspective of Henry Kissinger are alive and well in Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy (2022, NY, NY: Penguin). Kissinger takes the reader through the storied lives of Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, Richard Nixon, Anwar Sadat, Lee Kuan Yew, and Margaret Thatcher; and offers a clear perspective of the evolution of political leadership from aristocracy to meritocracy and to the current state of visual political persons advertising and packaging via the internet and social media. Viable political leaders and leadership are absent!

Kissinger offers,

Great leadership results from the collision of the intangible and the malleable, from that which is given and that which is exerted. Scope remains for the individual effort-to deepen historical understanding, hone strategy and improve character. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote long ago, ‘We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.’ It is the role of leaders to help guide that choice and inspire their people in its execution. (416)

Some of the highlights captured from Kissinger’s journeys and genius…(399-416) are as follows:

Yes, leaders offer vision and depth of character and play the cards dealt! We need leaders and political leadership with common ground, common standards, a common frame of reference, intellect, and hardiness required to meet the challenges facing world order. A few of the essential qualities are humanistic education, academic performance earned with hard work, personal discipline developed during childhood, self-improvement in the genes, self-control and self-restraint, patriotism, self-belief, national identity, committed to common good, desire to serve people, and embodying the greatest traditions of society. We need to re-capture the growth and development that evolves when folks read, reflect, have group discussions, and experience the wisdom and inherent perspective of complex books. Today’s interferences, stimuli, and personalities are distractions and entertainment, not leaders modeling leadership and offering visions for global cooperation and humanistic evolution.

The evolution from print to visual, to internet, and to social media has created global interference and distraction dividing humanity into warring tribes offering polarity, diversity, and conformity relying on chosen group members for guidance and direction. Consequently, we are shunted into groups and the group polices our thinking. The result is that there are followers and influencers, no leaders.

The challenge in today’s world is to create thoughtful leaders with virtues and talents, humanistic education, character, reading and discussion experiences, philosophy, politics, human geography, modern languages, history, economic thought, and literature. At the top of the list are nurturing of courage, positive attributes, and achievements. Absolutes are integrity, persistence, determination, historical vision, strength in decision, comprehension of interlocking international situations, spiritual elevation, imagination, principled leadership, and tenacity. The vision is for national security and peaceful, international coexistence. This demands exemplary leaders with character, intellect, and hardiness.

Max Weber contends the essential qualities for transformative leadership,

The only man (-person) who has a ‘vocation’ for politics is one who is certain that his (-her) spirit will not be broken if the world, when looked at from his (-her) point of view, proves too stupid or base to accept what he (-she) wishes to offer it, and who, when faced with all that obduracy, can still say ‘Nevertheless!’ despite everything. (415)

Leaders show up as authentic self and model the way as persons, in relationships, socially, institutionally, culturally, and by helping others and caring about others. They put quality, common good, compassion, and virtue in all they are and all they do. Politicians who need to be packaged and advertised are not leaders, they are either tribal followers or influencers. They merely create the hyper polarity and division of today’s world.

We have a lot to get done. Start by selecting folks for political positions who are visionary, have character, intellect, and hardiness, and are committed to the fact that leadership is an influence relationship between other leaders and followers that is earned, not advertised and not packaged for visual attraction, interference, and distraction from today’s reality.

DUAL OF WOLVES

Posted on December 2, 2023

Nathanael Blake offers a pearl of insight,

Self-righteousness infects all sides of our politics, and makes us ridiculous. For many, politics is a way of showing oneself to be smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and more attuned to injustice than others. If correct politics confers moral superiority, then the wrong political views confer wickedness, and the wicked deserve to be punished. This view allows people to find in politics a socially acceptable, even applauded, outlet for cruelty and malice, as well as absolution and indulgence for that cruelty. (Mending America’s Political Divide: What Science Tells Us About Solving the Political Hatred Between the Left and the Right, Dr. Rene’ H. Levy, 105)

American identity and empathy have simply disappeared from the political arena, and the country has two wolves fighting an internal civil war. One wolf is right wing tribalism that is tearing the country apart; and one wolf is left wing tribalism that is tearing the country apart. And with continued nourishment of tribalism the associated political hatred, division, loathing, aversion, and rancor will continue; and deepened loss of empathy and absence of American identity will follow. Eventually, one of the wolves will win!

Yes! Political party sorting has divided the country, is dividing the country, and will continue to divide and deconstruct this country unless “we the people” make a definitive course correction. We the people are the problem! We need to move forward and begin to deliberately select and elect genuine leaders who are objective, not self-serving and make decisions that are in the best interests of Americans; are aware, understand, and confront the perils of partisanship; and who have a track record of leading, healing, transcending, and including, and uniting diverse groups of folks…teams and coalitions unify. We are all humans and have needs and wants and together we can make those needs and wants become reality. Each of us needs to stand in the face of power and tell the truth. Let us elect politicians who are masters of the self—healthy, true, and authentic—and who model the way as persons, in relationships, institutionally, socially, culturally, and by helping others and caring about others. We need values and virtue. Let us not re-elect or elect deranged idiots who manipulate followers to grow personal income, to retain power, and to deepen divisions and hate.

 

An opinion is that cultic-tribal addiction—political party sorting—is simply unresolved discomfort within the emotional body, or as offered in Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening (Wilber, Patten, Leonard, and Morelli, 2008, Boston, MA: Integral, page 41, 92-93),

 

…the shadow or dark side of the psyche, those aspects of ourselves that we’ve split off, rejected, denied, hidden from ourselves, projected onto others, or otherwise disowned…repressed unconscious…because we’ve pushed or pressed it out of our awareness, and unconscious because we are not aware of it…But the fact that we are not conscious or aware of the shadow does not mean that it has no effect: it just expresses itself through distorted and unhealthy means-or what is typically called neuroses…safety and security are sought by bonding together and identifying (fusing) with a tribe in order to persevere and protect against outsiders. Allegiance and admiration are given to the chief…emergence of a sense of self (ego) distinct from the tribe, although it often acts impulsively on behalf of its favored group.

Undoing and reintegrating this repressed and denied unconscious to improve psychological health, individually and collectively, is process and is not easy; however, the work can free energy that has been spent shadowboxing with the self and waging an American civil war. An initial step is simply a sense of openness and a commitment to detect and root out causes, acceptance of 100% responsibility, face everything and fear nothing, and just sit in the flames of the unresolved discomfort, individually and collectively. Yes. Simply, a good dose of mindfulness, awareness, and self-restraint to unleash empathy and compassion. Let us not permit one of these ugly wolves a win.

Some resources:

  • Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening, Wilber, Patten, Leonard, and Morelli, 2008.
  • Mending America’s Political Divide: What Science Tells Us About Solving the Political Hatred Between the Left and the Right, Dr. Rene’ H. Levy, 2020.
  • We the People Are the Problem: How Americans Betrayed America, Peter Magistrale, 2020.
  • Peril, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, 2021.
  • Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, Rachel Maddow, 2023.

 

 

 

COMMON GOOD

Posted on November 25, 2023

Interesting question for reflection: What can I do to help save democracy?

The current reality of America’s flaming condition is captured in the daily headlines…voting rights being squelched, mass shootings, gun control, corruption, pharmaceuticals, political polarization, education funding, Supreme Court bias, et al. Am certain you get the jist!

The country is at a crossroads, democracy, love, and freedom, or autocracy, fear, and control. As Americans, it feels like we need to decide what type of country we desire; and how we can facilitate, enable, and participate in moving the current reality closer to the chosen strategic objective for the country. And it is no secret that some folks will pitch-in and make things happen; some folks will watch what happened; and some folks will wonder what happened. That is OK.

A personal sentiment for a strategic objective-vision is to have a democracy that is measured, evaluated, and incented based on achievement of common good. This is an overwhelming task when one climbs into the helicopter and looks around. There are millions of citizens with inner consciousness, psychology, purposes, values, goals, objectives, physics, biology, and neurology. There are myriads of families, collectives, cultures, groups, and communities with music, art, political values, and connections. And there are multitudes of institutions, social systems, economies, and environments. In today’s diverse, politically sorted world, integration is certainly not an easy task! Where does one start to create processes that are measured, evaluated, and incented based on contributions to the common good? Perhaps a nice place to start is with a definition of common good.

“In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good refers to either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by citizenship, collective action, and active participation in the realm of politics and public service.” (Wikipedia)

There is a bunch of stuff that needs to get done for the common good: non-political management of voting rights, technology building, cyber and space warfare, infrastructure maintenance and improvement, jobs creation and good wages, healthcare improvements, childcare, overcoming systemic racism, LGBTQ rights, environmental preservation, confronting home grown terrorism, immigration reform, transcending white supremacy, fair share tax systems, sanely evolving through COVID-19 and preparing for future pandemics, education state-of-the art and funding, sane gun control, policing in communities, et al. As the two Japanese characters for crisis offer, with danger comes opportunity. The danger is continued and expanded division, fear, and autocracy; and the opportunity is to work on our unhealthy personal and collective issues, participate in interactive dialogue and coalitions, and manifest the common good for all Americans.

The strategic objective is to sanely evolve and preserve America and the Universe for generations to come. Strategies are individual and collective and include waking up, growing up, and showing up as caring and compassionate individuals and collectives. The mission: To have individuals and collectives create and implement positive, caring, loving tension between the current reality and the strategic objective to evolve current reality closer to the strategic objective, i.e., to close the widening, flaming gap between the current reality and the strategic objective.

If open to the challenge, ready for the opportunity, and in need of a boost to get started:

  • Have fun buying some stickers! Catherine Price, in her Mindfulness Journal, recommends buying a pack of small stickers—any kind will do—and place a dozen or so around your home and office in noticeable places, such as your bathroom mirror, your computer, the back of your phone, the wall behind your kitchen sink, your alarm clock, or the cover of (your) journal. Every time you see one of these stickers, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING, BREATHE, AND BE.
  • Locate a credible meditation instructor and learn to meditate. Your world will begin to change and freshen.
  • For reflection: What unlocks love and compassion for others? How does one learn self-restraint? Do I genuinely appreciate similarities and differences?
  • Get a dose of quantum healing and discover the wonders and interplay of the conscious mind, subconscious mind, emotions, energy, physical body, and spirituality. The body keeps the score!

Our individual and collective assignments are to make TO SAVE THE DEMOCRACY TO DO LISTS; and then get to work. There is a great deal to be done for the common good!

DONALD J. TRUMP

Posted on November 18, 2023

As the 2024 Presidential election unfolds; and as we witness the dark divide becoming wider, deeper, nastier, and darker, contrasting potential candidates for President is interesting. It appears the critical decision is to vote for the candidate who has a quality profile, i.e., 1) is objective and not self-serving and decides based on what is in the best interests of America; 2) is committed to common good, compassion, virtue, honesty, and integrity; and 3) can best transcend and include others and consciously evolve a sane American culture.

How one chooses to “show-up” in the world can be critiqued by researching, examining, and witnessing talents, skills, and experiences; making observations; and scrutinizing character, personality, mentality, and interests. Let us take-a-look at Former President Donald J. Trump.

Talents, Skills, and Experiences

A narcissistic drama-seeker who covers a fragile ego with a bullying impulse and has taken democracy to the brink. (Maggie Haberman, Confidence Man, 506) Life’s goal has been to gain and maintain position power, at any cost. Witness a track record of business and government failures, investigations and numerous lawsuits and absolute chaotic disasters: most consequential president in history; puppet of Vladimir Putin; foreign policy bullying, badgering, and destroying; abandoned allies; personal business endeavors with several bankruptcies; North Korean nuclear weapons stockpile doubled; pandemic management and leadership was non-existent, dereliction of duty, passed buck off to governors who became blame targets; enlisted foreign interference in elections (Russia and China); several obstruction of justice charges; impeachment proceedings; insurrection; multiple legal cases lost and pending; accepts payoffs for positions; and has numerous Trump party cronies who are lost souls in search of a tribe and chief. No decisions are made based on strategic plans, strategies, goals, and objectives; makes decisions on how he feels at the time; can handle small projects and sign executive orders; not able to lead projects large in scope; selection of judges, environmental deregulations and deconstruction of institutions may be legacy; and immigration policy is inhumane. Is a master at using neuroses [The dark side of the psyche: denied, repressed, disowned and projected subconscious aspects of the Self.] to create stories (“fake news”) that strategically move the “lightning rod” from the Trump Party to others in order to trigger the psyche of perceived “enemies” and his base. Others become the personification of the wrongs and inexcusable of the Trump Party: Russian interference, Ukraine, racism, nativism, gloating, tax cuts for the rich, Supreme Court justices, bullying, outrages, fake news, etc., etc.  As Bernie Sanders has eloquently noted, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs.” Accepting responsibility for anything is not his cup of tea. Blaming others is his ballgame. Just take him Diet Coke and wash his dirty laundry.

  • Track record of complicating the story narrative, throwing sand in the eyes of the onlooker, claiming that transparently implausible stories were true unless proven otherwise, and denying the obvious truth.

Observations

Donald J. Trump is a genius at networking and using the media to recruit, retain, and fire, at will, addicted surrogates, circles of friends, admirers, celebrity hangers-on, and wannabes who savor and long for safety and security sought by bonding together and identifying with a tribe in order to persevere and protect against outsiders. Allegiance and admiration are given to the chief and clan. Mystical signs, conspiracy, and desires of powerful spirit beings must be followed for the continued safety and well-being of the tribe. Years of behaviors reveal the following:

  • Does not understand duty, honor, and country.
  • A cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a predator, a con man.
  • Racist, incendiary, toxic, casts hate, disruptive, name caller, and divisive, unfit for political office.
  • Repeatedly has disparaged the intelligence of service members: Americans who die in war are “losers” and “suckers.”
  • Deny, deny, deny; accuse, accuse, and accuse. The magic formula: D cubed—disease, disaster, division; and he continues to escape responsibility and being held accountable for anything by anybody.
  • Tax cuts were a corporate “boondoggle.”
  • Vision for country is merely to fix what his administration undermined, agitated, deconstructed, or destroyed during his time in office. Examples: intelligence, FBI, CIA, U.S. Postal Service, voting integrity, Supreme Court, and CDC.
  • Stokes fear, celebrity, and brand building; and show-photo opportunity is the foundation for his rhetoric. Is a stand-up comic.
  • Staff selection of addicted surrogates has been a disaster and revolving door; and demands loyalty even if unethical, yes sir, no sir, no excuse sir; or you are fired.
  • Surrounded by fixers and “yes men;” encourages rivalries and thrives on personal attacks.
  • Protected by political party sorted, partisan, power worldview associates of the Federal government institution he and his cronies choose to deconstruct and destroy.
  • Conspiracist (example QAnon) and guilty of political cowardice, blaming, passing the buck, and dereliction of duty; shirked constitutionally mandated duty and rewards misconduct.
  • Sexist and multiple lawsuits and misconduct behaviors.
  • Racist: a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
  • Dishonest, arrogant, and narcissist; uses position and financial power for personal gain.
  • Creates martyr complex, irrelevance, and distractions; misleads, boasts and is egotistical, promotes blamelessness of self, never wrong, and anxious to criticize.
  • People mistakes and poor interpersonal relations skills.
  • Lies, denies, blames, and spins; egotistical and self-serving; unqualified for the position.
  • Having been President and playing golf reveal the real person: you cannot hide. Read Commander-in-Cheat.

Character, Personality, Mentality, and Interests.

  • Low-functioning includes persons who “… do not exhibit polished and polite behaviors as a mask for their manipulations…may lack the education or interpersonal skills to control and deceive. Instead they might use threats, coercion, or intimidation to achieve their desired outcome.” (Source: Dr. Timothy J. Legg, “What Is a High-Functioning Sociopath?”, 5-28-2019, https://www.healthline.com, 1-3.)
  • Narcissistic sociopath: one form of antisocial personality disorder and is the result of environmental factors such as a child or teen’s upbringing in a negative household that resulted in physical abuse, emotional abuse, or childhood trauma. (Sources: Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough, 2020, Simon & Schuster; https://psychcentral.com, Dr. John M. Grohol, “Differences Between a Psychopath vs Sociopath,” 5-20-2020, 1-5; Dr. Tarra Bates-Duford, “Psychopath vs Sociopath: 16 Key Differences,” 9-7-2018, 1-3; https://www.health.com, Rosie McCall, “9 Ways to Spot a Sociopath,” 10-4-2019, 1-7.
  • Gangster, corrupt, and behaves as if above the law.
  • A stale, nasty breath of death, hate, narcissism, chaos, fear, conspiracy, norm erosion, “dark,” institutional deconstruction, and neo-facism.

Partisan politics is a dangerous duel of limited and partial truths; and binds party sorted folks to fixed, literal or otherwise limiting beliefs and frames of minds. Political party sorted, addicted surrogates make obvious excuses for candidates and excuse the inexcusable with respect to virtue, morality, judgment, intent, behavior, actions, ethics, and laws. W. Edwards Deming remarked, “If a person is not performing as expected, it is probably because they are miscast for the job.” Michael Cohen offers, “No one ever tells Trump the truth about his behavior and beliefs, or the consequences of his conduct and ignorance and arrogance, in business or in his personal life and now in politics. Trump is the boy in the bubble, impervious to the thoughts and feelings or others, entirely and utterly focused on his own desires and ambitions.”

Donald J. Trump is a power-hungry gangster who is unfit to occupy the Office of the President of the United States of America. Examine and deeply reflect on his profile. As a country, we need a President who will lead the country, improve the country, and set the stage for future generations, not one who will continue to deconstruct the many institutions that are the foundation and pillars of the America Americans desire.

MORALITY

Posted on November 11, 2023

Today’s media platforms reveal that America’s three-legged democracy stool is missing its third leg. Economics and politics are thriving; and the missing third leg, morality—ethics, character, compassion, decency, goodness, trust, honesty, integrity, probity, self-restraint—is blatantly obvious. Witness suppression of voting rights, mass and social media untruths, cyber and space warfare, infrastructure decay, inequitable wages, healthcare and childcare shortcomings, systemic racism and casts, LGBTQ rights questioned, environmental degradation, untreated mental health, home grown terrorism, immigration overload and inhumanity, thriving white supremacy, inequitable tax systems, failure to prepare for future pandemics, education state-of-the art and funding deficiencies, insane gun control, absence of political leadership, et al.  The danger is continued and deepening division, fear, and autocracy; and the opportunity is to confront narcissistic, ego driven behavior; improve common good as individuals; and merge and participate in interactive dialogue and collectively manifest the missing third leg of the stool, morality, and for all Americans. As Jonathan Sacks offers in Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times,

Recovering liberal democratic freedom will involve emphasizing responsibilities as well as rights; shared rules, not just individual choices; caring for others as well as for ourselves; and making space not just for self-interest but also for common good. Morality is an essential feature of our human environment, as important as the market (economics) and the state (politics), but outsourceable to neither. Morality humanizes the competition for wealth and power. It is the redemption of our solitude. (20)

A personal sentiment for a strategic objective, a solid, three-legged stool—economics, politics, and morality—is to have democracy that inspires measurement, evaluation, and incentives based on achievement of common good, “… what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by citizenship, collective action, and active participation in the realm of politics and public service.” (Wikipedia)

Morality has become a lost virtue and narcissism is on the rampage in America. Mass media headlines offer only the tip of the iceberg. A question for reflection: How can cultural morality be restored? One step at a time! Individually, we each need to become passionately inspired to get our own house in order and to show up for the common good. Collectively, we can merge with groups to facilitate contributions to common good and one can choose to purchase products and services from organizations that have chosen to be measured, evaluated, and incented via a common good report card.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Posted on November 4, 2023

America is at a crossroads, a fulcrum, a tipping point, between a democratic republic—freedom—and autocracy—control. As Americans, we each need to decide what type of country we desire; and what each of us can do to facilitate the strategic, competitive, common sense battle with our principle global competitor, China. Some folks will pitch-in and make things happen; some folks will watch what happened; and some folks will wonder what happened.

There are a bunch of strategies and stuff that need to get done: non-political voting rights management, technology building, infrastructure maintenance and improvement, jobs creation, healthcare, childcare, immigration reform, countering systemic racism, LGBTQ rights, climate control, confronting home grown, white supremacy, terrorism, fair share tax reform, preparing for future pandemics, education re-tuning and funding, sane gun control, policing in communities, foreign policy, et al. As the two Japanese characters for crisis offer on the tattoo, with danger comes opportunity. The danger is continued and expanded division and autocracy; and the opportunity is to work on our unhealthy personal and collective issues, participate in interactive dialogue and coalitions, and get done what is good for all Americans.

An opinion is that cultic-tribal addiction—political party sorting—is simply unresolved discomfort within the emotional body, the unhealthy self, or as offered in Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening (Wilber, Patten, Leonard, and Morelli, 2008, Boston, MA: Integral, page 41, 92-93),

…the shadow or dark side of the psyche, those aspects of ourselves that we’ve split off, rejected, denied, hidden from ourselves, projected onto others, or otherwise disowned…repressed unconscious…because we’ve pushed or pressed it out of our awareness, and unconscious because we are not aware of it…But the fact that we are not conscious or aware of the shadow does not mean that it has no effect: it just expresses itself through distorted and unhealthy means-or what is typically called neuroses…safety and security are sought by bonding together and identifying (fusing) with a tribe in order to persevere and protect against outsiders. Allegiance and admiration are given to the chief…emergence of a sense of self (ego) distinct from the tribe, although it often acts impulsively on behalf of its favored group.

Undoing and reintegrating this repressed and denied unconscious to improve our psychological health is process and is not easy; however, the work can free energy that has been spent shadowboxing with the self, making excuses, spinning, blaming, and telling stories. An initial step is simply a sense of openness and a commitment to face everything and fear nothing, just sit in the flames of the unresolved discomfort and give birth to penetrating insight and skillful means. We are simply witnessing the evolution of the human condition, and with patience, persistence, education, compassion, learning, and spirituality, we can move forward together, not further divided, and closer to autocracy, more lying, zero leadership, an orchestrated overthrow of elections, bypass of constitutional order, accelerated division and violence, racism, direction of a violent insurrection, and willing students of Vladmir Putin. Individually and collectively, we can grow common good, compassion, virtue, mindfulness, awareness, and self-restraint, and quiet the insatiable, unhealthy ego; and the dampening of anger, egotistical pride, jealousy, envy, doubt, ignorance, attachment, and fear can begin to free energy to nurture peace-of-mind and a sense of happiness and joy. Let us get this job done for all Americans, not just a select few. Casts, conflicting political messages, and deliberate, negative words that separate, attack, and divide are simply wrong. If open to the challenge, ready for the opportunity, and in need of a boost to get started: 1) In her Mindfulness Journal, Catherine Price recommends, Buy a pack of small stickers—any kind will do—and place a dozen or so around your home and office in noticeable places, such as your bathroom mirror, your computer, the back of your phone, the wall behind your kitchen sink, your alarm clock, or the cover of (your) journal. Every time you see one of these stickers, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING, BREATHE, AND BE. 2) Locate a credible meditation instructor and learn to meditate. 3) Two questions for reflection: What unlocks compassion? What manifests happiness, joy, and peace-of-mind? 4) Dig into bioenergetic medicine and energy psychology. Some interesting reads are The Emotion Code and The Body Code, Dr. Bradley Nelson; Core Transformation, Conirae Andreas and Tamara Andreas; and Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Dr. Joe Dispenza. Dr. Nelson offers, “When we choose to live in integrity, we are at peace in both heart and mind. We are living in our truth.” (The Emotion Code, 298)

 

 

 

 

 

SIMPLE, HAPPY GOLF

Posted on October 29, 2023

Ever since teeing up that first golf ball with Mom and Dad at the age of eight, golf has been a patient life coach; and as the years have sped by, the sport continues to coach and counsel. Recent experiences have offered that if open and psychologically ready for the infinite messages, “simple” in golf and life can be discovered beyond sport and life’s complexities.

Christian D. Larson’s message is clear: we are reflections—thinking, personality, and character—of the language in which we live. (The Great Within) As Abel Leighton Allen contends, “Our todays are the result of our past thinking, our tomorrows the result of our present thinking. We have been our mental parents, and we shall be our own mental children.” How would Woody and Birdy Ball, Golf as Guru (www.johnedwindevore.com), use this taste of philosophy to improve the golf game?

  • Search for a meditation coach and launch daily meditation. During ritual on every shot this will facilitate quieting the mind and offer a spiritual experience of becoming one with the environment, the club, the ball, and the target.
  • Become aware, understand, work with, and trust the well-programmed subconscious mind to perform. A place to start is with an easy read of The Great Within: Unleashing the Power of Your Subconscious Mind (Christian D. Larson, 2012, Crowell). Larson offers, “While directing attention upon the subconscious, the idea that is to be impressed should be clearly discerned in mind and an effort should be made to feel the soul of that idea.” (3)
  • Commit to an integral health, wellness, and wellbeing process. A nice beginning is with cardiovascular training; Yoga for Golfers (Katherine Roberts); and The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Golf, Third Edition (Sportsworkout.com). An interesting read and guide: Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening (Wilber, Patten, Leonard & Morelli, 2008, Boston, Massachusetts: Integral).
  • Select a coach who is a good listener and will work with you to accomplish your golf goals, not his or hers. Good coach-student chemistry is a must.
  • Have equipment that fits and feels good; and make sure those clubs sound good at impact.
  • Immaculate set-up: grip, aim, POSTURE, and stance. As the body goes, so goes the mind; as the mind goes, so goes the body. Posture, posture, posture!
  • Two putts per green maximum; hit the greens in regulation; and make ups and downs.
  • Stay curious and open to learn from infinite sources about the integral, evolving individual, subjective inner game; the individual, objective outer game; the collective, subjective inner game; and the collective, objective outer game. For an introduction to the integral concept see Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening, pages 27-39.
  • Play happy golf! Enjoy the journey as you create and participate in the evolution of consciousness and culture.

As Birdy offers, “Yes! We are thinking, personality, virtue, and character reflections of the language we live in. Let’s live in the language of the authentic self we desire, not the swing thoughts, chastisement, and whims of the monkey mind that keep us mired two shots from insanity.”

MEET WOODY and BIRDY BALL

Posted on October 21, 2023

For every shot the golfer needs to evolve a Ritual for creating a personal teepee where mind chatter becomes silent, the conscious mind becomes clear and quiet, the golfer becomes one with the club, the ball, and the target, and absolute trust is put in the hands of the programmed subconscious to deliver a ball to the target. In 1929 legendary Bobby Jones remarked,

 The golf swing is a most complicated combination of muscular actions, too complex to be controlled by objective conscious mental effort. Consequently, we must rely a good deal upon the instinctive reactions acquired by long practice. It has been my experience that the more completely we can depend upon this instinct—the more thoroughly we can divest the subjective mind of conscious control, the more exclusion of all thoughts as to method—is the secret of a good shot…After taking the stance, it is too late to worry. The only thing to do is to hit the ball. [Gallwey, W. (1998). The Inner Game of Golf. NY, NY: Random, 19-20]

It could be argued that pulling the trigger to make the shot is the most critical of all elements of the shot cycle; and it may be the simplest, and yet, possibly the most difficult because it must be done without thinking and with absolute trust of the subconscious to perform to expectations. As we settle to create the space bubble—the state of quiet presence—we are deliberately breathing. The Ritual is automatic and is the one distinct stimulus that will trigger and coordinate all the elements that facilitate potential emergence of the peak performance state. We are empty, become one with the environment, the club, the ball, and the target, and the trigger is absently pulled.

This evolving master skill is individually unique and is the state of being present, tension-free, with that which is intended, for as long as intended. [Shoemaker, F. (2007). Extraordinary Putting, NY, NY: Penguin, 8-10] Summon the inner artist for a remarkable and often indescribable zone experience of spiritual oneness; and be witness to freedom and an intuitive unleashing of a unique, creative, synchronous flow of human physical activity. Simply relax and put your awareness where your deepest natural breathing originates—sensed image approximately 1½ inches below your navel. Let breathing be deep and full, shake loose any tension in the muscles, and trust that as center is experienced—seamless unity of body, mind and spirit setting the stage for “sweet impact” and zone performance—well-practiced actions will result naturally without effort. A “quick and dirty,” Ritual checklist might include:

  • Take a couple of deep, elevating breaths and visualize energy circulating between your feet and the earth below you. Feel static and dynamic balance and sense a balanced and solid foundation; and connect with the environment surrounding you.
  • Take three-five short, explosive breaths into the upper chest to activate the sympathetic nervous system, increase oxygen and intensify subtle energy currents. Charge the whole body, physically and emotionally, preparing for the exertion to come: make a final visual touch of the target.
  • Become one with the environment, the club, the ball, and the target. On an out-breath, one-pointed concentration on the point of impact of club with ball—mindfulness—channeling all body energies into a laser beam of relaxed, focused concentration, letting go of everything—self-restraint—and sensing the synchronous, flowing swing to impact with a ball creatively floating to the target—awareness.

Squeeze Trigger: With passion burning, the captain of the ship squeezes the auto-pilot button and trusts the programmed subconscious to creatively deliver a ball to an intended target.

A good athlete can enter a state of body-awareness in which the right stroke or the right movement happens by itself, effortlessly, without any interference of the conscious will. This is the paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can’t tell the dancer from the dance. [Mitchell, S. (2006). tao te ching. NY, NY: Harper, viii.]

Don’t forget to check-in with Woody and Birdy Ball, Golf as Guru, www.johnedwindevore.com.

 

 

 

 

 

SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCES

Posted on October 14, 2023

Transcend and include others! Simply close the gap between the others’ self and the authentic self, and accept and appreciate the beauty of our human similarities and differences.

A quick and dirty review of political party platforms exposes the partisan differences, the reality of limited and partial truths, and the downsides of political party sorting as detrimental to authentic individual and collective identity. Moreover, there are glaring inadequacies of both parties because of a lack of view big enough to address the complex issues facing America and global partners today. This certainly helps one understand partisan political division, discord, and complexity in today’s evolving, awakening, and growing world; and it reinforces why folks, including neighbors, are unable to agree on what America needs to unfold for generations to come. We are evolving and there are simply different levels of consciousness in our respective cultures, communities, and neighborhoods.

Is there an option to political party sorting? Integral politics holds promise and offers a process perspective; a map of consciousness and human development; a way of comprehending life and reality in broad yet precise terms; a meta-theory that incorporates the core truths of hundreds of theories; and organizes the profound insights of the spiritual traditions, philosophy, modern science, developmental psychology, and many other disciplines, into a coherent whole. It simply integrates the perspectives that great thinkers, teachers, and researchers have brought to our understanding of self and world, the individual inner-mind and emotions-and outer-physical body-and the collective inner-family and culture- and outer-institutions. (Wilber, Patton, Leonard, Morelli, 2008. Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. Boston, MA: Integral Books, pages 9-10, 114-15.)

Despite all the characteristics that differentiate us—race, language, religion, gender, wealth, and many others—we are all equal in terms of our basic humanity…The problem is that when we see ourselves only in terms of this or that group, we tend to forget about our wider identity as human beings…A key element in biased feelings is what we call “attachment”…What I am calling for is that we move beyond our limited or biased sense of closeness to this or that group or identity, and instead cultivate a sense of closeness to the entire human family. The attitude of “us” and “them” can and often does lead to conflict, even war. Much better, and more realistic, is the attitude of “we.” (Dalai Lama, Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, 2011. NY, NY: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, pages 29, 51, 52.)

The evolutionary impulse intends to transcend and include, to improve the political processes, and to resolve the political party sorting issues. We are interdependent, share humanity, and target for happiness and avoidance of suffering. Life is short! Let us nurture quality, universal compassion, common good, virtue, authentic showing up, be here now, and a sense of “We the people.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

POLARIZATION

Posted on October 7, 2023

Hyperpolarization 101!!! Roe versus Wade, inflation, southern border, Ukraine War, unfolding elections, political chatter, fired House leader, indited former President, these have been our recent headlines. An analytical glance will establish the least common denominator to be hyperpolarization accompanied by social regression and anger. Steve McIntosh offers,

Our frustrated, stymied, stalemated, and hyperpolarized political process is stuck in its tracks, and this gridlocked condition is now beginning to cause our social regression. Hyperpolarization is really the mother of all our problems because very few of the serious challenges we face can be adequately addressed until we ameliorate the fractious and frozen state of our body politic…The only way to ameliorate this “wicked problem” is to effectively grow out of it…Although further regression is certainly a possibility, the fractured state of American society also has the potential to catalyze a cultural renewal that can lead to a new era of political cooperation and progress. In other words, the difficult work of overcoming hyperpolarization can lead to a renaissance in American culture. (Steve McIntosh, 2020, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself, St. Paul, Minnesota: Paragon House, xiii)

Integral Worldview

…this project of cultivating cultural evolution reveres and integrates the values of traditionalism, modernism, and post modernism, and seeks to facilitate the unique kind of progress offered by each of these worldviews. Moreover, this evolutionary program also seeks to bring about a new and inclusive integral worldview that can effectively include the best and transcend the worst of America’s three existing cultures…It is thus by restoring our common sense of higher purpose and collective destiny that we can grow into a more advanced stage of cultural maturity and thereby save our democracy in the process. (McIntosh, 168)

America!! We have a great deal to heal and get done in the battle for the soul of the Nation. Our opponents are not our enemies; and we are not “Red States” and “Blue States.” Let us be open to the infinite potential and possibilities and unify our great country. We are all Americans, and we can each choose to transcend and include others. A vision of our “mighty task” might look something like this:

  • Evolve with solid virtues, core values, and guiding principles.
  • Limited government for citizens.
  • Fiscal responsibility; economic stability and equity; and long-term financial security.
  • Public safety for all Americans, respect for law and order, and no one is above the law.
  • Top ten healthcare system and pandemic preparedness.
  • Programs, processes, and coalitions to dismantle systemic racism.
  • Controlled business ethical and moral issues.
  • Avoid war with strong military and space forces, global allies and networks, and dialogue.
  • Professional State Department and alliances coupled with reasoned foreign policy.
  • Caring about and helping others: churches, individuals, groups, institutions, the government, and individuals.
  • Judges: objective, uphold the Constitution and guiding principles; and satisfy evolving cultural needs.
  • Marriage or children: citizen’s choices, current need, and level of culture’s evolution.
  • Respect for science.
  • Environmental awareness, control, and self-restraint.
  • Strength in diversity and sane immigration laws and regulations.
  • Respect for democracy and decentralized culture with empowered citizens.

Current Reality

As the “run-up” to the 2024 election unfolds; and as we witness the dark divide becoming wider, deeper, and darker, contrasting candidates for political positions can bear fruit for American democracy. It appears the critical decision is to select political leaders who can best close the gap between current reality and a desired vision for freedom in America. Moreover, how we humans choose to “show-up” at the voting booth can be critiqued by our research, examination, and witnessing talents, skills, habits, virtues, identities, and experiences; making observations; and scrutinizing character, personality, mentality, and interests.

In the hyperpolarized environment there are a bunch of tasks that need to get done: non-political voting rights management, women’s rights, technology building, inflation management, infrastructure maintenance and improvement, jobs creation, healthcare, childcare, immigration reform, countering systemic racism, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, minimum wage, climate control, confronting home grown, white supremacy, terrorism, fair share tax reform, sanely evolving through COVID-19 and preparing for future pandemics, education re-tuning and funding, sane gun control, policing in communities, foreign policy, et al. As the two Japanese characters for crisis offer, with danger comes opportunity. The danger is continued and expanded division and autocracy…control; and the opportunity is to work on our unhealthy personal and collective issues, participate in interactive dialogue and coalitions, and get done what is good for all Americans…freedom.

An opinion is that cultic-tribal addiction—political party sorting—is simply unresolved discomfort within the emotional body, the unhealthy self, or as offered in Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening (Wilber, Patten, Leonard, and Morelli, 2008, Boston, MA: Integral, page 41, 92-93),

 

…the shadow or dark side of the psyche, those aspects of ourselves that we’ve split off, rejected, denied, hidden from ourselves, projected onto others, or otherwise disowned…repressed unconscious…because we’ve pushed or pressed it out of our awareness, and unconscious because we are not aware of it…But the fact that we are not conscious or aware of the shadow does not mean that it has no effect: it just expresses itself through distorted and unhealthy means-or what is typically called neuroses…safety and security are sought by bonding together and identifying (fusing) with a tribe in order to persevere and protect against outsiders. Allegiance and admiration are given to the chief…emergence of a sense of self (ego) distinct from the tribe, although it often acts impulsively on behalf of its favored group.

 

Undoing and reintegrating this repressed and denied unconscious to improve our psychological health is process and is not easy; however, the work can free energy that has been spent shadowboxing with the self, making excuses, spinning, blaming, and telling stories. An initial step is simply a sense of openness and a commitment to face everything and fear nothing, just sit in the flames of the unresolved discomfort and give birth to penetrating insight and skillful means. We are simply witnessing the evolution of the human condition, and with patience, persistence, education, compassion, learning, and spirituality, we can move forward together, not further divided, and closer to autocracy, more lying, zero leadership, an orchestrated overthrow of elections, bypass of constitutional order, accelerated division and violence, racism and white supremacy, direction of a violent insurrection, and committed students of Vladmir Putin and his Ukraine disaster. Individually and collectively, we can grow common good, compassion, mindfulness, awareness, virtue, and self-restraint, and quiet the insatiable, unhealthy ego; and the dampening of anger, egotistical pride, jealousy, envy, doubt, ignorance, attachment, and fear can begin to free energy to nurture peace-of-mind, a foundation of compassion for purpose and connections, and a sense of happiness and joy. Let us get this job done for all Americans, not just a select, partisan few. Casts, conflicting political messages, and deliberate, negative words that separate, attack, and divide are simply wrong.

Gap Closers (Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics, 169)

Commitment to unfold personal contributions to the evolution of the universe.

  • The practice of learning, teaching, perking, mindfulness, awareness, and self-restraint.
  • The practice of appreciating and creating.
  • The practice of devotion and service.
  • Reading: Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics and Developmental Politics, Selected Bibliography, 209-214.
  • Investigating some of the integral interviews and podcast available online.
  • Investing the time required to learn this new philosophy and share it with others.
  • Practicing the virtues of faith, hope, love, prudence, courage, justice, and temperance to evolve our character and consciousness.

Simply create a vision, objectively assess current reality, and generate gap closers to move current reality closer to the vision. We can do this!