Growing up without technology....

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint, the slats were apparently too far part, and there were no bumper pads. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!

We sampled cake batter and cookie dough with raw eggs in it, and survived.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, ice cream, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were not overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we earned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable! We did not have PlayStations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.

We had friends!

We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball and baseball, and sometimes the ball would really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to deal with disappointment...and move on.

Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade!!! Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned from it all. And you're one of them! Congratulations. Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, "for our own good."

Disclaimer: No cats were harmed in the making of this post. I sure as heck didn't write the above, but, then again, I like it. I'm posting it here. If you are the author, cool, nice to meet you. If this is a problem having this here on my blog, cool. Let me know, and I'll remove it. No problem.

Shades of Gray

So many people look to fix intangible things on the outside vs. on the inside. If they were to look within, they’ll see that it's a power-struggle of "My Way vs. Your Way". Often times these intangibles are relationships with other people be they personal intimate, romantic, work-related, etc; each person is all-too-often personally vested in and polarized to their own position along with holding onto their own expectations of themselves as well as the other person / people involved. If they just let go and just be, then everything in life is much easier. All you can control and decide for is yourself.

There are an infinite variety of variables and situations I could pose as an example(s), but which answer(s) are right for YOU as an individual and for YOU as part of a couple/owner/employee/sibling/parent/etc ? Do the answers for one situation (say as an individual) mix and mesh or not with the others (such as part of a couple/owner/employee/sibling/parent/etc)?

Ask not to change without, but change within instead.

Ask not for the answer to what is perceived as a problem, but instead ask that the path may be clear.

It's about changing you own perspective and perception. It’s about the change within.

Sometimes to illustrate the point, I’ll ask someone ... "How many sides does a coin have?" and often times the answer given is “two”, which is a very valid and true answer from that viewpoint and perspective.

From my own viewpoint and perspective, my answer is that It depends on what you call a "side". I view most, but not all coins as having 3 sides….. The Obverse, the Reverse, and the Side. A dime from the US would have more sides than say a nickel would because all of the ridges/edges on the dime that the nickel lacks. Now when you're talking other countries...... well, you can see the variables and thus there is more than one answer.

See.... it's about changing the perspective.

Only perceiving two sides of a coin is, in my opinion, the same as only seeing answers (and coins) as two-sided and/or black and white. When you look at things from other viewpoints, they become less two-sided, less black and white, and more about a wide range of varying shades of gray.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Rich, Broke, Poor, Wealthy - The Nuances

I'm a huge Wordsmith. I love the various nuances of words and their meanings.....

To see if you understand where I'm coming from, see if you can explain what I mean by this statement below:

I have been broke, but I've never been poor.
I am not rich, but I am wealthy.
There are those who are broke and poor, broke and wealthy, rich and poor, and rich and wealthy.

What do these words mean as I mean them?

Rich
Broke
Poor
Wealthy

What are your thoughts? Comment on this post and I'll approve them so they show up here.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Freedom

I, like I'm sure many others have, thought about and considered the question: "What is Freedom and what does it mean to me?" Like so many things, it's a philosophical subject with many answers, all of which transcends mere meaning as put in the latest dictionary. I can only speak from my own point-of-view and what freedom means to me. To you, to my next door neighbor, to the stranger down the street or even beyond that, freedom may have anywhere from a slightly to completely different meaning. Be that as it may, agree with me or not, (in part or in whole), this is my interpretation of freedom is and what it means to me.

Freedom is personal responsibility
Freedom is not the right to say or do whatever you want without personal responsibility, being held accountable, or avoiding any consequences.

Freedom is the ability to think and do whatever we may choose, but to be held accountable and responsible for our thoughts, words, actions and deeds on all levels, personal, societal, global, and universal, along with any and all consequences thereof, see and unseen, acknowledged and unacknowledged which is freedom.

Freedom is responsibility, not the lack of it. It is responsibility to one's self, one's family, ones' community, one's society, one's world and one's universe; as all affects the All. The free person is responsible with their thoughts. words, actions and deeds, as these are things of power; and the power of freedom is responsibility. Bound together, these things cannot be undone, they cannot be separated, for when one is separated from their responsibility, one is no longer free, but enslaved. Freedom is anything but free, and so few people truly understand that. They think freedom is earned on the battlefield and wars over land and country; but I say the greatest war has still not been won. It is the war within. It is the war of our shadow selves, of humanity, or our lack of it. As a species, there are things that are right and wrong based on societal rules and expectations; but as species, a family on this planet which is but one small piece of a much larger albeit unseen universe; we have have a responsibility to ourselves, our species, and to the universe at large to not allow things such as as we do to this world, ourselves and each other, indeed to the All.

We are free to drop a pebble in the pond, but lest we be fools, we should know that the action of tossing the pebble into the pond affected not only the water into which it was thrown and passed through, but also the rock itself, the air through which it passed, the land from which it came, the ripples it caused, the pond or lake bed in which it settled, the sediment in which it displaced and albeit minutiae, the ecosystem and indeed all life on Earth is affected, seen and unseen, known and unknown, et al.

Freedom is the authority over ourselves. It is the responsibility in the microcosm and the macrocosm, in, for and of the All.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Why I'm Still Here

I wrote the following in response to someone who is currently going through their own battle with cancer; and I thought I'd share my words here as well. After writing it on the fly, it reallt reflects why I'm still here in my currently incarnated state of being. I wrote it this way, no edits, no drafts, one pass and off into the Internet ethers my words were posted.

So here we go......

At age 34 in 2001, I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma. Most skin cancers are not deadly unless left untreated. They simply remove them and life goes on, that's it. Most skin cancer deaths are caused by Melanoma; and of the 4 types, Nodular, (of course the type I had), is the most invasive and the most deadly because it grows DOWN vs OUT. There are also 2 scales by which they measure the tumor, Clarks is one, and Breslow is the other. One measures depth, one measures width. I was a Clarks Level 5 and a Breslow Level 4, the highest on both scales.

the tumor was 9mm deep (half in inch) in the left-lateral side of my scalp. Chemotherapy and Radiation do not work on it. It would have been better to have another form of cancer where those methods DO have some sort of viable affect, but on Melanoma, they do not. It's all a guessing game of trial and error. they did surgery and said they got it all, which they did. I had a great Oncologist, who is also a Surgeon. (He did the usual College > Medical School > Internship) to become a doctor, but then he went BACK again to become what is he is today; so he's got a total of 21 years in just in schooling and internship. he's both an Oncologist and a Surgeon, which most people are not both. Suffice it to say, he had a LARGE part of my staying here......

However..........

Within 15 minutes of getting the news, I made a conscious decision to live or die (from this incarnation anyway). Death, like birth, is not a begining nor an end, but instead is only merely a gate of transition through which we all must pass.

From whence ye came, so shall ye return; the only difference between is, what did you learn?
What did you teach and who did you reach?

You see....we enter this World with nothing, but it is up to us if we leave it the same way we came into it, or if we leave it with everything that matters... love, family, friends, memories and experiences, all the intangible things that really matter. The things that matter cannot be held within your hands, but only within your soul, within your heart of who and what we really are. It is within this essence of pure being, and of being, that we simply are.

I did not leave this realm, this incarnation, because it is not my time, I am not ready, and I have too much to do here yet in the service of others. I firmly believe that while my surgery and medical care was needed, and while many sent love, prayers and healing energy my way; it is this spark of divine conscious decision to stay or to leave which made the difference.

It's been 9 years. I'm 43 and still here.

Nick, I don't know you in this incarnate state, but I know we are one. I know the greatest force, indeed The Source of All That Is, is Love. I send you this Love not from my human mind, not from my incarnate state of being, but from the being of my true self, our true self. As I have survived this cancer in my incarnate state, as I send this Love to you, I pray that your journey be long and your path be clear. You will both learn lessons and teach them. Knowing what I know now, I would never undo my experiences, for they helped define me who I am today, as your experience will help you define yourself. I'll close with my email signature, as it says it very well, I think....

Manifest your reality.

So shall you perceive it, so shall it be.

The only limitations you have are the ones you believe in and place on yourself; because who you are is who you choose to be.

Do not let others define you, nor should you define anyone else. Instead, define yourself and live honestly. Others will see you as you really are.

What you believe is a possibility.
What you choose is a destiny.

Transcending Labels (and other things too)

We’ve all identified people, places, things and ourselves with labels (which for the purpose of common communication) are used to define who, what, where, how, what we/they/it does, etc about whatever the subject is. We need these labels like we need any other word for the sake of common communication; but we must be careful that we do not become attached to labels (or anything else in this realm and/or incarnated existence) because as some traditions teach; attachment leads to suffering whereas detachment leads to true freedom. Attachment is one of the tools used by the egoic mind, which is constantly living in a state of past and future, but never the present moment. The egoic mind uses this tool for its own self-survival instinct which suppresses our true self from shining through. It keeps us in self-bondage, and we are both the one bound and the one doing the binding of our true self. The egoic mind is like an errant child, untamed and unfiltered, out of control; but we can control it. Observe it. Minimize it. When we become the observer, we are detached from this egoic mind and we are silent within. This quieting of the mind lets the soul feel and hear our connection to The Source and All That Is. We are always connected, we’re just not always aware of it. At times, there will be an “Ah Ha!!” moment which will break through the egoic mind, but it quickly grasps hold again and shakes us back into its submission. We have a taste of freedom, but we never realize what it is until we escape the egoic mind’s control enough to become the observer.

To become the observer and detach from the egoic mind, we must minimize the effect the egoic mind has on us. To do that, we must detach ourselves from the people, places and things within this incarnated existence / realm in which we walk. This isn’t to say that we don’t care about people, places and things, but rather that we lessen our personal vestment in them and our rigid polarization to them. We don’t let labels with emotional attachment, but only as a mere tool of communication. To see an example of this, talk about toasters with someone. I doubt they are going to rant and rave or show much personal vestment or polarization to one toaster vs another; but now talk about politics, sex, religion, sports, the economy, abortion, or any one of the other big hot button topics, and you’ll soon see these emotional attachments, personal vestments and polarizations in people. These are part of the egoic mind and have been the cause of much suffering for All. I admit, in the past, I too was like that. I too was guilty of falling prey to the tricks of the egoic mind; but now I can discuss any subject without attachment to it. Sure these things matter, limited as they may be, because they only really matter within the context of the game, this incarnated life, the great dream, the Maya illusion. Owning Board Walk matters too within the context of the game of Monopoly too; but does it REALLY matter in the larger picture of your life? No. Not really. The same is true with these other subjects of politics, sports, sex, religion, or anything else that you or others may be personally vested and polarized to. When you move beyond the veil to the other side, will it matter? Does it really matter to your true self? YOU, the real YOU, is not your body, nor is it even the human persona within it. YOU are not your egoic mind either. YOU are so much more than that.

It’s nice to have things, people, places, labels saying that “I am this” or “I do that”; but realize that these are merely all part of the illusion of this realm. In short, as the old saying goes… “Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff.” You enter this realm with nothing, speaking of material wealth, friends, etc. You will hopefully leave this realm’s incarnated life with everything that matters… love. That’s all that matters is Love and Life (not the incarnated life, but the much larger Life that you are.) If you must have an attachment to something; then let it be an attachment to Love and that larger Life which we are.

Remember…. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Copyright © 2010 Rev. Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Manifesting Prosperity

What is prosperity? I believe one possible answer to that question is: "wealth."
This isn't a simple answer, because some answers inevitably lead to more questions. In this case, the answer of "wealth" causes the next question to be asked: "What is wealth?" It is from my perspective that prosperity and wealth go hand in hand; therefore I must address both questions to truly answer: "What is prosperity?"
This is no one true answer or single perspective to the questions of "What is prosperity?" or "What is wealth?" Everyone has his or her own uniquely subjective viewpoint on what these terms mean.
I don't view prosperity and wealth from the mundane, materialistic definitions of them, as material things are only temporary and may be lost as easily as they are gained. I see them from a spiritual viewpoint.
Material things are important only in the way in which we use them while we are in this realm of existence; which is finite and temporary at best. Material resources may make you rich from a mundane world perspective, but they have nothing to do with spiritual wealth, which comes from within -- it's who you are, not what you have. It is through our own intent and actions that our true wealth is either increased or decreased.
Do you leave a legacy of love?
Did you make the world a better or worse place for you having been in it?
Did you grow or stagnate as an individual?
Did you expand your knowledge?
Did you expand your love?
Did you move out of your comfort zone(s) in some way?
Did you take more than you gave or vice versa?
Who are YOU?
I've met a lot of materially rich people who aren't wealthy at all. Whether they earned it, were born into it or however they acquired material riches, in the end, they are just like anyone else, for they too will transition past the thin veil, leaving it all behind. When he passes, will people say, "Yeah, he had a Mercedes and paid his bills on time, had a ton of cash in the bank?" Or will they say she "was a wonderful soul who was so blessed and gave so freely of herself to others" and be remembered for who she was? True wealth comes from within, and it is from here that true giving and receiving takes place. The more we truly give of ourselves, the more we get back and the wealthier we become within.
As for prosperity, the more inner wealth we have, the more prosperous we'll be as we give freely of ourselves. Giving of ourselves is the most valuable asset we have; and the effects will be felt by everyone around us -- family, friends, co-workers and all the various lives we touch. Indeed, we'll be very prosperous.
Self-assessment is a key lifelong practice that's part of the path to inner wealth. We must know our own true intent, for it is the beginning of all we think, say, do -- and it affects All That Is. You must make your own way on your own path, and intent is the beginning.
We enter this world with nothing, but we leave with everything of who we are. Do not value the weight of your wallet. Instead, value the weight of your soul.
Copyright © 2007 Ron Schreiner. All Rights Reserved

The Fire God

In China, there’s a man by the name of He Tieheng (nicknamed "The Fire God") who says he uses a technique called Qigong to channel his brainwaves to cook food in his hands. He has performed these demonstrations in front of as many as 7,000 people before; and according to one witness, Mei Lee, (who was at once such demonstration in Guangzhou, China), Mei Lee said that “Afterwards he had black soot on his hands where the fish was singed.”

He Tieheng has stated that “The power of the mind is able to conquer natural forces”; and he seems rather adept at demonstrating it to thousands of people at a time. I believe that I agree with He that the mind is able to conquer natural forces because thought is energy and learning to focus that energy will allow you to be able to work with it better than you could work with it without such focus. While Qigong is merely the system he uses to help him focus his energy, it’s certainly not the only method that one may use to move massive amounts of focused energy; but it’s the one that works for him. I think it’s wonderful that He can provide such inspiration for others and to show them such possibilities; but it’s also my hope that He uses his ability responsibly in other ways as well to benefit humankind.

To access such abilities, to have such focus and be able to move energy in ways that most people do not, these are all wonderful things; but we all move energy every second of every day. Are we doing so responsibly? What energies are we sending out to others and receiving ourselves? What realities are we creating and manifesting, (albeit unknowingly so by most people) each and every day? If we are to act responsibility, we must also think responsibly and act responsibly in all of our thoughts, actions and deeds. We may not be cooking fish with our bare hands such as He is, but are we frying our own lives and the lives of others by the energies we project and receive? Are we acting in the best interest of our perceived individual selves or are we acting in the best interest of the All, the whole of everyone and everything with what type of energy we are sending and receiving? That’s some food for thought.

Copyright © 2009 Rev. Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

I Write Like.....

Just a short blurb of a post about "I Write Like..." ( http://iwl.me/ ) which is a website where you can paste text into it to be analyzed and compared to well-known authors. Just for fun, I took some of my complete articles/blog posts and put them into that site for comparison. Here's what it came up with. What do you think?

Article: Naked with a knife
Like this author: David Foster Wallace

Article: Why I switched from Windows to Linux as my operating system of choice
Like this author: Cory Doctorow

Article: Avatar
Like this author: H. P. Lovecraft

Article: 5 Steps of Insanity
Like this author: William Shakespeare

Article: Success is a Failed Failure
Like this author: Arthur C. Clarke

Article: Playing Monopoly
Like this author: Margaret Atwood

I'm not sure how accurate that website is, but at least (according to it), I appear in good company. Ah well. I don't take such things seriously, but it's was fun at least. Always remember to have fun in life, and to have it often.

The Hidden Spirituality of Men

I read this article and wanted to post it here to share with you. I like the message it sends, and although I have not read the book, from what I've read (and posted) below, it seems like something worthy investigating.

The spiritual lives of men are, for many, concealed, repressed or forgotten. In an exclusive extract from his new book, Matthew Fox argues that men can rediscover their true selves by embracing the role of noble warrior.

I know of a renowned scientist who has a large sweat lodge in his backyard where he and his wife do regular sweats led by Native Americans. They even know the ancient songs in the Lakota language. But no one at the university where he works is aware of his spiritual practise. It’s hidden from them. His is one of the best-kept secrets of our culture: Many men are profoundly spiritual and care deeply about their spiritual lives.

What’s no secret is that men today are in trouble. And these troubles affect everyone. The warring of our species continues, from Iraq to Sri Lanka, from Lebanon to Somalia; the U.S. government sells more weaponry worldwide than even entertainment. Meanwhile, global warming is a global warning: a warning that we’re not doing well as a species and as a planet. One out of four mammal species is dying out.

In fact, young men are also disappearing. In Baltimore, Maryland, in the shadow of America’s capital, 76 percent of young black men aren’t graduating from high school. It’s no secret that failed education frequently leads to incarceration, and as a result, more young black men are in prison than in college in the U.S. For many inner-city youth, it’s cooler and more manly to go to jail than to get a degree.

For years I’ve been writing as a male feminist—indeed that was the No. 1 objection to my theology voiced by the chief inquisitor general of our day, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), when he expelled me from the Dominican Order, saying I was a “feminist theologian.” But what I’m saying now is in no way a denial of my previous work; rather it’s a logical extension of it. Women have been recovering their stories and their archetypes. Where are the men in the awakening our species needs so badly? Where is the healthy masculine in men and in women?

Our culture has latched onto images of God as male and then defined for us what male means. Male means winning (being No. 1 in sports, business, politics, academia), going to war (“kill or be killed”), being rational, not emotional (“boys don’t cry”) and embracing homophobia (fear of male affection). Male means domination, lording over others—whether nature, one’s own body, women or others.

Thomas Berry, a Catholic priest of the Passionist Order and an eco-theologian, talks about the need for “The Great Work.” What is this Great Work? It’s “the task of moving modern industrial civilization from its present devastating influence on the Earth to a more benign mode of presence.” Such a great work will require great spirits, real warriors, and it will require steering our moral outrage and our powers of competition in more positive directions.

The Great Work is “not a role that we have chosen. It is a role given to us, beyond any consultation with ourselves. ... We are, as it were, thrown into existence with a challenge and a role that is beyond any personal choice. The nobility of our lives, however, depends upon the manner in which we come to understand and fulfill our assigned role.” Noble warriors are called for. The archetype of the spiritual warrior helps to answer in a constructive way some important issues: What to do with male aggression and competition? How to steer both in healthy directions?

Aggression is in all of us. Whether you’re athlete or preacher, businessperson or taxi driver, aggression will emerge. It’s easy to identify the negative ways it expresses itself: as war, as conquest (whether in business or sex), as passivity (aggression turned against oneself: “I can’t do that...”), as selfish competition (“I can’t win unless you lose”) and more. But what are the healthy ways to engage it? How to turn aggression into nobility, to use Berry’s term?

To me, the key is understanding the distinction between a warrior and a soldier. A Vietnam veteran who volunteered to go to war at 17 described this eloquently: “When I was in the army, I was a soldier. I was a puppet doing whatever anybody told me to do, even if it meant going against what my heart told me was right. I didn’t know nothing about being a warrior until I hit the streets and marched alongside my brothers for something I really believed in. When I found something I believed in, a higher power found me.” He quit being a soldier and became a warrior when he followed his soul’s orders, not his officer’s; in his case, this meant protesting war and going to jail for it. The late Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa talks about the “sad and tender heart of the warrior.” The warrior is in touch with his heart—the joy, the sadness, the expansiveness of it.

However, not everyone understands this distinction. I believe the confusion of soldier and warrior feeds militarism and the reptilian brain. It’s also an expression of homophobia, since I suspect heterosexism is behind much of the continued ignorance and fear of the real meaning of warriorhood. The warrior, unlike the soldier, is a lover. The warrior is so much in touch with his heart that he can give it to the world. The warrior loves not only his nearest kin and mate but also the world and God. The warrior relates to God as a lover.

How different is this from right-wing depictions of God as judge and not lover? This view of God leads to the distortions of masculinity. The confusion of warrior and soldier feeds unhealthy relationships, with God, self and society. It feeds empire-building, and the builders of empire would like nothing more than to enlist young men who believe soldiering equals warriorhood. We can’t afford this ignorance any longer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If the warrior is different from the soldier, there must be distinct ways by which the warrior develops his or her strength. If the warrior is the mystic in action, then let’s try the following four steps on for size. They derive from the mystical/prophetic or mystical/warrior journey in the creation spirituality tradition.

   1. The Via Positiva. This is the way of celebrating life, of seeing the world with its beauty and goodness, its grace and generosity—and being open to seeing more. This is the way of reverence, respect and gratitude. It’s the way of original blessing, whereby we live out the truth that the universe and life itself, for all the struggle and pain they dispense, have birthed us as individuals and communities with what we need for happiness and for sharing joy.

   2. The Via Negativa. The Via Negativa goes into the darkness, the wounds, the pain and silence and solitude of existence to find what we have to learn there. It’s a way of letting go and letting be, of emptying and being emptied, of moving beyond judgment and beyond control, and learning to breathe, to sit, to be still, to dwell in silence, to taste nothingness without flinching and, ultimately, to focus. It’s the way of grieving. Without grief we can’t move on to the next stage, one of giving birth. The ancient German theologian, Meister Eckhart von Hochheim, calls the process of letting go “eternal.” The warrior faces death and, because he or she has, loves life more passionately.

   3. The Via Creativa. Having fallen in love with life often (Via Positiva) and having been emptied and learned to let go and let be numerous times (Via Negativa), the spiritual warrior is ready to give birth. Creativity is the weapon, the sword, of the spiritual warrior—who is mother as well as father, and who digs deep into a wellspring of wildness that provides the energy for new life, connections, images and moral imagination by which to change things in a deep, not superficial, way. The true warrior is a co-creator, a worker with Spirit, a worker for Spirit. The warrior’s hands are the hands of Spirit at work; the warrior’s mind is seized by Spirit precisely in the work of creativity. As 13th century Catholic philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas put it, “The same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation hovers over the mind of the artist at work.” Every warrior is an artist at work for the people that they might live.

   4. The Via Transformativa. Claims to artistry and to creativity and to co-creation need to be tested. The Spirit requires discernment and evaluation. The primary test for claims of spirit work is that of justice and compassion. Does the work I’m doing pass the justice test? Does it fill gaps between haves and have-nots or make the chasm deeper? Does it contribute to healing and empowerment of the powerless or re-establish the privileges of the few at the expense of the many?

The prophets always speak on behalf of justice; they’re attuned to injustice, which they feel like a kick in the gut. Injustice arouses the passion of anger and the prophet/warrior is in touch with his or her anger and passions. But instead of just responding in a reptilian brain action-reaction mode, the prophet uses the anger as fuel to fire effective and creative ways to enact justice and healing. And the authentic warrior remains humble, or close to the Earth (humus, from which “humility” is derived, means “Earth” in Latin), and aware that he or she is only an instrument of the work of Spirit. Not a messiah. A prophet is a weak and needy human being like everyone else, fully capable of evil and mistakes. And needy also for the Via Positiva to be a regular part of one’s spiritual practise, a need for filling up and refreshing in the cool waters of peace and joy that life’s small moments can bring. Nevertheless, in all of this the warrior/prophet remains fierce for justice and compassion to happen.

We can see that the warrior not only undergoes these four stages in ever-deepening ways but becomes them. Look and see. Look at the warrior in yourself as you practise these ways and become them.

Often, to be a warrior, we must let go of our privileged status in life, no matter how hard won. Putting aside the cloaks of accomplishment, one goes into darkness alone and vulnerable. Nothing guarantees that at the other end one will emerge as the same person or fit to play the same roles in society ever again. Friends and relationships, achievements and titles, salaries and retirement plans may all be left aside.

The warrior knows about death, doesn’t deny mortality but carries it like a shield, a guard by which to defend self and others. Knowing our mortality urges us to live fully and defend what’s beautiful now, not tomorrow. The warrior doesn’t wait to live, doesn’t put off living and loving and defending and creating for another day.

Having learned to let go, the warrior doesn’t harbour resentments or become motivated by revenge to chase after others. Forgiveness, another word for letting go, is learned drip by drip, day by day, not as an act of altruism but as a necessary cleansing of the past, so we can live and function effectively in the now. The soul doesn’t grow into its potential fullness when it harbours past hurt and turns it over and over. That’s the way to grow bitterness, not soul. The warrior is committed to growing the heart and soul, not to freezing it in the puny size it was yesterday or in years past.

The warrior also becomes the artist and creative being, expressing the creativity and aesthetic bias for beauty that the universe demands in all of its actions. The warrior bears ongoing evolution on his or her back, becoming an instrument for evolution, an agent for change and transformation, for the creativity and healing that bring about that evolution. Evolution isn’t accomplished at the expense of the past but brings the past along, folds it into the new forms, the struggling new seeds of plants or beings, ideas or movements, structures or languages that are yearning to be born.

The warrior serves. This service isn’t coerced, as with a slave, but offered. Service is love of strangers. The warrior finds ways to love the stranger. The warrior gives and gives generously. And he gives to himself as well as to the greater community the gifts of love of life (Via Positiva), of stillness and letting go (Via Negativa), of creativity (Via Creativa) and of justice and compassion (Via Transformativa).

The spiritual warrior uses anger and aggression, containing it at the same time. Anger becomes moral outrage within his heart, fueling actions. However, these actions aren’t violent, aggressive or deadly. The spiritual warrior seeks to change others and so his decision-making is rational and compassionate, in service of results, not just a discharge for personal anger.

We men have been allowing others, including corporations, the media and politicians, to define our manhood for long enough. It’s time for us to take our manhood back. And we must do this before it’s too late—before excessive yang energy (which is fire) literally burns the Earth up. The history of the distorted masculine goes back thousands of years to around 4500 BCE with the overthrow of matriarchy and the triumph of patriarchy. This led to what Riane Eisler, University of California in Los Angeles professor and president of the Center for Partnership Studies, calls “the dominator trance,” which reveals itself in empire-building and witch-burning, in inquisitions and crusades, in banishing the goddess and Divine Feminine, in making a scapegoat of pleasure and sexuality and in a modern philosophy that promised to “torture Mother Earth for her secrets,” to quote Francis Bacon. The male soul has been profoundly wounded by this history—as has the female soul. Today, the stakes for finding a Sacred Marriage of the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine have never been higher. Our survival hangs in the balance.

When a healthy masculinity returns, both men and women will rejoice. So too will animals, plants and generations not yet born. We’ll not only be lovers but also the beloved. We’ll rediscover friendship and the value of alliances over hostilities. Beauty will return. The Goddess will return. We’ll find God within ourselves and within creation. Life will become a celebration more than an unending struggle.

Ultimately, men aren’t “problems to be solved,” but deep, impenetrable mysteries. Each one of us carries many stories, many ancestors and many archetypes in often-hidden places. We’re diverse. There’s no single “man problem.” Our unique DNA assures us that each of us came through this long, 14-billion-year journey with our own tales to tell and work to do. We’re wondrous and surprising and full of creativity. And we’re evolving still. We’re green and blue, warrior and hunter, father and son, husband and lover, spiritual and sensual, free and bound. That’s the adventure of it.

Time isn’t on our side. But our ancestors are. They and creation itself are cheering for us to make the right decision. To be real men to ourselves and generations to come.

It’s time for men to grow up spiritually. As a species, we can no longer be stuck in our adolescence. We need to explore ancient wisdom and deep teachings about the spiritual life of men, and how we touch it and how it touches us. If it’s true that the spiritual life of men is, for many, hidden or concealed, buried or covered up, repressed or forgotten, secret even from ourselves, then great things might follow if we dare to unbury and open up, reveal and unveil, uncover and herald, and speak out loud.

Matthew Fox is an Episcopal priest, theologian and author of numerous books on creation spirituality. This article is excerpted from The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, published in October by New World Library.

I'm Baaaaaaack!!!!

WOW!! My last post was on April 11th, 2010 and now here we are all these months later now. Sorry about that everyone. I've been busy because the vast majority of my time has been taken up by building a new house since September 2009. Digging started in January 2010 with the house being completed in June 2010 and the final move-in on July 17th, 2010. For the next few months, I'll be unpacking and settling it, but now that the craziness is over (for the most part), hopefully I can get back to writing once again as time allows, but I always work on writing in quality vs in quantity, although having both is ideal. I am my own worst critical and perpetual dictatorial editor, chopping my own words without abandon with a passionate furry.

So for now, a short note just to let everyone know where I've been and what I've been up to. I really need to take a vacation. Anyone have any suggestions?

I luv you man (I need beer)

“I luv you man (I need beer)” said the man's cardboard sign which he held at the edge of an off-ramp.

I didn't judge him or try to fit him into a society-created stereotype of “homeless”; I simply saw a person, another aspect of the same part of the whole, who just like me is one his own journey. What caught my attention was not his appearance, not the fact that he was on that corner, or not even any assumptions of who he may be; but rather what struck me was his honesty. There are people, homeless or not, rich or not, healthy or not, all income ranges, all occupations, all religions, all paths, anywhere and everywhere, who are not honest. Here, now, on this corner, was a simple truth of honesty. I rolled down my window, told the man I appreciated his honesty, and gave him $10 for his beer. It's my hope that Dino (the name he gave me) used it for food, shelter, or whatever else he needs. How many people drove by him, never even giving neither him or that simple truth a single thought? How many people who drove by him may have observed the man; but not the simple truth?

Life is simple. Truth is simple. Many times we look for things only to not find them even when they are right in front of our face. We look for the big things, missing the little things. We look for the tidal waves, ignoring the fact that even such a large thing is made up of little droplets of water. Even those drops of water are made up of atoms, molecules, and like everything else, share the same foundation of etheric energy in All That Is. All things big are made of all things small. While this energy is the smallest of things; it is also the largest. We miss both things because we have vision with blinders on that we do not see the entire spectrum. It is the same with the man on the off-ramp. Often times people have blinders on because of their egoic mind, beliefs, perceptions, and so on. When we remove the egoic mind, when we remove these filters, these blinders, we begin to see what has been before us all along. We notice things like this simple truth of honesty, of the simple truth of our connectedness to All. What things were in motion in order to that man to be there, for me to be there, and what things came from that brief meeting? One thing that comes to mind is this article, as this came from that meeting. Your reading of it also came from that meeting. Did he tell others? Did it make him smile? Was he nicer to someone else because of what transpired between us? I don't know.

You may change someone's entire life with a word, a smile, an opening of the door for someone, the smallest of things is the biggest of things. It's the inner-woven web of the inter-connectedness of everything and everyone. It's challenging to try and comprehend such a vastness as this, but even if we catch a glimpse of it, perhaps that's enough to open doors within ourselves, to begin to take off the blinders and see the simple things, the simple truths, the simple complexity of the spiral dance. Dino's honesty inspired me to write this article, which I turn hope inspires you. We may never know who we touch and how; or even how far our influence reaches other people and in what ways; but I know this simple truth that all are one and all are connected.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Fear and Letting Go

The title-track from the same-named 1969 John Denver album "Rhymes and Reasons"; with its simple yet elegant message is as poignant and relevant today as it is when it was written all of those years ago.

These lines from the first stanza seem to eloquently summarize the very state of being for many in the World today… “Fear that is within you now; It seems to never end; And the dreams that have escaped you; And the hope that you’ve forgotten.”

Fear is the antithesis of Love; for it is the nemesis of the soul’s freedom and that which binds the holder of that fear, turning them into both prison and prison guard of their own self-created prison to which they are bound. The holder of Fear holds the key to their own freedom; and that key is to just let go.

Let go of the egoic mind, of judgments, of perceived realities and personal vestments in such things. Live in the present moment of now. When you realize that you can live in such presence in the present moment of now; that is inserting the key in the lock. When you turn that key and actually live in the present moment of now, you release yourself from the egoic mind and personal vestments, accepting what is by letting go and living in true freedom.

Just as the song and its message are simple, do not confuse this with to mean that either is simplistic. This message, albeit very old, is so simple that it all-too-often appears to be very complex when in fact when the very nature of it is the exact opposite. We can see evidence of this all around you where people have all sorts of systems (usually in the form of some religion) where they try and find a path to freedom, to enlightenment, to connection and communion with the Source of All That Is. People often times look to these complex external systems with their Exoteric design versus Esoteric. While Exoteric is external, Esoteric is internal. (For further details on the two different positions, see the link at the bottom of this article)

Rhymes and Reasons (3:17)

So you speak to me of sadness
And the coming of the winter
Fear that is within you now
It seems to never end
And the dreams that have escaped you
And the hope that you’ve forgotten
You tell me that you need me now
You want to be my friend

And you wonder where we’re going
Where’s the rhyme and where’s the reason
And it’s you who cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind

For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day

Like the music of the mountains
And the colours of the rainbow
They’re a promise of the future
And a blessing for today
Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And it’s colder than the sea

It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free

For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day

And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to non believers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way

Words and music by John Denver
“Rhymes and Reasons” are © Cherry Lane Music Pubg Co Inc

For further information on the meanings of Exoteric versus Esoteric, please visit: http://www.kheper.net/topics/esotericism/esoteric_and_exoteric.htm

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved