Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nondual Highlights each day
#2538 - Friday, July 28, 2006 - Editor: Jerry Katz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Chaffee contributes a portion of truth and
humor via an essay by Swami Beyondananda.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swami Asks ... Do We Go for ABunDance or Stay Stuck in
ScareCity?
By Swami Beyondananda
A great Yogi—I think it was Yogi Berra—once said,
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Well, here we are at the junction of love and fear, and if we
stay on the all-too-familiar path of
ScareCity—we’re totally forked. Yes, in a shrinking
world that could definitely use a good shrink,
we can do the same old same old and get the same old results, or
... we can try something different
for a change. Instead of ScareCity, we can go for ABunDance. That
is when we get up off of our
assets, move our buns, and dance together in rhythm and flow. Can
it work? Well, consider what
hasn’t worked.
Goin’ to ScareCity Where It’s Two to One: Two
Fears for Every Joy
ScareCity is the way it’s always been. The fear that there
isn’t enough to go around has caused us
to separate into “people like us” and “people who
don’t like us.” No wonder we have nations at odds
trying to get even, a dogma-eat-dogma world where misinterpreters
have translated great spiritual
teachings as “We’re going to heaven, and everyone else
can go to hell.” But living at each other’s
expense can be expensive. Huge defense budgets, not to mention
all the waste and corruption hiding
behind defense, are bankrupting the world, financially and
morally.
And in a world terrorized by terrorism—and, for that matter,
anti-terrorism—it’s important to
understand that fear makes the body politic more susceptible to
psychopathogens (i.e.,
opportunistic organisms with a poisonality disorder). And we all
know that the fear-gnomes (little
gnomes of gnawing fear) that the current administration has
injected into the mainstream are
directly related to the serious bout of Mad Cowboy Disease that
we haven’t been able to shake.
Now, of course, we don’t want to eliminate fear completely.
That’s why we have clanging bells and
flashing lights at railroad crossings. And badness knows, there
is plenty of badness in the world.
But when we use evil to fight evil—well, I’m not a math
whiz but it seems to me we’re increasing,
not decreasing the evil in the world. And it’s not just the
math, it’s the aftermath: A world stuck
in greedlock, ruled not by the highest common denominator but the
lowest common dominator.
In a world that seems dead-set on destruction, it’s no
wonder so many people have looked heavenward
for divine intervention. But lately, more and more people are
waking up to the notion that we
humans cannot expect to be fed intervenously forever. Maybe we
have to actually live those
spiritual teachings we’re willing to fight to the death for.
After all, Jesus didn’t say, “Now
don’t do a thing until I return,” did he?
Can I be blunt? Maybe it’s time for all of us children of
God to become adults of God and finally
grow up and take some responsibility. And if we’re going to
evolve and overgrow the current
dysfunction at the junction, we will have to transcend the old
nation vs. nation and build the one
nation we have in common— imagination. Yes, in a world of
scarcity, the one thing we have in
abundance is imagination.
Time to Get Out of ScareCity and Declare ABunDance for
All!
Here’s a wild idea: What if we applied our abundant
imagination to find ways we can be fruitful and
multiply—instead of staying stuck in fruitless division?
What if we came to our senses and declared
the current system illegally insane, and committed ourselves to
making the world a sane asylum?
Sounds crazy? Well, what could be crazier than spending so much
of our precious livelihood on
weapons of deadlihood? Is it any wonder the ’hood is so
deadly?
Seriously. What if we used our religions wisely and taught those
old dogmas some new tricks? What
if we decided that we’re not here to earn God’s love,
we’re here to spend it? Hey, even Republicans
could relate to “supply-side spirituality,” right? What
if we changed the game from survival to
thrival? What if we went for heaven on earth—just for the
hell of it?
Now of course, this is all easier said than done. But if we want
to do it, first we have to say it.
So I say we declare a state of emerge ’n see. Let’s
emerge from our addiction to the old needy-
greedy, and see that when we are all dancing together in rhythm
and flow, there is no need for
greed. So let us begin by using our imagination to imagine how we
can create a world where we rise
through the Golden Rule rather than fall to the rule of gold.
What if we lifted our vision to see
above the us vs. them mindset and said, “Wait a minute ... I
think we’re all US!”
So it is time to ask each other, and ourselves what kind of world
do we want to leave for our
children and grandchildren? A world where we’re all in this
together? Or a world where it’s every
man for himself? (Hint: Jesus did not say, “Doodoo unto
others before they can doodoo unto you.”)
As we stand at this crossroads, I say it’s time to make a
stand and stand by our stand. Time to
choose ABunDance, the only true pro-life choice. Now I know what
you’re thinking—no really, I do
... I didn’t take that Evelyn Wood Speed Mind-Reading Class
for nothing—you’re thinking, how can
little ol’ me make a difference? Well, the world is made up
of 6.5 billion little ol’ me’s, and
each of us chooses every day with our words, deeds, intention and
attention. What is out-pictured
in the world is the sum total of 6.5 billion in-pictures. By
choosing to not choose, you are still
choosing, and if you’re already choosing, why not choose to
choose instead of not choose?
It’s either ABunDance or ScareCity, folks ... and if
you’re still sitting on defense, ask yourself
this: Which world do I want to live into?
ABunDance or ScareCity. State of Emerge ‘n See or State of
Emergency. Live by the Golden Rule or
Live by the rule of gold. Holistic approach to problems or
Assaholistic approach to problems. One
Spirit, many paths or We’re going to heaven, you can go to
hell. Rule of law or Overrule of law.
Concern for justice or Concern for just us. Liberties given to
all or Liberties taken with our
liberties. Wealth for the whole or Wealth down the hole. A world
growing in love or A world
shrinking in fear.
Time to Weave a Web of Mass Construction
Sixty-something years ago, when we were battling Nazism,
scientists from everywhere were brought
together in the Manhattan Project to develop the first weapons of
mass destruction, nuclear power.
Today, the enemy is “Not-Seeism”—that is where
people still choose to not see that we all have the
most to gain from a win-win scenario, and that a win-lose
scenario is really a lose-lose scenario.
It all goes back to the feudal feuds, where we got into the habit
of getting even. Even if you
start out even, one goes one up, and then up goes the other in
one-upsmanshhip, and it goes one up,
and one up, and one up, and finally it’s, “Oh, yeah?
Well one-up yours!”
That’s why I say, “Don’t get even—get
odd!” Let’s go for the odd solution that beats the
heaven out
of getting even. It is time now to bring scientists (and everyone
else, for that matter) together
in a new Man-Helpin’ Project to weave a web of mass
construction and develop new clear
power—renewable, nonpolluting energy so abundant we
don’t need armies to defend it. It’s time to
abandon the old fission expedition, folks, and go for fusion
instead.
Imagine—a world-win campaign where the whole world can win.
Time for all of us who choose ABunDance
over ScareCity to address each other with deep reverence and
respect and say, “May we have this
ABunDance together?” Time to turn off the TV and tell a
vision instead. Who needs reality TV when
you have a reality game where everyone can play and everyone can
win: Extreme Planetary Makeover.
Will we succeed? Well, that’s what we’re playing the
game to find out. But even if we don’t win,
one thing is for sure. “The World Game” is a
heaven-of-a-lot more fun to play than the “end-of-
the-world game.”
© Copyright 2005 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. To
contact Swami, please call 800-SWAMI-BE
or catch the Swami online at www.wakeuplaughing.com.