Updated March 25, 2011
Some Sort Of New Direction - Originally posted 3/22/2011
I've been struggling with my direction, in life as well as online, since I viewed the newest installment of the Zeitgeist films, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward. The concepts introduced seem(ed) so important that the need to tell anyone and everyone was often overwhelming. I know my family and friends were sick to tears of hearing me ask, "Have you watched it yet!?" every conversation we had and my husband, though he agrees with the concepts 100%, begged for my attention to be focused elsewhere.
I struggled with how to best turn those in my sphere of influence onto the ideas and goals of The Zeitgeist Movement. First, I dedicated my online musings to exposing all the "wrong" in the world: governments taking advantage of their peoples, the world standing by to let it happen, wasteful personal habits, and the rampant willful ignorance of our youth to name a few. All this tactic managed to do was work me into a bleeding-heart-frenzy just in time for my exhausted husband to get home from work....you can guess how well that worked.
Then I thought, I'll just lead by example (harrumph), I'd write about the things I was doing to live as outside of our broken system as possible. Those of you that have gone through similar life style changes know, it's tough as hell to make even the smallest changes, let alone write about them. Also, I just felt like I was being judgmental, inadvertent though it was.
So I pulled back and decided I needed to figure those emotions out so I could move on and feel productive again! I began meditating to the Major Arcana of my tarot deck, reading my Toa Te Ching again and I caught the episode of My Name Is Earl in which Christian Slater lives on a commune, Earl learns about global warming and freaks out about all the people who don't know until Christian Slater explains that we can't hold ourselves responsible for those people. We can only do what we can do and that's enough. (sage words from a wise man....)
Or as Jacob Needleman puts it (in the back of my copy of the Toa Te Ching) "...concepts of virtue, ideals of wisdom and morality, and all precepts that are intended to lead us toward the good all to easily make us forget the main thing, which is to open within ourselves to that radiant energy..." By getting caught up in what I thought everyone needed to be doing to save the world, I became unable to be any kind of help myself. I was spiritually and mentally paralyzed by all the information I felt I must get out to the masses or we would surely all perish in a blaze of ignorance!!!
It's ok, you wouldn't be the first person to call me dramatic. But I've realized that: 1) I am not the first and only person to figure out what's really going on. 2) I won't be the last and 3) I have my hands full fulfilling my own path, I can't make it my job to help everybody else along their own. I can only keep informing myself and striving to make one more step forward than I do back each day.
So from now on, no more scary news updates. I'm sure you're all well aware of whats going on and if not there are some great news source links on the right hand side of the blog. I can allow myself to care enough to change my own habits, but not so much that I worry about the actions of the masses. Who knows what you'll find here instead (That's why the title is Some Sort of New Direction) but you won't find news on politics, natural disasters or the latest sex scandal.
You will find empowering and uplifting information presented with the goal of recharging your emotional and mental stores so you can keep fighting the good fight, whatever that may be! You'll also see some design changes in the next few days as well.
I'll close with a passage from the Toa Te Ching that has helped me greatly in the past few weeks:
As translated by Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English
Nineteen
Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom,
And it will be a hundred times better for everyone
Give up kindness, renounce morality,
And men will discover filial piety and love
Give up ingenuity, renounce profit,
And bandits and thieves will disappear
These are outward forms alone; they are not sufficient in themselves.
It is more important
To see the simplicity,
To realize one's true nature,
To cast of selfishness,
And temper desire
Originally posted January 18, 2011
I had initially planned a spectacular rant for this page. A strong declaration of the things I stood for and the things I knew were wrong. Instead, I offer the Daily Om for January 17, 2011, received a day late yet still right on time, as my platform.The World And In Ourselves
Feeling Fed Up With Humanity
Feeling Fed Up With Humanity
From time to time, we may all feel fed up with humanity, whether it’s from learning about what’s going on around the world, or what’s going on next door. There are always situations that leave us feeling as if people are simply not capable of behaving in a way that is coming from a place of awareness. Often it seems as if people are actually geared to handle things in the worst possible way, repeatedly. At the same time, none of us wants to linger in a judgmental mood about our own species. As a result, we might tend to repress the feelings coming up as we take in the news from the world and the neighborhood.
It is natural to feel let down and disappointed when we see our fellow humans behaving in ways that are greedy, selfish, violent, or uncaring, but there are also ways to process that disappointment without sinking into despondency. As with any emotional response, we honor our feelings by feeling them fully, without judging or acting on them. Once we’ve done that—and we may need to do it every day, as part of our daily self-care—we can begin to consider ways that we might help the situation in which humanity finds itself.
As always, we start with ourselves, utilizing our awareness of the failings of others to renew our own commitment to be more conscious human beings. We are all capable of the best and the worst that humanity has to offer, and remembering this keeps us in check, as well as allowing us to find compassion for others. We may find ourselves feeling compelled to serve people who are suffering injustices at the hands of other people, or we may begin to speak out when we see something that we don’t think is right. Whatever the case, the only thing we can do is pledge to serve the best, rather than the worst, of what humanity has to offer, both in the world, and in ourselves.
So, this is my way of processing my disappointment in humanity while also actively working to help it develop, one mind (including my own) at a time. Please allow Nerd-n-Ernie to become one of your sources for daily truth, random internet hilarity/nerdery and positive ways to connect with the global community. Why? Because you're a busy person, with a busy day, who likes to stay informed and I'm an unemployed person who fills my time searching for truth/lolcats on the web. We were made for one another.
Feel free to throw any feedback my way via the comment sections below each post (you'll need to click on the post links to access the comment boxes).
Thanks for checkin' out Nerd-n-Ernie.
