The Conspiracy of Silence

The Mysterious Dr. M. talks about the conspiracy of silence in The Handbook On Being Human, vol I. I have been thinking about that lately - The Conspiracy of Silence. Sometimes it seems like people are just more comfortable living in denial and it is understandable to a degree. It is not easy facing big problems. If I might paraphrase the great sociologist C.Wright Mills from his benchmark publication The Promise where he states, what ordinary men are aware of and what they do are bounded by the private orbits in which they live. In other milieu they feel trapped, so they come to focus on their job, their family, and their neighborhood. Don't run! I know! We get tired of hearing about all of the escalating threats to our Peaceful Space. Drug crimes, people leaving the scene of accidents, road rage and drive by shooting, child predators and identity thieves, tainted food and killer toys, failing schools and the politics of the absurd, terrorist threats and new fronts, endangered species and global disaster. It is the environment of fear and although some good may emerge from it (you may become more alert and aware), the bad far outweighs the good. Stress mounts and people begin to reach their psycho-emotional threshold and the social fabric begins to shred. The negative aspects of fear have to be counter-balanced by the positive energy of hope. Do you realize that you have the power to give hope to others? As Dr. M. states, it can be a simple as a smile.

If you've read the Handbook you know that Dr. M. talks quite a bit about The Emotion of Fear. If you allow fear to drive you back from engaging life and facing its big problems, those problems will simply continue to grow until the consequences of neglect make the problems insurmountable and unavoidable.  Dr. M. states that we have already set some negative consequences in motion. I'm still feeling like most people just don't get it. I observe and interact with people and too many seem absolutely clueless that we are a world in crisis. The sense of banding together for the common good, that sense of community seems to be bleeding in the streets and people are just walking by as if it is not their problem. The sense of urgency that we expect to grab someone in the face of life-threatening danger is absent. There is a quote on my office door, "the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of moral difficulty, do nothing."

The Handbook states that everyone has a part to play. And every part is important whether big or small. Hey, today we have proof in our electronic devices that there can be great power locked up in little things. You can do some small thing each day to stay engaged in the process of Creating Peaceful Space. The positive pushing back against the negative is in the nature of things. You can unlock the radiance of your Positive Energy Signature and transform negative energy into positive energy.

The Handbook was written because our family and planet are suffering. I for one, want to make a difference. As a father and grandfather, I want to be able to look my children in the eyes and say I did something to try and leave the world a better place than I found it. Collectively, we have failed in that legacy but individually, you can still live up to that commitment. Please help someone to rise to Enia. Share your comments on this Blog and the Handbook with someone you care about! Thanks!

Peace

Peaceful Space and an Attitude of Gratitude

It is still not a certainty that Airborne™ works but the container is an absolute treasure for Tehuti, our cat. It is a joy to stop and watch him push, tap, and chase the thing from one room to the other. And to see him stop, sit, and look at the container as if he expects it to move by itself. Oh! And then there is the way he wiggles his backside as he stalks and prepares to lunge at the round prey playing possum. Yes, it is a small thing in the greater scheme of things, but when I’m away from home and doing the things that we have to do in the world, and dealing with the things we have to deal with just about every day, the images of Tehuti will flash into my mind and bring with them Peaceful Space and an Attitude of Gratitude.

Of course our dog Akilah would be miffed if she did not receive equal mention at the cat. Akilah had to take some medicine recently and of course I tried the usual tricks like sticking the pills inside a piece of frankfurter or inside a piece of bread with peanut butter coating. Those worked for a while but Akilah got smart very quickly and stopped trusting my late night antics. When I want to smile and remember what is really worth living for, I can just think of Akilah sitting there on the kitchen floor, tail wagging like a snake on the move, ears perked, tongue lapping, and my wife standing there making faces and high pitched sounds to which Akilah responds by taking her medicine with great enthusiasm.

And then there is our new raised-bed garden and the view from our kitchen window, and the weather and waking up each day, and having our health, and so much more. And in those moments when life challenges me to become tense and brittle, to become cynical and angry, to withdraw and abandon interest in making a difference, instead I think of some of the things that I am grateful for, things that make me smile. These and other memories and feelings act like a flowing stream that carries me to the meandering river of inner joy that leads to the ocean of Peaceful Space.

In the face of the difficulty of Creating Peaceful Space in this often hostile world, Dr. M. says thinks of this wonderful planet that supports us, think of our insect, plant, and animal relatives that share this magical place with us and how they help to support our existence. Think of your own majestic creation, the special being that you are and determine in your own heart that you will not let this planet and the life that she bears die without doing your part to follow the Prime Directive and to Create Peaceful Space!

Peace