EVOLVING

Posted on October 6, 2024

America, we can do this!

We have a great deal to heal and get done in the battle for the soul of the Nation. Our differences do not make us enemies; party of choice does not imply war against opponents; and we are not “Red States,” “Blue States,” and “swing states.” Let us be open to infinite potential and possibilities and begin the trek to unify our great country. Differences are a gift and looking for similarities offers opportunity and challenge for peace-of-mind, happiness, growth, and evolution. Misery is outside in and is optional! 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:

VISION

Strategies

• Evolve with solid 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.
• Global, top ten healthcare system, and disaster 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.
• Helping others: churches, individuals, communities, groups, institutions, and the government.
• Judges: objective, uphold the Constitution and guiding principles, are ethical, 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.
• We embrace helicopter views, peace-of-mind, and purpose and connections built on virtues of compassion and empathy.

Core Values and Guiding Principles

The Constitution is sacredly obligatory upon all. Our core values are truth to power, honesty, integrity, hope, love, and morality; and we put quality in all we are and all we do. We do not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those amongst us who do; and we respect law and order. We are committed to “walk the talk,” to action, and to the concept of 100% responsibility, life happens because of me and not to me. We are objective, not self-serving, and make decisions in the best interests of The United States of America. Our communities are circle clubs and peacefully resolve and respect differences.

Leaders: have a track record of success and are trusted; have a history of compassion, loving-kindness, and building coalitions; understand that great leaders have been good followers and that leadership is an influence relationship that energizes earned power and willingness to achieve mutually defined goals; are master of the self, mindfulness, awareness, and integral life practice and model the way as persons, in relationships, socially, institutionally, and by helping others and caring about others; have high standards with respect to morals, ethics, guiding principles, and core values that are plainly manifested in the candidate’s personality, character, mentality, and magnetism; have learned self-restraint and 100% responsibility; are visibly committed to health, wellness, and well-being personally and for all Americans; are well-qualified, listen, inspire hope, have faith, are empathetic, and who know where the country is and what it needs; will be surrounded by exceptionally well-qualified associates; will diligently work to create and maintain a compelling worldview vision and action strategies and plans for the country; and will lead the development of policies and programs to evolve this country for all Americans.

Policies and Programs

• Voting integrity with a viable and well led United States Postal Service.
• Immigration reform and sanity.
• Abortion legislation recognizes women’s rights to choose.
• Affordable healthcare and viable public health outreach (integral physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, wellness, and well-being) coupled with honored pre-existing conditions, decreasing drug prices, and necessary integral psychological and health processes, including resolution of opioid addiction. Top ten measurable dimensions: history, coverage, financing, payment, delivery of care, prescription drug regulation, human resources, and future challenges. Considerations: consumer friendliness, choices for providers, innovation, generosity of coverage, and equality of care.
• An economy for working, middle-class families that is teeming with jobs, union solidarity, small businesses, agriculture programs and processes, essential childcare, corporate sanity, sound trade relationships, and social security system.
• A globally envied education system: facilities, teachers, curriculum, and schools of choice. The system nurtures human connection and mutual control and cooperation.
• Racial and social justice, diversity, and anti-racism policies and programs that evolve dismantling the conscious and unconscious pillars of racism in the country: prison reform; human dignity and respect, all colors, all genders, all religions-integral spirituality. Civil rights are a must.
• Communities are safe and teeming with peaceful activities, including protests; citizens and police are mutually respected, masters of the Self, and model the way as persons, in relationships, socially, institutionally, and by helping others. Violence on streets is not tolerated and is dealt with sanely.
• Leading-edge military and space force, visits to military deployment areas, exceptional veteran and veteran spouse-family-children’s benefits, outreach, integral psychological health, and combat veteran re-entry-transition program.
• Leadership, management, and control of pandemics through the Centers for Disease Control, coupled with state public health entities and active support and interface with the World Health Organization.
• Global climate change and environment leadership, commitment, and responsibility.
• Intelligence and technology
• National security and foreign policy with inspired State Department and allies: underwater, space, and military; and coalition building facilitated by trust, respect, and mutual goals.
• An infrastructure re-building program: maintenance, re-building, and evolution.
• Sensible gun laws.
• Programs for the empowerment, advancement, and placement of women.
• Tax equity and sanity; and long-term care and financial security programs for seniors.
• Freedom of religion and spiritual path.
• Media are objective, tell the truth, and are respected.

Let us unify; and transcend and include others. We are the United States and a beacon for the globe. “O beautiful for spacious skies…”

FROM WALL STREET TO…

Posted on September 28, 2024

We can save our planet for generations to come; however, it will require that we the people evolve from a Wall Street economy to a Main Street economy, from capitalism, markets, runaway consumption, and depletion of natural resources to people, family, community, local business, and preservation of global resources. Dr. Korten contends, “We must now seize this pivotal moment in our collective history to recognize that we are in fact part of Earth’s biosphere and transform our economies accordingly.” (Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, Dr. Korten, 145)

Main Street met its doom in the 1970’s and Wall Street saw its birth in the 1980’s. As Dr. Snyder offers,

Beginning in the 1930s, an incipient American welfare state took shape. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” John F. Kennedy’s “New Frontier,” and Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” described the shift from imperial expansion to social mobility. For many Americans, these were the decades of the American Dream. Through the 1970s, the gap between the richest and the rest was closing, enabling ever more Americans to join a broad middle class…The American Dream meant social mobility. Rather than promising more land forever, it offered a sense of unpredictable but possible social advancement on the present territory of the United States. Mobility was no longer about families settling down on land but about new generations creating new kinds of lives. In this conception, the permeable borders were those of social classes…In the American Dream, society was fluid, subject to achievement by individuals over the course of a single life. Unlike historical estates, such as the peasantry or nobility, the middle class was defined not by ancestry or vocation but by life. Entering the middle class was not only about individual Americans achieving a certain level of prosperity but about the general possibility that everyone could live unpredictably and end up somewhere new. Children would not be stuck in the estate or profession of their elders, as in previous centuries, nor caught in a race or class mobilization, as in the Nazi or Soviet regimes…Although sometimes presented as the natural result of capitalism, the American Dream depended on social policies developed after the capitalist collapse of the Great Depression. It lasted until its origins were forgotten and capitalism itself was enthroned as the lone source of freedom. That happened in the 1980s…During that decade, the west European and American responses to the postimperial age diverged…Beginning in 1981, under the presidential administration of Ronald Reagan, American policies of social mobility were reversed. Union busting weakened workers’ ability to bargain. The neglect of antitrust law suppressed small business. A relaxation of taxes on the rich placed burdens on everyone else. The explicit rationale was negative freedom: President Ronald Reagan maintained that government can never help, only hurt…The end of communism in eastern Europe in 1989 was taken as confirmation of this American version of negative freedom. (On Freedom, Dr. Snyder, 131-132)

We will not be free, nor will we survive, if we ignore the limits of our Earth or deny the rules of our universe. Freedom and survival depend on recognizing constraints and turning them in our favor. (On Freedom, Dr. Snyder, 168)

With the 2024 Presidential Election just days away, an interesting reflection has been where Former President Donald J. Trump (DJT) and Vice President Kamala Harris (VPKH) stand with respect to Wall Street Economy and Main Street Economy. There is no doubt that DJT is on the Wall Street train! The puzzle has been how VPKH is able to balance campaign strategies to enlist support from middle America and working folks while at the same time honoring the needs of the corporate world and the Wall Street economy. Simply need to pay close attention to VPKH and Tim Walz messages and strategies as we move closer to election day. We have a great deal to get done to move from Wall Street to a new Main Street; and it all starts with each of us accepting the limits of our Earth and living with the rules of our universe. (On Freedom, Dr. Snyder, 168)

MAIN STREET

Posted on September 22, 2024

Beyond our varied races, religions, nationalities, and languages, we humans share a collective dream of a world of healthy, happy children, families, communities, and natural environment joined in peace and cooperation. The greatest barrier to achieving this world is the fabricated belief that we are by nature incapable of cooperating in the common good…The institutions of the Wall Street economy not only champion a perverse morality by celebrating and rewarding the qualities of individualism, materialism, greed, and violence characteristic of our lower nature but also actively suppress our realization of the qualities of caring and compassion of our higher nature. These institutions are a collective choice and creation of those whose life experience has thwarted the development of these higher-order capacities. They are not our collective destiny…It is within the means of the more functional majority to make a conscious collective choice to bring forth a New Economy that champions a positive morality and that cultivates and rewards our distinctive human capacity for cooperation and reason in service to all…Those who join in the work of navigating a great turning from a Wall Street phantom-wealth economy to a Main Street real-wealth economy embark on a bold and courageous journey to a destination beyond the horizon of our immediate experience. (Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, David C. Korten, 127)

Let’s turn the page and begin to move forward from phantom wealth to real wealth, to be caring and responsible, and to serve the greater interest of the community where folks engage in cooperative, caring problem solving every day within local communities, organizations, and government entities. We simply bring the caring and cooperative aspect of our nature to the surface, accept responsibility for our relationship with the Earth’s biosphere, and restructure the institutions of the economy accordingly. Even with significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, we are faced with significant, possibly permanent disruptions of food production due to climate changes, collapsing fisheries, water shortages, and the loss of topsoil. Absent targeted, planned efforts, plague, famine, and deepening violence are predestined. (Korten, 138) The Wall Street Economy excels at increasing demand, increases inequality and prefers investment in phantom-wealth vs real wealth, and it loves population growth for labor and market expansion…all at the expense of Earth’s resources. With focus on the almighty dollar, we are shielded from resource exhaustion that is right before our eyes. A climb out of the foxhole, coupled with a helicopter view of our deteriorating global resources and processes, is quite revealing.

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, empathy, character, compassion, decency, goodness, courage, trust, honesty, integrity, self-restraint—is blatantly obvious. Witness polarization, attacking fellow human adversaries, suppression of voting rights, mass and social media untruths, cyber warfare, 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, education state-of-the art and funding deficiencies, insane gun control, absence of political leadership, conspiracy theories, et al.  The danger is continued and deepening division, fear, and autocracy; and the opportunity is to look beneath the behaviors and confront narcissistic, unhealthy ego driven behavior; improve common good as individuals; and merge and participate in interactive, needs based dialogue and collectively manifest the missing third leg of the stool, morality, 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. A common good baby step can be uncovered with action—walk the talk—using the genius of Marshall B. Rosenberg in Speak Peace in a World of Conflict,

Peace requires something far more difficult than revenge or merely turning the other cheek; it requires empathizing with the fears and unmet needs that provide the impetus for people to attack each other. Being aware of these feelings and needs, people lose their desire to attack back because they can see the human ignorance leading to these attacks; instead, their goal becomes providing the empathetic connection and education that will enable them to transcend their violence and engage in cooperative relationships…When people get connected to their needs, they don’t have this anger that drives them to want to punish others. We do need to make evaluations about our needs: Are they being met or not? But we do this without going into our heads (Per Joseph Nguyen, Don’t Believe Everything You Think, our thinking, the “mind chatter,” catalyzes our suffering.) and making enemies and villains out of people who in some way are not fulfilling our needs…Every time we go up into our head and make a judgment of others instead of going into our heart and seeing the needs, we decrease the likelihood that other people will enjoy giving to us…The fact remains that when people get connected to the needs behind anger, frustration, and violence, they move into a different world. (134-135)

Simply take time out to observe, touch into feelings, and identify needs under the anger, frustration, fear, and violence carpet…the world can change. As Rumi noted, “…beyond ideas of righthood and wrongdoing there is a field: I’ll meet you there.” (135) The next time you are either angry or frustrated with yourself or another, take the time to stop, lift the carpet, and note what need is there waiting to be satisfied. Be a change agent, not a catalyst for more turmoil. Together, let’s turn the page to Main Street economy and enjoy real wealth of family, friends, community, and business, not Wall Street’s phantom-wealth economy of corporations, capitalism, markets, commercials, %’s of growth, the rich, and the poor. Joy is not about freedom from but freedom to…As Korten reminds,

We are awakening to the reality that we inhabit a wonderous but finite living planet and that our lives are inseparably interlinked with all of Earth’s species. We must learn to live by the biosphere’s rules and restructure our economic systems accordingly, which presents an epic test of our human capacity for creative innovation, collective choice, and self-organization. (Korten, 127)

 

LET’S TURN THE PAGE

Posted on September 14, 2024

When was the last time you heard a politician say, “I am the one responsible for this screw-up.”? Clinging to false narratives with blaming, excuses, no desired results, CYA mentality, justifying, lying, denying, spinning, and defending simply produces more of the same. And when the choice is to do more of the same, the country will stay where it is—divided and teetering on the brink of collapse, simply self-consumption with Wall Street mentality with phantom dollars, capitalism, self-consumption, and markets vs Main Street mentality with people, life, family, community, and a living, restoring economy.

Many folks act as if this formula were true: Desired Results = Not Desired Results + Excuses. Let’s stop spinning those wheels and make a conscious choice not to give away power and influence by passing the buck, blaming, and justifying. It is a waste of time! There is a unifying option and better strategy: commitment to the concept of 100% responsibility, life happens because of me not to me. [Hyler Bracey, Jack Rosenblum, Aubrey Sanford & Roy Trueblood, Managing from the Heart, 1990, Atlanta, GA: Heart Enterprises; and training handout, “100% RESPONSIBILITY,” The Atlantic Consulting Group, 1986]

The concept of 100% responsibility is simple: I am 100% responsible for what happens; and other people are not responsible; not 50-50; not 100-100. It is 100-0! There is no one else to blame. Whatever happens, I did it. Whatever the result, I created it. Accepting what happens if you are 100% responsible, and others are 0% responsible, empowers one as opposed to making one dependent on other people and events. Imagine the power of the country if everyone were assuming 100% responsibility for its success. Imagine how refreshing it would be for every American to be examining what they did and what they could do rather than wasting energy getting off the hook. Perhaps the greatest value in 100% responsibility is that the focus moves to producing desired results and not wasting time finding ways to avoid responsibility. [Hyler Bracey, Jack Rosenblum, Aubrey Sanford & Roy Trueblood, Managing from the Heart, 1990, Atlanta, GA: Heart Enterprises; and training handout, “100% RESPONSIBILITY,” The Atlantic Consulting Group, 1986.]

In Beyond Religion (2011, NY, NY: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 83), the Dalai Lama offers wisdom,

…if we are really interested in tackling our problems at their roots—whether we are talking about human conflict, poverty, or environmental destruction—we must recognize that they are ultimately related to issues of ethics. Our shared problems do not fall from the sky, nor are they created by some higher force. For the most part, they are products of human action and human error. If human action can create these problems in the first place, then surely, we humans must have the capacity as well as the responsibility to find their solutions. The only way we can put them right is by changing our outlook and our ways, and by taking action.

With a commitment to the mantra, “I am 100% responsible,” important steps will have been made to empower each of us, to heal our great country, and to move forward today for generations to come. It is certainly not catastrophic to accept responsibility, determine what the issue is, determine what needs to be done to fix it, fix it, and move on. Let’s turn a new page!

Some interesting reads: When Corporations Rule the World, David C. Korten; and Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, David C. Korten.

As Dr. Korten notes, “Even as we align ourselves with our core values and build alliances with those who share them, we must be constantly aware that we have embarked on a journey for which we have a compass but no map.” (When Corporations Rule the World, 360)

 

 

 

WE ARE DIVIDED

Posted on September 7, 2024

As each day flies by and the media displayed, center ring circus of the remaining days of the 2024 Presidential election unfold, the glaring message is that type of government will be on ballots. Yes, we will be casting votes for candidates who represent a form of government, either continued democratic republic or work-in-process autocratic. The democratic republic votes will offer two parties, earned power, leadership, stability, inclusion, equality, common good, choice, freedom, compassion, health, wellness and wellbeing and quality in all we are and in all we do. Autocratic votes offer one party, position power, dictatorship, corruption, money for a few, racism, white supremacy, capitalism and markets, chaos, anger, division, tribalism, fear, and civil war.

Today it feels like the raging fire of polarization needs water!! Simply, a view of the values of Self, others, and the collective through the lens of integral leadership, love, common good, virtue, family, community, and compassion. In other words, a visionary, global perspective, evolving and emerging; words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, giving gifts and acts of service; caring about others, helping others and humanness, however…

Political parties and politicians do not address root causes of issues for Americans and global partners. Unfortunately, they work problems, chat about symptoms, and offer tokens that offer temporary patches, permit posturing, and earn votes. And they continue, election after election. For America the diversity of values of the Senators from the 50 states and 435 voting representatives create a complex process that is certainly indicative of a government that is currently not able to accomplish much for Americans. Adding to the caldron of values complexity are ingrained individual and collective cultural values—persons, families, neighborhoods, small towns, and cities—of Americans, and competing political parties and politicians who are marketing and selling changing and evolving, diverse party platforms, while lobbying for votes, accepting, and lobbying for local, national, and foreign money and salvation of jobs that pay personal bills. The goal is simply to distract which prevents unifying and accomplishing what needs to be done.

After completing a quick and dirty review of the diversity of the Republican Party and Democratic Party platforms, partisan differences highlight the reality of limited and partial truths and the downsides of today’s political party sorting as fundamental to 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 are unable to agree on what America needs to unfold for generations to come. We each have values and are growing and evolving; our respective communities and cultures have values, are growing and are evolving; and we are all OK. To be different is OK and human. We just need to figure out how to get along with our respective differences.

It feels like the challenge, and opportunity, are to chat with and experience each other through the lens of leadership, love, common good, virtue, and compassion. What does this lens offer? Simply sensing, experiencing, expanding, and growing awareness of the Self, others and our collective diverse values with vision, perspective of evolution, respect, humanness, courtesy, loving kindness words, gifts, truth, patience, softness, purity, intimacy, affirmation, genuineness, et al.

And political parties and politicians will not get this sensing, awareness and negotiation job done for us! They can help us! We need good leaders who are aware of and have a track record of success in awakening collective intelligence beyond polarization. This requires having moved beyond the chains of ego; personal success with the journey of merging and becoming one with others; and successes with managing and leading dynamic change and transition. (Andrew Cohen) Integral captures the essence of the process; and it demands a long-term process, not a one or two term posture game. We the people must get committed to get it right because this is our process, not some process sold to us by a vote getting politician. And they are OK, too. However, they are not the ones who will save this country. We are!

Integral captures the essence of this long-term process; and it holds promise. It is simply a helicopter view, 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. (Ken Wilber, et al, Integral Life Practice, 136) Step one is to move to the inner mind and emotions, simply sync the heart, mind, brain, emotions and nervous system. (Heart Intelligence, Doc Childre, Howard Martin, Deborah Rozman and Rollin McCraty)

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)

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 universal compassion and a sense of “We the people.” To plant the seed, other countries have done this, and we can, too!

A touching video: YouTube, “A Cloud Never Dies,” re. the life and times of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Monk. A good read is Becoming Supernatural: How Common People are Doing the Uncommon, Dr. Joe Dispenza. Remember to have bunches of fun on the journey, i.e., do not forget how to play.

 

 

FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Posted on August 31, 2024

As the 2024 Presidential election unfolds, a MUST READ for all voting Americans, whether Republican, Independent, or Democrat, is The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann. The introduction certainly nails what we have witnessed, are witnessing and will witness, “His ‘brand’…transgression-an id with no super ego.” (xiii) Simply, the impulsive part of the personality that is driven by pleasure and repulsed by pain, absent the judgmental and morally correct part of personality. Murray and Weissmann offer, “THE UNITIED STATES is venturing into uncharted territory with not one, but four, criminal indictments of a former president for crimes alleged to have been committed before, during, and after his presidency.” (xvi)

As we witness the dark divide becoming wider, deeper, nastier, and darker, contrasting 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, authenticity, compassion, gratitude, trust, hope, courage, honesty, prudence, and integrity; 3) can best transcend and include others and consciously evolve a sane American culture; and 4) committed to earned power, not position power.

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, deconstruction of government entities, environmental deregulations and deconstruction of institutions may be his 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, wash his dirty laundry and witness a confusing 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

Former President 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.”
• Disrespect for the history, traditions, and legacy of Arlington National Cemetery.
• 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.”

Former President 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. Read The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann. America needs an individual with healthy ego, the conscious part of personality that mediates between the id and the superego and makes decisions that are in the best interests of the UNITED STATES.

SOS

Posted on August 23, 2024

We live and learn, sometimes, maybe! If the desired result is to change one’s behavior or outlook on the quality of life and living, why does one keep doing the same old stuff, over and over, and over and over, again, absent any positive, long-term result? Here’s a story about two recent experiences.

August 20, 2024

While climbing out of bed this AM noted A-fib…tightness in the throat, upper back, and nape of the neck…and a need for meditation, Heart Mind Entrainment Music, and a chat with dear wife Cindy to sort the wheat from the chaff—chaos—and open a new vision for a niche in today’s world…being grateful for a move to higher ground absent depression…ups and downs OK, depression not OK. Here we are…with Dr. David C. Korten (When Corporations Rule the World) as a self-appointed mentor from a distance and with admiration…help folks move away from sacred money and marketing to family and community. Action plans: finish book, Good Parents! (vision complete, writing in process, target for Berret-Koehler Publishers, www.bkconnection.com); weekly BLOGs on web site www.johnedwindevore.com (1st BLOG 8-18-24); possible video with TED; local presentations as invited and offered; appropriate, invited, Speak Peace (Speak Peace in a World of Conflict, Marshall B. Rosenberg) conversations (observations, feelings, needs, and requests) five days a week at LA Fitness; check out New Economy Working, co-founded by Dr. Korten; practice Speak Peace with Cindy; help transgender granddaughter, Ivy, and grandson, Haley, ASU student; and enjoy life, the new niche, and have fun and play  with the family.

August 19, 2024

While at LA Fitness riding a stair stepper (the steps to nowhere) the intuition offers a taste of reality. The 8-18-24 vision is the SOS I have been doing my entire life…create a new OUTER game plan—distraction—and life and living will be “hunky dory,” as Gma used to say, along with the culture messages, beaucoup book messages, and role models. Simply feels like a temporary reprieve, and the negative mind chatter remains. It is now time to start thinking about the next distraction and fabricate the next game plan. Simply a dream of happiness and joy with a new game plan…vision, current reality assessment, and gap closers. Yes! SOS!

What’s the problem? Lots of nice feeling, sounding, presented outer work absent INNER work to resolve the depression issue. This has been the story of my life: find a new distraction, the latest program…military service, education, corporate America, career, health, wellness, new books, new book ideas…and the list is quite long…50+ years of self-awareness and self-development, each new undertaking missing INNER work. However…

In 2001 started a three-year trek to Naropa University to learn to meditate and study the five Wisdom Traditions. Simply was looking for the connection between the body and the mind because the bowling average had peaked at 208. This opened the door to INNER sentinel work that continues. My most recent experiences have been with energy psychology and a bunch of communication and psychology related books. And intuitive awareness fruit showed up today at LA Fitness when it offered that the sterling 8-20-24 vision was missing simple INNER work to move forward from the depression.

My self-prescription for negative “mind chatter” is as follows. Turn on the heart mind entrainment music with earphones, simply sit (meditate) to quiet the mind, and, when ready, begin watching and listening to the “mind chatter,” the stuff of the conscious mind. As the negative “mind chatter” rambles, move directly to heart, mind, brain, emotions, and nervous system coherence breathing and visualize a positive, exciting experience…here are The HeartMath Solution guidelines for Freeze Frame (64-85):

1. Recognize the stressful feeling and FREEZE-FRAME it—simply take a time out to take a closer look at the immediate situation.
2. Make a sincere effort to shift focus away from the racing mind or disturbed emotions to the area around the heart. Breathe through the heart to help focus energy around the heart area. Keep focus here for at least 10 seconds.
3. Recall a positive, fun feeling or time in life and attempt to re-experience it.
4. Using intuition, common sense, and sincerity, ask the heart, what would be a more efficient response to the situation, one that will minimize future stress?
5. Listen to what the heart says in answer to the question.

Reflect, have a great day, and share your love, gratitude, trust, compassion, courage, honesty, integrity, and prudence for life, living, and America. Observations, feelings, needs, mind chatter, nervous system, and behavior will offer the proof of the puddin’ that INNER work may boost one’s morale and lasting hope for a United States chocked full of joyful families and communities. Let’s join hands and make it happen!

Some resources.

• The HeartMath Solution, Doc Childre, Howard Martin, and Donna Beech.
• Sitting in the Flames: Uncovering Fearlessness to Help Others, Appendix D, Basic Meditation Instructions, Dr. John Edwin DeVore.
• When Corporations Rule the World, David C. Korten.
• Speak Peace in a World of Conflict, Marshall B. Rosenberg.

SACRED MONEY

Posted on August 19, 2024

The author was a small-town kid from Northwestern Ohio, born in Defiance Hospital, Defiance, Ohio, and raised in the town of Sherwood, population 500…27 miles South of Michigan, 15 miles East of Indiana, and 60 miles West of Toledo. Pursued the opportunity to go to Defiance High School…class size went from 13 to 130; and from there it was off to the United States Military Academy, eight years in the Army, including two years in Vietnam during the War, success in corporate America, five degrees, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and enjoying retirement…golf, piano, reading, family, and writing, and grateful for every moment above ground on the right side of the grass. For a perfectionist, lots of good %&*$ to get stuff right in this is world. A corporate America, boss recommended, self-awareness process has continued for 50+ years and $85,000. Yet, still depressed. Simply absent deep, inner, Little John work.

Every day it is flabbergasting, and a catalyst for stress, depression, chaos, and A-fib. Only have become interested in politics for the last eight years; however, frequently have noted the drastic changes and transitions between growing up in that small town in 1940-1954 versus today’s global world, internet, cell phones, capitalism, and chaos.…simply changes from that early years focus on family and community to the military, corporations, “gangs,” as Dr. David C. Korten (When Corporations Rule the World) calls them, literally ruling the world to pursue, at all costs, sacred money and markets. Life as a kid was quite basic and simple: great brother, parents, grandparents, and cousins; safe home, love, basic needs, lots of play, work in the family owed hardware store, close friends, church on Sunday, and school.

However, depression has become the name of the game for a few years. I lay awake last evening wrestling with chaos…and thanks to the self-awareness work and a patient wife, Cindy, have a feeling a needed family and community niche has surfaced…the feeling is I need to kiss the sacred money and markets good-bye and evolve to higher ground. Let’s peek at the night of CHAOS…trying to put the pieces of the depression puzzle together…

Cindy and I had recently completed six months of energy psychology “digging deep” and relationship work, coupled with reading several energy psychology books; reading Dr. Rosenberg’s Speak Peace in a World of Conflict, Nancy Pelosi’s The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House, Dr. Korten’s When Corporations Rule the World, and Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation; wrestling with and helping with some family issues…transgender granddaughter, ASU student grandson, and a trip to Mexico with family; issues with new, progressive, tri-focal glasses; visit of granddaughter from Pennsylvania; an introduction to TED suggested by son Doug’s girlfriend, Amber; and had recently finished for son Doug Jeffery Mason’s Dad I Want to Hear Your Story: A Father’s Guided Journal to Share His Life & Love.

Sounds like a need to transcend and include others and “I messages,” as daughter Chris coaches. To handle this crisis Dr. Korten offers, “Cowboys in a Spaceship (42)…we must come to terms with a basic reality: we have passed over the historic threshold from an open frontier to a spaceship world…” (50)

While climbing out of bed this AM noted A-fib…tightness in the throat, upper back, and nape of the neck…and a need for meditation, Heart Mind Entrainment Music, and a chat with dear Cindy to sort the wheat from the chaff and open a new vision for a niche in today’s world…being grateful for a move to higher ground absent depression…ups and downs OK, depression not OK. Here we are…with Dr. Korten as mentor from a distance and with admiration…help folks move away from sacred money and marketing to family and community: book, !Good Parents! (vision complete, writing in process, target for Berret-Koehler Publishers, www.bkconnection.com); weekly BLOGs on web site www.johnedwindevore.com (1st BLOG 8-18-24); possible video with TED; local presentations as invited and offered; appropriate, invited, Speak Peace conversations (observations, feelings, needs, and requests) five days a week at LA Fitness; check out the New Economy Working Group, co-founded by Dr. Korten; practice Speak Peace conversations with Cindy; help transgender granddaughter, Ivy, and grandson, Haley, ASU student; and enjoy life, the new niche, and have fun with the family in Mexico.

WHAT’S UNDER THE CARPET?

Posted on August 11, 2024

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, empathy, character, compassion, decency, goodness, courage, trust, honesty, integrity, self-restraint—is blatantly obvious. Witness polarization, attacking fellow human adversaries, suppression of voting rights, mass and social media untruths, cyber warfare, 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, 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 look beneath the behaviors and confront narcissistic, ego driven behavior; improve common good as individuals; and merge and participate in interactive, needs based 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.

A common good baby step can be uncovered with action—walk the talk—using the genius of Marshall B. Rosenberg in Speak Peace in a World of Conflict,

Peace requires something far more difficult than revenge or merely turning the other cheek; it requires empathizing with the fears and unmet needs that provide the impetus for people to attack each other. Being aware of these feelings and needs, people lose their desire to attack back because they can see the human ignorance leading to these attacks; instead, their goal becomes providing the empathetic connection and education that will enable them to transcend their violence and engage in cooperative relationships…When people get connected to their needs, they don’t have this anger that drives them to want to punish others. We do need to make evaluations about our needs: Are they being met or not? But we do this without going into our heads and making enemies and villains out of people who in some way are not fulfilling our needs…Every time we go up into our head and make a judgment of others instead of going into our heart and seeing the needs, we decrease the likelihood that other people will enjoy giving to us…The fact remains that when people get connected to the needs behind anger, frustration, and violence, they move into a different world. (134-135)

Simply take time out to observe, touch into feelings, and identify needs under the anger, frustration, and violence carpet…the world can change. As Rumi noted, “Our beyond ideas of righthood and wrongdoing there is a field: I’ll meet you there.” (135) The next time you are either angry or frustrated with yourself or another, take the time to stop, lift the carpet, and note what need is there waiting to be satisfied. Be a change agent, not a catalyst for more turmoil.

OMELETES

Posted on August 3, 2024

It feels like the globe is in a state of turmoil created by overwhelming changes absent managed and effectively and efficiently led transition. In haste the offering is that we need to genuinely transcend and include others and come together. Let’s move to higher ground where family and community can become reality. In Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, Fareed Zakaria quotes Isaiah Berlin,

If you are truly convinced that there is some solution to all human problems, that one can conceive an ideal society which men (and women) can reach if only they do what is necessary to attain it, then you and your followers must believe that no price can be too high to pay in order to open the gates of such a paradise. Only the stupid and malevolent will resist once certain simple truths are put to them. Those who resist must be persuaded; if they cannot be persuaded, laws must be passed to restrain them; if that does not work, then coercion, if need be violence, will inevitably have to be used…if necessary, terror, slaughter…We must weigh and measure, bargain, compromise, and prevent the crushing of one form of life by its rivals. I know only too well that this is not a flag under which idealistic and enthusiastic young men and women may wish to march…it seems too tame, too reasonable, too bourgeois, it does not engage the generous emotions. But you must believe me, one cannot have everything one wants—not only in practice, but even in theory. The denial of this, the search for a single, overreaching ideal because it is one and only true one for humanity, invariably leads to coercion. And then to destruction, blood—eggs are broken, but the omelet is not in sight, there is only an infinite number of eggs, human lives, ready for the breaking. And in the end the passionate idealists forget the omelet, and just go on breaking eggs. (323)

We are simply breaking eggs. Daily we are witnesses to scurrying about to avoid being identified as the culprit. In our culture there is intense desire to be off the hook; and clever and devious actions taken to get off the hook are known as cover your posterior. Quite simply, desired results do not equal excuses coupled with no desired results; and blaming, justifying, spinning, lying and choosing not to accept responsibility when something goes wrong is a negative life and leadership strategy. Being right is a booby prize! The real prize is the desired result which has not been realized. Blaming and justifying put us at the mercy of other people and events and do not make things happen. A better strategy is not to give away power and influence by blaming and justifying. Take charge: 100% responsibility, I am 100% responsible and others are 0% responsible. Life happens because of me, not to me!

Imagine the power in this country where everyone is assuming 100% responsibility for its success. Imagine how refreshing it would be for politicians, the President, Vice Presidents, Senators, Representatives, and Judges to be examining what they did and what they could do rather than expending energy and plotting how to get off the hook. Perhaps the greatest value of the 100%-0% concept is that it focuses energy on creating desired results rather than finding ways of avoiding responsibility. Because it encourages folks to develop new options to produce desired results, it is a deeply empowering concept. Simply breaking more eggs produces no omelet for breakfast.

Three strategies the Democrats have unfolded are to preserve the soul of the American political system, to strengthen the backbone of the country, and to unite the country. Some of the Democratic tactics being used to earn votes are planned improvement “actions” related to abortion rights, infrastructure, voting rights, immigration, gun safety, and foreign policy.  Continued strategies of the GOP are to divide the country, retain white supremacy, deliberately fan the fires of racism, sow fear, and to suppress voting rights of minorities through the tactic of voter suppression legislation in 43 states. Other intentional tactics are lying, working problems, blocking improvements, creating chaos, deconstructing, dismantling, bickering, sowing hate, and dividing.

“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.” (Y. Berg) We are the intrapersonal, interpersonal and person to persons language we create; and a person who controls the message of words has tremendous power over others. And we simply keep breaking eggs!

As 2024 has unfolded, political leadership choices are being revealed. More than likely choices will be driven by words—language—pontificating past results and popular actions. A spectrum of positive words that create the stories and emotions for each of us…freedom, prosperity, security, facts, unity, truth, order, respect, harmony, poise, receptivity, peace, tranquility, positiveness, team effort, teamwork, childcare, guardians, self-mastery, integral life practice, health, non-partisan, wellness and well-being, mindfulness, awareness, self-restraint, values, equality, fairness, globally respected, quality, guiding principles, ethics, peace, clean air, allies, non-partisan, value in diversity, safe schools, no debt, sincerity, trustworthy, believable, passionate, disciplined, generosity, wise, direct, open, nice, 100% responsibility, apology, loving-kindness, patient, tolerant, compassionate, humanness, beautiful, smiling, et al.

An array of negative words that create the stories, mind chatter, and emotions for each of us…lies, lynching, deception, casts, spins, obstruction, abuse, conspiracy, human scum, traitors, chaos, entertainment, dynasty, autocracy, racism, above the law, divisiveness, partisan, war, bombs and bullets, street shootings, smoke and mirrors, impeachment, corruption, fear, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, cult-like, tribal, business failings, pay-offs, porn stars, partisan vulgarity, broken promises, scandals, low character, bad judgement, failed policies, cover-ups, low intellect, disruption, conflict, deconstruction, selfish, narcissist, demagogue, cruel, fraud, short-sighted, chaotic, et al. Simply more broken eggs!

The language we each are is powerful and the paradox of choice is clear: an America for Americans that is inspiring and visionary for generations to come—freedom, love, hope, happiness, peace-of-mind, purpose, and connections created on a foundation of compassion, authenticity, virtue, and good; or an America for Americans that is evil and dictatorial for generations to come—pay-back, fear, hate, vindictive, intimidation, economic insecurity, casts, racism, decay, and global disrespect. Christian D. Larson offers, “So long as we continue to resist or deny evil, we will think about evil, and so long as we think about evil, evil will be impressed upon the subconscious, that the subconscious will reproduce and bring forth into personal life.” When there is only one power which decides who is right and who is wrong, and who should be punished and who not, we have a form of…dictatorship. (James Heiser). The mission is quite clear: to merge with others to co-create, transcend, and include others, and evolve democracy for “We the people, by the people, for the people…” The strategic objective is not to create autocracy for a select few by a select few. Let history record that the civil war of 2024 strategies and tactics of the language and actions we each are won votes to improve, evolve, and preserve democracy for America and Americans. Let’s quit simply breaking eggs! It’s messy and offers no nourishment! Let us wake up and make omelets.