When blocked feelings are released (through an integrated mind-body psychotherapy), the embedded beliefs that caused the “false clarity” mentioned in the previous posting start appearing in higher relief and dissipating. This is because the beliefs were previously being used to justify keeping emotions trapped in the body and so, as the emotional channels are opened, the old beliefs become subject to challenge and dismantling. People find themselves at that point without the familiar, stereotypical ways of viewing the world, themselves and others. They feel somewhat lost at first, anxiously free-floating for a while. Commonly heard at this point in one’s process:
"I’m feeling lost. What can I count on? Where can I find security? I don’t know how to act." Meaning, without the illusions created by projecting static images into the future, what can they count on for predictability? Again, the reason they are in self-work in the first place is because they’ve realized that their lives have never successfully followed their projections anyway, and the fulfillment promised by the illusions always seemed to remain unattainable or just out of reach. Now, they are starting to realize that they didn’t know what they thought they knew. Now, they are in a state of "genuine confusion!" At this moment, I usually congratulate patients! It is here, in the "I don’t know who I am" place, that true wisdom begins.
What keeps people going at this stage is that despite the confusion, they feel better, and often, in spite of an apparent lack of direction, their outer lives frequently are improving. For one person, it may be physical health that improves, for another financial abundance arrives, or their work-life becomes more creative. For still others, they break through a relationship barrier. Yet, for all, it is mainly the new inner feeling of self-possession and inner connectedness that provides motivation.
The example of the person in the previous post will have uncovered a belief in deprivation and scarcity of love that’s been embedded in the subconscious mind since very early in childhood. The feelings stored in the body since that time, the hurt and rage, have also now been energized through the therapy and started releasing at this stage as well. The origins of the person’s masks are getting uncovered and seen as primitive attempts by the child to "get more" from a parent - with poor results, of course. It is now becoming understood that the world of love has been viewed through this tainted lens for the last two, three, four or more decades, since infancy usually. It is experienced as a revelation to consider that one could be fully gratified in an adult relationship, could give and receive all of the love that one is capable of without having to do anything to "get it". It is also startling to realize that one has discounted or ignored the possibilities for greater love because to see that would have run counter to the "absolutely certain" beliefs that they were holding onto. This is a point at which the resistance to being "wrong" about one’s strategy for living gets confronted. It is painful. One is faced with the fact that all of the feelings of failure and frustration, and of course, self-hate, were not based on reality at all, but on an erroneous conclusion about life which originated in early childhood. Great courage and faith is required by the person to forge on here.
If one does indeed forge ahead, what is the next step on the journey? Next posting: “Genuine Clarity.”
FALSE CLARITY TO GENUINE CONFUSION TO GENUINE CLARITY - PART 3
If one does indeed forge ahead from false clarity through genuine confusion, what is the next step on the journey?
When the deep primal feelings have been to a great extent released, and the core negative beliefs very much unveiled, the person comes to a new place of overall inner security and openness that provides both confidence to trust what one knows in the moment, and simultaneously, flexibility to re-evaluate one’s "knowledge" and change when called to do so. This is "genuine clarity." The person knows how they feel in the moment, and is aware of their immediate inner thought processes as well. Judgmental attitudes about emotions and the contents of one’s mind are not held onto.
A person at this stage follows their instincts in major decisions without a lot of second-guessing or rigidly gripping to projections and anticipated outcomes. When one is in a state of genuine clarity, the truth of matters is no longer mainly sought through deductive reasoning, but rather through inner resonance with the truth, and actions are decided upon by trusting "gut feelings." The person at this stage knows that whatever transpires, they will be open and flexible enough to creatively move with the events. Mistakes and temporary obstacles are accepted as information, not measured against images of perfection or rigid beliefs about success or failure. One can experience the "joy of being wrong" in this state, that is the freedom from needing to come up with the "right" strategies, free from worrying about "blowing it" when making decisions, etc.
In our example, the person who once believed in deprivation now knows through experience that life is abundant with opportunities to exchange love and pleasure with another and that the only "efforts" one must make to that end are to keep the emotional channels in oneself clear. Gratifying experiences have begun to come to this person, now in genuine clarity, without manipulation, indeed, without even "wanting" them in the old way at all. "Good things" seem to just arrive as a by-product of being more genuinely oneself. The person understands, too, that we all act like magnets for experiences in life, and that we will attract whatever we are "charged up" with. If it is joy and love that we are energized with, we will attract joy and love. If it is hostility, likewise that is what we will attract. So, unpleasurable events are dealt with by going within to examine one’s inner attitude. One is also clear now that one’s attitude towards oneself is one’s attitude toward others. I believe that a common misunderstanding of "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is corrected intuitively by the person in this place. Most people think this expression means you should love your neighbor as much as you love yourself, as if it were a rule for behavior. In fact, I believe it means that you will love your neighbor to the degree that you love yourself.
The person who has achieved genuine clarity will also feel it in their body when they are in truth. No other "proof" will be needed to determine the "rightness" for them of courses of action. This person will explain, "I have to do this or that because it just feels right." They will also say about their actions, "To do otherwise would be not being my-self."
When the deep primal feelings have been to a great extent released, and the core negative beliefs very much unveiled, the person comes to a new place of overall inner security and openness that provides both confidence to trust what one knows in the moment, and simultaneously, flexibility to re-evaluate one’s "knowledge" and change when called to do so. This is "genuine clarity." The person knows how they feel in the moment, and is aware of their immediate inner thought processes as well. Judgmental attitudes about emotions and the contents of one’s mind are not held onto.
A person at this stage follows their instincts in major decisions without a lot of second-guessing or rigidly gripping to projections and anticipated outcomes. When one is in a state of genuine clarity, the truth of matters is no longer mainly sought through deductive reasoning, but rather through inner resonance with the truth, and actions are decided upon by trusting "gut feelings." The person at this stage knows that whatever transpires, they will be open and flexible enough to creatively move with the events. Mistakes and temporary obstacles are accepted as information, not measured against images of perfection or rigid beliefs about success or failure. One can experience the "joy of being wrong" in this state, that is the freedom from needing to come up with the "right" strategies, free from worrying about "blowing it" when making decisions, etc.
In our example, the person who once believed in deprivation now knows through experience that life is abundant with opportunities to exchange love and pleasure with another and that the only "efforts" one must make to that end are to keep the emotional channels in oneself clear. Gratifying experiences have begun to come to this person, now in genuine clarity, without manipulation, indeed, without even "wanting" them in the old way at all. "Good things" seem to just arrive as a by-product of being more genuinely oneself. The person understands, too, that we all act like magnets for experiences in life, and that we will attract whatever we are "charged up" with. If it is joy and love that we are energized with, we will attract joy and love. If it is hostility, likewise that is what we will attract. So, unpleasurable events are dealt with by going within to examine one’s inner attitude. One is also clear now that one’s attitude towards oneself is one’s attitude toward others. I believe that a common misunderstanding of "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is corrected intuitively by the person in this place. Most people think this expression means you should love your neighbor as much as you love yourself, as if it were a rule for behavior. In fact, I believe it means that you will love your neighbor to the degree that you love yourself.
The person who has achieved genuine clarity will also feel it in their body when they are in truth. No other "proof" will be needed to determine the "rightness" for them of courses of action. This person will explain, "I have to do this or that because it just feels right." They will also say about their actions, "To do otherwise would be not being my-self."
"MAURICE" RESPONDS TO THE ST. PAUL/FPL DEBATE!/PL RESPONDS!
Here's Maurice:
In theory, I agree w ur concept.. HOWEVER, I watched ann incredible film w Denzel W., " The Book of Eli ", which makes the point that Man's basic nature is violent, destructive, hostile, and hating..and , in the end.. MUST HAVE some SOURCE G-d like...which
serves mankind as GUIDE..for sociall order..interested n your comments
Here's PL:
Thanks for your comment, Maurice. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Denzel movie, too.
Regarding the idea that man's essential nature is destructive, etc., a common mistake is to confuse our "first nature" with our "second nature." As I say on this blog, and it is certainly not an original thought, our first nature is rooted in love and oneness. Our second nature is rooted in the dualistic experiment that includes negativity. That being said, nothing is separate from "Source," from God, from All That Is, and that includes all that we refer to as the dark side.
In theory, I agree w ur concept.. HOWEVER, I watched ann incredible film w Denzel W., " The Book of Eli ", which makes the point that Man's basic nature is violent, destructive, hostile, and hating..and , in the end.. MUST HAVE some SOURCE G-d like...which
serves mankind as GUIDE..for sociall order..interested n your comments
Here's PL:
Thanks for your comment, Maurice. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Denzel movie, too.
Regarding the idea that man's essential nature is destructive, etc., a common mistake is to confuse our "first nature" with our "second nature." As I say on this blog, and it is certainly not an original thought, our first nature is rooted in love and oneness. Our second nature is rooted in the dualistic experiment that includes negativity. That being said, nothing is separate from "Source," from God, from All That Is, and that includes all that we refer to as the dark side.
"CREEDAL CHRISTIAN" BEMOANS FPL!/PL RESPONDS!/FATHER OWEN COMES BACK!!/PL DOES, TOO!!!
Well, this is interesting. On a blog called, "Creedal Christian," one Bryan Owen, a priest in the Episcopal Church, wrote about Full Permission Living in a piece called: "The Human Problem and Full Permission Living," in which the priest extensively quotes Paul the Apostle who bemoans his sinful nature, which he can't, of course, control. You can read the whole piece HERE.
Here's my response, which I posted on the Creedal Christian blog:
The inner struggle that Paul is describing could be characterized in modern psychiatric terms as an "obsessive compulsive disorder." The unwanted behavior that Paul keeps indulging in is typical of someone who harbors guilt, particularly around sexual feelings. Here's Paul: "I don't accomplish the good I set out to do, and the evil I don't really want to do I find I am always doing."
Paul even seems to be aware that the urges reside in his subconscious mind: "My conscious mind wholeheartedly endorses the Law, yet I observe an entirely different principle at work in my nature."
Where Paul, and Christian theology, falls short, and with dire consequences, is in abdicating responsibility for what lies in one's subconscious mind. Instead of true self-examination and self-work, Paul, like many "sinning" Christians, blithely blames "his nature" and "The Fall" for his behavior: "In my mind I am God's willing servant, but in my own nature I am bound fast, as I say, to the law of sin and death."
The unfortunate results of this kind of self-flagellating trickery can readily be scene in the rampant sexual acting out among religious people, especially Christians. It is guilt and the suppression of sexual feelings that leads to negative acting out, not our true nature. Jesus understood this. That is why he said these things: "Judge not lest Ye be judged," "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." Jesus understood that it was the human ego's capacity to judge that was our "original sin," leading to our fall from paradise. God created us perfectly, and in His image, including with the free will to explore notions like ego, guilt and judgment, but pretending that we are the victims of our own nature is a distortion that has led many professed Christians to a lot of what Paul would describe as "evil" behavior.
Here's Father Owens' comeback:
Thanks for commenting, Peter. The portrait of the Apostle Paul you're offering is one whose validity I don't accept. It strikes me as, at best, a thin reading, and at worst, a form of psychological reductionism. (Nor, BTW, do I accept pitting Jesus against the Apostle Paul in radically oppositional ways.) By contrast, I think that the posting from Fr. Stephen I cite does justice to the Apostle Paul.
But generally speaking, what you're saying does seem to underscore the point that we tend to reject (even within many mainline denominations) the classical meanings of terms like "sin" and "the Fall," especially insofar as they point to an ontological problem we simply cannot will our way out of (which you characterize dismissively in a memorable phrase as "self-flagellating trickery"). And actually, taking Paul and the tradition (articulated via Fr. Stephen) seriously, we could say that religious people (or anyone else, for that matter) acting out in sexually destructive ways - in spite of knowing better and willing otherwise - actually makes the Apostle Paul's point, providing warrants for the diagnosis that there is, indeed, an ontological problem with human nature such that the credo of "Full Permission Living" looks like a peace treaty with sin and fallen human nature.
For me, all of this points to the radically counter-cultural character of the Christian faith.
HERE'S PL:
A "peace treaty with sin," yes, I like that, Bryan. I do believe that is what Jesus was advocating. It is only by making peace with our inner struggles that we can cleanse ourselves of that which negates our highest nature.
Thanks for the dialogue.
Here's my response, which I posted on the Creedal Christian blog:
The inner struggle that Paul is describing could be characterized in modern psychiatric terms as an "obsessive compulsive disorder." The unwanted behavior that Paul keeps indulging in is typical of someone who harbors guilt, particularly around sexual feelings. Here's Paul: "I don't accomplish the good I set out to do, and the evil I don't really want to do I find I am always doing."
Paul even seems to be aware that the urges reside in his subconscious mind: "My conscious mind wholeheartedly endorses the Law, yet I observe an entirely different principle at work in my nature."
Where Paul, and Christian theology, falls short, and with dire consequences, is in abdicating responsibility for what lies in one's subconscious mind. Instead of true self-examination and self-work, Paul, like many "sinning" Christians, blithely blames "his nature" and "The Fall" for his behavior: "In my mind I am God's willing servant, but in my own nature I am bound fast, as I say, to the law of sin and death."
The unfortunate results of this kind of self-flagellating trickery can readily be scene in the rampant sexual acting out among religious people, especially Christians. It is guilt and the suppression of sexual feelings that leads to negative acting out, not our true nature. Jesus understood this. That is why he said these things: "Judge not lest Ye be judged," "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." Jesus understood that it was the human ego's capacity to judge that was our "original sin," leading to our fall from paradise. God created us perfectly, and in His image, including with the free will to explore notions like ego, guilt and judgment, but pretending that we are the victims of our own nature is a distortion that has led many professed Christians to a lot of what Paul would describe as "evil" behavior.
Here's Father Owens' comeback:
Thanks for commenting, Peter. The portrait of the Apostle Paul you're offering is one whose validity I don't accept. It strikes me as, at best, a thin reading, and at worst, a form of psychological reductionism. (Nor, BTW, do I accept pitting Jesus against the Apostle Paul in radically oppositional ways.) By contrast, I think that the posting from Fr. Stephen I cite does justice to the Apostle Paul.
But generally speaking, what you're saying does seem to underscore the point that we tend to reject (even within many mainline denominations) the classical meanings of terms like "sin" and "the Fall," especially insofar as they point to an ontological problem we simply cannot will our way out of (which you characterize dismissively in a memorable phrase as "self-flagellating trickery"). And actually, taking Paul and the tradition (articulated via Fr. Stephen) seriously, we could say that religious people (or anyone else, for that matter) acting out in sexually destructive ways - in spite of knowing better and willing otherwise - actually makes the Apostle Paul's point, providing warrants for the diagnosis that there is, indeed, an ontological problem with human nature such that the credo of "Full Permission Living" looks like a peace treaty with sin and fallen human nature.
For me, all of this points to the radically counter-cultural character of the Christian faith.
HERE'S PL:
A "peace treaty with sin," yes, I like that, Bryan. I do believe that is what Jesus was advocating. It is only by making peace with our inner struggles that we can cleanse ourselves of that which negates our highest nature.
Thanks for the dialogue.
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"As soon as you allow where you are to be all right, you will be able to get where you want to be much faster."
Darryl Ankar (channeling "Bashar")
Darryl Ankar (channeling "Bashar")
TODAY'S GREAT NEWS! MORE WOMEN ARE HAVING LESS KIDS!!
Here's the scoop, folks - read it and cheer!
According to a recent Pew Research study, more American women than ever now remain childless all their lives: 20 percent, compared with 10 percent 40 years ago.
Yes! Yes! YES!
If it isn't obvious to you why this is great news, you're probably not reading this blog in the first place. However, let me elaborate...
I have been working with adults and children as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist for 34 years. Plus, I've raised and am still raising children at the age of... well, nevermind. Here's what I know, bottom line - most people who have children don't have a clue about what parenting a child is like as a life choice, and even moreso, most parents have no idea whatsoever about what a child needs developmentally to grow up to be even remotely self-actualized.
This extraordinarily dysfunctional reality starts with the pathological reasons most people have children in the first place.
Check these stats out:
If you have a college degree of any kind, there's a 24 percent chance that you will never have a child; with a Ph.D., there's a 34 percent chance that you'll never have a child. But if you've never finished high school, there's only a 15 percent chance that you'll never have a child.
If you live in Utah, you're nearly twice as likely to conceive than you would be if you lived in New Hampshire.
If you're a teenage girl who is in a relationship with a gang member, you're nearly twice as likely to become pregnant than teenage girls who are not involved with gang members.
HELLO?!!?
In other words, if you're uneducated, young, right wing and desperate, you're significantly more likely to have kids! How great for our world is that?!
Now, I can hear all of my Park Slope breeder neighbors, streaming into bars and fine dining restaurants with their SUV Maclaren strollers, railing at me because they are none of the above. They are right. They come from the other, more insidious group of unqualified parents: the narcissists. Right, the self-referential, middle and upper-middle class pseudo-adults who have kids as an extension of their own inflated egos or to vicariously have another go at their own lost childhoods. These are the overindulgent parents who create the narcissistic offspring written about recently who grow up to have no empathy and who can, without conscience, become the hedge fund managers destroying our economy out of their own skewed sense of entitlement.
So, let's stand up and celebrate the women (and men) who are perhaps spending their lifetimes focusing on their own personal growth and development and fulfillment instead of acting out their dramas through their children. The world desperately needs this shift and we should all be encouraged at the trend.
Yes!
According to a recent Pew Research study, more American women than ever now remain childless all their lives: 20 percent, compared with 10 percent 40 years ago.
Yes! Yes! YES!
If it isn't obvious to you why this is great news, you're probably not reading this blog in the first place. However, let me elaborate...
I have been working with adults and children as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist for 34 years. Plus, I've raised and am still raising children at the age of... well, nevermind. Here's what I know, bottom line - most people who have children don't have a clue about what parenting a child is like as a life choice, and even moreso, most parents have no idea whatsoever about what a child needs developmentally to grow up to be even remotely self-actualized.
This extraordinarily dysfunctional reality starts with the pathological reasons most people have children in the first place.
Check these stats out:
If you have a college degree of any kind, there's a 24 percent chance that you will never have a child; with a Ph.D., there's a 34 percent chance that you'll never have a child. But if you've never finished high school, there's only a 15 percent chance that you'll never have a child.
If you live in Utah, you're nearly twice as likely to conceive than you would be if you lived in New Hampshire.
If you're a teenage girl who is in a relationship with a gang member, you're nearly twice as likely to become pregnant than teenage girls who are not involved with gang members.
HELLO?!!?
In other words, if you're uneducated, young, right wing and desperate, you're significantly more likely to have kids! How great for our world is that?!
Now, I can hear all of my Park Slope breeder neighbors, streaming into bars and fine dining restaurants with their SUV Maclaren strollers, railing at me because they are none of the above. They are right. They come from the other, more insidious group of unqualified parents: the narcissists. Right, the self-referential, middle and upper-middle class pseudo-adults who have kids as an extension of their own inflated egos or to vicariously have another go at their own lost childhoods. These are the overindulgent parents who create the narcissistic offspring written about recently who grow up to have no empathy and who can, without conscience, become the hedge fund managers destroying our economy out of their own skewed sense of entitlement.
So, let's stand up and celebrate the women (and men) who are perhaps spending their lifetimes focusing on their own personal growth and development and fulfillment instead of acting out their dramas through their children. The world desperately needs this shift and we should all be encouraged at the trend.
Yes!
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"Anyone who wants to know why network television news hasn't mattered since the seventies just needs to check out this appearance by [Lara] Logan. Here's CBS's chief foreign correspondent saying out loud on TV that when the man running a war that's killing thousands of young men and women every year steps on his own dick in front of a journalist, that journalist is supposed to eat the story so as not to embarrass the flag."
Matt Taibbi (a rare true journalist for Rolling Stone Magazine)
Matt Taibbi (a rare true journalist for Rolling Stone Magazine)
TODAY'S DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSION HEADLINE!
Catholic Churches Filing For Bankruptcy To Protect Assets From Sex Abuse Lawsuits
No joke!
No joke!
THE SUN PREVENTS CANCER! OR WHY I HAVEN'T LISTENED TO DOCTORS FOR OVER 20 YEARS!!
I haven't been to an allopathic doctor in a good 20 years now. That's right. No check-ups. No cholesterol or blood pressure readings. No testing for sugar levels. No colonoscopies. Oh, and I haven't had health insurance in over 11 years.
Why?
Because mainstream western medicine not only doesn't have a clue about what constitutes health, but also because it is little more than a corrupt money-making machine that preys on the fearful and ignorant. Instead of the slash-burn-poison approach that capitalist doctors employ, I have chosen to open my mind, body and spirit through holistic self-work, so that through the utilization of the Pleasure Principle, I can intuitively determine what I need.
In that regard, one thing I have always known is that the sun is good for me. In spite of the warnings from the medical establishment, media shills, friends and family, etc., I have never shied away from getting as much sun - without burning, of course - as possible. Because it makes me feel good!
When you have done the self-work necessary to clear out a good portion of your self-destructive, character structure driven defenses, you can then follow this simple rule: If it feels good, it is good!
Here's an excerpt from a piece by one Dr. Frank Lipman, an Integrative Physician whose personal blend of Western and Eastern Medicine combined with the many other complimentary modalities he has studied, has helped thousands of people recover their energy and zest for life:
"For the last 30 years or so, doctors (dermatologists in particular), health officials, beauty experts and many product companies have been demonizing the sun. They've told us to avoid it because without sunscreen, exposure to the sun's rays will damage skin and cause cancer. But this oversimplification distorts the facts. In the past few years, numerous studies have shown that optimizing your vitamin D levels may actually help prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancers. And the best way to optimize Vitamin D levels is through safe, smart and limited sunscreen-free exposure to the sun."
Read the rest of the piece HERE.
Okay, time for me to get to the beach!
Why?
Because mainstream western medicine not only doesn't have a clue about what constitutes health, but also because it is little more than a corrupt money-making machine that preys on the fearful and ignorant. Instead of the slash-burn-poison approach that capitalist doctors employ, I have chosen to open my mind, body and spirit through holistic self-work, so that through the utilization of the Pleasure Principle, I can intuitively determine what I need.
In that regard, one thing I have always known is that the sun is good for me. In spite of the warnings from the medical establishment, media shills, friends and family, etc., I have never shied away from getting as much sun - without burning, of course - as possible. Because it makes me feel good!
When you have done the self-work necessary to clear out a good portion of your self-destructive, character structure driven defenses, you can then follow this simple rule: If it feels good, it is good!
Here's an excerpt from a piece by one Dr. Frank Lipman, an Integrative Physician whose personal blend of Western and Eastern Medicine combined with the many other complimentary modalities he has studied, has helped thousands of people recover their energy and zest for life:
"For the last 30 years or so, doctors (dermatologists in particular), health officials, beauty experts and many product companies have been demonizing the sun. They've told us to avoid it because without sunscreen, exposure to the sun's rays will damage skin and cause cancer. But this oversimplification distorts the facts. In the past few years, numerous studies have shown that optimizing your vitamin D levels may actually help prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancers. And the best way to optimize Vitamin D levels is through safe, smart and limited sunscreen-free exposure to the sun."
Read the rest of the piece HERE.
Okay, time for me to get to the beach!
"Sweet Curiosity" comments on PL's post: "THE SUN PREVENTS CANCER! OR WHY I HAVEN'T LISTENED..."/PL RESPONDS!
Here's SC:
Peter,
I can't possibly agree with you more. I was told by a doctor that I had skin cancer, when in fact I dont believe I had it at all. I avoid doctors like the plague. I feel they push antibiotics I'm allergic to, and want to run tests I don't need, when I feel like a perfectly normal 36 year old. Any tips on finding a holistic non-chiropractic doctor would be much appreciated.
Here's PL:
It goes on and on, Sweet C. Think about this - the placebo effect, which I've written about before, is a known fact to all doctors. (Go HERE).
I taught about the placebo effect in my classes on creating reality and on health. This is one of those things, you see, where if it's true at all (and it's been a known medical fact for decades), it changes everything. It's your beliefs that determine your health. It's not the application of any particular treatments by a doctor, but rather your belief in the treatments that heals you. The medical establishment has been making billions of dollars doing things that only work if you believe they will. This is not New Age mumbo jumbo - every medical doctor knows this. It's been taught in medical schools since the 1950's! GET IT?! Modern western medicine is an elaborate hoax, mainly offering useless or toxic drugs and procedures that cost a fortune, when it is in fact nothing more than hypnotic suggestions that actually make you well, if and when you get well.
Furthermore, think about this - if the drugs doctors and Big Pharma gave you actually cured any disease, they would be a lot less profitable. So, there has to be a concerted effort to make drugs that only offer temporary symptom relief, otherwise... no enormous profits.
It goes on and on.
Thanks, Sweet Curiosity. And in terms of finding a holistic practitioner, trust your intuition, set your intention and put it out there that you want to find such a person and he or she will come.
Peter,
I can't possibly agree with you more. I was told by a doctor that I had skin cancer, when in fact I dont believe I had it at all. I avoid doctors like the plague. I feel they push antibiotics I'm allergic to, and want to run tests I don't need, when I feel like a perfectly normal 36 year old. Any tips on finding a holistic non-chiropractic doctor would be much appreciated.
Here's PL:
It goes on and on, Sweet C. Think about this - the placebo effect, which I've written about before, is a known fact to all doctors. (Go HERE).
I taught about the placebo effect in my classes on creating reality and on health. This is one of those things, you see, where if it's true at all (and it's been a known medical fact for decades), it changes everything. It's your beliefs that determine your health. It's not the application of any particular treatments by a doctor, but rather your belief in the treatments that heals you. The medical establishment has been making billions of dollars doing things that only work if you believe they will. This is not New Age mumbo jumbo - every medical doctor knows this. It's been taught in medical schools since the 1950's! GET IT?! Modern western medicine is an elaborate hoax, mainly offering useless or toxic drugs and procedures that cost a fortune, when it is in fact nothing more than hypnotic suggestions that actually make you well, if and when you get well.
Furthermore, think about this - if the drugs doctors and Big Pharma gave you actually cured any disease, they would be a lot less profitable. So, there has to be a concerted effort to make drugs that only offer temporary symptom relief, otherwise... no enormous profits.
It goes on and on.
Thanks, Sweet Curiosity. And in terms of finding a holistic practitioner, trust your intuition, set your intention and put it out there that you want to find such a person and he or she will come.
BEYOND GRATITUDE! CITY ROCK LIVES!!
The black box theater at Shetler Studios was filled with so much love and laughter and heartfelt emotion last night that it felt like the entire Universe must have been watching. Watching what? Just the most amazing performance by a remarkably gifted troupe of actors, 21 in all, bringing to life Episode 5 of City Rock: "Father's Day." Whatever the place is beyond gratitude, that's where I am right now!
Here's me at rehearsal making my directorial debut -
Here's me at rehearsal making my directorial debut -
"DISEASE MONGERING!!"
You may think there is enough disease in the world already, and that no one would want to add to the diseases that we humans must deal with. But there is a powerful industry in our society that is working overtime to invent illnesses and to convince us we are suffering from them.
This effort is known as "disease mongering," a term introduced by health-science writer Lynn Payer in her 1992 book Disease-Mongers: How Doctors, Drug Companies, and Insurers Are Making You Feel Sick. Payer defined disease mongering as "trying to convince essentially well people that they are sick, or slightly sick people that they are very ill." This strategy has also been called "the corporate construction of disease" by Ray Moynihan, Iona Heath and David Henry in the British Medical Journal. "There's a lot of money to be made from telling healthy people they're sick," they say. "Pharmaceutical companies are actively involved in sponsoring the definition of diseases and promoting them to both prescribers and consumers."
Read the rest of the article by Dr. Larry Dossey HERE.
This effort is known as "disease mongering," a term introduced by health-science writer Lynn Payer in her 1992 book Disease-Mongers: How Doctors, Drug Companies, and Insurers Are Making You Feel Sick. Payer defined disease mongering as "trying to convince essentially well people that they are sick, or slightly sick people that they are very ill." This strategy has also been called "the corporate construction of disease" by Ray Moynihan, Iona Heath and David Henry in the British Medical Journal. "There's a lot of money to be made from telling healthy people they're sick," they say. "Pharmaceutical companies are actively involved in sponsoring the definition of diseases and promoting them to both prescribers and consumers."
Read the rest of the article by Dr. Larry Dossey HERE.
TIME TO GET UP, FOLKS! THE ALARM IS RINGING!!
The entire Gulf of Mexico has basically been destroyed for at least a generation. Our financial system, our educational institutions, our medical establishment and our infrastructure are all in shambles, hopelessly gutted from corruption and incompetence beyond repair. In addition, we have uselessly been mired in two wars in the middle east for going on a decade, now, and oh, did I mention the rash of devastating hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanos, floods and tornados that have become a regular occurrence over the last half dozen years!
Ahh, life is good!
Or at least, let's say, "Life" is in charge and could be good if we let it.
As yesterday's "Today's Quote" below indicates, it has been foreseen that we would be heading towards this confluence of events for a long time, easily, since biblical times. How is it possible that such times as these could be predicted? Well, ultimately, any "psychic prediction" is a matter of tuning in to the intentions of those you're predicting for, and then to a certain degree interpreting what events those intentions will lead to. The stronger the intention the clearer the prediction.
So, you might imagine that collectively we intended for ourselves to be given wake-up calls at certain intervals, like setting our inner alarm clocks when we want to make shifts in our consciousness and experiences.
This is one of those times, folks.
All of the above-mentioned disasters are the the clanging of the alarm: "Now hear this! Time to wake up and shift into the next gear (dimension) everyone. Dualistic, linear, 3rd-dimensional reality is coming to a close. 4th dimensional oneness is upon us!"
There is no fixing the system as it is now, no matter how well-intentioned and intelligent any political leaders may be, no matter how angry or upset we may be at the calamities we have collectively created. Competition for resources through archaic economies, fear-based, dogmatic religions battling over the superiority of their primitive god-images, and even some constructs like "traditional marriage" and the "nuclear family" are about to become obsolete very fast. So is anything that is "institutionalized."
This is a time during which we are being called to create a whole new system, one that will replace the existing system entirely. And first and foremost, the changes will be facilitated by a shift in consciousness, one person at a time, ala "The Hundredth Monkey effect."
So, once again, I suggest to you that you get out your psychic surfboards, people, and make your move to ride the Wave.
I'm acting as your personal alarm clock here. Come on. It's time to get up!
Read more related to the Hundredth Monkey HERE.
Ahh, life is good!
Or at least, let's say, "Life" is in charge and could be good if we let it.
As yesterday's "Today's Quote" below indicates, it has been foreseen that we would be heading towards this confluence of events for a long time, easily, since biblical times. How is it possible that such times as these could be predicted? Well, ultimately, any "psychic prediction" is a matter of tuning in to the intentions of those you're predicting for, and then to a certain degree interpreting what events those intentions will lead to. The stronger the intention the clearer the prediction.
So, you might imagine that collectively we intended for ourselves to be given wake-up calls at certain intervals, like setting our inner alarm clocks when we want to make shifts in our consciousness and experiences.
This is one of those times, folks.
All of the above-mentioned disasters are the the clanging of the alarm: "Now hear this! Time to wake up and shift into the next gear (dimension) everyone. Dualistic, linear, 3rd-dimensional reality is coming to a close. 4th dimensional oneness is upon us!"
There is no fixing the system as it is now, no matter how well-intentioned and intelligent any political leaders may be, no matter how angry or upset we may be at the calamities we have collectively created. Competition for resources through archaic economies, fear-based, dogmatic religions battling over the superiority of their primitive god-images, and even some constructs like "traditional marriage" and the "nuclear family" are about to become obsolete very fast. So is anything that is "institutionalized."
This is a time during which we are being called to create a whole new system, one that will replace the existing system entirely. And first and foremost, the changes will be facilitated by a shift in consciousness, one person at a time, ala "The Hundredth Monkey effect."
So, once again, I suggest to you that you get out your psychic surfboards, people, and make your move to ride the Wave.
I'm acting as your personal alarm clock here. Come on. It's time to get up!
Read more related to the Hundredth Monkey HERE.
NO EMPATHY? ARE THESE KIDS FROM PARK SLOPE?!
I WARNED YOU!
For several years, now, I've been writing about the crop of narcissistic kids being bred by latter day baby boomers and echo boom parents in enclaves like Park Slope. (You can check out just a few of my postings on the subject HERE.)
A little less than a year ago, I quoted from a book, entitled THE NARCISSISM EPIDEMIC, written by psychology professors, W. Keith Campbell and Jean Twenge, who chart the dramatic rise in the number of Americans who have a clinical narcissist personality disorder.
A little more than a year ago, I quote an article in Slate.com entitled: "But Enough About You …What is narcissistic personality disorder, and why does everyone seem to have it?"
Before I even started the FPL blog, I wrote regularly on the Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn blog about the raging Stepford Parents, living behind the brownstone ramparts of Park Slope, destroying the capacity for empathy in their children. The fact that I was both a parent 3 times over and a psychotherapist who worked with kids and families for 30 years didn't matter to these automatons, though. Needless to say, I got an enormous amount of flack for what I had to say.
Well, read it and weep, folks -according to a new study from the University of Michigan, college students today have 40 percent less empathy than people their age did two to three decades ago. FORTY PERCENT!!
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORTS HealthDay column reports:
"We found the biggest drop in empathy after the year 2000," co-author Sara Konrath, a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said in a news release. "College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait."
The analysis indicated that relative to their late-1970s' counterparts, today's college students are less likely to make an effort to understand their friends' perspectives or to feel tenderness or concern for the less fortunate.
"Many people see the current group of college students -- sometimes called 'Generation Me' -- as one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history," observed Konrath, who is also affiliated with the psychiatry department at the University of Rochester.
Congratulations, all you Park Slope parents! You did it! You successfully so over-indulged and lived through your kids that they don't give a shit about anybody but themselves now. You've gutted them of their empathy, an essential quality necessary for human development, just as I said you would. Now, we all get to live with their narcissism.
Thanks!
For several years, now, I've been writing about the crop of narcissistic kids being bred by latter day baby boomers and echo boom parents in enclaves like Park Slope. (You can check out just a few of my postings on the subject HERE.)
A little less than a year ago, I quoted from a book, entitled THE NARCISSISM EPIDEMIC, written by psychology professors, W. Keith Campbell and Jean Twenge, who chart the dramatic rise in the number of Americans who have a clinical narcissist personality disorder.
A little more than a year ago, I quote an article in Slate.com entitled: "But Enough About You …What is narcissistic personality disorder, and why does everyone seem to have it?"
Before I even started the FPL blog, I wrote regularly on the Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn blog about the raging Stepford Parents, living behind the brownstone ramparts of Park Slope, destroying the capacity for empathy in their children. The fact that I was both a parent 3 times over and a psychotherapist who worked with kids and families for 30 years didn't matter to these automatons, though. Needless to say, I got an enormous amount of flack for what I had to say.
Well, read it and weep, folks -according to a new study from the University of Michigan, college students today have 40 percent less empathy than people their age did two to three decades ago. FORTY PERCENT!!
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORTS HealthDay column reports:
"We found the biggest drop in empathy after the year 2000," co-author Sara Konrath, a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said in a news release. "College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait."
The analysis indicated that relative to their late-1970s' counterparts, today's college students are less likely to make an effort to understand their friends' perspectives or to feel tenderness or concern for the less fortunate.
"Many people see the current group of college students -- sometimes called 'Generation Me' -- as one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history," observed Konrath, who is also affiliated with the psychiatry department at the University of Rochester.
Congratulations, all you Park Slope parents! You did it! You successfully so over-indulged and lived through your kids that they don't give a shit about anybody but themselves now. You've gutted them of their empathy, an essential quality necessary for human development, just as I said you would. Now, we all get to live with their narcissism.
Thanks!
TODAY'S INTERESTING QUOTE!
"Fuck my victims. I carried them for twenty years, and now I'm doing 150 years."
Bernie Madoff, whose con artist bona fides seems to have turned some fellow prison inmates into groupies. Bernie even claimed to other prisoners that some of his victims actually deserved to have their money taken from them.
Personally, I think the man, twisted as he is, has a point.
Any comments?
Bernie Madoff, whose con artist bona fides seems to have turned some fellow prison inmates into groupies. Bernie even claimed to other prisoners that some of his victims actually deserved to have their money taken from them.
Personally, I think the man, twisted as he is, has a point.
Any comments?
TODAY'S WTF HEADLINE!
PEOPLE Magazine: Elton John Sings at Rush Limbaugh's 4th Wedding 
Good-bye, yellow brick road!
Good-bye, yellow brick road!
AUNTLORI WITH A STRONG COMMENT AND EXAMPLE OF WHY KIDS HAVE NO EMPATHY!/PL RESPONDS!
Here's Auntlori:
Finally, the opportunity and motivation to comment on this blog subject, sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors-two toddlers in the back ground.....
OK, my husband is a high school teacher and coaches varsity sports, as well. He's had a lot of experience with teenagers, their parents and all kinds of over-indulgence and over-involvement, talked about on this blog, for many years. Here's the latest example of why so many of today's kids are turning out incapable of empathy, self-reliance, and motivation for anything beyond themselves:
My husband teaches a course to high school seniors that is required for graduation. It is called Senior Project. The project is of the student's choosing and the field is wide open. They spend half the semester doing research on their project and the other half of the semester putting their research into action. He's had projects such as raising chickens, producing a CD, midwifery, raising a puppy, cooking, etc. While there is freedom in choice of project, it is still a required course, with specific guidelines and dealines, and IT IS REQUIRED FOR GRADUATION.
Each and every year, about two weeks before graduation, he gets the inevitible tears from the students who refused to take is seriously, refused every EXTRA opportunity to complete their work, refused all the extra help offered and now face the reality that they won't graduate. This year, one student's mother got involved, which is not uncommon but this parent actually threatened a lawsuit against the school if they did not pass her son, her son who did not complete any of his work, ignored all extra opportunities, and simply did not care. The parents ignored phone calls, emails and letters home informing them of his failure. The prinicpal, out of fear of a lawsuit, immediately gave the student ANOTHER opportunity and suggested that perhaps in the future the teachers could call home once a week to update parents on their child's status in school. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! These are 18 year olds! Last night, at 7 pm, my husband was sitting in his classroom with the kid and his mother, while the kid did the work and the mother was typing up his work. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????????? This is a senior in HIGH SCHOOL!! A LAWSUIT??!! The school is going to be punished for doing exactly what they said and are supposed to do when your child doesn't do what he/she is supposed to do?
Do these over-involved, over-indulgent parents actually think they are creating individuals who will be able to take care of themselves as adults? These students end up in my freshmen college classrooms and fall flat on their face because no longer are parents allowed to be involved, no longer are notes sent home, no longer are there any reminders what so ever about due dates for assignments.
What the hell is a mother doing sitting in a classroom typing papers for her son at 7:00 on a Monday night, days before graduation?
Today's generation is not empathetic because THEY CAN'T SEE PAST THEIR OWN NOSES! How can you possibly have any empathy for anyone at all when the only thing you can see is yourself and the little bubble you are walking around in. Parents-WAKE UP, you're not doing anyone a favor. Let your kids fail, let them learn the consequences for their own behavior, let them learn appreciation, let them learn the thrill of becoming successful, let them gain confidence and independence. Your over-involvement is self-serving and setting your kids up for disaster as adults!
Here's PL:
Indeed, Auntlori, your example vividly illustrates the sad state of parenting in so many quarters, and the disastrous results for all involved. I will add one caveat, though, and it relates to The Wave of necessary change I've been talking about that is afoot in recent times. Our educational systems, just like parenting, have fallen flat on their faces when it comes to inspiring kids to learn. No doubt your husband is dedicated and seeks to inspire his students, but by the time they've reached him they are already late teenagers and tainted by years of rote, mandatory force-feeding of information, not that different in its effect than the spoon-feeding they were subject to by their parents. In the best of systems, kids don't need to be inspired to learn, it is an innate urge in them. The question to be asked is how to we drive that urge out of them in the first place?
To be continued, for sure, but thanks, Auntlori. Thoughtful as always!
Finally, the opportunity and motivation to comment on this blog subject, sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors-two toddlers in the back ground.....
OK, my husband is a high school teacher and coaches varsity sports, as well. He's had a lot of experience with teenagers, their parents and all kinds of over-indulgence and over-involvement, talked about on this blog, for many years. Here's the latest example of why so many of today's kids are turning out incapable of empathy, self-reliance, and motivation for anything beyond themselves:
My husband teaches a course to high school seniors that is required for graduation. It is called Senior Project. The project is of the student's choosing and the field is wide open. They spend half the semester doing research on their project and the other half of the semester putting their research into action. He's had projects such as raising chickens, producing a CD, midwifery, raising a puppy, cooking, etc. While there is freedom in choice of project, it is still a required course, with specific guidelines and dealines, and IT IS REQUIRED FOR GRADUATION.
Each and every year, about two weeks before graduation, he gets the inevitible tears from the students who refused to take is seriously, refused every EXTRA opportunity to complete their work, refused all the extra help offered and now face the reality that they won't graduate. This year, one student's mother got involved, which is not uncommon but this parent actually threatened a lawsuit against the school if they did not pass her son, her son who did not complete any of his work, ignored all extra opportunities, and simply did not care. The parents ignored phone calls, emails and letters home informing them of his failure. The prinicpal, out of fear of a lawsuit, immediately gave the student ANOTHER opportunity and suggested that perhaps in the future the teachers could call home once a week to update parents on their child's status in school. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! These are 18 year olds! Last night, at 7 pm, my husband was sitting in his classroom with the kid and his mother, while the kid did the work and the mother was typing up his work. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????????? This is a senior in HIGH SCHOOL!! A LAWSUIT??!! The school is going to be punished for doing exactly what they said and are supposed to do when your child doesn't do what he/she is supposed to do?
Do these over-involved, over-indulgent parents actually think they are creating individuals who will be able to take care of themselves as adults? These students end up in my freshmen college classrooms and fall flat on their face because no longer are parents allowed to be involved, no longer are notes sent home, no longer are there any reminders what so ever about due dates for assignments.
What the hell is a mother doing sitting in a classroom typing papers for her son at 7:00 on a Monday night, days before graduation?
Today's generation is not empathetic because THEY CAN'T SEE PAST THEIR OWN NOSES! How can you possibly have any empathy for anyone at all when the only thing you can see is yourself and the little bubble you are walking around in. Parents-WAKE UP, you're not doing anyone a favor. Let your kids fail, let them learn the consequences for their own behavior, let them learn appreciation, let them learn the thrill of becoming successful, let them gain confidence and independence. Your over-involvement is self-serving and setting your kids up for disaster as adults!
Here's PL:
Indeed, Auntlori, your example vividly illustrates the sad state of parenting in so many quarters, and the disastrous results for all involved. I will add one caveat, though, and it relates to The Wave of necessary change I've been talking about that is afoot in recent times. Our educational systems, just like parenting, have fallen flat on their faces when it comes to inspiring kids to learn. No doubt your husband is dedicated and seeks to inspire his students, but by the time they've reached him they are already late teenagers and tainted by years of rote, mandatory force-feeding of information, not that different in its effect than the spoon-feeding they were subject to by their parents. In the best of systems, kids don't need to be inspired to learn, it is an innate urge in them. The question to be asked is how to we drive that urge out of them in the first place?
To be continued, for sure, but thanks, Auntlori. Thoughtful as always!
TODAY'S "JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE WATER" QUOTE!
This guy was on FOX News this morning, going on and on about one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history as if it were just a bad weather day.
"The Mississippi gulf coast is beautiful. As I tell people, the coast is clear. Come on down!"
Republican Governor, Haley Barbour, of Mississippi
"Yeaaahhh... Come on in, y'all, the water's fine!"
"The Mississippi gulf coast is beautiful. As I tell people, the coast is clear. Come on down!"
Republican Governor, Haley Barbour, of Mississippi
"Yeaaahhh... Come on in, y'all, the water's fine!"
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"In Revelations it says the water will turn to blood. That's what it looks like out here, like the Gulf is bleeding. This is going to choke the life out of everything. It makes me want to cry."
P.J. Hahn, director of coastal zone management for Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish
P.J. Hahn, director of coastal zone management for Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish
"A2PERSON" with an EXCELLENT RESPONSE to PL's "NO EMPATHY? ARE THESE KIDS FROM PARK SLOPE?"/PL RESPONDS!
Here's A2Person:
Hey PL,
Thanks again for highlighting the narcissism issue and Twenge's take on it. As a posterchild for Gen Y, I feel the need to chime in here.
Yes, let me second everything you’ve said about the narcissism of my generation and the way we’ve been used by the boomers to buffer them from their unexamined, unresolved issues. Cut off from our higher self aspects, ours is a generation that’s starving for a so-called “beloved community” –something larger than our self interest/indulgence. Tragically, we’re unable to find, or to notice, many forms of generatively and expression beyond consumerism.
AND YET, the silver lining of the millennials/Gen Y is that we’re a generation that has taken a curious, and distinct, approach to issues of social justice, tolerance, and multiculturalism. Previous movements have looked at issues of oppression in a very compartmentalized approach: racism distinct from sexism distinct from classism. What’s emerged, in universities and community movements since the early 90’s, really in the past decade, is a more globalized, more intersectional approach to social justice and a burgeoning vocabulary to discuss these issues. This is best expressed in the emergence of intergroup dialogue programs.
Likewise, while past movements have often had a martyrdom quality to them, the Gen Y social conscience is one in which young people are looking for sustainable careers in that serve social justice issues –from environmental consultants to professional human rights activists. Livelihood and activist need not be oppositional and self-sacrificing.
Yes, what I’m talking about seems to be the ‘exception to the rule’ that you are fond of ridiculing, and, yes, there is something problematic about Professional 9-5 Social Justice Do-Gooders –but there’s something positive in Gen Y that shines outside of the arena of narcissism, or, operates in reaction to that very narcissism. I have to believe that the higher self aspects of the Gen Y’s will, one way or another, start to crack through. (Let's hope not destructively).
Remember it was this generation that elevated Obama to the democratic nomination and urged their parents to do the same. Without Gen Y, we would have seen Hilary vs. McCain. I’ll acknowledge that many of us were simply jumping the ObamaNation bandwagon, however, the Obama-surge amongst Gen Y’s spoke to that unarticulated generational hunger for something transpersonal. I don’t believe this sincerity has completely gone away and I’m curious where it will resurface on a collective scale.
Consider this a sliver of Gen “Y” optimism to go with your main course of alarmism! CHEERS!!
Here's PL:
Cheers to you A2! And thank you for this eloquent and marvelous response. At times on this blog, I highlight a negative to make a point, bluntly, and hope that someone will come back with a perspective that incorporates that negative unflinchingly, yet with a realistically examined silver lining. You have done so excellently here and I applaud you. I know that no generation is truly "lost," even if they regularly watched the TV show by that same name. You demonstrate the potential sense of balance that Gen Y may have to offer.
Bravo!
Hey PL,
Thanks again for highlighting the narcissism issue and Twenge's take on it. As a posterchild for Gen Y, I feel the need to chime in here.
Yes, let me second everything you’ve said about the narcissism of my generation and the way we’ve been used by the boomers to buffer them from their unexamined, unresolved issues. Cut off from our higher self aspects, ours is a generation that’s starving for a so-called “beloved community” –something larger than our self interest/indulgence. Tragically, we’re unable to find, or to notice, many forms of generatively and expression beyond consumerism.
AND YET, the silver lining of the millennials/Gen Y is that we’re a generation that has taken a curious, and distinct, approach to issues of social justice, tolerance, and multiculturalism. Previous movements have looked at issues of oppression in a very compartmentalized approach: racism distinct from sexism distinct from classism. What’s emerged, in universities and community movements since the early 90’s, really in the past decade, is a more globalized, more intersectional approach to social justice and a burgeoning vocabulary to discuss these issues. This is best expressed in the emergence of intergroup dialogue programs.
Likewise, while past movements have often had a martyrdom quality to them, the Gen Y social conscience is one in which young people are looking for sustainable careers in that serve social justice issues –from environmental consultants to professional human rights activists. Livelihood and activist need not be oppositional and self-sacrificing.
Yes, what I’m talking about seems to be the ‘exception to the rule’ that you are fond of ridiculing, and, yes, there is something problematic about Professional 9-5 Social Justice Do-Gooders –but there’s something positive in Gen Y that shines outside of the arena of narcissism, or, operates in reaction to that very narcissism. I have to believe that the higher self aspects of the Gen Y’s will, one way or another, start to crack through. (Let's hope not destructively).
Remember it was this generation that elevated Obama to the democratic nomination and urged their parents to do the same. Without Gen Y, we would have seen Hilary vs. McCain. I’ll acknowledge that many of us were simply jumping the ObamaNation bandwagon, however, the Obama-surge amongst Gen Y’s spoke to that unarticulated generational hunger for something transpersonal. I don’t believe this sincerity has completely gone away and I’m curious where it will resurface on a collective scale.
Consider this a sliver of Gen “Y” optimism to go with your main course of alarmism! CHEERS!!
Here's PL:
Cheers to you A2! And thank you for this eloquent and marvelous response. At times on this blog, I highlight a negative to make a point, bluntly, and hope that someone will come back with a perspective that incorporates that negative unflinchingly, yet with a realistically examined silver lining. You have done so excellently here and I applaud you. I know that no generation is truly "lost," even if they regularly watched the TV show by that same name. You demonstrate the potential sense of balance that Gen Y may have to offer.
Bravo!
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