Here are some recent musings from my facebook …
Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! Gratitude is the great attitude. The greatest trick to life is just learning to receive, because God has made the universe is so abundant, generous, and always ready to give.
(Lots of people liked that one, such nice people!)
On Wednesday,someone posted a graphic of this beautiful purported Hopi prophecy. "When the Earth is ravaged and the Animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the Earth from many colors, creeds, and classes, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the Earth green again. They shall be know as the Warriors of the Rainbow."
I wrote: I like to think the Rainbow Warrior prophecies are genuine, although even if they are a modern invention they are inspiring. The 1962 book "Warriors of the Rainbow: Strange and Prophetic Dreams of the Indians" by Willoya and Brown is often criticized for its Christian hippie agenda and surprising anti-semitism, but it did inspire the Greenpeace movement. Here are some links to native stories that relate. -- I also like the song "Rainbow Warrior" from the second Buggles album, anyone remember that?
On Tuesday, someone posted a graphic of a Wayne Dyer quote: "I cannot always control what goes on outside but I CAN always CONTROL WHAT GOES ON INSIDE."
I wrote: I have to disagree. People do not have control of inside or outside. Who would want to control their relationships? When love not control is the goal, then inside and outside are the same.
Explanation: This is a serious peeve of mine. Wayne Dyer may have meant something good, but largely this quote points to the ego which thinks it ought to be able to totally command and dominate something, with the supposedly mature version of this impulse being to let the world do what it wants because at least I can control myself. But this can easily lead to a don't-blame-me superiority and victimhood which says hey, I'm perfect, I didn't make this mess, why can't you control yourself like I do?! That's utter macho bullshit of course and highly destructive. Control is neither possible nor fun, and those who seek it will lose control until they learn their lesson. Talk to all the compulsive obsessive mentally/emotionally ill people in the world today, they're certainly not able to control what goes on inside of them. They and everyone they love suffer horribly, which is both sad and dangerous.
Love is the answer, love is the restorer of all powers necessary for good living. In love, you trust and play with your friends, you enjoy giving and receiving gifts, and you have no interest in controlling outcomes. Life is full of miracles and wonderful surprises, life is not predictable. Control kills relationships, control saps power, control is a false god.
The importance of my stand became clear to me by a message from the universe that very Tuesday night. Someone at my dream group asked me about how my book was going, and whether I had a certain writer I admire and emulate for their style, perhaps Wayne Dyer they spontaneously suggested. Wow I thought, thank you, I really need to keep writing! I may have things to learn from Wayne Dyer's success, but he is not saying the ideas that I know need to be said.
Also on Tuesday, someone posted a graphic of a Buddha quote: "Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."
I really liked this and wrote: Yes - and I think even positively expressed and released anger that hopes to change someone else is like drinking medicine and expecting the other person to get better. We have to expect to be the one who changes with our emotional self-respect. Anger can be constructive, but I spent years perfecting my anger expression with my eye on how others would improve, until I realized that I'd changed myself and it was I who could move on easily, so if they wanted to stay stuck that was their problem now.
Later I commented: Oh and about that Buddha quote, guess what, he didn't say it. What the Buddha really said was: "The problem with great internet quotes is that you can't be sure who really said them."
For more details see: Fake Buddha Quotes and Quote Investigator
