1. Where have you been? Charlene and I have been in Los Angeles, visiting our son. I thought about organizing a meetup with friends out there, but time was limited (sorry). This
week, "Five Point Thursday" became "Five Point Friday," but we'll be back on schedule next week :-)
"As a nation we are deeply divided, living in parallel universes perpetuated by media that is filtered and tailored to our own preferences and ideologies … and unless this changes we are in deep trouble."
3. I still have space in my Sedona Retreat, Jan 15-20. This is my first time doing a retreat like this. It's multiple days
in a destination spot -- one of the most beautiful in the world. I have no idea what to expect as I promote it, and as it turns out, there's still room for you. The focus will be on personal renewal, strengthening our inner selves as we seek to serve and help others.
Click here for more
information.
4. The power of your inner world:
Many people today feel victimized by their inner worlds. They struggle with anxious, fearful, depressive, or lustful thoughts, and don't know how to shut them off. Today, more than ever, we need to understand and put into practice what Paul talks about in Romans 12: "Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world. Instead,
be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
I talk about this in my forthcoming book Not so Overwhelmed. The pathway out of overwhelm is going to be a matter of developing new internal skills and resources. Our world today is so complex that trying to deal with the problem simply by making external changes to simplify and be more productive won't work. (Granted they are important, and will be part of the solution. But we need
more.) Something has to change in us, not just around us.
In my research, I came across an interesting quote from the early 90's. It's interesting, and I think sort of prescient:
"Just as we live in an external, physical world, we live at the same time in an internal world of thoughts, feelings, and desires. While our modern civilization has made great strides in understanding the external world and using it
for our comfort, we have barely begun to explore the inner world. Only now are we beginning to recognize that the forces of this inner world -- forces like anger, greed, and fear -- have the power to devastate the mind, despoil the earth, and destroy human beings. We need to learn how these winds blow, how they can be directed, and how they can be put to work.”
--Eknath Easwaran
Take just one example: how do we deal with our anger? Do we
just try to stuff it? Deny it? Vent it by raging at people? For centuries, spiritual teachers have guided people to engage in habits of prayer and meditation in order to discipline their minds to channel the energy of emotions (like anger) into something productive. In recovery meetings and talk therapy, we affirm the value of "letting the poison out." But there's also something for us to do as inner work.
Listen to what Gandhi said about how
he worked to channel his anger about injustice into something meaningful:
"I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power that can move the world." - Gandhi
5. Quote of the week:
“With every day that passes, people make their silent declaration of faith by the way they spend it. It is a poor declaration of faith that modern people make when they brush aside all thoughts of prayer and meditation as something they have no time for.”
--Paul
Brunton
