Repeal of Impoundment Restrictions Represents Return of Balance To Budget

This article was originally published by Technorati on 29 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

"Waste not, want not," said Benjamin Franklin, one of the wisest of our Founding Fathers. An equilibrium obtains on every level when we are in spiritual balance. Balance is as necessary collectively, in our government, as it is individually.

Yet waste and budget bloat has become one of the hallmarks of the government Ben Franklin helped create. How did that happen?

One word: Impoundment.

Abundance

Here are a few more pictures from the Arboretum in Lexington, Kentucky, my hometown. (See also Eckhart Tolle Says Flowers are the Enlightenment of Plants for more pictures of the Arboretum). Be sure to click on the pictures to get some incredible resolution.

This is an excerpt from Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose:

"The source of all abundance is not outside you. It is part of who you are. However, start by acknowledging and recognizing abundance without. See the fullness of life all around you. The warmth of the sun on your skin, the display of magnificent flowers outside a florist's shop, biting into a succulent fruit, or getting soaked in an abundance of water falling from the sky. The fullness of life is there at every step. The acknowledgement of that abundance that is all around you awakens the dormant abundance within. Then let it flow out.

Eckhart Tolle Says Flowers are the Enlightenment of Plants

I hope you enjoy these pictures from the Arboretum in Lexington, Kentucky, my hometown. It's one of my favorite places. I go there as often as I can. Be sure to click on the pictures for some incredible resolution.

If you read Eckhart Tolle Says Birds are the Enlightenment of the Animal Kingdom you had to know this was coming. Now if only I can find some precious stones laying around I'll have the trifecta.

"Using the word 'enlightenment' in a wider sense than the conventionally accepted one, we could look upon flowers as the enlightenment of plants," Tolle writes in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

"When you are alert and contemplate a flower, crystal or bird without naming it," says Tolle, "it becomes a window into the formless. There is an inner opening, however slight, into the realm of spirit. This is why these three 'en-lightened' life-forms have played such an important part in the evolution in human consciousness since ancient times."

Tao Urges Non-reaction to North Korean Provocation

This article was originally published by Technorati on 25 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Tensions are mounting along the DMZ between North and South Korea now that the latter has determined that a North Korean submarine took out one of its warships with a torpedo.

This is an act of war, without question. But no act could be more ripe for non-reaction than this one.

Bloomenthal's Vietnam Pretense Contrary to Tao

This article was originally published by Technorati on 24 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Out-going Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) offered some bland words of support today for his would-be Democratic successor, Richard Bloomenthal.

"I can't think of a better legacy I can have in the Senate than to have Dick Blumenthal follow me in that job," Dodd said, speaking to reporters in Hartford.

Dodd's statement comes in conjunction with Bloomenthal's cursory apology for pretending to have fought in Vietnam.

Rand Paul's Views on Civil Rights Act Not in Keeping with the Tao

This article was originally published by Technorati on 21 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

In a previous post, we detailed 8 Rules for Governing a Country from the Tao te Ching. There are at least 19 in all, along with other good advice of a general nature.

With election season in full-swing, it might be helpful to voters to have a guide for candidates based on their adherence to the Tao. And who better to start with than a candidate from my home state of Kentucky, Rand Paul, the much heralded would-be Senator backed by the Tea Party.

Paul is certainly welcome to his views, but his Libertarianism seems to have gotten the better of him just one day past his unexpected primary victory. He holds a stringent view of private property rights which stands at odds with the almost universally revered Civil Rights Act of 1964.

While purporting to agree with nine of the ten titles under the Civil Rights Act, he stands by past statements in which he has said that the title applicable to discrimination by private business entities tramples property rights and should have been modified.

This video is 10 minutes long. Maddow can't seem to believe that a person she clearly likes personally could be this inept as a politician, and she gives him extra time to hang himself. Which he does.

Is Rand Paul a racist? Absolutely not. Almost as bad for a politician, he's an ideologue.

Vatican Seems Unsure that God Alone Can Create Life

This article was originally published by Technorati on 21 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

According to an AP report, scientists are one step closer to artificial life. At least that's what the headline would have us believe.

In reality, what J. Craig Venter and his team of gnome-mappers have done is to create a strand of synthetic DNA and place it inside one bacterium to change it to a different type of bacterium. No small accomplishment, I'm sure, but not the creation of life, per se. One might even say, "Not even close."

What I found most interesting about this article was not the content, but the comments attached to it. Particularly one by a woman named Jen, who said, "The religious nutjobs in this world will definitely be chiming in with their nonsense. They have to make all cool things seem evil."

Tao te Ching Says Stop Sniping at Political Leaders

This article was originally published by Technorati on 20 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

President Obama's approval rating is hovering at or below 50%, which means, I suppose, that half the country or more disapproves of the job he's doing. Right-wing pundits are punditting that Tuesday's primary races signal his demise in 2012. Others are taking potshots at him for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, calling it his Katrina.

Left-wingers did this to Bush for eight years. Right-winger did it to Clinton for eight years before that. Perhaps there's a better way.

8 Rules for Governing a Country from the Tao te Ching

This article was originally published by Technorati on 20 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

According to Lao-tzu, author of the Tao te Ching, rather than sniping at new political leaders, we're supposed to teach them about the Tao. (See Part 1 of this post)

The Tao Te Ching offers specific advice for those who would govern a country. Selecting a few of these would be as good a place to start as any in educating our President.

1. "When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists." Lao-tzu's advice: don't be over exposed in the media. Don't buy into the idea that you have to be in every news cycle. Do your work, do it well and voters will remember you in 2012.

Emptiness of Space Leads to Deeper Consciousness

This article was originally published by Technorati on 19 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

The numbers are staggering--no, not even staggering, more like incomprehensible. When they start talking about half a billion light years from earth and a mass equivalent to a billion suns, one gets the impression that they're just making this stuff up.

No one can comprehend it, no matter how big-brained.

But according to the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, that's the distance from Earth and the mass of a supermassive black hole that has been--get this--"kicked out" of its home galaxy and is now hurdling through space in search of a new home.

Come on, stop pretending that any of this computes. Kinda makes you feel puny, doesn't it? The heavens from time immemorial have lent themselves to just this sort of philosophical contemplation of human smallness.

Eckhart Tolle Says Birds are the Enlightenment of the Animal Kingdom

One of the many things I enjoy about being back in Lexington is the natural beauty we have here. From the descent into Bluegrass Field over lush green horse farms, rendered Emerald Isle green by too much rain this spring, to the birds (and other critters) in my mom's backyard, Lexington is still a city carved into the countryside. (Be sure to click on the pictures for some incredible resolution.)

Eckhart Tolle says that birds are the enlightenment of the animal kingdom. Watch them for any length of time and it becomes difficult to disagree. (I'm not so sure about chipmunks but they are awfully cute.)

Verizon Leaves Customer's Credit Stained in Writing Off $18,000 Bill

This article was originally published by Technorati on 17 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

A couple of weeks ago we reported the predicament of Bob St. Germain, who had been unable to settle a disputed $18,000 cell phone bill from Verizon since receiving it in 2006.

Thanks in no small measure to Technorati coverage, I'm sure, we are happy to report that Mr. St. Germain is resting comfortably, his debt having been magnanimously forgiven by Verizon.

Not quite.

Yes, the $18,000 charge (previously reduced by half) has been removed from Mr. St. Germain's monthly statement, but in one last smashing bit of corporate egoism, the bill was not reduced to a normal amount or completely forgiven--it was written off as uncollectible.

This is what is known in the business as wrenching defeat from the jaws of victory. Another apt cliche might be cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

Inner Body Awareness Slows the Aging Process

This article was originally published by Technorati on 16 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Some dermatologists are now recommending moderate amounts of sun exposure based on the health benefits of vitamin D. Our skin produces Vitamin D when it's exposed to the sun. Studies indicate that most Americans have deficient levels of it.

The downside to increased sun exposure is the cumulative damage that UV rays can cause. This is why doctors recommend covering face, neck and hands while soaking in the sun for 10 to 15 minutes three times a week on arms and legs. UV rays are responsibly for most of our wrinkles as we age.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could somehow combat this aging process? Slow it down? Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle claims that we can through "awareness of the inner body."

Slowing Down the Aging Process - An Excerpt from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

In the meantime, awareness of the inner body has other benefits in the physical realm. One of them is a significant slowing down of the aging of the physical body.

Whereas the outer body normally appears to grow old and wither fairly quickly, the inner body does not change with time, except that you may feel it more deeply and become it more fully. If you are twenty years old now, the energy field of your inner body will feel just the same when you are eighty. It will be just as vibrantly alive. As soon as your habitual state changes from being out of the body and trapped in your mind to being in the body and present in the Now, your physical body will feel lighter, clearer, more alive. As there is more consciousness in the body, its molecular structure actually becomes less dense. More consciousness means a lessening of the illusion of materiality.

The Pain-Body Causes Criminals to Snap

This article was originally published by Technorati on 16 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

The Oxygen Network will premiere a new episode of "Snapped," its true crime series about women who kill tonight at 10:00 p.m. EDT (9:00 Central).

The 2004 murder-for-hire plot of Florida woman Karen Tobie (attention: spoiler alert if you click this link) is the subject of tonight's installment of the series, in its eighth season, that claims all female killers share a common trait: "At some point, they all snapped." Thus the title.

This is likely true on some level for men who kill as well. Be that as it may, where does this impulse come from? Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle says that violence in general arises when people lose touch with "their natural state, the joy of life within."

Warren Buffett's Son Says Values Helped Him Remain Normal

This article was originally published by Technorati on 10 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Apparently, Peter Buffett, the 52-year-old son of billionaire Warren Buffett has managed to breakout of the stereotype set for him by growing up to be rather normal.

Of course, anything north of self-absorbed drug addict would probably suffice as a breakout life for one born into such wealth, ironically enough. But that's far from Peter Buffett's reality.

Publicizing his new book, called Life is What You Make it: Finding Your Own Path to Fulfillment, he says that his parents taught him "values" that kept him out of trouble and, well, helped him find his own path to fulfillment.

No More Scientology Ads, Please

I'm sorry, I really don't wish to be negative, but I'm just not comfortable with Scientology advertising on my blog. This is an effort to keep them from doing that. See the link to an interesting video below.

I don't know what you see, but on my computer, Scientology.org keeps advertising on my blog. I don't have much control over the ads Google puts up, so I thought I'd write a blog entry that might keep Scientologists from advertising here.

For a good source of information about Scientology, check out good old Wikipedia. Follow the links. It's truly fascinating.

From one the of these Wikipedia links:

The Bridge to Total Freedom, or simply The Bridge for short, is the Church of Scientology's guide to members of how to advance expensively in the church through auditing and other services. The Bridge is explained by a chart that shows the levels one must pass through to reach Clear and ultimately, Operating Thetan. . . . The Bridge costs roughly $300,000 US.

Any religion can't be all bad if it motivates its practitioners to generate $300,000 in discretionary spending, can it?

3 Spiritual Rules for Dealing With Customer Service Reps

This article was originally published by Technorati on 9 May 2010 as a Simply Spirited feature. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Last week I expounded on the unconsciousness of large corporations as an element of reportage about an $18,000 bill Verizon sent to one of its loyal customers.

Our coverage of the subject would remain incomplete if we did not consider the flip side of this selfsame relationship, the costumer's responsibility when dealing with large corporations.

While an $18,000 bill is best left to a trained professional--an attorney--smaller amounts don't warrant such treatment. So it's up to us to deal with the frontman (or woman) of virtually all large corporations, the lowly customer service representative.

Observance of three spiritual rules will help you achieve your desired outcome in both a material form and at the deeper level of personal growth.

Scientology Demystified-The Ultimate Business Model

This is not a pro-Scientology article.

If you wanted to make a lot of money what would you do? First, come up with a product or service that everyone wants. Second, find a way to be the only company that can market the product or service. Third, find a way that you can legally pay no taxes on the money you make.

Scientology, the creation of L. Ron Hubbard, has figured out how to do all three. And it's a very old business plan he put into action.

The product is enlightenment. Who wouldn't want that? Inner peace, right? Joy? No fear of death? Scientologists call enlightenment "clear."

Corporate Ego Compels Verizon to Charge $18,000 for Data Download

This article was originally published by Technorati on 1 May 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Most of us have been there: shouting into the phone at some poor, underpaid "customer service representative" who was with us shortly. No doubt a great deal of acrimony has been exchanged in the case of Bob and Mary St. Germain over an $18,000 Verizon cell phone bill racked up by their son back in 2006. The account remains in dispute.

To be fair, the St. Germain's have a few good points. First, wireless contracts are indecipherable gibberish. Hard to argue with this one; their purpose is to confuse the customer.

Second, experts say unlimited data plans are marketed by other companies for $30 a month. Another good point. If that's the case, its hard to imagine how $18,000 could be fair a price.

Third, the St. Germains say they were unaware that they had just gone off a promotional plan under which data downloads were free. Verizon reps admit this contention, though Verizon claims the St. Germains were duly warned of the expiration of the promotion when the patriarch of the family renewed his wireless contract with the company a short time before the bill came--nothing like a reverse signing bonus, is there?

Word didn't make it to their son, however, who continued to download songs at a respectable clip.

For Self-Mastery Forget About Free Will

From Tao Te Ching, Number 48:

True mastery can be gained

by letting things go their own way.

It can't be gained by interfering.

What is Lao Tzu talking about here?

As if it were riding in a carriage or wagon, our consciousness rides on our body's innate intelligence, which is hardwired to Universal Intelligence. Learning to observe all that happens in us, through us and around us is true mastery. Attempting to intervene in what's happening--what our bodies, our carriages, are doing beneath us--is not mastery, it's interference.