Sunday, October 26, 2014

Take your time...and shove it.

I myself have already admitted I never feel there is enough...I have't accomplished enough in an allotted time, always in a hurry, must to do more, etc.

I've already admitted I'm crazy by most standards, so now I'm really going to dive into the idea that Time Does Not Exist and why adopting this idea is freeing me from my own self inflicted turmoil and I hope it can do the same for you.

In the Sept 2014 issue of Discover, author Hillary Rosner wrote an article called Forever Young that talks about senescence, aka aging.  I love how ego is built right into science and scientists claim they are "impartial."  The article explains how science is having a tough time understanding aging because it's an assumption, not a fact.  Aging is "a priori" in science meaning it is a given fact and cannot be proven or disproven, therefore it is.  There were several theories to aging but they were just that because improvable. We all know that to assume makes an ass out of u and me.

Speaking on those theories:

"For years scientists have quibbled over which theory [of aging] proved the best.  Now a new branch of the science of aging has sprouted, from a part of the world that, oddly, was excluded before: nature." 

Many plants display negative senescence meaning they are actually getting stronger as time goes on.  The bristle cone pines in northern CA are 5000+ years old.  Science doesn't like this because it doesn't fit in the dogma it's created.  "There's dogma in the literature--which is more oriented toward the cell biology of aging--that wild animals don't actually senesce," says Daniel Nussey.  His point is that science as assumed senesce can be neither proven nor disproven, and now we are doing both through negative senesce.

Time is an illusion: I first received this idea when I was talking to a tree in BC, Canada (told you I was crazy).  Another fascinating topic is how we communicate w/o words but I will leave that for later.  I was simply looking at the tree, not old by any means, only maybe 6" in diameter.  I was looking at the bark and the many razor thin layers that make it up.  They shed, grow more, shed grow more...the old stuff falls to the ground and decomposes back into the earth where it becomes part of the nutrients that feed the tree, thereby becoming part of the thing it once was.

We always use the term "Nature" to describe everything on the planet that isn't us (that's funny too). Sometimes we use the term Mother Nature, and others refer to the entire planet with names like Gaia, Terra, or simply Mother Earth.

The tree, part of nature, sheds the bark and lands on the ground, part of nature, which sits there or  is picked up by an animal, both part of nature, and eventually decomposes back into the earth, part of nature, and becomes fuel for other plants, part of nature.  See the theme yet?  If it's all part of nature at all times, it always is. Now, one million years ago, one million years from now, it doesn't make a difference to nature.  To nature, time isn't there, it always was and always will be...hmm, just like God.

Here's the thing: we always use the term nature to describe everything that isn't us.  What if we are part of nature?

Shed your ego.

You'll have plenty of time to get everything you ever wanted done.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Who are you?

I can't stand the type of pompous, uber-egotistical writing that is in The New Yorker.  Like this article. However, I agree with Kathryn Schultz in her point.  The point being that self help is mostly filled with hacks and charlatans because to help the self, one must understand what the self is...otherwise what are you helping? And 99% of the "Life Coaches" out there don't have their shit together but feel that telling other people what to do makes them happy.

She concludes on the favorable side of self help because while there may be a "umptebajillion," ideas out there, at least they are putting out ideas as to what the self is.  Like most The New Yorker writers, her elitist arrogance seated in "higher order" rational thinking is also the reason she can't find the self.

The self is more than just your rational thought, masculine brain.  It includes our emotions, feelings, behaviors and reactions, which to this day have not been localized in the brain.  What this boils down to the separation between the brain and the mind.  A rationalist will kick and scream at the idea of a "mind" that is not in the physical brain.  Yet, science has had to alter course a little bit in the past few years because neurologists aren't able to explain psychological processes even though they can tell you in detail how the machine works.

Hence, a new branch of neurology, (with the backing of the scientific community) called Neuropsychology. 
  1. Neuropsychology studies the structure and function of the brain as they relate to specific psychological processes and behaviors. It is seen as a clinical and experimental field of psychology that aims to study, assess, understand and treat behaviors directly related to brain functioning.
Like most "intelligent" people, only using the brain to solve everything is futile, as the answers you seek aren't answerable by the brain.  I could be 1000% wrong but Kathryn Schultz's article does not look like the writing of a happy person who loves life.

I once asked myself 100 questions in one sitting. 70% of them were pertaining to the same subject: "How do I feel more?"  While I finally found the answers I laugh at the irony of using the brain to understand feelings.  

If your in the camp that this type of cold, rational thought is all there is to "intelligence," and you don't walk around loving life and aren't consistently happy on a daily basis (which almost no one in this country is), I invite you try one thing.  If you want to know who you are, stop thinking!




Friday, October 17, 2014

Am

"I am here"

I is the ego

What are you without ego?

"Am here"

Here is everywhere

"Am"

You are everywhere and everything.

There is a reason este is the first verb you learn in Attic Greek and all of language in general, because it truly is the only thing there is.  Is is it.

Yes, it's totally new age cheesy crap and words don't do it justice.  Working with Satyen Raja a couple years back in a practice called Harmony Integration or Spiritual Technology, we asked a Zen Koan which allowed us a direct experience of the truth.  Meaning I can tell you exactly what the answer to the question is but it won't mean anything to you because you didn't experience the answer.

I asked the following: "What am I?"

Through a process called the Gnostic Intensive I cam to the answer of "I am here."  Which is really "when am I" but that was my answer.  It was the first time in my life I stopped my palsy.  I knew I'd stumbled upon a great truth that literally changed my physical being through a psychoactive process.

I lead a friend through the process and he concluded with "I am This."

....And now I see those answers are the same. All the reading I've been doing connects in the same idea, shed the ego and you will find peace and happiness.  You came to this planet with nothing and were happy, so riches are not the goal.  It is only after we develop the idea of the self we start to run into problems...this is why young children are so care free, there is no "self" to care about.

I picked up a little book called "Heal your Body" by Louise Hay.  It's pretty awesome.  She explains how the mental things we do cause physical ailments and man they are so right on.  Of course, I immediately set out to find all the things wrong with me and a theme quickly developed.

Here is a list of all the reoccurring ailments I have had since I can remember. See if you can spot a theme

  • Palsy: extreme control of anger, unwillingness to express feelings, an intense desire to control everything and everyone
  • Blackheads: small outbursts of anger
  • Coccyx: (My tailbone is broken w/o cause): Out of balance with yourself.  holding on.  Blame of self.  Sitting on old pain.
  • Poor circulation: the inability to express emotion
  • Earache: anger, not wanting to hear turmoil, parents fighting
  • Eczema: breath taking antagonism
  • Hemorrhoids: Fear of deadlines, Anger of the past, afraid to let go, feeling burdened
  • Kidney Problems: Criticism, disappointment, failure, shame
  • Liver: Seat of anger and primitive emotions
  • TMJ: Anger, a refusal to express feelings
  • Nail Biting: Frustration, eating away at the self
  • Nervousness: Not trusting the process of life
  • Sacrum: Loss of power.  Old stubborn anger.
  • Snoring: Stubborn refusal to let go of the old patterns
  • Sore Throat: Holding in angry words, the inability to express the self
  • Tinnitus: refusal to listen, not hearing the inner voice. Stubbornness
  • Tonsillitis: Fear. Repressed emotions.
I am my own worst critic. I judge myself most harshly, nothing I do is ever good enough. I feel the need to do everything and satisfy everyone.  It's actually not that I don't think others are capable, but that they aren't required to, only I am.  And when I can't do it, which is always because nothing is every good enough for me, I am angry, angry at myself.  I take these things in, I don't let them go, they seethe.  I makes me feel burdened and angry at everything, angry at the past. I never think I'm good enough so I don't let go, I need to do more, I have to be better and because I can never be enough, I'm fucking angry at existence.

As I mentioned before.  James Tywman put it this way: letting go of the ego means 1)Surrendering to a higher power, there is more out there than yourself and you are a part of it.  2)Trusting that you will receive the answers you need when they are needed. 3)Feeling grateful for the gifts you will be giving through trust and 4) sharing those gifts with the world through love.

"I am not good enough"
Who am I not good enough for?
"Me, everyone, anyone"

Who defines what good is?
"I do"

I is the ego, eliminate the ego.

"Am enough"






Monday, October 13, 2014

Phiolo.org is up and running

I've written over 50 pages of thoughts in the past 2 weeks.  I never realized how easy it would be for me to write a book until I just started typing this.  Whether it is a good book is an entirely different story.

I have attempted to take the best of those 50 pages and built it into Phiolo.org.  Phiolo is the new education system.  I say this because there are multiple facets that extend beyond a school.  There is the Career Services Divsion.  This is where students can go to find a job post high school, or where they will start their application process to the Universities of their choice.

One critical thing that's different about starting a university application at Phiolo....it starts in 9th grade.  I posted on the Phiolo blog about University of Texas new campaign talking about how their pumping out the greatest people in the country.  The major thing I took away from the campaign was that UT can indeed help those students become extremely successful by giving them the HOW.  But I saw nothing that supports that UT will supply the BE.

That is what we do at Phiolo. When you live your life with purpose, everything will fall into place.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Shed your Ego

My sister asked me the other day what I thought a specific Beatitude meant. She specifically asked me about the peacemakers but I will list them all for reference. 


Here is Richmond Lattimore's literal translation from the Greek, meaning he attempts to translate the word without implying any meaning.
  • Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven
  • Blessed are the gentle, because they shall inherit the earth
  • Blessed are they who sorrow, because they shall be comforted
  • Blessed are they who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because they shall be fed
  • Blessed are they who have pity, because they shall be pitied
  • Blessed are the pure in heart, because they shall see God
  • Blessed are the peacemakers, because they shall be called the sons of God
  • Blessed are they who are persecuted for their righteousness, because theirs is the the Kingdom of Heaven
At first you read these and think, "Basically I need to suffer my whole life to get into heaven," and a lot of people believe this, I know my aunts do and after going through 12 years of Catholic school, they essentially told us the same thing. But there is something more interesting behind this.  

First, there is no time table.  There is no "blessed are the poor because in 30 years they get to go to heaven."  Christ knew that only the present exists.  That is to say he understood the universal key to happiness and we don't have to suffer now to be happy later, if we are meek, poor, clean, etc, right now, we are in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Second, there is the "Poor in Spirit," bit, which always confused me.  I think Billy Graham actually got it right in his answer.  That is to say we must be humble.  One may also take this to mean we shouldn't have a big ego.

Lastly, ego, the answer and cause of all problems.

I'm reading a book called Emissaries of Light by James Twyman.   Light has many meanings, probably because light is everything, but I'm not going to get into that now.   Here's a brief idea of the concept: quantum mechanics teaches us that E=MC2 (yea that's supposed to be a squared). Meaning matter is proportional to energy, meaning they are really the same thing in 2 states, meaning we are beings of energy, meaning we are beings of light.

Twyman shows us that the "light bringers" are actually bringers of peace. Since my sister specifically asked about peace I figured here is the perfect answer.

When you understand you are light, you are at peace and you bring peace to all you meet.  All fear is based in the fact that we know we have separated from God. We created a "me" separate from everything else.  An ego.

Fear begets war.  War is simply when one does not agree with another and it is always based out of fear.  You know you have separated from God and you desperately want to reunite but you don't know how, the only thing you know is to defend that which you are, ego…even if it is very wrong….hence war.  War requires two ego's to both stake their claim.  I believe this is why Gandhi could not be defeated by the entire British empire. (David Hawkins calls it Power in his book Power vs Force).

There is no me, so there is no me to defend against you.  Therefore there is no war, only peace.

When you understand you are light and everything is light, you understand you are God and God is you, they are not separate.  2 important points here, you are (1) everything, therefore you are (2) God.  I understand this to mean Everything is God.  Some people call it Source, others Universe, other say God.  It's all the same to me now.   In Lattimore's translation of the New Testament he correctly translates Christ's words many times when Christ says "Son of Man." There are actually two complete wiki pages on this as people can't agree on what "Son of Man" means.  Christ uses it almost interchangeably with the "Son of God" aka, Christ.  No one has any problem with Christ calling himself the son of God yet this "Son of Man" is still disputed. 

Christ used them interchangeably because they are the same thing, he is the same thing, Son of Man and God because he is one with God, he is God, he is Everything...and you are everything.

When you understand you are one with God there is no fear, there is no war, there is only peace.

To be with God, truly, means one must shed the ego, for it is always the ego that puts the good and bad connotation on everything.  The sun burnt me, sun is bad.  The sun saved my life when I was getting frost bite.  The sun is energy, energy is neither good nor evil until the ego defines it as such. 

All 8 Beatitudes can be taken to mean that when you are without ego, you have found the Kingdom of Heaven.  
  • Poor in Spirit, humble, without ego
  • Sorrow, for you are not connected to God, seek to reunite and you'll be happy, aka, shed your ego
  • Hunger and thirst to be with all that Is and therefore is right, aka God, shed your ego
  • Extend Pity to everything, you are everything extend pity to you, shed your ego
  • Clean of heart, can't get much cleaner than shedding your ego
  • Peacemakers....shed your ego
  • If you are persecuted for being with God, you are in the Kingdom of Heaven, shed your ego (notice Christ never actually said you had to suffer, you are simply being persecuted)
Now, shed your ego.  How do we do this?  Haha, you have the rest of your life to figure it out, I can tell you that for me it started with abstaining from judgement.  The day you can stop judging others for what they have done is the day you will begin to be a happier person.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

How to create successful students

So Domenic, how did you do it?  How did you create such successful students?

Why do you ask how I did it?
Because I want to know the secret.

Why do you want to know?
Because I can then share it with others and they can have the same success.  You aren't greedy Mr. Weber, are you?

Well if I told you it wouldn't be much of a secret anymore would it! Let me ask you this, what do you think the secret it?
I don't know.

Well try.
You simply picked the best and the brightest, it was staged.

Say I did that.  What does the research show about the success of the best and the brightest?
Actually it says they pretty much end up average.

So try again, what do you think I did?
Did you start with a different understanding of how we learn?

Ah, you're closer
Is the secret in discipline and behavioral theory?

Now we're getting somewhere.  Keep going?
You focused on earning their respect so they paid attention, then they learned better.

No no, you're getting colder.
UGGH! I GIVE UP.

Ok, I'll tell you the answer.  I asked a simple question; what's the ONE thing I can do that will forever change a students ability to learn?
That's it?  What do you mean, you just asked a question?

Yep!
Well what's the answer to the question?

What question?
What's the ONE thing?

Well, what do you think it is?
I don't know...

Is it rote memorization of facts, memorizing the periodic table, speed reading, teaching the law of averages on a standardized test?
No, it couldn't be any of those things.

Ok, great, so what could it be?
Perhaps teaching students to write or read.  Maybe it's painting.  Teaching them right from wrong?

Yes.  You just did it, the ONE thing.
WHAT!?!

I told you the answer, I asked a simple question!