Genius Fiddling While Rome Burns -- What Might Africa, The Middle East, and Global Warming Tell Us About Our Personal and Collective Mind?

After some slightly self-confronting realizations, honest discussion, and soul-searching, we finally came to a temporary stopping place on our topic on wholeness entitled:

"Naked Genius -- Being the Difference We Want to See in the World."

(Thanks to the willing participation of so many in these conversations, there are some wonderfully insightful comments in that topic and in all of our previous topics. And now, thanks to the continuing advances of web widgets, you'll find a handy new tool in the lower right-hand side of the blog that provides a better glimpse of those topics for your convenience)

So, with a desire to advance in other fertile directions, a conspiracy of your fellow bloglings suggested this topic. The real idea here is to assume (and please, suspend disbelief, if you must) that what happens in the world at-large is a reflection of the inner world for each us (and as a collective). If this were true, how might some of our more confronting situations in the world be a reflection back to us of opportunities and challenges before us.

In the spirit of past topics, we're still looking to continually move out of denial (as much as might be possible) and head toward the light in an effort to get a more clear look at the possibility that we are a whole within a whole -- and how that notion might guide us and allow us to tap into our inner genius to find a better, more lasting, productive, and compassionate way.

Your thoughts, questions, confusion, and humor are most welcome,
Christopher

P.S. As always remember that to see the comments in a separate window, click on the "Comments" link. To see the comments in the body of the topic, click "Links to this Post"

Views of those commenting have not been checked for accuracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog publisher or his associates.

Naked Genius -- Being the Difference We Want to See in the World

Well... since this topic is about breaking out of the old paradigm, it seemed appropriate to also take on a new face. Hope this also handles some of your questions about not being to read the previous version as easily.

Now, that said, this topic is a step forward from of our previous two discussions entitled:

Complete Genius -- The Whole Truth

and

The Paradigm Conspiracy

In the last rounds, through all of our various commentary and quite fascinating explorations, the topic has evolved to a recognition that much of our economic, political, religious, social, and healthcare systems are based upon a strongly-held paradigm of "the natural world and we as people are not whole and are in need of fixing and must be kept under control and some form of supervisory management." Many in the previous topics have expressed that this view has led to much of the dysfunction in or societies, as well as the pain and addiction we experience as individuals, families, communities, and in our national and world scenes. Our current world condition, many have suggested, is merely a glaring symptom of this underlying cause.

As has been expressed previously, we are looking to strip away our facades and get philosophically naked together (pardon the imagery). But a level of bare, bold honesty is what we're looking to evolve to next.

As a segue from the last round, I'd like to add the last comments made by BKO, whose profession enables him to see as closely as any of us, perhaps, the effect of the worldview which we've described. He expressed:

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"We can produce great numbers of studies and intellectually parse the data to create stacks of elegant conclusions, but no matter how high we build them, none of them will make us one whit wiser. Smarter perhaps, but not wiser. If we wait to for “proof” [i.e. that we are out of balance and harmony with a deeper reality of holism -- comment by CH] (another one of our cultural addictions), we will fail. Where is that change going to occur? Are the politicians going to do it? Are the corporations going to do it? Are the religions? The universities? The answers to those questions certainly aren’t difficult to see. Conversation is stimulating and helpful, but until we’re willing to start looking at the assumptions we’ve made about the way we live and what we’re entitled to, nothing will change. And if that change occurs, it won’t occur in the distant halls of power. That change will happen right out at the end of our own noses, and it will happen because we got up this morning and grew the balls to say “ENOUGH!”.

***************

And so, in the spirit of his question, what is it you believe we can do to really address this situation? How can we say "Enough" in ways that will make a difference -- or maybe even more powerfully, as Gandhi said, how can we "Be the difference we want to see in the world" ? What does being a difference look like for you?

We've got a real collection of bright minds here so let's get out of the proverbial box and follow Einstein's axiom in that we cannot solve a problem using the same thinking it took to create it.

Your thoughts? Comments?

Many thanks,
Christopher

P.S. As always remember that to see the comments in a separate window, click on the "Comments" link. To see the comments in the body of the topic, click "Links to this Post"

Views of those commenting have not been checked for accuracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog publisher or his associates.

Complete Genius -- The Whole Truth

This is a continuation of the previous topic The Paradigm Conspiracy. I am very appreciative and impressed with both the intellectual depth of what everyone has shared in the previous topic, and your willingness to jump in and invite others to participate. I think we have answered with far more depth than I had anticipated several of the initial questions I posed in that topic.

For example:

"What is your belief regarding our innate Wholeness... our Connectedness. Is it a myth? A future possibility? A fantasy?"

Given that we have your foregoing contributions in that regard as a wonderful preface (please feel free to re-visit the previous comments for a refresher), I’d like to do a re-direct now. I am inviting us to begin to consider and comment on some of the questions that have arisen from the discussion thus far.

Namely:

1. One of my initial questions -- "Will it (the experience of Wholeness) provide us with a fundamental understanding from which to solve some of our greatest challenges (personally and societally)?"

2. Tarah's question (which I think is very important for us to explore more deeply): "If we're whole (or a whole within a whole) and yet believe we're less than whole and are separate, how does that then suggest that we are more controllable (or prone to such susceptibility) than if we were not in such a state of mind?"

3. A question that arose from an answer provided by Shayla to WC's question regarding why we don't see wholeness more regularly experienced: "Is it possible that we resist the notion or the experience of oneness... of wholeness... because we are addicted to our life in this world? And we fear that if we truly come to understand that we are a whole within a whole we will somehow die to this world? To our identity? To our limited self?"

4. A take off on Peter's comment: "If I knew deeply, intimately that I was, in fact, whole and that I was similarly connected to each person with whom I came in contact..." then what, if anything would change about how I show up (be, do, have) in the world?

This naturally leads to Ellio's last questions (inspired by all of your comments, I'm sure, but especially by the words of our resident sage, Rizzin [very happy to have you back... hope you and your tribe will share more of your wisdom with us]).

5. If you have had a meaningful encounter of wholeness, how has it impacted your life? Do you crave do have an experience of wholeness (again or for the first time) and does it also, in some regards create some level of fear or trepidation?

This may seem like a lot to chew on, but take the chunk that you relate to most or that hits you the most strongly right now and let's attempt to break this down.

Many thanks,
Christopher

P.S. As always remember that to see the comments in a separate window, click on the "Comments" link. To see the comments in the body of the topic, click "Links to this Post"

Views of those commenting have not been checked for accuracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog publisher or his associates.

The Paradigm Conspiracy

Well, it's several days after November 1st... the intended date of re-starting the conversations here... but one additional week of travel held me up.

As I've been out on the road, working with organizations on topics like collaboration, inclusion, empowerment, and thinking more ecologically (is it good for me? my team? the organization? the planet?), I've also been re-reading a provocative book entitled, "The Paradigm Conspiracy." The book's premise (at least as I interpret it) is that there is an overarching paradigm or unconsciously agreed upon foundation of thought that people must be controlled (we must control others or be controlled)... and perhaps even more fundamental a belief that is labeled in the book "The Four Agreements" as being the Great Lie -- that great lie being the belief that we are not Whole -- and that we are separate -- not connected.

The question I'm probing now (which would love your thoughts and input on) is this:

What is your belief regarding our innate Wholeness... our Connectedness. Is it a myth? A future possibility? A fantasy? A longing to reconnect with the womb? Is it healthy? Will it provide us with a fundamental understanding from which to solve some of our greatest challenges (personally and societally)? Or could it be a hindrance?

Please join in. Your thoughts, questions, skeptical notions, and humor are always welcome.

P.S. As always remember that to see the comments in a separate window, click on the "Comments" link. To see the comments in the body of the topic, click "Links to this Post"

PPS. If you're just joining us or would like a view of some of our past discussions, please visit our last posts:

Incomparable Genius -- Treating an Irreplaceable Being

or

Global Genius -- Creative Solutions for a Crazy World

Views of those commenting have not been checked for accuracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog publisher or his associates.