Eleanor O'Rourke

Mayday Mayday Mayday

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:43:00 -0700

What is it about impending disaster that draws us like a moth to a flame?

If we look at the world around us – land, sea and air polluted beyond recognition; corruption in banking, politics and the media; senseless wars; terrorism; the iniquitous distribution of wealth – it's easy to recognise a civilisation in its death throws.

Yet, just like the moth we seem powerless to do anything other than sail full steam ahead into catastrophe. Everything's far too complicated now. We'd get angry about the banking crisis – but we don't understand the maths. We'd be up in arms about dishonesty in the media – but we're pretty certain that politicians are in on it too. The fact is, we no longer trust anyone to tell the truth. Even environmentalists can have their own agenda. And as for war… try picking a side.

In one corner, powerful, oil greedy, lying, cheating capitalists who protect freedom and quality of life.

In the other corner, impoverished, powerless, God fearing people – who stone their women and blow up planes.

Life was so much easier in the time of John Wayne. Knowing who the bad guys are gives anger a sense of direction. Channelling rage that comes from injustice gets a lot of things done. Unfocussed anger has to go somewhere, so it's obvious that it turns inwards on our selves.

So now we have an epidemic of depression. Which is just another word for anger, but without the enthusiasm.

We just don't know what to do. We think we have no power.

Let's have some good news! Today is the first of May. For the Pagans, this is a day to celebrate Beltane. A spring time festival of optimism, lighting fires and dancing around the May pole. The crowning of the May Queen.

Of course the patriarchy of the Church banished Beltane as they couldn't find an appropriate biblical story to morph it into. They found one for Easter (which previously commemorated the resurrection of Tammuz, the son of the Moon Goddess Ishtar). And they found one for Christmas (previously the Winter Solstice).

The patriarchy of the church wished to create order in the Universe (Ha! Good luck with that one). To do this they invented the vertical model of power. God at the top (the very literal top – you can't get higher than Heaven) followed by priests, popes, bishops (all male) followed by ordinary men, and of course women at the bottom (evil daughters of Eve and temptresses of men, who, after all, are just trying to get on with the very important job of ruling the world).

The patriarchy justified this arrogance by some strategic autosuggestion in the Bible – 'Men shall have dominion OVER the earth'. Not 'live in harmony' with the earth. Not 'have respect for the sacredness of life'. More 'use the earth for whatever you can take from it'. Even Descartes, philosopher though he was, described the wilderness as something that had to be subdued and controlled. Anyone who disagreed with this flagrant abuse of power (i.e. Women) were burnt at the stake as witches and heretics.

And now we see the effect of all that looting… and it isn't pretty.

Not such good news after all.

Time to turn the ship around.

Time to switch from a vertical to a horizontal model of power.

This involves switching our focus from fantasy and nostalgia (the raising of the Titanic) to cleaning up the mess we've made (The raising of our consciousness).

Technology has created the means for this shift to happen. The internet allows us to join up and become a force to be reckoned with. What's missing is us us - our driving energy. In a vertical model of power our energy comes from adrenaline. And as we are only too aware, many of us have run out of adrenaline. It takes a lot of adrenaline to compete, catch and kill. Our new horizontal energy comes from creative expression and the driving energy of creative expression is love.

It's love Jim, but not as we know it.

First we need to elevate love from the realm of romance and sentimentality and turn it into a Force for Transformation.

This seems an impossible task, but as we have seen, huge changes in belief patterns have happened before.

In 325 AD, one man (Constantine) organised a Council (in Nicaea) that established a canon of belief loosely based on the principles of Jesus. He established a vertical hierarchy, made himself the first Pope and murdered many of the original Christians who disagreed with him. (I did say loosely based!).

The Catholic church swept all this under the carpet (their preferred me

thod for dealing with any inconvenient truths) and the re-written Bible was pretty soon accepted as fact by millions of people across the world.

And they didn't even have Twitter!

So why can't we pull off a similar stunt?

Why can't we create a new religion?

One with a horizontal axis. One that honours and respects life. One that rectifies the imbalance of forces. One that redefines words that are screaming for a new definition. Words like Power. Love. Creativity.

Power

1. Instead of fighting old power, we can start by ridiculing it. How difficult can that be?! Rich bankers, megalomaniac media tycoons and narcissistic celebrities should be objects of derision. In order to facilitate this, let's make the teaching of irony, critical thinking and emotional intelligence compulsory in all schools. Children need to know that evil is not inevitable but that "bad things happen because good people do nothing". Let's go back to the original meaning of Alma Mater - "nourishing mother" and bring some Goddess energy back into the classroom. Ditch the data and learn some respect. True power – the power to resist the temptation to sell our souls for safety or approval – com

es from self esteem.

Love

2. Contrary to popular opinion, love was not invented in Nashville by country and western singers. Nor was love made in Manhattan by ad men anxious to increase the sales of ice cream. And it definitely wasn't created by Walt Disney as a strategy to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. Sentimental love, needy love, narcissistic love won't get us up Jacob's ladder. We need fierce, compassionate love. The kind that breaks our hearts – in order to make them bigger. We won't make it with hearts as small as ours. It's a fitting irony that we could be the first species to go extinct because of the size of our hearts rather than the size of our brains!

Creativity

3. Not the narrow definition of the creative arts but the expansive one of creative expression. This is the art of allowing the energy of life to drive our actions, our decisions, our behaviour. We don't 'do' creativity, it does us. That's its brilliance – it allows something other than our personal ego to have a vote in our choices. And as we have seen we can't be trusted at the helm of the boat. Learning how to open ourselves to creativity allows grace in. And that grace contains wisdom. Which we are sorely in need of. Creativity is high voltage energy which can make us crazy. We need to bring back the sacred rituals of silence and prayer if we are going to channel it successf

ully.

A new trinity for the times we live in.

Three is a powerful number.

It was the number of times Peter denied Christ. Let's not make the same mistake.

It's the number of times the Mayday call has to go out. Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.

It means things are serious now. There will be consequences.

The word comes from the french "M'aider" - help me.

If we listen carefully we might just hear it coming from our souls.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Who wants to live for ever?

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:39:58 -0700

It’s Easter – a significant time of death and rebirth. A time that warrants a suitable ritual.

So, what have we come up with?

Not much, apart from the frenzied supermarket shop, the traffic jam, and the mainlining of chocolate.

If we think Christmas has lost all meaning, there isn’t much hope for Easter. Jesus’s birthday is at least celebrated on the same day each year, whereas the anniversary of his death changes with the cycles of the moon – a political masterstroke to keep both Pagans and Christians happy. Things were just so much easier when the electorate couldn’t read or add up.

Christians could be offended by this analogy. Jesus wouldn’t be offended, because he lived at a higher altitude. And of course because he wasn’t a Christian.

Christians came along afterwards. And by interpreting his high level, mystical truths through the lens of low level, budget consciousness, they created a religion. Just as the Jews did 2000 years earlier and the Muslims did 500 years later.

Let’s face it – it’s a mess.

We could go so far as to say that unless we deconstruct all these literal, religious interpretations and make the leap to a higher level of consciousness, the world truly will go to hell and there may not be any hand baskets.

The new rule for all religions. (Man up)

We are creative spirits, temporarily inhabiting human form. We are more energy than matter. We all know this by now, thanks to science and microscopes. Energy changes, but it doesn’t die. Water, when frozen becomes ice, when heated becomes vapour. Without science we would think that the water, when heated, disappears. Primitive man might think “Wow it’s a miracle!” But with the benefit of a neo cortex, we know otherwise.

So, it stands to reason that if we evolve further, miraculous events could become every day occurrences. Because at the higher altitudes the laws of time and space no longer apply. (So that’s how you walk on water!).

Who’s ready to rise?

Who isn’t!

We love stories of alchemy and transformation - Harry Potter is a huge franchise! We love stories of living forever - The Twilight Saga is a license to print money!

Sadly, just as we have done with Christmas and Easter we’ve taken the mystical and brought it down to a commercial level… again.

There may be no bank holiday traffic jams on the super highway to higher consciousness, butthere is definitely a toll to pay – it’s self-discipline. And in the tradition of all great rituals, there is a sacrifice to be made - it’s the death of the ego.

We have come at this a little backwards. We want self-indulgence… and a body that lives for ever! The Spa is our new Cathedral. Anti ageing treatments are the new religion.

Let’s look at this through the lens of evolution, as it’s always helpful to get a little context, and to see exactly where we took the U-turn.

We started off superstitious, primitive creatures, living in a world we didn’t comprehend – though we did understand death and rebirth, as it was all around us in the natural world. We worshipped the Goddess of Nature.

Pruning ensured that plant life could rise even more gloriously the following spring.

Next, we developed our brain (good!) and with it, our ego (not so good!).

Now our ego has gone bonkers interpreting the metaphysical world. Here are some of its pronouncements…

1. “I am God.” Yes, Jesus did in fact say “You are Gods” but this was only to take the focus off Him being idolized. When he bent the laws of time and space and did miraculous things like walking on water, his attitude was one of Why are you so impressed with this? He said “This you shall do and more!”

Instead of saying “You are Gods” he probably should have said “You are Gods in training or Gods in potential… but you need a little pruning”. In some cases quite a lot of pruning, but Jesus was benevolent to say the least. For pruning read‘spiritual discipline’ or ‘ego slaying’.

2. “I just need more energy.” We see energy as something to get, not something we are. We like to see the outcome of creative energy in acquisitions - buildings, art, technology, money, because we can ‘own’ these things and because we can keep them for ever. (Haha! In our dreams - they can all get wiped out in a nanosecond).

When we think of our own energy we are usually referring to the energy of the body, or adrenaline. We go to the church of Starbucks – one on every block for spiritual refueling. “I can’t possibly write that editorial/put together a proposal/think of the next project without CAFFEINE”.

3. “Death isn’t real.” But we’re only interested in eternal life for the body, not the soul. Yes, we are that narcissistic that we think we can create a cure for death. Come up with a product that holds back the ageing process and venture capitalists will fight to throw money at you.

But a scheme to raise the consciousness of the species – forget it.

Jesus is probably rolling his eyes, wondering how things could have been different. His teachings were simple. Learn to love (that alone could take a lifetime of discipline) and exercise the power of choice wisely.

Choice allows us to create. We can know ourselves as spirit/soul and create consciously or we can know ourselves as body/mind and create unconsciously. This is a complex principle to explain to a bunch of fishermen, so as we have seen, things didn’t turn out too well, and a lot of stuff got lost in translation.

It being Easter, one of my favourite Jesus sayings, occurs in the scene with PontiusPilate. Pilate is still trying to get Jesus to engage in a power play, so asks him if he’s King of the Jews. Jesus replies “It is as you say it is”.

This is a profound truth. In other words… You are responsible for your own projections. You are attributing the meaning to whatever it is you’re perceiving.

Of course Pilate didn’t get it. And for the next 2000 years, millions more people failed to get it.

But we have a chance to turn things around and save the species… before the world ends and we have to start all over again from scratch!

Either way Jesus doesn’t mind. When you’re an eternal being, you have all the time in the world.

But I think it would make him smile if 2012 was the year we turned things around.

The Ego is dead. Long live the Soul.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Redefining Lent - it makes you think.

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:38:00 -0800

What are you giving up for Lent?

This question always takes me right back to schooldays in the convent. Competition starts at an early age, so Lent became an excuse to think of ever more elaborate and inventive ways of becoming special to Jesus.

"Chocolate? That's so easy, I heard Sophie's getting up an hour earlier to pray!"

If the soul had a face, it would be sporting a wry smile at this point. The soul understands the bliss of being unique, so has no truck with its poor cousin "special". It also has a different perception of self-denial – great if it minimises the window of 'self' so the soul can at last become more visible on the desktop of life. But self-denial for the sake of suffering? That only serves to inflate self importance even more!

Sheesh! What's the soul got to do to get heard around here?

Some of the nuns would think this heresy. They liked to teach us about the nobility of suffering, so we reveled in the tales of the martyrs who had been tortured for their faith and did not waver! We stared bug eyed at the illustrations of Dante's inferno trying to imagine the unimaginable horrors.

Why?

Our Judeo Christian mythology contains a four thousand year history of our attachment to suffering, so it's fair to say it's quite an embedded pattern in our psyche. But now that evolution has become such a pressing requirement, it's time to deconstruct some of our beliefs around pain. Namely…

If we suffer, we can expect a reward.

How many people stay in unfulfilling jobs or bad relationships because of some unconscious belief that they are going to be rewarded at some future date? And how many of them turn into martyrs when they realize that reward isn't forthcoming?

Rather than face the truth (that suffering is optional) it's tempting to turn it into a virtue.

We can see it in Greek mythology. What's noteworthy about Hercules is not his strength or courage but his suffering. His quests were called the "Labours of Hercules".

In Christianity we have a God that suffers - for our sins. The events leading up to his death were called the "Passion of Christ".

So what would a more conscious, creative interpretation of this phenomenon look like?

1. There's no denying that food tastes better when we are hungry and central heating seems miraculous when the boiler has been fixed after enduring days in a cold house. Denying ourselves comfort makes us appreciate things more. Subjecting ourselves to pain allows us to feel grateful when the pain stops. But surely we are now grown up enough to develop our capacity for appreciation and gratitude without these primitive tools.

2. Our soul wants to experience an expansive life. It wants to serve, not to suffer. This requires us to make constant, risky choices. In order to do this without imploding, we have to develop better decision-making capabilities.

But… how do we decide anything?

There is SO much advice on how to achieve our goals, but the biggest sadness for most people is that they don't actually know what they want – that's the really difficult part.

Achieving goals is just a series of steps:

Get better at what you do well.
Buy, beg, steal or borrow resources for the things you don't do well.
Stop procrastinating.

Simple.

Not knowing why you're here on the planet, or what to do while you're here is much more problematic!

It leads to all sorts of displacement activity. Problems. Dramas. Addictions. The stuff of life that needs sorting out. Anything but reflect on the real dilemma!

Which brings us neatly to the evolved version of Lent.

Lent is a time for reflection. A time to develop our inner world. To develop the stamina of our soul – the core strength that's needed if we're ever going to make a decision that doesn't scare us. If we're ever going to answer the big questions. Like…

What would our soul like to experience in this lifetime?

Not our personality! That will just come up with a bunch of stuff inherited from our family, misappropriated from our cool friends, borrowed from the media.

The art of noise.

The voice of our personality is very loud. The voice of our soul speaks in whispers. We have to get very quiet and reflective if we're going to hear it.

Warp Speed

The personality wants fast answers. Even Google is too slow sometimes. Meditating on the big questions takes time. We have to re-think our frame, perceptions, mental models, behavioural habits, context, distorted reality fields, hidden agendas, vanities and fears… if we're going to get any real clarity.

40 days and 40 nights should just about do it.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

St Valentine's Day Massacre

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:13:33 -0800

Have you seen the High Street lately? In case you've been living in a virtual world for the past few weeks, let me set the scene.

Every window has had a makeover.

The confectionary shop is an explosion of heart shaped chocolates and red ribbons. The book store has replaced all the celebrity autobiographies with poetry. The supermarket has an entire aisle dedicated to edible love tokens, pink champagne and recipes for romantic dinners.

And don't get me started on the card shops who must pray for the arrival of February. As soon as the Christmas stock is in the recycling bin, they're off and running with Cupid's bow and arrows.

In boutiques, the winter coats have been cast aside in favour of pink cashmere jumpers and red lingerie (grown up pink!) bearing the placard 'Ideal Valentines gift' – just in case you'd missed the hundred visual clues you've encountered so far.

Girls stand wistfully at jewellery shop windows gazing at heart shaped diamond pendants. 'She'll never see it coming!…' Because it won't be arriving any time soon! Sadly, this plethora of advertising usually serves to disappoint women rather than inspire men. The requirement for romance, so prevalent in a woman's DNA was probably in that extra rib conveniently removed from Adam at the beginning of time.

Just as the shadow side of Christmas is associated with weight gain and family rows, the shadow side of Valentine's day is often represented by anxious men and disenchanted women.

How did we get to this crazy state of affairs.

Last post we talked about redefining creativity. Now we have to redefine love.

Do we want the personality of love or the soul of love?

Just as creativity takes intense discipline; love requires huge amounts of determination. Neither of these are popular concepts because we've become such an indulgent species.

We like creativity that arrives fully formed inside our head (thank you God) and manifests easily in the outside world (God who? This is all my own work). We like love that's fun and playful but we quit as soon as we have work to do ("the magic's gone".) We truly are like little children… but we ain't entering the Kingdom of Heaven any time soon.

Love is a very small word for a great, big, huge deal, but it has become an abused, misunderstood word. When we fall in love, we feel expansive. This allows more life in, which stimulates our creative spirit. The outcome? Love songs, poetry, art and great sex.

However this expansion also wakes up the inner dragon of our neediness. The outcome? Jealousy, fear, self doubt and demands. This usually leads to an outpouring of chianti not creativity.

Our current method of dealing with this love-hate relationship with love is to distance ourselves. We go from "If you don't love me I'll die" to "I don't need anybody". We become super independent. We ridicule Valentine's Day. After all cynicism is the only intelligent stance right? It's just one big merchandising opportunity for those stupid enough to get sucked in.

And yet there's a sadness in this cynicism. Particularly for girls, who hate the tawdry commerciality but long for something else – something that's hard to put into words. A higher vision of love, romance and sexuality. A sacred ritual.

It wasn't always this way.

Three thousand years ago, initiates of the Greek, Egyptian and Indian Mystery Schools studied the interweaving of sexual and divine love. Far from pushing sex underground, they received extensive training in raising sexual energy to a higher level where it interfaced with the divine. This energy was far removed from the hormone induced lust we associate with sex today. The union of a man and woman at this level produced an ecstatic spiritual experience (ex statis = out of body). This was a cosmic event, not a fumble in the dark.

But the ancients also knew the power of love, which is why some of them created Religion to control it. Political and spiritual leaders destroyed or buried the teachings of the hieros-gamos. They outlawed the Mystery Schools (Universities of the Soul) and created Universities of the Intellect and Seminaries (for the upper classes) and Church (for the lower classes).

They separated sex from spirituality, making sex shameful (unless used for the creation of more Christians haha!). They turned Jesus into a celibate God. And worse still…

They changed the definition of love.

And now thousands of years later we have sentimental love, self-agenda love, manipulative love, co-dependent love.

Because without infusion by the Divine, love is neediness.

And neediness creates… country and western songs, pornography, religiosity… and Valentine's Day.

A far cry from the ancients.

So to honour Socrates let's ask a question. What do we really want on Valentine's Day?

Gifts, cards and gestures create a temporary distraction from our scary inner space of loneliness. We think these tokens will provide us with the proof that we're loved. But if we're trying to prove something, it means we don't really believe it. We're just filling the inner space with extravagant gestures and meaningless rituals (every restaurant in London has already been pre-booked).

What we really want is to be known.

The Indians originally didn't have a word for 'love' instead of saying "I love you" they said "I know you". In other words I know the deepest part of you – and I'm still here.

Deep inside we are very flawed human beings, just pretending that we're doing ok. When someone else can love us at that level, we are finally able to accept ourselves and find peace.

Ah the bliss! No scratchy underwear. No cuddly toys. No violins. Just two people, surrounded by candlelight and a killer soundtrack, fully prepared to inhabit the space. Presence is always the best present.

If we extend ourselves to both the depths and heights of experience in unity with another, we can finally transcend our psychology. (Hurrah!) It's the only thing that takes away all that neediness (Thank the Lord!).

The potential contained in this love is incalculable. It re-creates divine love on an earthly plane, the union of masculine wisdom with female compassion. It could change the world faster than any strategy, vision or political party.

Don't settle for less.

We need to boycott the banal, turn off the Rhapsody in Red, step away from the helium hearts…

and have the courage to open our own.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Psst... Year of The Dragon - 7 things Quentin Tarantino taught me about creativity.

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:57:00 -0800

It's 2012 – the year the rubber hits the road. The year you finally get to achieve your dreams of success, before the Mayans return and ask for their ball back.

It’s also the Year of the Dragon.

With time running out, how are you going to tame your inner dragon and achieve creative mastery? Are you going to fight like Bruce Lee or Uma Thurman?"

Before you answer that let’s look at two possible scenarios.

Enter Beatrix Kiddo (Uma in Kill Bill) stage left…

Martin wakes up and declares “Things will be different this year.” He reaches for his computer and starts THE DEFINITIVE LIST. From now on he’s going to think like a Ninja.

Oh yes.

He smiles as he starts to experience the download on his new life. First he will banish any thoughts that are not “all kick assy and shit”. He knows all about the Law of Attraction.

"Set a clear intention and the world will beat a path to your door."

Next he starts to build the platform for his new life – after all, the universe will need some sort of landing strip on which to deliver his goods.

He writes a brief for a website re-design and fires it off to a brand consultant. He knows what he wants – something that clearly demonstrates the fact that he’s a total badass. His fingers fly across the keyboard. He wants visual impact (people are time poor - they like pictures), buzz words (but like totally authentic man), and above all a newname – one that is a better representation of his Ninja status!

He pauses and curses his mother for calling him Martin. How on earth was he expected to succeed with such a lame name? He starts Googling Punk Rock heroes for something more suitable.

"Create your own reality."

Perhaps he could do a Don Draper and completely re-invent his past! Father an American scientist. Mother a Russian ballerina. Or no parents at all! Caught with false papers in Berlin and sent to a Gulag. Romance AND intrigue.

Special people were usually orphans – look at Harry Potter. And let’s not forget Bruce Wayne didn’t become Batman until his parents were murdered.

"Dream bigger" (or is that "Make the lie big enough!")

The creative muse is now doing double backflips in Martin’s mind, demanding something… Caffeine!

He goes to the kitchen to make a triple espresso – two sugars. The detox can start tomorrow. No rush on that one. He knows that if he eliminates all carbs and drinks wheatgrass he can lose twelve pounds in a week.

He goes back to the computer and orders the One Hour Body and Six Pack in Six Minutes from Amazon.

That oughta do it.

Pleased with his achievements, he wanders over to the Games Console. If ever there was a day to get to the next level of Samurai Showdown this was it. He can already feel the delicious sensation of success.

Job done!

Scenario Two

Enter the Dragon stage right…

Julia wakes up and declares “things will be different this year.” She reaches for her notebook and starts THE DEFINITIVE LIST. From now on she’s going to think like a Ninja.

She writes quickly.

"Get out of bed – early!!!"

(No matter how rubbish the weather or how bad the hangover.) And while we’re at it…

"Quite drinking."

This is more realistic. (D’you think Bruce Lee could do those high kicks if he’d sank a bottle of Rioja the night before?)

"Write faster."

Julia pauses to think about her latest Blog post. It had taken two weeks to write and she still wasn’t happy with it. She had to get quicker. Bruce Lee’s reactions were so fast, his films had to be slowed down (otherwise viewers couldn't actually SEE the moves he was making.)

Hmmm.

She opens the laptop to Google the number of hours a day Bruce spent practicing his craft.

Oh my good God!

"Write more."

"Write while waiting for the bus; while waiting for the client to arrive; while waiting for the supermarket queue to shorten." Then she adds…

"Notice stuff."

Bruce Lee’s peripheral vision was so cutting edge you could sharpen a samurai sword on it.

"Creators need content. And content is all around if we have the eyes to see it. Right now there are poignant interludes, angry exchanges and passionate glances. Everywhere there are heart stoppingly beautiful moments that we miss with our linear vision. Look out!"

Julia examines her list. It’s missing one more thing. But she doesn’t have the right word for it. She thought about “Discipline” but this just brought up memories of school. The memorising of times tables. Detention for late homework. Freezing to death on the hockey pitch.Instead she wrote…

"The Intel is inside."

That was better. Everything she needed was right here, right now. She just had to develop the practice of getting it out of her head and onto the page.

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was not born a genetically superior human being, in fact he was a frail child. He was just very, very determined.

Pleased with her achievements, Julia puts the list down, picks up the laptop…

And starts to write.

Which path will you choose – the personality of the Ninja or the soul of the Ninja?

Beatrix Kiddo achieved her goals with the aid of computer graphics, a blue screen and a yellow jumpsuit.

If we're travelling the creative road, technology is a great tool for the backpack. It isn't a substitute for the real thing. (Please tell Martin.)

And while we're at it, can we also have a reality check on the following New Age mantras…

The Law of Attraction. Positive Thinking. Clarity of Intention. Future Vision. Creative Dreaming.

Tools, all tools. Tools that need a skilled operator.

Quentin Tarantino is a skilled operator. He knows how to use the tools of his craft. But he knows that tools maketh not the movie.

Bruce Lee on the other hand, preceded both computer graphics and folksy new age wisdom. He still managed to kill the competition. But he did it with Mastery not Final Cut Pro.

Bruce will have a place in the history books as someone who transcended the limitations of what it is to be human while turning combat into an art form.

Beatrix Kiddo will have a place in the cartoon books as someone who looked unspeakably cool in someone else's creative dream. (Go Quentin!)

In the above scenario, Julia made the wiser choice. She may not have to chop wood and carry water. But she will have to obey the rules of the dojo…

1. Get up. Both literally (get up as early as necessary every day) and metaphysically (get up when you've been knocked down with disappointment.)

2. Fight addictions. Both literal (tequila, donuts, caramel macchiatos) and metaphysical (fantasy, complaining, internet surfing.)

3. Get quicker. Everyone has too much to do on their To Do List. Spend less time list making, speed up the grunt work and you'll have way more time to spend on creative pursuits.

4. Practise. We live in a passive world of more and more information yet the key to any creative endeavour is practise. Commit to less input and more output.

5. Increase bandwidth. Creativity requires the synthesis and juxtaposition of random patterns, images and ideas. It makes sense that the more we can let in, the more we have to play with. Stretch your senses by seeing, hearing and sensing more.

6. The intel is inside. Enough with the over consumption of workshops, seminars and courses. Quentin Tarantino never went to Film School, instead he watched movies. Before making Kill Bill he watched all Bruce Lee's films. It's important to learn the techniques of painting/writing/directing but it's equally important to be inspired by masters of the craft.

And finally

7. Cross genres with impunity! This is a controversial one. In an over crowded marketplace we are advised to specialise. Niche Marketing! Own your subject! Describe your work, your style, your novel in one sentence, one word, one icon!! Ever since the meteoric success of Apple, we think we need to squish ourselves into a very small, beautifully designed box. With Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino crossed Kung Fu with Spaghetti Western. (WTF right?)

In other words, once you have the discipline to follow rules, you can turn right round…

And break them all.

Personality of the Ninja or Soul of the Ninja? Looking good or Being real? The final word goes to Bruce.

"To me, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. It is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky and feel pretty cool. I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that is very hard to do."

And if it's hard for Bruce, you must be in pretty good company.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Me = Ecstasy (Squared)

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:59:00 -0800

Me = XTC²

Einstein was a bit of a geezer. After all, he did manage to get two opposing forces to agree with him.

Until recently, these two forces were clearly defined as Religion and Science. Life was either a random grouping of molecules, or it was God's divine plan for humanity.

Both forces had their prophets. Scientists foretold technological advances. Holy men channeled God's wishes for the world. Black or white.

Einstein was a scientist who believed in God. He was going for colour. His prophecies skipped both Church and Laboratory and ended up in the hallowed halls of Business.

"You can't solve a problem on the same level you created it".

Management consultants love this one! But what does it mean?

Problems are multi layered and complex. For instance we hate the fat cat Bankers and think the distribution of wealth should be fairer. We all have an inner Robin Hood and the Sherriff of Nottingham is SUCH an unpleasant character. But the corporation tax from banks and big evil corporations pays for our free National Health Service. And this system can in turn be abused by people who accept no responsibility for their own welfare.

Things were so much easier in the old days when the commoners were lovely agricultural people portrayed by Constable. Men were noble and hard working. Women suckled their children and made soup. The ruling classes were cold hearted, cowardly and cruel. How much easier it was to pick a side!

Now we're not so sure. The commoners sometimes look like an urban nightmare with tattoos, attitude and feral children. They demand job creation and a 'living' wage. But life has moved on. Jobs can't be created, they emerge from a need. 'Living' is subjective, now that cappuccinos, pre-cooked meals and i-Phones are considered necessities.

What would Robin Hood and Maid Marion do now? (If, according to Einstein, they're on the wrong level.)

They could visit a Management Consultant, who would no doubt do a lot of research to establish the facts. Percentages of poor versus rich 90%-10% 99%-1%. Whatevs. There's a gap. Tax the rich more than 50% and there's a good chance they'll emigrate – or lie about their income. Duh!

The fact is data doesn't tell us what we really want to know - i.e. The state of the Nation's heart.

Who are the deserving poor and who are the lazy thieving ones? Who are the benevolent rich and who are the bone idle avaricious ones. That would be some useful information and that's not going to come out of any consultancy any time soon. Time to get to the next level – but we need a very different energy to take us there.

If we could take an X-Ray of our current energy system, it would reveal that most of our energy is coming from below the waist – our lower chakras. This type of energy is best suited to prehistoric times when individual survival was paramount – kill or be killed. Be the best. Immortality via excessive procreation. It's rapacious, competitive alpha male energy.

But now individual survival is an oxymoron. We're all connected. Floods, hurricanes and earthquakes are no respecters of an individual's environmental credentials. The collapse of Lehman Brothers affected the finances of the entire world. The SARS virus went global in two days. Yet we're still trying to survive by use of the "C" word. Command. Control. Competition.

How do we change our destructive behaviour?

The TV series Mad Men epitomised the golden age of persuasion techniques. We know legislation and exorbitant prices won't stop kids smoking, when the 'promise' of cigarettes is both a ticket to adulthood and an act of rebellion. They'll steal the money and/or bribe an older sibling to buy them on their behalf. Barriers and restrictions merely serve to make them more creative. This is as true for children as it is for the crony capitalists.

We don't like being told what to do. It triggers our 'below the waist' energy system.

The Occupy London movement has split the religious community at St Paul's. They wring their hands and say 'What would Jesus do?' Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say 'What would Don Draper do?'

He'd probably make stepping up to the next level cool. Instead of condemning greed, he'd make it absurd. Rather than being judgemental about luxury brands, he'd make them an object of derision, before pouring a glass of bourbon.

It's time for the creatives to rebrand the values of the heart. For too long these values have been hi-jacked by evil corporations and turned into monochrome representations of love.

Sentimentality and Sexuality. Black and white. Fuelled by below the waist energy. The Outcome – Specialness. Soppiness. Jealousy. Need. The Upshot - Hallmark cards. Valentine's Day. Soap Operas. Daily acts of vengeance. Random acts of blandness.

The re-brand has a lot more colour and much more unity. It's a movement, not an attitude. It has passion and action. It favours wild maternal love over sentimentality. It laughs at adversity. It has humour and compassion. It has beauty and grace – let's make Commoning less shabby and more aesthetically pleasing.

It is possible to make integrity cool, to make the global village hip, to make ideas sexy again.

After all, God is a good idea. And as Einstein said, "I only want to know God's thoughts, all the rest is just details."

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Small Talk

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:25:00 -0800

Escape the city. Hit the open road. Get back to nature. How simple are the dreams of city folk?

It's the Christmas holidays – the perfect time to travel with my beloved to the Highlands of Scotland for seclusion, romance and breathtaking scenery. A mish mash of images from Performance Car and Wuthering Heights morph in my head.

The problem with real life is it doesn't quite match up to our expectations. Our dreams have been digitally enhanced by media companies who have access to state of the art editing facilities.

Photoshop doesn't just eliminate cellulite from model's thighs. It can remove tractors from open roads and increase the depth of color on Highland moors.

The real thing doesn't seem as real as the picture in our imagination. But more shockingly, it doesn't allow for our contradictory demands!

We want a remote cottage, but one that contains all the conveniences of city life – under floor heating, hot water and a Starbucks next door. Perhaps a Michelin star restaurant down the road. Oh and Wi-Fi.

Of course that's not going to happen. Luxury to rural folk is a phone system that works in a gale force wind – so they can tell someone the power lines are down and the back up generator's been blown into the next bay. Cottages are damp and bleak. Unlike Don Draper, Heathcliff's reticent demeanor wasn't done for effect – he was just cold and probably bored.

What to do?

Without an editing suite, this is an either/or situation.

We decide to steer clear of the remote cottage and book the luxury country house hotel instead. Fluffy towels, deep claw footed bath tubs and coffee that at least looks familiar (with foam on top).

We park the 4 wheel drive in the car park and enter a medieval romance – wood panelled walls, covered with a tapestry depicting the Knights Templar. A jovial host takes our luggage and ushers us towards the sitting room for a welcoming glass of wine.

It was all going so well. Until we remembered…

There would be other people!

What is it about small talk that fills us with dread? We meet our fellow guests and immediately launch into a game of charades, played to some unwritten rules we've absorbed over the years. Where are you from? How was your journey? What brought you here? We've exhausted all the preliminaries and our wine hasn't arrived yet! There is an awkward pause as we struggle to the next level – What do you do for a living? This is slightly more personal, but desperate to avoid the silence, I ask the question anyway. There's bound to be some common ground.

"Insurance Broker".

Dear God.

I've never felt a need for insurance. I'm superstitious about a system that requires bad things to happen before you can capitalise on your investment.

Fortunately the host arrives with a tray of drinks, allowing a whole new conversation stream to open up. Wine! "I know this fabulous little vineyard we discovered in France last year… Of course supermarkets are killing the smaller importers… Some of the Chilean Sauvignons are giving the Marlboroughs a run for their money…"

We make our excuses and head for the room.

Half an hour later, up to our neck in hot water and bubbles, we ponder why this social custom has become so torturous.

Conversation needs a revamp for the Energy Age.

Our journey to higher consciousness requires that we move from a primitive fear based operating system to one built on true connection and creativity. The energetic arc of this journey follows the chakra system – Chakras 1-2-3 store all the data relating to our survival. Where are you from? What do you do? Are you friend or foe?

There's a lot of wariness and competition at this level, therefore a lot of distance. Distance being the opposite of connection, the conversation is boring.

Chakras 5-6-7 store all the data relating to our ideas. Being abstract they need an organizing principle, which is usually created by work or a shared purpose. Conversations here are much easier as there is no emotion involved – that's why we love work so much (if we like what we do!) and why we need to find a vision (if we don't!)

For many years we've accepted these two sides of the divide - the either/or conversation. But the world is becoming more integrated. We have a sense that there is another conversation to be had. One that involves the link between the two - our heart.

We need to understand the new context.

Context is big these days, particularly in business. Ever since Steve Jobs changed the rules, CEOs have been desperately trying to find ways to stay relevant in a constantly changing world – to find the real need behind the need. Steve knew kids didn't want functionality – they wanted 'cool.'

Forty years ago, Harvard Business School professor Ted Levitt established this premise with the adage "No-one needs a drill – they need a hole." Now, business gurus have developed this to its logical conclusion. "Nobody needs a hole, they need to hang art. Nobody needs to hang art, they need a better looking room. Nobody needs a better looking room, they need to be happier."

So, whether you're selling furniture, lipstick or holidays, delve deeper and you'll find… you're really in the happiness business.

So, what would happen if we applied this process to conversation?

We first used words because they were an effective means to get more of what we needed – food, sex and territory. Then we used them to express ourselves – devotional prayers, legal letters, love songs.

But what next? We're all in the happiness business, but many of us aren't happy. What makes us happy is connection. And words often don't cut it any more. They're too generic, too sentimental, too cliché ridden. We don't have enough of them. We have too many of them. Or perhaps they just don't convey what we mean any more.

We're moving into the Energy Age and words are a blunt instrument when it comes to describing energy.

Energy doesn't do small talk – it's way too dynamic for that. It goes straight for the connection.

We get a taste of this experience through sexual attraction. The energy takes over and we don't need words. Bliss! But what would happen if we could develop our ability to interpret and direct energy above the waist?

Because we have no framework for this process, we cling to the only method of communication that we've validated.

Words.

Whether these are part of a Company mission statement, a Retailer's crib sheet or the unwritten rules of Cocktail hour pleasantries, we feel the lack of meaning. Words fail to address the real need behind the need.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, it's time for dinner. Brioche croute with goose liver. Veloute of celeriac with truffled mushrooms. If it could talk, this food would demand to be photographed for a lifestyle magazine. Our fellow diners speak in hushed tones, perhaps out of reverence for the cuisine or perhaps to disguise how little they have to say to each other. The atmosphere feels like a cross between a church and an old peoples' home.

Energy has left the building.

The following morning, like a couple of co-conspirators we make our excuses and leave. The cottage is suddenly the preferable option. The car battles through a squall – gale force winds and horizontal rain. Nature is definitely in charge here. The elements are neither civilised or polite, but they're real. And we're grateful for that.

An hour later we reach signs of civilisation! A village with church and shops! Goddam those expectations! The church is boarded up. The food shop sells 120 brands of confectionary, tinned soup and magazines. As for the gift shop, there is only one word – Why? Can there really be any market left for ceramic thimbles, tartan tea towels and teddy bears in sporrans. The proprietor looks up anxiously as we walk past the window of generic awfulness.

We want to connect, but there's no mechanism to do so. We feel guilty for not needing a single thing he has to sell. We'd happily pay $20 for a macchiato.

Later, in the solitude of the cottage, we dine on peanuts, liquorice all-sorts and instant hot chocolate, but there is an endless supply of laughter and conversation.

Our context is changing. As we evolve, our needs change too, so it's important to re-evaluate them constantly. We think we know what makes us happy. But often our dreams of happiness are artificially created by images and influences that we have never really questioned.

Who are you? How do you want to live? What makes you smile?

These are soul questions. We often can't answer them in words and even if we could, we don't need any more data (we really don't need any more data!)

We're all in the happiness business now.

Read the energy. Try to imagine how to language it. For in that language we can create a new shared meaning. And out of that will come…

Big talk.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Beyond the Age of Reason

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:38:00 -0800

Gary Speed is dead. Here are some of the words that described him before he ended his own life… Footballer. Father. Successful. Popular. Handsome. Happily married.

Something is wrong with this picture but we can't seem to adjust the set. While the media scramble to find a story angle or uncover the missing piece that would make sense of it, perhaps we should look instead at some of the concepts behind the stories we live (and die) by.

The story of "Cause and Effect". Things happen for a reason…

A man loses his job, loses his wife, loses his money, decides life is not worth living and reaches for the noose. This trajectory of events is understandable. If the purpose of life is to get more – more success, more money, more status, then losing (being the opposite of getting) is a forerunner of death. This is a reasonable assumption.

Rene Descartes summed up the Age of Reason with his motto "I think therefore I am". In other words, consciousness is in our brain. We glorify the mind to the detriment of our emotional and spiritual make up. Take Dominique Strauss Kahn – emotionally deranged, in a spiritual void but sharp as a tack so he still commands respect (like many business and political leaders). The mind trumps heart and soul.

But something is wrong with our mind. A million people are committing suicide every year with 10-20 million failed attempts. Suicide in American males 35-49 is the Number 3 cause of death. There is an epidemic of depression.

Our standard response to this phenomenon is "Buck up. Be more positive. Think of those less fortunate". In other words, other peoples' misfortune should cause us to feel happy.

Hmmm. Happiness is the equivalent of winning?

This rationale of 'More' and 'Winning' isn't working any more. And that's because we have left the Age of Reason and we have entered the Age of Energy.

New Rules. Changed Stories. Altered States.

The Story of 'More'. As humans we are instinctively drawn to the concept of expansion. This is evident from our earliest recollections. The sight of a bean plant slowly growing in a jam-jar of wet blotting paper is a magical event for a child. The interest that accumulates on a bank account set up by a grandparent intrigues a teenager.

But this is a literal interpretation of a metaphysical principle. In the Age of Energy, growth needs to be holistic. We are meant to grow emotionally and spiritually, otherwise all physical growth will be distorted.

We forgot to ask the childhood question - "Why?"

Why do we crave more money, status and success? The answer will always lead to "in order to feel valued, appreciated and loved; in order to have a meaningful connection to another human being; in order to see someone we like when we look in the mirror".

When 'More' is a strategy of the mind, it is incapable of achieving any of these things. It can only create a picture of success. Being a thought, this picture is an illusion that (a) we don't believe in and (b) we can't see in the mirror. It might look wonderful to the outside world but our inner experience will tell a different story.

The Story of 'Winning'. As humans we are hard wired to compete but this is an old 'Survival of the Fittest' pattern from Neanderthal times – we either win or we lose. Now that we've entered the Age of Energy we are developing an awareness of ourselves as one organism. The singularity is getting nearer. On some unconscious level, we know that winning brings with it a sense of loss.

The beginning and the end. We crave connection and we're terrified of connection. This is the paradox of our times and our greatest challenge. If we believe we are "our mind" we will know ourselves as small and inadequate beings who cannot connect without losing the little that we have. This leads us to misuse our desire for 'more' by:

1. Accumulating stuff – we need more money if we are to achieve validation through high status brands.

2. Accumulating knowledge – books, subscriptions, seminars… we need to know more in order to feel successful.

3. Accumulating wisdom – seminars, retreats, psychics… we need to heal ourselves with more superior guidance before we make our contribution to the world.

All this 'more' has caused us to become psychically obese. We are filled to the brim with information and now we feel sick. Not old fashioned sick like Tuberculosis, Polio, Smallpox – these are diseases of the Age of Reason.

The disease of the Age of Energy is Depression. Like energy, it can't be seen and it certainly can't be reasoned with…

But it is definitely deadly.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Look what they've done to my song Ma

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:45:33 -0700

Last night I sat through possibly the worst thing I've seen on a London stage – Rock of Ages.

Of course I've been to things before that just don't work – The Umbrellas of Cherbourg eek! On these occasions the audience is usually polite enough to clap at the appropriate places before filing out, exchanging expressions of mutual pain with anyone who makes eye contact.

Not so this time!

The audience loved every tawdry, cringe making moment of it. Instead of a slow shuffle to the exit there was a standing ovation and a rush to the merchandise stand (T-shirts emblazoned with 'Hooray for Boobies' - I kid you not).

Honest to God, I could swear that evolution is going backwards not forwards.

The plot features sex, love and rock 'n' roll. Boy meets girl in the bar of a music venue. He sweeps the floor, while she waits tables, but they both have aspirations. (I have a dream!!) He wants to be a Rock God. She wants to be an Actress. (Sorry Martin Luther we've sunk to new lows since you've been gone).

Because He doesn't jump her bones on their first date, She interprets this as the absence of love, so feels compelled to have sex with the singer of a rock band – in the toilet.

Nice.

The singer immediately dumps her, after which she loses her job and is forced to become a stripper. Eventually the Madame of the lap-dancing club brings the couple back together for the grand finale in which they relinquish their dreams, get pregnant and have a baby. (Sorry Martin – the bar just doesn't get any higher). The singer gets his come-uppance when he is arrested for having sex with an underage school girl… Gary Glitter lives! Rock on.

The main aim of the plot seems to be an excuse for the female members of the cast to remain in their underwear pretty much all the time. You can just imagine the pre-production meeting. "We don't have a script! The choreography is appalling! Some of the songs are only B list hits! How on earth are we going to pull in the punters?"

Pause for inspiration.

"Basques and suspenders!"

"Brilliant"

"And endless opportunities for simulated fellatio".

"Job done! Let's go to the pub".

Of course if we criticise, we're told to "Lighten up" "It's just a bit of fun" "It's rock 'n' roll man". The producers acknowledge and celebrate its awfulness with the strapline "London's guilty pleasure".

I hate what's happened to sex. I feel the same way about sex as Jamie Oliver feels about food, after they turned it into Turkey Twizzlers. Jamie Oliver doesn't want to ban food, any more than I want to censor sex – he's just passionate about real food and thinks it's tragic when kids grow up on McDonalds. "Well it's fast and it fills a hole". It's not just the content that concerns him, it's the empty experience. Food is more than a function of survival, it's a shared ritual of connection.

Sex is a sacred ritual. But in the popular media it's become a parody, a power play, a grotesque distortion. Music videos are as cliché ridden as porn films and are targeted to children at an age where they are attempting to define their own sexuality. 13 year old girls think sucking in their cheeks and pushing out their chest while attempting to lick a lollypop in a suggestive manner is flirting. 13 year old boys presume girls are "gagging for it". They've never read Jane Austen, they take their cues from the Pussycat Dolls and Snoop Dogg.

So back to Rock of Ages. We know the sex serves to get bums on seats, but what's the excuse for the puerile script? In the same way we've reduced food and sex to their lowest common denominator, we've got pretty lazy with our vocabulary!

Take "awesome". I don't think I could be more irritated by the word awesome if I tried. Like a strange virus, it has seeped into everything from blogs to self-help manuals.

Let's look at the real meaning of awesome - "an overwhelming feeling of reverence produced by something sublime or extremely powerful… a connection with the universe beyond the narrow band of our consciousness".

Hmmm. As usual, we've kept the concept and lost the reverence. Now we use the word to describe everything from computer games to chocolate cake.

The latest version of the word "awesome" is "rock star". This expression is now popping up everywhere as in "He/she is such a rock star". This means he/she is supremely awesome! (in the 'evolution going backwards' world).

If you want to see classy, sophisticated women in suspenders (without the tedious simulated fellatio) go to Chicago – where they'll throw in some great music and killer choreography.

But Rock of Ages… well I guess it's Rock Star Awesome. And it takes popular culture to a new all time low.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Losing My Religion

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:54:00 -0700

I'm in France, land of a thousand churches. To be more exact there are actually about 40,000 of them, built mainly in the middle ages. With a medieval population of around 6 million this would mean one church per 150 people.

I think we can safely assume that religion was more popular than a Led Zeppelin gig – put your child's name down at birth for a guaranteed season ticket. So what happened?

Our minds evolved.

We don't take things literally any more. We know that hell is not a place with flames and pitchforks and heaven doesn't come with harps and cloud pavements. We don't have to leave this earth to be in a state of heaven or hell – these are energetic states of being.

This has been a bit of a problem for the Roman Catholic head honchos who built a successful cult our of our predilection for fear and superstition. In medieval France the Catholic church amassed a fortune through the selling of "indulgences" (instant removal of sin without the need for penance or remorse).

In the old days you really could buy a Stairway to Heaven.

And then there were the lucrative merchandise concessions – fingernails of Popes, splinters from the Cross, droplets of Stigmata. These would guarantee to lessen your days of suffering in purgatory (another literal place where all sorts of sado-masochistic fantasies were fulfilled).

Of course the universe abhors a vacuum so what rushed in to take the place of the Catholic Church?

News Corp!

Let's look at the similarities.

1. Both churn out fear inducing nonsense on a daily basis but particularly on a Sunday.

Fearful, superstitious people are easily controlled. The hierarchies of Religion and Media know this.

The early church-goers may have thought the Monarchy was corrupt, but they knew the real enemy was…

The Devil!

The readers of tabloid newspapers may be unhappy with the Government and the Bankers, but they know the real enemies are…

Unmarried mothers, Drug addicts and the Taliban!

This takes the heat off the actual power brokers and allows them to get away with all kinds of stuff.

2. Both are obsessed with sexuality

The Roman Catholics repress theirs, ensuring that their dirty little secrets explode in the most dysfunctional manner possible. Priests cannot marry but are protected when they abuse altar boys. Loving sex outside the contract of marriage is sinful, but rape within marriage is perfectly ok.

News Corp express theirs every which way but loose, managing to glorify and vilify simultaneously. They are fascinated by the sex lives of celebrities, politicians and rock stars – as long as the sex is extra marital, illegal or contains some sort of perversion. Loving sex is boring and not worth talking about.

3. Both are rapacious for money

The Roman Catholic church is one of the wealthiest institutions on the planet. Most of its dogma is man made (not passed down by Jesus as they imply). Just as the Virgin birth was added on later, the idea of priest celibacy didn't arrive until 1000 years after the crucifixion. Before then priests could marry, which meant the wealth they accumulated from collection boxes was inherited by wives and children. Celibacy ensured that the money went straight into the church coffers – not to their mistresses and (now illegitimate) children!

News Corp is another of the wealthiest institutions on the planet. Its stock in trade is bribery and corruption. They routinely bribed both the police for information and their journalists to keep quiet about it. Dodgy accountants ensured that Newscorp Investments have paid no corporation tax in the UK for the past 11 years, despite pre tax profits of nearly £1.4 billion.

4. Both have a triumvirate of power

The Catholics have a Father, Son and Holy Ghost – two male figures and an androgynous vapour or winged creature who acts as intercessionary mediator.

News Corp have Rupert, James and a token female string puller.

There was Rebekah, the pre-Raphaelite bird who transmogrified into Princess of Darkness, eager to do her Father's bidding.

And there's Wendi, aka Lady Macbeth, presiding over her assets more like a hawk than a dove. In the above picture she literally is the string puller! It's clear to see that she married for love!

Less holy trinity – more Monsters Ink.

Enough!

As humans, we are on a journey of evolution to higher conscious beings. It's a tough call and we're doing our best. We try to rise above things, to find the positive, to exercise compassion – but it's a daily struggle. Rupert and his empire seem hell bent on sending us backwards to the dark ages. They want to create a Planet of the Apes scenario in which we forget about our potential for brilliance and turn our focus to rage, sex and screeching – simultaneously if possible.

We need to do a 180 and start marching the other way towards a more positive, creative future – one free from fear and superstition.

Our minds may have evolved, but our souls need to follow suit.

The real Holy Spirit is the creativity that lies dormant inside each and every one of us. If we wake it up and join with the creative spirit in others, we can reclaim the media, change our lowest common denominator systems into highest common denominator ones and start building heaven on earth.

It ain't over till Our Lady sings. But for Rupert et al… stop hey what's that sound?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

What the world needs now is NOT love

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:33:34 -0700

Burt Bacharach was wrong.

What the world needs now is a parent.

Rioting, looting kids? A parent would have picked up on the fact that the children were about to go bonkers and done something about it BEFORE the event. It stands to reason. It's the summer holidays - they're bored, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. The only thing they have to look forward to is the winter of discontent . Having been spoon fed a diet of doom and gloom from the world's media, they see no positive future.

Scamming, looting bankers? A parent would have nailed these guys. "Stop being so greedy". "Learn to Share". "Play nicely". You just don't DO that to other people.

Deceitful, looting politicians? Same thing - "Think about the consequences of your actions". "You're setting a bad example." "You're a big boy/girl now, you have to look after the others".

Ironically at a time when the world needs parents with "the right stuff", we're making parents out of children. Teenagers - either because they're bored or naïve - are having children of their own. Many of the rioting kids in London last week have no stable background and in many cases have grown up without a father.

Add to this crazy state of affairs the Ugly Sisters of Business and Media - and you have the perfect molotov cocktail.

Business is all about selling. We've exhausted traditional forms of selling (because we now have everything we need). In order to keep selling, businesses have had to be more creative – so now they sell Brands and Lifestyles. You may not need a phone but you need THIS phone. You may not need a pair of trainers, but you're a loser if you wear those trainers. You're a sexy, cool person if you wear THESE trainers.

The Media are in on this heinous scam. Their message is "Rich and famous is the only gig in town – and you don't need to be a decent, honest person to be rich and famous. In fact you don't even need to be educated".

The Media create celebrities, who promote lifestyle brands for CASH. "Wear this stuff and be like me". This is pretty much like hanging outside the school gates selling starter packs of crack cocaine.

Then, when all the kids are hooked on smack – either glassy eyed with hopelessness or crazy eyed with yearning, the politicians tell them to grow up.

Is this not the most ridiculous scenario in the world?

Smash the unholy trinity of Business, Politics and Media and bring in some parents.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Irony -Š not just a Pittsburg by-product

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:58:00 -0700

If I'm going to write about the soap opera previously known as News International, perhaps I need to adopt some tricks of the trade.

It's all about the headline.

In surveys 8 out of 10 people will read a headline, but only 2 out of 10 will go on to read the rest of the copy. Little wonder then that so much content is lacking in substance – it's irrelevant. How many times are we seduced into buying, only to be disappointed by what follows.

News International are masters of this craft. And now in a fitting irony, they have been hoisted by their own petard. In a revealing two hour interrogation, both Rupert and James Murdoch apparently had no idea what was going on within the organisation they ran. They hadn't read the story behind their own headlines.

Questions like… How did they think they were getting the information? Did they not find it odd that they were paying the legal fees of the hackers? When hacking was discovered why were the initial payouts so ridiculously high? Did they think this would nip the scandal in the bud?

There were no answers, just incoherent mumblings from Rupert and over repetition of words like "don't know, have to get back to you on that one, not sure but I'll find out" from the over zealous son and heir.

It's all about the buzz words (Sex! Scandal!) Who cares about the correct words.

"This is the most humble day of my life" is of course grammatically incorrect. But then Rupert is only head of the largest media corporation in the world, so no biggie.

It's all about what will stay in the mind of the reader.

Everyday masses of information comes towards us. We filter this into what gets remembered. The media have taken advantage of this for years. They can peddle rubbish then print an apology, knowing that no-one filters for apologies, they filter for sensation.

What was the lead in all the news coverage today? The lack of answers to the damning questions? Of course not! It's the three second caper with the foam pie. If this wasn't a set up I'll eat my hat. Who was the perpetrator – some political activist? No… it was an actor! With more security than Heathrow airport on full terrorist alert, there was no way a metal canister of foam could get through the x ray machines.

The Murdochs may not know how to be decent human beings, but they do know how the media circus works. Fighting them with committees and enquiries is a waste of time and money. We are now going to spend years and enormous sums of money informing thousands of people that their phones may have been hacked. Meanwhile, the real story has been buried – even the most stupid person in the land would have deleted any incriminating emails years ago.

And the headline?

When asked if the scandal would make him think about about what his headlines would say in the future, James stammered something about establishing an independent ethics board.

That would be a "no" then.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Creativity. Nailing jelly to a wall

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 10:59:00 -0700

On the whole we're pretty macho with our creativity. We don't like the airy-fairy nature of the ephemeral. We talk about wresting our creative demons to the ground and showing them who's boss.

Creativity isn't something we do, it's something we are.

For way too long masculine energy has ruled the world. At first this was a good thing. To be honest, we were all a bit bored in the agricultural age and were quite happy when men got all geeky and started inventing bits of machinery. It's one thing to look at rural pictures of loveliness on "beautiful boutique hotels of the world.com". It's quite another to cope with the mundane routine of unchanging days where nothing new or different ever happens.

Masculine energy shakes things up a little. It's busy and purposeful. (We only have to watch the journey of a sperm reaching an egg to know exactly how focused masculine energy can be). It gets things done.

Of course one could argue, that over the course of the last hundred years, too many things got done and we are now looking at the side effects of all that "doing". This is the point where Mother Nature pops her head in the door and is slightly alarmed by the chaos and mess created by all those boy's games. "I turn my back for five minutes!"

But wait! Creativity was supposed to be a feminine thing. The muse is female. If we want more creative solutions to the world's problems (cleaning up the mess of the last hundred years) we need to put women in charge. We need to go back to the harmony of the rural idyll.

Well no… not really. We can't flip flop from a masculine to a feminine way. "Tag you're 'it'… Your turn now." We are evolving creatures. We can't go backwards. Funnily enough, in our current state, we can't go forwards either – things are way too messed up for that.

But we can go sideways.

Cutting edge creativity requires a male and a female component. Luckily we have both elements within us – obviously in varying proportions. The idea (masculine) is incubated and birthed through the female. If the female is wounded, she cannot love the idea and bring it to term. If the male is wounded, he creates too many unloved and unlovely ideas without thought of the consequences.

It's the crime of the (last) century.

Enough's enough! We need a new plan. A merger. We need to join up, make friends and "play nicely" together. Because we have been so in awe of masculine energy, society has placed a high value on its attributes. We're all about the doing, focussing and goal setting… so obviously we try to "do" creativity. This is where we went wrong.

Put down the hammer. Creativity isn't something we do, it's something we are.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Writers Block. No Silver Bullet.

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:31:00 -0700

"Just give me one sentence I can be proud of Godamit!"

Writer's block is a curse.

The symptoms of this curse are not pretty. They include…

Despair: Creativity seems to walk hand in hand with emotional pain. We are pregnant with ideas but we lack what it takes to birth them, which creates a log-jam in the body. We then tend to blame our misery on a shortage of skill, resources or appropriate drugs.

Craziness: Writers don't have status envy or shoe envy – we have sentence envy. After writing something good, we read something brilliant, then the sheer injustice of it all causes us to howl at the moon.

In fact, just like werewolves, we have a dual nature. Most of the time we are civilized, rational beings, but occasionally some other aspect of our 'self' shows up. We usually subdue this, as we know we cannot control it.

But what if the reverse is true? What if the small part we cannot control is our authentic self and the larger civilized self is just a mask?

And what if the part we cannot control contains all the energy to make our creative dreams come true?

Breaking the spell of writer's block requires us to go beyond the comfort zone of "doing" and into the creative realm of "being". It involves a metamorphosis from the roles of our personality to the authenticity of our soul.

Our "doing" self is hard wired to seek approval so has constructed a barricade of patterns, learned behaviors and beliefs, in order to fit in. It plays a set number of clearly defined roles.

Our "being" soul doesn't need approval. It is authentic, so is not plagued by self-doubt or the fear of humiliation. It is comfortable with the random nature of chaos, so is free to play with infinite possibilities.

Look at the blank page and ask yourself a question.

Who is writing?

Then open the cage, smile at the moon and put away that silver bullet.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Wall Lord

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 05:24:00 -0700

I've seen two shows this past month in London. The Wall – an epic production which chronicles Roger Water's rite of passage from boy to adult, and Lord of the Flies – an open air theatre experience in Regents Park, which does the same. They seem to perfectly encapsulate the two modes of behavior that we adopt in our struggle to adapt to our circumstances.

We hide or we rage.

Building a wall to hide behind looks good on the surface. The schoolboy becomes the civilized adult, takes his place in society, pays his taxes and climbs the success ladder. But there's a price. The wall that keeps the bad stuff out also keeps the good stuff from coming in. Life feels dead. There may be brief moments of happiness but there's no lasting excitement. The inevitable consequence of a life behind the wall is depression, and of course reactions to the depression… things like affairs and bungee jumping.

Then there's the rage option. The schoolboy becomes a terrorist. There are various forms of terrorism going on within our systems, both overt and hidden. We are shocked when we read about the barbaric cruelty of some of the prison guards at Guantanamo and the soldiers in Afghanistan. When this behavior comes to light, the perpetrators of the brutality talk about getting "carried away" by the behavior of others, that they "didn't know what came over them".

Standing from the sidelines we can easily say "what were they thinking!" Of course the answer is… they weren't. They were taken over by some unconscious aspect of themselves – just like the boys in Lord of the Flies.

Unless we address our unconscious behavior, things don't look too good for humanity. We can sanitize it, civilize it, or silo it, but the energy doesn't understand these terms. Trying to hold back energy is like holding a beach ball under water… eventually it will pop up somewhere, with more force than was expended by pushing it down.

Energy has to be expressed or contained in a suitable container. This is the masculine and feminine aspect of energy. So far, in our evolutionary history, we have been all about the expression of energy. We need… Direction. Action. Creativity. Ingenuity. Goals. Focus. There are thousands of websites and methodologies that give advice on these topics. We haven't placed any value on its counterpart. In fact we haven't paid any attention at all to the benign "containment of energy".

Containing energy is a female thing. There were no girls on the island… just as there was no true female energy behind Roger's Wall (just the lower conscious stereotypes of suffocating mother and manipulative vixen).

Life is about the management of power. We need to access a much higher level of creativity if we are going to survive as a species. If we hide behind a wall, we create in isolation - so our creativity is limited, not collaborative. If we rage, we continue to create mayhem on the world stage.

Life is a game for grown ups now. If we can find center, we can learn to live in the heart of the paradox where everything is seemingly reversed. In the energetic world, big is small and small is great, big huge - as the survivors of Hiroshima will attest. Faith as tiny as a mustard seed can move a mountain. Flexibility wins over rigid rage. Transparency trumps walls of defence.

The wind of change is coming. In this wind, our vulnerable houses of straw will stand firm. Our strongholds of bricks will be reduced to rubble, leaving many little piggies exposed. Dominique Strauss–Kahn is one of them. One minute Lord of the IMF the next crying We, we, we…all the way home.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

CEOs would kill for this level of engagement

Mon, 02 May 2011 03:22:00 -0700

The most successful direct marketing campaign in the world was not masterminded by Nike or Coca Cola but by al-Qaeda. Despite a trillion dollars of US spend on the war against terror, Al-Qaeda membership continues to grow.

It was obvious really.

CEOs have only just cottoned onto the ‘relationship marketing’ thing. The concept of ‘Tribe building’ and ‘Permission’ may have been identified by Seth Godin but the concept has been around since the year dot. Our technological achievements in recent years may be off the chart, but our understanding of human behaviour is still at ground zero.

2000 years ago the Jewish temple leaders and the Roman big wigs (the CEOs of their day) figured out that the best way to deal with the insurgent Jesus Christ was to kill him. The strategy behind this was that it would ‘act as a deterrent’ and serve as a ‘show of strength’ to both secular and religious communities. In other words obey the laws, stop stirring up emotions, stop telling people that they have ‘inner power’ and that they are only answerable to God.

Fast forward to the present day. Bin Laden had no problem recruiting disciples who were happy to die (as Jesus pointed out, no big deal if you believe in the after life). Same philosophy, different context. The line between love and hate, between adoration and abomination, is as thin as the one separating the above pictures.

Despite the luxury of being able to observe and reflect on 2000 years of history. Despite the trillions of dollars spent on a vast number of wars - we have learnt nothing. Imagine what the world look like if that money had been spent on third world schools, hospitals, art galleries, orchestras, dance academies or any scheme dedicated to the celebration of the human spirit and the unity of culture. Imagine the new tribes we could have built. Imagine how hard Al-Quada would have to work to compete with that relationship.

Today, crowds of people rejoice in front of the White House (reminiscent of the crowd who chanted ‘Kill him...kill him’ in front of Pontius Pilate’s gaff). The media is going mad with celebration ‘We got the bastard!

Anyone who jumps up and down with national pride, identifying with the braggadocio of the US marines who sorted out the situation once and for all - ‘Yeah we nailed it’ - better look at the piece of wood on which they nailed the last guy.

Three billion crucifixes. Two billion brand evangelists. No venture capital. That's the kind of relationship marketing CEOs would kill for. They think it's all over. In fact it's only just begun.

I’m just saying...

Permalink | Leave a comment »

I read the news today...oh boy

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 01:19:28 -0700

Well, more specifically I started reading a news blog. Within the post were ten hyperlinks to other posts. This always fills me with alarm. I stand at the crossroads provided by each link... Shall I carry on reading the thing I started on, or shall I go down the tempting new path. I stand at the portal of the colored hyperlink filled with anxiety. I can’t stop myself... I click. Aarrgghh!! This post also has ten links, and the next and the next and OMG where has my day gone? My mind is now a Russian doll factory. My fingers haven’t typed a thing, and there’s an ant’s nest of tunnels in my search engine drop down menu.
The internet may be an amazing web of information, but between its silken threads are black holes of deadly proportions.

4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.

My boyfriend keeps trying to teach me about the necessity of “grazing” - get the gist and move on. This is great until the need to have an opinion is called for (sadly a little too often in my case) and I suddenly realise I have no facts with which to back up my argument. While my brain seems incapable of holding onto a single relevant bit of information, my body is extraordinarily gifted at holding onto ALL of the emotions. Welcome to the world of RANT – well meaning, incoherent rage with nowhere to go. I’d say it was a conspiracy, but this would just be falling further into the black holes of the conspirators.

I have no idea how long Bradley Manning has been incarcerated (AGES!) or how small his cell (TINY) or the numerous ways in which his human rights have been violated (LOADS). But I do know I’m really, really pissed off about it.

Which brings me neatly to the phenomenon of the royal wedding. We are so desperate to escape from the meanderings of our fragmented brains and the spinning tops of our unchannelled emotions that we LONG for something to focus on. We want to be hypnotized.

We no longer have to think about the possibility that our politicians and media are mere puppets of the oil barons and that Guantanamo Bay is filled with random civilians who were rounded up by bounty hunters on the basis that ‘they’re Muslim so there’s bound to be a terrorist somewhere amongst them.’ Instead we can speculate on THE DRESS.

Because though this is a royal wedding, we’re not really interested in William, we want to be mesmerized by Kate and her fabulous transformation from girl next door to future Queen. Gawd bless her.

We want the transformational story of Cinderella. We don’t want the responsibility of global citizenship, we want a Fairy Godmother who’ll wave a magic wand and make life wonderful again. I can feel myself getting sleepy. I’m already succumbing to the trance in Kate’s transformation.

It’s quite nice really. A bit like mescalin... Now I wonder how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Dog poo through your digital mail box

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:09:00 -0700

Nick Clegg claims that voters are so angry about Government spending cuts that they are posting dog poo through his letterbox. I don’t know where this practice started but I do know it has spread to the realms of the metaphysical world.

One could forgive Nick Clegg’s frustrated constituents. Sheffield is a very working class area - its inhabitants may not have access to more creative forms of expression. But Hay House publishing??!!

This morning I received another e mail - the kind that has become so generic it’s almost a template...

"Colette Baron-Reid is offering an astonishing treasure chest of gifts and prizes worth over $40,000.

The prizes, some of them worth hundreds of dollars, are from some of the biggest names in the field of personal growth . . . spiritual growth . . . relationship building . . . mind body healing . . . Life Coaching and Meditation . . . ALL FOR F*R*E*E!

There are 8 top prizes worth over $1000.00 each, including... a weekend trip for two to the Hay House I Can Do It! Conference in Pasadena, CA this fall (Value $2500.00)

An all expenses paid trip (minus airfare) to a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual tour to Peru. "Andean Master Path": June Solstice in the Andes: June 17 to 30, 2011 (Value $3679.00)

A full membership for the SWAT institute (Value $6000.00)

Colette herself is offering several prizes to Spend a Day with Colette in a One Day Workshop in the beautiful coastal town of Portsmouth, NH this July. As well as phone readings and many more prizes.And lastly there are 2 KINDLES up for grabs."

This is not having a go at Colette, but having a go at Hay House, whose lack of creativity in the marketing department is somewhat astonishing to say the least. The authors of Hay House books have a central unifying theme – ie disconnect from the limitations of physical reality and tap into the genius of the Collective/God/Universe. I may be going out on a limb here, but I’m pretty damn sure God could come up with something a little better than the above repetitive, formulaic, old hat formula.

Actually I lied... while we’re on the subject, let’s have a go at Colette. After ‘The Secret’ became a runaway best seller followed by mass disillusion when everyone realized it didn’t work, you’d have thought the game was up. But no!! More books than ever on the same theme! The 7 ways to become rich beyond your wildest dreams. 5 days to uncovering the secrets of the universe...

And now Colette – the 3 questions that, when answered, will enable you to find the magic and meaning in the story of your life. The imagery and language of the book blurb is a cross between Lord of the Rings and Raiders of the Lost Arc. Does nobody like their own life anymore? Have we all become so bored that we require a ‘hay’ house full of illusionists to turn them into a swashbuckling adventure in which we finally get to be Johnny Depp?

I’m waiting for the sequel in which the big bad wolf huffs and puffs and blows the house down. Let’s have a little more reality. There is no magic compass. The spiritual journey requires rigour, consistency and hard work, not meetings with goblins over sepia tinged maps.

Hay House, you may be smoking the best shit in the world, but stop mailing it to us. Please get more creative. I’m just saying…

Permalink | Leave a comment »

AXIS BOLD AS LOVE

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:30:00 -0700

To understand life you need to know stuff, but being happy in life requires something different. It involves how you feel about the stuff you know.

Simple?

Not as simple as we’d like.

We talk about the head and the heart as centres of intelligence. ‘My head says take the job, it will look good on the CV, but my heart wants to drive a Harley down Route 66’. Head/heart dilemmas are the classic stuff of life coaching. But in reality, many of these involve a horizontal conversation between the left and right brain, rather than a vertical interaction between head and heart.

Wrong axis.

The heart doesn’t process data in the same way as the brain. It feels. If we want the guidance of the heart we have to remove the barrier to feeling.
The history of the west over the last 200 years has been one of reverence for the mind. Being open minded was deemed to be a good thing – necessary for innovation. But we didn’t see any value in opening the heart – we thought it would introduce emotion to an already complex world. Emotion slows down progress by making conversation difficult. Dialogue doesn’t flow when it is interspersed with sighs, sulks, anger and jealousy. So we shut down the heart and created a surrogate heart in the head.

For a while no-one detected this switch and life went on as normal. The mind created a fabulous substitute, an oscar winning performance. It empathized with difficulties, cried at movies, smiled at babies, marveled at music. But this changeling, this imposter, being part of the mind, couldn’t feel. It just thought about feeling. This ‘thinking about feeling’ created the very thing we were trying to avoid…emotion. A bunch of energy with an identity crisis and nowhere to go. Sounds like a teenager. Acts like a teenager.

“And all of these emotions of mine, keep holding me from giving my life to a rainbow like you. But I’m bold, bold as love…”

Our heart is the GPS for our soul. Emotion is a dust storm of debris that messes with the signal. It’s no wonder the world has lost its way. We can’t bypass emotions and set up Mission Control for love in the head. We tried that before and it doesn’t work. We have to go through the storm to claim the prize.
The prize is love. It’s a small word for what keeps the world turning…

"Just ask the axis".

Permalink | Leave a comment »

HOW TO DEVELOP DISCERNMENT

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:31:00 -0800

It’s now apparent that the type of skills we will require to thrive in the 21st century are not being taught by our 19th century schooling system. Yet we vote for, and continue to support these systems. Why?

As the 21st century philosopher Lily Allen would say ‘We’re being taken over by the fear’. With fear comes the need for something concrete – something tangible to hold onto.

The tangible thing is a University degree/straight ‘A’s high school certificate. It says in black and white ‘My child is smart, focused and committed..(this piece of paper proves it). He/she deserves a great job/salary so that I no longer have to worry.

This has led to the ridiculous scenario of a highly educated generation of young people with no jobs to go to. Having focused their time on a traditional curriculum, they find themselves perfectly equipped for a world that no longer exists. They lack both the practical skills of common sense and the essential skills of creativity and intuition. They know what to think but they don’t know how to think. Their head is too full of information.

A recent IBM poll of 1500 CEOs identified creativity as the number one leadership competency of the future. Shame.
So how do we redress this crazy state of affairs and make our decisions based on discernment instead of ‘being taken over by the fear’. How do we live without tangible things to hold onto?

By learning to balance.

Discernment comes from our intuition. And intuition is released when we line up our mind, heart and body with our spirit. It’s a bit like a combination lock. As any safe breaker will confirm, figuring out a combination lock without the code is quite a skill…and one we would be well advised to add to the national curriculum.

How to line up the combination without setting off the alarm…

Silence is important. So we can listen.
Inner stillness. So we can hold our nerve.
Core strength. So we can keep a steady hand.
Cleverness. So we can work spontaneously.

Of course these are all metaphors for ‘being centered’. If we’re centered then balancing is easy. If we can balance, we won’t need to hang on to ridiculous things that we think will make us feel safe.

But best of all when we line up mind, heart and body, our intuition is able to drop in the smart bomb.

And God knows, in a world of information, we need that more than ever.
Next post…How to find centre in a snowstorm!

Permalink | Leave a comment »