Monthly Archives: October 2013

The power of a crowd!

Posted on by kgoodman

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I got to see one of my favorite bands perform last week. The band ‘Cake’ performed for a small group of one thousand people at a conference I was attending in San Francisco. To be at the front stage when a favorite band is play, is just amazing. There is nothing else in the world like it.

The lead singer knows how to work a crowd. Once everybody was having a good time he started to work the crowd through sarcasm and self deprecation. It’s not a technique I would choose myself, but the crowd and I were eating it up. We would yell back in response and sing along as he commanded.

In that situation, with the music blasting out of the speakers a few feet to my left, individuals without a amplification are background noise at best. I yelled myself hoarse and still could only barely be heard (but that didn’t stop me from trying). But when the lead singer organized us, when he set up the rhythm and instructed us to sing along. It was magical. A sea of tiny imperceptible voice joined into a chorus of singers and we became a tidal wave. Individually we could contribute nothing. Together we rivaled the band.

I love seeing this small demonstration of the power of the crowd. Together we can do so much more than we can as a lone small voice. Individually we can complain, together we can change the world.

This power can be used for good or evil. Once it has begun moving it is often unstoppable. It reminds me of a quote from a favorite Science Fiction show, Babylon 5: The avalanche has already started; It is too late for the pebbles to vote..

I encourage you this week to mindfully find a cause that you believe in, and add your voice to the chorus. It could be as simple as commenting on a blog to let others know you were there and you had a feeling to share. It could be as complex as writing a letter to your government representative about an issue on your mind. Or perhaps, you’re feeling called to be the metaphorical lead singer, find your amplifier and move the crowd to sing along.

Namaste,

Kevin
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Passing Thought

Posted on by kgoodman

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We have a special guest blogger this week. Heather Isaacs works with hospice patients and people that are nearing the end of their journey. She posted a facebook update recently that struck a cord with me and touched my heart, and I just wanted to share it with Chakra Community.

 

Heather’s update:

Once again, I am amazed by the the mysteries of the mind. I sat with a patient who has advanced dementia today. Often, she goes for days without saying more than a few words and she sleeps much of the time now. Always she is peaceful. Always she radiates warmth and kindness and humor. But there are spectacular and bizarre moments with her that take my breath away. In the same way that the sun will break through a cloudy day, she can become downright eloquent. And in those moments I feel like I am sitting at the foot of an oracle.

 

Today, she talked about how we are all parts of the whole and though we don’t know what role we are playing that we don’t have to worry about it because in the end it’s all going to be okay. She said that she’d forgotten what she had come here to do but wasn’t worried, either. Looking at her own body like it was a piece of clothing, she said “I could be almost anything now. And they could throw me away.” And though the words were strange, even sad, she laughed at the absurdity of it all. And I laughed with her. She said, “Whatever I am, I will be.” Over and over again, she talked about waiting, how we simply need to wait. She told me, “Take a breath. Relax. And wait to see what happens.” And looking at a plush toy bird hanging above her bed, she said, “I wish it could spread its wings and fly away. But it is waiting, too.”

 

I hope you find something in this gem to enlighten your day.

 

Namaste,

Kevin

 

About Heather:

Heather has her own blog to and loves hearing from visitors. She can be found at http://oddbygod.wordpress.com/.

 

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Being aware of our Prejudices

Posted on by kgoodman

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The roots of prejudice are pre (as in before) and judge (as in to cast judgment). So to have a prejudice is to have made a judgment about someone or something before proper education on the person or topic.

There was a fishing boat slowly cruising along the waters of the Sacramento Delta. I say slowly simply because we were passing it in my commuter train going 75 down the train tracks. It was a Monday and I was on my long commute into the office. Being Monday my mind was working at finding ways to escape my current work, so it was an easy transition to imagine myself on the fishing boat instead of sitting on the train. My mind began to drift into the fantasy of living a life as a fishermain, out on the water. “I could be a fisherman”, I said boldly (and quietly) to myself. “I love fishing and I could figure out all the details and make a go of it!” I could get into that life wandering about on the water in search of fish.

At first I imagined that the fisherman was out on the water for pleasure, that this wasn’t realy his (or her) day job. That somehow I would still have the challenge of how to provide for my family. How would I make money in that world? It didn’t take long to come to the conclusion that I would sell my fish. At this point my mind took a sharp right turn as I abruptly thought to myself, “I don’t want to exploit our natural resources for personal profit. I wouldn’t want to be part of the problem of overfishing of our waters by selling fish for money!”

So there I was, moral high ground reached… But is that really how I feel?

I don’t mind letting others fish for me. I eat fish all the time and love it! If I truly felt that this was exploitation, then all I’ve done is removed myself one or two steps, I still exploit by proxy. If that is truly how I feel, that fishing is an exploitation of our natural resources, then I need to stop eating fish.

But I realized that as I went through this mental exercise of a derailed fantasy, that that is not how I feel.

I had never processed the discrepancies between my core beliefs and my adjunct beliefs. I believe in conservation, I believe in respecting the environment and treating it well. I also believe the materials on this earth are here for us to consume and utilize as needed for survival and thriving. Obviously we need to work at better stewardship than we are currently exhibiting. But we still need to work toward balance and thriving.

My unprocessed thoughts, caught in the gaps between these two ideas (conservation and consumption) had caused me to cast dispersions on the very group that I wanted to be a part of. I had cast judgment on all commercial fisherman as exploiters and people that didn’t care about the environment. And by connection I had even cast the shadow of prejudice over myself.

This whole mental process brought the idea of prejudice to the forefront of my mind. If it was so easy for me to cast judgment on myself in this way, how had I prejudged others?

It’s a lucky thing that I was there to stand up for myself (In my head) when I saw prejudice rear it’s ugly specter. But how many others aren’t so luck, as to be in my head, when I judge them, before I have meet them? What other thought processes suffered from dualism and conflicting ideas that hadn’t been reconciled against one another? How much of the world around me have I judged harshly or wrongly without having evidence?

When dealing with the world around you, it can be crucial to be aware of your prejudices. It’s possible that you’re prejudice will lead to the right conclusion. It’s possible that the mental image and expectations you have of individuals is spot on. It’s also possible that it’s a self fulfilling prophesy. As soon was you meet another and cast the specter of your prejudice over the interaction between you and them, that prejudice will actually inform how they behave around you. You may be bringing out the reaction you get from people because you expect them to behave that way. Allow for the people you meet to pleasantly surprise you. Try to approach the unknown without prejudice.

Namaste,

Kevin

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Due to the absence of government funding, there will be no post this week…

Posted on by kgoodman

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I had a hard time coming up with my post this week. I usually like to find something that’s wrong and spin a positive, or more appropriately constructive, view that can empower and uplift. But this week, I’m just finding things to complain about.

 

I got an email this week from the California Board of Equalization (they collect sales tax here in California for business sales). It was a friendly reminder that this was “National Customer Service Week” I couldn’t help but draw a connection to the government shutdown and how they’ve chosen to highlight National Customer Service week by providing no services.

 

So to buck the trend and despite my lack of government funding, I’ve decided to post this weeks update, free of charge. As a free services to the world.

 

The worlds problems are tough. There is, quite literally, a whole world of challenges and problems out there to be solved and be stymied by.

 

We could spend all day being blocked and worried and uncertain.

However, fear doesn’t make the world a better place. Uncertainty doesn’t solve problems.

Shutting down in order to get your own way doesn’t help anyone.

 

So this week, instead of shutting down, start up.

Instead of boycotting, girlcot… (I think that’s the opposite).

Keep moving forward, keep your chin up, and keep doing good.

 

Namaste,

 

Kevin

 

 

There is No Spoon

Posted on by kgoodman

(Quote from the Matrix)

Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Boy: There is no spoon.

 

We all have ideas. Big, Small. Unique, Communal. Inclusive, Segregating.

Each idea we have builds on another and another and another. Before you know it you’ve gone from an idea, to a belief system. A belief system is a living mechanism an organic and organized entity created by you. It is a side effect of the natural human learning process of connecting ideas. You have built a network of ideas about yourself, about others, about what you are capable of and what is beyond your grasp. Some of your belief systems interlock with others and some stand by themselves, seldom used until the right circumstances arise.

 

There are two visuals that help when trying to think of belief systems. The first is a stack of blocks. Each block is an idea upon which another idea is supported. The foundation of the stack is required to support the other ideas above it. If you find a way to question a base idea then the belief system will fall apart. This represents a simple belief system. Most of our beliefs are more complex. An advanced belief system is more like a spiders web. Each connection point would hold another block of the belief system. They have, over time, become in interconnected web of ideas. You can challenge an individual block and remove it, but the web remains. Removing these belief systems are much more challenging because it requires overwhelming evidence that the system is faulty and an openness to change.

 

Whenever we come across a new idea we really have 3 ways in which we can process the idea:
1) Dismissal

2) Acceptance

3) Revolution

 

Dismissal is the easiest. It simply involves the rejection or denial of new information coming in. If a new idea comes in we can always find a means to dismiss it. This is almost a defense mechanism. The idea doesn’t make sense. The premise is faulty. We can even find ourselves dismissing ideas based on the quirks of the person presenting them to us. I didn’t like they way she looked at me. His shirt was a funny color. What’s up with that hair?

 

Acceptance is harder but easy enough if it supports one of our belief systems. When we process a new idea and believe it has merit, then we must bring it into the fold of our belief systems. This is process of adding it to the stack of a belief system that’s comparable with it and compatible.

 

Revolution is the hardest, nearly impossible, and cannot be approached directly. Process 3, Revolution, must be approached through process 2, Acceptance. We do not directly jump into revolution. But what happens when we accept a new idea, but we find it completely incompatible with one or more of our belief systems? We are again faced with Dismissal or Acceptance. If we dismiss the new idea we are back to our original safety net of ideas. But if we accept an idea, then have to begin the painful process of dismantling and rejecting the faulty belief system it is coming in to replace. But this can be done.

 

Some of our belief systems are so deeply ingrained the revolution seems impossible. But at the same time we feel and understand that many of our beliefs hold us back and have a negative impact on us and the world around us. We must continue the subtle work that lays before us. We must continue to find the ideas that hold us back and do us harm and accept the truth, there is no spoon.

Namaste,
Kevin