“Michael Wood…”

Magical Thinking (Photo credit: alvaro tapia hidalgo)

Michael Wood. Do you know his name?

He is a British historian, the man behind such magnificent documentaries as “Legacy,” and “Myths and Heroes.” You can find them both on Netflix. He is amazing. Just like me, he has a childlike exuberance for history. I cannot imagine that it would be possible to watch his documentaries and not feel his passion.

I would love to have his job. Problem is . . . if I am being honest . . .  I lack the drive to get the education necessary to do it. There is no shame in that – but it shines a light on something that we need to be aware of, and that is this: you can accomplish anything in life – but ONLY if you have the drive and commitment.

There is no magic bullet that will do it – you have to physically commit to going all the way.

For me – well, I live vicariously through the amazing commentary of Michael Wood. Yes, it could be me, IF I possessed the ambition.

Remember “The Secret?” It was such a big deal, such a watershed – but it failed in one respect [it did not take into account the intense PHYSICAL drive that is necessary to combine with the belief]. There IS a way, but don’t think that it is an easy way . . . .that you can just imagine it and that it will fall in your lap. Belief MUST be combined with action. Without action, you are just playing with “magical thinking,” which, on its own, will get you nowhere.

You CAN do it – whatever IT is – BUT you must ACT in conjunction with your faith. Don’t be a fool and think that if you just imagine it that it will arrive. Set your intention, which is critical, but then ACT. THIS will ensure your success.

Many Blessings To All…

Rising Hawk

Sprinkle: Love and Elevators...

Reblogged from SprinklinThoughts:

I think some people (maybe even many) think of Love as kind of an elevator.... from which we step out onto different levels...

- On the ground Level (first floor) is what we call self-love as we love ourselves (however much; but at least as in feeding &  clothing)
- The second floor might be love of nature, loving our environment…

Read more… 392 more words

This is from a friend's blog that I follow. I think this is brilliant, and wanted to share it on my blog, too. Hope that it blesses you... Rising Hawk

“Incredibly Beautiful People…”

English: Burma-Myanmar, Young Monks walking in Nyaungshwe, December 2002. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That’s what I saw in a documentary tonight, filmed this year, about the country of Myanmar, (formerly known as Burma).

This country has been under incredibly harsh military rule since the early 1960′s, shortly after obtaining their “freedom” from Colonial Britain.

In the last 20 years, there has been wholesale slaughter of Buddhist monks who peacefully marched against injustice, (and a lot of non-monks were killed, too). So much of the country is destitute – destitute in a way that even the poor of Appalachia would shun.

Children as young as nine or less go to work for one dollar a day, which is what it costs to get enough white rice to eat a meal. Electricity is unpredictable and irregular. Clean water; a rarity. Good medical care? Practically impossible to find nearby, even if one could afford it. In spite of all of this, do you know what I saw? Absolutely beautiful faces with radiant smiles.

The primary religion of the country is Buddhism, which teaches, among other things, to accept your life with peace, and to work for a better “next life.” Perhaps this is the source of the peaceful and easy smiles.

Here in the U.S., where, comparatively, we wallow in luxury, we constantly bitch and moan. We’ve got this upcoming “fiscal cliff,” a situation that if not resolved could cause our taxes to go up. So that’s our bitch? Or maybe we can’t buy enough gifts at Christmas to satisfy all of the conditioned, over-the-top expectations that come along with the season.

The people of Myanmar are ruled by a ruthless military regime, and a lot of the population is lucky to eat one meal a day. We are ruled by arrogant jackasses who are so ego-driven that they will train wreck everything to be “right.” I’m not sure who is worse off; I saw more beautiful faces and smiles among the people who are shit upon every day than I see here, where we have so much.

Sadly, in my estimation, we are not far from the “dictatorial” style leadership that they are saddled with . . . and just as sadly, we seem to lack the peaceful energy to smile and live simply, with little.

This country needs to grow up. “Might” does NOT make right, and we cannot spend enough money to be at peace. Time to start selling things – time to downsize – time to be content because that is what we ARE, not some state to look for outside of ourselves.

I see the lovely smiles of the people of Myanmar, and I see the furrowed brows and tense and anxious faces here in the U.S. It makes me wonder . . . who is the REAL superpower?

Many Blessings To All…

Rising Hawk

Unity of Purpose

Reblogged from SprinklinThoughts:

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time trying to contribute my little bit to the betterment of this world. This has been a long, often lonely, and difficult endeavor.

But that's OK because some of the difficulty is my own fault, as people have rightfully pointed out. It does no good to point out the wrong without looking at the flip side (offering a right way) - lacking balance.

Read more… 1,820 more words

Here's the plan - a brilliant one, too. Can you commit to it and live it? I hope that you try, as will I. Blessings...

“The Amazing Hat…”

Top Hat (Photo credit: lokarta)

This might be a silly post – but silly is OK. It is something that just came to me, just this moment. A hat.

Not just any hat, but one of those Charles Dickens’ era top hats. You know, the black, stove-pipe style hats; popular with vampires and other folks of some standing.

In their heyday – I’m guessing the 18th-19th century – they were power. Wearing one made a statement, but it is when one REMOVED it from one’s head that the real impact was made. When a well dressed man removed his stove-pipe hat, shit was about to get real . . . bad or somber news was sure to follow, or a statement of contrition, or it was a gesture of great deference made before entering another’s home. Truth be told, the act of removing just about any style hat carries with it a certain amount of gravity. I wonder why?

I think I know why; it is an act that demonstrates submission, in a way. You “uncover,” you reveal yourself to another soul. I find that I do this with my own sunglasses. Whether I am going through a drive-thru, or meeting some one, the sunglasses come off before I speak. To me, it is rude not to reveal yourself when interacting with another, to hide under a hat or behind shades. AFTER I have had my first exposure to the other person, I may put the glasses back on or, if I wore a hat, put it back on my head. It’s a funny thing, really, just how important it is to be open – to reveal yourself. A simple gesture, and yet it carries so much weight.

This mirrors so many aspects of our lives . . . it is the simple gestures that make the biggest difference to our fellow-man.

Many Blessings To All…

Rising Hawk

 

“When Is Your Next ‘Happy’? . . . “

Happiness (Photo credit: Advertise2win®)

Here’s a quote for you, from the late and magnificent Eknath Easwaran:

“But the young prince [Buddha] scrutinized the content of worldly happiness much more closely than the rest of us, and his conclusion was that what people called joy was a house of cards perched precariously on certain preconditions. When these preconditions are fulfilled, the pleasure we feel lasts but a moment, for the nature of human experience is to change.”

I really wanted to throw this quote out there and just leave it . . . with no comment. Why? With the hope that even one, single person would read it over-and-over, would dwell upon it for weeks – even months – until the full and profound impact of the words struck that meditating soul like a thunder-clap, breaking forever the chains that bound them to unhappiness. As it is, I won’t add much.

When is your next “happy?”

What are you “looking forward to?”

Is it payday? The weekend? A new car? Seeing the children/grandchildren? Maybe your favorite TV show?

It is difficult to wrap ourselves around a truth so deep, that seems to run so counter to everything that we have come to believe.

Those things that I mentioned are “happier than I am now” points; little feel good shots that we have come to define as joy. What they really are is your own, unique set of “preconditions” for being happy. And sadly, no matter what the precondition may be, it won’t last – which means that your “happy” isn’t going to last either – because it has been hitched to a transitory condition. “The nature of the human experience is to change.”

The root of joy, bliss, peace, and happiness is within, and to mentally make their existence dependent on an outside precondition is a sure way to guarantee that your experience if them will be fleeting at best.

If thinking and evaluating your preconditions causes you to become uncomfortable, or agitated, or even angry/defensive . . . congratulations. That is the way that wisdom usually begins – with resistance.

Stick with it. Give the idea the benefit of the doubt. The subject is a very deep well that one could explore for many lifetimes before ever really fully comprehending it.

So,I will leave it at that. Read the quote again . . . and again. Contemplate it. It can change the very nature of your existence.

Many Blessings To All…

Rising Hawk

“I Hid It In There…”

Did you catch it? It was in my last post, “I Tripped On A Rock And Fell Right Off.”

In it, I wrote:

“Anyway, there I am, falling through space, or the void, or whatever, when I realize that I’m not; not falling, that is, ’cause there is no up or down in space. Direction is pointless, frankly absurd, in infinite space. And my body is gone, too – all that I have is a memory . . . an idea . . . that I was one. Now, me and space – well, I can’t tell where “I” end and “it” begins – so, I have to assume that I am space since I can’t tell the two apart. Just floating along, one with whatever this emptiness might be. Perfect! I’ll probably run into “God” out here. After all, where else would he be but “out here?”

Well, no sign of the Big Guy. But I do realize that there is crazy energy crackling everywhere – I can feel it. I don’t know if it is “intelligent,” or “sentient,” or “loving,” or otherwise gives a steaming crap in a paper bag about what I think is my “existence,” I just know that it is there . . .

If you re-read that, particularly the highlighted portions, and give it some thought, it includes a powerful realization.

I wrote that I had ”merged” with a formless void, “the energy,” and that I couldn’t tell where I ended and it began since I no longer had my body. And then you see that I wrote that I didn’t know if this “energy” was intelligent, or sentient, or loving, etc. Hmmmm . . . there is a deep meditation hiding in there.

If I am “one” with the energy, and I am aware of love, and I am sentient, and I am aware – well, then it must be, too – because there is no separation between us.

I can’t tell you where this meditation will lead you, but I am certain it will be very liberating in some way. Chew on it for a while.

Many Blessings To All…

Rising hawk

“It’s All In Your Head…”

There is nothing that you can perceive with your brain that isn’t “yourself.” That’s just nuts, huh? Even the friend that is standing right in front of you; their form, words, scents – everything about them – only truly exists in your mind. They are your perception. I love this quote from Arthur Schopenhauer. It comes from a conversation he was having with Goethe:

“I observed once to Goethe . . . that when a friend is with us we do not think the same of him as when he is away. He replied, ‘Yes! Because the absent friend is yourself and he exists only in your head; whereas the friend that is present has an individuality of his own, and moves according to laws of his own, which cannot always be in accordance with those that you form for yourself.’”

I love the phrase, “the absent friend is yourself and exists only in your head.” Using some simple logic, this profound statement can be applied to EVERYTHING. Everything that you encounter are emanations of various vibrations and wavelengths of light that are received by your sense organs, analyzed by your brain,and then given form and meaning in accordance with your individual understanding and data-filtering mechanisms. It’s not even your eyes that “see;” they have no such ability. They are nothing more than windows that allow light wavelengths into your processing center so that a form can be “assigned.”And once you have that, then whenever that form ceases to be in your presence you still have it – because it was you all along, anyway. This is deep for a Monday, I know, but give it some time. I alluded to this in a somewhat different way in my last post, which you can find here:

http://risinghawk.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/the-worlds-greatest-thespian/

Am I implying that people don’t exist? Hardly, just that they exist in your world because YOU have given them their life through your perception of them. If you change your perception, then they change as far as your experience of them is concerned. The parameters of who/what/when/how are defined by your own, personal evaluation – which is not a carved-in-stone reality. So,in essence, they ARE you. This can be loosely tied to quantum theory, which implies that what is seen depends on who is doing the ”seeing” and what they expect to see; and that changes from observer-to-observer. Whew! Are you lost yet? Might want to read it again!

What a concept – everything is YOU, because only you have the power to give definition to what something is or means in your own life. That’s a lot of power, and the bedrock that makes the words of Thomas a’Kempis so true. he wrote:

“Do not let your peace depend upon the hearts of men; whatever they say about you, good or bad, you are not because of it another man, for as you are, you are.”

Whatever anyone believes about you, or you, them, is relative only to the believer, because it can have no objective reality; it is perception only – a mental abstraction of data – that can change from second-to-second and person-to-person. That really is something to think about. Meditate on it long enough, and you might ”transcend” common reality.

Many Blessings To All…

Rising hawk

“The World’s Greatest Thespian…”

If there is one thing that I have written many times in many ways on this blog over the years, it is that NOTHING is more important than accepting and loving yourself for who you are – warts and all. I do not know of too many things that can bring one to a state of peace more efficiently than embracing the knowledge that there isn’t anything wrong with who you are and what you want to do with your life [Hurting other people being excluded. I am not the one who judges "right" or "wrong," but their will be consequences for that sort of activity and society, by a majority, has a moral compass that is true enough that it won't be tolerated]. Having written all of that, this blog IS called The Fortress of Potential, so being a “different” person, having the potential and ability to change is likewise important.

I really want to reach beyond the obvious things here: you know, stuff like not smoking, getting some exercise, smiling more, etc. I think most everyone knows the value in making these sorts of behavioral modifications without having to hear about them again and again. What I want to write about, if the words will come, (and hopefully doesn’t take all day), is becoming a completely different person.

I can already feel a struggle beginning with this message; it’s going to be difficult to word, and I’m feeling a bit lazy, so I am resisting what I am being prodded to share. I would rather take a nap – but I am going to forge ahead just the same.

The first step to becoming a totally different person is understanding the first paragraph that I wrote. Don’t set off to be a different person because you think that there is something wrong with who you are RIGHT NOW. You MUST love that person without reservation before you can embark on what I am attempting to describe. You’re fine just like you are. If there are a few things here and there you would like to tweak, go ahead. . . . . man, this is hard to convey. I really need to step-aside and let It flow. Anyway, that’s where you start; knowing that you are as worthwhile and as important as any other human on the planet just as you are.

Next step is a big decision. A CONSCIOUS decision to become a different person. A decision to become a “new” being NOT because there is anything unworthy about the being that you currently are, but because this “new” person intrigues you. It excites you, and you want to experience it. Do you understand the difference in the thinking?

Now, of course, in order to make the decision to which I am referring, you have to know “who” you desire to be – that is, whose shoes to you want to walk some miles in, or maybe even the rest of your life?

This person does not have to physically exist today, (or to have physically existed ever). By that I mean to say that your model can be a fictional character. Sound crazy? Maybe at first.But it is important to understand that becoming a “different person” has to do with changes in the realm of mind, ego, emotions – maybe even the way that you walk and talk. Even fictional characters, (well-developed ones, anyway), have those elements built-in. Your essence, your Spirit, isn’t going to change. All that you are doing is deciding to experience a different, physical character. That’s actually all you are doing right now . . . acting. You’re acting out a character on the grandest stage of them all.

What’s really neat is that the “dressing room” is all around you – along with acting teachers, speech coaches, you name it. People in your neighborhood, public figures, movie characters. It’s  like going shopping . . . what do you want to try on today?

What I have written here today is a LOT “heavier” than it may seem at first read. It speaks to the God-breathed ability that each of us posses to create and “be” whoever we desire to be. It is not a decision to be made lightly, it’s not a decision that has to be made at all; you may very well like your character just fine, and that is a beautiful thing.

The idea that is pressing me so hard today, (and for the past several days), is to make sure that people know that they are actors. Not just any actor, but the most in-demand thespian in the world, who can choose any role that he/she wishes to play. Now, assuming that you make the decision to change roles, how do you do it? You do what any great actor would do – study the part, then act it and live it.

Start small, maybe by mirroring the way that your chosen character thinks – establishing their worldview as your own. Then perhaps physical mannerisms, or style of dress. This isn’t some earth-shattering, new revelation. It is has been said many times and ways over the ages: ACT like the person that you most want to be, and you will become that person. You know the quote, (attributed to lots of different people), “we become what we think about.” Or, to use other words, we are our actions, which are driven by our thoughts. Therefore, change your thoughts, which will change your actions, which will lead to you becoming a totally “new” person.

As I wrote, this is not a light message. It is very heavy, and powerful. DON’T decide to become a different person on a whim. It can be very scary, and you could end up meeting with a lot of resistance. Know your motives, and count what the cost may be. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that question.

This is a hard message. I AM NOT suggesting that ANYONE change who they are. I am attempting,in my own feeble way, to pass on an understanding of the incredible power that we each have over our experience of this physical world. It’s like our world is a giant bowl of soup. Everyone is sitting in their chair and eating, tasting, experiencing the soup. Just remember, you are not bound to the chair that you are in – you can get up and move to a new seat and taste the soup from there.

Well, maybe my longest post, and I’m still wondering if I effectively expressed what my Spirit was trying to get through to me. Nevertheless, there it is. I think I’ll take that nap now.

Many Blessings To All…

Rising Hawk

“Only Pain Can Speak To Pain…”

You know, there is a difference between curing and healing.

Curing involves fixing a physical problem – like using antibiotics to eradicate an infection. But curing, however, doesn’t usually have a healing aspect – because healing involves attaining a level of spiritual wholeness and peace that transcends the physical. This is an important distinction. Think about it. No one can cure you of physical death . . . the best that anyone can do is to remove a currently life-threatening condition and perhaps prolong your life. But that’s it; there’s no cure for death. You CAN, however, meet that day totally healed.

It is an interesting thing. A cure does not inherently bring healing with it, but the inverse isn’t necessarily true. The beauty of healing lies in the fact that, since many of our physical maladies have stress, emotional pain and a general lack of inner peace at their root, (perhaps going back generations, to the point where genes have been negatively altered and passed on), the wholeness of healing often brings physical relief, (a cure), along with it. Now, here comes the surprise: YOU quite likely have the power to heal – a power that others need to survive – and haven’t been using it. To help me to illustrate this better, I will use a quote from Ava Tapa Miri, a Paraguayan Shaman quoted by Bradford Keeney in his excellent book, Shamans Of The World. She said:

“Those who carry the pain of others have the power to heal. It is the price of being a healer. It is an impossible role, but it must be done so that others may survive.”

YOU have probably “paid the price” to be a healer, but aren’t using what you bought. The quote reads that “Those who carry the pain of others have the power to heal.” How have you done that?

If in the past you have suffered the pain of a battle with cancer, or the unexpected loss of a child, close friend or family member, or experienced financial ruin, or domestic violence, or any of a number of other challenges and traumas, the you are “carrying the pain” of others who are currently going through the same ordeal. You are intimately familiar with their pain and, as such, are qualified to help them to heal – you have already “paid the price to be a healer. Only pain can speak to pain, and your experience empowers you with empathy, which is a compelling force that allows you to express love through compassion. Sympathy can do nothing to heal, but empathy and compassion born of shared experience can heal.

Yes, it is an “impossible role” for ONE person, but if we all find the healer hidden within us then the task of healing those in need becomes much more manageable.

If you are one of those people who has paid “the price of being a healer,” then NOW is the time to use the power that you have bought to help others. Just as you need the healing, help and support that others brought to you during your own personal trials, there are others that now need you to survive. They need to know how you made it through.

When you become a healer in this way, you not only help someone else to heal, you, also, will continue to grow in strength and wholeness, as well. We are all connected, and our highest purpose is to be here for each other.

Many Blessings To All…

Rising Hawk