Business and wisdom

Today business is the greatest power on earth. The churches and temples are small compared to the world's office towers. Business ethics is now reduced to mere survival tactics. Too many business leaders never stop accumulating wealth and power -- without any hope of true satisfaction or happiness. There's an addiction to constant accumulation for its own sake. This corrupts free markets, governments, media, culture and the human soul. The Halls of Congress are filled with hungry business representatives from corporate boardrooms. Can anything be done? I say "settle down" and meditate. Businesspeople at all levels need to spend time looking within -- to see who they really are. This does more than all the ethics rules and government regulations people come up with. With clear insights, true ethics is spontaneousness -- as we begin to see that we are not in survival, but actually have enough to look beyond self-interest. It's about love; saying "Yes!" to doing business as love and service.

Time, Money, and Love

Time, money, and love -- three fundamental ideas running our lives. Of these three, only love is real. We do everything for reasons of love, avoidance of love, or neurotic displacement of love. Time is not as real as it looks and feels. The time of physics is a quantity within equations. Human time is different. The past may appear distant or close in time depending on how we feel. Time may move slowly or quickly. Look within, you'll see this is true. Money is a symbolic substitute for love and time. Money is our civilization's most powerful force; we give up freedom, love, and time for money. Too much focus on money, you risk no time for the love in your life -- friends, children, and good works. Too little money and your spouse may leave you. With enough money "everybody loves you" for your money. "Time saving machinery" is now so effective that we could get ten hours of work done in two hours. It should be heaven on earth by now. But heaven never comes, and keeps waiting for better and faster technology. With every increase in machine/computing power we invent new tasks and expectations. The carrot recedes into the horizon with nonstop working and shopping seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Forget the Sabbath -- only God gets to rest on the seventh day.

Waking Up

Waking up to my own life has been "the journey of a lifetime". I was a dreamy child in grade school. Now, I am a dreamy "new" old person. What can I say? Do we really change, or is it an unfolding variation of "life" that runs runs its course from birth to death? If you awaken and stay awake you are called "enlightened" (full of light). Staying awake is difficult. Only grand-masters are fearless enough not to run back into fluffy dreams. The point is to get free of illusion. To be real without interruption. That takes great inner courage. Stillness or meditation is a warrior's path.

Consciousness and human unity

For decades, I've shared the dream of human unity with my friend Eugene Haggerty who traveled the world signing up public leaders and common folk to the reality of our true human unity beyond all differences. It's imperative that fundamental human unity becomes a universal cultural and personal norm. It's the positive constructive nonviolent bases for optimum life survival and flourishing on earth. How can this happen? Turn your attention back on your own consciousness; you will eventually realize that everyone else's consciousness is like yours. States of mind, states of life all differ; yet, we share a common field of consciousness. This is "seeing the lamp and not the lampshade." In fact, you and I participate in the same human reality even though we have different bodies and circumstances. This is the essence of the golden rules expounded by all the world's great traditions.

Dreaming of Socrates (unreleased draft series)

Sometimes I dream of being a Socrates. To live out the ideal of dialogue as the prime tool for intellectual exploration via collaborative intelligence. Socrates did not write; instead, he was a master of dialogue. People came to him becoming totally disarmed after realizing that they did not know what they thought they knew. Socrates himself did not claim knowledge; only divine wisdom - the knowledge of knowing that he did not know. His dialogues may have not netted definitive answers, but they did yield death of thought and exploration into a subject. Even more, Socrates demonstrated real thinking on his part, and demanded the same from everyone else. So, to be in a "Socratic dialogue" was (and is) one of the most exciting learning experiences anyone can undertake. It does not always work, but when it does it is memorable.

His work was to get beyond mere opinion to truth. Rarely did he say "this is it".

Rather, the process itself was enough to satisfy the love-urge for wisdom.

Asking question.
Digging into doubts at every turn. Until everyone's minds are on fire.
Alive with desire to understand.

This was Socratic dialogue -- an act of intellectual midwifery.

Chris Matthews Says Trump Can't Fire Mueller

Uses of philosophy

Life is complex and uncertain. Modern & post-modern life is much more complex than 2,000 to 5,000 years ago. The pace of change makes it difficult to "get a handle" to "feel the ground under our feet". Philosophy is simply the love of wisdom. And, wisdom is a deep clear sense of understanding (standing under) all that is happening and being. To philosophize is to map the all-that-is, even including what seems to transcend the world. I started doing philosophy as a young person. I'd study different philosophical schools and systems. Later, I created my own philosophy. This was my quest, my love for wisdom. Something beyond ordinary knowledge. Eventually, I got academic degrees in philosophy. That seemed impractical. But, I learned a holistic way of thinking that lead to a wonderful set of careers and life paths. Much more on this later.

Trust

Perhaps, our greatest asset in life is to be trusted. When young, I had a retail job where I had the responsibility of opening up the store. Remarkably, the owner entrusted me with the keys to his store. Amazing that he entrusted me with so much responsibility for all his goods. I responded by making sure that I did everything right. Holding on to those keys, making sure that no unknown customer would take them and use them. To be entrusted with the store keys made me more trustworthy. 

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Take a look at this collection of images on the "trust". Much can be learned. Enjoy. Here's an example:

World Mind

Each of us is so small, so little. How can we expect to know what's going on everywhere? Can an insect crawling along the highway know that it is near a big city? It can't even tell it's on a highway! What's all the current crisis leading to? We as individuals and, even groups, do not have God's eye view.
Perhaps, there's a World Mind. Indeed, the internet and all its power to connect us all together all over the world is like a nervous system for a world mind; but, we don't all know it yet. It's said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We can't get a handle, for example, on all the aspects of global warming; but, the world mind (above and beyond the limited view of individuals minds) may coordinate things somewhat intelligently.
Still, there's the individual responsibility to do the best we can. To learn what we can. To make our best judgments with limited knowledge and understanding. That we must. Practice integrity.

Do you have a dream?

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. So did Gandhi and Cesar Chaves. So do great writers, artists, businesspersons, and parents. Truth is: we all have a dream. Perhaps, first encountered early in life. But it's forgotten or beaten down by parents and teachers. Forgotten by years of being "on track" with homework assignments, and one planned activity after another. Listen deeply now to your heart. What's your truest, deepest life purpose? The purpose that fullfills your longing to express and do love's work out in the world? Take time now to look and feel? It may be difficult; many false dreams may come. You may delightfully discover and celebrate that you're living that dream now. You may currently have what appears to be a "meaningless" job, but (at the same time), be sure to keep alive a connection to your dream today.

God had to make "not-God"

I hear from Jewish and Islamic perspectives that God is infinite and has to create; even create his negation – the not-God – the realm of illusions or appearances which we know so well. Seyyed Hossein Nasr said it so well when he wrote: "Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as the Infinitely Good, He could not but create. His infinitude implies that He contains within Himself all possibilities, including that of negating Himself, and this possibility had to be realized in the form of creation. Moreover, as St. Augustine also stated, it is in the nature of the good to give of itself, and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate the reality that constitutes the world and, in fact, all the worlds."*

*The Heart of Islam. HarperSanFrancisco, 2002. page 9.

What's the meaning of life?

As years fly by, an old question returns: “What is the meaning of life?” Many people laugh this question off. I dropped asking that question long ago because some friends responded with, “The meaning of life is in the living of life itself.” That seemed good enough. But, lately, I see and hear a hunger for meaning. I find it among college students, I find it in groups of older people and the very young. It’s not meaningless to ask “What's the meaning of Life”. Asking this "question of questions" may be more powerful and meaningful than any answer. The act of grappling with this great and unanswerable question often yields a deep sense of wordless meaning. We are divine exactly because we can ask this question. Our polite societies dismiss the question of meaning as impractical. Better to go out and shop, watch the Super Bowl; maybe shopping and games are the meaning of life. The impractical, however, can be exquisitely meaningful. Even if it's free.

Far is near; near is far

I've seen families sitting at dinner with both parents and three children all looking at their separate computers and smartphones -- communicating with employers and friends somewhere else. They're together but far away. Mealtime was a sacred moment; a time together to report on a long day. But here, I say: Love is fractured. I walk across the campus. So many students now on their media players listening to class lectures. Meanwhile lecture halls are often less than half full; instead we're walking past each other; minds away within the media player lecture replays. (I can't blame them; so many lectures and readings; too little time.) Or, are they listening to music? We don't know. We pass by so close, while far away. Lecture halls may be boring, but we did experience all our classmates together. Now, it's only on the final exam day that everyone is together. Not much fun! Our relationship "bandwidth" is diminishing. The people around us get less attention; because our attention is scattered throughout millions of cyber-sphere nodes (the internet, phone lines, and old fashioned television and radio. Where will it all go?

Purpose of life

Does life (your life, my life) have a purpose? Yes. I think it's to live and overcome the illusions of darkness passing through our wobbly minds; getting past the thinking mind to truth itself. This seems impossible. So, we need faith. Not blind faith, but faith meaning firmness. Holding firm for truth until we actually behold truth freeing us from despair, illusion, and darkness. We get to truth and purpose by beholding and holding this present moment until all dissolves away except This-ness. Life's purpose is to realize This-ness; which once realized informs us of exactly what to be and do right now. Easy to say; but often takes a lifetime to realize. That's the adventure. Living in the adventure is already life's purpose.

Spirit of life

God shaped a clay pile into a human form; still something was missing. He had to breathe Life into that clay human; than it became a living man. For the ancients breath is the spirit of life. We "inspire", breathe in; and, "expire", breath out. No spirit, no life. Can there be life without clay, without a body? I think so, if we refer to Life with a capital "L" -- meaning pure timeless (always "was, is, will be") Spirit. If life is "nothing but" organic compounds we would be without consciousness, without comprehension of the organic dimension. I can hardly speak or write of such matters; these are only hints, impressions, inklings of the unspeakable. That's Life.

Philosophy and wisdom

School taught me that the word "philosophy" means "the love of wisdom". I loved the ideas and intellectual arguments of the great philosophers such as Russell, Hume, and Heidegger. As I progressed into graduate school it became clear that most of what is called philosophy is word play seeking more clarity through words. In a deeper search for wisdom I looked into the world's spiritual traditions. But, again, that was mostly words, symbol, and ritual. To cultivate wisdom I had to open myself to deep ways of knowing that go beyond words -- to go explore the being that lives within and around directly. The words, actions and attitudes of a wise person are indescribable. How could wordy philosophers understand? If only they could quiet down we'd have better philosophy.

Great ideas run the world

Great ideas go unnoticed like air; yet, they inform (give form) to our human world. Sometimes we give these ideas names such as: God, truth, integrity, time, money, love, justice for all, freedom, progress and nonviolence. This list is not set in stone. I just made it up! The point is - that we stop and pay attention to what drives our lives by contemplating these great ideas. These ideas, despite their importance, go mostly unexamined in our daily lives; if we examine them, dialogue about them, we enrich our lives with a certain kind of "food for the soul". Ask your friends and co-workers "what are the great ideas?" and engage. Make up your own lists. Your life will be enriched.

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Americ Azevedo
http://philosopher-at-large.com

Desire is prayer

Prayers are desires* unspoken from deep within. Religion is not required. We are praying all the time. Mostly it's ineffective because we're not allowing prayer to be transformed by That which we are praying to. What is That? My definition of prayer is broad enough to include agnostics and atheists. If prayer is desire coming from deep within (even before materializing into words), it will be ineffective if inclined to be "my" desire. True prayer can't just be about me, it's a relationship with That -- That being the truth which is all around and within us. Our prayer (and the desire) will be transformed by deep inner dialogue with the wider reality beyond myself; otherwise we'll be frustrated by "unanswered" prayers. All prayers will be answered if we allow truth to transform our prayers, our desires.

*This is idea found in Mary Baker Eddy's Science & Health, page 1: "Desire is prayer; no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take words..." In the current essay, I am extending it beyond the religious context.

Just before the rain

Sitting here looking out the window. The cloudy sky darkens. Sensing, with my own body, the air pressure dropping. We are in nature and nature is in us. Sky darkens; my own feelings darken. Tension builds up, can't wait for the rain to start. Gusts of wind, windows rattle! First rain drops. More rain. Yes. Relief at last. Maybe a day inside, happy to be warm and dry. It's already mid-April. So much rain since November. The impending drought is over. Everything so green; grass covers sidewalk edges. Birds singing everywhere. Gratitude abounds.

Human, subhuman, and transhuman

German Nazi society classified Jews as "subhumans". Jews could then be killed and confined without feeling that crimes against humanity where being committed. There is now an emerging "transhumanist" dream of becoming greater than human: living for hundreds or thousands of years, attaining superhuman powers, having a youthful healthy body for a hundred years, greater intelligence, and much more. It's becoming possible with the technological enhancement of the human body. If civilization continues on this path, in a hundred years the human species may split off a new species; recognized as no longer human, just as we say that chimpanzees are sub-human or non-human. Would that new species respect us, the remaining humans? Would we be "sub-transhumans"? Would they despise, kill or enslave us? Or, will there be many sub-species of transhumans specialized to different tasks? The future is not ours, except in dreams to go toward or avoid.