Greetings from
The Publisher . . .
The Light Connection:
What are we doing here?
It's February, the month of Valentine's Day, love and passion. For that we bring you sweets, chocolate in its many raw and organic forms. Please take in moderation.
When someone becomes too passionate—enflamed, out of control, or has too many sweets—we get a glimpse of what doesn't work in the world today.
Inflammation also happens to be the focus of Nicholas Perricone, M.D., who describes it as a precursor to disease, which also fits with living in a world of unrest. Irritation and inflammation have engulfed us.
I think it's important to figure the world into the equation. I often run into people who feel tense and are trying to figure out why. They are irritated and looking for an irritant and a place to happen. They may not know that people such as Thomas Braden have written about and studied the world's affect on us. We are not immune to feeling the world's tension. We feel it in our bodies. We feel it mentally and try to rationalize it as something closer to home—or something—“you know who” did. (Whomever we like to blame.)
Bombs are being dropped or go off everyday. There is the tension of war and then there are the changes the earth is going through too. Isn't it far fetched to think that animals can feel an earthquake coming and that we can't? On some level we feel it too, but we might believe it's “you know who” again.
Those who embrace the idea that we are totally responsible for creating every detail and result in our life forget that we are like ants on the Earth's back, and sometimes Earth stretches.
Approaching life proactively and with the idea that we are responsible for how things turn out is, for me, an essential ingredient to avoid being a victim in life and having a sense that actions I take can make a difference. Sanity, however, requires that we sometime accept that we are along for the ride, or the stretch. Life's a co-creation.
I know with The Light Connection ( TLC ), circumstances shift and keep shifting. We adjust, readjust and keep moving. This really brings me back to where I left off last month—thinking of my passion and vision for The Light Connection ( TLC ) and really, why I do it and have been for 20 years.
More than anything I think it's about what I was just writing about. It's being exposed to ideas that can potentially stretch us to be more effective and live life with some sense of power over our circumstances. With that there is the opportunity to feel good about life and have some sense of lightness or grace. It helps to find the silver linings, and explore—find what there is to learn.
I say potentially because it isn't done for us. We have to participate in the change, be involved and find the benefit. It's trying things on for size and seeing if they fit. It probably sounds a little funny to describe it this way, but, I'm not sure quite how to say it. I know I'm on the right track when I come away from a workshop or whatever it is, with the feeling of being empowered—at those times I come away feeling like an adult. I know I have choices and actions I can take to move towards what I want and I also don't have to change anything to feel okay or satisfied. It's a choice. The “adult” part is knowing that it's me that can move on something or not, and alter what I'm doing or not. It's giving up thinking the lotto or magic wand will someday fix things, that I'm the one with that ability, but allowing life to be miraculous at the same time.
Relating that lightness or grace I mention is really what The Light Connection is about for me. It's also connecting us “lights.” It's talking to people with new ideas for “stretching” and living life in balance. It's finding and sharing ways people can live life with the sense they are directing—or co-directing—their life and can be responsible for how it turns out rather than victims of circumstances. It's about being an adult and having miracles. For me, it's about sharing that journey.
Some people unfamiliar with Aldous Huxley have picked up TLC and told us they consider us religious. More and more people are now distinguishing between “spiritual” and”“religious.” Huxley studied many religions and looked for the elements common to all of them. He called it the “perennial philosophy,” a non-denominational spirituality. As Patricia Aburdene wrote last month, this sense of spirituality is a megatrend that will grow even more.
How we approach others and “do unto others” is one of those common elements. TLC is also about trying to be a business consistent with the principles of fair play and treating others the way I would want to be treated. It's not exactly “do unto others.”
Treating others, as you would want to be treated, is a little less intrusive, I think, than “do unto others.” Please find out if and how I want to be “done to” before doing it to me. We may want different kinds of “doings” done.
Part of my sharing the journey through the years has led me to shift to a broader view of the world. At one time, it was more about discovering all the techniques, tools and perspectives that can make for more effective living and a satisfying life.
Just as I have expanded my view of how the world can affect me, however, I know the world has to be paid attention to for us to be truly happy and fulfilled.
I remember talking to a friend about enlightened masters who spend their lives in caves and live blissful lives. He joked that level of consciousness might be easier to maintain than we think—when you're in a cave. Try it with a spouse, a boss, or traffic to deal with.
Sure it's valuable to get away and rejuvenate. Sure it is valuable and sometimes invaluable to listen to those who spend their lives in contemplation, but when we interact with others is when we find out how useful that information can be.
Looking at this expanded world as I do here is an evolution that I did not anticipate when I started TLC , but it is a progression that also addresses what comes next for me and TLC . And that's also next month.
Meanwhile, I've been thinking about this. If it's really better to be a recluse, ignoring what is going on in the world and trying to live as if doesn't affect us, why were we born into a society that agreed that the power of the government comes from us—turns us into US, and gives us the power and opportunity to participate—“by the people.”
Doesn't that say, it's ours to pay attention to? More than ever, we use it or we lose it.
Have a great month,
Steve
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