If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting life?

My Gaia friend Rudyan and I were having a Grapevine discussion and this questions came up:

If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting life?

Please share your thoughts.

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I think resisting change is resisting our transformation, are we ready for this change? Can we let go of one to embrace another? When we let go of something, it does not fly away but remains within, flies with us. Our energy field broadens. Trust gives us a sense of safety, knowing that everything will be as it should in playful spite of our management.

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“When we let go of something, it does not fly away but remains within, flies with us.”  Wonderful, life-affirming sentiment Jeannie!

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Change is certain, but there are other things too, those resisting life tend to disengage socially and withdraw into themselves, food and sustenance does not interest them, they can be disenchanted wth everything.  Those who love life, being the opposite, outgoing, trusting, engaged enjoying or making the most of everything,

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Zephyr, that's an interesting point - that resisting life can take place for other reasons It appears to me that someone who's resisting life is bringing about change in the way they would like it to come; or find acceptable…Do you mean, as what could happen when we're ready to leave the body?

I realize that this question was going through my mind as I drove this morning…mixed up with a post I read about LOA [law of attraction] and the word 'co-creation' came to mind…

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Yes, resisting is resisting.. life is change.. Look around you at nature. It's always changing. When we resist change we are resisting life itself.
Think of yourself as a leaf on a stream.  Flow with life.. enjoy it, celebrate it. Resistance is futile.. lol.  change happens.. it has to..

smiles,
Donna

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“Think of yourself as a leaf on a stream.  Flow with life.. enjoy it, celebrate it.”  Donna, I really like your perspective.  Thank you for sharing.

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Yes, although I originally said (in Grapevine discussion): …resisting change is resisting life, isn't it? I'm questioning that conclusion now. I think I'd rather say that resisting what is, is resisting life. For me, anyway.

When I resist what is, I get stuck. Change is needed, yes, and I can see that and even want it; but in order for the desired change to manifest I need to accept that I am where I am and it (i.e., the situation in need of change) is what it is. Change happens regardless, and such change is not random because it comes out of my state of being (or underlying belief system; not sure if that can be the same thing). But the specific change I see as desirable is not possible as long as I am in denial (not necessarily consciously) of, or confused about, what my state of being is.

One thing that comes out of what looks like (but isn't) random change is this: It tells me that there is disparity between what I think I believe and what I really believe deep down. It shows me what I need to look at, face, deal with, before I can manifest what I mean to manifest in my life.

I have a long history of resistance (I'm not called a rebel, a radical, and sometimes an anarchist, for nothing!), and I'd say the greatest resistance has been to the isness of things—not wanting to deal with what is in front of my face. I want a particular sort of change without admitting to things being the way they are. Nuh-uh. Doesn't happen (not for me anyway).

I know I've carried this a bit further than perhaps intended. I get into these rambles, but I hope what I'm saying makes sense. Thanks, Laurie, for bringing the question here and giving me the opportunity to further examine my thoughts and heart.

Ruth

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Rudyan - Thank you for sharing your well thought out answer.  It is clear, concise and articulate.  It makes me think of the wisdom in Byron Katie's book, “Loving What Is” - an excellent read!

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Meenakshi, yes I was thinking about extreme old age, sometimes old age is like a full term pregnancy and they just can't wait to transition,  and those younger with severe depression sometimes present like that.
Rudyan, I liked your articulate and thoughtful changes, well explained, you hit the nail on the head, acceptance and a change of perspective can be liberating.

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I think we dont know ,understand,or fully accept the premise that life is all about change.this goes on for a long time and to a few lucky or hardworking people this concept finally makes sense or become palatable.they  then embrace life in all its glory.
To some it comes early,to some late and to some never.
Best wishes,Roamer

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“To some it comes early, to some late and to some never.”

Roamer - Typically, I am not a person who rushes things, but in this case, I do prefer earlier than later.  Thank you for your insight.

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Ruth, when I read ”the greatest resistance has been to the isness of things—not wanting to deal with what is in front of my face. I want a particular sort of change without admitting to things being the way they are. Nuh-uh. Doesn't happen (not for me anyway).”

I hear: step back, and look at the isness once again. And ask yourself: whence comes this want for change? What gives it energy? What energy can I give it so that it manifests into the isness that I like…

 I'm also hearing  - perhaps a balance between rebellion-acceptance brings the isness into being?

Like the Siva energy of destruction-creation. The universal energy that I was looking at recently in that amazing series - The Universe on History channel

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Meenakshi, the need for change (for me) comes primarily out of a realization that something isn't working—a relationship, say. I might think I need to end the relationship and find another, but chances are, what I really need to change is the way I see the relationship or the other; i.e., I may need to change something in myself in order for the relationship to work. It seems so much easier to give up, though, than to look to myself, my role in the relationship not working. Through much of my life I've had a fear of looking, really looking at how something is. I haven't wanted to see (I am a true daughter of my mother in that). If I don't look, I won't have to see (or face the truth?).

What energy can I give it so that it manifests into the isness that I like…

For me, I keep coming (even now, though less frequently) across old beliefs that sabotage what I'm trying to manifest—a lifetime of “stupid” and “good for nothing” and “rejected even by God” beliefs don't go away quickly. So I understand that what I believe (whether consciously or not, and irrespective of any mantras, affirmations, etc., I might repeat) is what will manifest for me. And what does manifest tells me what I believe.

…perhaps a balance between rebellion-acceptance brings the isness into being?

Well, the isness is always there, of course, and it keeps inserting itself into my consciousness in one way or another. But in order to really see it, I have to stop resisting it. I have to allow it, be willing to see it and also accept it. I can't go from point A to point C if in fact I'm at point B (and where I am is where I am, no denying or refusal to see will change that). This is what I meant by …in order for the desired change to manifest I need to accept that I am where I am and it (i.e., the situation in need of change) is what it is.

I think actually that it might be more true to say that committing myself to the truth about what is (which to me is a getting past the fear of seeing by being or becoming willing to look), brings me to a balance between rebellion and acceptance, rather than the other way around.

Rambling again… :) I had no voice for so long, I should have known it would all come pouring out at once.

Like the Siva energy of destruction-creation.

Yes, like chaos birthing creativity.

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Gael - “… enjoying or making the most of everything.” Yes!

Meenakshi - I believe that we co-create a higher frequency in our personal energy signature, and in the environment around us, when we are enjoying or making the most of everything.

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Interestingly, sometimes the very people in my life who have sought to change me; have become dizzy when I did! Since the change they sought was on the surface; it is very easy for me - speak or not speak; be honest in your opinion, or be a yea-sayer; do this or not….it did not affect my internal knowing of myself, and was therefore easy to do - much to their chagrin.
And then, when I felt I'd revolved enough, I decided I've shown my openness and now it's time to be still, and let them go into their own expectations. I had strongly found my own center.

So this is another aspect of change - what we do when we try to create change in others - and not be in awareness that it is always co-creation.

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I've been resisting posting 'cause all I can hear is Yoda freaking out and hitting me with his cane. “Do not try, Do”

continue =)

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I have always noticed one thing, any time in life that I expected life not to change suffering would surely follow. Resisting change is just the ego saying “this is the way I want it to be” the most basic delusion. Resisting change is resisting growth and growth is life.

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Thanks for giving us this thread Laurie & Rudyan like having a group enhancement… Love it!!!  Life is understanding and with so much to be grateful for in reality its fun for me to find new things to be interested in.  I guess to understand all would be to live at the highest level of potential action & ability.  Because life is understanding it attempts to understand. We hold the power to animate & organize; pose & solve problems.

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Thank you each for your contributions in weaving this discussion tapestry.  Your individual statements are like colorful threads – positive, uplifting, constructive and healing – woven together to create a collective masterpiece.

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This is absurd, and a sophistry.  Change is context-dependent.  Have you read R. Buckminster Fuller's Synergetics?   Why not? 

When Lucifer fell from grace, it was change.  Gabriel, the chief prosecutor, being the Bright And Morning Star, resisted it, so that others could follow his example and not also fall into error.  O.K.? - There's a Miltonian example.  Should be Classical enough to pass muster.  There is a difference between going with the flow (any jellyfish can do that) and surfing it, like a Kahuna.  What's not to understand?  Reacting is not the same as being in control. 

“Sign the Mona Lisa with a spray can
Call it art
But never give your love my friend
unto a foolish heart”
Hunter/Garcia, Grateful Dead  Foolish Heart, In the Dark

In 1967, I was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, with my cousin, and two of his friends, north of Miami, Florida.    Without realizing it, we eventually realized that the current had carried us off shore - we were well on our way towards the Gulf of Mexico - easily a quarter of a mile off shore, or more.  The people on the shore looked like tiny ants.  I was 15 - that was the day I found out I was a pretty good long-distance swimmer!  Did we resist change?  You freakin' bet we did!  Was it resisting life?  You  must be puttin' me on! 

Has anyone reading this ever gone surfing and been dumped by a wave?  Buddy Miles, Band Of Gypsies, New Year's Eve, 1969, New York City, Fillmore East: ”Them Changes”.  That's an analogy.  Someone here will probably imply that I am being insensitive, that people are simply relating their opinions.  I am not writing this because I am trying to be hurtful (yeah, yeah - I come by it naturally, I know) - but I question the experiences.  This is sheer exasperation!  Not all opinion is enlightening!  Getting dumped by even a six foot Pacific wave leaves your groin feeling like flank steak, the 'board goes one way, your face grinds against the bottom, and you claw your way back to the surface before your lungs burst.  Go with the flow, baby - tell me about it!  Did people resist the Vietnam War?  Was that change?  Yes, it was change toward capitalist fascism, much like what “W” was playing hood ornament for when Halliburton was running the country for 8 years.  Not exactly life-affirming.  Does a daffodil push through asphalt in the spring?  The pavement wasn't there when the bulb was planted - that's change.  The flower bursts through tarmac, like The Moody Blues said (Ride My See-Saw),  on the album, In Search of The Lost Chord.

“Soon, you'll achieve the stability you strive for,
In the only way that it's granted,
In a place among the fossils of our time.”

“Life is change - how it differs from the rocks
I've seen their ways too often for my liking.
New worlds to gain.
My life is to survive,
and be alive, for you.”
Crown of Creation, Jefferson Airplane 1967
 
“Thoughts, like falling leaves
Stopped in midflight
To the stream
Of those fast-rushing rivers
Of choice and chance
And time stops here
On the delta
While they dance
While they dance”
David Crosby, Delta
 
So I don't know - maybe some of those of you reading this will get it, or maybe I'm throwing habanero peppers in the granola.  If so, stop chewing and spit!  ACT!

I realize that when one is asleep, and comfy under the covers, one doesn't really want to get up, and see if the day is cold or hot.  But, if the house is on fire, and there's smoke, or if a criminal is breaking the window in the front room (so-called home invasion robbery), even if you can't put the fire out, or take the bad guy down and hold him until the emergency services arrive (I know people that can do that), you might at the very least want to consider getting outside as the house is burning down, so you don't burn up with it.  If that's resisting change, I'm guilty!  And alive!!

And since I can't seem to deduce the methodology for posting my own question, which I've been pondering since May, here it is anyway:

“What is the worst predicament you have ever found yourself in that you self-rescued from?”  No phone, no partner, nada, zip.  In my case, it was 1600 feet above the Colorado River in a side canyon, and a little tree branch, and a camera bag strap, between me and eternity.  Them Changes.

Like Ringo said, “Peace and Love, Peace and Love, but no more autographs!”

Butte Mountain

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“What is the worst predicament you have ever found yourself in that you self-rescued from?”

This is such a great question! Would you mind if I cross-posted it to the Q&R Group as well, so that the younger members can answer?

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Joel - You have a lot of experience to draw from; thank you for sharing your perspective. As I say on my profile page, “Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”

I'll see if I can start a new thread and post your question there.  If I can, I will come back and place a link to it in this discussion thread.

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Joel - I was able to post your question on a new discussion thread HERE.  I posted your answer there as well and asked others to post their answers to your question on that same page.

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Siona - Post away, my dear friend.

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Laurie and all, I thoroughly enjoyed this thread…and completely resonate with:

“Thank you each for your contributions in weaving this discussion tapestry.  Your individual statements are like colorful threads – positive, uplifting, constructive and healing – woven together to create a collective masterpiece.”
 
I tried to follow what Joel was saying but honestly don't get the connection with what had been posted previously.  Instead of adding a color of thread to the tapestry, it seems as if he's offering scissors…just my opinion.

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Hello Helen - I'm so glad that you enjoyed reading this discussion thread.  I appreciate your observation.  When I first read Joel's post I was thinking along the same lines as you.  And then I thought, “Hmmmmm, let me see if I can shift my perspective.”  And what I concluded was that it's the widely different colors and varying textures that lend a tapestry character. 

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Ahhhh, beautiful perspective…isn't it amazing how shifting our perspective changes things?  It reminds me of the quote (biblical I think) “To understand all is forgive all.”  And actually when we understand, there is nothing to forgive.

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Helen: And actually when we understand, there is nothing to forgive.

That's it exactly, isn't it? And not so much an intellectual understanding as an inner *knowing* or clarity.

By the time I come to forgiveness, it occurs to me there is nothing to forgive. I love it.

Ruth

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And we continue to co-create the tapestry, with additional colors of thread being woven throughout.  Beautiful!

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The combination of time and experience gives us the wisdom to avoid pitfalls, but too often clinging to the past in this fast paced time. The energy is building. Like lightening it is going to strike. Many will be unprepared.

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It is time for each person to do their own work. An internal message I received a few days back was: “Do your own work, speak your own words, take your own actions, pray for your own ancestors, make your own connections, stand on your own two feet.”

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Fireside Chats
I’m reminded of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats.” My family gathered around the radio to hear him talk about depression day remedies. Over 20 percent of America’s workforce was unemployed and millions were homeless. The nation faced mass starvation. These were “chats” with only one person doing all the talking. President Obama says he’s a Roosevelt Democrat. He isn’t so lucky. There is a lot of back talk. America voted Obama president because he promised change. The Republican president, George W. Bush, was spending America out of hard times, exactly what Obama is now doing. We got it wrong. Bush was a Roosevelt Democrat.
“If Life is about Resisting Change, Is Resisting Change Resisting Life?” The ancient sages of India had it right. Meenakshi got the same message I got a long time back. “Do your own work, speak your own words, take your own actions, pray for your own ancestors, make your own connections, stand on your own two feet.” When will we ever learn?
The Great Depression ended with World War II. America rolled up her sleeves and went to work to save the world from tyranny and oppression. Why should it take a war? The powers that be force us into wars.
Most Americans want Obama to give us back the unspent $780 billion in stimulus money. His stimulus package rushed through Congress without even being read isn’t producing jobs. It’s political payback money.
The poor folks don’t provide jobs. The people Obama is raising taxes on provide jobs. I’m talking about small business. The money small business people get to keep, less than half of what they make after they pay all the state and federal taxes, doesn’t all go in their pockets. They use their profits to expand and hire people. In fact, they don’t all make money. They take the risk of losing. Instead of taxing them more, I suggest that Obama give every small business owner $5,000 per person hired. He gave big business hundreds of billions of dollars. Big business produces only 30 percent of the jobs—union jobs. Union members earn double and triple what non-union workers earn for the same work. That costs the consumer.
Obama’s health care plan is going to bankrupt the nation sooner than later. The over 65 government entitled are receiving 70 percent of the health care. They are screaming the loudest because they are going to take the biggest hit. If you want the government to control your life then you should be willing to take what you get.
We Americans have it all wrong. The ancient sages of India said, “so is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm.” The cutting edge of science agrees with the ancient sages. They have the proof that there is a non-local force governing the universe. Nothing could exist without consciousness.
Meenakshi: “As we go into a time that I have never before observed so consciously: the pitra paksha as it's called in the Vedic tradition. A time of clearing the karmic energies of one's ancestors.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elder's Meditation of the Day - September 4

“The Elders say that if you want something good, you have to suffer for it.”

–Chuck Ross, LAKOTA

People sometimes have a misconception of sacrifice. This is a strong word for Indian people. On the other side of sacrifice is another whole world. During sacrifice, our beliefs are tested. We may all have good beliefs but if you test a good belief, then you get real beliefs. Real beliefs make new people; real beliefs make new self images. Real beliefs allow determination and desires and faith to come true. Good is always available to us but we often can't bring it within until we let go of the old ways. We let go of the old ways by suffering. Suffering is only letting go of things that don't work anymore. On the other side of suffering is a new world.

“Creator, help me to let go of old ways. Let my old thoughts and beliefs be abandoned. Every change is preceded by struggle. Help me go through the struggle today.”
Amen! I ask you, who created you? Faith was never meant to be blind faith. The scientific answer: A physical domain exists that is governed by immutable laws. But these laws leave open your personal will. My dear friends, you are more than matter! You are the co-equal in the foundry of creation. You interact with matter. Consciousness, the substance of this new-found reality that defines the observer, has fundamental existence. Your quantum mind is the basic reality. And you are the only one who can limit your awareness.

With my Saturn trine Pluto, astrologers say, “Often there is a sense of destiny or a peculiar karmic mission which they must fulfill. This is one of the most profound of aspects.”

　
　

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When we look at 'the world' or 'the country' or 'others' it can seem daunting. But when we look at our own lives, and in a gentle way,  letting go of ideas, but just watching , see those around us, just watching, we can see whether it is 'I' who is resisting change, or 'I' who can't really see what is  happening.

Every day I see such inspiring people around me, on Gaia, in my life; and when I see those who are not moving, I accept that and move on. THAT is a change for me!!!!

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when I see those who are not moving, I accept that and move on -
A duck may appear still on the surface but it may be paddling like mad against the current underneath. Unless we are actually the duck, how can we be sure ?

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Standing still as live goes by…

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I like that analogy, Zephyr. It's very apt, specially as recently I learned that:

Duck's Wisdom Includes:

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     You’ve got me thinking. The universe is moving from beginning to end. Everything ultimately ends in a black hole, and begins again from a white hole. If there were such a thing as perfection, there would be no movement, therefore nothing. We can’t escape the universe. We can never be perfect.
     If you are driving down the freeway 20 m.p.h. and the rest of the traffic is moving 70 m.p.h. you are a hazard. The question: how fast should we change? Keep in mind that we are all on this freeway together, with our own particular destinations.
     I go along with the ancient sages of India and the cutting edge of science. I believe if I look within, and that I’m the lord of my own thoughts, and that I have the power to do anything I want, naturally, I don’t want to do anything to another that I would not want another to do to me.
     So, on this movement question, has exploration and control of external nature not outdone our exploration and control of our own nature?

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Inlink when man is no longer there nature soon re-asserts herself

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To continue: Jeanne said, “trust gives us a sense of safety.” Should we trust people who pull rabbits out of a hat? Donna said, “Think of yourself as a leaf on a stream. Flow with life.” If the stream is tidal, should we be neither here nor there? Rudyan said, “there is a disparity between what I think I believe and what I really believe deep down.” Who’s doing the thinking, the ego or the soul? Rudyan: “If I don’t look, I won’t have to see.” Meenakshi said, “I believe that we co-create.” If we all believed that, we could all be self-governed. Yes, and if a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump its bottom when it hops. So … . says Meekakshi, “let them go their own expectations.” And I ask you: why should we all bump our bottoms so control freaks can have their way?

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Wowee, Kazowee!  I have just caught myself up on this discussion thread and each of you has impressed the bajeebers out of me!  I don't have a single brilliant thing to add.  I simply want you to know that you have an observer (eves dropper) who is in awe of the statements, the questions, the unleashed potential and possibility of where this conversation has been, and where it is going.  My hat is off to each of you! [deep bow of appreciation]

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So-o-o… Laurie, after thinking more on the coming change, it greatly interests me that President Obama has as one of his czars a lawyer who has stated that he believes animals should have the right to sue. Animals are behavioral. They can be taught to jump through hoops. Another of President Obama’s czars has stated that he sees nothing in the Constitution to prevent government from controlling population growth, by putting chemicals in the water to sterilize us, and passing a law to force abortions of undesirables. President Obama has placed in the FCC, the agency that grants licenses to broadcasters, a “diversity” czar who has stated that he is going to try to put broadcasters out of business with taxes who are critical of government’s plans. President Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar,” Van Jones, has been forced to resign because he signed a petition demanding that the attorney general of New York criminally charge President George W. Bush’s allowing the 9-11 attack so he could lead the nation into war. Jones, a psycho, has publically stated that he is a communist revolutionary. Why would President Obama want to surround himself with these questionable czars—36 of them in all? They have not been vetted or approved by the Senate. No one can say where Obama gets his constitutional authority.
Clearly, President Obama is leading the nation into an unprecedented national debt and rising unemployment. Add this all up and you get no choice. A crises is imminent. America is heading for moral, spiritual, and fiscal bankruptcy, followed by total control of the individual. This is not the change we want. I suggest that we pay attention to the ancient sages of India and the cutting edge of science and stop this insanity before it is too late..

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In the middle of my thoughts, my wife, Karen, in going through my memoirs today, to put together a shadowbox on my life, showed me my “Our Baby, Joseph Whitworth Smith, Jr., Born on Thursday, the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of 1925 at 4:51 O’Clock P.M.” “Weight at Birth, Eight Pounds, One Ounce.”

“My nurse, Lorina Ware, took me for a ride in my little buggy when I was three weeks old.”

“The first tooth was discovered by my Mama on July 5, 1926. I can’t crawl, but I surely can ride on my Taylor Tot, and I’ve pulled the telephone and a table over on myself, also hurt my nosie by pulling the oven door of the gas stove open.”

Here’s a Newspaper clipping out of The New York Herald Tribune, Monday, June 25, 1945. “Gen Halsey, Head of the 97th Infantry, says his men will be moving on soon. Seven ships carrying 8,810 troops, most of them destined for reassignment to the Pacific, docked yesterday at the New York Port of Embarkation. The largest, the United States Army Transport, Brazil (my ship), arrived at Pier 84, Hudson River, shortly after 8 a.m., with 6,520 men of the hard-hitting 97th Infantry Division, due for duty against the Japanese after a furlough.”

After spending 16 months in the European Theater of Operations, a year of that time in the Eighth Air Force, in the ground force in England, I was transferred to the infantry. I joined the 97th Division in early March 1945.

In Story of the 97th Infantry Division, “V-E Day was observed at religious services throughout the division. Gen. Halsey issued the following statement: ‘Victory in Europe has been attained and the cloud of Nazi oppression has been lifted forever. It is with a very real sense of pride and joy, and deepest sincerity, that I, as commander of the 97th Trident Division, congratulate you, the men of this organization, for your loyalty, courage, initiative, and determination in combat. Your accomplishments and your high standards are a credit to yourselves and to your organization… .’”

While home on furlough, with my girlfriend having a coke at a drive-in, a military policeman ordered me out of my car. He said I was in violation of the 10 p.m. curfew. I told him I didn’t know about it. I’d just arrived in Dallas. I’d been in Europe fighting the war. I spent the night in the Dallas City Jail. The M.P. who put me in jail, an 18 year-old kid, did as he was ordered. He turned me over to a jailer without even consulting anyone. I’m sure he felt he was doing his patriotic duty.

After my furlough, while on a troop train, stopped in Atlanta Georgia, I stood in a lineup waiting to enter a café. A black soldier stood in front of me. The café manager would not let him enter. Jim Crow law, you know. We all obey the law because we’re law abiding Americans. We were on our way to fight in the Pacific for that manager’s freedom. Your appreciation for the sacrifice my generation made is overwhelming.

I boarded a Liberty Ship in Tacoma Washington and headed for the Pacific Theater of Operations. While on the high seas, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. World War II ended on September 2, 1945.

Here’s a card I received from a waitress in a Tokyo restaurant. On the front of the card, handwritten, “served by Fukiko.” On the back of the card is a painting with the caption “A dancing girl, by Utamaro (1753-1806)” On the inside of the card, “Distributed by Shimizu & Co., Ltd. Yokohama, Japan. Folded inside the card was the menu for November 20, 1945. “Potage Garbure, Salmon Fritter, Tomate Sauce, Hamburg Steak Smothered Onion, Mashed Potato, Stew Cabbage, Bread and Butter, Tea.”

Here’s a 303 Infantry Unit School Diploma. “This is to certify that Joseph W. Smith has satisfactorily completed courses in Basic English, Plane Geometry, and Aircraft Mechanics, presented 28 January 1946 at Fukushima, Japan.” Two men from each company of the 97th were picked to attend the school. I was one of the lucky two.

I spent eight months in the Army of Occupation in Japan. Here’s my Honorable Discharge given at the Army of the United States Separation Center, Fort Bliss, Texas on 17 March 1946. I returned to my home in Dallas, Texas and attended Southern Methodist University for two years, paid for by the taxpayers. I don’t understand why my fellow Americans would put me in jail when I volunteered my life for the cause of freedom and then pay from my education.

My father offered me a job in his wholesale lumber business. Four years later, he retired and turned the business over to me, in 1954. Double digit inflation brought about President Nixon’s price controls. Price controls favored giant corporations and put independents out of business. My days in the wholesale lumber business were numbered. I don’t understand why my government would favor giant corporations at the expense of small business. Obama, while giving giant corporations hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, has given small business a tax increase.

In March 1975, my business on the rocks, and my marriage as well, I cut out, went on my own. I was reborn the person I was meant to be. My life kept getting better and better.

We are now approaching a crises like never before. There is going to be a drastic change in America. What will it be? When Obama’s term of office is over, the Mayan calendar says our world will come to an end.

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

To all the twittering tweety birds: This can't be happening! NOOOO!!!!
Tweety Bird, is 60 years Old This Week! TOOO BAD. I GUESS IT HAPPENS TO EVEN THE BEST OF US………..

I TAWT I TAW A PU………..A PUT…….OH I DON'T KNOW WAT DA HECK I TAW!!

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

Imagine that! I remember seeing Tweety Bird as a child. Now I see that he was child, too, then. I TAWT I taw a puddy tat!

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

I tawt I saw a puddy tat! Not good for this tweety bird. I listened to President Obama's speech to Congress last night. I woke up at 1 a.m. thinking about it. I'm up writing about it.

As I see it, the only way out of this mess is to phase out government entitlements the same way they were phased in. It was an impulse move. I know all about impulsive moves. In 65 years or so, we’d be back at square one, and, hopefully, all the wiser. I personally returned to square one after impulsively making a wrong move. Immediately, my life started improving.

As explained by President Obama, in the next 10 years his plan would cost us $900 billion, but by cutting out waste, fraud, and abuse, he said his plan would cost us nothing. The Congressional Budget Office doesn’t agree. It says his plan would cost us $1.5 trillion in 10 years and go up from that point. We note that Medicare has caused our health care cost to skyrocket. Government didn’t stop waste, fraud, and abuse. Social Security cost has skyrocketed. Government didn’t stop waste, fraud, and abuse. Food stamp cost has skyrocketed. Government didn’t stop waste, fraud, and abuse. When has government ever stopped waste, fraud, and abuse? Since taking more than a fourth of the national resources, government itself has turned into a cess pool of corruption. There is really no difference in Democrats and Republicans. They are all self-serving snakes in the grass. We’ve got to get them all out of office.

How is Obama going to stop waste, fraud, and abuse? By taking every right we have away and making himself our parent. Obama told us he is going to make health insurance companies do right. He says they are good people but they are after profit, by slighting the insured. With government as a non-profit competitor they would have to do right. Is that right? Without profit, private insurers would go out of business and government would be the only insurer. We know what that would do. It would ration health care. Who is Obama kidding?

Obama’s plan would pay doctors to consult with aging people, discuss with them whether they should agree that their time has come to pass on. Obama said it is a lie that he wants to save money by refusing to give older people health care. It is a decision to be made between doctor and patient, doctors he pays. Right! We don’t have enough sense to know ourselves. Actually, that’s true. As it stands now, we are paying as much as a million dollars to keep a 90 year-old-alive. At 92, my mother got a hip replacement she never used. The shock left her bed ridden and out of it for 3 years. I was heat-broken. She finally passed on, thank God.

You and your doctor should be in total control of your health. If you can’t afford the cost, you tell your doctor. I heard Obama say doctors remove tonsils to make money. Obama trusts no one but himself. That’s fine by me. Why shouldn’t we all trust ourselves? During the Great Depression, our doctor told my parents my two sisters and I should have our tonsils removed. My dad told our doctor he didn’t have the money to remove all three of our tonsils. The cost was $25 per child. The doctor said, “O.K. I’ll remove all three of the children’s tonsils for $25.” It was a deal. That’s the way it should work.

My way is the constitutional way. It would be the law of supply and demand. Government is the regulator of commerce. The general welfare clause does not give government the authority to control the individual. The problems we face today are partly because the government has improperly regulated commerce, partly because government has talked the American people into thinking they can’t get along without government assistance. Obama is dealing with the symptoms of the disease, not the cause or the cure.

The American people wanted a charge from Bush’s mistakes. Bush improperly regulated commerce and then bailed out the very giant corporations he failed to properly regulate. Obama says because of Bush he is forced to do the same, only by quadruple as much. Who is he kidding? According to Nobel peace prize winner economist Milton Friedman in Freedom to Choose, before America’s Great Depression it was improper government regulation that brought the depression on. Friedman says it was Roosevelt and the democrats that kept the depression going for 11 years. It was World War II that ended the Great Depression.

Roosevelt’s New Deal law never ended. And now with the American people under the control of a Nazi type tax collector, taxing the working people and small businesses out of existence, giving the rich and powerful our money and tax breaks we don’t get, Obama says he is a Roosevelt Democrat. He is doing exactly as Roosevelt did when over 20 percent of the American people were unemployed and there was danger of mass starvation.

Obama is living in the past. He gave us half answers in his speech. I’m giving you the part he left out. So good night. I’m going back to bed.
　
　

　

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

President Obama states in his autobiography that when he was a student he was intrigued by Marxist philosophy. Collectivism is defined as the state being in control of all production, services, and human activity of all kinds.

President Obama’s closest associates, we are finding, are anti-capitalists. Cass Sunstein, a long-time friend of Obama’s, a Harvard professor, is about to be confirmed by the Senate as Obama’s regulatory czar. He will be the most powerful of all czars. Sunstein believes that hurting animals is the same as “mass extermination of humans.” He says that animals should all be permitted to sue humans through a lawyer. If Obama doesn’t like you, you might get sued for poisoning rats. If you are a rancher, you might find regulations that put you out of business. Sunstein says a system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government. Too bad for conservative talk radio.

In ancient Eastern cosmology, consciousness has no sense of opposites: man/woman, us/them, right/wrong, life/death. Anyone, how could such a philosophy affect the America people?

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

My voices of the past ask, are we not each here, each in our very own incarnation, to bring a positive spin on life? Suffering has its place, yet one would think not to treat living as a burden but as lessons learned.  

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

I do hope you are enjoying sharing your thoughts, Inlink; I may not be able to read each one, but appreciate that you are expressing yourself.

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

” My voices of the past ask, are we not each here, each in our very own incarnation, to bring a positive spin on life? Suffering has its place, yet one would think not to treat living as a burden but as lessons learned.”

Inlink, these are such beautiful thoughts. It's really important to acknowledge each other, as we would like to be acknowledged.

I have a suggestion–since you enjoy talking about current events in America; perhaps you could start a thread in Around the Fire .

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

The evidence tells us that the universe, holistic—more than the sum of its parts—leaving the truth relative to either time-space existence or the eternal truth, the big news of the day is not published. It is subtle and known by few. Listen, my children, and I shall tell you a story that beats by a long shot Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride that made history.

Early in Earth’s history, the atmosphere heavily laden with water vapor, it rained for thousands of years making this the water planet of our solar system, and the only planet we know of supportive of advanced life. Why?

At first, there was only one land mass above the ocean’s level. Internal forces caused the mass to crack and split apart, and to drift, forming the present continents. The core of Earth is molten iron. Like a giant magnet, Earth’s magnetic force causes currents in the interior iron core which changes the surface. The solar wind, tiny particles racing across space from the sun, encounters Earth’s magnetic field. We see the effects in the “Northern Lights.” Were it not for Earth’s magnetic field, the solar wind would carry off the atmosphere and life would cease to exist. Were Earth’s orbit a little closer to the sun, the oceans would have remained steam suspended in the atmosphere, a little more distant and the planet would be blanketed in ice. Why this?

There was a time when Earth’s climate was temperate, allowing forests to cover most of the land. Due to the abundant food source, giant land animals appeared. The age of dinosaurs lasted 60 million years. They were suddenly wiped out when an enormous rock from the heavens hit our planet and changed the climate to the extent that dinosaurs could not survive. The present animals are the result of those land life forms that survived. There have been periods of excessive volcanic activity that have drastically changed the climate. Ice ages have come and gone. The last ended 14 thousand years ago. An ocean of water formed behind an enormous ice dam in what is now Canada. The warming trend caused the ice dam to be carried away. A wall of water swept southward forming what is now the great plains. The Great Lakes were formed from melting ice. Life has adapted to Earth’s drastic changes, but now there is a question of whether human life will survive. Man has been here, in geologic time, only a brief moment. The momentum has been building in man’s control of nature, and more lately at breakneck speed. Will man survive or become history written in the rocks? The choice is our’s.

I was born on September 17, 1925, the month and year that Werner Heisenberg published his uncertainty principle, which later became quantum mechanics. Heisenberg was Hitler’s atom bomb builder. During World War II, his bomb building plant was bombed to the ground. The United States was first with the bomb. Two atom bombs were dropped on Japan. I was on the high seas heading for the invasion of Japan when World War II ended, on September 2, 1945. The America people don’t know the astounding fact of just how close the United States came to surrendering to Nazi Germany. Hitler had a rocket, we learned after the war, capable of carrying an atom bomb to New York City. Uncertainty is the name of our game, the uncertainty of whether or not we are going to wipe ourselves out.

America has changed considerably from her beginning, from a nation of rugged individualism to a hothouse environment, with government pulling levers and twisting values. America, once the land of opportunity for the strong willed, now a nation of government entitlements, and not particularly liked by the rest of the world, or hated with a passion, one can wonder why Earth, why man, why conscious awareness? Must it not come before anything in the physical universe? The evidence is now compelling to many quantum physicists: how else but through consciousness could there be anything? Conscious awareness is limited only by the possessor. Human beings, uniquely aware, how far back does our awareness go; how forward? Are we not potentially at one with universal consciousness? Are the movements of the universe not both mechanical and qualitative? You better believe in the uncertainty principle. You are more than mechanical, but only if you allow it.

The mechanical universe is objective; you are created subjective. Whether you remain with your birthright is your choice. At the time and place I was born, Saturn, the learning planet, was in its most favorable alignment with Pluto, the generational planet. It meant that I would be in touch with the subtle workings of the universe. At the time and place I was born, Aquarius was on the rise, Aquarius the water-bearer to humanity. Are we objective—mechanical—or subjective, believing in ourselves, the masters of our own fates? The Age of Aquarius, our saving grace, as predicted, we’re soon to be no longer under the control of external, man-created gods.
　
　
　
　

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

Natural Observations about the Fall, and the Fall of Our Lives.
============================================================

I think fall is the hardest season
 for the modern culture, the modern society,
 to move into gracefully because it means

 letting go of the dreams that were not fulfilled
 during that summer, letting go of things in our life
 that may not be working for us any longer

——————————————————————————————–

Judy Bluehorse Skelton teaches herbal medicine
at conferences and workshops in Portland, Oregon
 
Judy Bluehorse Skelton:


And in the fall, some seeds, the fruits,
 as they come into full bearing,
 is the time to, to gather them.

 When the energy starts to move back into the root,
 if you're gathering energy or medicine,
 if you're gathering plants for root medicine,
 you might be digging in late fall, or, some do that in early spring.

And then we move into fall.
 We move to the west, to the dusk,
 or sunset time of day.
 This is the direction of maturity, the adult.

 It's a slowing down. It's a letting go.
 It's a time when we accept some things will die,
 whether it's an idea or a belief that we have held,
 whether it's a dream that we gave birth to in spring
 or in the spring of our life and has come to full fruition

. And sometimes it's hard to let go of those.
 We get very attached.
 We don't want to see it give way.
 And yet, if we don't give way,
then we miss the gift of a new vision,
 giving birth to something new
 in the following winter and spring.

If you look at a society like the American society,
 the mainstream society,
you can guess which direction,
 or which season, as a culture,
mainstream society likes to stay in.
 It's summer!

 Youth. It's “Let's stay active.
 Let's stay youthful, let's stay young.”
Those are all good things.
 However! We miss the gift of maturity,
 we miss the gift of contemplation, reflection.

We miss the gifts of moving into the uh,
 role of being of service.
 We miss the gifts of letting go,
 of releasing, letting things move on.
  
And so we kind of get stuck as a society.
 You can see it in the youth culture.
 As a country, there's a certain immaturity.
 We stay caught up in emotional passions.
 We don't mature into the wise elder.

 And to mature and grow
and become the wise elder means
 we have to move through the west,
 to come to the north and dream again!
 And begin all over again, with fresh vision,
 fresh inspiration, new knowledge
 and things to share when spring comes again.

When the leaves fall from the trees,
things begin to go underground,
 slow down, begin to let go.

 I think fall is the hardest season
 for the modern culture, the modern society,
 to move into gracefully because it means
 letting go of the dreams that were not fulfilled
 during that summer, letting go of things in our life
 that may not be working for us any longer.

 It's the time to look within,
 to reflect and to contemplate
 where we are and to contemplate our lives,
 our actions, our inactions.

 It's the time when things begin to die.
 There is a harvest time.
The harvest, it's when we reap the things we've sown.
 When we look and evaluate the things
 that we have sown and what we're reaping,

it can be hard. It can also be beautiful,
 but oftentimes it changes us.

And so the fall,
with all the beauty of the falling leaves
 and the turning of the colors.
 I think the plant world reminds us
 that it's our opportunity to let go.

 And know that, as some part of us dies,
 that a new part will be born in the spring.

 If we're not willing to let some part of us die,
 old patterns, or old behavior,
then we can never fully grow
into the potential that we were born with.
    
And so fall, dusk, sunset,
 turning to the west,
 is an important part of coming into our full maturity.

The Cherokee tradition, we don't become an adult,
 we don't become full maturity until 51.
I think part of that is based on the life span.
 It used to be 120 - yes, 120.

 I had an opportunity to hear Deepak Chopra
speak six or seven years ago.
 And he  is East Indian,
 a doctor living now here in the United States.

 And he was speaking how his culture said
 in your 51st or 52nd year, you become fully mature.
 And I had never heard that except from the Cherokee.

And he went on to say that the life span
of the ancestors was 130 years,
 and that one lived one's life and did the prayers,
 followed the ceremonies, ate the proper foods,
 and a life expectancy of 130 was not unusual.
   
Fall is the time of coming into service.
 It's when, as adults, we've raised our families
and now we look within
 and decide how we can serve the larger community,

how we're going to share our gifts
 for the second half of our life.

So it can be a very exciting time,
 it can be a very powerful time

 because other energies start to come up and move,
 and because we have more experience and knowledge

 at that age, we're able to use that powerful energy
 in a very good way, a conscious way.

 We can choose how we're going to share
all that we have to give in the best way we can.
 With each breath, with each step,
 in each moment, may we all create beauty. Osadadu.

Neskahi:
Judy Bluehorse Skelton teaches herbal medicine
at conferences and workshops in Portland, Oregon

If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting life?

Torchholder - Thank you for weaving this important thread into the tapestry of this discussion.  Your contribution is valued. 

Re: If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting l

Many Thanks, for Your Appreciation, Honored Laurie.

Honor Crowns a Kind and Wise Woman, Like a Laureate Wreath.

If life is all about change, is resisting change, resisting life?

[blush, blush] …