Inspiration from Ghandi

I heard a great inspiring story about Ghandi ...

A mother brought her child to Ghandi and asked if he would tell her boy to stop eating sweets as it was rotting his teeth. Ghandi replied, please bring the boy back in four months time.

The mother did as suggested and brought her son back to Ghandi and said again the boy's  teeth are rotting because he is still eating too many sweets.

Ghandi bent down and looked at the boy and said to stop eating sweets..it is rotting your teeth.

The mother was puzzled and asked Ghandi why he could not have said this four months previously.

He replied

" Four months ago, I was still eating sugar !"

Taking a Position and Making a Difference

I had a fascinating series of conversations with some friends at the weekend about all sorts of things. One was about the callousness and self interest one sees at play in world politics. ....One of my friends began to talk about our inability to make a difference on that bigger world scene...another disagreed radically and said that each person could actually make a difference by talking a position in themselves about the very things we do not want to see in the bigger picture. 

So, what were they really saying ?  In the example above, they were suggesting that if we allow ourselves to become callous, for example, even in small, we were basically playing for the same team as the politicians who were practising callousness on a large and visible scale. In other words, we in our small way add to the growth of callousness in the world. Or if we allow our lives to become governed purely by self interest, then we add to that influence in the world too.

In the light of quantum discoveries,( as well of course as age-old spiritual understandings!)  each of us humans influences the whole of humanity ....so each person's contribution ..even in small..truly makes a difference.

When you add to that,  when a decision is made consciously, deliberately and repetitively, it perhaps holds more transmitting strength than when something happens unconsciously....well, it gives a more positive and hopeful situation in which we all can take a position which can help make the world a kinder place to be.

Are we already evolving into a new species?

Just listened to a Radio 4 program on the way into work this morning about an archaeological dig in Somerset, England. They were talking about discovering evidence of cannibalism in the neanderthals who were living here about 60, 000 years ago and their apparent use of hollowed out skulls as a kind of ritual drinking bowl. Well, not very British, is it !!!

The paleoanthropologist, Chris Stringer, was asked a question about the value of discovering about the past. As well as highlighting how we can learn from the past about what we do NOT want in the future, he said it also makes him wonder if humans will still be here in 100, 000 years time , and finished on a rather stunning comment about wondering whether we are already evolving into a new species!

Great contemplation for the day !

A Lost Generation ?

Listening to the news last night, some figures were being given of youth unemployment. With over 50% in Spain, 47% in Greece and 30% in Italy...these were really sad figures...and no doubt other countries in Europe have similar problems .... but what was more shocking was the comment from the newsreader. People are asking is this 'a lost generation'?
I felt this was a dreadful comment to throw in, in such an off hand, almost casual way....and to my ears, a callous comment Once again it reflects the level of breakdown in sensible society. Not only because of the figures, which are stark, but because governments are allowing this to happen. How can they not take this in hand, find ways to help, educate and train youth in a viable productive way ? And one way or another, create situations where the young can feel a useful and productive part of society?
Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders...and surely this has to be a five star priority issue.

The Gene Code

Just had a fascinating conversation with a good friend whose grand daughters had just been visiting for the weekend. We were talking about the trend in many of the young using less and less grammar in their speech and the increase in 'text speech'. She told me of one of her relatives, who had an au pair come over from Sweden to learn English but found it impossible because the family with whom she was staying was using so little of English syntax! I told her that I had heard that in a couple of American States, they were stopping teaching the written language as part of the main curriculum and issuing laptops instead.

Then the conversation took a very interesting turn where we began to talk about recent research in genetics where they discovered that there is a specific gene to do with grammar. We posed the question whether the fall away in grammar is a 'retro' move in terms of our using our expressive capacity as human beings? Obviously it must have represented a huge step forward at some time in our genetic evolution. Whilst pondering that, we also asked ourselves the question whether there was an aspect in current communications that we miss altogether because it is so easy to see the down side of it?My friend said one thing she had observed in her grand daughters was a much more expressive use of body language as part of their listening to 'rap' Many of the words had an accompanying body movement which was somehow very 'inclusive' and 'communicative'...it seemed to bring the mind and body together more than perhaps formal verbal communication ...fascinating !

I found this quite a gripping conversation and feel it is an area that deserves a lot of consideration and much more research! It feels very important to be watching the trends and be open about what it all might indicate...to be constantly reaching for more intelligence and consciousness about what is going on in our world.

Galactic Plane

There is a lot of hype at the moment about the solar system going through the galactic plane on 21st December 2012 and the possible cataclysmic consequences of that for the planet and all life on her.

Of course, it sounds dramatic and catches people's attention. However when one researches it a little, it becomes clear that it is not only misleading to talk in those terms, but also damaging because it brings with it a blind 'end of the world' sort of fear.

Alongside that, when the facts come out, it then leaves people thinking it was all a load of rubbish anyway, so inclines a person to dismiss the more subtle and intriguing changes which are going on within the universe...and that is very sad when one considers the massive opportunity there is in this window of history, for a progression in consciousness and new human possibility.

What's Happening to Time?

One of the most frequent conversations I seem to be having right now is about time! So many people are fascinated by the way time seems to have speeded up.

And what's curious is, it is people of all ages and from many different backgrounds and circumstances who are talking about it!

From Xmas dinners, to coffee with friends to visits to the hairdressers, this topic is coming up again and again. Some folks are just puzzled about it, others intrigued, whilst some try to explain it away one way or another. One of the Xmas conversations went down the track that we are doing so many more things in the day, there is just not time to fit it all in. At work, someone suggested that as one gets older, each year is a smaller percentage of one's life, so seems shorter and therefore passes more quickly!

But for me, the conversation which intrigued me most was when my hairdresser asked "Has time itself actually changed?"

What a great question! And one which I'd love to hear what others might think about.

It reminded me of an article I had read in Australia in 1992 where some of the aborginal elders
had published an article saying they had come to the end of their old 'dreamtime' and had now entered a 'new dreamtime' One in which, it was important to let go of the past, forgive the wrongful aspects of their history, and find new more positive ways forward to build a more harmonious future between all the people in Australia and between people and the planet. Intriguingly in the very same week, I also received an article from one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century, Leo Armin, also writing about us having entered 'Newtime'.

All very intriguing !!