To all my friends: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, 7th Day Adventists, Agnostics and Athiests, and to families of all faiths I wish you and yours...
La Shana Tovah; a good year filled with blessings, health, hope, prosperity, peace and love.
I pray for peace and love in our world, care for our planet, tolerance and understanding among all peoples.
Those of us of the Jewish faith begin our annual 10 days of Reflection and Repentance with Rosh Hashanah, literally "Head of the Year," a day for remembering the year that has passed, and hope for the year to come. This year is 5763 if you're counting. This past year has been like no other before it, and God willing, none to come.
The High holidays conclude on the 10th day with Yom Kippur, "Day of Atonement" or the day to be "AT ONE" with God. If there were ever a time in our evolution as a species that we all need to be "at one" with God (whoever or whatever that is), NOW is that time.
This New Year marks the dawn of a new era.
A New Year: A New Dawn!
A Time of Human Significance
The "American Way of Life" is an ideology. From the inside looking out, it's the best one we know, and it's the one from which we view the rest of the world. But that view isn't the same from the outside in. We wonder why so many people hate us, and we answer, "They're jealous." Maybe so. I think it's more.
I think it's also because they want to be and feel significant.
America is significant, many would say, MAGNIFICENT.
We who are born here are graced with the good fortune of that significance simply by virtue of our birthright. Not all people of the world see themselves as significant; but they want to be.
In the shadow of us (U.S.), many people feel pretty insignificant. These people are the most susceptible to becoming the targets of radical thinking. Radical thinking (us vs. them) is what got us here. It's not the solution to the problem. Military might may give us short-term victories, but it will not ensure our future nor guarantee long-term stability.
Maybe out of this shared planetary experience, we'll find that place inside us where we all meet. I believe it will be when our magnificence sees, recognizes and acknowledges their significance. I'm not talking about the maniacal fringe factions. I speak of the "people" of the world.
If given a real choice, who would choose enslavement over freedom? Only those who enslave. The best way to enslave is to enslave the mind. If the body is enslaved, but the mind is free, that free will empowers us to choose. But when the mind is enslaved, the body weakens, and we are easily led.
When we feel insignificant, we feel a need to do something to prove our significance. We can be more easily controlled. When urged and stoked by extremists and fanatics, people will do things they would never consider if their minds were free and their spirits were full.
Spiritually, we are poised to make a quantum leap in evolution.
We have passed the point of... THE HUNDREDTH HUMAN...
A New Year. A New Dawn. Begin anew.
On Rosh Hashanah, we give thanks to God for life itself, and for allowing us to reach the new year. We also express gratitude for our harvest, however large or small it might be, by dipping traditional bread and apples in honey, to give thanks for the sweetness of the year to come.
We hope and pray we will have a "sweet" year ahead, that all our loved ones will be blessed with good health and happiness, and that people everywhere will be kind to one another. Whatever your religion or spiritual beliefs, these are universal hopes and prayers people all over the world have in common.
A very nice tradition at the end of Rosh Hashanah is walking to a stream or river with crumbs in our pockets. We turn our pockets inside out and empty the crumbs into the water and watch them float away. This is symbolic of our letting go of the remaining "crumbs" of past mistakes, transgressions, hurtful deeds, and all the other ways in which we missed the mark. We make ourselves "clean" and start the New Year fresh.
For 10 days, we say we are sorry to all those people who we have hurt, treated unfairly or unkindly, and ask their forgiveness. The 10th day, Yom Kippur, is the holiest day of the entire year for Jews. It is on this day that we are AT ONE with God.
The Jewish religion has no word for sin. The closest word is "het" which means "miss the mark." This is a very powerful metaphor, an enlightened and empowering way to frame our mis-takes. Rather than punish ourselves for the "bad" things we have done, we see ourselves as off target. We want to hit the bulls-eye of life every time we take aim, but we are human and often, we miss the mark.
How have we missed the mark as citizens of the world to engender so much hate and terror? This is not how we are to blame, but how have we contributed? Things don't happen in a vacuum. Cause and effect is an iron law of the universe. What caused this?
Root out the cause, and we stand
a chance for a peaceful world. Ask...
What Would
God Do, NOW?
Start by making a peace offer. Make it to someone you like. Then extend it to someone you dislike? Extend it further to someone who has done you wrong? Then extend it further to someone you are battling? Then go even beyond that to someone you hate?
How far can we go to offer peace? How far will we go?
Who can you make peace with today?
September to Remember... Looking back from 30 days away.
The Hundreth Human... A cosmic confluence, a coincidence of spiritual consciousness has hit critical mass within humans around the world. There's no turning back now that we've hit the Hundreth Human.
What Would God DO? Not a question of faith, it's a question of humanity.
Back to Basics... Why it's so important to return to the fundamentals, universals in a time of change. How to get back to basics.