The Three Flavors of Personal Finance Advice

This article was originally published by Technorati on 30 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

U.S. News offers some great money management advice in a recent article called 8 Questions for the Constantly Broke. Advice about money fits generally into three categories: practical, philosophical and spiritual. Most articles like this one focus on the practical without addressing the other two.

Practical Practical financial advice focuses on one question: how can I live within my means? Most, including the U.S. News article, recommend things like skipping daily latte's, buying used cars instead of new and reminding us that we're earning now not just for now but also for future rainy days and retirement. They preach that we should not be stupid with our money, in other words.

From Russia Without Love 2: A Textbook Example of Addictive Behavior

I was beginning to feel a bit like one of the Volga Boatmen running back and forth to the Russian Embassy in Rome. Another day there, a little more suffering. A little more suffering, a little more insight. I'm living a Dostoevsky novel, apparently--The Idiot, perhaps.

Check out this video to get the full flavor of my morning:

The Vice Consul was unaware when he sold me the 95-Euro visa that the new computer system at the consulate could not be coaxed into issuing a visa on a passport that had less than six months to live. It was an honest mistake. "So since it was your honest mistake," I asked politely, "hows about a refund?" The response was a resounding "Nyet."

On the brighter side, it looks like I will get most of my money back on my apartment reservation and air fare. The airfare requires some sort of documentation from the Russian Consulate for a full refund. Stay tuned for "From Russia Without Love 3."

Hot on the heels of yesterday's pain-body attack, I managed to remain conscious throughout all of this bad news, laughing off the visa's final death knell.

But on the way home, I'd had enough. I needed to take some personal time, do something just for me. That's where the addictive behavior came in.

Brown's Tirade Days Before Vote a Lot Like Susan Boyle

This article was originally published by Technorati on 28 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Anyone remember Susan Boyle? Of course you do. She's an international recording star now. England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown is showing shades of Boyle in the run-up to general parliamentary elections one week from today--and I'm not talking about his baritone pipes.

The parallels are uncanny: just days before an important vote, Boyle popped off at a couple of reporters in a hotel lobby, and it cost her the crown. But at least she had the decency to tell them what she thought of them to their faces.

Today, Gordon Brown on the campaign trail in northwest England popped off at a potential voter, and a sympathetic one at that. After the woman held forth on taxes, the national debt and immigration--all the usual stuff--Brown got into the back of his limo and rode away . . . with a hot lapel mic still in place.

From Russia Without Love: A Textbook Example of a Pain-body Attack

Ah, Mother Russia! Source of so much suffering! Add me to her long list of victims.

I've been planning a week-long trip to St. Petersburg, my final excursion before returning home to the U.S. I went last week to the Russian Embassy in Rome to apply for my visa. I was in line by 6:30 a.m., as my friend advised me to do. He said on the day he applied for his visa, he was second in line at 5:30 a.m. and the consular officer saw only two people that day.

"And if you think Neapolitans are bad at standing in line," he said. "Wait 'til you see the Russian ladies at the Embassy."

So I was prepared for any eventuality and I went into this adventure with low expectations. Especially so after recently returning through Rome from a trip to the UK. While waiting in line for an Italian Carabinieri to pretend to look at my passport, a large group of Russians flooded the lines from all angles, men, women and children, pretending not to notice anyone who had been waiting for a good long while in this lengthy queue.

Designer Jeans are Extensions of Ego

This article was originally published by Technorati on 27 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Is this a joke? $345 for a pair of jeans! Some of us are hopelessly out of touch.

In a recent Good Morning America segment, reporter Marysol Castro detailed an extensive scientific, double-blind, peer-reviewed (not) study pitting a $29 pair of jeans from Old Navy against a $200 pair from Sacks Fifth Avenue. We got a glimpse of one price tag that read $345.00.

One woman claimed to have 2000 pairs of jeans in her closet. And later, Elle Magazine's Fashion News Director, Anne Slowey, actually said, "Most people are charging around $200, so you definitely want to get as much value out of that investment as you can."

No, four shares of Wal-mart will run you about $200, that's an investment. Unless you're name is Levi Strauss, denim is not an investment. Does that woman with 2000 pairs of jeans in her closet realize that at a going rate of $200, she's pissed away several pairs of Sex-and-the-City level designer shoes and handbags? Probably not. ($400,000 for those of you keeping score at home.)

Bizarre Hamas Psychological Warfare Cartoon Spurs Discussion of Non-Violent Protest

This article was originally published by Technorati on 26 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

It seems odd (and cynical, it goes without saying), but Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, has seen fit to release this video aimed at persuading Israelis--one supposes--to put pressure on their government to release 1000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, in exchange for one Israeli soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, captured by Hamas in June 2006.

I don't think it will work.

After 2 Years Sandwich Board Guy Gets Job-No Problem

This article was originally published by Technorati on 25 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

This is how life is.

Fifty-nine-year-old Paul Nawrocki lost his job in February 2008 and nothing happened. He took to the streets of Manhattan wearing a sandwich board, handing out resumes and nothing happened.

He appeared on over a hundred news and talk shows because America and the world, in the midst of what has been called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, were interested in this former toy company executive's self-effacing efforts to replace his lost job, and nothing happened.

Lessons Learned from Franklin Graham and the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer

This article was originally published by Technorati on 23 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Well it looks like the Franklin Graham-Pentagon National Day of Prayer imbroglio is over. After complaints from Muslim participants and a formal objection by a religious rights group, the Pentagon Chaplain's Office disinvited Graham from the May 6th service.

Perhaps the National Day of Prayer Task Force, which organizes the yearly Pentagon event, acted unwisely in selecting as its Honorary Chairman Graham, who has called Islam an "evil and wicked religion"; has said Muslims are "enslaved by their religion"; and has confirmed his opinion yet again that he believe that Islam is "just horrid."

The decision was especially ill-taken, given that the National Day of Prayer is meant to be an ecumenical endeavor.

Is Eckhart Tolle a Seinfeld Fan?

If you read A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, the answer to this question seems clear. In a passage about how television induces a programmed unconsciousness, Eckhart hails the benefits of some offerings. Let's take a listen:

There are some programs that have been extremely helpful to many people; have changed their lives for the better, opened their heart, made them more conscious. Even some comedy shows, although they may be about nothing in particular, can be unintentionally spiritual by showing a caricature version of human folly and the ego. They teach us not to take anything too seriously, to approach life in a lighthearted way, and above all, they teach by making us laugh. Laughter is extraordinarily liberating as well as healing.

Seinfeld, the show famously about nothing? Eckhart says, "although they may be about nothing in particular"? Coincidence? "You better think again, Mojambo."

A Non-imist's Rebuttal to "5 Ways to Become an Optimist"

This article was originally published by Technorati on 18 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

You have your optimists; these are the-glass-is-half-full people. You have your pessimists; these are the-glass-is-half-empty people.

There should be a third category: "non-imists." These are the glass-is-as-it-is people.

A recent USNews.com article directs our attention to a study published in the journal, Psychological Science, extolling the health benefits of optimism--according to the journal, optimists have stronger immune systems--and then offers 5 ways to become one.

As a devout non-imist, I would like to attempt, in reverse order, a point-by-point rebuttal of these 5 ways. Here goes.

An Exercise for Experiencing the Joy of Being

You can sum up all the religious and spiritual teachings that have ever been by simply doing this. You can cut right to the heart of the matter.

Will you do it?

In A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, Eckhart Tolle recommends the following exercise:

Go to the hands directly. By this I mean become aware of the subtle feeling of aliveness inside them. It is there. You just have to go there with your attention to notice it. You may get a slight tingling sensation at first, then a feeling of energy or aliveness. If you hold your attention in your hands for a while, the sense of aliveness will intensify. . . . Then go to your feet, keep your attention there for a minute or so, and begin to feel your hands and feet at the same time. Then incorporate other parts of the body--legs, arms, abdomen, chest, and so on--into that feeling until you are aware of the inner body as a global sense of aliveness. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, pp. 52-53; to see the entire excerpt, click here)

THIS IS JOY EXPERIENCED IN YOUR PHYSICAL BODY! This IS the joy of being!

Excerpt on Inner Body Awareness from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

If you are not familiar with "inner body" awareness, close your eyes for a moment and find out if there is life inside your hands. Don't ask your mind. It will say, "I can't feel anything." Probably it will also say, "Give me something more interesting to think about." So instead of asking your mind, go to the hands directly. By this I mean become aware of the subtle feeling of aliveness inside them. It is there. You just have to go there with your attention to notice it. You may get a slight tingling sensation at first, then a feeling of energy or aliveness. If you hold your attention in your hands for a while, the sense of aliveness will intensify. Some people won't even have to close their eyes. They will be able to feel their "inner hands" at the same time as they read this. Then go to your feet, keep your attention there for a minute or so, and begin to feel your hands and feet at the same time. Then incorporate other parts of the body--legs, arms, abdomen, chest, and so on--into that feeling until you are aware of the inner body as a global sense of aliveness.

Spiritual Clean-up on Aisle Five

This article was originally published by Technorati on 20 February 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

The Good News Gazette is reporting on a Washington Post story about Rev. Anita Naves, who has taken up shop . . . well . . . inside a shop.

After her ordination, Rev. Naves searched for a proper venue to start up a church. For two years, nothing materialized around her home in Temple Hill, MD, in the Washington, D.C., area.

But as they say, when God closes a door, he opens a produce section.

That's when Naves says she felt God's urging to check out the community room at a new Giant Food store in District Heights, MD. She arranged a meeting with an assistant manager.

Father of Slain Marine a Modern-Day Job

This article was first published by Technorati on 15 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Albert Snyder, father of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder (pictured), a slain Marine whose 2006 funeral was picketed by members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, is a modern-day Job.

Like Snyder, the sons and daughters of the biblical Job were killed by a mighty wind. Like the biblical Job, Snyder has enjoyed the company of a set of "friends" who give him unwise counsel as to why travesty has befallen him.

In Snyder's case, these "friends" are a slightly deranged, thoroughly unconscious group of people who wish to advise him that his son's death came as the result of national tolerance of homosexuality. This message is not so much offensive as a shock to the collective faculty of logic, since the two are so utterly disconnected, especially while "Don't ask, don't tell" still holds sway.

Excerpt on Theology from Eckhart Tolle's Book, The Power of Now

When you say Being, are you talking about God? If you are, then why don't you say it?

The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly. By misuse, I mean that people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind the word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is that they are denying. This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, assertions, and egoic delusions, such as "My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false," or Nietzsche's famous statement "God is dead."

Theology No Substitute for God's Presence

Theology is like gossip about God by people who haven't actually met God.

Theology isn't wrong. It's the seeking part of "Seek and you will find." But if we have an inordinate fascination with theology as an end in itself--if we make theology our "stairway to heaven," so to speak--we miss out on fulfilling our purpose in this life, here and now. Indeed, the human body is a finely tuned instrument, specifically designed for one purpose: knowing God (see The Joy of Being, Explained).

Theology is the study of the idea of God. It is at least one step removed from the actuality of God--God's presence. Ushering people into God's presence is the goal toward which religions aim. Once that's been achieved, theology becomes superfluous.

Theology is a description of the idea of God. When you know someone, to the extent you can know anyone--that is, when you've met a person, been in his or her presence--descriptions become unnecessary.

Author and former nun Karen Armstrong expresses the Buddha's view this way:

"Religion is like a raft. Once you get across the river, moor the raft and go on. Don't lug it with you if you don't need it anymore." (For a thorough account of the Buddha's view, see An Excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Book, Buddha)

[See Eckhart Tolle's view on theology here: Excerpt on Theology from Eckhart Tolle's Book, The Power of Now]

Theology is of man (humanity); spirituality is of God.

An Excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Book, Buddha

"Letting go" is one of the keynotes of the Buddha's teaching. The enlightened person did not grab or hold on to even the most authoritative instructions. Everything was transient and nothing lasted. Until his disciples recognized this in every fiber of their being, they would never reach Nibbana. Even his own teachings must be jettisoned, once they had done their job. He once compared them to a raft, telling the story of a traveler who had come to a great expanse of water and desparately needed to get across. There was no bridge, no ferry, so he built a raft and rowed himself across the river.

Vatican Makes Peace with The Beatles-Folly or Genius?

This article was originally published by Technorati on 12 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

"I read the news today, oh boy!"

The news seems to keep getting worse for the Vatican in terms of its PR posture. First and most important is the on-going child abuse scandal.

Adding to its woes, the editor of the Vatican's weekly newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has decided it's time to make peace with The Beatles.

From the weekend edition: "It's true, they took drugs; swept up by their success, they lived dissolute and uninhibited lives. They even said they were more famous than Jesus. But, listening to their songs, all of this seems distant and meaningless."

Monetize Your Life: 6 Steps Toward Doing What you Love

The term "monetize" came to me in relation to the internet. A friend of mine involved in the creation of websites explained to me that internet entrepreneurs operate by coming up with ideas for websites, putting them out there and generating traffic on them. Only then do they look for ways to "monetize" them; that is, make money from them.

And thus the website reaches it's full, sustainable potential as a website in monetary terms. But what about people? How do they reach their full, sustainable potential as people?

Maybe there's a lesson here. Perhaps this is the way anybody trapped in a job that isn't their true calling can make a move to one that is--just start doing it! Figure out how to make money at it later.

The New Earth Economy - A Radical Approach to Money

I'm here to tell you about a little thing I like to call the New Earth Economy, or N.E.E. for short. The N.E.E. is named in honor of one of our favorite books here at Todd Wright Now, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61),by Eckhart Tolle. In that book, our good friend Eckhart expounds upon his vision for the evolution of us humans:

"'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,' writes the biblical prophet. The foundation for a new earth is a new heaven--the awakened consciousness."

The N.E.E. is based on the principle expressed by Jesus: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you." (WEB)

Now Jesus certainly never said, "Give, but don't sell." But the NEE is predicated on the idea that if you're going to be given so much as a result of giving, why bother to sell?

Fake Fake Things? Coffee Cup a Concession to Ugly Post-Modern World

This article was originally published by Technorati on 11 February 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Are you kidding me? Has the world fallen in on itself? Something's gone haywire here.

The Daily Grommet has come up with a to go cup . . . that isn't. Called the I'm Not a Paper Cup and produced by Decor Craft, the ladies in a video posted to Shine on Yahoo! are fawning over this double-insulated porcelain replica of something you throw away as if it's just darling.

Mindy McCready Sex Tape and the PR Stunt

This article was first published by Technorati on 11 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Here we go again. Another CD release, another sex tape faux-scandal publicity campaign. And Fox News has taken the bait with an exclusive story.

Troubled country starlet Mindy McCready is attempting to mount a comeback in conjunction with the release of her first CD in 8 years. The comeback comes on the heels of a well-timed sex tape that happens to have fallen into the hands of a porn production company.

McCready is the former mistress of retired pitcher Roger Clemens. So her sex tape is aptly titled Baseball Mistress--the porn industry has never been subtle with its titles, but this one lacks the humor value of most.

Moving Refrigerators with Marcus Aurelius and Eckhart Tolle

What is evil to thee does not subsist in the ruling principle of another; nor yet in any turning and mutation of thy corporeal covering. Where is it then? It is in that part of thee in which subsists the power of forming opinions about evils. Let this power then not form opinions, and all is well. And if that which is nearest to it, the poor body, is cut, burnt, filled with matter and rottenness, nevertheless let the part which forms opinions about these things be quiet, that is, let it judge that nothing is either bad or good which can happen equally to the bad man and the good. For that which happens equally to him who lives contrary to nature and to him who lives according to nature, is neither according to nature nor contrary to nature.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book IV No. 39

* * *

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, 239–251

* * *

In Zen they say: "Don't seek the truth. Just cease to cherish opinions."

Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 121

* * *

Judge not, lest you be judged.

Jesus, The Holy Bible, Matthew 7: 1

* * * * *

Whenever one is called upon to move refrigerators for a friend (that isn't us in the picture), it is likely in that mode of awakened doing our good friend Eckhart Tolle calls "Acceptance." The other two are "Enjoyment" and "Enthusiasm" (see Monetize Your Life for a complete discussion.)

"Whatever you cannot enjoy doing," he writes in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61), "you can at least accept that this is what you have to do. Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation, this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly."

4 Truisms of Success as Taught by Butler Coach Brad Stevens

This article was originally published by Technorati on 8 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Nothing was more compelling about this week's David v. Goliath NCAA Men's Basketball Championship than the story of the meteoric rise of Butler coach Brad Stevens. At just thirty-three years of age, he joins an elite cadre of young coaches in a number of different categories.

Stevens is the youngest coach ever in a Final Four, save for the legendary Bobby Knight. He's the youngest in a championship game except for one of Knight's predecessors at Indiana, Branch McCracken. And Stevens holds the record for most wins in his first three years as a head coach, besting the likes of Jim Boeheim, and, well, everybody else.

Brad Stevens' rise to prominence in the basketball world highlights four truisms of success.

When Fathers Die -Tiger and Earl Woods

Sometimes men go a little crazy when their fathers pass away. They lose their rudder and scud across life's ocean for a while.

When my grandfather died, my father lost his way in similar fashion. It didn't help matters that he died in 1969, the advent of the sexual revolution.

The Pain-Body: What Is It?

The term, Pain-body was coined (as far as I know) by Eckhart Tolle in his first book, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. He develops the idea much more fully in his second book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

The pain-body is a complex of built up thought patterns and emotions that results from unprocessed or unacknowledged pain experienced in the past. (Tolle goes so far as to hypothesize that we can be born with a certain amount of pain, but we need not agree with this view for the concept to be of service to us.) It lies dormant for varying periods of time, depending on the person, and is triggered by certain stimuli.

The Pain-Body in the Workplace

If people could take a sick day from work for a pain-body attack, we would probably find much more malady in the general population than we currently realize.

Check out this training video script from the HR department of a future Fortune 500 company I uncovered (humor alert: this doesn't really exist):

Vatican Publicists Could Learn from Their Hollywood Peers

This article was originally published by Technorati on 6 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

The AP is reporting that the Vatican has launched a counter-offensive against what it sees as wrongful accusations alleging that Pope Benedict XVI was in some way complicit in cases of sex abuse by priests in Ireland, the United States and elsewhere.

Through Vatican Radio and surrogates, high-ranking members of the College of Cardinals, the Pontiff has decided to fight fire with fire, countering what he sees as an orchestrated media campaign with one of his own, linking the calls of cover up with the Catholic stance against abortion and same-sex marriage.

Millionaire Gives Away Fortune, Keeps Next to Nothing

This article was originally published by Technorati on 11 February 2010. Well worth a second look. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder has decided to give away all of the $6.7 million fortune he amassed in the furniture business because he said it made him miserable.

"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."

Tebow Cries, Manning Flies Demonstrating Lack of Emotional Strength

This article was published by Technorati on 8 February 2010. The dream continues . . .

First, Tim Tebow crys after Florida's loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship back in December. Now Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning is too ticked about loosing the Super Bowl to shake hands with his MVP counterpart, QB Drew Brees of the victorious New Orleans Saints.

Is this a demonstration of emotional strength or weakness?

Yahoo! Sports blogger Chris Chase would vote in favor of the former. Chase writes of Manning, "If I care so much, why shouldn't the players?"

First, caring that much as a fan may be misguided (see Over-Identifying with Your Team).

Second, isn't it karma that the Colts should lose, after handing the New York Jets (7-7) and the Buffalo Bills (5-10) unopposed wins in the final two games of the season, opting to rest their starters? The Colts had already secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Two additional wins would buy them nothing for their efforts . . .

Nothing except glory!

Chase writes,"The desire to win is what sustains greatness," and then he checks off several well-known names--Jordan, DiMaggio, Bird, Williams, Jabbar-- who supposedly cared too much about winning to shake hands after a game.

Top Ten Signs You May Be Over-Identified With Your Team

The article that started it all . . .

This article was originally published by Technorati on 2 February 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

The AP has reported for years on a Minnesota farmer who has vowed he won't shave until the Vikings win the Super Bowl. 97-year-old Emmet Pearson's beard remains in place and 36-years long. He made the vow in 1974, the last time the Vikings made it to the big game.

While Mr. Pearson's stick-to-it-iveness is laudable--people these days don't keep vows like they used to--and funny, it points up the sort of identification with groups like sports teams that Eckhart Tolle in his seminal book on spirituality A New Earth says is one from the ego's playbook.

"One of the ways in which the ego attempts to escape the unsatisfactoriness of personal selfhood," Tolle writes, "is to enlarge and strengthen its sense of self by identifying with a group--a nation, political party, corporation, institution, sect, club, gang, football team."

Bingo! Isn't that Farmer Pearson in a nutshell? This list takes in a lot of us.

What sports teams accomplish or fail to accomplish really has nothing whatsoever to do with us. And yet we behave as if it does.

Here are ten signs you may be over-identifying with your team this Super Bowl:

In War of Words, Obama Essentially No Different

This article was originally published by Technorati on 4 April 2010.

He who sows the wind, reaps the whirlwind, to paraphrase the Jewish prophet Hosea. What goes around comes around. Karma.

In a "puffy" interview airing today on CBS's Sunday Morning, President Obama decries what he calls the vitriolic tone in Washington. "I am concerned," he says while strolling to the White House basketball court to take on Clark Kellogg in a game of POTUS (a variant of HORSE) "about a political climate in which the other side is demonized."

Isn't this the same Barack Obama who as a U.S. Senator from Illinois commencing in 2004 stood by while his predecessor, George Bush, was mercilessly demonized by so many of Obama's own party?

President's Exhortation to Common Religious Bond is Important

This article was originally published by Technorati on 4 April 2010.

In his Easter address on Saturday, President Obama highlighted spiritual themes in route to plugs for some of his most important policy initiatives. "All of us know how important work is," was one lead-in. "All of us value our health," was another. And finally, "All of us value education."

Promoting these issues, Obama mentioned non-believers, but on this weekend of the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter, the emphasis was on the "common bond" that unites all people of faith.

What is that bond? That bond is a philosophy. More specifically, that bond is a philosophy of the nature of reality.

Dreamcatcher

Let's look at it this way: we take care of our inner state and God takes care of all the rest.

If we focus on inner peace, sweeping our inner vision clean every day, allowing the joy that is our natural state to arise within us at all times, the rest of what happens takes on a dream-like aspect.

Sometimes a nightmare, we remind ourselves, "It's only a dream, it's only a dream." Sometimes a fantasy, to which we respond, "No need to wake me just yet."

Anna Paquin's Bisexuality Is Revealing

This article was originally published by Technorati on 2 April 2010. To see all my Technorati articles, click Lifestyle in the Contents listing on the sidebar.

Anna Paquin, winner at age 11 of the Best Supporting Actress award at the 1994 Oscars, now 27 and staring in True Blood, revealed yesterday she's bisexual in a public service announcement for Cyndi Lauper's "Give a Damn" campaign against sexual-orientation discrimination.

Let's see, she's been in Hollywood since age 11? Perhaps more interesting news would have been that she's straight.

It defies credulity to suggest that such women are the object of discrimination. Based on an abundance of movies, sitcoms, men's magazines, women's magazines, teen magazine's, talk shows, websites, porn sites, and idle male conversation, civilizations from other galaxies have long since decided that such women rule our world.

Indeed, men on every planet from here to Andromeda are high-fiving Paquin's True Blood co-star and fiancee Stephen Moyer on what should shape up to be a very happy coupling.

When the Tao is on the Move

When the Tao is on the move, you know it. It's exciting.

When it isn't, life can be dull, boring, normal. You find yourself wondering if you're doing something wrong.

In reality, you should be enjoying that time for its boredom. It is the boredom of the soldier between campaigns.

When the Tao is on the move, it means a likelihood of combat at some point. But why should you care where the battle takes you? Of course, you would like to win the war, you're a patriot, after all. But what you really care about is getting home to your loved ones in one piece.

You're not afraid to do battle, but if it's all the same you'll take the boredom and wait out the war.

Photo credit: Center

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Awakened Consciousness Not a Backseat Driver

Let's put it this way: the job of your consciousness--the consciousness that you are--is to sit back and enjoy the ride. Don't interfere, don't be a backseat driver. Just relax and watch the scenery.

Jiddu Krishnamurti put it a slightly different way, but he meant the same thing. In A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, Eckhart Tolle tells the story of Krishnamurti's revelation of his "secret." It was simple. He said, "I don't mind what happens."

Who is "I" in this statement? Krishnamurti's consciousness. Consciousness that does not mind what's going on is free to sit back relax--inner peace--without interfering with The Good that runs the universe, all that is, including us.