Just finished 24 hours of workshops over 3 days with a technical group in a very complex and dynamic health care organization. The focus was communication, and happy to say that many an ah-ha was gleaned without the use of powerpoints, funny hats, or craft project simulations. Everyone appreciated that everything was an authentic conversation - doing communication rather than talking about it. No pompous lectures or patriarchal preaching. It was an obvious lesson in the power of pure experiential/reflective learning where people are appreciatively respected for their wholeness and passion for authenticity.

In every case, people rose to the occasion of practicing new principles and distinctions. It was a testament to how hungry people are to have opportunities that assume the presence rather than deficiency of skill and will. And as usual, people when trusted, acted trustworthy.

How would you spend your time today if you knew you would succeed in anything you attempted?

Perhaps the most important moment to believe in ourselves is the moment when no one else’s belief in us is apparent. To do so is a tribute to all the universe has gifted us with so far; to do less is to be unconscious of the truth of our becoming.

When the master governs, the people
are hardly aware he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.

If you don’t trust the people,
you make them untrustworthy.

The master doesn’t talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, “Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!”

from the new version of the Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell

Friend/Zen-barber Craig spent yesterday in Amish country. His observation: People who live this 19th centrury agrarian lifestyle and people who live urban information age lifestyles minutes away are equally capable of satisfying experiences. Who’s to say we can measure the worth of our lives by the amount of grid power we consume or the origins of our clothes?

Washington is now building a $1.2 Billion, 700 mile fence to keep out Mexicans.

It may be prudent not to get distracted in the south when we have socialists to our north who seem like us but aren’t really, starting with their language and culture. According to the Washington Post, Every 4.7 seconds, on average, a cargo truck rumbles across the border from Canada to the United States. More than 6,000 passenger cars cross to the United States every hour. Inspectors on both sides wave through nearly 70 million visitors a year. Just sayin’ …

It’s interesting to think about people who are conscious and those who aren’t. It isn’t always obvious. However, if you pay attention, it becomes clear that the clearest indicator of unconsciousness is self-absorption; the clearest indicator of consciousness is curiosity.

This round of mid-term elections are being shaped by the fast growing migration of voters from party loyalties to the dynamic and unpredictable world of independents. My sense is that independents are more inclusive, and by definition, more conscious of (read: curious and intelligent about) the whole picture.

Party loyalists by definition take a pledge to only loathe and therefore resist understanding and appreciating, much less collaborating with, other views.

This is good news for the country’s collective brainpower as a whole. It parallels cultural fusions in other domains, like music and food, where more people are enjoying the richness of diversity rather than restriction to either-or. If parties continue to be intrinsically win-lose about every important issue impact our lives and planet, perhaps independents will bring to the table the fusion of perspectives.

Recognizing truth requires selflessness. You have to leave yourself out of it so you can find out the way things are in themselves, not the way they look to you or how you feel about them or how you would like them to be.

Princeton philosopher and best-selling author of “Fighting Bull”, Harry Frankfurt in this past weekend’s NY Times magazine interview.

Thanks to G for the reinvention of the jack/zen landscape and back-end. He continues to support the blog community like no one else in the country.

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