note: Dedication, Acknowledgments & Preface are in Part I
Friday, April 6, 2012
About this Book (blog)
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
With PEACE - Nothing Less than Love
The
choice of happiness or unhappiness is like a choice between ease or disease or
lastly one of peace or _____. I do not
know the answer to that one, as I search for a word that resembles the opposite
of peace. Anyone out there want to take
a shot at it? _____. It could possibly be “havoc,” “mayhem,” or
“war.” I am not sure there is a word,
because all the words that even come close seem to be words of action. Action is not a feeling. Peace is a natural feeling. If one opposes peace, their behaviors go
against nature with unmerciful actions that are beneath the feeling of
love. Being below love is being in an
environment where suffering grows wild.
This is why all of our actions and feelings should be ones of nothing
less than love.
With FEAR - Seeds, Weeds, and Needs
Many think that the opposite of love
is hate, although this can be true. I
often have to disagree, because fear seems to be the root of hate. Fear is the seed that manifested hate. Hate is the weed visible above ground. Fear is the root below. Weeds have the power to destroy miles of
fertile ground. So, where does love
stand in this analogy? Love can be the one thing that changes our perceptions
of these weeds. If we only see them as
weeds, then this is how they will remain and continue until they are
destroyed. Yet, if we can see the damage
of the roots, then we have the possibility to repair or replace them so they
can become the most beautiful flowers.
Motivation Masters
If
one gets on the train here in New York City, there are constant announcements
from the police department about protecting yourself and your belongings at all
times. “If you see something, say something. Be on the look out at all times.”
Sure, the motivation is to create a safer environment to live in, but if we
cannot use our vision to see this message as one of security rather than fear,
then we may carry this fearful energy with us throughout our entire day. I
think of the times when I have carried fear with me throughout my days, and I
look back and can see that perhaps I closed myself off to other more positive
forces of energy that may have come my way.
Are we available to give and receive love from those who are naturally
meant to come your way, instead of those who can be scared away?
…
I feel the motivation of fear now
seems to surround us daily. The media
and government are masters of using fear as motivation. Fear has found a place into our economy and
army, both domestically and intentionally.
What is looked upon as a normal, natural occurrence is used to get us to
feel that something is missing internally; therefore, something is needed “now”
to fulfill this void. This idea is used
by the media to persuade people to buy products and services that they do not
need, especially “now.” The idea is used
by the government with a less than healthy motivation to get people to take
unnecessary actions. So if they can get
people to believe that something is missing, then they have grabbed our
attentions and occupied our minds to replay these messages over and over. Before we know it, they will make a quick
move to distract some person in a different direction to create yet another
false need, as opposed to getting people to stay with the original root of
their insecurities. It is hard to find
the media or government telling us that there is only one place to find
security. This place is in us and is our
intuition. It is hard to find media
outlets and even harder to find the government motivating us by ways of love
and faith. Why not? Because love is a
harder sell and fear seems to have a better financial track record. Why is this? It’s because love only creates
one need which is love and, at the very most, more love, whereas fear creates a
million-plus needs that generate a million-plus dollars.
Do our media and government overlook
what is truly “needed?” Why do they continue to interrupt our progress through
distractions? I feel what is “needed” is overlooked, and this is a well-rounded
education for our youth and for healthy, balanced lifestyles for adults. The
concentration is on making money as opposed to making healthy minds, thus
making for a functioning, healthy society. Each choice takes time, but if this
time goes towards only generating profits, there will be more and more work
until we reach a system where people’s minds and bodies are so overworked and
exhausted that their efficiency in life becomes diminished. As a result, there
are a number of people doing a number of unneeded tasks, pulling them away from
the things they should be naturally doing.
It is easy for me to point the finger
at media, government, and even corporations because so many take full advantage
of their audiences, consumers, citizens, and employees. It is our
responsibility, being motivated by our natural, loving spirit, to take
action rather than constantly fulfill the wishes of the few who feel as if they
do not have enough. Then some impose
their thoughts of “not having enough” on the masses so they are not alone in
their fixations and mentalities.
Ironically, these “employers” try to
instill a fear-based mentality into their employees. We do not always have the
accuracy in our vision to see what is truly occurring in front of our
eyes. This is when the accuracy of our
vision should be used, and hopefully, it will lead you to the right questions. Who and what are you working for? These
answers can lead you to the truth, and with self-reflection, you can determine
who you want to work for, what to work for, and what you truly want and need in
your life minus what is constantly being sold to you. Lastly, and most
importantly, it will help you to ask who you are helping and what team you’re
playing for. So, if you’re pleased with all of your answers, then you should
keep doing what you’re doing. But if not, you should start thinking about a
change.
…
A Quick
Recipe for Change:
Take one
part inspiration, one part education,
and one
part motivation.
Mix this
together in a clean bowl (like a mind),
and we
can have infinite creations.
Recycle
As I became sharper and able to “keep
the love,” my next step was to find the proper place for the waste. In this case, it was the fear. I have seen many people who do not know where
to put their fears, so they carelessly give them to someone else. Then there
are others who do not even give it away; they try to sell it. I was determined not to be like these people
because I saw the karmic currency for their sales – a bank account of poor
choices resulting in suffering. So,
where is the right place to put this waste?
This sounds like the same garbage dilemma that our planet is faced with
today. The answers of environmentalists are the same as mine – recycle. Well, the same can be said for the waste of
fear, hate, jealously, envy, greed, and so on.
Recycle! Recycle the waste of
fear into love.
Unknowingly, this concept is what led
me to become an artist. Art is no more than
recycled waste transformed into some of the most beautiful, engaging,
entertaining, and stimulating things in this world. It comes down to what we can transform. I feel the less art we have in this world,
the more fear, pain, anger, jealously, greed, and so on that we will have. Our media industries try so hard to be
artists, but unfortunately, many of them have factories of fear to sell. Love has become such a challenge to sell
because our factories have fewer products to produce. It is our duty to change how things are
manufactured from these machines and fear factories so we can have a back stock
of love to be the abundant commodity in our society.
With ART - Labor or Love
At
times, I have been motivated to act by way of fear, and I later realized that
this is a delicate and dangerous thing.
The motivation of fear started with the feeling that my freedom was at
stake. Yes, at times, this fear
jump-started me on to change, but it was important that the energy I gave off
as result of this fear was something other than fear, like love. The transformation of fear to love needed
thoughtful, disciplined, and focused effort, because fear can cause
insecurity. Love is the most secure
thing. Today, I find it is an easier
motivation to change when the transformation is from love to love because,
actually, there is no transformation to be made. Love is what is inside of us, and love is what
I should be exuding from my presence, a loving motivation versus a fearful
one. Yes, for myself, I have
accomplished things when fear was the motivating factor, although the main
difference came in the enjoyment of the process. When motivated by fear, I often labored
through the process. The outcome may
have stimulated others, but throughout the process of “making it happen,” it
felt like hard work, a painstaking task, a feeling of labor rather than love. On the other hand, when I found myself
motivated by love, I found the process to be effortless, as I embraced the joy
in each ounce of labor.
We Are All Artists
I
have always believed that art and love have the power to increase the flow of
oxygen throughout our bodies. The other
day I spoke to some doctors and nurses in the oncology department of the
hospital where I volunteer. I inquired if it is possible for a cancer cell to
live in an environment that is solely of oxygen. They told me that a cancer cell could not
survive. So I thought, “If art and love
have the power to increase the flow of oxygen, then with art and love, there
might be more environments in our bodies where cancer cells can’t survive.”
…
I feel we are
all artists, yet most of us do not act when it comes time to transform our
energy. Or, sometimes, we do not know how to act or express ourselves, so we
act in ways that only build more negative energy versus transforming. Artists
transform energy and create something new with their energy. Good artists create something that exercises
another person’s ability to look at things differently. The great ones create something not only to
help others to look at things differently but also to help others feel
differently and ultimately act differently with a positive motivation to change.
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