…Thus, after operating in deep debt for a number of years, when the shakedown among the giant corporations begins, your government, actually a bankrupt corporation, will shut down slowly and painfully.

The significance of this information provided to Penny Kelly in 1980, and detailed in her book Robes, is all too clearly being realized as we connect this message with today's current political events. At the end of the U.S. government's fiscal year, September 30, 2009, our federal deficit reached a record $1.58 trillion — 11.2 percent of the national GDP. Last fiscal year's deficit was only 3.2 percent of the GDP. Our national debt came to $11.8 trillion. It is a naïve presumption that we will eventually overcome this crippling debt brought on by concurrent wars and economic instability caused by short-sighted consumer and commercial debt. Other identifiably strong nations, such as Japan and Great Britain, have also found themselves in the same predicament. Read the rest of this entry »

My young daughter has just joined the Real World…she now has one of those jobs from hell. And it's really too bad. She was uber-excited when she found out she was hired for the job. How can a "Dream-job Come True" turn into "Night From the Living Dead" so quickly?

And my husband jokes that the two best days on the job are the first day and the last day. It's unfortunate he lives with this belief about having a career, but there are countless other people who most likely feel the same way because this is the reality they live with.

Those who are pretty far along on their soul's journeys have come to the understanding that with certain challenges come great (and sometimes painful) learning lessons, and with these lessons come spiritual growth. The amount of time we spend immersed in these lessons depends on the everyday choices we make about who we are, who we wish to become, and our awareness about our own areas of needed growth.
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On a recent broadcast, CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and reporter Tony Harris looked at how U.S. annual medical costs compare to other countries, and what was discovered in developing the report signals a fundamental need to re-evaluate and redirect our emphasis on overall care.

To start with, the report looked at a comparison of countries with comparable standards of health care and their associated cost per person per year. These are the latest figures for the following countries: Read the rest of this entry »

Do you feel like you're moving one step forward then two steps back? Or is it sideways? The scene changes but it's the same old players, themes, and conflicts. Does it feel like you've been doing this for years?

Maybe you imagine you're doing all the right things to finally get you to that point of being in your new job, having more money, moving to the home of your dreams, or having that ultimate relationship.

You try to stay positive…you visualize your goals, and you even have pictures or statements of what you want pinned to your cubicle wall.

After months or even years of working toward your dream you notice…nothing has happened. Instead, you continue to experience one unpleasant and stressful situation after another. "Why does this keep happening to me?!" you ask yourself. You analyze then over-analyze where you're going and how you're going to get there. And in these moments you find yourself saying,  "Am I ever going to get there?"
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Of all the challenges facing humankind in a parlous era, one holds both the greatest peril and the greatest promise: global warming. In truth, global warming is but one facet of a multidimensional ecological crisis whose fearsome potential you are only beginning to recognize. Before addressing the issue itself, let us take a look at the Earth from the perspective of ecological holism.

Every planet is an ecological system of greater or lesser complexity. As Nature's fundamental principle is balance, every planet settles into a stable equilibrium, however dynamic its surface may be. Earth is an exceptional planet for a number of reasons, including its extraordinarily lively and dynamic surface; its high water content; its equable temperature range; and its mix of atmospheric and telluric elements enabling life to thrive. Unlike other planets, which have little difficulty in maintaining equilibrium, Earth has an exceptionally dynamic and volatile environment, both atmospheric and telluric: from earthquakes to tornadoes, the party never stops. Earth rarely settles at static equilibrium; its dynamism is its equilibrium.
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Do you lean to the right or the left? Your political standing is more than that, however. Do you also veer toward Authoritarianism or Libertarianism? There's a way to plot out your political leanings: visit PoliticalCompass.org and find where your ideology rests on the scale.

But do your political inclinations even matter in deciding who to vote for? Each candidate has their views of what prosperity, economic stability, and international relations mean. And both of this year's candidates seem to be conveniently promising utopia for each and every one of us without always explaining the intricate details how we will arrive there.
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In just this week alone, we've seen the Federal takeover of the two largest U.S. mortgage companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; the ominous failure and rescue attempt of the 158-year-old and fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, Lehman Brothers; the largest U.S. savings and loan, Washington Mutual, experiencing shares tumbling to $2 and facing collapse; AIG, the world's largest insurer, watching its stocks dive due to steep losses during the past year; and growing worries over Merrill Lynch, Wachovia, and GE Capital.
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Since the beginning of this decade, it appears as though every aspect of our civilization is in a state of flux. Just looking at the news bombards us with unprecedented global, environmental, social, and political challenges. Our collective attention span is short lived as we attempt to focus on one dilemma only to be pulled toward another before we even have time to come up with any long-lasting solutions. This leads us to the undeniable conclusion that these challenges are indicative of the flaws in our systems, showing us what's working for us or what is not, based on our collective goals in a given moment in time.

Many who are in touch with the pulse of humanity understand that this widespread upheaval we are experiencing signals the need to move toward a gigantic shift in consciousness. Relatively speaking, in terms of our evolution, this dramatic shift is now occurring rapidly at an accelerated, exciting pace. We have an opportunity to positively transform ourselves and the world, as part of this necessary change requires us to make a quantum jump in our belief systems by discarding now useless, dogmatic ideas. This shift also dares us to rely more on our own inner authority rather than outside ourselves to solve these personal and global challenges.
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In pondering complex theories related to practicing tolerance, I am usually stumped by these puzzling questions: How can we tolerate intolerance? Are we actually supposed to tolerate intolerance? Is there ever a time it's okay to be intolerant of intolerance? Is your mind spinning yet?

Conceptually we know the importance of remaining open-minded to the diverse attitudes, behaviors, and cultures we observe every day. But practicing acceptance can be a multi-faceted, deeply personal learning situation where one needs to always apply discretion. Lessons in tolerance can range from facing commuter traffic or difficult customers on a daily basis, to experiencing other longer-term scenarios such as cultural, religious, political, familial, romantic, or work relationships that offer deeper themes of relevance.
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