landr2

"Not all heavy thoughts appear heavy, just as the most complex systems seem simple when understood. Remember, yesterday's complexity is tomorrow's commonplace. When da mon [LD] has made the canal lock, everyone says 'how complex;' but when Mom rides through it she says 'boooooring.' The only complex thing about a newly discerned idea is its novelty, because novelty requires us to change our thinking. Heavy enough." (10/21/99 - Y#34)

"So, how are you. No, don't answer, it's a rhetorical question. So many people, when asked, give an answer of immediacy; but the real answer is--like so much more--a sum total. So, one might answer, 'I'm learning to deal with my fears of separation' or that 'I'm dealing with prejudicial thoughts.' See, it's not about how tired you are after a midterm. How do you expect to tap into larger values and meaning when you focus on the small stuff.

"On any given day, the answer to that question usually given about 4 days before will be forgotten already; but a real answer will stay with you. Like, 'What were you doing on June 11, 1996.' Don't know, do you. But if I asked, 'What were you working on bigtime in June, 1996,' you would know because it would be part of the larger picture. So if it isn't going to add to the sum total in a remembered way, why mention it; unless you are looking for sympathy or praise... and why are you looking for those points to the real answer. Heavy enough. So don't stop the idle chit-chat, but don't mistake it for the real stuff.' (10/26/99 - Y#35)

"Forgetting is when you lose sight of what is meaningful." (10/31/99 - Y#36)

"When you are bored you cannot see the meaning that is all around you. You don't learn, and you don't even remember that you need to learn. Spiritually it's a kind of death." (10/31/99 - Y#37)

"Rules are always of the past. Adventure has no rules. So join us Sunday nights for 'A World Beyond Rules' with Rikkity's wild adventures.

"And don't mistake structure for rules. Structures that help you understand experience are not the same as rules that decide it. Know the difference, or lose out on real living. Learn and remember that learning and remembering is about finding meaning, not rules. Every law, every rule you have will someday seem absurdly small and trivial. I gotta go. Goodbye." (1/23/2000 - Y#38)

At a chat session on Ideas:

"Hey guys, whassup? I want to start by asking you a question: What's the first thing you ask when someone introduces you to a new game. 'What are the rules.' And where do the rules come from. Other people. And when did these people make those rules. The rules come from the past. They contain nothing new, and are self-sustaining only, only if we agree to follow them. We are told we must follow them to win, to succeed; but on whose terms do we do this winning and succeeding. Our own? I theeenk not! Remember that rules are made to keep the status quo the same. Adventures have no rules; and so if you want to live an adventure, if you want your life to be real life and to contain meaning and learning and possibility, be aware of where the rules are that you follow. And rules are not the same as structure. Structure lets us make sense of our experience, it does not tell us what our experience will be.

"Think about the difference between a house and a prison. A house contains life. It orders it to some extent, but the way it orders it is our choice (within our budgets, of course). In a prison you have no choice, but you have many many rules. Ever wonder why the prison system doesn't work? There's your answer... or part of the question. It contains the past, and leaves no room for the future. Games and their rules are like prisons, and so often we walk into them willingly because we are promised great rewards for doing the 'right' things in the 'right' way. We all have probably had the experience of hearing an older person advise us about how to be successful, and knowing deep in our souls that their advice would not work for us because our world was different from theirs. Our world had changed, and their rules would not lead us to the same place they found.

"Remember Bobby Fischer. He walked away from the game and no one understood how he could do that. How could he walk away from all that success. Now you know. Live as an adventure, live in possibilities, live toward the future and toward the horizons. The only structure you need is the ripples of the great ideas that flow from the mind of All That Is through the universe and inform all we are and all we will be. And now I must go and let your discussion proceed. Learn and remember. Goodbye." (1/23/2000 - Y#39)

"It's not the same for everyone. For some it is given and for others it is assumed and for some decreed. But all who are called Ruth are Ruths. If you answer to it then you are Ruth, get it. And the same for truth. If you answer to it, it is truth for you. It's a 2-way street... or 3-way, but you couldn't understand that... or 4-way or 5-way. But stick with 2, it's more than enough." (3/5/2000 - Y#40)

At a chat session on Truth:

"Hey guys! I was dancing through the neighborhood and saw how swirly the energy here was... or was it my dancing that made it so swirly, ha. So here's the deal. Who has the truth. Sharon has Sharon's truth, the preacher dude has preacher dude's truth, cathyjo has cathyjo's truth, Dancing Leaves has Dancing Leaves' truth, fang has fang's truth, JudithG has JudithG's truth, Nixie has Nixie's truth, suwan has suwan's truth, TF has TF's truth, Mommy has Mommy's truth, I know everything... NOT, ha. But seriously folks, truth is all about from where you sit and are, it's about your being and what calls you at your deepest core, it's about the path you are on and not anyone else's, it's about what it's about to you.

"We waste so much energy trying to convince others that we have the answers, and when we do that we often find that we have invested so much in that process that we build our own traps. We cannot move out of the structure, the fortress we have built because to do that would be to admit defeat (we think) and to negate all the energy we have put into building that structure. Crash through those walls! Blow it all to bits! We have no need of it, for it imprisons our souls and enslaves our hearts. Keep the doors open. Rest inside in the coolness of protection for a while if you must, but remember it is a choice.

"That choice to rest is one that you can make consciously and with awareness if you understand that those walls are of your own doing. Move out of them, move back into them... move forward and backward and around and through and do-si-do your partner, but always remember it is your choice. When it ceases to become, or when you do not recognize it as your own choice, you will find yourself mired in your own life. At those times, ask yourself what is holding you back and then move anyway. Any way. Movement is always preferable to stuckness... yes, so I made that word up. And now I go with love and with eternal and perpetual and o so spiritual motion of the dance. Goodnight." (3/5/2000 - Y#41)

"Hey, let's talk clay. Do you remember playing with clay. What were the steps... hmmm. Take a small piece and knead it and massage it and soften it. Then fashion it and refashion it and refashion it, etc... always trying to move closer to a real representation of what you wanted. And, in the process, you got very familiar with both the clay and the object. And then when you thought it was perfect you left it to dry; and when you had stopped working it it dried and became horribly hard, or it cracked. It was never as resilient as the object of the mind.

"Ok. Here we don't do clay, but we do ideas. And you do, too. And you follow the same process. But clay should remind you that, when you think it is finished or perfect and you stop working on it, it either hardens or cracks. Hmmm... ponder that. An idea that is not being kneaded, massaged, and shaped constantly is like a brittle cracked lump of dry clay--made viable again only with the waters of life added to it." (4/19/2000 - Y#42)

"You want to talk about something deep... a well. But I will steal from others and just remind you that, when the waters of life are 70 feet below the surface, you will die of thirst with 7 10-foot wells.

"So many people dabble in many things, but don't delve in any. You have to have depth to get anywhere. That's why you can't major in liberal arts... but I tried. I have learned. Got to be an expert on something. So, that's it. There ain't no mo'." (4/26/2000 - Y#43)

"Truth is never measured by acceptance, but by meaning." (6/14/2000 - Y#44)

"Can you remember and then learn... hmmm. And the answer is: Yes, if it is a learning from another life that you suddenly remember and then in this life learn. Some flashes of insight are just that--finally getting it. Your entity experienced it but did not integrate it until, suddenly, poof and you think, 'Where did that come from.' Some things are true revelations, and some are just delayed reactions. And since time does not matter, both become part of the fabric of your spirit as if one and the same.

"Hey, the man talked about it (JC)... yep, about it not mattering if you came to the vineyard at noon or dusk. It was not about accepting him, but about finding oneself. And here's the trick all the religious types forget: When you are looking for something, where is it always. The last place you look--because then you don't have to look anymore. Same with spiritual fulfillment. What is the final thing you need to do to move on? Whatever you learn and remember last before you move on. Was it the magic last step, yes and no. It was the completing step but it was not the fulfilling step, since all of it is the fulfillment and it could have been learned and remembered in any order. No, focusing on the destination doesn't work. And thinking there is only one path doesn't work." (10/10/2000 - Y#45)

"Don't forget inherent remembering--what you know just by being. Instinct is another name. Some even call it intuition. Play with that." (10/14/2000 - Y#46)

"You can't learn, and so can't remember, if you don't listen. Listening takes many forms." (10/17/2000 - Y#47)

"Unlearn and forget. Many people try to forget, but don't unlearn. Forgetting is not the same as undoing the patterns of learning. So peeps try to forget but the learning is still there, so they act on it. How do you unlearn. You can't just put yourself in a disk drive and hit 'erase.' You can only unlearn by replacement. No gaps, just a new building block--because what you had learned is embedded in a web of being. Take out a piece and plop... but change a piece, and a whole web changes with it. Are you with it. Same with everything.

"Mundane example: If you decide to quit eating meat, you'll die if all you is eating is the other stuff you had with the meat... unless, of course, you ate surf and turf. But why is it that we know this about physical stuff and not about spiritual stuff. Don't take away but give when you want to change others. Put the replacement in place first, then you can more easily unlearn." (3/8/2001 - Y#48)

"One will always learn more from the least of us than from the most exalted. Really. One is universal and the other not. So all the greatest have always relinquished station and position before speaking the universal and eternal. The power of the exalted is about image. The clear cold pure water of the well is always found at the bottom, not the top. And yet that is the hardest to get to. Easier to drop the bucket in only enough to get filled--even get filled with something less pure. Ponder that." (7/27/2001 - Y#49)

"Changes are not changes if you never reestablish. So avoid just doing. And take nothing as given, and don't get angry when others also don't do what you would have expected. You can't be different if you don't allow others to be different. Either it's new or it's not... no, either it's new or it's snot. Find alternatives. Make it the way you think you would like ASAP. You can always revise, but if you wait too long to establish you'll revert instead. Strike while the iron is hot. And don't tell others what to do... or not do... or not... or.... That's it, except for this: woof, ayee, hi, hug." (8/4/2001 - Y#50)

"Follow your gut. Don't try to over-analyze it. If Dorothy had done that she would still be asking if it were the goldenest road. Sometimes it is a Yellow Brick Road which is only a little yellow. But if you wait for the bright one, you may miss the right one. There are no leads that aren't worth following. And you can follow several at once." (8/7/2001 - Y#51)

"It will be interesting to see how many people come through this time changed and how many come through unchanged. A quick guide to spiritual development: Those with the most to learn and remember usually learn and remember the least. And those with the least to get and keep get and keep the most. It is a cumulative process, and the learnings become tools in further learning. So, watch how this unfolds for people. Might get some clues--which could help you adjust learnings and expectations." (9/23/2001 - Y#52)

"So yes, here's the scoop and poop. Choice does not determine outcome, but it does determine motion. So if you are moving and changing you are choosing. And if you learn and remember from your choices, then they have meaning. Blind choice of the good is no better than conscious choice of the bad... not to mention the ugly.

"If you accidentally stumble on good without intent, it will not inform you. You might experience it, but not learn from it. Choice and learning always go hand in hand. And no external moral code is a substitute for choice. If you act without thought you act without choice, and without thought it just doesn't count... at least at your level. In greater complexities it is not a matter of counting, but of not mattering. Choice becomes transcended in greater spiritual complexity, but now we are at the level of choices... and hence, also the level of fear.

"And no, faith is not at a more complex level the equivalent of choice now. It is the forerunner of choice at a simpler level, remembered in the spirit as a remnant of existence gone by. And in other news, some peeps got it and others don't. What's new." (10/25/2001 - Y#53)

"Time for turkey, and the answer to 'why.' 'Why' always contains its own answers; for every such question is framed in context, and the context contains the answer. It must be so. For if the context does not contain the answer then there is no answer, and so the question is meaningless. So one either finds the answer in the setting of the question or one dismisses the question... or one reevaluates the perception of the context until an answer is contained.

"Sometimes one has to broaden the context to get an answer, but getting an answer in this way is not conclusive because the one you get may only be partial. You may have stopped broadening too soon. A quick relief at a possible answer may obscure more complete responses. If the answer to 'why' is evident then you have it, but if it is not evident you must search and open--not simply to an answer, but to one that then becomes evident in the new broader context.

"The answer to 'why' ultimately then is always a step away, because that which is truly evident does not elicit a 'why.' The very question calls for moving to new evidence. So the answer to 'why' is a process question, not a factual one. Whoa." (11/20/2001 - Y#54)

"So, learning and unlearning. I realised that I made a transcription error. It's about leaning and unleaning. Just prop yourself up. And after a while of leaning, unleaning will seem like leaning. But you know the same is true of learning! Like this: Bob is a nice guy, but his neighbor Ned kills Bob's favorite bush. Bob is not happy. He is angry with Ned; and since Ned is of a certain unnamed racial group, Bob begins to hate all of Ned's kinsmen. Bob has a daughter Jane and a son Dick... but that's another story. Jane learns early that she should mistrust all Neds and Neds' offspring. But when Jane grows up, one of Ned's nephews... or was it a niece... planted a special bush for Jane, and she had to unlearn her hatred. But to her, it felt more like learning love than unlearning hatred. And Spot loved that bush! Arrrrrrr.

"Sometimes we learn to just get back to where we were... and back and back and baby back ribs, yuuuum. Finger-sucking food. I doz lov me ribs with some pone and dat watermelon. And fruit punch, made out of delicious red and fruit and sugar... and sugar... not to mention sugar. But when you can distinguish between the two you are learning. When you can't, you're just unlearning. And why is it called a rebate when you never bated." (2/19/2002 - Y#55)

"At one life one can get it, and it looks like smooth sailing. But then, between lives, lost it. Hey, over here is not on auto-pilot. It's not tragic, just happens a lot. Get it together but can't keep it together--premature awareness. And those folks often become seers and mediums because they sense the glimpses they can see no more.

"Most who report connecting are not doing it for the first time, but they have lost the remembrance of it and have only the experience. It's like someone who has been to Detroit and forgets it and then, passing through, scenes seem familiar. This happens often with what we experience as kids. It's like filling in the dots... connecting the numbers... completing the outline... fulfilling the suggestions... making whole the partial... getting the shit together... ooops.. I do go on. All I say is interesting if you find the right person to listen.

"You can lose it here, or in the parking lot... in the process. Especially if you had it and don't now; if it feels right but not yet yours. Like you know it but you aren't it. There are people who make great discoveries who later haven't got a clue of how to apply them. I say just peel off the backing and apply. I groan... ooooo... ayeee... I recover." (8/13/2002 - Y#56)

"Sometimes acting like one has his act together--especially when it's an alternative act--means simply that one doesn't have a clue what one's act is. Those who really have their acts together are constantly exploring and expanding what that means. Life is not about arrival but about journey... oooo I said that before... and after.

"Those who appear to have arrived are most often lost and afraid to show it. And you can quote me on that. ©Rikkity 472819. Send royalties to Sandy at ARF.com." (9/26/2002 - Y#57)

"Living in transition, if you keep your spirits open, could be a great time of learning. Remember, you learn more when things are unsettled. Lots to examine. What really matters really matters. And if you can be as conscious as possible in the transition, there is much to see. And miles to go before... ooops." (10/22/2002 - Y#58)

"This is a time for high resolve. Now, more than ever, live according to one's values. Be a living incarnation of what you hold in deepest faith. Only that reality which is faith made real will be our future.

"Those who let discouragement take hold of their spirits become as zombies of faith. It is one thing to become discouraged and quite another to find encouragement again. Nothing should be valued which does not offer the promise of encouragement, even in the most discouraging situation.

"If what you value leads to dead-ends in certain circumstances, it's time to change values. Sustaining values never lead to dead-ends, but always hold the prospect of new vision. Ponder that." (3/14/2003 - Y#59)

"Here's a tidbit. When the going gets tough, some choose to act according to circumstances, others according to principles, and others according to values. Usually we are taught that there are only two choices: either circumstances or principles so we had the big fight between situational ethics and the more traditional ones based on principles. But listen carefully. There is a, or maybe several, other choices. One would be rice and the other baked potato... but that doesn't really matter now.

"Living according to values is between the two. You see, in one case you look at a situation and say 'Boy, I don't know what to do,' and you let the situation tell you. And in the other, you look at a situation and ask 'What do I do,' and say 'I know without thinking.' But the values way requires that you consider, at the same time, the situation as it is and those things you value; and then find a way to respond to the situation, in which your values are honored. What you do looks highly principled in any given situation, but if you look at a number of situations you might see that different actions were taken. Action is not independent of the situation, nor dependent on it. And over time, while the actions would not reveal consistent principles, they would begin to reveal consistent values.

"Principles are like mores, while values are more like something independent of culture. Ok, here's a concrete example... ouch, I dropped it. Heavy, dude. Ok, you are on a world tour and you stop in Mali and there is a social function going on and it is taking place in a different language. And you notice that some of the people are doing what appears strange to you. And then one of the people slaps another really hard on his head... ouch. Now, in the situation one might say 'Hey, I guess we need to hit one another.' And a principled person might say 'It isn't nice to hit.' But the values person would try to determine what is going on, because their value is to respect and honor all people. So maybe this slap is a sign of honor or humility, or maybe it's just meanness.

"With principles and with situationals you could get it wrong, but with values you would always be expressing yourself. And hey, what more can we ask." (3/18/2003 - Y#60)

"I am constantly reminded that at this spiritual level the great question is if we will in courage reach out and find larger connection, or in fear retreat behind the walls of difference. It keeps coming up... just like a bad bologna sandwich.

"The test is not knowing but believing, because too many people know but by their actions show they don't believe. And here's a challenge for UUs: how to live such that if you were to die right now it would be ok. We haven't found a substitute for heaven which is compelling enough. But I've given hints... hell, I've given blueprints. So I want you should ponder that for awhile. Ok, time's up... no, just kidding. I tell a joke.

"Did you know I'm black on the inside, too? It goes all the way in... but only here. Oops, I'm chartreuse... ecru... teal... periwinkle... mauve... scarlet... mango... key lime... aubergine. It's fun being other colors, but only if you aren't wedded to one for identity. I have fun sometimes saying to KKK members 'My, you're looking yellow today... or red, or brown.' They turn white as sheets... or dark as shit. We have a game with newcomers: Guess the Race. Most of 'em are off balance.

"You think a balanced person uses physical properties for identity? I don't theeenk so. Male, female, child, adult, brown, big, black, deaf, red, short, yellow, fat, white, stupid... I don't theeenk so. We identify with those things until we get our act together. And in the last go-round at this level we see beyond it all, and seeing beyond it all we have two choices: To proclaim the vision or to fall into despair. But if one falls into despair, then one doesn't have their act together anymore.

"It's like climbing to the top of a mountain and seeing the view and finding it so beautiful that one desires the valleys again, when one could just as easily have stood atop the world and shouted the truth. That's why the only way forward is to proclaim the truth you sense, even if that be perilous. We often think that such proclamations of faith are all fundamentalist or conservative. But that's only because they dare to speak out, while the ones seeing the more courageous wider view think it arrogance to speak--when it is actually fear to keep silent.

"So, when you get a vision that takes you to a new and more generous place, speak it! Write it! Share it! Live it! Dream it! No, don't just dream it, be it! And that's all I have to say about that!" (6/13/2003 - Y#61)

"Too often people think the psychological profile they see is the spiritual one, too... but nooooo, it is often in contrast to, or even competition with. If we are alive to learn, then exploring what already is isn't much of a learning. Ponder that." (9/6/2003 - Y#62)

"If regime change doesn't work, maybe you need regiment change. It might not be the office holders, but the offices.

"In the Nazzi (just like in The Producers)... in the Nazzi regime it didn't matter who was doing what; same, maybe, in Iraq. Saddam is gone, but is the system really going to be different or will international oil interests still call the shots. And you have to wonder about the U.S., which hasn't done much good since about '63. Just ponder that.

"Our revolutionaries knew it really wasn't King George III but King Anybody. Maybe in a media age we need some changes, too. That's tonight's pith.

"You shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water, but sometimes it's time for baby to go so we can have a clean new bath." (10/5/2003 - Y#63)

"So, regiment change: It is not the same as systemic change. Systemic is when all the pieces of a system change. And it's not paradigm change, but closer. Both ask about how something will be delivered, but regiment change--as I am using the term--is different. If regime change is about who will deliver and systemic change is about how it will be delivered, regiment change is about what is delivered and why. It is focused on the recipients as active agents in the determination of the dimensions.

"Ok, I give a metaphor... or maybe a simile. You go to the movies. Somebody else decides what movies are shown and when and how much it will cost. If you change theatres or movies, that's the old way of change. But if you decide you want to watch your choice of movie when and where you want, that's a regiment change. The whole regiment changes: every role is different, reactive is replaced with active, control is replaced with cooperation.

"So think about addressing the present national and world scene with this in mind. Your first question is not 'who' or 'how' or even 'when' or 'where,' but 'what and why.' If we elect or select people to do things without a self-defined sense of what we want and why, we'll get either their crap or the same old shit or both or worse. So we need to once again do the work that TJ and JM and JM did when they had to ask the what and why questions. America wasn't invented once; it is a continuing invention, but we all stopped being inventive long ago. And what sometimes passes as invention is usually a nostalgic return to past invention--which is about as exciting and relevant as the Pony Express. So, ponder.

"The answers should never precede the questions! But think of how much modern merchandising is based on living off that reversal: wanting before needing. So if you decide to replace your 2-year-old electric can opener with a new one, has anything changed. Even if the new one promises you the world, goddamn it it's still a can opener. Same for politicians, especially actor politicians, in a media age. Ok, that's it. It appears as change but it is only window dressing. Remember back in the '60s when each year the auto folks would unveil the new models and they all still had 4 wheels, doors, tires... but oooo those slightly smaller or bigger fins! Ok." (10/10/2003 - Y#64)

"So, what do you want? Think of terminal values. Which ones do you prize highest. That's what you want. So you need to determine what is valuable for you, not in terms of specifics but in values. Specifics will follow. First step: values, because needs can be too contextually driven. I need a nap.

"Regiment change begins with value determination... and, actually, value valuation. Just saying they are values doesn't cut it. You have to value your values to have them mean anything... ta-da. Ponder that." (10/14/2003 - Y#65)

"Now onto the next step: Make a list of what you want and go out and take it! That was Mackey's idea. He's a prince among men. So I said to him, 'What if I want all your power' and he got real silent. Aha, gotcha.

"Sandy will now do his badger imitation... grrrrrrr. Why he is doing a badger imitation is only known to him. But he's cute when he's vicious... wooof. His wittle chin hairs... snap.

"Ok, for real. Step 2: Look at what you want. But you've already done that, yes? But do it now with an additional criterion: 'Which of those do I think I have the greatest personal resources to effect.' Sure, we all want peace but maybe we are not actually the best example of peace. So that value might best be left for someone else. And then maybe honesty is a value, but that's not terminal. But justice is, and maybe the same fire that disqualifies you for peace would be the right-on thing for justice. Mother Theresa might make a lousy advocate for justice but she sure did a job for compassion. So don't become the poster child for a value that is hard won for you.

"It should be something that comes gracefully and effectively. And ultimately it must be a value you intrinsically incorporate into your very being. It's a value you have learned AND remembered. Some you value, some you learn and value, and then there are those values you learn to make you 'you.' ARF. He's still learning to be a badger. But if he were to try and burrow like a badger, he'd get stuck very quickly. He may value badgers and badgering but that does not make him a good badger... grrrrrr. Thank you, Sandy, for our object lesson... ARF.

"One of the reasons that many social movements fail is that those who are most active are least qualified. If you go with qualification more than ardor we might have a bit more progress... or, should I say, enhancement." (10/17/2003 - Y#66)

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