Removing Impact Blinders Archives - Page 17 of 26

The Impact Mindfulness Worldview

August 27, 2014 by costaricaguy 3 Comments

When you first hear or read the phrase impact mindfulness, what comes to mind?

Probably some sort of save the world kinda of a thing, no?

And it is that, but much more.

In this post I want to explain in more detail what the impact mindfulness worldview really means.

You see, the normal way of thinking about personal impact is to put the cart before the horse…

That the best way for me to have an impact on the world is to first focus in a self-interested way on my economic success…and from that firmly established and comfortable platform, I can have my greater impact.

Sounds perfectly legitimate…doesn’t it?

Here’s the problem with it.

If you’re Donald Trump and you make sure that a certain percentage of your success is funnelled towards some type of image-driven impact, a certain very small percentage…

It doesn’t detract from the fact that the other 90+% of your daily energy and focus is purely self-interested, group interested, consumption oriented and certainly not People and Planet interested.

The impact mindfulness worldview suggests that a larger percentage of your interest be impact focused. In fact, all of it…

Yea, you heard that right, 100%!

It must permeate every aspect of your life.

It must become who you are and what you’re about.

Because only when enough people do that will we begin to solve the problems we have in this world…

Problems that have been exponentially growing to uncontrollable proportions…

right before our very eyes in just the last generation.

Problems like religious fanatics that unleash genocidal rage on unbelievers, global warming that’s already wreaking havoc on the planet’s weather systems, a growing income gap that threatens social unrest around the globe, developed nations that are literally consuming the world out of existence, etc., etc…

We have a killer virus on the loose in Africa and it seems the worldwide response is to seal borders and leave those inside them to their fate…rather than find a real (but non-marketable) solution.

To solve these problems impact can’t be sequestered in that small slice of our lives we label as charitable.

It must pervade every waking moment of your conscious existence.

That’s the “mindset” of impact mindfulness.

It’s not simply donating time or money to this or that worthy cause…even though doing so is a very good and impact worthy activity.

It’s adopting a mindset that sees the world and our place in it in terms of the three foundational pillars of Impact Mindfulness…

Prioritizing Impact Over Interest – that is, making sure our daily choices or activities, especially those consumptive and economically focused ones, are impact mindful…

Embracing the Concept of The Big US – that is, seeing the entire world and its inhabitants as fellow crew members on a planetary ship…the only ship we have…so that it becomes of utmost priority that we take care of it and each other…

Removing Impact Blinders – that is, being mindful of status quo ways of thinking that serve to trap us into doing “it” (life) in the same old destructive ways…you might even call that “wilful blindness.”

The world, our world, needs people who are thinking and acting according to the impact mindfulness worldview.

These are the people that can save us…

and they are YOU and ME.

Please join us at Revolutionary Misfit and be a part of the change!

On Painting Masterpieces

August 26, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

This morning I reach way back into the CRG archives once again…

Bob Dylan once sang that…

Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody…when I paint my masterpiece.

I believe Dylan was being facetious with that line, maybe with the entire song.

And then I also remember Big Tony (Robbins) once proclaiming that…

The road to someday leads to the town called nowhere.

I tend to draw inspiration from eclectic sources, don’t I?

I think Tony’s right because in my experience that mythical “someday” just doesn’t exist at all.

Waiting for some “day” to arrive at your doorstep in all its glorious perfection is like “waiting for Godot.”

But, as in the play, Godot just never seems to show.

I have often said that someday I will, or someday I won’t anymore.

Aspirations built upon the shoddy foundations of forlorn hope and recalcitrant expectation.

But life never gets smooth enough, the rough edges never hewn enough, the fog never lifts to be clear enough, and life just…goes on…

and my masterpiece in waiting…

waits.

Hold on…here’s a novel idea…

Maybe joy can be found in the painting, whatever form my metaphorical brush might take on.

In splashing on the colors like Jackson Pollock on an acid trip.

Chaotic? At best.

But one can find joy in chaos, no?

I often like to describe the music of the Grateful Dead, my favorite band of bands, as “organized chaos.”

I guess a painting that would be a truthful representation of my life, all 53 years into it, would indeed be rather…chaotic.

A “Masterpiece?”

Now that’s really not for me to say and, in all truthfulness, I won’t be around to judge, will I?

The point of this post on painting masterpieces?

Try to enjoy the damn painting for god’s sake!

We Think We Know Until We Know

August 22, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Here are 10 things I could’ve sworn I knew…

until reality up and bit me.

1. I could’ve sworn I was a perfect specimen of physical health, until one night when my heart took off like Mario Andretti in the Indy 500…

2. I could’ve sworn I was destined for fame and fortune until age 50 found me alone and destitute…

3. I could’ve sworn I’d found the love of my life until I was served with papers seeking a pension alimentaria (a Costa Rican “no-fault” alimony, to which any undeserving woman is entitled…just by leaving and filing)…

4. I could’ve sworn that my country was exceptionally exceptional until I discovered the truth about what went on in Latin America at its behest…

5. I could’ve sworn to my talent for the written word until I spent over 6 years writing with no one giving the slightest shit about anything I had to say…

6. I could’ve sworn that I was a good person whose karma would pay off, eventually, until life (or, better said, my choices) handed me a lemon that almost seems damn near impossible to squeeze (still trying to squeeze that sucker though!)…

7. I could’ve sworn family ties were iron-clad until I realized, as Bob Dylan once said (Grammy acceptance speech 1991), “you know it’s possible to become so defiled in this world that your own father will abandon you and if that happens god will always believe in your own ability to mend your ways.”…

8. I could’ve sworn that my eternal (perhaps stupid) optimism would lead me to a brighter world, or experience of it, until events of late have all but convinced me that man is, for the most part, hell-bent towards self-destruction…

9. I could’ve sworn that my christian concept of god and salvation was the correct one, until it dawned upon me that it was actually only a select one, among many others…none of which could possibly be 100% true…

And after scraping all that “dogma” off my shoes, why in god’s name would I want to step in it again?

10. I could’ve sworn that life was about maximizing my income until one day I woke up to realize it was really about maximizing my impact…I hope for me, it’s not too late…

You know, it’s funny how we think we know until we know…that we were dead wrong.

The Singularity of Alan Watts

August 17, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I just had my mind blown.

How?

By reading a book by the 60’s era Zen philosopher, Alan Watts. The book is entitled The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, published in 1966.

I only recently learned of Watts via Maria Popova’s blog, Brain Pickings. In fact, ever since I discovered it, I’ve learned a great deal from her blog…

I highly recommend it!

Why did Watts’ book blow my mind?

I’ll use an example from the book to illustrate…

If I asked you what was pictured to the right, you would likely say a circle, correct?

But could it not just as well be a hole in a wall?

Could it not be both?

At the same time?

Because, you see according to Watts, what something is, including you and me, is not defined simply by what’s on the inside, but also by what is on the outside.

That is, the surface of my skin is also the edge of the space around it.

Western thought, influenced largely by Christianity, would lead us to believe that we are separate from everything else, including each other.

I am me and you are you and there is a concrete and delineable separation between us…called space, which is also a separate “thing.”

In fact, religion would go even further and say that God has separated us into a group he likes and another he doesn’t.

Watts would say that to fully describe a human, one must not only look to the actions of the man himself, but also to the environment in which those actions take place…and that environment is the entire universe.

That is, you cannot separate the inside from the outside, because both exist interdependent on the other…they are one and the same “thing.”

There is no inside without an outside and vice versa.

Pretty heady stuff, no?

But then I start asking myself, OK Mr. Watts, that might be so, but so what?

What relevance does it have for my present existence, since the entire set up has been devised along the lines of separateness, as delusional and illusional as that might be…

It’s the “world” we have to live in.

Well, Watt’s philosophy kinda dovetails with the whole mindset that I espouse here in The Revolutionary Misfit blog.

That the impetus for impact should stem from our sameness, not our separateness.

That is, not to just throw money at problems because we have compassion for those poor starving “others.”

When we help others, we are actually helping ourselves. Because, as Watts alludes, we’re all really the same thing…we all make up the universe, which makes up…us.

Neither can exist without the other.

When I read about all the division that reins in our world and spawns such venomous hatred that shows up in many of the FaceBook posts circulating through my news feed…

it’s both enlightening and hope inspiring to read the words of Alan Watts.

I want to be inspired with a good reason or motive for practicing impact mindfulness…for being mindful about anyone else’s problems other than my own.

At times, I will admit, I think, hey what’s the use, or what’s the point of it all?

The point is that what might be happening on the other side of the globe to a small child in a tiny African village does affect me…

because that happening is part of the universal flow of which I am a component.

It’s not a separate event that I can just ignore on my way to more western culture-driven ego inflation.

We’re all doing this activity called life together and I believe impact should be about helping ourselves collectively enjoy that mutually experienced process.

image credit: goldberrybombadil via Compfight cc

The Real You…

The Joys of Being an NRSP (non-Religious Spiritual Person)

August 8, 2014 by costaricaguy 6 Comments

As the world is tearing apart at the seams over competing religious viewpoints, I thought I would express the joys of being a sideliner NRSP…

So, here are 10 joys of being a non-Religious Spiritual Person (in random order…because that’s how we NRSP’s like our order)…

1. Lack of Guilt – Over things that religious people love to make you feel guilty about. Now, granted, some of these “things” might actually be bad for me, but I for one don’t like being “guilted” into doing only what other people think is good for me.

2. Open Mindedness (domestic issues) – I get to choose for myself things like who I might vote for, and what political viewpoint I prefer to get behind…without being pressured into towing the theo-political line…under the threat of potential excommunication.

3. Open Mindedness (international issues) – I get to see the world as it really is…a great big place full of people who might look, think and worship differently, but really are made of the same flesh and blood and have the same basic needs and wants…when you get right down to it.

4. Peace and Calm – I don’t feel that sense of outrage about the world not marching in lockstep with my ideology, which convinces (and terrifies) me that things are only going to get worse and to store up “provisions” in my backyard nuclear-holocaust-proof underground bunker.

5. Optimism – And #4 brings me to this one, being an NRSP allows me to hold an optimistic view of the world and the direction it’s headed in…because I believe in the commonality of humanity rather than a version of it that divides us all into warring ideological groups sequestered behind invisible and politically-contrived borders.

6. Reality – I get to look to science to give me a rational explanation of matter, rather than some fantastical fairy-tale story…oh, and I don’t even have to strain credulity to reconcile the two.

7. Love – I can love everyone, even those that don’t believe what I do…because I really believe very little at all and adhere to no dogma whatsoever. So, hatred doesn’t enter into the thought-stream, especially not that virulent strain known as “religious hatred.”

8. Being Wrong – I can be wrong and be perfectly happy about it…in other words, it won’t upset my entire world view because I maintain one that is open to, well, any truth that I happen to stumble upon.

9. Savings – I get to save all that money that my “pastor” would otherwise shame me into turning over to him. Or, I can use it to benefit people and planet as I choose, not as “the church” chooses.

10. Impact – I get to live my life shed of the Impact Blinder of religion that otherwise would influence my impact to be much narrower than it really ought to be. And, as you know, for me, that’s what life’s really all about!

This is not a call to indoctrination, only a suggestion.

NRSP’s as a rule do not proselytize!

Now, I know religious people will call me names…like atheist, hypocrite, agnostic, liberal, progressive, etc…

And that’s OK, I’m open to it!

image credit: Jiuck via Compfight cc

An Appeal for Peace in the Middle East

August 6, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

The other day I came across this on-air and online feud between Sean Hannity and Russell Brand.

Brand accused Hannity of being unreasonable in the way he treated a guest who was sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

I agreed with Brand by posting his video and commenting about it to that effect on my Facebook profile.

That set off a string of comments, including a few by a young Jewish man from Tel Aviv.

The debate has been cordial and this morning I reviewed a couple of the videos posted by my new Israeli friend. Both took a hard-line view in support of recent Israeli action.

Both were from Prager University, an organization that advances a view of the world that is steeped in Judeo-Christian ideology.

And therein lies the problem, as I see it.

I am currently 53 years old and I cannot remember a time in my life when conflict did not exist in the Middle East. Perhaps what’s happening now is about as bad as I can remember, but it’s just more of the same old thing.

And old it is.

In fact, it goes back thousands of years…all the way back to a biblical character named Abraham, who, according to the Old Testament, was gifted this small piece of land by God himself.

Funny thing is, both groups (Muslims and Jews) trace their ancestry to this same guy!

So, it’s no wonder they are fighting over a piece of land that was once a god-given gift to their common forefather.

Remember the Parable of the Orange I recently posted…

“It’s mine!”, declared the warring siblings.

Check out this little animated video I came across that kinda captures the essence of this age-old continuous fight over a patch of dirt.

So, what’s really at the heart of this conflict?

Religion…pure and not so simple.

And what do I like to call religion in this blog?

An Impact Blinder!

Currently there is a great debate within the U.S. as to who is RIGHT and who is WRONG in the current stage of this age-old conflict…being played out before the eyes of the world.

For most, it appears that the establishment of fault is more important than an actual solution leading to peace.

And everyone points to the very complicated past, as well as the murky present facts about what might constitute a “human shield”, to establish their claim to rightness and moral superiority.

But what about the future?

Ah, you see, when religion enters into the picture, the future doesn’t really matter that much. At least not the one that will be occupied by the flesh and blood.

No, what’s more important is the moral superiority that will gain us a rightful place in the next world.

OK, great, if you want to believe that, or have faith in that, fine, go ahead.

But the very idea that one would be willing to kill in order to advance what is at its essence, a religiously-based position, is in my view, grossly immoral…

and highly threatening to People and Planet.

Here is my bottom line after you cut through all the smoke and rhetoric…

People are dying at the hands of people, innocent women and children (not to discount the lives of men)…

and over what?

Competing religious ideologies.

Why do we humans feel the need to inflict death and destruction upon ourselves over religion?

I don’t know for sure, but I would conjecture that when we identify with a certain religiously oriented group, either by natural birth or religious “re-birth”, we feel the need to be right about it.

And being right about it often means, no, usually means, proving that everyone else is wrong.

There have been many wars fought throughout human history to accomplish just that.

The Crusades come to mind.

And did they?

No!

What they did accomplish was a whole lot of death and destruction.

The cycle continues to this day and right now its focal point, once again, is that tiny strip of land called Israel…

Actually when it was established back in 1948 in its modern form, David Ben-Gurion declared it Eretz Israel.

Why “Eretz Israel?”

Because Eretz Yisrael is the Hebrew name for the Land of Israel given by God to Abraham.

You see, it all comes down to religion.

It all comes down to two groups, with a declared similar origin and somewhat similar monotheistic religious beliefs, claiming a hold on the truth…

Two groups willing to kill each other to advance an ideology.

That, my friends, is the quintessential essence of an Impact Blinder…

And in my opinion, it is wrong.

Peace is what’s important, not being religiously right.

I know folks will read this (well, I hope at least someone reads it…why else would I take the time to write it?) and say that I’m simply anti-religious.

No, I’m not suggesting that anyone abandon his or her religious faith…

But only to stop killing one another over it.

Doing that is not moral, nor right…it’s just plain evil.

We need more people to take off the Impact Blinder of religion and appeal for peace in the Middle East…

That’s much more impactful than being religiously right…in my humble opinion.

image credit: Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies

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