It occurs to me that you might be thinking, "Is this a book about John
Denver"? Not really.
For some reason, I decided to listen to the song last night before going to bed, and it
was then that I realized what the song was about.
But here's something that may aid you in the future: I always loved that song, but it
haunted me, because I knew there was something more to understand about it, and that it
applied to me. That was God trying to tell me something.
Your curiosity is God trying to tell you something.
He'll tell you things that do or don't make sense to you. Years later, something will
occur, and that little tiny piece of information will make the complexities of whatever
you are confronting make sense. It will make all the difference.
What leaders count on is that you'll forget, as baby boomers have forgotten the
warnings of President Dwight Eisenhower regarding the Military Industrial Complex.
This is one of those pieces of information.
I pray I will make it clear, to glorify my Father, and the world of love that's
possible to us all.
"Coming back to a place he'd never been before".
Imagine what it was like to be an explorer in days of old when they learned that the
world was round instead of flat. Such a realization would change everything.
I remember when I first learned of how the Viet Nam war was started. Knowing that it
was a perpetration to make people rich, at the cost of innocent soldiers' lives,
completely altered my perspective of that war, as well as the lack of honor of war itself.
Let's be clear, I truly honor those who fight because they rarely make the choice
to go to war, and they rarely know know the facts surrounding the beginning of that war
when it is begun.
They are true heroes, whether you agree with the war or not. And, sometimes, war is
necessary to defend yourself. That's defensive use of force.
And, I have to respect anyone who would give their lives in defense of another's in an
honorable cause..
The song "Working Class Hero" was a real eye-opener for me.
One time I took a course where they told you to approach certain things as if you had
never experienced them before, so I did.
That's when I found out I liked cheese after all. But I still don't like beans.
It's very much like the movie The Matrix. In the Matrix, they don't see people and
buildings and such, they see patterns. That's very important, especially in world and
national events. One event may make it seem like a dire emergency has occurred, and may
well have.
But it's a pattern of events that actually informs you of the trend that is occurring.
In the long run, that's much more important.
One bad day on the stock market is not a problem. A continuing downward trend is.
In the workforce, higher productivity is good for corporations because they get more
goods produced by fewer people, making products less expensive to build. The stock market
may rise because the corporations are making more money.
But, workers become burned out, their families suffer, they feel more stress, and fewer
people have jobs.
When that occurs, people begin to become ill. I'll talk about that more in the chapter
called The TAO of Health & Being. But think about that trend in the context of our
culture and family values, something that we all say we cherish so highly.
Once you learn the facts about things, and not just the talk on the street and the
rhetoric of politicians, things look a little differently, as if you'd never seen them
before.
If you left home for a seminar on landscaping so you could beautify your yard, you'd be
coming back to a place you'd never seen before too. You'd see bugs that were good instead
of bad, plants that are beneficial or not, even more color and luster. Even more, you'd be
a better judge of whether the soil conditions and general environment is healthy or not.
"He left yesterday behind him, you could say he was born again"
Let's say your life was based on perceptions of reality that weren't true. Things like,
the object of life is to "get rich or die".
Or even, what normal people are supposed to do is grow up, get a job, have kids, work
until retirement, and then retire. There is certainly some good wisdom in those things,
but we say our lives are based on quality of life. That money is less important than our
values, maybe our Christian or religious values.That people, and children are most
important.
It makes you ask questions like, when I look at the society I live in, does it look
like it would look if reality reflected our values. If you decide the answer is no, then
you might decide to change your ways. In that way, the old ways of the past are put behind
you, and you get that new lease on life I was talking about. You could say you were born
again.
It's like imagining it's a whole new world, and all you have to do is want it. What if
it was really that easy?
Think about this: psychologists might say that our emotional maturity is equivalent to
the age you were when you could no longer resolve the differences between what you
experience with the way you believe things should be.
For example, when people yell at me, I tend to go back to the days of when I was a
teenager living in a home with a verbally and emotionally, and sometimes physically
abusive step-father. I freeze a little out of fear.
But, at a certain point, I recognized this, and made a choice to respond as if yelling
is not a threat, but just loud talking with a lot of emotion. It's never easy to break an
integrated behavior like this, but, after time, it gets easier and easier.
When you break the chain between things that trigger reactions in yourself that you
find counter-productive - that cause you to respond in ways that make you feel out of
control of yourself - you get that same new lease on life. In essence, you're not
dis-empowered by situations that used to make you feel thwarted or inferior.
In a way, it's like me standing up and saying I am the Son of Man. In my heart, I know
it to be true. Whether it's time for me to take action or not.
Even if someone succeeds in making me look bad in the media or in public, my faith in
God will not be altered, nor will my self-esteem be lowered. Nor will I cease to use the
gifts I have been given to do what I can do to benefit all things and people. I could not
have said those things prior to enlightenment, and the continual process of becoming who I
am.
No one should be ashamed or embarrassed about who they are and what they think,
especially if it's the result of you deciding what you think, like your principles
and values, and then living by them, so long as it does not interfere with anyone else's
safety or ability to express themselves inside those values.
But, you should decide what those values are, instead of feeling pressured or different
or inferior because someone else does not agree with you.
That's what the phrase "Get over it" was all about. It was an implication
that you're silly and should feel stupid, in the minority and verbally confronted and
intimidated should you speak out against the results of the 2000 election... and it
worked. It's a bully tactic.
You might think that none of this has anything to do with the Bible or God. The truth
is, it very much does.
God wants every person to be able to exercise free will, and when you can't, then
you're not able to be the best that you can be. You'e unable to fulfill the intent for
your life.
Free will is the difference between going to a restaurant and ordering a selection from
a menu, which is limited, and going to the kitchen and cooking whatever you feel like
having, which might include things you grew in your garden or picked up at the supermarket
- all based on whatever you feel like. Not what other people tell you are the right things
to do or say.
The same should be kept in mind when you listen to talk show hosts and pundants and
newspaper columnists. They may include some facts - particularly those that support their
point of view - but not necessarily the truth. Because the truth takes all facts into
account.
If you watch a program or listen to the radio or read a particular magazine because you
like the fact that it supports your point of view, it may well be that you're not getting
all the facts.
The Iraq War is a perfect example. Research says that what you believe about the
justification for that war is dependent upon which television source of news you watched
before the war began.
It's also a perfect example of when you should ask the magic questions:
Who or what would gain an advantage by having you think that way? Who would gain
advantage by making you think there is only one possibility? Do I like those things or
dislike them?
We live in troubled times. Let us make a better world full of joy and love by asking
those questions, and acknowledging that we have the power to create the world the way we
want it to be by getting a new lease on life - being born again by the freedom of the
truth.
When John Denver talks about leaving yesterday behind him", the message is clear.
If you know the truth, you now have the choice to live based solely on the knowledge and
basis of the reality you now have, and are released from any responsibility for responding
to the world based on the ways you always did it before. You get to be
based on what you now believe is true.
That's what the world needs to do as well.
