Spiritriver's Blog

A guy on FB was complaining about the memes and lack of meaningful discussion.  This is my response:  I'm okay with memes. After all, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and a meme is usually a picture. I'm also okay with words. Many are in a shell, hiding from pain, fear and judgment/expectations of others, and only feel safe when interacting on a superficial level. Many are born into a culture of interaction that is only at a superficial level. Too many have lived with explosive and abusive family members, which led to generalized fear of relating to others in any way that might trigger disapproval. When I was growing up, independent thought (that was expressed) led to being cast out of the “in crowd.” Then there are the bullies, manipulators and emotional blackmailers, in all probability victims themselves, now feeling compelled to pass on the pain. A lot of memes reflect fear, pain, confusion and negativity. Some attempt to share a bit of ...

Remember the 70's sitcom, "Maude?" One of her frequent lines was, "God will get you for that, Walter!" Karma does not keep score and warehouse judgments as so many people do. It's nobody's business to discuss other people's karma, and it's damn childish to do so. Karma cannot scare a person into having a loving disposition. Believing that it can leads to irreconcilable cognitive dissonance. As long as there's a club hanging over one's head, along with a directive to be loving or be clobbered, one will never know if their behavior is fear based or based on love. Sure, one can tell himself he'd be loving without the club, but the erosive doubt would remain. People do a pretty good job of biting themselves in the butt, so karma doesn't need to bother with it. The sun shines and storms rage at both the innocent and those less innocent. Actions or lack thereof, both positive and negative, have conse...

Another response to the question of fearing life:  It isn't like it once was, when fear kept us out of the mouth of predators, or some other immediate threat, then it was gone as soon as the threat was. In modern times, it's frightening to not know of all things there are to fear. It's easy to find one's self living under a constant cloud of foreboding. So, do we fear living life or one with too much fear? Trying to avoid fear compounds its intensity. It becomes an additional case of fear of failure to avoid fear. It also assigns power to fear that is often disproportionate to the threat(s) involved. Some transcend inordinate fear through the realization that what lies ahead can't be that much worse than what's happened in the past. Some manage it by taking the time to realize how much they could afford to lose, without losing what's really important. Some let go of any sense of attachment to life circumstances, thereby cease to fear anything....

In response to the question: "Why fear living life?" There are a zillion things people can choose to fear. It takes no small amount of mental finesse to separate all the added variables, some natural, some man made, life from consideration of life itself. In other words, if there were no risks, problems or pain, would life still be frightening? Life is a gift, and a wise person feels compelled to make the most of it while being grateful for it. That suggests that one has a responsibility to perform well and succeed, and may fear falling short of meeting that objective. Non-human beings seem to have the right idea. If a threat presents, fear triggers the needed boost to optimize physical performance, that helps them escape the threat. In the absence of a threat, there is no fear. I think it's uniquely human to ruminate over things to fear. Unfortunately, that leads to chronic anxiety, which can trigger even more anxiety producing thoughts. I wonder if chil...

This question was presented:  I have question about the law of attraction. For some reason lots of negative people have been coming into my life I want to do something to change that. It's caused me a great deal of suffering. This was my response:  It may not be easily discerned if we're attracting things because of unproductive thoughts, fears and beliefs, or we are aligning ourselves to experiences that promote growth. Years ago, I was stuck in a hellish and dangerous situation. It felt as though my future would be very much like my past. It was at a steel mill, and I was working security. The workers threatened, and harassed us. Once I went to pee in a porta-john and a guy threw a cinder block at it from an overpass. Stuff like that happened a lot. Often, guys were hired, and would leave at lunch time and never return. I could go on for hours talking about how much the place sucked. I finally decided that if nothing was going to change, I'd have to accept where I...

There is no shortage of toxic leaders, but to blame any of them for large scale division/polarization, is neither productive or accurate. Such leaders emerge as symptomatic evidence of what's already present in society. Bringing such social pathology to light isn't a bad thing. A lot of folks talk about the "good old days," back in the fifties and sixties. I doubt that things were as good then as they are now. It's just that some but not all bad behavior in those days was largely kept secret. Some such behaviors were more overt, such as lynchings, discrimination, segregation legally sanctioned sexism and misogyny. There was a larger middle class, but its existence led to greater suffering among those marginalized. Consider though, that in times of major catastrophes, many people come and work together, who at other times would not be able to tolerate each other. Disasters become common ground, and "better angels" emerge. Sometimes those w...