Forum Post: A Message For the 100%
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 29, 2011, 1:29 p.m. EST by simplehuman
(10)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I think there are many wonderful things that are surfacing as a result of this reflection on society.
I also think this is an opportunity that we as a species and as a planet have to address a relative imbalance that has existed for many, many years.
Occupy Wall Street cannot be fully integral when it divides between 99% and 1%. That way of thinking, that identification with divisiveness is part of the old way. That way of thinking has lead to economic systems that no longer work. It has lead to wars with many deaths. It has lead to an almost complete collapse of our environment.
When we embrace that we are part of the 100%, we include all.
We have a great opportunity as a species to shift our consciousness, to stop identification with the old stories of suffering, greed, oppression, victimhood - the very stories we tell each other and treat as our true identity. When we can go beyond that identification, we illuminate our humanity.
Ask yourself what beliefs you hold on to, what conflict currently exists within your being. Those are the indicators that let you know how reality has been distorted through your mental lens. When the individual is still, the group is still. With stillness we can continue the momentum of this movement and shape the future of our planet for the benefit of all.
I urge you to be mindful of your actions and to always ask whether what you are doing arises from a need to justify a “story” or whether it arises from a place of peace.
We ARE 100%
I Agree!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
That sounds like typical Eckhart Tolle (Oprah's pop-idol guru) reactionary DRIVEL.
Fortunately, a good many respected spiritual teachers - such as Deepak CHOPRA, Gary ZUKAV and Marianne WILLIAMSON, have come out in FULL SUPPORT of OWS.
In fact, Chopra - who had been a long-time supporter of Obama - exclaimed in an October interview: "OBAMA IS SURROUNDED BY MAFIA!". So apparently some teachers are "getting it", whilst others, such as Eckhart Tolle, clearly aren't.
Anyone who has seen the movie "Inside Job", realizes that we have some serious CLEANING UP, some serious HEALING to do as a society. And until that urgent work is done, the "we-are-the-100%" will remain a fantasy, a dangerous illusion, a fom of denial of reality. Remember, "simplehuman" and followers of Eckhart-Tolle-type teachings, "Denial is not just a river in Egypt".
Thank you for your thoughts.
The above came from my heart. Action arising from division eventually leads to more division. Look at anything in your life that you resist. Notice the opposing force that comes from resistance. As a movement, there is greater power when we act from a place of positive change. "We are for change" instead of "we are against the 1%". The cleaning up you mention begins at an individual level. The 1% are as human as the 99%. To not recognize that similarity is to dismiss the root cause of the current relative imbalance. Once again, I urge mindfulness. After reflection, you can "act" from a place of wisdom and so can others. I welcome the 1% to constructively take part in the "healing". Without their healing, that of the 99% will be incomplete.
Thank you for speaking from your heart. I am doing the same... Am I right in associating your thinking with that of Eckhart Tolle?
As you may know, he shocked many of his readers last summer by putting 100% of the blame for the London riots squarely on the shoulders of the rioters themselves. He said NOTHING about the VIOLENCE OF THE CORRUPT SYSTEM itself. In fact, the British press was on the whole MUCH MORE insightful, balanced and compassionate than Tolle, which is why many concluded that this teacher who claims to be "fully enlightened" has not yet AWAKENED to some of the most basic social, political and economic realities of our time.
BTW, I am NOT CONDONING in any way the rioting that happened in London or in any other place. One of the best articles in the British press was in fact titled : "To understand is not to condone". As a disciple of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, I am totally and unequivocally committed to nonviolence.
I have read two books by Eckhart Tolle. I have read many more by Thich Nhat Hanh, Adyashanti, Chopra, Campbell, the Dalai Lama, Thomas Aquinas, Einstein, and many, many other human beings. Some resonate and some do not.
If the idea of 100% doesn't resonate with you, fine. No one is saying that is a truth. If on the other hand, it encourages you to look within and reflect on the apparent problems "outside", then I am hopeful it will bring about greater understanding.
I speak from personal experience -- from my transformation of internal division and the "perceived" division of the external world. I am not for or against OWS. If anything, I am "for" freedom.
The OWS movement was born and so it will die. During its life, it has an opportunity to be integral -- to fully embrace and welcome. There is no convincing that is needed to see that you are unhappy. I simply remind others that the 1% are also unhappy and so to be powerfully transformative, we must embrace our humanity, not simply our economic status. Indeed, you seem to have embraced the 1% when you mention the likes of Chopra and the actors/producers involved in the "Inside Job".
I am happy to see your desire for greater balance.
Thank you.
I had a hunch that you were into Eckhart Tolle... I was too for a dozen years, until I realized that his spirituality is in some ways ESCAPIST.
I feel much more in harmony with Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi, because they have realized that "inner work" must be balanced with "outer work" and that if we are to someday have "a new earth", we must work in the "outside world", not just on a meditation cushion... :)
You write : "I am "for" freedom". That is interesting. Are you also for JUSTICE? Surely you are aware of the Worldwide Movement for Social Justice, of which OWS is only a part. In your opinion, is freedom even possible without justice?
You also write : "There is no convincing that is needed to see that you are unhappy." If you mean that I am unhappy with the state of the world, YOU BET I am. I believe Gandhi, Martin Luther King and even Jesus - when he raised a whip to chase the greedy money changers out of the Temple - were unhappy in that sense. I am, however, HAPPY to be part of this Sacred Struggle to improve the lot of the poor. Do you realize that here in the U.S. close to 50 million Americans live under the poverty level? Are you in fact happy with that?
The idea of the 100% DOES resonate with me, in fact I've written about it on this very forum and so has another user, called "therising". But this noble ideal must not become an OPIATE which lulls us into INACTION. .. As I wrote below: "Once we have CLEANED UP our corrupt-to-the-core system, THEN we can talk about becoming the 100%." Ultimately, humanity is ONE, I think we all know that.
Thank you for your reply.
I do not see how being fully present and acting and moving from stillness is escapist. On the contrary, identifying with the beliefs and thoughts that arise in the mind as truth, is what I would call escapist.
Thank you for pointing me to your posts and that of another. No where in my statements is "inaction" suggested or recommended.
Embracing the perceived opponent is in the highest tradition of non-violence.
The statement, "Once we have CLEANED UP our corrupt-to-the-core system, THEN we can talk about becoming the 100%." Is a means justify the ends kind of statement. Personal experience has shown me that the means are the ends. Look around you. How many of the objects and tools that are being used have been impacted one way or another by the 1%? All I suggest is to maintain mindfulness and introspection while allowing action to arise. In that way, the acts will have greater transformative power.
You write: "I feel much more in harmony with Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi, because they have realized that "inner work" must be balanced with "outer work"
That is an excellent point. My post reminds those who are not doing the "inner work" to not neglect it. Since you have already achieved that balance, it comes natural to "engage". That is a wonderful thing! Take healthcare for example. Imagine how much better our health system would be if people took personal responsibility for their health. We can fault doctors and drug companies all we want, but without doing the "inner work", transformation will not be complete.
We have different perspectives. I am happy that we are able to voice our differences openly and with good will. For that, I thank you and wish you great wisdom on your journey.
Are you sure you are having this exchange from a place of presence and stillness?
The reason I ask is that you seem to be putting words into my mouth. For example:
1 - "Since you have already achieved that balance, it comes natural to "engage"." I would never make such a claim. I have "achieved" nothing. In my spirituality, I am a beginner and always will be - and that's OK.
2 - "I do not see how being fully present and acting and moving from stillness is escapist." Neither do I! In fact, all spiritual teachers have emphasized awareness. That part of Tolle's teaching is fine by me. But there are other aspects of his teachings that are troubling to many of us...
While you personally are probably not "escapist" at all, Tolle's teachings have been found potentially harmful to the point that "Canadian Therapists Worry that Clients Use Eckhart Tolle as a Spiritual Bypass". See http://integral-options.blogspot.com/2011/02/canadian-therapists-worry-that-clients.html
("Spiritual bypassing—the use of spiritual beliefs to avoid dealing with painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs—is so pervasive that it goes largely unnoticed. The spiritual ideals of any tradition, whether Christian commandments or Buddhist precepts, can provide easy justification for practitioners to duck uncomfortable feelings in favor of more seemingly enlightened activity. When split off from fundamental psychological needs, such actions often do much more harm than good." - excerpt from a book on Spiritual Bypassing)
But, to return to the fundamental issue of Social Justice, I am puzzled that you will not answer a question as simple as : "Are you also for JUSTICE?" You also refuse to take a stand on OWS and the ongoing Worldwide Movement for Social Justice... Do you have an opinion on the teachings of the Great Jewish Prophets - including Yeshua (Jesus) - whose main focus was in effect Social Justice? In a nutshell, their objective was to "Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable"... And do you have an opinion on the struggles taken on by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi?
The reason I ask is that so many of our American New Age gurus teach - from the comfort of their meditation cushion or pink yoga mat - that "this world is an illusion" and that "there are no injustices". Many of these gurus, such as Eckhart Tolle, are very fond of quoting from Jesus... but, surprisingly, they NEVER quote from his core teachings on social justice. I would love to hear what they have to say about the episode of the "cleansing of the Temple" which Jesus effected with a WHIP.
Thank you for your reply.
The original post makes no reference to Tolle or other authors.
In order to answer your question in a meaningful way regarding JUSTICE, it would be helpful if you defined what JUSTICE means to you and how you define it in your question. In that way, we can try to minimize confusion.
Opinions are recognized as such -- opinions.
You write: "I would love to hear what they have to say about the episode of the "cleansing of the Temple" which Jesus effected with a WHIP."
You can ask them if you wish. If you'd like to read from Adyashanti's book - Falling into Grace, you may find a reference to the temple story in Chapter 9 (True Autonomy) in a section titled "THE UNIQUE FLOWERING OF AN INDIVIDUAL LIFE".
People are divisible, while there is a divider! Do you know :- "What is the biggest folly of the OWS?". Dividing people on the percents!
Have you seen "Inside Job"?
In the Russian projection - yes. But this is an issue from a completely different area.
You write: "this is an issue from a completely different area." HUH????
The crimes of Wall Street as shown in the movie "Inside Job" are precisely what the 1% - 99% divide is all about.
We must take MONEY OUT OF POLITICS!
Once we have CLEANED UP our corrupt-to-the-core system, THEN we can talk about becoming the 100%.
How can we "clean-up" anything, if we don't first accept our own part in what has happened to the world. Its not just the 1% that has "ruined" everything. Each and every one of us have some piece of blame.
By the way, to split the American Dream - elementary! You can opt out of a million dollars? Perelman! If you know - He was awarded the prize of the millennium. For the answer to gipotizy Poincare. He was refused from prizes! Perelman - our Russian pride!
And music (about Paganini): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7_bba3MNU
What you are saying is not entirely false. I've been saying myself - and writing on this forum - for a long time that our ENTIRE VALUE SYSTEM, not only in the U.S. but in the Western world as a whole, needs to change. As a civilization, we have become grotesquely materialistic!
That being said, there IS in fact a 1% of our Western societies that is in fact SOCIOPATHICALLY GREEDY - something that is not true of 100% of us, I should hope!! :)
Hehe, I hope so too!
And if man made his money honestly? And even if most of it spent on charity? I'm not on the side of the Rich! I'm on the side of Truth!
I asked you if you had seen "Inside Job". You said yes. And now you write: "And if man made his money honestly?"
LMAO
You also ask : "And even if most of it spent on charity?" If you HAD in fact seen "Inside Job", you would know much of the money was in fact spent on PROSTITUTES and COCAINE!!!!!!!!!
Of course, there is. But I am talking about others.
You are obviously lacking some of the most BASIC information on the issues at hand. Good day.
Good Night! )))))))))))))))))))
Else music (from Sweden): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaWmMxh2C4g