What were you born to do? Really? What is your life’s purpose?

What were you doing before you opened this email? How was that action helping another person?

Heavy question. But if you truly understood what Kabbalah is about – accepting the responsibility of being a channel of the Light – then you’d be thinking only of how to share and care for others. If we’re here on Earth, it means somewhere in a world far, far away, we signed a contract, we took an oath with the Light, that we would do this job.

Truthfully, none of us are at this level. That’s why we need to remind one another of what we really were born to do. Today is an opportunity to reaffirm that oath that we made with the Light. We’ve been at this for lifetimes. We’re not going to quit now.

My life in Film Noir, Fritz Lang’s M, The Tongue in The Shoes

hand, m, film noir, fritz langI had a conversation with Zsuzsa, a friend of mine from architecture school.

I normally hide from her, because she is traditionally very negative. But last instant messaging we had she sounded upbeat, so I thought, I’d give it a try. I know how to break off a conversation when it goes south.

As fate has it, she broke her hand a few months ago, it didn’t heal well, and she has had a lot of pain. Interestingly it has changed her. Permanently or temporarily, I don’t know. My hunch is that it is temporary…

Anyway, I shared with her my experience with the nose bleed. She didn’t quite grasp it at first. She has had nose bleeds but her first thought wasn’t: this is the beginning of the end, so for her the chance of a breakthrough with that would have been small.

On the other hand, given that she is an architect, her right hand is her bread and butter, so creating a new way to look at it was a definite breakthrough for her.

I was mulling over this today as I was washing my hands in the bathroom.

“You need to trust the whisper inside your head that says that what’s happening is a good thing.” I thought, but then I cringed. Some 58 years ago I thought just that and where did it lead me?!
Continue reading “My life in Film Noir, Fritz Lang’s M, The Tongue in The Shoes”

How to Live More Abundantly… a Jewish Story

einstein quote: There are two ways to live your life, one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.One night, the Shah dressed up as a peasant to enjoy the evening air undisturbed by his rank, and to wander through the streets of his empire unnoticed. He walked through town and reached the poor section of town. The street was quiet, but suddenly he heard singing from a little cottage. As he peaked through the window he saw a man sitting at a table.

He was amazed that such a poor man would be in such good spirits. He knocked on the door and asked if he would be welcome to join the man as a guest. They ate and drank together. After the meal the Shah asked the man how he earned his living.

“I am a poor Jew, I fix shoes in the street, and with what I earn I sustain myself for that day.” answered the man.

Sword“But what will be your fate if something happens to you or you get too old to work?”” asked the Shah.

“Oh I do not worry about that,” the man said happily. “I know God will provide.”

The Shah decided to test the faith of the poor man. The next day he issued a decree that forbidded anyone to fix shoes in the street. The Jew was stunned when he found out this new law, but he contemplated looking inward and said, “God, I am certain that you will provide.”

He looked around himself and saw a man with water jugs on his shoulders, and he saw that he can become a water carrier. So he hauled water from the town well, and sold enough to buy food for a day.

That evening, curious how the poor man made out, the Shah returned to the man’s house.

“How are you?” he asked upon entering. I came to see how you survived the new law.”

“God provided for me today,” the Jew answered happily. “One door closed, but God opened another. I am now a water carrier.”

The following day the Shah issued a new decree that carrying water for pay was not allowed. So the Jew spoke to God, and when he looked about him, he saw men going into the woods to cut trees for firewood. This he went with them and made enough for food for the day.

That night the Shah came again to check on the poor Jew. To test his faith more, the following day he ordered all wood cutters to the palace. When they arrived, with our poor Jew among them, he issued guard garb for them and a sword. They would be paid, but not until the end of the month. Our man was now really puzzled, for he had no food for one day, Continue reading “How to Live More Abundantly… a Jewish Story”

Sharing. The misused word… just share… i.e. sell?

thegood-thebad-theugly

I know the word sharing gets thrown around in these emails quite a bit. Sometimes we become numb to the word. To get back to basics, sharing means giving something of ourselves.

It can be sharing with someone we’re not used to sharing with. It can be opening up with someone we’re not used to opening up to. It can be calling someone with whom we’re holding a grudge and wishing them well and saying something nice, some words of wisdom. It can be anything. It just has to be an unconditional stretch.

As a certified est-hole and Landmark junkie, I have heard the urging “Share, share share.”

In Landmark they mean “Bring more chumps like you so that Landmark can become a World Class Organization, here to stay.” They mean: do our selling for us. Maybe they don’t, but that is how it lands for people.

In multilevel marketing companies (network marketing, MLM) they say the same thing, but mean, definitely, selling. Continue reading “Sharing. The misused word… just share… i.e. sell?”

Get the f… out of my way!

Hitler's army style military marchRecovering Victim, get the f… out of my way.

That was on the front of my T-shirt in 1991 at the Communication Commando Course… a week long Landmark Education program.

What was that about?

Here is the story.

In the course, on the 2nd day, if I remember correctly, we were talking about your “default” albeit hidden way of communicating. We formed small groups of five, and we looked at each other and made up a little statement of what we thought the person was communicating under their usual facade. Continue reading “Get the f… out of my way!”