From the sublime to the ridiculous of the American Dream/ Capitalism.
Warren Buffett
Recently on the cover of Time mag, Buffett has long been a reassurance for me that there can be people at the top of the economic pile, who nevertheless possess good hearts as well as sharp minds. The third wealthiest person in the world, Buffett is giving away 99% of his fortune to charity, most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He advocates higher taxes for the mega-rich, pointing out he pays a lower rate of tax than his staff. In 2010, he paid 11% tax on his $62 million (after deductions) while his office staff on average paid tax in the 30% range. Rana Foroohar of Time summarized his views:

• Don’t lower corporate taxes. “The idea that American business is at a big disadvantage against the rest of the world because of high corporate taxes is baloney…The argument that we need to lower taxes to create more jobs is mystifying, because we’ve had the lowest taxes in this decade and about the worst job creation ever”.
• Higher taxes on the Rich. Those who make their money from investing should pay a higher rate of tax than those who earn through their labour.
• Foreign-profit repatriation should not be tax free.
• Curb speculative gains. “The market system rewards me outlandishly for what I do, but that doesn’t mean I’m more deserving of a good life than a teacher or a doctor or someone who fights in Afghanistan”.
• Get tough on directors. They should forfeit 5 years’ pay if their firms have to be bailed out. CEOs and spouses should be personally liable for their actions.
• Get rid of private schools
• Reform health care. He thinks the present system cuts corporate competitiveness.
“We can rise to any challenge but not if people feel we’re in a plutocracy…We have to get serious about shared sacrifice”.

Paula Deen
This ample-sized TV cooking star, famous for promoting Southern comfort food, with mega amounts of oil, butter, salt and sugar, continued to promote her “brand” for three years after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes without telling anyone! She (and her two, similarly-stricken chef sons) are now making extra money by endorsing a diabetes medication. Plans are in the works to feature Southern comfort food without quite so much sugar, salt and fat! This reminds me somewhat of the wreck of the Exxon Valdez. The unprecedented devastation of the environment generated so much clean-up work, it actually boosted the economy. This is crazy and the reason is something I have mentioned many times before – we do not presently measure non-financial costs. It’s not impossible, but at the moment there is no collective will so to do…even as we pay the costs with our quality of life, while the corporate world pocket the $ profits. These costs are real, as Buffett himself has implied in his comments above…although he frames it in his own way.
Another aspect to the Paula Deen story is how much responsibility does the TV and media food industry have when considering what types of foods and cooking to promote? We now know that obesity is a major, major health threat and such a diet contributes directly to obesity and a host of other related disorders. Another example of a non-financial cost (in this case, the result of irresponsible or reckless marketing) that is borne by individuals and society generally, while corporations and businesses pocket the short term financial profit.

Two news items got me thinking (yet again) about the random impact of technology on society …i.e. on us all! The first was about the imminence of designer babies (the ultimate in 1 % ism) and the second was a Toronto Star article on the famous Sci-fi novelist, William Gibson. Here are some quotes from the article, which echo several of my own long-held opinions on the subject. Gibson: “ The developers of new technologies have no idea of what those technologies are going to do. Most effects are unanticipated, as the technology is instantly absorbed into the culture…But we don’t have any choice. The invisible hand of the market brings these things forth…My colleague, Bruce Sterling said once in passing that technology trumps ideology every time. I’ve been pondering that ever since and in many ways I think it is true…It doesn’t flatter our sense of who we are as a species to admit that, but with sufficient humility we could come to that it is in fact the case, as terrifying as it may be….Emergent technologies, the biggest drivers in human history, are completely random”.

• I agree with Gibson that the market presently “brings these things forth”, but not with the fact that “we don’t have any choice”. My idea is that we could have an elected body that makes decisions, but also an advisory, respected body, a Senate, that is chosen because they have the Wisdom of Elders (not because of which party is in power and makes the appointments). Like Gibson, I didn’t anticipate social media, but I did anticipate the busy-ness, distractedness, disconnection from personal relationships, loss of attention span and the acceleration of Warhol’s 15 Minutes of Fame, which is now showing up in studies. How to choose such a Senate, would benefit from having a Ken Wilber-like notion of evolved consciousness/ Quality in decision. Wilber seeks to map levels of consciousness, as we are presently attempting to map our genes. We can access these different levles of consciousnesss through deep, skillful (usually guided by a Master) meditation.
• I think that the Introduction of New Technologies is important enough to merit a separate, national governmental department/ ministry, not only because of Gibson’s observation that Technology trumps Ideology, but that it is especially, particularly, urgently important since the 21st century technologies can be incorporated within human beings (designer babies are the first step) and they can become mutated and self-reproducing. At present, these technologies are robotics, genetics and nanotechnology..but the list will probably lengthen.
• An observation: Present tendencies within the USA favour an unregulated Free Market as the ultimate Capitalist, American Solution. We have to inquire more deeply, more profoundly within the Science/ Religion question….beyond knee jerk either/ or …into the specific implications. I think a Deep Spirituality movement is the only thing that can bring vertical Quality into the Public Discussion…which is what several organisations are presently exploring, including the Forge Guild, of which I am a member. Check out our initiative www.globalspiritualcitizenship.org and sign up! We recently offered it to the Occupy Wall St movement as guiding principles.

This is the title of an article in the NY Times by Pico Iyer. Some excerpts: “The more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug…..The average American spends at least 8 ½ hours a day in front of a screen.. The urgency of slowing down – to find the time and space to think – is nothing new and wiser souls have always reminded us…..Distraction is the only thing that consoles us in our miseries’, the French Philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, ‘yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries’… ..Marshal McLuhan, who came closest than most to seeing what was coming, warned, ‘When things come at you very fast, naturally you lose touch with yourself’……A series of tests have shown..that after spending time in quiet rural settings, subjects ‘exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper’.”

What does all of this mean and why is it happening? This subject deserves a voluminous book, but here are a few bloggerisms to consider:
1. Information, news, “happenings” etc give us ever more data on which to base our decisions, but don’t necessarily lead to better qualitative decisions. In the end, “We” / “I” have to decide…have to take the plunge. Truth be told, there is now so much information available on the internet and elsewhere, we ignore most of it and “cherry pick” (remember Bush-Cheney?) the bits we like…which merely reinforces our original likes/dislikes and opinions. We aren’t nearly as logical and objective as we think, and consequently remain locked in our own patterns..which often clashes with the similarly locked-in patterns of others. The Dems/ Repubs in the USA are a classic example. This dynamic also shuts down the possibility of real, creative change even as its urgency grows.
2. In addition to not necessarily leading us to (or perhaps diverting us from) better decision-making, Technology and Science may be profoundly affecting us in ways not generally acknowledged…from ingestion of toxic foods and chemicals to behavioural changes that may be long-term impacting our brains and much more. Our present consumer society has no effective mechanism to vet the potential negative impact of new technology, so whatever can be marketed, is….often under the guise of “convenience”, “coolness”, “sexiness” etc. Technology is not an objective tool we use only when appropriate, but is designed to be interactive with us, shaping our behaviour and habits (for someone else’s $ profit) and often becoming addictive.
3. As an Insight Meditation (Vipassana) teacher, I have for years been warning about the effects Iyer describes in his insightful article, since these are diametrically opposed to most deeper meditative disciplines. 2500 years ago, the Buddha pointed out that we suffer because we become attached to things, people, ideas, which in fact are constantly changing and therefore insubstantial…slipping thru our fingers like sand. It should be noted that the “I”or “We” who is getting attached is also temporary and changing… the truth of which we can investigate, if we make the quiet space and time to skilfully (it helps to have a qualified teacher) look into ourselves. Being “plugged in” is shrinking our attention span through overstimulation and the turning of our attention ever more, not less, outward. Instead of making decisions from a deeper, more universal space, we now tend to regard as important what others think is important…”trending”, “going viral”, what our Twitter followers or Facebook friends suggest.
4. What can we do? Build pauses into your life - many. Iyer makes another insightful comment, “More and more people I know seem to be turning to yoga, meditation or tai chi; these aren’t new age fads so much as ways to connect with what could be called the wisdom of old age”. My last comment: We don’t automatically become wiser as we get older, only if we from time to time to create the space to see the reality of Intercommection and Onesness..which comes from skillful meditation and self-inquiry.

For those of you who want to profoundly and creatively unplug, check out my mind-body Personal Mastery program at www.powerofbalance.com and retreats at www.harmonydawn.com. My next Meditation retreat is April 13-15

“The Protester” was Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2011, covering the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall St and protests throughout Europe, the latest in Russia. The common threads were frustration with inequality, corruption and injustice and disenchantment with the political and power controlling establishment. The author of the article, Kurt Andersen, noted, “Ever since modern republican democracy was invented(AJ: going back to the American and French revolutions), astonishing protests and uprisings have spiked and spread every half-century or so….It happens almost like clockwork, yet each time people are freshly shocked and bamboozled.”
People want more equality, opportunity and justice and from time to time take to the streets and even topple governments.  There is an immediate feeling of euphoria and accomplishment, yet power and wealth eventually gravitates to the few; precious opportunities for constructive change are lost.  The last 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union has been a prime example of such hijacking of hope and waste of opportunity. America, the Good Guys, had won the Cold War; there were no major enemies or rivals. America could have led the way to a more compassionate and sustainable planet by leading international efforts to revamp the economic system, tackle the poverty gap and global warming/climate change.  Instead the Republicans sought to make the USA even more militarily powerful and assertive (see www.newamericancentury.org) and of course economically through the celebration and exportation of the unregulated Free Market – greed is good for everyone - which has brought us to where we are now. The 1% got super wealthy but the 99% suffered; the global economy is destabilized and America’s strategy back-fired, since China is poised to take over the economic  top spot.
We need a new set of Ethics to guide us – voters, consumers and leaders alike - through ups and downs and pendulum swings  of opinions and fads. Here are a few suggestions:

• We have to switch our collective motivation away from ever-increasing consumption.  The planet is already over-crowded at 7 billion and India and China are still developing (and consuming) rapidly. Food, water and energy are limited. The concept of Enough needs to become sexy.  Studies have shown that once a country’s average annual income hits $25,000, happiness/ satisfaction peak and decline.
• Leaders, whether individuals or countries, have to lead by example, not though the threat or exercise of naked power. 
• We the People should demand as such from our leaders and in order to do this we have to learn to pay attention and to be steadfast in our objectives, not just swing with the ever-changing news cycles and political parties.
• Our economic and political systems need to be adjusted to take care of long-term, collective problems and to minimize the effects of large (especially corporate) donations and lobbying. At present, we are encouraged to seek short term satisfaction. Corporations are not required to pay the long term damage they cause to ordinary people and the environment.
• In order to achieve the above (and more), we have to learn to truly change ourselves..to deepen/ heighten our consciousness so we can see our interconnectedness as a fact, rather than a remote ideal…which is perhaps the deepest message of the world’s great religious and spiritual traditions. I and other members of the Forge Guild have created a template for beginning to integrate new level spirituality with social and political action. Check out www.globalspiritualcitizenship.org and sign if you agree!

Many guests seem to envy Nicola and me living our dreams at Harmony Dawn and ask how we did it. My youngest daughter, Hana, who just opened Café Shu (www.cafeshu.com), is living hers and doing surprisingly well in a short time… which is my inspiration for this blog. My thoughts hereunder are from personal experience – my own and those with whom I have been privileged to interact with on deeper levels.

• The first, obvious step is to discover or recognize your passion. To me, a passion is much stronger than a whimsy, passing fancy or a vague impression like, “That would be cool”. It is felt in your Heart and Core and tends to stay with you. In my case, around the age of 20, several circumstances including a near fatal car crash, led me to the discovery of Eastern philosophy (especially Buddhism), Insight Meditation and the Chinese martial arts…which all soon became my “passion”. I couldn’t imagine living without these being major elements in my life….and have not subsequently lived without them!
• Finding and trusting your passion. For me, the only way to true, doubtless clarity of heart and mind is through (skillful) meditation. Your “great inspiration” may be ill-founded or perhaps the “real deal”. It’s not easy to recognize the crucial, often subtle, difference. If you do not know what your passion is, then it may take patient, open-ended inquiry.
• Even if you think you know what your passion is, Life’s challenges often cause grave doubt and discouragement. I gave up a “solid and secure” career as a Chartered Accountant to be a mind-body teacher with lesser social status and poor financial prospects, since most of my potential market didn’t understand what I was trying to teach!...I knew that, but did it anyway, paying the conventional costs. My daughter, Hana, gave up her pursuit to be a Medical Doctor (with all that societal kudos) to pursue her passion for Food, not only as sensual gratification but as a way to profound, mind-body Health. My eldest daughter, Shuwen, has pursued her dream to be a Teacher, despite a learning disability that Experts and Psychologists thought would make that impossible. It’s been a long and discouraging (sometimes insulting) slog for her, but she is now qualified to be a primary school Teacher in Canada and America! Shuwei, my middle daughter, has still not fully recognized her passion…which may well be the rare ability to speak to and connect people of disparate backgrounds, from the very highest to the very lowest.
• The expression of your passion may entail changes in detail and manifestation. In late 1984, I launched myself as a traditional teacher of Insight Meditation, Taijiquan, Qigong and the Chinese Internal martial arts. I have had success in the sense of many students and popular, media accolades, but for me, more importantly, several senior students/ teachers who have embodied the mind-body traditions I teach. In 2005, 20 years later, changing circumstances and new inspirations caused me to build and run the off-grid, sustainable energy, Harmony Dawn retreat (www.harmonydawn.com), which demonstrates in a physical and energetic manner, many of the mind-body principles I have been teaching for years.
• A last comment. If you are living a life that is very different from the life you really want to lead – your Passion - it is probably consuming an inordinate and perhaps debilitating amount of your life energy in fundamental Conflict!