Fanning the Godspark Wafting the warm breezes of liberty over the
kindling of a new spiritual awakening
Like Jesus, like Gandhi, like Tolle, those of us who choose to play on these 'fields of dreams'—where the the simple humanity
of a free world is at stake—need to stay at it. Although 'attitude and being' are the cause, we realize 'attitude and being' through their effects... and, so, need to
pay scrupulous attention to the facts of reality (another way of stating 'We need to pursue the truth relentlessly,' and with a calm smile on our faces).
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Godspark?
Just this morning, casting about for my weekly Web column material, I'm having a deep breakfast conversation about spiritual growth with a friend. "In each of us," my friend says, "resides a God-spark that can catch fire and illuminate the cosmos; even those you see as tyrants, criminals, or Kleptocons have the spark."
It hit me, his term "God spark," meaning loosely
each individual's unique minimal piece of the stuff that cosmic consciousness is made of. As I ponder issues of spiritual growth, my reading of Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now always seems to find my bookmark resting on a pertinent observation... this one regarding the imminent transformation of human consciousness:
The world as it appears now is largely a reflection of the egoic mind.[1] Fear being an unavoidable
consequence of egoic delusion, it is a world dominated by fear. Just as the images in a dream are symbols of inner states and feelings, so our collective reality is largely a symbolic expression of fear and of the heavy layers of negativity that have accumulated in the collective human psyche. We are not separate from our world, so when the majority of humans become free of egoic delusion, this inner change will affect all of creation. You will literally inhabit a new world. It is a shift in planetary consciousness. The strange Buddhist saying that every tree and every blade of grass will eventually become enlightened points to the same truth... — Page 166
When we step up en masse to the power of presence, we achieve the "peace that passeth all understanding." The side benefit: our material lives flourish in harmony and abundance.
The Political-Economic Sphere
This little Godspark, moi, has made the politics of freedom his sphere since I grabbed Freedom is His Flight Plan, by Stephen Shadegg, out of the bookmobile in Oklahoma City, in early 1963. That book basically contrasted the libertarian ideals of Barry Goldwater with the prevalent socialist Weekly Reader Weltanschauung[2] that kids of my generation had been spoon fed by our government-school teaching fraternity. The 1964 Goldwater for President campaign led me to Ayn Rand et al, which led me to the Libertarian Party et al, which led me to the Free State Project and three books[3], to right here doing my Web thang on the Coffee Coaster.
So my spirit of freedom has lately turned into a spirituality of freedom. And I believe a transfer of focus is occurring now—for others in the freedom community as well as myself—from the ideas of political liberty to their underlying virtue of an emerging consciousness. I touched on the connection between consciousness (esp. psychological independence) and the nonaggression principle in my book, The Sacred Nonaggression Principle (SNaP). Remember the SNaPstrip diagram:
The fact is that as people become spiritually enlightened they embrace the Sacred Nonaggression Principle... see the nonaggression principle as the most exalted political quality. And vice versa.
In my humble opinion (IMHO), the Godspark, first escapes its confines of the egoic mind when we are children, via the Kindergarten Principle: don't hit, don't steal, be honest. It is how our inner child embraces the nonaggression principle.
In the early stages of the imminent unfolding of human consciousness, we'll see the world rapidly adopting the nonaggression principle... i.e. turning toward liberty. When the books of writers such as Lysander Spooner, Albert Jay Nock, Murray Rothbard, Mary Ruwart, Pete Hendrickson,[4] and, yes, Brian Wright, become million-sellers, that will be an indication of near-term breakthrough to an enlightened world. Each of these authors advocates the nonaggression principle to solve a pressing social problem(s).
There are several other writers in this category.
The Big Picture
Most of us have had the experience of working on a table puzzle with multiple pieces. Usually you can sort the pieces according to the colors or textures in different areas. In one region after another, the individual pieces almost find themselves a home when you have the whole vision in your mind's eye. Think of Bobby Fisher (or Gary Kasparov) playing chess, or an architect designing a building, or an author writing a book: in each of these instances the creative act is "seeing it," having the inspiration, then efficiently filling in the blanks with the pieces at hand.
Sure, invariably one needs to spend time in the performance of routine tasks before the act of creation practically flows from the workpiece. But the act itself has a transcendent quality.
For those of us in the freedom community, the Free State Experience, the "libertarian industry," the Libertarian Party, the various liberation movements—taxes, schooling, drugs, and so on—, etc., realizing the big picture is vital. In this case, IMHO, the big picture is the observation that "each individual has his/her own Godspark." And like all sources of ignition it wants to burst into flame... or at least, as living energy, keep glowing and growing.
What does this big picture tell us, as libertarians?
Basically, that if we can help remove the internal barriers to consciousness of individuals, one by one, then the smaller pieces of unlearning the many external aggressions in this field or that one will fall into place. Thus the next stage in human evolution—and evolution of the cosmos—is accomplished sans aggression as individuals fire their own Godsparks. Tolle says it more elegantly and universally:
All evils are the effect of unconsciousness. You can alleviate the effects of unconsciousness, but you cannot eliminate them unless you eliminate their cause. True change happens within, not without.
If you feel called upon to alleviate suffering in the world, that is a very noble thing to do, but remember not to focus exclusively on the outer; otherwise, you will encounter frustration and despair. Without a profound change in human consciousness, the world's suffering is a bottomless pit.... Empathy with someone else's pain or lack and a desire to help need to be balanced with a deeper realization of the eternal nature of all life and the ultimate illusion of all pain. Then let your peace flow into whatever you do and you will be working on the level of effect and cause simultaneously.
This also [especially—ed.] applies if you are supporting a movement designed to stop deeply unconscious humans [e.g. the Kleptocons—ed.] from destroying themselves, each other, and the planet, or from continuing to inflict dreadful suffering on other sentient beings. Remember: Just as you cannot fight the darkness, you cannot fight unconsciousness. If you try to do so, the polar opposites will become strengthened and more deeply entrenched. You will become identified with one of the polarities, you will create an 'enemy,' and so be drawn into unconsciousness yourself. Raise awareness by disseminating information, or at the most, practice passive resistance. But make sure that you carry no resistance within, no hatred, no negativity. "Love your enemies," said Jesus, which, of course, means "have no enemies."
Once you get involved on the level of effect, it is all too easy to lose yourself in it. Stay alert and very, very present. The causal level needs to remain your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose, and peace your most precious gift to the world.
— Page 169, The Power of Now
Wow. I trust the Eckhart Tolle
people won't be suing me for over-quoting. But reading the above passage, I sense the presence of another great and more-recent spiritual teacher: Gandhi. And if the effect of Tolle's advice is to create more than one such hypermoral, spiritually present—thoroughly devoted to the SNaP—souls, then the mighty edifice of the Kleptocons' delusion will disintegrate in a heap as fast as their controlled implosion of World Trade Center 7 (on 9/11/01).
Some of My Own Here and Now
Speaking on "the level of effect," as carriers of the sacred truth of the Way of the Nonaggressor, we need to keep our eyes on the ball for every swing at the plate. Like Jesus, like Gandhi, like Tolle, those of us who choose to play on these 'fields of dreams'—where the the simple humanity of a free world is at stake—need to stay at it. Although 'attitude and being' are the cause, we realize 'attitude and being' through their effects... and, so, need to pay scrupulous attention to the facts of reality (another way of stating 'We need to pursue the truth relentlessly,' and with a calm smile on our faces).
That being said, I want to share a couple of simple current observations, that come from my most recent Beanie VIP notice[5]:
The good news this week is revealed in this HuffPost column by Senator Jim Webb, who is holding hearings on the American criminal justice system, asking why 5% of the world's population has 25% of the world's prison population. [He knows the answer.] I've been making bets all over the place that drug prohibition on the federal level is on its last legs. By this time next year, marijuana will certainly be federally legal [not liberated, but legal and regulated]. This strongly implies hemp will follow suit, which means at least $1 trillion per year benefit to Americans within the next couple of years.
Regarding the pursuit of truth and its popularity, yesterday, I received an email from Gary Franchi, who runs Restore the Republic. He bemoans the lack of financial support for that particular sword into the belly of the Beast, lamenting that:
There are 50,147 people that have signed up to get our emails and use the important information that we sweat over to protect their families.
50,147 receive RTR email
- 767 signed up to get active
- 151 actually donated
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49,229 That either don't care or think that someone else will do the work for them!
Aside from the fact that BrasscheckTV tends to mine much of the same gold when it comes to distributing current political video information, I think Gary is on a bad vector. In a brief response, I cautioned that people are not universally well off enough to support the multiple libertarian causes with which they're sympathetic... and made some other points:
Gary,
I’m picking up what you’re laying down.
I’ve experienced the same lack of ‘respect’ for the fine work I think I’m doing with The Coffee Coaster and some totally relevant books I’ve written. One thing is people don’t have the money, another they are already giving out to other groups. I support Downsize DC still, even though I’m conventionally with negligible material resources or income.
But I’ll give you a small pledge, because I do believe RtR is on the right track. Give me a day or two. I think the voice crying in the wilderness days are coming to an end, and any one thing will serve as the catalyst to create a bandwagon effect. Long story. But stay the course and accept the isness of what is. Our day is at hand.
PS: I do think you should resist the temptation to rail against the negative, even though I certainly have succumbed myself over the years. Consider the lilies of the field. Ultimately, our success will come from an expanding consciousness—I recommend Eckhart Tolle’s works—basically from the inside. Then the outside will take care of itself.
So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. It seems every day I stay engaged in the cause, I'm finding another profound spiritual insight to light the path. Fanning the Godspark: that's the insight I'm sharing above. As I say, if the spiritual advance yields merely a handful of Gandhis... the goose is cooked, the nuts are off the buggy, and we're off to the races—if you'll forgive the mixed (and somewhat contradictory) metaphors.
It's so totally gratifying to experience one's consciousness as part of an unfolding intelligence that is so real that nothing unreal—what we sometimes refer to as 'evil'—can threaten its fulfillment. Fan the Godspark, and we're there. Actually, the fanners are there already. Again, per Tolle:
"Stay alert and very, very present. The causal level needs to remain your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose, and peace your most precious gift to the world."
Amen, brother!
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[1]
egoic mind: Tolle's term for the compulsive, morally judgmental thinking component of our awareness, particularly as it either condemns or revels in past behavior or anxiously rehearses the future... incessantly. Famed sports psychology writer, Timothy Gallwey—author of the 'inner game' books on tennis, golf, skiing, etc.—would identify the egoic mind as "self 1."
[Note, ego for Tolle is practically opposite of what Rand means.]
[4] I have purposely abbreviated the list to authors whose works I regard as timely and focused on the core problem of political and economic statism. The magnum opus of each of these authors, IMHO, comes up with a real practical solution to a specific range of legal aggression. There are dozens of other authors who lead us down the same path of the Way of Truth.
[5] If you wish to be included on my personal VIP mailings, which include some additional commentary and references to other newsworthy links, please contact me via email.
