Journey to Ixtlan

The poem “Curse of Belief” is about the crisis of belief that embrace people as they move from one paradigm to another. The people they leave behind can resist the change. The institutions resist the exit. The path forward becomes the initiate's journey without these past influences.


Curse of Belief

If belief were a curse
tied to mind and strapped to heart
carried by the innocent
would it care for consequence?
When the birds come to roost
in aviaries on high roof
the bill is due, the time expired
now they see how they conspired.

In between the spires of truth
bridge impossible between the heights
far below the golden streets
the valley is life's harshest lie.
Spawn of desire for the best
and hypocrisy of the reality
the depths breed deepest contempt
for the vanguards of opposing tents.

Struggle against the beliefs embraced
once a blessing now a web
of contrary dogmas in long rows
like the markers above the graves.
The protectors come with long knives
honed to quiet the dissenting voice
sharp from the unpleasant tasks
gleefully chosen as their life path.

The wheel turns to grind the meat
something must grease the gears.
They'll pick the weakness links
no longer part of their chain.
Don't lay down when beliefs betray
the one they swore to protect.
Walk the canyon of your making
with assurity a lifetime does create.

Belief is more than a curse
it is the beginning and not the end
for the innocent no longer pure
made holy in the crucible.
The sword does not dig the grave
the shield is not a burial stone
trust the path in the wilderness
when safety brings only ill.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160509.

A friend wrote about living life with authenticity. I have to admit that I am struggling with this concept. The dictionary says the adjective authentic means “not false or copied; genuine; real”. This implies that an authentic life is an original life: not a copy, genuine, not false. This is challenging. Very few things are original in this world, and copies can be beautiful and correct. The dictionary fails me. I plumbed the question with poetry and the poem “Verity” was the outcome. Verify is defined as “a true principle or belief, especially one of fundamental importance”. Trueness feels right, much more flexible than authenticity. The poem explores the transition from being lost to how one lives in a state of verity.


Verity
Poem for Day 020 - 20150120

Lack of luggage,
nothing to check
from the wreckage.
The funeral pyre
holds the ashes
of my past lies.
Dark ledger lost
in cremation
of false truth.

The crutch leans
on distant wall
as I walk upright.
What path
to take without
without the map?
My world shifts:
outlier on the graph,
perspective adrift.

Look to the
compass verity
pointing life leeway.
Freedom to move,
limits bound within
fundamentals.
True to self,
beholden to love,
embraced by truth.

I walk with you,
unlikely companion,
destined pairing.
Be my mirror,
reveal myself
in reflection of your eye.
This was meant to be,
our complicity,
my verity.

© 2015. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

The world is full of messages about life. The sum total is a contradictory mess of self-serving blathering. Mr. Mallory steps into this despairing soup and keeps his wits!


Mr . Mallory and the News
Poem for Day 009 - 20141002

Mr. Mallory was no stoop.
He read the paper and watched the news.
Mr. Mallory knew the truth
told by those none could recuse.
His head filled since youth,
by sources he'd not abuse.

Fox TV
Holy Church
CNN
School
NPR
Political Parties
BBC
Government

Mr. Mallory's world was betrayed.
Contradictions manifested.
The glossy veneer stripped away.
His sources were scandalous.
Their narratives led astray,
strident mutterings blasphemous.

Lies
Spin
Propaganda
Agenda
Disinformation
Advertising
Scandal
Highest Good

Mr. Mallory did not panic.
He read the paper and watched the news.
He was part of this large mechanic:
an individual with no excuse.
After all, life is organic,
the outcome he could choose.

© 2014. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

Question: Why do people persist in believing things that aren’t true?

A friend shared a very interesting “The New Yorker” article, posted Maria Konnikova, called “I Don’t Want to be Right”. My friend asked the question, “Why do people persist in believing things that aren't true?”. Ah! Food for thought!  I came up with a handful of reasons

1) It would be embarrassing to admit that they are wrong. This is all about saving face. People would rather cling to misinformation than be humiliated. A hallmark of this is that a person will tell you in private that they are believing an untrue thing.

2) It is inconvenient to believe something different. A change of belief would demand action that is not possible or desired. A person would like to believe something different, but they don’t have the time, means or energy to do so.

3) Changing the belief would go against a person’s ideology. The referenced article seems to come to the conclusion that ideology is the predominate reason why people hold on to beliefs in the face of contrary information. The article used the term “misinformation” and did not say “contrary information”. I think the distinction is important. An ideological person cannot conceive that they are misinformed. They would agree that the information is contrary, and then they would turn around and state that the differing belief is misinformed.

4) The person has always believed something and doesn’t want to change. This is a mild mixture of inconvenience and ideology. In essence, the person is just being contrary themselves. The person wouldn’t have to expend much energy to change, and there is no deep seeded ideology at state, but darn, they just don’t want to change for change’s sake.

Can these be worked with? Is education the answer to addressing contrary (misinformed) beliefs? Perhaps. The contrary person, #4, can be nudged if properly motivated. The humiliated person, #1, can be nudged if a face saving avenue is given them.

#2 and #3, inconvenience and ideology, are much more difficult. Inconvenience is a powerful motivator. Ideology is the strongest motivation of all. I don’t believe that just education can overcome the belief blocks of inconvenience and ideology. IMO it takes a paradigm shift outside of mere education. The world has to change, and in doing so, either it becomes easy to believe something new or there is no reason to ardently defend contrary beliefs. Does this happen? Sometimes, yes, but until then we are perpetrators and victims of misinformation and contrary beliefs.

Some parting thoughts… My comments above assume there is such a thing as a true truth, but that is a whole other line of thought t hat that can fill books. For now consider that I am speaking to beliefs that are contrary to majority beliefs. The classic example is that the world is round, and the earth goes around the sun. Truths? Yes now, but not in the past. Is the majority always right? No, but again, that could fill another set of books. Good stuff!

Will Bret Michaels find love in 'Rock of Love 2"???

Two days ago I posted a blog that addressed a contentious subject. It was a subject that I wanted to tackle because of a series of distinctive, but yet connected, events in my life. Life can sometimes purposely draw our focus like that. I knew there would be comments as I had chosen a focal point that was itself militant in its honest, heartfelt expression. I hoped this focal point would solicit responses across the spectrum of opinion, and indeed, it did.

A spiritual lesson was revealed as I struggled to answer the many good comments to the blog. As the subject was emotional, straddling the dynamics of a heritage and the practices of individuals, there was a diverse reaction. This is good. I would expect this, as we react from our own experiences. I found myself writing, and then deleting, paragraphs from my replies. This occurred when I forced myself to LISTEN to what a person was really saying. The listening was conditioned by the knowledge that each responder was coming from a place of personal integrity. In some cases I was tempted to react with "yeah, but what if" type questions. This urge passed when I realized that the challenge on hand was not one of their being incorrect. The issue was my own experience not being synchronous with the solicited feedback.

I took some minutes to listen to the heart of each comment. I had a busy morning (smile). When a person comments, providing feedback, they offer up a part of themselves. Those who request feedback have the responsibility to react appropriately to these extensions of personality and experience. As I said, some feedback motivated me to asked too-pointed questions of rebuttal. I sensed this was inappropriate, as none of the feedback seemed to be geared to a poisonous intention. There are those who put barbs on their feedback, coating the words' destructive edges with intentional toxins. None of the replies I saw matched this least-desired form of feedback. Instead, I saw honest and heart-felt expressions. I knew there was truth in each one. The expressed feedback may not have matched my view of the world, but this is just one of the things of life. The comments were the speaker's truth, and hence, they deserved my respect and contemplative listening.

The attitude of listening worked. I found something educational in all the feedback. Sometimes I had to listen, re-listen, and then check again to discern the compassion behind the more unsynchronized remarks. It was worth the effort. In the end I had peace and learned much about the human state of claiming power. Each person who chose to respond was claiming their power, and by extension, supporting the power of others. It was a beautiful thing to realize. I put the reactive paragraphs aside. They were not needed. Listening, really looking into the heart of the words, showed me the bravery and compassion behind everyone's statements of belief.

My friend iskender had some really good comments about the nature of life. His remarks prompted me to reflect on some the secrets of life that I've cobbled together during my 41 years on this planet...

1) Life is a game.
2) You can make up your own rules.
3) Other people make up their own rules.
4) There are very few fixed rules.
5) Definitions are tools, often fluid and imprecise.
6) The common rules are there by agreement between people.
7) Do not assume agreement.
8) Connection is by choice.
9) Work for agreement.
10) Life is not fair. To pretend it is only causes grief and aggravation.
11) There are more or less equal amounts of pain and pleasure. One is often disguised as the other.
12) People are human.
13) You are human.
14) You are alone in all totality; translation: you are connected to all.
15) Your world revolves around you.
16) The goal is to find yourself.
17) Other people are life's mirrors.
18) Your creations change everything.
19) The search never truly ends.
20) Laughter and smiling are good.
21)
22) #21 the BIG secret.
23) Everything that has a beginning also has an end.
23a) Relax

The shorthand version is:

1) Life is a game.
2) Relax.