Cool Mind Warm Heart

Sometimes We Must Risk It All

You have to reject one expression of the band before you can have another.  And in between you have nothing.  You have to risk it all. 
~ Bono (of the band U2), in the documentary “From the Sky Down”.

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the essay

Fear Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize

 

What powerful teachers all forms of fear are, leading us to happiness with reminders of what deserves our loving attention.  And because we humans are a little dense at this stage of the game, to get our attention, some of those reminders are excruciating.

the whole essay

The Price of Beliefs

One hundred fifty years ago this month (1861) our nation’s Civil War began.  More than 600,000 participants died because those with the influence to bring about such devastation trusted that they understood the mind of God––at least enough to create enemies and kill them. 

Seventy years ago this month (1941) in Annapolis, Maryland (according to John McPhee in his essay “Spin Right Shoot Left”), the lacrosse team of the United States Naval Academy refused to take the field if Lucien Alexis, Jr., of Harvard did, too.  Alexis was black.  Harvard sent him home.  Of course, both institutions, I’m sure, were convinced they represented the noblest ideals of our nation, and indeed of humankind.

Surely we can all think of examples today of how such ignorance manifests itself...maybe even in ourselves, if you can believe it.

The CEO Speaks of Heartbreak

My client, a CEO, opens his heart, and I dive deep to translate into words his meaning, his spirit.  Once or twice a month we create a message to his entire company.  I share this particular one with you because it’s about living up to our own ideals in the face of tremendous pain––a challenge familiar to us all.

The Gold in Niggers and Injuns

The push to change the words “nigger” and “injun” in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, because the so-called offensive nature of those terms might limit today’s readership and appreciation of that literary classic, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how we avoid taking responsibility for our feelings––and therefore miss the chance to become more awake, more whole, more useful friends to one another.

Freedom From Fear

It is not that you must be free from fear.  The moment you try to free yourself from fear, you create a resistance against fear.  Resistance, in any form, does not end fear.  What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear;  that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it.  We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it, not how to resist it through courage and so on.

~ J. Krishnamurti

Stoke the Sacred Fire, Or Piss on It

Perhaps the greatest blessing of the health care “debate” has nothing to do with the historic legislation passed by Congress, but rather how well that “debate” reveals the high level of fear that permeates our society (and, for all I know, every society on earth).  

Why a blessing?

Managing fear is among those practices essential to becoming a person able to respond with kindness to whatever life presents.  We may never become that person completely, but the journey itself can get pretty darn joyful.  Sadly, at this point in human evolution, fear management is about as well-developed in many of us as sky-diving onto a postage stamp.  

Big Love, Small Love

 The universe is full of beautiful irony.  Take love, for instance.

Big Love is among the rarest of human emotions because it is so pure and life-affirming.  Small Love is among the most common of human emotions because it is so messy and destructive.  Yet, it is only through Small Love, what you might call our humanness, that we come to treasure and embrace Big Love, our divinity, our true self. 

TO COMMUNICATE WELL

My professional history has caused me to be asked on occasion, “What will it take for us to communicate effectively with the world?”  Over the years, the first words out of my mouth have become, “Learn to manage fear.” 

Eyebrows have been known to hit the skylight in response—“fear” being the most despised four-letter word in American business, if not everywhere.  No surprise, really.  We fear most what we understand least.

So I offer my two cents.

Kissing Professor Gates

The universe certainly gave professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. of Harvard a big smooch.

It arrived at his doorstep dressed as a police officer.  Of course it wasn’t really a police officer.  It never is.  It was, rather, metaphysically speaking, a mirror.  Its purpose was to show the well-honored professor a part of himself that, should he choose to pay attention to it, would grow his self-understanding, and thus his compassion.

“Oh, youhoo, professor Gates,” said the universe, “you have at least one pretty big belief that’s weighing you down, you beautiful creature.  Here, let us show it to you; maybe you don’t need to hold it so tightly.”