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MARCH/ APRIL 2006
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| Christ as a Politician? |
| Meditation for Our Government |
| Social Investment |
| Next American Operating System |
| Printable Version |
“I could not be leading a religious life unless I identified myself
with the whole of mankind, and that I could not do unless I took part in
politics." --Gandhi
Programs/Retreats:
California:
The Secrets of Being a Practical Visionary:
Corinne McLaughlin
and Gordon Davidson
Saturday, May 20 in
San Rafael, CA
Learn how to bring your vision and action together. Benefit from the vast experience of two internationally known authors and teachers who are founders of five successful social change organizations and three businesses. Discover how the Higher Plan for human evolution is currently unfolding, and how your contribution fits within this larger context. You’ll work with a personal assessment tool to assess your strengths and weaknesses, and learn techniques for:
Contacting a reliable source of inner guidance to discover your vision;
Shaping your vision into a practical strategy;
Developing an effective action plan;
Strengthening your spiritual will;
Directing energy flows into relevant chakras;
Protecting your energy field;
Balancing your mind, heart and will for true leadership.
Pre-registration: $79 ($95 at the door); call
415-472-2540 or email
corinnemc@visionarylead.org for more info. (Restaurants are
nearby or bring a bag lunch)
YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED
Call (202)237-2800, email us or send in your contribution with the donation form and a check or credit card number.
Please send your donation to:Donation Form
Dear Friends,
With the coming of Spring we celebrate the sacred holidays of Easter, Passover, Wesak, etc. in various traditions. This is the season of rebirth, renewal, and resurrection, when the spiritual energy pouring into the planet is at its highest—a great time for meditation and spiritual retreat, opening ourselves to the increasing light.
As our Spiritual Practice this month we offer a Meditation for Our Government. Today, the U.S. Congress is passing bills on everything that affects our lives, from the air that we breathe, to the food that we eat, to our personal freedom and privacy. While we can’t keep abreast of every line item slipped into unrelated bills, we can, however, help lawmakers act from their highest selves by surrounding them in an atmosphere of spiritual light so their decisions may serve the greatest good.
We can also help create a better world by seeing our money as a spiritual asset—a powerful tool for creating change. Let’s use our money consciously by investing in socially responsible businesses and buying products produced by businesses with good employee, community and environmental practices. Socially invested funds have actually outperformed the S&P 500 over the long term, and we include an interview with one of the pioneers in this field, Amy Domini.
We can upgrade to a new political operating system if we are first willing to see our current system as a Rorschach test of where our national psyche is fixated. As Stephen Dinan writes in The Next American Operating System, we must then embrace what is virtuous and valuable, while creating a new vision that is more whole. And why not explore the possibility of the Christ or Buddha Returning as a Politician as we do in our featured article?
May a new world be born from within each of us this Spring, nourished by the warm light of Spirit!
With best wishes,
Corinne McLaughlin, Gordon Davidson and Ginger Young
NOTE: Your feedback is very important to us! Please send us your comments.
Northern Wilderness
"A ruler who governs his state by virtue is like the north polar star, which remains in place while all the other stars revolve around it.” --Confucius
A businessman or a politician, you say? Impossible! Never! But let’s reflect on this a little more deeply. Why do we have such a limited idea—that Christ can return only as a religious leader? Every religion expects the return of a great Master and some are expecting him very soon: the Christians expect the return of Christ; Buddhists expect the Maitreya Buddha; Muslims expect the Imam Mahdi; Jews expect the Messiah, etc.
Last time Christ, Buddha and other great Masters were on earth, they were primarily teachers, helping people learn how to transform themselves individually. But this time, wouldn’t a Master show us how to transform society as well?
When Christ was in Palestine 2000 years ago, he shook up expectations by being born poor. What if this time he challenged our expectations by being very rich and/or powerful in the world? What if Buddha returned, born as a prince in a palace again—but this time decided not to leave? Why not? Throughout history there have been wealthy and powerful leaders who were very spiritually advanced—King Soloman in ancient Israel, Ahknaton in Egypt, Akbar in India, Count St. Germaine in Europe, etc.
Down through the ages, in every culture, at the hour of greatest need, and in response to humanity’s invocation, a great Master has appeared—from Krishna to Buddha to Christ to Mohammed, etc. This is sometimes referred to as the Doctrine of the Avatars or Divine Messengers. And God knows, we could use a little help today!
The key to the return of a great Master is the awareness of the simple truth of God Immanent—the widespread recognition by humanity of the Divinity within each human heart. By honoring the inner divinity within ourselves and with each person, and helping others to do the same, we help prepare the way for this great return—and guarantee we’ll recognize him when he comes.
Everything in creation, every atom, every planet, every star holds within its livingness the Presence of Divinity. It is the fiery light that creates the magnetic love energy vortex we call the electron and the atom. Our physical bodies are built up of this Presence, as is every other physical form. This is part of the great revelation. We need only open our eyes--and our hearts and minds--to this living truth.
We can help precipitate this great event by creating the necessary preconditions—such as cleaning up the corruption in political, business and religious institutions and creating a greater degree of economic well-being through sharing, thus creating peace, for all.
(Since Congress is making decisions daily that affect every aspect of our lives, we suggest the following meditation and blessing. For those in other countries, please feel free to adapt this to your own situation).
Begin by taking a few deep breaths to breathe in peace and stillness; exhale and release all stress and tension….
Align with your highest self or soul and invoke the presence of the Divine by whatever name you know that transcendent reality….
Now visualize the Capitol Building, the U.S. Congress, and see all our representatives from both parties meeting together to discuss current legislation…. Visualize the entire Congress surrounded and filled with light….See light penetrating all the dark places so nothing is hidden….
Ask that any and all negative influences be removed from our representatives, so that each can align with his or her highest self….
Now visualize all our representatives thinking clearly, …. acting compassionately and wisely,….and making decisions that serve the greatest good for the greatest number of people, regardless of their party affiliations…..
Close the meditation by asking for blessings from the
Divine source for all members of Congress to strengthen, guide and protect
them.
(Please feel free to share this meditation with your friends and colleagues)
"There is almost a sensual longing for communion with others who have a large vision. The immense fulfillment of the friendship between those engaged in furthering the evolution of consciousness has a quality impossible to describe." -- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
It’s crucial for those of us who want to create a better world to pay close attention to how we spend and invest our money—we vote with our money as well as with ballots. Socially responsible investment managers often overlay a qualitative analysis of corporate policies, practices, and impacts onto the traditional quantitative analysis of profit potential. It is a process of identifying and investing in companies that meet certain standards of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). U.S. socially responsible investment assets grew faster than the rest of the investment world over the last decade, and there is now over $2 trillion dollars invested with some type of social screen.
Amy Domini is a true visionary and leader of the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) community who has written numerous books on the topic including the groundbreaking Ethical Investing, way back in 1984. She helped launch the Domini 400 Social Index in 1990 and more recently founded Domini Social Investments, which manages nearly $2 billion dollars in the Domini Social Equity Fund and new European Social Equity Fund.
CLIFF - The Domini 400 Social Index now has a 15 year track record. Why do
you think it has outperformed the S&P 500 over the long term?
AMY - The Domini 400 Social Index, which is maintained by KLD Research and
Analytics, has outperformed the S&P 500 since inception in May 1990 (493%
vs. 427% through 12/31/05). That's a particularly extraordinary statement
when you consider that during the past five years we have suffered from
many disappointing government policies. In the first place, the period saw
soaring oil prices that led to enormous windfall profits in an industry
that we in social investing largely avoid. Next, accelerated spending on
weapon systems led to higher stock prices in that industry, which we
avoid. The removal of risks and liabilities from many numbers of dirty
industries ranging from utilities to tobacco and natural resource
extraction led to a rally in these industries, also avoided by social
investors. All this happened during a time when a complete compression of
the price to earning ratio of conventional growth companies, such as is
frequently preferred by social investors, was taking place.
So why the long-term success? Those of us within the social investment
industry know that the research process is extremely detailed and paints a
particularly telling story of a corporation. The underlying culture and
the quality of management emerge through the research process. At the end
of the day, I believe that this is what has led to the overall out
performance of the Domini Social 400 Social Index vs. the S&P 500. We have
based the portfolio toward high quality management teams and companies
with strong and positive corporate cultures. These are widely viewed as
highly important to corporate performance and extremely difficult to
identify. Socially responsible investing, through its screening
methodology, has found a way to identify these important factors.
The question can be raised of whether excursions into the deeper history
of America are worthwhile. Why not simply focus on the many problems of
the present? Why are things like the genocide of Native peoples or
the esoteric links of our founding fathers relevant when we’ve got
pressing concerns like the Iraq war?
The reason I believe this exploration is now important is that we are
called to another level of consciousness as a country, an evolution of
our governing assumptions, our political structures and our national
psychology. We can envision this as an upgrade to a new operating
system -- new software for our country that builds upon the old code but
adds fundamentally new capacities, abilities, and powers.
Unlike a computer program, however, the previous operating system of our
national consciousness cannot simply be overwritten. It must be
outgrown in an integrated fashion, which means completing the unfinished
parts of the last stage of our growth, as well as understanding what is
no longer working and why. Our maturation as a country requires
coming face to face with what is no longer adaptive about our beliefs,
thoughts, and habits as well as what we’ve hidden in our shadows.
The current administration in Washington causes many who are drawn to
this new operating system great angst. In many ways, the president (and
others like him in both parties) is an exaggeration of the consciousness
that many of us feel we are outgrowing. We can fixate on what we don’t
like about him, vilify him and his allies, and build political support
against him, thinking that alone will generate the progress we need.
”I just loved your article and meditation with the Divine Mother. And what a joy and delight to see Nicholas Roerich's Mother of the World--one of my all time favorites.” --Sharon Rose, Maui, Hawaii
“What a strong and helpful lead article you wrote for this month's newsletter. Providing sources for people to use, as they allow their passion to lead them, is such a good nudge. I expect that many people will pass it on to others to encourage them to move into hands-on work in the world. Thank you for your work in the world!” --Pat Palmer, San Rafael, CA
“I really enjoyed your article 'Bringing Heaven Down to Earth'. It’s like Hercules cleaning the Agean stables - it is THE thought now. I read it everywhere, in all spheres, even in my life. Our work is where we were planted - there to bloom - if we can access the light and water!” –Kiki Bill, Washington, DC
“I write
to you from The Synthesis Group in Denmark. We are doing a homepage for
the group, and we want to have some interesting articles. We think about
the one you wrote, 'Bringing Heaven Down
to Earth.' I have translated it, and we would like to use it in our
homepage, and the same with articles from you in the future.”—Anne
Pedersen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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