Stray Thoughts

She was never one of our authors, but like others in the field we are indebted to her. This obit from the New York Times.

Marilyn Ferguson, New Age Author, Dies at 70

By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: November 4, 2008

Marilyn Ferguson, whose 1980 book “The Aquarian Conspiracy” became a bible of the New Age movement, died on Oct. 19 at her home in Banning, Calif. She was 70.

The cause was believed to be a heart attack, said her daughter Kristin Ferguson Smith, of Los Angeles.

Continue reading Marilyn Ferguson, New Age Author, Dies at 70

A friend’s comment on the election sent me remembering a poem I wrote years ago that is, perhaps, not nearly as true today as it was then.

Continue reading America’s Sin

It just feels so damn good to be proud of my country again! Not that a Democrat defeated a Republican, but that hope triumphed over fear.

It seems to me that this initial speech as president-elect strikes exactly the right tone, looking for reconciliation, cooperation and reconstruction. We’re still a fortunate people, still leading the pack.

This transcript via http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/04/politics/p215742S46.DTL

President-elect Barack Obama’s remarks in Chicago
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Text of Democrat Barack Obama’s speech in Chicago after winning the presidential election, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:

OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Continue reading President-elect Barack Obama’s remarks in Chicago

Nothing in our life is more dualistic than the concept of elections. In any given race, only one person can win; at least one person, and often more, must lose. It’s hard to turn that situation into a win-win. I wonder, sometimes, that we get any cooperation at all out of our elected representatives, given that their first priority, if they want to be reelected, must be to claim all possible credit and cast all possible blame upon their opposite numbers. If they don’t play the game that way, chances are they will be defeated and replaced by someone else who will.

Years ago I read a very enlightening book by a man named Charles Hampden-Turner called Radical Man , in which he argued, from a psychological viewpoint, that when people spend enough time seeing things in a dualistic manner, they can lose the ability to perceive opportunities for cooperation across whatever lines separate them from their opponents.

Continue reading Election Day Thoughts

In the final couple of days of the long election process, there is one effective thing we as individuals can still do, to work for a beneficial outcome. Inner work. It doesn’t look effective to the outside world, but the inner world shapes the outer.

If you want this election to put this country on the right course, here’s something you can do. Take a few minutes, get into a quiet mental place, and do the following meditation. Do it with emotion. Feel what you want, and put that feeling into the visualization.

Visualize this:

Continue reading An election meditation