The Road to Joy

by | Tuesday, November 23, 2010 | World View | 1 comment

As most of you know, I have been warning of the current financial situation for years.  Yet few understood what I was saying and most just wondered why a ‘spiritual teacher’ was talking about such things.  John Adams put it well in the quote below.

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All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation. – John Adams

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The irony is that this global crisis could be healed overnight if the world would just listen to his words and act upon them, but that is not likely to happen.  Is it?

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How difficult it is to see a tragedy coming, reach out and warn about it, and then watch the world in synchronized step march down that road into oblivion.  How perplexing to see someone holding a gun to his foot, and in spite of all my pleading, the trigger is pulled anyway.  How completely mind boggling that after that is done, the next foot is targeted and in spite of all my pleading, the trigger is pulled again.

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Yet we are making progress, particularly in the group consciousness of our Surya family.  I know that in time, the world will wake up.  The only question is how long it will take and how much unnecessary suffering will occur in the meantime.

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All we can do is our best, and that is what I am doing.  The technology to heal this world on all levels (not just economically) is there.  How difficult to have that knowledge in a world so committed to the road to oblivion.  Yet we will not stop.

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In time, the road to joy will become the main traveled path for the people of this world.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Comment & Response

by | Sunday, October 10, 2010 | Spirituality, World View

I received the following inquiry regarding my recent blog The Mortgage Shell Game:

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Many people I know are at the cross-roads of making a decision.  Even within my family we debate this.    When the government and the financial system is corrupt beyond belief, and apparently is out to destroy the middle class and steal our savings and homes by a variety of means, do we continue to pay them our taxes, our mortgage payments, and the fruits of our HONEST labor to reward their DISHONESTY?

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I am a revolutionary by nature, but I also value integrity.  Although your recent blog spoke to this somewhat in the larger spiritual sense, I am curious if you have a perspective on the morality debate.  Do we “render unto Ceasar”  as Christ suggested in similar circumstances,  emulate passive resistance as suggested by Ghandi (the salt tax episode), or what?  Sure we look forward to Sat Yuga, but sometimes we are called to action and not passivity in the face of a threat to our way of life at a minimum, and perhaps for many it may literally be life threatening as the crisis unfolds.

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Tricky territory for a spiritual leader to speak into, but curious if you dare….

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To which I respond:

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First, it is important to not be passive or silent.  In America, if not the entire world, we do seem to have a habit of ‘falling asleep’ as with Pearl Harbor and 9/11.  This occurred with the financial system in many ways (Wall Street, banking, and politics, as well).  I have spoken out on these matters for years now, but in the past, few would listen.  My views seemed to be considered somewhat eccentric and extreme.  In light of current news and events, that has changed.  People are listening with interest.

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In America, as with Pearl Harbor, we have a history of waking up from a deep sleep with passion, conviction, and action.  I believe it has now once again begun and we will see what the upcoming elections bring.  Our nation is sobering up.  The pendulum of life swings and it is now swinging from a state of irrational oblivion to a perspective of concrete realism.  It will not occur overnight, and certainly not with one round of elections.  However, the pendulum has begun to swing.

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It is not a time to panic.  It is a time to stay on course with a steady hand on the rudder to guide us out of the storm we currently find ourselves in.  Certainly, if it continued the way it was going, we could have reached a point of no return.  But, we are now in a time where waking up from the oblivion is no longer a rare thing, but is becoming the predominant understanding of all the people.  Now that the people have awakened, it will take time and effort to regroup and rebuild.  Some will resist, still hoping for a free lunch.

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However, a new more enlightened approach will rise, if everyone remains awake and speaks up.  It is within our grasp for the swinging pendulum to catapult us to a time of greater maturity, morality, human decency and rationality.  The potential for success is still in our hands.  The potential for a Golden Age is there.

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As for my advice to individuals spiritually, financially, and otherwise, it all remains the same as it has been throughout the years.  Do the Surya Ram Meditation twice daily, take time to reflect and ponder, and act with financial common sense.  I have gone into great detail regarding the ‘how to’ for all of those things.  As you know, it is not a simpleton cookbook as the time of oblivion might have lead one to believe.

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Decide what it is you want for the long term and create it!  If at all possible, as I have said many times, you would do well to live at Mount Soma.  If that is not possible, you would do well to ‘make the pilgrimage’ to Mount Soma as often as possible.  The most powerful tool you have is alignment with natural law.  This is of course true in good times as well as difficult times.  Mount Soma is a community developed fully for the purpose of aligning the individual, the community, the nation, and the world with natural law.

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Good advice is all around you.  The question is: Do you know it when you hear it?

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

The Mortgage Shell Game

by | Thursday, October 7, 2010 | World View | 2 comments

Some years ago, when the Wall Street derivative crisis surfaced, I pointed out that the real culprit was the computer boom.  Our government was simply caught asleep while Wall Street created a huge, virtual, gambling-casino, card-house with computers.  The multiple leveraging and complexity resulted in a complex maze of indebtedness with essentially no real assets securing the investments.

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Essentially, the computer boom once again created a similar complex maze in the mortgage industry.  Banks sold mortgages multiple times all through computer transactions.  The original documents were lost.  Now, banks are unable to foreclose without being able to present those original documents.  It has created a 1.4 trillion dollar mess.  Homeowners can make a play to legally claim they owe nothing.  Courts may well be bound to agree.  Legislators may need to step in to avert total chaos.

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The complexity didn’t stop there.  Banks could shuffle around money so quickly within the cyberworld that it became like a shell game.  Money could appear and disappear instantly under whatever shell  they wanted it to.  This is where the money came from for many of those mortgages.  Strictly speaking, the banks didn’t even have the money they loaned.  It was a big financial shell game.

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It is yet to be seen what calamities will arise due to the government’s inability (perhaps understandable inability) to keep up with the complexities of the exploding computer world of the financial markets.

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Big financial companies like Goldman Sachs made fortunes.  They started out bankrupting small companies to reap huge financial rewards.  For example, selling AIG useless paper.  They went on to create such complex financial structures that regulatory agencies were unable to identify deviations from regulations.  This enabled them to put companies so far in debt, they were unable to stay afloat.  Not satisfied with those millions, the financial industries moved onto nations.  For example, Greece, which ended up far more in debt than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would ever have allowed.

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George Soros has made billions by destroying currencies.  For example, Malaysia and Britain.  Some believe he has now moved on to the United States as his next victim.  The finesse and complexity of these markets eludes government inspectors.  With increased regulations, some of the little guys will be caught.  But the big fish will remain unscathed.

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It is really nothing new for big financial powers to manipulate the market from behind the scenes.  The great depression of the 1930’s was created for profit.  The good news is that computers are making information readily available to all the people.  I look forward to the time when all cards are face up and the financial markets operate in a harmonious and life-supporting manner.  This cannot be done through regulation alone.  The regulators are simply no smarter than those whom they regulate.  Positive global transformation can only come about through elevation of world consciousness.  That is our domain.  It is our purpose.  By watering the root of life, all aspects of life blossom.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Paraprosdokian Sentences

by | Wednesday, September 22, 2010 | World View

I received the following email and thought you might get some chuckles from it.

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A Paraprosdokian (from Greek “παρα-“, meaning “beyond” and “προσδοκία”, meaning “expectation”) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists.

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Some Paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis.

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• I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
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• Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
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• I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my  grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.
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• Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
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• The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on the list.
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• Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
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• If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.
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• We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
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• War does not determine who is right – only who is left.
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• Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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• The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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• Evening news is where they begin with ‘Good evening’, and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.
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• To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
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• A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
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• How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
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• Some people are like Slinkies … not really good for anything, but you can’t help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.
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• Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of  captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.
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• I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted pay checks.
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• A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can  prove that you don’t need it.
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• Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says “If an emergency, notify:” I put “DOCTOR”.
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• I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
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•  I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with “Guess” on it… so I said “Implants?”
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• Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
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• Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
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• Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America ?
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• Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.
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• A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
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• You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
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• The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!
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• Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.
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• A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.
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• Hospitality:  making your guests feel like they’re at home, even if you wish they were.
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• Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
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• I discovered I scream the same way whether I’m about to be devoured by or seaweed touches my foot.
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• Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.
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• There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away.
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• I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not sure.
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• I always take life with a grain of salt, plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.
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• When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.
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• You’re never too old to learn something stupid.
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• To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
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• Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
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• Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people.  Others have no imagination whatsoever.
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• A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.
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• If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people have more than one child?
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• Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Koran Burning

by | Friday, September 10, 2010 | Spirituality, World View

I received the following question:

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I was wondering if Michael would be willing to comment on the proposed Koran burning by a Christian (anti-Islam) pastor in Florida (which most people find objectionable) and the right to free speech.  How do we reconcile respecting this man’s right to free speech and supporting religious tolerance?

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to which I respond:

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To have a Koran burning would be a juvenile lashing out that would only exacerbate tensions and trigger more juvenile acts in response… children fighting.  Where are the adults??  In a mature society such an act would not take place.  Furthermore, if it did take place, it would not receive the same attention.  People would simply shake their heads, roll their eyes, and walk away.  That response would give it no energy and it would then be of no significance.

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The alternative, attempting to limit freedom of speech, is a dangerous path.  Maybe our cause is moral and just.  However the next individual in power may not have the same moral stature and could then abuse the precedent already established and limit freedom of speech with a despicable intent.

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There then appears to be an irresolvable dilemma. Limiting freedom of speech or not… either way has undesirable consequences.  Life is riddled with an unlimited number of such dilemmas… each with no solution on its own level.

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But there is a solution.  We must look deeper.  We must evolve human consciousness.  This is done by removing the stresses, strains, and impurities from the physiologies of all people.  By so doing, people will behave maturely and responsibly.  Mutual respect, harmony, and maturity will reign.

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Such mature and desirable behavior cannot be delegated.  However, it can be cultivated.  That, quite simply, is the exact thing we are offering to the world.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

The Internet

by | Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | World View

The internet has become such a vast source of a great plethora of knowledge.  There are so many approaches to everything and those approaches are right at our fingertips on the World Wide Web.  This knowledge will facilitate the evolution of humanity.

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If we go deeply enough into anything, we find the unified field because it underlies everything. As knowledge becomes more available, we are going to go deeper. We will reflect and find deeper and deeper levels of truth within our own Selves.

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The internet is a catalyst for opening up awareness. Use it wisely.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.

Culture

by | Friday, July 23, 2010 | World View

What ingredients are necessary to make a culture great, large, and enduring, like the Golden Ages of the Chinese Dynasties or the Egyptian Empires?  For anything to powerfully rise up in nature and be sustained, it must be in harmony with nature.  If not, it would not receive any support.

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For a culture to have become great, there must have been a number of highly evolved people coming together and giving birth to that culture.  Otherwise it wouldn’t rise up.  It’s not possible.

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An Excerpt from Unconditioned Spirit.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.