To Errol is Human

LEARNING TO TRUST! In order to relax, you have to believe that the ground that supports you will continue to support you…no matter how creative a step you may take. And why would you trust that? Well, you trust it all the time. Every time you take a step, you're actually falling and meeting the ground which predictably and even comfortably breaks your fall and gives you the impulse to take the next step. And you know how you discovered that incredible level of trust…well, here we have to take you back to when you were a little younger…when you were just learning to walk. Remember that? ("Expletive of your own choosing"), it was probably one of, if not, the most important things that you will ever consciously learn, and you don't even remember learning it? What's with that! Think about what you must have done to learn that "trust." After all, you didn't just learn how to walk, you learned how to trust. My dance teacher in college, Harriett Ann G

Escaping from the Want/Should jail cell of your own making… your "Get Out of Jail Free Card, Part I Many of us spend a great deal of our life caught in the want/should jail. It's a simple cell…on one side beckoning to you is what you want to do . Your expectation: you'll feel relieved or happy or pleasured. On the other side of your cell there's what you think you should do, or even more demanding and hateful, is what you believe you have to do. "If I don't do that , then I will experience the opposite of being relieved, happy or pleasured. I will be visited by pain or loss…and quite possibly…piss someone off. (That angry some one or some thing will likely let you know it in a way that won't be fun, to remind you that you can't just do what you want. You may even take on the role of that pissed off someone…it's called "guilt.") Examples: the things you don't want to do to make money, to survive, to not get caught. The things you d

Once you start off on a spiritual journey, you will be assigned several companions. One of them is "Yeah, but..." Every time you attempt to step more fully into self-realization and spiritual intent, especially in the early stages, you can pretty well count on "Yeah, but..." to show up at your door. As expected, "Yeah, but…" came by to see me today. I was attempting to hang out with another companion, "Why Worry? God's got you covered." Now "Yeah, but..." always brings an entourage. You've heard of "Yes men." Well, "Yeah, but..." brings along a lot of " "Yeah, but... men" --Lobbyists, witnesses and experts to prove its case and justify its position. ("You won't have enough money." "Nobody cares for you." "People are undependable. "Get what you can while you can." "You can't trust men... or women." "Life on this planet is doomed u

"Hmm...what do I feel like doing today?" wonders God. Let me guess. God is in the mood for…love--to experience life in his/her universe loving through and as us? Possibly, but, as it turns out, she can only do that consistent with her nature. That's where you come in. "But…what is her nature? Isn't it love?" you may ask. Yes, but it also depends on her mood. God is very moody. For instance, if God is what's behind everything, animating existence, infinitized … clearly God can be moody if not out right… fractious... Between perfect stillness and the Big Bang…well…there's a lot of mood swings going on. Most any mood you could ever be in…not to mention, all that's followed the Big Bang. Talk about moody! So that brings it back to us . How does God experience his/her universe as us and stay consistent with her nature? Or more to the point…what are you in the mood for? When you're in the mood for pancakes…or veal ptarmigan… great sex… a ride on t

Since the two impediments to peace and love are fear and ignorance, we can safely say that, "It's the Fear, Stupid." What we need to recognize to get started on the journey to global recovery. My friend, James, stopped by the coffee house today (my office away from home-office--Peet's café in San Anselmo, CA) and confirmed what I had suspected are the biggest impediments to a successful and healthy society… I had shared with him this passage from Bill Bradley's' book, The New American Story where Bill says, "The only things that can stop us are fear, ignorance, self-centeredness, and greed." James' top two picks of the week for the main villains dragging humanity around in the mire of disease, destruction and suffering were fear and ignorance. So how does one or how do we, as a collective, diffuse the fear and educate the ignorant, especially when the ignorant are too frightened to be educated or to ignorant to know that they are run by fear? T

Let's face it, it's nice to share a meal with someone you can relate to. When I want heartfelt comfort and soul nourishment…it really is immensely satisfying to know that I am in a relationship with a very intimate "Other"…and indeed, the more I surrender (snuggle up) to that Other-ness, the more I recognize that the other enjoys companionship just as much as I do. The meal just tastes better when we're sharing the same grass. But just to keep the scales balanced (I am a Libra), I love grazing in the open fields of un-endingness and non-distinction…it's relaxing, it's satisfying, there's no resistance and there's more than enough to go around. So let's face it...it's good to abide in "both/and".. which calls me to be a compassionate "other" when life needs "me-othering" and as permeating presence in the pastures of consciousness when distinction just gets in the way. So, thanks Jesus and thanks Buddha. Even tho

"When you make the person of God your significant other, every other person you meet becomes…… significant." ES I live in Buddhist Country…there are a lot of Buddhists around here in West Marin, S.F. Bay area. I'm not sure whether Buddhists believe in a personal God…a God that can be known as "Other". I don't think so. After all, how can there actually be an "other" in a non-dualistic universe…and yet…there is obviously personality distinction. I deal with others all the time…and if I forget or deny them their "other-ness," they are quick to remind me just how not them I am. Is God "Other? Is there just Being (and non-being)? How important is it to even make a distinction? And more importantly, how does one concept or the other affect our lives? ("Who's on first?") I'm kind of a both/and kind of guy. I like it that at the sub-atomic level…sometimes energy appears as particle and in other circumstances, as a wave

Who is the Enemy? (From Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf (c) 1970-1991 (I may not have written it, but I certainly have pondered it)...Love to get your comments. How does this affect you? How can you step up and be and/or follow the Servant Leader. (If you haven't been exposed to Robert Greenleaf's work on "Servant Leadership" well worth checking it out, that is if quality leadership for our society is important to you) Who is the enemy? Who is holding back more rapid movement to the better society that is reasonable and possible with available resources? Who is responsible for the mediocre performance of so many of our institutions? Who is standing in the way of a larger consensus on the definition of the better society and paths to reaching it? Not evil people. Not stupid people. Not apathetic people. Not the "system." Not the protesters, the disrupters, the revolutionaries, the reactionaries. Granting that fewer evil, stupid or apathetic peop

What do do when, " So you thought you had it all figured out." shows up in your face...like, no matter how much you think you want it, what you want is wagging its thumb at you.' Like when you bump up against your capacity to control your life and make it feel the way you want it to make you feel... Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, bozo!" "The inevitable confrotation," my brother-in-law Phil used to call it. And when we asked him to translate it, he smacked us a good one... "Pain buoyo, pain." And indeed the pain that he precipated reverberated in my head. "Oh That." "Yes, that." As the Buddha pointed out so well to us, "Yeah, there's suffering. Yeah, suffering sucks. But wait! There's an end to suffering Don't let your suffering suck you." Withdraw your attention from the world of thought and perception as long as you possibly can and as often as possible... and while your there abide in total wonder an

AND HOW DO YOU FIX IT? I asked myself the question…is there a specific, even single impetus for the mass amount of dysfunctionality experienced by humankind? "Yes," came the reply from the digitized burning bush, "Just type in the following letters in this particular sequence (not case sensitive) and you'll have your answer." "Okay." "B-E-T-R-A-W-A-L" "Well, when you put it like that…" was my almost first response when the "AWAL" at the end of the word jumped out at me. Then the digitized burning bush continued, anticipating my next, inevitable question… "Here's how it works." "It is the accumulated experience of life not responding to you the ways you'd like or expect it to, and, depending on the severity or the quantities of the pain, you will tend to respond to these betrayals with one of or a combination of the following five reaction states: ANGER, CYNICISM, DENIAL, SELF-BETRAYAL, PARANOIA, as a

Be honest now. Are you hiding from love? How would you know? Why would you do that? What is so threatening about love? Did you even ever consider that you may be hiding out from love? What do we mean by love? For many of us the closest we get to love is in ecstatic embrace, whether it be with a lover, with the child that can often emerge from that embrace, a beautiful sunset, riding down the rapids of the Colorado River, either catching an impossible-to-catch ball or someone you care about catching it, (or even someone you don't). These phenomena are saturated with love and demand our full attention, which we are usually delighted to give. You might even say... like the commercial, "I'm lovin' it." That's the love that I am referring to. The take-your-breath-away kind of love. The kind of love that leaves you saying, "If it all ended right now, this would have made my life worth while... (But I'll gladly take seconds.") The great paradox of human

DOES SOMETHING NEED TO CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE? WELL, GUESS WHAT? CHANGE MEANS CHANGING HABITS. Okay, you want to change? Something needs to change? Someone? Our recently elected president came to office on a commitment to change. Any honest observer knows that we need to change. If you're experiencing any kind of frustration, obviously, you want things to be different than they are. That's change. Options for change… Change the circumstances Change your mind/perception/self While we may desire change and feel we need it, we often overlook the fact that change involves changing a habit. Habits by their very nature resist change. But unless you're willing to recognize that you need to actually change a habit for change to occur, forget it, change ain't going to happen, including the habit of not wanting to change—(after all, if it changes…it just might get worse). Did you ever notice, you'll get this great urge to change something in your life…in the world…and

Pre-Flight Instructions By Errol Strider Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking I'd like to welcome you aboard flight one-for-all en route to Mt. Omega, with continuing service to higher awareness , unlimited possibility, and ubiquitous consciousness. We will be travelling at an altitude of as-high-as-we-can-get. Our in-flight magazine, Universe Traveler is located inside your mind. It contains interesting particles as well as information about the in flight leverage selections and a wide choice of mental faculties. To be assured that your mind won't run amuck, fasten your seat belt by inserting the mental tip when you buckle. You will find your mental tip at the outermost edge of your assumptions.. You have the additional option of tightening by grasping or feel more secure by letting go. To release your will, lift the mental flack where you last buckled. Feel free to take the mental tip with you as our gift.. Today's mental tip is "