The Absence of Word
Every human is a magician, and we can either put a spell on someone with our word or we can release someone from a spell.
These are the words of Miguel Ruiz from his guide to personal freedom, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book.
Miguel describes in clear and concise terms how the most important step and yet the most difficult, on a path to personal freedom, is the ability to be impeccable with your Word. My subject today, however, is not to review his book, but to demonstrate how America today is woefully weak with impeccable word and how this is eroding the very foundation the country was built upon.
Normally I would reference one writing or another in an attempt to give credence to my opinion. It is my belief, however, that you already know this to be true because your conscience tells you so.
You are lied to everyday by your leaders in Washington. They don’t tell themselves the truth, they don’t tell each other the truth, and they don’t tell us the truth.
Then you have the media machine that uses this information - mostly bad information because it is coming from dishonest leaders - which further distorts, spins, re-creates and filters this information before they present it to you.
How then can our leaders, our media, or YOU, make a good decision, a CORRECT decision of ANY KIND with such dishonest information?
Well, a good decision cannot be made under such duress and therein lies the problem: all of us, from the top down to the bottom, are just simply unable to make correct decisions. The Word we receive is broken, splintered, twisted and mangled beyond belief. Our bad decisions then become the seeds of chaos.
What to do
Surround yourself with good Word. Examine your relationships today and embrace where you find good Words while rejecting the bad. This is usually found with family, friends, and some trusted co-workers. Since you can’t live in a bubble, seek out one or two members of the media you trust. I’m talking about trusting the person, not the machine. These media machines are usually run by ‘the man behind the curtain’. NBC News is the machine for example but Tim Russert would have been the person you would have looked to for advice within the machine. In the 60’s and 70’s, this for most Americans was Walter Cronkite, the ‘most trusted man in America’.
I made a great decision lately based on Glenn Beck’s Word. I had to ween myself off Glenn’s work about six months ago because he was trending very negative for a while. Bit. in retrospect, how could he not? He was practicing good word and merely warning us about our upcoming financial woes.
Beck carefully hinted (while not giving any financial advice) that it might be time to get out of the stock market. I did so on September 24 while the market was nearly at 11,000 (as I write this the market is at 8,500). Simply put, I trusted HIS word and not the medias nor or governments version.
I, for one, am ending my television relationship with the media and my incessant monitoring of day to day politics. Why maintain such an unhealthy relationship? They both breed anger, discomfort, and unhappiness. You certainly cannot make good decisions based on their Word so why listen at all. Rush Limbaugh has suggested that if you stop listening to the news for one week your anger will abate and you will be happy again.
Please be mindful that our country will be unable to repair itself and fulfill its Graceful Destiny without honest leaders and honest reporting. No good decisions can possibly be made until then. Somehow SPIN has become commonplace and acceptable. Yet spin it is nothing but lies only you don’t see it that way because of the spell the media has cast around that word.
As parents, you need to stop and sometimes reverse the unhealthy and negative Word your children receive every day. Our children need good mentoring and advice from someone that won’t lie to them.
I give Ruiz ‘the last word’:
Be impeccable with your word. You manifest, create and destroy with your word. Words help or hurt, make love or make hate. Words are a force, a power, a white or black magic. Hitler cast a spell with his words and his black magic became very powerful.
Todd
9/20/08
ideapalooza.com
Recommended reading:
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
October 24th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I thought this blog was EXTREMELY interesting and right on point. I haven’t watched TV in years, except when my parents come to visit. In order to be a good host, I graciously accept the fact that my Dad cannot be happy without watching CNN most of the day, and simply go to my room, turn the fan on high, and block it out. However, I DO read user submitted news on AOL, and if I didn’t I would not have linked to this blog.
I have told many people that George Bush has been caught telling so many lies that everything he says should be presumed to be false until proven otherwise. I find the same thing to be true of Sarah Palin and John McCain. In my 52 years, I’ve learned that lying is second nature for almost all Republicans and a few Democrats. I’ve listened to the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family (who love the Republicans) lie about gays and lesbians for years. Being gay with lots of gay friends - they portray something evil that is just not there in any greater proportion than the world at large. Although I have read examples of Obama stretching the truth, I do believe he is the most honest of the batch running for the White House, with Joe Biden close behind.
I think the biggest lie we have to deal with right now is who committed 9-11. If you watch “loose Change Two” and other films challenging the government’s version of events, you cannot help but believe that George Bush et al committed the atrocity of 9-11 or allowed it to happen with full knowledge. There are simply too many facts supporting that conclusion. If you don’t believe me, demand that the Dept. of Justice release security tapes from a hotel and gas station near the Pentagon that were consficated within minutes after it was supposedly attacked by terrorists. Even though it seems like a simple way to find out what happened that day, as the cameras were aimed to show exactly WHAT attacked the Pentagon. The answer you will get from the DOJ is the same answer you will get from everyone else who has tried to view those tapes: NO. Then, although 33% of Americans believe as I do, if you present your belief to the other 66%, they will immediately ridicule you while at the same time refusing to look at the evidence you looked at.
I am a Democrat, and supported Hillary in the primary before switching full force to support Obama when she lost. But, I will always remember Hillary talking about our bipartisan “9-11 report”; yet, recently read Lee Hamilton and other members of the 9-11 Commission express doubts about their own report and make statements that they believe facts were withheld from them during their investigation. BTW, they were not allowed to view the hotel or gas station security tapes either.
Then, even though I heard it many years ago, I will always remember the thought of a professor I had at San Francisco State who said that roughly one thousand people controlled our thoughs, actions, and almost all aspects of our society.
Maybe its time to start reading the overseas press.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:34 am
[...] purpose for the Promise Tracker relates back to an earlier blog, The Absence of Word, where I was lamenting the fact that neither our leaders nor we could make good decisions. We could [...]
February 21st, 2009 at 12:36 am
[...] is a slight reprise of a blog I posted in September last year The Absence of Word. It is more true now and therefore is worthy of repeating. I have increased the tone considerably [...]