Summer Solstice and Precision of Language

Today at 2:43pm, Pacific time, marks the Summer Solstice.

We often mistakenly label this as "the longest day of the year," but what this day really is is the day with the most daylight, of the year.

In many places, there will be "Midsummer Celebrations" on this day. Again, this is a funny label to use, given that today actually marks the first day of summer.

Don't get me wrong, I do love this time of the year!

However, thinking about the longest day of the year and midsummer made me also reflect on the myriad ways in which we tend to "mislabel" the things of life... and the resultant confusions that arise, sometimes leading to anger, arguments and even fights and wars.

"Precision of Language" is a term that is used in the book and subsequent movie "The Giver," and considers this exact issue we face, as part of the human experience.

I wonder how much strife and how many hurt feelings could be avoided if people paid more attention to the precision of their words. when they speak.

Waiting For "Something" to Happen

"When I finish my classes, I will get in shape!"

"When I have a new car, I'll be on time for work!"

"When I have more time, I'll take up Yoga!"

I'd hazard a guess that there are very few people on the planet who have not used the "when... then" line of thinking to sidestep the fact that they are avoiding doing something, or feeling resentful about something they don't like doing, or being passive-aggressive about something.

We all have things in our lives we feel deeply resistant about, for any number of reasons.

For any other number of reasons — most of them relating to our personal image or ego — we avoid being honest about them for fear others will somehow think less of us, or think us lazy and unmotivated, or it does suit our own "personal mythologies" to face the truth.

However, there is a great release and relief in letting go of the need for deception. These are psychological and spiritual burdens we can lay down... and it actually creates space in our essence for more important and relevant things!

What deceptions can you let go of?

Friday the 13th — Are You Feeling Lucky?

People subscribe to funny superstitions.

Take, for example, that today is Friday the 13th, and that's supposedly "bad luck."

We aren't even entirely sure where the belief comes from, although some assert that it comes from there being 13 people present at Jesus' last supper, and then he was crucified on Good Friday.

That seems full of holes to me, since the idea of Friday the 13th being unlucky dates to maybe the 19th century... not the time of Christ.

The whole thing, though, does cause one to wonder why we — as a species — seem to fascinated with calamitous disaster scenarios. Makes me me want to just ask the disaster mongers what they believe they will have, if their scenarios come to pass.

Born Again, and Reincarnation, and All That Rot

The idea of reincarnation can be pretty fascinating, but it's also something that often travels along a road filled with complete nuts.

I always find it quite amazing just how many people will assert that they "were Cleopatra" or they "were Alexander the Great" in a past life.

They were this famous person and that celebrity, and on and on. Few were "an indentured servant who slaved in the fields till they died of cholera at 34."

I have examined a handful of my own "inexplicable memories" and — as far as I can tell — I was never a "famous" person.

I've been a dirt poor fisherman on the west coast of Scotland, a blacksmith in the Viking age, and a Black woman with a killer body and a scarred face. At least that I can be reasonably sure of.

Of course, I could also be a total quack...

Spiritual Cussing, and Other Dubious Notions

How can you possibly claim to be "spiritual" and "conscious" if your language includes cusswords?

People ask questions like that, typically because I have used some kind of "salty language" on these pages. Their reaction suggests to me that perhaps they are more concerned with the packaging of a message than with its content.

Cussing does not necessarily distract from a message; sometimes it emphasizes and underscores.

When we choose to become offended by something — without looking at the greater context — we are usually dealing with old conditioning; with processing the idea that something is "bad" without actually questioning what is going on in that very moment. Perhaps we were told in church that "using a bad word" is a sin, no matter what.

Consciousness is also about being able to assess and evaluate the situations we are in, and engage accordingly and appropriately.

Know the difference between disrespect and simply making a point.

Besides, everyone shits and fucks.

In the end, It's STILL all about Money...

An assorted number of so-called "Gurus" will talk at length about the evils of money, and people's attachments. There's also a lot of spiritual mumbo-jumbo circulating about "one" should forsake material interests (aka "money") in order to live a truly spiritual life.

It all pretty much amounts to a pile of bullshit.

Yes, I just said that.

Let's just start with the fact that abovesaid gurus typically are happy to sell you a $3500 subscription to their "Three Year Program" in which they teach you not to care about money.

Of course, that makes sense, because you'd need to "not care about money" while your pockets are being drained.

Newsflash!

Forsaking wealth and things material does not make you "more spiritual."

Living in a tin shack in the ghetto does not make you "more spiritual."

Living in some Ashram where you sleep on the floor and eat three bean sprouts and a single lettuce leaf daily does not make you "more spiritual."

What (perhaps!) makes you "more spiritual" is giving up being driven by the need to make money and accumulating wealth.

Just take the money out of the driver's seat and put it in the back seat instead. But don't kick it out of a moving vehicle, into traffic. That's just stupid, and counterproductive.

Besides, most people just function better when they have a bed, indoor plumbing and regular meals. It makes you a lot less grumpy.

Just something to think about.

Do we just CARE less and less?

In the circles of Very Spiritual People™, there is a lot of talk of mindfulness, presence and all that good stuff.

Most people in the healing and spiritual fields spread the good word of the value of these, in hopes of creating a better world.

Which, of course, is a fine and dandy thing to do.

A lot of the time, however, it feels like an uphill battle. There seems to be a pervasive subtext in our world to "not care," as a way of life.

Some of it seems to have to do with the recent "regime change," here in the USA. "Telling it how it is" and running roughshod over others seems to be de rigeur these days.

Can't say I care much for that.

Seems like kindness, compassion and empathy have been given a swift kick in the teeth. People care less and less, and are more and more involved in simply "getting things their way."

Can't say that I like it very much...