GENERATIONAL SHIFT

The More Things Change…
A Generational Perspective about Moral Choice

January 2020

I was at a loss about what to write for this month’s article.  I considered all that’s going on right now, including this special time of year.  I believe the widespread dysfunction, hostility, and anger needed addressing… especially because of the time of year.  I wanted to write something that would be helpful… that would create hope.  I pondered… and nothing surfaced.

So, I looked through old articles and interviews that I’d done… to see if anything struck a chord… and I saw an article about a talk I gave to a Rotary Club in Vallejo California on January 4th, 2001.  What immediately struck me was how little had changed… like the adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

THEN… I was addressing a multi-generational audience… of diverse backgrounds… all trying to make their community better… all rushing around trying to accomplish more than is possible each day… sound familiar?

 

Generational Shift

The difference was that —in 2001— we Babyboomers were the middle generation.  We were at our operational peak… frenetically doing… going way to fast to notice that our world was quietly crumbling around us.  And because it wasn’t distracting enough to be seen… we didn’t notice… our eyes were elsewhere.  (There was lots of glitter and distraction then too.)

As I read the reporter’s synopsis of my talk… I was struck that what was happening then is still happening… actually, even more…the only difference is that now we’ve graduated to the senior generation… so now there are two generations behind us… who appear to be more bewildered than we were at their age.

TODAY… I hope my message resonates with all of our current generations… because even though we all see things through our own filters and experiences… it’s important to see that it affects us all… and that indeed, not much has changed, especially around this time of the year… a time when Faith and Hope collide with our most intense materialistic bingeing.

 

Holiday Materialism…

Has made huge advances since 2001… thanks to huge advances in technology.  Our current “instant gratification on steroids” society only adds to the intensity that we call daily life… then add in holidays.

• This makes staying in any semblance of balance extremely challenging…
• And is counter-intuitive since the reason for all the rushing is to achieve a version of the “American Dream”…
• Which means “shop till we drop” as a way of expressing our “holiday” spirit.

If that’s the choice, then color me “anti-holiday”.  Why?  Because it shouldn’t be about “holiday” spirit – (as in the secular term for the Christmas season), it should be about CHRISTmas spirit… a time that SHOULD celebrate and encourage our Spiritual selves… to nurture and encourage Faith and Hope.  I avoid the “holiday” spirit because the result of this colossal energy drain is exhaustion… which takes us further out of balance.

 

Three Energies

Envision us as living three legged stools… where the state of our energetic balance is dependent on a continual and “even” growth of our three energetic aspects.  When we focus primarily on “Mind” stuff, to the exclusion of “Spirit” stuff, a “short” leg is created, which overall creates imbalance.  The more one leg is emphasized, the more imbalance is created.  Imagine placing a load (daily life) on this tipping platform… the results become predictable.

Over the years I’ve learned that the “Body” leg grows as a result of a combined “Spirit” and “Mind” leg growth… which makes sense once we understand that our body is the result and integration of spiritual and intellectual energy.  When these energies are equally participating, our body benefits and thrives. (See Faith not Fear)

This analogy describes all our current generations.  Personal (egoic) achievement and material  accumulation are not satisfying the spiritual needs we have.  This Spiritual void is creating an imbalance… enough to cause us to feel unstable.

Has it always been this way?
Does history give us guidance on this most important aspect of our walk?
Yes… if we look back to our founding period.

 

Eternal Truths

The founders, who also lived in emotionally tumultuous times, were exceptionally balanced… some would say divinely balanced.  Why?  Because they were aware of —and immersed in— the eternal truths.  They understood and lived concepts like honor, stewardship, service and contributing to the greater good… without a lot of external distraction.  The eternal truths tempered them to be civil and poised.  These honorable men understood and actualized the principles necessary for keeping these three critical energies in balance.

They recognized that adhering to these principles created the necessary bridge to carry them away from British servitude and toward American self-reliance… with all its associated benefits and responsibilities.  Thankfully, they reduced to paper the elusive emotional essence of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of  Happiness”.

Also, they intimately understood their responsibility to provide good leadership to the people of the colonies… leadership that would further an atmosphere of Hope and Trust as outlined in the founding documents.

 

Contemporary Beliefs

TODAY… the majority of our population innately knows that something is dreadfully wrong with the way our country is functioning, and for the most part, refuse to ask what that might be.  WHY?  The answer should be obvious… if we ask what’s wrong, then some part of us feels obligated to fix it.

You know… don’t you?
Is that any way for an owner to act?
What’s more important than protecting our freedoms?
We are acting more like renters and squatters than owners!!

Our problem is that we have leaders who’ve replaced eternal principles and
timeless truths with contemporary beliefs that change with passing generations.

Babyboomers became a generation of Rip Van Winkles… we fell asleep for 20 years as pertains to moral choices and spiritual balance.  We’ve awakened to find ourselves unbalanced… deeper in debt… maybe having more… and certainly enjoying it less.  The “American Dream” has become tarnished… the “more” of Mind stuff has created much of our imbalance… the “less” of Spiritual stuff has set our collective morality adrift… and the resulting Fear that’s replaced our “Spirit” stuff is eroding the foundation and structure of our lives and our country.

Our founding principles, the bedrock of our Constitutional Republic, have been ravaged by the current amoral leadership… they deal in contemporary beliefs that suit their schemes and desires.  One critical contemporary belief they’re currently peddling is the notion that we are a democracy, not a Republic.

Question… If we are a democracy…
As the 2 major political parties keep saying…
Why do we need Senators and Representatives?
A democracy has the people as the active decision-makers… Right?
Why would a democracy need this extra burdensome and costly layer?

 

Our Grand Mansion

I liken our Constitutional Republic to a 230 year old mansion.  Grandly designed and sturdily built… efficient and functional… yet over the years, stairways have been added that go nowhere… additions and wings that have no purpose… all demonstrating a complete and total misunderstanding of its original intent and design.

Various Generations kept adding more because they didn’t understand enough about the original design either.  The Political Parties focus on constantly adding… essentially directing attention and resources to frivolous and divisive kingdom building with no regard for the completely unattended and crumbling foundation.  The current unrest and venomous factions created by Party divisiveness should be a warning to all of us… “We the People” are being duped into destroying our own future!

How much more conflict will it take to cause the collapse of this once grand mansion?  And when it collapses, do we have the collective generational foresight and wisdom to resurrect this grand mansion of eternal truths and principles?

I FEAR NOT… since the direct cause of its collapse WAS a wholesale abdication of the eternal principles necessary for its upkeep.

 

Historically Significant

I implore you to understand this…

We are at a crossroads… a point of demarcation that has profound historical significance… for all current generations of Americans.

Are we three current generations willing to go down in world history as the generations who —because of “Mind” stuff distractions— allowed our grand Constitutional Republic… entrusted to our care by past generations… to be lost?

For my part, I say… “Not on my watch”…
What do you say… on this winter day of 2019?

Regardless of which generation you belong… you have a stake in not only “our todays” but “our tomorrows”.  It’s your individual choice… which becomes our collective choice… and that’s what essentially makes our Republic work.  The legitimate sovereign owners telling their representatives what to do… “Do no more and no less… do just what we say”… is that what you see happening today?

It is critical that each of you develop the personal responsibility becoming
of your stature and inherited position as a Sovereign owner of this country.

I pray that enough Americans wake up in time to either become moral leaders or find
and encourage moral leadership couched in these eternal truths and timeless principles.

 

Misguided Efforts

Many organizational Leaders today advocate reforms that benefit their groups.  While their efforts are laudable… I feel many of these Leaders are ignoring the much larger picture presented here.  Without recognizing and dealing with the wholesale breakdown of our 2 party controlled governmental process, their valuable efforts are being squandered… as well as those of their Followers.

Railing against government regulations without addressing who controls the process is just plain STUPID…
especially when we as Sovereign Owners have full legal stature to organize and regain control.

We need an inter-generational effort that focuses on:

• • • Moral Leadership that guides this country away from the brink of our current contemporary fantasy of a “progressive democracy”… and back toward our simple and uniquely expressed grand experiment in human collaboration.
    • Moral Leadership that understands that a nation of law abiding owners wants and needs moral leadership that holds the principles of our founding documents in a position of value and esteem.
    • Moral Leadership that crosses individual group allegiances and creates a collective consensus of selfless and visionary leadership.
    • Moral Leadership that quickly begins to restore our Constitutional Republic… as a model for the world to see that a moral, responsible and selfless people can responsibly coexist with minimal government oversight and maximum personal freedoms and opportunities.

WE NEED TO quickly and positively CHANGE OUR WAYS to avoid
the inevitable consequence of our current (non) choices…

The Wholesale Collapse of Our Constitutional Republic.