The not so New Century: Time to Get Back to Sanity

Observation:

The counter-culture of the 60s has now become our culture, the irony of it all is those of the 60s are now the senior citizens who will be subjected to their own protestations of that era.  It is those who rebelled and thought sex, drugs and rock and roll were all that mattered.  Those who have children and grandchildren in rehab centers and don’t know what happened.  Those who have failed in civics and left due diligence to others.

The cries of the 60s:

How can people be so heartless, and especially people who care about strangers, who say they care about social injustice, do you only, care about the bleeding crowd, how can people be so cruel, easy to be hard, easy to be cold?

The lefties of the Sixties are now experiencing the Blow Back of their actions, and inactions for not Standing up for the Principles this Country was Founded upon.

It is the inattentiveness of those in my generation that has allowed this consistent manipulation of the Constitution and will suffer from the “remaking of America”.

Could anyone have ever believed that those of us who believe in the Constitution would become the new counter-culture of the 21st century?  We suffer the slanderous remarks by the likes of Nancy Pelosi.  Those of us who tried to warn everyone over the past forty years were deemed alarmists.  Were we not prophetic?

The greatest thing is that all we have to do is stand up and be counted, there are more of us than there are of them. Those who are waiting and not willing to be heard, but are with us in heart and spirit must be emboldened to join our voices. They should not be afraid, there is safety in numbers. We shall prevail.

I believe even in Europe, there are more of us than there are of them, to appease them has been nothing less than evil.

Another Letter to My Senators:

Dear Gentlemen:

You have thrown everything into the 2000+ page bill, including the kitchen sink, that when you present the “committee” sponsored bill, it will look like you really cleaned it up, and will be something people might accept?

I do believe you have a bill that has been already agreed upon and will come out of committee. The two bills passed in the house and senate are a ruse to make us think that they came to their senses in committee.

We are watching you very closely to what the Senate sends over to committee.

I am afraid you are going to come to us with a “consensus”, telling us how hard you worked to come up with a “bi-partisan” bill, that will fit on 500 pages. You will think that will shut us all up. Once the fox is in the hen house, not too many hens will survive.

No matter what you pass out of committee, we all know it is an incremental time bomb.

Think on this question:

Congress tells us they have been waiting 100 years for government healthcare:
READ OUR LIPS
READ OUR SIGNS
READ OUR VOTES
OUR GRANDPARENTS DIDN’T WANT IT
OUR PARENTS DIDN’T WANT IT
WE DON’T WANT IT
AND OUR CHILDREN DON’T WANT IT
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE WORD NO, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND?

I believe there are more out here in the real world who are more capable of coming to solutions to fix what is wrong with whatever may be wrong with the delivery of health care, than there are in both houses. I think I could do a better job than all 545 of you put together.

We know that corruption is just a symptom of your disease. We are all sick of your behaviors and lack of shame. How in God’s name can any of you sleep at night?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

I am really sick and tired of knowing who, and what they are and not really making them realize “that if we were half and stupid as they think we are, we still would be smarter than they”.

The Morning After:

“The process of living, for each of us is pretty similar. For every gain there is a setback. For every success, a failure. For every moment of joy, a time of sadness. For every hope realized, one is dashed”….Sue Atchley Ebaugh

We usually need the sorrow along with the joy of life, if we are to gain new insights. Our failures keep us humble, our joys give us hope.

Life is a process of growth. Let us all accept the variations in gratitude. Each of you and the times we live in bless me. I will find gratitude, because we live in interesting times.

“What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.”…..Voltaire

On Thanksgiving Day, we are posed with the question, “To what and for what, do we give thanks for the life we have been given?”

The answers do not come easily.  We must find within each occurrence in our living, some meaning and reason.  Life really is not an accident.  If we truly would sit down and inventory our journey, we would be able to discover that we have been the navigators of our lives.  We have made our decisions every step of the way.  Our disappointments have also been a result of our mapping.  We enter situations as a choice, there is not given a guarantee that the outcome will meet with our approval, but we did take the chance.

We have been under the misunderstanding that we should live some magical and charmed life.  We have missed the reality of the Universe, there is a balance.  For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Whatever draws or presses another is as much drawn or pressed by that other.

We see the ancient teaching of Ecclesiastic 3:1-8, and find truth in the past:

“To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven

NO PAINS, NO GAINS.

If little labour, little are our gains:
Man’s fortunes are according to his pains.

– Hesperides 752

 

If we just sit there and blame others for our fate, we have given others power over our lives.  We have entered into the world of powerlessness.  Are we really victims or just too lazy to find the truth?  Are we waiting for “Godot” before we see that we are capable, and called to grow and mature into contributors to this thing we call “life”?

I hope everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving

Golf and the Spirit: A Golfers Love Affair with the Game

Thanksgiving for “The Old Game“

away from the maddening crowd

Golf has a spirit and a soul beyond the technical dimensions of a club a ball and a swing.  We do want to get the ball into the mole hole, and that should be good enough.  What we find on our “Fairway less Traveled” is our relationship to golf and ourselves and our fellow human beings.

“Golf was invented a billion years ago-don’t you remember?”   Old Scottish Golf Saying

We strike the little white ball out into green field with the hopes of getting it into the little mole hill, with as few strokes as possible.  Why would golf reveal ourselves to us when we do this exercise of the simplest of tasks?

There is that spirit and that soul of the game that few are willing to acknowledge.  The way golf penetrates our very being can be associated with one form of “spiritual experience“.  It can also become just one more thing to conquer on our quest for ego inflation, either way, golfers become absorbed with the game.

How does golf captivate us?  Defining golf as sport limits our understanding of the spirituality of the game.  Golf is a game.  Golf is more like chess than any sport, which needs the brute force of one’s physical abilities.  Our fitness is necessary, but it is not as important as in softball, tennis or flag football.

Golf can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of age, sex or physical prowess.  I was at the driving range a few years ago and there was a gentleman there who was an amputee.  He stood there on his one leg balanced with a crutch.  His swing was impeccable and I must say his distance was further than most of the “able” bodied gents I know.  I had to laugh when he showed his dissatisfaction as his ball would have that slight curve at the end and then drift away from that straight line, we all desire.  The deviation was ever so slight, that would probably not bother any of us, but he too wanted perfection.  Oh, by the way, he did all this one handed, he had his left hand on his crutch, so he could keep his balance.

We walk to the tee box, and look out over the field of conquest.  It is one person against an enemy of devious and treacherous methods to defeat us.  This enemy we call the course, has hidden weapons to frustrate us and humble us and defeat us.

It is the golfer and the course, there are not other games like it.  When one bowls alone it is on the same “lane” each and every time, length and width pre-determined with no deviations.  The love of the game may be that golf is a present because it can be such a surprise to find that ball nestled up against a tree or just under a bush or rolled up on the green into the hole.

Unlike so many other games we play, golf when played alone relies solely on our own integrity.  Golf will teach us the virtues of determination, respect, humility and honesty.  We lose our integrity when we show no consideration for other players, not respect for the course and forbid to abide by the rules and etiquette of the game. There is “Golden Rule “for golfers, too-”That every golfer, regardless of skill, age or gender be treated as you would be treated.”  There has also been established a second golden rule-”There is a basic principle involved, which both rules protect: influence and effect nothing on the golf course, except your own ball.”  I will add my two cents worth and say “DO NO HARM”-we have also always said  “leave the course in as good or better shape than when you got there.”

In our pursuit of capturing the course we are faced with the traitor within us.  Golf will expose our personal character strengths or weaknesses and will teach us how to develop patience and the way to personal fulfillment.  The 12 Steps, when practiced, will aid us in pursuing happiness with our whole attitude toward golf.

We can use golf as a time of contemplation and a reflective exercise.  We are in a field (or forest) where we have sculpted a course to become one with nature not apart from nature.  Some people don’t even realize they are playing an outdoor game, the way they complain about the birds or the squirrels or even an alligator or two.  We have lost this aspect of the game because so few of us walk the course anymore.  When I began  golfing, I would throw my bag over my shoulder and jump the ditch at the 5th hole and walk the course to the clubhouse, then walk the rest of the way until I got to the 4th green and hop the ditch back to the house.  It was rare to see carts on any course.

Today we are all concerned with the pace of play-hurry-hurry-hurry.  Pace of play is the rhythm and tempo to the dance we do on the course.  Most courses are only concerned with the business of golf and not golf, in and of itself. I have been a part of the complaints of those “slow” guys in front of us.  There is no real need to hit into the foursome in front you and no need to stand on the tee with your hands on your hips, when we do these things we have lost the spirit of the game, and speed is the game and not golf. It doesn’t matter whether we are on a public course or a private one, the need to get out there hit the ball and get the round over with, and get into the car and drive home has me very bewildered.  What is the point, why not just give it up because that is not golf.  I have even heard some brag that it only took them x hours to finish 18, what a pity.

We are losing the soul of golf, and it saddens me.  One of the most egregious failing of the modern golf is the obsession with the “condition” of the course.  They must have carpeted like fairways and every blade of grass must be perfect and Lord there better not be one pock mark on the green.  They complain constantly about the rough-yeah that is why it is called rough.  With these perfect courses or so called perfect they still don’t score well, like it is the course and not themselves.

Golf began in the pastures of Europe with bored shepherds.  They took their staffs and hit a stone.  They found a mole hole and tried to put the stone in the hole with their staffs, henc the game of golf was born.  The endearing name “pasture pool” is not really heard much these days.

I have sympathy for the many golfers I have met over these many years who don’t have a soul for golf.  They have no clue for the spirit of the game.  Golf for them is just one more thing to involve themselves with.  It is just the “in” thing to be doing now.

“It’s a highly complex, fiendishly demanding, often perverse activity. The exhilarating and frustrating game demands a stillness of mind, a razor sharp focus, and an inexplicable desire to constantly better your game.”  “I mean why, why would you be out there hitting this f’n little ball all over the place?”..………Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom

The 12 Step Golf system is a way to bring us back to the spirit and essence of golf.  We have lost our souls in so many areas of our lives, and if we can bring them back through golf, we will be one step closer to restoring our souls in general.  To practice these principles in all our affairs is the goal we can envision as we walk the “Fairway less Traveled”, we can get closer to home the more we utilize the steps and incorporate them into our lives.  It is up to us to bring the integrity and honor and virtue back to the game and the world.

Let us start at Lecture One

Keeping the citizenry toeing the line is the primary focus of governments in this day andage. Governments are having so much difficulty with a growing population and are terrified if they cannot control it. The basic “do no harm” does not seem to apply to governments regardless if it is a democracy or theocracy or a despot, they have all turned into tyrannical rulers. When governments hold the purse strings you get tyranny. Abuse is the word to describe this soft tyranny that has been seeping into societies over the post war years.

These “leaders” have pursued the retention of power and control over the governed and abuse this power which in turn abuses the masses.

The patient’s list of people and communities and institutions they have harmed will include every single vote used to further their own self aggrandizement. Using others’  money to have them clear their conscious is not virtuous for themselves nor their country.

The contempt they carry for the masses is reflected in the decisions they have made. They believe that most people cannot think for themselves and need them to do it for them.

excerpted from:TwelveStepstoReclaimaNation’sSoul>

NOW ON TO LESSON #ONE:

Thank you to, shanedk