For more information please visit... www.toolOfTheUniverse.org    


We all are Tools Of The Universe...

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Corporate Greed (part 1)

Emron, sub-prime mortgages, and so on: corporate greed is on everybody's mind these days . and stays there, as we get one instance after another as reminders of the problem.

However, what is a corporation really? Nothing, but a piece of paper filed with some registrar somewhere!

What provides life to such an artificial entity are the people who contribute to it. The character attributes of these people become the character attributes of the corporation. Every person who interacts with a corporation, impacts it, in any small or big way.

1. Employees

First, of course, there are the employees. Everybody who works for a corporation . from the CEO to the housekeeper, from the full-time employee to the contractor . all of them are expending time, effort, ideas, energy that helps that corporation get closer to its goal . whatever that goal is.

Do you know what your employers business purpose is? What is its attitude, its approach to achieve its goals? Is that purpose, and are these goals and approaches in congruence with your believes and values?

If not, why are you using the little time that makes up your life to support something you don't believe in? For the money? So money is more important than your other values? But, isn't that greed, too? Aren't you also part of the corporate greed?

When your grandchild or great-grandchild asks you with big adoring eyes, would you be happy and proud to tell her/him you came to this world to support xyz (whatever your employer works towards)?

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

You Are The Change - Almost Ready

I just approved the back cover of my book - looks great! I'm so excited...

For a few weeks, the book "You Are The Change" can already be pre-ordered at bookstores, and amazon.com. Several of my friends also ordered it directly from me - a sure way to get a signed copy. :)

There's only one sour drop in the tea: The original title of the book was "You are the tool of the Universe". Apparently, some fools have started misappropriating the word "tool" for when they really wanted to say "fool". Also, some SPAM is trying to avoid spam-filters by using this word instead of the scientific term for the male organ. So, the publisher basically threatened to drop the release, if we don't change the name.

To me, this is a big shame!

First of all, it is another instance where a word gets used in a negative way, and, instead of fixing our attitudes, we ban the word. Many of the words, that are today seen as politically incorrect, fall into this category.
It's also another instance where the meaning of the word changes completely. Another example for this practice is our use of "committed" in connection to relationships, when we really mean "exclusive".

Also, I find, that somebody who is ready for the message of the book would much more likely respond to the original title. The new title reminds probably more of Obama and his attempt to facilitate change, which seems to be run aground. Well, no wonder! We the people in the US didn't change one bit. We thought: "Great! There's somebody who's doing the changing for us! So we can stay as we are!" We still buy and drive the same silly gas-gozzlers, we still turn on air-conditioning, lights, hot-water, and anything else that can be used to increase our negative ecological foot-print, even when it doesn't improve our comfort one bit. We still don't boycott TV, greedy corporations, unhealthy food, tele-evangelists and religious hate-propaganda. Most are just too lazy to think about what impact they're having, and too busy worrying about their own personal comfort, status, and wealth. Well, I am sorry to have to tell you: Obama can't change anything – if we don't change ourselves!
Well, in that way, maybe the title is very appropriate for today's time: Not Obama is the change! You are the Change!

Well, if you are tired of how your life is turning out and what is going on in this world, or if you want to teach your children a spirituality that is helping and supporting them, rather then hindering and threatening them, "You Are The Change" might be a good inspiration, and guide...

My hope for the book is, that anybody who is ready for it may find it, and that it may help them become the change they want to see in their life and their world!

(To order the book, send me an email, go to the You Are The Change page, ask for it in your favorite book store, or look for it on Amazon)

Labels:

Labor vs. Contribution . Management vs. Leadership

Today, more and more people come to understand that life is about more than just raising kids and working to make money. Everywhere I go I meet folks who are looking to find their life's purpose.

As described in other texts, I believe that my purpose can not be I myself. To my life is about making a contribution to this creation.

Money is not any longer the reason for my work, but just aside-effect - necessary, but by itself not sufficient. I want to spend the remaining few hundred weeks of my life working towards the fulfillment of my soul's mission. My job can and has to be supporting my in this quest.

It is now clear to me that I won't last long in a job that is preventing me from working on what I came to this world to do. Looked at it in the other way around, if a job required me to work on something that is in alignment with my mission I will be very productive and an amazing contributor.

I think, many people are in this mode, that I am; although not all of them may have realized what's going on, why they are so unhappy in their job.



Are you happy and fulfilled in your job? What is your mission here in this world? Does your job provide an opportunity for you to work on your mission?



If this my observation is accurate, it is advisable to employers to adjust their approach to make use of this fact. First, an employer - actually, every supervisor, manager, and team-leader - should clear about what their mission and goals are. This makes it easier for every team-member to easier see how the job is providing the opportunity to implement her/his life's purpose.

Secondly, a switch from workers-management to team-leadership is to be made. The task of any supervisor is no longer to watch to ensure everybody is pulling their weight, trying to ensure productivity by threatening, conjoling and manipulating. Instead, the new task is to define goals that inspire the co-workers, and to remove obstacles so the coworkers are not hindered in their productivity. In essence: when people want to go where the bus is heading, it is moving at full speed, and the leaders have to ensure it is heading in a good direction, and to avoid traffic-jams...



What is your leadership style (in your job, and among your friends and family), and that of your superior: Forcing obedience or inspiring greatness?

Be mindful: Inspiring greatness can not be used as a means to manipulate. Do you see the difference?

Labels: , ,

Friday, March 12, 2010

George Carlin Says: "Religion is Bullshit!"

I stumbled across a YouTube clip of George Carlin talking about religion. He's pointing out in a fun and a bit rude way a few of the many logical contradictions and inconsistencies in how Judeo-Christian religions describe the concepts of God, praying and more. I included the clip below. He's quite entertaining and makes a lot of sense.

I have to leave him behind, though, when, after realizing the explanations are flawed, he stops at the conclusion that there is no God.

500 years ago clergy told us that the earth is flat. Well, just because their description was wrong, it doesn't mean that there is no earth.

I don't know what dope the people were smoking when they came up with the idea that the stork brings the babies. However, I do know, that although that "explanation" is also total nonsense, both babies and storks do exist.

Now, if George finds his purpose, fulfillment and relieve in the believe that there is nothing beyond what we can see and understand, that is his right. I, for one, choose to go further. I, too, do not believe in that illogical, contradictory "explanation" of God as preached by Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim doctrines. However, I like to believe that there is something beyond of what we can see and know. This website is full of suggestions about what this could be and how we could fit into it.

The book "You Are The Change", in its attempt to help the reader understand her/his role in this world, also touches upon this topic.

I hope that you are able to make the first step with George Carlin. And I hope that you are also able to go beyond where he stops, and make the second step: finding your own spirituality in alignment with a grander scheme of the Universe.

Here's the video-clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

Labels: , ,