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What role does community play in your life?

Posted on Nov 7th, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for November 07, 2009:

It gives a feeling of security, and an outlet for my compulsion to contribute (I heard tonight that helping others is one method of procrastination, and perhaps there is some truth in that).

I like that I know everyone on our street, and most people in the next street, and probably about 20% of our community of about 4,000.


I like this community on Gaia, even though most of you live half a  world away from me in New Zealand.

I like the many communities I am part of, like the many fishing organisations I am part of, and the political organisation, etc.  Tonight I am host to the president and vice president of the NZ Recreational Fishing Council (Geoff & Sheryl).  We had dinner together, then Geoff & I ended up talking for an hour, then I had a half hour talk with my wife Ailsa who is away in Australia for a week at an Emotional Freedom Therapy Conference in Coff's Harbour.   Earlier today I was at a meeting in Christchurch with representatives of various recreational and traditional fishing groups from around the South Island.   Last night I stayed with my sister.

So I have many communities, family, fishing, politics, walking, cycling, conservation, education, virtual, ....   All important contributors to the environment that allows me to be who I am.
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Tagged with: Q&R, community, life

What role does spirituality play in your life?

Posted on Nov 6th, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for November 06, 2009:

I can truthfully answer that question in almost any way - it just depends what sort of a definition one gives to the term spirituality.

The term spirit originally meant breath.  It then came to stand for the animating principle - the thing that left the body when the breathing stopped.   Many people assumed that having left the body, that the principle (whatever it was) must go somewhere else.


I no longer believe in anything even remotely like that concept.

For me, life started with very simple replicators, and with minor errors in the replicating process leading to variants, and competition amongst the variants for survival, over vast time scales, and with many changes in orders of complexity,  the vast panoply of life we experience has evolved.

It seems to me that even our self awareness is a very close analog to a piece of software running on a computer, except that the computer it is running on is vastly more complex than any electronic computer yet made, and has two very different sorts of processors running it, and many of each sort.

So what is spirituality?

For me, if the term retains any meaning at all, it is exploring the possibility space available for action, communication, relatedness, and creativity.   It is bringing caring and compassion into relationship with others, while at the same time building ever more complex models of reality that work ever more powerfully, using the tools of science to reinterpret the experiences and lessons of classic spiritual traditions.

In this context, it has a huge role in my life, it is currently occupying about a third of my waking hours.


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Tagged with: Q&R, spirituality, spirit

What does personal freedom mean to you?

Posted on Nov 5th, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for November 05, 2009:

I started out with a reasonably glib answer - that it means having enough trust in myself that I can choose my actions irrespective of the good or bad opinion of others.

Then I really started to think about it.

I think it is always there - it is the ability to choose the context of my life, whatever the circumstance.

Sometimes circumstances happen and there isn't a lot I can do about them, and I always have a choice over the context in which I choose to interpret and respond to the circumstances.

I have the choice of interpretation - and with that I can change everything and nothing.


Having money and resources is nice too - if I want to do anything in reality - which I do.
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When do you feel the most self-confident?

Posted on Nov 3rd, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for November 03, 2009:

When I " 'fess up" to all the things that my "looking good" doesn't want known, ahead of time, so there is nothing to pretend and nothing to hide, and I can be fully relaxed and confident when I speak.  (No BS)
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What, for you, has been the best thing about getting older?

Posted on Nov 2nd, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for November 02, 2009:

Awareness.

Having been through a few things and discovered my limits are a bit further than I thought.

Having discovered some new contexts that give me a very different set of views of existence past, and possible futures.

Having experienced love and hardship, I have a compassion and empathy others that comes only with experience, and cannot even be guessed at by youth.
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Tagged with: Q&R, age, aging, maturity

What is your favorite role to play?

Posted on Oct 31st, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for October 31, 2009:

I'm a bit past playing roles, I am just me.  A peculiar collection of habits, thoughts, and possibilities.

I can be just about everything one can imagine from time to time, arrogant, angry, petulant, loving, patient, impatient, ...., as can most of us, and at my best I am a stand for the greatness in everyone, for freedom, prosperity and individual creativity,and for societal level systems that support and empower all individuals in their personal exploration of their own creative potential.
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Tagged with: Q&R, mask, persona, self, ego

If you had to found a museum, what would it be about?

Posted on Oct 30th, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for October 30, 2009:

Natural history.

The evolution  of matter, stars, planets, life, culture, language, awareness, possibility.

A history of how we got to be what we are, and an exploration of our infinite capacity to be creative.
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Tagged with: Q&R, museum, history, preservation

Do you consider yourself fortunate?

Posted on Oct 29th, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for October 29, 2009:

Oh yes !!!

So incredibly fortunate.

I am alive.
I have lived over half a century.
I have gone from a childhood poverty, to living in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, with the company of a beautiful woman whom I love more than I ever dreamed possible.   I have flown aircraft, driven cars faster than most people ever dream of, done so many many things that as a kid I dreamed of, but never considered I would ever do.

I have come to understand so much about our natural world, about myself, about the nature of possibility, about the possibility of being human - much more than I ever dreamed possible.  And in coming so far, I see ahead an infinite amount yet to be learned and explored.

I am certain that it is possible to extend human lifespans indefinitely, and I am not at all certain that I will manage to get that possibility for myself, and maybe I will.
Maybe I really will get to experience an indefinite life of freedom, abundance, love, prosperity and connection.  Maybe I will be able to create that possibility for every person.

I am not frightened by the possibility of dying tomorrow - I'd rather not, and if it happens it happens.

When I think of the improbability of a me coming into existence, I feel so profoundly fortunate.
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Tagged with: Q&R, luck, good fortune

What weather are you today?

Posted on Oct 28th, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for October 28, 2009:

A spring day.
Still plenty of evidence of last winter's snows about, and there is bright sun, with the promise of more sun than snow in the coming months.
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Tagged with: Q&R, weather, mood, emotions

What would you most like to teach?

Posted on Oct 27th, 2009 by Ted : Solution Multiplier Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for October 27, 2009:

Trust.

Trust yourself enough to love yourself, to listen to your own intuitions.

Trust your self enough to make your own choices, in the face of the disagreement of others, or the censure of culture, or the law - provided you are confident you are acting for the greater benefit of all.

Trust others enough to love them, trust them enough to tell them your truth, trust them enough to listen to their truth.

Trust in your own infinite powers of undertanding, of creativity, of compassion, of tollerance.

Sometimes some people will break your trust, and most people, most of the time, will honour it, and the community you build from your trust will be your greatest support in situations you could never have imagined.
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Tagged with: QAR, teaching, learning, gifts, wisdom
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