Brian’s Weblog

“This is not the real reality. The real reality is behind the curtain. In truth, we are not here. This is our shadow.”  - Rumi

Taking the Ghan to Alice Springs let me feel the Land

The landscape was becoming more and more barren – and breathtaking – as the Ghan neared Alice Springs.  Occasionally interrupted by sightings of kangaroos and these dark people, the Aboriginals, running towards us waving happily, the three-day journey yielded little sleep.  With no idea of what to expect, I toiled the hours away talking to other backpackers who advised me to avoid the dangerous natives, especially at night, in “the Alice” and wondering what the big red rock was on the cover of my Lonely Planet.

Only a week before I suddenly threw all my belongings into storage in Amsterdam, leaving behind who I thought I was.  Arriving in Australia on New Year’s Eve, I knew that 2003 would be different than that from previous years.  Typically I set goals of who I want to become in the new year, but this time, it was simply about listening and feeling.  I only had to recognize what was right in front of me, and know that which is hidden from me would be revealed.

There was no plan.

The first days in Melbourne, I stayed with my good mate Fleech, who suggested I start with the Red Centre.  Although he thought I was a bit impractical, I insisted that despite time-constraints, I needed to take the trip by train rather than by air.  The journey was more important than the destination.

Dropping me off at the train station, Fleech mentioned in passing that the guy who played his brother a decade ago in the Australian soap “Neighbors” left the acting world and last heard was a tour guide somewhere in the Northern Territory, which is almost three times the size of Texas.  I briefly wondered what would make this guy leave everything behind to become a tour guide, but quickly put the thought out of my head to catch my train.

The first days I took it easy in Alice Springs becoming more acclimated to the desert climate.  Floating in the hostel pool, staring up at the night sky one evening, I couldn’t help but notice a very profound change coming over me.  It was as if a layer was being peeled away; that I was reaching a state of relaxation that I had never before experienced.

Despite harsh conditions Aboriginals found bush tucker on which to survive

My interest in the Aboriginals was quickly piqued, and I wanted to understand more about how they saw the world by going out to the bush with a local guide for a day.  The naked Aboriginals wandering the bush of yesterday are in stark contrast to the Aboriginals wandering the streets of Alice Springs today, plagued with alcoholism, diabetes, drug-abuse, depression and suicide – the ultimate state of disconnection. It was as if they were at one time the salt of the earth, but the salt had lost its flavor, and now cannot be seasoned. These people, who were strong and connected, are now good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by white men.

I learned about “The Dreaming,” a time when everything all around us was created. In the Aboriginal view, supernatural beings that later disappeared into the earth or into the heavens traveled across the formless land singing the world into existence – man, animals, plants, and everything else we sense. However, we are still in the Dreaming. The concepts of past or future in Aboriginal culture do not exist – only the present exists. The Dreaming is beyond time and space.  It is the continuing creative process in which we live.

The Dreaming is Life.

And we sing Life into existence. Singing is joy. Life is joy.

I learned that these Aboriginals wandering the streets of Alice Springs were not homeless.  The government provided them homes, but for 40,000 years, until a couple hundred years ago, they were outside sleeping under the Milky Way.  And they continue to do so.  It is a part of who they are.

It was rapidly becoming clear that Aboriginals knew about a Connectedness that too often eludes us in the modern world.  The Aboriginals feel a strong connection to nature that shaped their view of the Universe and their place in it.  They know they are an element of a much greater entity.

We often mistake Aboriginals for homeless and lost souls because we can only see them from our very limited paradigm, or box, and are unable to see the bigger picture.  For example, in a pub I overheard some locals complaining about how Aboriginals would not integrate with our society.  Immediately I began to wonder if they were looking at the speck in the Aboriginal’s eye, without considering the boomerang in their own eye. Perhaps it isn’t that the Aboriginals should become like us, but rather we should become more like them; we should first remove the boomerang from our own eye, and then we will see clearly to remove the speck from the Aboriginal’s eye.

After my modest introduction to modern and ancient Aboriginal states in Alice Springs, I began to feel something else – an intense desire to sleep in the bush.  I asked at the tour desk about possibilities for me to go out to the bush alone for a few days, but was told it was far too dangerous with snakes and other creatures.  Regardless, they managed to sell me a one-day tour of local watering holes.

The Dreaming creates everything we sense

Our guide for the day was Dan, a very peaceful bloke in his late 20′s or early 30’s with a ponytail and a few days beard growth. He was very knowledgeable about the geology and especially the Aboriginal culture.  I came to respect him quickly and felt a bond with him.

Dan taught me the Aboriginal way of seeing the world and Life.  He told me about how Aboriginals rely more on intuition than systematic thought – the opposite of our culture.  He also spoke of their mental abilities, including things we think of as superstition, such as psychic abilities, telepathy and prophetic dreams.

The answers I had been seeking for over a year were being placed right in front of me.  These people, who we have discounted as primitive and even non-human, had a different kind of intelligence, could throw their thoughts and even dream the future.  I was beginning to understand that they lived on an entirely different plane of consciousness. A higher plane of consciousness. Theirs was a place of magic where they could warp time and space.

Because time and space do not exist.

At one point Dan took the group to a hilltop and explained a bit about Aboriginal ceremonies and the paints Aboriginals use in those ceremonies.  He asked the group what we thought the colors of the paints represented.  Maybe it was the unexplainable bond I felt with Dan, or the relaxed, flowing state I was in, or maybe the desert air, but in any case I was the first one to respond every time, not really knowing the answer, simply saying what came to me – what I felt. Every time the answer was correct.  Soon thereafter, as we all climbed into the van, a young English girl spoke up and asked, “Hey Dan, did you ever star in ‘Neighbours’ ?”

That was the moment the curtain dropped.

Although Dan shrugged off her question, saying he only resembled a guy that played on the show, at the next watering hole, alone with Dan, he confirmed he was indeed Fleech’s brother on “Neighbors”.  It was then I knew I was not alone, there was no such thing as coincidence and something was guiding me.  While I could not see it, I could certainly feel it.

And it was beautiful.

Back at the hostel bar that evening, a shadowy figure standing by the road caught my eye.  It was an Aboriginal woman looking worn and ragged, beckoning me to her.  Instead of ignoring her, I went to the roadside where she asked me for a dollar.  Smelling alcohol on her breath, I instead offered to buy her food at the convenience store across the street. To be a force for Good. After filling her basket with bread, meat and other tucker that sustains Life, she offered her thanks, taking my hands and bidding me farewell.

Her parting words to me were, “Jesus will take care of you.”

And there in Alice Springs, with a blessing from a broken Aboriginal woman, I knew nothing hidden would fail to be displayed.  I was 33.

The tourist comes here with the camera taking pictures all over. What has he got? Another photo to take home, keep part of Uluru. He should get another lens – see straight inside. Wouldn’t see big rock then. He would see that Kuniya living right inside there as from the beginning. He might throw away his camera then. – Kunmanara, Traditional Owner of Uluru

The Dreamers and Chief deep in the Northern Territory

With my swag on the hard desert ground as my bed and the wide open night sky as my ceiling, I had a spectacular view of the Universe stretched out in front of me.  Staring at the huge white streak running through the night sky of the Australian Outback, my mind was as still as the desert air.   Oftentimes I heard that a person feels insignificant as they encounter the Milky Way in full glory for the first time, realizing how small they actually are.  Yet here I was, homeless and wandering the bush, and unlike what I heard from others, I never before felt so significant, so big . . . and so connected. 

It is no wonder that thoughts were difficult to grasp, because as I was quickly learning, this journey was more about feeling than thinking.  By the third day in the bush my level of relaxation was moving into a state that was more like a trance than the consciousness I was used to in our modern world. I was also becoming increasingly aware that my entire world was flipping inside-out. 

My clan of twelve dreamers and our teacher Chief, a bald, rollie-smokin’ Kiwi, spent the days exploring the ancient lands of the Aboriginals at sites like King´s Canyon, Valley of the Spirits and Uluru.  Our nights were around a campfire, hundreds of miles from so-called civilization, eating tucker and bonding with each other.  While the days held much learning about Aboriginal culture and the land, the night sky opened its mysteries up as well. 

On one night I woke up most of the clan with my excitement as I whispered loudly to a fellow dreamer, “Travis, look at the moon . . . it is orange!”   I had never before seen such a moon so huge, and so orange; it was as if I could touch it.  Another night, Naomi, a meat-eating artist from England, was the first person to point out to me the constellation Orion.  Although I never knew before anything about Orion, much less where it was in the sky, it would become an important part of my journey, making its presence known to me three times during my three months in Australia.

I would soon come to understand that Orion, like everything in that night sky, no matter how far, is connected to me.  The Aboriginals believe everything has one source, so therefore, everything is connected – from a grain of sand to the farthest galaxy the eye can´t see.  Even scientists would agree with this, since everything in the Universe, including us and everything around us, is energy, and that energy comes from the “big bang”.

This interconnectedness was illustrated well by Chief, as he showed us at King´s Canyon a tree which yields a fruit eaten by only one bird, which then drops the seeds to make more trees.  The bird exists for the tree, and the tree exists for the bird, giving us an example of the perfection in nature, as well as proof that indeed everything is One, and everything we need is provided.  In their world of Oneness, the Aboriginals did not have to say, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ They sought first to respect that Oneness, knowing all these things will be given to them as well.

Perhaps it is their belief that everything is provided which enables an Aboriginal to bring back a kangaroo to his clan, allowing everyone to eat before he does, knowing there will be enough left for him when they are through.  This law of sharing is in contrast to our western society, where the “hunter” typically takes more and takes it first, seeking security against his fear of lack.  All too often the modern hunter stores up kangaroos for himself, where moths and worms destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  Aboriginals, on the other hand, showed that through sharing, where your kangaroo is, there your heart will be also.

What did the Aboriginals see that we cannot?

Standing in Palm Valley with Chief telling us about this concept of sharing, I had a sudden epiphany telling me why, months before in the business world, I decided split my kangaroo evenly with two others.  My “inner voice” said to do it just this once to see what happens, knowing that what ever I gave away would come back to me. As illogical of a decision it seemed at the time, in the Outback it was revealed that I had to share my kangaroo in order to see the world through the eyes of an Aboriginal, and to understand what I would later be taught in the bush.

I also learned the concept of sharing extends past kangaroos as several clans shared sacred sites.  Aboriginals have no concept of property ownership, for you cannot own land, but rather you are part of the land and it is your duty to take care of the land.  In the west, land, or real estate as we call it, is something to be owned and exploited for the benefit of the owner.  The two perspectives are in direct opposition.  Perhaps for the modern man (or woman), we seek security through owning real estate, but as recent events have told us, this is a very false sense of security.

Interestingly, Aboriginals also did not make war.  This makes sense as most wars are fought over land and resources.  The Aboriginals did not have fences to keep others out, like many nations have built throughout the ages.  For example, Uluru was shared by many clans as a sacred site without fighting over who had the right to be there.  Underneath the night sky of the Outback, I wondered how nations like Israel and Palestine could benefit from simply “flipping” around the way they think, to understand that land does not belong to them – or anyone – and work together to honour and protect that land. 

In stark contrast to the beauty of the white streak running through the night sky was the sadness of the white streak running down the side of Uluru.  The latter was man-made, caused by people climbing “the Rock”.  All around Uluru were signs requesting, without restricting, that people not walk in the steps of the creators, with messages such as “We don´t climb,” and “Please don´t climb.”  Fortunately, from our group of dreamers, no one wanted to climb – a first for Chief, as he would later tell us. 

My mission on that day was to stand at the base and simply ask people either beginning or ending their climb about their motivation.  While their replies were varied, ranging from, “Because my friend did it,” or “I paid the entrance fee and the Aboriginals make a lot of money from it,” or “I hear there is a book you can sign at the top,” clearly the common denominator was ego.  I wondered if these people who gave such little consideration to the pleas of the Aboriginals and climbed Uluru, snapping photos from the top and purchasing T-shirts saying, “I climbed the Rock,” to announce their achievement in front of others to be seen by them, truly walked away with anything rewarding at all. 

The view from the top cannot compare to the peace found at the base

As I stared into the sky each night, I felt that the human mind, contrary to popular belief, does indeed understand the mysteries of the Universe.  Perhaps it is an intuitive understanding we cannot consciously comprehend, born out of the part of the brain we believe we do not use, but on the level of the soul, we understand.  This is what unites us with the Aboriginals, as well as with the rest of everything that is.  Falling asleep in my swag by the campfire with my clan of dreamers, I knew I was staring into the face of God, and I knew this was exactly the place I was supposed to be. 

And there in the bush, under the Milky Way, is where I started my Walkabout.  I was 33.

In the aftermath of the occupation of Bob Randall´s homeland, the English cut away the connections to Kanyini, including the connection to Spirituality. The customs of the Aboriginals were forbidden and between 1910 and 1970 approximately 50,000 Half-cast Aboriginal children were put into camps and taught Christianity in an attempt to make them white. As Bob Randall speaks about his experience in an institution as a child, the parallels between Jesus and the Aboriginals emerge, as does the paradox between Jesus and the English occupiers, “Is Jesus saying you can do what you are doing? Love one another – that’s what we did. Have compassion – I had that too. But you imprisoned me, and I am in your institution and being taught from you about your spirituality, which is in conflict with way you are living and what you were doing. We call that madness.”

Actually when you delve into the teachings of Jesus and Aboriginal Spirituality a little deeper, the similarities between the two become more pronounced. Jesus taught that there was “more” to the world than what we see, and especially in the Gnostic Gospels, he teaches how to enter the “moreness” of Life. He called it “The Kingdom”. The Aboriginals knew that there was much more, and were able to connect to and live within it. They call it “The Dreaming”. Sound similar? Jesus taught of a world beyond duality – where Man and God are One. In other words, the Kingdom is where everything is One, or “One Spirit”. Hmmmm, that’s how the Aboriginals see the world. Jesus taught that we didn’t really have possessions. The Aboriginals had no concept of property ownership. Same story. Jesus did not support war. The Aboriginals did not war. Same story. Both Jesus and the Aboriginals struggled against authoritative forces, namely the Romans and the Pharisees for Jesus, and the English for the Aboriginals, which ultimately murdered them. Same story.

One comment that struck me during my Walkabout in Australia was how the white Australians would complain that the Aboriginals didn’t integrate well into their society. Maybe we should be integrating into their way of seeing the world? If Jesus was a teacher, and had so many similarities with the Aboriginals, maybe the Aboriginals are our teachers too. Instead, are we repeating the story of Jesus? Have we killed our teachers?

Instead of killing them, maybe we should learn from them.

So, how does all this link to the Economic Downturn and the economy? Perhaps Jesus and the Aboriginals have something to teach us there as well.

Recently I passed a shop window in Amsterdam, with a bag in the window reading, “Business is about serving other people”. To serve is to give Love. Both Jesus and the Aboriginals knew that there was more, and that you could connect to this Oneness. And when you do, you understand you have a purpose in this Universe. When you know you have a purpose, you begin to explore how you can serve others through that purpose, and ultimately you do what you were meant to do – to give Love.

During my Whirling Dervish Tour in the California desert last April, I visited Salvation Mountain, the creation of Leonard Knight with volunteers and made from adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of paint. As you approach Salvation Mountain you see clearly “God is Love”, and from the looks of it, Leonard Knight has put a lot of Love into Salvation Mountain. He loves what he does, and he loves to show others. Salvation Mountain is his way of giving Love. Shortly thereafter, I was able to see Tina Turner in concert. At 70, she can outperform any 30 year old. Obviously she has found the Elixir of Life – to do what she Loves, and to give that Love to others with her performance.

In his “Everything is Spiritual Tour”, Rob Bell reminds us that in ancient Hebrew there was no word for “spiritual” because to label one area of your Life as spiritual is to label another area not spiritual. Instead, Everything is Spiritual, including what you do for a living. Perhaps our economic woes have less to do with the financial crisis, and more to do with how few of us are actually doing what we Love. After all, currency means “to flow” – the exchange of money is only symbolic as an exchange for energy. Could the problem be that we are too concerned with “security” than doing what we were meant to do? And in doing so we restrict that energy – that currency?

Are we more concerned with what we get than what we give? Then of course the flow is restricted. Think of the Ying-Yang symbol with one side much bigger than the other. That demonstrates how out of balance we are.

A study by Dr. Amy Wrzeniewski of NYU Stern on worker satisfaction categorizes workers into people having a job, career or calling, with the highest satisfaction found with those having a calling. It claims people who have a job do so for monetary reasons, and those who have a career are motivated by prestige.

If we focus on having a job for money, which is actually a masked fear of survival, and then we turn to Jesus´ Sermon on the Mount, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26). Or “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30). This is echoed in Thomas 36, “Jesus said, “Do not fret, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, [about your food--what you're going to eat, or about your clothing--] what you are going to wear. [You’re much better than the lilies, which neither card nor spin.” Is he saying do not worry; your survival is looked after?

Actually, as Bob Randall speaks of Aboriginal Belief, he says, “The earth is our mother. We are born from her. She looks after us with meat, bush tucker and water.”

They are saying the same thing.

Now focus on the ego, the underlying cause of people working for recognition. With his humility, wisdom, love, and total devotion, Jesus also taught us the importance of losing the ego. Again, we look to Matthew 6 as Jesus speaks about recognition. “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4).

Recognition drives the Ego, and vice-versa. As you lose the ego, you gain humility, and this humility connects you. As I learned during my time in the Outback, the Aboriginals are a humble people. Perhaps this is in part because, as Bob Randall describes in Kanyini, “Everything here is my family. It’s all bush as far as you can see, but to me, it is my home, my ngura. The trees are our family, all the animals that live with us are family.” That is a pretty humble way of seeing the world, if you ask me.

They are saying the same thing.

So does all this mean that working for money and working for recognition are illusions? Something to ponder about.

However, if we do something in line with our purpose, our calling, aren’t we actually giving Love, just like Tina Turner and Leonard Knight? And won’t that Love come back to us, oftentimes financially, as well in other ways – less stress, more happiness and a connection to that Oneness? Are we using our talents to serve others in the way we were meant to – aligned to the way we are?

Jesus knew his purpose and taught people to follow their calling, and his disciples followed his lead. In an Aboriginal clan, they had a doctor, shaman, hunters and gatherers – everyone worked according to their natural talents. By example, both Jesus and the Aboriginals encourage us to follow our interests and talents, and to serve others through our calling.

They are saying the same thing.

As the message on Salvation Mountain proclaims, “God is Love”. If you do what you Love, your calling, of course you are connecting to God, and becoming One with all that is. Love is connecting – through who you are, and what you do. Rather than serving debt, ego and lifestyle, perhaps we should focus on serving others through doing what we Love, our calling, whether that’s being a priest or a porn star. Only then do we are serve our purpose in the Universe.

The parallels between Jesus and the Aboriginals are amazing. Both understood what it means to live in “The Kingdom”. Both struggled against authorities. Both were murdered.

Rather than kill our teachers, should we listen to their wisdom and integrate better into their world. Would we then discover that there is more to than this world than we ever thought possible – a new vision of Life itself? And then would we have the courage to break our shackles, and our “slavery” to the illusions of fear and ego, to discover our purpose and give Love?

Is it time for us to discover Everything is Spiritual, including what we do for a living?

Is it time for us to discover Kanyini?

Keep Dreaming,
Brian

For the past month, I have been following the story of Susan Boyle. Like millions of others, I found something intriguing about her; for me her story was one of divinity. She not only has incredible talent, but also she truly loves singing, has her burdens and is still humble. These divine qualities are the essence of real success. And I believe these qualities are also what attracted her to us. She enables us to see the divinity within ourselves. Through her, we see God. This is the real cause of her fame.

The Susan Boyle story is one of an person going from obscurity to worldwide fame in a month, and much of this was based on the 100 million hits on YouTube. This clearly demonstrates the power of Web 2.0 and social networking as medium. We must also ask, “Why Susan Boyle” and this powerful surge in social media? There is synchronicity in everything. It must be she has a message for us.

The final show had record-breaking viewership with over 19 million viewers. Coincidentally I was in a pub in Central London during the finals, and saw this incredible performance. It is better than the first. Flawless.

When it was announced she was second place, it was a shock to say the least. And for her, she is having issues with all the attention. What can we learn from her and what has happened to her?

Listen to her lyrics. They are telling HER story, to the point it is almost spooky. They are prophetic. There was a public backlash due to her not being able to take the spotlight. This was a big part of why she placed second. I wonder how many of these critics could handle the same? Hers is a classic “hero” story, build them up, tear them down. In some ways, she is even playing the role of Jesus.

We also should remember that losing is oftentimes winning. Al Gore lost an election, but won a Nobel Prize. His former opponent retired with the lowest approval ratings in decades. Former Miss America Vanessa Williams was the first, and only, de-throned Miss America. Since, she has won Grammys and other awards. Can you name who replaced her? Or even who Miss America 2009 is?

What´s in her future? An invitation to perform for Obama on July 4th and a multi-million dollar deal on the table (thats going to but Pebbles a lot of cat food). With that divine convergence of qualities, hers will be a dream that only gets better.

Keep Dreaming Susan,
Brian

PS. Are there any other takeouts you can think of? Post below!

This is the presentation I delivered at the AAS/SPAN USA 21st Annual Healing After Suicide Conference – Paths that Lead to Healing
April 18, 2009 in San Francisco. I will also update this post with relevant books and other resources that may be helpful to a survivor in re-connecting.

Using the four points of Connection outlined in the Kanyini documentary, this presentation relates the Aboriginal experience to the experience of people who have lost someone to suicide; the same four points are fractured.

Also included are ways a survivor can rebuild their connections to Land, Family, Belief System and Spirituality.

To download the presentation, in PDF format, click here. Especially if you were a participant, I would appreciate any input you have on how survivors can re-connect to the Four Points.

For more information on the “Kanyini” documentary by Melanie Hogan and Bob randall, please refer to www.kanyini.com. If you have any questions, please email me at brian@brianlhill.com.

Is it the Real Thing?

Bob Randall speaks of how the white man cut away the Aboriginal points of Connection, Kanyini, when they told the Aboriginals that the white man´s Belief System was better than the Aboriginals´.  The story has been the same for millenia, and has resulted in so much bloodshed . . . “My God is the only TRUE God.”  In simplistic terms, it has been a campaign of Superiority.

The Disconnectedness that resulted has almost destroyed the Aboriginal culture as they, like the Native Americans, struggle with depression, diabetes and drug and alcohol abuse.  They see advertising featuring white people drinking Coke and looking happy, so they try that.  It does not work.

But then again, does it work for us?  What exactly is the western Belief System – and what has it become as we move away from a religious world view and Easter becomes simply another bank holiday mixed with Pagan tradition?  Could one clue be printed on American currency – “In God We Trust”?  Is it God we trust, or money and business?  In our world we put so much emphasis on the Gross Domestic Product, a measure of productivity, and Consumer Confidence, and the state of the stock market has such an effect of the state of people´s mental health.

To a large extent, our Belief System is based on productivity and material success.  Meanwhile, the case for Superiority continues as we exhaust ourselves ourselves trying to appear “successful” by being richer, better looking and smarter that our neighbors.  Our homes and cars get bigger and more expensive, as does our anxiety medication perscriptions and our debt.

Obviously a Belief System like this is not sustainable.  Not only is it incredibly fragile, but lately it seems to have cracked.  In fact, any Belief System based on superiority is unsustainable.  If everything is One Spirit, everything is equal.  Superiority does not exist.

We also need to ask ourselves, how can “Consumer Confidence” ever compare to the confidence one gets by simply being part of “all that is”?  Could it be that the Aboriginals had a much stronger, more grounded Belief System than what we steer our lives with today?

It was in the Outback I first discovered The Dreaming, a time when everything all around us was created. In The Dreaming, the world, man, animals, plants, and nature were created and named by supernatural beings who later disappeared into the earth or into the heavens. Actually, according to the Aboriginals, we are still in the Dreaming. The Dreaming is Life.

The Dreaming is about creation, and it is not necessarily exclusive to the Aboriginals.  As the Budda said, ”We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts, and with our thoughts we make the world.”  Jesus said similar words when he said in the context of eating, “what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it’s what comes out of your mouth that will defile you.” In ancient Judaism, Kabbalah, it is believed that everything in the world is already created on another plane, waiting for us to connect with the Light to bring it into reality. As I learned, the Aboriginals beleive there are various planes of Life, and as you connect to your higher self (aka “The Light”), you begin to experience Life better. Sounds a bit like Nirvana.

So, if all these streams of wisdom all point in the same direction. . . is Life simply a dream we create with our words and thoughts? Is it all about Quantum Physics? If so, what are we creating when we watch violence, real or in the movies, and stories of despair and anxiety, on CNN or Fox News? If we watch and beleive the bad news on the economy, and we creating more of it? And why do we gladly pay ten bucks to see a disaster movie, but watch in horror when it comes to exist in events such as September 11th? As we create our Dreams, do we also create our nightmares?

As I traveled Australia, I kept hearing the white Australians complaining that the Aboriginals would not assimilate into our culture. Perhaps we should try harder to assimilate into theirs. Rather than a Belief System founded on material success, do we need something stronger?

Do we need to stop chasing things that do not exist, trying to appear successful, and instead focus on the power of our thoughts . . . and to make Life a good Dream?

Is it time for us to discover Kanyini?

Keep Dreaming,
Brian

Just as Kanyini connects us to the Land, it also is our connection to Family.  As I learned early on in my journey, to the Aboriginals, Family takes a much wider definition than simply one´s parents, siblings, cousins and such.  Rather, the extended Family encompasses all that is.  As Bob Randall conveys this wisdom, “the purpose of Life is to be part of everything that is. We are connected to everything else and the proof of that is being alive.  Life connects you to every living thing around you.” 

Everything living is Family because everything is One Spirit. You are part of this Oneness, and this Oneness enables you to be free . . . spiritually, psychically, mentally and physically.  The Oneness that the Aboriginals speak of is even shared by the science community.  It´s called the Big Bang.  If everything originated from the Big Bang, everything has one source.  Everything has One Spirit.

With all of my belongings thrown into into storage in Amsterdam at two weeks notice, I had set off on a trip for what was supposed to be five weeks in Australia.  For the trip, I had no set plan. In fact, I didn´t even know  what the big red rock was on the cover of my Lonely Planet.  I only knew there was a lot bothering me, and a lot of questions I had about Life and the stuff that had started happening to me. 

It was my mate Fleech who suggested I start in the Outback – in the center of the continent.  I listened.  As he dropped me off at the Melbourne train station, he told me that the guy who played his brother on the Australian soap opera “Neighbors” had become a tour guide in the Northern Territory.  Considering the Northern territory is about twice the size of Texas and over one-million square kilometers, I didn´t give his comment much thought. 

As the train edged closer to the Alice, I slowly began to feel the magic of the desert.  Over the course of the next few days, I felt like layers were being peeled off of me, and an intense desire to sleep in the bush began to stir within me.  My first excursion outside of Alice Springs was a day trip to local watering holes with a bunch of other backpackers.  Our guide, Dan, seemed to be a very peaceful bloke who gave me my first introduction to the Aboriginals.  When he would ask the group what the body paint colors symbolized to the Aboriginals, I was the first to respond – and had the correct answer every time.  It was as if the answers were coming from deep within some place I had never known before. Then Dan told us about how an Aboriginal would bring back a kangaroo, and let his clan eat before him knowing there would be enough left.  As he told us this, I finally understood why I had done something “illogical” months before. 

After graduating business school, I turned down a job offer, then sold the company a consulting project.  For the team I would eventually take to Switzerland, I chose a non-European classmate who needed time to find a permanent job.  Around that time I heard a “voice” telling me to split the proceeeds equally, and to not take more.  Later, when we added another classmate to the team, I still did not take more.  Although that decision may not have been a logical one in our world, I had to follow this voice that had recently been getting louder.  

 Maybe it was the connectionI began feeling with Dan, or simply the energy of the Outback, but in any case, as he told us how the Aboriginals share, an incredible energy entered me, telling me this was why I did what I did.  It was to show me something.  Suddenly, it all made sense.  

Shortly thereafter, as the group climbed into the van for the next watering hole, an English girl suddenly blurted, “Hey Dan, were you ever on ´Neighbors´?”  And that was when I knew I was there for a reason.  That was when the desert spoke to me.  It was at this point I felt as if the world turned inside-out, and there in the Outback, the answers I was seeking to what had been happening to me were unveiled through the wisdom of the Aboriginals.

For most of us however, it is difficult to understand Oneness as we rush around getting stuff done, being bombarded with thousands of marketing messages a day, trying to fit in as much “Life” as possible.   If we only knew what the silence screams, we might just embrace it and let it guide us, rather than continuing to run around in circles.   In the modern world, we increasingly use gadgets sich as GPS to tell us where to go.  However the “primitive” Aboriginals have songlines and intuition as their GPS.  What we forget is we actually have GPS built in from birth. All we have to do is watch our thoughts, and then what we see and hear. 

If we let it, the world speaks to us.  It is our Family.  We are never lost, and never, ever alone.  On my second trip to Australia, I met a Maori in Coogee Bay who left me with something I will never forget.  He said, “In the white man´s culture, it about talking.  To the Maori, it´s about listening.  That´s the difference.” In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus speaks of the Kingdom being “within you, but also outside of you.” Is Jesus also speaking of a connection? When you are connected, the world speaks to you. Nothing is coincidence.

So much of our economy is built on selling people stuff they don´t need, and telling them that if they buy it, it will bring them happiness.  As the world has shifted from religion to consumerism, the ever elusive Salvation which the church offered sometime in the future, is now being offered by marketers. So we consume and consume. It seems this is what makes the world go around sometimes.  The result isn´t happiness, but rather people are increasingly broke, obese, stressed and overworked.  We are increasingly disconnected as western culture perpetuates the myth of individualism. 

Is it this myth of individualism which fosters greed?  Most people in the business world are out simply to make money, at whatever the cost. This isn´t new. In the 1970´s the Ford Motor Company decided to not fix a problem with the Pinto that could result in exploding gas tanks because it was cheaper to pay for the lawsuits resulting from deaths than to fix the problem. It is very much the same issue that caused the collapse of our financial system – business people looking out for themselves and making a quick buck without regard to long-term effects on others.

In short, much of the economic downturn can be blamed on “Bad Profits”, where companies, and the people behind those companies, focus on EXTRACTING as much value from their customers as possible. They were not focusing on “Good Profits”, or PROVIDING as much value as possible to their customers. If we are One Spirit, to take advantage of others is really only taking advantage of ourselves.

Is it time for us to understand that business should, above all else, focus on Good Profits? Is it time for is to shut up and listen to the silence?  And finally, if we were truly listening and connected, would Bernie Madoff have ever gotten away with stealing $50 billion?

After all, the future was written in his last name . . .

Is it time for us to discover Kanyini?

Keep Dreaming,
Brian

Kanyini is a wornderful documentary about how Australian Aboriginals see the world. Hosted by Aboriginal Elder Bob Randall, we learn about Kanyini, or Connectedness. There are four points of Connectedness; Land, Belief System, Family and Spirituality. It was against this stunning backdrop where I first learned the way the Aboriginals see the world, and for a while I was fortunate enough to have a similar perspective. I will cover that in another post, but one thing that I found beautiful was that Aboriginals have no concept of Property Ownership. As the Aboriginals believe, we belong to the Land. We cannot own it, only connect with it.

With the world economy in peril, we need to think about one of the main factors that put us in this mess. Property ownership. The bad loans made to people who couldn’t afford mortgages for property that was overpriced anyway. Are we experiencing fear for something that never had any monetary value in the first place? Property only has monetary value, as does gold, diamonds and everything else, because we give it that value as we grasp for security in this world.

Recently I saw on CNN the story of Adolf Merckle, a German billionaire who threw himself in front of a train after losing three billion dollars. His fortune declined from $12.8 billion to $9.2 billion in 2008. He only had nine billion dollars on which to live out his life. Not exactly the poorhouse. He could have blown a million dollars a day for 30 years before being broke at 104 years old. What is sad is that the loss of three billion led to his death. We tend all to often to think that having money will make us free. But for Herr Merckle, was it his prison? Money is only conceptual, so did he kill himself over the loss of something that never existed in the first place? Could money be as big of an illusion as property ownership? Do we own it, or does it own us??

As Bob Randall points out, the Land is our Mother. It feeds us and we take everything we have from her. We are never lost and we are never alone. As Jesus told his followers on the mount, “Consider the lilies, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. Consider the crows, for they neither sow nor reap, they have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!” Are the Aboriginals and Jesus saying the same thing? Are they both speaking of Kanyini?

Yet sadly, we see Land as something to buy and sell, or to mine for her so-called valuable resources. We treat our Mother this way for the sake of money, and to feel secure. Could it be that the security we seek can be found in connecting with the Land, rather than exploiting her?

This “connection” isn´t exclusive to the Australian Aboriginals. While thousands upon thousands perished in the 2004 Tsunami is Southeast Asia, very dead few animals were found in the aftermath, and the indeginous peoples on islands in the tsunami´s wake moved to higher ground and survived.  They were connected.

So, what is the lesson to learn? Could it be that as we search for things outside of ourselves to make us feel secure, we are looking for the wrong things? Are we putting our trust in the wrong things? Would connecting with Land give a far greater joy and sense of sucurity than trying to possess it ever will?

Is it time for us to discover Kanyini?

Keep Dreaming,

Brian