Brian’s Weblog

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

It’s hard to believe that over EIGHT years ago this website was launched as my pre-MBA recruitment website.  All in all, it’s been a fun adventure.  That was at a time long before LinkedIn was even a thought, and when I added video interviews in 2002, YouTube was not to be heard of.

And now, with Web 2.0, it is time to re-launch brianlhill.com as a blog.  Not exactly sure what I will put here, but I am sure I can come up with something.

Thanks for your visit, and Keep Dreaming.

Brian