There is some bad in the best of us and some good in the worst of it. Look for the good in the bad, love it, and watch the bad dissipate into the illusion it has always been. Others loved us back to health. Pass it on.
Voting Today, But Yeah, a Waste of Time Maybe-Minneapolis Need New Leadship
Oftentimes I don't waste my vote by voting. Looking in the pot, the 2021 frog-stew is showing the frogs almost expired, never jumping out of the hot mess the republicans and democrats have set fire to. Tired of hearing promises of getting things better when they themselves created the shyte-storm. Didn't someone say that you can't solve problems with the same mind that created them?
OK, so I've voted both republican and democrat, but it had NOTHING to do with mindless party-politics BS. It had to do with the person running and their honesty. I voted twice for one unnamed local democrat who never answers PM's, emails, and isn't in the office after I showed up for a scheduled meeting. No apology for not being there, nor any explanation. I'm done with that one. Another democrat I voted for ghosted me, too. One republican met with me but never recognized the need for freedom at the level to effect change. Too many people are 'following the money.
So gonna bundle up, head to the polls, wearing my prayers to keep my soul warm. My vote will be wasted due to predetermination by the media as to who is heard (herd-ed) and branded as part of the roundup, but after their brand heals, the chance for leaving the party is nil. I still treat each and every one of them with respect and decorum and love them even if they choose to see the world as an enemy. Forgive them, they know not what they do.
I hope Sasquatch is a Vegan or Vegetarian? LOL! Check out my Podcast interview of Nate “The Honey Badger” Atkins. The Incomplete Skeptic Interviews The Honey Badger for Mayor of Minneapolis
2021 Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Interview with Nate "The Honey Badger" Atkins
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
— Robert Frost
Halloween at 1:30 in the afternoon, The Incomplete Skeptic will be ZOOM-ing with Nate "The Honey Badger" Atkins, who is running in the Minneapolis, Minnesota Mayoral race. https://honeybadgerformayor.com/ To those that attended the Minnesota State Fair, you may have noticed his stand.
The Incomplete Skeptic is about UNmarginalizing Voices that are generally relegated, controlled, or bullied into silence by societal pressures, judgments, or other unwitting prejudices that are often characterized alongside logical fallacies.
My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPlmJHQqRSCTUOBfOBdv0rQ
I suspect most of us mean well, so my starting point is to trust, as the song goes, that most "people are people, so why should it be, that you and I get along so awfully?" Avoiding the habits of manipulative people is often difficult, but respect (one of the tools of love) for one another is imperative in my world.
To be, as the saying goes, "grown-ass women and men" we have to put on our big girl panties or tighty whities and follow Rodney King's imploring but rhetorical words...you know what those words were, so I won't say it here. Here’s an article I did with Corcoran Press in 2019: https://corcorannews.org/the-incomplete-skeptic-will-the-real-rodney-king-stand-up
Hope springs eternal in the human breast. I hope people give Libertarians a chance someday, but I won't hold my breath thanks to the addictions to fears & party politics and the implanted arguments that marginalize anyone that disagrees with the control-freaks that own everything. I know it's hard to hear other points of view that you disagree with, but suspend your beliefs for a while, tune in, then make up your mind?
photo credit Loïc Fürhoff @imagoiq
I'm hoping for a breath of fresh air in the political realms, no matter what party someone is in, but personally, I usually vote Libertarian. I've been slightly left of center (most of the time), but it wasn’t always so. I’ll leave you with a quote by Covey: "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." — Stephen R. Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change).
Sign Up to Receive Monthly Newsletters from Me (1-3 times monthly).
Offers for Tax-Deductible Donations attending email sign-ups.
12 Steps Thoughts on Resentments, Boredom, and Looking for the Good.
There is what happened to us in life, and there's what we THOUGHT happened to us in life. Everything in God's Hands is beautified and is now on God's Calendar (Step 6). Like Bill W. pointed out, "In God's Economy, nothing is wasted." I look at that quote like some Native tribes looked at the buffaloes they killed. NOTHING goes to waste.
An Old Memory Can Be Your Friend or Your Enemy. It's Up to You.
SIGNS OF A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (Changes from my original blog post, per Fred Hundt's suggestions)
10. A loss of interest in judging others. ASSIGNMENT: Although the world seems to be addicted to judgment, don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk over it! Remember that when you point your finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing back at you. “Judging others is easy because it distracts us from the responsibility of judging ourselves.” Charles F. Glassman
Funeral Blues & My MADD History
Perhaps 20 years ago, I discovered the poem titled Funeral Blues quite by accident. I hadn't heard it rendered in a movie, as I later discovered it had been. I was at a bookstore and saw an audiotape in WH Auden's own voice. I had been using His Poem, The More Loving One in my MADD speeches for a long time.
I purchased the audiotape, plugged it in my tape player in the car, and when I heard him read Funeral Blues, it gave me a bit of an insight as to what little Timmy's mother might have felt like on August 15, 1977. I decided to start using it in my MADD speeches. I don't use it as often as I use to, but I thought I would share it with you here to meditate upon.
Alcohol & Grace Have Something in Common
Duality, Masculine/Feminine Objectification, and the Cults of Gossip
Objectification of objections is not objective.
Sexism is alive and well, as they say, in the world, but especially in the USA.
It almost seems like people are making a religion (about objecting to the displeasure of) their perspective. The inability to hear the truth because truth, an eternal truth, or a temporal truth, or a whatever truth, is the only truth.
Church of the Whatever. So many times I’ve experienced some women in meetings that can't allow men in their special groups because women are too sacred for…men? What is this? But if I am offended at their prejudice, then I am no better than them and am probably worse, because I pretend to know better. Playing the ‘my defects are better than your defects’ is a perpetuation of the pettiness I am objecting to.
Art by Raphael Renter
Anyway, Church of the Whatever. I like that, maybe because it is Nondual.
Forgiveness runs deeper than the offense that calls it into being. No offense, no forgiveness. In God's Economy, nothing is wasted. When I recognize the deep beauty in pain and suffering, the pain and suffering transform into love, and I no longer see or experience it as pain and suffering. Truth without Paradox is Dead. The utility of Dualism is Paradox.
Old and New become One. Male and Female become One.
I don't recall any NDEers coming back and saying anything other than Love matters. In Heaven, there’s no political '‘across the aisle”. Even Death is Life. Without death, there is no resurrection.
When we die to separation, we become lighter than water and walk in the Sunlight of the Spirit. Masculine & Feminine unite in balance and are born or belong to the One. But going through the birth canal of transformation might be strenuous. Cut the umbilical cord to judgment.
Trust to Go Where the Love Is
Go where the love is. If there isn't any there, bring some. Be the more loving one. A Zen Abbott once told me that it is better to give them to receive, but that it is harder to receive than it is to give because ego gets in the way of receiving.
People erroneously believe that others have to earn their trust. Sometimes people even think others have to earn their love. If that was a viable philosophy everyone would probably be pulling the trigger on a YES for that one.
Unfortunately, it often seems like the whole world is waiting for someone else to prove themselves worthy of trust or love before receiving and then giving love. If we all did that, there would never be ANY world worth living in; it would be a loveless world. It would be a trustless world. Sometimes people that need love the most deserve it the least.
Oddly, those withholding love and trust are the impaired ones. Love them anyway.
The Minority Opinion of The Three-Legged Stool (The is One that has ALL Power, that One is God).
We in recovery are standing on the shoulders of those who are standing on the shoulders of dead people. If you remember me more than you remember my message, I have failed you. Most of the good old-timers would probably agree that there is one who has all power and it wasn’t them. It was the We Program. We being God you and me. The three-legged stool. God serves us anonymously. We are unified through the power of God. Our life in recovery is the third leg in this stool.
Almost everything I know or believe has come from those people and meetings who have sat in the same room with me. It is borrowed wisdom at its core. And I would point out that there is always more power in a meeting than there is a number of people who are there. We are a fellowship of equals standing together as a root system that lives in the soil of the nutrients of our Higher Power.
Each and every one of us probably realize that alcohol and drugs don’t discriminate. Addicts and alcoholics are universally united under the power of addiction. Addicts and alcoholics are universally united in the freedom over the ‘power’ of addiction awarded through the grace of the knowledge of being powerless over them. That’s why serenity is a gift that we ask for. “God grant us the serenity..”. Courage and acceptance are also gifts that we also ask for. And of course, wisdom follows the same forged path.
We didn’t drink to escape. We have drunk to escape the guilt of passions, and then have drunk again to make more passions possible; is this really escape? Or were we drinking to overcome a craving beyond our mental control?
I read that “These men were not drinking to escape; they were drinking to overcome a craving beyond their mental control.” Speaking at least just for me, if I was drinking to escape, I was escaping straight into hell. The real Escape Doors from the pathology of optional suffering, or royal roads to transformative healing, are healed as follows:
Find out who you really are, and then be nothing less or more than who you are. We're only as sick as our secrets. We QUIT FIGHTING everything and everybody when we heal from the inside-out. At some point, we have to perform a virus scan on our soul, then purge the poison, and then "Let Go & Let God" by hitting the DELETE button.
SCREW GUILT
SCREW GUILT, AND REMEMBER TO REMIND OTHERS WHO THEY REALLY ARE. IF YOU WANNA KEEP IT, YOU GOTTA GIVE IT AWAY.
We intuitively know things that used to baffle us. Trust your Innermost Voice to intuitively know what your rational contextual mind cannot. The full expression of our emotion is to will one thing because ‘difficult’ is not the same thing as bad. That's the balance between mind and heart.
Since feeling is first, who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly (love) you. Love only love matters. Be the "reason" someone feels loved today. Remember, we didn't have a feeling problem without first having a thinking problem and drinking was just a symptom of our thinking problem. Quit thinking for yourself. Is none of my business what others think of me. But it's also none of my business what I think of me. My business is what my Creator thinks of me.
SIGNS OF A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
The following is a take on “12 Symptoms of a Spiritual Awakening”, author unknown.
1. A tendency to let things happen rather than force solutions or impose harmony. ASSIGNMENT: Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t say it mean. Why? Because truth without compassion is cruelty.
2. Frequent spells of smiling. ASSIGNMENT: Decide to do something childlike (not to be confused with childish). Skip down the sidewalk. Giggle gleefully! Remember, it’s not illegal to be crazy. It’s only illegal to act crazy. Walking the balancing beam between crazy & illegal can be fun!
3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature. ASSIGNMENT: Maybe grab a friend and head down to Minnehaha for a walk in the park.
4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of gratitude. If you don’t tell at least three people a day that you love them, you’ve probably wasted a day of your life. ASSIGNMENT: Tell at least three people (pets and plants count, too) that you love them!
5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experiences. ASSIGNMENT: Imagine standing between two mirrors. The mirror on your left represents the past, the one on your right, the future. If you want to change your perception of the past, shift your angle of perception NOW. Everything changes!
6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment. ASSIGNMENT: Look for the good and you’ll find it.
7. A loss of ability to worry. ASSIGNMENT: Don’t worry. Be happy. Why? As the proverb goes, ‘ If you’re going to worry, why pray? If you’re going to pray, why worry?’ “The door to hell is opened only from the inside.” CS Lewis
8. A loss of interest in conflict. ASSIGNMENT: Forgive not because someone deserves forgiveness, but because you deserve peace. “Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you from yourself ten years ago.” Horace Mann
9. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others. ASSIGNMENT: Make your own assignment.
10. A loss of interest in judging others (related to the preceding). ASSIGNMENT: Although the world seems to be addicted to judgment, don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk over it! Remember that when you point your finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing back at you. “Judging others is easy because it distracts us from the responsibility of judging ourselves.” Charles F. Glassman
11. A loss of interest in judging self. ASSIGNMENT: Give yourself a break. Why? “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ee cummings
12. Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything in return. ASSIGNMENT: Read the poem “The More Loving One”, a poem by WH Auden. Consider it a gift to your Higher Self.
Spiritual Telescopes, Love as Choice, Signs of a Spiritual Awakening..
If you are alone, do not have family, friends, a partner, a pet, a forest retreat, and nowhere safe to rest your head, know this truth: all is not lost.
There is no reason to walk through life unloved. Those who choose to love and love others, regardless if they are alone in a room or cell for years, will always have love in their lives…because they love. Nothing but choice can separate you from your own love. If you feel unloved, quit looking through the opposite end of the spiritual telescope.
Karma in a non-classical sense can perhaps explain a loveless life:
“You get what you pay for.”
“Be not deceived; you reap what you sow.”
If we sow love, we will reap love. NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT LOVE UNTIL THEY GIVE IT AWAY WITHOUT ANY EXPECTATIONS WHATSOEVER.
If you wait for someone to “earn your love” or “to earn my trust”, you’re setting yourself up for failure. I suggest you don’t hold your breath while waiting.
Look, if we trust God (Source or Universe, if you prefer), then why do people need to earn OUR trust? When we ask God to direct our thoughts before prayer, then when we pray, we should trust our thoughts are directed and even protected. Surrendered thoughts, even the ones riddled with defective comprehension, are usable by God.
We may not understand or see the direction at the moment, but the surrendered thought, emotion, or situation is in God’s hands to do with as God wills. In God’s Economy, nothing is wasted.
We are all moving toward the light, even when our physical eyes cannot see it. 24/7, our souls can see the light and moves us toward it. “Thy will be done” sounds familiar, yes?
In the human mind, truth without paradox is dead. Taking your power back is to quit giving God’s power away to yourself and others. No human loves perfectly. Love them anyway. Sometimes, the people that need love the most “deserve it” the least.
If we ALL follow the rule, “You have to earn my trust or love”, then we condemn ourselves. We’ll ALL live in a loveless/controlling world because we are ALL waiting for someone else to act first.
“If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me”. WH Auden
The following is a take on “12 Symptoms of a Spiritual Awakening”, author unknown.
SIGNS OF A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING, by Timothy G Cameron, The Incomplete Skeptic & Corcoran Neighbor.
1. A tendency to let things happen rather than force solutions or impose harmony. ASSIGNMENT: Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t say it mean. Why? Because truth without compassion is cruelty.
2. Frequent spells of smiling. ASSIGNMENT: Decide to do something childlike (not to be confused with childish). Skip down the sidewalk. Giggle gleefully! Remember, it’s not illegal to be crazy. It’s only illegal to act crazy. Walking the balancing beam between crazy & illegal can be fun!
3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature. ASSIGNMENT: Maybe grab a friend and head down to Minnehaha for a walk in the park.
4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of gratitude. If you don’t tell at least three people a day that you love them, you’ve probably wasted a day of your life. ASSIGNMENT: Tell at least three people (pets and plants count, too) that you love them!
5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experiences. ASSIGNMENT: Imagine standing between two mirrors. The mirror on your left represents the past, the one on your right, the future. If you want to change your perception of the past, shift your angle of perception NOW. Everything changes!
6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment. ASSIGNMENT: Look for the good and you’ll find it.
7. A loss of ability to worry. ASSIGNMENT: Don’t worry. Be happy. Why? As the proverb goes, ‘ If you’re going to worry, why pray? If you’re going to pray, why worry?’ “The door to hell is opened only from the inside.” CS Lewis
8. A loss of interest in conflict. ASSIGNMENT: Forgive not because someone deserves forgiveness, but because you deserve peace. “Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you from yourself ten years ago.” Horace Mann
9. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others. ASSIGNMENT: Make your own assignment.
10. A loss of interest in judging others (related to the preceding). ASSIGNMENT: Although the world seems to be addicted to judgment, don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk over it! Remember that when you point your finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing back at you. “Judging others is easy because it distracts us from the responsibility of judging ourselves.” Charles F. Glassman
11. A loss of interest in judging self. ASSIGNMENT: Give yourself a break. Why? “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ee cummings
12. Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything in return. ASSIGNMENT: Read the poem “The More Loving One”, a poem by WH Auden. Consider it a gift to your Higher Self.
Police Privilege?
I was dropping off several bags of food/practical everyday use stuff for people in Tent City. I pulled over briefly to hop out and drop the bags off to people about 30 feet away. I was tight against the curb and saw traffic was easily passing me. As I was maybe five feet up a sidewalk, an MPD pulled up adjacent/behind my car, turned on his lights. I dropped the bags somewhat near people saying it was for them, then nervously jogged back to my car and apologized to the officer (it was a no-parking spot, but common sense told me I'm safe for a minute parked there).
I apologetically said I was donating stuff to help the homeless. He said, 'I know what you are doing. You're blocking traffic. You think it's all about you.' I just said, 'Sorry' and though his tone was harsh, condescending, and entitled. Not all cops do Police Privilege. I refuse to view myself as a victim. But hey, he was blocking TWO lanes and backing up traffic. Since when did being disrespectful to citizens become a thing?
Anyway, no ticket. Could have been worse.
'It's Your Move!' Academy
I’m starting a side business as a chess trainer.
I teach chess as a life discipline. Chess embodies intuitive disciplines for understanding life, whether in relationships, conversation, employment, planning, assessing problems and solutions, or impulse control.
This is my side gig. The only effective teacher is the one who teaches the student how to beat the teacher. I can raise players to a B Class skill level. In life, one day we're the teacher and the next, we're the student. After interacting with It's Your Move Academy, the day will come when you can kick your Trainers' butt, then join the USCF or FIDE, and quickly earn higher ratings.
If you want to analyze your tournament game with me after graduating from IYMA, that's is an option.
The Green Pill of Science & Religion; on Freeing Unity of Conscience and Heart
I made a short video about religion and science: https://youtu.be/pnF5bsUuvB0
What kills you also makes you stronger.
Let’s celebrate our crisis of faith and science, so as to evolve a new paradigm of peace.
The True North of Freedom resides in the willingness to question our convictions.
I mentioned this book. Old, but a great read. Myths, Model, & Paradigms, a great book by Ian Barbour: www.amazon.com/Myths-Models-Paradigms-Ian-Barbour/dp/0060603887
EMPLOYMENT SEARCHING TIPS for EXCONS
A few years ago, I spoke with a Police Officer who performed background checks on applicants seeking employment as a cop. He pointed out that persons with "squeaky clean" background results are uniformly selected over those with, for example, speeding tickets. Realistically and similarly, most employers will choose those with no legal infractions/records over those with records, probably most of the time. This same officer called me a few days ago, crying about wanting to get sober, and saying a friend of his told him my speech saved her life and that she’s sober for six years now. But this cop is still not willing to surrender, and all I can do is keep being a loving influence in his life. But back to the employment stuff.
So, what to do? First & foremost, NEVER BELIEVE A PREDICTION THAT DOESN’T EMPOWER YOU. The Chief Psychiatrist at Oak Park Heights Prison told me so many years ago that, “It is a foregone conclusion that Timothy Cameron will spend the rest of his life in prison.” NONSENSE!
Maybe 6 years ago, I had a STELLAR Supervisor at 180 Degrees where I was a Caseworker who taught me to never bring a problem into focus without having a proposed solution conjoined to my concern. GREAT ADVICE! To make this viable, I was forced to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX that I had created for myself! My Vision of EXCONENTIAL POTENTIAL has not wavered through the years, but I took a spiritually evolutionary turn and ran with Phoenix 490.
As an EX-convict, my personal experiential approach to overcoming obstacles to employment was as follows. I broke it down to 11 Steps:
1 Willingness and Courage to Change my ways (in my case, it started with sobriety).
2 Act respectfully around everyone and behave as if I am already employed by them, so when I ask for a job, they already know I am dependable. This requires Researching their Vision and responding to their needs.
3 Volunteer for a reputable organization (I started volunteering for MADD on many levels through the years, now only as a speaker, thus showing my commitment to making our society safer) and know that over time, society will see your faith expressed by works and be willing to step up and help you.
4 Dress appropriately for each respective job interview. Dress according to their dress code, if they have one, and if they don’t have a code, dress like they do, except slightly more formal.
5 Readily admit my past and show how I have changed, ending every adverse admission with a solution. I have a printout of my criminal history and provide it to them. Be transparent and 100% honest without shooting yourself in the foot. Even though I have a legal right granted me by a court of law to say I have never been convicted of a crime, I tell them anyway. I point out I’m a Speaker and use these speeches to reduce recidivism, so people don’t make the same mistakes I made.
6 ALWAYS think like an employer. Study what the job requires and be able to relate to the Interviewer what skills you have that align with the organization's needs.
7 Research the Interviewer. If you know who will interview you, see if your personality type is a match and "sing their song." If the interviewer has won awards for punctuality/attendance, then focus on your record of attendance and certainly don't be late for the interview (and don't be too early, either).
8 It is CRITICAL to have the means to prove your dependability. References help! Again, Volunteerism is proof of reliability, of going "above and beyond the call of duty." An astute Interviewer will see a volunteer as someone who is self-motivated, who does not require an inordinate amount of supervision. I've never liked it when a supervisor "hovers" over me as I work unless of course, they are training me to do a better job. The Chief of Police in Maplewood said he doesn’t hire recruits who are not volunteering somewhere, and he expects them to stay a Volunteer after hire.
9 Be MOTIVATED. They might ask you what motivates you. Again, what is the company's Vision or Motto? What motivates them? You should find a way to express excitement about their Vision. SPARKLE at the very thought of their Vision. It will come out in your voice, eyes & mannerisms. Your answer here should motivate them!
10 Have a good ATTITUDE. Having a good attitude does not necessarily mean someone who is 'happy go lucky' and cheerful all the time. A positive attitude is most valuable when you don't feel like it. Much like forgiveness, it is the most valuable when there is something NEEDING forgiveness to rise about the problem. Have a story, preferable an arsenal of stories in your memory, of overcoming difficulty and how it paid off.
11 NETWORK! Volunteering has already been addressed, but take it to the next level. If your goal is to be a professional singer, break down that goal into the smallest part possible, then create a stairway to the goal. Apply for employment at a Guitar Center and have a broad vision of why you are there. Learn who the Distributers are, how they conduct business, meet as many people as possible in the industry. I've seen people start at the bottom and end up owning a business. Jump in and never spend a moment thinking about what you don't like!
Here is a video I asked EXCONS on my Caseload to watch.
Now if you’ve gotten this far, I need your help. I ask my Newsletter List and Blog Readers for donations twice per calendar year. I just paid for another year of ZOOM and I need to pay for this website. Any and all donations will be gratefully appreciated. Please make your check to Cameron Communications Consulting LLC. Please mail it to 3446 25th Avenue South. I am working to grow my business and Covid has put a hardship on everyone, but I think we’ll bounce back.
