Author: Grand Providentia United

Firmly rooted in the moment. Consciously aware. I practice Authenticity.
Awakening

The Benefits of Embracing Change

Grand Providentia United

We all live in a reality that is defined, perhaps even brought into being, by external and internal, perpetual change. Without change, there would be no way for us to perceive the passage of time. The concepts of past, present and future, are perceived of in terms of comparative experiential changes, in truth those very same changes are weaving the fabric of each individual’s life experience. Change happens, whether we as individuals, are in agreement with it, or not. The entire record of human history, would be unexpressed, were it not for perpetual change. All growth and decay, chaotic disruption and divine order, are forms of natural and everlasting change.

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Despite all of this, many human beings enter into a lifelong power struggle with change. We either fear change, so we are constantly running and hiding from it, or we attempt to dominate it, by forcing our will upon the inevitable changes, hoping to sway the tides of change toward our own personal preferences. In my experience, both of these strategies are a setup for frustration and defeat.

DisturbedAll things and experiences are passing, ephemeral. All castles built with the sands of time eventually dissolve and return to the cosmic sandbox, to be reformed, regrouped and presented anew, somewhere further down the timeline.

This line of thought, invariably leads me to the conclusion that the healthiest strategy in dealing with change is to not only to accept it as part of our reality, but to completely embrace it and enter into its natural flow. Harmonizing with perpetual change can be liberating, exhilarating and effortless. Once we overcome the fear of losing our perceived control over the future, we also become wise to the idea that we were only fooling ourselves, thinking we could control external changes in the first place. It is here that I will insert the idea that we are all completely in charge of internal change, while external change exists on a plane which is beyond our control. However, when we are in harmony with external change and see it for what it is – inevitable, we can then devote more of our time and effort toward making changes within ourselves that are energetically in tune with the natural and perpetual change all around us. We can naturally become one with perpetual change, thus releasing the full bounty of potential benefits to our ever-changing life journeys.

ProsperWhen we were children, before we started regularly enforcing our will upon the world we lived in, we were more apt to view change as exciting and beneficial. As we grew older, and realized that all our expectations weren’t being met, many of us began to look at change with dread and fear, hoping only to survive it. By changing the way you perceive change, positive rather than negative, I truly believe that you can see through a child’s eyes again. Seeing change as a natural progression. Seeing it as healthy. Seeing it as growth. Seeing change as a lifelong companion on the highways and byways of your life’s journey.

 

 

Living in Presence

A Grand Roundabout

Grand Providentia United

This constant downward spiral to an eventual crash and burn, is unacceptable! The human race abounds with potential to heal and repair the Earth and ourselves. An about-face is necessary and appropriate. A U-turn to sanity, as it were. All of the greatest leaders in the history of humanity have pointed us in the direction of confidence, courageousness, compassion, and respect, while the vile and despicable despots have promoted fear, intolerance, hatred, and extermination. Have we grown so calloused as to embrace the most bestial qualities of human beings, while willfully turning our backs on those qualities which raise us out of loathsomeness and depravity? We have been stripping basic human dignities from each other for so long that we collectively feel inadequate and undeserving of basic human kindness. New technologies provide a distraction from healthy introspection, and so we rely on the latest gadgets and gizmos to entertain us, enthrall us, and keep us marching toward dehumanization, while moving us further and further away from our most powerful human potential. Whenever there is shared tragedy or disaster, we are all so impressed with the power of love and compassion to bring relief where there was previously only pain and suffering. Love expressed, is offered by humanity as its ultimate gift to a world in pain. Love alone, can turn this race around.

HaitiWork

Environmental Awareness

Making Amends to the Planet Earth

Grand Providentia United

Hope

The adults know what they’re doing. They have a plan, and the plan is progressive. Surely, they wouldn’t do anything to endanger their own children. They’ve taught us that it’s safety first. If you get cut on a rusty tin can, make sure to get a tetanus shot so you don’t get lock jaw . Clean up the kitchen counter before the bacteria has a chance to spread. Personal hygiene is very important. Clean behind your ears. Brush your teeth. Oh yeah, by the way, don’t play tag around the chemical dump or you’ll end up with cancer.

Growing up in the mill town of Hope, Rhode Island, I witnessed the effects of corporate environmental irresponsibility on a daily basis. During the summer, when school was out, I would set forth each morning with an adventurous spirit and a curious mind. I could hardly wait to see what color the river would be that day! Will it be powder blue? As a seven year old boy, I think powder blue was my favorite, because it made the river look “happy”, more like the River of Oz. It was happy powder blue on special days, but more often than not it was an “unhappy” color, like burnt orange, navy blue/bordering on black, or dark green with masses of snot-like cloud formations in the yellowish-green shades of pea soup. Yes, unfortunately, this is a true story. During my childhood, the Hope Mill was still a functioning lace factory. Sadly enough, the river wasn’t magical; its water didn’t change color each day, based on the wishes of a little boy and his hopes to see powder blue; no, the color was in fact, directly related to the order of lace being manufactured that day. When the mill workers would finish dipping each lot of lace in the dye vat, someone was apparently charged with the directive to open the valve and discharge the contents of said vat into the “first river”. The first river was the canal that cut through the mill and came out the back, the second river was the Pawtuxet River, where the first river would bleed off its dying colors. As a child, it all made sense. In hindsight, I can perceive it only as madness. Eventually the Environmental Protection Agency must have stepped in, because sometime during my early teens, the mill owners dug massive pits between the first and second rivers and proceeded to pump their waste dye into these holding ponds. No more colorful river, just nasty colored poison lakes. Then, one fine day, the bulldozers came and filled in the dye pits with the soil they had previously bulldozed out. So, the problem was solved, because we could no longer see the bold colors of criminal environmental destruction.

I realize that today’s journal post is focused on an extremely negative subject. No one wants to face up to, and take responsibility for, our forefather’s indiscriminate selfishness and greed. However, I am convinced that we must start the healing of our planet and ourselves, by first owning the mistakes of the past and working toward a better future by learning from those mistakes. Our physical health is dependent on environmental health. If the Earth is sick, so are we. 

Living in Presence

“Positive Change: Personal Going Global”

Grand Providentia United

Freedom

If you desire positive change in your life; If you are dissatisfied with the negative circumstances and situations you continually find yourself in, there is only one road you must travel that will bring lasting results – the road inward. Every guru, shaman, life coach, master, wizard, witch, or warlock is in agreement on this. To change your life for the better, it starts with inner change and progresses outward. Positive personal change effects the way you live, the way you die, and it is also directly correlated to your potential for having a positive impact on the world around you, before and after you die.

So, what does this say about our personal relationship to the world we are living in? It is clearly evident that positive personal change has a direct effect on the world around us. How are we supposed to change the world in positive ways, without letting the darkness and negativity overwhelm us? By insisting that positive personal change (growth) takes top priority in our lifelong journey. Many a tired soul objects to the amount of tenacity, persistence and courage it takes to raise the bar of one’s integrity to this level. It’s hard work! Too much to ask! I mean, it’s ridiculous to require weak and imperfect humans to remain positive, even during these exceedingly negative circumstances (times). It is my personal opinion that the dogma of religion is often used as a rug, under which a person can sweep all of their failed personal attempts at positive change. Being totally transparent and without fear of retribution from organized religion, I will make the following statement: If all of our personal energy is focused on where we go next, when we die to this world, then we are subsequently absolved of any responsibility for our personal behavior on the planet Earth, at this time in the history of the human race. If we are already saved, if our place is reserved in heaven (with or without a thousand virgins), then we can feel entirely comfortable settling for a weak performance from ourselves, here and now. No work, no sweat, no worries. We can point the finger of blame at all the others; the unsaved ones, causing all the pain and suffering in the here and now. And religion is only one of the ways we can “cop out” on our personal responsibility to change for the better (thus changing the world around us for the better). There are health issues, societal class assignments, parental misguidance, karma, cruel misfortune, and a slew of other arrows of injustice we contend with while trying to stay true to our personal responsibilities. The solution to this dilemma? Each one of us can raise the bar of our personal growth in the here and now, and that action will in turn raise the bar for everyone within the sphere of our individual influence. It changes our world exponentially. If you would like a world filled with peace, love, joy and abundance, seek more of these qualities in your own life and watch the very same qualities spread around you like a wildflower bloom. If you want to change the world in a positive way, live positively. Individual intentions have a global impact.

Miraculous personal change is achieved by planting mustard seeds of hope in the fertile valleys of your imagination. Personal dreams become our shared reality. 

Lessons from the Past

Old Stories, New Understanding

Grand Providentia United
BTeam

My dear departed Dad, Timothy Otto Moore (our coach), stands on the far left in this photo. As for me, I didn’t last long on Bettez’s farm league baseball team. I was far too distracted by all the frogs, bugs and turtles on the outskirts of the baseball field. 

The story I wrote yesterday (see below) was particularly exhausting for me to recount in the now. I am finding that the lessons gleaned from these childhood stories retold, are sometimes more illuminating symbolically than when they actually occurred. Introspective exploration of this story of three friends, riding a river on what might have been their final voyage, has surfaced a boatload of understanding for me. The first revelation I experienced through the telling, was that I have always blamed myself for putting my best friends in danger in the first place. It’s a damn good thing that I pulled them from the undertow! If I hadn’t saved them that day, I would have condemned myself to a lifetime of regret. I’m quite sure that I goaded them into taking the ride to begin with. As I stated early in the tale, I was the oldest boy in our triad, and I was also the biggest risk taker. I loved adventure, and I still do, although these days I’m a lot less likely to play chicken with the Grim Reaper. So, if I had failed in my attempt to save them, I’m certain I would have lost every bit of self-respect I had, right there on that stretch of the Pawtuxet River. Another possible outcome – If all three of us chickened out and jumped off the tube, it might have been days before our little boy bodies were retrieved from that cold, dark river. The absolute grief of our combined families would be rippling upon the ocean of Universal consciousness, even in the now. One final possibility – If I was a boy who had visions of grandeur, and I’d used that fateful float and the life or death situation we created as a promotional anecdote for my own heroism, I’m quite certain I would have never made it past the extreme self-loathing of my later teens. Or, just maybe I would have started a super successful guide business out of the event. Picture this: “Scott’s Discount Desperation Tours”!

Here in my studio, presently aware and living in the now, I have a deep and abiding gratitude for all of the friends and family I’ve loved and been loved by, during this amazing journey. Jeff and Delo will always be close in my heart and mind, as will Darlene, Kieth and Bob (of Bob’s Variety, in Hope). Through our many shared memories, we are eternally united in a way that even the river of time cannot erode.