I received the following inquiry regarding my recent blog The Mortgage Shell Game:
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Many people I know are at the cross-roads of making a decision. Even within my family we debate this. When the government and the financial system is corrupt beyond belief, and apparently is out to destroy the middle class and steal our savings and homes by a variety of means, do we continue to pay them our taxes, our mortgage payments, and the fruits of our HONEST labor to reward their DISHONESTY?
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I am a revolutionary by nature, but I also value integrity. Although your recent blog spoke to this somewhat in the larger spiritual sense, I am curious if you have a perspective on the morality debate. Do we “render unto Ceasar” as Christ suggested in similar circumstances, emulate passive resistance as suggested by Ghandi (the salt tax episode), or what? Sure we look forward to Sat Yuga, but sometimes we are called to action and not passivity in the face of a threat to our way of life at a minimum, and perhaps for many it may literally be life threatening as the crisis unfolds.
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Tricky territory for a spiritual leader to speak into, but curious if you dare….
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To which I respond:
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First, it is important to not be passive or silent. In America, if not the entire world, we do seem to have a habit of ‘falling asleep’ as with Pearl Harbor and 9/11. This occurred with the financial system in many ways (Wall Street, banking, and politics, as well). I have spoken out on these matters for years now, but in the past, few would listen. My views seemed to be considered somewhat eccentric and extreme. In light of current news and events, that has changed. People are listening with interest.
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In America, as with Pearl Harbor, we have a history of waking up from a deep sleep with passion, conviction, and action. I believe it has now once again begun and we will see what the upcoming elections bring. Our nation is sobering up. The pendulum of life swings and it is now swinging from a state of irrational oblivion to a perspective of concrete realism. It will not occur overnight, and certainly not with one round of elections. However, the pendulum has begun to swing.
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It is not a time to panic. It is a time to stay on course with a steady hand on the rudder to guide us out of the storm we currently find ourselves in. Certainly, if it continued the way it was going, we could have reached a point of no return. But, we are now in a time where waking up from the oblivion is no longer a rare thing, but is becoming the predominant understanding of all the people. Now that the people have awakened, it will take time and effort to regroup and rebuild. Some will resist, still hoping for a free lunch.
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However, a new more enlightened approach will rise, if everyone remains awake and speaks up. It is within our grasp for the swinging pendulum to catapult us to a time of greater maturity, morality, human decency and rationality. The potential for success is still in our hands. The potential for a Golden Age is there.
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As for my advice to individuals spiritually, financially, and otherwise, it all remains the same as it has been throughout the years. Do the Surya Ram Meditation twice daily, take time to reflect and ponder, and act with financial common sense. I have gone into great detail regarding the ‘how to’ for all of those things. As you know, it is not a simpleton cookbook as the time of oblivion might have lead one to believe.
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Decide what it is you want for the long term and create it! If at all possible, as I have said many times, you would do well to live at Mount Soma. If that is not possible, you would do well to ‘make the pilgrimage’ to Mount Soma as often as possible. The most powerful tool you have is alignment with natural law. This is of course true in good times as well as difficult times. Mount Soma is a community developed fully for the purpose of aligning the individual, the community, the nation, and the world with natural law.
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Good advice is all around you. The question is: Do you know it when you hear it?
