Old Pain Wants True Healing

Peter van der Werff: Old Pain Wants True Healing: Meditation, energy work, yoga, aikido, qi gong, tai chi, race in a Ferrari, sports training, ecstatic dance, five rhythm dance, tango work...

Old Pain Wants True Healing

Meditation, energy work, yoga, aikido, qi gong, tai chi, race in a Ferrari, sports training, ecstatic dance, five rhythm dance, tango workshops, sleeping pills, pain killers, mushrooms, massage, tantra, hard work, stardom, reading psychology and spirituality books, pray to God, lying in the grass, orgasms, postpone orgasm, Zen focus, philosophizing, talking, listening, chanting, asking recognition from parents or managers, joining a guerrilla movement, assertiveness training, time management, analyzing astrological charts, awareness of cosmic movements, fight tooth and nail with a partner, resign, hope for the best, trust your intuition, follow your heart, shout revolution, do what the teacher says, be creative, watch your weight, gaze in the mirror, save a child, eat organic food, campaign politically, post on Facebook, hug your lover, enjoy your coffee, reject coffee – you name it – all nice or not nice, but it does not remove your hidden, old pain.

In this list are ways that can soften our old pain or help us on our way to find true healing. We may sound out if such ways lead us away from that healing or not. If they lean towards escape, they function more as blocks than roads to Rome. So, if we want a better life, much of our work is to honestly and courageously sound out our softening of old pain: does it build a road block or an access road?

After all, undigested old pain keeps giving thoughts, feelings and acts that may be unwanted by you or others. So, if you notice such effects in yourself, set sail to discover you old pain.

But you will not digest it by going with the old feelings of rage, grief and fear that were created by your old pain.

You digest old pain by imagining yourself as two different selves. The first self is the discoverer or driver that leads you to the pain. If you are lucky, the other self starts sensing the old pain and goes deeper and deeper into it. The first self stays out of the emotions, does not get swept away, just watches the feeling of the pain, doesn’t identify. It manages how far you can go each time.

If you can’t do that alone, find someone who did all this herself or himself and with whom you feel a click. <3

Political Change from the Outside

Peter van der Werff: Political Change from the Outside: FROM THE OUTSIDE As both multi-party and two-party styles of coalition governance have major flaws, discussing their pros and cons is c...

Political Change from the Outside

Peter van der Werff: Political Change from the Outside: FROM THE OUTSIDE As both multi-party and two-party styles of coalition governance have major flaws, discussing their pros and cons is c...

Political Change. Don't Leave it to Politicians

FROM THE OUTSIDE

As both multi-party and two-party styles of coalition governance have major flaws, discussing their pros and cons is covering up worldwide felt disadvantages of our so-called 'democratic' systems.

The same goes for debates on favorite political parties or presidential candidates, or the frenzy of periodically organized election circuses. They cover up the fundamental shortcomings in political systems.

Now, as politicians are the last ones wanting to fundamentally modify their system, changes have to come from outside the outdated political systems.

But a political system does not exist as an anomaly in its society, it results from that society. That means, real changes in politics require real changes in society.

Members of 'civil society', such as conscious and active youth, concerned scholars, journalists, teachers and the like will have to think hard about how to improve their societies and act upon it.

It seems that worldwide such initiatives are on the rise in number and quality.

The Bernie-Oprah Team

The US political system, seen from the outside, needs a fundamental shake-up. Bernie Sanders and Oprah Winfrey could be able to install renewal.

But they may be disliked as presidential candidates by the power and money hungry establishment of the Democratic Party.

They’d better prepare for the presidential elections with a new party. In order to avoid costly rivalry, they coin join hands and pre-arrange a team, with one as president and the other at a high-key position.

Peter van der Werff: The Delusional Focus on Religion

Peter van der Werff: The Delusional Focus on Religion: The accusing focus on religion blinds us for what politicians really do. Many politicians use divisive strategies in a number of social ...

The Delusional Focus on Religion

The accusing focus on religion blinds us for what politicians really do. Many politicians use divisive strategies in a number of social fields in order to mobilize followers, keep people away from dealing with essential issues, and cash in with the power they gain from strategies.
Think of how they amplify, intended or not, conflicts between political parties, territories within a country, national and international interests, ethnicities, tribes, car drivers and bikers, rich and poor, the sexes, or the police and demonstrators.
The more you bring this political mechanism to the surface of your mind, the less you get distracted by the subject of religion. I’ve written about this hopeless delusion before.
The unconscious, shaped by genes and culture, as a behavioral driver, is even more basic than that political mechanism.