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March 13, 2001

Hi to all:

I've been pondering about what I can appropriately comment upon in a newsletter to all of you...namely, given my opinionated nature - I have amassed a number of opinions regarding politics and various concerns on the planet and in the environment and God only knows what else to the point where I am about to implode. So, having said that, I am soliciting for your responses as to how far I can chat with all of you. Actually, as I am writing this, I am reminded of a sign I saw on the front lawn of this person in a Texas town. You know how people put signs about who they are and what they do in their windows? Kind of like, "Psychic" or "Tarot Reader" or "Lawyer"...how's that for a grouping? Well, I saw this sign, "Opinion Analyst" on the front lawn of this house in a Texas town. I could not stop laughing - can you possibly imagine paying someone to give you an opinion on your opinions? I mean, I can do that for free...what kind of occupation is that?????

Anyway - on a serious note, I have been giving thought to the way in which I could engage your presence in my life with my work and research. I am always working on new ideas and refining insights that occur to me while I teach and in my interactions with people. I find that exploring them with people, combined with offering inner work, has become a very attractive idea. I also want to engage in the archetypal interpretation of contemporary events and to offer instruction to people on how to learn to interpret the symbolic meaning of all that spins around us in this life that we share.

So, I have decided to initiate an On-Line Salon - a presentation of information from the research pool in my office, to those of you interested who would find this work interesting. I intend to make it interactive in that I am organizing the material as a continual process that will examine spiritual questions and spiritual direction, archetypal interpretations of current events, perspectives on health and healing, and monthly instructions for personal inner work, among other ideas that I am considering. In a sense, the On-Line Salon work will be a combination of an on-line class (sort of) and (hopefully) a monthly source of inspiration and personal direction. I am planning to initiate the Salon in May.

Because there are costs involved in this project, such as staff salaries, there will be a minimal charge of $25.00 per year, which hopefully will not deter anyone who is interested in joining me. (FYI: We have kept the price equal to the cost.)

Let's stir your minds...I am always traveling in and out of conversations with people at workshops.... or anywhere I can find someone who looks susceptible to a discussion. In this case, a couple of women were talking about the rash of kids going to school with weapons and actually killing fellow classmates. Their consensus was that the problem is a combination of lousy parenting and too much responsibility expected of the kids. Well, I think it's a bit foolish to melt down this complex problem to two reasons - but what did occur to me was an article I read in 1994 in Atlantic Monthly (I don't know if that magazine is still published). However, this article has stuck with me like gum on my shoe. The title of the article was, "The Coming Anarchy" by Robert D. Kaplan. It was absolutely brilliant. The author spoke of the reasons that western culture is disintegrating, but he didn't leave the reader hanging in the wind wondering what one should do in the face of the second fall of our Roman Empire. Instead, he moved the target of his subject to the Arab countries of north Africa, where he noted that the Arab culture - no matter what external turmoil is endured - continues in its ability to maintain stable family lives. One can credit that to a number of reasons, control of the female among them and severe social consequences for anti-social behavior. But beyond that - and let's face it, those are two major deterrents - he also addresses the interesting fact that given the strict demands of many Arab cultures, people are converting to Islam at a remarkable rate. (Just for the record, it is not my intention to criticize what is lacking in Judaism or Christianity or any other spiritual tradition and culture. This article is not one on comparative social and theological practices. Rather, the point here is to highlight one interesting feature about another culture and squeeze out of it any applicable wisdom.) His conclusion is that it offers family stability above all else. The rules that govern honoring the parents and ones entire extended family are a uniting bond - and that is the point of where I am going. Do we honor family rules? Are the vows of marriage honored? It may seem like a crazy mixture of subjects that I am rolling around in right now, but it's not really. This article makes the point that history has taught us that a society hits the wall not so much when the economy collapses, but when the family does. So, what holds the family together? I know of countless families that need a therapist to tell them to eat dinner together. More often than not, the kids I meet tell me about how many problems their parents have long before they mention that they like their parents, much less love them - that is, if they mention any affection at all.

I, of course, do meet kids who love their parents - obviously, and the point is not to lean on parents...I mean, I don't even have kids - but I do have parents. The common point, both in the lack of affection and admiration and in the abundance of it, is one of honor and congruence. We, all of us, admire people who are congruent in our acts and deeds and in our honor code. There is something about living according to an honor code that is absolutely gripping in its power. I think that's why people are so respectful of the military - it represents honor. Pride - healthy pride - and honor are a natural duo. So, what's my point? This - the conclusion of this article on "The Coming Anarchy" was that without honor, nations and families cannot be held together, and that when the family unit begins to shatter - that is, when society starts crumbling from the ground up - look toward the health of the social honor code first and how well that is nurtured by the collective and ourselves.

Without a doubt, many parents in our society do pass on honor codes to their children. We are hardly without that high moral tradition. At the same time, we have to take stock of the fact that we have become a society obsessed with assessing the dishonor of others, perhaps leaving ourselves out of this toxic behavioral pattern. Note just as one measuring stick how litigious we have become - everything and everyone lives in fear of the flying lawsuit...But we do need to wonder if we are now living with the assumption that everyone else is guilty until proven innocent and that everyone is cheating us before serving us and that business is now a game of finding ways to avoid doing our best because it is more important to do our "cheapest." These are bold statements, so allow me to elaborate lest the wrong impressions get communicated.

A few years ago, a story appeared in the Chicago Tribune about a 12-year-old girl who, while waiting for her parents to complete a bank transaction, happened to find an envelope with $150.00 in it. She immediately returned that money to a bank teller because obviously someone had accidentally forgotten it. Her act of honesty made the news! You might think, "Well, isn't that sweet?" or "What harm is there in that? She should be recognized for that." But that is exactly the problem - why should she stand out for doing something that should just come so naturally that it doesn't stand out at all. This says that honesty is the exception and not the rule. And now, as if that is not revealing enough, reporters polled her classmates - naturally - who wrote that the general response of her classmates was that she was "stupid" and a fool for returning the money. She should have kept it. Adding to this moral horror - the local police department, in a show of support for the honesty of this young girl - took up a collection of $1,000.00 to show their appreciation for her honesty. Apparently there is money in returning, that which is not yours to begin with. Why in the world do we have to reward honesty? Should we reward breathing? And more to the point isn't there a problem when an act of simple honesty should seem so out of human character and socially rare that it even qualifies for a newspaper article? As a matter of fact, people who return wallets found in the back seats of cabs or purses lost in shops and restaurants earn coverage in the public domain as well. Honest behavior should be the rule and not the exception, and that is my point. Would you accept the word of someone in business or do you need a lawyer first? You can say that only a fool would do anything without a lawyer, but that is my point exactly. Naive that one should suggest "business by handshake" and I'm not doing that. But I am returning to the original point of this article, which is that one of the core ingredients that holds together the society as a whole is a stable family and that what needs to be passed on in addition to love is an honor code of unyielding integrity and that each of us should review as a part of our spiritual practice how well we manage our word, our vows, and our ability to live in congruence.

That's my thought (not lecture, just thought) for the day.... Finally, it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you the work of Dr. Susan Taylor, a renowned nutritional biochemist, who is now a part of our site. She has created the Personal Nutrition Provider that evaluates whether you are a Fire or Air or Earth personality and what the proper nutritional program is for you to follow. The purpose of the "PNP" is to allow you a fast and easy way to identify your personal chemistry. Please look her up in the Experts section, and enjoy a review of her work. I hope that you will find her contribution to this site a benefit to your well-being. I thank you and bless all of you for all that you do for me - I only hope that I am returning even a percentage of the love and support that you give to me in my life.

xoxoxo

Caroline