Empathy is Not Something You Practice.
In a recent talk, I unraveled the topic of human relationships and asked if we have a relationship at all? Here is an excerpt of the 60 minute conversation printed with permission.
[This is from Dialogue 1: Relationships - book here]
GC: The experts and famous psychologist are going to disagree with me here. That’s okay. Now you come to me, show me all these wonderful training programs and statistics of how you’ve created empathy at work. Now I turn around and tell you, if empathy and compassion truly existed, you wouldn’t be working in a company.
Audience: [Silence]
Seriously, Who Are You Forgiving?
Forgiveness. It’s something many of us are taught when we are young as something “good to do”. You ask for forgiveness when you have caused harm to another person. You ask an authority or religious figure for forgiveness when you have broken a “sacred rule”. You ask for forgiveness when you couldn’t keep a promise or broken something valuable, and so forth. But seriously, what are you forgiving?
Are You a Collection of Dead Leaves?
One day, you come to a stage where you realize that what you thought was "life" is nothing but a circulation of dead leaves. And whether this realization happens during your sleep or during the day, the important thing is that it happens.
You also realize that living is not possible without death. Thoughts can never define what life is. And thoughts certainly can't define death either, for if it knew the truth, death would not be seen as something tragic, sad, or awful, but a reincarnation in every now. Without this understanding, one knows not life, but dead leaves.
The Shadows of War
Dear friends, it is pointless to waver your energies to one side or another at a time of war. Instead, you carry the energy of love and light which shines for every single living being in the world. This is all and everything we need to put an end to violence in the world. There are no enemies in the world. There are ideologies and systems that live in the shadows lurking for prey that have been part of human condition for centuries. Unfortunately our innocent brothers and sisters all around the world are coerced into living life in the shadows with the false promises of security, peace, and righteousness at the cost of human lives. Nothing can be further from the truth.
. . .
Skepticism and changing the world
Everyone talks about changing the world for the "better".
As always, skepticism comes to me.
There are a few challenges with this:
1: Are we using the same instrument that got us into this mess to move to "better". Can you really trust the salesperson that sold you a lemon telling you the next car is "better"?
. . .
Love Can Transform Everything - But Not the Love that You Know
A dialogue on Unconditional Love - Silent Leadership Institute, Tsukuba Japan, October 2023.
Whatever difficulty you are facing, whatever challenges you may have, love can transform your entire consciousness. But not the love that you know.
Participants: What do you mean, “not the love that you know”? I don't understand what you are referring to. I know that love can transform everything, but this is nothing new. I haven't seen love change the world in any compelling way - it’s always only in pieces, parts, here and there, now and then.
GC: Indeed, you are right. Can it be love if it’s in pieces?
Is Labelling Emotions Affecting Mental Health?
What if one day you woke up, and forgot the meanings to certain words. In fact, certain words no longer even appear in the dictionary. In fact, the whole world forgot their meanings.
Words such as frustration, anger, sadness, worry, stress, hurt...
Creating an “AI” Pandemic!
There's lots of focus on AI, so I'd like to also dedicate a post to it. Maybe this post will get so much attention it will start an AI pandemic! BUT...
No, not the AI you call Artificial Intelligence.
I'm going to borrow some Japanese here. In Japanese, AI as in "ai" means:
Learning Leadership Skills Away from the Office
Yes folks, this is how I coached leaders to build their leadership skills outside of work. More importantly, this is how I learned most of my leadership skills:
Gain leadership skills at home by doing the following:
Helping kids with their homework . . .
Barbarism is not “out there”
We must understand that barbaric acts in this world are in our shared consciousness. We all have a relationship with what is happening in this world. It's easy to point the finger at everyone else. It's easy to criticize this country and that country. It's easy to analyze what is going on, read into it, etc. etc. It's easy to read or watch the news, say it's terrible, and then get on with our own daily lives.
But, unless we ourselves see that we are barbaric, how can it ever be transcended? Start with that fact.
What if You Lost Your Ability to Choose
Brace yourself…
Suppose for a moment you lost your ability to choose. What would happen? What would your action be based on?
Would you “know” what to do, or do what you know? Perhaps what you don’t know is already in perfect harmony…
Why Bother Trying to Change Consciousness…
Why do I walk 5kms per day? Is it because I created a "routine"? Absolutely not. I walk at different times of the day, in different weather, and different paths. Sometimes I enjoy the walk in the rain. Other times it's first thing in the morning when it's still -5 degrees C. Or in the evening when it's 30 degrees Celsius. It might be before lunch, mid afternoon, whenever. It's never scheduled.
Is it my goal to walk 5kms every day? Nope…
Love out of Nothing
It's all about love that this writer/speaker talks about. Nothing else:
Love which comes from the freedom to look at what is false and find the truth in that false. From that, all dissipates and suffering is nowhere to be found.
But what don’t we teach
Seriously, what is education for?
A few quotes from "Nothing Changes the World" on Education...
"Education, schools, the structure of society, and the norms that come with it prevent the child from understanding what freedom and intelligence really mean. If teachers and parents alike do not deeply understand this for themselves, then all we are doing is teaching the child what love is not. But if we could understand what is the origin of greed, ambition, fear, the false sense of security, and violence, we could begin to understand ourselves and we could begin to understand life."
If love really existed in this world, there would be no wars
Will Artificial Intelligence be handed the responsibility of governing electricity, internet, power, energy, military? If you refuse to follow a mandated government order, will AI send drones to police your house - to have you under house arrest? We have created technology that can be the micromanager of all micromanagers. If we allow AI to govern such systems, which is being talked about, then do we program AI to make decisions based on compassion?
Afraid to Be Alone?
On freedom...Free to look. Free to live. And as such, related to everything!
Can Artificial Intelligence Be Built with Compassion: Enlightened AI?
Will Artificial Intelligence be handed the responsibility of governing electricity, internet, power, energy, military? If you refuse to follow a mandated government order, will AI send drones to police your house - to have you under house arrest? We have created technology that can be the micromanager of all micromanagers. If we allow AI to govern such systems, which is being talked about, then do we program AI to make decisions based on compassion?
The Healing Beauty of Silence in Life and Death
I couldn’t face the days that followed my mother’s death. In fact, I got so sick, I couldn’t even go to her funeral. I remembering having a conversation with her in her final moments telling her how proud I was to be her son and how much I wanted to show her I would continue to make her proud