The Rishis Blog

Google, conservatives, and flow

There was an interesting article on the internet this morning about how conservatives are all mad at Google for not changing their logo to acknowledge events/holidays the conservatives consider important. What set this off was Google’s logo tweak to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik.

The conservatives claim Google is celebrating a totalitarian regime while being nonpatriotic by not altering their logo for Veterans Day and/or Memorial Day. They also cite Google’s “cowtowing” to Chinese authorities regarding restricted search as a sign that Google is supporting communism.

Of course, this is all very interesting, especially from a flow perspective. The Chinese issue has merit, as Google promises to “do no evil” yet gives in to a country that insists Google censor itself. But there is also hypocrisy going on here. These conservatives (and liberals, of course, but the article was about conservatives) buy and use Chinese products, and many companies that support conservative causes derive a lot of their revenue from China.

And just recently an automotive columnist writing about the coming of Chinese cars to America complained that buying a Chinese car was supporting the repression of Chinese workers and it was very unAmerican. Yet he failed to mention the Chinese-made computer he typed on, the Chinese-made coffee mug he drank from, and the Chinese-made coffee maker that heated his coffee. And I sincerely doubt that only the Chinese car industry suppresses worker rights.

But more to the logo point. The Rishis have repeatedly stated that obsessing over issues like flag burning, public displays of the Ten Commandments, and the Google logo are flow blockages. Why? Because they prevent people from achieving success by forcing them to focus attention on things that don’t accomplish anything.

Passing a law against flag burning isn’t going to make any American more patriotic. Displaying the Ten Commandments in public places isn’t going to reduce the crime rate. And having Google change their logo for Veterans Day and/or Memorial Day isn’t going to make anyone honor military personnel, dead or alive, more than they already do.

If these groups were serious about achieving what they say they are trying to accomplish, they would spend their energies on actionable projects, ones that produced results. And they would be successful if done in flow.

Flow vocabulary: Intolerance

A key component to understanding flow is understanding how it is different than the current world view. And one of the best ways to see that difference is through words, or vocabulary. To that end, once a week I will blog about common words and how they are different in flow. By reading these "definitions" you will get a greater insight into the concept of flow!

Intolerance

When you are in flow you are your most successful, and that means that you have no “need” to disparage others in order to feel superior or fill some void. Intolerance stems mainly from ignorance and societal conventions. No one is born intolerant of others, especially when it comes to ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, etc. Intolerance is something that is taught, and it really is only allowed to fester when there is a willing host. What does that mean? If a child is happy in his life, content with the way things are, there is no need to be intolerant of anybody else.

Yet if there are blockages that are affecting the child, the situation changes and the child is susceptible to intolerance. These blockages can include virtually anything from poverty to an abusive parent. Rather than resolve his own issues, he takes out all his frustration in life on others. There was a conversation in Alex Haley’s Roots miniseries that best summed up this condition. Basically two characters were talking about why slavery was a good thing. One character said that slavery was beneficial because no matter how down on his luck a white man got, he knew he was always better than a black man.

Intolerance is also a key component of many other flow blockages. War cannot exist without intolerance. The enemy must always be vilified, and that means creating an air of intolerance. If you want voters to ignore problem issues yet vote for certain candidate that candidate need only invoke intolerance to gain support. In America, issues such as gay marriage, flag burning, and displaying the Ten Commandments in public places are used to distract voters and incite their intolerance over “the enemy”.

Intolerance as defined above is incompatible with flow.

Happy birthday October children!

Yesterday, October 2, the first of the "October children" turned four. These are the children born on or after October 2, 2003 and are more connected to their flow than their parents and ancestors. These children are going to literally change the world as they will have a strong resistance to flow blockages and only seek to do things within their own flow.

So happy birthday! The world is changing and we're glad you're part of it.

Flow and the Episcopal Church

As many of you know, I grew up Episcopal and had a very good experience with it. That’s why I find it interesting what is happening to the church today, especially in relation to flow blockages.

The church has, yet again, divided itself over flow blockages. In this case, one sect is spending inordinate amounts of energy (and money, of course) to eliminate gay people from the church altogether. They have gone to such extremes that they have aligned themselves with an African bishop who has stated that if he has his way gay people would be put to death.

This type of bigotry raised its ugly head in the late 1980’s as well, although that time it was about a black female bishop being ordained. In that case racism was really the key issue, with gender being a secondary issue, ironic given now these same people are aligning themselves with a black bishop from Africa.

In any case, this whole situation revolves around flow blockages. Rather than follow their own individual flows and do good works, they have to create and perpetuate hatred, bigotry, and associated negative attractions. So rather than find a path to God, they are really putting a greater wedge between themselves and God since flow blockages prevent flow (God flowing through you).