Zeta, gods & spirituality

We all believe in something: perhaps a god, perhaps some nebulous form of spiritual force or possibly just blind guidance by physical laws. It doesn't really matter as far as Zeta is concerned, as it is this life that we are concerned with rather than the next. Think of it as the path to heaven on earth, if you like.

It is quite possible that all theologies are correct at the same time, even the mutually exclusive ones, so it is silly to stress about which is superior. It is also rather arrogant to claim that one's own beliefs are correct and everyone else's wrong, as others believe just as strongly as you and with just as much justification.

It is interesting to note that the founders or major prophets of most religions have said similar things about the ways to reach their gods: be tolerant, be kind, be spiritual and chill out about what you have and your position in society.

This is also the way to heaven on earth, which simply means reaching a state of contentment in your life. Focusing on the spiritual in your life will make this much easier to achieve and is possibly the only route to full contentment. In this context spiritual does not necessarily mean any of the gods/astral plain/reincarnation type stuff, but does concern the inner you: your emotions, the shrouded foundations of your conscious thought, your subconscious and instinct.

For instance, being unpleasant to someone may lead to a sense of superiority, victory and elation, but brings with it stress, anger, alienation and emotional retreat. This could enhance happiness in the short term, but would almost certainly reduce contentment for the longer term. The same degree of pleasantness to others would bring a longer lasting joy, elation, connection, mutual social elevation (as opposed to lone superiority, with all its drawbacks) and emotional growth. It would also boost contentment.

Remember that happiness is an intense but fleeting feeling that comes and goes rapidly, leaving little of use behind it once gone. Contentment, on the other hand, is a stable state of being that influences all other emotions and tends to engender that rather chimeric feeling of happiness.

Most religions of the world also try to dissuade people from being proud, and that message is as relevant today as it has ever been. It is perhaps the most important message of them all, as the whole chilling out & being spiritual thing is almost impossible if you get it wrong. No spiritual chilling means no enlightenment, no pervasive contentment.

The classically religious interpretation of pride seems to be similar with boasting or big-headedness. This, I think, is slightly off the mark and is probably a misunderstanding of the teachings of men (mainly) who were, after all, some of the wisest the world has even known, even if you don't believe in their gods. Now, the Zeta interpretation of pride is 'don't take yourself too seriously', but this is basically the same as the classical teachings, only updated for a modern context.

Pride is a boon in some circumstances - pride in your children's rather dubious artwork, for instance. In fact, it can be a great source of joy and motivation to do good. But if you take yourself too seriously, the pride can very easily turn venomous. If you don't take yourself too seriously, then you can view the world through untainted eyes and feel good about just about everything. It gives you room to be understanding other people and forgive their foibles or insults, just as you should forgive yourself for your own.

Well, enough for now - it's time to stroll into the market for the week's shopping.

p.s. very proud of myself, as I wrote all that without a snigle spelling mistake!

A short sharp (ish) guide to Zeta

Finally I've plucked up courage to take the plunge - prevarication can only last so long before it becomes obvious avoidance. SO, what is Zeta? The philosophy of life can be summed up as follows (in no particular order or coherence, by the way):

1) The objective of life is contentment. Happiness is surficial and short-lived, but contentment permeates every aspect of your life consistently, once achieved. Religions tend to talk about enlightenment, but it is basically the same thing.

2) Contentment can only be achieved by taking the right course of action at each turn in life. Right means the best for you and others - taking the selfish option to the detriment of others will never lead to contentment.

3) The right course of action is obvious if you follow your instincts - follow your heart rather than your intellect. This could also be thought of as being guided by spirits/gods/guardian angels/God, depending on what you believe. Never act out of fear, duty, greed etc.

4) Life naturally tends to lead you in the right direction - taking the right course of action is not always the easiest option in the short term, but will always lead to the best overall outcome. Every time you make a wrong decision, life will throw up chances for you to get back on track, but taking that course generally becomes harder the longer you put it off.

5) Don't give yourself a hard time about getting things wrong: to err is human. Be kind to yourself (and others) so that you have room to change for the better.

6) Do not take yourself too seriously and don't judge others. You can never fully know yourself, but you should never stop trying. Always keep half an eye on what you are doing and try to make sure it fits with (2) above; but remember (5).

7) Don't chase money and never take a path purely to make more of the stuff. If you live life right then sufficient money will just crop up - sufficient to make you content, but not necessarily wealthy.

8) Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are, for some people, just as sure a means of reaching contentment (enlightenment etc) as sitting on top of a pole for 10 years. Each to their own.

9) Always wear cheap socks inside out - they're much more comfortable that way.

Well, those are the simple tenants of Zeta, I guess, although there is a lot more to talk about with each one. That will have to wait till later, though, as I had best get back to some good honest relaxing now. I'll probably chat about Zeta, gods & spirituality next time. Probably.

Philosophy for the Age of Change - the Book of Zeta

What a ridiculous title! Still, there's no point being half-hearted about these things, especially when there is such competition for our attention out there.

So, what's it all about? Good question, and one that might take quite some answering. The short version is that it is about how to live a good life - good in every sense: content, useful, successful etc.

The whole zeta way of life is a good idea at the moment, as it is a toolkit for success, but it will become ever more useful as the Age of Change comes upon us - as resources run low and current lifestyles are squeezed out of existance. Success does not mean having fast cars, big houses or race horses, but rather friends, love and contentment.

Zeta is basically a state of mind, a way of looking at life, a philosophy. The only problem is that it is really hard to talk about the concepts involved without sounding either like a religious zealot or a new age etherial. Terms such as 'acceptance', 'enlightenment', 'peace', 'understanding', 'creation' and 'ketchup' are all useful and apt terms, but somehow conjure up completely the wrong atmosphere of discussion (apart from ketchup, of course). There is nothing wrong with new age or religious concepts and beliefs, it is just that zeta is possibly neither. It might be both, as it happens, or either - it doesn't actually matter & I am certainly not sufficiently enlightened to understand the fundamental workings of the universe.

Which brings us to the problem of my not being very clever, so failing horribly at expressing myself succinctly. I am also not particularly zeta myself - not charismatic, brave or assertive enough - so I can only understand the concepts through a few personal triumphs, some knowledge of zetas and through recognising my mistakes. This again makes it hard to deliver my thoughts as words of wisdom, like delicate petals blown from the tree of knowledge, rather than just incoherant blather. Hey ho.

Well, enough for now - I'll start properly next time with some actual thoughts on Being Zeta and at some point get around to talking about love, religion, sex, drugs, rocks & rolls.

It'll be worth waiting for, I promise.

Climate change denial - its a belief thing

Research shows that knowing about climate change does not lead to action. 45 years of research costing around £100 billion has resulted in only about half the developed world admitting that we have anything whatsoever to do with climate change. The evidence is there for everyone to see, but people chose not to believe it. Even those that accept the evidence often do not act, such as climate scientists flying long-haul for holidays.

It seems that there is something more fundamental than knowledge at work here: belief.

Climate change and religion appear to have a lot in common. To those that do not ‘believe’, the idea of belief is extremely scary: to believe is to admit that how you live is wrong and needs changing, which means a radical alteration in lifestyle. It think it goes even deeper, as accepting that there is a God means accepting that all your core principles need to be reassessed in light of how He would want you to act. The same is true for climate change, albeit without the praying.

Now, the truth of both climate change and religion is slightly different from the perceptions of the unbeliever: not all religious people give all their possessions to the poor and go off to become missionaries. This is fairly easy to recognise logically, but the emotion of belief is a very powerful thing. Perhaps it is the danger of losing self respect that is most important, as to truly believe something without acting upon it whole heartedly is incompatible with the ‘I must be perfect’ culture that has arisen lately.

Some may accept the evidence of climate change and accept logically that it is occurring, but many still do not allow it to influence their core belief system and so can carry on life as usual. Others simply deny that it is happening at all and avoid the whole knowledge/belief imbroglio.

Hence Zeta – a way to be content with who you are and what the world has to offer, without fear of fashion and the consequences of following your convictions. After all, Zeta is all about following your convictions to get the best out of life - do that and the rest will fall into place, all the barriers and fears to living the best life you can will melt away; although admittedly it requires some bravery and strength of character to be Zeta.

But more about that later.

The Age of Change

The world is changing. It has, of course, changed continuously throughout history, what with wars and plagues and so forth, and the recent New Age movement being but one link in a long chain of social schisms, but this time something different is happening. It's not just the use of convoluted sentences, either.

The history of Man has been marked by a slow, continuous push in the same direction: gaining a better standard of living and increasing consumption. Although there have been regional reversals, the overall direction for mankind has been forward. Now we have almost reached our zenith and for the first time in history we are about to go into a decline.

That statement may sounds a little bold and perhaps over-confident, but let's think things through a little.

In the developed nations we consume far more than the Earth can replace. This is balanced out a bit by the poor nations consuming far less, but as a whole planet we get though about 30% more than can be replaced. This figure is increasing as the poor slowly become richer.

We are working our way through all the known deposits of metals, oil, trace elements etc, so that within 30 years many will be gone, even without the increased consumption of the poor. There are undoubtedly more deposits out there that haven't been found yet, but they are likely to be found deeper in the earth, located and in remote corners of the globe or be less pure. Getting them and refining them will therefore take more effort, consume more resources and cost more.

The easy wins will therefore peter out in a couple of decades, possibly leaving a lack of raw materials as they go. Some things will become scarce, life in general will become more expensive and our standard of living will drop. This will affect the rich nations first, but it will not take long for the developing nations to join the downward plunge as well. It is likely that some people will get angry about life getting tougher, which may lead to an increase in nationalism, xenophobia and protectionist policies. This in turn could lead to friction and even war.

Climate change may or may not be real, but if it is the attendant flooding and droughts will only increase the pressure for conflict. Disasters cost money and in the global community in which we now live, the consequences will not be confined to the afflicted areas but will affect the entire world economy. Blame, protectionism and desperation can be volatile ingredients.

If you are not convinced by all the conceptual blather above, we can follow another train of thought to the same destination. The capitalist model, which most of the developed nations follow, relies on continued economic growth to work successfully. Hense the horror of recession, which is usually nothing worse than a time when growth stops or declines very, very slightly.

But this need for constant growth is a bit like pyramid selling - it can not go on for ever and will have to collapse one day. Why? Well, wealth has to come from something tangible - something grown, mined or made. The recent Credit Crunch has shown that bankers passing IOUs between themselves does not actually create anything, other than fat bankers and a global overdraft. So at some point we will run out of things to fuel the growth, the world economy will not only stop growing but will actually collapse and we will be left with tougher lives, xenophobia and war.

So how can we avoid all this unpleasantness? Well, the only way I can see (and I admit I am not particularly bright) is for us to change the way we live - not only that, but we must change the way we want to live. It is time we evolved away from our gorilla past and into a more enlightened era. If we can do this, the benefits on both an indivdual and global scale will be immense.

My next blog will chat about what this means - the end of the Alpha Male and the rise of Zeta!