General

We Need a Peace Process: Lessons from Northern Ireland

Will political polarization inevitably lead to violence in the United States?

A recent New York Times article explored this possibility: As Trump prosecutions move forward, increasingly heated rhetoric could morph into violence across the United States:

“’In April,” the article reads, “before federal prosecutors indicted Mr. Trump, one survey showed that 4.5 percent of American adults agreed with the idea that the use of force was “justified to restore Donald Trump to the presidency.’ Just two months later, after the first federal indictment of Mr. Trump, that figure surged to 7 percent.”

Remember “The Troubles?”

Just recently, I returned from a few weeks visiting Ireland. While in the cities of Belfast and Londonderry (aka Derry), a guide took our group on tour of neighborhoods ravaged by 1970s and 80s  sectarian warfare between Catholics and Protestants.

During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, a period of sectarian conflict and political violence from the late 1960s to 1998, over 3,500 people were killed. Tens of thousands more suffered injuries. The conflict also led to significant population displacements, with another estimated tens of thousands of individuals and families leaving their homes due to threats, intimidation, or violence.

Our Irish guide recounted stories of metathesizing attacks and reprisals – tit for tat incidents. He left  us with an admonition: “Violence Spreads Like a Virus.” I couldn’t help thinking: What if the Troubles come here, to the US?

It took over 30 years of bombing, killing, and mayhem before the people of Northern Ireland were ready for The Troubles to end. With the help of President Bill Clinton and his envoy George Mitchell, a peace process began. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 helped bring an end to the violence and paved the way for a more peaceful and stable Northern Ireland.

Looking for Common Ground

Being at a much earlier stage in our Troubles – and with an estimated 393 million firearms in civilian hands as of 2017 – how can we get in front of the situation before it gets much worse?

An opportunity exists. Unlike so many articles that seem to focus only on bad news, the NY Times article ended on a hopeful tone. “Professor Pape, of the University of Chicago, said that while the numbers of people who felt violence was justified to support Mr. Trump were concerning, he would rather focus on a different group identified in his survey: the 80 percent of American adults who said they supported a bipartisan effort to reduce the possibility of political violence.

‘This indicates a vast, if untapped, potential to mobilize widespread opposition to political violence against democratic institutions,’  he said, ‘and to unify Americans around the commitment to a peaceful democracy.’”

What Does a Peace Process Look Like?

How do we tap into the common ground, the potential Professor Pape sees? 

According to ChatGPT, “The Northern Ireland peace process achieved success through a combination of patient diplomacy, inclusivity, and international mediation. George Mitchell’s impartiality as a mediator, his commitment to building trust among the conflicting parties, and his persistence in keeping negotiations going, even in the face of setbacks, played a crucial role. President Clinton’s strong support, both politically and diplomatically, added significant weight to the process. The Good Friday Agreement, reached in 1998, laid the foundation for power-sharing and addressing key issues. The process also benefited from international involvement and grassroots efforts to promote reconciliation.”

Where are the Peacemakers?

Here in the U.S. today, some leaders attempt to promote unity and bipartisanship, but the success of such efforts varies. Achieving the level of reconciliation seen in the Northern Ireland peace process led by George Mitchell would be a complex and challenging task in the context of U.S. politics. On the other hand, we we’re not nearly as far into the maelstrom yet on this side on the ocean, in this century. As citizens, as influencers and campaign contributors, we must support leaders willing to seek the common ground and take the high road in politics. As of late 2023, we’re more likely to find such leaders at local grass roots levels, or in third parties. 

Be the Peace You’d Like to See

We must also promote a peace process with those we know or meet and disagree with. The first place to seek peace is inside. For me, and likely for most of us, it is only when in the grip of fear that we imagine fighting in the streets, or civil war. In reality, we still live in relatively peaceful communities. There is no Belfast here.

But I woke up early this morning with a knot of anxiety from thinking of the Trump trials, the Ukraine, and now Hamas. I had to turn the problem over to God, and a little voice in head said, “Focus on your Peace Consciousness.”

Meditation and prayer are ways to feel more peaceful and hopeful, to be the change you’d like to see. One’s peaceful inner energy promotes better understanding, dialogue, and outcomes with others. Perhaps peace too could spread like a virus. Perhaps we can start to make connections with fellow pacifists and identify the leaders we need to take us through the coming years. And I’ve probably got the title for my next post – Peace Consciousness.

 

Common Myths of Creativity

There are many myths about creativity and it may not be what you think.

As I wrote in Retirement and Intellectual Challenge, I’ve been doing my own (sort of) PHD on Creativity in pursuit of a larger goal for financial freedom. So I have been fortunate to participate in an online course called “Creativity 202” that combines concepts of creativity with investing and trading. 

The lesson I’m doing this week for Creativity 202 is on the myths and it uses some content that is freely available in a Field Guide on Creative Thinking, written for the US Army by Dr. Angus Fletcher, PhD Professor, The Ohio State University. The headings for the ten myths, and any quoted test within my little discussions about them, are from the field guide. Here goes.

Myth One: Creativity Comes from Genius

  • Nope: It’s a scientific process, built into the structure of the animal neuron, rooted in the same physical mechanism that drives evolution by natural selection.

Myth Two: Some Original Ideas Are Obviously Better Than Others

  • You’re probably just biased.

Myth Three: Creative People Are Flighty and/or Emotional

  • It’s good to be disciplined about your creativity. Emotion can boost it, but also scatter or dam it up.

Myth Four: Creative People Are Born That Way

  • You can do what Caesar, Shakespeare, and the world’s other greatest innovators have done: elevate yourself from uninspired, early works to creations that change the world.

Myth Five: Creativity Comes From Chilling Out

  • …yes, but you still have to work at it – it’s a mix

Myth Six: Creativity is Harmonious

  • Yes and no. Creativity thrives on collaboration, but also on competition. “It carries an edge.”

Myth Seven: Creativity is Going Rogue

  • Sometimes to create something new you have to go rogue. But you can also be creative “within the system.” There is such a thing as the creative bureaucrat or politician. It pays to align your creations with “the art of the possible.”

Myth Eight: Creativity is Totally Original

  • In my book “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life” Arthur Brooks described the young as having “fluid intelligence” and older people as having “crystalized intelligence.” I’ve always liked the idea of integrative thinking. We need both types of intelligence.

Myth Nine: Creativity Comes From Within

  • “Creativity doesn’t [just] come from within. It is a gift inherited——and a gift grown by turning outward.”

Myth Ten: Creativity is Optional

  • Creativity is the reason that our species exists——and the source of the tools that now keep us alive. Without creativity, we will not endure, and neither will the things we care about. We cannot pass the task of creativity onto computers and their Artificial Intelligence; computers are capable only of logic, not of invention. So, if you shirk the call to creativity, we will lose life’s next great battle——and eventually, the war.

Are You Immune to Covid?

This could be famous last words, but I’m cautiously optimistic that even as the media blathers on about the latest variant I’ll be ok and hope this is true for most others. At the least, perhaps reading this will help you feel better!

I believe I’m probably immune for the following reasons; please consider this yourself:

1) Choose to believe you’re immune to COVID and that that your amazing mind/body tends to manifest whatever you believe.

2) Maintain your amazing mind/body in optimal condition by holding a grateful, loving, and joyful state as much as possible and nurturing the body with exercise, sleep, and healthy diet.

3) Get vaccinated, get boosted.

4) Live with as much solitude or gregariousness as you wish.

For me, I like to live my life free of fear and constraint and have been out and about a lot. Either the latest variant is not really as contagious as they say, or else I’m as immune to it as I am to the common cold, which I’ve only experienced one mild case of in the last three years.

Retirement and Intellectual Challenge

On a beautiful afternoon on the shore of Lake Ossipee I was thinking about retirement.

What Would I Do?

It wasn’t for the first time, and it made me wonder: “What would I do?”

My concern was that retiring now wouldn’t be fulfilling. As a foretaste, I thought, whenever my schedule isn’t busy I end up sitting around the office staring at the computer screen reading email. A lot like my real job as a consultant!

Ask A Friend

So on that day, leaning back in the lawn chair by the lake I asked Gary (fellow vacation camper and former engineer who retired a few years ahead of me): “Gary –How did you make your retirement transition?”

Gary replied: “After I retired, I planned on doing a lot of hiking and boating. And it was good. But I found I needed a CHALLENGE. Decided on taking a “Liberal Arts” degree at Wesleyan – this program allowed me to take any courses I could justify as being aligned with my thesis (about “Creativity”) to my academic advisers.

Back to School, Or Self-Directed?

Gary’s story resonated with me, but I didn’t like the idea of actually going back to school. I wondered if instead one could do a self-directed program of Great Courses and end it by writing a book (my fourth!). While writing the book I could get accountability partners, or editors, to provide feedback much like academic advisers would do.

Recognizing What I Have

Then it occurred to me that I’m already basically doing a post-graduate education program with Van Tharp Institute’s Super Trader Program. This program is premised on Van Tharp’s radical notion that trading (and investing) = psychology. One of Van’s major quotes was “You do not trade the markets. You can only trade your beliefs about the markets.”

With the Super Trader program, one works through a series of lessons on trading, psychology, and other topics. The VTI coach approves your answers or essays for each lesson – much like a thesis adviser.

But what would my thesis be about then? It obvious: Financial Freedom!

 

Are our Thoughts Illusions or Projections?

Isn’t it funny how we can disagree on the particulars of a question but still come down in a similar place on the big picture?It seems like it all comes down to the usefulness question. We know that a lot of our thoughts are wildly inaccurate corresponding neither particularly well to physical reality or to social consensus reality.

And for both of these there are infinite ways that something as complex as the human mind can project them.

  • Physical reality: We perceive the world through the sensory apparatus of our eyes, ears, and other receptors. But what we’re seeing and hearing is only part of the light wavelength or sound frequency spectrum. Well might one ask: What does the color red really look like?
  • Social consensus: Where do I start? The joke goes: Ask a lawyer “What color is it?” and they’ll say: “Which do you want it to be?” We live in a Tower of Babel – now on the Internet.

But again as the Student I’ve learned a lot from the Master such as… How to identify my roles in life and some outstanding outcomes for them, how to examine my beliefs, how to understand my mental meta-programs and how to change non-useful beliefs into useful ones.

Does it matter if I don’t believe that my thoughts are illusions but just projections that are veal though they may not always correspond to physical reality or social consensus?

It’s just semantics in the end. To be continued…

No Excuses this Time!

Been too long since we posted anything. Oh yes, inspired ideas come but somehow we just never post time and then they’re gone, like the slippery fish they are.

Time to break the ice! Just post something. And since we’re doing Exercise #3 from Chapter 10 of Van Tharp’s Moti-Maps book, let’s relate what we learned about…

Demolishing Excuses

Van: “What activity do you want to do, but you always seem to have excuses not to do it? Are your excuses over something you really value? If this is so, then what you procrastinate about is something important to you?

Ok, we want to post inspiring ideas on the site for a like-minded community of people to read. But these excuses seem to be holding us back:

  1. I don’t have time
  2. What if the post generates criticism?

Separate the Value from the Excuse

What we value about these excuses are:

  1. Time management,
  2. Harmony, civility

But letting these excuses win doesn’t serve us. Mainly they’re about inhibiting fears. Fear as in false evidence appearing real.

We can preserve our ability to manage time through our existing time management systems. And we’ve already built harmony and  civility into our core principles at this site.

Reject What’s Left of the Excuse

Van: “Think about how you would react to eating a bowl of live worms or setting a baby kittle on fire. Hopefully your reaction to this is something like ‘HELL, NO’ So get that sense of Hell No and then anchor it in a spot on the floor. That’s your ‘Hell NO’ spot. When you’ve anchored that spot sufficiently, then take each excuse there and give it a strong ‘hell no.’ You should be able to convince anyone around you by your expressions that you no longer want that excuse.

Will that excuse stop you anymore?

  1. I don’t have time. Hell No!
  2. What if something I post generates controversy, criticism? Hell No!

Test the Future Activity

Van: “Imagine this desired activity, being sure that it’s ecological for you, and notice how you feel about moving toward it? Are you propelled? How do you feel? What comes to mind when you think about it? Can anything stop you from doing it now?”

We can do better than imagine. We just did this post live-blogging the completion of Van’s exercise.

You Can Do it Too

Pretty inspiring to think we can actually over-ride our excuses when our best self wants to. 

If you’re got something you’d like to do but have been stymied by lame excuses, try repeating the exercise the way you see it done here, or buy Van’s book for the full MOTI-MAPS: The Definite Guide to Self-Propulsion and Getting your Dream Life.

 

 

New Inspiration for Third Ways in Conscious Living

“Third Ways” has yet another amazing meaning as the next level of transformation per Gay Hendricks’ “Conscious Living: How to Create a Live of Your Own Design” book.

Conscious Living is the latest heart-centered coaching method that I’ve read about. With this post, I’m adding it to my canon of Technologies of the Mind. It is Gay Hendrik’s authentic  journey of self-discovery and evolution as a therapist  and life coach.

The “third way” is the the third level of transformation that Hendicks identifies. It is perhaps fortuitous that I read about it when my “thirdways.net” came up for renewal at GoDaddy. This eery coincidence gives me inspiration to continue blogging on the site after a bit of a hiatus.

In Hendricks’ taxonomy of transformation the first level the we’ve known is the Newtonian level (in an interesting analogy to physics). Newtonian self-improvement is what many have been learning from Napoleon Hill, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wallace Wattles, Mary Morrissey, and may other transformation teachers based on the Law of Attraction. At this level we visualize our dreams, say affirmations, and take action to attract the life we would love.

The next level is the Einsteinian level, where you identify and transform what life coach Mary Morrisey calls your paradigms. The obstacle is the way. This is also the therapists perspective. But Morrisey and her master coach Kirsten Wells are decidedly bent on “therapy light”, an Occam’s razor of therapy in which it is enough to just be aware of the paradigm, not deeply examine it.

Hendrick’s third way is where life starts to just flow because you are focusing on what you want and you are releasing your paradigms and you’re able to operate without undue attachment or push. Therefore most the time what happens is what you’re focusing on and when it doesn’t you let whatever happens be okay.

Finally, here’s a more thorough book review of Hendrick’s Conscious Living book.

Independent Thinking

Notice some of the key points in the vignette below from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance essay (italics added). Emerson is expounding in independent thinking, tolerance, and civility.

“Say to than, ‘0 Father. 0 mother. 0 wife. 0 brother. 0 friend. I have lived with you after appearances hitherto. Henceforward I am the truth’s. Be it known unto you that henceforward l obey no less than the eternal law. I will have no covenants but proximities. I shall endeavor to nourish my parents, to support my family, to be the chaste husband of one wife but these relations I must fill after a new and unprecedented way. I appeal from your customs. I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should. I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will do strongly before the sun and moon whatever inly rejoices me and the heart appoints. If you are noble. I will have you; if you are not, I will not hurt you and myself by hypocritical attentions. If you are true, but not in the same truth with me, cleave to your companions; I will seek my own. I do this not selfishly but humbly and truly. It is alike your interest, and mine, and all men’s, however long we have dwelt in lies, to live in truth. Does this sound harsh today? You will soon love what is dictated by your nature as well as mine, and if we follow the truth it will bring us our safe at last.”

Unpacking Our Principles

At Thirdways Communities our core principles are:

  • Openness: We allow anyone to comment or post anything in any way that is consistent with these principles!
  • Mutual respect: Unlike some social media, we’ll respect each other and expect respect in return. Debates, even arguments, are okay. But make about the issue and not the person. Don’t shoot the messenger!
  • Privacy is a choice: Are you a bit shy sometimes like me? That’s ok. We can post under our true names, or under pseudonyms. If someone posts under psedonym(s) and you know who they really are, support their choice by not outing their true name.

We may need more rules to live by someday, but these will do for now in the interest of keeping things simple.

What is Third Ways Communities About?

There is much acrimony, divisiveness, and close-mindedness in our country and on the Internet.

Many people seem locked into absolutist positions and a zero sum dialogue. Could it be there are Third Ways out?

Rather than focusing on problems, we seek to find solutions. To share what knowledge and wisdom we have and discover new ideas from each other. We won’t always understand one another, we need not always agree, but we should keep talking.

Our Values:

  • Independent thinking: Cultivate curiosity, out of the box ideas. Always learning!
  • Inspiration: What can move us forward, or bring us together?
  • Giving: How can we help?
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