Is all the financial turmoil — not to mention the already-existing political/election and terrorist/war stress — getting to you? We’re all connected to the financial system, and though many people have become complacent again after the bailouts, and because no huge institutions have failed in the last couple of weeks, many experts say the worst is yet to come. So what can you do? Are we facing a depression like the 1930s? How bad will it get? The real question, though, is how can you prepare yourself, financially and emotionally, for what might happen. I’d like to offer my advice, for whatever it’s worth.

First, though I think things could get very bad, the world isn’t going to come to an end. As things get worse, some people WILL say that it’s coming to an end, but when and if you begin to hear that, it will be a signal that things are about to get better. Such comments invariably come when things have gotten as bad as they’re going to get.Second, though it’s tempting to do so, I would avoid finger-pointing and trying to figure out who to blame. Though there are some people who ARE to blame, in other ways this debacle is a universal cultural event, not something caused by mean and greedy people in some smoke-filled back room.

For the entire lifetimes of most people reading this, buying whatever you want, but before you have the money, has been the accepted thing to do. Everyone else seemed to be doing it, and the idea that it might not be the smart thing to do (spend money before you actually have it) just hasn’t occurred to a lot of people.This has resulted in many people ending up in debt, which means you spent tomorrow’s money yesterday. When tomorrow comes, you either have to live on less money, or add MORE debt, which just forestalls the inevitable payback.

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Almost everybody is looking for some sort of help. Let’s face it, being a person isn’t easy. There’s plenty that can go wrong. You can get sick, or injured. You can fail to make (or keep) friends and end up feeling lonely. You can make a mistake and lose money, or not make any in the first place. No matter who you are, you’re going to feel bad at least some of the time. Sometimes you have to put up with people who are annoying or hostile and who certainly don’t have your best interests at heart. You try to get what you want, but sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you get what you don’t want. And even if you get what you want, you can lose it, it changes, or it falls apart. Or, you consume it and it’s gone. 

I’m not saying that life doesn’t have its joys, because it does, but everyone at some time feels helpless, alone, and confused in an unpredictable world with a lot of problems and plenty of suffering. We wonder, then, what we can do about this Problem of Life?–which, to make matters worse, includes death, since the fact that we’re going to eventually fall apart is inevitable, not only for ourselves but for those we love.

So what are we going to do? Is there any way to master this situation? 

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First of all, I want to apologize for the long time between posts. I’ve been incredibly busy with various deadlines, traveling in and out of town speaking and presenting in various places, and so forth. Finally I’ve come up for air, so here are my latest thoughts.

Before I get to one of the most fascinating topics I’ve written about so far–how (

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Many of you have asked that I write about Holosync, so beginning with this post, your wish is granted. There’s so much I could say about Holosync that it’s difficult to know where to start.

Here are just a few of the topics we could touch on:

• How Holosync affects the brain, and how those changes in the brain create changes in awareness and consciousness&

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I promised that we would next look at the developmental levels beyond those described by Piaget. In doing so, I’m going to rely heavily on the work of Susanne Cook-Greuter, who studied under Harvard’s Robert Kegan, one of the superstars in the world of human development. At Harvard, she became involved with the most highly regarded testing instrument for determining

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In this post I’m going to answer some of the questions you’ve asked me, and make a few other comments I think you’ll find interesting. Then, in my next post (honest) I’m going to talk about the developmental levels after those we’ve already discussed.

First, though, I want to give you a report on the 2-day workshop Zen master Genpo Roshi

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Okay, everyone. Let’s take a breath.

I realize that these posts about human development have become pretty intense for some of you. There is a lot of information, a lot of terminology, and some complex ideas. So let’s pause for an easier-to-understand, more relaxed post.

And, at the end, I’m going to add a few recommendations you might want to look into, if

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This is the third post in a series about cognitive development based primarily on the work of the legendary Jean Piaget, but also drawing on other developmental theorists.

First, before we jump into this, why should you care about human development? How will knowing this benefit you?

First, cognitive development underlies development in nearly every other area of your

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This is the second in a series about cognitive development and the work of Jean Piaget — and the huge benefits of understanding this developmental process. You might also want to read part one, where I described Jean Piaget’s first two levels of cognitive development (sensorimotor and preoperational

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I received a comment from Charles in which he asks what the value would be to him if he attends the workshop Genpo Roshi and I are having in Los Angeles in February. But he asks something else more fundamental in his post. He wants to attend, he says, but money is an issue, as it is for many people. He has been using Holosync for a while, and has been through two of my three online courses, mostly

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