Take a Deep Breath

All too often, each of us is confronted with stressful situations, feelings of guilt, health problems, work hassles, nasty-rude people, fear, political conflict and the odd and assorted financial problem. We tend to take this personally, feeling victimized and put upon. Although the problem is ultimately that we are suffering the consequences of previous decisions we made.

We usually hate to admit that we create our own reality but we do whether we intend to or not. The fact is we do create our own reality and the present is our point of power. Once the present is past our leverage evaporates. When we focus on past decisions with regret we guilt ourselves. When we worry about the future we experience fear. But all we can control is the present. Guilt is useless. Fear is the mind killer. When we choose to remain in the present we experience peace.

So why not take a deep breath, slow down and think about the choices we are making each day as we make them. Actually, we are either typically obsessive in our guilt about the past or fear of the future. Tragically, we choose to feel guilt over the consequences of our choices after the fact, hopelessly attempting to clean up the debris. Or, we fearfully obsess about the future, helplessly anticipating the worst.

The alternative is to live in the present and be at peace.

The Rainmaker believes it is better to think about the choices we make as we are making them in the present. The alternative is to wander through life in an oblivious fog; alternating our focus between guilt and fear, while dealing with an endless stream of unintended consequences.

Expect a Miracle

Too often we expect the worst and that's exactly what we experience. A business deal doesn't go right. We lose faith and patience. Our trust in the transaction is lost. Then, a partner says let's give it one more chance. There is no need to rush to litigation according to our partner. Against our better judgment we wait just a little longer.

Then out of the blue the unexpected happens. The other party to the transaction actually performs as mandated by the contract. And, rather than spending the next 18 months and who knows how much in legal fees pursuing inadequate remedies, the deal works.

So the lesson is have a little faith, have a lot of patience and choose to expect a miracle. Sometimes the outcome is positive.

How much time and energy to we waste day to day choosing to expect the worst?

Why not choose to expect to be pleasantly surprised. Why not expect a miracle?

What really do we have to lose?

The Three Mysteries of Partisan Politics

We are 50 days (plus or minus) from the next election. It is mysterious to The Rainmaker how so much "Sound and Fury" could signify so little. The political communication seems empty, meaningless and without value.

Consider just these two examples:

First: The financial markets seem to be imploding and the candidates are AWOL, failing to even mention the $50 trillion dollars of current debt on the books, which doesn't begin to account for unfunded liabilities such as Social Security, Medicare, pensions and such.

Second: The candidates abhor the failure of the health market but basically pander to voters promising universal coverage and affordability to all while somehow missing the fact that Medicare is going cash flow negative at some point within the first term of the winning candidate.

Those two examples merely typify the disconnect between the candidates and reality. This disconnect can be attributed to the lust for power and glory silencing any meaningful dialogue while we debate the meaning and significance of lipstick, pigs and lipstick on pigs.

The three mysteries are even more troubling.

The first mystery is the Democratic Mystery. While the Democratic Party champions personal freedom of speech, association, sexuality and religion it cares little for economic freedom and property rights. In other words you are free to do whatever you want but what is yours is ours if it is necessary to win a few votes.

The second mystery is the Republican Mystery. While the Republican Party champions economic freedom it stifles individual liberty in most respects. In other words, your ownership of property is sacrosanct but your body is not your own.

The final mystery is the Statist Mystery. The slavish and rabid devotion to the health, well being and primacy of the State is totally incomprehensible. The founders believed the individual to be sovereign. But while both major political parties purport to celebrate individual liberty, both seem to have forgotten two pillars of limited government included in the Bill of Rights.

The 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says:

"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says:

"The Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people."

Over the past couple of centuries we have ceased to be personally sovereign and have become chattel of the State. How else can one explain the reality we experience in our day to day lives.

Imagine Ben Franklin being forced to remove his shoes and coat and subject his luggage to search in order to travel, foregoing his right to be secure from search and seizure guaranteed to him (as well as to you and me) in the fourth amendment to the Constitution.

Indeed it was Franklin who said, "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." Consider this the next time you transit an airport. Do the buffoons of the TSA really accomplish anything beyond making a silly show of officious pseudo security?

Enough of the digression, the Rainmaker will return to the underlying point.

The bottom line is the current reality is nonsensical to the point of absurdity. The government of the United States of America does a poor job of securing the inalienable rights invoked in the Declaration of Independence that include "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

What exactly are you going to do about that? Probably not enough!

Who am I and why am I here?

It was a mere sixteen years ago that the imortal words, "Who am I and why am I here?" were uttered by Admiral Stockdale, Ross Perot's running mate in his Vice Presidential debate with Al Gore and Dan Quayle. The quote earned Stockdale an ill deserved spot on Saturday Night Live where he was mercilessly parodied.

No, this is not a conversation about Vice Presidential nominees, however tempting that might be especially in light of what perhaps appears to be developing as Senator McCain's "Eagleton Moment." Eagleton of course refers to the sequence of events thirty-six years ago when George McGovern's ill fated choice of Tom Eagleton as his running mate effectively destroyed any hope McGovern might have had to win the Presidency. Is this a--not quite--instant "Palin Replay" of the Eagleton fiasco? For the record, The Rainmaker believes that Ms. Palin will ultimately be a net positive to the McCain campaign.

But all this is merely a digression and a distraction.

Actually Stockdale's bungled opening line is the ultimate question each of us faces in our life, "Who am I and why am I here?"

Are we merely a fluke of the Universe? Or is there some significant purpose to our life? Honestly, most of us don't know. Those of us to think we know can't really be sure until that "turn out the lights, the party is over..." moment when we breathe our last breath.

"Who am I and why am I here?" In that context, it's really a pretty good question. Perhaps it really is the ultimate question.

In Douglass Adams' "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," the "ultimate" question was submitted to "the" super computer that chugged and calculated away until the answer, "42" was delivered. But, the actual "ultimate" question was unknown and perhaps unknowable so the answer "42" is essentially meaningless. Obviously the underlying or "ultimate" question is very important.

Whatever the question was that resulted in the answer "42," it surely was not, "Who am I and why am I here?"

So, what is the answer to the question: "Who am I and why am I here?" Each of us spends a lifetime finding out. But the answer isn't always the same when we ask the question over time.

Actually as we pass through a lifetime of experiences, the answers are typically pretty pedestrian and not at all profound. We seem to take refuge in the superficial external characteristics of our lives to answer this ultimate question, "Who am I and why am I here?"

As a child we answer that question by saying, "I am my parent's daughter or son, here to either please or rebel."

As a teen we are what apparently what we see in the mirror. We are a thug or a geek or a nerd or a scholar, an athelete, a cheer leader or a confused, zit covered kid. Most of us are the last most of the time. We are ultimately all about self gratification at that stage of our lives.

As a young adult we are an extension of our group. Perhaps we are a soldier, or a college student , a member of a sports team, an accountant, a truck driver, a cowboy, an activist, a farmer or even a competitor in a beauty contest. We seek to attain status within the context of the group.

Eventually most of us are defined or define ourselves by our families, our jobs, our positions and how much money we have. Some of us assume the identity of an organization, perhaps a religious, advocacy, political, corporate, labor, national or ethnic group. We strive to support and advance the interests of our families, our companies, our nation or our world.

Ultimately at the end of our lives we leave this world with exactly what we brought to this world, ourselves. Then ultimately we finally come to define, whether we want to or not, the answer to the qusetions, "Who am I and why am I here?" What exactly is my "self?"

We recognize at some point that we are defining who we are and why we are in what are actually pretty superficial measures of our selves. Most of these definitions are externally measured and really have nothing to do with who we really are or why we are really here. Who is the "I" who my Mother delivers into the world? Who is the "I" who breaths my last breath? Is it the same "I?" Why did "I" experience all of that over the course of my life?

Or, is there ever even really an "I?" Perhaps the Buddah is right and the "real world" is all an illusion..."Maya." But what if "I" am also an illusion?

Now that is something to think about.

Who am I and why am I here?

When Ross Perot's running mate Admiral James Stockdale asked that question in his opening statement during the 1992 Vice Presidential Debate he was portrayed as a dunce. It was the effective end of his candidacy, leading to skits on Saturday Night Live and political oblivion.

But when you back off and really think about it, those questions are really the core issues. And the answers matter--not just for political candidates but for each of us.

So, to turn the question around I ask the following question.

Just who exactly are you?

And, why are you here?

I'd be very interested to know your answers to those questions. I'm even more interested to know if you know the answers.